LOG-021.

  The cell was, rather obviously, a hastily set up, makeshift thing. Mostly because it reminded me of one of the Retaliator's storage closets, of all places.

  Whatever the crew's original plan had been, it clearly hadn't accounted for a pair of Pearls being taken prisoner. The Gem dressing themselves like some sort of knockoff Avian had seemed entirely ready to order both Vermilion and I's forms discorporated after she'd finished smacking Brim like an unruly dog, only for the Lapis Lazuli in question to argue against it, all without even a hint of acknowledgement for the impromptu disciplining she'd just gotten.

  It was...nice of her. Even if her entire reasoning was that we were defectors, ready and willing to turn against the Gem Empire.

  Which was only partially correct. I held no true loyalty to that wretched polity, that was an objective fact, but that didn't necessarily mean I was ready to swear and align myself to a bunch of migratory space birds, either. Even if my return of a still bubbled Citrine had probably helped ease their general perception of me, with a pair of robed figures, similar to the knockoff Avian, if actually showing off hints of their bodies and thus proving their status as organics, gently taking the gemstone away to do...whatever they were going to do with it.

  Which all led to now. Me, sitting alone in a not quite prison cell.

  My Batchmate was presumably suffering a similar predicament, and a small, quiet part of me twisted uncomfortably at the thought of my far more fragile counterpart being forced to go it alone.

  I wasn't entirely blind, even if some things tended to freely go over my head. The red Gem was...worryingly dependent on me. Chances were high that if I hadn't taken her along with me, she'd have suffered the ever common fate of many a Gem put under simply too much stress.

  There was only so many complications a delicate thing like a Pearl could face until they inevitably broke down, after all. It was something they did their best to beat out of us at the Reef. The strong and malleable would graduate, while the weak and defective would be Harvested or Rejuvenated as needed.

  But examples like Vermilion occasionally tended to slip through the cracks, here and there. It was a complaint Nacre Three had brought up often, in between the Caretaker's showering of me with praise and pseudo-affection during some of our less intense tutoring sessions.

  Regardless, there wasn't much I could actually do for my crimson counterpart as of now. I didn't know the layout of the ship around me, and I most certainly didn't fancy my chances in a straight up fight with any rogue Gems on board either.

  So, I waited. It was something I'd gotten very good at, through my years as a glorified slave. Because no matter how hard I fought to cling to my old sensibilities, time just straight up passed differently for beings that quite literally didn't age.

  To a real Gem, a decade felt more like a year. Or maybe even half a year, or at least that was around how I understood it. I wasn't quite at that point yet, but getting there was becoming a larger and larger probability with each year I spent under the dull realisation that, so long as I avoided a violent death of some sort, I would quite likely last...just about forever.

  The end result of those changes I'd picked up throughout my time as a non-organic lifeform, was that I remained utterly serene, sitting down on crossed legs and blanky staring at the wall for what I manually counted to be at least two hours before, finally, the door to my cell opened.

  To my utter surprise (not), it was that same masked, seemingly diguised Gem from before that passed through the doorway, right before it slammed shut behind them. Their outfit shifted around their form, not letting even a hint of lightform reveal itself, even as their booted feet gently tread across the floor.

  My own gaze remained utterly impassive, all as they took two careful steps forward, finally settling to a stop just in front of me.

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  And as that beaked mask stared down at me, reflective lenses only allowing the barest hint of a pair of eyes to shine through, her fingers twitched, and my suspicions were...partially confirmed.

  'Hello.'

  It was the sign language developed by Pearls, without a doubt. There wasn't anything quite like it, after all. But this Gem's motions were...almost mocking of it. Unrefined. Brutal, even. As if she were performing a parody rather than the genuine article.

  A deep sense of unease settled somewhere at the back of my mind, and I silently acknowledged that if I were an interrogator, that would probably be exactly what I was going for.

  So, I dipped my head slightly, and did my best to respond in kind even as I let a polite, perfect smile grace my features.

  After all, if I just tried hard enough, I could absolutely trick myself into thinking that it was just business as usual. Putting on a pretty face for someone else, even as I planned around them within the depths of my mind.

  "Hello as well. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. If I'm not mistaken, your name is Quille?"

  A long few seconds, followed by yet another seemingly mocking twitch.

  'Yes.'

  Either she didn't know much of the language, or she was intentionally neglecting to be all that talkative. The end result was the same regardless, namely me being forced to carry most of the damned conversation.

  "I'd assume Brim's already told you, but just for the sake of basic pleasantries...my name is Viridian."

  Those lenses stared down at me, even as I gently interlocked my fingers, the tips of each hand brushing across that of their counterparts.

  Another moment of silence passed, as I considered my situation and the other Gem, Quille, did...whatever she was doing.

  I stared down at my entangled fingers for a moment, before sighing and looking up.

  "Quille."

  She hadn't looked away from me even once, but I could feel her undivided attention settling back on to my lightform nonetheless.

  Narrowing my eyes slightly, I allowed a hand to rise up, before pressing my palm flat against my chest.

  "You're likely skeptical of just about everything regarding me right now, and I don't blame you at all for that. But, your friend got one thing very much right."

  The expression on my face was a hard, ugly thing. At least by the standards of a Pearl that was constantly prided and congratulated for being flawless.

  "I...hate the Empire. I hate Gem society. I hate the Great Diamond Authority, and all the horror that comes with it."

  My hand came back down to rest against my leg, even as my other limb turned to point at the masked figure.

  "My motives are rather simple, really."

  The urge to frown heavily grew. I kept my lips in a carefully thin line instead. Just enough to emphasize my displeasure with my current situation.

  "I want out. It was why I fought my way to the hangar bay of the ship I was stationed on when you and yours assaulted and boarded the cruiser after destroying our escort vessel. It was why I panicked, attacked and then injured two of your own Gems in my desperation to leave. And it is why I took up Brim's offer of following her here after realising what she truly was, rather than trying to survive upon the dead world your adopted people once called home."

  Despite the lenses, I could just barely make out her own eyes narrowing as I glared right back at her, the hand pointing at her form slowly clenching into a fist.

  "I was the personal Pearl of an Emerald fleet admiral. Facet 2M7G, cut 8XS. Now, from what I've come to learn, you all likely have, at the very least, the most basic idea of what that means."

  Those carefully obscured eyes almost seemed contemplative, now.

  "Tell me what information I need to give you, in exchange for fair treatment of both myself and my fellow Pearl. I'll admit I likely haven't made the greatest first impression with my actions, but speaking with objective, simple logic in mind, you all seem, at least to me, like my best chance at getting away from the rotten, festering cesspit that is the Gem Empire."

  Slowly, ever so slowly, I began to stand up. When I finally got to my feet, I stood at just about equal footing with Quille.

  My fists remained balled at my sides as I stared into the other Gem's shielded eyes.

  I was scared. I didn't want to be here. But at the end of the day, this was a golden opportunity, and I'd be an utter fool not to reach around and grasp it with both hands.

  "I have a veritable treasure trove of information, most of it likely useful to all of you in some way or form. So, help me make this as easy as possible for the both of us."

  Some people believed and said that you were better off with the devil you know, rather than the devil you don't.

  "What do I need to tell you in order to get on your good side, Quille?"

  Those people hadn't ever been forced to sing, dance, serve and fear for their fucking life for years, with no break or hope in sight beyond the ever distant and nigh unreachable possibility of, perhaps one day, making it to something that possibly resembled home.

  And it was with that singular thought of home remaining rooted in my mind, even as Quille's half hidden eyes took on an almost considering gleam, that the masked Gem slowly, finally nodded.

  And then, it was all followed up by a simple, unrefined twitch of the unknown Gem's fingers.

  'Everything.'

  Yeah. Yeah, that seemed about right. Par for the course, really.

  Well, I never expected any of this to be easy, now did I?