Mysterious Hierarchies ((Paddy))

[Mad Azurite]

Serendibite’s sorrowful expression shifted quickly to the sapphire, though her attention would shift to Azurite every there and now as the sapphire spoke. But, Azurite herself only seemed to narrow her gaze on the sapphire, when she started to wonder where the sapphire was going with this. Azurite, felt something inside her almost seemed to twist into a knot even before the noble finished. This, felt so wrong. But it shouldn’t, it was what the Diamond Authority was meant to be wasn’t it—this idea of service without even a lick of renown or rectification. To not even be acknowledged for your deeds toward the empire. 

What is it that you wanted, Azurite? To become this? Is this why you chose to mar the beautiful form you were blessed with, to accommodate this so-called ‘justified,’ purpose. To uphold this sense of honor that means nothing in the eyes of the Diamonds. Your sense of honor was the tool they used to manipulate you.

She had to shake off the voice with fierce grit in her eyes, only to come into awareness as the sapphire began to finish the last of her dedication toward her people. Azurite felt in herself that she should applaud the gem for her loyalty, that she should be saying it was ‘the right way,’ but all the sudden, after everything she had been through Azurite felt only a strong sense of disgust, both towards the sapphire’s view and her own choices she had made up until this point. 

Don't be so sad Azzy, I know whatever you did, you did it for the better, right? And if you did do something wrong, knowing you, you'd fix it. That's just who you are. You're an amazing gem, my little blue rocky-road, ready to do the do right? Really, though, where's my leg's ... this is really odd feeling. 

But she wasn’t the only one who seemed off-put by this response both the sapphire and the gem's consciousness stuck in her own mind, the look in Beady’s eyes shifted to something of pity as she stared at the sapphire. Maybe, it was her time designing gems that has changed her over the years. But, she started to see her creations as less a matter of purpose and more as an instrument of creativity. She recalled the day it dawned on her, that she wasn’t just creating life—even if it was synthetic—but consciousness, and a being capable of choice and freedom. 

It was around that time that the dark gem’s outlook on the way her creations were being toyed with and used began to severely deepen her depression as an individual. 

“I … see.” She managed to say as her body would rotate to her desk and lift the purple gemstone she had been working on into her hands, the containment bubble around it would disperse and the being would immediately take form, a gorgeous violet colored gem with something akin to feathered wings on her back, star struck as she had for the first time perceived reality around her, “I cannot share your dedication, sapphire. To be truthful, it hurts me to see gems like you sacrifice themselves. My love lies with my creations, even if you are a template of another designer—my sympathies still cannot let it go.” She stroked the gems’ straightened purple hair who looked up at her with an uncanny amazement in her eyes that made Beady’s own light up with a joy that was indescribable. This was why she existed, not these power games or these silly ruses. To create love at it’s finest.

“It’s bullshit!” Azurite suddenly shouted, and Serendibite would look over surprised as the Azurite started to stomp around, her tint turning a deep purple, “Azurite, the emotional energy of your sisters are flowing through you-they will cause your emotions to flare if you are-…”

“Shut up!” She stomped up to the sapphire, who seemed to be the true reason she was angry, “What the hell are you even saying, what do you want to be a memory or even less that? At least leave a legacy others can know you by, don’t just screw off and become some screwed gear in a machine that gets tossed away and forgotten, and don’t forget it was you who struggle through all this! Shit, what a—...”

“Azurite, calm down.” Serendibite said, but the words only made the blue gem grow now a deep orange, sparkling glitter coming off her body. “No! I don’t want my honor to mean nothing! I don’t want to be something less than a memory, or something less than the void of space! I don’t want this!” strangely, the jet black of Azurite's eyes had spread across all of her features as what seemed like a furious rage was taking over the gem, but that could not hide the strange inky tears falling down her face. 

[Paddy]

Padparadscha watched, her eyes widened with awe, as the new gem took on her first instance of a form. The sapphire's mood lifted by witnessing such a thing, a surge of giddiness welling in her. Her eyes traced the gem's shape; she was quite stunning, and no doubt destined to provide K-Sigma with more prestige. She felt she had to make a good first impression, and straightened her posture, then quickly fussed with her attire. But, as her lips parted for her to answer, and to address this new creation, Azurite's internal storm was unleashed, and the small gem froze in place.


Compared to the pearl who had threatened her a short while ago, a large combat prototype with thousands of years of honed battle prowess and experimental techniques, was frightening, especially as the gem's wrath was now aimed directly for the sapphire. The words ran her through, taking that surge of giddiness she had felt just moments ago and plunging it into a deep, buzzing pit of anxiety; her shaking became overtly apparent as she stepped back from Azurite, as her mind split with primal panic at the gem's fearsome aspect.  

Amethyst was too caught off guard, her head swiveled between all of the gems in the room as she racked her mind to come up with what she should do in this situation; tension in her rose as the enraged soldier marched up to her patron-- she determined that it would be the fault of both of these soldiers if things were to get out of hand, if an aristocrat were damaged in this exchange, but she hoped Azurite wasn't going to let that happen.
Surely this gem was more in control of herself than that, she had to be if she was an honor guard, or so Amethyst hoped. 

There was a long silence as Padparadscha's eyes followed the slip of black tears draining from Azurite's visage. Her mouth and eyes were agape, letting the heated words carry through the cavernous room as the glittering gem illuminated the shadows. Her eyes shifted to the violet gem sitting on Serendibite's workspace, then slid back over to Azurite."I can only speak for myself and my sisters, Honor Guard," She said quietly, in a controlled tone, and gestured toward the gem on her throat,"Perhaps no one will remember this particular padparadscha once my purpose is implemented, and those gems in my retinue have moved on. Perhaps if I'm to be taken out of commission earlier than that, it will have been for the best," The sapphire found herself struck by that thought, especially where it came to those gems she had grown closer to over the course of her time on Earth. Would those gems one day forget her? She almost wanted them to. "--But it wont matter. It's what I was made for, it's all I've ever really needed, to be useful," She gave a start, she'd said something more truthful than she had intended originally, but after pressing her lips together for a moment, she continued,"What is the collective without its individual parts? Where would the next generation be without the support and ideas of the one that came before? It would be nothing. An individual who honor's their post is quite literally everything that makes up our society," Her tone was increasingly desperate and shaken as she spoke. She had no idea how Azurite would take that in her state. But Padparadscha was a voluble gem, and she felt words could solve most issues. Most.  

Her bodyguard found herself wishing the sapphire would just stay quiet; if the words further provoked the other soldier, things could go downhill very quickly, and 6UE wasn't sure that she could do anything if that happened.

[Mad Azurite]

“Whatever you do, do not breathe or touch the particles coming from Azurite’s form, they have a hallucinatory effect on gems that can be very unpleasant.” Serendibite would say, after the sapphire had finished, but it seemed the sapphire’s words didn’t reach Azurite whose hair distinctly flared like an Amethyst and her features grew more violent. Pacing back and forth the glittery substance emitted from the vantablack portions of her flesh would shimmer-like stars off the gems body, emitting something like musical-triangle echoing in the distance. 

“Azurite, your chest-panel. Open it.” She’d try and reach the gem with her words, but azurite only seemed to start to grow hysterical. Her head felt heavy, a maelstrom of titillating echoing voices rushing through her mind. “What’s happening!?” she at this point seemed to be growing more in fear of what was happening to herself more than anything, this had never been so bad before—her emotional upsurges tended to lead to more hilarious moments, but not this. Never had it been like this before, she was so enraged and distraught she had no clue where she was.

Seren, for first time in this discussion, had stood from her chair, summoning a cane to which she would use to aid her walk over to azurite and kneel down, the violet gem in her hand—not ready for the sudden force such a large gem standing to her feet could produce, fell on her bottom with something of a freaked look in her eyes. Serendibite’s fingers were armed with very precisely almost vampiric-looking nails, she’d carefully extend toward Azurite who had just spun around, and with a quick flick, the panel on her chest opened and a gush of vaporous steam would suddenly expel out.

Again, the azurite seemed to shutter to a stop, and almost became zombie-like as her color immediately faded and she seemed to go pale, wavering in place as if though all her energy had suddenly dissipated, “And Yellow Diamond didn’t want to have the cooling panel installed, I told her that’d be madness—no gem can handle the emotional capacities of her own two other’s like this. It’s ludicrous.” Azurite immediately fell out, falling on her back as she stared up with an empty gaze toward the sky, Serendibite didn’t seem too worried, she considered the Azurite gems one of the hardiest warrior gem’s she had ever designed. They could certainly take some punishment, and when properly equipped were successful warriors. It was a shame there were so few left, in fact Azurite might be the last of her kind.

The purple gem in Serendibite’s hand, would peer over it like looking down an edge where she’d stare around curious of her surroundings, her wings taking what at first looked like feathery appearance only to look closely and see they were like sheets of well carved spinally crystalloids layered over each other, the wings protruded from her lower back, and not like the upper spine like most interpretations Seren had seen from human culture. She’d then glance at the sapphire, the look in her eyes growing a little wider as she noted a new stimuli she had never seen before. 

[Paddy]

Her words seemed to have slid right off of Azurite, like rainwater off of a slick space-cruiser hull. The aristocrat found herself baffled at this situation, continuing to distance herself, wondering if it had been a good idea at all to strike into this debate with Serendibite. Already she regretted it, for more than the present reasons. Padparadscha didn't much indulge in the act of breathing, except for where it was practical for speech-acts; a vocal tract very well couldn't function without air. So, she kept her mouth shut as she backed off from the erratic, pacing gem. Though, there was something else so natural, so secondary to the sapphire, that it could've been compared to the necessity of breath for organic life-- her gem constantly sapped particles from the space around her, cycling and churning the energy into the plasma-like substance she used in her constructs, dispersing it through her entire bodily system in moments. By the time Serendibite's warning had come, it was too late. 

As she continued stepping backwards, the ground beneath her feet seemed to incline. Her brows furrowed, she remembered the floor being mostly flat-- but perhaps she hadn't remembered correctly. The words Serendibite spoke seemed to take on a tinny quality to them, then became sharper, or louder-- or altogether dropping into a muted mumbling as if the sapphire had stuck her head underwater. She jumped as Azurite's back hit the ground with a splash of metallic twangs. Soon, she felt as if she were slogging through the bottom of the bay again, looking for those gemstones that made up Hematite...she pulled her hands in front of her face, and her eyes widened as she saw that they seemed to be melting. But, surprisingly, the sapphire found herself not so alarmed by this. Perhaps it would be easier to swim if her hands were...a bit stretchy? She wasn't altogether sure.

6UE had quickly stepped away, and her lack of speaking or breathing had spared her from Azurite's radiation. But now, she found herself very confused, for other reasons. On one hand, she'd just witnessed a prestigious soldier who she had grown a massive respect for go absolutely ballistic-- so off-the-wall that her creator had to step in and stop her dead in her tracks, in a way that had alarmed the amethyst. Now the gem appeared to be out cold, and, on the other hand, her patron sapphire was leaning sharply forward, squinting at her hands, before she began moving around the room as if she were in slow motion. It was certainly unusual behavior.

Padparadscha's attention came to the brand new gem as her crystalline wings caught the light, refracting it into a spectacular myriad of deep violet shades and lilac highlights. All of the sapphire's sensory attention honed down on the intricate patterns of light and shadow,"Whua!" Her lips fell open, her eyes sparkling as she marveled at the beautiful complexity of the gem's design,"Incredible!" She declared softly, her hands reaching up to touch the glittering wings of the gem, but then she stopped short, not wanting to get her melty hands all over this beauty,"Oh! I'm so sorry!" She said, giving a bit of a jump. 

"Uh..." Amethyst's eyes flicked to Serendibite, and she awkwardly cleared her throat,"Well, ma'am...uh...this is certainly...something. Your foresight is, um...well I appreciate it," Her eyes darted to Azurite as she spoke that phrase.

[Mad Azurite]

As the noble seemed to be succumbing to the effects, Serendibite seemed to be so preoccupied with one of her favorite creations' currently laying on the ground exhausted and possibly even dealing with what she had theorized to be dangerous effects of causing the slow deterioration of the gems form. Her eyes seemed to mark a certain worry, that Azurite’s form would not be able to take this experiment. No gem should be put through this and yet it was possibly her own fault … or was she avoiding it, it was her fault wasn’t it? But as the gem was going to speak out, her ears were met with something of an out of place reply from the sapphire.

The large gem staring over with a vapid look in her eyes that only grew more scrutinizing as she watched the sapphire; her eyes, the way she moved, it seemed the gem couldn’t make it away from the strange effects of Azurite’s radioactive aura. “It ...” she started, and then as the sapphire continue her gestures incredibly awkward and out of place, only solidifying her thoughts on the matter, “... would seem your leader was incapable of escaping the effects of Azurite’s strange particle reaction.” She’d say her eyes shifting to the Amethyst.

Azurite seemed to be recovering still from the effects of her outburst.

But the strange violet gem who watched as the sapphire almost childishly reached out for her, immediately grew wide eyed with curiosity and did the same, reaching out with an arm as well as her wings would encapsulate her like a dress. Beady immediately taken by the absolute adorable nature of the scene, she couldn’t even bring herself to worry over Azurite anymore as her hand would lower to allow the two gems to properly meet each other. This odd unknown facet seemed to fawn as she reach out to aristocrat with such burning curiosity. 

Azurite seemed to squirm, “Dude,” she scoffed, scoffing some, “I feel like just got trampled by bunch of rubies, and then sat on by a Jasper. Seriously, what the hell just happened?” The gem canted her head to see the very memorable moment going on, but she couldn’t move—and why the hell was everyone acting so cutesy all the sudden? This was a dream wasn’t it? She did that sleeping thing she’s been trying to avoid for so long now? Her eyes narrowed to a glare, "And the hell is wrong with you guys?"

[Paddy]

"Oh..." Amethyst replied to Serendibite, the humor of even the idea of such a thing now sinking in more as her eyes flicked to the sapphire, enamored with the young gem in the designer's palm. 6UE pressed her lips together, and turned her attention around to Azurite. The juxtaposition of events was a bit disconcerting for the soldier, who still held some concern for her senior combatant who sat recovering. She'd only just met this soldier a few hours ago, but now her perception of the gem had been turned onto its head, she didn't know what to think. In that moment, she realized, her knowledge about Azurite was minuscule. 

"Oh!" The sapphire gave a start as the new purple gem seemed to swoop in closer to her, her glistening wings still so entrancing, and the sapphire's cheeks turned rosy pink as the young gem reached out to her. Now that the gem was so much closer, the small aristocrat beamed, her attention sweeping over the whole form of this gem; it wasn't just her wings that were kaleidoscopic, rich in depth and interest, but the gem's whole shape was infinitely interesting. She almost forgot that the new gem's hand was extended out to her, as she'd briefly forgotten her own existence.

A troubled look flashed over Padparadscha's expression, and she glanced down at her hands, which now seemed to be solid enough. The aristocrat's small, delicate hand reached out, and she poked the other gem's hand with the very tip of her finger. But, it seemed to give her a shock as she pulled her hand away again, eyes widened, and she swiveled her head to glance in Azurite's direction as if the gem had just shouted at the top of her lungs-- as far as the sapphire was concerned, she had. "Please keep it down! You'll alert the target! Now..." The sapphire whispered, then continued to swim, and balance herself against the tipping floor, "Aha! Dear comrade," She turned back to the winged gem, and hesitated, before reaching her hand out once again,"I-- I have a plan, it will be risky, but I believe you can help. Will you come with me?"   

Amethyst turned to regard Azurite as she spoke, concern lingering in her eyes before she gave a bit of a smirk. It was a relief to see the gem nearly back to...what was presumably normal. "Uh, well, her clarity has...um...lost her grip?" She glanced up to Serendibite, knowing the ancient gem would be able to better explain what the hell was actually happening, because 6UE still didn't quite wrap her head around it. "This isn't uh...permanent, is it?" She would have a hard time explaining things from this point out if that were the case. As she waited for the large gem to answer, she strode over to Azurite, and offered a hand to help her up. 

[Mad Azurite]

Azurite stared with an odd gawk at what was transpiring, “Uh … Alert the what? Target?” She shook her head with an incredulous look in her eyes, “Alright, I’m sleeping am I? This has to be a dream. Cuz’ this stiff just went straight from the pretty good-shoes type to a straight up spaz and that’s just impossible.” she managed to get out, and Serendibite who was busy being fascinated with her gem’s sudden interest in a new stimuli seemed to snap out of a trance and glance back at her with a proper look of indignation, and watched as the Amethyst first gave a rather crude explanation of the event. She was less annoyed with the two and more annoyed that Azurite wasn’t properly informed by the researchers behind her project, not truly explaining the level of which these merged gems were effecting both her consciousness and powers. “It shouldn’t be permanent, though the effect it has on individual gems depends solely on them.”

She then shifted to Azurite, “Azurite, you recall Jazzy had that odd effect on gems, where she could cause them to see and hear things that weren’t really there, send them into states of euphoric ‘elation,’ some would call it. Almost like Cocoa actually." Azurite thought back, it had been some time sense she’d seen Jazzy to be honest, now that the two were … one, or at least in her eyes. It wasn’t hard for her to hold back the memories she might have had for the gems. 

“Well, yeah … I think I remember.” Azurite was almost a little too content on the floor, but when she noticed rather stout hand reach from her from 6UE, she made a wry smile, and hoisted herself up with the bodyguard's assistance. "Thanks, 6UE, unless you want me to call you something else?" Azzy sometimes got a little bored of the facet identifications. Just more numbers she had to remember. Serendibite sort of lifted a brow at what Azurite had said, was Azzy’s memories purposefully repressing certain events about her life? “Azurite, Jazzy and Dazzy’s special traits seem to have transplanted into you as well. And well,” she motioned to the awestruck sapphire who had reached out to touch this strange new gem only to retract with astounded and ... odd to the gem. 

“Woah, dude you’re tryin’ say I did that?” Azurite as she pointed at the loopy sapphire, she immediately brightened up despite the exhausted aura of her features, she even seemed a little gaunt and out of color, “Oh, man! I have the greatest power ever! To transform the stuck-ups into laidback spazzes? Best. Power. Ever. How did I do it? What, how, I gotta know! Dude, she’s ten times better this way. Just tell when she start’s acting like a stiff again and I’ll be like ‘gloosh!’ and she’ll be like this!” Serendibite shook her head at the gem, wanting to say something but then something the sapphire said drew her attention back to the sapphire and what she would now deem Chevron Amethyst, the first of her series, Facet K000.

“...” The violet purple gem almost seemingly had an epiphany that not only did she have a voice but the idea of knowledge and words rushing through her—something like implanted melody in her psyche rushing out when it was necessary. She fumbled on her first words, but then a tenor of strange accented tongue reached out at the gem in front of her, “Yes? Z’ere is sum’zing you need of me?” she’d ask, reaching out to take the hand of the sapphire like a child as she’d stand. The gemstone, a more elongated expression of typical amethyst gem cut was dug into the gems widow's peak her long straightened hair spiraling about it. Her wings folding around her waist and legs in a dazzling war-skirt like fashion. 

[Paddy]

6UE had to give a contained smirk at Azurite's words. Surreal as it was to see an aristocrat acting like this, she was still too afraid to openly mock her patron, even if she was in a stupor. 
She scratched her neck after hoisting up the other soldier. She didn't dwell much about what she liked to be called, but now it seemed she'd been given an opportunity to think a little harder about it,"Er, well I'm usually just 6UE, but I guess when there aren't other amethysts around, I'm amethyst," She answered in a reticent tone, then she glanced over to the other purple gem. There was something about the gem that was amethystish to her but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Was it her gemstone? Her color? Shape? She wasn't sure. 

The soldier's eyes flicked between Serendibite and Azurite as they spoke, listening carefully, knowing that this was information Padparadscha would've likely wanted herself, before she'd become incapacitated. The aristocratic investigator likely would've been able to understand better too. Amethyst wouldn't be able to recall it entirely correctly when the small gem would finally come through her haze, but the gist was there; and on top of that, an uncomfortable churning in her gut accompanied the word transplanted as well as the names of who sounded to be Azurite's former comrades. She attempted to keep her expression neutral, but the corners of her lips drew downward as she tried to wrap her mind about what she heard. All of this shadowy classified material had the warrior feeling she'd rather stand around at the courtroom door than get herself caught up in this kind of thing. Though, Azurite's commentary on her effects on the mind of Padparadscha continued to tempt 6UE's sense of humor, her eyes flickered to the sapphire as she prepared to guide the youngest gem in the room on some kind of journey. 

Padparadscha gave a solemn nod to the gem as she spoke and took her hand, then glared around at the others in the room as they spoke. She seemed not to make the connection that they were talking about her; instead, all of her focus was zeroed in on her perceived objective. She fluttered her eyes and glanced around wildly for a moment, trying to see past the spots of glitter that were getting in her way as she turned back to look at her new comrade, and began to step away with some haste, attempting to take the gem for a bit of a trip,"Dear, I'm afraid it isn't safe for me here. The target must be first acquired before I do anything. I notice that you have these spectacular wings; what do you use them for?" She gestured toward the wings that she had been so blatantly staring at this entire time. 

[Mad Azurite]

Azurite smiled rather genuinely at the Amethyst, “All right, Amethyst, we’ll go with that for now.” Her gaze sort of shifted toward the sapphire and this odd gem who, just like the Amethyst, she narrowed her gaze as she felt an odd kind of familiarity in the violet gem before her—it wasn’t exclusive to the gem’s appearance, but more her gemstone, as the coloration was certainly different. The violet colored peaked at heavier redder tone than the Amethyst standing beside her—but the features of their gemstones and such marked odd resemblances couldn’t help but make the azurite skeptical, “Yo, Beady.” She asked, Seren, who had stood to her feet, peered back at the solder-class gems staring at the events unfolding with something a curious smile, “Yes?” The honor-guard would point at the violet gem, who had knelt down into a sort of thunderbolt-ish position to clearly look into the eyes of the sapphire as she spoke. “The hell Is that supposed to be?” she asked.

“That is a Chevron Amethyst, the new facet K000 series I just recently designed in light of the war, though for my own purposes and not necessarily for Yellow Diamonds.” Azurite looked over with an incredulous glare, “You created a military gem for your own interest? Are you allowed to do that?” She asked skeptically. Serendibite would make her way back to her chair, and sit down carefully, as if trying hard not to disturb the moment, “Of course, I can create and test any gem facet I like, as long as it doesn’t impede on any of the Diamond’s directives of prerogatives.” Azurite looked back at the unfolding events, the sapphire seemed to have a plan for the Chevron, which made Beady’s brows raise.

The violet gem twaddled with her fingers a moment her head falling bashfully, before looking back up at the sapphire with a tilt in her curious expression, and then looked back to Serendibite, as if she was wondering if she could explain the strange assets openly. She saw no response from her, and looked back at the sapphire, “Z’eh wings allow me to fly at een’credible speeds. Reaching almost transonic lev’elles, but only ee’f I maintain a z’ertain dee’stance from z’e ground. Ven’ty six feet, to be pree’cise, mademoiselle.” Azurite’s jaw dropped, not just at the sheer awesomeness of the fact but jealousy, “Dude, that’s way faster than my sword! That’s so freakin’ crazy!” She looked over at beady, “Is that true? She can fly that fast?”

Beady nodded, “Chevron can reach transonic speeds of flight as long as she maintains at least a twenty-six foot clearance from the earth, the way she does this is through a careful control of air-particles around her body, the wings force and create a field of aerodynamic propulsion that gradually speeds her up to this point while at the same time protecting her from the increasing G-Forces, however if she ever attempts to ever fly at these speeds within the twenty-six foot clearance, the magnetic field of the earth will force her to immediately slow down.” But Seren seemed to stop herself on purpose, as there was a very incredible usage for such a quick transfer of energy, the term, ‘sonic boom,’ being exactly that. 

[Paddy]

The soldier gave a smile and a nod, then stood at ease next to Azurite as the gem went to figure out the identity of the new gem. Amethyst's brows floated up as Chevron Amethyst was given her introduction, and she realized this was in fact another form of quartz soldier-- she seemed a lot different from the average purple quartz though, and questions about what this amethyst's purpose was sounded off in her mind as she wondered; was Chevron here to out mode her and all the other amethysts? It didn't seem likely, a gem like this probably wouldn't be found standing around at a kindergarten or in a moonbase hallway. Soon, she would have answers for her questions as Serendibite went to answer them. 

A brow quirked on 6UE's face as the large gem admitted to creating Chevron for personal reasons. That was certainly odd sounding, no doubt Padparadscha would've found some interest in that fact if she had been paying attention, though the soldier couldn't altogether say whether it was out of place for this Serendibite to do. Azurite seemed to think so, but the designer dismissed the questioning of her sanctions quickly. Amethyst really had no right to question this gem, or any gem in the room for that matter, so she just kept her mouth shut.

The aristocrat would not seem to take kindly to the speech of the other gems in the room, her eyes narrowed to slits, shifting from each speaker. But, her whole expression lit up as Chevron explained her ability,"Excellent!" She exclaimed softly, still attempting to scurry away from the other gems with an urgency, though her topsy turvy world made navigation a bit more onerous; no longer did she feel that she was underwater. The resonant voice of Serendibite, as she gave her more in depth explanation, was muted as if trying to project through the vacuum of space. The air felt incredibly empty, and she was a bit startled by the fact that there was no water to slow her down-- her motions became quick and unwieldy as she tried to adjust to being without atmosphere. Now, she became a bit afraid that she might float away, and was glad to have another gem's hand to hold, her grip tightened. It reminded her of another day, and another quartz, who she suddenly began to miss, like a punch to the chest. Her steps slowed as her emotional state began to careen on one side. 

As she continued, more of the environment began to leak it's way into her sensory perception. The distorted hum of the machines, blips of light were contrasted to long shadows pulling across the stone. Tiny flecks of mineral in the walls caught the multi-hued light, and to the sapphire, the entire wall seemed to sparkle. But the shadows, and the long open spaces around her, yawned into darkness. Her eyes widened as she began to step back, the shaking returning to her form. Then she leaned toward Chevron,"We need to get out of here, it isn't safe!" Her eyes darted around to the other gems once again,"I'll navigate, you fly! Let's get to the surface-side," Padparadscha whispered, and waited for it to happen, as if she had already determined there would be no protest to her decision. 

[Mad Azurite]

The Chevron Amethyst didn’t even know what a ‘surface-side’ was, but when she looked back at her mistress and creator, who was obviously testing her ideals on free will, and simply waved off the newly formed gemstone, but at the sapphires words and her rather venomous look, Azurite frowned, “Hey … Hey!” She shouted, “You better not,” but the strange violet gem only gandered back at the sapphire her eyes becoming frightfully determined, “Navee’gate me, I do not z’ee way!” She’d suddenly scooth sapphire in her arms much like mother holding a baby, with or without the sapphire real approval on this matter, as it seemed the urgency in the nobles’ voice had struck the gem so soundly that she treated this suddenly like a life task, she wasn’t sure who the targets were, or who the enemies were, but it was time indeed to leave!

Azurite gawked at this, looked at 6UE in shock with side glance, “She is not about to do what I think she's about t—hey!” She’d stop herself and run over as fast as she could, though the sudden weakness in her body would slow her to a halt as she shivered with exhaustion; then suddenly, wind pressure unlike anything she had ever felt before slammed into her body with enough force to not only knock her on her ass, but to send her rolling back as the Chevron Amethyst wings exploded outward in a wide arc across her body displaying their majesticity, before she kneeled, and with force resounding enough to create large air-breaking ‘crack!’ the gem launched into the air like a rocket going skybourne.

“Hoooomaiii gawd!!” Azurite shouted as she watched the take-off, it was not unlike a space cruiser doing hot take-off, “Welp, your boss is screwed.” She’d say as she pushed herself off the floor, directing that at the amethyst beside her as she watched the chevron hit that 26 foot clearance; and then there was another loud ‘crack!’  and whirrng jet like bass as a sonic boom could be hear going off like fighter jet above. Beady covered her gasp with her hands as she watched, “Oh my …” she said, “Well, as long as she doesn’t drop her she’ll be fine, the aura emitted by her to resist the g-forces will most likely smother the sapphire as well, though I imagine travelling a transonic speeds without a seat or ship to aid you will be a very eye opening moment for her.”

“So, let’s just hope they don’t crash into something, or you know, she drops her.” She looked back at 6UE nerviously, knowing this was probably a hair-raising moment for her. This was her patron of all things. 

The maneuverability of the gem was absolutely incredible, she may have had more maneuverability than some to the jets, “Mademoiselle! You must guide me, I do not know v’ere to go!” She pulled a full circle around the ship-before pulling something like an immelman turn and head for the skylight above. 

[Paddy]

Padparadscha's eyes widened as she was scooped up, her world becoming entirely flipped over as she attempted to orient herself and gain some balance. She didn't have much time to consider her comfort level, or whether this was indeed a good plan-- Chevron's wings deployed, catching the light in an entirely new, dazzling way, and the gem burst into the air, nearly knocking the sapphire out with the sheer force of the take off. Now, she literally couldn't move against the rush of forces against her body; under normal circumstances she might have been panicking, but right now, she could only marvel as the skylight drew so close so quickly, "Up and way!" She attempted to say, a gleeful smile plastered across her expression,"Straight forward!"    

6UE whirled out of her at-ease stance, glancing frantically around as she tried to figure out what to do, and her own shocked expression slid to meet Azurite's before the gem dashed off. Amethyst stumbled back as the prototype blasted off, and her hands flew up to her head as she watched the expensive noble she had been entrusted with hurl through the air. Eyes wide, jaw dropped, she shook her head as if trying to deny what Azurite and Serendibite were saying. Words like crash and drop made the soldier grimace, shoulders hunching at the implication that there was nothing any of them could do to mitigate this situation. 

The soldier knew this could be the end of the line for her if things went bad-- would she disappear, just like those other quartz she'd never heard from again? Aside from that, Padparadscha might not have been the best gem to work for, but she was far from the worst either. If something extraordinarily bad happened to the sapphire, 6UE wasn't sure she'd be able to face any gem anyway-- this was her job after all. 

"No no no, we have to get her back!" Amethyst exclaimed, hands flinging out to gesture wildly toward the gem who had absconded with the aristocrat,"Noo no no," She prowled around in circles, craning her neck to try to get a read on Chevron's location, still racking her mind for a way to compete with this other amethyst. All she could do was spin dash, and that certainly wouldn't keep up with any transonic mode of transportation. She swiveled and her eyes darted to Azurite's sword; she'd already said the gem was faster than her technology. Then, her eyes flicked back onto Serendibite,"C-can't you call her back?" Her words wavered with desperation.

[Mad Azurite]

Serendibite realized now that maybe it wasn’t the best idea to just let the newly formed gem do as she please, she actually managed to stand out of her chair again, blocking the light from the sky-view above with a hand as she tried to get a good gaze at the two, “You know.” She said as she heard the amethyst plead with her to do something, “considering she’s a gem who can travel at practically Mach 1, I should have put a communicator on her. Hm ... O'well.” She stared with some concern as they neared the massive whole to free-space above, the gases in the room that weren’t far from air allowed the sounds of the gems’ sonic travels to be heard echoing through the ship. 

Azurite looked over at Beady with glare, “Yeah, maybe you should of thought about that before you let her fly off with 6UE’s sworn matriarch.” Azurite growled. Serendibite looked down, first at Azurite, and then to the Amethyst who was freaking out beside her. “You could do better.” Serendibite said, and Azurite’s eyes flashed at this, taken aback, “All Sapphire’s are, to me at least, are expensive little tools with generally interesting abilities. There uses limited, to be honest.” She took a more relaxed stance with both her hands on her cane, “She’s no more valuable than a pearl in my eyes, no gem is truly above another in this horrid idea of a hierarchal society. I’ve seen lazy sapphire’s who do nothing for this empire but are revered as symbols for their diamonds, pearls who strain day after day aiding in feats for their masters-that without them would have failed a thousand times over. And solders like you, every day, sacrificed for nothing more than some noble who amounts to nothing more than eye-candy.”

She cleared her throat, “Not that I see your master as such, of course. She’s a bit … warped, but not necessarily the worst example of our kind. I imagine her time on earth will open her eyes, that or drive her mad.” Azurite couldn’t believe what she was hearing, she knew Seren’s outlook on the hierarchy was never very positive, but sometimes she felt the gem was steps away from being considered a rebel, the only difference that Beady had a strong sense of love for Homeworld despite her views—like she wanted to see it better itself, she hated the system … not her kin.

Meanwhile, to the two gems who had managed to get airborne and whose speeds were ramping up by the second. Chevron glanced down at the pink sapphire before her with an affirmative look, and then increased her speed for the skylight above, it closed in faster and faster—until suddenly, a whirl of green break from her peripherals, flying right in front of them, Nephrite would appear blocking their way with arms and legs spread in halting maneuver, “Stop!” the jade gem would shout at the two, where Chevron, fearing a collision would come to a rather sudden stop, but the intense and powerful amount of energy the gem had generated in her flight would rush through and past the green gem, her green stones transforming into aerodynamic wind breaking shapes to break the air-pressure being thrown at her. 

Nephrite was lucky she was practically intangible, the force would have been enough to practically throw the gem into space.

“Now, where do you two think you’re going?” Nephrite would ask as she narrowed her gaze on the sapphire and the violet amethyst. “Z’e master here v’ishes to return to z’e surfee’ce!” Chevron would plead innocently, not quite understanding what was going on, “You’d both be burned to dust before you’d even reach earth’s surface, the reentry would ensure that. Turn around.” Nephrite wasn’t necessarily ordering them, but was for sure warning them that they’d be ruining their careers if this continued. 

[Paddy]

6UE's hands wrapped into fists and teeth clenched as Serendibite spoke. The soldier didn't care as much as her patron did for debate and philosophy. She was more concerned with what she saw as practical in this situation,"So what!" She blurted, then flung a hand out toward the skylight and the gems headed for it,"If that sapphire gets shattered I get shattered!" She began to grumble to herself as she pivoted, and retraced her steps back through the kindergarten's catacombs, thinking she could get back to the ship in time to get pearl updated on the situation, maybe fly after her. The ship wasn't meant for battle or chasing highly maneuverable flight capable gems, but it was fast enough to clear the distance between the moon and earth in seconds; that had to be something, right?

She stopped mid-stride as Nephrite literally flew into action, and her jaw dropped as the gem raced quickly enough to get in front of the exponential acceleration of Chevron. A surge of hope washed over the tumult of panic that had previously welled in the soldier, but she suddenly was hit with the fact that she'd just been rather rude to a higher-up. Was it too late to apologize? Was it too early? Her eyes shot back up to the scene as Nephrite held things together; now she had to think of another plan of action. But she was use to just going along with the sapphire's plans, and wasn't too great at strategizing on her own, especially with such high pressure.  

As the green gem appeared before her, and Chevron came to a resounding halt, a huge amount of inertia yanked the sapphire forward,"Uff!", but she remained within the tight grasp of the flying amethyst. Though Nephrite's voice usually sounded as if it were fed through a different frequency, right now, the sound was as crisp and clear to her as the edges of the skylight, and the blinking stars that shown in from outside. Despite the fact that they'd stopped, everything in the sapphire's vision continued to stretch forward as if they were still moving, and made her a bit nauseous. She leaned over to look down; everything looked a lot smaller from up here, and with the effect that was impacting her perception, things seemed to only get smaller and farther away. Her eyes widened and she glanced back up to Nephrite. 

The effects of the glitter particles were wearing down on the sapphire's energy, and she almost felt too tired at this point to even give any sort of answer to Nephrite, or direction to Chevron. Somewhere she began to realize how strange this situation was, but couldn't quite put her finger on why. She was in a place she wasn't suppose to be, surrounded by gems who she didn't see as her allies. Why had she trusted this purple gem in the first place? Were any of these gems trustworthy at all? 

Earlier her emotions had tipped, but now, they entirely capsized, breaking down inwardly as she began to realize she was being confronted about something she didn't have a recollection of, her body began to shake as if she were being fluttered in a wind,"What!" She uttered, brows shooting up over her expression, whole form squirming,"I need to get out of here!" She exclaimed, her voice echoing down the walls as she tried to pry herself free of Chevron's grasp,"No gem can be trusted! Rebel scum everywhere! Cover your alibis! Agh!"  

[Mad Azurite]

Seren only seemed to sigh at the Amethyst, she supposed shattering was something to be quite wary of—though she wondered if the solder truly put to thought what she was saying in the end. Luckily however, Nephrite, whom Beady realized had been far or less missing—and she’d honestly almost forgotten about it, appeared and seemed to be handling the situation. Azurite had went to follow the Amethyst and wondered if maybe she should—yeah, it’d be the safest bet this point. She drew her weapon, and the extender mechanism elongated the blade and a powerful whine could be heard as the propulsion system and jet stabilizers seemed to activate, it'd hover feet off the ground with a strange sense of stability.

She wondered if maybe now would be the time to take off, maybe they could catch up with the two if they were swift, “Should we?” she said as she stepped onto the blade, knelt and then looked back at the Amethyst. 

Nephrite seemed to narrow her gaze, “I think something is very wrong with her.” she pointed to the pink noble, who garnered a wide eyed gasp from winged-gem holding her, the sapphire began to struggle with in her grasp which surprised her, “Please, mad’em! Do not strug’gelle so suddenly—I almost dropped you!” she whimpered as she’d try to get a better grasp of the sapphire, the look of sheer worry, almost a motherly caring in her eyes lighting up like a fire, now more embarrassingly for the sapphire, she adjusted her hold on her with her hands tucked under the sapphires' arms like a father lifting a child to their meet their gaze. Fearing for the sapphires' safety, she let her wings stop flapping only to take a glider’s form and the gem began to spiraling descend back to the earth, trying her hardest to keep the sapphire in her grip, nephrite followed after, her mode of flight being a direct kind of propelled hovering compared to the other flight-capable gem.

“Hey, looks like Nephrite convinced her to come back down!” Azurite said as she watched them begin their descent.