⇨ THE EPILOGUE

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 61
Where: The Carnival
What: After all the rescues team return, it will be matter of tending to the wounded and getting the hell out of dodge. The Ringmaster can handle the fleeing part, but someone will need to look after those in the medical tent. Or, maybe, you just want to show up and ask what the hell happened.
Warnings: Some messed up consequences of faerie fuckery.

IN REPAIR↴ As the minutes tick past, all four rescue groups will eventually return. Everyone in the carnival is encouraged to help out, ensuring that the rescues and victims both are taken care of after the fact. You can tag in here as rescuers taking care of business around the carnival, victims recovering, or other workers checking in to see what's going on. This log is for general aftermath threads, made by anyone.

Comments

[stompadour]

Jasper huffs and looks away.

"I couldn't just stand there with that worthless fae wearing her like some kind of bauble."

[periphrasing]

Peridot gapes at her for a second, trying to process that. And then she throws her hands up in the air.

"What, you think that was easy for me to look at!? Lapis is my best friend, I wanted to charge over to that stupid fae and claw her dumb, indifferent looking face off!"

[stompadour]

"Tch." Jasper rolls her eyes a little. Friendship. "What I share with Lapis Lazuli is beyond anything you could understand."

[periphrasing]

Peridot scowls incredulously. "That wasn't meant to be some sort of challenge to prove who is more important to Lapis, you CLOD," she snarls, slapping her thick tail on the floor in her irritation. "First of all, I highly doubt it's 'beyond my understanding', because as you know, I am incredibly smart. And second-- I don't care what you think that you 'have'--" air quotes included-- "with her! That's not the point!"

She sucks in a breath and reaches under her visor to pinch the bridge of her nose, rubbing lightly to try and fend off the headache she feels brewing. "Listen: You're working with the carnival now. That means you're part of our team, whether you like it or not. And you can't just go charging around on your own impulse all the time!"

[stompadour]

Jasper huffs through her teeth and parted lower jaw, and glares at her.

"I know I made a mistake, Peridot," she growls. "I wouldn't do the same thing again. And don't condescend to me about Lapis. You don't know her like I do. You don't know what she's really like."

[periphrasing]

"Oh yeah?" Peridot sneers, utterly unconvinced. She was very clearly trying to steer AWAY from the topic of Lapis, but, fine! If Jasper is going to be that way, then they're doing this! "Why don't you enlighten me then? Tell me what you think she's really like."

[stompadour]

Jasper leans forward, her eyes shining and her lip curling in a sneer.

"She's vicious," she says, and the way she says it you could be forgiven for assuming she was listing positive traits. "Cruel. Vengeful. She's a monster, and if she's pretending she's not then that's because she knows you're too weak to handle the truth."

[periphrasing]

Okay well. Peridot doesn't love hearing, any of that, and she actually leans back a little with a grimace when Jasper leans forward.

She rebounds when Jasper's done, pinning her ears back and baring her teeth slightly. "I've spent more time with her than you EVER have!" Peridot snaps. "Maybe YOU'RE the one that's too weak to handle the truth, because you don't know how to react to anyone being anything other than rude and bossy towards you!"

[stompadour]

Jasper bristles, glaring fiercely. "You don't know what you're talking about. It doesn't matter how long you've spent with her. I've seen her real face, and if you had then you'd know you're just fooling yourself thinking she's anything like you."

[periphrasing]

Peridot isn't even a little bit scared of Jasper in this moment. Especially not with her hands and feet swapped like that.

"Of course she's not like me," Peridot snorts, swishing her tail. "But I know for a fact that she's nothing like YOU, either! So what, I'm supposed to be impressed or something because you both fused? Tch. I bet you don't even know who her favorite CPH character is! Or what the last Meep Morp we made together was, or how she feels about ramen noodles!"

[stompadour]

"What does any of that matter?" snaps Jasper. "What matters is I'm the only one who can take what she has to dish out. You'd crumble like dry dirt."

[periphrasing]

"So what does THAT matter?" Peridot replies, increasingly unimpressed. "We don't spend all of our time fighting one another. We have other interests. You should consider trying the same, some time."

[stompadour]

Jasper looks disgusted. "Why?"

[periphrasing]

"Because maybe it would help keep you from being so miserable and cranky all the time!" Peridot snaps, losing her patience momentarily. She huffs in an ill-tempered way, trying to get her train of thought back on the tracks. "At least try reading a book some time," she says. "If you're going to be working here at the carnival, you need to learn to adapt. Otherwise you'll just be a hindrance to everyone."

[stompadour]

"What?" Jasper scowls, shoulders squared aggressively. Unfortunately her arms still end in feet, so this has limited effect. "Are you telling me you think I got my gem cracked because I don't waste my time on human entertainment like you??"

[periphrasing]

"No, I'm saying you got yourself kidnapped because you don't--" Wait. "Ugh! That is an extremely reductive way of phrasing the point I'm trying to make," Peridot spits back at her. "You know believe it or not, I'm trying to help you!? I've been at this carnival for a while, I know what I'm talking about! This is a team run operation. You can try and be a one-gem show all you want, but we're dealing with forces here that are bigger than ANYTHING we had to deal with back on Homeworld. But fine, if you want to keep charging into things the same way you always have, be my guest! Get yourself captured by another fae!"

[stompadour]

"What does that have to do with your stupid Earth hobbies?"

[periphrasing]

"Engaging with Earth culture makes it easier to engage with Earth-lings," Peridot replies, dragging a hand down her face. She sounds world weary. Gems don't age, and yet, somehow, this conversation is aging her.

[stompadour]

Jasper rolls her eyes irritably. "So what, you just do everything their way now?"

[periphrasing]

The engineer levels the most exasperated, withering stare imaginable. She looks dead inside. And suddenly she is giving up. Now she has her head bowed, face resting in both hands. This is just--

"Oh my stars. Why are you so FRUSTRATING?" Peridot says in a small voice, muffled by her hands. Good work Jasper! You've broken her!

[stompadour]

Jasper scowls down at her. "What, because I don't agree with you that the only way to not get myself shattered in this place is to start using Earth slang and wearing," she gestures irritably at Peridot's pants with one of the feet on the ends of her arms, "whatever those are so that they'll think I'm one of them?"

[periphrasing]

"It's not about changing everything about yourself or wearing pants just to fit in," Peridot whines desperately. "It's about learning as much as you can about EVERYTHING you can!"

She's kind of aware that she's seriously barking up the wrong tree here, but, it's hard to just drop this?

[stompadour]

"But you did change everything about yourself," says Jasper, prodding a foot in her direction in a way that suggests that she would be pointing accusingly if she had fingers on there right now.

[periphrasing]

That's a weird accusation, and an angle she's never really considered before now. Peridot pauses, tilting her head thoughtfully.

"I didn't change because I wanted to fit in," she says pensively, almost more like she's talking to herself than to Jasper. "I changed because... It just sort of happened naturally. By broadening my horizons I discovered all kinds of new things that I found out I was genuinely interested in."

[stompadour]

Jasper pulls a face as Peridot speaks. To her this just feels like proof that this has happened because Peridot is somehow innately defective: not suited for her ordained role, possessed of some inner weakness that has caused an idea like broadening her horizons, which holds no appeal for Jasper herself, to feel compelling.

"... I'm not like you, Peridot," she says. "And I don't need to be. When I've finished my time here, Pink Diamond will be restored, and I'll be able to go back to serving her. I don't need anything else."

Never mind, of course, what she just tried to fight the fae for...