Planning an Earth date for Yellow was difficult. Blue wanted to do something that was fun and romantic, but she also wanted it to be something they'd both genuinely enjoy too. Steven had suggested a movie, Amethyst had suggested dinner, Pearl had just kind of shrugged, and Garnet had reassured Blue that she'd make the right choice...but hadn't told her what that choice was.
In the end, she settled on another of Steven's suggestions—"Go on an adventure together!"
Blue smiled as she looked over the map Pearl had helpfully drawn up for her, marking each Earth location that housed some form of old gem structure, all neatly labeled with added warnings like "mostly collapsed" and "not safe, please avoid" which honestly peaked Blue's interest even more. But in the interest of not giving Pearl a metaphorical heart attack, she'd go along with the instructions.
She was proud of herself for coming up with the idea—it was something to do, not just something to experience, which would be best for Yellow. And Blue too, if she admitted it to herself. She might not require as much structure to her day as Yellow did, but lately she'd been feeling a little adrift. Sure, she was training, but...
No, no point thinking about that right now. Blue pushed the thoughts away and returned her attention to the map in front of her, double checking that she'd marked the correct warp pads to get to each location. She'd picked out three spots, figuring that Yellow could choose which to go to first. One was a spire, one an arena, and one a kindergarten. That was enough to choose from, right? She scanned the options again. There were other places she wanted to go, or rather she wanted to go to all of them eventually, but these would do. They seemed like the places with the most to see, and on the safer end of the spectrum according to Pearl's notes. She hoped Yellow would like it.
Just as she was thinking that, the door to their room slid open, Yellow walking in with inexpertly hidden excitement on her face. "Hello."
"Hello!" Blue quickly got up to kiss her in greeting. "Are you ready to go? No crazy emergencies around base?"
"Not yet," Yellow replied, smirking. "I'm sure there'll be one by the end of the day though, so we'd better get out of here while we still can."
"Sounds like a great idea to me," she laughed. "Let me just grab this."
"What is it?" she asked, watching as Blue rolled up the piece of paper and slid it into her gem.
"You're the one who wanted to leave right away," Blue teased. "You'll have to wait and see."
"Okay, fair enough, I'll wait." Yellow opened the door for Blue and followed her out into the hall at a relaxed pace. "It's going to be some weird human thing, isn't it?"
"Nope!"
"I don't believe you."
Blue laughed, taking her hand. "Don't worry, it'll be fun. If it's not, you can pick something else to do."
"I'm sure whatever you picked is fine," Yellow mumbled, blushing slightly. "Come on, let's go." She tugged Blue gently towards the training room and over to the warp pad.
There wasn't really anyone to see them off or to greet them when they arrived on Earth, since most everyone was busy with helping prepare the base for the upcoming renovations. Blue and Yellow would probably join them on their return, but for now Blue didn't mind the quiet.
"Okay," she declared, pulling the map from her gem and spreading it out on the coffee table.
"Is this some kind of mission?" Yellow asked, raising an eyebrow at it as she sat down.
"It's a date mission," Blue said smartly. "I thought it might be nice to visit some of the old gem structures that were left here. It's something you haven't seen before, we'll be alone, and we'll keep an eye out for things the rebellion could use. What do you think?"
She waited, trying to quash the nervousness in her gem as she watched Yellow's eyes flick over the map.
"I like it," she said finally, a small smile beginning to lift the corners of her lips. "You put a lot of thought into this."
"Well, I wanted to make sure it was something we both liked," Blue said, feeling her cheeks warm. "And I know you like, you know, doing something together as opposed to just stargazing or whatnot."
"I don't mind stargazing on occasion," Yellow told her, frowning. "We should do things you like too."
"No, I do like this," she said quickly. "I'd really like to revisit some of the places I saw before again, as a free Pearl."
"Okay." Yellow moved slightly closer to her as they looked at the map. "Where first then?"
"I was thinking these three might be good, if you want to choose," Blue suggested, pointing to the locations she'd circled. "Or if there's another one you see that you'd like to go to instead, that's fine too!"
"Mm..." She tapped her finger on the corner of the map. "How about the spire then?"
"Sure!" Blue brightened at the suggestion. "This one's actually really interesting; I don't think it ever got completed. It was in the middle of being built when the rebellion took a serious turn and more resources were put into that than the colonization."
"So there might be building supplies that survived as well."
"Exactly!"
The two of them headed back over to the warp pad after Blue had stowed the map away again in her gem.
"Why didn't you just use a projection?" Yellow asked.
"Huh?"
"For the map. Then you wouldn't have to carry anything around."
"I don't know, Steven said it would be cooler this way," she laughed. "And he added the little drawings to it, so I wanted to bring the real thing."
"You're going soft," Yellow teased.
"Me? You're the one who always lets him talk you into playing board games while you're working."
"It's an added challenge," she argued. "And his powers of persuasion are formidable."
Blue laughed loudly as they stepped onto the warp pad. "If you say so. Come on, let's go."
Their destination was out in the middle of a dense forest, the half-built spire almost seeming like it belonged amongst the tall trees all around it. Blue assumed it had been intended to reach far above their leaves, but construction had been stopped after only a few floors and time had allowed nature to grow up nearly even with it. From the looks of things, Earth had made it her own, flora growing in and around the spire in a wild, uncontrolled manner.
"It's beautiful," Blue whispered, unable to tear her eyes away. "In a better way than before, I think."
Yellow nodded uncertainly, not sure what to say, but Blue didn't mind.
"Come on," she urged her. "Let's explore."
The inside was familiar to Blue, though she had never gone inside this particular spire, only stood next to her Diamond when the construction had just started. The architecture and décor was much the same as others she had seen, though it had begun to crumble with age. Blue held her head high as she and Yellow began walking through.
"This is different from the spires they build now," Yellow commented. "Not that my Diamond has many built herself."
"Mm, I think even back then, she was the odd one out. The others enjoyed them though." Blue smiled, trailing her fingers along a vine that was growing along the wall. "I think it's just that they like towering over everybody so much, they figure they might as well make the buildings that way too."
Yellow snickered.
"I do miss Era One architecture sometimes though," she mused before turning to Yellow, eyes sparkling. "Wouldn't it be fun to live someplace like this?"
Yellow raised her eyebrows. "It would be extremely inconvenient, for starters. It took an hour to walk here."
"We could put a warp pad in."
"You can put a warp pad in. I've had quite enough of those lately, thank you."
Blue laughed. "I know, I know. Have I told you I'm proud of you for all the work you put in?"
"Only nine times so far."
"Better make it an even ten then." She turned Yellow's face gently to kiss her, lips lingering for a few seconds before she pulled away. "You did a great job working with everyone."
"Thanks." Yellow's face glowed a brighter yellow. "I know it took up a lot of my time lately…"
"No, I don't mind that," Blue reassured her. "Besides, you've been working hard since the day we met; I think it might be weirder to see you not working." She intertwined their fingers loosely. "You still make time for me, and I really appreciate it."
"Got to have a break sometimes," she muttered, embarrassed. "Might as well make good use of it."
"You're very sweet." She kissed her again, delighted when Yellow guided her a little closer, hand settling comfortably on her waist.
They got a little distracted from their original task after that, ending up with Blue's back pressed gently against one of the arched doorways. She smiled into the kiss, bringing one hand up to settle in Yellow's hair, the thumb brushing the edge of one of her hair clips—she'd worn the star-shaped ones to match Blue's today.
Blue loved the confidence in how Yellow held her now, any hesitance in being close to her gone. They were free, and this was a part of what they wanted their freedom to be. Blue felt safe here, away from Homeworld for a little while and with it all the worries about the future. Right now, she could just be here, in the moment.
Yellow's skin was prettily flushed when Blue gently broke their kiss, cupping her cheek in one hand.
"I love you," Blue murmured.
"I love you too, even though I'm beginning to suspect you only brought me here for unnecessarily scenic kissing."
She laughed. "I didn't, but it is a very nice bonus. Shall we look around like we planned?"
"Sure." Yellow smiled as Blue gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Where should we start?"
"Your pick!"
"Hmm, okay, how about over there then?" Yellow suggested, pointing to a pile of collapsed shelves on the opposite side of the room. "Let's see what all that junk is."
Blue laughed, gaze following Yellow's finger. "Blue Diamond would shatter to hear it called junk."
"Maybe I should say it louder then."
"Yellow!" she exclaimed, half-chastising, half-amused.
She shrugged unapologetically.
Blue smiled, taking her arm as she headed over to where Yellow had chosen and picked up an artifact from the pile. "Though it might be," she added, turning it over in her hands. "They're more status symbols than anything else. It used to be more common to carry things to put on display in addition to your Pearl."
"Oh. Odd." Yellow had known gems who liked that sort of thing, but most of the elites with possessions to show off would keep them in their own quarters, not have them carted around to other buildings. She picked up something that seemed to be made of a sturdy glass-like material, half of it long gone but the remaining portion appearing to be a small statue. "I mean, I guess we might as well take it with us," she said with a shrug. "At the very least, Aura would probably like it."
"Ah, you're right, she and Violet would enjoy it for sure," Blue said. "Or does Violet just like things she's found herself? I don't know."
"I don't even know which gem you're talking about."
"Yes, you do," she laughed. "She's the one who always brings you guys the spark plugs."
"Ohh." Yellow nodded. "I remember now."
"Oh, hold on," Blue said, tugging a larger object out of the pile. "This looks like it might be useful."
"What is it?"
She shrugged. "I have no idea, but it's some sort of tech, right?"
"Some sort," Yellow said with a frown. "We can ask Pearl about it, I suppose, but don't go sticking it in your gem."
"I wasn't planning on it," Blue laughed. "Here, I think I have a bag to carry it in…" She held open the bag she retrieved from her gem, waiting for Yellow to place the artifact inside before taking it securely by the handles. "There we go. Oh, let's look over here next!"
Yellow's eyes softened as she watched Blue run ahead to some abandoned tools. It was good to see her in her element here, bringing new life into an old place. She'd thought Blue had been out of sorts lately, but that didn't seem to be the case at all now and she was relieved. Still, she made sure to ask Blue questions, keep the conversation going so that she could keep seeing Blue's happy, eager-to-share smile.
They didn't end up going anywhere else that day, the rest of the locations on Blue's map ignored as the two of them rifled through the old objects and then relocated to the top of the spire so that Blue could have her chance to appreciate the view once more.
"Next time," Yellow spoke up, catching Blue's hand, "maybe we could let Green have a date?"
Blue brightened immediately, blushing. "I'd love that. I was going to suggest it this time actually, but…well, I wanted you to see everything for yourself, since it's new to you."
She nodded appreciatively.
"Did you like it?"
There wasn't any insecurity in the question, just a gentle reminder for Yellow to say she liked it, and so she did just that. "Yeah, it was good. We can do it again sometime if you want. Together or…together? As us or as Green, I mean."
Blue laughed lightly, nodding. "They both sound good to me too."
"Do I plan the date next time, or…?"
"Yeah, we should alternate!"
"Okay, I'll do some research."
She nodded again. "As long as you remember it doesn't need to be perfect. It can just be us spending a quiet day together too."
"I'll remember." Yellow squeezed her hand firmly, grateful for the concern. "And yours don't have to be perfect either."
"Thanks. I love you."
"Love you too."
The two of them headed back to base after a little while longer, finding that even more renovation supplies had been dumped into the common room and a large group had gathered by the row of living quarters that were being renovated into kitchen and shower facilities.
"What have we missed?" Blue asked excitedly, looking around at everyone.
"Garnet and Silver are gonna compete to see who's the best at punching down walls!" Steven volunteered.
Yellow glanced over at the pair of them, raising an eyebrow. "I think we should go back to Earth," she said dryly.
"Stop it, it'll be fine," Blue laughed.
"Will it?" Yellow glanced at Aura, who was standing beside Steven. "And what are you holding?"
"Oh!" She smiled and held one out for Yellow to see. "Steven says they're called…pom-poms?"
"That's right," he said. "You wave them around and cheer during competitions."
"Right…" Yellow poked at it gingerly.
"Would you like one?"
"No thanks."
"That's okay, you can still be cheerleaders with us," Steven told her, smiling.
"We'd love to!" Blue declared.
"Which side would you like to be on?" Aura asked sweetly. "Garnet's?"
"It depends how we're measuring wall-punching success."
Aura just looked at her for a moment. "You…You know it's not a real competition, right?" she whispered. "I mean, don't tell those three—" She motioned to Millie, Lavender, and Snow, who were already calling encouragement to Silver. "—but it's just for fun."
"I'm not sure if that's better or worse for the future of these renovations," Yellow muttered.
"We'll be fine, Yellow!" Garnet called, lifting a gauntlet to wave at them. "Silver and I have this under control."
"Yeah, we've been practicing!" Silver added, punching the air with her non-gem hand. "We're good to go!"
"Let's get started," Garnet decided. She held up one hand to high five Silver, who jumped up to smack it easily.
"Please stop!" A new voice rang out loudly.
Silver was first to turn, searching out the Pearl who had spoken. "Oh, hey, um…sorry, I don't think I know your name yet?"
"It's Violet."
"Oh, right! You bring Aura stuff to fill up her room with!"
"That's me," Violet said sheepishly. "Now, um, could you please not knock that wall down?"
"Why not? I thought the place was really sturdy."
"It is, but that doesn't mean you can take out walls at random," she said quickly. "You have to think about the whole structure and…" She trailed off uncertainly.
"So we can't punch any of the walls?" Silver and Garnet both looked rather disappointed.
"You can still punch them," Violet offered. "Just not that one. Or that one. Actually, please don't punch any of them before there's a solid plan of what to do?"
"That's fair," Garnet acquiesced, "though I was checking my future vision to be safe."
"Oh, yes, I'm sure," Violet stammered. "But, well, even if it doesn't bring the place down today, it can still cause damage."
"I guess that makes sense!" Silver agreed. "So do you know which ones we can knock down?"
Violet nodded confidently. "It depends on what all you're doing, but I'm pretty sure I can. Um…" She trailed off, thinking. "Oh, I think I know someone who can help with that."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, I'll go see if she's free." She glanced between Garnet and Silver again. "Please don't knock anything down yet."
"We got it," Garnet said with a smirk.
"Yeah, no worries!"
"Okay, thanks," Violet said with a quick smile. "I'll be right back."
"Excuse me!" Violet hurried to catch up to the Pearl she needed. "Excuse me! The white Pearl with the bun!"
"Me?" she asked, turning in surprise.
"Yeah, sorry, I'm never really sure how to get gems' attention when they don't have names yet."
"Oh, I actually have one now," she offered with a friendly smile. "It's Dazzle." She glanced back at the rest of the projector Pearls behind her. "You guys can go ahead. I'll catch up with you."
A couple of them looked uncertain about leaving her, but a smiling brown Pearl tugged them along down the hallway.
"You said it's Dazzle?" Violet repeated carefully, watching them go.
She received an affirmative nod.
"Okay, I'll remember for next time."
"Thanks." Dazzle ran a hand through her bangs self-consciously. "So, um, it's Violet, right? Is there something I can help you with?"
Violet nodded. "Yes to both, if that's okay. I know projections are your specialty, so I was hoping you might help me make a sort of model or blueprint to work from?"
"Oh."
"If that's okay," she repeated quickly. "I thought it would be okay to ask you since you seem to do the most projecting, but…"
"No, no, I'm not upset with you," Dazzle reassured her. "And I wish I could help, but I'm afraid that's not what I was made for."
"I'm sure you'd do a good job," Violet said, eyes wide.
"No," she laughed, "I'm not being self-deprecating, I just mean that's not how projector Pearls work."
"What isn't?"
"Well, there's two different kinds," Dazzle explained. "There are Pearls who can work with detailed architecture and planning like you're thinking of, and then there are Pearls who entertain with their projections. That's what I am, and what most of the others are too."
"Oh," Violet said, disappointed. "So is there someone else I can ask?"
"You can try Drini, I suppose?" She shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable. "I don't know if she'd agree, but she's the best there is when it comes to that kind of projections. She's probably in her room right now, if you want to ask."
"I'll do that then," she decided. "I should go now, but I'll see you later. Thank you for the help, Dazzle!"
"Anytime." Dazzle waved a little as Violet hurried down the hall.
She walked quickly, reading each of the names on the doors as she passed. Not Drini, not Drini, not Drini…
Drini.
Right, she had been the first of the group to get a room, so she'd be on this end. Violet knocked on the door energetically, then took a step back to wait.
To her surprise, the door didn't slide open the way it usually did. Instead, it made it about three inches and abruptly stopped with an odd sort of whir that made Violet jump.
"Hello?" She could see a sliver of a pink face beyond the door.
"Are you alright?" she asked worriedly. "Are you trapped?"
"What?"
"Is your door broken? Do you need me to get you out?" Violet slipped her hand into the crack and began yanking on the door, trying to get it to move manually.
Drini recoiled at the movement, shaking her head quickly. "No, no, don't, please leave the door alone!"
"Oh, alright." Violet slowly retracted her hand as Drini watched her suspiciously. "But if you want me to get Chroma..."
"It's not broken."
She nodded. "If you want it that way, I guess there's nothing wrong with it," she agreed cheerfully. "Anyway, so you know Dazzle, right?"
Drini stared at her blankly, no trace of recognition in what little Violet could see of her face.
"Oh, she just picked her name," Violet realized. "It's okay, I didn't know until just now either. She's the white projector Pearl with the swirly bun? She projects in the common room sometimes when it's quiet."
She nodded slowly.
"You know who I mean?"
"Yeah."
Violet smiled, relieved. "That's great! Yeah, her name is Dazzle now."
"Okay."
Violet waited for Drini to say something else, but the other Pearl didn't offer anything beyond the one-word answer. The silence between them steadily grew longer, until Violet began to feel acutely aware of how weird it was to just be standing there on either side of the door staring at each other.
"So what did you come here for?" Drini asked finally, breaking eye contact.
"Oh, right!" She'd come here for a reason; she wasn't supposed to just be socializing. "So I went to Dazzle a little while ago to ask for help with renovations stuff, and she said you'd be the better gem for the job." Violet cleared her throat, fiddling with her bandana self-consciously. "It'd be nice to have somebody project a model of the place so I can figure out what exactly we're doing. I mean, I have an idea of it, but it's hard to explain to everyone without a visual, y'know?"
Drini didn't say anything, just continued watching her.
"I thought one of you guys might be the best choice, since I heard Grand Chalcedony used to use projector Pearls to lay out building plans."
"I know, I worked for her once before," Drini said. Then, under her breath, she added, "But I guess that was a while ago, and no one really notices a projector Pearl anyway…"
"Oh!" Violet said suddenly, remembering. "She had Peridots then, yeah?"
Drini nodded slowly.
"Yeah. They started fighting over the tractor beam one day and dropped a wall on her Pearl." Violet nodded matter-of-factly. "She doesn't use Peridots anymore."
"Ah." Drini laughed nervously and looked like she very much wanted to close the door.
"So anyway, we could really use your help. What do you say?"
"...We?" Drini repeated nervously, suddenly looking even more reluctant to leave her room. "Who's we?"
"Oh, just a few people," Violet said quickly, beginning to count them out on her fingers. "Let's see, there's me, Silver, Garnet, Crimson, Viri, Aura, Chroma, Blue, Yellow, Lavender..." She hesitated, looking down at her hands and then back to Drini. "Can I count on your hands? I kind of ran out."
The pink Pearl just stared at her. "I...think I'll just stay here."
Violet wilted. "Are you sure? I'll trade you something for your help. I don't know what kinds of things you like, but you're welcome to look through what I found today or put in a request and I'll look out for it next time."
"Trade?" Drini looked confused.
"Yeah."
"Oh, I thought..." She trailed off into silence, then shook her head. "What do you have to trade?"
"All sorts! What are you looking for?"
Drini's eyes darted sideways to something Violet couldn't see. "Fabric?"
"Hmm..." Violet considered it for a moment, fingers automatically reaching for her bag. "I've never really found good fabric while I'm scavenging. I think it usually ends up too dirty or torn for it to be useful. But I do have my bag!" she realized suddenly. "Let me empty it out really quick and I can give you that."
"Do you have more than one?" Drini asked uncertainly, eyeing it through the door critically.
"Well, no, but that's the only cloth I have. Will it work?"
She parted her lips slightly, then pressed them together. Violet waited nervously for her to speak, paused in the emptying of the bag. "Keep it," Drini said finally. "It's...not really a color I could use, but I guess I could help anyway."
"Wait, really?" Violet asked, and was startled to find the door snap shut suddenly. Then it opened again, more smoothly this time, and Drini stepped out. "Are you sure you don't want it?"
"It's fine." She motioned down the hall. "Where are we going?"
"Just over here," she answered, pointing. Drini started off that direction, and Violet smiled as she took a couple quick steps to catch up. "We're taking out the row of rooms along the hallway closest to the common room, that way we can put in the stuff Steven needs. And us too! I'm really curious how those shower things feel. Have you tried?"
Drini shook her head.
"Yeah, I didn't get a chance to either during my visit," Violet said. Then the sudden realization of Earth hit her. "Wait! I can get you fabric there!"
"Huh?"
"On Earth," she explained. "I'll buy you some fabric next time, in exchange for your help today. That way you can have whatever color you want."
"Oh. Yeah, that works," Drini said quietly.
"You can come with me or just tell me what to pick," Violet offered.
"The second one."
"Okay!" Drini looked a little skittish as they reached the group so Violet tried to do most of the talking. "Hey, so Drini said she'd help us out with her projections," she said, raising her voice slightly to get everyone's attention.
"Drini!" Viri exclaimed happily, coming over to say hello. "I'm sure you'll be a big help."
She nodded uncertainly. "So what am I projecting?"
"A layout of the base," Violet answered. "But just the portion with the living quarters, if you can."
"Yeah." She glanced up at Viri. "Good thing you made me take a tour, I guess."
Viri beamed.
Drini held up her gem wrist, only a moment's hesitation before the room was flooded with pink light. Projected walls sprang up into place immediately, regardless of where everyone was standing, so Blue ended up jumping back slightly so as not to be standing in the middle of one. It didn't reach the height of the ceiling but rather was cut short around waist height so that it allowed for a clearer view of the layout.
"That's perfect," Violet said happily. "Can we mark where the support structures are too?"
"Mm-hm, if you know where they are."
After a few minutes spent tweaking the projections, Violet stepped back, looking at all of it. "Okay. So which walls did you originally want to take down?"
"We want to put all these rooms together," Silver said, swiping her hand along the row nearest her. "So all these walls. And then this one too, we won't need that room closed off." She poked her finger into the projected wall with a grin, then waved her hand as if to try and dissipate it.
Drini scowled and made the projection buzz and glitch around Silver's hand, making the other Pearl jump back.
"Sorry," she projected, laughing silently. "Anyway, those ones plus the three of ours, if we have time," she said, gesturing to herself, Aura, and Chroma.
"Okay," Violet mused, beginning to walk the imaginary hallway thoughtfully. "So I think if we take this here and…"
It seemed like it was going to take a while to get through all the plans, so Blue tugged lightly at Yellow's arm and led her off to the side to sit down and be comfortable while they waited.
"She seems really good at this," Blue commented.
"Well, I'm glad someone is," Yellow said dryly, "or we wouldn't have to wait for the Diamonds to finish us off."
"Oh, it wasn't that bad," she laughed. "Besides, the cheering seemed fun."
"If you say so." Yellow smirked as she watched Violet starting to go around and mark the physical walls to match the projected ones that were being changed, Drini altering the projections at each request.
"Are you going to help with the renovations?" Blue asked.
"Mm, probably. Not entirely my area, but Chroma said they'd definitely need as much help as possible." She shrugged. "There's the four of us—three if Pearl's busy some days—and Lapis and Greg to help with the water stuff, and apparently Violet for planning it out. And then the rest of the labor is probably something anyone who wants to volunteer can do."
"Oh, in that case, maybe I'll—"
"Hiya!" Caddy appeared beside Yellow without warning, grinning when the two of them jumped. "Wow, you guys made a bunch of progress while I was gone, huh?"
Yellow opened her mouth to answer, but Viri interrupted first.
"Caddy!" she exclaimed happily. "You're here!"
"Well, there was no way we were gonna miss out on this," Caddy said brightly. "Sky's here too. Our Diamonds won't need us for a couple hours."
"Oh, that's wonderful!" Viri beckoned Sky over from where she had just entered and gave them both a warm hug. "It's great to see you again. Did you get your flowers?"
"Yeah, Sky delivered 'em." She winked. "If it wasn't a joint gift, I'd think you were trying to get me back."
"Only back home," Viri laughed, shaking her head.
"Good, 'cause the common room's such a mess right now that we wouldn't have anywhere to kiss. It must be devastating for your love life."
She giggled, ruffling Caddy's hair. "I'll survive."
"Good." She bounced in place a little. "Is White here? Or, I mean, I know she's here somewhere, but is she helping out?"
"She was earlier, but I think she got bored."
"I'll go find her then! You coming, Sky?"
"No, I think I'll just wait here," Sky answered quickly.
"Okay, be back in a sec."
Sky smiled faintly as Caddy hurried off. "Hi," she added, giving Blue and Yellow a small, awkward wave.
"Hello," Blue replied. "How was your trip to Earth the other day?"
"It was really nice," she answered quietly. "It's a beautiful planet. How was yours?"
"It was great." Blue felt Yellow take her hand discreetly and squeezed her fingers gratefully. "If you ever want someone to show you around a little, I'd be happy to help."
"Oh, no, it's okay," Sky said. "I'm sure you've got lots to do. Besides, I don't know when Caddy and I will be able to get away again, and I promised her next time we could all go together. But thank you for offering."
"Oh. Yeah, no problem." She bit her lip, eyes drifting to Violet, who seemed to be trying to get Drini's advice on something.
"We're back!" Caddy announced, pulling an amused White along behind her. "What did we miss?"
"Nothing's happened yet," Sky laughed. "You were only gone for, what, a minute?"
"You never know!" She let go of White's arm, beaming. "Anyway, now we can all work together!"
"On what?" White asked. "Everyone was just standing around talking earlier."
"I don't know. Hey, boss!" Caddy waved to Crimson enthusiastically. "Whatcha need us to do in here?"
"Oh!" Crimson looked surprised to see them. "Hi, I didn't know you were back." She came over to greet them with a quick hug. "Hmm, I don't know that there's anything immediate…"
"No?"
"I mean, you're welcome to just relax," she offered. "I'm sure you could use some time to yourselves."
"We'd rather be spending time with everyone," Sky replied. "Are you sure there's nothing we can help with?"
"Honestly, the only thing I can think of is having you start putting a dent into all the digging we're going to do downstairs, but…"
"We'll take it!" Caddy declared.
"Alright," she laughed. "But it's going to be pretty tough work."
"Hey, if we can handle Diamonds, we can handle anything!"
"I'm sure you can," Crimson said fondly, shaking her head. "Alright then. I'll go check in with Azalea about tools for you."
"Can't you just use your shovels?" Violet asked, overhearing them.
"Our what?" Caddy asked blankly.
"Your…shovels?" she repeated slowly, as if she wasn't sure if she'd misspoken. "Mine did a pretty good job of getting things started last night." Violet pulled it from the gem on her chest to show them, leaning against it nervously as they all looked at her.
"You started last night?" Crimson asked, startled. "And wait, is that—"
"Did you just summon?" White interrupted, staring at Violet.
"What?"
"Did she?" Caddy asked, eyes wide.
"It looked like when you did it," White said with a shrug.
"Yeah, that definitely seemed like it was," Blue said, stunned. "And you must have practiced a lot too, to get it to come out so easily. That's amazing."
"Me?" Violet asked, confused. "It's just my shovel though. I mean, I love it and it's really useful, but I don't know about calling it amazing or anything…"
"It definitely is!" Silver came over to get a closer look. "Wow, look at the blade! It's kind of like yours, Blue."
Blue nodded, smiling. "Congratulations, Violet!"
"Um, thanks?" She still looked rather lost. "But doesn't everybody have these?"
White shook her head.
"Nope, definitely not!" Caddy laughed. "Congrats, you got second place! Or, wait, how long have you been able to summon? Did you beat me without even realizing it?"
"Well…"
"Skyyyy, she stole my title!"
"There was a title?"
"Yes! 'First Rebel Pearl to Summon'!"
"Wouldn't that technically be Pearl?" Yellow pointed out. "Not to mention Blue and I summoned before you as well."
"And Cyan," Blue added. "She said she's summoned too."
Caddy sighed dramatically. "Demoted to sixth place!"
"I'm sure you'll win something else," Sky laughed, patting her shoulder. "Come on, we should get started downstairs."
"Do you think I can win a prize for digging instead?"
"Not with Violet around," Crimson said, reappearing from where she'd gone to check out the future lower level. "She must have gotten through nearly a third of it already."
"Whoa, okay, I concede," Caddy said with a grin. "That's some skill."
Violet blushed self-consciously, sliding her hand down her spade a little way like she couldn't quite believe what it was. "Thanks."
"We'll try to do you proud while you're up here working then!" she declared. "I bet the three of us can put a pretty good dent in it. Right, guys?"
White shrugged. "No idea."
"We'll try," Sky agreed, smiling.
"You can take my shovel if you want," Violet offered. "Well, if that works. Can you use something somebody else summoned?"
"You can," Blue said helpfully, recalling their early lessons with Pearl. "But it'll probably disappear after a little while, especially if you're not making a conscious effort to keep it around."
"Oh, okay." Violet nodded seriously, holding out the spade to them. "If it disappears, I'll get it out again, I guess?"
"Thanks," Sky said gratefully. "I'm sure it'll be a big help."
"No problem." She fiddled with her bandana. "Thanks."
She nodded, handing it off to Caddy, who started swishing it around experimentally. "I'll go ask Azalea about what else we can use," she told Crimson.
"Oh, you sure?"
"Yeah, you should stay, but thank you." Sky gave her another hug. "In case we end up having to leave in a hurry. I'll try to come say goodbye though."
"Only if it's safe."
"Right." They exchanged a quick smile. "See you later then."
"See you."
After several days of hard work and help from Diamonds' Pearls and other volunteers, Violet could finally say the digging was complete. Between that and making sure the building didn't collapse under everyone's enthusiasm, she was more than ready to get some rest.
With the renovations going on, she and her neighbors had temporarily lost their rooms. Crimson had asked multiple times if that was alright, even offering to let them turn her room into the new showers instead, but Violet and the others had quickly refused. It was only for a little while, and then they would get first pick of the new rooms that were being built underground. At most, it was just a little inconvenient at times like this.
Violet made her way back to the common room, finding it relatively empty at this hour, save a few Pearls in one corner and Cyan, who had just walked through the opposite entrance as Violet came in.
"Hi," the blue Pearl greeted her. "How's it going?"
"Good!" She felt like she should add something else to that, but words had suddenly deserted her. "Um, how are you?"
"Alright, I spent the day holed up in the strategy room. I just escaped, so I haven't really gotten to see any of today's work on the building yet."
"We mostly finished up the digging and stuff," Violet said quickly. "You didn't miss too much."
"Oh, okay." Cyan smiled. "Have you found anything interesting down there?"
"Oh!" Any weariness in her gem immediately fled at the question and she reached to pull out her bag. She'd accumulated quite a bit over the last couple days, as nobody had really asked her about it since the renovations started. "Yeah, would you like to see?"
"I'd love to!" Cyan knelt on the floor, watching as Violet spread out her finds. She seemed genuinely intrigued by everything she pulled out, occasionally picking an object up to get a closer look before setting it back down carefully. "Wow, there's so much. Is this all from here?"
Violet nodded. "I haven't had time to go out lately."
"Well, you're practically doing two jobs at once anyway," she said with a smile, glancing up. "And it's really cool that you can summon already. Mercury said that Tin said that you did it without realizing?"
"Oh, yeah." Violet blushed, chuckling nervously. "I guess I should have known."
She shook her head, smiling. "You probably didn't have much reason to think otherwise until recently anyway. The important thing is you've got it."
"Thanks."
"Do you mind if I ask…are you planning on training with it as a weapon?"
"I don't know," Violet said honestly. "I mean, I think it'd work as one, but I like it as a shovel." She shrugged. "I guess I can try it if you want me to."
"No, no, I was just curious what your thoughts were," Cyan reassured her. "You're not obligated to use it a certain way. And from what I've seen, you've already been putting it to very good use."
"Thanks."
"Just let me know what it can do sometime, that way I can keep your profile up to date and maybe find some missions for you besides your scavenging."
"Oh, yeah, I can do that. I'm happy doing what I'm doing now though."
"I can tell," Cyan said warmly. "I wasn't going to try to send you out all the time, but there might be times when we need someone with your knack for finding supplies to scope out a particular area."
Violet nodded, smiling. "Okay."
"Anyway, I think I'm going to call it a night and you seem pretty worn out too, so…"
"Oh, yeah, sorry if I kept you up!"
"No, it was a nice break." Cyan stood up, stretching. "Good night, Violet."
"Night." Violet reached to her gem to pull out her pillow and a few blankets that she could sleep with.
"Violet?" Cyan asked uncertainly, pausing. "What are you doing?"
"Huh?"
Cyan pointed to the blankets and pillow she'd gotten out. "Are you sleeping in here?"
"Oh, yeah," she answered, a little embarrassed. "Just while the renovations are going on, then I'll move in downstairs."
Cyan frowned. "Your room was in the row that's getting torn out," she realized.
Violet nodded.
"I guess I just assumed you all paired up with other Pearls until then," Cyan said.
"Oh, well, sorta. Unofficially." She shrugged self-consciously. "I didn't want to impose on anybody."
"I'm sure your friends wouldn't have minded..."
"Yeah, but four's probably a crowd," Violet mumbled. "I didn't want to make things awkward for Aura. Plus their rooms are getting renovated too."
"Ah." Cyan hesitated, eye flicking back to the pillow Violet had set out. "Well, why don't you stay in my room then?"
"Y-Your room?"
"Tangerine and I each have one, so I can stay with her for a little while until your new room is ready."
"But..."
"It honestly wouldn't be any trouble," Cyan reassured her. "And with all the work you're putting in, I think the least I can do is give you a comfortable place to sleep."
Violet blushed, touched by the offer. "I don't need anything fancy."
"It's no fancier than what you'd have normally," she laughed kindly. "Come on, please? The common room is good for a lot of things, but I don't think sleeping is one of them."
"Maybe not," she admitted. Gems did tend to come through at all hours, and even if they kept their voices down when they noticed her, it was sometimes enough to keep her awake.
"At least take my room for one night," Cyan urged her.
"Are you sure you don't need it?"
She shook her head. "I need it sometimes, but not right now. Tell you what," she said, "you can have it at night and I'll have it during the day. Does that work?"
"Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good." Violet smiled, just looking at Cyan for a moment before she remembered she should probably gather her things up so they could leave. She hurriedly scooped up her bedding, rolled it into a messy ball, and pushed it back inside her gem. "Okay," she said, standing up.
"Okay." Cyan seemed genuinely pleased that Violet had accepted the offer, rising to her feet smoothly and leading the way over to the living quarters. "It's this one here," she said when they reached the door, touching the simple nameplate that had been affixed to it. "And let's see, I'll reset my code. You can pick whatever's easiest for you to remember." She flicked her fingers over the screen quickly to pull up the reset.
"I can just remember yours," Violet protested.
"No, it's alright," she reassured her. "I want you to be comfortable and, well, Mercury and I may have started this competition where we try to come up with ridiculously complicated codes so…"
Laughter bubbled up in Violet's throat as she saw the sheepish look on Cyan's face. "Okay."
"I'll tell her it's on hold while you're staying here," Cyan said, smiling as she watched Violet input her former passcode.
"Thanks." The panel chimed to confirm the change, and then Violet repeated the sequence to open the door, deliberately slow so Cyan could observe the new code. "It's like that."
"Got it," she said, nodding. "Come on in," she added warmly, leading the way through.
It was very much like Violet's room, except perhaps a bit neater without all the unsorted scavenging finds scattered around. There was a stack of handwritten notes on one shelf, while her bedside table held a picture of Cyan and Tangerine together and a strip of wood with a stick coming out that Violet didn't recognize. There was also what appeared to be the wrapper from one of Steven's snacks, featuring a little cat face. It didn't seem to be trash, but rather was flattened and clearly some kind of decoration.
"It's a Cookie Cat," she said, following Violet's gaze.
"Ah."
"I thought it was cute," Cyan explained, then pulled out a box of matches. "And then I got this incense burner when we went to Earth. I think it's pretty relaxing, so you might enjoy it. If not, you can put it out."
"It smells nice," Violet said shyly, getting into bed and pulling the covers up to her chin as the fragrance began to fill the room. "Thanks."
"You're welcome." Cyan smiled, running a hand through her bangs. "I'll leave you to it then. Good night."
"Good night."
The door swished open again and then shut, the quiet click of Cyan's boots fading after a few seconds.
Once they were gone, Violet rolled over onto her side, eyes turning to the incense burning on the bedside table. With the lights off, the only illumination came from her gem as the covers slipped sideways, revealing a soft glow that, thankfully, Cyan hadn't noticed.
Good night.