Conversations, Part Two

Lapis liked to fly.

It had never been a matter of liking, before. It had just been a thing she'd done, like walking or speaking, a simple aspect of her existence.

But now she actively enjoyed it. She liked the chance to stretch her wings, to see new things, to go anywhere she wanted.

(Well. Not anywhere. But anywhere on Earth, and that at least was something.)

If it ever felt as though the barn was too small, Peridot too hyper, her own mind too heavy— she could just jump up, and up, until everything shark away below, the earth spreading out like a tapestry of strange colours and lights and shapes.

She headed in-land, away from the ocean, as she always did. She'd taken this route many times, but today it didn't feel stale. The weather had shifted recently, growing much colder, and recently the whole land had become bathed in a frozen white film. It was quite pretty, really; everything seemed to sparkle and shimmer, familiar slopes and shapes transformed by the snow.

There was a sudden cold gust of wind from above. Lapis looked up, and—

"Sapphire?"

The Gem creature trilled a greeting in response, angling her descent to fly besides Lapis instead of above her.

"Uh. Hi," Lapis said, trying her best not to sound surprised. She had known that Sapphire had been given free access to the warp pads, after all. But she certainly hadn't expected Sapphire to be going off on free flights, completely unaccompanied—

But she wasn't unaccompanied, was she? She was with Lapis.

Lapis crossed her arms. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. Flying was what she did to be alone.

Sapphire flew on besides her, her long body undulating gently, her plume blown back in the chill wind. She didn't seem to notice Lapis's hesitancy.

Is there really any harm? Lapis wondered. Sapphire wouldn't talk. She wouldn't bother her.

And it was kind of nice, having someone flying at her side. It had been a long, long time since she'd been with any other Lapis Lazulis. This was different, of course, but there was something… comfortingly familiar.

Lapis risked a small smile, and the pair carried on in companionable silence.

xxxx

Peridot needed to get Steven a present.

It was a human ritual. No one had actually spoken about it to her, but Peridot had learned nonetheless. It was snowing. Snowing meaning winter. Humans exchanged gifts int he winter. This was a recurring theme in their media. Camp Pining Hearts had no less the four 'Hiver Fete' episodes, and it had shown up in almost everything else she'd read or watched— 'No Home Boys', 'Crying Breakfast Friends', 'Buds', 'Little Butler'…

It was an Earth tradition, and Peridot was determined to do it correctly.

Besides, it had occurred to her that Steven had already given her many gifts— the tablet, her enhancer cans, her freedom— but she'd never gotten him anything in return. Well, she'd saved his planet, but that didn't quite seem to count. She wanted to get him something small and personal, wrapped in shiny paper, tied in a bow, which would make him smile and say, "Wow, thanks!"

The problem was she had no idea what to give him. So many of the things Steven enjoyed were still very mysterious to her. And even if she was able to settle on an appropriate gift, there was still the matter of acquiring it. She had ascertained that humans traded goods and services for 'money'; this was obtained through working a 'job'; and the entire process seemed laughably confusing and inefficient.

This required further research.

"So what do you think?" she asked Sapphire.

(She was a little embarrassed about having to ask for assistance in this matter, but as Lapis had pointed out when she'd raised the topic, Peridot did not have a good record with gift giving. So. She was doing what had had to.)

Sapphire raised her head off the barn floor where she'd been resting, and seemed to direct her gaze somewhere behind Peridot. Peridot turned, but saw nothing in particular, just Lapis's toilet meep-morp installation. "What?"

There was loud clicking noise, followed by something like a sigh. Sapphire drew out her notepad and wrote, Art?

"Art?" Peridot said, mystified. Then she remembered having hearing Steven use the word, once. "Oh! You mean our meep-morps! Yes, Steven has expressed interest in them, and he has shown repeated engagement in human media such as music and storytelling… Yes, yes," she said, her mind suddenly brimming with possibilities. "I could make a meep-morp to him! A tribute to our friendship! Something depicting us and our time together! PERFECT!"

Peridot went off, pacing around the barn while muttering to herself, reciting out the things the project would need. Paint, of course, metal to weld into the appropriate shape, something pink and glittery, something fuzzy, some cans, a tape recorder…

There was a loud clanking sound. Peridot turned towards it, and found Sapphire rummaging around in various spare boxes. When she emerged, she was dragging out a length of brown fabric, just the right size and thickness for what Peridot was intending. She beamed. Further assistance would be appreciated.

xxxx

It was a quiet day at the car wash.

Granted, most days at the car wash were quiet, and they were only going to get quieter now that winter had officially arrived. When people got busy wiping ice and snow off of their cars each morning, they rarely wanted to get them soaked in water.

This lead to some rather dull winter days. Even though he didn't really need to worry about money anymore, running the car wash was something to do.

On the bright side, it left more time for music. Greg had been composing a lot lately, experimenting with new sounds and rhythms. Just now he was strumming through his latest piece, trying to think up some lyrics. As he played, a new sound eventually joined in, a counterpoint to the acoustic— a voice, low and melodious. Sapphire sang no words, just pure notes rising and falling in time with his, harmonising perfectly with the guitar.

"Nice," Greg said, once the song finally finished. "That was really wonderful, Sapphire. Think you'd be down for singing backup when I actually record it?"

Sapphire chirped something that Greg figured was probably a 'yes'.

"Great. 'Course, first I need to figure out some lyrics. I'm thinking something about— What's wrong?"

Sapphire had stiffened and sat up suddenly, her plume erect. Her eye was wide with alarm.

Greg quickly dropped his guitar. This happened, sometimes— she had panic attacks. He had to try to calm her down, keep her there long enough for Ruby or Steven to come. He went to reach out for—

— she shot straight up into the air, screeching.

"Sapphire!" Greg called—

— And then, up from behind the car wash, rose a monster.

It was huge, with a big bulbous shape like a jellyfish, hundreds of glowing tentacles waving everywhere, pulsing with sinister light. Greg jumped back in alarm, but Sapphire flew towards it, roaring.

"No! Sapphire, get back here!" Greg screamed. He knew that she couldn't really be hurt, not physically— but she wasn't ready for this, wasn't ready for a fight, couldn't throw herself at this thing.

Thankfully, she hadn't actually thrown herself at it. She was keeping her distance, feathers fluffed out as an intimidation tactic. Greg wondered if that could actually work, since the monster didn't seem to have eyes. Besides, she still looked pitifully small in comparison.

A tentacle whipped out towards her. Greg screamed, and Sapphire dodged.

She was like a blue bullet, weaving in and out of the tentacles, almost too fast to see. She seemed to be trying to make her way to the monster's bulging head for a proper attack— but there were too many waving arms blocking her way. By chance, one managed to graze her— she cawed with pain, her form spasming with light, her hind legs sprouting claws. She managed to right herself before she hit the ground, but she was shaking. The air had grown even colder from her fear.

Greg stood there. He knew he was useless in monster fights— but he couldn't just let her take this thing alone, couldn't just wait for the Gems—

He spotted the hose lying on the pavement. Maybe it would get some use today after all.

He picked it up and ran for the faucet, wrenching it. The hose rearer in his hands, water streaming out in a big gush. He aimed the stream up at the jellyfish and yelled, "SAPPHIRE!"

Before he even opened his mouth, she dove. She positioned herself just below the stream of water and roarer, just like a storybook dragon. But there was no fire from her mouth: just pure, intense cold. As it hit the monster it froze, its tentacles becoming trapping in ice. It struggled and struggled, but Greg cranked up the pressure, running forward and aiming the hose higher and higher— soon the entire thing was encased. Frozen solid.

When it seemed safe, Greg turned the water off. Sapphire flew one last lap around it, checking to make sure the monster wasn't going to break free.

Greg turned the water off as Sapphire flew one lap around it, checking to make sure it wasn't going to break free.

"Nice job," Greg said, offering his palm.

Sapphire stared at it. Greg was about to lower it, when she slapped her paw against it in a high five. Greg grinned.

Then he looked back at the carwash. It occurred to him that he had a giant zombie-jellyfish creature frozen to the car wash roof. He fished out his phone to call Steven.

xxxx

Human cinemas were an… odd concept.

Granted, almost all human entertainment was rather baffling on some level or other. Strange made-up stories, featuring impossible situations, inaccurate science or ridiculous magic, the same plots, story threads, and lessons, repeated again and again…

It was all very strange, but Pearl had found it had all been growing on her. Once you accepted that none of it was supposed to make sense, it could be rather— well, fun to indulge in.

The cinema, however, took the idea to a rather different level. It was a building built with the express purpose for large groups to watch films together. It was an old tradition, dating back to their oral storytelling and live performances, but Pearl did not much see why humanity bothered to continue with it now that they all had personalized entertainment devices in their dwellings. They were barred from bringing their own refreshment, but instead required to buy the establishment's own food and drink at inflated prices. They had to come early in order to secure seats, then sit through a great number of advertisements. Once the film actually began, there was no stopping it, even if you needed to attend to some other matter. Furthermore, it was considered highly rude to make any sort of noise— a frustrating element, since it had always seemed to Pearl that discussion was one of the most engaging parts of the experience.

Despite the ban on speaking, going to the cinema was considered a group activity. This was most likely why Steven approached the Gems asking if they'd like to accompany him to the cinema. Despite everything, Pearl was rather open to the idea. She had been doing her best to try more of these little excursions into human culture.

At least until she asked what they'd be watching, and he responded with 'The Crying Breakfast Friends' movie. No human entertainment in the entire history of their species was as baffling as that. Pearl had learned to tolerate it for the short duration of an episode… but the thought of an entire hour and a half with nothing but depressed foodstuffs left her shivering.

"You don't have to see the same movie as me," Steven had suggested, and ultimately they'd convinced them.

Well, not all of them. Amethyst had said that the movies all looking boring, and anyway, she was going to hang with Peri. Ruby had said she knew herself better than to think she could stay sitting alone that whole time. Pearl had been expecting Sapphire to go off with Ruby— they still spent much of their time together, after all— but she'd admitted to being rather intrigued by one of the films listed, 'Love Definitely'. It sounded like a romance, and Sapphire was fond of romances.

"A romantic comedy, technically," Steven explained while they were getting tickets. The human cashier behind the booth stared at them throughout the transaction, which Pearl thought very rude.

It rather distracted her from paying close attention to Steven's full explanation on the differences between the two genres, but he used the words 'wacky' and 'shenanigans', which did not bode well.

It indeed did have the amount of silliness Pearl was expecting. Embarrassing misunderstandings, ridiculous costumes, humans having food accidentally spilled all over them…and at certain points, humans attempting reproduction, which left Pearl blushing and hiding her face in Sapphire's feathers.

But among it all… There was a young secretary working for some country's president or king or some-such, falling in love despite the difference in their positions. There was a man struggling with the discovery of his husband's infidelity; a woman coping with the recent death of her husband; a boy about Steven's age, trying to find the courage to ask out a girl about Connie's age…

Pearl wasn't quite sure how, but eventually she found herself crying quietly into her hands, Sapphire gently nuzzling her cheeks.

Despite everything, she was glad she came.

xxxx

Nail polish, Steven has already decided, is amazing.

Okay, it smells really bad, but it comes in so many colours. Reds, blues, greens, oranges, yellows, pinks, bright shades and dark shades, shiny and matte— some of the polishes even have sparkles and glitter in them—

How had he survived the past fourteen and a half years of his life without it?

He has Sadie to thank for the discovery. He'd gone to the Big Donut yesterday, both to buy snacks and deliver Hiver Fete gifts— some video game posters for Lars, and a bunch of old horror VHS tapes he'd found in Amethyst's room for Sadie. Lars had brushed the gift off (he was still kinda mad at Steven for accidentally taking over his body, so Steven didn't blame him), but Sadie had actually had something for him in return. She'd given him a big, fancy wooden box with a single pink ribbon on it. It had been heavy, and when he'd picked it up, things had tinkled invitingly inside— so Steven had been so excited he'd opened it up then and there. He'd been ecstatic to find it filled to the brim with nail polish.

"My mom went a little overboard when I had my first sleepover," Sadie had said, with a sheepish laugh. "These days I can't really be bothered with make-up, but you seemed to really like it at Beachapalooza. I figure it'll get more use with you than me."

Steven had hugged her so hard she'd squeaked.

Using nail polish was really fun. It was like painting, but for your body. You got to turn yourself into a work of art!

Steven was just staring at his newly finished fingers, wondering if they were officially dry enough for him to risk grabbing some food, when he heard the now familiar soft swoosh of feathers. He looked around to find Sapphire settling down on the floor besides him.

"Hey Sapphy!" he said. "How're you doing?"

She waved her tail and smile. Then she craned her head to take a closer look at Steven's hands.

"Do you like them?" he asked. "I couldn't choose just one colour, so I went with all of them!"

Sapphire took her time, inspecting each nail individually, painted to form a veritable rainbow. Then she chirped her appreciation. Steven beamed.

"I was kind of messy at first, but I think I'm getting the hang of it… I want try it on Connie next time she comes over, but I think I need more practice…" He looked thoughtfully at Sapphire. "Would you like some?"

Sapphire jolted back, surprise written on her face. She pointed to herself, as if to say, Me?

"Well sure," said Steven. "You have nails."

Technically, they were a little more like claws at the moment. But surely that just meant more space to paint?

Sapphire still seemed reluctant, however. "Oh," said Steven. "After you paint them, you can't really use your hands until they dry. That would make writing pretty tough." He smiled. "Don't worry about it, then."

I can go without writing for an hour, wrote Sapphire. Steven's face lit up.

"Really? You want to try it?" When Sapphire nodded, he practically started vibrating from excitement. "Okay— okay, let me put on some music, and you can pick out a colour, okay? There's a lot of really pretty blues."

He busied himself with his phone, flipping through his music collection for the perfect make-up session playlist. Something fun and cheerful, but also fancy and elegant, that Sapphire would like. Once he'd selected something he thought had worked, he turned the volume way up and check to see how Sapphire was doing. She'd already picked a colour. Not a blue, like he'd been expecting, but a deep, rich purple.

"Perfect," said Steven.

oOoOo

Author's Note: 'Hiver Fete' is a butchered version of the French for 'Winter Festival', aka 'non-denominational winter gift exchange holiday because Christmas and various other religious celebrations do not exist in the SU verse'. I have no idea how it came about or why, but here are the vague headcanons I came up with:

1) there's not a set day for giving presents.

2) though it has been commercialised, traditionally it's preferred for the gifts to be recycled or handmade. (Or, if you can't do that, practical).