Chapter Forty-Six: Fusion Cuisine
"So, okay, backup. What's the big deal here?"
"The big deal is my parents want you to come for dinner, Amethyst!" blared Connie's voice through the phone.
Amethyst cocked her head as she paced around Steven's Palanquin. "Okay, cool. Sounds fun. Do we like, come right now? Cuz I think Pearl's working with the drill and she doesn't like getting interrupted when she's in 'the zone'—"
"No, no, not now! It's not even afternoon yet. Just... Find an evening that works for you guys in the next week, and text me. My parents just want to meet your parents—"
"Uh." Amethyst felt a twinge of discomfort squirm in her stomach. "I don't have parents?"
"I know, I know," said Connie, voice taut. Like, she always sounded kinda freaked out whenever her parents (or, well, her mom) came up, but this was a whole 'nother level. "They're expecting a nuclear family."
"Like a bomb?"
"No, no. A nuclear family just means 'two parents with their child and/or children'," said Connie. "Just bring a couple of the other Crystal Gems along. Doesn't matter which two. Then you show up, prove that you're all responsible and respectable, and it'll be fine. No big deal."
"...Right," said Amethyst, not mentioning just how big a deal Connie was making it sound. "Sure. I'll go talk to the others and text ya, okay?"
"Okay. Yeah. Thanks, Amethyst." Click.
Amethyst stared at the phone, and gave a shrug as she stored it back in her pocket.
Steven glanced up from the pile of barn junk they'd been poking at. "What was that all about?"
"Connie wants the Gems and me to go to a family dinner with her family?"
"Oh, okay." Steven turned his attention back to an old radio they'd dug out, and poked it with a screwdriver. "Yeah, I had that last weekend. It was fun."
Amethyst plopped down next to him, but was too distracted to get back into the junk. Not even the cool airplane rotor. "What did you guys even do?"
"Nothing special. Talked and ate, mostly. Though Mr. Maheswaran did show us his anime collection at the end. That was cool."
Amethyst gulped. She poked listlessly at the rotor.
Glancing at her sidelong, Steven said, "Ame? Are you alright?"
"I dunno, dude." Amethyst ran a hand through her hair. "Connie just seemed so nervous about this. Eating and talking? Rose rocks at that, but Garnet and Pearl kinda both suck at it around humans. And I like doing those things, but I think I sometimes freak folks out sometimes? Which is fine, scaring humans is half the fun, but I don't wanna upset Connie's parents..."
"You… do tend to get kind of carried away, yeah."
Amethyst crossed her arms and glared at him.
"Hey! I was just being honest!" said Steven. "But look, I've got an idea. What if I were to teach you guys?"
"... teach us?"
"Yeah! About manners and small talk and what to do at a dinner party!"
"What? Really dude? You'd do that?"
"Sure, it's no—"
Steven didn't even get to finish talking when Amethyst jumped to her feet, lifted him above her head, and tore out of the Palanquin. There was a brief scream as she nearly ran straight into Peridot. "Watch it!" Amethyst cried.
"Where are you going?" Bloop called, by the time Amethyst was halfway up the hill to the warp pad.
"Going to teach the Crystal Gems manners! I'll be back for dinner!" Steven called back.
Actually, they were back five minutes later, to grab a bunch of plates and cutlery and stuff from the Palanquin. Then they went back to the Temple, arms laden, Amethyst crying out for the others.
It took… a while to get going. Only Garnet was in the Temple, so they had to track the others down at the Beta Kindergarten, and Pearl didn't want to come. So Amethyst had to plead for a bit, wear her down. And then everyone wanted to know what was so important about this dinner. And then they got back to the Temple and realized they still didn't have enough cutlery for everyone.
Steven was about to go raid his Dad's van, when Rose suggested they use her room instead. Which was an awesome idea, only then Steven got distracted by the whole 'can make basically anything' thing, and spent ten minutes or so getting Rose to create trampolines and centaurs and stuff.
… and okay. Maybe that stuff was all pretty fun and Amethyst enjoyed it, too, but that was besides the point!
Eventually all five of them were gathered around a cloud-generated table, laden with a fancy meal of soups and salads and steaks and other stuff that made Amethyst very sad none of it was real.
Pearl was poking at it unenthusiastically with a fork as if it was, though. She looked up from her chicken and gave Steven a cool look. "Right. How are you intending to… ah, begin this lesson, then?"
"Uh…." Steven paused. "How about we do, like, a dry run? You guys try to have a nice meal while chatting with each other, and at the end, I'll tell you what you can do better!"
The Crystal Gems looked at one another.
"Sounds good," said Amethyst.
"Very fun!" agreed Rose.
"Why not?" sighed Pearl.
"Let's do it," decided Garnet.
So, they started eating. Or pretended to eat. Pearl sat there, stiffly miming the whole thing. Garnet did the same, idly wondering how humans choose what animals to eat and which ones to leave alone, which seemed like an interesting topic to Amethyst. Rose kept coming up with ideas for other dishes that would be amazing, and clapping with gusto as they popped into existence on their ever-expanding table. Amethyst knew they were fake, but got into the acting, climbing up to grab some of everything for her plate.
She could have eaten everything on the table by herself, no problem, but knew that for the real deal, she'd need to restrain herself. So after what she'd judged was probably a normal human amount of food, Amethyst happily took her plate and smashed it on the ground.
"What the heck, Amethyst?!" Steven yelled, jumping to his feet in surprise. "Why'd you do that?!"
"Oh. Was that one of the real plates? Whoops," said Amethyst, poking at a porcelain shard. Just to check, she popped it into her mouth. It gave a satisfying crunch.
"Yeah, it was real! Why'd you break it?" Steven demanded.
Amethyst blinked at him. "Isn't that… what you do?"
" No— " Steven began, just as Garnet said, "I do remember plate smashing being a thing."
"Yes, I recall that too. In… Athens, was it? Or Olympia? I always get those two mixed up," said Pearl.
Rose nodded. "Oh, I loved Greece back then. Such lovely parties! Amethyst, remember that one you took me to?"
"The one where I defeated the so called 'God of Parties', so they like, showered me in wine and gold? Heck yeah I do!"
"Wait, wait, slow down," said Steven. "I've been to Greece. I don't remember people throwing plates around."
"Oh, it wasn't all the time. Just at really special occasions," said Rose.
"Like this!" said Amethyst, grabbing another plate and throwing it on the ground. Thankfully it was made of clouds this time.
Pearl nodded. "Though I'll admit, even then, I thought it was a fairly wasteful tradition. Not to mention messy."
Sitting back down, Steven pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay, well. Maybe they do it in Greece? Or used to? But I'm like, 99% sure that if you try that at a restaurant here, you'll get thrown out."
Amethyst sagged in her chair. "Aww."
"But throwing plates is just the start," said Steven, pulling out the notebook he'd been writing in for the whole practice meal. "I saw a lot of reaching across the table, ordering food to get passed around, eating with your hands, burping—"
"What's wrong with burping?" said Rose.
"Steven's going to say it's no longer considered polite," Garnet said.
"Oh thank the stars," said Pearl.
"And is it really not cool to eat with your hands anymore?" said Amethyst. "Because I've seen you eat pizza with them, dude."
Steven sighed, and surveyed them. "Okay. I can see this is… going to take longer than I expected. Let's take it from the top…"
And it did take long. Excruciatingly long. How could humans make eating food so boring?!
There seemed to be a rule for everything. What cutlery to use and when. Where to put that cutlery when it wasn't being used. Ways to sit. How to ask for more food. How quickly you were actually supposed to eat and drink without it being considered weird.
And that was just the food half. Steven had tons of extra rules for conversation. Never insult; only compliment— though Amethyst supposed that sort of made sense. Don't talk too loud. Don't ask people about 'overly personal stuff' like money or health and a whole bunch of other things. There were a lot of stuff they weren't supposed to talk about, actually. Steven eventually decided it would be easier to write up a list of stuff they were allowed to talk about. It included: work, school, entertainment, travel, and the economy.
"Grown ups like talking about the economy," said Steven, with a firm little nod.
"What about it?" asked Pearl.
"I dunno. Mostly how bad it is, I think."
Eventually, though, eventually, Steven said he thought they'd be okay. "And you don't need to be worried anyway," he told them. "The Maheswarans are super nice, really. Just be yourselves."
"That's a lovely sentiment, Steven," said Rose, with a smile.
He grinned back at her. "Thanks. It's a thing Dad always says to me."
The group filed out, Pearl sighing about how glad she was that whole thing was over, Garnet and Rose teasing her. Amethyst hung back as they warped away, probably back to the drill.
"Hey, dude?" she said to Steven. "Thanks for this."
"No problem," said Steven. "It's… what's friends are for, right?"
"... Yeah," said Amethyst. She waved him off as he went to eat his actual dinner.
There was only one other thing. She'd spent the last couple hours mulling over who to bring with Rose. Garnet ate sometimes, but she almost never talked around strangers. Pearl talked a lot, but she never ate. Not talking or not eating... Steven had said that either would be considered super rude to humans. Good thing Amethyst was pretty sure she knew someone who was super friendly and personable and would have no problem dealing with food. All she had to do was ask...
Drumming her fingers against the dinner table, Priyanka Maheswaran sighed and was immediately hit with a delicious wave of scent wafting onto The Crab Shack's balcony. She shifted here and there, fighting the urge to order some appetizers.
It really was a good idea that Connie had suggested this next little dinner with her friend's family be eaten somewhere other than homeout. Despite her daughter's claim that a restaurant it might be more accessible ("Amethyst's, uh, mom, is really big."), Priyanka had assumed it was a fairly transparent excuse to get something other than home cooking. Now Priyanka was extremely glad that she and Doug hadn't spent hours preparing a full meal, just for the guests to still not have arrived, some twenty minutes past their reservation's start.
Doug coughed. Glancing at the menu, he said, "The calamari looks really nice—"
"No," said Priyanka.
Doug looked a little disappointed. Connie sighed, and slouched a bit in her chair. Well, she knew the rules. Even if the 'Gems' were going to be rude, that was no excuse for the Maheswarans to be.
The sound of waves rolling into the beach grew a little louder. Priyanka paid no mind— at least, not until she noticed Connie gaping. Following her daughter's gaze, Priyanka found their guests, wading directly to The Crab Bay through the sea itself.
They waved at the Maheswarans. There were… a lot of hands.
"Ah! Hello!" called Rose Quartz, when they were close enough. "Doug and Priyanka, yes! Lovely to meet you again, and in much nicer circumstances!"
"Yes, quite," Priyanka managed, with barely any hesitation. That was all her family needed to join in with greetings of her own.
She had met Rose Quartz previously, though her memory of the woman was hazy— which simply stood as a testament of how worried Priyanka had been for Connie at the time. Rose Quartz was, simply put, not a very forgettable person. She was tall and broad, like the most gorgeous football player of all time. Her hair and dress looked as though she'd come out of an animated princess film. She seemed to radiate pink, and her laughter sparkled like the restaurant's prosecco.
Then there was little Amethyst, the reason for this whole affair. Connie's new friend. She had been overshadowed the day Connie had lost a finger, and honestly, continued to be overshadowed now. Again, a mark of how odd the circumstances was, since her skin was painted purple and her hair dyed white.
But otherwise, Amethyst's clothing was quite presentable, and she greeted the Maheswarans politely if stiffly, so she had some of Priyanka's approval so far.
And then there was… the third one.
There had been a third woman looking after Connie after the injury. Quiet, tall, black, big hair and sunglasses. But this woman was not her.
She was huge. Not like a footballer, but like a building. Four arms, four eyes. The top set looked like they might literally be a pair of glasses.
The giant gave them a large, toothy smile with a gap so massive, Priyanka suspected she could stick her own arm through. "Oh, hello, everyone! Sardonyx is in the building~!" she trilled. "Or patio, as the case may be. Charmed, I'm sure."
Sardonyx held out one of her hands. Priyanka shook a single finger, Doug and Connie following suit. The giant laughed, the sound ringing across the bay.
Well, Priyanka thought, doing her best to keep her expression even Amethyst's family sat down. They can't help how they look. That's no reason to treat them differently.
"Lovely to meet you as well," she told them. "Priyanka."
"Yes. I'm Doug," said Doug.
There was silence from the kids' end of the table. Looking down, Connie was just mouthing something at her friend. Priyanka loudly cleared her throat.
"Oh! My name's Connie!" Connie mumbled, jumping up a little.
"Oh yes, dear, I know. But thank you just the same," said Sardonyx.
"Connie is such a beautiful name," said Rose, leaning over the table. "Humans pick their babies' names individually, yes? Why did you choose that one?"
It was an… unorthodox start to small talk, to say the least. But linguistics was at least an interesting topic.
And it was at least, until the drinks and appetizers arrived. Rose positively cooed in delight, loading up her plate with bread and calamari, and downed nearly half of her wine glass in a single gulp. Sardonyx ignored the food, but she at least sniffed the wine approvingly, and saw the waiter off with a, "Fantabulous, darling, simply wonderful!"
Clearly deducing this was at least a safe topic of conversation, Doug went, "So you both like wine?"
"I adore it," said Rose, leaning forward again and making intense eye contact with him. "It's such a fascinating, idea, putting a fruit through such a transformation. Crushing, stirring, years upon years of fermentation. Such much effort to create something for the sole purpose of making humans happier. It's magical!" She grabbed her glass, downing what was left in a single gulp. "It's such a human idea! I just love it."
"The different scents are certainly interesting," added Sardonyx. While she was smiling, one pair of her eyes fixed on Priyanka and Doug, her other pair were staring sidelong at her partner.
Perhaps it was just her size, but Sardonyx's steady gaze left Priyanka feeling a little unsteady herself. She took a sip of her wine. It was quite nice. Very floral.
"They said this was from France, didn't they?" Priyanka asked.
"Yeah, I think so," Doug agreed. "I'd love to go to France one day."
And Rose Quartz was off again. Talking about how she'd loved France, even if it had 'changed its name again', and how temperate the climate was, absolutely perfect for gardening… Doug helped keep the conversation going, asking polite questions, though Rose hardly needed any prompting. She seemed to find everything either delightful, or funny, or wonderful, or filled with any other amount of whimsy.
Priyanka listened silently for a time, sipping her wine and picking at some calamari, when Rose made a comment to Doug about taking him to a particular countryside in France. She frowned, glancing between Rose Quartz and her husband. Rose was starry-eyed, practically laying on top of the table as she listened to what Doug was saying.
Was she… flirting with him?
Priyanka covered her concern by pretending to look at the menu, and took a moment to reprimand herself. She didn't consider herself the jealous type, and scolded herself for such immaturity. Rose Quartz was just being friendly surely, as was Sardonyx.
Thankfully, the waiter came to take their orders, which served as a brief distraction. After they left, Amethyst coughed and offered a change in topic. "So, uh, Mr. and Dr. Maheswaran," she said, in the slightly stiff tones of the overly-rehearsed, "what do you two do for a living?"
"Oh, well, Priyanka's a doctor, obviously," answered Doug with a chuckle. "And I'm a security guard."
"A security guard? For what?" said Amethyst, sitting up in her seat.
Priyanka quietly reached out under the table to lay a light hand on her husband's thigh. She knew he got insecure about this at times.
Doug seemed to relax under her touch, but still rubbed his neck while he answered, "Oh well, mostly just beaches. And stuff on beaches. Fairs, arcades, resorts, that kind of thing."
"Woah," said Amethyst, as suitably impressed as any child. "That's wicked, dude. Ya ever killed anyone?"
"What?" Priyanka almost choked.
Doug just laughed it off. "Oh, I've never killed anybody. I—"
"Do you want tips? I'm a super awesome warrior. What weapon do you use? I can teach you the whip if you want—"
"AMETHYST CAN YOU HELP ME FIND THE WASHROOM!?" Connie practically yelled.
"What? No," Amethyst said, pausing in the middle of reaching up to her chest for some reason. "Find it yourself, I'm in the middle of some—"
Connie was already up. "I really need your help!"
"Fine, fine. Geez." Amethyst sighed as she pushed her chair away from the table with a screech. "But only cuz the food's taking for ever and I could really go for some hand soap right now…"
Priyanka couldn't stop herself from giving the girl an odd look, or watching her until she and Connie vanished into the restaurant and out of sight.
Turning back to the table, Priyanka found all four of Sardonyx's eyes staring directly at her. "Adorable, aren't they?" she asked.
"Uh, yes. I suppose they are," stammered Priyanka. She hadn't even really considered it. She supposed it was nice that Connie had a friend, even one who was so... Odd. She cast around for some topic of conversation, and her eyes fell on Sardonyx's wine glass. "My, you drank that all very quickly."
Priyanka's own glass was still barely half-empty. Last she had noticed, however, Sardonyx's had been half-full, and indeed, she hadn't even taken a sip of it.
"Oh!" Sardonyx gave another one of those ringing laughs. "I don't drink."
Frowning, Priyanka said, "Then how—?"
"Magic, of course!"
In demonstration, Sardonyx waved her hand over the glass in a shower of golden sparks. When she drew it away, her glass was full again with bright red wine.
Priyanka stared. She had known the 'Crystal Gems' were magical, of course, but such a casual display… Her mind couldn't help but try and process it, to find some underlying mechanism by which it was possible. Drawing up blank, she simply asked, "How?"
Sardonyx winked, tapping the side of her nose. "A magician never reveals her secrets, dear."
Priyanka took another sip of her own wine. Quite a large one.
The conversation managed to flow on. Eventually the main course arrived. And shortly thereafter, so did the girls. Connie was stiff as a board, while Amethyst had her arms crossed in the rudest of manners. Even ruder was the way she devoured her plate, sending globs of lobster and chips of china all over the table. Neither Sardonyx nor Rose Quartz did anything to stop her.
It took all of Priyanka's willpower not to say something herself. It wasn't her place to parent someone else's child.
She was about halfway through her salmon fillet when Rose Quartz leaned forward yet again (the table groaning under the sudden weight, this time). "So, Priyanka," she said, "You're a doctor, right?"
"I am," said Priyanka, once she'd swallowed her fork of potatoes.
"So that means you heal people," said Rose, eyes wide and face flushed with excitement.
"Well, in a very general sense, yes," Priyanka agreed. "In practice, I wouldn't call it 'healing'. It's quite a bit more complicated than that. I work primarily as a surgeon, so I'm often dealing with issues such as cancers, organ transplants, appendicitis, etc. Long term, these treatments are very necessary, but short term, it can be rather unpleasant—"
Rose waved her hand, stopping Priyanka mid-sentence. "Yes, but it's all making people better isn't."
Priyanka sighed internally. "Yes, I suppose I do."
"Amazing. Absolutely amazing."
Priyanka gave Rose Quartz an odd look, and glanced at her daughter's injured hand. Doug was the one who asked the question she was desperate to have answered, but too tactful to say out loud: "You… can heal too, right?"
"Oh, of course." Rose sighed. "But that's nothing like modern human medicine."
Sardonyx laughed. It came out… sharper, this time. "It most certainly is not. Your healing is actually effective, after all."
Priyanka stiffened, and glared at Sardonyx. "'Modern human medicine' is effective, thank you."
"Yes, yes, I'm certain it is, darling." Sardonyx waved a pair of hands. "What do you do these days, again? Is it the drilling holes in peoples' heads, or the bloodletting with leeches?"
Priyanka felt her hand clench around her fork as she resisted the urge to say, actually, empirical evidence suggested that bloodletting via leeches could be beneficial in certain specific circumstances. "Things are far more sophisticated these days. We understand the actual biological underpinnings of disease, and respond accordingly."
"Yes! Exactly," said Rose, giving Priyanka another shining smile.
Sardonyx's smile was frozen on her face. For a moment it seemed to flicker, and she muttered something under her breath— it sounded like ' Be polite '. Then her expression seemed to relax into something much more natural. "Of course," she said. "We'd love to hear more about it."
Priyanka allowed Doug to briefly take control of the conversation while she very thoroughly chewed a forkful of salmon, just long enough to calm down. Luckily, she did find that talking shop did help improve her mood. Despite their interest (and superiority ), neither of the Crystal Gems seemed to know very much about the different causes of disease. Sardonyx proved to actually be quite an accomplished conversationalist, always knowing what questions to ask to get an interesting response out of someone. And Rose continued to brim with curiosity, wanting to know what a cancer was, why some species evolved to become parasitical, what the fundamental differences between bacteria and viruses were…
Far more interested than Priyanka had really ever seen anyone, even the most eager of students. As she registered the way Rose twirled a lock of pink hair around her finger, gazing at the doctor starry-eyed, Priyanka couldn't help but wonder: Is she flirting with me?
No. No, that was ridiculous. Priyanka wasn't sure what had gotten into her tonight, to make her so paranoid.
"Stars," she said, as the dishes were beginning to be cleared away. "So many illnesses are actually caused by other animals—"
"Organisms," Priyanka corrected automatically.
"—organisms, living inside humans and animals. I wonder if that's why sometimes my healing tears don't work."
Priyanka took a sip of wine. "Assuming your, er, magic heals all organisms equally, then yes, that seems like a reasonable hypothesis. Of course, to prove it, you'd need to run some experiments—"
"Experiments! Yes, experiments! My, Priyanka. You're so intelligent!"
"It's just basic science," Priyanka said, trying to hide just how pleased she was with the compliment.
"Oh, and humble too," said Rose. And then she winked. Right at Priyanka.
Priyanka gulped. She was flirting.
Glancing sideways, Priyanka noticed a small frown on Doug's face. So it wasn't just her. He'd picked up that something was odd, too.
She took a deep breath, reeling back her enthusiasm. She glanced at the dessert menu and immediately dismissed it. Eating sweets was inadvisable at the best of times, but right now, especially, it seemed like a good idea to wrap this outing up.
It wasn't just the Maheswarans who'd noticed Rose Quartz's behaviour. With the air of someone desperately trying to sound more enthusiastic than she actually was, Sardonyx said, "Rose, if you want to test the boundaries of your healing abilities, I'm sure I could design some experiments for you."
Priyanka felt a pang of pity for Sardonyx. As awkward as it was to deal with the unsolicited flirting in front of her husband, how much worse must it be for Sardonyx?
Rose, it seemed, was not to be dissuaded. She said, "I'm sure you could, I'm sure you could. But how often is it that we get to play with a real life human doctor? Oh— I know, why don't we all come up with some experiments together?!"
Priyanka blanched. Play?!
"Yes, yes," Rose said, seemingly to herself. "What do you think, Amethyst? Us, your friend Connie, her family? Experimenting? We'll make a whole day of it!"
"Uh," said Amethyst.
"Uhh," said Connie.
"Uhhh," said Doug.
Priyanka put her hands down heavily. Not heavily enough to be a slam, but pretty close. "I'm sorry," she said, with a restraint she'd learned from over twenty plus years as a doctor, "but I cannot allow this to continue any longer."
"... allow… what?" said Rose, blinking.
"This." Priyanka waved her hand to encompass the situation at large. "Rose Quartz, you have been behaving completely inappropriately!"
"Inappropriately?" Rose echoed. "But… I thought we were having so much fun? I was just… inviting you all out…"
"You were flirting! Shamelessly! First with my husband, then with me! Do you think that's any way for a grown woman to behave? And in front of your partner, too! You should be ashamed of yourself!"
"My partner?" The furrow's in Rose's brow were as deep as trenches. She glanced at Sardonyx, and then her confusion cleared a little. "Oh, she doesn't mind! Tell her, Sardonyx!"
Sardonyx stood up. Considering how tall she was, it was quite a sight to behold. Her mouth opened, closed, opened again, no sound coming out. She froze, and flickered, and twisted, and then—
Split.
Two women landed in a dishevelled heap on the floor. One— the black woman from when Connie was injured— stood up almost immediately, hands held out in a placating motion. The other— this one white and thin— wore a mask of icy fury. Both were blushing so heavily it covered practically their entire faces.
Priyanka gaped. Dozens of questions bloomed in her mind—
And she made the conscious decision not to ask them. She did not want to know. Standing, Priyanka snatched her purse off the floor. "That's it," she announced. "We're leaving."
"What!?"
At first, Priyanka thought the cry had come from Rose Quartz. And it had. But someone else had said it too, drowned out to be nearly unnoticeable. At least, until, Connie let out a little sob.
"Connie?" Priyanka asked, glancing at her daughter.
Through the glasses, Priyanka caught a glance of eyes on the verge of tears.
"No," Connie choked— and promptly ran off.
"Oh, for the love of…" Priyanka huffed. Could this evening get any worse? "Connie, GET BACK HERE!"
If the girl had heard, she didn't respond. She had already fled from the restaurant's deck and rounded the corner. Who knew where she'd gone off to.
"Oh dear," said Doug, already getting up to go after her.
Priyanka nodded at him to go. "I'll pay the cheque inside, and meet you both at the car—"
"No."
The sharp voice cut through the air like a knife, wholly unexpected. Priyanka couldn't help but turn around. She found it belonged to Amethyst, glowering at all the assembled adults.
"Could you three," Amethyst said, pointing at Rose Quartz and the two women who had, just moments before, been Sardonyx, "just be normal, for once?"
There were averted glances and arm-rubbing from the assorted Crystal Gems.
"We're sorry, Amethyst," said the square-haired woman.
"Yes. Sorry," mumbled the thin woman.
"We did try," said Rose Quartz, almost petulant.
Priyanka and Doug couldn't tear their eyes away. It was like watching a car crash.
"Well, obviously you didn't try hard enough!" Amethyst shouted. "This wasn't supposed to be difficult, you know?! Steven said his family dinner went great. That it was easy! All you had to do was come and eat and be nice for, like, a couple hours! He gave us those lessons, and anyway, you've lived around humans for longer than I have, you should have been able to manage that much!"
Despite the tantrum, Priyanka felt a pang of sympathy for her girl. She couldn't help how poorly behaved her family was.
"And you!" Amethyst cried, spinning around to point at the Maheswarans.
Doug and Priyanka glanced at each other.
"... us?" said Doug.
"Well, okay, not you," Amethyst said, a little softer, lowering her arm. "You actually seem pretty cool, and Connie seems to like you, so whatever."
"But you," she reiterated, glaring at Priyanka. "Do you know how scared Connie is of you, 'doctor?"
"Scared?" Priyanka spluttered. "I'm her mother!"
"Mother-smother. All I can say is, you're like, the absolute worst. Connie was totally freaking out about this whole thing because of you, and it turned out she was right to!"
Feeling very hot, and not at all appreciating being lectured by a child, Priyanka said, "Connie is my daughter. I am protecting her."
Amethyst rolled her eyes. "Right. Of course. Cuz whenever Rose protects me, I run away crying too."
Priyanka floundered, off put enough to not have an immediate comeback.
There was a soft, heavy warmth on her shoulder. "Come on," Doug said softly. "Let's go pay the bill together. And then, we can go find Connie."
"... right. Yes." Priyanka straightened. She had a brief image of Amethyst staring at her, small and defiant, as she turned towards the restaurant. None of her accusations mattered, any more than Rose Quartz's flirting did. That family may have saved Connie's life, but that dinner had more than proven that they weren't fit to be a part of her life.
But as Amethyst's words echoed in her head, Priyanka couldn't help but feel a niggling of doubt.
