#red diamond!aau

[tornrose24]

Hi, Could you draw a picture where Melvinborg from ur Gem AU and Phosphophyllite meet?

I want to see at his setup you were talking about and see that. If you haven't accepted the request, please ignore this question. Sorry

It's been a long time since I visited this AAU (the oringal gem au belonging to angrydj).

Ever since his gem was cracked and he had to use gold alloy to repair himself, Olive Peridot/Melvinborg wasn't taken seriously by other gems. He sees his opportunity of getting revenge on the two gems responsible as a way of restoring his reputation and will rant about it to anyone to seems mildly interested.

Phos just wants to relax somewhere. They find this weird gem mildly annoying (for now?).

[ledenews]

Katrina Davis: Taking That Next Step

Katrina Davis is used to living with pressure. It comes with the territory. Much is expected of you when you put on the Red & Black for storied Bellaire High School. The school’s hardwood has seen a plethora of talented hoopsters grace its planks. It’s called the house of champions for a reason. And of course, given her last name happens to be Davis, even more is expected. Compounding that pressure was the fact that this season, she was the key returning starter from an OVAC championship team that graduated a pair of 1,000-point scorers. When those key moments hit in big games and her teammates needed someone to look to for leadership and help in keeping calm, whom do you think it was they turned toward? How did she respond? Davis capped one of the finest four-year spans in Big Reds’ history with one of its best seasons. She averaged 28.3 points a night in scoring an absurd 629 points as a senior. That gave her 1,564 career points, third on the Lady Reds’ all-time scoring list. For her efforts, she was named Ohio's Division III Player of the Year and a finalist for Ms. Basketball. She also nearly averaged a triple double, posting marks of eight rebounds and eight steals per game. Her 737 career rebounds are also third in Lady Reds’ history. She’s the career leader in steals (433), wins (79) and second in assists (301). Keep in mind, Katrina Davis stands all of 5-foot-2. That’s 62 inches of pure athleticism, fighting and scratching for every rebound, every steal, and every opportunity. It’s a lot of pressure, but again, she’s used to it. Much is expected, but those expectations and that pressure are placed externally. Inside her close-family unit, she’s just Kat; daughter to Alvin, sister to Cierra and cousin to Jose and Nate. A gifted athlete to be sure, but also one that boasts the second-highest GPA in her senior class. She plays softball, but also leads the school’s yearbook club. She ran cross country but also has a love of reading, of shopping and just relaxing at home, chilling on the couch with her dad and watching movies. The two have a special bond. The elder Davis knew his daughter had talent, but he didn’t push her to basketball, rather, allowing her interest to blossom on its own until she came to him, ready to learn. The rest, as they say, is history—Bellaire’s record books show that it is so. Now, having recently signed her national letter of intent to continue her athletic and academic careers at Division II’s Bluefield State, Davis readies to embark on the next portion of her journey.

Senior year is an exciting time in a student’s life, athlete or not. You mentioned looking forward to another season of AAU hoops. You also have softball and prom and graduation. What's the most difficult part for you in dealing with how the last part of your high school career has transpired? Are there any positives to take away from the experience?

I’d say the most difficult part of losing the last part of my high school career is missing my softball season and not being able to go to my yearbook class. I love playing softball, being with my teammates, and the energy that was spread on the diamond. There are so many things that could’ve gone different for me if we had a softball season. I was debating on choosing to play softball in college instead of basketball. I’m also the editor of our yearbook and sadly we don’t get to fill our spring sports pages with pictures or even have graduation, senior skip day, or senior prank in our yearbook. One positive I got from this experience is committing to play basketball in college and growing a closer bond with my sister since we’re both home.  

Katrina Davis poses for a photo with her cousin Nate Davis, a fellow all-Ohioan at Bellaire in multiple sports. The pressure to play "like a Davis" was never fealt from her family, only from external forces. Katrina's family was supportive of her no matter what. She lived up to those lofty expectations, but she admits she never felt the pressure at home to do so.

You've put up some impressive numbers at Bellaire in a school that's had a number of dynamic players, both on the boys' side and the girls. Plus, you’re related to two of them most well-known in your cousins Jose and Nate. Ever feel any familial pressure to excel given the Davis name?

Growing up in a close-knit family full of talent, I actually never felt pressured by my family to live up to the ‘Davis’ name. My family is always very supportive of me, and they taught me a lot about the game; therefore, I believed in my training and knowledge that they helped me obtain. I felt more pressure by outsiders and how they would compare my success to theirs.  

Speaking of pressure, you were able to accel at athletics while keeping a grade point average on the plus side of 4.0. How difficult was that to juggle school and athletics? What was more nerve-racking, a late free-throw during a big game, or the first time sitting down to take either the ACT or SAT?

School actually comes easy to me. I love to learn and soak up information if I’m interested in the topic, so it made juggling the two much easier. I faced my first difficulty my junior year when I took chemistry which was the hardest class in the school. I would say taking a chemistry test from Mr. Xenakis and the ACT for the first was much more nerve-racking than a late-free in a big game with a close score because of the amount of reps at the line I would shoot in the offseason and practice.

You looked at a nice cross-section of schools both locally and further away. What ultimately made you feel that Bluefield State was the best fit for you? Do they have a comparable degree or a gateway undergraduate path that will allow you to pursue your previously stated desire to pursue a career in occupational therapy?

One thing people wouldn’t believe about me is that I'm an introvert. I get really nervous when it comes to trying new things and meeting new people. I decided to go to Bluefield State to get out of my comfort zone and experience things on my own, without my sister’s or dad’s help. I also really enjoyed Coach Bailey’s conversations and style of play. They unfortunately do not offer occupational therapy as a major, so I decided to go into nursing which will keep me in the medical field and allow me to play for Coach Bailey.  

Davis sits with teammate and fellow senior Mia Gavarkavich and receives some last minutes pointers while Bellaire's jayvee team finishes its game this season.

Speaking of recruiting, if the height listed next to your name on the roster wasn’t 5-foot-2 and was, say, closer to the 5-8 range, do you think you still would have waited as long to make your decision? Your skill set says higher level, but were they maybe afraid to pull the trigger and offer a scholarship at that level because of your height? If that’s the case, do you play with a chip on your shoulder, wanting to prove people wrong who may have doubted your ability to compete at a high level.

If I was closer to 5-8. I think I would still have made my decision around this time. I like getting the feel for coaches and weighing all my options before committing to something that will have such a big impact on my life. However, I do feel like my skill set was passed up on because of my height, but my dad and I always say “control the things you can control,” and unfortunately my height is one thing I do not have a say in. I do play with that on my shoulders though. I know that I am undersized on the court, so I try to make up for my lack of size by executing the fundamentals. Read the full article

[tornrose24]

Regarding the CU Steven Universe AU you used to draw, was Melvinborg's design inspired by the phosphophyllite in "Land of the Lustrous"? The fact that half of his pieces are alloy-like made me feel that way. I'm just curious for some reason, sorry if this question makes you feel bad.

That design IS indeed inspired by Phos and their alloy parts.

In-verse the alloy is normally used to heal minor cracks if there’s no one with healing powers around (like Red Quartz/Red Diamond) or to give a gem a bit of a power boost, but it’s a last option kind of thing. Especially because it either effects your appearance or-if you are unlucky enough to have your gem cracked a certain way-effects your mental state.

Given the extent of Peridot-borg’s injuries, he needed more alloy than a gem would normally need, and it secretly horrified most of homeworld and even made the normally stoic Yellow Diamond unnerved by it. Also it kind of made him a little more mentally unstable, but it’s not obvious most of the time and could be brushed off as something more innocent or typical of his usual personality. (But the peridot line/family doesn’t care since he’s one of the highest ranking scientists amongst the gems.)

This of course plays a part in why he seeks revenge against Red Zircon and Yellow Sapphire.

And if mental health care and physical therapy was more important in homeworld, Peridot-borg may of had a chance to avoid his ultimate fate. Unfortunately that was obviously not the case.

[tornrose24]

Then there was the OTHER part of the Red Diamond AAU that I don’t think I covered enough–where exactly Edith fits into all of this. Because honestly, she’d be a gem too, but the trouble is that I can’t decide between making her a Morganite that somehow has blue eyes and blue freckles or a Lace Blue Agate.

For simplicity’s sake (and until I can choose which gem) I’m referring to her by her actual name for this. It’s not perfect, but it’s basically how it would go down.

Again, this has a huge Steven Universe spoiler and this is based off an existing Gem AU by angerydj

Edith is part of Red Diamond’s colony and like most gems she’s expected to work and not question much. Most gems are terrified or hold high respect for Red Diamond, but Edith is somewhere in between–everyone knows how awful he can be when he gets angry, but she pities him somewhat because it must be lonely having to oversee everything on a base from afar with little to no contact with others.

Little does she know that she’s one of the few gems Red Diamond frequently checks on. She has no clue just how curious he is of her and that he’s developed a slight attraction to her (but don’t worry, it didn’t get to the point of being an obsession).

The first time she meets ‘Red Quartz’ is on his first day on earth, accompanied by two young gems. It’s a very fast moment–the kind where you bump into one another, apologize, and be on your way–and though she’s never seen him before, he does seem kind of cute. She doesn’t see him stare at her in amazement or briefly blush red at the sight of her before continuing on.

The second time she’s able to see Red Quartz is when he’s finally leading the rebellion (or so everyone thinks) and most gems are heavily divided about him and these other gems going against Red Diamond. Some are worried as to what Red Diamond will do in response, and there’s always soldiers being sent at this strange Quartz. The next meet up is kind of similar to last time, except it’s much longer and he’s able to say a few words of greetings to her before flying off.

He doesn’t seem like a bad gem and he does seem sweet. However she’s not sure if he’d be able to succeed in what he’s doing or not. Still it would be a shame if something bad had to happen to him.

Her curiosity grows.

Eventually there comes a moment where she’s around during a big fight involving him and some others. One gem is about ready to shatter him and without thinking too much on it, she gets in front of him and ends up taking the blow, but due to the placement of the attack, she only gets poofed.

Surprised and moved by what she had done, Red Quartz takes Edith’s gem with him... without telling Red Zircon or Yellow Sapphire.

So the next time Edith is able to reform, she finds herself in a strange place where everything as a red motif and her gem was placed on what she thinks is a mattress until she’s quick to see that it’s a huge pillow. Confused as to what has happened, she hears talking in the next room and peers through the door to see Red Quartz talking to these two young gems he is frequently seen with.

Without warning, Yellow Sapphire throws a glass of water into his face.

Then when Red Quartz recovers from the shock and talks again, Edith realizes that his voice has changed–it still sounds the same, but the brightness and smoothness of it now sounds a bit rougher than what she’s used to hearing. She also has no clue why the young gems are starting to talk to Red Quartz in past tense and why Red Quartz himself is talking as if he wasn’t there at all earlier that day.

He lets the boys go home and Edith watches as ‘Red Quartz’ is looking at himself in the mirror for a moment and just looks. exhausted and unhappy for a change. Right as she leaves the room, he begins to transform and gets bigger in size... and completely changes into a completely different gem who, despite having the same face as he does, is dressed much differently, his gem has rotated into a different position, and he looks like he has hair.

Not even a minute later, there’s a call from someone that startles both of them, but Edith is a little too loud and the gem she thought was Red Quartz turns around and freaks the heck out. “WHAT THE HECK?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!”

And to make matters worse, the call screen shows it’s one of the Diamonds, so the larger gem ends up grabbing the smaller gem and carefully keeps her out of sight as he’s forced to talk to the diamond about how the latest ‘disturbance’ went and he acts as if it was a bad thing, and Edith is getting quickly confused. Even more so when she hears him being called ‘Red Diamond.’

Once the call is over, she’s held a bit more carefully by Red Diamond who begins to ask her how much she knows, and she nervously tells him what happened, which shocks him. Then she asks him what is going on, and he’s forced to tell her the truth–he IS Red Quartz. He just didn’t remember saving her because he had to create a second personality in order to keep others from figuring out the truth. The only others who know about his identity are the two gems from before. Although she’s afraid, he promises he won’t do anything to Edith as long as she keeps this a secret and she agrees.

She does keep the secret, though it pains her to see just how much Red Diamond actually does care about the others and the planet, and that he has to let himself be painted as the villain in order to accomplish freeing the planet. Gradually she’d get to know him more and he’d be comfortable enough to admit that he had seen her long before this all started. She’d start noticing more things about him that makes her care and slowly adore him–the real him.

Then she’d notice that he wouldn’t be using his true form around her or Yellow Sapphire and Red Zircon as often whenever he’s alone with them–he’d be using the same form as when he looks like Red Quartz, but there’s some alterations so that he’d be dressed similar to when he’s Red Diamond (fake hair and all), but it’s less intimidating and more casual. As if he’s wanting to be someone in between both identities that feels comfortable for him. As if he wants to be closer to their size instead of as a giant towering over them all.

(In truth, he also has another reason–he wants to feel equal to her and be able to properly look at her face.  And, when he can finally work up the courage to confess, be able to do things like be able to hold her hand or hug her or even kiss her).

[tornrose24]

I recall when I was debating on how the Red Diamond AAU would be set up and I had an idea of how the alternate personality thing could work out... so here’s my take. I was going to turn this into a fan fic, but I was lazy and I don’t have a lot of time to write out a lot of fan fics.

Also, major spoilers for Steven Universe, but chances are you already know what spoiler I’m talking about.

Also, this is for an AAU of the CU gem AU by @angerydj so go check out their stuff and support them if you haven’t yet. (They are the original owners of Yellow Sapphire!Harold and Red Zircon!George.)

So Red Diamond didn’t get a planet at first because of how notorious his temper could get, and it kind of made it hard for him to keep a pearl for too long. The other diamonds finally gave him ownership over one planet (ours) to keep an eye on as a sort of test.

For a time he was overjoyed and imposed very strict rules to keep the other gems in line–stay within the colony unless you had permission, only do things related to your jobs or to benefit the colonization–things like that, and it worked. Except it could get really lonely up in the base and he only contacted others when it was related to his job. He knew he couldn’t leave the base and go down to earth unless it was for emergencies, so he was forced to just watch the others down below as they went about their ways as they got to explore the world and interact with each other.

He both envied them and wanted to be down there, no matter how much he refused to reveal otherwise.

Among the gems he’d spy on were a young Yellow Sapphire and a Red Zircon. Unlike the others, they went against all his rules–they left to explore, they created silly comic books instead of doing work, and–worst of all–they’d play pranks on others which hindered their progress. Red Diamond couldn’t believe how disrespectful the two were. One day, some of the older gems finally had enough and, as a last resort, sent the two to Red Diamond to punish them.

He spent so long away from others that he forgot how tiny the other gems could be compared to him–especially these two young gems who were both curious and not afraid of him, and could easily sit in both of his hands. But as it turns out, these two have been against his strict rules since day one and think that what he is doing is wrong.

Naturally he gets angry and goes on a rant, and for one moment he almost considers bubbling them for a long time... until he gets an idea when he realizes how they almost get away with everything that they’ve done without the others being aware of it.

So he offers them a choice–he goes back down to earth with them and returns them as a warning, or he bubbles their gems for a year. Though he accidentally gives away his desire to see the earth, which Yellow Sapphire and Red Zircon pick up on, so they do one better by offering to show him around the colony instead. Of course when Red Diamond protests and tells them he’d get chewed out by the other diamonds for it, Yellow Sapphire tells him that if he goes in disguise as another gem, no one would notice, and Red Zircon suggests a form that no one would suspect.

And with that, Red Diamond changes his form to that of a Red Quartz. This form has a slightly orangish skin tone compared to the reddish-pink skin, and it doesn’t have hair, it isn’t as intimidating looking as the other one, and there are some physical similarities between the two forms, but then again very few gems know what Red Diamond looks like.

So Red Zircon and Yellow Sapphire get to go back to earth, accompanied by what many think is one of Red Diamond’s warriors, and most are relieved to see that their superior let the two young gems go. Meanwhile, ‘Red Quartz’ is observing everything around him in amazement–everything looks larger to him in this form and he is closer to everyone’s size. No one is giving him the salute and they are treating him like a normal gem, though there’s a couple of instances where he almost lets his temper come out.

And when Red Zircon and Yellow Sapphire’s families are happy to see the two back and thank him for returning them back, ‘Red Quartz’ is shocked because it’s the first time he’s known genuine gratitude from another.

Gradually, Red Diamond has the boys take him down to earth in his new disguise and slowly he gradually enjoys his time down there and looks forward to each visit (though he never dares admit it outright). Yet he slowly begins to pick up on the world outside the colony and starts to see that there is already life inhabiting it and there is some beauty to it.

This was why the two young gems were originally so against him–they knew before he did what damage was going to be done to the planet.

Red Diamond tries to nonchalantly tell the other Diamonds that he doesn’t want the colony to be on Earth anymore–there isn’t enough resources and its not good enough for him and the others. They tell him to quit complaining and just finish the dang job.

At this point, the good side of him can’t take it anymore–his conscience can’t ignore what he wants to deny–and he knows that he’s going to have to have the other gems rebel. Except Yellow Sapphire and Red Zircon point out that the other gems might not listen to him as Red Diamond, and they might pick up that something is off if at any moment he lets his anger get the best of him as Red Quartz.

But there’s an alternative–Red Zircon presents a certain ring belonging to his family to Red Diamond. The ring as mind control powers and it can create a new personality for Red Diamond in his Red Quartz form–one snap of the fingers in that form will summon the second personality, and a splash of water can bring him back, and ONLY in the Red Quartz form can this happen.

The second personality will think that he’s leading a rebellion against Red Diamond, and Yellow Sapphire and Red Zircon will be his second-in-commands/strategists. He’ll never realize that the two young gems are both Red Diamond’s messengers to himself as well as his protectors.

After a moment’s hesitation, Red Diamond gives in and lets Red Zircon hypnotize him. His first order that the boys will tell Red Quartz is to find other gems who are against Red Diamond and encourage them to help out–starting with the other young gems who were terrified of him.

It works–while Red Quartz isn’t super bright, his fun, kind, protective nature easily wins over many of the young gems with the help of Yellow Sapphire and Red Zircon. Soon they will need to carefully find the adult gems who are against Red Diamond that they can trust. Things are turning out ok.

Though Red Diamond is relieved to know that the boys are taking care of him as Red Quartz, there’s one thing he’s not happy about–why is his second personality insisting on wearing human undergarments?!

[tornrose24]

Red Diamond AAU for the Gem AU

So, there was a certain revelation on a show called Steven Universe that reminded me of CU and Krupp due to some comparisons I could pick up on. I wondered ‘what if there was an AAU of the Gem!AU that followed that similar concept?’

Discussing this AAU is, of course, a HUGE spoiler for Steven Universe, but you already knew that. Thus why I have the ‘keep reading’ down below.

So I could see these parallels between Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond with CU and Krupp, and that got me thinking of this AAU, where Krupp is now a Red Diamond and CU is a Red Quartz. Also, I checked the symbolism of these gems and, I kid you not, one of them said that red quartz helps strengthen friendship (or something along those lines). Meanwhile red diamond symbolism varies between strength, power, confidence etc. Also they are super rare in the world.

Now there’s two possibilities to this. Either way, I see Red Diamond (Krupp) being looked down on by the other diamonds, and having a status so high above everyone else would probably drive him to feel lonely and miserable. And having to run this colony would put a lot of pressure on him.

The first version of this AAU is closer to @angerydj‘s original Gem!AU.

In this one, Red Diamond (Krupp) is a sort of ‘defect’ like Pink Diamond, but the twist is that there were TWO smaller Red Diamonds that were ‘born.’ Naturally, the other Diamonds didn’t want this, and the two diamonds were forcefully fused together to make a slightly larger, more powerful one. Now in this one, it’s Yellow Sapphire (Harold) and Red Zircon (George) who are secretly trying to lead the rebellion. Red Diamond catches them and threatens to expose them before bubbling up their gems/separating them. Cue triggering the other personality from the other diamond that was fused to make Red Diamond. Of course, the younger gems take advantage of this and convince this more friendly diamond to pretend to be a Red Quartz (CU) and to help them lead the rebellion. Red Diamond would be oblivious to this until the eventual separation of him and Red Quartz. He’d freak out over it, but it would lead him to question everything he knew and it would make him mad at the other diamonds. Eventually he’d learn to appreciate and grow fond of Earth with the help of Red Quartz and the infant gems. He’d even finally decide to give Earth up to those who inhabit it, but he’s also still mad at the other diamonds and never wants to deal with them again (even though maybe a part of him would want to go after them) so he opts to stage his ‘death.’ Take a guess at how that goes down and who ‘shatters’ him.

The second version is more like Jekyll and Hyde and closer to what happened in SU.

Red Diamond isn’t a secret fusion and appreciates life on Earth a lot sooner, and DOES want to eventually rebel against the other diamonds so that Earth can be left alone. So this time when he hears about these two infant gems rebelling, he offers to aid them (in a tsundere like fashion) as long as they don’t reveal what he’s doing. He even takes on a new form–that of Red Quartz–and somehow creates a second persona to go with the identity so it would be easy for others to fall for the trick. The downside is that he’s aware of how disliked he is by the others and how much they prefer him as Red Quartz over him as Red Diamond. It would make him incredibly depressed and willing to shatter himself, because there’s really no point in him going back if he’s about as disliked back on Homeworld, and he’s sure no one would want him with them when he’s still in his Red Diamond identity. Yellow Sapphire and Red Zircon would try to convince him to just stage the shattering and they could help out with that by disguising Red Zircon as Red Quartz. Though I think in this case–unlike with Pink Diamond completely changing her identity to be that of Rose Quartz–Red Diamond would be convinced by the infant gems to reveal to the others what he had done for them when the war was over, so that he could be able to earn their respect and so that he wouldn’t have to constantly hide himself as Red Quartz. (Though possibly–and this is optional–only a select few learn of Red Quartz’s identity because of that one attack the Diamonds do on Earth).

So... which idea sounds good/the best?

Also, I opted to keep anything Egg Casserole related out of this post because, even though I do have ideas for that ship in regards to this AAU (and I REALLY want to talk about that), I want to respect angerydj’s preferred ship and leave it out for now. To whoever wants to expand on the idea of Red Diamond with me and is open to talking about ideas for the Egg Casserole ship, I’m all ears. :)

[tornrose24]

I’m looking at my Red Diamond AAU stuff and I found the AAU version of the “What’s the use in feeling blue?” scene. And I’m looking at how I made Yellow Diamond!Krupp’s sister wishing that she could enjoy being an aunt... just not to Jasper!Kipper.

Which is why in the event that she does learn that Red Diamond!Benjamin HAD a daughter who is actually sweet and well behaved compared to her cousin, she’d slowly become a doting aunt who adores her little niece. (And she’d be just as afraid as her siblings over what would happen if their mother knew about her secret granddaughter).

Speaking of which, while we didn’t ever get to meet Krupp’s mystery sister in TETOCU and don’t know her personality, I head canon that she would adore both Alexandra and her brother. She’d also be thankful they didn’t turn into little s***s like Kipper did. (For a time she liked him, but after he turned into a brat she couldn’t stand him.

[tornrose24]

More Red Diamond AAU doodles (the original Gem AU, as well as Zircon!George, Sapphire!Harold, and Peridot!Melvin belong to angery dj)

I admit that it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role of Spinel OTHER than @artistcaptainbendy’s Spinel!pants (or was it SP!Krupp?*double checks* yeah it was sp!Krupp)

Yes I WAS inspired by Houseki no Kuni/Land of the Lusterous for Melvinborg, in case you were wondering.

Also the ‘Love like you’ lyrics... they seemed highly fitting for this AAU.

Alexandra belongs to me (and Nutmeg is owned by me and artistcaptainbendy).

[tornrose24]

So after revisiting the Red Diamond AAU, I was all ‘Ok I HAVE to draw for this.’ I did the second drawing first, but then I wanted to add onto it. (And the original Gem AU (as well as zircon!George and Sapphire!Harold) that partly inspired it belongs to @angerydj, so go check their stuff out if you haven’t yet).

(A bunch of notes on the pics are under the keep reading bit)

-For RD!Krupp, I did a mix of his design and a bit of both Pink Diamond and Yellow Diamond I’m also digging the fact that it looks like he’s wearing a cummerbund where the diamond is). My idea was that since if he had ACTUAL hair, it would have been pink, but no one knows that (and this is important if you notice how the colors swap for Pink Diamond and Rose Quartz). I think he’d be as tall as Yellow and Blue Diamond at his largest.

-I tried to keep Zircon!George and Sapphire!Harold’s colors as close as possible to AngeryDJ’s designs for them, but had my own take on their outfits. When I remembered that Sapphire!Harold has one eye, I went my own route with his appearance and gave him an eyepatch. I could see him putting a googly eye on the patch just to be funny, and he’d also have a collection of patches with cool designs (including a gay pride eye patch).

-Alexandra’s (my oc fan child for Edith and Krupp) outfit is obvious considering who she’s in the role of, but I had my own take on it.

-I just see Gooch as some kind of pink gem and I went with a pink tourmaline. And oh my gosh, isn’t he adorable?! ^_^ I love him! I don’t have a clear story for him, but maybe he crash landed on earth after a bout of misfortune and one spaceship from Homeworld. (And is good pals with Bo).

-I felt that Bo would be perfect as a Bismuth (considering her ability to shape shift being similar to his Claylossus form and her making things like he does). I like the idea that he was originally part of the rebellion, was corrupted for quite sometime, and then went back to normal and rejoined his old friends.

-I felt like squeezing in Erica too. Rather than going for the most obvious choice, I picked an emerald because I looked into the lore and apparently they get high authority in the SU world? (Though I placed her gem in her hand as a reference to her VA voicing Sapphire). She’d have a high position in Homeworld, but maybe she was secretly aiding the rebellion in the past and stays quiet when she found out that a few gems were still alive.

So I wanted to make the theory of ‘Gem Parent was alive the whole time’ canon (and I felt like it wouldn’t be as much of a life or death/child or parent situation if the gem parent was a male, or at least that’s what I assume would be the case). But I also had a great ‘what if the gem shattered in half and you get CU and Krupp in separate bodies as a result?’ (which is almost the opposite of the original gem au). I was going to use my actual art style, but then I changed my mind and went back to Pilkey’s style, though I kept the necks the same out of curiosity.

I referenced Rose Quartz’s design a bit of CU. As for ‘what the heck’s up with Krupp’s body’... well, its a consequence from what happened in the ‘Separation’ drabble combined with what happens if someone can’t properly heal you without both halves of the gem. (That and I’m a bit sadistic).

God, pic 2 almost looks like a valentine with all those reds, pinks, and white going on.

[tornrose24]

More Red Diamond AAU doodles (the original Gem AU and Peridot!Melvin belong to Angerydj. Alexandra belongs to me). 

-AngeryDJ does have a canon fusion for Zircon!George and Sapphire!Harold, but I wanted to do my own version (So that isn’t the canon fusion, but I think the fusion DID have a yo-yo as his weapon).

-I have no clue what Krupp’s sister looks like since we have yet to meet her. Thank God for Yellow Diamond’s helmet because then it makes it easy to insert whatever version you have of her until we actually see her (if we ever will).

-I looked up how much red diamonds are worth (since Edith needed some financial help to raise a child and apparently diamonds can create real diamonds in Steven Universe). And I kid you not, they are worth around one million dollars per carat due to how rare they are. Which means I unintentionally made Edith a millionaire before I knew their actual value.

(I don’t know how she’d sell them off, but the world always has people willing to waste so much money just to say they own something this pricy.)

-I hate having to draw characters I hate or are super awful, like Bernice. Luckily I found a way to actually draw her as White Diamond while having a chance to force my wrath onto her. (Is it stupid that I can’t just show her face? Yes. Do I regret it? Nope.)

-Anyone remember that Blue Diamond!Edith idea I had back in 2017? I found an excuse to bring the dress back.

[tornrose24]

Separation (Red Diamond AAU Drabble)

A certain (and very spoilerific, considering when it happens in the Steven Universe cartoon) familiar scene... but with a twist. (Also bit of a warning: there’s blood/ injuries involved.)

Original Gem AU (as well as zircon!George, sapphire!Harold, peridot!Melvin, and tourmaline!Poopypants) belongs to angerydj. Alexandra belongs to me.

(Honestly I was bored and wanted to write something. Then I remembered something I haven’t written out yet which will require a part 2 in the future).

Of all the gems George and Harold had faced, Watermelon Tourmaline was one of the most recurring antagonists. An old gem from their Homeworld days, he had been quite persistent in trying to catch them as well as Red Quartz when he was still around. It was one thing fighting him during the war all those centuries ago, but it was another when it turned out he was still around and was able to come back to earth.

 But after he found out that Alexandra had Red Quartz’s–No, Red Diamond’s–gem, he became more dangerous than before. To him, capturing Red Quartz would not only ensure a personal victory over the rebels, but would ensure that no one on Homeworld would ever make fun of him again.

Unfortunately it appeared that this was not going to be like old times. This time he had wised up and had enough back up to ensure a different outcome.

He distracted the sapphire and zircon and their allies with his machines while he himself chased after Alexandra in the destroyed ruins that was once Red Diamond’s base. (It was unfortunate that his young assistant and fellow scientist Orange Peridot decided to ally himself with the little miscreants, but he had other things to care about). Alexandra tried to run away, but Watermelon Tourmaline caught up and all it took was a few attacks from the robot he piloted to make the girl crash to the floor with bruises across her body. He wanted ‘Red Quartz’ to suffer, and held off from doing serious damage, but he couldn’t believe how weak the gem was.

“Is that the best you can do, Quartz?!” Watermelon Tourmaline sneered from inside his robot.

“I’m... I’m not...” Alexandra wheezed as she tried to crawl away, even though she knew it was pointless.

She wasn’t able to crawl away in time when the robot roughly grabbed her between two fingers and held her up until she was facing him. “Stop running away and face me like a real gem!” He sneered. “Show your true self!” He still thought she was Red Quartz, she realized. He had no clue whose gem in her stomach really belonged to.

Watermelon Tourmaline gave her a sadistic look. “If you won’t, then I’ll make you!” One of the robot’s fingers opened up to reveal a small tweezer like appendage that shot out towards the child and forced her shirt up to reveal the beautiful shining stone in her midsection.

“No don’t!” Alexandra tried to wriggle free. She had no clue what would happen if the gem was pulled out and she didn’t want to find out.

The tweezers pinched the stone and began to tug at it. It hurt so much and Alexandra was screaming as the tugging made her feel as if her insides were going to be ripped out along with it.

“Come on out, Red!”

“NO!” She screamed as she heard George and Harold screaming for her. The moment they arrived on the scene, their eyes grew in alarm and they ran towards the robot with their weapons ready. 

But by then it was too late.

The gem finally pulled free–along with bits of human skin and blood that still clung to it.

The child’s scream was almost deafening. It was one of the most awful sounds imaginable. 

She was unceremoniously released and she crashed to the floor before anyone could reach her.

Watermelon Tourmaline let out a triumphant laugh as the zircon and sapphire reached Alexandra. “FINALLY!” The robot held up the gemstone that was half coated in blood. “I FINALLY CAPTURED RED QUARTZ! NOW EVERYONE WILL GIVE ME THE RESPECT I RIGHTFULLY DESERVE!”

Both George and Harold had been kneeling beside Alexandra as she cried in pain and clutched her injured navel where the gem once was. They both turned in anger at Watermelon Tourmaline and George was the first to strike. He quickly took out his tie whip and threw it out–willing it to extend as far as it could–until it wrapped around the robot arm’s tweezers.

“GIVE IT BACK!” George yelled as he tugged as hard as he could, while Harold also grabbed onto the weapon and tried to pull alongside him.

“LET GO YOU BRATS!” Watermelon Tourmaline snapped as the robot arm tried to pull away, but the young gems were able to hold their ground.

George tried to pull as hard as he could, but it was clear that something else needed to be done. In a desperate move, Harold took his shield out and threw it at the old gem in the robot. “NO YOU LET GO!” He yelled.

The shield managed to hit Watermelon Tourmaline right in the face, but in the process he pulled the lever for the arm at the same time and not only was the arm able to pull free from the whip, but the tweezers accidentally flung the red diamond into the air.

“NO!” George and Harold yelled when they saw what just happened. George quickly tried to throw the whip out to catch the diamond, but it was like trying to hit a fly with a stick and he missed.

The diamond fell to the ground and cracked perfectly in half on impact before the two halves flung into opposite directions and hit the ground.

“Oh no.” George voiced the fear he and Harold felt as a sinking feeling dropped in their stomaches.

“Ugh,” Watermelon Tourmaline got up and rubbed his face before noticing what happened to the gem. “Oh... well, I guess that’s just as good.” He shrugged. (Though it would have helped his cause if he was able to bring Red Quartz in alive).

“Oh no, oh no, oh no.” Harold shook his head and grabbed his hair as the robot moved its hand towards the broken halves of the diamond. If the diamond had shattered, and the only person who could fix it was now in bad shape, then–

Then to everyone’s shock both halves of the diamond started to glow.

“Wait, what?” Watermelon raised an eyebrow.

“WHAT?!” The zircon and sapphire yelled.

The images that began to form from the broken diamond halves were almost two exact copies of one another. And when they finished, they revealed two very unexpected figures. Both of whom should have been dead and gone.

****

For Benjamin, it was like waking up from a long sleep. He wasn’t able to register or remember much for a few moments as he held his head and tried to come to his senses. 

When he looked up, he thought he was seeing himself in a mirror in his Red Quartz form, who was also holding his head and trying to come to his senses.

What he was not expecting was for the mirror image to flinch away. “Red Diamond?!” The mirror image cried out.

“RED DIAMOND?!” Benjamin and his mirror image looked up as Watermelon Tourmaline turned pale pink with shock and nearly jumped out of his robot as he looked at Benjamin. Even though the diamond was dressed a little more causally than normal, and had a faint pink skin tone similar to Red Quartz’s own, there was no mistaking that it was the infamous, long believed to have been dead Red Diamond himself.

“What is going on?” Harold asked George. “You’re seeing this too, right? I’m seeing both–”

“I am.” George nodded as both Red Diamond and Red Quartz were finally face to face, with each persona having one half of the gem that they once had and now had once again.

“You’re–!” Benjamin’s eyes widened as he stared at his counterpart in confusion.

“But I thought you–!” Red Quartz stammered and pointed at his counterpart.

“HOW?!” Watermelon Tourmaline grabbed his hair. “YOU’VE BEEN ALIVE THIS WHOLE TIME?! HOW’S THAT POSSIBLE?! I THOUGHT QUARTZ SHATTERED YOU!”

“Yeah, how are you still alive?!” Red Quartz panicked. He distinctly remembered destroying the evil diamond’s gem in one punch, causing him to flicker out of existence the moment it shattered into fragments.

“Wh-what is–?” Benjamin stammered as he tried to make sense as to where he was. The last thing he remembered was looking at his newborn child and holding her before he gave up his–

Wait.

He looked at the half destroyed, now malformed gem in Red Quartz’s midsection before he looked at his own to see that it was in a similar state.

It was not supposed to look like that. And it wasn’t supposed to be a part of him anymore. In fact, he wasn’t supposed to still exist.

Alarmed, he turned around and the first thing he saw was George and Harold. Both were equally alarmed and horrified (once upon a time, he would have enjoyed seeing that look on their faces and had even longed for it) and they were standing beside a child of about six to eight years old. She was laying on the floor and grabbing her stomach which appeared to be bleeding as the blood stained her shirt and fingers. She was in a state between pain and fatigue, but she struggled to stay awake long enough to look back at him with eyes eerily similar to his own. For one crucial second Benjamin saw his wife in her features–the same freckles, same nose, and even her messy hair reminded him of Edith.

“Da...ddy?” Her voice was barely a wheeze.

George and Harold’s panic increased when they saw the realization in Benjamin’s eyes. When Watermelon Tourmaline noticed that the child was still present, he made a very horrible, stupid mistake on his behalf when he yelled:

“How is his disguise still present?! I thought it’d go away when I took the gem out!”

The deathly calm that fell was a moment of sheer terror for George and Harold.

The moment the zircon and the sapphire saw that the diamond figured out that the child was his own daughter and what had happened to her, they knew something horrible was about to happen.

The fire that began to erupt in Benjamin’s eyes was all too familiar to George and Harold, but they knew this was not the usual kind of anger he had–this kind was the one that was all too rare and far more terrifying. They watched as his body began to tense up and he turned towards the robot and the tourmaline inside it. His clueless other half was still completely lost, but even he saw that the diamond was about to do something unpleasant.

The diamond got up and his body began to flash with light and expand until a split second later a gigantic version of Red Diamond reached the robot and grabbed it. He was not quite at his original full height for some reason, but his form had regained its fire red hue–overcoming the almost human like pink skin tone that he had as Red Quartz and had kept when he originally shedded his original name for good.

They could only watch as Red Diamond tore into the robot. He punched at it and tore its parts off like a wild animal and even the way he was yelling sounded monstrous. The tourmaline inside the robot was screaming in fear for his life and tried to escape out of the robot, but the door was jammed and he couldn’t pull it free.

“Oh this isn’t good!” Harold pulled at his hair.

“Hey we got them all!” Rainbow Kyanite (the fusion of Bo the Bismuth and Gooch the Pink Tourmaline) managed to catch up to them while carrying the easily winded Melvin. Then they saw what was happening, they could only stare in shock.

“What do we do?!” Harold asked George.

“I don’t know, but we got to stop him!” George had no idea what would happen to Red Diamond while he was angry with only a broken gem, but it wasn’t going to be good. Both he and Harold didn’t see Red Quartz looking at Alexandra in confusion (she looked a little familiar to him, but unlike his other half he had no clue who she was or why she was hurt).

“Hey guys, what’s going on?!” The worried Red Quartz pleaded. “Why’s Red Diamond still alive?!”

“Not now!” George snapped as Harold readied his weapon. “Get Alexandra out of here!” He commanded to Rainbow Kyanite. “Melvin, we’ll need your help with this!”

“Right!” The fusion could only respond before letting go of Melvin and carefully picking up Alexandra before he hurried away as fast as possible. At the same time, George and Harold began their own fusion.

Meanwhile Red Diamond continued to viciously tear into the robot as he tried to get to the Watermelon Tourmaline. It had been so long since he felt such anger but this time it was so much worse and he barely registered anything else besides a buzzing in his head, the red in his vision, and the slight pain in his midsection. He didn’t notice his gem not only cracking a little or the angry white and orangish lightning like lines that were starting to flare up across his body.

Just when Red Diamond finally managed to brake the robot into a shapeless mess and was about to reach for the terrified Watermelon Tourmaline, Carnelian quickly grabbed his arm with all four of his arms.

“STOP!” The fusion of George and Harold yelled. While he was taller than the young gems, he was still shorter than the giant Red Diamond to the point that it was like a child trying to stop an adult.

“DON’T STOP ME!” Red Diamond screamed at them, with fangs for teeth and eyes burning an anger. He was oblivious to the beginning of a corruption slowly spreading from his gem–the lines creeping across his stomach and up his arms as he tried to pull free. When he finally managed to knock Carnelian away, he was soon met with a giant yo-yo that wrapped around his body and pinned his arms against his sides.

Melvin readied his arm canon as Red Quartz watched on. He was alarmed at the hatred in Red Diamond’s face–too similar to his own–as the large gem roared and tried to pull free. Why was Red Diamond trying to attack Watermelon Tourmaline? Why was Carnelian trying to stop him?

While Red Diamond was too focused on struggling to get free and snarling at Carnelian, Melvin built up enough energy in his arm canon. The orange peridot took aim and a huge blast of energy struck the diamond in the chest. Without any protective covering to shield himself, the energy blast exploded and the large gem bursted into light.

This time Carnelian was able to catch the broken diamond when it fell and he made sure to quickly bubble it.

Carnelian let out a huge sigh as Watermelon Tourmaline scrambled to get out of the wreckage of his robot. When he was able to pull himself free, he tried to escape, only to find himself hoisted up into the air by Red Quartz himself.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but you must have something to do with this.” Red Quartz frowned at the short gem.

“Me?!” Watermelon Tourmaline spat. “What about you?! Why was Red Diamond fused with you?! Why did he attack me?! Why–?!”

The Watermelon Tourmaline was shot by another blast from Melvin’s canon. He reverted back into his gem form, which fell to the floor, but unlike the red diamond, it didn’t shatter.

“I’ll take that, thank you.” Melvin grabbed the tourmaline and bubbled it as he resumed his usual air of arrogance as a way to mask his own confusion. Red Quartz stared at him, wondering why a gem that normally allied with Watermelon Tourmaline was helping George and Harold instead.

Carnelian unfused and George and Harold reappeared while holding the bubble that contained Benjamin’s half of the gem. It already had a few cracks on it from his rampage on Watermelon Tourmaline.

“What do we do now?” Harold asked, knowing full well that letting Benjamin reform anytime soon would be a bad idea. (He knew what both he and George were in for the next time they’d see him again).

“I honestly don’t know.” George admitted.

“Guys?” The two looked up to see Red Quartz. He gave them a shaky wave before asking “Can you tell me what’s going on now?”

To be continued

[tornrose24]

Face-to-face (Red Diamond AAU drabble)

(Read the ‘Separation’ drabble first before reading this) Hey look at that, I kept my word about the continuation! :)

Original Gem AU (as well as zircon!George, sapphire!Harold, and peridot!Melvin) belongs to angerydj.

Alexandra belongs to me.

----

George and Harold were face to face with someone they thought they’d never see again  in the living room of Edith’s house. They had just filled him in on the entire truth which was strange even to them.

Red Quartz stared at them in stunned silence before glancing at the bubbled gem that George held. It was strange seeing one half of his own gem outside his body, but it was even stranger knowing that it wasn’t even the exact kind of gem he believed he was. “So what you’re saying is that I’m actually Red Diamond, and he’s been alive the whole time?” He asked for clarification.

“Yes.” Harold nodded.

“So all of my memories from before we started rebelling against Red Diamond...” Red Quartz remembered them–emerging from the earth, being easily distracted with Earth’s beauty when he was supposed to be working, meeting the young gems and learning that they loved having fun more than working too, and so much more.

“We made them up for you.”

“But neither of you were supposed to still be alive, let alone get separate bodies!” George looked down at the other half of the diamond in the bubble. “In fact, I don’t think this has ever happened to any gem before!”

“We probably should let him out, but you need to help us first. I think he was starting to brake when he got angry, and you’re probably the only one who can fix him.”

“But he’s still going to be mad, so we need to be ready in case anything happens!” George looked at Harold with a wince. “So... are we ready?” “Might as well get it over with.” Harold agreed with a matching wince before George shattered the bubble and held the stone out to Red Quartz. They were not looking forward to the inevitable and no matter how much they wanted to put it off, they knew it would only make things worse if they kept the gem bubbled for too long.

Red Quartz took the stone and nervously looked at it until–to the zircon and sapphire’s equal disgusted fascination–he licked over every inch of it. It didn’t take long until the cracks started to repair themselves and then the broken gem itself began to glow.

Harold remembered. “Oh shoot, wasn’t he a giant when–?!”

The stone flew out of Red Quartz’s hand as a form began to emerge from it. Fortunately for everyone, the diamond had returned to the same size as Red Quartz as well as the more pinkish coloring. Unfortunately there was a slight addition to his appearance as while he had been repaired, the damage he had done to himself left a few scars. The jagged red and orange lines that had gone up his arms and spread out from the gem and across his stomach were still there.

Benjamin groaned and held his head as he found himself trying to come to his senses once more. He realized very quickly that neither Watermelon Tourmaline or Carnelian were present and the living room he was in was somewhat familiar. He turned his head to see a very nervous looking sapphire and zircon who looked as if they wanted to be anywhere but there in that moment.

“Uh... hey!” George let out a squeak as he waved his hand. His forced smile struggled to stay in place as the diamond before him began to develop a familiar scowl.

“Long time no see!” Harold also joined in. “Uh, you’re looking good–!”

Right on cue, he got up in their faces and started yelling at the top of his lungs.

“I TOLD YOU TWO TO KEEP AN EYE ON HER AND NOT LET HER GET INVOLVED!” Benjamin’s yelling nearly made them fall over. “IT WAS JUST ONE SIMPLE THING AND YET I WAKE UP TO FIND MYSELF STARING AT QUARTZ, WITH ONLY HALF OF MY GEM IN ME! WHICH APPARENTLY WAS BECAUSE YOU LET TOURMALINE RIP IT OUT OF MY OWN CHILD?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”

“We didn’t know he’d do that!” George flinched.

“We didn’t know that Homeworld gems would come back to Earth to begin with!” Harold protested.

“THEN HOW WAS IT THAT YOU FAILED THE ONE ORDER I KNEW YOU’D ACTUALLY OBEY?! AND WHY IS HE HERE?!” Benjamin gestured to a stunned Red Quartz. It then hit him as to what he just said and shot up in confusion. “Wait... how are you...?” He stammered.

“Oh uh... hi Red Diamond?” Red Quartz gave him an awkward wave.

“How did–? Why are you here?!” Benjamin kept stammering and pointed. “How are you here?!”

“Its because your gem split in half.” All eyes turned to Melvin who just entered the room. The peridot was the only one who had anything close to medical experience with gems and had been checking on Alexandra. “I’m not sure how you managed the split personality, but because it was a near fifty-fifty split in the gem, your personalities were separated into each half. Its honestly a miracle that both of you are still intact, but you almost corrupted yourself thanks to your buffoonish rampage.” He pointed to the angry markings on Benjamin’s arms and stomach (while forgetting who exactly he just insulted).

Benjamin glanced down at himself and it was only then that he realized the damage that he had caused to himself. A diamond had never been cracked, or corrupted, so no one knew what the consequences would be if that happened. He could only reflect on experience to understand what almost happened and for a moment he felt a flash of fear. Then he remembered why it happened in the first place and was about to ask when Red Quartz beat him to the question.

“So is she still alright?” His other counterpart nervously asked with the small twinge of hope that he himself was too afraid to have. “My– Uh, I mean our daughter?” He glanced at Benjamin. Neither of them liked the use of the word ‘our’ for their own reasons.

“Well to put it bluntly, she’s not dead.” Melvin answered. “And when I think about it, I’m honestly not surprised.”

For one moment everyone was relieved, but then Benjamin frowned. “What do you mean you aren’t surprised?”

“Remember the human zoo? Watermelon Tourmaline was doing experiments with the humans and he was never able to keep female gems from dying whenever they had a child with them. He wanted to use male gems to see if the outcome could be different and that both parent and child would live. Naturally no one wanted to take that risk, but he suspected that because children are less dependent on fathers during pregnancy and the first year of life, there might of been a slight chance that it would work. And considering you’re a diamond, Alexandra had the guaranteed one hundred percent success that he hypothesized. I’d be glad to go into further detail if you’re curious.”

“And you never told us this because...?” Harold asked as he and George stared at Melvin.

“Well I assumed he was wrong and that Red Quartz was dead for real.”

There was a stunned confusion in the room.

Then Benjamin snapped with an enormous, disbelieving “WHAT?!”

****

Both halves of the same gem found themselves in Alexandra’s bedroom on both sides of her bed.

The child had been asleep in bed for quite sometime after being tended to. She had been given a very loose shirt that was pulled up to reveal the bandages over her navel. There was no telling if there’d be any scars but her father’s gem would never again be a physical part of her. 

Red Quartz couldn’t stop staring at Benjamin. The gem was kneeling beside the sleeping child and looking at her as if she were the entire world to him. He couldn’t believe that this was supposed to be Red Diamond–the sadistic tyrant who had made it more than clear that he didn’t care what happened to anyone so long as he got what he wanted. The eldest and nastiest of the three diamond siblings, yet had never owned his own planet until he had Earth. 

Red Quartz remembered how utterly cruel the diamond had been in dismissing his concerns the first time he met him face to face. (But if he and Red Diamond were the same, then who was sitting on the throne that day?) At least when the gem was on his rampage it was believable that he was seeing Red Diamond, but now it was as if he was someone completely different.

He couldn’t stop fidgeting–one of them had to say something, right?

“So you really are Red Diamond.” Red Quartz finally spoke up.

“I don’t go by that name anymore.” Benjamin didn’t have the will to put as much force in those words as he would have.

“You’re actually still alive. No one on Homeworld knows–not even White Diamond.”

Benjamin couldn’t help but twitch and feel a wave of unwanted memories at the mention of his ‘mother’ (as well as her insults and how she humiliated him, the number of times he was locked up in that dark tower room, and her making him feel like he’d never be as good as Blue or Yellow in her eyes). This time he was a bit harsher when he snapped “And I’d prefer to keep it that way!”

Red Quartz flinched and wisely changed the subject. “So you’re actually me... I’m actually you.”

A brief silence fell as Benjamin finally looked up at Red Quartz.

“Yes. You are me–you were my disguise given a personality in order to throw off suspicion.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I could pretend I was a quartz, but George and Harold made it clear that I wasn’t fooling anyone with the way I was acting. So they created a new personality I could slip into–someone who could be powerful enough to put an end to things. Someone who was believable as part of a rebellion. Honestly I’m amazed no one realized that we had the exact same face.” Benjamin couldn’t help but snort over how stupid most of Homeworld had been to not notice that. (And unlike Blue and the gem he took on as a wife, Benjamin didn’t have the ‘its my ‘child’’ excuse.)

“Then why didn’t anyone tell me before? Why am I still around if you were using me to trick everyone?!” “The hypnosis was supposed to be undone when the war was over! Then nearly everyone got wiped out and that included anyone who could have fixed me! Besides, I’m pretty sure you can figure out why no one told you!”

“Well it doesn’t help! I don’t know if I can trust anyone now! I mean does Alexandra even know?”

Benjamin didn’t respond and simply looked at his daughter. He knew by the way she instantly recognized him that she knew–it wasn’t Red Quartz that she identified as her father in that moment, but him as himself. It was something that terrified him because then that meant she knew everything about him, but it oddly gave him some a small sense of joy because–

She knows who I really am to her. She didn’t see me as the villain.

“I don’t know.” He lied.

“Well, what are we supposed to do now?” Red Quartz asked. “We’re both alive, but she’s got two dads now? Do we have to share her until we know what to do? Do we have to share Edith too?” All the while, Benjamin went from concerned, to annoyed, to a bit possessive until it hit him.

“Oh God, Edith doesn’t know yet, does she?!” He panicked and grabbed his head as Alexandra began to wake up.

“Oh... that’s not good.” Red Quartz frowned as he realized how that’d pose a problem.

“Uh,” At the sound of the small, tired voice, both halves swiftly spun their attention back to the small child in bed who looked back and forth at each one. “Are you playing a trick on me again, guys?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Hi Alexandra!” Red Quartz beamed in delight and waved.

It then hit the child who remembered what happened as she looked at Red Quartz. “Wait... you’re actually–?” She then looked at Benjamin who was both incredibly relieved as well as nervous. “If this isn’t a prank, then why do I have both versions of you in my room?”

“Sweetie!” The door swung open and Edith bursted in as if to make the moment more complicated for everyone. Her hair was falling into her face and she still wore her gloves and apron from work. “Oh God are you alright?!”

“Edith!” Red Quartz’s joyful grin widened.

“Edith!” Benjamin barely breathed at the sight of the love of his life that he thought he would no longer see again.

Edith stared at both Red Quartz and Benjamin and completely forgot her daughter. Her visible eye widened until it was about to pop out. “You... you’re...” Edith stammered as she realized what Harold had tried to warn her about on the phone before she ran away from her work.

Overwhelmed with the knowledge that not only was her husband alive once more, but that both of halves of him were existing at the same time in separate bodies, she pulled an old cliche in the book of cliches and promptly fainted to the floor.

[tornrose24]

What’s the use of feeling? (Red Diamond AAU drabble)

(Contains mentions of abuse.)

(Also, we still have yet to meet this mystery sister in the series, so I don’t know what her actual personality is supposed to be like. Also thank god for YD’s helmet since that’ll help everyone imagine their version of the sister for this).

Original Gem AU (as well as zircon!George, sapphire!Harold, and peridot!Melvin) belongs to angerydj.

Alexandra belongs to me.

All of Homeworld knew that the Diamond siblings were like night and day. Yellow Diamond was cold, focused, and rarely showed a soft side, while Blue Diamond was more easy going, yet could be alarmingly harsh if he needed to be. Yellow Diamond only surrounded herself with trusted allies, while Blue Diamond took on a female jasper as a wife and they each had a hand in creating their own child. It was universally agreed that they were both better rulers than the long deceased Red Diamond, yet like any siblings, they too had their issues with each other behind closed doors.

“I thought I told you to stop coming here, Blue!” Yellow Diamond snapped at her brother upon finding him in a red hued chamber where numerous gems were bubbled.

“I understand, but...” Blue Diamond sighed. In a moment of weakness, he found his older brother’s destroyed palanquin on Earth, reflected on times long lost to him, and ended up speaking with a human who somehow found her way to it. Surprisingly, she showed no fear towards him and seemed to empathize with his loss of a loved one. He was so moved by her compassion that he couldn’t help but take her to the human zoo out of a need to protect at least something good that came from Red Diamond’s planet.

Little did he know that the same human and her daughter were hiding in that very same room, trying to look for a way out while staying out of the diamonds’ sight.

“You not only insist on keeping the zoo around, but you still haven’t bothered to shatter any of these gems!” Yellow Diamond scowled at the bubbled gems. “All of them were subjects who rebelled against him or did nothing to aid him!”

“I know but they’re still among the last we have of Red.” Blue Diamond took a random bubble and examined it–it was hard to tell what gem was inside it at his current size. “I don’t think he’d want us to get rid of them.”

Both Edith and Alexandra stared in shock at all the bubbled gems. There were perhaps hundreds of them–how long had they been like this?

“What are you talking about?!” Yellow Diamond snapped. “Our brother never cared about anyone but himself! Sure he might of wanted to spare the humans at one point, but we both knew he’d just want some as pets! That’s why we made the zoo, which we only kept around for experiments that failed! A lot of gems on Earth made it clear that he was a terrible ruler, and many of them were his enemies! So why would he go out of his way to want to save those who failed him?! He deserved to be called a monster and you know it!”

“You and I know that’s only because Mother–!” Blue Diamond began to snap, but stopped himself. Red Diamond may have been created first, but White Diamond saw him as someone to torture and humiliate for reasons not clear to him or Yellow. There was no way Red’s behavior was completely his own fault... or so Blue wanted to believe.

Alexandra felt her mom’s grip on her shoulder tighten up. She looked up to see her mother looking unusually angry and there was a flash of pain in her eyes as she overheard the diamonds. She touched Edith’s hand, causing the woman to flinch and realize where she was before they could continue their escape.

Yellow sighed and pinched her nose. “What’s the use of feeling, Blue?” She asked. “You  want to employ those subjects who destroyed him? Yes we miss him, but you have other things to worry about. You have a purpose to focus on–the sapphire has clarity, an agate keeps others in line, a lapis terraforms, and even your own son was given a purpose.”

Ah yes, Blue Diamond’s son. Yellow Diamond never liked the entitled brat–he was given to Red Diamond as a way to try to help him out on Earth. But Blue Diamond spoiled the jasper and Red Diamond let the young gem do as he pleased, only for the gem to get humiliated by members of the rebellion and end up in Yellow Diamond’s court. Jasper came to her with bubbles containing gems who were supposedly the families of at least two members of the rebellion and expected a promotion (he didn’t get it and of course threw an embarrassing tantrum that would have made a toddler gem’s look tame in comparison). She sent him to aid an insufferable little peridot, but had no clue why he hadn’t come back yet.

If Blue had more better behaved children, or if Red had showed interest in having any, she would have loved the idea of being an aunt. Instead she shook off those thoughts and tried to face the present. “You need to be a leader and focus on a plan of attack.” She continued. “Look forward, don’t look back!” She ripped the bubbled gem from Blue Diamond’s grasp and tossed it away.

Neither diamond saw the bubble head right towards Alexandra and Edith. It bounced where it landed and almost on instinct Alexandra couldn’t help but grab it.

Blue grimaced and turned away, which only angered his sister. “You think you’re the only one whose still mourning?” Yellow snapped. “Not a day goes by that I regret that we caved in and let him have Earth. But do you see me moping about it all the time? So tell me why? What’s the use in feeling–?” Yellow Diamond couldn’t help but remember in that moment–giving him the planet as if trying to shut up an annoying toddler. Once upon a time she had loved him dearly, but after White Diamond pushed him too far–

“What’s the use in feeling?”

She clutched the edge of the railings of the chamber as memories she tried to bury threatened to overcome her.

Those memories of times she and Blue watched Red getting pelted with various objects at the command of White for doing things that displeased her. The taunting that he’d always be a failure every time he tried to please their mother. Him screaming as he was dragged to that tower with no windows for being out of line while she and Blue did nothing out of fear for angering their mother. Him gradually lashing out and tyrannical over others because it was all he had when there was nothing to rule over for him. Him throwing fits that she’d respond back with indifference or with harshness because she had no clue how to else to respond.

“What’s the use in feeling?”

Those memories of times when she should have turned her focus on helping Red Diamond properly heal or help him get back to the once happy gem that he had been in her earliest memories. Instead she and Blue focused on their own tasks and personal happiness until a red quartz–

“What’s the use in feeling–?!” Yellow stopped herself with by humming a melody as a way to calm herself in stressful moments. 

Blue walked over and placed a hand over her shoulder. She grabbed his hand back. There were no words needed to be said.

Neither of them saw Edith and Alexandra running out of the room. Though Edith couldn’t help but shoot one last sympathetic look at the diamonds while Alexandra hugged the bubbled gem to her chest.

****

The rest of the escape wasn’t easy but it ended with an agate that was humiliated and left at the mercy of many amethysts who were eager for some much needed payback. 

When everyone was back on Earth, the young gems and Alexandra gathered around the gem that she had taken with her. The number of gems had slowly been growing and Edith was thankful that they all had a place to go close by since she couldn’t fit them all under her roof. 

Yet it was a moment of anticipation–who would come out of the gem this time?

In a flash of white, a small gem with wild curly hair in a long dress revealed herself. The star on her head band indicated that she was once part of the rebellion.

“Moonstone!” Almost instantly the gem was swept into a huge hug by Bo the bismuth. “We got Moonstone back!”

“Where am I?” Moonstone’s voice came out in whisper like tones. “Did we win?”

“We did! You won’t believe it but we did!”

Edith took in the excitement of all the gems (though Melvin was very indifferent since he never was friends with Moonstone), but there was one who was faking it. Harold wore a smile, but there was a hint of frustration in his eye that confused Edith until she remembered.

He was hoping that Alexandra had brought back Pink Sapphire. Much like the diamonds, the yellow sapphire deeply missed his own sibling.

It appeared that Alexandra noticed the sapphire’s expression as well, but she didn’t say anything. If mother and daughter had their way, they would have taken more than one or at least checked to see if Pink Sapphire was among the bubbled gems in that room.

Edith thought back to the diamonds. She remembered everything that Benjamin told her about his family, but she couldn’t believe she’d ever see them in person. Though honestly it had been of a scare for her to be kidnapped and placed in a ‘zoo’ of humans who all seemed very eager to be partnered up with her (Benjamin would have been rendered speechless at her outfit, but she was positive he’d have thrown the hugest fit imaginable if he knew where she had been taken).

 It appeared that despite Benjamin’s beliefs, both Edith’s brother and sister in-law had missed him all this time and her heart went out to them. Yet she couldn’t dare come out and tell them the truth–she couldn’t risk those gems taking her daughter away from her forever. Especially if White Diamond was truly as horrible as Benjamin made her out to be.

If a station full of trapped humans and bubbled gems was all that was left of Red Diamond to Blue and Yellow Diamond, Alexandra was all that was left of Benjamin to her.

Trust me I wanted Heidi to be the gem instead of Dressy, but it didn’t feel like the timing would be right.

[tornrose24]

Alright so here’s other ideas I have for the Red Diamond AAU. Starting with who gets what gem. (And again, the original gem au belongs to Angery DJ)

The kid gems (not including Melvin, George, and Harold, whose forms were created by Angery DJ). They never gave the kids canonical gemsonas yet.) 

Erica-Emerald (also, I’d imagine that in Homeworld she uses her adult form, but uses her kid form around Red Quartz’s group and on Earth.)

Gooch-PinkTourmaline (Because it seemed to fit him).

Bo-Bismuth (a part of me wonders if he’s parents should both be fusions since they are gigantic in canon.)

Dressy-Moonstone (It screams ‘hippie gem’ to me.)

Stanley-Lapis Lazuli (Its the only gem I can think of that involves water powers, but I can see him and his family being defects and thats how they constantly sweat in this AU. I don’t know if he’d have the role of Lapis herself yet or not).

Jessica-Pink Beryl/Brixbite (to keep with the pink theme)

Sophie 1-Aquamarine (to keep with the blue theme)

Other Sophie- Green Pearl (to keep with the green theme and because she’s forced to serve Jessica).

-I admit it would be cool if gradually they form a team together, but it would take awhile.

Other kids

Heidi-Pink Sapphire (Has future vision regarding love, including platonic, familial and romantic. Went missing during the final fight between the rebellion and Homeworld and Harold is trying to find her).

Kipper-Jasper (He seems prefect for this role and his goons would be gems too. Has a history with George and Harold similar to canon and would confront the both of them for the ‘Stronger than You’ version of this AU. Also, how ironic that he’d be bullying/fighting his ‘cousin’ in this au.)

Lia and Billy- Not quite decided yet, but I love the idea of Billy being a Spinel of some kind.

Tommy-Not sure yet, but he might still be human.

Dante-Yellow Pearl (works for Erica).

Adult gems

-Most of the school staff characters were under Red Diamond, but they had no idea about him being Red Quartz. Well, given how dumb they are... Any way, perhaps some of them ended up getting corrupted while others returned to Homeworld

Anthrope-Purple Pearl (was Red Diamond’s pearl for a time, but due to their relationship, she didn’t care about her job and failed to notice when he vanished for long periods of time).

Ribble-Blue Dendritic Opal (Actually I saw Jackie-Sugarskull proposing this to Angery DJ for the original gem au and it does seem like it’d be a cool design).

Meaner-Taaffeite (as chosen by angerydj for the original gem au)

Rected-Tiger’s Eye (I thought it’d be funny if I picked a gem that helps with confidence, which we see him struggling with in season 2. Also it unintentionally made for a good reference to a certain prank in the movie)

Fyde- Sodalite (a stone that helps to calm someone. Again, I thought of using such a stone for ironic reasons for this character).

Misty-Same as her brother (Is also trans in this AU and in a relationship with Dressy’s mom who is also a moonstone).

Melvinborg-Olive Peridot (was badly damaged and half of his body was repaired with gold alloy.)

Bernice-White Diamond (There was no other choice. I don’t even know where to begin on this one other than her abusive behavior towards Red Diamond had lasting effects on him.)

-A part of me wants Moxie and Ree to be Yellow and Blue Diamond, but it’d make more sense if the rest of Krupp family took on the role with Jasper as Blue and the yet to be seen sister as Yellow. (And it would make sense if Jasper directly created Kipper and had him serve his ‘uncle’ for a time, which is how he crossed paths with George and Harold in the first place). Though I’m not sure how John would fit into this.

-Because of the above could change things, I think Ree and his brother would be the same gem type (like flint or at least something more rock like) and Moxie would be a high ranking emerald.

-As for Spinel... well I’m kind of eyeing a certain someone’s version the character because there isn’t anyone else who is just as whacky.

[tornrose24]

Was thinking of the CU Red Diamond AAU and new Ideas could not leave me. (Side note to any new cu fans, I recommend checking angrydj's original Gem AU. Also they own the original designs for Yellow Sapphire!Harold and Red Zircon!George.) Also this contains spoilers relating to Steven Universe.

<p>I was considering having the entire Krupp family be the diamonds, though without the mystery sister (unless there's a way to fit John into this), my idea was that Bernice is WD, Moxie is YD and I was considering Ree as BD. The last two would not have the same personalities as YD and BD and would be in charge of the scientific and military parts of homeworld. Then RD was an attempt at the closest thing to a biological child for WD but not only was he slightly defective, but his behavior made him very unlikeable even amongst the diamonds. (Alternatively, if it WAS just the four members of the Krupp family, then John would be BD and Jasper would be YD and his son was his own creation (and would be like Jasper from SU.) in this scenario, Moxie and Ree might still be gems. IDK what do you guys think?)</p>

<p> I also changed my mind about Edith and decided to make her human. Then when she does get pregnant, RD/RQ assumes that only female gems have to give up their lives in order to have a child, but when the child has serious health issues upon birth, he has to give the gem to her in order for her to survive. (And I had an interesting idea involving a certain storyline and a theory that was proven false for later. As in 'actually he IS still in that gem and if something were to happen to it...').</p>

<p>Also YS!Harold and RZ!George are entrusted to keep an eye on her as she grows up and make sure homework's never learns about her, in the event of a worst case scenario. And in case you were wondering, I am imagining my fan child as this au's Steven.</p>

<p>While Melvin would have Peridot's role, Melvinborg would also be a peridot. He was nearly shattered in half and ended up with gold alloy/whatever that thing Phos from Houseki no Kuni has with the arms. Also he has a huge grudge against Harold and George as well as Red Quartz!CU. </p>

Other ideas... Bo would definitely be a corrupted gem, Billy would be a gem (likely a Spinel but not THAT Spinel), Heidi would probably be a sapphire too (something pink or close to how she has strawberry blonde hair in the books). Etc. When I get the chance I can discuss more (and maybe do a drabble).

[tornrose24]

I don’t think I want to be like you (Red Diamond AAU Drabble featuring Melvin and Melvinborg)

The original Gem AU, Red Zircon!George and Yellow Sapphire!Harold and Orange Peridot!Melvin belong to AngeryDJ (and I think the fusions they did for the boys are different than the ones I used)

Alexandra belongs to me.

Olive Peridot–or Peridot-Borg as Harold and George liked to call him–had a history with the Rebellion. It was because of them that they caused a swarm of aliens to attack him. (Except it was an accident that they weren’t even aware of). It was because of them that his gem had been heavy damaged. It was because of them that half of his body had to be replaced or covered with gold alloy. It was because of him that his reputation as a high ranking peridot had been ruined. He was hell bent to shatter Yellow Sapphire, Red Zircon, and Red Quartz once and for all.

He didn’t even care that Red Quartz was currently taking on the form of a small human girl who hid behind Carnelian–the Zircon and Sapphire’s fusion. Standing in-between them was Orange Peridot–or Melvin as he thought he’d call himself.

Orange Peridot was the only peridot who he could regard as an equal alongside his old friend Watermelon Tourmaline. The only one who could help carry out his revenge. The only one he’d bother to fuse with, but it had proven to be too much for the smaller peridot.

Moldavite–their fusion–was so perfect. He was superior in intellect to any living thing, or so they thought. But Olive’s inability to predict flaws while Orange anticipated them, combined with the state of Olive’s gem, and many, many other things soon lead to them splitting apart.

Ever since Olive first laid eyes on Red Quartz’s new form, every attempt at revenge ended up with Olive corrupting himself. It had spread over the gold alloy as a sea of blue squares and it was beginning to cover his good side.

“I know you aren’t a fool, Orange.” Olive scowled. “You know how troublesome these three really are. You know what they are still capable of. Help me shatter them and the Diamonds will make you superior above all the other gems!”

“Shatter them?!” Melvin nearly squeaked. He was under the impression that he was supposed to bubble them, not shatter them!

“Don’t listen to him Melvin!” Carnelian pleaded as he held a hand out. “We’re sorry about what happened to Olive, but do you really want to end up like him?!”

“I see that you actually like being on Earth!” Alexandra added as she peered around Carnelian’s leg as if he were her older brother (in a way, both George and Harold were her older brother figures, which Melvin thought he had in Olive). “Would letting the Diamonds destroy it really be worth it? Aren’t we friends now?”

“Friends?” Melvin wondered out loud as the word struck a cord in him.

“Yeah, we can start over!” Carnelian offered. “I know we never got along, and I know we might never at all, but don’t you want more to life than just being number one?!”

“Oh please, like you clods could ever truly be friends with him! He doesn’t even need friends at all!” Olive snapped as he readied his hand canon. “Orange, destroy them now! If you don’t then I’ll will, starting with Red Quartz!” He aimed the canon at Alexandra and Carnelian immediately stood in front of her and readied his weapon. The alarm and the unexpected horror over the idea of the girl being killed helped serve as the final part to Melvin’s ultimate decision.

“You’ll have to go with us first!” Carnelian scowled. He didn’t even need the reminder of a promise George and Harold made to a certain someone to be ready to lay down his life for the child.

“Wait!”

Carnelian and Alexandra turned back to Melvin as he took a deep breath. “I made my decision.” He readied his arm canon.

“Well it’s about time!” Olive said. “Make this quick, I got–”

To his shock, Melvin turned around and shot him square in the stomach with enough force to knock him over.

Melvin gritted his teeth as he ran to Carnelian and held his other hand out. Carnelian understood what the peridot wanted to do.

Alexandra watched as Carnelian accepted Melvin’s hand. He lead the smaller gem in a dance–he kept a hold of the peridot’s hand and allowed him to dance the way he wanted to. Melvin was a little silly looking, but he didn’t care and began to relax–he was very certain as to what he wanted as he began to be in harmony with the fusion of the two gems he once despised the most.

A bright light flashed and they merged.

The new fusion–Calcite–was a perfect blend of fun and studious in the form of what could have been a college aged student with five arms. His appearance reminded Alexandra of those science kid shows where the scientist wore goofy clothing under his lab coat or even that one British science fiction show about the time traveling alien with the blue box. 

“For once in my life, I don’t think I want to be like you.” Calcite glared at Olive, who got up.

“What are you doing?!” Olive snarled, but Calcite wasted no time. He readied his new weapon–a fusion of Melvin’s canon, Harold’s shield, and George’s whip. He had one gem’s analytical mindset combined with the other two gem’s creativity.

Alexandra stayed off in the side lines and watched as Calcite fought back against Olive. Olive used his arm and every single invention at his disposal, but his inability to see consequences or counter attacks was against him. Calcite’s creativity was an advantage that Melvin had never had before and he was not only able to counter each attack, but found a way to sneak in an attack or two when Olive least expected it. All the while, it made the corruption spread over Olive’s body.

Finally it got to a point where it was too much. Olive was knocked to the ground and most of the blue spots covered his entire body, but worse was that his gem was starting to crack after one of Calcite’s canon’s hit it.

“You better stop while you still can.” Calcite warned. “We can still save you and call it a day.”

“I should heal him, right?!” Alexandra asked as she hurried to Calcite’s side. She prepared to use her healing spit on Olive, but the gem suddenly took out his own canon and aimed it at Alexandra. One of Calcite’s arms summoned Harold’s shield and not only did it stop the canon’s blast from hitting the child, but it bounced back and hit Olive. The resulting agonizing scream told them all that he was not going to make it.

They watched as Olive writhed in pain as the corruption took over and his gem began to develop more cracks. “You were supposed to be like me, Orange!” He yelled. “What will you be without Homeworld?! Without me?!”

“To be honest... I don’t know.” Calcite admitted as the part of him that was Melvin took over for that one moment.

Olive Peridot’s gem couldn’t take it anymore. It shattered into several fragments.

It was a mercy compared to the alternative for the sadistic peridot.

******

It was evening and rain fell over Piqua as they all went to Edith’s house for a change. Melvin watched the rain fall from the living room window as the other two gems played the gamecube with Alexandra to help take her mind off the horrible events.

“Would you like something to drink?” He turned his head to see Edith–the human woman who Red Quartz had fallen for. In a way, she did what Olive and even the diamonds couldn’t by creating a daughter that he’d sacrifice his gem for, thus ending his life. (He had heard rumors–gems that identified as female had to gradually prepare their own bodies to produce a half human child that they’d have to give up their own gems for, and there was only one or two known cases of that happening. A gem that identified as male helping to produce half human children was unheard of, but somehow it happened and with the idiotic Red Quartz of all gems. Why couldn’t gems just adopt and not have to vanish from existence?)

“No M’am.” He shook his head.

“Oh you can just call me Edith, or Miss Edith.” She smiled before walking back to another room. He stared back at the rain.

He was stranded on a planet he knew little about, but he knew more about it than either of the diamonds or Olive. He played a part in Olive’s shattering, but was it better that way? To be corrupted seemed worse than that, and Olive made it clear that he couldn’t handle the idea of losing his valuable intellect. Once upon a time, he wanted to be as respected as Olive had been–have his own lab of scientists, many adoring fans, and even his own statue. But with all that thrown away by siding with what was left of the Rebellion, what was there left for him?   

“Hey, Melvin?” he turned to see the two boys looking back at him and when Alexandra gave him a concerned stare. It was Harold who spoke and he held out a controller. “This game can have up to four people. Want to join us?”

“Yeah, it’s Mario Kart.” George added. “It’s easy enough for a beginner.”

Melvin stared at the group in wonder.

“I don’t have anything better to do, and I suppose I’d better start learning more earth customs if I’m going to be here for awhile.” He huffed as he got up to take the controller. He ignored the smiles on their faces and the oddly pleasant feeling that shot through him.