Chương 160: LOG-152.

Soon was, to Bee's credit, only a few minutes. With most of that time likely spent actually convincing whatever Nacre was currently educating her Batch (I knew it to be Two, per one of the schedule reports I'd read days ago) that parting with a second Pearl was perfectly fine, since I'd stamped my signature on the order. Nacre One was busy dealing with a certain yellow Pearl's recovery. Two was, of course, with the Batch.

And Three was organising the second incoming shipment of resources that would be coming into use during the final production state of the next Batch. As a result, the Reef was busy, busier than it normally was, at least. Thulite, excited as she had been to briefly teach a lesson, was actually back at work in her own office for the moment, working on new prospective designs that she intended to run by me later.

The technical and security staff were equally occupied, and I'd noticed more than one Peridot dutifully powerwalking down the halls outside of my little room, tablets and schedules and other things held within the safety of their limb enhancers, even as the facility's resident Quartz guards were briefly repurposed for manual labour, their large, powerful lightforms lugging around immense crates of physical material and barrels of essence respectively. So yes, the Reef was very busy preparing for… well, the future.

Something I didn't need to participate in, since it had long been effectively planned out long before I'd even existed as a Pearl, much less an Overseer. And more importantly, it was something which left no one to feel all too curious as a polite tone that indicated a visitor rang from my office door, drawing my attention away from the small, feather coated trinket I'd been toying with.

"Enter." The little keepsake from Brim that left my feelings unnecessarily unbalanced (shut it, you) vanished with a subtle flash of light, safely stored inside of my gemstone just as the door slid open, allowing two figures to slip inside. Firmly keeping any residual emotions from affecting my face, I stared at the mirror image of myself (or my old self, at least) for a moment, before glancing towards Bee and nodding.

"Excellent work, dear. I'm going to have a private talk with Seventeen A here, you can go rejoin your Batch for the time being." There was a chirping affirmative, before the other Pearl disappeared as quickly as she'd arrived, leaving the door to shut with a distinct feeling of finality as I was left staring at a version of myself that looked both horribly eager and terribly nervous at the same time. The silence continued, and I briefly pondered whether she would say anything before being given permission to.

Whether it be a bow of greeting, or even a simple question as to why she was here. But nothing came, and it wasn't hard to know why. After all, one of the premier lessons I'd learned from Nacre Three was to not speak unless spoken to, or unless you had a damn good reason for it. Something the Gem in front of me had seemingly taken to heart, as she stared at me with an expression that should have betrayed nothing, save for the curious shine to her eyes.

Tapping a claw against my desk for a moment, I reclined back into my oh so decadent and unnecessary chair with a tired sigh, almost trying to ignore the flash of worry that I managed to spot from my counterpart, before I caught myself.

"You can speak freely in here, you know?" Such things weren't to be ignored, and while the Pearl's mask was good… I of all people would know how to spot such a thing. Even as her features twisted through several different emotions before, finally, the green figure bowed her head. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"It's an honour to finally meet you properly, Overseer!" I continued to stare, holding back the desire to mention that, technically, we'd already met. That had been a group setting, after all. And more importantly…

"... Your hands are shaking." The jittery limbs stilled in time with the rest of the Pearl's lightform as she stiffened, head still bowed and face most likely purposefully obscured from my sight.

"... Right, this isn't working." Standing up, -this scared her- I strode around the breadth of my desk and began to approach my copy, ignoring her suddenly clenched hands, words being muttered under her breath that she likely assumed I couldn't hear.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm-" Words that stopped as I made to put a clawed hand on her shoulder-"Make me proud." -before barely repressing a flinch of my own and stopping myself, instead settling the limb around her left bicep instead, my other hand moving to cup her chin before -this will scare her even more- okay, to slowly and carefully pet her hair until she hesitantly looked back up at me.

As green hair that no longer perfectly resembled my own, muted locks fell away, I marvelled at just how identical the face I was looking at was to my own, even beyond the general resemblance all Pearls shared. Yes, identical, save for one thing. Her mask was cracked, panic and fear and failure seeping through those cracks and utterly ruining whatever meager front she'd been trying to put up.

"Hah…" There were any number of ways I could have handled such a thing. I could have reassured her. Perhaps brushed aside her slipup and politely pretended she hadn't just failed at hiding her emotions from me. But as my mouth opened and a shuddering gasp left it in favour of any true words, a familiar wetness beginning to sting at my eyes, I couldn't help but acknowledge that I was looking at a person who, for all intents and purposes, had been forced to try and become me.

A person who had experienced what I had experienced. A person who had likely suffered, if not exactly the same, then at least similar thoughts and worries to what I had suffered. A person who could understand. And a person who was now staring at me in utter shock as tears freely fell down my cheeks, matching the ones running down her own, even as my shoulders shook slightly, my own mask set aside in solidarity with hers. The hesitance and vulnerability in my voice was troubling.

More so that I was actually letting it go through, rather than falling to it despite my resistance.

"I-It's o-okay. You're…y-you're okay. We're…the s-same." How horribly inelegant. I wasn't quite sure just what I'd been expecting from such a thing, to be entirely honest.

"You…I…ah, aah-!" But as a keening wail (so very similar to one I myself had let loose just a short while ago) escaped the Pearl, all I could do was hold on and sink into my own choked sobs, even as she all but threw herself into my arms. Ah, what a mess I'd made of things.