the original

beryl shouldn’t be here. it’s dangerous for any gem, let alone one attempting to evade capture. truthfully, beryl hadn’t even known about the human zoo ( a surprise considering his intel. perhaps it never needed to come up ) until word spread that there was an amethyst there looking to escape and join their defective group. beryl had been against going to help her ( all defectives know the danger of leaving the kindergarten, even if to help a fellow gem ), but, all the same, when they were voted down they were the one who volunteered to go on the mission. even if they don’t agree with the idea, they aren’t allowing any of their charges to put themselves in harm’s way.

they’ve never liked shape shifting. they can do it, sure, but not for very long, and not convincingly well. hence what they are doing now: simply sneaking along, back against the wall as they quietly step forward. they have a general idea of where the amethyst room is, and of the amethyst who contacted them. short, darker-orange, almost red; beryl is sure they won’t miss her. but what they can’t be sure of is that they won’t be caught.

diamond sign is thrown up reflexively, beryl standing incredibly still as they look up at the amethyst. she’s tall -- certainly not the one beryl had been contacted to retrieve -- yet beryl had been caught off guard by her presence. now that they’ve been seen, they have one of two options.

they’ll start with the less violent one.

“ i’ve been sent by holly blue agate to inspect the amethysts. ”     a certain confidence takes over beryl’s voice; any initial surprise at seeing the tall amethyst is immediately off features.     “ beryl, facet 1 cut 3C. ”

“ are you... hurt? ”     it’s a neutral tone, one that leans more toward caring. none of the hostility beryl usually has when dealing with stranger gems. of course beryl recognizes the gem -- a black star diopside -- and, as such, notices their defection as well. the gem is... smaller than any diopside beryl has seen before, and, having been a rather high-ranking gem, they have seen many.

truthfully, beryl had been SURPRISED at the amount of gems already inhabiting earth. of course they knew about the crystal gems before arriving, but through research they have discovered the presence of many others. but black star is the first that beryl has actually stumbled across.

perhaps ‘hurt’ isn’t the right word. the gem doesn’t appear to be in pain. but they are laid on the ground, and beryl can’t think of any other reason for it. standing over them, beryl asks again,     “ do you need help? ”     if beryl is surprised at the appearance of another gem, they certainly don’t sound it. to an outsider, their tone could even read of disinterest.

“ this is your... place? ”     beryl looks around a moment before glancing down at the green gem, expression not reading of someone incredibly impressed. the barn isn’t bad, per se, but it is rather... crowded. why would anyone stack a bunch of... things     ( toilets )     in a corner for no apparent reason? but, then again, there is no reason for peridot to take offense to their statements; beryl did just show up and start walking through peridot’s home without permission.

beryl has the technology to track down other gems, and that is what they’ve done. their device has picked up on several gems in this area, actually, but this isn’t some sort of social mission. they need to see how the gems here are doing; they need to know if the defectives under their care would be able to thrive here. and this strange, red, cluttered... house doesn’t really seem like a place where gems would thrive. does just the peridot live like this, or do all earth-inhabitants find refuge in such strange places? if that’s the case, beryl might have to go search for a different planet.

“ why is it red? ”

“ who are you? ”     beryl is stood above the fallen human-gem hybrid, chin pointed up as they look down at her. the pair is stood near the entrance to the kindergarten; other defectives had warned beryl of the gem’s     ( ? )     presence before retreating back into the tunnels at their leader’s command. beryl would handle this alone. is she a THREAT, or in need of HELP?

weapons are held at ready, three small circles in their hand above connie’s head. beryl would have grabbed a sword had they the time, but this will do for now.     “ how did you get here? ”