Greg… rich… wow the statement still doesn't feel right. This is the man that has to live in his van and car wash in order to make ends meet and now the man is suddenly rich beyond most people wildest dreams. So unreal but frankly, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. After finding out he was given a massive amount of money for some reason or another, we waited the next day once everyone has rested up and now we're finding out exactly how Greg was able to accumulate such a wealth.
And that's why we are at the back of Gregs van having watched a commercial on his tv that has the song that Greg himself wrote. When a large corporation or fast food chain restaurant uses something you made over a long and repeated use of time, your kind of entitled to a portion of the money that was attained as a result of its use, hence Greg's 10 million fortune.
"Whoa! Your song is on TV!" Steven happily shouts after seeing the commercial.
"Yeah. Apparently, Marty sold my song as a burger jingle, and now I'm filthy stinking rich." Greg says as he shows us the check again.
Steven lets out a happy sigh as he sees the small slip of paper worth a ton of money. "The sweet stench of success."
"I still say you should have let me build you a home man." I tell him, again.
"And I told you, I don't need one. Especially not one as big as you kept insisting." He reminds me again. I'll admit, I may have been just a little too… excited in getting started in making Gregs home but I really do think he needs a proper place to rest his head and live out his life. Unfortunately, he has been very insistent on me not going overboard in any house construction, or not on board at all because he completely scrapped any ideas for me to make any sort of house for him. I'm a little miffed at the shutdown, resulting in me angrily muttering all the while.
"What is this?" My mutterings aside, Pearl looks closer at the TV curiously at the song that's playing.
"You know, when Rose came to my concert the night we met, I was playing this song." Greg reveals with a bit of glee in his voice. I guess being reminded of the song that helped him realize his love for his wife, and now that helped score him enough money to be a millionaire, has put him in a slightly happy state.
"This is what did it? Burgers?" Pearl asks confused. I guess she's referring to the song that kind of started the whole thing of Rose and Greg falling in love. Something tells me its not that easy.
"It wasn't about burgers back then. She probably would've like this, though, right?" Greg asks as he points to the TV, where the little burger mascot is doing a little dance… or something I don't know.
Pearl takes a long hard look at the last of the commercial before letting out a sad sigh. "… She would have loved it." She says without looking at everyone. I guess being reminded of Rose, she's not really in a comfortable mood as she walks away, clearly a little upset.
Greg for his part groans at the state Pearl has been put in. I pat his arm as comfort. "Don't worry about her. I'll go talk to her." I offer to him and begin to follow her around the van. I see her sulking a little there but as she sees me does she turn right around and make her way to the beach house. 'Oh come on.' I shake my head and begin following after her. "Pearl! Come on! Pearl talk to me." I begin to ask of her but she just continues walking away. It's only when we make it into the beach house that I finally catch her. "Pearl, come on." I grab her shoulder. Not forcefully but the action does make her stop.
"Please Marcus. I just… don't want to talk."
I don't let her off that easy however. "Pearl. Since I've come to live with you all I've seen the sheer uncomfortable state you always place yourself in when it comes to pretty much anything that involves Greg." I step closer to her side so she can see me out of her peripheral vision. "It's obvious this can't keep going on. Not forever. You have to do something to reconcile this… or you'll never find peace." I say to her what she needs to do. If she continues to avoid Greg, continues to avoid the elephant in the room that appears whenever they both are close together, then their will always be this gnawing feeling of tension and frustration in the air. At some point they need to talk and soon before something bad might happen.
After a few moments, she finally turns to me. I give my best expression and supporting smile for her to go through with it. She gives me a small smile in return.'
*SLAM*
We both jump as the door to the beach house suddenly slams open with a grinning Greg and Steven right there. For some reason they are humming and really joyful about something as they begin gathering stuff around the house into some bags. Pearl and I look at each other confused but as she sees Greg she gets cold feet and begins to talk away.
"And let's bring Pearl!" Whatever they were doing, Steven suddenly points at Pearl and says.
"What?!" Greg is kind of surprised at that while I am just a little confused on what they are doing.
"… I don't know. Past experiences have taught me that three is a crowd." Pearl makes the excuse not to go.
"Steven, me and Pearl haven't gotten along that well since uh- well, since I started dating your mother." Greg whispers to his son on why this may be a bad idea.
"Aw, come on! We're all a big family. It'll be great. Just you, me, Pearl, and don't forget mom." Steven makes things all kinds of awkward as he lifts his shirt to reveal his gem. The others gasp a little while I feel uncomfortable at the insinuation.
I grab his shirt and proceed to slowly pull it back down. "Nooooooooo." I slowly draw out the word.
"Oh! Hey Marcus you can come too!" Steven suddenly shouts as he looks at me. "On our little vacation with us." More confused looks and mutters go off from everyone.
"What? Really Steven? But Pearl did say that threes a crowd." I remind him of that.
"Yeah, three. With you it'll be four." He points out too.
"…" Now I am incredibly confused at the choice of reason Steven went with as my mouth opens and closes a few times. "IIIIIII… don't think that's how the saying goes… but I guess if you really want me to go I can't really say no now can I?" I say with a small shrug.
"Yaaay! Vacation!" Steven shouts happily and jogs up his stairs to his bedding area. "Let's get packing."
The others don't voice any disapproval of me tagging along and nod along. "Alright. Let's get to it." I'm aboard with the packing and Greg and Pearl get ready to grab anything we might need. Before I go though, another thought makes itself known in my head. 'Hmmm, vacation huh? A time to relax…' I slowly turn to the front door and stare out.
"Empire City!" Steven gleefully shouts the name of the city as he jumps out of the van with his arms spread wide.
"Relax Steven. We'll be able to enjoy all of the city while we're here." Greg tells his son as he too steps out.
"Sorry dad! I'm just so excited to be here on vacation. We haven't had one in forever. Especially you Pearl." Steven comments as he looks over at the passenger side door, revealing Pearl as she steps out.
"Come now Steven. I don't NEED a vacation."
"Well at least some of you guys need one." Greg comments before looking around. "By the way where's—" Greg begins to question where their tag-along is until they hear the revving of an engine make itself known come up from behind them. Marcus's Falcon car comes around the corner and slows to a crawl before parking next to and just a little bit a head of Greg's van. "Speaking of, there he is. Hey Marcus!" He waves as the driver gets out.
"Hey guys! Sorry I'm late." Marcus replies as he gets out and waves back to them. "I just had to grab something. Why don't you all head in and we'll be in soon." The nod so Pearl, Steven and Greg walk right in, for some reason Steven is carrying a stack of bills. 'Wow they did not waste time in cashing a large portion of that check. For this trip, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.' Reaching into his car, he goes ahead and pulls out a small duffel bag that has some stuff he brought. They are supposed to be there a couple days so its just some change of clothes and stuff for him to use. In any case, once he slings it over his shoulder and walks over to the other side of his car, he stares up at the large expensive hotel that Greg booked their rooms at.
As I look up at it, I can't help but let out a long sigh. "Whelp, we're here. This sure is something."
"It doesn't look that great."
I chuckle as it turn to Lapis as she steps out of the passenger side door and stands next to me. "C'mon Lapis. You can't tell me this place doesn't look amazing?" I ask her directly but she simply shrugs her shoulders.
"It's alright. Still looks the same from the sky to be honest." She says, not really caring about the whole thing.
I shake my head and begin walking in. "C'mon. Let's at least go check into our room."
"Marcus…" Lapis calls my name, making me stop and look back at her. She looks down and uncomfortable about something as she rubs her left arm with her right and doesn't look at me. "Are you sure about this? Me being here? I… don't think…"
"Lapis, come on." I give her a comforting smile and place my hand on her to emphasize the point. "Over past couple months, we have been through a lot. A lot of fighting, hurting, complications and obstacles so on and so forth almost non-stop that have pushed us to our limits. We need a moment to ourselves. A moment to relax and recharge ourselves." She looks down at the memories, a little sad. "Lapis." I gently place my finger under her chin and lift it so she can look at me. "Today, we have fun. We relax. C'mon, show me that smile." I ask of her. It takes a second but I too smile as her lips curl upwards into that of a sincere smile towards. "There we go. Doesn't that feel better?" She nods as I take my hand away. "I'm glad. Let's go check in." I wave her in and we proceed to go.
The big reason why I decide to bring Lapis is because… well, I miss her. When she came back to the barn, I was unconscious and when I did wake up I wasn't… myself. Then the fighting, getting back home and so much crap happened that we couldn't really do anything. For so long she was gone when she went to Homeworld and the time she spent when she was back on Earth was her holding back Jasper and keeping her imprisoned. We've barely had any time to relax and recuperate ourselves and when Steven suggested we take a vacation, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for the both of us finally get some R&R. Lord knows with what we went through, we need it. Hopefully, we can finally rest up.
We were able to check in but as it turns out, the Universes were pretty… generous with their money because apparently while Lapis and I were talking they had paid the hotel staff a ton of money for some luxuries. Apparently, the hotel we are at, 'LE Hotel' is a fancy hotel that kind of spares no expense in catering to the rich and powerful. Greg may not be powerful but he sure is rich, which is why the staff pulled out a musical number they did along with some other luxuries and completely moved their focus to Greg, Pearl and Steven. Already I can tell this is going to put a dent in Gregs new found fortune what with the music, plus the customized suits I heard they had tailor made for Greg, Steven and Pearl on such short notice. Stuff like that ain't cheap and while they all are resting in their room, I think, I've opted to show Lapis around the city instead so we can find some places to hang out and not be swarmed by the hotel staff. As soon as we were pulling out, I swear I saw some of them get some predatory looks of greed at the sight of my supped up and upgraded car.
So now we are driving around the different streets just taking in the sights. "Alright, so the hotel wasn't much to brag about, to your tastes at least, but what about the rest of the city?" I ask my passenger as she leans forward a little, looking up through the windshield to watch the different lights and buildings pass us by.
"Okay okay, I'll admit. When Steven showed me around, this place looked nice from the sky but now… yeah I can see the appeal. In a way, this kind of reminds of Homeworld in a way." She says, a bit of amazement in her eyes as she stares at everything.
"Really? How exactly?" I ask as we come to a stop in front of stoplight.
"It's not exact but somewhat similar. Big, shiny buildings and structures both big and small for the most part." She explains, even pointing to nearby where two buildings close together, one a skyscraper and the one next to it is only a few stories high, emphasis. Soon her eyes look down to the people walking on the sidewalks. "Although theirs fewer soldiers in comparison."
"Yeah I figured as much." I say before pulling forward once the light turns green. "Not everyone human is a soldier, or fighter of any kind for that matter. They just go about and live their lives how they see fit." I say offhandedly but as I think about it, there's something else I should probably ask. "Not every Gem has the choice to do what they want… do they?"
"Nooo…" She mutters sadly. She then looks up as she remembers something. "Except maybe the Diamonds. They kind of do whatever they want you know. Telling the rest of us lower tier gems to do this and do that. All for the good of 'Homeworld.'" She almost hisses the last word in slight anger. Clearly the topic has delved into a sensitive point for her, and slight anger to go along with it if her clenched fist is anything to go by.
'Can't have that. We're supposed to be on vacation.' I tighten my grip on the steering wheel before speeding up just a little. "Forget Homeworld!" I tell her firmly and loudly so she focuses on me now. "Your not there anymore. You're here on Earth now where you can do anything you want. Whether god or bad, you have a lot more options here than you do with the Diamonds." I make sure she knows it.
"Yeah, Steven mentioned that to me awhile back. But what can we do here?" She asks.
I open my mouth to say something before I realize I don't really know the first thing we can do here. 'Huh. What can we do?' I probably should have looked up what Empire City exactly has to offer but I was so focused on grabbing Lapis and bringing her hear to have fun, I forgot how we were going to do that. "Oh. This may work." I mutter as we come upon a colorful sight of tents, constructible rides and stands.
"What is this place?" Lapis asks as she notices I am pulling into the parking lot associated with the place we are pulling into: a carnival.
"A carnival. A fun place that people go to to have a good time." I say as I get out of the car. Lapis does too while I walk over to her and we gaze at the various rides, as well as hearing all the shouts of enjoyment and the bustles of the rides going off.
"Really? How?" She asks, now a little curious at what this place entails.
I give her a smile and gesture forward towards the entrance. "Let's find out shall we." She returns the smile and we go in.
If I had prepared ahead of time, I would have found out some better spots for us to hang out at but I guess a carnival can work too. Afterall, its not like I can take Lapis to any fancy restaurants Empire City may have to indulge in some fine cuisine since… well, Gems don't eat and I don't think Lapis is the type that wants to. At least not now. Nightclubs and places involving music won't work either since that kind of entail dancing and I do not want to bring up bad memories for her with the insinuation of fusion. Kind of sucks that dancing leads to fusion and has ruined it for her. Still with the carnival, she may not be willing to eat some of the food but there's still more to do, like the rides and the stand games we could play.
Unlike the rest of the city, the carnival here is placed in the park of the city so its only a temporary location before the carnies have to pack up and move but for now we enjoyed ourselves. The first thing I did was take Lapis on the biggest attraction that all carnivals or theme parks have to get peoples attention: a rollercoaster. Since it was part of a quick put together carnival, the rollercoaster ride wasn't exactly the biggest you'll ever go on but it was enjoyable nonetheless. To be honest, it was actually the first time I ever rode one but after dealing with so many other more adrenaline inducing experiences, *Cough*waterspire*Cough* it paled in comparison to some of them.
Lapis herself didn't seem all that excited with it either. Mostly a 'meh' expression by the end of it and I don't really blame her. We went on a couple other rides after until now we are walking past some stands with various games we can play to win prizes. "So, what do we do here?" She asks as we stop by in front of one of those ball throwing games where you have to knock over some bottles.
"Step right up! Step right up! Come try your hand with a toss at some bottles!" The carnie worker behind the stand shouts to all the passerby's. "Three dollars gets you three balls. Knock one set down and you get yourself a prize." He gestures to the smaller stuffed animals on the sides of his booth. "Completely knock all three sets down and you get yourself the big prizes." He then gestures to the big giant stuffed animals hanging overhead. You know the kind of animals that are almost too big for the girl that the guy is trying to win it for.
"It's pretty straight forward as he said. Theirs different sets of bottles and all you have to do is throw a small ball at them to knock them over."
"That's it? That doesn't sound so hard." Lapis comments but I can only chuckle in response.
"Ahh, but that's the thing. The thing with these carnivals is that more often than not they'll have something about them that makes beating the games harder than they actually are. To get people to pay more to get more chances and retries." I explain to her what this might entail. As I look at the bottles, I think on what this guy at the stand has done to make this hard. "My guess, he might have glued the bottles together so they don't fall down so easily." I surmise. Lapis gets a look realization and nods.
"You there! Step right up!" Suddenly the worker spots me and immediately singles me out to everyone. "Come! Try your luck and win your pretty lady a prize." He challenges me to do right off the bat. A quick look to Lapis shows her looking a little confused at the man and when she looks at me, I simply shrug and walk up to the stand.
"Ehh, why not." I answer not really caring about it but I guess I might as well do something. After all, I'm sure it'll be a nice memento of our time here.
"Very good sir." The guy says and off the bat he doesn't come off as trustworthy. I mostly say that what with the slick hairdo and the sly smile he has that doesn't bode well for me, or any customer that walks up for that matter. "Just three dollars and you'll get your chance. Remember, only one knocked down stack of bottles and you get the small ones. Knock all three down and you get yourself a big one." He gestures to the bottles aligned behind him on a wide stand with three different stacks of five bottles each, before gesturing to the small prizes on the sides and then the big ones up top.
"Alright then." Easily enough I put down three ones and he places the three balls down on the counter in front of me. After taking one in hand, already I can tell this is a ploy because the ball is not that heavy. Not enough mass inside to offer a lot of force to hit the bottles. 'I'm gonna have to make up for it then.' Looking intently at the first stack of bottles, I clench my hand on the ball and ready myself in a pitchers throw before heaving it hard at the first stack. Of course I have to limit my throwing strength because if I go as hard as I possibly can, I'm liable to shatter the bottles. Even so, all but one of the bottles are knocked off and tumble to the ground. 'Okay, that's one.' I grab another ball and aim for the right most stack of bottles before throwing at them too. Again, only one bottle remains standing on that one. A couple standing by who watch me throw groan a little.
"Oooooh. Tough break kid. So close to the big prize."
Lapis and I look at the worker in confusion. "What do you mean? He knocked down two of them and only needs that middle one. He still has one ball left." She points out but I have a sinking feeling as to what he's insinuating.
"Well little lady, let me break it down for you." He smoothly tells her. Lapis scowls at how he talks to her but he continues regardless. "You see those two bottles on either side still up? He has to knock all the sets down to get the big prize. ALL of them." He makes sure we hear the word 'all' so we know why I'm screwed out of a prize. Pretty sure when the ball hit the stack of bottles I didn't see those last bottles move at all. "So unless you can hit that middle stack and SOMEHOW hit those other two on either side, your not getting one of the big ones." He smugly tells us. 'Yeah, I knew I didn't like this guy the moment I saw him.' I think as I give him a critical look and grab the last ball. 'I'll show you what for you smug little—' I get ready to toss the last ball but a hand halts my throw.
"Hold it Marcus." Lapis stops me, making me look at her. She has a small smile on her face and for some reason, whatever it is that made her stop me I just might like it. "Let me give it a try."
"… Go for it." I toss the ball into the air where she grabs it with both hands. I step away from my throwing spot and let her step forward as she rolls the ball around between her hands.
Already I can hear some people behind me snicker at the idea that I'm letting Lapis throw instead of me. Of course the stigma is always the guy plays and wins the prize for the girl. I don't really care about that and something tells me I might like what she's about to do.
"Well I guess if you can't hack it then give the little lady a try." As the guy speaks, already I can tell he's grating on Lapis's nerves by how he talks to and about her. I can see the annoyed look on her face as he speaks until she's had enough of it before tightly gripping the ball. Her arm flexes as she pulls her arm back. The people around us have smiles on their faces from what Lapis might do and judging from the flex of the muscles in her arm, they'll be wiped from their faces.
*CRACK*
I was right because unlike me who pulled my throws, Lapis is not as subtle because she throws it full force. Now the thing is, all Gems are naturally more powerful than most humans so even though Lapis is one of the strongest Gems in terms of her hydrokinesis, she is also pretty strong physically. That much is evident as when the ball leaves her hand and hits the middle bottle stacks, a few things happen. One, some of the bottles in the stack completely shatter and send pieces flying all over the place. Two, the ball travels unhindered through the back of the stand, a small thin wall of plywood and the cloth of the tent. And finally three, two bottles on the bottom sides of the middle stack fly out to the sides and impact the last standing bottles on the sides from the previous stacks I knocked down. I was right in them being glued because some paint chipping tears off as they fall but I focus more on the fact that we won.
Not a single bottle is left standing on the stand. I wish I had a camera to capture all the stunned and mouth-agape faces from everyone here, including the worker. 'I should really get a replacement for my phone soon.' Hoping for a picture aside, Lapis stands back to her full height with a smile as well as me, except I cross my arms while they continue to stare at the carnage. Slowly the worker turns back to us where we continue to smile. "I believe… we won. Prize please."
"I think Steven is going to love it."
"You think?" I ask her as I walk while carrying the giant stuffed Lion toy in my arms. There really wasn't anything that either of us would have preferred but she had the idea of possibly getting something for Steven as thanks for inviting us. As soon as our eyes fell on the lion to, we knew it had to be.
"I know so. He still has that pink one as a pet right?" I nod at her question as we make our way back to my car.
"He does. This one may not be pink but I think he'll have fun in comparing his lion and this one together."
"He will." She opens her passenger side door and lets me slip the toy in the backseat before we both sit in and I start the car. "So, where to now?"
"You know, I'm not sure. I guess we can just drive around for a bit and see what gets our interest."
"That sounds nice." She's onboard with it so I pull out of the parking lot and start driving.
As usual like before, we go ahead and start looking for anything that may catch our attention as we move about. The city itself, even though its slowly delving into the night, is still packed with people going about and having fun or doing whatever they want to do at this time. Cars drive around and some people still walk the streets. It's an interesting sight and feeling to see all these people considering we have nothing like this back in Beach City. The town is small with not a whole lot to do so of course you wouldn't see a ton of people walking around but it's still a preferable state for me to be in. Afterall, pretty I wouldn't have been able to conduct my house building and underground construction in the middle of the city, even close to it for that matter.
"So, back when you first left Earth when Steven and I freed you, how was it flying back to Homeworld?" I decide to make some small talk while we slowly drive around. This perks her up a little as she glances to me before staring out the windows again.
"It was… boring to be honest. It took me awhile to get there but the entire flight was sooo boring. Just complete and utter emptiness in space as I just coasted through the galaxy trying to remember exactly where it was." She idly recalls how it was for her trip. As she states, it was pretty boring. "All in all, yeah I'd say it was pretty boring." I nod along at her words. "Except for the blackhole."
"EXCUSE ME?!"
*HOOOONK*
"FUCK!" In my surprise at hearing that little part from her, I almost swerve into oncoming traffic. The loud honking quickly snaps me out of it and I swerve back into my own lane. Lapis and I breathe a little heavily at the near collision we almost went through once I've corrected us again. After a few seconds of his just breathing, we relax and I clarify my loud question earlier into a clearer cut one. "Soooooo… a blackhole?"
"Yeah… yeah a blackhole. I was drifting for so long and so far completely bored that I almost drifted a little too close to a swirling blackhole. The amount of gravity force that that thing was pulling on me at first was subtle at the edge but I hadn't snapped out of it in time, I would have been sucked in completely." She finishes recounting what happened.
All the while I am still amazed that she went through that in the first place, as well as I am hearing from a firsthand account of there being actual blackhole out there. 'Crazy.' "Well, I should very glad you didn't get sucked into a blackhole and most likely lost forever. If you did, then you never would have made it to Homeworld. You never would have sent that message and warned us." As I talk, I start to feel more and more depressed about what that might have meant. "You… never would have came back. We never… I… never would have found out. All you would have done was… disappear. No trace… nooo… answer." Now I am incredibly depressed now at the idea that she was so close to disappearing and I would never have known at all. It would have been just like with my mom. For so long I would never have any answers and that… that was horrible.
My body slumps in my seat as my thoughts continue to drift around. "Hey. What about that?" Lapis knocks me from my stewing thoughts and points to something coming up on our left as she points across my field of vision. Looking towards where she's pointing, what we see is an open arcade game place with a bustle of people inside having fun and playing games.
Unfortunately, I'm still depressed from before so I'm not really enthused for it as I should be. "I guess that can work." That doesn't mean I'm not opposed to it.
Lapis stares at Marcus with a slightly worried look. After hearing what almost happened to her, his thoughts really turned against him into thinking about all sorts of things that could have gone wrong and would have resulted in after. Even as he parks nearby does he still look down and she continues to worry for him.
'This was supposed to be a fun time. Now its gone… bad.' She thinks as he shuts his car off and begins getting out. Just before she gets out though, she glances in the back and sees the toy they won back at the carnival. She lightly clenchs her hands before stepping out and quickly moving next to Marcus, a small smile on her face.
As usual with an arcade place, its packed with plenty of people from both small kids to teenagers and young adults, as well as parents to those kids. Various games litter the place for enjoyments for pretty much everyone here of all types. There is a small lane of skeeball stations to play, some different types of claw machines to try and win prizes, basketball throws, but most of all there are a bunch of arcade games to play that seem the most fun. Old classics such as a few of Time Crisis games are there, the sniper game Silent Scope, Far Cry, some army shooter ones, Jurassic Park, and finally what has to be the most popular is the House of the Dead shooters, with gun controllers and all. Already the place is pretty nice looking with the different bright lights all over the place offering some fascinating lighting for the players, as well as keeping it low enough so there's no glare for the players playing. Music also plays but subtly so as not to drown out the actual gameplay and dialogue of the games.
In fact, what also makes the place pretty cool is when Marcus and Lapis were walking in, right in front of the store above the entrance was a giant several feet wide and tall TV screen that showcased some of the gameplay currently going on in the arcade. Sort of as a highlight reel for those people playing and those that start to do exceptionally well.
Being in the atmosphere of games, Marcus starts to feel a little better but still down. "C'mon, let's go." Lapis won't have that though as she grabs his arm and pulls him in. He yelps lightly in surprise at the sudden pull but does not oppose it.
What happens next is the two of them going from different game to game and have fun playing them as best they can. From trying to get prizes from the claw machines, and failing, to taking out enemies in the games they play. They have fun as they play, even when they go to play a couple rounds of skeeball. Of course, Marcus had to explain to Lapis how to properly play it when he first said she needed to get the balls in the higher numbered holes. Although, he was pretty impressed when she threw some of the balls straight into the holes and nailed them. Still they were watched by the owner and workers so they immediately went to playing it properly, by rolling them. It took some doing but they got some decent scores. Next came to Marcus trying his hand at some of the shooting games and feeling excitement in playing them. Using guns for him was always for life and death situations so to actually do it for fun now has started to lift his spirits.
Already a few people were starting to take notice of the pair even when Marcus places pinpoint and accurate shots in Silent Scope. To him it feels odd when the controller is placed on a single point on the arcade machine but manages nonetheless.
Its when they get to the original House of the Dead arcade game that things start to ramp up for the both of them. All the while when it came to the shooting games, Marcus was the one to do the work and showed his skills behind the gun controllers. As he grabs the gun and gets ready to shoot, he notices Lapis standing nearby just watching with a smile. "Hey Lapis, why don't you play with me?"
"What?" She replies a little surprised at the offer.
"Yeah. All you've been mostly doing is watching me play this. This one offers two players to play at once." He gestures to the second gun controller in its housing. "Why don't you take this ride with me?" He offers her again.
She stares at him for a moment before uneasily reaching for the gun. "Oh… o-okay." She takes the controller and simply stands straight up while holding it towards the screen with only one hand.
"Not like that. Here." Marcus places his controller down and reaches close to Lapis. While she continues to hold weapon controller in hand, he proceeds to move up close to her and carefully maneuvering her into place. "Here. You're going to want to move your arms like this… good. Now position your legs and feet like so. Try not to lock up your joints." Carefully Marcus places his hands over her, moving her arms and legs into the proper position of shooting. All the while he doesn't see the blush that seems to be forming on her face at him being so close and moving her around. Soon he finishes and steps back before looking at her and finding her in the stance but still looks tense. Remembering something he was told, he moves up close to her and places his hand on her shoulder. "The others told me what you did to knock me back into my senses." Her eyes widen as she turns to him. He doesn't show any hate or malice towards what she did, instead he only has kindness and a smile to give her. "You've learned… but now its time to refine it…" He steps back and grabs his controller before holding it up. "One step at a time." He gets into his own stance towards the screen before glancing towards her with the still present smile. "Shall we?"
She stares at him for a few more moments again before getting a firm smile on her face and nods before resuming her stance. "Let's."
They both get ready to go on the arcade games journey. Lapis adopts the Weaver Stance, a common enough stance used by the majority of police forces, while Marcus adopts the Center Axis Relock (CAR) Stance. His stance is a little more advanced and holds his weapon closer to his body so he can have better control of the weapon and slightly quicker reaction of movement to change targets.
After putting in the necessary amount of coins, they both hit start and watch the cinematic play out before they play. The game takes Marcus back plenty as his depression from before is all but gone and now replaced with enjoyment as both he and Lapis show the game who's boss. As they continue to shoot, the zombies barely have any time to get close to the two of them as they put round after virtual round into the oncoming hoard of different zombie types. From the standard ones that are reanimated humans, to the green water moss monsters, bats, slugs and so on. Already as they pass the first boss, the Chariot, are they starting to get an audience as people watch them accumulate a large amount of health pickups from either hidden spots on the levels or saving the hostages, as well as taking almost no hits.
Even outside the arcade whoever controls the TV screen recognizes their skills as what's playing the screen now switches over to their screen of them killing zombies left and right. Some people notice and are curious at the accurate and fast shot placements the players are putting on the enemies and go in to see what's going on. Some are skeptical that's simply an AI controlled ad but when they see Marcus and Lapis playing, they see the skills in action.
That's how the night quickly rolls in for the two of them. Playing a classic awesome arcade game and going all the way through until they finally hit the last boss. As it is with them, they manage to fight and take down the final boss, the Magician, with superb results. They took some hits but all in all they were able to beat the game with amazing results. Finally they took a breather and watch as their score results show they made it to the top of the list of players. They two of them smile at the accomplishment together while some people clap and compliment the two of how well they worked together. The manager even took a picture of the two to place on a wall of all the people who attained the highest scores on the different games in the arcade. After having their picture hung, they left the arcade somewhat beat but overall happy and ecstatic at the experience.
"That was amazing!" Lapis happily states as they walk back to his car, doing a little twirl as they walk.
"Oh yeah. It definitely was." Marcus agrees wholeheartedly with a grin and gently rolling his neck, a couple pops hear and there but overall it was an enjoyable experience for sure. Soon they make it into his car and relax in the seats. "Feels good to shoot a gun and not have to worry about taking any lives… or the recoil for that matter."
"True. They weren't real guns but it was still a nice game to play shooting those… zombies, right?" She asks him. He nods as he starts his car up.
"Yep. An oldie but a goldie. At least in my opinion." He hits the car in reverse and they drive back onto the main road. "Well, now what? You up for more or shall we head back to the hotel?" He asks her.
Lapis takes a moment to think until she softly shakes her head and rubs her neck before reclining her seat a little. "I think we should head back. I think I pretty much had enough fun for the day." She finishes saying and proceeds to lean back in her reclined seat and stretches. She lets out a deep breath of a sigh and moves back up to sitting and looks up the side window. Marcus may or may not have lingered his eyes on her a bit more than necessary but even so he still agrees with her.
"Yeah, your right. I'm pretty beat too. Let's head back and see how the others are doing." Remembering roughly where they were staying at, Marcus changes streets and casually begins driving the two of them back to their fancy hotel.
Marcus pulls up into the parking lot of the hotel and gets out before quickly going over to the other side and opening up the passenger door for Lapis. She thanks him as he holds out his hand for her to take and help her out. Afterwards, he walks her inside to head up to their room.
[?] "Why don't you talk to each other?"
They stop at the entrance as the place seems to quiet down and only a single voice is heard singing.
[Steven] "Why don't you talk to each other?
Just give it a try."
A voice they both know and would do nearly anything to protect. Steven sits at a piano, playing it beautifully as the lights begin to dim.
"Why don't you talk about what happened?
I know you're trying to avoid it,
but I don't know why.
You might not believe it."
The lights begin to dim, focusing on Steven.
"You might not believe it,
but you got a lot in common.
You really do."
Some spotlights begin focusing on two people they are surprised at seeing this close together, even starting to cry.
"You both love me,
and I love both of you."
Greg and Pearl come together, and speak. "Look, if I were you, I'd hate me too."
"I don't hate you."
"But I knew how you felt about Rose, and I stayed anyway."
"That wasn't the problem."
"Then, what was?"
"She fell in love with you."
"Well, you know Rose."
They share a short laugh together. "She always did what she wanted." They both say at the same time.
All the while, Lapis and Marcus stand off to the side, staring at the display before them. The sheer emotion of it all making Marcus smile and a sense of relief that's being lifted off of everyone in the group.
[Steven] "I know you both need it."
Things pick up for the both of them as Steven picks up his singing, where Pearl offers a hand to Greg and he takes. Next the two begins to go into a slow dance together.
"I know that you both need it.
Someone who knows what you're going through.
And you might now believe it.
You might not believe it,
but you got a lot in common.
You really do.
You both love me,
and I love both of you."
Their slow dancing delves into the both of them twirling each other around one-handed.
"You both love me,
and I love both…
of you."
Finishing it off with Pearl dipping Greg smoothly, the both of them staring into each other's eyes and offering smiles in return.
Whatever awkward reasons they had between the two of them… its gone now.
Cheers go out about the whole place. Some people and the staff of the place cheer on at the performance they just witnessed. While Lapis stays and lightly claps, Marcus walk over to them. "Great work. You two. Nice to see some progress between the two of you."
As soon as he speaks, they all look at him in surprise. "Marcus!" All three of them call out his name in surprise.
"Hug!" Steven jogs up and hugs him.
"Hey bro. You did good back there. When'd you learn to play the piano?" He asks the kid as he pats his head.
"Marcus!" Greg walks up, pushing his question away and patting his shoulder instead. "Where have you been? We haven't seen you since you got here?" He asks the kid but he simply shrugs his shoulders.
"Eh. Instead of staying here, I wanted to show Lapis and myself the city and see what we could do to have fun."
"How did that go?" Pearl asks. Off topic of the question, he can't help but notice how she cuts the look of wearing a suit nicely, for a gem that doesn't really like to wear human or material clothing.
"Le bill." Before Marcus can answer though, the receptionist of the hotel runs over and comes between them. He shoves a covered platter in hand to Greg before uncovering it and revealing a bill to the group.
Their attention focused on that, they watch as Greg grabs it. "Ugh." He uneasily groans as he looks at the bill.
Marcus looks at the bill in complete surprise. His eyes almost bulging out of his head. "You spent how much?!" He asks in surprise as he takes the paper from Gregs hands and watches as it unfolds several times. His breathing becomes just a little more labored as he looks at the numbers. "How-how-how did you spend this much in-?!" Marcus begins to question before he looks at the time and realize he has no idea how long they were out. "HEY LAPIS! How long were we out?!" He calls out to her but he doesn't get an immediate answer as she looks down. He stares at her before giving the bill back to Greg without looking at him. "Here." He goes off to her without any other word. While everyone is in high spirits from the performance, Marcus worriedly walks up to a saddened and almost… scared? "Lapis?"
"Huh? Oh, hey Marcus." Her outlook turns around and she seems to perk up when she sees him.
That doesn't stop him however from asking her. "Is everything alright?"
"Yes. Everything is alright. Why wouldn't they be?" She tries to sort of deflect his question with another right after but to Marcus it seems… forced.
"Lapiiiss." He draws her name out a little to show he knows she's not telling him everything. She tries to keep the smile a little more but his staring breaks her, making her let out a breath of air and dropping the fake smile.
"Ohhh, I'm sorry I just… Greg and… Pearl." She says theirs names as she looks at them from a distance.
Marcus looks towards the others before back to her. "What about them?"
"Their… dancing. For a second, I thought they were… going to fuse when I saw them dancing and it just… brought up… bad memories."
'Bad memories? Why would- Oh, right.' Marcus begins to think why but suddenly remembers what it was that has her on really bad terms with fusing. 'Jasper.' Just thinking of the Quartz soldiers makes his mood sour and clench his fists tightly but as he sees the slightly depressed look on her face, he realizes it won't matter to get mad now and opts to focus on Lapis now. Some thoughts begin to go through his head on what he should do but one manages to make itself known, and hopefully won't backfire.
He turns around and quickly heads over to the others. Lapis watches from a distance as he jogs over to them quickly and stops them from speaking before he himself speaks. He begins whispering into their ears, first to Steven, then Greg and Pearl and while the latter two are a little surprised, Steven is no less happy to do what he's told and runs off. Seeing Steven go, Pearl and Greg nod before getting into position too.
Next, much to Lapis's surprise, the entire places lights begin to shut off, similar to how it was when Greg and Pearl were dancing. A spotlight shines in the middle of the room with no one there… yet.
"Lapis." She jolts a little as Marcus appears next to her. She's a little surprised at his sudden appearance but as the music begins to play, she calms down a little and he holds out his hand to her. "Will… you grant me the honor… of a dance?" He asks of her.
A look of panic crosses her face as she hears what he asks. "Da-dance?! No! Marcus, I can't! I can't I… I don't want to fuse I—" She's almost on the verge of breaking down until a hand places itself on the side of her cheek. She looks up, tears threatening to break from the corners of her eyes to see the comforting look he is giving her.
"Not fusing. Just dancing. Dancing leads to fusion… but that's not want I want right now." He steps back and extends his hand as an offer again to her. "All I want… is a simple dance. No fusing, nothing that you hate. Please?" He asks of her. She looks conflicted for a second as she considers what he is saying.
During her time with Jasper, as Malachite, any semblance of a pleasurable experience with fusion has basically been and utterly destroyed because of Jasper. Now, any moment, person or time that might remotely involve fusion has the high probability of bringing up bad memories of her time as Malachite. And now here's someone asking her to do something that has been known by Gem kind for thousands and thousands of years, to do something that precludes to one of her biggest fears as of now.
Regardless, she slowly, carefully, and shakingly places her hand into his… because if anyone else were to ask her to do this, she'd say no. He… is one of two of that exception.
He smiles as he feels her hand slowly slide into his. He gently grabs it and begins leading her to the spotlight. "One step at a time, Lapis. One step…" They both become engulfed in the light and slowly come together and both take the others remaining hand. "At a time."
They both smile at each other, and begin a slow dance.
Steven is at the piano, playing the tune of his song from before without singing. Just letting the flow of his musical notes give way to the moment that these two are sharing. After everything he knows they've been through, this moment together, only together, is something they've needed for a long.
Pearl and Greg are nearby, controlling the lights of the room to better improve the atmosphere in which the two are dancing to. Greg keeps the center light focused on the pair while Pearl controls the multiple colored lights.
War. Fighting. Hurt. Isolation. Anger. Sadness. All of these are moments, situations and emotions that both Marcus and Lapis have endured. Some more than others, but still hurts just as much. As they slowly move about, hands gripping each other as the music continues to play, neither one feels the pull and want of a fusion common with Gem kind but not now. Not when one of them is hurting and the other one doesn't want to hurt. Step, and step, and step they continue to repeat in a slow circle with the center spotlight following as they move as one. The world ebbs away around them, focusing on their partner as nothing else matters to them. Not in this moment, just like before when they were hanging out in the city. They didn't worry about anything else or all the problems they had. All they wanted was to have fun and that's exactly what they're doing right now.
Having fun. Relaxing. Something that has sorely been needed for them.
The music picks up in crescendo where it begins to hit its final notes. Their moving and waltzing with each other turns into a slow one until finally, Marcus twirls her around once before finishing their dance with a dipping Lapis low to the ground and pulling her up into him just as the last note plays out.
Everything begins to quiet down as all noise stops, besides the slow rhythmic breathing of the dancers involved. Holding each other for a bit, they pull away and take a good long look at each other before they smile.
The lights turn on and cheers go about the whole place. Pearl claps while Greg and Steven whistle and howler at the dance performance they saw. Marcus and Lapis pay no mind to everyone around them and simply bask in the afterglow of their performance. The ease in which they moved and complimented each other has left them a little winded, especially after the days events they went through, but are nonetheless satisfied with how everything went down. "How are you feeling?" He asks her.
"It was… nice. Very nice. Thank you… for this. I… I think I needed this." She sincerely tells him. Before the idea of dancing or pertaining to fusion freaked her out so much but now, having experienced the dancing without the fusion lead up, a relaxing feeling has stemmed its way into her and taken root.
"I'm glad. I'm glad to have done this for you. I think I needed it too."
"I feel the same way."
"…"
"…"
Neither one of them says anything more. They continue to stare at one another, smiles on their faces. The world is still silent for the two of them as they lean in close to each other. At the same time, their heads slowly lean into one another, closer… and closer until—
Marcus's eyes widen. He pulls her close with his left arm and ducks as a loud noise goes off. He pulls her around while at the same time, he reaches into his jacket, pulls out his Beretta, aims behind where she was and fires.
*Bang… bang… bang*
Heehhhhhhh… no rest for the wicked, huh? More trouble has hit Marcus as usual. We'll see what happens later in the next chapter. As for the rest of the chapter, honestly folks I wanted to include some type of actual music source you all could look and listen to as you all read the dancing portion, but I couldn't really come up with something. I was thinking of maybe some type of symphony music from Beethoven I think it was but for the life of me I couldn't find the proper type. I know what it is, but I never actually heard the name. I feel bad but nonetheless I hope you all liked the moment at least. I figured Steven showing off his amazing piano skills again would still be a nice pace for the two of them.
Of course it all went to hell right after but it's the sentiment that'll be with them, should they survive. And now its Lapis that's being drawn into his fighting. Not a good outcome. Any who, I may have drawn out in writing this more than what was necessary but just a lot of things have kind of ate up my time or my attention. Nothing big mind you, just small recreational things just got my interest you know. The big thing that I've been keeping track of was the multiple playthroughs that have gone into the game Detroit: Become Human. I have to admit, when I first saw it unveiled at E3 with Connors trailer, I was hyped for it and super excited to play it. Their was just one problem though when it came time for launch.
Playstation only. I don't have a Playstation 4 in which to play it so my plans to play it were kind of shut down. That being said, I still wanted to see how it went so I spent several days in a row watching multiple people play through the game and see the different outcomes and effects that came from all the choices. And after that I looked for videos showcasing specific events and what you needed to do in order to attain them. All in all, the game has had so many moments where it completely hits you in the feels from the point of views from Connor, Kara, and Markus. Not to mention the end where the android you meet at the main menu engages YOU the player, that was awesome too. All in all, I really wish I could have played the game and if at some point in the future I get a Playstation to play it, I'll probably get it regardless of the spoilers I gave myself. I guess I've just been feeling different because of the different emotional outcomes that could happen in the game, from them being happy endings to gut-wrenching depressing ones. That's mostly what had my attention these last couple of weeks so hopefully I can actually get to work more on my writing.
Reviews:
MADMatt6: Definitely. I was freaking out when I saw the change but at the same time it does kind of make sense. As inspiring as it is for a common soldier to rise up with incredible, the sheer powers she had didn't seem to fit from her origin. Then again, there are some gems who've done more than what they were originally designed to do. Peridot's metal powers for one. Regardless, surprising as it was, I'm still going to do what I can to integrate it into my story.
ChimaTigon: Oh really? And who did you have in mind?
Seruis: Of course he wants to build him a mansion. Greg's been living in his van for too long and so all he wants is to give him the comfortable place he deserves to live in. Some things somewhat positive are starting to go for Net Neutrality so here's hoping things will be alright in the end. Rose Quartz being Pink Diamond was a shock and I'm still trying to figure out exactly how I am going to integrate it but I think I'll manage… possibly.
Patriota1993: Yeah not big on it for me either. Mostly something easy before things start to get more… hectic.
xXSpadeds231Xx: Not everything can be serious. Some lighthearted moments here and there can be needed to ease up. Hopefully things will continue to be alright in the coming days.
Cf96: Thank you.
Soulfire47: Yeah, at the beginning I used the injury angle as an excuse to skip some episodes that I couldn't come up with stuff for or just didn't have as much of an impact for Marcus before scrapping it just opting to skip whatever anyway, without injuring him.
1) You know, I never saw it like that. In a way your probably right in it being considered his own version of being gem-poofed.
2) He may start to piece some things together but besides the hands going over the mouth, their really isn't anything else that speaks up about her forced silence. He does know the concept from other certain anime, those have clear indicators while Pearl's does not. He will see it as odd but without physical evidence or past experiences, he can't make any definite claims. Nonetheless, he's going to be right next to Steven when he finds out.
3) Oh, she will find out. He will show both her and Lapis eventually but I'm debating between a couple points. The cut off point would basically be around the episode 'Alone at Sea' but I'm thinking of revealing his base and what he has at an earlier point. Nothing definite but just to make it established, it's around that episodes time that he will reveal his gear, and where he got it.
NJred2000: That's not a bad idea for an omake. Don't know when or if I'd do it but its something to think about.
Guest: Thanks. Glad you liked it. And that is so true. Wow I never thought of that. I really need to keep an eye out and a more open mind to thinking about it. Thank you for helping me figure out this question. That's a load off my mind.
NJred2000: I've never really wanted to directly take anything from other animes, although I will say the Vindicator was kind of a mix-mash of the mobile suits from Gundam and the mechs from Code Geass. Still, we'll see how things play out.
Thank you all for your questions and support for my work. Hopefully in the coming days things will be alright and I can continue to write more without hinderance. Well wishes all around that everything stays alright and good for everyone. Thank you everyone. Fave, follow, review, whatever it is you want to do, but most of all have fun reading and have a great day.
