Chapter Twenty-Eight: Lessons
Lars moved around the kitchen, cradling the bowl full of mixed ingredients and trying to remember where he placed the bag of ube powder. Before he could remember that he placed it on top of the microwave, he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket, followed by its electronic-sounding ringtone.
He fished the phone out of his pocket, still cradling the bowl in the crook of his arm, and answered it with a terse "Hello?"
"Where are you?" It was Sadie on the other end, sounding more than a little angry.
"Home," Lars answered simply, setting the bowl down so he could continue his search for the ube powder.
"Home!? What are you doing there? We have work today!"
Lars grabbed the wayward bag from the microwave top and opened it, pouring it into the bowl. "I'm taking a personal day."
"It would have been nice to know about that before the morning rush, Lars…" Sadie intoned.
Lars held the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he picked the bowl back up and started to stir the mix in. "I had a brilliant idea earlier on what I should enter into the art contest."
"Yeah? What is it?"
"It's, er, nothing."
There was a brief pause, before Sadie said in return, "But you still need the day off, right?"
Lars dipped his pinky into the mix, testing its thickness. "Yeah."
There was a sigh on the other end of the phone, followed by the familiar ring of the shop's front door. "Fine. Just- promise me you'll stop this after the stupid contest, alright?"
"I will, geez."
"Okay," Sadie said. "Well, good luck, I guess."
"Yeah, thanks," Lars said before ending the call and sliding the phone back into his pocket. He looked at the bowl of purple mix. "Okay. Just need to get you into the oven and… and maybe I at least won't look stupid in front of Steven Universe…"
Connie was sitting on the cool stone floor of the Temple's cave, watching a TubeTube video with Steven on his phone, when there was a loud whoosh as the warp pad activated in a beam of light. She sprung to her feet, grinning. "Amethyst! There you are!"
"Yooo!" Amethyst said, waving as she and Pearl fully materialized.
Steven got up, stowing his phone away into his pocket with a frown. "We were supposed to meet up here over an hour ago!"
"Huh?" said Amethyst.
"It is kinda true," said Connie. "We agreed to meet up at noon, and it's already quarter past one."
"Oh." Amethyst shrugged. "Whoops. Musta lost track of time."
"She was on a very important mission," said Pearl, stepping primly off of the warp pad.
"Oh, yeah!" Amethyst grinned ear to ear as she jumped down after her. "Show 'em, Pearl!"
Pearl lightly brushed her hair back. "Well, I hardly think they need to know—"
"Come on, P," Amethyst begged. "We've gotta show 'em."
"Oh, very well." Pearl reluctantly held out her hand. Sitting in her open palm was what looked like a small jewelry box, constructed from a shimmering purplish metal with gilded golden frames. "This is a containment cube. It holds a private pocket dimension, used to store sensitive and valuable objects."
"Wooooooow," Connie breathed, leaning in to get a closer look. "What's inside it?"
"That is what we will be determining," Pearl said, closing her hand back around the cube.
Amethyst slung an arm around Connie's shoulder, pulling her close. "There could be anything in there, Crushed! Spaceship parts! Weapons! Gem shards!" She waved her hand in front of them, emphasizing the possibilities. "Sky's the limit, ya know?"
Connie felt her heartbeat rising with nervous excitement.
Steven's expression matched her own, but he took a step back, rubbing his neck. "That all sounds really interesting but I can't hang around. Pearl said we're having lessons today at 1:30 sharp."
"Ugh, lessons," Amethyst groaned, rolling her eyes. "Why can't you just have them some other time?"
"I can't. Pearl said that I've missed a lot of lessons lately, and really put her foot down."
"Education is very important," Pearl agreed, nodding along. Connie had to smile: for a moment, the intimidating ancient alien warrior had sounded so much like her mom. "What will today's lessons entail, precisely?"
"I think we're doing physics today, Pearl-ssi," said Steven promptly.
Connie frowned.
"Wait… shouldn't you already know?" she asked Pearl.
Pearl blinked at her. "Pardon?"
Connie's cheeks flushed with heat, but she pushed on. "I mean… shouldn't you already know what Steven's lesson is? Since you're teaching him at 1:30?"
There were baffled looks all around.
"Oh!" said Steven, slapping his forehead. "I don't mean Pearl-ssi, I mean Pearl Pearl."
"Oh," said Connie, doing her best to quickly catch up. "There are two people named Pearl?"
"Something like that," said Pearl tightly, turning away.
Connie wrung her hands, wondering if she'd accidentally said something rude.
"Yeah, there are two Pearls," Amethyst said, "which is getting really confusing. But seriously, Steven, you're gonna bail on us to go learn about how things move?"
"Well, maybe we could join him?" suggested Connie.
The pair blinked at her.
"Really? You want to?" Steven sounded both surprised and pleased.
"Well, yeah! It sounds interesting," Connie said, which was true. She was still curious about how homeschooling worked, especially for someone who was half-alien.
But that wasn't entirely it, either. Part of it was genuine nervousness about the whole 'magic box' thing. Which did sound, really, really cool. But she was also painfully aware that her parents probably wouldn't want her around something that even the Crystal Gems didn't know everything about. Plus, their last foray into the magical had almost ended up with them falling into a lava pit. Near fall into a lava pit aside, Connie hadn't minded the unplanned adventure all too much...
… except that it had also ended with Steven heading off alone, dejected.
Amethyst regarded Steven warily. "What exactly do you… do in this lesson?"
"Oh. Well, lots of stuff!" Steven grinned. "We read books, look at pictures online, make graphs…"
Amethyst gave a huge, exaggerated yawn. "Thrilling."
"Oh, come on Ame," Connie said. "At least try it."
"Nah. Don't need to. I'm going to stick with the cool, interesting stuff. If ya wanna join me."
Connie frowned and looked Amethyst directly in the eyes, trying to psychically communicate that they couldn't just leave Steven behind. Connie knew all too well what that felt like.
But Connie was just a human, with no special powers, psychic or otherwise.
"Amethyst! I don't want to delay this any longer!" Pearl called from the Temple door.
"Coming!" Amethyst cried back. She looked back at Connie, frowning slightly, before shrugging. "Catch you guys later, I guess."
"Yeah. I guess," said Connie.
"Bye Amethyst, Pearl-ssi. Good luck!"
The door to the Temple opened, the sound of rushing water echoing out as Connie got a glimpse of something big and blue. Amethyst gave them a wave. Before the door closed, Pearl could just be heard saying, "Maybe it's for the best", and Connie swallowed a sigh.
Steven gave her a tentative smile. Connie smiled back.
Five minutes later, the two of them were in the Universe family RV, sitting at the table while (other) Pearl prepared materials for a second person.
Connie wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, but it certainly hadn't been a near-identical clone of Crystal Gem Pearl.
Of course it was normal that multiple people to have the same names. It was just basic mathematics. There were three 'Sarahs' in Connie's grade alone. But this was… different. The two Pearls were almost exactly the same, from their figures to their faces to their noses. The only real differences were there clothing, their hair, and their color. While Crystal Gem Pearl could maybe pass for a human, albeit an almost unbelievably pale and thin one, this other Pearl's alienness was as stark as her blue skin.
Were they twins? Sisters? Connie couldn't think of any other way to explain the extreme similarities, but why would someone give both their kids the same name?
No wonder Amethyst said it was confusing.
Connie was so lost in thought that she didn't realize Steven was saying her name, not until he waved a hand in front of her face, startling her. "Huh? Sorry, I missed that."
"Oh! Uh, nevermind—" Steven stammered.
"No, no, go ahead."
"Alright. Um, I was just wondering… why does Amethyst keep calling you 'crushed'?"
"Oh." Connie felt her face go red. "It's a nickname. She gave it to me because the first time we met… well, I kinda got crushed by a bunch of falling rocks."
Steven's eyes went wide. "What?"
"It's fine, it's fine!" Connie threw up her hands. "The Gems rescued me, so don't worry, I'm alright. I guess the name just sorta… stuck."
Steven was staring at her, Connie noticed— or not quite her. Her left hand, and the empty space where a finger should be. His brow furrowed, the gears turning in his head. Then he noticed her noticing him, cheeks turning purple. Steven ducked his head, and Connie ducked hers. Neither of them were really sure what to say.
It was a relief when moments later, Pearl sat down at the table with the soft rustle of paper.
"Thank you for joining us, Connie," the Gem said, tipping her head at Connie. "I have never taught two students at once before, so I apologize if the quality of my lessons is low."
"Oh! No, I'm sure you'll be great!" Connie said quickly.
Steven flashed his teacher a thumbs-up. "Yeah, don't worry!"
Pearl gave a small smile. "Very well. Today we will be discussing the topic of gravity, and how to most effectively overcome it."
She opened up a textbook, and Connie was plunged into a world of numbers, figures and equations, at a much, much higher level than anything she'd ever studied in her school's science classes. Higher even than the private extra classes her parents had made her go to in their last city. She felt like she was adrift in a stormy sea, struggling to keep her head above her water.
But… she enjoyed it. She enjoyed the challenge, trying to piece the numbers together, trying to visualize how it all worked.
And when she was struggling (which was often), Pearl or Steven were sure to notice. How couldn't they, when she was the only other person in the RV with them? A lot of kids at school would have gotten impatient, and she was worried Steven might be too… but it never showed. He helped step her through what she didn't understand. And Pearl was a great teacher, for all she had worried otherwise. She spoke slow and soft, but she had a systematic, methodical approach which laid all the numbers out clearly in Connie's mind.
Once they had the theory down, Pearl said it was time to look at how it was applied. She opened another textbook to one filled with diagrams and glossy pictures of UNISA spacecrafts.
"When used correctly, the mathematics we learned today can be used to leave a planet," Pearl explained.
"But this isn't how Gem spaceships work," Steven said, a titch mulishly. "Why aren't we learning about those?"
"Modern Homeworld spacecraft utilize gravity engines and black hole generators, which are currently far beyond either of your levels of knowledge."
Connie leaned in. "Gravity engines? Black hole generators? "
"See? Connie wants to learn about them too!" said Steven. "Black holes are all about gravity. And they're literally named gravity engines, and we're doing a lesson about gravity. C'mon Pearl! Please!"
Pearl pressed her hands together. "It will be too difficult. Please, my St— love. Trust me with this."
Steven sighed, deflating like a balloon, and relented. "Fine."
The two of them listened as Pearl explained how rockets were designed, pointing to parts of a diagram with a slender finger. Every once and while, though, Steven's eyebrows would fly up. "They're literally just creating big jets of fire!" he exclaimed. "People decided to get into giant cans filled with fuel and make them explode! How could anyone wanna go into space so bad enough to risk a fiery death?"
"I could not say," Pearl murmured, and prepared to continue her explanation.
"Well, everyone knew it was really risky," said Connie. "But the astronauts decided it was worth risking their lives to go to the moon."
"But why?" asked Steven. "I mean… the moon is cool and all, but it's really just a big floating chunk of rock."
Connie stared at him, boggled. She knew he'd literally been to the moon, but still, how could he be so blasé about it? "It's the moon! Our planet's only one! The closest part of space near to us? How could we not want to learn everything about it? What's the composition of the rocks? Was it really made from a giant asteroid colliding with Earth billions and billions of years ago? Is there any life there? Is that who built that mysterious spire?"
"Spire?" said Steven. "That's the Moon Base. Gems built it."
Because of course they had.
"That's not the point!" said Connie, pushing down on the myriad of new questions blooming in her brain. "The point is… even though we'd never been to space, humans had always stared up at the stars and wondered about it! So all the countries in the world pooled their resources together, got the very best scientists and mathematicians, and worked together to get us there, no matter the cost!"
Now Steven looked intrigued despite himself. "All the countries on Earth? Really?"
"Well… not all of them," Connie admitted. "But a whole lot! I don't know the exact number, but we can find out!"
Steven already had his phone out and was typing the question into Gaggle. "Eighty-seven!" he announced. "'When the United Nations International Space Agency was first founded in 1965, eight-seven countries joined… wow, Korea was one of them! I had no idea!"
"Thank you very much for the story, Connie," said Pearl. "But we should return to the matter at hand."
"Come on. We've been doing physics for hours!" Steven moaned. With a start, and a glance at the clock, Connie realized he was right— she hadn't realized that much time had passed. Normally, physics lessons felt like they dragged on forever. "We can finish the rest later. I want Connie to teach me about the space program!"
A warm feeling settled deep in Connie's stomach.
"I do not know—" Pearl began, and then froze. And when a Gem froze, they really froze, since they didn't have to breathe. Finally, she said, "This may indeed be something important for Steven to learn. Please, Connie. Continue."
"Uhhhhh, well…" Connie stammered. "I'll be honest… I'm not really an expert. I just know the famous stuff."
"Like what?"
Connie waved a hand. "Oh, you know. 'One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,' that kind of thing."
Steven tilted his head, confused.
"Okay," said Connie. "Okay. Um, well— I know a really good movie we can watch. It's based on the history of the first UNISA flight. I mean, it's not perfect, obviously, I'm sure it's got its own degree of inaccuracies and Kansas-ization, but it won a bunch of awards last year and we have its soundtrack in my parents' car."
"A movie?" said Steven delighted. "What's it called?"
"Prime Factors —"
"Please, Pearl? Can we watch it? Please?"
Again Pearl seemed frozen, but then her face melted in a smile. "Very well. If it is educational."
Steven ran to grab a laptop. As they waited for the film to download, Steven and Pearl sat there, listening to popcorn popping in the background as Connie explained the basic history. It wasn't anything special, but Steven listened to her every word as though it was.
After the lesson and after Steven had walked Connie back to the bus stop, Steven found himself wandering around town. When he'd returned to the RV, Dad had been on his cellphone, speaking with one of his managers while simultaneously trying to figure out how the device even worked. Pearl had been sitting at the table, watching what looked like some kind of fashion program on the TV on the opposite wall. There were several heavily made-up models walking down the runway, each wearing a more exotic outfit then the last.
Neither of them had seemed like they wanted to be interrupted, so after quickly telling them where he was going, Steven had headed back out. He had a specific goal in mind for this excursion: a new sketchpad. He was still upset (and more than a little annoyed) that he had lost his old one in the lava pit in the Temple. Not only had he lost a lot of drawings, but he had also lost what work he had started on his entry for the library's drawing contest..
Or "work" might have been too strong of a word. What he had were several rough sketches, most of which had been scribbled with words and phrases he put down as possible ideas, but those had mostly been crossed out too.
Steven headed to Main Street— or what passed as one in Beach City, lined as it was with small mom-and-pop businesses. He idly peered into the windows of stores, even those that weren't related to the goal of getting a new sketchbook, as his mind continued to ponder about the competition.
The library hadn't specified a theme in the contest mechanics, but the prize was a full, hardcover set of The Spirit Morph Saga. It would make the most sense to have 'magic' as a theme, since magic played a heavy role in the series, and Steven's life had more than its share of literal magic than the average person. It shouldn't be too hard, he'd thought, until the conversation with Connie about the books had tripped him up.
According to her, the books were really about friendship, and how forming relationships with others was one of the most important things in life. But stuff like that...
Steven felt the outline of his gem against his shirt.
Stuff like friendship and forming relationships... wasn't something Steven had much experience with.
He sighed.
He got to the art supplies store. He briefly browsed the shelves full of art materials, before finally selecting a sketchbook very much like the one he'd lost. Similar dark cover, similar bookmark to easily get back to where you last left off, and a similar spiral edge that Steven had always preferred. He paid for the sketchbook, as well as a new set of erasers (the ones he had at the RV were getting worn down). Then he was back to strolling down the street.
He gazed around as he went, trying to find some inspiration for his drawing. In the park, he saw the group of teenagers he'd met at the donut shop. He wasn't sure what they were doing exactly, but they were holding what seemed to be cardboard swords, and were throwing beanbags at each other.
Steven paused and watched them for a moment.
Maybe they'd be a good subject for a picture? They're friends and they're… doing something fun together…
The thought trailed off in Steven's head before he walked on. While the teenagers had been friendly enough when he'd met them, the idea of him just going up and asking if he could draw them felt weird. He barely knew them.
He passed the arcade, his mind still wandering. He glimpsed a little girl laughing and playing air hockey with her moms. The sight brought a small smile to his lips. Maybe he should draw his family. Dad and Pearl... He loved them very much, and there was magic to that.
But it didn't really feel like the magic Connie had described. Sure, both had a lot in common, like sharing burdens with each other and overcoming great struggles together. But the magic in the books seemed to be more about meeting new people and forming personal bonds with them. Like finding family in people you're not related to. Relationships forged in fire. It was like what that famous quote said: 'The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.'
And as much as Steven loved Dad and Pearl, he knew they didn't exactly fit with that kind of magic.
He sighed again as he made his way back to the car wash. When he arrived, he found Dad sitting outside on a folding chair, an empty seat beside him. He was idly strumming on his guitar, pausing every few seconds to tune it.
"Hey, bud!" Dad greeted when he looked up and saw Steven. He waved his son over. Steven smiled. "Perfect timing. Pearl left a while ago to spend some time with Lapis, so I was starting to get lonely." Dad gestured to the empty seat. "Why don't ya take a load off with your old man?"
Steven did so, resting his sketchbook and erasers in his lap. He then kicked his shoes off and pulled his socks off, mirroring his dad's barefoot look. The cool breeze through his toes felt nice and relaxing.
"I see ya got a new sketchbook," Dad said, beginning to strum a simple tune on his guitar. "Found the art shop in town, I take it?"
"Yeah. I did."
"How was it? Pretty nice?"
"It was good. They didn't have as much stuff as the art supply shop in Damyang. Or Seoul."
"Not really surprising. Beach City is a pretty small place. Most people probably only see it as a vacation spot." Dad paused, continuing the ditty on his guitar before going on, "Still, it's a nice town. Had things been different, I wouldn't have really minded settling down here, even." He stopped playing and looked over at Steven. "What do you think, schtooball?"
Steven shrugged silently. He didn't want to say that he still missed mountain side and Palanquin. And he especially missed the apartment in Seoul.
"Something wrong, Steven?"
Steven hesitated before answering. "Just… trying to decide what I want to draw for the contest."
"Oh yeah. That one at the library, right?" Steven nodded. Dad looked curious. "Hmm… Well, do you have any ideas?"
"I was thinking of something magical, like an experience or something," Steven said. "But I guess it's been a little light on magic lately…"
Dad sighed, put his guitar on the ground next to him, and leaned over. He wrapped an arm around Steven's shoulder and gave a little squeeze. "Yeah, I know what you mean, bud. Still, it's not so bad, right? I mean, the Crystal Gems are... getting friendlier. And sure, we went through some turmoil with Pearl, but we're all getting better there. Even Lapis is settling in pretty good, right?"
"I guess…" Steven replied.
"My suggestion? Just think about the best thing that's happened to you, that you can really remember. You'll probably find some magic there."
"Okay, Dad." Steven nodded. "I'll—"
He cut off suddenly, a thought shooting through him like a bolt of lightning. And not sadness lightning, either.
"Something wrong, bud?"
"No, just… a thought," Steven said. "About the contest…"
In truth, an idea for a drawing was already unfolding in his mind. He'd have to go back into town to get some references, but…
"Are you going back in soon, Dad?" Steven asked.
"Wasn't planning on it."
"Good," Steven smiled. "How about some music? You can let me listen to your latest song and I'll tell you about my drawing idea?"
"Well, with an offer like that..." Greg chuckled as he bent over to pick the guitar back off the ground and began strumming. "Let's see if I can scrounge something up…"
If Lapis were being totally honest, she'd say she had never actually enjoyed working on the drill.
Not to say that she hated it. After having been trapped for so long, it felt good to have a job to do, something that let her move around and work her physical form to be productive, even if it was something she'd never been made for. Sure, the physics involved was confusing and the mathematics was utterly beyond her, but working together with Pearl seemed a worthwhile use of her time.
Although... it had been difficult, at times. The handiwork was fiddly, human tools didn't always make sense, and sometimes she needed to be incredibly precise with her water powers. Still, Lapis tried to help out as much as she could. And after all the nights she had spent working on it, she believed she understood enough of the drill's mechanics to be able to help with some of the more-involved, non-mundane tasks.
But then, Other Pearl— White Pearl— had looked at the plans for ten minutes, and seemed to know everything inside out.
When Lapis had arrived with Pearl for that night's work session, they discovered just how much White Pearl had achieved that day. A whole extra two drill legs had been built onto the main control carapace, with a third well on its way to being completed.
"Excellent progress," Pearl remarked.
White Pearl's head popped out of whatever cavity she'd been working inside of, her cheeks smudged with some grease.
"Yes. It is, isn't it?" she said, looking incredibly smug.
Lapis resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
Soon they all went about their tasks for the night. Lapis tried to help, as she always did, but found herself being less-than-useful. Whenever she went to do something— adjust a screw, fetch a part, solder some circuitry— she found that White Pearl had already got to it before her. It wasn't long before she ended up leaning against the Kindergarten's wall with a water razor, methodically cutting out set lengths of shrink tubes, of all things.
Across from her, the Pearls were poring over the plans and discussing something at length. Probably trying to figure out what was making the gravity drive leak, or why the control panel kept fritzing, or whatever other thing related to the drill's inner workings.
Not that Lapis cared.
"Nice view."
Lapis turned her head to glare at the source of the interruption. "What?"
Garnet just grinned in reply.
Lapis rolled her eyes and turned away. She didn't appreciate the underlying quality she saw in the fusion's grin. It was more of a knowing smirk than anything else, and the longer she felt it directed at herself, the more she felt a strange heat going to her face... until she couldn't take it anymore.
"What are you doing here?" Lapis bit out. "What do you want?"
"I'm bending bars," Garnet replied. In demonstration, she picked up a length of steel from a nearby pile, then bent it in a single swift motion.
"Wow. Spectacular." Lapis flatly said.
"Yes."
Shaking her head, Lapis resumed cutting her shrink tubes while Garnet bent metal bars beside her.
Stuff of legends, it was not.
Eventually, Garnet got to the last of the pile. Lapis watched her go inform White Pearl, who was elbow-deep in the drill's main engine while Pearl tinkered underneath it. White Pearl absently thanked the fusion before going back to whatever she and Pearl were doing. Something probably went wrong in their task because a dark liquid suddenly poured all over Pearl. Lapis flared her water wings and was just about to launch towards them when Pearl slid out from under the engine, wiping the offending liquid from her face and telling White Pearl about what had happened. She didn't seem hurt or anything, and she looked completely focused on what she was working on.
Frowning, Lapis dismissed her wings and returned to her own task.
"I can help with that," Garnet said, interrupting her thoughts. Lapis hadn't noticed when she had come back.
"I'm handling it," she said, just a hair sharply as she cut another piece of tube. "Why don't you go and do... whatever it is you fusions like to do."
"I like to help."
Lapis stared at her for a long, hard moment. When the fusion didn't move even the slightest, she muttered, "Fine," and cut off a length of the tube, handing it over. She enjoyed a moment of petty satisfaction from knowing that Garnet didn't have a tool for cutting, but that was quickly dashed when Garnet easily shapeshifted her fingers into a pair of scissors.
They cut in silence, punctuated only by the sounds of their snipping and the clang of tools at the distance. The moon had risen high in the sky before someone finally spoke up.
"So," Garnet started, "you want to save the Earth."
"Not really," Lapis muttered before she could stop herself. She glanced at Garnet, but the fusion seemed to be simply waiting for her to continue. Shrugging, Lapis decided to oblige. She was getting bored of the repetitive task anyway. Might as well make some small talk. "I hate everything about this planet."
A long beat followed. Then...
"There must be something you like."
"I dunno." Lapis stopped her water razor mid-cut, pondering. "The oceans are nice, I guess."
"Hmm."
"What about you? What do you like about this place?"
Garnet paused in her work, too. She seemed to be carefully considering her answer.
Finally, she said, "Frogs."
"What's that?"
"Amphibian lifeforms. They live on land and in water."
"That doesn't sound like anything special," said Lapis, resuming at her task.
Garnet shrugged and followed suit. "Most Earth lifeforms either live on land or in water. Frogs are free to live in both."
"Is that all that's great about them?"
Another long moment of consideration. "They also have long tongues."
Lapis stared, scrutinizing, unsure if the fusion was being serious or not. But the fusion was unreadable, and Lapis couldn't help wondering if frogs were truly a cause worth fighting for.
oOo
Authors' Note: Big thanks for TheMarkovProperty for coming up with the 'Prime Factors' pun in our attempt to create a 'Hidden Figures' parallel for the SU-verse
