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Chapter 4
Clumsy Approach
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Sleep wasn't that great. It probably is, but….last night while attempting to sleep, Spinel had seen weird things and those are what Steven explained to her were dreams. He said they would be good, but also bad. Spinel deciphered that her dream last night was….actually terrifying. She saw her other self, the same on she saw that night at Funland.
So she stayed awake and just wandered around the beach by herself very early in the morning. The sun not peeking above the horizon yet.
"Today…...right here." Spinel sings faintly and kneels down near the ocean waters as it barely touches her shoes. "Right now….I've loved again…." Her reflection stares back and she tried to wipe off the black tear streaks, but no outcome. "Have I really been found…?" Spinel sighs and decides to go on the internet. That's how she learned some things about Earth. Only asking the others, mainly Steven or Connie for a better explanation.
The sand was brighter under the rising sun and shifted away when Spinel troughs back to Steven's house. When entering the Universe residence, the smell of pancakes waffles through the air and it wasn't something Spinel liked much. There were still other foods to taste anyway.
"Morning, Spinel." Greg greets while flipping a pancake. "I thought you were still asleep."
Spinel takes a seat the dining table while hearing water running from the bathroom which its mostly likely Steven. "I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk."
"Well, whatever's bothering you, just ask us. Okay?" Greg places a stack of pancakes in front of the pink hearted gem then add whipped cream and berries with chocolate.
"I know." Spinel poke at the pancakes with the fork and her head leaning on her hand.
Finally, she takes a bite once Steven takes a seat next to her. "Good Morning, Spinel."
"Eh." The gem shrugs and holds back a yawn while slowly eating a strawberry.
Steven digs into his pancakes after being placed in front of him, "Yeah. I guess this morning is just an 'eh'." He chuckles and smiles more once he got a small positive reaction from Spinel. "Since the others went to Little Homeworld to help with gem stuff and Connie is helping her mom again today. I thought we can hang out together today."
Spinel sits up and smiles brightly, "Really?"
Steven nods, "Yeah and Pearl just texted me, saying that someone stole a lot of things from the Beach City Party store last night. I don't know who would do that, but there was no forced entry and no broken windows. Just a mini mission for us." He smiles.
"That sounds fun! A mini Crystal Gem mission." Spinel starts to enjoy her breakfast.
~°♡°~
"I wish Lion were here. It would've been so much faster to get here." Steven pouts, but he did love it that his dad drove them to the middle of Beach City. Him and Spinel hop out of the vehicle and wave as Greg drives away.
"Steven! Oh thank goodness! You have got to find who took half of my inventory!" Mr. Smiley exclaimed in panic. The owner of Beach City Funland and the Arcade, so apparently he also started the Beach City Party store. The dark skin man opens the doors so they can step inside.
"What did they take?" Steven asked and Spinel grins at all the colors of the stuff inside.
"Three boxes of bubbles, two boxes of confetti poppers, five boxes of balloons, one box of silly string, AND the WHOLE store stock of bubble wrap!!!"
Spinel didn't know what those were though they sounded very fun. Everything in this store looked fun. On the floor, the tiles were different colors, but something stood out more against one of the blue tiles. Kneeling down, Spinel picks up a pink strand of hair? "I found this. It looks like hair."
Steven examines it and raises a brow, "That's fur. Actually a strand of Lion's mane. But what would Lion be doing with this stuff, why was he here at all?" He sighs and smiles at Mr. Smiley. "I think I know who took the supplies. We'll bring it all back once we find them. Don't worry."
Mr. Smiley sighs in relief, "Thank goodness."
The two head out and start calling out for Lion as they stroll along.
"I wonder where he could be this time. Usually he's hanging out with Connie." Steven checks his phone and only got Connie's message. "She said she hasn't seen Lion in awhile, since a few days ago. What doesn't make sense is why would Lion want confetti and bubble wrap?"
Spinel shrugs at Steven and suddenly something pops on her nose. "Ah! What was that?" Her hand wipes off the faint soapy substance and her eyes see round floating things, actually they looked like bubbles gems use.
"Bubbles? BUBBLES!" Steven grabs Spinel's hand and they run to follow the bubble trail. "That's probably where the party supplies went."
While following the trail to a small forest like area, there were also colorful strings sticking everywhere. More specifically, Silly String. It didn't take long to get to their destination, though what they saw wasn't what they expected.
An abandoned playground.
This caught Spinel's interest immediately and her curiosity got the best of her as she steps into a merry-go-round. It moves and her eyes widen as she pushes more, going around in a circle. The spinning playground equipment creaks every time Spinel pushes to go faster. "Steven!" She whispers loudly with a big grin, waving for him to get on.
With a shrug, Steven gets on and they both laugh while Spinel spins the merry-go-round at a fast rate.
Suddenly there's a pop from the silent area and being an abnormal to their laughs. Spinel stops the merry-go-round and the both of them look at the main playground area.
A big play structure with many slides, bars, tunnels, and bridges connecting like a tiny castle. The noise had come from the very top where the outside looked like a castle tower.
Cautiously, Spinel and Steven climb up to the top, well more like Spinel stretching to get them both over to the area.
"Hello?"
Once climbing through the tunnel, their eyes meet something fluffy and pink.
"Lion!" Steven cheers and crawls over to the pink lion. "Where have you been, Boo? Silly Lion." He hugs Lion's head as the big cat yawns.
Something crunches under Spinel's foot and she stood, also kicking something away. A party popper and an empty bottle of bubbles. "Steven." The items are picked up and shown to the teen.
"Okay. Lion. Where is the rest of the stuff?" Steven asked but the lion turns his head away stubbornly. As if saying that it wasn't Steven's business. "Lion." Steven tries to act tough on him. "Remember it's wrong to steal from someone, especially from a store."
Lion glances at him and huffs while shaking his mane.
"It's in your mane? Well, I guess we can take the stuff back. How did you even get these things in your mane?" That's what confused Steven.
Spinel just continues to look around this structure and notices a box from the Big Donut. She lifts the lid and perfectly fresh donuts were still inside. 'Was there someone living here?' Her eyes shift over to a pillow of clean pillows and a strawberry patterned blanket. 'So someone was with Lion.'
~°♡°~
Getting a ride on Lion and teleporting with him was the faster way to get the stuff back to Mr. Smiley. This had been an easy mission, only because Steven didn't really look into much. Just only Spinel.
"Now that's all done- Lion? Hey, where are you going now?" Steven facepalmed as Lion left through a portal after the stuff was returned. "Fine. Just check in so I know you're okay!" Steven calls out then sighs, "Let's go for some ice cream, Spinel. I think we need a break."
There had been a lot of weird things going since she came here. No, she didn't think it was her fault, but something was going on. Blue Pearl answered and usually it's her, Pink Pearl, and Yellow Pearl there too when the Diamonds were busy. 'Then there was that stuff at the playground-' Spinel's attention went to the figure sitting behind Steven.
'The human from the carnival.'
At the bench for away from everyone else, she sat there while seeming to be on a small tablet. Slightly smaller than Peridot's tablet. Maybe reading? An umbrella kept her from the burning sunlight and the breeze seemed to be blowing gently where she sat. The human female's foot bopped her leg up and down wither in thought or being impatient about something.
Spinel snorts quietly with a small grin while watching the human bite her lip every now and then, then mumble to herself about something. 'I wonder what she's looking at?'
"Now that I was thinking it over. I don't think it was Lion who robbed the store." Steven brings up but realizes the zoned out expression of Spinel. "Spinel?" He can see that the gem's gaze had been staring past him, so he turned around to see the girl who ran into Spinel a while back. "Why don't you invite her over?"
Spinel snaps out of it, "Huh? What are you talking about?"
Steven snickers, "That girl you've been staring at this whole time. Why not invite her over to get ice cream with us?"
"Why? I wasn't staring at her." Spinel glances to the side with a huff.
The teen boy stands up, "Alright. Then I'll go ask her. I'm sure she wouldn't mind having an ice cream."
"No!" Spinel leans over the table and feels anxious. She had no idea why though Steven kept on walking toward the human girl. This brought panic to Spinel and she runs to him, trying to pull him back with her arms stretching. "Steven Universe." She growls a warning.
He just laughs and stops, "Spinel, seriously. Why are you making this such a big deal?" Steven grins slyly, "Do you like her or something?"
This brought a very confused look to Spinel's face, "No!" Unfortunately, Steven seen the blush appear across Spinel's cheeks. "I really have no idea what that means, but how can I like her when she just a stranger who I ran into at Funland? I don't even know her name!"
'Why is Spinel being so defensive?' Steven thought and mentally laughs. "Well let's fix that. She won't be a stranger for long if we talk to her, so…...go ask her if she wants an ice cream." Steven gestures to the girl who was still unaware of the two having a small banter.
'Spinel. Stop being so weird about this.' Spinel takes a deep breath with a small frown to the teen, "Fine." She stomps in the direction of the lone human though as she gets closer, her steps are more hesitant.
You look up once noticing a figure approaching in the corner of your eyes. You raised your brow a little at the gem as shel froze in place.
'Say something!' Spinel gulps and laughs nervously, tapping her fingers together. "Ah-ha….Ah…." 'WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!' Spinel screams in her head, "Sorry, I-I was just wondering if- I mean, me and my friend are wondering if you wanted an ice cream?"
Giving the gem a closed lip smile, you faintly laugh, "Uh….sure." You put the tablet down after turning off the bright screen, "Actually, I haven't had ice cream for a long time and I don't know the flavors they have here either since I'm sorts new around these parts."
That left Spinel feeling relieved that you said yes, "Oh don't worry about it. I, well, I never had ice cream before. That's why my friend is showing me new things."
You blink at her then grin in a lopsided manner, "Maybe you can pick a flavor and we can try it together?"
"Absolutely! We will be right back with that ice cream, Sunshine!" Spinel was so excited that she had no idea what she was saying and turns around too far, spinning to land face first onto the sand.
The silly action caused you to hold back a giggle and end up letting out a breathless chuckle.
Spinel had heard and her cheeks flush a bright pink as she scrambles up, but the thought of making you laugh made her chest swell with delight.
Steven didn't know what went on and he grins as Spinel comes back with a skip in her steps. "What did she say?"
"She hasn't had ice cream for a long time, so she said she wanted to try any flavor that I pick so that we can taste it together." Spinel says smugly.
"So what's her name?"
Spinel's eyes widen then laughs sheepishly, "I….didn't ask for a name." She rubs the back of her head, "Oops."
They make their way to the ice cream parlor and go inside the cool place. The smell of waffle cones and sweet candies drift through the air conditioned air. They're glass windows viewing the many flavors and toppings that could mix well with the ice cream.
"Wow. Would you look at these treats? Oh golly, which one do I pick?!" Spinel grabs onto Steven's jacket with worry. "What if I pick something she doesn't like or, or, what if I don't pick something I don't like and she likes it?"
Steven laughs softly and gently moves her hands away, "Calm down, Spinel. You did say she wanted to TRY a flavor with you, so just pick. Not everyone will like the same flavor." He pats her shoulder.
"Ugh. Alright." Spinel leans her palms on the glass and her face is against the surface to examine the flavors. 'There's too many to choose from. Maybe try by color?'
A sudden inhuman screech echoed across the boardwalk, causing Spinel and Steven to whip around to look outside the windows, seeing everyone immediately running in on direction.
[Preview of Digital Art for next Chapter.]