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

[lovelikeyou]

I...don't know what it was exactly. I'd never even heard of anything like it. It must have been the Diamonds themselves. They used some sort of power - it was like a flash of light.

[She knows it was the three of them. How could she not? She saw them do it, and she should have known better than to think they'd ever just let her have anything.]

It twisted every Gem on Earth. Their minds, and their bodies...they're not themselves anymore. They're like giant, wounded animals, lashing out at everything around them. I was able to protect myself, Garnet, and Pearl with my shield, but we were the only ones left.

[mouflon]

Why?! They were retreating, weren't they? They didn't even come back after that? What's the point of doing something like that — "if we can't have it, no one can"?!

[lovelikeyou]

That's exactly what it was. That was five thousand years ago, they haven't been back since. If they still wanted it, they would have landed again as soon as the attack was over.

[With Homeworld's resources, the corrupted Gems wouldn't pose any more threat to them than Earth's native life had. It would have been easy; they just did it out of spite.]

Jasper says they also left behind some kind of...thing in the planet's core to destroy it. Because I guess none of the rest of it was enough.

[mouflon]

[ Hurting so many people, even those still loyal to them, just out of spite— Even just hearing it secondhand, about a conflict on an Earth she's never seen, makes Rin furious. She grits out a sharp noise between her teeth. ]

It's because you won. If they do that, they get the last word, so they can rewrite it in their history as a great triumph over a traitor.

But, if it's been that long... Do you think the thing they left behind is inert, or what?

[lovelikeyou]

It's...it's shards. Gem shards, forcibly fused together.

[Rose seems deeply disturbed, holding her arms about herself as she describes it. She wishes she could believe Jasper was lying, but...Jasper isn't one to weave elaborate stories like that. You can tell that from one meeting.]

I can't even imagine. Whatever their minds are like now, forced together like that...of course it would take them a long time to form.

[mouflon]

[ There isn't an easy point of reference for Rin to understand, here, but even so, Rose's horror is palpable. It's enough that hearing her speak gives Rin the chills, too. ]

So, it's like... No, it'd be wrong to compare them to Frankenstein's monster. Since it isn't pieces of a body, but their minds...

[lovelikeyou]

It would probably be like that too, if they ever managed to make a physical form...

[look it's just nightmares all over]

[mouflon]

[ hm! sounds bad! ]

So why would they do — that? I get that they would want to have the last word, but it sounds like they should have had plenty of other options at their disposal...

[ Faster, less horrific ones, mainly. ]

[lovelikeyou]

I don't know. They did. There are a thousand other ways they could have destroyed the planet.

[Those would have all taken more time and effort and continued the war, in a sense, but after the corruption? What would have stopped them?]

Jasper says it's meant to be a weapon. I don't know how that's supposed to work. [She can't imagine a being like that having it together enough to act as a soldier, and certainly not for the people who did all that to them.]

[mouflon]

If it's — alive, then... Maybe they intend to just drop it on worlds and leave it alone.

[ And it must be really horrible, if that's the case, but... Apparently it's enough to destroy the earth by itself, so? ]

[lovelikeyou]

...maybe. I don't know what else there would be.

[mouflon]

Your guess is better than mine, obviously. But that's the only thing that comes to mind, with what you described.