"Ugh, that's the fifth time in a row!" Citrine cried out in frustration. Jasper merely stared at her, trying to hold back the grin appearing on her face, finally she shrugged.
"I told you you couldn't beat me." She responded.
"What are you two doing?" A yellow gem, Amber, walked up to them.
"We're playing Chess," said Citrine.
"Chess?" Said Amber looking down at the board laying between Jasper and Citrine, "don't you two have anything better to do than play games?"
"I'm on break" said Citrine.
"And the next conquest isn't for several months," said Jasper, and after a moment she added "hey, why don't you play a round with me?"
"You want me to play chess? With You?" Asked Amber before responding, "oh alright, between you and me I don't have anything else to do at the moment either."
The two played for a period of time but it wasn't long before the end
"Checkmate"
Amber glared at the board in frustration and shock trying to find some way out of her current predicament but it was to no avail. "How did you beat me? I thought Jaspers were supposed to be thick-headed warriors!"
Jasper glared back, "have you ever been on a battlefield? If you think that physical strength alone is enough to win then you have another thing coming. Battles require strength of body and mind, the ability to think on your feet. I fought against Rose Quartz's armies, I would have been cracked several times over if I didn't have even basic strategic skill." She paused a bit before continuing, "would you like to play another game, or are you too afraid that you'll be beaten by a thick-headed warrior…again." She smiled at the last word. Amber just folded her arms
"Oh alright," she responded before muttering "but only because that first game was a fluke."
The two played valiantly, Citrine watched both of them intensely as they made play after play, pieces fell left and right, but in the end the results were the same as the first.
"Checkmate"
"Ugh, are you joking!" Amber yelled staring at the game board as if she could will the pieces into a better position. Jasper meanwhile gave Amber a serious 'I never joke' face, with just a hint of smugness.
"That was most impressive."
Jasper, Amber, and Citrine immediately turned towards the sound of the voice. Three more Gems were walking towards them. A large body guard, Moldavite; A simple servant, Pearl; and of course their leader, Yellow Diamond.
Jasper stood and saluted, "Yellow Diamond, ma'am, to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"
"Oh, I just thought I'd stop by and see how my subjects were doing" said Yellow Diamond looking down upon them. She wore an enigmatic smile upon her face, "you're a very good chess player I see, I wonder though if you could defeat my personal guard." She looked over at Moldavite who looked back at her, "go on" she said, "it would amuse me."
"As you wish" both Jasper and Moldavite said at the same time.
The two played valiantly, Jasper had to admit (though never out loud) that Moldavite was one of the toughest opponents she had ever faced. But although the dark green Gem was clever and strong, in the end Jasper's winning streak continued.
"Checkmate."
Moldavite stared wordlessly at the board before finally giving a brief nod of respect towards Jasper, she then stood up and returned by Yellow Diamond's side. As she did, Yellow Diamond looked over at her Pearl who had been enraptured by the game.
"Would you like to play?" she asked her Pearl.
"Me? My Diamond? I… I don-"
"Oh just do it."
Citrine rolled her eyes as the Pearl slowly and nervously sat down across from Jasper, she gave a small smile. Jasper nodded, her expression blank. Amber stood in the corner, pretending that she wasn't paying any attention to the game at all.
Although the Pearl was a fairly good Chess player she was nothing compared to Jasper and it was not long before the game was over.
"Checkmate."
"That was fun," Pearl said as she quickly got up and ran behind Yellow Diamond, blushing.
There was a brief pause as Yellow Diamond gave Jasper an analyzing glance, finally she sat down across from her.
"Those must have been interesting diversions, but now Jasper, you are going to play against me."
"M-My Diamond?" Jasper gulped trying and failing to not to show any outward fear.
"Yes," said Yellow Diamond. She gave Jasper a long glare, "and don't you dare go easy on me."
Jasper swallowed her fear and moved one of her pieces, "of course My Diamond"
The two played for quite some time. As their pieces moved from space to space the other gems became more and more engrossed. Citrine's face was as close to the board as it could be without being distracting, and she had to stop herself several times from getting closer. Pearl, without Yellow Diamond by her side, took to hiding behind Moldavite, her head peeking out, wonder filled eyes staring at the game. Moldavite herself kept her expression blank though her eyes were constantly moving back and forth across the board, assessing the situation. Even Amber couldn't help but walk closer and stare fervently at the game.
Jasper was not paying attention to any of them. While Yellow Diamond was not as aggressive as Moldavite, she had a sly cleverness about her, one that made her much, much more dangerous of an opponent. Jasper was suddenly acutely aware of why Yellow Diamond was their ruler.
It was a long game but in the end the final piece was placed for all to see.
"Checkmate"
Jasper had never been more frightened in her whole life. She didn't dare go easy on her leader, and yet, looking at the board, part of her had wished that she had gone maybe a little easy. She hadn't even realized that she had won until after she put the piece down, and at that point it was too late.
Yellow Diamond surveyed the board, her expression maddeningly blank. Finally she looked up at Jasper. Jasper had what she hoped was a neutral expression on her face.
Yellow Diamond smiled briefly then held out her hand to Jasper, "congratulations." Was all that she said.
"Thank you, My Diamond," Jasper replied extending her own hand and grabbing Yellow Diamonds. The two shook.
"YELLOWDIAMONDYELLOWDIAMONDYELLOWDIAMOND" A sudden voice yelled out. Everyone looked over at the distracting sound and saw a Peridot running up to them. Yellow Diamond stood up to walk towards her but she could barely take a step before the smaller Gem reached her.
"ahem," Peridot began, "Yellow Diamond I have returned with my reports from the alien planets, I would like to add that there is one particularly aggravating one which will require special attention."
Yellow Diamond smirked, "I see, tell me, do you know how to play chess?"
"Chess?" Peridot responded, "I am… familiar with the rules, though I've never actually played. What does that have to do—"
"I want to see you play a game of Chess with Jasper and then I'll look at your… reports," she added the last word with disdain. Peridot gave a confused glance in Jasper's direction before turning back to Yellow Diamond
"Okay?" She said, slowly sitting down, still staring at Yellow Diamond the entire time before finally turning to look at Jasper.
The two started to play as the others slowly lost interest. And just as quickly as it started, the game was finished.
"Checkmate."
"What," said Citrine.
"What," said Yellow Diamond.
"What," said Amber.
"What," said Moldavite.
"What," said Pearl.
"Huh, I didn't know chess was this easy," said Peridot, "Now about those repor—"
"WHAT!?" said Jasper.
*AN: uhh I just had this weird headcanon that Jasper was really good at chess but Peridot was this like prodigy and the rest of the story kinda evolved from there. I've always been interested in what characters in stories, especially the antagonistic ones, do in their downtime, so my writing out a story about a group of Gems on Homeworld hanging out and playing chess was inevitable, Yellow Diamond was a fun bonus. Speaking of which, this story was mostly written after emThe Answer/em came out, and was finished in about a day and a half after which I sent it to a proof reader. Imagine my surprise when about a day later we see an episode featuring both Yellow Diamond and her Pearl. I considered rewriting the story so that their personalities would fit more with the show canon but I decided to leave it as is, seeing disproven Headcanons in a fanfic is half the fun! Or IDK, Yellow Diamond isn't that different and maybe she has like... two Pearls? Yeah... yeah let's go with that (inb4 the next episode of Steven Universe blatantly states that YD only has one Pearl)*