Adrian felt deeply uncomfortable under the silent "stares" of the plant-like parodies of Nora, which seemed to be lurking outside his window. They were exact replicas of Nora, but with a mottled green color; their hair seemed to be made of—roots? How the hell do roots look "fluffy"?
For the love of truly sacred things, he had barely gotten used to the unsettling valley feeling that the gems gave him. Their bodies were eerily symmetrical, and their movements—muscleless—were unnaturally fluid for humanoid beings. And now this. At least that feeling was too subdued, confined to the logical part of his mind for him to consider it fear, more like an annoyance. He truly envied the ability of humans in this world to not feel the unsettling valley at this precise moment.
The "watermelon Noras," as he called them in his mind, watched him impassively, their faces permanently carved into expressions of concern and emptiness. The look of worry on Nora herself reflected in those faces only worsened the feeling.
Time seemed to pass slower than it should, and the watermelons did not move. One of them, the tallest, so to speak, gestured for him to come outside. For what purpose? He did not know. Nevertheless, he couldn't help but think that, given the strange circumstances, going out wouldn't be a bad idea. What harm could these creatures cause him? Hurt him? Please, anything short of blowing his head off at this point could be considered trivial.
Besides that, he really didn't feel that they had any ill intentions toward him.
But setting those thoughts aside, it never hurts to be cautious since the timeline of this universe was already screwed up with or without him—that was the conclusion he had drawn from living in this world for almost three months: from gems that were stronger than they should be, the fact that Pink Diamond could look at him when he used magic in that cannon (if he hadn't forgotten that, he just didn't know how to address it so he ignored it), to the fact that he, like that non-canon chapter hourglass, existed here and that time had been broken by that; the possible "divinity" Nora seemed to have along with the other diamonds—if his conclusions were correct. It wouldn't surprise him much if the cluster woke up early, or if Peridot's visit was soon, or if those episodes where things were solved by pure luck didn't get solved this time.
He just sighed. He really didn't have the motivation to make a Batman-like move right now and pull out a highly intricate plan from his ass.
He set aside his somewhat twisted thoughts and met the gaze of the main watermelon Nora; a nod came from deep within him. The air energized with the supernatural energy he usually used. The eldritch energy spread, brushing against the almost human and robotic but undeniably alive minds of the green copies of Nora.
The watermelon Noras tensed briefly when they felt an invisible weight hovering over their consciousnesses. They felt watched from every possible and impossible angle. A contradictory voice reached them, conveying more meaning than human words could transmit—soft and inconsistent like flowing water, but inflexible like a cosmic echo resonating from all directions. For a mortal, it would have been disturbingly melodic and impossible.
Yet its message was as clear as water and as incomprehensible as its reflection: No Fear. Stillness. Calm. Guide. Explain. Purpose.
As soon as the underlying meaning was understood, the pressure the Nora parodies felt began to ease, but they still felt the impossible stares. The air still vibrated slightly, and the being before them showed a barely perceptible mocking smile, as if the expressions behind their unchanging faces amused him.
…
Nora didn't know what the hell was happening right now. The day started like it had been lately—worried about Adrian and how to help him. But today she told herself that just staying with those thoughts wouldn't help, so she gathered courage and was about to grab her phone to… try to see Adrian. Well, that was the plan, but plans never go as expected.
Upon leaving her house, what she saw was herself? Many versions of herself in mottled green like wooden statues. The color made her think of watermelon rinds, but apart from that, their faces seemed carved in expressions of concern, their still faces like masks. Were they disturbing her? No, the word bothering would be a more accurate statement.
The parodies of herself just stayed there for a moment. And Nora didn't know how she was going to deal with them, so for now, Adrian's problem would have to wait.
She sighed because this situation was really unexpected but very annoying.
Nora tried—and she emphasizes tried—to get out of the epicenter of the twisted versions of herself, but they kept moving constantly, always leaving her in the center. But they didn't stop her from moving in any direction. For a moment, she considered trying to talk to them, but she really doubted they could understand anything given their lack of speech throughout this interaction told her none could respond.
...
The hours passed and Nora was getting bored of this. The rest of the crystal gems had already come to the house a couple of times. At first, they tried to attack the watermelons, but these outnumbered all of them by far. Nora really thought the situation was going downhill when that happened, but strangely, the watermelons stopped attacking just as she was about to stop the possible fight with a larger version of her shield, almost as if they knew what she wanted.
That was incredibly convenient, but still, for some reason she really couldn't give them real orders—something she guessed but didn't know. Pearl and Garnet were arguing about how to solve the watermelon problem, since destroying them didn't feel right for multiple reasons, especially not when they had Nora's face detailed so precisely. Pearl suggested they should leave them at the old temple that belonged to her mother, since it would be far from humans and potential problems. Amethyst was playing poker with some watermelons—how the heck and when she taught them she couldn't figure out—while Garnet was earnestly saying they should wait a bit longer, that the problem would resolve itself soon.
You know, she spoke in that riddle-like tone you'd expect from someone who can see the future to some extent. She just wanted to get all this solved quickly to… move on to a more important topic. But this was her situation, so she comforted herself with the thought that at least this would be resolved today.
…
Time passed and Nora was getting more impatient than she normally could. She was about to suggest a way to solve this when she could barely speak before the watermelon versions of herself tensed briefly, their faces all pointed in one particular direction—and now Nora noticed the other group of those same watermelons approaching.
"By the stars, they weren't the only ones of these beings," she told herself, frowning deeply at the now even bigger problem.
But before she could start cursing, her eyes caught sight of someone she had been avoiding lately and who she was about to see soon. A knot briefly formed in her throat as her thoughts turned to him. A trace of discomfort appeared in her but she crushed it almost as fast as it arrived. Her right fist clenched tightly, an involuntary reflex she had developed over the years from the fights and training she had endured.
Her mind froze for a moment, unsure what to say, but like everything on this day, she couldn't even form words before he spoke to her in his usual tone, as if nothing from that dinner mattered at all. But when she looked at Adrian's face, she didn't find his usual expressionless or mysterious face, nor even that mocking face he liked to use when it was least appropriate. She also didn't find the melancholy she expected him to have.
None of that. What she found was someone tired—tired of everything. He didn't look haggard or different, just a crushing weariness born of emotions she couldn't fully understand but could empathize with.
"Hey, long time no see. At least I was expecting a 'hello'," he said as his face shifted from that tired expression to what she could only describe as a mask of mockery and cynicism toward himself.
"Hi…" Nora didn't know what to say, she only answered by reflex.
Adrian's face flickered between an unreadable expression and bitterness for a moment, but it lasted less than she could say.
"So I've been busy lately with some new information I recently acquired, and when I was about to leave, I found these muses with stone expressions outside my window. They scared me half to death for a moment. But it was just a matter of politely asking what they needed, and here we are," he said, gesturing toward the versions of herself, though these had a more worried expression than the ones she'd had to deal with today. The "Noras" accompanying him tensed briefly when Adrian pronounced the word "kindness," and then his smile returned to that annoyingly mysterious tone with a hint of disguised mockery.
For a moment Nora weighed her words. He seemed like the same Adrian as always, but she knew he wasn't. She sighed inwardly as she tried to relax and finally gathered the courage to speak. For a moment, it was just the two of them, face to face.
"… Connie and I have been really worried about you," she said, while Adrian's slightly amused expression shifted to a flatter, calmer tone. But before he could speak, she continued.
"When you said that at that dinner with Connie's family, I didn't know how to feel. Worried about you would be the right answer, mainly, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how little I knew you. That thought had never crossed my mind before. You… you simply exist. You're here when needed, and you do it in the little time I've known you. But even if you're there for me—us," she said, her voice correcting the last word for some reason she couldn't grasp.
Anticipating the words to come, Adrian chose to drop the mask he had worn in front of others since arriving in this world. He allowed himself to be seen as he truly was: a weak, pathetic human who didn't know what to do with his life. Did he even have a goal beyond that dream of power that had driven him so far? A hypocritical human who turned a blind eye to his own problems, a human… was he even considered human at this point? He sighed at those twisted thoughts about divinity whispering promises of power beyond what's possible. Sentimentality is absolute crap, he told himself, without interrupting what Nora was about to say.
"… Are we there for you?" she paused before continuing, "We—w-want to help you, but we don't know how," she said, finishing what she had to say. She let out a quick breath, relieved to have lifted that weight off her chest.
Nora looked at Adrian, who was giving her that tired look he had at first, only this time without any supernatural undertones. Just an almost endless oppressive weariness, full of doubts, full of nothing. Adrian looked like an empty person.
"Look, Nora, the fact that you don't know much about me is really my fault. I've wanted to avoid these topics since… well, I woke up. It's not really your fault, nor yours or anyone else I've interacted with, so you don't have to torment yourself over it… I thought about it a lot, and I have no choice but to keep moving forward. I can't stay stuck on a search that without me—" he spoke, but she couldn't help but cut off the words he was about to say.
"Don't say that!… You don't have to give up," she shouted as if she refused to hear what Adrian had just said. But he just gave her a warm smile, still accompanied by that tiredness, that emptiness in his being.
"Nora… I chose to keep going because it's the only thing I have left. I chose to start again even if I'm no longer the one who made that decision, because at that moment it was the only thing I could do, but I don't regret it," Nora paid attention to his words, which seemed to be said more for himself than for her, almost as if he sought validation for a situation she couldn't recognize.
"I also knew the trouble it would cause if I said what I said, but I said it. That was another choice on my part. After all, if I have nothing beyond myself, can't I choose to be free?"
Nora listened carefully, not knowing what to say to Adrian. The situation seemed more complex than it appeared on the surface, but she didn't need words to be there for him. Her body reacted faster than her mind could, and she hugged him for what felt like an eternity. Nora felt Adrian's emotions like a house of cards being knocked down by the sea wind.
When they finally calmed down, the starry night had already arrived as a sign that this would be all for today. Nora didn't know how to continue, so she did what Adrian would do: be sarcastic and mocking.
"I guess there won't be any more mysterious wizard, right, Mr. Adrian?" she said, trying to use that intellectual and sarcastic tone he loved to use with her, while striking an elegant and unnecessarily elaborate pose. Adrian seemed to react to her actions, and then a small sincere smile appeared on his face.
"No way, dear Miss Nora, I'll still be using my mysterious powers to drive you crazy whenever I can," he said, his voice returning to a more usual tone but still touched by tiredness and uncertainty, only to a much lesser extent.
Under the starlight, the two looked at each other and laughed at each other's nonsense, a sincere laughter full of what could only be joy.