#starchiiildren

   .....Well, in his defence, he HAD been trying for something more..... subtle. In retrospect, there were plenty of better ways to tell someone that they were having an incredibly good hair-and-face-day, but Sour Cream had taken one glance at Jenny and something had short-circuted somewhere between his brain and his mouth; an unfortunate side-effect of having such incredibly attractive friends.

   "Yeah, well," An attempt at nonchalance was made, hands jamming into the front pocket of his hoodie and shoulders shrugging even as his flustered flush spread across his face to the tips of his damn ears. "Y'know. No point in just thinking it."

    “Well, silence is better than the sound of those terrible robonoids…”

      The right Rutile’s voice rang out first, their arms wrapped around their        torso. Right’s voice echoed softly in the emptiness of the tunnel, and        after a moment, they shifted towards Rhodonite, Left’s arm moving to        touch the fusion’s shoulder gently, reassuring smile coming to both        of their lips.

      “The others will be fine, they’ve got Lars!” Left’s voice was tinged       with optimism, and though Right’s voice was more subdued, she       didn’t falter either.

      “Once we’re sure the robonoids are gone, we’ll find them.”

Rhodonite couldn’t help the worried look that spread across her features; it was... terrifiying. Terrifying knowing that somewhere the others were hiding from the robonoids, just like them. Not knowing when ( or if, but stars she didn’t want to think of IF ) their friends... their family, would be safe. Eyebrows knit together as she looked over at Rutile, nodding slowly. The touch to her shoulder was comforting, grounding her from the panic that was threatening to carry her away.

“ Lars is with them... yeah... ” In all honesty, the others were probably better off then they were, having a shield from the scanners in the form of a human, but Rhodonite still couldn’t help her concern over them. As nervous as she could be, she knew she would risk shattering when it came to her tightly knit group. Though that... rather morbid thought was something she hoped would never occur. They’d get to Earth... they’d be able to be who they wished to be...

Optimism wasn’t Rhodonite’s strong suite, but stars was she trying.

One of her upper arms moved to settle on top of Rutile’s hand, patting it a few times as her eyes flickered back to them, leaving the spot they had been fixated at on the floor. 

Aquamarine stood at attention, hands clasped behind her back, waiting silently in Blue Diamond’s court. The occasion? Special summons from the Diamond herself - something about the insubordinate sect gaining traction on the Earth colony. Meetings like this were a routine affair, but a necessary one nonetheless. The glamour of being one of Blue Diamond’s personal advisers and confidants had dwindled with time for Aquamarine, and these events had become rather tedious, if she was honest with herself… but she supposed that was the burden that she carried.

While they waited, Aquamarine shot a glance to her left, eyeing the other gems of her caste who had been called to this meeting. There stood a gem - one whose acquaintance Aquamarine had already made over the course of many events such as these, and one who, over the course of which, she had developed a particular distaste for - Lapis Lazuli. With a sneer, she whispered, making sure maintain her cordial pretense.

                   Honestly Sour Cream was really glad for this extra set of shades Buck gave him, even though they were totally dorky. He’d use them during these hot summer months.

Leaning against a bit of rubble he had placed his jacket onto as a cushion he finished sending Jenny the message before peering over to see Buck fiddling with... something. He wasn’t sure, didn’t know if he wanted to ask either.

             If Buck wanted to tell him, he would.

Life on Earth was... interesting, to say the least. And A6Y meant it both in the best of ways- and not so good ways.

It wasn’t the the fact that the whole planet could be considered rural, or even savage by Homeworld standards- though certainly, with how easily one got dirty from the soil and gathering dust, A6Y didn’t think too favourably of it in that aspect. No, as far as the whole uncivilised part went, A6Y didn’t mind; what it meant was that there was plenty of space to hide when one really wanted to be alone, and no-one really needed her to guard this and that.

It was the way the humans seemed to look down on her.

She tried to convince herself that it wasn’t their fault- not completely at least. After all, the Ruby came to realize that with her size, she was no bigger than average human pebble- children, they called them- and that certainly caused some issues when she ventured out alone and at night, either getting stopped by concerned adults who seemed to think she lost her ‘parents’, or got sneered at by others, for her supposed ‘young age’.

(They laughed at her when she snarled she was well over five thousands years old)

Ruby was a gem. Fully grown gem at that. It was humiliating, but she could bite her displeasure back, knowing it will just take some time for the humans to get used to her. Though for some reason, she was sure her insistence at holding Sheena’s hand whenever they walked down the street wasn’t helping. It wouldn’t be problem if she was closer size to the female, she supposed; but as she was now, she got mistaken more and more for Sheena’s supposed young, and she could see how awkward those talks made the woman.

(It was perhaps that what made her gave up that close contact, even though she missed it dearly)

Another thing that bothered her was a word she heard behind her back one day, whispered with malicious mockery. She twisted to face whoever said it, but they were long gone by then, and she was only left with an upsetting confusion, as she had no idea what the word’s purpose was.

When she returned back to the temple, she asked the half-quartz Steven what the word ‘ugly’ meant. She didn’t understand his frown and was rather taken aback by his sharp demand of where she heard it.

She didn’t get the answers that day, as the Steven left rather upset, so she was forced to rely on searching for the meaning herself-

-And when she got the result, she rather wished she didn’t.

Unpleasant to look at.

Not attractive.

She stared at the two definitions with a rather hollow feeling in her gut before slamming the thick book shut and rubbing her cheeks angrily, pretending those were just raindrops that rolled down them.

Did... Did Sheena think Ruby was ugly? Was that why-

....

Why what?

Why was the sky so dark?  Something the humans passing by called ‘nighttime’?  Whatever it was, Aquamarine knew she was loosing time to track down the humans from the report she and Topaz had received.  When she was walking past the pizza shop, Aquamarine heard a ringing sound behind her.  It was the door to usually signify that a customer was coming in, but in this case, it sounded like someone was leaving the establishment.

Continued from here.

That near admission, half certain as it was, brought up all sorts of fluttery feelings inside her, and if Rosie’s cheeks turned pink then Nova’s were definitely a deep, dark red. Though there was a gentle smile playing on the Ruby’s lips even as her eyes were focused on the quartz’s hand instead of her face.

“...I care about you too,” she said softly “And like, I don’t know either, but...” She bit her lip and reached out for Rosie’s hand, taking it in her much smaller ones and squeezing it.

“...Well, we can- we could find out...? If you want?”