readability, I'm going to be using he and she where needed. I'll emphasize the whole gems insult others using sex in other ways.
--
White was no longer in seclusion. That was good. Green had to tell himself that as he left, because he would have been trembling had he been organic. Just because he could handle her did not mean he didn't leave exhausted. Designing more Gems with her had been a task and a half. Rewarding in its own way, but also horribly exhausting. He couldn't even get tired and he wanted to just sit down and rest now, even if it wouldn't help.
Fortunately, he did know what would help. Some mindless repetitive work. Next on his agenda was going to be evaluating Gem-types and their respective jobs. He would first have to categorize the gems in question. He would then have look at the reports on their abilities. Afterwards he'd have to look over what jobs were done by what, and whether there was overlap, and so on so on. Mostly tedious categorization where thinking could come after he had the data.
Though the thinking was still necessary and rather inconclusive. In some places a gem-type could do too much. Sapphires for instance had future sight and were in such demand that they had waiting lists almost years long. Rubies were easy and obvious. The pyrokinetic gems had so many uses that they could be used practically anywhere. Other gems were less so. Some were just niche specialists that weren't always in demand but were heavily needed when they were.
The more Green Diamond looked at it, the more he realized that just expanding their assigned roles and finding new ideas for their Gems was not the best way to do things. He needed to make something more responsive than that. At the same time just saying that Gems could do whatever they wanted would just cause issues and likely get White to shatter him for being a moron, had to remember that. No one was served by chaos.
"Horizontal organization..." Green sounded out a possible solution.
"My Diamond, you are speaking your thoughts out loud again." Pearl said from across the room with a half smile on her face.
Green chuckled. "Ah, well, you know me. Anything to report?" Part of being a Gem meant you could lose a lot of time just from thinking more often than you'd think.
"White Diamond has taken over the facility for Gem creation and testing and is expanding it significantly." Pearl said from her report.
The diamond who'd made that facility in question stood up in minor panic. "Why didn't you say anything? She'll shatter the off colors that we left!" Last he checked she had a very low tolerance for Gems that were too off.
"I did not say anything because she did nothing of the sort. Her current projects are creating a process of cooking Gems that can be done at the facility without 'treating them like plants' and fixing off color Gems, which includes the ones the experiments created. The progress is slow, but there is progress." Pearl responded back with serene amusement. "Bloodstone is apparently working directly under her as well. I've been informed that a new line based off her will come out within a century. Would you like a few assigned?"
Completely derailed Green answered without thinking. "Considering what I do, that's probably a safe bet." Green paused, examined the thought and nodded. "If she wants to handle Gem production fully, that is good." It was something that could use direct oversight after all, and White was uniquely suited for it. "I suppose that means I should start focusing more on a duty I'm good at. Do we have a science Gem?" He looked through the categorized Gems.
They did not. Most of the theory was done by Jades and then refined by Peridots. Jades were in fact the highest Gem generalist. They did a lot of the thinking and organization jobs. On one hand he supposed it made sense. On the other hand, it would explain the oddly uneven technological progress. If a Gem wasn't designed specifically to focus on something they tended to have odd blindspots when they applied themselves to that field.
"Make a note that I'm going to have to build a science team soon." The diamond said to his pearl. "It's likely going to be a big one too." Since he'd have to build something for all the sciences. "Actually, thinking about it, why didn't I have any Jades assigned to me?"
"I was not alive at that time my Diamond, but the records indicate most citied priority jobs elsewhere." Pearl's ever-present smile decreased as she looked over her own records. "Should I request some directly?"
"Not at the moment. Our current project doesn't need that. And looking it over, why do we have Gems just for law?" Green Diamond paused a moment and clarified. "I mean Zircons were literally made for court proceedings."
"My Diamond, you ask questions like that and assume that I can make any sort of input at all." Pearl responded before redirecting the conversation. "Also, on the subject of building a team, White has dictated that both you and Yellow should form a Court to handle your duties more efficiently. Do you believe she was inspired by you?"
"If she worded it like court, probably not." Green replied and tapped his very square head against a nearby hard surface as he thought. It made a satisfying thunk. "Fortunately, the court angle is easy. The Aquamarine that is already working for me will be part of it, as will you. We can make more in time. I'm certain Yellow already has something."
"Based on what I'm seeing they do. I believe you would call this formalizing an already existing structure." Pearl noted. "As it is their dictate we should make it a priority of sorts. We could use more than just me and an Aquamarine."
"Of course, go ahead and arrange something then. Also, get a few Zircons in here. Based on the records we have more than we need and I could use them for my current duties." Green Diamond ordered his subordinate.
With a nod the Gem immediately started sending out messages. Green went back to his categorizations, but he didn't get that deep into the work. He expected the requested Gems to report relatively quickly. When a diamond requested something, it was considered a priority.
Sure enough not even an hour passed before a pair of Zircons were presenting themselves to him. So far as Gems went, they were typical of the type, though they lacked the color coordination that typically characterized lower caste members. Zircons were considered mid-ranking Gems, enough resources were spent on making them extremely intelligent, but not enough to make them standouts in power or ability.
In essence, perfectly suited for what Green needed.
"So, you're designed to handle law. Could you please tell me your last job?" Green asked as an initial question.
The two gems glanced at one another, and one stepped forward. "Of course your radiance. We were both set to defend and prosecute a pair of Gems accused of stealing from our diamond. Yellow Diamond was presiding, and the Gem was judged not guilty."
"Fairly standard case. A ruby was instructed to move materials and no one notated the job properly." The other Zircon commented.
The statement caused Green to blink several times and he immediately shifted his priority. "Is that common?"
With an exchange of glances one of the Zircons bowed slightly and moved back. The two gems conversed and seemed to be comparing notes then the initial speaker stepped forward. "Yes my Diamond, about three quarters of our cases are relatively simple conflicts and mistakes. Half of the rest are serious crimes like genuine damage to something precious, and we have the odd case of improper fusions."
"Clarify improper fusions." Green said immediately.
"Fusions between different Gem types. It has been dictated that it is both illegal and grounds for immedate shattering."
"Oh for..." The diamond muttered and grabbed at a nearby tablet. "Where's the laws we..." He trailed off. "We don't actually have a law system. It's all diamond dictates."
"Law system your radiance?" Zircon repeated the words as if confused. "You are the law. We are made to simply be sure that you have all the information, and that the accused Gem is properly identified."
Green held up a finger as he scrolled through the information he had handy. It was, oddly compassionate and draconian at the same time. Gems who did crimes got a defender. The few punishments out there were shattering and harvesting. All of the cases went to a diamond, in this case mostly Yellow.
Honestly, he was more concerned about the fact that Yellow had all the cases. It worked for now, because Gems didn't do much crime, and there were so few, but once they reached the billions and perhaps trillions it wouldn't at all. They needed a proper system. Also he needed to research Gem fusion too, since apparently that was grounds for immediate shattering, which was wasteful.
Right now, Green sent off a message to his fellow gems requesting permission to take over the legal system, such as it was. Yellow responded nearly immediately. White took a moment longer. They both said yes. He then looked at the suddenly nervous looking Zircons and took off his shades.
"I've found the law insufficient. We are going to fix that." He said and laced his fingers in front of him. "Gather the rest of the Zircons."
The two practically ran out of the room.
"My diamond, please refrain from terrifying gems unless they need it." Pearl's voice called out from the side. "They cause damage running out of the room and we have to get it repaired."
Green Diamond gave an embarrassed chuckle. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Verdauga, EzertTheLizart, AxelLB and 1,194 others
Here's the thing about law. It was boring and uninteresting. Who wants to hear about the law for moving a box full of diamond essence from point a to b? What the punishment was for misappropriating that material was? For that matter, what the punishment was when the gem in question did their job and someone above them was the culprit, or if no one was? How about when the issue was one Gem trying to damage another one because they'd damaged their favorite spot?
Sometimes the crime was simple. Sometimes it was complicated. All of it had to be accounted for in a proper legal system. Having Diamonds dictate everything was both a waste of their time, and dreadfully inconsistent. They had far better things to do than rule on petty problems. Even more heinous issues didn't need to be brought to their attention. It was inefficient, and in this the Gems could handle most of it themselves with some appropriate instructions.
There were five hundred already available to handle that too. That was how many Zircons in the empire. That was how many had made up the Gem legal system before Green took control. On one hand that was a paltry amount, on the other hand there was so little work for the race as a whole that about half of them were doing absolutely nothing at the moment. Gems as a whole didn't seem to do crime that much, which was understandable once you looked at their society such as it was. Their problems as a whole lay elsewhere. That didn't mean that Green didn't want to address the entire process. Right now they didn't have much, but what happened when they magnified the population by ten? What happened when they hit a billion Gems?
He was essentially both future proofing and solving an issue now. First by organizing things into groups, then by defining and expanding those groups with the appropriate tools. A group that defined the laws, a group that investigated, a group that handled the court proceedings, and so on. Categorization and definition. Codifying what had been an informal organization into a series of groups with specific roles.
While doing that he started writing down the laws and punishments with the help of the Zircons. The hardest part there was in deciding the punishments. Simply put, his human experiences did not apply in this matter. There was no human analog to punishing Gems. They didn't care about fees since there wasn't a currency. Imprisonment was pointless to an immortal. The only real deterrence that was mildly applicable was pain, and that wasn't actually much of a thing. Too much damage would have a Gem poof, and depending on the Gem type pain ranged from pointless to debilitating. Green had a suspicion that he could create a proper pain inducer, but he really didn't want to invent something like that.
Instead, the diamond invented demerits. They meant absolutely nothing. It was just a mark of shame that a Gem would have on their record. (Which he had to make as well.) He'd meant it to be the lowest level of punishment, but the sheer horror Gems had at the idea made him bump it up a fair bit. Apparently, the thought of there being a publicly available reprimand was almost as bad as shattering. Green wasn't going to question the gem's sense of proportion there.
About halfway through this reorganization Green Diamond realized he'd created a police force, an internal security force, an entire judicial system, and more. He shrugged internally and just continued on after noting it and adding it to the list. They would have needed it at some point anyway, so he was getting ahead of himself there.
All too soon, or perhaps far too soon, they had the first real case that would have actually required a Diamond to judge. The new investigation department had located an Emerald that had been abusing her position to both cause damage to gems and disrupt rivals. It had been a subtle thing, the Emerald had been careful to limit her actual deaths to lower-level gems, but it had been extensive. Painfully so, in the instance of Pebbles.
Had Green not spent a few years actually creating and organizing the court system he would have personally shattered the waste of essence once the issue had been brought to his attention. Instead, he very carefully stepped back and kept himself hidden from sight as the court proceeding occurred. He needed to know if the court could handle the crimes of a high rank gem without his personal intervention.
The method the Emerald had used were not particularly relevant to him. She'd done her duties properly for the most part. She hadn't been visibly off color or murderous. In the end, it seemed the Gem had simply liked to hurt gems as stress relief and had a particular fondness for shattering Pebbles. She hadn't even done it that often. Once every few years. But that sort of thing added up when you were functionally immortal.
Her defender seemed to have a particular bit of trouble with that. Especially since the gem admitted it in testimony, despite explicitly being told not to. Green had to wonder if that was an attitude a lot of high ranking Gems had as the evidence was presented and the proceedings occurred. Based on how the judge looked, he didn't think so.
The current judge was an Aquamarine who had started the case looking stony, and as it proceeded turned into a statue. Her orders turned robotic, and her stare was practically dead by the time the case wound down. The Zircons for the defense and prosecution could see the change in attitude, but had continued on without hesitation, performing their jobs to the best of their considerable ability.
White had done a staggeringly good job of making the Zircons Green had to admit. They were dedicated, enthusiastic, and most importantly unbiased. They'd defend a pebble the same way they'd defend a noble-gem. In essence they took their job very seriously, and Green had another example as he watched the proceedings. The defender did her job without complaint and tried to be as professional as possible even as the one she was defending was shown to be more and more guilty.
Green found himself very pleased with his Gems at the end when the decision was finally made.
"In rendering this verdict, I have been asked to take many things into account." Aquamarine said from her high seat in the court. "The merit of the Emerald's duty, her consistent service over several thousand years, and her exemplarity record. On the surface it looks as if she is one of the top gems in the service of our great stars. A gem Diamonds could be proud of."
The defending Zircon cringed and stepped away from the proud looking Emerald, already seeing where things were going.
"Yet beneath that surface I find rot. Horrible, festering, organic rot." The judge continued with ice in her voice. "Not only have you been sabotaging your rivals, but you have also been defacing the work of our Glorious Diamonds. Five thousand, six hundred, and five pebbles have been shattered over the course of your lifetime. Three hundred Rubies have been damaged. Six Topazes have been forced to leave and be harvested because they could not function! Poofing is excusable and carries a lesser sentence, but shattering may be done by Diamonds alone! If I had a greater sentence I would give it. Instead, you are sentenced to the maximum sentence I can give you. Harvesting. You may throw yourself on the mercy of the Diamonds and pray they offer a pitiable glance, because I cannot." She slammed the custom gavel on the desk in front of her and a loud echo resounded in the court, silencing everything for several seconds, as designed.
The Emerald had immediately started to shout, but it was only after the sound nullification ended did her words get heard. "-This, I am a loyal gem of Yellow, this Male-"
Green Diamond stepped forward and out of concealment at this time. He stared down at the Gem without his shades. She quailed but rallied after a moment. The other gems wisely stepped away.
"When Yellow Diamond hears of this, you will be sorry." She hissed out.
Green crossed his arms and just stared harder before talking over her words. "I allowed you to speak because I was curious. Was there an error in your makeup? Was there some induced flaw? I can conclude that there isn't. Pity, I might have offered mercy had you been simply ill."
"ILL?! ME COMPARE-" The gem popped with a blast of yellow light.
"You give too much mercy to our gems my sibling." Yellow's voice resounded at the diamond stepped forward into the stage. She was in what he considered her full Diamond mode, tall, shining and radiant.
If the other gems in the court could have saluted harder, they would have. Green's appearance had already shaken them. Having two diamonds in the same place was extremely rare. Having two of them in official capacity was absolutely terrifying to gems because it meant something had drawn their attention, and there was very little that could do it.
"Thank you for attending this, my apologies you had to see such a pitiful sight." Green gave a theatric bow to his sibling.
"I had to see the results of your work myself. I did once perform this duty." Yellow stepped to the desk with the highchair and the very still Aquamarine still there. "I approve. In fact, you have my respect little Aquamarine. You have performed as both me and my sibling star would have. I commend you, and all of those involved in this process."
Green nodded alone with Yellow and stepped forward. "That includes you Zircon." He addressed the defending Gem. "It is important that we identify the crimes and most importantly the proper culprit. That means the defense has to be done to be absolutely certain we purge the problem." He glanced at the poofed Emerald Gem. "Now, this is admittedly fast, but the Emerald's appeal for mercy has been denied. Proceed with the harvesting."
The Topaz security was very quick on their feet in fulfilling that duty. Green gave his sibling a nod and she gave an almost invisible wink back. One key part of making the courts work was to make sure it had authority behind it. With both their shows, the institution would be taken very seriously.
---
Law and Order Reforms - Mildly decreases unrest across the civilization. Allows for internal security.
Internal Security - Reduces chance of infiltration. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Verdauga, EzertTheLizart, AxelLB and 1,290 others
Several hours after the trial had Yellow and Green meeting in a more private setting. Had they been organics, they would have been sitting and drinking something as the decompressed from the presentation they'd done. As Gems, they mostly just sat and Yellow's pearl sang quietly. Green found himself enjoying it more than he would have thought.
"I think... My next project is going to be entertainment." The gem spoke out loud.
"Oh?" Yellow asked as she stopped watching her pearl and started watching her sibling.
"We have nothing that I would consider entertaining. We have singing and dancing individually, and that's barely scratching the surface of what can be done. Also, I'm in the mood for music, and I'm not going to ask my pearl to sing when I feel like I need something. I don't think she could carry a tune, I never designed them for that." Green gestured to his own aid.
The pearl in question shrugged. "I am what my diamond wills me to be." She hummed a few tones and Green waved her off immediately.
"You don't have the best voice for it. That yours does is a happy accident." Green nodded at the other pearl.
"I am glad to be of service to my diamond and you your radiance." The pearl in question said with a bow before she continued.
"Your projects are your own. I have been impressed by everything so far." Yellow Diamond said agreeably. "Though I must ask, how is your court coming?"
Green had no idea, so he glanced at his pearl. The gem sighed slightly and began. "We have recruited appropriate bodyguards, supplementary staff for support, and several more Aquamarines have been equipped with ships as per-procedure. The full science division is still waiting on Bloodstones, but Peridots have been assigned and are currently creating a series of labs on the homeworld. No Jades have been assigned yet."
"None?" Yellow's gaze sharpened at the words.
"They've cited wishing direction and requested that the labs be fully stocked before formal movement." Pearl replied with a serene look.
The male diamond was missing something. He was quite sure of it based on the gaze the two exchanged and how Yellow's pearl stopped and seemed to communicate something with her peer, but he couldn't tell what. He wasn't sure he should pry into it either based on how they were avoiding the subject. He instead gave his own input.
"That will be good for bigger projects and longer term goals, but I still have more than a few smaller things to work on. I feel as if I'm rushing from project to project in an attempt to hold up a crumbling building." Green said in half complaint half exhaustion.
Yellow's gaze, when she turned it back to her fellow was less than sympathetic. "Oh, it must be very hard doing the work of a diamond, after all you only have me and White supporting you after all. I mean when I was born I didn't even really have White, she was occupied with making you." Her words had absolutely no heat, but the point was very sharp.
"Er." Green stumbled verbally and then scowled as Yellow giggled at the look he made. "All right fine then, I'm not justified in complaining just yet." He chuckled at himself before continuing. "I will still focus on entertainment next. I was going to study fusion, but I feel as if my organic memories are making me miss context clues that normal Gems would see, because I'm getting some strange answers when asking others about it."
"You..." Yellow frowned and looked around the room almost as if embarrassed. "Well... You aren't really hitting a taboo. White was the one to dictate it, and the few times I've seen it done with gems not the same type, it is mostly some raging, unstable, and horrible mess."
"And we can't just transfer the culprits into different areas?" Green Diamond asked curiously. That had been his first thought of a solution.
"Rules of law are yours now. You can handle it." The other diamond said quickly. "I followed her orders and the little I've seen of it does not make me doubt that it is bad. The punishment fit the time and I trust you to handle the repercussions of whatever you decide."
Green sighed and looked at their pearls a moment. "I need more data I think. Is it too much to ask that you two try to fuse?"
Both Pearls paused in their actions before looking at one another and shrugging. A few seconds of shuffling had them holding hands and focusing a moment. A long moment later there was a flash and then one pearl. She stood in front of both diamonds primly and gave a small bow.
"From what I know militarily that is stable fusion we use when we need greater force in a smaller area. It's frequently used by Rubies to handle issues they can't individually." Yellow pointed out. "We have that thoroughly documented. Between different Gem types it seems to be unstable for one reason or another. Hallucinations, violent behavior, and they often seem in distress. I haven't seen them directly so I can't give a better observation, and I know you'd want more information than secondhand testimony."
"That is actually fascinating." Green pulled down his shades and gave the fused Pearls a look. "I can see a third mental framework being made between those two and the power output appears more than doubled. Does it scale?"
"The answer is yes and no." The other diamond responded. "Three rubies are disproportionately bigger and stronger, but it's a bell curve based on experience. I think the record we've tried was around twenty. Three is the most efficient. Four is peak. Everything after that is incremental. I've been revising tactics and such to have the limit be three as a standard."
"And I'm assuming that the fusion and parts can decide the mindset." Green Diamond gave a wave to the pearls and the de-fused. "You can confirm?"
"It was akin to a conversation, with a third party acting as arbitrator." His pearl said as she glanced at her peer. The two had another silent conversation between them before she continued. "I believe one of us could have taken full control, but fighting would have destabilized the fusion. I must confess I do not see the appeal, but it felt mildly pleasant."
"Ohh joy." Green grumbled and rubbed at his forehead. "A mental component combined with a potential pleasure incentive makes this extremely complicated and unsuited for a quick project."
"I'm afraid I don't follow." Yellow noted with a tilt of her head.
"Let's just say that the rules are going to have to be complicated and I will need my lab finished before I can properly diagnose what fusion does."
At the moment he was likely just going to have the rules be something like fusion outside of type just merited reassignment. Should more crimes be committed they'd charge the components of the fusion with any crimes the fusion did. It was probably not perfect, but it would suffice until he had more data.
It galled Green to be so quick with this, but there wasn't a better solution without a significant amount of test. That would need the Bloodstones, and the improved line wasn't out yet. White was rightfully taking her time fashioning them. The only thing worse than no specialist was one that was wrong in some fashion, and Green would take a few years of waiting to be sure the line was proper.
While he'd been thinking the singing had restarted. After a few beats another idea occurred to Green that interrupted his irritation. He grinned at his sibling. "What's a diamond fusion like?" He asked.
Yellow Diamond visibly cut off her first response and thought before giving her answer. "I have no idea."
"Well, inter-gem fusion is relatively safe." Green Diamond noted and held out a hand.
In response the other diamond rolled her eyes and reached out. "So, the key part is focus. We will focus on a task and the gestalt will address that task and then we will defuse."
White light filled the room.
---
AN: Forgive me, but I must save the proper reveal for this for another chapter in the future. Please feel free to speculate on Gold Diamond's appearance and such. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Verdauga, EzertTheLizart, minion manager and 1,208 others
AN: This one's shorter than the others, mostly because I actually didn't plan to have it at all. However people really seemed to want to see Gold, so I compromised in keeping the reveal hidden and will only reveal most of it. I'm picturing a Golden Sailor Saturn Gem for Gold Diamond.
---
They came to life after the flash. Thoughts ran through their head with the speed of light and they lifted an arm to peer at it. The color of it was a mottled color that made one part of them panic suddenly.
Stars what did we do?
Calm yourself. We knew there was a mental component, allow me to find it.
Had they been another being that would have been the end of them. The disharmony was immediate and unpleasant enough to almost shake them apart. Instead, part of them focused and suppressed himself. His mind compartmentalized and reinforced the other. The other allowed it out of confusion if nothing else. The color of their limb shifted and changed. Green bled into Yellow and Yellow became vibrant Gold.
"Acceptable." Gold Diamond defined herself and found herself pleased. "My pearls, a picture of myself if you would?" She ordered and requested at once.
She examined the sudden copy of herself that the pearls helpfully projected. Two eyes, golden figure. Obviously female wearing a strange sort of leotard and dress combo with ribbons. Hair, chin length and squared cut, also golden. Mentally she could feel her components watching her and examining her themselves. Data flowed back and forth in a way impossible with words.
"Speaking out loud, I have what memories my components allow. It seems to be possible to share and shift them much like you would files on a computer, thank you for that analogy Green." Gold hummed a few notes. "Voice is notably female. I believe as a consequence of Green intentionally supporting Yellow in the fusion. And no Yellow you don't suddenly need to support this either, Green is both more experienced in mental discipline and is happy to be one forcing this to happen."
"My Diamond?" Green's Pearl spoke up with a bit of uncertainty.
"The mental component required for fusion seems to be mental coordination of a sort. Since both diamonds that make up me are quite different there's some disharmony. There's not enough to be a concern however. The instability is within acceptable tolerances. I will now check the power amplification and ability merger." Gold paused momentarily as she calculated and felt at her internal workings before she held out a hand and a staff with a large lens-like circle atop it appeared. "Ability is related to the inbuilt weapon, and it's not a standard melee one." She knew that instinctively, and Green's analytic powers let her know vaguely what it was after a few minutes. "Testing it right now would be unwise."
"Unwise why?" One of the pearls asked as they watched her with hints of wariness.
Gold understood the caution even if it annoyed her slightly. She dismissed the weapon and re-examined herself before answering. "Green would label it as a superweapon. I personally have no wish to destroy the room."
"Well that is good." Green's pearl noted with her customary tone. "Shall we be seeing them both soon?"
"In a moment." Gold Diamond focused. "Mental components appear to make me optimized for war. It seems quite enhanced over Yellow's standard tactical assessment."
She could actually simulate several battles at once mentally, which was mildly entertaining for all her parts. Something about war-games and such. There was a minor desire to sit and just simulate components, but Green's knowledge told her that was a poor idea in general. Simulations worked for initial theory. Real life was not a simulation, and he stressed that heavily in his thoughts. Since Yellow was becoming uncomfortable she decided that this was as good a time as any to end the fusion. There was nothing left to learn at this time.
With that she let go and Green and Yellow separated in another flash. The two blinked several times at one another before they took their seats and frowned at nothing in particular as they processed what had happened. There was a few beats of silence before Green spoke.
"I suppose I could see what the point was there, but only somewhat." The diamond said and shook his head. "Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to study this easily. The mental needs alone will make all experiments horribly inconsistent."
Yellow looked down at one hand and examined it as if she was seeing it for the first time. "I'm afraid I don't actually. If anything I'm less inclined to like fusion now."
With an upraised eyebrow Green leaned forward. "Oh?"
"Consider it a personal matter and leave it at that." The other diamond said in a both polite and decisive manner.
Lacking a desire to poke at what seemed to be a personal matter Green continued. "Fair enough. I will be amending our laws to have fusions done between non-same gems recorded and the ones involved imprisoned at the moment. Over time I'll should be able to gather enough data for some conclusions to be made."
"Feel free. That is your duty now and you're welcome to it. You have no idea how happy I am not to deal with that anymore. Exploring the galaxy is massive undertaking alone."
"Hah. I wouldn't doubt that. Remember, I want to know when you find other intelligent races!" Green said with a grin.
Yellow rolled her eyes. "Of course." The gem hesitated before continuing. "Your mind is... Interesting." She seemed to find the words difficult.
"I think I picked up that you found the mental discipline unpleasant." Green Diamond noted in a clinical fashion before he shrugged. "If I could not discipline my mind I would find it hard to properly function. The organic memories I was born with combined with the data my special talent gather make it very important that I keep my mind under control." Even then he had issues, though that was mostly just standard Gem stuff.
"Yes, we will go with that. Gold did have a component of that, but it seemed more focused?" Yellow mused before shaking her head. "Regardless, you have given me an idea. I will be running wargames now. We discovered a few barren planets that would be perfect for that."
"Let me know if you find anything interesting!"
And with that, the meeting drew to a close. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Verdauga, EzertTheLizart, AxelLB and 1,206 others
There was a new gem-type in the empire. This was not considered exciting news so much as something to keep an eye on. Depending on White's mood, this could happen once every year, every century, or longer. Most important Gems kept an eye on what was being made and whether they should be excited or not. In this instance the Pearl line was going to be rolled out soon and there was great anticipation for it. That type had been sectioned into two variants, a Diamond variant, which was extra durable and considered extremely valuable, and a standard variant, which would be used for everyone else. Most of the higher ups would have been drooling at the potential had they been organics. The prestige to merit a custom assistant was enough to inspire fights had they been another race.
Compared to the pearls, the new type wasn't considered noteworthy so much as novel. It was going to be for entertainment! That was an area that most Gems didn't really consider in any respects. They knew singing and dancing, but that was mostly in solos and duets. Spinels were going to change that supposedly. Green Diamond himself had taken them in and every gem knew what that meant. When THAT diamond focused his attention on something the entire empire held its breath. Every task he had applied himself to so far had been something that had shaken everything. By this point every gem capable of thinking was following his work with one eye, waiting for the next thing to fall.
Ignorant of his reputation with the rest of the empire, Green looked over his first attempt of a musical instrument with a frown. This new project of his was already proving to be more complicated than anything else he'd done, despite his desires. On the surface it should have been easy. In truth it was anything but.
Constructing instruments from memory had been an exercise in frustration alone. Even the simple things like a drum or flute were harder to make than he'd expected. All of them required little things he'd never thought of before he'd actually tried to make them. Different materials made different sounds, the shape had a serious impact, and so on. One very large roadblock was that Gems had very little concept of musical instruments in general. They were completely foreign, so he had to make them from scratch. His problem with this was that his specialty was in analysis and categorization. Construction was something he'd needed to teach himself on the fly. Had he not had a veritable horde of pebbles creating various materials for him he wouldn't have managed at all honestly.
Fortunately, once he had the initial concepts done, he had a few new assistants who could handle the rest. The first batch of Spinels were as eager to work as any new gems would be. They were a varied bunch, formed based of his vague memories of harlequin outfits and given a Gem-like tint by White. She'd given them picture perfect pitch, spectacular voices, a good sense of timing, and an extraordinary sense of balance. They weren't particularly smart, but that wasn't their purpose so it wasn't so much a flaw as something to account for.
You would think that lack of intelligence would mean that they couldn't help with his entertainment project. That would be wrong. They didn't need to be smart for that. Primitive men with little training could make and play some very nice songs. A Gem? Pebbles, as the lowest of their species, barely sentient things, they only needed a bit of direction and they could create nearly anything out of raw materials. Spinels just needed to use their focus and abilities to make things that sounded good. They had the pitch and natural sense of timing that made it easy for them.
Drums and horns were first. Simple things. Then flutes. Violins, Pianos, Guitars came next. Then more exotic things. All of it was used and refined by a new Gem type whose whole purpose was to entertain. There was a maniac determination that was unmatched in that dedication. It took less than a year for his little troupe to build an entire set of musical instruments from absolutely nothing. For all the flaws of his race, there were strengths too, and this was one of them.
This was only the first step though. Green wanted more entertainment than just noise. He had a troupe, now he was going to make an orchestra! That meant making musical notation, standardizing timing, and a few other things that he discovered while trying to get it organized. Honestly it was more pure invention than recreating things from his human side at that point. The memories he had knew it was possible, but didn't know how it was done at all, so they had to make things up wholesale.
It was a learning experience all told. Inventing musical theory from the ground up and then coordinating three hundred Spinels into doing a single orchestral piece took monumental effort. He was in essence both creating a new musical language and trying to make it sound good. This was extremely hard to do when you had so little experience with things.
This meant the initial piece was admittedly poor. It was raw, untuned, and barely functional. It would not be something that would win awards or be even noteworthy aside from the noise it made. But it was just a start on an entirely new thing for gems everywhere. When Gems had a starting point and a bit of direction they shined. The Spinels hardly needed instructions to continue working once they had set the basics down.
Green Diamond was not satisfied with just a few orchestral pieces. The next step was relatively simple. He took a few Peridots that were part of his new court and had them create cameras, then recorded a few demonstrations. A bit of testing led them to believe that the Gem network could handle video transfers to multiple people if they were careful with the data transfer protocols. (Another thing to address, the list grew and grew. This could be delegated thankfully.)
Inspired, Green immediately moved to his next concept. It was time create movies and distribute them to everyone! He sketched up ideas with all his inspiration. Slapstick with Spinels, a noir with a Zircon in a trench coat and fedora, a musical, and so on. A veritable suite of entertainment options for all your entertainment needs!
His first step towards this goal was his last step. It wasn't one problem that stopped him. Green could handle a single issue. It was a series of problems. Gems didn't really get acting. Their performances were rather wooden and unresponsive. They didn't have stages created. They didn't have costumes. Music was still being developed. Even actual scripts took too much of his personal attention to be feasible. All of this was surmountable if he focused his personal attention on it. He just didn't have the time. He couldn't even delegate it because the other Gems didn't get what he wanted.
So, he stepped back and forced himself to slow down. The music was going well, so they could dedicate themselves to that. It was something Gems could relate to already. They had a base reference for song and dance. Doing music with dancing was something they already did in certain areas. Simple videos of that could be distributed and shared, as could music tracks of what they did. This was something other Gems could understand and use immediately.
Gem psychology was coming into play, and Green was getting better at identifying and working with it. Gems liked order. Musical solos were very easy. There was a Spinal that did a mean saxophone for instance. Let her get going and she could do music for an hour and be thrilled. Orchestras were also easy. Having all the Spinels play together was relatively straightforward. As was having half of them do acrobatics while the other half played. There was even a rather hair raising performance where they all did both playing and acrobatics at once that they had made without even consulting him!
Once Green was sure they'd understood the concept he'd switched it up and introduced more styles. Classical had already been worked on so he moved onto Jazz, mostly because of the very good saxophone player. Piano solos with elaborate keystrokes. Three gems together doing some rock and roll. Symphonies that fit into no known human music and was purely Gem. All of it designed to force the Spinels to perform in a thousand different ways. All of it was dedicated to the goal of understanding that music didn't have just one form.
It worked. He could visibly see the Spinels learning and shifting and developing new mindsets. In fact that was what made him step back and look at the project again. He was on the verge of going too fast again. He was being too forceful and impatient. Gems could get set in their ways, but they weren't incompatible with change, otherwise they'd never gotten to the stars. He was running the risk of forcing them to obey him instead of just develop music right now. That was contrary to his goals.
So, he did the most painful thing he could imagine for himself. He found a few Jades amendable to the idea, and shifted their duties to a new music and entertainment organization. He then added a lot of notes, and stepped away from the project entirely. The job was not finished, but it was better that others took control.
It turned out to be one of the best decisions he could make, because very shortly after he did this, Yellow's constant exploration had discovered a planet with what looked to be intelligent life. His attention was needed once more, and he had no more time for entertainment.
----
Spinels - A gem-type created for entertainment. Peerless musicians, acrobats, and sometimes comedians. Adds culture. (Also surprisingly dangerous combatants) Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Verdauga, EzertTheLizart, AxelLB and 1,186 others
There was a large problem they discovered almost immediately once he had gotten the news. Green had noted it as an aside when he'd first began a survey of the empire, but it was now rearing its ugly head. They had one large ship worthy of its name, that being White Diamond's ship. The rest were tiny things capable of housing a half dozen Gems comfortably. There were significant fleet forces planned for the future, including flagships for gems, but that was in the future. The plans for those upon review were...
"I'm exercising my power to order a complete review and revamp of all ship designs once I'm done here. I am also vetoing any ship made up of body parts." Green ordered his pearl with complete seriousness. "If we ever, ever meet another peer race I do not want to have one of our Diamonds be a laughingstock because their mothership is joke. I can barely tolerate the hand-ship design."
In fact, he was going to turn his entire focus on ship design after this. Who in White Diamond's name had decided to make a ship out of body parts, and why had they decided to slap White Diamond's face on the mothership?! There was a monument to ego, and then there was a monument to stupidity. Half their fleet was a joke really. The hand-design, complete with articulate fingers, was insane from a building perspective, and he hadn't even fully reviewed it yet!
"Technically all our ships are Gem powered, and the formfactor is all based off our lightforms, but we could do this so much more efficiently. I also have serious concerns about putting all our defenses on one type of armor. That's just asking for issues" Green Diamond muttered peevishly as he examined his temporary transport before deliberately putting it out of his mind. "All right, all right, this is not the problem I'm working on. Do not get sidetracked. This ship is so small we couldn't transport all I'd need for a proper study but that is fine. We can just construct a teleportation base in an isolated area."
"Yes, my diamond." One of the peridots confirmed almost unnecessarily.
Yellow hadn't really known or cared enough to identify the race they'd found beyond possibly intelligent. To most Gems it was irrelevant, so Green had to complete the initial survey himself. With what Green could see, they were at the hunter-gatherer point if he were putting it generously. They'd been classified as intelligent because they could make fires and that was about it. There were no great cities, nor were there any farmlands of note. Their technology consisted of pointy sticks, big clubs, and fire.
Green was still very interested in them. He was also very grateful that Yellow had essentially given him control of the planet in the empire's eyes. This wasn't from some altruism. He could have made that sort of plea, but he refused to out of principle. The best sort of reasoning for mercy and compassion was one that had some sort of motivation beyond kindness for it.
In this case, finding another sentient race would fall under his purview because it was something that he wanted to study. Observing how a race advanced and developed would be extremely important in his eyes. Not only could they theoretically discover something new, but they'd also give him data about life and intelligence. All pre-FTL races were therefore technically now his according to the empire. FTL races would be more on Yellow's side, but by consensus the Diamond opinion was to ignore them so long as they didn't attack. This was again due to input from Green, but asking for problems when they had none was considered just general good practice once they'd discussed the possibility. Space was big enough that there was no point in fighting for things if they didn't need to.
Once the initial survey was done they designated a good place and brought the ship down. Since the sentient race didn't observe the skies they didn't bother to be that subtle. The isolated area they'd chosen was leveled and disguised as a mountain in short order. A base was made. They then teleported more materials in. Within a month they had a surveillance base setup.
The first batch of Bloodstones arrived soon after that, and Green and his group went to work. They deployed surveillance, observed what was happening, and got a lucky break very quickly. Though the luck part might have been disputed depending on the viewpoint. Finding a fresh dead body wasn't particularly lucky in many viewpoints.
"First specimen is an older one that appears to have died of old age." Green began narrating for their recording. "He, and the subject is male, was retrieved by one of the low visibility surveillance drones we have already deployed. So far the natives have not taken notice of us, or the surveillance, and I'd like to keep it that way."
In front of him the Bloodstones began to start their grisly work of performing an autopsy of the body. It was slow going, even with aids because the male creature was massive. He was larger than any gem aside from a diamond and twice as broad. The Bloodstones could and were literally standing on parts of him to access the rest.
"First impression is that these beings are large. The children are about the size of our Rubies, and the fully grown men would dwarf almost all our other gems. We've observed them uprooting trees to for various uses, and they have been able to carry dead animals their size and larger, so they are also very strong."
Green took a step back as blood splashed to the floor. His human memories indicated he should have been disgusted or nauseous. Right now, he had some mild fascination, and that was it. Even as the skin was peeled back and the organs exposed he felt nothing.
"Skull is interesting. Very thick compared to other species, though not to the point of causing trouble. I'm more interested in the jawbone, since that is very heavy. We'd need some visuals of them eating, but I'd guess that they are heavily omnivorous."
The autopsy was the first of many. Green made sure that they were all dead before doing it, but allowed his people free reign to investigate. The Bloodstones were made for both this and Gem study, and getting them used to investigating living lifeforms was vitally important. They worked with steady dedication and occasional macabre humor, but they worked well.
Steadily things were discovered, notated, and categorized. It probably would have been disappointing had anyone expected something spectacular. The race as a whole was best characterized by one thing, they were slow. They moved slow, they thought slow, spoke slow, and they grew slow. Based off initial autopsies they guessed that a specimen could live about two to three hundred years.
All told, this race they'd decided to label Ogryn, were actually pretty boring for the first sentient race they'd encountered. They barely understood fire and didn't seem inclined to do much with it aside from crudely sear things over it. Their language was a series of grunts detailing simple concepts. They were very simple and very boring as a race entirely.
Green was satisfied anyway. Not every discovery had to be ground shaking. Just getting experience in identifying a race and such was perfectly fine. The better information would come over a long-term study, one that Gems were uniquely suited for.
He would have left it at that, but his Bloodstones encountered an interesting discovery shortly before he decided to declare that they'd be leaving. These Ogryn weren't just big and strong, they were supernaturally strong. As in they could perform feats that flesh and blood just couldn't do.
Now this might have seemed like something that should have been discovered early, but it has to be repeated that the sentient race was already very big and very strong. They also lived in a sort of hunter-gatherer society that didn't show how disproportionately strong they were. It took calculations of muscle mass and bone tolerances to hint at it, and then using a few hidden puzzles to completely test it.
Green and the others could not actually tell how strong these natives could be. Every single test had found no upper limit. The natives were actually more limited by the world around them than their own ability to move and lift things. Past a certain point they'd just sink into the ground if they tried to lift something heavy enough. It was actually very intriguing, especially because they had no idea what was doing it. The novelty alone made this entire trip worthwhile.
This actually bumped up the Ogryn from mild curiosity to genuinely useful to study. Identifying how they were so strong was an interesting mystery. One that Green figured that his subordinates would be better suited to solve. It was neither urgent, nor valuable enough for him to dedicate his time to it. Instead he outlined a few dos and don'ts and let a small group of his people start up the study. Then he had the place set on 'do not disturb' and left people to things. Mentally he patted himself on the back for not getting involved in a multi-year long project.
----
Sentient Race Ogryn - Massive, hulking, brutish, and frankly rather dumb. This hunter-gatherer group has no technology development at all, and will stay primitive for the rest of their life. Only notable for the fact that they can treat steel like clay due to immense strength.
AN: This is not a war40k crossover. I just liked the design and made them aliens. We'll have a few other aliens like that.
And yes, there's a point to these guys aside from a single chapter. Multiple points actually.Last edited: May 7, 2025 Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Verdauga, EzertTheLizart, AxelLB and 1,080 others
Had he been human, Green would have been a bit giddy about his next task. That was his guess at least. Re-designing the gem fleet from the ground up was the task any science fiction enthusiast would be glad about. He personally was enthusiastic, but not particularly happy about it. This would require a lot of work and resources that he was loathe to spend.
Though upon review not as he expected. The basic designs of smaller Gem ships were actually rather decent. A bit too reliant on one type of armor, but that was easily remedied with a few notes and some delegation. Green had no objection to this style and function at all.
He could almost see the vanity in the later styles though. The hand, complete with articular fingers was offensive enough, but the designs for the Diamond flagships would have been borderline obscene in organic races. The idea was mildly amusing, in that they could merge to form a giant robot, but that defeated the point of having capital ships entire in his opinion. Also, he had no idea how often it'd be used, but it likely wouldn't be often at all.
This was getting into military doctrine though, and belatedly he realized he could be stepping on toes commanding sweeping changes like this. So he had his pearl arrange a call and focused on a few minor things while talks were scheduled. The gems he wanted to speak with were too far to easily travel to him, but a video conference was perfectly fine. It was going to be a bit more formal than he'd like, but that was again fine.
"Calling this meeting to order, Green Diamond presiding." His pearl began.
Green glanced at the screens. Four of the most experienced Emeralds involved in fleet actions looked at him respectfully through them. He would have been very confident in soliciting them for advice if they had more experience than they had. The sum total of military engagements at the moment were simulations and guesses. Honestly their entire racial experience with war and conflict was almost nothing, which was a serious issue that he could not correct at all. That said, you worked with what you had.
"Greetings, and thank you for sparing the time. I'll try not to keep you long. I know you are all busy." Green began and observed the very well hidden relief and surprise appear in the fleet leaders expressions. "We're here to speak of the designs and tactics of our fleets, such as they are. I trust you've read the packets?"
"Yes your radiance." One of the Emeralds immediately replied. "We of course abide by any orders you might give on this matter."
"That's not quite what I need." Green Diamond paused and tried to figure out how to word this before just going with it. "Speaking with all honesty, I despise the current designs for our capital ships and warships. The body-part analog is needlessly complicated, excessively vain, and expensive for what I envision things. Now I can cancel them easily, but we actually lack anything resembling large ships at all. Our largest ship is the Sun Incinerator, and it crews four, with frankly horrible storage capabilities."
"If I may your radiance?" One of the Emeralds spoke up and began at his okay. "The Incinerator is perfectly fine for our needs a the moment. A typical fleet consists of three to nine ships and requires little storage as Gems handle most of that personally. Scouting is done with Roaming Eyes or other small ships, and we've had very little need for large ships."
"Valid. I'd still like to have some storage for emergencies on each crewed ship, as well as have a dedicated troop transport. We use a lot of teleportation, but I will not rely on it for any sort of military matters. All it would take is one counter and we'd be blocked for years." Green could see the calculations in the gem's head at that and none of them liked the idea. "That is trivial. What isn't trivial is our large ships for the future. I want them created just to keep ahead of any theoretical enemies. Ideally I'd like one ship twice the size of the Incinerator and then the largest ships for extreme force projection, and diamond flagships."
"That does not seem like something you require our input for?" Another Emerald asked carefully.
"This is me laying out my thoughts and requesting input. I do not do military matters." Green Diamond clarified. "Do you want the hand and other capital ships designed as body parts? You have the proposed specs and purpose."
There was a long beat as the Emeralds very carefully reviewed the data once more. Then another long beat as they delayed.
The leader of gem-kind took a deep breath and let it out. It did nothing for him really. He didn't need to breathe, but he could recognize someone that didn't want to say something.
"I will guess out loud. You don't think the Diamond ships will ever be used correct?" He said and continued. "You don't need to say anything on that. I will cancel the plans for them. Now, the war-hands. Can you speak on them?"
Seemingly very relieved the Emeralds scrambled to speak on that. "They're expensive?" One said quickly.
"Diamond essence and a dedicated gem for processing is fairly hefty cost wise." Green agreed. "If they're large and capable enough this isn't a concern. Are the capabilities sufficient for that?"
"The projected durability seems fine, but I question the directed energy weapon on the pointer finger. It certain shows a technical accomplishment, but turrets do the exact same thing." The words were polite, but in the current circumstances it was damning. "These hands are going to be large targets. They have to have a purpose for that size. Just being there to take hits is counterproductive if they can't trade fire properly. The range does not impress either. There's even notation in the blueprints about it being able to punch something. Ideally the craft shouldn't be in that range at all. The form of it is irrelevant if it performs its duty though."
Green paused. His initial instinct was to cancel that project too. All of the objections were mostly that it lacked firepower though. "Would giving it a few more weapons make it more useful then?"
The emeralds exchanged glances and spoke on a private channel briefly before returning to their superior. "If we have a ship of that size, it will be called in when we need something a smaller ship would not be useful for. Overwhelming firepower is the easiest thing to think of, but it will do no one any good if it can't handle the attention. In this the durability works. The technical aspects of increasing the firepower would have to be up to you your radiance."
"On one hand I dislike the idea of hands, on the other hand-hah, we already have a design ready." The diamond said with a slowly growing smile. "I believe we can work with this. And the... Let's go with titan capital ship? This one will have to be designed to better fit our theoretical doctrines."
"We would use that for large actions or as a forward base." The response was quick there. "They'd be too valuable to risk in anything else. Defining an area as under our control would be invaluable in space if possible. It would be even better if they could function as a teleportation pad and shipyard. We could place it in defensible positions and theoretically hold an area indefinitely."
That gave Green Diamond more than enough to go off of, and he dismissed the Emeralds with a promise to present the adjusted designs to them for further review once he had them.
Green's initial thought was to just scale up one of their existing and proven designs for the largest ship. He dismissed that idea right off. Too many issues with scaling for that to work. He'd have to think on it later as he worked on the hand ship.
Physical shape aside, it was a marvel of engineering. The articulation of the fingers alone was an impressive flex. Sure the engineer cheated by cribbing off how a Gem's natural lightform worked, but that was just using their race's natural advantages. People didn't understand what it meant to have things move until they actually had to make them move. That was why the planned creation came across as a sign of vanity than an actual battleship. And why not? There'd been no sign of anything capable of rivalling Gems in the universe so far.
Green frowned at the designs he had and made a call to the ship-designers. The morganites in question had a lot of work to do with him, and he planned on making them work hard to make up for all of this. He didn't particularly like the hand-ship, but adding more weapon systems to it should be doable. They could also reduce the cost in essence by adding armor composites at key points as well.
There was going to be a lot to do. Not only did he have to get these things designed properly, he'd have to have a proper shipyard built too. It wouldn't do to just make these in the existing facilities. Those were meant for smaller ships! Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Verdauga, EzertTheLizart, AxelLB and 984 others
What does it mean to be a Gem? That was a question often asked by the more philosophical. The acceptable answer in polite society was that a Gem was a lesser reflection of a shining star. They were the dedicated servants to the divine. They were beauty mirroring greater beauty. A Gem was all of those things, at least according to the upper echelons of society. The gems in the lower reaches had little time or desire to explore those questions, again according to the upper echelons of society.
Green's birth and actions had changed those answers in many ways. Not all of them comfortable. For the first time, there was a different 'least' diamond in people's eyes. White was first above all naturally, but Yellow and Green had different supporters. This difference was so distinct in areas that it would have caused a serious fracture in another race. For Gems it was only a slight concern so long as White was still the lead, and that would not change in the foreseeable future. Doubly so with the way the new version of reproduction was shaping up.
Old Gem production was done by seeding a planet filled with life. It was relatively simple and relatively easy, like most species reproduction. It also completely devastated a planet. White had actually said on record for finding the process mildly distasteful because it made a planet very ugly afterwards, but had deemed it necessary. Green Diamond considered it wasteful, but had only been able to offer hypotheticals before he'd moved onto another project.
These hypotheticals had been loyally investigated by his subordinates. White had found the progress promising, so she'd taken over the project as a whole and accelerated what she deemed worthy. This had resulted in several new innovations that she'd immediately begun to implement after testing thoroughly.
One of them was a new way of creating Gems. Instead of the ground, it was now done in a device called a pressure cooker. These large metal coffin-like structures took in all the required materials for Gems, mixed them, and then produced Gems faster, more efficiently, and with less error. The process was both less confusing for the new gem, and gave White significant control over the cooking to address issues before they started. As an added bonus, it further unified an already rather unified race by giving them a central place of birth.
The fourth pearl ever created was made in that process. She came into being hearing a loud crack and seeing light. Laying down and staring up at a bright ceiling, the gem thought of nothing for a very long moment. It took action from above to finally have her form her first thought.
"Hmm." A gem leaned over the lip of the pressure cooker and looked down. "You look good, pity. Welcome to reality, I hope you enjoy your stay." The bloodstone's tone conveyed that she meant the opposite.
Pearl blinked several times before she realized she should herself out. Around her, more gems were also moving. Other bloodstones looked them over clinically, poking one or two with sharp looking objects. One Gem poofed from the action and the bloodstones seemed amused at it.
"Got another fragile one!" The one that did the popping called out.
"You know where they go!" Was the call back.
"Hmm, don't worry." The bloodstone reassured the other, more worried looking gems. "Or worry, I don't care. We're testing for cohesion. If you pop from it you're not in trouble. We might actually be able to fix you, yippieeee." While she was speaking she pushed the still very confused looking pearl towards a door. "You're good. Go that way, follow the line."
Pearl did so, noting that she was the only gem doing that at this time. She was the first to really finish apparently? Body language indicated mostly confusion on the new gems, and practiced professionalism from the bloodstones. Their language and tone indicated that they didn't care, but their attitudes were quite different. Why? What was happening? What was her purpose?
The gem didn't get time to investigate, or ask questions despite her curiosity. She was instead ambushed by a good dozen rubies and pulled into a sudden 'game' the second she got into an open area. She did try to protest then, but she was told this was authorized, so her confusion increased rather than decreased.
The games were entertaining at least. Learning how to pass a ball and how to read the intentions of the rubies was actually rather absorbing. Especially when the rules changed up and other new gems were added. The purpose of it all eluded her, but that could be ignored at the moment. She was performing part of her duty correct? Another type game was added, then rules changed again. For a long moment she just played with other gems, not understanding a thing, but enjoying the process. Endless competition with no real stakes but bragging rights and amusing diversions with other gems.
It was only when she was pulled aside and found herself in front of another pearl that she realized she still had no idea of her purpose. It was absolutely not to play games. Even the new rubies knew what they were supposed to do!
What was worse was that she didn't know the etiquette here! White Diamond's pearls appearance was actually in her birth information, as was how important she was. The white hair, braids and almost white eyes were impossible to mistake. No other gem was so elaborately and elegantly designed aside from White herself. Pearl wasn't ashamed to admit she froze up on the first meeting out of sheer horror and confusion.
"Hmm, acceptable." The pearl said to her the newborn gem after circling her once. "At least you aren't babbling."
"Er-" Pearl four tried to think of something to say and shut her mouth instead.
"We will get into proper forms of address and etiquette later. Right now I am here to inform you that your initial evaluation is completed and you are to begin training. Your purpose is to be an instructor and coordinator to non-diamond pearls." White's Pearl ordered the other. "Forgive the initial confusion, we've found that less instructions pre-cooking tends to result in better results in many areas."
"Understood!" Four followed her internal information for a general confirmation and just saluted.
"It is fine to be very confused at the moment." White's Pearl said with a half smile that turned real at her reaction. "Don't worry, no other gems would be able to read you so well. We're meant to be very good at that. You recall learning how to do it in your games correct? That is part of being a pearl."
Things suddenly made a lot more sense. "So the games are there to train us?" Four asked.
"Correct in part. Green Diamond came up with the games for his own reasons. We learned that it also helps with socialization, evaluation, and learning so we continued and expanded the process. Gems involved in little competitions like that tend to show off in ways that we'd never expect. It lets us identify so many important things that we never would have expected."
This she knew what to say to. "Glory to our stars." Pearl praised quickly.
"Yes, glory." The lead pearl's grin dropped. "And that is another thing we should speak of. Our next batch of pearls will take some time, but you will take pains to socialize with them as well. Gain their respect and trust. Once they are assigned to their respective Gems, you will be sure to keep in touch."
"My pearl?" Four blurted out in confusion. Wouldn't she do that normally.
White's pearl ignored it as she surveyed the empty area they were in before continuing in a lower tone. "The official reason is that all pearls stay in touch like I am with the other diamond pearls, but the other reason for that is because we've noticed a small undercurrent of resentment towards Green Diamond."
That got the other pearl's eyes to widen and she only stopped shouting from a shushing motion.
"It's not being said. It is not being talked about in the open. It's not even something our diamonds should know yet, but we know it exists based on a few suspicious actions. Our pearls will be best suited to identifying the whos and whys. If we can solve it without involving our diamonds we shall. If we cannot, then Yellow Diamond has already given us permission to purge the issue." There was a deadly seriousness in the pearls words. "Do not tell your pearls this. They might have conflicting loyalties, and we, I am going to emphasize this, we do not want the purge to happen. They need to be open with us to prevent that. It is an absolute last resort. Do you understand?"
Pearl nodded quickly. She understood. Part of her was scared, but the rest of her was excited. Purpose! Duty! She had meaning and worth, and she would prove herself!
"Very good. Now our first batch of pearls will be assigned to Jades and Morganites who are involved in building our newest shipyard..." White's pearl began her instruction as she swiftly walked down the halls.Last edited: May 9, 2025 Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Verdauga, theImmortalGuardian, AxelLB and 1,137 others