The spotlight is on, the curtains are set, and the stage is all for the show. But it was missing something—the performer. The performer lies behind the curtain, holding her tutu tightly as stage fright kicks in. A man calls from the seat of her name, with a camera pointing at the stage.
"Ladies and gentlemen, and also children of the stars. I present you the greatest ballet of all Joylingers...!"
*Piano tunes* "Pristine Pearl!"
"Come on, Pearl! Show the world what you have!"
"Dance for us! Dance for the world!"
The Joyling lies a pearly wonder—a ballet with a beautiful pink dress that could dance and swirl elegantly in a spotlight. But she was too nervous to be shown. Her grip on the curtain tightens as the call for her name echoes. The audience and the cameras are looking for her, which puts a blush.
"I don't know if I could do this." She said to herself.
"The eyes. They're looking way too much at me. I can't do this..."
"You can do this, Pristine. I believe in you."
The man in a shadow stood tall with his face shrouded, but Pearl knew it was the man he could trust. The man calmly stood to boost her will, whispering words that entrusted her to move like a wind. In an instant, Pearl leaps from her left foot onto the stage, holding the negative thought behind her.
"I can do this! I can do this!"
In the moment they'd been waiting, the audience saw Pearl perform on a stage confidently with a swirl of props. Emerging from the clam and eyes sought out to the moon, she calls upon its light to shimmer at her beautiful dress. The stage is set on the ocean, with waves flowing below her foot and the moon hanging by the night sky.
*Thought* "Yes. Yes. This is it!"
*Thought* "This is it!"
The audience appraises her, watching each second for her in the spotlight as she makes a complete series of wonder through the stage. Stars and lights shimmered above her head, and she had never seen down upon her foot. The audience shrieked in joy as the performance ended with her bowing with honour for all her audience.
"Thank you! Thank you so much! I appreciate all your love!"
"I couldn't do this without all of your support! Thank you! Thank you!"
Roses fly from the sky at her, and the camera flashes at the stage where she stands. The audience claps at her wonderful performance, captivating Pearl with such pride for herself. But the sweet taste of their praise was too loud, too much for someone who had danced even for a slight flaw.
"Wait, this isn't...right..." She held the roses.
"This is...not right...at all..."
Her joyous face turned into a horror as she saw the roses wilting before her hands. All the claps and whistles for her name turned to a mockery despite the perfect show she had made. But the lights still stand, waiting for Pearl to do more. But she has nothing more but grief.
"No, no, no, no! NO!!"
"No, no! NO!! It was all wrong! It was all wrong!!" She fell on her knees.
Her scream echoes across the stage, but the roses are still thrown upon her. What was once a spotlight for her now left her in the shadow of disgust and shame. Darkness swallowed her whole like a tide of insignificance washing upon her pearly skin and leaving her to dust in another darkness. Drown for the girl that couldn't swim out of her misery. Unless it was all a dream.
"No, huh?" Pearl awakens. Her dream was dark, but the world was still bright.
"Oh, it was all just a dream. All dream..."
Yes, it was all a dream. None of that people are here now. Not even for a second.
She is not the old ballet like she used to be. She has grown into a better Joyling, leaving the old shackle at the back of her head. Her old dress lies on the chair as nothing more but a cursed relic to watch—It's been six years since she had worn anything more than a skirt. But now she finally stands different.
"No more spotlights, no more screams...Hehe..." she chuckled nervously at the mirror.
"Just Pearl on the mirror..."
"Just...Pearl..."
[Rehabilitation Document]
Subject name: Pristine Pearl
Subject's ID: J-P-F-001
Age: 16
Height: 5′6 feet.
Weight: 15 kg
Recovery progress: Stable
History:
J-P-F-001 stands out as a Joyling with pinkish-hue skin and a glossy sphere head resembling what seems to be a pearl stone. With a face masked with two red cheeks and diamond-shaped pupils, her appearance is shown to appease audiences with more girlish features whilst holding the ballerina title with her pink skirt and white ballet shoes.
Recovered by several tapes and notes from Joylingers factory, J-P-F-001 was designed as a character with extraordinary dancing skill, serving as both the main character of "Pristine Pompous Hours" and a side character for other Joylings.
She was recovered in June 2004 in a vault along with other subjects. During the findings, J-P-F-001 would show signs of dismissal and resentment toward humans, preferring to be in a corner away from the light where others (mainly humans) wouldn't see her.
Notes:
Due to the number of episodes within Pristine Pompous Hours, J-P-F-001 is concluded to have her pride torn as a subject towards the stage, leading her to develop an acute stage fright and fear towards humans, likely due to her audiences being one.
During therapy, J-P-F-001 prefer staying in a dark spot or a corner, avoiding interaction with humans as much as she can. Rehabilitation was found significantly difficult when J-P-F-001 would often hide in narrow creaks and holes of the Institute before personnel were tasked to search for her.
However, J-P-F-001 was shown to have a quick recovery in two months unlike many Joylings in other rooms. She has shown slight comfort towards humans and has even made a small conversation with one during the break despite not being asked to do so. J-P-F-001 is ready to be launched into the real world by the end of August.
Please ensure no witnesses and news report present as J-P-F-001 is highly unstable towards flash exposure.
The poor young Pearl awakens with a head full of grey for a dream unwell. As if the nightmare wasn't enough to press her already, now she has another thing to be annoyed with. Joylings disrupt the peace inside her room, with their feet thumping and mouths screaming while playing cat and mouse games in the hallway.
But what bothers Pearl more is not the presence of another Joyling but rather what was lying on the day she is awakened. Today was a different day, for today was not like yesterday or any day. It will be her day.
She leans in for a closer look, her fingers gently tracing the date box on the wall calendar. It's marked in red labelled 'The Release.' Today is the day Pearl will finally see the outside world—today, she becomes human, just as promised.
"Oh, it's the day..." She mumbled.
"It's really the day..."
But Pearl is definitely not pleased with it. Seeing the dot clear puts her on the edge, and Pearl isn't a good balancer when it comes to leaning. It wasn't just the day that mattered—It was the fact that she would be the first among other Joylings to do so.
She was afraid. The men in the facility said her family would be waiting for her by the doorway, where the same day she would be released would also be the day she met them. Her fingers have lost touch with the world for years, and she wonders if they still remember her. Or if they loved her as she was told once.
"I can't believe it. I thought it was like two months...but it was really this fast?" She wraps herself tight with her arms.
"I must have done too well... congratulations on myself..."
"Yeah..."
But thought no longer mattered for the girl in a hurry. As the wind clears and the hallway is silent, Pearl grasps the doorknob tight, ready to set her path straight with a long-lost family. She wears that skirt one last time, knowing she won't wear it anymore when she finally embraces her new home and life as whoever she is there.
"Alright. There it is...still fits after many years..." She awes herself in the mirror. The view is staggering, but it still looks beautiful on her.
"And my head wasn't even round like before...what a shame..."
Opening that door one last time feels odd. Pearl was told doors wouldn't look like that outside of this Institute, but they said a house could have a view like this one. But a house won't have a view where a Joyling can crawl freely and children tossing balls outside her room, right?
Buk! A ball hits on her face.
"Ms. Pearl! We're sorry! We're just playing around! We didn't meant to!"
"No need to apologize...I don't have time to discipline you." Pearl raises her arms to stop the Joylings.
"Now if you excuse me, I have a case to catch." She leaves them.
With Pearl leaving her dorm to visit the others, she finds all Joylings still in one piece in the playground. How odd, but not surprising. Nobody seems to have been affected by her soon departure from this place. Maybe because they don't know about it yet, just as she didn't know theirs.
"Just another day, I guess..." She mumbles.
She strolled around, her arms crossed behind her back, and her foot tiptoeing like a ballet as she walked—Nobody seemed to judge her for what she was doing. But Pearl likes to do this among the Joylings, as it seems to give her power. On a day like this, it would have been fun to excess the remaining dominance before she leaves.
"Go on. Keep playing with what you are doing out there. I'll let you know that no one would be saddened here..." She mumbled with a smirk at the group of Joylings.
"I'm only around here to feel myself happy...for one last time..."
"If you say so, Ms. Pristine!"
The name Pearl was not alien here. It was one of the four names a Joyling would hear from the corridor of Joylinger studio. Pristine Pearl is not charismatic, but there is no doubt that people revere her for her glimmerous looks and ever-present state in the posters.
"Hey, I need that poster!" A Joyling yells for a human to let her have one.
"But you already have one! We're running out of Pristine Pearl poster here!" A scientist begged.
"Ugh! You can't just take it from us! We need that!"
"Woah! Woah! Hey! We'll find more! But please just wait one more day, okay? She won't be gone, anyway!"
She makes a good par with Joyling and a human on every corner of this wall. Sometimes it was praise, sometimes it was a compliment, and sometimes it was worship. But with humans, she could have been talking with a beast.
Pearl heads into a counselling room, searching for someone.
"Hello, Pearl." Said a woman who stood at the door she was about to enter.
"O-oh! Mrs. Carolina! I...ehem...pleasant to see you here..."
Her heart beat rapidly, and her eyes nodded away. No matter how she sees it, humans are tough to catch calmly in her eyes. Humans are why she was here, trying to recover from what she has been in the factory for six years. They were a beast, and now the beast was her doctor.
"I see you are looking for me, girl. No need to hide it from me."
"I didn't...I didn't hide anything! I was just wondering if you were waiting for me."
"Waiting for you? Waiting for—oh..."
Maybe that's why she was so afraid of going outside. She knew there would be so many humans waiting for her. Each time the name was called by someone who wasn't a Joyling or a Frowling, it always brought Pearl on her back.
"Is it really today? Are you finally going to be outside? Are you prepared for this?" The woman stares impatiently.
"Y-yes, Mrs. Carolina! I am!"
But one woman stood alone against that mind. The name was Carolina Beth, and she was the one caring human Pearl had ever met. Those two months of self-reflection and recovery were not done alone, as Pearl knew where to lay her doubt to raise her hope from the dust. Carolina is a woman who knows she is a living being than Sebastian would ever.
"My, you look even more energized than I remember. Just months ago, you were timid at me. But now, you even raise your voice. Gosh, you're such a teen."
"It's that a compliment?"
"Yep. And you deserve it for today. But, I suggest you should start working on your bedroom first. You look messy and unprepared..."
"I was in a hurry," She squints with duck lips to her.
"What for? It's still morning. And I just had my first coffee..."
Carolina was a saint in disguise of a beast. She has the heart of a Joyling but a skin of a heartless creatin. As days go by the walls of this Institute, those skins tear off slowly, and Carolina is no longer that beast. She is the woman who knows Pearl will miss when she leaves.
"*Sobs* I'm not ready for this. Being the first one to step into the world? I guess it's good for me..." Pearl shed a tear.
"But being away from you? Can I even trust that world would have people like you, Mrs. Carolina?"
"Aww, of course you do. You would've had a mother that loves you as I do."
"But why won't you just...be my mother? Maybe my mother won't remember me..."
"Who said that? A mother won't forget their daughter even in death. And if I was your mother, I would be a bad mother to leave you here forever. You remember what I said about eggs and feathers?"
"I have hatched for long as a baby bird. It's time I need to fly." Pearl crosses her arms with a sad admitting look.
[Pearl's Bedroom]
The baby bird had once lived here as an egg, raised into a chick who knows nothing of the world around her. But now, she has grown into a beautiful, pearly flapper. It was time for Pearl to fly away from this place and join the flocks of humanity as she used to be. No longer would she wait in the corner, and her days of thinking were over.
Her room had been busy since that morning, as preparing one suitcase was proven to be difficult. She didn't think she would have to prepare a lot after lollygagging in the Institute's lobby. Maybe it was too much power.
"Hm...this is ridiculous..."
"Why are there so many clothes to fold? I didn't even changed them. I never even change for a sleep..."
"Maybe that's why I should've bathe daily." She pauses.
"It's okay...it's okay...!" She mumbles to herself.
"It didn't have to be much...maybe...maybe I just need to bring a few..."
"R-right...a few..."
Crack!! Her window cracked.