Over the next few days, months, and years, Pink Diamond, or as she would rather be called, (something she still needed to figure out), took her time to get re-acquainted with everyone she had vague memories of. Oftentimes, she found herself surprised by how different they acted, but very often, she would be unable to tell if they were actually acting different or if she just perceived them different after the incident.

It didn't help that her trusted confidante and Pearl was only someone who came to being - and, as she would learn, was manufactured - after the incident; this lead to second guessing for both of them, and they might have actually picked up one or two falsehoods about the past. Yet, in general, Pink felt like her picture was accurate.

To start off, there was Pink's original Pearl; White had never released her grip upon her, and gave no indication when she would. For that reason, this Pearl's personality was simply nonexistent; she would only act the way White acted, say the things White said, even move to poses White moved to. Whether a conscious, cognizant Pearl still existed beneath the pale visage was pretty much anyone's guess; only White could confirm said guesses, and White remained tight-lipped on the matter.

This brought Pink to the Diamonds, starting with White. In general, White was a rather mysterious figure, who was never to be questioned under any circumstance, and who, rather frustratingly, rarely if ever spoke, and if she spoke, she would speak in an endless barrage of "definite, unchanging truths" that made Pink question whether or not White even had an opinion on the world around her, or if she truly lived in a world of facts and nothing else. And, well, if she didn't have an opinion on Pink, not much could potentially change it.

Then, there were Blue and Yellow. Before the incident, they seemed to be the primary force belittling her and even getting angry at her, and yet, as far as she could tell, this part of them was absent from their current demeanor. They would often talk behind her back, just before they entered her room, and they would always say things like "did Pink do the impossible?", "did she actually change for the better?" and so on.

Was there anything else that they described her as? Oh, yeah: "sleepy", whatever that word meant.

This happened, more often than not, when Pink needed a break from reality. In those cases, she would bundle up in a place she considered safe, like her room or other places she managed to find in the meantime, tell anyone present here (her Pearl in case of her room) not to let anyone in until she was done, close her eyes and immerse herself in cloudspace. She didn't know if this form of meditation had its own name, but she liked the sound of "sleepy" and might even have taken to referring to "sleeping" and other non-words.

Why did Pink need a break from reality? Her own gemstone issues, mostly. Occasionally, she would hear a vague presence of another voice, who she couldn't place as being any Gem in the room with her, and whom, if she wanted to think clearly and make rational decisions in line with those of the other Diamonds, she needed to shut away.

It's almost as though the incident had lasting impact on her, even though she was fully aware that her gemstone was healed. But this was something Pink preferred not to dwell on.

Anyway, that only really left Pink's court. As a whole, they didn't seem to be particularly different between pre-incident and post-incident: they still, much like Pink, thought that they needed to be able to colonize by themselves, rather than assist the other Diamonds if they got the chance, and if one could compare the morale of the different courts, Pink's would easily be the least motivated.

That being said, she could single out two members of the court: Spinel and Nephrite.

Spinel, of course, was a good friend and great fun, throughout it all. By this time, she and Pink had located a garden, on the shattered remains of a planet, which they could warp to so that no other Diamond would ever find them. Granted, the lack of gravity on something that was not a planetesimal was an issue, but eventually, Pink managed to make the garden into a nice place to live, complete with plant life from planets that were sadly doomed to succumb to the iron fist of the Gem Empire, all life included. This was another "safe space" for Pink to reside, and often, she would "sleep" here, too.

For some reason, Pink felt like she was getting more attached to organic lifeforms than Gems. Gems had a singular purpose, and not much in the way of "death" other than shattering, and that was... boring. Organic lifeforms were much more ephemereal, and that would seem like a disadvantage because there was less time to appreciate them, but they could reproduce and enter a cycle of life, which made them more interesting by default.

Lastly, there was Nephrite - the last Gem she had talked to, other than the Diamonds, before the incident. Though she felt greatly honored to so much as be acknowledged by her Diamond, and immensely confused when that Diamond took the time to descend to her level, she eventually came to fully understand Pink's compassion and desire to prove herself to the others.

Pink had already made a conviction: on the off chance that she were to get a colony, Nephrite would lead the fleet flying there.

The only question left to answer was: was she ever getting a colony?

The day started like any other, and for Pink, the start of the day was easily placed together with her awakening and leaving cloudspace. She thought that the other Diamonds had totally lost on the opportunity to sleep and relax, and though they disagreed - they were far too busy to meditate in any way, including sleep, for more than a few minutes - they at least understood and tolerated the behavior, if only because while Pink was asleep, she couldn't commit any pranks, antics, whatever their preferred word for it was this time.

Regardless, Pink awoke, reviewed where she was at the time (on the day, it was the garden), and then, reviewed her itinerary to find pretty much nothing of note. Because she wasn't commanding a colonization attempt, nor was she leading her court to a war with organic species (as she would refuse to go to such a war on principle), she wasn't a particularly busy figure, especially not when compared with the other Diamonds or even someone like a Hessonite. In fact, she didn't even think that such an itinerary would be particularly useful for her.

That is, until she noticed that someone (most likely her Pearl) had put on a remote meeting with Blue and Yellow on her schedule within the following 10 hours - and once she had heard the news that she was told on the meeting, she would definitely change her mind.

She would need to dress for the occasion. In contrast with what outfit she saw as "herself", in order to face a formal meeting, she would have to go for pretty much the polar opposite aesthetic. Though she didn't care particularly if the elements she added to herself clashed or not, she made sure that she was pretty like a doll, with as much frills, poof and other details of dress as she could manage in a single shapeshift.

As for her Pearl, Pink immediately contacted her remotely, and was informed that Blue and Yellow wanted to meet her separately, for... whatever reason. Since Pink was, in some ways, the boss of her Pearl, she was going to coordinate the dress style between the two, and as far as her Pearl went, Pink told her to try and "not stand out".

With that out of the way, and with the communicator only displaying a solid color, Pink only needed to wait.

She couldn't help but slip back into cloudspace in the meantime, though this time from a standing position. Unfortunately, the time couldn't be filled with pranks or antics or playtime with Spinel or anything like that, much to her dismay; when she asked what the fuss with her Pearl was about, Pink only answered that this was an important meeting, and that Spinel shouldn't make a fool out of both of them.

At any rate, since playtime in the garden was out of question, and since she didn't feel like heading back to her room just to take a call, the only thing that the time could be filled was some good old self-discovery in cloudspace.

Maybe today, she would finally come up with an alternative name for herself.

"Pink! We're here to talk to you! Are you ready?" Blue suddenly called.

Pink immediately opened her eyes. Forms of Blue and Yellow had already replaced the solid color of her communicator, and in general, there were pretty much no obstacles to commence a proper, formal conversation.

"Yes, I'm ready." Pink answered, turning her own side of the communicator so that the camera would pick her up. Once she did come into view, though, she immediately noticed that Blue and Yellow, relatively complacent beforehand, seemed to be somewhat revolted by who they saw when looking through their own screen.

It wasn't the fact that she was in the garden and not within her own room, where she was expected to be when she wasn't actively leading a colony. Yellow and Blue had already started tolerating that background. It was very obviously Pink herself.

"Pink! I thought we were taking this seriously!" Yellow couldn't help but comment. "I cannot think of a single circumstance, for a Gem of any rank, where this manner of dress would be appropriate."

"Oh. I thought you liked it when I dressed for the occasion." Pink answered, confused.

"Pink, we don't 'dress' for anything..."

"Yellow, the matter at hand?" Blue interrupted.

"Of course. We have observed your behavior throughout the recent years, and though you still have a long way from being a fully obedient, exemplary Diamond for your court, one cannot deny that you have come a long way from where you started, too. We thought it was impossible: for a Gem, once created, to be able to shape her designation and personality for the better; yet, you have proved us wrong."

"I see. And that's it? Another empty platitude for the most useless Diamond of them all?" Pink commented, but soon enough, got off track.

"Pink, please! You should have some respect, both for yourself and for us." Blue interjected.

"Alright." Pink cleared her throat. "Does the purpose of this meeting go beyond simple observation of changed behavior?"

If there was anything Pink knew, it was how to appear formal and perfectly obedient, even if for a few moments before denouncing such behavior. Yet, each time it happened, it did not fail to fool Yellow and Blue, who glanced at each other, looking increasingly more nervous.

"Alright, we'll get to the point." Yellow said. "We have decided you are finally ready and deserving of a colony of your own."

Out of the things she expected to hear in the meeting, this was perhaps the least expected. Pink wasn't sure if Yellow was being serious (it wouldn't be the first time she was tricked like that, although none of the previous times involved the other Diamonds), and even if she was, Pink wasn't exactly getting ready for a colony. She simply stood there, flabbergasted.

Spinel, though, seemed more excited than ever, perfectly conveying what Pink wanted to convey, but couldn't due to the need to appear formal. At one point, she even clung to Pink's shoulder, and that brought her out of her trance.

"Please repeat and clarify? You must have misspoken." Pink spoke, half-laughing.

"Pink Diamond, you are henceforth assigned your first colony: Crystal System Planet III. Its crust is rich in oxygen and silicon, and therefore, it is mostly expected to produce Quartz gems, such as Amethysts, Jaspers, Rose Quartz..."

Yellow must have listed at least a dozen other Quartz types, but Pink had already tuned out and found herself in cloudspace, with her voice but a mere echo, because in a single day, two of her dreams had come true: not only did she get a colony of her own, she also, for the first time, heard a name that struck her being.

Rose Quartz.

Pink wasn't going to tell anyone she trusted wholly (a special class of the court, which, at the time, consisted of her own Pearl only) to start calling her "Rose Quartz" just yet, but in the very least, she had an option on the table now.

However, this contemplation would have to wait a bit, as Pink needed to hear the rest of her briefing. "...organic lifeforms have organized into a primitive state of civilization; however, they are believed to largely be tribal, relying on technology very little, and therefore, should not pose a significant threat to any Gem squadron. With that being said, we hope you will assemble a fleet and begin colonization right away, and that the colonization will be a tremendous success."

"Understood." Pink responded.

"Your legs have been prepared for interstellar flight, and should be located by your quarters in Homeworld. The next time we talk, we sincerely hope it will be from within the limits of the Crystal System." With that, Yellow bowed off, and left together with Blue; the communicator shut off in their departure.

For a moment, the garden was entirely silent. Pink couldn't maintain a single proper thought; she couldn't even maintain the "formal" outfit she decided to present to Blue and Yellow, and had turned back to her usual, only slightly less fancy outfit. She couldn't even drift into cloudspace, which was what she usually did when she heard any sort of groundbreaking news, good or bad.

Yet, her little companion was beyond excited, bouncing up and down and all around the garden. "You're getting a colony! A whole new world to play! Your wishes have come true, and now, nothing will stop us from playing and being friendly for the rest of time, right?"

Within moments, though, Pink had already formed a conviction: if she wanted to be taken seriously throughout colonization, Spinel couldn't come.

She just couldn't. She didn't have anything that was useful for colonization. She wasn't a Peridot who could oversee the Kindergartens. She wasn't a Quartz who could dismantle... uh, peacefully relocate the civilized organics elsewhere. She wasn't even a pilot who could lead fleets and flights between different locations of importance.

She was naught but a playmate.

Pink was already getting ready to head to the garden's warp pad, assemble her fleet and take off for Crystal System Planet III (which also needed a better name than that; in fact, she suspected she would need to give all the planets there names), but Spinel kept clinging, begging to take her, both verbally and non-verbally.

Spinel wasn't coming, but she also wasn't going to get forgotten, just like that, just because Pink was more "serious" now.

Yeah, that was it. This wasn't a goodbye, forever; this was a temporary departure. The colony would be completed, everyone would hail Pink as a hero and the two could play in a fully colonized world.

And what a better way to make such a departure fun than with a game?

Pink kneeled down until she was at Spinel's level, and began speaking. "You know what? Before we head for my colony, why don't we play a game, here in the garden? The first part of the game involves you standing still, in one place, until I return - should be a blink of an eye, really. Once I'm back, I'll explain the rest. Alright?"

"Of course, my Diamond! I would do anything for you!"

"This will be so much fun, I promise!" Pink spoke, having made sure that Spinel wasn't moving anywhere, before stepping on the warp pad and warping back to Homeworld.

Once Pink was back, she was greeted to someone she didn't even recognize at first. Yet, an oval forehead gemstone soon made her realize that this was her Pearl.

She appeared to have gone for a translucent white skirt, reaching all the way to the floor, and in general, a lot more... white in her attire. Gone was the multicolored mess that couldn't even easily be placed in a court if one ignored the prominent pink diamond; now, her Pearl looked like... she belonged to White, probably.

"Pearl, I've got fantastic news coming up. We-"

"We are getting a colony, my Diamond! Isn't this exciting? We're finally ready and deserving..."

"Hold on. Did Blue and Yellow just inform you of the same thing separately? Couldn't they have asked for the two of us to come together?"

"Huh?"

"No worries. The first squadron will be led by Nephrite, Facet-413... you know the one. As far as the others go, don't care too much about who you call; this is only the beginning. When you've brought everyone to the legs, we'll take off."

"Understood, my Diamond." With that, the plucky little Pearl went off to take care of her matters, and Pink was able to ready to command one of those pods to take her up to her leg-shaped spaceship, part of a complete body formed with spaceships belonging to all the Diamonds. She then, once she was in the spaceship's control room, sat in its throne and relaxed.

While her Pearl was busy, Pink reflected on Homeworld one last time. Overall, though the place was mostly where she was put down and belittled, it was also where she met her greatest friends and companions so far.

Yet, that was but a temporary feeling, and Homeworld was always replaceable. Her garden had already felt quite like home, and she expected to spend quite some time on the planet she was colonizing, so it could easily become home, too.

"We're here!" Pink's Pearl suddenly sing-song called; she hadn't even realized that she was in cloudspace this time. "Nephrite-"

"If you would allow me." Pink laughed. "Nephrite, set the coordinates for Crystal System Planet III."

"Right away, my Diamond." Nephrite immediately started inputing to the main control planet, and she was done sooner rather than later.

Now, Pink just needed to take off.

She stood up from the throne and jumped up, and as she did, the legs were suddenly propelled upward.