The first half of Eve's life, roughly a month, had gone by much quicker than the second half. Which was saying quite a lot, since that first half was also incredibly long. The first week or so on Bloodston'e ship in particular were impossibly long, and Eve couldn't help but feel tense with every waking moment, half expecting Bloodstone to pull off something behind her back. Indeed, every moment of that week was a waking moment for that very reason, and as tired as she felt, especially on the first day, she could not bring herself to sleep. But to her surprise, confusion, and appreciation, Bloodstone did keep to his word. Not only that, but he had given her the space she felt she so needed. With time, the little gem became more and more comfortable around the commander. Trusting? Not so much; she felt trusting enough to finally give out her name and genuinely consider his offers, but otherwise she was virtually as doubtful of him as before. But she did begin to warm up to him, even if just by a little. Chromite, on the other hand...She was even more hard to read than Bloodstone, and though she also kept her distance, Eve wasn't quite as friendly with her.
Though she hadn't taken up Bloodstone's offer, Eve did commit to her own sort of training. She wasn't able to summon a weapon, but she did practice her levitation religiously, eerily quiet and concentrated while doing so, slowly building up her endurance. For reasons she could not explain, it was always easier when Reggie -whom she had grown quite close to- was around. When she wasn't keeping Reggie company, she, in the same eerily quiet manner as when she was practicing her levitation, was usually found doing one of three things: working on one of her many revisions of her apology letter to Sodalite, doodling on whatever scrap paper she could with Bloodstone's pens, or simply exploring whatever she could of the ship. She was doing the former of the three when Bloodstone had arrived, standing up and flipping the paper over onto its blank side as soon as she was aware of his presence, listening to what he had to say.
She could scarcely believe it.
"Leave," she repeated, thinking for a moment and letting the fact that Bloodstone was actually telling her this sink in. She had no idea what 'Halloween' was, but being around Reggie had made her a lot more interested in the behavior and habits of humans. She also wanted to try and make it up to Sodalite, even if it meant having to be around the company of Emerald, Spinel and Aquamarine, assuming all the gems that chose her side still remained on her side. Plus, she also missed Amber, even if he was a loudmouth. But more than anything, she wanted to be back on the ground, away from the confines of the ship, the only reason she hadn't left already was because of Reggie. The opportunity to do all of this and be able to return if she pleased was more than enough reason to, for the first time in her life, take one of Bloodstone's offers. A small smile spread across her face.
"Thank you, Bloodstone sir, I would very much appreciate the chance to return to the ground," she said, giving a slight dip of her head.
Turning her attention back to her paper and pen, she folded the former carefully and capped the latter while her eyes began to glow, Reggie's bag -more like hers at this point, she really did settle for sleeping in it as it was the closest feeling she had to sleeping in her hole, and it also held all her scrap paper- floating towards her as she did so. It dropped to the ground gently and she fumbled with the zipper of one of the smaller pockets.
"Eve, I'll be coming back up here more likely than not, but if you want to stay back on the ground, don't feel obligated to come back up just for me, okay?"
Why wouldn't I come back up just for you?
Eve froze. The zipper was left open half way, the paper and pen still in hand. She had been caught completely off guard, not by Reggie's words, but her own inner reaction to them. Stifling a chuckle, she unzipped the rest of the bag pocket, gingerly put the paper and pen in, picked up the back and floated up to his level, looking him in the eye.
"As much as I'd love to leave here, I don't want to leave you, Reg. For your sake and my own. If you're returning, in all likelihood, so will I. Now come on, you doof," she grinned, dropping the bag into his hands and making her way towards the warp pad, "Let's go already, before Bloodstone changes his mind."
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