Chương 88: LOG-083.

I took a slow, deliberate bite of my toast, chewing with an exaggerated calm that was utterly at odds with the irritation simmering beneath the surface of my lightform. The cafe buzzed softly around us with the low hum of conversations and the occasional clatter of dishes, but the air at our little table was thick with tension nonetheless.

Across from me, Pearl sat stiffly in her chair, shifting nervously beneath my persistent staring, and occasionally wincing in discomfort as I steadily chewed up the food in my mouth before swallowing and electing to speak.

"You still haven't asked her." It wasn't a question, and my voice remained deceptively even, though each word felt like it was pulling teeth. Pearl's cyan eyes flicked up at my statement, widening ever so slightly before darting quickly to the side, her gaze landing somewhere just past my shoulder. The pause dragged out as if she were silently praying for some kind of intervention. Unfortunately for her, Vermilion, sitting beside Pearl, wasn't about to offer any sort of rescue.

Instead, she tilted her head slightly, her pointy red hair catching the sunlight from the cafe window, the Pearl looking every bit the picture of confused innocence as she tried to decipher the tension between us.

"W-well, I was busy!" She finally stammered, her voice carrying that by now familiar, flustered defensiveness she always summoned when cornered. Her fingers twisted nervously in the thin fabric of her weird... I wanted to say poncho? Regardless, her fingers moved around, occasionally pulling at nearly invisible threads as she worried.

I set my toast down, bringing up my mug and taking a long, drawn out sip of hot chocolate, arching an eyebrow at my senior by several thousand years, before setting it back down again.

"Researching polycules instead of dealing with what we talked about?" I deadpanned. Pearl's face flushed a deep shade of light blue, and she looked away again, her hands now tugging at the ends of her not-poncho with even more intensity. Vermilion, still watching with that same curious tilt to her head, blinked slowly. She didn't seem to understand the context of the conversation yet, her red eyes darting between us as if waiting for more pieces of the puzzle to fall into place.

Sighing, I brought up a hand to massage the bridge of my nose (it still didn't provide any physical comfort, but the familiar gesture was... nice) as Pearl exchanged another glance with her fellow Pearl... Gem... oh fuck it that's enough of that shit. I was already annoyed at how easily the supposedly seasoned rebel warrior had been led astray from her original goal.

In addition, I'd had to deal with some other things as well, like helping Garnet and Rose explain to Emerald why we couldn't just land the automated starship she and her crew had somehow hijacked inside the territory of a sovereign nation that wasn't America (They had specific deals with Rose regarding certain things like land ownership, apparently) and dealing with the utter mess that constituted my feelings towards my own relationship with my Batchmate, an ever so pleased Brim, and my former owner turned maybe lover though I still wasn't sure about that and I doubted she even had context for what love even meant but- Deep breath.

Yeah. To say I was a little high strung as a result of everything would be an understatement, and though my first instinct was to push it down and deal with it later, I'd promised to myself that I'd try to communicate and or relax a bit more since getting to Earth. So I figured I'd start with something that had been mildly bugging me for a while now. Starting right now, of course.

"What's your identifier?" I recieved a confused blink at that, those cyan orbs widening slightly in confusion.

"What?" Waving a hand toward the pale Pearl, I tilted my head side to side, rolling my eyes slightly.

"Your identification code. You've taken Pearl as a name and that's all well and good, but I keep running around in mental circles whenever I think of you in relation to me or Vermilion! Back at the Reef I was Sixteen B -" My hand waved once more, vaguely gesturing towards my Batchmate.

"-and she was Sixteen A. What about you?" The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Despite her mild bewilderment at the abrupt topic change, the renegade was more than ready to take the opportunity of diverting our focus away from her failure to communicate with Rose. In turn, I watched her with narrowed eyes, knowing full well what she was doing, but allowing it for now. I'd reel her back in soon enough anyway.

After all, we were still circling the matter of springing Bismuth, and I wasn't about to let Pearl wiggle out of it completely thanks to whatever reluctance she'd suddenly developed. But for now at least, I decided to indulge her distraction, contemplating another bite of my food as-"I was One D!" Pearl exclaimed suddenly, her voice firming as she latched onto the newfound topic. Her hand shot up in the air, a single finger raised in triumph as though this revelation would somehow justify her evasiveness.

"Though uhm... I wasn't actually developed alongside a proper batch. I ah..." Her voice quieted slightly, and her eyes, once so animated, drifted off, becoming distant. It was as if she were staring into something far beyond the cozy confines of the cafe, into memories that lay buried deep. Compartmentalised most likely, considering what my memories indicated of her mindscape within the show.

"... was produced separately. As a special case." One D, huh? I rolled the designation around in my head, even as I leaned back in my seat, grunting.

"Right." I let the word drag, the taste of butter and toast still fresh on my tongue.

"I guess a Diamond's Pearl would follow a pretty different procedure-""Quiet!" She hissed, her voice barely more than a desperate whisper as she cast a quick, frantic glance around the cafe. The scattered patrons were largely unbothered, some too engrossed in their conversations or their steaming mugs of coffee to pay any mind to us, magic rock ladies or not.

Nonetheless, the bright cyan of her eyes darkened, narrowing into an indignant glare as she leaned forward, trying to impose her will on me through sheer proximity.

"That still isn't something you should be so-so cavalier about, Viridian!" It was her turn to stare at me now, apparently, even as I shrugged noncommittally and reached for another bite of toast, watching her squirm in response. In the end, it was Vermilion that broke the silence.

"It... has been a little odd to call you Pearl all the time. It kind of reminds me of my old owner. She'd just call me Pearl as well. Though One D isn't really a name either..." Part of me was glad the red Gem was adapting to individualism like that so quickly. Another part listened to the mention of her old owner and caused my free hand to clench into a tight fist beneath the table, even as Pearl (ugh, too many fucking Pearls! I was going to get a headache at this rate!) glanced at the crimson member of our trio in concern, the newfound confidence in her voice faltering slightly.

"Well ah, I suppose I can see how it might be a little confusing. Though in my defence! I was the only Pearl present when I elected to take it on as a na-" I didn't give her a chance to finish. I shoved the remainder of my toast into my mouth in a single motion and leaned forward, snapping my fingers as a sudden idea bloomed in my mind. The food muffled my words, but I didn't care.

"V'nlla." I mumbled through the toast, eyes gleaming and shapeshifted tastebuds singing with satisfaction. Both Pearl and Vermilion froze, their eyes locking onto me with a mix of disgust at my full mouth and confusion as to whatever the heck I was actually saying. The curiosity won out eventually though, prompting my Batchmate to utter a singular word tinged with a note of bemusement.

"... What?" I batted at my mouth in response to the lithe Gem's question, before finally managing to swallow it down and pointing at our resident renegade, her eyes focusing on my finger as it stopped just a few inches short of her nose.

"Vanilla!" I announced triumphantly, grinning from ear to ear.

"That's a name you can use! And it fits with us as well!" There was a pause as the words settled between us. Then Vermilion's eyes brightened with sudden excitement, and she practically bounced in her seat, clapping her hands together in delight.

"Oh! We'd match! Viridian, Vanilla and Vermilion! The Vees!" In contrast to the now bubbly red Pearl, her pale counterpart's features scrunched up slightly in denial, head shaking from side to side vehemently. I made to cut her building tirade off, only to abruptly go silent as I noticed a large figure enter the building, our discourse apparently distracting both of my fellow Pearls enough that they failed to notice the newcomer.

"What? No. Plus it doesn't even make sense when you relate them to each other. Your names are both based off of colours. Meanwhile vanilla is an organic plant." I huffed at her objection, reaching for my mug and tilting it her way, even as I carefully kept my disgruntled facade, watching the large pink Gem out of the corner of my eye glance at us before she smiled widely, beginning to hurry over.

"Nope." I set my mug down with a quiet clink, leaning back in my chair with an air of finality.

"We're naming you Vanilla. It fits aesthetically, it sounds nice, and it doesn't make me get confused. Plus you heard Vermilion, we get to call ourselves the Vees. We'd be like a gang. A Pearl gang." My Batchmate giggled beside me, her joy infectious. Her vermilion (hah) gemstone seemed to glow brighter with every laugh, and she pressed her hands against her mouth in a futile attempt to stifle the sound. Vanilla (oh Stars it was already so much more convenient!), on the other hand, sat up straighter, her indignation growing in response to our teasing. Her posture was rigid, her back stiff as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me with all the fury of a wronged dignitary that was older than most civilisations.

"Why, I never!" She huffed, her pale lightform almost shimmering with anger.

"It's a silly name! And I'm not accepting it!" Taking a sip, I arched my brow once more, even as a shadow fell over the indignant Pearl. Idly, I exchanged a knowing glance with a surprised but still amused Vermilion.

"Oh! But it does sound very cute!" The voice that came from above was cheerful, thick with warmth and affection.

"I like it! Hm. Why did we never think of that?" From there, it was an exercise in restraint, keeping my cool and avoiding cackling as the renegade's flush returned tenfold, her body almost seeming to blur as she twisted in place to stare up at the Gem standing right behind her.

"R-rose! How long have you been standing there!?" In response, the rebel leader merely giggled, only deepening the Pearl's embarassment, her hands fluttering nervously in her lap as she struggled (and failed) to maintain her composure.

"W-well, if you think it's nice..." Hmph! Silly my green ass! You just wanted to hear it from your dumb Diamond!

"I do! I think it suits you!" Ah, victory.

"A-ah, well-!"... Now I just needed to push her into helping me stage an intervention without getting the lot of us bubbled by aforementioned dumb Diamond... Joy.