shinsha time

[globs]

WHO: Cinnabar and YOU...?!
WHAT: Haunting prompts for Zuko and Wataru, and a general prompt for everyone else...!! Jewel thievery is happening(?).
WHEN: july... somewhere
WHERE: Lighting store / various corner jewelry stores in the mall like J*red's
WARNINGS: none!



[ Despite sticking out like a sore thumb, Cinnabar is remarkably hard to pin down in the mall; they spend most of their time hiding away, and when they're not hiding away, they're actively trying to avoid running into anyone. The repeated explanations are stressful, the stares are stressful, everything is stressful. Back at home, they were only barely beginning to connect with the other gems; now, faced with a bizarre world full of even more bizarre creatures they'd only heard about in legends, they feel like they're back at square one. They continue to tell themself that they just need some time. Time to think; time to rationally consider all their options, and make an educated and informed decision about how to move forward from here.

But it's hard to be rational and think when you're so afraid.

They try to focus on things that are familiar to them, though there are few of them. Lights. Insects. Wooden tables and cotton brushes. They poke through the stores, looking for comfort and answers in equal measure. The jewelry store has neither. It's a graveyard - a bizarre morgue of confusing and depressing fragments - and it makes them wonder more than anything if the Lunarians really are involved, because who else would do something like this? But they strengthen their resolve; they have to do something about this, as a gem. Even if Diamond left, they didn't deserve this...

Cinnabar can be found with what looks like an empty bag of flour in one hand, crunching over the broken glass inside of one of the jewelry stores and peering with a mournful gaze into the display cases. There's not much left in there, but what is left is gently picked up with a gloved hand and put into the bag. Rings, necklaces, brooches - all of it is getting burgled right out there in plain sight. They can even be seen crouching down and looking through the glass on the floor for jewels sometimes, apparently not worried about getting cuut. ]

Comments

[oomfies]

[ This isn't a sight that's entirely foreign to Lottie - seeing other people loot and steal for survival. Although her excuses for being in the local jewelry store, or what remains of it, isn't so pure.. That doesn't mean people are free from her criticism come strolling up to the open gates. ]

Hey, leave some for the rest of us! Not cool.

[ She has her own backpack swung in front of her, zipping open the front so she can have an easy place to hold all her fancy goods. Lottie strolls past the shiny person in the abandoned store, immediately roaming towards the earrings (or at least, what remains of it). She even picks up a pair with her hands, bends down to a look at herself in a broken mirror with them held up to her ear - unabashedly checking herself out. ]

[globs]

[ WOW!! Cinnabar is about to snap at her, but they're so aghast at the sight of someone posing with Diamond's pieces that they lose the ability to speak for a second. But only for a second. Then they're marching over, the sound of glass crumbling under their feet making their approach loud and clear, and hold out a (gloved) hand, coming closer than they'd usually dare. ]

Give them back.

[ they sound stern. ]

[oomfies]

[ Lottie hears them approach, and sees them through the shards of the mirror she stares at. She straightens herself up, diamond earrings still in her hand as she stares down at Cinnabar. Why do they sound like that? There's another pair (thrashed, but still very shiny) just over in the case opposite. ]

Why?

[ She does at least bother to glance down at their hand, a curious pinch to her brow before adjusting her footing in an attempt to look - you know, not intimidated. ]

I found it.

[globs]

Those are pieces of... my friend.

[ is Diamond really Cinnabar's friend, at this point? It's a complicated question. Were Cinnabar to meet them again, they're not sure how they would face them -- but in this moment, it doesn't matter. Diamond is kin in a place where they're otherwise alone. ]

[oomfies]

[ Is this a crazy person? Is this crazy person trying to tell her that the earrings in her hand is.. A person? A pair of meat-rings? She's confused, and considerably less intimidated by the look in their eyes by the time she speaks up. ]

Nooo.. [ Are they talking about that saying? 'Diamonds are a girl's best friend'?? It's metaphorical! ] It's jewelry?

the sheer judgment in that sunglasses icon

[globs]

[ honestly, they might just be plain pieces of rock - there's no way for Cinnabar to check - but on the off chance they aren't... No, maybe they just make Cinnabar uncomfortable, and so they're trying to get rid of them. Either way, they shake their head, vibrant hair twinkling with the motion. ]

We're both jewels. I don't know what happened to Diamond, but... it would be cruel to leave them.

the sheer shiny gloss to cinnabar's hair in THAT icon 👀

[oomfies]

[ What the hell. That hair is so distracting. What kind of wig is that? Who styled it? ]

No offense, you may look weird and super sparkly but you’re not a jewel. They don’t talk.

[ Not to mention jewels and gems typically aren’t.. Alive?? Nor do they walk and talk and wear clothes??? Tragically, she doesn’t point this out, only focuses on what’s right in front of her. The walking paradox that's demanding her free fancy jewelry! ]

[globs]

[ they give her an offended look, retracting their hand only so they can set both of them on their hips. ]

Are you an idiot? I'm talking to you right now.

[ so OBVIOUSLY they do talk...!! ]

[oomfies]

[ She gestures towards their legs, and then to the earrings in her hand in an attempt to make a comparison. ]

You're the one trying to convince me you're a rock. Who's the idiot here really?

[ see cinnabar.... rocks.... can't have legs!! beat that basic logic!!! ]

[globs]

Whatever. I don't need to convince you.

[ they can't think of any way to do it outside of having her touch them, and they would very much like to avoid that, thank you. ]

What are you planning to do with them?

[oomfies]

[ Oh, that's easy! Without any hesitation, Lottie points up to her only pierced ear - which currently has something resembling fashion jewelry moreso than real jewelry. Which means while there's no gems in sight now, soon there will be. ]

Wear 'em.

[globs]

[ their nose wrinkles in disgust. ]

... That's stupid. You'll look like one of them.

[oomfies]

[ Lottie scoffs, furrows her brows before she replies dramatically - ]

Like who? The people in the ads who wear them?

[globs]

The Lunarians... They're probably the ones who did this in the first place.

[ they know she probably doesn't know what Lunarians are, but also, she's still holding the diamond shards captive, so Cinnabar isn't feeling charitable with information. ]

[oomfies]

[ There's a lot of conflicting things going on in Lottie's brain right now - like her incessant desire to be in the know, battling with her need to be nosy, equally at odds with wanting to be petty and just take her expensive earrings (although, she's only going to wear one) and walk away. ]

Moon people? Aliens?

[ But the siren call of Conspiracy Theories™ is too strong to ignore.... ]

[globs]

[ WOW LOTTIE AT LEAST GIVE CINNABAR THE OTHER ONE... they nod. ]

... They abduct us gems all the time back home.

[ so, from Cinnabar's limited perspective, it makes sense that this would be the Lunarians' doing, as well. ]

[oomfies]

[ SHE'S GOT STICKY FINGERS!!! ]

...But I'm not a gem?

[ Comes Lottie reply some seconds later, using her Limited Braincells™ to try and piece together this absurd story. ]