The little gem listened carefully to her would-be friend's words, the strong urge to burst into laughter and tears tugged at her relentlessly as she did so. Despite this, her expression was blank, though her heart was touched.

"...You're absolutely right. Forgiving anyone just like that is foolish and risky."

A small silence followed, Eve letting in and out a deep breath.

"...Focus on logic. That seems about right. You know, you've always been the wise one of the group," the smallest of smiles twitched across Eve's face, "Save for when you tried handling those weapons."

She let out a chuckle. A melancholic, almost empty chuckle. Though it was more than half her life ago, it felt like it was just minutes from when she was scorning her for mishandling them. Given the chance, she'd have taken that moment back. Taken back any moment in which might've pained her former friend.

"Redeem myself...That seems like the wisest course of action. Yes. Of course. You're right, as usual. I'll do whatever I can, to make up for what I did. You may not want me to, but I want to. I need to. I know I won't ever be able to forgive myself until I try, Sodalite, and I...and if it's not enough...if I can't make up for it, then I ask you forget about me. Forget about me and all the trouble I-I've...I've caused you."

And then the strangest feeling of deja vu washed over Evenkite. Words that weren't her own, and yet were, took over. Though she knew it wasn't possible, she could've sworn she had this exact same conversation a long time ago. There did not exist a 'long time ago' in Evenkite's memory, nor did Evenkite or Sodalite exist back then.

"Forget about me, because I'm...Look at me. I'm small. I'm so, so small. A spec of dust. P-Pathetic, really....I'm too small to be a pr-problem, even to...even to...I...Shouldn't be a problem, T-Sodalite. Someone, n-no, something so small as a Mic-Evenkite...I'll be easy to forget....Y-you could just...crush me like...like a b-bug and...b-be done with it, you know?"

Though the words tumbled out of her mouth without her really being conscious of them, she found her own voice again, and let out a harsh giggle, one belittling herself.

"It's not like I'll live much longer than one, anyways... Just...please promise me though, that you won't let this hurt you anymore if I can't prove myself. And you...You don't need to redeem yourself. What I did was wrong. What you did wasn't wrong. Maybe they were shortcomings on your part, but...It wasn't wrong. You never hurt anyone willingly. Not like me. What you need to do is be forgiven. What I need to do is be redeemed. Don't confuse the two.

...And Sodalite...I know you wouldn't have let her die on purpose. Call me foolish, but I just know you wouldn't. It'll take time to forgive yourself, and you shouldn't rush it, but...Just know I forgive you, even if it is foolish of me."

The tightness in her chest returned. A few moments of awkward silence followed, punctuated only by the gentle shuffling of Eve's left foot, until eventually, a voice ended it.

"C-Can..." she started, the voice that was hers and yet wasn't taking over again, though she wasn't aware of the difference in the least. Yet, she was aware of something...It felt unreal, it felt different, somehow, even though it couldn't be, and forming words was a struggle in itself, never mind the right words.

And then she felt something else. Was she shaking? Was the room shaking? Why did everything feel so surreal? She closed her -widened?- eyes and felt something shift.

And then she felt fear. Sharp, piercing fear. Somehow, it felt familiar. Her still widened eyes darted all across the room and she reached for a sword that wasn't there. She started hard at her right hand, as if its mere existence troubled her somehow.

Is that supposed to be there?

...The hell, Eve, of course it is! Stupid. What kind of question is that? Get a grip on yourself!

In an instant, the fear was gone, but the ghost of the feeling was still with her.

Eve closed her eyes and opened them once more, finding that she had almost fallen down onto the floor. Nothing was shaking. Was anything shaking before? Surely she was just being silly. Like her hand. Her hand was always there. The floor was always steady. There wasn't anyone in the room but them. Why would anything have changed? She blinked a few times before truly finding herself again.

"...Can I have a hug? ...Would you be angry if I hugged you?"

At the mention of the incident with the weapons, Sodalite smiled. Of course it wasn't a real smile. It was hollow, melancholic. She knew that she didn't know how to use all of those weapons at the time, but she knew that she could keep people away from her using them all to annoy others. It was the beginning of her collection, the very first thing that she did after being born. She remembered Evenkite calling to the sky to get her to stop. She knew about human woes. It only her life stayed as simple as her annoying others with her obsessions.

Despite Evenkite's best wishes, Sodalite would be unable to forget her, in the event that she couldn't be forgiven. In retrospect, it was just a day. That had only interacted with one another quite briefly, and Sodalite should have just been able to move on. However, in that collective couple hours that they talked, argued, and moved about, Evenkite became unforgettable. Sodalite's obsessive tendencies focused on Evenkite for just a small moment, and those thoughts festered into something larger. When Evenkite paused, Sodalite could see her expression as bright as day.

Her next words were something that surprised her. Obviously it was her speaking, but she didn't sound the same compared to only a few seconds before. Both of their names seemed to have been mentally plastered over two other names, both of which she didn't seem to recognize, and her gazing eyes focused while her ears blocked out every little sound that wasn't Evenkite's voice.

Her head shook at the mention of Howlite. She went over the situation. She did the math. If she hadn't been so stupid, if she hadn't been herself, she could have stayed and helped save her. They were all just about the same age, but Howlite carried the image of a child, and could be considered one. Each of the gems took appearances and thought processed similar to different points in a human's life. For instance, she could be considered a young adult, or maybe a growing adult that is reaching their thirtieth year alive on Earth. Her foolish actions allowed a child to be killed. Of course she didn't do it on purpose, and of course she knew the difference between being forgiven and being redeemed.

Evenkite spoke again, and once more, Sodalite was caught off guard. Even she seemed to take notice of the difference in her own voice. It was her voice. They were her words, and she was saying them, but something was off. She then looked at her hand, her right to be exact, and seemed to fear its very existence. She didn't seem entirely there. Her eyes and mouth were somewhere else entirely than the rest of her body, so to speak. Her eyes closed, and Sodalite continued to examine her. She seemed to be refocusing herself, and asked for a hug. They were her words. She was in control of her voice again.

Slowly, Sodalite nodded. Her face was calm and still once more. She had her questions about Evenkite, but she was sure that even she wouldn't be able to answer them. One knew as much as the other did, and Sodalite couldn't think of anyone else who could be able to help them. She'd have to read some more to see if she could find out what was happening with Evenkite. In any case, Sodalite got down onto a single knee and held her arms out wide, waiting for Evenkite to hug her.

Eve took a small step forward, almost as if expecting the ground to shake under her again. Then another. Yet another. And then she wrapped her arms tightly around Sodalite, almost as if she were afraid she's start shaking too. That she would begin to tilt and spin and that she too would seem to fade in and out of reality. That she would be something to fear as well. She gave her a small squeeze and felt the alien sensation of her eyes stinging.

"You haven't promise. Please," she whispered, finding herself shaking again, "Promise me. A-Alright? D-Don't hurt...Don't hurt over me.Please, Sodalite. You can do that, right?"

"It sounds like I missed a little bit of excitement then, good. I'm glad Melanite is okay though. Did Bloodstone and Aqua decide on anything while I was gone?" Spinel asked. She was eager to get this truce out of the way so they could start doing whatever it was they were going to do.

Just as Evenkite did to her, Sodalite held the smaller gem tightly, as if anchoring and holding her down to the world. She could tell that Evenkite was having a couple problems at the moment, and she needed someone to keep her grounded. Sodalite, while she probably wasn't a first choice in her own current state, was the only one around, and believed herself to be the only one that could help or aid Evenkite during this time. As she felt Evenkite shaking, Sodalite did everything in her power to hold her still.

She was right. She still had yet to promise anything, but the promise that Evenkite asked of her was one that was already too late. She had already hurt herself over the ordeal that happened on Bloodstone's ship, but she had to be able to fix herself starting now. She needed to forgive herself for all of the foolish things that she had done in the past. There was no way that she could know it all, despite how much she wanted too, and she just had to prepare herself for the words and forgive herself for things that she had no actual control over. "I promise, Eve... I promise that I will holding myself to impossible things, that I won't hurt myself over this anymore, that you'll always have an obsessive blue companion with swords to help you when you need to reach the second shelf or higher." She smiled to herself. She was doing her best to lighten the mood, to create a light in the middle of the tunnel so they could continue navigating and eventually get to the end.

Hearing Mars answer her question in such a depressed state failed to ease the spy's worries. She followed after him and walked next to him as they headed back for the RV. She saw how he flinched and scratched at the new eyepatch. She was silent as she walked with him, understanding what he was feeling, considering what he had said to Bloodstone and Aquamarine earlier. When they entered the town, she looked around and saw that there were still people out and about, and the street lights were on. She looked around, trying to figure out what she could do get Mars' mind off of the memories or voices that were bothering him. As they continued on their way to the RV, and idea came to her. She had learned how to play the violin for a previous mission (where she pretended to be part of an orchestra in order to infiltrate a certain area). She suggested to Mars, "Hey, Mars. Would you be interested in listening to some music when we get back? I can play the violin, and it's been a while since I've had anyone around to listen,"

@Raijinslayer



Carnelian reached the temple and she saw that Aquamarine had turned to look at her. She gave a smile to the other gems that were in the temple, as well to Emerald and Reggie. She looked to Aquamarine when she apologized, and Carnelian answered her "It's alright. I understand. I would appreciate having a room, and I think my questions can wait for a later time," In all honesty, Carnelian couldn't blame Aquamarine after having to deal with two indignant and brazen brutes such as themselves. She felt bad for asking for a room, but she really had nowhere else to go.

She looked to the other gems that were in the area, and she greeted them, with a graceful bow "It's nice to meet you all,"

@Akayaofthemoon
@Raijinslayer
@21308
@Saarebas

"It's... good to meet you too?" Spinel said. Had she ever seen this gem before? Clearly she'd missed more than she realized. "I'm Spinel, by the way. I've been here from the start but it's understandable that you haven't seen much of me, I mostly stay in my room."

Reggie waited outside of the door, wondering what Eve and the other blue gem were talking about. As he waited, a nervous tapping began to over take the movements of his feet, beating out a fast rhythm against the floor as the idleness of the moment turned thoughts towards his actions in town. The guilt was plaguing his conscious something greatly, and the fact that if Eve ever found out it'd be a moment of great shame for him also was lingering at the fringes of his mind, never present enough to appear on his face, but just enough so that any kind of stillness immediately brought them to the forefront of his mind. As gems moved in and out, he was kind of lost in his own little world, not really paying attention to much until he felt as if someone was talking to him.

Looking up, he saw another gem, one that he'd never seen before, bowing to the group. After going through the half-conversations that he could remember vaguely hearing, he decided to walk away from the door, letting the two have their privacy and reunion, to introduce himself to the newer gem. Seeing her graceful mannerisms brought forth an urge in him to respond in kind, if only to further distance and delude himself from the reality of what he had just done. Reaching down to take the gem's hand, he gave it a gentlemanly kiss, barely brushing his lips against it, as he offered his own regal bow. Clad in his jade armor, his raven-haired locks cascading down to his shoulders to frame his distinguished and clean shaven face, he looked like the picture perfect representation of a gallant knight addressing a noble lady. As he rose from his bow, his deep green eyes seemed to shine with a regal countenance that was pleasantly at odds with his roguish smile.

"A pleasure to meet you too. My name is Reginald Alexander Dorvain, but you can just call me Reggie, it's what everyone else does. Speaking of names, what's your's, if you don't mind me asking?" And with that, the illusion would hopefully be broken, as he switched back to his more laid back personality. Along with the impulsive urge to respond to elegance with elegance, beaten into him as a child by his mother and instructors, he also was curious to see if gems could succumb to such flattery. Spending time with gems, he found it difficult to find much difference between them and humans besides the obvious ones, and had been hoping to conduct a few social experiments to test them out. However, such experiments didn't seem likely to work on Kirk and Joan, and Eve was currently going through some stuff and he'd rather not mess with her had while she was grieving. But now that he was around other gems, he could try and test tyheir reactions to see if their was anything common amongst them, the newborns making for a better testing group anyway since they didn't have the uncountable years of experience to change the results. Of course, he didn't expect any correlations in the first place, to be honest, but his curiosity wouldn't allow him to not to at least allow him to try it out.



Mars followed behind Candice in silence, keeping his eyes down towards the ground as he did so. Every time he looked up, the people around would seem to be watching him, their forms slowly fading away to show the wispy outlines of dead gems smiling an unnerving smile towards the tall gem, cold, dead eyes never leaving his form as the faint whispers dragged their way across his mind like a sharp clawed drawn lightly against stone, not enough force to leave a mark, but just enough to let it's presence be known. Every time he felt that he might lose himself to the voices and visions, he reached up to his eyepatch, the feeling of the fabric against him bringing a sense of peace, however temporary, to the tortured gem for reasons he did not know.

When Candice suggested to him that they listen to music once they get to the RV, Mars gave a confused nod, not quite sure what music was, nor this violin thing she spoke of. But he could tell that Candice seemed to be out off by his current behavior, and was trying to help. Whether or not she could, he didn't know, but he was just glad to have anyone with him right now. As it was, he felt as if his being was being corroded away, slowly but surely. When they arrived at the RV, Mars would take a seat inside and await the performance.

@Guardian Angel Haruki

Aquamarine was a bit startled by Emerald's question, thinking she had been hiding what she had been feeling earlier pretty well but apparently not as well as she had hope. It wasn't always helpful to have your emotions written easily for all to see, for situations and reasons just like this one but that couldn't be helped for it was just who she was. She gave a soft sigh, a weak smile upon her lips as she answered his question as best she could without going into great detail."I'll be fine, please don't worry. Bloodstone just knows how to hit my buttons is all and having it done today of all days...I just need some time is all." her voice soft and showing the sadness that was eating at her insides. That being said she looked to their newest Gem, happy to have another with them even after all that Carnelian had seen of her which was probably a complete mess."I promise that you will have any questions you desire answered upon my return and I will help you make a room with the magical Temple door if someone else doesn't show you first."

She prepared herself to leave, stopping for a second as Spinel returned back out into the main room. She was about to greet the other gem when she felt like freezing as the question of the Truce came out. She was not ready to speak of it and right now it stirred to many emotions. She knew it wasn't fair but Aqua took this moment when Spinel was distracted with Carnelian to slip away from the Temple. She needed the peace and the loneliness for awhile because she didn't need to upset the others or worry them with her own grief...her own hurt.

Her feet did the walking for her, no place in mind or thoughts on a direction as they just continued on a leisurely stroll through the night of moonlight sky and glittering stars. Aquamarine knew that she shouldn't care about Blood's words, HomeWorld viewed her the same way so why wouldn't Blood but...HomeWorld had never given her a chance or seen something in her like Blood had at some point in time. What had he seen? Did he not see it anymore? Did he regret ever having her by his side? Did he regret things he had shown her or taught her? That was probably a yes but it didn't make it any less real or less hurtful. A sigh left her as she raked her fingers slightly through her hair before taking a look at her surrounding for the first time since she had set foot out of the Temple. The lake shimmered with light, the image of the twinkling starry night reflecting in its inky depths with only the gentle breeze to distort the image since there was no one around at the moment but herself who could do that. She sat on the dock, her feet hovering over the water as she looked at her reflection with a small frown and trying to push away the feeling of tears that wanted to rise. Would a Truce really be all that great? She didn't know. Would they all leave and go with Blood eventually? She wouldn't stop them if they did but it would leave her with more scars, ones deeper than imaginable...joining ones that were already there. What was right? What was wrong? She didn't know and she didn't trust but now if she said no to Blood's request it would not be because of what the others wanted but because she wanted too which wasn't right but...she couldn't face that right now...maybe another day...maybe another moment...

Her mind felt like her worse enemy at the moment and it was frustrating her to no end. She kicked at the water below her feet violently, letting the water splash and ripple as she felt ready to scream. She stood up and paced a bit, stopping after some time had past before taking a deep breath to regain some calm. She moved back over to the edge of the wooden dock and moved one of her feet out, hovering the single foot above the water and closing her eyes to relax as ice began to build over the spot just under it before she stepped fully down. The small spot of ice spreading out till the whole lake was frozen over enough to support her weight. Aquamarine slowly swayed as if music were playing before she began to skate, pushing off to glide gracefully on the ice and dancing to a beat only she could hear. She danced and moved the same way she had so many times before, not caring or worrying about anything around her or even in her own mind. She just let herself be, jumping, twirling, bending and moving with no judgements or thoughts on what needed to be done. In this moment she was free to have fun and just be free. No HomeWorld, no war, no conflict, no past, no future. Only the present and this moment. For now that would be enough because reality would come back soon, it always did and she would face it in do time as she always did. It just felt nice to have a weight off her shoulders for a moment.

Chromite left the weapons room after completing the inspection she'd been doing. It was little more than busywork, but Chromite preferred to be busy. She walked into the halls and saw someone she didn't recognize. "I don't believe we've met, are you a new recruit of Commander Bloosstone's?"

"I'm not sure actually," Zircon responded to Spinel while slightly scratching her face briefly. "If they have, then it wasn't in here. I don't think we've gotten anyone else's vote on it, either, yet." Now that it was brought back up, Zircon started to wonder about the status of the truce that is possible to happen herself. But it seems at this rate, some waiting would have to be done. And when you're mixing Zircon with waiting...well actually, that usually depends. "And I'm Zircon," Zircon introduced herself to Carnelian after hearing some name exchanging. The new gem had gotten to greeting before Zircon could mention her to Spinel as a part of the filling her in, which proved convenient. "Pleased to meet you," Zircon gave off a small friendly smile.

Hands shoved inside of his pockets, Soapstone continued to wander around the desolate halls of the ship. The entire ship seemed to be completely void of life, his footsteps echoing through the unused halls. "Bloodstone wasn't kidding when he said that this place didn't have too many members," Soapstone muttered, "This ship could most likely hold hundreds of lifeforms with ease! I wonder what happened to get the numbers down so low." The gem kicked his foot across the floor, his mind trying to figure something out as he was immensely bored. The Lab was out of the question, he didn't want to spend too much time with Bloodstone and it seemed futile to go to a place where he couldn't interact with any type of object. Storage sounded mildly interesting, but he shall experiment with those body enhancers after he shall discover more things about his body. Finally, the barracks sounded dreadful. Why would he ever want to fight? Soapstone knew in a fight that he would be the first one to go down, he would rather stay in the back and let the muscle do what they are supposed to do while he shall do something safe, far away from fights. Soapstone shrugged to himself, adjusting his goggles once again before speaking to himself, "Maybe another walk around the ship will allow me to make some clear decisions."

Halfway through his silent walk, the hallways seemed to echo from another source. Soapstone perked up, it seemed that there was someone close to his proximity, was it that Bloodstone? Maybe... Maybe it could have been that other colleague that he mentioned, Chromite? Was that their name? Deep in thought, scouring his mind for a proper diagnosis of the situation, Chromite managed to find him. An unfamiliar voice pierced his ears, breaking away from his thoughts it seemed to be latter, and it was quite surprising that this gem didn't know who he was, doesn't the leader tell their soldiers about new arrivals? He mentally shrugged to himself, it just meant that he had to talk just a bit more than he would have liked to, talking to strangers was always a drag. "Mutual Beneficiaries," Soapstone quickly corrected to the confused Chromite, "I shall only be staying until I learn more about this place and the planet below us, and in service I shall follow his command... If I feel like it."

Soon the two of them reached the RV, and while Mars looked for a seat, she took out the hidden violin case and opened it to show the Stradivarius violin and bow. She took it out and looked to Mars with a small smile on his face. What kind of music would he like...? Candice thought about it and she figured, judging from his earlier appearance, that he may like energetic and fast paced songs. She showed Mars the violin, letting him know what it was, and she commented "I think you may like this song. It's called Roundtable Rival," Without any further delay, she placed the violin under her chin and readied her bow before beginning to play with rapid expertise. The RV was thankfully large enough for the sound to not be overbearing on the ears as she played on, trying to banish the voices that plagued Mars' mind. She enjoyed playing the violin, and it showed as a smile slowly but surely appeared on her face.

After the song was over, she lowered her violin and bow and looked to Mars to see how he was doing, whether or not the music got rid of the voices within Mars' mind, and whether he wanted her to play more music or not. She hoped that her violin did at least a little good.

@Raijinslayer



Carnelian nodded to Spinel and Zircon, before looking to Reggie as he introduced himself like a gentleman would. She blushed a bit as he brushed his lips onto her hand and she held her fan up in front of her face, with her free hand, once again, hiding the smile and blush as she commented "Well, aren't you the sweetest human I've met today! As Aquamarine has stated earlier, I am Carnelian," She blinked as she noticed that this human wore clothes and armor different from Candice's clothes.

She looked to Spinel and Zircon and she greeted "Spinel and Zircon, I'm so glad to finally meet some other nice gems such as yourselves! You have no idea how brutish two of the gems I've met today have been," She then waved the possible topic aside and she continued realizing a much more important matter to address, since Aquamarine wasn't here, "Anyways, how does one obtain a room?"

At first, Mars was confused as Canduce pulled out the rather cumbersome looking thing, wondering what such a large thing was supposed to do. Then she ran the blade across the strings and made it sing. The energy and pace of the music, it's vibrant vitality, it all seemed to flow into him, his eyes glittering to life as a resurgence of spirit burst into his soul. He couldn't keep himself still, running outside and letting the music flow through him like wildfire. His movement matched the beat of the song, having a style similar to that of breakdancing as he seemed to fly across the ground with his erratic, yet purposeful moves.

The air was filled with laughter as Mars let go himself, his form taking on a shimmering glow as his hair, skin, and eyes regained their varied amounts of colors, all seeming to glow brightly as if they might almost explode. As the music finished, Mars initiated a crazy head-spin, before launching himself into the air and landing with a crash into the ground. His breathing was heavy as he picked himself up, his trademark from back on his face again in full force.

"That. . . was . . . AWESOME!"

@Guardian Angel Haruki

As time passed, not much had changed for the gems. They had managed to settle their problems and mend their hearts but other than that it was business as usual. Then it all changed on that one day where humans dress up and prance around as creatures of the night, for none of them knew the truth of this holiday's fun. Sadly, it's all fun and games until a cluster wrecks a town.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Approximately one week later; Halloween Morning ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bloodstone had been caught up in his thoughts the whole week and hadn't paid much attention to Soapstone. Not teaching him a thing and hoping that Chromite would keep the newborn company. As the sun rose, Blood searched the area for any new gems and found something much worse. "Two Corrupted Gem-Beasts following a Class 3 Cluster? They're learning how to strategize battles and work together. This is a huge breakthrough in my research! Oh Gods, but it's horrible for the Earthen Gems. I must warn them before they get any closer to town, they're too small to distinguish from an evil beast and an amazing costume." Bloodstone stood up and thought of something even worse... Do they even know about Halloween?!

Bloodstone quickly rushed towards the warp pad and called out to Chromite, "Keep an eye on Soapstone... And don't let him leave her no matter what." Blood warped to the forest pad and rushed towards the Temple and managed to get there by 10:00 A.M. He began banging on the Temple's doors hoping someone would open up for him.

"Guys, I know you don't like me but answer the door! You guys are in danger! Open up... Please! Let me in before it's too late!"

Well, today was the day. It was a thing he had never heard of, a "holiday", he had heard. He was actually looking forward to something that he didn't know about. His thoughts were disrupted by a knock and a muffled voice. He looked over his shoulder to whoever happened to be in the vicinity and got up. "I'll see who that is." He walked over to the door, still somewhat groggy, and opened it. Oh, fantastic. "Oh. Hi, Bloodstone." He said, with a mix of disappointment and disdain. "Come in."

The week had flown by faster than she thought would have been possible but it was much easier to look forward to Halloween than it was too focus on all that had happened on that day of chaos. She had been avoiding the topic of Bloodstone and anything to do with the truce since it still hit a sour cord and it was something she just couldn't handle yet. She knew that Blood was who he was and Home World views weren't going to change but it didn't hurt less to hear them. It made her doubt herself and how far she had come. Today though wasn't a day to grieve or think of the negatives, they would have fun and join their human friends in their celebration of their holiday. As it was, Aqua had already decorated the Temple's main room with the help of Johnny, Gilles and Spinel's instructions and advice.

At the moment she had just finished making preparations for her costume later that evening, deciding it would be amusing to look as humans do when in her costume. She was curious to what she would look like and also it was a little bit entertaining to think of her human friends reactions (even others period) or at least she hoped so. Body painting was...difficult and the hair dye thing had been slow but at least it was temporary and ready for later that night. Aqua was happily sitting in the main room with a book, sporting her finally dry black hair and human colored skin that she was careful not to smudge since the first time had been a pain to apply.

Aqua glanced up from her book, not catching the noise from the door as she had been so zoned into the written words or at least that was until Emerald spoke about seeing who it was. It was then that she realized that he was right about a muffled voice which made her a bit curious and she straightened up a bit more from her leaned back position on the couch. It wasn't until she heard Bloodstone's name that she froze a bit, glancing at the door behind her and wondering if she still had time to go into it without being noticed. She sighed, shaking her head as she would not run or duck away whenever the other Gem was around and waited for Blood to enter upon Emerald's invitation.
"Morning Bloodstone, to what do we owe such a visit?"

Throughout the week, Candice has been vigilant in her duty on her mission to keep an eye and ear on Mohs Town and the alien humanoid gems, as well as help teach Mars various subjects, set ground rules (she even attempted to clarify that fighting wasn't okay, unless he was protecting someone, or if there were rules in place that ensured everyone's safety), and about the holiday that was taking place today: Halloween. She dutifully sent reports to the General every night while Mars was unaware. To her dismay however, she had also learned about Reginald Dorvain's crime and his use of alien technology to do so. However, another agent informed her that her father had taken the liberty to have a word with him in person when he got the chance.

Apparently, her father decided to use the crime as leverage. If Reginald helped the government by getting the alien technology (including weapons) and handing them over to them, then the incident would be kept quiet (and as an added bonus, they would find and apprehend the people who were responsible for Reginald's parents' death).

However, she was not prepared for what was going to happen this morning...

As she was checking on Mohs Town through the cameras as usual, she got a phone call on her cell phone from another agent. She answered professionally, "Agent Ghoste,"

"Oh man! Oh man! Oh man! This looks bad, Agent! You gotta do something!" The panicked computer agent cried from the other side. Candice asked "What? What's going on?"

"Something is heading towards Mohs Town! Something HUGE!!! Our satellites picked up the image! I-It's blurry, but still-Y-You should look at this!"

Soon Candice received the picture on her computer and after studying the blurry image, and she swore under her breath and bit her thumbnail. Soon her father spoke up on the other end
"Agent, I trust you know what to do. Eliminate it! COMPLETELY! Do you understand Agent? The lives of Mohs Town are in your hands,"

Candice nodded and answered "Understood, Sir! I'm on my way,"

The General hung up without a word, and it didn't take her long to close her laptop, securing its contents from Mars, and gathering her hidden weapons and gear. With her black spy suit on, she told Mars to either stay in the RV, or to just head to town ("Don't worry, I'll be there soon"), before she hurried out of the RV, and headed out for where the large creature was. She was going to fight it, all by herself, and destroy its gem core, if it had gem core. She knew that it wasn't going to be easy, but she would be damned if she didn't do her job to protect the people of Mohs Town.



Carnelian was glad to hear that today was a holiday and that there will be a celebration among the humans today. After some suggestions, Carnelian had decided to wear a much more elegant kimono, with flowers pinning up her hair, and a butterfly mask over her eyes. She was trying to dress up as Madame Butterfly, as one of the human men suggested to her. She exited her room to see Emerald allow Bloodstone entrance into the temple. She widened her eyes and she asked in shock "Emerald! Dahling! Why did you let him in?!" She looked to Bloodstone with a slight glare, and before Aquamarine spoke to him, she humphed at Bloodstone, "You have some nerve showing your face around here...sweetheart" She had her fan up in front of her face while Aquamarine asked her question to Bloodsource. Just when Aquamarine seemed to be doing better, Bloodstone just had to show up.

@Guardian Angel HarukiEmerald listened to what Carnelian had said, the tones reminding him of....well, himself. It was rather strange for him to talk to Bloodstone in a....civil manner, but he had other things on his mind. He walked away from the door and sat down, leaning against the wall. "To be honest, Carnelian, I honestly still find him a pain, but I've sort of given up on the hope that he'll just go away, what with everything that's happened because of him." He had a sort of strained chuckle, trying to handle the mix of anxiety, confusion, anticipation, and Bloodstone being here. Why does it seem like this always happens on a good day?

Spinel walked out into the main area after hearing the commotion. She would have said something, but Aquamarine and Emerald had already said anything she could have thought of to say. Instead, Spinel decided her best course of action was to... be Spinel. She stuck to the corner, trying to remain inconspicuous.