Aftershocks (closed w. Paddy)

[Paddy]

Their easily powerful movement translated through the point of contact; Padpara couldn't stop the inertia, or her giddy smile, as she was pulled in, then whirled out. Gripping more tightly to their hand as she moved further away, she allowed the kinetic energy to follow through to the tips of her fingers, and down through the tips of her toes. As she completed her pirouette, she glanced back to her dance partner.


Every smile this gem allowed her to be privy to was special; considering what she knew about them, and things she had assumed, she almost couldn't believe they could be enjoying this as much as she was. Their genuine expression reminded her of that feeling of being in free fall, but now it was rather more like soaring, as if there were nothing to hold her down or keep her from being true to what she felt about this quartz. She couldn't remember a time when she felt like this. The humans were all but ignored at this point, her focus entirely on what had, over the course of the night, become her primary objective; to continue getting to know 7XB, and to understand why their presence gave her this incredible sensation. It seemed that every time she was with them, she explored, learned something, experienced more. There was no experience that was quite like being with 7XB.

Her heart fluttered as she pivoted toward them once again, but now her expression was serious, honed in on the gem she shared this moment of freedom with. Now, more than ever, she just wanted to be closer. As her emotions climbed, so did the internal fire-- and her surface temperature. She glittered between the flash of lights and the driving music, and the gem she devoted each of her movements to. She swept her feather-light feet across the dance floor to close the distance, allowing momentum to carry her forward, then reached her free hand out for their's. 

[7XB]

The world seemed to grow ever smaller the longer they danced, closing in around the two gems as their movements drew them ever closer together. 7XB could feel the their own internal temperature rising, staining their cheeks ever as the warmth radiating from their partner washed across them like a desert wind. They reached to claim Padparadscha's delicate hand, fingers wrapping securely around her own, feeling as protected in that embrace as the smaller gem.

There was no awkwardness between them as they moved, despite their difference in size, for they were perfectly, in that moment, in sync with themselves and the crescendoing music. Never had they felt so fluid in all their years, and 7XB couldn't help but feel that the Sapphire was entirely the cause. They had never once felt so comfortable, so close with another gem.

Unless..wait..

The confidence that shown upon their face flickered, eyes cutting instinctively to the hand that bore their gem as well as one of her hands. It was hard to see in the dull light, but there was a faint glow there, more of a flicker, and a bolt of panic hit them. And then they shut down; Like a wet blanket over a fire, the light was smothered, breaking the illusion of bliss for them as the music died down. It was like a cold slap to the face, standing their rather awkwardly as their keen perception made them aware of the onlookers.

The applause drowned out whatever they would have said. But..she must have know what was happening?

[Paddy]

Enraptured with 7XB, and every movement the two of them shared, Padparadscha was completely in a trance. The aura of strength and comfort grew with each step. The thought that nothing could stop them crossed her mind-- then she noticed something flit across the other gem's expression. The quartz came to a halt, the sapphire's lips fell open with surprise. Awareness of her surroundings snapped back to her, and she fumbled to a stop, using their grip for support. The soft, but warm glow from the gem core on her throat faded out with the music, and she glanced around, brows shooting up as she realized people were looking at them. Then, her gaze slid up to 7XB.

She had no idea what had just happened, or why the vitalizing spirit drained so suddenly from the quartz. Her brows lowered over her eyes as she searched their expression for clues, and her lips pressed into a line. Her heightened emotions flopped over and churned as she tried to put it together. Frustration was the most prevalent, chased closely by confusion, growing exponentially with every half second the two gems were in a stand-off. Where that feeling came from, she couldn't quite pin point yet, but she knew it had to do with the fact that her bubble had just been burst. Her expression became more fragile as she tried to figure out why 7XB had thrown up their defenses now, when the two of them had been so close.  

As the painfully silent moment drew on, the sapphire swallowed, and opened her mouth. "Why did--" she stopped, thinking more about what the two of them were doing. More thoughts bubbled up through the cracks, until it flooded her mind. She eyed their core, before her eyes flicked away from them entirely. When next song began, she tore her hands away from theirs, and practically recoiled back. Every emotion rolled together and inflated into a surge of anxiety. Her face turned beat red, her hands drew in close to her chest as she tried to repress her shaken nerves, and her urge to go back to them. But, the repression only seemed to send her emotions in all directions, she had no idea how to cope with this moment. "I-I didn't-- I didn't know--" Her voice wavered as she tried to explain herself to them, but her mumbling would be hard to hear over the noise of the room. Her frustration with herself, with 7XB, with everything going on in that moment, culminated,"Ugh!" She threw her hands out as if in defeat, and flipped around to make off into any direction, to escape from this situation altogether so she could think more clearly.  
 

[7XB]

Though there was absolutely no doubt in their mind that they had done the right thing, averting such a catastrophe before it had gone past the point of no return, it had stung the rugged soldier to do so, every instinct driving them to pull the delicate, stubborn gem close, but fear kept them from acting upon this instinct. Fear, and the foul memory of the only other time they had..well, it was a much different situation then, and they couldn't logically imagine that this connection with Padparadscha would have made such a jarring and dangerous thing any more pleasant.

But Diamonds, how they wanted to believe it.

Her hurt expression gave the Quartz leave to question their own logic, but they were almost startled as she wrenched herself away; The feeling was so terribly unnatural after the experience they had shared, leaving them.. incomplete.

Incomplete? To even think that left the gem reeling, looking down at their empty hands in awe, fingers flexing inward as she spoke. The smaller gem had vanished into the crowd before 7XB had the chance to respond, their every move sluggish from the revelation. But then they snapped clear with realization, “Padparadscha?.. wait!..” but their frustrated words too were lost in the uproar they had launched into it search of the Sapphire. Even this they questioned. Would it have been better to seek her out later?

[Paddy]

Even with all the stray radiation filling the room, she felt colder the further she stepped away from them. It felt wrong, something was terribly out of place-- she grimaced as she thought she heard her name, like a strike through her core. She remembered the moment she'd told them to keep her close, after the last time she'd stormed away. But she couldn't stop moving now, her body wouldn't let her. The small gem struggled her way passed the humans jostling around her, keeping her arms in close while her eyes absently scanned what was in front of her, and her mind racked away for answers. 

Steps slowed as she finally staggered out of the densest part of the crowd. The sapphire attempted to replace her flood of thought with a more organized, rational succession; events over the course of the entire mission replayed themselves in her mind and she combed through them, brows furrowing as she applied everything she knew to try to unravel what she was feeling. Trusting 7XB's judgement was usually easy, but now, she just couldn't explain it to herself why she felt this insurmountable blizzard of emotion. Then, it hit her. 

She couldn't explain it, that's why she wanted to escape. She couldn't say it. Something buried in her crawled up, and she began to feel almost physically sickened with herself. Acting like a sapphire was awfully hard right now, and she couldn't let this perfect quartz see her act like this anymore, to see her act like a defective little-- then something else hit her. She bumped straight into a human, who wobbled, a bit of the liquid in their glass sloshed out onto the floor. 

"Oof, you okay hon?" The woman asked after regaining her balance,"A bit too much in ya system? You look a bit lost, where ya girls at?" 

"Uh! The...person I'm with-- that I was with-- we just...I--" As the sapphire fumbled over her words, the woman nodded with a solemn gaze and pursed lips.

"Oh I see, don't worry boo. You just come with me and my girls will take care of you," The woman motioned for the sapphire to follow. Padparadscha froze up, utterly confused by this, and peered over her shoulder, looking for 7XB. With a frown, the sapphire turned back to look at the woman, gave a nod, and followed. 

[7XB]

That brief moment of hesitation on their part had proven detrimental, and the quartz audibly cursed their own lack of initiative as they slogged their way through the tide of bodies, a task that was showing itself to be much more of an impediment to the scrambling soldier that it had Padparadscha. They knew that every moment that crawled by made it less and less likely to that they would find her, rising frustration, mingled so slightly with panic, caused them to practically shove the humans they collided with out of the way, an act that elicted more than a few protest from the displaced creatures, and those that found themselves struck with a compatriot. For the most part the gem’s sheer size prevented 7XB from having to contend, but they were hardly in a position to enjoy this.

They burst free of the living wave of humans, finally, only to find that the Sapphire was nowhere in their immediate sight. The strobing, flickering lights made it nearly impossible for 7XB’s eyes to adjust to the darkness that surrounded the dancefloor as quickly as they would have liked; Their expression fell, crestfallen at the thought of their failure. How horrible they must have made Padparadscha feel for her to flee the very sight of them.

Their stomach wrenched into tight knots, and the realization came that they would much rather have simply lost her trail than imagine that the Sapphire was actively hiding from them. Nonetheless, 7XB would not rest until they found the little gem, even if she didn't want to be found.

[Paddy]

"Get this girl some napkins and a seat, stat!" The human said as she lead the sapphire around to a booth near the back of the room. She was presented with a whole set of humans, around a dozen of them all dressed similarly, laughing obnoxiously loud, clinking their glasses together, using their hand-held squares to take documentation of this area and...themselves, it appeared. "We're mostly coworkers," The woman said, leaning over to smile at the sapphire who stood with some hesitation outside of the booth,"It's rare to get time off like this, especially in our line of work. But everyone's gotta celebrate sometimes!" The sapphire gave a simple nod. It seemed her guessing had been correct, this was a place to celebrate, and there was a reason so many humans seemed to be off-duty today.

But she could only dwell on the twisting in her core as she tried to imagine how 7XB must feel. The sapphire's eyes cast downward as she drew her arms across her chest. Did they feel like she did? The thought only made it more painful to be away from them. But she couldn't let them see her being weak anymore. The human looked down with a softened expression,"Cute outfit. It's a shame it's a waste on someone who don't treat you right,"

"No, no that's not it at all," She corrected, a bit of frustration coming through her tone,"They're...perfect. It's me that's the problem," Her shoulders hiked higher as she spoke. 

"Girl..." The woman shook her head,"You're idealizing. It's easy to do when you're in love, but ain't nobody perfect,"

The sapphire tilted her head to look at the woman with furrowed brows. It was easy for her to dismiss the advice; of course humans weren't perfect. But 7XB was a gem. Though, something Pink Diamond once said to her came to mind. Additionally, she'd only ever heard rebels use the word love in that strange context,"What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, did I misread the situation?" The woman smiled, then her eyes flicked up, a bit of commotion seemed to be going on behind them. Padparadscha turned to look where the human had glanced, and grimaced as she spotted 7XB standing over everyone else. The expression on them gripped her heart, and another shot of anxiety pierce through her. It felt as if she were being pulled in their direction by some invisible force, but instead she tried to shrink out of sight. The woman's gaze flickered between the gems,"That's them? Whatever happened, it looks like they wanna talk it out. I'll go with you if ya nervous,"

The gem gave a quick shake of her head,"I-I can't," she uttered,"I can't, not now," her eyes scanned for some way to conceal herself now that the human seemed to stymie her goal rather than aid it. She spotted a door, tucked behind another wall, with the words emergency exit plastered across them, and darted for it.  

[7XB]

As their low-light vision slowly adjusted, 7XB imagined that they saw a small figure, approximately the size and shape of Padparadscha, given some margin of error for the dim conditions, darting away from a group of humans. A few paces forward and the Quartz gem could decipher these faces more clearly, and the concerned glances shared between the woman in regards to the fleeting figure could not be ignored..nor could the looks given in their own direction.

That only cemented it: these humans must have some idea where Padparadscha was, and since she was already, again, out of sight, 7XB simply needed to.. approach them. Why then were they suddenly so hesitant? Straightening up, 7XB stalked towards the group, though their ultra-heightened sense of left them feeling smaller and smaller, until the Quartz stood before them, feeling no more intimidating than a cockroach. “Ahm.. greetings..” they began, their gesturing awkward as they attempted to simulate the gestures humans used in meeting, “I was looking..I..Have you seen my..” Their what? Employer? Charge, patron? Something else, from earlier, came to mind. “My.. comrade? She is..short and..ahm..” there was a million ways to describe the flawless, sparkling sapphire..but did any of them seem correct?

[Paddy]

As she scurried for the door, she glanced behind her and realized with a pang that 7XB was quickly approaching. The anxiety was like a tsunami smacking her over at this point; she knew she needed to talk to them, but she didn't want to say the wrong things. She had been saying the wrong things all day-- no matter how right it felt, she knew it was wrong, and now she knew why. The things that needed to be said would be said once and for all, she just needed the courage to do it. But she didn't have that yet. The opening of the door would certainly catch their attention, so she instead slipped behind the wall, and tried to gather herself.

The humans at the booth had been embroiled in their loud conversations, except for the one who had tried to get Padparadscha to join them, and those who had been paying more attention to what had been going on. The woman watched the sapphire go for a moment, a bit surprised by the little gem's outburst, but she swiveled to look at her friends sitting in the booth, some of them had scooted further up, looking on with concern as the small gem disappeared behind the wall. Then, attention came to the huge gem who next approached them. They listened, some unable to all the way hide their somewhat confused amusement with their awkward approach. 

"Comrade? Oh I see what is goin on here," The woman, with the fizzing drink perched in her hand, lifted it and took a sip, and pursed her lips as she swept her eyes up and down the gem,"Look here, it sounds to me that she don't wanna be talkin to you right now. You got that poor girl dizzy. Makin a girl fall in love only to say oh shes a friend," The woman took a mocking tone and shook her head. She stepped up closer to 7XB, a pop in her step, the thick bun on her head and all of her bronze jewelry bobbed with the movement,"I have no idea where she is, probably callin her girls tryin to get a ride home, thinkin on findin a partner who treats her right. Oh I hope so anyway," The human seemed absolutely unafraid of the gem, but some of the others in the booth seemed a bit more concerned-- perhaps for other reasons, as the woman visibly teetered in her next step forward. 

"Jenna," One of them uttered,"C'mon, it ain't our business," 

"Shhh!" Jenna flipped around to look at the human who'd addressed her, then snapped back at 7XB, nearly poking them in the chest with her sharp forward gesture,"What do you have to say for yourself, huh? Do you love this woman or is she just your lil comrade? Maybe if you don't love her, you should just let her go so she can find someone who does," 

The sapphire could hear everything from where she was, and began to shrink from sheer embarrassment for the predicament she'd gotten herself into. To hear the tone the usually confident quartz had taken on made her heart break even further. She gave a peek around the corner, the voice of the human called Jenna seemed to get louder and louder, and the sapphire cringed to see it directed toward her...her protector, her comrade, her teammate. She felt the urge to go back, tell that human to leave the quartz alone, and get out of here, but instead she just backed herself against the wall, unable to act. 

[7XB]

In any and all usual circumstances, such a confrontational attitude would have proven unfortunate for the offending human, and triggered a decidedly adverse reaction from the quartz. This more docile, bewildered reaction, while certainly adverse, was unusual for 7XB. Most of what this woman slurred seemed to be little more than human nonsense, that common frustration welling up in their chest as the woman nearly prodded them with her small finger. They almost snapped to coil their hand around the creature's wrist, before the word or..phrase or whatever it was she used caught them off guard, leaving them vulnerable to her verbal onslaught as they reeled internally.

Love. What was it? What did this word mean? To the quartz it was an alien concept, a word with they had heard mentioned in passing during their time on Earth: Another human colloquialism for something of no importance, or so they thought. The way this human threw the word around so huffily gave the Quartz pause. “I..I don't understand what that means..” the large gem began, taking a step back with lifted brow. Truly they were lost, unaware of the phrase she was using or the context it was meant to be used in.

Unless..

Could this be IT? Could this term, this simply word be the name they were looking for? This human seemed to know more than expected, and though they doubted their williness to help, Padparadscha, when they found her, would be cross if they didn't at least try to follow this lead.

“What uhm..IS love, exactly?” Shs had certainly presented herself as an expert on the subject.

[Paddy]

Padpara had been in her own head, trying to neatly file her thoughts so she could interpret them more rationally. But, her interest was piqued as she heard 7XB delve further into query-- it seemed they really would make a good investigator.

The woman opened her mouth to retaliate-- but then processed the words more, and found herself a bit dumbstruck. She looked around, glancing specifically back toward the emergency exit before she swiveled back around to look at 7XB. "Wha?" Her brows furrowed, and she swirled the remaining drink in her cup. "You dunno what love is? You tryin to play some kind of game here? Well...I guess she asked too...you serious?" She stepped back to get a better look at the gem, and stopped swirling the liquid to take a sip from her cup. "You know, love. Like when someone lifts you up, makes you feel pumped, but also makes you wanna be better for them...it's..." She turned toward the booth raising her brows, and gestured toward the gem,"Pat, Veronica, you two know what love is, please inform this unfortunate soul," 

"Oh, well--" Another said in soft tones, scooting forward with a bit of a smirk on her face, before peering at her hand, then back at the human sitting next to her,"Hmm, they drive you crazy, you can't get them off of your mind even if they make you mad. But you want to work things out, you want to be there for them, especially when thing are hard," The human next to her nodded, smiling back at her,"You're right at home with them, nice and cozy. I'd say it's comfort, trust,"

"Things just aren't the same when she's not around, makes me feel like no one else can, like I'm whole. Makes me try new things too, gives me a different perspective. Love is an adventure," 

"Sharing your fries-- that's love," Someone else piped up,"Ain't nobody getting my fries unless I love 'em," As the other humans spoke, Jenna nodded, a big grin on her face.

"It's all kinds of things, can be different things to different people I guess, it's not exact," She shot a look toward the fry-lover, then back to 7XB, "If she makes you feel all fuzzy inside she's probably special, you know, you might love her, that's all I'm sayin. Anyone else wanna give their two cents?" 

The sapphire's brows furrowed as the humans seemed to describe many of her involuntary and voluntary symptoms. It only made things worse. Her eyes widened as she connected that word with every moment she'd heard it used by rebels. Hematite, most recently, had uttered that word, and Padparadscha wondered if she could now understand what the rebel fusion had been trying to say to her that day.

She was struck through as if hit by lightning. Her hands shook as she tried to cope with the implications, everything hit her at once. For a fleeting second the investigator told herself that she could now pin point the exact danger of this thing she had been doing with the quartz. Throughout the day she had learned more about how rebels may have picked up on human ideologies-- love seemed to be one of those. But, something else gave her pause. When it had been just her and 7XB, facing down their fears in the jungle together, she'd felt those symptoms without any influence from humans or rebels. The sapphire slumped onto the wall, feeling excruciatingly lost and at odds with herself. Was this something gems were meant to feel? Was it okay for her to feel so strongly about a gem like 7XB?    
 

[7XB]

Their head was spinning with all of this information. It seemed the answer that they had sought for so long had left them with nothing but more, equally baffling questions in their stead. It was frustrating to the quartz , and shown clearly in their expression as they were hit with all of this information. Is this the fate of all investigations, an infinite series of questions without definitive answers?

If this is what Padparadscha had to contend with every day, 7XB had found a new reason to respect the little Sapphire, though they'd already held her in high esteem as it was. Unfortunately, their mind was too cluttered with talk of dizziness and 'fries’ to find any comfort in the knowledge that their station in life afforded them sanctuary from such frustration.

Regardless, they were tentative to apply this label of 'love’ without further discussion with Padparadscha, wherever she was. Suddenly, their mind was clear again, reminding them of more pressing matters.

“Right. Ah..thank you, fellow..” Diamonds, they hated to say it even as cover, “fellow humans. I must..go.” They turned to do so, conveniently in the direction of the hidden sapphire, practically scurrying away before anything else could be said..

Now, how far could she have gotten?

[Paddy]

As soon as 7XB ended the conversation, Padparadscha realized they would likely not be as paralyzed as she was; the action oriented gem would no doubt find her soon, and she would have to fess up about her erratic behavior. She glanced around from where she sat against the wall. There wasn't anywhere else to go at this point, she had literally and figuratively backed herself into a corner, aside from the door in front of her. Remembering what she had told herself earlier that day, she knew she couldn't just avoid them like this. She peered down at her empty hands; she was a sapphire, it was undignified for her to act this way, or many of the ways that she had acted around 7XB. It felt so contrary to her purpose-- but, looking more closely, the soldier seemed to draw something out of her, something true that she couldn't consciously pin point.
She realized something about herself in that moment. 

Now, she was further convinced that she needed a clear cut plan to face this predicament before she could take any step forward, to prevent anything from going awry. Unfortunately for the sapphire, no plan could be made before she would have to face this issue head on. The problem was enormous, it would take days of lone analysis to break down everything she'd learned today; not only about humans and their possible connection to the rebellion, but about 7XB and her connection to them. Whether the nature of this connection could be compared to what those rebels had been talking about, Padparadscha just couldn't be sure.


She stared at the door, considering her options. It was natural for her to think of what it would take to solve a problem on her own, but considering the burgeoning talent for investigation she'd witnessed in the quartz, would it be better to try to undergo an analysis with their help? At the very least, she had to say what was on her mind, and hear them out as well-- something very strange had just happened between them, after all.


The sapphire pried herself up from the wall, stepped forward, and with a huff, rounded the corner, nearly smacking straight into the quartz in question.

[7XB]

Their dedication to finding the Sapphire rekindle, 7XB straightened up, striding forward with a renewed vigor..and very nearly took a tumble over the little gem as she came forth out of the darkness. They had been scanning the darkness for some clue, some idea as to where Padparadscha had gone, and just how immersed they were in this endeavor was clear by the look of surprise at her reappearance, skidding to a sudden halt.

“Padparadscha!” They exclaimed with sudden, cool relief, their voice loud but for the pounding music that dampened the sounds of the room. “I was..you..” Then came the tsunami of emotion, their relief swirled together with embarrassment as all of what had occurred cake rushing back. “I mean, there you are. Mhm.” They cleared their throat, therefore trying to clear the fog of awkwardness away as best they could. What had happened..well, it happened, and there was not point in acting like it hadn't..at least not between each other.

They were a pair of mature gems, handcrafted by their respective Diamonds to serve their purpose, whatever that happened to be, with dedication and selflessness, no matter what the danger. Certainly something as pedestrian as this..well, it couldn't possibly be something they couldn't handle. Right? “That was.. certainly something worth discussing.. wouldn't you say?”

[Paddy]

The sapphire came to an abrupt halt, giving a small start at the sudden appearance of 7XB. Still panicked by her lack of a plan, she'd hoped to have some time to formulate something in the span it would take for them to find her, but the moment of reconciliation had arrived. With the gem standing in front of her now, with that look on their face, it fully hit her how awful she felt for making them hunt around for her in the dark.


Her eyes widened slightly as they said her name, and at the rush of vulnerability they'd allowed her to see in that moment; she had been expecting the walls to go up after something so strange, but it seemed there was nothing in the way-- except, perhaps, her own neuroses. Now, faced with their relief, and the knowledge that they'd wanted to see this through with her, she gave a small sigh, and a smile. It was easier for her to feel more relieved now herself, but she remained on alert.
She could see what the quartz was trying to do, but it wouldn't be able to dispel the thick veil of anxiousness she still wore. 

"Right," she uttered, looking up at them with flushed cheeks,"I'm sorry, I-- It's just so hard to think in here..." her eyes darted around the space. Something told her that was part of the design. It had been difficult to think, but that wasn't the whole truth. There were many things she had been able to consider underneath her current of panic. Her gaze went back to 7XB as her fingers tapped together,"I-- I suppose you could say I was caught off guard," She kept her arms pinned close to her,"Like I said earlier, I've never...uh..." It was remarkably embarrassing to talk about, her lips pressed together while her eyes slid away again, unable to look them in the eyes while her face became redder,"Perhaps we should find a more apt location to think about, and discuss this?"


Her hand floated up, then she hesitated, eyes darting to the clear quartz core on their left. With a final push of courage, she stuck her hand out for them to take, angling herself toward the door.