Candice's eyes slightly narrowed at Bloodstone when he dismissed her question and said that he was there for Mars. She subtly tensed, bracing herself for an attack directed at her without letting him know. However, the gem humanoid seemed to have his attention directed elsewhere and he rushed back to the platform and disappeared. She raised her eyebrow. What could have happened to cause him to leave?

She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard someone fall and she turned to see Mars kneeling. She hurried over to him in concern and she kneeled next to him, asking "Mars! Are you alright?" She could see that he was dazed and confused, so she wasn't surprised that he didn't seem to hear her and instead asked his own questions. She raised her eyebrows at how his voice had changed after suggesting that they leave this place, and how his voice sounded older and wiser than before, when he was much more childlike and curious. She made a mental note to not forget those words, and how he seemed shocked and confused.

She offered her hand to him in order to help him stand up if he needed and she answered him, hoping to snap him out of his thoughts, "Let's get out of here. I don't like this place either. I'll answer your questions along the way,"

After he stood up (with or without her help), she led him out of Kindergarten and headed for Mohs Town, answering his questions, hoping to make him feel somewhat better than he was when he felt shocked. As she walked on and spoke with Mars, she wondered if she could convince him to help her protect mankind. She was pretty sure that she wasn't going to be able to fight all of those gem humanoids off and live if they all decide to gang up on her.

@Raijinslayer

Evenkite couldn't help but feel as if something was wrong when found herself in the Kindergarten. Missed a tussle, Reggie said. Yes, something had definitely happened here, and they had arrived before they could interfere even in need be. Who was involved? It could have been the other gems. It could've been Talc. It could've been a newborn. It could've been something else entirely. She tugged at her right -and only- sleeve and bit on her lip, fidgeting uncomfortably. The last time the Kindergarten was like this, it had been after the attack with the Spider Bots, and even then this looked worse. Though she wouldn't admit it, though she'd tell herself again and again that what happened to anyone else was none of her concern, she couldn't help but worry about whoever might've been involved, hoping they had been alright. It didn't look good, after all.

Going to the temple. It sounded like a good idea. She wanted to have some time before facing Sodalite, but now she felt it might've been better to go ahead right away. For all she knew, Sodalite might've been involved. If anyone, even more than Amber, she wanted to make sure she was alright, if she had been.

Stepping onto the Warp Pad with Reggie and Chromite -the sensation always seemed to bother Reggie but she didn't bring it up to him- and finding herself back in Mohs town, she followed the older gem, listening attentively.

"I believe so, Chromite, ma'am, but in the event that they do react with hostility...I'm sure I'll be fine, and if things get really bad, I'll seek you two out. And I wouldn't call them old friends," she said, her eyes glazing slightly and her voice lowering into something akin to a whisper.

"That would imply too many things."

Evenkite began to scan the town for any familiar faces, reckoning that if she recognised them -rather than asking any old person she happened across- they would recognise the gems, and thus would have a higher likelihood of knowing the location of the temple. Her ears twitched as she heard something.

Music.

Music, she remembered, who had introduced her to music? Her mind went blank for a moment and she began to panic. Had she forgotten the name of someone important, like she had with Talc? She thought for a moment...Aquamarine, Amber, Sodalite, Emerald, Melanite...There had been another black gemstone, a white ge-No, Spinel, the gem was Spinel-, and a grey one as well, and there was that human at the beginning...Johnny, that's right. He didn't like being called sir, as she remembered, which confused her slightly.

Coincidentally, the music was being played by Johnny himself, as she soon found out. She rather quite liked it, unlike the other songs he had been playing before. Floating towards him -it was much quicker than walking- she hovered a few moments, enjoying the tune, before setting herself down on the ground.

"Hello Johnny," she said softly with a smile, feeling strangely relieved to see someone other than Bloodstone, Reggie, or Chromite that she recognised once again after so long, "It's been a while, hasn't it? I'm sorry to interrupt your playing, but I was wondering if you knew where the temple is?"

@Raijinslayer
@Pathfinder
@21308

She was not comfortable with Bloodstone being at the temple. It was their home, and while he wasn't necessarily a villain, he was still the enemy. She retreated into her room without a word, waiting for Aqua to return so that Blood could leave.

In her time outside, Sodalite had taken a few moments to study humans. Her books told her so much about the humans, but it was still only so much. What she had seen told her that Aquamarine and Bloodstone had tension between them. What kind, she wasn't exactly sure, but she did believe that they used to be close some time ago. Obviously they were split because of which side they chose, and how the other refused to change for them, but it still told her little of their relationship. She continued to think, and wandered into autopilot as the slow and rhythmic ticking of the clock in her room caused her to zone out.

----

Meanwhile, Mayor Coss strolled by Luster Lane, taking a small glance at one of the parks in the town. It was a nice day, but something in the back of his mind told him that it would not stay that way for long.

When Zircon made it to the warp pad she would stop and wait to make sure everyone got on before she would get on herself, purposely making herself last to get on. She had almost missed, not even realized, Emerald passed out on the ground. Everything around her had been so distracting she almost didn't see him completely. Zircon would have gone up and carried him to the warp pad, but by the time she realized that Emerald was even passed out Spinel was already taking care of it. Once they arrive at their temple home Zircon slowly steps off the warp pad, looking downward. Obviously, and of course, there was still shock in her but also mixed with sorrow. Zircon slowly took a few more steps away from the warp pad before just standing there with a hand slipped underneath her hair to her forehead in distress, her gaze still downward and her other hand to her hip. At a time like this, with as much thoughts racing around her head as it is, she couldn't help but think. Could she have done something? Would that have changed anything? She was ready. She reacted, she got in a stance, was ready to get her weapon out, and for what? She just had to freeze up. In the end the only thing she did was...nothing. That whole past month of training and constantly telling herself how and what to do when things exactly like that go down around her friends, did that month seriously just go to waste? If Zircon could have done something back there, what kind of comrade would that make her?

Slowly, Zircon could feel her eyes burning. She disregarded it but she couldn't help it as her vision would soon be not only the ground, which she was already looking at, but an overwhelming watery vision of it. Zircon kept it in for awhile, but it probably wasn't going to be that way for long. She wasn't looking at anyone's faces, but she could hear that Bloodstone was here when he said something. She was surprised that he followed them there, but not enough to overcome what she, and maybe everyone else, was feeling now. Zircon also remained silent on Bloodstone's offer of history lessons; even if all of this weren't happening Zircon didn't care about history. Instead, she wanted to go comfort the crying Spinel. It's...what everyone needs now. Supportive gestures, and all. It was only after when Zircon finally looked up and letting her hands drop and took only half a step when Spinel hurried to her room however. Zircon will respect her alone time, if that's what she's going for. Zircon looked downward again before allowing her bottom to thud on the ground, now sitting down with her feet flat on the ground and an arm resting across her knees. Thinking about the tragedy in general and constantly questioning herself if she could have done something like she wanted to, where she thinks it ties in with her loyalty, her vision grew more watery to the point where she felt like it could burst any second. Zircon brought her other arm up to rest across her knees that would cover her eyes only slightly. It was after a blink when the tears were silently released as they flowed down. Zircon didn't make any sound. She looked a little more downward and bit her lip before slowly running a hand through her hair. She balled the hand that was in her hair, and then it transitioned into an almost shaking fist. And for now, Zircon just sat there. Silently crying.

Bloodstone could do nothing as Spinel and Sodalite walked away, Zircon slumped onto the floor, and the other gems seemed dis-interested. Then Emerald asked about Howlite, it was saddening to see so much optimism that he was now forced to crush. He walked over to Emerald and was about to put his hand on Emerald's shoulder before he thought better of it and put his hands to his side. "I'm sorry, but no. Howlite is gone for good. If a gem is cracked it can have many side-effects that can eventually be healed but once it shatters, there is nothing that can be done."

Bloodstone looked around and could see the sadness lingering around them. "I understand you're pain, I really do. I understand it better than anyone else. You have lost one comrade, I have lost millions, a lot of those taken by my own hands. I watched as countless of allies turned against me, ready to kill me and those that stood beside me. And I had to kill them all, to save those that I could still save although most of them still died too." Blood paused for a second and then motioned to his clothes. "Do you see all these tatters and cuts? These are scars for a gem. When a gem is injured enough to retreat into their gem, a mark is usually left on their clothing. The new mark will typically replace the old but mine have remained because they still pain me. They are constant reminders of my pain. These don't even hurt physically either, it is completely emotional because every last one of these cuts in my clothing were dished out by my own friends. I know pain much greater than yours and because of that I know that no words will help... but I want to try."

Bloodstone walked over to Zircon and kneeled beside her, "It's not your fault, it is none of your faults. It wasn't even Aqua's fault. There was nothing that could have been done to avoid this." Blood stood and addressed the rest of the newborns, "If any of you had tried to attack that thing you would have died too. That thing is nothing like my drones, it feels only hatred for us gems even though they used to be gems themselves. You would have died, and than how would your leader have felt? Feeling that she was the cause of it all? Aqua will come back and thanks to her powers, she can heal herself. What she can't do, is heal a shattered gem. So please, don't feel bad that you could do nothing, nothing was the best option to spare lives, injuries, and emotions." Blood then sat down on the ground himself and looked at the gems. "My mission is to create new gems, like yourselves, by any means possible. And it is highly likely that most of you were created from shards of my previous allies. Like Spinel being formed from Red Spinel, this one gem that I created from Tiger's Eye, and even if you're not from him you look a lot like Topaz, Amber. Topaz was a ten foot tall beast of a gem and you have his size although shorter, but then again I didn't want to create exact replicas. I wanted to create gems that could have their own lives, and didn't have to go through the pain that I did, but I guess that's a part of life. You will recover. You may not think so but you will."

Blood stood up and hoped to see at least one person that felt better. Looking around the room he could tell, no matter what face he was given, that all of their thoughts were still on Howlite. "Ok, it may not be your way to get over things but it is mine. Training. I can tell by how many of you had your weapons ready that Aqua taught you how to defend yourselves but did she teach you how to use your powers and hone them into perfection or even anything about your kind and their history such as what I just explained about us and the corrupted gem. If not then I'm about to, so who want's to go first. Don't worry, I won't fight back. You deserve this chance to let out your frustrations."

Johnny didn't really know how long he played, time blending together with the song and wind. It was nice to just relax after a day of work, the people here were nice enough but work was work nonetheless and for someone used to being on the road Johnny found it key to maintaining his stress. And so he sat, drinking a root beer while munching on potato chips between playing little songs. People would walk by and usually flash a smile his way before moving on to whatever they had doing, a lazy buzz of activity much unlike the high energy of Star city. Johnny was always more of a country boy, preferring the quiet of the out cities and roads. So far, everything was looking to be a gre-

"Hello Johnny.", The small voice nearly caused Johnny to jump out of his own skin, Eve being the last person he would have expected to see. After taking about a second to compose himself, Johnny put his guitar aside and listened to what the little Gem had to say. It left him puzzled... and conflicted. On one hand he'd like to think of Eve as a friend, but on the other all he knew of this Bloodstone guy was that he was bad news and she was on his side of this whole deal. "I'm...not entirely comfortable with revealing that. It's nothing personal Eve but I mean, see this from my perspective. Your on the "bad guys" team, it's not like I can just hand that information out. Plus, I'd prefer staying out of Gem business. Nearly died the last time I was involved." Johnny scratched at the back of his neck, insecurity and a couple shades of guilt all over his face. "Sorry."

Amber was still numb to this whole thing, having watched one possibly two of his friends die before his eyes had left the giant Gem feeling hallow on the inside. After the group was warped back to the Temple Amber took a seat in a large metal chair that had a few pillows placed on it for cushioning, he had found it a few weeks ago in the wreckage of the town and decided he wanted it so he brought it back to the temple. He sat there, his expression as depressed and glum as it has ever been, and replayed what he had just watched over and over in his head. He may have sat there like that for hours if the Warp pad didn't light up and Bloodstone came strolling in. Amber didn't know what to do, if it was any other day he may have jumped at the Gem but now... Amber listened to Bloodstone's speech, it sounded fairly similar to what he had said a month ago, save for the part that they were made of shards of other broken Gems. Then Bloodstone said something about training them. "No..." Amber said simply as he stood from his seat and looked to the older Gem. "That history you have just spoke of, this story of other Gems dying and your woe... it isn't my history. The orange Gem continued in a tone fair too serious than his usual one. "Yo' speak of these Gems we use to be, yer friends that yo' 'ave lost because of them turning against yo', but we aren't them. Where we come from... who we come from doesn't and shouldn't decided who we are. So as sad as yer story is, no matter how much I pity yo', it does not give yo' the right to come into our 'ome and speak as if you have earned our trust... At least not mine" He said as he started to walk towards the exit of the Temple. "Those 'umans that yo' 'urt down in that town 'ave earned more of my trust than yo'... As far as I am worried about it they are my people, not yo' and the Gems yo' speak of." Amber said as he left the Temple and began to head down into the town.

Spinel

Spinel stood inside of what appeared to be a very large, misty cave. She walked for a minute, well into the cavern that was her room until she would have barely been able to see without a light of some kind if it weren't for her ability to glow. She knew the exact spot she was looking for, it was a space in the wall that opened up to form a cubby-hole of sorts where she could keep her things. She had little use for it, but it opened to reveal her one possession: a plastic skeleton mask she'd gotten from a local dollar store. She placed Aquamarine and Howlite inside and prepared to seal it shut on the off chance that Bllodstone should come looking for them, but realized how that might turn out bad if Aqua were to come back while she was inside of it. Spinel would just have to hope that Bloodstone wouldn't try to get into her room or, if he did, that he wouldn't succeed. Spinel left her room and got back into the living area just in time to catch Bloodstone saying something about training. "I don't know if I'm interested in that, but I'd like to know if you have any jobs you need done that don't involve hurting the humans or my friends." she said.


Chromite


"I doubt my word is worth much to you, but I can guarantee that we have no intention of starting anything violent." Chromite said. She turned to Evenkite and Reggie and said If this human isn't interesting in helping us, perhaps some other one will. Do either of you know of anyone else who might know where this temple is? If that doesn't work, we might try looking for it ourselves, or asking the commander."

So there's one of your fears confirmed. You're not welcome there, Eve. If a human is reacting this way, there's no way the gems are going to be any different.

The little gem's ears flattened down as she heard Johnny's words. She held herself back before speaking, acknowledging her emotional responses (most of which were unwarranted), rationalising them, and then letting them go before she spoke, though there was definitely a small hint of disappointment and hurt in her voice. Nearly undetectable, but it was there.

"I understand why you do not want to be involved with gem business, Johnny, and I respect your wish to not tell us anything. But before I leave you be, I just want to clear up that I never joined Bloodstone. I'm Eve. I'm just Eve. And I will always remain as Eve unless I do decide that I am a 'Crystal Gem' or a 'Homeworld Gem'. Thank you nonetheless, and it was nice seeing you again. Please continue with your playing, we'll be going now."

She turned away from Johnny and rose into the air once more, looking to Chromite.

"I have no idea where the temple is, Chromite, ma'am, but..." she trailed off, grinning as she recognised a familiar orange giant of a gem making his way through town, "...I think I might know someone who does." With that, she rushed off without even waiting for Chromite or Reggie, though her grin melted away into a frown of uncertainty.

Remember, Eve, in all likelihood, he won't be as happy to see you as you are to see him.

Upon closer inspection, he didn't look happy at all, regardless of whether he saw her or not. His old goofy demeanour was gone entirely, which alone was enough to cause alarm, but he looked so...Serious. Troubled. She alighted down onto the floor, her heels planted firmly to the ground. She stood there, unmoving, looking up in disbelief as to how much the younger gem had changed. By the time Amber has passed by her -had he even noticed she was there?- she still hadn't moved, aside from a small blink of her eyes.

Tussle-involved or not, it was clear that something had happened while she was gone. Shaking her head, she followed after him without her usual tip-toeing, hesitant to speak. He might've been furious with her for all she knew, he might see her as the enemy, and for all she knew he'd pound her into the ground right then and there. Approaching with caution would be the best route, and she know she should be taking that route, but seeing him like this...It was too much. She would abandon caution, and most likely regret it later. When she finally did, it sounded much higher than usual, on the verge of cracking.

"...Amber?"

Her ears fell flat once more, her left hand clutching the wrist of her right.

"...Are you okay?" What happened...What happened while I was gone?"

@Saarebas
@21308
@Pathfinder
@Raijinslayer

Amber didn't know where he was going, the temple was the only home he had ever known and he doubted that he could find a place to clear his head in town. Maybe he would just keep walking, it wasn't like he needed food or sleep, he could just keep walking and walking and walking until there wasn't anywhere else to walk anymore. He didn't know what he would do and honestly he didn't care at the moment, all he wanted to do was leave the temple before he snapped. So many things were racing through his mind, he was enraged, depressed, and terrified all at the same time and he felt like it was tearing him apart. "Yo' should of done something..." He mumbled over and over and over again as he stomped his way to town, he was already almost there. He may of walked straight through town and onward if he hadn't heard the faint sound that resembled his name. He stopped cold in his track and looked around to spot something he could hardly believe, Eve. The giant of a Gem was shocked to see the yellow Gem standing after all this time. "Yo'..." Was all Amber could muster before something in him finally gave, the thing that had carried him this far. He fell to his knees with a slightly ground shaking thud and kept his eyes pinned to the ground. He stayed like that for what felt like lifetimes before a low sob escaped him. "She's gone... She's gone!" Amber said between his sobs. "Howlite is gone!" He nearly wailed as he brought his gaze back up to Eve, tears streaming down his orange shaded cheeks.

Bloodstone watched as Amber stormed out. He didn't expect anybody to trust him but he still wanted to try and comfort them. "Man I stuck at this. I didn't want what I said to be empty and meaningless so I explained why it applied to me. You can make your own history, that's what I wanted when I created you. The only reason I brought up history at all was to try and explain myself and what I've been through. You're not my old allies, you're your own gems. I just don't know what to say to make people feel better. I give up." Blood fell backwards, slamming himself into the ground and cracking it.

Emerald had known what was coming, and what he did was more of a mixture of anticipation, fear, sadness, and self-hate. He ran down the stairs, sobbing while verbally blaming himself as he ran out the door and away from everyone else, running into the nearby forest and slumping against a tree. "Useless! I can't do anything! This was supposed to be a fun trip, and now Aquamarine is possibly broken forever and Howlite is dead! Gone forever! And I just watched! Useless!"

Sodalite suddenly had the desire to write, and so she did. She wrote plan after plan, never stopping once. Her pen scribbled furiously over one of her many books.

She was unnaware now much time had actually passed, but as she looked around, Sodalite saw piles of books that she had apparently just written. She didn't even know what she was writing, but it seemed to come off as easily as watching the world. She knew the human saying was as easy as breathing, but Gems did not have any need to breathe, so she changed it for her own purposes. She looked through them, page after page. Her plans weren't good enough. It had started out relatively simple, a monster attacks, Aqua leads the attack against said monster. But then it spiraled out of control. She had no idea what sort of monster it was, and Howlite was now dead. She looked at another book, and another, and read all of them being throwing the last of them in one of the new piles of thrown books. None of them were good enough. She could take all the time in the world to make the perfect plans, but someone would still end up getting hurt, or even worse, dying.

The took a minute to breathe. She needed to calm herself. She would find a way to protect them, she promised herself that. She wouldn't loose any more people. Slowly, Sodalite reached out and grabbed one of the books. As she was reading them quickly and furiously before, she had missed a saying that repeated itself every few words.

I'm not good enough

-----

Chuck did some stuff.

Another portal jump, which he handled a little bit better thanks to Joan’s advice, and they arrived in the forest near Mohs town, giving Reggie a brief moment of month old nostalgia. Man, that felt like only yesterday, can’t believe it’s been almost a month. He chuckled at the thought as he walked into town, seeing Eve approach some guy in a van. Apparently, she knew him, and at first he thought they were going to get a break But as he walked close enough to hear how the conversation was going, he had to suppress the urge he felt in his bones to take his sword and really fuck up this guy’s paintjob. Screw keying his car, he’d fucking take a sword to that clunker.

He held his tongue and temper, settling for giving the guy a glare that said ‘Fuck you, asswipe. you feel good about that?’ before going to follow Eve, eyes widening a little at seeing the giant scottish gem in the middle of town. He, like Eve, notice something was wrong with Amber as soon as he saw him. As he approached, ready to make a quip to cheer the guy up, the gem suddenly had a bit of a breakdown, screaming about ‘Howlite being gone’.

Reggie was able to figure out what that meant pretty quickly, and while it didn’t mean much to him in particular, he knew that Eve would probably be very distraught by this knowledge. Even if she didn’t know them well, he knew from talking with her that Eve felt just a bit responsible for the newborns because she was the older one, This news would definitely not be good for her, and he felt like he should say something, but nothing came to mind. He kept his distance from the two, knowing that this wasn't something he should give his opinion. He was a bit of an outsider in this situation, and it wasn’t the first time he’d felt this way, and it probably wouldn’t be the last.

So he simply stood there a short way away from the two grieving gems, ready to comfort her if Eve needed it, or calm her down if she had another freak out like she did a month ago. She was a lot more fragile than most people realized, both mentally and physically, and he wasn’t sure how many shocks it would take before she lost it. He’d try his best to shield her from what he could, but the world wasn’t nice enough to play fair and make it easy for him.

@Loony

@Saarebas



As they made their way to the town, Mars slowly returned to his old self, raining down an neverending slavo a question, both general and personal, upon Candice. He didn’t even think of accepting her help, walking on his own two legs the entire way there. As they made their way to town, however, he couldn’t help but wonder about what he’d seen and heard.

“Candice, tell me . . . do you ever hear voices in your head? Have you ever seen things that you’re certain you’ve never seen before, like your body and mind just . . . aren’t your own sometimes?”

@Guardian Angel Haruki
((sorry for short post, but I don’t want to have Mars meet the other gems just yet, so can you steer us towards candice’s mobile home for now?))

Though it felt like forever to Amber, it seemed to have happened all too quickly to Eve. She was preparing for just about anything she could imagine. Outrage at her presence. Contempt. Disdain. Pain. Confusion. Indifference, maybe even relief or happiness if she was really lucky.

"Yo'..."

That was all he could bring himself to say before his knees gave way, the impact knocking Eve's balance off, rising up before she found herself on the ground. And then he looked down, sobbing. Sobbing? That didn't make sense. Why was he crying? Who was gone? Why did this upset him so much? Were they coming back? Sadness wasn't at all what she anticipated. And then back to her, tears falling down his face.

"Howlite is gone!"

And then it hit her like a brick. It wasn't like Reggie's tears or Aquamarine's. She'd only seen one other person cry like this, and she remember all to well the reason.

Those weren't tears of sadness. Those were tears of grief.

Time slowed to a stop.

Howlite. That was the grey gem.
She was dead, and until Amber had said it, she didn't even remember her name.

She shouldn't be. She couldn't be. It had to be some cruel prank that Amber was pulling off out of spite. It had to be a nightmare. And yet it wasn't. It took a few moments for her to accept this, but it wasn't. She knew it wasn't. Amber wouldn't do that, and her mind couldn't think of something she thought of as so impossible.

She was dead.

The thing that Evenkite expected would happen to her before anyone else.
She was dead.
Not her.
Howlite.
She, the gem who would most likely not have a real future, wasn't dead.
The one who had a decent chance was.
The who would've mattered more that she ever could.
Worth more than she'd ever be.
Howlite.
Howlite.
Not Evenkite.
Howlite.
It was wrong.
It was unfair.
"Your gemstone breaks, you die. And though it's hardly fair, ours can break easier than just about most every other gem."
It should have been her.
She wouldn't last long anyways.
She hadn't done anything useful for them.
Not for anyone.
Not even herself.
Useless.
Worthless.
Good for nothing.
Only hurting others and making mistakes.

"Yo' should of done something..." She'd hear him mumble this over and over, and though he was clearly talking about himself, and Eve knew that...

Could you've done something?

She knew very well that she couldn't protect the younger gems even a quarter as well as Bloodstone or Aquamarine could, but had she been there, had she been there...

Maybe you could've done something.

Perhaps it could've been you instead.

Would it have been better that way?

She pushed these thoughts away. Right now, Amber's pain was more important than her.

After what had felt like an eternity but what was probably only a few long seconds, she wrapped her arms around Amber's neck -they were too short to properly hug him- and with one of her hands began to gentle ruffle his hair as Talc would do for her when she was upset or scared, trying to comfort him. For a long time, she said nothing, but eventually she spoke.

"Amber, I know...I know that you feel this way, but I know you too well, even if we haven't seen each other in such a long time, I know, I know you too well to believe that you hadn't done all you could've to prevent this...And...A-And it's n-not your fault, okay? Okay!? None of this could've been your fault. You're so young, Amber, we both are, and there's some things that, no matter how hard we try, just aren't in our power. Aquamarine should've taken better care of you all. Don't blame yourself. She took you into her care not knowing if she could properly protect you all, without admitting that she wasn't capable, and that was her fault, not your own, and though I'm sure she didn't mean this to happen and also did all she could, it was still her fault, not your own," Her voice cracked, and her eyes were dangerously close to crying. Not over Howlite -there was shock and there was regret and there was self-loathing because of her, but she hadn't known her well enough to feel this way- but because of Amber's distress over her death, and because she wasn't sure how to help alleviate his pain. She was scared she was making it worse, and to do such a thing would break her heart had she had one.

But she would not cry.

She had to be strong, for Amber's sake. She took in a shaky breath, and spoke once more, hugging him closer.

" And I let her do so. I let her take you all away, and I didn't even stay to try and make sure you were all safe. I was selfish. I left. You were there. You were there whereas I wasn't. I'm the one who should've done something."

And now there were tears in her eyes. She put her hand which was around Amber's neck into a fist and dug her nails as hard as she could, trying to focus on that pain so that the emotional one wouldn't overpower her.

She would not cry.

She wouldn't let herself.

Her voice had raised higher than she had ever heard it.
"I'm so sorry."

@Saarebas
@Raijinslayer
@21308

Amber was coming apart, what strength he showed in the temple was melting away from him with each tear that left his stinging eyes. He couldn't get the image of that monster and what it did to Howlite out of his head, he doubted he ever could. Amber half way forgotten that Eve was standing there, but he was quickly reminded of her presence when he felt her slender arms wrap themselves around his neck. The giant couldn't help but be comforted by the soft words that were being spoken to him, well at first anyways. Amber took a moment to reanalyze what Eve had just said to him, something this Gem never did. "Y-Yer blaming Aqua?" He finally said, his voice horse and raspy. "Yer blaming Aqua for t-this?" He said again as he gently broke free of the tiny Gem's embrace. "Y-Yo'..." He said as he stared at Eve in complete disbelief. "She almost got 'er self killed trying to save Howlite and yo' want to blame 'er?" Amber said as he slowly shacked his head. "I...I can't take it anymore..." He said as he slowly stood to his feet. "Yo'... Bloodstone... I-I can't take it anymore." He said he slowly turned his back on Eve and the rest of the small group. "I can't take Gems anymore..." Amber mumbled as he started to walk off again. "No more Gems... please... no more..."

Amber's walk would be interrupted by Reggie, who'd stepped in front of him and blocked his path, a sympathetic but disapproving look in his eyes as he saw Amber's behavior.

"Amber, is it? Believe me when I say I know what it feelslike to lose someone close to you, to have some die and feel like it'syour fault somehow, that you should've been able to prevent it from happening. I'm not gonna pretend I was there, nor will I pretend that I knew your friend, but I will tell you that what you are doing is the worst thing you can in this situation." Reggie ran and hand thtough his hair as he collected his thoughts, before looking up at the orange giant to stare him right in the eyes. "Whoever Howlite was, they wouldn't want you to oet yourself give into depression and abandon all your other friends. They are dead and gone,,and no matter how much it hurts, their is nothing you can do to change that. What you can do, however, is make for damn sure tnat it doesn't happen again, cause as shiity and heartbroken as you may feel right now, you'll feel much, much worse if you find out that something happened to one of the others and you weren't there to at least try and stop it!"

Reggie's voice was beginning to raise with his emotions, as he poked Amber hard in the chest to emphasize his point, before pointing at where Eve was. "Have you taken a second to stop thinking about yourself and imagine how she must feel about all this?!?! How she feels about nit being there, stuck in space because of my dumbass while some she knows and feels responsible for died?!?! No, of course not, it's all about you, about what you can and can't take." Reggie's concern was turning into anger as he reached up to grab Amber's collar and attempted to pull the giant down to his level so they were looking dead-on into the other's eyes, saying his final words in a harsh whisper. "At least you have a family to even walk away from! My is dead, all of them taken from me in an instant, murdered by some fuckin' scumbags and I'll have to live with the fact that I couldn't do anything to stop it, that none of them are ever coming back ever again, for the rest of my life! Death is a part of life, and you are going to have to learn how accept, 'cause if you're going to break down like this everytime someone you know dies, than you've got quite a hard life ahead of you."

With the last spurt of his anger he would attempt to push the giant back with an angry shove, too pissed to care if he succeeded as he walked past him, Eve, and Chromite. He only stopped once he was in front of the guy in the van, a scowl on his face as his hands were jammed into his pockets, curled up into fist so tight that the knuckles were turning bone-white.

"You got a cigarrette, I needsoomething to calm my nerves before I punch something . . .or someone."

@Saarebas

@Pathfinder

@Raijinslayer ((Sure! Sorry if this post is bad. DX))

Candice was somewhat glad to see that Mars was going back to his normal self, but she was still embarrassed by the personal questions he asked. She answered the impersonal questions he asked with detail, while the personal details were answered vaguely or with the answer that it was very complicated. She looked to him in concern when Mars asked his question about the voices and seeing things that weren't there. How does one answer that question without insulting him? She thought about her experiences and seeing if she went through something similar, and she realized she did. The memories and regret she felt regarding her previous missions where she had to kill someone...she felt as though she wasn't herself, and she could hear the voices that weren't her own screaming and crying.

She answered him "I may have experienced something like that..." She then looked to the side and saw her motorhome. Realizing that she was heading into town and that she didn't bring her laptop with her to the Kindergarten. She told Mars, "Oh, there's my home. I need to go and pick up something from there,"

Spinel

Spinel approached Bloodstone and stood over him. "Well, it's not exactly my fault if I have a hard time relating to your emotions Mr. Bloodstone. You said it yourself, I was made not to. If training with someone would make you feel that much better, we can still try. I think it might make me feel better too."


Chromite

Chromite walked after Reggie and said "You were the one I was hoping I wouldn't have to watch. Try and behave yourself, just because I'm here doesn't mean you get to pick fights you'd stand no chance in."

"Chromite," Reggie began, the fact that he was usingnher actual name instead of the nickname would ler her know that what he was saying was to be taken seriously, "I'm old enough to do whatever the hell I fucking want to do, and say whatever thehell I want to say to whoever I want to say it to. I don't h ve to listen to you and you don't have to worry about me. So do me a favor, and mind your own goddamn business. If thd big orsnge lug wants to fight me for speaking the truth, I'll deal with it.If he's smart, he'll see what I'm talking about and go back to protect his family instead of running of like a dog with his tail between his legs, abandoning them at a ti,e where they should all be together. . . to be truthful, he sickens me to my core right now."

Reggie's words were cold and harsh, his grey eyes looking into Chromite's as he had turned his head to address her. One of his hands had made it's way to his sword, gripping it tightly as he tried to contain his anger. "I'm not a child, so don't patronize me like one."

@21308



Mars seemed to visiblely relax at Candice's words, releasing a breath that he didn't know he'd been holding. So I'm not the only one, I may be a bit different and strange but I'm not the only one. When she talked about her home, Mars looked up to inspect it, finding it to be pretty interesting in it's design. But then something else began to pick at his mind, more burning questions like hot embers in his brain that could only be doused with knowledge.

"Candice, whatncan you tell me about these other . . . what did you say they called themselves . . .Gems? What can they do, and do you have any idea if I can do it as well? Where do they evdn live, maybe we can go see them and get some more info straight from the source, yeah?"

@Guardian Angel Haruki