Yellow Diamond
Having already shut down every warp pad available on homeworld the first chance she got after receiving permission from White Diamond, Yellow Diamond followed her next course of action by pulling the full authority given to her; her next immediate order was commanding every shuttle pad, ship and everything involving space travel to be shut down.
And to make sure no gem could escape by some slim chance, Yellow commanded her Fleet Admiral Gem to surround the planet with a blockade of ships; from low orbit to every other measure, one would be hard pressed to not see Homeworld's sky without a noticeable fleet of ships.
With no chance of any gem making a slight chance of slipping through her fingers, much less with the planet locked down, Yellow Diamond followed up with sending a team of gem investigators to the Pink Palace to figure out the full scope of what had happened from the viewpoint of Pink Diamond's court; while that process was going on, Yellow also sent a cleanup team to inspect and repair the damage done to the Pink Palace as well as the hole drilled into the surface by the Yooperlites.
At present, Yellow Diamond sat within her office, various dataslates strewn across her desk that all compiled reports and data of the day prior. As Yellow Diamond reached over her desk to grab another report, she set aside the one she had in hand after quickly skimming passed all the praise and titles the gems under her command would shower the reports with, as well as the undeserved grandstanding of the gems' attempts of putting themselves on a pedestal.
"Ugh." Yellow Diamond looked up with an annoyed frown, and placed the dataslate down, "Another report filled with a whole paragraph of praises…" she then made a sharp look over down at her Pearl who was in the process of typing into her stone monitor…she really should update her pearl's entire workspaces. That monitor in itself was five centuries old, all it was really doing now was hindering her Pearl with whatever task she put on her.
"Pearl." Yellow Diamond commanded, earning the attention of said Yellow Pearl as the tiny gem ceased her actions and stood up to salute her Diamond with an eager expression.
"Yes my Diamond!?" Yellow Pearl awaited her Diamond to speak after she gave Yellow Diamond her undivided attention.
Yellow Diamond picked up one of the dataslates before looking back down at her Yellow Pearl, "Once you are done going through the Pink Palace's reports, I need you to send a statement to all of my gems that are of substantial status, do not, under any circumstance, waste my time with paragraphs of praises, just give one title and move on with the report!" she dictated to her pearl.
"Oh! Yes Ma'am!" Yellow Pearl agreed to her Diamond's command, before sitting back down to begin typing out the message to all gems under Yellow Diamond's message to all her gems.
"And another thing." Yellow Diamond interrupted Yellow Pearl's attention for a moment as her Pearl looked up at her Diamond in mid typing, "How old is that monitor? I do not recall updating your devices for a good five hundred years…" Yellow Diamond mused while palming her chin in thought.
"Hm?" Yellow Pearl removed her hands from her stone monitor while looking up at her Diamond, before glancing down at her monitor in question that was among the various devices her Diamond gave to her, "Oh, um, I believe you gave me this monitor from the Haxon series of monitors from about eight hundred years ago, right after the Juxtan monitors became obsolete by twelve hundred years." Yellow Pearl answered her Diamond without missing a beat, and looked back up at her Diamond.
"I see…." Yellow Diamond mused with furrowed brows, before leaning forward to grab something from her desk and picked up a large holoslate for her stature, "I'll have to update all of your devices, if you're that far behind with gem tech" Yellow Diamond explained with an annoyed look on her face.
"My Diamond!?" Yellow Pearl raised her brows in surprise at her Diamond's focus on her amid all the investigations, "I.. oh dear. Um…"
With a sharp look from Yellow Diamond as she typed into a keyboard on her desk, while a holomonitor was erected up on it to show her work, "What is it? If I am to have you work at an efficient pace, I will not have you hindered by obsolete tech. We're already on the Kolex models, and yet you still have your old Hexon monitor, and that's not even to speak of the other devices you have that are outdated…"
Unsure why her Diamond was fixated on her all of a sudden, Yellow Pearl ask her diamond with a respectful but curious tone, "My Diamond, pardon my rudeness, but…" she made a wincing look, before continuing further after seeing Yellow Diamond straight look at her, meaning she had better say what she wanted or silence herself. "What does this have to do with the investigation?" she asked finally.
With a flat but annoyed look as she looked forward off into space, Yellow diamond crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, "Pearl, I'll ask you this instead, when was the last time we even bothered to have the entire Empire update all within its boundaries?"
"Oh. oh stars…" Yellow Pearl furrowed her brow, before looking up at her Diamond with a questioning look, "Um, last I remember, the entire Empire at large had updated everything within a time frame of at least ten years, give or take, it was in Era One…before…well…." Yellow Pearl nervously gulped while poking her fingers.
Yellow Diamond's facial expression tightened a bit while staring forward with a straight look at what her pearl was alluding to, but refused to elaborate further before she spoke, "It has been a very tumultuous time within a span of a few thousand years…" she bit out with some anger in her tone, while narrowing her eyes a bit.
She then glanced through the big gaping hole in her office that she had caused in her anger. It was one of the reasons Diamonds had to control their emotions, to a certain degree. Blue had her problems of being overly emotive to the point of unknowingly allowing her aura to affect others…
White was…well…herself as usual, a very callous Diamond behind the veneer of what gem society saw her as. An overly 'expressive' Diamond that could control every gem without a care nor trouble.
Even a Diamond.
Yellow Diamond's face soured at the thought of White Diamond and her ability to supersede her ego over her other Diamonds. She experienced it, Blue experienced it, even Pink experienced it.
At the train of thought leading to Pink and Emotions, Yellow allowed her lip to curl while her face tightened a bit more, before relaxing as she turned to look out through the gaping hole in her office to look off into the distance where the Pink Palace stood. Pink was the youngest out of all of them, thus she was more prone to letting her emotions get the better of her.
Her former Pink Pearl, now under the control of White was evidence of that, and that was just the tip of the rock concerning the late Pink Diamond.
Yellow Diamond idly tapped her finger against her arm as she stewed over her thoughts while standing not far from the hole in her wall; it wouldn't do to think too much about Pink anymore, as it led to too many what ifs, why's, how's, and so many more questions.
Ceasing her tapping of her finger against her arm while her arms were still crossed, Yellow released an annoyed sigh. 'I would almost find it cute, if not insulting, if My little Citrine thought I didn't know any better…' Yellow mentally said to herself while her thoughts persisted around the tragedy that was Pink's shattering.
Her Commander hid her actions well, but not well enough. Privately investigating Pink's demise and everything that surrounded it.
She would have called her commander to cease her actions, if weren't for the fact that none of the private investigations her little Citrine has does, has hindered her main priorities that she had her do across gem-space.
If anything, her Citrine gem was more likely doing it as a side project…something to do during downtime…
"Hm…" Yellow Diamond hummed in thought as she relaxed her arms down and folded them behind her back as she inspected the hole of her office, an idle thought of how much she enjoyed the open air coming into her office alongside the view of Homeworld's capital.
Perhaps she should add in to the list of having an open balcony for her office, to the eventual restructuring and remodeling of the Yellow Palace to her Morganite.
With that thought aside however, Yellow Diamond's thoughts went back to her Citrine gem as she glanced off in the direction of the Pink Palace once more. Her commander had went to the palace under the guise of letting Pink's various gems to finally get to see what the palace looked like inside; it was almost amusing that her Citrine gem hid her actions behind other actions.
So far, the Citrine commander of hers had yet to slack off in any of her duties while letting her 'personal investigation' slip in through. Perhaps she should have her finally reveal her hand and tell the gem to divulge all that she found.
Maybe then, she'd get some closure for Pink…
Releasing another tired sigh, Yellow diamond unfolded her arms and walked back to her desk and picked up a dataslate, "Pearl, finish those two last reports on your desk, and meet me at Blue's Palace." she instructed her Pearl, before walking off with the object in hand.
Yellow Pearl blinked a few times in surprise, before saluting her Diamond, "Yes my Diamond!" she chimed back, before getting to work so that she could finish in due time to catch up with her Diamond at the Blue Palace.
With Yellow Diamond as she walked out from her office and into the hallways of her palace, her soft thundering footsteps echoed the halls as she strolled through, Yellow idly looked down at her dataslate before looking back up. She was already finished with the entire reports, in essence, she was just rereading them for the sake of finding anything she had missed.
She really did need her gems to cease their inane waste of filling half of the reports with praises to her. What was that word her Citrine used? Brown nosing? Another odd quirk of her little gem commander of coming up with new words to associate with gem society.
Too much brown nosing, and not enough getting down to the point.
As Yellow Diamond strided through the halls of her palace, her thoughts led back to why she was heading to Blue's palace. It was best she discuss the matters of updating everything within the Empire once again after several centuries with Blue, all they really needed from White was just the go ahead authority.
Which pretty much meant talking to the pearl she had under her control she was imposing her ego thought, never bothering to show her face since Pink's shattering.
But that's besides the point, as Yellow strolled through the halls an into a spacious area that beheld the warp pad for her to instantly beam herself over to the Blue Palace.
Stepping up to the warp pad, Yellow Diamond frowned a bit as she stared down at the device in question; the object was supposed to be only meant for her, it has been far too long since she has checked if there has been any attempts of using it beside her.
"Ugh." Yellow rolled her eyes once at the annoyance she found herself experiencing, with the unauthorized use of the yooperlites, the attack against her Citrine gem by said yooperlite, and everything else that has led up to the present, Yellow was beginning to think the entire empire did indeed need a shake down.
She shouldn't have to feel paranoid in her own home, much less the capital planet of the Gem empire.
But apparently, the politicking between the gems of her court boiled up to the point that it led to having her found so many problems in her court, that Blue was not far off from saying their courts needed to be cleaned up.
The only question was, how deep did the politicking between her gems interfere with the progress of the empire? How many rebellions were caused from mismanaged colonies?
…and how could a rose quartz be strong enough to shatter a diamond with a sword!?
Pink Palace
The amount of permissions and questions Morganite had to give in regards to the investigation surrounding the attack on the Pink Palace and Commander Citrine, had been numerous with how many times she had to say yes to the permissions, and discuss what she was doing at the time of the attempt of the attack on Commander Citrine.
No doubt many of the other gem residents of the pink palace were being questioned as well, and speaking of other residents, as Pink Morganite sat within her modest room her Diamond gave her, the door to her room opened with a hiss, allowing Pink Sapphire to walk in.
Morganite lifted a brow in curiosity was she watched Sapphire walk herself in while an assigned group of ruby gems awaited her from outside but refrained from entering with her; as the doors closed and Sapphire allowed herself a sit atop one of the pink cushions across from her, Morganite opened her mouth to speak in a curious tone.
"They…did they ask if you saw anything before it all happened?" Morganite asked with a questioning look.
Pink Sapphire, with her hands resting on her lap, gently spoke, "My foresight, like most sapphires, is not a cut and dry ability, Morganite. That, and it does not work in such a way that you think…." she spoke softly, while giving her attention to Morganite.
"Oh…right…" Morganite mused as she shifted her seated form atop her own cushioned seat, and brought her legs up into a cross-legged form as she conversed with her long-time gem compatriot ... .friend? Morganite expressed a thoughtful look as she gazed back at Sapphire's face whose hair, like many other sapphires, hid her single eye, "You once said it's like looking at divergent paths, right?"
Sapphire nodded at Morganite's recollection, "some other sapphires, from Blue's court, have taken to seeing the foresight ability as seeing the flow of time like a river." she added as an afterthought.
"Hm, I suppose that makes some sense…" Morganite mused, before shaking her head, and looked at Sapphire again, "But, we're getting off track, what did they ask you?"
Pink Sapphire shrugged with a bit of an amused smile, "The most pertinent question the investigative teams ever asked me was how could I not have foreseen the attack."
Morganite blinked a few times at what her fellow gem said, before questioning Sapphire, "Well…did you?" she asked with an uncertain look.
Sapphire frowned and shook her head once, before speaking, "It's not so easy with sapphires when we're around Diamonds. And being on a planet with all three Diamonds at once, does not make my foresight that easy to see the paths of the future."
"Oh…right…" Morganite remarked with a furrowed brow, "I remember you saying something about that, something about it taking a fusion of sapphires to see past the fog of the Diamonds' presence."
Sapphire smiled a bit at remembering something, "Pink would always ask what I saw for her, but the best I could give her was what I vaguely saw. She never cared that I couldn't give her the best description of what I saw for her, she just found my ability to see 'amazing'."
With a dour look on her face, Morganite spoke a bit softer, "Right…she always did see the best in all her gems…" she recalled after Sapphire mentioned Pink Diamond and her personable traits towards her pink court.
After a sobering moment of silence fell between the two, Morganite spoke up once again after the mood lifted somewhat as she looked directly at Sapphire, "...by the way, I think Opal left the palace…" she said with an annoyed tone.
"...you say that like it's a bad thing." Sapphire remarked back to Morganite with a confused tone, "...wait…" she followed with saying.
"Yeah…who do you think she went after to settle her grudge?" Morganite groused with a continued look of annoyance, "I don't think she realizes who she's really going after."
Sapphire's mouth tightened into a thin line, before speaking with a strict tone, "Spinel was always the one about to handle Pink in her more active centuries of games and activities, it was only a matter of time till this happened…" she mused rather quickly.
"Right…" Morganite agreed with Sapphire, before speaking again with a curious tone, "How quick do you think the dispute between them will be…if Opal is even able to find Spinel down below?" she asked.
"Was that question for my foresight, or genuinely of my opinion?" Pink Sapphire asked flatly, while tilting her head a bit out of curiosity.
Pink Morganite pursed her lips a bit, before speaking, "Opinion." she replied back after quick thinking.
Sapphire simply shrugged at Morganite's response, "Pink Diamond did get Spinel in an effort from the other Diamond to have a gem that could handle her more…rowdy personality…" she mused.
"...she is not lasting a minute against her…" Morganite concluded with a sideways look.
Blue Palace
Without a proper gem in authority after the debacle Blue Pearl had to clean up at the command of her Diamond, it was up to the Pearl herself to follow the orders of her Diamond and execute her orders until such time that her lustrous Diamond could create a new Administrator gem.
At the moment, Blue Pearl stood while she laced her fingers behind her back as she watched the ongoing task of every gem available within her Diamond's court in reorganizing every data slate back into proper order, though currently they were all working within where Blue Diamond held her court review.
Blue Pearl stood atop a carved half-clamshell, and kept an eye on the few gems that actually never partook in the corruption that the former Azurite Administrator seeded into Blue Diamond's court.
The soft pitter pattering of footsteps brought Blue Pearl's attention as she glanced to her right from under her hair, from the open doorway entered a Monticellite messenger. She kept a sharp eye on the gem as the messenger gem walked up to her with a holoslate in hand.
As the Monticellite calmly walked up to Blue Pearl, the messenger gem held up the slate for her to receive, "Direct orders from Blue Diamond, ma'am, she wants you to organize her schedule now that she's…well…removed herself from grieving so that she can fix her mistake…" the Monticellite said, before gulping at the look she was given by Blue Pearl, "Her words, not mine!" she added hastily.
Blue Pearl relaxed her expression and nodded at the gem and accepted the holoslate, "Very well then." she softly spoke and sent the messenger gem away.
While the gem exited the room, Blue Pearl walked to a nearby clam chair available, and made herself comfortable; there was much to do now with her Diamond back and active, and not a lot of time to simply stand and do nothing…as much as Pearls were known to do, besides open doors and other menial tasks.
Blue Pearl, as she began thumbing through the many scheduled events her Diamond was supposed to attend, some nonsensical that didn't need attending unless really needed, while other events and appointments needed the personal purview of her Diamond. With a stylus out, Blue Pearl began tapping and moving the tool across the holoslate.
It was nice having her Diamond more active than simply wallow over the Late Pink Diamond. Tragic as it was, the empire at large had need of its diamonds, and Blue Diamond, her Diamond, needed to stay in action to help stay the course now that the Gem empire was now short of a Diamond.
It was times like this that she missed Era 1, but now they were in Era 2, a period of reform, restructuring, rebellions, corruption.
Blue Pearl looked up from her dataslate, in mid thought. 'If you are even still alive, you wretched Rose Quartz, I don't think you realize the side effect you've caused against the empire from your rebellion.'