thebastion | [Day 304] I want to feel the sun shine [OPEN]

Entry tags:

[Day 304] I want to feel the sun shine [OPEN]

Who: Rose Quartz, OPEN
Open: Open
When: 304
Where: The Rippling Walls
What: Being the leader of a rebellion isn't enough to prepare you for suddenly being in a destroyed world.
Format: action
Warnings: N/A

[Warm sun, calm beaches, the crashing of waves... Rose had woken to such things more than once in her long, long life. Sleep wasn't needed for a Gem, but even Rose could understand Amethyst's enjoyment of such a thing especially when those nights that turned in to days were spent with Greg.

This time waking came with an unexpected side effect - a pain in her head that was entirely unfamiliar - as well as a sight she wasn't expecting to see. The sky was no longer blue, but a hazy, dirty yellow with a distinct smell of dirt in the air.

Rising, Rose pressed thick fingers to her temple. The pain ebbed enough that she was able to focus her gaze on her surroundings.

... this was not the beach.

This... this was the rubble of something else entirely. Fortress? Castle? The stone used was obviously strong and meant to protect, but it was crumbling.

As was the ground around her.

In fact she wasn't even completely on ground, she was floating in the air! Her, the slab of earth she was laying on and the very walls that surrounded her! This... couldn't be Earth. There wasn't even a sign of a Warp Pad anywhere near her.

But if she was here...]

... Greg... ? ... Pearl?!

[Somewhere in the distance, a bird cried out. The only response to her worried cries.

Oh... oh. Oh, this was not good...]

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[The Emissary had gone missing out on the skyway, days ago now, but the Disciple hadn't quite given up hope she would return. She could be out here, hurt and alone, unable to get help. She could be anywhere really.

She prefers the open plains to the crumbling walls, but it seemed more like Emissary's thing. Hopping down from one section to the next, she skids and scrambles for purchase on the edge of a fallen tower. Once she climbs back up and settles to catch her breath, she peers down from her pile of rubble. This brings her right into the view of a tall woman with the brightest hair she had ever seen. The largest too, fluffier than her own. An old instinct wanted her to bury in the hair but she wasn't three sweeps anymore.

Besides, pink was something to be wary of.]

Pearl? I haven't heard of a pearl.

[Sudden voices that weren't at all familiar were plenty startling, and more so in a place so... alien. Rose didn't cry out, but there was an audible gasp as she turned to face the speaker. A hand shifted to her belly, the shining gem there a familiar comfort beneath her fingers.

Her sword was missing, but her shield was still something she could bring out if need be.]

I need to find her. I need to find my friends.

[Her face softens at her explanation. The Disciple could understand that, even if she was still wary of this woman. She shifted, sitting with legs apparently dangling, but testing the stone for points to press her feet into. She needed to be able to move quickly if things went south. ]

You'll want Bastion for that. But I'm sorry to say they might be gone. There's no use in coddling you.

["Might be gone"? Rose's full lips pressed tightly together at that. No, coddling wasn't necessary, but it still hurt to consider.

She was alone in a world she had never encountered before. Nothing in her long existence could have prepared her for this.]

Y... yes. Of course. Thank you. Where is this Bastion?

[The Disciple nods back over her shoulder in the general direction and decides this woman hasn't exactly been rude to her. Or threatening. She gives the pink another look and notes it's the wrong shade anyways.]

I can take you, if you like... Perhaps someone you know is there and we just haven't met?

[She hops down with relative ease, landing in a crouch] Are you hungry? I keep some oranges in my pack.

[Rose didn't really have it in her to be purposefully rude. Accidentally by way of social awkwardness, certainly, but not on purpose.

And she was being given a direction to start in. Even if it didn't result in the people she wanted to be there, it was better than being aimless and lost.]

Oh... no, thank you. The sooner I can get there, the better.

[She didn't need to eat anyway.]

I shall take that as a maybe for leading there? I won't bite. I know I look odd to you but I'm just not from your world.

[She's used to odd looks. She'd given everyone some of her own. She holds her hands out, showing no weapons] And luckily we don't have the awful trolls here.

[Rose shook her head to that, thick curls bouncing with a faint smile on her lips.]

I wouldn't have assumed that anyway.

[She's used to odd things. She looks deceptively human, but her home world was not Earth.]

Any help right now would be wonderful.

Then back this way.

[The Disciple kept an eye on her newly found person, making sure she was walking just behind her. It would be a bit of a walk back after all]

Are you from this world or 'Earth'? I've heard about Earth. This is ...well the land we're headed toward is called the Bastion.

[Rose didn't mind walking so much. Even though she was barefoot, the rough, rubble-strewn ground hardly seemed to bother her.]

Earth? I'm... I was there, yes.

[The true answer is a bit more complicated than that.]

[She notices the qualification but doesn't remark on it. If she'd like to keep things secret, who was Disciple to judge?]

I'm from Alternia. I would be surprised if you heard of it. The fingers of the Empire haven't quite reached here--or Earth. That I heard of.

[It didn't sound familiar to her at all. Earth, of course, hardly had the technology to get anywhere near other planets, but it wasn't in her memory of the Warp Network, either.

Then again, her memory of said network was also thousands of years old at this point. They had closed Earth (and subsequently themselves) off to it after the Gem War was over.

Her answer is far shorter than her linger thoughts would imply.]

I haven't heard of it, no.

It's...probably for the best. Avoiding them is what I do.

[For different reasons] So ah...Pearl?

[She'll... keep that in mind. Even if she feels she may not have to in this place.

Wherever "this place" was.]

Ah? ... oh. Pearl is one of my closest friends. I was surprised not to find her near by when I woke up.

Ah...I understand. I've only found one of my friends and it was quite some time after I arrived. It may be a little while before you can find them.

[And because that's a bleak sort of thing to say] But don't give up hope. I'm always searching for them. You'll find them again.

Of course. I wouldn't give up hope on any of my Gems. They are strong. I believe in them.

[She has to. If what has been said is true, then this is all she has to hold on to.]

I'm sure they are. Honestly.

[She smiles, not a bright one but almost hesitant] I know this won't seem real for a while. It didn't seem real at all for me for several days.

I can understand that...

[It almost felt like when the Gem War had ended and they had come out the winners, but were still stranded on Earth. For a time Rose caught herself thinking that the home world was still a warp pad away when that was as far from the truth as possible.

When tomorrow came... she would have to remind herself that not even Earth was home anymore.]

So...give it a little time. Look for them as much as you like but take weapons if you're out here too long. There's animals out here who aren't always very friendly.

I'm used to dealing with hostile creatures.

[She shifts her hands low to the shining gem at her belly, causing it to glow until a shield with a distinct rose motif on it shimmered in to place.]

I'm without my sword at the moment, but this has gotten me out of difficult situations before.

[That--was new. She stares for a moment. Magic or psionics? It was hard to say. She'd never seen a psionic make something so precise before. It was usually all crackling energy]

How do you do that?

How? Well... it's a part of me, really. All Gem weapons are.

[She looks a little curious, looking her up and down before settling on the gem on her stomach. Gem--wait that wasn't just a nickname?]

I sort of thought you just called your friends gems. As a name. So the stone you wear sort of holds the weapon?

It's... actually more complicated than that. What you see here... it's more of a manifestation of a physical form. Our Gems are more than just what is here. They are us. Everything we are, from our forms down to our weapons, our thoughts and emotions...

[She tapped the crystal on her belly gently.]

Is right here.

[The explanation goes over her head a little. So this Rose is the gem but isn't, she looks like a human but she's really just that rock. Only that's not really possible. Is she just an illusion? The Disciple looks skeptical, searching for some sign in Rose's expressions that she's joking]

I don't see how all of you that fits in there.

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