#that being said: remember a moon spirit wouldn't work! moon isn't an abstract concept

[theminecraftbee]

i have definitely not been binging the magical girl au, haha. i have a few thoughts about pearl, in part bc i think it'd be cool to see her. lowkey feel like she might serve the same role as cub did REALLY early on but for grian (close friend who knows something is up and is trying to offer support in her own way for something far beyond her). i also think that it'd be cool to see her possessed by a moon spirit and maybe that spurs a quick team-up between grian and scar

so mumbo is already in the cub-like role for grian (except a bit pants at it but he's mumbo so we forgive him). however i do like the idea of... pearl was one of grian's friends when he was younger, but Stuff Happened while they were all in school and pearl was one of grian's friends that ended up moving away. while she's away she makes friends with other people, grian has... his general grian problems he's a dark magical girl he unfortunately gets whacked with a bit of a tragic backstory stick and i have to finish working out how that's gonna go but listen if i'm gonna play into those tropes i'm gonna buy in all the way... and they lose contact with each other.

then pearl sees the city grian's in under attack by supernatural forces on the news and... it may have been years since she and grian talked properly, but her friend gem was considering moving too, honestly, and pearl's a bit worried, but pearl's ALSO interested in investigating the supernatural stuff (that seems like fun) AND her and gem's online friend, impulse, lives in the area, and...

pearl moves to the city again in the middle of a supernatural crisis, moving in with gem. hey, the housing's WAY cheaper due to the imminent risk of Supernatural Threat, she managed to even buy something! although, her home insurance premiums are like, super high, and her lender almost refused to give her the loan because she almost couldn't find someone who would insure for that kind of damage but look it's fine, it's fine.

and then pearl... doesn't talk to grian. she's worried about him but she finds out grian's fine, he's working at a greenhouse, apparently he has trouble making all his shifts but lots of people are having trouble these days. she talks to impulse in person, she goes with him and gem to cafes in the morning. and she's generally having a good time in life, you know? she's ALSO chasing after supernatural attacks to investigate them, because she's curious! and because she notices the shadow organization - and puts a bit of a conspiracy together about who's the one supplying the people for that.

her curiosity gets the better of her. she finds herself near a very suspiciously-timed spirit of whimsy. grian, on recognizing her, panics, and i like the idea that this happens before grian is fully in redemption arc mode so scar and grian aren't really on GREAT terms when transformed (although scar's already reaching out at this point) and grian doesn't want to give scar the idea that he's willing to work with him so grian comedically tries to help scar without, you know, letting team scar KNOW he's helping. naturally he gets caught in the act.

in the end, pearl ends up mildly traumatized by the fact that apparently the spirit of whimsy liked playing with its food and she was having a good time and it felt like a lot of that fucked-up stuff was fun because of that (always terrible feeling afterwards), but almost not at all less curious. then that strange other magical girl, the one that the local heroes fight, meets her on her walk home and has a quiet, sober conversation about how the shadow organization is... they're dangerous, pearlo, you've gotta keep out of dealing with them, okay? they won't hesitate, especially if they think someone's too close, or worse: has potential.

pearl nods and agrees and thinks: ah. only one person ever used that nickname for me. and she wonders if maybe he'd had potential, too.

grian still won't pick up the phone when she calls him.

however, impulse does introduce her to a growing support group for those who had ended up possessed, where she at least meets more people affected by the crisis. and her investigation can continue from a distance. at least. until the shadow organization thinks she's backed off. then she'll strike. she can't let a cool conspiracy like that go, you know! she simply must get to the bottom of it.

thus begins the story of how pearl ropes a support group into becoming a team of conspiracy theorists thank you for coming to my ted talk.

...gem, for the record, absolutely enables all of this, and impulse pretends he thinks its a bad idea then enables it as well. sorry grian, your refusal to do anything but push pearl away and isolate yourself has not kept her out of this, better luck next time!