LOG-025.

  If there was one thing I was going to take away from this entire situation, it was that dancing with a partner was...actually somewhat fun. There was a small pleasure in going through some of my more casual routines, even as my hands remained clasped within Brim's own, the terraformer trying to match my motions with her own style.

  The real issue was when we continued to spin around each other for a good few minutes with decidedly zero results, the Lapis Lazuli's hesitation growing more visible until a nervous laugh finally escaped her mouth, just as her expression grew a little more uncertain.

  "Aha...heh...I swear something normally happens by now."

  I arched a brow, staring at the blue Gem even as I gently began to twirl her back and forth, doing my best to replicate one of the many two-Pearl manoeuvres I'd had imprinted into my damned mind back at the Reef.

  "Not to be a joykiller, but I'm really not feeling anything here."

  My words caused the rock cutter to wilt slightly, even as I accepted the luxury of finally letting out an audible sigh.

  "I'm pretty sure there's more to this than just dancing."

  Her eyes flicked downwards at my point, before she shook her head.

  "There is, but normally you just...kind of feel it. Though I guess if we aren't really synchronized enough for it..."

  The Lapis Lazuli blinked as I raised my hand, poking her forehead.

  "Which should be pretty obvious, considering we've known each other for just a few days at best...look, how about we just sit down and discuss things for a bit? As much as fusion sounds like an...interesting experience, I'm pretty sure we're gonna need a little more time to get to really know one another before we can properly pull it off-"

  Click.

  I paused as I heard the door behind us begin to grind open, just barely avoiding having Brim stumble over my outstretched foot as a familiar red Gem poked her head inside, eyes widening upon catching us practically entangled around one another.

  A second of silence passed, before I nodded my head at the oddly shocked looking Pearl.

  "Vermilion."

  Her mouth sputtered slightly as she glanced between both Brim and I's forms, shaking her head.

  "W-what are you doing?"

  Sighing, I let my palm slap against my dancing partner's forehead, pushing her back and very carefully ignoring the way she tried to lean into the touch.

  "Trying and very much failing to fuse, evidently."

  The explanation prompted the shocked look I expected from my Batchmate. Fusion wasn't something to be done between different Gem types, after all. What I didn't understand was the weirdly reminiscent look on her face, as if she were looking at something a million miles away.

  "O-oh. Isn't that...bad?"

  Then the Pearl flinched as a gloved hand poked into her back, shuffling out of the way as Quille's ever distinct form stepped inside as well.

  I blinked as a series of chirps and croons escaped the normally silent interrogator, clearly directed towards the Lapis standing across from me.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  Huh, so she wasn't mute after all. Just another weird tidbit to note down about the disguised Gem.

  I let my hands clasp behind each other as Brim flashed me an apologetic look, already moving to follow her rapidly departing counterpart.

  "Sorry, we're coming up on some ice rich asteroids we've been following around for a while. They need me. Uhm...try and practice while I'm gone!"

  Merely bowing my head in response, I watched the two leave, before turning to glance at a still numbly staring Vermilion.

  "...Are you alright?"

  Her mouth opened and closed for a few seconds, that same bewildered and lost expression remaining affixed to her face. Her own hands moved to wring each other, fingers trembling slightly as she slowly mumbled her response out.

  "I...I think my old Sodalite wanted to...fuse with me?"

  ...

  "Huh."

  ---

  A few days passed, according to Brim at least. It was hard to tell the time without any real indicators to go off of, and I just wasn't bored enough to start manually counting the seconds that went by, so I just had to trust the Lapis at her word whenever she showed up to try and chat and or continue our ever futile fusion sessions. Just how long her equivalent of a day was went unsaid, annoyingly enough.

  At the very least, I'd convinced her to try and take things a little more slowly, starting with just...talking to each other about things. In other news, I now knew her favourite colour was gold, and she knew that I hated Nacres.

  Other than that, Vermilion and I spent most of our time flitting between the respective rooms we'd been given. Or rather, Vermilion moved into my room and we both quietly ignored the desire to head into our old closet-cell and burst into tears while inside of it.

  It felt pointless, since we...weren't actually being treated all that badly, all things considered. I just didn't really see much of a point in crying over nothing.

  Regardless, I learned several things in that time.

  Namely, that if I ever ran into a certain Sodalite, I was absolutely going to channel my old Caretaker's energy and find a way to fucking shatter the whore-

  Calm. Calm. Potential murder plans had no place during learning/recreational time, especially since I was pretty sure I was actually on the verge of figuring out basic shapeshifting.

  My focus turned back to my hand, even as I followed the advice Talon (the Citrine was actually pretty amiable when she wasn't trying to abduct me in the middle of a hangar, even if she had a bad tendency to laugh way too fucking loudly, even for a Quartz) had given me.

  Slowly but surely, I watched as my fingers began to lengthen slightly, their very tips narrowing until they had taken on the rough approximation of the claws of my gauntlets.

  The change was absolutely tiny, but my smile was wide regardless. Overall, it meant I definitely had the potential to grow and train the ability, which in turn meant I had a solid chance of eventually being able to enjoy eating and drinking stuff at some point in the future, once I had the basics down pat.

  I still really wanted to try out those fruits I saw the Avians scarfing down in between certain meals. They looked sweet.

  Turning away from my brief success and trying to brush away the phantom sensation of being peckish for sugar, I glanced up as Vermilion continued to spin, flip and twirl from one end of the room to the other, expression very clearly elsewhere.

  Her witnessing of Brim and I's antics and subsequent revelation that her original owner was a weird creep of some kind had quite possibly disturbed the poor thing more than I'd initially anticipated. She'd been more distracted as of late, expression always indicating that her actual thoughts were somewhere else even when trying to keep up with her old dancing and singing patterns.

  Avoiding the minute urge to click my teeth in annoyance as she nearly lost her footing for the third time, I continued to watch the Pearl go through some of the more complicated dance routines our Caretaker had drilled into us for a moment, before finally standing up with a small huff.

  "Stop that."

  My interruption almost caused another crash as the crimson Gem yelped, one foot skidding below her causing the rest of her lightform to begin toppling towards the ground. Thankfully for her, I managed to reach forward before she ate metaphorical shit, grabbing and pulling her back towards me.

  Startled eyes glanced up at me for a moment, even as a by now familiar blush slowly began to creep up the Pearl's face.

  Rolling my eyes, I set her back on her feet.

  "And stop that as well. Now, you need to rework the latter part of the first half of that particular move. Watch."

  Was I trying to distract her from the thoughts constantly plaguing her mind? Maybe. Was this something that was actually any of my business? Maybe not, but as her Batchmate I figured I was quite possibly the closest thing she actually had to family at this point, as a Gem anyway, so in some weird indirect way it really did fall on me to make sure she was, if not alright, at least functioning in the mental department.

  Or at least that's what I told myself regarding any of my involvement in the matter.

  To her credit, Vermilion did watch (maybe even a little too intently) as I performed the same dance she had, albeit without dragging my feet across the ground with my head in the clouds the whole time.

  "There. Now you try."

  I watched as she mimicked my act, improving slightly. Then her foot slipped again.

  At my pointed look, the Pearl nodded quickly, moving to try the act once more.

  "Hmph."

  Her entire body stiffened as I stepped next to her, grabbing one of her hands.

  "Just do it like this."

  Fingers interlocked, I gently guided her through the long since familiar move, feeling her lightform relax against mine as we slowly made our way around the room.

  "Next sequence. I know you remember the follow up."

  And she did. The impromptu two-Pearl routine continued for the next few minutes, even as we both got a little more confident in relying on each other for support when it came to avoiding falling flat on our faces.

  It was just as we both were preparing to transition into the final part of the extended dance, my shoulder pressing against her own and both of our hands very firmly grasping each other that I rather abruptly realized both of us were beginning to glow.

  That's just about when things got weird, to say the absolute very least.