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epidemiology2016-03-15 08:26 pm
adlantisag) wrote in epidemiology2016-03-15 08:26 pm
Entry tags:
closed.
CHARACTERS: Kida (adlantisag) and Pearl (beyourrock)
DATE: around 03/13, late.
WARNINGS: lots of death, mentions of war/colonialism
SUMMARY: ALASTAIR has offered Kida a trip home. Visiting hours for Atlantis will close soon.
Pearl? Are you there? I need you.
adlantisag) and Pearl (beyourrock)DATE: around 03/13, late.
WARNINGS: lots of death, mentions of war/colonialism
SUMMARY: ALASTAIR has offered Kida a trip home. Visiting hours for Atlantis will close soon.
[ A painting appeared one day in her inn room in Chantes. It was enormous, about a metre high and nearly two deep, and she hadn't shown it to anyone. It followed her through the city, smuggled to and fro, kept in a goblin family's basement before being lost in the commotion of Chimera attacks and assassination.
It was a painting of Atlantis, her Atlantis: blue and faded and pale, mossy, stalactites dripping like icicles over old ruins. And yet it was painted in colours she couldn't discern the provenance of, with paints and pigments nothing like those traditional to her people. Brushstrokes from a master's hand, and yet it bore no signature, only a small sigil upon the back: three circles framing a triangle, stamped in purple ink. ALASTAIR.
How something like it exists, she doesn't know; or perhaps she does. When she'd arrived in Oska—properly arrived—the painting had been mounted over her bed, and the sight of it had cheered her somewhat, as if her people were watching over her. It makes the loss of the sun each night easier to bear.
Today, she returns to her quarters to find it changed.
She doesn't recognize the city in the painting now, but she knows it in her bones. It is green, bright and golden and green and very much alive. Pale stone in spirals forming aqueducts and tunnels and roads out, out, out into the wide world. The lush sprawl of nature in every direction and above, only a vaulted sky. Atlantis-that-was.
She reaches out, touches the surface, gasps to feel it shiver like water under her fingertips. And she knows, in that moment, what her painting is and what it can do.
She hesitates a very long time before selecting a name from her jewelry. She thinks of Hellboy, but doesn't want a protector. She thinks of Archer, but she needs support he can't provide.
The call she sends out is almost tentative. ]
It was a painting of Atlantis, her Atlantis: blue and faded and pale, mossy, stalactites dripping like icicles over old ruins. And yet it was painted in colours she couldn't discern the provenance of, with paints and pigments nothing like those traditional to her people. Brushstrokes from a master's hand, and yet it bore no signature, only a small sigil upon the back: three circles framing a triangle, stamped in purple ink. ALASTAIR.
How something like it exists, she doesn't know; or perhaps she does. When she'd arrived in Oska—properly arrived—the painting had been mounted over her bed, and the sight of it had cheered her somewhat, as if her people were watching over her. It makes the loss of the sun each night easier to bear.
Today, she returns to her quarters to find it changed.
She doesn't recognize the city in the painting now, but she knows it in her bones. It is green, bright and golden and green and very much alive. Pale stone in spirals forming aqueducts and tunnels and roads out, out, out into the wide world. The lush sprawl of nature in every direction and above, only a vaulted sky. Atlantis-that-was.
She reaches out, touches the surface, gasps to feel it shiver like water under her fingertips. And she knows, in that moment, what her painting is and what it can do.
She hesitates a very long time before selecting a name from her jewelry. She thinks of Hellboy, but doesn't want a protector. She thinks of Archer, but she needs support he can't provide.
The call she sends out is almost tentative. ]
Pearl? Are you there? I need you.
no subject
She adjusts, sitting in the darkness of her room. Adjusting to her new form. It wasn't at all different from her previous one, aesthetically anyways. Her tired pale blue eyes glance to her jewel, which gently pulsed with a purple hue.
Pale and dainty fingers reach out to brush their tips along one of the faucets of the jewel, to see that message from Kida. She glances over it once before she snatches up the jewel, along with her ALASTAR cloak. A rush of worry washes over her entire frame, her mind racing. What could Kida possibly need of her? The Gem heads right for the door as she responds.]
Of course, Kida. Where do you need me? I'll be there as soon as I can.
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[ She gives Pearl the number, though the Gem could always use the map to track her down. She has no idea what her friend has just been through; Steven never told her, and she was content to assume Pearl was busy. Pearl kept her days full, and it was a quality Kida appreciated in her; much like the selflessness she showed arriving now.
The door will open for her; she'll find Kida sitting on the bed, looking forlorn. ]
I am sorry to call you so late.
[ She motions to the painting, almost alarming lifelike, hanging on the wall. In the light of the fire, there's a dangerous orange shade cast over it. ]
This painting is a gate to Atlantis. [ She touches it again, watching the surface ripple as proof. ] I do not know why it opened, merely that I... [ She trails off. It could wait until morning, couldn't it? But what if it closed?
No, it can't wait. Kida recognizes her fear: she doesn't remember Atlantis before the Flood destroyed it. She doesn't know what she'll see. And whatever she does see— ]
That I must go.
[ —will change everything. ]
And I want you to accompany me.
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It's fine, really. It's not like I can sleep anyways.
[She tries to offer her friend a weak reassuring smile, but she flinches, seeing that ripple travel across the 'painting'. Her jaw goes slack as she quietly pads deeper into the room. As Kida speaks, her head bobs like a curious bird, looking the painting up and down. It was almost as if the things inside it were moving as well.]
A gate? [Her chest almost seizes with what she can feel is excitement. A chance for Kida to go home? The place in which she wished to return to. To help her people. Her eyes glance over the painting again, taking in the little details of it. It was really beautiful. Unlike anything she had ever seen. And then Kida voices her request. An air of absolution surrounding it. No hesitation.
She slowly stands up straighter, pulling her shoulders back as she regards her friend.]
It would be an honor, Kida, to accompany you back to your home.
[Pearl could only assume that this was a gift from ALASTAIR. It couldn't be an absolute solution.]
no subject
Pearl, wait...
[ She moves over, wraps her arms around her friend. ] Are you unwell? Please, think hard on it. I do not know what we will see there, or what we will encounter.
[ She can't promise anything. ]
I do not know if the gate goes both ways.
[ Not even that they'll come back.
If they do this, they're putting their faith in ALASTAIR wholly. ]
no subject
Kida had specifically requested her, however. No one else.
What would Rose do?
She pulls back just enough to rest her gem against Kida's forehead fondly, a soft smile gracing her lips. Pearl gathers up her tan hands into her own pale ones, squeezing them gently.]
I'm here for you. That's what friends do.
[She turns her gaze back towards the painting.]
Whatever lies ahead, we'll face it down together. You're not going into this alone. And as a guardian of Earth, I cannot have anything of ill will happen to you.
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I have no need for protection. [ If anything, it's Pearl who'll be the fish-out-of-water here. ] What I need is--you. By my side. To help me along. [ She swallows; her eyes betray her fear. ] Because I do not remember life before the mehbelmok, Pearl. I am worried that the city I will find there is not--what I expect it to be.
[ The bedrock of her life trembles beneath her, holding a tenuous grasp. But how much longer?
She clasps Pearl's hands in her own, drawing strength from the Gem's conviction. She presses a kiss to Pearl's forehead, right on that gleaming stone. ]
Thank you, Pearl. You have always been someone I could rely on.
[ Ninat will stay here, in the stables with all her friends. Kida has her uniform on, the white cloak as light as air and as tough as steel; it will protect her from whatever she meets below.
With great care, she takes the painting off the wall and lays it on the bed. Travel will be easier that way.
She holds out her hand for Pearl to take. ]
Pridos kagin, maasik.
[ 'My friend, come.' ]
no subject
Her chest swells with pride as Her gem is gently kissed and Kida removes the painting. Butterflies fill her stomach. The excitement of going to a different version of earth filling her frame. Along with mild fear.
No. She was here to support her friend. Whatever happens, good or bad, Pearl would be there.
Looking to the hand offered to her, Pearl clasps her hand over Kida's, giving her an affirmative nod.]
I'm right behind you.
no subject
The sensation is not one of falling, exactly; it's like falling asleep in one blink and waking in another. Light, dark, light, and when the paleness fades they're left standing in the sun, in the golden light that glances off pillars and silk and gold, gold, gold—
Kida gasps. There's something like a gentle pressure coming over her, through her pendant, like a blanket being draped over her shoulders. A pressure Pearl herself won't feel.
They are in a palace, grand and vaulted, made of a cream-coloured marble and etched with inscriptions Kida can't read, but that she recognizes. She grew up here; she knows every hallway, every door, every flagstone. This is the Atlantean palace...
Was the Atlantean palace.
They're in the audience room, full to bursting with well-tended plants and exotic animals, and there's so much to see it's almost painful to take it in. Which is how Kida ends up walking backwards into a servant, only to phase right through him, as if she wasn't there at all. ]
I--what?
[ She looks at her hands, looks at Pearl. They look and feel, to themselves, solid enough, though it's quickly apparent that to the people here, they may as well be ghosts.
The Gem will certainly notice: everyone here is Atlantean, and all Atlanteans look similar. Dark skin, pale hair and pale eyes, most wearing some sort of kimono-like overcoat or a lose robe that exposes the shoulders. Many wear tattoos, glowing in iridescent blue patterns on the skin.
In the middle of the throng of supplicants and ministers is Kida's father. He looks not at all like the last time she saw him, bent and blind and wizened. Here he stands tall and proud, his mien arrogant, his eyes full of life and light, his voice a clap of thunder. ]
Tabtop! [ She's rushing ahead, scrambling. ] Pearl, that is my father!
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Her head swivels, taking in the new sights. The natives dressed in elegant robes certainly reminds her of her days back on Homeworld. This felt much more... organic. Life-like. Humane.
Pearl's eyes flicker to Kida as she passes through a servant. As if she were a ghost. Instinctively, Pearl reaches out to take hold of Kida's shoulder, to steady her. She was solid. Physical. It causes the Gem to furrow her brow in confusion before she feels the presence under her her hand disappear suddenly. The booming voice of her father draws her attention. Similar to the tone of a Diamond. Authoritative. Absolute. Demanding attention. The language is still foreign to her, but the tone could be read easily enough.
And Kida is rushing right towards the man.]
Your father...? [The Gem stares for a moment before she sees her friend growing smaller down the audience hall. She jogs after her.]
K-Kida wait!
no subject
He looks--young, almost, though she supposes that even eight thousand years before he was still 'old'. His skin sags less, is less pockmarked and dotted. His brow is darker, his eyes flinty and bold. She so desperately wants to reach out, touch him, speak to him--
Which is about the time she really hears what he's saying. ]
This cannot stand! Atlantis is sovereign and they will know the price to pay for rebellion!
[ Kida's brows knit. Her eyes look to those assembled, all faces she doesn't know. They're asking questions, naming places she's never heard of, saying things like uprising and colonies and trade value. She doesn't understand. ]
Pearl, they are saying--Atlantis is at war...? I am not certain. They say they will...attack?
[ Attack how? Who, and where? With what? ]
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The idea of having a parental figure was something Pearl always found fascinating. DNA mixed together to become an offspring. They had no such thing as relatives on Homeworld. Perhaps Kindergarten mates, but even then, the Gems were unfamiliar with one another. Nor did they share any sort of innate kinship.
The exchange between the men and her father causes her to draw in within herself. Again, she could easily read that tone. Strategies being developed. Tactics. And when Kida speaks, it only solidifies her worries.
War.
Pearl walks up beside Kida, reaching her hand out to delicately rest it on Kida's forearm. The Gem frowns, confusion wrinkling her nose.]
I thought Atlantis was cut off from the outside world. [At least, that's what she could recall Kida telling her previously.] How could they be at war?
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Only now, she really wishes she could stop herself from hearing what he's saying. Her father has always loomed large in her mind, a great King, trying to protect his people. This man, proud and aggressive upon his throne, is not the father she knows and loves; he is nearly spitting bile, his anger palpable at--what? From what she understands, an attack was launched against Atlantis.
Tabtop, why all this anger? Why all this pride? ]
There are--[ How to best explain something she only has a limited understanding of? How face is hard with disapproval. ]--territories Atlantis wishes to claim. Those territories do not appreciate out moving upon them. [ Understandably. ] My father intends to force the issue.
[ The advisors are all shouting over one another now, strategy and plans and routes. They use words like ketak and altirak and baylokh that she only associates with fish but she knows, she's certain that isn't what they mean. What are they saying?
She turns her face towards the alabaster door, where golden sunlight filters through the gap beneath. The same sun floods in through the skylight, and Kida looks up and sees a sliver of cloudless sky over her father's decorative pool. ]
They are not cut off, Pearl. Not here.
[ They are ahead of the mebelmok. Her head thunders in her chest. The city before. Standing, breathing, living. She casts a glance at her father again--ordering this 'attack'. She wants to shout, to tell him he's being unwise, but she knows how fruitless it would be. Instead, she takes Pearl by the hand. ]
I have heard enough. Shall we?
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If she had a heart, it would be pounding fast, like that of a nervous bird. Only she couldn't fly away from the situation she could only assume was happening through gestures, along with what Kida was explaining to her.
She suddenly snaps out of it, feeling Kida's hand taking hold of her own. She swallows her worries thickly as she follows Kida. Her other hand reaches up to rub away the stress in her knitted brows. Her eyes catch sight of the sunlight spilling across the pool of water. The city outside was bathed in sunlight. Kida had not seen the sun before, having lived in Atlantis. Chantes was her first real experience.
Pearl glances over to her friend, following close.]
I... don't understand. You said you don't recall seeing the sun when you were younger. Chantes was your first real experience with it, was it not?
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I was small, Pearl. Little more than a baby. I have--had--no memories of it.
[ It was, for all extents and purposes, the truth. The sun had gone the way of mist, the way of rain and snow--practically legends, distant and obscure in her memory, kept alive by story and song. She knows this city but doesn't know it. She doesn't remember...any of this.
The feeling of disconnect only grows when they cross the threshold and emerge on a wide dais, overlooking the city's central plaza. Light floods the space, and there are people--everywhere! All of them Atlantean; some are civilians, but Kida is shocked by the sheer number of what she can only assume are soldiers: men and women in light armor, bearing helmets and spears. ]
I do not remember any of this.
[ Wonder mixed with discouragement shows on her face, in the way she tightens her hold on Pearl's hand. ]
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Pearl looks down at their hands and gives a reassuring squeeze. She even nudges her shoulder with Kida's, looking down over the city. The bustling crowds. Children laughing and playing. Merchants haggling. Between all those soldiers and weapons... there was still life. Innocence in which one can appreciate.]
Well, now you can truly remember Atlantis as for what it was. The beauty of it. The people. Your people. There must have been a reason for ALASTAIR to give you such a gift.
[Pearl's hand rises to her chest, resting above the sewn on yellow star upon her ALASTAIR uniform, which clashed against the purples and the whites.]
This is a wonderful opportunity. It's truly beautiful Kida. I've... never seen anything like it in my time on Earth.
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My people... [ She turns her head, surveys this land. This is, in a way, what she has always wanted, strived for. For Atlantis to return to glory. But is this glory? ]
I have never seen my city so beautiful, Pearl. To think...all of this, gone.
[ She leads the way down the steps towards the market, when suddenly, a sharp buzzing assaults her ears. Kida's head swivels left, where some kind of flying stone vehicle is barreling at them. The pilot doesn't see them, of course, only empty steps; Kida ducks, pulling Pearl with her, a cry of alarm wrenched from her throat. ]
Ah! What is--what was that?
[ Her head snaps back up, and suddenly she's running, down the steps, neck craning to get a better view. Turning her head up, she sees it isn't the only one of its kind: the sky is dotted with them, fish-shaped and shark-shaped, vast crab-shaped ones and...
The Leviathan. Ten of it, an armada of Leviathans, flanked by more ships, all hovering at one end of the city. Of course, of course, she should have made the connection. The men, those words, they were Atlantean ships. Flying ships, because Atlantis was land-locked on all sides.
The farther up she cranes her neck, the more she sees of the sky, until she spots, half-blocked by the rotunda of the palace-- ]
Oh, Pearl!
[ She'd mistaken it for the sun. But as soon as she sees it, the experience is almost a spiritual one, flooded as she is with the pressure it exerts on her. Hanging in the sky over the palace and casting its blue glow over its thousands of children is the mother crystal itself: large enough itself to span two battleships, and a perfect sphere besides. ]
Spirits...
[ She blinks; she's never seen anything like it. She grapples as to why. The connection, at least, is clear: the pendant at Kida's neck is humming in answer to its mother. The ships in the sky, they also hum with power. The lights in the street, the aqueducts, all of it...tied to this. ]
no subject
Shakily, Pearl makes her way down the steps, only to follow Kida's gaze up to the mother gem. She inhales sharply as things start to come together. The mysterious blue glowing lines that decorated the flying vehicles. And most of all, Kida's pendant in which she saw on the very first mission they were on together.]
Kida, your yob...!
[Her gaze tears away from her pendant only to look back up at the large gem. Diamonds were known to be the largest single Gems in homeworld. She knew this particular gem wasn't a Gem, but. The sheer power it emitted by just existing made Pearl almost cower.
She truly felt like a fish out of water at this point, unprepared as she sees all the ships and especially those large Leviathans.]
Is it some kind of... power source?
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[ And probably the entire empire. It's the only answer she can offer, transfixed as she is by the massive crystal. It's a long time before she manages to peel her eyes away, swallowing thickly. ]
The pendants--they are all connected to it. I can feel it.
[ That pressure on her shoulders. There's a connection there she can touch but can't explain. It's frustrating; she knows there's more at play here.
When she'd heard stories of Atlantis' greatness, she'd been told of its erudition, its grand architecture, its quality of life. And certainly, looking around herself, she sees it's true. But somehow, it doesn't feel right. When her father used the word 'empire' she imagined vastness, but she'd never considered the cost of such size.
She turns back to Pearl, feeling heavy. ]
Let us continue to the market. I want to see how the people live.
no subject
Pearl shakes the negative thoughts from her mind. They should be enjoying their time here. Kida should be enjoying it. Pearl steps up beside Kida and nods as she steps towards the marketplace, boots tapping against the stone pathways as she does so. She folds her hands neatly behind her back as her eyes take in the sights.]
This place is so lively. More so than from what I can recall from Homeworld. [The Gem smiles bittersweetly, remembering back to her days as a servant. Everything was so sterile. Orderly. Inorganic. She soon smiles wider.]
All these plants, this culture...! Your people are amazing, Kida.
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She reaches for a fruit on a stall, her lips thinning when her hand passes through. It seems she won't get to taste Atlantis' bounty. ]
What do you remember from your Homeworld? [ It dawns on her she hasn't really asked. Only briefly about the Gem language; what a terrible friend. ] How do your people live, Pearl?
[ They can talk and walk at the same time; Kida admires a stall selling delicately crafted crystal carvings. Not the Crystal, but clearly some precious stone, though how the carving was accomplished she can't tell. ]
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It was beautiful, asthetically. Elegant robes, Gems of all shapes and sizes. However, I would never consider Homeworld my home. Not after everything they've done.
[Her eyes narrow at the crystal.] Homeworld was only concerned with expanding their empire, thanks to the Diamond Authority. Each planet they conquered was drained of it's minerals and organic life, in order to create more Gems and expand. Not even batting an eye at the living creatures who perished.
I left that life. Left Homeworld. My 'people'. Over five thousand years ago.
no subject
Beauty, though--she understands what Pearl means. Looking around her now, she sees gleaming architecture, lush plant life, happy people with round arms and bellies, purses flush with coin. And gold--gold everywhere, trading hands, heaps of it on litters carried on the shoulders of guards that disembark from the warships and go to the palace. She thinks of Atlantis as she knows it, and the image twists. She doesn't see abundance; she sees extravagance, conceit, luxury. All this food, all this wealth, where does it come from? Atlantis cannot possibly produce all this. Drained of minerals and organic life. Is that what Atlantis is doing? Waging war to fatten its coffers?
The story goes: Atlantis was too proud, and was cut down. A cautionary tale. Is this what her father was keeping from her? Was he the architect of this opulence? Had he let his subjects grow fat and greedy?
There's a philosopher orating a lesson by a fountain, a flock of apprentices taking notes by his side. Their quills write in a script she only wishes she could understand, one that flows back-and-forth across the page like a trickle of water. The instructor is expanding on the topic of greatness: how it is the natural state of royalty, unattainable to commoners, and how greatness can only attract more of itself. Kida thinks that isn't true--she knows it isn't. Is this the philosophy that Atlantis was built on?
She can see clearly why Pearl would have been disgusted by such a life. ]
Rose Quartz. [ She remembers the pink woman, those images Pearl showed her so many months ago now. ] Why did she leave? What pushed her to choose?
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The Gem heaves a heavy sigh as her fingers intertwine their own fingers together loosely.]
She saw the beauty in every living creature, and saw their worth. Rose adored human beings and what they were. Their philosophies, their feelings and emotions... She fell in love with the planet earth for what it was. And she wasn't going to let the Diamond Authority snuff out what beauty Earth held.
[Her hands ball up into loose fists at her sides.] Rose fought for thousands of years against Homeworld. While some of the Earth's minerals were used to create a few hundred Gems or so... she was able to stop production. And stop Homeworld completely by swearing her life to the safety of Earth and it's inhabitants.
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Kida has no desire to be a tyrant; but she can see how easily that might not have been the case, growing up in this. ]
You were lucky to know her. [ She'd like to meet Rose Quartz, she thinks. They'd have many things to discuss. She wonders how she and Pearl came to meet. She knows Rose Quartz eventually convinced Pearl of Earth's beauty; she tries to imagine Pearl a little younger, a little harder, more dogmatic. It's not entirely difficult. ] How did she vanquish them? Did they not send a force to stop you?
[ One person--and a handful of allies--against a vast, savage Empire. To say the odds in this story were stacked was an understatement. She looks around herself and thinks that these stories aren't dissimilar. ]
no subject
Homeworld was never defeated. We only stopped their advancement on Earth. We, ourselves, had armies as well. Only a handful of us survived. Others were either corrupted or... shattered.
[Pearl lowers her gaze as she folds her hand behind her back, closing her eyes.] Back on Earth they knew of our existance. They knew some rebels were still alive and were intent on destroying us. We were chasing down a Homeworld Gem on earth before I fell through the rift in which brought us to ALASTAIR.
There's no happy ending in war, on either side.
no subject
Is there ever?
[ Except it's plain to her how her father sees it: that war benefits Atlantis. With the crystal as their secret weapon, who could stand against them? No one at ALASTAIR has mentioned anything like this, so she can only assume it's unique to her people. ]
Is there anything like-- [ Motioning, she chances another glance at it, watching it orbit gently, surrounded by a ring of vast stone portraits. Nine portraits for nine kings. Had her father ever wanted a son? ]
--like that on the Earth you come from, Pearl?
no subject
No, I've... never seen anything like it before. Not even on homeworld.
[Pearl clutches her hands over her chest, her fingers fidgeting.]
In all honesty, this crystal frightens me, Kida.
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She'd suspected a Gem origin for it, in a way. Her brows knit. ]
Frightens you? [ She holds out a hand, as if she could reach far enough to touch it. She suspects that if she got that close it might kill her. ] I can feel it, in my mind. As if it is alive.
[ It might be. It certainly has a mind, though how much thought runs through it she cannot say.
As they watch, a vast note comes from the palace--like a horn--and the crystal flares bright and blue. Through the connection, she can feel the flex of power. It's easy to see how someone like Pearl might feel frightened by it.
Her eyes slide to Pearl, her tone close to a sigh. ]
My father's order went out.
[ Somewhere on this vast earth a village, a city, an army is being wiped out. The thought makes Kida's stomach clench.
She forces herself to peel away, turn her whole away, reaches again for Pearl's hand. ]
I never would have thought him capable of--of such...
[ How much of what her father has told her these past seven thousand years has been lies? How much has been truth disguised?
The people are content, he told her. How much knowledge had he destroyed? How much of all of this had he trapped away? And for what? Her shoulders form a tight, angry line. ]
I thought him a good man. A good king.
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Pearl glances up at Kida.]
When we're younger, we have big ideas and beliefs. Sometimes, they aren't the best choices we have in life. But as time progresses, we learn from our mistakes and are better for it.
[Pearl gives her hand a small squeeze.]
He is a good king. What he was... [She gestures to the giant crystal and the floating vehicles] I understand why he'd want to hide this from you but. It isn't wise to do so. You deserve to know of your kingdom's past.
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He is hardly young, he is--[ a beat, while she thinks on how old her father must be ]--twenty thousand years old! He is older than I am now! [ She presses a hand to her chest. ] Pearl, he should more than know bett--
[ --know better, she was about to say, except the words die in her throat, choked out.
All the air seems to leave her; she, and all the other pendant-wearing Atlantis, seem abruptly pressed down as if by an enormous weight.
She can't hear it, but she feels it, the blast resonating, followed by a shockwave that makes the entire city vibrate. The crystal over the city turns red and urgent; gongs begin to sound, people seem to gather their wits enough to scream, scrambling to collect possessions or children. Pearl's seen Kida's pendant flare red only once before, when she'd stumbled out of the prison's magical wards. It's the colour of danger and, judging by Kida's expression, terror as well.
Kida scrambles to her feet on shaky legs, her mind reeling with the realization. They weren't simply brought back to Atlantis, they'd been brought back to--to-- ]
Kwam! Kwam, kwam, kwam dot!
[ Panic grips her. Her head turns wildly, not seeing Pearl, hardly seeing or feeling anything beyond the bone-deep terror of a childhood horror come to life. She struggles to breathe. ]
no subject
The Gem rushes up in front of Kida, her hands holding her shoulders, trying to anchor the young woman into reality.]
Kida! [She cries over the screams and the gongs ringing about them. Pearl's voice shakes as her eyes flicker from Kida's face, to her pendant, and back once more.]
Kida what are you saying!? What is it?! What's wrong?!
no subject
It is the mebelmok, Pearl! The Flood!
[ They have--minutes, perhaps. Minutes before the city is wiped out, and there's nothing they can do. No one they can touch, no one they can speak to. Despair knots her stomach. ]
The palace--maybe we can...warn someone, or....
[ She's half-speaking, half-running, adrenaline a shock through her veins. It's strange how she sees now what she couldn't see then: the swarm of flying ships in the air, gathering people to evacuate, the sound of the gongs and the oppressive encroaching mountains in the distance--no, not mountains. Waves. Waves ten times the height of the castle, carried on a massive surge of power.
And always that bottomless pressure of the crystal, palpably angry, and questing, somehow. It casts long red tendrils of light around itself, seeking, searching. For what? The light passes over Kida and makes her shiver, the hairs on the back of her neck rise. ]
no subject
If Pearl could grow paler, she would.
The red tendrils that reach above them causes her to inhale sharply. It was searching for something. This mebelmok was mentioned in passing to Pearl once before, but... were they really going to be experiencing it? No. That's not what Kida deserved! She deserved better than this! Why make someone relive their past like this?
She swallows thickly and keeps in stride with her friend. Tears of worry sting the corner of her eyes.]
Kida, there's nothing we can do! We can't interact with anyone else-- no one can hear us...! We're stuck!
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Kida wants to rage against those words, but instead grits her teeth at how true they are. She has her pendant, humming against her skin like a living thing. ]
Pearl, we have to try!
[ She grips Pearl's bicep, her entire hand folding over the Gem's skinny arm. She looks half-mad. ]
Lives are at stake! My people!
[ Thousands of lives are at stake--but she understands now, in a way she didn't before. The 'star' she saw. The crystal. She needs to go, needs to find-- ]
My mother, Pearl! We need to find her--we need to go back to the castle--
[ She doesn't care how incoherent she sounds. It's such a faint glimmer of hope, crazed and far-fetched, but Kida latches onto it with all the strength she can. The pendant at her throat is a shard of the sun that hangs above. Across time, and space, it recognizes its child. Maybe, just maybe, there's still a way--
Whatever slim chance it is, she needs to take it. She takes a step away from Pearl, her eyes wide and unfocused, practically frothing now in her desperation. Then she bolts. ]
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Then again, Pearl would act the same way if time was turned back to when Rose was alive and well. Consequences be damned.
The Gem inhales sharply as Kida bolts past her and Pearl herself hits the ground running, figuratively, following her from behind. Never missing a beat as she scrambles after.]
Kida! You need to listen to reasoning--!!
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The king stands in the plaza, distraught. Gliding down the castle steps is a woman, and the woman holds a child by the hand. The child has a doll, and the doll is too long, hitting each step on the way down, pat-pat-pat.
Kida remembers that doll.
When Utnapitika Nedakh raises her head, she doesn't see Kida; her face is veiled with worry at the disaster unfolding around her, at the strife of her people. She keeps glancing at her child, tugging the little girl along. If Kashekim was a mirror of his daughter's mannerisms, then the queen of Atlantis is simply a mirror: Kida shares her mother's face, her mother's mouth, nose, her height and her build. The older woman's chin is a little more pointed, her hair straighter, her nose more delicate, but the resemblance is uncanny. ]
Mahtim--
[ Kida forces herself forward with tumbling legs, but she can't touch her mother any more than she could anyone else. ]
Pagen, mahtim, pagen--kagtem epkel! Pageshenen!
[ She's crying for her mother to listen to her, but it's no use. Behind her her father stands in the plaza, waiting for his wife and child to hurry and join him. Only one of them will. ]
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[She rushes after her but stops upon seeing Kida's mother, and the young girl following her. She furrows her brow and covers her mouth to muffle her gasp. There was no doubt that this was indeed her mother. Almost a mirror image. It was astounding to Pearl. Other Pearls like her were almost like clones, sans their hairstyles, skin color, and as well as their gem placement. This was completely different. Much different than seeing teeangers and their parents, or Greg and Steven. Created. Unique. Not made.
Her hand flinches outward, to try and grab Kida's shoulder, her eyes glued on the child. That had to be her. Tears sting the corner of her eyes as she looks over her shoulder at the king on the steps. Pearl turns back to the mother and child, watching their expressions, as her own eyes glisten.
Whatever was going to happen... there's nothing they could do. It was already written.
Why on earth would ALASTAIR put her all through this?]
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For six months, Kida's been trying to work out what wiped out her city, what caused their downfall. And now she knows.
Now she knows and she wishes she didn't. Because she knows what comes after this, she wishes there was some way, any way-- ]
Mahtim...
[ Pearl's hand lands on her shoulder, but Kida's barely aware enough to lean back into it, wrestles against being pulled away.
The child drops her doll. ]
No! No, child, do not! Turn around! You will lose her!
[ It isn't the child's fault, she knows. No her fault. But.
She remembers in her mind this exact sequence of events: the doll falls--why can't she pick up this doll?! Why can't she do anything?!--the child yanks her mother back to get at it. The mother says no, pulls back, then yields and crouches by her daughter, who is too small to understand what's happening. Kida is struggling against Pearl's hold, frantically reaching, her hand passing right through the queen's shoulder.
She hears her mother's last words: Kida, just leave it! There's no time!
The light finds them then. The queen looks up, as if drawn by a song only she can hear, and the cone of red light becomes blue and pale and wraps her up. Kida collapses. ]
Mahtim...no, please...!
[ The little girl doesn't understand. She's screaming, Kida's screaming, two girls yelling for their mother thousands of years apart. Kida scrambles forward, but her arm passes futilely through her mother's leg. She's gone, she's gone... ]
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She wrenches one eye open, seeing Kida's mother like that. Her gem flickers, images of Rose Quartz flashing only for a brief moment. Take care of him. But as soon as it appears, it's gone and more tears race down her cheeks as her chest aches for her friend in her arms. Her mother, being snatched away. Just like that.
As much as she'd want to let Kida go, to stop this all from happening, she knew there was nothing they could do. Her hands passing through her mother's leg was evidence of just that. Her words falling upon deaf ears.]
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At the edge of the city center, ancient stone statues awaken, great guardians that clap their massive hands like striking a match. A shield bursts forth, a massive dome that cleaves the earth and rends the air. Airships are split in half by it as it rises, or else those not fast enough slam into it and burst like harmless bubbles. Fire rains from the sky. And the people--those caught outside, terrified, hammering their fists futilely against the shell as if by the grace of some god it would allow--
But it does not allow. Kida knows how this story ends; if her mother still exists within that incandescent star, she and her warmth are far gone, lost to a power more ancient than mankind. She feels numb, her whole body quaking. The king falls over his daughter, wraps her up in his robe. The whole city is screaming.
To think, it's been minutes. Minutes ago the city was well and flush and prosperous. They have been here--an hour, two hours. And now it will all be gone. The light is becoming almost painful to look at, and soon it will be blinding. Trembling, she turns, cups Pearl's face in her hands. ]
Pearl, you mustn't look.
[ She doesn't even try to be heard over the din of the dying city, just pulls Pearl's down head against her shoulder, shielding her eyes, then ducks her own.
Everything goes white. ]
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A few beats pass and she opens her eyes, her breathing suddenly labored. No more screams. No more cries. The rush of everything around them suddenly gone. She lifts her head up to see that they were back in Kida's room. As if it were all a dream. But her damp cheeks told her otherwise. She had seen it all.
The Gem looks down at Kida, holding her arms as she dips her head, trying to meet her gaze.]
K-Kida... [She says, barely above a choked whisper.]
Kida I'm so sorry...
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Just white.
When she opens her eyes, they're in Oska again. Seconds pass before she manages to take a stuttering breath, breaking away from Pearl on hesitant legs. She looks around the room, frantic like a startled deer. Everything is as they left it. Even the painting of Atlantis is over the bed again, blue and cold this time, just as it was before. Before... ]
I...
[ She feels--nothing. It's too much. All of it. She can still hear the screaming, ringing in her head. She stumbles back, holds her hand out to grasp the mantelpiece. There's still a fire in the hearth, to warm the room, and its orange glow lights her up.
She'd wanted so badly to know. So badly! To know her culture, her history, the why.
And now she knows, and she'll never be able to take it back. Her hand trembles. A knot forms in her throat, her belly twisting. She feels as if she'll be ill.
How could she be so stupid? To think she could change the past, change anything? To think she could unravel thousand-year-old secrets and not come upon darkness, not stare into the abyss of time? Her mother dead and her father a liar. Six thousand years he's been keeping this from her! Six thousand years she's been living in ignorance--blissful ignorance. ]
Pearl... [ Her voice is a rasp, quiet. ] Leave me, please. I need to be alone.
[ It's--everything--too much. She needs to sit in the quiet for a good long while. ]
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The Gem closes her mouth at Kida's request. Right. She needed time to digest this, and Pearl knew she wasn't going to be of any use in this situation. She inhales deeply and nods, letting her hand settle at her sides, standing up straighter.]
Yes, of course. Take all the time you need.
[A small smile is offered, but quickly fades away as soon as it appears. Pearl turns towards the door, readjusting her jacket lapels.]
If you need anything... [She vaguely gestures to her jewelry around her own neck. Kida knew where to find her after all. But she could tell she needed all the time in the world to herself.
With one last nod, Pearl walks out of the room.]