Chương 155: LOG-147.

To say that Thulite Thirteen was happy to see me could be taken as a bit of an understatement.

"Oh and it's just so unprecedented! I mean last time I saw you Yellow Diamond wanted my expertise and you were a Pearl and… well, now you're not!" Standing with my clawed hands carefully folded behind my back, I allowed her chatter to wash over me as I glanced around her office once more. Mostly the same, though there were a few new holograms being projected of Pearls in different outfits, presumably intended for the next production run, assuming they passed review.

Turning back to regard the frighteningly pink Gem, I nodded.

"Quite right. It has been…an experience, getting here. Tell me Thirteen, have you…" Pausing, I arched an eyebrow as my colourful counterpart let out an embarrassed blush that caused her cheeks to literally glow pink, ceasing her orbit of my lightform and drawing her hands back from where she'd seemed intent on inspecting my new outfit.

"... as I was saying, have you had more work lately? Been designing much?" The question drew a bright, and yet notably brittle, smile from the Gem, as she gestured towards the trio of Pearls lining one of the walls.

"Oh, same old, same old. I admit I… was hoping to ask you something in regards to that, seeing as you're the big strong Overseer now! Aha… haha..." It was almost startling, how…

nervous Thirteen got after aborting the obviously fake laugh she'd followed up her playful tone with, her own gloved hands coming to rest in front of her waist, fingers tapping together in a way that reminded me of Vermilion- Clenching my hands tighter behind my back at the stray thought - I will find my way back to Earth, no matter what it takes, I will- I stared as the Thulite seemingly gathered the courage to speak, before she nodded to herself with closed eyes.

"Overseer Nacre Four, I would like to request reassignment to a different facility. I feel that my skills and contributions to the Empire are lackluster within the Reef, largely due to the fact that most of my duties are already handled by the other Nacres, thus rendering me…redundant." Part of me twinged in discomfort at seeing the normally cheery Gem once more displaying an (apparently well hidden) less than perfect part of herself, even as Thirteen went on.

"I apologize if my request seems rather direct, but as of now all communications I have deployed to Homeworld while seeking guidance on this decision have seemingly been ignored, and so I resort to this. With your permission, I have an Atoll-class Pearl production facility that I believe could use my help. The Nacre there and I have occasionally been in communication, and I'm sure that I-""What if I gave you something else to do?" The words slipped out before I could think to stop them, but at the same time…

I didn't really want to stay silent. Not if the idea I had in my head could be made real. Something that evidently came as a surprise to Thirteen, the Thulite stuttering to a halt in her speech as I tilted my head.

"Something… else? Like… like what?" There were a few reasons, in my mind. The first was that of all the Gems I'd met here so far, Thulite seemed the most sane. A low bar, I knew, considering what the Nacres were like, and considering that I hadn't actually met the on-site technician crew that kept the Reef running just yet, but still. Additionally, and very importantly, she had some level of freedom to actually move about, particularly so with my backing her, and well…

she wasn't really doing anything besides languishing in her own section of the Reef, as far as I could tell.. And so with that in mind I lifted a hand into view, before gesturing to the pink Gem with a talon.

"Remind me of what Thulites do again?" Thirteen hesitated, glancing around the room full of her work, and then back towards me, clearly holding back on asking whether or not I was feeling well.

"Fashion?" I remained silent, causing the Thulite to fidget for a second before lifting her hands, almost as if in a placating gesture.

"Fashion design! We're like…like Morganites for lightforms. Professionally, I'm supposed to be the lead designer here at the Reef…though in practice the Nacres mostly do everything themselves. I only ever get to show off my creations when called upon by specific Gems, like with Yellow Diamond!" Blinking at the slightly better answer, I nodded before flicking that same talon up and down, gesturing to Thirteen's own lightform.

"So tell me, why do you look like a pink Nacre?" That actually got the other Gem to pause, visibly thinking back, before snapping her fingers.

"Because we were based on them, actually! Ah, it was before your time, back when Pink Diamond was still around. Her graciousness supposedly sought to contribute to the Empire more directly using a few experimental new castes. Us Thulites were one of those castes!" Hm. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

"Though from what I understand, her Grace was incredibly efficient when it came to Gem design, and based our forms off of the Gems we'd be working the most closely with, that being Nacres! Thus reducing the effort involved!" The safe way of saying that Rose had been a lazy shit and based her super special (and largely redundant in purpose) new Gem type on an already existing one.

Probably begged Blue or Yellow into helping her with it as well, so they'd just slapped something together really quick in order to placate their youngest Diamond. Part of me questioned what kind of instructions she'd given to the Gems that had likely been in charge of developing the Thulite line. Another part itched to see just what Thirteen's programming looked like, and whether… wait.

Zoning out slightly as new code and instincts came to the forefront of my mind, I ignored Thirteen's questioning noises, focusing. Then, abruptly, I reached forward, claws locking around the gemstone embedded just below her throat, drawing a gasp from its owner as something in me clicked. The train of logic was simple, really. I was a Nacre, built to construct, refine, program, and train Pearls.

It was part of my skillset to see the code of the Pearls under my purview, usually only during incubation, as that was the most crucial moment of one's development, but nothing was necessarily stopping me from just… looking again, later. Thirteen was a Thulite, which in turn was a form of Gem based off of a Nacre, which in turn was really just a bigger Pearl, when one got down to it. Thus, Thirteen was a Pearl.

A thought that continued to echo in my mind as justification, even as lines, upon lines, upon lines upon lines upon lines upon lines- Code. A lot of code flashed through my thoughts, and I saw all of it. I saw all that Thirteen was. The code dictating her lightform. Her personality traits, those that manifested upon emergence. Her abilities. Her purpose.

As a distinct shine began to linger between my claws and the gemstone they were grasping, my own programming railed against me for a moment, insisting that this was wrong, that I shouldn't be able to just grab a Gem and… and see all that they were. But Thulite was a Pearl. Just a Pearl. And I was made to construct, refine, program, and train Pearls. It appears that her gemstone does contain an extremely large quantity of Pink Essence.

There's potential there, many fascinating things this particular Gem line could be made to do, several of which could be useful for me. Surely as Overseer, I was well within my rights to make a few… edits, here and there- Flinching back violently at the influenced thought, the split second of disconnect was enough to end the connection, my talons retracting from Thirteen's gemstone as my mind swirled with new information. With new ideas.

And with some amount of horror at what I'd very nearly done to the innocent Gem. Note to self, be very, very careful with code editing. The thought of just… changing someone, to better help me was all too tempting. Ugh. Stuck in my own mildly disgusted self-observance as I was, I didn't notice Thirteen looking at me with confusion in her eyes until the Gem finally spoke up.

"Uhm… so what was that about?" Her lack of outrage at my near violation of her being left me blinking for a moment, before I decided not to question the blessing that was her apparent ignorance. Nonchalant almost to the point of irreverence, one of the shared personality traits that can commonly be found amongst former Pink Court Gems. Another part of Rose's questionable blessing for her line.

Idly shoving the thoughts aside to be looked over later, I lifted a hand again, slowly placing it upon the Thulite's shoulder.

"I believe that you could assist the Reef in… different ways, particularly in helping roll out a few changes I have in mind in regards to Pearl training schedules. If it works out, you might even take on some of the work the Nacres do. If it doesn't, I'll see about finding a way to approve your transfer. Do you think that's acceptable?"

There was a long moment of borderline shock as my counterpart seemingly digested the fact that she was actually being asked for her opinion in regards to the decision, before she nodded eagerly, a wide smile on her face.

"I do! Thank you for the offer, Overseer!" And just like that, without any stupid code editing and brainwashing, I had secured myself another hopeful ally. One that would need to be refined, naturally, but it was definitely a whole lot better than the borderline nothing I'd been operating with previously. Now, next on the agenda, meeting the rest of the Reef's staff…and then finally getting around to seeing what the hell had been going on with Yellow Diamond's Pearl.