As Sard took a big gulp of his cola, as he listened to Mel explain herself. Made sense. Frankly, he didn't have much of an idea what human cuisine was anyways. He just liked their fizzy drinks. He did kinda wonder what humanity ate, but at the same time didn't care enough to ask or do any research.

Just then a fuming Obsidian busted through the door to the foyer, and stomped out the door onto the beach. Mel didn't acknowledge him, instead focusing on the commotion that Sard had been at least partly responsible for in the Burning Room. Yeah, whoops, they did kinda have a mission to attend to... Still though, a race did sound kinda fun. "Yeah, I'll race. As long as you're fine with losing, I mean." Sard joked. "I'll go get the Obsidian. Mind taking care of the people in the Burning Room? Forewarning, it's getting all mushy 'violence is wrong' speech-y in there."

With that, Sard waved goodbye to Mel and hopped out onto the patio. He took in the surf and sand, breathing deeply to really get the full experience of outside. This was why he switched sides. That, and there was only one worthwhile person in the entire HomeWorld military, excluding himself, of course. He couldn't wait to get in the forest, and see some of the lush greens. With a grunt, he hit the sand, and quickly took off his shoes to feel the little grains between his feet. With a smile, he walked up to Obsidian.

"Hey, Obsidian, me and Melanite were gonna have a little race to see who can get to Pearl first. Wanna come?" Sard asked.

After ensuring Halite was no longer a danger to herself or the other gems, Citrine ceased emitting her calming aura. She was a bit wary of the salt-based warrior, considering his unusually hot temper for a head-based gem, but she did feel he deserved the benefit of the doubt. After all, she herself was not initially a friend to the cause of the Crystal Gems: That part of her past was... Unpleasant to think about, but it was certainly very important. Perhaps Halite was simply lost and confused, as many gems were wont to be. As she reached the screen door of the humble beach abode, she overheard Melanite speaking to Sard about Halite's... Tantrum. Her words, though possibly true, left a bit of a sore feeling in Citrine's heart. She wasn't big on the idea of hostilities erupting this early in their reawakening, and decided to speak up.

"Perhaps that... Brute, was wrong to act as he did, but you can't expect everyone to react to new situations the same way. He felt scared and threatened. He wasn't acting out of malice, he was trying to protect himself. And I'm not sure that situation was made better by the immediate jump to threats of violence. I don't mean to imply you're in the wrong..." Citrine had difficulty choosing her next words carefully, "But I don't think you should put all the blame on him."

Melanite had been hoping Sard would let her have this task. While he was talking to Obsidian outside, Melanite opened the door to the burning room back up, seeing that a few gems were still in there, including the colossal Halite. There was evidence of combat everywhere, but Melanite didn't care enough to try and figure out what exactly had happened. Besides, she only stuck her head in for a brief second to announce the race.

"HEY JOKERS!" Melanite yelled carelessly into the burning room, "We're racing to Pearl! Last one there gets left behind!" An empty threat in Melanite's heart, but she hoped it would be enough to motivate the other gems to get a move on.

Immediately Melanite bolted in the other direction, flying back through the house and outside to the patio, where Sard and Obsidian were. "No need to wait any longer, let's get going, hee hee!" Melanite said, and she took off into the air and started flying full speed towards Empire City, though her top speed was roughly the same as an average human running, even when sailing through the air.

"No. I wouldn't. That's why I didn't try to hurt you, Citrine, or the one who healed me. The others... they gave me orders. They told me how to feel. They brandished weapons. I got angry. I... just kept getting angrier."

It seemed like Halite was... apathetic about his outburst. At least he wasn't entering another spiral of fury, wherein those around him continually threatened him for being angry and scared. That seemed to end poorly.

"I...I see..." Amber replied, remembering distinctly that Halite had attacked Citrine first, but maybe to him, that one didn't count. Amber stepped out from behind Citrine, feeling that if she showed that she was afraid of Halite, it might make him trust her less. If she showed she trusted him, maybe he could trust her back. "I-if..." Amber started, looking over at Steven and Garnet, hoping that she wasn't over-stepping her authority, "If you don't want to be ordered around...if you don't want to fight, maybe you can just stay here for the time being. You won't have to take any orders, you won't have to fight..."