Chương 94: LOG-088.

I stepped off the warp pad right after the usual customary flash of light, eyeing my surroundings. Yep. Strawberries. And in the midst of a small path leading out from them, a trio of figures. A Pearl. A Quartz. And a fluffy pink lion. Clapping all four of my hands together while striding forward, I grinned at the realisation that Rose had finally made up her mind, pausing for only a second as I watched their eyes widen for whatever reason after turning towards me.

"Heyo! So are we letting Bismuth out or what?" Silence. Pure silence. Save for a strangled noise from Vanilla, standing to Rose's side, with the pink Gem in question staring at me in bewilderment, prompting a feeling of uncertainy tinged by some kind of half panicked realisation within me that I couldn't quite identify just yet. I paused, idly reaching upwards to feel around my features.

"Is... is there something on my face? I was like ninety percent sure I managed to wash off the watermelon seeds!" The statement was enough to break Vanilla's pseudo silence, the Pearl lurching forward to gesture at me with both hands.

"Can you not go five minutes without fusing!?" Blinking, I crossed my arms, features scrunching up slightly in indignation.

"And just what's so wrong with fusing?" The renegade made some half aborted, clawing gesture at me, practically hissing in the meantime, only for Rose to step forward and place a hand on her shoulder, calming the Gem a little even as she glanced at me warily.

"I'm sorry. I just... I think what Vanilla-" Her eyes briefly twinkled as the name slipped past her lips, something I noted with a little bit of amusement.

"- meant to say was that we were ah..." Those same eyes darted towards my belly for a second, the rebel leader's head tilting somewhat and causing her numerous curls to sway with the motion.

"... expecting Viridian? Or... just Viridian, rather." I stared, even as the overgrown cat lounging behind the pair let out a yawn, maw smacking open and closed a few times as it rolled around in the shrubbery around it, before I slowly knocked a hand against the side of my head in embarassment as a few things mentally clicked together.

"... Oh. Woops. My bad gang." Vanilla's hands rose upwards, covering the pale Gem's face.

"Her bad, she says. Disappears for two days with no one able to find her. Comes back to a private meeting covered in cheap human glow bands and fused as... oh who even are you? I can see that Lapis Lazuli's gemstone on your cheek, so at least I know the components. But have you even picked a name for yourself yet?" The question sounded more tired than anything, as if the rebel was just going through the motions at this point.

Shrugging slightly both to acknowledge my accidental intrusion and in response to her query, I stood tall on one leg, planting one hand on my hip while gesturing to myself with the other, my free pair of arms sweeping to the side slightly as I flashed the Pearl a smirk.

"Dianite, at your service oh exalted grouchy one!" Her hands lowered even as her expression wrinkled slightly in response to my mockingly deferential tone.

"Just enough Pearl in there to know how to make fun of our original purpose, at least..." Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. The statement was enough to prompt a brief silence between us, one eventually broken by a now nervous looking Rose, her fingers tapping against each other.

"So... I suppose we should just get this out of the way then!" She laughed awkwardly, features slightly strained. And for just a second, I felt a little bad about being myself in this situation, right before both of my components promptly reminded me that thoughts like that were stupid.

"I guess... I guess I should ask just how much you know about what's going on here? It-it feels like it would be exceptionally rude to ask you to unfuse at this point, and a little too late besides..." Nodding along with her words, I snapped my fingers.

"Oh, well I have Viridian's funky eidetic memory or whatever, yeah? Though it's not like... constant? I need to really think on whatever I'm trying to recall. So I know all of the juicy details." Lowering that arm, I started listing important notes with the digits of another hand.

"So with that in mind uh, we need to let out the super not alright blacksmith you bubbled way back when. And then we need to actually calm her down enough that she doesn't just up and attack us or whatever. And like I know you're Pink Diamond and all, and that's like totally super bad from a Crystal Gem rebel perspective, but I really think Bismuth would come around if you just explained your side of things? Maybe? We can probably workshop that bit."

The words escaped my mouth, prompting a twitch from Rose and a brand new glower from Vanilla. Then I paused, reflecting on what I'd just said, slowly blinking as the meaning behind it actually hit me.!? The next question out of my mouth came out befuddled, to say the very least.

"... Wait. You're Pink Diamond?" For just an instant, it almost felt like my components were ready to split apart at the sudden upheaval of their previously unified thoughts and perspectives. But then I actually took a second to think about it and... was that really necessary? Not in my humble opinion. The cat was out of the bag already anyway. Nonetheless, I could see Rose all but curling in on herself as I grappled with the...

not necessarily new but most certainly newly processed information, half of me still reeling at the idea that I was apparently standing next to a supposedly dead ruler of the Gem Empire right now, even as the other half hesitantly began to hand over some key details regarding the matter. Bringing up a pair of hands, I pinched my cheeks, breathing deeply as I did so.

"Woah! Okay! Massive mindfuck!" The curse got me what sounded like a reproachful squawk from our resident Pearl (or rather, the resident Pearl that wasn't resident in me, or whatever) and a hesitantly extended hand from Rose.

"Are... are you alright?" Waving her off, I nodded quickly, shifting my weight from one foot to the other and smoothing out my hair slightly.

"Kinda losing it right now, gimme a minute please." And that was enough to leave the Quartz-or rather the Diamond and Pearl glancing at each other with mixed expressions as I tried to get my metaphorical house in order. Right, so... Rose was Pink Diamond. Crazy. But she was a rebel. So... a rebel Diamond. Even crazier. So really, did her being a Diamond change all that much?... Well no not really! So... okay? No big deal? Yeah! No big deal!

"No big deal!" The two glanced at me as I clapped my hands together again, Rose-or Pink-or maybe just Rose in this case tilting her head again as I nodded firmly. Her voice quiet. Hesitant.

"... N-no big deal?" Nodding once more, I shot the hidden Diamond a thumbs up. With all four separate hands.

"Totally! You're still like, you. You know? So even if you're a Diamond you're a pretty nice one! Doesn't really change anything!" Rose's lips parted slightly, her eyes softening at my words, the usual twinkle in them giving way to something deeper. Something distinctly more vulnerable than usual. She blinked, and for a moment, it looked like she was holding back tears.

"It doesn't...?" I scratched the back of my head at that.

"Not to me anyway. Kinda hard to see you as this big scary dictator Gem when Quille was ranting about how oblivious you are to relationship stuff a while back. Though uh... those might coincide now that I think about it?" That was apparently enough to draw Vanilla back into the conversation, her own eyes widening at my statement.

"Wha-that was supposed to be confidential!" Lacking a proper response to give the once more incensed (if for different reasons than before) Pearl, I merely chose to shrug instead.

"Bleh. Quille's a gossip and Viridian remembers stuff. Anyway, I know this has all been super dramatic and emotional and everything, but are we unboxing your rebel blacksmith or what? I've managed to write a letter for Honey Lemon to read later but I haven't gotten one ready for Slate yet, so maybe we can hurry this along, yeah?"