yellow’s brows lift in surprise . ❛ how should you know ? ❜ she repeats , incredulously. ❛ you barge into this throne room crying BLOODY MURDER over something that i did that hasn’t a single thing to do with you , insult me and the poor quartz , saying all sorts of things about her character , making sure i know how pathetic she is , and then you tell me my affections are misplaced . CLEARLY you have a place in mind where they belong , so share it , why don’t you ? ❜
she’s on a roll now , chest rising and falling angrily . ❛ TELL ME ! where should it be , jasper ? where am i to find this gem without flaws , strong and smart and not ah , pathetic ? hm ? where is this perfect candidate to whom i ought to devote all my affections ? do tell me , because i ❜
it is a complete overflow of the mouth , uncontrollable spilling over of the soul , defensive and tireless work of the tongue . then abruptly , she falls silent , staring at jasper and the deep crimson flush spreading over the quartz’s face . the stiffness of her body language . the acheron hath no woe compared to A LOVER SCORNED , yellow’s heart seizes and goes STILL and DEAD , wilting like a dahlia without sun .
silently , she sucks a breath in , unsure of whether she wants to demand jasper leave or demand she come here right here , up onto this throne , and sit next to her , and confess it , so that yellow can have a working excuse to tell her she reciprocates the quartz’s feelings .
❛ i want to know who you think i should be loving . ❜
♢ || each haphazardly thrown accusation struck burning rage deeper and deeper into jasper’s hulking frame, bringing her temper in drunken, uneven bursts closer to a boil. composure—REASON—was evaporated with that heat, and in only a short time, the quartz had resumed her role as the force of nature that had torn into the room unannounced earlier. she was a storm. a hurricane. accompanied by a bellow—A MISERABLE, ENVIOUS ROAR—her fist flew hard enough into the door to make its metal CRUMPLE with a loud, reverberating bang beneath her now-bleeding knuckles.
❝ WHO DO YOU T H I N K ? ❞ jasper barked. there was no reigning herself back in, now. her words would come out just as uncontrollably and rapidly as the searing tears careening down her sculpted cheeks. she was crying. she’d never CRIED before.
blood pooled between her aching fingers, obscenely warm and then uncomfortably icy, traveling the prune-like ridges of the door’s new WOUND. a door meant to withstand a DIAMOND’S electric anger, and she’d broken it with enough ferocity to remind herself of what physical pain felt like after YEARS of numbing herself to it. breaths came out of her QUIVERING, PARTED LIPS, steaming up the polished surface of the metal that was at eye-level.
the display might seem childish and ridiculous to anyone unacquainted with a soldier’s fierce loyalty, but JASPER’S dedication would put any other quartz to shame. a forest fire with a beautiful face, tamed by none but the one she was made for, and the one that took her in after her old world had given way to tatters. idiotic though it may have been to expect the same devotion from a diamond, there she was, feeling the sting of being LET DOWN.
❝ maybe if you’d look further than the gems that GROVEL at your feet, you’d figure it out. but if you’re so KEEN on defending a mere AVENTURINE even now, then why don’t i just SEE MYSELF OUT? ❞ she finally spun on the other, not giving a damn that her face was slicked with the trails of her betrayal. her eyeliner was that which miracles spoke of for not staining those paths. incredulous, she spat, for emphasis, ❝ H U H, YELLOW ? if you’re too blind to see the gem directly in front of you, i can just GET OUT OF YOUR SIGHT to save you the trouble. ❞
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