Getting used to Little Homeworld was gonna be a challenge. It was always a little chaotic. Gems, as it turns out, without the rigid structure of Homeworld, or the threat of destruction at the hands of the Diamonds, were a bit on the chaotic side, many of them being unsure of how to handle themselves, or what to do with their lives. It definitely made the little miniature town a chaotic place. Luckily, my apartment building was on the edge, in a quieter area. I got to meet a few more gems in the next few days.

The other Crystal Gems, sans Steven, were usually around helping out. I met Garnet, who struck me as very cool and reliable. She gave me a real strong vibe like she could be trusted. Amethyst was clearly a lot of fun, I was definitely looking forward to hanging out with her sometime. She reminded me a bit of some of my own friends.

There were also a few gems I met who actually lived in Little Homeworld too, of course. There was also the very enthusiastic Peridot, who, while I couldn't quite keep up with everything she was saying, had an infectious enthusiasm. Bismuth, who apparently was the one who made my apartment to be better suited to a human, was also had a lot of enthusiasm, though it was a little easier to keep up with her energy, and rounding out the trio was Lapis, who was a little bit moody, but definitely not the worst gem to know.

That didn't make standing in an empty makeshift classroom that would soon be packed full of gems any less unsettling. I had my laptop, a stack of syllabus packets, and a whiteboard behind me. The place was a little spartan, but to be fair, most of the classes were outdoors. I'd love to teach outside but my condition makes it a bad idea to spend too much time out of doors. At least sunscreen is pretty cheap in Beach City.

I unscrewed a marker, writing on the board.

Humans 101

I giggled. Yeah, that seemed kind of dumb.

Still, I was more excited than I was nervous. My lesson plan was a bit scattered for today. Introduce the boring stuff first, then get into the more interesting things. I had my back to the door, so I was a bit startled when it opened, and I spun on my heel, putting on a smile.

"Welcome!" I greeted.

"...Um…" The slender blue gem cleared her throat, a little unsure of herself. A Pearl, if I remembered the packet of gem info I had. "Am I… in the right place for the… human class?" I could barely hear her speaking, her voice was so soft.

"Yep!" I shifted, sitting on my desk. "You're just the first to arrive. Feel free to take a seat anywhere!"

Slowly, the Blue Pearl entered, shifting to find a seat near the back. She had her eyes hidden behind her hair.

"I… thought a human was teaching this?"

For a second, my brain didn't quite understand what she was getting at. Then it clicked. Does she think…? Right, I do look unusual…

I fought the urge to play along, and decided to be responsible. "Oh, I am. Did you think I wasn't a human?"

"Ah…!" She seemed embarrassed. "I thought… Just… The way you looked…"

"Don't worry about it…" I chuckled a bit. She thought I was a gem? I guess humans don't normally come in this shade of white. The eyes probably didn't help. I'm not sure what the lighting is like here, but in some places, when the light is just so, they get a weird pink tint.

The door opened, and a rowdy group of Quartzes bustled in, finding seats with each other, managing to push the awkwardness aside. I saw a number of other gems coming in too, filtering in larger groups. I sat on top of my desk with a clipboard, trying to keep track. I couldn't recognize every type of gem yet, but I could at least tell that most of the gems who had signed up were here… I could see Pearl near the back, probably there to keep things a little organized, just in case. And Spinel was there too!

Don't get too excited . I scolded myself a bit. Oh shit. She was sitting right at the front. Okay, just… Compartmentalize. This is a 'later' problem, and you literally know nothing about her.

Finally, I set the clipboard down, standing up from the desk. The room was a bit crowded. The Crystal Gems must have really given the hard sell at getting all these other gems to come in.

"Welcome!" I called. "We've got a lotta ground to cover, so let's get things going pretty quickly!" The rowdy crowd quieted fairly easy, all eyes on me. Yikes, that was unnerving. "My name is Ying, and I'll be the one teaching you some things about humans. But sadly before that, we have to get the boring part out of the way."

There were some laughs, and a few groans. I rolled my eyes a bit. "Yes I know, you wanna get to the weird stuff first, but right now, I have these for y'all…" I began passing out the packets. "I don't wanna spend too much time on this, just flip through em and give them a quick browse on your own time, it's just a bare-bones idea of what I'll be trying to teach…"

Once I had those handed out, I sat back on the desk. "So, introduction time! I'm Ying, I'm a human, and I'm a sociologist and anthropologist in training, which basically means I'm a human who studies humans." I chuckled. "I bet that sounds weird, but there's a lot to study. Human civilization as we know it is about 6000 years old-" I gave an eyebrow raise "Meaning that we were starting to really take off right around the time when Gems first came to earth, but we'd been around for long before that."

I leaned forward a bit, resting a hand on the edge of the desk, grinning. "Thing is, on average, most humans only live around a century or so. So we have a lot harder time keeping up with everything we've ever done. So we got to where we are through a very convoluted series of events. So, instead of going over our history, I'll be teaching a basic guideline of… what we're like. What humans are , not how we got here."

Good, I had everyone's attention at least. There was a lot of curiosity in the eyes that were cast on me. I swallowed my nerves and kept my grin steady.

"So… For today, I just thought I'd do some question and answer stuff. If any of you have questions you wanna know right now, just… go ahead and raise your hand and ask, and I'll do my best to give some quick answers!"

A lot of hands went up. Hoo boy.

"Uh, oh geez…" I laughed awkwardly, pointing at random. "How about you?" A tiny, very excitedly bouncing gem. I wasn't sure what kind she was, but she was very small. Like, maybe two feet at the most.

"Uhhh…" She paused, clearly gathering her thoughts. "I've noticed humans come in a lot of different colors! Is it cause they're made different, like gems?"

"Kind of?" I cleared my throat a bit. I wasn't sure how the hell I was going to explain this to the gems. "I'll try and give a cliff notes on this, because it's kind of confusing. Human skin color at least is because we have this stuff in our skin called melanin. The more you have, the darker your skin is." I tapped my arm. "I'm a little different; I actually have none."

It was a bit simplified, but it seemed to make sense to them, so I pressed on. "Generally speaking, you can trace it back to what part of the world people are from. If they come from families that originated in areas that got less sun, they have less melanin."

"What's that gotta do with the sun?" A gruff-looking gem asked. Crap, I didn't know this kind either. I'd better really crack into Pearl's notes.

"Melanin is more than color, it also protects us. The sun gives off a kind of ultraviolet radiation that can damage our skin if we're exposed to it too long." I gestured upwards, as if we could see the sun. "As far as I know it doesn't hurt gems though."

"So… what's that mean for you? I mean, ya just said ya don't have any…?" That was Spinel, her brows furrowed deeply.

"It's a mutation. Basically, humans aren't supposed to have no melanin." I smiled bitterly. "For me, it means that I burn very quickly. Without proper protection, I would get burned in a matter of minutes."

"Ooh, so you're like, off-color?" A gem asked, voice lilting a bit obnoxiously. Several gems shuffled, varying expressions on their faces. Some seemed curious, more interested, some seemed wary, some were nonchalant… Apparently "off-color" had some connotations, especially for the homeworld gems…

"Sorta." I shrugged. "It doesn't bother me though. I just have to make adjustments to how I do things."

I picked another gem to answer a question.

"Are those things on your face some kind of tech, like my monocle?" A Zircon. I remembered that one, finally.

"Ah, they help me see. I have very very bad vision." I tapped next to my eyes. "Another nice effect of being albino. No color in my irises or pupils means that it interferes with my sight. I'm just barely above being legally blind without these glasses, its that bad. Apparently, some human doctors have been experimenting with gem tech, so maybe someday I won't need the glasses."

More questions. Some about me, some about humans specifically. Overall, it was clear that this class was pretty engaged in the subject matter, which was encouraging. Eventually, though, our time was up. I waved goodbye as the various gems left. That wasn't a bad first day. I sighed, taking my glasses off and giving them a polish. That was stressful, but…

I felt proud of myself. I'd managed to do it, and things weren't a disaster! It wasn't a proper lesson today, but… It worked.

I pushed my glasses back onto my face, and just about choked on my own damn spit because Spinel was still there. Suppressing my inner useless lesbian instinct, I attempted to look calm, which was difficult to do when fighting off a startled yelp and a coughing fit at the same time.

"Oh!" I yelped, nearly falling off the desk. "H-hi there Spinel! Uh, did you, um, need something?" God I sounded like an idiot.

"Uh…?" she seemed a little baffled by my reaction, which… Yeah, okay. My reaction was pretty bad. "Are you… okay?"

"Fine, fine. Just… Getting all the jitters out." Half-true. That was a step in the right direction. "I was really nervous…"

"Really?" Spinel perked, surprised. "You seemed really cool up there."

She doesn't mean cool as in "impressive" you ninny. I thought, trying to fight a blush.

"I'm good at faking it." I shrugged nervously, untying my ponytail, feeling no need to look so professional. "I am meeting a ton of aliens and being set up as an example of humanity after all! I gotta keep up appearances."

"Oh… So you, um… You are okay though, right?" Now she looked concerned. God damn it.

"Yeah! I am. Just, like I said. Jittery." Breathe damn it. "I get worked up about really small things."

"You too?" Spinel smiled, though it was bittersweet. "I didn't get nervous though, I just uh… well, it wasn't a little thing the first time, but I kinda… blew up, real bad." She twiddled her fingers with a guilty expression, her smile even more forced than before. "And I… well, I'm better. Not great, but… Better!"

Watching her move, I was struck with the realization of how… springy she was. Spinel's inhumanity was obvious from a glance, but the longer I looked, the less human she was. Her general shape was exaggerated, springy and flexible in a way that no human could ever be. It was almost a relief because it kept me from staring at her face so much.

"Well, glad to hear you're better?" I offered. "Did you um, need something?"

"Uh! Not really, just… Some of the other gems 'round here say I should try an' make new friends…?" She rubbed the back of her head. "And I… Am very outta practice for that."

I felt a little bouncy excitement in my heart which I violently suppressed. Deciding to be a bit cheeky, I straightened, tossing my hair back and offering a hand to Spinel.

"Well I'm game. Wanna be friends?"

Spinel looked startled, then cautious and wary at first, and for a second I thought maybe I'd freaked her out somehow, but then her entire face lit up in a wide, shining grin and I felt a rush of pride as she took my hand in her own gloved one.

"Yeah!" She nodded. "Sounds good to me!"

Hooray! Friend acquired!

"Then friends we shall be." I chuckled. Seems like I didn't handle that like an absolute failure, so I must be doing okay.

The pair of us spent a minute or two chatting, mostly about Little Homeworld. It turned out that Spinel had been back and forth between earth and Homeworld for a while now, so even before she fully moved she had made a number of gem friends- apparently her, Peridot, Lapis and Bismuth shared some kind of common ground. She seemed a little reluctant to explain that, so I left it alone.

Eventually, I had to head home though. I had a little more work to do, and I was getting hungry. I bid Spinel an easy goodbye, walking back to the apartment building, taking a moment to enjoy the cool breeze. Little Homeworld felt… Welcoming. I felt safe here, despite all the new strangeness.

I got home, and started my computer up, beginning to type up the plans for the next few lessons, when the chatroom dinged.

(2) People are online!

sunnysideup: I know you're online, you can't hide from me.

UselessLesbian: I'm busy. I have work to do.

sunnysideup: please talk to me, Zach is elbow-deep in his code, Tex is fixing the truck and Jez is god knows where. And Jack is doing some dumb presentation thing.

UselessLesbian: so in otherwords, everyone but you and Jez are working

sunnysideup: I'm allowed to take breaks.

UselessLesbian: Fine fine, I'll fulfil your crippling need for attention.

sunnysideup: Pot, kettle.

UselessLesbian: Oi.

sunnysideup: sorry sorry. I didn't mean to be mean, i'm just lonely.

UselessLesbian: Too soon.

sunnysideup: yeah i figured

UselessLesbian: I'll forgive you but only because I know you were just teasing :p

sunnysideup: How's classes

UselessLesbian: Good! They seemed to be totally into it which was good.

sunnysideup: How's your brain

UselessLesbian: Stupid

sunnysideup: So the usual? What specific issue is bothering our dear Ying today?

UselessLesbian: the usual. Nerves. Being a disaster. Having to confront the fact that all of my students, even the alien ones, will always be cooler than me

sunnysideup: whaaaaat, no

UselessLesbian: Go jump off a bridge

sunnysideup: i can't. My legs don't work remember?

UselessLesbian: We could throw you. We'll hold ya and just yeet you into the river

sunnysideup: I'm too cute to be yeeted

sunnysideup: yeeted?

sunnysideup: yeeten?

sunnysideup: yote?

UselessLesbian: wanna bet?

sunnysideup: no

sunnysideup: a l s o

sunnysideup: how's the whole "not crushing on alien girls" thing going?

UselessLesbian: badly

sunnysideup: I would offer a pat on the head but i doubt it'd help.

UselessLesbian: It's fine it's fine I'll settle for being friends for the time being because getting my hopes up would be a bad idea

sunnysideup: as the only girl here who has had a successful long-term romantic relationship, i'll just say follow your heart but listen to your brain too. Gotta do both.

UselessLesbian: Both of mine are damaged and unreliable though

sunnysideup: Drama queen

UselessLesbian: ok I actually do gotta do some work, so I'll be doing that now. I do appreciate the chat even if i don't act like it and also even tho you're a pain

sunnysideup: Love ya too, brat.

I grinned to myself, shaking my head. Sunny was a goddamn gift to this earth. I turned to my work, and sighed. Time for the least fun part of the day...