"Rose Quartz."

He blurted it out without thought, aside from making sure that Spinel didn't know his mother, Rose Quartz, was Pink Diamond. So it wasn't a lie, and it wasn't exactly the truth either.

Spinel nodded softly, looking down at the gem on her chest.

"She was from Pink's court?" She asked, just as Steven yanked a knot from her hair.

"Oh, sorry...yeah, she was." He softened his grip a little and brushed lighter.

"Did she ever meet her?" Spinel's questions grew ever more disconcerting but Steven knew well enough that she was merely intrigued by the notion of his mother being close to well, herself. She was Pink's friend after all.

"Yeah." Steven shifted his position, feeling his apprehension grow the more he thought about the hole he was digging.
Spinel on the other hand seemed none the wiser to his discomfort. She left out a soft sigh.

"Pink and I used to play in the garden." She replied softly, her hands clasped together at the vibrant memory.

"The Diamonds gave her Earth to start a colony..I was so excited."
Spinel's voice fell quiet for a moment.

"Then I lost her game."

Steven set down his brush and dropped Spinel's hair, causing the gem to turn around in mild confusion.
He was angry. So ridiculously furious that his mother let go of someone like that.
A game?
Was that it?
A stupid game that she concocted to convince Spinel to stand in one place for thousands of years?

"You're not mad?"

The questioned burned hot in her ears. Was she? Her eyes flickered down to her hands and the lighter shade of pink on her palms. It was a really long time.
But Pink had left her alone there before, so it was just like all the other times, except she wasn't supposed to leave. She wasn't mad.
She couldn't be mad at Pink, Pink was kind and sweet and funny and her best friend and even though she lost the game Pink would be happy to play with her again, surely.

"No."

It's there again. Pounding in her gem, hard enough that she swore it would crack her.

"No, I'm not mad. I lost the game anyways, when Pink comes to check on her colony she'll be too happy to care." Spinel smiled through it, it didn't hurt. She didn't hurt.

It was a lie.