No party like an pope party??

[archboxer]

[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.]

Comments

[hardnosed]

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?

[lovelikeyou]

[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!

[hardnosed]

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

—What are you talking about?

[lovelikeyou]

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.

[hardnosed]

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.

[lovelikeyou]

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.

[hardnosed]

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.

[lovelikeyou]

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.]

[hardnosed]

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?

[lovelikeyou]

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!

[hardnosed]

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

[lovelikeyou]

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.

[hardnosed]

Ugh — that's not what you chose! [ she's... so loud... ] Maybe it's what you thought you were doing—

[ Jasper bristles like an angry cat, pointing one finger at Rose. She's been doing this the whole time, to be fair, but this is a new wave of bristling. ]

—but now you know better. You destroyed them both. And I'm done here.

[ And, unless Rose stops her or says something which gets her to start yelling again (incredibly easy to accomplish), she's going to turn on her heel and walk away. ]