Edit 2: I still feel like I'm getting the same comments over and over again. I'll try to reply to you guys with a counter-argument sooner or later, but I have other things to do and so far I've spent most of my day trying to keep up with comments. I'm going to step aside for some time. If you have doubts, please read the whole post and check the comments for someone with the same doubts that I already answered before commenting and I'll try to get to you tomorrow or whenever things calm down. My buddy, GBGdev, was nice enough to comment with the explanation to most of the comments I've been getting.

Edit: OMG THE FEATURE! YAS!! THANK YOU PEOPLE!! However, I've been replying to dozens of the same comments, most regarding things I talked about in the post, so I ask you to please read all the way through before you comment so I don't feel like I have to repeat myself 100 time a minute.

Highray, you've completely lost it. This is your farthest-fetched theory yet, and you were the idiot who tried to describe the Ruby squads relationships with each other from basically nothing. Well, hear me out. It think I might be onto something, but I thing that manipulatively adorable Ruby, Navy, might just be one of the gems that make up Rhodonite.

Appearance

Gem Placement

First things first is gem location. Rhodonite has two gems on her: a cabochon on her chest, which is a Pearl, and a square faceted gem on her navel, which is a Ruby. Now wait a moment, a Ruby with her gem on her naval? Now that seems familiar. Where have we seen that before?

Color

Her color seems to fit as well. If you look at a group shot of the squad, Navy is a slightly more purplish color than the other Rubies except for maybe Leggy, but Leggy is a rather dark color that is rather bright. Navy's pale, dull, purplish color seems like just the right color in order to become Rhodonite.

Eyes

Rhodonite has two sets of eyes: a primary pair of Ruby-ish eyes and a pair of Pearl-ish eyes squished underneath them (in a Rainbow Quartz type fashion). But wait, Rhodonite's 'Ruby' eyes often have this shine in them, while Rubies almost always have dark, flat eyes. Oh, wait a minute, Navy has that same doe-eyed look in her eyes a fair amount of the time. It looks like we might have got our Ruby half of Rhodonite.

Personality

Temperament

For this, let's compare Rhodonite to Garnet, another two-gem Ruby fusion. The Ruby that is half of Garnet, our Ruby, is probably about the average temperament for a Ruby: feisty and somewhat aggressive. This shows through in Garnet, as Garnet has a bit of a temper herself, which couldn't possibly be from the ultra mellow Sapphire. Because of this, we can assume that two-gem fusions involving Rubies still retain a somewhat Ruby-ish attitude...that is except for Rhodonite. She has a Pearl-esque level or paranoia and fear, but there is no aggression at all. She never got mad. This makes it seem like she is made up of the only Ruby unable to get mad: Navy. It works, since Navy doesn't have a normal Ruby's temperament. Even after she snapped, she was rather still calm while just about any other Ruby would have unleashed hell's fury on poor Steven in that situation. The only other Ruby to seem this non-aggressive was Leggy, but Leggy is young and insecure and would probably become more aggressive as she becomes more confident.

Another thing is that the two both had moment where they seemed loving and friendly while they actually don't care and are only thinking of self preservation. Of course we all remember Room for Ruby, so I'm not going to go into detail there, but for Rhodonite that moment was at the end of 'Lars' Head'. She was so happy to leave for Earth and saw nothing wrong with ditching Lars. The Rutile twins had to stop her from leaving. In the same way Navy didn't care about Steven, Peridot, and Lapis, Rhodonite doesn't care about Lars. They have the same friendly demeanor with a lack of empathy.

Tone of Voice

Rhodonite a a somewhat shrill, yet still soft tone of voice. The shrillness is likely a Pearl trait, but the brand of softness seeps reminiscent of Navy. She doesn't have the accusing, aggressive tone that you might expect from a fusion that is half Ruby.

Circumstance

Location

We have no idea where Navy is except that she flew away from Earth. We haven't heard from her or seen her since 'Room for Ruby'. Eyeball could have easily been picked up by a gem ship that happened to be in the area, Doc, Army, and Leggy are still nowhere to be seen, so there isn't even evidence that Navy retrieved them. She also had no influence on Topaz and Aquamarine being sent since they were sent based on Peridot's old report. We can also assume that she didn't get lost since she knows how to fly the Roaming Eye. For all we know, she could have gone right back to Homeworld to look for her Pearl partner quietly only to find said Pearl hiding with the off-colors to avoid being shattered for fusing. It would also mean that the Pearl would have been there longer and given Rhodonite a jump-start on getting to know her new comrades, but also meaning that Rhodonite herself is new to the group.

Time

'But Highray, Rhodonite has been hiding her whole life!' Not necessarily. Lars assumed that. She never said when the Morganite caught them. We have no actual timeline for her. It could have easily been that she is new to the group and knew the other off-colors by listening to them tell their stories, that Rhodonite fused in secret until said Morganite separated them and Navy was sent with the Platoon. We don't know what role Morganites play in gem society, but it seems likely that they're elites that are in charge of managing Rubies. In other words, the Pearl might have belonged to the Morganite and the Morganite would have been Navy's superior. Now, it could still be that the Ruby was the Morganite's guard, but we just don't know at this point and it's an interesting thought. Anyways, what I'm saying is that just maybe the two were separated when they got caught, they were separated and Rhodonite joined the off-colors after Navy returned. Fluorite did say that they've been hiding in those tunnels for eons, but "we" could have easily referred to herself, Padparadscha, and the Rutile twins, excluding Rhodonite, or could have included her Pearl half. In addition to the other scenarios I mentioned, another might be that Navy worked for the Morganite and was fired for fusing, but spared because she only fused with a Pearl and not an elite gem. The Pearl would have gone into hiding, while Navy was given another chance as they may have struggled to find available Rubies for Jasper's search party. It would make sense that the group was hastily scraped together because, no offense to the squad, but they aren't exactly star players, if you know what I mean.

Motivation

'Highray, Rhodonite didn't know Steven. If Navy was part of her, wouldn't Steven at least have been familiar to her?" There is a simple explanation: Navy is a manipulative liar. We've already seen how good a deception Navy really is, and Pearl proved that you can lie to and deceive your fusion partner. It's entirely possible that the Navy part of Rhodonite did recognize Steven, but kept it secret from him to avoid confrontation (nothing more awkward that encountering someone you tried to kill) and played dumb internally so that the Pearl wouldn't suspect anything. 'But Rhodonite thought the Earth was destroyed.' Same as the first argument. Navy is deceptive, letting people know the earth is fine would seem suspicious, so Navy would lie let them think it was destroyed, even the Pearl she's fused with.

So, that's all I have to say about that for now. I'll probably add things as they come to me, and I'd love if someone can try to find me concrete evidence that Rhodonite is not Navy that I can't argue, but please be respectful as I know how ridiculous and far-fetched it sounds. It was just something that was floating around in my mind and a friend of mine was having similar thoughts, so I felt I should write it out and share it to see what people think.

#curatorreview

#rubyprotectionsquad