Workplace Rhapsody (C:7XB)

[Paddy]

Without the accompaniment of her Pearl or her bodyguard, the clack of Padparadscha's shoes echoed solo down the windowless corridor, downstream from the conference room. Her hands clasped behind her back, she floated wistfully, her silken dress billowing behind her. The Lotus was now out in the open, and the Diamonds would begin directing more resources toward its construction; she was left with an uncomfortable twisting in her midriff. Every stride was imbued with a knowing, an appreciation for her ability to walk free when so many of her sisters underwent an excruciating wait. The soon the device could be completed, the better it would be for all of them. 

Before she rounded the corner that would lead to her office, she glanced down at her bracelet. A blip of hot pink light had caught her eye, and she flicked her hand to summon the holoscreen. One of the Amethysts from on-site appeared on the screen, brows furrowed. Padparadscha's brows furrowed as well, and her stride slowed down. She glanced to the timestamp, and saw it was marked for earlier in the day; a pre-recorded message. Why had the gem waited so long to send the clip? That thought fell down a rabbit hole of other thoughts; would she really be ready to face up to her rather impulsive decision? Her mind kept floating to a certain gem who had been in the conference room, but she avoided allowing her mind to linger too much.

Padparadscha paused the message before the purple gem began to speak. Her mind in a tangled mat of thoughts, she looked forward to taking a moment to organize herself in the confines of her office. 
 
7XB

 

[7XB]

Like a steam train building steady, inevitable speed, 7XB strode brashly through the Moonbase, anything that wasn’t securely fashioned to the ground rattling as the Quartz stormed past, including many of the small gems who moved expeditiously out of the soldier’s way. Though they’d managed to hold their tongue both during the meeting itself and the briefing their Diamond had called following the Conference, their mind had been elsewhere. Namely, a place that made them increasingly angry to the point where they were practically trembling with anxious anger. The way to Padparasha’s office was one 7XB knew well- having been there a number of times before- but if they were to simply rage through the installation to confront the troublesome Sapphire it would cause..issues, to put it mildly. One of the most spectacularly genuine gems they had ever met, she was also proving the most vexing. Was it not miraculous enough for them to be cordial as they were after the destruction of their trust at the Lotus site? They desired nothing more than to put the entire thing behind them, like every other misery they’d endured through the ages. But no, she demanded they be near, under her watchful, spiteful gaze. Though the office door was closed, she would, no doubt, feel them coming, even before the hard rap of the knuckles where the two sections of metal met.


"Your Clarity? We need to speak."

[Paddy]

She had been milling about the room, documents floating after her as she paced, when the sound rattled her whole office -- she stopped mid-stride. She hunched, and whirled toward the door, curls flying lose around her face. Her wide eyes darted around, she swatted away all of the buzzing documents, then rushed over to her chair. Her dainty finger went for the control panel, but she froze when her gaze snagged onto the frazzled reflection in her holodesk. The sapphire took a moment to preen, slicking the rebelling curls back into line. 

Then, she cleared her throat, and drew up her control panel. First, she used the door camera to get a look at the gem standing outside; of course, she already knew it was them, though some part of her had hoped her pearl would return from her duties soon. Another second passed as she thought about how she would address them. After fully adjusting her composure, and steeling herself for whatever they would do or say, she flicked her finger over the screen, and the door dashed aside. 

"Ah," She grinned obliviously, canting as she went, "A pleasure. I always have time for a discussion with you." She gestured toward the seating arrangement, which had been jostled since the last time a gem had met her in the office, then tipped her head to the side, "I presume this is about what happened at the conference?"

[7XB]

“And you, as well.” They replied courteously, as was expected of them, thought their voice carried an arctic edge that would have put the Colony’s poles, north and south, to shame. 7XB stepped, rather stiffly, into the chamber, remaining so until the automatic doors sealed behind them. Once they did, the Quartz exhaled, their neutral expression curdled downwards into something more befitting their ill-mood, though their voice remained low and gravelly, lest it carry their personal feelings past the threshold of the office.



“What..what's your angle?” Came the accusatory demand as they descended upon the desk that acted as a barrier between them- not that one was needed, as even at their most incensed the Quartz would never imagine harming the glimmering aristocrat, for reasons much deeper than her courtly importance- and braced their knuckles against it’s surface. “What, you haven’t tormented me enough, is that it? I hate this place,” they said vehemently, “and now because of you, I’m stuck here.” That, in short, had been the purpose of the post-conference de-brief. Not only 7XB and their team , but countless other Yellow Court gems had been redesignated for the defence of the Lotus. Their plans to return to the greater Colonies were over for the foreseeable future.

[Paddy]

Her brows jumped up as the herculean Quartz postured over her. Some time ago, she would have met their accusations with total eruption. Today, Padparadscha refused to be put on the defensive. Their intense, meteoric glower and combative words seared into her, while she kept her volcanic fissures at bay. Her brows settled neatly over her eyes. She almost managed to look ambivalent, but for the gleam in her careful, widened gaze. The sapphire listened closely, every twitch of their muscles under scrutiny. With a glance to her control panel, she used a delicate touch to minimize the holoscreen, dismissing it into the ether. Her hands steepled on the desk as she calculated her counter-offensive. 

"My angle?" The corner of her plump lips twisted, as if pinched. She leaned, arching over her desk, tilting her head to keep her eyes locked onto theirs, "Oblique." The restrained smirk cut loose into a smile, but her eyes were without a wrinkle of mirth. With a smoldering glare, she took a satiny tone,"If you're looking for someone to blame, take it up with the gem who broke into my records, or the Olivine who neglected to properly fail-safe my data-- but she has already been replaced," Her smile was at once too sweet, yet caustically dripping. The steeple of her palms tipped over, and split apart. She slid back in her seat, hands fanned over the swath of her desk. Her smile subdued into something more innocuous. Now that she could see the big picture, she swept her eyes over them, and murmured,"You know too much, Commander," 

[7XB]

Listened, hawkish gaze expectant, as the Sapphic gem began to speak, though at what they interpreted as, perhaps, some manner of threat, the Quartz gem would bristle, bone-bleached hair standing on end as the aura that rolled off of them like fog shifted from steamy to frigid. “Is that a threat, Your Clarity?” 7XB questioned, voice dangerously soft as they pushed off the desk with enough coiled force for the metallic surface to not only groan, but to flex and bend, if only faintly, under the strain of their weight.

“Surely not, surely I, in my imperfection, must have.. misheard you?”
Internally, the Quartz was incredulous that they need even ask such a a question of Padparadscha, but things had certainly..changed since their last time together in the Quarry. “What a foolish thing for me to think, considering the proximity in which we will be working in my new assignment.”

[Paddy]

"I should ask the same of you," She spoke up as soon as they finished, eyes focused on the Quartz's frozen visage. Her eyes flicked as a blip of hot pink light from her wrist caught her attention. The Amethysts were still trying to get a hold of her, but she dismissed it with a flick of her wrist. For now, she focused on sussing out 7XB's intentions; were they trying to extort her once again? She lifted her chin at them, and narrowed her eyes,"You read the document. You know how this story goes," Her teeth bared in a sneer, seething magma hissed beneath the surface. Fists, jaw clenched, eyes flew wide as scintillating red giants, ready to implode. She shot up out of her seat, fault lines cracked and fumed as her heels snapped against the tile. Padparadscha's mind leaped; any implication that she enjoyed her objectives on Earth any more than they did was enough to shatter her facade. 

She leaned to get her face right into theirs, voice smooth and strong while her eyes dug into theirs,"Don't worry 7XB -- You get to leave when this war is over--" Her jaw locked together, and her fumes fizzed away. Like magma seeping over the frigid tundra, she cooled into a jagged, still, igneous stone. Her lids fell lazily across her eyes, tension melted out of her jaw. She made her voice more like the low rumble of steam underfoot,"We're on the same side. Lets detonate these ingrate degenerates, and get on with our lives,"

The light from her wrist flashed again.     

[7XB]

“At least one of us does.” the Quartz retorted, bluntly rebuffing any attempt the Sapphire might have made to attempt and make them feel..feel anything, much less sorry for her perpetual station here on the Colony, in a tone tainted with the enmity that dripped like hemlock from a wounded heart. It brought 7XB some small pleasure to shattered her frustratingly calm facade, to pull back the aristocratic curtain in which she tended her truest feelings, if only for a moment. Were they on the same side? Even now? Though all current, tangible evidence pointed to that being the case, their judgement was..cloudier than it had ever been.

Their gaze cut towards the blinking at the Sapphire’s wrist, expression twisting curtly as they fell back into their own frigid shell. It seemed as though they were not the only one who needed to have words with the Sapphire.
“I can tell that you are a busy gem, Your Clarity. I’ll leave you to your business for the time being.”



They needed to gather their Rubies, and give a further report to their Hessonite before shipping out to the Lotus site, anyway. Though she had not been privy to the briefing, 7XB knew the information had been sent along by now. Turning to move towards the door, they hesitated only a moment. “I suppose I will be meeting in the hangar when the time comes to depart, then?" As desperate as she was to have them, 7XB didn't imagine she wanted them getting far.

[Paddy]

"Tch!" She threw her hands up, curls bounding free as she tossed her head back in exasperation; with herself, for giving in to instigation, and with 7XB, for all of the tangled confusions they had brought-- amplified by their sharp, purposeful insensitivity in the moment. Her defenses fortified, the normally verbose gem had her lips sealed in a little sneer. She stepped fiercely around her desk, eyes locked onto the quartz gem. Though she knew, almost for certain, they were not actively among the conspiracy against her, her eyes glinted with inquisitional focus. Any reason-- she would wait for any reason to justify the buried frustration, which boiled ever hotter; why just being in their presence was enough to light her whole head on fire. It burned, like being drenched in solar rain. 

Completely ignoring the blinking on her wrist, she slipped around 7XB to shoot a half-lidded glare over her shoulder. Her eyes trailed over them again, but even looking at them made her anger rise. "Hmph!" Padparadscha brought a lithe hand up to the gemstone on her throat, "If you would like to arrive among the nobility, don't be late," she tipped her head to the side, "I'm already there," The gem swiveled, her silken dress whirling. The sapphire intended to leave before they would, and sashayed for the door.   

[7XB]

“Hmmf.” The Quartz nearly snorted, bitterness swirling like a raging blizzard in their gunmetal gaze as she moved rather suddenly past them, eyes following her down the hall until the disproportionately explosive gem vanished into the shifting mass of gems-soldiers, scientists and bureaucrats alikes- before they would shove off themselves, the door to the Sapphire’s office closing automatically as it finally sensed that the doorway was clear of all gems, ‘clicking’ shut just short of the quartz’s heels. Like all gem technology, it was as brutally efficient as it was elegant. Muscles quivering with built-up tension, 7XB’s steps would bear them towards where their Rubies remained in wait for their return.



Immediately prior to the Conference, 7XB had sent the diminutive soldiers to the training grounds with the promise that they would endeavor to meet with them afterwords. That had, of course, been before their sudden reassignment, and the meeting they’d be forced to attend afterwards.The quartz did not even want to imagine what trouble the little corundums might have gotten into without their watchful gaze, especially around other gems.
Diamonds..they better get their fast.

Much to their annoyance, though, the gem couldn't the vision of the Sapphire that remained carved so sharply in the forefront of the their mind. Even, or perhaps especially, in such a fury, the bombastic gem knew how to make an exit, swishing and bobbing about like flame..

[Paddy]

She prowled down the hall, straight toward the hangar. With her pearl off doing chores, and her Jasper back out on Earth making sure the Amethysts were on track, the sapphire found herself dwelling on her choices; from the beginning of her correspondence with 7XB, a series of spontaneous emotions and actions had lead her to this moment. As she entered her ship, and waltzed into the empty bridge, she gave a long, heavy sigh. She slumped down into her chair, and draped her arms over the rests.

To distract herself from her thoughts, she spent a moment sending out orders to 3JJ, and precursory warnings to Deputy Clinohumite about her arrival. Though, soon she was left with something she didn't often have; nothing to do but think, and wait. The pressure of idleness only swelled against the things she tried to avoid thinking about, but nonetheless she would be left to dwell. 

Pink Pearl was soon aboard the vessel, buzzing about to each control panel, checking systems and marking coordinates. The servant peered over her shoulder, casting a sly, lazy-lidded look to the preoccupied aristocrat. Padparadscha sat, tapping her foot, drumming her fingers incessantly along the armrest. 

"We appear to be right on schedule," Pink Pearl's smooth tone carried gently over the air, with some hint of unsure incredulity as her eyes flicked over the impatient sapphire. "Something wrong, your Clarity?"

"Yes," She stated with a flat tone, "Very," 

The pearl tipped her head to the side, inquisitive eyes of soft periwinkle widening just enough to show her concern, but Padparadscha gave a wave of her hand to dismiss the gem. 

[7XB]

The Arena was unusually crowded, soldiers big and small gathering around some unseen commotion at the center of the graveled field, lending their own voices and laughter to the swelling cacophony. The Quartz lifted a brow as they stepped through the threshold, bristling almost immediately as the ramifications of the sight before them became clear. Didn’t all of these gems have orders to carry out? Were they not here to train? ‘Some gems..’ 7XB lamented silently, Gems these days seemed lazier, more flawed, than ever before, and something would simply have to be done about them if they were going to win this war. Higher-ranked gems would simply have to step up and..wait. Amongst all the gathered gems, none of them seemed to be their Rubies. There were corridiums in the crowd, sure, but not their..oh no. The grizzled gem found themselves pushing through the throng of guffawing gems to find the source of amusement. Their fearful expectations were met when they laid eyes upon the scuffling Rubies. Two of the miniscule gems, 2FG and 2FH respectively, seemed to have gotten into some kind of dispute, perhaps involving their third ruby, which laid sprawled out in the sand with the final fanning her rather frantically.



By association, embarrassment threatened to color their cheeks, expression hardened as they clipped harsly over the dim of laughter, “A-HEM!”




Everything frozen, and the scrapping gems immediately turned to face their Commander, "O-oh..C-Commander!" Each of the quartet scrambled to quickly salute, even the one laid out in the dust- a few snickers could be heard behind them.

[Paddy]

She couldn't keep her thoughts at bay for long. The longer she sat there with her thoughts, the more uncomfortable she became. It hadn't been so long ago, after all, that the quartz had broken into her Earth-side base of operations and made an embarrassment out of not only her security team, but herself. She reasoned to herself that she couldn't let a gem like them walk around with so much information that they weren't suppose to have. She couldn't bring herself to do anything in retaliation for what had happened, despite how furious she had been. Still, there was a job to do, and she hadn't known many gems to be as effective as Clear Quartz 7XB.

Pink Pearl kept peering back at her, with that sly look on her face, but the pearl knew better than to say anything about what she was thinking. The sapphire noticed her pearl's occasional peeks, and gave a huff. "It's nothing you should have to worry about, pearl," Padparadscha stated with a scowl. Though, as she waited, her own worries began to pile up. She began to doubt her choices.