LOG-075.

  "And this is a specific technique I taught myself back in the Reef during Era One! Try to twist your leg slightly while bowing low during the first half of the routine. It tends to help you dig in your heel and should ground you sufficiently for the next half if you do it right."

  The Crystal Gem temple was, in comparison to before the Retaliator's appearance, a lot less quiet than before. Mostly due to the cruiser in question remaining parked up to it, with its crew gladly taking the time to partake in their very much impromptu shoreleave.

  "L-like this?"

  Amethyst effectively integrating into the ship's resident Quartz division and causing no small amount of minor chaos while teaching them how to live 'Terran' style, alongside the occasional strumming of a guitar (followed by Rose's giggles) from a certain persistent human visitor (you the man Greg Universe) also tended to fill the air more often than not.

  "Precisely. Though you could do with squaring up your shoulders a bit...hm. Try doing...this."

  Though not everything was an outright circus. At least for the Retaliator itself, Emerald and Garnet had managed to put their heads together and figure out a decent enough method for keeping the gargantuan vessel from drawing no small amount of (admittedly warranted) concern from the rest of Beach City after the whole debacle of the cruiser's arrival.

  Namely by submerging the thing.

  "Is it supposed to pinch like that? Behind my back?"

  Not fully, of course. But enough that only the sharp prongs of the forward half of the vessel actually breached the water in any appreciable fashion. Turned out a Gem warship meant to brave the perils of the infinite void was also decent enough at acting as a makeshift submarine when push came to shove, albeit with some slight adjustments. Particularly the temporary 'patch' they'd slapped over the hole drilled into the side of the cruiser thanks to the efforts of yours truly.

  "Yes, that's just your lightform stretching a little bit thanks to the position of your arms."

  Getting to and from the temple and the ship itself of course involved a somewhat lengthy swim, but the only members of the crew that truly minded getting a little wet were the Peridots, and they mostly stayed on board the cruiser whenever they weren't taking a shuttle out to visit some abandoned Gem structure or other during their scavenging runs.

  "And then I...spin?"

  However, just because the exterior of the temple was a lot louder thanks to all of the...everything, didn't mean that the entire temple was filled with the noise of a small settlement's worth of Gems running around. There still remained certain relatively calm and isolated areas.

  "Well, spin and pirouette, yes. Then you execute the second part of the dance!"

  Like the individual rooms belonging to the Crystal Gems, for instance.

  Or to be more specific, Pearl's room. Which I'd entered a little over a moment ago (I'd been granted access to this particular chamber a while back...just a little before Harlequin now that I really thought about it), silently stepping away from the door and watching as the pair of Gems inside continued practicing a lengthy routine filled with more than a few flips and rolls.

  So this was where she'd been hiding. Not that I blamed my batchmate for wanting to...avoid Emerald for a while. Realistically, her reaction to the sudden reappearance of our old owner was far more reasonable than my own had been, but that was neither here nor there at the moment.

  Regardless, the dance. It...wasn't one I inherently recognised, though considering it was being taught by an Era One Pearl that had been made for a Diamond, that wasn't all too surprising. Neither were Vermilion's mistakes during most of the act much of a shocker (she simply wasn't built for some of the bullshit moves an Era One servant could pull off), even as Pearl continued to try and coach her red counterpart throughout the training activity.

  As they both finally slowed down and settled to stop for a small break, I abruptly decided to step forward, announcing my presence with a loud clap as I stared up at the pair from my lower position at the foot of the first fountain leading up to the rest of the room.

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  "Very fancy. Practice it often?"

  Pearl's eyes widened, quickly followed by Vermilion's as my batchmate whirled around upon realising she'd apparently had a hidden audience.

  "V-viridian!"

  As the crimson Gem hopped down from her perch next to her rebel counterpart, I locked eyes with the renegade in question.

  This hadn't been part of our agreement. We'd agreed to speak privately. Alone. Separate from all the other Gems currently running around. Though judging by her own surprised expression, perhaps she simply hadn't expected me to arrive early.

  That was fine though. Bringing Vermilion in on things...well. I could at least trust her not to question me too much on where my information came from.

  Hopefully.

  "I'm sorry we haven't spoke a lot but it's just been so busy outside and I was talking with Pearl and then she was showing me a few things and we were-"

  The babbling tsunami cut off almost the instant I brought up a hand, nodding.

  "That's fine. I've been more than a little busy myself. Hello to you as well Pearl. Now, as much as it feels a little rude to skip the usual pleasantries, I'd rather focus on a few things we need to discuss, if that's alright?"

  My batchmate blinked at my question, before nodding quickly as Pearl hopped down from the fountain herself, landing elegantly a few feet away and eating up the remaining difference with a few quick steps.

  "I would say that's more than fine. So!" Her own hands clapped this time, the paler Gem's expression unceasingly (one would almost say aggressively) polite.

  "You and I had an agreement about your relinquishment of certain ah...information..."

  Her expression twitched slightly as Vermilion turned to glance at her in confusion, the rebel presumably now aware of the problem of having a third Gem present for what had been meant to be a strictly one on one conversation.

  "Ehem...Vermilion dear, would it be much of a bother for you to step away for a few-"

  Right, fuck this. There's a time for caution and then there's also a time for metaphorically beating people over the head with an informational baseball bat.

  "I saw a potential future. Oh, and Rose Quartz is Pink Diamond."

  My bored, slightly irritated tone coloured the words, even as both of my fellow Pearls turned to stare at me, one bearing a face of incomprehension, and the other of utter horror as she realised just what words I'd chosen to give voice to. Vermilion, rather reasonably in my opinion, responded with her own confused blink, before tilting her head.

  "...What?"

  I took mild amusement from the strangled choking noise being emitted from a certain pale Gem, even as I spread my arms out in an exaggerated shrug.

  "Rose Quartz is Pink Diamond. Or rather, Rose Quartz is an identity fabricated by Pink Diamond so she could rebel against the rest of the Authority. That was the whole start of the rebellion, from what I understand. Her and her Pearl, that's the one here with us, to be clear-" At that I sent an obvious glance said Pearl's way, briefly causing Vermilion to glance at her. "-ended up going around and wrecking Imperial infrastructure in an effort to prevent the Earth's colonisation. It's a pretty big secret, for various reasons that I probably don't need to explain. So ah...don't tell anyone."

  It was actually really interesting to watch, the series of emotions that flashed across my batchmate's face in the span of a few seconds. First that continued state of incomprehenshion. Then concern as she presumably realised I wasn't playing some elaborate prank. Then actual comprehension. Then shock. And then utter bewilderment mixed with said shock as her hands both rose upwards to clap against the sides of her head in response to my piece of mega gossip.

  "ROSE QUARTZ IS PINK DIAMOND!?"

  Blinking at the flabbergasted Gem, I nodded, idly noting that she seemed to have forgotten my other tidbit in favour of what was, to her, the far more significant one.

  "Mhm."

  Then I winced at the subsequent shrill yell that erupted from Pearl's mouth.

  "VIRIDIAN! WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT!? Do you have any idea how-"

  Crossing my arms, I glared at my (significantly) older equivalent, cutting her off.

  "I said it because I'd rather not waste time dancing around the issue, especially when we have other problems to deal with! Besides, Vermilion can keep a secret! Right Vermilion?"

  As the both of us turned to stare at my batchmate, the only sound that managed to escape past her lips was something that could probably be classified as a squeak, even as she rapidly nodded her head, hands still gripping at the sides of her hair.

  Turning back to the still incensed Pearl, I gestured to our third member.

  "There! Now there's three of us. We're a secret Pearl conspiracy. Viridian the Pearl, Vermilion the Pearl, and Pearl...the Pearl."

  Turning, I began to stride towards the fountain, even as Vermilion quietly mumbled the words "Pearl conspiracy?" to herself and Pearl stomped after me.

  ...Stars damn it all that name was still proving to be an annoyance. Would it be offensive to ask her to change it?

  "Wha-get back here!"

  Fuck, probably. Ugh.

  "Just because you somehow know about Pink's-about Rose's secret, doesn't mean you're entitled to just blurt it out for anyone to hear, Viridian! There could be severe consequences if her true existence were exposed! Can't you have even a little bit of tact? Honestly, for a Pearl you sometimes act just as impulsively as Amethyst and that's-"

  Turning back to stare at her from my new position sitting at the rim of the fountain, I quirked an eyebrow, even as part of me inwardly winced at her words. She...had a point, yes. But I unfortunately didn't have either the time, inclination or energy to work around that point. So...

  "You wanna stage an intervention and save Bismuth? Because that's what I planned to talk with you about but if you want to just keep yelling at me I suppose that's also fine."

  Predictably, Pearl's mouth shut with an almost audible clack.

  Smiling at both the sight in front of me and of Vermilion slowly approaching the both of us with an uncertain look on her face, I crossed one leg over the other and placed my hands atop my lap.

  "So, moving on to less shouty matters. Did either of you know that Rose has a pet lion?"

  Honestly, I really should have expected my batchmate's subsequent question. Small mistake on my end, there.

  "Uhm...what's a lion?"