Lovely. I haven't been here in a while...

You purred to yourself, smiling in overwhelming delight and relief, recognizing the lovely flower-filled meadow dreams from many nights ago. You sighed with much contentment, taking a few sniffs at the fragrant scented air, a pleased hum rumbling in your throat.

you trotted forward, dipping your head to sniff at the soft, colorful flowers, before plopping down, rolling and basking it the soft texture before coming to a stop and just resting in the colorful plants contently.

Excellent.... this is a nice change in pace after everything that's transpired recently....

You laid there for an extended period of time, just content with listening to the rustle of leaves and the gentle breeze of the sun warmed wind in your fur. After a while, you roll over onto your belly with a huff, resting your chin on your forearms with a grumble. It's been getting real crazy since I've come here... especially with these new feelings of protection I've acquired.

You frowned slightly, remembering the fear in your teammates' eyes. But... that shouldn't be a bad thing now... is it? While it wasn't one of your proudest moments, you couldn't deny that it set them somewhat straight. You narrowed your eyes, letting yourself drift deeper into your thoughts. ...come to think of it, I've been starting to uncover more about myself than I thought since I've come here. You hum to yourself, resting your cheek on your arm. I feel like I'm getting closer... You ran through the events, from meeting the lazuli gem and homeworld to the recent maternal attacks you've had on the CGs. And yet, when you try to look further into these details, it all hits a wall. Ugh... so close, yet so far...

With a soft huff, you lift your head to look ahead of you, only to find none other than that beautiful pink rose blossomed right in front of you, swaying softly in the warm breeze. Initally, your eyes were wide in surprise at its sudden reappearance. but the more you stared at it, the less surprising it became. Should've known I'd see you again... you thought tiredly, resting your chin on your forearms. In fact, you couldn't help but feel as if it knew your predicament.

Absentmindedly, you gently prodded the glowing gemstone in the center of the blossom, tracing the petals with a clawed finger. With a tired huff, you rested your head in one hand, while you gently fiddled with the plant's petals with the other. "How close is (name) coming to her past?" You asked with a sigh, shutting your eyes, not really expecting an answer from it, and instead opted to continue to tamper it it's soft petals.

...more than you realize.

Your eyes shot wide open, your head lifting in surprise. While you remember that it can indeed speak... you don't remember it giving a direct, almost immediate answer like that before... "what... what else is (name) missing?"

No answer.

"H-hello?"

Silence.

You whined in impatience, staring hard at the pink plant. Come on! Desperately, you leaned forward and pressed your muzzle against the gemstone center in an attempt to make it react somehow, however, instead of the sweet, fruit-like scent the rose normally had, this aroma was rather sharp, and carried a mildly bitter undertone to it.

You paused, a squinting your eyes slightly at the odd aroma. You remember it from somewhere. It was a scent you often identified in that Big Donut Place.

Sniffing again, you sneer in confusion.

Is that...

Coffee...?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In what felt like a blink, you lift your head with a snort, shaking your head to clear it as you woke yourself up. After blinking the sleep out of your eyes and gaining purchase of your surroundings, you let out a long huff and set a hand on your head, shutting your eyes in a mild frustration. You haven't been having the best of luck when it came to dreams lately. As if worrying about your young gem duo wasn't hard enough, it seems that the worry of your identity is starting to ebb itself back into your foremind. Even that meadow dream has fallen victim to my wonder about my lost past... However, you couldn't deny that you did feel slightly assured from this latest dream. Even with its rather cryptic closure, you got a somewhat straight reply from the odd gem-plant. I just... need to relax. It'll... come to me eventually.

I just wish It'd come more quickly... somehow.

You breath in deeply to ease your anxiousness, breathing in that same coffee aroma from your dream. Eh? You sniffed a few more times, confirming that there was indeed a coffee scent still wafting the air. With a confused blink, you look down and lo and behold, there was a decently sized cup of coffee sitting in front of you. You furrowed your brow subtly at this. As far as you knew, nobody in the beach house really drank coffee. Well, garnet did on occasion, but it would only happen if you and garnet were conversing between each other.

But garnet was nowhere in sight.

...in fact, it was actually very quiet in the beach house...

Felt empty, almost..

What the-?

"Oh, you're awake."

You turn your head to the sound of light footsteps, smiling warmly at sight before you. "Ah... good morning, pearl."

"Good morning, (name)." The pale gem smiles warmly in turn, stopping just beside you. "Did you sleep well?" You hummed for a moment before nodding politely. "(Name) slept well." Even if it got a bit sketchy near the end, you couldn't deny that it wasn't really bad...

You look over to the glass door, feeling a jolt of sudden alarm when you saw the sun already halfway up the horizon. "What time is it?" Your eyes look up to the loft, your pupils thinning in concern. "Steven and spinel awake?" You asked with a mildly urgent pitch. "Oh, don't worry, I've already made them breakfast," she assured, setting a hand on your shoulder. "I figured that you'd like some extra sleep. Especially after... everything that's been happening.." Your eyes widened temporarily, but you hummed softly in relief, smiling in gratitude as you unfurled your forearms out from under your fluffy chest, to grip the mug carefully into your large paws. "Very kind of pearl. Thank you." You lift the mug up to your muzzle, humming in satisfaction at the aroma it gave. It had a (flavor) scent to it now that you got a good whiff of it.

As you started to sip at it, pearl hummed softly, fiddling with her hands with a sheepish smile. "Ah, It's the least I can do..." she replies, lacing her hands in front of her. "After all, it's my way of thanking you for caring so much about Steven." You look over at her, eye squinted in surprise. "(Name) doesn't just care about Steven." You smiled brightly, a barely audible purr rumbling in your throat. "She does love him very much, but Steven still very young and is still developing." You purred to yourself, looking over at the door again to watch the sun finish its rising. "So (name) just offers him extra protection." You take a calm, unhurried sip at your coffee and redirected a bright smile back at pearl. "(Name) loves all her teammates equally! She just wants everyone to be happy!"

There was a moment of silence as pearl stared at you in a temporary astonishment. "A-Ah! (name), That's very sweet of you!" Pearl responds with a shy chuckle, which made you smile at her in turn, and turn away from her again to sip at your coffee again, looking back at the window, only this time to focus in on listening to the crashing waves outside and the call of seagulls. Pearl then looks down, setting a hand on her cheek at a sudden burn in them. "To think... I was so... misunderstanding towards you when we first met." She muttered, looking down in mild guilt. "Maybe, when we discover the cure... we could-"

"Where are the others?"

Pearl blinked and snapped her head into your direction. "Wha-?"

You turned your head to look at her, setting your cup down. Your smile was still present, but it was dimmed in question. "Where are the other gems?"

"Oh! The others!" She exclaimed, as if she had forgotten. "Garnet is out running errands with steven and spinel, and amethyst is in her room." Pearl explained, which made you tip your head to the side. "We thought that you could use a day off to just let yourself relax." You smiled gratefully up at the pearl. "Very kind of everyone! (Name) very grateful for them." Pearl chuckled dismissively. "Please, we believe you've earned it." You purred to yourself, sipping at your coffee again, not noticing pearl step closer. "May I... sit with you?"

You look over at her, your eyes slightly wide in surprise. From her behavior she's been displaying towards you lately, you thought it was kind of odd for pearl to suddenly ask this question.

Isn't she afraid of me?

However, after a brief though about it, you shook it off. She probably just wanted to make up for the nonsense she displayed from yesterday. Either way, you weren't going to pass up spending such a nice gesture. So at once, you nodded happily in acceptance, to which pearl smiled gratefully, carefully stepping over your tail and sitting herself beside your back. "Thank you." She leans back with a content hum, while you go back to looking forward, sipping at your coffee.

"You know, (name)... it has come to my attention that... we don't really speak with each other very often." she suddenly states making you hum in question, looking back at her with curious eyes. "So... perhaps we could use this time to try and.. um... make up for that time?"

Again, this sudden request thew you for a loop. It is true, you and pearl didn't really see each other often, as she was mostly in her room or on missions. When you did see her, she'd mostly spoke briefly about how her day went and about the missions she would go on. However, was almost always a quick conversation, before she'd excuse herself and slip away into her room. Wonder what the occasion is...

You internally shook your head at yourself. Ah, why question it? Without a second though, you smiled and nodded with a hum of approval. It's positive attention from a teammate. Any positive attention is welcomed to you, especially after yesterday.

It was nice to see pearl not be afraid of you.

Pearl smiled in return, looking almost relieved at your approval. "Good. Thank you, again." She sighed in content as you just purred to yourself, listening to the faint crashing of waves outside again, this time with the occasional call of a seagull. You both sat in silence like this for an extended period of time before pearl spoke up. "You know, (name)... I was right about you."

"You're truly a remarkable gem."
~~~~~~~~

Sorry if you're not a coffee drinker.

You can replace it with either hot chocolate, tea or... something.

And uh... sorry for the slight shoddiness of this chapter.

Might redo a few things once I gain the mental capacity.