Corrupted Requiem (Melody and White Beryl)

[White Beryl]

Radiant faked a smile as the Pearl made her remark. He seemed to finally be able to develop a more total picture of his guide. A Pearl which appeared to be an ordinary Pearl, but which had her own inner life, with her own thoughts and concerns. And, it seemed, a neutrality towards strangers at best, and a suspicious hostility at worst. Despite this, it was clear that she did have a soft heart. Her uncomfortable feelings around the topic of Corruption were more than clear. He could not understand it himself, but there was no need to. It was clear enough that he wouldn't be able to talk about it with her. And it was also clear to him that she didn't desire to have any bigger conversations with him. For now, it seemed that he'd done enough. There was still the storage room to see, then he could retreat to his study and enjoy some peace. If that one Ruby unit brought his materials there in one piece, at least.

As Radiant finally came to see the first corrupted gem in this facility, he was underwhelmed at best. At least on first glance this beast wasn't anything special from what he had already seen during his direct service in the White Court. What could these scientists analysing that monster possibly gain from it that they couldn't from more unique specimen? For now, he accepted his question to stay unanswered. Radiant followed the gaze of the Pearl, wandering to anything but the corrupted specimen. This was purposeless. Once she asked whether or not they should go to the store room, he decided to show mercy and release her of her pain. "Yes. Very well. Let's go. For your sake, as well."

[Melody]

Melody blinked in surprise, but then let out a nearly silent giggle "How thoughtful of you, now, we shouldn't waste time."  The gem seemed to be much more sympathetic than she expected him to be. After all, he was a Beryl - a high ranked gem, especially compared to a gem such as herself. Such worlds of concern seemed very unfitting, not that she minded. Perhaps their cooperation wouldn't be so bad after all.

Pearl left the window, but she also turned her head around for a second. She either did that to see if White Beryl is following her, or perhaps to take one more look at what was in the other room.

The two were on their way to elevators. To get to them, they had to head back to the main door. The two could only hear the sounds of their footsteps as they walked, but, occasionally, some unidentified noises were coming from the  rooms around them. Melody didn't seem to mind and simply continued to lead White to the elevators.

It didn't take long for the two to reach the main door. Melody turned to the right, which was the corridor right in front of the entrance. This time the walk was much shorter and they soon were near the elevator door. Melody's had landed on the console which immediately opened the elevator. Pearl this time didn't wait for the other gem to come inside, instead, she entered it first and wait for him to join her.

Inside, the main panel had much more buttons than the previous elevator, each representing a specific floor. Melody pressed the one that was at the bottom of the list. "It might take a while." She said as the elevator was taking them deeper into the Moon's lunar soil. She stood and waited, but soon sighed before speaking up again. "Elevators are too quiet." Her gem emitted gentle, yellow light. Soon the elevator was filled with the simplistic tune. Elevator music link

The sounds of her gem fell silent the moment the two reached the lowest floor. The door made a very satisfying "swoosh" sound that Pearl adored, but there was no time for this. The two were standing in now what appeared to be a room with a room so big that it was hard to tell where the walls and the roof were. The interior was filled walls of compartments, compartments with cubic shelves. Each with the holographic like energy field to keep the bubbled gems inside from floating away. It seemed that all nearby compartments were filled with different corrupted gems of all shapes and sizes.



Somewhere nearby, a Peridot was standing on a floating platform to access the bubbles that were higher than the rest. It seemed that the whole place was organized in some way, but Melody never learned and was never really interested in how the corruptions are being stored.

It also seemed that some Topaz guards were patrolling the whole place. Walking from one place to another with their weapons already summoned and observing what  everyone is up to. Besides that, the whole place was relatively empty. Empty enough for White Beryl to be comfortable enough to speak to Melody.

[White Beryl]

Describing Radiant as "thoughtful" was only partially true. He didn't really care about the Pearl herself. He simply didn't see any purpose to them starring at the beast any longer, and besides, it was useful trying to keep her on his good side. So in that sense, yes, he was "thoughtful". He simple nodded at the comment of the Pearl and walked behind her. But it was interesting to think about why the Pearl was surprised at his request to move on. Did she simply think that he would be more interested in the beast and put his interest before her? He did try to be as friendly to her as possible. Perhaps... it was because he was a higher gem than her? That might be the case. Most gems he met in his time did have a sort of uneasiness before members of the White Court. Yes, it was possible.

Well, considering that she didn't wait for him this time, but simply went into the elevator herself, it would imply that she doesn't really fear him. But in the beginning, she did rather keep to herself, and expected Radiant to be more uncaring. The moment he tried to give her a more active role as a guide was the moment were she got more confident, more open. So then...

Being lost in his trains of thought, he didn't realize how he was already walking into the elevator with the Pearl, going deeper into the facility, until her gem started to gleam and play a very clear, relaxing tune. So the music coming from the reception in the beginning was probably her music too. He found it to be a strange ability for a Pearl to have, at least for one who was supposed to take on a sort of administrator role. Was she maybe relocated? Radiant did not really respond to what she was saying. He mostly kept ignoring her as they were going to the storeroom.

The storage room was more simple than he thought it would be. It didn't really differ from the storage rooms of corrupted gems he saw on other facilities, except a little in size. This time, the Pearl didn't seem to be too distressed. He thought about if he should ask the questions that were developing in his head since they were going to the elevator, or if he should finally end this tour and go to his study. In the end, he chose the former.

"I told you what I thought about the Pink Court. I was impressed, as you know. Say, what do you think of the White Court?", he asked, smiling and looking into her eyes. "I just couldn't help but notice how surprised you were about me wanting to leave the previous floor. Did it shock you? I am trying to be as nice as I can, you know. At least for today.", he said and laughed a little at the end. Hopefully these were not too big a questions, and hopefully the would finally allow him to make more proper contact with his guide and future aquintance in this facility.

[Melody]

She tilted her head slightly to the left. What a peculiar question, she thought. "You are interested in my opinions?" She asked, with the mostly neutral, but slightly teasing smile and one of her eyebrows raised.

"Very well." She continued, after a while of thinking about her response "I have seen quite a few gems from your court, but the interactions were always limited to short sentences. I always thought you are all very quiet, speaking only when work requires it, I used to respect your professionalism and dedication to work. I still do, but not to the same extent." There was just a small pause before she continued. "However, you are an exception, you ask questions not connected in any way to our trip." Her eyes wandered around the room, making sure that nobody would hear them.

"If I didn't know better, I would have guessed that you are a spy, but I doubt our Diamond is interested in my personal opinions." This time she was was the one to look him straight in the eyes. A small smile appeared on her face. "Now, now, I am sure everyone would appreciate it if you remained nice for the rest of your stay here." The simple question received a simple answer "I didn't expect this kind of reaction, for what I assumed to be obvious reason. You don't have to care, yet, it seems that you do." The Pearl clearly didn't have the power to read minds simply by looking at another gem, but the way her eyes were analyzing the white gem was saying otherwise.

After yet another pause, a question of her own escaped her mouth "Would you like me to answer your first question as well?"

[White Beryl]

It wasn't that Radiant didn't know what other gems, especially lower-caste ones, expected of him socially. It's just that he never really understood why, nor did he particularly care. This attitude lead a lot to some unexpected and akward situations between him and other gems, lower, equal or even higher-caste. At least unexpected and akward for them. So when he heard the Pearl's question, either meant in honest or ironic, he himself found it a little... ironic? "Funny"? Whatever it may have been, he simple lay one arm on top the other and began to gesture with his upper hand a little, something he sometimes did while explaining things to others and trying to appear less friendly. "Haha, some are really confused by it. I do obviously stand behind the order and hierarchy of our great Empire, but..." He stopped himself. Did he really want to tell a Pearl who had direct contact to the main administrator of this facility his opinions? He was reconsidering the idea. On the other hand, she did seem to have opened up to him. And besides, it was very unlikely that any of his supervisors in the White Court would have believed the accusations of a Pearl against a White Beryl. So, after making what would have appeared to the Pearl as a fairly long pause, Radiant leaned a little to the cream-colored Pearl, and, with a now slightly quiet voice, continued. "... I do not approve of the 'treatment' some of you lower gems often receive from gems of my status. You may be of lower caste, but you can do things I wouldn't be capable of. Because, well, I am not a Pearl. And you're not a Beryl. I believe that every gem only makes sense within the wider whole of the Empire. There are lower-caste gems who have performed their duties to our Diamonds and the Empire for very long, without having become worse or more lazy in the slightest, whereas some higher-caste gems sometimes rebel some short time after their creation. Every gem is valuable and important in the role it was created for, that no other type of gem could replace. It's a matter of positioning. So holding other gems in contempt or not thinking high of them simply because they are of a lower caste is, if I could say it, childish. Perfection is a matter of type, intensity, degree. Even..., Radiant again stopped as he leaned even closer to the Pearl. "... when it comes to the Diamonds." He then raised himself again and put both his hands to his back, speaking now with his normal tone and volume. "Except for White Diamond of course. Types of perfection are one thing, and then there is perfection itself, pure perfection. No extra predicates needed."

"Well, normally I am much more quiet. Really, in this case, it was a matter of manners more than anything. I simply told you my opinions, so it would have been rude if you didn't have anything to offer yourself. Though I still did give more in the end, didn't I?", Radiant continued, faking a smile at the Pearl. He faked more smiles and small laughs at her comments on his niceness and him being a spy. So she really did think that. Well, luckly now he did finally seem to have her on his good side. When she said that she cared more than others, he simply nodded. He already explained why, after all.

It seemed it was now Radiant's time to be surprised at a question. "Well... you may, if you want to, that is."

[Melody]

"Some roles are more important and some gems are easier to produce."  She was just stating facts - those were the main reasons why many lower classed gems were oppressed in their society. "In the grand scheme of things... we are not that different in this regard." She muttered, her eyes looked behind the Beryl to see if anyone else could possibly hear them "It is not like we all don't have to try our best to remain relevant. Perfection is often just a gem-made concept. Even the most perfect gems have flaws" Her eyes suddenly stared back at the white gem "Except for all four Diamonds of course." She said as if she wanted to comment on White Beryl's previous statement. It was unclear if she was genuine when she said that, though. Her gaze returned to observe the room they were standing in.

She didn't look at him this time, but she did speak out "But I do agree that all parts are important to keep everything functional." Remove a small screw and the whole machine will stop working. A Perfect machine needs all parts to work properly. Even common screws, those are the parts that keep everything together.

She looked back at the white gem when he mentioned how he gave away more about himself than she did, she had a bit of questioning look with one of her eyebrows raised  "You are a bit nosy, aren't you?" She said, her tone being slightly nonchalant.

She nodded her head a few times before letting out a small smile "I don't want to at all." They didn't really know each other well enough, he didn't need to know all of her opinions.

"Now, I am sure your office must be ready by now, let's don't waste time." She started to slowly approach the elevator. White Beryl still had a chance to talk with her on their way back.

[White Beryl]

Although Radiant pretended to laugh when Melody mentioned his "nosy-ness", he actually became surprised at the Pearl's refusal to answer the White Beryl's original question that she herself brought up again, though obviously it didn't show on his face. If it was an honest reflection of her having overthought the matter, or if it was some sort of joke from the beginning, he genuinely couldn't tell. But what he could tell was that she did seem to have opened up to him much more. Finally, he thought, he had established a good first relationship at this facility.

"I do hope everything has been made in order", Radiant replied. He followed the Pearl, let her go into the elevator first and then went in himself. He remained silent for the time they were moving back up. He felt that his efforts were enough for now, and he didn't really have any interest in other topics, for now. Corruption would most likely make her uncomfortable, and what other scientific matters he had besides this, he wanted to keep to himself. And as they were slowly making their way back towards his office, he was simply hoping that all his rescources had been carefully brought there and everything was done to perfection.

[Melody]

The laugh felt forced, but she wasn't going to comment on it. The fact that they laughed at all was surprising on its own. She was just glad that they were both on friendly terms. The last thing she wanted was to avoid one of her coworkers, but Beryl proved himself to be... "different", very open minded. 

"It should be the case." She said as she moved back towards the elevator. To come back to the reception they needed to use the same path they used to get here in the first place. Which wasn't ideal, but corrupted gem needed to be away from more delicate parts of the facility. Despite the silence, the way back seemed shorter than their trip to the underground lever. Perhaps it was because the two weren't strangers anymore.

Eventually the two made their way to Pearl's desk. A message was present on her console. "It is ready, how delightful." She said with a small smile. She left the desk to lead White Beryl to his new office that was on the same floor.

The door, like any other other door that let to a private office, had a console on the wall. Pearl pressed a combination of different buttons before moving away "You can type in your ID password that we will store in our database. This console can also be reprogrammed to open the door only after scanning your gem." Or he could leave it open, but she already mentioned that.

After typing in the new password the computer asked to repeat the sequence. When all of this was done by Beryl, the door would open, revealing his room.

The office while wasn't exactly large, it was big enough to fit all of White Beryl's items without much issues. Then again, the white walls probably helped in making the room feel more spacious. The transportation containers were placed on the floor next to the door on the right. Besides that, the room was mostly empty, perhaps with some panels hidden inside walls. However, one thing that all rooms like that had in common was an "L" shaped desk with a chair. Beryl's were on the left, but the whole thing could easily be moved around. "The room can be customized in different ways, all it takes is for me to contact our Bismuth workers." She added at the end.