A New Partner (Closed with Em, and Paddy)

[Em]

    Beach City was a rather lovely place to relax beside the ocean, and take naps, at least Em thought so. She had just finished updating the logs on her mission, and decided to take a breather. In all honesty Em rarely actually did her job, but after a few months she was nearing a end to her studies. She would never admit this, but it saddened her to have a possibility of leaving the earth. It was such a lovely place, and one of the first few planets she had made friends on. She'd been to countless mission, and they all felt the same. Earth was different then all the rest. Just the atmosphere of it felt uplifting. All that aside it was nice just to relax. On most missions Em was constantly supervised, but not here. Here she could do just about anything she wanted.
    Em had barley dozed off when her watch started ringing loudly. The watch was the only connection she had with homeworld after her ship crashed. The atmosphere of this planet proved to be able to wipe out a large portion of homeworld ships mainly because ships would land in the ocean. She pressed on the screen of her watch, and within seconds a hologram emitted from the watch. On the hologram a orange pearl looked at Em with a slight smile. "Hello Em! My master just instructed me to instruct you on a new mission! It's still on earth so you won't have to venture far, but you will have to fight some. Is that okay?" The pearl asked out of courtesy knowing Em had to take the mission regardless, and simply didn't want to be rude. "Yeah that's fine." The pearl nodded before looking at a screen she pulled up, and reading a message off it. "Alright so it looks like you are wanted to go to beta kindergarten, and research corrupted gems. If any should attack you poof them, and collect them. Please refrain from crushing them unless necessary. That's about it." The pearl read through the message one more time before look back to Em. "Oh almost missed this, but you will have a partner on this mission. She's a Padparadscha Sapphire. Oh my that's incredibly rare. " The pearl commented to herself before continuing. "I'll send you the full details in a moment. Once you've read them of your own accord please begin the mission immidiantly." The pearl finished the instructions before waving Em goodbye in a friendly manner, and ending the hologram.
    Em sighed not wanting to leave the calm beach. She waited till she received the full instructions, and opened it. She read through quickly before closing them out. As they instructed Em immidiantly headed towards the beta kindergarten. Within no time she had reached it, thanks to the warp pads, and sat down waiting for her new partner to appear. "I suppose they're wanting to see if there's any difference in the beta corrupted gems, and regular corrupted gems." Em spoke to herself quietly before summoning light buddy. She ordered it to watch the area in case corrupted gems showed up so Em wouldn't be caught off guard.

(Lol I know this was pretty lengthy, but I was hoping for something a bit casual. Feel free to be lengthy or casual WHichever you want.)

[Paddy]

A small, shining pink vessel zipped through the sky and came in for a landing in the designated zone, just up the ridge from the warp pad. The ship's pulsing jets kicked up dust and debris as it stabilized. When the door locks disengaged, they revealed the sapphire, whose face was buried in her records as they scrolled up her hover screen. She sat behind the threshold of her ship and the atmosphere of Earth, tapping her finger on the arm of her chair as she read her dossier one last time. With a sigh, she put away her records and retrieved her field tool-- a versatile slate that hovered at a comfortable length from her arms. She stood, and gracefully stepped down to the surface of the planet. 

Padparadscha prepared to make contact using her communicator, but after a quick glance around the kindergarten, she saw the Emerald that she would be working with. She smiled, relieved that this wouldn't end up becoming a wild goose chase (like so many other Earth missions), and made her way down to the warp. She approached with poise worthy of her station, and gave a proper Homeworld salute to the Emerald. "Padparadscha facet 10C8A cut 8QE, delighted to make your acquaintance. A beautiful day for a survey in the kindergarten, isn't it?"


(ooc: I'll probably have some longer ones as we go along lol)

[Em]

    Em had just about fallen asleep when she heard what sounded like ship engines. It was quite a loud sound, and made her jump. She leaped to her feet, and looked around. She didn't see it touch down any where, and decided to look up. When she did she noticed a nice looking ship right above the kindergarten. Is that the gem I'm working with? Wondered in thought she inched close to one of the walls to make sure she didn't get caught under the ship once it had landed, and sat back down not sure how long it would take to land. Quickly the ship started descending. It kicked up quite a bit of dust around the kindergarten before finally settling down. Em watched the exit of the ship carefully as it slowly opened. After waiting a moment a Padparadscha had stepped out. Hmm that must be my partner.
    Em walked towards her, and was about to greet the other gem when they saluted. Caught off guard, Em saluted sloppily before responding. She hadn't saluted to anyone in over a year. "Emerald facet 52Y3G cut 9DF." She quickly dropped the salute once the other gem had greeted her more casually. "Yes it is quite a nice day. Oh by the way you can just call me Em." After responding it wasn't long till light buddy had showed back up, and walked beside Em. It pointed at the ship, and Em smiled casually. "Yeah I'm aware a ship just landed." Light buddy smirked pointing out the obvious to mess with Em, and afterwards it walked away once again to continue watching for corrupted gems. "Sorry about that. It's a hologram of sorts, and is quite sarcastic." She apologized for light buddy hoping it didn't make a bad impression.

(Btw sorry the font was so large on the last one. I had messed up with the size of it when changing the size, and couldn't figure out the original size x3)

[Paddy]

Though her careful eyes noticed every little movement of the other gem, Padparadscha gave a warm smile, not one to judge openly based on little stumbles in convention. She wondered why it hadn't been Em's first impulse to give a salute, but didn't dwell on it as she listened to the gem introduce herself. 

"Sure, Em," She said, though it felt strange referring to the gem by anything other than her proper name. "Call me Padparadscha if you like, though my designation is what my colleagues typically refer to me with," She turned to acknowledge the light buddy with a nod,"Oh, I read about your tools and abilities in the dossier. I'm looking forward to seeing the use that your hologram can provide us with,"  

It was morning on Earth, the sun climbed higher into the sky every passing moment. Padpara's eyes swept across the gorge-- heat waves already steamed from the layered rock, and there were plenty of nooks, caves and overhangs for corrupted gems to lurk in. "We've got quite a task ahead of us. Do you have a strategy in mind?" 

[Em]

    Em felt a bit awkward. She immidiantly could tell this gem must not spent much time on earth. Just by the way she walked, and talked anyone that had been on earth for a while could tell. She held herself high with good posture as if she had gotten in the habit of doing so for meeting with superiors. How her first response was to salute, and not greet. Greeting first was a casual earth custom. Even with superiors it wasn't very often that humans saluted, and Em had learned to pick up this habit. She even had colleagues refer to her by her cut, and not gem name. Em could tell she took to not calling her Emerald a bit awkwardly as well. "If you'd prefer you can call me Emerald. It's just I'm used to being called Em. I studied humans for a year on this planet, and they have names similar to Em. They didn't like calling me by my gem name. I guess I'm just used to it." Although Em explained it this way, she had always been called Em. She knew most gems found it odd, but she didn't like being called 'a emerald'. She enjoyed having her own unique name.
    Em began thinking of a strategy. She hadn't really thought about a strategy per say on her way to the kindergarten, but she quickly thought of something. "It'd be rather dangerous if we walked around looking for the corrupted ourselves, and would probably take a while as well. I propose we send out Light Buddy to find the nearest one, and show us to it. Light Buddy can travel quite fast, and would be much more time efficient than us searching ourselves." Light Buddy had returned at this point after hearing it's name many times, and turned into it's original form. It was a small floating ball of light, which was it's most efficient way of travel. It waited for Padparadscha to agree before it flew off. While waiting for a response Em began fiddling with her watch to see if the pearl had sent her a dossier of Padparadscha. After a minute of searching the documents on the watch Em sighed, and gave up.

[Paddy]

Already the sapphire could sense that there was a disconnect between them. She had spent her life following Pink Diamond, from Homeworld, to the colonies, including Earth-- but Padparadscha had noticed from her few dispatches to Earth's surface that the gems who lived there often acted according to a different culture, closer to the natives than to their own brethren. She didn't want to judge this emerald, not yet, but she wondered if the gem had been there to hear the rebel declaration. She wondered how Em had felt about it. Of course, she wasn't going to be so forward as to ask about such private matters. A gems thoughts belonged to them, after all.  

"Studying humans? Sounds exciting. I've not had much contact with the creatures myself, though from what I hear they are quite fascinating. If you prefer it I will call you Em," Padparadscha gave a smile and glanced around to make sure there weren't any corrupted gems trying to pounce on them yet, then listened as Em gave her strategic advice. "Ah, this sounds excellent. The two of us don't have to get our hands dirty quite yet," She chuckled,"When we do find a corrupted gem, I can attempt to trap it with my ability, but due to the slow movement of my plasma, we will need to outsmart it first," 

[Em]

    Light buddy sped away in search of a corrupted. Em began following in it's direction, so when it found one they wouldn't have to walk as far. Em paused a moment after she said studying humans seemed exciting, and then continued walking as she talked. "Well actually you'd be surprised. They're quite annoying then majority of the time. Some are quite interesting, but others not so much. It's 50, 50 if they're pleasant to be around. The part of my mission I liked was the freedom. I didn't have to answer to anyone for a whole year. It's quite nice being on this planet. I guess it's similar to a vacation in that way, but I must say I don't understand the rebellion on this planet. The gems rebelling claim it's for the humans. I don't see why in all honesty. I would understand if-" Em broke off before continuing. "Actually nah I wouldn't." As they walked Em shared her opinion about her findings on earth. She shared most of her opinion that was. She guess it would be best not to mention she'd understand if it was for the free sense on this planet. In all honesty Em didn't care much for the planet. She just enjoyed the lifestyle she had on it immensely.
    After Em finished talking Light buddy returned. "Found one that quickly? Either we're lucky or this place it crawling with them. Okay guess I should discuss the battle strategy. I've also studied up on these things while I was here, unintentionally, but I have studied them none the less. They're quite dumb. It seem whatever intellect the gem may have had before corruption is completely gone. So I have an idea that make us able to use your plasma with ease." Em paused trying to think of a way to elaborate. "Well, light buddy will distract them, and make them turn their back to us. While light buddy can touch objects, it can't touch a gem or our bodies. Well, I can touch it, but no one else. By that I mean if the corrupt try to hurt it, it'll phase right through light buddy. They are smart enough to tell a hologram from the real thing. So it won't distract it for long, but if after it figured out about light buddy I jump in that may buy you enough time."

[Paddy]

Padparadscha followed Em as they began to move in the trail of Light Buddy, listening intently as the gem recalled her ventures on Earth. Being a gem who was always elevated in her social status, Padparadscha couldn't relate to the idea of being being given free-reign-- she'd always more or less had that. The rule that she was subject to often came from the Diamonds or the direct subordinates of them, and she reveled in the chance to serve. However, she could see the appeal of being on Earth, free to research its many interesting aspects. When Em began to speak of rebels, Padparadscha felt discomfort rising up her spine. "Ah, rebels..." She commented," I certainly don't understand. There have been many interesting species encountered by our Diamonds. Researched and cataloged-- they are preserved in the glorious libraries of Homeworld. That should be enough. At least this meager rebellion exposes those gems weak-minded enough to consider such treason to their own,"

The sapphire felt dirty speaking of such matters away from the courtroom, and so left it to that. As they continued to trail after Light Buddy, the corundum kept on her toes, ready for any surprises. When the hologram returned, Padparadscha listened closely to Em's strategy. She gave a curt nod,"Sound enough. I'll begin preparing as soon as we are within reach of the creature,"

[Em]

    Em listened best she could as Padparadscha talked. Despite her best efforts she was occasionally distracted by a roar of a distant corrupted as they walked. THe more they walked the closer it seemed to get. Em looked towards light buddy with a curious expression. "Is that sound the corrupted you're leading us to?" Light buddy changed into Em's appearance, and waved it's hand. To most it would seem it was indicating a 50/50 chance of the roar belonging to the corrupted, but after working with it so long Em understood it meant probably. "Sounds like quite the trouble maker, but why would it be roaring?" Light buddy shrugged at Em, and gave her a interested expression. "I'm just curious I guess." Em answered as if answering a question light buddy had asked. "Oh almost forgot to ask, but what size was the corrupted?" Light buddy turned around, and walked backwords as it answered. It stretched out it's arms indicating it was tall, and large. "That's a bother. I was hoping if we couldn't get it settled down with Padparadscha's ability I could simply poof it. If it's large I may not be able to poof it with just me thumb tacks." Em paused a moment, and smirked. "Hey if we can't defeat it maybe it will roar loud enough to cause an avalanche of rocks." She tried to joke, but frowned a minute later. "That was a bit of a dumb joke, sorry you had to hear it." Em laughed at herself as they continued. The roaring seemed to be rather close by this time, and light buddy ran ahead to get in position. "Welp if buddy has already run off it must be right ahead. You ready?" Em peered around the corner, and saw a corrupted gem sitting roaring loudly. "There it is." Em whispered making sure not to be heard.

[Paddy]

Padparadscha noticed that Em seemed distracted, and was glad that talk of rebels had ended-- though she listened closely and realized that there was something out there, raving and howling in the distance. It's distressing calls gave the sapphire chills, and she knew she'd never heard an organic creature make such horrid calls.

She listened with fascination as the Light Buddy rushed back to Em with its information-- Padpara found her self a bit jealous of the gem's little hologram. Very useful, She considered to herself. She chuckled, and gave Em a smirk,"If this corrupted gem is as formidable as your informant seems to be implying...we might need some of nature's blessing. Ha!" The sapphire shook her head,"In all honesty, Em, we are some of Homeworld's best, aren't we? This mindless gem will be a cinch for us," She kept her voice lowered as they approached the beast-- now there was no doubt that this was their target. She gave Em a nod. 

"Ready when you are," She said, unable to tear her eyes from the unsightly creature, clawing at its surroundings as it wailed. 

[Em]

    Em signaled to Light Buddy, and stood in front of Padparadscha ready to defend her if the corrupted lost interest in Light. She prepared herself to fight assuming light buddy wouldn't be able to distract it to long. She stood there waiting, and it seemed like an eternity had passed. Em could tell something was odd about this. The monster was still wailing as loud as before, and didn't seem to have an attacking tone She looked around the corner, and saw light frantically waving its arms in front of the beast, but it didn't seem to care. Now that Em paid closer attention the corrupted had its gaze fixated on something on the ground as it wailed. She walked around the corner seemingly not to care if the monster attacked her or not. She walked confidently toward it, and walked around it. She reached the front to find what it was so fixated on. Her face went from that of serious to a frown. "I understand now." She looked solemnly toward the monster before drawing multiple thumbtacks from her gem. Within seconds she had thrown them all with extreme force. They all pierced it, and it immidiantly withdrew back into its gem. Em caught the gem, and handled it with extreme care. "It's okay I'll figure out some way to make this right." Em cautiously put the gem into a bubble, and placed it onto the ground. She knelt down where she stood, and stared at the ground. She had found what made the beast wail so loud. It was a gem that looked exactly like the corrupted's gem, but it was shattered. It's pieces scattered a small portion of the ground. Em scooped up all the pieces, and pushed them into the same bubble as she had put the corrupted's gem.
    Looking back towards Padparadscha Em felt she should explain. "I found what made the corrupted so distraught. It was morning over a shattered gem. They seemed to be the same type of gem. I suppose even corrupted gem's can have friends. So I poofed it to put it out of it's misery. I heard there's a fountain that can heal cracked gems. If it can do that maybe it can heal shattered gems, and make them whole again." As Em explained she picked up the bubble containing both gems, and handed it to Light. "Hold onto this."

[Paddy]

The sapphire stood, her eyes wide as she watched Em approach the creature. There was no fear in the gem's aura as she took down the corrupted gem in a swift gesture. The grating cries of the beast had ended, leaving only the still desert air, and the call of an owl some ways off. Their strategy seemed to have come to no use, though Padparadscha was relieved that she wouldn't have to over-exert herself. At least, not yet. 

When the emerald returned, her hologram in tow, the sapphire listened to her partner speak with her brows furrowed. Friends? Mourning? The notion that a mindless creature could form bonds sounded positively bizarre to her. After all, these creatures held none of the dignity they once did, as in-tact gems. Now, they were something contorted, defective, their memories rotten and left somewhere in the obscurity behind them. "Are you sure? Fear is instinctual...whatever caused this other corruption to shatter--" Her eyes flickered around the canyon,"--May still be here," Her own fear began to well up in her. It was very likely that another corruption could have caused this, or perhaps the empty-minded beast had somehow punched its own ticket. Whatever the cause, her brows again came together in worry, though she kept her tone cordial,"I too have caught word of a fountain like that, but...it's a corruption. Wont trying to use this fountain present a danger? Turning it into a monster once again? Not to mention...I've heard the area is crawling with rebels. Perhaps it's better that we bring back it's individual shards, for processing and containment,"

[Em]

    Em frowned. "Though yes fear is instinctual that is not always the reason. You shouldn't underestimate them. I've been studying them for quite some time, and even though most are mindless there are a few that can retain the basics of intellect. Most commonly the ones that still have a bit of a mind are newly corrupted, or simply just strong willed. It's very rare to find any like that though, but I have no doubt this one was mourning." Em sighed before continuing. "Yes what you say is more logical, and safer. It just feels wrong in some aspects, but I'll trust your judgement. Do with them as you like once our mission is over. I just request that it be logged that this corrupted was some sort of strange, and retained fragments of it's mind. That way they can study it, and see which of us is right." Em smiled towards Padparadscha feeling she had become uneasy, and invited some friendly competition to help lighten the mood.
    After seeing the hunt was over Light buddy raced off once again to find another corrupted for them to capture. Em began walking in the direction Light had raced off in, but paused waiting for Padparadscha. "I suppose if it was fear like you theorize we should leave quickly. After all I don't feel like being crushed any time soon." Em's posture beamed confidence, but only because she was hoping her confidence could cure any fear Padparadscha may have. After all she didn't want her new partner to be afraid of the mission.

[Paddy]

She peered around the canyon, and was feeling both exposed, yet assured by the fact that there was a high level of visibility here. They would be spotted quickly if something dangerous lurked nearby, but all the same, they would be able to react quickly, provided that the two of them stayed on their toes. Despite her nerves, the sapphire listened to Em, then looked in her eyes as she spoke of her experiences with the corruptions. "I didn't realize they-- I mean, I suppose...I didn't realize they could be so complex...ah, you have more expertise in this realm than I, Em. I'll follow your lead," She smiled,"I like the idea of that. If the gem turns out to be curable, I'm sure Headquarters would be willing to put out a dispatch for it," Going to the fountain without quartz guards sounded like a risky endeavor, so she was relieved that Em wasn't going to push the matter as of present. Still, they had a job to do onsite. 

"Neither do I," She said, then gave a quiet chuckle. Padparadscha's talents gave her the analytical ability to see that Em was hiding something beneath her confident exterior, but the sapphire took this innocently. Perhaps she was simply trying to keep the mood light, though the sapphire couldn't know without further inquire. Regardless, she continued to follow in step with Em,"Our next target may be related to these two, but I trust your judgement. If the creature was...mourning, it still stands that something happened to cause this shattering. If...if only we could ask them," Padpara seemed to be musing aloud, forgetting that her rambling was vocal,"If they could tell their story...I suppose they wouldn't need us to tell it for them,"

[Em]

    As she listened to Padparadscha she became curious about Padparadscha's questions. "Hmm that would be very handy. Sadly even the smartest of corrupteds can't speak, or communicate in any way I'm aware of." Em got slightly lost in thought when something odd began happening. The ground began shaking similiar to a small earth quake. Em stopped, and looked at their surroundings carefully. She held out her hand signalling for Padparadscha to stop as well. Within a few seconds Light buddy appeared again, but it was running towards them. It's face looked worried as it ran.
     "Don't let it see us." She gave it commands before running into a hole in the kindergarten, and motioning for Padparadscha to follow. "I think Light may have found what shattered that corrupted." She whispered quietly not wanting to be heard by anything, but Padparadscha. She walked closer to the front of the hole, and peered out. Within no time the corrupted had appeared. Light seemed to be distracting it proficiently enough to keep Em from getting caught. "Wow. That thing is huge." She stood in awe of it's size. Watching it carefully she had located it's gem in no time. Thankfully the gem was on it's foot so they wouldn't have to reach for it. "If I jab a lot of Thumbtacks around it's gem it shouldn't have a good enough connection to it's form to stay physical..." Em thought out loud before looking back at Padparadscha. "Do you have any ideas?" Em's eyes seemingly lit up with excitement. There had always been something about dangerous situations that made her feel excited. She simply loved the rush of adrenaline it gave her.