B1, Day 2 [public channel]

[whattaprick]

[ There are a lot of things people need to do right now: help the Prince's servants get resettled, get started on figuring out who can work on a cure for the petrification, deal with the trauma of dying in a hopefully healthy and non-self-destructive way, show the new people the ropes of what the Carnival has to work with.

Instead, in the morning of the second day since the Prince was defeated, anyone on the radio gets this: ]

So, I've been wondering.

[ The Nightrider's voice, for those who recognize it, has definitely been better. It's a low, hoarse rasp, and the pause at the end is not just for effect, but to actually catch his breath. ]

Just how old is everyone here, anyway? Here, I'll start. I'm ... pretty sure I'm almost sixty. [ A beat. ] ... Maybe.

[ Why did anyone let this man have his radio back again? ]

[ ooc; Lambert's flat on his back in the medical tent for this, feel free to bug him in person and threadjack each other at will. ]

Comments

[periphrasing]

Hmmm... Actually, upon more careful consideration of the question, the correct answer for both scenarios is "neither". Steven is by far the youngest gem at 14 Earth years... unless you exclude him from the competition because of his status as a weird human-hybrid, in which case I suppose I would be the "youngest", since Amethyst, Jasper and Lapis have all existed for a few thousand years longer than I have.

[whattaprick]

Steven's a what?

[ Lets derail this conversation further by having Lambert and Celandine both make slightly squawking noises, though Lambert's has less words. ]

[periphrasing]

A hybrid? It means he's the offspring of two entirely different species-- That is, he's only half-gem. Which was something I previously hadn't known was even possible before I met him. [You can practically hear her squinting uncertainly over this next part:] Didn't I tell you about this?

[Maybe she didn't. They must have just discussed Steven's numerous freaky godmode powers, not his body's weird genetic/gemetic makeup. Whoops.]

[whattaprick]

[ That conversation was just after Portland and got derailed by farming, so it's understandably a little difficult to remember. There's a pause while they try to recall, and Celandine finally says... ]

We know what a hybrid is. We just didn't know what he was a hybrid of. [ They'd meant to ask, but never got around to it. ]

Anyway ... how long can gems last, then?

[periphrasing]

[Probably for the best they don't ask how the heck that hybridization is supposed to work, because Peridot doesn't know. She does have some gross theories though! Gross theories that she would gladly share over the network without much consideration for Steven's privacy or feelings.]

Infinitely, provided our gemstones stay unharmed and we don't get shattered or corrupted. That's why age isn't really a thing for us, it's more about what point at which you started existing, and what events you were or were not alive for.

[whattaprick]

[ Yeah let's not go into the mechanics of a human porking a gem, all right??? This sounds like a route no one wants to go down. ]

What do you do with all that time?

[periphrasing]

[I mean, it WAS a route that Greg and Rose wanted to go down, EYEYEYEYEY]

Uh... You work.

[That's pretty much it.]

[hippocarnival]

Steven's fourteen too?!

[That was the important part of this, right.]

[whattaprick]

See? Nobody looks their age.

[hippocarnival]

I didn't say anything about that! I'm not going to just disbelieve it.

[starseedling]

Yeah, but, um... I don't really age like a human! I've looked exactly the same for like five years!

[hippocarnival]

Is that because of the gem part? [Blue told him a little about gems. He's pretty sure Steven shouldn't be biologically possible, but he is, so there's no point contesting it.]

[starseedling]

I think so! Gems don't really age... they're just made fully grown, and then they're like that forever! Apparently... growing up isn't really a thing for them.

So, now I kind of don't know if it'll be a thing for me either?

[He sounds a little concerned about it.]

[hippocarnival]

Blue said they don't have families like humans either. But... uh, you do, right?

[There's no good way to ask 'was your dad in Portland actually your real dad'.] You were growing all the other years, weren't you? Maybe you just have a strong baby face.

[starseedling]

Yeah. My dad's human. But... my mom stopped existing, basically, when she made me. Because I have her gem.

[periphrasing]

I was incorrect. I have just now been informed that he may actually be fifteen years old, not fourteen.

Like that makes a big difference...

[hippocarnival]

It's a pretty big difference when you're growing up. [Those are the awkward puberty years.]

[periphrasing]

...I don't get it. Years mean different things to you humans depending on how old you are? A year is a year, how is aging from fourteen to fifteen any different from aging between like... how old do humans live to... one hundred and fourteen and one hundred and fifteen?

[hippocarnival]

Because we grow faster when we're younger. It slows down a lot once you're eighteen, that's when you start being an adult.

[periphrasing]

You do...?

Interesting. I had always assumed that humans kept growing constantly at an even rate throughout their whole lives. It's how plenty of other organic lifeforms grow...

[starseedling]

Peridot... actually... I think I might be 15 now.

[And he sounds a little disturbed about it.]

[periphrasing]

Oh.

[She doesn't really get why he's so upset about ALRIGHT]

My apologies, everyone: 15. He's 15 years old, not 14.

[She mutters:] Has it really been that long since you got here?

[starseedling]

[Steven also speaks in a hush for no reason:]

Well, I've been here for six months and when I went home for a while I think it was at least six months since my last birthday! I only realized that just now - isn't that kind of weird?

[Peridot is the wrong audience for this.]

[periphrasing]

[She absolutely is.

She's also refuses to keep whispering.]

That is weird... Mmm. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Time is basically a nonsensical mess here. You'll probably just go back to whatever human age you were when you left, whenever you go back there for good.

[Basically who gives a shit about time.]

[starseedling]

But it's not like I'm aging, anyway!

[His voice becomes a bit more shrill with anxiety, as he is apparently having some kind of moment.]

It's been a whole year, and I'm still not any taller...!