#but yeah there's a lot going on with Bismuth and that probably has something to do with why she's such a good fic-original blorbo

[nehswritesstuffs]

For the "500 words or less" director's cut prompt, which I missed because of the holiday: this 409-word bit of TTOU chapter 31 that surprisingly does not include Nicola, as much as I love her, but does include my favorite confused and well-meaning alien blorbo.

“Walsh’s sister is in government and her brother-in-law was private-sector for a long time,” Fajr explained from the front passenger seat. Gordon was driving, leaving her free to talk without the fear of distraction. “I don’t remember precisely what either did, since I’m not well-versed in those parts of Human society, but it’s been able to help them afford this neighborhood without an issue.” “No one needs to be that well-versed in Human society,” Malcolm assured her. “Her sister’s probably a high-ranked civil servant, impossible to get rid of no matter the government, and he’s probably some energy-sector or banking fuck. I met so many back in my former life that they all blended together after a while. You don’t need to worry about them.” “I might, but that would all depend on what happens during the debriefing.” The satnav instructed Gordon to turn and he did so, pulling into the drive of a house more grand than what was likely all four of their salaries put together. Once the car was parked, they got out and went to the front door as a group, where they were greeted by Walsh herself. “Thank you for coming on such short notice,” she said, ushering them in. Looking over her shoulder, she then shouted into the house, “They’re here, Nick! Four of them!” An unintelligible shout answered her and Walsh brought the guests into an elaborate sitting room, where tea was already laid out. “Sorry about the pretenses, Kate. Nick’s place isn’t exactly what most people would call humble.” “You’ve been able to recoup here—that’s what counts,” Kate replied. “Oh, you remember Fajr Bismuth? She’s now our Head of Security and Surveillance.” “I thought Frank still had a few years left on his contract,” Walsh said, pouring tea. “What’d you do to convince him to step down?” “He didn’t,” Fajr said. She tried to keep eye contact with Walsh, but couldn’t. “Frank Hughes was one of the first people the insurgents killed upon capturing Mainframe UK. I… I couldn’t save him.” “You saved others though, from what I’ve heard, and we can’t fault you for doing all you could,” Walsh said. “He’d be proud to know you’re his successor.” “You think so?” Gordon asked, relief in his voice. “There are some people who are upset that it’s not me.” “Do you want the position?” Walsh asked. “Not yet; eventually, but Fajr was next in line.” “Then let it be Ms. Bismuth.”

AAAHHHHH YEAH THIS BIT more about this bit under the cut.

Have a fic excerpt you want me to break down? Go ahead and let me know!

Okay, so, this bit! I wanted to keep the possibility of Nicola and Walsh being not-related while also teasing it for as long as possible, which brings us to Bismuth being the one who is giving the infodump. If Malcolm did any sort of looking-into Walsh's sister's background then he'd know instantly what was going on, but for now it's just this posh as fuck neighborhood with Walsh going "yeah sorry my sister's place is kinda extra".

'Cause here's the thing: Nicola Murray is rich. She and her husband both have high-paying jobs, can send multiple children to private school, and she seems to have just the right amount of reality disconnect in relation to others while still caring about people to insinuate that she's always been on the wealthier end of things. Shit, it's implied that her husband makes enough that she doesn't have to work, but does anyhow for both self-fulfillment and because she loves helping people. It also wouldn't surprise me if she and/or Mr. Nicola came from money to start, since this is also the UK we're talking about. So yeah. Posh as fuck.

And then Walsh is there! Doing some more misdirection bc Beck and Nick being nicknames for ladies in male-dominated jobs isn't anything, nooooo. I found it really important to me that we expressly lay out Walsh and Gordon's acceptance of Bismuth as the successor to the Security Head's role for a lot of reasons. Here's what we know of Fajr Bismuth thus far:

She is a Zygon.

Her grasp on Human culture is... strained at best.

They just are recovering from the Zygon Insurgency, where Bonnie and Company murdered a bunch of UNIT people including the man Fajr is replacing. The amount of symbolism there is intentional.

She is supposed to be the new Head of Security. So, being in charge of preventing something like that happening again. Everything depends on her loyalty to the Tripartite, which is not exactly something in good standing at that moment.

Her name is awesome but it's also very specifically non-English. It's a feminine Arabic name that means "dawn, beginning", and is a time for observant Muslims to pray during the morning twilight (fajr and four other daily prayers are part of the Five Pillars/Ten Practices of the Religion in Sunni/Shia Islam). Her having a name that can be a Briton's, but is not considered British is symbolic of her status as someone who is stuck between worlds and cultures as someone who might actually be named Fajr would. It is just as intentional. Bismuth just was also an element near [Themba] Astatine on the periodic table that I thought sounded cool with Fajr, since I like giving Zygons elemental names.

So now you've got all of that, and we're in this posh as fuck house, having a conversation with someone who very well could lobby to scuttle the concept of Bismuth having such an amount of power, especially with the resistance that has been seen within the other Departmental Heads. Like, if anyone can make or break this position for Bismuth from within Mainframe UK, it's Walsh. It was her command that was obliterated. She's the one with potentially the biggest stake in that game when it comes to whether another Human heads Security or a member of the extraterrestrial species that caused the entire mess to begin with... and... she... just... accepts once she has all the pieces she needs. You have to remember that Walsh is on a mental sabbatical--once things were over she had a fucking breakdown. Her approval means a lot.

...and Gordon's a good boy he's not gonna fuck this up for Bismuth he knows better than that.

[thousandyearphantombunker]

how the fuck was Steven supposed to kill the diamonds? With the crystal gems a team consisting of like 8 people? One is a human girl with a sword, another is a random technician and another is a disabled soldier? With the breaking point? The diamonds are huge and have insane powers they could use to protect themselves with ease so...and if somehow he did find a way to kill them- what would the aftermath be? What would happen to the corrupted gems? The system on homeworld wouldn't have changed, they'd still kill the off colors, they'd still be colonizing planets etc. would spinel still be waiting never knowing anything about what happened to her friend? Like what would have happened- 'oh the diamonds will probably go right back to killing people if Steven let them live and therefore Steven will be responsible for all the blood on their handa when that eventually happens, it's also unjust and toxic that Steven forgives other peoples abusers on their behalf we always let the colonizers have redemption arcs and portray the people they hurt as villains for fighting back' yeah okay, you cop Steven is a moral failure who is guilty of colonization and hes an abuse apologist who ignore the victims and demonizes them(where we watching the same show? Did we not see Steven try to help centipetle? Did we not see him break down over the cluster- could Steven had forgiven the diamonds for the sake of the victims? I do give some shit to Steven for how he acts about rose but even then he's a teenage with PTSD)-The situation also changed from 'homeworld gems are coming back to earth after the war to create a geo-weapon, they thought they won the war and didn't care about colonizing the earth anymore' to 'now they want rose quartz to hang for as justice for what happened to pink diamond' to 'pink diamond faked her death and her attempt to escape the abuse and evils of her home ended up turning her friends into monsters and her deciding to die to create Steven has led her sisters trying to drag her back to homeworld to uphold the horrible caste system' no more going after earth the way they used too, now the conflict was personal.

su's ending was bad- it felt hollow rushed and like so much happened but also like not enough was happening- it was a mess but also, su is about restorative justice and changing unhealthy family dynamics, and that's actually great. I get pissy about Steven Universe's ending-lapis, peridot, lars and bismuth were completely irrelevant the complaints i have about white diamond are the exact same ones i have about the collector (i hate them both) the movie piled more shit onto rose's bad rep sheet when it was really unnecessary and the show only portrays the perspective she was a brat which was great at the start but once you see how internalized she was and that shes an abuse victim the show should have portrayed her more empathetically, and if we wanna talk about the show as a whole- i hate that shattering can be reversed fully now and that jasper didn't stay dead as much as i love her, i hate that the show never acknowledged how toxic sadie was toward lars (kidnapping him and steven the donut prank- lars was a dick but sadie was a psycho) or how its hard to defend pearl after they made her a total creep (even if you don't read fusion as sexual its still super uncomfortable to see pearl lie to garnet like that and take advantage of something that meant so much to garnet) and i dislike that peridot lost her edge and the episode "too far" pissed me off (amethyst you encouraged peridot to be mean and call garnet a slur, pearl a braindead slave and Steven an affront to nature but when she made an accidentally ableist remark while trying to compliment you that's when it became a problem?). Su botched a fuckton of its messages and the filler was hit or miss in terms of quality and a lot the hate was Deserved (it did get uncomfortably sexual when it came to certain fusions- and rebecca sugar being Jewish bi, nonbinary etc doesn't exempt them from criticism- it felt perverted in several parts and rocknaldo was a worthless episode though if I hear another anti-Semitic take on this show im gonna flip- y'all don't know what Nazism is please stop using that word without understanding it) but I while I have my complaints about the ending I think Steven changing the diamonds minds was the only appropriate way for the show to end, the show always was about making amends or living life after the carnage had settled without focusing on vengeance/perpetuating the cycle of violence it was always about seeing nuance and not seeing you people you come into conflict with as enemies. I'm not angry at the diamonds being redeemed, I hate how it was handled, I'm not angry at the show for saying bismuth was wrong I hate how it was handled she deserved better but Jesus christ can we stop acting like the only appropriate way the show could have ended is with Steven 'realizing pacifism is bad and killing the abusers/colonizers is the only answer' because fuck diplomacy and systemic change-

also Steven is fully willing to use violence, Steven would pick up a gun and shoot to before batman or aang would ever if it meant saving his world (this isn't me shitting on those characters just pointing out Steven isn't that extreme of a pacifist) and Steven carries a lot of anger as we see in su future (whether or not you think it's a hot mess it's canon) while i don't think he hates the diamonds he definitely resents them and is afraid of then but holds back (until he ya now gats... Way worse mentally), he wants to fix the system not get justice or vengeance or make huge moral judgements where he is in the right when he hurts others- steven isn't an abuse apologist who believes him self morally superior (he actually kind of is afraid of that) he isn't afraid to use violence if he seems it necessary (he's a diplomat and his skills lie in talking things out- of course he'd go to that first) he cares a lot of about the victims of the diamonds and people who have been hurt- even if they hurt him. Steven is deeply flawed his martyr complex reveals him to be incredibly entitled and desperate to be in control and for others to be hurt or bad so he can fix their problems so he can feel good about himself and deals with a lot of guilt and by future he has developed anger issues- but he always cared about others that's why he did what he did and does what he does

[thatone-highlighter]

tell me something about SU perhaps? Anything u want, I just wanna hear u talk about SU :]

im going to be autistic at you for a little bit now about Amethyst and Steven's relationship

ive tried to write out about 3 different versions of this and i havent gotten one im happy with so were just gonna roll with it okay? okay

one of the big things people talk about in the show is how the gems treat steven. the big two examples being in the episodes following A Single Pale Rose and in especially in Future. but a lot of the things people say are only really applicable to Pearl and Garnet. they dont really know how to deal with steven's issues and they both have a bad habit of falling back into old roles and as the show goes on they both start to more and more default to steven as the leader. but Amethyst, doesnt really do that.

after SPR, in between steven spending whole episodes trying to comfort sapphire and pearl and ruby and bismuth, he has an episode with Amethyst in which she spends the entire episode trying to make him feel better and figure out what he needs. which no one else really stops to do even tho she was his mom.

and now admittedly, i havent watched any of future in a While, but from what i remember Amethyst does try to push harder to get steven to talk and actually Doing things about stuff she notices when compared to Garnet and Pearl

to me, what i think this comes down to is the fact that unlike Amethyst, Garnet and Pearl have never really considered or been considered an equal to Steven. when he was younger and before he developed his power steven was at the bottom of the hierarchy within the crystal gems. and he stays there for a long time. eventually he starts to catch up to amethyst and they a little bit start to see eachother as equals, but not quite. and i think thats what happens in the Steven vs Amethyst arc. theyve both grown comfortable in this not-quite-equals dynamic, or at least Amethyst has, and when she thinks Steven is starting to get better than her, shes scared shes gonna get pushed down to the bottom again. but that doesnt happen, steven pulls her back up and together they decide to be equals on a level playing field. theyre equals and when one of them is suffering the other will pull them up, and when one of them succeeds the other can be proud of them. theyre equals

but theres none of that with pearl and garnet. i guess you could argue that together they have an arc about seeing each other as equals, but not with Steven. at first they see him as this little kid, hes just a little kid hes below them, they need to look after him, teach him. but even once he comes into his own and grows up i dont think they ever really see him as even close to a real equal. they either see him as their kid to look after or even sometimes they start to defer up to him, seeing him as their superior.

you could probably argue that as much as steven has grown uo with the gems, amethyst has grown up with steven too. sure shes a lot older than him and she had already been growing into her own. but to me i think the difference between flashback and even early season 1 amethyst to amethyst by the end of the show, she really grew up With Steven.

anyways yeah. i love amethyst and i love her friendship with steven. i love tiger millionare and tiger philanthropist. i love crack the whip, steven vs amethyst, earthlings, i love on the run, i love no matter what, i love whats your problem, i love smokey quartz and i love that they were the first steven/gem fusion

[dimonds456]

Gem Steven’s gem is flipped upside-down. (Theory/Speculation time!)

SPOILERS FOR @spudinacup’s SU AU “Gone Wrong”!

Also WARNING: long post!

So recently, someone pointed out that Steven has a scar on his torso going across his gem’s location, which I found interesting in and of itself. Makes sense, since he wasn’t able to heal it since he DIED and his gem was shoved out of his body before it got the chance to heal him. That slash mark is there now. Wow, neat! Nice detai-

Wait.

Hold on a sec.

Is his gem... flipped upside-down? Well, it’s been like this for a while, maybe it’s just a creative choi-

...oh.

This is VERY intentional.

So I did some digging, and found much more symbolism and possible foreshadowing, and now I want to throw out my theory about Gem Steven here, including his potential arc and character development. I’ll try to keep everything brief while still blowing your minds, and I’ll try to get across what my jumbled mind has come up with.

Spud please notice me.

I will not be uploading photos to go with everything I say (go reread the comic after this and verify for yourself what all I’ve said), but I’ll show visuals when they’re necessary. I do not claim ANY of this art as mine (I wish my art was this good ;u; ), all of it belongs to Spudinacup and their SU AU, which has all kinds of hidden symbolism, foreshadowing, and visual cues we haven’t picked up on yet, as I’ve just learned while researching this theory. This ain’t your run-of-the-mill AU, everything in here is intentional. Scott Spud doesn’t do coincidences. So I’ll point out that stuff in screenshots.

Okay let’s go.

SO! To begin with, let’s talk about why his gem may have flipped, and to realize that, we have to know when. We don’t see the gem much, but we do see it constantly through Chapter 1, where it is normal. The pentagon is pointed upward. However, in Chapter 2, this is where we see it flipped upside down. When did that happen? We didn’t see it. I believe it happened in that first scene in the bathroom, right after we left. The butterflies were swarming angrily, and Steven was very lost in thought.

Notice whenever those butterflies appear. They seem to show up every time he thinks about who he is. Is he still Steven, or is he someone else now? Steven is dead. Everyone is mourning him, trying to heal him, but Gem is still here. So if Steven is dead, but Gem is still alive, that must mean he isn’t Steven then, right? But then that undoes everything we learned in “Change Your Mind.” He IS Steven. He’s always been Steven. But that’s when they were together...

...And so the butterflies swarm.

Notice how the first one shows up when he looks at himself in the mirror. When you look in a mirror, you should see yourself, right? But who IS he? In the show, butterflies represent thoughts and ideas, mostly dark ones, disturbing ones, or ones you don’t want to think about. Well, he already spent WAY too long proving who he was, so now to do it again sucks.

But he isn’t Steven anymore. He’s on the couch being mourned. But he’s already proved he IS Steven before, and it’s this uncertainty that is making his mind swirl. I believe this is why he flipped his gem. Just upside-down, so it’s a small thing no one will notice, while he tries to figure it out. In doing so, he’s separated himself from “Steven”, as they’re not one and the same anymore, and the flipped gem shows this. He’s someone else right now. Maybe. He’s not sure.

So what do we call you for right now? Steven. He already proved he was Steven, so until he’s proved otherwise, Steven it is. Now he just has to figure out what exactly that name means and wether or not he still fits that quota.

Flipped gem/Pink Diamond imagery is EVERYWHERE, mostly hidden in drastic shadows or in panels. It’s things you don’t notice at first, until they’re staring you in the face. See if you can spot them from the 3 screenshots below.

There’s probably more hidden throughout the comic, these are just the ones I’ve found that I feel confident enough to show as hard evidence.

So, what does it all mean? We’ll talk about the screenshots in order, left to right.

First, the Diamond is hidden as the panel in the center. In it, Human Steven lies upside down while the gem-panel is technically upside right. This can be interpreted in a few ways, but what that means to me is that something isn’t right here. If you flip Steven back around so he’s upside right, the gem is now upside down. Notice Gem Steven looking towards his human half on the bottom panel there, clutching his shirt over his gem. It’s a motion we’ve seen Steven do a TON throughout the show, anytime he’s thinking about Rose/Pink, who he is, or complicated gem stuff as a whole. Because early on, his identity was always shrouded in shadow. THAT is Steven, on the couch, without his gem. So for Gem Steven to call himself Steven is inaccurate, but also not at the same time. It’s all swarming in his head, and thus, the gem is flipped.

Next, he’s just broken the rejuvenator. This was probably the hardest to spot of the three, but if you look at the panel where Bismuth asks “feel better?” you will see, in the background, a white line cut through the soft pink hues. Look closer. It’s the outline of the gem, but it’s flipped correctly this time. This is because Bismuth seems to be the only person NOT saying Steven is dead, and treating his gem half one and the same. Is she unnerved? Yeah, but who WOULDN’T be? This is still Steven we’re talking about, as emotionally blocked as he is. He’s aware of why everyone is being weird around him, so to see Bismuth trying her best to treat him with familiarity instead of a completely different, new, dangerous stranger is really calming and helps to calm the storm a bit.

Notice the gem is flipped correctly. This is because he feels like Steven right now. Bismuth has been constant confirmation that he is still Steven, no matter the circumstances. Notice how his eyes dialate back to a larger size. They do that a lot in the comic, articulating his emotions without changing the rest of his face. It’s a clever detail to keep track of. His eyes grow more relaxed, dialating bigger when she pats his shoulder, asking if he feels better after destroying the weapon that killed him. It’s a huge relief for him to hear. So, the gem is correct.

Finally, we see Bismuth telling Greg that his son is dead, which is very contradictory to what Bis was saying earlier (in Steven’s eyes). Where is the gem on that frame? Look at Steven’s shadow. There it is, facets and all. To us, the gem is correct, but think about it this way: if Steven were actually replaced with the gem in that frame, what would it look like, Pink’s or White’s? That’s right. The point is coming from his feet, meaning it would look more like White’s, meaning it is back to being flipped upside down. Again, Bismuth just said Steven is dead, meaning he’s back to questioning his whole entire identity. So it’s back to being flipped upside-down.

It seems that the orientation of the symbolic gems hidden throughout panels show quite clearly where his head is at in terms of who he is. If it’s upside down, he’s separating himself from the cold meatball on the couch, whereas when it’s normal/upside right, he is associating himself WITH the cold meatball on the couch.

Notice he’s been grabbing at his gem a lot recently, too, all things he does while in turmoil over who- or WHAT- he is. He cannot heal right now. He can’t use his powers. Some powers are new and unfamiliar (see the more recent pages where Lapis struck out with water and he blocked with those hexagonal shields/walls). “Steven HEALS people.” He can’t, so who is he?

This is something he’ll need to have an answer to by the time the comic is done, and this is a mission for Gem Steven and Gem Steven alone. If his human half were alive (and content without his gem), he’d probably call himself “Steven” no questions asked, since he GOT his answer already, two years ago. But Gem can’t do that, not when everyone keeps drawing all these lines between the two. He needs to learn what being “Steven” means, and know that he is a part of a greater whole, but on his own, he is STILL Steven. Everyone else needs to realize this, too, and stop separating the two. It’s gonna be rough, since it may feel like replacing what they lost, but is it really? It’s going to be a tough road to trek, and I don’t know what anyone’s answer is gonna be (that’s the big mystery here, after all), but I’m here for it.

Remember, all of this has been speculation on what may happen based on facts and clues Spud has presented us with. I’m not claiming to know how Gem Steven’s arc will end, but I am throwing my hat into the ring on where I THINK it will go. Either way, the foreshadowing, symbolism, and unspoken characterizations here have been excellent, and I’m looking forward to seeing everything play out. Spud, your mind is incredible, and whatever you’ve got planned over there, I’m confident the answer will be satisfactory.

I’ll shut up now. Thank you for reading this huge meta post, and go read Spud’s comic. You can find it at @suaugonewrong or on Spud’s Tumblr, which was linked above. If you think I’m wrong or have a counter argument, bring it. Let’s talk, cause this is genuinely interesting and fun to dissect. I wanna talk about it OwO

Thank you. You may now continue scrolling.

[andrewmoocow]

Steven Universe Alternate Future chapter 22: Pumpkin Patch (originally published on August 9, 2021)

AN: At long last, the homestretch of Part 3, which I have already dubbed the Tearjerking Three last time. And for our first entry into this trilogy, we finally get an update on the relationship between Peridot and Lapis, which I found to be done so dirty in Future as a Lapidot shipper. I mean, they didn't even interact with each other even when they were in the same episode together! Plus, Pumpkin just disappeared into thin air once the movie came along, leaving the only hint of where she is now are those similar gourd puppies from The Future. But enough griping, let's get my personal answer on what really happened, and maybe a big surprise that I no doubt have already spoiled on DeviantArt anyways.

Synopsis: Steven, Peridot and Lapis reminisce on the anniversary of Pumpkin's death.

Cast:

Zach Callison as Steven, Pumpkin

Shelby Rabara as Peridot, Squaridot

Jennifer Paz as Lapis, Laz, Zuli

Estelle as Garnet

Michaela Dietz as Amethyst, Ocean Jasper

Deedee Magno-Hall as Pearl

Uzo Aduba as Bismuth

Amy Sedaris as Teal Zircon

Jeff Bergman as Farmer

Featuring Billie Eilish as Turquoise

--

"Maybe I'll find myself smiling on that distant shore," Steven sang to himself while gazing at his watch as the oven timer counted down in front of him. "Maybe I'm not alone."

The timer beeped, notifying Steven that whatever he had in the oven was ready. After putting on some oven mitts and opening the oven, Steven pulled a pumpkin pie out and set it on the counter to cool. "This one is for you two, guys." He said before gazing at a nearby calendar that read June 7th. "I remember it like it was yesterday." Steven then began to reminisce on the aftermath of his visit to Homeworld.

--

A few weeks the Crystal Gems have successfully convinced the Diamonds to help them in healing the corrupted Gems on Earth, these Gems now needed somewhere to live. As far as Steven knew, there was no way they could expand the Temple to make room for all of them, and he's sure none of the newly healed Gems wanted to return to Homeworld, so the Crystal Gems decided that their only choice now was to build them their own little town. They had some basic ideas down, but all they needed now was a name.

"How about Peritropolis?!" Peridot suggested as she wrote down her choice of name on the whiteboard, with little sketches of her face surrounding the name for emphasis. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"How about something that won't stroke your ego?" Steven frowned at the idea.

"What about Barnstantinople?" Lapis proposed. "We are building it around where the barn used to be after all."

"Speaking of which, how's clean-up on that going?" Amethyst asked, looking out the window to gaze at the wreckage that was once Lapis and Peridot's barn house home. "I think some bits of it might be useful somehow."

"I say we put that on hold." Lapis stated. "That old barn caused just as much harm to Peridot and me as much as it did good."

"You serious about this?" Peridot asked her blue roommate. "I mean, we had so many good memories in there."

"Yeah, and a lot of those memories were you just bending over backwards trying to keep me happy." Lapis added. "I know you're still sad about me jumping ship and coming back with only a "Hey", but I still got things to work out, y'know."

"OK." Peridot said just as their pet Pumpkin opened the door. "Oh, hey Pumpkin!"

In contrast to Peridot being excited to see Pumpkin, the little canine fruit let out an exhausted bark before sitting down to nap, revealing wrinkles around her eyeholes.

"Hey, is your little buddy there doin' alright?" Bismuth asked. "I barely know a thing about the lifespan of organic creatures, but even I know she ain't doing so hot."

"Oh, I'm sure she's just tired!" Peridot assured Bismuth. "Just needs to rest, that's all!"

"Don't be so sure Peridot." Garnet advised the little Gem. "Pumpkin was brought to life with magic, which means she's probably lived longer than a pumpkin normally does."

"Just let her be happy Garnet." Pearl whispered into Garnet's ear. "She's already been through so much recently, and I don't think she can take anymore."

"You sure she's OK Dottie?" Steven asked Peridot regarding Pumpkin. "Nothing lasts forever, you know."

"Oh, she just needs some extra time in the Sun!" Peridot laughed. But despite her insistence, that wasn't how the story really went.

--

"Okay, a little to the left!" Peridot commanded Squaridot as the eye Gem Peridot levitated a lifeguard chair around while Bismuth, Ocean Jasper & Teal Zircon dug up the ground to build a swimming pool. "No, your other left!" she corrected herself. "Wait wait, your other OTHER left!"

"There's no such thing as an other other left!" Squaridot yelled and grumpily set the chair down next to where she was standing. "How's this?"

"Perfect." Peridot gave her fellow technician a thumbs up before turning around to see the Lapis twins walk towards the construction site. "Oh, I see our lifeguards wanna start early!"

"Why was it necessary for us to dress in these?" Laz wondered while modeling the red one-piece she was wearing. "I don't think red is my color."

"I don't know about you Laz, but I make this look good!" Zuli declared while flaunting her body in a matching outfit. "We look just like the hotties on Coast Patrol or Destiny from CPH season 3! By the way, where's Lapis? She's head lifeguard, so shouldn't she be out here with us?"

"She still has the suit, but she's not coming out because today is a special day." Peridot stated. "It's the anniversary of a certain something."

"Hey, I think I can see Steven's car!" Ocean Jasper cried out as she peeked out of the hole to find Steven disembarking from his Dondai Supremo and walking over with the pumpkin pie in hand. "And he's got a pie, maybe as thanks for our hard work."

"Naw, I don't think it's for us Ocean." Bismuth said just as Steven walked over to Peridot. "I think we should leave them alone for a bit and get back to work."

"Aw, but I wanted a pie!" Teal Zircon complained.

"I see you got the pie." Peridot said to Steven while gazing at the pie in his hands. "In case you're wondering, we worked on a new meep morp last night dedicated to her."

"Okay, why don't you show me?" Steven offered.

"I'd be happy to." Peridot smiled before turning back to everyone at the in-progress pool. "Keep up the good work everyone, I'll just be taking the rest off!"

"Yeah, take some time for yourself, Peri." Bismuth replied while Squaridot used her burgeoning ferrokinesis to lift the blacksmith out of the pool. "Just don't get too teary-eyed and fill up the pool early."

"Yeah, we're planning on filling the pool for our opening ceremony!" Teal called while struggling to get out.

"And I'm just gonna catch some rays." Laz declared as she sat down on a lawn chair, pulled some sunglasses over her eyes, and began sunbathing. However, her moment of peace was cut off by Zuli loudly blowing into her whistle and laughing.

"So, who's the pie really for Bis?" Ocean Jasper asked as she climbed out the pool before helping Teal and the two sat down next to Bismuth.

"You two got a moment?" Bismuth asked, and the Jasper and Zircon nodded in affirmation. "Well, the pie is actually for a friend of theirs."

--

Steven and Peridot kept walking away from the pool and eventually found themselves in front of the Little Homeworld house that Lapis & Peridot shared. It looked like a smaller version of the barn the two Gems once lived in, but instead of being decorated with a mishmash of items around the barnyard, it now looked like Peridot did most of the construction with bits of metal and advanced technology sprinkled onto a simple-looking two-story cabin.

"Hey Lapis, we're here." Steven called out to Lapis as he and Peridot entered the cabin to find Lapis napping on the couch with a manga on her lap and a red one-piece hanging on a clothes hanger nearby. "Lapis, wake up."

"Agh, don't go with her Pierre!" Lapis yelled as she woke up from her nap and rubbed her eyes to find Peridot & Steven before her. "Sorry you guys, I was trying on my lifeguard uniform, but then I got bored and decided to relax a little."

"You still remember what day it is?" Peridot asked while Steven presented his pumpkin pie.

"Yeah, I still do." Lapis declared sadly. "Want to see the meep morp we've been working on, Steven?"

"Sure." Steven replied before the two Gems took him upstairs to their shared bedroom & workshop, where a very large sculpture of Pumpkin stood, a big smile permanently etched onto the front beneath a pair of innocent eyes. "Almost like the real thing. Except bigger."

"Showing this to you makes me miss her even more." Peridot began to hold back tears. "I still remember how I coped with it too."

--

The groundbreaking ceremony of what would soon become Little Homeworld went quite swimmingly for the Crystal Gems, thanks to the support of their Beach City friends and the Diamonds. But amidst the rejoicing of a new beginning for Gems on Earth, there was some bad news that flew right under everyone's noses.

After Peridot marked the giant pit where the barn once was with Little Homeworld's flag, Pumpkin came strolling up to her green owner looking far wearier and more decayed than she did previously, a sight which worried them greatly. As soon as the ceremonies ended, Pumpkin was rushed back to the beach house.

"Please Steven, you gotta do something!" Peridot begged Steven while Pumpkin laid before the trio with a heavy sigh emitting from her mouth. "Pumpkin doesn't have much time left, surely you must have the solution like you always do!"

"I'm really sorry Peridot." Steven said regretfully. "As much as I would love to help you and Lapis out, Pumpkin wasn't long for this Earth anyways. Death is a perfectly natural part of life. It can be real sad and scary to watch someone you treasured so dearly go, but ultimately, their time will come all the same."

"So, she was going to die regardless?" Lapis said apprehensively while stroking the living gourd's rotting body. "I don't really see how this is possible since you did bring her to life with your powers, but I can deal with it."

"Well, I'm not!" Peridot objected tearfully. "It's not fair! I've already been through so much, why does the universe have to keep nailing the hammer into the coffin?!"

"Peridot, I know you're upset, but you gotta listen." Steven tried comforting his little green pal. "Death is completely natural, even if it's scary. I mean, my dad might die someday, and so might Connie. I'm not sure if I can die like a human though."

"Well, your race is different." Peridot declared. "None of you will ever know what it's like to live forever!" With that, she stormed out of the beach house to vent, leaving her two friends to worry for Peridot.

"I don't think I want to know where this is going." Lapis muttered.

"If it's anything like what happened to Peridot after you left Earth, I don't think she'll take it very well." Steven agreed.

--

Using a trashcan lid, Peridot flew far away from the general area of Beach City and into the countryside, where farmlands were very prosperous. Farmlands like the ones she and Lapis tended to together in the past, and the ones where Pumpkin was born. The very sight of all these fresh crops made her more miserable. What gave them the right to grow so healthy while Pumpkin looked so withered?

"Rackum frackum produce, I'll show you what for!" Peridot mumbled as she touched down in front of a pumpkin patch and swiftly got to work on destroying them. "You walked so Pumpkin could die!" she yelled as her green body became covered in orange pumpkin insides. "Why can't anything go my way for once?!"

"Hey, get offa my crops ya gremlin!" a farmer yelled at Peridot while stomping over to her with a pitchfork in hand. "You got any idea what it's like to work so hard on a great harvest, only for it to be ruined by a bunch of punks?!"

"No, but I'm sure you don't know what it's like to love someone only to lose them!" Peridot argued with the farmer, a retort that stunned him a little before he tried to look more sympathetic.

"Coping, eh?" the farmer said. "Look, you have every right to get mad, but that don't mean you can just stomp all over someone else's hard work! You gotta find better ways to vent, ya know!"

"Look, sir, I literally just ran away from home, I don't have time right now." Peridot coldly rejected the farmer's advice.

"Well, looks like you left me no choice." The farmer shook his head before reaching behind his back and pulling out a scary mask to frighten Peridot with. "BOOGEDY BOOGEDY BOOGEDY!"

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" Peridot screamed loudly before flying away from the farm on her lid.

--

As soon as Peridot returned to Beach City, she soared right towards Steven's house, where she found him making a grilled cheese sandwich, and began pounding on his window.

"Steven! Steven!" Peridot yelled from outside, getting the half-Gem's attention. "Let me in, I wanna talk!"

"You know you can just come in yourself." Steven suggested before opening the door for his green friend. "How have things been going?"

"I got an idea for you." Peridot stated. "How about in exchange for helping me with Pumpkin, I'll do something for you in return. Just name your price, I'll do anything!"

"Peridot, are you trying to bribe me into saving Pumpkin?" Steven asked. "Didn't I tell you earlier that death is a natural part of life?"

"But you managed to save Lars from death with your crying!" Peridot objected. "Why can't you do the same to Pumpkin?! Why does she have to die while so many other pumpkins have to live?!"

"Pumpkins?" Steven asked. "What other pumpkins?"

"I vented my frustrations by whaling on some farmer's pumpkin harvest." Peridot confessed innocently. "He didn't take too kindly to that."

"I think I know where this is going." Steven realized. "Five Stages of Grief, right? First was anger, now you're bargaining. Which means depression might not be too far behind." Just then, as if on cue, Steven's phone started ringing with a message from Lapis that he readily picked up. "Hello?"

"Steven, is Peridot there?" Lapis asked from the other end of the line. "Ever since she fled the house, I took Pumpkin back to our place, and now she wants to see us both before, you know."

"See what I mean?" Steven declared to Peridot, who was now on the verge of breaking down because now, she finally realized it was too late. "Do you want to see her?"

"Yes please." Peridot began to sob and hugged Steven tight. "Promise me that you won't ever leave too, Steven."

"I promise." Steven stated, hugging Peridot back.

--

Meanwhile, at the massive construction site that would soon become Little Homeworld, Lapis gently watched over the slowly dying Pumpkin, whose normally bright orange skin now had splotches of grayish-black, as she let out a weak yip. "Don't die yet, sweetie." Lapis assured Pumpkin. "Peridot will be here soon, I know it."

And right on cue, Peridot and Steven soared right towards Lapis on the trash can lid to see Pumpkin off one last time. Peridot raced as fast as she could towards the groundwork for her and Lapis's new home and tightly nuzzled her pet gourd, unaware that it wasn't in the mood for such a tight hug.

"Peridot, let her go! She's in pain!" Lapis yelled while prying the sentient pumpkin from Peridot's embrace, much to the green Gem's agony.

"No, please!" Peridot cried. "Just let me hold her!"

"I'm sorry Peri, but I don't think she can take much more!" Lapis argued while on the brink of crying just as much. "Pumpkin's already dying. She's so scared right now, so let's just-"

"Don't try to argue Lapis." Steven solemnly interrupted Lapis. "Peridot's already having a breakdown as is."

"I'm sorry about that." Lapis quickly apologized before she turned to Pumpkin. "Pumpkin, if you can still hear me, I want you to know that you and Peridot were the only things keeping me sane here, even when I ran off to the moon." She said to the dying fruit. "I can't thank you enough for brightening my day with your cute little smile, your barking, and all the days we spent playing together. Even if we find a replacement, none can ever replace you, little guy."

"You want a turn, Peri?" Steven said to Peridot.

"Fine, but I won't like it." Peridot sniffed loudly as she walked up to Pumpkin. "You were like an offspring to us, Pumpkin." She said quietly. "When I first saw your little carved face, those adorable stubby legs, it filled my heart with so much joy. Figuratively, of course, since we naturally don't have hearts. But every step we took together, every struggle, kept me grounded here on this crazy planet. Oh stars, now I won't know what to do now."

"Mah, mah," Pumpkin barked weakly with her last breath. "Mommy."

"I promise you," Peridot declared while her gem touched Pumpkin's forehead. "I'll never forget."

And with that, Pumpkin gently shut her eyes, allowing herself to pass on with her mothers and her creator by her side.

--

The funeral that followed was a private affair, with only the other Crystal Gems, Connie and Greg in attendance, and Pumpkin buried outside Peridot & Lapis's house. However, it was after the funeral when trouble began brewing. Just like when she had first begun living with the Gems, Peridot began hiding away in the bathroom for the next week to grieve the demise of Pumpkin and seemed resilient in refusing to come out, no matter how much they tried.

"C'mon P-Dot, open up!" Amethyst called while pounding on the door. "If you're planning on flushing yourself down the toilet again, let me tell you again, I tried that once and it didn't work."

"I think I know what to do." Greg proposed his idea and held up a boombox that began playing a song he knew she would recognize. "I look up to the sky, that's full of stars-"

"I'm trying to mourn here, leave me alone." Peridot despondently declared.

"I say we should respect her wishes." Garnet stated before she turned her gaze to Lapis. "Unless…."

"You think I should go in there?" Lapis asked.

"You are quite possibly Peridot's closest friend." Pearl agreed with Garnet.

"Closest friend?" Bismuth raised an eyebrow. "C'mon, we all know there may be something more than that!"

"Well, okay then." Lapis finally accepted with a shrug and slowly pushed the door open. "Wish me luck." She then said before entering the bathroom and closing it behind her. "You still in here?"

"So, they sent you in now." Peridot observed hoarsely. "I may have lost all hope, but I can still hear you know."

"They do say we're the closest." Lapis said before she sat down on the edge of the tub where Peridot had hidden herself away beneath a cocoon of Steven's bedsheets. "Come on now, get up and sit next to me."

"Okay, if it's you, I'll talk." Peridot succumbed to Lapis's offer and rose from her comfy shell to talk with her barn mate. "I'm sorry for worrying you all this past week, it's just that Pumpkin was basically our baby! Watching her die was like watching a child die!"

"Except the child wasn't human, it was a magical living pumpkin." Lapis remarked, which caused Peridot to glare at her. "No offense."

"But still, outside of our relationship, why did you volunteer?" Peridot wondered.

"Well, because I wanted to return the favor." Lapis answered. "Remember what happened after that boat trip I took with Steven and his dad?"

--

As soon as Lapis dropped Steven and Greg off at the docks following the boat trip gone wrong, she needed someone to lean on in her time of need. It didn't matter who, it could be any of the other Crystal Gems, or one of Steven's human friends. But right now, there was only one person, or rather Gem, that she could turn to.

Lapis could now see the barn in the distance, and as reluctant as she was to admit it, Peridot was the only one who could understand her regarding a certain Quartz. "Peridot, are you there?" she called for her green housemate. "I'm back!"

"Lapis, so glad you could make it!" Peridot exclaimed while racing out of the barn. "I discovered that I can move spoons with my mind, I made some decent progress on my Camp Pining Hearts essay; though I'm still stuck on the poutine theory, and-" However, she realized a bit too late what Lapis was feeling. "Is something the matter?"

"Steven and I found Jasper during the trip." Lapis said morosely. "She wanted to fuse with me again because she says I changed her. And to be honest, I think it was kind of my fault. Unfusing with Jasper drove her mad and I even said I missed taking all my frustrations out on her!"

"Lapis, are you serious?" Peridot gasped in alarm.

"Yes, I'm serious." Lapis declared as her eyes darkened and she turned away from Peridot. "Go ahead, run off and live with the Gems again so you don't have to be another one of my victims. If Jasper says I'm a monster, then I guess I really am one, especially after the way I treated you when we first moved in together."

"Okay Lapis, I don't want your garbage right now!" Peridot yelled, briefly breaking Lapis out of her funk with the almost exact words she described the tape recorder she broke. "I can see you're very stressed out. You want to scream so bad, to hit something, to let your anger out! But whatever you do, don't lose it on other people."

"Wh-what are you saying?" Lapis asked.

"I'm mostly just repeating stuff I read online," Peridot admitted. "I think what you need is a way to vent healthily, maybe on a perfectly defenseless object."

"Like what?" Lapis raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"One second!" Peridot exclaimed while walking into the barn and coming back out with an alien plush wearing a top hat and bowtie that she gazed at with a solemn expression. "I'm so sorry my sweet." She said softly to the stuffed toy before presenting it to Lapis. "Go ahead, hit it as hard as you can. Or maybe something else violent, whatever."

"Okay." Lapis sighed as she began feeling around the toy for something to do before grabbing at the bowtie and ripping it off the alien's neck, causing some stuffing to spill out of the hole she created. "Whoa."

"So, how did that make you feel?" Peridot asked as the alien dropped from her grip.

"Good." Lapis muttered in awe of what she just did. "I feel so much lighter now, like a real adrenaline burst."

"See, as I told you." Peridot smiled happily. "You just needed healthier ways to relieve stress."

"You're right." Lapis agreed when she got an idea. "Now, how about I try something a little heavier?" She then glanced over to a nearby pickup truck and used the water from Peridot's makeshift pool to lift it into the air. "How about this?"

"Yeah, I think that could work." Peridot nervously replied before Lapis suddenly tossed the truck into the air. "NO WAIT, THAT'S A LITTLE TOO-" she screamed and covered herself to avoid getting hit, but the truck instead crashed into the wall over the barn entrance, creating a massive hole that the vehicle filled. "Hm, guess I was wrong."

"Well, if we're gonna be living here together, why don't we make ourselves at home?" Lapis laughed and put a hand on Peridot's shoulder.

"Yeah, I think this is a good start." Peridot agreed while wrapping her arm around the taller Gem's waist and the two began brainstorming ideas for remodeling the barn.

--

"Yeah, I really was there for you back then." Peridot realized with a grin. "And from then on out, we were so close."

"You bet." Lapis replied and cupped Peridot's face in her hands. "Let me be a shoulder for you to cry on this time. I love you Peridot."

"I love you too Lapis." Peridot responded happily before the two began to kiss, and their gems started glowing as they began to fuse into a tall, slender Gem with turquoise hair, dark cyan hair in the shape of a maple leaf, Peridot's glasses, Lapis's top with a bright yellow star on it, a skirt with a bronze ribbon around her waist and dark teal sandals with bronze accents.

The new, accidental fusion of Peridot and Lapis looked around the bathroom and gazed down at her four hands. Feeling around her body, she felts the gems of her components on her forehead and back before coming to a shocking realization and let out a loud, confused scream. "AAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"Is something wrong?!" Steven exclaimed as he barged into the bathroom to discover the fusion before him and started screaming as well, but this time in joy. "AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!" the new fusion continued screaming and covered her face in alarm at Steven as the two continued shrieking at each other.

--

"But was that fusion really an accident or maybe something more?" Peridot asked while she, Steven, and Lapis walked outside to her and Lapis's garden in their backyard.

"Maybe a mix of both?" Lapis answered with a shrug. "I mean, we did kiss each other after saying "I love you" to each other, but the fusion part came out of nowhere."

"Still, we were all so happy to see you two fuse at last." Steven said. "Words could not describe how long I've been waiting for that moment."

"I couldn't shapeshift, so I just assumed I couldn't fuse as well." Peridot observed before they happened upon a makeshift tombstone that read 'In memory of Pumpkin. A good girl to the end.' "You know, all this talk reminds me of a song I've been writing for the past few days. It may seem a little short and I pulled from other sources, but it's the best I got."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Lapis suggested eagerly. "Sing for us."

"Yeah, we never heard you do a solo before either." Steven agreed with the ocean Gem.

"Okay, if you insist." Peridot declared before she cued a nearby Robonoid tending to the garden to start playing jazzy music, and she started to sing. "My sweet little pumpkin o' mine, a living gourd with a smile so fine. You made us smile with your bark, your stem's like emerald, and filled with seeds of gold. You were our most beloved work of art."

Almost as if Pumpkin was coming back to listen to Peridot's eulogy, many similar living produce like additional pumpkins, some gourds, and squashes, began coming out to watch. "You saw fields of corn, sandy beaches too. In summers so warm, it was just us and you." Peridot continued singing. "And I think to myself, what a wonderful pet."

Soon, Lapis began to join in on the song as well. "Though your time was short, like all things are." She joined Peridot in singing with her own solo. "We'll always think of you, when we look at your star."

"Our sweet little pumpkin of ours," the pair finished the song and embraced each other. "You were a wonderful pet."

With that, the two Gems fused into Turquoise, this time on purpose while surrounded by living Cucurbita, and smiled.

"Thank you for coming today, Steven." Turquoise said to Steven. "It really means a lot to us."

"Nothing to it girls." Steven smiled while rubbing his finger on his upper lip.

In Memory of Thea "Muriel Bagge" White

June 16, 1940 – July 30, 2021

"What courage you have."

--

So ends the first installment of the Tearjerking Three. In comparison to what will come next, I'm pretty sure this will be tears of happiness at these two dorky barnmates basically becoming an item at last and even fusing too (also, I totally took Turquoise's design from @artifiziell, she makes some amazing stuff, go check her out). But next time, we move on from someone being dead for real to someone being dead to Steven. Can you guess which one? Oh who am I kidding, if you watch me on DeviantArt, I basically spoiled everything after this.

[manicdragondreamgirl]

I haven’t had chemistry since like 2008, and I’m also an idiot who likes to make my friends upset, so I rated the periodic table in order to tilt my friends:

Hydrogen - this is like your childhood friend who has always been with you more or less and always will be down to get a drink and chill even tho you haven’t spoken in years. Solid bro imo 7.5/10

Helium - always down for a good time, even if probably created Alvin and the Chipmunks which in some places is considered a war crime. 4/10

Lithium - Gives me bitchy vibes and is flammable as fuck if I remember. Skinny bitch with an attitude 3/10

Beryllium - idk this sounds like a sailor moon villain lol for that it can have a 6/10

Boron - more like BORONG amirite ha ha wait no seriously I have no idea lol 5/10 clean neutral rating

Carbon - *screaming* 2/10 I will not be taking questions

Nitrogen - cool cool cool tight tight tight 9/10 Nitrogen just is the cool hot chick you wish you were

Oxygen - kid who takes up all the glory for the group project even tho you did all the work, 4/10 for natural charisma

Fluorine - lol what are you knockoff chlorine lmfao bitch 3/10 reminds me of the dentist

Neon - I can vibe with this boy for his contributions to signs which cause my eyes to scream 8/10 modernized Art Deco thanks you

Sodium - 10/10 this is me and I won’t be taking questions next element

Magnesium - magnesium is a close relative of magnificent and therefore I think the case is closed folks 9/10

Aluminum - 10/10 for providing a home to my Diet Coke addiction I’d be dead without you

Silicon - 6.9/10 :smirk:

Phosphorous - This has a very soundly name and it’s welcome to do that but idk, not a fan, seems like he’d be smelly, 2/10

Sulfur - 1/10 pretty sure that dog farts are purely comprised of this and as such if I was leaving negative ratings I would

Chlorine - 7.8/10 for being in pools so we could swim without brain eating amoeba in the south you a champ

Argon - he seems like a nerd jk this guy has a good color 9/10 for just being himself

Potassium - I hate bananas and this word gives me the physical sensation of biting into one but only by thinking of abstract letters and making them into something which we can nutrientise from bananas and to me that shit is bananas, b a n a n a s — 3/10 for making me sing hollaback girl thru adhd word association

Calcium - hm my brain went to mega milk so you get a 2/10 today bud I don’t make the rules

Scandium - pretty sure this is fake lol what’s next faxdium, e-Mailite and copinium? 5/10

Titanium - this song’s a banger and also is the only thing that lets me wear earrings 10/10

Vanadium - if your erection lasts for longer than like idk it’s supposed to then don’t take vanadium wait what do you mean it’s not an ED treatment 4/10

Chromium - decent bloke shame the browser eats all your memory 5/10

Manganese - if a weeb tries to tell me how to pronounce mayonnaise one more time... 1/10

Iron - excellent tool against the fey, in your blood, what a bro, 10/10 this bitch slaps

Cobalt - has a powerful energy; I respect him. 8/10

Nickel - if I had a nickel for every time someone made this joke lol 5/10 he’s doing his best

Copper - taste bad 3/10

Zinc - isn’t that the dude in the green tunic and white tights who saves premcess Lelda or something lol 7/10 those games are good

Gallium - seems like a prick 4/10

Germanium - sounds like a child pronouncing geraniums which are superior 3/10

Arsenic - bad vibes coach 1/10

Selenium - isn’t this just sailor moon lol 10/10 love this bitch

Bromine - farmine wherever you aremine - 9/10 I love a good bro

Krypton - he’s okay I guess 5/10

Rubidium - yet another Steven universe villain who will be redeemed I imagine 4/10 seems a bit dull

Strontium - I feel nothing when I see this lad’s name and that seems like a shame 1/10 I don’t like it

Yttrium - this is an atrium in Yharnam, or something 8/10 would love to sit in one and make contact with higher beings

Zirconium - oh wait THIS is the sailor moon villain from the dead moon circus! 9/10 I enjoyed that arc

Niobium - seems sassy, I like that in an element 7/10

Molybdenum - I hate this one, rancid. 1/10 for making me have flashbacks to difficult Ancient Greek vocabulary there is no fucking way that sound combination is anything but Beta and Delta borking and then Latin being like oh imma steal that

Technetium - 6/10 decent name but seems a bit forced

Ruthenium - 5/10 kindly old lady element I guess lol

Rhodium - 10/10 this ain’t my first rhodium babee this lad has good vibes what a name what a king

Palladium - 10/10 for making me think of paladins

Silver - 12/10 I’m breaking the rules for this silver is the best it is so cool and also it is the other best tool for dealing with supernatural creatures when iron has failed you highly suggest Even if I am extremely allergic to it going into my ears...wait hold on

Cadmium - 2/10 sounds like a total douche

Indium - 8/10, i just think it’s independent and neat

Tin - 10/10 good ear sounds when involving rain and roof shapes and automatically reminds me of Nora Jones’s come away with me album which is also 10/10

Antimony - 7/10 decent protagonist good name all around seems rad

Tellurium - tell ur mom what? That’s so early 2010s league of legends humor bro 2.5/10

Iodine - strikes fear in my soul from having it poured on my wounds but this is why I have more pain tolerance than god 5.3/10

Xenon - I think this is a declension of Xena warrior princess which is a win in my eyes, 8/10

Caesium - kind of has a cunty Latin name, 4.5/10

Barium - yeah boss, bury’im! 7.5/10 I love a good mobster gag

Lanthanum - A bit pretentious on the Tolkien spectrum sorry bud 3/10 sounds like you’d be the dickwad elf everyone hates

Cerium - 6.5/10 I like this one, gives me a clean vibe

Praseodymium - the fuck who sneezed all their alphabet soup onto the paperwork and called it an element Christ we can’t keep doing this 1.5/10

Neodymium - oh my god what did I just say 1/10

Promethium - thank Christ we’re back to greek 9/10 Prometheus was a Chad I could get behind

Samarium - 5/10 gives me boring wizard vibes

Europium - 4.5/10 don’t rename opium chrissake can’t take these nerds anywhere

Gadolinium - 5/10 it’s a starship knockoff but it’s trying to be bold with the G sound

Terbium - 2/10 I don’t vibe with this one

Dysprosium - sounds like an antidepressant that has a lot of shitty side effects 3/10

Holmium - sounds like someone anxious asking their beloved to hold them 8/10 I like hurt/comfort fics

Erbium - you can’t just describe something as herby you daft bastard 2/10

Thulium - sounds like a spell I like it 8.5/10

Ytterbium - macguffin in a shite sci-fi show that gets highly overrated because BBC produced it and superwholock stans emerge and go utterly feral 1/10

Lutetium - bards are an element I agree 10/10

Hafnium - sounds like a river (my dog) sound and has a cute vibe, I’d offer it head pats 7/10

Tantalum - noooo you can’t be sad yuor so sexe haha 6.9/10 tantalizing

Tungsten - 10/10 this is a lad with history

Rhenium - 5.5/10 it’s ok

Osmium - 4/10 I wasn’t a big wizard of oz fan

Iridium - 9/10 sounds like iridescent and that’s in my top 10 favorite words and concepts

Platinum - 10/10 best Pokémon game

Gold - 7.9/10 all that glitters and all but it’s still pretty on some people, silver is better tho

Mercury - yikes 8/10 so it doesn’t kill me

Thallium - sounds like the brother character in a ps4 exclusive western rpg that oddly falls under the radar in terms of reviews and gets shafted at awards for no reason 7/10 I’ll support you tho

Lead - 2/10 that’s gonna be a no from me dawg pretty sure I still have lead in my hands from stabbing myself with my mechanical pencils

Bismuth - 6/10 sounds good in mouth and reminds me of biscuits for some reason, I’ll take it

Polonium - to thine own self be true so stop trying to act like the arts don’t influence science jk pretty sure this is named for Poland but hey that’s where we get the Witcher so you get a pass 6/10

Astatine - 1/10 I don’t even know what you are

Radon - 7/10 this motherfucker knows his shit and how to party, rad is right

Francium - I bring you francium...and I bring you myrdurdium... 7/10 for a good vine

Radium - killed the video star probably 9/10 I can get behind her

Actinium - as opposed to passtinium I prefer actinium in the voice of writing 8/10

Thorium - overrated Norse god 5/10 because lightning is still cool

Protactinum - sounds like some pretentious condom brand 4/10 wouldn’t do it with a dude who bought these

Uranium - I always thought she was a hot sailor scout 10/10

Neptunium - same for her I knew they weren’t cousins you couldn’t lie to me 4kids 10/10

Plutonium - sounds like a macguffin unfortunately 5/10

Americium - I read this with a pivotal letter missing and nearly died, 7/10 for the laugh

Curium - 10/10 gives me Curie vibes and also reminds me of curiosity which reminds me of—[old yellered before the association could set in]

Berkelium - what I shout when I want Burke (fam dog) to slaughter innocents and raze territories 2/10 world was not meant to know his commands

Californium - 1/10 California is cool with geography but probs could stand to chill with the ego sorry to my friends in Cali

Einsteinium - 6/10 it’s alright but we’re really running out of ideas huh

Fermium - 3/10 this one is porny

Mendelevium - 1/10 my brain didn’t like parsing this and I stand by my earlier statement of running out of good names

Nobelium - 0/10 you didn’t name any noble gases this cowards this gas can’t be a noble oh wait it’s NOBEL I take it back 5/10 seems an alright chap

Lawrencium - fear the old blood my sorry dead hunter’s ass I’ll never get back my life from the hours I spent trying to beat this lava shitting bastard 2/10 for being a boss who eats Taco Bell specifically before being challenged to have fresh lava shit with which to punish you for having the audacity to exist in his space

Rutherfordium - my god what a snob 4.2/10 I respect him a little but only because he sounds like a right lad

Dubnium - DROP THE BASS 10/10

Seoborgium - not sure about this one but it can have a 7/10

Bohrium - as an American English speaker this sound combination makes my pathetic throat become a black hole as I try to properly create the sound of it 10/10 I love when my body becomes a massive void in the universe

Hassium - lazy 2/10

Elements 109-118 can go fuck themselves I hate them all, collective 6.66/10 for their general demonic vibe

[captainillogical]

Home Ch.4

The domesticity of living with an alien who hasn’t quite had the chance at a normal life.

Distant Lands sequel.

Spinel/Reader

collab with my lovely wife @firstofficertightpants​

Today is another hot, bright day outside, and you have not had enough coffee to deal with it. Or any at all, actually.

Currently it's about an hour before your first lesson, and you're at Kiki's place - sitting on the toilet inside her bathroom in particular - trying to not panic.

"-and then! I told her if she wants to keep borrowing my jacket, the least she can do is NOT get mustard all over it! Can you believe her?!" Kiki huffs out next to your ear, dabbing more pigmented cover-up against your collarbone.

"Why the hell do you buy clothes that you know she'll keep stealing? You know she's not going to stop since you basically wear the same size." You reply, leaning into her brush. It tickles your skin, and you feel yourself almost sneezing.

"Because they're cuuuuuute, okay?" She whines, twisting her face in concentration as she smears makeup on a particular spot on your neck. "Wow she really did a number on you here.. are these teeth marks?"

"Pretend you didn't see them, just cover them up as best as you can," You plead, giving her The Face you know she can't resist. She rolls her eyes. "I just wanna look professional, you know?"

"They're gems, Y/N." She makes a point to jab you particularly hard on the side of your neck with her brush. "You seriously think they're going to care? Or notice?"

"Well, apparently a few humans signed up too, and I really would prefer to not get any more looks, er - more than the usual, anyway." You feel your phone vibrate in hand, and look down to see Steven giving you several thumbs up to your earlier text. 

"Why are humans signing up?" She asks, pausing momentarily.

"Not sure? But I'm blaming Steven on that." You reply, remembering to shoot Garnet a message as well about having her attend just in case you make a fool out of yourself in front of a crowd.

"Maybe they saw you with Spinel, and thought, hey, maybe the rest of us could-" 

A door slams against a wall, and you hear a resounding 'HEYYYYYYYY' from the hallway in a very familiar voice. Several pairs of footsteps are walking towards the bathroom the two of you are in.

Oh god, you need to go. You attempt to stand up from sitting on the toilet, and Kiki forces a hand on your shoulder with an "I'm not done!"

"Kiki!" Jenny pops her face into the bathroom doorway with an infectious smile. "What are you dooooooooo- whoa, Y/N?!" 

If you could clap your hands and disappear, you would.

"Heyyyyy Jenny," You greet her as flatly as you can, and then Lars also pops his head into the doorway. Oh. Great. "Lars. What are you guys doing here?"

Lars gasps dramatically, pointing to your neck. "YOOOOOOOUUUUUU-"

Kiki silences him with her palm over his mouth. "Dude I already told you, why are you being so dramatic right now,"

"You TOLD him?!" You screech, feeling completely betrayed.

"Well, YEAH, clearly you were going to just internalize it and dance around the subject!" She places her hands on her hips, makeup brush still in her fist. "I'm just expediting the process!"

"Tell him what!?" Jenny pipes in, completely engrossed.

"That Y/N's dating Spinel!" Kiki huffs out, like this is obvious information, and Jenny gasps.

“I wasn’t going to dance around the subject!! I just haven’t had the chance to shoot him a text yet..” You mumble, trailing off sheepishly. Okay, so, you know you should’ve told Lars already! It’s just.. Ugh. Talking about your feelings is hard. The face Jenny’s making is making you wish you could flush yourself down the toilet.

“You dumbass, were you seeing how long you could hide this from me?! After all I did for you.” Lars crosses his arms over his chest, miffed. “It’s whatever, I knew that was going to happen sooner rather than later, anyway. I was expecting like, two days, tops - with how you had talked about her.”

“Am I that obvious?” You ask flatly.

“Uh, yeah.” Jenny gives you a look. “Girl, you avoided me for an entire year after I asked you out, and then acted like nothing ever happened. I probably would have recovered my ego a lot faster if I knew your type was Gems.”

“My type isn’t GEMS,” You sputter, utterly amazed at the audacity of the three of them.

“Yeah but your neck says otherwise,” Lars teases, and you groan, covering your face as the other two howl in laughter.

“Remind me why I’m friends with any of you?” You say, muffled behind your hands.

“Um, because you have no other options?” Kiki grins, and you put your hands down just to lightly kick her on the shins, and she chokes out a snort.

“So, what’s the occasion? Why are you dolling up Y/N?” Jenny peers over at you, taking in the new.. upgrades to your appearance.

“She’s got some lessons today, and wanted to look more professional,” Kiki rolls her eyes, like somehow you wanting to not talk to a class looking like you got half-mauled by a sea lion is ridiculous. “Speaking of, did you want me to cover the scar on your face?”

“Ehhh, leave it. I don’t really care about that.” You look at the time on your phone, knowing you need to leave soon. Spinel has texted you a few words of encouragement coupled with quite a pile of heart emojis, and you have to school your face into not smiling at it like some sort of cheese ball.

"I think you look cooler with it anyway," Jenny tucks a piece of hair behind her ear, her gold earrings shining in the light of the bathroom. "Makes you look like you won't take shit from anyone."

"What about my scar?" Lars asks. "Is my face scar not cool??"

"Yours looks more like you fought a raccoon in a dumpster." Jenny grins, and you can't help the laugh that comes out of your mouth as Lars sputters at her response.

The four of you chat for a little while longer while you finish up with Kiki, Jenny asking way too many questions about your personal life - but this time, you don't feel uneasy at all about sharing some of the details with her. 

-

You're standing in the middle of Little Homeworld near the town center, coffee in hand - surveying the area as people and gems hustle around you. You probably should've also grabbed something to eat, but it's kind of too late now. Steven's bringing you lunch after this anyway.

It's twenty minutes until your first lesson, and you're starting to see a few gems show up early. They had to relocate where you'd be having the class - originally they had given you a decent spot under some coverage, but because the attendance got so high they moved you to the literal town center for the space. There's a lot of gems (and some humans) around, and most of them are either working on small construction or going about doing their other jobs. You watch three Amethysts a few yards away struggle to lift a large sheet of glass for what looks like a new cafe. Huh. The gems are really trying for inclusivity here. 

You turn around to look at your chalkboard that Garnet placed here for you, and write out a giant welcome sign on it, along with the class title and your name. You could've probably written it a little more eloquently.. eh. The gems aren't going to care. There's some sudden yelling coming from around you, so you turn to look - one of the Amethysts nearly dropped her side of the glass because someone bumped her — aaaand it's Spinel, with Bismuth next to her, who are reading over some blueprints.

You stand there, hoping Spinel hasn't seen you. She doesn't know your class got moved, but you're positive she was supposed to be working with not Bismuth today. Great. You don't need a reason to be any more anxious about this than you are, even if seeing her pink hair kind of sets you also at ease. 

More people and gems walk by loudly, and you start to wonder if you're going to need a megaphone. You grab your stack of papers, and go over your notes on your bench while you bide your time until it's noon.

About five minutes pass, and someone sits next to you on your bench. 

"Heyyyy." A familiar voice speaks, and you look up - you're greeted with the smiling face of that rose quartz you've bumped into twice. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Oh, it's you," You reply, a bit off-guard. You weren't expecting anyone to sit and chat with you, nonetheless the very specific gem you keep randomly meeting. 

"Saw you sitting here, and wanted to say hello before I went to this class I signed up for," She holds out her hand, her bright smile not making you feel as uneasy as it did the previous day. "I realized I never introduced myself. You can call me Rosie, if you want. The other quartzes have taken a liking to it."

"Rosie, huh.. that's actually a nice name. Mine's Y/N." You return her smile, and shake her hand.. which is strangely soft.

"Are you here for the lesson too? I'm pretty excited about this one, this has to be the most interesting class they've got on the current schedule right now." She leans in, putting an arm up on the bench back for support. More gems have started to gather in the centre now. 

"I am, but I'm actually the one teaching it.." You reply almost sheepishly, and her eyes widen in response.

"You're teaching it?!" She lights up immediately. "I thought it was just gonna be one of the other gems! No wonder so many came here from Homeworld for this!"

"... you're pulling my leg, right? How would any of them have heard of this? We only posted this class within the last week, and just on the singular board." You feel the bubbles of dread in your stomach. Or maybe that's just the excessive caffeine.

"I heard a couple talking about fliers over there, I'm not sure, but they were so excited." She takes a second to look around, and lowers her voice briefly. "I heard that one of the Diamonds wanted to attend, even."

WHAT. Your brain cannot deal with this information.

"B-but they're not, right?" You hear your voice waver, and you push your creeping anxiety down. "I don't think I can deal with a Diamond here, today."

She laughs, and it's not mockingly. It's almost sweet, actually.

"That would be something, wouldn't it?" She winks at you, a light smile on her face. "But no. I don't see their gaudy ships, so I think you can rest easy."

“Phewwwww,” You dramatically wipe your hands down your face, and let out a groan. “I was so worried there for a sec. What would the Diamonds care about interacting with humans, anyway? So absurd.”

“I have no idea,” She giggles at your antics. “Your guess would be about as good as mine.”

You see Spinel staring in your general direction, and your heart rate speeds up when you see her eyes connect with yours. Her face lights up like you’re the best thing she’s ever seen in her life, and you can’t stop the goofy smile that breaks out on your face. You wave at her, and she nearly drops the box she’s holding to enthusiastically wave back.

“Who’s that?” Rosie asks, face turned to peer at Spinel way over there.

“My girlfriend.” Is what comes out of your mouth automatically, and she whips her head back to stare at you with a strange face.

“You’re dating a gem?!” She hisses out, clearly shocked as her eyebrows shoot up into her hairline.

“Yes - jeez, why does everyone always react this way - and it’s not THAT weird, before you ask,” You say, feeling your face heat up in embarrassment.

“And a Spinel, of all gems? No offense.” She looks back over to stare at said pink-haired gem, before turning back to you. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You give her a look, taking immediate offense to her statement. She brings her hands up in defense.

“I didn’t mean it like - It’s just, Spinels seemed to always be designed for friendship; not romance. I’ve physically witnessed three dating catastrophes between them and other gems, in my time.”

“Well, my Spinel is perfectly fine.” You say, and it comes out a little more aggressively than you had wanted, and she recoils a bit. “But thanks for your concern.”

“I'm sorry, it wasn’t my intention to offend you.” She at least has the decency to look apologetic. “How long have you two been dating?”

“We just started this week..” You answer.

“New relationship, huh.” She looks like she’s studying your face, and you’re not sure how you feel about it. “I do wish you two the best,”- There’s a sudden low murmur in the group of gems nearby you, and you look over to see what they’re mumbling about.

Fucking hell.

Jasper, yeah THAT Jasper, is standing over in the now pretty fucking large crowd of gems that’s gathered to attend your class, and you don’t know whether to laugh or scream. 

“Whoa, she’s huge.” Rosie does a double-take at said gem, eyes widening hilariously.

“Yeah, a huge bitch. Jasper fucking hates humans, why the hell is she even here?” You groan, hoping that maybe she’ll just sit quietly and not make any remarks or heckle the other students.

"You know her?" She asks, amused by your response.

"Unfortunately, thanks to Steven." 

"That kid is some kind of magnet for problems of all shapes and sizes." She laughs, shaking her head.

"You don't even know the half of it.." You give her a tired look, and she laughs even more. She asks you a few more questions about Steven and your life, and you answer them truthfully while attempting to distract your anxiety.

-

A hundred gems is your turnout. A bit over, actually, and a handful of humans too.

You maybe feel just a little in over your head with this, but, well.. it's too late now. You spot quite a few gems you've seen before in the crowd, as well as Onion of course, and your neighbor George. You even spot Buck sitting in the middle of a group of Lapis who look like they're discussing heavy gossip with him, and he's actually engaged. Interesting.

There are.. so many eyes peering at you. You've never talked to a crowd this big in your entire life, and public speaking has never been your strong suit. But these gems came here for a specific reason, and goddammit, the thought of Pearl or Sour Cream teaching this instead in your place just doesn't sit right with you at this point.

You greet the class once the volume dies down enough, and a wave of enthusiastic greetings come back at you. You see Garnet in the corner and she gives you a thumbs up, and honestly it makes you feel a lot better that she's here.

You start off with your orientation notes, and talk generally about the basics, mainly about the similarities between gems and humans as common ground. Literally only about three minutes into this class, and a quartz that is most likely from Homeworld raises her hand. You call on her.

"Is it true that humans eat their younglings?" She shouts out from the middle of the crowd, her vibrant purple hair half covering one of her eyes. 

"Er," You stumble on your words, a little perturbed that that's the first question you get. "No, humans don't eat their young at all, you're probably confusing us with some other species."

She nods, like that sounds like the right answer, and then about twenty more hands shoot up.

"Let's save the questions until I at least get through this pile of papers, guys," You insist, and a noise of disapproval comes from near the front left side of the group. You turn your head, and.. it's fucking Jasper. Does she know that you'd throw hands with her if it were not for the fact that you're trying to be professional? 

You completely ignore her, and continue on with what you were previously talking about.

A good 20-25 minutes pass, and you're now in a good place to stop so people can ask their questions. A few humans you don't recognize ask you about how you know so much, and you answer truthfully. You briefly talk about living with Steven and the Crystal Gems, and how easy it was to co-exist. 

A LOT more hands pop up after that. 

"This might sound strange, but how do you ask a human to be friends?" The Lapis you call on asks. 

"You can just ask. Humans do it too. Sometimes people prefer to form them naturally though, but if you guys are already talking then it's a good sign." 

"But what about if they scream at you?" Another gem blurts out, and you curb the bark of laughter that wants to escape from your mouth.

"Generally speaking, what do you do if a gem screams at you? Same principle. Guys, humans and gems are way more similar than you think, and communication is key in this." At least your voice is steady, and you don't really feel as anxious as you were before, since the class seems to actually be going smoother than you had thought.

The giant hand of the Morganite in the middle of the crowd waves frantically, and you call on her with amusement. It's kind of cute how excited and interested a lot of the gems are. "You seem to have a ton of gem friends, and I have no human friends! Could you be my first?" She yells at you.

"Oh, I don't see why not," You answer truthfully, feeling a bit sheepish and taken aback by her request. Once those words leave your lips though, half the crowd starts shouting - ME! ME TOO! COULD YOU BE MY FRIEND?? - and you can't help feeling a little flustered as you try to calm the class down, taking a few more regular questions to keep it going.

You don't even realize through the noise of the center of little Homeworld when you spot a camera crew at the edge of your crowd, setting something up. It's the fucking local news station, what the FUUUUUUUUCK. You try not to outwardly display your internal panic and it's proving to be one of the hardest things you've ever done.

"When did you get that scar?" Jasper stares at you from her seat, pointing to your face.

You freeze momentarily at the lack of tact in that question, and that's when you spot Spinel off to the side of the class, at the edge of the crowd of students. Your brain stutters.

"U-um. It was during an accident with my girlfriend." You blurt out quickly, and instantly regret those words. You should've fucking lied or something because you can see Rosie narrowing her eyes at you in the front.

"Is that why you look like that now?" Jasper grunts out, crossing her arms. If you could throttle her you would in a heartbeat.

"Yes." You state firmly, meeting her gaze. She looks a little surprised at your answers. "Anyway, moving on." You hear a few murmurs in the crowd after that, opting to ignore how anxious it makes you.

You answer a few more questions, and try to not look at Spinel who keeps raising her hand with the rest of the gems. Shouldn't she be working?! Oh god, of course the camera crew is actually filming something - you can barely offhandedly hear the reporter spouting off something about little Homeworld into the camera as it pans around him. 

Your heartbeats are hammering in your chest, but you move onto more questions and try to keep your cool. Eventually you can't ignore how obnoxiously your girlfriend is raising and waving her hand trying to get your attention - several gems around her keep pointing at her so you'll give her a chance.

Oh, little do they know.

You sigh, resigning to letting her ask a question.

"Spinel." You call on her with a pointer finger as neutrally as possible, which is way harder than you had thought.

"Finally!" She cries with a fist pump, and a few people around her chuckle. "I just wanted ‘ta ask, is it possible for a gem and a human to fuse?”

You feel yourself freeze on the spot, taken completely by surprise. There’s a couple murmurs among the crowd.

Why the fuck is she asking that.

“U-um, no, unfortunately there’s no way to do that because of the differences in our biological make-up,” You say, feeling your face heat up in embarrassment - there are so many eyes staring at you.

“Well that sucks!” A random gem in the crowd shouts, and quite a few gems erupt in laughter. 

You try your best to wind them down and finish with their many, many questions.

It isn’t long until the class is over - you had only taken up hour sessions, and you’re so thankful for it. The class went over well, and many gems walk up to you to chat and shake your hand, and the local news station seems to be interviewing a couple gems on what went on - you guess there’s some sort or segment they’re doing on Little Homeworld, and today just happens to be the day they chose to do that.

You avoid the camera crew as much as possible as you tidy up your belongings, and Spinel walks up to you as you gather your papers in your arms.

“That went pretty good!” She beams at you, looking proud. You squash your feelings of affection that overwhelm you - you wish you could kiss her if you were not in public.

“Yeah, and if you ever ask me a question like that in my classes again, I’m actually going to ban you. I’ll even put up a photo of your face so the other’s know to barr you from the class.” You scoff at her, and she completely disregards it, getting a little closer to you to give you a look that you recognise as her challenging you.

“That wouldn’t work on me anyway,” She grins, hand raising up to tuck the stray hair that just flew into your face - she looks to the side of you briefly as you hear footsteps and speaking - 

FUCKKK, THE REPORTER IS WALKING RIGHT OVER HERE.

Your eyes dart back to Spinel, body posed to leave. “U-Um, I gotta-”

“Ma’am! Maaaaa’am!” You hear the reporter shout at you. 

Cool cool, keep it cool. Just breathe. You want to vomit.

"You two look pretty close." He remarks as he jogs up to you, slightly out of breath. The cameraman follows him, and if you could run you would. But you'd rather not be turned into a local meme, so your feet are firmly planted in the spot. "I wanted to catch you before you left, Miss Teacher!" He smiles brightly at you - that you know is just for the camera. 

"I was just finishing up." You smile politely. 

"I wanted to ask you a few questions regarding the class you just held if that's alright with you?" He asks, adjusting the small mic on his collar. He also holds up the microphone that the logo of the local news station is emblazoned on.

"Sure." You feel your nerves go haywire. This is way, waaaay too much pressure for you, you feel like you're going to faint, the fucking cameraman just winked at you.

"What's your name, firstly." 

"Y/N." You answer him with just your first name, and he gives you a look. 

"Last name? You gotta have a last name." He insists. 

You tell him your last name, and his eyebrows furrow before they shoot up into his hairline.

"Last name, last name?" He implores, holding the microphone closer to your face.  "Like, -last name- the lawyer working on that Gem case in Empire city, -last name-!?"

Oh. You forgot about your father. 

"Y-yes," You stutter out in a panic, and instantly regret waking up this morning.

God fucking dammit.

[picturejasper20]

I feel pretty much the same about this negative perception on SU being popular. I do feel like the discourses and drama that happened, especially the 2015 incident, played a part in that in a big way even though at the same time i feel it's not entirely the show's nor Rebecca's fault those happened since that is unfair but it does seems people see SU in a unique way when it comes to the negative that people probably don't care

Well, yeah, i kinda agree on that. Some fans on this website were treating Zami070 like she was a dictator over her drawing style. But that's what happens when you lack zero awareness and don't reflect on your actions. For a show that was trying to teach "love and tolerance", many fans seemed to completely ignore these lessons and used it to push their own agenda:Ships,headcanons,bullying and harassing...

It's not suprising there was so much discourse when the episode "Bismuth" came out because some fans had the same type of mob mentality that Bismuth had. The difference was that at least with Bismuth you could understand why she acted the way she did. These people? There was almost no explanation. So, its no wonder why they missed the point of the episode and got angry when they were proved wrong.

It's not SU's fault or Rebecca Sugar's fault that for a long time this fanbase was considered one of the worst cartoon fandoms. She tried to stop it many times but the infighting and bullying went on and on.

As for the negative perception that Steven universe has: Many people were ready to tear down this show apart before it started airing back in 2013. I don't know if you haven't read Introvertceleste posts about Crewniverse members talking that there were already people complaining about Garnet's design and how she's was "an awful role model" or Steven being a "straight white male" despite being different from your classic stereotype and sometimes acting as a trans metaphor (see Diamond's days arc).

For a few years the series was well- received. Animation fans and reviewers liked Steven universe a lot. Then in 2016-2017, a few videos rants on youtube started to pop up. Some of them would get tons of views. This made other youtubers say "Hey, let's do this thing, it's going to gives us hundred thousands of views" and that's how SU hate train started.

SU youtube rants start getting recommended, each one more spreading false rumors and more missinformation than the last because they were desperate to "destroy" a children cartoon.

Then you have the "Steven universe critical" thing that while they started pointing some issues the show had over time it developed into nitpicking, harassment to other fans and writers over ships and right down making up bullsh*t to make SU or the creators look bad.

They started calling Rebecca Sugar every name under the sun and making look like she was the next Hitler. The funny thing is that Rebecca was actually nicer than most of these so called "SU critical" and probably she didn't have any idea that they existed in first place.

She didn't encouraged harassing, she didn't say that SU was only "for lesbians and women" (in fact she created this show for a boy demographic but those who wanted to gatekeep the show seemed to forget about that).

As why this happened i can think of two reasons:

1)Cartoon Network's horrible schedule: The haituses of SU were ridiculous.We only got 3 or 4 episodes every 6 months. This made fans become more and more frustrated or many just dropped the series.

2) The purity culture that this website has: It's pretty common for cartoon tumblr to put on a pedestal shows that have representation but in the moment it does something wrong,everyone stars hating on the show. It's always the same thing. I think the exception to this rule is Kipo and the Age of wonderbeasts as it didn't get very popular.

I swear, just wait half an year and people are going to start hating on The owl house which is only on its first season And calling the creators horrible things. Right now its happening the same thing that happened with RS and Noelle: She's being treated like a god and the moment she says or does something wrong,bang! She gets cancelled. That's how it works.

The issue is that creators that are LGBT and minorities often get more hate for putting representation on their shows than those who don't. Many are afraid of writing their own stories out of fear of being harassed and acussed of transphobia and homophobia. It's counterproductive and very bigoted.

The most frustrating thing about this for me is when i see cartoons fans putting SU on the same level as Voltron. You know? The show that did a "Bury your gays trope" by killing one of the few gays characters? All this while Steven universe being the show that really cared about putting LGBT couples in first place. And this is something that many cartoon fans fail to undestand: No, it wasn't She-ra 2018, Kipo, The owl house or Adventure time that started all this. It was Steven universe, yet they ignore its cultural impact most of the time. It's very frustrating.

[fanfoolishness]

Greg Universe’s biggest mistake

First thing’s first: Greg Universe is an incredible father. What I would have given to have a dad like him... he’s amazing. And I think he deserves an enormous amount of credit for doing his absolute best to love and care for Steven through everything, especially through his own grief.

But there’s one decision he made that I think is going to come back to bite him and Steven both in Steven Universe: Future. And that’s Greg’s insistence that Gem stuff isn’t his thing.

Long post ahead about how this has affected Steven, Greg, and their relationship, along with some musings for what it might mean for Steven Universe: Future.

***

In early seasons it seemed to have been a very hard and fast rule. Initially he states in Laser Light Cannon it was insistence by the Gems:  “Wait, is that a magical thing? The Gems told me not to get involved with magic stuff. It... it could be dangerous or interfere with what’s left of my hair.”  The Gems reinforce this rule by acting less than enthused when he shows up with Steven.

 In Catfingers Greg excuses himself because the shape shifting is a Gem thing.  “Whup! Magic stuff! Should I get out of here? Is there going to be an explosion?” he asks anxiously.  While he helps Steven escape his predicament in the end, it’s clear Greg is pretty overwhelmed by the situation.  

It’s probably for good reason Greg doesn’t go on many missions. Of course, as a good dad, Greg is willing when the situation is desperate.  But he’s more comfortable helping Steven with things like transportation as opposed to leaning in to the magic inherent in the situation.  While Steven’s glad to have his dad along in Ocean Gem, Steven also sees him get his leg broken, a good lesson in Dad and Gem stuff don’t mix.

There’s several possible reasons for why both Greg and the Gems enforced this rule.  One is simply that Greg is human and more likely to be hurt on missions.  But we get another possible reason why in Message Received.  Greg’s hurt to see how the Gems see him as useless.  “I think so highly of you... it just isn’t fair.”  Which makes sense. Greg’s always known the Gems and their war were so much bigger than him. He’s looked up to them, even Pearl who often barely tolerates him. If this has always been their dynamic, no wonder he would feel inadequate when it comes to Gem stuff and he would want Steven to get the best information from them, instead of whatever he could cobble together.  He’d also know he’s unable to protect Steven the way the Gems can.

In The Return, Greg tries to explain some Gem things to Steven, one of the few times he does so, and it’s only because the Gems themselves have pushed Steven away to protect him.  It doesn’t go super well.  Greg’s intensely uncomfortable, and Steven is horrified to hear some of the truth behind the Gems’ presence on the planet.

Then in Full Disclosure Steven really starts to understand how uncomfortable his dad is with this stuff, especially once Steven realizes how much bigger it is than just the Crystal Gems he knows and loves.  “Now Dad’s really freaking out, what do I do...”

Greg, for his part, still does his best to stay involved in Steven’s life.  He takes Steven to the Barn to help with working on the drill to use on the Cluster, he provides a loving and stable presence in Steven’s human life, and he routinely checks in with him when he sees things like Stevonnie or Steven hating Kevin.   He talks to Steven about how much Rose loved him and wanted him.

Unfortunately, he messes up again during Steven’s Birthday.  He doesn’t encourage Connie to talk to Steven about her worries.  He doesn’t bring Steven into the conversation.  When he does talk to Steven, it isn’t really helpful, and he doesn’t apologize to Steven for the “wait and see” comment.

Greg: Why are you doing this? It... really isn't like you. Steven: Because, Dad, I can't stay a kid forever, when Connie grows up and becomes president what is that gonna make me? First Boy!? Amethyst: Steven, you can't just keep stretching forever. If you hold it too long, you could really hurt yourself. Steven: Yeah well, I'm half human so maybe it works different for me, we'll just have to wait and see, right? Greg: *sigh* Steven...

This is par for the course.  Greg understands when Steven’s stressed out from human problems.  But Greg doesn’t see when comfort is needed because of Gem things (i.e. never growing up).  Steven never discusses what happened to the Cluster or Jasper or Bismuth or even being lost in space in Bubbled with his dad.  Not that we see.  Did it happen off-screen?  Maybe....  

Except we know how good Steven is at repressing things.  Even Connie, the human he’s brought most into his life as a Gem, didn’t know who Bismuth and Eyeball were when encountering them in the hallucination as Stevonnie.  My guess is, no, Steven either never told Greg about these things, or downplayed them into funny anecdotes or quick asides.

After The Return, we only see Greg discussing serious Gem things when Steven brings it up, and it’s usually in relation to Rose, not about other things Steven has been through.  In Steven’s Dream Greg tells him who Rose was when he knew her, but he doesn’t talk about what Steven’s really asking about.  He wants to know what Rose was thinking when she shattered Pink, what the reason was, if it could possibly be justified.  Greg tells him Rose was an amazing, loving being, but how is Steven supposed to reconcile that with her image as a shatterer and a liar?

Steven gets another important lesson in Dad-and-Gem-stuff-don’t-mix when Greg gets abducted. Steven absolutely believes this is 100% his fault, and is so panicked he left Connie behind despite her wanting to help, and almost crashed a spaceship. Does he need any more proof in why he can’t involve his dad in this part of his life?

Even after they get back to safety, there’s no evidence that Steven and Greg talk much about what happened. Steven uses Rose’s room to try and process a lot of what he’s been going through, but to frightening effect. He’s starting to feel like he can’t talk to anyone about these things.  If he talks to Greg, he puts Greg in danger. When he tries to talk to “Rose,” he puts himself in danger from his own feelings.  So he represses. Again.

Lion 4: Alternate Ending shows Greg for one of the first times that Steven is really struggling with this stuff. He’s supportive, but deeply surprised. He had no idea Steven was thinking along these lines... because this is the area they don’t talk about. Steven cries out in frustration that he doesn’t know what he’s for, what his magical destiny is supposed to be — what an enormous responsibility he’s trying to take on.  Greg does try to reassure him.  

At his core Steven still believes he was made to deal with Rose’s problems, even if he’d like to believe otherwise -- if he didn’t, how could he just give himself up to Homeworld like that?

Gemcation shows that unfortunately after so long of this, Steven’s starting to have problems opening up about even his human problems.  He worries what Greg and the Gems will think if Steven admits he messed up with Connie. And Greg, convinced Steven is upset by what happened on Homeworld (you aren’t wrong, Greg, it’s just Steven hasn’t realized it yet!), keeps trying to make the Gems talk to Steven.   Because obviously, Steven hasn’t talked to Greg.

“But I know it's not space lag. This is some Gem thing he knows I won't understand. I don't know anything about Homeworld. I don't know anything about your society. Whatever horrible things he saw out there, you guys have to put it into context.”

After all the emotions brought up in A Single Pale Rose, Steven and Greg get one line of discussion together about Rose. Steven asks how Greg’s doing and Greg tells him it’s fine. Greg most likely doesn’t want to worry Steven at all -- a valid impulse! -- but come on Greg, there’s no way it’s fine. By modeling that it’s okay, it doesn’t need to be discussed, Greg loses a chance to connect with Steven on something important and painful for them both.  He doesn’t even ask Steven how he feels about it!

In the movie we see that Steven does reach out to Greg to help when the Gems get reset. This is typical of the pattern we’ve seen before. When there’s a physical problem with Gem stuff that needs help, Steven will feel okay asking Greg for help, and Greg will feel brave enough to try. Laser Light Cannon, Catfingers, Ocean Gem, Message Received, Steven’s Dream.  If Steven needs him physically, he’ll ask and Greg’ll be there because he does really want to help!

 But Steven never shares his dream of happily ever after with his dad. After all, that would suggest there was an unhappy past that needed to be overcome... and that’s not what they discuss, it’s not what they ever discuss.  So Steven shares this dream with the Gems, he mutters it to himself at one of his lowest points, he longs for it after the Gems are reset, he even tells Spinel.  He doesn’t tell Greg.

It may be important to have Steven and Greg face the ramifications of this head on. I fully believe SU:F is going to be about Steven learning to truly combine his Gem and human heritage and heart, because he is starting to lose the connection to his humanity in favor of all his work as a Gem and a Diamond.  Hell, he almost died because he forgot about his human self in all the struggle to regain his Gem powers!

Humans struggle. They grow. They make mistakes. And as teenagers, they rebel, sometimes especially against the ones who have loved them the most.

But what would make Steven rebel against Greg?

Consider Greg seeing Steven suffering, struggling with new powers he’s afraid of, and Greg pleading with Steven to talk with him.

Consider Steven, furious that after all the things he’s been through, Greg is finally asking him how he feels about Gem problems. “You don’t understand what’s going on. You never do!”

And the most painful thing of all would be that Steven isn’t wrong.

TLDR: Greg meant well by trying to separate Gem and human parenting responsibilities, but in the end, he fucked up. As all parents do in some ways, even the most loving, kind and supportive. I think it’d be an important message from the show to see that parental relationship shaken to its core — and then made stronger than ever with real discussion between them of what Greg’s choices meant for Steven, with both of them working towards a more honest and adult relationship together.  

It would show kids that their parents are human and they make mistakes.  Sometimes as a kid you need to be honest and tell them when they've messed up — but you also can trust that a good parent will love you through all of that, and that they are doing the best they can.

If we don’t see something like this in SU:F, I’ll be disappointed, as every other main player in Steven’s life has grown and changed tremendously.  Whereas Greg is always stalwart, supportive and loving, but not changing.  Maybe this would be the catalyst for their father-son relationship to change and mature.  I know I’d love to see it.

[schism-au-blog]

Chapter 2

After the speech, Rose and Pearl managed to seclude themselves into Pink’s Palanquin. Rose shapeshifted back into Pink Diamond and sighed. “I’m scared, Pearl,” Pink said. “I think I made the right decision, but what if I messed up? What if they all want to shatter me now?”

“My Diamond,” Pearl said, while Diamond Saluting Pink. “You did not tell Garnet and I Bismuth’s main goal was to shatter you. If you had, I might’ve advised you differently.”

Pink Diamond let her head fall back and let out a moan of frustration. “I really didn’t mean to tell anyone, it just sort of, slipped out. I mean, I was going to tell you once we had some time to ourselves, but I didn’t want to tell Garnet, and I certainly didn’t want to tell all of the crystal gems! How could I be so stupid!”

“You’re not stupid, my diamond.” Pearl paused. “I’m sure I’ve let far worse things slip over time. They’ll probably just forget anyway, and the ones who won’t probably would’ve thought of it themselves. Please don’t worry yourself, my diamond.”

“How could I not!” Pink exclaimed. She laughed, nervously. “I know I said we should act like we’re in front of Yellow and Blue while I’m in this form, but I really want to be Rose Quartz for just a few more minutes. Can you- treat me like you treat her? I know that’s an odd request but-”

“-I understand,” Pearl interjected. “When we’re out there, together, I feel like we’re close, like I really know you. But when you’re- this, it feels like you are my Diamond and I am your Pearl. It’s like all that doesn’t exist anymore. I don’t want it to end either.”

Pink smiled. “When we first started doing this, it was just a mask to get away from Yellow and Blue. A fun disguise for a day. Now, ‘Pink Diamond’ feels like a mask. This is what I was made to be, and yet- it feels so wrong.”

“Rose, you are fighting for everything you get to be one day,” Pearl said, looking away from Pink. “You, just like every other crystal gem, are fighting for the right to be yourself. And that’s terrifying.”

“You know, Pearl, I think you’re the only gem in the entire universe that doesn’t hate me,” Pink smiled, sadly. “Thank you for being here. For doing this with me.”

“There’s nothing, not on this planet or homeworld or anywhere else that I would rather be doing, and not with any other gem!” Pearl exclaimed. “Before I became a crystal gem, I cared so much about what everyone thought of me and if I was doing things right. Now, getting the freedom to define who I am for myself? Thank you for giving this to me.”

Pink sighed. “We should probably talk business again. We have so much to run and figure out and do.”

Pearl nodding, looking back at Pink. “Yes, my diamond. I think your speech was marvelous. Surely the rest of the crystal gems will agree with you.”

“I wish I could have your confidence,” Pink said. “I still feel like with every move I make, Yellow and Blue get closer to finding me out. Every move I make has so many consequences now. It’s exciting, in a way, but it’s more grim. Anything I do could hurt hundreds- no- thousands of gems.”

“But you could also save just as many!” Pearl exclaimed. “Imagine if we succeed. Imagine this world as a haven for gems without orders, gems free to do as they want. A place where humans and gems can coexist. If you remember everything you’re fighting to protect, the risks become a lot smaller.”

Pink smiled. “Right.” She paused for a moment and looked thoughtful. “Where do you think I should put Bismuth’s bubble?” she asked.

The corners of Pearl’s mouth turned downwards. “Hmm. Somewhere respectful. Not on display yet accessible to anyone who wants to pay their respects. We need to make sure it doesn’t look like we’re trying to make an example of her or erase her memory. Where is she kept right now?”

“I think we left her in the room you, Garnet and I discussed whether to tell the rest of the crystal gems.”

“I think we could leave that door open and keep her there. That room is pretty out of the way, and yet easily accessible if you’re looking for it.”

Pink pursed her lips. “You think? What if someone agrees with her and tries to unbubble her? It wouldn’t even take a large faction, just one rogue gem.”

“What if,” Pearl projected a model of the crystal gem hideout Bismuth was currently bubbled in. “We moved these guards,” she shook two guards who were guarding a different doorway in the same hall, “and put them,” she moved them to the doorway to the room where Bismuth was kept, “here.”

“Oh! Yes, that could work quite well! I’ll ask Cherry if she thinks it’s a good idea.” Pink paused. “When’s my next Pink Diamond obligation?”

“Not for a couple of weeks, my diamond. Why?”

Pink grinned. “We can ask her right now!”

Pearl looked shocked. “My diamond, are you really prepared to shapeshift for so long again? We’ve only taken a short break.”

“It’ll only take a few minutes to ask her!”

“But, my diamond, it’s likely other gems will want to talk to you about other things. You don’t want to have to refuse them, do you?”

Pink sighed. “You’re right, Pearl. Is there anything I can do as Pink Diamond at the moment?”

Pearl scowled. “Yellow and Blue DIamond have taken over many of the day-to-day tasks of running a colony, along with a large percentage of the war effort. You could visit the moon base, or check up on weapons operations. However, I think the best way for the crystal gems to win the war is if Pink Diamond doesn’t do much of anything.”

“Ugh!” Pink exclaimed. “I wish we could ask Garnet. But what could I say ‘oh just curious but what could Pink Diamond theoretically do to help us win the war?’ ‘oh look that’s funny she did exactly what you said would help us the most, would you mind telling us what else would help?’ She’d be onto us in seconds.” 

Pearl nodded. “Plus, if she looks too hard into you, she might see you transforming.”

Pink leaned on her hand. “You said I could check out things from the moon base?”

Pearl nodded. “I don’t think Rose will be missed for that long, and it would be a perfectly acceptable thing for Pink Diamond to do.”

Pink nodded. “Let’s go. I want to see how- would that be spying? To see how they all reacted to my speech?”

“My diamond, if you were able to maintain your other form for longer, you’d be out there talking with everyone and learning this first-hand. I’m sure it’ll be okay. You need to make the most of your time.”

Pink nodded. “You’re right. Let’s head to the moon.”

Pearl and Pink headed out of the palanquin and walked to the warp. Pink had asked her Quartzes to stand a bit away from the palanquin so she could sneak in and out, but once she got to where they were stationed, they followed her. As they got to the warp, Pink motioned to them to let her go alone. She stood on the warp and she felt herself being transported to the moon base.

Pink and Pearl stepped off the warp pad into the moon base. Pink scooped Pearl into her arms and leapt to the observation deck. Pink then set Pearl down and knelt in front of the observation deck controller. Pink gently tapped the globe-shaped controller and the room lit up with a projection of the cliff Rose gave her speech on.

“Where should we go from here?” Pink asked.

Pearl pointed down the cliff and to the left. “I think I see some gems discussing over there!”

“Good eye, Pearl!” Pink tapped the globe again, and they were in the midst of crystal gems discussing Rose’s speech. 

“I feel bad for Bismuth,” they heard Peridot say. “I understand not wanting to just sit around and wait for this thing to be over. I mean, does she really deserve to be bubbled until the end of the war?”

“Exactly!” Snowflake Obsidian said. “I actually can’t believe Rose is against shattering Pink Diamond. I don’t know how I feel about shattering any homeworld gem that I come across- some of those Rubys are just used by the elites, but shattering a DIamond? That should be something every crystal gem should get behind, ‘specially our leader.”

“Quartzes couldn’t understand,” Aschamalmite said. “Us working gems know that the only way to change the system is to get rid of those in charge. Bismuth was right.”

“If only I could figure out how this ‘Breaking Point’ worked, I could probably recreate it,” Peridot offered.

Pearl noticed Pink starting to fret, so she asked “Shall we go see what those gems down the hill are talking about, my diamond?” She hoped that those gems were thinking more reasonably, which would reassure Pink.

Pink nodded and Pearl tapped the globe. The observation deck shifted over to a clump of gems which included Cherry Quartz, Morganite, Jasper, and Ruby.

“So, I don’t know,” Cherry finished, right as Pink and Pearl arrived.

“Yeah, me neither,” said Morganite. “I mean, Rose gave me everything. Without her, I would’ve been shattered long ago now. But I feel like people are going to discard my opinion just because I would be higher-ranking back on homeworld.”

“But you’re off-color!” Ruby exclaimed, “They’d shatter you!”

Morganite nodded. “True, but I still socialized with the other high-ranking gems before they declared me ‘defective,’ so I might be sympathizing with them more than I should,” she explained.

“I don’t think having too much sympathy is possible!” Jasper exclaimed. “I mean, homeworld’s lack of sympathy or empathy is the very reason so many of us defected! They refuse to understand anything outside of what they think is ‘right.’ I understand where Bismuth was coming from, I understand where Rose is coming from. Is either of them right? Who knows! What I do know is I used to fight for homeworld same as anybody else. I can’t shatter my former self. If Pink Diamond is shattered, I’m not going to cry any tears over it, but I don’t think it’s what we should aim for. If we get there, we get there, but honestly bubbling her seems like the better option. Or just getting her to leave us alone.”

“Hear, hear!” Ruby yelled. “When we win the war, I want it to be because we had compassion! We cared! If we start shattering gems, no one is going to join us anymore. Before I joined, the Crystal Gems poofed two of the other Rubies in my squad. If they had been shattered, I never would’ve joined.”

Cherry nodded. “I’m grateful to Rose for making the decision she did. If I had been in her place, I probably would’ve froze enough for her to shatter me.”

“Plus, homeworld has a lot nastier tech than what they’re using right now,” Morganite said. “They’re trying to not make us look too sympathetic and add gems to our numbers, but if we started shattering gems, I’m sure that would be a lot less of an issue.”

Pink set her hand on the globe, turning the observation deck back into a normal room. She sank to her knees to be around eye level with Pearl. “I don’t know, Pearl. That first set of gems seemed awfully confident. I’m so scared about what will happen.”

“Do you have enough energy to talk to Cherry and Garnet?” Pearl asked. “That might give you some extra clarity.”

Pink nodded. “Let’s head back to the palanquin, then back to the base so we can chat with them and everyone else.” Pink was careful not to exclude anyone.

Pearl nodded, and back to the base they went. 

[princessbunnyblossom]

Bite marks and Roses Ch 10

Spinel whipped the west off her brow and listened as a couple of Peridots outside her room seemed excited about something so the small pink gem listened to their conversation.

“Have you heard?” The first Peridot spoke.

“How can I not, the entirety of Homeworld has been talking about it.” The second chimed.

“Yeah I heard this years ball is allowing lower ranked gems to join the ball.” The first Peridot said.

“I heard if you get an invitation you can enter but only if you have one. There are no affections.” The second Peridot said.

“Looks like the pearls have their work cut out.” The first one chuckled.

The two gems left chucking to each other and Spinel sighed but she began to replay what they had said on loop. One of the diamonds was hosting a ball? Spinel rubbed her arm and shivered. She was happy that the nightmare was over. Spinel couldn’t bare the sheer thought of being in any more pain. About this ball it was said a gem would receive an invitation, how odd normally high ranking gems would attend balls or any other event by the diamonds. However since it was possible that anyone could attend that was just mind blowing to the small pink gem. Spinel slowly got up and stretched her limbs. It was such a pleasant feeling to stretch and move again. She feared that she would never be able to feel such feelings if she stayed in the garden much longer.

It was so strange seeing so many gems engaged and happy about the ball. Maybe it was because they could never go and this time they could so that might have been what all the buss was about. The pink spinel stared as she watched a couple of them pass by. Maybe Spinel should get out and walk around, come back later when the lights go out. Spinel looked out and smiled. They lights were still on, it was a good sign for her considering her unfortunate events with Jasper. Spinel shook, the daunting fear that Jasper would find her again haunted Spinel in the back of her mind.

The sheer thought of encountering that brute again made Spinel shutter and almost reconsider going out. Maybe she was blowing that out of proportion but that Jasper must feel pretty bad that she was beaten by a spinel. Spinel smiled to herself feeling a small brief moment of triumph. Who would have thought that Spinel would have fend off let alone defeat a strong quartz soldier like Jasper. The thought of beating that gem made the small pink gem stand tall and proud. She didn’t need to be afraid, Spinel matched right out of the room with a brave smile on her face. If she managed to defeat a quartz solder than she could handle anything that was thrown her way.

She was a rough, tough gal and even if she didn’t have a Diamond Spinel would try to make the most of it. Yet...it did hurt a lot. She was loyal to Pink Diamond for such a long time and now that she was gone Spinel had no one and the small pink gem refused to go to that other pink diamond, the one who had taken her away from Spinel. Spinel didn’t nor want to fathom what it would be like to serve another diamond. No, she never wanted to entertain anyone else other than her diamond. Spinel sighed and looked around as a couple of gems happily chatted about the invitations they received.

“Can you believe it! I can’t wait till we get to go.” One of the peridots said.

“No kidding, ai hear only the higher ranked gems are allowed inside.” A bismuth said,

The small gem watched the two other gems go by and Spinel shrugged and passed by them both, Spinel glanced around and could see a lot of gems were receiving these invitations.

Was the ball really that big of a deal? Spinel had no idea but every gem who got one seemed to be pretty happy. Spinel shuttered remembering her nightmare. The biting, the blood. Oh stars the blood. Spinel whimpered, not wanting to think about any of that. Then there came a thought. Would she be getting one as well? Spinel thought about it but shook her head. No that couldn’t be right, she was a Spinel not even a good one considering that Pink abandoned her. Spinel sniffed as she whipped her wet eyes. How funny a silly spinel going to a ball. No, that wouldn’t happen if a zircon hardly knew who she was than no one probably knew who she was.

So getting an invitation seemed less than likely. It both relieved and saddened Spinel but the scary dream of the dreaded bloody ball kept Spinel feeling more relieved than sad. She stared as the other gems chatted and talked about the ball that would be held by one of the diamonds. Spinel took the time to walk around and explore more of Homeworld. She saw so many gems with said invitations and saw how happy they were. Spinel however didn’t pay much attention as the urge to try and make new friends and wanting to play seemed to dominate most of her thoughts.

Spinel could see a couple of lapis gems flying freely above her chatting about the ball while holding some decorations in her hands. Everyone seemed to be talking about it, guess this suppose ball was a huge deal after all. Spinel sighed but watched as some aquamarines fluttered around holding some more decorations and streamers that were of different color.

Spinel turned to glance around and caught sight of a pyrope, those gems were of high class and besides the red gem was….a jade. Spinel shuttered at the reminder of the jades in her nightmare and began walking up to them, the strange feeling of anxiety come prickling yo her back somehow. Despite being s gem who was made for people to have fun and enjoy she hadn’t had much luck of making a lot of friends especially when being with Pink Diamond and left alone for six thousand years wasn’t good for her either. She felt terribly shy but she couldn’t help but approach them.

[shinneth]

SUF as a whole just left me with an empty feeling.

I feel you there, anon. In Dreams aside, I could take or leave the rest of this series (and in most cases, leaning well towards the latter sentiment). 

But I guess that’s to be expected when 90% of SUF focused squarely on Steven’s PTSD and need for therapy and the many, many red flags shown as early on as the beginning that signaled his eventual breakdown to where he ended up in the climax.

Especially with the fanbase itself constantly screeching that Steven needs therapy, Steven has PTSD, Steven’s gonna corrupt, et cetera… like, it was all laid on far too thick. So when we got to Growing Pains, it really didn’t move me like it did so many others because it came off as such a “No shit, Sherlock” moment for me when Priyanka finally addressed the underlying issues the show itself really didn’t even bother trying to be subtle about.

Don’t get me wrong; a lot of people who have suffered (or are presently suffering) from the same problems as Steven irl have been helped a lot by these kinds of episodes, and I do appreciate that.

But from my personal standpoint, yeah… I knew from the start that Steven’s underlying issues alone were not gonna be enough to sustain a full series, and sure enough, it wasn’t. We got to see some bits here and there with the other characters, but we also had a few choice characters be really shitty people in season 5 that never got properly addressed before it concluded, and with the timeskip in SUF, all of that just got handwaved off as “dealt with offscreen”, which is the laziest BS ever. 

And worst of all, at the end, they really didn’t stick the landing well at all. I’ll at least say SUF’s resolution wasn’t the mega levels of offensively terrible as Change Your Mind - but then again, it’s hard to out-do giving totalitarian space dictators with countless lives lost under their watch a fucking FACE-TURN out of nowhere. 

Like, really, the Diamonds’ presence (White especially) in SUF actively made my viewing experience even worse towards the end. Yes, I should be glad they’re establishing that the Diamonds are at least starting to use their powers for good and rebuild some of the lives they ruined.

But, y’know… doesn’t change the fact that they’re all responsible for multiple counts of global genocide. Like, any living creatures native to their colony planets? They’re still fucking gone. And the Diamonds themselves just come off VERY unnatural as “nice” guys - and in many cases, they’re even creepier now than they were as villains. Good god, White’s blubbering in the climax was fucking insufferable, though. 

Partially I think this comes from SU being a “kids show” so there’s this pressing need to end things as cleanly as possible. I’m more miffed that in the end, Steven still got pretty much everything he wanted.

They had some admittedly good set-ups to Steven’s growth, like having him accept that people grow up, change, and move on with their lives. We see the clear evidence that Steven’s got an unhealthy clinginess towards his human friends - and Connie’s no exception. 

And considering they took the time to establish that:

Connie has friends other than Steven. She gets along with them just fine, so it’s not like she’s totally lonely or isolated without him.

Connie is ambitious with many goals and aspirations when it comes to her education and potential career paths. She’s shown to have put a lot of thought into her options and at no point comes off as feeling pressured by her parents or friends into this.

Connie knows she has to work hard and often to achieve her dreams, and despite that rigid lifestyle, it doesn’t seem to bother her in the least. That would imply she really wants to reach these goals she set for herself, whether or not Steven’s in the picture at all.

Connie and Steven’s dynamic is a far cry from how it was when they started out in the original series. You can tell Steven has no clue what Connie’s talking about when it comes to her goals and just plays along, pretending he understands anything coming out of her mouth.

Connie, despite what her speech would lead you to believe, has been every bit as insufferably dense as the gems in SUF when it comes to Steven’s issues. In Bismuth Casual, Steven’s very specifically-worded concerns were misconstrued as a fear of skating (or his inability to, whatever) - and in the end, they just became Stevonnie rather than properly talked things through. You know, something PERIDOT 100% did in the prior episode.

Connie is very firm about wanting to live her life as herself. She’s not against being Stevonnie from time to time, but like hell does she want to be Stevonnie for the long term. 

Connie knows marrying in general at her age is a stupid-stupid-stupid idea, even if it is Steven. And considering her well-established commitment to her studies and reaching her lofty goals, Connie - at least at the time - seemed to know a relationship with anyone just wasn’t in the cards for her at this point in her life. There’s no need to rush that shit, and she won’t compromise her life just to give her needy friend this thing he wants that he doesn’t even fully understand truly is. 

Or, you know… just have Connie backpedal hard on a good chunk of that and date Steven so that he won’t become a monster again. I’m mostly kidding with that - but by kissing his monstrous self and that triggering his restoration, then soon later we see that even though Steven and Connie can only have a long-distance relationship at best, she’s dating him right now anyway even though this needlessly makes her life way more complicated than it needed to be - like seriously, how can I not take that as Canon Connverse being founded on the condition of “Okay, if it’ll keep you from losing your shit, going pink, and turning into a monster, I’ll date you”?!

And in the end it yet again gives Steven more-or-less exactly what he wants, even if it isn’t something he really needs. 

I’m glad Rebecca clarified that Steven would still visit Beach City often, because I had a very hard time buying him just traveling by himself on the road. And maybe it would have worked better if he was just doing it short-term to “find himself” or something along those lines, but nope! They’re basically saying this is what Steven wants to do.

And honestly, even that is dampened with his clearly-stated intention of visiting Connie way more than he intends to visit the gems. Even though Connie’s gonna be busy. With college.

This just… wasn’t a good ending. It had plenty of good moments - his goodbye to Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot especially was very well-executed and the closest this finale came to drawing out any real emotion out of me. I loved the scene of Steven giving Greg his room; that was adorable. The last meeting with Tsundere Jasper was amusing.

But everything else… ehhh.

I mean, what can we really take from this season that I haven’t already outlined? The biggest takeaways were the plot points everyone saw coming a mile away that weren’t even executed all that well. 

In Dreams, as great at is was, might as well have not even happened - because what really carried over from that episode through to the end? Even though Peridot was the only one who got through to Steven, legitimately comforted him and addressed his fears, and the episode for once ended with Steven being happy with no underlying concerns about his problems - immediately he’s back to being awkward and depressed and frustrated by Bismuth Casual.

And I get that shit like trauma shouldn’t be resolved so easily, but for what In Dreams accomplished, I expected there to at least be a semblance of progress. Steven’s known since that episode he can hang out with Peridot and talk to her about whatever without needing a reason to do it, but he never ever takes her up on that again. 

So again, what was the point? 

You really get the impression that the quality of writing took a backseat just to emphasize the symbolism of an issue people commonly have, but SUF’s execution stretched my suspension of disbelief far beyond its limits. 

And nothing stretched that farther than Connie’s insufferable fucking speech in I Am My Monster; that pretty much completely made In Dreams feel like it never really happened in SUF’s continuity. 

In some ways, I just prefer to believe In Dreams was just a dream itself. An AU offshoot in SUF itself. Considering it’s so ridiculously good compared to the other nineteen episodes and by far the most pure and wholesome, maybe that’s the best way to see it. 

In Dreams was too good for its own series. That’s literally the only thing I personally took from SUF as a whole (at least in terms of lasting impact). 

So yeah, I guess for only one episode of twenty to really hit me in the feels, “empty” is an apt way to describe the series, anon. 

Seriously, if I didn’t have my own massive SU-AU to mess around in and do things properly, this probably would have upset me more. 

Instead, I just chuckle at Rebecca’s Monster Steven and raise her to what I’m putting my version of Steven through in my current story. Where I’m pulling all the stops to make other characters matter even though the stars are undoubtedly Peridot and Steven. 

And I’m actually making actions yield serious, lasting consequences.

(yeah, part of me wishes Jasper wasn’t revived - or alternatively, have Steven accidentally shatter White Diamond instead of Jasper since he came awfully close in canon

or even better, shatter Jasper and revive her, then accidentally shatter White and not be able to revive her since Steven used up ALL that diamond essence on Jasper…

yeah I’m kind of a monster)

Your pain is mutually felt, anon. So I’ll prescribe you endless refills of better-written and better-executed SU fanon to heal the emptiness SUF left inside you.

[starlightinhumanform]

The Art of Love: Chapter 5

Fandom: She Ra (2018)

Ship: Glimadora 

Summary: Glimmer continues to learn about Adora— and the way she feels about Adora. 

Warnings (for this chapter): Mild Language (please tell me if anything needs to be added)

Genre: High School AU, Angst with a Happy Ending, Rivals/Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Fluff

A/N: This part is pure indulgent fluff (Brought to you by Hozier) but I had so much fun writing it and I hope you guys like it too! Please tell me what you think! All likes and reblogs go straight to my cold, dead soul. Love you all 🖤✨

Ao3    The Art of Love Masterpost    Fic Masterpost    Fic Request Info

3 protons later, when Adora’s face had returned to it’s usual colour and was no longer wet with tears, Glimmer was still no less mystified about what was going on or what her situation with Adora was; were they friends, were they acquaintances- what even are acquaintances??- had she actually hugged Adora? Why would she do that? Well she knew why, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to admit it. One of her brain cells had resumed its habit of calling her a loser. Once again, she felt that it was making a fair point.

Adora seemed oblivious as she continued to work away on the clay Glimmer had assigned her to, her back bent and stray pieces of hair creating a divide once more between her and the rest of the world, between her and Glimmer.

The silence had become awkward again, at least on Glimmer’s side. The oxygen in the room felt stuffy and hard to breathe like the air in a closed car in the summer that heats up and makes the whole car into a moving oven; it felt as if it were being thickened by the tension Glimmer felt. She could readily assume though that she was the only one feeling this awkwardness and, if it were real, she was probably the one creating it.

If only she could think of something to say, something to do, something to break up the space between them, something to place how causal she was supposed to act now, something-

“Hey, what are you painting?” Adora asked. Bright, friendly, opening up the room for conversation, casual but nothing too personal or anything that would just make matters more awkward. Damn how did she get so good at this whole ‘talking’ thing? Is there a class I should take?

Glimmer topped the rambling in her mind for a moment to answer, “I’m trying to make them look like a chunk of Bismuth.”

Glimmer held up one the finished pieces that was nearly dry at this point and hoped Adora wouldn’t make a big deal of it the way she had about all of her other art. Of course, things could never go the way Glimmer wanted them to and Adora’s jaw was dropping before she had the time to finish the thought.

“Glimmer!!”

“...yes?”

“That’s so cool- oh my god- how do you even? Holy shit!!”

Glimmer could feel her face going red; it was like she hated any type criticism but didn’t know how to handle compliments. She knew it was illogical but it didn’t stop her from doing it which is why her brain chose this moment to remind her what a loser she was. Yeah, yeah I know. Now shut up and help me talk to the pretty girl.

Did she just call Adora pretty? On the one hand that could be a very, very bad sign pointing to something that Glimmer was attempting to refuse as even a possibility but on the other hand, it was just the truthful reality. Glimmer had always known that Adora was pretty, far prettier than she ever considered herself- that’s for sure.

Glimmer shook herself out of self contemplation/pity party to see Adora leaning towards her and asking if she could see one closer. Nodding, Glimmer placing the one in her hand into Adora’s cupped and waiting palm. She gave a habitual warning of watching out for wet paint but wasn’t focusing on her own words. Instead, she was thinking about how this was the first time they had touched since the hug. That shouldn’t have mattered as much as it did.

Adora held the little round of clay between two fingers as if it were a fragile, ancient artifact. She looked at it with the same child-like awe that she had directed at the chopsticks earlier. Glimmer was slightly insulted by the fact that her work seemed to hold the same amount of amazing qualities as some mass produced wooden sticks. Mostly though, she was just watching the look of wonder that filled Adora’s face, the girl’s mouth slightly agape and her eyes absolutely locked on the small ball that she wouldn’t stop turning from side to side to see the light reflect off of it. Glimmer scolded herself for it, but couldn’t stop soaking in the admiration in Adora’s expression. Why should she care so much about what Adora’s opinion of her skills? She shouldn’t and that was the final word on that. Yeah but she’s popular and if she respects me, then maybe other people will too. Ha! So she could justify it! 

...And of course she hated how happy that made her.

Adora cleared her throat, apparently realizing how childish she looked; Glimmer tried not to look or feel so disappointed as she actually was, “How did you do that?”

“Hmm?” Glimmer raised her eyebrows hoping to express how little she understood what Adora was talking about.

“I mean the way it shines; it really looks like metal. It’s just,” she huffed like she was giving up on something, “amazing. I know I keep saying that, but it really is true!”

“Oh, uh, it’s just the paint,” Glimmer held up the bottle and waved it in the air, “Metallic paint: really handy when you want to paint something that looks like, um, metal.”

Adora smiled at that, making Glimmer glad that at least her stupidity wasn’t going to waste.

She handed back the ball of clay with slight reverence that made Glimmer squirm for reasons she couldn’t quite place.

Glimmer placed it back down among its completed siblings and Adora scooted back to her place of work. Well I guess this conversation is over.

It was several more minutes before Glimmer got up the courage to say something else. The silence seemed to roar in her ears at times like that, when she felt like she should say something but just didn’t know how. That was part of the reason she asked the question she did, “Hey do you mind if I turn on some music?”

Adora whipped head around to face Glimmer (and maybe to fling her messy bun- which was getting messier by the minute- out of her face), “Yeah, sure!”

Glimmer connected her phone back into her speaker- to where it had been before all of this had started with Adora’s text. Her hands were shaky again as she scrolled through her music to the H’s. What did she expect to get out of this? Adora’s approval, her friendship that she didn’t even know was real or if it would last? A part of her mind whispered You just want to hear her sing again.

And thus Hozier began ringing out in her room again. This time in a man’s voice, followed by music, and layered to create harmonies. It was heart wrenching because of the authenticity; that’s why Glimmer liked it. And somehow, despite the genuine emotion that filled the music, it didn’t seem as real as Adora had managed to be when she was alone in Glimmer’s room, singing merely because she felt the need or want to.

“My lover’s got humor

She’s the giggle at a funeral

Knows everybody’s disapproval-”

Adora flung herself backwards with dramatic happiness, “Oh my god, I LOVE Hozier!”

“Yeah, I know,” Glimmer blurted our without thinking.

She winced at the confused glance she got in response, “I saw, er, heard you singing earlier.”

“Oh.”

The room was silent except for the music still pouring out of Glimmer’s speaker, neither knowing what to do.

“You’re really good,” Glimmer decided to speak from the heart; it was true after all. She recalled the hypnotizing quality of Adora’s voice, the jealousy she had felt. Part of that jealousy had simple roots: her mother was an amazing singer whose voice rang throughout the apartment equally sweet and heartbroken in a way that could bring the most calloused hearts to tears. It was no exaggeration to say that Glimmer, on the other hand, sounded like a pig with a sore throat. Ok maybe that was a little bit of an exaggeration, but the difference in talent of undeniable; Glimmer had always felt that she had probably disappointed her mom. And there was Adora going above and beyond Glimmer’s level in yet another area. It made perfect sense for her to be jealous. But there was that little voice in her head that reminded her of that pull she had felt, that want for the words to be describing her, jealous of whoever they were describing. Chalk it up to Adora’s great signing.

Adora gave a somewhat wary smile, “Thanks.”

Glimmer squinted, “You don’t believe me, do you? I mean it, you’re great.”

Wow, that took a lot to force out; Glimmer was one of the last to compliment someone on something they were better at than her. It wasn’t that she conceited or anything; after all, she was the first to compare herself as lesser to others- internally, that is. She just feared that admitting other’s advantage over her would lead to other’s finding out just how bad she was. Just another thing Glimmer knew to be illogical, but wouldn’t stop. Hmm, maybe I should talk to a counselor.

Adora’s smile was still shy but far more genuine, “Really?”

Glimmer threw a spare bit of clay lying next to her leg out the other girl, “Yes, dork. Now come on, the songs almost over and we haven’t gotten anything done.”

Adora turned back to her work with a grin on her lips. It was cute, not overplayed and blindingly enthusiastic like Adora’s smiles often struck Glimmer. And, huh, Glimmer had made this one.

They worked quietly for a few minutes- for a whole song, in fact. The silence was far more comfortable now that the air between them wasn’t a wasteland of uncertainty, instead filled with not only sound, but common interest.

It was at the break between two songs that Adora decided to speak once more, “Do you sing?”

“Oh,” Hahaha. Glimmer sure did love how god liked to toy with her emotions and make her squirm. If she ever met whatever stupid being controlled her world, she might punch it, “Uh, no, I don’t really sing.”

“Oh, ok,” Adora seemed somewhat disappointed. Way to go, Glimmer, make everything awkward again.

Glimmer spent the next few minutes on her favorite hobby: worrying. She wondered if maybe she should have said something different, should have lied and said that she could. But what if Adora asked her about it sometime and she was forced to break it to her that she couldn’t sing to save her life? That of course brought up the idea that this relationship, this friendship, this whatever it was, was never going to last. Glimmer considered saying something now to fix the tension she had created but then balanced that with the fact she would probably just make things worse. Talking to people is way too much work and it hardly ever results in anything good.

That’s when Adora started singing again.

Quiet and sweet at first, like she was trying to gain the confidence to get louder or was trying to measure Glimmer’s reaction. It was like liquid sugar weaving through the air and although outside Glimmer showed no response- she hardly batted an eye- inside, her heart was fluttering. God, why isn’t this girl on America’s Got Talent or something like that?

Then the chorus started and Adora’s voice grew into a river, flowing through the room with the joy and strength of someone immersed in love. It was powerful and beautiful and made Glimmer feel like she was sitting next to some ancient deity. She had heard jokes on the internet about Hozier being some sort of immortal or Celtic god but she didn’t understand it until Adora was singing his words. Of course, as a matter of principle, Glimmer refused to acknowledge it in any way.

That is until Adora placed her clay down in front of her, her voice halting as she stood and stayed there unmoving for a few seconds. Glimmer glanced upward to see Adora jerking her head in her direction like Come on, get up!

Glimmer set her brush on her palette and shifted to stand slowly and with hesitation, frozen somewhere between incredulity and fear, “What are you doing?”

Adora took her hand, pulling her the rest of the way up, “We’ve been sitting too long, come on- dance with me!”

Glimmer choked, “Sorry, what?”

Adora had started singing again but paused long enough to answer Glimmer, “Dance with me!”

She grabbed Glimmer’s hands and began twisting herself gently back and forth to the beat of the music, Glimmer’s arms being moved along with Adora’s body. Glimmer prayed Adora couldn’t feel how sweaty how her palms were in the grasp.

She managed a giggle, all incredulous feelings replaced by pure uncertain fear, and tried to speak above Adora’s voice, “I can’t dance!”

Adora laughed and began moving her head goofily from side to side along with her body, “Well that’s good ‘cause neither can I!”

Glimmer let Adora lead her away from the art materials into the clear(er) part of the room and didn’t understand why until Adora began shuffling her feet from side to side, taking Glimmer along with her in a swaying, twisting sort of half-dance.

The chorus had started up again and Adora had her head thrown back, letting the words ring out of her mouth. The overhead light was reflecting off the posters on Glimmer’s walls, tinging Adora’s face with violets and hot pinks. She looked, she looked like, well, she looked like an idiot.

Glimmer laughed and it was real, carrying through her room as loud as Adora’s voice.

Adora looked up, grinning widely. She made eye contact with Glimmer, keeping her head up as she switched to dramatically mouthing the words. She still sang them but now looked comically like she was some rock star from the 80’s:

“I fall in love just a little, ol’ little bit

Everyday with someone new.”

Adora wouldn’t break the gaze she held with Glimmer, the blue of her eyes sparkling. It made Glimmer’s stomach flip strangely; she didn’t know what was happening, she didn’t know where they were going as they swayed through her room- content to be lead by Adora’s voice. Or maybe it was Adora’s smile she was following. She didn’t know; she didn’t care.

Her head was light and she couldn’t exactly feel her legs. She wondered vaguely if this what it was like to be high and if this floating-without-legs feeling was the reason they called it ’high.’ She momentarily stumbled across the idea that maybe she was high but abandoned it quickly to memorize the way Adora’s nose crinkled occasionally as she sang. It wasn’t like this was ever going to happen again so she might as well enjoy it, remember how it felt. Of course Bow and her messed around like this but... Bow just didn’t have eyes that sparkled like sunlight on the ocean, didn’t have a voice that rolled over you like molten gold, didn’t stop suddenly and ask you to dance and make you laugh with stupid footwork, didn’t make you feel like you could fly right out of your body.

Adora let go of one of Glimmer’s hands to twirl her around in an imperfect circle which mostly imperfect due to the fact that Glimmer had tripped half way through. She competed the turn unsteadily, giggling as she fell lightly on Adora who caught the hand she had dropped with just enough strength to keep Glimmer from toppling them both to the ground. Glimmer still dipped forward, stopping quite close to Adora’s face; close enough to notice the specks of light grey and darker blues that floated in her eyes. Glimmer was starting to get very interested in those eyes. God damnit.

When the song ended, Adora lead her back to where they had been sitting before by keeping one keeping one of Glimmer’s hands wrapped loosely in her soft fingers; Glimmer was grateful for the guidance as her feet and legs were still miles away from her head.

“See, told you that would be fun,” Adora smiled at Glimmer after they had sat down.

“You didn’t say that; you said ‘Come on get up’ and then you dragged me with you.”

Adora leaned towards her with a sing-songy tone on her voice, “Yeah, but it was fun, wasn’t it?”

Glimmer gave a grudging smile back, “Yeah, sure. Whatever if it’ll make you shut up.”

Adora grinned before turning back to her work. They worked for the rest of the album more or less in silence, only occasionally checking the other’s progress or asking how their work looked. Adora’s answers were always somewhere along the lines of “amazing” or “great” and it made Glimmer feel slightly guilty for her far more critical answers. Then again, Glimmer was not known as someone to soften the truth; maybe that’s she wasn’t popular- let alone, highly so. During that time period Adora refrained from singing anymore, only humming here and there but never actually letting her voice ring out the way it had. In some ways Glimmer was glad; she couldn’t afford that type of distraction.

The final song ended and Glimmer abandoned her paints for a second to scroll through her phone, “Ok what do you want to listen to next? I’ve got Twenty One Pilots, David Bowie, Black Pink, Mozart, basically anything; what sounds good?

“Oh, uh, whatever you want.” Adora hummed without interest.

Glimmer was hurt as she had hoped her wide selection would impress Adora or at least reveal another shared interest. That was until she dared a glance at Adora whose hunched shoulders had shifted from “I’m concentrated and working hard” to “Oh my god, when did my head get so heavy?” and whose hands were moving much slower now, rolling repetitively without doing much.

“Hey are you ok?” It was only around ten; she couldn’t be tired, could she?

“Oh yeah I’m just sleepy,” Her eyes weren’t quite half-closed yet but they had certainly lost almost all of their customary shine. She tried for a smile but it seemed to take quite some effort, “I guess I’m just not a night person. Also I’ve been up since five.”

Glimmer scowled; they still had a lot work to do and she hadn’t even considered sleep as she was the type of teenage goblin who just didn’t sleep. (Well maybe she did but it didn’t qualify as much more than passing for a couple hours with the light on before waking up and continuing life as she had been before she was rudely interrupted by exhaustion).

“It’s ok, though,” she yawned, “I can keep working.”

Glimmer doubted that but the time creeping forward was starting to make her anxious and she was hoping to be finished before passing out. On the other hand, forcing Adora to keep working in this hardly-awake state was unlikely to speed up the process. And it might make her hate you.

She chewed the bottom of her lip, trying to weigh the options Get this stupid project over with/Make Adora hate you. Hmmm, “How many do have left to make?”

It took Adora a few times to count the number, further pushing Glimmer’s decision, “24.”

Her voice was bright but Glimmer could see right through the fact that it was an attempt to seem more awake. Ha. Not only did Glimmer use this tactic herself everyday, she had spent the majority of her interactions with Adora trying to discern when Adora was being genuine and when she was wearing a mask so she knew the girl was faking, “Go ahead and sleep- you’ve made enough extras that I can work on painting them for a while before needing more.”

Adora’s lips twitched into a frown, “Are you sure?”

“I’ll wake up when I need you,” Maybe that’ll appease her inner workaholic. Glimmer thought about what Adora had said about wanting to prove her what: worth? use? validity? to her adoptive parents. It made her wonder how hard Adora pushed herself, “Go to sleep.”

“You promise you'll wake me up?”

“Yes, now sleep; you look you’re about to fall over,” Shit I sound like my mom. She hoped her voice held that same gentle but stern tone that seemed to work on nearly everybody that her mom used as well. If I’m gonna sound like my mom, it better work as well as it does for her.

Apparently she hadn’t gotten it down yet as Adora still looked unconvinced. Glimmer gave her a soft push and Adora gave in, flopping to the floor.

“M’kay, talk to ya in a few hours.”

“Uh, you don’t need to sleep there,” Glimmer hadn’t expected Adora to actually fall over with the push and she certainly hadn’t expected her to curl up and close her eyes right there on the carpet, “My bed’s right there if you wanna use it.”

Adora gave a small shrug, “Here’s ok.”

“Do you at least want a pillow?? A blanket, something-“

“Glimmer,” She waited for Glimmer to look over, “This is fine and I’m about to pass out so just let me sleep.”

“Ok...” Glimmer still felt like she should do something else but, sure enough, Adora was asleep within a few minutes.

The girl slept as perfectly as she lived- or at least looked like she lived- breathing in soft puffs, her hair falling over her cheeks in wisps. Her face was relaxed and free of the tension of life pressing down on her; without it, years seemed to be swept away.

Glimmer snorted to herself- years swept away; as if the two of us aren’t 16. But there was a quality of truth to it; without the tension of an over-strung smile or creases caused by concentration, she looked- well maybe “younger” wasn’t the right word, maybe “fitting” was better, finally looking like a 16 year old. Glimmer had never noticed how old she looked, how all her maturity and perfection came from the lines in her expression. But here Adora was just a girl; just a tired, overworking girl whose breathing matched Glimmer’s heartbeat.

[elven-ariaera]

I was watching Steven Universe pretty much since the beginning. I thought it was a cute show at first, but I also didn’t mind missing a few episodes here and there. With each new episode, I was becoming more engrossed in this wonderful world created by Rebecca Sugar and her crew. While I will be the first to admit that the show did have its problems and there were some elements I personally feel did not need to be added, I would still rank this show as one of my all-time favorites overall.

Now that the series has finally come to a conclusion (spoilers ahead if you’re not caught up), I thought now would be a good time to reflect on the series and take a look back at some of my favorite characters. To me, they were the heart of the show (along with all the Gem lore), and watching them grow throughout the series is definitely what kept me coming back. With that being said, here are my top 10 favorite Steven Universe characters.

Of course, before we begin, I must provide the disclaimer that this is, in fact, my personal opinion. There is no right or wrong best character (though there is a correct worst character, and we all know that’s Renaldo — Kidding. Sort of.) Whether you agree or disagree with my list or the order, perhaps I can at least offer a different perspective on these characters that I just find fascinating.

10) Yellow Diamond

Yellow was the first Diamond we were introduced to, and she clearly made a presence on the show. Her enormous stature and terrifying expressions were enough to show us that she was a force to be reckoned with. Her design and demeanor alone were enough to capture my attention, but there was more than just that as we saw more from this so-called tyrannical leader.

“What’s the Use of Feeling, Blue?” is one of, if not my absolute favorite songs from Steven Universe. Yes, I love the melody, but Yellow Diamond shows her true colors during this piece and it is evident. It’s clear that she’s affected by all the strife of the past, but to maintain power and appearance, she hides it all away. She grieves with aggression, taking it out on other planets and people, but deep down she’s hurting badly. It’s clear to hear near the end of the piece where she tries so hard to keep from breaking down.

9) Pink Diamond/ Rose Quartz

A lot of people started to hate Rose Quartz when her identity as Pink Diamond was revealed. I personally found it fascinating. Rose was by no means perfect; it’s made quite clear that she’s had quite the troubled past both by her own doing and the doings of the other Diamonds, and through it she’s done some pretty terrible things. I understand that. The thing is, though, she learned from it and eventually lead a whole rebellion to right her wrongs and allow Gems to have their freedom.

I think the main concern of why people only seem to hate her more and more is because in the beginning, we learned how ‘good’ she was and as we learned more about her, going further and further back, we see all of her biggest errors. If we play those events in reverse, we see her grow as a person. Her dynamic change is what makes her such a well-written character. The mystery, the reveals, how we learned about her bit by bit — it all built up to some very heavy drama, which for a television show, is a great thing.

I also believe that her transformation from a childish tyrant to a compassionate mother was a genuine one. I don’t doubt that she really wanted to have Steven more than anything. Even with all that we know about her now, looking back at that videotape she made for him, those feelings stand the same.

8) Amethyst

If you asked me my opinion on Amethyst when I first started the series, I would say that she was a fine character. She made me laugh, she had a fun personality; there was nothing wrong with her as a character, but I thought that she would only ever be comic relief. I never expected so much depth to be behind this goofy facade. Then “On the Run” premiered.

I never expected the episode to take such a turn. I always had a feeling a Pearl-Amethyst fight was coming with the way they constantly butted heads, but I never thought it would be for reasons like this. This was probably the first thing that really impacted me on an emotional level in this series. Amethyst’s face when she wails out “I never asked to be made!” still stands out in my mind to this day.

As the series progressed, Amethyst learns to love herself and embrace her faults, leading her to become, as Steven says, the most mature crystal gem. She has seriously come such a long way and I’m so glad that she was not simply comic relief. 

7) Greg Universe

I feel like a lot of us were expecting Greg to be a kind of absentee parent when this show first started, but he proved us wrong and has definitely shown us what kind of top tier dad he can be.

Is he perfect? No, but that’s okay. Yeah, he’s made his fair share of mistakes, but everything he’s ever done has only ever been for his son. The lengths he would go to keep Steven safe or to even push him to be his best self astounds me. There has been a lack of role model father figures in animation for a certain point, and ever since Steven Universe, I’ve definitely noticed an increase in them. While I’m not sure if he is the reason (probably not, but), I definitely think he’s an example to be followed for storytellers to come. 

I guess it comes with getting older, but I find myself feeling more sympathetic, interested, and entertained by the parents of the child protagonist rather than the protagonist themselves. Seeing Greg come to learn about the Gems from an outsider’s perspective rather than Steven’s somewhat knowledgable background, being partially raised by them and all. I think that so many of Greg’s flashback episodes are among my favorites of the series. 

6) Rainbow Quartz 2.0 & Sardonyx

I had to give a tie to these two fantastic fusions because I adore them both for the same reasons. They’re fun, flashy, and always a pleasure to see them on screen. Also, they both include Pearl, who’s quirks are evident in each fusion.

I was immediately drawn to Sardonyx’s larger-than-life (pun fully intended) personality. She’s bold and poised, but also knows to get a chuckle out of her audience — No, really, she plays up her act as if she were performing for an audience. She has a tendency to break the fourth wall, but in a more subtle way than Sunstone. Everything she does is simply entertaining and I just love it.

Rainbow Quartz 2.0 is similar in the sense of having a whimsical charm. Rainbow has a bit more tendency for being a caregiver than Sardonyx, but that only makes sense with both Pearl and Steven’s gentle natures being a key component in Rainbow’s makeup. Still, that doesn’t stop Rainbow for exerting a goofy attitude as well, which is so much fun to watch. A natural Mary Poppins! 

5) Spinel

A character that I thought would be a one-off movie villain has squirmed her way right into my heart. She is one of the most precious characters I have ever seen. Seriously, I was going into the movie with not many expectations for this new Gem, but man was I blown away with just how equally charming and threatening this character could be!

As a villain, she was terrifying and crazy. There was clear reasoning for her behavior, but even though we didn’t find out her motivation until about the halfway point, that hostility was clear and kept me wondering why. To find out she had been abandoned for so long was heart-crushing, especially after getting a glimpse of who she used to be. While I still like Pink/Rose as a character, this was something that I could not just let slide by.

She can still hold her own once she makes peace with what happened and moves on to befriend the other Diamonds. My heart skipped a beat when she reappeared for the series finale and she was as bubbly as ever. It’s so nice to see that she got her happily ever after too!

4) Peridot

The first of many characters with solid redemption arcs, and I think hers was the most effective and well thought out from a writing perspective. The Crewniverse were allowed to really take time with this one and so it felt genuine when Peridot finally decided to make up her mind and join the likes of the Crystal Gems. I truly think she had one of the best arcs in the series.

Aside from that, she’s also got such a strong personality. Gems made in Yellow Diamonds court have a tendency to be more on the snobby side, which she definitely is. Despite that, she still manages to be charming with her naiveté of Earth and its people. Even when she does have downright “unlikable” moments, such as her degrading mannerisms towards Pearl or the way she insulted Amethyst without even thinking, she eventually comes to the realization that what she did was wrong and makes it a priority to apologize in her own Peridot way.

Peridot is the product of what kindness can do to someone. Steven had no reason to keep caring for her the way he did, but in the end, it changed her. She kept her core personality traits, which I so appreciate as well, but she also didn’t revert back to her old ways either. She’s a changed Gem and had returned the favor by being a kind ambassador for Lapis, Bismuth, and I’m sure plenty of uncorrupted Gems once Little Homeworld had been completed.

3) White Diamond

White Diamond was exactly what I expected and what I wanted her to be. She has a radiant presence (quite literally) and exudes authority. As an antagonist, she was a worthy final opponent. While I would have loved the finale to be a few more episodes to get some more depth on the matter, what we did get, I loved.

From her first appearance, I knew White would be a threat like no other. While she certainly had unbelievable physical prowess, it was her manipulative brain-washing that had me both intrigued and terrified. Simply when we first saw Pink Pearl, who we assumed was White Pearl, you could tell something eerie was going on. Slowly, one-by-one, she took hold of all Steven’s allies — even the other Diamonds — and she proceeded to remove his gem. She had all the power. Of course, if anyone was going to stop her, it was Steven, but she put up one heck of a fight up ’til the very end.

A lot of people are iffy about how quickly she turned to Steven’s side, and I do understand that. Like I said, I wish there could have been a bit more time for that, but regardless I don’t mind what we received. I love how over the top White is, and how she’s trying so hard to be more compassionate but in the end, she’s still, so to say, living in her own head. Again, I love that these characters have a change of heart, but they still struggle with their past.

2) Blue Diamond

Throughout learning about the Diamonds, we are told by the Crystal Gems how heartless they were and what tyrannical rulers they could be. Granted, all these stories were true, and these actions should not be simply overlooked, but what we weren’t told is the tragedies they too have endured. After seeing the brash conqueror, Yellow Diamond, it was easy to label them as the clear “bad guys.” However, when we first meet Blue Diamond, she is weeping over a loved one.

Grief and sadness is something I easily relate to, so Blue was easy for me to sympathize with right from the start. Seeing how (for lack of better words) human she was made me think that perhaps there was another side to the Diamonds. Maybe they could be talked to instead of fought against. Seeing as Blue seemed like the most empathetic of the group, I was hoping that she would be the one they would turn to first, and she was.

Getting there wasn’t easy, and I’m glad it wasn’t — disregarding the last few episodes that needed to be a little bit squished to finish the story. Blue was the most emotional of the Diamonds, but she let them overtake her, deafening herself to hearing anything that might help her. Even Yellow Diamond, her closest confidant, could never fully restore her to a sound mind. This is an all too real problem, to let depression consume you, so to see that she was eventually able to be freed from this grief was truly satisfying.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Connie Maheswaran Connie is such an endearing character and the rock which Steven relied on. She was always the voice of reason and her love and dedication always shone above the rest.

Bismuth The only way to properly describe this character is strong. Strong personality, strong warriors, and strong beliefs. Though a little misguided, she believed in her cause and wanted to do what she could for her newfound family.

Padparadscha A precious angel of a Gem who needed much more screen time (along with Lars and the other Off-Colors.) Though her abilities were not so much helpful, she was still eager to do her part and help her friends. 

1) Pearl

So here’s the thing about Pearl: I loved her since the beginning. She was my favorite character from the start, being able to relate to her overly-protective behavior and somewhat neurotic antics all with a side of salt. I always admired how graceful she was and enjoyed the show most when she was on screen. Wonderfully brought to life by the voice work of Deedee Magno Hall, I was eager to see what would be in store for my favorite Crystal Gem. Little did I know how much she had been through and was about to endure throughout the course of the series.

The world-building and mystery of Steven Universe are some of its most fascinating elements, and so much of this is explored in Pearl’s overarching story. There was so much we didn’t know about the world of Gems and in turn, so much we didn’t know about Pearl. There was so much hidden within her, whether it be her history with Homeworld, Rose, or the alleged shattering of Pink Diamond, there was so much to be unveiled and I was on the edge of my seat waiting to learn more.

Pearl has been through so much suffering in her life, struggling to know where she belonged, and once she thought she knew what that was, she was ultimately denied it in the end. After grieving the loss of Rose Quartz, she took it as her new duty to be there for Steven as she once was her. Though she was technically a liberated Pearl, she was still binding herself to someone.

Throughout the series, we learn these secrets and see her as she still struggles to overcome these foreboding obstacles. It was so uplifting and such a victorious moment when she claimed “I do this for me!” in “Reunited.” I know she’s a fictional character, but I am so proud of how far she’s come and the independent individual she’s finally become. She doesn’t need someone else to serve or define who she is, no matter what her future entails, she is the master of herself. 

It’s rare that you find a show that has such an exceptional cast of characters where so many can resonate with you on a personal level. Each character in Steven Universe, whether we personally like them or not, has such depth and thought put into every one of them — and yes, that includes the townies. While I understand it’s not necessarily a show for everyone, I myself am glad I decided to give it a shot when it first aired. These characters have shown me so much in terms of both writing and personal growth, and I hope this little list of mine serves well as a love letter to thank all who worked on this show. Though it’s over now, these characters will always be in my heart.

I’m curious to know, who are your favorite characters from this show? Have any similar opinions? Different? Feel free to respectfully share your comments down below! 

Now that Steven Universe has finally come to a conclusion, I thought now would be a good time to reflect on the series and take a look back at some of my favorite characters. I was watching Steven Universe pretty much since the beginning. I thought it was a cute show at first, but I also didn’t mind missing a few episodes here and there.

[andrewmoocow]

Steven Universe Alternate Future chapter 10: Prickly Pair (originally posted on March 22, 2021)

AN: We're getting close to shit gettin' down here! As Steven tries out a new hobby, we learn pretty quickly he refuses to move on from anything while his hobby begins to turn on him. Wow, that's a sentence I never thought I would say.

Synopsis: Steven takes up gardening and grows a sentient cactus that repeats everything he says.

Cast:

Zach Callison as Steven, Cactus Steven

Estelle as Garnet

Michaela Dietz as Amethyst

Deedee Magno Hall as Pearl

Shelby Rabara as Peridot

--

One afternoon in Beach City, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were helping Steven carry large bags of dirt to his conservatory above the beach house. A few days had passed since the Little Homeschool graduation, and Steven had decided what he wanted to do next.

"We got your dirt, dude!" Amethyst exclaimed as she helped the other Gems with carrying the dirt to the conservatory.

"Thanks, guys," Steven replied gratefully while opening the door to the conservatory. "come on in."

Inside, the Gems discovered a beautiful garden of flowers awaiting them. "How many of these did your magic spit grow?" Amethyst asked.

"None." Steven answered with a chuckle. "I grew all these the old-fashioned way."

"So this is what you've been up to since leaving Little Homeschool." Garnet realized.

"Yeah, teaching was great and all, but I dunno if that was my calling in life." Steven said. "Besides, it was really bittersweet seeing the Off-Colors leave."

"Well, I think this is a wonderful way to spend some you time." Pearl praised Steven's new hobby.

"Me time? I'm hardly alone here." Steven snickered before he knelt and gazed at a bluebell flower. "I call this little smartie Connie." Then, he got back up to examine an onion. "And this onion I call, well, Onion." Next, Steven gestured to some perennials. "And these perennials will never leave!" He began to point to a few of them in particular. "That one's Sadie, and this is her band Daisy Clover and the Shrub-Spects." Finally, he walked over to a pink flower in a blue pot with a star on it. "I named this one Lars." Steven revealed before he started talking to it. "You're stuck in the ground, aren't you?" he said in baby-talk. "Not going to zip into space and leave everyone behind. No you won't, no you won't."

Garnet and Pearl just stared at Steven with concerned looks on their faces, but Amethyst was too busy snacking on dirt to look the same.

"Uh, Steven?" Amethyst said, chewing on some of the soil.

"This might not be the healthiest approach to your new hobby." Garnet admitted bluntly.

"Besides, Onion ain't ever leading anytime soon!" Amethyst added. "Unfortunately!" she coughed.

"I'm just having fun, that's all!" Steven fibbed. "You all should take it easy. They're just plants!"

"In that case, we'll leave you to it." Pearl declared while the three Gems left the conservatory.

"Have fun, dude!" Amethyst called while the door closed behind them. After a bit, the door reopened.

"You should probably keep an eye on your plants, though." Garnet warned, peeking her head through the door before leaving again.

As soon as the Gems departed, Steven turned to discover a lonely, decaying cactus sitting on a wooden table behind him. "Huh?" he muttered while walking over to check up on the prickly plant. "What am I doing?" Steven mused to himself. "Is this really my thing now, plants?"

Steven then picked up a knife and began using it to cut off the top of the cactus. "Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl aren't even impressed." He continued monologuing to himself. "I guess gardening just isn't as awesome as saving the universe."

Steven then moved the cactus cutting away from the cactus he cut it from while filling a new pot with dirt. "Okay, little guy, welcome to your new-OUCH!" he yelped in pain from pricking himself on the cactus top, before sticking his injured finger in his mouth. When Steven popped his finger out, the saliva gathered began to sparkle as he placed the cutting in the pot. "Probably should've worn gloves."

Just then, Steven's tummy began to rumble. "Whoa, guess it must be lunchtime." He said to himself before turning to the cactus. "I'll be back for you soon, little guy."

As Steven left the cactus in the conservatory, something about the succulent began to change slowly.

--

"Yo, you think something is up with Steven?" Amethyst asked Garnet and Pearl down at the beach house. "I mean, I'm sure we can all agree it's weird he's naming the plants after people who already parted ways with him."

"Yes, very strange indeed." Garnet agreed. "Perhaps we should talk to him about it."

"Or, maybe we could just leave him alone." Amethyst suggested. "I mean, I'm sure it's a very touchy subject for him."

"That reminds me." Pearl interjected, plucking her phone from her gem. "Childcare book author George Ikari is holding a signing in a week, and I plan on going." She showed Garnet and Pearl a picture of a bearded man with glasses ominously clasping his fingers together while on the cover of a book titled "What to Do When Your Child Feels Directionless."

"That cover doesn't look menacing at all." Amethyst declared sarcastically.

"I'm going to have to side with Pearl for this, Amethyst." Garnet stated. "Maybe this book could be helpful."

Just then, Steven came walking downstairs from the conservatory. "Hey guys, what are you talking about?"

"We were just discussing this author Pearl wants to see some time." Garnet said. "So, how are things going with your plants?"

"I just pricked my finger on a cactus, no big." Steven laughed nervously.

"Oh my, best get that looked at!" Pearl yelped. "Who knows how long till it gets infected?"

"Relax Pearl, I'm fine." Steven replied. "Nothing some healing spit can't fix."

--

The following day, Steven went back up to the conservatory with a watering can in hand to take care of his cactus when he made a startling discovery.

The cactus had grown! Not just bigger and healthier, but it had also grown a face, and was barking like a dog at him.

"Whoa!" Steven exclaimed as he threw the watering can away and raced to the now living cactus. "Oh my gosh, did I make my cactus come to life? I have got to tell the Gems about this!"

--

Downstairs, Amethyst was taking a group selfie with Garnet and Pearl when Steven came to them with his latest discovery.

"Hey guys, look what I made!" Steven proudly presented his plant, which continued barking. "Look at the little guy!"

"I thought you weren't using your spit on your plants?" Amethyst wondered while putting the phone away.

"No, I think I may have accidentally made it come alive with my spit." Steven replied. "I think it may have been after I pricked myself yesterday."

"A likely story!" Amethyst declared, squinting at Steven suspiciously.

"That cactus really bounced back." Garnet remarked, thinking back to how decayed it was yesterday.

"A real survivor, much like you." Pearl added proudly.

"Aww, and he's got a little lumpy head like you!" Amethyst cooed to the cactus. "Hey, why don't we call it Cactus Steven?"

"Cactus Steven, eh?" the real Steven asked. "Call me conceited, but I kinda like it."

Cactus Steven began cooing at the Gems, though in a way that made Pearl concerned. "Is he okay?"

"I think he just wants some sunlight." Steven realized, turning the pot so that his cactus lookalike faced him. "Maybe I could use some too."

--

Throughout the rest of the day, Steven took his little cactus around Beach City and Little Homeworld, showing him to all his friends and introducing the succulent to all the things he liked to do.

As the day rolled to a close, the two Stevens took this moment to just sit down on the beach and watch the sunset together.

"This beach, it just never changes." Steven mused to his new cactus friend. "I mean, a lot has changed. I'm trying to be cool about it, but everything just feels so weird now. Everybody's moving on with their lives, and I should be too. I gave up running the school, but I still don't know what comes next." He then turned to Cactus Steven. "You know what I'm talking about, right?"

As a cactus that only came to life not too long ago, Cactus Steven turned to his Gem/human counterpart with an expression that one would make when saying, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"It's probably better that I'm not running Little Homeschool anymore!" Steven continued, even though Cactus Steven probably isn't able to make a concrete reply. "But who am I to decide what's best for everyone anymore?" Steven then got up and began to walk away from Cactus Steven. "Those Gems are better off learning from Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Lapis, Peridot, Bismuth, everyone!" He started getting more stressed with each word. "Why do I need to be needed?! Come on Steven, what's wrong with you?!"

Cactus Steven turned his little head sideways, or as sideways as he could in his pot, with a sad look Steven's way.

"Sorry I had to dump this all on you, Mini-Me." Steven chuckled apologetically to his plant.

"Eeee!" Cactus Steven squeaked in comfort.

"Okay, let's go home." Steven obliged in understanding, and the pair began making their way back to the temple.

--

Another day passed, and Steven was once again tending to his plants in the conservatory. "Good morning Ronaldo, good morning Nanafua!" he said to his flowers as he watered them. "And a very special good morning-" Steven suddenly tripped over in alarm as he discovered something about Cactus Steven has changed. "-to you. Wow, you really grew overnight!"

"Good morning to you!" croaked Cactus Steven, who now began taking the shape of Steven's head.

"Whoa, did you just speak?!" Steven cried in amazement.

"Whoa, did you just speak?!" Cactus Steven replied.

"This is too much!" Steven shouted. "I've got to tell the Gems about this!"

--

Amethyst was looking at a tablet while Pearl was drawing in a notepad and Garnet reviewed her art downstairs on the couch. "Oh, hello Steven." Pearl greeted Steven as he came downstairs with Cactus Steven in his hand. "Hello Cactus Steven."

"Hey Pearl, you have to see this." Steven said while presenting his cactus counterpart to the Gems.

"Hey Pearl." Cactus Steven mimicked to their amazement.

"That's so freakin' cute!" Amethyst cried.

"He's growing to become quite the talker." Garnet added.

"And he said my name too!" Pearl stated. "You think he might be copying you?"

"I think so." Steven agreed with a shrug.

"Hi Pearl!" Cactus Steven continued. At first it seemed cute, but then the little guy kept talking. "But who am I to decide what's best for everyone anymore?" he began parroting Steven's pensive moment from yesterday. "Everybody's moving on with their lives, and I should be too."

"Uh, this isn't what it sounds like, I swear." Steven said defensively.

"Is it me, or is your cactus real good at self-deprecating?" Amethyst remarked.

"Sorry I had to dump this all o-" Cactus Steven tried to continue before the regular Steven tried to make it shut up by covering his mouth, but that only resulted in more cactus spines on his hand. "Come on Steven, what's wrong with you?!"

"Is something the matter Steven?" Pearl inquired, tilting her head with concern.

Steven refused to answer and instead raced back upstairs while the cactus continued talking. "Why do I need to be needed?! Why do I need to be needed?!"

"See what I told you the other day?" Amethyst said to Garnet and Pearl. "Something's definitely up!"

"Seems like Steven's got some problems he doesn't want our help with." Garnet adjusted her glasses in contemplation. "I suggest we find a way to help him without getting him too wound up."

"Still, it seems like Steven's letting a lot of issues just bottle up inside him." Pearl began worrying. "This is definitely not healthy. I think George Ikari might've said that in one of his books."

--

Back at the conservatory, Steven sat Cactus Steven on the table to give him a firm talking-to. "What was all that for?!" he yelled angrily. "I wanted that stuff to be private, but here you go just spouting out words that'll make everyone freak out about me!"

"What was all that for?!" Cactus Steven copied his master.

"Because I thought you'd be nice to talk to!" Steven complained as he began pacing around the conservatory. "I can't tell Pearl how I feel, cause then she'd get super depressed and start blaming herself like she always does! Meanwhile, Garnet would probably give me advice while sounding all high and mighty, Amethyst would try to look mature, and no one else would understand me!"

"No one else would understand me!" Cactus Steven aped Steven's words.

"I know, right? I mean, get over yourself already." Steven scoffed. "Please don't tell anyone I said that."

"I thought you'd be nice to talk to!" Cactus Steven continued impersonating his fleshy counterpart before Steven covered him up with a box. "What was all that for?!"

"Oh you know what." Steven coldly declared as he exited the conservatory. "I can't let anyone find out about this." He sighed heavily just as he found Amethyst standing nearby.

"Find out about what?" Amethyst asked Steven.

"Oh oh oh, it's nothing Amethyst, honest!" Steven began fibbing while his pupils began shifting around. "I mean, why do you ask?"

"Just wanted to check up on you, brah." Amethyst replied with a comforting hand on Steven's arm. "Look, if you need help, just say the word, and we'll be there."

"Okay then." Steven moaned. "That reminds me, is Peridot doing anything at the moment?"

--

"So, you are saying this cactus has begun to imitate everything you say?" Peridot asked Steven as she examined Cactus Steven under a magnifying glass at her greenhouse.

"Yeah, and it's starting to freak me out a little too." Steven answered.

"Get over yourself already!" Cactus Steven yelled, his voice beginning to sound a little clearer to their pair's alarm.

"Is there anything you can do to stop this?" Steven asked Peridot hopefully.

"I must apologize, Steven, but I don't think I can be of any assistance." Peridot replied morosely.

"No one else would understand me!" Cactus Steven continued imitating, seemingly agreeing with Peridot.

"See what I mean?" the little green Gem remarked with a thumb to Cactus Steven. The Steven she knew just buried his face in his hands and tried his hardest not to yell in frustration.

Outside the greenhouse, a small, black spy camera watched the greenhouse as Steven left with Cactus Steven in hand. But the moment Peridot turned around, it suddenly activated a camouflage feature.

--

That night, Steven had decided to close the conservatory to watch Cactus Steven, posting a sign on the door saying that the little cactus needed rest.

"Now all the Gems are worried about me, and Peridot wasn't any help either." Steven moaned in defeat while sitting near Cactus Steven. Just then, he heard some muffled yelling coming from the box he hid the living succulent in. "Hm?"

Walking over to the box, Steven picked it up to discover that Cactus Steven had grown some more, and had even sprouted an arm from the soil.

"Oh my gosh! Cactus Steven, what's wrong with you?!" Steven began panicking.

"What's wrong with you?" Cactus Steven repeated, earning his bigger self's ire.

"What's wrong is that you keep making me look stupid and helpless in front of everyone!" Steven cried furiously as he picked up the pot.

"Stupid!" Cactus Steven mocked Steven and pointed his newly grown arm at him. "Helpless!"

"I wish you wouldn't talk!" Steven argued before he began to glow pink.

"I wish YOU wouldn't talk!" Cactus Steven replied just as angrily.

"STOP IT!" Steven fully glowed pink, but then abruptly stopped when he heard Pearl's voice.

"Steven, time for dinner!" Pearl called for him from downstairs.

"Coming Pearl, just give me a second!" Steven replied to Pearl, and then turned back to Cactus Steven with an angry glare. "Not. Another. Word."

As Steven left the conservatory, Cactus Steven once again began to grow. "Not. Another. Word."

--

Early the next morning, Steven was asleep in his bed when suddenly, he was awakened by the sound of breaking glass. He raced up to the conservatory, where it was in total disarray, and a large hole was made in the glass wall.

"Uh, Cactus Steven?" Steven called for the living cactus while following a trail of needles leading back to his room. "If you're mad about yesterday, I get it, but I'm just going through some things right now."

Steven looked around with nervousness and curiosity, while a massive lump revealed itself on his bed. Cactus Steven slowly rose from under the blanket, revealing that he was now around Steven's height with a foot still stuck in his pot. "STEEEEVEEEEEN!"

"Whoa!" Steven yelled in terror, causing him to fall down the stairs and onto the table. Cactus Steven tumbled after the boy and was prepared to crush him before Steven rolled out of the way. "Cactus Steven, you need to go back to your home!"

"Go back to your home!" Cactus Steven croaked in reply.

"This is my home!" Steven shrieked while trying to push the cactus beast away from him, only to be covered in cactus needles. "AGH!" he yelled in agony while trying to shake some of the needles off. Cactus Steven did the same, which made more needles fly around the room.

"Just cut it out!" Steven yelled.

"Just get out!" Cactus Steven yelled back, charging at his doppelganger like an angry predator.

"Don't come any closer!" Steven summoned his shield to protect himself from any more needles.

"STEEEEEVEEEEEN!" Cactus Steven roared, just as Steven thrust his shield into his succulent counterpart's torso.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Steven frantically apologized.

Cactus Steven, however, didn't feel any pain, except for a large gash created by the shield thrown into his shoulder. After dislodging the shield, Cactus Steven threw the weapon back at Steven. "This is my home!"

"He's gone berserk!" Steven yelled fearfully before he found three figures approaching the front door. "The Gems!"

"The Gems don't need me anymore!" Cactus Steven said.

"Those are my private thoughts, and you should know it!" Steven scolded the cactus. "I can't let them hear about this!"

"What an all-nighter, am I right?!" Amethyst quipped as she, Garnet and Pearl returned to the beach house.

"Those Gems did need to get some extra studying in." Garnet replied.

"Plus, there was that strange camera thing that kept following us around." Pearl added. "I could've sworn it's leading up to something bigger, but it shut down before I could question it."

Before Pearl could say anymore, Steven came barging out the front door. "Oh, hey guys!" he laughed nervously. "Uhh, everything's fine and totally normal, nothing to see here! Hey, you think maybe you could wait a couple of hours? I've got things to do, okay, BYE!"

The Gems turned to the window as Steven fought against Cactus Steven with his shield, cluing them in on what was going on.

"Man, someone's been hittin' the photosynthesis!" Amethyst quipped before the Crystal Gems summoned their weapons and headed inside.

"We're here to help Steven!" Pearl declared protectively.

"I can't tell Pearl how I feel, cause then she'd get super depressed and start blaming herself like she always does!" Cactus Steven said in response to Pearl, making her drop her guard.

"What?" Pearl muttered in shock.

"I have no idea what he's talking about!" Steven continued to fib.

"But it's not inaccurate!" Amethyst snarked.

"JUST, GET, OUT!" Cactus Steven bellowed as he charged at the Gems, but Garnet punched his arm off, and it was sent flying at the fridge. However, it soon quickly got back up and grew tendrils from its stump to stand on.

"Whoa, that's kicka-" Amethyst began before she was kicked in the face by Cactus Steven's foot, breaking the pot and making shards fly everywhere. As Cactus Steven started to get up, Garnet punched the rest of him towards the sink, breaking it and dousing him in water.

Meanwhile, the arm launched itself at Pearl and was impaled on her spear, but then it exploded in her face and covered her in needles. "Eugh-ga-hahahaha!" Pearl groaned from the needles covering her.

As for Cactus Steven, he began to absorb the water from the sink and grow even larger, sprouting more limbs along with more Steven faces all over his body, all of them repeating Steven's venting just like the main head.

"The Gems don't need me!" Cactus Steven's heads yelled in unison while causing the house to fall apart by stomping around. "I thought you'd be nice to talk to!"

"Okay, Pinoke, that's even being a puppet!" Amethyst declared while wrapping her whip around the cactus monster's leg. Cactus Steven grabbed onto a rafter to keep himself from falling, but it was no help, and the rafter was split in two.

"Cut it out!" the cactus creature yelled while wrapping Amethyst in his roots and slamming her into the ceiling before Garnet and Pearl tried to rescue her. Unfortunately, Pearl found her spear getting stuck in the monster's thick & fleshy skin.

"Why is this thing so durable?!" Pearl complained while Cactus Steven tried to get her off.

"The cactus is Earth's most durable plant!" Garnet declared before she gave the cactus's leg a strong punch, making more spines fly everywhere and once again pricking Pearl.

"Garnet!" Pearl stuttered for her de-facto leader before her spear was freed from the cactus's body, and she fell down.

"Give up; you can't win this fight, you giant succulent!" Garnet declared.

"Garnet would probably give me advice while sounding all high and mighty!" Cactus Steven complained, catching the fusion by surprise.

"I'm sorry, what?" Garnet asked as she was punched away. Amethyst scaled the ceiling with her whip in her mouth, and she dropped down onto Cactus Steven's back to attack.

"Sneak attack!" Amethyst cried.

"Amethyst would try to look mature!" Cactus Steven babbled, much to the defective Quartz's confusion.

"Why's he so oddly specific in complaining about us?" Amethyst asked before both halves of Cactus Steven clamped shut on her. She was dumped on the ground while covered in cactus spines, followed by all three Crystal Gems being pinned against the temple entrance wall.

"I think I got it!" Steven realized while the Gems screamed in terror. "He's repeating me, he's repeating all my private thoughts!" Then, he got an idea. "Wait, he can copy me! Girls, I got a plan!" Steven bravely marched up to his cactus with shield in hand, ready to put his plan into action. "Hey Cactus Steven, have some of this!"

But instead of attacking, Steven de-summoned his shield. "I'm sorry I mistreated you." Steven apologized to Cactus Steven. "I know you didn't want to hurt anyone, because you're copying the only role model you got: me."

While Steven apologized, Cactus Steven stopped attacking while the Crystal Gems popped out of the wall at last. "I should've given you the love and kindness you deserved." Steven declared, and then spread out his arms. "Now, you want a hug?"

"Huh?" Cactus Steven muttered quizzically as the real Steven began to hug his massive leg. In response to this act of kindness, one more change began to occur.

"Dudes, look!" Amethyst pointed out that pink flowers were now blooming all over Cactus Steven's body as he returned Steven's hug.

"I'm sorry." Cactus Steven apologized back.

"Okay, come on, big guy." Steven broke the hug, now covered in spikes himself. "Let's get you back to the dome."

"No!" Cactus Steven yelled before he began to walk away from the four he had been fighting moments ago.

"Wait, where are you going?!" Steven exclaimed as he raced after Cactus Steven. "I'll fix up the dome real nice, all for you!"

Cactus Steven gave no words. Instead, he plucked one of the flowers off his body and gave it to Steven before he broke through the front wall and began walking away.

"Uh, Steven?" Pearl called while picking spikes off her body.

"Anything you'd like to say to us?" Garnet asked the boy, who just stared down at the flower in his hands, and let out a heavy sigh.

"I think I've said enough." Steven said wearily.

--

Later that day, Cactus Steven continued its sojourn away from the Crystal Temple and eventually Beach City, now making his way into the woods nearby. And he kept mimicking Steven all the way.

"I didn't mean to hurt anyone, so I copied the only role model I got." Cactus Steven muttered to himself. "But Steven still gave me the love and kindness I deser-"

Before Cactus Steven could finish, he felt something stabbing him straight through the torso. "WHAAAT?!" he yelled before he was cut to pieces by a sword with a black grip & guard bearing a white diamond symbol.

Once she had finished reducing Cactus Steven to chunks of cactus, Black Rutile gazed down at one of the flowers that once adorned her victim's body and heartlessly crushed it beneath her foot without a second thought. She then changed her tune into something more relaxed and less sadistic as she began to round up whatever pieces of Cactus Steven remained and collect them all in a bubble.

One of the Cactus Steven remains turned into a little Steven head that let out a tiny roar, prompting Black Rutile to smile and stroke her chin in deep contemplation.

--

Aw jeepers, it's Black Rutile again! What has she got planned for Cactus Steven? Just another question that'll be answered when this part is reaching it's end. But next time, we get to see Peridot take the stage again as we look into Steven's dreams! Keep an eye out folks.

[bluekayanite]

(SU:F Theory) Was “Volleyball” REALLY hurt by Pink?

So I guess that the premiere was not one big, long ep as I expected, but rather four little ones in succession. XD;

Still, there's a good chunk of theory material.  I decided to start with the one that was most important to me.  It took longer than I expected to write (I'm sort of amazed at how much I can find in a 10-minute ep XD), though it’s actually a lot shorter than a lot of my posts (which... is only saying so much). XD;  (It may also be a bit messier than usual because I've been tired and lacking the energy to edit much. -.-; )

EDIT: Added another section at the end - also, some clarifications and stuff have been made. EDIT2: Added another detail that seems important. =3 EDIT2a: And another. XD

Quick note in case you don't know: my basic theory is that Rose was not Pink Diamond, and that the whole thing was crafted by White, through her mind-control powers.  This is not only a list of what looks like general contradictions, but a list of stuff that seems to support this idea. =3

More timeline inconsistencies

Pearl's story is loaded with things that don't make sense, in terms of chronology.  And this ep just introduced another:

"I was given to Pink Diamond just a few thousand years before she was given the Earth." - Pearl, Now We're Only Falling Apart

A few thousand years - as in, probably 3,000-4,000.  It's been established that Pink first got the Earth 6,000 years ago.  This would mean that Pink got Pearl 9,000-10,000 years ago.

...this doesn't match with Pink Pearl's (AKA "Volleyball's") timeframe.  (I hope you don't mind if I still call her Pink Pearl. XD; ) I mean, I guess it's possible that there's a lot of rounding involved, but it seems unlikely - it seems like Gems have a tendency to round to centuries and quarter-millenia.

"[Amethyst's] exit marks look about 500 years newer than every other hole." - Peridot, Too Far "The Earth, 5750 years ago[...] was a promising site of a new Gem colony." - Garnet, The Answer "It's been about 5,300 years [since we last saw you, Bismuth]. - Pearl, Bismuth

If Pearl were given to Pink a couple thousand years before the Earth thing happened, I think she would've said "a couple thousand years," and if were longer than a couple thou, I'd think that Pink Pearl would say so - at the very least, I'd think she'd say 8,500 years, or so.  As it is, though, it seems like a stretch at best, though a contradiction seems more likely.

I'd also like to note that the original name for "So Many Birthdays" was "10,000 birthdays" - I think this is probably how old Pearl is, and it fits within her timeline for when she was (supposedly) given to Pink.  I think the idea is supposed to be that she was given to Pink as soon as she was made - or at least, she remembers it that way. It seems likely that Pearl belonged to White at some point (it seems like everybody and their dogs have that theory XD; ), but it couldn't be the case if Pearl was given to Pink as soon as she was made.

Though even if she was rejuvenated and counting from that point... it still seems like a stretch to me.

I will note that Pink P.'s timeline was mentioned away from Pearl, who could've "corrected" her if she was nearby.  This kind of strikes me as a setup to a reveal that their memories aren't right - something that would be more obvious, later. XD

EDIT2: Also, the fact that Pink Pearl specifies Pink having destructive powers suggests that she knows that Pink had non-destructive powers - ones which, from the sound of it, she supposedly didn’t use until after losing Pink Pearl. ~_^

I know that a lot of people are in a "Pearl belonged to White once" camp right now - though personally, I never really left the "Pearl never belonged to Pink Diamond" camp. XD  I think this is one of the clues to support my "side" on this.

Pink Pearl's Still-Lasting Injury

First thing I want to note is: Change Your Mind, Pink Pearl seemed confused about her injury, as if she wasn't sure how she got it - the way she touched her broken eye highlights this.

And now, not only does she claim to know where it came from, but she's awfully nonchalant about it, even to the point of waving it off.

It's also implied that Pink Pearl was damaged before... possibly more than once.

Pearl: Well, when a Pearl was damaged, they were usually brought to the Reef. Pink Pearl: Yes!  That’s exactly what Pink would do.

And yet, the ONLY sign of a lasting, psychological trauma, is with her eye.  If getting hurt was a repeated occurrence for her, and it was that impactful for her, then why is there only the one major, lasting injury?

If Pink Pearl getting hurt by her Diamond, in of itself, was enough to cause emotional trauma, I'd think that she'd be covered in cracks that Pink couldn't repair.  The crack even shows on her hair, so I don't think any clothes on her form would cover them. Also, Shell implies that she only has one of this type of injury.

"This" injury - not "these" injuries (which would be a giveaway, if she had others).

That said, there must be something different about this injury.

Given Pink Pearl's story about going to White for a colony, it seems like the narrative would be that the same outburst that caused the injury was the same outburst that was the last straw for White, leading to the punishment that Blue talked about.

So in that case, it seems like it could've been trauma from being separated from Pink... though I have my doubts.  For one, Shell implied that it was the injury itself that was impactful - not the aftermath. So it sounds to me that what caused the injury is more likely to be the source of the trauma.

I think that the assumption that Steven and Pearl made - that White had something to do with it - is a lot more likely.  I don't think that White necessarily had to have caused the injury directly, though. Personally, I've always imaged that the injury happened because Pink Pearl, tried to resist the mind-control (possibly with help from an order of Pink's), and the pressure between the two became so great that something had to give... and it ended up being her eye.  (I also imagine that the immense pain involved would've given White a chance to take over.)

At any rate, White did manage to use her mind-control powers on Pink Pearl, so it's possible that whatever defenses White had to fight against are gone now (or at least, incredibly weakened).  And if White could take over a Gem completely, then altering memories seems well within her capabilities. I pretty much believe that White's been trying to cover up anything that might incriminate her, and an injury like that would certainly count.  And it's been years since Pink Pearl was released from White's control, so White's had plenty of opportunity to work her magic.

Another reason why I don't think that being taken away was the source of trauma is... basically what the entire next section's about (especially later in). XD;

Pink's Relationship with Pink Pearl

I think that Pink Pearl is a little too nonchalant about things besides her broken eye.  It's hard to forget how hard it was for Pearl to move on.

And Blue was torn to pieces over the loss.

"You cannot fathom how much I've mourned... what thousands of years of grief has done to me!” - Blue Diamond, Reunited

Even Yellow showed pain that she was trying to avoid.

So why isn't Pink Pearl more torn up about the thought of Pink?  She outright says that they were close...

And it's pretty obvious that she still thinks fondly of her.

So why isn't she grieving?  It's only been a couple years - maybe three - and she can talk about Pink without a hint of grief.

Also: she was told more about Steven than just his healing powers, right?  So she has to be thinking about Steven being "Pink's son"... right?  Because I'd really think that just being around Steven would be hard for her.

And yet... it doesn't seem to be an issue for her.

This just doesn't seem natural to me.  2-3 years is a really short time for a Gem, and many humans have trouble moving on in that timespan.  She cries freely later...

So it seems to me that the likely reason why she's not crying - or otherwise mourning - over Pink is because she's being prevented from doing so.  Once again, mind-affecting magic seems like a probable explanation.

On the flipside, it looks like Pearl is being prevented from remembering other details; she certainly seems jealous about the ribbon wand... which Pink Pearl explicitly says was a GIFT from Pink; not just an accessory.

This suggests that Pink saw Pearls - and I would guess Gems in general - as more than just objects.  It would certainly suggest that she saw HER Pearl as more than just an object, and reinforces the idea that they did have a good relationship (and I don't think I've mentioned, but it's been a headcanon of mine for a long time, so I'm happy there =3).  I don't think that Pearl would be jealous of such of gift unless she didn't have one - which doesn't seem like it would make sense, since Pearl clearly remembers that Pink did try to bond with her.

Even if Pink desperately wanted to change, I think it's unlikely that she would change in a way that would make her less kind, even if it was hard for her to really "click" with Pearl.  The wand is physical (magical?) evidence that Pink was the kind to really try to get along with her Pearl, so I'm going to say that this is a place where Pearl's memories are likely the (more-)altered ones.

Also, we have evidence that Pink would entertain Pink Pearl - and they had fun together.

And that she was even kind to Pebbles - judging by the way they "recognized" Steven.

So... yeah.  I think that Pink was kind to her Pearl in... basically EVERY way.  (Including Pearl, if that were applicable.)

I think that this would apply to injuries too.  If Pink really had brought Pink Pearl to the Reef multiple times, I think it would actually be an indication of how much she cared - sure, she may have messed up a lot, but she always made sure to try and take care of Pink Pearl when it happened.  This especially seems likely, given all the stuff that's said about how close they were, and all the evidence to support it.

And there is evidence that Pink Pearl had probably been exposed to Pink's sonic scream... most likely more than once.

So running under the assumption that she had been impacted by it, there are three ways (that I can think of) that it could have impacted her:

1) General emotional trauma related to the subject.  Would probably make the subject hard to talk about... possibly detail surrounding it, too (e.g. because the trauma would've come from Pink, Pink herself would've become a trauma-triggering topic).  (Doesn't fit with the story.) 2) Physical trauma becomes normalized.  Would be able to talk about it in stride, though might still be emotionally impacted by it if it happens, or if reminded of it.  (Seems to be the narrative being used.) 3) Care is given after physical trauma, so much that any emotional trauma is largely, or entirely negated, or even strongly outweighed by the care given.  Might be able to take physical trauma in stride because of a positive after-result, and/or may still react because it's still scary, even if things are better after. (Also plausible.)

As I've kind of talked about already, I'm thinking that number 3 is the most likely, even if it seems like number 2 is being said.

I'll also note that with number 3, it's possible that the scream could be upsetting not because it's associated with physical or emotional trauma on the part of Pink Pearl, but because it's associated with Pink being upset - something that Pink Pearl probably wouldn't want in any situation, especially considering that it has the potential to damage things, and make things go wrong (as had happened in the Reef).

Still, if number 3 was done, then physical injuries could actually result in a strengthening of the relationship, rather than a weakening.  I've even heard a story where a kid hurt his hand at a daycare, and the nurses treated him so well that other kids started hurting their hands on purpose - not as a simple "way of getting attention," but because the love that was shown was so moving and appealing that they were willing to put up with the pain in order to get it.

It could be that the reason why Pink Pearl is so okay with the Reef is because she associates it with her relationship with Pink - and it could be that Pearl doesn't like it because of a lack of that association.

I'd also like to go back to my mention of how I think that the eye-injury was probably not caused by Pink (or the relationship with her), but by trying not to be taken away from Pink.  Even so, I think it's possible that, since she now thinks that it was made by Pink's screaming, then a similar scream could still have been made into a trigger for the emotional trauma that DID make the injury, even if it was unrelated.

So... that said, I think it's still possible that the scream triggers trauma of being taken away from Pink, even if the injury was a result of being taken away, instead of maybe a cause of it. XD;

Still, if it was a result of her fighting to stay with Pink, then the broken would be a symbol of the STRENGTH of their relationship - not of problems with it.  Even then, the cracks getting worse could be a sign of underlying, hidden stressed... except suppressed subconsciously, as a result of White's magic. If this is the case, then I think there's a good chance that P. Pearl will opt to keep the injury, rather than remove it.

(Heck... even if the injury was caused by P. Pearl being taken away and Pink screaming because of it... a lot of the above paragraph could work, even if it's not as inspiring. XD; )

EDIT2a: I think it’s also important to consider how this fits (including timeline-wise) with what Spinel remembers: Pearl’s story suggests that Pink was working hard to be less hurtful, and she was already pretty kind to the Amethysts.

Pink Pearl’s story suggests that Pink already saw Gems as more than just objects to be tossed away once she got bored with them, and if she ever DID hurt them, then it wouldn’t be on purpose, and she would do her best to try and make things up, afterward.

(My personal theory is that Pink was trying to protect Spinel from the war that Pink was planning, and that was the only way she could do it.)

In general, it seems to me that Pink was always kind toward Gems.  Not cruel to them.

Pink and Secret-Keeping

Pink Pearl says that Pink "couldn't keep a secret to save her gem."  And yet, Steven had a dream where he (as Pink) and Pink Pearl would put on a "formal" act for Yellow, to hide the fact that they were having fun a moment ago... and it WORKS.

It really seems like there’s an element of truth to this, so I'd say that Pink was able to keep a secret just fine while Pink Pearl was still there - heck, it looks to me like they would keep secrets together.

There's more than that, though: there's also the fact that all the Pebbles would hide as soon as someone besides Pink was around.  (Even Pearl!)

This behavior seem to suggest that the Pebbles could've been in trouble - probably even in danger - if they were found out about.  Which means that Pink would've had to keep them secret; a secret that she apparently kept well, considering that the Pebbles are still there.

She even had a hidden room that was activated by a panel on the inside of the wall.

So... yeah.  I'd say that she kept a number of secrets just fine.  And Pink Pearl should know that.

Certainly seems like a sign of memory-alteration to me.

Other little notes

The idea of Pink having destructive powers would fit well with my theory that White was afraid of what Pink might do to her.  I was already thinking that Pink could probably do a lot with levitation and rapid plant-growth. If she really had sonic screams and such, it would certainly give White more reason to fear her... And the intro does imply that they're going to have to fight White again. =3

Speaking of Pink having destructive powers... the Pearl Fusion talks about Pink desperately wanting to change.  The thing is, if Pearl didn't even know about those powers, then she would've had to have already made an effort to stop using those powers... which probably would've taken her a LOT of time and practice.

So basically, if Pearl really DID belong to Pink, then Pink would've had to have had a time BETWEEN her two Pearls when she worked REALLY HARD on controlling herself... sometime between the time 8,000 years ago when she would've lost her first Pearl, and the 9,000-10,000 years ago when she would've got her second one.  (Her time-control power must be AMAZING if she could get this stuff done in negative 1,000 years or less. XDDD)

I couldn't help but notice that Pink's features are blanked out when Pink Pearl is thinking about her.  Even the outline for her hair is largely obscured.

I've pointed out a number of times (I'm going to go with my SU Movie post for reference) that Pink's appearance varies in a LOT of subtle ways... her hair is one of the more-noticeable ones, especially when you consider Jungle Moon (which I suspect shows what she REALLY looks like).

At any rate I can imagine that, if Crewniverse were prepping for another reveal on who Pink Diamond was and what she looked like, they'd want to keep Pink Pearl's memory of her appearance secret until after it happened. =3

And yeah, I noticed that both Pearls were the same height in this one.  It was kind of hard to miss.

(If anything, Pink Pearl might be a little taller than average...)

It does seem a little odd considering how much this shot from Legs From Here to Homeworld fits in with Crewniverse's style of leaving hints.

Seriously, if they were already the same height, then Crewniverse wouldn't have had to pull out all those optical illusions (or whatever the term for that sort of visual-trickery would be).  It has been two or three years... I'm not ruling out the possibility that White may have adjusted the height of Pink Pearl since the last time we saw her, along with her memories. (She does still act a lot like a kid.)

Pink Pearl's Intelligence (add-in)

I'm putting this at the bottom both to make it easier to find, and for context.  I've already mentioned that Pink Pearl is fairly childlike.  I didn't mention that it felt like, despite her fairly simple, childlike behavior, she wasn't unintelligent.

I think I've figured out why... or at least part of why.  One reason is because she doesn't stick to simple, childlike language and will actually use somewhat-more-advanced terms.

For some reason, XFinity is showing the wrong video today, so I can't grab more screenshots. -.-;  Still, I remember that other examples include "refurbishment," and when she says "Pardon?" instead of something like "Huh?" or "What?"

And it's not just her vocabulary: she's pretty good at picking up on subtler things.  She recognized when Steven misunderstood what she meant by her eye being "from before.  She was easily (casually!) able to figure out that she's older than Pearl (well... at least in theory XD; ).  She was also able to recognize when Steven thought she didn't understand what a nickname is, and correct him before he even started to explain.

Now, I've noticed that Gems share traits with their Diamonds.  This could be because of the Diamonds programming their own biases into their Gems (intentionally or otherwise), or because those traits are literally inherited from the Diamond who made them.  (I lean toward inheritance, with maybe a few exceptions.)  I think that the intelligence of Pink Pearl could be a hint of Pink Diamond being intelligent, rather than the... well frankly, blundering idiot that Pink is often portrayed as, especially in Pearl's memories.

...and that Rose must've still been, since Greg remembers her that way.

(She was actually smarter in Pearl's memories... at least in some parts.)

Still, this is actually something I noticed way-back-when and (sort of?) referenced in one of my big-old-and-outdated theory posts; it seemed to me like there were several hints that a number of parts of the war were well-planned-out, and Rose did not exactly stike me as the type who was capable of such planning - even for the parts which she had already been said to have done long before she was "revealed" to be Pink. ^_^;

However, if Pink P. really did get her intelligence from Pink D., then it could explain how a LOT of the war could've been done... and even where Rose got many of her ideas.  Heck, I've even long imagined that Pink and her Pearl had planned things together, and it would be hard for them to do that if either of them were lacking on that front. X3

I'm even kind of excited that this seems to be hinted at in a similar way that I did, back in my old "Predictions" fic (which... I never finished XD; ).  The idea was that Pink herself generally preferred to use simpler language, but would pull out a more-advanced term if it better described what she wanted to describe.  I also tried to show her picking up on a lot more of the subtler details (at least usually XD; ).  I think it's really neat to see the same kind of thing going on with her Pearl. ='3

-

And yeah... I still keep waiting for when someone mentions (or finds) something that obviously contradicts an established story.  (And I'll admit, I keep hoping that it's in the next episode... or group thereof. XD; ) It feels like the two Pearls almost got to doing that before Steven interrupted. ^_^;  *sigh* At any rate, it feels to me like we're probably close to another reveal. I mean, they've been piling on the idea that "Rose/Pink did a lot of bad things," even though Rose was shown to be compassionate in earlier episodes.  Seems like a pretty good build-up to a reveal that Rose/Pink being THAT bad was actually NOT the case. XD