EVENT: The Homeworld Ball: Master Thread

[Order Of The Diamonds]

Lights danced and shined up into the sky from far off lights as below it crowds of gem gather and were dropped off into a rather impressive and expansive courtyard, Above the abandoned grounds of Homeworld the area was flanked on all sides by many different structures, lights reflecting and shined of the glass surfaces as they ran and moved across the reflective courtyard floor. Various gems stood around recounting instructions and directions to many gems who had never attended such a large an event. Small scale ships flew overhead, being directed and guided by Elite Nephrites as they landed in areas designated for ship drop off. Csarite gems stood around these landing spots acting as marshallers. Shining their gem flashlights up at the ships and directing them, their own colour changing gemstone allowing them to indicate Stopping and Starting easily by simply changing the colour of the platform underneath them, a change that would then shift their gemstones hue, and by extension their gem flashlight to a Lighter Green for go, a Darker Red for stop or a mixed Red Green for caution.

The Entrance to the Ballroom was equally impressive, a massive archway atop a series of stairs allowed the structure to be raised higher than the courtyard below, the orange light of Twilight shone out of the entrance of the ballroom, inviting other to enter with its inviting glow and the quiet tune of music. Two Topazes’s Stood at the Entrance in silence, armed with a large Spear and an Axe respectively.
The Bustle of the crowds echoed through the grand hall as gem began to file their way inwards, the backdrop of the orange sky illuminating the floor, light dancing between the pillars and geometric shapes and giving a radiant halo effect to the 4 massive thrones that stood at the front of the hall. Many gems had already entered and were quietly discussing among themselves, many gems in familiar groups, sorted by gemstone, sorted by Diamond, but some of the braver gems had ventured forth and several smaller crowds of mixed gems had become to form, gems of many types, of many Diamonds discussing among themselves.

The party and ball itself did not simply end within the grand hall, far from it; between many of the pillars were large archways that lead onto smaller individual balconies, looking over Homeworld, over the maze and labyrinth of buildings and structures all around. A place of reprieve to perhaps escape the bustle and noise of the dancing gems, the melodic music and the more dense populations of the crowds. A place for quieter conversation, or simply taking in the ambience of Homeworld as the sky darkened.

Naturally the ball would not begin proper until all gems were in attendance, and the empty thrones indicated that 4 very important gems were still not present. The Diamonds tended to wait until most gems were in attendance before they themselves appeared, it would be unbecoming for Diamonds to have to sift through large crowds afterall.

[★Pink Kunzite★]

White Sapphire had knew someday fate would bring forth the ball, though why were they celebrating at a time like this? Gems are in need of rescue in their eyes, the empire is corrupted with ideas of betrayal against the great gem empire, and they decide to hold a ball. Something was up for sure, a friend of hers from homeworld was able to pick her up from earth after they had got in contact. Pink Kunzite would be aboard the small cone shaped space craft in wonder," We must gather as much knowledge as we can, Some of the others decided to stay on earth to ensure everything was okay." She said. Her friend Nephrite completely understood,"I don't know much about what's been going on, I'm usually just on the road for the most part. I don't know if i'll be staying either since I have another shipment to deliver in upsilon twelve." She explains. 


Pink smiled,"That's just fine, I appreciate you bringing us back to homeworld at such short notice, we'll have to be sepe- N-No! G-gosh I hate it when your right.."She says appearing to have a slight display of two personalities in the mix as Carnelian became freighted at the idea of splitting for too long. White Sapphire assured her that everything was going to be just fine if they played their roles correctly, soon the two started to unfuse decreasing in size, they'd be attired in their formal homeworld attire. Soon the ship flew into homeworld's atmosphere and had followed the blinking lights that the gems among the surface were conducting to eventually land entirely,"Well, wish us luck." Sapphire says while clenching her palms together, Carnelian was a few inches behind her as they both exited the ship while heading to the direction of the ballroom. Witnessing such grand décor separately made them both uncomfortable, myriads of gems were trailing in so Carnelian would search for the soldiers in the room so that the diamonds don't shatter them for being unorganized. White Sapphire had went to go look for the other Sapphires sighing shortly after.

[White Beryl]

The black void of space glistened with the countless stars swimming through the emptiness. Serene, majestic, like the Homeworld Ball waiting for Radiant. He gazed out of the ship window, fell back into his chair and rubbed his eyes, dark rings beneath them from hours of restless research... and failure.
It was a surprise to him when the invitation came. He did not want to go, but it was a summon by the Great Diamond Authority. And now he was flying towards his doom, feeling like a strong gravity was pulling him down, crushing him.
During the last weeks on earth he made... nothing. No breakthrough, no new data except for some crystal shards he found on the Island, but which seemed to not have any special traits besides being able to store liquid and gas in them. What would he say to his Diamond? And more importantly, how would she react to his failure? Maybe the Ball would be also able to relax him a little which, of course, would mean nothing once this relaxation would be shattered by the arrival of the Diamonds.
He let out a sigh as they were getting closer to the landing platform, and the pilot began to speak.
"We have almost arrived."
"... what a flood of gems.", Radiant said with a tired and defeat voice.
"It sure is.", the pilot replied.
Radiant wanted to stand up when suddendly an interesting thought went through his mind. It was little, but of great importance, and once inside his mind, it intrigued him to no end. Like all good thoughts should be.
"You think there will be any Crystal Gems in the Ball Room tonight?
The pilot remained silent for a short time,but then he spoke: "... A Ball can be dangerous, with all the intrigue going on. You best be careful."
Right after the ship landed. Radiant stood up and headed for the door. "Well I'll try."

The décor was simply marvelous. Radiant forgot how grand and beautiful Homeworld's structures could be. He went into the masses, trying to observe anything of interest, but with the myriad of colors from all the gems, with their forms and movements composing a colorful, undifferentiated mass, it was hard to see anything of notice. He walked forward with the others, closer towards the shining archway of the Ballroom.

[Euclase]

Euclase's Ball Attire

SPOILER: Click to show

Making their way out of the large building that was their temporary quarters the ambience of the open air of Homeworld was inviting, the megacity of the planet had a bustle to it that was sometimes tricky to navigate but it was exciting, almost like Euclase was standing on the beating Heart of the empire. The Walkway infront of them was relatively empty and it was only a short walk to the Ball Courtyard, The Array of Lights and Traveling ships being a rather effective beacon to guide them regardless of if they got lost.

While Labyrinthine in nature Homeworld seemed to have a natural guidance to it, everything just made sense, like you knew exactly how to get where you needed to go without ever going there before, everything was just so neat and precise a perfect example of the peak of Homeworlds Colony efforts, a template and guideline for every other planet to strive towards. While Euclase will always enjoy her Home Enviroment, the quieter and smaller scale of the Moonbase she was never the less excited for when Sigma 1 would be able to turn into something like this.

Adjusting her Dress and making sure Melody was in toe she set offwards towards the Courtyard, a route she had of course made sure to memorise regardless of Homeworld natural guidance. She hardly wanted to be unpunctual for such an important event. As they drew closer to the Courtyard began to draw into view. Already crowds had amassed and gathered in smaller groups, the constant sound of chatter only overwritten by the low hum of the ships that flew and landed overhead. Euclase Tried to put on her more neutral and formal face but it was hard for her to suppress an excited smile as she looked around and took the sights in. Eventually she lost out and ended up with a small but nearly constant smile on her face as they started moving up to the ballroom entrance, the quiet tunes of music becoming louder as they made their way towards the gigantic archway that heralded the entrance of the Ballroom. Gaining nothing but a glance from one of the Topaz’s, the two of them were let into the Ballroom itself.

Euclase once again looked around; noting the combination of both isolated crowds and mixed gems of other courts all speaking to each other. There was a slight pang in her chest as she of coruse realised that she would simply be standing with assorted gems in the crowd, she knew it would be as such but still knowing she would be the only Euclase in attendance at this Ball and seeing it was somewhat different. She shook herself out of her stupor as she spotted some familiar gems “Well at least they are keeping out of trouble she noted” indicating to the small crowd of Amethysts and Jasper with a Pink Emblem on their chest, who seemed to be chatting and laughing with some other Amethyst, if the glint of Blue and Yellow in motion was anything to go off they seemed to be some Quartzs of the other courts. Seemed like quite a few Amethysts, some Orange Jaspers of course, a few Citrines, she thought she spotted a Green Vermarine in the group a Biggs Jasper, Bumble Bee Jasper and a Lace Amethyst, that was uncommon.

She also noticed nearby a small group of 3 other Pearls, all in lavish attire themselves they seemed to be quietly chatting and giggling among themselves.

Throughout the crowd Euclase spotted a White Sapphire that caught her eye; it seemed the ball had quite a few rare gems. She swore she spotted a White Beryl aswell as part of it but didn’t have a chance to look closer. Euclase supposed though that she herself was probably consided a ‘rare’ gem in this situation aswell, considering the fact she was the only Euclase in attendance, and the fact Euclases were not a gem type ever seen outside of Pinks court, or at least never saw any major creation outside of Pinks court.

“It seems the Radiant Diamonds are not in attendance yet” Euclase Said to Melody, noting the empty thrones.

[Chip the Fire Opal]

The Homeworld. Chip long hoped he would see it one day and here he was. And it was a disappointment to be sure. Chip expected splendor beyond his dreams but instead, he found a cracked planet sucked nearly dry by constant gem production. But the gems... there were so many gems he never even could imagine. For the first time ever he's met other Fire Opals and that was one heck of an experience. He had no idea how he will be accepted but since Fire Opals were survivors first they accepted a fellow survivor quite easily. But that was a story for another day...
Right now he was staying nervously amongst many more gems, yet didn't quite fit in. And many looks gave this very clearly away. Seemed like the Homeworld looked very poorly upon gems that... didn't fit in. He even heard once of twice something about Pink being too soft but whoever said that vanished before he could find them. Looking at the pink insignia on his chest (that clashed terribly with his color scheme) he felt sort of pride. After all, he was not only accepted by Pink herself but he was also invited to this event. She wanted him here and so he was, however unhappy he was at this moment.
He did his best to done a fancy dress appropriate for this event though he needed the help of 2 different pearls just to come up with something that wouldn't offend all the elite gems yet practical enough not to hinder his movements if some combat was required. But he was a survivor... and he was going to survive a ball even if he would rather face dozens of corrupted gems at once at this moment...

[~Panzerschurke~]

Far from homeworld, on the planet Earth, a very unique gem, a prototype of the heavy scout - hostile terrain variety, sat in her loft. It was a converted warehouse on the waterfront of beach city. The building had been her home foe a few years now, although she tried to go about her life discretely, or as discretely as a tanky scout gal, 6 ft tall with plum grey skin and deep iridescent hair can go among a population of flesh-tone humans. She didn't mind them though, she actually rather liked them.. even though she let them literally throw her out of a bar that one time a few years back...

"Ah memories.."

The femme gem mused, her voice trailing off into a gravelly catty chuckle the way it often did when she spoke aloud to herself.

Carbide was cleaning house.. or closet rather.. no that's not quite right either. She was distracting herself, or trying to at least. Distracting herself from her situation, that situation being, that the partial cockpit console module that she kept stashed in the upper level, off the catwalk section of her purloined abandoned warehouse home, now a comfy loft like pad for the gem. Where was her train of thought going again?? The gem hefted a box of junk from the top of a stack of metal shelves in her bedroom....

"Focus Carbide, focus dangit! You're trying to distract yourself from that insentience beeping of that message that you intercepted on that salvaged comm module. That message about the Homeworld ball that you totally want to go to because you don't want to admit to yourself that you're actually a bit homesick and you don't have a ship to get there and.. and.. I'm talking to my self aloud again, aren't I, oh cardboard box in my arms. Ugh oh well, what have you got in here anyway? More stuff Ive lost track of I'll bet."

Carbide peered down into the box with her misty dark marble like eyes and proceeded to set the box down on her bed and began rummaging through its contents. Pulling out this and that.. a ping pong paddle, a bionicle figurine that she lost he head to, a few scrapbooks, a Polaroid of her winning the mac-and-cheeze eating contest last year during her mac-and-cheeze fixation that couple weeks there..

But it was within a stack of papers and news paper articles that a small treasure was hid. This item was rather small and easy to miss, and flat to boot. It was a crystal matrix wafer card, meant to be worn about the neck while on hazardous missions, and snapped in half to release an energy burst to indicate one's position or.. alternately.. contain a compressed warp gate vortex.. a single charge worth, to summon to the location of the card beacon immediate aid. It had been given to her by a gem even more unique than herself, Fulgurite, a tech amalgam gem she had known a while back, and who had been a good friend to her.

With a kerflop, the bundle of papers were flopped haphazardly onto the bed while her gaze was fixated on a mints tin full of paperclips at the bottom of the box that she wondered why she put away in there, flipping open the lid and spinning about, sitting herself down upon the bed with an abrupt bump, more than partially centered upon the half strewn pile of papers she had set down a moment prior, when an audible *Chrunch-SNAP* drifted up into the air.

Now, Carbide had never had an emergency compressed warp vortex open up at a proximity equal to the thickness of 12 sheets of paper, from her backside, but it goes without saying that things suddenly got very bright, loud and warp-gatey up in that bedroom....

"HUH??!! - WHAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaAAAAAAAA!!!"

[Black opal]

It had been quite some time since Black Pearl and Carnelian had been to homeworld, not since after they became Black Opal, but today they decided to return, and not as Black Opal, but rather as Black Pearl and Carnelian, they had changed their forms to take on a more regal look, Black pearl with transparent veils and flowing silk like material, all while the white diamond insignia adorned her chest, her weird clawed hands had been covered by some specially formed white gloves, Carnelian had decided to adorn a more suit-like outfit, dark reds and blacks with the white diamond insignia on her chest and longer coattails hanging from the back of her top. They stayed near each other and made their way to one of the balconies. "It feels nice to be able to walk together like this." Carnelian said to the pearl who nodded in response.

[Fulgurite]

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaAAAAAAAA!!!" Fulgurite had been working diligently to prep for the Homeworld Ball. He had picked up the message on several of his signal scanners. The announcement had been broadcasted on a multitude of frequencies which meant this was being sent out to any and all who would possibly hear. Fulgurite came to the conclusion that Homeworld must be trying to agitate and antagonize the rebellion while bolstering Homeworlds moral. He immediaetly started making strides of getting to the event. He wasn't going to miss a chance to not only go gather a staggering amount of information but it also gave him an incredibly narrow window for him to be able to attempt to break into the labs that built him. A recently made companion of his, a pearl named Light, had secured a ship that could land without anyone batting an eye. Light knew a Sapphire on Earth that still had agreed top help get them to the event. 

As he was in the middle of scouring through his supplies for the mission at hand, several alarm systems went off in his head. On reflex he went combat ready as there was only one thing these sensors would activate for, his emergency beacons, and this specific alarm meant one had been broken. Several things all happened at once within a blink of an eye. Fulgurite weapons crackled into existence on both his arms and a blindingly flash of light enveloped his body as a pencil thin beam of light pierced the sky. The beacons he had designed provided half of a warp stream tunnel, when shattered they atomized to provided the tunnel itself, but only for long enough to pull him to the beacons output. The generators that powered his augments provided the energy through put to actually open the tunnel and shoot him through it as it was collapsing. 

Fulgurite raced through the subspace and activated everyone of his combat sub routines to prepare for the worst as the people had given the beacons to were instructed to only break them in an emergency. He burst through the end of the tunnel and scatter everything that was on the other side as he came through. Fulgurite appeared in a closed space he had never seen before and took his combat stance the moment his feet touched the ground. He scanned the room quickly as a multitude of things dropped out of the air around him given how forcefully he had been ejected out of the warp tunnel and among them he realized he recognized exactly one thing as it dropped to the floor. "Carbide..?"

[Sapphire]

While certain individuals could suspect that the information about the Homeworld ball was something, that Sapphire glanced thanks to his future vision the truth of the matter was much more ordinary - one of his Ruby, at that time working on rudimentary maintenance on his ship noticed said information on the network terminal. And since it was indeed an outstanding opportunity on gathering much-needed information it was decided to attend. Fortunately for the Crystal Gems Sapphire's ship was still space worthy and ready for the return trip to the Homeworld.
But that was a long time ago. Presently, the ship was docking on Homeworld. The royal gem appeared very calm, however, he had some mixed feelings about the matter. He didn't expect to ever return yet here he was with his two ruby guards at his side ready to attend the ball as was expected of a royal gem.
Sapphire was still unconvinced this was a good idea, however it was too late to change his mind.
"We have arrived," he informed the other Crystal Gems.

[Melody]

Homeworld, a place that she didn't really came from, but it did feel like home. It wasn't exactly her first time in here. She has traveled the galaxy and has been on different colonies, but she has never been so close to the Diamond palace. She was always out of reach when her Diamond was organizing balls in here. And her Zircon for some reason didn't want to attend those balls. She never dared to ask why.

She naturally followed Euclase, always few steps away. A calm and small smile rested on her face. Nothing was able to change it, not even the music, not even all of this excitement. But then she saw that Euclase's usually stoic face was smiling as well. She gave up, her smile grew bigger and she willingly continued to follow her. They were so close now, she couldn't wait to enter. It was her first ball in here after all. Topaz guards while intimidating didn't bother her at all, she was too excited to mind.

That was a marvelous sight, so many different gems in one place and there were even more to come. Not to mention The great Diamond authority would surely arrive soon as well. She noticed some of the quartz soldiers from Pink court. She tried to find 8XL, the Amethyst she met before on the base, but it was hard with so many other gems around. There was a group of pearls, she didn't need to be close to know what they were talking about. It was probably some sort of bragging about the gems they served. She interacted with other pearls long enough to know that it was usually their favourite topic. She herself always prefered to listen instead of talking. But it was actually nice to see some other Pearls besides the ones she would usually find in the base like Amaranth or her Diamond's Pearl.

Besides that she noticed a certain Fire Opal who dressed up nicely for this occasion. There was a White Sapphire and Beryl as well, rare and very important gems. At some point she also noticed Black Pearl and Carnelian walking into the balcony. She would have sworn those were the components of Black Opal, it seemed they unfused just for today. She hoped they would have a good time in here and wouldn't get caught.

Melody turned to see Euclase after she spoke out "Is there something you would like to do in the meantime?"She was just happy to be there, but perhaps Euclase had other ideas.


Pearl's ball dress

[Flurry]

Flurry was excited to finally be trusted with a real mission, and the most real mission for a long time too. She had decided to change her uniform and hairstyle to match the other white spinels on homeworld. Her hair changed to the typical bowl cut, and her baggy shirt turned into the elegant dress of a court white spinel. She checked her reflection in the mirror on the ship, and frowned, this brought back many unpleasant memories, but it was too late to go back.



As the crystal gems arrived and Sapphire quietly announced their arrival she stood and tried to get a look at homeworld through the mirrors. Even if she had not been able to see the eerie world outside, she could feel it. She could feel the cold grasp of her former home holding her like a vice. The worse she felt, the more determined she was to stay, her uncertainty just meant that what she was doing was finally of importance.

[~Panzerschurke~]

Carbide couldn't quite remember when she had her bed installed on the ceiling, but no... that wasn't quite right at all, no not in the least.  The gem uncurled herself from the crumpled heap she had landed in, when she was sent sailing through the air, tail over tea kettle, by the sudden incursion of the the emergency warp vortex that had opened up beneath her, as she sat herself down on her bed.

"Ohhh.... remind me to be more mindful of the dangers of cleaning house, had this occurred in the bathroom or kitchen, I might well have been killed..."  She replied aloud to no one in particular, in a rather droll catty, but frustrated tone, although she knew she now had a visitor.

Fortunately, extreme surprises can sometimes skew one's perception of time for an instant, stretching the perception of a particular moment, and in this case it had given the heavy scout time to think and remember, piecing together what had just happened as she landed in a heap, bringing an early demise to a wicker clothes hamper that might well have enjoyed several years of staunch service.  That did not matter though, as her focus returned, her dark marble like eyes brightened as she hurriedly un-inverted herself.

Back on her feet, she peered at the techno-amalgam gem standing before her.  Her movements were swift, resolute and instant...  "Fulgur?! Heyyyyyyy!!"   The attack was sprung, escape hopeless for her quarry.. her hugs.. legendary!

*Cue intense Femme Gem induced Bear-hug Noises!*

[Light]

A thin figured left the ship. His usually more messy attire was now crystal clear. His toga was just as white when he was formed for the first time, his hair was neatly combed back so there would be no hair strands on his face. Not much has changed besides this and two small additions. His naturally flawed gemstone with a small pit was covered with an identical copy, but without any major defects. Then there were also his long boots that were now slightly raised to make him appear slightly taller. Light wasn't short, but he looked small compared to the other Pearls. All of those small changes were suppose to help him not stick out during the bll. Now he only hoped that it would actually work.

Light never wanted to be here again, this was the world that he didn't belong in. Earth might have been dangerous, but it was still better than his original home. However, he was here once again and it was hard to find anything optimistic about all of this. He glanced at the other gems that seemed displeased about the situation as well. "Guys we have got this. Remember, we are doing this for Earth." He stated, probably not just to assure everyone that it will all work out at the end, but himself as well. "Which means we have to act like we used to and I..." A face of disgust appeared on his face.

Clingy, weak, pitiful, that wasn't him, not anymore, this old gem was gone. Pearl couldn't help, but feel a terrible feeling in his non-existent stomach while thinking about this. He knew he would have to temporarily act like a property to someone from his group. Walking on his own was not an option, someone could ask who is his owner and he wouldn't have an answer. He tried to think of a good candidate, but it just made him feel worse. If only Lady Para was here, she would probably have already helped him at this point.

[Order Of The Diamonds]

The room began to quiet down as the distinct chord of the Diamonds played. Through the large ornate entrance a Pearl moved though, stepping forward she spoke to the room.
“Everyone, Gaze upon lustrous, splendor and elegance that is, Pink Diamond” Her Words echoed through the hall as all the gems in attendance did the Diamond salute, two Aquamarines swooped down and pulled the curtain back, stepping forward, tower other the other gems in attendance, was Pink Diamond herself, her arm reaching towards the sky like her murals she moved through the door, clenching her fist as her eyes opened, small will-o'-the-wisps erupted out of her closed hand as she opened it again, the small multi-coloured fire wisps danced though the air for a few meters flying over the crowds before dissipating.

Stepping forward she made her way to the front of the ballroom, looking at all the gems in attendance before becoming seated on her pink throne, her Pearl beside her.

About a few seconds after Pink Diamond had made her way to the throne the note began to echo though the room again; everyone was drawn towards the doors as the aquamarines moved into position.

“Everyone prepare yourselves emotionally for the overpowering elegance that is, Blue Diamond.” Her voice was quiet but still managed to ring through the hall as once again, behind her the curtains once again pulled open, this time Blue Diamond stepped forward, small light bubbles materialized from her body as with a swish of her hand she mirrored her mural pose.

Moving forward through the crowds as everyone saluted her as she made her way to the throne, giving Pink a small nod as she sat down, and in a surprising and very uncommon occurrence Blue reached up and lowered her hood, revealing her alice blue hair that wrapped around her chest below her gem and fell to her waist, her face had a natural regality to it as she gazed around. A rare few gems ever got to see Blue Diamonds face as she almost constantly left her hood up when in the attendance of her court and it caused a murmur to erupt through the ball as gems whispered to themselves about her.

It seem like only a split second after the murmuring died down that a third Pearl moved through the curtains, clearing her throat loudly as she spoke, once again her voice echoing through the hall.

“Everyone, behold! The daunting, beauty and elegance that is, Yellow Diamond!” She announced as Yellow Diamond herself had the curtains parted infront of her, in a swift motion she extended her hands out causing tiny charged sparkles emerged out of her before dissipating. Walking forward into a very intentional stride as the gems the gems in the court saluted her, she made her way up to her throne, looking at Pink as she also nodded and smiled at Pink before sitting down and crossing her legs.

It was only a few moments later that the lights began to flicker out, a spotlight focusing on the archway, a Pearl had appeared in front of the curtain, yet somehow, no one had seen her enter through the arch. Her eyes, well more so Eye was focused directly forward, unblinking, unconcerned, and where her other eye should be was simply cracks instead, but it seemed not to bother her as she stood perfect still her arms extended out and her hands upwards, making an almost W shape with them.

She Spoke like the other Pearl but her voice seemed to not only reverberate through the room unnaturally, not louder than any of the other pearls but almost like the sound itself refused to leave for far longer than normal.
“Everyone, Brace yourself for the Eternal Wisdom, Radiance, Clarity, and general undisputed Perfection that is White Diamond”
The Curtains pulled backwards and for a moment the ballroom was engulfed in a blinding White light, two eyes opened in the doorway piercing through the light as it began to dim

“Welcome, all of you, to the Ball” The voice echoed and the light receded, leaving the glowing, luminous White Diamond standing within the doorway, towering over even the other Diamonds height wise, the gems of normal heights were even smaller, a sapphire hardly got up to her toe, a quartz the size of her ankle if lucky. Her footsteps echoed through the room, somehow being far lighter than a gem that large should allow. The other Diamonds looked surprised to see White and as she turned back and gazed at all of them they remained unmoving. Only Pink Whispered quiet enough that only the gems in the very front of the ball would hear what they were saying “I, didn’t think you would come”

“Nonsense I received the invite did I not, it’s only fair that I attend, this is a …special…occasional afterall Pink, a celebration, of the immediate wiping out of that little rebellion that made you look so silly” White Diamond also said quiet as to not allow the ball to overhear. Pink went to open her mouth but White cut her off “and I know more than anyone else that you wouldn’t want to look silly would you, that would be very undiamond like wouldn’t it, and after I worked so hard to mold you into a near perfect Diamond” White Diamond said, making it very clear what she thought of the rebellion situation. Pink Looked uncomfortable for a moment and even Blue let a slight amount of emotion slip onto her face as she looked between Pink and White.

White herself broke through the uncomfortable silence by turning around to face the rest of the ballroom her long flowing cape sparkling like space itself as she moved
“Before we begin I would like to make an announcement” She began, making it very clear that listening was mandatory “This ball is not just a celebration of our united empire, but also a celebration of the imminent destruction of the little rebellion that has occurred on Pinks very own colony, now some of you here may have doubts about this, about attacking what may be fellow gems, perhaps some of you plan to spare them, perhaps some of you plan to join them, perhaps, and now im not saying this is the case, heavens no, you would have to be completely cracked to dare do this, but perhaps, just maybe” She looked over the crowd “Some of you have already joined them” She let it hang in the air for a moment

“But that is of course impossible” She said brushing the air away with her hand, but making it very clear with her inflection she knew exactly that it wasn’t and that she was well aware that rebels were attendance, and that there was even a chance she knew exactly who they were and was simply not shattering them for the sake of not spoiling the ball, or perhaps to let them return to Earth to relay the message of how little Homeworld cares of their rebellion.

“My Point is, these gems, these rebels stood against everything the Empire has built, everything you have worked for, so I say, if you are having doubts, just remember, if they are so willing to destroy all your hard work,” She let out a small chuckle “were they really your comrades in the first place?”

“Well then, with that, let the Ball begin” She said finally taking her seat on the throne as she clapped her hands and the ballroom music started in full, the Green Statue Like Gem began singing as the Discoball inside her statue like body began to spread light across the ballroom.

((So after you post your reactions to the Diamonds arrivals and what not you can start making dedicated threads in the ball sections if you want to do more proper full discussion with other gems, or you can keep mingling in this main thread, I will still occasionally post as the Diamonds and stuff speaking to the ball))

[Fulgurite]

"Fulgur?! Heyyyyyyy!!" Fulgurite would have let out a sigh of relief at realizing that he wasn't about to be pulverized by his old companion. That is if what little air was in his body to begin with wasn't squeezed out of him by Carbides crushing hug. He let out a quick groan as he felt his augment get mashed into his body from her hug and though quickly on how to remedy the situation. He was still prepping for launch for the Homeworld Ball, he hand't seen Carbide for several years, and his rather impromptu arrival made not only a mess of Carbide's home but also left him a fair bit away from the ship they were suppose to be taking off in. He took as deep of a breath as he could manage, partially as an excuse to just enjoy Carbides grip for a moment longer before he had to derail the entire thing all together, but to also calm his nerves before speaking. "Carbide, given a hundred gems life times I could begin to express my joy in seeing you once again but unfortunately I have far more drastic and pressing matter that need my immediate attendance."

As soon as he could get some leverage out of her grasp Fulgurite freed himself and quickly placed his hands on her shoulders to steady and focus the both of them so he could try and address everything he had to. "I am beyond ecstatic to not only see you but to also realize that the emergency beacon was a false alarm. But I have become entrenched in dealing with a once in a PLANETS lifetime opportunity to do some good for the rebellion." Fulgur paused to begin launching into the explanation of the Homeworld Ball and his meeting of Light and then Sapphire making it possible for him to get back to Homeworld all together. But before he could talk his sensors picked up on a communicator that was receiving the broadcast in was about to mention making him look around the room and notice the partial cockpit and suddenly an entirely different series of events played out in his head.

"Wait wait wait..." He looked back at Carbide and a massive grin spread across his face. "You already know about the ball. Which means you've probably already realized how huge of an opportunity this is gonna be for the rebellion. Which mean...!" He tightened his grip on her shoulders in excitement. "Carbide. Come with me. I've already managed to secure a ride and I've no doubts they'd be willing to bring you as well. It's a royal escort ship so no need to sneak around the landing defenses. We can both make it there and strike a blow against the authority." He released her from his grip and took a step back. "I know I owe you a great deal more than you owe me but if you join us, it would be hugely beneficial to have a familiar face around to help me. I'll do whatever I can to help you as well whether you wish to attend the ball and scope things out a bit or need some coverage as you level a building or two. But I could really use you on my side while doing this." Fulgur held out his hand for Carbide to take and hope that his desperation was clear. They had one chance and he wasn't going to miss it.

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After getting everything worked out with Carbide, Fulgurite drug them both off to tracking down the nearest warp pad they could find and traveling back to Sapphire ship before they took off. The trip to Homeworld ended up being a quite and somewhat morbid one as Fulgur figured not a single person on board actually wanted to be going back, but knew the importance of what they were doing it for. Fulgurite spoke with Light on the trip up to convince them into helping him with his initial plans for their arrival and then set to talking with Carbide about what she was going to be after during this excursion. It wasn't long before they arrived and Fulgur let out a sigh of relief when the ship was approved for landing without hesitation. He didn't expect there to be any problems but being that close to Homeworld security of any kind was unpleasant. He made himself scarce until they had fully landed. Once Pearl stood and started to talk he walked up and place a hand on their shoulder to try and comfort them. "We know... We came with intent and know what we gotta do. I'll do my best to help keep covers from being blown as best as I can. And I'll do my best to not draw any undo attention to you. Or your roll according to Homeworld. We can do this. Everyone of us." Fulgur took a moment to scan everyone that had joined their infiltration and forced a small smile onto his face. "For our home, for the rebellion, for Earth. We can do this."