Inconvenience Truths (closed w/ 6UE)

[Amethyst]

The burger, despite having been jostled by her hasty attempt at an escape, was still a savory flavor experience Ame could give a five star recommendation for. However, it was a bit difficult to enjoy the taste while facing down a multifaceted and unpredictable war machine, so she finished her last bite, then put it down. What they said next felt like a smack to the back of her head; she gave a start, her mouth dropped open as if she were about to say something, but she just stood looking dumbfounded by the request. 

She allowed her dark indigo eyes to swivel to the side, head tilting the same direction as she ruminated for a second. She took an empty swallow; this situation just became even more dangerous. The juggernaut quartz was a big threat all on there own, but she had to again wonder whose side they were on, and who else might be lurking in the area. "You need some info huh?" Ame grumbled, and pursed her lips for a moment, then scratched the back of her neck. Without knowing what 7XB's intentions were, she couldn't make a safe call; if they were under some orders to antagonize that structure, that meant her unit would be in danger-- the gems she'd been closest to all these years-- but she was on the other side of the fence now, she couldn't keep trying to skip over the line. The right choice didn't seem to exist, but she didn't want trouble with 7XB if it could be helped. 

"...if you want to talk about that, we're gonna have to get on the move first, and intel ain't free-- especially the kind that could get us both chucked," She backed up to the edge of the building, teetering rather delicately despite her size. The purple quartz prepared to make an exit, but she waited for the other quartz instead of trying to blaze off this time,"So, as for a pay up, I'm gonna have to ask, whats your stake in this? Whats your deal?" A thick brow quirked as she looked directly at the clear quartz's stark eyes,"I mean, you had us all turned upside down after that, uh...you know, the ransom you pulled,"

[7XB]

7XB did not very much appreciate the tone the Amethyst had taken at all, nor the implications of what she directly after. But after what had happened at the quarry, as much as it left a bad taste in their mouth, could they really blame her for questioning their..their loyalty? They had certainly not expressed themselves or their motivations particularly well; Simply showing up at a highly-classified facility that they had no business knowing about in the first place, then forcing their way in, likely didn't make much sense to the gems stationed there. And if they really thought much about it, it was unlikely that Padparadscha had explained their discussion to the gems serving under her.

Their eyes narrowed at the precarious perch that the Quartz had intentionally placed herself upon. There was something much different about the purple gem in comparison to the last time they had met: A different aura, an unusual sort of defiance that had not been there before. That shed a new light on her escapist routine, but that was something that they were going to let that lie for the time being- this might be the only chance they got.

“Everything that I do is for my Diamond, 6UE. Everything.” They could not help but narrow their eyes as they continued to speak, “I..I received information that someone was compiling information to act against her.” In regards to who exactly had done so, they couldn't bring themselves to say it, but it would be clear enough.

[Amethyst]

She nodded, lips tugging to one side; though there was something 7XB seemed unsure of, the answer was good enough for her to get an idea of where they stood, and what this was really about. Ame gave a quiet but relieved exhale; they weren't here to twist her into a pretzel after all. Though, they still might if she played the wrong cards, so she kept herself on alert. It was unclear whether the other quartz was acting on orders from Yellow Diamond, or if they were acting alone, but it was clear enough to see that Padparadscha was being scoped out by the Yellow Court from multiple angles. 

"Alright," She began, then canted her head forward,"One more thing-- those other amethysts, they don't know squat, so leave them out of it," Ame didn't actually know if her sister guardians were in-the-know at all, but she was the only one of them to spend time in close quarters with the investigations unit.

She opened her crinkled up paper bag and settled her half eaten burger inside, then grasped it between her teeth. She allowed her weight to pull her downward; she slipped off of the edge, falling for a brief second before catching the lip of a window. Then, she peered down, and slipped another level lower. Once she determined it was safe to do so, she hopped off of the building and landed square into the alley way,"The Police are probably going to be checking this area out soon," The two of them had made a bit of a scene after all,"Aside, I know Pink Court gets a lot of smack talk, but don't underestimate," It wasn't just Pink Court spies she was worried about either, 7XB could've brought spies too. She grabbed her bag, and pulled the burger out to finish it as she began to meander down through the alley, heading for another street. 

[7XB]

'Those other amethysts..” Hm. Considering everything else that had occurred tonight, it was difficult for 7XB to prevent their distrustful nature from stringing fancy unto fancy without any evidence but.. well, there was definitely something not quite on the level about 6UE, and judging by the way she had reacted to their demand for information, it wasn't Padparadscha's secrets she was so clandestinely guarding.. but what? They took a step forwards as she turned and dropped from the ledge, every alarm in their mind sounding off as their only source of information drops so suddenly out of sight. It took only a second for they themselves to reach the ledge, ready to leap after the other gem if need be.

As it turned out, though, she had merely dropped to street level, and judging by what she was saying, she wanted them to do the same. The word 'police’ was largely foreign to the clear quartz gem, but after a moment’s reflection there was a connection: that was the name of those bothersome security humans, wasn't it? The same annoying persistent creatures that had wounded them with their primitive ballistic weaponry. Before they could protest such a suggestion, the faintest wail of sirens in the distance flared up, pulling their gaze over the twinkling cityscape in the distance.

Perhaps it would be prudent to have this conversation elsewhere..

Rather than drop to ground level, they moved backwards, rushing to cover the gap between the damaged building they stood upon and the next, landing with relative ease; After their last impact, however, the jarring nature of the landing left them wincing. From here they'd be more able to keep a lookout, namely on the slippery Amethyst.

[Amethyst]

Ame's attention roved between the surrounding humans, the impending officers, and the other gem; her head tilted so she could get a look at them as they leaped to the next building over, and her lip tugged to the side. They didn't entirely trust her, it seemed, but that was only fair-- she didn't trust them either.


She before she turned out onto the street, she shifted to change her look, but continued toward the abandoned industrial zone. Both quartz would have to lay low for a little while after that short chase across the avenue; by now being well aware of how much she stood out in Empire, Ame wished she had taken a moment to scope out the situation before impulsively taking off. Though, what was done was done, for now she would have to decide what she would say.

Ame picked up the pace a bit, looking up every now and again to see if 7XB was keeping pace. Her nape prickled as the sirens got closer, just a few blocks over they were investigating the scene. She just hoped that the clear quartz wouldn't attract too much attention with their surveillance tactic. Bringing the burger up to her face, she took a bite, and internally lamented the fact that she only had one left. 

Soon the burger was finished, and the crowd got thinner as she headed down the old industrial avenue; tall brick warehouses stood over the street with checkered, broken glass, rusted silos jutting up behind them along old collapsed architecture. Faded murals-- most difficult for Ame to decipher-- had been brushed over the blighted buildings, and she looked them over as she sauntered, then looked up to try to spot 7XB again. 

[7XB]

It was easy enough to keep up with the Amethyst; Even from their distant vantage point the purple gem stood out like a sore thumb..but a clear gem sprinting across the rooftops did not exactly blend in either, did it? Each building was groaning beneath their feet, the cement and plaster that cracked beneath their feet a constant reminder of their own bulk. As much as they hated to shapeshift even a small degree, it was becoming clear to them that something would have to be done in order to keep from foiling 6UE’s plan of getting the two of them out of the hot-zone and to what appears, from their vantage, to be a fairly vacant sector of Empire City.

But a stark, ivory figure clearing the rooftops didn't exactly constitute a hard trail to follow, so it soon became clear what they needed to do. Sucking in a deep, yet unnecessary, breath, they steeled themselves against the skin-crawling consequences of what they were about to do. They glowed briefly, shrinking down until they were fairly to scale with a human- albeit a human of considerable bulk, continuing to clear rooftops at a speed that threatened to outpace the Amethyst. Truthfully, that was part of their plan- Even the speed at which they fled the scene wasn't quite fast enough for them, but they would get.. wherever they were going soon enough, the sirens fading into the background noise of the city.

[Amethyst]

Ame caught sight of the bright light, and noticed that 7XB seemed a bit smaller than usual. The prospect of shape shifting seemed to fly right over her head until then. She followed them with her eyes for a moment, but kept rolling on as if there were nothing in particular happening-- trying to seem casually on the down low.

Though, within her mind was a race that spanned circle after circle. Not only was the moral quandary a difficult one with many convolutions, twists and corners to be trapped into, but the purple quartz didn't know 7XB very well; she'd have to count their explanation as a truthful one, but even then it was hard to say what this gem might do in the name of Yellow Diamond.  

If she spent too much time mulling it over, she'd end up giving herself a headache, and backing herself into a corner while she was at it. Going forward with few other assumptions, she slowed down, and cut into an old building to get out of sight from the street. Her feet crunched against old broken glass and gravel. Keeping her eyes lowered for a moment she scanned the floor to avoid stepping on old bits of metal, then looked up to see an otherwise bleak room held up with robust beams; despite the wear of the years and the abandonment of the area, the pillars seemed to continue stoically carrying out their thankless job. Her lip tugged down, and she took in the strange, dust-laden emptiness of the brick shelter juxtaposed with the distant cacophony of Empire City's new-town. 

She wondered if 7XB had seen her make the turn, and part of her hoped they hadn't so she could slip away without having to deal with things from the past. However, she knew better; she stood, crossed her arms, and swallowed as she waited for them to meet up with her. 

[7XB]

The building 6UE had ducked into, as they had seen from merely a building-length away, appeared to be an old warehouse of some sort, a place for humans to store their seemingly infinite clutter. This entire city was, in their mind, a testimonial on the wasteful, sentiment nature of humanity- They never seemed to throw anything away, yet they were content to create more and more, wasting the planet’s vital resources in the process. Diamonds, even the buildings they used for storage had been left to rot and crumble- like the one 6UE had stepped into and the countless other ruined structures, some clearly factories even to their alien gaze, that surrounded it.

The building had an upper window, or at least it used to once upon a time. Now it was little more than a yawning, square opening towards the peak of the building, a tenacious holdout of broken glass clinging to the shattered frame. It was just large enough, at least with their temporarily diminished size to leap right through from their height, and that was exactly what 7XB would do. Momentum carried the dense quartz easily through the window and, with surprising dexterity, they were able to perch themselves upon a girder. The worn iron groaned beneath their impact, but they would not be there long, rolling forward into a fall to land, with their own sort of brutal grace, in front of the other gem.

[Amethyst]

Ame unfolded her arms, and her alert vision snapped up as 7XB flung themselves through the window-- she backed up a few paces, tension gripping her as they slipped down and landed on the concrete right in front of her. It seemed they had shrunk a bit after all, and it felt strange to be able to see clear over their head, but the same commanding presence permeated their aura nonetheless. 

Attempting to allow herself to relax, she shifted her considerable muscular weight, resting on one hip. She left her hands where the clear quartz could see them, but her eyes slid away and she gave a heavy sigh. "So here's the thing; realize there are some gaps in my knowledge about this stuff," Her voice was low, but it projected like a whisper from the walls. She gave a shrug, and stared down at the floor while she distracted herself with kicking around crumbling bits of brick at her feet. 

Padparadscha was the enemy. Ame had never particularly liked the gem even before she'd become a rebel, but what would happen if that surly aristocrat were sold out? Her eyes flicked back to 7XB's, her heels fell flat with a quiet crunch as she quit messing with the old debris,"I'm still not quite sure what you're planning, but I think I'm not the only one who has notice how tense it is between the courts. Seems like everyone is pointing fingers at each other over the rebellion, doesn't it?" Her lip tugged down,"Nobody gets more flak for it than us Pinks. I mean, Pink Diamond's colony was targeted, makes sense to blame her court," Perhaps there was something to it, considering she had seen the sense in the rebellion herself,"But there are gems who are determined to figure out what the truth really is, gems who aren't afraid to point fingers elsewhere, you catch my drift?" 

[7XB]

Padparadscha..even though she was the very gem they were currently investigating, the Clear Quartz gem was doing everything that they possibly could to avoid thinking about her- but it was just no use. Even if their search had not so pointedly involved the Sapphire and her secretive mission, it seemed like she was everywhere. Every step through the city reminded them of the last time they had accompanied Padparadscha on a 'mission’ here, though that endeavor in and of itself had been little more than a ruse to investigate the nature of the attraction, or so they had thought. The lights, the sounds and smells..and especially the music that seemed to burst from the most unsuspecting locations..it all made the memories of that night, of her, that much more vivid in their mind.

It burned them to even consider the fact that it might have all been a lie, and left them in a foul temper. “Let's just focus on what you do know then, shall we?” They snapped broodily, crossing their arms over their chest- desperately trying to avoid rolling their eyes as they shimmered for a moment, resuming their full size. The mounting frustration was no fault of the Amethyst, but 7XB was eager to get past exactly whose fault what was- The placing of blame was pointless without evidence- which is exactly why they were doing this entire investigation rather off the grid. “This uprising.. definitely isn't helping things.” But that really didn't have anything to do with it. At least, they didn't think so? “We aren't made to be at each other's throat like this.”

[Amethyst]

Her lip pulled to the side a bit at 7XB's impatience with her, and as they went on her eyes flicked back to the ground. Whether or not she was doing the right thing by joining the rebellion, she couldn't yet say, but she couldn't go on ignoring the conclusions she'd internally determined not long ago. "You're right, we weren't made for that-- but here we are anyway," She muttered, her eyes trailing back up to meet with theirs. 

Standing in one spot for too long made her nervous, but moving around too much might catch attention. Ame glanced out toward the street, frowning, before she swiveled to look toward them again, and began to wander toward the far end of the warehouse as she spoke,"I was in the dark about most things back when I worked on the investigation unit, but with some situations it's easy to put things together. I first got a whiff that her clarity might be up to something after she took me on a classified mission a few months back," She gave a quiet sigh, and wondered if this was something 7XB might already know about,"We ended up being quietly apprehended by some experimental gem prototypes, and one of the Diamond's honor guards was there too. We were escorted onto a covert Yellow Court weapons testing facility..." She said the last bit with an even more hushed tone, as if Kindergarten Sigma could hear her from there; in all honesty they probably could.

The purple quartz stopped in her tracks, almost too intimidated to keep speaking on it. However, soon her steps tapped against the concrete, shoulders carrying some tension. Her voice was kept at a low volume, but tinged with an incredulous tone,"As it turns out, she'd been messing with their experiments, or something, it made the higher ups there really mad. Her clarity argued that what they were doing was illegal, but they didn't seem to think so," She shrugged, unsure of what side of that debate she was on, except that it was disconcerting to think of what could result from that dispute going awry. When she slowed her wandering step, she was a few quartz arm-lengths from the far wall.

[7XB]

6UE’s muttered explanations, though they had dismissed it as little more than stalling and mere excuses just moments before, weighed on them a little more as they were given a little more time to sink in. The clear quartz could relate much more than they would like to admit. Was that not what they were doing, in a way? Crossing lines that they, themselves, held so very sacred for the sake of getting to tell bottom of this entire, tangled mess? They'd dealt with Homeworld bureaucracy as much as any gem in their position could expect, and it would be hypocritical of them to denounce other gems for trying to get around it. It broke protocol, sure..but that was not the same as rebelling.

Their own internal dialogue was silenced as 6UE began to speak: Finally, they were getting somewhere. For a gem who played it off as if she knew very little, what she saying was rather surprising.. if unsettlingly familiar. A secret weapons facility that they, a gem serving Yellow Diamond herself, had no idea even existed? That must have been part of..what was it called?

“Lotus.” They piped up suddenly, cutting their gaze across 6UE demandingly, “Project?..” It was only then that her trepidation became clear. Perhaps Padparadscha had been telling the truth? In that regard, at least. The memories of what they'd read, the reports..they were torn. Loyalty was everything to them: to Homeworld, to their Diamond..but they still cared for Padparadscha, whether she was created as a weapon or not.

[Amethyst]

She eyed the other quartz while she thought of how to respond. She scratched her head as the corner of her lip turned downward. Then, she shook her head,"They called it Project Hematoid Quartz. I think it was some kind of gem-based weapon, but it wasn't the Lotus, that's always been her clarity's own thing. When I was on the frigate I saw a bunch of them, Hematoid Quartz I mean. They're a strange bunch, and I guess one of them is running free on Earth," She paused, wondering if what she said next was something she should really mention. Though, it seemed that everything she was saying wasn't really her business after all anyway,"Her clarity hired me after...uh...well she had a run in with that quartz, they almost shattered her I guess. Wasn't too long before you, me, n' her went to Empire a while back"

Ame stewed on that for a moment. There seemed to be so many intersecting motives from many different gems who had come across one another over their time on Earth. The weaving of different goals and ambitions left Ame with an undecipherable block of information that she hadn't been paying all that much attention to in the first place, she was only meant to carry out orders after all. However, now that the information was being demanded of her, she wracked her mind for more, something she might have missed. 

"So, I guess her stake in it is pretty personal," Ame looked at the floor while she spoke, some residual guilt washing over her for the choices she'd made up to this point,"From what I gather, she thinks these gems are out to get her, to get Earth, Pink Diamond," She gave a small flicked gesture to the portion of the colony they were standing on,"So, that brings us to the Lotus, and what it has to do with Yellow Diamond," She sucked in some air, preparing to say the theory she'd come up with while stationed at the quarry. However, it was difficult to predict what 7XB might make of it.

[7XB]

They blinked, well and truly surprised; Clearly the Quartz had gotten ahead of themselves in their line of questioning. “Hematoid..what..?” They'd heard what she had said well enough, but processing it, well, that was another story entirely, wasn't it? This was the first that they were hearing of the supposed Yellow Diamond project. They were, well, they were well and truly baffled by this revelation: Had this been tucked away in the report they'd read? No, no, why would it have been in those documents..” Hm..” As serious as they had been already, their expression became even more troubled. Why was there a Yellow Diamond operation, other than what gems like themselves had been sent here to do, of course, on this Colony?

And Padparadscha..how did she find out and why was she interfering? Whatever was going on, Yellow Diamond clearly didn't want to become public knowledge.. they'd been a part of similarly secretive operations off world, and they knew the length that would be taken to preserve their secrecy, so how had Padparadscha been allowed to walk free? Moreover, why did they feel relieved that she had? Clearly that information was in the wrong hands, but they were reserving judgement- clearly 6UE had more to tell.

[Amethyst]

7XB seemed deep in thought, so she gave it a moment, allowing what she'd said to sink in; aside, she was feeling a bit self conscious about sharing her theory with this gem, especially since it could be more revealing than she'd like it to be. Ame glanced over her shoulder, to the opening she'd aligned herself with, then looked back over to the fellow gem soldier.

When ready to speak, the purple quartz turned to square her shoulders with the other gem's, and both of her hands pulled up as if to frame her words with a gesture,"So," She cleared her throat,"Her clarity said that being apart of the Lotus is her true purpose, so that was what she was made for right? She's not really suppose to be an investigator or whatever. She's also got that crazy ability to throw around plasma. What if I told you the true purpose she's always talking about over at the quarry is actually to be a gigantic laser?!" It made sense in her head, though saying it out loud for the second time in her life made her feel like she needed to elaborate more, "What do you do with a gigantic laser? You point it at things and melt them, that's what, and you know what else her clarity says her purpose is? To protect Pink Diamond," She shrugged, her gestures becoming more animated as she spoke,"If she thinks Pink Diamond is in danger because of the weapon's testing happening on the colony, I'm gonna go ahead and take a wild guess at what she intends to point that giant laser at. You might guess rebels, and I'd say, err-- wrong!" Ame seemed to be getting into her explanation a bit, the movements she made becoming less articulated by nervousness,"If you point that gigantic laser at the rebel base, you're gonna blow up the whole planet, and her clarity is definitely not going to do that when she walks around talking about how much she loves Pink Diamond and this colony,"