Sodalite and Blue (for Brat Prince)

[Spankinz]

Blue was never a fan of being put on guard duty. Hell, he hated it. Not many things got him upset, but that was admittedly one of them. It was almost always for some snobby, aristocratic gem, and he always had to just smile and ignore their narcissistic speech, always going on and on about how they found the lower ranking gems, like the technicians, the Pearls, and well, soldiers like him.

Of course, he wouldn't ever express this distaste publicly. And he wouldn't even dare letting Blue Diamond so much as think that he disagreed with any of her commands. So, when he was sent to go on a mission to protect some interrogator named Sodalite, he internally groaned. On the outside however, he simply bowed, giving the expected "Yes, my Diamond," and taking his leave.

He was stopped outside by the captain of his commando, a Prasiolite. She gave him directions to the ship he was to go on and sent him on his way. It didn't take long to get there. The ship he was assigned to was in the shape of a blue hand, likely to match whoever it was he should be escorting. Speaking of which, they should be arriving any moment now.

[Brat Prince]

Another day, another mission. Sodalite missed the times when he was mostly required to be on Homeworld, instead of galavanting throughout the star-maps to check up on the many colonies and facets of the Gem Empire. There had been times in Blue Diamond's court when he simply used his creative abilities to immerse them in fantastic stories, or inspired the gem architects to create wonderful new structures and spaces... but that was then. Ever since the loss of the Earth Colony the Diamonds had become very mistrustful of colonizing Gems, and there was no Gem more capable of reaffirming trust than a Sodalite. He sighed to himself as he waited to get his latest assignment, straight-backed and with his slender arms folded neatly behind him, a neutral look on his face. He'd hardly been back for five solar rotations before being notified that he was to dispatch for a new round of interrogations.

<Such was the glamorous life of a rare aristocratic Gem.> He thought sourly, though he remained fairly placid looking. He was accepting of his new duties.

In no time at all the slim blue and white Gem was called in to speak with his Diamond, moving with a quick click of his heels and dropping into an elegant one-kneed bow before her that made his long half-braid slip forward to hang over his narrow shoulders. The 629 year old gem bore a form that resembled an 18-19 year old hominid, with the normal number of limbs and such, though his build was slim and agile as befitted a Gem of his standing. Although his duties put him far from Homeworld more often than not of late, he was still considered a favorite of Blue Diamond, both for his bearing and his inability to mislead her.

In no time at all he'd received his orders to check on sector 10, facets 4 through 7, to learn why their productivity was down. It could be they were in need of updating... but Blue Diamond wished to take no chances anymore. The first sign of a colony not operating at peak efficiency was investigated, hence why Sodalite was so very busy. He made his way for the launch space with his usual brisk and no-nonsense step; several thoughts were floating through his mind, not the least of which was who his escort would be on this mission. He hoped it wasn't another Jasper or Amethyst. Both could be overbearing in their own way, and make his cozy ship feel not nearly big enough for the pair of them.

<Oh well,> he thought as his dark blue ship came into view, <At least they dispensed with using bunches of Rubies for escort work long ago. That would have felt like I was the escort.>
The aristocrat arched one neat little brow as he looked up at his newly assigned escort, waiting appropriately at the ship's entrance for him. Well... it wasn't a Jasper.

"Name and ranking please." Sodalite said crisply to the other darker blue Gem, taking in his untidy white hair with only the slightest wrinkling of his nose.

[Spankinz]

Blue eyed his current client as he was assigned to. He looked over the small figure. He had fancy clothes as a sign of his status, and his hair was pulled into a single neat braid. His expression was dark and serious, like any aristocrat he had to escourt.

Admittedly, he had never seen a Sodalite before. He had been assigned to some Lapis Lazulis, a handful of Sapphires, and various other gems, but never a Sodalite. So, he hoped that they were more prone to be kind.

When the other gem got to the ship, he immediately asked for Blue's name and ranking. Having been asked this countless times over his three thousand years of working, his response was near instantaneous. His arms immediately went to his side as he looked down at Sodalite. "Blue Sandstone, Facet-8H3N Cut-4TX. Quartz gem." He said, the words flowing out instinctively.

[Brat Prince]

"A Sandstone?" Sodalite said curiously, tilting his head back to look up at the other gem a little more closely. "I've never been escorted by your type of Gem before. I hope that you will hold up to your ranking." The smaller Gem gave a crisp nod to Blue before unlocking the ship entrance with a quick gesture and going in. Sodalite did not look back to see whether his escort was following, presuming that he would do as he was supposed to and remain at his elbow like any of the other escorts. He was perhaps being overly efficient in his bearing as he made for the control room, but he simply wanted to be done as quickly as possible and perhaps get to spend a little more time on Homeworld.

"We are being dispatched to sector 10, to check on the productivity levels of facets 4 through 7." Sodalite said over his shoulder as they entered the control room. "The colonies there are operating at only 89 to 94 percent and Blue Diamond wishes to know whether it is a matter of technical issues or... something else." The little aristocrat was made long after the fight for the Gem colony known as Earth, long after the rebellion there, and while he had studied its events to ensure that such thoughts would never cross the minds of other colonizing gems he still hated to speak of the possibility. Nearly every time the issue was technical in nature. Easy to identify and easier to remedy. Though there had been a handful of times... Sodalite gave himself a brisk shake as he interacted with the ships controls; now was hardly the time for unpleasant reminiscing.

"We shall be roughly one and a half solar rotations in transit to sector 10 from here, and the mission length from there will depend on what I find." His round dark blue eyes slipped over his shoulder as they launched, breaking Homeworld's atmosphere with ease and setting their course into the auto-nav system. "Have you been assigned to a Sodalite before now Blue Sandstone? Are you familiar with this kind of mission or do you require more details?"

[Spankinz]

"Of course, my liege." Blue said smoothly in response to the smaller gem's assertion. He had grown accustom to referring to any gem he was put under the charge of as 'liege'. It was purely instinct by now.

The quartz gem wasted no time in entering the ship behind Sodalite. The entrance closed behind him as he followed the blue gem into the control center. He listened to him speak, and mentally rolled his eyes. It was the same spiel he was given the other thousands of times on missions. All that ever changed was where they were going and why they were doing it. Blue found the descriptions pointless, but didnt dare vocalize his complaints.

Blue blinked when Sodalite turned to him and began asking questions. "No, sir." He answered quickly. "I've never been assigned to a Sodalite. Though, I am familiar with this type of mission. A majority of my assignments are similar to this one." He explained, tilting his head down to look in the ither gemcs eyes as they spoke.

[Brat Prince]

Sodalite looked up at the other blue Gem with slightly narrowed eyes before inputting the final commands to the ship. "Yes I am sure that your part of the mission rarely varies," he said as the engines began smoothly cycling on. "You are assigned to a higher ranking Gem, you go and stay by said Gem's side and keep them from harm, you return and are reassigned. I was referring to my portion of the mission, and if you've never been assigned to a Sodalite then I highly doubt you will be familiar with what I do." Sodalite had once more stood himself in his usual formal fashion, with his feet slightly apart and his arms folded neatly behind his back, watching out the viewing port as the launching area seemed to fall away. In moments they were off Homeworld, through its thin atmosphere and seeing it from a distance.

Breaking his gaze from the sight those dark blue spheres returned to Blue's face, and the smaller gem suddenly looked a little tired. "It can become... unpleasant, if I find a real problem. Unlikely as that is. I will be happy to give you access to a previously recorded interview that took a turn for the worse, if you'd like to familiarize yourself with my techniques. You will of course have to be with me at all times and ever since I had a Rose Quartz react poorly mid-interview I have tried to take precautions... it really only gets difficult if they think they can hide things from me." Sodalite said, mumbling the last bit and looking down to the floor. Then he shook his head briskly, making his wavy hair and braid sway a moment.

“Just let me know what your preferences are Blue Sandstone.” He said crisply, giving the control panel a final glance before moving to exit. “I will be going to my private quarters now until we are ready to land in the first sector. There is no need for you to stay at my side on the ship as it is a perfectly safe and contained environment, you may take a look around if you like and become familiar with it. There are music and visual expression rooms, as well as a space where I like collecting various items of interest from my travels. Perhaps something might… amuse you?” Sodalite said curiously as his eyes drifted up towards his new guard’s face. Why did the quartz’s have to tower over him by so much? “I will be reviewing the latest reports from our destinations to get a feel for what the situations might be so… it would be best if you could keep to yourself. I hope you understand, but I really just want to get this mission done quickly. I dislike being away from Homeworld if I can help it.”

Sodalite felt his cheeks flush a darker shade of blue than usual at his admission. “Not that I would ever question the wisdom of my Diamond!” he added quite urgently, making the usual hand gesture that all Gems knew to use when addressing or speaking respectfully about the Diamonds. “Hrm… uh, yes well… Good day then.” He nodded before clicking his heels and quickly striding away as his face heated up once more. Having a new escort was always difficult for the smaller aristocrat, getting used to new faces and personalities, only to have to do the same thing all over again. It never failed; every time he had a difficult mission his escort would quietly request some other job, sometimes even more dangerous ones, just to get away from him. Sodalite found himself staring at the door to his private quarters in what seemed like no time, he had fled Blue Sandstone so swiftly, and he heaved a heavy sigh. All the more reason not to hang out with him too much and just get this thing over with. It was better on Homeworld. His gifts were used properly there, and didn’t upset anyone.