Poor Alex. Very nicely paced, too. I loved the delivery of the ruby, and that short, buoyant conversation.

There was one thing that surprised me (which might just be me being behind on PPC reading): Sue-made gems are high-quality? I always got the impression that everything or nearly everything Sues created was shoddily built out of warped reality and plotholes, and most everything would collapse upon exposure to a Reality Room (except for a few useless but shiny trinkets kept as trophies, which category I suppose the Hummingbird would fall under, but I don't imagine the repurposed ruby would be more useful than an un-Sue-contaminated one. Especially given how little Suethors generally know about what makes an ideal gem). I mean, imagine if agents could wield Sue technology! Given how overpowered most of it is, it would be a strain for them to keep from becoming Sues themselves.

I also want to say that I really liked how petlike Zeke acted. He reminded me of my cat, but not to such a degree that you'd written a cat rather than a fire lizard. I'm wondering: do you have animals? Do you model him after one of them?

--Key

If Alex were a Pokemon, I'd be asking if he wanted some Burn Heal after that.

BTW, I think you a word here: and clucked his tongue Zeke.

Or, Aegis vomits out his thoughts in a significantly less-than-orderly fashion, as per usual.

I liked it, actually. Makes me wonder what's put a bee up Farilan's [redacted] this time, but then it could just be her being her.

I appreciate seeing Olivine give Alex a kick in the pants, especially since it worked out so terribly for him. I hope we see more from the newest technician.

The moonstone reference was a nice touch, by the way.

Shame things didn't work out with Katie. I guess their love is just doomed . . .