#ruberald?

one gem on each hand

one gem on each cheek

one gem on each ear (or just side of the head? not all gems have physical ears, so...)

one gem on each side of her center chest gem (same cut, too. might be the same type of gem?)

these are all fusions whose components have mirrored gem placements. and out of all the gem fusions we see with asymmetrical gem placements, the only fusions that don't follow this trend are the ruby squadrons. the main difference? the rubies fuse for combat, for their job. they don't necessarily get along all that well, but they're soldiers and have to fuse because that's the easiest way to take down opponents.

but all the examples i just mentioned are fusions based in love. whether they be the same type of gem or completely different, the components' gems always mirror each other. and i began thinking that might not be a coincidence.

sure, it may just be because the character designers wanted symmetry in the character designs, but what if there was more to it?

maybe gem placement affects compatibility between gems. maybe, if the gems mirror each other, it means the components' personalities work together well. opposites attract n all that jazz. in garnet's case, it seems to be that the two compliment each other's strengths and seem to almost... complete the other, in a way.

fusions involving gems with these placements don't often stay together well- such as bluebird and the ruby squadrons (and also, a lot of rubies have these sorts of placements! just reinforces the idea that rubies are created to be grouped together) unless there is another component to compliment that gem. so here's what i'm thinking:

gem soulmates. or something along the lines of that.

basically, gems with mirrored placements work really well together. like they were always meant to be together. they reinforce each other's strengths and cover each other's weaknesses, which is why so many long-term fusions have these mirrored placements. they simply work together much better than any other kind of combination.

and speaking of meant to be together...