No. Pearl stays though.

"I don't want her to head out yet," you say, looking to Yu for assistance as your moody friend leaves.

Yu's help is already yours, so she doesn't think twice about it. "Just claim something to keep her here," she advises, her tone more professional than you're used to. "Maybe you can give it back later? I mean, that’s how it probably works, right? You claimed only a part of my help a minute ago…"

"No, it's a good idea," you reassure her. "Hold this for me." You push Pearl's hoodie into Yu's hands, then you hurry to catch Pearl. "Wait!"

Peal pauses in front of the open door. "Can I have my attitude back?" she asks straight up.

"Not yet, but I don't want you to leave," you say. "I'm going to claim where you go, for now."

"Where I go?" asks Pearl, confused.

"Yeah," you say. "You were going to go home, but for now it's up to me, right? I'll let you go home later, but I want you to stay put at this party. I still need to wrap my head around this claiming stuff and I might need you on hand for that."

You expect Pearl to roll her eyes or scoff, but neither are on the table right now since you still have her sassy attitude.

Pearl throws the door shut again, frustrated. "If I'm not leaving the party, I assume I can still use the bathroom, right?" she asks, sounding upset. Even so it doesn't seem to matter. She’s not going anywhere till you say so.

"It's part of the party, and you're here," you reason, not wanting to push her too far. "The street's off-limits but you're free to go wherever you want in or out of the house. Y’know, so long as you stay on the property."

Instead of objecting loudly like you'd expect, her gaze meekly falls to the floor. Her mood soured, Pearl mumbles she understands and shuffles off to the stairs for the second-floor bathroom.

Yu's at your side again, watching Pearl go. "That was pretty smart, claiming the problem outright," she approves. "Just... try not to be too rough on Pearl, okay? I know her sassy attitude and the choice of where she goes belong to you now, but Pearl really values being in control. You don't want to stress her out too much."

You give Yu a look, curious. "Is this your official 'help' advice, or you worrying about Pearl?"

"I mean, I am worried about Pearl," says Yu, letting out a dissatisfied breath, "but if she needs my help and you need my help, and I can only pick one… I have to help you, at least when it comes to your claiming powers. Outside of that, though? Just, don't take things too far, okay? I don't want to pick sides between my friends."

"But we're good so far?" you clarify.

Yutong sighs, and smiles. "You definitely need all the help you can get right now, so I guess I'm in full-on 'help Chase' mode for the time being. You could stand to be gentler with your claims and how you use them, but it's not really all that helpful of me to criticize when we've barely started figuring things out."

You're glad you got Yu on your side before this came up. You don't want there being any conflicts of interest.

"So what next?" asks Yu. "You still need my help figuring out how claiming works, right?"

You consider your options. Pearl's now well in hand, you can always come back to her later to try things out. Might be better to give her a break. Yu's totally signed on to seeing this through, too. That could make her an ideal test subject, but she's been helpful so far...

Sullivan and Indigo are in the kitchen getting drinks, and it's Jane who's in the press of graduates on the living room dance floor, hanging with some of her other friends. Maybe it's better to leave them to their fun?