Stars and Diamonds

Chapter 20: Drawing Lessons

Takes place at some point before Chapter 13

----

Orange stood back, watching quietly as Blue's pearl sat in a small, square stone chair specially designed for her so she could be seated near Blue Diamond while she herself was seated on her throne, screens in place as she went over yet another work log. Pearl was sat with her legs curled to the side of the chair, paying attention to a screen in front of her and taking no notice at all to Orange behind her.

Looking over her shoulder, Orange could see on the double diamond shaped screen, marked up by thin white lines, contrasted by the translucent blue screen and the darker blue tiles that came through from the scenery in front of her. The lines were a little shaky, perhaps because they had been made with Pearl's finger, but she could make out the uncanny image of Blue Diamond just as she was beside them, sitting comfortably in her chair working.

She had been up on Blue's throne herself, seated on the arm of the chair with her legs dangling off as she watched Blue work. But that had quickly grown boring and she had started to look around the room for something to entertain herself with. The Citrine and Prase guards where at attention near the chamber doors, focused solely on not making a noise and standing as still as a bismuth's statue. There was two of Blue's person Sapphires to their right, speaking quietly to one another when one raised their head to look in her direction, though with the hair in her eye, Orange could never really tell just where they were looking. But based on how high up she was, Orange figured she had had a vision of her getting their attention. But knowing that was what the Sapphire was expecting, Orange wanted to do something different and turned from her to continue on her visual tour of the room.

It was at this point when she had noticed the quiet pearl working on something in her personal area, even though Blue hadn't given her any work to do. Orange had never really paid attention to what the pearls did unless it had something to do with her, more interested in what her fellow diamonds were working on or trying to catch their attention to talk about something than worrying what menial task the pearls had been given. Just what did the pearls do in their personal time?

With a quietness that betrayed her size, Orange slipped down from the throne with neither Blue or Pearl noticing, though she was still aware of the two sapphire's watching her, the unnerving little pebbles they could be. So as not to interrupt Pearl so she could see just what she was doing, Orange moved behind her with some well practiced steps. Slipping past her guards for so many years had given her a rather unexpected skill, one that was certainly handy at the moment.

"That's really pretty."

Pearl jumped, her hand flying up to cover her gem as she turned in her chair to look behind her as Orange came to stand over her to look at the screen more closely. "Your Clarity! You scared me."

"Huh?" Orange blinked in confusion before let out a small giggle, giving Pearl an apologetic smile, "Oh, sorry pearl, I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay." Pearl's voice was meek, her hand lowered from her chest, "you normally...you normally make more noise when you move."

"I didn't want to startle you and mess you up." Orange told her, turning back to the screen to look more intently at the small details. "I didn't know you could draw."

Pearl's hands settled in her lap, hands slightly balled up in the light material of her skirt. "I try. My Diamond allows me to when I have free time, but I'm not very good."

"Are you kidding? This is amazing Pearl."

Pearl blushed, her head bowing down in embarrassment, though her smile told Orange it wasn't a bad thing, "Thank you. That's very kind."

"Could you teach me?"

"My Diamond?" Pearl looked up at her with an alarmed expression that Orange could feel more than see.

"I've never drawn anything but these funky squiggles of the stars," Orange made a motion in the air with her finger to mimic the shape of a star, "when Yellow's lessons are dragging on. Could you teach me to draw like that?"

"I...I can try."

"Yes! Okay, let me get comfy." Orange took a moment to move beside Pearl's chair and sit down beside her on the floor, taking out her own personal screen from it protective place from her belt.

Upon expanding, Pearl could make out long lines of script detailing the way a kindergarten was made before Orange was swiping it away for a blank orange screen. The younger gem then turned to look at her and it was at this point Pearl realized she had been staring silently for longer than she had intended at Orange. It was also at this point she realized Orange Diamond was sitting on the floor next to her chair, looking rather unbothered by this fact. "A-are you sure you want to sit on the floor? I could-"

"It's fine, Pearl." Orange waved her off, "I'm a lot bigger than you, so we're on even ground with me like this. So, what's first?"

-----

Blue wasn't sure how much time had passed, but when she had lost her place in another field report for the third time, she knew it was time to take a break from her work. Leaning back with a heavy sigh, Blue rubbed wearily at her face, keeping her eyes closed behind her hand as she took a moment for herself. There was much work to do, and this cycle it was her turn with Orange, which add more strain on her than she had originally anticipated. Orange was never more than a handful, but juggling her duties as a Diamond and keeping Orange complacent, all while also keeping her on top of her own lesson plans and studying, a regiment Yellow had proposed to get Orange in the habit of working as diligently as they did and approved by White herself, had left Blue with far less time than she was used to. That also meant time was being taken away from actually spending time personally with Orange that didn't involve something related to her work, and while understanding enough, Blue felt bad for making Orange wait long hours simply waiting for her to finish. As it was, Orange was being very respectful of her timetable, keeping quiet and out of the way.

In fact, maybe too quiet. Looking up from her hand, Blue scanned the arm of her throne where she knew Orange had been sitting, dangling half off the side of it in a manner that touchingly reminded her of when Pink would come to her for company. And she supposed she shouldn't have been so surprised when Orange was no longer there, but that didn't stop her from sitting up straighter with some amount of panic she couldn't quite displace.

"Orange?" she called, "Orange, where have you- oh." leaning over the side of her chair, Blue smiled at the sight of Orange and her Pearl sitting together, working side by side on twin screens, having taken no notice of Blue at all.

"How's this?" Orange tilted her screen towards Pearl, who turned from her own to look, "I think the eyes are weird, but it looks like White, right?"

"That's very good, my Clarity. It does look like her."

"Hmm. I want to try to draw Yellow next." Orange giggled, giving Pearl a smile that was returned in kind, "This is fun, I can see why you do this."

"It is fun, isn't it?"