unknownseas | WEEK 1

Well, you've now met the brains of the operation, as well as the shockingly nice-looking young lady in charge of day-to-day business. Now all that's left is to get used to your accommodations - there's 24 other people in similar shoes to yours to meet in this building, you know! And who knows how much longer you might have them...

The daily routine in the facility quickly becomes obvious - the only way to tell time moment to moment is to check the strange device The Professor gave you, but at the same time every day the lights in and out of the facility go up, and at the same time every night they go down. Otherwise, it's almost maddening sometimes, how little happens in here. At least you have a few rooms with enough to hopefully keep you occupied. Who knows what secrets they might hold? And there's always that vending machine, if you can find something that fits in the coin slot...

MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY
FRIDAY | SATURDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to Peace Week! Enjoy it while it lasts. Remember, office hours for The Professor's Assistant are over here if you're interested, while regains can be deposited over here! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I've seen some. The people living in town have children, but we didn't spend a lot of time there until lately.

[Rose has certainly spent the most time around humans, of any of the remaining Crystal Gems, but she usually hangs out with adults. By the time they start having children...she's always drifted away, she supposes. They didn't have time to play anymore.

Maybe it wasn't right. Given that she did it, it probably wasn't.]

When Gems are made, we come out of the ground fully formed. We used to think babies and children were some entirely different species of human!

...You know, I imagine a lot of humans would prefer it if it happened that way for us - just coming out into the world fully-formed and all that. Growing up is kind of a pain.

I've got to admit, we don't really have any other types of people where I'm from. It's all humans, pretty much - the animals aren't sentient enough to be considered "people" - so getting to meet someone else is really interesting, if you don't mind my saying so.

No! Growing up is such an incredible gift! You get to grow, and change, and become so many different things. You get to decide who you're going to be! Gems...we just are.

[She doesn't believe that about the other Crystal Gems, exactly. They've changed so much; just look at Garnet and Pearl. But she's not talking about them.]

It's so much better to be a human.

Maybe? Humans are really fragile, though - it's something we're always trying to overcome. Physically fragile, mentally and emotionally fragile. It doesn't take a lot to mess us up, and even less to kill us in some circumstances. I don't know if Gems are the same way, but humanity definitely has its downfalls.

...no. We can go on forever, if we're not shattered.

[Which isn't always the easiest thing.]

But maybe that isn't the best thing, either. [.....] Nothing has changed about our society for thousands, maybe millions of years. I don't think it ever will.

[He considers that for a moment, actually. Like, not just cursory thoughts, he actually looks like he's mulling it over in there.]

Stagnation is definitely a concern, even for humanity - there's a concern that eventually we'll plateau out, and whenever that happens we'll destroy ourselves in some way or another. People aren't really meant to survive in social and intellectual stasis; even if it doesn't break down eventually, it's not in the people's best interests anymore. So I can imagine surviving into perpetuity would certainly see that become a threat.

And yet everyone is content with the way things are, where you're from?

They'll shatter anybody who isn't. Or worse.

[so: no, but what can you do?]

I tried to rebel against Homeworld, to make Earth a safe place for any Gems who wanted to be free. It...didn't work. [Not all the way, not like she wanted. Even then, she'd never had plans to change Homeworld itself. Dreams, maybe - but those were dreams she'd had for a long, long time. She knew they would never come true.]

...I'm sorry to hear that.

[God, that sounds like a shitshow.]

Even if it didn't work, it was good of you to try. I doubt most would do that much.

I was just lucky to be able to. Other gems could have tried before, and been shattered, and we'd never even know.

[She's thought about that before, when other people said things to her exactly like that. There's only one reason it all got as far as it did.]

That's true, but it doesn't diminish what you did.

Many gems suffered because of the war. We saved the Earth, but only a few of my people.

[It's good that Earth is safe. She wouldn't take back the war, but...it all could've been better.]

...Yeah.

[He's not altogether surprised to hear that? It's sort of the nature of war, after all. But still...]

I don't know, it's easy for me to be anti-war because I've never fought in one. I get that some causes are worth it. But I've always hated the mass suffering aspect of it, at least.

Yes. That's true.

[And, frankly, there's not much more she can say about it.]

WEEK 1

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