Everything fades away, come turning of the tide | Day 332 [OPEN]

[grandiflora]

Who: Rose Quartz, OPEN
Open: Open
When: Evening of 332
Where: Monument -> Rose's house
What: Most of the Bastion is grieving, angry, or trying to deal with said emotions. Rose? She's just trying to settle in to this strange new life of hers.
Format: Action
Warnings: Possible spoilers for Steven Universe? Also possible talk of war and the like

[Not everyone was affected by events recently passed in the Bastion. As much as Rose would have liked to say she had a feeling regarding it one way or another, she really couldn't. This place was still new to her. It's people were still new to her. The passing of one whom she had never spoken to was sad and she was more than understanding at the sorrow the others around her felt...

It was just not an emotion she herself could dredge up properly.

There were always going to be casualties, and for as peaceful as the Bastion itself was their situation was hardly peaceful at all. Time would pass as it always did, regardless of how any of them dealt with it.

In the quiet that had settled on the Bastion in more current days, Rose had spent time on the Skyway as she always did, hoping for some hint of her Gems out there in the haze. There was none, but she returned with a good haul of shards in the meantime.

Today, however, she wasn't out there like she normally had been. Instead she could be seen, barefoot as always, taking trips from the house with the observatory room to the Monument and back again. Three times she went, carrying a wooden flat of some sort of strange plant. A fourth time she returned not with a plant but a shimmering pink weapon at her side.

Though she'll hardly expect to be approached given how busy everyone must be, she'll certainly respond if anyone does.]

Comments

[grandiflora]

[Ohh. Holographic displays. It's been a while since she's seen one, and it gets her attention long before the person that is actually messing with it.

A voice speaking to her does pull her dark gaze away from it, though, offering a warm smile at the greeting.]

I don't believe so, no.

[freedom_engineer]

Colin Starfury, engineer. It's nice to meet you.

[He gives her a small smile, though it's pretty easy to see that it's a little forced.]

Hopefully I'm not in your way. I'm setting up some connections here, it's gonna be a little while before I'm done.

[grandiflora]

Rose Quartz. It's nice to meet you as well, Mr. Starfury.

[She can respect that.]

No, not at all. I just finished getting what I needed, in fact.

[freedom_engineer]

Anything worth bragging about?

[He gives the monument a quick look, but the thing still eludes him. Some day he'll be able to tell when this thing has been used.]

[grandiflora]

[Someday, Colin. Someday.]

Oh, just some plants for my house. And my sword. I managed to arrive without it somehow.

[freedom_engineer]

The calamity was a real pain that way, yeah.

[A pause.]

Plants, you say? What kind?

[Rosethorn left an impression on him. He's still not a gardener by any measure of the word, but he's trying to learn.]

[grandiflora]

I was able to get it back, at least!

[Looking on the bright side!]

Moss, actually. I know, it doesn't sound like much, but they're quite lovely in bloom.

[freedom_engineer]

Moss is quite useful, actually. Lots of terraforming starts with mosses and fungi. Good nutrition, lots of oxygen.

[He smiles at her.]

You cultivate it? Or you just like having it around?

[grandiflora]

Very true!

[Oh, he knows his stuff. That's encouraging.]

I cultivate it, but I enjoy it's company as well.

[freedom_engineer]

Enjoy its company?

[He tilts his head curiously.]

I've heard people say that before. I never quite understood it...

[grandiflora]

I'm sure there are those who don't mean it quite as literally as I do.

[She'll return that head tilt with a mysterious smile.]

[freedom_engineer]

I don't know about that. We had a person here who used to talk to plants.

And back home, half my empire's people seem to be green thumbs to an extreme degree.

How do you mean it, though? I'm curious.

[grandiflora]

Is that so? I'm sorry I missed getting the chance to meet them, then.

[It would have been nice to talk to some one else who shared her affinity for plants.]

Well, you see. I have the ability to control them. Ah-- I don't like saying "control", it makes me sound tyrannical. They listen to me, though. And protect me, should I need it.

[freedom_engineer]

[He smiles then, wider, but a little sadly.]

Rosethorn did the same thing. You even share part of the name.

[He nods in her direction]

The moss is capable of aiding you like that? I would not have envisioned that, personally.

[grandiflora]

[She caught that, but she wasn't about to ask why it was there. She had a feeling it had something to do with the lack of permanence in this place.]

I imagine her name is more related to the plant, though.

[Her's was because of the stone, after all. It was fairly obvious and right there on her belly where a human navel would normally be.]

Moss, and other plants.

[freedom_engineer]

It was a nickname, I believe. She was a plant mage.

[He nods in understanding, seemingly fine to let it drop.]

About the only thing I can really do is tend to my fruit, and take care of the plants over at the farm.

[grandiflora]

Even so, a quartz isn't exactly a plant.

[She does have to keep some things about her mysterious.]

That's still a valuable skill, Mr. Starfury.

[freedom_engineer]

That depends on your definition. My father has a gem garden that he's cultivated for several thousand years.

[His eyes twinkle a little mischievously. He's teasing about the definition. Not teasing about his dad's garden, though.]

Just one of many skills I've picked up here. Hard to keep track of them all, really.

[grandiflora]

Gem garden... ?

[Oh now you have her interest completely.]

[freedom_engineer]

Gem Garden.

[He nods, and he gives a pleased little grin.]

He's got a cave that he visits regularly, and he manipulates the tectonic pressures in the area. Lots of compression, lots of of heat. It makes for interesting gem development.

[grandiflora]

[You've said all the right words, Colin.]

That sounds incredible and beautiful. I would have loved to see something like that.

[freedom_engineer]

It's one of his big talents. He's a jeweler as a hobby.

I only know one of the dances he uses in the process, sadly.

[A single beat.]

And I'm guessing that means nothing to you. It's...

[Guh, he hates this. It's SO imprecise.]

It's like shamanistic magic, basically? Guiding the environment around you into behaving in a certain way. If it wants to.

[grandiflora]

Oh! No, I understand completely! Humans of old used to practice such things.

Granted I never saw them up close - we watched their evolution from a distance.

[freedom_engineer]

Ah, that does make it a little easier. Yeah, dad's basically a grand master of the natural dances.

[He puts a hand to his face then, actually blushing in embarrassment.]

There is no way to say that to make it sound as amazing as it is, I swear to all the gods above and below... But he could basically shape the land to his whim, if he wanted to. It made for amazing feats.

[grandiflora]

Impressive!

[Too bad he wasn't here with them. Not that Rose minds the company she has currently.]