Magna City Shining Congress – Side Halls

[Jackie Cat]

The hypomanic expression flatered for a moment.

"N-no, I... I don't remember anyone like that," stammered Garnet. "But it... It feels that way. Why...?"

The lighting flickered, the details of reality around the two of them melting away, ceding the space to a vision of bracken and thorns and chitin. The pale brown remains of an egg case lay as detritus on the ground. The nest smelled of scyther.

"I was an only child," murmured Garnet. "Part-human. So strong."

Another mantis gazed at Garnet from behind her – but she could not see him.

"I was... alone. Until I came here."

 

[Butterfree]

Jean looked at the illusory Scyther behind Garnet, eyebrows scrunching in confusion. Eggshells - was that the egg she'd hatched from?

She stuck to the bit she could understand for now. "So... you were always alone because you were different? And then you found others like you, here?"

Jean had never been alone, not really. She'd always had the others. Others like her. Will. Why did her brain hurt to think of him?

She stepped closer to Garnet, putting a paw on her pincer. "It's good to stick together. My... my dad sometimes says it's us against the world. But also that if other people don't want to make space for us we still have a right to be there, and we can't just let them win."