She had been pretty burnt out after her big tantrum that ended up scaring the Crystal Gems to the point that they tried to avoid her as much as possible. It didn't really bother her since it allowed her to get her thoughts together and figure out a few very important things. Jasper still couldn't quite pin the exact reason that set her off in the first place but, that was probably for the better. The most important thing was that no one had gotten hurt by her and it took a huge weight off her shoulders.
Lapis had taken to sticking close to her since her breakdown and she didn't exactly know how she felt about it. In one way, it made her feel safer and better about what happened. In another way, she was nervous about the way some of the other gems looked at them since they were on edge again. They hadn't tried anything to her yet but, she had a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with the way Lapis and Garnet would stop them if they tried to go near her. It didn't bother her that much and it seemed that it was just a natural reaction to what happened.
Jasper doubted that they would ever admit that they were both acting like overprotective parents and she wasn't going to be the one to tell them either. She was kind of glad that they were protecting her even if it wasn't something she hadn't openly said that she wanted them to. It was nice that she didn't have to say a lot for them to do anything to help her out. They were also starting to form the habit of silently asking if she was okay or if she needed anything. It wasn't something that really had to be a thing while she was an adult but, if they were to do it when she was Little, she wouldn't mind it at all.
There was a little nervousness about going into her other mindset and not being able to switch back. It wasn't something that she was going to pay that much attention to it and continue to do what she enjoyed. She was more than ready to switch into the other mindset but, she had to find the blue gem. The other gem was strangely not near her for the first time in awhile and it made her feel uneasy about being alone. Jasper looked around for the slim gem and didn't see any sign of her. It was odd that she wasn't anywhere around.
Maybe she had decided to set something up for their playtime and didn't want her to know about it. There wasn't much that would be a big enough of a good thing to make her want anything to do with a surprise. The other gem wasn't really known for doing anything big but, she might have had help from the fusion. It was still a little farfetched that they would want to do this. She had her curiosity peaked, both her adult and Little mindset. Jasper moved towards the barn since it was the only place that she hadn't looked.
Lapis hummed as she finished setting up a soft area for a later time and looked around. It had taken them a bit longer than she would have hoped but, the barn looked like a safe haven for a small child or gemling. She was hoping that it would help make Jasper feel safer about meeting everyone and help make sure another breakdown didn't happen. There wasn't much else they were going to be able to help keep her from getting stressed other than keep plenty of space between her and everyone else. The only thing they really needed now was a Little Jasper and the rest of the Crystal Gems.
"Where are you, mommy?" Jasper questioned timidly as she stepped into the barn.
"Over here," Lapis responded happily.
"What's going on in here?" she asked, looking around.
"There are a few people coming over and I don't want you getting scared of them," her mommy explained gently. "One of them is here already."
"Is she the same one that helped me with the bath?" Jasper inquired.
"Yep. She's been really excited to meet you again," Lapis answered.
Garnet moved into the large gemling's range of view and took her visor off. She wanted to make sure she wasn't intimidating. The last thing she wanted to do was scare her but, that seemed to be the last thing on the young gem's mind. As the orange gem moved closer, she moved slowly and watched the gem's expressions. There was something about how excited she was that made her feel even better than she had before.
Jasper was glad that the purple was allowing her to get used to her at her own pace instead of basically forcing her to adjust. It was nice for her to be able to go slow and take in the slightly shorter gem. She was about a head shorter than her and she had a gem in each hand. The sight of more than one gem made her move closer and reach out to touch them. She knew that it wasn't polite but, she really wanted to know what they felt like compared to her own.
"What do you say first?" Garnet asked carefully.
"Can I feel your gems?" Jasper answered.
"Yes, you may." she responded.
Jasper giggled as she lightly ran her hand over the red gem. It was really warm like it had been in the sun for a while. There was something about its constant warmth that made her feel like she was at home. She still didn't have a place that she would definitely call her home but, this place was slowly starting to feel like one. Maybe if the other gems came around and actually helped take care of her, she might be able to call this place her home. It would be the first time in thousands of years that she would be calling anywhere her home.
Garnet smiled brightly as she watched the gemling take in the fact that she had multiple gems. It was a nice change to see someone actually happy to see the fact that she was a fusion instead of being scared or disappointed. She felt a lot better about being around the young gem and wanted to spend more time around her. There was something about her that made her want to protect and spoil her for the rest of eternity. It might have had something to do with how innocent she was or how much she had already been hurt.
"Can we come in yet?" a voice questioned from the other side of the doors. It was enough to make them look towards the door.
"Only if you don't pick on her," Lapis responded. There wasn't much delay after that and the rest of the gems came into the barn.
They froze as they took in the sight of Jasper trying to hide behind Garnet. It must have been quite the shock to see her trying to make herself as physically same as possible. She didn't seem to want anything to do with the large number of gems.
"So this is what she does in her free time?" Pearl inquired with a slight gesture to the large gem.
"Yes, and I'm her mommy." she answered politely.
"I guess it's not all that bad," Steven said. "It must be helping her if she's willing to trust people to see her in such a vulnerable state."
"Thank you for understanding, Steven." Garnet praised.
Jasper giggled at the small, round boy and moved out from behind the slightly shorter gem. She was curious about who these new people were and if they were going to be around longer. They seemed pretty nice but, that was just from the way they looked. It might not have been the best idea to judge them based on their looks alone and would have to spend a lot of time with them to truly know.
"Hello," the gemling said.
"Hi. I'm Steven," he replied. "What's your name?"
"It's Jasper," she responded bravely. This small boy was definitely nicer than most people she had met through the years.
"It's really nice to finally meet you," Steven said.
Pearl shifted awkwardly as she took in the way that Steven and Jasper interacted. It was very strange to see the large gem not trying to harm anyone no matter how long she had been around them. She was going to have to take awhile to get used to the fact that she was younger than Steven at this point and that the blue gem was watching over her. The fact that even Garnet was going along with it was a little disorienting.
Amethyst was kind of shocked to see such a different side of a gem that she was slowly coming to terms with calling her sister. She didn't mind it at all since it was nice to see her enjoying herself and actually being herself instead of putting a wall to block everyone from truly meeting her. It was something that she never would have thought would have happened but, it was a good thing. There was a few things that she wanted to know about what her sister did and how it all worked. She wanted to be able to help her as much as she possibly could.
"She's definitely cute like this. I'm surprised considering her not so nice adult attitude," Amethyst chuckled.
"It's not that big of a shock. I think it fits her better," Steven cheered.
"We're glad you think that way since we really want you guys to be apart of this since it's not always going to be us hanging around the base when there are missions that need to be done," Garnet explained.
"I'd be more than happy to help and I'm sure Connie would as well," he responded.
"I'm down to help her too," she said.
"All we need is Pearl to agree to it," Lapis said, looking at the mentioned gem.
"I'll help but, I'm still not too sure how I feel about this whole thing." Pearl replied.
"Thank you for doing this even though I most definitely don't deserve all of this," Jasper said quietly.
"You deserve this and so much more. You've been through so much over all these years and we want you to be happy. There's a lot that you want to do or just want in general," Garnet responded. "Just two people aren't going to be able to be enough for all the things you want when you're Little. We want you to have the best experiences possible and we also want you to have a family like the rest of us do."
Jasper didn't know what to do since nobody had ever really wanted to help her to this degree. It was overwhelming to try to understand why they had decided to do so much for her when she hadn't done a lot for them other than cause them trouble. She was happy that they wanted to do things for her even though she would never be able to repay them. Maybe they would be willing to create a true place for her to be Little whenever she wanted to without having to set up a time frame to do so. It would be nice to be able to do such things whenever she needed to. There were tears running down her face without her noticing.
The others moved closer to her and Garnet laid a hand on her shoulder. It was a little worrying to see her suddenly start crying without any warning and they really wanted to make sure she was okay. They really should have seen tears during this at some point but, there was no real use in trying to pin the blame on anyone. This was something they were going to have to deal with since it was probably going to be happening a lot more.
"What's wrong? Did we do something wrong?" Steven questioned gently.
"No. It wasn't something you did wrong. I just don't know why you guys think I deserve all of this when I've done so many horrible things," Jasper gasper as she tried to wipe away still flowing tears.
"That doesn't matter anymore. We moved on from those times and want you to be able to do the same," Pearl responded softly. "There's a lot of things that each of us have done that we're not proud of but, we learned to accept them and move on."
She carefully moved towards the large gem and wrapped her arms around her. It was a little awkward since she was a lot wider than she she was. The others soon joined in on her hug and tried to comfort her to the best of their abilities. Jasper couldn't help the sobs that came out of her as she tried to take in the fact that they weren't running away from her but, trying to help her. There were so many emotions running through her mind that she didn't know what to do and just enjoyed the warmth from the other gems around her.