Winter had begun.
The house had turned incredibly cold. Even with the electric heater, the indoors felt like an icebox. Because Gems were indeed- holograms with mass, the mega temperature change did not affect Acapella or Toaster in the slightest.
Gamma and Yellow Diamond...on the other hand, were struggling.
The small kitten was very much not used to being "cold"...EVER. Being a previous Gem herself, the sensation had never been a problem. The kitten was desperately struggling to stay warm. Yellow Diamond was spending any time eating or walking around the house shivering. She found herself laying on odd places of comfort...the top of the tv, the heater box...and (the most common spot of heat)- somewhere near the Ruby.
If Toaster was asleep on the couch- Yellow Diamond would fall asleep somewhere on the furniture or the floor nearby. If Toaster was asleep in her room, the Diamond would sleep underneath the Ruby's bed. If the Ruby went to the ASPCA...well...Yellow Diamond would howl in discomfort. After two weeks of howling and complaining, Acapella FINALLY caved in, and invested in an electric blanket.
The Yellow Pearl plugged the thing into the wall. "THERE! Now quit your fussing! I have work to do!"
Silently grateful, the kitten shuffled her way underneath the blanket, and proceeded to wrap herself up like a cocoon. This area near the blanket would be the cat's permanent sleeping place for the next few months.
Gamma was experiencing a completely different set of problems. Being a cold-blooded alien, the chill did not bother him.
However...the Keronian WAS feeling sluggish and fatigued. He kept dozing off in the most odd places. His body was begging for hibernation. On more than one occasion the frog would be found- on the floor, in a closet, near a window- completely curled up and unnaturally stiff. This normal pastime was freaking out Toaster especially. Gamma would become somewhat cold, and frozen solid when his body temperature went too low.
This resulted in Acapella investing in a second, more portable electric blanket so that the Keronian could move about the house without becoming comatose.
A day came about two weeks after the cold front hit. In the middle of the night, a flurry fell from up above! Droplets of frozen water began to appear from the sky!
The next morning, all the residents of the house were shocked! None of them had seen snow before!
Toaster remembered one of her nature documentaries talking about "snow", while displaying the life-cycle of a penguin. She recalled the narrorator stressing that the cold snow could be dangerous to penguin eggs, and the massive flock of birds had to huddle for warmth.
Despite there only being a few inches of frozen water outside, the Ruby informed her friends that the Earth documentary had specifically stated that the stuff could cause death.
Scared as ever, the family decided to stay inside for safety purposes. The stuff would probably disappear eventually anyway.
Unfortunately, the snow wasn't gone the next day...or the day after that...or the day after that one.
Food started to become scarce. With no way of leaving the house for groceries, Acapella made the difficult decision to ration. Until further notice, all the food went to the frog and the kitten. Toaster complained, but the Yellow Pearl stressed that they (as Gems) didn't need the food to survive like the others.
The following night, a blizzard wept through! Tree branches fell! Debris got tossed! The wind howled in aggravation and (as a final blow), all the power in the house was knocked out.
Yellow Diamond awoke several hours later, shivering in discomfort. It seemed the electric blanket had stopped working, and was no longer producing heat.
The house was incredibly eerie- unusually dark, and cold, and quiet. The tiny kitten struggled up the stairs using brute force and desperation. She entered Toaster's room, and quickly jumped on top of the massive bed, before digging herself underneath the Gem's blankets, and leaning against Ruby's back for warmth.
The kitten soon fell asleep again.
The morning came, but the house's lighting was...strange. All of the first floor windows had been buried by frozen water. The home's pipes didn't seem to be working correctly. The lack of power had transformed Gamma into a comfortable icicle. His heart rate had slowed down to a crawl and his body was stiff as he slept. The creature breathed slowly...hibernation.
The Yellow Diamond, meanwhile, refused to leave Toaster's side after she awoke. The kitten resorted to a pathetic state- commanding and begging with mercy to be held constantly, so that she wouldn't freeze to death.
Toaster proceeded to swaddle the small kitten into a warm bedspread, and carry her about the house. "Acapella! We can't stay here! Yellow is shivering like crazy...and Gamma has turned into a slush ball!" The Ruby was unsure what to do, and was hoping her intelligent friend would have a solution.
Acapella, unfortunately, was a bit distracted. The Pearl was desperately attempting to turn on the kitchen sink. The pipes groaned in stress, but water refused to leave the spicket. The Yellow Gem cursed. "I think the pipes are frozen." It was obvious that the situation had become dire. Without food, water, OR heat- it was obvious that Gamma and Yellow Diamond could parish.
Acapella attempted to call someone from the land line- the phone was dead. Desperate for options, the Pearl attempted to open the back door of the house. A massive wall of white greeted her at the door, before shivering slightly and collapsing!
The Yellow Gem yelped in surprise, as a miniature avalanche piled on top of her!
Acapella emerged several seconds later- popping out of the snow pile with the most unamused look on her face. "ALL RIGHT! ALL RIGHT! THAT...IS...IT! I'M FED UP! TOASTER! GO GRAB THE KERONIAN! I can't TAKE it anymore!"
Several minutes later, Acapella was carrying the swaddled kitten in one hand, and the frozen Keronian in the other.
The Yellow Pearl gave Toaster permission to radiate enough heat to melt the massive pile of snow that had caved into the house.
Toaster started walking through the back door- her heat radiating just enough to make a massive snow cave leading outside of the house. Acapella followed the small red Gem, and instructed her to find the Warp Pad as quickly as possible. Toaster wandered around a bit, before finding the bottom half of a familiar tree.
"Hey! We're close!" Toaster stated enthusiastically! "...see? This is the tree with the old Human face!" Toaster pointed at a knot in the tree's root that- indeed, looked like a Human face.
Acapella grunted in unamusement. "That's great Toaster. REEEAL helpful. Can you...maybe...find the ACTUAL Warp Pad though?! These two are getting heavy..."
Toaster proceeded to walk in the general direction of where she thought the Warp Pad was.
Thirty minutes and several circles later, the Warp Pad finally came into view.
"Thank the STARS!" Yellow Pearl rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Let's get the frack out of here..."
The family stood on the Warp Pad and activated it quickly...
Steven and his family were bundled up and comfortable. It had snowed at their house too...but the fact that they were so close to the sea, meant that the salt water was preventing snow from building up.
The family was happy to have a decent heating system, and greatful to still have power...
All of a sudden, the Warp Pad activated unexpectedly! A massive ton of snow appeared and fell with a massive "WOMP!"
"What the?!" Amethyst looked at the pile of snow in confusion.
...
Several seconds later, the pile of snow transformed into a massive puddle- revealing Toaster, an exausted Acapella, and both a frozen kitten and Keronian.
Steven and his family stood up in suprise! They knew the family lived more inland...but did NOT expect the surprise visit- nor the family to be in such horrendous condition.
Garnet quickly nabbed Gamma and Bananas from Acapella, and carried the duo into the burning room of the temple. The fusion figured that if a pool full of magma couldn't unfreeze the duo, NOTHING would.
Yellow Diamond yawned, and smacked her lips. She had fallen asleep after being taken to a warm spot. It had been several hours since the swaddled bundle had been brought into the burning room.
As the kitten's sight focused, the Diamond spotted the hundreds of bubbled Gems resting near the ceiling!
"AAAAGGH!" The massive scream woke up the Keronian instantly. Now very much unfrozen, Gamma turned to the cat with fatigue and annoyance. He followed Yellow Diamond's gaze to the new room's ceiling...
"WOAH...that's a LOT of bubbles..." Gamma nodded as he stated the obvious.
Quite quickly (and unexpectedly), Garnet entered the burning room looking confused.
"I heard a scream." The fusion stated bluntly.
Thinking quick on his feet, the Keronian responded: "Oh! Yeah! Sorry about that...that was me. I was not expecting to be waking up in a room filled with lava and bubbled Gems. Kind of a shock..."
Garnet nodded with understanding. "Try to get some more rest." The fusion plainly stated before leaving the room once more.
As soon as the coast was clear, Gamma approached Yellow Diamond, and attempted to tug off her translation collar. The kitten gagged several times in discomfort. It seemed throughout all the excitement of getting out of the storm, the family had forgotten to remove the device that would certainly expose the secret that Bananas was actually Yellow Diamond.
Try as he might, it seemed the translation collar was stuck.