Chapter Text
Existence happened suddenly and without warning. Bursting forth from the stoney cliffside, she was fully alert and aware. Yellow diamond, E4YYD1, a gem above all other gems meant to rule. Though looking around she felt as if there had to be some sort of error, as no one was around to greet her as she emerged. There wasn’t anyone as far as she could see.
If she was of the fourth era, that meant there were more gems. Gems that had been responsible for her creation. And going off what she knew of her programing, there had to be another diamond who was ruling. Perhaps there was prior to her, and she was a back up plan. Perhaps she was meant as a co-ruler. But her answers would not be found here.
She glanced around the canyon she was in. The walls were covered in exit points of different gems. Gems that were smaller than her, but not by much. Perhaps a little wider in the shoulders. They probably weren’t diamonds. There could only be so many rulers. There were so many possibilities on what they could be, but unfortunately none remained to tell her. They had all gone on ahead to do what they were meant to do.
Nothing good would come of her if she continued to laze around pondering what ifs. She was meant to do something. To BE someone. She couldn’t do any of it if she kept standing around here.
She would follow the wall until she found something of note. If there were still gems in the area, then it only made sense that there was some sort of proof other than the holes that they were here. Perhaps a settlement, or even a base. Yellow lacked the luxury of pickiness, she would take anything that she could find.
Sitting in the middle of the canyon she found herself in, was something that appeared to be a very large, blue gem. A different cut than her own, and far too big to belong to an actual gem. It radiated a power to it that meant it was active and had some sort of use. Whatever that use was was a completely different matter. If it were here, then that meant that the area was in some way important. The smartest strategy for now would be to wait here for someone to find her.
Before she could get a better look at it, everything started to get darker. Something was above her. Looking up, she saw something large and pink. It was hard to tell from this angle, but it certainly wasn’t the time to stand around and figured it out. Yellow took a few large steps back to move out of the shadow. The whatever it was landed on the large gem, covering it entirely with it’s fingers? It slammed down with such force that it almost knocked her back. Yellow had to wonder if she had been mistaken of the gem’s importance, or if it was the owner of whatever was responsible for this pink arm.
A large pink bubble formed on the surface of the wrist of the arm, and rolled down the side to right in front of her. From the pink bubble, emerged a gem roughly her size, but pink. She was also dressed differently, certainly ornate to an almost gaudy degree. At her side was a similarly dressed (though hardly ornate) gem who stood at around two thirds of their height. The pink diamond wrapped her arms around her before she had time to react.
“Oh my stars! Look at you! To think we were under the impression that you were going to be a little overcooked feldspar. Those jade must’ve really messed it up this time.” Yellow was released, and Pink had chosen to hold onto both her hands instead. “But look at you! You’re absolutely beautiful!”
Yellow hadn’t been very old. She was only a few hours at most. But she felt as though she wouldn’t be so easy to flatter like this. Yet here she was feeling absolutely bashful with a warm feeling in her gem. Relief was all she really expected, but she felt happy about this.
“Thank you. I believe I’m made perfectly to code. I look forward to working with you in the future.” She only got one shot at a good first impression. If she didn’t manage to do this correctly, then Pink’s entire view of her from this point forward would be off coloured. As a diamond she should strive for perfection, and nothing less.
Pink stared at her, blinking silently. Then once she processed what was said, she laughed. Yellow felt she should be insulted, or embarrassed. Yet somehow she did feel negatively at all. She felt as though she had planned to say something like that, that she had meant to make her laugh. What a strange feeling.
“You’re so adorable. We’re Diamonds. We don’t have to do anything we don’t want to.” She looked so happy, that Yellow felt almost validated. There was still a lingering part of her that felt as if that were wrong, but the greater part of her was more fixated on the warm and gentle feeling that she had only been strengthened when she laughed.
“I thought we were supposed to lead?” She asked bashfully. Part of her felt ashamed of how timid that came out, the rest ashamed that she was so out of the loop of what she was supposed to do. Pink was of the same rank as her, they were equals in all but experience, but Yellow should’ve emerged with everything she was supposed to know.
“No silly, we get to rule. It’s a totally different thing. Come on! Let’s get out of this dingy place and I’ll show you!” She smiled, pulling her forward. A pink opaque bubble formed around them and Yellow could feel them moving.
The bubble faded and they now where in a ship with soft rose lighting, and almost exclusively pink around them with only what Yellow could assume was meant to be white if not for the lighting around them. There was no reason for her to be surprised, the outside of the ship was pink, and belonged to Pink. She would be more shocked if it were green.
The smaller gem curtseyed and ran ahead. It seemed like an odd thing to do. Was this a standard procedure? If she were a pilot of some sort, it seemed odd for her to disembark with her Diamond. Perhaps a deeper relationship was present, as a favorite among other gems?
“Oh don’t mind my little pearl. She’s just running ahead to let my morganite and my topaz know that we’re coming through.” Pink waved her hand as she started walking. Yellow assumed that that was her cue to follow. “If we had known you were coming, we’d have prepared a pearl of your own. I’d let you have one of mine for the time being, but they wouldn’t match at all. A pretty pink pearl would look so out of place against your cute yellows. We’ll be sure to get you one as soon as possible.”
Yellow hadn’t thought of herself as the type to want to be cute, but it felt nice to hear it be said. Perhaps it was something that was a common trait between diamonds. It seemed there was a lot that she was unaware of. It wouldn’t be shocking if this were another thing.
Her eyes were drawn to the assorted gems with their arms crossed and their eyes closed. One was built not too dissimilar to the pearl. Certainly not as small or frail, but the same round features and slim build. The second was a larger rounder build, Yellow might even hazard to say the exact opposite of a pearl. Sturdy and large, probably meant for combat. The two seemed like polar opposites, sharing only the hue of their gems.
“Will I also be getting gems like these?” If Pink got gems that were pink, it felt like a fair assumption that Yellow would also be receiving gems that were yellow. Especially after her last statement about her getting a pearl that matched.
“Oooh, you’re a clever little one. You’re barely out of the ground and already you’re catching on. You’ll be getting all sorts of gems. All made to match you!” Pink went passed them and into another room. The door closed moments after Yellow had entered. Pink sat down on a cushioned seat by a window that Yellow had not been previously aware existed until just this moment. “But the most important one you’ll be getting for now is going to be your pearl. I just can’t believe that we weren’t even prepared enough to get you a pearl.”
Pink threw her hands up in exasperation. She didn’t have any important business yet. Even if she did, Yellow was positive that she was capable enough to handle a little bit of work on her own.
“So what exactly is the purpose of a pearl? If I am to rule, then surely a pearl must also have a role of her own.” Her importance made it seem like a pearl would be a partner. Someone to assist her with the normal affairs of life as a diamond.
“Pearls have a very important role, Yellow. The more pearls you have, the more obvious it is that you’re someone important. Even if you only travel with one, you still have all the rest of your pearls busy with checking in on your zircrom or carrying things for you.”
“Shouldn’t I be more concerned with getting more practical gems? Like ones that would help me rule a colony better?” Because so far there was nothing about a pearl that jumped out as important to her. Maybe once she had more than she could handle, but for now it seemed unnecessary.
“Oh Yellow. You can’t just be a Diamond without a pearl. You just think that way because didn’t have one ready for you. You’re going to love her when you get one. We can even program her to teach you how to be a Diamond. We can program all her replacements to teach you too for when you break her.” Replacements? She had no intention of breaking her gems. It seemed counterproductive and wasteful.
“Should I be worried about not knowing my own strength?” The other possibility was that this was a common problem with new gems, and that it was to be expected that she accidentally put too much force into something and damaged someone. She hadn’t exactly gotten the chance to do much of anything yet.
“Not in the slightest. Pearls are cheap and easy to replace. You’ll think it’s a big deal to break the first one, but you’ll soon come to find that it’s nothing. Come sit down, it’s not going to be a long ride, but it’s always better to ride in comfort.” Pink patted the spot next to her.
The cushion was about as soft as it looked. Yellow sank right in as she sat down. It was more comfortable than standing, but became less so as she realized that she was eye level with the still standing pearl, who had said nothing about anything as they spoke about her and her kind of gem.
“Should I make room for you?” She offered, but the pearl didn’t move. It’d seem impractical to have a kind of gem who delivered messages to be unable to hear. Pink laughed.
“Oh don’t worry about her. She’ll be fine standing. These seats are for diamonds anyways.” Now the pearl seemed to react. She seemed genuinely shocked that she was being addressed. Yellow was unaware of who else she’d be talking to, seeing as she was the only other gem in the room.
“I can’t wait to show you to the other diamonds, they’re going to love you.” Pink beamed.
“Oh!! Instead of meeting you now, we should have a big party!” Pink interrupted, before Yellow could say a word. A party didn’t really seem like that necessary.
Though on the other hand, Yellow was a new diamond. That seemed reason enough to celebrate she supposed.
“What kind of party?” Party was unfortunately not one of the things that had been programmed into her at her inception. It seemed that she was missing a lot of information she was supposed to have. Perhaps a side effect of being an unplanned diamond.
“Oh my stars, you’re going to love this. Usually we have a party for every new successful colony we set up, but this is something way more special that any of that. This is the dawn of era four! You’re a new diamond! This is the perfect chance to celebrate.” Pink clapped her hands together in excitement. Yellow felt herself getting excited for the event as well. It was a leap into the complete unknown, but if Pink was so happy about this, then she should as well.
“So how many colonies do you have now?”
“Oh we’re in the hundreds, but that’s taking into account that we don’t count a colony as complete until we’ve completely exhausted the resources. The one’s I’ve been responsible for is probably around fifty?” Pink stopped, as if to think it over. “I’d have to count my zircrom later. I can’t be bothered to remember how many I’ve successfully done.”
Yellow was impressed. To think that she could talk about her own accomplishments like this as if they were nothing. That meant that she done it effortlessly. Yellow couldn’t imagine what would happen if Pink had to actually try. That also meant that there were big shoes to fill. Once she got a colony of her own, she was going to have to work hard to keep pace with her fellow diamonds who had been at this so much longer than she was. She was going to have to take note as to not fall behind.
“And that also means we’ll be getting new pearls as well. One of the most important things you can learn as a diamond, is that you can never have too many pearls.” Pink smiled.
“Do you get a new pearl every party?” Because that sounded like a lot of pearls.
“We used to, but once we hit Era Two it started getting to be a lot, so we decided that you only get a new pearl once you complete a colony or at the start of a new era. It also stopped us from wasting too many resources because we would make pearls just cause sometimes. Don’t worry though, you’ll catch up in no time.” Though it wasn’t nearly as many as she had originally thought, Pink still had so many pearls. And that wasn’t even counting the pearls that belonged to other Diamonds. She could hardly imagine them all in one place. She had to wonder if they were going to be at the party. She couldn’t imagine a better time to show them all off.
“Oh! We’re landing soon. You stay on board the ship, and I’ll send some pearls to start arranging the party. I’ll also send some to get the pearls ready. There’s nothing worse than a party being delayed because the pearls were late.”
“So what will we be doing?” Because it seemed like there was nothing left for them to do.
“I suppose that we can go check on my current colony.” Pink said it as if it were the most boring thing. But Yellow was so excited to see what the other side of a colony looked like.
“I’d appreciate that.”