Start Ups Shards [OPEN]

[thestarjar]

In the few hours that comprised her life so far, Chalcedony still had not gotten bored of jumping on grass and kicking rocks as far as possible. Everything looked weird and made weirder sounds. Her fists were covered in mud and wrapped around as many sticks as she could carry, with straighter sticks in the left hand and bent or jagged ones in the right. It was getting almost impossible to collect new sticks without dropping all the rest of them.

Eventually she came across other voices- many, many gems, the first she'd ever encountered. One of them was talking loudly to the crowd, and Chalcedony made her way towards that voice. She was relatively unnoticed except by the several gems she stepped on the feet of. The crowd began to disperse as she neared her target, who was now speaking with one of the other gems.

She finally reached the gem, who turned out to be pink and very tall- even taller than the two-gem fusion standing next to her. Maybe she was a Diamond. There was a pink one, right? But she soon realized that this was just a Quartz like her. Maybe she was a general, and that was why so many people had been listening to her.

Chalcedony was so lost in thought that she didn't even realize how intently she was staring or how close she was standing to the pink gem and her companions.

 

[ReadsALotOfBooks]

"Ah, good. You're here." Moonstone gestured to the Jasper, heading back into the ship, and headed over to her holographic Earth. Moonstone was curious when it came to the reason the Diamonds pulled so many troops and ships, and so she wanted information. Besides, on Homeworld, she was given whatever information she wanted, so this was really new. Pulling up the area nearby to their ship, Moonstone sat down at a seat.

 

[Chocolate Bones]

Rose could see a blue blur out of the corner of her eye and looked down at the tiny, blue Quartz staring up at her. She smiled kindly and hunched over slightly to get a better look at her, not recognizing her at all.

"Hello there," she said gently, chuckling warmly as she saw how dirty the Gem and her new collection of twigs were. "I don't think we've met... I'm Rose." She offered her hand to the Gem, not the slightest bit worried about the mud and splinters.

----

Citrine crossed her arms uncertainly and remained standing, cautiously.

A Jasper, huh..?

No doubt this was a newly emerged Gem, more than likely one of the rush jobs from the Beta Kindergarten, but that's not what bothered her.

Jaspers are famously loyal, new or old. The question is, where did her allegiance lie? Still, she couldn't afford to waste this opportunity on a slight complication. Maybe this was a good thing after all.

Citrine watched Moonstone activate the hologram, but didn't take a seat. She wanted to be ready to leave at a moments notest.

 

[thestarjar]

"Oh!" Chalcedony hadn't realized the gem had looked back at her until she spoke. She was a Rose Quartz, that made sense. "I'm Chalcedony! Nice to-" Halfway to taking Rose's hand, she paused, realizing she couldn't shake someone's hand while she was holding all these sticks. She put one hand's worth of twigs on the ground and shook the taller gem's hand. "Nice to meet you! You're the first person I've ever met! I'm from over there," she added, gesturing without looking towards the direction she'd come from. Who knew if that was actually the direction of the Kindergarten, though; she hadn't exactly walked in a straight line.

"Are you a general? I didn't really hear what you were talking about before. What Diamond do you follow?" Chalcedony realized as she spoke that she wasn't even sure what Diamond she herself was supposed to be following. Maybe she could just go with whichever one Rose did. She seemed nice, after all.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

"So, when do I get to crush some rebels?" Jasper asked of her new commander. "That's what I'm here for right? There's a rebellion going on? Most commanders would have berated her for speaking out of turn, but something told Jasper that Moonstone would tolerate at least a little initiative.

 

[Chocolate Bones]

Rose eased her hand away in disbelief. Was this a brand new Gem? Someone completely untouched by the Diamonds and their forces?

Chalcedony's question took Rose by surprise, and certain flashbacks roared in her head as she recoiled and gripped her own gem again.

"I..." She stammered. It wasn't often that Rose couldn't find her voice in the dark, but she needed a moment. Recent events made the entire notion of loyalty a terrifying concept.

She took a deep breath and her smile returned.

"I'm not much of a general... just a voice for the Gems whose voices were taken away."

She stood up straight and clasped her hands together, resting them on her Gem.

"I once served a Diamond, but now I choose to serve all Gems."

 

[ReadsALotOfBooks]

"Pretty much." Moonstone confirmed for Jasper. She turned back to the holographic Earth, and pulled up the last locations that some rebels were seen. "So, first we need a battlefield. It'll have to be a location where rebels are often seen, which slightly narrows down our options." Moonstone tapped a few buttons on the projector, and the number of locations that popped up was more limited. "Then, we need an advantageous position, which will have to take into account your physical abilities as well as those of the rebels, and the battlefield itself." Again tapping some buttons, Moonstone brought up a few former battlefields and traced with her hand some paths that would lead to some advantageous positions, before turning back around to the gems behind her, sizing them up, looking to see what they could do. "So what would work for you?" She finally asked.

 

[thestarjar]

Chalcedony frowned, concerned that she'd said something wrong. What she'd said seemed to have had an impact on Rose, and Rose's response had in turn impacted on Chalcedony. A few sticks fell from her other hand without her noticing, falling onto the pile of already forgotten ones from her other hand.

"So... you just... left?" She finally said, staring past Rose. "You can do that? I thought they were in charge of everyone." She fidgeted, shifting her weight between her feet. "Can I do that? I don't even know what Diamond I should be serving in the first place. Wouldn't they be mad if I did? Aren't they mad?" Chalcedony looked back at Rose again nervously at her last question.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

"Hmmm, I'm not sure." Jasper mulled as she tried to answer the question. She produced her hammer from her gem to demonstrate to the others. "I've got this, and there's all the normal stuff that a Jasper can do... But I feel like there's something else. Something Jaspers normally can't do." She tried to think what this might be as she unconsciously cause a few pebbles that had been tracked in to float in her frustration.

 

[Chocolate Bones]

Citrine nodded confidently as she watched in curious wonder as the Gem manipulated the hologram to hone in on the perfect location. She let herself smile eagerly. She had come to the right place after all.

"It's perfect," she said, looking over the display of the exact battleground carefully. Plenty of higher ground, and plenty of shadows for her to jump in and out of. She could see her plan start to come together.

"The most important part, however, is making sure we make a big enough impact to draw out the highest of Rose Quartz's ranks..." her voice trailed off, completely unsure of how her now comrades would take this aspect of her plan.

"The Gem I'm hoping to capture is none other than Rose's renegade Pearl..."

----

Rose smiled again and dropped her guard.

"I don't think it's as important how the Diamonds feel as it is how you feel..."

She looked away from the young Gem and out into the sea of grass and flowers.

"This planet is called 'Earth.' It's a place unlike any other I've ever seen. It's a place where life doesn't exist for a purpose because it doesn't have to. It just... is."

Rose looked back to Chalcedony.

"I can't tell you who to give your loyalty to.... But what I can tell you is that your loyalty is a very special, very valuable thing, and you should know that giving any piece of yourself is a an honor that you shouldn't take lightly. So make sure you save it for someone who truly deserves it."

 

[Arylett Charnoa]

Andesine scoffed derisively at the Peridots who had criticized the latest piece of her work.

"That Jasper wasn't that bad. Remember what messes you guys were dealing with before I got here? You should be glad she's as big as she is," As strictly technicians, they didn't care about the artistry of imputing gemetic data into the injectors. And they had no idea that she had really given it the extra effort she had. It was their cutting corners that caused any of the defects and she constantly had to compensate for that. 3N6 Cut 8MD filled her with pride. Sure, she wasn't as good as... the fabled perfect Quartz that got made without her... but this Jasper was almost as good! Really!

Something within her stirred as she watched the Jasper immediately be sent off for duty. She was always a bit disappointed that she didn't get to see the capabilities of her works, but this case had her particularly agitated. They sent her off so fast she didn't even get to record her data into her memory. It was getting very tiresome that Andesine could only remember small details of some of her favorite creations. Why couldn't they slow down for just a moment?

As she left the green gems behind, she went back to her station and gazed at the screen of the upcoming gems to be produced, then sputtered at what she saw. Rather than the usual lengthy list of gemetic data that she was used to, it instead listed: "No new data." This... was wrong. She went around and questioned the Peridot technicians, but they had no answer to this, and insisted that it couldn't be an error of their perfect system. This wasn't something Andesine would stand for.

The scarlet gem stormed off, following the Jasper's path through the Warp Pad. She didn't want to bother any of the Diamonds directly with her trivial complaints about the Peridots' incompetency, so she would go for the next best thing.

Once again, at the White Diamond Base, the Warp Pad activated. But this time, with this unexpected and agitated visitor.

 

[ReadsALotOfBooks]

"As long as you get information, and don't get us shattered, it works." Moonstone replied, not noticing the unnatural abilities of her new Jasper.

"So, this battlefield is located near Facet 9, not too far from the Prime Kindergarten. So the nearest warp pad seems to be that of the Prime Kindergarten."

 

[thestarjar]

Chalcedony stared at Rose for a long time, then began to pace back and forth, taking in the world with her wide eyes. It was all so amazing that she couldn't possibly imagine anything being better than Earth. And the same went for this gem- Rose seemed so kind and trustworthy that- well- how could anyone be more deserving of trust? Chalcedony looked at the ground, considering what Rose had said. Her loyalty was important? She was important? More important than what the Diamonds thought?

With no knowledge on which to base her beliefs except for what she had experienced so far, Chalcedony stopped and looked back at Rose. "I... I love this place and I think you're great and that it's worth it, so... I want to be loyal to here. To you. To this! It's more important than the Diamonds... to me."

Chalcedony started pacing once more, lost in thought again. "You didn't answer my question! About if the Diamonds are mad, I mean. 'Cause it sounds like you're not doing what they want. So what are you doing? You 'serve all gems'- Are you doing what everyone wants? That's a lot of things to do. I-" She stopped herself mid-ramble. "I... I just want to know what they want. If what we're doing isn't what they want. Do they even care?"

 

[Godzillawolf]

Hematite had watched Rose Quartz's speech, sitting next to Silver Pearl. The sage-like Gem sat in a meditative position, keeping her focus forward but not seeming to show too much worry.

"Hematite," Silver Pearl said, showing a hint of worry, an unusual sight in the normally happy Gem.

"It does seem that things may be grim, doesn't it?" Hematite questioned, standing up. "But if we let the Diamonds discourage us, we are letting them have an advantage before the battle even begins."

Silver nodded, but still seemed unsure. "...Should we speak to Rose Quartz about your concerns?"

Hematite nodded. "Yes, that is probably a good idea."

The two walked over to speak to their leader...when Hematite held out a hand and stopped Silver, looking at the small Quartz speaking with Rose.

"It appears Rose has a visitor."

"But isn't it important to-" Silver began.

"Saving another Gem is more important," Hematite replied simply.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

(@SpatiallyRendering @thestarjar @Arylett Charnoa @Godzillawolf @RagnorokX As most of you probably saw in the sign up thread, since Chocolate Bones has been absent and so unable to continue the RP, the section's Super Mod has given me permission to do what I have to to keep the RP going. So I'm going to try kicking this thing back into gear.)

Rose watched as the little gem paced back and forth in front of her, clearly becoming frustrated with the path the conversation was taking. Chalcedony was clearly going to keep pushing until she got that one question answered.
"The Diamonds... Well." Rose stumbled as she tried to figure out how to phrase her explanation without unintentionally influencing Chalcedony's decision. "The Diamonds do care about what we're doing, they care a lot. It's because we're not doing what they want. We've decided to do what we want to do with our existence, and it's different to what the Diamonds want." Rose stopped to look Chalcedony in the eye. "I just want you to know, that whomever you choose to side with, there will be fighting. You might not end up getting involved, but it will happen. I can't tell you who to give your loyalty to, just make sure it your choice, and you're certain about it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The Prime Kindergarten huh?" Jasper wondered aloud. "So, that's the place where all the gems are made properly and all come out perfect." She said with obvious contempt in her voice. "I hate all those 'perfect' gems so much." She added quietly to herself.

 

[ReadsALotOfBooks]

"Well, perfect for Earth." Moonstone answered, standing up from her seat at the hologram. "But Earth is just used for making Quartzes. I was made a fair distance away, like other gems similar to myself."

 

[thestarjar]

Chalcedony stopped pacing to look hard into Rose's eyes as she spoke. When the tall gem finished talking, Chalcedony fidgeted with the few sticks left in her hands, tapping them on each other and on her arms. Several times, she inhaled as though to speak, but faltered each time. Then, finally, she spoke. "You're really nice, and I trust you. If... if the Diamonds want to stop you from doing what you want, I think that's bad! So... I'm on your side, Miss Rose Quartz!" Then, for the first time in her short life, she summoned an almost-too-large hammer from her head, startled momentarily by its mass before holding it up. "And I'll get as involved as you need me to!"

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

"Well then Chalcedony, that makes you a Crystal Gem. Welcome to Earth!" Rose told the smaller gem with a huge smile. "Now, let me introduce you to a few of the others.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Well, either way, I'm gonna show them. I'll show them that I can take out a rebellion. I don't need to be perfect." Jasper growled as she gripped her hammer even tighter. "So when do we do this? I've got some rebels to smash."

 

[Godzillawolf]

Hematite smiled and nodded to Silver Pearl.

The sage like Gem merely lead forwards and joined the group, remaining polite. This was the little Gem's moment, not her own.

While standing and waiting, Hematite observed Chalcedony, smiling at the young Gem. Some more cynical Gems might had noted being born then joining a war wasn't exactly ideal. But it was the young Gem's choice, not forced on her. And that was the bare minimum any in the Crystal Gems deserved.

 

[thestarjar]

Chalcedony grinned back at Rose, letting her hammer dematerialize. At the idea of meeting more gems, she finally seemed to notice the others nearby who hadn't dispersed with the crowd, and she turned to face them. "Oh, hiya! My name's Chalcedony!"