The next day, Blue went by to check on Steven, calling out a "Hello?" as she came into the house.
"Up here," Steven replied from his room. He motioned for her to come and join him.
"Hi." Blue stopped a few stairs from the top, unsure whether she should enter or not. The floor was covered in scattered pieces of white paper, all with some kind of writing on them, though she wasn't close enough to see what it was.
"Hi, Blue." He set down a marker he'd been holding, leaving it in a messy pile of at least a dozen more on the floor.
"How are you?" she asked carefully. "Is there anything I can do?"
"I'm good." He still didn't quite seem himself, but at least he was smiling more today. "Tell Green thanks for keeping us company last night."
Blue smiled. "Will do."
"Actually, there is one thing you could help me with," Steven said.
"What is it?"
He beckoned her closer again and Blue obliged, stepping carefully around the mess and settling on her knees beside him. "I'm, um, making something for the Gems? And I need to know how to write 'Garnet' and 'Amethyst'. I was trying to guess, from what the other names look like, but I don't think I'm getting it right."
Blue glanced over the scribbles on the papers surrounding them, then picked one up. "Can I write on this?"
"Sure." Steven passed her a blue marker.
"Thanks. Okay, so you have Garnet mostly right. It's just this part." She drew an arrow to the first letter, then wrote out the correct form beneath it. "Like that."
"Oh, cool," he said. "Did I get Amethyst almost right too?"
Blue squinted down at another sheet of paper. "Um, no, sorry. But don't worry about it; that one's tougher." She wrote Amethyst out as well. "Do you need Peridot and Lapis too?"
"Yes, please," Steven said hopefully. "I'll make them something for the barn later."
"Okay." She flipped the paper over and wrote them down, putting a small L and P next to them so he would remember which was which.
"…And Jasper?"
Blue blinked, surprised, but she wrote Jasper down as well.
"There's a couple other things I wanted to know how to write too," he added. "And I miiiight have another little favor to ask you after that."
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Blue asked, following Steven down to the beach. "I don't think she'll be happy to see you."
"I know, but I want to keep trying to get through to her. Besides, anyone would be grouchy sitting out here with nothing to do for ages."
"Quartzes do like their exercise," she agreed.
"Please? I said I'd bring somebody along to keep an eye on her as backup."
"I'm hardly the strongest gem here though. I mean, I might be able subdue her briefly if she gets loose, but…"
"It'll be fine, I promise! Just stand right about here and look intimidating."
Blue laughed, summoning her spear from her gem. "I'll do my best."
She watched as Steven made his way over to Jasper, not sure what to expect as he approached her.
Jasper lifted her head as he got closer, eyes flicking to Blue and then back to Steven, glaring at him. "What do you want?"
"I brought something for you."
She didn't respond.
"Here." Steven reached through the destabilizing field and set the card carefully on the ground before removing his hands quickly and backing up. Jasper made no move towards him, just watched. "I made it for you."
"You really aren't Rose Quartz, are you?"
He jumped. "Uh, n-no. I'm not."
"I always wondered how you got out of your cells on the ship. It's because you're not all gem, isn't it?"
Steven nodded.
"Huh." She eyed the piece of paper. "Why are you giving me something? What if I used it to escape?"
"Well, I checked with Yellow and Peridot, and they both said it was okay and you couldn't."
Jasper grunted and shot him another glare, reaching over to pick up the card by one corner. "It's a picture?"
"Yep."
She looked down at it, eyes narrowed.
"It's you," Steven explained. "When you first got to Earth and you had that fancy cape and everything. I thought that was cool. I mean, you were really scary, but you were cool. I hadn't seen a gem like you before."
Jasper stared at him.
"Actually, I think you're still the biggest gem I've seen, other than Yellow Diamond, but I didn't actually meet her. Are all Jaspers your size?"
"…A little smaller, but basically."
"Wow. So how big are the rooms on Homeworld?"
"What?"
"Well, gems are all different sizes, so how do they build stuff? Is it all just really huge?"
"Compared to you, yeah."
Steven stuck out his tongue.
She blinked, confused, and then refocused her attention down at the card instead, taking in the pink glitter that was sprinkled all around the drawing.
"Anyway, I, um, just found out about what happened to your Diamond," Steven began nervously. "And I guess it makes sense now why you don't like me or Mom. And I just wanted to say I'm sorry you lost her. I don't really get it, but it sounds like it would be the same as losing part of your family, and I know how bad that can be, so…"
"Stop talking about her." Jasper's voice was gruff, but she didn't snap at him, so he figured that was a good sign.
"Okay." He hesitated. "There's something on the inside too, if you open it up."
She opened up the folded paper, grimacing as some of the glitter stuck to her hands. "'Welcome back, Jasper'?" she read uncertainly.
"Mm-hm." Steven watched her anxiously. "You were made here just like Amethyst, right?"
"I'm nothing like your puny Amethyst."
"Hey!"
Jasper looked up, mildly startled by the authority in his voice.
"You don't get to be mean to Amethyst. Or Pearl or Yellow or Blue or Garnet or Peridot or Lapis. They're my family."
"I don't know what that means."
Steven faltered. "It's like—like people that care about each other a whole lot." He thought for a moment. "There were other Quartzes that fought with you in the rebellion, right? From your Kindergarten?"
She nodded. "They were de—They didn't come out the way they were supposed to."
"Okay," he said, frowning. "But they were there for you, right? Like, they had your back?"
"I guess."
"That's kinda like family."
"It is?"
"Yeah, but…usually you get to share some good things too, not just fight together."
"Why would we do anything other than fight together? I mean, I know Amethysts are more…group-oriented," she said, clearly picking her words carefully, "but Jaspers aren't."
"Because there's so much more! Like…Like how I like drawing, or how Amethyst likes eating. Those aren't things Homeworld would think we should do, but it doesn't mean we can't enjoy them." He shrugged. "And sometimes family just hangs out together and does stuff they enjoy." Jasper didn't say anything, so he scuffed his shoes in the sand lightly, watching it spill over his toes. "So it's my job to have my family's back, just like it was your job to have the other Quartzes' backs. I'm not going to say anything mean about them, so you shouldn't say anything mean about mine, okay?"
"I don't care if you say something mean about them."
"Okayyy, maybe that was a bad comparison. Would you be mad if I said something mean about Pink Diamond?"
"Of course I would, she's my Diamond!"
"Then it's like that. You insulting my family is like me insulting your Diamond. Just…not for the same reasons."
"Oh." It was clear from her expression that she didn't understand how every single one of them could be like a Diamond to him, but she didn't question it.
"So can you please be a little nicer to them?"
"Fine." Jasper glanced back down at the card. "But I'm not going to let them walk all over me either."
Steven nodded.
"You mentioned Lapis. Where is she?"
"Um…" His expression grew guarded. "I'm not supposed to tell you."
"Why not? Aren't you the leader?"
"No. But even if I was…Lapis doesn't really want to see you right now."
Jasper swallowed back her next question. "Alright." She stared down at the picture. "You know, I don't want to be back on this terrible planet."
"I kinda guessed that, but I figured a welcome-back card was better than a thanks-for-being-our-prisoner card."
The bigger Quartz snorted. "You're very strange, Steven Quartz."
"Just Steven's okay."
"It is?"
"Well, you don't get called Jasper Quartz, do you?"
"Only when somebody's really trying to suck up."
"Then you can think of it like that," he laughed. "It sounds all formal and weird. Plus it's actually Quartz Universe, which is way too long to say every time."
"Universe?"
"It's my dad's name. On Earth, families pass down part of their name."
"Huh."
"You know, if you want to learn more about humans and everything, I could bring you some books or movies," Steven offered hopefully.
"Not interested."
"But…"
"Look, as soon as I can get off this worthless planet, I will. I don't want to learn about it or philosophize about freedom or rebellion or everything you think is wrong with Homeworld. I should never have come back here in the first place. Nothing ever goes right here."
"Oh, okay." Steven bit his lip. "Do you want me to bring you anything else then?"
"No." She paused. "And you can tell your little bodyguard to stand down. I'm not going to do anything to you."
"I'm not really supposed to come see you alone."
Jasper huffed. "Suit yourself."
"Can we come by again tomorrow?"
"Has it completely escaped your notice that I'm a prisoner? You could sit there all day if you wanted."
"Well, not really. Humans have to do stuff to, you know, keep our bodies running. Eating and sleeping and everything."
Jasper gave him an impatient look.
"Right, you didn't want to learn about Earth. Okay! I'll find something else to bring you tomorrow." Steven got up and waved. "See you then!"
Blue watched him hurry back over to her. "That seemed to go pretty well," she commented as they went back into the house.
"Yeah, I think it did!" Steven hugged her. "Thanks for all your help."
"No problem." It still felt nice to be acknowledged like that, instead of everything just being expected and consequently ignored. "I think Yellow and I are going to get some extra practice in this afternoon at the arena. Would you like to come?"
"No thanks," he said brightly. "I've got one more card to deliver."
"Okay." Blue patted him on the head lightly, heading over to the warp pad. "See you later."
"See you!"
Steven watched Blue disappear into the warp stream and then hurried across the pad to the temple door.
"Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl!" he called, knocking. "Are you here?"
It took only a few seconds for Garnet's door to open and, to his surprise, Pearl and Amethyst were already with her.
"What's up?" Amethyst asked. "Everything okay?"
He nodded. "I just wanted to give you guys something."
"Give us something?" Pearl repeated uncertainly.
"Yep." Steven held out the large card he'd been holding behind his back.
Garnet took it carefully from his fingers and smiled at the portrait of all four of them on the front. "Thanks."
Pearl leaned over to open it up and see what was written inside, a happy blush rising to her cheeks as she read the meticulously copied gem language within.
To Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl: Thank you for always taking care of me. I love you.
"Oh, Steven," she breathed. "This is lovely."
"I just wanted to say thanks for telling me about Mom and Pink Diamond. And, um, I want to keep learning about Homeworld because that means I get to learn more about you too, and that's important. Even if there's scary stuff as well."
A rare tear trickled from under Garnet's visor and she lifted him up into her arms. "Thank you, Steven. We love you too."
He hugged her tight, smiling as they all ended up in a group hug again—a much happier one this time, even if it was all a little teary.
"We get to put it on the fridge, right?" Amethyst asked as they broke apart. "That's what Vidalia does with all the weird stuff her kid gives her."
"It's not weird," Pearl said indignantly. "I admit the human custom itself is strange, but this is a wonderful gift!"
"I never said it wasn't!" Amethyst protested. "I mean, look how great his drawing's gotten. We look awesome!"
"And look at his penmanship," Pearl said proudly, lifting it out of Amethyst's hands to see it again.
Steven blushed under all the attention as Amethyst gave her a weird look. "Yeah, sure," she laughed, patting Pearl's back. "I think you're the weird one."
"Shush." Pearl wrapped her arms around Steven again. "It's perfect."
"Good job," Garnet added warmly.
He pressed a hand to his gem through his shirt, feeling a gentle warmth inside it for the first time since he'd heard everything. "Thanks."