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bigapplesauce2016-01-17 11:06 pm
cheeseburger_backpack) wrote in bigapplesauce2016-01-17 11:06 pm
Enter the Warp Master [closed]
"Whoooah," Steven says as he stares at the New York City skyline. He's splayed on his back - on his backpack, if you want to get technical - and his palms are being tickled by... grass. Which is not the warp pad he should be feeling.
This is weird. He's good at warping, now. He's the Warp Master! He knows better than to mess around while they're all on the move. What went wrong?
Steven wiggles for a moment like an upended beetle, then rolls over onto his stomach. "Pearl?" he calls out experimentally. Maybe the warp pad they were aiming for got broken. Maybe it scattered them. "Garnet? Amethyst?" He pushes himself upright, then shivers. Wherever he is, it's colder than Beach City. Good thing he came prepared! He unzips his backpack, and a few moments' rummaging produces a hoodie. He pulls it on, puts up the hood, and gives the strings a good jerk to tighten it.
Much better. Now, he can find his friends.
That turns out to be much easier said than done. There are loads of people here. It's like six or seven Beach Cities combined, at least. Usually, warp pads take them to out-of-the-way places where people don't live, not huge, bustling spots like this.
Steven makes his way to the edge of the park, then stops, frowning at the heavy foot traffic. None of the Gems would be able to spot him in that crowd, or hear him over the rest of the noise. There are fewer people back the way he came. Maybe he should retrace his steps to where he arrived, in case his friends land in the same spot. Maybe it was the timing that got messed up, not the location. Maybe the warp pad was buried under the grass! Can that happen?
He'll ask the others when he finds them.
It's good to have a mission, even if it's not the one they originally set out on. Steven starts off at a purposeful march, backpack bouncing, eyes and ears peeled for any sign of Garnet, Pearl, or Amethyst. Or Lion. Hey, maybe Lion will show up!
He's been wandering long enough to start feeling a little apprehensive when he hears the familiar sound of someone playing a guitar. He knows it's not his dad - or at least he's pretty sure (could he have used the warp whistle again?) - but he wanders toward the sound, anyway. He likes music, and the Gems know he likes music. Maybe, if they can hear it, they'll head towards it, too.
Sure enough, the guy playing the guitar is a stranger. But he's playing really well! And he seems approachable, so Steven goes right on ahead and approaches. He doesn't intend to interrupt the performance, but the song is catchy, and the chorus is easy to pick up on, and before he can stop himself, he's singing along in harmony. If only he had his ukulele; then they could really jam.
This is weird. He's good at warping, now. He's the Warp Master! He knows better than to mess around while they're all on the move. What went wrong?
Steven wiggles for a moment like an upended beetle, then rolls over onto his stomach. "Pearl?" he calls out experimentally. Maybe the warp pad they were aiming for got broken. Maybe it scattered them. "Garnet? Amethyst?" He pushes himself upright, then shivers. Wherever he is, it's colder than Beach City. Good thing he came prepared! He unzips his backpack, and a few moments' rummaging produces a hoodie. He pulls it on, puts up the hood, and gives the strings a good jerk to tighten it.
Much better. Now, he can find his friends.
That turns out to be much easier said than done. There are loads of people here. It's like six or seven Beach Cities combined, at least. Usually, warp pads take them to out-of-the-way places where people don't live, not huge, bustling spots like this.
Steven makes his way to the edge of the park, then stops, frowning at the heavy foot traffic. None of the Gems would be able to spot him in that crowd, or hear him over the rest of the noise. There are fewer people back the way he came. Maybe he should retrace his steps to where he arrived, in case his friends land in the same spot. Maybe it was the timing that got messed up, not the location. Maybe the warp pad was buried under the grass! Can that happen?
He'll ask the others when he finds them.
It's good to have a mission, even if it's not the one they originally set out on. Steven starts off at a purposeful march, backpack bouncing, eyes and ears peeled for any sign of Garnet, Pearl, or Amethyst. Or Lion. Hey, maybe Lion will show up!
He's been wandering long enough to start feeling a little apprehensive when he hears the familiar sound of someone playing a guitar. He knows it's not his dad - or at least he's pretty sure (could he have used the warp whistle again?) - but he wanders toward the sound, anyway. He likes music, and the Gems know he likes music. Maybe, if they can hear it, they'll head towards it, too.
Sure enough, the guy playing the guitar is a stranger. But he's playing really well! And he seems approachable, so Steven goes right on ahead and approaches. He doesn't intend to interrupt the performance, but the song is catchy, and the chorus is easy to pick up on, and before he can stop himself, he's singing along in harmony. If only he had his ukulele; then they could really jam.
no subject
Well hey, Steven's not so young. He can probably do lots of things for himself! The Balladeer has a very vague conception of child development, but that seems likely.
Turning back to Steven, he notices the fidgeting. Is he worried? He frowns and gets back to his feet. "I mean, you can get your own if you want! I don't have an extra bed or anything..." And while he doesn't have a lot of furniture to begin with, there's definitely not room for much else in here. There's the couch, of course, but that seems a little unfortunate as a permanent thing. He'd been thrilled to get a bed of his own. Maybe he could find one of those couches that turns into a bed?
no subject
Brightening, he adds, "I don't mind sleeping on the couch!" He's managed to sleep under far less comfortable circumstances, after all. He hops up onto said couch, gives the upholstery a few assessing pokes, and nods. "This'll be fine."
Steven shrugs off his backpack and pulls it onto his lap. "And I came prepared," he adds. "I've got all sorts of useful stuff in here." See? He's totally worth keeping around!
no subject
Whatever Steven has, it's surely not enough to prepare him for living in a new city. The Balladeer's gonna have to pick up some things - bedding, more food. Schoolbooks? Does Steven need schooling?
He really ought to ask Greta about all this.
no subject
"Ta-daaaa!" he concludes with a sweeping gesture. He's ready for anything!
no subject
"Neat." He sounds genuinely impressed as he puts the raft back with the rest. That bag carries a lot more than he thought it did just from looking. A lot of it is odd, but the extra clothes will come in handy - and hey, who's he to say that a rock might not ever be useful? "You carry all this stuff all the time?"
no subject
It occurs to him, a little belatedly, that 'missions' might require further explanation. Most kids don't go on missions, they go to school. "I'm a Crystal Gem," he elaborates, hiking up his shirt to show off the shiny, rose-colored gemstone set where a normal child would have a belly button. "We defend the Earth from danger! Usually it's just mutant Gems; that's what we were going after today." Before the whole rift thing happened. It's okay, though; Steven's sure the others can handle some mutant Gems without him.
Taking in the Balladeer's expression, he adds, "I guess you don't have those in this universe."
no subject
His confusion must have showed on his face. He smiles a bit sheepishly. Most of what Steven has to say isn't actually throwing him much; plenty of people have interesting stories around here. "Nah, nothing like that. But don't worry! It's not the strangest thing I've heard. Some of the others have magic - sometimes the Rift actually gives people a little bit when they come through. Normally pretty subtle stuff, I think." He actually doesn't know much about how Rift powers work. Probably, knowing the Rift, there's not any actual rules to it.
Leaning forward, he tries to get a good look at the gem while it's visible. It doesn't look like a piercing. From here, Steven's skin seems to just meld perfectly with the crystal. Is it part of him? Would that make a mutant Gem...just sort of a mutated Steven?
Ugh.
He'd sort of like to inspect the Gem further, but he's aware that you don't just go around poking people in the stomach. "How do you do that?" he asks, leaning back. "Defend Earth, I mean."
no subject
"With magic!" he says, letting his shirt drop back down. "The mutant Gems - Pearl says they're broken. It's not their fault. We don't know how to fix them, yet, so we bubble them and keep them in the Temple, where they can't hurt anyone by mistake. They're safe in there."
He should probably tell the Balladeer who Pearl is, huh? He's never had to explain everything to someone before. But the more people who know about the other Crystal Gems, the better - that way, there will be lots of people who might recognize them when they show up.
"Pearl is one of the other Crystal Gems," Steven says. "It's her, Garnet, Amethyst, and me. They've all got weapons they can pull out of their gems, if they need to fight someone." He gives his stomach a rueful look. "I have a shield, but I can't always get it to appear when I want it to." It does tend to show up when he really needs it, but he wants to have it under control. The others make it look so easy.
no subject
"Well, I don't know a lot about magic," he says encouragingly, "But I'm sure it'll come with practice! Just like learning to play an instrument, right?" At least, he understands that other people had to practice to learn.
The fact that the other Crystal Gems all have actual gemstone names doesn't fly past him. But Steven's young - maybe he'll get one when he graduates from training or whatever. "Are there only the four of you? For the whole world?"
no subject
He'll ask later.
"That's what the warp pads are for," he says. "We can go all over the place really quickly. Most of them go to places the Gems left behind, but that's where the trouble usually is, anyway." He's not even sure where many of the places are in relation to Beach City, but he gathers that most of them are too far to go on foot.
no subject
The Balladeer wonders if that's quite as horrifying as Steven's making it sound. He isn't doing it on purpose. But even with so little context, the Balladeer can imagine the kind of things that might result in so many people getting...broken, mutated, becoming dangerous and mindless. They aren't things he cares to question Steven about further right now.
Instead he pops back to his feet, stepping around the couch towards the kitchen. "Hey, are you hungry? It's getting later." On his own, he tends to just eat whenever he feels like it, but he supposes he's willing to stick to any routine Steven might have.
no subject
Hey, maybe tomorrow, he can make breakfast! He's really good at breakfast, and if there are no mutant gems here, it means his waffles almost definitely won't come to life and try to attack anyone.
no subject
There is definitely, technically, food in the apartment. But the Balladeer tends to eat street food a lot, out as much as he is, so what he's finding in the cabinets is pretty basic. He clatters around for a few seconds, opening and closing the fridge. "Spaghetti?" There's the audible equivalent of a shrug in his voice. "Soup. Or sandwiches, there's bread. Eggs?" Eggs can be a dinner food!