265After her long and harrowing journey through space, Connie was glad to be walking the boardwalk again. Everything was just… normal!
"The horror! The terror!" She suddenly heard a booming voice announce. Her eyes popped open.
Normal meant Ronaldo yelling about something weird, naturally. Connie wasn't surprised.
The gem hybrid walked up to see the curly-haired Fryman desperately yelling, handing out brochures to anyone that would take them. No one had taken one so far. "Protect yourself from the menace that threatens Beach City!"
Connie couldn't help but smile. She knew Ronaldo didn't have many fans, so she was happily one of them for him. She walked up and gave her best look of surprise. "What's this about protecting myself? I gotta have one of those!"
Ronaldo lit up at once, seeing his loyal supporter. "Connie! I knew I could count on you! Please, take a Ronald-phlit
I wonder what this could be about? Certainly not something actually threatening, since he doesn't accept books or facts. Connie thought as she sat on a bench after receiving quite a few brochures to give to her friends. She read the title and immediately was shocked. "How to Protect Yourself Against Rock People"?!
The brochure had a picture of an angry looking rock that glared menacingly up at her. She narrowed her eyes in anger, and flipped it open. ""Alien entities walk among us..?" "They're adding mind-controlling chemicals to our water…!" She read the last line and gasped in outrage. "They hate men?!"
"Ronaldo, there has to be some mistake!" Connie laughed, trying to stay calm as she shoved the Ronald-phlit back in his hands. "The Crystal Temps aren't some villains! And just because we're all females, doesn't mean we don't care for males as well! I'll have you know-!"
"Calm down, Connie!" Ronaldo laughed, patting her head like she was some small child. "The Crystal Temps aren't rock people! They just fight rock people! You should see my documentary, Rising Tides, Crashing Skies. Also, I've been needing you confirm my theory. I believe one of the Great Diamond Authority, leaders of the rock people, has been hiding among our town, living in a host body!"
"Yeah, I know because I'm the host body!" Connie growled. "Listen, Temps don't only fight rock people, we are rock people! And do not call us that, it's very offensive!"
"The Crystal Temps aren't Rock People, Rock People have rocks imbedded in their body!"
"Like this?" Connie asked in a dull voice, unbuttoning her yellow shirt to show her equally yellow diamond.
"But they have mystical powers that can kill us all!"
"So, you're saying my powers couldn't electrocute someone, hospitalize them and/or kill them on accident." Connie growled, getting annoyed as she made her hair and hands sparkle with golden electricity, making her hair float around her.
"W-Well, they can shape-shift their forms to trick people to love them! You can't do-!"
Ronaldo was foiled again when his equally competitive rival shapeshifted her finger into a tiny puppy. It barked happily.
"Aww!" Ronaldo cooed. He then gasped in horror. "You are a Rock Person!"
"I'm a Crystal Temp." Connie explained with a sigh, her hair briefly falling straight before poofing back to normal and the dog vanishing with a pocket flashlight she always had on her in case dogs ever tried to dominate her body again. "You were watching the Temps and I, but we're not like evil in the slightest!"
"I'm so glad you're the only person who took a Ronald-phlit!" Ronaldo moaned in agony, crumbling to the ground in tears of embarrassment. "I'm so SORRY!"
"Oh!" Connie gasped, looking around her in confusion before kneeling down to him and handing him a tissue. "Just remember that we're just like everyone else, and we'll have no problem!"
Ronaldo stood before giving a loud and gross-sounding blow. "O-Okay… I'm just gonna go home and… rethink some things.."
"Maybe I shouldn't have been so snarky!" Connie moaned, pacing back and forth. "I didn't think he'd shut down his blog because of this!"
"Chubby made the mistake, so he should have self-loathing because of it, not you." Jasper grunted, Connie spotting her while she lifted many weights on a bar.
Lapis was fiddling with her hair slightly on the couch while glancing back at a magazine she had recently acquired from Amethyst. "Why do we care about him again?"
Peridot looked up from her device that was on the living room table and frowned. "What are we even talking about?"
Connie suddenly gasped, showing her phone. "A new post!"
She played the video and Ronaldo looked straight into the camera. "Good day, loyal followers of Keep Beach City Weird. I've come to you today because I pride myself in bringing you the truth about all the weird stuff in Beach City the Man doesn't want you to know about."
"Which man is he referring to, Connie?" Peridot asked. "I have met many men. I'd like to know which one he's addressing."
Connie shrugged.
"But today, I need to tell you some truths about this man! I've mixed up what is right and wrong and ended up saying some pretty mean things about the Crystal Temps. I feel terrible about my mistake because I know more than anyone what it's like to do thankless work and to be an outsider. That's why I'm joining the Crystal Temps!"
"WHAT?!" All the Crystal Temps yelled in shock.
Before they could even replay the part, Ronaldo came bursting through the door. "CONNIE!"
Connie looked him up and down, seeing he had a suitcase. "Um… hi…"
"Guess what?!" Ronaldo asked excitedly.
"You'd like to join the Crystal Temps?" Connie asked in a deadpan tone.
The teen smiled. "Absolutely! And this Beach House, it's our base, isn't it?"
"Our base?!"
"You don't have a gem, you smell like burnt fries and yellow is not your color. You can't stay here." Lapis suddenly replied. She did not like the idea of someone just entering their lives like this, not one bit.
Ronaldo looked pleadingly at the Temps. "B-But Connie wanted me to be nicer and understand, and this is the only way I can do that!"
"You're human, end of discussion." Jasper growled, turning away.
"I'm human." Connie piped up. "Partially, anyway. I'll admit, I didn't expect him to try and live with us, but I was the one to put the idea in his head. Besides, we're called the Temps because we're attempting and hopefully succeeding at respecting and caring for everyone on Earth. We should especially if he just wants to know about us!"
"Crystal Temp huddle, NOW!" Peridot yelled.
"Ooh! Our first huddle!" Ronaldo cried.
"Not you." The smallest grunted.
They four original members huddled together on the warp pad.
"You can't be serious, Connie! This giant man-baby will not be staying here after everything he's done to us!" Peridot hissed.
"But he really has his hopes up!" Connie cried. "Besides, I already broke his heart once today! Maybe if he sees what we really do, he'll leave us alone! We'll be heroes to him, he won't pit the town against us, and he'll probably get weird stuff to fill up years of blogging just being around!"
"I don't want him here." Lapis grunted.
Connie's eyes grew large and diamonds appeared in them as her disappointment increased. She glanced at Jasper.
"Did you control them with your diamond brainwashing powers?!" Ronaldo asked as Connie neatly helped him unpack.
"Nope! Just my Connie powers." The girl hummed, folding his wrinkly mess of clothes to be placed in a nearby drawer.
"So, when do I get issued my gem? Do you give it to me since you're a Diamond?"
"Oh, er, no, sorry. That's not how it works." Connie explained worriedly. She then shrugged it off, laying down on her bed once the packing was over. "But you can still have a gem name. Which gem would you be…? I haven't met any like you, so I don't know a name."
"It's typical you haven't met one like me, but this only gives me more freedom." Ronaldo told her, making a fist and putting it to his heart. "My gem would probably be deeply embedded in my heart since I care so much.. Or it'd be, like, a million tiny gems, like one crushed-up gem coursing through my blood, like- like... Bloodstone!"
"Sounds good, that will be your Crystal Temp name!" Connie smiled.
"Ooh! And I have a gem weapon!" Ronaldo creid. He suddenly took out a large green katana from his bag and Connie frowned.
"Um, I actually already have a sword. It's my mother's." Connie said, showing him her golden blade.
Ronaldo scoffed, making her frown deeper. "You don't summon that weapon from your gem, so it's not your gem weapon."
"Well, yeah, but I don't technically have any weapons in my gem anymore. I once had the power to wield a shield, but that faded away."
"Then your sword will probably fade too! Just use your electric powers, I'll handle the swordplay!" Ronaldo insisted. "This baby can cut through a milk carton like butter!"
"Cut through that juice box then." Connie grunted slightly, a bit peeved.
He gave a cry as he hit it, sending it all the way to the kitchen. It fell, still in one piece.
Later that day, Connie waited for the Temps, reading a book of manga as Ronaldo had insisted she should.
"I'm ready!" Ronaldo suddenly announced, coming out of the bathroom.
Connie glanced up and nearly dropped her book.
He was wearing a mustard yellow shirt and was clashing the other shade of lemon on his shorts. He had cut out a diamond shape around his stomach in the shirt.
"Connie, I don't want to like, cramp on your style, but you're sorta ripping me off." Ronaldo muttered rudely.
Connie glanced down at her yellow overalls and lighter colored shirt and frowned. "I think you might be ripping me off, actually. I wear yellow all the time, and only switch it up when I get tired of it, which isn't too often."
"You have other colors then? Just change."
Connie flushed in fury but still stomped upstairs to make him happy.
She came back wearing a light blue dress. "Happy?"
"I suppose."
The Temps then beamed in then to retrieve Connie.
"It's time for an adventure!" Jasper smirked.
Connie grinned and leaped up into her room.
"Yes! Let me grab my katana!" Ronaldo yelled. He then got on the couch and tried to jump repeatedly into Connie's room with her, failing amazingly.
The Temps couldn't even laugh, it was just so sad.
He panted and then looked at them. "I'm gonna… take the stairs."
"You're not coming, fry-human. You won't be able to protect your flesh body." Peridot said dully.
"Connie gets to go!" Ronaldo cried, Connie landing on the table before hopping down to look at him sympathetically.
"Connie's been training for years, and she's smarter than you, and more agile, and funnier, and-"
Connie interrupted her by taking his hand. "Don't worry, Bloodstone, I didn't get to go on missions at first either! But I promise when I get home, we'll train!"
Ronaldo watched dejected as the girl ran to her team and then vanished in light. "But… I'm a Crystal Temp too…"
Ronaldo watched Connie through a pair of binoculars despite being right next to her. He observed her putting on her flats and undoing her hair from the tight bun she had put it in for the mission. She glanced at him nervously. "Bloodstone, do you… need something?"
"Oh, Connie." Ronaldo sniffed, as if just noticing she was there. "I was just wondering how the mission went without me holding you back."
"Um, it went ok, normal…" Connie whispered, looking down at the ground. "We just did the usual, fought a monster, sang a song about our feelings-"
"Sounds like you had lots of fun, without me there." The man grumbled.
Connie glanced at the door and then smiled. "Yeah… Well, I have to go, so-"
"Going out like that?" Ronaldo suddenly asked, as if disgusted.
"Like what?" The girl blushed, hurriedly checking for something on her face.
"Oh, well, I think a real Crystal Temp would want to show off their gem. If I had a gem, I'd let everyone know about it."
Connie frowned before undoing a few buttons to show her diamond.
Connie happily slumbered while she listened to the soothing sound of the crashing waves of the ocean. It kept her dreams from wondering to nowhere but home, where she was safe from Pink Diamond, Rose Quartz, and the others…
Her peaceful slumber was interrupted when she heard the unsheathing of a sword.
Her eyes shot open and she soon had her enemy pinned to the ground with her sword to their neck. She breathed heavily, her eyes wide.
"Connie, it's me! It's me!"
The girl used her electric powers to turn on her lamp only to see Ronaldo.
"What are you DOING?!" Connie cried in anger. He was shaking in fear and she quickly sheathed her sword. "I'm sorry, it's just…. I've gotten kidnapped a few times and I… You know."
"That doesn't seem healthy." Ronaldo commented.
"It's called being cautious." Connie muttered, yawning and putting her sword by her bed once more. She then looked back to see he had been practicing with his own sword on a milk carton. "Why aren't you sleeping, Bloodstone? It's the middle of the night."
"It's interesting that you do… sleep." Ronaldo mused. "Why do you?"
"Because I'm half-human?" Connie grunted back, getting in her warm bed. "I'm tired?"
"Ha. I'm two halves human and I'm not-" He then yawned. "tired at all…" He swung his sword around dangerously before it slipped from his hands.
Connie groaned before putting her blanket over her head.
"Ever since I became a Crystal Temp, sleeping…" Ronaldo started to drift off, falling to the ground before rolling off the loft and onto the couch. "I don't… do it…"
"Bye! See you next time, jam bud!" Connie grinned, waving from the porch.
She turned around only to run into Ronaldo.
"I see you have time to come up with cute nicknames with him." Ronaldo huffed.
Connie gave a sigh. "Steven and I have known each other for a long time, I barely know anything about you."
"We are like siblings, Connie! We LIVE under the same roof! We know everything about each other!"
"What's my favorite color?"
"Um…. blue?"
Connie looked down at her yellow dress and sandals and facepalmed.
"Let's be real, the only reason he's in is because he's your boyfriend!" Ronaldo accused, making Connie flush in surprise and anger. "Also, you're wearing yellow again. You better take it off. Oh, and I was thinking of coming up with a new theme song for us, I know you wrote yours when you were, like, four, but you should share the spotlight, it's not all about you. Also, why do you keep your sword so close when you told me you wouldn't use it? You should-"
"STOP IT!" Connie shouted, making him shut his trap for a second. "Stop bossing me around! How can you know what a Crystal Temp should do?! You aren't a gem, you're just… just-! A GUY WITH A BLOG!"
Ronaldo's eyes widened but then he gave a scoff. "Wow… How uncaring. You disrespected me and everything I live for… I don't think you're even a Crystal Temp anymore, you're a Crystal Fail….ure…."
"I heard someone call my kid a failure, where are you, punk?!" Jasper suddenly boomed, she had dragged Peridot and Lapis with her from the temple. "I swear, if you made her cry, I'll make you di-!"
"It was only Ronaldo." Connie whispered, them staring in shock.
Jasper narrowed her eyes. "You're lucky you're not an evil fusion, chubs."
The Crystal Temps then settled down on the couch, sensing the tension between the two.
"I'm not a failure, Bloodstone." Connie sighed, glaring back at Ronaldo. "You haven't been respecting me, and you don't care about what I have to say, what any of us have! Everything had to be about you for you to like it! This may be some little vanity project to you, but to me, it's my whole life! Do you care?!"
Ronaldo stared at her in shock, trying to process it all. Suddenly, he collapsed.
"Oh my stars!" Peridot squeaked, and they all rushed to him. "Connie killed Bloodrock!"
"WHAT?!" Connie cried.
Lapis grabbed Connie's hands and rubbed them together, forming electricity. "Clear!"
"Wait!" Jasper grunted. She punched him in the stomach and he slightly whimpered. "Oh. He's sleeping."
"Makes sense. He hasn't slept in a week." Connie whispered.
It had been three weeks when Connie saw Ronaldo again.
He was brooding with one leg up on a bench with the wind blowing through his hair.
"Ro-Bloodstone!" Connie gasped in shock, running to him.
"Connie, hey." Ronaldo said, sitting down.
Connie joined him, looking concerned. "I was afraid you didn't want to see me… or were in a coma."
"No, I just took a really long nap, and then thought a lot about what you said. I wasn't acting like Bloodstone, I was acting like…" He made a long sigh in disappointment at what he was to say. "Jerk-naldo. You respected me, but I didn't deserve that. It's better I work alone, so I don't break anyone else…"
"Oh, you sure?" Connie asked. "We were really hoping to have you help out."
"I am." Ronaldo mumbled, showing her a new Ronald-phlit. On it, it was explaining the Crystal Temps. It had Ronaldo shaking hands with Peridot, both smiling.
"When did this happen?" The girl asked in suprise.
"It didn't! I used the magic of photo editing." Ronaldo smirked. He then frowned. "Hey, I was wondering, why don't you use your gem name?"
"Er, my gem name's my mom's name, so it's confusing to my moms. Gems only call me that when they want to kill me or worship me for being a past empress to them…"
"Oh... Do you want me to add it to the Ronald-phlit?"
"No, thank you though."
"Welcome."
Sorry it took so long, I've been hiding from this virus.
I've been wrapped up in school (at home now) and I started another Roleswap on the Kingdom Hearts series, which I got into a little bit ago! I've also been wanting to pace this since… since Steven Universe is officially over…. (Craws away to cry again)
Anywho, just know that this story may be slower now thanks to everything going on. And lastly, please, PLEASE stay safe! Wash your hands, social distance, do what you must to be safe!
