"Chroma, you want to try some?"

Chroma eyed the unrecognizable glob of food on the plate Silver was holding out to her. It was meant to be some type of cookie, but it bore little to no resemblance to the picture that had accompanied the recipe. "I'll pass, thanks."

"C'mon, it tastes kind of okay."

"The look on your face a moment ago did not inspire confidence in 'kind of okay,'" Chroma laughed.

"It's the best one we've made so far," Crimson argued, smiling.

"I think I can be patient a while longer." She gave the plate a little push so Silver would take it away. "Aura, it might have been a little too ambitious to try making our own snacks for a tea party."

"Maybe, but it's still fun," she replied cheerfully. "Why don't the two of us take a turn next, while Crimson and Silver finish eating their creation?"

"Do we have to?" Silver asked, wrinkling her nose.

"I'll eat it," Crimson volunteered, scraping the rest out of the pan and onto her plate. "I don't know what you're talking about, it has an interesting flavor."

"Interesting's accurate," Silver said. "But maybe not edible interesting."

"More for me then."

Silver laughed silently, dropping the last bit of her cookie onto Crimson's pile as well. "All yours. You know, I didn't expect this to be your kind of thing."

"What, eating?"

"Yeah. It's cute though." She smiled fondly. "Even if we're all really bad at making the food."

"I'm telling you, it's really not that bad," Crimson protested. "Maybe you just got a bad section."

"I mean this in the nicest way possible," Aura said gently, "but it was all a bad section. It was fun watching you make it together though!"

"It was," she acquiesced. "I'd like to do it again sometime."

"Definitely."

"We'll make it good enough for Chroma to eat some next time," Silver teased.

"You might need more practice than that," Chroma returned, giving Silver's shoulder a gentle shove. "Anyway, what would you like to make, Aura?"

"Hmm…maybe these 'petit fours'? They look so cute." She pulled up an image on the screen she'd borrowed from the comms room. "Or is it too complicated for our first time?"

Chroma stared at it for a moment. "It's certainly…intricate. Let's give it a shot though, we won't know until we try."

"Yay!" Aura clapped her hands together excitedly. "Is that okay with you, Crimson? They might take longer than the last recipe, I'm not sure."

"It's fine, I haven't got anything specific on my schedule except for Peridot's visit this afternoon. And Sky very sweetly stole my paperwork I was doing, so…"

"I knew I liked her," Chroma laughed. "We'll have to recruit her next time we're trying to get you to relax."

"Don't go starting a mutiny," Crimson said with a smile. "I do need to get my work done, you know, or this rebellion will go from halfway organized to not organized at all."

"Oh, come on, you keep us at least three-quarters organized."

"On a good day maybe." She finished off the chunk of cookie she'd been munching on. "Anyway, Aura, you're alright with Peridot visiting, right?"

"You already asked me," Aura said distractedly, trying to make sure she had all the ingredients they needed. "I'm okay, I promise. If you were inviting Quartzes over for tea, I'd probably need to make myself scarce, but Peridot isn't a Quartz. And even if she was, it'd be okay. I'm already okay being around Amethyst, even if I still get jumpy…"

"I know. You've been making good progress." Crimson reached over to brush her fingers down Aura's arm reassuringly. "I just want to be sure we're not rushing things. For you or for the rest of the rebellion."

"I think everyone will be okay." Aura smiled. "It's not so different from having the other Crystal Gems here, is it?"

"It's a little different," Chroma pointed out. "She's not visibly 'defective' like the other Crystal Gems would be considered."

"Ohh, that's true."

"Do you think that matters?" Crimson asked. "I hadn't thought about it that way, just as having another gem type here."

"I don't think it matters a lot," Chroma said quickly. "I just think it'll be something that takes getting used to. Speaking of, have you told Viri she's coming? Her owner was a Peridot, so—"

"Stars, you're right, I should do that," Crimson realized. "Sorry, do you mind if I duck out for a few minutes? I'll come right back."

"Go ahead! We'll wait for you."

"Thanks."

A little while later, once Crimson had talked with everyone she could think needed to know about Peridot's visit right away and Chroma had tasted at least three objectionable food items for the sake of love, she and Aura headed out to meet their guest at the warp pad.

"Hello!" Aura said as the light faded from around Peridot and Yellow, who had gone to get the other Crystal Gem from Earth. "Welcome to the rebellion."

"Aureate, Chroma," Peridot greeted them. "I honor your service."

"I honor your bravery," Aura said softly, Chroma echoing her. It did feel a little strange to say that to a gem who, by Homeworld standards, had no apparent flaw beyond her disobedience. "Please, come in. We'd be happy to show you around."

"That's not necessary. The completion of the enhancers is our first priority, correct?"

"Well, yes," Chroma said awkwardly, "but it's not as if it's a time-sensitive project."

"That's Peridot's way of saying she's excited to get to work on them," Yellow said dryly. "It's fine, you can give her the tour later."

"Oh, okay," Aura laughed. "That's fine too. Let me walk you over to where the communications room is then. It's a nice big space, so there'll be plenty of room for the three of you to sit and talk comfortably."

"An excellent arrangement then," Peridot agreed. Her eyes were wide behind her visor as she took in her surroundings on the way out of the training room. "I expected this place to be busier," she commented, "considering your numbers."

"Oh, um…" Aura glanced over at Chroma.

"Having new visitors can make gems a bit skittish," she explained politely. "Please don't take it personally, I'm sure everyone will adjust soon enough."

"Ah."

"We set you up just over here." Aura showed her into one of the communications room's two doors. "Don't worry about disturbing our work, Millie and I will relocate to the common room for a bit if we need to. We figured it was more important for you to be able to call Pearl if needed. Would you like me to show you how to use the computer?"

"I am quite familiar with the equipment…though it appears to have been modified heavily."

"I'll fill her in on anything unusual," Chroma said.

"Okay, sounds good." Aura smiled, then turned when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. "Oh, hi, Millie! We were just—"

"Excuse me, Aura, would you mind coming over here for a moment?" Millie had stopped right in the doorway, quickly taking in all the gems in the room.

"Um, sure?" Aura headed over to her, confused when Millie guided her to keep walking out the door the pink Pearl had just come in. "Is something the matter?"

"Not for long." Millie closed the door between them before Aura could respond, then strode briskly over to Peridot and grabbed her by the collar.

"What are you—"

Millie's heel collided with Peridot in an instant, and the smaller gem was flung nearly all the way out the other door with the force of the kick.

"Chamomile!" Chroma exclaimed. "You can't do that!"

"I just did."

"Why?"

"She's a Peridot."

"I don't see how that gives you the right to assault me!" Peridot protested, grimacing as she sat up from where she'd fallen.

"Oh my stars, what happened?" Aura came over to peek in the open door. "Peridot? Are you okay?"

"I was just fine before this one decided to launch a surprise attack! Is this your idea of training here?"

"Definitely not," Chroma assured her.

"Don't take it personally," Yellow told her. "Millie enjoys jumping to conclusions."

"Here, take this," Aura offered, taking a small vial of healing tears out of her gem to give to Peridot. "I'm so sorry, I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding."

"Hey," Crimson said breathlessly, rushing in behind Aura. She had clearly sprinted the short distance from her office. "What's all the noise about? Everyone okay?"

"Recovering," Peridot muttered. She handed Aura the vial of tears back. "These are unnecessary. Thank you."

"If you're sure." Aura glanced up at Crimson. "So, um, I think Millie hit Peridot…"

"Kicked her," Chroma clarified.

"I told Aura to leave first," Millie said.

"You don't get bonus points for that!" Crimson told her.

"She might get a few bonus points for that," Chroma amended.

"Well, they immediately get revoked for attacking our guest!"

"Since when do we have Peridots as guests?" Millie asked, wrinkling her nose.

"Since today!"

"Maybe you should make such a terrible policy known."

"If I'd known you had such strong feelings about it, I would have." Crimson took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "Millie, please just apologize. And if we can agree not to verbally or physically attack every gem that seems vaguely similar to someone you didn't like…"

"It's hardly a vague resemblance," she muttered. "But fine," she added when Aura shot her a gentle but surprisingly stern look. "I won't attack anybody until I know for certain who they are."

"Is that really an improvement?" Yellow asked under her breath.

"I still don't really understand what happened," Chroma said. "I thought you knew she would be here today."

"I most definitely did not know that," Millie said.

"Aura didn't tell you?"

"No," Aura said, "I thought you'd told her."

"Oh. Well." Chroma sighed. "Our mistake then. But either way, I don't think it warrants that much hostility, does it?"

"Have you met Peridots?" Millie retorted.

"Since we're a rebellion that prefers not to generalize based on gem type," Crimson said firmly, "I don't think it matters whether you've met one Peridot or a hundred. Millie, please go apologize and introduce yourself."

"…Fine." Millie walked over, heels clacking smartly with each step. She leaned down, squinting slightly as she tilted her head. "I remember you being a lot taller," she mused.

"You just kicked me and you didn't notice that?"

"Well, yes, from afar you still looked big."

"Less insulting, more apologizing, Millie," Crimson said calmly.

"You never told me to apologize to Yellow."

"I did tell you, you just ignored me."

Millie proceeded to ignore her complaint, turning back to Peridot. "I'm sorry for kicking you." It was carefully neutral, so no one could accuse her of not meaning it.

"You're forgiven. Possibly."

"Fine by me. Aura, shall we reconvene our tea somewhere else today?"

"Hold up," Crimson said. "Not so fast, I still want to talk to you on your own. I'll send her back your way when we're done, Aura."

"Okay! I'll pick out some tea cups then. Oh, and the four of us made snacks earlier, if you want to try any."

"You might not want to," Crimson advised Millie before she could say anything. "We still need a lot of practice."

"But they're made with love," Aura argued. "You can tell! How about I bring some, and then you can decide after you've seen them?"

"Alright," Millie said agreeably. "I'll give Crimson five minutes to lecture me and then I'll help you move things over to the common room."

"Okay!"

"Thank you for your generosity," Crimson said sarcastically, giving Millie a gentle push towards the door. "I'll make sure to keep it short." She paused, glancing back at Peridot. "I really am sorry for the trouble, I hope we haven't made too terrible of a first impression."

"I've had worse."

"That gem ought to come with a warning label," Yellow muttered as they left. "Anyway, let's get back to work."

"That is what I came here for. You know, I'm beginning to think I should have listened to Lapis and stayed on Earth for my own safety."

"Considering the dangers that the Crystal Gems seem to face on a regular basis, I'm not sure there's much difference."

"…Fair enough."

"Viriiiii," Nutmeg called. She gave the other gem's doorbell a few more rings, just about prepared to put in the room code and go inside on her own when the door slid open.

"Hi, Nutmeg. Sorry, I was taking a nap."

"Oh, oops. Sorry." Nutmeg let her necklace settle back into place, the enhancers going still. "You don't usually take naps."

"Well…it's complicated."

"Naps are complicated?" Nutmeg teased. "Or, wait, have you got another gem in there? I can get outta here if you're—"

"No, no, I was really just sleeping," Viri laughed. "I'm not even dating anyone right now, remember?"

"You could've started dating someone," she countered.

"I'll tell you when I do." She gave Nutmeg's hair a gentle ruffle. "Want to come in?"

"No, I was ringing your doorbell because I wanted to stay outside!"

"Well, there's no doubt you're awake," Viri said lightly, smiling and stepping aside for Nutmeg to wheel herself in. "Did you want to talk about something?"

"Not really, I was just wondering where you went. There's a new gem on base, did you hear?"

"Peridot, you mean?"

Nutmeg nodded. "I thought I'd go see her to talk about my enhancers and everything. I've never seen a Peridot before! Have you?"

"My owner was one, actually," Viri said with a slightly uncomfortable shrug.

"It wasn't this one, was it?"

"No, definitely not," she said quickly. "I'm just not sure I've really…processed everything enough to see her? So I thought I'd take a nap to get my mind off things."

"Ohh, gotcha." Nutmeg had no point of reference for this kind of thing. Honestly, it was still weird to think about the fact that all the Pearls around her had at one point been owned by other gems. She couldn't imagine it. Everyone was so distinctly themselves, and surely they'd always been like that, right? How could they have quietly accepted being owned for so long? "You don't talk about before," she said. It seemed like a safe enough observation—she didn't want to make Viri feel any worse.

"Not often," she said softly. "It's hard to think about the gems I left behind."

"Why hasn't the rebellion gone to get them?"

"They didn't want to come. And…it'd be difficult, for lots of reasons, even if they'd said yes."

Nutmeg felt a pang of guilt, sure she'd asked too much.

"It's okay," Viri said, catching her expression. "Really. That part, I've had time to come to terms with it. Though I do hope they can come live with us someday." She smiled sadly. "They'd love to meet you. We were all really different, but nobody had a flame-shaped gem like yours."

"I hope I get to meet them too then," Nutmeg said earnestly.

"Yeah." She sat carefully on Nutmeg's lap to give her a hug. "Tell you what, why don't we go see Peridot together?"

"Really?"

"Mm-hm. She'll have worn enhancers before, right? Maybe you can get some tips."

"That's what I was thinking. Yellow said all the Peridots wear enhancers, isn't that weird? I mean, not weird, 'cause I'll be wearing them too, but you know. Everybody just automatically wearing the same thing? I don't get it."

"Homeworld's not very creative, is it?" Viri said with a wink.

"Not at all." Nutmeg smiled, happy to see that Viri was beginning to cheer up. "So you're ready to go now?"

"Yeah, all set." She started to get up off Nutmeg's lap, but the other gem pulled her back down.

"You can stay, I'll drive!"

It didn't take Nutmeg long to get them over to the common room, where Peridot and Yellow had relocated after Aura interrupted their brainstorming to give Peridot her quick tour. Now, the green gem was sketching out various ideas on paper.

"Ah, you must be Nutmeg," she exclaimed when she caught sight of them. "Come over here and take a look at this."

"Sure!" She rolled up next to Yellow, picking Viri halfway off her lap and then letting the bigger gem hop out of her arms. "What's up? Also hi! You're Peridot, huh?"

"I am. Hello." She held out her hand for Nutmeg to shake. "And you are?" she asked Viri.

"Viridian, Viri for short," she said with a little wave. "I'm just tagging along with Nutmeg, feel free to work on whatever you need to."

"Thanks." Peridot moved her papers over so Nutmeg could see. "We've been discussing the design aspects. Typically, Homeworld creates enhancers like this." She pointed to a picture that closely resembled the ones Peridots wore. "However, since we have the freedom to pick something different depending on your preference, I also wanted to present you with various other options."

"Oh, good. No offense, but these ones look kind of clunky."

"None taken," she said dismissively, taking the paper back. "In that case, what type of functionality are you interested in?"

"Hmm…flying?" Nutmeg suggested.

Yellow raised her eyebrows. "Flying?"

"Well, yeah. That seems more exciting then walking, doesn't it?"

"Exciting isn't exactly the goal here."

"But if it can be functional and exciting, that's even better, right?" Nutmeg grinned. "So can we?"

"Of course we can," Peridot answered before Yellow could say anything. "My enhancers actually included a flight function as well."

"Really?"

"Yes, using the arm enhancers. But here," she continued, "you'll want something more aerodynamic, I'm assuming. Let's see…"

Nutmeg watched with rapt attention as Peridot began sketching out a few different ideas.

"We can keep the metal casing closer to your legs," Peridot mused. "Something like this?"

"It might be better to split it up into separate pieces," Yellow suggested. "With space between the upper and lower leg so that we don't need to worry about making a joint. And it'll give her more flexibility."

"Good idea. More like this then." She amended the drawing after a rather energetic erasing. "Upper leg, lower leg, and something on the foot? You'll need to be able to move that too, but perhaps a shoe-like structure, something streamlined so it can hold the components necessary to allow for flight."

"And some kind of precision controls," Yellow said quickly. "You'll be indoors most of the time, so you can't have just raw power."

"I'll take power too," Nutmeg said brightly.

"I'm sure you would."

"You'll still want walking functionality, I assume?" Peridot added. "It might be difficult to balance the two without some trial and error, because it'll depend on how much mobility you're able to attain with any given design."

"I don't mind trying a bunch of things," Nutmeg replied easily. "I'll test out anything you want."

"We'll get started on building soon then," Yellow said with a half-smile. "We can make some basic prototypes to start to narrow down which direction to take it."

"Do you have enough parts for that?" Viri asked curiously. "Should I ask Crimson to put together some more scavenging missions?"

"No, we'll be fine for now," she said. "The rejects can just get melted down and reused, it won't be a problem."

"Okay! If you do need anything, don't be afraid to speak up, okay? I want to make sure Nutmeg gets the absolute best enhancers she can."

"We will," Yellow assured her. "We want to make sure we get it right too."

"Thanks."

"I don't like this," Mercury muttered. She'd dragged Cyan away from the strategy room so they could keep an eye on things.

"She's a Crystal Gem," Cyan pointed out smoothly, hardly looking up from the notes she was making. "If Blue and the others trust her, we're safe to as well."

"Not that," she argued, waving her hand dismissively. "The luck thing."

Cyan raised her head, following Mercury's gaze across the room to Clover. "Are you still on about that? I thought we'd decided to wait and see how it comes into play in the future."

"You decided that. I'm still trying to figure out how to calculate the interference of luck into our plans."

"I don't think that's possible. Besides, it'd be good interference."

"Good or bad, it's still bound to change how we have to do things. That can be dangerous, regardless of how lucky the change is."

"Well, it's not something we can test ahead of time. We have to see what happens in the moment."

"And you feel comfortable sending Pearls out with her to test that out?"

"I wasn't planning on sending her to confront the Diamonds," Cyan laughed. "At most, I'd ask her to go with Violet on a scavenging mission. And Chroma, I suppose, if the robonoid-crashing thing holds true. Oh, that reminds me, we need to ask Clover if she's able to store things in her gem, along with other gem abilities." She scribbled down a note, then looked back up. "Anyway, there's nothing we can do about Clover's luck until we've done more research. Peridot is the more pressing concern, don't you think?"

"You just said you weren't worried about her," Mercury said irritably.

"I'm not worried about her as a gem, I'm worried about how empty the common room got not long after she came in."

"Ah." Mercury looked around. "I suppose it did."

"Would it kill you to say I'm right?"

"Most definitely." Mercury refocused her attention on the papers in front of her. "Anyway, what do you expect? Even if everyone's starting to get used to having Amethyst and Garnet around, that doesn't mean they're going to immediately accept every new non-Pearl gem that comes through."

"Hmm." Cyan scanned the room again. "Is that why you wanted to come in here? It bothers you and Tin too?"

"I'm here as a strategist," she snapped.

Cyan just looked at her.

"…Look, Tin and I didn't get out much," she muttered. "Plenty of fancy court functions, sure, but there weren't any Peridots at those. I wanted to observe one for myself."

"Fair enough," she replied with a faint smile. "And Tin?"

"Tin's better at reading a room than I am, so she probably took her storytelling group somewhere else when she realized they wouldn't be comfortable here."

"That sounds like her." After a small pause, Cyan added, "So you wouldn't be opposed to having more non-Pearl gems in the rebellion?"

"What, that idea Crimson's been floating here and there?"

"Yeah."

"I'm opposed to trying for that right now. We don't have any safe way to reach out to other gems."

"But as a whole?"

"As a whole, I will reluctantly concede that this rebellion stands a much higher chance of not getting shattered if it expands to include gems who come pre-programmed with fighting skills."

"Not how I would have put it, but I see your point."

"I'll count that as a victory then." Mercury leaned against the armrest of the chair, the gem on the side of her head resting against her hand. "And you? What do you think?"

Cyan considered it for a moment, tapping her pen lightly against the paper. "It's definitely a valid possibility, but the gems in question would need to be monitored at first. The Crystal Gems weren't a Pearl-led rebellion, so we'd be in new territory."

"True. We should put together a plan for when it does happen, because it will sooner or later and we might as well be prepared."

"Sounds good. We should be able to fit it in tomorrow, if we don't argue for too long about the other missions."

"I refuse to agree to anything before I've seen what questionable strategies you've come up with."

"Same here," Cyan said with a smirk. "Speaking of, you might benefit from actually working instead of staring at Clover."

"I'm multitasking."

"Have fun then. I'm nearly done."

"Speed is far less important than quality."

"I'll be sure to tell Tin that when she comes around asking why you haven't come to bed yet."

Nutmeg had quickly gotten caught up in planning out what kind of enhancers she wanted to try, so Viri moved over to another part of the room to talk to Coffee and Clover instead. The smaller gem was quick to fill her in on the "luck research" they'd done, as well as what had shown up on Pearl's scan of her gem.

"Are you serious? You really have a flower inside your gem?"

"Well, Pearl said it's a seed, but that's where flowers come from, so yes!" Clover met Viri's enthusiasm with her own.

"You're so lucky!" Viri ran her fingers over Clover's gem again, delighted. "I wish I had one too. Maybe I should have Pearl scan me."

"A scan would be unlikely to find anything, considering how your gem is formed," Coffee pointed out politely.

"Yeah, you're right, but it can't hurt to check!" Her other hand moved to her own gem, tracing the shape of it proudly. "So what kind of flower is yours, Clover? Is it like an actual clover?"

"It might be something similar," she said brightly. "She said it's probably not possible to tell, since my gem is all wrapped around it. We just know it's a plant."

"Likely some contaminant that entered when she was being made," Coffee added with a smile. "Though it's hard to determine if that's the cause of her luck or a lucky thing that happened to her to make her the Clover she is today."

"Either way, I'm really happy you are," Viri said warmly. "Both of you."

"Thanks."

"Maybe some of our new friends will be like you too," she continued thoughtfully.

"New friends?"

"Oh, I guess we hadn't really told you yet! We have some Pearls that we stole from the factory where everyone gets made. They're nearly finished growing, Pearl says they could come out any day now."

"That's wonderful," Clover replied. "Will you tell us when they do so we can meet them?"

"Definitely! I really hope it'll be soon…" Viri pulled her legs in to sit cross-legged. "They're mostly little round Pearls, but there's a couple like us too."

"Really?"

"Mm-hm! They're safe and sound, growing like everybody else. I was really scared at first because, well, usually they try to get rid of those gems, you know? But I guess they don't do that part until later, so I'm glad we could save them."

Clover scooted closer, giving Viri a tight hug. "We'll make sure they get to have lives full of happiness, just like us."

"Yeah. Yeah, we will." She blinked back the small tears threatening to form in the corners of her eyes. "Definitely."