Rhodonite

"Oh, thank goodness. I hope you weren't followed. You weren't, right? You double-checked?... You've been followed!"

Rhodonite is the unaligned fusion of an unknown Ruby and Pearl who made her debut in "Off Colors". She currently resides in an abandoned Kindergarten facility on the Gem Homeworld amongst other defective or abnormal Gems known as the Off Colors. Her components once belonged to a Morganite, but were replaced after it was discovered that they enjoyed fusion.

Appearance
Rhodonite has a somewhat muscular build that resembles Garnet's, with reddish skin and a long pointed nose that is slightly turned upward. She has wide, black, afro-style hair with mauve highlights. As a fusion, Rhodonite has four arms, a pair of which are thick and muscular, like a Ruby's, and a pair on her waist that is thin, like a Pearl's. She wears a black and mauve jumpsuit with a diamond-shaped cutout at the navel, revealing her Ruby gem, and mauve leggings, with one leg that covers her entire right leg and the other only covering part of her left thigh. She has a black ballet flat on her right foot and a mauve boot on her left. She also wears a sheer pink shawl over the Pearl gem on her chest and has deep burgundy gloves from the elbow-down on her lower set of arms. She also possesses four eyes that are reminiscent of Rainbow Quartz, with the top pair being wide and expressive like a Pearl's but having dark pupils like a Ruby, and the bottom pair being more closed and reserved and having light-colored pupils like a Pearl (also resembling Rose's eyes on Rainbow Quartz).

Her outfit and hair design, looking like a mash-up of her constituent Gems' appearances rather than an even mix, are reminiscent of how Garnet looked when she first formed.

Personality
Rhodonite is shown to stress out a lot, and she is easily frightened. She is also extremely paranoid, possibly due to the eons spent hiding inside the underground Kindergarten on Homeworld. However, Rhodonite is also very kind and can be level headed at times.

Her panic and ansiousness gets in her way of her job as head of strategic operation in the Off Colours, as she'll more often than not discard options for being too risky. However, one can argue that this also has a silver lining, keeping a defensive look over the team.

"Off Colors"
As the Rutile Twins were taking Steven and Lars to an underground Kindergarten, Rhodonite appears along with Padparadscha and Fluorite. When explaining how she is "off colored" to Steven and Lars, she reveals she once belonged to a Gem called Morganite.

"Lars' Head"
She witnesses Lars' transformation and aids in the Kindergarten's isolation. She is shocked when learning that Earth still exists and has not been decimated. She takes interest in traveling to Earth with Steven and Lars. She ends up staying at the Kindergarten with Lars and the other Off Colors in order to help Lars find a way to exit Homeworld.

"Lars of the Stars"
Rhodonite, along with the rest of the Off Colors and led by Lars Barriga, escape the Homeworld Kindergarten and go on the run. They steal an Emerald's personal shuttle before crashing it on the planet Upsilon-9, travel to various planets, 'impersonate Imperial officers during a public jubilee', and later sneak past sixty-seven elite Citrine guards to steal Emerald's fastest ship (the "Sun Incinerator") from a docking bay on the planet Clavia-7. While Emerald contacts them through the ship, Rhodonite (now the 'head of strategic operations' under 'Captain Lars') informs Lars that everything is clear up ahead. After Emerald threatens them, Lars has the Rutile Twins pilot the ship into taking off in hyper-speed. Away from Emerald, she meets Connie and fills in Steven on Lars' shenanigans, along with the rest of the crew. However, she quickly detects a battleship coming their way, Emerald's Imperial warfare, and tries to get Captain Lars' imput, however he's distracted, and due to her nervousness, is unable to make a decision, until Lars intervienes and commands her to lower the ship's shields, which she does, relunctantly. This prooves to be successful, as Emerald is too attached to the Sun Incinerator to attack it, and moves her line of attack onto its Nova Thrusters, to incapacitate the ship. This leaves the Off Colours the single solution of using the Star Skipper, Lars' personal shuttle, for attack, which Rhodonite advices against. Nonetheless, Stevonnie ends up commanding the shuttle, fueling one more of Rhodonite's panics. }}

Abilities
Rhodonite possesses standard Gem abilities and traits.

Steven Universe
Rhodonite seems curious of Steven, then befriends him. She often somewhat blames Steven for the Gem-shattering Robonoids that are looking for Steven and Lars.

Lars Barriga
Rhodonite at first doesn't trust Lars, but after saving her from the Shattering Robonoids, she begins to like him. She is also very curious of him after Steven revived Lars in "Lars' Head". When Lars offered to send her to Earth she acts awkwardly and goes for it only to be stopped by Fluorite and the Rutile Twins, who looked at her with slight disappointment.

Padparadscha
Rhodonite seems to have a parental relationship with Padparadscha, due to Padparadscha's absent-minded nature. Rhodonite may be slightly annoyed by Padparadscha's late predictions.

Fluorite
Rhodonite treats Fluorite like a mother. Rhodonite is respectful of Fluorite's actions and is very accepting (although occasionally impatient) of aspects like her slow speech.

Rutile Twins
Rhodonite and the Rutile Twins did not interact much yet, but from what was seen, they seem to have at least a mutual respect for each other.

Morganite
Rhodonite (and her components) used to work for a Morganite until she caught them fusing and replaced them.

Trivia

 * Due to her appearance looking similar to that of how Garnet looked when Ruby and Sapphire first fused, it is possible that Rhodonite has not unfused often since her first formation.

Gemology


Gemstone Information


 * The name Rhodonite comes from the Greek word "Rhodos", meaning "rose-colored".
 * It commonly has black veins of manganese oxide, especially in larger specimens.
 * Rhodonite is a manganese silicate and forms in the triclinic crystal system. It occurs in both a crystallized and massive, fine-grained form.
 * It contains significant amounts of iron, magnesium, and calcium.
 * It is deep pink to red and opaque, with dark veins of manganese lending some patterning. This crystal is usually used as a semi-precious ornament, or as a minor ore of manganese.
 * It is believed to help express confidence and lovingness.
 * This gem is often confused with Rhodochrosite and the rare mineral Pyroxmangite.
 * Rhodonite is usually found in Russia, Sweden, and Australia.

Gemstones
Rhodonite Rhodonite