From a distance, a casual observer could be forgiven for thinking Beach City was the site of a massive festival. Never before, even during tourist season, had the seaside town been so crowded, albeit not with humans, but Gems.
The Crystal Gems had won, in every possible sense. The Diamonds had called off the feud with earth, and come back to personally undo to damage they had done to the Crystal Gem army. Once the formerly tyrannical matriarchs left, the Crystal Gems finally had the freedom they'd faught so hard for, to do whatever they pleased. The only trouble was, the vast majority of them had yet to figure out exactly what that was, when they were corrupted.
That was how some two hundred Gems came to be milling around Beach City, interacting with the locals, sampling the local cuisine, relaxing on the beach, and visiting the temple base, which had had a colossal statue of an unfamiliar fusion, and a small, human dwelling built around it, since they'd last been there, un-corrupted.
Despite it being the dead of night. Steven was up, chatting animatedly with all his friends, old and new, sitting on the beach, still somewhat wired from his confrontation with White Diamond on Homeworld. There was certainly no shortage of topic for conversation, and eventually, it worked its way around to Steven's exciting new fusions.
"Man, I... love... the new Rainbow Quartz!" Amethyst told Steven excitedly. "You never met the old one, Steven, but she was all, 'Uhhh I'm an amazing beautiful, goddess lady, who can punch boulders apart!'" She threw her arms into the air, to add to her melodramatic impression. "The new one's a riot!"
"Well, Sunstone is certainly impressive too!" Pearl added. "Their representation of earth culture in the 1990's was very amusing!"
"Oh yeah..." Steven remembered. "What was up with that?" He asked, Garnet.
Before she could answer, Amethyst laughed, "Garnet kinda had this phase of being into earth culture back then."
"I liked the fashion." Garnet shortly explained.
Amethyst threw her arm over Steven's shoulder playfully, and looked at Garnet and Pearl. "You know it's a shame Sardonyx can't grill them like she did Smokey."
A small group of Nephrites had been passing. One looked over, at the flamboyant fusion's name. "Are you guys talking about Sardonyx? I miss that goofball!"
"You know, she could always make me laugh, even in the thick of battle!" Another fondly added.
Rhodonite had been lounging on the sand, nearby, with Padparadscha sitting on her lap, idly listening to the conversation. "Who's Sardonyx?" She asked, curiously.
"She's Garnet and Pearl's fusion." Steven explained.
"So, a fusion between a Ruby, a Pearl and a Sapphire..." She noted.
The small group looked back and forth, and seemed to suddenly notice that there were two of each of those Gems present, which led to a train of thought that, even though no one was rude enough to suggest, made Rhodonite and Padparadscha blush slightly.
"I predict... that you'll bring up a touchy subject." Padparadscha prophesised.
"We will? I mean... we did?" Steven asked, in dismay.
"Well, Padparadscha and I have been friends for millennia..." Rhodonite explained. "Of course we've talked about fusion, but we always figured it was wrong... And we're not so close that we can't help ourselves, unlike these two lovebirds." She pointed at her Gems and smiled proudly. "To say nothing of her..."
Near the Big Dougnut, Fluorite was deep in conversation with Jasper. Whatever they were talking about, it seemed to be making Jasper massively uncomfortable, but, to her credit, she seemed adamant on hearing the caterpillar-like fusion out.
"Well, of course, we'd never ask you to fuse for something as silly as greeting Rainbow and Sunstone." Pearl reassured the two off-colours.
Rhodonite's blush was gone, though, and she had adopted a thoughtful expression. "No... you know what? I think it's about time we stopped being afraid of the Diamond's dumb rules. What do you say, Padparadscha? You wanna give fusion a try?"
"Rhodonite, I know what you're about to say, and the answer is yes!" Padparadscha lifted her fringe, revealing the dramatic twinkle in her eye, as she grinned excitedly. "Let's put on a show!"