[IC] Crystal Universe

[EnterTheHero]

Vert leaned away from the Red Gem Lady who approached- not out of any antisocial tendency, but because she was still sparking up a storm like a short green lightning rod. She wasn't sure how dangerous she was to her fellow Gems in this state.

Really wish I'd decided to stay awake after...

...She stopped her train of thought before it became too self-destructive, and turned her head toward Red Lady.

"Erm... no, thank you. I'm fine. I've been hurt worse than that before. You... should probably keep your distance. This," she said, gesturing to the spark storm around her, "isn't for show."

She floated over toward the tall blue Gem, still keeping her distance. "I'm going with you. I need someone to teach me how to not light up like Polaris every time I get mildly excited, and Blood Clot over there has earned my undying hatred for reasons that should be pretty apparent to anyone who's spent 30 seconds with him. You're the best option both out of process of elimination and the fact that you don't want to wrap your hands around my throat or... whatever."

She paused, staying silent for the next few seconds, before turning her head toward Aquamarine. "You seem nice. And you're an enemy to Homeworld. That's a good-enough reason to side with you in my book. So... I'll follow you wherever it is you want me to follow."

[Spinna]

Spinel

Things had started to make more sense to Spinel, little by little. Like regaining your memory after waking up in an unfamiliar place, Spinel's mission became more clear as time went on. She wasn't sure why, but she knew upon awakening that her primary mission was to contact her supervisor and await further orders. That hadn't gone as smoothly as planned, as neither Bloodstone nor Aquamarine seemed to fully know what to do with her, but for now, things were satisfactory. She had found someone who had asserted themselves as an acceptable leader, despite having some clear flaws from a tactical perspective of things.

Spinel analyzed Aquamarine's expression. A smile, Spinel was fairly positive that those were meant to indicate approval. "That should make things more favorable for both of us, Aquamarine, thank you. Since you're my supervisor, I believe it would be appropriate for me to ask what kind of work you intend to have me doing, as I don't have any information on what sort of work I was made for. Is being protected by you a part of my job?"

Not a moment after Spinel had finished speaking, a large brown mass came out of nowhere and knocked her to the ground. An alarm went off in her head, prompting her to defend herself in some way, but she didn't know how. Spinel meekly held her arms out, but to no avail. She fell helplessly to the ground. A few seconds passed, she was neither dead nor experiencing any type of bodily harm. She gazed at the being as it held onto her with no apparent intentions of letting her go, analyzing it's every feature, as well as it's behavior. Spinel spoke, as monotone as ever: "By my readings, you are behaving as though you've been alerted to some kind of imminent danger, but I don't see any threats nearby. If you're trying to make me aware of something, I'm afraid I don't understand. Please remove yourself and explain what you're trying to do."

@Akayaofthemoon@Loony

[Loony]

"By my readings, you are behaving as though you've been alerted to some kind of imminent danger, but I don't see any threats nearby. If you're trying to make me aware of something, I'm afraid I don't understand. Please remove yourself and explain what you're trying to do."

Blinking, the gem fell back, head still dipped in apology. A thought passed by as a moment did. They lay down in front of the strange white being with their elbows to the side and legs tucked in, much in the manner that a dog might, trying to level their eyes and show the staring crowd that they meant no harm.

Removing themself was easy enough. Explaining was going to be a problem.

They understood her, but they doubted she could do the same. And even if they could, what would they say? How could they explain that which they themself could not understand? What sort of insanity would their words, were they able to speak them, bring to their minds? Dead but alive. Dead yet alive. It was confusing, oh so confusing, and the eyes were still on them. A tiny chirp was let out in a sorry attempt to speak before slamming a fist down on the floor in frustration. Their forehead quickly followed, much more gently, in defeat.

Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. They'd just have to hope the watchers weren't of ill will.

[Raijinslayer]

Reggie

Reggie's little freak-out, while dramatic, was short-lived as he slowly came back into consciousness. Eyes creeping open, his first thought was why the world seemed to be upside down, and that wasn't his but in front of him. Then, after a short mini-freak out in his head about being kidnapped, he did a quick process of elimination to figure out what likely happened, craning his head up slightly, he saw that Maeve and Carmen were making way towards some small vehicle.

Uhh, guys. . . I'm good now. Can you please out me down?"

[Spinna]

Now the she was free from the mysterious creature's grasp, Spinel pulled herself to her feet and examined them. Her enormous yellow eyes showing no change in expression, her unwavering stare lasted for several minutes. Spinel focused all her energy into analyzing the new being, soaking up every last bit of visual information she could, unaware that this could possibly be intimidating to the creature. She prepared to speak only when she felt she'd learned enough.

"I'll take that to mean that you can't speak then." she finally responded. "Although, it does appears that you can understand me, yes? That is good, we have a baseline at least. You appear to have unusual size and strength, and your frontal appendages seem well-suited for digging, so why were you in such a hurry to leave the ground? Was my assessment correct, and there is something dangerous down there, or are you just confused?" Spinel took a step toward the creature, slowly so as not to startle it further, and reached out toward its face to move its hair out of the way. "So, you do have eyes. Considering your apparent function I wasn't sure if you needed them. Perhaps the surface is too bright for you? Are you experiencing some form of sensory overload? Do you need help finding your way back underground?"

@Loony

[Loony]

@Spinna

Why such a hurry to leave the ground?
This hardly seemed like a question. Why would they stay underground? They couldn't move, and that was bad. They were supposed to be able to move. It was unfamiliar. Unfamiliar meant unknown, and nothing was scarier than that.

Were they confused? Very. But they were more than certain that this being was as well, because they had no intention of going back down.

After the initial shock of her parting their hair, they flinched, backed up on their haunches from the strange being, barring their teeth. With a slight twitch, they bounded towards the highest rock nearby, gesturing with their head and looking anywhere but down. Hopefully she got the message.

[Kronshi]

It was quite entertaining, watching the young, uneducated, weakling sprawl her way into the front only to disappear into the shadows again. Big talk, but no actions. At first, Blood assumed these two may be difficult to recruit with their jumpy yet cautious nature only for the Marra Mamba to spout out some very useful information to him. First, there was still at least one Marra Mamba active and alive. Secondly, everything he knew was from first-hand experience and had been taught nothing. This was great news indeed, it gave Blood a distinct advantage and allowed him a negotiable factor in this discussion. "Well, it is certainly a pleasure to meet you both. A Marra Mamba who still lives and without a.. well, I shouldn't say since you don't have one. May trigger some negative effects. Plus, a Topaz. Almost as rare as the one who protects her based off of her color. Two very special rarities, especially if my assumptions of the Topaz are correct. A masculine variant of the previously thought-to-be extinct Marras and a Pale Topaz, possibly Gen: 1 since you came out in an abandoned quadrant of the Kindergarten. I can only imagine the powers locked away in those gems of yours." Bloodstone excitedly looked at the two, sure they were both going to be difficult to manage but the possibilities that they could bring. He noticed something though, they were still confused. Neither knew anything about gem culture and he probably just spouted gibberish to them.

Bloodstone calmed himself down a little and straightened his posture before continuing, there were more important things that needed to be said. "I apologize, I get excitable and long-winded at times. I would explain everything I just said but that speech would be ten times as long. Either way, I came here to attempt to recruit the newborn to my cause but recruiting a Marra is no small feat either. If you two wish to learn about gem culture, warps, training arenas, your powers, your weapons, fusion, etc. then I'd be happy to take you two aboard my ship and teach you anything and everything you ask and if at any time you feel like leaving, just let me or Chromite know and we will happily send you back down here to Earth." Bloodstone said with a multitude of hand movements and a final gesture towards his knight at the end of it all. Blood extended his hand out toward the Marra Mamba, hoping for this agreement to follow through. "I apologize if this is a lot to take in all at once but I'm a very busy gem. OF course I can always make time for questions if you have any that need answered before fully agreeing to join me."

[Raijinslayer]

Marra Mamba

Mars' face stayed rather neutral as the red gem spoke, though his eyes narrowed a bit as Blood mentioned that it was surprising he was alive, and that he was without something crucial. He wondered what the strange gem meant by that but quickly put it aside for now, focusing on the rest of what they were saying. The more he got 'excited', the less Mars liked him, and he already held some innate bias against them for reasons he couldn't quite explain. It was a gut feeling that this guy was bad news, and certainly not to be trusted.

When he offered to take them up to the ship, Mars posture straightened slightly. That was a situation that he didn't want to happen, under any circumstances, as it would leave him in enemy territory with little to no chance of reinforcement or rescue if things went sour. He looked down at Blood's hand, then back up at its owner. He was acting nice and friendly, but Mars didn't forget a simple thing. A name had yet to be given, nor was the matter that Mars asked even addressed. While it could be put down against his manners, Mars felt that this slip-up told him more about the gem's true character than any of the pleasantries he laid at their feet.

"While I appreciate the offer, I'm afraid that Topaz and I will have to decline at this time. While you do seem knowledgeable about all this Gem stuff, we don't know anything about you and, frankly, I can't say that I'm particularly interested in learning about it. I've gone quite some time without the knowledge, so I don't see the point in getting it now."

@Kronshi
@Veiled Angel
@Guardian Angel Haruki
@Spinna

[BrassOtter]

"Yeah, totally, I'd be mortified if something happened." Carmen replied hurriedly, distracted with trying to fish his keys out of his pocket while he jogged toward his rickshaw, at the same time trying to make sure he didn't drop Reggie. He really wasn't used to playing 'hero' like this, but if he got some appreciation for saving the son of one of the most powerful men on the planet, he was damn well going to try. Lucky for him, social grace's antithesis was quick to awaken, and Carmen stopped just long enough to set him down, urgently motioning to his rickshaw.

"Good, welcome back to the real world, hope your dreams weren't as awkward as the real thing." The albino called, jumping into the driver's seat. With speed gained through weeks of practice, Carmen slid into place, flicked the keys into the ignition, revved the engine, and lit off a few of the special effects. A gout of flame shot from the back of the rickshaw, the undercarriage lights flared to full brightness, casting a white glow beneath the jet-black buggy, and the rear passenger doors swung open automatically.

"I'm only gonna say this once; Get in, buckle up, and hold on tight!" Carmen shouted. He turned his attention back to the console of the rickshaw and flicked his mask back into place. After making sure the pipes for more flame had cooled and the emergency smoke screen was primed, Carmen glanced in the rear-view to make sure Maeve and Reggie had done as instructed. Once the two were properly seated, Carmen reached down and flicked the modest sound system to max, revved the finely-tuned sports bike engine between his passengers, and threw the rickshaw into drive, flooring it back towards Mohs Town.

@Raijinslayer @Akayaofthemoon

[Spinna]

Chromite

Chromite remained mostly silent as Bloodstone's conversations with the other gems continued. She stayed nonchalant upon seeing the inexperienced gem threaten her commander, knowing full well that she couldn't make good on it. Even Chromite was a little bit taken aback by Bloodstone's unusually enthusiastic reaction, although true to form, she didn't show it. She remained stone-faced throughout the conversation. It was clear Bloodstone was very interested in trying to convince these gems to join them, and even though people skills weren't really Chromite's area of expertise, she felt that she should at least try. Commander Bloodstone had, after all, encouraged her to try to become more well-rounded in the past, and this seemed like a perfect opportunity even if it wasn't what Chromites were for.

"I suppose this is where I come in, if nobody has any objections." Chromite interjected. She took a step forward so as to make her presence known and blend in with the background less. Her presence was the complete opposite of Commander Bloodstone's in this situation: straightforward and reticent, in contrast to her Commander's excitement. "If I may be so bold as to suggest, I think you should at least see what the Commander has to offer before turning him down. Living for so long on this planet may not have ever exposed you to significant danger, or perhaps you're just incredibly lucky, but I guarantee you, you're only putting yourself at risk by not letting us help you. At some point, all gems have to face situations that I'd wager you're ill-equipped to handle if you've never had any proper training from Homeworld. In addition, it appears that your friend here is very young, considering she doesn't even seem able to summon her weapon yet. If you care about your safety and hers, you owe it to yourselves to come with us, at least for the time being."

Chromite hoped she had done the right thing and that this wouldn't frighten them off, but Bloodstone's cordial style wasn't getting them anywhere, and the larger gem seemed to think that he was hiding something. At the very least she'd be able to say she tried, and it seemed like this situation was already going south with or without her intervention. As she awaited a response, her thoughts briefly went to Bixbite. Should Chromite have been concerned that Bixbite never showed up or answered her call, or was she just in one of her moods?

@Raijinslayer@Kronshi@Veiled Angel@Akayaofthemoon

[pyroman]

It was not something Carnelian exactly wanted to do. Neither did Sodalite, but they both understood the important of fusion, and how it was going to help them in their mission.

She was extravagant, almost overdramatic in the way that she leaned back, resting the back of her left hand on her face as her right hand moved as far out as possible, a feigning look of pain or despair crosser her features. "Oh Dahling, if it must be me now, then we shall get it over with~"

She was a character. Sodalite groaned and took the woman's arm. She took a step back as far as she could, her arm fully extended like Carnelian's. She then pulled, and Carnelian was brought closer. Sodalite watched as her partner spun into her arms, the two quickly fusing with little time to spare. There was a possibility that rushing it like that might not even work for fusion, but it worked now, and that was all they they cared about now. They wasted little time. There was much to do, and so many asses that deserved punishment.

[Kronshi]

Bloodstone was taken aback by the audacity of this gem. First he completely denounces a search for knowledge and then denies the same for a newborn that he has no rights over. Not knowing something is ignorance, not willing to learn something, especially of importance, is true stupidity. Chromite made some fair points in a more calm manner than he did but she was still wrong about one thing. "Now Chromite, don't insult the man. Based off of his apparel, He clearly sides with the human military. I'm sure this Mars has seen quite a bit of danger, for a human. You must understand me Mars, humans can be quite fearsome to a lone gem but the forces to come are fearsome to even a gem-made army. With training from me and Chromite, the human militia you have dealt with will appear to be nothing to you and you may be able to defend yourself and everyone you care about from the Corruptions and the Clusters. Either way, you still have no say over this newborn. She knows you just as much as she knows me. She doesn't. When it comes to an authoritative perspective though, I have rights over her as the Commanding Official of Gem-Kind here on Earth." Bloodstone said all this with a calmer head and straighter posture. The initial excitement had left him.

"I won't force her to come though, she has to make her own decisions. Even if it happens to be running into town like a frightened pup," The Commandeer pointed to the pale yellow gem as she disappeared into the streets. Blood walked closer to Mars and made sure the gem's attention was still on him. "I'm sure she'll be fine. You should know though, Corruptions aren't very dangerous to humans, most humans don't even know about them, but they are attracted to high areas of gem activity. She isn't the only newborn to have formed recently. All the rest of them should be arriving with another gem who has some sort of base here in this town. All of those gems in one place with only a few that know how to fight a Corruption is the first step to a catastrophic event. Many things you have never seen will attack and our HomeWorld may decide to capture or slay all of those gems since it's such a large amount and wouldn't be a waste of resources. You NEED proper training if you want to protect the humans who are standing in the center of it all." With that, Bloodstone started to walk away. He was certain that if the gem wanted to join him, that Mars wouldn't have much trouble finding him with his eyes in the sky.

As he was walking away, there was a tremendous roar that came from the mountains that bordered the town. A large silhouette of a figure could be seen running down it's side, heading straight towards town. "Come on Chromite, let's leave this one to him since he is so sure of his capabilities. It may teach him just how much he needs us." Blood headed towards the town, he had two newborns to find.

@Raijinslayer@Spinna@pyroman@BrassOtter@rocketrobie2@SevenStormStyle