didn’t mean to vague on you personally, sorry! (sure did come across that way, I should’ve queued the post) a lot of ppl have said things along the lines of ‘if the lunarians aren’t constantly trying to kill the gems their lives will lose all meaning and they’ll all become depressed/turn against eachother,’ so it’s kind of a cumulative annoyance to me. I think you’re right that having the lunarians gone will be a VERY hard change for the gems to bounce back from (1/2)
(2/2) but I also firmly believe the gems will turn to progressing their little society with art and possibly technology. They have a big library so even if they haven’t figured out fiction yet they like writing, beryl has that fashion obsession to expand on, and they might even figure out smithing (I could swear Aechmea said something about sensei preventing the gems from progressing already but I can’t find where) and even battle-hungriest bortz has another hobby with the jellyfish
Nah my man it’s totally cool, we weren’t mad or anything, mostly just amused. But I really do get where that argument is coming from and I in no way think it’s impossible for the gems to find a new purpose in life if the Lunarians go away one day. Really I think someone’s opinion on this kind of thing is going to come down to a lot of personal beliefs and the way that you see the world. Personally I think that living in such a barren world with nothing and no one else around would be actual hell for someone like me, and the way in which you’re going to react to living in such an environment is really going to come down to personality and your outlook on life. I don’t for a single second think that someone like Cinnabar would be ok. Cinnabar’s hatred of themselves stems in the fact they feel useless, they feel like there’s nothing out there that they can do and they’ll only hurt others and so on and so forth. Cinnabar needs what this world cannot provide and peace isn’t going to make their depression better.
I also really don’t think someone like Bortz would be ok either. Bortz kind of has this one track mind, insanely protective of the people they love and insanely motivated to do anything it takes to protect them. I think they would gain a sense of calm and peace if they knew Dia was going to be ok but as time went on I think the emptiness would begin to eat away at them without something new to focus on. And that’s not to say that there’s absolutely nothing that they could do and everything would fall apart instantly, this is the kind of thing that would wear on you day in and day out and some people would be able to handle it and others would eventually recede right into themselves or it would explode out on others. Someone like Red Beryl would totally still be able to thrive, I think they would have a great time, Rutile would be happy if Padparadscha was ok, Dia would be happy as long as they could talk and interact with their fellow gem, they’re such a people person, but not everyone would thrive and not everyone would be happy with advancing technology or something creative. The world is just extremely barren and empty, either you have to create your own happiness or you’re going to lose.
But I really do think that your opinion on this kind of thing relies heavily on your outlook of life. It’s just that personally I think that thinking that everyone would be ok and it would be nothing but peace and happiness without the Lunarians is too sunny and naive of an idea. I totally think it’s possible don’t get me wrong, I just don’t think it’s all that realistic.