So back and if you're wondering I started writing this on Jan. 7 so ethier this took awhile or wow I got this out quick we'll see.
Steven woke up to the smell of a large mass off various breakfast foods being cooked. Opening his eyes he looked to see The Black Diamond gems cooking enough bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, toast, and so much else. Letting out a yawn Steven walked down to the kitchen. "Hey guys why all the food?" He asked watching Lava flip pancakes making a huge stack atleast 15 cakes high.
"Oh hey pup." Lava answered him starting on another flapjack. "Well some of this is for you, Connie, and anyone else the rest is for Tiger after he changes he has an appetite of ten armies." Lava explains handing Steven a piece of toast.
"Wow." Steven said taking a bite of the toast. "Need any help?"
"Sure go wake Tiger and we'll see if he's hungry." Prism said cutting some fruit.
Steven gave a mock salute and ran out to where they had left Tiger but only saw Amethyst laying on a huge ball of black and red hair but no Tiger. Rushing over He shook Amethyst awake. "Amethyst! Wake up!"
"Huh, wah, I didn't do it." Amethyst said. "Hey Steven what's up?"
"Tigers gone again!" Steven yelled.
Amethyst groaned laying back down. "No he's not." She then gave the bundle of hair a hard yank getting a loud 'OW' from somewhere in the mane. "See? Right where we left him."
"Oh cool. Well breakfast is ready." He said making Amethyst jump up and the huge ball of hair followed close behind. Steven joined them in the house to see Amethyst and a mass of hair eating the feast laid before them while a still sleepy Connie had oatmeal. Litch was currently pulling hair away from what he assumed was Tiger's face.
"Come on Tiger slow down, you're going to get syrup all in your hair." Litch said trying to uncover Tiger's face.
"Hey I just thought..." Lava said biting into an apple. "This is an opportunity for the little guy to get a new due." Lava said spraying a few bits of apple.
"What do you mean couldn't he just chage his hair at will?" Steven asked grabbing a plate full of food.
"Normally yes but for some reason he can't change his hair when he has this much so we have to cut it." Litch said still pulling hair away until he revealed a smiling face of Tiger who shoved another pancake in his mouth. "We just gotta figure out what to do with all the hair."
"Make sweaters?" Steven shrugged.
As the group talked they herd the temple door activate and Pearl walked out giving a loud yawn. "Morning everyone." She said going to the couch and sitting.
"Tired P?" Amethyst said with a knowing smile.
"A little I didn't sleep much." She answered as Litch gave her a small cup with tea in it.
"I'll bet." Litch muttered giving her a small wink making her blush.
As they all continued to talk and eat a loud groan tore them away. Seeing Jasper stand up and stretch walking over to the still large amount of food and looked over it unsure what to grab. Her decision was made for her when a simple plate of eggs, bacon, and toast was held up to her by Steven. Jasper muttered a thanks before taking the plate and going outside and eating on the deck. Steven almost went out to join her but Prism stopped him. "Give her time." He told the hybrid. "She just found out so much in just a few days she'll need to adjust."
"Okay I guess still seems kind of sad her eating by herself." Steven said watching her through the window.
"Quartz like big groups. It makes them feel safe." Peridot said who had come out of the bathroom awhile ago. "In no time she'll want to be as close as possible to us." Peridot continued walking over to the food looking it over but nothing seemed good to her so she joined Pearl on the couch. "We will need to continue work on the drill soon."
"Agreed." Garnet said stepping out of her room. "We'll need all hands so we can make up time we've lost." She continued grabbing a mug full of coffee.
"Maybe if Lapis helps." Steven said.
"Yeah 'IF' she helps." Lava said going outside to talk with Jasper.
"Whats he mean?" Amethyst asked reaching for more food.
"Would you wanna work with someone who you were forced you to fuse and then stay like that against your will for atleast what...6 months?" Prism asked. "Or maybe a group who didn't let you out of a mirror for thousands of years, honestly if she tolerates anyone after what she's been through let alone likes us I'd surprised." This brought the mood of the room to an awkward one everyone knowing the point he had made.
"Well we will deal with these issues at a later date when we are not at risk of being destroyed along with a planet." Peridot said hoping up from her seat and out the door.
-- Insert transition joke here--
After the group had finished eating they made their way to the barn Garnet, Prism, Jasper, and Lava were collecting large amounts of scrap for the outer shell of the drill while Pearl and Peridot were working on the systems. As for the rest Litch had Tiger sitting on a stool as he began cutting the small gem's hair while Connie, Steven, and Amethyst watched while trying to give him ideas on a style to go on. The only not truly helpping was Lapis who had tagged along but has now just sitting on the fence looking out into the ocean.
"So Tiger any thoughts on what style to go with?" Litch asked cutting another big chunk of hair off and tossing in a bag.
"Maybe something like Amethyst or Jasper." He answered looking at one of the mentioned gems then the other.
"Can do, one quartz mane coming up." Litch smiled starting to take off more hair. As he worked he noticed Connie looking in Lapis's direction. "You know..." Litch said getting the young human girl's attention. "Aside from Steven you stand the best chance at connecting with her. She doesn't really have an opinion on you."
Connie looked at Litch then Lapis then stood walking over to the literal and figurative blue gem.
"Think she can connect?" Amethyst asked.
"Cara o cruz." Tiger shrugged.
"HEY RUNT WE COULD USE A HAND!" Jasper yelled making Tiger and Amethyst exchange and look.
"SHE MEAN AMETHYST!" Garnet yelled as the two lifted a old car up onto an already large pile of scrap. Amethyst hopped up and ran to help the two large gems.
"Wish she'd call us by our names." Steven said with a sigh.
"Well maybe she'll respond better if you find something to connect to her with." Litch said starting his clean up on Tiger's hair.
"Like what?" Steven asked watching the large orange gem pick up a car engine over her shoulder and a tire at her waist.
"Hmm not sure..." Litch chuckled having finished Tiger's hair which now looked like Jasper's with a wild ponytail that almost resembled flames and ended between his shoulder blades Tiger smiled at his new hair before running off to join the rest work on the drill. "You could try thinking of her like a taller, beefier...more aggressive Amethyst." Litch told him starting to make his way to help Pearl and Peridot.
"Hmm?" Steven said scratching his chin.
--screen break--
The group was continuing work on the drill while Connie had managed to strike up a conversation with Lapis who was taking...okay to the young human. Jasper seemed to be getting along well with the Black diamond gems and tolerate the Crystal gems till she felt a tug on her pants. Looking down she saw Steven hold up a few glasses on a tray filled with lemonade offering one to her. "Push on Rose." She snarled picking up a the entirety of a mostly destroyed Volkswagen bug and carrying it over to the work space. Steven frowned starting to wonder what he could try next.
His thoughts were interrupted by Lava grabbing one of the glasses a downing it in a second. "If you're trying to get on her good side try something from Homeworld she may like that." He said giving him the empty glass back.
"Any tips?" Steven asked.
"Try something like a weapon or armor maybe?" Lava shrugged dragging a big pile of scrap in the direction Jasper had gone.
Steven started to think before snapping his fingers and yelled. "To the strawberry fields!" before running to the closest warp-pad.
--Screen break--
(kind of a running theme here)
It was now around noon and the group was taking a break. Jasper was currently doing pushups to pass the time until a shadow came over her. Looking up she saw Steven standing there smiling at her. "What?" She asked a little annoyed.
"I got you something." Steven answered in a sing song voice.
"Don't want it." She said going back to pushups.
"Please at least look at it?" Steven pleaded giving her puppy dog eyes. Jasper looked right into his eyes and tried to snap at him but groaned not being able to and stood up. "Close your eyes, hold out your hands." He smiled devilishly.
Jasper did as asked suddenly feeling alot of weight put onto them making her open her eyes in suprise she looked and saw a large dual-sided battle axe about as tall as she was. She held it up tossing it back and forth between her hands before starting to spin it and twirl it all around her body then tossed it up and catching it as it came back down.
"Not bad, haven't had one of these since the war." Jasper smiled checking the edges.
"Yeah I saw it and thought you might like it." Steven smiled thinking he may have started to get through to the big buff cheeto puff.(had to work that name in at some point)
"Well I guess thanks Rose quartz." Jasper said slinging to axe onto her shoulder and walking towards the barn. Steven's smile fell at her still calling him by his mom's name.
--hours later--
Steven was going to try one last effort to connect with Jasper, and what better way than with donuts? With a quick trip to and from The Big Donut and picking out the best he could think of. He carried 3 boxes of assorted pastries knowing that Amethyst would eat at least a dozen on her own easily. "Guys! I got donuts!" He cheered seeing the group still working on the now nearly half done drill. Looking around he didn't see Connie anywhere when Amethyst ran up and grabbed a box from him. "Where's Connie?" Steven asked the purple gem.
"Oh her mom came and got her something about studies or practice or I wasn't listening. Who knows?" Amethyst answered before starting to stuff her face with donuts. Steven shot her a look before running to give the second box to the rest of the group and began to look for Jasper.
"Why?" Steven heard Jasper's voice from behind the barn. He ran around to see her talking with Lava, but it really seemed like an argument.
"Because your mind isn't right you were together to long and now you feel dependent on fusion to feel strong." Lava told her almost growling.
"But me and you could be so strong, maybe stronger than Malachite." She said smiling just thinking about the idea.
"I said no and if you try to force any gem into another fusion I'll personally make sure you don't reform for atleast a decade." Lava threatened getting in her face both of the large gems let out low growls to try and intimidate the other. "You wanna be a fusion again? Earn one of The Crystal Gem's trust and fuse with them."
Jasper laughed. "Like who the pearl? The runt? Please they wouldn't be any help in making me stronger, and the fusion she'd rather shatter herself." She laughed again.
"Why not try Steven?" Lava asked curious why she left him out.
"You mean Rose?" She asked. "I'd rather call Yellow Diamond a clod right to her face than fuse with her."
"He's not Rose quartz." Lava told her.
"She's just hiding her form, she has her shield. How can she not be Rose?" Jasper asked.
"BECAUSE SHE'S GONE!!!" Steven yelled from his hiding place revealing himself tears beginning to well up his eyes. Before either gem could say something he threw down the box making the donuts to almost explode out as he ran away crying.
Lava dashed after him but Steven was gone before he could catch up. Looking around he spotted the rest of the group sitting around near the barn eating. "GUYS!" Lava yelled getting all their attention.
"What is it?!" Pearl asked seeing Lava freak out a bit as Jasper can from behind the barn and leaned against it.
"It's Steven." He answered getting everyone on ultra-high alert. "He heard me a Jasper arguing and she wouldn't stop calling him Rose and now he's run off." Lava explained everyone shooting Jasper dirty looks.
Noticing the looks Jasper turned to the group. "What? That is Rose and not one of you can tell me-ugh!" She said before a gauntlet wrapped around her throat hoisting her up off the ground. She was able to look down at her attacker, seeing Garnet gritting her teeth and even with the visor covering her eyes you could see the rage that boiled in her eyes.
"IF..." Garnet growled fire almost spitting from her mouth. "...IF STEVEN IS HURT IN ANYWAY..." Tightening her grip making Jasper struggle more against her gauntlet more. "...NOTHING AND NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO HELP YOU HIDE FROM ME." Garnet growled before dropping her taking off in search of the now missing hybrid. The rest of the group followed suit with only Lava staying to speak with the orange gem.
Lava looked at Jasper before shaking his head in disapproval starting to walk off to help find Steven only stopping after a few feet. "Help find him and then apologize to him." The black gem said not even making eye contact.
"Why? Why would I do that?" She asked standing up.
"Because you two are more alike than you know." He answered jumping high in the air to start his search before landing almost on the other side of Beach city. Jasper growled in anger, getting up and started walking toward the beach to clear her head.
--hours later almost 9 pm--
The sun was setting the gems not being able to find Steven and it would be night soon and it'd be that much harder to find him.
Jasper was walking along the beach kicking a rock around when she growled before stopping and kicking the small stone so hard it flew out into the ocean beyond the horizon, but it wasn't enough running straight to a large boulder even taller than her and began to punch it over and over cracking it and almost splitting it. Before the rock was turned to dust the tall orange gem summoned her weapon and reared back ready to destroy it when she just felt she couldn't. Sighing she rested her helmet covered head against the near destroyed rock. "What are you doing you stupid...mmm?" She asked herself. "You're a soldier you should have found someway to contact Yellow Diamond the instant you could..." She continued to talk to herself. "You wanted to play planet saver and now you've gone and pissed everyone off just because of *SPLASH*" She was cut off by a splashing close by.
Looking toward the sound she saw Steven skipping stones. Jasper dissipated her helmet and started walking over to Steven who was about to skip another rock but stopped and just plopped down onto the sandy ground with a sigh.
"Something wrong Rose Quartz?" Jasper asked making Steven look up at her with a aggravated look.
"I'm not Rose Quartz Jasper, she was my mom." Steven explained.
"The Hell's a mom." She asked giving him a odd look.
Steven thought for a second before speaking his answer. "She's the person who brought you to life. The reason you exist in the first place. And you love her and, you want to protect her...but she's gone now." He finished with a sad expression.
"Oh..."
Steven turned to Jasper who had taken a seat next to him. "What?" Steven asked.
Jasper looked off at to slowly rising moon then answered him. "My mom's gone too." Pulling him to her side in a sort of half hug. "Humans do this for comfort...am I doing it right?" She asked keeping a stoic face.
"Could use a little work...but a good start." He answered hugging her side.
"Thanks...Quartz child." She said with a smirk. Steven rolled his eyes but thought that the name was also a good start, not vreat but a good start none the less.
--hours later at the temple--
All the gems had regrouped at the temple they still hadn't found Steven and Jasper had gone AWOL. "We need to find him it's getting cold out he could get sick or worse!" Pearl said starting to ramble about all worst case scenarios.
"Pearl we'll find him, I promise." Litch said putting a hand on her shoulder trying to calm her down. "Let's look everywhere one more time warp locations included." He said getting nods from the rest who started to walk toward the warp-pad.
"GENERAL!"
The group stopped in their tracks seeing Jasper running up in a panic carrying Steven close to her chest who looked to have gone a bit ragdoll.
"Jasper! You found him!" Lava said as they all ran up to her. "What's the panic?"
"The Quartz child, Uh...Steven! He's not functioning!" She cried holding Steven up who was letting out soft snores.
"Jasper, shhhhh." Pearl told her. "He's just sleeping humans need to do that to regain their strength, he is fine." She explained calming the orange soldier down.
"Sleeping?" She asked. "Hmph clever tactic Quartz child." She smiled softly.
"Wait I've seen you sleep how did you not know that's what he was doing?" Amethyst said making all of them give her a questioning look.
"I just close my eyes and wait till I see daylight again." Jasper said now cradling Steven.
"Isn't that sleeping?" Prism asked.
"Do you really care?" She asked the group muttered a few 'nahs' or 'not really' then began to walk up to the house. When they got in the house Jasper kept holding Steven, whose head was on her stomach, as she laid on the couch Lava gave her a smirk making her get a flustered. "I just wanna hold him a little more...for safety reasons." She said not making eye contact with the black gem.
"Sleep tight then." Lava said with a chuckle taking a seat on the floor near one end of the couch.
Hours later Jasper was wide awake watching Steven breath softly as he slept on her stomach. She gently began stroking his hair for a reason she didn't really understand and brought a soft smile to her face. Steven suddenly stirred before settling back and mumbled.
"Mmm...big...momma..."
Jasper blushed a bright reddish orange and a strange feeling to utterly destroy anything that harmed the small hybrid on her stomach. With her blush fading the orange gem decided to do something nice even if he wouldn't hear it. "Goodnight...Steven." She said before shutting her eyes.
So about a month and a half to write this so not a long time to write but not a short time...so call it meh time to write it. Next chapter I think we'll continue on the drill, maybe the moon base, a little bit of lapidot, and just a smidge of big momma. (also sorry if I focus on Jasper a lot but she is one of my favorite characters.)