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 pink skirt tightly as stage fright kicks in. A man calls from the seat of her name, with screensqaures 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 inspire her, 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 surveillance screen 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..."
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[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 ballet title with her pink skirt and white ballet shoes.
She was recovered in January 1831 in the studio's remnants 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.
It is said that J-P-F-001 is one of the most known subjects among a few four recovered subjects that are now being rehabilitated as well. This creates a charisma in which J-P-F-001 became well known among the other subjects.
Notes:
J-P-F-001 has shown difficulty with communication and environment adaptiveness due to several cases of care negligence and stage trauma induced by Sebastian Chrome. However, J-P-F-001 communication seems to be indifferent in the presence of another subject.
During therapy, the subject refuses an attachment with the caretaker and often hides herself from the presence of humans every time she is aware of their presence. The subject would often excuse several questions with topics such as 'moon and stars' whenever the caretaker or counsellor began forming a comforting bond. This is mainly due to J-P-F-001′s awareness that people are trying to bond with her.
The related topic often involves the repetitive story of the subject's experience in an attempt to reach the moon during the stage, which is followed by a failure due to the impossibility. The subject heavily eluded herself into a false state of confidence by often imagining the moon in the presence of a lightbulb on a ceiling, only to fall into the ground wriggling in a worm-like state, or losing consciousness.
[Additional notes are needed ]
J-P-F-001′s persistence to deny recovery, however, does not halt any progress. In fact, under the assignment of Carolina Beth's assistance, J-P-F-001′s recovery is faster than anyone else in the Institute. Methods of learning have not even yet to degrade.
Progress suggests that J-P-F-001 is ready to leave the Institute.Please ensure no witnesses and news report present as J-P-F-001 is highly unstable towards flash exposure.
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One dream sets me on a stage I didn't wish to be—Pristine Pearl, my name and my legacy for the six years of my only known life. A poor young me thought with a head full of grey from another horrible dream that I was still in the studio. If the nightmares of the red curtains hadn't caught me yet, then perhaps what happened in this Institute would be.
A few Joylings were playing outside my room, their feet thumping and throwing joys as I felt their comforting cheer keeping me from loneliness. I was so relieved to see that my new bedroom was no longer the studio I was bound into, at the cost of losing many precious things I had been garnering.
But what bothers me more is not the loss of all the treasury I have kept for years. But rather what was lying on the day I was awakened. Today was a different day, for today was not like yesterday or any day. It will be my day.
I leaned in for a closer look, my fingers gently tracing the date box on the wall calendar with a few white glowing markers for each day I've been here. On the day I was awakened, the date was marked red as 'The Release.' Today is the day I will finally see the outside world. Today, I became human, just as I was promised by the humans.
"Oh, it's the day..." I thought. That feeling was bittersweet—I was happy, but I was worried.
"It's really the day..."
I was definitely not pleased with it. The dot puts me on the edge, and I'm not a good balancer when I'm leaning. It was not the day that mattered. It's how unbelievable that I was the first from all Joylings to leave this place—alone.
The humans around the dorm said my family would be waiting for me by the doorway, where the same day I would be released would also be the day I met them. My fingers have lost touch with the world for years, and I wondered if the sight of me is worth remembering since then. Nobody knows who I am other than the pearl-bearing skin I am now. I'm scared so much about this day.
"I can't believe it. I thought it was like two months...but it was really this fast?" I wrapped myself tightly with my arms. The steps I took out of my bedroom were pressing me.
"I must have done too well... congratulations on myself..."
"Yeah..."
This thought matters not to me. Each second I stayed, and I'm stalling what seemed to be my only opportunity to find the moon. I grasped the doorknob tightly, ready to sail in the sea of night to search for my family. For one last memory of this place and my name, I wear my old stage uniform and my precious crown that I have always been known for long in the world.
"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. I 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 my room, right?
Buk! A ball hits my face. Soft but still hurt, I looked upon the two Joylings who were tossing them recklessly.
"Ms. Pearl! We're sorry! We're just playing around! We didn't mean to!" It was the egg siblings—Topple, Crack, and Yolk. One was supposed to be in the other dorm, but I guess Topple could join with his sisters since he has no one in his dorm.
"No need to apologize...I don't have time to discipline you." I raise my hand as my command is clear. As I was one of the big four of the Joylings, everyone heeded my words well.
"Now if you excuse me, I have a case to catch." She leaves them.
I went downstairs as I wished to see their faces when they heard about me. All Joylings are still in one piece in the playground, unaware of my departure and perhaps the day that one of the big four would vanish. To think that they wouldn't care about me is an understatement, because I do care for them.
"Just another day, I guess..." I thought.
I strolled around, my arms crossed behind my back, and my foot tiptoeing with all the ballet practices I have been sharpening myself with. I like to do this among these Joylings—it gave me power being so freely among those who looked upon me with awe. I was the most beautiful Joyling here.
Perhaps with what's left in me, I must release it so I don't feel bad leaving this place now. The power—not just a power, but a memory—helps me feel better about myself around these people. Joylings are my friends, my people, and my only known family.
"Go on. Keep playing with what you are doing out there. I'll let you know that no one would be saddened here..." I took a box of crayons from one of the Joylings who didn't want to share them.
"I'm only around here to feel myself happy...for one last time..."
"If you say so, Ms. Pristine!" Theresa said.
"Hey, I need that board! I want to play Gleam!" Ambressia yells for a human to let her have one. But the human couldn't let her take more than she deserved.
"But you already have one! We're running out of Gleam here! Some kids wants to play, too!" The human said, holding the board from her.
"Ugh! You can't just take it from us! We need that!" Jellybean shrieks on the human's legs, crawling like the spider she is.
"Woah! Woah! Hey! We'll find more! But please just wait one more day, okay? She won't be gone, anyway!"
I made a good pal with Joyling on every corner of this wall. Sometimes it was praise, sometimes it was a compliment, and sometimes it was worship. I love them and they love me back, yet I couldn't say the same with humans. I didn't like their tone or gesture—it scares me. They don't look so friendly
I headed into the counselling room, searching for someone I knew. My caretaker; the only human I trusted for two months since I've been here. Yesterday, I was somewhere in the vault, wondering about my fate, until these people found me and put my life in danger. Now, I'm wandering freely like I was one of them. I was about to be one of them eventually.
"Oh! Hello there, Pearl!" The woman looked at me with a teasing smile. Her name was Carolina, and she was the one who helped me get through this place.
"O-oh! Mrs. Carolina! I...ehem...pleasant to see you here..."
My heart beat rapidly, my hands trembled, and my eyes nodded so fast from her sight. No matter how I see them, humans are still terrifying to me. Yet humans are why I'm here, helping me from what I was once in the studio for six years. They were a beast, and now the beast was my savior.
"I see you are looking for me, girl. No need to hide it from me." She smirks, looking low at me but also worried.
"I didn't...I didn't hide anything! I was just wondering if you were waiting for me."
"Waiting for you? Waiting for—oh..." She find
I find it difficult to talk to them. Sometimes, my voice just went on and off, and I nearly lost consciousness. I was worried they would hide something behind their backs! Always something on their backs. Then I opened my eyes and saw they weren't.
"Is it really today? Are you finally going to be outside? Are you prepared for this?" Carolina stares at me eagerly.
"Y-yes, Mrs. Carolina! I am!" I yelled bravely as I let her know how eager I was. Yet deep down, I'm still lost and stuck in this thought and fear of the human. They couldn't just accept me enough. I could tell that something bad was going to happen to me. Yet I couldn't deny that I've deserved to face it.
Those two months of self-reflection and recovery were not done alone, as I knew where to lay my doubt or to raise myself from the dust. Carolina is a woman who knows she is a living being more than Sebastian would ever do to me. She was caring! And she said I was already enough who I am.
"My, you look even more energized than I remember. Just months ago, you were timid of me. But now, you even raise your voice. Congrats, now you're a teen."
"It's that a compliment?" I wondered. Age was not the thing I had been holding on to.
"Yep. And you deserve it for today. But, I suggest you should start working on your look first. You look messy and unprepared..."
"I was in a hurry," I replied, trying to be as adaptive as I could.
"What for? It's still morning. And I just had my first coffee..."
Carolina was a saint in the disguise of a beast. She has the heart of a Joyling but the skin of an imperfect being. As days go by the walls of this Institute, those skins remain, but the heart reveals itself to me. She is the woman who knows I will miss her so much when I leave.
"*Sobs* I'm not ready for this. Being the first one to step into the world? I guess it's good for me..." I shed a tear of fear, my time draws closer from this place. Sooner or later, I may have forgotten not only my friends but also the only human I've trusted for the first time.
"But being away from you? Can I even trust that world would have people like you, Ms. Carolina?"
"Aww, of course you do. You would've had a mother who loves you as I do." She replies comfortingly. Her words were hard to deny, and I could only wonder why it had to be this way.
"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." I crossed my arms with a sad, admitting look as I realize she was right.
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[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 my time to fly away from this place and join the flocks of humanity as I used to be. No longer would I wait in the corner, and my days of thinking shall be over.
My room had been busy since that morning, as sleeping on a terrible dream reeks with many disturbances. But cleaning over the room for another Joyling to come is more difficult than messing it up. I could only hope I did this good deed for one last reason.
"Hm...this is ridiculous..." I sweep the floor, clean the trash, and organize as I tell myself.
"*Sigh* Why did I have to make a mess?"
"How can I sleep in a real world if I keep messing around?"
"What a terrible Joyling I am..."
"Can this get any worse?" I thought moments before the star gave me the answer.
Crack!! My window cracked. A guest unwanted.