-17: Steven-
Steven woke up slowly. Something was messing with his hand… trying to… eat his fingers?!
"WAGH!" Steven jerked awake, his cry answered with a sequel from the animal that had been licking his hand. It was a pig! A tiny adorable pig.
"Whoooaaa!" Steven reached out to touch the animal, laughing as it trotted back over and nuzzled him with its soft snot.
He was soon distracted from the pig by his new surroundings. It looked lived in, posters on the wall and books on a table, a big painting of a ship, and another bed close to his own. He realized someone had just set him on this bed; he was laying on top of a ragged old blanket.
The events of the pervious night where still filtering into his mind when he heard voices downstairs. He was curious in spite of himself. He wanted to stay positive, and not get homesick, even though it was difficult to not miss Garnet's breakfast and the airy, bright interior of his own home in this dark little room.
He hopped off the bed and headed down the creaky stairs, the pig following him. He meandered through a hall and suddenly found himself in a very awesome place.
The whole room was filled to the brim with bizarre trinkets. Jars full of eyebrows, a weird spaghetti monster in a glass case, mounted singing fish on the wall, t-shirts with big question marks on them.
"Cooolll" He said aloud, and set about exploring everything he could. Other people milled about the shop, and they paid him no mind. Here, he could be the tourist. Although he didn't have shoes at the moment…
"HEY! You break it, you buy it." A gruff voice startled Steven, who was wrenching open a jar that had a plastic hand inside it.
"S-sorry!" He stammered, nearly dropping the thing in the process of returning it.
"WAIT, what?"
Steven turned to face the voice, which belonged to a crusty old man in a snazzy suit. He had an eye patch and a cane, which was immediately fascinating, although he was altogether somewhat imposing.
"You're that kid from last night! How the heck did ya end in the gift shop?"
"I just walked down here? I'm Steven!" He said, smiling. "Is this YOUR shop?" He asked excitedly.
"Ya, I'm Stan Pines and I'm the proud owner of the Mystery Shack. Glad you like it." The man spoke quickly. "But listen kid, we have some talking to do."
"Are you Dipper's uncle?! Wow! But where's Dipper's sister?" Steven asked, unable to stop himself from compulsively spinning the postcard rack that stood nearby.
"She was looking for a way to wake YOU up, but I told her to just wait. Stop doing that," He added, and Steven slapped his hands behind his back, embarrassed.
Stan opened a door labeled "employees only" and gestured for Steven to go inside. "Go wait in the living room, ok? I gotta make sure the Shack gets closed up."
"Am I an employee now?" Steven asked, not wanting to break anymore rules.
"For pete's sake kid, just go. Soos," Stan gestured to a large man in a green ? shirt who was fiddling with a display. "Escort him."
A loud squealing followed by a commotion sent Stan running away, yelling "He let the pig down here?!"
"I'm Soos!" The man in the green shirt waved to Steven, giving an amused glance at the excitement behind him. "You're the kid who knows where Dipper is? The Beach kid?"
"I'm Steven Universe!" Steven announced.
"Whoa, is that like your real last name?" Steven nodded. "That is so cool dude! I want a last name like that!"
Soos seemed friendly, carrying on causal conversation with Steven as they found their way to the small living room. He even brought over a bowl of chips. Steven was certainly lost, but these people needed him, and he felt surprisingly secure.
"Wanna watch some TV while we wait?" Soos picked up the remote.
But Steven quickly replied "No, I'm grounded. For 1000 years." He sighed.
"Whoa, get a load of this kid!" Soos laughed, turning on the TV anyway. "Being grounded from TV pretty much means only your own TV, because you're parents won't know if you watch it at another persons house! Relax, dude."
Steven was still looking away when another person joined the party.
"Hey kid. How'd you like the Mystery Shack?" A red headed teenage girl with a flannel shirt sat down with them, and Steven gave his usual "Hi! I'm Steven Universe!"
The girl was tall and rather pretty; Steven wondered if she was another relative of Dippers or just a friend.
"I'm Wendy. Do you… really know where Dipper is?" She asked, sounding concerned.
"Uh…" Steven started, but Soos stopped him "Wait for Stan and Mable. We all wanna hear this."
It wasn't long before the two remaining people made their way to the circle in the living room. Stan had changed out of his fancy outfit, and with some disappointment Steven noticed that his eye patch had been removed.
Mabel gave Steven a great big stare when she came in, asking him if he was all right. He assured everyone that he was indeed fine. He found that he rather enjoyed having these strangers be so concerned with him, and meeting new people always made him happy.
Although he wasn't sure what he could say to them. How could he explain the truth? Did gems even exist in this world? Probably best if they thought he was a normal human for now…
"Alright kid. Where in the world is Dipper?" Stan asked, sitting in the main easy chair, and all eyes in the room where on him.
-18:Dipper-
The gems had tried very, very hard to escape the beach house without Dipper. But Dipper had refused to be left out, invested as he was in their mission.
"Look out! It's gonna blow!" He yelled, as the caterpillar started to glow just the pervious ones had.
With a jolt, Garnet grabbed him and leapt away, lifting him clear of the explosion.
The gems and a couple of civilians surveyed the damage. A trash can on the dock was simply gone, but other than that, nothing had been harmed.
"That was INSANE! This is going straight on my blog!" A big curly headed guy had filmed the entire ordeal with his phone.
"What the HECK, Ronaldo, the shop could have been destroyed! Why are always worrying about that blog at times like these?!" The young kid who had refused Dipper water was the one had altered the gems to the caterpillar, which had been hanging out near his restaurant.
They basically become a extermination service; running all over town and crushing any moth caterpillars they could find. Dipper found that he loved to watch the gems fight. They were interesting as it was, but when they made a motion to fight, it was truly extraordinary.
"Are you guys ok?" Dipper approached the fry kids.
"I guess." The young one muttered, and they meandered back to their jobs.
Dipper frowned. The people here didn't seem appreciative of how the gems kept saving them. I mean sure, they destroyed some property, but the alternative was so much worse…
He heard screams farther down the boardwalk, and the gems rushed over to the source of the commotion. An elderly woman stood ineffectually smacking a caterpillar with a broom, keeping it out of a pizza shop that must have belonged to her. She was surrounded by a rowdy group that was cheering her own.
"Be gone, you devilish thing! Yeesh!" She cried as the worm reared up.
"Lady, be careful!" Dipper yelled.
Without a word, Pearl leapt gracefully through the air, skewering the creature and tossing it like wasted bait into the oceans horizon, where it exploded like a firework.
Dipper stood with his mouth open, "oooing" with the rest of the human crowd.
"Nice one, Pearl! Style points." Amethyst was never serious, and seemed bored by how weak her enemies had been.
"Let's move on, shall we?" Pearl said. "We need to get every last one of these things. What a chore…" Apparently Pearl was bored too. Dipper was far from it; without the strength of the gems safely taking out those caterpillars would have been a monumental task.
"How did you guys get so strong?" He enthused as they continued their search, straining his short legs to keep up with them.
"We're thousands of years old. That helps." Garnet answered, and Dipper was floored. "But Steven said he was only twelve! Will he live that long too?"
"We don't really know." Pearl sounded uncharacteristically unsure. "Steven is… unique."
"Because his father is a human!" Dipper couldn't stop asking questions, as he had been all day. "Then his mother was a gem! Where… is she? Is it one of you?" He realized too late that this could be an awkward question.
The gems shook their heads, and a shadow descended over them. Dipper realized he had indeed asked one of THOSE questions.
"She's gone, kid." Amethyst replied, tonelessly.
"Oh. Sorry." Dipper pulled his hat down over his eyes.
Steven seemed to have managed to be a super happy, well-adjusted kid even without a mom. "You guys are his family. That's more than good enough..." He stammered.
"I see one!" Amethyst cried as they rounded a corner, pulling a fantastic thorn-studded whip from her gem. Dipper perked up, eager to see how this fight went down. Steven really did have an exceptional family.