Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prologue

Light-years away from Earth, just beyond the Kuiper Belt...

Deep within the black seas of infinity, where everything floating within danced within the orbit of one another, a titanic tetrahedron floated in place within the starry void, serving as a mobile sanctuary for a species on the run. Another ship, dwarfed by the ship’s gargantuan size, orbited around it like a planet’s moon, manned by a single pilot and six gunners.

The pilot was ever-ready and vigilant, keeping an eye out for anything that would pose a threat to the Simulacra so as to alert the gunners and have them shoot it down… or in general. He did suppose that there was no “down” in zero-gravity, at least in the sense he was referring to…

Retam, he hated space.

He was currently in a spacesuit, as were the gunners(he hoped), in the situation that they would need to abandon ship at a moment’s notice while stuck in the vacuum. He turned on his intercom as he addressed his crew.

“Pilot to gunners. Do you see anything?”

“Negative.”

“Negative.”

“Negative.”

“Negative.”

“Negative.”

“Positive.”

The last one got his attention. “What is it that you see, Gunner Xes?”

“A lone Ruby floating out in the middle of space.”

“Now is not the time to be joking, Xes. If you see something--”

“I’m telling the truth. Turn the ship to the left, you’ll see.”

Deciding to entertain him, the pilot spun his ship ninety degrees left- and sure enough, there was a single Ruby floating about helplessly in the vacuum.

A deep, hoarse laughter came over the intercom. “Aw, what’s this? A poor little Gem, out in the middle of nowhere, with no one to help her.” Another bout of dark chuckling. “Permission to fire, captain?”

“Permission denied, Gunner Oud. She’s just a single Ruby- hardly worth wasting firepower on.”

“Could we at least bring her onto the Simulacra? I’m curious to see how long a twerp like her would last in the Pit.”

The pilot growled, briefly, in contemplation.

“We might as well. If we don’t, someone else will, and I think Xer would want to know about Gem activity in the system. Let’s bring her in, gunners! Prepare tractor beam!”

The ship began turning onto its side before floating towards her, the spacecraft’s star-like shape looming over the Gem as each point began to light up with a mote of purple light. In a split second, the Ruby became engulfed within the light as tendrils of energy shot out from the points, pulling her into the wide, open mouth of the airlock and swallowing her whole. Afterwards, the ship began speeding it’s way back to the immense ship behind it, ready to deliver the captive Ruby into their territory.

Leggy, for the record, had no idea what was happening.

One second, she had been Fused with her squad and doing battle with the traitorous Crystal Gems, and they were perfectly fine. The second after, they became Unfused and separated when they were sucked out into space from an open airlock, cast adrift in the void with no way to get back to one another. And now, presumably far from “Earth”, she found herself being hung over the ground from her shoulders, and within the grip of two scary-looking creatures that looked nothing like anything she had seen, on either Homeworld or Earth.

She knew that they were soldiers- they were both wearing armor, as well as scary-looking expressions... at least, whenever they glanced down at her, anyway. They had what she could only describe as a Fusion between a nose and a mouth, with the soldier on her left having a flattened one and the soldier on her right having one that was broad and rounded. Even if that weren’t strange enough, they also seemed to have shiny, hard skin, with the round-nosed one having brown skin and the flat-nosed one having tan skin with peculiar red-brown reticulations buckling across it. They held her firmly in a clawed, three-digited grip, although the Ruby was hardly of the proper mindset to try to escape.

They approached what appeared to be a large set of doors, pushing their way in to enter a large, spacious room. Ahead of them was a set of stairs leading to a command table, with a large array of holographic maps and modules projected in front of a large chair, currently turned away from them.

“Commander Xer, a patrolling Sentry encountered this Ruby floating around in the middle of space.” The flat-nosed one said, his voice high and nasal. “You want us to crush her to dust?”

“Wait, no! Don’t Shatter me! I didn’t do anything wro--”

Her pleas were silenced as she found herself thrown onto the ground, slamming down onto the metal floors and finding herself crushed underneath a heavy boot.

“Be silent, Ammeg resin.”

“Enough.”

Lifting her head upwards as far as she could, she joined the soldiers in looking upwards at the throne.

The voice that came with the response, now that she could process everything, was a combination between a harsh rasp and a guttural growl, it’s tone noticeably feminine as she spoke with conviction and authority.

“Throw her into one of the airlocks. She’ll be thrown out with everything else once they’re emptied. She’s just a simple Ruby- she’d be too pathetic and weak to last long in the Pit, and it’s hardly worth bothering with her in regards to anything else.”

It was the broad-nosed one that spoke this time, his voice hoarse and deep. “Douq sov olov, Lord Xer.”

Getting off of her and picking her back up, they began heading off out of the room. Leggy was able to get one last glimpse of the area before the doors closed in front of her.

Xer found herself contemplating what had just happened as she sat within the command center, her eyes and ears to everything within the Simulacra. They had come to this system with knowledge that the only planet that could support life seemed to be completely untouched by Gem influence; no withered, dessicated husks of exoplanets or heavily-industrialized moons to be seen. This Ruby’s presence here… well, odds were it hadn’t just floated around long enough to merely wind up in this galaxy eventually.

To say that it changed many things would be an understatement.

She snarled in grim recollection as she pondered the predicament at hand. She had just deployed a team of Subir Tarf to investigate the only planet even close to being hospitable; if Gems were in the process of harvesting the world, it could prove to be quite dangerous for them if they landed. Nonetheless, Xer was hopeful of the best; this was one of their best candidates in the last century, and she wasn’t going to pass it up purely do to paranoia.

She began typing into her terminal, her clawed finger striking each holographic key swiftly as she typed out the serial number of the Mount that the team had been given on their operation.

--Mount Sunu-Subirt.--

Once her query was complete, she was brought to a page with all of the information regarding the Mount in question, as well as ways in which she could interact with it from afar. Reaching over, she tapped a single button that would serve her intended purpose.

--Connecting to Mount intercom… connection failed.--

Xer snarled; she knew that the ship was still in flight from the Mount’s status page, so she was also aware that the connection hadn’t failed from the ship being inactive. She sometimes hated the Subir Tarf’s tech; it looked fancy, but there were times where it simply functioned like erocrets. She tried again.

--Connecting to Mount intercom… connection failed.--

Releasing a louder growl, she slammed her fist against the terminal. She massaged her temples while exhaling in exhaustion, before trying for the third time.

--Connecting to Mount intercom… connection succeeded.--

‘Finally.’

The page turned into a sort of screen, a box of space up on top crackling with static. Xer spoke, collecting her composure quickly.

“Captain Atuan, can you hear me?”

“Yes, Commander Xer. What is it?”

“I have an important update regarding your mission. Gather your crew… all three of you need to hear this.”

“Very well. Sneipas, get the erocrets over here and stop trying to bother Idnanev with another one of your space shanties! Actually, you come over too, Idnanev! Xer has a message for all of us!”

Xer heard scampering feet as what she could only assume was the other two crew members came over to where the captain’s chair of the Mount would be.

“Lord Xer. Oge teviv tu ererap.” Idnanev spoke first, his tone even and subservient.

“Wait, this is Commander Xer?” Sneipas spoke next, her tone bubbly and curious.

“Yes, you sunisa!” Atuan spoke last, her voice shifting from obedient to authoritative in an instant. “I literally just--”

“Everybody calm down.”

All three on the other end fell silent.

“As I was saying, in regards to your mission… there has been a slight change in plans. Just few minutes ago, a patrol team happened upon a Ruby floating about in space. How it got there is beyond my concern, but this brings to light the reality that Gems could be having a recent presence in this system.”

“So you want us to come back?” Sneipas asked, sounding disappointed.

“No. You are to continue forward and land just like normal protocol; however, if you encounter any active Gem presence at all, you are to abandon the mission and head straight back to the Simulacra.”

“Douq sov olov, Commander Xer. Is there anything else?”

“Nothing outside of anything else I’d ask of your team on this operation. Retam keep you safe and bless your efforts, to all of you.”

“On you as well, Commander Xer.”

The commander cut off the link with the tap of a button, and the page returned to its default state. She closed it off with a flick of her wrist, before reclining back and taking a deep breath.

She expected someone to be here very soon.

The doors opened. A smile came to her face.

“Hello, Oreps.”

“I didn’t announce my presence.”

“I have a knack for detecting certain things, my child.”

Xer turned around in her seat to be greeted with a tall, strong Subir Tarf clad in titanium plate from neck to toe, carrying a rectangular, kaleidoscopic greatsword as tall as him that he promptly set down as he bowed before her. He had a long snout(though nowhere near as long as some other Subir Tarf she had seen) that started off rectangular in shape before tapering down into a more triangular shape while still coming to a squared-off point. He had a layer of vivid blue scales with orange-brown spots scattered across said scales like stars, as well as a pair of red-brown eyes.

She waved off his kneel of supplicance dismissively. “None of that, aem reup. You are my son, not just another soldier- and even then, I think kneeling in reverence to anyone but the Mother is wasted time. Why is it that you’re here?”

He got back up to his feet, grabbing his massive blade from off of the ground.

“I just came to inform you that the blacksmith is done with your little project.”

‘Ah, yes… that.’

She briefly went back to her terminal, contacting the pilot chamber and establishing a connection with them.

“One of you come up here and assume my position- I’m taking temporary leave, and I need someone to assume my post until I return.”

Xer lifted herself from off of her seat and descended the steps, still towering over Oreps even as they found themselves on equal footing within the room. She moved past him, with her son tailing her as they walked out of the room and through the Simulacra.

“Shall I accompany you, mother?”

“No, I can do just fine on my own. You yourself had best return to your patrols.”

“I have finished my shift.”

“Then return home, or do as you wish. You know I’ll call you when I need you, and you are no longer needed here, currently. Thank you for the information, Oreps.”

Her son continued to follow Xer long enough for them to get a decent distance of the room, before he broke off and began heading a separate direction. Xer found herself briefly watching her son depart, before continuing to head off towards the blacksmith.

She hoped nobody would get in trouble while they were in the control room.

Oreps found himself walking through the bustling grounds of the giant ship as he began heading back to his home Division. Subir Tarf who passed him by would bow down and give their praise to the chief lieutenant as they passed him by, much to his chagrin. He personally hated the constant brown-nosing and boot-polishing that he received by merely being in the room; even if he had earned his position through both military skill and victory, he was still just a Subir Tarf like they were.

He thought back to the control room upon thinking that, and softly chuckled.

‘I guess I’m a bit of a hypocrite.’

As he pondered, he came upon his intended destination; a large, ovular frame stood in the center of a large area of space, and right next to it stood a keypad. Oreps walked over and entered in the proper coordinates within the ship.

Manaidirem-Metneiro Sutcarf.

The portal exploded into a black wormhole with a swirling matrix of green energy in the center. Tightening his grip on his sword, Oreps proceeded to walk through, and he entered the hornet’s nest.

The Southeastern Division was one of the shadiest places in the Simulacra, and while it was nowhere near completely lawless, crime festered here with more malignance than anywhere else on the ship. Corruption of all kinds ran rampant here; heretics seeking refuge, criminals on the lamb, almost crushing poverty, and every illicit business imaginable was a common sight.

This was exactly why he had chosen his private hut here; for as bad as this place was right now, it used to be even worse, with street lurkers having enough courage to walk right up to soldiers and either stab them or empty their pockets. When Oreps moved into the Division, however, knowledge that the Subir Tarf’s chief military lieutenant languished in the area was enough to temper the pride of many a street thief and thug, and there were actually days where no soldier was ever brought physical harm while doing a patrol; the fact that he carried out personal patrols on his own during his free time certainly helped keep the knees of the wretched hive of scum and villainy who called this Division home weak.

‘In fact,’ He thought, ‘I might just conduct one now, while I’m heading back.’

He kept his guard up as he began to look around for disturbances in his current area; as he did so, his gaze fell on the Division’s Ogap, the numerous small huts making it up being lined with the downtrodden and poor, emancipated and starving from a lack of food- undoubtedly due to being fleeced by underhanded pickpockets and criminals. He’d give what he could to them, if he currently had anything on him to give, and even then he knew it would do only the bare minimum to help their situation.

Suddenly running into someone, Oreps, with lightning-fast reflexes, drew his sword and pinned the offender against a wall, the flattened point raised to their neck.

“Wait, please! Don’t kill me!”

Looking in his eyes with visible fear for her life was a female Subir Tarf with black scales and green eyes, as well as a flattened snout structure. She was currently wearing an orange silk dress and was holding up her hands non-aggressively, hoping to demonstrate her innocence.

Oreps let the stranger go once he registered that she was harmless, backing off and stowing his sword once more.

“Sorry about that. This is the Southeastern Division, so I’m pretty on-guard.”

“Yeah, I can understand that. And sorry for bumping into you… wasn’t really watching where I was going. I was a little preoccupied with something.”

“I’d advise being less preoccupied,” He warned insistently. “As I said before, this is the Southeastern Division- you don’t want some resin sneaking up on you and either mugging, killing or… violating you, so to speak. For the record, might I ask what it is your thinking of?”

“Someone close to me.”

“Parent?”

“Closer.”

“Sibling?”

“Closer.”

Oreps pondered what she could possibly mean, before seeing where she was going, his eyes widening slightly in realization.

“Ah. I see. Well, I wish you well in your… visit?”

“You could call it that.”

“I wish you well on your visit, then. And I’d advise, for your sake, to be more cautious in the future. Odds are it’ll save your life one day, if you actually live here- or even if your just coming here again, if you don’t.”

They began to part ways, only for Oreps to come to something.

“Wait a second.”

She turned back to him.

“Why is it that you’re here? Do you actually live here, or…”

“I attend church here.”

Oreps found that response strange, to say the least. Wouldn’t it be just more convenient to simply go to the church in your home Division?

Nonetheless, he didn’t press her for answers as she walked off. Oreps merely turned back on his way and began walking to his personal hut.

If what she said is true, then… he expected to see her again, at least the next time he was walking through the area or conducting a search.

He thought it might be best to ask her a couple questions when- or rather, if- they ever met again.

Subir Tarf Vocabulary
Retam- the Mother(the Subir Tarf’s goddess)
Xes- six
Oud- two
Ammeg- Gem(singular)
Resin- wretch
Douq sov olov- “As you wish.”
erocrets- curse word
Sunu-Subirt- thirteen
Oge teviv tu ererap- “I live to serve."
Aem reup- my child
Manaidirem-Metneiro Sutcarf- South-East Division
Ogap- Village

sunisa- fool

Chapter Text

Chapter One

It was night in Beach City. Everything was silent and serene, with not a single inhabitant of the seaside town awake. No-one awake to hear the sound of a ship swiftly descending towards the ground below.

A long, rectangular ship about twenty-five feet long, twenty feet wide, and twenty feet tall began slowing it’s descent as it reached the beach, until it finally stopped, floating a mere few meters above the surface. Lowering itself onto the sand, it billowed up a cloud of dust as supports unfolded from underneath it. These legs finally touched the sand, before slowly, but steadily, bending down, allowing the ship’s underside to safely come in contact with the sand, the spacecraft landing at long last.

To say that Sneipas was beside herself in excitement would be an understatement, her mind racing with all of the possibilities and sights to see on this world; from what she had learned about it, most of its surface was water- perhaps everything was inverted here, with fish-people living in the oceans as their continents and lakes and seas serving as their islands and land being the uncharted domain. If that were the case, then it would certainly be convenient for her people, at least- they’d have all the land for themselves, with no need to share! All they would have to do was establish a peaceful relationship with the natives race(s) and--

“Sneipas.”

Her train of thought was broken when she heard her captain’s voice, turning her gaze to the Subir Tarf who had addressed her. Atuan was clad in a suit of titanium, full plate armor with a bodysuit underneath to minimize chafing, and she had ebony-black scales and a pair of yellow eyes, as well as a short, blunt, rectangular snout. She grasped a warhammer in her left hand, keeping it lowered against her side passively as she gestured to Sneipas once more.

“Make yourself useful and run a calibration on this planet’s atmosphere, will you?”

Nodding obediently, Sneipas scampered off to the controls and began fiddling around with them in an effort to conduct the proper test.

“With all due respect, are you sure that that’s a good idea, Atuan?”

Sneipas rolled her eyes at her brother’s words, continuing her given task all the while. “I’m fine, Id. I’m not completely useless when it comes down to Mount functions.”

To enunciate that point, she finished conducting the test, and was greeted with… a loading screen.

‘ Erocrets, I hate our technology sometimes. ’

Deciding there was nothing better to do until the results came up, she removed her journal from her robe pocket. She opened the covers and was greeted by a large, blank, rectangular sheet of light projected from the device, a screen with a table of contents on her left cover and a pocket for her light-pens on the right. She swiped her finger up through the table of contents, letting numerous pre-written pages flash before her eyes, with them ultimately slowing down and coming to a stop.  

She focused her gaze once more to see what random chance had given her.

I took record of this Gem construct outside of the Simulacra’s observation window as we passed by a ringed gas giant. While I can safely assume that it is a space station, it’s purpose is unknown to me. And given that it poses no threat to the Subir Tarf, it is unlikely we will come close enough to attack it, meaning that I will likely never discover said purpose, either. Of course, at the absolute least, I can speculate. This structure is pink, and buildings and sites tend to match the color of the Diamond that they belong to… therefore, I can safely assume that this space station belongs to the Pink Diamond. As for what use it serves, I can only assume this is meant to be some kind of intergalactic communication hub that allows messages to be sent across the universe simultaneously- it would make sense, at least. Of course, unlike the former, this latter speculation is pure guesswork, but it’s as close as I’ll ever get to a proper answer.

She smiled at the illustration she had drawn- a giant, ringed planet that held a strange space station shaped like a spearhead in its orbit, which, strangely, had a ring of it’s own encircling it for no known purpose. At the time the drawing had been sketched, she had known that the orbital station was Gem in origin based on it’s structure and aesthetic alone.

She scrolled back down to her most recent page, which she had written not long before they had begun their journey to this planet.

So, yeah. I don’t particularly know how to start with this.

Maybe I could talk about the new planet we’re being sent to investigate, shed some light on the situation.

So, to begin- this planet is the only candidate in this system that even meets survivable qualifications- while not the first instance of this we’ve come across, it’s not a common occurrence. Half of the system’s other planets are gas giants, and the other half are either too hot or too cold to support life- you can thank seven fewer Plug Robonoids for that knowledge. Anyway, I’ve been dispatched along with my brother and the Captain Atuan to go scout out the planet and see just what’s going on with it. I can’t really say anything else about the situation until we actually have a Mount assigned and actually get there.

So… I guess we’ll just see what the situation gives us, I suppose.

Closing her book, Sneipas looked up to see that the screen had finished loading, the results being displayed for all to see.

“Alright, Atuan, I’ve got our results.”

“And?”

“The atmosphere is most made up of oxygen- 78%, to be specific. We should be good to go.”

Shoving her journal back into her pocket, Sneipas spun around the command chair in place and leapt up off of it, running towards her superior as they prepared to disembark. Idnanev, a cloaked Subir Tarf with gray scales, blue eyes, and a long, rectangular snout, promptly sided next to her, his hands curled around the hilts of his currently-sheathed daggers. After Atuan came over to the door, she typed in the code to the door, promptly opening up into the airlock chamber and marching forward… towards another airlock door, and another keypad.

Atuan growled in annoyance as she was forced to type in another code in order to get out of the spaceship, with her subordinates merely watching her utter curses under her breath as her fingers darted between the buttons.

‘ Safety protocols, I can only assume. ’

The airtight seals containing the ship’s oxygen released with a hiss as the door promptly split open, followed by a ramp shooting outwards and burying itself into the sand with a puff of dust.

As they got out of their ship and stepped out onto white sands, a warm wind blew past Sneipas’ face, carrying with it a salty… no, smell wasn’t the right word, this was something more present, more potent. Taste… taste was a much better descriptor. She could also hear water, rushing water- there was a sea, or perhaps even an entire ocean, right next to them. It was night out, with only the moon and the stars illuminating the otherwise pitch-black sky.

They promptly turned around to the right, coming up to another door and keypad that Atuan swiftly bypassed, allowing them access to the cargo bay and everything within it. While Idnanev and Atuan began walking in and unloading what they could, Sneipas found herself walking over to the blue waters of the ocean, rendered a dark sapphire color from the night sky.

While too dark to see without concentration, she nonetheless found her reflection on the surface; looking back at her was a female Subir Tarf with a long, slender, slightly rectangular snout, purple scales with yellow reticulations, and green eyes. She wore a simple, bone-white robe that stuck out like a sore thumb in the otherwise-dark mirror of herself that she was looking at.

“Sneipas, come help us unload some of this stuff so we can set up camp, would you?”

She promptly turned around at the sound of her captain’s voice in order to do as she was told, but as she was turning around, something else caught her eye. Her gaze found a new source of focus as she found herself awed by what stood before her.

A giant, stone structure lay ahead of her, seemingly carved out of the massive hill it stood against. It was seemingly of a giant being with six arms and two faces, with a singular Gemstone on its chest were it’s heart would be if it were an organic being. This was a Gem structure! And one completely unique, at least from all the other Gem structures she had recorded on her observations. And given that this planet was likely a failed Gem colony world, or at least somewhere that they’ve held influence, it had to hold Gem secrets forgotten by the ages!

Her excitement and curiosity getting the better of her, she began running over to the the large temple, the confused inquiries of Atuan and Idnanev within the cargo bay falling on deaf ears as she sprinted forward towards the source of her curiosity.

She swiftly ascended the stairs of the structure and quickly found herself at the door of what seemed to be a Hut with a triangular roof. With nary a shred of hesitation, she quickly turned the knob(no codes coming with it this time, thank Retam ) and entered the residence, quickly withdrawing her journal and writing utensils and beginning to take note of everything in the building.

‘ Hang on… isn’t this trespassing? Ah well, it’s too late to turn back now, and even then, I’ll only be here long enough to get some decent information- that is, if anyone even does still live here. ’

Sneipas found herself amazed by how similar the structural setup was to the Huts back on the Simulacra- almost everything looked and was set up in a way that immediately struck her with familiarity. Of course, she was on an alien planet, which meant that there would be things whose purpose eluded her.

She stopped spinning in place, her gaze locking onto something tall, rectangular, and white that was backed against the wall of the room.

While she was still intrigued by what it was, she still approached it with caution, stepping toward it trepidatiously as if it could come to life at any moment- for all she knew, it could.

Once she came within a few feet of it, she reached out and grabbed what she assumed was the handle, before pulling on it to open up the door; while she was met with a slight tug of resistance, she got it open easily enough. She was greeted with a sudden rush of cold air as she took inventory of what was inside- that being a ton of strange-looking… well, she couldn’t really tell what it was. Based on its appearance, she could only guess it was food native to this planet.

She noticed a large, white carton amongst all these strange things, and reached out and grabbed it before pulling it out of the cold device. She noticed that there was a diamond-shaped opening on the top, and a pure, white liquid inside. Turning it onto its side(while remaining careful to avoid spilling out it’s contents), she saw a name branded onto it in big, red letters- “Milk”.

Assuming that this was supposed to be some kind of beverage, she promptly took a sip out of the carton, before promptly pulling it back to nod in satisfaction and give a small smile. It was strangely bland, but it was a far cry from something she had drank back home, which was arguably what made it good.

Setting her book and writing material down on the counter, she proceeded to take bigger gulps from the box, enjoying every second of it while trying not to spill anything.

As she was gulping down the “Milk” she caught something else in her peripheral vision that stood out from everything else; focusing her vision back into the cold-box, her gaze narrowed on what looked to be a jar with a deep blue lid, filled with some orange-brown substance. She stopped drinking her milk and reached into the space once more, grabbing the fat jar(that, strangely, did not feel like acrylic). Turning it around to investigate it, just like the “Milk”, she saw that it had some kind of blue, turquoise paper belt around it that, also in red words, bore the title “Trippy’s”. She unscrewed the cap and looked inside, bearing witness to that same orange-brown color, now clear that it’s contents were some kind of thick paste. Reaching into the jar briefly setting down the “Milk” and reaching in with her other hand, she scooped up some of the sludge and, admittingly still debating how safe this was, ate it.

Her eyes widened with surprise, bliss running through her as she finished swallowing. This tasted better than “Milk”!

Recklessly tearing into the jar, she cupped large globules of “Trippy’s” and gobbled the contents with impulsive abandon, almost completely oblivious to her surroundings as she swallowed down more of the substance- almost.

As she was frantically devouring the sticky goo, she heard a voice that halted her euphoric frenzy- and it was not that of her crewmates.

“It’s been a long day for everyone. We should probably get some rest.”

‘ Erocrets! I’ve gotta get out of here! ’ Sneipas thought, quickly slamming the door shut. Holding fast to the “Trippy’s” with her left hand and snatching up the “Milk” with her left, she bolted out of the general area, deeper into the residence. Finding another pair of doors, she promptly dove into the pocket of space as silently as she could, the food still clutched in her grasp.

The food, and not her journal and writing utensils.

‘ Erocrets! ’

“Did you guys hear something?”

The voice was high-pitched, but noticeably male, not unlike a young Subir Tarf. She heard footsteps, and looked down to see shadows pass by the door, vanishing just as quick as they walked past her.

“Um, guys… why is the door open?”

“What? Who could’ve possibly gotten in?”

This new voice was also high-pitched, but instead it was noticeably feminine, and it carried a haughty air to it. Speaking almost immediately afterward was another female voice; however, this one was calmer, and deeper in pitch.

“Whoever was here seems to have left some things behind…”

‘ My stuff! ’

She heard the cold-box open, and she heard another voice- while it sounded like the male voice, it was feminine in tone, with a touch more maturity and a lot more spunk.

“And they took our milk and peanut butter! Is this supposed to be some kind of weird white elephant exchange or something?”

“Um… white elephant?”

“It’s a metaphor, Pearl.”

Pearl? As in a Gem Pearl? She knew that Gems had some kind of presence on this planet- I mean, she was (arguably) in a Gem temple right now- but she didn’t think that they still had an active presence on this planet.

‘ You’re probably overthinking it, Sneipas. ’ She thought. ‘ Maybe Pearl is some kind of nickname for this… individual, whoever she is. ’

“Hang on. Over there. Is that… milk?”

Sneipas’ blood ran cold as the spunky female’s baffled remark resonated in her ears. Whipping her head downwards so fast that she was amazed that her neck didn’t snap, she saw that her grip on the “Milk” had loosened just enough for the opening to tilt downward, pouring fluid onto the floor that was now pooling out of the small divide between the door and the floor.

‘ No… erocrets, no, not like this… ’

She heard a trio droning hums as four sets of feet began stepping carefully towards the closet she was hiding in. Sneipas’ terror only increased with the knowledge that only one kind of creature made that noise, and for one purpose only.

‘ There can’t actually be… ’

The light coming from underneath the door quickly turned into shadow as the residents were right on top of her, and only a split-second later, the knob turned and the door opened, exposing herself.

Out of the four staring shocked at her, three of them were Gems.

There was only tense silence, the occupants wearing expressions of surprise and Sneipas wearing an expression of horror. She was being cornered by Gems, in the flesh. She didn’t know what to do; she had never interacted with a Gem in her entire life. All of her knowledge about Gemkind, and their society and culture, had been reaped from ruins and ancient structures, granting insight into their minds and souls via the information discovered.

She had heard the stories her brother had told about them, though- not one of them positive, and all of them actually supported(sometimes) from her discoveries.

“Who are you?”

The same wise, almost maternal voice from before, which had come from a burgundy Hessonite, snapped Sneipas out of her stupor, bringing her back to reality.

She could only assume that they didn’t know that she could speak Ammeg-Augnil , so she decided to address them in her native tongue, if only to test that belief.

“Oge mus Sneipas. Iuq tnus sov?”

It was the Pearl that spoke next, in that same royal voice that she had also heard prior. “Can you speak English?”

‘ What in the Crystalline Hells is English? ’ Sneipas though, giving them a dumbfounded look to convey her lack of understanding.

The Pearl cleared her throat. “Let me rephrase that- if you can understand us, say yes.”

“Yes.”

“Then, again, who are you?”

“My name is Sneipas. Who are you?”

“I feel like a better question,” the Pearl stated, “is ‘What is it you’re doing here?’”

“Yeah,” an unknown purple Gem who Sneipas identified as the youngest-sounding of the three she had heard, “and why are you stealing our food?”

Sneipas looked down at her hands to see the “Milk” and “Flippy’s” still in her grasp, with the former mostly empty from what she had spilled on the floor. She awkwardly handed it back to the short Gem before her, who, with a bemused expression herself, took them from her without a word- if she had seen the leftover “Flippy’s” on her hands, she made no comment on it.

“She’s not from Earth,” the Hessonite spoke again, “So there are likely others not far from here.”

The commanding Gem addressed her. “But to be certain… are you accompanied?”

The Subir Tarf nodded in affirmative.

“Then we’ll need to see them- we’re going to need to have a discussion with them about a thing or two.”

“They should be right outside.” She said, hoping that being helpful would lessen the ire of the beings she offended and overall increase her chances of survival. “We touched down on the beach not too long ago.”

Sneipas briefly noticed a creature smaller than the purple Gem that had remained completely silent, who was wearing a red overgarment with a yellow star and blue undergarment. Strangely, he didn’t seem to be nervous about an intruder being in his home; while he had a troubled look to him, it seemed to be over a different matter entirely.

The Hessonite’s voice brought her back to the Gems. “Alright, let’s go.”

They moved out of the way, and Sneipas sheepishly snuck out while they followed her.

“Before we meet these guys, is there anything in particular we should know?”

Before Sneipas could answer the purple Gem, the door opened once more, and Idnanev and Atuan walked in.

“Of course she’s going to be in here, she can’t control her curiosity to save her-- erocrets!”

Both of the Subir Tarf drew their weapons fast enough for you to miss it if you blinked, and the Gems, having kept their weapons, readied them into a defensive position, just as ready to attack as her crew. Sneipas was quick to step between them, generally not wanting her own to be killed tonight.

“Wait, wait, wait! Everybody calm down, there’s no need for violence!”

“Calm dow- Sneipas, these are Gems! Retam knows they were probably going to harvest you or something like that!”

“We aren’t harvesting anyone!” The Pearl stated, maintaining her defensive position with a spear. “All we want to know is what you’re doing here! She was just leading us to you!”

“You sold us out?” Idnanev snarled as he cast a withering glare on his sister. Crumple, though, she did not- if anything, it gave her strength, if through anger.

“I didn’t technically sell anyone out! They had me cornered- I was damned if I did and damned if I didn’t!”

“Well, for the record, it’s none of your business!” The scout snarled, focusing his ire back on the Gems. “Now, let go of my sister, or I will personally --”

“Idnanev, stand down.”

Both Sneipas and Idnanev looked at Atuan in surprise, before responding both in unison and in kind.

“What?”

“They’ll be more inclined to let us go if we just give them what they want.”

She looked up at the Gems.

“You drop your weapons, and we’ll drop ours.”

After a brief moment of hesitation, the Gems all dispelled their weapons in a flash of light. Atuan slung her warhammer over her back, before turning her head to Idnanev, who’s daggers were still readied.

“Sheathe your blades, Idnanev.”

“But--”

“That’s an order.”

The scout merely sighed in frustration before submitting to the captain’s authority, sliding the knives back into their holsters. Atuan turned to the Gems once more to speak to them.

“Tell us what you want.”

“All we want,” the maroon Hessonite spoke, “is to know what you’re doing here.”

The captain cleared her throat, preparing to speak again.

“We were sent here to scout out planets that were viable for life. Our kind have been looking for a planet to take refuge on for quite some time, and this was this solar system’s only promising candidate. We were deployed to get a better look, and nothing more.”

“And now,” Idnanev butted in, “let my sister go. We gave you what you wanted, now give us what we want.”

"Idnanev…”

“No, it’s fine. If it makes you feel better, we weren’t going to hurt her.”

Idnanev made a noise that proudly stated that he took the statement with a grain of salt. The Gems stepped back, allowing Sneipas to move away without fear of reprisal. She took a step or two back, before turning to them trepidatiously.

“Is it possible that you know where I could wash my hands? I kind of…”

“The sink’s just on your left.”

Nodding to the purple Gem in gratitude, she bounded over to the sink and found what she could assume was the soap dispenser. She tapped on it, only for the “Flippy’s” left over on her hand to stick to the pump. Raising it upwards in surprise, she jerked her hand down to loosen it- and it promptly flew downwards into the tub, causing it to shatter into fractured pieces and blue gel.

“ Erocrets!”

Out of the corner of her eye, Sneipas noticed the Pearl’s grasp on her spear tighten in silent resentment, which did not help with the awkwardness and anxiety-induction of the current situation. Scooping up what she could off of the bottom of the tub, see turned on the sink and wetting her hands, before frothing up the soap, scrubbing everything away, and rinsing her hands. She merely dried off the remaining water on her robe before swiftly grabbing her things and high-tailing out the door, with Idnanev and Atuan wordlessly following behind her.

Upon returning to the camp, the older two Subir Tarf promptly began packing up, and went straight back to grumbling about the current state of affairs.

“I can hardly believe it- the first good planet we’ve encountered in a while, and it has Gems beginning colonization on it. Just our luck…”

“Well, at least we can confirm to Xer about the current situation- I’m sure she’s been on her toes ever since the possibility came to light…”

Sneipas wasn’t paying attention, merely taking in her environment as she stared out at the ocean; it was obvious that they weren’t staying here, so she might as well take in every sensation she could while she had the chance.

The soft, white beaches.

The water curling up towards the shore, unraveling as it splayed itself upon the sands of the beach.

The broiling mass of white froth heading her general direction.

‘ Wait, what? ’

Before Sneipas could even process that last one, something large exploded out of the sea with a roar of primal fury, and the scholar had no chance to defend herself before something blunt slugged against her skull… and then, darkness.

Subir Tarf Vocabulary

Ammeg-Augnil - Gem-Tongue(humanity knows it as English)

“Oge mus Sneipas. Iuq tnus sov?” - “I am Sneipas. Who are you?”

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

Atuan’s blood ran cold as she heard a monstrous howl and rushing waves behind her back. Swiftly turning around, she saw some kind of giant, hulking behemoth surge from the water and lash out with the back of one of its arms, causing Sneipas to tumble back a few feet before collapsing, unconscious.

She witnessed Idnanev, with a visible expression of rage on his face, whip out his daggers and bolt towards the creature as fast as his feet could carry him, thrusting both blades into the monster’s abdomen as it bent down to pick up his sister. The creature howled in rage as it grabbed him and threw him forwards, sending him tumbling onto the sand. Idnanev promptly stood back up, only to be punched across the face by the hulking creature and rendered unconscious.

As the pilot finally began to process what was happening, she was able to take stock on the monster as the last of the seawater dripped off of it; it was a fifteen-foot tall abomination, with a large, sword-lined mouth splitting open at the collarbone where a neck and head should have been. It had four taloned limbs, with its arms being split at the elbow into a pair of lower arms, each with a trio of clawed digits. It’s body was a golden yellow color, with white splotches mottled across its body.

But what stuck out most to her wasn’t any of these traits, but rather the white-and-yellow, perfectly circular cabochon that was implanted in the monster’s upper right palm.

Howling in rage, it made a mad dash towards her, flailing its arms about and shrieking in primal fury. Atuan drew her weapon and successfully parried a single claw, which made contact with an audible crunch, but it did her little good as the other three struck her, sending a chunk of her plate armor flying and causing her to tumble across the sand in a cloud of dust.

Her head was spinning as she struggled to see straight; she could barely even curl up defensively as the monster swiftly bore down on her again, raising all four of its limbs in an effort to finish her off.

The air shimmered with a vibrant pink, and a vibrating noise rattled all around her as she heard the monster come into contact with something else instead.

These drastic changes quickly brought her back to her senses; she quickly looked up to see that she had been protected by what appeared to be a pink, circular shield made of energy, the balled-up claws that would have otherwise crushed her pressing down on the protective surface in what she could only assume was a vain attempt to break through it. She looked to the side, and saw none other than the non-Gem organic holding it up, showing visible exertion in trying to keep the beast from pushing him backwards.

“What?”

She felt something tug at her from behind, and realized it was none other than the Pearl pulling her out of harm’s way, carrying her hammer in her mouth. She looked forward past the shield blocking her attacker to see that the monster was no longer even focused on crushing Atuan into a pulp; the purple Gem was now holding the abomination back with numerous whip lashes while the Hessonite was flanking it with numerous gauntlet strikes.

“ What?”

The Pearl promptly helped her back up to her feet, removing the captain’s hammer from her mouth and passing it back before yanking a spear out of the Gem on her forehead and joining the other two Gems in combat. Looking over to them, Atuan also noticed that the non-Gem had also joined them, providing aid by blocking the monster’s attacks with his shield and covering them as they advanced to land blows on the creature. As the hulk flailed about in rage, one of its fists connected with the purple Gem, sending her flying back towards the captain and tumbling through the sand, coming to a stop not far from her. It then successfully landed blows on the other three fighters, knocking them aside, before charging at Atuan again.

“Hey!”

She looked to the Gem next to her, seeing her get back up swiftly at the impending threat.

“Grab this, quick!”

Summoning her whip, she threw Atuan one of the tails, who merely held it in confusion.

“What exactly is this supposed to d- erocrets!”

Just as the monster was right on top of them, Atuan tried to bolt while still unconsciously holding on to the length of rope, causing it to go taut as the distance between them caused it to straighten. The beast lunged at them, only to trip over the rope and stumble forward, tripping over itself repeatedly in an attempt to regain balance until it eventually just ran straight into the Mount, knocking it onto its side while leaving behind a huge dent.

Atuan had to fight the sudden urge to claw off her own scales.

Thankfully, she wouldn’t be thinking about doing so for too long- it only took a moment for the Gem monster (was it a Gem? It seemed to be, but she honestly didn’t know) to get back onto its feet, letting loose with another thundering howl as it turned back towards the combatants. Taking the initiative, Atuan readied her warhammer and advanced towards the berserking creature. Ducking before its claws could tear at her scales, she kneecapped the abomination, striking its right knee and causing it to fall on its still-intact left with a shriek. She turned to the Gems she was fighting alongside, beckoning them over.

“It’s down! Now’s your chance!”

Pressing the advantage, the four rushed over and continued tearing into the creature, and while it still stood its ground and thrashed about at them, it was at a major disadvantage now that it was immobile. This was a disadvantage that the Hessonite came to exploit, as while the monster was distracted holding off the other three, she snuck around behind it and struck it in the back with a gauntlet strike. The creature went rigid as it’s spine broke with a sickening crunch, only uttering a fading gurgle as it collapsed and perished. It’s physical form exploded into a cloud of dust only a second later, with the commanding Gem almost immediately picking up it’s Gemstone and bubbling it.

“Sorry, Sagenite.”

“What in the Hells was that thing?”

The four turned to Atuan, with the Hessonite still clutching the bubbled Gem in her grasp.

“Whatever we just fought… it’s clearly a Gem. But… it’s not like any of you.”

Before she could get her response, she heard groaning, and the captain swiftly turned around to see that Idnanev was regaining consciousness, slowly getting back onto his feet while clutching his skull. Atuan promptly ran over and helped him stand back up.

“Ugh… Atuan, where is the… where is…”

“If you’re talking about the monster, it’s dead. We’re safe.”

“Good, good… let’s get Sneipas and leave, then.”

“About that...”

Idnanev whipped his head towards the Pearl, who had just spoken.

“About what?”

“You guys are actually pretty… stuck.”

“Stuck? What do you mean we’re stu--”

It was then that Idnanev finally noticed the caved-in remnants of the Mount, with the ship bent at a weird angle in which the ends were sticking upward, with most of the creature’s weight having bore down on the middle of the vessel.

The scout’s gaze remained riveted on their ship for a moment, before he promptly laid back down on the beach and curled up into a fetal position, completely silent.

“Thankfully,” she continued, “I happen to be a good mechanic, and we have a friend who’d be more than willing to help herself.”

‘ Well, that’s definitely convenie… wait, what?’

“Hang on- you’d be willing to help us?”

“As long as you guys behave.” The purple Gem retorted, the Hessonite wordlessly sending the bubble and its Gem away.

Atuan found herself speechless- although she took their words with a grain of salt, the fact that they offered at all in the first place was surprising on it’s own.

“Um… hello?”

Atuan snapped out of her stupor, focusing her attention back on the Gems.

“I’m sure we can do that.” She promised, before lowering her head towards the scout curled up below her. “Right, Idnanev?”

His response was flat and oblivious, reflecting his current state of mind. “Yeah. Yeah, sure.”

“Alright then. I suppose, then, we begin tomorrow- my assumption is that it’s night out, so we’ll need to get some rest if we’re to work at our best.”

“You could come sleep in the house.”

Hearing a high-pitched, young voice speak to her, she turned her head downwards to see that the non-Gem had spoken. The other Gems briefly glanced at him in response, before turning back to the captain.

“The… house? What is a ‘house’?”

The Hessonite merely gestured to the residence that they had entered prior.

“Oh. Well… the offer is appreciated. Thank you.”

They all heard snoring, and they all turned to see that Idnanev had fallen asleep right where he had curled up, blissfully unaware of the world around him.

She allowed herself a smirk. “I think my previous point has been proven.”

There was only blackness all around her. Atuan floated in an inky void, unable to see anything even with her eyes wide open. But as of right now, sight wasn’t her biggest issue.

She couldn’t breathe; this sea of dark was choking the life out of her, strangling her, smothering her breath. Even with no way to tell where she was facing, she swam the way she thought was upward, hoping beyond hope that she would breach the surface.

She looked upward as she kept swimming in nothingness, desperately looking for some kind of border or end to the pit.

What she saw was completely different from what she expected, and something she thought she’d never see.

There was a single hand, with white scales and mottled purple blots, in the water, reaching out towards Atuan invitingly. This was the hand of someone she knew all too well.

The pilot reached out to take it, only to feel something clamp around her right ankle and begin pulling her away, deeper down into the abyss. Looking down frantically, she saw that a metal cuff had been locked around her foot, which was attached to a Mount via a chain.

She began to swim upwards again, vainly hoping she could regain the footing she had lost- only, for her shock, the waterline to move downwards. The hand moved with it.

And there she stayed, in limbo, desperately swimming up towards the still-outstretched hand that was always just out of reach, continuously pulled down even with her last source of hope right at her fingertips. She was still struggling to breathe, and yet she never lost consciousness and never drowned, despite having should have a good while ago, her lungs burning with a lack of oxygen, driving her insane with every breath of air she was denied.

Summoning up a burst of strength and speed from her inner reserves, she successfully surged upwards in spite of the weight pulling her down and successfully grabbed the hand, her own clasping around it as it tried to pull her up.

Atuan, for the first time in this torture, breathed, greedily taking in every gulp of fresh, clean air that she could as her head emerged from the darkness- granted, it was still dark, but it was also open- here, she could truly breathe. She found herself too caught up in doing so that she never looked up at her savior, or noticed that she was struggling to lift her up with the weight tying the pilot down at her ankles.

That was, until she heard something that made her blood run cold. The voice, the voice belonging to the owner of the hand, spoke to her, ethereal and delicate… however, what she said made the soft tone far from welcoming.

“I’m sorry, Atuan… but I can’t keep doing this…”

The hand released her, causing her to once again fall downward into the abyss, this time at a faster rate now that she no longer resisted. Too busy trying to survive to fully process her shock, Atuan desperately grappled the cuff encircling her knee, hoping to pry it loose even as she sunk further into the black, her lungs starting to burn once more as she felt her suffocation returning.

She pulled and tugged and tore at her ankle, trying to get rid of the weight pulling her down in any way she could, struggling, struggling, struggling, struggling, struggling…

Atuan awoke silently.

It was strange, really... she had suffered a nightmare, and yet here she was, calmly waking up as if she had slept normally.

Propping herself up on an elbow, she looked around her. She had been lying on the floor of what the human had called “the bathroom”, surrounded by the discarded pieces of her armor and wearing only her body suit (the Pearl had complained about the plates scratching up the floors, though these complaints ultimately fell on deaf ears). She heard snoring in front of her, causing her to glance forward at the giant tub. Quietly getting up and stepping around her discarded armor, she looked inside to see Idnanev sleeping peacefully, also bereft of his armor(the pieces of his half-plate were probably mixed in with her full-plate on the tile floor).

Turning around and avoiding their scattered armor once more, she stealthily left the bathroom, turning the knob on the door and walking out, greeted with silvery white light provided by the planet’s moon that shone through the windows.

“So… you’re awake now, too?”

Atuan turned her head to the right, seeing Sneipas getting off of the “couch” while throwing off the blanket that their hosts had kindly provided her. The scholar rubbed her head, groaning in pain.

“How’s your head?”

“I think I have a concussion, but I’ll live- clearly.”

“How was your nap, at least?”

Atuan couldn’t stop a smirk from gracing her snout at her own quip. Sneipas was less pleased, though, briefly sending an annoyed glance her way as she stood up.

“I only woke up a few minutes ago, and I’ve been trying to collect my memories in that time. What’s got you up?”

“Nightmare.”

Sneipas raised an eyebrow. “You don’t look too shook up.”

“Says the one who’s perfectly fine after a blow to the head, aside from a headache.”

“Concussion.”

“Same difference.”

They were silent.

“Where exactly do you plan on doing? Did you just need a breath of air, or…”

“Nah. I might see if there are any native settlements nearby, get a general idea of how the people here live. Even if I’m not tired when I get back, it’s a better way to kill time than doing nothing.”

“Mind if I come with you?” Sneipas asked, her voice showing signs of interest. “Research opportunity aside, I don’t think I’m falling back to sleep any time soon myself.”

“I suppose- it would be a great help to everyone back on the Simulacra if we were to actually chronicle our discoveries.”

Quickly grabbing her journal and writing utensils, Sneipas tailed behind the captain as they walked out into the moonlight, their feet coming into contact with the white sand as they walked down to the ruined remains of the Mount. Sneipas stopped in shock upon seeing the vessel’s state, drawing a sheepish look from Atuan.

“Ah, yeah… that creature that knocked you unconscious? It also stomped out any hope of us getting home, at least immediately.”

“What ever happened to that thing, anyway?”

“It’s gone now- Poofed.”

“That thing’s a Gem?”

“I’m confused, too… and hoping to get some answers at some point. But let’s not worry about what we can’t control- let’s grab stuff that will keep our identities hidden. We don’t want to frighten the natives.”

Merely nodding, Sneipas followed the captain into the mangled remains of the Mount, as Atuan ran over and pried open one of the damaged doorways with her strength. The two Subir Tarf stepped into the closet, each of them grabbing a cloak and a scarf and swiftly donning them before leaving the ship, hopping out of its broken husk.

Atuan saw what seemed to be a dim light radiating from a distance off to the side, and she began making her way toward it, hearing the sand shuffle as Sneipas followed. The captain tightened the scarf around her snout and pulled the cloak closer to her body as they advanced around the hill and came to see the source of the lights, her subordinate coming up to her side as they entered the village.

Their feet made contact with what felt like the sand from the beaches, only harder and bumpier(and, from what she could grasp from Sneipas suddenly taking softer, daintier steps across it, more painful to step on- Atuan was lucky enough to still have her boots).

“Um, Captain Atuan, could I ask about something?” The scholar inquired, a strain in her voice that seemed to support Atuan’s assumptions.

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you just use the Mount’s communication hub and beacon to alert Xer about us being marooned here? I mean, we could at least confirm her suspicions about the planet to her, and she’s send a rescue team over as soon as she could.”

“Sneipas, the Mount is severely damaged, and might even be unfixable. Both of those things are part of the Mount’s control panel. You’re the smartest in our team- connect the dots.”

Sneipas briefly, and lightly, growled in irritation before merely pulling out her journal, opening it up and grabbing a pen from the right cover, promptly bringing it to the page of light now before her. She maintained almost complete concentration on her journal as she walked past her superior.

“Well, I’m gonna go learn some stuff. I suppose we’ll meet up again at some point later on tonight?”

Before Atuan could object and state that they needed a plan, a bright light suddenly shone upon the scholar, and a loud screeching sound rang out as a large, yellow shape speedily rammed into her with full force, making contact with a sickening crunch and causing Sneipas to stagger onto her back, her notebook toppling from her grasp. The occupant was out of the car in the blink of an eye, wearing a red overgarment(and what seemed to be another brown garment on top of it, for some reason), a deep blue undergarment, a pair of brown boots, and a horrified expression on their face as they rushed over to her.

“Sweet jesus! How hurt are you? Can you hear me?”

Sneipas, on her own part, was clutching her chest and making noises that sounded like a combination between gurgling and coughing- which probably wasn’t a good sign. The stranger begun removing her scarf to help her breathe- only for his face to contort into one of confusion.

“What the… what are y--”

He never finished his sentence- he, along with everything else as far as Atuan could see, and undoubtedly farther than she could, was surrounded by a strange cobalt glow. Atuan’s own eyes shined vibrantly as the native being seemed to move in reverse, redoing Sneipas’ scarf and backwards-running into his… whatever it was once more. Sneipas fell in reverse, stumbling back onto her feet and her journal sliding back into her grasp as the car disconnected from her and moved backwards, the light promptly disappearing as she now saw it swerve back around a corner. Sneipas walked backwards, ultimately putting away her pen, closing up her journal, and putting it back into her pocket, rejoining her captain at her side. Everything then stopped in place, completely immobile in time.

This was as far back as Atuan could go, though thankfully, it was all she needed.

She deactivated her aura, and the glow surrounding everything, including her eyes, faded as the clock marched forward once again.

Sneipas briefly, and lightly, growled in irritation before merely pulling out her journal, opening it up and grabbing a pen from the right cover, promptly bringing it to the page of light now before her. She maintained almost complete concentration on her journal as she walked past her superior.

“Well, I’m gonna go learn some stuff. I suppose we’ll… huh… that’s weird…”

The scholar’s hesitation was all Atuan needed as the light shone upon Sneipas once more, giving Atuan the time she needed to pull her out of the way, the hulking metal thing screeching once more as it stopped just before it could hit her. This time, only one of the windows opened, and the same local from before poked his head out, a snarl plastered onto his face.

“Watch the road, bignose!”

Sticking up a finger in what Atuan could only assume was an insult, he sped off again, not even bothering to roll up the window once more as he whipped around the corner. Once he was beyond out of earshot, Atuan gave her exact thoughts on his behavior.

“ Sidratsab. ”

It was then that she noticed that Sneipas was still seemingly detached from the current situation, compelling Atuan to turn to the scholar.

“What is it, Sneipas?”

“It’s nothing serious… I just got deja vu when I was standing there..."

“It’s probably nothing. Weren’t you going to say something before you stopped?”

“Yeah. I was just going to head off and explore, if you didn’t mind.”

“No. I think I’ll do a bit of my own; I’ll just look for you when I feel that we should return.”

Nodding in affirmation, Sneipas pressed forward.

“Sneipas?”

“Yes?”

“Be careful of more of those… things. I won’t be around to know what’s happened to you if you get hurt, and I won’t be around to save you, either. And don’t do anything stupid that might get you exposed, for the same reasons.”

“Sure.”

Atuan merely watched Sneipas wander into the town, wisely putting her journal away to avoid arousing suspicion and simply settling for absorbing her surroundings, and took a second to appreciate the fact that she was at all.

Thank Retam for time manipulation.

“ Mutcefrep! I trust it fulfills your expectations, Lord Xer?”

Clutching it with one hand, Xer took the time to admire the care that had been placed in it. The spear had a long, metal pole for the haft, complete with a green Gem Destabilizer grafted expertly to the end. The blacksmithing and fusion of the two components into one was done well enough that it meant the Destabilizer wouldn’t break off lodging itself into a foe- which was a plus, to be certain.

A satisfactory smile came to her face- it seems Oreps was right in suggesting this individual to craft her weapon.

“It does. Thank you.”

She cemented her gratitude by leaving the blacksmith four ambrosia packets, which he happily took as she turned and left. With that, she found herself wandering amongst the other booths and lobbies of the area, with each having its own Subir Tarf boasting about or selling their newest product. Such was the hectic nature of the Sitra Oiger.

Xer was simply browsing the various businesses in the area, only for her eyes to fall upon a female Subir Tarf with bruise-blue scales, a black, cloth robe, and a crimson scarf that she wore around her snout- although the relatively short bump that poked from it exposed it as relatively short, as well as mostly rectangular with a rounded end. She was young, yet stood as still and adamantly as a soldier, but her red-violet eyes carried the tiredness that came with disheartenment and exhaustion.

Xer approached the young lady, who didn’t even notice her presence as she came up to the front. It was here that Xer took the time to see just what it was that she sold, taking a look at the inventory.

Xer could understand one thing from the start- her products were very ornate. It was hard to find a dress or robe that wasn’t either sparkling or sewn with less than two bright or beautiful colors; combined with the variety in regards to shape and size, the longer she stood looking at it, the more it hurt to do so, as dazzling as they truly were.

Xer took a look back at the owner, who was still standing with complete silence, and was still completely oblivious to the huge Subir Tarf standing in her way. She went out of her way to put and end to that, tapping the head of her spear on the desk loudly and immediately gaining her attention.

“Oh! Yes, sorry about that, how may I--”

The young female’s peppy and bright voice completely fell silent when she finally realized who she was talking to.

“L-Lord Xer! Forgive me, I didn’t see you there, and I guess I just spent so long waiting for another custom--”

“There is nothing to be sorry for, iroiam. I have merely come to ask a question.”

Her face seemed to fall at that statement, but she quickly recovered her facade long enough to present an appearance of content obedience.

“Of course, Lord Xer. What might that be?”

“Did you see a Subir Tarf named Sutcelid come around at any point?”

Xer let her empty hand make contact with the table, tapping her index finger on the metal repeatedly as she waited for her response. The owner’s tired eyes reinvigorated with what looked to be anger as she gave her hand a look that could kill… that was, before she remembered who she was talking to, and once again straightened herself out to reply.

“I think I remember her as one of my customers… was she wearing an orange dress?”

“Yes.”

“Then I think she did- she went over and bought something from the jeweler just over there.”

She pointed off to the distance to a booth with a female Subir Tarf maintaining a large smelter. Xer frowned in bittersweet recollection- she remembered her quite well.

“Thank you. Your help is appreciated.”

Xer turned to leave, only to stop short.

“On second thought…”

She turned around to meet the young one’s expectant eyes.

“I’d like to buy that dress.”

The commander gestured to a large, deep blue ball gown that had a brighter blue waistline and a reddish-orange skirt that was purposefully torn and tattered to resemble a dancing flame, should wind from either air or movement catch it. She found herself legitimately smiling at the brilliance of the design- this was someone who knew her craft.

Her admiration of it was cut short when the dressmaker swiftly snatched the gown off of its hanger and promptly gave it to her, not even bothering to hide her large smile and just barely hiding a squeal of excitement. Just like before, she regained her composure enough to speak, although her inner feelings were less repressed this time.

“Of course, Lord Xer! It’s all yours- on the hut!”

Xer merely waved aside the offer, reaching for her ambrosia anyway. “No, iroiam, I insist. You deserve it, for the effort you’ve placed into it. What is the cost?”

“Eight- although, aren’t you sure you don’t at least want a discount?”

“No. I will buy it for every ambrosia it’s worth, or not at all.”

The commander took the dress, and gave her eight ambrosia packets in return as she slung the garment across her other arm. She then left for her control room once more, walking out of the Sitra Oiger and walking past any Subir Tarf supplicants that paid her notice, for once ignoring them as she pondered the decision she made.

While the dress was beautiful, she doubted that she would ever wear it, with it undoubtedly joining her various other robes in her closet and being brushed aside as she’s pick clothing that she’d actually wear on a day on the job.

She didn’t buy it because she’d wear it so much as she did to help out someone that had been happening to have a poor sale day. Even if Xer didn’t see it in the dressmaker’s eyes, she had her own ways of figuring things out.

She heard a succession of slight bumps go off in the wall next to her, and she smiled in satisfaction.

Things were operating as they should be.

Subir Tarf Vocabulary

Sidratsab - the Subir Tarf’s equivalent of “bastard”

Mutcefrep - perfection

Iroiam - young one

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

Idnanev awoke no less weary and tired than he was before he fell asleep- a fact that, on its own, implied that he hadn’t been asleep for too terribly long- probably only a few minutes, at the absolute most.

He got up from his prone position on the floor and stood up straight, blinking the exhaustion from his eyes, although the overall feeling of emptiness persisted even as he became able to fully take in his surroundings.

He looked around, and the vigor returned to him almost instantly.

‘ Where’s Sneipas? ’

He received his answer via a tiny, curious chirp. Turning his head upwards, he saw a small, white worm with a pair of small arms and a featureless snout merely crawling about on the topmost level of the scroll shelf. Not even bothering to question how his sister had gotten up there in the first place, he quickly leapt to his bed, running up to the shelf and snatching her off of her precarious position, cradling her and trying to reassure her as she began to panic from a seemingly unknown assailant.

“Sneipas, calm down! It’s just me… it’s just me…”

Sneipas’ distressed chittering stopped, quickly replaced by joyous squeaks as her brother’s voice registered in her ears. She giggled cutely and raised her tiny arms towards his face, eliciting a smile from the older Subir Tarf as he rubbed her head affectionately.

“For the record, you scared me too, iroiam … your curiosity might be the death of one of us, if not us both.”

He briefly sighed, continuing to carry her in his arms as he left his room, entering the living area(and choosing to ignore the fact that his sister was now futilely gnawing on his hand).

“Father? Is it alright if you watch Sneipas for a bit while I stu--”

He stopped, his eyes falling to his father’s limp form as it lay slumped in his favorite chair, contently snoring away while oblivious to the world around him. Idnanev’s face slightly pulled back in annoyance.

‘ Reliable as always, I see. ’

Not even bothering to go wake him up, Idnanev turned around and entered his room once more, merely sitting down and placing Sneipas in his lap before he grabbed his light-scroll from off the floor and began rereading it, hoping to retrace his steps to see where he left off.

‘ Aha… there it is. ’

Idnanev’s eyes opened once more, feeling his body lying inside what seemed to be a large white tub. While he still felt tired, he also felt like he had gotten at least some rest while he had slept- a sorry combination, because this made him both energized and tired, which was hardly ideal when you needed sleep.

‘ Well, I have energy- better to burn it and be tired enough to fall back unconscious. ’

Rising from his position, he stepped out of the tub.

And right on top of a piece of metal.

He barely muffled a shout of pain as he clenched his foot, still loudly falling into the tub as he lurched backwards. He briefly nursed his injured foot, before propping himself back up and seeing both his and what seemed to be Atuan’s armor scattered across the floor.

‘ What? Where is she… where’s my sister? ’

Leaping out of the tub with practiced ease and narrowly stepping his way around the strewn-about plates on the floor, he quickly and quietly opened the door and closed it behind him with equal caution. Turning around, he saw that he was now in the living area that they had entered prior, although it took him a second to recognise now that most of the building’s light came from the moon. He quickly brushed aside the thought, becoming focused once more on finding out where his crewmates had gone, and at such a late hour.

Remember the Mount wreck on the beach, he swiftly ran out of the front of the residence, mind racing.

‘ Perhaps they’re trying to contact the Simulacra to get us back home. Don’t know how much it’ll work, really... the communication hub was probably ruined alongside the ship- but I suppose it’s worth a shot- I mean, I wouldn’t put my fate in the hands of Gems. ’

Upon coming up to the broken vehicle, he clambered into the ruins and proceeded to look around, first coming up to what appeared to be a closet that had been forced open.

‘ Looks like they were here at some point for clothes… but why? ’

Deciding to ignore that for a moment, he turned his attention to the front of the ship, clambering over various debris and creases in the ship’s hull as he walked over to the control panel.

It looked about as awful as the rest of the ship, but he figured it was still worth a shot.

Sitting down on what was left of the command chair, he began to type down commands, his fingers darting between the keys as he silently worked, before promptly pressing the confirmation button.

--Connecting to Simulacra intercom… connection failed.--

Lightly growling at his failure, he struck the control panel with a fist, before simply huffing in defeat and standing up from the captain’s chair. Even then, he had to admit that he had still succeeded, in a way- he at least was closer to figuring out where Atuan and Sneipas went(and while it wasn’t here, they seemed to have at least been here at some point).

Idnanev heard a bump behind him, making him swiftly turn around and reach for his daggers… only to grasp at open air instead. His eyes joined his hands, and he saw that his sheathes were indeed empty. A blanket of irritation smothered him when his memory returned to the fight on the beach.

‘ They’re probably still there after I fell unconscious. Well, if someone’s here trying to sneak up on me, odds are they aren’t going to wait for long. ’

He merely looked at his claws for a moment, briefly scraping the index talons together with brittle crackle before marching forward, jet-black nails glistening in the ship’s precious little light as he steeled himself to claw the face of whoever had come in.

He turned the corner in which he had heard the noise, and stubbed his toe on something metallic- with the same foot as before, no less.

He sharply inhaled, his face curling back in pain, and he proceeded to look down at what he had kicked.

A black scroll case lay at his feet, although it had rolled away a couple of feet when his foot had made contact with it. It teetered back and forth, still reeling from having been so forcibly moved.

Idnanev picked it up and then proceeded, investigating the ruins of the ship to see if there was still someone within the ship- whoever that might be, though Idnanev could only assume it was a native who had gotten a touch too curious. His efforts turned up fruitless- it was only him here. The scout looked back down at the scroll clutched in his hand.

‘ Hmmm… it simply must have fallen from… wherever it fell. I don’t really care. Though I am intrigued to see what it is… ’

He opened the case and poured its contents into his other hand, before discarding the empty container. Clutching the scroll with both, he pulled the metallic cylinders apart, only for a bridge of green light to interconnect them together once more. He began to read its contents, and found himself smiling in recollection as he did so.

“Douq Sunisa te Douq Sidereh”

The Fool and The Heiress.

‘ This is one of Sneipas’ scrolls. ’ Idnanev thought nostalgically. ‘ And if I’m not mistaken, one of her favorites, too. ’

He didn’t really see the appeal of the story too much, really… he gave it a read, and while it had better writing and characterization than he had anticipated (given the title), he couldn’t say he adored it- not as much as her sister did, at least.

“Giving that story another go, Id?”

“ Retam eranmad douq!”

Jumping at the sound of a voice, he swiftly turned around, only just preventing himself from collapsing due to the momentum of the movement and still dropping the scroll as he did so. Standing directly behind him was Sneipas, smirking impishly.

“Sorry, you just… surprised me, was all.”

“I can’t help but feel that that’s an understatement.”

“Your the one who can read people like an open scroll, you figure it out.”

“Won’t admit it yourself?”

“Just shut up.” 

He bent down and picked up what he had dropped, promptly closing it and extending the arm clenching onto it out to her.

“I’m guessing you’ll be wanting this back?”

“Nah, not right now. I found something while we were out that might interest you and Atuan… right after we get some sleep, of course.”

“Might I ask where you were?”

“We both woke up and went to go check out a village belonging to the natives. It’s a lot like the Sitra Oiger, only a lot brighter- and even then, I can’t really describe a lot of it, at least not yet. It might be better to go see for yourself and get your own opinion on it.”

“Maybe after I get some sleep.” He echoed, retracting his arm back and looking at the scroll somewhat annoyedly. “I only intended to be awake long enough to look for you two, and since you’re here, I have no intention of staying awake any longer. By the way, if you’re not going to keep this on you at the time, where do you want me to put it?”

“Just in my locker, for now- or the next best thing, if you can’t.”

As if to give context for the second part, one of the Mounts wires spontaneously came loose, writhing about and showering the area in harmless sparks as it hissed and thrashed.

“Yeah. Sure thing.”

Nodding in silent gratitude, she turned on her heels and walked out in the other direction, leaving the Mount. Idnanev turned around himself, effortlessly dodging the still-flailing wire and grabbing the scroll case. He slid the scroll back into the case, before merely shoving it in one of his pockets.

‘ On second thought, I might just keep it on me in case she changes her mind… besides, I need sleep, and it would be too frustrating to try to find anything in the darkness. ’

He walked out of the Mount and back towards the residence. As he passed through the door, he could see that Sneipas had already fallen back to sleep. Quietly creeping over to the Aval-Sucol to avoid waking her(or anyone else) up, he silently opened the door, closed it behind him, and promptly took a step forward.

His foot stomped down on an armor piece. Again.

Idnanev chomped down on his arm, both out of pain and frustration, and released a muffled scream through it.

“Say, Idnanev, you never told me that you could be so high-pitched.”

“ Shut. Up. ”

Sneipas was reclined back on… well, it wasn’t a bed, but it looked like it, so she’d just call it that for the time being. Her eyes were closed and she breathed evenly in an attempt to fall asleep, although she was still plenty awake, and still plenty aware of her surroundings.

She heard the door open, and heard what she could only assume to be her brother slink across the room. Even if she didn’t hear his footsteps, his presence was undeniable- Sneipas could feel a choking, scentless miasma slowly emanate from his being as he slunk by- obvious anxiety at the prospect of waking her.

She heard a door open and close, before hearing a muffled scream and feeling the fog coasting off of Idnanev's body pour over her in a sudden surge, causing her to cough as the cloudy haze caught in her throat.

Deciding that that was enough for one night, Sneipas turned off her aura, the damp smog seemingly dissipating as she did so. She fell asleep not long after.

Subir Tarf Vocabulary

“Retam eranmad douq.”- The Subir Tarf’s equivalent of “god damn it”

Aval-Sucol - wash-room