"Crimson, what happened your office?"
She looked up to see Sky leaning in the doorway, calm blue eyes taking in the mess that occupied the entire floor. Crimson was sitting on the edge of her desk, looking over an oddly shaped and probably broken device she'd picked up. "White happened to my office," she said with a sigh.
"White?" Sky poked at some of the nearest items with the toe of her shoe. "I mean, this does look like things she'd grab, but why'd she leave them here instead of taking them to storage?"
"I'm assuming Caddy was involved."
"Mm, I guess it's possible, but it's not really her style."
"You'd be the gem to know, so I'll take your word for it. It does lack her…flair."
"She'd be very pleased to hear you recognize it," Sky laughed.
"Don't go giving her a big head," Crimson said dryly. "Anyway, I wouldn't expect this sort of thing from White, that's all."
"She might not do much with it usually, but she does have a sense of humor," Sky pointed out with a half-shrug. "Want help cleaning up?"
"Only if you have the time."
"I do."
"Alright." Crimson slipped down from her desk, landing in a small clear space on the floor. She had to scan the room to figure out how to get to the door, picking out more little spaces she could jump to amongst the mess. Two jumps zig-zagged her closer to the door, and she wobbled a little as she landed en pointe for the last one.
Sky's eyes sparkled with amusement as she steadied Crimson's landing. "Safe."
"Thanks," Crimson said with a smile, dropping her weight back to her heels. "Good to see you, by the way."
"You too."
"How have things been for you?"
"The same, mostly," she answered. "Nothing terribly interesting to report, though I gave all the information to Aura if you want to see it anyway."
"Later," she agreed. "But that's not what I meant. Have you been okay?"
"Oh. Yeah, I am." Sky fidgeted with her jacket sleeves, a small blush rising to her cheeks. "I…I'm trying to remember what you said the other day. And what Caddy says."
"Good." Crimson gave Sky's arm a light squeeze. "Let me know if there's ever anything I can do to help."
She nodded. "Thanks. Same goes for you. Just, you know, if you ever need somebody to listen, I'd like to repay the favor."
"I appreciate the offer," she said warmly. "But right now, I'm just going to work on getting my office back to normal."
"That's fair." Sky knelt on the floor, the laces of her ballet flats shifting as her knees bent. "Can't have our leader tripping on the way to her desk."
The two of them quickly set to work clearing a pathway into the small room and then moving out from there until the floor was visible again. It was quick work to walk it over to the first available storage room, dumping everything out of their gems into a pile. Crimson scribbled out a quick apology note to Snow and signed it neatly.
"Alright, now that's taken care of…" she said, leading the way back and settling in the small lounge area outside of her office door.
"After all that, we're not even going to spend any time in your office?" Sky teased.
"Did you want to spend time in my office?" she asked skeptically. "It's not very comfortable. The only thing it's got going for it is the little gifts you and Aura keep bringing me to decorate with."
"You're sweet," she replied warmly, taking a seat beside her and swinging her legs back and forth slowly. "And no, I didn't. I just think it's funny." She paused for a moment, looking at Crimson. "Have I missed anything going on around base?"
"Nothing big," Crimson reassured her. "Just, you know, making plans and getting everyone settled in."
Sky nodded. "What's on your mind then?"
"Huh?"
"It just seemed like…" She shrugged. "I don't know. You looked like something was bothering you before."
"I've just been thinking about White," Crimson admitted. "That's why I came over here, to see if I can catch her on her way in or out."
"I thought she'd already been by recently…?" Sky gestured to the office.
"Yeah, but she's been going back and forth a lot more lately," she explained. "I want to try and talk to her about that and…other stuff."
"Stuff like how reckless she's getting?" she asked quietly.
"Yeah. You've noticed too?"
Sky nodded. "I mean, she's always been that way, I know. It's just…she knows she'll be gone soon."
"Right," Crimson agreed with a sigh. "I don't know how to get through to her."
"I don't either. Neither does Caddy, though stars know she tries."
"Yeah," she said softly.
"We—We've been talking and if there's a way…"
"Sky."
"We don't want to watch history repeat itself over and over, Crimson," she said with a rare fierceness to her voice. "Not if we can help it. I know White Diamond will just keep making more Pearls, but…"
"It doesn't make White worth any less," she finished. "I know. I don't want it to happen either."
"But?"
"But I'm worried what would happen if we got her out, even if it was as simple as her not going back to her Diamond one day."
"We could handle it. We'd find a way."
"I know you would," Crimson said. "I just want you two to be safe too."
"Thanks," she said with a quick smile. "We're trying to be."
"Good." She lay a hand over Sky's tangled fingers gently before letting it slip back to her side.
"Sorry the three of us always seem to have so much drama to add to the rebellion," Sky said. "Don't worry too much, okay?"
"I'll try." She smiled faintly. "I suppose if worst comes to worst, Caddy and White can always pull some massive prank on White Diamond."
"Hey, what about me?" she asked lightly.
"I've never seen you prank anyone."
"Crimson," Sky said with mock seriousness, "surely you're not naïve enough to think Caddy always works alone."
"I had my suspicions, but I was holding out hope you were the one sane gem."
"Sorry," she laughed.
"Then I guess I should expect a prank from you next?"
"Now why would I want to incriminate myself like that?"
"Alright, alright, I accept my fate," Crimson laughed. "Go easy on me, please?"
"Well, you can rest assured I won't mess up your office after we just cleaned up White's—oh, speak of the Diamond." Sky cut herself off when she caught sight of the Pearl in question hurrying past them. "White."
"Yeah?" White stopped, turning an expectant stare to Sky.
"Crimson wanted to talk to you."
"About what?"
"A couple things," Crimson said easily. "You want to sit down?"
"Not really."
"Alright. Well, the first one was just curiosity—what inspired you to make a mess all over my office?"
"Inspired?" White repeated blankly.
"I didn't have you pinned as a prankster."
"It wasn't a prank."
"It wasn't?" Crimson asked disbelievingly. "Then why did you do it?"
"You told me to drop it anywhere," White said with a shrug. "So I did."
Crimson stared at her. "That's a joke, right?"
"No," she said calmly, expression perfectly neutral.
"You didn't do it because you were getting annoyed with me trying to talk you out of things?"
"Well," White amended, "it might have been a little bit of that, but it was also more convenient. Faster than going to the back."
"Uh huh." Crimson's lips twitched into a tiny smile. "Caddy's clearly rubbing off on you."
"Cadmium usually sticks to hugging."
"…You're in rare form today."
"Am I?"
"Most definitely. Anyway, on a more serious note, there is something we need to discuss. Take a seat?"
White did this time, dropping into a chair rapidly as her whole posture screamed hurry up. "What? I brought more stuff to drop off."
"I know, that's what I want to talk to you about."
"Okay."
"It's just that you've been taking a lot high-risk items lately," Crimson said. "And they're good to have and I appreciate you doing that, but you have to be more careful."
"No, I don't," White said matter-of-factly.
"Yes, you do. I don't want you getting hurt."
"I haven't gotten hurt."
"You will if you keep it up."
"And I will if I don't, so I don't see the difference."
"White," Crimson said quietly. "Of course there's a difference. You have a choice. I've told you before that if you want to run away, we'll help."
"I'm not running away. I told you that already."
"We're trying to give you another option, but we can't do that if—"
"There is no other option," White said calmly. "You can't risk rescuing me, there's no need to pretend otherwise. I'm not upset about it, I don't need your protection, and I'm not going to play it safe because it won't change anything."
Crimson's jaw set stubbornly. "I can't stand back and watch you destroy yourself."
"I'm not destroying myself," White said, irritation finally leaking into her voice. "I'm not trying to get caught, I'm not trying to get shattered. But it's going to happen, and I can't waste time fooling myself that it won't. Just let me be useful while I'm here."
The silence that followed made Sky's skin crawl with unpleasant memories.
"Fine," Crimson said finally, her voice muted. "Fine. But if you want to help the rebellion, you have to start listening to what we actually need from you. If you keep using up all your chances on stealing nonessential supplies, that is self-destruction, White, whether you want to admit it or not. You need to start thinking about what you're doing. It affects your life and other Pearls' lives too."
White's eyes darted sideways, her eyes lingering for just a split second on Sky. "I wouldn't be so thoughtless as to get anyone else involved," she said evenly, regaining her composure. "I decided that long before you all started offering to save me."
"White—"
She stood up abruptly. "I'm going to deliver these supplies. I can't stay."
"White, wait a minute—" Crimson started after her as she walked away, only to nearly collide with Blue as she was exiting the common room. "Oh, excuse me, sorry."
"It's okay," Blue said quickly, waving her hands. "Actually, I was looking for you, but if this is a bad time I can come back."
She glanced back down the hallway. "No, no, it's fine. I just—"
"She can wait with me," Sky spoke up gently. "It's alright. You should go. You had an assignment for her, right?"
"Yeah, just to see if I can redirect her attention a little. You're sure?"
She nodded.
"Okay, thank you." Crimson took off after White.
Sky let out a soft sigh as she watched her. "It feels like we're fighting a losing battle, but I'm glad she tries," she said quietly, not sure what other conversation to offer after that exchange.
"With White?" Blue asked. The question would have been rhetorical, but Sky could hear the unspoken Or with everything? that was hidden in there too.
"With White," she answered firmly.
She nodded, a sad smile gracing her lips. "There have been a lot of them lost over the years. I can't imagine what it's like being owned by White Diamond."
"No," Sky agreed. "Me neither."
They fell into an uncomfortable silence, one that made Sky's fingers itch to find something to do, something that would excuse her, but she'd already offered her company.
"But," Blue said suddenly, startling her, "I'm glad you three have each other."
"It's more just Caddy and me," Sky said, shy to correct her. "White is…White."
"It's still good," she said. "I wish Yellow and I… Well, I wish I had tried to talk to her sooner, I guess. It probably would have been good for both of us."
"You weren't friends?" Sky asked, startled.
"Not until more recently."
"Oh. We had just assumed…"
Blue shook her head.
"I'm sorry. Even with all the stories, I guess I don't know much about you."
"Well, that's alright," she said with a careful smile. "I don't know much about you either. We just met after all."
"Yeah." She hesitated, then tried a smile in return. "I'm sorry you weren't able to get to know each other sooner, but I'm glad we're different—that our relationships are different? Is that alright?"
"Yeah," Blue answered easily. "That's—of course. Me and Yellow, you and Caddy, we shouldn't chalk it up to some kind of silly destiny or anything. We just found the gems we needed at the right times."
"Exactly."
Crimson returned soon after, looking tired as they both greeted her. "Sorry to keep you waiting," she apologized to Blue as she took her place next to Sky again. "Is there something we can do for you?"
"That's what I was going to ask you actually," Blue replied, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious. "Just, you know, where can you use me? Yellow's going to be busy with the warp pad and I'm afraid I wouldn't be much help over there, so…"
"Oh, yes, of course. We can figure something out." Crimson sat up a little straighter. "Is there anything in particular you're interested in? I'm afraid I don't really know your strengths beyond, well, recruiting. And I don't feel comfortable assigning you to that and risking your safety." She gestured to both Blue and Sky, making the you plural.
Blue almost wanted to argue, to say that she could disguise herself and make sure she wasn't recognized as Blue Diamond's old Pearl, but then she thought better of it. She might know how to be sneaky about talking to other Pearls, but she'd always done it from a position that had, in some ways, allowed her the freedom to take those risks. She'd never had to hide herself, only what she was doing. The rules were different now.
"I'd be happy to work on pretty much anything," she answered instead. "What do you need most?"
"Hmm…" Crimson glanced briefly at Sky. "Well, anything you can tell us about Blue Diamond, that would certainly be helpful. Or if you know of any passageways or shortcuts we're not aware of that could help us navigate central Homeworld…"
Blue nodded quickly. "Of course, that's no trouble! I can do both."
"Great. I'll send you over to Aura and Millie in communications for the former, they're the ones who keep those kinds of records filed for us. Maybe save that for later though, they've already got their hands full. But you can run all the shortcuts by me now. Let me just grab a screen from my office."
"I'll get it," Sky volunteered before she could get up.
"Thank you," Crimson said appreciatively.
Once Sky had brought it back, Blue watched with curiosity as she zoomed in on Facet One, where the Diamonds' courts were located. Sky tapped a corner of the screen to bring up an array of vaguely organized solid lines that cut all through the facet and went off the edges to every adjoining one.
"These are the tunnels we've been using," Sky said. "They only reach the inner facets, but it's useful for us getting in and out of court."
"There are tunnels?" Blue asked.
"Wait, you don't know about them?" Crimson said. "I just figured…"
She shook her head. "You're talking about tunnels that were already there, not ones you made, right?"
"Yeah, from way, way back in the day when they were first building, as far as I can tell. I think it's how they moved supplies without having to maneuver around things on the surface."
"Oh, I know what you mean now!" Blue exclaimed. "I think I stumbled across a few of the entrances a long time ago, but I didn't want to risk exploring them and getting caught, so…"
"That's fair," Crimson agreed. "I probably wouldn't have tried it while I was in service either. I've just had a lot more free time on my hands in recent years to learn the shortcuts."
"I'm honestly not sure I can be of much assistance then," she said with a shrug and a quick smile. "The only places I really know well enough are the courts, the facets under Blue Diamond, and parts of Facet Two where they do the harvesting and shattering and stuff. And that's just back routes, not secret passageways or anything."
"That's useful too," she said.
Sky nodded as well. "I'm sure there's still things I don't know about my Diamond's areas."
"Well…" Blue hesitated, then reached out to touch part of the map. "There's a nice little hallway nobody uses over here that might help on errands at least."
"Speeding those up is always nice," she said. "Thanks."
"And another one that goes through this way. And…here, if you need to get over to Yellow Diamond's court fast."
"Ah, Caddy and I use that one all the time," Sky said with a faint smile.
Blue returned it, nodding. "Cool. And this one for White Diamond's?"
"We were wondering if there was one over there!"
Blue smiled a little at the genuine excitement in Sky's voice, the atmosphere warming just a little bit more.
She spent another few minutes pointing out different shortcuts she'd discovered over the years, and Sky and Crimson took turns drawing them in on the map with one finger.
"I think that's everything," she concluded finally. "I'll tell you if I think of any others."
"Thanks." Crimson turned off the screen. "I'm sorry I haven't really got anything concrete for you to be doing at the moment, but if you sit in the common room for a little while someone's bound to ask you to help with something."
"Okay," Blue laughed. "I'll do that then; I'm sure I'll find something. And, um, I hope things go okay with White, whatever happens." She stood up, bringing her hand to her gem simultaneously. "I honor your service."
Both of them did the salute in return, but it was Sky who answered her first, steady eyes holding her gaze. "I honor your bravery."
And it still wasn't much, but Sky felt less like a stranger now.
In the common room, Blue gravitated toward Yellow first to say hello. The other Pearl was sitting on the floor in front of a large piece of paper that had been laid out. Pearl, Chroma, and Lavender each sat on one of the other three sides, and the paper was already covered in a mish mash of notes and sketches in mixed handwriting from their brainstorming.
"Hey," Blue said lightly, sitting between Yellow and Lavender.
"Hi." Yellow was clearly distracted, but she spared a moment to look up and give her a quick smile.
"I don't suppose you have any experience making warp pads?" Chroma asked with a small wave in greeting.
"Afraid not," she said apologetically. "But if there's anything I can do to help, just let me know."
"Thanks."
Blue knew there really wasn't much she could do, but she figured it couldn't hurt to have an extra pair of hands in case they were needed. Or maybe someone else would come by, like Crimson had said, and she could help them instead. Either way was fine.
It was nice to watch the other four Pearls work in the meantime, even if she wasn't participating. Pearl and Yellow worked well together, a blend of old and new knowledge that traveled back and forth between them. Chroma and Lavender, meanwhile, seemed to have a natural teamwork that consisted of lots of traded "maybes" and "what ifs" and a fascination with every detail as if it was brand new to them. The two pairs didn't seem entirely comfortable together yet, but they weren't reluctant either, and Blue kept being overwhelmed with how wonderful it was that all these very different Pearls could be working together like this, making something together like this.
"It's probably best to divide up the work," Pearl said after a while, watching Chroma draw out a quick new diagram and then hand the pen off to Yellow for her to start labeling things. "Perhaps two of us working on the programming side of things and two on the physical construction of the pad and its sensors and the like?"
"It might be more like two and one," Chroma said. "Silver mentioned you were going to help with training?"
"Yes, I did volunteer to do that," she replied with a pleased smile. "Don't worry, I'm plenty used to juggling multiple roles in a rebellion."
Chroma nodded. "I'm sure you can, I just don't trust Silver not to steal you at every opportunity."
"You mean like she's trying to right now?" Lavender asked, grinning as she tilted her head towards the door.
She glanced over her shoulder. "Exactly like that. Hi, Sil."
"Hi! Just seeing how all our talented engineers are doing," Silver projected, coming over to sit next to Chroma and take a look at the plans.
"Well, we just started," Chroma said, though she couldn't hide the smile that immediately found its way to her face.
"And it already looks so cool and official." Silver bumped her shoulder gently and then turned to her other side. "This is your first big project, right, Lavender?"
"Huh?" She seemed startled by the sudden attention. "Um, yeah, I-I suppose it is."
"That's awesome. You're going to do great."
"Thanks," she said, face tinging a slightly darker purple.
"And Pearl, you too!" Silver continued. "I mean, I'm sure you've worked on all sorts of things before, but this is your first time with the rebellion. It's so exciting to have you here!"
"Well, it's exciting to be here," Pearl replied.
She said it genuinely, warmly, but Blue was surprised to hear a hint of melancholy there as well. And then it was gone, pushed aside as Pearl continued.
"I was thinking I would divide my time evenly," she said. "You seem to do most of the group training in the afternoon—or, well, what Steven would call afternoon, I realize it all tends to blur together here—so I think it would be most efficient for me to join you in that half of the day."
"Sure! And don't mind me—we can start tomorrow, I know you have a lot to figure out with all this. I'll get a head start on training plans while you guys work." Silver jumped back up, waving to the group and then kissing Chroma just beside her gem before disappearing back into the training room.
"And if you need a break at any point, feel free to take it," Chroma said with a careful smile in Pearl's direction. "Neither of us want to take up all your time, I promise."
"Thank you, but I'm just fine right now. Shall we get back to planning?"
"Sure."
"Yellow, can I see that for a moment?" Pearl continued, motioning to the pen. Yellow passed it over, and she started a small list off to the side. "Here's the materials we need. I'll trust the rest of you to fill in any newer components I'm not aware of."
"They probably haven't changed too much in the past five thousand years," Blue volunteered. "The Diamonds tend to go with the 'if it's not broken, don't fix it' mentality for that kind of thing."
"True," Yellow agreed. "And I didn't observe that kind of construction much during my service, but these look like the materials that were used."
"Even with less resources available?"
She shrugged, looking to Blue.
"I think they dilute it down more than they used to instead of switching materials, but don't quote me on that."
"Alright," Pearl said. "If that's the case, maybe it's better to use the old schematics. Chroma? Lavender? Anything we're missing?"
"I wouldn't know," Chroma said with a shrug.
"Me neither," Lavender echoed. "But Millie's mentioned filing some construction information before, so it might be worth checking to see if we've got anything about warp pads."
"Excellent, could you do that for us later?"
"Yeah, I'd be happy to." She paused. "If it's alright, I'd like to work on the physical construction part. There's loads of old scrap that can be taken apart and made into a mold for the pad."
"Certainly," Pearl agreed. "That'll be an important part of the process." She glanced over to Yellow. "I'm going to assume you'd prefer the programming side of things?"
"Yeah."
"What about you?" she asked Chroma.
"I'll stick with Lavender," she said. "I can do programming stuff, but it's all trial and error. You'll be more help than I am, from what I've heard."
"Alright. Although it's hardly as if we'll be completely isolated," Pearl continued. "I'm sure we'll be switching back and forth and working together throughout. And there are always times when new, untrained eyes can be useful."
Chroma and Lavender both mumbled a slightly flustered thank you.
"Why don't we begin by confirming what we do and don't have to work with?"
"Sure," Chroma agreed, reaching for another pen to mark items off the list.
"And we should break down the process into smaller tasks to be completed," Yellow said. "You said you brought the old schematics, right?"
"'Brought' in a less material sense, yes." Pearl lit up her gem to project a diagram, flicking through several images. "I'll copy it down and make duplicates for everyone."
"That works."
Pearl was already retrieving more paper from her gem, beginning to put it all down in writing by memory.
Yellow was busy adding notes to their diagrams but Chroma and Lavender watched Pearl, expressions slowly becoming more confused as they looked at what she was writing. It took Blue some squinting and concentration to realize it was because Pearl was writing in English.
"Sorry to interrupt," Lavender said slowly after a moment, only after having silently ascertained that Chroma was also completely lost, "but what is that?"
Pearl stopped, glancing up. "What do you mean?"
"I mean…what are you writing?"
Her gaze fell back to the paper. It took a couple seconds, but then her face was immediately swept with turquoise blush. "Oh! Oh my stars, I'm so sorry, it's habit. I've grown more accustomed to Earth than I realized, it seems. I'll start over."
"It's okay."
Pearl hurried to switch to a fresh sheet of paper, embarrassed. This time, gem writing flowed smoothly across the page in neat Era 1 penmanship. If she was out of practice, it didn't show.
Blue watched, as the others did, but her mind drifted. She wished she had something to do that suited her as well as this suited Yellow. She'd find something, surely, with so much to be done here, but it was frustrating all the same.
Lavender seemed to notice her wandering gaze after a little while and gave her a small, quick smile. "Not for you?" she asked, tilting her head towards the plans.
"Not really," she admitted. "Yellow's helping me learn a few basic things, but that's about it." She shrugged, smiling. "How long have you done this sort of thing?"
"Ah, like Silver said, this is the first big project I've worked on."
"But you were working on the…" Blue made the vague shape of the devices Yellow had been working on. "Sensors? Scanners?"
"Oh, yeah. But Chroma did a lot of the legwork on that before I started helping out. I haven't been here very long, really."
"I'm not sure anyone's been here very long," she countered kindly. "With a few exceptions, right?"
"Yeah, I guess that's true." Lavender smiled. "So, um, do you like it here? Everyone keeps talking about how it was sort of your idea…"
"I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that," Blue laughed, embarrassed. "I hoped something like this could happen, but I never imagined it happening so quickly or being so…" She gestured around them. "Free. You have a place all your own."
"We do," Lavender said quietly. "It takes some getting used to."
"Doesn't it?" she agreed. "I'm so happy to have it be real though. It's perfect."
"You say that now," the other Pearl said lightly, "but you haven't seen how much we have to fix on a daily basis."
Blue giggled. "Is it that bad?"
"Let's just say that if the rest of Homeworld is the same way, I have a new appreciation for the gems that are made for this work."
"That's fair," she laughed. "I definitely gained some appreciation of my own watching Yellow and and the others work on the ship."
"Where is your ship, by the way?"
"Oh! Well, it's still in Facet Ten, but it's in a pretty secluded spot. I think we're going to try and dismantle it and bring everything back to use."
Lavender nodded, eyes brightening. "Can I help?"
"I mean, I don't see why not."
"Great! Thanks."
"Be careful," Chroma said, warm amusement playing in her eyes as she turned to look at them. "There's no halfway with her; she'll take it down to only screws and scrap metal if she's given the chance."
"That's what they want to do," Lavender protested.
"I'm just teasing, it's a good skill to have." Chroma smiled. "It'll be a good job for you. You okay with leaving the base though?"
"Yeah, it's fine." She hesitated. "That's the facet I came from though, so, uh…"
"So we'll just have to be a little extra careful."
"Yeah," Lavender said gratefully.
They lapsed into quiet after that, looking over the few pages that Pearl had already completed. Blue wasn't sure how many there would be total, but she guessed there was a ways to go. She leaned lightly against Yellow's shoulder, enjoying the laser-sharp focus she gave to her work.
Only a few minutes later, another Pearl came to join them. It took Blue a moment to place her, but soon her memory supplied Snow, the one who looked after all the storage rooms and their supplies.
"Hi, Snow," she greeted her as she leaned against the wall next to Blue.
"Oh, hi!" She looked surprised that Blue remembered her name.
"How's work?"
"Pretty good, just taking a quick break."
"It seems like you must be pretty busy? You and, um, Quinacridone?"
"Yep. That's who I'm taking a break from," Snow said, though her words just sounded solidly friendly. "How have you been?"
"Good. You know, if there's anything you could use some extra help with, I'd be happy to lend a hand."
"What? No, no, it's okay," she said quickly, waving her hands. "I'm sure you've got your hands full already. Thanks though."
Blue nodded, wanting to correct the assumption but feeling oddly embarrassed. In the meantime, Snow had turned to Lavender already.
"Hey, Lavy? Have you seen Millie lately?"
"No, why?" she asked curiously.
"She seemed pretty worn out last time I saw her, I just wanted to make sure she was alright."
"Ah." Lavender glanced back at their sketches, frowning, then to Chroma. "Can I go…?"
"Feel free," she said immediately. "Let me know if you guys need anything."
"Thanks. Sorry, Pearl, Yellow. Excuse me." She looked to Snow as she got up. "You want to head over to communications then?"
"I want to, but I'm being run ragged lately with White's enthusiasm for completely useless large objects. Besides, I'd think Millie would take the advice to slow down better from you."
"Why would she—"
"Intuition, Lavy, intuition. Sometimes your gem just knows."
"You're speaking gibberish; you really are tired."
"Oh, you have no idea." Snow took her by the shoulders and redirected her towards the door that would take her over to the correct hallway. "Thank you for doing this for me, Lavy, it means a lot, bye!"
Lavender glanced over her shoulder to see Snow already disappearing out the opposite door and rolled her eyes. "I don't know what's gotten into her," she commented when she caught Blue's questioning look, "but I'll try to be back soon."
"Take your time."
The communications room looked the same as always when she arrived, save for the mess of physical files that had scattered on the floor in a vaguely organized mess. An exhausted Millie was at the center of them, slumped against the main terminal with one hand still resting on a file like she'd been ready to pick it up and move it when her eyes had closed.
She watched the pink Pearl for a moment, eyes drifting to the gem at her throat that was keeping her head at an oddly proper angle while the rest of her was slouched tiredly.
Too much work, Lavender thought as she swept all the files into a stack. They were trying to do away with all of this stuff, but the fact of the matter was they just didn't have the equipment available to do that yet—half of what they did have was out of date, and the other half had to be prioritized by who needed it most. Comms, obviously, needed it, but all the information coming into them wasn't in that format, so there was still too much converting and typing and general busywork to be done to get everything in one place.
Lavender reached out slowly after she'd gathered the files, unsure whether she should nudge the sleeping Pearl awake. In the end, she settled on calling out a soft "Millie" as she set everything back down on the desk and knelt beside her. "Millie," she said again.
"Hm?" Her eyes blinked open slowly, squinted at her. "What are you doing here?"
"Snow sent me to check on you."
"Snow's silly."
Lavender ignored her. "Where'd Aura go?"
Millie sighed, opening her eyes all the way. "I told Silver to take her home a little while ago. She's been frazzled with all the new gems around."
"And you're not?"
She made a noncommittal noise and let herself collapse back against the terminal, eyes closing.
"Millie, look…" she began. "Millie? Chamomile?"
"No thanks…"
This time, Lavender reached out to nudge her gently as the words trailed into sleepy silence. "Millie?" Stars, her skin was cold—not the normal kind of cold that gems could get but a clammy cold that felt wrong. "Alright, you're coming with me," she decided as Millie started to squirm away.
"No I'm not," she protested. "I have data to file, now leave me alo—hey!"
Lavender got her arms underneath Millie, trying to angle her gemmed hip away from Millie's heels but otherwise ignoring her indignant but weak struggle to get away.
"Who do you think you are—Silver?" Millie sputtered as Lavender stood up carefully.
"You're welcome to pretend I am, if it means you'll listen."
Millie's cheeks flared a peachy pink and she quieted down as Lavender walked her out of comms and down the hallway that ran between the training room and the common room. Her head leaned lightly against Lavender's as she let out a small huff and her thin, cold arms came up to wrap around her neck. They took a left to walk down to Millie's end of the living hall, all the way at the other side of the building.
When they finally made it to her room, Lavender stood, waiting for Millie to either open the door or volunteer the code she had set. She didn't, and she briefly wondered if the other Pearl had fallen asleep on her again—though a quick look told her she was only being stubborn.
"I can stand here all day, Millie."
"Or you could put me down and let me finish my work."
"Not happening."
"I'm not telling you the code."
"Alright." Lavender didn't move.
"Aren't you working?"
"Not until you rest."
"Chroma's going to be mad at you."
"No, she won't. She's Chroma."
"Well, the Renegade then. Or Stop-Talking-About-My-Ass Yellow."
"They'll just have to deal with it, because you are not going to convince me to put you down. Give it up."
Millie did give up the arguing, but her obstinacy was another thing entirely. She struggled a little bit more and then gave that up to fall asleep instead, still holding onto Lavender.
"Really?" Lavender sighed, shifting her posture a little bit to ready herself for a long wait. It was calm at least, with the shorter strands of Millie's hair gently tickling her cheek and her light form relaxed in Lavender's arms.
About an hour or so in, their stalemate was interrupted by Chroma, who seemed to have come looking for them.
"Hey, are you two alright?" she asked quietly, eyes flicking between Lavender and the sleeping Millie in her arms.
"Yeah, we're fine." Lavender was careful to keep her voice soft too. "Did you need something?"
"No, we decided we'd all take a break for a little while, I was just checking. But if you need anything…"
"I'll let you know. Thanks."
Chroma nodded, about to leave. "Crimson does keep a record of all the door passcodes," she said as she turned, a small smirk playing on her lips. "Just, you know, if you need some backup."
"We'll be okay." She wasn't going to admit defeat this soon.
"Gotcha." Chroma headed back to the other end of the hall, where her room was framed by Silver and Aura's. It was the latter's whose door she disappeared into though, and Lavender couldn't keep from smiling a little at how naturally the three seemed to know what each other needed.
What Millie needed, on the other hand, still felt frustratingly out of reach. She watched the other Pearl for a moment, then quickly looked away when Millie began to stir once more.
Eyes that opened only a crack took in the gem holding her. Then, with a quiet sigh, came only a breath of a murmur. "It's a spiral."
"What?" Lavender asked, taken aback. The words had been so unexpected, she hadn't quite managed to process them.
"The passcode," Millie said, exhaustion tugging at her voice. "Start in the middle and spiral out."
Lavender nodded—the gesture missed as Millie's eyes slipped closed again—and moved her enough to reach out and touch the door panel with one hand. A spiral?
Her first try was a little too fast, her finger slipping. The second she traced more carefully, winding the line out slowly from the center. The door remained shut. Maybe it needed to go in the other direction, Lavender decided. Millie's answer had seemed too genuine to be any kind of attempt to mislead.
That was it. Lavender smiled satisfactorily as the door swished open, moving her arm back into place to support Millie. The tired Pearl leaned back against her, her weight slight but reassuring, as Lavender stepped inside.
It wasn't so different from Lavender's room, though that was hardly a surprise. But unlike Lavender's was the wall offering the false illusion of cool moonlight through the window. Her own window apparatus remained painstakingly dissembled to be studied, but Millie's was near-breathtaking in its view of the nighttime stars.
And beside it, the wall looked as though it had been sliced through, deep enough to reach outside and wide enough to allow a streak of soft, ambient light from the world beyond to spill across Millie's bed. Strange, but who knew what the gem who lived there before the rebellion was like. Whatever the cause, it was a picturesque scene.
She walked carefully over to the bed, trying not to jostle Millie, who had clearly slipped back into sleep. Lavender set her down, lining her up with a pillow so that she would be comfortable. But as she tried to ease Millie's arms from where they were latched around her, she found no give.
After two more unsuccessful tries and the feeling that Millie's grip was getting, if anything, stronger, Lavender tried reluctantly to wake her with a whisper. "Millie? Millie, you're back in your room now, you can let go."
The lack of a response did nothing to surprise her and even when she tried to duck out from under Millie's hold, she found herself stuck.
"Millie."
She wasn't going anywhere, apparently. Lavender figured she didn't have much choice besides waiting, so she gingerly lowered herself onto the bed as well and tried to stop the blush that kept rising to her cheeks, in case Millie decided to wake up now that Lavender had given in. That would be like her.
But she remained steadfastly asleep in the warm beam of light from outside and every inch that Lavender tried to leave between them was quickly negated by a sleepy tug that brought her closer again.
The "Millie" that slipped from her tongue next was unintentional, just a breath as she watched her sleep, watched Millie's pained face begin to relax little by little as the seconds and then minutes passed.
Her skin, too, began to warm where Millie's arms remained around her neck, the clammy cold receding. Lavender breathed slowly, reassured by the slow changes that she'd chosen right, that this was helping.
She should probably get back to the others, continue working on their building plans, but Millie's room was comfy and peaceful, even if it hadn't exactly been her choice to stay. And perhaps—perhaps there's nothing wrong with enjoying it, allowing herself to rest too. She'd done very little of it in her time with the rebellion so far, despite Chroma's encouragement to.
She turned her gaze to Millie once more, then to the window, and then let her eyes close and the stars blur into beautiful streaks of light.