I have died every day waiting for you

[lovelikeyou]

[That was, in Rose's opinion, even worse than last week. Any loss of life is an awful waste, but for it all to come of some horrible accident...

This week, she doesn't retreat back to her room. She knows now that the people here, or at least enough of them, like to gather after these experiences. Many of the Crystal Gems were the same way; she remembers their post-battle huddles well. It's not a party, really, but...it's good to be together. To have friends around. Maybe, to remember those who were lost.

So this time, she'll go to the cafeteria herself and request some food for everyone. It's just basic snacks, the kind of human food she knows well enough to ask for. There's some hot chocolate provided, too. She definitely knows people enjoy that. It doesn't take too long, since she isn't making most of it, and then she goes to invite everybody she can find.

She doesn't slip any notes underneath doors, for the people she doesn't happen across. Some Crystal Gems didn't join the groups, or maybe did after one battle but not another. Sometimes they wanted to be alone. She never really understood that...but it wasn't her place to tell them otherwise. Weren't they all about freedom?

Everybody probably knows something like this is going to happen again, anyway. It's their choice to come.]

Comments

[philoxenia]

Of course. We can help each other.

[ It gives her something to do, at least. ]

... I really appreciate it, Zerinda. Thank you.

[bogwife]

I'm happy to help, Mira. [She slips behind her, picks up the dusty pink dye to crack it open and cracks open the jar.]

You want to know the nice thing about these? I made them specifically for my hair color so you won't even have to worry about trying to wrestle with doing terrible things to it to get a good color.

[philoxenia]

That's amazing.

[ Thank god she doesn't have to mess with bleach. ]

In my world, when you want to dye darker hair--like ours--you have to apply chemicals first.

[bogwife]

Really? [She shoves one hand into the goopy dye and begins methodically applying it to Mira's hair. This is nice, it's familiar, it's grounding.] I tried doing that with lemon juice and sitting out in the sun for hours on end when I was fourteen. The best I managed were some blonde adjacent roots and a terrible texture for weeks after.

[philoxenia]

Really.

[ Mira stays still, closing her eyes. It's nice, to shut her brain off--not think about what happened. ]

It's why I've never bothered. Lemon juice seems much less dangerous, but I can't imagine it was pleasant.

[bogwife]

It was enough that I didn't try it again. [Mira can probably hear a bit of a smile in her voice.] I didn't start experimenting with doing other terrible things to my hair for a few more years.

Yours is beautiful though, Mira. An absolute dream to work on.

[philoxenia]

[ She lets out a little noise, close to a quiet laugh. ]

I... certainly couldn't do that. I'd be too afraid to. [ But she blushes a little at the compliment. ] Is it? I don't really do anything special to it.

[bogwife]

You should sometime, it's fun. The nice thing about it is no matter what you do it'll always grow back. [Zaza, some people don't go for weeks on end without seeing other people.]

Mmhmm, it's so healthy and soft. The dye is taking to it already.