unknownseas | No party like an pope party??

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week 2

No party like an pope party??

[That... that was a thing for everyone. There should be no celebration for Lif but, well, even if Rhea has a very cynical view of such things it's probably for the best that everyone stays together. Her first stop is the cafeteria, after all nothing better to keep people in one spot than free food. There she bumps into Mira, leaving the snacks to her Rhea ends up writing notes to everyone to come to the cafeteria in a few hours.

Some she hands personally and if she can't find someone she slid it under their door. Rin's she slides into her room regardless.

Fortunately, you won't hear a sermon.]

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[the doorframes really are tiny, huh]

If I really wanted to avoid you, I wouldn't have come here. [she says, like someone who wasn't just hoping to avoid Jasper at the party] What do you want, Jasper?

You know what I want.

[ This is deeply and demonstrably untrue, but she continues with no real time for objections to be made. ]

We're going to talk. It doesn't have to be now. It's not gonna be here. But if you care about that rock half as much as you act like you do, you'll want to hear what I have to say.

[Rose...doesn't want to do this.

She's never really wanted any of the things she gets, but direct arguments like this bodes to be have never gone well for her. It's all just laughter and dismissal, or...raised voices. But she can't just let it hang over her head, either.

She stands.]

Let's step outside.

[ If Jasper were to be honest with herself, which she absolutely will not, she's not even sure what she's going for here. It's completely out of line with the mission, but so is everything else she's been doing since she saw that shield on the beach. She hasn't thought about her objectives, about the Cluster, in months, and she doesn't care about them now for the same reason. Forcing Rose to acknowledge her is its own reward. It feels like accomplishment. It feels like she's doing something that isn't spinning her wheels aimlessly at the bottom of the ocean. ]

Fine by me.

[ Without looking back, she heads for the door and ducks through it with her customary scowl. When Rose exits, she'll be waiting outside, her arms crossed. ]

Where are we gonna do this, Rose?

[Rose is visibly not thrilled to be doing this right now. Jasper...well, Jasper's nothing she isn't familiar with, in a general sense. Nearly every Homeworld soldier she's ever fought has spat at her about her treachery. She's used to that much. But all the strange things Jasper says about knowing her...she doesn't like not knowing what others know. She's figured out since their first conversation that some sort of time travel seems to be at play, but half of it still sounds beyond belief.]

Let's go down there.

[She nods towards one of the tunnels - mostly, she just knows Jasper can get loud and wants to avoid upsetting the party if she can.]

[ She somehow manages to make obliging with this direction look overtly aggressive, because where there's a will Jasper finds a way. It's all in the weight you put in the footfalls! When she's about halfway through the tunnel, she turns around, her eyes narrowed. ]

What year is it on Earth? [ She's quick to clarify: ] Not whatever the humans are saying. How long has it been since we left?

Around five thousand years, now.

[She thinks about it for a moment, before amending that with the exact number. Whatever that is. I don't fuckin know.]

And for you?

You've got about fifteen years.

[ Or whatever the timespan between Greg the Babysitter and The Return is, who even fuckin knows, spoiler alert it's neither of us!! There's a weird, almost smug significance in the way she says it, as if she's referencing more than a time gap. ]

[Time is fake.]

Until what?

Your pet runt isn't the only thing Homeworld left in the ground.

The Cluster. You mentioned it earlier.

["Your precious Earth wouldn't be incubating the Cluster." Rose doesn't want to think about it, but...that's what she said.]

What is it?

A massive artificial fusion made of Gem shards.

[ The Era 2 Peridot assigned to the mission would be able to explain it much better, but honestly, Peridot's probably a pile of shards in a hole right now. ]

Once you made Earth incompatible with colonization, the Diamonds decided to use it for something else — a weapon. It's been there, at the center of the planet, for five thousand years.

[meanwhile: peridot sings a happy song about earth!

here and now, Rose covers her mouth in horror, eyes welling with tears. They...how could they have done that? How could she not have known? But then, of course they never would have told her; she would have just gotten emotional. Just another reason they were probably relieved she was gone - so they could destroy her planet without having to deal with her.]

You - how could you possibly still support them if you knew about something like that?

I learned about it because of the mission.

[ Which isn't to say it's top secret or anything — just that, no matter how much real estate Earth takes up in Jasper's mind, staying on top of the various atrocities committed within its core has nothing to do with her day to day responsibilities.

It's also not a defense of herself, but that goes without saying. She sees nothing to defend. ]

Don't act so naive! You ended an era — did you seriously think they were going to hand you your pet planet and just leave?

[I mean yes that basically is what she thought - ]

Wasn't the Corruption enough for them? I'm sure they all think I'm some mindless monster like everyone else - there's no reason to destroy the planet, too!

[ She opens her mouth to say something else entirely, but then processes— ]

—What are you talking about?

They didn't tell you.

[It's not really a question. They tend not to tell people things, even if those people think they're on big important missions and know eeeeverything about the Earth - or like, theoretically own the Earth or something.]

When they left Earth, the Diamonds launched one last attack on every Gem on the surface. Crystal Gem, Homeworld soldier...it didn't matter to them. [They could have gotten all their own people off the planet if they really wanted. Plenty did retreat in time, but Rose knows perfectly well that a great many did not. There were a fair number of Crystal Gems in the end, but there's so many more monsters.] It twisted their minds and their forms. They're not themselves anymore.

What?

[ When Era 3 is in swing, with time to understand and process the reality of what corruption is and who Pink was, she'll shrug it all off. She'll act like caring about what happened is incomprehensible, as if there was never a version of herself who scrambled back to Homeworld with the rest of them, confused and furious at her retreat, hyperaware of her own failure.

She doesn't have that distance here. She's just shocked by Rose's statement, and then the recoil begins. ]

You're lying to me. It's all you Crystal Gems know how to do.

You can believe whatever you want. I'm sure you'll see them eventually, if you spend time on Earth.

[Where she must have been, if she's met Rose (somehow fusing with a human??) and Amethyst.]

The Diamonds don't care about other Gems. They never have, and they never will.

It's not their duty to care about us!

[ She's really just saying the quiet part out loud now. ]

I've seen those mindless beasts. It doesn't mean I trust you.

It is their duty. They made us. Why should they demand love they won't give?

[Even when they acted like they loved her, or said so, they never did. She was just a toy; entertaining sometimes, something to be hurt and thrown away when she wasn't. And she knows she has no right to complain when she had it so much better than any other Gem.]

Because they made us! They gave us a reason to exist! They salvaged us after your treachery meant they could have shattered us all, and no one would have thought twice about it!

[ nah Jasper that's just you and the other Quartzes on zoo duty ]

Why wasn't that enough for you? Why did you decide we needed more?

They made us to be their belongings! Nobody deserves to be treated that way! We're people, Jasper, our own people with our own thoughts and feelings and dreams! And they would shatter any of us like we meant nothing!

And you just couldn't wait to do the same thing to one of them.

She left me no choice. If I had to choose between her life, and the lives of everyone and everything on Earth, I'd do the same thing again.

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hardnosed - 2020-05-09 14:54 (UTC) - Expand

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