"S-So, um, w-was today alright?" Ory was fidgeting with her shawl as she walked with Blue back to her and Yellow's room. She kept speeding up a little, then noticing she was getting ahead of Blue, and slowing down again.

"It was great," Blue said, giving her a warm smile. She'd spent the week trying out different jobs, Ory finishing up the first round of suggestions Crimson had made. "Thanks. You really get a workout, huh?"

"Y-Yeah, I guess I do," she answered shyly. "I'm glad it was okay. I was really surprised when Crimson asked if you could shadow me. N-Not in a bad way! But no one's ever done that before!"

She blushed slightly. "Well, I hope it was alright that I did."

Ory nodded quickly, flustered. "Of course. I-It was actually pretty fun!"

"I thought so too. Though you seem pretty efficient," she laughed, "so I'm not sure you need someone to split the job with."

She smiled, ducking her head. "W-Well, the rebellion's still growing. You never know."

"Yeah." Blue came to a halt, hand hovering over the panel outside their door. "Well, this is me. Thank you for letting me tag along today, Ory. It really was fun, and I feel like I know the place a little better too."

"Y-You're welcome," Ory stammered. "Um…"

Blue waited, not sure if Ory wanted to say something else or not.

"Thank you for helping," she blurted out after a moment. "I-I hope you find a job you really like!"

Warmth bloomed in Blue's gem, touched by the sincerity in Ory's voice. "Thanks. I'll see you around?"

"Definitely!"

The two of them shared a small laugh before Ory took off, leaving Blue to swipe in her passcode to open the door. "I'm back!" she called as she entered.

"How'd it go?" Yellow asked, clearly distracted by the papers scattered in front of her at her desk.

"I don't get a hello first?" Blue teased, coming up behind her and trailing a finger up the center of Yellow's back quickly, making her jump and twist around in her chair.

"Blue!"

"Hi."

"Hello," Yellow huffed, standing up. "You're in a good mood, at least."

"I am." Blue reached out to take her hand, running her thumb loosely over Yellow's knuckles. So far, all of her job shadowing had gone well—she'd begun to click with the gems, if not the jobs themselves. "I don't think I'll be doing this one," she said, "but it was a good experience."

Yellow nodded, a small smile curving her lips.

"It was also really tiring," Blue added. "I can see why Ory skips training."

"Oh?"

"I might just skip myself." She gave Yellow's hand a little tug. "Any chance I can persuade you to join me?"

"You don't have to, there isn't training today."

"There isn't? Stars, I guess I'll never know then." Blue laughed as Yellow pulled her a little closer, and tilted her head for a kiss.

"Never," Yellow agreed with a smirk. "Come on."

Blue let her lead her over to the bed, happily getting comfortable with her legs tucked under the sheets. "I got other good news today," she added as Yellow joined her.

"What's that?"

"I get to go on the mission that's coming up!"

"What, the one at the place where they make Pearls?"

"That's the one." Blue leaned her head against Yellow's. "I was worried Crimson had asked them to include me because, well, she wanted to give me something to do out of pity. But Mercury said they really want me there, since I know a little bit about the place."

"Yeah," Yellow agreed. "She's right, you should be there."

"Thanks."

"Who else is going?"

Blue giggled. "Why, do you want to come?"

"No, I was just asking!"

"You aren't jealous?"

"Not even a little," she retorted. "The idea of that place is…unpleasant," she added more seriously.

"Yeah, I think so too," Blue agreed with a little sigh. She hugged Yellow's arm snugly. "I'm glad you don't have to see it."

Yellow didn't say anything, but she brought her hand across to hold onto Blue's arm.

"I promise I'll be careful."

"Good." Fingertips brushed softly across Blue's gem. "Don't do anything reckless."

Blue nodded slightly against her, letting her eyes slip shut.

"Tired?"

"Mm. You young gems have so much energy…"

"I'm not so sure you should put me and Ory in the same category," Yellow muttered, giving Blue's head an awkward pat. "But you're welcome to sleep if you want."

"Thanks."

Yellow hummed softly. "And once you're done with that, we should put together a schedule for the next few jobs for you to try, right?"

Blue smiled, peeking her eyes open briefly so she could turn and give Yellow a kiss on the cheek. "That'd be great. Thank you for remembering."

"Don't thank me for something like that, remembering's easy."

"I'll do what I like, I'm a rebel."

"Oh, just go to sleep already." It was easy to hear the smile in Yellow's voice.

Blue laughed, holding her a little tighter, and let herself give in to the tug of exhaustion that had spread from her legs throughout the rest of her body. "Night, Yellow."

"Good night."

Meanwhile, Ory returned to the common room, taking a little break from her messenger duties. There were a few small groups scattered throughout the common room—Viri chatting with Quin and White, Silver and Chroma sitting together nearby to practice bubbling, and Millie, Lavender, and Snow just sitting down to share some tea and snacks.

"This is our first tea with you two as a couple!" Snow said excitedly.

Lavender blushed. "Is that really a big deal?"

"It's a cute deal," she laughed. "I'm still super happy for you!"

"Thanks," Millie said, her own cheeks tinted a little pinker than usual too. "But let's not keep track of tea anniversaries."

"Fiiine."

"How's Prism doing?" Lavender asked.

"She's…She's okay." Her smile faltered slightly. "I'm sorry she couldn't come today. She wanted to, she just didn't feel good."

"That's alright," she reassured her.

"We'll set aside some of these treats for her," Millie said with a nod, gesturing to the little plates of snacks they'd set out.

"Thanks!" Snow brightened. "She'll be really happy. And we can have a proper celebration for you guys when she's feeling better!"

"Another one?" Lavender laughed. "You've already congratulated us."

"Only a hundred times," Millie said dryly.

"Shush. Congratulations aren't the same as celebrations," Snow argued. "Pass the cream?"

Millie pushed the little porcelain jug towards her. "Well," she said to Lavender, "I suppose there is a very good reason for all this celebration."

Lavender smiled, leaning in to give her a flustered kiss. "There is."

"Must you do that in here?" another voice interrupted them.

Snow glanced up to see Citrine standing nearby, eyes narrowed in something like disgust. "Hello to you too, Citrine," Snow said pointedly. She wanted the orange Pearl to leave them alone—her friends didn't need an outsider complaining about their relationship. Especially complaining with only the intention to hurt them, which was undoubtedly what Citrine would do.

"We're having tea," Lavender said, trying her best to be polite. "Do you want some?"

"No. Don't you have better things to do than eating and flaunting your relationship?" Citrine muttered. "We're a rebellion, for stars' sakes."

"There's more than one reason to join a rebellion," Snow pointed out. "Some of us find it just as important to be free to be close to each other as it is to learn to fight physical battles. There are lots of aspects of our lives here that Homeworld wouldn't approve of. And that you don't approve of either, I guess."

"I don't care about yours," Citrine said dismissively. "You and Prism are closer to being equals, at least. That's easy enough to see, even with her stuck in your room all the time."

"Knock it off, Citrine," Millie snapped. "You don't know what she's been through."

"It's okay, Millie," Snow said. "I think that was half of a compliment. Anyway, Citrine, would it shatter you to be a little more open-minded? We're all trying to move past what Homeworld taught us. You can go at your own pace, but there's no need to get mad at us for exploring more than you."

"I'm not mad at you."

"You're something."

"I just thought we were supposed to look out for each other," Citrine said defensively.

"You've never looked out for anyone besides yourself in your life, Citrine," Millie said.

She bristled angrily. "So what if I haven't? At least I'm making an effort instead of relying on my old status!"

"What exactly are you accusing me of?" Millie asked, raising a disdainful eyebrow.

"What do you think?" Citrine snapped. "Just because you're free to have a relationship now doesn't mean you should force yourself on the first touch-starved lower class gem who seems receptive!"

"Excuse me?" she laughed incredulously.

"The only one who's forcing anything here is you," Lavender said. "Millie hasn't done anything untoward, and this 'lower class gem' doesn't need your self-aggrandizing pity."

"You need someone to tell you the truth, because nobody else seems like they're going to," Citrine replied, crossing her arms. "She's clearly using you."

"I'm not using Lavy," Millie said angrily. "And what would you know about it anyway? You barely talk to us."

"You never talk to us," Snow pointed out, side-eying Millie. The pink Pearl looked like she was about to punch Citrine, and a couple of the other Pearls in the room had begun to take notice of what was happening too.

"I don't have to talk to you to know how fucked up it is. Anybody with eyes can tell you're just desperate for attention."

"I could say the same about you!"

"I mean, look at her," Citrine said, ignoring her and turning to Lavender instead. "She's so worthless as a gem that she has to take on all these unnecessary human traits."

Millie opened her mouth to respond but only managed to stammer out a few incoherent syllables.

"What, did you really think nobody would notice those things under your clothes?"

She flinched, her arms jumping up to cover herself crookedly.

"It's pathetic. We're supposed to be doing more than just trying to look pretty. Don't act so high and mighty just because you had such a pampered life before you—"

Before Snow could even process what was happening, Lavender's fist slammed into Citrine's face with a loud smack.

"There's nothing wrong with what Millie's doing!" she shouted. "What does it matter to you how she wants to look? She's not hurting you with it! She's not hurting anybody, least of all me!"

Citrine staggered back, both hands coming up to cover the cheek that had been hit. Her eyes were wide, stunned as she stared back at Lavender. "You…"

"Stay away from us!" Lavender looked ready to punch her again, and Snow was frozen, not sure what to do.

"Hey!" Chroma came rushing over, grabbing Lavender's arm before she could do anything else. "Enough! That's enough, leave it."

"There's nothing wrong with her!"

"I know that, but you need to calm down." She kept a tight grip on Lavender's arms, pulling her away from Citrine but meeting with plenty of resistance. "Lavender, stop."

"You're going to just let her get away with—"

Silver clapped loudly, interrupting her. "Cool it, Lavy. This is not what our training is for."

"Come on," Chroma said, tugging her away again. "Come on, this way."

Still furious, Lavender let Chroma guide her to the opposite side of the common room.

As soon as there was some distance between them, Citrine made a dash for the nearest exit, but Silver grabbed the back of her dress with one hand to stop her. "You're not going anywhere."

"She's the one who punched me!"

"Don't pretend you weren't provoking her."

"I wasn't!"

"Well, either way, you're both staying right here until we figure this out. Hey, Ory!" Silver waved to get the skittish Pearl's attention. "Can you go get Crimson for me, please?"

"Y-Y-Yes, of course!" She was gone in an instant.

"Millie," Silver said next, turning to her with a softer expression. "You don't need to stay if you don't want to."

Millie nodded, swallowing hard.

"I can take you back to your room," Lavender volunteered.

"Y-Yeah."

Silver held up her hand to wait, shaking her head. "Lavender needs to stay."

"What for?" she asked irritably.

"This conversation." Silver gestured between Lavender and Citrine. "Us and Crimson."

"Then I'll come back later! Millie's more important right now."

"Millie," Silver replied with an unwavering look in her eyes, "has other gems that can take care of her. This won't take forever; you can see her once we're done."

"I'm not—"

"Viri, would you mind taking Millie over to the comms room? Or Aura's room, if she's not there."

"O-Oh, yeah, will do!" Viri stammered. She still looked rather shocked by what had just happened. "Should I get healing tears on the way back?"

"That'd be great, thank you."

"I don't need them," Citrine said under her breath.

"Well, it can't hurt."

Viri nodded, going over to Millie and wrapping a protective arm around her shoulders. "Come on, let's go, okay? Lavender won't be very long, and Aura and I can keep you company in the meantime if that's okay."

Millie didn't answer, but she leaned slightly into Viri as she was guided to the door.

Not long after they left, Crimson came rushing into the common room. "What's going on? What happened? Ory said—"

"It's okay," Silver projected quickly. "We just had a bit of a fistfight in here."

"I wasn't fighting with anyone!" Citrine said hotly.

"Yeah, you're totally innocent," Lavender muttered.

"You—"

"Alright, hold on," Crimson interrupted. "One of you start at the beginning and tell me what happened, please."

Citrine refused to speak, her jaw set stubbornly.

"Citrine decided to start in on Millie and me for some reason, she was being nasty, and so I punched her," Lavender explained tersely. "May I go now?"

"Um, not yet," Crimson said, taken aback by her tone. "Citrine? Would you like to tell me your side of things?"

"No."

"No?"

"No," she repeatedly stubbornly.

Crimson pinched the bridge of her nose tiredly. "Alright then. Let's see…Lavender to my office, please. Citrine, get that injury looked at and then go back to your room until I come get you for your turn."

"Fine." The two of them said it in unison, then immediately glared at each other.

"I want to make sure Millie's okay first," Lavender insisted.

"Viri and Aura have got her," Silver interjected before Crimson could ask. "They can look after her for a little while."

"Right." Crimson cleared her throat. "I'll keep it quick, Lavender, I promise. But I can't have gems punching each other every time they get in an argument. It doesn't set a great precedent."

Lavender sighed, nodding reluctantly and heading for Crimson's office.

"We'll have a bigger discussion about this as a group later," she added, raising her voice to get everyone else's attention, "but for now: no hitting each other outside of training. Got it?"

"Got it," came a chorus of answers from the other Pearls.

Crimson kept her talk with Lavender brief. They both knew what was going to be said, and there was no point in dragging it out. She'd struggled a bit to figure out what kind of consequences she was meant to give Lavender—she didn't want to punish her for sticking up for Millie, but she didn't want to encourage anyone to use their fists to settle problems either. In the end, she decided on giving her some extra chores. Lavender didn't seem to care much, just got out of there as fast as she could to take care of Millie.

Citrine, on the other hand… Well, she wanted to get out of there too, but she was far less cooperative about it. After a few minutes, Crimson just let her leave and promised they'd be having a longer talk in the future. Tomorrow, maybe. Citrine still seemed shaken, and Crimson wanted time to get some advice on how to handle all of this.

In the meantime, she decided to take a small breather in the common room, giving Lavender some more time alone with Millie before she went over to check on her. Crimson sat down on her own for a moment, content to watch the other Pearls around her. It was quieter than usual, but hopefully that would pass soon.

Fruit Cup came in a few minutes later, a breath of fresh air—or fresh fruit. She was balancing a platter of some kind of snacks on one hand, and Crimson knew that would be a surefire way to lighten the mood.

"Hey, Fruit Cup," she said, coming over to greet her.

"Hey." She looked around curiously. "Did something happen?"

"I'll tell you about it later," Crimson sighed. "What have you got there? A new recipe?"

"Yeah!" Fruit Cup brightened up immediately. "They're like the tiny sandwiches Aura has with tea sometimes, except they're made completely of fruit! Want to try one?"

"I'd love to, thanks." She gave Fruit Cup's ponytail a friendly ruffle, then picked up a fruit sandwich from the tray and took a bite. "This is great!"

"Yay! Is it alright if I let everyone else try some?"

"It's always alright, you don't need my permission," Crimson reassured her. "I…have told you that before, right?"

"You have, but I thought I should check in case you wanted to keep these all to yourself," Fruit Cup said with a wink.

She laughed. "No, I'd better not. Actually, I should only stay a few minutes. I want to go check in with Millie and make sure she's alright."

"Mmkay. Here, you can take her a couple as well," she volunteered. "Fruit cheers everybody up."

"Thanks, Sweet Cup, I'm sure she'll love them."

She pulled a small table over for Fruit Cup to set her tray on and then waited patiently as the orange Pearl picked out a few of the best-looking sandwiches to give to Millie. She set them onto a napkin she'd pulled from her gem and carefully handed it over.

"Here you go," she said, then raised her voice to address the rest of the room. "I brought some fruit for anybody who wants a snack!"

There was a little more hesitation than there had been the last couple times Fruit Cup had brought refreshments, likely due to the lingering uneasiness that had been left after the confrontation with Citrine. But it wasn't long before Viri was coming over to greet them, popping a whole sandwich in her mouth, and praising Fruit Cup's work.

"It's all nice and crunchy and squishy at the same time!"

"Right? I thought I'd put the apple next to the…"

Crimson smiled as Fruit Cup explained, watching more Pearls begin to congregate around the table, smiling as they took a closer look at Fruit Cup's tiny creations.

Tangerine was just coming in from another entrance, likely taking a small break from her surveillance work in the communications room. For a moment, Crimson was worried she might be scared off by the relatively large number of people gathering around—Tangerine had yet to seem comfortable with larger groups—but she went over to Fruit Cup's tray like everyone else.

"Hello," she offered quietly. "These look lovely, may I try one?"

"Yeah, sure." Fruit Cup suddenly looked visibly uncomfortable, her eyes darting to Tangerine's face just for a moment and then down to the discoloration on her similarly orange gem. When Tangerine's hand moved cautiously to claim the nearest sandwich, Fruit Cup took a little step back, hand going to cover her own gem as she looked away.

It didn't go unnoticed, Crimson could tell, and she was about to step in but Tangerine just blurted out an unsteady "thanks" and disappeared back the way she'd come, fruit clutched too tight in one hand.

"Fruit Cup," Crimson began.

"Hm?" She had already begun to busy herself with rearranging the platter, clearly relieved to have Tangerine gone.

"…Never mind." It wouldn't do any good to call Fruit Cup out on it in front of everyone. She'd talk to her later, privately.

Stars, what was happening around here?

But no, it wasn't like this had just started, Crimson knew. There'd always been little things that lingered underneath the surface—and not just with Fruit Cup. They'd all had Homeworld's views impressed upon them for a lifetime before coming here, and it wasn't an easy transition to make no matter how desperately everyone wanted a fresh start.

Maybe it was time to acknowledge that.

Tangerine barely managed to contain her tears until she was alone again, going to close the door to the surveillance room with her right hand but finding the fruit in it. She used her left instead, sobs bubbling up in her throat.

She'd thought—She'd thought it might be nice if she could get to know someone who shared a similar interest in Earth. To talk to somebody on her own, have some happy little story to share with Cyan once she was done with work.

But of course it didn't go like that. She wasn't like the other Pearls here.

She knew she should do something with the fruit she'd taken—eat it, put it in her gem, something. But all she could do was sit down and cry, alone.

She'd just…stay in here for a while. Maybe work could distract her from all of this.

But after a few minutes, she was startled out of her muddled haze by the opening of the door behind her. "Cy—Cyan?" she stammered, twisting around.

It wasn't Cyan.

Wasn't Fruit Cup either, which would have been the worst possibility, but it didn't make her feel any better. She didn't want to cry in front of Violet.

The purple Pearl looked rather startled, standing in the doorway with her spade clasped loosely in one hand. "Uh, hi there. Sorry, I didn't realize… Are you okay?"

More tears began to spill rapidly from her eyes, and Tangerine lifted shaky hands to try to stem their flow, and to try to cover the cream-colored skin around her right eye.

"Tangy?" Violet closed the door, coming closer to her and hovering, not sure whether to touch or not. "What's wrong? Did something bad happen?"

Tangerine shook her head, less an answer than just a lack of energy to answer questions right now.

"Okay. Well, um, I can stay with you for a while if that helps! I was actually coming here for something already!" She laughed nervously. "Though I guess you knew that."

Tangerine nodded, sniffling. "Thanks," she whispered.

"You're welcome." Violet pulled up a chair close beside her and sat down, dispelling her spade when she noticed she was still carrying it. "Oops, don't need that right now." She paused for a moment, then just continued on like this was a normal conversation. "So I was coming by because Cyan had this super smart idea of using the cameras to look for old buildings and places to scavenge from. That way I can visit places farther out and still be safe, right?"

She nodded again, staring down at her lap.

"Yeah. And when you're feeling better, you can show me some good places. I bet you know a bunch from working surveillance in here!" Violet settled back in her chair, eyes drifting to the monitors as she let the conversation trail off, not pressuring Tangerine into answering.

It was a nice kind of quiet, Tangerine thought as she began to calm down enough to appreciate it. It was a different kind of quiet than she would have had with Cyan, but still healing in its own way. Just the two of them sitting, watching the screens.

"Do you think," she began softly after a long while, "that the new Pearls will fit in here?"

"New Pearls?"

"Whoever gets rescued from this next mission. Whatever defective Pearls are found in the factory." She gulped. "They'll be different and I worry they won't…"

Violet considered this, then just shrugged matter-of-factly. "Well, defective Pearls are just Pearls who want friends like everyone else. I think they'll be okay."

It was a genuine answer, worded in an imperfectly real way, and Tangerine found comfort in that. It wasn't as if Violet was the only one to ever express such a sentiment, but from other gems it often felt different, distant. Like Viri, who couldn't understand why a gem like Tangerine's would be considered anything but beautiful in its imperfections.

Tangerine sighed softly and scooted over in the oversized chair she was sitting in, patting the seat lightly so that Violet would join her. She did, making the chair shift slightly with her weight, and smiled at Tangerine as she leaned tiredly against her shoulder.