"Ta-da!" Amethyst cheers as she holds up what looks like some straps and a rope.
The group of gems and humans pause what they're doing, Steven simply continues to enjoy his breakfast, and look between each other and Amethyst in confusion.
"Um- Amethyst that's a very nice… rope?" Pearl says awkwardly.
Amethyst scoffs, "It's not just a rope. I was digging in my room and found a harness and lead that should fit Steven." She untangles the rope and straps to show everyone. "Technically it's designed for really big dogs, but I figure it should fit him well enough. Hopefully it's not too tight. He's a big boy." she cackles.
"Amethyst that's so resourceful!" Pearl praises, making Amethyst blush, pleased with herself.
"This is great! Now we can take him to all his favorite places and not worry about losing him!" Peridot jumps up and helps Amethyst finish untangling everything. With Lapis and Connie's help, and Steven's cooperation, they successfully strap the harness around his chest. If it wasn't for his unusual colors, and spikes, he'd almost look like the large dog that harness was made for.
While Steven gets used to the harness the group sits down to come up with a game plan for the day. Ultimately they decide to work systematically, starting at the temple and ending at Little Homeworld. They, mostly Pearl, put together a schedule to "maximize their time and show Steven as much as possible of his home." Once they all agreed on a schedule, and who would take Steven where, they all split up. The gems warped away with Connie to let the townsfolk and Little Homeworld residents know what's going on. They've done a great job of avoiding panic so far, no need to risk anything happening now.
Greg attaches the lead to the metal ring on the back of the harness, and starts leading Steven out of the beach house and into town. He can't help but feel intensely awkward, walking his son like a dog. Sometimes all this gem stuff is too weird.
When Amethyst, Lapis, Peridot and Connie put these straps on him he was unsure and maybe a little uncomfortable, but he adjusted quickly. Plus now he and his dad are out together, walking down the beach towards a building nearby. The building has a large circular and colorful object on top of it. His ears perk up as a gentle ding plays when his dad opens the door. Following him inside his nose is practically assaulted by the aroma of many small fluffy looking circles. All a smaller copy of the big one outside, with maybe a few differences. His dad goes up to the man behind the counter. He follows and looks around as they talk, ignoring the way the other human looks at him. The area is fairly open with a couple small tables with chairs on one side and several machines on the other. He walks up to one with yellow and orange colored characters. They look like they're supposed to look like lions, but they're terrible. He huffs and returns to his dad's side, pressing his nose to the glass protecting the wonderful smelling circles. The man takes a few and places them in a bag before handing them to his dad. He looks worriedly at him as they turn to leave, then grabs a cloth and bottle and cleans his nose print off the glass.
His dad sits at one of the tables outside and takes out one of the circles. "Here ya go buddy, your favorite flavor and everything."
Holding it out, he carefully takes the snack. As soon as his teeth sink into it an incredible world of flavor explodes in his mouth. Careful of his dads hand he snatches up the donut and devours it in a few bites.
"Slow down Schtu-ball, don't make yourself sick! I got more." His dad pulls another heavenly donut out of the bag. He happily chows down.
Leaving the Big Donut they walk together along the wooden walkway. As they walk along more smells he hadn't noticed before meet his nose. Before he can begin to parse through what each one is, someone waving at them catches his attention. It's Connie!
She runs up to them, "I've talked to the Pizza's Blue Lace Agate and the Fryman's. We're all set to get the snacks. I've paid in advance for Steven's favorite of each."
"Thanks Connie, I'll pay you back later." Greg smiles.
They take Steven along the boardwalk to his favorite food joints. The three of them enjoy some pizza with all the toppings. While they enjoy their meal Kofi and Bixbite take a few moments to sit with them, and talk to and pet Steven. They wish Kiki and Jenny were around, they were close with Steven, but Jenny is out getting supplies to make her "Jackets for phones" and Kiki is out doing deliveries. At Spacetries Blue Lace feeds him his favorite flavor cupcake and pets him. She's being gentle, for her, which means squishing and mushing his face around as she pets him. That's what makes her so good at kneading dough, and he seems to really enjoy the, somewhat rough, affection. Leaving Spacetries they head to Fryman's for one more snack. Peedee meets them outside with a small paper tray full of Steven's favorite Fry Bits. He happily munches away as he gets more attention. Connie is startled as loud yelling can be heard coming from the fry shop. She peeks in the window and sees Ronaldo, phone in hand arguing with his dad. Something about wanting a picture of Steven for his blog. Worried the noise may have set him off, Connie glances at Steven, catching Peedee's eyes. So that's why Peedee met them outside. Steven doesn't seem to notice or care as he happily finishes his fry bits, so she smiles gratefully at Peedee and gives him a thumbs up. Pleased with himself Peedee goes back to work after giving Steven one last hug.
They meet Amethyst at the arcade to trade off shifts. It's her turn to show Steven some of his favorite games, and afterwards she plans to take him around Funland. Connie and Greg only make it a few yards away when they hear more yelling. They turn to see Mr Smiley chasing the two out of the arcade.
"Don't even think about stepping foot in here again until you've paid for the damages from last time!"
Amethyst can be heard cackling as she and Steven run off. Greg sighs and pulls out his checkbook to pay for whatever mischief Amethyst and Steven got up to.
He runs out of the arcade after Amethyst. The big smiling man chased after them a little ways, yelling. He must be mad that he won that game so hard it broke last time he was here. Oh well, he's not bothered. Something in him says this has happened before and it'll be okay in the end. He happily runs alongside Amethyst, picking up the pace when he notices they're headed right for Funland. He loved watching people have fun last time, he knows he'll love it again. They pause once they pass the entrance, Amethyst clearly thinking about what to do first.
She snaps her fingers, "Oh I know just the game to start with!"
He follows as she leads him to a stall with a table full of bottles and decorated with various sized green beings with big heads and eyes. They remind him of Peridot. As Amethyst starts throwing rings at the bottles a sound catches his attention. He turns, trying to find the source. It's quiet, but high pitched and raises and lowers in volume at irregular intervals. Distracted from Amethyst's game he begins to slowly follow the noise. His ears twitch as he turns his head, trying to pinpoint the direction to go. The sound is slightly louder to his right, further into Funland. As he walks, turning on occasion, the sound becomes clearer. It's a high pitched wailing intermittently interrupted but a small gasping sound. Turning one more corner, well out of the eyesight of Amethyst by this point, he finally sees the source of the sound. A tiny human girl.
She's sitting on one of the benches scattered around the area, curled up in a ball and crying. As he walks up to her he notices she has a small scrape on her knee.
"Daddy!" she sobs, "Daddy where are you!?"
His heart aches in sympathy as his mind echoes with cries, "Daaad! I want my Dad!"
He walks up to the little girl, she doesn't notice him at first, and nudges her with his snout. She gasps in fear and looks up, staring at him. He simply sits where he is and watches her.
"A-are you-" she hiccups, "s-some sort of doggy?" he tilts his head to the side curiously.
"Are you l-lost to doggy? I can-can't find my dad." she starts to cry again, "I've looked all over, a-and I even fell and scraped my kn-knee!" she sits, feet dangling off the bench, hands clenched on her legs as tears stream down her face.
He scoots a little closer to her, watching her carefully so he doesn't scare her, and leans down, licking her knee, and healing the scrape. She gasps as the pain fades away, and watches as the injury disappears like magic. Stars in her eyes.
"Magic Puppy" she whispers in awe. She then blinks and reaches out to him slowly, as if he'd disappear if she moved too fast, "Can I pet you Magic Puppy?"
He leans his head forward and lets her pet him. She's cautious, with good reason since he's easily four or five times her size, but gains confidence as he stays still and lets her run her hands through his curly hair.
"I was supposed to stay close while my dad checked the directory to find the bathrooms, but while he was looking I got distracted by a really pretty butterfly and got lost following it…"
In a moment of panic he suddenly remembers he was supposed to stay with Amethyst! Thinking quickly he moves to kneel down in front of the girl. She seems to understand his intention as she climbs onto his shoulders, just above his spikes, and holds on to his harness, lead dragging on the ground. Together they begin the trek back.
"I didn't know Magic Puppies were real! Or that they could be such a pretty shade of pink! What kind of magic puppy are you? Or are you more like a fairy? *gasp* Can you grow wings!? CAN YOU FLY!?" the girl rambles on, question after question, never expecting an answer, just happy to no longer be alone. She giggles and chats, completely unafraid of the large corruption she's now riding like a pony.
Rounding a few corners and successfully backtracking his way to the stand Amethyst was at, he sees her just as she's about to run off in a panic, looking for him. She spots him and his passenger instead and runs up to them.
"Steven! Jeez man, you can't just run off like that! That's why we put the harness on you!" she glances at the girl on his back, "Who you got there?"
The girl stares down at him, "Your name is Steven? That's a silly name for a magic puppy. Your name should be something more like Pink Curly-Cue of Flooftopia! That's much better!" she giggles then looks at Amethyst, "My name's Sophie! I got lost and Curly-Cue found me. He's helping me find my dad!" Sophie gives a big happy grin, he can barely tell she'd been crying just a few minutes ago, though something about what she said rings in his ears unpleasantly. "Are you My Dad? I'm looking for My Dad."
Amethyst sighs, smiling at the cute kid who reminds her a lot of Steven when he was younger. A loud yell catches everyone's attention.
"Sophie! There you are!" A man, presumably Sophie's father, runs up to them.
"Daddy!" she shrieks, throwing her arms out, and practically falling off him, into her dads arms.
He hugs her tightly, scolding her for running off. "Please don't scare me like that again!"
"I promise! But daddy I got to meet the nicest puppy ever at least! And he's magic!"
He glances skeptically over at him and Amethyst, who's trying not to laugh.
Choosing to ignore the magic part he asks, "You sure that's a dog honey?"
"I'm positive Dad! What else would he be? He's a cute, big, fluffy, magic puppy!"
Amethyst can't contain herself anymore and rolls on the ground cackling. The father watches her a moment before standing with Sophie in his arms. He steps up to Amethyst when she stops laughing and stands up.
"Thank you for helping my daughter. I don't know what I'd do if she'd gotten hurt."
Sophie leans over in his arms to pet him so he leans forward so she can reach better. "Don't worry! Curly-Cue would make it better if I did, just like my scraped knee!"
Her father just gives her a patient look as she pets him, as if she's just got an overactive imagination. Her knee isn't injured after all. After more thanks and pets, Sophie and her dad leave. Still giggling, Amethyst leads him from Funland to meet up with the other gems.
Amethyst takes Steven to Little Homeworld. For the rest of the day they each take turns bringing Steven along with their Little Homeschool duties. He sits with the other gems very well during Pearl's lecture, and does his own interpretation of yoga during Garnet's class. During a game of baseball with Amethyst coaching, he fetches the balls. He always manages to chase them down and return fairly quickly, considering how far some gems would hit the ball. Amethyst isn't worried he'll run off or get lost anymore, not after Funland. In Lapis' Meep Morp gallery he gets covered in paint and leaves paw prints all over, something Lapis loves the look of, so she practically forces him to walk on a canvas to leave more prints. Which he does, and promptly rolls and smears the paint over half of it. Lapis loves it even more, and has declared she's going to hang it up for everyone to see. At the greenhouse he and Peridot, and her class, have some chaotic fun with the dirt while repotting some of the plants. She's not happy about the mess she has to clean up now, but loves the happiness practically radiating off Steven. At Bismuth's forge he relaxes and can't resist a small nap. The warmth from the fires and the rhythmic hammering lull him right to sleep. At some point Onion appears, riding Steven like a pony and together they cause complete chaos. There may have been a few fires, but those could have been caused by anything. After the third mysterious fire, the gems decide it's time to go home for the evening, bidding Onion goodbye.
That night he dreams again; of bug races, hose fights, volleyball and pizza; of donuts, baseball and warm fires.
He sleeps peacefully.