[it's perfect timing, retreat just before lightning struck where they stood. any longer and Lapis' feet may have moved of their own accord - a military march, she thought, angular movements and unyielding purpose.
...no. absolutely not. not with the consequences of her last dance still casting its shadow over her existence.]
...it must be. The only other thing - I think people like you are still too solid for it.
[right? but the way that Eren had glowed, the vibrations she could feel resonating in her own gem...it made her wary.
Lapis has been staring down at her hand this whole time, still extended out into nothing. it's only now, as she comes away from the thoughts of connections and connecting that she notices the limb is shaking. with a deep frown she clenches it into a fist and allows it to fall back at her side finally. keep calm, Lazuli. no weakness now.]
[ eren could afford his own staring at his hands, giving his fingers a flex before returning faster to him than lapis’.
“too solid?” he thinks, but it’s to himself. for now, it remains tucked into a place he could ask later, at a different time. he’d sometimes been called dense, but he could see how palpable her discomfort was. ]
It wasn’t bad. Was it?
[ “for you” is implied. he’s had his own fair share of holding hands and having his brain broke on the spot. ]
[these were her own emotions and she shouldn't be seeking outside validation for them, but Lapis' heart is growing more troubled by the second. even if this wasn't the same sort of bond it was a connection, and that there was positivity to it was alarming.
Malachite had felt good for all the wrong reasons, powerful in the ability she gave Lapis to finally exact punishment on someone. was this the same thing in another coat of paint? or was it what an actual link should feel like?
(what was wrong with her, that she couldn't tell the difference?)]
[ affirming of that (and just making sure), eren inclines his head as he adjusts his tie and collar— the gem-glowing had made it feel all sorts of tingly. ]
If we’re on the same wavelength.
[ to his understanding, which he’s fine with. as strange as it was, it felt . . . fitting, and even a bit of proof that they really were on common ground enough to sync correctly, as short lasting as it was. ]
What were you saying about humans being too solid?
[ for another possibility; if he’s going to learn how gems work, he might as well pump it out of a person who’s actually answer him. ]
[right, that...those sorts of things weren't actually attached to humans, were they? the novelty of 'real' clothes attracts Lapis' attention for a brief moment, her stare far too intense for someone watching a man just fucking fiddle with his tie. but it keeps her mind from other topics - from the same wavelength.
but it's better like that, wasn't it? if it hadn't been for her own monstrous desires, Malachite would never have remained stable long enough to function. they'd only lost themselves to mirrored hatred once the ocean waves eroded all else. she forces herself to breathe, once, and unclench the tight little fists at her side.
the fabric of her own skirt is soft, light. think of that, and the shared desire to right the inequality of this world.]
It's...sort of like synchrony.
[was it really something worth bothering to explain? humans couldn't do it. humans with a gem were still human, weren't they?
...she doesn't know. doesn't even know if that's enough reason to keep her mouth shut, not when fusion brought them all here to begin with. more of her penance, she thinks. to know one's enemy is to know their weaknesses. this is important enough to acknowledge.]
When gems are on the same wavelength, they can convert their bodies back into light. The lights come together...fusing.
[ fusing has not been a word he’s heard with the scientists and the like, but then again their milita was pissed off even if this hadn’t been the first time a rift made people show up. for a second, eren wonders if that’s how the other cardinal gems were made— but he isn’t big brained enough to come up with exceptional theories. he had to take his share of this and digest it before wanting to do anything else. ]
So you and someone else made Malachite.
[ that’s what she meant about it being a part of her— he only isn’t dubious of her intention because of the earlier synchrony, lapis wants to stop malachite as much as he did. for different reasons, but for him it was palpably there— and she hadn’t been lying.
he remembers being told about the basics of synchrony, and that not all of it had to be amorous, just as their’s had been professional. if she had regrets and wanted this gone . . . maybe it’s best not to dwell, but he does make his educated guess in silence. he holds his device up from his pocket. ]
[a nod, sharp and almost pained. this was something that she absolutely had to speak of, no deliberation necessary. the Crystal Gems had beaten them both into the ground, but she knew Jasper better than she'd ever wanted to now; in a new world, with nothing but her anger to cling to, that would mean nothing.]
I haven't seen her yet, but if Jasper is here - she's dangerous. Don't even synchronize with her.
[whether human 'gems' could fuse or not, Lapis can't conscience someone she's designated as an ally running that risk. no one deserved to be broken the way that she'd been in order to contain Jasper.]
...oh.
[the communicator? it attracts her attention instantly, lightening her expression wit a flash of curiosity. that made sense, thinking on it now. without so much as asking (blunt little thing) she reaches up on tiptoes and plucks it from Eren's grasp, already navigating towards the contact list. these were all set up pretty much the same way, right?]
[ honestly? eren would’ve done the same thing, except he hardly knew how to work the device beyond the basics. rey had showed him some more, but he hardly remembers them all at once— too much information. and here was lapis, already skipping her way to the contacts page while eren would’ve had to spend a good portion of ten minutes just to find the app. obviously, his curiosity is mutual and he leans over to watch her fingers work, all on top of letting her take it in the first place.
[now that Eren has been designated as Not A Threat, his looming over her diminutive form doesn't bother the gem in the least. if anything his open interest over what's a rather simple device from her own perspective seems to amuse Lapis, pulling an almost smile to her lips.]
They're really not that complicated, that's all.
[her fingers slow in the midst of adding her username, less so that maybe the human can absorb some of this technological prowess and more because an additional thought has occurred to her. right...human. she laughs a little, the sound accompanied by a sense of wonder in herself. how long had it been since she'd made that sound?]
...something like this would have been pretty simple even when I was on my own planet - and we'd moved pretty far past that when I visited last.
[maybe a little too far, really...but that wasn't something she wanted to fall into right now.]
[ at least she wasn't being an asshole gremlin like the last one. she's quick with her fingers and eren can't help but to watch them with a growing amount of fixation. he's a grandpa, he doesn't know how you zoomers do the zoom on your fancy iphones! and, from the home screen, that's the app he needs to go to, the one with the circle thing.
but while he's here and she's knowledgeable in what he isn't— eren points to the opalink app, for internet browsing. ]
[gremlin time comes when she discovers that this thing has games...don't accept any Words With Friends invites from her in the future unless you want to experience having your soul crushed anew, Eren.]
That one?
[the hell does she look like, a technician gem? well, considering that the person asking was a human...she probably did. the thought's amusing, like having a toddler mistake you for a princess just because your dress was fancy; Lapis even provides a half-smile without realizing as she does her best to explain.]
It's an information database - although it looks like they merged it with communications on this one.
[she taps the icon to activate it, indicating with one of her delicate fingers the search bar on the default homescreen.]
If you need to know something, just type it in here and you'll probably get an answer. But...anyone can add to it, so some of the stuff that shows up is kind of weird.
[Lapis has been going over her communicator with a fine tooth comb since receiving it, so she knows exactly what to pull up as an example. a few taps in the browser brings them to an extremely bizarre video featuring a native gem, posted to a sharing site with no apparent context and extreme popularity.
her gaze shifts up to Eren, clearly as mystified as she expects him to be. yeah, it's...yeah. don't ask her to explain this one because she doesn't have a goddamn clue.]
[ so that's both interesting as it is complicated— a place where anyone can say anything meant that the truth wasn't always as accessible as they made it out to be. that, or you'd just have to carefully filter your sources. still— it looked like a useful crutch. armin would have a field day with this . . .
when the video comes up, eren's firstly perplexed because it's a video. photos, sure, but moving pictures were another level not even the rest of the world had reached yet. maybe they weren't too far from trying.
but then he stares. and stares harder, expectant that something else would happen. when realization slowly begins to creep into him, so did the increasing frown in the stretching silence. that. wait, that's a toilet. ]
[who indeed? spinning in place is strange enough for the gem, and someone deciding to set this to music was what had caught her her attention in the first place, but the fact of the matter is...she has no idea about the function of the appliance the native stone is sitting in. Lapis is a literal rock, and as such - well, it's never been necessary. Homeworld had no interest in organics and so they'd never even researched that kind of thing.
but she can tell something if off from the way that silence stretches between herself and her companion, from the way that Eren's brow keeps pulling down at more and more severe angles. what...what was going on?]
They're...it's what?
[she looks up at him from the video, still looping endlessly, expression clearly mystified. there's the small chance that a little blue alien simply has never encountered the obscenity 'shit' before, but something about her total bafflement...no. there can be no illusions about what she doesn't know.]
[ listen— lapis was patient with him not knowing advanced technology until now, he wasn't going to be an asshole about not knowing what this is, essentially, since she did mention something about being a rock. rocks don't need to take a shit.
too bad he has to break it to her and there's no other way to. ]
It's where humans go to the bathroom. When we eat and drink, that's where the rest goes.
Lapis had been taken on an impromptu tour of Beach City, once. it felt like ages ago now, but it had also been the happiest memory she'd been granted since the rebellion had started - still was, really, if she's being honest with herself. she knows in the vaguest sense that humans needed to consume outside sources to power their forms, but she'd thought - well, why shouldn't she have? not using every part of that power source just felt inefficient and stupid.
but now that she's thinking about it, really thinking about it, she considers the logistics of human anatomy. it would take too much of that newly formed energy for the waste to be regurgitated back out the hole it had come in from, right? that was two whole circuits of the body. which meant that there had to be an exit hole instead. and the most logical place for such a thing was........................]
[Lapis turns and delicately presses the communicator back into Eren's hands. her touch is very gentle, with the sort of restrained composure that belies the great shrieking internal scream threatening to consume her entire body. she is wickedly careful not to actually make contact with her companion's skin now. oh, god. she was going to have to decontaminate every inch of herself after this was over.]
No thanks.
[just. thank you, but no. you can stop taking shits now, that is completely unnecessary.]
[ she's got it. lol. eren takes his device back and observes her reaction to its very bloom. ah, yes. the wonders of a working digestive tract. ]
We don't shit from our hands, you know. [ you're supposed to wash, too— and eren, of all people under levi's command, has learned to put hygiene on practically the number one priority when survival hadn't taken its place. ] You wash after.
[ there might be a little curve shaping his lips at her reaction. it's so subtle that it might not be so recognizable, but at least it wasn't a frown. probably a similarity when she was smiling about educating him on technology. was endearing the word? hm, ]
[from - that hadn't even been what had prompted her careful lack of touch, but now the thought is wedged in her head with as much force as an actual cannon blast of shit from some stupid human's palm and not matter what she does Lapis cannot get it out. she shakes her head, maybe a little to violently, hair flapping in the artificial breeze as she attempts to physically dislodge this awful mental image.]
Why - something like that shouldn't stick!
[could abject horror really be endearing to anyone? ...well, maybe a little. for as ancient and unknowable as the gem appears to be most of the time, there was something charmingly youthful about the scandalized look she was sending Eren's way now.
please. please say psych and tell her that this awful process of organic beings didn't also necessitate that the waste product cling to your ass.]
[ if eren were even remotely mischievous (maybe later in the month), he would keep this going in worse places. he would keep pulling her leg and make shit jokes, but he doesn't feel as much pleasure in the thought. only that this was, yes, endearing in its own way, but he's had his fair share of it. he doesn't want her to feel nauseous around him now. ]
You have to hope it doesn't. [ ......... it's either the remains of dry humor or he's just actually being dead serious. because, you see, there are all types of shits! but with that, though, he'll leave her to bleach her thoughts as much as she'd like to get around how gross humans are. ] I'll contact you once I'm settled or if I see anything related to Malachite. Until then, [ he inclines his head and adjusts his fedora. ] hang low and keep in touch.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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...no. absolutely not. not with the consequences of her last dance still casting its shadow over her existence.]
...it must be. The only other thing - I think people like you are still too solid for it.
[right? but the way that Eren had glowed, the vibrations she could feel resonating in her own gem...it made her wary.
Lapis has been staring down at her hand this whole time, still extended out into nothing. it's only now, as she comes away from the thoughts of connections and connecting that she notices the limb is shaking. with a deep frown she clenches it into a fist and allows it to fall back at her side finally. keep calm, Lazuli. no weakness now.]
...it felt weird.
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“too solid?” he thinks, but it’s to himself. for now, it remains tucked into a place he could ask later, at a different time. he’d sometimes been called dense, but he could see how palpable her discomfort was. ]
It wasn’t bad. Was it?
[ “for you” is implied. he’s had his own fair share of holding hands and having his brain broke on the spot. ]
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[these were her own emotions and she shouldn't be seeking outside validation for them, but Lapis' heart is growing more troubled by the second. even if this wasn't the same sort of bond it was a connection, and that there was positivity to it was alarming.
Malachite had felt good for all the wrong reasons, powerful in the ability she gave Lapis to finally exact punishment on someone. was this the same thing in another coat of paint? or was it what an actual link should feel like?
(what was wrong with her, that she couldn't tell the difference?)]
It's supposed to be, right?
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If we’re on the same wavelength.
[ to his understanding, which he’s fine with. as strange as it was, it felt . . . fitting, and even a bit of proof that they really were on common ground enough to sync correctly, as short lasting as it was. ]
What were you saying about humans being too solid?
[ for another possibility; if he’s going to learn how gems work, he might as well pump it out of a person who’s actually answer him. ]
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but it's better like that, wasn't it? if it hadn't been for her own monstrous desires, Malachite would never have remained stable long enough to function. they'd only lost themselves to mirrored hatred once the ocean waves eroded all else. she forces herself to breathe, once, and unclench the tight little fists at her side.
the fabric of her own skirt is soft, light. think of that, and the shared desire to right the inequality of this world.]
It's...sort of like synchrony.
[was it really something worth bothering to explain? humans couldn't do it. humans with a gem were still human, weren't they?
...she doesn't know. doesn't even know if that's enough reason to keep her mouth shut, not when fusion brought them all here to begin with. more of her penance, she thinks. to know one's enemy is to know their weaknesses. this is important enough to acknowledge.]
When gems are on the same wavelength, they can convert their bodies back into light. The lights come together...fusing.
It creates something completely new. Someone.
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So you and someone else made Malachite.
[ that’s what she meant about it being a part of her— he only isn’t dubious of her intention because of the earlier synchrony, lapis wants to stop malachite as much as he did. for different reasons, but for him it was palpably there— and she hadn’t been lying.
he remembers being told about the basics of synchrony, and that not all of it had to be amorous, just as their’s had been professional. if she had regrets and wanted this gone . . . maybe it’s best not to dwell, but he does make his educated guess in silence. he holds his device up from his pocket. ]
You’re on this thing, aren’t you?
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I haven't seen her yet, but if Jasper is here - she's dangerous. Don't even synchronize with her.
[whether human 'gems' could fuse or not, Lapis can't conscience someone she's designated as an ally running that risk. no one deserved to be broken the way that she'd been in order to contain Jasper.]
...oh.
[the communicator? it attracts her attention instantly, lightening her expression wit a flash of curiosity. that made sense, thinking on it now. without so much as asking (blunt little thing) she reaches up on tiptoes and plucks it from Eren's grasp, already navigating towards the contact list. these were all set up pretty much the same way, right?]
I'll add myself now, so you won't have to search.
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too fast . . . ]
You look like you know your way around these.
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They're really not that complicated, that's all.
[her fingers slow in the midst of adding her username, less so that maybe the human can absorb some of this technological prowess and more because an additional thought has occurred to her. right...human. she laughs a little, the sound accompanied by a sense of wonder in herself. how long had it been since she'd made that sound?]
...something like this would have been pretty simple even when I was on my own planet - and we'd moved pretty far past that when I visited last.
[maybe a little too far, really...but that wasn't something she wanted to fall into right now.]
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but while he's here and she's knowledgeable in what he isn't— eren points to the opalink app, for internet browsing. ]
What's this for?
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That one?
[the hell does she look like, a technician gem? well, considering that the person asking was a human...she probably did. the thought's amusing, like having a toddler mistake you for a princess just because your dress was fancy; Lapis even provides a half-smile without realizing as she does her best to explain.]
It's an information database - although it looks like they merged it with communications on this one.
[she taps the icon to activate it, indicating with one of her delicate fingers the search bar on the default homescreen.]
If you need to know something, just type it in here and you'll probably get an answer. But...anyone can add to it, so some of the stuff that shows up is kind of weird.
[Lapis has been going over her communicator with a fine tooth comb since receiving it, so she knows exactly what to pull up as an example. a few taps in the browser brings them to an extremely bizarre video featuring a native gem, posted to a sharing site with no apparent context and extreme popularity.
her gaze shifts up to Eren, clearly as mystified as she expects him to be. yeah, it's...yeah. don't ask her to explain this one because she doesn't have a goddamn clue.]
...there's a lot like this.
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when the video comes up, eren's firstly perplexed because it's a video. photos, sure, but moving pictures were another level not even the rest of the world had reached yet. maybe they weren't too far from trying.
but then he stares. and stares harder, expectant that something else would happen. when realization slowly begins to creep into him, so did the increasing frown in the stretching silence. that. wait, that's a toilet. ]
. . . They're spinning in shit.
[ who.......... who would do this ]
i hate this I'M SAYING IT HERE TOO
but she can tell something if off from the way that silence stretches between herself and her companion, from the way that Eren's brow keeps pulling down at more and more severe angles. what...what was going on?]
They're...it's what?
[she looks up at him from the video, still looping endlessly, expression clearly mystified. there's the small chance that a little blue alien simply has never encountered the obscenity 'shit' before, but something about her total bafflement...no. there can be no illusions about what she doesn't know.]
you're WELCOME
too bad he has to break it to her and there's no other way to. ]
It's where humans go to the bathroom. When we eat and drink, that's where the rest goes.
TAKE IT BACK 1/2
Lapis had been taken on an impromptu tour of Beach City, once. it felt like ages ago now, but it had also been the happiest memory she'd been granted since the rebellion had started - still was, really, if she's being honest with herself. she knows in the vaguest sense that humans needed to consume outside sources to power their forms, but she'd thought - well, why shouldn't she have? not using every part of that power source just felt inefficient and stupid.
but now that she's thinking about it, really thinking about it, she considers the logistics of human anatomy. it would take too much of that newly formed energy for the waste to be regurgitated back out the hole it had come in from, right? that was two whole circuits of the body. which meant that there had to be an exit hole instead. and the most logical place for such a thing was........................]
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[Lapis turns and delicately presses the communicator back into Eren's hands. her touch is very gentle, with the sort of restrained composure that belies the great shrieking internal scream threatening to consume her entire body. she is wickedly careful not to actually make contact with her companion's skin now. oh, god. she was going to have to decontaminate every inch of herself after this was over.]
No thanks.
[just. thank you, but no. you can stop taking shits now, that is completely unnecessary.]
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We don't shit from our hands, you know. [ you're supposed to wash, too— and eren, of all people under levi's command, has learned to put hygiene on practically the number one priority when survival hadn't taken its place. ] You wash after.
[ there might be a little curve shaping his lips at her reaction. it's so subtle that it might not be so recognizable, but at least it wasn't a frown. probably a similarity when she was smiling about educating him on technology. was endearing the word? hm, ]
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Why - something like that shouldn't stick!
[could abject horror really be endearing to anyone? ...well, maybe a little. for as ancient and unknowable as the gem appears to be most of the time, there was something charmingly youthful about the scandalized look she was sending Eren's way now.
please. please say psych and tell her that this awful process of organic beings didn't also necessitate that the waste product cling to your ass.]
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You have to hope it doesn't. [ ......... it's either the remains of dry humor or he's just actually being dead serious. because, you see, there are all types of shits! but with that, though, he'll leave her to bleach her thoughts as much as she'd like to get around how gross humans are. ] I'll contact you once I'm settled or if I see anything related to Malachite. Until then, [ he inclines his head and adjusts his fedora. ] hang low and keep in touch.