Office hours, all day

[sith_happened]

This was Anakin's, well, some unholy amount of Parents' Weekends since he was a student, so he had it down to a science by now: coffee was brewed, something boring and from Naboo was playing, and he'd fired up his start chart projection onto the walls to give him something to look at during the lulls.

But for now, the Dean of Students was in his office, there to provide information (or reassuring lies, if that was more necessary) about your little darlings. Come on in!

Comments

[made_of_love]

As it happened, Garnet was actually in a fairly good mood today. Which mostly meant that her mostly-neutral expression was now sporting the faintest hint of a smile as she went to speak to the Dean of Students.

Otherwise known as 'that one adult who had come to the rescue along with a group of youths when the Earth was about to blow up.'

"Nice star chart."

She meant that. Also, hello.

[sith_happened]

"Thank you," Anakin said, grinning. "How have you been?"

[made_of_love]

"Busy," Garnet admitted, still wearing her little smile. "But the Cluster isn't an issue anymore, and we haven't been attacked by any other giant Gem fusions since you left. Busy, I can handle. You?"

[sith_happened]

"Not that kind of busy," Anakin said. "We had an attack of sharks in a hurricane this summer?"

[made_of_love]

"Is that normal weather for around here?"

Garnet was mostly certain it wasn't, but admittedly, she'd had strange enough things flying at her over the years that sharks in a hurricane didn't seem entirely far-fetched, either.

[sith_happened]

"Apparently not," Anakin said. "It smelled like old fish for weeks around here afterwards, too."

[made_of_love]

"Well," Garnet said after a pause, "I'm not sorry to have missed that."

She'd been living on Earth for thousands of years, so was more or less used to the odd smells that often accompanied organic life. That didn't mean she enjoyed all of it.

"You all seem to have pulled through, at least."

[sith_happened]

"I was half-expecting a rain of scented candles," Anakin admitted. "The weather here is a little bizarre. Everyone, miraculously, was fine, and most of the buildings have been repaired."

[made_of_love]

"So," Garnet said, a thoughtful look on her face, "no lasting damage and no casualties. Life experience, then."

This really did seem like a good place to go in order to get that. Not that she was in any hurry to send her own Steven here.

[sith_happened]

"We're full of those around here," Anakin said. "We have a very well-rounded group of students."

[made_of_love]

"We were all certainly impressed with the group that accompanied you to come and rescue Peridot."

Sure, she'd been looking for rescue from Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven when she'd sent that distress call, but the sentiment remained.

"It seems to me as though her returning here was the right choice."

Yes, sending her back to the island with the shark storm was the right choice.

[sith_happened]

They'd definitely use her quote in the next version of the school promotional brochure!

"I'm glad to hear it," Anakin said. "I think she's been learning a great deal here."

[made_of_love]

"She's adjusting well, then?"

That was good news, too. Earth was, at best, a bit of an adjustment when coming directly from Homeworld, after all.

[sith_happened]

"She seems to be," Anakin agreed.

[made_of_love]

"That's good news, then," Garnet replied, nodding. Satisfied.

It meant that she wouldn't have to poof her and store her gem in a bubble until the end of time. So.

Good news.

"If at any point that changes and she becomes a problem, let me know. I'll come collect her."

[sith_happened]

"Collect?" Anakin repeated.

[made_of_love]

"Bring her home," Garnet amended easily. "Unless she's proven to be a danger to herself and those around her, that's all that really needs to happen."

She paused for a few moments, and then added, "I wouldn't hurt her. Contain her, perhaps, if she offered no other choice. But I wouldn't hurt her."

[sith_happened]

"What does contain entail?" Anakin wondered. "I teach about cultural differences, so I'm always looking for new examples."

[made_of_love]

"For a Gem, it wouldn't be unlike sleep to a human, I suppose." Garnet looked thoughtful for a second. "Dangerous Gems get poofed and bubbled."

That... didn't clarify much.

"We take away their corporeal body, their consciousness retreats into their gem," she held up her hands, showing the Ruby gem in her left palm and the Sapphire in her right, "and then they're safely stored away."

[stupid_hylians]

And a cranky little fish man who appeared to have a manta ray for a head walked into the office, looking very appalled by nearly everything he saw, most of all the man inside it.

"I suppose you are the..." He took a breath, as if it took a great deal of effort to say the word, "human teaching the Prince of the Zora no doubt questionable and unfortunate human ethics?"

Human. What a terrible word! It was even worse than Hylian, but Sidon had insisted he use it, rather than simply calling them what they appeared to be, round-eared Hylians.

[sith_happened]

"Forever?" Anakin asked, "or is there a finite period of time?"

[made_of_love]

"Until we have the resources to rehabilitate them," Garnet replied. And then frowned a little. "You've... seen our resources."

There were three of them. And Steven.

[sith_happened]

"I'm teaching him about human ethics," Anakin said. "He's under no obligation to follow them."

[sith_happened]

Anakin made a mental note to never say Peridot was a problem. "I have," he said, nodding instead. "I really do think she's been adjusting well."

[made_of_love]

"And if she wasn't, you'd most likely handle it yourselves?" Garnet was smiling faintly, yes. She was under no illusions as to what sort of place she'd sent Peridot to. "I really do appreciate all that this place has done for her. As I said... Earth is something of an adjustment, after life on Homeworld."

[sith_happened]

"I can imagine," Anakin said a little wryly.

[made_of_love]

Considering the fact that Peridot wasn't exactly shy about talking about most things that were on her mind, Garnet could imagine, herself. She nodded and then smiled something that was very nearly a wry smile, herself.

"I'm thankful one of us can," she noted. "I suspect I wouldn't recognize the place myself, if I were to return."

She didn't think the odds of that happening were terribly high. But then, there were some potential futures... Garnet tried not to dwell too much on those.

[sith_happened]

"Where are you living now, anyway?" Anakin asked. "I never thought to ask."

[made_of_love]

"Earth," Garnet replied simply. "Peridot might be new to Earth, but Pearl, Amethyst and I have been here for quite some time. There's a temple outside of Beach City that we call home."

[sith_happened]

"What's been the strangest thing you've noticed?" Anakin asked. "I've been on this planet more than a decade and sometimes it still surprises me."

[made_of_love]

"I've been on this planet more than five thousand years," Garnet noted, "and I think the single most surprising thing is just how similar humans and Gems really are, in spite of all the odds."

She frowned a little.

"For better or worse."

[sith_happened]

"Tell me about the better," Anakin said. "I'm so tired of the worse right now."

[made_of_love]

Garnet nodded a little bit at that. She'd seen plenty of 'worse' over the centuries. Sometimes it was important to look at the 'better' if only to remind herself why she had remained here at all.

"Humans can change," she noted. "They can learn, they can grow. Even when it seems like they aren't, humanity is defining and re-defining themselves constantly. We learned that from them. It was humanity that showed us how to embrace individuality."

She balled both of her hands into fists. Not in a display of aggression, but because there was a gem there, in either of her palms.

"Earth was also the first place we found where people placed so much importance on love. Even when it seems like the entire planet is rallying against it... there are those who care fiercely. There are those who fight to protect it."

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "I noticed that when I first arrived as well," he said. "The Order I was a part of preferred love as an abstract concept, rather than something we were supposed to participate in. High school was rather eye-opening."

[made_of_love]

"Homeworld places little value on the lives or the cares of the individual," Garnet offered, nodding in understanding. "To the point where if two Gems wanted to be together forever, the immediate response was to demand they be shattered. Earth was a sort of sanctuary to some of us."

Her little smile was slightly strained, only for a moment.

"A world worth saving."

[sith_happened]

"Ninety-eight percent of the time," Anakin said with a little smile.

[made_of_love]

"If you save it during that other two percent, it means everything that makes it worthwhile has a chance to recover," Garnet pointed out, reasonably. "There's nowhere in the universe that hasn't seen dark times. Working to find the light again is never not worthwhile."

Trust her, Anakin. You might have fallen harder, but she'd been around to see the same damn cycle across multiple galaxies, and for much, much longer than you could fathom.

[sith_happened]

"You should meet my oldest son sometime," Anakin said with a proud smile. "His entire life is guided by that idea."

[made_of_love]

"So is Steven's," Garnet replied with a little fond smile of her own.

Steven wasn't her son, no. He was Rose's boy. But that didn't make Garnet any less of a proud parent, herself.

"It isn't a bad way to live. There are disappointments, of course. No life is without those. But there are victories, too."

[sith_happened]

"Big ones," Anakin agreed.

[made_of_love]

"Sometimes," Garnet agreed. "But I'll take the little ones, too."

[sith_happened]

"Sometimes it's all we get," Anakin said. "I teach teenagers, so I know."

[made_of_love]

Garnet, whose experience with teenagers more or less began and ended with 'Steven,' simply nodded knowingly.

"You might very well be braver than I am, for that one."

[sith_happened]

"Not likely," Anakin said with a little chuckle. "Back during a war, I had the nickname: the Hero With No Fear. That was a load of poodoo."

[made_of_love]

Garnet's nickname back during the war was, 'That fusion abomination! Shatter it!'

Anakin's was much more flattering.

"Well, then you hid it well enough that nobody noticed," she mused. "Sometimes that's almost as good as the real thing."

[sith_happened]

"Fake it until you make it," Anakin said, nodding.