Stars and Diamonds

Chapter 71: Quandary

"Urg, Blue! What is this?"

The sound of hard alloy hitting stone followed after, breaking the tense silence as it clattered against the desktop and would have slid off if it hadn't been for Pearl's quick reflexes, diving down to catch it just before it hit the floor. She sighed in relief as she was slow to stand back up, peaking over the edge of the desk to look at the irritated matriarch as she fell back against her chair with another agitated grunt, one hand gripping the end of an armrest while her other raised up, fingers rubbing harsh circles against her temple as she closed her eyes, her eyebrows still furrowed in aggravation. She watched her from under her lashes, head tilted down as she stood back up properly and gingerly placing the pad back on her desk in front of her.

"Why would you think I could make recommendations for that?" She grumbled to herself, ignoring Pearl's questioning look as she leaned forward, once more grabbing for the slightly dinged up pad and swiping the still open document up until it appeared on the array of screens hovering over her desk before once again carelessly tossing it back down onto the desk, causing Pearl to flinch at the jarring clack of it. Her hands moved up to sort the open files on her screens until Blue's remained the most prominent one in front of her. The enlarged sight of it did little for her mood as she threw herself back against her chair, resting her chin in her hand as she glared at the screen and gestured at the it in annoyance with the other, "We haven't covered half of this, let alone anything about the rebels. What even is rejuvenation? Is this something she thinks I'm supposed to just know?"

Pearl took a glance at the screens, quickly piecing together the unintended information her Diamond's grumbling rants gave her and the words on the screen to see that she was scowling at a small list of rebel Crystal Gems and a long winded proposal from the older matriarch. Her Diamond was expected to put forth her own advisements as to what should be done about the individual gems that she had been given to overview. However, her Diamond seemed to be hindered by her lack of knowledge on their terminology, and perhaps a basic understanding of unjuried proceedings, she couldn't be sure but she felt confident it was a simple matter she could help with. Unfortunately, by the time she had opened her mouth to speak up, her Diamond was already angrily ranting to herself again.

"And just what is Iris thinking?" Orange huffed, brining up another window with a note from the short iridescent gem, the message Pearl herself had passed onto her when she had received it that very morning, containing a rather longwinded and roundabout argument from her as to why she should take the time to spend with her head bodyguards, and by extension, for herself. Orange had elected to ignore it for most of the morning instead of writing back her response. "Why would I have any time for that? She knows my schedule."

"My Diamond?" Pearl spoke softy, though she didn't seemed to hear her at all as she continued to gripe.

"I've told the Topazes I'm too busy. Why would I just change my mind just because she thinks it's a good idea?"

This time Pearl decided it best to remain silent, taking her place back at the side of her chair and attempting to keep her hands from fidgeting as she watched from the corners of her eyes as her Diamond's hand fell from her face to slam down on the armrest, flinching at the loud bang. She would not have been surprised if it had cracked the armrest from the sound, though she didn't dare to look.

While she hadn't been in the direct line of her anger over the past few day, Pearl was still incredibly wary. Orange had been short with her since her screw up, barely looking her in the eyes and keeping their conversations short and limited to her work, giving her small tasks or telling her to remember something for her and little more. She longed to redo that day over, to have just walked away like she knew she should have. Maybe then her Diamond wouldn't hate her. If only she could figure out how to make it up to her but that was beginning to seem like a task that was doomed to fail from the start.