#Aiko and the Gems AU

[jyushimatsu-falls-in-love]

steven universe/crystal gem(atsu)s au

Alternative post title: ‘In which Nature tries to make a silly Matsu AU out of something she hasn’t actually watched but because it’s so prevalent on Tumblr she picked up a lot about it and is now trying to make a silly Matsu AU out of what she knows’

I’m going to get hate for this aren’t I

So yeah, as mentioned above, I don’t actually watch Steven Universe (I think it’s mostly because the fandom scares me orz); however I do love some of the concepts it has, like the Gems themselves, and fusions, and some of the lore surrounding the Gems. Oh, and the songs! I’ve listened to some of SU’s songs and they’re absolutely lovely :D

I was talking with @chororine yesterday about the recent SU episodes, and she linked me a couple of Gem!Matsu AUs that are really cool! And then it got me thinking of ideas for a Gem!Matsu AU which I kinda feel bad thinking up of since I haven’t watched the show orz 

Perhaps those who watch SU can tell me if this makes sense as a Matsu AU-slash-SU adaptation or not? XD;; Feel free to correct me on certain things, or even share ideas! This AU’s actually kinda really fun :’D

Anyway, all of it under the cut! (It’s very long orz) Content warnings for suicide mentions and pregnancy, but that’s all there is to it I think.

So, as always when it comes to these Crystal Gem AUs, the Matsuno brothers are a set of six similar-but-different Gems. Tbh I have no idea what kind of Gems they would be; some AUs make them the same type of gem, some make them different kinds of gems. I still want them to be “brothers”/“sextuplets”, in a way; is there a way to strike a balance? (This person’s AU has all six be a kind of gem that can be dyed different colors; that’s a good idea, but I feel like if I applied that here I’d be ripping them off...) But either way, they’re Gems. (I have no clue what their roles in Homeworld would be, either...)

The thing about the Gem!Matsus is that they’re not part of Rose Quartz’s rebellion - but at the same time, they’re not totally loyal to Homeworld either. If anything, the boys’ true loyalties are to themselves and to each other (for the most part). So they’re neutral parties in the Gem War - but they do consider Homeworld, well, home, and can’t imagine home being anywhere else.

Then one fateful day, the Gem!Matsus end up becoming displaced from Homeworld. Maybe it’s because of the Gem War, maybe they were running away from someone/something, or maybe they were dicking around in space and then they crashed their space ship, I dunno. Either way, the Gem!Matsus lose their way home, and they find themselves stuck on Earth - specifically, they find themselves stuck in a small coastal town somewhere in Japan.

With no means or even any idea on how to get home, the Gem!Matsus settle down on Earth. They assume - some of them (e.g. Choro), hope - it’s a temporary thing; after all, Homeworld is home, and even the shittiest Gem would want nothing more than to be home, right? So they stay there and wait for help, or anything to come their way that can bring them home. (Meanwhile, maybe they can fight corrupted Gems that they come across? Assuming there are corrupted Gems in other places besides Beach City. And maybe the boys don’t even know they’re corrupted Gems at all...)

Years pass, and the Gem!Matsus are still stuck, but still trying to make the most of their time in that Japanese coastal town. They observe the humans going about their daily lives, but never really interact with them and kinda look down on them the same way the Crystal Gems initially looked down on humans. And then one day, a certain yellow Gem strays far from the Gem!Matsu’s main base to a part of the beach he hasn’t explored yet - and there he sees a pretty human girl with freckles on her face, standing at the top of a really high cliff facing the ocean...

Because Jyushi is a Gem here and not human, I don’t know if he’ll be able to pick up on or understand Homura’s suicidal tendencies like he did in Ososan canon; but either way he distracts-slash-talks her out of jumping off the cliff. He does notice that this pretty human girl is very sad though, which isn’t good! Humans are cute and nice when they’re laughing and smiling! So in true Jyushi fashion, he does whatever he can to make her smile and laugh. Through her, he also gets to understand humans more, and thus be able to empathize with her (and by extension other people) better. Perhaps he also learns her backstory, and surely tries to assure her of her worth despite it.

The other Gem!Matsus don’t understand why Jyushi’s so enamored with this Homura person. Oso and Kara shrug it off and say, hey Jyushi’s having fun, let him have fun with his human friend as long as she doesn’t hurt him (and soon enough they end up befriending Homura too); Choro and Totty are more worried about it, why is Jyushi fraternizing with a human, what if she gets him (and by extension us) into trouble? (although maybe they warm up to her eventually); and Ichi is rather irritated that this dumb human girl is taking all of his best friend’s attention, but seeing as Jyushi’s very happy with her, he tries to suck it up as much as he can (although he’s still rather prickly, if civil, towards Homura).

Of course, it leads to Jyushi and Homura falling in love with each other, as well as Jyushi falling in love with the planet Earth itself and with human beings (and baseball!). After everything, he realizes he doesn’t want to return to Homeworld; instead he wants to stay here on Earth, so he can be with Homura and make other human friends and play baseball! This gets... mixed to negative reactions from the other Gem!Matsus. (Oso and Kara are torn, Choro and Totty are upset, Ichi is fucking pissed.) They all probably argue about it for the next couple of years - not that it really matters, as they’re still stuck on Earth whether or not anyone wants to stay or leave.

And then things get worse when said couple of years later, Homura finds out that she’s... pregnant. With Jyushi’s child. This causes yet another stir among the Gem!Matsus, as they never knew humans and Gems can have create children together; however it also causes more issues and more arguing between them over what to do now that this baby’s a thing. Half the team still want to go back home, after all.

Then another bad thing happens - around the time Jyushi’s baby is about to be born, Jyushi ends up having to give up his physical form for it. I’m not sure how or for what reason exactly, but it has to happen and there’s no escaping his fate. 

This leaves the other Gem!Matsus incredibly upset. I mean sure, Jyushi's no Rose Quartz; he isn’t a major figurehead in any wars or rebellions, he doesn’t have a huge legacy to follow. Hell, he isn’t even the leader of the Gem!Matsus. But for the brothers, losing any one of them can be just as devastating as losing a major figurehead - especially since the one they’ve lost was the sunshine of the group. This leaves Homura extremely devastated too, not to mention that the poor woman is now left to be an unmarried single mother.

The Gem!Matsus figure that there’s no point returning home now that Jyushi is gone, so they reluctantly decide to stay with Homura to help her watch over her child. Imagine their surprise when they see that the baby (who I decided would be a little girl, mostly because the idea of the Matsus trying to raise a little girl together is funnier) is half-Gem, half-human! She has her dad’s exact same gem somewhere on her body, all shiny and yellow. The boys come to the conclusion that part of Jyushi is still there, so resolve to stay on Earth so that they can help raise the girl as well as train her in order to be a good half-human, half-Gem. They may or may not have a plan to bring her along with them back to Homeworld once they deem her ready, so they can finally be home and complete...

Homura names her daughter Aiko (”child of love”; because tbh Homura would be a sap when it comes to naming children :P). She, Aiko and the Gem!Matsus move to a house that a relative used to own, and Homura takes a stay-at-home job as a translator (like Yotsuba’s dad from Yotsuba&!). (She can’t bring herself to work outside of the house, as she’s still ashamed of some parts of her past; that and she wants to be able to raise as well as home-school Aiko by herself and watch over the Gem!Matsus. Maybe Gem technology can provide free fast WiFi? :P) The Gem!Matsus are once again NEETs, doing nothing but staying around the house all day; their only job is training Aiko in the ways of being a Gem, so training her to fight and shapeshift and fuse with other Gems and stuff like that. Also getting her in trouble.

So begins Aiko and The Gems, the adventures of a little girl, her single mother and her five Space Rock Dads. Hilarity (and some angst, but mostly hilarity) ensues.

so yeah it’s basically Rose and Greg’s backstory ==> Steven’s story but with Matsus and Homura and a fanchild instead how original right

Compared to canon SU, this AU might be less... serious? I mean, there’s still a lot of sad things, all the Gem!Matsus + Homura have serious issues they need to deal with, and there’s still a lot of room for character + relationship development; but at the same time, the Gem!Matsus don’t have as much pressure on them to keep fighting off anything and/or preserve a rebellion’s legacy as the Crystal Gems do? They’re neutral parties who just want get home-slash-want to take care of a kid. Unless there’s something I missed and the boys could very well still be in trouble with the Diamonds...

(Also it’s probably not as serious as SU because the Gem!Matsus are, well, Matsus. :P)

Honestly though this AU idea is a lot of fun!! :’D I have a few more ideas based on it; I’ll get to writing a post about those soon (later?). Um, so tell me what you think, I guess? :’D

Also, please: if you have ideas for this AU too, please tell me!! Building AUs with others is fun c’: (That and I’m not an expert on SU anyway, as mentioned above; maybe you guys know better than me XD)

(P. S. @chororine​ @irkimatsu​ @risuquest​ you guys like SU, right? You guys might like this, hopefully :’D)

(P. P. S. Not Gem!Matsu related, but still Gems - even though I don’t watch SU yet, for some reason I thought that Phillipa Soo could be a guest star VA on it - and I would love that. I’d gladly watch for her :P)

[kellykadesperate]

Hi! If you have time, do you have any fic recs? I don't mind WIPs but please nothing sad like death or illness type fic. I need happy right now with the way the show is at the moment, happy/hopeful please! Thank you, you're an amazing writer by the way, I've read all of your fics apart from one (deathfic... no thank you lol). :)

Happy fic nonnie here! Thank you! I don’t have to have just happy though, the good kind of angst is also well loved by me (just no death, illnesses or breakups jfc no breakups omg can’t nope nope nope). Angst is good, though. Like your ‘between lines’ fic! My favourite of yours, so so so angsty but never not hopeful and a happy ending. I love that one. :D

HOLLLAAAA NONNIE, 

okay there’s a million honestly but i’ll give you the ones i think of straight away. also thanks for being lovely about my own fics, you’re a gem! 

http://archiveofourown.org/works/7450411

Domestic Bliss ~ Family

it’s by @robronalways

honestly if you ever need cheering up go and give this read because it’s lovely daddy robron goodness.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/7450411

Teach me

it’s by @escapingreality51@escapingreality51

this warmed my entire soul, so soft and well written and has such a family feel to it. i had the best time reading this honestly!!

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9165733

Dales United

it’s by @wellyfullofale

this is a WIP and i cannot wait to see how it ends (but at the same time i don’t want to either) honestly tash is brilliant with the whole push/pull aspect of robron and it’s just so enticing. oh and aaron is a footballer so it’s just the best!

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9165733

By your side

it’s by @snarfettelove / lovesnarf (snarfette)

it’s a bodyguard au that the whole fandom needed and it’s perfect. the best amount of angst and drama and happiness!

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11606784

To every thing there is a season

it’s by small_bump (aka the fabulous @victoriasugden)

i know you said no breaks up but you just have to read this because the ending will warm your heart because it’s hopeful and has a happy ending for you!

http://archiveofourown.org/works/8597644

19/11/14

it’s by @portinastorm 

sabrina is always amazing so just check out her work and spend your whole day reading (just like i did lmoa) this one is so soft and sappy and sexy and you’ll love it!

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9640421

When You Know … You Know

it’s by @scrapyardboyfriends

not only is this one an amazing WIP which keeps us all on the edge of our seats but it’s also written in such a detailed and endearing way. it’s soft and awkward and so real and robron slowly falling in love is perfect.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9640421

When I’m weak, I draw strength from you.

it’s by @reinacadeea

this was probably one of the first fics i was completely balled over by. there’s something so magically soft about it and although it’s an au you invest in it so deeply. it’s always one i go back to!

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9640421

Start me over

it’s by @thefancyspin

probably one of the best au’s i have ever read because it’s so clever and in character and all the bite sizes meetings warm my heart! such a talent! 

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9681758

Waste time with a masterpiece 

it’s by @thisissirius

PURE JOY. I CANNOT POSSIBLY SAY ANYTHING MORE.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9681758

Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars

it’s by @capseycartwright / wafflesofdoom

yeah? that’s ed sheeran’s song. the one that makes everyone cry, this shall have the same effect. go read everything of hers !! 

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9084199

Too hard, heart first

it’s by @finkpishnets (sorry i don’t know you on here but it needs to be changed!)

this is solid gold honestly, so endearing and unique and magical in more ways than one and you need to read it right now!!

http://archiveofourown.org/works/4786667

The Hardest Science

it’s by @typicalrobotgirl5 (jentacular)

i feel like as soon as you fall down the rabbit hole and into robron land you have to read this as part of the initiation. it’s just mind bogglingly amazing and it’s angsty as hell but also has a lovely ending!

http://archiveofourown.org/works/6989296

Every no turns into maybe 

it’s by @strongboyfriends (perksofbeingaiko)

MY JESUS this fic is absolutely incredible and soft and so damn charming and endearing. aiko is so amazing and you need to read this and be happy!

http://archiveofourown.org/works/7028266

As long as stars are above you

it’s by @loves_fealty

i mean it was probably the first ever fic i did a soft squeak, little gasp at tbh. it’s just beautifully soft and it’ll make you very happy i promise.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/5736631

Good and Right

it’s by @memorieswarm (dirtylittlegreasemonkey)

probably one of the softest, most endearing and beautiful fics i have ever read. but then again all her fics are so just stalk her ao3 page please.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9983105

A day in the life

it’s by @sugdensquad

if you want to overwhelmed by gorgeous family fluff which will make your teeth ache, by all means go right ahead and read this masterpiece (and check out everything else she writes as well pls because it’s golden)

like i said there are so many more amazing fluffy happy fics to read out there, these are just some i can think of now. 

also can i just say that amazing people like @capseycartwright + @nooneelsecomesclose17 + @reformedcharacter + @robertjacobsuggers spoil us with ficlets on here all the time so go follow them (and everyone else in this as well!) 

happy reading! 

💗🌸

[salutemag]

New Post has been published on https://goo.gl/dkAYP3

Sounding OFF: Great Albums You Might Have Missed in 2017

Counting down 25 albums you might have missed Let’s face it. The year is slowly drawing to a close which means that soon we will be bombarded with “The Best of 2017,” a time when critics hand pick from the same basic pool of artists to determine what the public loved best. Well, if you’re hoping for something like that, then perhaps this column isn’t for you. Having the ability to access an unlimited amount of music is no longer a skill in this internet age, but a true audiophile’s way of living can always detect anothers, and while most critics adhere to the same basic principals of “what’s hot” and “what’s not,” they still have their own personal preferences, which albeit maybe a little less popular or more obscure than what you would expect on the surface. But what about these “bubbling under” musicians or independent artists who put out fire this year and won’t be getting the recognition? In that regard, Salute Magazine takes a look at 25 albums you might have missed in 2017. 25) Abstract Rude & Mikah 9 - AyeEm Ray-Dio Two out of three ain’t bad. Abstract Rude & Mikah 9 of Haiku D’etat return with their first collaboration album not to feature Aceyalone. 24) Benjamin Clementine - I Tell A Fly The 2015 Mercury Prize-winning artist made his first appearance on the Gorillaz inauguration day release of “Halleluyah Money,” but his latest solo album, I Tell A Fly, flew right under the radar. 23) Annie Hart - Impossible Accomplice Annie Hart, one of three members of the all-girl synth-pop group Au Revoir Simone, released her debut solo album, Impossible Accomplice... and it’s awesome. 22) Juan V. - Fear The 27-year-old Quad Cities rapper/producer was diagnosed with cancer and facing a bad breakup back in 2015 when he started to work on recording music as a way to heal. Now, with a clean bill of health and a newborn son to care for, rapper Juan V. felt the timing was right to drop his debut album, Fear. 21) Mutemath - Play Dead Despite almost spelling the end of the New Orleans alt-rock group, Mutemath stuck it through to put out what may be the most elaborate album to date. Play Dead took the band five years to record, in between which, they recorded their 2015 album, Vitals. 20) Oddisee - The Iceberg Washington D.C. rapper gets "into it" with his latest studio album, The Iceberg, which may have been his most well-rounded composition to date. Since its release in February, Oddisee has gone on to perform the album live with a full band backing him up. 19) Fekky - El Clasico UK Grime rapper Fekky has been on the come-up for some time now, after uploading his self-produced videos to YouTube. But his new studio album, El Clasico, shows he's a step above and features such noteworthy guest appearances from fellow-grime artist Skepta, Giggs, and Shakka. 18) Sleigh Bells - Kid Kruschev The mini-album from Brooklyn noise-pop duo Sleigh Bells picks up where their 2016 LP, Jessica Rabbit, leaves off—fusing together different genres, without using any filler. 17) H.E.R. - Vol. 2  H.E.R., short for "Having Everything Revealed," is an enigmatic R&B singer/multi-instrumentalist from California. Despite refusing to show or reveal H.E.R. identity, she continues to deliver soulful new music with a powerful punch. 16) Marco Pavé - Welcome to Grc Lnd Memphis hip-hop artist/activist Marco Pavé gives listeners an much more down-to-earth look at the Southern blues capital. 15) Steve Lacy - Steve Lacy's Demo Funk/soul musician Steve Lacy compares his "song series" project to the Netflix series Black Mirror, where each song tells a different story. His debut solo project may only be six songs long, but we look forward to hearing what he's working on next. 14) Gogol Bordello - Seekers & Finders The gypsy punk group's seventh studio album, Seekers & Finders, is a real hidden gem. Produced by frontman Eugene Hütz, the album features a special, uncredited guest appearance from singer-songwriter Regina Spektor. 13) IDK - IWasVeryBad Maryland rapper IDK creates an Adult Swim-themed project that features such heavy-hitters as Swizz Beats, MF Doom, Del the Funkee Homosapien, Chief Keef and Yung Gleesh. 12) Charli XCX - Number 1 Angel The third mixtape from English singer-songwriter Charli XCX features an all-female, power-packed lineup from all over the world, including Starrah (Delaware), Raye (U.K.), MØ (Denmark), Uffie (France), Abra (Atlanta), Noonie Bao (Sweden) and Cupcakke (Chicago). 11) Krept & Konan - 7 Days & 7 Nights Grime rap duo Krept & Konan master the double album with their commercial mixtape, featuring Skepta, Stormzy, J. Hus, Hudson East, Jhené Aiko, and Tory Lanez. 10) Afghan Whigs - In Spades Now, in their third decade, Afghan Whigs continue to release new fire, including their eighth studio album, In Spades. If you missed it, be sure to check out our review.