Dramatis Personae @Acey: Tektite, Baroque Pearl @chaoticArbiter: Rose Pearl, Almandine, Gold Pearl, † Amber @cryptoThelematrix: Watermelon Tourmaline (Melon) @Dist: Pink Spinel, Rita, † Maggi @emythos: Smoke Pearl, Smoky Quartz @Imoyram: Melo Pearl @IvyLB: Lavender Pearl, Amethyst @KarrinBlue: Black Opal, Celestine @Kaylotta: Gray Pearl, Onyx, Red Topaz, nasty villains @lilacsofthedead: Citrine, Hematite @prismaticvoid: Carnelian @Starcrossedsky: Red (The Singing) Spinel ---------- The Commissioning Hall was huge, the vaulted ceiling easily clearing seventy-five feet. It was an oblong space with a large circle in the middle, roughly a hundred feet in diameter. This was, of course, the ceremonial circle, emblazoned with the Diamond Authority's symbol. The panels of the ceiling, as usual, showed depictions of each Diamond, watching over their subjects (some might say looming). Concentric to the ceremonial circle was a circle of pillars another thirty feet out, and beyond that, the outer wall. The outer wall sported transparent artwork of great Gem battles and historical figures, each design windowed by two pillars. At one end of the oblong was the raised dais, with thrones for the Diamonds. At the other end, the arched exit. The space in between the outer wall and the ceremonial circle, in the section closer to the exit, was currently full of high-ranking Gems, all milling about and discussing recent battles, new colonization efforts, and the latest in technological advances. Their guards and servants, as usual, stood watch, and attended to their needs. Gray Pearl, for her part, stood just behind Onyx, and slightly to her left. Most Pearls were diminutive enough that their owners had them stand just in front of them, but Gray Pearl was slightly taller than the average Pearl, and Onyx slightly shorter than the average Quartz, and Diamonds forbid anyone make Onyx look less imposing. She had never been in the Commissioning Hall before, but she knew better than to ooh and awe at its wonders. That was not what she was here for. She was here to bring Onyx to and from the ceremony, and to participate, at her bidding, in the ceremonial dance of the Pearls, which would mark the commissioning of the new Quartzes, completed only days before. Onyx, ever hopeful and ever arrogant, was angling to impress her superiors enough to add a handful of those Quartzes to her division, though this was unlikely to happen. Someone as individualistic and, honestly, wild as Onyx was unlikely to ever rank higher than her current position: leader of a recon/scouting defense force. Sending her far away from Homeworld on a regular basis meant the hurricane she brought with her was going to damage ... disposable resources. Of course, Gray Pearl would never even think such a thing. No, she was here to drive, and to dance, and to fuse - and then to resume her place at Onyx's back, stare blankly at the walls while her master mingled and socialized, and finally, to drive back to their living quarters. The ceremonies, she thought, should be starting soon. She could see a handful of other Pearls with their masters, though she was certain more were arriving with the renewed stream of Gems coming in the front entrance. This was a grand occasion - over eighty new Quartzes in all the colours of the rainbow, all perfectly formed and ready to serve the Homeworld. They would be formally commissioned by at least one member of the Diamond Authority, the Pearls would dance in commemoration and for the entertainment of the crowd, and then there would be mingling and discussion until quite late. Gray Pearl blinked just the slightest bit more slowly than usual. It was going to be a long and boring night.
Amethyst was late. Amethyst, of course fully blamed her Pearl for it, as was her right. Lavender Pearl hated this. Lavender Pearl especially hated being rushed along, her owner roughly gripping her wrist and dragging her after. Pearls weren't made for rushing or for gripping or for rough handling. Pearls were also not made for being whiny little pebbles, as Amethyst liked to remind Lavender Pearl. Amethyst made her way to the front row with a bit of shoving and a bit of grumbled orders. She was a high ranking Commanding Officer, after all. Lavender Pearl wasn't allowed to know which rank specifically. Her job was getting Amethyst ready and handling her weapons. She had many weapons. With a bit of a shove Amethyst let go of her. Lavender Pearl took up her rest position, feet turned slightly outward, one leg crossed in front of the other, hands resting loosely on her waist, head turned just so. Amethyst had spent a lot of time on teaching her to hold this position. Measure. For Measure. For Measure. She looked forward to dancing later. Dancing and Fusing, even when she didn't feel like it (and she wasn't allowed not to feel like it lest she endanger the stability of the fusion) were far better than standing around, consciously forcing every inch of her form into still perfection. She wanted to wave at Gray Pearl. She wated to say hi to the other dancers. She did not want to be reprimanded for even nodding her head. "Raise your chin a bit you aren't catching the light, you useless piece of bling!" her Amethyst hissed. She obliged, turning her head until the light was stinging in her eyes. It would be a long night.
Carnelian fiddled nervously with the mouthpiece of her flute. She'd never accompanied a dance this large before, and being in the presence of all these high-ranking Gems only made her feel smaller. At least she wasn't one of the dancers, though, she thought. She wasn't at risk of such severe punishment as they could be for an inferior performance. She looked up for a minute, scanning the room to see who had arrived. Accidentally catching the eye of a delicate pale-purple Pearl, presumably here to dance, she quickly looked down. Soon she could get lost in the music, and then the eyes would be off her again.
Ah! The musician had looked at her! Lavender Pearl tried hard ot to stare but trying to catch Carnelian's eye again was the most interesting thing she could do right now. A friendly blink. Just a friendly blink, not even anything else. Amethyst wouldn't even notice.
It was the first time Citrine had ever been in a gathering this big, and she found she kind of hated it. She felt like she had barely brushed the dirt out of her hair when she and the other new Quartzes had been herded into Basic Training - learning how to use their gem weapons, knowledge of warfare, history of great Gem battles and basic tactics. Citrine with her long mace had a good balance of reach and momentum, but she found sparring with the other gems tedious at best, and downright anxiety-inducing at worse. Her first day she had swung too hard and un-incorporated her partner with one blow and ever since her drill sergeant had been singing her praises. She didn't see what was so great about hurting someone like that. She'd seen how shaken and scared the Milky Quartz had looked when she had returned to herself, and had felt sick for causing that. She had made her excuses, and fled the training grounds blindly as soon as she could get away. She had wound up by the shipyards, and spent the rest of the day catching up on History so that her tutor couldn't say she was totally avoiding her purpose. She liked reading. Reading didn't hurt anyone. And besides, she had made a friend. She and the other new Quartz milled about, waiting to be introduced to Society by their CO. Citrine had already experienced Agate boasting about her great strength and accuracy, and wished more than ever she could just disappear. Was it possible to disincorporate without being first injured? She didn't know, but she wished with all her Gem that it could be so. She spotted Agate coming into the hall and making a beeline in her direction, and she was backing up before she even knew what she was doing. Backing up so fast in fact that she crashed into a nearby Pearl, tripping backwards and landing in a heap. "Sorry!" ((Hope that's okay! I'll leave it up to the Pearl players as to who she's actually sent flying ^^;;;))
Tektite wasn't sure what she was doing here. Okay, that was a lie--she knew exactly what she was doing here. She'd snuck in out of curiosity. There was no way a lowly Tektite would be invited to a fancy shindig like this, and she wanted to experience it for once. She was not enjoying it. Too many people, too much noise. So she'd huddled up in a corner, where, she hoped, no one would notice her, and opened up one of her screens. She'd installed a little tappy game on there that usually calmed her down, but this was just too much for her, and she wound up opting to curl up into a little ball and not look at anyone instead. Dammit, Tektite, she thought, this is why you follow the rules. This is why you NEVER break the rules. You get in situations like...like THIS! And then a Pearl went flying, and Tektite couldn't help but screech in fear when the Pearl smacked right into her. ((I hope this is okay too! ;u; ))
And now there was screaming as well! Her day was just getting better and better. "Sorry! Sorry, are you okay?" Citrine repeated, stumbling to her feet and looking with a soldier's accuracy to the source of the scared yell. She looked like she belonged here about as much as Citrine felt like she did. Her gem was dark and opaque - Jet, maybe? But she was dressed like a technician... "Are you hurt?" She wasn't dressed as nicely as some of the Gems around here, but maybe she was a servant or something. It didn't occur to her that it was odd for a Quartz to ask a lower caste if they were okay. Haematite had liked that.
Normally Tourmaline avoided Homeworld. It was the epitome of everything stifling she hated about Gem society. She preferred the colonies, where things didn't run so smoothly. Unfortunately, sometimes she needed supplies she couldn't get anywhere else. She had procured the supplies with little difficulty; people on Homeworld never expected rules to be broken. It was the only thing she liked about Homeworld. The invitation had been sent to the Prase who had formerly owned her ship. She had intended to ignore it (the Prase had been green, but nobody would have ever confused them for one another) and she certainly had no business being in the presence of Diamonds, but ... ceremonial dance of the Pearls? Perverts. Not the Pearls. What choice did they have? But the owners. Disgusting. Ever since training people had been saying there was something wrong with her, and Tourmaline had always laughed it off, but maybe there was something wrong with her, just for being here, equally fascinated and disgusted at the same time, not quite believing they'd actually do it. Homeworld had once been just stuffy but now things were getting downright depraved.
Smoke Pearl walked beside and slightly behind Smoky Quartz, barely noticable next to the larger gem. They had arrived right on time, as always. Everything had been planned out to the last detail. And Smoke was unhappy. She didn't want to stand blankly in a corner, occasionally holding whatever Smoky Quartz handed her or adding something new to their itinerary. And she especially did not want to fuse in front of a crowd of important gems, ogling at her and the other Pearls. Just this once, she wanted something unexpected to happen. Something that would shake up the monotony of her life. Something like- "Ah!" Well, not being sent flying by a clumsy new Quartz. That was a bit too much.
And darnit, the Pearl she had nearly crushed was still on the floor, too. Without really thinking about the connotations of her actions, Citrine bent to try and help the Pearl to her feet, apologising again. "Shards, are you okay? I'm so sorry, I'm such a klutz, I need to stop bashing into people..." She had barely even noticed the Pearl's owner, and that was probably a mistake. A lot of things Citrine did were mistakes, and not a lot of them were lucky.
Rita did her best not to chuckle as she watched a quartz bumped into another pearl. It was nice to see someone other than herself be clumsy, even if laughing at a Quartz was practically suicide. Pink Spinel shook her head and said a few disapproving words about how new warriors seemed to get less trained by the day. Rita nodded and responded, "You're twice the gem any of them will ever be my lady." Honestly Rita felt like she was the one who was twice the gem, doing her best to only let her hands fidget as she looked after her owner and Maggi, not truly sure if it was Spinel or the other pearl who was acting more childish. Normally her owner wouldn't have taken her to the party, let alone Maggi, hut she'd heard there would be quartzes with pearls and of course she had to show off the fact she had two, and of course she'd put Rita in charge of not fidgeting and caring for the smaller gem as well. Well at least there would be plenty of people staring at that other poor pearl and the quartz giving her time to pick up Maggi and point out the scene, waiting for an perfect life example of what happened to pearls who got in the way unintentionally.
Startled, Smoke barely managed to get out a "I'm fine." The Quartz was trying to help her up, and apologizing? That's not normal. She was about to say something else, reassure her that it wasn't a problem, when Smoky Quartz made a sharp noise and rather dramatically pulled her from off the floor, dropping her back into her former spot. "I assumed the new recruits had been taught NOT to grab at things that don't belong to them. I suppose I was mistaken."
Lavender was distracted momentarily by the commotion, turning sharply out of her pose, her hands flying to her mouth. Oh no! She knew Smoky Quartz sometimes had a temper and crashing into her Pearl...! A throat was cleared behind her, loud and pointedly. She tensed and got back into position. Amethyst always said she was far too distractable.
Citrine felt herself pale as the older Quartz stepped into her space, and she straightened her spine on reflex. A kneejerk reaction for someone still in Basic to anyone with an authoritative tone. She tapped her gem in brief salute. "S-sorry, ma'am! I just wanted to make she wasn't d-damaged by the fall!" She tried to peer around Smoky Quartz to check the Pearl again. She hadn't met many face-to-face, but she knew they were notoriously fragile, even for noncombatants. "Is she okay?"
"Don't let it happen again," Smoky Quartz snapped. She briefly glanced at Smoke to confirm that there was no damage. "There isn't any damage. Believe me, if there was..." She let the threat stand, not bothering to elaborate. Smoke flinched. It was probably best if the other Quartz got as far away as possible.
It was that flinch that did it. Citrine wasn't subtle, and she knew she probably wasn't smart, but she'd already been out of the ground long enough to know a bully when she saw one. "What? You'd hurt her more just so you could toss her out? Is that the kind of Gem you are?" In an instant, she went from parade rest to stepping up into the elegant Quatz's face. She hadn't even realised she had spoken out loud, but she'd be shattered before she backed down to Gems who thought they could toss their weight around with others too meek to fight back.
Lavender Pearl has made three steps before a yank at her wrist pulled her back sharply, driving tears into her eyes. Amethyst seemed to take pity on her though. "HEY RECRUIT. Yeah you over there! You're making my Pearl restless. Get back in line if you don't want to get thrown out." Lavender Pearl whimpered gratefully.
Tektite had just been watching the scene unfold in numb horror, and when Citrine (a Quartz? Why would a Quartz care about her wellbeing?) had asked if she was okay, she couldn't speak. It wasn't for lack of trying, but sometimes, when she got stressed or scared, she just...glitched. After calming down a bit, she managed to tap out a message on her screen, not quite aware that the others seemed to have moved on. "IM FINE DONT WORRY," she typed out. There. That should get the message across. She smiled, satisfied.
Citrine glanced at the Amethyst when she called out, back at Smoky Quartz, then decided she couldn't take two more experienced gems on her own. She wrinkled her nose and huffed out a breath, withdrawing a little. "Fine. But I'm watching you, ma'am, don't think I'm not. If you take my mistakes out of her hide..." She let the threat hang, even though they both knew there wasn't a great deal a raw recruit could do to an established superior officer, and sulked off to give them both some space. As soon as things had settled a little, however, she was back to check on the little mute Tech she had scared so badly. She glanced around to make sure no-one was paying much attention, then flopped down next to her. "Hey, mind if I hide here for a while? So much for my big debut..." She peered at the screen, then smiled. "Oh good, at least I didn't mess up everyone's party, huh?"
Smoke froze up. This, this was going to end badly. She needed a plan, a distraction, anything. She wasn't worried for herself whatsoever. No one else knew Smoky Quartz's schedule as well as she did, the worst that could happen was she'd get yelled at, or maybe hit. Getting poofed would mean delays and getting broken would leave Smoky Quartz without any organization whatsoever. But this other Quartz, this friendly one, who'd been talking to her like she was an actual gem, instead of a pretty scheduling device? She was new, and expendable. She had never been as happy in her life as when the nice Quartz listened to her superior and left without the confrontation getting worse. Smoky Quarts looked huffier than usual, and Smoke decided that fading into the background was actually good thing, for now.
