"You can't keep doing this, Citrine."

"Doing what?" Citrine's patience was wearing thin, though she'd only been in Crimson's office for five minutes at most. "Can you drop the power trip and get to the point already?"

Crimson sighed. "That's not what this is about. I called you in here again because we need to talk about what's been happening. The point is that you can't keep antagonizing everyone this way."

"It's not my fault if they find the truth offensive."

"What part of what you're saying is the truth?" she returned, brow creasing. "All you've done is point out everyone's flaws. And trust me, none of us need you doing that for us. We're well aware."

Citrine narrowed her eyes. "That's not what I'm doing."

"Then what are you doing, Citrine? Because right now, all you're accomplishing is getting everyone to hate you."

"No, I'm not."

Crimson crossed her arms, waiting for her to explain.

"I'm not going to lie to everyone to make them feel good about themselves. That doesn't do anybody any good, you know."

"Nobody's asking you to lie, Citrine. I'm asking you to show other gems a little more respect."

"And what does that entail?" she snapped. "Flattering fancy Pearls like you and Chamomile and assuming you can do no wrong?"

"No. If you see a problem, by all means speak up."

"That's what I—"

"No, it's not. You made an assumption and treated that assumption like a fact. And that's being generous, considering all you did was make personal attacks."

Citrine seethed. Crimson didn't understand anything.

"Will you please make more of an effort to get along with the others?" she continued, voice softening slightly. "You're hurting Pearls that came here to escape being hurt. It's not okay."

What was that supposed to mean? She…She hadn't been hurting them, right?

"If you need help learning how to communicate with people, that's something we can work on. I just—"

"I don't need help," Citrine snapped. "You're the one making assumptions here. I'm perfectly capable of getting along with people on my own!"

"Citrine…"

"Excuse me."

Citrine stood up abruptly and left, her fingers curling into fists. She wasn't hurting anybody. Lavender was the one who'd punched her, who'd overreacted. It wasn't as if the whole rebellion felt that way about her. She could be friendly. She'd make a friend and then Crimson would quit bothering her about being nice to people. Stars, couldn't she understand that honesty was something to be valued? Citrine couldn't be the only one who thought so.

Though…if she was being honest with herself, she hadn't clicked with any of the other Pearls here. Who should she try to talk to?

She saw Azalea often enough, she supposed. Citrine had to pass through the forge to get to her own job, so they usually met in passing. And she was fairly certain she'd never done anything to offend the skittish pink Pearl, so maybe she'd be a good choice.

"Hello," Citrine said, clearing her throat as she entered the forge.

"O-Oh! …Hello?" Azalea looked rather taken aback, pausing momentarily in her hammering.

Citrine wondered what she should say next.

"Did you…need…something…?" Her words were barely audible.

"Let's talk."

Azalea glanced down at the sword she was working on. "Okay," she murmured. "What…do you need to talk about? Do you want me to make you something?"

"No, of course not," Citrine said briskly. "I don't need any of this junk."

The blacksmith flinched. "Oh. Okay…"

"I meant—" She faltered, looking into the other Pearl's eyes. One minute of conversation and she'd already hurt her, insulted her work when there'd been no reason to. "Never mind. See you later."

"See you," Azalea murmured as Citrine turned to go.

Had she really messed this up so badly after all? Had she really just been hurting everyone all this time? Was that all they thought her capable of? Was that all she was capable of?

Crimson had been right. She'd ruined her chance to get along with them.

Citrine closed the door behind her and looked around the near-empty room. She should have realized sooner. After all, they had given up on trying to find a job for her, just shown her a list of options and told her to pick one so they wouldn't have to deal with her company.

But that was fine. If they didn't want her around, if they didn't want to listen to her, then she'd just do this job as best she could. She'd prove they could count on her. She could do that much.

"Crimson?" Fruit Cup peeked into the office. "Are you busy?"

"No, I think I'm done being busy for today," Crimson said with a wan smile.

"I can come back later if—"

"No, no, it's okay. You're always welcome to visit."

"Thanks." Fruit Cup ducked her head, smiling. Crimson noticed she hadn't brought along any snacks this time, which was unusual. "So, um," she continued, sinking into the chair across from Crimson, "I wanted to talk to you."

"What about?"

"Well…" She hesitated. "I think…I hurt Tangy yesterday. I didn't mean to! But gems like her—ugh, I'm saying this all wrong."

"It's alright," Crimson reassured her.

"It's not, I could tell I messed up, the way you reacted." Fruit Cup swallowed hard. "I-I really want to be a good rebel. That sounds weird, but you know what I mean, right? I don't want to be like my owner was."

"Yeah, I get what you mean," Crimson said softly.

"I'm sorry."

She shook her head. "You don't owe me any apologies for that. Tangy's the one who needs to hear it."

"I can't talk to her though," Fruit Cup said. "I just—I see her gem and how similar it is to mine, but she's off-color and it's…" She shivered involuntarily. "It's hard to look at."

"Fruit Cup—"

"And I don't want to be like Citrine!" she blurted out. "I don't want everyone to start hating me or thinking I hate them or any of that. Especially…Especially not Viri. I want to stop labeling gems like her as defective every time I look at them. That's possible, right?"

"Of course that's possible, Sweet Cup," Crimson said, coming around to kneel next to her instead. "I don't think it's the kind of change you can make instantly, but I do think you can make it. And nobody's going to hate you for needing more time to adjust."

"Still, do you think you could help me? Adjust faster?"

She hesitated. "I'd be happy to help you work through it, but can I make a suggestion?"

Fruit Cup nodded.

"I think it'd be good for Viri to be here too. I can understand why you're worried, but I think…I think she'd be more hurt if you never told her it's something you struggle with. Besides, she knows Tangy better than I do, so if you need insight into how to approach that, then she's probably a better choice."

"If you really think so," she agreed reluctantly.

"No, only if you think so," Crimson countered. "We can talk on our own if that's more comfortable."

Fruit Cup considered it for a moment. "I…I'd like to talk to Viri too. She's always really accepting of everybody, and I want to learn how to be like that."

"Okay," she said softly. "Wait here then, I'll go get her."

"Thanks."

"Hey, Peach Cup," Viri said fondly, giving Fruit Cup a hug as she came in. "Crimson says you want to have a super special family meeting?"

"I don't know if it's special…" Fruit Cup hugged her back, cheek pressed to Viri's gem. "And are we family?"

"Of course we are!" Viri replied. "We're all family, right, Crimson?"

Crimson nodded. The rebellion as a whole was, in some sense, a family like Steven talked about.

"Okay." Fruit Cup seemed to glow with an uncertain happiness as she stepped back. "Family," she repeated. "So, um, I wanted to ask you for some advice."

"Sure, what about?"

"About…gems like you?" Her eyes flicked to the elongated baroque gem on Viri's chest. "I have trouble seeing them the same way I do everybody else. I'm sorry. It's just something I always thought was bad, back when I was in service. And now I know it isn't, but it still…it doesn't feel normal yet." She bit her lip, waiting for Viri to say something.

"I think I get what you mean," she began slowly, giving her a warm smile. "I mean, I still think it's weird being around so many little circle gems."

"I don't think that's quite the same," Crimson said hesitantly.

Fruit Cup shook her head.

"Oh." Viri sat down. "Can you explain it then, please?"

"I-I don't want to hurt your feelings."

"I'll be okay."

"But…"

"Fruit Cup," Viri said firmly. "I want to understand. You said you needed advice, and I can't give it to you if you don't tell me what's wrong. It's okay, I promise."

"Alright." She gulped. "I guess it's a little bit like you," she tried. "Like yeah, it feels weird to be around gems that aren't what I'm used to. But it's not a fun kind of weird. It's…I just see 'defective' when I look at them, because that's what my owner would say. And I know she's not here—she could be shattered for all I know—but those thoughts are there anyway. They're my thoughts, not just hers, and I don't like it."

"I see." There was an echo of pain in Viri's eyes, but she didn't waver.

"And I want to unlearn that," Fruit Cup added hastily. "I really, really want to. I just don't know how."

"Hmm…" She patted Fruit Cup's ponytail as she thought. "I don't know. I don't really get the whole 'defective' thing. There's nothing wrong with them, you know? It seems right that unique Pearls have unique gems. Wouldn't Crimson be more help for something like this?" She looked to the other gem hopefully.

"I can try," Crimson said, "but I thought it might be good to get a different perspective."

"Ohhh."

"I'm sorry," Fruit Cup apologized again. "I know it's something I have to deal with on my own. But you said—you said it was okay to come to you guys if I need help getting used to the rebellion. And I want to get better at knowing when to ask for help too, so…that's what I'm doing."

"I'm glad," Crimson said warmly. "You are making progress, and you should be proud of that, even if there's more you need to work on."

"Thanks."

"And we definitely want to help!" Viri added. "Okay?"

"Okay." Fruit Cup smiled. "Maybe, um, you could tell me how you see gems? Gems that aren't little circles and whatnot?"

"I'd love to! Come here, come here, you need another hug."

She laughed, moving to sit closer to Viri, leaning against her comfortably.

"Okay," Viri began. "Well, you know that I used to live with a bunch of gems like me. Or, well, not like me, but everybody was different!"

Fruit Cup nodded.

"So I'm tall, and there was another gem who was really teeny tiny, and another one with extra arms, and another one with cool spiky things on her head, and another one who left super pretty nacre everywhere she touched." She smiled wistfully. "And our owner liked that we were so different. That's why she stole us."

"From other gems?" she asked, confused.

"Oh, no, just from the factory! She works there. And she didn't want us to get thrown out, so she brought us home, saying we were too pretty and special to waste."

"Then…what made you want to leave?"

"She liked our uniqueness as display pieces," Viri said softly. "As things to be looked at and hidden away from the rest of the world. That's not what I wanted, for me or for them. I just… I was the only one ready to leave."

"Oh," Fruit Cup said softly. "I'm sorry."

"No, no, it's for the best. I mean, if they wouldn't be happy here, then I don't want to force it." Viri hugged her a little closer. "But anyway, that's not what you were asking. I think part of why I wanted to leave was because our owner overlooked a lot of the things that made our uniqueness beautiful. In reality…I think there was something in her that wanted a 'perfect' Pearl too, no matter how much she liked collecting us."

"It is certainly the norm," Crimson murmured. "Stars, I was shocked to meet you for the first time."

"I remember," Viri laughed. "It was cute. And we were all super shocked to see you, just sneaking in out of nowhere."

She smiled. "That's my job."

"So—So what did you think about them at first?" Fruit Cup asked Crimson.

"Hmm…" She considered it for a moment. "I mean, mostly surprised. I wasn't sure how they could be real, just because you never see any real variation among Pearls besides color and quality." Crimson grimaced. "Perceived quality," she amended.

"Right."

"And yes, my first instinct was that they were 'wrong', in a sense. That's as much ingrained in me as it is anyone else. But it's, how do I put this?" Crimson hesitated. "I think the way I saw that prejudice was more from the angle of having gems tell me Pearls like me—my gem shape, my design—were correct. It wasn't necessarily that anyone outright said baroque Pearls are lesser, it was just implied."

"That makes sense," Fruit Cup said. "Just a different type of owner than mine."

"Yeah." She looked a little uneasy.

"But you don't react to baroque gems any differently," she murmured. "You treat them like everybody else."

"I've had a lot more time on my own than you have," she countered. "And I had Chroma right next to me, showing me that there isn't any real difference between gems like her and me and Silver."

"You should spend time with Chroma too!" Viri said encouragingly. "She's really sweet, and I'm sure she'd love to get to know you."

"I-I don't know," Fruit Cup stammered. "I don't want to accidentally hurt her. She's your friend."

"But if you stay away from everybody who's different, then won't they keep seeming different?" Viri ruffled Fruit Cup's ponytail. "Besides, you talk to me, and you haven't hurt me."

"You're…" She hesitated. "You're super different, so I think I tend to label you as a 'Viri' and not a baroque."

She laughed. "I'm a Viri? Well, that works! You should just look at everybody else like that too. Chroma's a Chroma, Tangy's a Tangy, and so on."

"It's not really that easy."

"Yeah, I guess not." Viri rubbed her back gently. "Well, how about on a smaller scale then? What if you find something small you can appreciate about their uniqueness? And then every time you see them, you can remind yourself about it, so you start to see the good before the bad, until it comes naturally to just see them as themselves."

Fruit Cup blinked up at her, wide-eyed. "I—Yeah. Yeah, I think I could do that."

"I know you can!" Viri said, smiling.

"Definitely," Crimson agreed. "You'll get there."

Once Viri and Fruit Cup had left her office, making their way to Earth for an impromptu fruit trip, Crimson headed for the training room. The first gem she saw when she entered was Pearl, practicing alone with her spear.

"Is Silver here?" Crimson asked hopefully.

"I'm afraid not," Pearl said, pausing and letting her spear rest against her shoulder. "Do you need her for something?"

"No, I was just hoping for a sparring match," she sighed. "Thanks anyway."

"Well, you could always spar with me," Pearl suggested before Crimson could leave.

"Uh…that might be a bit too much of a challenge for me today."

"I could go easy on you. Though…" Pearl frowned, coming closer. "You do look rather worn out. Perhaps it would be best to save the sparring for another day."

"I want to spar because I'm worn out," Crimson countered. "Emotionally worn out, that is."

"Ah, I see. You're a bit like Amethyst."

"Like Amethyst?"

"She finds it…comforting to take part in a type of human combat sport. It's a sport of entertainment more than technique." Pearl smiled. "I participated once and I must admit, it was more fun than I expected."

"Sounds like it would be," Crimson agreed. She raised her eyebrows. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure I've never seen you go easy on anyone, Renegade."

She laughed. "You might be right. Well, I think this place could do with a little cleaning, if you don't mind a different kind of physical activity."

"I could go for that. I know the swords could use some maintenance."

"Then it's a plan! Let me go ask Azalea for her sharpening stone and we'll begin."

"Okay." Crimson went to get all the weapons that had been left somewhat organized in various parts of the room, gathering them up and bringing them to the center.

Pearl returned quickly, setting down the sharpening stone and a few other supplies she'd gotten from Azalea. "Alright," she declared. "Have you done this before?"

"Yeah, but I wouldn't say I'm the best at it. We learned through trial and error…and there's a reason the training swords aren't sharp besides just being training swords." She grinned. "Azalea's got a good handle on it now, so we usually leave it to her."

"I see," she replied, amused. "Well, why don't you clean and I'll sharpen then?"

"Sounds good."

The two of them settled into an easy rhythm, and the repetitiveness of working with the swords was soothing in its own way, even if it wasn't the same as Crimson's spars with Silver.

"May I ask what's bothering you?" Pearl asked after a while. "If it'd help to discuss it?"

"Maybe," Crimson sighed. "Have you heard about what happened with Citrine?"

"Something about Lavender punching her clear across base in defense of Millie's honor, though I assume that's an exaggeration."

"Only in the strength of the punch," she replied with a faint smile. "Though I have to admit, I only have secondhand accounts too." She set the sword she was working on aside and picked up the next. "Anyway, it's that incident amongst other things. Things a bit less obvious than a fistfight. There's just still so much prejudice that we're all fighting, even if we don't have any other gem types here. Was it like this in your rebellion too?"

"Oh, of course it was," Pearl said. "Perhaps a different brand of prejudice than you're seeing here, but we had it all the same." She hummed thoughtfully. "Everyone wanted to work together, wanted to show Homeworld that they were wrong, but that doesn't keep you from making assumptions about everyone around you. Like if you need someone to fight, you're going to think of a Quartz first, that sort of thing. Rose always tried to soothe things over before they could escalate, but it didn't always work."

"What did she do to try and stop it?"

"I don't know that that's a task one gem can ever take on," she replied, eyes meeting Crimson's steadily. "Her belief was that all you can do is try to set a good example, aside from the obvious need to address situations like Lavender and Citrine's. Just remind everyone that this is something to be aware of, to actively work against."

"I guess I can do that. It just seems like I should do something more."

"I understand the feeling," Pearl said, "but these are private battles more than physical ones. It's more important that you just keep a feeling of cohesiveness in the group, make sure that the prejudices don't get in the way of your goals as best you can."

"Yeah, I'll try. Thanks."

"You're welcome. Anything else I can do?"

"No, no, that's good. I'll figure things out." Crimson smiled. "If there's any more punching, maybe I'll take you up on that sparring match next time."

"I look forward to it." Pearl paused. "Wait, no, I don't look forward to that! But the sparring part—well, you know what I mean."

"I do," she laughed. "But if you'd like to be in the audience, I suppose I could warp over and let you know."

"Instead of stopping the fight?"

"Fair point. I'll be responsible."

"I'm sure you will be."