WEEK 5

[bathymetric]

That's three murders now - and this last trial got more than slightly out of hand. It looks like you might be in for another tough week... or at least, maybe that's just the refusal of this place to change too much. You lose Saturday again, but maybe six-day weeks are starting to feel normal by now. Who knows? The cycle of day and night continues apace, changing so little.

Speaking of change, though, there's a new area to look through, the biggest and most complex yet. And the end of one wing of the facility, from the looks of it - though you can probably guess where more areas might start to open up.

And speaking of opening up (segues!), this week if you're out particularly late, you might sometimes see Angel out and about! So hey, maybe change is on the horizon.

Just gotta hope it's a change for the better, don't you?



SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to Week 5! Remember to turn in AC here, threads for regain coins here, and if you feel so inclined you can visit Angel's office hours over here! Or, if you want Angel to come to you, that's now an option! Simply put a prompt after lights-out into your toplevel and indicate you want Angel in the subject line, same as investigations! ]

Comments

[mouflon]

...In case he gets hungry, or angry?

[ She sounds legitimately unsure of her answer. ]

[lovelikeyou]

Oh...he doesn't eat very much. He's been exposed to some Gem energy - that's why he's pink.

[still not at all addressing the issue but okay]

[mouflon]

I... see...

[ well, who could argue with that ]

W-wait, hold on, I flagged you down for a reason! [ That was not a pink lion. ] Something of yours came out of the vending machine earlier— Here.

[ The thing RIn has been clutching to her chest, as it turns out, is a framed photo! She waves it in Rose's direction. ]

[lovelikeyou]

Oh?

[Let's see that...ohhhhhh!]

Oh! This is me and Greg!

[mouflon]

Greg, huh. I was wondering who that was with you, seeing as he doesn't look much like a Gem.

[lovelikeyou]

No, Greg's a human! We've been dating for a while now.

[mouflon]

[ It's probably a good thing Rose has already taken the picture from her, because Rin would uh. Definitely do a double-take of Greg if she hadn't. ]

Huh, r-really...? ...He must have a really great personality, I guess...

[lovelikeyou]

[you and everyone else in the universe, rin]

He does. He... [how do you say "he treats me like an actual person" and not sound weird] ...he's not like anybody else I've ever met.

[mouflon]

Just curious, but in what way?

[lovelikeyou]

He...

[...hm.]

I'm not...the other Crystal Gems always...saw me as a leader, I guess. Someone so good and perfect. And all the other humans I've known always thought I was magical. But Greg just...he tells me when I do things wrong? But he isn't mean about it! It's like we're both just...equals, so we can talk.

[The Crystal Gems try, but they did come from such a strictly hierarchical society.]

[mouflon]

[ That's... actually a surprisingly relatable sentiment, for Rin? Not that she has anyone like that, but... ]

Yeah, I've... found that being in the middle of a war doesn't do a lot foster a normal relationship with someone. It's like... They're never just someone you know. They're your leader, or a mentor, or you've helped them extract a bullet out of their leg, or something.

[ And, well. She's surrounded by people who are too old for her anyway, but that's not the point. ]

I don't know. It's probably not the same thing, but I couldn't see myself dating someone I knew like that, either. [ ... ] Though, I'm not surprised most humans treat you like you're magic. They've probably never seen something like you before, right?

[lovelikeyou]

Yes, it's exactly like that!

[Sometimes, she worries that she's just being treated like a smaller, less authoritarian Diamond. Sometimes she worries she's acting like one.]

No, most humans don't. There's only the four of us left, and the human town near us isn't very big. Most humans don't even know we exist.

[mouflon]

...It must be tough, living like that. Even when I'm alone, I know there are other people like me somewhere out there. I just have to find some way to get to them.

[ It's one of the things that keeps her going — but now she's thinking about ideology again, rather than the kind of thing Rose is talking about. ]

So it's... good, that you have someone like that. I guess.

[ ROMANCE AND FEELINGS ARE DUMB but it's nice when other people have them. Probably. ]

[lovelikeyou]

It's nice to have somebody to talk to. I never told other humans anything about the War or Homeworld before, and the other Gems all know already. Except Amethyst, but I want her to live free of their expectations.

[Or, she did. Apparently Jasper is gonna fuck that up, if their universes are the same and all that.]

I guess I've talked to people here about things like that too. But I don't know if I could have, if I hadn't already met Greg.

[mouflon]

It's probably different, anyway, talking about that stuff here. Like... We all have different things going on in our lives, and I doubt any of them would seem "normal" to the average person. The two of us can stand here and talk about how it'd be weird to date someone you've fought beside, but how well are most people going to get that? Even here, there are probably only a couple of us.

...S- Sorry, I don't really know what I'm saying. It's just—good, meeting people who understand.

[lovelikeyou]

No, no - you're right. It really is nice. Even Greg - I can talk to him, but he doesn't understand.

[Which is okay; Rose is glad he doesn't have to know things like that. Being able to talk freely, like she isn't some magical space princess warrior, is enough. But being able to talk like this is a relief, too.]