#made of Bort diamond

[cairngrom]

(not shipping them)

i just want them to be okay, be good sibling to each other.

[where-does-the-heart-lie]

You're probably getting bombarded with asks right now so sorry to add to the clutter - but I am a huge rock nerd - that goes beyond like Steven Universe and Houseki no Kuni. So I just want to share some stones and stuff that have cool properties and maybe could provide some inspiration (mainly tho so I can list off rock facts)

Mercury: Mohs 3.5, Toughness: Brittle - Malleable. Technically Mercury is always found in it's liquid form unless amalgamated with other elements, etc. But Mercury actually can be solidified, creating a "rock" with a 3.5 Mohs scale. What's interesting about this is that this solid Mercury produces an awful echo-screeching sound when bent. Idk how this would apply for a SU One Piece Character, but having the abilities to liquify, solidify, as well as being a very heavy metal which corrodes or amalgamates with many other rocks, a character like this would be a difficult opponent, or a powerful ally.

Calsilica: This ones funny because it's not a natural gem, and has an extensive history of people trying to claim that it is. Rather, Calsilica can be made from the run off byproducts in plastic, epoxy, wax, etc, condensed so hard it becomes a rock. I've had character ideas of this kind being a gem who either feels like they're lesser for being man-made, or even having imposter syndrome.

Painite: Mohs 7.5-8, tough. An incredibly rare, red-orange gem, which though is a lesser "hardness" then diamond, could easily break or shatter one.

That's another interesting thing about diamonds that was less included in the show, but they are very brittle - while sapphires, rubies, jade may be of a lesser Mohs scale, they could easily crush a diamond. Especially Jade. Jade may be one of the toughest, naturally occurring gemstones out there (hence why there are so many carvings made out of it) and can even be stronger than steal, also with no known cleavage point (point where the gemstone easily fractures most) it's a kind durable to both blunt and pin-point force.

Rutile: Rutile itself can be pretty thin and weak, but they usually occur inside of other gemstones, as needle-like fractals and growths. Their possibilities are endless and they're gorgeous. Hundreds of gem kinds can be "rutilated".

Carbyne: The. Strongest. Material. Known to man. Taking Graphenes place. I have OC's made of this, but the possibilities for character development are endless. Because, technically, only a 100 atoms of carbyne exist. They have to be contained by a graphene tube in order to stay in existence. These could be extremely powerful characters, but say their outer coating of graphene is gone? They'll vaporize. Carbyne, Graphene, and Buckminsterfullerene are all in the carbon family along with diamonds, and so modern experimentation has led to their creations, and thus, gemstones both harder and tougher than any diamond.

Though, having said all that stuff about diamonds, there is one kind that is incredibly difficult to shatter and that is Bort or Bortz. It's technically a term for any diamond that isn't jewel-grade, or natural diamond, used for cutting tools and abrasives, but as a gemstone, it would be the top tier of diamonds. Their crystal structure is smaller than a normal diamond and so blows or damage are spread out evenly through the material, rather than a regular diamond which will often take force over one point of cleavage and completely shatter.

Ok I will be quiet now I've literally been typing this for more than an hour - I just love gem Au's and your designs especially. Idk if you've heard of Houseki no Kuni but it's basically a manga/show where the characters are completely made out of the gemstones, unlike being manifestations of light in Steven Universe. I'm working on a fic/head canon au of HNK One Piece characters (once again because I'm a rock nerd)

Good lord. That's a lot of rock facts.

I def will be using this information in the future so I'm posting this as future reference/ getting this long thing outta my inbox/ showing everyone else these rock facts

Thanks for the ask and tips!

[king-paimon]

Houseki no Kuni Chapter 96 Thoughts: Hello darkness my old friend

Hello, everyone!  After nearly 1 and a half, Houseki no Kuni finally returns with chapter 96! And the results are... anguish less than desirable, I admit, but it was sadly expected.

Once again, this will be a long post and I may make edits to it later on. Though I know I don’t get a lot of responses, I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts about this chapter, this post, and anything related. I hope you guys are doing alright, though I understand if that isn’t the case. 

Anyways, here we go:

The only ones who seem to care...( even a little bit)

I knew that when this story was going to come back, things were not going to improve like many fans would have wanted. I’m both disappointed and yet not surprised by the attitudes of the former gems that were shown in this chapter. I’m sure there are fans who were hoping certain gems like Antarcticite, Padparadscha, Diamond, or at least Ghost to show more concern or empathy for Phos and are disappointed that they aren’t. I’m also sure there are people who are disappointed that Ghost didn’t confront Cairn at all, but I’ll get to this later.

With Antarcticite in particular, I was disappointed that they no longer seemed as concerned as they were in the previous chapter. However, it was made clear several times that Antarcticite’s love for Adamant was stronger than their care for Phos so...yeah. As for the other gems, especially Phos’s former “allies,” I feel just about the same, if not more unsurprised because I expected this. I explained this before in older posts about how it was clear to me that most of the moon gems care for Phos was near non-existent. With the exception of Yellow Diamond and Padpa (to a degree), the other moon gems didn’t really show concern for Phos or their goals before and after their transformation and when Phos was trapped in limbo for centuries. And they only agreed to go on the invasion, at least with Dia, when their hands were forced. Like I said; disappointed but not surprised.

But isn’t interesting that the ones who currently showed any concern for Phos are Euclase and Cinnabar (at least to an extent)? 

I remember there were many fans who hated Euclase in particular and though I could understand to a certain degree, I didn’t hate them personally. Maybe because I didn’t see all of their actions as completely malicious towards Phos, I thought it was clear from previous chapters that despite everything that had happened, Euclase still had some care for Phos. Plus the fact that they were the ones to ask if there was anything that can be done for Phos says a lot about them in comparison to Phos’s former “allies” (like Antarcticite, Padparadscha, and Dia). And even though Cinnabar claims that they are happier, even with the fact Phos isn’t with them, it’s clear that they are conflicted. 

It isn’t much but would you look at that? Two former earth gems, who were also two of Phos’s biggest critics, seem to care more about Phos than the ones that willingly went with him to the moon in the first place, even though that is a low bar to surpass at this point.

Any glimmers of hope on the moon?

When the leak came out, one of the things I was wondering about was whether or not all of the gems are okay with their transformation. I was thinking about Bort in particular but I wanted to believe that not everyone was okay with it. After this chapter, while my hope that there could be some gems that aren’t happy with this change has decreased, my belief that Bort isn’t totally for it isn’t completely gone. After looking over this chapter several times, I had time determining whether or not Bort was happy. Yes, we see them taking care of jellyfish while choosing to stick with their short haircut, but the whole setting seems... lonely. And when Dia, who I guess has decided to move on from their animosity towards Bort, invites them to the party, Bort out rightly rejects the invitation. To me, it looks like Bort is self isolating and is trying to make the most of the situation. I could be looking to much into this, especially since Bort wasn’t known for expressing happiness a lot. But I don’t know. They just seem like they’re simply... existing because what else are they supposed to do now. 

Speaking of just existing, Bort doesn’t seem to be the only one who’s less “appreciative” of their new lives. Is it just me or does Yellow seem off? Even though they were the first one to express a desire to become Lunarian, though stemmed from their depression, they don’t seem particularly happy. And even while they’re surrounded by their fallen diamonds/gems who are clearly happy, Yellow doesn’t seem happy at all. In fact, they seemed empty. Why is this? Is Yellow still experiencing depression despite how things turned out or could this have been a result of the transformation itself? It think its a bit of both.

Is the lack of empathy completely their fault?

One topic that carried from the previous chapter was how much the former gems would remember things after their transformation and this chapter seems to be confirming this. While there are gems who clearly remember Phos and seem fine to intentionally forget them, there are signs that other characters are already showing signs of forgetting them. My question is, is this because of how the gems natural are or because of the transformation? Once again, I think it’s both. Like I said with Yellow, their emptiness could also be a result of both depression and the transformation. 

I’m not going to excuse the gems as a whole. Even though we’ve seen time and time again that expressing empathy towards others wasn’t something all gems could and forgetting things over time was part of their nature, how most of them treated Phos (and other gems who were going through their own forms of grieving) was.. bad. But at the same time, it’s hard to expect these humanoid being to react how we would want them to react because at the end of the day, they weren’t truly humans. And once again, none of the gems are black or white; they are all shade of grey.

I understand why many fans no longer like the gems because of their lack of care for Phos, especially the former “allies” who are fine letting them suffer for their happiness. However, at the same time, it’s concerning that at least some of the gems are going to be forgetting things and they don’t have control of this. This again echoes real life colonialism, cultural assimilation, and identity desecration. And yes, while the gems staying in their original society wasn’t good for them either and that change was necessary, this is still concerning for me.

What would be nice to see (even though it’ll likely not happen)...

I said it many times and I’ll keep saying it. It’s become harder to predict what Ms. Ichikawa is going to do with this series and it’s even harder to predict how it’ll end. I still think it will be a bittersweet end that won’t satisfy people who want Phos to somehow win in the end. As the new chapters come about, I’m going to keep my mind open and try not to make big predictions, at least not until more questions are answered.

So instead of predictions, I want to quickly list some things that I would like to see happen, even though I don’t think they will. You can see these as my hopefulness or a subtle way of me criticizing Ms. Ichikawa’s story telling so far, or something else I can’t think of. I’ll likely edit it in later.  Here it goes:

Conversations between the gems who were previously in conflict. This would include Cairn and Ghost, Bort and Dia, Padpa and Rutile. Though we got glimpses that suggest that things are now fine amongst these gems, this revelation feels less than satisfying. I want to actually see these gems talk things out, allow them to properly express their feeling about what happened between them without them sweeping things under the rug like they’ve been doing for so long.

Conversations about Phos without Aechmea’s or Adamant’s presence. We got a glimpse of this near the end of the chapter with Cinnabar but I would like to see more to gain more insight into how some of the gems actually feel. And this could lead to the reveal that there are at least a few gems who don’t like what happened to them or Phos. 

Conversations with Adamant without Aechmea’s presence. Some people have pointed out that Adamant also feels off ever since he was transformed. I would like to think that Ms. Ichikawa did this on purpose. I would like this to indicate that while Adamant is going along with Aecmea’s plans, he has his own plans to deal with this situation. 

Former gems, Admirabilis, and/or lunarians sneaking back to earth. I still hypothesize that while Adamant is all powerful and can materialize on the moon wherever he wants, he might not be omnipresent. Meaning that he doesn’t have full control over what everyone does or read their minds. And while he may be good at predicting other people’s actions, he can’t predict everything. I would want anyone who still has an ounce of care for Phos to use this to their advantage to go earth. Maybe during those missions to collect new gems or just when Aechmea is completely unaware. 

Phos protecting new gems from being kidnapped. This is something that I do think could happen in the next few chapters. This chapter hinted at the likelihood that new gems would emerge and Aechmea’s new strategy involves taking them. It would be nice for Phos to fall into the protective role of preventing the new gems from being taken. The downside is that can lead to Phos truly becoming the new Adamant by doing everything, including being the gems’ leader and reluctant praying machine, effectively restarting this whole cycle.

I’ll likely add more to this later but this is it for now.

Until the next chapter...

Despite how I felt with this chapter, I’m glad to see Houseki no Kuni again and it was nice to see the characters, even though they disappoint me. I also honestly liked the interaction between Cairn, Antarcticite and Cinnabar. 

And as always, I’m both excited and dreading the next chapter. Though I admit, even though I ended up making another long post, I don’t know how invested I will be for the rest of this series. Don’t get me wrong, even though it has made me feel all sorts of things and I question the author on more than one occasion, I still like it a lot. But at the same time, I’ve started to get invested in other things both in real-life and on the internet so I can’t promise that I will be making posts for each chapter like I did before. But we’ll see!

Thank you everyone who likes, reblogs, and comments on my posts. These interactions, even though they are brief, makes this journey with this series more bearable and memorable. I hope you like this post and like always, please feel free to voice your thoughts. Until next time, stay safe wherever you are. 

[uwukillmenowowo]

Could I request (land of the lustrous) Bort x male reader

M!reader personality:

Could m!reader act like a tsundere and not talk to much, could also have anger issues?

Also could m!reader be based of the gem called: "Aquamarine" ?, Aquamarines hardnesses is 7.5 - 8 btw, you can choose whether m!reader is 7.5 or 8 (Aquamarine is not a character btw) and m!readers nickname could be aqua (like Phosphophyllite is called phos

Okie Dokie anon!

👍

Fly Me to the Moon

[Cover by: me/Kumon]



[Bort X Male! Aquamarine! Reader]



Fandoms:

Houseki No Kuni/Land of the Lustrous



Trigger warnings:

- Angst

- Gaslighting/Emotional Manipulation



[Main Characters:]

[They would've been called they/them but I just gave them these genders so that I don't get confused]

- Reader/Aquamarine - Male - Hardness: 8

- Bort - Male - Hardness: 10

- Phosphophyllite - Male - Hardness: 3.5

- Cairngorm - Male - Hardness: 7

- Diamond - Female - Hardness: 10

- Yellow Diamond - Female - Hardness: 10

- Kogo-Sensei - Male - Hardness: XXXXX



[Notes:] 

- This takes place during the eighth and ninth manga. When Phos comes back from the moon and tries t convince other gems to come back with him to the moon.

- Bort is younger than Reader/Aquamarine [For plot]

- Sorry if you wanted something more wholesome Anon

- I know you said that you wanted a tsundere reader but when I finally finished this I realized that it was more of a tsundere Bort. The reader is still quiet yet angry, and a bit tsun tsun, but I feel I made Bort more tsun tsun than reader



History before the story:

- Before Bort. Reader/Aquamarine used to be paired with Diamond.

- Before Reader/Aquamarine was introduced to Bort, Diamond used to tell Reader/Aquamarine that Bort was a gem who only liked to fight.

- Because of that. Reader/Aquamarine didn't really have a good first impression of Bort.

- And the feeling was mutual when you and Bort first met.

- You saw him as a macho fighting jerk and he saw you as someone who was weaker than you looked.

- That was... until Diamond got struck by a Lunarian's arrow pretty badly.

- Rutile couldn't perform fast enough for Dia to go on patrol since there were others who were injured.

- So Bort went in her place.

- Bort expected you to be useless. Only being able to do a bit of damage.

- But H O L Y  S H I T

- When he saw you absolutely dominate Lunarian ass. You could say he was inspired. When he was the most recent gem the first others in his life was Dia and Yellow. He didn't spend much time with Yellow so Dia was mostly his only influence.

- Unfortunately with his attitude, Bort never appreciates Dia's attempts.

- Then there was you.

- Ever since your first pairing Bort has been asking Kogo-Sensei t pair with you often.

- Bort says it's because he wants to train under you. Since he was still a bit new t the world and Kogo-Sensei agreed. 

- Of course, Kogo-Sensei knew the signs. He was impressed that the Lustrous have been able to figure out those emotions. He thought that the Lustrous have only been able to feel normal emotions. But not deeper ones. So he's been allowing  Bort to pair as many times as he wants with Reader/Aquamarine.

- Thus, months turned to years.

- You and Bort have gotten closer

- And by that I mean Bort has been silently admiring you while you're trying to deny everything.

- Bort has been trying to be more like you. Quiet and calm, graceful while fighting, strong, powerful, not showing weakness to anyone.

- And you noticed his change in demeanour.

- You must admit when you first met you thought he was going to be an annoying prick. Like how Lapiz Lazuli was. but he wasn't. 

- He merely just ignored you and you ignored him.

- But after fighting side by side for so long you started to feel... excited, whenever the both of you would change partners just to team up. of course, you never showed it since you'd be too embarrassed to.

- Now, since he was unknown to most things and Dia and Yellow were his first partners there were many things he didn't know of. 

- And you were the one to show him true pain. 

- The pains of watching a gem being taken away.

- That was with one of your best friends, Blue Topaz. That day turned you from a humble, calm gem. Into an internally emotional train wreck. With more anger issues.

- You've witnessed many gems getting taken but Blue Topaz has got the be the most influential on you... and Bort.

- Bort was terrified for you and the others after that. Ever since he saw Blue Topaz get shattered before him, and then taken away forever he's been scared about you. Of course, he tries not to show it.

- Ever since that he's been trying his hardest to get stronger in order to protect the others.

- And then after many years Phosphophyllite came into the world.

- This upset Bort for more reasons than he can count.

- Phos is one of the lowest hardness gems and is practically useless in everything. But for some reason, Reader/Aquamarine finds that uselessness "cute"

- Thus began the hatred for the mint green gem.

- Phos on the other hand, was completely oblivious to the hateful stalker stares that Bort was giving him.

- But that didn't matter to him if others hated him. He has a super cool, humble, awesome, strong, quiet, supportive big brother after all!

- The entirety of his life, Phos has been babysat by Reader/Aquamarine... Probably because they almost look alike. The only difference is that Reader/Aquamarine is more on the blue side with a Hardness of 8 [And is taller]. While Phosphophyllite was more on the green side with a hardness of 3.5 [And is hella short].

- But that just made Phos feel that much more loved. He truly does see Reader/Aquamarine as his older brother.

- During all his hardships, Reader/Aquamarine was always there for him. Whenever he gets shattered, destroyed, or feels like he's about to give up. Reader/Aquamarine was there to get him out of dark times.

- Then there was the time Bort teamed up with Phos.

- Bort has been keeping all the anger and jealousy that has been directed to Phos and when they got to the cliffside for duty it took everything in Bort's crystallized body to not shatter Phosphophyllite right then and there.

- But Bort kept himself restrained because he knew that if he shattered Phosphophyllite then Aqua would not only scold him, but hate him.

- Bort didn't want to lose him so he made up reasons to hate Phosphophyllite.

- Then there was hibernation. Hibernation has got to be Bort's favourite time of the year. Because each time Bort gets to sleep besides Reader/Aquamarine.

- Both of them didn't mind each other's company though.

- And when they woke up Phosphophyllite has changed again. Golden arms.

- Reader/Aquamarine was especially worried since Phos's personality had changed.

- Then there was the news about Antarc.

- Reader/Aquamarine wasn't close to him but after hearing Phos's explanation He knew that Phos cared about the winter gem.

- This pissed off Bort more. And then there was chaos. While Phos got examined by Rutile, Bort kept trying to lift up Aqua's mood. Only to be pushed away and yelled at. [Reader/Aquamarine actually just got too flustered and didn't know how to respond]

- When Bort was pushed away he was jealous and angry again. So he went after Phos again. Trying to test him because of his arms.

- After that, Phos didn't interact with Reader/Aquamarine that much. [Due to Bort's sabotage >:)]

- It was alright though... time went on...

- Until...

{Your POV}

~~~~~

"Sensei! Lunarians!"

I turned around to see Benito running toward Bort and I. "Benito! What kind!" I yelled. "It's the old type but Phossy and Cairngorm are having trouble!" I went wide-eyed and gave Bort a glance. I then looked back at Bort in worry. "Let's go." Bort nodded and we ran off, but when we got there...

"That was Cairngorm!" I grit my teeth "Where's Phos!?" We got closer and closer.

But Phos wasn't there. I looked up at the Lunarians and got close to the cliff as possible. "Phos?!"

"PHOS!!"

I was very close to throwing my sword but Bort held my hand, telling me not to. I just glared at the disappearing cloud. "We're... too late. let's get back." I felt Bort's gloved hand pat my shoulder and I just snarled, feeling angry at the Lunarians.

I turned around, accidentally shoving Bort's hand off and walked away.

{Bort's POV}

~~~~~

It's been a few days since Phosphophyllite has been captured. Aqua's mental stability has been getting worse lately. I've tried my best to help him out but he would either push me away and yell or stay quiet and leave. I've been getting worried more and more. With this mindset, I know for a fact that he was going to get himself shattered.

And that honestly scared the hell out of me.

I saw him sitting beside the water so I approached behind him. "...Aqua..?" I started. He didn't speak. I was going to sit down beside him but then sighed. If I did he'd get up and leave again. So I just stood behind him. Aqua continued to stare at the water. I wanted to help him, I really did.

This was the second time he's lost someone of great importance after all. Blue Topaz... now that dolt... I just stared at Aqua's back who looked more sad now. I didn't like seeing him like that.

"*GASP* SENSEI!! SENSEI!!"

I looked up, and so did Aquamarine.

"Hemi..?" Aqua questioned. Hemimorphite stopped at us. "BORT! AQUA! A-A NEW TYPE! PHOSSY! UPSIDEDOWN BLACK SPOT!!" Aqua gasped and shot up, surprising me. "What was that second part?" "W-We saw something Phossy by the beach!" Without warning Aqua ran off. "Dame! Hemi- Go inform Sensei!" I ordered before running after Aquamarine.

He always does this to the gems he cares about most.

We made it to the beach and... Hemi was right. The Lunarians were bringing up a gem that really did look like Phos. Since I was further away, I couldn't react but Aqua did. He jumped up and unsheathed his sword, swinging it at the new Lunarian

But then he got knocked back. I growled and ran forward, catching him so that he didn't fall into the sand. "A-Aquamarine! Bort!" I heard one of the younger gems cry. The new Lunarian swung again. But both me and Aqua were able to dodge. "Waahh! Bort! We're sorry!" "Aqua! Behind it!" "It's Phossy!"

"We know!" Aqua and I yelled. Then we charged again when we saw Phos almost getting captured for the second time. I slid under the Lunarian's legs while Aqua jumped over it, using its head to jump up and was able to grab Phos by his loose, extended, golden arms. While I felt myself getting pulled by my "hair" it didn't hurt much. All of a sudden, the Lunariens disintegrated.

Sensei was here...

{Your POV}

~~~~~

I held Phos tightly as we fell into the water. I didn't care if I was starting to shatter due to the touch.

Phos Was Back!

Someone actually came back to me. "Phos?" I questioned as I helped him up in the water. "Hmmm..." Then I heard the younger gems speak, "Sensei! Phossy! It's a Phossy thing!" "Sensei look! It's Phos isn't it?!"

That's when I noticed something. "Phos... That eye." I mentioned. To my surprise, Phos looked away. I gave a hurt expression and then walked to Bort's side while Phos talked to Sensei. "Oi..." I looked at Bort, asking what. "That was really cool. But don't do stuff like that. You're worrying me." I felt myself feeling weird again and looked away. "I-I'm content! Phos is here after all! And from the moon no less.

"Sure... Let's get back to the school." I nodded. We all started to walk back, the younger gems asking Phos questions while Bort and I walked in (stupidly comfortable) silence.

Now, when we reached school I wanted nothing more than to spend my time with Phos. But Bort held me back, saying that the others will be curious and will bombard Phos with questions and that it'll be easier to ask him later. I wanted to protest against it but after remembering how the younger gems reacted. "*Sigh* Fine... I'll... talk to him later." Bort pat my back, smiling at me before walking off and I covered my face with my hands in embarrassment. "That stupid, adorable, reliable diamond relative!" I whisper-yelled.

[Timeskip ~ Night]

Finally, it's nighttime. I walked out of my room and started to roam. But he wasn't in his room. I searched a bit more but I didn't find him. I groaned in annoyance and then walked into the clinic. "Hey. Rutile." "Hello, Aquamarine. What brings you here at this time?" I leaned on the wall and sighed. "Have you seen Phos? I need to talk to 'em." I saw Rutile bite his lower lip and glare at the ground. "I believe he went back to his room." I thanked him and then ran over to Phos's room. Only to see him sleeping.

I sighed in disappointment. "I guess I'll just ask tomorrow..."

[Timeskip ~ The next day]

"Aaaaaqqqqquuuuuaaaa~~~♪"

I felt my cheek getting poked and I shot up, "Hihi~ Good afternoon big brother~" I sat there, shocked. But then flew out of my bed and hugged the gem in front of me. "*Tch* Dummy- How long have you been watching me sleep?" Phos just laughed. "I'm sorry. I actually just got here. Buuuut- It's already past noon." *Gah!* I sweatdropped and looked outside. He was right, it was past noon. I sulked at that.

"Can I sit down?" I nodded at Phos and he sat down on my bed. "So... anything you wanna ask?" I looked down. Not being able to look him in the eye. "Did you... get hurt on the moon?" I heard Phos mumble yes and I felt guilty. Not being able to get to the beach fast enough to help him. "Hey now- I remember that face. Don't do that." I felt Phos pat my back and I smiled back at his supportiveness. "Anything else you wanna ask?"

{Bort's POV}

~~~~~

"Just what happened on the moon?" I froze and didn't take another step. Just so that Phos and Aqua didn't see me. I looked around if anyone would see me but the halls were empty so I stood closer to the doorway to eavesdrop. I know I shouldn't but... "...A lot of things happened." I was shocked to hear that. Based on what the others told me, Phos didn't remember anything.

"I'm going to be honest with you since you're like my brother but you have to promise not to tell anyone." I hear Aqua hum in response. That's when everything came out. Phos PLANNED to get captured to talk to the Lunarians, Sensei was a tool created by humans, all the technology the moon had in their grasps... and the other gems.

To say I was shocked was an understatement. But what came next genuinely made me want to shatter him and made me wish that he stayed on the moon.

"Aquamarine... Come back to the moon with me and some of the others."

"...What..?"

Phos then started to go on and on about how the moon actually was. How nice the Lunarians actually were. How sensei was a bad guy. How everyone would be happier. How he and Aqua would be happier on the moon. 

I got even more pissed off. There is no way that I'm going to let this happen. I swore on my life, when I saw the look of horror on Aqua's face when Blue Topaz got taken that I would protect him. Going back on the moon would just bring more pain to Aquamarine! After what Phos has just revealed about the other gems why would Aqua say yes!? Would he say yes?!

I stood outside the room and felt myself shaking as Phos continued to gaslight Aqua into convincing him to join him and the other gems. "So... what do you say?" I heard Aqua sigh. His breath sounded shakey and there was nothing I wanted to do more than run up and comfort him. "If you're being honest I might as well be too... I want to go to a place without Bort."

I felt something inside me shatter.

"Huh? Why? Don't you... like him?"

Then that something re-pieced itself.

"That's correct. He's always so worried about me. Protective, cute, sweet, and strong, he idolized me... I don't deserve it." I just looked at the floor. "Our entire lives I've just been pushing him away. Being mean, being harsh. Just... being absolute trash. Bort deserves someone who will treat him right. And I know that I won't be fit for the job." Aquamarine... please... don't say that.

"Are... you sure? You've... what was that word? Loved? Yes. You've loved him for a long time. Are you sure you're willing to let someone else snatch him up like that?" I heard Aqua laugh. "As long as they make Bort happy then I don't care. He's done so much for me. And all I've done was push him away, yell, scream, and... *Deep sigh*"

I saw something on the floor and I felt my eyes get blurry. I blinked twice and held a hand up to them. And when I looked at my hand there it was. "Alloy..?" Not. It's not alloy. It's something else. But it was some sort of black liquid.

"I'll let you think about it. I'll see you in the morning Aqua."

I heard Phos get up from Aqua's bed and I ran off as silently as I can.

[Haha- Lol stopping here Like if ya want a pt. 2 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

[In all honesty, my train of thought derailed]

[Hope I did well ;w;]

[cocoaberrystuff]

Just read the new Houseki no Kuni chapter, what a ride! So many new developments...

(More thoughts/spoilers under cut)

Okay so first of all, at this point I don't really have any particular predictions/expectations regarding what happens next, I'm mostly here for the ride lol.

Art-wise, this chapter was lovely! I've seen people mention that the (ex-?)gems' hair looks a lot more light/fluid now that they're lunarians, and I think that's really cool!

It was very sweet seeing Cinnabar so happy about being around flowers now that their poison isn't an issue, and I like seeing them so integrated into the community, especially in comparison to how isolated they were at the beginning of the story.

From what I've seen in online discussions of this chapter, there seems to be some dissatisfaction regarding the characters' attitudes towards Phosphophyllite's situation. While I do agree that they seem rather uncaring, in my opinion it does align with what we've seen of them thus far.

I feel like it's been pretty established that gems and lunarians alike don't exactly have what would be considered "human" morals, and it kind of makes sense since they're supposed to represent separate components of humanity rather than a complete whole.

Overall, even though not all readers are happy with the current situation in the story, it does bring out the idea of change, which has been a very prominent theme in this manga. We see how change can have a variety of effects-it can improve the lives of some (like Cinnabar, who became a part of the community thanks to these changes), while some things may not be very affected by it (such as how the relationship between Diamond and Bort seems to still be less than positive) Some get swept up in the changes, like the many gems/lunarians enjoying life on the moon, while others get left behind, like Phosphophyllite.

Change is portrayed as something that isn't black-or-white, but rather it is shown that a single change can have a large range of results for different people, based on their personalities, beliefs, circumstances, etc.

I'm honestly pretty excited to see what direction the story takes next, but for now it's really interesting to see the different views on and interpretations of chapter 96!

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading!

[keroascrazy]

Had tobget this story out before I forget.

So I work in a factory that makes industrial sized AC units for like... server rooms n shit. Whatever.

It's the weekend, we're allowed to listen to music on the weekend, how generous of upper management! Anyway. I got my music playing in my own lil space and I suddenly turn to my coworker and tell her, unprompted, unsolicited

"Did you know that even though Fiamonds are ranked a 10 on the mohs hardness scale they have a very low tensile strength, so like, if you apply enough pressure to a diamond, say with a hydraulic press or something similar that instead of like...squishing or stretching the diamond will just shatter into a thousand pieces?"

My coworker, bless this woman for her patience listens quietly to me expunge this information to her and then says "huh alright. And what made you think of that all of a sudden?"

I lied initially and said, "I have no idea!" But almost immediately I turned around with "no I know why!"

And then I went on to explain that " the music I was listening to reminded me of this anime I had seen where people were made or rocks and one character was made of bort. And bort is a kind of diamond but not a pretty diamond! It's industrial. So like, diamond tipped tools and stuff that make them super strong are actually coated in this stuff called bort, not thw traditional diamond you would normally think of. And that reminded me that bort is the stronger diamond of the two, and I was surprised that I remembered the term 'tensile strength' so I had to say it out loud."

During this explanation a buddy of mine walked up, looked at my coworker, 2ho returned hrr own look while pretending to shoot her own head, which I found very funny.

But.

Yeah.

[po1svn]

PO1SVN'S MASTERLIST this list below contains all the fanfics i made for houseki no kuni ( and possibly other fandoms )

houseki no kuni —

──── 1. gems

phosphophyllite.

────

cinnabar.

────

diamond.

────

bort.

────

alexandrite.

────

yellow diamond.

────

zircon.

────

morganite (old).

────

morganite (new).

────

goshenite (old).

────

rutile.

────

red beryl.

────

benitoite.

────

euclase.

────

jade.

────

neptunite.

────

obsidian.

────

amethyst twins.

────

antarcticite.

────

padparadscha.

────

ghost quartz.

────

cairngorm.

────

watermelon tourmaline.

────

sphene.

────

hemimorphite.

────

peridot.

────

──── 2 lunarians

aechmea.

────

barbata.

────

cicada.

────

quieta.

────

kima.

────

ladra.

────

bee.

────

other characters will be added later, feel free to suggest some characters!!

[magicalprofiles]

✧*̥˚ Magical enby Diamond

"A diamond is stronger than it looks, and so am I!"

A/N: There was no specific magical girl franchise specified in the original ask so we decided to make an original AU. Also Dia canonically uses they/them, please respect that on this post.

Series information:

Series name: Shining crystal defence school

Synopsis: A group of high schoolers suddenly receive powers and the bodies of gems in order to battle the Lunarians who are trying to take over Earth.

Personal information

Human name: Aki Hajime

Crystal name: Diamond/Dia

Theme: Diamonds, white

Weapon: Bow

Affiliation: The Earth Gems, Shining Crystal Defence School

Catchphrase: “A weak diamond is no diamond at all!”

Plot:

Dia is a timid person who struggles with their confidence. When they were chosen to be a ‘Earth gem’ and made to attend the Shining Crystal Defence School, they felt weaker compared to their team mates due to the fact that they break easily.

However, thanks to their friends Bort and Phos, Dia has come to realise that it’s not them or their gem that is the issue, it’s the way that the school teaches short range combat, not giving Dia the chance to show their true strength.

[apocalypta-secundus]

I know I haven't replied in a while!

I'll fix that soon I swear!!

While I've been lurking my most active characters have face claims now! And a lot of aesthetics have been put into queue with the memes.

Mun Icons: Guilt Free Icons, Aaand 2

Lyn: Kyou Nekozaki (Young), Tae Yamata Source 2 (General) (As for Marvel Lyn, there's no fc. Check the display pic lmao. Best I can do is Baiken.) Bleach FC: Bort, Bort 2 source, I also drew some there too lol. Bleach FC 2 But it's for Lyn Okinaha: Daidouji (I made these!) Lyn's Border Artist: miidamanda

Leyre Doro: Lust FMA: B, Lust FMA Manga Leyre's Border Artist: miidamanda

Kiyoko: Junko Konno (source 2), Hibiki Morishima Kaori: Miko Yotsuya (Source: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 MAL Link) Kiyara: Komi Shouko Yukimi: Rena Minami, Hitsugi Kirigaya Dysnomia: Aluminum Siren Akina: Kiichi, Ai Narata, (source 2), I drew some! Akina's Border Artist: miidamanda Satsuma: Akiko Yosano Narvi: Kirihime Natsuno, Ai Mizuno, I drew some! Narvi's Border Artist: miidamanda Narvi Marvel: Kenzi (Lost Girl) Sources: One | Two | Three | Four |

Ayame Hirako: Yellow Diamond (Source 1, Source 2) I drew a lot of them! Himiko: Enma Ai Rei Todoroki Fuyumi Todoroki Yachiru Kusajishi Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, ME! TYBW (spoilers), Shinsources Ikkaku Madarame Shinji Hirako, @shinsources (Color and bordered icons!) Bazzard Black Shunsui Kyoraku: genso-menagerie Kiku Kohara: Younger: Urara Urakata. Overall: Shiemi Moriyama

[pinktatertots99]

a redraw of this old piece

i still shippin this disaster ship lmao, despite my crossover ship basically de-throne-ing it.

[mishanksaddict]

Yo, I just had a very sad dream.

Dreamed about Yellow Diamond going back to earth on his summer uniform, and seeing Dia and Bort shattered. He whispers the word "Brothers..." He dragged the two away with a rake (I don't know why it was a rake) from the scene, but he kept cracking as he looked at them. But Bort stared back at him while holding Dia's upper half.

The side of Yellow's face was now full of cracks as he gave Bort a sad smile and called him "Brother", but Bort doesn't reply and closes his eye.

(That was weird as shit, but made me sad tbh)

[nacrelysis]

the fear entities in houseki no kuni

because jewels, too, can learn to be human.

(everything under read more because magnus archives is magnus archives and houseki no kuni is houseki no kuni. that is, respectively, shit-scarily terrifying and horribly existential.)

alexandrite: the slaughter. gems thrive on light but they shun it, because when the moon rings across and through their powdered surface like a serpent striking true - blue turns red, gentle turns harsh, and chrysoberyl is dragged behind a chant of kill, kill, kill. friend and ally and enemy lose their meaning. in the sea of red, anything and everything bleeds light.

antarcticite: the lonely. they slumber when their siblings wander the footsteps of spring, the eddying laziness of summer, awakening only to an empty room. the cold permits their existence, but they only live when their family is asleep. is that living? their sensei provides his comfort, yet it makes them all the more lonely when they crave more than the touch of machine hands. is it cruel that the winter when they learn to care for wide, turquoise eyes and the flash of mint-green hair is the winter that kills them? is it cruel, then, that loneliness is what permitted their survival, and connection is what killed them.

yellow diamond: the spiral. their waking hours are plagued with regret. every gleam of sun-sparkling light across their gold hair, their candlelight lashes, is a reminder of a friend they could not save - that so many gave their lives so that this diamond may live, and for the world's want of cruelty, they continue to love and lose in this spiral of memory. on the moon, the spiral revels in yellow diamond's disorientation, the uproot from earth, their distance from bort. yellow diamond walks among lunarians but they are powdered marigold facets and not soft, soul-silky corporeality but they wear aechmea's attire but they fight with what sensei taught them but and but and but- and none of it matters because the moment yellow diamond sees the ashes of their loves scattered to fine graves is the moment they look past the mirror that doesn't have their reflection. they are a lunarian. it's fine. it's fine. if they believe enough, they are. yellow diamond-yellow. yellow is a lunarian. if they believe and pray and pray and pray, they are made of moon-dusted regrets and wine-soaked memories instead of loss and loss and loss.

rutile: the eye. they alone have the sharpness to perform the finest of operations; born among the first, rutile has put together their comrades and set to rest their fractures limbs for thousands and thousands of years - but, but, but, they are haunted always by red-lined smirks, crimson hair, butterfly-lashed rosy eyes that open less and less for less and less. there is a hole in rutile and it is this never-ending question of how to do it better, how to make them wake up, how to fix them because why can they put together a three-point-five with fossilized agate but they cannot help their long-time friend? but someday rutile will understand. someday they will have that divine revelation. someday they will have the knowledge to- to what? because phosphophyllite-lapis-lunarian (traitor) spirits away padparascha to the moon and padparascha comes back whole and fixed and rutile has never, ever been smart enough or known enough to do what their enemy has done in a matter of days.

"it's a gift." no. no it's not. rutile wants to scream because they know that padparascha knows what they are doing. this is not a gift, it is a testament forever to their failure to their shortcomings to everything they could not do at the end of the world.

"use it as reference." rutile won't. that large, hungry part of them screams to take this and make it theirs, learn it better, do it better than those moon-people ever could but-but-but-it is their failure. their loss. they have never been able to do better.

and then the abstract bleeding creature that calls itself phos looks in rutile's direction, padparascha's body sprawled across their frozen legs, and then rutile can never do anything again.

bort: the hunt. they are gem, they are diamond hard-fired to withstand the strongest of lunarian blades but they think they understand what it means for blood to pump adrenaline when the spark appears over the horizon and it's time to run-leap-kill. they chase those blank-eyed creatures across the sky, over the school, distantly they know dia can't keep up but the hunt calls. the hunt calls. bort answers. dia falls behind. they hunt alone, then, until three-point-five returns with better legs and better arms and finally bort has an equal and they can both chase those gods-forsaken ships past the horizon and into the night. then they're hunting phos, hair buzzed short and their new whip crackling with what they've lost as they shatter their partner/comrade/enemy into shards beyond the ends of the earth. then they're hunting answers, answers for sensei, solutions for euclase, and maybe there's something beyond chasing. maybe bort can learn to stay still. sit down, raise the jellyfish, watch their tentacles undulate and glow like a thousand brilliant strands of lunar hair.

and then phos comes back, for the last time, and bort realizes that the hunt never left. because phos has hunted for acceptance all this time, and this warped husk now hunts sensei and hunts them and hunts every gem that still walks this earth. and dia, dia, dia - bort's sibling, oh, they should have cherished them more. because dia settles on the ground with that sweet-acrid smile and bort realizes that the hunt never left - even crueller, the hunt took dia. and dia's prey is bort, like all those old stories lost before yellow diamond opened their eyes about siblings turning on siblings and elder slaying younger and now, at the end of the world again, it repeats.

the chase ends when dia's sword slices bort and bort's whip cuts through dia. prey dead, predator dead, they collapse to the grass. and if they had the consciousness to register their thoughts, they would have been devastated to realize that they have been the prey this whole time.

lapis lazuli: the web. euclase remembers them as strategic, and lazuli thinks five steps ahead even after their head is tossed to ghost quartz to cherish in trembling hands. after all, it is their head; they have lost their body but not their mind. their structure adapts because they knew that someday, there will be a gem receptive to their fracture-lines and shining blue. they make a burrow in the dusted pages of the library they once breathed, then when cairngorm chooses phos (oh, how lazuli anticipates this divergence from ghost quartz, how this new actress shall play the stage) they make a nest in the broken pits of phos' memories. phos wakes and then lazuli is phos, and they push phos to find answers beyond sensei, beyond earth, and then phos is no longer phos and lazuli themself has trouble grasping what they are. what they are hunting. have they thought too far? reached too much? knowledge is so very worth the pain and loss and treachery, though, isn't it. lazuli does not let themself think of ghosting bangs and soft, downturned doe eyes. lazuli does not let themself think of dark quartz and smoky glances and the independence that radiates from aechmea's princess. lazuli is only upset that their game has come to an end when phos breaks sensei (breaks the king, breaks the chessboard). yes. that's just it. only upset that the game is over.

oh yes, lapis lazuli always thinks five steps ahead, and they always leave their loved ones ten steps behind.

phosphophyllite: the flesh. constantly, i think to myself that i would like to be reborn. uselessness dogs their steps, naivety shelters their head and all the while they crave to be anything that isn't nothing, that isn't shadow, that isn't "three-point-five" or "bothersome." ventricoscus comes of the flesh, royal of the drowned-humans. through her treachery phosphophyllite loses their legs. through her guilt, phosphophyllite gains them back stronger, faster, better. the ice urges them to let their arms fall to the floes; phos grows them back with heavy gold that still isn't enough to save antarcticite's shards from the moon. deep down they still wish to be reborn to start everything over - so they say, "take my legs," "take my arms," "take my head." they journey to the moon and tell aechmea, "take my eye." everything is for the greater good, and anything is done to fulfill that selfish little wish of stronger, faster, better. phosphophyllite is less three-point-five than they are an amalgamation of lunarian tech and scattered shards - lunarians see a gem and gems see a lunarian, which are they? does it matter? have they not achieved their highest form? somewhere along the line, phos' desire for rebirth has been consumed by human vengeance.

(phos is human. or, phos will turn human, and over the thousands of years abandoned on the shores of humanity, lonely feeds until gem becomes flesh.)

[isoddtosay]

i know this is going to be a controversial post but i hate how many hnk fans still see phos as the good guy

dont get me wrong, i still love phos as a character, but at some point ...you really have to step back and look at what they’ve done from an unbiased lens

the image i used below is just a minor example in comparison but really... they went from being one of diamonds closest friends, to using their toxic relationship with bort as a way to manipulate them.

i’ve seen some people use the excuse of “oh, the moon gems never even tried to get phos back so they deserved all of that!” which... okay, the moon gems never tried to retrieve phos after the earth gems specifically made it impossible for them to retrieve phos... and instead of drowning in grief for 220 years, they decided to move on in a healthy way. how dare they ❗❗

even on an island as small as the one in houseki, finding multiple tiny, tiny small boxes buried deep underground is not an easy task. and keep in mind, if they did try to retrieve some pieces of phos, the earth gems could’ve threatened to throw the rest into the ocean. aechma is a strategist--phos is important to him, but he knows not to give his enemy a bargaining chip as great as that.

anyway--and while there is no real concept of ‘death’ for the gems, phos makes it very clear that they want to extinguish all gems. sure, maybe they changed their mind after the battle was won, but they went into it with the intention of turning them all to dust. even the ones who had no involvement in this conflict. arguably, even antarc.

i still think phos is a very interesting and deep character, and i dont think the moon gems or the earth gems are necessarily all that innocent either. the thing about houseki is that it challenges your perspective so much that you cant help but question who you root for at every turn, and i think that just makes it so so fascinating to read.

if anybody disagrees hit me up, i love talking about houseki no kuni, but i feel like some fans are so loyal to phos that they don't see what the author wants them to...

i mean really chief . i do not get how this is the hero of the story.

[justsomeectoplasm]

MmmM I just suddenly got an idea. Uh. Jeweler skid? There aint a lot of jewel or metal based cosmetics, but 👀

Where do they get the metals for it…?

And the precious stones as well, if there is such in your interpretation of the regular vanilla lore-

hMMMMMMMM

Traveling jeweler. They repair the seasonal pass necklaces and other jewelry. They go into the old mines of the hidden forest to collect what's left of the precious minerals.

"Well I be damned, you found an opal! They're very rare and they look gorgeous on the enchantment capes."

○

"Alright who's the jerk who sold me a dark diamond and claimed it was a bort diamond? I am not impressed. It's not even high quality!

○

"You want me to repair your seasonal necklace? Sure! Just let-"

*Sees that it's rusty from the sea air and a few rare gems have fallen off*

"....Wonderful."

○

*In the mine at wasteland, picking a few rocks to see if it's geodes or precious stones*

Apprentice: I don't think we should be here for long. What if there's an underground krill or something!

Jeweler: You mean that rumour that a krill pops up from the ground in graveyard? That's just a rumour! It's made up to scare moths. Don't worry about it. Beside, krill aren't that smart to even do sneak attacks. They're as dumb as-

*The entire cave turns red*

Apprentice: AAAAAAAAAAA

Jeweler: Well I'll be damned. I guess they are smart. *Gets krilled*

○

Jeweler: Sorry, but emeralds are so rare that I can't sell them under 100 candles

Moth: 20. Take it or leave it.

Jeweler: No-

○

Jeweler: How....did you shatter a diamond!?

Veteran: Eden-

Jeweler: HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YA'LL TO STOP BRINGING PRECIOUS COSMETICS TO EDEN!? DRESS UP AS A MOTH FOR MEGAN'S SAKE!

○

Traveler: I heard a legend about a creature called a 'dragon'. No, not the dark dragons in wasteland. I heard that there's a giant lizard that breathes fire and flies over the horizon that lives in a cave high up in this mountain. It is said that they fill their entire cave up with gems and gold. When I told this story to a skykid, they immediately went on a journey to find this being. I wonder what kind pf selfish desire and greed this child has?

Jeweler climbing up the mountain where the supposed dragon lives: High ho~ High ho~

[king-paimon]

HnK Chapter 95 Thoughts: The cruelest chapter of all times

AKA: The chapter everyone hated

AKA: No happy ending in sight

AKA: Haruko Ichikawa is a monster

AKA: I called it again (and I wish I was wrong)

AKA: Talk about kicking someone while they’re down

Ms. Haruko Ichikawa. You’ve truly done it. You truly are a cruel, sadistic, trolling monster. You leave us with this chapter? This chapter that truly shows us that despite every hardship they faced, Phos gets nothing. This chapter shows that Phos was destined to be in constant misery, and to rub that in with literally everyone else is free and happy? And to add more salt to the wound, you’re leaving us on an hiatus for who knows how long??

This is without a doubt the cruelest chapter to leave us on and this is probably one of the cruelest things a mangaka can ever do for a series as intense as this. I wish the previous chapter was the last one for the end of this year because at least with that one, it would have given us some sense of something.

Man. I’m both horrified and amazed by you, Ms. Ichikawa. I’m not even being sarcastic, I’m truly in awe.

Ugh.

As you can see, I have several things I have to say about this and... Just wow. This chapter. In these posts, I try my best to try and write my thoughts with the most rational mindset but... I don’t know how well I’ll be able to do that with this chapter. What a way to end this horrible year. 

But with this chapter’s ending and the implication for what is yet to come... this marks as the story’s descend to it’s bitter end, and I now wish I didn’t make that prediction last month.

I know I said in another post that I was going to write this in a few days, but I changed my mind. I’m getting this out now while my thoughts are still fresh in my mind. Please don’t mind the writing errors, I’m very tired, I’m writing this at 3 in the morning and I need to sleep. I promise I will come back to this and tidy it up later.

Anyways, here we go:

Haruko Ichikawa: Manipulator of emotions

Ms. Ichikawa really toyed with us with this chapter. So many things happened in such a short amount of time and I’m trying to process it. Also, doesn’t feel like too much happened in this chapter? Especially in comparison to the previous chapters, where everything was stretched out, to then have this chapter have so many things happen all at once. This chapter, in many ways, feels very rushed... and this style of story telling has me very worried about what’ll happen from here on out. I’ll talk more about what I mean by this later, but for now, let’s focus on the story of this chapter:

So... Antarctictite is back now. Adamant is back, too. So are most of destroyed gems, both the ones we knew and the ones we never got meet. And they are all now Lunarians... Hm.

I don’t like this or anything in this chapter for many reasons. In fact, I’ll go as far to say that I don’t like where the whole story is headed for these same reasons: 

The first reason: The emotional turmoil from the previous chapters

For the past 10 or so chapters, I’d been anticipating the destruction of the gems and Adamant. I was one of the people who didn’t like the idea of it happening, though I knew they kind of deserve it. And I remember how sad I was seeing Adamant turn to nothing but dust and seeing how everything was affecting Phos after the bloodlust ceased.

But it all led up to...this. In the very next chapter, after watching those heart wrenching scenes of the gems being broken down and Adamant’s last moments with Phos...we see him and the other gems being brought back like it was nothing.  And on top of that, they are totally happy Lunarians now. Yeah. Okay.

So it feels like the emotional tole that I felt for these characters I didn’t want to see get destroyed...meant nothing. Not going to lie: I kind of wish you all stayed destroyed.

And you know what? It’s kind of funny. In my Chapter 94 post, I said I was sad that we didn’t get to see Adamant and Aechmea interact and I didn’t think there would be a way now that Adamant is dust. Well. I was wrong. It happened. I got the interaction that wanted. Wasn’t worth it. 

So to sum up this first reason: The emotional turmoil that I personally experienced watching the characters I like get destroyed... meant nothing in the end.

Now I don’t know how to feel about these characters. It sucks. I even had a post that I was starting write about on a certain controversial character that I couldn’t bring myself to hate, despite everything, but I’m now debating whether or not I should still write it. I think I will, but there will be a lot of edits.

The second reason: Negation of personal growth

One of the things that has been brought up many times by fans is about how the gems dealt with problems. Instead of trying to address the problem and talk to try to fix it, they chose to ignore it and sweep it under the rug, no matter how upsetting it is to the characters involved. All of the gems, both Earth and Moon, constantly choose to not confront the issue and stay blissfully ignorant.

And now that they’re accepting to be Lunarians, it feels like they’re just running away again. Instead of confronting the Lunarians or having the gems properly talking with each other about how things got to the point where they had to once fight each other, they are like: Oh, we can be Lunarians so we don’t have to fight with them anymore? Awesome. Let’s do it.

Everyone is once again going with the flow, just sweeping the glaring issues that they all carried for so long, and are just accepting the new reality that they are in with no problems whatsoever. No addressing of anything means no character growth for all of them. No one grew from this experience. No one learned that ignoring the problems doesn’t solve them. They aren’t solving their previous issues, they are masking it under the belief that becoming Lunarian automatically solves all of their problems. 

No talking between Diamond or Bort. No talking with Yellow about their traumas or any of the other gems in the same boat. And no talking about how everything that happened lead to Phos doing what they did. It’s even more disappointing how Antarcticite was the only one who showed any concern about Phos or even thought to bring them up in the first place.

Edit: Also to add, the other problem here is how the are conscious choosing to remove your identity. They are not only choosing to loose their identity as gems, but they are fine loosing their memories as well. Not to mention how Cairngorm is once again being given a new identity to go by, from Aechmea, and is totally fine with it. That scene was small but once again, the fact that they are fine pretty much erasing what made them who they are is...unnerving. 

So pretty much to sum up this: Once again, everything meant nothing in the end. 

Speaking of Phos...

The third reason: Phos’s miserable fate

Phos, once again, got the short end of the stick. After everything that they’ve done, from trying to save everyone but themselves, to doing what was once seen as cruel for the sake of everyone to finally do something for themselves to go back to wanting to save the others after the bloodlust was gone... to get this ending for themselves.

But wow, what a cruel twist: Phos’s old goal was fulfilled. Thanks to them, the gems don’t have to live in fear of being destroyed or taken or anything. Thanks to Phos, everyone is free. Everyone now is going to be happy for the rest of their existance...at the cost of Phos’s expense.  

Phos lost everything. 

Their body. 

Their sanity. 

Their identity. 

Everything.

What do they get in return?

10,000 years of nothing but their own miserable existence and dark, depressing thoughts.

In the end, everything that Phos experienced not only sent them crashing down to rock bottom: it sent him to the chore of the earth, back out the other side, then back into the earth, in an endless cycle of just constant misery. 

That’s a theme in buddhism, if that’s what I’m recalling right from @rinboz​‘s posts: a cycle of continuous misery. That is clearly embodied here through Phos and Phos will continue to suffer the pain of existing while everyone else got what they wanted in the end, especially Aechmea. 

Speaking of which, I also genuinely want to know if there’s still fans out there who view Aechmea as a good guy for ‘liberating’ Phos, because as far as I see, thanks to him, Phos is now stuck in an even more miserable form of existence. At least before everything, everyone was miserable together with Phos. Sort of. Still better than what we got with this chapter, in my opinion. (Please do share your thoughts, if you do. I promise, this is not an attack. I’m just interested to hear your thoughts, if you’re willing to share)

But now, there’s no there for Phos. And unlike those other instances where Phos was in a situation and someone somewhat saves them like Adamant and Padparadscha once did before, there’s no one there. So unless there’s some Admirabilis hiding around there or if the Gem/lunarians decide to come to them, which I doubt will happen, there’s no one for Phos. No one is coming to help/save them.

Phos will have to suffer all alone. For 10,000 years. Phos is the last existing gem being now...even though technically, they aren’t really a gem anymore. 

Once again, to sum up why I don’t like this chapter nor how the story has progressed: Phos’s suffering meant nothing to them in the end. That’s the other theme I’m trying to hammer in in this post: Everything meant nothing in the end.

I’ve already seen a few fans react to the chapter and I saw one state that if the Lunarians, including the gems, were to come to Phos to pray for them, the poster hopes Phos tells them to “F* off” And you know what, I hope so too. But this revelation has me fearing for what’s going to happen the series, or more specifically, how and when it’ll officially end.

No true happy ending in sight and not exactly for the reasons you think

As always, it’s hard to predict how Ms. Ichikawa is going to end this series. Us fans made many predictions and a good number of them came true, but it’s the ending that eludes us. Some hope for a happy ending for Phos, while many, including myself, predict that it’ll be anything but happy. And now, with this chapter...I think it’s set in stone now.

Last month, in response to someone asking me how I think the series might end, I made a few small predictions. Some for a good ending, a bittersweet ending, and a bad ending.... 

...and it looks like that first sad ending is where the series is heading after all:

Everyone is gone/moved on and Phos stays behind as a lonely, immortal being.

Even though this small prediction was correct, how it’s all playing out was not exactly how I’d envisioned. It’s worse. And what’s making me even more worried is that based off of where the story is headed, my gut feelings are saying that the series ending is near. And it won’t be to anyone’s satisfaction.

Whenever I get invested in a series, other than worrying about how the creators will handle their characters and story, one of my biggest worries is about how the creators handle their ending. I’m truly afraid about what Ms. Ichikawa is planning for this series because I can’t help but fear it’s not going to end well. It’s not the worry that the series will have a sad/bittersweet ending, even though that concern is still there though I’ve accepted the likelihood, but rather I’m worried that the next chapter or so will be the abrupt end to this series. This concern is because of how rushed this chapter felt and I can’t help but worry that Ms. Ichikawa is now rushing to the end of the story. And to be honest, the addition fact that Ms. Ichikawa is going on hiatus is not helping these uneasy feelings. 

I hate being the pessimistic one but what if this happens? What if Ms. Ichikawa decides to end the series here or in the next chapter? What if the next chapter is literally another time skip, with all of the characters that I once cared about just NOT progressing, and Phos continuously being stuck in this immortal and we’re expected to accept this as the ending. Because other than Phos, everyone’s story, from what it looks like, is at their end now. I really hope that doesn’t happen. I’ve seen great series end so terribly too often and I’ve loved this story for so long that I hope that doesn’t happen with this series too. I love this series a lot and it’s characters, even the ones who I don’t think I like as much as I did after this chapter. I hope the series will end nicely... but I don’t think it will.

Back to predictions on how the story will progress: I made a post a few days ago about how I hope the forgotten plot elements will come into play and the fact that Aechmea isn’t omnipresent. More than ever, part of me hopes those elements will come back and have a positive impact for Phos’s story, especially the omnipresent part. But again, I don’t think I’ll hope too much for it because looking at Ms. Ichikawa’s past works... I don’t think they will, at least not in the way I’m hoping for.

Maybe I’m too used to Western (American/European) stories, where the protagonist somehow beats the odds and wins in the end. This isn’t always the case for Eastern stories, especially stories from Japan. They usually end bittersweet and I don’t think Houseki no Kuni will be the exception. I know I’ve said this saying many times before and with each passing chapter, these words become more and more true:

Phos’s suffering is never going to end. 

And unless someone does something to change the course of the story, which I don’t think will ever happen now, Phos is never going to have a happy ending. 

If I could wish for anything, it’d be that this story ends on a satisfying note. I know, I know. It’s foolish to still hope for that it’ll happen, given everything I’ve seen from Ms. Ichikawa before...But still. I don’t want to lose all of the hope that I have left for this series. Even though that hope is nearly diminished, it’s still there.

So please, Ms. Ichikawa. Please give us a satisfying ending for Phos. Please let them go.  If anyone deserves a dignifying conclusion to their story, it’s them.  Let them rest. End their suffering. Please give them the ending they deserve after everything they went through.

You’ll likely won’t though.  

Because this is Phos.

And to be Phos is to constantly suffer.

Well, regardless, I truly hope you’re hiatus goes well, Ms. Ichikawa. Even though you are a cruel troll, your work is still amazing and I applaud you for your story telling and your love to mess with us. I hope you enjoy your time away and when you return, I hope that you’ll continue to give us amazing content and eventually give Phos the ending they deserve. Please. That’s all I want.

I hope you all a nice holiday season, too, or at least try to.

Happy Holidays. 

Can’t wait for 2020 to end.

[alice-angel12x]

Leech Twins X Gem! Reader

It was another slow and cold winter in the Coral sea, as the icebergs slowly blocked out the sunlight from the surface. Yet lately many Icebergs have been falling apart lately, they would suddenly collapse and reveal the sun's rays from above.  Azul and the twins would wonder why that's been happening lately. Out of the many years, they lived there this was not a normal occurrence during the winter season.

"I don't mind it, finally we get some sunlight down here in the winter," (child)Floyd sighed.

"It fine I guess, but I don't like the banging noises it makes when they start falling apart. Plus it makes it dangerous to swim near the surface when that happens,"(child) Azul groaned.

Suddenly the iceberg above started to screech and whine as two large icebergs scrapped against each other. The three covered their ears as the sound became unbearable when suddenly that was a loud bang above the surface. Large chunks of ice fell into the water as it revealed an opening to the surface, letting in the sunlight from above.

"Ahh, warm sunlight,"(Child) Floyd smiled.

"What is that?" (Child)Jade asked as he pointed to a sinking figure.

"Probably just some unfortunate human, but I don't think humans are supposed to sink that fast. Jade, Floyd catch them," (Child)Azul said simply.

Jade and Floyd shrugged and same to catch the figure, which was surprisingly heavier than they expected. The twins managed to softly land the figure on the soft sand, and when they stepped to examine the figure they gasped at the sight. The figure had a lovely face, but what was off was the large cracks that ran down her face, and her hair didn't look like anything they've seen. It gave off a beautiful shimmer of Aquamarine.

"Nee, Jade this person is so shiny,"(Child) Floyd smiled as he hugged the figure, " But not so squishy, they're solid as a rock,"

"Careful, you might shatter them,"(child) Jade said with a smile.

"Jade, Floyd what is it?" (Child)Azul asked as he swam as quickly as he could.

He looked over the figure and gasped at the large cracks on her face. Thankfully Azul was able to fix it with coral sap, making the figure look good as new. Suddenly it began to stir as its eyes slowly fluttered open. Revealing beautiful ocean blue eyes she stared blankly at the three faces.

"W-who are you?" The girl asked nervesly, " Where am I?"

The poor girl had lost her memory, and couldn't recall who or what she is or even where she even came from. So Azul simply gave the girl a name, Y/n, but Floyd would nickname Y/n as Aqua or Aquamarine at times. 

Y/n was a freak of nature to the twins, she wasn't soft and completely made out of precious stones, from her hair down to her feet. She didn't require food to keep her going, or even air for that matter. She just required sunlight or light from glowing jellyfish.

"Nee, Aqua-chan try this, it's Takoyaki. It's delicious,"(Child) Floyd smiled as he shoved food in Y/n's face.

"O-oh, no thank you, Floyd," Y/n smiled as she feeds it back to Floyd. He happily chomped down with a smile.

"You never eat, are you sure are okay?" (Child) Jade asked.

"As long as I have light, I should be fine," Y/n smiled as she patted Jade's head.

Floyd and Jade smiled as they hugged her arms. Y/n was nothing Like Floyd or Jade had seen before, so they like to drag her around everywhere they went. As they glided through the water Y/n quickly followed behind as she ran across the sandy ocean floor. 

"I don't see why I'm needed to go to school with you," Y/n said as the twins pulled on her arms.

"Cause school is so boring, We want you to be by outside," Floyd said as he pulled at Y/n.

"Plus it will be interesting to see how our classmates react," Jade laughed.

The powder that covered Y/n's arms, legs, and face soon washed off revealing her gem surface underneath, but as time went on Floyde and Jade grew. Once small children that were half of Y/n size grew to be taller or longer than her. The twins and Azul grew to be handsome young men, but Y/n seemed to be forever frozen in time and remained the same. 

-----------

As Time went on as the twins and Azul started to prepare for the expected arrival of the black carriage. Y/n's mind began to wonder, as she began to wander near the town edge of the Coral Sea, but the Twins don't let her wander too far from them.

"Nene, Aqua-chan what are you doing all the way out here?" Floyd asked as he hugged her from behind.

"Yes, home is the other way. You wander off again," Jade smiled.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but shouldn't you two be making your way back to shore soon?" Y/n asked the twin.

"Huh? You're not going to see us off?" Jade asked with a pained expression.

"You want me to come to see you off?" Y/n asked.

"Of course, you have to be there," Floyd said as he nuzzled Y/n's neck.

Jade picked Y/n up bridle style as they swam to a nearby shore, where Azul was waiting for them. Y/n staring up at the blue sky with wide eyes, this was the first time she saw the sky and sun in 9 years. She slowly wiggled out of Jade's grasps and took her first steps on land in what felt like forever. The microscopic organisms inside her gem body started to make more energy than it has before, she had never felt more awake in so long.

"Nee, Aqua-chan slow down," Floyd whined as Y/n turned to see Floyd and jade slowly crawling up the beach.

As they tried to stand on their new legs, Y/n chuckled and quickly tried to help the two stand. Yet the three once merpeople simply clung to the gem girl for support. So for the first few days, was full of Y/n helping them walk on their own, and watching them fall over many times, but they soon got the hang of things. 

-----------

The time arrived when the carriage arrived, and Y/n though this was where they would part ways. Nope, Jade and Floyd managed to drag her into the carriage with them and bring her to the school, claiming she was the twins Familiar. Surprisingly the headmaster was okay with this, seeing that there was a couple of other students who had similar "Familiars". As the twins and Azul sat with the other students Y/n looked around the room to see other people like her. Near the Scarabia dorm students stood a girl with diamond hair, by a red-headed Heartslabyul student stood a girl with ruby hair, a Pomefiore man had a girl with Ametrine hair standing next to him, a girl with obsidian hair was holding a tablet that the Ignihyde dorm leader spoke through. Savanaclaw had a girl with long hair made of bort. Heck, the Headmaster seemed to have an assistant with Rutile hair.

Y/n simply stared in awe at the many varieties of gem people in the room. When the ceremony finished everyone funneled out of the room, as Y/n walked she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see it was the diamond girl from the other dorm. The two chatted away when they had to part ways into the dorm. The Octavinelle Dorm reminded Y/n a lot of the Coral Sea, and the sense of sleepiness came over her at the sudden lack of bright sunlight.

"Nee, Aqua-chan who was that other girl you were talking to?" Floyd asked as he hugged Y/n from behind.

"That was Dia, and she told me that rutile plans to put us to work and we will be helping around the school," Y/n explained.

"So you won't be staying by our side then?" Jade frowned slightly.

"Awww, that sucks, I was hoping to have Aqua-chan by our side the entire time," Floyd whined as he rested his chin on her shoulder.

_______

So while Azul and the twins studied in the classrooms, Rutile leads the gems outside to help around the school. From wiping down the windows to mowing the grass in the fields. One day during P.E while the 2nd and 1st-year students ran laps the Gem girls were on the side slicing grass with some obsidian blad and while Vargus had to step out of a few minutes. As the students rested, Y/n noticed something odd in the sky.

"Riddle, what is that?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know, Ruby," Riddle said as the rest of the students stopped to look as well.

As everyone watched in awe as the sounds of instruments could be heard. The black cover vanished revealing something odd.

"It's so pretty," Obsidian awed.

"I don't know, something is off about it," Idia whispered.

"What even is that?" Vil wondered.

Y/n stared up in wonder when memories flashed in her mind as fear started t wash over her. The figures in the sky drew their bows and readied their spears and tossed them down on the gem humans below. A spear sliced through Ruby's neck like butter, time slowed as everyone watched Ruby's head and body fall to the ground. Everyone screamed in panic as more arrows and spears rained from the sky.

"We don't have our pens!" Leona growled.

"Everyone back to the school !" Jamil shouted as everyone tried to run.

But when they tried to run spears and arrows cut them off. Y/n turned back to see Riddle trying to carry Ruby's body with him.

"Riddle!" Trey gasped as he hurried Riddle and let ruby's pieces behind.

Y/n looked down at her blade and back up at the attackers in the sky, suddenly her body acted on its own as she ran towards the cloud.

"Y/N!" Jade and Foyd gasped.

"What is she doing?!" Azul gasped.

As Arrows and spears rain down she deflected them with a swing of her sword and tossed some of them back at the enemy. suddenly weird golden lines that ended with hooks and gem spheres. They quickly extended down and wrapped around a fellow gem Ametrine, and quickly dragged her closer to the cloud.

"Ametrine!" Vil cried out.

Ametrine dug her heels into the ground to stop herself, the moment she struggled and pulled. The pins in the gem spheres were pulled out and exploded. When the smoke cleared, Ametrine was blown to pieces. Everyone watched in horror as a few figures from the cloud climbed down to collect the shattered gem pieces. Dia quickly acted and sliced through the enemy. Bort and Y/n jumped up to the vessel and began to slice away at the enemy, who poof away once defeated. 

Y/n ran to the tall enter figure and sliced it in half with ease, but more grenade hooks shot out from the bottom half of the figure. Before they could wrap around Bort, Y/n quickly pushed them out of the way and grabbed at the rope. She hopped down from the vessel and pulled at the rope above the pinned hooks. Dia quickly helped Y/n pull as they ripped the center figure off the vessel, causing the who thing to poof out of the air, but not before a pin was pulled causing the grenades to explode.

"Aqua-Chan!" Floyd called out.

Vargus and Rutile ran out to see the shaken students and shattered and Damaged gem figures.

-----------

"Y/n, Y/n please open your eyes," Said a familiar voice.

"Aqua-chan," Said another voice.

Y/n's eye's opened slowly as her vision slowly came to her. Staring down at her were a pair of 2 mismatched eyes staring down at her.

"Floyd...Jade?" Y/n groaned as she slowly sat up.

But was tackled back down in a bear hug from the twins.

"Your back!" Floyd smiled.

"What happened to.. outside?" Y/n asked.

"Rutile came and put you and everyone back together, while Vargus took the human students back to the school. You were asleep for a week. You managed to defeat the strange enemy from the sky," Jade explained.

"What were you thinking, running towards danger like that. That was stupid Aqua-chan," Floyd pouted.

"As long as I can be put back together, I cannot die-,"

"They wanted to take you away from us," Jade said as he pulled Y/n close to him.

"They were going to steal you from us. Your our treasure, no one else's," Floyd said as the twins sandwiched the girl in a hug.