The emotions inside Ruby's mind awoke and looked around. "Er, who are you guys?" the green emotion asked. "And where are we?"

"I'm not sure where we are," said the blue one, "but I know I'm Sadness. Though I'm not sure how I know that..."

"And I don't know how I know that I'm Fear!" said the purple one. "Should we be worried? I feel like we should be worried."

"You always feel that way," the green one noted.

"But you just met me! Didn't you?"

"Well, I don't know," she replied. "I just get this vibe from you, you know? I'm Disgust, by the way."

"I'm Joy, and I found an instruction manual!" said the yellow one, holding up a book that had been under the console they were seated around.

"I'm Anger, and give me that!" said the red one, snatching it out of Joy's hands. She began reading it. "Okay, apparently we're the emotions for something called a Ruby gem."

The others murmured in agreement. "That sounds right," Sadness said.

"Oh, I get it!" Joy said, manipulating the controls in front of her even though they weren't online yet. "So if I want Ruby to be happy, I can just toggle a switch and she's happy!"

"But only do that if it'd healthy for her to be happy," said Fear. "For instance, it'd be better if she was scared if she was in a dangerous situation. Oh," she said, her skin paling to a mauve, "you don't think she'll be in a lot of dangerous situations, will she?"

"Well, then we'd better be prepared, shouldn't we?" Anger responded, a bit impatient. "Now," she continued, "that rack over there holds our latest memories, while that structure holds what are called core memories, or memories that define who we are."

"But both of those are empty," Sadness said.

"Obviously because we're still booting up," Disgust said. "I mean, why would we have memories of things that haven't happened yet? It's not like we can see the future or anything."

"But I'm sure we'll get plenty of memories once we're conscious," Joy said.

"But memories of what?" Fear said. "What will we be coming conscious to? Is there anything in the book about that?"

Anger grumbled as she read on. "It says that a Ruby's role is to carry out its assignment," Anger said.

"Which would be?" Disgust asked.

"How should I know? Like, guard something, or go on a mission. It'll probably be obvious once we're conscious." She flipped through the book. "There's a couple more entries on various abilities that Rubies have. Shapeshifting, fire powers, ability to fuse with other Rubies, ability to regenerate after suffering extreme harm-"

"What was that last one?" Fear asked nervously.

"Oh, all gems, including Rubies, have a physical body constructed of light. If that bodies incurs enough damage, they'll retreat back into their gemstone in order to regenerate." Anger glanced around. "I'd suspect it's something like this."

"See, Fear?" said Joy. "No need to be scared; even if Ruby gets hurt, she'll be fine!"

"Probably won't be fun, though," Sadness added.

"But still!"

"Wait," said Anger, who had turned to the next page. "It also says that if the gemstone itself gets damaged, it can destabilize the physical body and even the mind if the damage is bad enough, and that there's no easy way to repair it."

"Oh," said Joy.

"Yeah," said Sadness, "That'd probably be even less fun."

Fear gulped. "Er, is there any possibility that we could just stay like this?"

"Hold that thought," Joy said. "Looks like we're ready to emerge."

Fear whimpered.

On the viewscreen, they watched as Ruby opened her eyes and looked around the room. Three other figures were present.

"Wait, who are these guys?" Anger said, ignoring the flashing, beeping button on the console in front of her. "They can't be our assignments! I'm going to look it up." She flipped through the book. "A-ha, here it is! Other types of gems! That one is-"

"A Pearl," Joy said, reading the screen. She had reached over and pressed the button, bringing the new information up. "Designed to be servants for high-ranking gems."

"Wha- could we have done that at any time?" Anger said. "Is this guide even necessary?"

"I think it was triggered by the situation Ruby was in," Joy said. "She saw a Pearl, so the system made sure she could identity her as such."

"But what about the other two?" Disgust said. "Are they even gems? I don't see any gemstones."

"Maybe they're hidden by their appearance modifiers?" Sadness suggested.

"Well," said Joy, "the console doesn't seem to recognize them..."

"They don't seem to be in the manual either," Anger said. "Bismuth, Bixbite, Emerald, Jasper, Larimar, Peridot, Topaz, Zircon… I don't think they're any of those."

"I could really use an explanation here," one of the non-Pearl figures said.

"Oh no," said Fear. "They're just as confused as we are!"

"Allow me to illuminate," the Pearl said. "This is a Ruby guard, though, unusually, there's only one of them. Typically, they come in teams of three or more."

Disgust turned to Anger. "Does that check out?"

"I guess," Anger said, looking at the book again. "I mean, it doesn't say a Ruby can't be by herself, but..."

Another gem on the table took form, in much the same way the Ruby did. This one was about the same height as Ruby, but blue and with a dress and long hair.

"That is a Sapphire," the Pearl said. "She has the power to see the future; she's who the Ruby is to protect."

"All right!" Joy shouted. "Purpose!"

"And it's a Sapphire, too," said Disgust. "How fitting. Now, granted, I don't know why it's fitting..."

"My Sapphire," said Ruby, "As my sworn duty and sole purpose, I will protect you with my life."

"I know you will," the Sapphire replied. "That's why I predict you won't last more than a day."

"Hang on," said Fear. "What did she say?"