As the sun peeks over the horizon he awakes to a tense atmosphere. Everyone around him seems worried about something but he can't understand what. They're home aren't they? It's safe here. Getting up he huffs and walks to the person who seems the most tense. She was the second person after Amethyst to feed him. Her hair is a fluffy cube around her head, her arms crossed but the gems on her palms glitter visibly in the low light. Despite the star shaped glasses she wears, hiding her eyes, he can tell she's extremely tense.
She's leaning against the table near where he and the lion were sleeping. Padding quietly over to her he nuzzles one of her hands, then sits and looks up at her. Trying his best to offer what comfort he can. She smiles down at him and he enjoys a gentle pat on his head from her. He hopes she feels comforted, cuz her caring attention makes him feel good too.
The group all decided to wait until morning to call the Diamonds. That way Steven, Greg and Connie could be rested for the inevitable chaos should the Diamonds panic and fly to Beach City on their ship. The gems were tense all night, Pearl pacing around the house, tidying up as she went, Amethyst went to her room doing who knows what, Lapis went for a fly around the area, while Peridot went to her greenhouse to tend to a few plants before morning. Bismuth sat at the table Garnet was leaning on, they both appeared calm, however they may be the most tense out of everyone. They all have issues with the Diamonds but Bismuth and Garnet have the most hostile issues to work through. So the prospect of asking them for help had the two tense as if preparing for battle.
When Steven stirs they both glance at his corrupted form. It figures that out of every gem, Steven would break the mold and be peaceful and cute right off the bat. Steven sits up, yawns and stretches, revealing claws and teeth that remind them of the damage he could do if he was hostile. He looks around, as if getting his bearings. When his eyes settle on Garnet he lets out a small huff and quietly walks up to her. She just watches, unmoving as he approaches, curious as to what he'll do. The last thing Garnet expected was for Steven to nuzzle her hand, asking for attention. A small smile graces her face as she uncrosses her arms, and gives Steven the attention he's asking for. He whines a little, and pushes his head further against her hand, clearly enjoying it. Garnet can feel her tension releasing somewhat; even corrupted Steven seems to know exactly what to do to calm her and keep her together. Feeling more relaxed, Garnet stands straight again. She feels a little more focused now, prepared to deal with the Diamonds.
Bismuth smiles and huffs a small laugh, "Seems the little fuzzball knows just what to do to get you to chill a bit." Steven moves over to her, curious about that rainbow colored hair of hers. He stares at her for a moment, she stares back, then he jumps his front paws up onto her lap. Startled, she sits straighter in her chair, no longer leaning on the table. With more room, Steven jumps the rest of the way, fully seated on her lap now. He barely fits, despite how big she is. Leaning forward he snuffles around her hair, his fuzz tickling her neck. Bismuth raises her shoulders reflexively and gently grabs Steven by the shoulders to push him away, while she starts to laugh.
"Hey now, fuzzball, personal space." she laughs. Steven lets her push him back. The light glinting off something in her pocket catches his attention as he does. It's a small hammer Bismuth likes to keep in her pocket, for emergency repairs she doesn't need to shapeshift for. He lunges and snatches it from her pocket. "Hey!" Bismuth exclaims, trying to grab the hammer back. Steven leaps off her lap and runs around the room, playing keep away as Bismuth chases him.
Hearing the commotion Pearl comes downstairs from where she was tidying Steven's room. She can't help the small giggle as she watches Steven play with Bismuth. She glances over at the couch, the noises woke Greg, but he just smiles, and watches his son's goofy antics. She smiles and sits on the steps as two of her favorite people goof around and release some more of the tension that had been filling the room.
Amethyst leaves her room, wondering what all the commotion is about. As soon as she does there's a clatter of something being dropped on the floor, and suddenly she's pinned under a giant lump of pink fuzz. She can't help the giggle she lets out as Steven snuffles around her hair. She pushes him off her, still giggling at the ticklish sensation and sits up. Still snuffling around Steven practically buries himself in her long hair. He looks up at her and gives her a lopsided grin, his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth. She starts laughing, a full belly laugh. It looks like Steven has her hair on as a wig. While she laughs, Greg, Pearl and Bismuth join in; the image of Steven and Amethyst is too funny. Even Garnet cracks a big smile while everyone laughs.
Peridot and Lapis return via the warp pad, both looking at Amethyst in bewilderment as she continues to laugh. When Steven sees who's warped in he crouches, back end in the air, and prepares himself.
Peridot raises her hands, "Don't you dare!" He leaps before she can run. Utilizing her smaller size she manages to duck, only for Steven to tackle Lapis accidentally instead. She screeches and laughs as Steven snuffles her hair and Peridot attempts to make a strategic getaway, crawling on her hands and knees.
"Oh no you don't!" Lapis shouts, "Steven, go get her!" she points at Peridot and draws his attention to the fleeing gem. She screeches as he launches himself off of Lapis and runs across the house to tackle her to the floor. She demands Steven remove himself from her back as he snuffles her hair and presses her to the floor with all his weight.
Once again everyone is laughing as Peridot manages to wiggle out from under Steven and he chases her around the beach house. Lion, having had enough of the noise, gets up and leaves the house, they hear a roar as he creates a portal and vanishes. Eventually Peridot climbs Bismuth and hides on her head, out of Steven's reach. He tries a few times, jumping up and trying to grab her or knock her off Bismuth. Unable to get to her, he sits and huffs. Suddenly his stomach growls. Pearl gets up and goes to the fridge before Amethyst can load him up on more junk food. She puts together a healthy meal quickly, and puts it in a bowl on the floor for him. He's munching away happily as another roar is heard outside. Connie steps into the house with Lion and smiles at everyone.
"I was worried it would be super tense in here. Good to see you're all doing okay!"
"We were, but Steven fixed that." Bismuth laughs with her hands on her hips, Peridot still huddled on top of her head like a green hat. "Even corrupted, the kid knows just what to do to bring in the good vibes."
Connie smiles sadly, she loves Steven and his infectious positivity, but knowing he feels responsible for helping others, even while he's suffering, makes her sad. She loves that he helps others, but learning that doing so to the possible detriment of himself is so deeply ingrained that he does it even while corrupted, also makes her sad. Her jam bud needs her and once he's better she's going to sit him down and have a little talk with him.
Taking a deep breath she says, "Everyone ready then?"
Everyone's moods immediately sober up and become serious. They all nod in unison and head up to the galaxy warp as a group. Time to make an uncomfortable call.
He's having so much fun! What had originally started as trying to comfort and ease the stress these kind people were feeling, quickly devolved into total fun for him. Especially once Amethyst starts laughing; he loves that sound, second only to the squeaks that come from the green gem when he chases her. So much fun! Then he feels his stomach rumble and realizes that all his goofing has made him hungry. He notices the others hear his stomach and the pale gem rushes to the cold box and starts doing something with the objects she takes out. She and Amethyst seem to be contending over something. He's not sure he understands what until the pale gem sets a bowl in front of him. Whatever is inside smells great and he realizes they were contending over what he should eat. He's perfectly content with more Chaaaps, but the greens, oranges, reds and purples covered in some sort of delicious smelling goo, is also good to him. When he starts eating, the coolness and crisp crunch of the plants are a pleasant surprise. Coupled with the goo on top and he happily crunches away on the "healthier" food, as the pale gem calls it.
While he eats he notices the lion returns with the human girl. He likes her a lot, she makes him feel calm and relaxed. The people and gems around him chat, but he doesn't really pay attention, too caught up in his delicious meal. Soon enough he finishes and sits up, noticing some tension has returned to the group. Before he decides to do anything, the group starts climbing the stairs. He follows, curious, and pauses in the room the stairs lead to. It looks familiar, 'bedroom' his mind supplies as an explanation for the space. Not sure what that means, he just continues to follow the group outside, up more stairs, and into a crystal dome.
Once everyone is situated and ready Pearl activates the gem tech computer and calls the Diamonds directly. After a few rings, Spinel is the gem who answers.
"Heya! What's up folks? Not like you guys to call outta the blue like this." Spinel's face is so close to the screen only one half of her face is visible.
"Ahem. Spinel, we need to speak to the Diamonds, please. It's urgent." Pearl speaks up.
"Spinel, dear, who is it?" A quiet, melodious voice speaks from behind her. She turns slightly and speaks to the gem offscreen.
"It's the Crystal Gems, Blue. They wanna talk to you, Yellow and White."
The gem off screen, Blue Diamond, hums quietly and the gems can hear her tapping away on her own screen, presumably calling the other two diamonds. They're all quiet for a moment while they wait. Spinel, seeming to notice how tense everyone is, keeps her usual exuberance to herself for the time being. Connie glances behind her at Steven. He's shaking a little, ears back and tail tucked. Quietly she crouches and pets him reassuringly. Carefully she moves him so he's behind the group and hidden by everyone. Hopefully that makes him feel a little safer. It seems to work as his shaking settles down some, she turns her attention back to the screen as two new voices can be heard. The other two diamonds have arrived.
"Spinel, Blue, what's this about the Crystal Gems wishing to speak with us?" Yellow can be heard speaking in her usual authoritative tone. Spinel backs off the screen so she and the diamonds can be seen. They're in Blue Diamonds chamber, the walls and floor, varying shades of blue.
"Hello everyone, to what do we owe the pleasure? Odd to hear from you without Steven. Is he there?" White steps forward and asks.
Garnet, never one to mince words, says "We would like to request fresh bottles of essence. We need it for… Steven…"
Blue leans forward, closer to the screen, "Why does Steven need fresh essence? The bottles we gave him should last for quite awhile. He's not wasted them has he?" she looks very sad at the thought. Hoping their sweet Steven hadn't been so careless.
"No." Garnet says, "We need it to heal him. Steven… has become corrupted…"
Spinel and the Diamonds gasp, hands flying to cover their mouths, Blue with tears in her eyes, "What!? How?"
Between Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, they catch the Diamonds up on what they know. Which is sadly, not much they realize. While they talk, the other gems and humans in the room move aside, revealing Steven behind them, and Greg leads him forward so he can be seen more clearly. He's shaking, curled somewhat in on himself and leaning heavily against Greg. Spinel, Blue, Yellow and White all look a mixture of horrified, curious, and contemplative. Immediately they all agree to produce the freshest essence possible, and send Spinel over with new bottles. They hang up the call as they go to their respective extraction chambers, and the group lets out a collective sigh.
"Well that went way better than I thought it would." Lapis speaks. Steven huffs and steps away from Greg to go up to Lapis and leans on her for comfort. She smiles at him leaning against her chest, and pats his head reassuringly.
After an hour of waiting in the dome, the galaxy warp goes off with a chime, revealing Spinel with three colorful bottles in her spindly arms. The normally boisterous gem is unusually serious as she steps off the warp pad and hands the bottles to Pearl. She turns to where Steven sits with Amethyst, Connie, Lapis, and Peridot, munching on Chaaaps. She slowly walks over to them, wringing her hands worriedly, but pauses when Steven sees her and cringes away.
"Hey don't worry, try this." Amethyst walks to Spinel and hands her some chips. Spinel takes the chips and crouches, holding them out to Steven. When he doesn't approach her, she stretches her arm the distance between them. When he relaxes and takes the snack, she backs off, clearly uncomfortable herself.
"I better get back so the Diamonds don't worry too much. Call us right away with the results, White says." She waves at the group, stretches to pat Steven on the head, then warps back to homeworld.
"Let's not waste time. Pearl, Amethyst, help me get him to the bathroom. Lapis, would you go to the fountain and get some fresh water please?" Lapis nods, she, Garnet, Amethyst Pearl and Steven head back downstairs. Lapis takes the warp pad, while Garnet Amethyst and Pearl lead Steven into the bathroom.
Pearl partially fills the tub with warm water while Amethyst opens the bottles and adds a small amount of each to the water. Lapis returns on the warp, some fountain water floating around her head. She adds it to the tub when Pearl nods at her to do so. The colors of the essence swirl around in the water as Garnet lifts Steven into the tub. Lapis can't help but giggle a little at the squeak Steven lets out when Garnet lifts him. Once he's in the tub, they still, and watch for any changes. Several minutes pass, and nothing visibly happens.
The water is warm and soothing, much nicer than the creek water he played in before. The colors flowing around him hold his attention, every time he moves they swirl in new patterns. He shifts and moves in the water, and even lowers his snout into it to blow colorful bubbles. He looks up as he hears a sniffling sound, the pale gem has begun tearing up. Whining, he climbs out of the tub and goes to her. She wraps her arms around his neck in a tight hug, despite the water dripping off him. The other three gems in the room join the hug, tears in their eyes. After drying him off they all go back upstairs together.
Whatever they wanted to happen when they put him in the water… Didn't…