#[ or u know. nuking their whole body also works in a way nothing is left behind ]

[sylvctica]

to me elemental creatures are just one big ‘brain’ lumped together of elemental essence and made of memories

slimes are simple and small because they’re not made out of much and have no capability for thought. hypostasis cubes are intelligent, but wield a form that does not allow for much communication with the world—they are beyond the nature and humanity of the world (cube shaped)

memories shape experiences shape communication. sylvie, as someone who was born among humans from their very first breath, has always had humanity shape them and their memories, which are a wealth of 5000 years of life (minus 1000 for their coma)

a bodily injury, although severing the ‘brain’ that is their body, does not remove their memories because their whole body retains all of it. corruption and corrosion of it through abyssal energy, if not effectively removed in a timely manner while supplying them with more energy, will erode memories. dispersal of their body for too long outside of their skin/a sturdy form will result in their memories ‘seeping’ back to the natural flow of the leylines and elements, leaving them with gaps that eventually will result in their personality getting corroded too far

death to an elemental being is a loss of the memories and experiences that make you who you are

[nowitsdarkfic]

chapter one (the last day of recording)

January 6, 1989. Rochester, New York.

“Power trip,” I mutter to myself, closing my eyes. “Power trip. Power trip. Power fucking trip.” I have the headphones over my ears and my hands crammed into my pockets as I'm standing before the microphone. Right in front of me is a pane of glass, and behind that is Lars and Kim, the latter of whom flew out here to lay down a couple of guitar tracks for me. He took a few takes but he managed to get it down for me on the tapes here at Music America.

Lars has his finger resting over the playback button. Even though it's not particularly cold in here, he's got on that big heavy overcoat and that lush vest underneath it. He finally shaved off his beard on New Year's Day, but now he's got kind of a stubble already growing in. He, like me, also neglected to brush his head before he and I drove over here this morning in my piece of crap car.

I need to my act together, on this song here in particular. It's been almost a week, six full days. Lars managed to book me two weeks after New Year's Day and once he told me about it, I found myself itching to perform. I am in dire need to sing my heart out again. The memory of having sang so hard in Seattle is still etched fresh within my mind and my slim belly, but I have to do this for myself. I don't know any other way to do anything else and I can't picture myself doing anything else for myself.

Lars plays it back for me. I focus on the words I had written down on that notepad and then memorized. I rinsed out my mouth with a shot of white wine vinegar and a glass of water before coming here. The back of my throat is clean and clear as a bell. It's all there. I just have to do it.

My voice trembles a little bit, but it's my song, I've always loved to perform, and I've been doing this for years. Why am I so nervous?

No. I needn't be so hard on myself. I relax the muscles in my chest and down within my stomach, and let myself breathe. I have the music in me. I need to coax it out. I need to do what I did in New Orleans and Boston and just let it dance with me. I'm the leader here.

I almost want to grip onto the microphone as I feel myself letting go even more. But I know if I do, it'll mess up the recording.

Instead, I remain standing there with my lips before the head of the microphone, and my eyes pinched shut, and my hands in my pockets.

I'm doing it. I'm recording my album, this thing that says Joey Belladonna, and not just a short, abrasive demo like what I did in Seattle.

It's just me. Lars and Kim need not apply here now.

“SHUT! YOUR! MOUTH!”

I let out this wail that came from somewhere inside of me, and I don't know if it's a relic of everything that's happened up to this point but it almost surprises me. Never thought a skinny little boy could be so soft, and never though a skinny little boy could have such a raging beast inside of him.

“SHUT IT! SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!”

I don't know where this is coming from. Where is this coming from?

Ohhhh, I think I know where this is coming from.

I was left out in the cold by my old band mates.

I found a girl who was bound at the ankles laying in a storm drain who's been abused and is lying to me about something, maybe everything.

My best friend is in the hospital right now and has some kind of monstrous cybernetic bullshit literally sprouting out from his body.

There might be something sinister lurking about in the background and I don't have a clue what it is or what it wants from me and Lars. It might want to kill me.

“POWER TRIP! POWER TRIP! P O W E R T R I P!”

I feel myself straining and closing up. My stomach is aching me again, but I don't care. I've got it. I've got it! I've got it! I've got it!

“SHUT! YOUR! M O U T H!”

And then the playback ends once I finish out that final note.

“WOW!” I hear Kim shout on the other side of the glass; this is a sound proof room, too, it's amazing I can hear him say that. I take off the headphones as he and Lars stand to their feet to give me a standing ovation. I rub my eyes and my face, and then run my fingers through my black curls before stepping away from the sound booth. I'm sore again and I need some water.

I step out of there and meet up with Lars and Kim at the sound board.

“That was unreal!” Lars declares, giving his long hair a toss back from his broad shoulders.

“I can't remember the last time I sang like that,” I confess to them, my voice hoarse. “Good thing we got that, too. Did you?”

“I did, yes!” he says with glee. “We can use this next week to master and mix it, too.”

“God—I don't think Chris ever sang that hard,” Kim admits to me, returning to his seat there next to Lars.

“Sang so hard that he lost his voice?” I ask him, feeling my voice break some more.

“Not at all. He has hit some pretty intense notes in the past, like when Soundgarden was starting out, but nothing of your caliber, though. That just—holy shit, dude.”

“Can I get some water here?” I ask them, clearing my throat.

“I'll get it,” Lars offers me. He stands to his feet and crosses the room to the door. He disappears for a moment, only for us to hear a familiar woman's voice out there in the next room.

He then returns with a little paper cup of cold water and a Sonia right behind him.

“Sonia! What're you doing here?” I greet her as Lars hands me the water. “I thought you and Marcia were in Portland.”

“A little bird told me,” she begins, adjusting her kinky dark hair, “that Joey was singing his heart out and recording an album near mine and my sister's upholstery place, and I don't have classes on Fridays, so I just had to fly out here to check it out. I also wanted to invite you boys to a stage production I'm doing in a couple of weeks back home.”

“Oh?” I raise my eyebrows at that as I bring the cup to my lips.

“Yeah, A Midsummer's Night Dream. I'm playing the part of Titania, the Queen of the Fairies.”

“Oh, well,” Kim smartly notes, “your Highness.”

Lars and I bow our heads towards her and she giggles at us. I then turn to him.

“Anyways, you got the tape?”

“'Bout to lock it up in a safe place for you, my Indian friend. It is five thirty after all.”

“Holy hell, is it really?” I gape at him.

“Yeah. You've been singing for almost seven hours. You've gotta be beat or at least hungry.”

“Beat or hungry, but not both?”

“Okay, beat or hungry, or perhaps both.”

He ducks behind the sound board to fetch the tape.

“I'm gonna put it in a place where both you and I can remember it well enough,” he tells me, closing the door.

“Sorry, what were we talking about?” I couldn't help that.

“Joey!” he scoffs.

“What? I lost my voice and you're both my partner in crime and my producer—I'm entitled to a joke once in a while, Jesus Christ.”

Meanwhile, Kim and Sonia both chuckle at us.

“You guys,” she quips at us.

“It's like me and Chris,” he joins in.

“It's like me and Marcia,” she adds. “Anyways, shall we go over to Snarky's?��

“Bit of a drive, though,” I remind her, “but—it's a nice evening right now and we're not supposed to get snow for another couple of days. I don't see why not.”

I take one final drink of water when I hear the jingle of some keys.

“Oh, boy, I get a lock and key!” I declare. Lars stands to his feet from the far right side of the sound board.

“Belladonna is in a safe spot,” he tells me, running his fingers through his hair. And then he rubs his hands together. “Okay, now let's get loaded up into the car—I assume we're taking your car, Kim?”

“I don't see why not,” he replies with a shrug. “Unless Sonia has one with her.”

“Nah, I took a cab over here. Let's get loaded into the car.”

“Alright, we're gonna get loaded!” I declare again and that coaxes a laugh out of Lars. “Okay, I'll stop now.”

We head out of the actual studio into the front room, the last nugget of warmth for a little bit. I can make out the final rays of setting sun from through the glass in the front door: the sky has painted itself a rich indigo color. I close the lapels of my peacoat at the sight of it, but I also regret not wearing my leather right now. Before we step outside to the frigid cold clear evening, Sonia turns towards me with a mischievous smirk on her face.

“What?” I ask her, clearing my throat again.

“It almost amazes me how strong your voice is,” she remarks in a low voice.

“Well, it kinda has to be,” I point out, “you know, if I'm gonna be going at this whole thing by my lonesome. I need my voice to be able to slice through steel.”

Lars pushes open the front door first and we're greeted with an onslaught of that cold left over from the snow and the freezing rain. I'm the last one out of the building but surely I can't be the first one to catch a glimpse of the glimmers of neon hovering over the towering apartment complexes. I recognize those smooth metallic sides, even in the fading sunlight. I count four of them.

So Maxwell Industries has drones floating around in the Rochester skyline now, which is experiencing the first sprouts of blue neon.

I can only hope one of them isn't carrying a nuke.

***************************

A/N: by the way, go check out and support Joey's solo work if you haven't already! He has four albums (Belladonna, Spells of Fear, 03, and Deadly Nightshade) and a collection of demos titled Relics

[shinneth]

Gem Ascension Tropes (General: U - Y)

Refer to the initial post for details on this. Here’s the full version on Google Docs.  

The Un-Reveal: Act III ends with a few spoken lines from Steven and Peridot’s fusion, Sphalerite. However, she isn’t given a description, with the implication that the final scene is happening from Sphalerite’s first-person view while her features are hidden by the cover of night. She also isn’t given a name … at least until My Time is Now, when Sphalerite makes her proper first appearance.

Undeathly Pallor: Pallified gems are completely bleached in appearance. The coloration is more a side-effect of White Diamond’s power, but pallified gems are currently little more than vegetables when their bodies aren’t directly being used by White. There’s currently no cure for them, either, so for the time being, pallified gems are considered “dead”.

Unspoken Plan Guarantee: In Chapter 6 of Act III, Chartreuse Diamond plans to teleport Pink Diamond 2.0 out of White Diamond’s hand and to the floor so he can heal the heavily-damaged Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl before they shatter. With White Diamond right in their faces, however, Chartreuse can’t spell out that plan to him conventionally. She just says a few vague phrases (mostly advice to “not linger” and “just a little should be enough to help”), then abruptly teleports her fellow Diamond hoping he’ll pick up on what he needs to do from there. Luckily, it works out. Pink 2.0 has just enough time to heal his friends before White Diamond recaptures him.

Vacation Episode: More of a Story Arc, given its 7 chapters, but basically it’s This is Who I Am in a nutshell.

Vague Age: Peridot’s age is deliberately left a mystery until the end of the first chapter of Act II. Even before the reveal of her age, pretty much every member of the team is convinced that unlike them, Peridot couldn’t possibly be anywhere over 1,000 years old, much less several times that. It turns out they’re absolutely right, as Peridot’s age in this continuity is 13. So, she’s younger than Steven.

Video Will: The premise of Act II is Peridot having made these prior to Chapter 4 of the previous act, making unique ones for each of her friends. There is one featured per chapter.

Villain with Good Publicity: The Diamond Authority as a whole, but by far the most emphasis is put on White Diamond. It’s at least presumed her publicity is very good, as it’s taboo on Homeworld to even talk about her, which makes any hearsay or gossip about her next to nonexistent. It probably helps that the general public is not only unaware of pallification, but especially wouldn’t know she’s the one who causes it.

Villain World: Homeworld.

The Virus: Pallification in a nutshell.

Was Too Hard on Him/Her: Late in Chapter 4 of Act I, Lapis and Bismuth worry they forced Peridot to mature too quickly after her Heroic BSoD. Lapis asks Bismuth about this again in Chapter 1 of Act II. By Chapter 7 of Act III, Steven turns an attempted lecture on his and Peridot’s immature behavior by Garnet and Moonstone around on both of them, accusing them of forcing too much responsibility on a traumatized Peridot when Garnet basically guilt-tripped her into co-leading the team a couple of chapters ago. Garnet and Moonstone not only own up to this and apologize, but realize they’ve been too hard and expected too much out of Steven as well, who had also been heavily traumatized throughout Act III.

We ARE Struggling Together: The Crystal Gems as a whole suffer this a bit in Chapter 6 of Act III, though this mostly stems from Peridot Taking a Level in Jerkass to cover up her insecurities.

We Help the Helpless: The primary job of the Crystal Gems after GA Act III. While various other duties are split among the members, everyone will have a hand in rehabilitating the refugee gems who were collectively brought to Earth from a now-nonexistent Homeworld. It’s the responsibility of the Crystal Gems to teach the refugees the laws of Earth so that they will one day be able to independently live their lives however they choose to.

Wham Episode: Some parts of the GA continuity certainly qualify.

Chapter 4 of Act I: An unpleasant reunion puts Peridot through Cold-Blooded Torture; she ends up so traumatized by the experience that slipping into her Heroic Safe Mode is the only way she can function, although Lapis and Bismuth soon see that said mode brings out the absolute worst in Peridot, as her former colleague alluded to before her execution. The chapter ends with Peridot completely succumbing to a Heroic BSoD, passing out and leaving her teammates to carry on their mission without her guidance until she can recover from the brutal injuries she sustained.

Chapter 8 of Act I: Despite Peridot’s declaration that no one will be left behind when they escape from Homeworld, all but one of the Crystal Gems actually escape to Earth successfully. The one who doesn’t make it? Peridot herself. And now she’s completely at White Diamond’s mercy with her fate not made certain.

Chapters 1 & 2 of Act III: Peridot’s past as a Manipulative Bastard is seen in full detail, followed with the revelation that she’s an Unwitting Test Subject made to evolve into a Diamond. Peridot puts up one hell of a fight to resist the inevitable, but an expertly-placed Hope Spot forces her into submission. She concedes to ascending, re-aligns herself with White Diamond, and refers to her new Diamond form as Chartreuse Diamond.

Chapters 7 & 8 of Act III: Despite being an Official Couple by now, it’s revealed that Steven and Peridot can’t fuse. This renders Peridot vulnerable enough to succumb to a forced fusion with White Diamond, creating the first double-diamond fusion in history. Celadon Diamond was mostly a joke as an effective villain, but when she snapped into Dead Serious mode, Greg barely evades a gruesome death while Pumpkin… wasn’t so lucky. It triggers a Heroic BSoD from Peridot so potent, it makes her previous fit from Act I look pathetically trivial. This time, Peridot is inadvertently shredding up an already-dying planet from her grief (as she does feel guilt due to her powers being responsible for what caused Pumpkin to die) and is utterly inconsolable. Her Angst Nuke destroys all establishments on the planet, making the Crystal Gems doomed to die with Homeworld. That is, until Steven charges in to fix this problem as best he can…

Chapter 9 of Act III: So, Peridot and Steven’s Diamond Alter Egos can fuse into the Diamond of Miracles, to everyone’s shock and surprise. White Diamond self-destructs shortly before Homeworld follows suit, meaning the war is basically over once the Crystal Gems return to Earth. No more Homeworld, no more Diamond Authority. However, they’re now responsible for the millions of Homeworld immigrant gems who have no idea what happened and are stuck on Earth. There are a lot of pieces to pick up, and the Crystal Gems will have their hands full trying to teach their fellow gems how to adapt to Earth, and how to live freely. Oh, now there’s a pallification cure to discover on top of one for corruption. There’s also the matter of contacting the colonies before they implode from civil disorder… yeah, welcome to Era 3.

Chapter 3 of This is Who I Am: Steven learns exactly how Peridot’s first meeting with Jasper went down… and how that experience shook Peridot up so badly, many of her absolute worst traits were expelled from her from being so humbled. It almost cost Peridot her whole identity. And now Peridot will have a much harder time facing Jasper once her friends find a cure for corruption. A hidden dynamic to her relationship with Lapis is also revealed, which is honestly a depressing experience for everyone. 

Window Love: Peridot gets Separated by the Wall from Steven and Garnet at the end of Act I. Steven and Peridot place their hands on their sides of the glass as a comforting gesture before Steven and Garnet are forced to abandon her.

You Were Trying Too Hard: The main reason Steven and Peridot failed to truly get through to 5XF on their own merit when they first introduced her to Earth life in This is Who I Am. They overloaded 5XF with exposition and went more than overboard trying to sell the refugee on the appeal of living a free life and finding out who she’s really meant to be. While the pair had nothing but good intentions, the way their efforts backfired in Chapter 4 are indicative that Steven and Peridot have a long road ahead of them if they’re to be public figures in Era 3.