"Reach! And reach! And reach!"
Steven and Opal mimicked the fitness instructor's movements on the screen. The video was probably about twenty years old, judging by the static and audio tears, but they couldn't care less. They continued moving to the scratchy pop music.
The leg-warmer-wearing fitness instructor began a new move. She extended her arms beside her and then brought them in so that her fists came to her chest. "Now stretch! And stretch! And stretch!"
Opal and Steven copied her with all six of their arms.
The fitness instructor put her hands on her leotard-covered hips and started kicking one leg out at a time. "Kick! And kick! And k - "
Her words were cut off when Opal's long leg accidentally knocked the television off of the table. It fell with a hard 'clunk' on the floor, and the screen shattered instantly. A few lone sparks popped out.
"Oh." Opal awkwardly rubbed at the back of her neck and sent a sheepish smile down at Steven. "Sorry."
"No biggie. I can just buy another one. Again. For the twenty-seventh time."
Steven reached for the paper on the table labeled "Steven and Opal's Amazing Activities of Awesomeness!™". Most of the activities had been crossed out with red pen, but a few more remained. Ruby was on yet another mission and Sapphire had decided that she needed some alone time for the evening, so Opal and Steven were passing time together.
"What do you want to do next on the list?"
Opal sat down on the floor and crossed her long legs. "Read them to me."
"Do you want to go fishing?"
"Hm...No, not really."
"Yeah, me neither. I don't know why we wrote that down...Want to make BLTs?"
"I don't think I'm in the mood for a Bacon-Lettuce-and-Tangerine sandwich right now."
"Knitting?"
Opal held up a large, fuzzy purple sweater with four sleeves and a knit image of a smiling cat on the front. "Already did it."
"Hm...Well, I guess that's it. Unless you want to go out and do something."
"Like what? Sunbathing? Swimming?"
"Or we could go out into town. Have you ever been to Funland?"
"I don't think so, unless I forgot."
"Then we should do that!"
Opal twiddled two of her thumbs together. "Um...are you sure about that? I don't want to disturb anyone..."
Steven gave an exaggerated scoff and waved a hand at her. "What, you? You're seven feet tall and you have four arms! People would be all over you!"
"I know. That's what I'm scared of." At Steven's confused stare, she explained, "I don't really have a good history of fitting in, Steven. People think I'm..." Opal paused, then wiggled her twenty fingers. "Weird."
"So? You're the good kind of weird!"
Opal nodded fervently. "I know! I don't get it!"
"Nothing's gonna happen!" Steven clasped his hands together and made sure to keep his eyes extra-puppy-like as he sang, "Please~?"
Opal sighed. A moment later, she sent him a smile. "Oh, alright. If only for you." She snapped her fingers at him and winked.
Steven gasped, then beamed in appreciation.
It took them about fifteen minutes to get to Beach City Funland, the miniature amusement park to the west of Beach City. Children were running around, screaming in joy and pulling their parents behind them. The songs and beeps of games filled the air, as did the scent of buttered popcorn and sugary cotton candy. Screams and squeals rose up from the rollercoaster. Steven made sure to keep a hold on Opal's hand the entirety of their time - it's happened more than once that she went somewhere with Steven and accidentally left him behind.
Steven pulled Opal to the first game they came to. It was a shoot-the-target sort of game. A 'gun' was tied by a loose string to the booth, and rows of bandit-shaped cutouts stood immobile at the back. Stuffed animals lined the top of the tent.
A rather sullen-looking woman with dark blue hair greeted them morosely. "Hey there, children."
"Hey there, adult!" Steven pulled on Opal's hand just enough so that she would bend down and listen to him. "All you have to do is hit the targets. You're great at that!"
Opal smirked with pride. "I am, aren't I?"
"One dollar for five shots," said the woman. Steven dug into his pocket for four quarters and handed them to her. The woman turned behind her and flipped the switch so that the bandit-shaped cutouts on the wall began to pop up and move. A country song started to spill out from a hidden speaker.
Opal picked up the small 'gun' loaded with foam bullets and aimed. Well...she tried to, anyway. Being as big as she was, the gun was rather tiny in her hands and it was difficult and awkward for her to bring it to her eye and stand on her knees at the same time. It also wasn't her bow, so she was having a hard time with the change of function. She ended up hitting nothing on the first try.
Opal hummed disappointedly and turned the gun over in her hands. Steven just reached into his pocket for another four quarters. "It was your first try! You can go again."
So she got five more foam bullets, but once again missed every shot. So she tried again, then again, then again. She hit a target once, but the foam bullet didn't stick, so it didn't count. Steven wasn't concerned about his money so much as Opal, who was clearly losing her patience.
After the sixth attempt, Opal grit her teeth and turned to the booth manager. "If we pay again, can I use my own ammo?"
The woman shrugged a shoulder. "Why not?"
Steven passed another four quarters to her. Opal summoned her bow into her hands and pulled back the string. A blue arrow appeared as she did so, and she aimed it at the targets.
Steven was entirely aware of the power packed into her arrows, and when he realized what she was going to do, he yelped, "OPAL, NO - !"
Then she fired.
BOOM
Debris, pieces of wood, and the metal bits went everywhere as the bandit-shaped targets and pretty much everything around it was blown to smithereens. Pieces of cotton from the now-destroyed stuffed animal prizes fell down like charred snow. Several people stopped and stared, save for a few parents who pulled their children along in fear. The woman behind the counter seemed surprisingly unfazed. She nonchalantly brushed some burning cotton from her shoulder.
Opal beamed down at Steven like a proud child. "Did I do good?"
"You did great!" Steven grabbed one of her hands and pulled her along. "Now let's go before security finds us."
Steven cast looks over his shoulder while he searched for a new game to play. He was looking for something more Opal-sized. Unfortunately, most games were made for people less than seven feet tall. Finally, he managed to find something more appropriate, and pulled Opal over.
This game was inside two plastic booths side-by-side. Basketball hoops hung at the far walls of each booth and a scoreboard hung between them. Two familiar teens were at either booth. They were shooting small basketballs to the hoop, and picking them up when they rolled back down. Each basket they made emitted a beep from the scoreboard.
"Sadie! Lars!"
Sadie turned over her shoulder to smile at him, but Lars kept shooting. "Hey, Steven!"
A moment later, an electronic song played from the scoreboard. '14' on Lars's side, '7' on Sadie's. Lars whooped victoriously and snapped his fingers at Sadie. "Ha! In your face!"
"Yeah, yeah, congrats." Sadie rolled her eyes, but smiled at Steven. "What brings you here?"
Steven gestured up at Opal, who waved down at Sadie. "Opal and I are hanging out today. Care for a game?" He asked this with a wiggle of his eyebrows and a hand on his hip.
Said held her hands up. "Nah, I'm good. You can play Lars if you want."
Steven stepped forward to take her place. He beamed up at Lars. "Lars, my man! You ready?"
Steven put in two quarters into the game, and while Lars put in two more, he smirked and muttered under his breath, "This is going to be too easy."
The counter at the scoreboard started at one minute, and Steven and Lars immediately started shooting. Steven was clearly struggling with his much shorter height and slower movements, but that didn't stop Opal and Sadie from cheering him on. Although Lars wasn't doing perfect, either, he was still clearly managing much better. He moved quickly and much more fluently.
The game ended a minute later. Blocky red numbers read '16' for Lars and '3' for Steven.
Lars cackled despite Steven looking fairly unfazed at his loss. "Nice try, shortstack." He all-too-roughly ruffled Steven's hair. "Better luck next time. Or the next. Or the next."
"Lars!" scolded Sadie.
Opal pursed her lips and turned to Steven. "Do you want to move on?"
A light bulb went off over Steven's head, so instead of answering, he turned to Lars. "Want to play Opal? She's never done this before. She needs a practice buddy."
Lars made a sort of 'tch' sound and smirked. "Fine. Hope she's ready to get creamed."
Steven nudged Opal to take his place. "So what you're going to do is you're going to shoot the balls into the basket as many times as you can, okay?"
Opal looked from the small basketballs to the hoop on the far wall and nodded. "I think I've got it."
Steven nodded, and he and Lars put in another two quarters each. The timer started, and as Lars reached for the basketballs, Steven cheered, "Go, Opal, go!"
Opal grabbed one basketball with each of her hands. The first one she threw experimentally, and it landed in the hoop with a victorious beep.
Steven excitedly patted her leg. "Keep going!"
So she did, throwing them one after the other, systematically using two arms to throw while the other two reached for the basketballs that rolled down. Beeps and bounces sounded off from either booth. Lars was casting narrowed glances at her as he hurriedly tried to catch up to her, to no avail. Sadie and Steven cheered them on all the while.
Finally, the screech of the timer came, and everyone looked to the scoreboard.
'17' on Lars's side, '117' on Opal's.
Steven cheered and wrapped his arms around Opal's leg. "You did it!"
Opal, meanwhile, had risen an eyebrow at the basketballs collected at the bottom of the booth. "Was that it?"
Steven nodded and turned to Lars with his beaming grin still present. "Good game, Lars! Want to go again?"
However, Lars had shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and was already turning away. Angrily, he murmured, "No way. Somehow, you guys managed to not make it fun anymore." He stormed off with huffing breaths.
"Lars!" Sadie sighed and gave Steven an apologetic smirk. "Sorry, Steven." She ran after the taller teenager, calling, "Lars, don't be such a baby!"
Steven worriedly looked up at Opal. She was staring after the two teenagers with furrowed brows and a pouting frown. She looked both confused and worried, and maybe a little hurt.
Steven took her hand once again. "Lars is just competitive! Don't worry about it. Let's move on."
As they walked, Steven searched around for a game that Opal could play without upsetting anyone or damaging property. Ring toss was too risky, she was probably too big for bumper cars, and he still wasn't tall enough to ride the Ferris wheel...Aha!
"Here!" Steven pulled her over to the tall, red metal structure with a brass bell on top. 'STRENGTH-O-METER' blinked on a sign beside it. He grabbed the heavy mallet and turned to Opal as he explained, "Just hit the pad to see how strong you are!"
Steven pulled the mallet over his head and brought it swinging down to the pad at the foot of the structure. The metal piece in the middle climbed upwards and stopped about a quarter of the way up. The section where it landed lit up in bright lights as a mechanical voice taunted, "Mama's Boy!"
"See?"
Opal furrowed her brows as she took the mallet from him. It was practically feather weight in her hands. "What's the point?"
"To see how strong you are! This one will be a breeze for you!" Steven looked past Opal to the man approaching them. "Mr. Smiley!"
Mr. Smiley, owner of both Funland and the Beach City Arcade, laughed as he approached them. The ever-present smile on his face never faded as he asked, "Steven! Tall Lady! How's your day going?"
"Going great! Opal was about to try the Strength-O-Meter!"
Mr. Smiley grinned up at Opal and gave her an encouraging swing of his arm. "Go on, give 'er a swing!"
Opal shrugged begrudgingly and knelt down in front of the pad. She lightly swung the mallet down.
The metal piece on the Strength-O-Meter shot upwards. Literally. It shot straight through the brass bell and kept going like a bullet...straight through one of the jumbo-sized elephant balloons hanging above. It gave a loud pop, causing everyone around to flinch, and the rubbery skin left behind landed directly on top of one of the vendors of the mobile popcorn stands.
He cried out and lurched, causing the cart to crash, the glass to break, and popcorn to spill everywhere. This immediately caught the attention of the perching seagulls that had been waiting for any scrap of food, and they descended immediately. Cries and screams broke out as people tried to avoid the screeching seagulls. Some people dropped their food in their attempt to run, causing even more seagulls to appear.
One poor soul was trying to defend his food as several seagulls tried to claw at it, and in his panicked craze, he ran straight into the side of one of the booths. It caved in, straight to the other wall of the booth, and then that wall hit another wall, until a series of booths went down like dominos.
One of the booths at the end hit the grill of a hot dog vendor. The coals spilled onto the wood and tarps of the booths, and caught fire instantly. In mere minutes, they could hear the honks and blares of a fire truck, and firemen swarmed the scene to douse the flames.
All the while, Opal, Steven, and Mr. Smiley stared, struck still with shock. Mr. Smiley's smile never waned, though, even as he leaned in close to Steven and hissed through his teeth, "You and your tall lady friend are banned from Funland."
Steven reached out to tug on Opal's hand. "Let's go."
Opal didn't waste time in picking Steven up and bolting out of Funland.
"Okay, so...That was a disaster. But accidental disasters happen sometimes, so no harm done!"
Steven held the door open for Opal, who had to squat a considerable bit to squeeze through. The Fish Pizza pizzeria was as busy as ever, a few tables occupied with hungry customers. The place reeked of fish and parmesan cheese, and even if it wasn't a good smell, one got used to it quickly.
Steven pulled Opal to one of the booths, but paused when he saw that she couldn't fit. So he pulled the table out and replaced it with one of the small tables for singles so that she had more leg room. It was still an awkward squeeze. She ended up with her long legs stretched outside of the booth.
"You like Fish Pizza, right?"
"Sometimes."
"Well, you'll like it today! Here, we can split one."
Jenny, Kofi Pizza's daughter and technically the official heiress to the Pizzeria, approached them with a pen and notepad in hand. She smiled at Steven and gave him a high five when he immediately held his hand up. "Hey, Steven. You taking your auntie out for dinner?"
"She's not related to me by any blood relation, but yes. Yes, we are."
"Okay." Jenny clicked her pen. "What would you like?"
"We're gonna split a medium pizza. I'll just get pepperoni on my side. Opal, what do you want for your half?"
"Hm...I'll get cinnamon, I suppose."
Jenny's nose crinkled. "You want to eat cinnamon on pizza?"
Steven's head tipped to the side curiously. "You asked us what we'd like."
Jenny paused, then shrugged. "That I did. Anyway, I'll be back in a bit."
She sauntered off, leaving Opal and Steven alone. Steven drummed his fingers on the tabletop, and, when Opal squirmed in her seat, he said, "Sorry about what happened at Funland."
She looked confused for a moment, likely having forgotten about it at the time, but eventually made an "oh" sound and looked away from him. "That wasn't your fault. I'm sorry for getting you banned."
Steven scoffed and waved a hand at her. "I have better things to than play games. I have a planet to protect."
Opal smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.
"...What you did was an accident. And don't let Lars get to you - he's always a grump."
"I just..." Opal chewed on her lip. "I just don't want to bother anyone."
"You're not!" When Opal still seemed unconvinced, Steven said, "Hey, why don't you meet the Pizzas? They'll love you!"
Opal managed to squeeze out of the booth and crouch her way to the counter. Behind it, a girl with thick hair and a red sundress was wiping down equipment while a small woman with round glasses was packing away frozen fish. "That's Kiki, Jenny's twin sister, and that's Nanafua. Hey, Nanafua!"
"Hello, Steven!" She held up a frozen trout in her hands. "Would you like a fish? We won't cook it unless you say so!"
"We're good!"
"You sure? You look like you need a fish. I'll pack it for you anyway."
Steven grinned up at Opal. "Nanafua is a darling like that."
She came back a moment later with the fish, wrapped in brown paper. "Here you go."
Behind them, a light in the ceiling flickered. Nanafua tsked and shook her head. "Kofi refuses to switch out that light bulb. Says he's too busy. What am I supposed to do about it?" She waved her small arms and exclaimed, "I am a wee tiny old woman. I have more interesting things to do."
Steven looked up at Opal. "Do you mind changing it out?"
Opal nodded and grinned, so Nanafua reached behind the counter for a new light bulb. Opal took it with one hand and used another to unscrew the flickering bulb in the ceiling and screw the new one on. Nanafua clapped appreciatively.
Jenny appeared at the service door then, with their pizza hot and ready in her hands. Half of it was spotted in pepperoni, while the other half was brown with cinnamon. "I got your food! You got lucky - we were almost out of cinnamon."
Opal meant to step backwards to give Jenny space to walk, but she instead ended up stumbling backwards into the table and chairs behind her. The table snapped underneath her weight, and a few chairs lost their legs. The customers in the restaurant hissed and winced. Opal groaned on the floor, and as Steven ran to her side, Kiki ran to the counter and Nanafua called, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Opal sighed. Steven helped her to her feet as best as he could. "Let me just - "
Her foot stepped on one of the discarded chair legs, and when it slid underneath her, she went sailing forward. Another table and a few more chairs broke. This table was occupied, and she just narrowly missed the two customers, her face landing directly in their food. To make matters worse, one of her legs kicked up behind her and knocked the pizza right out of Jenny's hands.
It fell directly in front of the service door just as Kofi Pizza walked into the room. He blanched at the mess, but his confusion quickly turned to anger. "What happened here?"
"I-I'm sorry," murmured Opal. She pulled herself up to her knees and grimaced at herself. Her front was smeared with marinara sauce and cheese, and parts of her hair were drenched in sticky soda.
"You've destroyed my furniture!" Kofi angrily gestured around to the mess of wooden pieces of furniture. "Look at the mess you've made!"
From the counter, Kiki called, "It was an accident, Daddy!"
"Yeah, lay off, Daddy," scoffed Jenny. She crossed her arms over her chest. "She didn't mean to."
The twins' protests were met with a few agreeing murmurs from the customers coming to Opal's defense. Kofi thankfully seemed to calm down after that, actually seeming a bit worried for Opal as he raised a thick brow at her. "Well, are you alright?"
Opal had gone suddenly still as she looked down at her greasy, sticky hands. Steven carefully stepped to her side and placed a hand on her leg. "Opal, are you - ?"
Opal suddenly leaped for the door and tore it off in one near-effortless pull. She tossed the discarded hunk of wood and quickly disappeared outside. Her footsteps faded away down the boardwalk.
"Opal!" Steven ran to the door. She had already disappeared from sight.
"You go ahead, Steven!" Nanafua held up the brown paper in her hands. "I'll hold onto the fish for you!"
"Thank you, Nanafua!"
And with that, Steven went running after his four-armed friend.
"Opal!"
Steven opened the door to his Room and looked around worriedly. There was no one in sight, let alone Opal. He continued to call regardless, "Opal! Where are you?"
He huffed when he received no response. He ran to the Temple Door and knocked on it quickly. "Opal! Are you there?"
A red crack suddenly appeared down the Door, and when it split in two, Ruby was standing there, looking at him quizzically. "What's going on?" Behind her, Sapphire appeared from the portal in the ceiling and hovered down to them.
"I can't find Opal anywhere!"
"I didn't see her come in," said Ruby. "What's wrong?"
Steven sighed and explained, "I just wanted to hang out, but Opal accidentally broke a few things at Funland and Lars was being rude to her and then we went to the Fish Pizzeria but then she broke even more things and then she ran out."
Ruby winced and passed a glance at Sapphire. The blue Gem was frowning, as always, but there was a bit more sympathy in it this time. "Hoo boy..."
"Is she okay? Why is she so upset?"
Sapphire's voice was gentle as she explained, "Opal is a very shy person."
"Yeah," agreed Ruby. "She doesn't like being put on the spot, especially when someone's upset at her. Did anyone say anything to her?"
"Well, Lars was really huffy when she beat him at a basketball game. And Kofi was angry that she broke the furniture at the Pizzeria."
Ruby gave a sad sigh. "Yeah, she's probably taking it harder than she should. Opal's sensitive like that - small things really get to her. She usually just keeps herself away when she's upset."
"But can you tell me where she is? She shouldn't be alone if she's upset."
Ruby opened her mouth to explain that it was probably for the best, but Sapphire surprisingly cut her off when she said, "She's at the cherry tree in the fields."
"Thanks." Steven ran to the door and paused just long enough to call "We'll be back later!" before running down the stairs to find Opal.
Sapphire turned away to return to her room. Ruby put a hand on her hip and raised a brow at her. "Why'd you tell him?"
Sapphire gave no response other than, "Steven knows what he's doing."
Steven knew where the cherry tree was. It was Opal's "relaxing place," so to speak. She usually went there to sit and enjoy the silence, and maybe take a nap. Steven usually steered clear of the place - he understood and respected that Opal wanted to be alone there, so he only came when he needed to get her for something.
By the time he saw the cherry tree atop one of the hills, the sun was dipping low in the sky. Rich gold was spread across the sky, and the petals almost looked as if they were on fire. Opal was sitting in the thick roots, her arms wrapped around her body, staring at the distant sunset. She'd cleaned the grime off of her front and hair.
Steven didn't want to startle her, so he slowly approached until he was sure that she'd seen him. He sat down beside her and joined her in watching the sun sink into the horizon. The golden light made the water shimmer vividly.
"The view is nice here."
"Mm-hm."
He waited a moment to ask, "Are you hurt?"
"No, I'm fine."
Steven could tell that although she was clearly upset, she certainly wasn't in the mood for being bombarded with questions. So, instead, he said, "I'm sorry today didn't go like it was supposed to. I wanted you to be happy, not upset."
Opal's stark blue gaze turned from the water to him. One of her hands reached out to place a comforting hand on his hair. "It's not your fault. I'm just...tired, is all. I don't like it when people are upset with me, Steven." She paused for a moment to look down at her hands. "I don't like it when I feel like I'm...unwanted. I overreacted."
"If you were upset, you were upset. You didn't overreact." He paused. "But you're not unwanted! Do you know what Beach City would be like if you weren't here to protect it? Everyone wants you here! I don't know what else to tell you other than 'don't worry about it.' So...just don't okay?"
Opal hummed.
They continued like that, watching the sun until it completely disappeared and the gold slowly turned into violet and blue. The breeze ruffled their hair.
Eventually, Steven pulled back and said, "You know, if you want, there's something else we can do. I'm sure you'd like it, but you don't have to if you don't want to."
Opal paused. A moment later, she sent him a small smile. "Let's go."
"What is this?"
Steven shrugged. "I don't know, but I thought you'd like it."
At the end of the dock was a small band playing soft, lilting music. One man strummed his guitar while another tinkered with a set of bells and a woman played light notes on a harp. A few people were dancing to the music, most of them couples, some of them parents with children.
There was nothing major about it, nothing particularly eye-catching or crowd-worthy. The people weren't dancing the same - some of them were waltzing, others were doing a fast spinning dance, others were just swaying. Most surprisingly was that no one cared.
"You want to dance?" asked Steven.
"...Sure."
They walked hand-in-hand to the middle of the makeshift 'dance floor'. Opal lifted up Steven with her two lower arms, then placed one on his shoulder and held his hand in the other. Opal swayed them to the music. She was fluid, graceful, completely in her element. Some other dancers glanced their way with smiles, a few stopped to watch. The small band paused to change their notes to a smooth, gliding melody.
"You happy now?"
Opal had closed her eyes in contentment, but opened them to smile down at him. "Yes. I'm happy now."
"Good."
The melody continued on to its last notes. Opal and Steven bowed to each other, and Opal set Steven back on his feet.
Not a moment later, the band was suddenly playing an upbeat, jazzy song - the bell player had switched to a small set of drums, the harp-player to a saxophone. There was a rise of whoops and cheers as the couples around span and tapped to the music. Some passerby on the other end of the dock caught notice and approached.
Opal seemed confused at first, but eventually held out a hand to Steven.
Steven took it all too enthusiastically, with a cry of, "Let's show them how it's done!"
Quick question - Would anyone be interested in me having an ask blog for this fic?
