maskormenace | 003 ✿ Video

003 ✿ Video

[ The video is of Raina. At work. On a Sunday evening. Lit by the glow of her computer screen, and even as the feed begins -- she's finishing off her typing. Workaholic, much?

But she does give her attention to the communicator then, offering a sweet, charming smile. ]

Hello, fellow imPorts. I just have a few questions for the community as a whole -- a curiosity, if you will.

[ Her fingers lace in front of herself on her desk. ]

How many of you are satisfied with the power set you received upon arrival? For some of us, powers are new and strange, things we have never encountered in our own world. But for others, we're used to having far more. Abilities that were lost in translation either because they were far too strong or far too destructive. Some abilities may seem relatively useless. Some may be uncontrollable. Some require more thought, practice, and skill than others. While some seem like almost something of a joke on the porter's behalf.

All of this to say, these abilities of ours don't really share a common pattern. But they have become part of our identity as a whole and something that has branded us all as imPorts. And like our identity, there may be things about them we dislike -- things we wish we could make different. So if you had the opportunity to change your powers or alter them in some way, would you? If you could enhance them and make them stronger, would you do that as well?

Please consider my questions something of a survey to measure who may or may not be interested in my next leg of research. Thank you for your time.

[ With a friendly wave, she cuts the feed. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There can still be beauty in facts. The true beauty is having the intelligence to recognize them.

[ Raina shrugs her shoulders. ]

Though there can also be a certain beauty in change. Like the caterpillar becoming the butterfly.

And the butterfly being pinned to the wall.

[Lapis come on you're supposed to be working on your pleasant conversational skills, not making everything heavy and philosophical and more than a little pessimistic.]

I've seen what this fact can do. There's nothing beautiful about it on either side.

[ There's beauty in that, too. But Raina probably shouldn't say as much. ]

So what would you propose? We all remain unchanging, never truly evolving? Staying the same and simply learning to cope with the things we have?

Take what you are, and get better. All of you.

[you can't cut out a part of yourself and hope that somehow you'll change into the person you want. you can't forget anything that's been tied so tightly into your very being. it's why even as Lapis fights for a brighter future for herself, she refuses to shy away from the anger in her past. it's all her, every last bit of it.]

Firm in your beliefs. I admire that.

[ A pause. ]

I'm Raina. And you are?

My name is Lapis Lazuli.

[Raina may notice that the introduction seems to draw Lapis out a little - while there had been a subtle undercurrent of steel to everything she'd been discussing prior, her posture and expression openly displays it as she gives her name. for a brief moment she looks like the sort of person who could bring an entire ocean down on someone's head without a second thought.

there is none of the expected pleasantries accompanying a typical introduction, but at least she doesn't pause before answering back anymore. small steps to her destination.]

I just hold onto the things that are important. That's all.

[ The way this young woman -- could she be considered a woman or is she something more alien than that? -- closes off at the introduction of her name makes Raina suspect a couple of things. Is hers one of the names that house power simply by a person knowing it? Or does she simply not like answering such a personal question?

There certainly seems to be resentment. No nice to meet you. No, it's a pleasure. No repetition of Raina's own name. No nothing. Curious. So she decides to press. ]

Lapis Lazuli? That's a nice name. It just rolls off the tongue.

It's who I am.

[and that is important. after thousands of years of nearly being erased from everyone's memories, being able to introduce herself and ensure that she won't be forgotten is important to Lapis. her name is her identity, and she's finally in a position where she can act on her unwillingness to allow that to die.]

There can be power in names. Identity is important. With your name, I could see that sense of power. The strength you said you possessed. It's very important to you, isn't it? To be Lapis Lazuli?

It's the only thing that can't be taken from you.

[more than freedom, more than happiness or a home...even without memories, what you are can never be erased. every fiber of your being fights against it.]

[ Raina studies Lapis for a moment in surprise. And then her expression softens -- gentle, sympathetic. ]

Have you lost things? Important things?

Nearly everything.

[she doesn't shy away from this topic, even though it's clear that there is pain and melancholy in it. the past has happened whether you discuss it or not, and Lapis refuses to let anything be forgotten anymore. it's as much her as her friendship with Steven or tentative steps forward in this world.]

How incredibly sad.

[ And Raina means that, deeply invested in her sorrow because can't Raina empathize with that? The one and only thing she had in her life, she lost that too. ]

But what you have is immense strength, Lapis Lazuli. Not a lot of people could manage to stand tall after such an incredible loss, to know who they are at the end of it and to be able to say their name with the same sort of confidence you embodied.

If I let them break me like that, then they'd have won.

[and that is...the worst thing that she could ever allow. her sanity and spirit had been the only thing that she'd had any sort of control over in that mirror, and she'd clung onto them with a stubbornness that ran far beyond simple spite. she would not bend, even if it appeared that she'd submitted long ago.]

I still want to live. And...whatever that means for me, I'm going to find out. No one's going to stop me.

I believe you will find your answer. Whether it's in this world or your own. Your own reason to live, your destiny -- they broke you, but you can rebuild yourself anew.

And in some cases, that can be a beautiful thing; the new creature you become.

Not every time.

[because the way Raina phrases it has Lapis thinking back immediately to Malachite, and the maelstrom of anger and struggle it had been to be a part of her. there was nothing beautiful about that fusion - only destruction.

the reflective expression lasts only briefly, however; with a blink she's back to focusing on the here and now. Malachite was later, when her time here had run out.]

But I'm not going to stop until I know what makes me happy, so...it's fine. They're all my choices.

Have you found anything here so far that makes you happy?

[she considers for a moment, tilting her head to the side as she reviews her experiences so far.]

This is probably the freest I'm going to be for a long time. [but that's probably not the kind of answer she wants, is it.] ...and there are people here who understand me.

From the sound of it, this world is far better for you than your own, then.

And I understand because it's much the same for me.

It's not that difficult to be an improvement; all you really need is an earth that gems never visited.

[because that meant no Crystal Gems and thus no horrible alien politics for her to worry about. in that way, this awful planet was something of a relief compared to its iteration at home.]

It seems like there are a lot of people in my situation...or one like it.

Gems? What do you mean by gems?

Oh, um. That's what I am.

[she keeps forgetting that not everyone is going to understand the term when she uses it.]

The only gems I know are...

[ She pauses and then holds up a particularly fancy ring harboring diamonds and rubies. ]

These.

Are you related in some way to gemstones?

[the camera shifts and jerks suddenly as Lapis wordlessly moves it to film her back and the gemstone embedded there for a few moments before returning it to its proper location.]

We're not from earth, though, so there's a lot of differences.

[ She watches with interest and smiles at what she sees. ]

It's beautiful, Lapis. You're beautiful. What stone is it? I would guess sapphire, but as you said, you're not from the same Earth and there could be different stones and names.

003 ✿ Video

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