"Welcome, siren universe! To little homeschool!"
Peridot announced cheerfully, spreading her arms out excitedly beneath a large sign with large, sharp uppercase letters reading the words 'Little Home-school' a bright smile plastered across her face. "Here, gems from all around the galaxy can not only forge themselves a new identity, but unlock their TRUE potential and uncover a new destiny!"
"Oooooh...." your eyes twinkled in excitement as you stared up at the large sign, your anticipation growing, your wings unfurling at the sheer excitement you felt, especially after hearing peridot's enlightening words about this new place.
Forge a new identity?
Unlock true potential?
UNCOVER NEW DESTINY?
"Heh, excited, lil bud?" steven questioned, chuckling at your expression, quite amused at your fidgeting as well as the amazed expression plastered across your face.
He flinched and grunted slightly as he felt your tail start smacking against his back as it whipped around in your excited eagerness, as well as feeling your grip on his hair tighter to keep yourself balanced when your wings fluttered subtly. "Oof, I'll take that as a yes." He chuckled, shrugging his shoulder slightly to adjust your position and shift your weight onto a more comfortable spot. "Come on, let's go. If we make em wait any longer they might get my whole upper back completely bruised with that tail of theirs." Peridot, quite pleased at your reaction herself, snickered and turned around, beckoning you and steven to follow. "Well then, come on! There's much to see!" With that, she speedwalked deeper into the small section of the village, with steven hurrying after her, setting a hand on your thigh to keep you steady. "Just stay close. okay?"
You simply smiled at him. "Okay!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You looked around, now seeing much more gems then before, all of them either moving from one location to another or sitting around and talking with one another, occasionally giggling with each other from time to time.
"As you can see, siren universe, there are a lot of gems here rediscovering themselves, turning themselves into someone even better than they are!" Peridot explained, her voice loud and clear like a proper tour guide as she gestured around her, catching the attention of a few gems within your range, immediately smiling and greeting steven when they saw him pass by, him waving back with a polite smile. However, not sooner had they noticed him, they noticed you perched on his shoulder, waving at them politely, flashing them a bright toothy smile. As you expected, your appearance gathered much attention, many eyes going wide and gasps of awe and amazement being heard. While you didn't see it, most of the gem students were startled by your appearance; namely your sharp teeth and swaying tail. Of course, steven would defuse the situation by simply explaining what you are, saying that you were safe to be around since you were with him.
Many of them were confused at the explanation, since most weren't familiar with the term "siren", but nevertheless, the word safe convinced them of your harmlessness because before you knew it, many gems started to walk up to you both, many of them pulling at your wings and tail whilst muttering to themselves in awe.
"Woow... I've never seen something like this before..."
"Look at these tiny hands!"
"So cute! I wish I had one!"
You had to admit, while it was nice to get so much positive attention from these exotic deities, it was getting a bit overwhelming...
"Easy guys, give them some space." steven cautioned, noting your distressed expression. Almost immediately, the gems backed off, and you instinctively scooted closer to steven's head, hugging it as you murmured in discomfort. "So many gemsh..." Steven chuckled in response, taking a hand up and pressing you against his cheek with reassurance. "Don't worry buddy... they won't hurt you.." he murmured, smiling wider at the murmur of reassurance.
"...I'll make sure of it."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"This is the green house! Where I teach the joys of growing plantlife!"
Ohh... so I'm not the only one who does this...
Even though you've grown used to the sight of plants, you still found yourself in awe at the various flowers all around you. Especially when you saw flowers you weren't familiar with. You fluttered your wings rapidly, jumping a short distance away from steven and Peridot, nearly tripping over yourself as you spun around, observing the beautiful plantlife, cooing in awe. "(Name) you've seen plants before," steven notes with a chuckle quickly walking to catch upto you. "How are you STILL amazed by them?" You didn't hear him, as you were busy trying to touch a particularly pretty flower's petal, which was unfortunately just out of your reach due to it being on a high shelf. Peridot laughed in amusement, watching as you bounced up and down, flapping your wings rapidly in an attempt to get high enough. "It seems anything can excite siren universe!" Peridot snickered, directing a playful smirk back up at the boy. "Kinda like you when you were a little pebble!" Steven blinked, mulling the words over, before he chuckled lightly, rubbing the back of his head with a mildly uneasy grin. "Eheh... y-yeah. I-I guess they do a little." He watched, his smile faltering slightly when you started gaining more air from flapping your wings with each bound. "...(name), be careful!"
A snicker sounded from a different side of the greenhouse. "Let's see how excited they get when they see this!"
Steven lifted his brow. "see wh-?"
ARF! ARF BARK!
You yelp in surprise at hearing a loud, rather sharp noise suddenly erupt out of nowhere, breaking your concentration and making you to stagger to catch yourself as you nearly lost your balance. "Easy, they almost fell over!" Steven reprimanded, glaring in the direction of the sound source. "Relax, they're just excited." Lapis replied, crouching down, and setting something on the ground.
They're?
Your eyes followed lapis' movements, trailing down to what- or who she was referring to, only to gasp in alarm. Steven did as well, and like you, his reaction was that of surprise; his eyebrows lifting and his eyes widening subtly. "Is that... Pumpkin?"
A... pumpkin?
You've heard about this before. Steven's taught you about them before, when it came to either planting advice or how to use them for whatever Halloween means.
But he never mentioned them having four stubby limbs, or two small beady yellow eyes....
...Come to think of it, you don't think it was supposed to have a large mouth, with an orange tongue lolling from it, dappled in odd seed-like speckles either.
...he never mentioned pumpkins being capable of sentience at all!
You crept towards it, clicking to yourself as the pumpkin creature watched with a curious but friendly expression. Out of curiosity, you set a hand on its face, rubbing its smooth head gently, an awestruck smile growing on your face. Much to your amazed delight, it barks in response, sounding very pleased with your touch.
You chirped happily in relief. Thank the seastars their friendly as well!
"Wow... I... haven't seen you in... a really long time." He muttered, sounding like it was more to himself, as he placed a hand on his chin in deep thought. "I... didn't think you'd even last this long after-"
"What was that?" Peridot looked up at steven in confusion, too lost in your reaction to the living plant to really listen. Steven responds with a flinch and hurried cough, and jammed his hands into his jacket pockets, trying to look as if he didn't say anything. "(N-name), looks like you made yourself a new friend there, huh?" He smiled unevenly, it almost looking visibly forced, but you were too enraptured by the orange creature to notice. You simply nodded in response as pumpkin reared onto its stubby hind legs, perching its forelegs on your lap, and pressing its face into your abdomen, like it were giving you a hug, and you wrap your arms around it in turn, purring as you rubbed your cheek across its smooth "forehead".
Peridot snickered, clapping her hands excitedly. "I knew they'd enjoy pumpkin!" Peridot then knelt beside you, setting a hand on your back. "Siren universe, did we mention steven created that pumpkin for me and lapis?"
you turned around to look up at the green gem with star-filled eyes. "really?" you look over at steven, and he adverts your gazes with a modest expression. "Well... kinda... yes." Your mouth dropped open with a loud gasp and your wings unfurled abruptly, startling pumpkin and Peridot slightly. "Steven knows how to bring life to inanimate objects?" You asked in unwitting astonishment. He can even bring plants to life??
How much is this magic human capable of?!
Peridot smiled broadly, wrapping an arm around you to pull you closer to her. "Oh, steven knows much more than that, siren universe!" She affirmed, in a matter-of-fact tone. "He's never given up on teaching me and lapis the joys of being on this planet earth! Joys like--"
"Camp pining hearts?" Suggested lapis, as she scooped pumpkin up into her arms.
Peridot gasped loudly at the mere suggestion, pressing a hand into her cheek with her own star filled eyes. "Oh my stars! Yes! How could I have forgotten!? The greatest thing this planet has ever produced!"
Now it was your turn to flinch away in startlement. "Camp pining heartsh?"
"Yes siren universe! It helped me escape when everything around me was chaos!" she declared, rising to her feet, picking you up with her and dragging you over to a nearby table. from there, she wandered away for a second, going over to lapis for a moment. After a brief exchange of words, she returns, holding a DVD case with the words "camp pining hearts" sprawled on it in fancy letters. "Here it is, siren universe! everything that made this planet worth while is in this SMALL box!" you sniffed at it curiously, lifting your brow as you looked up at the green gem in curiosity. "What ish it?"
She grins, pulling you close to her. "You see, siren universe, camp pining hearts is a very complex yet captivating story!" your pupils dilated in interest and you found yourself sitting up straighter. "Story?" Seeing she's peaked your interest, her smile widens. "Yes! now it's a story about these teams of campers that compete with one another in what they call a color war. but then here's where it gets interesting... you see there's something called romance between the campers, and-"
"I think their gonna like it just as much as we do." lapis noted, smiling as she watched Peridot explain the plot of camp pining hearts in exclusive detail as you listened in on her every word, your tail swishing faster as her explanation carried on. It seemed like each sentence was more in than the last for you. lapis chuckled to herself. "They kinda do act like you did when you were younger.. they're so... easily happy." She noted out loud. "Don't you think?
"Eheh... yeah..." steven smiled uneasily.
"maybe too much."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...I don't care.
Reader deserves to know pumpkin.
And I'd like to think that steven's power extends one's lifespan.
But if it bothers you too much, I can either make em look "older".
But I don't know why it really would.
Doesn't every SU fan wanna see pumpkin at least once?