Gamzee Makara found the envelope his morail had left him. He sniffed it to be sure it was from her before tearing it open in the dark. It was a paper, reminding him to eat the pies they'd made together and not to stay out too late into the morning. He heaved a sigh. That was it. That's what he'd forgotten. Trudging to the kitchen, he pulled a fresh pie from the fridge and just grabbed a handful, messily shoving it into his mouth. He ate the whole pie this way. This world they lived in now was for sure a strange place, but Gamzee had played the same game all his friends had. Strange wasn't...strange anymore. Not to the Alternians.
The floating shit was new, though. Gamzee hadn't noticed at first, but whenever he got upset enough, things would move without him actually having to touch them. When he had finally noticed, he thought for sure it was just some weird new Rage power, brought to him by his aspect. Then he had to make himself realize Rage wasn't telekinesis. Perhaps if his aspect had been Mind, but it wasn't and this was still happening. These past two days he had spent shut up in his hive had been some of the worst since they had first gotten here. He could hear so much...and not just the things people were saying out loud either. The things people thought. The things they felt, even.
It was getting to the point where even in the safety of his dark, slimy hive, Gamzee felt things were still too loud for him. "A motherfucker can't get any rest anymore." He grumbled to himself as he considered what to do. He was getting very tired, and Gamzee knew when he got tired enough, sober Gamzee was a lot more likely to take charge. He had to try and sleep. Maybe his moirail's place would make him feel better? She had a way of getting all up in the snarled mess of his thinkpan and calming it so that Gamzee could actually form thoughts. He smiled at the idea, and with that knew where his day was going.
Making sure his home was locked, another thing Semele had scolded into him, he started the short walk to her place.
X
Qui-Gon unsurprisingly turned out to be better at chess than Obi-Wan. "I'll admit, it's a little strange to play with actual pieces. I am rather accustomed to holochess."
Semele smiled at him, her mind at ease with this distraction. Traveling through space was always an extended period of discomfort for her. All that emptiness and nothing in it that she could feel. "Heh. My older sister...her girlfriend taught the both of us. Rose..." Semele shook off the nostalgia and made her move. Judging from the patient change in Qui-Gon's eyes, she knew. Semele had just made a mistake.
"I believe that's checkmate, friend." So it was. She began to put the pieces away, tucking them into her holodeck. Qui-Gon watched with interest. "I've seen others from your...universe of origin use such technology, but I'm still rather puzzled."
Semele pursed her lips. "I guess...the simplest explanation is where I come from and the humans who came with us too... Everyone basically has portable pocket dimensions. They aren't bottomless though. If I put too much in, the first thing I shoved in will come flying out. I've seen some of my friends get stabbed by their own weapons before." Semele chuckled. Then she frowned. "I'm sorry. Was that barbaric of me? I...forget that death and violence and bloody accidents aren't as commonplace here and usually don't hold amusing connotations."
Qui-Gon tactfully changed the subject. "Weapons? Do you carry any yourself? It's dangerous to be alone, otherwise."
Semele brightened. "Why yes, I do. I alchemized this myself, based off my sibling's weapon. Ah. I miss the convenience of alchemizing. Too bad we lost all the rest of our tech in the jump here. It's not worth going after. I hope no one ever does. It's one reason Serket playing around on Nar Shaddaa makes me so nervous. If the Sith found knowledge of half of the stuff my race was capable of...I fear for the other universes, including the one we left burning. It is why I remain firmly allied with the temple. With the Jedi. With you."
Qui-Gon was quiet a moment. "Jedi aren't perfect beings of self control either. We have to work just as hard at it. And even then, there are things in the code I question." He glanced at Obi-Wan, still asleep. Semele was surprised. Jedi never talked openly about disagreements with their code.
"Ah. My weapon. Allow me." She pulled out a tube of lipstick from her pocket dimension, as she'd described it to Qui-Gon. She smiled at his extremely puzzled reaction and uncapped the lipstick. There was the flash of jade magic, and in a two handed grip, Semele now held a giant pair of what looked like scissors a seamstress might use if she also occasionally needed to cut people's heads off. "It's rather excellent at blocking." She said brightly, putting it away. "I just have to summon it with the blades open, and suddenly I'm all set."
Obi-Wan, awake now yawned. "I thought you were a self professed pacifist?"
Semele sighed. "Yes. The scissors are used only to block blows. They have not tasted blood since...Well, I'd rather not talk about when I almost had to kill Gamzee with my own hands."
Obi-Wan, now uncomfortable as well changed the subject. "The Sith can't leave this galaxy, same as us. This is why we even bother fighting. Otherwise we'd just spread out from each other. What technology do you have that changes this?"
"Well, for starters... There's the transportalizer. All they'd need is coordinates any of my kind could give and they'd have an instant transport." She wrung her hands. "I've explained this before. To the green one and the scary one with the purple saber. They said it was buried too deep in my mind, behind all the trauma. Surely you were told? I am the last Alternian, or Alternian human refugee left that remembers the alchemizer recipe needed to craft a transportalizer. You never wondered why I always had Jedi checking in on me?"
Qui-Gon was thinking, she could tell. "It makes sense, then. The amount of care taken with your lodgings and the almost daily visits."
Semele brushed it off. "Surely we near our destination."
Qui-Gon hurried over to the command console, which was chirping at the three of them and hit a button. They were greeted by a protocol droid that identified itself as TC-14."You may dock. You will be brought to a conference room."
Qui-Gon turned with a quiet smile to Semele. "It would seem we have arrived, Ms. Maryam."
