The rebellion!
Green was delighted to form again, and even more delighted that she was here. Her first time at the rebellion, and her first time on Homeworld too. The latter wasn't anything to get excited about though.
She raised her arms above her head, letting herself get used to the way her body moved again after her absence. She stretched all the way up onto her toes, and then swept her arms back down gracefully as she relaxed.
"How are we doing?" she murmured, glancing down at the two gems on her chest. Blue and Yellow both felt a little more…tired than they usually did. Not unhappy, but definitely worn out from the past couple days.
There was no answer—she hadn't expected one, since they seemed content to be together in the nameless space you went to when you didn't physically exist. Green pressed both palms to her gems, giving them a sort of hug. "Okay," she said quietly. "Thank you."
Hmm…what to do first? Green felt worn out too, but she didn't hold it against them. Life wasn't always going to be as exciting as your first fusion, your first fight, all of those things. Green was excited to meet the rest of the rebel Pearls for herself though.
She'd start by letting herself have some time alone, she decided. Then later she could go around saying hello and introducing herself to everyone here. Then she'd go visit the Crystal Gems on Earth. Then after that, she'd come back here to rest or unfuse.
Was it possible for her to sleep? She hadn't thought about that before, but she sort of wanted to try. She'd add that to her schedule too.
When Green left her room a few hours later, she felt much more settled and cozy in her own body, having enjoyed looking all around Blue and Yellow's room and then curling up with her cheek on Yellow's pillow to doze for a while. She was pleased to find she hadn't accidentally come apart when she woke up, so she snuggled into the blankets for a few more minutes.
Now she was wide awake again, striding confidently into the hall with her gaze directed downwards so she made sure she didn't accidentally bump into any smaller gems. Surprisingly, there didn't seem to be anyone around. She tried to think of what might be happening that would attract everyone, but nothing came to mind. It wasn't one of the usual training times. Maybe a social thing she was unaware of?
There was a little pang in Blue's gem at the thought, so Green quickly redirected her attention to nicer topics. Like…oh! She could go look at how the renovations were doing. She wanted to see those in person.
She hurried off in that direction, humming softly to herself. She would meet Chroma and Lavender in person too, she realized. She hoped they'd consider her a friend, just as they did with Yellow.
To her surprise, the first person she saw wasn't a Pearl but Steven, his head of curly hair unmistakable.
"Steven!" she exclaimed, quickly getting his attention and being rewarded with a bright smile. "I didn't know you were here today!"
"Hi, Green!" Steven rushed over. "I didn't know you were here either!"
"It's the best kind of surprise then!" Green swept him up off the ground easily, bringing him to her eye level with a warm smile. "It's good to see you."
"You too!" he laughed happily. "We're all here—my dad is helping us get all the plumbing-type stuff installed, since he's used to doing all that for the carwash."
"Plumbing?"
"The pipes that move water around so it'll come out of the sink or wherever."
"Ohhh, right, right, right." Yellow knew what that was. Wait, did they need Yellow for that? Green didn't feel like leaving yet, but…
"Green?"
"Should I unfuse to help? I don't really want to, but…responsibilities and all that."
"It's okay, I think the others have got it," Steven reassured her. "But we can go ask if you want."
"Alright." She balanced him carefully in one arm and went down the hall to find Greg and whoever was with him. "Hello!" she called as she slipped into the room that was on its way to being the showers. Greg was standing closest to her, head tilted back to watch Chroma, who was up on a ladder making marks on the wall, while Lavender was halfway underneath their gigantic pile of supplies looking for something.
"Oh, hey there, Green," Greg said, turning to her. "Long time no see!"
"Right? Way too long a time away." She gave him a little pat on the head and then placed Steven down next to him gently. "It's good to see you again too."
Chroma was staring at her when she stepped closer to say hello, and Lavender was quickly extracting herself from the supplies.
"Who…are you?" Chroma asked cautiously, her grip on the ladder tightening slightly.
"A fusion?" Lavender suggested, wide eyes searching for Green's gems before locating them a second later.
"Who do you think?" Green said cheerfully, framing them with her hands.
"Yellow and Blue," Chroma concluded. "Wow."
"Sorry if I startled you," she said, offering her hand to help Chroma down and then kneeling down so she wouldn't be towering over everyone quite as much. "I just wanted to meet Yellow's friends for myself. My name's Green."
"Viri's going to love you," Chroma laughed.
"Viri?"
"You'll see." Amusement sparkled in her eyes. "It's nice to meet you, Green."
"Nice to meet you," Lavender echoed.
"You too! Do you need help with anything in here? Because I can give Yellow back if I need to."
"No, don't worry about it," she reassured her. "We've got it covered. I mean, you're welcome to help out if you want to, but we're not in dire need of…half of you."
"Got it. Well then," Green declared, "I'll be sticking around for a bit. Let me know if you need a leg up somewhere; I bet I'm sturdier than that ladder!"
"Right," Chroma laughed nervously. "So, um, what's the occasion? Yellow said you'd fused before, right?"
"That's right!" Green smiled. "You remembered."
"Well, it's not every day you hear about Pearls fusing," Chroma pointed out.
"Yeah, but it's still nice. Anyway, no special occasion. Blue was upset earlier but now she's feeling a little better and they felt like fusing."
"Blue?" Chroma repeated worriedly. "Now that you mention it, I haven't seen her much lately. Is there something I can do to help?"
"She'll be alright," Green replied, a soft smile curving her lips. "But thank you."
She nodded. "Well, we're happy to have you."
"Definitely," Lavender agreed.
"Yay!"
Green sat there for about half an hour, watching the others work and occasionally helping out or passing someone a tool they couldn't reach. Chroma could tell she was getting a little restless though, so she gently suggested that the fusion go say hello to everyone else.
"Oh, I'd love to! They're not in the middle of something, are they? I didn't see anybody on my way here."
"If they are, I don't know about it," Chroma said with a shrug. "They're probably just hanging out in the common room."
"That's where I'll go then," she decided. "See you later?"
Lavender nodded, smiling. "See you."
"Oh, wait!" Chroma said, jumping up before Green could leave. "I need to—Do you mind if I give Aura a heads-up first? Not that she'd have anything against meeting you, but having a big gem appear out of nowhere might be a little…not good for her."
"Oh, yeah, I'll wait then," Green said, sitting back down.
"Thanks."
Chroma headed for the communications room first, in case Aura and Millie were still working. Aura had said they didn't have much to do today but—yeah, there they were, freshly brewed tea filling the air with a soothing floral fragrance.
"Oh, hello, Chroma," Aura greeted her happily. "Are you finished already? Millie just made some lavender tea, if you'd like to try."
"No thanks, I'll let her enjoy it," she replied, giving Millie a knowing look. "Just wanted to let you know that you might run into a fusion if you go by the common room."
"We know," Millie said, glancing down at her teacup with a faint blush before looking back to Chroma. "That's why we're having tea in here."
"It is?" She looked between them. "But Green's been with us for the last little while."
"Who's Green?" Aura asked, tilting her head.
"Yellow and Blue's fusion? Who are you talking about?"
"Mercury and Tin's fusion. You didn't see her?"
"No, I've been working. So we've got two fusions right now?"
"Seems like it!" Aura smiled. "Or actually three, since Garnet's somewhere too. Anyway, Millie was sweet enough to bring me back in here for a tea break. I'm sure she—both of them are lovely gems, but I wasn't really prepared to be around someone that size just yet."
"Yeah, I figured. I'll tell Green you say hello though?"
"Yes, please. Tell her I'd be happy to meet her another day."
"I will."
"Thanks," she added softly, "for thinking about me."
"You'd do the same." Chroma gave her a small kiss. "Well, I should get back to work. Enjoy your tea."
"We will. See you!"
"It seems like you've got a friend to meet," Chroma announced when she came back in.
"A friend?" Green repeated.
"Another fusion."
"Ooh!"
"Who is it?" Steven asked excitedly.
"Mercury and Tin. I don't know whether their fusion's got her own name yet."
"That's so cool! Come on, Green, we should go meet her!"
"Sounds good to me!" She laughed, letting Steven tug her towards the door. "You want to come along?" she asked the others.
"We should probably keep working," Chroma began reluctantly.
"Oh, don't worry about it," Greg told them. "I can hold down the fort while you guys say hello."
"Well…alright. If you're sure you don't mind."
"We'll just be a few minutes," Lavender promised, straightening the shirt she was wearing over her leotard.
"Hey, I'm beginning to feel like you guys don't trust me."
"We definitely trust you!" Chroma protested.
Lavender nodded. "But Pearl told us to be careful with humans because they get injured really easily."
"Not that easily," he laughed. "Go. I promise I won't mess around with anything I don't recognize."
"Okay," Chroma agreed, giving him a quick smile. "Thanks."
"See you later, Greg!" Green added.
It was a short walk to the common room, and Green's first glance inside told her this was definitely where everyone had disappeared to, a small crowd gathered around Mercury and Tin's fusion.
With their attention focused there, Green's entrance went unnoticed until there was a sudden gasp of "Green!" and Viri jumped to her feet.
"That's me," Green laughed. "Hi."
"You're green!"
"Yeah…?"
"Don't mind Viri," Crimson said, giving Green a friendly wave. "She's been wanting us to recruit another green Pearl ever since she realized she was the only one. And, um, welcome to base."
"Thanks!" She grinned as Viri gave her a big hug. "I was going to apologize for my sudden appearance, but then I heard someone else beat me to the punch already."
The other fusion smiled. "Sorry about that. It's great to see someone else like me though! I didn't expect that at all."
"Same here! Can I join you?"
"Yeah, absolutely." The other fusion and several of the Pearls around her moved to make room. "What's your name?"
"Green."
"You're perfect," Viri sighed happily. "I don't suppose you'd want to go out with me?"
"I think I'm taken. By myself. Though, to be honest, I haven't thought about that sort of thing. So it's probably a no, but I'll get back to you if I decide otherwise."
"Yeah, I figured," she agreed, unfazed. "Can we be friends then? Green Pearl family?"
"Um, sure," Green laughed.
"Yay!" Viri happily scooted over to sit beside her, close but not so close that it felt uncomfortable. "We'll be the green rebellion! This is great, I can't believe you changed color!"
"What did you expect me to look like?"
"I don't know, I figured maybe you would switch between blue and yellow so everyone got a turn."
"I don't think that's even possible."
"Sure it is, I have a sister who changes color all the time!"
"…Sister?"
"Is that not the right word? Steven was explaining family labels to me, and it seemed like it worked…"
"Oh, no, you're probably right. I was just surprised since Blue and Yellow haven't met anyone like that here."
Viri shook her head, smile dimming. "She's back home."
"Ah." Didn't Viri consider this home? Green was sure she'd heard her reference the base as such, but maybe she was mistaken. They were only vague secondhand memories anyway; it wasn't something Blue and Yellow had paid particular attention to.
"Anyway, tell me about you," Viri said. "What's it like being a fusion?"
"I'm not sure I really have anything to compare it to, I've always been a fusion," she replied. "What's it like being one gem?"
"I like it a lot," Viri answered seriously.
"I like being a fusion a lot too."
"Do you think we'll be able to meet other green fusions?"
"Well…I don't think these two want to fuse with anyone else right now," Green said thoughtfully. "But you do have other blue and yellow Pearls around."
"Oh, that's true!"
"Yeah, there's loads of combinations that would work," Silver said, coming over to get a closer look at Green. "There's…hmm…Sky and Caddy? Sky and Tin? Sky and Mercury? Cyan and Caddy? Cyan and Tin? Cyan and…no, not that one. Oh, and what happens if it's someone like Aura or Ory, who's a different kind of yellow?"
"Either way, that's at least two more for your family, Viri," Crimson said, amused.
"Do all fusions turn into a mix of the two colors though?" Green wondered.
"It seems like it!" Steven volunteered. "Though…I guess maybe not always a mix where you put the same amount of both colors?"
"Oh, so like it's just in the general vicinity," Mercury and Tin's fusion said. She looked down at herself, her coloring exactly the same as her components'. "I guess I'm not the best evidence of how it works," she laughed.
"We should ask Garnet about it!" Green declared. "I bet she can tell us how to get the greenest fusions."
"Yeah!" Viri cheered.
"When did that become the goal here?" Crimson sighed.
"Since right now! Come on, where do you think we can find Garnet?"
"Right here," a voice said from the doorway.
"Garnet!" Steven hurried over to her, pulling her over to sit with the others.
"And I don't spoil fusions," she added with a smile. "Though I think I can safely say you'll meet at least one more green fusion in the future, Viri."
"Really?" she asked excitedly. "That's so wonderful!"
"Excuse me." Pearl came in next, Amethyst right behind her. "Garnet said there might be—oh! You were right!" Pearl hurried over, genuine excitement on her face as she approached the two new fusions. "It's wonderful to meet you. And wonderful to see you again, Green."
"You too!" Green laughed as Amethyst came over and flopped down across her legs. "Hi, Amethyst."
"Hi! Good to see you without another big green fusion causing trouble."
"Definitely."
"And what's your name?" she asked, looking up at Mercury and Tin's fusion.
"I haven't decided yet. Something to do with matching or mirroring or something maybe. It doesn't matter right now. I'm just happy I finally get to see the rebellion for myself! Oh! And I meant to thank you, Crimson. You helped me when Tin got cracked and I don't remember much myself, but Mercury does and we're all really grateful."
"You're welcome," Crimson said, smiling.
"Anyway, does anyone else want to fuse? I really recommend it!"
The Pearls around her laughed and exchanged looks, but no one spoke up.
"It takes time," Garnet said easily. "But if you'd be interested in seeing some more different-gem fusions, there's a few we could introduce you to."
Pearl nodded excitedly, but then glanced up. "Well, I'm not sure they'd all fit. Opal would probably be fine, or maybe Sardonyx…" She continued to look up and down, trying to gauge the height of the ceiling. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure Sugilite would be the best choice indoors. And definitely not Alexandrite. We don't want to risk breaking anything."
"Why not? It might be fun." Green smiled, jumping up to try and touch the ceiling herself. She fell a few inches short and then tried again, this time smacking her palm hard against the ceiling. "There we go."
"Because it would be rude. Stop that."
She did it one more time for good measure. "Building seems pretty sturdy to me."
"Not compared to Alexandrite," Garnet pointed out.
"Yeahhh, definitely not," Amethyst said with a grin. "Anyway, go with Sardonyx. Green hasn't met her yet."
"Is that alright with you though?" Pearl asked.
"Yeah, 'course it is. We'll give Opal a turn next time?"
"Definitely."
"We'll give everyone a turn," Garnet agreed. "For now…Pearl, you ready?"
"Yes! Oh, but Garnet, are we sure she'll fit?" Pearl pointed out, though she was clearly reluctant to protest.
"We'll be extra precise," Garnet promised, moving over to the empty side of the common room.
Pearl rushed over to her delightedly, ignoring Crimson's "Wait a minute, how tall are you—"
But they'd already begun dancing, each of their gems glowing until they came together in a large burst of light.
"Oh my, it is a tight fit, isn't it?" Sardonyx laughed, coming into existence crouched over just to be safe and promptly making herself comfortable in middle of the common room. "Good evening, everybody! Such a large audience tonight, it's a pleasure to have you with us."
"Oh my stars," Crimson breathed. "She's huge."
"I really don't want to have to fix the roof," Chroma whispered to her. "Please tell her I don't want to fix the roof."
"Nothing to worry about, little one," Sardonyx said, overhearing them. "I pride myself on making only the best first impressions. Now come here, come here, let me get a look at all of you!"
Silver was the first to scramble over to her, eyes wide with excitement. "Please fight me!"
"Silver!" Chroma protested. "There's no space for that."
Sardonyx chuckled heartily. "Are you sure you want to fight me, darling? I can be quite a handful." She spun her second pair of arms around, making a few of the other Pearls gasp.
Silver didn't back down in the least though. "It's only four hands, I'm used to four!"
"Well, I could up the ante to six but it would bring the house down," she teased. "Besides, I did just promise two of your usual four that I wouldn't give her extra work."
"Fiiiine."
Crimson cleared her throat. "Maybe we can find a safe place for you to spar outdoors sometime, um…I'm sorry, they said your name was…?"
"Oh, I can't believe I was so rude as to not introduce myself! Sorry about that, I do get a little carried away when I'm meeting new gems. I am the lovely Sardonyx."
"Sardonyx," she repeated carefully. "It's nice to meet you."
"Likewise. I suppose if Green and Viri are family now, that means we should get to know each other as well. We red gems seem to be in short supply too."
Crimson laughed nervously. "Right. You, me, and Quin."
"We could count Ruby and Garnet too, though that might be cheating." She winked. "Come on, sit, sit, sit," Sardonyx urged everyone. "Don't worry, the only danger you're in is being picked for audience participation. Come along. Steven, Amethyst, you too." She plucked the two of them up carefully and set one on each knee. "There we are." She smiled as some of the Pearls came a little bit closer as well. "Now, with guest appearances from three fusions, I daresay we should have an introduction segment!"
"You already know me," Green pointed out.
"Only in part," she replied, making Steven laugh. "And what about everyone else?"
"Alright then," she agreed, rolling her eyes.
"We'll keep this segment casual. Let's see…" Sardonyx spun her arms around, her pointing fingers landing—presumably randomly—on White and Azalea. "Ask any question you like!"
Neither of them really seemed to know what to say, though White's reaction was distinctly calmer than Azalea's.
"A question for Green?" White asked.
"A question for any and all of us," she replied, pressing her hands together excitedly. "A different question for each would also be perfectly acceptable. I'm just excited to get to know everyone!"
"Hmm…" She considered it for a moment. "Green, how come your gems don't just…" She smacked her hands together loudly. "Since they're in the same place?"
"Oh stars, I don't know, I'm glad they don't. They just decide to both move a little and there they are!"
"Do they always end up in the same place?" White asked. "Like can Blue be on the left one time but then next time it's Yellow?"
Green blinked, turning her gaze down to her gems with a puzzled smile. "You know, I'm not sure. Right now…" She touched one gem, then the other. "This one's Blue, this one's Yellow. I'll try to remember so I can tell you next time."
"Cool."
"Excellent question! Next up!" Sardonyx gestured to Azalea. "Any questions for us today?"
"Um…" Azalea straightened up a little, blushing. "I…did have one, if…if you don't mind?"
"Not at all." Her eyes softened, and she restrained herself from prompting the shy Pearl again.
"I was wondering," she began finally, after a somewhat lengthy silence, "if you…have your own weapon?"
"I most certainly do! Let me…hm." Sardonyx glanced up at the ceiling, then to the room around them.
Crimson began to look slightly concerned. "Maybe we could save the demonstration for—"
"No, no, she asked a question and I want to give her the best answer possible!" she interrupted. "I'm just making sure the structural integrity of our set doesn't become compromised. I think we'll be plenty safe if everyone backs up to the far wall there!"
"Awesome!" Steven was first up, going over to Azalea and tugging at her hand. "It'll be really cool!"
And it was really cool, Green thought, grinning as Sardonyx just barely managed to avoid hitting anyone with her hammer.
"Oh my stars," Azalea whispered, the words barely audible but her eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Quite the smash hit, I see," Sardonyx teased. "Would you like to hold it?"
Azalea nodded slowly.
"Here you go then. Careful."
She wobbled precariously as she took the weight of the weapon into her hands, but she quickly planted her boots firmly into the floor to stay balanced. "It's…really cool," she murmured, smiling.
"Why, thank you! You're welcome to try using it in the forge sometime, if that's what you were thinking."
Azalea blushed, nodding and handing it back.
"Can I hold it next?" Silver asked.
Chroma gave her a look.
"Responsibly. I'll hold it responsibly."
"Will you?" she laughed, though she didn't protest when Sardonyx handed her weapon over to Silver next.
"Very, very cool!" she declared, projecting down since her gem hand had to help support the hammer. "Maybe next time we can spar with it? Back on Earth, where we can't break anything?"
"I'll look forward to it." Sardonyx made the weapon vanish easily, and everyone was able to return to where they'd been before. "But for now, I think it's time to continue the show! Anyone want to go next?"
Three or four hands shot up this time, making her smile, and Green was more than happy to spend the afternoon in everyone's company.
"Whiiiiite!" Caddy called, poking her head into the common room. "You here? Oh, whoa, when did this happen?" she exclaimed, looking around at the fusions.
"Not that long ago. Hi, Caddy." White hopped up off one of the sofas and came over to greet her.
"Hi!" She bounced up onto her toes as she hugged her girlfriend, then back down. "How've you been? You fusing with anybody?"
"Why would I be fusing?"
"I don't know, seemed like everybody was, we've got three big Pearls running around! Let's see, you're Blue and Yellow," she continued, pointing to each of them in turn. "You're obviously Mercury and Tin. And you're…"
Sardonyx grinned. "Pearl and Garnet."
"Oh, gotcha, that makes sense! Sorry, not a Pearl then. The nose was throwing me off."
"Apparently you get extra arms if you fuse with a different gem type," White said.
"Well, that all depends on the fusion, you can end up with extra of anything!" Sardonyx winked at them.
"You have extra eyes!" Caddy gasped. "I totally missed that!"
"How did you miss that?" White laughed.
"There's so many other things to look at! With all three of you!" She spun around to look at the whole room. "There is only three of you, right? Nobody's hiding?"
"Only three," Green volunteered with a little wave.
"Cool! In that case, it's super great to meet you! Do you have names?"
"I'm Green!"
"Should've guessed," Caddy teased, holding up her hand for a friendly high five.
"And I'm Sardonyx, and this lovely new fusion is still thinking about her name," Sardonyx said, gesturing to Mercury and Tin's fusion.
"Ohhh. You're actually Sardonyx?"
"Actually?"
"Like your gems?"
"That's right!"
"Then yeah, should've guessed that one too," she laughed. "You all just called yourselves your gem types, it must have been super confusing the last time you were doing this rebellion thing!"
"We got by," Sardonyx said, patting Caddy on the head carefully. "Would you like to join us?"
"Definitely!"
Caddy made herself comfortable next to White, their hands loosely intertwined. She was quick to volunteer her own questions for the three fusions to answer, and then sat back and listened to everyone else's. Her eyes drifted curiously up and down Green, lingering on her gems the most, and it was hard for White to read her expression.
Maybe it was nothing, but… It was better to ask, right? Caddy always asked White how she was feeling, so she should return the favor.
"Caddy?" White asked, leaning a little closer to whisper to her. "Are you alright? You stopped talking."
"Oh! Yeah, I'm good." She looked down at her lap. "Just thinking, like, I wonder if that's what me and Sky will look like if we fuse."
"Well, yeah, I think you'll be green," White said matter-of-factly.
Caddy's lips twitched into a hint of a smile. "That's not exactly what I meant."
"Then what?"
"Since me and Yellow are the same, then our fusions might be the same too. Though I guess Sky's different enough from Blue to change things…"
"Yeah?"
"Just…never mind. It's not a big deal."
"Okay." White continued to watch her intently. "You and Sky want to fuse?"
"I mean, I haven't really thought about it before," Caddy admitted. "But yeah. It seems like it'd be fun." She paused, then turned quickly to look at White. "Is that alright with you?"
"Why are you asking me if it's okay?" she asked, startled. "You should ask Sky."
"No, but like since we're a couple… Would it make you jealous?"
"I don't think so." White tilted her head. "I'm not a character on that show you keep trying to make me watch, you know."
"I know, I know," Caddy laughed, ruffling White's hair gently. "But I thought I should still ask."
"Thanks. This is a time I should say thanks, right?"
"Yep, that works! And thanks for cheering me up."
"I did?"
"Definitely." Caddy tugged her closer for a kiss. "For the record, I think it'd be fun to fuse with you too."
White smiled. "Yeah." She half expected Caddy to ask her if she wanted to try right now, but she didn't. Her gem felt warm with happiness at that little gesture, this plan for the future that didn't feel urgent.
Caddy poked White's cheek gently, mirroring her smile. "Now shh, let's listen so we can tell Sky all about it later."
"Okay."