The Customer Is Not Always Right: Getting Owned By the Owner Part 2
COFFEE SHOP | LEICESTER, ENGLAND, UK (I’m standing in a fairly short queue when a businessman walks in, pushes straight to the front and starts dictating his order to the 20-something year old cashier.)
Cashier:
“I’m afraid you’re going to have to go to the back of the queue, sir.”
Business man:
“I have an important meeting shortly. You must serve me now!”
Cashier:
“Yeah, the longer you stand there, the later you’re going to be. Back of the queue.”
Business man:
“Do you have any idea who I am?”
Cashier:
“Nope. Now shut up and go to the back of the queue.”
Business man:
“How dare you talk to me like that?! Get me your manager now!” (The cashier sighs heavily, walks into the back, comes out with an older woman in tow and nods her towards the businessman, then disappears back into the back.)
Manager:
“What seems to be the problem, sir?”
Business man:
“That boy was incredibly rude to me! I demand you fire him immediately!”
Manager:
“I’m afraid I don’t have the authority to do that, but if you want I can get the owner for you.”
Business man:
“Bah! Fine, but I expect to be compensated for having to go through all of this trouble!”
Manager:
“I’m sure you can discuss that with him, sir.” (She then walks into the back, then comes out again with the now grinning cashier.)
Cashier:
“Yo.”
Business man:
“What’s the meaning of this? I said I wanted to talk to the owner!”
Cashier:
“Like I said, yo.” (The businessman silently gapes for a few seconds, then walks out stammering threats about having his head and closing the shop down.)
Manager:
“Why do you always have to involve me?”
Cashier:
“I just love the look on their stupid little faces when they find out I own this joint.” (The manager rolls her eyes and walks into back.)
light yagami taught me tricks to make sure no ones been in my room and how to lie to my parents and get away with it. what the hell did L’s frog ass teach me?? how to ruin my posture and die? fuck you L
Trying to understand character motivation with limited information is something I love thinking about. Lapis is one of the more recent ones.
What we know:
Pearl did not know the gem in the mirror was able to communicate instead of following orders.
Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl did not know how powerful Lapis Lazuli actually was. During the fight with her, Lapis was able to overpower them all the the same time even though her gem was cracked.
Pearl stated the mirror was found at the galaxy warp, the warp that connected Earth to the homeworld.
Lapis Lazuli already knew who the crystal gems were already.
Lapis Lazuli seemed to already know about the earth. “She never believed in it.” This makes me think she was placed inside the mirror while she was on earth for at least a little while.
Rose Quartz’s power (the shield) completely neutralized Lapis’ power.
Rose kept secrets from the gems.
Greg’s speech about wars in general(link). Rose had to turn on her own kind.
I don’t think the current crystal gems could have put Lapis in the mirror. And based on their limited knowledge on Lapis, I don’t think they did it. However if ROSE did it to stop Lapis from reporting to homeworld to protect earth and kept it secret, it sort of would explain Lapis’ hatred of the crystal gems and earth.
I know Rose also wanted to heal broken/corrupted gems, so I don’t think destroying Lapis would be the answer for her. She does care deeply for everyone. Then again its still a super cold move to do.
At the same time, I can completely understand motivation of both sides if that WAS the case. Turning traitor to homeworld, or protecting earth.
That’s why Greg’s scene about wars really hit me. It very possible the gems did things they would be terrified Steven would hate them for. War is an ugly thing and like Greg said before, there are no good wars. Both gems and people were lost because of it.
I really want to know wtf happened back then;;;
Greg even revealed that Rose Quartz was an active participant in what was being done to Earth until “she couldn’t stand it anymore”, along with the other Gems. And now, “All they do is try to make up for it. They just can’t forgive themselves.”
On a planet that is 71% water, imagine back then how terrifying someone like Lapis would be if she were fighting against the Crystal Gems with the entire ocean, not holding most of it back in a bid to return home. Endless water clones? “Blue Diamond” of the mural is shown to be standing on what appear to be waves.
The first generation of Rose Quartz powers nullifying ocean gem powers….
Deja-vu!
I am not convinced at all she is Blue Diamond, but that can’t be a coincidence. The Crewniverse has proven multiple times they drop hints and clues everywhere. And then you also consider she knew how to kill humans, and is apparently confident in her ability to force a fusion to stay together….
I think it’s safe to assume that Lapis was a Homeworld-loyal Gem, and likely fought against the Crystal Gems to some extent in the war for the Earth. Her hatred of the Crystal Gems is possibly neither here nor there, but:
1) She WANTED to return to the Homeworld. If she were an enemy to them, or if they were the ones who had imprisoned her, why would she risk actually returning, not just a “for a second, from a distance” flyby as Pearl had attempted? We’ve seen what the Homeworld does with traitors. It also likely didn’t occur to her to apologize for what she’d done with the ocean because, like the other Homeworld Gems, she does not see humans as creatures of any consequence.
2) She could not have been a prisoner in “The Message”. How would a prisoner have any access to send a message back to Earth? “You got one call.” “Oh okay, let me just call Earth for for no reason, AHAHA I LIKE HEARING MYSELF TALK IS ALL ALSO MY NICKNAME IS STEVEN”. She said things on Homeworld were more advanced, not scarier; that she couldn’t understand any of it, not that she feared it. The worry on her face there was for Steven.
3) She was a willing part of the mission team back to Earth in The Return. Peridot had requested an escort and got one in Jasper, and Lapis’ information led them straight to the Gems’ base. It had to be Lapis who guided them. Not only did Jasper ask Lapis for confirmation, Peridot only saw the Crystal Gems at the Kindergarten, quite far from Beach City. It was obvious she had reported what the Crystal Gems had done to her, too, since Jasper knew it enough to offer her revenge as a fusion later in Jailbreak.
So it really does seem she sold the Crystal Gems out. She could have lied, like she did with Steven, but it didn’t matter to her that Steven loved the Crystal Gems because she hated them. If Steven had not been there, Lapis would have just watched as the Crystal Gems were killed or at least taken prisoner. As it was, did you notice that she made no attempt to save Steven against Peridot’s laser blast? In that moment, when Steven decided to defend the Crystal Gems again, he was once more on his own.
Think about that! If you’re going by the theory is she became Malachite to “protect” Steven: why did she not even try to stop that laser? Shove Peridot? Cry out to him? Anything but just stand there?
It’s like Sunshine said, she cares for Steven, but only on her terms. She was willing to stay silent to preserve her own safety and standing with the Homeworld. After she was imprisoned for withholding information, she still refused to help him on the ship when he needed her. Even Steven was disappointed in that, you could see it in his face and hear it in his voice.
“You are not being the person little Stevie knows you can be.”
Lapis seems tired of it all, but there is no chance to just exist in apathy, and apathy is not a good thing either. Because of that, she is angry at both worlds.
I really think the closing song refers heavily to this:
“If I could begin to be Half of what you think of me I could do about anything, I could even learn how to love”
And I bet that’s why you never see her smiling and happy in sketches from staff. Not in the Highschool AU, and not elsewhere.
She has the potential to be a truly good person, but she isn’t there yet. She literally “trusts no one”. I look forward to what her next step will be! I wonder if we’ll get a Godzilla nod out of Malachite, haha
Also: How the heck did GREG know what she looked like? He never saw her in person in Mirror Gem/Ocean Gem, yet even Steven was surprised at his Water Witch album cover.
like the problem with the tumblr community is that no one is allowed to safely fuck up
if i was my uneducated ignorant little 14 year old self y’all would have ripped me a new one and probably scarred me for life
and that’s so scary tbh, that a community of adults would and DO witch hunt and harass minors over things they’re being children about
How to gently acknowledge and inform a person:
Check their blog/content/about me. How old is this person? If they are still in HS/under 18, remember that this person is a minor and needs guidance, not chastising.
Second, look at a little bit of their tumblr. Are they going through serious mental health struggles(Depression/suicide/etc)? Please take this into account when formulating your response.
Finally, evaluate why you follow this person to begin with. Now, if you are 19 and following a 17 year old, then you are within the same age bracket and can talk to this person as if you are talking to a peer. 12/13/14/15 year olds are still formulating their opinions of the world, and you being nasty to them isn’t going to help inform their opinion. So why do you follow a 13 year old? Would you hang out with this person IRL if you two were in the same location? Would it be weird(mentally and physically) for you to hang out with this person? If the answer is yes, unfollow their blog and step away from the situation.
NOW, here is how you formulate a PRIVATE ASK OR FAN MAIL to someone who has said or done something problematic. Shaming them publicly for ignorance/limited world view is a great way to close someone off or harass them, and you don’t want to do either of these things. Online bullying can take on many forms, and being an adult harassing a young teenager adds to online culture problems
“Hey! I noticed that you reblogged (x). I wanted to let you know that this is really hurtful to (x) group, and it is offensive because of (x) reason. I just wanted to let you know because you may not have known. Thank you for receiving this message and listening”
This points out what is wrong, why it is wrong, and does not demand anything of the person you are sending this message to
And then you step away. Do not send this person 20 asks. Do not threaten them. STEP AWAY.
If they engage, respond, or ask further questions, answer them kindly. If they don’t respond, don’t continue to engage.
REMEMBER: you were 14 once too. You said and did things that you cringe at now. You said and did things that were problematic. Getting yelled at was not what you needed. You grew up, you learned, you changed. Let others do the same.
Warning: I DO use dude, man, bruh, and bro as completely gender neutral terms, HOWEVER if I call you one of the above and it bothers you, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me.
Here’s some of the new news upd8 on mspa, with the most important information. There’s more there to do with the game and stuff as well, so check it out!
Steven gets hurt (not too badly, only a broken arm or something like that) and gets sucked into his gem to recover, because that’s what gems do when their form is badly damaged.
Inside, he gets to meet what remains of his mother for the first time, gets to hear her tell him she loves him face to face, without a screen between them. Gets to feel what his mother’s hug is actually like.
But when it’s time for him to return to the outside world. Something goes wrong. Very, very wrong, and instead of Steven appearing out of the gem, like everyone expects, it’s Rose Quarts.
And Rose flips her shit, because somehow she’s alive and Steven is nowhere to be found, and they have to do something, anything, to get him back out of the gem.
They succeed, but not until after all the gems-who already seem to blame Steven for Rose not being around- are forced to take a long look at themselves and make the choice: Help Rose and Greg get Steven back and lose her again forever, or refuse, keep Rose alive, and deal with the fact that they, by making this choice, are the reason why Steven will never get to live.
Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde are based around Yggdrasil of Norse mythology. Xerneas is Eikþyrnir who lives under the life tree, Yveltal is Hraesvelgr who represents death, and Zygarde is the underground Nidhogg. Xerneas shares its life, Yveltal takes the lives of others to replenish its own, and Zygarde works to maintain the natural balance of the life-death cycle.
RESHIRAM, ZEKROM, AND KYUREM FROM GENERATION 5
Reshiram and Zekrom represent Truth vs Ideals, and the Tao philosophy of Yin/Yang. While Kyurem is the grey area in morality, a hollow shell left behind by the singular Dragon these three once used to be before humans tried using it for what they perceived to be “right”, when in reality it was just differing perspectives.
PALKIA, DIALGA, GIRATINA, AND ARCEUS FROM GENERATION 4
Dialga and Palkia are the Shinto legend inspired, godlike entities responsible for guarding and creating space and time. They come from a more scientific approach to how the universe works/was created, whereas Arceus and Giratina are more spiritual as they are designed with inspirations from various versions of “God” and “Satan” in dozens of different religions around the world.
GROUDON, KYOGRE, AND RAYQUAZA FROM GENERATION 3
Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza are modelled after the biblical beasts; The Behemoth, Leviathan, and Ziz. Groudon created the land, Kyogre rules the seas, and Rayquaza guards the skies. Groudon and Kyogre helped shape the world (Alpha) and often nearly end the world in conflict with each other (Omega). Rayquaza acts as a neutralizing force to aid the world and its people.
HO-OH AND LUGIA FROM GENERATION 2
Ho-Oh has clear inspirations from various fire-birds in different legends from various cultures like the Phoenix, Fenghuang, and the Huma Bird, as it is associated with the power to revive itself and others from ashes, bring eternal happiness, and rainbow iconography. Lugia could be considered similar to the sea-dwelling dragon, Ryujin of Shinto myth, and he has subtle elements that seem similar to a beluga whale.
