The Supervisor

Noisily, she inhaled. The simple fact that it was noisy was cause for concern for her. The past few minutes were highly against routine; She simply hated when something went against routine, be it something as small as a report sent to her two minutes late, or as urgent as a failed mission.

But this. This was simply...unacceptable.

"My diamond?" the concerned voice spoke up, some several feet below her. The voice was somewhat nasal, but not at all unwelcome. Her hesitant inquiry reminded her of where she was. She couldn't give in to a tantrum, now could she? She had to remember that the ingrate- who hung up on her- was simply not worth it. She closed her eyes, in an attempt to blank her thoughts and pinched the bridge of her nose. For several short moments, she was silent.

"Pearl," she called, her voice deceptively calm. It didn't match the turbulent thoughts rushing through her mind.

"Y-yes!" the other voice spoke up again. It belonged to a yellow pearl, part of a caste of gems often associated with secretarial duties. While there was some heavy resemblance to a certain Crystal Gem Pearl, Yellow Pearl's hairstyle and Clothing were a bit different. Her attire was much more Spartan in appearance, more reminiscent of a onepiece, and her hair flowed upwards, similarly to her superior, who had focused her attention on the large viewport to her side.

"Assign an Obsidian to review progress on that cluster from Earth," the Diamond said, examining gloved fingers of her right hand.

Now, it wasn't entirely necessary to assign an Obsidian of all gems to resume the mission that Peridot had failed -Spectacularly, she might add-, but Obsidians weren't as...emotionally inclined in their missions. And besides that, she was a tad wary of sending only a squad of Rubies to retrieve the Jasper assigned to the clearly defective Peridot; they weren't really the brightest sometimes. Assigning another Peridot to the task would probably be counterproductive.

She wouldn't admit that perhaps there was another reason she thought such a way.

"Do you have a preferred facet and cut?" Yellow Pearl questioned, a digital pad of some sort already in hand. The much larger being seated adjacent to her hummed in thought.

"Facet is irrelevant. Any Obsidian near Earth of cut 5X. I want this taken care of quickly," she added.

"You're orders are already being channeled," her secretary confirmed. Yellow Diamond exhaled in approval. At least she could count on her Pearl to perform as expected.

"Well done," the Administrator appraised without having looked away from the viewport. Yellow Pearl did her best to hide the goofy smile she was wearing in response to her praise.

"Thank you, my Diamond!" Yellow Pearl replied before clearing her throat. She once again wore a mask of professionalism. "Her ETA is within two of Earth's rotation's. Shall I send her along with a Quartz escort?"

"Good. You do that," the towering gem said, returning her attention back to her computer console. Although she wouldn't think it aloud to herself, she was hoping that Peridot might get shattered or captured in the process. But it was only a passing thought.

"Tch. The nerve to call me a...a clod," she seethed silently so as for her Pearl to not overhear. Even saying the word felt like abuse on her tongue. Ugh.

On a whim, she reopened the status log of Earth. Until that call on the Diamond line that she now wished never happened, Earth was a distant memory. Now that excuse of a planet seemed to be jumping into the spotlight again.

Why couldn't it have just died like it was supposed to?

"Is there any particular reason you've come to me about it?"

Steven taped his chin in thought. Peridot was seated on the second floor of the barn

"Well, I wanted to know more about homeworld," Steven admitted. Peridot didn't interrupt, so he took that as a cue to continue. "I asked Pearl about it, but I don't think she likes talking about it."

"Hmm," the new Crystal Gem seemed to be mulling it over before shrugging.

"Meh. I guess I can tell you," Peridot glanced at Steven through narrowed eyes, giving the impression that she was thinking. She was pleased to observe that Steven seemed excited to hear something new. She hadn't been on the team a week, and she already would be able to teach Steven something that Pearl couldn't.

"Peridot?"

"Huh?" the Yellow-Green gem was snapped out of her thoughts and she shook her head. "Er, right. Well, homeworld has a clearly defined system of castes; like territory expansion, military and defense-"

"Ooh! Ooh!" Steven cut her off with a raised hand.

Peridot grumbled under her breath. "Yes?" she drawled, forcing the irritation out of her voice.

"Uh, what's a caste?"

"Well, different types of Gems are separated by status and rank," she clarified, wishing she had her holopad. It's expansive archive would have been perfect to supplement her explanation.

"So what's Yellow Diamond like," Steven blurted.

"Well she was my role model," she began, her attitude souring a bit. Steven frowned apologetically. Had he asked too soon? His concern was erased when she smiled though.

"But I have to admit. Earth isn't too bad." Steven smiled briefly and then his expression sobered. The sofa that he was seated next to Peridot on seemed to be very interesting.

"Hey, uh, if you don't wanna talk about it, that's fine-"

"No, no, no," Peridot waved off his worrying. "I'll tell you," she decided with a resolved, single nod of her head.

Steven's mood brightened almost immediately and Peridot suddenly found him in a prone position with his head resting in his hands.

"Uh...Why are you lying horizontally like that?" the green gem raised a brow at the seemingly awkward pose. Steven regarded her warily before remembering that gems didn't need rest.

"You're about to tell a story right? just wanted to get comfortable."

"I...see," Peridot filed the observation away before giving a brief description of Yellow Diamond.

"As you know, she's very tall," Peridot forced herself not to let herself be in awe of the fact. She did call her a clod to her face after all. Steven nodded, his eyes wide with unasked questions. "She oversees the expansion and defense aspect of Homeworld, which includes the Kindergardens," she continued, becoming more comfortable as she spoke on a subject she was used to.

"So she's like Earth's Secretary of Defense?" Steven asked for clarification.

Peridot's eyes widened at the title. "Earth has a Secretary of Defense?" she parroted, gripping the arm of the sofa. If that was the case, perhaps Earth could survive a full on invasion from Homeworld if it came to that.

"Well, I don't think our Government even knows about you guys," Steven added, shrugging as much as he could from his prone position.

"Oh," came Peridot's sobered response. Maybe Earth still had a long way to go. "Well, anyway," she almost immediately brightened, "I am one of the most top ranking gems of our particular function," she stated proudly, gesturing towards herself as if attempting to be modest. She would say she was a bit better than any other Peridot, actually. Especially when she thought about her fledgling (but growing for sure) metallokinesis!

Steven pivoted himself so that he was lying upside down. "Wow!" Steven appraised, as if stars were in his eyes. "Are there any other gems that do that type of stuff?"

Peridot was once again snapped out of her trailing thoughts by his inquiry.

"Well, there's the Obsidians and Schorls, but they don't actually do any of the real work compared to us Peridots," she said a bit scathingly. She jumped from her seat, suddenly feeling a bit restless, or the equivalent feeling for a being that doesn't necessarily need rest.

"What's wrong?" Steven questioned, finally sitting up in his seat. Peridot had gotten to pacing and had only just realized she was probably making Steven nervous.

"I-it's nothing," Peridot hesitated. She actually wasn't sure what exactly was making her feel this way. She just felt uneasy after mentioning the other gems that she used to work with when at Homeworld. She would have to think on it. "It's nothing," she repeated, more confidently. "I'm just getting used to a lot of the things I'm learning is all," she added. She felt she had to say something to ease Steven's worry. Steven smiled at her comment though when he finally stood up as well.

"That's great!" Steven said. Before he could say more, his phone started making noise and vibrating in his pocket.

"Hmm," Steven uttered before turning off the alarm. "I better get going," Steven shrugged. "I wish I could stay longer, but the gems will probably get worried n' you know..." he ventured apologetically.

"That's quite alright," Peridot assured. "Besides, Lapis and I will have more morp exhibits to show you!" she beamed. Steven gasped at that prospect. "When will you be back?" she asked, hoping she didn't sound too eager.

The young boy tapped his chin in thought. "I'm not sure, but I'll definitely make sure I visit in a couple of days!" he decided, as they both made their way to the barn's lower level. On the other side of the Barn's massive doors, Lion was still sprawled across the ground. His eyes were closed and his fur was spotted with bits of grass. He might have been asleep there awhile.

"See you soon!" Steven bid farewell as he ran towards his familiar. Peridot waved with a smile before her grin slowly receded when Steven finally roused Lion to alertness and they prepared to leave. She couldn't explain it, but she was getting a bad feeling.

A/N: Tell me what you think in Reviews, please. I couldn't get this out of my head until I typed it up, leaving some of my stories on hold, lol.