Hiya folks! Coming here with chapter two. We learn a bit more about our Mistery Girl here... just not in the way you would've expected.
I will not elaborate. Read the chapter and find out!
The Dondai's lights shined over the road sign:
YOU ARE LEAVING JACOBSTOWN
FRIENDLIEST CITY ON THE STATE
COME BACK SOON!
They drove pass the sign in a flash, but the message stuck with Steven. Come on… 'friendliest city on the state'? Well, that can't be true, can it? Even if you visited every city on the state, how would you measure which one's the friendliest? And the people of Jacobstown weren't excessively friendly, in Steven's opinion.
Also, why 'Jacobstown'? Sure, it's as good a name as anything else, but it's too vague. Who was Jacob, and what did he do they put his name to a city? If you are naming a city, you should pick one that best represents what the city has to offer. Beach City came to his mind, but also other cities Steven caught a glance of on maps. Fairview, Oceanside, Goodsprings, Rockville, to mention a few. Those are good descriptive names that tell the traveler what he should expect should they choose to drop by.
But Jacobstown? That doesn't tell you anything.
This is the fascinating topic Steven was pondering to not think about the girl occupying the passenger seat of his car. They haven't shared a word since they left the party; their silence had broken only when Steven asked her to fasten her seatbelt.
Maybe she's still on shock, he thought. Or maybe… maybe it was him. Ringo saw Steven's face, it was impossible she hasn't. He took a look in the rear mirror. Disgust, pain, anger. Hate. An addictive cocktail of terrible emotions; he was feeling them now as clearly as the day he got corrupted.
He'd tried to put it behind himself, but he still carried a few scars. The horns on each side of his head —strategically hidden under the bean hat— and the claws in hands and feet were bad enough. But the face was the worst offender. A long lake of pinkish skin around his right eye, with smaller ponds here and there, going all the way down to his chest and below. The smallest ones could pass as freckles, but the biggest patches on the face couldn't be hid. Not without wearing a mask (and his therapist had been crystal clear about that).
He caught the girl looking at him. Her aura was bubbling and backing away (distrust). That was it then, right? It was him, it always was.
Steven tried not to take it personal. He decided to ask the girl where she wanted to be dropped, go back to his motel and forget about the whole night.
Said plan was swiftly broken when the girl indelicately screamed:
"OHMYGODIMINASTRANGERSCAR!"
The yell ringed in Steven's ears as he swerved the wheel. The Dondai broke free of the concrete and rode over the mushy soil, its tires ripping out grass and large lumps of dirt. Both passenger and driver were screaming their lungs out.
Then something clicked in Steven's mind, reminding him that 'Hey, you are in a car… a car with brakes!' His foot stomped on the pedal. The tires screeched and whined as the car lost all of its momentum, just two seconds shy of crashing against a billboard.
A quick look confirmed Steven they were both alright. Thank the Stars for the seatbelts! The board above showed a picture of a smiley truck towing a rather bummed minivan. 'We don't charge and arm and a leg. We want tows!' Any other day Steven would have laughed at it, but he was too busy holding a hand into his chest to prevent his heart from bursting through.
"Are you out of your fucking mind?!" the girl shoved a hand into Steven's chest, not easing his palpitations. "Why the hell did you do that? You are gonna get us killed! What's wrong with you?"
"Me? W-well what's wrong with you?" said Steven, more on the defensive than he'd wanted. "Why did you yelled into my ear?"
"Well, excuse me, princes if I panicked because I jumped inside a stranger's car." The girl went silent about this sudden realization. "Ohmygod… You could have been a serial killer or something. Real life 'Silence of the Lambs' shit. Why did I do that? And why didn't you say anything?"
"I don't know." Steven showed his empty hands. "You were in such a hurry to leave I just rolled with it."
The girl went quiet by his response and the anxiety started to peak in Steven's brain. She didn't actually ask him for help. He'd jumped to it. Well, they say old habits die hard.
"Look I am sorry for almost crashing. And for driving you out without asking. And for getting in your business," said Steven with increasing shame. "It just looked like you needed a hand."
"I did," she said. She had big, almond eyes, hardened with a furious expression. "Butifyousayanythingilldenyit, got it?"
"Uh, got it," said Steven, who only got half of all that.
The air inside the Dondai became a tad less oppressive. The girl let out a long breath; she probably has been as stressed as Steven, if not more.
"That is one way of breaking the ice, uh?" said Steven.
"You bet. Forget all about 'hey, how are you doing?' No, just try to kill me from the get-go," the girl said. "Too bad you'd to leave the party early," she mumbled, which was as much Steven was getting to a 'sorry for the bother'.
"Oh no, don't even worry about that. I was about to leave anyway. It wasn't really my style."
"Really?"
The girl hummed. Her head went down and up, like a barcode scanner with a can. Steven had to look away; she'd a strong, almost feline stare.
He offered to give her a ride home or at least the closest location possible. She can't live that far away from the were the party was, he reasoned. The girl agreed, confirming his conclusion.
"But I think we might have to push your car. Pretty sure you, I mean, we landed in a sinkhole," she said.
Come to think of it, the car was feeling more tilted than usual. Steven tried to drive in reverse. The right back tire had no traction. It could be a sinkhole, or just an uneven part of the ground.
The girl took of his seatbelt, but Steven stopped her before she exit the vehicle.
"Don't worry, I got this," he'd said.
There was a moment of silence, in which Steven considered if maybe this wasn't an improper use of his powers.
It's just a minute. Nothing bad will happen, he thought. Also, he couldn't make a girl push a car, over the dirt, in the dark of the night. His dad didn't raise a jerk.
Holding firmly onto the wheel, Steven focused on the Dondai. Then he imagined himself in front of the car, pushing it with all his might. The light of his skin started to spread to his limbs as his aura grew in size…
The car shook with the force of the telepathic push. Steven put reverse and put the pedal to the metal.
The car broke free of the sinkhole in one soft motion and, making use of the leftover push, Steven drove backwards into the route, made some quick shift changes and speeded the car in their former direction.
This all took him less than twenty seconds. The girl shifted between gaping at the road and at Steven.
"What can I say? I'm a master driver," he said.
Once they left the initial awkwardness behind, and with the ice now broken —by the strength of a car going off road—, the girl turned out to be a good talk. Too good, in fact, she did most of the talk. Most of it about the party.
The story was that Ringo had approached her as soon as she went in. She wasn't very into him, but she was into partying and dancing and, sans the old-fashioned haircut, Ringo didn't look too bad. Then he tried to make a move too fast and she let him down. Ringo didn't took it well and say some mean words to her —words she didn't share and Steven didn't ask about. She left him, but he followed her to the kitchen, this time with his two goons at each side. The rest was history.
The road went through a calm and straight plain, with the shadows of a forest painted at their far left; and so Steven took time to inspect the girl. She was taller than him and very thin, although she looked wider because of the long yellow duffle coat she had on. Her hair was mostly straight but it rebelled into waves near the end. She had highlights on her roots of a color Steven could only describe as 'neon blue'. When they reach the ends, it'll look like her hair is the ocean, Steven mused. Her long earrings were the same shade of blue and they shined over her bronze skin.
"What a jerk," Steven said, cutting the girl's rambling. "I mean, seriously. Learn to take a no for an answer, Ringo."
"Iknowright? I knew I'd to bring my taser, I would fry his barbershop gorillas in a second," she mumbled, puffing her lips. Steven made a mental note that she was both the owner of a weapon, and willing to use it. "I don't know what the problem is with some dudes," she added.
A smile grew in Steven's face. "Maybe he was mad because he forgot where he parked his yellow submarine."
Steven felt all too proud of that joke. He lost his cool when the girl grimaced at him. Not a 'The Beatles' fan, then.
A few seconds later, however, he heard her snicker.
"See? I knew it was funny."
"It's not that, its just…" she snorted and covered her mouth with her hand. "'Achy Breaky Heart'?"
Oh, that. Steven sank into his seat. He had been unaware of the music, but now she'd mentioned it he couldn't ignore Billy Ray's voice coming from the stereo.
"Oh no, don't get me wrong, I like Country alright. You just didn't give me Country fan vibes, that's all," the girl said, as she tried to drown her snorting. "Although it does make sense. Now I know you weren't in the party for the jams."
"Now that's were you are deadly wrong, miss. I was actually there because the band invited me."
"No kidding?" she said, with some gleaming in her voice.
"Totally!" Steven bit his lip. "Actually, it was just the bassist that invited me. He sold me this mix tape."
"OK, now you are just pulling my leg."
"No, but I take offense in your disbelief," Steven faked an offended tone. "Seriously though, what happened is that I am staying in a motel close by. 'Sleep-tight Motel'? It's next to the road a few miles down." The girl said nothing. "Anyway," Steven proceeded, "I was buying some food in the gas station shop across the motel when I saw some tapes on discount and I thought, 'hey, if you're gonna hit the long road, you're gonna need some jams right?"
"A reasonable thought."
"Thanks! So, I was paying for everything when the clerk sees the tapes and start making small talk with me. Really nice guy. He had this giant spiky mohawk and a cool band t-shirt. I asked him about it and he told me it was from his band, which was playing at a party tonight-"
"OK, alright, I get the picture," said the girl. "But seriously, didn't you imagine they would suck? I mean, with a name like 'Orgasm Armageddon', I wouldn't had set my expectations too high."
"I try not to be judgmental of others people's band names. Besides, how could I've known it was a death metal band?"
"Are you for real?" the girl scoffed. "It's in the name, man! ALL metal bands names are the same. You just have to, like, pick two or more things you think are cool, or 'edgy'. Then you smash them together, and, boom! Instant band."
"It's that how it is?"
"Totally! Something like…'Virgin Stealer' or 'Monster Orgy', I don't know," she said, without much of a thought.
"Oh! You mean something like, uhm…"
Steven made a list of things he considered 'cool'. A silly laughter grew in his chest even before letting the name out.
"'Death Valley Laser Bear'?"
A thunderous laugh, muffled by the hand covering it, filled the Dondai. "Now that's just-that's just perfect!" said the girl, "O-or 'Cannibal Gandalf'"
"'Undercover Clown Party'."
"'Michigan Mariachi Murderer!'"
Steven hesitated. "'Pink Space Overlord'"
The girl let out an astounded whistle. "That's a good one. Not really a death metal band name, thought. It has more of an 80's glam rock vibe."
"Now that is more my jam. Which is why I thought about it. No other reason."
Steven, in a futile effort to not appear suspicious, chose to check his mirrors. All of them. Not that it really mattered; he wasn't picking any distrust from the girl. In fact, her aura was growing with interest.
"Rea-lly," she extended the word like there was no tomorrow. "Then how come, out of all things in the world, you are making me listen to this!"
She pointed at the stereo as if it was a wild animal ready to bite.
"If you want to grow as a person, you have to try new things, right? Besides, four tapes for $0,99 cents? I recognize a good offer when I see it," Steven said humbly. "I also got 'The best of Tchaikovsky', the soundtrack from 'The Nightmare before Christmas' and the audio book of 'The Lord of the Flies' narrated by Morgan Freeman."
The girl grabbed the chest of her long shirt, as if assaulted by a heart attack. "What. The. Hell!" she shouted. "No wonder the clerk invited you to the show! It was his atonement for selling you these trash tapes."
Her hand went to her mouth again, and Steven suspected it had less to do with manners and all to do with some self-consciousness on her part. He knew a thing or two about being reserved, so he didn't mention it.
"What I take from this is you're not from around here," said the girl. "Which I already knew, since I have been around these parts for two weeks now and I have never seen a pink snowman before."
"I just dress as a pink snowman for parties, just so you know," Steven retorted. "But no, I'm actually from Delmarva. In fact, it was the truth I'm on a road trip."
"Ahh, so you is a wanderer. And 'ere I'd you pegged for a townie, while you are a real hard boiled cowboy," she said, in what some folks would describe as, a 'cowboy accent'.
Steven blushed. "Yep, that's me. Just a wanderer on the road, with nothing to slow me down," he said. Stars, what he wouldn't give to have a hat to tip! "Nothing to do all day but to drive over yonder, with the sun warming my car roof and my discount mix tape blasting off."
"And saving damsels in distress from nasty evildoers. Or is that not an usual occurrence?"
"Well, no," he confessed. "I mean, helping people is nice. More than nice. But it's not what I am up to."
Not anymore.
The girl dropped a single Ah. It felt heavier than a truckload of Jaspers.
"Well, I'm… sorry if I interrupted your business of the night."
"What? Come on, I didn't mean it-"
The retort grew in Steven's chest, but it was quickly swallowed. The wave of embarrassment flowing from her was overwhelming.
"I didn't mean it like that," he said. "Everything happened very fast, and I just acted. And its fine!" he went on to say. "I'm glad I was there to help you. Damn, I'm glad you are here now! Were it not for you, I would be in my motel room, eating a microwave burrito and feeling all bummed out for being weirdo that can't make talk in a party. You really cheered my night up. It's been a while since I have a talk this nice with someone new."
The words flowed out of him, not like water from a fountain, but like a dam that had broken and was about to flood the little town in its shadow. Probably one with a nondescriptive name, like Jonesville or Hectorsland.
Everything Steven said was the truth, but he'd have it reserved for his therapist. He hasn't meant to drop a mountain of emotional bricks over a stranger! A girl who had no interest in knowing his struggles with dealing with people. Or that she'd brightened his night.
A warm feeling melted his fears. The girl's aura had grow in size and turned around itself like a lasso—an emotional self-hug.
"You got some real pizzazz under your bean hat, Mister." The girl put a hand over her mouth. "And you know… 'ahem!' Thanksforhelpingme, 'ahem!'"
She gave one single dry cough and went quiet. Steven felt the last of his reservations banishing.
"You are, 'ahem!' Welcome," he said.
She giggled, and Steven did too.
Man! I really misinterpreted the whole thing uh? One would have thought that having emotional-psychic powers would make misunderstandings impossible, Steven pondered.
"So, uh…" the girl rubbed her hands together, not necessarily because of the cold. "Does my savior have a name? 'Cause I'm guessing it's not 'Bennie."
"Yeah, its not. I don't know where you get the impression it was."
She shrugged. "That's the vibe you were giving me."
"Well, your vibe-o-meter is deadly wrong," Steven took his right hand off the wheel. He doubted just a second before extending it. "Steven. Steven Universe."
The girl took his hand. She can't feel your claws, she absolutely can't feel your claws, he repeated as a mental mantra.
"Alright then, Steven Universe, who may, or may not be a cowboyslashserialkiller," said the girl in one breath. "We already established my vibe-o-meter blows shit. But what about yours?"
"What do you mean?"
The girl moved in her seat, leaning closer to Steven. "What's my name?"
"What? D-do you want me to guess?"
"Yeah dude, give it a try."
Steven bit his lip. What was he supposed to say? This didn't appear in his 'How to talk to people' book as normal conversation topic. But again, 'Death Metal Bands Names' also wasn't covered on the book.
"But… what if I get it wrong?" he said, trying to hustle out of guessing.
"Dude, we are playing a game, not 'Jeopardy'," she said. "Come on. What's. My. Name?"
She stared at him; her bright almond eyes could have burn a hole into a plank of wood. It reached the point where it hurt to look at her, but it hurt more to try to ignore her.
Steven was ready to throw some common names, have the game over with. But just to give it a try, he paid attention to his mental sight.
He hasn't intended to do anything weird. Stars, he was feeling guilty as charged for using his aura reading to see other folk's feelings —not that he could help it; he had no turn-off switch for that. Sometimes, however, if he wanted a 'clearer reading', he could expand his aura. And as he did so, he found himself leaning towards the girl. Not physically, but mentally.
This wasn't a new feeling; Steven had done this when he went inside the Kiki's dreams, or when he changed bodies with Lars a while ago. He was getting inside the girl's mind. Not enough to possess her! But enough invade her mental house and have a look.
A sudden rush of emotions —none of them his own— overwhelmed him. He cut the link swiftly: his aura shrinked back into place and the light receded back inside his gem. Steven leaned heavily against the seat and shook his head. He looked at the girl for any reaction, but if she'd felt something odd, she said nothing. Steven gave thanks for that; almost at the same time he realized she wasn't 'the girl' anymore. In those brief two seconds of connection, he'd gotten the answer he was looking for.
Of course. She'd been thinking about her own name, so I picked it with barely scratching the surface, he thought. The girl was still waiting.
"Uh… could it be Mary? Or Jane?" he ventured.
The girl laughed a bit, lifting Steven's humor. Oh, who cares? It's just a game, right?
"Or could it possibly be…" Steven tapped his chin, "Soledad?"
The girl made the human equivalent of a gem glitch.
"Hijo de puta," she gasped. "How the hell did you know?!"
"I thought you wanted me to guess?"
"Well, yea-ah! But I didn't… I mean, I didn't think you would actually…" Soledad scratched her head, somehow not disturbing her hair's wild shape. "It's not a common name. Do you even know what it means?"
"It has something to do with the sun, right?" Steven guessed.
"Nope. Not at all. Sorry buck, but you need to go back to Spanish 101," she scrutinized Steven's face. "Seriously. How in the world did you do that?"
Steven opened and then closed his mouth. Maybe if he'd time to spare, he could think on an excuse?
Are you on the square?
Are you on the level?
Are you ready to swear, right here, right now
Before the Devil?
Oh, thank the Light. Soledad hipped and fished her phone from her purse. She had the kind of sleek, cutting-edge technology phone that could drive your car, do your taxes and write you an opera, if you let it. She pressed her finger against the screen. The phone flashed red, then green and then it went BING! Soledad grimaced when she saw the screen.
"Oops, sorry. Its my friend. Do you mind?"
Steven shook his head. Soledad began to chat with whoever was on the other side. Her aura made several spikes, from worried to embarrassed to angry to relieved. Whoever she was with was giving her an earful.
Meanwhile, Steven was giving an earful to himself. Reading Soledad's mind counted as Gross Misuse of Gem Powers on Humans, a severe crime as it was decreed by himself —although he might give himself a pardon, on account of A) It being an accident; and B) Steven having no idea he could do it. Usually he'd to be sleep to mentally connect with someone to this level, and now it has come effortless.
Boy, his therapist was gonna have a field trip with this when (IF) Steven tells her.
"You are there now?" he heard Soledad say. "It's OK if I drop by?"
She looked at Steven with a matching-pieces-together kind of face. "OK, can I text you back? OK, bye Rain."
She hanged the phone and held it in her hands, like a precious Bible.
"Stevendoyouwanttogotoaparty?"
For the second time in the night, the car swerved. Steven stabilized it just in time to prevent the Dondai to be shoved out of the road by a passing BMW.
"You know, I'm starting to think you can only drive in reverse," said Soledad.
"Sorry, sorry!" Steven said. "Uh, did you mention a party?"
"Well it's not party 'party'," she explained. "Look, the woman I was talking with is the owner of the hostel I'm staying at."
"Oh! You didn't tell me that. Are you road tripping too?"
Soledad face was like a steel safe —her aura, however, was bubbly with disgust. "Not exactly, but that's not important. The thing is, there is this secret hangout place we go sometimes to chill out and have some drinks and it's very nice ´cause it's super secret, and it occurred to me you mightwanttocomemaybe?" Her sentence dissolved into pure rambling, but Steven got that last part right.
He dodged all attempts of Soledad to catch his glance. Her aura was spinning with nervousness, but also full of resolve. Steven couldn't look at his own aura, but it probably looked vomit-green.
"But…" he began, trying to come up with something Anything! "Don't you think they might feel a bit… uneasy about this?"
He pointed at his whole face. Soledad eyes opened and her aura shrank (shame).
"Nooo," she said nicely. Too nicely. "They are very cool! I mean, they are weird, but cool weird! Notthatyouareweird!" she held her hands in front of her. "I mean, I am weird, so I know they are cool. There is gonna be, like, four people tops. But you really don't need to come if you don't want to. Just… drop me here, and I'll walk."
The panic from the party came back with a vengeance. He didn't want to drop her, and not only because it could be dangerous for a lady to walk alone at night. Steven didn'twant to go, but he also didn't want to not go.
The whole point of this trip was to meet new people, get in contact with his human side. Be the normal boy he could never be. So far he wasn't doing too great. Now he was getting his second chance in one day, and it felt wrong to let it slip by.
Steven chewed his lip red. He'd reached the horrible conclusion he'd no good excuse to say no.
"I'll go."
Soledad's mood grew like a mountain being raised from the ground. "Really?"
"Y-yeah. YES," Steven repeated, more convinced. "It could be fun. It will be fun!"
Soledad started clapping her hands happily, but stopped when she caught what she was doing.
"Alright then, Stevie the kid," she said, "take the next turn to your left."
Steven did as instructed, taking a route into the woods. Not long after, they passed another road sign.
WELCOME TO DEATH RIVER!
A PLACE SO GREAT YOU'LL NEVER WANT TO LEAVE!
Steven swallowed a rock for spit. Suddenly, Jacobstown didn't sound so bad.
Ta dah!
So what do you think? Steven has grown as a person, sure, but he is still insecure; even more in this AU in which he looks like a corrupted gem.
For those of you wondering, YES, this fics includes some Steven/Oc. But not in the way you would expect. If this dissuade you from reading, i'll understand. If not, boy oh boy, you're in for a treat ;).
Anyway, see you guys next weeks! DONT FORGET TO COMMENT IF YOU LIKED IT! Your comments gave me life.
