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The sun shone brightly into the observatory, Jasper could smell the aromas, however muted, of the many flowers placed around the room, yet she was still uneasy. She couldn’t help her fidgeting, as she was unaccustomed to sitting around for extended periods of time, even during her Little Homeschool classes Jasper would pace around the room. She was even less accustomed to having other gems touch her hair, much less a pearl. It was after Her Diamond’s Pearl that another pearl, with the perplexing name of Volleyball, nervously asked for her company in the observatory. She had said yes, of course, though she was generally unsure why. Jasper turned her head slightly at the humming gem behind her.
“Hey! Don’t move too much, you don’t want to mess it up silly.”
Jasper begrudgingly did as the smaller gem asked with a huff. “Is this going to take much longer? I don’t like sitting still for this long.”
The other gem giggled; “You have a lot of hair, it’s like a blanket! And so soft…”
Jasper coughed.
“Anyway,” The gem called Volleyball let out another shy chuckle before continuing. Jasper could feel her small hands combing through her hair, pulling on it softly and twisting it together slightly. The other gem’s song sounded very different from most others Jasper had heard, it could have been an Earth ballad? As Jasper was thinking she felt a tight tug at her hair.
“Hey!” Jasper growled; “what are you doing back there?”
“Oh, sorry! I didn’t mean to pull so hard there, I hit a knot.” Volleyball would occasionally put small objects into Jasper’s hair periodically, most likely the Earth flowers that she had picked out before they began. She was unsure about putting parts of the earth in her hair, but Volleyball insisted it would look “pretty.”
“What tactical benefit did you say this would give again?” The inactivity was really starting to get to Jasper, her foot thumping against the ground nervously.
“It’s not for battle silly, it’s just for fun!” The pearl placed another flower in Jasper’s hair with an excited squeal; “we’re almost done, don’t you worry. I thought quartzes liked playing with each other’s hair?”
“Why would I know?” Jasper scoffed at the suggestion that she would do such a thing.
“Didn’t you ever talk to gems like yourself... during the war?” Volley’s voice wavered a little while mentioning it, Jasper took notice, but decided not to say anything about it.
“There are no gems like me.”
Volleyball barely was able to contain a boisterous laugh at that comment, “oh, I bet. That’s a shame though, even I did that with the quartzes assigned to Pink...Rose? Pearl said she was called Rose...near the end.”
Jasper grumbled at the mention of her former diamond and former rival. “I wouldn’t have engaged in that sort of idle nonsense.”
“Hmmm, well, you’re letting me do it so...maybe you wanted to? At least a little bit.” Her voice came out very softly, if there were other noises in the observatory Jasper would not have heard her.
Jasper did not deign that assertion with a response, “what do you know about me?”
Volleyball froze for a second before continuing to braid Jasper’s hair. “I...I think I’m about done, would you like to see it?”
Jasper grumbled affirmatively as the pearl moved in front of her with a mirror. Jasper’s large, unruly mane had been braided into a long ponytail with many flowers woven into it. “It looks...good.” Jasper did like it, as long as nobody tried to attack her.
“Yay!” Volleyball unexpectedly tried to wrap Jasper in a tight hug, though her arms didn’t quite go all the way around Jasper’s chest. “Hey...you’re right, I don’t know too much about you...but I’d like to, if you’d let me. And next time we can do something you decide on!”
Jasper nodded; “why did you...ask me here anyway?”
Volleyball cradled Jasper’s head in her hands, they were very soft and calming, Jasper began to fight a blush; “I’ve been seeing you in Pearl’s class, you seemed...sad and I thought you could use a friend?”
Jasper blushed deeper; “I...I’m not sad! But I would like to see you again.”
Volleyball kissed Jasper’s cheek before happily but quickly leaving the observatory; “Bye Jasper, I’ll see you around!”
Jasper left her hand on her cheek for a while, before bringing her hair closer to her face, Volleyball was right, it did look very pretty.