barrayarmods: (Default)
For Barrayar mods ([personal profile] barrayarmods) wrote in [community profile] forbarrayar2017-03-04 05:33 am

[ march i log: we need medicine ]

Who: Everyone
What: New arrivals, desperate times, whispers down the hall.
When: March 1st - 18th
Where: Barrayaran camp / Cetagandan base
Warnings: TBD

Quick links:
Riverfall
Barrayar: Plague / Camp / Missions
Cetaganda: Plague / Base / Missions



welcome to barrayar.
It's the dark of night when you come to in the foothills. Snow on the ground, chill winter wind whistling -- in fact, it's dangerously cold, and all you have is the clothes on your back.. A steep mountain range towers just ahead, its peaks illuminated by the light of two moons. Whatever you last remember, it isn't how you got here, and you feel oddly jetlagged, slightly queasy.

And you're not alone. There are a few other people close by, all looking equally lost and confused. But before any of you have a chance to figure out what's going on, the soldiers arrive. There's a war on, they say, and you unlucky bastards have just been dropped right smack in the middle of it.

With March comes some relief. The first few days to a week are still bitterly, dangerously cold, but the weather starts to pick up gradually over the course of the next couple of months. It only gets barely above freezing, but after the last month, it might as well be a summer's day.

riverfall
The party last month definitely boosted morale, and certainly brought the outsiders closer to the villagers. They're noticeably friendlier toward the outsiders afterward, although they still give the exotics and their accompanying ghem soldiers the evil eye.

Given the village's covert assistance with the war effort and the fact that the Cetagandans found enough data to include the village in its regular patrols, Riverfall has become sort of a middle ground between the two sides. Coinciding visits don't happen every day, but they can provide opportunities for the two factions to secretly meet. Of course, this always carries a risk…best be sure not to be caught by either side's soldiers. Thanks to Negri, the Barrayarans roughly know the patrol schedule.

barrayar
Temperatures are still pretty low by the time March rolls around, and the first week is considerably cold, but it's steadily getting warmer as the month goes on. By the second week, it's just warm enough to start taking baths again -- and boy is there ever a queue.

On the 2nd, a small troop of soldiers arrives, led by Prince Xav Vorbarra, Olivia and Sonia's father, and Piotr's aide-de-camp Captain Ezar Vorbarra, a distant cousin of theirs. They bring with them a load of relief supplies fom Beta Colony, improving not only their food and medicine situation, but some to pass on back to the Riverfall villagers in return for their help. Anyone lurking around at night might see Ezar talking to Negri from time to time as well, and Sonia seems to be getting up to some kind of mischief where Ezar is concerned.

Prince Xav gives Piotr a very helpful tipoff -- there's a Betan biochemist waiting in the occupied district capital, Vorkosigan Vashnoi, to rendezvous with him on his way back off Barrayar. Xav can't stay long; he needs to find another way off-planet, and Doctor Micah Niadem has been laying low in Vorkosigan Vashnoi, but the risk of their presence being detected grows with every day. It may be easier and safer to smuggle them back to the camp than try to get them back off-planet for now -- and besides, their expertise in astrophysics might prove useful. But Xav hasn't yet been able to make contact through the soldiers occupying the city, so Piotr sends his own scouts.

Piotr, with Xav and Ezar as advisors, is trying to come to a decision about what to do about the Cetagandans' wormhole project. There's no telling what the Cetagandans really intend to do with the wormhole device, but disrupting or destroying their project would mean no way home for the outsiders, and…Piotr no longer feels that to be the most honorable option. That, and the idea of this technology in Cetagandan hands does them no favors. But their intelligence on the project is limited -- Byerly will prove to be a useful intelligent asset, certainly, but Piotr is looking for more informants. Any outsiders willing and able to make connections with any exotics sympathetic to the cause would certainly be appreciated by the General.

plague
Early in the month, some of the villagers begin to get sick -- it looks just like a particularly nasty cold at first. It quickly worsens and spreads to the camp, and by the 7th it is evident there is an outbreak of the Barrayaran flu, an influenza variant that has mutated over the last several centuries. Barrayarans have built up antibodies against most strains, but this is a particularly virulent strain, and with a population that has neither vaccines nor modern medicine, it can be fatal. The recent cold snap and limited food haven't exactly fortified anyone's immune systems, either, and in the first half of the month, about half the population of the village and camp come down with the flu at some point.

Although the virus isn't spreading much more quickly than your average flu, it's still a nasty infection, and the symptoms are difficult to effectively treat without proper equipment of facilities. Some of the relief supplies brought by Prince Xav include surgical masks and gloves for the people working triage to protect them from the airborne illness as much as possible. The supplies also include some analgesics and synergine, but hardly enough to go around. Fevers, aches and chills, coughing, vomiting -- they treat them with what they have once they run out of relief supplies. And for the most part, those with the flu manage to pull through and recover -- but if the flu turns to pneumonia, there's almost nothing they can do at that point. Thanks to the tireless efforts of villagers, soldiers, and some outsiders, the first half of the month sees only a 10% mortality rate between the village and the camp, resulting in only 23 influenza-related deaths.

Sonia is among the first to get sick, but she sweats it out in five days or so and manages a full recovery. Olivia, on the other hand, falls much more seriously ill. Piotr takes great care not to get sick; the camp is already incapacitated as it is.

camp
Camp morale is still buckling under the weight of crisis after crisis, but the arrival of Prince Xav and the improving weather have done a lot to lighten the mood. Xav and Ezar coordiate to distribute the relief supplies even as the flu ravages the camp and village, never a dull moment . Olivia and Sonia haven't seen their father Xav in over two years, and it's a long-overdue family reunion. Piotr welcomes the return of his friend and aide-de-camp Ezar, and Sonia seems to be getting into some kind of mischief with her cousin. And in a quiet moment here and there, Ezar can be seen talking to Negri.

By the morning of the 1st, Byerly Vorrutyer will have abruptly disappeared from camp.

Piotr is trying to keep military operations running as much as he can while half the camp tends to the sick or fall sick themselves. They'd found the traitors, yes, but Piotr's anger is far from satisfied. The food shortage had derailed their power supply strategy, and it's only further pushed back by this current crisis, so large operations are off the table. But Piotr has never underestimated the value of psychological warfare in this war. He has a few conveniently available corpses for hacking up and planting in the Cetagandan base just to shake things up a little, and anyone who can lift a sword without coughing is qualified. Xav does not approve.

missions
The medical assistance provided by the outsiders doesn't go unappreciated, nor without effect. Not every day is a success, but they manage to keep the mortality rate relatively low.

The infiltration missions to plant the severed body parts mostly go according to plan, although Lakshmi and Nash run afoul of some guards. Between the outsiders and other Barrayaran squads, they manage to plant several body parts, and in doing so, inadvertently spread the Barrayaran flu to the Cetagandans.

The outsiders scouting out Vorkosigan Vashnoi manage to stay undetected by Cetagandan soldiers, although they run into exotics on the other side. They manage to get some information about Micah's location, but very little…thankfully, Byerly passes on to Miles much more specific information the exotics were able to obtain.

Here are the unabridged mission results.

cetaganda
The snow piled up around the base starts to gradually melt over the course of the month as temperatures rise. The new wave of exotics are processed and very gently prodded like every group has been, but they've been treated with the same level of civility. The Cetagandans are generally exceedingly polite, but they are becoming a little less patient with the exotics after the recent bouts of violence and escapism.

Despite the Barrayaran flu sweeping the base, military operations must carry on. Zahal might have lost his informants in the Barrayaran camp, but he knows they've been struggling, and wants to implement some more aggressive tactics to hit them while they're down -- and more than that, the dead body parts of his own soldiers scattered around the base have had their intended effect, rattling and aggravating the ghem-General -- even more so when they realize that this was the means by which the plague spread to the base. Whatever organized strategy Zahal starts to pull together is immediately disrupted by the rapid spread of the virus through the base. With Cetagandan soldiers dropping like flies, military operations all but come to a halt on the base.

However, Cetagandan intelligence gets wind of a Barrayar-allied astrophysicist from Beta Colony, a planet renowned for its cutting-edge technological advances, particularly in the field of wormhole science; they may be able to solve some of the pieces of the puzzle. The Betan scientist is apparently hiding out in Vorkosigan Vashnoi, the capital city of the city. The virus has spread there too; Barrayarans and Cetagandans alike are facing the outbreak, although the native population seems to be faring a bit better. The Cetagandans need help bringing medical supplies, so while they're at it, the ghem-General dispatches a few teams to try and sniff out the scientist's location. Meanwhile, in the R&D labs, some of the exotics who have been promoted to lab assistant are helping the Cetagandans to make some advancements, and they're finally let in on some more details about the project.

plague
A few days into the month, some of the soldiers start to show cold-like symptoms -- and then the outbreak of Barrayaran influenza spreads rapidly throughout the base. Unlike the Barrayarans, the Cetagandans have no antibodies for this strain, and even their advanced immune systems cannot defend them against a totally new pathogen. They are infected even more quickly than the Barrayarans and their symptoms escalate rapidly as well, resulting in an alarming mortality rate. Cetagandan soldiers are falling sick left and right. Triage starts in the medbay, but they have to quarantine off another wing of the building just to make room for the rapidly growing population of infected ghem. The airborne virus is spreading through the base at an alarming speed -- save for Byerly, no one on base has ever been exposed to it. The symptoms are severe and while the Cetagandans have plenty of equipment, they have neither an antiviral nor a vaccine for the Barrayaran flu. High fever, vomiting, dehydration, respiratory and sinus problems run rampant, and though they have plenty in the way of synergine and analgesics, the Barrayaran flu quickly leads to pneumonia in most Cetagandan patients, and with their immune systems so completely unprepared, most patients with pneumonia die within 24 to 48 hours. The triage assistants are, at least, provided with surgical masks and gloves and antibacterial gel by the bucket load to protect them from the airborne illness as much as possible. By mid-month, nearly two thirds of the base has been infected.

The medical staff scrambles to put up a quarantine while also working on a vaccine for the uninfected population on the base. Byerly, being the only person on base who has ever been exposed to the Barrayaran flu, offers a blood sample -- potentially containing antibodies to this strain. Some of the Cetagandans' testing methods are a little ethically questionable, but they're trying to work fast. They're able to develop a working vaccine with a projected effectiveness of 70%.

Toward the middle of the month, Amai catches the flu and is laid low for about a week. Diya and Zahal take great care not to catch it -- Diya seems particularly absent lately.

base
Paranoia of infection hovers over the entire base, but some of the Cetagandans are concerned with another upcoming event: the arrival of the Handmaiden of the Star Crèche. What the Handmaiden of the Star Crèche actually is or does seems to be rather vague to the exotics -- she seems to play some role in genetic politics -- but it's known that she's haut, like Diya. The Cetagandans are scrambling to prepare for her arrival with considerable worry about resolving the flu epidemic before she touches down. The Cetagandans are about as close to cultural panic as they get right now. Diya received personal notice from the Handmaiden of the Star Crèche herself.

Starting on the 1st, Byerly Vorrutyer joins the exotic ranks as an undercover agent, looking not only for information but to potentially recruit exotics sympathetic to the Barrayaran cause.

Meanwhile in the labs, the Cetagandans have been letting the exotics get a little more hands-on with their research. Natasha, York and Symmetra have risen a bit in the ranks and are brought in on more specific projects. The ghem ladies are, surprisingly, now looking for volunteers to work in the gene labs too -- personnel shortage, of course.

missions
Even though a few of their own fall prey to the illness, the exotics' medical assistance does wind up being quite helpful, particularly with development of the vaccine. Meanwhile, eavesdroppers are doing their usual business and digging deep in places they shouldn't -- particularly where Amai and Diya are concerned.

The exotics that accompany the Cetagandans to Vorkosigan Vashnoi manage to stay undetected by Barrayaran soldiers, although they run into exotics on the other side. They are able to get some very detailed information about Micah's location, which Byerly passes back to the Barrayarans via Miles.

Here are the unabridged mission results.

Note: Negri and Zahal are available for threads by request only. Please hit up Madi or Ammay respectively for you want threads with either of those NPCs. You can also request a thread with Village Speaker Yakiv Gura if you want, in which case hit up Madi.
mirrortide: (086)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-03-05 04:17 am (UTC)(link)
Helpfully, Lapis smacks his hand away, getting up on her own, and peeking out into the hallway, barely even sparing him a glance. She's as friendly as always, and even more so now that she's doing something she shouldn't be. Especially when she doesn't want to be caught.

"Did you bother to learn the patrols or are you running on blind luck?" Because so help her if it's the latter she'll... Okay, she won't just head back to the exotics room, but she'll want too. "And why exactly are you out after curfew anyway?"
spartan051: credit: hollow-art (Civ- Disgruntled)

[personal profile] spartan051 2017-03-05 04:54 am (UTC)(link)
When she batted his hand away, he politely gave her some distance and didn't try to help any further. Her surliness was nothing in comparison to Chief Mendez on a bad day so he didn't even blink an eyelash at the attitude.

"Of course I did and that patrol should not have been there." He let the accusation roll off his back as well because what good would it do to get snappish with her as well? It would simply escalate the situation further. "I should hope that was obvious, I am trying to gather intel. I'm not sure I believe our hosts have been completely forthright."
Edited 2017-03-05 04:56 (UTC)
mirrortide: (086)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-03-05 05:06 am (UTC)(link)
"You haven't been watching long enough then." Lapis gives a shrug, and she steps out into the hallway fearlessly now. "Of course they aren't being forthright, it's not like it's that hard to figure out."

Seriously, if he believes that the Ceta's are everything they say they are he's pretty dumb. "Exactly what sort of Intel were you looking for anyway." It's not a question, it's a statement judging by her tone of voice, and she starts to walk, assuming that he'll follow behind her.

Worse comes to worse, she can probably blame everything on him. They like her well enough here.
spartan051: (Civ-Wary)

[personal profile] spartan051 2017-03-05 05:22 am (UTC)(link)
"Or something has caused them to deviate from their previous patrol patterns." The man's voice continued to be completely even and gave no hint of irritation. But he also didn't bother to rise to her baiting comment either.

Instead, Kurt slipped out of the alcove after Lapis on silent feet. "I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say, ma'am." Ouch, stonewalled by the tried and true classified route. Did he really just call her ma'am?
mirrortide: (074)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-03-05 05:30 am (UTC)(link)
"It's Lapis Lazuli. And whatever, I don't really care enough anyway." Her own footsteps are extremely light and silent. It helps when you're not wearing shoes. It's also unfortunate she's the only blue person in the entire base, because otherwise she wouldn't have even bothered giving a name.

She's pretty quick on her feet for someone who is sneaking around, and she's extremely sure footed at that. "Just don't get caught, because if I have to learn an entirely new patrol I'm seriously not going to be happy."
spartan051: credit: hollow-art (Civ-Totally bullshitting right now)

[personal profile] spartan051 2017-03-05 06:36 am (UTC)(link)
The blue thing was definitely throwing him for a loop but he'd seen stranger things here. The name was also curious but more importantly, he couldn't remember the last time he dealt with a civilian and found himself at a loss as to which name to use. Calling her Lapis felt presumptuous as hell and calling her Lazuli didn't sound right in his head either. Miss Lazuli? Misses? What was the proper etiquette here?

"I will try not to, ma'am. If you don't mind my asking, what are you looking for exactly?"
mirrortide: (074)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-03-05 06:48 am (UTC)(link)
"My name is Lapis Lazuli." She repeats, clearly still unconvinced of his ability to not get them both caught. "And that's classified." Lapis mimics his voice only with a much snottier tone because she's just a real delight.

She really wishes she had her powers right about now. It'd make everything so much easier to do, but apparently she's just that unlucky. Not that she'd even be here if she did, but then again, semantics.
Edited (words are hard) 2017-03-05 07:04 (UTC)
spartan051: credit: hollow-art (Civ- Ehhhhh face)

[personal profile] spartan051 2017-03-06 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
He was not going to let her bait him into losing his temper no matter how snotty and rude she happened to be. "Alright then, Lapis Lazuli."

In truth, he wasn't the least bit surprised she parroted his words back to him. But he found himself re-accessing his options here because she'd made it pretty clear she didn't want him around and this was a solo sort of operation and that was something he could respect. Factoring a second person into your espionage plans could definitely throw a wrench in the works.

Beyond that though,Kurt didn't know if she was as capable as she seemed to think she was. And if she failed at sneaking around the guards then there was a chance he could be caught as well. "I don't want to interfere with you, ma'am er...Lapis? Is that a first name or is it just Lapis Lazuli?"
mirrortide: (093)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-03-07 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
"Lapis Lazuli. Either Lapis or Lazuli will work if it's too much of a mouthful for you." Humans and their weird double names. What's up with that? She squares her shoulders as she turns to him, seemingly confident enough to walk backwards and face him as she talks.

"You've already interfered when you ran into my hiding spot. Now if they catch you they'll end up catching me." And she doesn't particularly pleased about letting that happen. "Just listen to me and we'll be just fine." It's not like she was sneaking around with any real purpose anyway. She's doing it just to do it.
spartan051: credit: hollow-art (Civ- I'm offended by that)

[personal profile] spartan051 2017-03-08 11:44 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's not, I simply don't know your culture and am trying to be respectful, Lapis Lazuli." It took a lot to prickle his temper but Kurt found himself biting back the urge to ask her just what the hell was her problem. Sure, part of her piss-poor attitude could be attributed to him accidentally bowling her over but he thought he'd done a pretty okay job of conveying his apologies. So was it something more?

"And as I said before, I am most sorry for that, it was not my intention. But if I may be so bold, you do not appear to be particularly welcoming of my presence so the last thing I want is to further inconvenience you." The brunette staunchly refused to acknowledge the flash of outrage that sparked through him when she indicated she thought he might get caught and squeal on her. This blue woman didn't know him, didn't know that a Spartan did not yield under torture or give up their compatriots. Still, that grated most of all but Kurt managed to keep a firm leash upon his temper.
mirrortide: (074)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-03-08 11:53 pm (UTC)(link)
She's just unfriendly all around until you get to know her. And then she's only a little less. Sorry, Kurt.

"I'm not exactly a fan of having my plans ruined," Lapis replies with a nonchalant shrug. "Like I said, if they catch you they catch me, and vice versa now. Besides, I know all of the nooks and crannies in this place, and you look like a fresh face. Besides, maybe I'll need some muscle. It's not like I have any of my own." She holds up a slender blue arm like she was about to flex. A spaghetti noodle probably has more meat on it, honestly.
spartan051: credit: hollow-art (Civ- Say what now?)

[personal profile] spartan051 2017-03-11 05:54 pm (UTC)(link)
He could handle surly, he'd trained the likes of Emile so she was practically a ray of sunshine in comparison. What Kurt didn't appreciate was having his character besmirched, but he knew she didn't know him and didn't know he'd sooner cut of his own body parts than betray a comrade. Even a surly, foul-tempered one such as this blue woman.

"If you are sure then fine, let's pool our resources. Of course, it would be helpful to know where we're going all the same. I was trying to get a look at the research labs myself but it looks as though the guards presence is heightened in that area for some reason." There, see, he could offer up minute details of his plan after all. Of course, Kurt coached his words to be as broad as possible because there were a lot of research labs in the complex.
mirrortide: (074)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-03-14 09:24 pm (UTC)(link)
"I wasn't going anywhere in particular. I just like sticking my nose where it shouldn't be." Lapis turns, leading off towards the labs. The ones that she's sure have the more interesting things. "Probably because they don't want anyone messing with whatever they're cooking up in there." But Lapis doesn't plan to interfere with anything like that, it's just not her business. She just wants to be kept in the loop, and her favourite tight lipped haut isn't exactly the talkative sort.

"The more interesting labs are this way. We have a few minutes until the next patrol comes."
spartan051: (Civ-Wary)

[personal profile] spartan051 2017-03-16 01:01 am (UTC)(link)
"A sentiment I understand and share. Our hosts tell us one thing but I suppose I can't take it at face value." He set off after her still on those near silent feet. He'd been running infiltration training missions with the like of Mendez constantly over the past twenty years. "What do you think they're doing in the labs, Lapis Lazuli?"
mirrortide: (093)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-03-16 01:30 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't know, human stuff?" It's her best guess, honestly. "Your kind does a lot of weird stuff mine doesn't. I remember Diya saying that they grow their offspring in uterine replicators, or something like that? I'd say they're probably growing more soldiers, but humans take way too long to mature to do anything useful right now."
spartan051: credit: hollow-art (Civ- Hrmnn)

[personal profile] spartan051 2017-03-19 05:40 pm (UTC)(link)
"So you're not human then? The uh...blue thing sort of gave that away." He'd come across plenty of aliens during the war but none that looked humanoid. The Covenant were almost uniformly scaled and quilled, like monsters out of a child's nightmares. "They grow their children? Like in a test tube? Because that's not the norm for humans where I come from." He'd already known there was something deeply different in the Cetagandan culture from anything he was familiar with but this just served to further prove the point. It was like they weren't even human as he knew it and that was a disturbing distinction he wasn't comfortable even considering.
mirrortide: (100)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-03-19 05:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"That's right. I'm a Gem. But congrats on being the first human to realize I'm not." Well, sort of. He did just confirm it, but whatever. That doesn't really matter.

"I don't think that growing their offspring is the norm for humans where I come from either, but my human interactions have been pretty limited until this place." And even then, she hasn't exactly decided to care about how they make other humans.
spartan051: credit: hollow-art (Civ- Ehhhhh face)

[personal profile] spartan051 2017-03-19 06:58 pm (UTC)(link)
"Well, the whole blue thing and the fact that you refer to humans as 'you humans' is sort of a dead give away." He said somewhat doubtfully. "I've never heard of a Gem outside of like the minerals." Though things were beginning to click in his brain. Wasn't Lapis Lazuli a gemstone? Perhaps that was where her name derived from?

"Humanity typically goes the biological route where I'm from. No err..uterine replicators, whatever that is." He could only hazard a guess as to what that meant. It wasn't like Kurt had a lot of experience with human reproduction to begin with so it was all just educational guesswork on his part. Of course, humanity had begun to work in flash cloning both organs and the highly illegal experiments flash cloning entire human beings. But they'd never mastered the art of cloning an entire human and those clones inevitably broke down and died usually within weeks or months which had lead to their eventual banning of the practice.
mirrortide: (093)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-03-19 07:09 pm (UTC)(link)
"That's me, the mineral." She says, casting him a side glance. "We're inorganic, and yes, we are actually gems." Maybe she should just wear a sign at this point that said 'Actual Rock Lapis Lazuli', it might actually save her from having the same conversation over and over again.

"Or, ex-inorganic, since now i'm unfortunately pretty human." And rather powerless and that's something that Lapis isn't a fan of, and her words are laced with bitterness. "Hopefully they'll fix that here soon enough."
spartan051: credit: hollow-art (Civ- Blank)

[personal profile] spartan051 2017-03-23 01:22 am (UTC)(link)
"That's...a little hard to comprehend, I'm sorry. Even the aliens we've been fighting back home are still organic at the end of the day." But hadn't he seen those metallic Forerunner Sentinels with his own two eyes? Sure, they were practically robots with some kind of advanced AI perhaps but even he had never seen a gem brought to life.

"That sounds like a hell of an adjustment process. You have my sympathies because I didn't come out of that wormhole whole either and it's been...hard readjusting myself." How strange that the things he'd taken for granted for so long were now gone and it left him feeling helpless in a way.
mirrortide: (039)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-03-23 01:33 am (UTC)(link)
"Hard readjusting is only the half of it." She shrugs her shoulders, because that seems to be all she does these days. "Organic life has a lot of stuff they have to do to survive that we Gems don't. The least offensive of those is probably sleeping." Breathing is kind of a pain in the butt too, and so is eating. Those are also the other things she finds least offensive.

"You fight aliens, though? Why? I didn't know humans were a species that did conquest."
spartan051: credit: hollow-art (Civ- Frowny face)

[personal profile] spartan051 2017-03-23 01:57 am (UTC)(link)
"I suppose I never thought about it that way. For me, that's always been the norm but I can see why it would be frustrating to someone who has never had to deal with such inconveniences." Her story was far-fetched but he saw no reason to risk offending her by showing any hint of skepticism.

"Not by choice, I assure you. They were the aggressors who attacked humanity without any cause or reason to. The Covenant have been trying to exterminate us for going on thirty years just because they seem to think we are some threat to their religion or some kind of heretical race. It's a piss poor excuse for mass genocide but they don't seem to care what we think." When you faced that almost your entire life, Lapis's surly attitude was nothing in comparison.
mirrortide: (007)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-03-23 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
"Yikes." Is all Lapis really says to that whole thing at first, because it really is a sort of 'Yikes' worthy thing. "I'm surprised humans were able to fight back. Especially for so long. I never saw any humans fighting against Gems when we were trying to colonize your planet. But thirty years is probably a lot more recent than five thousand." Seven-hundred-fifty, but really, who's counting?

"Good for your species, being able to fight off another that wants to destroy you." Normally Gems do the whole genocide thing, after all. It's pretty hard to kill something inorganic, after all. Especially if you don't know Gems can reform after you destroy their physical forms.
spartan051: credit: hollow-art (Civ- Frowny face)

[personal profile] spartan051 2017-03-24 03:48 am (UTC)(link)
"We're more resilient than you give us credit for. Of course, when you give an entire species a common enemy to fight against it makes them stronger as a whole." His eyes narrowed ever so slightly when she admitted that at least in her world, these so-called Gems had apparently invaded earth.

"Our worlds must be wildly different because that never happened in my universe's history." He wondered why she would admit so casually to a man who'd just professed having his life shaped by a generation's long alien invasion that she too was some kind of aggressive invader and a threat to mankind. So now he was doing a reassessment and moving her from the vaguely annoying category to potential threats in his mind.
mirrortide: (007)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-03-24 03:55 am (UTC)(link)
"Your species doesn't live very long, five thousand years is more than enough time to forget things." Lapis gives a small wave of her hand. "Everyone's from different places though, and since I don't know of any humans fighting against aliens that aren't Gems where I'm from, it's probably different."

Besides, she's not an aggressive invader anymore. Earth is her home now, even if she's still adjusting to it. Or had been, before she'd been swept off here. "Besides, last I remember your kind was still living in mud houses. No offense, but fighting off Gems requires a little more technology than that." Granted, she's still got the whole Organic Life Is Beneath Gems down.

It's an unfortunate Gem thing.

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