Ember rushed into her potions room the next day with a smile, she gently took the gem out of the mold and set it down. She then sat down in the same chair she had when waiting for Pearl and decided to read the progress reports for her stores along with a report on how things went yesterday after she left the store.
While reading she made a note to give a couple of the werewolves working for her a small raise, they managed to stop several people from causing a ruckus in her store, they also stopped people who thought they could shoplift from her store. Honestly, that was a kindness since her wards were set to detain the shoplifter while alerting the DMLE to come to pick the perp up.
Afterward, the store would press charges against the person for trying to leave the store without paying. Of course, accidents did happen sometimes, like a kid accidentally putting a small toy in their pocket, in that case, the employees would reassure the kid and their parents that there would be no problems if the kid just returned the toy or the parents paid for it.
Like Ember said, accidents happened and she didn't want to be responsible for a child getting sued for an accident when they weren't old enough to know better.
Ember's head snapped up in joy when the bright light filled the room and started to form a humanoid shape around the floating Jasper.
Jasper had pale orange hair that flowed down her back, orange skin with reddish markings all over it. She wore a light green tank top, with black stripes going through it, meeting in the middle of the tank top to form a diamond that was a darker green than the tank top itself.
She wore camo cargo pants and had her Gem on her shoulder. She did that weird diamond salute thing that Pearl did the first time she had been formed.
"My Diamond, thank you for giving me life." Ember walked over, stars in her eyes. "You're perfect! I can't wait to show you to Pearl, but just so you know please do not call me your Diamond if anyone but me, Pearl, or Bibby are there."
Jasper looked confused, blushing slightly at being called perfect by her Diamond. "May-May I ask why My Diamond?" Ember nodded, "I would be upset if you didn't ask me something if it confuses you. The people of this planet don't have gems besides me, you, and Pearl and if they were to find out about us then we would be taken away and experimented on."
Jasper was horrified, "I would never let that happen to you My Diamond!" Ember smiled at them softly, "I know you wouldn't, I know that if anything happens you would fight to keep me safe, but there are people on this planet that have an ability called magic. I'll give you some books you can read about magic later."
"For now, let me show you to your new room." Ember took Jasper's hand in hers and led her to the room right next to Pearl's. "This room will be yours, you can decorate it however you wish. That room is Pearl's, if you need to talk to another Gem you can talk to her. Just know that I prefer her to be herself and not what Pearls are 'supposed' to be like."
Ember looked up at Jasper, eyes going soft. "I want you to be yourself, it might take time for you to figure out who that is but I don't want you to try and be something you're not. I don't want you to simply dedicate all your time to me, I don't want a sevent or a body gaurd, I want a friend that I can trust to tell me when they think I might be wrong."
"We might fight but know that I would never harm you or Pearl no matter what, I want a true family that trusts and loves each other, who fights but then comes back together and makes up."
Her voice went soft and sad, "I never had that before I made Pearl and met Bippy, I want my family to grow and now it has, but you need to figure out what you like to do, what you don't like, figure out who you are and not what you were programmed to be."
Ember smiled at him sadly, "I know it will be hard, but I know you can do this. Now go explore your room, remember you can change it anyway you like." Ember then walked away to get back to work.
Jasper stared at her Diamond's back as she walked away. She wasn't sure if she could do what her Diamond asked of her, no she would do it. Her Diamond seemed to believe that Jasper could be more than what she was right now.
But didn't her Diamond say that she was perfect when she first saw her? Why then, did she want Jasper to change? And why did it make her chest feel weird?
"She's not like the Diamond's from the past." The voice made Jasper jump and spin around in a fighting position before relaxing when seeing the other gem. This must be the Pearl that her Diamond told her about.
"Our Diamond is kind yet she is willing to kill if someone harms us." Pearl's eyes went glossy for a second, seemingly remembering something before she shuddered and broke out of it. "I'm sorry,
I'm talking to someone for help dealing with what happened, but they said that it would take time."
"Can-Can I ask what happened?" Jasper whispered, She didn't know why but she felt worried for the Pearl, her Programming told her that the Pearl was defective because of the way she reacted but Jasper knew somehow that this was not true.
Jasper started to feel like she had made a mistake when Pearl just stared at her for a full minute in silence before she motioned to her room. "Come on, lets go to my room and I'll tell you, it will be easier for me in a safe envorment, or so my therapist tells me." Pearl walked into her room and Jasper slowly followed.
Pearls' room wasn't anything like Jasper was expecting.
There was a bookcase in the corner filled to the brim with different books on several different topics but She noticed that some of them had the words Fashion on them. There was a desk next to it that had a strange contraption on it with pieces of fabric scattered around and several more books on it. These ones had sketches of clothing in them.
Above the desk was a corkboard with several pieces of paper pinned to it, some pictures of different dresses were on it as well.
There was a nice carpet on the ground covering the light hardwood floor, the walls were a simple pale green. There was an end table in one corner of the room with simple white armchairs on each side.
There was even a bed that had several stuffed animals covering it, there were shelves on most of the walls that were filled with small nicknacks. There was a nightstand next to the bed with a lamp on it and a large closet next to that.
Jasper didn't know this but Ember had given Pearl all the stuffed animals and the nicknacks throughout their time together. Pearl even had a box in her closet that she was putting all her nicknacks in, she asked Bibby to make sure that none of them could break before she did. She never wanted to break one of them.
"Sorry about the messy desk, it's a hobby of mine. Our Diamond has even opened a section of her future store to sell my clothing designs." Pearl smiled proudly, "I'm working on making her a dress as a thank you, don't tell her though, it's a surprise."
"I'm still working on how to add the embroidery by hand, I want to do it all by hand since my
Diamond said that handmade things meant more to her than anything else."
Pearl paused before chuckling, "She probably meant that she would like anything I made her more than anything I could have bought for her now that I think about it." Pearl shook her head and sighed, "Lets sit down and I'll explain what happened."
Jasper awkwardly sat in one of the white chairs while Pearl sat on her bed, cuddling one of the stuffed animals to her chest.
"It wasn't long after I was born when our Diamond decided to take me out to explore the world, to get some hands on experience instead of just reading about it."
"It was a really fun day until I got separated from her. I accidentally walked into an alley and got cornered by three men that wanted to do something awful to me. One of the worst things someone can do to someone else."
"Our Diamond was looking for me the entire time and from what she told me afterward, she felt a pull in her chest that led her to me before anything else could happen. Luckily she got there before the men could do more than corner me and touch me a bit. I didn't know how to fight back, back then either."
Jasper was horrified, she had a feeling she knew exactly what Pearl was getting at, but then Pearl smiled softly and Jasper became confused.
"Our Diamond saw what was going on and summoned her weapon for the first time." Jasper gasped and leaned forward with wide eyes, she felt like a small child listening to a story of a brave hero who saved the damsel in distress.
"Our Diamond summoned a beautifal sword, I didn't get a good look at it and I don't know if she's summoned it since but I do remember that it was amazing. She used it to stab one man in the heart before they even knew she was there."
"She was merciful though, she gave the other two men the chance to escape and leave with their lives. One of the men took it but the other was stupid enough to think they could take our Diamond on, he dead just like the first man."
"Our Diamond had told them to step away from her daughter." Pearl looked up at Jasper with a small smile, "She doesn't consider us her bodygaurds or servents like the Diamonds of old would, she considers us her children, her family and from what I know of our Diamond's birth family?"
"She deserves all the good family she can get to show her that she's loved."
Jasper's room half an hour later
Jasper looked around her new room, it was simple and almost nothing like Pearl's room was. Jasper remembered that her Diamond told her she was free to decorate her room to her likes and figured that was what Pearl had done. Jasper did have a bookshelf filled with books though, all of the books were to help her understand the world around her.
Pearl had recommended that she read the one on these things called House-Elves first, she said that their Diamond had several and wouldn't like it if Jasper were to accidentally hurt them not know who they were.
Jasper took the book she found on house elves and started to read.
After finishing the book Jasper was glad she read it before she met one of these elves. If she hadn't then she would have reacted on instinct and probably have killed one of them. Perhaps this Bippy that their Diamond seemed fond of. Jasper grabbed another book, vowing to read them all, it was lucky that Gems didn't need to sleep.
Sure they could if they wanted to, and it seemed that her Diamond was part organic so she probably did need some sleep, but most gems didn't need sleep at all.
Jasper knew she could use the time that humans used for sleeping and eating to read the rest of these books. While reading she kept thinking about her Diamond and what she said when showing
Jasper her new room. At that moment she vowed to become her own person and be there for her Diamond in any way she could.
It was the least she could do for her mother after all.