#(both fusions involving a ruby and 1 other gem)

[horizon-penblade-art]

has anyone done this yet

[image ID: drawings of gem versions of the hermitcraft recap team. pix is a dumortierite, sloy/zloy is an unakite, and lyarrah is an anyolite.]

[jayyekko]

fusion in steven universe is a representation of the different types of relationships people can have with each other. the more healthy a relationship is, the more stable a fusion will be and the less abnormalities they will have.

you have familial relationships like with steven and the gems, and steven and his dad: creating the fusions smokey quartz, rainbow 2.0, sunstone, obsidian, and steg (i hate that name). steven’s relationships with the gems and greg all vary, and that shows in his fusion w/ them. his relationships with them aren’t perfect, and they have moments of conflict, which is why those fusions have some abnormalities (smokey has three arms, steg and sunstone have four) but because of the bonds that he has with this family, these fusions can remain stable if needed.

toxic/abusive relationships were also represented in the show through lapis and jasper’s fusion, malachite. irl, malachite is a gemstone that is known to be extremely toxic to humans and animals when exposed to water while it’s in its raw form or broken. malachite wasn’t formed due to a healthy bond btw jasper or lapis, she was formed for power. jasper, wanting to be able to beat the crystal gems at the end of the episode “jailbreak” (the end of season 1), caught lapis while she was trying to escape and coerced her into fusing. but, lapis also took this as an opportunity, an opportunity to protect steven and get jasper away from the gems. so, after agreeing to fuse, lapis took control of malachite, chained her up, and trapped both her and jasper in the ocean still fused as malachite.

malachite is huge, with four eyes, four legs, and two arms. this, along with the fact that lapis continued to force the fusion between the two of them despite jasper wanting to escape (shown in the episode chille tid) and had to chain them to stop from falling apart were visuals for the unhealthy and toxic relationship between the two. jasper and lapis hated each other, there was no type of love or agreement, so their fusion was unstable and on the fence of falling apart at any second. lapis recognizes this unhealthy relationship in the episode “alone at sea”, after jasper comes back begging to fuse again to feel that power again despite the fact that being malachite hurt them both and she refuses to put either of them through that again.

and then last but not least, we have romantic/platonic relationships shown through fusion. outside of the main cast, fusions that involve romantic relationships include the off colors fluorite and rhodonite. both stable and able to exist indefinitely, showcasing the healthy bonds the gems within those fusions have with each other. they do contain abnormalities, either due to the individual strengths of those relationships and/or the number of gems in the fusion (fluorite is a fusion of six gems, representing a polyamorous relationship). but then we have the two main examples of healthy romantic/platonic relationships in the show: garnet and stevonnie.

starting with stevonnie, the fusion between steven and connie, they have no abnormalities at all, looking like a normal teenager. at first, many thought this was because stevonnie was 3/4 human, so they were gonna look like a human. but the movie gave us the fusion btw steven and his father, also a human, and steg had four arms. this is how we know that stevonnie is the only fusion other than garnet to be so balanced and stable due to the relationship btw the two people that make them up. steven and connie’s relationship when stevonnie first came to exist was purely platonic (well, not really, they had mutual crushes) but the strength btw their friendship and the trust they had for each other is what makes stevonnie so stable. they are a representation of their love, platonic or not.

and with garnet, a permafusion by her own choice, she is the literally embodiment of ruby and sapphire’s love. when she first came into existence, she had blotches of pink and blue everywhere in her clothes and hair, and she was confused and shy. the relationship was new, ruby and sapphire had just really gotten to know each other properly. but at time passed, 5,750 years later you could see that garnet was all figured out and put together, with her own style, her own voice, no confusion on who she was and what was was supposed to be. ruby and sapphire’s love grew, and in those years it settled down into an understanding. they know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, their hopes and dreams, and they chose to remain fused rather than being split up because fusion is was represents their love for them. their love is so strong and beautiful, and from it come a wonderful experience that became an example for other gems that also wanted that certain bond with each other.

garnet once said that by being a fusion, you forget that you were ever alone. a fusion isn’t two people together, they become their own being. she also said, “i embody my- i mean, ruby and sapphire’s love. i’ll always exist in them, even if i split apart. but the strength of that love keeps me together, so that i can stay garnet for a VERY long time” even when ruby and sapphire are apart, when a FUSION is apart that fusion still exists in them, their bond, their relationship represents that fusion, and it can never be taken away. this is why when ruby and sapphire got married, a ceremony they participated in to remind themselves that their love is true, and strong, and exists outside of being garnet, they told their vows, exchanged rings, kissed and melted i to each other to form garnet again. garnet will always be there, even when ruby and sapphire are miles apart. it’s like steven said, she is their love, given form. and that exists within each fusion to make an appearance in the show.

[gemkids]

hi! Do you have any tips for designing a fusion? I rlly like the idea of making a permafusion like garnet but idk how to design fusions. thank you :)

:^) like singular gems, i think fusions need to have a theme that you can design around. it doesnt have to be very obvious or single-minded but it should give you something to work with, especially for permafusions

in the podcast (episode 10) garnet is described as being like ruby and sapphire's child because she has a bit of both of them but is still her own person. how much the fusion embodies the relationship of the gems involved is up to you, since they can be formed out of romantic love, familial love, hate, fear, guilt, vengeance, or pretty much any emotion, as long as the participants are harmonious!

so combine a bit from the component gems and their relationship with one another to figure out a theme to run with. for fusions i would suggest to visually design them (uncoloured) before deciding on a gem type, unless they're a canon pairing. fusions seem to choose their own names & it's not based in any real combination of gemstones. garnet named herself that because she (ruby and/or sapphire) had seen other garnets on homeworld before, but fusions and single gems of the same type can also look different from each other, so you should decide on your own which direction to take.

you should also keep in mind the fusion's own backstory and where they reside! a newly formed fusion living on earth after the dismantling of the gem empire would have far less stress and negative judgement than one who's been hiding in homeworld's kindergardens since era 1. you can incorporate as much personal details from the components as you think fit, like garnet's split-colour pants, or rhodonite's pearl's gloves and rhodonite's ruby's shorts and little boot.

a last note that's still pretty important: extra arms, eyes, and other body parts are not an indication that the relationship that the fusion embodies is unstable or toxic!!! simply do what you feel looks right, or take inspirations from canon fusions, even if they're not the same type. have lots of legs like a caterpillar, multiple torsos, a double-faced head, backwards hands, anything that's cool!!!

[fly-me-to-neptune]

A new home (1: Arrival of the birds)

―Just throw me. I can break it.

Three seconds later, a loud crash shatters the monotony of the murmuring noise of the city. The apartment is now filled with broken glass and the smell of burnt wood. Aquamarine prepares to enter through the smoking hole in the window.

―Be careful, the shards are very sharp ―advises her partner from inside the building.

She raises her eyebrows. But she shouldn’t be surprised, even less so flattered. After all, the gem with whom she's been fusing, researching human culture, and plotting revenge for the past few months is a ruby, therefore, protective behaviour is to be expected.

―Evidently ―she replies, flying delicately inside.

It’s very spacious, like all the other human residences she’s seen. It’s always quite perplexing to her. “Why is nothing adjusted to their size? Do they dislike having the ceiling close to their heads? Do they usually stretch their arms when walking through a hallway?” she usually wonders. The beryl still can’t fathom the thought of such a big area being a strictly private space. Back in homeworld, only high class gems such as herself would get anything more than a hole in the wall to rest in.

Ruby gives her one last glance before turning away from the window. The blue gem does feel grateful for her companion’s attentiveness, so she silently approaches her and begins to remove the shards that have been tangled in her hair. Not noticing this gesture, her comrade takes her first, cautious steps in what is to become their new home... 

No.

Their new hideout. "Homeworld will always be our only true home", the blue gem reminds herself.

Hours earlier, they had come to the conclusion that finding a place to stay, a shelter to train and get stronger as Bluebird and to learn more about earthly customs would be the next step in their plan to get revenge. They had flown here and there, looking for the best place to settle, but they had been incapable of agreeing on any... Until they stumbled upon one of the buildings known as cinemas, of which Mydad had talked wonders about when Bluebird watched movies with him.

―I want to see more of those movies― Ruby had said―. Let’s live here. 

―It is true that they are very didactic. One of the most useful things that can be found on this planet, I’d say― Aquamarine replied, not wanting to admit how entertaining she found them as well, even though Ruby was aware of it and even shared her liking for those strange recordings―. However, this is clearly a public space. It’s best if we get one of the residence destined areas around it.

And so they had done. 

Aquamarine lets a eager smirk form in her face. Once the right place’s chosen and accessed, any gem will instinctively know it’s time to conquer it, and they’re more than ready to kick out any pesky earthlings that dares to oppose them.

She removes the last fragment of glass from Ruby's hair. The faint sound it makes when it falls to the ground causes the red gem to jump a little and give her a questioning look.

―No need to be so tense ―murmurs the beryl, drawing away and crossing her arms instinctively―. This will be easy. A few organics can't compare to us.

―What’s taking them so long, anyway? ―Ruby summons her chisel and takes a few more steps―. We haven't exactly been stealthy. They should be here by now.

―We might have scored an empty residence compartment.

Ruby’s next reply is barely audible:

―That, or we’re about to be ambushed.

They inspect their surroundings once more, not needing to say another word. 

That’s when they notice it. Something distinct from the chaotic noise of cars and voices in the streets can be heard coming from beyond the hallway. Different sounds following the same rhythmic pattern, concurring notes of varying pitches and instruments harmonizing into what is perceived as a single melody. It’s music. Bizarre, terrestrial music, but music nonetheless.

“I never thought about it before. Music is just like fusion, isn’t it?” muses the blue gem, before immediately having to shake off the swarming memories of the time spent with Ruby as Bluebird Azurite.

They advance through rooms of floral wall paper and light wooden floor, filled with all sorts of unfamiliar items, until they reach what, structurally speaking, appears to be the main area. A room much wider and nicely illuminated. It’s where the music is coming from.

And there’s a human, right there, humming along. 

She’s sitting in a rocking chair that creaks every so often, undisturbed by the smoke dancing in the cold air current that now connects the invasors’ entrance hole with one of the windows in the room, open by a narrow gap. She’s absorbed on a enigmatic task involving colored fibres. 

What’s with her lack of reaction? The music isn’t loud enough to have concealed the crash, not even close! The gems share a puzzled look. The smaller one feels a sudden urge to laugh, but she stops herself in time and just makes a quick grimace to try to express her exasperation at the ―oh, so erratic!― behaviour of Earth’s organics. Ruby smiles widely in response, appearing to be repressing a chuckle herself. 

Oh.

Aqua still hasn’t gotten used to seeing her smile. It somehow makes it harder for her to breathe, even if only for a couple of seconds. Perhaps it’s because she would never have expected to see such a gesture coming from who, at first, seemed like a tough, stoic, emotionally closed off ruby soldier; even less so, directed at her. Yet, it has been happening quite often.

She looks away. She wants to breathe like normal again, not think about her companion’s entrancing, dark scarlet eye.

Suddenly feeling impatient, she flies across the room to reveal herself to the human. “Let’s get this over with” she thinks, forcing herself to focus, “I’ll just distract her so Ruby can get the upper hand”. With an acceptable amount of grace, she lands on a small table near the window and, as soon as she turns to directly face the organic, she confirms with a sly glance that the red gem has understood her intentions and is already sneaking towards the creature. The beryl smiles.

―Greetings, human.

No reaction. Again. 

Despite its seeming convenience, it’s starting to get annoying for the aristocrat. Be it a positive or negative one, she enjoys getting a reaction out of others, and she’s definitely not used to just being ignored like a simple pebble. Not to mention that the way someone reacts always gives her a lot of valuable information about what could be their usual behaviour, their current state of mind and about how she can assure a position of psychological superiority. 

What can she conclude out of this lack of response? She’s not sure. And she doesn’t like not being certain about where she stands in. She detests it.

But she’s not alone against the strange creature. Ruby jumps to the organic’s seat, grabbing one of the wooden bars of its structure to secure a high position and, efficiently as always, points her chisel to her neck. The chair rocks and creaks violently, as if complaining about the roughness of the gem soldier.

Confident in that she isn’t gonna be tuned out this time, the blue gem clears her throat and announces:

―I think you’d be interested in knowing that, from now on, we are taking possession of your cute little residence hole.

―It’s a pretty big one though ―The red gem murmurs, impressed by Aquamarine’s assertion. Tsk, tsk. That’s not the point, Ruby! The point is to make the unresponsive human feel insignificant and intimidated... which seems to still not be working, in any case.

A few awkward seconds pass by.

―I was under the impression human beings were territorial.

―Yeah. This is weird. Besides, she’s not screaming―. Ruby squints as she looks the organic up and down.― And they always scream.

The two gems wait a couple minutes, in which only the music is heard. But the strange creature is really not reacting to them, she just keeps trying to imitate the melody with her own feeble voice as her hands tangle the colored fibers.

Aquamarine finally loses interest. She decides to hover around and examine the objects that catch her eye.

It doesn't take her long to get to the record player.

―Finally. I was getting sick of that noise ―her fusion partner celebrates when Aqua removes the disc to inspect its material.

―What a waste of resources. Look! This barely contains a few minutes of melody,― she explains, running a finger over the markings of the record’s surface―. Why not just use a living human for auditive diversions? They would surely have room for more variety.

Ruby shrugs, not too interested. She continues to grip her chisel, staring menacingly at the organic, who still hasn’t stopped humming despite the interruption of the record’s music.

―Well, y’know. Humans don’t do that. Organics don’t devote themselves to a purpose. ―The frown on Ruby’s face deepens as a gust of wind shakes the curtains and brings in the distant laughter of children―. They just wander around aimlessly. 

―Well, if they usually sing this poorly, I suppose that’s for the best ―she giggles―. I’m not made for singing, but I bet I could do it a thousand times better.

At last, she’s caught Ruby’s full attention. She’s looking at her with curiosity shining in her eye. Not that that’s a good thing. She should continue keeping watch of the organic while Aquamarine explores around. There’s no reason for Aqua to sing the earthly melody that’s got stuck on the back of her mind, no reason to try to impress an already agreeable comrade. Right?

And so, the blue gem averts her gaze yet again and both of them fall back into their roles.

[elexuscal]

How The Steven Universe Movie Did Amnesia Well

Last week, I made a post covering the Dos and Do Nots of amnesia stories. What inspired it was the Steven Universe movie, which I personally thought was one of the best examples of how to make this kind of plot work.

So using the Four Elements I noticed as recurring in good memory-loss stories, I thought I’d use the film as a case study:

1) Emotional Weight

This is what Steven Universe has always excelled at, so of course it hit this one right on the head.

In many ways, amnesia is a threat perfectly suited for Steven. He is a character defined, more than almost any other I know, by his relationships. His love for Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl is the defining aspect of the show, and its main plot has always been how the four of them worked together to grow and develop.

Taking those relationships away from him is probably one of the scariest things he could experience.

Then, we have the flip side; how the Gems themselves react to memory loss. This is given less focus than in most amnesia stories, since they all essentially react like computers being rebooted. It’s a different and fun take.

The Gems’ reactions comes from getting their memories back- and those moments are some of my favourites in the film. Amethyst surprise quickly transforming into joyous laughter. Pearl’s self-satisfied pride as she gazes down at herself. Garnet calmly and confidently bursting into song as she defends Steven.

Which leads us into the next point...

-

2) Character

When you get down to it, this film mostly functions as a big character study.

By resetting our main characters, it puts into stark relief just how much they’ve grown. Ruby and Sapphire are no longer tools, blindly following fate. Amethyst isn’t a lost kid seeking her own identity. Pearl isn’t a blindly loyal knight who needs external validation for her own self-worth. And Spinel isn’t a toy who will tirelessly chase a single person’s affection.

Getting the gang’s memories back involved building back their core- and one of my favourite details is how that wasn’t what Steven or the audience initially would have guessed.

Amethyst wasn’t returned by playing games, or eating, or singing; it was Steven’s loyalty and companionship.

Pearl, who’s so often defined by her relationship with Rose, is actually brought back by ideas of freedom and self-actualization.

A huge part of Garnet’s identity is obviously fusion. But from the day Sapphire and Ruby ran away from Homeworld, they’ve been searching from answers- something later hammered in by how poorly they took Rose’s lies. Of course, their final piece was truth and honesty.

–

3) Plot

Okay, so, admittedly, I don’t know much about how this film is going to impact the show’s long term plot going forward. It’s possible the regenerator stuff will play a significant part moving forward; it’s possible the story will be more self-contained. On that side, we’ll just need to see.

However, I would argue that the memory-loss story line worked very well specifically for developing Spinel’s character, and giving her story-line proper development. 

When Spinel first appears, she’s not very sympathetic. She attacks out of nowhere, is cruel and dismissive, and wants to destroy Earth. Steven (and to a certain extent, the audience) has no reason to like her.

Okay. So, to make her sympathetic, the writers need to a) show what she used to be like and b) how her trauma changed her.

One way to do this would be through flashback. Flashbacks are often a very powerful tool, but of limited use in this particular case. You could only make scenes of Pink and Spinel playing engaging for so long.

So, instead, the writers have her get reset in the present. This solves the problem, while also having her interact with the main cast. She gets to develop a rapport with Steven. We see her genuinely sweet and fun personality, while at the same time, the annoying and grating aspects of it. Both of these are vital to making her full backstory land.

Spinel’s backstory was being abandoned; these fears get mirrored in the present. Steven is kind and supportive to the mind-wiped Spinel- kinder than a lot of people probably would be in his position. But he’s honestly not giving her a lot of attention. He has bigger problems, both on a personal and world-ending scale, than babysitting a Gem he just met.

Steven would rather spend time with his ‘real’ friends than her. So we’re able to see Spinel’s fears play out all over again.

Because of her time with amnesia, all of Spinel’s behavior in the third arc is so much more painful and understandable than it would be otherwise.

---

4) Thematic Resonance

Not only does amnesia serve Spinel’s story in a structural way; it also works thematically.

Spinel represents lost innocence.

She was a child’s toy, lost and abandoned. She became angry and bitter and jaded, and for good reason.

But she wanted to go back to the way things things were. Her plan was literally a way to accomplish that: Wipe the memories of the friends Pink chose over her. Destroy the planet that she chose, too. And then, goad Steven into attacking her with the regenerator and wiping her memories, as well. Now Spinel can forget all the awful things that happened to her. Everything can go back to the way it used to be.

But it can’t.

On stagnant and static Homeworld, maybe regenerators are reasonably effective. On Earth, though, they’re next to useless. Exposed to the same stimuli that changed them in the first place, all of the wiped Gems get their memories back in less than a day.

The message is clear: You can’t forget the past. You can’t ignore it. You can’t stop change.

“That’s easy for you to say!” Spinel yells. “When you change, you change for the better! When I change, that’s for the worse!”

But that’s not true. Spinel learned from her experience; learned to value herself, learned to live for her own sake. Forgetting all the bad stuff that happened would erase those lessons too, and leave her open to being hurt that same way again.

And yes, her trauma drove Spinel to viciousness and cruelty. But that’s the thing; she can change that, too. But only by accepting it, and choosing to move forward.

[mimik-u]

Fragments III, 1-100

300 drabbles about Steven Universe/Future, 100 words each! These are the first 100 prompts and writer’s choices that have been fulfilled.

Asterisks are placed next to my personal favorites that I’ve written.

Baggage* — Steven meets his new therapist!

Eternity —How about a Bellow interaction you've always wanted to see in canon but didn't get to?

Foe —Jasper is simultaneously satisfied and yet left deeply empty inside by her self-isolation on Earth, and doesn't understand how to even begin to process this dichotomy. (So she doesn’t.)

Letter — Young Greg's POV when he wrote those letters to his parents Steven found on Mr. Universe episode.

Sword —Connie interacting with someone she doesn't usually talk to by herself (ex Jasper, Bismuth, Lapis, etc.).

Reconciliation — Idk about you but I wanna see more Mega Pearl. The others have not met Mega Pearl.

Marks —How about... Spinel, and the tiny, everyday baby steps towards healing?

Tangled — Peridot finds out/is told about PD/RQ? (And is confirmed in her guess that Pearl is fancy...?)

Challenge* — How is Steven’s TubeTube channel doing?

Bruises — Priyanka tends to Connie's wounds after training sessions with Pearl. [Writer’s Choice]

Rest* — Yellow Diamond gets to relax. (She's the one who most expresses regret and real understanding. Let her take a nap! She deserves it!)

Barbecue* — Post-movie, during cleanup, Steven and Lars talk and plan the BBQ we got a glimpse at during the final song.

Ghost — Yellowtail and Greg talk about fatherhood and how it can be ruined (mentioning Marty and Greg's father subtly).

UNO* — Date between Pearls (platonic or otherwise).

Height — The pebbles!!! They're so small???? Where are they? *Sobs, points at the Heaven and Earth Beetles.*

Embrace — Steven gets a well-deserved cuddle pile from family and friends.

Constructs — Bismuth and Peridot have a lot more in common than they think.

Horns — Amethyst makes an unexpected new friend at Little Homeschool. (Whichever other character you feel would fit best!)

Garden — Pre-show scene. While having a funny chat, Greg mentions something that reminds Rose about her abandoning Spinel, which makes her regret more of her choices.

Advice — Garnet can tell when Stevonnie has a lot on their mind. [Writer’s Choice.]

Hum — Yellow and her relationship with music.

Love* — Pearl considering her romantic feelings towards someone and thinking about how she's finally moving on from Rose. (Doesn't mean she'll ever forget her.)

Kid — A glimpse into “Sadie Killer.” Maybe when they played their first show, while Steven was still in the band. Celebrating afterward or a discussion on why Steven didn't stay IN the band?

Troubleshooting* — Integration of gem communication networks and Earth Internet and phone lines and the resulting inevitable disaster.

Fairytale — Connie gets a tour of Little Homeworld.

Hope — Jasper finally starting to let her guard down and realize her self worth.

Song* — As for prompts... Steg? Like, him in general, just being himself. It's a bummer we only got to see him in the movie.

Mistakes* — Steven talking to someone (not a therapist, just another character) about his trauma?

Forgiveness — The Topaz fusion reconnects with the Crystal Gems at Little Homeschool and apologizes for her role in the kidnapping all those years ago.

Visions — Sapphire and Ruby reflect on the events of "Together Forever." [Writer’s Choice]

Reunited — Maybe a scene where Yellow comes home from a long escapade and is reunited with a worried Spinel?

Beginnings — After CYM, Lapis and Peridot discuss where to live since the barn is destroyed.

Pet* — White Diamond happily announces one day that she has decided to take in a small creature (of your choosing) as a pet.

Together — What were Doc, Army, Navy, and Leggy doing during Future?

Desert — Steven meeting Lion from Lion's perspective. I dunno, I think it could be neat.

Freedom — For a post-CYM/SU:F prompt, what do you think about the exact moment it hit either Blue or Yellow Pearl that they were completely free to follow their whims?

Apologies — Greg apologizes to Steven due to the incident in “Mr. Universe” and both have the talk they should've had in that episode.

Change — Blue and Yellow Zircon's relationship has improved even if they are now rivals in the new democratic Homeworld. This last tiny bit is related to the “Homeworld Bound” episode.

Hug — Bellow cuddling. Yellow has no idea what to do, but Blue is loving it.

Valentine* — Steven gives Peridot a Valentine's Day gift. [Writer’s Choice]

Spite — Aquamarine and Eyeball are distraught at knowing they won't be rewarded for their actions because their worst enemy, Steven Universe, has been labeled a hero and royalty by the Diamonds.

Reevaluation — How about more Peedee and Steven friendship? Like, Peedee noticing Steven’s change in demeanor the farther along the show we get?

Camp — Connie kicking ass at space camp.

Family — The night after the events of the movie, Steven gets some quality family time.

Homestretch — Peridot, Lapis, and Bismuth spend time together while preparing Little Homeworld.

Enough — We know what Jenny, Sour Cream, and Buck are gonna do for their futures, but what's Kiki been up to? Is she gonna take over the pizzeria?

Spillage — Vidalia and Amethyst catch up after Steven's monster episode.

Reformation — White Diamond has learned how to be so extremely empathetic to the point that she literally becomes another person, but has she really begun to understand others?

Comment* — Sardonyx makes some Internet videos.

Unicorn — While traveling through California, Steven encounters two fishermen arguing about unicorns. [SU/GF crossover.] [Writer’s Choice]

Worry — Andy and Greg stay in touch.

Homerun* — I hopal for Opal—perhaps she will attempt some baseball.

Skydancer — Post-CYM, Pearl getting to “truly” take Steven out for a joy ride through the cosmos in a properly operational ship of her design.

Mercy* — The shattering-is-wrong discussion between Rose and Bismuth that led to Bis being bubbled.

Happy — Smoky Quartz hasn't made a self deprecating joke in a while—is it Steven's therapy?

Electric* — Yellow’s gloves—I feel like they’re covering something up, maybe.

Cake — Fusion Cuisine 2: Electric Boogaloo.

Belonging — The Rose Quartz sisters visit again.

Transcendence — Fluorite offers someone wise caterpillar grandma advice.

March — Connie and Steven reflect on changes in life after the pandemic. Not canon compliant. [Writer’s Choice.]

Understanding — Onion be doing Onion things.

Ocean* — Andy and Steven post-”I Am My Monster”? I love their relationship, lol.

Ignorance* — Does Lapis even realize Bismuth was probably the one who poofed her?

Reflection — Did I already say more Mega Pearl? ‘Cause there can never be enough Mega Pearl.

Possibility* — Yellow deciding she should try putting shattered gems back together. (She probably broke the most.)

Storyboard — Peridot’s budding career as a storyboarder.

Fall — Lapis and Steven talk about trauma and recovery. Pre-The Future.

Limbo — How the dismantled gempire has affected the lives of noble gems like Emerald, Holly Blue Agate, and others.

Now — Garnet reminds herself to live in the present.

Grief* — Alexandrite forms for the first time. [Writer’s Choice]

Inauguration — Wait, did Connie's parents ever meet Stevonnie?

Please — Did Kevin ever learn anything? Naaaaaah....unless...

Friend — General prompt? A sequel/prequel to this, please [White D’s panther].

Treatment — Greg starting to learn more about gem stuff to be more involved in Steven's life if something ugly happens.

Numbers — Pearl, please do something with all those phone numbers in your head.

Generations — Rose continues to discover the wonders of Earth, even after all this time. (No angst allowed in this one, just pure wonder.)

Survival — The Off-Colors used to have more members in the past.

Acting — How did Rainbow 2.0 even get invited to babysit Onion?

Kindness* — Former Mayor Dewey coming to terms with his new position in town.

Play — The Gems and Greg try to capture Steven's first moments on a bike. [Writer’s Choice]

Documentary — Ronaldo makes a real actually informative documentary about Little Homeworld.

Rain — Blue Diamond still cries sometimes.

Zoophobia — Also, I saw Z and my immediate thought was "Zoophobia.”

Echo* — Why does the tiny floating whale have Rose's voice before Steven ever heard it in the tape?

Sketch — Steven and Connie discover an anime character/mythological figure who bears an awfully similar resemblance to Obsidian.

Unironically — Why does Buck wanna be a doctor?

Club — How did Bismuth, Lapis, and Peri become such tight friends?

Nostalgia — Greg considers a comeback tour.

Pressure* — The creation of the Diamonds, maybe?

Coping — Amethyst and Pearl grapple with Rose's pregnancy. [Writer’s Choice]

Theatre — Sugilite, meet Rainbow 2.0.

Dadhood* — Whatever happened to Mrs. Fryman? IS there a Mrs. Fryman, or was it only a passing on-and-off thing that resulted in kids?

Lingering — Jasper finally lets Malachite go.

Human — Steven talks to his therapist about his mom, the feelings of before and the now. (It was left open-ended—his relationship with his mother.)

Words — Kofi is proud of his daughters.

Quest — [Letter prompt] Quest.

Picture — Sour Cream and Steven talking about absent parents and bad parenting. Post-The Future.

Bittersweet* — Shep finally gets to meet the notorious Lars.

Gemini — Spinel discovers memes and we're all doomed.

Weird — When he's younger, Steven doesn't quite know how to label the Gems.

[introvert-celeste]

I really hope the main character arcs are going where I think they're going, because it looks like we’re approaching some potential parallels: Pearl and Pink Pearl, Amethyst and Jasper, and Garnet and Rhodonite.

Pearl has moved on from Rose, a process which officially started in Last One Out of Beach City and which is reflected in Pearl's new look, the jeans and jacket combo paralleling her look from this episode. She's meeting women, collecting numbers, and doing great. She’s certainly come a long way from her obsession with Rose and the devastation she felt in her absence.

Pip, however, has no memory of the last several thousand years. She doesn’t know about Rose Quartz, the rebellion, the Earth, or even the thousands of years leading up to it becoming a colony. She doesn’t know our Pearl. She certainly doesn’t know about Pink’s fate, giving up her physical form to have a half human child. That means that all of these tragedies--being replaced, learning of her Diamond’s rebellion, and later her sacrifice--will be a fresh wound to her, added onto the old baggage that will be brought up in regard to her eye, as well as her “occupation” under White Diamond. The next leg of Pearl’s character development should, therefore, be to impart some of the lessons she learned onto Pip, helping her move on from Pink and become her own, independent gem.

Amethyst has matured so much in this last season. While there are clearly some things she still needs to work out--her behavior in What’s Your Problem? makes it apparent that she has unresolved feelings about Rose--but she has really learned to look past her insecurities. In her new outfit, she proudly displays her body and her gem, no longer fearing that she is defective or weak.

I’ve harped on this time and time again, but it can’t be stated enough: Jasper is a afraid of being defective. In the words of Rebecca Sugar herself: “Jasper is a bully in the truest sense. Deep down, she's afraid there's something wrong with her, so she has to feed her ego” to which Ian later adds: “the Gems live in a society with a very rigid social order and caste system, and Jasper has completely bought into that, and her self-worth is attached to it” (page 128 of the Art and Origins book). Jasper’s self worth is based on her reputation as the ultimate Quartz, reinforced by Homeworld’s system. In the absence of this system affirming her worth, however, Jasper will be forced to face her own insecurities for the first time in her life. Like Pearl with Pip, the next part of Amethyst’s development should be to help Jasper talk about and deal with her fears in a constructive way, one that doesn’t involve belittling and harming others.

As for Garnet, I’m not quite sure who her parallel should be. Pip and Jasper are both involved in the main plot--Pip belonged to Pink Diamond and Jasper was a significant antagonist in both season 1 and 3--but there are no fusions in the main cast and/or who interact with the main plot who may parallel Garnet’s position. The closest that comes to mind is Rhodonite, however we don’t know much about her components’ histories, aside from the fact that they belonged to Morganite, or the full nature of their relationship. Everything that can be said about her components is mainly speculation. For the sake of rounding out this theory, however, I lay down my thoughts on this parallel.

Garnet has never been more stable as a fusion, now that Ruby and Sapphire’s fear of being apart has been taken out of the equation. Originally, they placed all of the focus on their fusion as an expression of their relationship, rather than focusing on the relationship itself. More importantly, the placed the most importance on the aspect of their relationship that brought them to Rose: their fusion. Their marriage creates an element of their relationship that is based only on their decision to be together and does not go away when they choose to unfuse.

Like I said, most of what can be said about Rhodonite is speculation, but one fact is clear: she is anxiety personified. Her mismatched look resembles Garnet’s first formation, meaning any big connection between the two fusions that we can find may spring from what we observed in The Answer. The greatest connection I see is the fusees desire to protect one another. Ruby fused with Sapphire to protect her from Pearl. Rhodonite frets about being shattered/broken/cracked more than any of the other off colors, has a tendency to cover her gems (the opposite fusee’s arms corresponding with the other’s gem), and has a generally hopeless attitude in regard to her dismal status on Homeworld. Given how Pearls and Rubies are regarded in gem society--as objects and expendable parts of a whole, respectively--I can only imagine what sort of situations arose that would require one to protect the other. Given her statement in Off Colors, however:

“And a fusion like me... is unforgivable. When my-our Morganite found out, let's just say... we were replaced.”

It seems that they originally fused in secret, meaning their first fusion was not originally as a way to keep each other safe. That likely started when Morganite found out, thus truly putting them both in danger. Regardless, my point is that it seems that her components mainly stay fused to protect one another and always keep each other as close as possible, which inevitably results in a constant state of stress in which they are constantly feeling each other’s anxiety. Garnet can help them realize that they are no longer in any danger, that it’s okay for them to take breaks from fusion if they need to, and the importance of communication.    

[love-takes-work]

Steven Universe: Art and Origins (Outline & Review)

Steven Universe: Art and Origins is not just an art book--it's also a collection of early material, a reveal of many initial concepts, and an amazing experience to sort through. 

Finally getting around to importing my review to Tumblr. I wrote this on the release day.

In my review I'll give you a description of the structure and overview, while also collecting notable information for fans. Obviously just about everything is "notable" with a book of this magnitude, so this may get long, but I'll try to include anecdotes that have some unique insight or perspective on the main source material--with as little of "OMG this was the original idea for this!" as possible.

This is illustrated with some low-quality pictures of the book and it gets super long, so I have to cut. But please read. :)

The overview:

After a foreword from Rebecca Sugar and an introduction from Genndy Tartakovsky, we get:

Part 1: Origins. This contains some narratives about Rebecca Sugar's early life as an artist--inspiration, family, college projects--all illustrated, of course, with childhood photos and early art. Rebecca mentions having wanted to bury her femininity for a while, but coming back to draw female forms and include dancing after she learned to sort through her issues using art.

Her college education and connections with other artists are discussed--some in interview format, some in narrative--and there is some background regarding her time on Adventure Time. The story moves on to talking about developing the pilot and what went into her character and plot ideas. Character design is discussed in depth, with Rebecca giving initial sketches to a design team and developing the characters' initial pilot look. 

Some really slick promo art is shared--posters, sketches, great concepts that were designed to bring in new viewers and make them curious about the show. The pilot succeeded in getting the green light to develop it into a TV series.

Part 2 discusses the show's Green Light and Development. Rebecca and some of the other crew, in interview format, talk about getting the team together and allowing for both nailed-down character essentials and flexibility for the writers to explore and collaborate. Developing the setting was also a big part of the to-do list; coming up with Beach City itself, its businesses, its residents, and also the creatures the Gems would fight. 

Some cute stories are shared about the early Crewniverse hanging out at a cabin and talking about the show all the time, hashing it out. There are some great, loose character model sheets for early versions of Greg, Connie, Sadie and Lars, and the four main characters.

Part 3 is about Character Design. They discuss how the pilot got released and fans grew attached to what they initially looked like, only to be "outraged" by the changes, making tons of assumptions about who was controlling the process. 

Rebecca shares some thoughts on her development process and her philosophy on letting different artists draw the characters differently while gripping onto specifics she set. Main, palette, and distance models are discussed, with some technical details of what different artists do on the team and how they handle props or special poses. 

There are many sheets of how to draw the Gems on model (with pointers on what NOT to do), and then there are some Homeworld Gem ideas that didn't get used, and finally, some sketches and concept art for Lapis Lazuli, Peridot, Jasper, and Bismuth.

Part 4 is on Writing and Storyboarding. More Crewniverse interviews provide insight into the process, including how much is revised from the early days and how collaborative everything is. Some specific episodes, like "Ocean Gem," "Monster Buddies," and "Island Adventure" are put into perspective with how they were written by the group. 

There's heavy discussion of how the process works and why processes that work on other shows wouldn't work here, and what "rules" are firm and what's just a suggestion, and what's changed as the show's plot became more complex and important. Steven still having access to the "side" stories, the ones that involve Beach City humans and non-world-shaking stakes, is still very important to the story that the original Crew wants to tell. Cute images from the Crew's thumbnail storyboards, Gem designing, and technology designing workshops are shared too.

There's some good continued discussion of concepts in Part 4, especially about fusion and relationships and the larger message the show is sending. How do you tell a story and why? There are many answers to that, and sometimes it's about fun and sometimes it's about a message and sometimes it's about wanting to make an episode about something you've never seen a cartoon do before--something specific to you that other people can suddenly see represented. 

One of my favorite parts of it is when they discuss Steven discovering the Gems' weaknesses over time and having that NOT make him think less of them--more like he admires them for being strong enough to shoulder the burdens he didn't know they were carrying before. Storyboarder Lamar Abrams talks about the importance of growing up not just being about becoming bitter, and I really like that.

Part 5 is on Sound and Vision. There's some history of how they found the voice actors for the major roles, and some of the actors give perspectives on their relationship and experience on the show. 

Aivi and Surasshu, as the composers, discuss their process as well, with some anecdotes and discussions of why musical palettes work better for characters instead of assigning them themes. Places and objects have their own sounds too.

Part 6 covers Background Design and Painting. Steven Sugar takes the stage and explains general background thoughts as well as specifics for certain settings. His focus on detail is really fascinating to read about--it's really him who nails down the locations in Beach City and where an outlet is in a house on the wall. 

The directors and other Crewniverse folks discuss the use of color and background items in the show, and how they use it to create mood or feel changeable enough to be real.

Part 7 discusses Animation and Post, with a spotlight on the work they do in Korea at animation studios Sunmin and Rough Draft. The process is described--how and when the material is transformed from animatics to animated cartoons. 

Nick DeMayo discusses timing and adding the sound effects and whatnot. There's also some design instruction that's provided to the animators in Korea. 

Some special highlighted drawings and pieces, like the "C.L.O.D.S." zine or some keys for Ruby and Sapphire, are included. 

Even the bumpers and end tag animations are discussed here. And of course they had to mention a couple very special episodes, such as when Takafumi Hori from Studio Trigger came in to do "Mindful Education," or when they did the musical episode, "Mr. Greg."

And Part 8 is called "Onward." The intention of the section is unclear at first based on the title of the chapter, but you can quickly see they're discussing the forward-thinking message the show has--how its representation of its creators' experiences has also struck a chord with people who wanted and NEEDED its diversity. 

Zuke says a very wise thing when they state that they want the show to provide "insight . . . not a solution." That's one thing this show does well; it spotlights problems and situations and feelings, but only shows you how those things can be dealt with, not necessarily how they SHOULD, in all cases, be dealt with.

Representation matters, and seeing evidence that you are a part of this world when you're from a marginalized or underrepresented group is valuable in a way that you can only know if you DON'T have it. 

The show's writers also weigh in on good vs. evil and how it's too black and white; that we needed a show with nuance, and has a message of love and tolerance. Kat Morris acknowledges that there are more important things than making a feelsy and entertaining piece of media, but as she says, the point is to let people see themselves in something and be challenged. 

And the creators are able to see at conventions and online that people are responding emotionally, viscerally, to their work. It puts a lot of pressure on an artist to do it right, but in the words of Dogcopter, "Just be true to yourself and people will appreciate your honesty."

The book closes with some photos of the Crew and a few more pages of art. And it kinda leaves you with a squishy feeling. :D

Notable:

1. I was relieved to see Rebecca state it plainly in the foreword: the items you see from the development phases of this show are not to be taken as canon or as "real" insights into how you should interpret it now. She specifically mentioned that she does not consider the Gems "girls" or "goddesses," and that was particularly important to me. 

Throughout, you're supposed to see the contributed bits and in-development pieces in the context of what they were: early drafts, embryonic. We all become different from what we were even though we grew from it and may have roots in it still, but that doesn't mean you can point at the seed and say its flower is meant to be understood surrounded by dirt.

2. The original designs for the Gems fluctuated a lot, and in a couple cases even names flopped around. An early name for Garnet was "Onyx," and if you've seen the pilot, you know Pearl got her signature nose later and Garnet's hair took a while to become the splendid square afro. Amethyst seems to have changed the least. 

Themes were given to them initially (like Amethyst being "flora and fauna," which you can sort of see in her pilot intro with her lying on big cats). You can still see some of the original intentions in how the ideas manifested, but the first ideas do not gel particularly well with what the show became. 

This is particularly interesting because non-creatives commonly think creative people simply receive inspiration and birth their creations into the world wholesale. Inspiration exists, but it's much more common to take an inspired idea and REALLY WORK ON IT. This book's origins section does a great job showing how that works.

3. Some early sketched-out ideas for episodes seem very far from what would fit into the show now (such as an idea for an episode where Pearl is obsessed with the pizza guy??), but one seems to be the roots of "Bubble Buddies," which implies that Steven's original crush was "Priyanka" instead of Connie. (That's now Connie's mother's name.)

4. The pilot's title was "The Time Thing."

5. Initial notes for Garnet say she should have the coolest shoes of the three, that she's commanding and outer-spacey and also weird, and that she's inspired by Grace Jones, boy Michael Jackson, and Estelle in "I Can Be a Freak." 

Initial notes for Amethyst insist on the "fanny pack" pouch and suggest her clothes are cut, her hair is in chunks, and she should have an animal theme with a wild texture. 

Initial notes for Pearl indicate a desire to have her opposite Amethyst in her formal way of dressing and needing to have an outfit that would allow her to be hung upside down, possibly with a pearl stone theme for baubles in her hair. (Rebecca indicated she needed the most help with Pearl.)

6. Early versions of the show included the idea that the Gems might be trying to hide being Gems in public, and that they kept magic away from Steven for the most part instead of encouraging him to use it. 

A "lost" episode about Steven summoning his shield (later incorporated into the episode "Gem Glow") had him saving Greg with it and dreaming about his mother, and having Pearl drive a crappy old car (later incorporated into "Last One Out of Beach City"). Rebecca and Ian reveal that the dream Steven had in it was used a little in "Rose's Room," and that a song called "The Meatball Sub Song" was involved which could have contributed to the show getting picked up despite that we never got to hear it. (Imagine that, Steven singing about food!)

7. There's a note in the early character design section that says "the girls can all turn into Steven" with an accompanying illustration of Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl shapeshifted as him. 

Cute, because we actually got to see them do this in the episode "Keep Beach City Weird" with the exception of Pearl.

8. Rebecca Sugar shares an anecdote about thinking there was a "best" way to draw that was objectively correct (influenced by some art-school stuff), and through that she arrived at the idea that Pearl was a cone, Amethyst was a sphere, and Garnet was a cube, because all of those things say something about who they are (pointedness, fluidness, stability). 

She evolved from that idea to a more flexibile idea of how drawing works for different artists, but that was part of what helped her nail the characters down. Steven, eventually, was fixed to having a heart-shaped face.

9. The Tiger Millionaire and Purple Puma flyer shown in the episode "Tiger Millionaire," presented as something Steven drew, was actually drawn by Lily DeMayo (daughter of Nick DeMayo, animation director) when she was seven.

10. Guides are made for the Crew to use featuring reminders on drawing the characters. It's kind of adorable to see common drawing errors or misconceptions or inconsistent details discussed in a how-to format for the people who actually work there.

11. A timeline exists for the show and it encompasses TWENTY THOUSAND YEARS of Gem and human history. It was too spoilery to be in the book, but there is a LOT of lore that is laid down, and this tool mentioned in Part 4 established that this document is referenced often to make events make sense in the timeline.

12. It's been established before, but Amethyst's origin in Earth's Prime Kindergarten was not initially known as part of her character when she was invented, and that was discussed in Part 4 of this book--how the writing retreats the Crew takes to discuss the story sometimes result in huge revelations like this. "Oh, that makes sense, that's why we wrote her like that" is one of those things I recognize as a writer--you know a character has a certain vibe, but you don't know what explains it. You just trust that something does. And eventually, sometimes you find out what it is and it all makes sense. Interesting to know they did this with Amethyst.

13. "Lars and Sadie make out even though they're not together" was the basic idea for making "Island Adventure." And the original idea for "Onion Friend" had a "Grandma Shallot" character. 

The writers sometimes play writing games to brainstorm, and those were shared. Some ideas for a story which was later used in "Future Boy Zoltron," covering Mr. Smiley's romance/comedy partnership with an old flame, were shared with more emphasis on the characters being lovers. 

Garnet's part in the story was more explicit too, with her giving people future predictions that are not at all nice or gently delivered, and they have to shut down the business in the wake of Garnet's badassery. Weird. 

Other ideas were used but not as they're presented, like one where Greg learns about fusion from the Gems (but witnessed the fusion of Pearl and Amethyst, not Pearl and Rose), and a complicated one where cross-Gem fusion is a new idea in a flashback and Rose wants Garnet to fuse with her to teach her about it but she's too unsure of her own fusion relationship as such to risk it. The idea was that Pearl would be jealous and Pearl, Rose, and Garnet would actually fuse in the episode. This has not been done in the show.

14. Rebecca Sugar apparently just pops up with concepts she wants the writers to work in. Like "I want Steven to be in a mushroom forest" (which hasn't happened yet) or "I want Steven to have cats on his fingers" (which, obviously, happened early on). Rebecca gets little concepts that are sort of dreamlike, and they figure out which episode they can put them in. Working those things in sometimes seems like as much of a priority as getting plot elements in!

15. I like that they dish a bit about the fan reaction to Garnet's Fusion status. They thought they were being a little too obvious to not get caught, but Ian said the fans figured it out and then got bored of the idea and decided it must be even more complicated than that. People were apparently worried that Garnet would be replaced by her component Gems in the story if she were to unfuse, but obviously since Ruby and Sapphire want to be together, that doesn't happen.

16. Kat Morris's "rules" as discussed in Part 4 are "Garnet never asks questions" and "the story has to stay in Steven's perspective." I love how strict they are about Garnet not asking questions (except in the episode "The Answer," though there have been a couple ~technical~ questions from her; she usually just finds a way to ask a question with a statement, like "tell me what you saw").

17. A great quote from Zuke on the incidentally queer content of the Gems' relationships and gender: "Personally, I'm happy to not have to think, 'I'm writing a character based on my queer experiences.' That would be so hard! I'm just writing from my perspective, and I happen to be queer. I think that's what makes the show feel natural when it comes to that. It's a fine line between defining something so that people are aware it exists, which is so important, but also letting it breathe, so it's not forever contained in a box labeled 'queer media.'"

18. In Part 5, Michaela Dietz relates her experiences as an adoptee to relate to what Amethyst deals with as an "adoptee" into the Crystal Gem family without knowing where she really came from or what it means to be a part of that. She's said this before in some other interviews and panels, so it's not new in general, but it's probably new in print. Deedee Magno Hall, who plays Pearl, obviously relates to Pearl's maternal nature.

19. Tom Scharpling and Charlyne Yi were voice actors that Rebecca specifically had in mind for her characters (Greg and Ruby respectively). Rebecca's illustrated letter to Charlyne explaining Ruby and Sapphire's relationship and Ruby's role on the show is really adorable.

20. Music nerds like me will very much appreciate the photographed notes on music motifs--the Diamonds each have a solfège syllable and a chord (White is F#M7/Sol, Yellow is BM7/Fa, Blue is EM7/Fa, and Pink is AM7/Mi), and Steven's powers and modes are coded with instruments and styles.

21. Some world maps provide new possible insights. Greenland in our world is Blueland in theirs. South America is called Pangea. Aqua Mexico is labeled about where Mexico is in our world. India is the Indian Islands. There's an Australia and a New Australia. A big sea in the middle of Asia is called the Tunguska Sea. Rose's Fountain is in Spain or Portugal; the Sky Spire and Strawberry Battlefield are in Norway; the Shooting Star Shrine is in the middle of the drastically different Asian continent; the Galaxy Warp is in the Tunguska Sea; the Lunar Sea Spire is off the coast of Canada; Mask Island is in the Atlantic near Beach City; the Comm Relay is in the Western United States.

22. It was known from interviews that Shelby Rabara (voice of Peridot) is a dancer and provided the foot sounds and coaching to create the short tap number in the episode "Mr. Greg." But what's great is here, there's a visual reference included! Photos of Shelby doing the dance are lined up next to the drawings of Pearl and Steven in the "Mr. Greg" number doing the steps! She poses in dance moves with her husband for the Greg/Pearl dance for "Both of You" too.

23. There's a really cute story in the last section about Amber Cragg ascending from fan to Crewniverse member through posting Pearl art in response to the pilot and eventually getting contacted to take a board test. That is the kind of thing so many online artists dream of!

[SU Book and Comic Reviews]

[monarch-boo]

ok i want to talk about this fucking shot because like

1. jasper's arc must still have her evil, at least in the beginning

2. steven brought cacti to life like he did with the watermelons, or??? and they're hostile for some reason

3. new lapises that i guess we'll meet? presumably hostile since they’re in this shot. ALSO i was wondering if lapises had their gems placed any other way than on their backs, since they have water wings. though i guess our aquamarine having water wings too should have clued me in ages ago that gem placement doesn’t matter for that.

4. i know the diamonds aren't perfect yet and i highly doubt they’re considered "redeemed" even by the writers just yet, since we saw in the movie that they're still not entirely getting everything that steven is saying (that "lesser equal life forms" thing from white), but other than that i don't know what to make of white being in this picture and why she looks angry. i like that she’s pink tinted though

5. i have absolutely no clue what the fuck that huge thing in the back is. i thought they healed all the corrupted gems at the end of change your mind, so this is either a straggler or some other entity entirely

6. that red and blue gem in the back, that must be a fusion given they’re multicolored and have 4 legs, a fusion involving the aquamarine that we know, considering the gem placement.

...aquamarine + eyeball ruby? i mean both the eyes AND the gem glow on all of these characters here so you can't really tell whether or not either eye is a gem...

BUT the fusion also has a :3 type mouth, which neither aquamarine nor any rubies have, so maybe this involves a gem we’ve never seen before, but i’m certain that if it is a fusion then it’s half our aquamarine..

regardless of who’s involved in the fusion, or whether or not it’s even a fusion at all, i think it could be Pietersite, also apparently called Tempest Stone. check out the markings of their face and then look up what a red-and-blue pietersite looks like.

[upsettlspaghettl]

Empire City Con 2019

I can say with confidence that this has been the best weekend of my life. People will be so quick to say that the Steven Universe fandom is one of the most toxic fandoms out there, but in all my years of going to conventions, this has been the most welcoming and friendly by far. Now, this could be because it’s a convention based on one singular fandom, as opposed to the mishmash of fandoms that gather at other conventions, but even Bronycon was nowhere near this level of welcoming. Then again, I only got the chance to go to 2 Bronycons so I don’t know if I can say much.

The flight to North Carolina was surprisingly not that bad. I’m very prone to getting lost, but I left 4 hours in advance and I didn’t even need those 4 hours. But this was my first time ever flying somewhere completely alone.

I got the chance to meet Deedee Magno Hall, who signed my Guide to the Crystal Gems. Now it’s my goal to get all the character pages signed. But it’s got all the fusions of season 1, so chances are I won’t ever get the chance to get Sugilite’s page signed. Oh well, a fan can dream, right? Just kind of a bummer because she happens to be my favorite fusion.

She also validated my OC ship with Yellow Pearl which was super cool of her. Deedee is a really sweet person. While waiting in line to meet her I made friends with a kid, and he was fanboying like crazy. Later on we met somebody else, and we all did karaoke together. Then they got to do a group Karaoke with Deedee, which I was unfortunately too nervous to join. She said she would try do one with me but we never got the chance, but either way I’m so grateful. She’s a really kind person and I hope I can meet her again!

My part in the karaoke was still really fun though. Me and my 2 friends were having a hard time figuring out what song to do, and since the instrumentals were live, the people playing only had a limited number of songs they could play. Eventually we agreed on Stronger than you. But the instrumental team couldn’t play that one, so one of my new friends asked everybody to sing along and be inclusive. I got to to do the Peridot rap onstage too! Only me and 1 other person in the audience did that though so it was really scary and I fumbled a lot... but I’m still so happy that I got to because it was just such a good time for everybody.

There was actually a garnet cosplayer who’s act was right before ours and they were still by the karaoke lineup, so one of my friends asked them to come join us. Toward the middle of our act, this same friend spotted a Jasper in the front row, dragged them up on stage, and we had an adorable fake fight scene. I had to hop off stage right before the song ended to hug somebody in the front row who was crying. I was relieved to hear that they were tears of joy. In the end, they invited my group to sit in the front row with them.

Right, and Garnet’s act! They actually sang the original SU opening in German which was super amazing. Toward the end, there was a Pearl cosplayer in her Mr. Greg tuxedo who sang It’s Over isn’t it with Deedee, and a Yellow Pearl cosplayer who did an amazing Yellow Pearl-y take on Do it for her. So yeah the variety of acts was fantastic and the whole thing was just so feel-good all around.

At the very end of the karaoke, after everyone had gotten a chance and we were all just hanging out in the karaoke room, I was given a Spinel promo pin by a Mystery Girl. Not literally a Mystery Girl cosplayer, but somebody who I thought was just... well, somebody. They mentioned having extras from the movie screening in CA, and were handing them out to Spinel cosplayers. Of course I was hopping up and down being super thankful to an awkward degree, like I normally do.

That night, I told my roommates what happened, and they told me just who that Mystery Girl was. None other than Mackenzie Atwood, creator of the Pearl’s Secret Rap Career series. My facial recognition is terrible, so I didn’t realize at the time. I was lucky enough to run into her again the next morning during breakfast in the hotel lobby, so I got to thank her personally in the end.

Speaking of Mystery Girls, there actually was a Mystery Girl cosplayer who was especially awesome. Not even ten minutes after arriving at the convention, I see 2 Spinels who welcome me into their Spinel group. A Mystery Girl cosplayer is with them, and they hand me a pair of shoe squeakers. They look like tiny clear whoopie cushions, and Mystery Girl was handing them out to all the Spinels. I don’t know about everybody else, but mine drew a lot of attention from other con-goers because I was super happy and energetic at this con so I ran everywhere I went. People were always laughing and it made me so happy that I was able to make people smile. I’ll definitely be using them again in my future Spinel cosplays.

One of the people I shared a hotel room with was a Spinel cosplayer on the first day, and they were carrying an amazing Spinel plushie that I remember seeing a photo of on Deviantart, and later showed up for sale on Etsy. It was super expensive and I remember wanting it, but I couldn’t be jealous because I know I was super lucky to even see the thing in real life!

On the second day, I met a sweet little girl who seemed to think I was the real Spinel. She drew me a picture of Baby Spinel, and I gave her my drawing of Baby Spinel which I’d made earlier that day in the quiet room. Later on, one of the convention organizers was holding a game session, and this kid crushed me in a round of Gem Gem Clod... which is Duck Duck Goose, but better. Note to self: playing games that involve running when wearing pink high heeled boots probably isn’t gonna go well!

After some games, we made some meep morps. Somebody started a trend of drawing Lion on the little canvases we were given, but my Lion wasn’t coming out quite right, so after I finished drawing his head I just. put it on one single leg. You’ve heard of Leg Pearl, now get ready for Leg Lion. I was super happy about that too because I made everybody laugh.

Once we ran out of canvases, the organizer offered to take polaroids of some of us, so now me and this adorable little kid had matching photos, which we put in tiny pink frames and put a Spinel gem on each.

oh also! the game organizer had a tattoo on their leg of a bunch of anime characters, mainly the cute “squad mascot” archetype. There was Hawk, Happy, a few other characters, and Keroro! I totally freaked out over Keroro because it’s a relatively obscure series, and it was the first show that really got me into anime! I’ve always loved things like Pokemon and Naruto, but Keroro Gunso was my gateway to the anime community as a whole.

At around noon, I spent a little more time in the room where the games were held, which had some board games of its own, books, and art supplies and overall functioned as just a room to hang out in. There I met a Pink Diamond cosplayer in a pink schoolgirl uniform and an Uravity hat (really cute outfit!), and a goth Spinel cosplayer. The Pink Diamond cosplayer was a great artist and drew a really cute magical girl Steven. These 2 people also taught me what a vsco girl was when they were joking about the fact that Pink Diamond would totally be one. I was super confused but it was really funny after they explained it.

There was a cosplay fashion show much later in the day and I made friends with a Ruby and Sapphire while sitting in line. They were a couple irl and went on stage together and they were adorable! They were also both Hazbin Hotel and Harry Potter fans, so we had a lot to talk about. We kept talking while we waited in line for the Sadie Killer and the Suspects concert too, and a few other people joined us. I’d only just met these people but I really felt surrounded by friends.

Earlier in the day, while I was waiting in line to meet Kinetic Cosplay, I ran into an amazing Sour Cream and Buck Dewey. I got their photo, only to later see them on stage as a part of the real life Sadie Killer and the Suspects. Jenny Pizza was also on stage, but I didn’t see her before that.

While the convention was great, something also happened that scared the hell out of me. At NYCC just last month, I bought some very tiny stickers, one of which was Froppy from BHNA. When I got home and unpacked, it was gone. I thought maybe it fell into the fabric of my backpack, and if it did, there was really no way to retrieve it unless it decided to fall out again. However at the convention... I was at the registration table, decorating my con badge. I pick up my phone, and suddenly the Froppy sticker falls out of nowhere. It looked like it came from the phone, but I can’t imagine where it would have fit and gotten stuck. It kinda just fell out of the void. Either way I’m glad to have it back.

Lets see... I also got some pictures of the real life Mr. Universe van... and later on I ran into the owner of the van in full Mr. Universe gear.

The Garnet cosplayer was Cotton Candy garnet on the second day and I still can’t get over how sweet and nice they were.

There were some family cosplays. On the first day I saw a Yellowtail carrying a baby doll dressed as Onion, and then on the second day the same person was with a Vidalia cosplayer, and an actual child dressed as Onion.

There were also a pair of parents dressed as Connie’s mom and dad, and their kid dressed as Connie.

On the first day there was a Mr. Smiley which was super cool and unexpected, and then on the second day they were Bismuth. There were actually 3 Bismuths in total at the con which was surprising because that wig looks super difficult to make. Anyone who can pull that off is amazing!

The last day only went on until about noon, but my flight didn’t leave until the next day. I didn’t book my hotel room for that night because I wanted extra time in case I got lost on the way to the airport. Turned out there were free shuttles. I ended up in the same shuttle as that Pink Diamond cosplayer and her dad, and she showed me this adorable RPG game app called Wholesome Cats. We took some snapchats together and now I know what I’d look like as a boy...

Since there was a shuttle to the airport, that meant I was super early for my flight. Super early as in, almost 12 hours early. After going through security, I was planning to just sleep at the gate, but my gate number wasn’t on the screen. So I asked an airport employee, and he told me that I wasn’t even supposed to be let through security until the next day, which was when my gate number was supposed to show up... whoops. It wasn’t so bad though, either way I’d just be hanging out at the airport for the night. I decided not to sleep though, just in case. It felt weird late at night, when the airport was more or less completely empty. It was so nice and quiet, and the Starbucks was still open so I had a super yummy dinner of pumpkin bread and cheese danishes.

I think that’s about it? If you wanna see pictures, I’ll be posting them all to a public album on Gnomie Leviton on Facebook, and I’ll also select a special few to post on QueenGnomie on Instagram.

If you add me on FB please tell me your url! I only add people who I've talked to before.

In conclusion!

This was by far my favorite convention I’ve ever been to, because you could literally just go up to someone, start talking, and you’d immediately have an awesome new friend. I’ve never been to a con before where every single person was so approachable. It really felt like everybody there was one big family. I already have a potential roommate for next year, so I really hope to get back on my feet soon so I can go!

[asksakuyathemaid]

Here's my theories on what all of the corrupted gems roles' were and what faction they could of been on before the corruption blast :

Disclaimer: I didn't think of some of these theories that will tie into this and be brought up, so credit goes to whoever thought of these theories since I forgot the theorist's names.

Worm Monster- Since she has to do with water, she was probably a gem who controlled water-based battleships or she could of been an explorer swimmer gem.

Obelisk- Her design appears to depict what looks to be White Diamond due to the way the top triangle is facing. Because of this, I wouldn't be surprised if she turned out to be an archeologist type of gem who was very loyal to Homeworld and tried to escape the Sleeping Pyramid, but it was too late. Also, if the obelisk became a part of her body during her corruption (that's why she appeared to be stuck) then she could of been trapped in some sort of pocket dimension inside of the obelisk to search for treasure right before the blast hit.

Desert Glass: Due to her having the ability to control sand and appearing to be trapped in an object like Lapis Lazuli (even though the Crew said that the pillow was the gem's corrupted form), and the fact the Lapis was trapped in the mirror may foreshadow that Desert Glass was a high-ranking terraformer gem before her corruption.

Cave Creature: I'm 95% positive that this gem was a miner type of gem who got stuck in the cave when the corruption blast hit. As for what faction she could of been on in the war, I think that she was most likely a Crystal Gem (because her drill parasites are in a shape of a star) that wasn't directly involved in the war but she was responsible for transporting any supplies that she found by mining to the CG's own army.

The Heaven and Earth Beetles: Since these gems are too small to do physical tasks and are able to know what's going on at all times, both of these gems could of been informer aristocratic gems, similar to Sapphires.

Watermelon Tourmaline (a.k.a. the giant pufferfish): Due to her color being pink and her body looking buff, I'm pretty sure she used to be a soldier gem who worked under Rose (if she is a crystal gem, which I'm pretty sure she is)/Pink Diamond (before she joined the CGs).

Ice Monster: Like what other people have observed, this gem is probably the "Little Larimar" that Bismuth referenced before. I'm not sure what role she had before her corruption, but due to her "friendly" interaction with Snowflake Obsidian, she could of been a spelunking gem that explored caves and the ice that she could of became encased in when she was frozen could of became a part of her corrupted form after the blast hit (that's why she appeared to be so much smaller when she was healed, it was because the ice made her bigger than she actually was, and if both Desert Glass and the Obelisk had the objects that they were stuck in become a part of their corrupted form's body during their corruption if it's true, then the same could be also said about Little Larimar, which is why her corrupted form didn't stay the same size, unlike the Heaven and Earth Beetles.)

Invisible Gem Monster: This gem may of been a spy gem before her corruption, who used her invisibility to her advantage. She could of been a part of White Diamond's court, due to invisibility having to do with the light spectrum. As to how she became corrupted, maybe the warp on Mask Island was broke (if there even was a warp there back when the war broke out) and there were no gem vehicles to help her escape. Another theory on how she didn't manage to escape the Earth was that she was using invisibility to try to scout out the area for any Crystal Gems, but no Homeworld gems detected her presence, and therefore she was forgotten when the other HW gems escaped.

Big Bird: This gem appears to be a fusion that is made up of smaller gems of the same type. Due to her stance as a same-gem fusion, she/they could of been a huge soldier gem that fought alongside other HW gems in the war. When she/they tried to escape, they were too slow to make it out in time, resulting in her/them becoming corrupted. The wings on this gem could reflect on them wanting to leave the Earth before the blast hit. (if they couldn't fly before the blast hit, that is.) As for the gems that were in her stomach, those gems could of been her/their prisoners that were captured inside of her gems during the war.

Lighthouse Gem Monster: Due to her gem resembling that of Topaz' own gem, it can be safe to assume that this gem is Blue Topaz. Since the lighthouse has a lot of gem-like patterns on it, she could of been a Crystal Gem who was kept in charge of scouting out the area for any HW troops. The only reason why I think she could be a CG and not a HW gem is that one of the window patterns on the front of the lighthouse resemble the gemstone of Rose Quartz. The gem also being able to talk while even in her corrupted state could also imply that she was an intelligent gem. The lighthouse also could of belonged to Pink Diamond before her 'shattering' and the lighthouse was then taken over by the CGs; because why else would the lighthouse foreshadow that Rose Quartz (the pattern on the lighthouse's window) was actually Pink Diamond (the diamond-like window patterns that can be also found throughout the lighthouse)?

Water Bears: Both of these gems could of gotten corrupted in the water, which is why water surrounds their corrupted (and healed body as a part of the one with the pink gemstone's scars). I'm not sure what role they served before their corruption, but since one of the monsters debuted in "Love Letters" they both could of been a part of a perma-fusion similar to Ruby and Sapphire and got unfused in the water as soon as the blast hit. The multiple legs that the corrupted forms of these gems have may hint that both of these gems were part of a fusion as well.

The Slinker: Her ranking is likely to be higher then that of Amethyst, due to her being able to poof her with no problem multiple times. Due to her having to change Amethyst's form multiple times in a row, she was probably a powerful aristocratic HW gem that was not happy with the way that lower class gems were able to express themselves. I wouldn't be surprised if when we see her healed form that she won't be happy with the new changes to how Gem Society works, and who knows, she may end up being one of the new antagonists.

Crab Gem Monster: The gem appears to be wearing a hat similar to what soldiers wear, so she could of been a commander during the war.

Corrupted Jaspers: It is shown that a lot of these Jaspers tend to stick together with one another even after their corruption. This may point to them fighting alongside each other and helping one another during the war.

Tongue Monster: I think that this monster could be a Blue Emerald due to her cut and hair being similar to that of Green Emerald (and another theory I saw that seems to support this). Her form is vastly different from that of Goshenite's (this is what I theorize what Obelisk gem's name to be in the show and yes, it's a Beryl just like Emerald) because she wasn't trapped in a dimension or water/ice. Her gem wanting to move fast and escape could refer to her not being able to escape in time before the blast hit despite her best efforts. She could of been a manager for Era 1 Peridots that served under BD’s court.

Flower Monster: Here's a fun one: what if this gem could of been a gardener gem before her corruption? This would explain why she was in the Kindergarten to begin with, because she was a Crystal Gem who was tasked with planting new life in the Kindergartens!

Alternate theory on the 'trapped' corrupted gems (the Obelisk and Desert Glass): 

Since the Crewniverse has pretty much said that the Obelisk and the Pillow are the gem's corrupted bodies, what if their gems were "harvested" gems (like the sentient wall gems) that were used as gem technology before their corruption? This would also explain why the gems look like objects, rather than animals, monsters, or plants. (but that doesn't explain the size change in Little Larimar during her corruption, but that could just be a size case similar to Nephrite, Jasper or the Worm Monster.)

[astudyinsarcasm9]

The Question - Thoughts

Imma put this under a Read More for spoilers

This episode was really cute. The backgrounds were gorgeous. I only have 3 major problems with it and an additional question. 

1. This line:  Well... I fell in love with Rose Quartz... And she fell in love with Mr. Universe. Sure, she never told me she used to be Pink Diamond, but, heh, I never told her I used to be Gregory DeMayo. |- - I mean It is in character for Greg and it was such a sweet line but like her being PD means something different that Greg just changing his name and going into the music business. PD was one of the leaders of gem society. Granted, Greg did think that him thinking disco was coming back was on equal footing with Rose starting a war.

I guess what Im saying is that I would’ve liked to see Greg just a little bit troubled by this revelation. I also dislike that the show gave him only seconds to react to the news and then move on. Couldn’t the episode spend at least 2 minutes with Greg? You know, the love of Rose’s life? 

2. Steven being pretty darn selfish as evidenced by this line: But, dad! What if they never form Garnet again?! We gotta get them back together! - Again I know it’s hard for Steven to face the possibility of not seeing his dear friend again and I know it sucks but at least show some empathy and don’t tell Ruby to her face that you just want Garnet back. Steven didn’t care if she and Sapphire solved their conflict, all he cared was that they get Garnet back. Only later in the episode does Steven acknowledge that maybe Ruby is happy being her own gem. Greg even says that is has to be her decision to  be Garnet again.

P.S. I love Greg he is so wise and smart. 

3. I for one got very uncomfortable at the thought of Ruby and Sapphire forming Garnet again. I mean I love Garnet but the way Ruby feels about it it doesn’t sound healthy at all. She implies that even as a fusion she needs to check in with Sapphire and that without Sapphire’s guidance she’s lost. 

Also, back in Keystone Motel, Ruby was right to be mad at Pearl and everything, yet when they argue at the end Ruby says Sapphire is always right. In The Quesion Sapphire apologizes to Ruby for talking to her like that and Ruby again says Sapphire was right. Yes, Sapphire was right to be mad but she was not right to lash out as Ruby who had no fault. 

Their relationship reminds me of the last relationship I had where I was like Ruby, dependent on my partner, thinking he was always right and the likes. 

It just doesn’t sit right with me. 

Finally, the question I had is this: 

How do fusions work anyway? This episode, more than any other, gave us an insight into how a fusion’s mind works. Ruby, even in Garnet, feels helpless and needs Sapphire’s guidance and relies on Sapphire’s future vision. But, weren’t we told that exactly because Ruby is involved in the fusion Garnet’s future vision is very different from Sapphires? This episode seems to imply that Ruby does nothing to impact that and that Sapphire merely being fused is the cause for her future vision changing.

So again how does a fusion work? Does a fusion have their own mind? Are they their own person? Does it hurt when they unfuse? We know a fusion can take over its components, as evidenced by Sugilite - where it’s the fusion itself refusing to unfuse as opposed to Malachite where it’s both Lapis and Jasper refusing. 

I don’t know, I think, based on what I understand, that with a fusion, the components never truly go away and they kind of get turns on what to do. And we see that with Malachite where its components take turns. We see it with Alexandrite, we see it with Stevonnie. Maybe im wrong and it’s not like that. 

But based on the last episode it really seems that way. And truthfully if you think about it gems are just made of light so when they fuse they fuse their light and form a new body together but their minds don’t fuse. 

My brain hurts. Someone please explain fusion to me again. Thanks

[bluekayanite]

Theory: Is Garnet THREE People?!

This might just amount to headcanon, but Garnet definitely did something that caught my attention...

Even as Ruby and Sapphire are barely tolerating each-other, Garnet appears to grab onto her giant shoulders as well as she can, as if to hold herself together.  Even as she begins to fall apart and her base Gems start to assert themselves, she does something than neither Ruby nor Sapphire seems to be doing.

I find this incredibly intriguing.  In theory, a Fusion’s behavior is based on the people it’s made up of, with any commonalities being amplified.  If that were the case, I’d think we’d see her clutching her head in pain and frustration, or something.  Instead, we see a behavior that seems unrelated to the argument going on.

I’ll admit, it looks like she could be trying to push herself apart, but 1. that seems out of character for Garnet, 2. it starts before Ruby yells at Sapphire to “Just go!” 3. Fusions fall apart so ridiculously easily that I wouldn’t think it would be necessary.  Clutching the shoulders like that seems more likely to be a gesture to comfort herself and/or keep herself together.  Also, moments before that shot, her left and right arms behaved out of sync with each-other, so you wouldn’t think she’d be coordinated enough to grab herself with both arms like that.

It makes me wonder if maybe, just maybe, Garnet somehow developed a third personality.  One independent of R&S, who doesn’t want to be at conflict, and desperately wants to avoid falling apart (though doesn’t seem to mind splitting voluntarily - probably because it’s temporary, if I had to guess).

It’s possible she’s aware of this to some degree, even if she doesn’t fully know.  Like, in Keeping it Together, she referred to R&S as if they’re separate from her (twice), she seemed to apologize to herself before she nearly fell apart, and she avoids directly answering Steven’s question when he asks what happens if she unfuses:

Steven: “Is it like you disappear?” Garnet: “I embody my... I mean, Ruby and Sapphire’s love.  I’ll always exist in them, even if I split apart.”

To me, that sounds like the answer might be “yes,” and that she doesn’t want to fully acknowledge it.

This also makes me wonder about other dialogue.  Like this other tidbit from Keystone Motel:

Greg: “Eh... Garnet likes to eat sometimes.” Ruby: “Ugh!  Well Garnet’s not here!”

Is it possible that Ruby and Sapphire know, on some level, that Garnet being more than the two of them is more literal than they suggest?  Even if they are subconsciously aware, they don’t seem to acknowledge it consciously, and might even be in denial.  It’s also possible that Garnet (the hypothetical third individual) is more aware than Ruby and Sapphire are.  I mean, Sardonyx didn’t seem to acknowledge when Pearl was deceiving Garnet, so the different parts of a Fusion don’t seem to automatically share everything they know.

And Fusions in general are referred to as if their own individuals, like when Sardonyx calls Sugilite “someone else.”  Is that just an easy way to refer to Fusions, or is it something more?  When Sapphire said she seemed to ‘disappear’ upon fusing, is it just because she and Ruby are so well blended that they can’t be distinguished from each-other, or is it because a third entity is taking over?

This might explain some other things.  Like I don’t think Garnet and Pearl both being vain would equate to Sardonyx’ always-on-stage personality.

Granted, Sardonyx herself says that every Fusion gains something new, so things like entirely different personality traits might be par for the course.

It also doesn’t seem like every Fusion gains new personality traits.  Stevonnie, as far as I can tell, seems to be just a mix of Steven and Connie, though that might be because they’re both human and there’s no Gem in the mix.  Still, Malachite involves so little cooperation that it might be a stretch to really call her a mix.  Smokey and Sugilite seem kind of borderline: it’s hard to tell whether their personalities are based solely in the individuals they’re made up of.  In fact, Fusions are so dang dynamic and volatile that Garnet might be a unique case.

Really, Garnet has existed longer than any other mixed-Gem Fusion.  It’s possible that Garnet began as just the two Gems combined, but the third personality emerged gradually and/or subtly.  And even so, Garnet (in general) might be so deeply based in Ruby and Sapphire than even if she were somehow separated from the two of them, there might not be enough left to operate independently.  So... maybe it could be more accurate to say that Garnet (the Fusion) is 2 ½ people, or something.

Or maybe this is something that would just be relegated to fanfiction.

Either way, it’s an idea I like playing with.

(On a different note, I just wrote a theory that doesn’t only fills two pages on Google Docs.  What is this madness?!)

[tatttletale]

Steven's Dream (Zoo Arc: part 1/3)

Hibiscus flowers swayed against a lush backdrop—a grassy hill, a clear sky and a glint of pink—

        . . .Steven?. . .

        The voice is disembodied and distant, carried on the breeze that sways the flowers.

        Steven?. . .

        The view is constant, locked like a video camera during a scene in a movie.

        "Steven!"

        Steven woke with a start, vision blurry. When he touched fingers to the dampness on his cheek, they came back with glistening water.

        He became aware of the movie onscreen and sat up, wiping at his face.

        "You okay, bud?" his dad asked, settling a hand on his back. "You fell asleep during the movie. I was gonna let you sleep (you looked so cute!) but, then you started crying, and. . . that was less cute."

        Steven gave a soft laugh. "No, I'm fine. . . I don't know why I was crying. My dream wasn't really sad. . ." he yawned, and Greg checked his watch.

        "Oh, jee, look at the time. . . and my classy new watch!"

        Steven stared uncomprehendingly at the golden accessory against his wrist. Greg smiled sympathetically and patted his shoulder.

        "Let's get you home, bud."

✧✧✧

". . . Eh, you didn't miss much. Turns out they were abducting cows 'cause they needed milk for their cereal planet!"

        Steven stepped up onto the stairs to the beach house and paused. "Dad. Before you go . . . can I ask you something?" He turned and fixed him with a serious stare.

        "Yeah, of course!" he smiled, but seeing Steven's expression, his brow creased in worry.

        "Did Mom ever talk to you about. . . Pink Diamond?"

        Greg stared at him for a moment, before sighing. "There were some things your mom. . . didn't like to talk about. I . . . never pressed her for details."

        "Why not?" Steven felt himself growing a little desperate.

        Greg shook his head and started up the stairs. "Rose and I talked about tonnes of important stuff—music, comic books, getting sand between your toes . . . you know, feelings," he said, wedging onto the step beside him. "We both made a lotta mistakes when we were young—I thought disco was coming back, she started a war. . ." Steven cringed.

        "I think she felt like she had to confess everything to me, but. . .  I told her, the past is the past. 'All that matters to me is who you are now'—and who she was, was . . . an incredible, loving being."

        Steven gave a soft smile, feeling for the gem beneath his shirt. That . . . felt a lot better. He turned and gave him a warm hug. "'Night, Dad."

        "'Night, Steven."

✧✧✧

Hibiscus flowers swayed against a lush backdrop—a grassy hill, a clear sky. . .

        I'm here again?

        Steven craned his neck up to the clouds, and reacted with surprise when the view complied.

        Guess I can look around. . .

        His eyes tracked up the branches of a tree overhead, and then scanned across the green meadow.

        What is this place?

        A glint caught his eye—light refracting off a polished pink surface.

        What's— what is. . .

        He followed the arc of the thing, which led back—up—to a huge, intricately patterned . . . thing. It was almost like a chamber . . . on legs?

        Whoa.

        He was just taking notice of the masses of shrub gathering around the base of the thing, flowered vines climbing the structure, when—

        Steven's eyes blinked open and he sat up upon feeling something tickling his face. When he wiped at the stuff with his fingers, he found tears.

        He frowned. Again?

✧✧✧

Steven watched the pretty sheet-snow settle around him. Pearl isn't going to be too happy about that, he thought.

        "Sorry, I'll clean that up later!" Connie shouted excitedly, not sounding sorry at all. From somewhere on the floor beside her, she picked up a sizeable tome and dropped it with a thunk! onto the table.

        "When you told me about your dream, I thought it sounded familiar," she said, turning the cover and searching the contents page. It was remarkable that such an ancient piece of literature should be so well organised, but he supposed that was a testament to Buddwick's character. Connie picked up a handful of pages and flicked hurriedly through them, searching, until she stopped and slammed her hand down on an illustrated page.

        Steven gasped. "That's it! The— 'Palan-quinn'."

        "Actually, it's pronounced palan-keen," she corrected him, and further back in the house, the warp pad chimed.

        Steven brightened. "It's the Gems! They've gotta know about this thing!" He grabbed the tome and rushed over with Connie on his heels.

        When the light from the pad cleared, Ruby opened an eye. "Hey," she said, trying to sound coy and failing.

        "Hey, d'you know anything about this thing?" Steven motormouthed, and held open the book.

        "Hmmmmm!" Ruby stepped closer and frowned at the book, supporting her chin with thumb and forefinger. "Oh, this. Yes. I see. Steven, I can tell you this with absolute confidence." She steepled her fingers, closed her eyes and breathed out.

        Steven felt excitement bubble up inside him. Ruby never hid anything from him. She'd tell him exactly what this thing was, and he could figure out what it was doing in his dreams.

        Ruby opened her eyes again and fixed him with a very serious stare. "I have no idea what that is."

        He deflated, and she laughed, giving him a playful punch. "'Course I know! That's a palanquin."

        He shielded his arm from any further damage and huffed. "Ruby, I know. It says right there."

        She seemed surprised and stared at the caption he pointed to. As Steven came to think of it, Ruby had never seemed very interested in human culture for the most part, so it didn't come as much of a surprise that she hadn't learnt how to read.

        Raising an eyebrow, she looked back up at him. "Well, whaddya wanna know about it?"

        "Uhh, stuff like. . . what's it for? And what's it doing there?"

        "For important Gems, mostly," she supplied, waving a hand. "Someone prolly left it here during the War."

        "What kind of important Gems?"

        Sapphire had been listening in to the conversation, gradually growing more and more tense. She turned around when Ruby started to speak.

        "Well, the biggest ones are D—"

        Sapphire clapped a gloved hand over her mouth, startling all three of them. When she noticed the children staring at her, she shot them a nervous smile and removed her hand. "I'm sorry, Ruby occasionally gets ahead of herself."

        Ruby scowled at her.

        "What was she going to say?" Connie interjected. "'D'. . .?"

        "Diamonds?" Steven asked, and Sapphire stiffened, raising her hands to her head. "I had a dream where I saw this thing, and Connie and I were wondering maybe—"

        "Steven," the blue Gem interrupted, and hurriedly dropped her hands, instead clasping them in front of her. "Why don't you and—"

        She cut off when a large hand settled on her head. Looking up, she opened her mouth—

        "You can't go there," Opal said calmly.

        Steven blinked. ". . . Why not?"

        Ruby sidled up beside him and crossed her arms. "Yeaahhh, why not?"

        Sapphire's fists clenched. "Ruby, you know—"

        "Sapphire, it's okay," Opal soothed, and levelled her gaze at Steven. "We won't be going. And that's the end of it."

        Steven sighed and lowered the book. "I thought you were going to tell me everything from now on."

        Sapphire and the fusion remained silent. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he flipped the book around to examine it.

        "Wait. . . it was pink in my dream. Does—" he held it up again and pointed at the image. "Does this have something to do with Pink Diamond?" Sapphire cringed, and he forged ahead. "I already know Mom shattered her, so what is it about this you can't tell me?"

        Again, Sapphire raised her hands to her temples and shook her head. Opal stepped in front of her and gazed beseechingly at Steven. "Please. You're making Sapphire very upset."

        "No!" he burst out. "I'm very upset!"

        "We're. Not. Going."

        Connie and Ruby backpedalled, shooting each other a wary look.

        "Rose never wanted for you to see that place," the fusion said, steadfast.

        "Rose wanted. . ." he growled, voice rising to a shout. "What about what I want?!" he swung a finger at her. "I'm sick of everyone lying to me! Rose is my Mom! Out of anyone, don't I deserve to know the truth?"

        "This isn't the time."

        "I. Don't. Care! I wanna go there now!"

        "Steven!"

        "I'm sorry," Connie said quietly, rubbing her neck. "I— I shouldn't have brought the book."

        "Yes you should've brought it! It's lucky something has some information that I don't have to get out of THEM!"

        All three Gems recoiled, shocked.

        When Steven spoke next, his voice was calm but determined. "Connie, I need to borrow this book."

        She hesitated before replying. "Okay, just be careful. . . I gotta return it to the library in a week."

        "Thanks," he said, walking past her.

        "Wait, Steven, where are you—"

        A hand on her head stopped her, and she looked up at a stern Opal, eyes fixed on Steven as he slipped out through the door. Sapphire stood next to her, skirts bunched in her fists.

        Sat in the middle of the staircase, Steven gazed intently at the image. The creak of the door made him look up.

        "Steven—don't go. You have to trust us."

        He sighed and stood, turning to look up at her. "I don't understand, Opal. At least you're usually honest with me!"

        "I want to be. But if I tell you what Sapphire said. . ." she stopped and sighed.

        "What? What did she say?"

        "I can't tell you, Steven!"

        "Steven! Please don't go!"

        Sapphire rushed out and onto the balcony, gazing down at him over the guardrail. "You can't let her see you!"

        "Ah! Her! Her who!"

        "Oh, dear. . . Steven, please. Just stay here." She parted her fringe and gazed at him with her wide blue eye. "For me."

        His gaze dropped. "I won't."

        He trotted off determinedly down the stairs.

        Behind him, Opal crossed the balcony to settle a comforting hand on Sapphire's head.

✧✧✧

Greg was asleep, splayed across the mattress in his van, when a banging on the door jolted him awake.

        He scrambled forward and opened the doors to Steven, clutching a thick, leather-bound book. "Dad, I need your help!"

        "Is everything o—"

        "There's this place I saw in a dream, and it's real! But the Gems won't tell me anything about it!" he pointed at the map displayed on a stained page. "It has something to do with Pink Diamond. I know you didn't wanna get involved with Mom's past but. . . I wanna know the truth! Doesn't that matter at all?"

        His voice was shrill, his eyes wide. Greg stared at him for a moment before softening. "Of course it does."

        The boy appeared to calm a little. "Really?"

        Greg nodded and held out his hand. "Lemme see that."

        Steven passed the book to him, marking the page, and he examined the map for a moment. "And the Gems won't take you?"

        "No." His shoulders slumped defeatedly.

        Greg smiled. "Well I know a guy who will!"

✧✧✧

Andy DeMayo had only been too happy to give his cousins a lift in his bushplane. Such a small aircraft did have its drawbacks, though—they made it to Korea via stops in Alaska and Russia. When they finally touched down and farewelled Andy (promising to call him when they found their way back to Beach City, as Steven was sure the Gems would take them back), Greg had insisted they take it easy and have a little fun while they were here. Steven certainly couldn't object to that.

        Needless to say, South Korea was amazing. Bustling cities full of lights and billboards and screens; and clogging up the roads, beeping taxis, friendly locals and hurried tourists.

        They went shopping, tried the local food, visited the Heungnyemun Gate and tried on traditional garb. After purchasing a pair of branded shirts and a load of new clothes (which Steven certainly wouldn't wear but Greg insisted on anyway), they finally caught a bus to the Seorjjungsan mountains.

        "Kamsahamni— da?" Greg called upon their disembarkment, and stared dolefully after the retreating vehicle.

        "What's the hurry?" he mumbled, and turned and almost ran into Steven, who was examining the map.

        "This is it," he said, and began to walk.

        "You sure this is the place?" Greg called after him, lugging shopping bags up the hill.

        "Yeah!" Steven called back, "It's hard to explain but. . . I can feel it."

        "Huh. . . sure is pretty here." Greg gazed around at the masses of hibiscus bushes, blooming with delicate pink flowers. "So does any of this look familiar to you?"

        Steven stopped abruptly in his path. "Steven?"

        He was staring intently at the book. When Greg leaned forward to look at him, his face was streaming with fat tears. "Whoa, are you okay?" He glanced worriedly at the book, thinking he may have stumbled across something upsetting—but he found nothing except the map sprawled across the aged pages.

        "It's happening again," Greg pushed, gauging his reaction.

        "I-I'm fine. Let's keep going."

        "Come on. . . let's take a break," he offered tentatively, glancing back down the hill. "I think this mountain's really messing me up."

        "No, Dad! This can only mean we're getting closer!" He shot him a brusque smile and forged on. "C'mon!"

        Hesitantly, Greg trailed behind him until they reached a high mesh fence. Nailed (somehow) to the criss-crossing wires were two signs—one shouted KEEP OUT, accentuated with bold Korean symbols and a crossed-out stick figure; the one below was a little more mellow, wooden and scrawled with a soft Please. Steven thought that handwriting looked familiar.

        "Look!" Steven cried, a little unnecessarily.

        "This feels familiar," Greg grumbled, eyeing the signs.

        "Dad, help me jump the fence."

        Steven's expression was stern, fixed unwaveringly on the fence, but still flowed with tears not his own.

        Behind him, Greg gulped. "Oh boy, we're doing this."

        Steven dropped down lightly on the other side of the fence. Greg thumped heavily to the ground beside him with a whoompf!.

        "Your dad really can't jump fences like he used to," he wheezed from the ground.

        "Dad. . . look."

        Greg raised his head to Steven's receding figure. With a groan, he hauled himself up and followed. He didn't bother with the bags; they could come back for them later.

        They came to a stop in front of a huge, polished blue structure hung with curtains. It sat on what looked like angled legs and inside sat a grand carved throne.

        "This is it! But. . . it's different?" Steven gazed up in confusion at the pristine palanquin. "In my dream it was all broken down and pink! This one's in perfect condition!"

        "Maybe it got a paint job?" Greg suggested dubiously.

        "Oh, Pink. . ."

        A low voice echoed back to them from somewhere close. When Steven turned he could just make out a blue, hooded figure through the leaves of an obstructing bush.

        "I'm sorry."

        The huge figure was kneeling in front of—in front of the pink palanquin! Beside the figure, a small blue Gem knelt on the ground.

        "I'm so sorry. I should have done more. Yellow says it'll all be over soon. . . I wonder what you would think. This is your planet, after all. . . I still think it is."

        "Steven, do you know her?" Greg whispered.

        Suddenly, everything was blurred, and Steven sunk to the ground, tears flowing.

        "Whoa, buddy!"

        "My dreams. . . I was seeing through her eyes!" Steven breathed, and wiped at the onslaught of water. "I've been crying her tears!"

        "What are you doing over there?"

        The two froze. Light footsteps were approaching.

        "I thought I heard someone," said a high voice above their heads.

        "Don't worry, I'll handle this," Greg whispered, and gave Steven's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

        "I think we're not alone," the small blue Gem said, and Greg abruptly stood, earning a small gasp of surprise.

        "Ayyy! Uh, nice day out, huh? I— I didn't see you there, what's uh, what's. . . up?" Steven cringed as he heard his clicking finger-guns.

        The hooded figure in front of the palanquin straightened. "Pearl?"

        The aforementioned Gem turned and gave some sort of foreign salute. "My Diamond, I've found a native."

        She curtseyed and Greg clambered out of the bushes.

        "Oh, uh—yeah! I'm from here alright! I am your host, your. . . Highness." He didn't quite know what to refer to her by, exactly, but that seemed the most appropriate.

        The figure turned just enough to expose the lower half of a thin, blue face.

        "Bring it here."

        The smaller Gem straightened and, clasping her hands, went to the Diamond. Greg followed.

        "Dad, no!" Steven called, as quietly as he could manage. His father didn't hear him.

        Upon reaching the figure, the small Gem curtseyed again and stood behind Greg.

        "How curious," came the low voice. "I'm impressed by humanity's ability to survive in the wild."

        The voice seemed to grow weaker, quieter. "What a strange planet. Where else would a being as fragile as a human live, while a being as powerful as a Diamond perish?"

        The large Gem (undoubtedly a Gem, by now, Steven thought) gestured to the palanquin. "This is where it happened. Where she was broken."

        Steven's eyes widened.

        "Were you close?" He started at his father's voice.

        The Gem paused for a moment before replying. "Very."

        Greg sighed. "Ah. . . I'm awfully sorry. I know how hard it is to move on when you've lost someone."

        To Steven's shock, the figure then turned, exposing a long, mournful face, framed by white tufts of hair. The eyes were huge and blue, wet with tears. As another tear dripped down the Gem's face, Steven felt his own eye water.

        "I lost someone very important to me, too," Greg continued. "I miss her every single day and I think about her all the time. But. . . she's never coming back. That feeling can be so hard to be okay with."

        "I'm surprised that a human being is capable of understanding how I feel." She turned back and and gazed sorrowfully at the palanquin. "It's a shame."

        Slowly, she stood, drawing her rippling robes with her. "There's a geo-weapon incubating in your planet that will destroy everything, shortly. But. . . you don't deserve that, do you?" She turned and gave him a small smile.

        Greg stood transfixed, not quite believing. "Geo-weapon, huh?"

        "You know, I really shouldn't be here." She kneeled down and spoke playfully, almost as if she were conversing with a favourite pet. "But I'm glad I came back one last time. I can save one last piece of her legacy."

        Greg smiled. "Oh, yeah?"

        A huge blue hand darted out from underneath the cloak and snatched him off the ground.

        "Dad!" Steven cried, panicked.

        The huge Gem straightened and raised a hand. At her signal, a leviathan blue hand rose from somewhere behind a nearby mountain and into the air. Larger than her? How was that possible?

        "That's a. . . big arm," Greg stammered.

        Steven heard something behind him and ducked just in time to avoid being struck by the blue palanquin. It could fly, too?!

        "Put me down, please!" Greg's desperate cry echoed across the landscape. "Whoa, whoa! Put me down, your Highness!"

        The Gem heeded him none, just ducked into the palanquin and sat, her tiny companion following suit.

        Steven tumbled out of the bushes. "Dad, DAD!"

        Just as he would have reached it, the palanquin flew up into the sky, higher, higher, until it reached the hand—the ship? the hand-ship?—and disappeared into its clenched fist.

        "Stop!" Steven cried, and with all his strength he launched himself up at the ship, flying higher, higher, the ground receding beneath him, the trees shrinking into pinpricks—

        He stretched an arm out, reaching for the ship—

        It turned and shot into the atmosphere, warping out of sight and blasting him back towards the ground with the force of its afterfire.

        Steven gave up and went limp, falling, staring helplessly at the spot he had last seen it. "Dad. . ."

        Suddenly, he was caught up in two strong arms, and he closed his eyes, resigning himself to the strong hold.

        "Steven, I'm sorry!"

        He opened his eyes and gave a start. "Garnet?!"

        She let her visor fizzle away and he saw her eyes glint with regret. "I saw you come here, I saw Blue Diamond on Earth, I saw her see me and find all of us!—I couldn't be here with you!"

        "She took my Dad! It's all my fault— I— I should have listened to Opal!"

        "It's okay, Steven," came a soothing voice from behind him, and two more arms wrapped around him. Two arms wrapped around Garnet, too. When he looked up, he found Opal's sorrowful eyes gazing down at him.

        "What are we gonna do?" he whispered.

        Garnet's face hardened.

        "We're going to space." She pulled out of Opal's warm arms and held Steven closer to her own chest. "We're going to get him back."

PROMPT: "do the zoo arc. technically not much would change but it'd be funny to see pearl fuming over holly blue abusing all the amethysts there and ranting about how mad she'd be." — for scaldera3 on Wattpad! Hope you enjoyed! :)

       I'm sorry but I came up with Opal's little quirk to put her hands on people's heads instead of their shoulders and it's the CUTEST thing—        I also could not find the actual Korean dialogue for what Greg said to Blue Diamond, but I found the translation. . . eghh. . .

Seorjjungsan: A Crash Course in Fictional Linguistics

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[raysdoodlepad]

Net I respect you a lot but I have...a few problems with this

1. Fusion isn't described as disgusting on homeworld. It's a use and purpose for war and battles. The only time homeworld has bad opinions on fusion is when it's two different gems because it has no functional use. The only reason they think it's disgusting is because it's unprecedented and goes against the authority. There are 100% asexual people who are sex repulsed. Asexual people have so many different feelings about sex. Some just don't want sex, some can tolerate because they have a partner who is allosexual, and other times they feel repulsed by it. That's why asexuality is described as a spectrum.

2. Many asexual people don't realize they are asexual until they either have sex or are about to have sex for the first time. Garnet could have just assumed Peridot was judt nervous about fusing for the first time. And the reason she said she was proud of Peridot was because Peridot made an attempt to understand Garnet's relationship. She was actively trying to unlearn what homeworld taught her about fusion and it's purposes. Garnet was proud Psridot was trying to be less ignorant, but also respected her boundaries to not want to fuse. Which is exactly what you should do if who are about to have sex and your partner backs out. Garnet WAS going to drop it when she said Peridot wasn't ready. But Peridot decided to try and continue anyways before backing down.

3. Well...yeah obviously. It's been described in show there are many, many reasons to fuse outside of what homeworld taught. And Peridot not wanting to get close to others could just imply that she's aromantic. The idea Peridot doesn't want to get close or has had issues with getting close to others physcially or emotionally doesn't exclude her from being ace/aro.

Okay you make it sound like that the crewniverse intended to make Peridot ace/aro. Unless I missed something you can't get mad at the crewniverse for bad representation if they didn't intendnut to be representation. And why can't fusion be both? The metaphir for fusion obviously fluxucates between WHO is involved. For every instance with Steven it represents the relationship he has with Connie, the gems, and his dad.

For Garner its a metaphor for romantic and self love as well as sex because of the episode the Answer. When Ruby and Sapphire had a conversation that sounded like Ruby took her virginity and how despite Ruby fused a lot her timenwith Sapphire was different. Similar how to flings dont feel the same as someone you have an emotional connection to.

Malacite was a metaphor for a mutual abusive relationship

And Peridot and Garnet's attempt to fuse is representative of how sometimes even when you think youre ready you aren't. And that its okay to withdraw consent and not go through. You shouldn't be shamed for not wanting a relationship or sex and Garnet does not. She is just greatful to Peridot for at least trying to understand her.

So to be honest Peridot would probably make gopd representation for ace and aro people. You are free to disagree but that's just my opinion.

“LOL Peridot doesn’t fuse because she’s ace/aro rep” because that doesn’t have ANY UNFORTUNATE IMPLICATIONS

Guys I know I can be pretty critical of SU but I have never been straight up angry like I am right now. This was the exact thing I have been saying I hoped SU would not do with Peridot’s arc and let me spell out why this is a REALLY AWFUL WAY to put ace rep into the show: 1. Peridot was all but completely brainwashed by Homeworld into thinking fusion is disgusting. When she comes to Earth she straight up doesn’t understand fusion and has to be taught how romantic/sexual love works like a child. Asexual people are NOT sex repulsed and not simply sheltered or naive. They are not AFRAID of sex or incapable of it. They just don’t have any interest in it. Peridot is the absolute WORST choice to be ace/aro rep given how easy it is to imply she’s that way because of how she was raised.  2. Garnet doesn’t simply respect Peridot when she doesn’t want to fuse. She says she’s “not ready” and then when that eggs her into trying she says she’s “proud of her” for trying. If an aseuxal person doesn’t want sex you DO NOT TALK DOWN TO THEM LIKE THAT ABOUT IT YOU RESPECT THEIR DECISION AND DROP IT. But Garnet is treated as in the right for the way she treats her, which - if Peridot is supposed to be an ace/aro metaphor - implies an ace/aro person needs to attempt to have sex with a partner to “understand” them regardless of how much they may not want to.

3. FUSION ISN’T JUST ABOUT SEX. It’s about any sort of emotionally intimate relationship that makes those involved more than the sum of their parts. By saying Peridot isn’t interested it’s not simply saying she’s ace, but saying she doesn’t want to get too emotionally close to anybody. Heck, that’s what the show’s target audience is going to see much more clearly than any sort of sex metaphor, esspecially with how hard a time Peridot has had making friends. They’re going to see a character who has had trouble being close to others never complete that arc as fully as a character like amethyst, because fusion has consistently been used as a climax for showing how close two characters have gotten and how deeply they respect each other.  Like…. I get what the crew was TRYING to do here, but did ANYBODY ACTUALLY THINK about Peridot’s entire character arc or the way fusion has been handled and say “Yeah, so her being ace/aro makes great sense and definitely has no unfortunate implications” because as a gray ace who has had a lot of conversations with ace/aro friends about some of the horrible misconceptions they deal with? Screw all of this. This is absolutely horrible representation and the crew really needs to put a little more thought into not just including representation, but HOW they include it. Also, they need to pick a side of the fence already and decide if they want to say fusion is just a sex metaphor or not. My guess is not, because the other option promotes pedophillia and incest. 

[introvert-celeste]

Is there any episode post sardonyx Arc where the cgs don't argue and fight with each other like they did in season 1? I remember seeing a post saying sardonyx Arc was kinda a turning point for amethyst, garnet and pearl and I'm wondering if you think there is some truth to this

Other than Ruby and Sapphire splitting up briefly following the Pink Diamond reveal, I don’t think so? We had a couple Amethyst situations, mainly the Jasper arc in season 3 and a little in the episode What’s Your Problem? in season 5, but those were just Amethyst’s problems. Only Steven and Peridot were involved.

The Sardonyx arc was definitely a turning point in the group’s dynamic, where they all sort of come to an understanding. Pearl did something shitty because of her internalized feelings about being a Pearl, something that Garnet didn’t realize she was dealing with. Being in a fusion with Ruby and Sapphire, who love and value each other very much, and who love and value Pearl, made her feel better about herself, even though it was still an incredibly toxic thing to do. 

Likewise, Garnet revealed that she is not, in fact, perfect, and the stress of what Pearl did caused her to come undone. Her coldness toward Pearl immediately after the confrontation was an effort to internalize her anger and avoid carrying on the conflict. She’s always felt this pressure to hold the team together, even if someone from the team has hurt her, and that caused a conflict in between Ruby and Sapphire. And this was clearly not something that Pearl was aware of until this point.

Amethyst claimed that fusing Garnet made her and Pearl feel stronger, which is probably more true for her than Pearl. Being the weakest Crystal Gem, next to Steven, had always been one of the biggest sore spots for Amethyst up until Earthlings. This doesn’t carry much weight in the conflict itself, but it shows self-awareness on Amethyst’s part that is a big step forward for her character. In this arc, I would say that her frustration with being caught in the middle, as well as Steven, was the most important aspect. While she does have a selfish reason for liking to fuse with Garnet, she wasn’t the one who manipulated her into doing something that was very personal to her, for her own selfish reason. Much like the Pink Diamond situation, she wasn’t responsible for Pearl’s mistakes, and it had nothing to do with her. She didn’t deserve to be caught in the middle like that.

They all got to air their insecurities at least a little bit and come to an understanding, so a big group-wide conflict hasn’t happened since. Of course, Amethyst’s feelings continued to inadvertently get ignored in season 3 and 5, not on purpose, so there was inevitably conflict there (and it doesn’t help that she doesn’t like talking about her problems). Having Pearl and Garnet come to an understanding is, I’d say, is much more important for the integrity of the group, both holding their own leadership/team mom roles. There’s no peace in the group when the mom’s are fighting.