LOG-091.

  I poked my head out of the doorway just in time to catch the tale end of Stars knew what.

  "-ig ones. Massive, even. Huge. I bet she'll be...oh! Viridian! We...weren't expecting you!"

  Squinting at the decidedly suspicious looking Lapis Lazuli, I noted the fact that Vermilion had apparently joined the party at some point, standing in between Brim and her fellow Pearl, who in turn was staring at me with narrowed eyes.

  Holding back a sigh, I reached forward with a hand, then pointed back towards the door with my thumb.

  "Sorry to burst your bubble, but Rose and I are done chatting. Get in here so we can do this stupid thing."

  Vanilla blinked at that, tilting her head in bewilderment.

  "She...she agreed? Already?"

  Rolling my eyes, I nodded.

  "Yes, and after no small amount of effort on my part. Now come on. And Brim, stop fantasizing about fusions. Nothing happened."

  Ducking back and ignoring the subsequent squawk my words had earned, I turned right around and marched my way back over and then eventually through the surrounding clouds, noting the sound of several pairs of feet landing right behind me as I did so.

  Getting back to Rose took no time at all, really. And yet somehow it felt like a small eternity with three separate gazes piercing into my back the whole way, right up until I exchanged nods with the waiting Diamond in question and swivelled around to face her room's latest occupants, clapping my hands together as I did so.

  "Alright...Rose, you go ahead and explain."

  The rebel leader blinked at that, turning to glance at me in surprise.

  "What? But...it's your plan!"

  Rearing my head back slightly, I scowled.

  "Yeah but you're the leader or whatever!"

  She blanched at that for whatever reason, even as our trio of spectators kept glancing between us as if they were watching a damned tennis match...right up until something in her eyes lit up, a triumphant smirk adorning itself over the faux Quartz's face.

  "Well if I'm in charge...then you have to explain because I said so!"

  I paused, raising a finger to make a retort, then slowly lowered it with a shake of my head, prompting a giggle from Vermilion in the process.

  "Fine, whatever. Not worth wasting even more time over. So here's the basics-" Turning back towards the Lapis and two Pearls, I gestured at our surroundings with a hand. "-of how we're gonna do this. From what I understand, Rose and Bismuth got into a fight. Rose won and poofed Bismuth, before bubbling her."

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  Ignoring the hidden Diamond's guilty look, I continued.

  "Which means, at least from Bismuth's perspective, nothing has really changed. The rebellion is still very much active. There was never a corruption blast. Rose literally just attacked her. Etcetera etcetera. Not exactly a great thing for us. Or her, really."

  Turning, I nodded my head towards my pale counterpart.

  "So, we need to knock her out of what's probably going to be a very panicked state once she's unbubbled. Vanilla, you're a familiar, friendly face for Bismuth. You'll help calm her down." The renegade preened at that, slightly, even in spite of the worried look on her face.

  Patting my chest before pointing at my Batchmate, I waved a hand.

  "Meanwhile Vermilion and I will be present both to help separate our surroundings from her previous situation, and to hopefully help talk her down. With luck she'll be too busy questioning where the heck two random Pearls appeared from to go fully berserk. Rose and Brim, on the other hand, will be waiting out of sight to either reveal themselves once we're good and ready for yet another big chat, or to help hold Bismuth down if she decides she'd rather not talk."

  Pausing, I took a (needless but comforting) breath and nodded to myself, noting the glances the Lapis and Diamond were sending each other.

  "Key goals are as follows."

  Raising a hand, I slowly began to tick each point off my fingers.

  "One, we get Bismuth to calm down. Hopefully enough to avoid a second fight. Two, we get her and Rose into position to talk things out. Preferably without the rest of us piling on top of her, but we'll see how that goes. And three, we bring her in on the whole Pink Diamond being a rebel thing so that she comprehends why everything went down the way it did."

  I shot a sharp glance at Rose at the last point, crossing my arms again.

  "Whether she forgives you for leaving her bubbled or not is entirely up to her. We're just here to get her out and about without things devolving into violence again, got it? And don't give me that look Vanilla, this is entirely reasonable. You're the sketchy ones here."

  The Pearl continued to glare at me regardless, visibly resisting the urge to grumble even as Rose hesitated for a second, before slowly nodding.

  Lowering my arms, I let out another quick clap and nodded.

  "Alright, we'll take a few minutes to set up. Vanilla, let's figure out your...script I suppose. Rose, Brim, shoo. Vermilion, come here and help me figure out how we're supposed to tackle this Gem if things get rough."

  ---

  Pop.

  Awareness returned with a flash of light. Not something unusual, by now. She'd long since gotten used to getting poofed in the heat of battle.

  Just...usually by stinking Imperial uppercrusts. or Quartz soldiers who just plain didn't know better yet.

  Never at the hands of an ally. A leader.

  A friend.

  Lightform already tensing even as the more complicated parts of her gemstone's avatar manifested into existence, Bismuth reflexively shifted her hands into a pair of blades. She didn't like it, but if she needed to pierce Rose's own robust lightform to settle this properly-

  "Biiiismuuuuuuth!"

  And that's about where that particular train of thought ended, her weaponised limbs already forming back into simple, boring old hands as she suddenly had to deal with an armful of emotional Pearl.

  "Woah! Where'd you come from?!"

  She tried to put on the usual friendly smile. Yet despite Pearl's shining eyes, something must have slipped through, the lithe rebel frowning slightly.

  Of course then the construction worker turned blacksmith realised that she wasn't in her usual domain, but rather in what looked like her previous opponent's room. And that Pearl...wasn't the only Pearl present, apparently.

  Blinking, she stared at the red and green duo, the former hiding slightly behind the latter, who in turn was staring back at her with a cool expression that she couldn't really identify.

  The green Gem offered a polite looking smile. Real fancy like. Something in Bismuth roiled at it and pondered whether she was gonna need to help a potential rebel through Stars knew how much potential conditioning, even as she carefully set Pearl down and gestured towards the pair.

  "So...lots of explaining to do, I think. But first ah...who's this?"

  The green one inclined her head slightly, even as her crimson counterpart offered the blacksmith a small, hesitant wave. Shy, it seemed.

  "Viridian and Vermilion. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Bismuth. But I'm afraid Vanilla will be doing most of the talking for the time being."

  ...Vanilla? Was there another Pearl somewhere around here? Where'd they all come from?

  Mouthing the word in confusion, the Crystal Gem glanced back down just in time to be met with an awkward look from one of her best friends.

  "...It's a little complicated. Though I suppose you were certainly correct in that there is a lot of explaining to do! Aha! Hah..."

  For whatever reason, the half strangled laugh that escaped the Pearl (well, the one she actually recognized anyway) filled Bismuth with an unreasonably deep sense of dread.