"I don't think I've been this excited for the upcoming chapters since I started writing this thing."-famous last words before I dropped from the face of the earth.
I'm so so sorry I haven't been able to keep to a schedule. I swear I'll get this story done, though. I'll never leave readers hanging. Assuming I have any left, that is. (ノ*°▽°*)
A sifaka is a kind of lemur, btw.
When the sun shone bright and strong upon her face, often she had nightmares: one specific one. She floated in the blinding white-chasm between arousal and slumber, unable to awaken or to descend further into sleep. With a great amount of effort, she rolled off onto the floor.
Stevonnie-as-she tried in vain to banish the grogginess from her mind, stretching out upon her willow-bed. A series of creaking steps upon the steps outside announced the arrival of her mother and father, Chief of the Sifakas.
Stevonnie-as-she peered around to gaze at the strange, glimmer beings behind her parents. Not a word spoke they; Stevonnie-as-she followed the odd group to the village square.
Stevonnie listened to the tone and mood of the conversation; the father and mother's light, wavering tones, bravely battling the brash tones of the glimmering ones. In that moment, Stevonnie gazed down at the hands that were not theirs, but hers-the grey-padded fingers wavered before their vision. Details swam about, buzzing and becoming indistinct when Stevonnie-as-she leaned in close.
Am I dreaming? If Stevonnie had fallen into a lucid dream, they had no semblance of control over it. Stevonnie could only accompany her as the conversation ended. Her mother and father led her away from the town square, toward the village temple.
The temple was a long, low affair, dotted with smiling statues, constructed from weathered grey-black-striped-white stone. The jungle hovered around the temple, filling out the periphery of Stevonnie's vision.
Stevonnie-as-she entered the temple, swooping her eyes over the stone statues of Sifakas, not truly interested in them. She swept her eyes over the massive pink chest, a transparent key stuck in its hole. She gazed for a bit at a magnificent mural of the traitor, Rose, destroying Pink Diamond.
A blink of the eyes later, that mural's place had been taken by a series of Sifaka-creatures offering wrapped goods to a massive creature, roughly quadrupedal with unproportional limbs and a mouth full of razor teeth.
…At the back stood a cement mixer and spreader; farther beyond, at the back of the wall, stood a line of cement statues of Sifakas, broken only by an open coffin in the middle of the line. Stevonnie was not allowed long to look at the statues; for she thought them creepy, and averted her gaze. The statues unsettled Stevonnie too; they had seen enough movies to develop an intuition for these sorts of events.
The mother and father disappeared all at once. The Gems popped up, right in front of her. She yelled, and fought as the Gems (for though their forms were blurry, Stevonnie believed them to be Gems) flung her into the waiting coffin.
The Gems poured cement into the coffin (Wasn't the coffin vertical?! Thought Stevonnie). As the first viscous drops hit Stevonnie, they realized she was no longer there-just Stevonnie!
It was far too late for panic or plans. Cement poured down onto Stevonnie's face, stinging their eyes and gluing them shut;
Trickling past their ears and making them shudder;
Dribbling past their lips and pooling into their mouth;
The coffin shut; then removed.
The Gems lovingly placed the cement Stevonnie right next to the other statues.
"Is this really the sort of night fears that plague humans?" White Diamond curled her lip in disgust, shaking the coffin violently to end the mirage she had projected from Stevonnie's mind. "No doubt, your mind has seized upon your current physical position as a point to fix upon. Wouldn't you agree?"
The Matriarch turned to Stevonnie, enclosed within their prison of black-striped-white, form-fitting so close only their eyes could move. Stevonnie wanted to yell, to scream, to challenge White Diamond to a fair fight. But their mouth could only output saliva; White Diamond's violent shaking had made them queasy.
With this white crap so close…if I barf, it's got nowhere to go… A new wave of queasiness overcame Stevonnie, and they braced themselves.
Directly after their capture, Stevonnie had summoned their rose bubble to blast the coffin away; it stayed put. Stevonnie flexed their muscles, and pressed their knees, elbows, and back against the coffin; it stayed put. Without any room for leverage, Stevonnie could not bring their power to bear against their prison. Stevonnie summoned their sword; the sword manifested outside the coffin.
Come on, Lion! Go get me some help! Garnet, Lars, someone!