First Meeting

"RRROOOAARRRR"
A giant prehistoric-looking swamp monster's furious roar rang out into the swamp, disturbing the creatures of the area, and taunting a certain black Gem.
"Why are they always so melodramatic??" She dove to the side to avoid a spiky tail attempting to squash her. "Come at me bro," she teased and summoned her dual daggers.
The lean figure leaped on top of the monster and clawed at its scaly back with her daggers. It roared, frustrated, and flicked it's spiked tail at her again; but with her agility she jumped off of its back and it only stabbed itself. "Ha, being cracked may boost your strength, but it definitely takes a toll on your intelligence.."

A mile or so farther into the swamp, a bulky humanoid figure hears the infuriated roars in the distance. The character's masculine body seemingly melts into a swift, sludgy substance, and it makes its way towards the commotion.

After a few minutes of fighting, the feisty Gem was starting to tire, and although the monster was weakened it still had a lot more juice left. "-But dang, does being cracked boost your strength." She stretches her shoulders and is about to pounce again, when she senses something moving nearby. Her eyes narrow and she turns, waiting for whatever it is to come. It didn't take long for the sludge to reveal itself.
"Oh come on, another monster?!"
Smoothly it begins to regain its solid form: a large, muscular character, that looked like a male human but had inhuman coloring- dark gray skin, white hair, and yellow eyes. He forms in between the little Gem and the corrupted one, and summons a large sledgehammer from the gray mineral in his chest.
"Let’s make this quick," his deep voice rumbles.
She was taken aback when the newcomer spoke.
"You.. You can talk?"
He acted and had the appearance of a Gem, yet, there was something very non-Gem about him.
She watched as the large... -whateverhewas- smacked the swampy dinosaur clean in the face with his powerful hammer. The monster takes a few steps back and shakes it's head to recover, eyes ablaze with fury.
"I really hope he's on my side..," she mutters to herself.

The newcomer grit his teeth. After a close dodge of the monster's ferocious bite, he goes for another swing, aiming for the gem on its shoulder. It connects, splintering the gem. The corrupted Gem roars in pain.
“I’d get back if I were you!” he warns, but the female-esque Gem does the opposite and rushes at the monster.
"I appreciate the help but, I'd rather you not take all the credit!" she exclaims as she sprints, leaps, and plunges her two daggers into the damaged Gem. The monster freezes, glows white, and bursts into fragments of light. The broken gem clinks on the ground, which she snatches and stuffs in a pocket. "That's what happens when you cross me..." she mumbles to it. She looks up and, ironically, sees the other creature clutching his weapon, preparing to cross her.

"Aw c'mon, can't a girl catch a break around here?"
She re-summons her daggers, but starts circling around him instead of preparing to fight. "Honestly, I'd rather talk. Who are you? You can't be a Gem.. But how else can you talk? You definitely aren't a human."

He replied bluntly, "I’m a Stone. Name’s Concrete. Now, hand over the gem."

"A 'Stone'?? 'Concrete'? That's not a kind of Gem... I'm not sure I trust your words, 'Concrete'.
Whatever use do you have for a broken Gem, anyways? Don't you know, it's 'finder's keepers'?"

"I’m gonna make sure it stays broken. Now hand it over. I’m not gonna ask again, Gem."

"Well, not to be rude but, it seems I have better use for it. So, I believe it should be mine. I admit I am rather curious about you, but if you're not gonna talk, then I'll just be on my way..."
She turns away and pounces upward into a nearby tree.

“Fine then, we'll do this the hard way."
Concrete swings his hammer at the tree, uprooting it, and in turn causing it to topple down to the ground.
"!!!" Surprised, she leaps out of the tree and into another, and another as he topples that one too. "Jeez, what's your problem?!" she says with a slight hiss, then adds with a sneer, "You are definitely not an environmentalist, dude."
He looks up at her, his expression unchanged. “That hardly means anything coming from a Homeworlder.” He then melts into his sludgy form and starts to slink up the tree towards the Gem.
"What's that supposed to mean??" she asks, intrigued for a moment.
Jumping through the trees like a cat, she was easily able to out-maneuver him. "Can't catch me!!" she teases rather playfully.
Concrete re-forms on the branch she was just on, which creeks under his weight. He growls in frustration. “Get back here!”
She starts chuckling, her laughter ringing through the silent air. It infuriates the Stone. She even manages to land on his head for a second before leaping onto another branch in front of him. She decides to hang from it upside-down.
"So, while we're just hanging around, why don't you tell me about yourself? ...Maybe.. I'll consider giving you this Gem, if you cooperate? I'm just curious."
The Stone makes to grab her, but she’s too quick. He starts to get angry, and it’s showing. “ARGH! Gimme that gem, you dingy little cat!”
"Honestly, you're only making this harder for yourself by not speaking up! I am only still here to get answers, anyways."
She also starts to get frustrated, and gives him a little flick on the head as she passes by again. Unstable on a small branch, this accidentally causes the Stone to crash to the marshy floor. The Gem jumps to the ground a few feet in front of him and sits down cross-legged while he recovers, regaining her calmness and still not showing any blatant hostility. Concrete slowly gets back to his feet, still angry, but starting to simmer down. He grabs a tree branch for balance, and it splinters in his grasp. He glares at the Gem.
“Fine. I’ll play along. Then you give me that gem. Deal?”

"Sweet! I knew you'd come around!" she exclaims.
Narrowing her eyes at him studiously, she asks, "So, what is a 'Stone', as you called yourself? You seem to have some of the characteristics of a Gem, but as far as I'm concerned, 'Concrete' is not a type of Gem."

“…You… don’t know what a Stone is?” Now he looked genuinely confused.

"Well, of course I know about stones as in, minerals- but never in the context of a race or species."

“How in the- ugh. Were you not educated in Gem history? ...Stones are, or, were the original race of Gems."
She scooches closer, resting her head on her hands, intrigued.
“Many, many centuries ago, there were the Stones, a strong species who advanced into Gems over time. And you're right- 'Concrete' isn't a Gem, or a Stone. I'm artificial."
Her pupils narrow and she tenses up, but quickly regains composure.
“In a time of 'need' for Stones, I was one of many artificially created. I was designed as a ‘shatterer’, based off the gem Jasper. That’s why I need that gem in your pocket. It might revitalize, and I can’t allow that."
She reaches for her (convenient) pocket and feels the gem inside.

"True... Cracked gems can re-form if they're not contained, but... I need this gem, at least for a little bit. Since you've told me some things about yourself I suppose it's fair that I tell you a bit about me. I.. Well, I crashed here. This planet is alright, but.. Homeworld is where I belong. I've been hunting corrupted Gem monsters and checking if any of their gems could work to power the communications on my ship. If I find one, maybe I can use it to get a signal to Homeworld and they'd come and rescue me-"

“You’re not gonna find anything, on this Gem or any others you find.”

"How do you know? I have to at least try!"

“I know what Homeworld’s like. They don’t send you here, unless they want you to stay. You’re stuck here, little Gem, whether you like it or not."

She starts to get flustered at the thought. "Excuse me? Homeworld is not like that! I wasn't even supposed to be here! I was sent on a mission to an outpost beyond this planet, but my ship malfunctioned and lost power once I got near this, this stupid mud ball! What do you know about Homeworld anyways?! You're not a Gem!"

He sighs. “…Listen. It doesn't matter what you think of Homeworld; that you believe your crashing here was an accident. It’s long gone now. The fact is, Earth is your new home now. You can accept that, or keep trying to contact them to no avail. Whatever you choose, I know one thing’s for certain; they’re not coming back for you, or me, or any other Gems they dump on this planet.”
Every fiber of the Gem's being believed that Homeworld was good, that they would never abandon any of their loyal gems on some random planet to rot. But.. this 'Stone' sounded so certain, as if he had had experience with Homeworld's supposed cruelties. It made it hard not to trust him.

He reaches over and puts a large hand on her shoulder.
“This is your life now little Gem, and you’re in charge of it. It’s as simple as that.”

She shrugs off his hand and tosses him the broken Gem. "Here. You don't have to answer anymore questions."
The dark Gem rises to her feet and crosses her arms, nearly lost in contemplative thought. She starts walking away, but turns and remarks with a weak smile, "I never really introduced myself to you. I'm Black Diamond... It was nice talking with you, Concrete."
Then she ran into the depths of the swamp until she was out of sight.
Concrete stares at the place she was last visible for a few moments, before sitting up.
“See you, Diamond.”



Much farther into the the swamp, where the environment becomes more forest-like, resides a small log cabin. Concrete emerges from the trees, hauling a sizeable pile of logs behind him, and drops them off beside the cabin. It's been a day or two since his encounter with the Gem, and although she didn't seem to mean any harm, her foolishness of trusting Homeworld irritated him. He ponders why he hadn't bothered to destroy the Homeworlder like he had originally intended. He walks back over to the tree line, and with a single swing of his hammer, uproots a tree. He prepares to strike another, when something, somewhere, catches his attention. He turns, hammer at the ready.
“Who’s there?"
In the corner of his eye he notices a shadowy figure whisk past in the trees. He tenses, and barely catches it with his eye again, this time somewhat closer. His eyes narrow and his body tenses as he waits for it to reveal itself. There's a rustling in the foliage nearby, and then...

"SNEAK ATTACK!"
A recently familiar voice shouts, startling him, and suddenly he feels something perched atop his head. Black Diamond leans over to see his face, and chuckles, "Gotcha." She jumps down from his sizable height and awaits his response. His eye twitches.
“YOU!”
Concrete grabs her before she can jump away. He holds her upside down, in front of his face. He doesn’t look happy about being followed to his woodland sanctuary.
“What are you doing here?!”

Black Diamond scrunches her face. "You're not happy to see me? Well poo, I thought at least someone living all by themselves in the middle of nowhere would enjoy some company."
Concrete is not amused. Black Diamond's face becomes more serious and she looks down towards the ground in thought. "Actually, I thought about what you said. I still don't think Homeworld abandoned me here, but, you're right, I'm stuck here and might as well get used to it- at least until they come rescue me. So, uh... I followed you."

A few seconds pass. Concrete sighs, his expression softening a bit. He turns Black Diamond back over, and puts her on the ground, kneeling to look her in the eyes.
“Listen. Diamond. It’s better if-“
She smiles satisfactorily at his calmer demeanor. "Call me Didi.. I insist."
Concrete’s visibly taken back by this, but he recovers.
“Alright, Didi. I understand if you’re lonely, but I’m not the person that should be curing that.”

She awkwardly scoffs. "Pfft, khfk, psshk, I'm not lonely. Y'know, it's just.. You're the first Gem- er, Stone, I've seen here that's not a corrupted monster, and, you seem like you've been here a while and know your way around and such. It only makes sense that us Gems-Stones-whatever stick together, right?"

He stands up, clearly not taken up by the idea.
“Believe me. Stones and Gems had their chance a long time ago. It didn’t work out, and I doubt it would now.”
He’s about to return to his work, but notices that Didi’s looking downwards, downtrodden. For whatever reasons the poor girl had been abandoned here by the home she was so foolishly loyal to, and now she was being rejected by possibly the only other of her kind on the planet. Concrete sighs again.
“But…you could help me with this, if you want.”

Didi instantly perks up at this, and although is burning with curiosity at that former remark, saves her questions for later. "Sure!" she accepts happily. "Uh, what exactly is 'this'?"

“I’m adding onto my cabin. It’s gotten a bit too small for my liking. Here.”
Concrete drops a log in front of Didi.
“You can start by smoothing the ends.”
He then begins stacking the finished logs as a wall next to the cabin.

"Yes, sir!" she exclaims and salutes playfully. A bright glow emanates from the black gem on her left hand, and from it she pulls out her two daggers. In a mere matter of seconds she hacks away at the log, smoothing the ends; and carves a few inconspicuous smiley faces and hearts into it too.
Concrete’s about to say something, but he decides against it, going back to his work with a grumble. A long silence passes between him and Didi, and she takes notice.
"Uh.. I finished this one! Are there more I should smooth out?" she asks awkwardly. He simply grunts and notions with his head to a pile of newly chopped logs nearby. She separates one from the pile and finishes that one too, and continues working, all the while noting the silence. After a while she decides to break it.  "...Soo, do you just prefer awkward silence or.. Is something wrong??"

Without looking up from what he’s doing, Concrete replies, “I don’t like Gems very much.”

She stops what she's doing and simply stares over at him curiously. After a few seconds she simply responds, "...Why not?"

Now he too stops, and pauses. Concrete sighs once more, but this time there’s a hint of sadness in it.
“It’s a long story, Didi.”

"...Oh. ..Did they, wrong you somehow?"

“..You could say that. … When were you.. what’s the term for natural Gems? 'Grown'?”

She thinks for a moment. "Uh.. I'm pretty sure... About 400 years ago?
Most Gems are first born in the ground, but my first memories are just.. In a dark empty room in the palace. So I might've existed before then, but that's when my memory starts so, I assume around 400 years ago."

“Hmmm… Well, I was created over five hundred years ago, maybe even a thousand. When I was created, artificially designed Stones were  subjugated by the Gems, and we were their labor force. That’s a nice way of saying slaves.”

"S-slaves?? ...Currently on Homeworld they do use artificial Gems for the armies, but as they're scientifically crafted, they design them without wills so they're basically robots..."

“Well we weren't robots. Before the Gems could perfect the modern artificial Gem, Stones were used as the labor force for the Homeworld monarchy. We were the roads walked on and walls leaned against. Or we used to be…"

Didi started working on her task again, although more slowly now, as their conversation went on. "'Used to be'? So, once they were finished with whatever need they had for extra hands, you were free again.. Right? I'm just.. I'm sure Homeworld wouldn't do something as drastic as this without very good reason.."

Concrete walks over to her and looks her directly in the eyes. "When we were finished with a project, if they didn’t relocate us, we were crushed, and turned into rubble.”

Didi ducks under his staggering height and intense gaze. Her face darkens. "... That's.. Awful... I never knew Homeworld had done anything horrible like that.."

Concrete turns away from her, eyes firmly closed.
“I was one of the lucky ones. The luckiest, actually. I technically don’t exist. I was sent here secretly. Only a handful of Gems know about me back on the Homeworld. But everyone else… I don’t know what happened to them.”

"Seeing as how recent Gems like me have never seen nor heard of a 'Stone' before... I have a guess.." A moment of silent assumed mourning passed, before Didi sort of regained her spark. "But uh, you can't base all Gems on mistakes our race made in the past. Us Gems aren't, well, evil or anything."

“..I know. There was one that was different. She was my friend. She wasn’t like other Gems. She would try to help us in whatever way she could."

"You're talking of her in the past tense... Why isn't she here, with you?"

“I don’t know. When I left Homeworld, I asked about her, and no one would give me a straight answer."

"Oh.."
Another awkward silence ensued, which Didi felt the need to break again. "Well, uh, look at us now; Stone and Gem, working together!" she said and smiled, trying to push away the emotional gloom around them.
Concrete looks at her, and without really showing it, he’s glad for her trying.

“You know, you remind me a bit of her when you say that.”

"Well that's good; I remind you of a close friend. We're getting somewhere," she said with a satisfied smirk. "..So uh, I finished smoothing the logs, what's next?" Concrete looked over at the now usable pile of logs, noticing the occasional smiley face and doodle on some.
“C’mere.” Concrete motioned for Didi to come over to him, so she did. “Alright, I’ll show you how to stack these to make a wall.” Concrete demonstrates for her the proper method. “When you’re done with that, we can start making a bed for you.”
Her head snaps up to look at him with surprise. "A bed?? So, you're saying I can stay?"
He sighs once more. “Yeah, you can stay.”
She bounces into the air happily. "Yes! I don't have to be alone until I become a crazy old hermit on this wild planet!" She smirks. "I knew you'd change your mind." Didi then turns and gets to work stacking the heavy logs. Concrete shakes his head and mumbles, "I'm going to regret this later, aren't I?"

---

And this children is the story of how Concrete regretted this later.

This short story was a roleplay Kris and I did that I cleaned up for a story, and it's hecka olllddddd. I took forever to draw the cover picture >3>. I'm proud of the finished product though! Finally some development of these characters (and backstorryyy). Hope you all enjoy!

Concrete belongs to KrisAlmighty, Didi belongs to me, art by me, and the story was basically a collaboration between Kris and I.