An hour later, they all managed to put up the most important decorations for the Pride Ball; the flags and the rainbows.
"Alright, I'd say it looks pretty nice." Ghost complimented, pointing to all the flags and listing off their meanings from their holo-pad. "...Aaaaaand that's all of them." They looked around at all the rainbow decorations. "Every Pearl is going to love it!"
"It looks perfect!" Sunny exclaimed. "I can't wait for Black to see." She noticed the warp pad light up. "Ooh, speaking of Black."
Black warped in, still on call with Rainbow. "Don't worry, I can handle a ball on my own. You enjoy your vacation with Gold."
"You sure?" Rainbow questioned.
"Trust me."
"Send pictures!" Gold shouted.
"Haha, I will." Black chuckled. "Love you guys, I'll see you when you get back."
"Love you too!" Rainbow replied. "Gold, say bye to mom."
"Byee!"
Rainbow hung up. Black made the screen disappear, looking around the ballroom with amazement. "Whoa... It's much more colorful than I expected. Heh, Rainbow and Gold are gonna love it."
"Well, duhhh." Ghost spun around the ballroom. "This is going to be so perfect!" They stopped spinning to clap their hands. "We could make so many new friends!" They spun around more, almost knocking down a flag.
"Ehehe, I thought I was the clumsy one here, Ghost." Sunny teased.
"Hey, let's take shifts!" Ghost responded. "I'll take the clumsy for the ball, and you can have it for the rest of the time. Unless you want to give it to me~" They finger-gunned Sunny.
"Ooh, perfect! I love sharing. Oh, I have an idea! Let's give some clumsy to Reneé too."
Sunny started walking over to Reneé, but she stopped when Ghost responded again. "Hey, Sunny? Let's give her a bit of space." They grabbed Sunny's shoulder and turned her away from Reneé, who was staring at the lesbian flag solemnly but with a smile. "Reneé doesn't look too hot right now." They looked up at the flags. "So which one's your favorite? I like the non-binary flag."
"Hmm..." Sunny thought for a moment. "Ugh, I can't decide. They're all my favorite!"
Black finished taking pictures of the decorations, walking out of the ballroom to send them to Rainbow and Gold, but then a common Mauve Pearl just so happened to be walking by.
"Hm?" Ace passed by the ballroom, seeing it now had many different colored flags and decorations. "Whatever-"
Black lifted her head up from her screen and turned to Ace. He jumped at the sight of her.
"Oh! Um-... S-Sorry." Ace bowed and started speed-walking away, Black quickly calling after them.
"Hm? Oh! No, no, it's fine! Do you want to see the decorations?" Black offered, trying to be as polite as she could. It was hard, however, since it was normally in her nature to yell at off-duty Pearls. Ace jumped at the sound of her voice. "Ma'am! Um..."
He looked behind Black at the other Pearls inside. They didn't want to be alone with Black. She was intimidating to him. "Just- Just a quick visit. I have clients to attend to."
"Of course."
Black walked back inside, Ace following behind her. She summoned a screen about the pride flags and passed it over to them. "I expect to see you at the Pride Ball."
That came out a bit more sincere than she intended...
"Oh." Ace looked at the screen, seeing a few flag schemes he liked. "Alright. If every Pearl is invited, there shouldn't be much work for me to complete." They passed the screen back to Black and bowed.
"Thank you for this opportunity, ma'am." Ace rose, peering at Ghost chatting with Sunny. "As I stated previously, I have business to attend to." He exited the ballroom, immediately taking out a few screens. 'Who knew she could be so nice...?' Ace thought.
Black walked over to Sunny, whispering to her. "That sounded nice, right?"
"Yep! Just try to be less sincere next time."
Ghost sneaked over and whispered to them too. "What are we whispering about? Is it about that cute Pearl who just came in?" They realized what they said and tried to save themselves. "I mean, I only caught a glimpse while you were talking-"
Black blinked in confusion, having no clue what Ghost was trying to say. Sunny, however, caught on. "Ooh, Ghost likes a Pearl~"
"Shut-" They fumbled with their words, trying to stop Sunny.
While Ghost was trying to deny what Sunny claimed, Clover appeared on a screen behind everyone to check out the preparations.
"No, NO, NO-" Ghost violently shook their head. "I do NOT. Do not accuse me of such an atrocity!"
"Ha! Someone's getting angry." Clover commented.
"Clover! Please help me." Ghost kneeled on both knees and begged. "I said something wrong and Sunny won't let me take it back. I beg for your assistance."
Clover stared at Ghost for a moment. Then Clover's screen disappeared, signifying that they hung up on Ghost. "PFFFT-" Black covered her mouth, trying to hold in her laughter.
Reneé was still staring at the lesbian flag, realizing she'd been staring for too long. "Oh stars, they probably think I'm a creep-" She walked over to the others. "Hey, what did I miss?"
Black pulled herself together and turned to Reneé. "Not much. Right now, Ghost is yelling at Sunny for revealing their... interests." She'd try her best not to burst from laughter again.
"So Ghost, what do you like about this Pearl in particular?" Sunny teased.
"Aww, Ghost got a crush?" Reneé teased with Sunny.
"Reneé, please!" Ghost tried burying their face in their hands, but they'd phase right through. "Gah-" They'd take them out and solidify them. "I don't have a crush, please believe me! Am I not allowed to compliment another Pearl without being bombarded with teasing? What is with you all, torturing me like this?!" They'd fake cry.
"O-Oh, I didn't mean to make you feel bad... I was just making a joke... I'm sorry, Ghost." Sunny tried to hug Ghost, but she'd phase through them and fall down. "Oof-!"
Reneé helped Sunny up with a sigh. "They're fake crying."
"Wait, really? You're clever, Ghost! Ehehe." Sunny giggled.
"Sunny, how- how did you not know that was fake?" Ghost stood up and brushed Sunny off. "Sorry to worry you, but everybody stop teasing me! There is nothing going on, or at least nothing of your concern."
"Hmm... All I heard was 'nothing of your concern'. So it's true?! Ehehe!" Sunny teased once more.
"Heh, alright, alright. I think that's enough." Black interrupted. "As much as I'd love to see more, we have to focus on the ball, don't you agree?"
Ghost turned to Black. "Thank you, Black. Should I try to take care of publicity? After all, it is my forte." Ghost spun around the ballroom, trying to use that as leverage.
"Well, you're technically an aristocrat. I'm sure you can handle that."
"Great!" Ghost finger-gunned Black and exited the room. 'Now where did that Mauve Pearl run off to?' They wondered. 'He'd have to be somewhere in the court or office areas of Homeworld.'
Black turned to the others. "Anybody else know what they wanna do?"
"Well, I specialize in building, so something involving that, I guess." Reneé suggested.
"Ooh, I wanna help Reneé! Building seems like a lot of work, so I wanna lend a helping hand." Sunny suggested as well.
"Alright then. I'll warp around Homeworld to put up posters since it seems like Ghost is going for bigger publicity stuff than that. Good luck!" Black walked over to the warp pad and warped away.
She warped to Homeworld's center square, immediately summoning a screen. She messaged one particular Diamond Pearl...
'Busy?'
YOU ARE READING
Pearl Authority: Era 3 -- Shattered Trust
General FictionMany things have changed since the end of Bi-Color's War and Era 1. Era 2 was a time of reconstruction. Because of the dreaded rebellion, most of Homeworld had been severely damaged. Now that Homeworld is nearly finished reconstructing, Era 3 is fas...
