Work Text:
FADE IN:
INT. PEARL’S APARTMENT - MORNING
PEARL is seen sleeping from the side. The trilling of a bird can be heard from out of frame. It's slightly tinny, as though played through an old speaker. A bird with fantastical, bright orange plumage lands beside PEARL's pillow. Its movements are jerky and distinctly robotic.
GEM
(mechanical)
Pearl! It's half past six! Time to get up!
PEARL
(mumbling)
Alright, alright. I'm up, Gem!
We follow as PEARL walks into a small, neatly organized bathroom. PEARL is shown in the bathroom mirror, with GEM perched on her left shoulder.
PEARL
Gem, what's on the schedule today?
PEARL turns on the tap and brushes her teeth while GEM speaks.
GEM
You have a meeting with False at 9:45. Grian will be arriving in the city at 15:00. The field drones are due for a maintenance check.
PEARL lowers her head to spit out toothpaste.
GEM (CONT’D)
(fainter, slowly fading into a background hum)
Skizz texted you last night. He wants you to check that his newly installed solar panels have no issues. Would you like me to make an appointment?
PEARL rinses out her mouth, then splashes her face with water. She blindly reaches for a towel, dries off, then looks up again at the mirror.
PEARL
That would be-
PEARL freezes, staring into the mirror. GEM is no longer perched on her shoulder.
⊣ᒷᒲ
(in the same tone)
Would you like me to make an appointment?
A WOMAN stands beside PEARL in the mirror, ginger hair tied into two twin braids draped over her shoulders. She's smiling. It doesn't reach her eyes.
PEARL
(quietly)
Gem?
GEM
Would you like me to-
PEARL
(voice rising to a shout)
You’re gone. You’re- get OUT!
PEARL bangs one fist against the mirror. Cracks form across the glass like a web. Her fist does not bleed. PEARL is reflected repeatedly across the shattered mirror, but GEM can no longer be seen.
GEM (off screen)
What’s wrong, Pearl?
PEARL whirls around, the shattered mirror clearly visible behind her.
PEARL
What-
GEM
Didn’t you miss me?
PEARL
You’re dead.
GEM
You killed me.
PEARL
I- I didn’t-
GEM laughs.
GEM
A whole paradise and she still left you. The world at your fingertips and you still couldn’t hold on! What a grand joke.
GEM grabs PEARL by the shoulders, forcibly turning her back toward the bathroom mirror, except the mirror is no longer there. Instead, a window leads out to the open blue sky. PEARL only just registers the change before being shoved outwards. PEARL shrieks, wind whistling past as she falls.
GEM (off screen)
What did you think would happen? That we would live happily ever after? That I would never find out?
EXT. LOCATION #2 - DAY
PEARL looks up. GEM stands at the edge of the roof, expressionless. She is facing PEARL, hair like fire against a robin-egg sky.
GEM
This was all a lie. When were you going to tell me?
PEARL
It’s not! It’s real. It’s real.
GEM
I want to see my friends again.
PEARL
Grian is arriving today. Impulse lives just down the street! We can-
GEM
(shouting)
They’re not real, Pearl! Whatever you did, I don’t even know. It’s all too perfect. This- this utopia, this mirage, this dream of yours!
PEARL
Please don’t leave.
GEM
I hate you.
PEARL
…I miss you.
GEM
You could join me.
PEARL
Why did you come back? Why can’t you just stay gone?
GEM
You miss me.
PEARL
Everything I did, I did for you.
GEM scoffs.
GEM
They were right to call you a monster.
GEM steps backwards into the open air. PEARL screams. She runs forwards, one arm outstretched. The trilling of a bird can be heard off-screen. It's slightly tinny, as though played through an old speaker.
INT. PEARL’S APARTMENT - MORNING
PEARL lays awake in her bed, breathing heavily. There are tear tracks drying on her cheeks.
GEM
(mechanical)
Pearl! It's half past six! Time to get up!