Planet F78, Citrine's personal quarters within Loyalist HQ
4,500 B.S.U.


Tanya

The automatic doorway that led into Tanya's personal room swiftly lifted up with a sharp hiss, in view was Tanya as she walked in while massaging her scalp with Orange Pearl trailing not too far behind. As Tanya approached her nearby sofa, the door to her room quickly closed as fast as it opened, leaving the two gems alone for now; Tanya moved to sit and lean back on her orange plush sofa, while letting out a tired sigh as she massaged her head.

The room was silent, save for the sound of the soft hum of the ambient noise from outside the room; it was then that Tanya stopped massaging her scalp and relaxed her arms to rest them at her sides, her eyes glanced over at her Orange Pearl, where she stood by at the wait. "Are you waiting for an invitation, or what? Come sit over here already." Tanya said with mirth in her tone at the fidgeting pearl standing by the sofa, and patted beside her in a welcoming gesture. "We both could use some rest after that long meeting."

Indeed, before Tanya had entered her room, she was stuck dealing with going over future battle plans for the rest of the planet, and potential weak points in the defensive lines of the rebels around the planet in other hemispheres of the world. Tanya was glad she could delegate enough work on three Hessonites far, but that's all she's allowed at the moment so far by Yellow Diamond. Hessonites already command quite an enormous amount of troops, regiments, etc. underneath them; so it's fair to say in Yellow Diamond's eyes that the force that Tanya was commanding beneath her was enough for a single planet.

However, what Tanya wanted was not what Yellow Believed was needed, an overwhelming force of numbers to quell the planet's uprising of rebel gems; in the argument of Quantity vs quality, the argument went both ways; too many could be detrimental to a cohesive counter force, and too little was not enough to quell the rebellion within an acceptable time frame. Thus, the agreement was on three Hessonites, or more accurately, two Facet Hessonite and one cabochon Hessonite.

Tanya cared not for what she got, and she'd be damned if there would be segregation within her ranks; she didn't want an armada that was at odds against each other on the soul bases on whose gem was a better cut than the other. "Ironic, that even within an alien race, discrimination is not exclusive to humanity.' Tanya thought inwardly to herself with a small hidden smirk that went unseen by Orange Pearl while she looked at the spot where Tanya was patting the spot on the sofa for her to sit at.

As Pearl sat beside her Citrine, Tanya decided to play dirty and amuse herself by laying her head down on her Pearl's lap. "Eep! My Citrine!" Orange Pearl spoke up in a half scandalized tone, half embarrassed voice as her Citrine used her lap as an impromptu pillow. As she lifted her hands up from doing anything unsavory, Pearl couldn't help but allow her cheeks to glow bright orange from her embarrassment at her Citrine's brazen act.

"Oh relax." Tanya sighed out as she rested her head on her Pearl's lap, after around a thousand years with her orange pearl, Tanya had been slowly getting more and more comfortable around her closest confidant. "It's just a simple lap pillow." she impishly teased her Pearl. It took her a while to work up the courage to try the act, and for the first time, she felt comfortable as she laid her head in the lap of her pearl. She just hoped she wasn't being too forward in her actions.

Was she being out of line? Maybe. Was this how most owners of pearls act? Who knows. Did she enjoy how her teasing was causing her pearl to blush? Yes…yes she was…oh give her a break, she's been alive for longer than her second life! At some point in her long life in being a Citrine gem commander, Tanya developed a little bit of a teasing streak while in private with her Pearl.

She was still a man in mind and soul, and she deeply regretted not putting in the effort for not telling how she really felt around Visha and the long nights they spent in the great war of her second life; But then again, things like emotions had no place in a war, and she had seen how mankind was brought low by acting on their baser emotions in war rather than thinking logically.

Thus, in her third and longest life so far, Tanya saw fit to be a bit impish at times in private moments with her pearl, a break from the stonewall facade she had cultivated over the years in her many lives.

Back to the matter at hand, while Orange was blushing up a storm, Tanya folded and rested her arms on her stomach while she laid her head on her pearl's lap. "Pearl." Tanya spoke up in a curious tone, bringing Orange Pearl out of her blushing mess now that her Citrine spoke up.

"Um…y-y-yes? My Citrine?" she asked curiously, unable to hide her growing blush on her cheeks.

Tanya looked up with a curious gaze in her citrine eyes back at her pearl's eyes, as if they pierced into her very soul. "Do you think I'm evil?" she asked her pearl in earnest, "Not just me, but my actions, against rebels and what-not, and be honest." Tanya warned her pearl with an eye piercing gaze.

After a few moments of silence from Orange Pearl, the gem sighed and smiled softly down at her commander, "You've always told me that evil is an abstract concept, and the view of evil is different in anyone's minds given their situation."

Tanya smiled gratefully up at her pearl as she continued to rest her head on her pearl's lap, "It's good to see my private moments together are not wasted." She complimented Orange Pearl. "But yes, Evil can be an abstract concept and idea, but most important of all, the perspective of how someone views another as evil is always dependent on a given situation."

Orange Pearl moved her hand to do something she wanted to do with her commander's hair, but stopped herself and instead tucked a piece of her own hair behind her ear as a minor nervous tick. "I believe your actions are…well,...you're doing the best you can, given your station." she responded in a shuddering sigh of trying to calm her nerves, "Compared to the time when we worked together during that Rose Quartz' rebelion, you were more callous in your actions with shattering our enemies…" she frowned sadly at the memories she dredged up.

Tanya let out a sigh of her own, "Yes, I did not think at the time that gems sense of self continued to exist after shattering, it is why now I proactively try and use the factory reset method, rather than the horrendous method of shattering a gem…" she mused in a melancholy way.

As a few more moments of silence passed between the two, Pearl spoke up to break the silence as the two relaxed on the sofa. "My Citrine, may I be bold as to ask a certain question?" she asked with a curious expression on her face.

With a shrug from Tanya as she continued to lay down, she looked back up into her pearl's eyes. "As the saying goes with a Bismuth, strike while the iron is still hot." she replied with an impish smirk.

"Please don't tease me so, my Citrine, it is unbefitting of your station!" Orange Pearl Grumbled a bit before responding once more, "Has Yellow Diamond yet to give the go on project Hoplite?" she asked.

With a shrug from Tanya, she let out a frustrated sigh. "It's slow going, but it's going to take a while for her to get around to using the method I proposed to her to get the project going." she answered with a careless shrug. With her question answered, the two fell into a comfortable silence in the rare moment that either was able to relax for a bit and be themselves without prying eyes watching them.


Soldier Barracks

Within one of the many barracks, where gem soldiers recoup themselves and prepare themselves for their next deployment, several Jaspers are seen inter mingling with each other socially as they either did a bit of sparring or discuss certain topics as to what their next mission will be or how well they'll do in the next battle; one such Jasper known as one of the best made on Pink Diamond's first and only colony, is seen within a sparring ring ring of sorts with her fists up and an annoyed expression as she faced of a skinny Jasper, colloquially called skinny as her nickname by their commander.

As the two jaspers circled around each other, Jasper once pondered why her commander Citrine put up with employing such a defective gem in her forces; that was in the past some time ago, nowadays she had to put up with the gem's insufferable cheeky attitude towards her. Willing their weapons into action, Jasper had her helmet on while Skinny wielded a poleaxe from out of her gem on her stomach. In and instant, both Jasper from Earth's Beta Kindergarten lunged at each other and clashed their respective weapons against each other; a loud clang went off followed by a few more as both gem tried to get a hit in on the other, only for both to either parry of block the opposing opponent's weapon.

As the two continued to circle around and spar against each other, Skinny took the chance to smirk as she blocked a power headedbutt from her fellow Jasper. "Drop that insufferable smirk of yours!" Jasper grounded out as she followed up her attack with an uppercut into her fellow Jasper's stomach.

"Oh, come on, I'm simply having a bit of fun here." Skinny, with a smirk, teased her fellow Jasper as she slammed her poleaxe to the side to parry Jasper's punch, and spun her weapon down to counterattack her opponent.

Another loud clang went off as Jasper redirected her head and blocked the attack with her helmet, "Who said anything about having fun, you…rrrgh!" She would have said defect, but she had fought alongside the Skinny Jasper for more than a few centuries, and she knew when to keep her mouth shut when she was proven wrong in some of her opinions. "Just be serious and just fight me already!" Jasper spouted with an annoyed yell as the two increased their trading of blows against each other's weapons in a bid to get a hit in.

Meanwhile on the sidelines, a few Amethyst were sitting aside to relax until it was their turn to take the ring against each other, two such Amethyst were 8XG and 8XJ; both are from Earth's Prime Kindergarten, and as Skinny liked to say in a teasing way, were cliquey when in larger group with the rest of their fellow Amethyst.

One of the two spoke up amongst themselves as they sat aside by the ringside as they watched Skinny and Jasper go at each other, 8XJ was the first to speak as she sat with her chin resting on her fists and her elbows on her knees as she sat, "You'd think both would get over themselves and realize how they actually feel towards each other." she whispered over with a smirk and sideways look while leaning to the side towards her fellow Amethyst.

"Snk." 8XG snickered with a low chuckle as she rested the flat of her palms on the bench she sat on while she leaned over to whisper back to her fellow Amethyst. "Nah, if neither of them haven't gotten past what they got going on now, then no way will they actually say anything to each other about how there's some tension between them." she smirked back.

"Pshaw." 8XJ tried to silently guffaw a snickering laugh at how her fellow amethyst spoke about the two drastically different Jaspers would oftentimes be at each other's throats, and not in a life threatening way. "Blame Skinny." 8XJ insisted with a mirthful expression, "She's the one always starting the little bouts of skill between the two of them," she pointed out, right as said Skinny Jasper managed to deftly dodge another punch by the the more bulky Jasper by front flipping over her and retaliating with a swing of her poleaxe from behind at Jasper's back. Jasper followed up her punch by swiftly spinning in place, parrying Skinny's poleaxe with her forearm, and hooking her arm around the offending weapon to pull Skinny in and headbutt her.

In a surprising turn of event in mid attempt of Jasper trying to headbutt Skinny Jasper with her helmet, Skinny's lithe form allowed her to quickly bend backwards and avoid the blow, and maneuvered her legs swing around to wrap them around Jasper's own and trip her over; as Jasper landed hard on her back from being tripped, Skinny quickly flipped herself over and bounded from the floor and sit atop Jasper's chest and hold her poleaxe over her with the axe end pointed into the face of Jasper.

Skinny smirked down at Jasper as said gem grumbled at her loss, "That's, what, eight hundred to eight hundred now?" she teased her more bulky sparring partner, Jasper in response simply loud out a growl of frustration.

"It's eight hundred and one, in my favor, you-you…uugh!" Jasper groaned in annoyance as Skinny leapt off and offered a helping hand to pull Jasper up on her feet.

Back with the Amethysts gems, they both had cheeky grins as they watched the supposed 'perfect' Jasper be humbled in such a way; However, just as they were about to get up, out from behind popped a small Carnelian gem as she placed her arms around her fellow Earth gems. "Whatcha doin'!" she shouted in sheer glee at the two Amethysts getting jumpscared from her antics.

As the two calmed down from screaming, and did a little roughhousing with their fellow earth gem that nearly scared the living gems out of themselves, all three settled down and sat on the bench once more as the Jaspers in the ring began collecting themselves and leave the area to do other things to occupy their time until their next deployment.

"So when'd you get here?" Asked 8XJ in an excited tone, excited that another fellow Earth gem would be amongst them in the campaign on planet F78.

Carnelian snickered in a good natured attribute and whispered between the two Amethyst gems, "Guys, you have no idea how much has been going on, on homeworld!"

8XG gestured for Carnelian to continue, "Well, don't just leave us hanging, what happened that caused you to arrive here?" she urged the short stack carnelian gem to continue.

Carnelian glanced between the two Amethyst gems with an excited look, "Guys, word through the gossip vine is that homeworld has been in an uproar ever since commander Citrine sent documented footage of a Pyrope instigating the rebellion here." she smirked with a broad smile, "Why, I even heard Yellow Diamond had most of the aristocracy caste dragged out of their abodes, and were treated to harsh interrogation to weed out who else might have a hand in any hienous acts of their own." she gushed with a snicker.

Both Amethyst gems laughed in a good natured way, with one of them speaking up first afterwards. "'Bout time that caste of gems had what was coming, always thinking they can get away with their actions!" 8XJ remarked, prompting Carnelian to frown in response.

"Yeah, but here's the thing…most were innocent, but quite a few were found guilty of working on plans to do something they shouldn't." The Carnelian gem responded back, before pointing out over where the sky could be seen through the doorway that led outside.

"Why, Yellow Diamond even had to contact Blue Diamond, and tell her that a few gems in her court were guilty, especially the Pyrope on this planet that is guilty of staging the revolt that you're up against." Carnelian discussed with her fellow earth gems, both blinking at that tidbit of information.

"So…" 8XJ began to say, with 8XG finishing off her sentence, "What's the situation at the Zoo then?" they asked, "weren't you stuck stationed there?" 8XJ finished asking.

Carnelian snickered and responded with a cheeky smile, "Guys, you'll never believe what happened. What had happened was, Yellow Diamond had contacted Blue Diamond while she was visiting Pink Diamond's zoo." she began to say, "And guess what happened, after Blue Diamond was given the call by Yellow Diamond!"

Both Amethyst shrugged in response, and urged Carnelian to tell them what had happened. "Blue Diamond went into such a rage, that she forgot to take her ship here, and instead used the zoo as a ship to reach the place and see to it that the pyrope would be made an example of once the campaign on this planet is settled by commander Citrine!"

"..." Both Amethyst were stock still at the mention that Blue Diamond had personally made a trip here, to see the campaign through to the end and punish the traitorous Pyrope. "Uh…" Both amethyst chorused, realizing that it wouldn't be long until an assembly to be held for Commander Citrine and every available gem to guard and welcome one of the great Diamonds that ruled over gem kind.


Blue Pearl

While her Lustrous Blue Diamond was busy preparing herself to get herself out of her grieving for a little while, she was tasked with marching herself off to confront Commander Citrine and address the Favored gem of Yellow Diamond that her Blue Diamond would soon be awaiting her presence within the assembly hall of said Citrine's hand ship that was fortified down into the ground for the coming war on the planet.

From what she can only guess, Blue Pearl supposed her Blue Diamond wanted to summon commander Citrine for the sole reason of finding out the projected time frame that the commanding gem could finish the campaign on the rebellious planet; that, and/or provide one or two Sapphires to hasten the end of the campaign on this once, aristocratic owned planet. Blue Pearl didn't know, all she did know was that she never saw her Blue Diamond so furious when Yellow Diamond contacted her and told her that a gem from her court was staging a rebellion.

So furious was her Blue Diamond while visiting Pink Diamond's legacy that was the human zoo, that she used the entire zoo as her own ship instead of her own arm and hand ship to reach the planet they were now on. The sheer raw emotion that her Blue Diamond released through her powers caused her to feel an unbridled amount of anger by extension, never before since the shattering of Pink Diamond, had she seen her Diamond so furious.

As Blue Pearl approached the designated room where commander Citrine's private quarters was at, she inputted a few codes on the datapad on the side to ring in the tonal jingle that signified the importance of who was ringing the door, so to speak. She was ringing her Diamond's jingle tone, allowing her to let the occupants inside know that she was outside as Blue Diamond's personal Pearl. It was Blue Diamond's jingle, with a slight extra jingle to it to signify that it was her.

From inside, Blue pearl tilted her head in curiosity as she heard a crash sound and a loud thump, followed by shocked gasp and a surprised shout. Hmm, not strange, she supposed, she is afterall ringing the door in place of her Diamond; therefore, Blue Pearl supposed it not entirely out of the ordinary for gems to be surprised by her visit and the chime of her signified jingle tone that is only identified as her own and by extension her Lustrous Blue Diamond.

As Blue Pearl waited with her hands clasped together in front of her, it wasn't long until the door opened to reveal Commander Citrine tidying up her uniform blouse, her pearl on the other hand seemed to be in a bit of a blushing mess. Hmm…not strange…she supposed. Blue Pearl supposed Citrine's Orange Pearl was embarrassed for not getting the door first.

Blue pearl pinched the tip of her blue dress and bowed respectfully before commander Citrine, and softly addressed the gem personally created by Yellow Diamond. "Commander Citrine, My Diamond would like to see you when you are ready." She softly addressed the Citrine commander, not bothering to ask if she'd be able to meet her Blue Diamond within the assembly hall of her hand ship.

Commander Citrine coughed into her fist to work her throat, before respectfully speaking to Blue Pearl. "Yes, thank you, please, lead the way." she said with a calm tone, and it was then that Blue Pearl looked up through her hair, and noticed a few strands of hair on commander Citrine's head were sticking up from, what it looked like, lying down.

Again…strange…but not uncommon, she supposed commander Citrine was taking a nap of sorts that she's known to have adopted a trait from visiting the human zoo. "Very well then, please follow me." Blue Pearl softly spoke, before leading the two towards where her Diamond was.