In the arms of the ocean, so deep and so cold

[oceantier]

Who: Lapis Lazuli and the residents/staff of Virgo Entertainment
What: After Lapis discovers that it was Virgo Entertainment who kidnapped Steven, she attacks the building late at night. More description here.
When: Wednesday, March 2, about one in the morning
Where: Virgo Entertaiment. Note: Lapis will be attacking from deep within the ocean, so she will not be visible.
Warnings: Blind rage. Property damage. Possibly sharks.


His hand in hers still haunts her mind. She can still feel the shadow of them throughout the day, the small weight of his fingers laced in hers, locked together, tight with the pressure of her own.

Worse, she can feel them yanked away, breaking from hers.

The sound of him crying out reverberates in her head, echoing, echoing, loud, louder, louder. She wants to press her hands to her ears, crouch, wait until it fades . . . There's no relief, and the weight of it pounds against her skull in dull and unrelenting rhythm: He's gone, and she's broken her word.

He's sick, he's in danger, and she's broken her word.

There is no relief.

***

The attack comes suddenly, brutally on Wednesday night as the ocean outside of Virgo Entertainment grows restless. The water rolls, it surges, it rocks, it builds, it moans . . . Like great hands thrusting forward, snatching at the earth, a little higher each time . . .

Until suddenly, it's on par with the building itself.

The noise alone may be enough to wake the residents of the building; the water lashes into the building structure. Windows explode in showers of glass, and the water pours in, eager and fast as it can. Wave after wave smites the structure from every angle, at every window they can reach, shattering the glass and sweeping inward with the glee of eager children. The impacts boom against the structure itself, shuddering through the metal and upward even into the very penthouses. There's no danger; the metal will hold. But the sound is horrible, and it continues, on and on and on, as the waves continue to moan and roll and crash, tearing through the very earth outside the building in their wake.

Residents or staff entering the lowest floor may find it immersed in 2-3 feet of water, complete with specimens -- various fish, masses of kelp . . . and if one is unlucky, very likely a shark. Water continues to wash in, easily able to swipe someone off their feet. Caution is recommended.

The sky is clear, and there is no visible cause for the lashing of the waters -- not even a completely specific origin point.



ooc: Feel free to post threads to this log of your characters reacting, investigating, etc. Lapis is under the ocean and a ways out, so would not readily be accessible or visible. (But hey, there's always the ghost of Edna theory, if you're into that kind of thing.)

Comments

NEXT EVENING / FOR LAPIS

[balletbattler]

It's hard not to hear about the "freak storm" that wrecked the lower floors of Virgo HQ overnight. Pearl's been there before, scouting out the building to see what one might have to do to get the captives out, but now she arrives with a completely different mission.

She already has her spear summoned as she sneaks past the crews that have come in to repair the damage, slipping down to the beach and wandering around knee-deep in the water, narrowing her eyes out at the whole ocean as if she'll be able to see Lapis below the surface. She calls Lapis' name quietly, trying to stay out of earshot of any of the people milling around the ruined building.

"I know you're out there, and I know this was you! Come out Lapis!"

[oceantier]

The rage has left her.

She feels hollow in its wake, scooped out and empty. Keeping away from the inevitable rubberneckers, she's wedged herself deep among the rocks fairly far from the shore -- a space where most wouldn't fit. The closeness of it is reassuring somehow -- the feeling of solidity on nearly every side, pressing inward against her back and limbs. Inside, she's contained, blocked away from the rest of the world.

. . . The voice outside isn't one she would ever have expected.

Part of her hesitates to reply. There's fight in Pearl's words; there always is, and Lapis has no fight left in her.

But at the same time, there's no point in not answering, and as always, it comes down to one thing: Steven. In this one thing, Lapis has trust: That whatever Pearl's attachment to Steven, it's firm. And if so, she needs to know what has happened -- and what Steven may face.

And so Lapis draws a breath and slips from her hiding place to meet the other Gem, quiet. "I'm here."

Unlike before, there's no combat in her own words. No defensive posture. Her hands are loose at her sides, her shoulders rounded. She waits.

[balletbattler]

Pearl frowns at Lapis, but Lapis clearly isn't in a fighting mood. Maybe the attack tired her out, or maybe she realizes she made a mistake. Pearl doesn't know and she doesn't care, but she will give Lapis a chance at least.

"Explain yourself," she says, holding up her spear in Lapis' direction. She's not quick to trust anyone, and Lapis already has a point against her in Pearl's eyes. Her past transgressions and her insistence on having some connection with Steven, despite the fact that she never knew Rose, wasn't there for Steven during all of those hard times, can't even begin to understand what it means to defend Earth...

Well, Pearl just isn't quick to trust.

[oceantier]

She isn't going to try to excuse herself for her actions. But there is the cold comfort that even if she cared what Pearl thinks of her, there's little that could be damaged further between the two of them.

"Steven was taken." Her voice stays quiet, almost remote. "They took him to Virgo -- men in a van, stronger and faster than anything human."

Her arms creep upward around herself. ". . . His gem had been cracked. By people in Pride. He was sick." Her fingers tighten. "I was trying to take him away . . . and they came."

[balletbattler]

It's frustrating to Pearl that Lapis does this for Steven. That she thinks she's helping by doing these things. Pearl can't possibly find fault in her motives, but she can certainly find them in her methods.

"Steven was in there and your solution was to try and knock the building down?" she says, raising her voice just a little, betraying how upset she is. "You could have hurt him!"

[oceantier]

Her mouth tightens, eyes not on Pearl. One foot lifts just slightly, poises as though she means to turn.

But she stays.

"I wasn't trying to hurt Steven." She's not sure she could explain it to Pearl -- the blind rage of it, the rawness. Not sure Pearl would listen even if she did. "I wouldn't . . ."

A breath. "I wasn't . . . trying to knock it down."

[balletbattler]

"Then what were you trying to do?" Pearl snaps, gesturing at the building with her spear. "What if he had been on the other side of one of those windows? He's not like us, Lapis, he could really get hurt! Especially if his gem..."

She cuts herself off - that Lapis knew his gem was cracked and she didn't... she's been intentionally avoiding him, knowing that if she sees him she won't be able to help it. Lapis knows all of this about him and Pearl... Pearl's still in the dark about so many things because she's so afraid. But she shakes her head and keeps her attention on Lapis.

"What if you've compromised the mission?"

[oceantier]

She can't answer what she was trying to do. There is no answer for it; there was no trying involved. Trying, after all, implies thought, a plan. There wasn't one.

There's also no answer for compromising the mission. She can't be sure. At the very least, there's one certainty: She's very likely compromised herself.

"They took him." Her eyes press closed. "They captured him and locked him up. Even though he was sick -- even though he was hurt. Even though he was cracked. Do you think I could let that happen to someone else?"

[balletbattler]

Pearl can tell that some part of what Lapis is doing is just pure emotion, no thinking involved. It frustrates her for so many reasons, not the least of which is that it's unpredictable and it's hard to pick apart. She doesn't want to hurt Lapis; if the other gem is here to help then Pearl's not going to prevent her from doing that, but this is not helping.

"And you thought this would help?" she demands, clearly upset as she gestures to the building. "You might have hurt some of the people we're trying to save!"

[oceantier]

She doesn't answer immediately. It wasn't meant to help. It wasn't meant to do anything at all except free her of the gnashing, gnawing of her own mind. Nothing more than release -- and in the end, it hasn't even been that.

Pearl wants a direct answer . . . but there's nothing to give, and the insistence of it, combined with their past history, closes Lapis tightly, like an oyster in its shell. She can't open to Pearl -- can't give the possibility of an affirmative to the other Gem, not with all that is and has been between them. She's already been open farther than is comfortable.

"You've left him." Her voice is quiet, but there's an undercurrent in its depths. "How is that helping either?"

[balletbattler]

"I have not left him!" Pearl insists, almost shouting. She's too upset to keep herself in check right now, to make sure any of the humans by the building can here. It's bustling with workers right now anyway, trying to repair the damage.

"I just know that getting close to him won't help! I don't know if I can... if I can see him like that and not try and do something! We're not supposed to be trying anything like that right now, we have to wait!"

[oceantier]

"Pearl."

It's the first time she's ever used the other Gem's name -- and while the note is firm, there's the edge of a plea. "They're hurting him now. They cracked his gem. They stole him. They're not going to wait."

Her eyes come up, stare back across the short distance between them. ". . . Can you blame me for doing what you want to do too?"

[balletbattler]

Pearl draws back slightly, looking fearful, like a deer caught in the headlights.

"No! I can't!" she says, on the verge of tears. "And that's exactly why you shouldn't be here! You're unpredictable and emotional! You could ruin all of this with stunts like this! It's not fair!"

She turns away, trying to hide the hurt on her face. "It's not fair that you get to see him and I don't!"

[oceantier]

"I knew that at the beginning." Her voice is soft, flatness verging on empty. "I told myself . . . it wasn't a good idea. That I shouldn't be here. I'm still . . . not always sure I should."

"But . . ." The emptiness smooths, deepens even softer into something sadder, more wistful. "I couldn't not . . ."

Firmer, "And I'm not leaving. You can find a way to work with me, help me help him, see him for yourself . . . or you can be alone."

". . . And that's something I'm better at than you."

[balletbattler]

Lapis is right; Pearl is not good at being alone at all. She never has been, as much as she wants to be. It's a hard reality she's had to bear, and now it's more obvious than ever. She glares down at the water, trying to think about what Lapis is saying and not just brushing her off immediately.

"I can't work with you if you're going to do things like this," she says, a little calmer. "I'll find my own way."

[oceantier]

"I'll do whatever I need to do to help Steven." Lapis' voice has gone stiff, flat . . . and grim. "Even if that means more than what I've done now. Do whatever you have to. But don't bother coming to lecture me."

She twists to head back towards the rocks. "And don't stand in my way."

Behind Pearl, a wave slaps sharply against the sand near her ankles, showering her with seawater droplets.

[balletbattler]

Pearl winces at the seawater, but she continues frowning at Lapis, looking hurt and angry. The spear in her hand dematerializes into light and she stands there for a moment just looking at the other gem.

"Goodbye, Lapis," she says, and then she turns away.