A/N: Apologies for any potential typos, this chapter is hot off the press! I also think I just accidentally created a subplot. o.O Either way, enjoy!
"Where have you two been?" asks Apatite the next day, glancing up from the chess game Citrine and Tourmaline are playing one on of the rec room's larger benches. She sounds angry, which causes Tourmaline and Citrine to look up from their game, but Sapphire knows her well enough at this point to understand her tone is actually one of concern. "We didn't see you at all yesterday!"
It's Citrine who realizes first. "You ran into the Supervisor-ruby, didn't you?" she says, but it's not really a question. It's also directed at Ruby, and not Sapphire.
Citrine's changed her outfit, Sapphire notes. It's much closer to what she was wearing when Sapphire first met her, a form fitting halter top and comfortable looking harem pants. It suits her better, Sapphire thinks. Feels more genuinely Citrine. Also, the gem set into the upper part of her right arm looks more like it's being put on display than it used to. Good for her, changing things up again.
Sapphire glances at Ruby. How much of the incident is she going to talk about in front of their friends?
"She was tromping about like she owned the place," says Ruby gruffly. "I found her face personally offensive."
That's not an inaccurate statement, technically.
Citrine sighs like she hadn't wanted this to be the case, but suspected it would be anyway. "You would."
"Please tell me you poofed her, and then tell me how you did it." Of course Tourmaline would jump straight to the violence. One of these days, Sapphire would have to remember to ask Ruby just what Tourmaline's preoccupation was about.
"She tossed Talc across the rec center to demonstrate how effortless it was, and then laughed when she poofed upon impact. It was disgusting," says Apatite with a scowl and crossed arms. She glances with some concern at the small, round talc with big shining eyes halfway across the rec center. Talc is in a circle of her sisters, speaking animatedly. She doesn't appear to have taken any long lasting damage.
"You did poof her, right?" says Tourmaline.
"We don't know what kind of connections she has," Sapphire says, taking a seat on the end of the bench next to Apatite. "So that didn't seem prudent at the time. We did, however, knock her unconscious."
"You know what? I think that's good enough for me."
"None of the regular Unit 6 Supervisors bother us in the recreation facility," says Citrine. She twists around to get a better look at her. "Sapphire, could you tell which Containment Unit this one was from?"
"Unit 3."
"I… actually haven't heard much about Unit 3," Apatite admits. "Why is that?"
"Because even those who are fortunate enough to leave the Unit are still too scared to talk about it," Sapphire replies. "Gems there are subjected to a deliberate and systematic suppression of will and spirit by the Supervisors. Those who resist are publically cracked and/or humiliated."
Her friends grimace, but Sapphire cannot tell if it is from sympathy or the toneless way she's relayed the information.
"That happened to you?" asks Tourmaline.
"Not precisely."
That is apparently the wrong thing to say, because Tourmaline is more intrigued than ever. She leans around Apatite, green face alight with interest. "Were they not allowed to bother you there either?"
"That depends on your definition of the term, something the Supervisors in Unit 3 are quite good about interpreting in their favor."
Something about the way Sapphire says it causes even Tourmaline to shudder and let the subject go, which is fortunate because Sapphire's time in Unit 3 is not something she likes to think about, much less talk about.
"It sounds like this Supervisor follows the Unit 3 standard everywhere she goes," Citrine muses. "And she's high enough in rank that she can probably influence the staff here, if she stays long enough."
"She won't, fortunately," Sapphire says. "She will be leaving tomorrow."
"That reminds me," Ruby says. "Does anyone know why that stuck up meathead is here to begin with?"
Apatite shakes her head as her arms uncross and fall into her lap. "We were hoping you two had found out something, because nobody here has any clue."
"Do you think it's because…?" Citrine doesn't finish her sentence, but she gives a meaningful look to Sapphire and Ruby, and then her eyes flick to the door to the rec center. No verbalization of her question is required.
"It's possible," Sapphire says.
"But she didn't have any idea who we were," Ruby points out. She begins to pace, and her hands make big gestures as she speaks. She's becoming frustrated with the lack of obvious connections. "If the staff here was going to whine about inmates, they're not going to be ambiguous about it. If this were about us causing trouble, she would have found us straight out."
"And we know there weren't any scheduled inspections, either," says Apatite. "So if not that, and not you two, then why is she here at all?"
"Have you noticed the way the other Supervisors act around her?" asks Sapphire.
Citrine raises an eyebrow. "Besides the usual rank-reverence, you mean?"
"What else would she mean?" says Ruby without pausing in her pacing.
Citrine flinches at Ruby's tone, though it's obviously not directed at her as much as the situation in general.
"If the Supervisors are scared of her, then it's likely that she's here because of something they did," says Sapphire, ignoring Ruby's snark. "If they only show the usual reverence they feel she is owed because of her rank, but are otherwise relaxed, then she's likely here because of something the inmates have done. Ruby and I are less likely to see these things, but being on the general roster gives you three more exposure to them. Anything you've noticed could be useful."
There is a pause as their friends think on it, raking through the events of the last two days for any details that could be useful.
Finally Apatite shakes her head. "I can't think of anything that's felt out of the ordinary."
"Me neither," Tourmaline says.
"That's a sign it's probably because of us, isn't it?" says Citrine.
"Well, aside from her casual abuse of the inmates—something she would be doing anyway—there doesn't seem to be anything in particular that this ruby is doing or looking for," says Sapphire. "It could be that she has the rank to scope out Containment Units she's thinking of transferring to."
"Oh no!" exclaims Ruby. She stops and waves both arms as if to push clouds of smoke out of her face. "That is not happening. She can't be transferred here if I'm already here, because rubies just don't get along with each other. That's a fact and everyone knows it!"
"If she does, it will probably be to a position and cohort that has very little to do with you or any other rubies in this Unit," Sapphire says reasonably.
"That isn't going to stop us from running into each other in the halls, though!"
"Err, Sapphire? Can't you, uh, tell whether or not this is something we even need to be freaking out about?" asks Apatite somewhat hesitantly. She taps her temple for emphasis.
"Not yet," Sapphire replies. "There is a pivotal event or decision that hasn't happened yet, and because of that the probability of this particular Supervisor returning, and the circumstances in which she does it, are all the same. Because I don't know enough about her motivations or the situation, I cannot presently predict which scenario is most likely to occur despite that."
"Oh," says Tourmaline faintly. She tucks some of her pink-streaked hair behind her ear. "You know, you make it sound so easy, but that's way more complex than I always imagined."
"So we don't know anything more than we did at the beginning of this conversation," Citrine says, leaning her elbow on the table and looking disappointed. The orange gem on her upper arm glints in the rec center lights.
"I really hope that she doesn't transfer in," Apatite says. She's not trying to hide her distress. She curls in slightly and hugs at herself. "Can you imagine what this place might become if she decides the way things are run here needs to change? She's got the rank to make it happen—that may even be why she's scoping us out to begin with! Her aim could be to turn us into the next Unit 3."
"It's possible," Sapphire says. "It's also possible that we never see her again."
"Oh yeah?" says Ruby, rounding on her. Her hands are on her hips and her voice still rough from the idea of having to deal with that ruby on a semi-regular basis—on having to see her again at all. "And what are the odds of that happening, Sapphire?"
Sapphire glances at the concerned looks on her friends' faces before turning to her partner. The thought of making the probability sound promising does admittedly occur to her, but in the end she just says, "About as likely as anything else."