Donut Family
AU
[Rebecca Sugar, Kat Morris and Aleth Romanillos.]
Exposition: CONNIE is introduced. Also Steven's bubble. Also Onion and Funland, to a small degree-which is why the latter two are not in this chapter.
—I have one or two of the the texting brackets inside quotations because I feel Steven would definitely sound out his typing/texting/writing a bit. He would also say the punctuation: * = asterisk.—
Tid-Bit Notes: Steven has lived around adult logic more than magic logic, so he won't go crazy with the stupid ideas. But that leaves me with the interesting solution to how they get into the ocean that you'll get to explore here. Also: Check out the flashback for this episode in, Donut Family Shorts!
-artisticRadifyer
Ch. 7 Bubble Buddies
"What kind of monster do you think that is?"
"Monster?"
"Well it's certainly not earthquakes."
"Right."
"Maybe a giant bird! Or a really fast monster with cool tongue! Or a floating pufferfish! Or—"
"What if it's the one the gems were fighting the day Steven summoned his shield? It screamed a lot."
"The monsters the gems fight don't really...come back. Not that I've seen, anyway."
"Besides, that one wasn't big enough to make earthquakes; we all saw it on the lighthouse. There weren't any—"
"There's a girl on the beach! By herself! ...I've seen her at the parade before!" Steven interrupted their 'debate' with his important observation before someone started yelling.
Greg was the first to join Steven by the doorway he was lingering in, "Huh. So there is."
"Steven, you should go talk to her!" Sadie suggested.
"What?" the boy asked.
"Heheh." Lars figured this would be funny, "Go see how badly you can get rejected."
"I could totally show off my new bike to her!"
"Keep your phone on you, Steven." Greg reminded.
"Tell me if you're coming for lunch too; people are coming to tour, remember." Lars didn't want the boy eating the guests' food.
Steven knew that was important, "Do you need help cleaning? Or anything?"
Greg tried to ease his son's energy, "You know it looks fine already, Steven."
"But these are super important! They keep the wash going! Text me if I can do anything; promise!"
"We give our word, young Son."
"OhkayByeee!"
Lars raced to grab an old VHS from out of his and Sadie's conjoined room, "Ohkay, put on the show; he's gone."
Greg shook his head at the two huddled near the small television and VHS, "You two have some gory taste."
Steven rode his bike into the beach's sand and over by the girl who sat against the bottom of the small cliffside, "Sm-Smooth ride... Five speeds... Hand brakes... Electric-blue finish with a tiger bell..." The referred bell rang to compliment the statement. "I bet there are a lotta kids who'd like to ride this ba-Whoa!" Steven fell over with his bike.
The girl looked up at him.
"Uh... AAH!" Steven ran away, back to the Old Wash in retreat. He panted just inside the doorway and found all three of the normal residents of the wash staring at him intently. "What's up?"
"What's she like?" Greg asked.
"Huh?"
Sadie tried a different question, "You talked right?"
"Uh. No? She was reading."
"Well. You tried." Lars figured it was over and done with.
"No, no, no." Sadie put herself in front of Lars, "Steven, go back out there. Make a new friend! See if she's new to the city, ask her what she's reading, go get something to eat!"
"Just have fun, Stew-Ball." Greg added.
"I have fun all the time." Steven was confused at their insistence.
Sadie took his tone as needing encouragement, "So, get on back out there!"
"Yeah! Don't watch me this time! It'll mess up my funky flow!"
"Funky flow?"
"We won't watch, Stee-Man." Greg assured.
Steven remembered to grab a frozen glow-bracelet from his Cookie-Cat-freezer.
"What's that?" Lars asked.
"Nothing!"
"Should we go back to the show or watch the drama unfold?"
Greg sighed, "He said not to watch him, guys."
"Girls never follow that rule," Sadie said.
"It won't hurt him, man," Lars added.
"...I do need to keep an eye on my son." Greg caved.
"That's the idea."
"Hi. My name is Steven. Hi. My name is Stee-ven. Hi. My name is, Stev-in."
rrrrrroooooOOOOOOAAAAARARAWAWWWW
"Whooah. Oh! Ah!" Steven spotted a piece of the rock face crack and begin to fall towards the girl. He raced to her, "HI! MY NAME IS, STEVEN!"
The girl dropped her book as she is bowled into by Steven and a pink bubble forms around the two; which protects them both from the rubble that fell onto it.
"Whoa. How did I do that? ...Hi. My name, is Steven."
"...Connie. What...happened?"
Steven helped Connie stand up, "I'm magic—Well, half-magic; on my mom's side."
"You did this?"
"Apparently. I'm gonna be a member of the Crystal Gems. They fight monsters and protect humanity and stuff."
"Oh! That's kinda like my dad. He's a cop. Well, more like a private security guard. ...So... How long does it usually last?"
"Oh! Right! Hnnnng! NNNNGG!" Steven slapped his own gemmed belly uselessly.
"What's wrong?"
"It uhhh...doesn't seem to wanna go away."
"Oh..."
Steven began pressing up against the side of the bubble he was on to try and move it, "Nmf... So, I don't see you around that often."
Connie came to stand beside him and help roll the ball over some rocks, "My dad works for a bunch of different beaches. So, we're never in the same place long."
"I go on adventures with the Gems...sometimes. It usually seems like they're just a little too dangerous for me, though." Steven pushed harder, the rocks gave way a small inch and he falls down.
"Do you always go in a bubble?"
"No. This is new. I don't know what this is. It could be a mom thing, it could be a me thing... They should really tell me more about mom. But it's ohkay! The Gems still might know what to do." Steven texted his father, [Gem thing happened. Gonna go see if they can help.]
[are you in a pink ball]
[Like a hamster!a] [It might be a long while…]
[good luck] [if you get stuck in the sand tell me]
The two children attempted to roll up a hill, but physics resisted them. Steven called up to the temple, yet no one came down, "Ohkay, they could be gone for weeks at a time to do missions; I don't wanna wait forever so we can just go to the Old Wash."
"'Old Wash'?"
"Yeah, I live there!"
Steven texted his father again, [Gems aren't there, so we're coming back.]
[we] [?]
[Yeah! Connie is in here tooa!]
[oh i though you only got yourself in there]
[Nope.]
[well we got the guest rented for the next two or three days] [they will probably be gone for the evening by time ur back]
"Connie what's your last name?"
"Maheswaran. Why?"
"Dad's gonna wanna call you by your last name in the beginning; you'll have to tell him what name you want him to use yourself."
"Ohkay."
[Her name is Connie Mahayshwaren?] [Mahesharin]
"How do you spell it?"
"M-A-H-E-S-W-A-R-A-N."
"Mk, [Maheswaran*]. There."
When the two arrived, Greg was lounging outside waiting for them, "—"
"Dad!" Steven observed his dad talking, but no sound was filtering through the bubble. "Um."
"He is talking right?"
"Yeah... I guess the bubble is soundproof."
"...Hm. Oh! Steven, text him!"
"Yeah!" [We can't hear you!]
Greg had started tapping on the surface of the bubble at some point, and the children watched him notice his blinking phone, [oh]
[So?]
[well you brought it out so why did you]
[I was protecting Connie from a falling piece of cliff! It woulda killed her?m!]
[oh man] [so heat of the moment protection] [but youre safe now and its not leaving] [?]
[Yeah, it won't leave.]
[how calm are you tho] [you still look really nervous]
[I think] [I'm nervous Connie won't be my friend after this.]
[shell come around and be perf fine]
[Can we break it?]
[ill go get lars and sadie]
"...Where's he going?"
"OH! He's going to get Lars and Sadie. They're all gonna try and break the bubble."
"Huh. How?"
"I dunno. They've got some interesting ideas when they conductively work together."
"Alright. Do you think we can do anything from in here?"
"Uh. Do you have anything sharp?"
"Besides my nails or my glasses, I don't. And I'm not using my glasses."
"It's either nails or we can try repeatedly hitting one side..."
"That sounds kinda painful though. I'd rather try scratching."
"Oh! Lars and Sadie have been out here while we were talking!"
Lars is seen licking the bubble on Steven's side and Sadie turned agitated. Greg shot a look and a comment over to them, and Lars pouted. Sadie left and returned with a hammer. Greg took to her example and is soon equipped with a single hand saw. Lars has to be told to retrieve something and comes back with one of the weapons the male's parents were going to use against the Red Eye. A small argument began to pick up as the children watch,
"Why does he have an AR-15?"
"Uh... You know what kind of gun that is?"
"My dad makes sure I know gun safety, and when school is in recess, we're only allowed informational books... That's just what happens when you don't have friends and you don't get asked to play games. ...Y-you read about everything."
"Heh... Oh, hey! They're going at it again!"
All three people were doing something to the pink, indestructible bubble: Steven's father with the saw, the young lady with the nail-removing side of the hammer now, and the young man with a driver golf-club. The latter was swinging halfheartedly, and the precursor to him gets frustrated enough to storm inside the building. Sadie races back out just as Lars gives the club a serious swing, and the children inside were in the process of falling when the stool she carried collides with the bubble on the same side as Lars' strike.
Steven and Connie fell over each other a few times before they slowed and Steven's position allowed him to warn Connie about their next course of action:
"Connie, hold ooOOONNN! AAAAAHHHH!"
"AAAAHHHH!"
The two children tipped over the edge of the rocks that separate the beach from normal ground and, between the slope and the momentum the two gained, rolled right into the shallows. The water slowed them down significantly, but then the liquid controlled the defensive sphere. Churned currents tumbled it until the ball grew too heavy and deposited it to the seabed.
"Where are we?"
Steven handed back the girl's glasses, "The bottom of the ocean..."
"Hhhh!"
"I-it's ohkay!"
"Are we even close to the shore?!"
"Yeah! Sure!"
"Let's start rolling."
"It's a good thing this bubble is airtight. Otherwise we'd be drowning right now." Steven's tense laugh trailed into silence before he spoke up again, "Don't worry, Connie. I have an idea that will definitely work. When we get back—"
mooorRRROOOOOOWww
"Ah!"
"Whoa!"
"Ahh!"
"A huge worm! It's ohkay. Look! It only wants to eat that bright stuff." The huge worm begins to chomp at some glowing, pink seaweed. "See? Not scary at all."
GWWWRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHhhhhh
A crevice opens under the bubble, by cause of the worms roar, and the entire device and people inside fall deeper into the ocean.
"Ughh... Oh! S-sorry!" Steven removes his foot from Connie's face. "Are you alright?"
"..."
"It's not so bad... I-it's ohkay! I, uh—"
"IT'S NOT OHKAY! You keep saying that, but YOU don't know what you're doing! Now we're going to suffocate or starve at the bottom of the ocean," Connie begins to cry, "and only my parents will notice because no one else cares about me!"
"Whoa! Hey, no!"
"I'm gonna disappear without ever making a single friend..."
"We can be friends. I saw you drop your bracelet at the Boardwalk Parade last year. I saved it in freezers to keep it glowing; since I couldn't find you when I got it."
"Oh! You were on that donut float. You had clumps of sprinkles or something in your hair."
"I was a just messy employee... Which I still am, I suppose... I'm sorry, Connie." The boy puts the bracelet onto the girl, "If I had found you back then, you wouldn't be stuck in this bubble with me now."
"You're a really nice person, Steven. I don't think that would have changed anything."
The bubble popped, and the two found their way to the surface. The monster worm surfaced seconds after the children and washed them both ashore. The three guardians that had been looking for them get drenched and go briefly unnoticed when the children scrambled to their feet.
Lars saw the monster first, "WHAT the—"
Greg had only seen the children so far, "STEVEN!"
"DAD?! DON'T COME CLOSER! RUN!" Steven ran with Connie further away from his three caretakers, "They're good, but not this good!"
"Let's hide in the rocks, Steven!" Connie yelled.
They tried to get to the rocks at the base of the pier near them, but the worm ran them down before they make it to cover. Steven saw no reason for it to be chasing them, "Why is it chasing us?!" The worm lunged towards Connie's side, and the boy saw the glow bracelet, "The bracelet! It eats bright stuff! CONNIE!"
"Steven?!"
"Gimme the bracelet!" He took it before he continued over her confusion, "It's ohkay! Now go, GO! Run that way! Ah! I'm sorry!"
Steven lead the worm on a wild chase between the pillars holding up Funland's second pier until it stuck tight. Its struggles caused the pier to collapse upon it and the monster poofed out of existence.
"Steven! Are you two alright?!" Greg asked.
"Yeah..."
"How did you not DIE?" Lars questioned.
Sadie was quick to defend the half-magical boy, "You underestimate him! He basically got Frybo by himself!"
Greg hugged the two kids, "I'm so glad you two are ohkay!"
Steven tried to tone down Sadie's praise in front of Connie, "I got help from Pearl that time..."
"You didn't have any help this time!" the woman said.
"How do we even know it was Steven?" Lars asked, tired of the excitement.
Connie wasn't to hear Steven be put down twice in her range of hearing, "It was him! He was incredible!"
"See?" Sadie was smug with her answer, "He has a witness."
"Really, Connie?" Steven asked. The referred nodded positively and he remembered the glowing object in his hand, "Uh. Here's your bracelet... Again."
"Thanks."
Greg was ready to wrap this up, "So, are you going to introduce us?"
"He was so excited to meet you!" Sadie added.
"Um—" Steven started.
"Hi. I'm Lars. You're Connie. Bye."
Greg was appalled by the younger male's dismissal, "Wha— Lars! That's not polite!"
"I'm Sadie Miller. He's Lars Barriga."
"I'm Greg Universe! And—"
"He's my dad!"
"Your last name is Universe?" Connie asked. "Cool!"
"Come and have dinner with us." Greg invited.
"Oh! Yeah, she can meet MC Bear-Bear! After we drop this gem off..." Steven trailed off as picked up the Gem.
Connie hadn't quite caught the identity of the name he'd said, "Who?"
Bonus:
"Hello!"
"Hello, ?"
"Yes. You're here to see both rooms?"
"Yes."
"Right this way."
"Sadie! Where'd you put the bread?"
"You KNOW I'm not tall enough to even get it without a chair!"
"I also know you're too lazy to put it back!"
"...I've still got it! Sorry for yelling."
"We have company!"
"..."
"You have a lively household. That's very pleasant to see. Ours is so quiet now that our kids have moved out."
"We have a kid. He's out playing with one of his friends, though."
"YOU have a kid! I do not have anything to do with that magical Belly Button!"
"I'm not even close to being ready for kids..."
"I can't wait to meet him too!"