The peace wasn't too short-lived. Despite everything between them, Jasper proved to be rather decent company. She seemed to be getting bored with the phone, instead directing her attention to him every so often when she decided that whatever she actually did on there wasn't as entertaining or distracting as it must have been before. Every so often, she'd initiate a conversation, and Steven found himself responding with a surprising lack of irritation when she did. He was certain, if it had been anyone else, he probably would have been annoyed, at best - but somehow, Jasper managed to pique his curiosity more often than not when she opened her mouth. Maybe because, somehow, she always managed to surprise him when she spoke up.

At the moment, they were talking about the other Quartzes back at Little Homeworld, the ones that had fought with Jasper during the war, and hadn't escaped the corruption blast from the Diamonds. "-it was weird, seeing them so different," the orange Quartz was grumbling. "They used to be like me, always fighting. Now they're doing 'meep morps' and 'meditation'."

Steven let out a low hum, keeping his head tilted back against the back of the wheelchair. He no longer had his eyes shut, staring up at the ceiling now. "I mean, everything's different now. There's no war, nobody for them to fight. Now they're just learning how to do their own thing, live their lives the way they want to instead of following the Diamonds' orders. If art and meditation is how they can do that, then good for them. They're learning to move on." Despite himself, the words he was saying came out a little more bitterly than he would have liked.

"You make it sound easy," Jasper mumbled, somewhat scornfully; Steven flicked his gaze toward her silently, just listening as she spoke. "So everything's different now, everybody's nice and friendly and there's no big war. It's still not that easy to ignore what we were made for."

"I know," Steven muttered, huffing out a dry laugh and looking back up. "Trust me, I know."

"It has to be harder than it seems, right?" Jasper groaned, letting her head fall back against the back of the couch and glaring at the wall for a moment. Steven looked back toward her for a moment, breathing out in a sharp huff through his nose. "It's not like I was the only soldier that fought in the war. It's not like I was the only one made for that exact purpose. It used to feel like I was the only one that still understood what we're supposed to be, but now it feels like I'm just holding onto nothing." The orange gem sighed through her teeth. "And it's just…"

"Frustrating," Steven finished for her, looking back up at the ceiling. "Feels like you're the only one not really getting it. Like everyone else seems to be moving forward so effortlessly, and the only thing you can do is stand and watch them. You wanna go forward, but you don't, because it can't possibly be that easy and you're not ready to see if it is or if it's not. So you don't move." They fell silent for a moment, merely contemplating on this, before Steven spoke up again, "sometimes it feels like I was only made to help people. To fix the mistakes my Mom made, with the Diamonds, and the war, and the gems. I don't know what to do if I'm not doing that. And it's like you, with the fighting - I don't want to do it anymore, but what am I if I don't? It's like there's nothing else for me, and everybody else is moving on and doing their own thing, but I can't."

"Now it makes sense," Jasper mumbled. She sounded more understanding for the first time, a slightly knowing tone accompanying the bitterness as she huffed, "if you can't do the thing that you were literally created to do, then what other reason do you have for existing?"

"What are you," Steven agreed quietly, closing his eyes for a moment, "if you're not what you were created, intended to be?" He grunted slightly, as did Jasper, the orange gem managing to sound a little grumpier than usual now. "And now I don't even care. If I have to be what she made me into, then I don't want to be anything at all. Hell, I don't even know where to begin being anything else, so sometimes it feels like it'd just be easier to-" He stopped, and sighed.

Jasper didn't say anything for a moment, sighing through her nose. Well- at least, that's what it had sounded like. She didn't have a nose, he finally marveled, as he let his gaze linger on her gem for a moment before ripping it away once more. But she hadn't exactly opened her mouth. "I still want to exist," the Quartz finally rumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. "I know that much. Sure, it doesn't feel like there's a point to it anymore, but it's still… ugh, I don't know. There's still something." She fell silent for a moment, before adding, a little quieter this time, "this is just stupid. I don't want this to be all there is."

Steven fell silent for a moment, closing his eyes again. It felt weird, just sitting and talking with Jasper calmly about this. Jasper, who usually didn't talk about her emotions. Jasper, who had told him she didn't want to talk about it to begin with. And it had gotten a lot deeper, a lot more intense than Steven had expected, opening up many new revelations from both sides. He was still surprised, the more he learned about Jasper, and yet he was steadily getting used to the fact that there were things he didn't know, things she was only now beginning to express. Even so, the conversation was treading dangerous territory, and he couldn't help but feel responsible for the sudden shift in Jasper's attitude. Even though he had wanted her to get out more, to express herself more beyond just fighting, he hadn't wanted to be the reason she did so - at least, not like this. The hybrid grimaced, shoulders sagging slightly as he lifted his head. It took him a moment to work up the nerve to speak again, to change the subject as much as possible. "Wonder if the fish have it any easier," he mumbled.

Somehow, he managed to shock a laugh out of Jasper. The orange gem's scowl had vanished, a grin briefly tugging at the corners of her lips before she forced it away again. But her eyes still shone with amusement as she looked toward him and quirked an eyebrow questioningly. "What's a fish's purpose?" She wondered, making a face.

"... I don't know," Steven admitted, furrowing his eyebrows slightly. "I don't think they have one. They swim, they get eaten… they eat each other, I think."

Jasper fell silent for a moment, staring at him for a long time with nothing but confusion, horror and disgust in her eyes. "... do all species of organics on Earth consume each other?" She finally asked, managing to look more than a little terrified. "Do humans-?"

"Uh, no- I mean I- it's frowned upon?"

The unsettled expression on Jasper's face intensified tenfold, and Steven couldn't help but laugh a little despite himself. "I mean, look- I'm pretty sure most humans don't make a habit out of eating each other. A lot of them eat fish and other animals on Earth to survive, but they don't… tend to… eat their own species. And the ones that do are called cannibals and, like I said, it's frowned upon. Actually, I think it's illegal." He ran his fingers through his hair, brushing the curls back, and sighed a little at the slightly confused look he was given. "Humans have strict laws, one of which is 'no murdering each other', and by eating a human you'd technically be killing them, so it's pretty much illegal."

Once again, Jasper fell silent, looking thoughtful now. Then she spoke, redirecting her attention back to him and narrowing her eyes. "What if a human eats another one that's already dead?"

Steven opened his mouth slightly to reply, but he couldn't think of anything to refute that with. After all, that was a pretty good point - and now that he was thinking about it, probably wasn't illegal. Then again, he didn't know much about human laws aside from the basics, so he wasn't entirely sure if that was a loophole or another set of offenses entirely. "... I don't… know…" He finally managed to respond, frowning. "I feel like… that'd be really… really gross."

"Why are we even talking about this?" Jasper muttered, shaking her head slightly and blowing her hair out of her face with a huff. "I just wanted to suggest living as fish in the ocean and not having to deal with the crushing weight of our own existences. Now I know more about humans than I wanted to know and I'm ninety-nine percent sure I despise them even more now."

"You want to live in the ocean?" Steven snorted slightly despite himself, unable to help but think of Malachite now. He wondered if maybe some of Lapis's influence could have rubbed off on Jasper while they were fused - but then, even the blue gem hadn't wanted to be near the ocean after they had split, and for good reason. You'd think being trapped in a fusion at the bottom of the ocean would have more of an impact, but Jasper didn't seem particularly fazed by the idea. "I guess you could shapeshift into one of them. As long as you're careful and don't get caught."

"Imagine a human trying to eat me," Jasper sighed. "Or cook me."

"You'd poof the second they took a bite," Steven couldn't help but let out another laugh. "Provided they live long enough to do so after you get caught anyway."

"They take a bite and their food disappears," Jasper mused, biting the inside of her cheek and quirking an eyebrow toward Steven. "Or suddenly turns into a giant orange monster and attacks them. I'll bet those humans wouldn't be catching any more fish for a long time after that."

"If you did that, you could put it on TubeTube. 'Fishing Prank Gone Wrong'. You'd be famous." At this, Jasper finally cracked up; somehow, the hybrid couldn't help but feel somewhat accomplished, watching her as her face broke into a wide grin and she finally started snickering, covering her face with one hand in an attempt to muffle the sounds. It was so different, so strange compared to what he was used to from her, but he couldn't say he was complaining. "Then your purpose would be terrorizing humans across the Earth."

"Doesn't sound half bad," Jasper commented, still snickering under her breath. Steven chuckled, and sighed, letting the amusement linger for a moment. It was still surprising to realize he had any room left for laughter, that he could feel anything other than the anger and guilt and numbness that consumed him so often, but right then, he was almost somewhat content. And it was even stranger that Jasper, of all people, was the gem that was managing to get him to feel this way. For a moment, it almost felt like things were somewhat… normal. Like they were back in the forest, sitting around a fire while Jasper ranted about the war and Steven cooked fish. The few nights they spent just talking had been surprisingly comfortable, and to feel that level of contentment now, after everything that had happened between them, was strange, but welcome regardless. He almost felt like her equal again, but he still couldn't get the fight out of his mind. He couldn't help but wonder if it was haunting her, too, in more than just her not wanting to fight. He wondered how she could even bear to be near him, much less… enjoy his company.

"You could do it too," Jasper spoke up again suddenly, and Steven shook himself out of his thoughts quickly to turn his attention back to her, blinking. "Terrorize humans."

"Yeah-" Steven huffed out a laugh, a little less humorless now. "But I can't shapeshift."

Jasper stared at him for a moment, so intensely, and so bewildered, that Steven almost felt stupid, like he was missing something. "I've seen you shapeshift, though." The hybrid furrowed his eyebrows, opening his mouth slightly - he couldn't recall ever showing her the 'cat fingers' thing - but she was speaking again before he could spit the question out anyway. "In the forest. When you were pink, and-" She gestured vaguely with her hand, lifting it up slightly to indicate how tall he had been before. "That's still shapeshifting. Altering your physical appearance from what it usually is. Obviously, being half organic, there's limitations - but you're still capable."

Steven furrowed his eyebrows a little more, scrunching his face up in deep concentration as he thought those words over. He hadn't really considered the fact that he had been 'shapeshifting'; considering the fact that gems could shift into anything they wanted, and Steven didn't have much control over what his body did when it reflected his mental state and maturity, but then again, what Jasper was saying also made sense. And, along with the cat fingers…

Well, maybe he was more capable than he thought. But, at the same time, with his healing powers on the fritz and a broken leg, it was probably best not to strain his body that way regardless. For all he knew, his powers would break completely, and he didn't want to risk it. "Maybe," he finally responded, shaking his head and looking back up. He opened his mouth once again to continue, but he didn't have the chance; the sound of the door opening made him flinch a little harder than he would have liked, and the expression on Jasper's face turned cold in barely half a second, whirling her head around to look at who had walked in. The hybrid reluctantly followed her gaze after a moment, curling his lips back into a brief snarl. He had been fully prepared to see the gems - but he hadn't been prepared to see Sapphire and Ruby trailing along after Amethyst and Pearl. Ruby was rubbing her eyes furiously, lower lip poking out and wobbling as if she had been crying, while Sapphire was attempting to comfort her.

Garnet had split.

Given how she had destabilized before, he knew he shouldn't have been surprised, but he could only stare at the two in shock for a good few seconds before finally managing to rip his gaze away, only when someone else ended up following them through the door. His heart sank slightly upon seeing Greg; nothing personal, but he knew the subject of therapy was bound to come up again now that his father was there, and he wasn't looking forward to it at all.

Steven closed his eyes for a moment, breathing out slowly as Greg headed over to him. "Hey, kiddo," his father mumbled, resting a hand on his shoulder as he reached the hybrid, and the teenager reluctantly cracked an eye open to glance up at him. "So, Priyanka gave me the therapist's number, and we talked for a little. Her name's Maria Roberts, and she's a really nice lady. Apparently she's been seeing some of the gems from Little Homeworld-" At this, Steven's eyebrows shot up in surprise, staring at Greg with wide eyes. "-so she knows a little bit about gem stuff, too. She's not far, kinda between here and Empire City, and… well, I guess you need to fill out paperwork to make everything official and stuff, but she wants to meet you tomorrow."

The hybrid didn't say anything, still somewhat recovering from the news that this therapist had apparently been seeing some of the gems from Little Homeworld. When had that started? He hadn't even known they knew what therapy was to begin with, much less that they were getting sessions. And- a human, counseling gems? Full gems, not hybrids. He wondered if she could keep up with all of it - wondered how she managed it. Even he found it hard to juggle all of the gems from Little Homeworld, and evidently, he had failed on that end, if a human had had to…

Somehow, the thought left a bitter taste on the tip of his tongue, and he swallowed it down to the best of his ability. It wasn't even guilt, or shame. Regret, maybe? Confusion? Jealousy…? But that didn't make sense. Granted, nothing made much sense these days, but this, even more so than usual, he failed to understand. And besides that, he didn't even know what he was jealous of. So the gems were getting help - good for them, right? And of course, their new therapist, who had apparently just popped up out of the blue. One he'd never heard about, ever…

"There's something else, bud," Greg murmured, capturing his attention before he could spiral too far. He made a face, deciding to put the subject of the newly appointed gem therapist on the back burner, and lifted his gaze back to his father with a frown. "Priyanka wants to see you at the hospital. Something about a psychological assessment to determine whether or not you need to be kept under professional watch and care for the next few days…" A slightly pained expression crossed his father's face, while Steven nearly blanked completely at the words. Oh, great, now even Priyanka wanted to supervise him. He couldn't catch a fucking break, could he? He couldn't get one goddamn second to himself, could he? He didn't want to go back to the hospital; he didn't want to have to face Priyanka, for god's sake. It was hard enough with a doctor he didn't know asking the questions. But he knew her. She was his best friend's mother.

"Today?" Was all he mumbled, knowing there was hardly any way out of this. It was Priyanka, after all, and Connie inherited her stubbornness from the doctor, if nothing else. And the last thing he needed was either of them coming here; he already felt trapped in the beach house as it was. And while he knew he wouldn't fare any better in a hospital, at least he could make the choice to get away from the gems and put himself in this position… at least, somewhat.

"As soon as possible," Greg replied with a grimace, and Steven let his head fall forward with a low sigh. "But the van's not ready yet, so we'll need to figure out another way to get there."

Silence followed; Steven's expression smoothed out slightly, realizing that that could be his way out, but the relief faded when Pearl spoke up from behind Greg, venturing a few steps closer - brave, considering how Steven had attacked earlier, and how he still wasn't exactly at his calmest point right then, either. "Well, maybe we could take Steven to th-"

"No."

Steven blinked, tearing his gaze away from Pearl to focus on Greg again. He was surprised to see his father's expression had hardened, his gaze considerably colder than it had been before. While his tone wasn't quite harsh as he spoke again, it certainly didn't leave much room for any arguments, either - and it was enough, surprisingly, to make even Pearl take a few steps back. "I appreciate it, Pearl, but I think it's time I start taking care of my son." Under his breath, he added low enough for Steven to hear, "because apparently trusting you to was a mistake."

Steven wasn't sure whether to feel proud or surprised, but even he couldn't deny that Greg had gained just a little bit of his respect back right then. He studied his father, lips tugging upwards at the corners, and Greg cleared his throat and sighed as he turned back to the gems. "In fact, I actually need to talk to you guys about something later. For now, I'm calling a cab and getting Steven to the hospital." He pulled his phone out and paused, glancing back at Steven. The hybrid didn't say anything - but he didn't protest, either, so Greg headed past the gems and stepped outside, closing the door behind him. Steven continued to stare long after it had shut.

"... hey, Steven…?"

The hybrid narrowed his eyes slightly, looking down at Ruby. The little gem took a few steps forward, despite a few warning, concerned looks from Amethyst and Pearl; her lower lip was still quivering, on the verge of tears - and really, he'd be lying if he said it didn't make his heart ache somewhat for a moment, even through the anger - as she spoke, softly, "I'm sorry."

Steven felt himself falter before the words had even really registered, and it made him grimace. It wasn't okay and they knew that; Ruby knew that, and he knew that, but goddamn, if the gems didn't know how to press all the right buttons. He debated on responding for a while, just sitting there and working his jaw as he tried to figure out what he could even say to that. He didn't want to snap again - especially not with Greg outside, give him more reason to think Steven needed help. He was already about to have a 'psychological assessment', and he was more than willing to bet that attempted murder wasn't going to be good for that. But he wasn't sure if there was anything to say; the gems had already apologized, and he was still furious; maybe irrationally… but still furious regardless, and he wasn't about to continue suppressing it for their sakes.

He sighed through his teeth, throwing a glance in Jasper's direction. She glanced back at him, offering nothing more than a half-hearted shrug. Well, she had told him he could hate them. That he could be angry. He was still having a hard time deciding whether it was justified or not; of course, they obviously felt guilty, and he knew, logically, they hadn't meant to hurt him- so why was it so hard to set everything aside and forgive them? When did it get hard to forgive?

He looked back down at Ruby as she retreated to Sapphire's side, and the blue gem wrapped her arms around her silently, allowing her to tuck her head under Sapphire's chin.

"What's a psychological assessment?" Jasper finally spoke up, stretching her arms out over the back of the couch and crossing one leg over the other. Steven looked up at her, thinking, then opened his mouth to respond. "And for that matter, what's a 'hospital'?"

"A hospital is where humans go when they're injured," Steven explained, blowing his hair out of his face. He frowned, considering the first question once again. "And a psychological assessment is… I don't know, where they assess your… psychological state- I don't really know, I've only ever been to a hospital myself like, twice in my entire life, and I've never had a psychological assessment before anyway." He rubbed his hand over his face, grimacing.

"Wait, twice?" Amethyst cut in, and Steven heaved out a sigh, sparing her a slightly irritated glance - before abruptly remembering that she didn't know about his first hospital visit. Of course, the fact that he'd ended up in a hospital after the car crash was no surprise, but… damn, he really, really needed to start working on his filter again. "When did you-?"

"Look, it really doesn't matter, okay?" Steven interrupted sharply, gritting his teeth slightly with a scowl. "Yeah, I went to the hospital a while ago, before any of this started. It wasn't a big deal."

"But- why?" Pearl questioned, wide-eyed. "Were you injured?"

"Emotionally, apparently," Steven mumbled, rolling his eyes. Pearl opened her mouth slightly, looking prepared to ask even more questions, which Steven was not prepared for - nor was he asking for regardless. "Okay, like I said, no big deal. Doesn't matter. It happened, it's over, it was a brief thing that didn't really mean anything and was, to be honest, a complete waste of time. Literally nothing at all." He let his head fall back against the back of the wheelchair, grimacing. "Stop worrying about me already. How many times do I gotta slam you into a wall to make you realize I don't want you hovering over me like some helicopter parent? You're not my-" He choked on his own words, breath hitching slightly despite himself, managing to stop just before he could finish the sentence. Grateful that he had caught himself, and somewhat disgusted that he had even been about to say that to begin with, he covered his face with both hands. "... just let it go, okay? This is- it's too stressful to deal with this right now."

"... I understand," Pearl's voice was strained, and for good reason. Steven scolded himself silently, grinding his teeth together. He wasn't even guilty that he had hurt her feelings - more so that he had been about to say something he knew was a low blow for the both of them. Pearl might not have been his mother, but she was the closest thing he had to one for a long time. Maybe not the best one, and now, thinking back, maybe not a good one by any means, but she had still been there regardless. Maybe not when he needed her, like Greg - but she was there. That was more than he could say for his actual mother.

Once again disgusted - now that he was defending Pearl to himself at all - he simply fell silent and sank back into the wheelchair, finally dropping his hand from his face with a low grunt. He didn't even understand himself at this point. He didn't know whether he wanted to hurt her or not. Hell, he was starting to wonder if he only wanted to hurt her physically - if he only wanted to hurt any of them physically, because so far that had seemed more satisfying than causing them emotional pain. At least he could stop himself from doing that - at least he wanted to.

He stayed silent until Greg came back in, a moment later. His father seemed to falter slightly as he entered, as if he had caught on to the tension in the room, but he continued over to Steven after a moment. He grabbed the handles of the wheelchair to start pushing it, only to stop after a moment, hissing out a sigh through his teeth. "Oh, dang it. The stairs."

"That's a predicament," Steven muttered, once again slightly hopeful for some kind of loophole, but it seemed like the entire universe was against him today - because they ended up finding yet another way out of it, as Jasper finally pushed herself up off of the couch and headed toward them. Greg tensed up as she approached; Steven could practically feel his father reeling back, and could feel him tugging the wheelchair along with him. But the orange gem didn't stop, simply grabbed one of the wheels and wrenched the chair out of Greg's grip completely - causing Steven to wince and let out a sharp hiss of "watch it" - and Jasper only grunted slightly in what was either an apology or a 'shut up' before she lifted the chair over her head.

And then she turned and marched past the gems, lowering the chair to get Steven through the doorway and stepping out onto the porch. Greg followed quickly, mumbling under his breath. Steven only caught snippets of "bad idea" and "don't like this", but it wasn't enough to halt Jasper, who, once she had gotten outside, headed down the stairs two steps at a time.

Steven shuddered, more so from the movement than anything. If he could turn around to glare at Jasper, he would have, but, knowing it would only serve to hurt him even worse, he kept still. "I don't know whether to thank you or not but I will tell you this hurts like a bitch," he hissed the last word in Gem Glyph, more or less for his father's sake - poor man was already having a heart attack anyway, by the sound of it - and Jasper snickered slightly under her breath as she finally reached the bottom, depositing the wheelchair on the ground. "Never, ever again."

"You're welcome," Jasper retorted, tone practically dripping with sarcasm, and Steven resisted the urge to flip her off. He glanced up at Greg as he made his way back to the hybrid's side, occasionally sparing uncertain glances back at Jasper every now and again.

"Uh, thanks," his father finally offered to the orange gem, and he didn't get a response - not even a grunt, which, admittedly, did surprise Steven initially - but Greg turned back to him quickly enough, glancing him over with a frown. "The cab's on its way here, it shouldn't be too long. Getting you in and out won't be too easy… but we'll just take it slow," he added hastily, seeing Steven's expression shift. The hybrid definitely didn't want to hurt his back any further - it was already aching from being carried. Nice as it was, and as good as Jasper's intentions were, she still lacked the gentleness that even Lapis had managed to possess while carrying him.

But then, gentleness wasn't really Jasper's style.

He didn't say anything to Greg, simply sank back into the wheelchair and shut his eyes with a sigh. Bouncing around from place to place was getting old. Going back to the hospital? Not fun. But, weighing his options… well, it was probably the best one he had right then.

Maybe if you hadn't been stupid and reckless you wouldn't be in this mess, he sneered at himself. Or maybe if you'd actually succeeded, you wouldn't have to do any of this at all.

He shoved the thoughts back - something he was realizing was getting harder to do, despite how rare the thoughts themselves were getting. Maybe he just didn't have the strength to internally berate himself anymore, who knew? Either way, they were hardly welcome; he wanted as much peace as he could get until he had to deal with whatever the hell was going to happen at the hospital, and he'd be damned if he let his own self-loathing get in the way this time. He could hate himself all he wanted later, but for now? Fuck no, he was getting some quiet.