Disclaimer: I don't own Steven Universe!
Title: Restless
Summary: Captain Lars faces his hardest challenge yet; getting re-accustomed to Earth.
Chapter Title: Ice Cream
...
avidreaded- Not at all! I really like that headcanon!
the girl who envies books- I try to remember a pad in a parade when I type out Padparadscha, and it comes with time. =) This is a Rutile chapter, but I do have plans for the Strawberry Cinnamon Roll!
animefan29- Yeah, there's an overarching thing between Lars and Connie going on. It'll make more sense later on.
carbuncle (Junuary 13)- Yeah, she'd probably count as married. =)
...
While Fluorite had taken to napping during the space flight, none of the others had much interest in the activity, though they did their best to keep quiet for the ones who did. So when the right Rutile nudged the left, and she opened her eyes as though roused from slumber, it was really just bringing her back from a rather in-depth daydream.
"Let's go," Rutile whispered. Rutile nodded.
They slid out of their chair. The docking bay was left open to allow the sea air to float in, so they had no real worry about waking their Captain and the large fusion up. They clasped their hands together and started down the arched pathway into the cool early morning.
"Where do you think you're going?"
The Rutiles stopped and turned, smiling at Rhodonite. The smaller fusion was sitting in her chair, watching them curiously. "We're going grocery shopping!"
She blinked. "You're going what?"
"Grocery shopping," the right one repeated. "The Connie human mentioned it during our cookout. She said it was important for humans to do it, so we're gonna go grocery shopping for Captain Lars!"
"Okay," Rhodonite said, sounding confused. "What's a grocery?"
"Dunno!" she chirped. "We're gonna figure it out!"
"Oh." The fusion tipped her head back. "Okay. Good luck."
The twins touched the sandy ground with a little bounce, excited. They'd both been eager to explore this new planet ever since touching down, but with Captain Lars being tugged back and forth it seemed like they were going to have to do it solo. That didn't bother them; they'd always been the Gems to sneak around under Homeworld, keeping track of the robonoids and any other defects that might come their way. Compared to all that, the Earth ought to be easy.
Beach City was awash with color. There weren't many humans out yet, but smells tickled their noses as they gleefully walked down the sidewalk, waving to every human that passed them. Most of all, they were excited about making friends. (Though, deep down, neither of them were sure how to do that without some form of danger in the middle. Practice and time, they suspected, would be key.)
"We found it!" the left Rutile exclaimed eventually, pointed triumphantly at a sign. "Now we just need to gather the grocery!"
"Okay..." the right Rutile squinted at the vast area of Earth things they could just catch a glimpse of. People moved around them and into the store, grabbing carts. "But which thing is the grocery?"
"Good question. Do you think it's the sign?"
"If it was the sign, the other humans would've gotten it by now."
Rutile sucked in a breath through her teeth, creating a hissing noise. "I think we may have been a bit overzealous on this venture."
"Ditto."
"Oh," Rutile said, surprised, when a waiter came by and dropped a soda at their table. She waved after him. "Thank you, friend!"
The left Rutile watched on, chin perched in her hands, attempting to brainstorm ideas for fixing their little error. She perked up a little. "That smells like whatever Captain Lars was drinking at the paperwork place!"
"I think it's the same thing." She nudged it over for her twin to hold, casting a curious look after the waiter. "He seemed nice, giving us this. He didn't look at us, though."
"Are you surprised?" she asked wryly. "We don't exactly look like a normal human, do we?"
"Now, now, let's not jump to conclusions. Eye contact might be a sign of hierarchy on Earth. Since we're so new, we're looked over."
"Captain Lars looks at us just fine," the Rutile pointed out. "Face it, Til. We're still outcasts."
Her eyes flickered down to the soda. "I guess it would be silly to assume otherwise, huh?"
She shrugged. "Steven and Captain Lars said we'd be safe here. They never said we'd be popular."
Rutile reached out to grab Rutile's hand, hoping to gain some level of comfort. "We should just go back to the ship. We can try another day. With something simpler."
The other Gem nodded, but before they could stand up a pudgy finger poked them in the hip, making the duo jolt. A strawberry twin cone was held up to them for judgement.
"Huh?" The twins tilted their heads so they could see around to the small human behind it. They didn't know it then, but they would later come to call him Onion. "Is this for us?"
Onion wiggled it a bit enticingly. They took the cone from him, knowing that they had no way of eating the confection. The left Rutile's eyes brightened. "Oooh, I love how it smells!"
"So you do like food," the other mused. "Hello, tiny human. Do you have a name?"
He crawled up on the free seat across from them, blinking owlishly, as if he'd never seen a Gem in his life.
"Oh," Rutile said. "Do you not like to talk?"
He slowly nodded.
She nodded back in understanding. "Okay. I'm Rutile, and this is Rutile. Do you know what a grocery is?"
Onion waved a hand in a so-so manner.
"Yeah, that's how it was for us, too. It's so confusing!"
The ice cream melted onto the table between them, forgotten.
Author's Note: Short but cute!
The next few chapters are gonna be about the Off Colors making friends, exploring, etc, but mostly I think it's a reflection of how they tackle new situations. The Rutiles are fearless; they wanna explore!... Even though they really aren't sure where they're going or what they're doing.
Next time, on Restless: Rhodonite makes a necklace.
-Mandaree1