Hah. It's always hard to get used to new things. Especially after a thousand years, I imagine.
[ it's unusual indeed to hear Cairngorm praise anything at all; he can't help but open his eyes a sliver at that, if only to make sure he heard them right. When he finds them staring back at him, he's not caught off-guard - only a little entranced by their sparkling crystalline irises, as ever - and he offers a small smile. ]
[ Unlike him, they're still in a stage where it takes them off guard to suddenly make eye contact this close, so they dart their eyes away, pursing their lips together. Why does it feel so different now... they had no problem doing it before a few weeks ago before all this started. Of course they already knew this, but something really has changed between them. It makes them a little nervous. ]
"Especially?" [ They sigh, fixing their bangs while they stare up at the ceiling. ] A thousand years must seem like forever to you, right...
[ its the length of their life, sure, but there's plenty of gems older. for once they don't feel sad mentioning the topic, just slightly amused by the way humans use the phrase instead. ]
[ he does notice that little anxious glance away, of course, because he's trained to notice little minute tells in people; this one doesn't help him pick their pockets, but it does tell him that he's already gotten what he wanted to steal from them. They're so cute. Lupin sighs, mostly to hide a small, endeared laugh, and shuts his eyes again, feeling even more peaceful than before. ]
It's longer than I can even comprehend, to be honest with you. All the things I've seen and done in my 24 years, and you've had fifty times that experience...
Well, then, you'd be surprised to know that the oldest gem other than Sensei is well over three thousand...
[ They only say it to put things into perspective for him - Cairngorm truly is young among gems, no matter how old they seem to him. It feels weird, being treated like some ancient being by the humans around them here - they certainly never thought of themself as old until they were made to interact with a ton of mortals. ]
You wouldn't want to live for that long, would you?
[ Their tone remains casual and faintly curious as they speak. That is generally the idea they get from most humans; that life is meant to be short and meaningful as opposed to drawn out and mundane. With their experiences in the last century or so, they have to say they're starting to agree with the sentiment. ]
[ They can see where he's coming from now, at least. To outlive people you care about is lonely; they're at least familiar with the idea with how close they've gotten to him. But they just sigh, stretching their arms above their head. ]
You're right about that much. It gets boring if you don't have some change every once in a while...
[ "Once in a while" here of course translates to a much longer period of time than he's envisioning, but the sentiment stays the same. ]
For someone like you, you'd get bored even faster. Especially where I live.
You did say there's not much you gems do for fun before, didn't you? With all the time on your hands, it's hard to imagine. [ then again, they're fighting a war. ] What's it like where you live, anyway? I assume it's not always cold and wintery like that.
There are normal seasons - winter, spring, summer, and autumn.
[ They guess they've never thought about what the most essential facts of their homeworld are, outside of the existence of Lunarians. It's not as interesting as the wild lives of humans, that's for sure. ]
But, probably the main difference between the places we come from is that there isn't a lot of other life aside from gems where I live. There are some forms of sea life, and bugs... but most life got wiped out by a series of meteors hundreds of thousands of years ago, before gems started being born. The weather is pretty similar to here, aside from the winter being more extreme... and the size is not so different from the town either.
[ They shrug. ]
That's really all there is. Like I said, there are different places on the land that have names - but most of the land is just open fields. When it's not frozen over.
[ meteors... what the hell. That makes him blink over at them again, but there's little he can do other than accept it as fact. Why not? ]
And this little piece of land you all live on is only the size of this town? Have you ever tried to find other continents, or anything like that? Maybe you can find some place the moon people can't reach you - or find other gems, even.
[ They scoff a little, like the idea is ridiculous. ]
In all the records I've read, no gem has been able to walk out far enough into the ocean to find anything... and when the sea freezes over, I've never seen anything but ice in every direction.
[ A beat. ]
Even if there were other gems, they wouldn't be like us without Sensei. We might not even be able to communicate.
They probably wouldn't be able to speak at the level we do at all. Sensei teaches us language.
[ Come to think of it, they guess Lupin probably doesn't have any idea what gems are like right after they're born. It's probably not too far off from human young - unable to speak or walk all that well. ]
We could communicate non-verbally, I guess, but without Sensei, I doubt they'd be able to see very clearly. We're born naturally without eyes, and need to be given them. Does that make sense?
[ oh. that makes sense, actually. With gems not having parents (presumably), they'd need someone else to teach them anything... although it does make him realize that he knows very little about how gems actually come about.
Being born without eyes is an entirely different matter, and he cranes his head to look at them better, eyebrows arching in disbelief. ]
-- "making sense" might be a bit generous. You're born without eyes? You haven't any parents, either, right? How are any of you supposed to survive without a Sensei-type figure around?
That's what I'm trying to tell you. It's pointless to look for other gems...
[ They'd either not survive, or have developed a completely different society than the other gems on earth. They stare back at him, huffing out a breath. ]
Even if they did somehow survive, they'd probably just get captured by Lunarians pretty soon after their birth.
[ well... Lupin's no biologist or anything, but that sounds like a bizarre way for any animal to live. If gems count as animals. Do they? He supposes Cairngorm is more like a big hivemind of lots of little animals... which is weird to think about, so he doesn't for long. ]
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[ it's unusual indeed to hear Cairngorm praise anything at all; he can't help but open his eyes a sliver at that, if only to make sure he heard them right. When he finds them staring back at him, he's not caught off-guard - only a little entranced by their sparkling crystalline irises, as ever - and he offers a small smile. ]
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"Especially?" [ They sigh, fixing their bangs while they stare up at the ceiling. ] A thousand years must seem like forever to you, right...
[ its the length of their life, sure, but there's plenty of gems older. for once they don't feel sad mentioning the topic, just slightly amused by the way humans use the phrase instead. ]
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It's longer than I can even comprehend, to be honest with you. All the things I've seen and done in my 24 years, and you've had fifty times that experience...
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[ They only say it to put things into perspective for him - Cairngorm truly is young among gems, no matter how old they seem to him. It feels weird, being treated like some ancient being by the humans around them here - they certainly never thought of themself as old until they were made to interact with a ton of mortals. ]
You wouldn't want to live for that long, would you?
[ Their tone remains casual and faintly curious as they speak. That is generally the idea they get from most humans; that life is meant to be short and meaningful as opposed to drawn out and mundane. With their experiences in the last century or so, they have to say they're starting to agree with the sentiment. ]
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[ the initial shock has worn off; even if he can't conceptualize a lifespan of that length, he's at least not surprised to hear more about it.
Their question is probably a little more serious than they realize. Luckily, he doesn't seem too troubled by it. ]
But you're right. I'm not interested in an eternal life. I imagine I'd get bored after the first few hundred years... That, and it would be lonely.
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You're right about that much. It gets boring if you don't have some change every once in a while...
[ "Once in a while" here of course translates to a much longer period of time than he's envisioning, but the sentiment stays the same. ]
For someone like you, you'd get bored even faster. Especially where I live.
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You did say there's not much you gems do for fun before, didn't you? With all the time on your hands, it's hard to imagine. [ then again, they're fighting a war. ] What's it like where you live, anyway? I assume it's not always cold and wintery like that.
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[ They guess they've never thought about what the most essential facts of their homeworld are, outside of the existence of Lunarians. It's not as interesting as the wild lives of humans, that's for sure. ]
But, probably the main difference between the places we come from is that there isn't a lot of other life aside from gems where I live. There are some forms of sea life, and bugs... but most life got wiped out by a series of meteors hundreds of thousands of years ago, before gems started being born. The weather is pretty similar to here, aside from the winter being more extreme... and the size is not so different from the town either.
[ They shrug. ]
That's really all there is. Like I said, there are different places on the land that have names - but most of the land is just open fields. When it's not frozen over.
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[ meteors... what the hell. That makes him blink over at them again, but there's little he can do other than accept it as fact. Why not? ]
And this little piece of land you all live on is only the size of this town? Have you ever tried to find other continents, or anything like that? Maybe you can find some place the moon people can't reach you - or find other gems, even.
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[ They scoff a little, like the idea is ridiculous. ]
In all the records I've read, no gem has been able to walk out far enough into the ocean to find anything... and when the sea freezes over, I've never seen anything but ice in every direction.
[ A beat. ]
Even if there were other gems, they wouldn't be like us without Sensei. We might not even be able to communicate.
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I think the world's much more vast than you guys realize.
[ but he'll leave it at that. ]
Not able to communicate...? Why not? I suppose they might speak a different language, but...
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[ Come to think of it, they guess Lupin probably doesn't have any idea what gems are like right after they're born. It's probably not too far off from human young - unable to speak or walk all that well. ]
We could communicate non-verbally, I guess, but without Sensei, I doubt they'd be able to see very clearly. We're born naturally without eyes, and need to be given them. Does that make sense?
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Being born without eyes is an entirely different matter, and he cranes his head to look at them better, eyebrows arching in disbelief. ]
-- "making sense" might be a bit generous. You're born without eyes? You haven't any parents, either, right? How are any of you supposed to survive without a Sensei-type figure around?
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[ They'd either not survive, or have developed a completely different society than the other gems on earth. They stare back at him, huffing out a breath. ]
Even if they did somehow survive, they'd probably just get captured by Lunarians pretty soon after their birth.
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[ well... Lupin's no biologist or anything, but that sounds like a bizarre way for any animal to live. If gems count as animals. Do they? He supposes Cairngorm is more like a big hivemind of lots of little animals... which is weird to think about, so he doesn't for long. ]
The more I learn, the less I understand.