ETERNAL FLAME

still tiny, still will fight you

still super gay for her wife too. too bad she isn’t here. at least she has her ring?

may have given bad relationship advice to Steven at one point. oops-

space rock with a body made of light

you could say she’s... hot

and by that I mean she has fire powers and can swim in lava

While she may have been back in the same city, Ruby had figured out by now that she was assigned different housing every time she woke up here again. Which meant adjusting to new roommates every time she woke up by that pit, too. Honestly, she was used to the idea of roommates as a whole, having lived with the other gems in the Crystal Temple for such a long time... but living with complete strangers was a whole different deal.

Still, as she unlocked the door to her new home and walked inside, she tried to put on a smile and overall brave face. She wanted to make a good first impression with whoever she’d be sharing her new home and likely base of operations with, after all.

...even if that person turned out to have a weird, somewhat creepy, third eye attached to them with floating arteries.

Hm.

How long had she been wandering around in Cotes Fantasci, for now? The Forest of Airaisal hadn’t existed the last time Ruby had been here in Spirale, and had seemed like a very interesting place to check out, at least at first. It was ripe with all sorts of insects and other creatures that, while similar to the life she had grown familiar with on Earth, still seemed remarkably different at the same time. The gem wanted to know all about them.

After passing what Ruby was pretty sure was the same tree for the fifteenth time, though, it had stopped being so interesting. There were hardly any landmarks on the flat ground for the gem to keep track of where she was with, and she could feel frustration threatening to boil over into anger, especially as she could tell the sun was starting to set. As such, she forced herself to stop and sit down by the trunk of one of the trees, taking in a deep breath.

“What would Sapphy do if she was here with me...” She muttered, then paused and smacked her forehead. “She’d know the way out of here, ‘cause she has future vision. Duh.” A sigh escaped her, one that was filled with longing-- followed immediately by an alarmed gasp as she heard a branch snap somewhere behind the tree she was sitting by.

This was... awkward.

Ruby had boarded the bullet train to the City of Glass in a hurry; it had been mostly an impulsive move, one she had done to take her mind off the fact that neither Sapphire nor Steven were here with her anymore. Taking a glassblowing class or something like that had seemed like a good idea for something to distract herself with.

At least, until she had discovered that Jasper was in the class with her. Admittedly, Ruby wasn’t entirely certain as to why-- the other hadn’t ever seemed like the type to... create things. Then again, Ruby had no idea how long she had been here. She remembered seeing the other gem in Spirale before, but that had been a long time ago, right? Had... had Jasper gone home at all since then?

Or had she been stuck here this whole time? Geez. Maybe she was bored enough for even her to try something new.

Or maybe she just liked the idea of breaking the glass when she was done making it. Who knows. Either way, Ruby wasn’t sure if she should make her presence there known or not. It was a small class, so she’d probably be noticed sooner or later, but... the larger gem had always been intimidating, at least when she was all alone like this.

“This again...” Awakening by the giant hole in the center of the city had come as more of an annoyance than an actual shock to Ruby, at least this time around. Her voice was a hushed mumble, words running together as she spoke to herself; she knew others were around, but she was rather preoccupied. Once again, the memories of the last time she had been here were returning to her as she sat by the edge of the drop, scrolling through the contacts list on her phone, hoping to call Steven or Sapphire. She wanted to let them know she was back, again.

Except... their names weren’t there.

Although she was a gem and didn’t exactly have proper human anatomy to speak of, she still felt her metaphorical heart drop into her stomach in an instant. Oh, no. She couldn’t be alone here, no..! Steven had always been there to help guide her through this city, and Sapphire..! Sapphire was her wife!

Hands balling into fists, the gem stood, fighting off the impulsive urge to chuck her phone down the hole as she briskly began to walk off to try and clear her head. However, only about three or four steps out, she paused, turning to look back at all the others who had just woken up by the pit.

...they had to be far more confused about all this than she was. She didn’t know exactly how long it had been since her last time here, so she didn’t know if any of them were also returning... but if she had to place a guess, a lot of them were brand new. Sighing, the gem began to walk towards one girl in particular.

been a while, but your favorite fiery gem is back!

It was exhausting running around all day trying to protect everyone, even for a gem like Ruby. She had made her way to Fibonacci only a few minutes ago to take a look at what was happening over there, and dread knotted up in her chest seeing the fireballs currently raining from the sky. Sure, most of them were fizzling out long before they touched the ground, but... how was she supposed to stop the ones that weren’t with a mere sock ‘em bopper? She’d just get shattered if she tried, and the mere thought sent a sharp jolt of fear down her light-based form. 

Perhaps she’d be better off just trying to destroy some of the wires. She was too tired at the moment to try going to another ward again, but she couldn’t just sit here and do nothing, either. With that in mind, the small gem began her search for any of the holes in the ground that would lead her down to where she needed to go- ignoring the craters created by the unfortunate meteor showers as best she could. 

She had been so focused on letting the map on her phone guide her to a hole with exposed tubing, that she didn’t think to look up at all until she was already there-- at which point she pretty much dropped her phone immediately, staring a much bigger threat than just the meteors in the face. Well, maybe not in the face, given their incredible size difference.

Ruby had bolted over to the Golden ward the moment she had first heard of the current disaster happening over there; the freezing cold and ice everywhere. Sure, at any other time she likely would have been going just so she could remember her precious laughy Sapphy, but right now there were more important matters at hand: protecting everyone from freezing to death. Being a gem, and a fiery one at that, she was pretty resistant to the cold. And even though she could only make five small fires a day, she figured saving five people was better than saving no one at all. 

The winds made it hard for the small gem to move around, simply due to the sheer strength of the gusts and her own miniature size. And yet, she determinedly powered onwards, gritting her teeth together while she trudged along through all the ice and snow. 

When she spotted someone just sitting there and smiling amidst all the cold, she was taken aback for a moment. They looked... uh, dead. But at the same time, they were idly tapping their fingers and humming, something a dead human very much wouldn’t be able to do. Taking a moment to recover from the shock from this person not being bundled up at all yet seeming to not care, either, Ruby rushed over to the stranger.

Ruby doesn’t necessarily trust either side here, but she’s going to side with the party that isn’t actively destroying the city; in other words, she’s with the Stars. She’ll likely be trying her best to help people escape the danger, despite the fact that unfortunately pretty much everywhere in the city is currently a danger zone.

“Oh but he’d be so young. Couldn’t we wait a few… decades more?”

“Oh what a great idea! We should plan one wedding for every single day for the year he’s getting married.”