Mysterious Hierarchies ((Paddy))

[Mad Azurite]

Azurite would actually allow the sapphire to go first, this was for her safety, as she’d follow after carefully; someone would have to be there just in case she slipped – not that she didn’t think the sapphire could handle herself. Eventually she came to other edge of the forest which crept high and rolled downward, descending into the large arrange of lowlands, which the ships must have settled in to obscure them from prying eyes. She smiled at group of wild asters near ocean edge, honestly if there was one thing she hoped Blue Diamond’s cultural section would keep here was a kind of floral museum possibly or a large garden displaying all this planets odd flora. She couldn’t lie to herself, flowers were certainly beautiful. Unfortunately this was one issue she had with this planet, a lot of beautiful distractions, distracting one often from either terrible danger or a truly a grotesque front.

“No problem, I should hopefully be making your lives easier!” she’d joke out loud, “Besides the rebels’ll be wishing I was on their side in a minute.” At the mention of corruptions, she nodded, and looked to the Amethyst as she made her explanation. Though she was about to make a suggestion, the mention of the ‘honor guard’s pearl,’ made her a little antsy, had the sapphire said this in the conference room, she was sure Cocoa would of exploded. She’d wait for the sapphire was finished before piping up.

“Well. She’s not my Pearl.” She started, “She belongs to the crazy broad who made me. In fact she created Cocoa. Boy, she’d have a fit if you mentioned I was her pearl to her.” She started shaking her head imagining it; Cocoa was sweet but just like dark chocolate she could get bitter too, “Besides, I want a blue pearl, make her match you know? Gosh’ and that cute hair over their faces, cute little blue noodles. Just wanna … throw her in a bowl … get a fork and … wait, that’s, that’s spaghetti! Sorry, ignore everything I just said.” She actually looked heavily confused as if she wasn’t even sure where her thoughts were going there. “But, yeah. Just.” She’d shift her eyes to the forest with some embarrassment.

Damn Pearls, always making her think of noodles.

[Paddy]

6UE chuckled at Azurite's comments as she got into formation, then listened quietly as the sapphire's misunderstanding was cleared up. Her brows furrowed a bit as the honor guard began to talk about something more peculiar. Of course, she could empathize with wanting a pearl, though truly having Pink Pearl around was enough for her; those servants were not always as complacent as they seemed, sometimes she almost felt as if Padparadscha's pearl were trying to get her in trouble. 

Without knowledge of what spaghetti was, the sapphire was somewhat content to let yet another string of uninterpretable words pass by without much acknowledgement to it. Though she became increasingly curious about it, she'd rather not put her lack of knowledge on display, and aside, she wouldn't want to make Azurite uncomfortable by pressing the issue. It was clear the "outbursts" mentioned in her portfolio had something to do with this, so the sapphire left it there. "Ah, well, I'll be sure to address her correctly in the future. I apologize for the misinterpretation," A strangely independent pearl, this Cocoa, though she supposed that Pink Pearl was rather independent herself for a servant. The sapphire would use this as an opportunity to try to get more data for her own purposes,"Your creator seems to have quite the network of custom designs," 

Amethyst was not so delicate in her thinking, nor did she realize what sort of angle the sapphire was trying to get at before she opened her mouth,"Sorry but, spaghetti? Is...um...is that a kind of gem?" The smaller gem shot the quartz a look-- 6UE took that as a sign that she should've kept her mouth shut, and scratched her neck as she averted her eyes from both of the other gems. With that, the quartz swiveled around and headed down toward the coordinate point. The dense foliage coming ahead prompted Amethyst to ready her weapon. She reached for the gem on her hip, and materialized a curved blade from purple light, appearing much like an Earthling falcata. She threaded a finger through the loop on the pommel, giving it a swing around until it landed with some finesse into her grip. Her first target would be a mass of twisting vines and fanning leaves that stood in her path-- she gave a swift, decisive swing, the shape of her weapon proving to be quite effective for this sort of thing as the plants fell to the ground in her wake. 

The smaller gem followed closely. For Padparadscha, there was nothing so dazzling about this place other than its lack of clarity, and it's thoroughly deceptive nature. Everything on Earth was out to put on a ruse, even the ground or the sky. Nothing could be trusted. Her eyes kept moving, alertly bouncing to and fro as she kept herself prepared to be attacked from any angle. She felt a bit of ire directed at the plant life-- the organic life that contaminated this colony. There was a point where it had almost been beautiful to her, but that was before she had any real, tangible experience with it. 

She would have another tangible experience as her foot caught around one of the vines left behind by Amethyst, and she stumbled over it,"Diamonds!" she uttered as she stabilized herself,"Wouldn't it be stellar if we could just incinerate these wretched organics," Amethyst looked over her shoulder and shrugged. She didn't think it was all that bad. 

[Mad Azurite]

The Azurite couldn’t hold back her laughter, “Spaghetti gems? Geesh that would be scary.” She said as her imagination wrapped around a gem whose form was mess of discombobulated noodles. Sauce included. Meatballs for eyes, the vision as becoming more terrifying by the second. “It’s a delicacy created by humans, I’ve been thinking about talking with some of the cultural appropriators about creating a small banquet or an appreciation of all the cuisines we’ve managed to collect in our records, so gems of the odd palette can try various cuisines from races we have ... dominated.” she thought, essentially it’d be something of a wild classy buffet for those gems who, though lacked the organs to be peckish, found the delights of tasty edible recipes an art of its own.

She was about to make a reply to the sapphire, but then watched as she started having trouble pulling herself through the vines, she examined the gem, it wasn’t the organics fault in this case. “Ey.” She said placing a hand on the sapphire’s shoulder, “Listen, I know you’re not much of solder, but walking like that, is gonna have you falling over place, organics or not.” She seemed to be making a point that the sapphire moved with far too much elegance in an area that cared little for it, “Got to lift those little feet, fast trot is what they call it for solders who have to march long distances.” She’d straighten out, “And this isn’t just for out here, in any combat situation, foot placement and proper strides are key. Imagine fighting in a room with bunch of electrical cords on the floor or worse, imagine fighting on a loose grating with holes wide enough for a foot to be caught in. One wrong placement of your feet and it’s over.”

Though she wasn’t trying to discipline the sapphire, this surely was a matter of discipline in the sense of how one carried themselves. Though she didn’t think the sapphire lacked it in a sense, she knew that investigator probably hadn’t been introduced to this kind of tactic and way of thinking.

“Remember, a strong warrior, a strong individual, starts from the ground up, remember to be rooted.” She’d say and then take her time to think of her next answer to the sapphire, “To what you asked earlier, my creator is a visionary in a sense. While other gem designers concentrate on improving already existing gem designs. She was tasked by yellow diamond to act as a lapidary, creating gems from the scratch up, experimenting with what it means to make a consciousness.” Which scared her more than anything, the idea that Beady was literally in control of designing the mind and body of the individual gems she created. “It’s a terrifying job, really. Imagine, you’re creating a being that is going to one day look at you and start making choices of its own. She could explain it better, but the idea of it creeps me out. She knows the gems she’s designing in a way that transcends even their own thinking.”

[Paddy]

"Hmm," Amethyst hummed as her brows went up at the mention of all sorts of things she'd never even heard of,"I mean, I'd be up for it. Tryin' something new, you know," Internally, she was glad that Azurite seemed less offended than her patron did at a possible transgression. While the soldier's spoke, the sapphire's lips pressed together, brows furrowing as she imagined what Azurite described. She wasn't altogether sure what she felt about gems eating, it was certainly disturbing to a degree from her experience.


As the honor guard's hand clapped onto her shoulder, Padparadscha's brow twitched and she glanced up at Azurite with a bit of befuddlement on her expression, before her eyes narrowed very slightly as she realized what the soldier was getting at. She wasn't sure how she felt about this impromptu advice either. At the assumed lack of knowledge, she bristled, even if it was true that she hadn't thought so much about it. But, this seemed to come from a good natured, genuine place-- aside, she could always use more data on how to be more effective at what she did. The tension in her shoulders subsided a bit, and she nodded as she listened. "Ah, right," Padparadscha answered tersely, tucking a bit of loose hair behind her ear as she glanced toward her feet.

Amethyst was a bit fascinated with seeing this exchange, or hearing it rather, as she continued to chop through the plant life. She'd been perplexed by this scrappy sapphire ever since she first saw her in Pink Diamond's judicial court chamber. But, after all, the pampered aristocrat wasn't a soldier, even if it seemed like she wanted to be one sometimes. The sapphire certainly seemed to hang around soldiers a lot-- was this sort of thing the reason why? The things Azurite spoke of were things Amethyst just intuitively knew, things she'd never really had to think all that hard about.
It seemed so basic to her, but 6UE wondered if the sapphire would take advice from her. The thought brought a bit of a smile to her face, she felt she already knew how that would go down. 

Padparadscha felt markedly less uncomfortable as Azurite moved on to address her mention of the apparent K-∑ leader. Though the information she was after wasn't brought up (and she would be hard-pressed to directly ask for it) she found herself listening intently to the words as the honor guard spoke. Unconsciously the sapphire's expression became more hard, brows furrowing as she thought. Her eyes continued to sweep across the ground as she mulled over what was said. "That is rather incredible. So her goal isn't necessarily to create weapons then?" The sapphire muttered. She imagined how she would operate in such a position, but found that it was hard to imagine doing anything of the sort. This idea would certainly have repercussions for her theory,"More so, to study the properties of consciousness in gemkind? To test the limits of what is possible?" she tilted her head toward Azurite, knowing whatever answer she had would prove to be very useful information. It would do something to explain why this lapidary would create gems who seemed so...defective, at a glance. 

[Mad Azurite]

“Hah, her? She’s made all kinds of gems, I remember back in the labs all the weird crap she made, experimentation with various conscious facets. I was one of her favorites, ‘just one inconsistency in its fractal structure, one crystalline fiber out of place. And the mind that blooms after could be of facet caught within countless variations.’ Ha, whatever.” Her tone changed as she went to mimic her creator’s deep sultry alto, and even mimic a strange hand gesture the odd gem would make. “But, some of them suffered ya know? Designed to the letter, only to be faulty in the end. Or have some odd gimmick.” It was odd to her, her creator struggled to design gems for whatever purpose was instructed of her, though their magnificent Yellow Diamond had order her to design the more dangerous gems, cultural and even sophisticated aristocratic gems were sometimes commissioned by Blue and Pink Diamond respectively and in some cases, elite monstrosities were designed in the wake of the Grand White Diamond.

“By the time I left, she started working on some wild project she got commissioned by our immaculate Yellow Diamond to make. But it was some crazy plot to pretty much create abominations.” She’d laugh, knowing the two would take that pretty harshly, “They had this scheme to break the moral of Crystal Gems, you know how they mess around with fusion right? Well, they’d create weaponized fusions who were like them, except specifically designed to combine their powers into utilizable advanced battle forms. These gems would be sent to be double agents, and tear the Crystal Gems apart from the inside out. Man, when I heard the plan I was like, ‘Damn! Our Diamond’s go hard, yo!” She’d say this next part with bit ‘oomph’ as she got excited, just the thought of making counter-fusion gems to tear apart the Crystal Gems was incredible.

“But, iunno what happened with it, haven’t seen her since … since …” She’d stop in her tracks, going dead silent as an estranged almost pained look overcame her, the sparks in her chest grew fierce for a moment and then glowed an odd orange.

You weren’t supposed to think of that … we, weren’t supposed to think of that.

“Nono, don’t get angry, I’m sorry, I forgot that was around the time ...” She’d say out loud as she’d turn away from the group and speak with what was some kind of disembodied voice in her mind. Her tone suddenly seemed worried and cautious.

Azzy? Is That you? I can hear your voice! Where am I? Why can’t I feel my hands? Wait… Why can’t I feel anything?
Why would you choose this? Are you a fool?

She’d grow frustrated as another loose voice beamed within her, the energy of her gemstone shifted to a deep purple hue, of course she didn’t have hands, well unless her hands now counted for well, her own? Wait, was she asking the same damn question again? Azurite shook her head fiercely as growled, “Would you two shut up! You will not screw this mission up for us.”

[Paddy]

She scanned the ground as she listened, stepping carefully over the discarded plant life as she moved forward. This Azurite proved to be a gold-mine of information-- so much so that the sapphire couldn't hold back her stunned expression as she looked up from the ground to assess the truths of what the honor guard said. Her wide-eyes took in every cue while the guardian spoke, her need to know more grew exponentially with each word. Questions erupted across her mind, and she felt as if the answers were so close, just within reach, if she knew the right things to say. A particular fusion came to mind as she heard the guardian's story.


But, as the soldier seemed to step into another state, the sapphire's shock broadened. "Excuse me?" Padparadscha said with a touch of indignation, taking Azurite's last words somewhat personally. Then, with a start, she realized that she had seen something like this before. Far back, at one of her first Earth dispatches, and one of her first enemies; a gem whose split mind made it impossible to follow his true intentions. A pit sank through her as she tried to put together what was going on here, remembering the things she read in Azurite's portfolio. The sapphire dwelt silently as her eyes worked over the glittering soldier gem, core shifting from one hue to another.


Amethyst was confused enough to halt her forward advance, and turn around to see Azurite looking off into the forest, and Padpara staring purposefully at the other soldier gem. She figured if anyone screwed this mission up it'd probably be herself, and even if it wasn't, she knew she'd be blamed for it anyway. The soldier's own bitter humor was sparked; being told to do anything just made her want to do the opposite,"Pff, well I would, but this mouth just don't stop once you get it started," Amethyst answered with a smirk,"I could tell you all about the time I stood in the same hall for like...a whole cycle. Just staring at the wall. Good times! Except when 3KO was there, what a killjoy. There was this time when--"


"6UE," The sapphire chirped, swiveling to dig her eyes into the gem,"Not the time for this,"


"Psh," Amethyst just flipped around and got back to work, her mock-smile dissolving into a more dour representation of her mental state. Padparadscha let the moment settle, then turned back to look at Azurite.


Abominations. There were very few gems she had reserved such a strong word for, but there had been gems who had considered her as much-- gems who knew what she was really for, what she was really suppose to be. She wondered at the mind of this lapidary who Azurite had impersonated; and in turn, wondered at the mind of her own creator. "Ah, well, the plan does sound like it could've been effective. Perhaps our lustrous Diamonds do indeed go hard," she had no real idea what that meant, but hoped she used this colloquialism correctly. Additionally she found the plan fittingly insidious, betraying those who had betrayed Homeworld may very well show them the err of their ways. Her fingers tapped together anxiously as she tried to think of a way to get the information she was after, without triggering this inexplicable behavior from Azurite.

[Mad Azurite]

Most of what the two gems were saying lay muted by the intense throbbing in her head, the consciousness of the two shattered gems waking up inside her, this experiment had brought her closer to her fallen sisters. Her team. The only thing she has ever found herself attached to, excluding the safety of her kin and this grand Authority. She would never allow herself to be questioned as rebel, she was loyal. Azurite would do anything for her kind, including enduring this nightmare of an existence.
That's what she chose this, this was something she must push through, for all of their sake.

Azzy, this is wrong, you didn’t have to go this far. Let it go. Please. This experiment is monstrous.
Jazzy, Is that you? How is Azzy, is she … is she like us now?
I she okay? Tell me she's okay ...

“Back in the cage you two,” she’d manage to utter through her pain as she would lift her hands to two steel-divots connecting a strange chest piece obscuring the containment bubble at her center, it would unhook and fall open like a panel, a long and loud ‘hisss’ pouring out as a cloud of heated vapor and gas rushed from the bubble, the static from her chest actually managing to reach out and lash a tree. The several gem shards now open to the sights of others in clear view as they would flash and slowly seem to lose color. Azurite would shutter, much like someone growing colder by the second.

You can’t do this to us, Azzy. You know what you’re doing is wrong!
What has Azzy done, Jaz? Is she okay? … I should probably be worrying more about myself.

This was a recurrent issue, the influence of these gems surfacing, the tradeoff for her impressive strength and abilities. The one behind this technology had theorized the emotional content of the gems would attach to her own, but that wasn’t all, the awareness of these gems remained, ready and able- they couldn’t feel, they couldn’t see, they could only hear it seemed, sharing only certain levels of her perceptions and capabilities. But, the ramblings of the two would grow quieter by the second as the energy they had built up through their emotional upsurge released. The pulsing in her chest would slow, and grow fainter and then eventually she’d clasp the panel shut and sigh, a exhausted look in her eyes which had grown heavy and dark for a moment.

She had faded back into reality to hear the small last bits of the sapphire’s reply, the words ‘go hard,’ met her ear and the emotional urges shifted as they instantly registered a sense of humor and the Azurite starting to chuckle wistfully. That was something she swear she’d never think she’d hear from this sapphire. She liked this one, a real kicker. She’d look over with tired smile as her colors were coming back to her by the second, her natural blues kicking in. “Sorry, sometimes these two don’t know when to be quiet.” She felt their consciousness reeling back in that void of space called her mind, it was like having pressure between the skull, rolling around in an odd jumbling manner. She’d finally begin to follow after the two. “I’d say it would of went great, whether or not it was implemented, I have no idea.”

[Paddy]

She waited for Azurite to answer, but soon found herself looking more dumbfounded as the gem seemed to pull her chest open, letting a stream of electrons burst through the air before the soldier seemed to decompress. Amethyst's attention was garnered as well, she turned and her brows shot up as vapor spilled out of the experimental gem. She made note in her mind that she'd seen this gem change color like that right when she chopped down the tree, and wondered. Padparadscha had a similar thought, but she had more of an idea of what might be happening, considering what she had read in Azurite's file. 

"These two?" Amethyst muttered, she still didn't understand what was happening at all. Embarrassed about her prior take on events, she looked perplexedly between the two other gems present, refusing to carry on until she had a better grasp. If she were going to be fighting alongside this gem, Amethyst felt she needed to know how she worked.

"Oh! I apologize for...um," her lack of understanding? "For any...transgression. As for that plan, you see, well," Padparadscha had just the thing that might tip off Azurite's memory or give her a hint as to the state of that project (as well as confirm her own prior data), though she hoped it wouldn't be associated with whatever breakdown the honor guard just had to quell. She tapped her wrist and brought up her holoscreen, then flipped through. "Ah..." She kept flipping, her slender brows seemed to become heavier as she continued. The files were there, but every other one appeared with strange sequences of corrupted text instead of titles and dates. The sapphire chose one of her files, the one she was sure would have her footage of Hematite when she gave her the information about Cocoa. Chills prickled down the sapphire's nape when the file was opened; she was shown a page of corrupted, static images pouring down the screen as she scrolled up, her eyes searching desperately for some way around this wall of uninterpretable data. "What in the name of the Diamonds..." She muttered to herself, nearly forgetting the other gems. She'd never seen anything like this before; frantically, she left that document, and tried others silently. 

As the sapphire went vacant in her search for data, Amethyst leaned over to try to get a look at what was going on. Though, the soldier didn't have much of an idea what she was looking at, and passed her hand in front of the sapphire to see if she was "home". Padparadscha's eyes were firmly glued to her panel. The soldier peered up at Azurite and shrugged. 

"Alright," Padparadscha finally piped up after a moment of silence. 6UE gave a start, head swiveling back to look at the smaller gem. The sapphire's voice modulated to cover her mounting ire as she continued,"Honor Guardian, I've noticed a strange pattern. It seems..." Her head split with a sudden realization; even if her data was scrambled, she knew-- her answer had been arrived at by the way her enemy had just telegraphed their maneuvers. No longer would she have to try to pry that particular particle of information away from this soldier. Her eyes cut into Azurite, and she took a step closer, analyzing her features,"What is the meaning of this? Is Nephrite even here? I demand you come clean and speak the truth, or may Pink Diamond have mercy on you and your cohort," Padparadscha's tone became less modulated and more fierce as she focused on the honor guardian. She flashed a hand-signal to Amethyst; the 1080 was still very much in effect.

The purple soldier swallowed and squared her shoulders toward Azurite. She really hoped she wouldn't have to fight this gem, for a few reasons-- and she really hoped Padparadscha would stop instigating like that. Was it opposite day or something? 

[Mad Azurite]

Oddly, the Azurite was mimicking the Amethyst at this point, walking over and tilting her head curiously as the padparadscha flipped through the registries of her intricate data-panel. She’d be shrugging with just as much confusion as the other onlooker with her and watched eventually the sapphire would start again, but there was something about her tone she simply didn’t like, a rather belittled look overcame Azurite’s face as the sapphire turned to her and spoke venomous words. “…” She knew better, keeping her mouth closed, her eyes read both the sapphire and Amethyst, registering not necessarily aggression but a sudden defensive quirk. “I hate to say, as much as I like you sapphire. You stepped into some shit you shouldn’t have, that simple. And, they won’t tell a ‘face’ like me much.” She’d cross her arms, unamused by the sudden change in the gem, she wondered what exactly tipped her off, but also what was making this gem so uncomfortable with her, “I don’t intend on fighting you, I swear my loyalty to one Authority. The Diamond Authority.” Her eyes then shifted to the Amethyst, “strike me down if you wish.”

“That’s enough, Azurite.” A familiar voice would fill the air, held in distortion of some kind of digital apparatus around them, but where? Azurite would look to the sky with some confusion, there must have been other drones watching them, others necessary in case back up surveillance was essential.

“What’s the matter, 8QE? You have a mission before you. Commence with your mission, or are you taking matters into your own hands and sticking your head in things that don’t concern you, again?” The voice was most definitely Cocoa’s, the pearl’s tone toxic and ripe with harsh criticism, she’d say that sentence less as a question and more a declaration, “I should have known, I blame myself for not reading your obvious intents. Except you have stepped your boundaries this time, your shenanigans has caused stress to my beloved … I would crush you personally, but our lovely justice system will handle you. In the meantime, take this mission as a warning. As you have no idea what you are getting into sapphire.” Azurite scoffed, “Tch ...” and then walked around the sapphire heading towards their destination as she’d summon her dagger and begin to chop through the vines herself.

“Project Hematoid Quartz had nothing to do you with you, upon seeing she was no danger to Homeworld, you should have reported her to our main databases so we could properly analyze her. As she is performing wonderfully in terms of our standards. She- …” There was a sudden lull.

“Cocoa …” suddenly, another voice would come over the audio blasting around them, “Is that her?”

“Ah! Oh, My- Y-yes, Mistress, my dear. Please allow me to handle this.” The sudden squeaky nervousness of the gem couldn’t collide with the sultry smooth voice behind her, it was strangely booming compared to pearl’s, clearer as if she was standing beside the gems around the area. Her tone rife with vigilance and integrity, “I think I’ll share words with this sapphire.” One could hear Cocoa begin to protest, but there’d be another sudden shift in terms of silence before the voice returned, “8QE, I would introduce myself. But you already know who I am.” She’d take a small exhale before continuing; the titular humming of her voice like sensual harmony, “Don’t bother with accessing the data you have accumulated on my … artistic creation. A good acquaintance of mine has taken care of that. Amongst other things.”

There’d be a sudden gasp, or sigh of realization, “Azzy …” The azurite who had been mindlessly chopping through the vines to finally clear an opening to the vast valley of collapsed ships before them. The Azurite would stop midswing, not looking back or really reacting, “You’re not gonna tell me anything either are you? Just gonna keep me waddling around like a pawn, hm?” There was some more silence, “I’m glad you’re doing okay and Nephrite will tell you everything you need to know. All of you.”

[Paddy]

The smaller gem fumed as Azurite spoke, setting her jaw as her eyes bore into the soldier. She carefully watched the guardian's hands as she listened, her eyes narrowing down on anything she found even remotely suspicious. It was a complex situation, as 1080s tended to be, but she would get to the root of the issue.


Amethyst grimaced as she was addressed. She also had no intention of fighting Azurite, but kept her eyes flicking between the sapphire and the other soldier. What would she do if she were ordered to attack? Would she have to? She'd come here anticipating a fight-- but with Nephrite, not against an ally soldier who also happened to be a custom war machine, not to mention the fact that Azurite seemed to be the sort of gem 6UE wouldn't mind standing around guarding a moonbase hall with. But what would happen if she refused the sapphire's orders? It were times like these when she remembered other amethysts who never returned from their duties under aristocratic gems.


Padparadscha straightened like a pin at the sound of her cut, something she hadn't been called by since she were back on Homeworld. Though, there wasn't much room for her to dwell as K-Σ's chocolate pearl reprimanded her. Simply stunned, she listened to the disembodied voice, helpless to do anything other than that, which left her frustration with more tinder to burn. Her fists clenched at mention of the judicial system; something she had been an integral piece in for the better part of a century. Whose judiciaries would they send? Yellow Diamonds? Her visage darkened as she mulled over what evidence she had remaining in her database. A strange thing, Padparadscha thought, to be blamed for meddling in her own Pink Diamond's colonial affairs.
It was a shock to the gut to hear Project Hematoid Quartz. This was the true meddling; releasing strange projects onto the surface of Earth in secrecy, under the command of a Diamond who wasn't at the helm of the Earth project. It was also very strange to hear that the Hematoid project seemed to be going swimmingly...more evidence, in the sapphire's mind, that these interlopers could not be suffered. 

Then came a new voice. Amethyst watched as the other soldier continued toward the target, but stood by next to the frozen sapphire.

The small gem became absolutely furious as the mysterious gem finished speaking, moisture in the air around her steaming away. Knowing they had sent such an overt message by deleting much of her personal data-- things not one gem but her had access to (as far as she knew) was like a punch to the nose. Not to mention she had been placed into something of a hostage situation. She wondered if the data she had accumulated concerning Yellow and Blue Diamond's affairs were still in tact, but found herself honestly afraid to check.


"You're the lapidary," Padparadscha said, modulating her tone very carefully, but it couldn't disguise the edge in her words or the bite in her eyes,"I must say you've put on quite the show here," She had been utterly out maneuvered, tricked in a manner that she wouldn't forgive any time soon,"I suppose I shall have to see what this Nephrite has in store for us," As if she had any other choice in this situation; her frustration was on a tipping point. She pivoted and marched to catch up to Azurite, followed closely by an uneasy Amethyst.

[Mad Azurite]

“Indeed I am, and I’m not much for performances. I prefer live action.” The voice would boom around them and then the sound of something like a shuffle of movement, “Well, I guess I’ll leave you to the task at hand.” she’d coo as the tell-tall signs of the broadcast fizzling out rung across whatever was telegraphing their communication. Azurite had a disgruntled look in her eyes, she looked back at the group after having cleared a rather sizable exit for them into a small incline that led to the first of many colony ships, a path before them snaking around these ancient structures only to coil to what was presumably their destination, a larger most likely the lead cruiser of the fallen ships resting somewhat tilted in the center.

The azurite would clear her throat, and look around nervously wishing she had a collar to pull on, but instead she’d try to pull a wry exasperated smile, “So, no hard feelings right? I mean I’m just doing my job you know. What I’m ordered to do.” Of course, she just got exposed as being a front to what was essentially a baby-sitting mission and twaddled with her fingers in realization to that. She didn’t know why this sapphire was so interested in Project HQ, she honestly hadn’t even heard anything of until now. If the project was such a problem, why weren’t any of the other sources making issues about it, why did Cocoa say it was going swimmingly, she was curious, the sapphire had actually met this project, Azurite herself never got a chance.

“So,” She’d coo trying to lighten the mood, “from what I hear, you actually got to meet the elusive, project Hematoid Quartz,” She’d say it with a bit a smooth musical theme, “Never saw her myself, or it, whatever it wants to be classified as. Man, it must be terrifying, she’s probably this discombobulated, super monster, with eight arms and giant flame thrower for a mouth, spitting acid on buildings the size of skyscrapers and a figure as round as pear?” her imagination went nuts with idea of a fusion designed by Homeworld to annihilate the Crystal Gems from the inside out. “Probably has like, sixteen eyes, and-and three mouths and like nine stomachs. Just this disgusting monster! I mean no wonder you can’t capture her, shoot I wouldn’t be able to handle anything like that.”

“You’d have to be a straight square to be dumb enough to challenge a monster like that,” she’d think, though the idea of this monster was getting to her now.

[Paddy]

"Tch," She managed in response, unable to really give a true answer to anything Azurite had just said for the moment. Strings of words like, no wonder you can’t capture her, and to be dumb enough to challenge...felt like a one-two slap combo across her already sore face. All of this sudden talk about Hematite, the gem who had introduced her to the sensation of losing ones form, reminded her of the utter, raw defeat she'd suffered. Her hands and midriff tingled as her thoughts spiraled. Was she again on a path to even greater failure? Was there anything she could do to heave herself out of this problem, to deal with K-∑, to deal with the Diamond issue, with any of it?

Amethyst stayed a good arms-length away from the smaller gem; the air around her could get quite hot when she was mad, and Amethyst hadn't seen her this mad in some time. Her eyes flicked to the ground where she watched the small feet on this sapphire torch the ground in her wake, "Uh, well, we uh, we all serve the same Diamonds, right?" She gave an uneasy grin in Azurite's direction, truly hoping there were no hard feelings. Amethyst was still out of the loop, she feared she might never be able to get into it at this point. But, she figured after all, the Diamonds had good judgement. If the higher-ups wanted something, it was probably for a good reason.

That made Padparadscha want to grind her teeth. Technically, they all did serve the same Diamonds. But she served Pink Diamond first and foremost. "No," She snapped. 6UE's eyes widened, as she took it for a response to her own statement, but instead the sapphire went on,"Hematite is a three gem fusion hardly the size of any respectable soldier. She relies on her ability to detect gem locations-- fancies herself to be some sort of human icon and holds to strange beliefs she's picked up from them. The trouble is her blasted tendency to fly away, her-- her--" Her ingenuity, her speed and dexterity, her abilities which were troublesome to counter. Padpara knew it was likely that the lapidary and her pearl were still listening, so she cut her ranting short and kept it internal, where it would fester as the sapphire fell into a deeply quiet spell. 

Now Padparadscha's teeth actually ground together while she replayed her monumental failure internally, from start to finish. Yet, yet, you can't capture her. She knew where the trouble really was, but it wasn't something she'd admit to either of these gems. The thought only fed more of her flame. No, she could, she would capture Hematite-- but it would have to be carefully planned, with the most dependable gems she knew there with her. She just couldn't do it alone. "When I encountered that gem...I tried," She seethed, suddenly breaking her quiet spell, disregarding most of her surroundings as she just kept walking forward on autopilot,"I tried to make her see why...why she can't just..." The sapphires brows furrowed as she remembered something Azurite had said earlier. Had the lapidary made Hematite this way? The thought stung-- to purposefully make a gem who would seek the makings of her own demise, what a heinous experiment. "They, the three of them, can't just stay on Earth and try to hide..."

[Mad Azurite]

The Azurite beamed at the Amethyst remark, “Right? Been recruited by all four and I have to say I love how each Diamond works.” She had to admit she had her run in with gems who took the Diamond model as a sort of competition, playing favorites. Each group to their respective courts acting as voices for them—but showing a kind of a aggressiveness as well towards each other, a competitiveness that sometimes she feared could get out of hand someday. Her thoughts were interrupted, she almost felt like the sapphire was disagreeing with Amethyst for some reason, but as she continued, Azurite managed to contain a spark of indignation at the first part of her sentence, she pouted, her figure wasn’t necessarily the so called ‘ideal size,’ for a solder at least compared to these burly Quartzes walking around, yet it was still a silly thing to say in her honest opinion. But she couldn’t blame the gem, the idea that larger, bulkier fighter held the advantage was a misconception she couldn’t really blame a gem for considering.



“Well, I don’t certainly add up to the weight classes described as efficient for our solders nowadays, so I guess I’m not necessarily ideal.” She’d pass off with a frown, a facetious add-on to what the sapphire said.



The rest of what she said estranged her enough, it was odd that the abilities the gem held was what she pointed out, and not her combat aspects. Would the gem be able to fight as well as she can utilize these powers. Not only couldn’t you sneak up on this enemy, but if she had combat prowess to boot and a strong mind for tactics, she’d be a hassle to deal with for sure. “Human Icon, like one of their gods?” she thought out-loud, something she remembered some of the cultural examiners in charge understanding alien species ethos and views speaking of. How humans had beliefs in grander architects of their reality. Such a strange almost foreboding thing had sent shivers through her at one point, to think there could be some ultimate consciousness that created all things without a care of how they ended up. It was cosmic horror at its finest.



She swore she saw a lick of flames behind her when the steps the sapphire was leaving was shrouded smoldering messes. So was this the plasma ability they were talking about, it was obviously connected to her emotions or something, her sudden venom was proof of it. Great, a dangerous power in hands of emotional little sapphire, she wondered exactly how this was going to go.



“Tried, so I take it it didn’t work then.” She’d ask the sapphire, her eyes shifting to the colony shifts around them carefully, she half expected something to run out of those shadows around them ready to strike, but it was quiet, strangely so. She’d look back at the sapphire, a little confused, what exactly was she trying to convince this fusion of?

[Paddy]

She wasn't in the mood for any sort of facetiousness, nor this strange situation she'd been stuck with. The loss of her data had come as an enormous blow, and Padparadscha was considering leaving Azurite to her own devices so that she and Amethyst could make a getaway. Everything about this mission felt wrong, from the beginning she knew there was some sort of catch-- and now, Nephrite, or something, awaited them, perhaps with a trap to spring. By continuing forward, the sapphire couldn't help but to feel she was walking straight into the hands of the enemy.
She wished Amethyst would start taking this threat more seriously. 

Though she didn't want to dignify what Azurite said with a response, she found herself doing so anyway."Well," She began, her tone now more modulated, but it was clear she was still fuming as Amethyst continued to keep her distance,"You'll have to forgive me. I mean to bring attention to the fact that she is a three gem fusion who doesn't measure a typical size for a quartz-- not so gargantuan as your speculation. I suppose it could be said that your project Hematoid was made that way for a reason. Nonetheless she's chosen to betray her own kind, so I have little sympathy for her. Honor Guardian, you are obviously a respectable soldier given your talents, loyalty, and position," She gave a dismissive gesture, she was done with trying to clear it up. Through her smoldering wrath, she wondered why she even cared if she harmed Azurite's sensibilities; this experimental soldier clearly worked against the sapphire's best interests in this situation. 

"and I don't have the slightest clue about human gods," She added after a moment. She didn't even really know what the word was suppose to refer to, or why humans would have such a concept, but she had made her assumptions."I suppose Hematite does consider herself one of those. She says all sorts of strange, uninterpretable things, which I can only assume comes from her attachment to her human-given title,"


At the last thing Azurite said, the sapphire gave a bit of a start. "No," She uttered, then pressed her lips together as she stepped passed the razed ships,"She seems to believe that she'll be able to hide from Homeworld indefinitely. Though now that I have more information, perhaps she will, given she has such doting handlers, who consider leaving a fusion to run amok on Pink Diamond's colony an ongoing success," Her modulated voice became more bitter as she continued. Those doting handlers wanted her to stay away from their precious traitor, and she had a few ideas in mind for why. Well, she wouldn't play into the hands of her enemy. 

Amethyst just trailed behind silently. She knew it would be better to keep her mouth shut for the time being, especially since she had no idea about what these two were talking about for the most part. For now, she glared around at the ships, hoping Nephrite wasn't already onto them. But the soldier was so confused at this point, she wasn't even sure if Nephrite was still a target. The sapphire would've been more worried about these concerns, had she not been so presently consumed by the way she'd been insulted in this situation.  

[Mad Azurite]

As they curled about the various ruined structures around them, the silence only bleakly broken by the sapphire’s reply to her own resounding questions on this fusion. The complement made her feel a little better but the more she heard of this Hematite the more she wondered what she was capable of exactly, and why her creator seemed so interested in this one. From what it sounded like, the gem had its uses but was there something else going on here? Nephrite herself was a much more efficient warrior from what it sounded like, capable of flight, fast maneuverability, both defensively and offensively sound, a hassle to take out due to her near-invulnerability excluding the ability to damage her elemental body with enough force and the wake of her particle beam weaponry made her a class above others, she recalled Beady telling her a crew of maybe twelve or so Nephrite class warriors could swarm Empire City and topple it in days. A few platoons could subdue entire planet’s population in months.

Maybe it was the expensive materials needed to make the gems? Who knew, but her creator's interest in this fusion was odd to her.

With their obviously dominating technology and warriors to boot, she wondered why this planet hasn’t been taken control of yet, it made no sense really. Did it have something to do with morals? No, organics weren’t so important, then why were things being handled so softly when their combat models were efficient enough to scour and destroy this planets inhabitants? What did they want from acting so carefully, has the rebellion truly thwarted this much of their power?

Upon the sapphire’s reply to her question on whether the fusion considered herself some kind of deity, her eyes narrowed as she’d look back at the sapphire, the position this fusion was given making her curious. She wondered if the gem herself had committed any truly serious crimes against Homeworld, so far she just seemed like some odd abnormality being tested on. The way the sapphire put the last portions of her reply made the Azurite look back, yes she’d heard this kind of noise before, the sapphire was obviously unhappy that the fusion was like a speck of imperfection on what was honestly a huge mess from Azurite’s opinion. Never had a prospective colony planet caused issues like this one, but she wondered who was really to blame here, was it how things were being handled, or was it truly matter of meddling?

Azurite felt it wasn’t so simple. The Diamond Authority was a strange carefully oiled machine, their esteemed military genius Yellow Diamond must do what she can to test and further the development of weaponry and gem creation. Sacrifices would obviously have to be made, but it would be for the better considering she was the right hand wing in the direct protection of gem kind. The beautiful Blue Diamond was a cultural aristocratic developer, the sciences, the roles gems played, she upheld everything that represented the beauty and majesty of gemkind. But for their astute Pink Diamond, she facilitated an expansion, a growth and representation of the development of their race. And the Elite White Diamond, what could be said about her? Immensely powerful and her workings mysterious.

One too many times has she encountered gems who played a kind of favoritism, defending their Diamond’s works to the bitter end. Taking any meddling from other gems and even Diamond’s alike as an insult, even if they would directly admit it.

“Your fusion is in a strange position, madam.” Azurite would explain as they would round a corner leading to the large ship at the center of these ruins the main door ahead. “She wouldn’t likely give up a title like that without a fight. If you knew what a god is defined as by these humans, you’d understand. The humans here revered her most likely, the position of power and responsibility they must of given her …” She wondered if this fusion must have been older than she seemed, no wonder she refused to return, by now the gem was most likely set in her ways. Forever changed by this experience. “And I don’t think the fusion could do much dama- …” She stopped in her tracks, the gem’s white-blue hair rising as she caught sight of familiar shine ahead. Her hand would fly up in a military equivalent of ‘halt,’ and she hunched over, eyeing something green glinting in the darkness of the foyer to this ship.

She looked back at the Amethyst with fierce eyes, knowing the sapphire wouldn’t understand what was about to happen next, or maybe she would, she was unsure. She made a few hand gestures, silently communicating in war-speak to the Amethyst who should be well up to these tactical signals. It would translate quite simply:

‘Danger ahead, hold position and protect the Sapphire, I’m going to take point and clear the entry. Wait for my mark to follow, move slowly and quietly.’


With that she’d shift her sight to the foyer, taking a low stance and made a stalking straight-dash for the wrecked doorway, her hand on her blade ready to crush anything in her path when necessary. If anyone was getting shot with a radioactive beam today, it would be her. It would at least give the sapphire and amethyst a chance to book-it if things got nasty. But as she neared the entry, her eyes registered something that only sent a chill through her, upon entering the large circular hall encasing the main hanger, the green glint was nothing more than a containment-bubble, a gemstone showing signs of corruption inside. Her head shifted to the only path they could take and littered before them were dozens of bubbled gemstones, and counting, it didn’t seem to stop, the same green hued-bubble encasing them all. Obviously Nephrites doing. Wait, something definitely wasn’t right here, why was Nephrite even here? She hated conflict and yet she chose a corrupt-gem infested colony to hide out?

She’d motion to the two the all-clear sign, and took her hand off her weapon, crossing her arms, “What the hell is going on here?” she’d utter to herself.

(Nephrite's Theme)