#or *butch* Pearl. they're gay af so Butch would be appropriate. Hahah

[pacexlikexaxghost]

Steven is a little taken aback by the reaction to his pronouns and the high five offer, but he's never one to turn down a high five.

❝Uh, sure!❞

They're not sure they'd actually... told anyone that before? It was never a big deal. The gems are... gems. Amethyst routinely turns into all manner of objects; it's not like gender ever seemed like it mattered. And he's heard random stories about his dad's dating history before his mom, and there didn't seem to be any consideration of it there. And Garnet is... Garnet.

It's all just kinda been whatever. Why should it be a big deal?

It's kinda funny for Pearl to be the one saying she doesn't get gender though, she's undeniably the girliest of them.

Well, maybe Steven is girlier than her sometimes. He just does whatever feels right. And sometimes that's glitter and skirts and ruffles and such. He likes pretty things.

While Pearl is just a ballerina. Which... why is that like, gendered? Weird.

❝Well, a few times Ruby was met with confusion until they heard her talk and decided her voice was feminine, same with Bismuth, though I think in this day and age they would just be read as, ah, what's the term... tomboys? And myself, in the past when I steadfastly refused to make my form match the women's fashion of the day, but then I spoke and they instead condencended to me and told me to dress like a real woman.❞ She rolls her eyes. ❝But, generally, yes, gems tend to be read as feminine by humans. I've never seen a masculine pronoun really stick to a gem, even when the human speaking was confused.❞

❝Who are Ruby and Bismuth?❞

Pearl pauses, both saddened at Bismuth's loss (at least they probably aren't going to find her as a monster; shattered is worse, but Pearl doesn't know that she'd be able to make herself fight a corrupted Bismuth) and also needing to answer that carefully. ❝... Two other Crystal gems I knew in the War, Steven.❞

❝Oh, okay.❞

She listens with interest as Flicker tries to explain gender, not that they say all that much clearly.

❝The queer community? Gender roles I'm familiar with, and I'm... not a fan, but I'm, admittedly, extremely out of touch with human culture. If it wasn't something Rose was involved with and told me about, I don't really know about it.❞

❝You should ask my dad. I think he was involved with that, with the stories he's told about touring.❞

Pearl makes a face. She will not be doing that. ❝I'll keep that in mind.❞ She focuses her gaze back on Flicker. ❝I suppose you could say my pronouns don't 'match' mine then, given that I don't have a gender. Not that I'd mind other pronouns either; it really doesn't matter.❞

❝I'm okay with she, it wouldn't make me uncomfy; it's just like... not accurate. Not that anyone has ever made that mistake.❞

❝And as for the organic pronouns, they could roughly translate out to a male, female, and unknown or variable. But they're really only used in a strict biological sense, because research is the only Diamond sanctioned,❞ she says the words mockingly, ❝reason for gems to be interacting with organics at all.❞

Oh. Steven? What kind of story about fusion would require Steven not being here for it? Well now it was even more intriguing. They both nodded back to communicate that they'd understood, though.

Flicker snickered. "Yeah, if she can't even stay together long enough to try things that aren't fighting? You don't have to worry about that at all."

"Oh!" Flicker grinned. They reached over for a high five. "Always nice to meet someone else in the community!" Dang, Steven had figured themself out even younger than Flicker did, too.

. . . Well. Maybe not, if they counted the fact that they'd only been alive for seven years before they realized they could just use whatever pronouns they wanted. In that case it depended on when Steven figured it out too.

They were deeply interested as Pearl went on. "Really? They don't have genders at all?" Though after a pause they added, "I guess that sort of makes sense. I mean. You're all gems that are made. The only differences are the type of gem." And having a singular pronoun sounded wayyyyyy easier than having a pronoun for each type of gem. "They really hardly ever use anything other than feminine pronouns for you guys, though?" They supposed that's where their mind would have naturally gone with the gems they'd met here, too, but they'd only seen a handful of different types of gems, and they were fairly certain there had to be a lot more types than just the ones on earth. All of them tended to be called by feminine pronouns?

They wondered if Rose potentially having a gender when the others didn't by default would make her trans.

At Pearl's contemplation over the purpose of gender, Flicker shrugged. "I don't really know how to explain it. I mean I guess there are different gender roles? But also like subverting those gender roles is a big part of the queer community. And gender itself is like . . . a feeling? I guess you wouldn't know it if you don't have one. Proving a negative and all that. Sometimes people have multiple, sometimes people have none, sometimes it's nebulous and sometimes it's not. I dunno! It depends on the person. But there's so many out there and people figure out terms to describe how they feel all the time.

"A lot of times the pronouns you choose match your gender, but not always. There's just-" They tossed their hands up. "I dunno! It's difficult to explain! Just- being misgendered is uncomfy as heck. Like, that's not me, why are you calling me that? Stop calling me something I'm not."

A pause, and an embarrassed laugh. "Sorry. Anyway, so then what are the differences between the three organic pronouns?" They were fascinated by all of this.