What I want to hear on nights I can't sleep is your voice

[philoxenia]

[ ... Well, that was an absolute shitshow, wasn't it? Instead of dwelling on how she feels about everything that just happened, Mira's channeling that energy into something else--and she has a little bit of help doing it. Zerinda and Ema are here in the bar to make drinks, and Mira's brought in a ton of food that's definitely not healthy for anyone, but screw it, who cares about health right now?

Della's here to pass out invitations, too--they let everyone know there's a gathering in the bar, if they'd rather not be alone.

If you choose not to come, well... Mira's got that taken care of, too. She'll place a little container of cookies and hot cocoa outside your door. Maybe it'll help someone feel a little less alone--at least, that's what she's hoping. ]

Comments

[archboxer]

[You know what? She didn't expect these kind of questions from Jasper. Jasper might hate it but she's impressed.]

So she was the progenitor there. No, there would be no need for a goddess if you could see and understand your creator.

[She takes this in and nods. It's a bit rough but she understands. They were Pink Diamond's followers so of course that meant she was in charge.]

My church was created so that the continent would at least, partly, be ruled once more by a Nabataen until I could restore her. Comparing Sothis to Pink Diamond would not be incorrect. Fodlan, by all rights, is hers. Once she returns she will once again rule.

[hardnosed]

[ So she wasn't just bluffing to hurt Zelos at the trial...

She wonders, knowing that she couldn't comprehend the answer if she asked, how thousands of years later Rhea's mother could be brought back. She feels a different kind of negative emotion tinging her preexisting anger, the emotion that's served as Jasper's baseline practically as long as she's been alive. ]

You're lucky it's possible.

[ Jealousy. Maybe that's why she keeps talking. ]

Gems don't really die — not the way organic life does. Even when one is shattered, her shards keep some kind of twisted consciousness. But once a gemstone's been broken beyond repair, there's nothing anyone can do to restore it.

Even when we thought that Rose and her followers had been destroyed, for five thousand years... it wasn't enough. No punishment can replace what's been lost.

[archboxer]

[She wasn't lying that she was closer than she had been in all those years.

What she was bluffing was that Seteth had told her it was going to fail once more. That maybe she should give up this business. Rhea's reaction to this is... shame at the jealousy.

Even if reviving Sothis was theoretically possible it was so incredibly unlikely. Her shoulders slump.]

I had not realized... that is truly unforgivable. It was not even a foreign force. It was rebellion. A Gem against Gem conflict.

[Ugh. She had liked Rose, too.]

[hardnosed]

... Anyway. That’s what I meant before. It’s never enough to just — stand back, and let it be taken care of.

[ Not when you were made to make things right. Not when you were the only one good enough to really make it out. ]

Is his daughter not a full Nabatean? You said you were the only one.

[archboxer]

No; Flayn is not. Her mother was human.

[Seteth liked humans more than she ever had.]

This was, of course, before the conflict.

[hardnosed]

You really are organic, then.

[ It... it at least sounds less pointed than it was when she was asking her about it at the trial? But hey, a hybrid! What a crazy concept, which she absolutely hasn't had right in front of her face for months on months and ignored completely in favor of pursuing a 5,000 year old grudge! ]

... Thanks.

[archboxer]

Yes.

[...She's still unsure what counts as 'organic' and 'not' but okay. Gems are weird and, well.]

...You are welcome? [For what.]

[hardnosed]

For listening.

[ Regardless of any brackets, she gets the unspoken question there! And it sounds like it is physically uncomfortable for her to clarify, which makes sense given everything about Jasper and the identity she's spent a month projecting, but she's doing it. ]

You didn't have to. And I — wouldn't be listening, if it were me. So.

[archboxer]

[She... understands. It's hard to speak about your problems but everyone has issues. She's listened to many confessions in her life. She tries to think about the best way to handle this.]

Our fates are similar. I could not help but listen. [She can't say she understands because she feels that Jasper would take that as an insult.]