#headcanons; fable

[forgotten-fable]

     So I was thinking about Fable’s “true nature” being a Graphite gem, and decided to google what the ‘meaning’ of graphite is to see if I could work that into the design and abilities and just...

     Thanks google I had no idea this choice was actually Perfect.

[forgotten-fable]

     So! Guess I’ll start off with a little headcanon compilation, featuring stuff on both Moth/Lonely Pearl and Fable. It’ll get long so I’ll just casually toss it under a cut to save your dash space; feel free to give a click if you’d like to hear the halfway coherent ramblings of some fandom weirdo with too many ideas.

     MOTH PEARL

     -  Originally she was just called Pearl, since her original owner-- an Aquamarine-- didn’t really see fit to bother naming her. She was effectively just treated as a throwaway test subject for gem-related experimentation, so there wasn’t much reason to invest in her, sadly. As such, she only has a facet designation like Peridot, Moth Pearl’s being Facet-4J7A Cut-2KE, though this was rarely used. However, if she did have a personalized name, it would have been Olive Pearl, named after the faint green hue to her overall silvery color scheme.

     -  Her tests with Fable were far from the first experimentation she participated in, and she wasn’t the only tester, either; there were a few other Pearls who were used similarly in order to test new gem tech and determine if it was safe to use. Ironically, being left behind actually was for the best considering the others came across deadly duds long before the gem war reached its catastrophic end.

     -  Moth Pearl’s skillset was very much adjusted for this kind of work; she can summon a little transparent tablet similar to Blue Pearl’s, which she uses to write down notes, for example. Being highly observant and curious made her excellent at picking up details that the others missed, and meant that she was often regarded as a ‘favorite’ by the researchers for her thorough research notes. This only made things much worse during the fallout with Fable; not only were the head researchers more willing to take it seriously, but the other Pearls seized on the opportunity to oust their ‘rival’ that ‘made them look bad,’ especially since they’d taken a liking to the much safer, easier work.

     -  While alone in the library, Moth Pearl read as many books as she could to pass the time. As a result, she has a very comprehensive knowledge of gem history and culture, along with a strong admiration for fiction writers and poetry. Writing of those kinds kept her going when she was otherwise entirely alone, and holds a very special place in her heart.

      -  Although she isn’t much of an artist, she does have a certain interest in it; Moth Pearl often enjoys the art classes at Little Homeschool, even if she doesn’t have much confidence in her skill. Often she can be found writing little bits of poetry in the corners of her sketches though, finding that words come to her much more easily than images.

     -   Moth Pearl ironically doesn’t recall her time as a moth, at least not very clearly. When cured of her corruption, she can only recall vague impressions of her flight through Library Nine’s flooded halls, which is certainly a blessing in disguise. However, she does still retain some corruption scars from the experience, hence her new nickname. When shapeshifting her veil into wings, they strongly resemble those she bore as a moth monster.

     -  She also is drawn to bright light sources, seemingly a lingering effect from the corruption-- even as they also make her feel distinctly uncomfortable due to reminding her of the corrupting light case by the Diamonds. It creates a bizarre push and pull in which she often collects items that put off light, only to turn them off and hoard them instead. She has a special interest in lamps.

     FABLE

     -  Fable’s book was meant to be destroyed after the discovery of her sentience, but the project went south when the gem war broke out on earth and renegade gems overran the storage facility. Fable spent most of her time up to that point bubbled, but occasionally was taken out of storage by the other Pearls, albeit very briefly; this was quickly discontinued when Fable began to lash out, attempting to snatch them into her pages.

     -  That is also how Fable came to know about Moth Pearl’s abandonment; due to her ability to seize the memories of those she takes, she learned of her friend’s fate and was able to reconstruct the scene pretty realistically. On top of that, Fable related to her friend’s fate of isolation, making the story potently personal to her for multiple reasons-- hence why this was the first story she shares with Steven, it was the only one that was truly Real to her.

     -  Fable has absolutely no idea how she was created, where, or by whom; this does leave her with a very unstable identity in the sense that she doesn’t really know herself. She does not think of herself as a gem, and really doesn’t know what to categorize herself as. If anyone asks, she is just Fable, that’s the limit of her identity.

      -  However, her origins as an inky infusion of ground up gem shards does show through at times; this impacts her abilities in the real world in particular, hence why she can only form singular body parts, particularly a hand and part of an arm. The abilities of the individual fragments, mixed with the boost of diamond essence, does make her significantly more powerful than a usual gem shard though.

     -  Due to being bound to the book in such a way, she can ‘feel’ when it is damaged and respond accordingly. Tearing pages, bending the cover, dismantling the binding, etc will all cause her significant distress and generally result in a rather harsh response. Her natural defense mechanism is to swipe any threat into her fictional reality, though Fable will generally toss people back out pretty quickly if she does so by mistake.

     -  Fable’s ability to ‘take’ people does have some vague similarities to fusion, though with several marked differences. For one, she is capable of taking any being with a sentient will, including organic life forms; this comes from her paper being an organic material, acting as a conduit much the same as Steven being half-human allows him the same ability. Secondary, instead of becoming larger or more powerful, a taken individual is simply absorbed into the ink, where they have no additional control over Fable’s abilities or world. And third, she has significantly more control over what the other experiences, effectively projecting her mind to overwrite their current experiences. This is catalyzed by a total loss in all senses, making it much easier for her to replace that information with whatever she wants.

     -  However, note that Fable does not have enough understanding of her own abilities to recognize that’s what she’s doing; it’s just what she was designed for. But as a consequence, unstable fusions may find themselves separated while within her book, even if they were fused when she took them in. Likewise, those especially familiar with-- or put off by-- fusion may recognize the feeling when Fable swipes them, even if nothing seems to change.

     -  It is unlikely Fable is capable of true fusion; her ‘gem’ is effectively in liquid form, acting as the malleable ink imbued into her pages. As such, it cannot be separated from the book very easily without potentially destabilizing her. Future advancements may make it possible to separate her ink into a new gemstone eventually, but only time will tell. Hypothetically, this would restore her ability to regenerate fully in the real world as her new self, though her gem and design would certainly differ drastically.

      -  If granted a new gemstone form in this way, she would be classified as a Graphite.