[IC] We Are the Crystal Gems

[Kronshi]

"May I remind you that the humans were a primitive race with no thoughts in their head, without copying us they wouldn't have the civilization they have now. As for the gems born here, they had no need to be protected, they are free to come to Home-World whenever they choose until they actively rebel. And I'm sorry if I didn't want to break my best..." Blood stepped for a second, "Partner, into pieces. We also don't seek perfection, each gem has a life they want to live, and they can choose what they want. Being someone who can bring help to Home-World is what I wanted. Those are my people, at least I didn't kill thousands of gems that were just trying to complete a job given to them by their planet. We were defending ourselves from you disorderly rebels. None of you didn't even stop to think why we needed this planet's resources. You didn't care to look at any reasoning, you just wanted to defend a race because they started to become similar to gems since they copied our technology." Bloodstone was obviously angered, "Look, the war between us is over, but I'm going to finish my mission. If any of you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them."

[21308]

Spinel listened closely to both Aquamarine's and Bloodstone's words. She was taken aback by how emotional Aquamarine got. Wha... what? Did she really care about anything they were talking about? For the most part not really, but it occurred to her that she did have some interest in hearing what she was created for. Having that one question answered would shed light on nearly everything that had been confusing her until this point. Nobody else seemed eager to ask any questions yet, and they seemed even less eager to be level-headed about this. "Why was I made?" she asked. Her expression was impossible to read, but her voice sounded apprehensive.

[pyroman]

Sodalite agreed with Emerald and only nodded. Now, her stance on who to join was cemented. Bloodstone was wrong about a single thing, though. The war was not over. Homeworld was still going to suck Earth dry of its resources. As long as they would keep trying to do that, then she would keep fighting. That was her truth. She took a glance at Spinel, thinking pensively about her question. He was silent for a moment, looking for the right words. "We were made for war." She answered her question. That was what she believed the core of it would be. She knew that if Homeworld hadn't lost so many years ago, all of them would be serving to do the same thing to other planets that they were trying to do to Earth. They might have had their own lives of sorts, but they would be loyal to homeworld, killing off planets to make more gems to kill off more planets and so forth. That was not a life she wanted to live.

[LizLegend]

Zircon opened her mouth to finally ask a question but then she heard a voice that made her react by standing up quickly facing towards him and put her right hand by her left side near her gem slightly hiding behind her jacket as if about to pull out a weapon. She also had one foot slightly back. Although, Zircon doesn't know if she could even get a weapon out right now. Let alone what weapon it would be. However she remained still in that stance trying to look on guard, maybe even confident. Apparently, this is Bloodstone. By the way Zircon reacted, just Bloodstone's voice sounded manipulative. Zircon couldn't find the better words to describe it, but suspicious is one of them for now. Zircon was annoyed at the situation but her expression remained calm and serious. As Bloodstone talked, Zircon made a slight glare at him back and forth while listening to the words being exchanged. She glances from Bloodstone, to Aquamarine, to Emerald, to Spinel, and to anyone who spoke words. She then looked to Sodalite who responded to Spinel's question, and then slowly looked back to Bloodstone, "That much is obvious," Zircon spoke in a half-monotone voice. "But honestly, that's the only reason. Am I right?" Zircon wanted to make sure if that's really the only reason they were all made. Internally, Zircon was leaning more towards one guess. But eh, you never know.

[Kronshi]

"No, not at all. None of you were ever meant to be soldiers, sure some of you were given extensive fighting capabilities but that was more of a just in case. You were made because the gem population is depleting, our planet is thriving but their are none of the correct resources are available to make new gems, but Earth has an abundance and could easily refertilize the land we killed. We don't want war machines, we want citizens that will keep the gem population going and may find a permanent solution one day. I chose to fight against this planet because I didn't want to see my people die out and Aqua felt the same way at some point but she decided to screw over her kind." Bloodstone looked at the three that had spoken up in turn, "You were made to help our race survive in whatever way you choose even if it doesn't include taking over planets, that was my choice but it doesn't have to be yours, no you were not made for war, you can be so much more than soldiers if it's what you want, and yes you were made for more, lots more, you have infinite possibilities as long as you don't kill a massive amount of your own kind like the woman standing before you, she slaughtered thousands that were simply following my orders and nothing more. We never outwardly attacked the rebels either, they attacked our stations and we defended until about 1000 years before the end of the war which is when I have up on the rebels and decided to truly fight back." Bloodstone looked towards Aquamarine, "If it was between any of you or humans, I would pick my own kind but Aqua here has already shown who she would choose."

[HaltingBlooper]

Emerald glared at Bloodstone. Everything this guy said sounded like absolute bullshit. And judging from the way the Kindergarten looked, it seemed like it had been "easily refertilized" in about....never. He honestly doubted if they could heal the land, and he knew that they wouldn't if they could. Not while any humans were alive. Also, he heavily doubted the attacking stations thing. How do you attack a station that you live in? Emerald really hated this guy and turned to Aquamarine. "Can we kill him? Everything he says sounds altered, exaggerated, or just plain made-up. He tried to shoot us with a giant death laser eye after trying to capture us, asks us to join 20 minutes after that, and tries to make it seem like we're the bad guys. It's REALLY ANNOYING!" Emerald turned back to Bloodstone and gave him the death stare.

[Akayaofthemoon]

"Re-fertilize? How was the Earth suppose to do that with Homeworld placing the gem deep underground where they had to suck in all the abundant resources and nutrition? There are thousands upon thousands of holes in the Kindergarten and more than one on Earth so think how much of the Earth was being destroy at one moment. All the life here on Earth gets the nutrients from the ground to thrive and continue! You are contradicting yourself with the gem population being depleted when we have many gem controlled planets that were functioning. We were doing just fine and the gems that were being made here were not normal almost all the time. The more the Kindergarten ran, the more the gems became corrupted and unable to form normal bodies or even think straight. What kind of life is that for them? What infinite possibilities were those gems given?! I saw what was happening and decided to take a stand. You forget that thousands of gems chose Rose's side too and you slaughtered just as many as me. I tried not to fight you and I got cut down because of it. We were on defense by asking you to leave or see to any sort of reason. Blame your rulers for not listen to Rose! The Kindergarten was destroyed by the gems made there. I choose a gem side to, I just decided to also protect a humans while they were just starting out life on a planet that belonged to them." Aquamarine shot back, standing her ground. She side glanced to Emerald, knowing how he felt in this current moment but even if they all came at him, Bloodstone would still win. He would be stronger than the past and she didn't know how much so anymore."That would not be wise to do Emerald though I know for your frustration.I don't condone killing him when he has not attacked."

[Loony]

"Emerald. Please. Let him talk. He's caused us a bit of trouble, yes, and I'm sure we're all taking his words with a little more than just one grain of salt -I know I certainly am, and I'm sure Bloodstone knows it too- but he's not doing anything to hurt us right now. There is no reason for us to attack in any manner, never mind go as far as to kill." Evenkite shot a glare at Emerald, the first time she had looked up at anybody ever since Bloodstone had arrived. The little gem seemed to have simply shrunken away once Bloodstone had appeared, as if she simply did not want to be there anymore, but now she was making her presence well known.

"Kill him," she continued, "Kill him? If I didn't know any better, I'd say that if anyone here was made for war, it was you. That's a little extreme, don't you think? Granted, not like the two of you," she paused to look at both Aquamarine and Bloodstone, "Have been much better, from the sound of it, anyways, but nonetheless."

Despite all the questions she wanted to ask -and it probably showed on her face- this was all she had said during the entire time, having backed away from the group as if mentally isolating herself wasn't enough to keep her thoughts in check. The whole ordeal had been sudden and more than enough to make Evenkite feel conflicted, especially with all the emotions flying around. More so than ever did she wish she could just not have anything to do with any of these gems, and she quite frankly was debating to simply leave and see how long she could go without being found. However, curiosity kept her sticking around.

[Kronshi]

"Aqua, you never knew what was truly going on. Gems, understand that what I tell you is no lie. I have been calm and have been trying to explain myself while still teaching you of yourselves. What has Aqua done to teach about your past or her own. She's angered because she knows that I'm right, Home-World was on the defense, that's why I fought and killed, she was attacking blindly at our bases of operations, that's why she killed. I'm not trying to win you over to my side just yet but I'm trying to give you the facts to make a choice that you can stick to, even if I don't like it." Bloodstone looked down at the little one with the big attitude, "Even after my outburst earlier you still stuck up for me, I respect that. Is there anything I can answer for you?"

[HaltingBlooper]

Emerald glared back at Bloodstone, a dark green angry blush forming. "She might've tried to tell us about ourselves if we had had any free time since we knew each other! Ever since we met, no, ever since we've existed, we've either been fighting spider robots or running away from spider robots or getting blasted by a giant eyeball, all of which you probably sent after us! You're the reason for something you're trying to use against us!" Emerald was shouting at this point, and pulled back to compose himself. He realized he had used the word "us", and realized he had begun thinking of them not as a bunch of random individuals, but a group. A team. Something that this "Bloodstone" had inadvertantly made, just by trying to capture them. He didn't think anyone would sway so easily towards his side, not after what he had put them through. As of now, 100% of the new ones' lives had been dealing with this one guy and the problems he brought. It seemed unlikely that anybody would join him to Emerald.

[pyroman]

Soadlite was not on the side of outright killing Bloodstone, but she did want justice. Emerald was right. He was most likely the one who had sent the eye and the robots after them, with the intent to kill them, and she was not going to let that go without consequence. Evenkite was also right. While he certainly had earned the right to be attacked on sigh, Bloodstone was currently doing nothing in terms of violence. He was simply talking to them, and while he did threaten Evenkite earlier, he had done no direct, physical harm to them. Evenkite's hair was cut, but that was debatable in terms on harm.

Neither of the two gems were truly evil or good, Sodalite had come to the conclusion. Both of them had killed several of their own kind in the name for what they believed in. Bloodstone wanted the prosperity of the Gems, at the expense of other worlds. Aquamarine wanted for the Gems to be stopped, so that no more planets would be run dry from the kindergartens. They saw themselves as the hero in the situation, and while she did understand that, Sodalite continued to side with the one who had been guiding her since her awakening into the world.

"Let them speak, Emerald." Sodalite spoke up finally. They were the heroes of their own stories, but history was written by the victors, and overlooked by the survivors. They saw the other as the evil, letting outsiders and newcomers like the group of Gems decide who they personally saw as the hero.

[Loony]

Standing up? For him? It took a great amount of effort to keep herself from laughing at the thought that this gem honestly believed she was sticking up for him. Other than a half-strangled snicker, she was doing a relatively good job, keeping her expression as passive as she could.

"Don't get the wrong idea, Bloodstone, sir. I am not speaking up for you, or her," she paused, gesturing to Aquamarine, "Or anyone else, for that matter. I am speaking up for common sense. If such a thing can even exist within such an argument. "

She refused to answer his question, because though she did indeed have many, she didn't want to further fuel any more of this argument. The whole argument seemed pointless to her: Neither sides were willing to consider the other side and simply thought of themselves as right, and quite frankly Evenkite wished to take no part of it. Besides, said questions were becoming jumbled up into an unintelligible mess, to the point in which Evenkite wasn't quite sure what it was she was trying to ask, or where to even begin. She was getting a headache, and now questioning whether it was worth -and even slightly regretting- speaking up at all. Hopefully if she stayed quiet for long enough, attention would be brought off her, and she could leave if need be.

You know they'll find you if you leave, right? If not Bloodstone, then Aquamarine.

At least you won't have to listen to this anymore?

Whatever the case. Stick around a little longer. Wait it out. Maybe something interesting will come up. And if not, leave.

[21308]

Spinel pondered what was being said, trying to comprehend it all as well as she could. Bloodstone had done his best to deflect Sodalite's and Zircon's accusations that they had all been created to be warriors and nothing more. She thought very hard on that. Spinel thought about everything she'd ever felt, which was nearly nothing. From the time of her birth, she'd had something like... Urges, that was perhaps the best word. She'd had something like a guiding instinct, but she'd never truly had feeling, the way a normal human or gem would. She was completely oblivious to that latter part though... or at least she would have been. She thought back to the moment when she and Aquamarine had fused, to the moment when they ultimately failed and Spinel was hit with a wave of Aquamarine's emotions. She couldn't have imagined being in more pain, and that event had temporarily made her unable to function.

Spinel thought more on Aquamrine's words. Corrupted... unable to think normally... Had Spinel been made that way on purpose? She wasn't interested in being Aquamarine's advocate right now, but she felt that she needed to voice this concern. "The way I was made, is that why I can't experience the same emotions the people around me seem to? Is that why sharing some of Aquamarine's emotions made my mind... break?"

[Kronshi]

Bloodstone listened to what everyone had to say and nodded, none of it was to be replied to, it was simply them giving their feelings on the subject.

"The way I was made, is that why I can't experience the same emotions the people around me seem to? Is that why sharing some of Aquamarine's emotions made my mind... break?"

This caught his attention, each gem was made different to give them different capabilities but without knowing what gem she was he couldn't truly answer that question. "Well, to properly answer that question, I would need to know your gem but I doubt you'd give me that honor." He then finally thought about the green one's words, he had attacked them bit they didn't truly know that. "Yes, I did and those things but let me explain why. The drones were sent to recover you, I didn't know how you would react to them and their honestly the only thing I had to send. Since they were attacked, they automatically switched to attack mode which is why they brought out those shocker things. As for the Red Eye, I couldn't lose your position and it let me find where you were at. I admit it probably caused some havoc but the gravity field destroying some buildings was worth it to me to find you. As for the laser, after you damaged its scanning systems I couldn't just retreat, it would make me look weak. And you tell me what kind of military commander is suppose to show weakness. I could have done much worse, I could havee shot three lasers or, you know, aim."

[Saarebas]

Amber had to admit he was a bit confused about this whole situation, having a horrid battle that took place thousands of years ago explained to you in a matter of moments can do that to a person. He couldn't help but rub his temples, could Gems even get headaches? Regardless if they could or not Amber felt a massive one coming on as the two older Gems went back and forth. "Rebels, Homeworld, Kindergartens, Gems... He groaned out loud, still rubbing his temples and his eyes closed. "Bloody Hell, who cares?!" Be blurted out as he threw his massive arms into the air. "Since I been alive I've been attacked by blighted spiders! Turned into a damn rock! And had a giant eye fire a bloody laser at me! And frankly my arse is tired of it!!" He said as he looked over the two Gems. He glared at Bloodstone. "I don't care if yo' are some bloody commander of a damn army, you shot a laser at me and right mucked half a town in the process!" He then looked to Aqua and his glare softened slightly. "And mum, I am really thankful for all the 'elp yo' gave me, but I didn't sign up for no war." He said in a rather serious tone. "Yo' two can spout all the 'istory you want, but as far as I am concerned it doesn't mean shite to me, forgive my language."

[21308]

Spinel acknowledged Bloodstone's question. She didn't really see why he'd be honored to know what type of gem she was, it wasn't exactly private. The only problem was that she wasn't entirely sure herself yet. She thought hard for a couple of seconds until she came up with a name, as she had seen the other gems do. "Spinel." she said. "I am a white spinel.

[Kronshi]

Blood looked towards the giant, "and I'm not asking you to join a war, I'm trying to give you the ability to make a choice." Blood then heard the white one's name, Spinel, White Spinel, that struck a chord and Blood smiled, "You know, Spinel's typically aren't white unless you remove all impurities. I designed you and removed all impurities. I saw how emotions destroyed so many gems and I wanted to create a gem that wouldn't have this internal conflict. I tried to make your gem pure. Looking back though, I probably caused more harm than good for you. I apologize."

[Raijinslayer]

Reggie had just been standing a little ways away from the group watching them all argue and talk about things that flew way over his head. While this was all interesting information, it was way too much and way too personal for him to feel comfortable entering the conversation, not that he'd been contributing much anyway. He was also worrying about his safety, as he saw the green gem pulling out a sword, he felt that things were very tense right now, and he wanted to leave before someone pushed the envelope and caused them all to start fighting each other with him caught in the middle. So he simply picked up his sports bag without a word and began walking off to anywhere but here. If Aqua wanted to see the Warp pad, she could find him later, though he wasn't quite sure if he should show her or not, since he didn't know what Bloodstone would do to him if he did.

That guy seems like he'd have no problem killing me if I prove to be too much of a nuisance, so it might be in my best interest not to piss him off by leading his ex straight to his door step.

[Akayaofthemoon]

Aquamarine tried to calm herself, regain her composure that had been thrown off after seeing Bloodstone once again and having to deal with a bickering fight that she hadn't asked for nor wanted to happen. This day seemed to go from bad to worse and though the younger gems were getting answers, it was clear that most of them were confused on all the conflicting information. She glanced around at the other Gems before longingly looking over her shoulder for but a split second, wanting to just quit the constant back and forth, just say 'Nope, I'm done' but she would never do that. Her attention quickly snapped to Amber as he spoke, realizing that his statement demanded a most immediate answer because they all needed to know war was not her intention.


"If there is one thing I want to make clear above all else, it's that I don't want or expect any of you to fight for me. From the beginning, since the moment we all met in the Kindergarten I have only made it my mission to help keep you safe from what I believed to be danger. I didn't want to leave you there with no help and even when the Spiderbots attacked, I stood by your sides to defend you. We came to Mohs Town for safety only to be met with more danger than the first attack by the same danger as before. Was I not right to at least be afraid of what could happen? Look at what did happen? Sugar coat it any way you want but innocent lives were hurt and maybe even taken and for what? So that weakness wasn't shown? So that Bloodstone could save face with Homeworld's higher ranking authorities? What if one of you had been hit? Johnny almost died because of the laser hitting town! I almost didn't make it in time to heal him. What if it had been one of you in his place? I don't to drag you young gems into a war or force you to chose a side. My only wish is right now is to protect you all and to let you live the lives you want to live without fear of being ordered around or stalked.
All I want is your friendship and if more war comes I will stand up alone if need be to protect you from it all. I will try my best to teach you your powers and weapons so that if I were to fall for any reason war or not that you could defend yourself from anything. I won't force any of you to stay with me if you really don't want to and as much as it pains me to say, if you really think you would be happier or that a better choice for yourself is with Bloodstone than I won't stop you."

[21308]

Spinel was pretty stunned by all the new information that didn't seem to stop coming. She tried to think clearly and address one piece of it at a time. So she'd been created not to be able to feel emotion, and when she did feel strong emotions, they would temporarily render her unable to function until she could force them onto some kind of subconscious back-burner. The panic and concern for the others' safety she and Aquamarine had felt as the laser hit were still just as present in her mind as they'd always been. Unbeknownst to her, that memory had permanently taken the place of emotions her mind couldn't produce naturally. The subconscious mechanics of Spinel's own mind may have been a mystery to her, but their product was impossible to ignore. This was a problem, because as she'd admitted before, this group really had grown on her, to the point that she had started to care for them as much as she could.

So what was Spinel supposed to do the next time they were in danger like that? Or, what if they got to be too important to her and she stopped being able to function well around them at all? Because of the way she was made, she believed, she would inherently make a worse ally because she had developed feelings she was never meant to have over her new group. She had emotions that could only hinder her.

"I would be worse than useless to you as an ally." Spinel thought out loud. The words came out as clearly addressed to Aquamarine. It probably sounded like her choice had been made.

Spinel thought about her decision some more. If Bloodstone had made her, maybe he could fix this- just take that memory out of her. Spinel could only associate strong feelings with pain as of yet, because that's all they had been able to cause her; she assumed that's all they'd ever be able to cause her. Bloodstone, it seemed, could free her from this pain. It also didn't hurt that she might actually be effective as an ally to him. She took a tentative step in Bloodstone's direction.

Tears began to sting at the back of Spinel's yellow, textureless eyes after these two small betrayals. She thought her choice had been clear, and now she feared it was too late to reconsider. Would Aquamarine trust her again after this? New thoughts shot through Spinel's mind before she got the chance to think them over. She tried to consider what would happen to her depending on what choice she went through with. Spinel considered the probability of being killed by Bloodstone if she stayed. ...Did that actually scare her? It really didn't, because she had never been exposed to the fear of death. Not her own death, anyway. Spinel thought about joining Bloodstone, and having her crossbow trained on Aquamarine, or Amber, or Evenkite, or anyone else she'd been with up until this point. That was most terrible thing she could imagine by far, and in this moment, she didn't care if Bloodstone could remove her ability to feel again or not.

Confusion didn't begin to describe how Spinel felt by now. It didn't, because she was as sure as she'd ever been of anything, in two opposite directions. She was a hair's width away from going with Bloodstone, and accepting his offer the way a sick person accepts help from a physician. She was an equal distance away from turning back and desperately trying to reassure Aquamarine, no matter the outcome. None of this was apparent on her face, as she was as expressionless as she'd ever been.

Spinel finally spoke up. "Aquamarine, if I should ever betray you, may I meet the most painful end this existence can give me. If you want me there, I'm with you."