Chapter Text

Penelope never knew where she came from, which wasn’t necessarily uncommon for a servant to the royal family of the diamond empire, or a ‘pearl,’ as was her title. However, regardless of her situation’s regularity, it was still something she thought on occasionally.

The first thing she remembered was being transported to the palace, she was unsure of her age, perhaps two or three. From what she understood, her birth parents had sold her to be trained under the Grand Empress’s pearl on how to one day serve the crown.

‘Pearls,’ as servants of the royal family had to be trained at a very young age so that they understood the complexities of their roles. Just as a pearl was created through years of shaping within a mollusc, so too was she to be shaped over years to become a perfect servant.

A couple years into Penelope’s training, the Grand Empress, or White Diamond as was her title, announced the birth of her newest daughter and fourth member of the ruling lineage. As was the custom of the royal family, she was also given a title at birth. The Empress’s other two daughters had been given the titles of Blue and Yellow Diamond respectively, as they were descended from the Empress of the Great Diamond Empire. So it was to no one's surprise that this trend continued when the Empress gave her newest daughter the title of Pink Diamond.

The empire celebrated, and among the palace staff it soon became obvious that this new Diamond would need a servant of her very own. And so Penelope, who was already in training, was set to be assigned to the princess, once she was of a proper age.

The following decade of training was anything but easy for Penelope. She was taught all of the proper edicate of a servant; how to interact with the other members of the court, how she would need to be at her mistress’s every beck and call, how she shouldn’t dare to speak unless her Diamond allowed her to, how the Diamonds were at the top of their empires social hierarchy, and most importantly that she was at the very bottom.

At the tender age of fourteen, she finally completed her training and was ready to look after her new Diamond. Just in time too, as earlier that year Pink somehow managed to slip past the palace guards and run amok in the village below. It had taken the Empress nearly a month of searching all around before Pink apparently got bored of her excursion and returned to the palace. Of course the Empress was not all that eager for a repeat of what had happened, and therefore assigned Penelope to her as soon as she could, in a clear attempt to placate her daughter-- giving her something she could exert her will over, instead of acting out against the family.

Pink, just turning ten herself, was quite the handful. Penelope had trained for years, she thought she knew what to expect, and yet once in her role, she found it to be much different than she imagined.

The youngest Diamond was an... interesting child. One who was not too keen on following the rule of her mother and older sisters. Whenever she could, she would drag Penelope away from the prying eyes of the rest of the court and ask her things she knew to be unbecoming of her role as a servant; playing pranks on each other, telling jokes, brainstorming elaborate what-if scenarios together, once her Diamond even juggled for her.

Penelope at first did not know how to react to such open displays of camaraderie, but over time she grew used to it. Pink provided her with something she never expected, a friend, and even though she knew it was dangerous, she couldn’t help but feel truly appreciated.

Pink did not want a servant as much as she wanted someone to play with, and so began the happiest time of Penelope’s life. In public, she and Pink were the model of perfection, a Diamond and her loyal Pearl, but in private they goofed off as if they were equals.

Looking back on it now, she cursed her audacity, but she supposed there was no way she could have predicted how terrible the response was to be.

On Pink’s twelfth birthday, the secret came crashing down around the both of them, when Pink’s older sisters walked in on Pink braiding Penelope’s hair.

Punishment was swift, and as expected Pink was considered hardly to blame. Of course not, she was a member of the royal family, a Diamond, after all, and as the Grand Empress always said, ‘Diamonds are perfection incarnate, flawless and ethereal.’ so of course she wouldn't be punished. No, the one who took the brunt of the retribution was Penelope herself.

She was considered to be a corrupting influence, someone who could never be allowed to live after the sin she committed-- convincing a Diamond that she deserved to be treated the same as a ‘lower life form’ was a transgression of the highest level.

At first, the plan was to execute her for her crimes. However Pink stepped in and begged her mother to reconsider, to mixed success. She argued that Penelope was only sixteen and still considered a child herself, which meant that her bad behavior must have been taught to her not an innate fault. The Empress mulled over the argument before caving to her daughter.

And before Penelope could even process what was happening, her teacher, the pearl who trained her on everything she knew about how to survive in the court of the Diamonds was sentenced to the guillotine for the crimes of mis-educating a servant. Penelope, distraught over the woman she indirectly sentenced to death, was to be locked in the dungeons until she learned her lesson.

She knew not how long she was in the dungeon as she stopped counting the days after 100, but if she had to guess it must have at least been a year. As hard as life was for her as a Pearl it was infinitesimally harder as a prisoner. The food was almost inedible, her cell always too cold-- especially in the winter, and worst of all she was alone.

Every once in a while, stuck in the empty and isolating dungeon, she would hear the sound of her teacher’s last scream before the guillotine came down on her head. The longer she stayed in the dungeon the louder and more frequent it became in her own mind, until one day it began to form words as well.

Look what you did to me. The voice would echo in her mind

You are an awful and selfish child, and you deserve everything that is happening to you.

Occasionally, whenever that voice became too much to handle, she would scream. Everyday it felt like the voice, her guilt, would grow louder and more insistent, and she felt the only was to distract herself was to scream as loud as she could, hoping that someone would just put her out of her misery.

She supposed that the guards did not appreciate her cries, as they began whipping her to keep her quiet. These whipping grew so common that despite the Grand Empress’s insistence that she should bare no scars where people could see, eventually one of the guard’s hands slipped and accidentally struck her face.

She ended up losing that eye, and the guard who whipped her ended up losing his hand-- not that she bore him any pity.

She never screamed after that, never protested about her food, never complained about the cold. She just sat in her cell quietly, allowing the voice, to continue to accuse her of something she was convinced was now her fault. In hindsight, she realized that it must have been her complete acquiescence that convinced the Grand Empress to let her out, as once she stopped bothering to even eat, she was released.

Adjusting to being outside of her cell was challenging, but she knew what the results of failure were-- so she hid her tears, she hid her tremors, only allowing them to shine through when she was alone. Soon she resumed her duties as a Pearl, with the caveat that if she acted up one more time, nothing would be able to protect her.

Of course she wasn’t assigned to Pink any longer, it seemed in her absence that Pink had received a new servant. A younger girl, closer in age to her the Diamond. Penelope had only managed to catch passing glimpses of this new servant-- not that she particularly wanted to interact with her, as she was sure it wouldn’t go well for either of them. From what she could tell, this new Pearl was doing a good job keeping things completely professional with her Diamond, and that was all Penelope could wish for, that no one would not make the same mistake she had. Eventually, she purposely tried to avoid both Pink and her replacement Pearl.

Pink never reached out to her, she had clearly moved on, and so Penelope learned to do the same.

The next discussed option was to give her to one of Pink’s elder sisters, but that quickly fell through as both of the elder princesses still had their Pearls, and as Yellow had said, they had ‘no need for one as hideous as she.’ Penelope held her tongue whenever the Diamonds spoke to her that way. The scars that marred her face were large angry things that she knew she had to cover it up. She understood that she would never be as appealing to the elite as she once was, a symbol of her crime forever marking her.

That left only one other member of the royal family for her to serve, so she was assigned to the last person that she would ever want to be-- The Grand Empress herself. When Penelope first received her new assignment, it took everything in her power to not curl up into a ball and wish for death. It seemed that the leader of the Diamond Empire wanted to keep a close eye on her, and what better way of doing so than by ensuring that they would spend a lot of time together.

Originally, after Penelope was assigned to the Empress, she found herself angry at everything and everyone. She wanted to act out desperately, consequences be damned. But soon, that changed as well.

The more she spent time with her mistress, the more frequently helpless she felt.

White Diamond was terrifying, she would condemn, arrest and execute others on whims. A powerful warrior that despite her age had proven time and time again that she could still hold her own against even the strongest of warriors in her court.

Being in her presence triggered a very specific sort of fear. The fear of what horrific consequences any one minor action might have. It was that fear that kept Penelope doing nothing except answering commands in the Empress’s presence-- trying to be as perfect as possible to avoid potentially catastrophic reactions.

After being subjected to that on the near regular, Penelope began to notice even a change in her thoughts. No longer was her inner voice that of her old teacher, castigating her for her mistakes. No, now it sounded more like White Diamond-- chastising her for any actions she made that could lead to her downfall.

Soon even when she wasn’t in the other woman’s direct presence, she would still hear her, still feel the ever looming threat of her mistress. It was like all she could do was float around the palace retracing her steps and words endlessly, as if she were a living haunting.

The Grand Empress spent most of her time locked away in her study, only emerging to make kingdom wide announcements or to oversee a public executions. Which meant that outside of assisting her mistress with her nightly baths, Penelope was hardly ever completely alone with her Diamond. Even more bizarre, whenever the Grand Empress’s presence was requested for anything other than an execution, Penelope would attend in her stead, receiving a small briefing a day or two before by White about what she would be doing and what she was allowed to say on her behalf.

Sitting on the empress’s throne and speaking her words for her, as if she was of any importance herself, was something that the servant had never gotten used to, no matter how many times she had done so. She supposed, in a strange way, her inner voice shifting to White’s at least helped her maintain authority over the court when representing her, as she could so clearly imagine what her mistress would say to any given event. But it also made her much less engaged in anything that happened, as anytime she even thought of having pity on someone in the court, she was tormented by the voice warning her of the potential consequences of disobedience. Eventually court proceedings all became as predictable as they were brutal.

She welcomed new staff to the palace, represented her mistress during grand balls and parties for the elite, knighted great warriors on occasion, and eventually even dictated the Grand Empress’s verdicts for those who committed crimes.

Despite her status as a Pearl, she was soon as feared by the rest of the royal court as White Diamond herself. This in turn isolated her further from any and all people whom she would previously converse with when she was just Pink’s Pearl. Now not even Blue, or Yellow’s Pearl would dare speak to her, and everytime she met Pink’s eyes, the younger woman would turn away from her in shame.

She wondered if this was part of the Grand Empress’s plan to keep her alone, to keep her scared-- if that was true, then it was most certainly working.

She grew used to the hushed whispers of those she walked by, the trepidation in their eyes, the way others would clear from her path in fear that angering her would result in the wrath of the Empress herself. And so she stopped fighting it and let that mask consume her. The Empress wanted her to be a terrifying figure who would patrol the halls of her court, making everyone else fearful for their lives-- so that’s what she became.

Elegant and phantasmal, she learned to dress the part-- cloaking herself in her isolation, she allowed all of the color to be drained from her until she were nothing more than a ghost of someone long since gone from the world. It was lonely for certain, but anything was better than the dungeon, at least now she could eat food that wasn’t half rotten.

It was six years into this purgatory, six years of the same monotonous tragedy that defined her life, when her mistress said something that somehow surprised her more than it scared her.

The two of them were in the Grand Empress’s luxurious bathing room. Penelope was lathering her mistress’s long blindingly white hair with sweet smelling oils, when the leader of the empire spoke to her.

“Penelope dear, we will be having a new member of the inner court presented during Pink’s twentieth birthday. I expect you to attend and greet her graciously.”

Penelope felt her fingers, still massaging the elder woman’s scalp, slow to a halt. What? This… this was uncalled for, she had never introduced a new member of the court during a party, especially one as large as a royal family member’s birthday as that would take the spotlight away from the Diamonds.

Whoever this new court member was, they must be real special.

Curiosity and excitement began to bubble up inside of her, before that voice, White’s voice, echoed through her mind informing her that she best not display those emotions.

Regaining her bearings, she quickly resumed her duty and answered, “Of course my Diamond,” she bit her bottom lip before pressing further. She was curious as to what made this new court member special, but she doubted she could ask her mistress directly, so instead she added. “is there anything you would like me to say to her?”

Her Diamond sighed before waving her hand dismissively. “She will be a present for Pink, one that I acquired for her specifically-- she will know when to come in herself. The trumpeteers will introduce her when the time comes, and you needn’t do anything except look amused and happy for my daughter. Should this new court member interact with you, just play along. Understand?”

“Of course my Diamond.” she repeated.

That really didn’t answer her question, but she knew from her mistress’s tone that further inquiry was not going to be tolerated, so instead she just finished with her oil massage and waited to be dismissed.

Questions about this new court member filled her mind for the rest of the week, but she put those thoughts aside in the face of her duties, she knew better than most what allowing one’s emotions to take president over one’s work led to, and she was not about to repeat that mistake. So she carried about her job as flawlessly as ever with only a hint of that excitement lingering in her mind.

The day of the party came quicker than Penelope had imagined.

She had woken up before the sun rose that morning to make sure everything was in order for the princess’s celebration. It seemed that both Yellow and Blue Diamond had other things to attend to and only planned to make an appearance during the banquet later in the day. Pink was with her new Pearl still trying on various dresses to see what would be absolutely perfect for her during her entrance. That left Penelope as the only authority for the first half of the day, welcoming all of the nobles who came from afar with offerings to the princess.

Considering the princess herself was now in her second decade and of age to marry, a variety of noblemen and even princes from other kingdoms arrived in an attempt to woo the young Diamond to be their bride. Not that their efforts were going to go anywhere, as Penelope knew that the Grand Empress would never allow her daughter to be convinced by such men.

As all the guests filed in, Penelope scanned to crowd in a failed attempt to find this new court member, much to her dissatisfaction.

Not long after, trumpets played loudly over the entrance and all of the nobles stopped their chatter to turn their attention over to the double doors.

The trumpet players lowered their instruments and spoke in unison.

“Now announcing her grace, the lovely Pink Diamond.”

The crowd began to clap as the doors were opened and Pink strolled onto the floor, her Pearl in tow.

Penelope could see why Pink had taken so long to get ready as the dress she was wearing was quite extravagant. A large layered white ball gown adorned with what looked to be roses woven into the straps and her hair. The dress clinging to her body in all of the right, or perhaps wrong ways and was ever so scandalous cut into a star shaped pattern at her midsection, showing off her navel for all to see.

Penelope had to resist calling out, oh she knew that her mistress would not approve of her daughter dressing so revealingly. But she also knew that her mistress would disapprove of her more if she made a scene and brought attention to it. So instead she bit her tongue and hoped that Pink would not be punished too harshly for her choice later.

The crowd bowed as the Diamond made her way towards her throne to the right of Penelope, once she sat everyone rose from their kneel in applause.

Now that the birthday girl was here, Penelope called out to the crowd that the gift giving could commence.

All of the party gowers lined up to present the princess with their gifts. They ranged from elegant clothing to expensive looking pieces of jewelry. Every once in a while, a handsome man would gift his hand in marriage, but after Pink laughed the third one out of the party, Penelope noticed some of the young men she previously greeted quietly removing themselves from the line.

It took hours for all of the gifts to be given, Pink’s servant accepting them on her behalf, with only a couple particularly stylish pieces catching Pink’s eye enough for her to reach for them directly.

Once the line was all but gone, Penelope prepared herself to announce the transition to the banquet part of the celebration, but before she could, the trumpeteers raised their voice in unions again prompting everyone to look their way.

“And now for the final gift, from none other then Her Majesty the Empress.” They called together before opening the double doors once more for another figure.

The figure entered, took one exaggerated bow directed at Pink before looking back at the trumpeteers, who nodded at her and lifted their instruments to play.

The figure began to bounce up in down in tempo with the music, swaying her arms back in forth in what looked to be a comedic dance.

The trumpets played louder and the figure opened her mouth and began to sing.

A voice, sweet and carefree, but with a strange tinge of almost manic laughter filled the room. This figure continued to dance, her movements matching her song as she nearly bounced off of every wall with unprecedented energy in a whirlwind performance. Stopping at nearly every guest of note to sing a verse dedicated to them, or to tell a joke she seemed to expect them to answer. Soon the entire ballroom filled with the sound of laughter as this woman cartwheeled her way over to Pink

The other party guests, and members of the court rejoiced at the addition of this woman-- all of those she passed smiling like there was no tomorrow.

Penelope looked to her side at Pink who had stars flashing in her eyes as she looked to be resisting bouncing up and down herself along with this new woman.

Looking back up she saw that this woman was much closer, and now that she was no longer on the opposite end of the room or crowded around by other members of the court, Penelope could finally get a good look at her.

She was a lanky woman, her arms and legs seeming to bend in almost unnatural ways to suit her performance. Flexible and athletic, this new figure, despite her thinness, seemed to have quite a compact muscle structure, probably a result of her near constant flips and complicated dance routines.

She was dressed in what Penelope recognized to be a jester’s outfit. Series of pinks, purples, whites, and blacks decorated her costume, embellished with bells which jingled along with every step she took. Her breaches were exaggeratedly too big, tapered at the ends to cling to her, each pant legs decorated with a different pattern and color-- pink diamonds for one leg and black stripes for the other. Her torso was covered with a tight black fabric with what looked to be an upside down heart in the center of her breast. Her eyes were outlined with smudged charcoal, three thick black lines trailed down her cheeks and into a large purple painted grin which garnishing her lips, seemingly stuck in an endless smile. Purple face paint was also traced on her upper eyelids, and framed her brows. A two pronged hat was nestled tightly along her hairline giving the impression of two ponytails on either side of her head.

Most strikingly were her eyes, dark magenta-- Penelope didn't even know people could even have eyes of that specific shade and intensity. The way they swirled was almost maddening, if they were on anyone else’s face Penelope might have even consider them to be threatening, but homsehow on this clown they seemed, well, fitting. There was something so unhinged about the fool’s performance captured perfectly in her spiral eyes. But regardless of how the servant felt about all of this, the rest of the court seemed to be enjoying the routine immensely.

Especially Pink, who soon began clapping along with the jingling of the court jester’s bells. Laughing at her various antics.

Well… when the Grand Empress informed her they would be having a new court member, she hardly expected it to be a fool.

After she had been taken from Pink, the Empress must have understood on some level that her daughter was lonely and eager to joke around with someone. And so she began to hire fools to entertain her. However after what happened to the last court jester, Penelope wasn't sure if they would ever be able to fill that position again. But looking down at Pink enjoying her present, she supposed it made sense. Pink had wanted to replace the last jester almost immediately after her execution, it was only a matter of time that someone desperate enough would come along and be willing to fill that role.

The jester, now only a couple feet from Pink, belted out the final lyrics of her song, trumpets cheering alongside her until she ended in a bow.

Pink was the first to applaud, standing up from her throne and giggling like she were once again a little girl. The rest of the court joined in not soon after as the people lopped praise after praise at the new fool.

The jester however, remained still in her bow until the applause died down and Pink returned to her seat.

Bending back upwards in a motion so smooth Penelope almost did a double take. The joker, still wide in a smile, opened her eyes to look directly at the birthday girl.

“Thank you all for yer attention. But let's give it up for the princess, she’s the real sweet patootie here!” the jester announced, much to the rip-roaring laughter of the princess as well as the rest of the court.

Penelope, on the other hand, was stunned into a near silence as she observed the jester casually break every rule there was with engaging with one of the Diamonds-- addressing Pink so casually and without prompting. Of course she knew that was to be expected from a fool, they were almost required to break rules for the sake of entertainment, but it had just been a couple years since they last had a joker, and Penelope was out of practice having one in her court.

No one else seemed to be having that problem as they all engaged with the new jester, none more so than the princess herself, who seemed to be so taken with her present.

Closing her eye, Penelope leaned back into her throne and mused at this turn of events. A new fool, huh? She wondered briefly how long this jester would last, and hoped that this one would get to leave with her head still attached to her body.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the voice of the clown.

“Well, well, well, who do we have here?”

Opening her eye she was almost thrown back by how close this court jester was to her, moving from standing in front of Pink’s throne, to standing right before Penelope.

The servant was now face to face with this new court member, those swirling magenta eyes seeming to peer directly through her.

She was stunned, thinking back on it now, she wasn't sure when the last time some outside of the Empress even spoke to her that casually. Not even the previous court jester ever dared to approach her, probably discouraged by the rest of the staff before their first meeting.

Oh,

She realized,

This was the fool’s introduction to the court, none of the other staff would have had a chance to warn her before hand. She must not know any of the rumors about her.

“Well, you’re sitting on the center throne, so that’ll make you White Diamond right?” The fool continued with a joke, obviously trying to elicit a response. “I can certainly say I didn’t expect the Grand Empress to be such a looker! You are positively glowing toots.”

Penelope could feel her mouth fall open agape. Her eye quickly scanned the crowd to see them all observing the scene with morbid curiosity. A couple of them seemed to be holding back laughter, but none of them dared to show it, probably afraid that she would call for their heads if they did.

Pink, on the other hand had no issue hiding her reaction as she let out a loud snort followed by a series of giggles. “Ahaha,” she laughed, “Ahahaha, she thinks you’re mom? Haha.” Her Pearl next to her brought a hand to her mouth to resist a laugh as well, and soon the whole room was in an uproar once more.

Even once the room was filled with laughter, the fool continued to stand in her place. Those impossible eyes still focused purely on Penelope herself, as if she were expecting an answer, as if she were expecting a laugh.

Penelope frowned, she was not about to give this clown what she wanted. A laugh? She was the Empress’s Pearl, she was supposed to be above things such as laughter, no matter how she personally felt. “I am not the Empress, I am nothing but her mouthpiece. I speak for her in her absence.”

The jester lifted a painted eyebrow exaggeratedly before asking in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, “What? Is she just too good to be here herself? Too good for all of these fine people?”

Pink laughed even harder, turning to her Pearl and announcing that it was so true that her mom totally thought she was too good for everyone else.

Penelope, suffice to say, was absolutely mortified. These words… they were dangerous if spoken by anyone else, and yet here was this jester, speaking them like they were no big deal, as if she were not so casually playing with all of their lives.

She bit her bottom lip and tried to will away her fears that she would be punished for this. She hadn't done anything wrong, it was the fool who brought this up, not her.

Closing her eye once more she tried to focus, searching her mind desperately for some way to get out of this situation.

Should this new court member interact with you, just play along, White Diamonds voice echoed to her.

Right... her diamond hired this fool herself, surely she knew what her routines would be. All the servant needed to do was play along and everything would be alright.

Opening her eye and turning her attention back to the fool in her face, she narrowed her gaze and spoke.

“Perhaps, or perhaps your entrance was what was lacking. Surely the Empress herself wouldn’t make time in her busy schedule for any old two bit fool.”

The crowd gasped at her response, and the jester’s smile widened further, her eyes sparkling with exaggerated deviltry. It only took one look at this woman for Penelope to realize that this joker was absolutely loving this back and forth.

The court jester dramatically brought her hand to her head and twirled around to face the crowd once more.

“Oh woe is me,” she mourned in such an obviously fake display of dejection, “What is a poor fool to do when her pride is broken so viciously.” the clown added, the ending of her sentence melting into a series of chuckles.

The crowd once again grew into an uproar. This time with various members of the court calling to the fool to not take it personally, that the Empress’s Pearl was like that with everyone.

Continuing her faux lament, the jester clutched the fabric upside down heart which was sewn into her outfit and in a dramatic display exclaimed. “You’ve broken my poor, sweet, sensitive heart. How am I ever supposed to recover?”

Catching onto this game very quickly Penelope had to resist laughing, for she already understood that was the reaction the clown was trying to get out of her. This fool wanted her to laugh-- before it was something less specifically directed, the joker was just trying to do her job and make everyone in the court laugh. But now? Well, now the fool was focused intently on her, a challenge swirling in that magenta gaze of hers. It was a game, and if Penelope laughed she’d lose, the rules where simple and the Pearl couldn’t help but feel anticipation rising in her throat. It had been so long since she had been allowed the opportunity to joke around, to play a game with stakes other than death-- and she was not about to lose. She allowed a small smile to grace her features.

“You keep talking like that and a broken heart is the last thing you’ll have to worry about,” Penelope spoke, keeping her voice clear and commanding as she did whenever giving orders, but also with just enough twinge of levity that she hoped the jester would pick up on.

The fool's head immediately snapped back to her, that large painted grin as wide as ever-- it looked like she got the joke, it looked like she accepted the challenge. “Whacha gonna do sweetheart? Lock me up?” she asked.

And once Penelope allowed her small grin to laze into something more smug, the crowd gasped, now so invested in the comedic melodrama that was taking place before their eyes.

Pulling another fake sad face the fool once more turned to the crowd and replied, “Oh no folks, it looks like my time with y’all was much shorter than I imagined, but I suppose the dungeon needs a clown.” she laughed before moving back toward the glistening white throne on which Penelope sat, kneeling and offering her hands up as if to be shackled.

“But I suppose if anyone were to chain me to a wall, I’d want it to be you doll.” she proclaimed with a wink.

Laughter filled the room as quickly as redness rose in Penelope’s cheeks. The clown was going there now? Well, she was not going to allow herself to lose this game that easily. Pushing down her blush, she let out an exaggerated sigh before saying, “I’m sure you’d like that, unfortunately like the Empress herself, I feel spending anymore time with you would be nothing but a waste for me.”

It was the jester herself who first laughed at this, throwing her head back in a shrill chuckle before vowing to the crowd that she would one day be worthy of the Empress’s Pearl’s attention.

The crowd chided her, telling her that was never going to happen and calling for her to come back to them. Before Penelope could say anything else, the clown listened to them and descended back down the steps to the open ballroom making her way through the crowd; joking, laughing, dancing, and cartwheeling all the way.

Penelope on the other hand just observed, as this wild absolutely bonkers woman charmed her way across the court.

The servant leaned back against her chair, resisting a smile she silently repeated the jester’s declaration to herself over and over again.

Oh how she looked forward to seeing more of this new court member.

The next couple of hours passed in a flash as the jester, a seeming endless bundle of energy, bounced from person to person. Pink, as the center of attention decided that she was bored of sitting and pulled her Pearl with her onto the ballroom floor so she could further interact with her new fool. Another hour flew by before the clown bowed to the crowd in preparation to dismiss herself.

“It was a true pleasure to make yer acquaintance,” she called to the crowd, before focusing her eyes back on Penelope. “And don’t think I forgot about you miss high and mighty. I’ll get you to laugh eventually!”

And it took everything in Penelope power to not call back to her that she couldn't wait for her to try.