#I know Diamond is the one that called the trial but I assume Opal is taking direct orders from him and he's clearly the one there with the

[87foxeninaboxen]

I'm starting to wonder if the outcome of this trail was predetermined and it was just a show of power over Aventurine. Opal seems cunning enough to determine what the other stonehearts answers will be beforehand

[aventvrina]

thought dump about Opal's and Jade's powers, destiny and of Aventurine's multiple trials (warning this is VERY lengthy)

I've been rewatching the trailer with the trial again and while speaking with @huijarii and i thought it was fun to crack down on Opal cause this trailer was all about his power and more.

Let's start with what we know about Opal. He seems to have at least three phases, a child, adult and maybe an old man as the voice changes implies this. However it's not just the voices that suggest, but also the number of slates present at the trial.

In both images the slate numbers are consistent and they all account consistently to 11 individuals + the person in physical form. This implies that the two extras are either the other two versions of Opal or that Diamond and someone else is there. We don't know if Diamond himself is present for the trial, as it seems that it's possible to be there but not really participate since Amber, Sapphire and Agate don't directly interact and let others speak for them (also Agate presumed to be dead ???).

The votes count to 4 vs 4 in the end and only Opal's vote can decide the outcome so the other two must be Opal as their vote doesn't count. However this is also where the dialogue and imagery start to kick in and showcase Opal's powers. He restores the shattered aventurine through sand. Seeing as the cornerstones are direct chips of Diamond's, it feels odd for Opal to have such a power that he can reverse the damage of Nihility and bring it back.

Coming down to Opal himself though, he seems to be one who's closest to Diamond, as he knew of Diamond's decision on Aventurine's trial.

As far as we know, there's only three P46 which are Opal, Obsidian and Jade. These three actively act on Diamond's behalf not only on the outside but also within the Stonehearts. From what we know, Aventurine and Topaz have never seen Diamond himself, so it's safe to assume anyone beneath P46 has never been in his presence. But Obsidian's and Jade's vote came from a personal ground in contrast to Opal, who voted based off recommendation and in prol of "extracting" more from Aventurine. (This also goes along with what he said to Aventurine before Penacony, as he doesn't trust him but he still assigned him to the project since Diamond wanted it.) So it's safe to assume that Opal is the direct vocal piece of Diamond, or at least of his decisions.

As for the trial itself, I am not at all surprised by the divide and the voting. A bunch of in game texts explicitly state how selfish and crazy the Stonehearts are and how Topaz seems to be the only nice one of the bunch. There should be power struggles even there as they all have personal goals that can only be obtained by collision, and that can be even against a fellow Stoneheart.

Amber choosing neutrality shows that she doesn't want to be involved in these internal affairs, thus her vote is essentially given to those at the Chair. Sapphire also gave his vote through Pearl (the assigned Chair), but he stated his actual reason behind it. Agate's vote was essentially taken by Obsidian who just wants chaos for the sake of chaos. Sugilite seems to be the one who's most suspicious of Aventurine's plan, accusing him of using the "death" for his own gratification which he's not wrong.

A small note; given Agate's status as presumed dead but allowed to keep their cornerstone it makes me think that either it's related to his power or the cornerstone is waiting for a new vessel. In any case, it seems that they are not actively trying to replace the current Agate and accept his absence (my guessing is that since the cornerstone is safe in Obsidian's hands no one protests at this).

Btw this trial is a perfect call back to his eidolons, more specifically the Unexpected Hanging Paradox which keeps happening again and again on him and it's just -chefs kiss- love when these little tidbits all make sense together. The expectation of it being the final time hangs in there and yet it keeps being delayed , leaving the prisoner to wonder if it'll ever happen at all. With Jade's trial as well, the expectation of his death is there, it's the whole purpose, and yet, it fails to succeed in being the actual "ending" and it drags another day until well, we'll see.

Speaking of which, I'm also gonna border a bit on the topic of Jade and Aventurine's read on her. Now that we know a bit more of her power, Kakavasha's trial was already showing the loop that Aventurine exploited in order to escape his actual death from the deal. Kakavasha died in place of Aventurine and now the cornerstone did the same. The fact that Aventurine could figure out this loophole from his first trial is insane. He's extremely observant and quick to catch onto small details like these, and on his first trial he had no idea of Jade's power at all and was ultimately gauging out anything he could through the wager. Once again, it's nice to see that they're keeping his character extremely consistent through anything, Penacony arc truly was written with great attention to even small details like this.

Through this deal though, we can also estimate a value of a cornerstone. As the catalysts for the power of Preservation and said to replace the heart of the Stonehearts, apparently, two cornerstones of rank P45 and one life are worth one cornerstone of rank P46. And Penacony is worth 3 cornerstones.

However, the restoration of a single cornestone seems to be "pricier" by draining from multiple systems. While this can be contradictory, the cornerstone valuable feels fixed, as in, all cornerstones have a fixed cap of power that doesn't diminish or increase with the Stonehearts ranking. We can assert this from Topaz situation, as she went from P45 to P44 but there was no talks of her powers being reduced, merely her paycheck. However, they're still clearly valued according to the Stoneheart ranks, as aventurine and topaz are equivalent to the jade, but this is due to Jade's rank above them and not their power.

Penacony being worth 3 cornerstones may be more related to their power level than the ranking in itself. While we don't know what may have happened had Opal taken over the project instead, the deal with Jade is what ensured that the mission would be completed regardless of what happened in between. In a way, they ensured that it was destined for Penacony to fall on their hands and for that, they needed the power of 3 conerstones and a "life" to guarantee this happening.

I had mused this before with @iniziare back when we still only had the 2.1 patch. Aventurine's plan always felt pre-destined, and now we know it was because of the deal. But back on 2.1. it was because of how he didn't figure in Firefly's script at all, even if he had direct interactions with the Trailblazer. And while we know Firefly's script was kept vague, the omission of the IPC's actions from it says that perhaps, the destined fall of Penacony to the IPC doesn't interfere with the scrip of Elio but it was mandatory that it happened.

The Trailblazer had to acquire the Watchmaker's legacy, and subsequently battle to prevent the rise of the Order. For that though, the IPC's plans of obtaining Penacony had to also happen, as we can't divorce both situations from one another since Aventurine's stunt is what forces Sunday and the Dreammaster into the spotlight. Had he not done it, the Nameless wouldn't have the stage to act upon. We can also see this from Sparkle, as all her initial interactions with the cast are mainly with Aventurine and Sunday, pushing for this opening to happen as she was employed by Elio for the story to roll exactly as it was planned.

Now this begs the question, was it Jade's deal that ensured the victory or was it the Script that permitted it? So far we know that Jade's power can influence entire systems as that's the first thing we read about her in her character lore, but up to what point does her power clash with the Script? Theoretically, she has no bounds beside the "price" to make things happen, but her conversation with Firefly shows that there's a bigger thing at play here besides the equivalent exchange. It's not that she completely denies her the opportunity but she is guiding her to go against it, as if she knew of her scripted "death". While this could be possible as Jade is easily privy to many secrets beyond anyone's reach should she chose to, it felt more as if she has an inclination to follow, perhaps she may be also guided by the something close to what guides Elio but in a completely different language.

It's not the first time that we see character's powers influence "fate/destiny" but it is the first time where we see that behind the scenes actions/powers have direct consequences on the main story progression (that is not from the Stelaron Hunters) and it's not just a passing comment from the radio/lightcone. (I am very excited to see where the Armed Archeologists situation goes after the Dr Primitive name drop lmao)

Anyways I love all that Mihoyo is pulling on Honkai Star Rail and now i'm gonna go to sleep

a smooch upon your head

[ghost1643]

Six (musical) gem AU

So I couldn’t sleep last night so my mind went wild. Which in turn resulted in me making another AU.

So in homeworld white Diamond makes a red diamond, who is Henry the 8th. This diamond is more psychopathic and cruel to the gems than the other diamonds. Eventually this lead to his shattering at the hand of a gem but, not before he bubbles six gems he used to fuse with in private.

Eventually a pearl stumbles upon them. She brings the bubbles gems to white diamond and the others. The diamonds realize all six and we get the main six, and only, characters of the six musical.

Once they’re released, white diamond assumes they were bubbled for a reason. The gems try to explain that they did nothing wrong and instead red diamond misused them. Yet, white refuses to hear anything about it. Instead she makes a trial where all the Diamonds while listen to their stories to determine if they should be aloud to be unbubbled.

Until the trial they’re each locked in separate cells, forced to face their possible eve of eternal torture being locked in a bubble for the rest of time alone. So they’re all a little angsty when the trial starts, except a red Opal, who is convinced none of them will be bubbled away forever.

As you can guess they’re all aloud to explain at the same time which ends up with the opening number as they try to explain what happened to the diamonds. Yet, they’re unsamused by the stories and make the gems go in order of who went missing first to who went missing last to see how bad red diamond really was.

So they let the first one go who is, a yellow Amber, who as you can guess is Catherine of Aragon. Her dispersants was recorded by Red Diamond himself and people actively searched for her. Yet, as you could guess he was a big díck to her. She sings the same song as in the musical and throw Anne under the bus, it’s to the point where she actively glares at her at the end. As you can guess draws fuel to the fire making Anne get upset about Catherine, enough to sing wearing yellow to a funeral later

Then cue the normal introduction to Anne Bolyen where instead of being texting she’s chatting with a Pearl. Anne is a Kiwi Topaz so she’s rare. So rare that it was reported when she went missing and searched for longer than Catherine which, Catherine finds offensive.

Anyways Anne starts singing don’t lose your head. Once the songs over, Blue Diamond is starting to get appalled by red diamonds actions. Like to the point where she’s near frustrated tears. Once Catherine sees this she starts arguing with Anne, who in turn starts singing wearing yellow to a funeral.

Yeah, let’s just say more Topazs needed to be called to break the two apart before Jane gets a turn to sing.

Jane Seymour, a white Agate, sings the same song because surprising, they had a son. She got bubbled shortly after having him to hide the fact that red diamond had a child. Jane, ends up doing her usual song as in the musical even crying at some points.

They have to take a short break after that while the diamonds discuss what they know so far. While they’re gone Anne gets in a few more stabs at Catherine and a few at Jane. They start bickering and Katherine Howard, a pink Kunzite, tries breaking it up. She does try her hardest when Catherine of Aragon snaps at asking who she is because no one even knew she existed until now.

When Katherine goes to defend herself the trail starts again.

Once the show starts they ask Anna of Cleves, a red opal, what happened to her. She explains it’s a long story and they demand she starts at the beginnning. So the gems sing haus of holbein. They reallying get into it and Anna is smiling so brightly when she sings about it before ending the song with how she had her portrait made. Then she gets onto her relationship with Red Diamond.

She ends up singing Get down, being as confident as ever. It only makes sense though. She was a battle gem who won countless battles and was rewarded with her own tiny section of a planet. If she wanted something she got it on her own. Then suddenly a Red Diamond moves in next door and tries whooing her. She flirts back and ends up going out with him but, then she reveals he was seeing another gem at this time. Yet, she didn’t care much. After all she can get a new man..then you knowhe put her in a bubble one day when she tied to leave him.

The queen fight occurs but instead of Katherine Howard saying she won, its Anne joking around when she says it. Then Catherine of Aragon gets mad and the normal fight occurs where she lets it slip she adopted a young female alien named Mary who no one can track down. She rips into Anne, who rips back, before Jane gets involved.

Eventually Catherine Parr breaks them up after Anne and Catherine of Aragon get into another fist fight. At the end of the scuffle Katherine Howard gets hit in the face making Yellow diamond break them up. Once she makes sure Katherine is okay, they explain it is her turn.

Right before she opens her mouth the normal intro to her song begins. Catherine of Aragon snaps at her. This prompts Katherine to do her usual intro of roasting everyone, including the fact that Catherine Par wasn’t bubbled until days after Red Diamond was shattered by his pearl. Once she’s asks how she could compete with their pasts before singing all you wanna do.

When the song ends she breaks down crying. Her emotion of sorrow gets so bad that she poofs herself. The second she poofs the other five gems rush over to pick her gem up but, are forced to stop and sob when Blue diamond break down in tears. They all sob as blue pearl gets the newly pooped gem waiting for her to reform.

Once blue Diamond calms down it’s Catherine Pars, a blue Kyanite’s, turn. She slowly starts to sing her song I don’t need your love, explaining she was in love with a quartz gem, whom she had to give up being with when her superior gem, Red Diamond demanded they be together. Then once red diamond is shattered it’s explained his pearl assumed she was part of the shattering and poorer her.

Then once their songs are done they are dismissed while the Diamonds discuss what to do. This time they are put in the same cell and start discussing how bad Red Diamond was. They start discussing his flaws. Then the topics change to what they used to do. Before they knew what’s happening they’re all talking and comforting each other like friends when Katherine Howard is returned in a new form. They tackle hug her before continuing to get along, just trying to make their last possible free moments out of the bubbles worth it.

However, soon they are told they’re free to go back to their lives. They just sit there ins hook before leaving to try and go back to their purpose. The only one that succeeds is Anna but, she soon invites the other to her home to have them ‘work’ for her when in reality she just wants friends with her.

Once they move in together they start wrtiiting music together before they agree to become a girl group of sorts. They sing six as we see them grow as people. Catherine of Aragon starts trying to get along with Anne more. Jane starts trying to look for her son while helping Anna get used to new rules. Katherine helps train a new gems on the planet between concerts. Catherine Parr meanwhille helps Anna get back to her old rules.

They are seen singing on stage before we see Catherine of Aragon and Jane are searching for their children while Catherine Parr is looking for her lover.

[mastcomm]

Their Story Wrote Itself – The New York Times

Cynthia LaFave had a word of warning when she first met T Kira Madden in 2015.

“She said, ‘If you hurt my daughter, I’ll kill you,’” Ms. Madden recalled.

And that, by Ms. Madden’s reckoning, was a fair enough thing for her to say about her relationship with Hannah Beresford. Years earlier, Ms. Beresford had fought an episode of depression so crippling she required hospitalization.

Ms. Madden was no stranger to pain, either: Her 2019 memoir, “Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls,” outlines her trauma-filled coming-of-age as the queer, biracial daughter of a pair of well-to-do addicts in South Florida. That Ms. Madden’s pain may have affected Ms. Beresford was a reasonable concern for her mother.

It proved unwarranted. “Their relationship has brought so much peace to them both that, as it stands now, if anyone tries to hurt Kira, I’ll kill them, too,” Ms. LaFave said.

Ms. Madden and Ms. Beresford, both 31 and now living in Beacon, N.Y., first saw each other in 2012 at the Jamaica Bay Riding Academy in Brooklyn. Ms. Beresford, a former professional equestrian, worked there as a trainer and coach for the nonprofit Metropolitan Equestrian team. Ms. Madden was shepherding the half-dozen homeless veterans she drove there through therapeutic interaction with the horses. It was part of her job as a teacher and counselor at the Doe Fund shelter in Harlem, which also housed formerly incarcerated men, many of them addicts.

Ms. Madden had just received a master’s degree in fine arts from Sarah Lawrence College, where she is now a professor in the M.F.A. writing program. A career in social services wasn’t in her future, but the shelter job attracted her for its proximity to a population that felt familiar. “My parents were pretty severe addicts,” she said. By the time she moved to New York at 17 for college at Parsons School of Design, both were in recovery from drug and alcohol abuse. Then, “we had this second sort of beautiful life together,” she said. “They were sober and we had these happy adult relationships. My parents always loved me. They weren’t bad people.”

Just complicated ones. Ms. Madden’s Hawaiian-Chinese mother, Sherrie Lokelani Madden, lives in Atlantic Beach, a part of Hempstead, N.Y., and is the general manager of the Dop Dop Salon in SoHo. Her father, John Laurence Madden, was Jewish and, after a career as stockbroker, headed his brother Steve Madden’s international fashion accessories business; Mr. Madden died in 2015 of complications from lung disease. In addition to their addictions, they had secrets. Ms. Madden found out as a child she had two half brothers on her father’s side from a marriage that her parents’ affair broke up. As an adult, she learned about another half sister on her mother’s side and a brother, whom her parents had placed for adoption. Still, her childhood in Boca Raton, Fla., had a shiny exterior. She grew up winning equestrian ribbons and attended an exclusive high school, North Broward Preparatory School, in Coconut Creek, Fla.

Fridays at the stable with the Doe shelter residents were an opportunity for her to be around horses again and, on occasions when volunteers ushered her charges through their riding and grooming lessons, to read books.

“Hannah noticed me first,” Ms. Madden said. “She remembers me reading at the picnic table, a Joy Williams book called ‘Escapes’.” In 2013, before Ms. Beresford and Ms. Madden found a chance to be properly introduced, the shelter’s horse program ended. But Ms. Madden’s love of horses lingered. She returned to the stable to ask the barn manager if there was someone who could give her lessons.

She was reconnected with Ms. Beresford, whose job at the stable overlapped with her graduate studies in poetry at N.Y.U.

Ms. Beresford earned her master’s degree from N.Y.U. in 2014 and now teaches poetry at Drew University in Madison, N.J. She grew up in rural Voorheesville, N.Y. Her parents, Ms. LaFave, a trial lawyer from Albany, and Jon Beresford of Cañon City, Colo., the owner of Beresford Remodeling, divorced when she was 5.

At 4, she had started horseback riding. “It became pretty consuming,” she said. In 2007, Oklahoma State University recruited her for its N.C.A.A. Division 1 equestrian team. But by then, after years on the road touring, distractions from her athletic career were mounting.

“I had struggled most of my teen years with anxiety and depression, and it all piled up,” she said. In 2008, she hit what she called rock bottom. “I was hospitalized for a while, and in the hospital, I came out,” she said. She called friends and family to tell them she was gay. “As they say, it got better.”

Credit belonged partially to a college poetry class. “Though I’d hate to suggest that depression can be treated with anything less than intensive therapy by a medical professional, that became something I could look forward to, where I could see a future.”

At Ms. Madden’s first riding lesson in Brooklyn in 2013, Ms. Beresford set a professional tone. “We connected on a lot of different levels,” Ms. Beresford said, especially riding and writing. “But I didn’t know how Kira identified. It didn’t cross my mind that she might be gay. I think coming out in Oklahoma, spending my formative years there, made me assume no one else in the world was gay.”

Ms. Madden noted “that we both were in relationships at the time. But right after that lesson I texted my friend, ‘This lesbian in breeches is so hot!’ I felt very crushy toward Hannah.” Not so much, though, that she was willing to break up with her girlfriend and ask Ms. Beresford out.

Instead, life got in the way, she said, and after six months she stopped taking lessons. More than a year passed. “But I always thought of Hannah, how I wished I could be her friend.” In late 2014, she scoured Yelp for the names of Jamaica Bay Riding Academy instructors, hoping to find Ms. Beresford’s last name and contact info.

Eventually, she reached Ms. Beresford through Facebook. “I was like, ‘Hey, remember me?’” Ms. Madden said. Both were nearing the ends of their relationships; Ms. Beresford, who considers herself more a country than a city person, was about to move to Austin, Texas.

But after exchanging and reading some work each had written (Ms. Beresford a manuscript in progress and Ms. Madden short stories and part of a novel), they decided to meet for a first date in February 2015 at the Stonewall Inn.

“In the back of our heads we were thinking, this could be really painful, because I was moving in a matter of weeks,” Ms. Beresford said. But their book swap had already connected them. “When you’re reading something autobiographical, you not only learn the facts of the person’s life but the lens through which they see the world,” Ms. Madden said.

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At the Stonewall Inn, they talked and kissed until closing time. “We got kicked out,” Ms. Madden said. “It felt like love.”

As the Chinese New Year began on Feb. 19, Ms. Madden, who embraces her Hawaiian-Chinese heritage, and Ms. Beresford celebrated together.

Weeks later, Ms. Beresford rented a U-Haul for her move to Texas. Ms. Madden told her, “You can’t move to Austin without me taking you.” They drove together. Ms. Madden returned to her Williamsburg, Brooklyn, apartment alone. Then, in the fall, her father fell into a coma.

“My father was my person — I was really close to him,” Ms. Madden said. Ms. Beresford booked a flight and planned to stay in New York until Mr. Madden recovered. When he died, she comforted Ms. Madden through her grief. They wouldn’t return to Texas to pack Ms. Beresford’s things for a full year.

By then, they had become experienced road trippers. “Hannah and I always joke that we spent most of our relationship in a car,” Ms. Madden said. In addition to the U-Haul trip, by the end of 2016 they had driven to Buffalo for a horse show and to Kansas to visit friends of Ms. Beresford’s; they also drove to upstate New York regularly to ride horses and spend time with Ms. LaFave.

Ms. Madden’s mother had also become a fixture in their lives, through regular visits to the home in SoHo she shared with Mr. Madden before he died, and later to Long Island. Ms. Lokelani Madden felt close to Ms. Beresford immediately. “Hannah really grounds Kira,” she said. “She has this soothing effect. I admire so much how they bring out the best in each other.”

In 2017, Ms. Madden and Ms. Beresford moved to Provincetown, Mass., where Ms. Beresford had accepted a yearlong residency at the Fine Arts Work Center. The next year they moved to Inwood in Manhattan, spending the bulk of their time teaching, writing and editing the literary journal Ms. Madden founded, “No Tokens.” They had already traveled to 30 states when, in July 2018, Ms. Beresford planned a surprise 30th birthday trip for Ms. Madden.

“We went up the California coast through the Pacific Northwest and stopped in Powell, Wyo., to ride horses at this campsite ranch near Heart Mountain,” Ms. Madden said. On the evening of July 12, they climbed back in their rented Toyota to watch a meteor shower.

“There were so many mosquitoes we turned the lights out in the car. Hannah started talking to me about how she wanted to spend the rest of her life with me. It was corny in a great way.”

She spoke Ms. Madden’s whole name — T Kira Mahealani Ching Madden — before saying, “Will you marry me?” After Ms. Madden said a tearful yes, Ms. Beresford opened her car door and found her way to Ms. Madden’s side in pitch blackness to present a ring. They counted down from three before turning on the car lights so Ms. Madden could see it: A teardrop-shaped opal surrounded watermelon tourmalines and gray diamonds, designed collaboratively by Ms. Beresford and Misa Jewelry, a Hawaiian designer.

“It was typical Hannah, being the most thoughtful person in the world,” Ms. Madden said. “Years ago, when I was feeling very lonely, I had bought a watermelon tourmaline engagement ring to remind myself to always commit to my well-being first.”

On Jan. 7 at Kualoa Nature Reserve in Kaneohe, Hawaii, Ms. Madden and Ms. Beresford committed to each other’s well-being for life. At a wedding attended by 72 guests, Ms. Madden, wearing a marigold dress designed by Zac Posen before he closed his business in November, walked with her mother down an outdoor aisle strewn with multicolor rose petals. Ms. Beresford wore an aubergine suit by Bindle & Keep, a Brooklyn company that specializes in suits for queer and gender nonconforming people.

N. Michelle AuBuchon, a friend and fellow writer who was ordained by the American Marriage Ministries, officiated during a 30-minute ceremony celebrating their devotion to each other.

“To know T Kira and Hannah is to know how fiercely they love, with no boundaries, barriers or divisions,” she said. A dozen attendants, including Justine Champine, who the couple called “dyke of honor,” stood by the couple as they exchanged handwritten vows. “You and I have dedicated our lives to words and the arrangements of those words, but it’s these moments, our moments of silence and understanding without explanation that matter most to me,” Ms. Madden said. Ms. Beresford was characteristically poetic: “The universe may be limitless, but I can count my life in moments of seeing you, of hearing your voice, of disbelieving in scale,” she said.

Yards away from the water’s edge, with coconut trees swaying and the majestic Ko’olau mountains in the background, Ms. AuBuchon pronounced them married.

On This Day

When Jan. 7, 2020

Where Kualoa Nature Reserve in Kaneohe, Hawaii

Tradition During the ceremony, Ms. AuBuchon led a traditional exchange of flower leis between the families.

Time for a Tour At a cocktail hour, guests were taken in two separate boats on a short tour of the Molii Fishpond. The 125-acre fishpond is a form of sustainable fishery management, which dates back 800 years.

Grass Skirts A band, accompanied by a trio of hula dancers, played traditional Hawaiian music during a dinner that featured short ribs and sea bass.

Kalani Takase contributed reporting from Kaneohe, Hawaii.

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