Stars and Diamonds

Chapter 4: I Want To Learn

"Yellow?"

Yellow made a noise in the back of her throat that sounded a lot more like 'Hnn' than any proper response as she continued to type away at her screen. Orange stood, hands safely out of sight as they fidgeted behind her back while she waited anxiously for her to finish whatever it was she was doing. After a few moments of silence, filled only with the soft beep of the screen as it accepted commands, was she rewarded by Yellow turning her eyes from the screen to where she stood a few paces away from her command chair, easily enough seen without invading her space by her feet.

Yellow looked at her expectantly, voice tinged with irritation for being pulled away from her work, "What is it?"

"Will you teach me how to be a diamond?" Orange ask, her voice uncharacteristically quiet. She wasn't even sure Yellow was able to hear her until her lips pursed and Orange knew she had been heard.

Out of her peripheral, Orange could see Yellow's pearl turning her head rapidly from looking at her, then up to Yellow Diamond, and back again. Her hands had pulled away from her own screen that she had been doodling on, the misshapen stick figures being visible from the backside of the translucent yellow screen. Her hands were curled up in front of her, the apprehensive expression on her face made Orange think she was expecting something to happen. Her reaction only served to fuel Orange's nervousness, her chest tightening in response. Was that something she's not supposed to say? Did she phrase that wrong?

Yellow blinked and then her brow pinched, as if just now fully processing what she had said. One dark eyebrow rose, giving the smaller gem a questioning look, though Orange found it to be more condescending than inquisitive as she spoke, "What do you think you've been doing here, if not learning how to be a diamond?"

"Staring at windows and watching you work." Orange responded honestly in a sudden rush of boldness, but couldn't ignore or hide the underlying fear of talking to Yellow like that. The last thing she wanted was to make Yellow angry with her, she was scary to be around when she was mad. Generally, Yellow was civil when she was around, not exactly caring like her mother, but she could always tell she wasn't exactly wanted around by the elder matriarch. However, when she was, she got to witness more of Yellow's short range of emotions, including her anger, which was mainly directed at her underlings, and while she understood that anger wasn't for her, it could still be terrifying to witness such sudden rage from someone she had been reassured would never hurt her, especially when she was younger. She could vaguely remember crying a lot then, and Yellow, exasperated with her, had made her pearl escort her from the room in an attempt to calm her down. They weren't happy memories, and somewhat embarrassing to recall that crying had been her go-to reaction, but Orange had grown since then and she didn't cry when Yellow yelled, at least at other people. If anything, Orange had witnessed from her own mother that yelling and whining usually got you what you wanted, if you did so often enough, though she didn't think it would work well on Yellow.

Initially, the only real reason Orange had for being frightened by Yellow was because she was so much bigger than her Mama, and she explicitly had told her to be careful around the older Diamonds because they could hurt her if she made them mad. But Yellow had never laid a finger on her, nor had any of the others, except to move her around much faster than her little legs could take her, which always meant fun rides on Yellow's shoulder.

However, instead of being angry, Yellow simply sighed and pushed at her screen, which obediently turned to the side and Orange caught glimpses of words and a picture of a ship, but didn't remain focused on them long as she watched Yellow lean forward to look at her more directly.

Yellow's expression remained placid and her posture, while not lax, was non threatening to her small ward, "And just what is it you want me to teach you?"

"To do what you do." She answered simply.

To her surprise, Yellow let out a small burst of genuine laugher that had her leaning back as she cover her mouth with her hand. It was a shock to both Orange and Pearl, who took a moment to glance at one another as if to confirm that they were witnessing the same thing before returning their attention to the much larger gem in front of them. Calming, Yellow looked back at her, eyes squinted from lingering amusement that clung to even her words as she responded, "I command entire legions of Gemkind, I rule over billions, I manage resources and the creation of new gems altogether, and you think I should teach you how to do all that?"

Orange's hopeful eyes dimmed and she cast her gaze to the ground in shame, not wanting to see Yellow's mocking amusement any longer than she had to. She tried really hard not too get in her way, she knew Yellow was essential to their empire, she had commented she did the work of two Diamonds and that her free time was sparse. It had been a stupid idea to ask Yellow for some of that time to herself, selfish even, but she really just wanted to help. She was a diamond too, but she didn't know how she could help Yellow, or Blue, or even her mother. They just set her aside and told her to keep out of the way. Half the time she felt more like an ornamental pearl than a diamond.

"I wanted to help." Was all Orange could say, her voice sounded tiny even to her. It wasn't the voice of a diamond.

A loud sigh from above made her glance up in time to see Yellow reach out, her hand settling down near her, palm facing up. Orange didn't move, eyes wide and staring up at her in confusion, unwilling to get her hopes up as she waited to see what it was that Yellow expected of her.

When she didn't immediately move, only continuing to stare up at her, did Yellow's eyes narrowed, "Well?"

Quickly, Orange scurried onto her handing, holding on to her thumb as she was lifted up, up, up, and then placed gently onto Yellow's lap. She held on as Yellow moved backwards in the chair, leaning fully against the hard back and reaching out to adjust the screen in front of her, tilting it ever so slightly so Orange could see better from her lower position. Orange relaxed against Yellow's lower belly while she crossed her legs, captivated by what was happening on the holographic screen above her.

Yellow looked down, ensuring she was looking at the screen, "Now pay attention, I will not repeat myself, understood?"

With Orange's rapid nods, Yellow turned to face the screen and pointed, beginning their first lesson together, "This is my direct line to my ship's captain. Captains of a ship like this are most always a Nephrite."

[Updated and corrected 1/1/21]