Donut Family
AU
[Rebecca Sugar, Kat Morris, Hilary Florido, Ian Jones-Quartey, and herself.]
Exposition: Shapeshifting, obviously. And I've worked around the Power Wash! A much more dramatic and probably dangerous way! Yay me. But, seriously, it's probably the only other thing they could've done and the more I visualise it, the more I realise it would probably be too long for the show.
-My onomatopoeias this chapter have 'layers' where the noises are slightly out of sync by use of capital letters.-
Tid-Bit Notes: The Bonus on this one is really stupid, trust me, and derives from "The Room Where It Happened". Which means: [I don't own Hamilton.]
-artisticRadifyer
Ch. 6 Cat Fingers
"Almost done!" Greg declared. "Steven, grab a buncha napkins!"
"I'm nappin' the napkins!"
"Fold 'em neat; this is a high profile job."
"You mean, cause this is the mayor's order?"
"If we do this right, we might get political favors."
"I'm not sure what that is, but I like it."
Steven grabs a pinch of multi-colored, pill sprinkles and threw them at his dad. Greg took a pinch of white, star-shaped sprinkles and managed to get some in the boy's curly hair.
"Hey, hey, hey!" the Mayor interrupted. "I'm not paying for father-son bonding here!"
Steven threw a pinch of the Captain America themed sprinkles at Mayor Dewey.
"Universe! Control that kid!"
"Steven! Uh, I'm sorry, Mayor Dewey. Heheh. T-this one's on the house." Greg tried to redeem.
"'On the house,' eh? I like the way you do business, Universe," Mayor Dewey took his variety dozen and left.
"Hoooo..."
Steven twiddled his fingers now that the man was gone, "~Political favors!~"
"Ah! You rascal!" Greg tousled the boy's hair, "Enough with the sprinkle fights!"
"O-o-ohkay..."
The two are sprayed with a rain of sprinkles.
"What the..." Greg stopped himself.
A purple-toned raccoon sits behind the counter near them, going for more sprinkles.
"Hey, no!" Steven berates the animal, "It's only ohkay for pinches, not handfuls!"
"What is with this raccoon?" Greg wonders as the mammal obeys and grabs a pinch to throw.
The raccoon turned into Amethyst, "Haha! Got you guys~!"
"Amethyst?" Steven asked.
"Uh," Greg stuttered, "pretty cool, Amethyst."
"Really cool! I wonder if I can shapeshift like you?"
Amethyst nodded along with his question, "You could probably learn."
"Really?"
"Sure." The gem hopped off the counter to raise the boy's shirt and show off his gem, "You gotta Gem."
"Whup! If you need to go somewhere, tell me before you leave." Greg ordered. "The other two aren't here to go with Steven, and after that last mission you took him on, he doesn't have a new phone yet."
"Aw, it's no big deal, Dad."
"Yeah," Amethyst said as she shapeshifted into Steven, "it's fiiiine.~"
"Gahh!"
The two with powers only went right outside the Big Donut for the impromptu lesson.
"OH! Show me how to turn into a-a HUGE LION!" Steven requested.
"Actually, Pearl's drilled it into me to be careful with you, and if you're gonna do this: You gotta start with somethin' easy."
"...Like that raccoon you turned into?"
"The patterns are usually a more experienced shapeshifters game... How about a cat?"
"Ohkay!"
"Good. Ohkay, now follow my lead... First, think of what you wanna be. Then, just, shake it out!" She turned into a purple-monotoned cat. "See? Uhah!" the Amethyst-cat laughed. "Now your turn!"
"Ohkay..." Steven tried to focus, "Caaaaaaaaat!"
"Nah, you're too tense. Just relax and feel it." She began munching on some of the garbage that didn't make it into the dumpster, "Biorhythms, yo."
"Feeeeeeel iiiiiiitt!"
"Uh, if you're not ready, we can try later."
"No way! I can do it!"
Amethyst turned back to her normal, stout self to monitor Steven's attempt more efficiently.
"Ooh...yeah. Yeah! Ooph!" Steven stood still in a peaceful state of mind.
"Well, it was a good try."
(meow)
Steven and Amethyst both looked at each other in surprise and the boy presented his finger.
Mreeow Rreeeeoooooow
"Uhhhaha!"
"This is SO COOL!"
"You should go show your dad. He's gonna FREAK OUT!"
Reeoow
"Dad, we're already done!"
"Oh, yeah, Stew-Ball?"
"Check it out!" Steven thrusted his finger into his dad's face.
ROOW
"W—"
The cup of water from the workplace's water cooler flew in the air with Greg's surprise, and splashed the little cat finger made from Steven's right pointer. The finger mewled in distress and discomfort.
Steven shielded it for a moment before he realized his father didn't have another cup, "I shapeshifted my finger into a cat!"
"Whoa! Huh huuuu..." Greg attempted to turn his alarmed, surprised tone into something more supportive, "Is—Is that a thing you can do now? That's...pretty cool..."
"I know, right? I'm gonna take this show on the road!"
"I'll let you go for lunch, then." Greg started to clan up the little bit of spilled water. "Please be back before the hour is up."
"Ohkay!" Steven and the finger laughed and meowed merrily as they left.
Steven made his way to Fish Stew Pizza to show off his new cat. He told his order to one of the Pizza Twins behind the counter, Kiki,
"That'll be one, oh-five, Steven."
"Mohkay. Here's a nickel! And a buck~!" Steven held up the finger with a dollar bill in it's mouth.
"Oh, man, Steven. It. Is so cute!"
"Oh, Steven! That's adorable!"
"Sadie? And Lars? What are yall doin' here?"
"We're taking a break." The girl explained, "Especially after Mr. Lazy wouldn't stop complaining for a little more than half an hour."
"We have been deep cleaning ALL DAY." 'Mr. Lazy' defended himself.
Purrr
Sadie examined the cat her finger was petting with a suspicious look, "Are...youuu making it purr?"
"It kinda does what it wants." Steven denied any controlling force over the cat.
"Really." Lars decided to touch it as well and the cat bit his finger, "Yeow!"
"See what I mean? Bad Cat Finger!"
Sadie figured this was another Gem thing and didn't want to hinder Steven's progress, "Aw! I'm sure it just wants to play."
"What woulda...cat that can't go anywhere play with, though?" Kiki pointed out.
"You're right, Kiki!" Steven recognised. "He doesn't have any friends!"
Lars was mad the cat had bit him, "Ohmygosh! *It's just like you, Steven!*"
"Steven has plenty of friends, Lars." Kiki corrected.
Steven concentrated on relaxing and the rest of his fingers on his right turned into cats, "HaHA!"
ReReReowowow
Steven took his one slice of pizza and ate it with his normal left hand. He noticed the cats wanting his food, "Oh. I guess you guys need to eat too, huh? Bye, guys!"
The boy and his attached companions made their way to Beach Citywalk Fries, "Hey, PeeDee! ...Whoa. You work the deep fryer now? Make me some fry Bits!"
"Steven, I take my job seriously. Please, use the actual menu."
"Gimme the Bits! Thaaa Bits!"
"PeeDee, look:" the boy's father cut in, "It'll be over sooner if you just give him what he wants."
"Woah! Hey, hey! It's not for me. It's fooooo' 'dese guyyyyys!"
MrMrMrMreowowow OwOwrowow
"What the—!" Mr. Fryman stopped.
PeeDee returned, "Uh, here's your...fry...bits."
Steven lets the cats work on devouring the order.
"I can't. Look. Away." The adult stated slowly.
"Steven," PeeDee half-whispered, "that is freakish!"
"No, it's not. It's natural. Sha-ake, it, out!" Steven makes his left set of fingers into cats. "See?"
"Whoa! You know who would love this?" Fryman asked the boys. "Your older brother. Yo, Ronaldo!"
The teenager moving boxes answered, "What's up, Da— Gasp! Ah! AAHH! I gotta get a pic for Keep Beach City Weird!"
"What's that?" Steven asked.
"It's my blog! KEEP! BEACH! CITY! WEIRD!"
PeeDee made a soft noise of annoyance.
"Can I see the picture?" Steven took the offered phone.
ReEeEeeww
"Yikes!" he dropped the phone. "O-o-oh, sorry, guys. I guess Cat Fingers don't function well as...fingers."
"Steven?" Sadie got the boy's attention. "What are you doing home?"
"Dad said if I was gonna keep the cats around, that I could go home. He also said he'll be fine the rest of the day."
"Ah. Alright. Make sure you stay out of our curtains section alright? And don't make too big a mess anywhere else; we're almost done."
"Can I get a sandwich?"
"When and what did you last eat?"
"Not too long ago, but it was only one slice of pizza. I didn't have enough money for anything else. You were there, remember?"
"Oh. ...Well, sure. Don't go overboard so you can eat dinner, though."
"Yep!"
"C'mon, guys." Steven went straight to the fridge to see if there were any already made; as it was common. He struggled to open the fridge and to grab the only one there as his fingers wailed. "Sh! Guys, I'm just tryin'a finish lunch!" He finally has the sandwich, which was wrapped in a plastic bag, cradled in between his elbows.
Lars found Steven in front of an open refrigerator, "Steven. What are you doing."
"Uh... E-e-eating?" was Steven's embarrassed answer.
"...Those fingers aren't very useful, are they?"
"I...I-I uh—"
"Can you even make them go away? Did you think about that?"
"Um..."
"We're almost done in here. If you wanna help make—or even eat with us—you need your fingers. Go see if those ladies can help you."
"Wah!" the sandwich slipped from between Steven's elbows.
"Yeah, you need your fingers. Go on. You can have the sandwich when you have fingers. I'm not feeding you or something," Lars picked up the bagged sandwich and returned it to the fridge before he returned to his drink.
Steven made his way to the temple just in time to see the three he was looking for leaving on a very small boat,
"Amethyst! Wait!"
"Steven?" Pearl turned around.
"C'mon!" Amethyst beckoned the boy, "You can make it!"
Steven was going to swim, but was concerned about what would happen to his cat fingers if they couldn't breathe.
"Steven, what's going on?" Pearl asked loudly.
"U-u-uh, not much! I-I just turned all my fingers into cats!"
Amethyst laughed.
Pearl was concerned and told Garnet, "We have to stay and help Steven!"
"We can't." The tallest Gem replied. "This is a tectonic emergency. We'll deal with Steven when we get back."
"Amethyst, I blame you for this!"
Amethyst shrugged, "Eh. That's fair."
"GrraaaHHH! STEVEN, JUST TRY TO STAY CALM!"
Steven, with his help drifting off to distant waters, talked to his cat fingers on his way home, "Enough! No more Cat Fingers! I want Steven fingers! A-and I don't mean little me heads on fingers, I mean my regular fingers!" Steven huffed in frustration and puts his head into one palm of his hands.
Mrrw
Under Steven's hand, a new cat had formed in the corner of his forehead. Steven fell to the sand in fright, but another took away his whole hand when he landed on it.
"WWAHH! OH, OH! STOP! ...Wah! Oof!" Steven fell for the second time as his foot and ankle gave way to a head. More began cropping up and retreating in a ceaseless cycle all over the boy's body. "Arrg! Dad!" The boy continued his journey back home with difficulty.
Sadie and Lars were throwing the last of the trash out by the road when Steven's cat strewn body struggled towards their general direction.
ReReReReewewewew
"Gah! SADIE, WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING?"
"I don't know! Grab the-Wait! Listen to it!"
"Daaaad... Saaadiiie... Laaarrs…"
"S-steven?"
"SADIE!" Steven groaned in pain, "Help! The cat fingers are taking over my body!"
Lars thought the problem would've gone away, not become escalated, "What about the ladies?! They co—"
"They weren't there!" Steven interrupted.
Sadie started to get things under control, "H-Hold on, Steven! We'll get you out! Lars, call Greg; get him here ASAP!"
"Yeohkay!"
Sadie got closer to Steven and tried to simply move the cats off of him, but one bit her arm and flung her away.
"Sadie! No! Bad! Bad Cat Fingers!" Steven's body steps in a puddle and the cats reacted badly: they jumped most of the way to the roof of the Wash.
"So, you can't make them go away?!" Sadie tried to get some information.
"I tried! But it just made it worse!" The boy was lamenting his situation, "Oooh, my life is over! I can't help you guys at work! I can't even open the fridge! And I'll probably die of thirst since these things hate—Water! They hate water!"
"STEVEN!" Greg's van screeched to a stop.
"Dad! They hate water! Spray me with the hose!"
"LARS, turn on the water to the hose!"
"WHAT WILL A HOSE DO?!"
"JUST DO IT!"
"I ALREADY AM! I'M JUST ASKING!?"
RRRROWOWOWWRRR
"IT'S NOT LIKE WE KNOW EITHER! DO YOU HAVE ANY MORE IDEAS?! ANYTHING!?"
"NO?!"
"THE HOSE ISN'T WORKING!"
"THEN WHY ARE THEY REACTING SO BADLY?!"
"WE NEED MORE WATER!"
"I DON'T REALLY THINK THE OTHER HOSE WILL HELP, STEVEN!"
"THE BEACH! HELP ME GET TO THE BEACH!"
"WHAT IF YOU DROWN?!"
"YOU GUYS WON'T LET THAT HAPPEN TO ME!"
"RIGHT!"
The yelling that barely presided over the caterwauls from Steven's body ceased as the three adults stood around him. He travelled over a line of rocks that separated solid land from sand and fell a short distance from the slope that began the cliffs the lighthouse rested on.
MeMMMeMeooooowowowww
"Auh! Ow..."
"You're doing great, Steven!"
"Not much further!"
"KEEP! GOING!"
Steven reached the wet sand and a wave came rushing up to him. He struggled against the retreating cats but they began to pull him back.
MRMRRRMREEEEOOOWOWW
"No! No, no, no, no, nooo! Ah!"
"Hold on, Steven, we're still here!" Greg palliated.
With the cats shying from the water, Steven's body was mostly free from disfigurement from the front; all of his changing flesh having retreated to his back. Greg and Sadie each grabbed one of his arms and began to pull him towards the water. Lars started throwing handfuls of sand at the heads that turned their attention to the two hindrances.
As soon as Steven felt far in enough, he wrenched out of his guardians' hands and dunked himself under the surface. His bulk was now too big to be completely submerged, so he traveled further and tried again. He got the idea to roll and, when that didn't work, he took a deep, lasting breath and lodged himself to the bottom by having dug his hands and feet in the sand.
At the surface, the adults could only see brief flashes on fur and a lot of splashing that became less and less. As it calmed, Greg took the risk to get closer and closer, calling for his son as he went.
Lars hadn't gotten into the water yet, "I...think it's done."
"But where's Steven?" Sadie was looking around and behind where Greg wasn't, "He's still UNDER?!"
"STEVEN!" Greg called.
"Steven! Come up!" Sadie urged.
Lars was pointing his cell-phone light, "There's something to your left Greg!"
"I got it!" Greg pulled up the boy, "Steven!"
"Dad!" Steven coughed up a small bit of water, "We did it!"
A cat finger formed again in a delayed manner.
Mrew
"Wahhh!"
"Ahhhh!"
They dunked Steven's whole hand under the water until it disappeared.
"Oh... Oh, man." Greg held the boy as he retreated back up to the shore.
Steven shivered from being wet and at the release of adrenaline, "Well, I don't think I like cats now."
"...Where did you get a light?" Sadie asked.
Lars was trying to turn it off, "It's just my phone."
"That's smart!" Greg complimented.
"The water's dark, so I got some light to help look for him."
"Really, Lars, that was a good idea." Sadie tried to convince him. "...Although, now we're looking to buy to new phones. Mine won't turn on."
"We'll try drawing the water out with rice first. Now, let's get this tired man home. He's already out."
"He was supplying energy to multiple brains and a few other organs for most of the day. ...What?"
Bonus:
"These donuts will last me for weeks!"
"Ah, Mayor Dewey, sir!"
"Mayor Fogger, sir!"
"Did you hear the news about go ol' Mayor Washers?"
"No."
"You know Ocean Town?"
"Yeah."
"They're gonna reopen it for him; the Washer's legacy will be returned, sir. ...May I have a donut?"