Garnet | KTH

11. Opalâ

[A/N] Blurple has come to interrupt for a moment with a disclaimer hehehe. I understand that this may piss some people off, knowing another female lead is slim and pale (literally like every other main character), however, I did that to make the story accurate. Please don't be offended by this. Thank you, and enjoy! :)

For once, I awoke peacefully, not from the disturbance of the sunlight, nor from the irritating ringing noise that made me grind my teeth in the morning. Instead, my eyes fluttered open naturally and calmly to a blissful silence.

It felt like a dream.

I slowly at up in my bed, determining if my thoughts were tricking me. As my eyes adjusted to the light in the room, I turned my head to look around. It was unchanged, and how it normally appeared; fairly clean, but worn. My eyes averted to Ryujin and Lisa on their beds talking and whispering to each other, occasionally giggling.

I frowned, before rubbing my eyes and speaking. "Don't we have work today or something?" I asked quietly, and groggily.

Ryujin's head jerked to look at me. "Oh, you're awake," she chuckled standing up from the bed. "We don't have any work today, it's for us to go to church and enjoy the peace away from Ms. Jung," Ryujin smiled tiredly, but I raised a brow.

"Church?" I questioned, my eyes flickering between both of them.

Lisa walked over to stand beside my bed, helping me down from my bunk. She held my arm gently as I stepped down.

"It's a special place where we engage in embracing our culture," Lisa explained. "We'll take you."

I gulped and looked at both of them with worry. If this was religious, or any sort of celebration of Gems, humans would for sure be left out of the mix. We were inferior to their culture---probably because the Gems were afraid we might jump on tables and scream in a foreign tongue while beating our chests like gorillas.

Lisa and Ryujin glanced at each other, the distress in my eyes a dead give away. "I'm sure it'll be fine," Lisa replied quietly. "Don't worry." Her eyes were wide with understanding and comfort, as she gave me a gentle smile.

Ryujin and Lisa smiled, "we'll be outside. Hurry though we need to be there in fifteen minutes."

My respect for those two raised immensely since I met them. They initially seemed to be strange Gems with nothing better to do than pity and befriend a human because of it. Yet, seeing Lisa and Ryujin treat me as their equal made me realize what their true intentions were.

Ryujin gave me a gentle pat on the shoulder before walking out of the room. "I gave you a dress to wear, it should be in the bathroom." She pointed, and my eyes gazed over at the piece of clothing which hung from the door.

"Thanks." I said, my eyes widened surprise. They weren't pitying me, nor were they disgusted. They actually cared, unlike the others. It was so comforting, that I almost didn't realize the space between the Gems and humans anymore.

As I changed into Ryujin's clothes, which surprisingly fit well I gazed at myself in the mirror. It was a simple black dress that made my skin look paler, and displayed my slim figure. I looked up at my face, my dark narrow eyes staring back at me for a moment.

I'd never dressed up before, and I almost appeared...different.

It felt strange, considering I barely ever looked at myself back in my town, but when I did, all that looked back at me was a dirtied creature. Now-as I observed myself---I didn't feel like that at all. The assumptions the Gems had created felt washed off, and I for once saw what I truly was.

I looked away from the mirror as I stepped across the room toward the door, the dress dancing around my knees, unlike the restricting tube I had to wear as a slave.