#and mystery cool mom garnet

[lab-gr0wn-lambs]

Oh Steven Universe season 1 my beloved

[2n2n]

rapidfur

IT LITERALLY BUGGED ME SO MUCH!!! I was like, excuse me, is it not TOTALLY OBVIOUS??? I could not engage with those people. 😂 And then some have the gall to say it's "boring" that AidaIro went with the obvious choice for amane's yorishiro... (AIDAIRO PLANNED THIS STORY OUT YEARS AGO!?) Anyway!! So happy you loved the chapter too. ♡ I'm also looking forward to see how this affects Nene's relationship to Tsukasa, since so far it is... not great!!

This is incredibly common in all fandoms-- if people figure something out for themselves early on, they for some reason get bored of it, and say, “that’s too simple/easy...” .... as if the elegance isn’t itself a beauty. It’s common especially these days in social media’s proliferation to see the completely unpredictible story as somehow more epic or noble or crafty-- so things with meaninglessly contradictory or meandering plots are given more credit than they deserve (like idk, fnaf lol)... but, to be able to engage with a consistent world, it’s intentional for you to reach conclusions on your own, without help. That’s the product of the world being consistent!! It ‘makes sense’. Following its own logic, if you care, you are rewarded with insight.

crudely I do think about how in SU, it was a relatively early conclusion that Garnet was a fusion, but people got bored of that answer as soon as they’d figured it out, and wanted it to be more convoluted. However, that’s foreshadowing working the way it’s intended to.... if a story didn’t want you to know something at all, it wouldn’t foreshadow it. Besides, the interesting thing isn’t really what Garnet is, or what Tsukasa is, but why, when, how? The story is not the most brute wiki-listed fact, it is how something occurred. Anybody bored by Tsukasa as Amane’s yorishiro, are probably not consumed by the reality of what that fact means! It becomes just some taxonomical label: “Tsukasa: yorishiro”. that is only the beginning of the mystery!!! THE REAL UNSOLVABLE MYSTERY IS WHAT IS WITH AMANE’S COMPLEX...... ! 

It sortof drove me insane-- this idea that its a red herring that its Tsukasa, as if literally anything else could be a quarter as exciting. Like, what..... we’re going to go into Hanako’s boundary in chapter 200 and his yorishiro is going to be a cool telescope daddy got him? like what. a pair of dice he found on the ground. A Tanabata balloon that just, like, symbolizes Tsukasa or mom or family or something indirectly? What on earth could be more loaded and complicated and inspire 2390849038 more questions than Tsukasa??? After SUMIRE AND HAKUBO, Hanako’s yorishiro being some sort of trinket or rando would have less substance to roll around and think about!! Sumire and Hakubo, were foreshadowing, this!!! I honestly watch people fight tooth and nail to not think about what’s going on between the twins! I’m sorry, you have to!!! There’s no getting around it!!

[gemkidsau]

Season Four

No context this time. If you still don't know what's going on, go find your own context.

Kindergarten kid

Peridot learns about corruption and bubbles her first gem

Know your fusion

same, but smoky’s personality is different.(not fleshed out)

Buddy's book

The gems decide they need to ask Rose about Pink already. Rose tells them her story. The gems ask why she didn’t say anything before. She felt remorse, of course. If they ever see her get emotional, they should assume it’s about killing Pink Diamond.

Mindful education

someone learns about keeping a stable fusion. Either Garnet or Opal. I’ll decide later.

Last one out of beach city

Pearl tries to prove she’s cool with Amethyst and the cool kids. She does her best to make sure Rose notices how great she’s doing without her. When the others notice, they tell her that’s jack. She’s still not living for herself.

Gem harvest

Steven mentions Uncle Andy in passing. Gems ask who dat? Steve says ah an old relative who lives far away, don’t worry about it.

Three gems and a baby

Vidalia and Yellowtail invite Steven and Connie to dinner and since SC is out with friends, they ask the gems to babysit Onion. Steven and Connie are worried it will go terribly but Vidalia isn’t phased. It goes terribly, but Onion is fine.

Stevens dream

Rose senses that Blue Diamond is on Earth. She asks Steven to take her to her so they can make sure Blue doesn’t cause a riot. Blue kidnaps Steven and then Garnet, who predicted the whole thing, shows up to have her back.

Light distortion

Pearl says Steven must be in Pink’s menagerie [Pink liked to collect organic life from various colonies whenever she visited]. So they take the red eye there. The trip is weird and everyone is scared but its ok.

Gem heist

They get to the menagerie and sure enough Blue Diamond is there. The gems wonder how they’ll sneak in without an adult. While discussing options, Amethyst wanders to the Amethysts guarding the door. They are taken by her adorableness. They take her back to the ship to ask who’s in charge of her and find a ship full of kiddos. Amethyst explains they’re trying to sneak a human out. The guards just kind of shrug and decide they’re helping the kids cause why not.

The zoo

The guards take the kids through back passages, avoiding Holly. They find Steven and get him out.

That will be all

At one point Steven and Rose are separated from the others and end up alone with Blue. Blue is mourning Pink’s death. It’s too much for Rose to bear. They find a chance to sneak out when Holly greets Blue. They finish escaping pretty easily after that.

The new crystal gems

Connie chaperones Peridot and Lapis while they protect Beach City. cuteness ensues. (or sass and angst, since they are teens)

Storm in the room

When Rose gets a moment alone after getting home, she goes into her room to cry.

Rocknaldo

Ronaldo is shouting garbage. Rose reads his pamphlet, gets offended, kicks him, and goes home.

Tiger philanthropist

Rose finds out Amethyst is a wrestler. She makes her own wrestlesona and they win the tag team belt.

Doug out

Doug is doing a security thing at the theme park so Connie brings Amethyst to have some bonding or whatever. After a night of shenanigans Connie and Amethyst go home and Doug is very concerned about this unsolved mystery.

The good lars

Lars, Sadie, and Garnet are invited to a birthday party. Sadie and Garnet encourage Lars to bake a present. Later they find out he chickened out. :,(

Are you my dad

Replace steven with Amethyst and Mydad with Steven.

I am my mom

Rose protects everyone by admitting she’s the very quartz who killed Pink Diamond.

[pepperonitimeline]

There is an interesting emphasis on timelines in Steven Universe

but like. Why?

Hypothesis: Steven Universe is made up of multiple timelines, but shown in an order that makes the events seem linear. read part 2 here!

I'm not the first person to speculate this at all. A lot of this stuff has been pointed out by @dogcopter​ @arrozbrillante​ @stevenutheories and many others on various platforms!

I just gathered the most conspicuous "evidence" into 1 post. If you’re interested in SU theory and analysis you should check out their blogs. :o) This was as short as I could make it..

And a big thank you to @love-takes-work for her podcast summaries!!! 

So, most ostensibly there’s Garnet, who can see multiple futures. In Pool Hopping she begins to call her visions timelines specifically.

Garnet: In this timeline, we do the opposite of that. Hey, you! Have a pizza!

Steven: Hey, Vidalia's house is around here. Let's bring her the last pie.

Garnet: Now, that would be nice. She must be upset that her son was taken into space by those Homeworld Gems. (referring to the events of I Am My Mom)

Steven: You mean Onion? He isn't in space. He's right over there. *points*

Garnet: Sorry, I-I must be thinking of a different timeline.

-

Garnet: My bad. I was sure we were in the pepperoni timeline.

-

Garnet: It's important to keep in mind that all these horrible things did happen to you in alternate timelines. Safety is fun.

In Steven and The Stevens:

Yeah

It was confirmed on the podcast that the Steven we see from that episode on is a different Steven than the one from episodes 1-21. In “The Fantasy of Steven Universe” Sugar explains:

"I think, early on, we knew for sure what we wanted to do was to create episodes that feel self-contained but give you a new piece of information or change the characters fundamentally. So, Steven and the Stevens, is tight but Steven does change fundamentally after having that experience. He's not the same- in THAT case he's LITERALLY not the same character..."

It’s muffled because they're all laughing but right after they say this Matt Burnett goes “He died.” 

Link to the episode

Love-takes-work also has a text summary of the episode

But something I haven't seen discussed very much is the time travel chase scene. Granted it’s very blink-and-you’ll miss it, there are some Stevens who witness the other Steven’s fighting but that don’t end up in the Sea Shrine at the end.

Way back in 2015 @stevenutheories already did the math as to how many alternate timelines may have stemmed from the time shenanigans: 3 to 5. Not counting the original one who is definitively gone. 

Technically quantum mechanics don’t work like that and those Stevens should have been Thanos’d too. I’m not going to pretend I understand physics, that is just what I’ve been told by someone who does. But then again the magic time thingy wasn’t bound by rules of real-life physics in the first place… so ??

Let’s cross-examine SATS’ accompanying KBCW post.

“At any given moment, if you asked me what I was thinking about, the answer would be one of two things: katana swords, or THE POSSIBILITY OF ALTERNATE TIMELINES RUNNING PARALLEL TO OUR OWN!

Proving the existence of these timelines can be pretty tricky, even for a seasoned paranormal investigator such as myself.  An inter-temporal incursion caused by the momentary weakening of the time-space continuum doesn’t really photograph well.  And all the cross dimensional time travelers I know don’t want to go on the record about their experiences.  Frankly, the only thing I can submit as evidence of alternate timelines is the fact that THEY ARE PROBABLY JUST SO COOL AND AWESOME THAT THEY HAVE TO BE REAL.

Think about it!  What about a universe where that asteroid missed Earth and we had DINOSAURS for pets instead of dogs?  Or a universe where someone was like “Hey, zeppelins are way cooler than planes, let’s just do that!”  Or a universe where AN ALTERNATE VERSION OF ME CAN GROW A FULL BEARD?!  What an amazing life that Ronaldo must have… in THIS stupid reality I have a really hard time getting my moustache to connect to the rest of my facial hair and it’s incredibly frustrating.”

KBCW and Ronaldo’s commentary in general are usually half-right. Like the “Polymorphic Sentient Rocks are aliens who want to hollow out the earth… to make it lighter so they can transport it back to their star system” thing.

I can't help but think the "Dinosaurs for pets instead of dogs" is a reference to the live action Super Mario Bros. movie- where the meteor that killed the dinosaurs sent them to a parallel universe instead, causing mammals to go instinct in said universe. (Don’t know about the zeppelins.)

And then, and THEN there’s Keep Beach City Safe, KBCW’s more obscure rival blog run by (most likely) Onion under the pseudonym "The Observer". Apparently he’s planted cameras all over town to record Steven’s adventures. There's also a "Recruiter" and second mystery narrator calling themselves "Marco Díez", it's a whole thing,

Assuming it’s real, here’s one of the posts I think are the most relevant.

“I have been on zero gem hunts over the years, and what i have learned over the years is: always be prepared for anything, and everything. Connie’s already knows that and this her first mission. I, wasn’t so fortunate on my first mission. It was a crisp Autumn morning, - with notes of cinnamon in the air. I was the mountains, the air temperature, humidity and level elevation levels, were perfect.

Then, I noticed the creature, it was charging me. I tried to evade the gem monster, but it just kept on coming, and coming! There was no escape! And then- Wait! I just remembered. I never been on a gem hunt! So where did I get that story from?”

This was posted on August 1st alongside Gem Hunt… and the day after the Greg The Babysitter post, which was deleted earlier this year, right after people started interacting with it again.

Being a Babysitter is hard, especially if your Greg Universe. This guy, in the picture above me. Wait did I just become self aware? Hey, I did! Haha, I always knew I was more to me than just a narrator. Actually this is the first time I thought about, Because I'm self aware baby! Woohoo, yeah! Wait, what was I talking about? Ah yes, Gregory. So this Greg guy,Has to Babysit this cool baby, because he owes her for letting him mooch off her. And Greg, is like totally irresponsible, he some how lets the baby climb a Ferris Wheel. How does that even happen? This dude is so not getting payed. And what's up with his hair!?!

So here it is, another story, told by Greg, about his past self. I wonder how many times I started a paragraph with the word so. And when he was telling this story, we got some clues that could finally tell use when all of this started. We know about the gems and what happened  thousands of years ago, but we don't know about the hems and  what happened thousands of years ago. They wee being very vague about the whole thing. Almost intentionally, well it was obsessively intentional.

?

There are subtle inconsistencies in Beach City's layout. ("The Observer" points this out, too.)

Remember Danny’s? In Bubble Buddies and Joking Victim, there’s a shop named Danny’s Salt Water Taffy.

Then in Watermelon Steven it’s gone.

As for a prop: Chaaaaps used to just be Chips

That’s from Monster Buddies, the episode right after Steven and The Stevens.

It's just as likely someone on the show simply thought the background/chips looked a little too busy or whatever. But re-doing stuff costs a lot of time and money, yknow? Neither of which is the animation industry very generous about. Did you know even props have model sheets?

Of course it could just be another brand of chips. Maybe Utz got involved somehow.

Lastly I want to highlight a quote from a Rebecca Sugar interview regarding SU ending.

“The story is continuing off screen and I do know what happens next, at least in certain timelines, for the characters,” Sugar says. “But I would have to decide how and when I’d want to dig into that, or if it’s best to give them their privacy.”

yeah so like what the fuck

[peterxwade24]

Broken Hearts and New Beginnings

Chapter 7

For Maribat March 2021 day 1 prompt Found Family

this one also didn’t get a cool title.

before we jump into the chapter, this one takes place after Marinette wakes up feeling like she’s being blown apart and vaguely takes place before Emilie Agreste goes missing/is presumed dead. also, there is a reason Adrien’s heart is white-grey it has everything to do with Roy Harper not being a real person at the moment.

anyways, enjoy.

Marinette couldn’t help the sluggishness as she walked into the classroom. She was dressed very differently from the way she normally dressed. Normally, she would walk into the classroom with a smile on her face in pink capris with a white shirt with an apple blossom embroidered on it under a gray blazer lined with white covered in pink polka dots. Today, she was dressed in baggy black sweatpants with a dark gray oversized sweatshirt (that Nino recognized as his own that he’d left at the Dupain-Cheng household a week ago) with a frown, red puffy eyes, and visible tear trails marring her otherwise cute face. She slunk into her seat at the desk, propping her head up on a sleeve-encased hand. She could feel tears well up in her eyes and she fought to keep them back.

“Hey? Dudette?” Nino slumped into the seat next to her, his eyes taking in her appearance. “Are you okay?”

Marinette looked like she was going to say something when she was interrupted.

Chloé looked at Marinette and Nino, her gaze going back to Marinette. “Wow. You didn’t even try Mari-” Chloé’s words died in her throat as she finally caught sight of Marinette’s heart. Marinette’s heart was in a pitiful state, the heart which was once garnet in colour was now split down the middle with jagged edges and slimy green in colour. Chloé’s expression softened as she looked at Marinette. “What happened?” She reached forward to grab the much smaller girl’s shoulders. “When did it happen?”

Marinette glanced at Nino out of the corner of her eye, sure that her long-time friend was also witnessing this. He simply shrugged, not knowing what to do to help her. Marinette reluctantly gave her full attention back to Chloé, shrinking back as though she thought she’d be struck or ridiculed. “He- my so- he, he died. Sometime this morning, in an explosion.”

Chloé reached forward to wipe away the other girl’s tears before nodding. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

---

Nino sat beside Marinette in the courtyard, being a good friend, as the two endured harsh glares from not only their peers but also most of the rest of their schoolmates. The pair were eating sushi, mostly vegetable rolls as that was one of the few types of sushi the two could agree on, when they were approached by Sabrina.

The redhead, whose teal blue heart was settled in her hair above where it was pinned on the side of her head before the start of a simple braid, looked at the duo with a sad smile. “I’m sorry about what happened to your, uh,-”

“You don’t have to say it. I know it’s, it’s kind of hard to process.” Marinette gave the other girl a watery smile, her eyes filling with tears before she looked away.

Sabrina nodded, settling down beside Nino where she pulled out her lunch, a container of Garbure with all the fixings. “If you don’t mind I think I’ll join you two for lunch today.”

Nino smiled at her, a grateful “thanks” left his lips.

Chloé appeared out of the woodwork, her gaze boring into any who dared to glare at Marinette. She gracefully perched herself on Marinette’s other side, leaving the space directly in front of Marinette free so they could all see whoever was coming. She took out her lunch, beautifully prepared shrimp scampi, with a passing glance at what her lunchmates were dining on. “Is that all you’re eating ‘Rinette?”

Marinette glanced at the other girl, an eyebrow raised in confusion. “Nino and I usually share something halal for lunch, his parents leave before he and Chris get up in the morning so I make us lunch the night before. We have some fresh baguette if you want some.” She ate a single piece of her vegetable roll before drinking some peach juice. “What’s with the name?”

“Marinette is what our loser classmates will call you. Nino calls you Nette. I figured Sabrina and I should call you something different.” Chloé simply shrugged her shoulders before tucking into her meal.

---

Marinette walked into school a week after her soulmate died. Her parents were great if a little maybe a lot overbearing, but they didn’t understand what it was like to feel your soulmate die. They’d both met their soulmate early in their lives and decided that while they fit together amazingly, they just didn’t work that way.

Marinette was suddenly flanked by the three people she’d started considering her family. She flashed them all a small smile before her face fell back into her new default expression, little to no emotion showing through.

“Hey ‘Rinette?” Chloé called. “Would you be up to meeting with my childhood best friend after school?”

“Sure.” Marinette flashed her new friend a smile. “We just have to stop by the bakery to let Maman and Papa know where we’ll be first.”

---

Marinette and her friends arrived at the park, Chloé leading the group as she was the only one who knew what the other person looked like.

Chloé ran at a little blond-haired boy with green eyes and a white-grey heart poking out of his pants’ pocket. “Adrikins!” She yelled as she threw her arms around the boy, a smile on her face.

“Hey, Chloé.” The boy, now only known as Adrikins, greeted with a soft smile on his face. “Who, uh, who’re your friends?”

“Adrikins, these are my friends Sabrina, Nino, and Marinette, but we don’t call her that.” Chloé looked at her friends with a smile. “Friends, this is Adrien, Adrien Agreste.” She whirled back to her blond-haired friend with a wide smile. “Where’s Aunt Emilie?”

“She’s on the other side of the fountain.” Adrien smiled as Chloé released him and ran off to throw herself into the arms of a beautiful blonde woman. “That’s my mom, Emilie Agreste formally Emilie Graham de Vanily.”

Nino nodded. “Cool. I’m Nino Lahiffe. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Adrien smiled. “Adrien Agreste, the pleasure is all mine.”

---

The five would find themselves sitting in Chloé’s room on many occasions, including the day Adrien’s mom went missing. The five were like family at that point, knowing how best to comfort one another. Adrien’s father would decide to seclude Adrien in his home, only allowing him to leave for photoshoots and lessons, but his friends, the people who were family to him, would always find a way to be there, whether it was backstage at photoshoots or at Chloé’s when she demanded to get to hang out with Adrien. They weren’t turning their backs on Adrien, he was a part of their family. And nothing broke this family up.

Taglist:

@mystery-5-5 @moonlightstar64 @laurcad123 @maribatmarch-2k21

[paragonrobits]

gravity falls/SU idea; after a while of working at the Mystery Shack, Steven offers to show Dipper and Mabel his home.

so he takes them to Little Homeworld, with all that implies; a small town populated by alien refugees breaking free from the restrictions of caste, living freely and happily

Lapis and Peridot greet them while being as ominous and sinister as possible until Bismuth shows up, totally oblivious to it and makes them break character. dipper tells Peridot she’s the nicest small triangle he ever met. she assumes that’s a compliment

there are a lot of hugs from bismuth

Pearl is instantly the coolest mom; Mabel adores how classy and elegant she is! Then Garnet shows up and they’re amazed at how AWESOME she is. And then Amethyst immediately becomes super cool in their eyes

and then there’s Greg, just rocking out and being cool at welcoming them to town, they’re like, your entire family is so COOL and it gives steven room for thought; it had been normal for so long he’d never thought about how his situation looks to an onlooker.

it ends up with the whole extended Universe family break into song and explain who they are, combining ‘we are the crystal gems’ and ‘who we are’ in a huge rock out number that ends with them fusing into Obsidian for the most metal jamming scene ever.

[askstevenandstephenau]

Steven and Stephen, what do you two like about each of the Crystal Gems?

Steven: Well, I like how funny Amethyst is! We hang out a lot around town. Garnet is really cool and mysterious. And Pearl makes me think of a mom.

Stephen: Amethyst is pretty cool. Garnet is good at giving advice and making you calm. Pearl is a good teacher... and she is like a mom.

[laserdog10]

Loneliness

”It’s not so bad not being in a league that suits me.”

It was a personal mantra that she told herself every day, even if it did kind of hurt. Citrus was born as both a Rose and an Arc, two powerful family bloodlines that were well renowned on Remnant by now, thanks to the defeat of Salem. However, Citrus’ elder siblings Garnet and Blossom, have been shown to be marginally stronger and almost gifted...or actually gifted. Garnet had inherited a portion of Ruby’s Spring Maiden magic on top of Jaune’s hefty Aura with the addition of a strong Semblance, while Blossom was a Silver Eyed Warrior, the greatest of all destined to slay Grimm and be the heroes of humanity. While Citrus was...just normal.

Yep, no insane powers, no off-the-wall weapon that has multiple transformations, no fancy Semblance (other than the ability to talk to animals), she was a normal girl who wanted to be a Huntress, like everyone her generation. However she felt an odd lonesome feeling inside her, when her brother and sister went off to Signal for the first time, Citrus was alone at home with her aunt Yang, grandpa Qrow, uncle Tai, and aunt Raven. If that wasn’t enough her Semblance let her speak to the family dog Zwei and the five wolves Ruby adopted, Drei, Vier, Funf, Sechs, and Null. And yet...she still had this emptiness in her heart. Well unlucky for her it was about to intensify that feeling tenfold as she was about to head to Signal tomorrow, the day after her siblings and cousin graduate. Right now it was well into the evening, the sun setting on the horizon, rays of light beaming down on the Rose-Arc & Xiao Long-Branwen residence, Citrus leaning against the railing, teetering her weighted collapsible scythe, Soulful Reave, back and forth, her emerald green eyes staring off into space, tangerine curled hair catching the wind.

Jaune: Someone’s a little broody.

Citrus: Hmm?! Oh, hi dad!

Jaune: Is Qrow’s mysterious edginess rubbing off on you or am I just reading too much into this?

Citrus: Pffft, nooo dad, I’m fine, thank you. Just...thinking, deep contemplation about the future.....

Jaune: Excited you’re going to Signal tomorrow?

Citrus: Heheheee, not really...?

Jaune: Why not?

Citrus: *stops teetering her scythe* Dad, do you think I’m...special?

Jaune: The “daddy loves his special girl” kind of special or...

Citrus: The special that’s meant for amazing things, I don’t feel like I am.

Jaune: Woah woah woah, what brought this on?!

Citrus: Nothing, I’m...*sigh* Dad, compared to Garnet and Blossom, I’m so bland! I have nothing truly remarkable about m-* her shoulders are held as she faces her father*

Jaune: Citrus, tell me what’s going on, is everything okay?

Citrus: I don’t think so...have you ever had the feeling of overwhelming loneliness and that you’re far behind people close to you?

Jaune: More than you could fathom, sweetheart. But that was a long time ago, and with a little bit of time, and the love from those people around me, it eventually went away. Why, is it the fact that your brother and sister are way ahead of you getting to you?

Citrus: *tears form in her eyes* Y-yeah, a lot...

Jaune: Oh, sweety. *he brings his small daughter into a huge hug* Believe me when I say that feeling is completely normal, your mother and I had this lonely, by-our-selves spell when we first went to Beacon.

Citrus: I just feel so out of place. I hear about all these kids who were raised by amazing Huntsmen, their amazing transforming weapons, and their powerful Semblances, then there’s me. Swinging around a simple scythe and talking to animals, no Maiden or S.E.W. powers...

Jaune: Citrus, look at me. *his gaze is met by the distraught, teary-eyed face of his daughter* All these feelings, all these issues you’re feeling right now are completely normal for a thirteen year old to experience! Think it like, you’re still going through your “character arc,” which always starts just as you turn thirteen. You’ll get to that important “climax” of your story some day.

Citrus: *sniff* R-really...?

Jaune: I know so. Now let’s go inside, dinner’s almost ready!

Citrus: I’ll head in a second, gotta go put Soulful Reave back in in the shed.

Such an action to her weapon would make her brother, proverbially, lose his mind, but she took good care of her scythe, occasionally but primarily leaving it in the room she shared with her siblings, like they do with their weapons. Tomorrow would be the first step into this “character arc” of hers, and she would tackle it however she could!

-The next day-

Strolling down the halls of Signal wasn’t so bad, she was old enough to be by herself while her parents weren’t too far off. Ruby had gone with the many other parents of new students to a little meeting, confirming their classes and whatnot, meanwhile Citrus wandered around Signal, her orange cloak flowing as she strolled along, seeing big metal lockers to hold plenty of supplies, classrooms, a library, and the cafeteria. What she didn’t expect to come across was a large crowd of kids clamoring around a board with a myriad of papers on it. Among this crowd the youngest Rose-Arc saw the red-patched blonde hair of her sister.

Citrus: Blossom? *she called over the talkative graduates*

Blossom: Hey baby sis! You here on your intro tour? *the blonde side-stepped through the moderate sea of teens, a few of which turned heads to the younger teen*

Citrus: Yep, mom just went with the other parents to that meeting! What are you doing over here with everyone?

Blossom: Seeing who got their academic success title.

Citrus: You’re what?

“An awesome title for how well you did in your classes!” chimed a female student.

Citrus: Oh, cool!

Blossom: Wanna guess what I got?

Citrus: I...don’t know what they are.

Blossom: Oh, well come look.

Taking a closer look at the board, Citrus saw this hefty list of names that made her head spin. So many names, numbers, scores, classes.

Citrus: This makes my brain hurt...

Blossom: Same here, and could you help me find my name, I’ve been helping everyone here find their’s for a while n-

Citrus: You got Salutatorian, Garnet got Valedictorian, and Lea’s below both of you!

Blossom: I’M WHAT?!

The students: THEY’RE WHAT!?

“I’m what now???” came a familiar voice behind the girls and the crowd. They turned to find Garnet himself, in the midst of eating a roll of cookie dough from the cafeteria. Without thinking the students swarmed him, barging questions left and right; “How are you so smart,” or “Please teach me your ways,” and “You’re amazing Garnet!”

Garnet: Woah, slow down guys, I’m not that great honest! I just studied and practiced like anyone else would.

“But you got Valedictorian, dude!!!” exclaimed a male student with very punk-rock hair.

“That’s an achievement in and off itself!” cheered a preppy looking girl.

“You’re a freaking prodigy, bro!!!!” cried a sporty, muscular lad.

Garnet: Alright, listen up everyone, I’m gonna give you some life advice you all need to hear. Trying to be like me is impossible, and I wouldn’t go as far as to say I’m a prodigy. Yes I have powers of a Maiden inherited from my mother, yes I have a massive amount of Aura and strong Semblance to boot, yes I also have multiple weapons and am highly skilled in using all of them. However that doesn’t place me above the rest of you, nor should it make you all downplay yourselves! You all have your strengths and weaknesses, but you shouldn’t strive to become like me, because I’m not perfect. Imitation is the cheapest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay in greatness. Don’t strive to be me, strive be a better you, because their can only be one of us in the world! And if you do find someone like you later in life...*claps hands* Then I got nothing. *awkwardly smiles*

His audience applauded, but mostly laughed at the perplexing finish to his speech. His sisters had their own reactions, Blossom shaking her head and smiling in a way that conveyed a “The fact I’m related to you is astonishing” feel, Citrus on the other hand was captivated. “Strive to be a better you,” this phrase alone struck many chords in her, to the point that the lonely feeling of hers dissipated somewhat...

“Ohhh yawn-a-fuckin’-rama! That was the cheesiest shit I’ve ever heard, One Armed Arc!”

The students instinctively winced at the sound of the boastful and snarky voice. Collectively looking to the source, a tall girl with long burnt-orange hair and indigo eyes, clad in gray armor with a gold trim, a jet black waist cloth on the tool belt around her. Strapped to her back in a sheath was a morning star mace, the signature and feared weapon wielded by Signal Academy’s tyrant.

Blossom: Carly Winchester...

Citrus: ...

Garnet: And why are you here?

Carly: No reason, except I just heard a one-armed loser spouting some bullshit and being humble. Face it, you could be running this school! And yet you choose to be weak, lumping yourselves with these peons who could get their asses reamed by you.

Blossom: Garnet isn’t weak!

Carly: Aww look, little Ms. Self-loathing wants to act all big and tough! Why don’t you can it and go cry on the roof like you always do.

Citrus: *grits teeth and clenches her fists*

Garnet: What I do doesn’t make me weak Carly, I-

Carly: OH FUCKING SPARE ME! Hearing your high and mighty “holier-than-thou” bullshit makes me sick, you have the powers of a damn GOD and look where you are!

Citrus: ...hat’s it to y... *mumbles*

Carly: Hmm what’s that Shorty, got some shit to say? If you don’t then butt the fuck out, the adults are tal-

Citrus: WHAT’S IT TO YOU!? All you ever do is hurt and scare people, that’s not power, that’s being a jerk!

Carly: You-!

Citrus, standing in front of Carly now: My big brother is more of a Hunter and leader than you could ever hope to be! All you are is a bully, a coward, and an absolute BITCH!!!

Everyone present gasped, Garnet and Blossom were shocked into silence. Calling Carly a bitch was something else entirely, but hearing it from Citrus, someone who had never sworn in her life?! Surely they must’ve been dreaming, right??? Obviously they weren’t, for Carly had looked around incredulous, thinking she had heard the orangenette right.

Carly: The fuck did you just say to me you little shit...?!

Citrus: You heard me, you’re nothing but a BI-!

Carly: SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!!

The warrior girl screamed in tandem with swinging her mace directly down onto the smaller girl. The motion happened at such a speed, all that was seen was a shiny, gray blur kicking up dust and debris when it landed.

Garnet/Blossom: CITRUS!!!

The youngest Rose-Arc braced for the impact beforehand...but it never came. Instead when she opened her eyes, she was in a dust cloud, embraced by her cousin, Lea Xiao Long-Schnee, her giant gauntlets blocking the crushing blow.

Lea: Might I ask why the hell you are attacking my cousin, Carly? *she said in a low tone, pushing the warrior girl back a good few feet*

Carly: Mind telling me why your brat isn’t on her child leash?!

Lea: *eyes turning lilac, blue fire adorning her hair* I think Citrus is going to be the least of your worries right now...

Citrus stepped back, knowing full well what was coming next. Garnet walked past her but not before looking at his baby sister.

Garnet: Might wanna go get mom and the principal, this courtyards about to become a war zone. *he winked*

Carly targeted him first, her mace colliding with the boy’s head and sending him staggering. He regained his footing, readying his own gauntlets as Lea pounced on Carly, throwing her into one of the support columns in the courtyard, Garnet running up and landing jab after jab upon Carly. Blossom held Citrus’ hand as they ran off to find their mother before the situation got worse, as they ran they heard the unmistakable sound of the Maiden powers flaring from their brother and cousin.

Blossom: We’ll leave it to them to kick Carly’s butt.

Citrus: ...

Blossom: You okay?

Citrus: Yeah yeah, just thinking.

Blossom: You narrowly avoiding getting brained by an amazon brute???

Citrus: Well...besides that, but what Garnet said earlier.

Blossom: Oh that.

Citrus: It stuck with me, and...and I think it should solve all my problems.

Blossom: ...if you say so!

Seems her father was right, today was when her character arc would begin, and now she would walk through it with her head held high!

[bookworm411]

A Love Letter to Steven Universe

I was eighteen when I first watched Steven Universe. My friends had been trying to get me to watch it for...i don’t even know how long. Years maybe? Because it was a long, long time before I watched the show that they had me listen to Here Comes a Thought when I was feeling particularly anxious one night. I’m pretty sure I cried. I’d never heard a song describe anxiety in such a clear way, and I used it to help calm myself for a long time after, before i even knew who the characters were or what the episode it came from was even about. 

Then I started watching Thomas Sanders on YouTube, and he’s a big fan of the show. The more I watched his videos and heard him talk about it, plus the nagging from my friends, the more I thought about watching it. 

Now, this was after I’d graduated high school, and I wasn’t in the best mental space. I couldn’t get into/afford collage, I didn’t have a job or even know how to start finding one, or honestly have the urge to get one, so I was at home by myself a lot. All day every day, alone with my thoughts and my sense of, well, uselessness as a human being, with only YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu to keep me company while all my other friends were out doing something with their lives.

I’d been depressed for a long time without realizing it, but this isolation only made things worse. 

Thomas Sanders helped. His Sanders Sides videos brought me into a community full of amazing, supportive people. People who...also loved Steven Universe. 

So eventually on one of my long hours trying to decide what to watch after finishing Gravity Falls and trying to fill that void, i decided why not? There were a lot of episodes, it would fill the time for a while. 

Anyone who’s watched the first few episodes of the show know that it’s...interesting. The first season itself is something one of a kind, but those first few episodes with Cookie Cat and Frybo know that the first time experience of those episodes are something you’ll ever forget, for better or worse. 

There were things i didn’t like, of course. there were weird animation moments, Steven was a little bit too annoying at times, Lars was an asshole. 

But oh man, the great stuff. Garnet’s complete mystery, Connie’s introduction episode, Giant Woman, Amethyst's pure chaos, the absolute love between the gems and Steven, The Cool Kids being absolute sweethearts to Steven, Greg being so supportive even if he’s a little distant from the gems, Steven’s clear want to know his mother, Together Breakfast, Secret Club, Pearl and Amethyst slowly starting to understand each other and get along. Fucking Stevonie. Lion. the flashback episodes where we got to get to know Rose the same way Steven did, the songs. 

Don’t even get me started on the songs. 

I was singing along with the opening two or three episodes in. 

I started to loo forward to it, as I went through the show. My days went: wake up, get food, watch Steven Universe, probably do something else for a bit, go to bed. Repeat. 

(like i said, i had nothing else to do) 

I fell in love with the show. I saw a lot of myself in Steven (yes i know i said he was annoying but so was I). In fact i don’t think I’d ever related to a character more. His kindness, his absolute willingness to help anyone who needs it, the love he has for everyone and everything. He was everything i wanted that part of me to be. I was a very eager to please kid, always running errands for teachers, bringing presents for classmates, offering comfort to someone when they needed it. I’m not trying to brag or boast, that’s just...always been who I am. To a fault. 

So yeah, I saw a lot of myself (mostly my younger self) in Steven. It helped me connect to him and relate to him easily. 

But also, as a storyteller, I was enthralled with the world. The idea of the gems, who they are, where they come from, watching the Townies get used to the weird stuff always going on, watching Steven become a Crystal Gem. The art was beautiful and again, the songs. There were just so many things that I loved about the show that only grew the more i watched it. 

Man, I don’t think I’ll ever forget watching Jail Break. Everyone in the fandom talks about it, but it really is just an iconic episode. Meeting Ruby and Sapphire, realizing Garnet is a fusion (which was obvious in hindsight but shut up), Stronger Than You, the baddass fight between Garnet and Jasper. The Lapis and Jasper fusion, the shared feeling between me and the characters at the end of “well. that just happened. what now?” 

I loved learning about Beach City, how the gems were involved in the history of it, how different Steven’s Earth is to ours (39 states?) 

Then, oh man, Peridot, the growing realization of Steven learning how to deal with his mom’s shadow. I absolutely love the episode where he and the cool kids find Peridot’s escape pod. They had the guts to say to the gems what Steven didn’t or couldn’t or didn’t even know he should. 

I could go on and on, about all my favorite plot points, songs, characters, but this is already so long and I’m only on season 2. 

Watching Steven grow, go from this little kid who just wanted to be a part of the team to being the leader of the team was incredible. The show talked about real stuff and showed real problems. Everything from making the gems understand that Steven was still a kid to understanding that a step parent can love you more than your biological one. Even just dealing with loneliness and trying find your place in the world, which Steven goes through multiple times. 

I can’t count the number of times i re-watched the show. It was my pick-me-up show for when the depression was getting me down, when i needed some light in my life. 

During all of this, through every Steven bomb that came out after i finished season four, i started going through my own journey of trying to find my place in the world. I started to go to therapy, eventually. I’ve got a job now, which is nice (if exhausting). I’m 20 now, though, so it took a long time for me to get here, and I’m still trying. 

But there were moments that I always held onto. Watching Change Your Mind for the first time as it aired, getting so excited when a new episode was coming on (it reminded me a lot of when i was little, when i would do the same thing for Teen Titans or some other show. The times before you could just pause the TV were fun yet stressful for your bladder). settling down and watching new episodes with my friends when they came over. Singing Here Comes a Thought to my friend’s son when he was an infant, and then watching him watch the TV as the song played while i was re-watching Mindful Education, and then looking at me, like he recognized it as the song I’ll sing to him sometimes. Man I can’t wait until he’s a little older so we can watch it together. 

Steven Universe Future honestly reflected the person i was when i first started watching the show (on a very superficial level). Steven trying to figure out what to do now that the universe didn’t need him to save it, him trying to see where he fits in again. Him finally, finally coming to terms with the fact that he is not okay, and having that meltdown that finally led to him getting help, and that got through to his family that he needed them, not the other way around. 

I just watched the finale today. I cried like a baby. I’m not afraid to admit it. Watching something that means so much to you end is the definition of bittersweet. 

Seven Universe was there for me in my darkest times, when I needed that bit of light. He brought me closer to my friends, helped me make new ones. Gave me something to love when that was hard for me to do. 

Now, the show didn’t cure me. It didn’t snap something inside of me or anything like that. It was just a comfort. A warm blanket wrapped around me with a cup of hot cocoa on a snowy day. It didn’t make the snow go away, but it blocked out the cold long enough for me to remember what it’s like to feel warm again, and make me want to seek that warmth permanently. 

So thank you, Steven, for everything you’ve done. I’m glad you’re getting the help you need now too. 

And thank you Rebecca Sugar, for bringing this light into the world. For fighting for your vision, gifting us your talents, and being a true inspiration to me and many other creators. I can’t wait to see what you’ll do next (hopefully after you take a long deserved vacation). 

I can’t believe we’ve come so far. 

[boy-with-the-pink-hair]

Im hoping this isn’t too spoilerish, but when Steven learns of his mothers mistakes, will he help or encourage her to face/fix them? Also I was looking at the previous questions and was think “If pearl is mom 2.0 and amethyst is the big sis, would garnet be like the cool aunt or cool big sis?”

I wanna keep the answer to that first part a bit of a mystery until it’s revealed. As for the second part, Garnet is totally the Cool Aunt. ;3

[weedle-testaburger]

To mark the show ending, a whole load of my personal favourite bits of SU over the years

‘so i guess you could say it’s a... balanced breakfast?’ *steven’s face like melts*

steven’s funky flow

‘why did pearl throw butter out the window? to see a butterfly!’ ‘I never did that! steven, are you telling LIES?!’

the giant woman song, steven junior, steven’s reaction when he finds out he can fuse too, just everything about giant woman really

amethyst’s gem going screwed up and her talking backwards

‘i guess i’m too tough to cry’ ‘just today you were crying about snakes’ ‘they don’t have any arms’

‘no prob bob’ ‘...it’s lapis’

the whole ‘mom universe’ bit from fusion cuisine

‘tiny hands, my one weakness’

everything about alone together, i could watch that episode a million times and still adore it frankly

‘it isn’t lying when you’re the mayor, steven. it’s politics’

rose’s scabbard, just the whole episode really

the wailing stone

everything rupphire related in jail break

‘i want to be part of your universe’

garnet’s reply to jamie’s love letter (’n. o.’)

so many things in sworn to the sword- the jam buds song, do it for her, steven’s ‘how to talk to people’ book, she’s the strawberry and he’s the biscuit, WHY WON’T YOU LET ME DO THIS FOR YOU ROSE, all so good

steven’s little STORYYYY when greg tells him and connie about when he found out about fusion

amethyst going ‘hey! are you dead?’ to young greg on the beach

steven doing sadie’s performance for her when she gets stage fright in sadie’s song and saying fuck you to gender norms in the process

‘aww, you’re like an angry little slice of pie!’

steven helping peridot cope with the rain

steven spinning on the swivel chair continuously for a whole scene in back to the barn

the answer, it’s just perfect in pretty much every way really

peridot calling yellow diamond

‘i’m just trying to lion the mood. lion... the mood’

steven and lapis bonding in same old world

the baseball game in hit the diamond

mr greg, what more can i say

stevonnie realizing they don’t care about losing to kevin in beach city drift

lapis rejecting jasper in alone at sea

steven and connie camping in the cave in gem hunt and they’re ‘you’re the best!’ ‘nuh-uh, you’re the best’ thing in crack the whip

stevonnie coming to amethyst’s rescue when jasper poofs her

the crystal gems all being buds with bismuth

bismuth admitting to steven he’s braver than rose was

peridot discovering her metal moving powers and steven and amethyst forming smokey quartz for the first time

‘eyeball, army, leggy, navy and... doc’

the gems comforting steven when he escapes from the bubble at the end of bubbled

peridot failing to capture the corrupted gem and ‘THIS IS LIFE FOR YOU NOW! END-LESS-SUFFERING!’ in the kindergarten kid

sardonyx’s talk show in know your fusion

steven’s bald cap, garnet’s ‘go steven + connie/go stevonnie’ sign, here comes a thought and connie comforting steven from mindful education

pearl being gay for mystery girl and getting her number in last one out of beach city

uncle andy’s first impression of lapis and peridot being ‘I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE! YOU’RE HIPPIES!’

everyone choosening gareg

what’s the use of feeling blue

GO, CRYSTAL TEMPS! (i kinda wish we got another crystal temps episode ngl)

steven getting to interact with and then confront rose in storm in the room

topaz almost freeing steven and lars after their heart-to-heart

meeting the off-colours and steven bringing lars back to life

sadie bonding with the cool kids and forming their band

‘jam buds?’ ‘jam buds’

‘bingo-bongo’

all the blessed stevonnie screentime in jungle moon

garnet’s motivational story in your mother and mine

the cute af behind the scenes band documentary in the big show

garnet meeting and adopting cat steven

finding out steven was reading lars’ letter out while sticking out of his head in letters to lars

that distant shore, it took lapis 5 seasons to get a song but it was so worth it

the pink diamond reveal (and how everyone lost their shit over it)

pearl revealing the truth about her and pink/rose

ruby rider and the proposal in the question (oh and ‘psst. it’s me. i’m a horse’)

the rupphire wedding, lapis coming back, how greg put steven to sleep, and ‘THIS IS OUR HOME! OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY! WE ARE THE CRYSTAL GEMS!’ in reunited

pink’s leg ship

familiar (the song)

connie convincing steven to fuse in together alone

everything- just EVERYTHING- about change your mind and the movie. i can’t even pick favourite moments from either tbh they’re both just gorgeous from start to finish

jasper getting ludicrously excited about fighting in little homeschool

amethyst, pearl and greg’s reactions to the rose quartzes in rose buds

steven naming white pearl volleyball, and pearl and volleyball comforting each other and bonding

eyeball and aquamarine basically fusing out of their hatred for steven and his done look when they do

steven ‘dying’ in a very special episode

pearl overcoming her dislike of fusion to play steven tag

why so blue (the song)

the off colours graduating, shep and looking forward now from little graduation

steven and peridot bonding over how much the cph reboot sucks

stevonnie’s dance in bismuth casual, idk about anyone else but i literally cried

i’d rather be me with you and connie and garnet comforting steven after the proposal (’is it a no?’ ‘it’s a not now, steven’ still kinda makes me cry)

priyanka inadvertently making steven confront all his childhood trauma at once and greg coming to comfort him in growing pains

steven and greg’s argument about their upbringing in mr universe

‘i bow to your strength, my diamond’

basically everything spinel does in homeworld bound she’s a slapstick queen

all the dumb stuff steven does by accident in everything’s fine

THE GEMS RECOGNIZING THEY HURT STEVEN AND ALL OF THEM COMING TO HELP CORRUPTED BOI

just all the callbacks and cute stuff in the finale, i defy anyone not to cry

just. this whole show is wonderful and amazing and i’m never gonna get over it, thank you for everything crewniverse

[fanfoolishness]

Steven Universe: Future thoughts

Spoilers for the first four episodes below the jump!  All sorts of rambling ahead!  Please message me or reblog to share your thoughts, I wanna talk about it all!

I’ll try to organize things by episode.  I won’t be able to rewatch them until they go up on Apple TV so this is all off the cuff.  AHOY!

1x01 Little Homeschool

Steven has White, Blue and Yellow essences in his bathroom cupboard.  Maybe keep a bottle of your own spit just to be safe?  You never know? 

Aww Cherry Quartz is cute.  Did she actually get named? I assume that’s who that is.

I had thought that shot in the trailer was going to be Pink Smoky Quartz.   I was wrong, but then we DO get Pink Smoky Quartz next episode ahhhh!

We all know Steven drew that picture of himself and the Diamonds on the brochure.  

I like to think that Steven keeps up with his drawing during quiet times, and while he isn’t technically great, most 16-year-old artists aren’t great per se.  What’s important is that he keeps doing it and he’ll keep getting better!

Little Homeschool looks awesome and I want to go make some morps with Vidalia.  Wait, were Lapis and Peridot there? I don’t remember.  They should be!

I’m so glad Jasper isn’t the big bad!!! And I love that she’s just antisocial but not actively harming anyone (beetles and grass aside).  

Still no explanation for the blanket, I love it

STEVEN GO OFF, YOU TELL HER NOT TO HURT THAT BEETLE

Whoa Steven, that rage is juuuuust below the surface these days, isn’t it?  I get being annoyed at Jasper and I’m sure this isn’t the first time they’ve had this discussion but he really does just go off on her pretty damn quickly, and several times.

I am concerned that he referenced her corrupting herself.  I DON’T WANT CORRUPTED STEVEN Y’ALL, this better not be foreshadowing!!!!!

Honestly Jasper just needs to get into wrestling, I’m shocked Amethyst and Steven haven’t pointed this out to her

I’m dying at her attacking all the Earthlings in her little radius

Awww Steven, at first he’s really intrigued by Diamond Mode and wants to learn how to use it better.  So optimistic!

Except you totally killed about 10 conifers and only healed one, so way to hurt the forest dude

Am I the only one wondering how conflicted Dr. Maheswaren must feel, knowing Steven can heal all this crazy shit and that a) she’s toiling at doing it the old-fashioned way, b) he could really help her patients, and c) he isn’t?

Looking forward to seeing Steven and Jasper talk again, but I really hope it’s not because Steven’s been corrupted and is trying to get over it.  Urrrgh no ;_;

I do want to see if she has tips for how to control anger.  Or how to use it and learn from it.  But I’m not sure she knows either.

Steven is a shark.  Because if he’s not swimming, he’s sinking.  And swimming to him is helping people.  If he can’t do that, if he can’t do what he’s supposed to do in his mind, what is he doing?  He’s gonna sink this season and it’s gonna be FUCKING SPECTACULAR.

1x02 Guidance

Amethyst is so proud of herself!  It’s awesome!

Steven is clearly a little uncomfortable that he didn’t come up with the idea, isn’t he?  He also has a hard time figuring out that there are ways to use what you’re made for instead of having to run from it.  Of course, that isn’t true for everyone.  Little Larimar did love screams and children more than ice.  The best lesson is that people are different, some are comfortable working in a certain zone whereas others need to struggle past it to feel complete.

Amethyst was sitting in front of the Teens of Rage video game.  I FEEL THIS WILL BE SIGNIFICANT Y’ALL.

I’m just so glad Mr. Smiley finally isn’t understaffed. He could take a day off and go visit Mr. Frowny!

Uncle Andy is back!  Yay!  And he’s getting involved with Beach City in general, I’m really happy to see him putting down some roots.

Smoky Quartz is back!

PINK SMOKY HOLY SHIT LOOK AT THEM GO

Love love love the pink/purple asides for the Steven and Amethyst debate while being Smoky Quartz

TIME SLOWING/SUPER SPEED POWERS??? I WAS NOT PREPARED

The roller coaster exploded IN THE OCEAN I can’t EVEN

So far both Steven and Amethyst are intrigued and impressed by Diamond Mode, and sure, it seems harmless now... 

Steven is worried he’s losing his touch helping people.  That makes me worried that that’s part of a bigger feeling, not just this particular snafu.

Amethyst being so direct is often the one who gets closest to Steven talking about his feelings.  He started to go there, but then Little Larimar showed up again with their terrifying talk about screams....

1x03 Rose Buds

I’m really glad Greg and the Gems aren’t giving Steven shit about not wanting Rose to be looming over him in portrait form.  Now if y’all will also TALK to Steven about how he feels about it... but at least they’re okay with him removing the portrait.

HOOOOOOLY SHIT Y’ALL

I’m so happy J-10 and Y-6 are back!

OMFG they are NOT over Greg and it’s amazing

GAH-REG HOW COULD YOU

I’m glad the Zoomans are in control of their own destiny and able to go where they wish!  

no no no no no no no no no no we all know what’s coming here

Coming face to face with Rose Quartzes = instant KO for one Steven Universe

I almost had a panic attack with him as the Roses clustered around him and the music got tenser and tenser and the camera zoomed in on his face and that was fucking INTENSE PEOPLE

Greg seeing the Roses and just noping the fuck outta there, amazing, everyone in this family is so repressed

Poor Garnet and Pearl hiding in the bathroom

“Yeah, it’s weird”

Poor Rose Quartz-who-most-looks-like-our-Rose-Quartz, it’s clear she is much more emotionally in tune than the other two (due to her belly gem placement?)

STEVEN GOT NEW PAJAMAS

but let him sleep shirtless you cowards!

Also he just looked... so GROWNUP in that scene by the warp pad?  His proportions were just no longer little kidlike?  And he is still cutely beefy but not really little-kid chubby anymore and teen me would have had it BAD for him at this point, I’m just sayin’

Steven is S O O O O   S T R E S S E D   R I G H T   N O W

he’s eating his fucking blanket in an attempt to not talk about his problems I CAN’T

also HAVE WE NOTICED that Steven will eventually end up telling strangers at least some of what’s bothering him, but never the people who actually love and care about him

this episode was so damn tense it is masterful

I’m glad they managed to talk things out a little

but clearly Steven is still, as always, just scratching the surface, this poor kid just needs to GO OFF.

did he go pink in this one from stress for a second?  Or was that the next one? 

1x04 Volleyball

You cannot tell me that that white coat is not a hand-me-down from Dr. Maheswaren, it is CANON IN MY MIND

also damn how many Gems are cracking themselves right and left that this needs to happen regularly?

seriously though Steven, you might just want to get a spittoon and start sending one to every hospital ever, you would undo A LOT of human suffering....

Steven honey I’m so sorry your mom did you so wrong and I’m so sorry you’re so scared of everything to do with her and NONE OF IT IS YOUR FAULT OKAY

but maybe also you need to learn how to face some of this stuff so it doesn’t scare you so badly

Poor Pink Pearl!

Volleyball? Seriously Steven? so insensitive how do you know Pink didn’t throw a volleyball at her head

Poor Pearl and Volleyball feeling so jealous about each other

Volleyball is 8000 years old??  damn how old was Pink?

oooooooh the Reef!  so cool and mysterious!  Look at all those Pearl possibilities!

So Pink damaged her Pearl, and she sent her to the Reef for repair.  They fixed her gem, but when she reformed, the trauma was still so severe that she reformed with the crack.  Oh man :(

Now again I don’t want Corrupted Steven but you could probably wrangle that into support for the theory.

I prefer to think that Steven will do something different than straight-up Corruption to himself, but we could see something like the crack form instead of Corruption.

Willing himself into a monster form only works if he thinks of himself completely as a monster.  Right now he thinks Pink is the monster, and he thinks, finally, that he isn’t Pink.  So either he’d have to really hurt somebody and then view himself as a monster, or, my preference, he would develop something like a scar or pink eyes or stay pink all the time or something until he’s figured out his issues.

I JUST DON’T WANT HIM TO HAVE HORNS, YOU GUYS.

Pearl WAS protecting Volleyball from Steven oh NOOOOO

STEVEN SONIC SCREAM

So we’ve got Diamond Mode Strength, Super Speed, and Sonic Scream, man oh man oh man

this finally makes sense because all the other Diamonds have such well-developed offensive powers

Pink must have been like “no those are dangerous I don’t want them, what else can I do” and developed her healing powers secretly

I always wondered why the Diamonds never recognized Rose Quartz’s healing tears or shield as belonging to Pink

And it must be that she never showed it to them

They maybe only knew about her offensive powers

MEGA PEARL IS SO BEAUTIFUL AND WISE AND HER RIBBON DANCING IS SO MAGNIFICENT AND I LOVE THEM JUST TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER YOU TWO

I can’t believe we got a new fusion so quickly!!!!

Fuck that bitch Shell amirite

look, someone help Steven.

Please help Steven.

HELP. STEVEN.

No new trailer for next week???? COWARDS

omg someone please please scream about all this with me

[mandareeboo]

Character writing meme for Garnet?

Pick a character I’ve written and I will explain the top ~three to five ideas/concepts/etc I keep in mind while writing that character that I believe are essential to accurately depicting them.

So!!! Proud!!! Of her friends!!!!!! She does everything short of picking them up and being like “Look what they did!!! Look how cool they are!!!!”

Garnet is “Mysterious”. Not mysterious. “Mysterious.” She is 100% pretending at all times to be mysterious. She thinks she looks cool doing it. I see fanfics where Garnet is legitimately Dark and Unknowable and it’s like... no... she’s just a nerd with a good poker face

I’m rlly curious to see her and Steven’s relationship in SUF, and how it will affect writings. Because Garnet started as leader after Rose, but then Steven matured and grew, and no it’s more of a co-leader thing. But the moment someone infers he’s A Big Boss Steven’s gonna lose his shit because that’s a Mom Thing and He’s Not His Mom.

[onetwothreeopalau]

Steven would be the first to admit that a lot of things confused him, but he knew that there’s one thing he’d always be sure of: how much he loved his family. There’s his dad, Greg Universe who owns the local car wash and his mom Rose Quartz. He’d never met her but he’d heard all the stories and she was amazing. Then there was also Garnet: super cool and mysterious, and Opal. She had four arms. Enough said.

He knew that to some it wasn’t the most regular of families, but it was his and he knew that he wanted to protect them with everything he had.

If only he could get his shield to work.

[stevenuniversallyreviews]

Episode 131: Off Colors

“And this is Lars. He’s all human.”

Forty-seven seconds is an eternity in an eleven-minute episode. Steven and the Stevens (the song) is forty-one. The final scene of Winter Forecast, my favorite in the series, is an even thirty. And when Pearl first poofs in Steven the Sword Fighter, it may take her several weeks in-universe to come back, but it’s only seventeen seconds until Amethyst and Garnet reveal that she’s okay.

Off Colors ends with Lars at his finest, bouncing around from friend to friend to save their lives from an alien drone, culminating in a brave, goofy rodeo show on the robotic menace. He comically yelps as the machine bucks and sprays lasers everywhere, then the baker who was once terrified of letting people try his food yells “Eat this!” as he deals the final blow, solidifying the cartoonish victory we’ve seen time and time again in action shows for kids. But then the drone explodes, and it kills him.

Laramie Barriga, the first person we ever see Steven speak with, the first human who’s ever named on the show, a depressed grouch that has resisted every opportunity to grow but can’t help growing anyway, who after countless false starts has finally seen his inner hero emerge, dies a sudden, violent death. And he remains dead for forty-seven seconds.

False deaths abound in Steven Universe, from Pearl’s aforementioned poofing to the Pink Diamond faking her own shattering. But none feel as visceral as Lars’s, because it isn’t false. He not only dies, but we see his lifeless body tumble to the ground like a rag doll, and must linger with him as the weight of his death settles in. The Off Colors are jubilant at their victory, and their cheers create the discordant atmosphere that so often accompanies death, the shock and confusion as life goes on even as another life ends. Steven is the only person on the planet who understands that humans don’t die the same way Gems do, and he doesn’t need to say a word as he grasps for signs of life and finds none.

According to interviews with the crew, there was some question over when the episode would end, and whether this death would be a cliffhanger. I’m so glad they went with this approach, and not because I think it would be too brutal for young viewers (I was raised on Don Bluth and The Lion King, kids can handle it); reviving him in the next episode would be a pacing nightmare, but reviving him here forces that uninterrupted wait, a moment that can’t be escaped by the episode ending and focusing on something else until the next one comes on. Plus, I’d imagine it helped with the censors to have him come back in the same scene, because I’ve never seen a children’s show portray death with this much physical realism; in the rare instance of a character dying on-screen, it’s always a dramatic affair with a final speech and a last gasp, but Lars is dead before he hits the floor.

The other reason Lars’s death stands out is that even if it’s temporary, it’s permanent. The rules of Steven’s inherited revival powers aren’t examined too deeply, but it’s clear that Lars is no longer mortal in the way he once was. He’s pink, with white hair. He barely has a heartbeat. If he’s anything like Lion, there’s a chance he’ll never age. This and more will be covered in Lars’s Head, but even now, it’s clear that the Lars we knew died on a cold and foreign world, and it’s another Lars that wakes up.

There’s obviously more to Off Colors than Lars’s death, considering the episode is named for the new set of characters that we spend most of our runtime meeting. But its very first line, after another stylish pan down from the title card, is “Lars, are you okay?” Much like The Good Lars appears to be a Lars episode but ends up being about Sadie, Off Colors appears to be an Off Colors episode but ends up being about Lars. Every moment he’s on screen is a reminder that he’s an alien on Homeworld, from his earthly need for food to his battle plans adopted from Jurassic Park to his vital lack of a gem. Even before he literally changes color, he fits right in with the misfits.

But let’s not cut the Off Colors short. It isn’t easy to introduce four distinct characters at once, so each gets a quirk to make them stand out fast. The Rutile Twins have two heads that paraphrase each other. Rhodonite fuses the nervousness we’ve seen from rubies and Pearl into a whole new level of perpetual fear. Fluorite speaks in the deep, slow voice of a six-Gem fusion. And, of course, Padparadscha has visions of the recent past, a running gag that I don’t predict I’ll ever get tired of.

Still, even in this first appearance, there’s more to this little family than their quirks. We meet the Rutiles first, voiced by Ashly Burch (one of the 2010s’ best new talents and the co-writer of my favorite latter-day Adventure Time episode, Hall of Egress), and despite a lifetime on the run their instinct is to help instead of hide. Rhodonite, voiced by Enuka Okuma (who like Padparadscha/Sapphire’s Erica Luttrell is a Canadian actress who started young and has steadily built up a considerable resume), doesn’t let her anxiety or societal pressure stop her from living as a fusion, which in a way makes her braver than the more confident Garnet. Fluorite, voiced by Kathy Fisher (primarily an EDM singer for the band Fisher) is proudly polyamorous and has a lot of grace for a giant caterpillar. Padparadscha, voiced by the aforementioned Luttrell...well, she pretty much is just her quirk, but she’s still a delight.

Given how many characters we meet and the amount of time we devote to Lars’s heroism and death, Off Colors can’t do much with its new characters besides introduce them. But the episode reveals their struggles not only with their words, but the setting they hid themselves in. Rather than spend any amount of time in the high tech environment of modern Homeworld (the place that reared the likes of Peridot and terrified Lapis Lazuli) we head straight to the ancient remains of perhaps the oldest Kindergarten in the universe, a massive chamber in a hollowed world without any more room to form new life. 

Like Earth’s Prime Kindergarten, it’s a perfect place for horror, this time from a drone that’s so relentless that it kills one of our characters. The drone’s theme resembles the opening of the Love Like You reprise and Holly Blue Agate’s motif, adding another layer of looming alien danger to the atmosphere, and the machine itself has the vicious efficiency of Peridot’s old robonoids. The world is old, but the technology hunting the Off Colors down is new, lending the sense of an endless struggle that must be endured rather than overcome.

Life on Homeworld is dictated by doing what you were created to do, but it’s important to show that deviating from this path doesn’t lead to instant happiness. If Gems could break away from their oppression with ease, it wouldn’t be much of an oppressive state, so the Off Colors trade lives in constant servitude for lives in constant survival mode. It isn’t as if we needed more evidence that Gem society is a mess, but there’s power in personalizing how misfits are persecuted to this day, compared to how the Crystal Gems were able to form in the past. The struggles from back then remain the struggles of the present, and the only way to fix them is with an outside push. We won’t see that push until the end of the series proper, but are primed to understand the power of external changers from Blue Zircon’s own ability to stand outside of the story and punch holes in the narrative the characters took for granted. It’s no wonder that Steven is fated to do the same thing.

It’s refreshing to see Lars and Steven get along from the start, instead of going through the usual ornery motions until they reach the sense of understanding they had in Stuck Together. It makes sense that we’d cut to the chase in an episode with this much to do, but given how often Lars forgets his lessons, it’s a nice change of pace for his growth to stick.

Even more refreshing is Steven forgetting about his martyr complex for a moment as his own survival instincts take hold: we see him instead channel the leadership lesson he learned with Peridot in the drill, assuring Lars that everything will be okay even when it’s clear that he doesn’t believe it. This time it’s Lars who must deal the barriers he sets up for himself, railing against his own cowardice and needing Steven’s positivity in the same way Steven needed his negativity on the spaceship. When Lars shows signs of an imminent panic attack, Steven gives him the same hand to the heart we’ve seen in Lars and the Cool Kids and Lion 3 and tells him that it’s okay to be afraid, a line Lars repeats to psych himself up for his last stand.

Steven also forgets about Zircon’s big reveal, which initially seems like a negative. As viewers, we’re invested in learning the truth about Pink Diamond and are made to wait even longer to get more clues. But I see this as the beginning of a major step forward, because even though Steven is hardly over his issues with Rose, this is where he starts focusing on where his priorities should be: his life in the present, rather than his mother’s ancient past. In Off Colors and Lars’s Head it’s all about escaping Homeworld and helping Lars and his new friends, then it’s straight to the Breakup Arc, and both journeys recenter Steven in a way that lets him grow enough to reexamine Zircon’s information through fresher eyes.

And as complicated as his relationship with Rose has become, let’s not forget that this episode ends with the first instance of her healing tears emerging from her son. He’s had healing spit for ages, his own Steven-y take on his mom’s power, but he evokes her far more directly as he revives Lars with a method that solves a mystery we weren’t even thinking about as we entered Homeworld: the origin of Lion. But more on that next time.

For now, it’s enough to have a full-to-the-brim episode of new friends and tense drama, written and animated to punch you in the gut with a surprise death that feels no less powerful when it’s half-reversed. The Off Colors show us problems unique to Gems (Homeworld society, fusion stuff, malfunctioning psychic powers), and Lars shows us problems unique to humans (general physical frailty, from hunger to the inability to shrug off explosions), but both reach an understanding that makes their imminent team-up feel as natural as can be. Each of them lives in fear, and each of them learns that the only way to work past this fear is to accept it and work together to overcome it. I know that they can be strong in the real way, and they’re about to prove it.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

The streak of Love ‘em episodes holds strong. What seems to be a pure set-up episode is blown up by its shocker of an ending, and while it may lead to yet another cliffhanger, there’s a sense of completion as Lars goes from cowering mess to genuine hero.

Top Twenty-Five

Steven and the Stevens

Hit the Diamond

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

Last One Out of Beach City

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Mindful Education

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Earthlings

Mr. Greg

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Beach City Drift

Winter Forecast

Bismuth

Steven’s Dream

When It Rains

The Good Lars

Catch and Release

Chille Tid

I Am My Mom

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Same Old World

The New Lars

Monster Reunion

Alone at Sea

Crack the Whip

Beta

Back to the Moon

Kindergarten Kid

Buddy’s Book

Gem Harvest

Three Gems and a Baby

That Will Be All

The New Crystal Gems

Storm in the Room

Room for Ruby

Lion 4: Alternate Ending

Doug Out

Are You My Dad?

Stuck Together

The Trial

Off Colors

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Barn Mates

Steven Floats

Drop Beat Dad

Too Short to Ride

Restaurant Wars

Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service

Greg the Babysitter

Gem Hunt

Steven vs. Amethyst

Bubbled

Adventures in Light Distortion

Gem Heist

The Zoo

Rocknaldo

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

Know Your Fusion

Future Boy Zoltron

Tiger Philanthropist

No Thanks!

     6. Horror Club      5. Fusion Cuisine      4. House Guest      3. Onion Gang      2. Sadie’s Song      1. Island Adventure

(Despite the header image looking very Sugary, there’s no official promo art; that lovely picture is actually from the wonderful ferryperson.)

[robinrunsfiction]

Blood Moon - Part 2

Part 1

Pairing: Vampire!Gerard Way x Female Reader Rating: Teen Requested By: None Word Count: ~2,600 Author’s Note: Part two of the first spooky story I wrote for the best time of the year, Halloween! TW for blood and mentions of past death

It was a crisp autumn day and (YN) and her friend Jennifer had spent most of the day shopping, hopping from store to store along the main street of the old, but bustling town.

"Hey, can we go in this store?" Jennifer asked, pointing to an antique store up ahead.

"Yea, sure," (YN) replied, following her friend inside.

"I wanna see if they have anything I can get my mom, her birthday is coming up," Jennifer rattled on about finding the right present for the occasion, but it was as if her voice faded out for (YN) as she was drawn to the display case of antique jewelry. There was one necklace with a deep garnet stone that felt like it was calling to her.

"Need any help?" The saleswoman asked, causing (YN) to jump. "Oh sorry, didn't mean to startle you!"

"Oh, that’s ok. What’s the story with that necklace?" She asked, pointing to the garnet.

"Well its quite curious. This necklace has been in and out of our shop many times. When they bring it back, they only say it just wasn't theirs to keep. Maybe its cursed!" She laughed. "Would you like to try it on?"

"Yea," (YN) replied, undeterred by the story. The saleswoman took the necklace from the case and handed it to (YN) who carefully placed it around her neck and looked in the mirror at her reflection.

"It suits you," the saleswoman complimented.

"Ooh pretty!" Jennifer agreed, coming up behind you.

"I'm gonna get it," you grinned.

"I'll be curious to see if it is meant for you, or if you'll be back," the saleswoman said as she rang up the purchase.

"Oh, by the way, Eli texted asking if we wanna go to the pub tonight, I already said yes," Jennifer laughed.

"Well why not I guess," (YN) shrugged. "But I want to go home and change first. I need an outfit to show off this necklace."

~

It was a typically lively night at the pub with their friends. (YN) couldn't help but feel distracted though, as if someone was watching her.

"Earth to (YN)," she heard her friend Eli say.

"Sorry, what's up?"

"You know that guy over there has been staring at you like all night," she said nodding across the room.

You followed where she gestured and saw a thin, pale man with darkness around his eyes and silvery white hair.

“Oh creepy,” Jennifer said.

(YN) couldn’t help but smile. Something about this man was familiar to her, like they had met before, or like they were meant to meet. “Should I go talk to him?”

“No,” Jennifer said at the same moment Eli said “Yes!”

“You all are no help,” (YN) said rolling her eyes.

“Maybe I can be of help then,” a voice said from behind her.

(YN) turned in her seat to find the handsome stranger now standing behind her chair. “Oh, well maybe you can. I’m (YN),” she said extending her hand in greeting.

It seemed as if the stranger had the wind knocked out of him for a moment before he recomposed himself. “Nice to meet you, I’m Gerard,” he said taking her hand, not to shake it, but rather placing a kiss on the back of it.

Now it was (YN)’s turn to be taken aback. At first it was because of the nature of the gesture, so classically romantic, but then because she noticed how cool his lips were. It sent an invigorating shiver down her spine.

“Do you wanna go someplace quieter to talk?” (YN) asked, suddenly feeling like she wanted nothing more than to be alone with him.

“After you,” he said stepping back allowing her room to get out of her chair.

(YN) dropped some money on the table. “That should take care of my share, in case…” she trailed off with a sly smile and Eli grinned back.

“Hey,” Jennifer said, grabbing (YN)’s arm and pulling her close. “Text me when you get home safe.”

(YN) nodded in agreement before turning her attention back to Gerard. “Ready?”

He nodded and (YN) lead the way outside. “Oh, I was going to suggest a walk, but if you just want to sit and talk,” (YN) said, suddenly embarrassed as she had not noticed his cane before.

“Its fine, we can walk. I’ve had this nagging injury that never seemed to heal from when my friend tackled me,” Gerard laughed and shook his head at the memory and (YN) laughed as well.

As they walked through the park in the moonlight, (YN) found it as easy to talk to Gerard as it was to talk to her friends that she had known for ages. The way he felt so familiar to her made her feel slightly guilty that she didn’t recognize him.

“Gerard, can I ask you something? And I’m sorry if this is rude, but have we met before tonight? Like I feel like we know each other, you know? Shit, is that weird?” (YN) felt her cheeks burning with a blush as they stopped under a streetlamp.

“Maybe it was a past life,” he smiled knowingly.

“Do you believe in that kind of thing?”

“Why not? There are stranger things to believe in, don’t you think?”

(YN) shrugged. “I guess I hadn’t really thought about any of it too much. But if you’re sure that we haven’t met, then I’ll believe you.”

They resumed walking and Gerard took (YN)’s hand with his free hand. She noted how cold it was, as if this poor man had anemia or something.

“Oh, I didn’t even realize how close we were to my place, would you mind walking me the rest of the way?” (YN) asked as they exited the opposite side of the park. “It’s a safe neighborhood, but you never know.”

“Of course, wouldn’t want you to have to walk alone. Might be monsters out here,” he chuckled.

“Or maybe you’re the monster all along,” she laughed.

“Don’t worry, vampires will never hurt you,” he replied and squeezed her hand.

When they arrived at the front door to her building, she stopped at the foot of the stairs. “Gerard, I’d really like to see you again, if you’re interested,” she smiled shyly.

“I’d love that,” he replied, an air of relief in his tone, as he handed her his phone. When she finished entering her number, he saw she left her name as (YFN) (YLN) 🖤

He smiled at her and sweetly placed a kiss against her cheek, the cold again lingering. “Good night (YN).”

“Goodnight Gerard, it was a pleasure to meet you this evening.”

Gerard again seemed as if he had been taken by surprise by her words. He smiled as she turned and went inside. Then a light in the second floor came on and she waved from the window. He smiled up at her as he turned to leave, but he felt sick to his stomach.

It really was his beloved (YN, and he was not going to lose her again. Especially not at his own hand.

~

Over the next few weeks, Gerard and (YN)’s romance slowly began to blossom. The familiarity (YN) felt for Gerard made getting to know him seem easy, like she somehow knew everything he was telling her, but there did seem like a large puzzle piece was still missing. But despite trying to sort out that enigma, she felt as if she were falling for Gerard’s mysterious charms. He was a gentleman, never pushing her physically, to the point where (YN) would have to encourage him to take things further.

Gerard had taken (YN) out to a classic film festival and once again they stood at the steps to her building. (YN) had started to wonder if she had misjudged things with Gerard. He held her hand, pulled chairs out when she sat down, placed delicate kisses on her cheek or the back of her hand, but she wanted him to kiss her. As the full moon shone down on them, she felt like her stomach was full of butterflies.

“I had a great time tonight. I love those old movies; the men were such gentlemen back then. You must have been raised on them, you’re so polite as well,” she smiled.

“You could say that,” he replied, smiling down at her.

“Gerard, would you like to kiss me?” She asked nervously after a moment of silence between them.

“Very much,” he replied with a grin. He leaned down and softly he placed his lips against hers. She leaned into him and he reached up and placed his hand along the side of her neck, fingers trailing down to her collarbone, and the skin underneath his touch lit up with pain. A vision shot through her mind of a woman gasping in shock and pain, grabbing her neck, but what confused her the most was the old-fashioned clothing the woman wore. (YN) pulled away from Gerard with a gasp, grabbing at her neck.

“Are you ok?” Gerard asked. He looked frightened, grabbing at her arms.

“I… I don’t know! That was the weirdest thing!” The pain began to subside in her neck. “I’ve always had this birthmark here,” she said gesturing to the side of her neck, “and it just started to hurt and…” She trailed off. What would Gerard think if she told him she had a horror movie like vision when he kissed her for the first time.

Gerard didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know how to explain what she saw, what she felt when he touched her neck. He just looked on pitifully.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to end our date like this,” she said sadly.

“No, I’m sorry,” he said pulling her against him, rubbing her back. “I’m so sorry my beautiful (YN),” he murmured as he rested his head on top of hers.

They stood together in the cooling night air for some time before (YN) pulled back with a sigh. “I should go in. Thank you for the wonderful night, despite the weirdness,” she said with a sad laugh while gesturing to her neck.

“It was my pleasure,” he replied. She leaned up and placed a kiss on his lips, and thankfully all she felt was the butterflies in her stomach again. With a smile she turned and headed inside.

~

(YN)’s thoughts became consumed by the vision she had of the woman in the Victorian clothes and why she appeared to her. (YN) went to the library and spent hours pouring over scans of old newspapers and checking out books on local history books.

She didn’t realize how late it was when Gerard called. He said he wanted to check up on her after not hearing from her for a few nights.

When Gerard knocked on her door, he was taken aback by her appearance when he saw her. Dark circles under her eyes looked like bruises, and her skin appeared ashen. “(YN) are you ok? What is going on?” He asked as she invited him in.

“Yea, I just got so totally wrapped up in this unsolved mystery from over a hundred years ago. This woman… she had the same name as me, and she was brutally attacked and left for dead in her front yard, and look at this,” she said pulling out a newspaper clipping from the time, “look at that necklace, is it not this one?” She asked holding up the garnet charm that hung around her neck.

Gerard felt sick as he nodded. “Ha-have you seen a photo of her?”

“Not yet, I think its in this book though,” she said sitting down, patting the stack on her coffee table.

Gerard sat down next to her. “(YN), what if you don’t like what you find?”

(YN) furrowed her brow. “What do you mean?”

“(YN),” Gerard sighed, unsure how to say what he needed to tell her.

“Gerard,” she said, her voice growing impatient. “What do you know?”

“Do you remember what I said about maybe we knew each other in a past life?”

“Yea…”

“And that vampires will never hurt you?”

(YN)’s heart was hammering in her chest and she felt ill. “Yea,” she replied as she started to lean away from him.

“(YN), I know who killed her… you… back then.”

“Who Gerard?” She felt like she knew the answer before he even said it.

“Me.”

“Gerard,” she whispered as she got up, tripping over her own feet. “What are you talking about?”

“I'm a vampire,” he said quietly, looking at his hands.

“Why though? Is this some sick game to you, find out how many times you can kill the same innocent woman throughout history?”

“I've changed, I'm not the monster I was back then! I didn’t know how to control my hunger then. I have a system now, I don’t need to hunt anymore,” he pleaded.

“When were you going to tell me? Because I believe I loved you,” she choked out.

“Loved?” He looked up then, his eyes starting to fill with tears.

“You killed me,” (YN) said softly. “How do I forgive that?”

“I understand,” he said getting up and walking toward the door. “I'm sorry for then, I'm sorry for now. I never stopped loving you, not for a hundred years. I'm so sorry, I'll leave you alone.”

(YN) watched as he left and sank to her knees, her head spinning. Instinctively, she clutched at the amulet around her neck and took a deep breath. Suddenly she was on her feet, opening the door, running down the stairs. When she got outside, she looked in both directions, but decided to head toward the park. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her, into dark depths of the park.

Then she saw him sitting alone, his silver white hair shining under the streetlamp. He looked up when he heard her approach.

“You knew it was me from the moment we met, didn’t you?”

Gerard nodded silently.

“And you could have killed me at any time if that’s what you really wanted. But you didn’t.”

“I searched and waited for you. And protected that necklace, hoping it would bring you back to me so I could try to make it up to you. I owe you a lifetime.”

She nodded as she approached him, and he stood up. “Kiss me again, like you mean it.”

He leaned down in an instant, not having to be told twice and captured her lips against hers. She leaned into him as he held her waist. She didn’t feel any pain where he touched her, and a thought crossed her mind as their lips moved together.

She reached down and grabbed his hand and brought it up. He pulled back from the kiss then, confusion on his face as she brought his hand to the mark on her neck.

She closed her eyes, bracing for the searing, but it didn’t come. All that flashed through her mind was memories of a different time, feelings of fledgling love and anticipation, of Gerard's face, not unlike it was now gazing down at her, concern and love written across it.

She looked up at him. “You really didn’t mean to did you.”

“It was an accident I will never repeat. I'm so sorry, I love you, my beautiful (YN).”

“I love you too Gerard,” she replied wrapping her arms around him in an embrace. “One day, if I want, would you turn me so we could be together forever.”

“If that's what you want, it would be an honor,” he said looking down at her adoringly before kissing her again. And for a moment, she could have sworn his lips were warm.