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[oceantier]

[There's a blue lady on the comm's screen, not looking like she completely trusts it -- or that she quite likes being so visible. She has something to ask, though (as much as it feels like an exploitable vulnerability to ask) so she stays. And it's fair that others should see who's talking.]

Hello.

[. . . Knowing how to start is harder than anticipated, and considering the last time she was on the comm was to apologize, it feels even more awkward. She swears she can feel eyes looking at her. Unconsciously, her arms tuck into a cross.]

I heard there are "missions" every month. Where we're supposed to infiltrate, or something attacks.

. . . This time there was water in the city. In the pipes. And the sewers. But people say it's not always a city. Locations are different every time.

I need to be able to access some when it isn't there naturally.

I need . . . help.

[Silence for a moment. That was extremely uncomfortable to say, and the next question isn't much better for her.]

Also . . . I'd like to know what people do to find their own space. Where they can sometimes be alone. When . . . they need to.

. . . Thank you.

Comments

[oceantier]

[She considers this for a moment. In its own strange way, though, this makes more sense. Steven is half a human, half a Gem. No one knows quite how that works, either. If he's separated from his gem, what will happen? Will he age as a human does, just slower? If he can fuse with a human, what does that mean for the human and his own human half?]

[Many unanswered questions, with questions they can only figure out as they go. So she nods.]

I . . . know someone like that. Half a human, and half like me.

It just wasn't an accident.

[schrodingersghost]

Danny immediately looks concerned.

"So... he or she was born like that?"

[oceantier]

[She catches the concern, but isn't sure what to make of it.]

He. Yes.

He behaves like a human mostly. And looks like one. But he has a lot of the abilities of a Gem.

[A flicker of a shadow crosses her face.]

When he was . . . hurt. When his gem was cracked . . . I didn't know what would happen to him. To the part of him that was human.

He's the first. The only one like him.

[schrodingersghost]

Well. That was hitting way too close to home.

"It can be tough to be the first of anything." Danny says after a long pause. "But it sounds like he's got some support? That's important."

Technically Danny was the second of his kind. But considering he didn't trust Vlad to do anything except be a massive jerk and fruitloop at every opportunity, it was almost like being the first.