The rumbling thud of the big brute's footsteps is all the warning Lapis needed. This is not her home and it is not her quarrel. It had been the work of the moment to flit into the nearest building - human buildings, all of them - and sequester herself away where the thing would not spot her.

She crouches in wait, poised to launch herself from her hiding spot should the metal thing draw nearer. She almost doesn't realize a human has picked the same building to hide in.

She looks at her with chary disdain. She hasn't known many humans, truthfully, beyond Steven, but it had been her impression that his kindness had been the exception rather than the rule. But if she stays any longer, the human will spot her, if she hasn't already. A gem like Lapis would be rather distinct - blue skin, blue hair, slight and slender and subtly distinct from any typical human shape.

"What are you doing?" she hisses in accusatory undertone. Better, she thinks, to be on the defensive.