driftfleet | one ☂ rain, rain, go away...

Entry tags:

one ☂ rain, rain, go away...

Who: Lapis Lazuli & YOU
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: S.S. Huntress
When: 1/10

[ VIDEO ]

[ The very second she wakes, the immediacy of how wrong this is crashes over her like a wave.

Lapis curls upright on a cot on the Marsiva, blinking and coughing - like she's been underwater for too long. Frantically, she reaches out for something that isn't there - a shackle. A connection she had been holding on to with all the strength she had, just moments ago -

She had lost it. She hadn't been strong enough.

She stumbles off the cot like she's still getting her land legs, and slowly moves out of the room, quickly casting glances around every corner as she moves down hallways. This doesn't look like a Homeworld ship, but...it has to be. She wasn't strong enough to stay fused with Jasper, and so she must have gotten free. She was probably hurting Steven right now, and Lapis had been taken prisoner again -

What's the point?

In front of a large window, she slumps down, arms winding around her knees. She her forehead against them until she can't see the harsh lights of the ship anymore. With that blocked out, there's just her, and the tumultuous ocean roiling inside of her. ]

[ ACTION ]

[ Soon enough, Lapis is shuttled off to the S.S. Huntress, and she enters the ship with all the reluctance in the world. She is not happy to be here. She barely minds the fact that she's been assigned to a Security position - rather, she avoids the armory entirely. She didn't ask for this. She didn't ask to come here, to be taken prisoner yet again by an organization she knew nothing about, but who would inevitably find some way to use her to their ends.

She doesn't want any of this.

And so as Lapis makes her way to the bunks, she starts pulling - only partly deliberately - on any liquids she passes. Someone using the toilet or shower may suddenly find the water fleeing upwards and out towards the Gem calling it to her. Water, tea, or any other drink may jump out of a cup or drink dispenser as she passes. She does this until she builds a small river down the hallway, barely glancing at anyone she passes unless - unless, they get a bit too close for comfort. ]

No! Just - just stay away from me!

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[This is definitely something that Steven did not expect to see today. His eyes immediately widen in shock, and he gasps her name in surprise.]

Lapis...!

[It's her. It has to be. Lapis Lazuli. A tidal wave of emotions wash over Steven just at the sight of his long-separated and long-suffering beloved friend. Happiness and relief to see her here, but also concern and worry for her situation. What happened to Malachite - could Jasper be near as well? Or maybe he was just dreaming...]

[ That voice. She'd know it anywhere. That voice, calling out her name...

Lapis glances up, eyes searching frantically for him until they settle on one of the screens. She's all too eager as she moves on hands and knees over towards it, her own eyes wide with dismay. ]

Steven! Steven, what are you - where are you?!

Lapis Lazuli! [His voice is strained with emotion as he calls for her.]

I... I'm on another spaceship! [He tries to use a calming tone, but he sounds worried at the same time.]

It's okay! Everything's gonna be okay! It's safe here!

[ Even as he assures her that everything is okay, worry absolutely floods her. Steven is on a spaceship? Different from this one? No, no no no -

Jasper had gotten free and she'd found Peridot and together they must have captured Steven and they were on their way back to Homeworld right now -

All because she wasn't strong enough.

She makes a strangled sound, clutching her hands to her chest. ]

Steven - I'm - I'm so sorry, I wasn't strong enough to stay fused with her...all I wanted to do was keep you safe, and I couldn't...I couldn't even...

[That noise is like a wound to Steven's heart. What could have happened that's leaving her so devastated? Could she really have lost control...

No, Steven believes in her and her strength. He knows that couldn't have happened. She must be thinking of something else. After all, he still remembers when he first came here and wondered if he was abducted by Homeworld Gems... Could she be thinking the same?

Steven shakes his head quickly.]

No, you don't understand! I'm safe right now, look! See? [He frantically makes jazz hands at the camera, with a weak smile.] I'm safe!!

This - this isn't what you think it is. I think. We've been captured by aliens who aren't gems! But it's okay, it's like a space vacation too!

[ He says he's safe - insists upon it, but it's hard to believe, when he's on a screen and not where she can really be sure. Still, if he really is okay, and not just saying that for her benefit...

She quells the panic storming within her enough to speak again. ]

They captured you, too? [ Not Gems, he says - but how can that be? Who else would take them like this? ] Who is it, Steven? Are you sure it's not - Yellow Diamond?

[He tries to look as comforting as he can. If jazz hands don't help her, he doesn't know what can!]

I'm sure, Lapis. Super sure! [He'd be in an actual prison, for one.]

It's people called the Atroma, and we don't have jail cells or anything! That doesn't sound like Homeworld's style, right? We can pretty much do whatever we want! [He falters a little.] E...xcept going home...

[ Atroma...it's not familiar at all. She's never heard of them before. What did they want with Gems? Why - what was so important they'd pulled her out of her fusion, that they'd take someone like Steven, too? ]

But - but what Malachite? What about Jasper - [ She covers her head with her hands. ] What about you?! I-I was supposed to be keeping you safe, and I - I couldn't even -

[ She can't finish the thought. ]

Lapis... [He says softly as he presses his hand against the screen.]

You've done everything you can. But I don't think anything can stop the Atroma from taking us. And... I really mean it when I say that I'm safe right now. I'm okay! I wanna go home, but aside from that everything's alright.

[Then he looks more uncertain as he thinks over the rest of what she said. For all they know, Jasper could have been taken here as well. It's a very scary thought... but he also realizes that if Jasper were here, they would have known by now.]

This place is weird, Lapis. I think that while we're here, time isn't moving at home. S-so... everything with- with Malachite and all... It should still be the same until we go back home.

Edited 2016-01-13 03:22 (UTC)

[ He's right. She'd done everything she could...and it still wasn't enough.

But if she'd failed to protect him, that mean the others had, too. What had become of the Crystal Gems?

Her hands fall from her hair, sliding down her arms until they rest, crossed, at her elbows. ]

How can you say that? How can it be okay if someone took you prisoner? [ She wants to believe him, but quite can't because accepting that is almost like absolving herself of her guilt, and she can't do that.

She wasn't strong enough to protect him. Whether time was frozen or not. That didn't make any sense, either. How had the Earth been frozen in time? ]

Where are we going, Steven?

[Steven's shoulders sink, and he worries. Now it feels like he's just making her sadder, no matter what he says. But he tries to carefully answer her questions.]

It's - it's okay because no one got hurt, and time's not moving back home, and there's a lot of nice people here... Stuff like that! It makes things here... not so bad?

[He pauses and looks down.]

Anywhere. The fleet doesn't have a final destination that I know about. We just... drift through space, and check out different planets.

[ It's difficult to follow his explanation, distressed as she is, but she tries. She tries, taking deep breathes to keep the panic at bay ant focusin on what he says.

No one got hurt.

Time's not moving back home.

There's a lot of nice people here. ]

So it's like...we're all imagining it together? [ Quieter: ] But we're all prisoners.

Edited (blarg) 2016-01-13 06:36 (UTC)

Um... I guess it's like that! And one day we'll make it end. [He hopes, with a nervous smile.]

It's only like we're prisoners. We can still move around and do most of the things we want! So, it's more like being forced onto a space vacation! [That's a lot better right?]

[ Is that really better? ]

This doesn't make any sense, Steven! How did I even get here? I was fused!

[ Had they destabilized the fusion somehow? Why couldn't she remember anything? ]

Magic! Or science! Or... magic science!

[He deflates.]

I... I don't know for sure how it happens. But... you're here, and that's what matters.

You can be yourself again, Lapis. [A smile starts to grow on his face.] And... and we can be beach summer fun buddies all over again!

[ Magic science basically sums up the Gems, so. ]

But I...I didn't -

[ Wouldn't it be nice? To be herself and feel like she could be comfortable and safe for once.

But that's not for her. Not for her. ]

I didn't finish protecting you. Whoever it is that brought us here...the Atroma, I should've -

I'm so sorry, Steven.

[Basically.]

Lapis... [He looks on softly once again.] No...

It's okay, Lapis. It's okay. You've already done so much for me. So much more than you had to. And that's why I'm standing here now.

No one's hurt right now, and we can figure this out, Lapis. And while we're figuring it out... we can have fun, too.

No one's hurt?

[ But they might get hurt. That's always the risk. Especially when she tries to help...

She bites her lower lip. ]

I shouldn't help you figure it out. I'll only make things worse.

[At her first question, he nods and makes jazz hands again, to indicate his lack of being hurt.

Then he keeps on looking gravely towards her concerned expression towards the feed. Lapis is one of his dearest friends, and it stings him whenever she thinks of herself that way.]

No you won't...! You're Lapis Lazuli, and you're my friend. My life will always be a little better just because I know you. So... so I believe in you, Lapis. For reals.

[ This is too much.

This is too much, and she...she doesn't know what to do. If what he says is true, then she can't escape. Not immediately, anyway. Which means she's a prisoner. Again. And that alone is a lot to swallow.

But he's so encouraging, and she doesn't want to make things worse for him than she already has.

She looks up into the screen. ]

Steven...I want to help you get out of here any way I can.

I know that you do, Lapis. And... and I know that we'll find a way together. We always do.

I just... I need you to believe, okay? Just trust me on this one.

[ Believing is terrifying. Her natural instinct is to recoil from it, to withdraw and mind herself until things pass. But that hadn't worked out for her when she had returned to Homeworld.

She doubted it would work out for her here, either. ]

I...I don't know if I can believe, Steven. Not in myself. [ A beat. ] But...I can believe in you.

[It's a tough road with Lapis, but it's still a road that Steven would never turn away from, in a million years. So he pauses for a moment before-]

Okay. That'll do for now. [He smiles cheekily.]

But you know, I believe in you a whole lot. So believing in me's like believing in you, too!

[ For the first time since they've been talking, a small smile cracks on her lips. When he puts it like that...it sounds a little more possible. ]

...Is there a way I can see you? Outside of this screen, I mean.

[...It feels like so long since he's seen that smile. So he melts a little inside, and he smiles right back.]

There is! But, um... not yet. See, after you're on the Marsiva for a few days, you get put on another ship. And wherever you go, we'll be able to go to each other's ships and see each other! Or to different planets. Won't that be so neat, Lapis?!

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