"heeeeeey, (nicknaaaaaame)!~"

"hru?" you look up from drawing and look for the source of the voice along with the soft poke at your shoulder, looking back and forth across the empty living room.

wha?

"SURPRISE!!"

"GUAH!!" you jerked back as spinel suddenly swung down from one of the rafters hanging upside-down in front of your face, booping her nose to yours, smiling a big toothy grin at you. "guess what, (naaame)!" Steven suddenly rolls into view smiling joyously at you. your eyes flicker from spinel to steven and narrow in suspicion. they looked like their cheery, innocent selves... but there was a mischievous air in those gazes... "we've been thinkin'..." spinel started. "since you've been such a good gem lately..." then all at once, their joyous yell filled your ears.

"WE'RE GONNA TAKE YOU OUT TO THE CITY!!"

"AUH!?" your mouth flung open and your eyes bulged out of your sockets as the words registered in your head.

out? as an... come into contact with... OTHER beings..?

Steven giggled and hugged your face cheerfully. "I knew you'd be excited!" he bounces to your feet throwing his arms up in the air. "I'll go get some stuff to get us started!" with that he dashes upto his loft in a haste. spinel then plops onto your withers, hugging your broad back tenderly with a giggle. "this'll be so much fun!"

you blinked, swallowing a knot of anxiety in your throat.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

this... is substantially easy...

you thought, gaze casted to the wooden floor of the boardwalk. ahead, Steven was talking up a storm about the place called "beach city" talking about the history of it (or as far as he knew) and the many industries that are run there. spinel was riding your back listening in, while gazing around awestruck at the brand new sights presented to her. now, you tried to focus on the boy and his cheery tour, but you couldn't help but notice that everyone that passed you all gave you odd looks. heck, someone even yelped. but steven would dismiss them, by saying that you were friendly and that there wasn't anything to worry about. his first stop was this place called "funland arcade". as you tipped your head back to read it, Steven elaborated gleefully. "behold! the home of all the games you can play!" spinel had stars in her eyes as she stared up at the sign. "ooooooooohh...." he then gestured for you to come in. hesitantly, you slowly and carefully entered the small arcade.

immediately, you're greeted with a whole slew of electronic sounds, such as beeping, laser-like noises, humming, robotic humming and other noises. all around you, there were large bulky machinery, some with flashing screens and odd characters drawn on the side of them. you squinted your eye in interest. wow. humans really have a way to entertain themselves.

"whoa whoa, what's this now?" you snap your head to the robust sounding voice only to see a large dark-skinned man approach, hands on his hips with a rather stern look on his face. "oh, hey Mr. smiley!" steven greeted cheerfully. "what's THAT?" the man, 'mr. smiley' pointed to you, causing you to flinch back and bite your bottom lip. "I can't have that thing breaking any of my inventory!" you wrinkle your muzzle, grimacing faintly. ouch... "N-No, mr. smiley! she's a good gem, I promise!" he reassured shakily. "watch," he turns to you. "(name), sit!" you squint your eyes and process the request for a moment before sitting yourself down on your haunches. easy.

his eyes glittered as spinel giggled and patted your head. "good gem!" he praised, causing the swell of pride to warm your chest. "now speak!" he orders firmly. again you process his request and after clearing your throat, you did as told, pointing a thumb at yourself. "(name) a crystal gem!" mr. smiley lifted an eyebrow, bringing a hand to his chin, looking impressed now. "not bad..."

"now shake hands!" steven exclaimed, holding out his hand to you. you hum in affirmation and grasp his small hand between your thumb and index finger gently, as of he were made of glass and shook his hand gently. mr. smiley let out a incredulous chuckle. "Not bad, not bad at all!" he goes over to you and pats your head rather roughly. "I guess you can stay a bit." he points a finger at you sternly. "but be careful." you nodded hurriedly and he snickers. "good! now let's get you started on some tokens!" he exclaims, walking back to his counter with Steven following clumsily. spinel patted your head. "you're a clever one, (name)!" you smiled and let your tail thump against the ground excitedly. "thank you."

you then looked over at the many arcade machinery, feeling a surge of unease run through you as you caught sight of the comparably tiny controls in them and whined internally.

how am I supposed to operate those things?
----------

WINNER!! WINNER!!

NEW HIGH SCORE!!

you flinched at the bright pixel-y bubble letters flashed vibrantly on the screen as a cheery, celebratory voice belted out from the speakers. beside you, spinel watched in wide-eyed amazement as tickets streamed out of its slot in great bursts. Steven watched with large starry eyes as the screen flashed WINNER over and over again on the screen. "that's the 10th game in a row, (name)!" he exclaimed joyously. "you're out of control!" you looked down at spinel, who was carrying arm loads of tickets with her as she collected your latest winnings with a bright smile on her face, while steven was dancing around you, chanting your name in a celebratory manner. the sight was warmed your heart and you couldn't help but smile.

it made you feel good that you were causing such joy...

Steven's prancing suddenly comes to a halt as a low rumbling emitted from his midsection. you looked at him quizzically as he clasped a hand to it. "steven okay?" he blinked for a moment before another smile burst across his face. "yeah. it's just time for something called, a snack break!" spinel snapped her head up, smiling with wild, happiness. "what's that?" Steven giggled. "it's were we take a break and eat!" spinel smiled wider in an unwitting bout of blind excitement. "SOUNDS LIKE FUN! COME ON!" before steven could speak, spinel booked it out of the arcade, tickets in hand. "N-No wait! you're supposed to turn in those tickets for a prize! spineeel!!" he hurriedly chased after her, flailing his arms frantically. you snorted in amusement, and turn to follow them, only pausing to take one final glance at the video game you were playing.

it's gone back to its idle screen, flashing with the words; please insert 3 tokens to play!

but even with the blindingly bright words flashing, you couldn't take your eyes off the shuttle that darted around on the screen.

you squinted at it suspiciously.

why do I feel as if I've something like that before...
~~~~~~~~~~~~

"come on, (name), hurry up!"

aie, for a child with short legs, he's so fast!

you galloped at a quick pace to catch up with the young boy ahead of you as spinel rode on your withers, enjoying herself quite a bit. she'd just clutch your horns tightly, while exclaiming things like;

"YEE-HAW!"

"WHOO-HOO!"

"WHOOPIE!"

"WEEEEEE!!"

the faster you went, the more happy she got. at some point, she threw her hands up in the air, waving them and exclaimed; "LOOKEE! NO HANDS!" all the while, Steven watched, a substantial amount of space between you and him, laughing and smiling, enjoying your happiness. "good job, (name)! come on we're almost there!" he praised, running backwards. "just a bit farther and-"

THUMP!!

your eyes widened as steven suddenly rammed into something, sprawling onto his back with an OOMF!! you immediately slam your paws into the ground and skid to a sharp halt, sending spinel flying of your back with a squawk. luckily, you shot your forearms out and caught her before she hit the ground. spinel rubbed her head, trying to process what just happened as you cradled her in your large hands gently. "Ow! who the- Oh, Steven!" you squint your eye at a relatively tall slightly stocky teenage boy with wild curly blonde dreadlocks perched atop his head, along with glasses on his face. another human? you watched in wonderment as he knelt down, concern written on his face as steven sat up and rubbed his head, groaning. "s-sorry about that! you okay?" steven gave a friendly, reassuring smile as he took the fellow's hand. "I'm fine, Ronaldo." he replied, raising to his feet with his help. Ronald gave a smile back, looking relieved. "hoo, good. for a second there I thoo-" his eyes trailed to meet your gaze and the comical look of fear seized his features. "-OOOHH MY GOSH!!" your eyes widened and spinel crooked an eyebrow as the boy pointed at you, his voice raised at an unreasonable volume. "WHAT IS THAAT!!?" you bit your lip at the fear in his voice and repressed a whimper in your throat as spinel blinked cluelessly at him. Steven cringed at his reaction and lifted his hands in defense. "I-it's okay! she doesn't bite! she's a good gem!" he turns to you, flashing a toothy smile. "r-right, guys?" you and spinel nod. "Right!" you both piped in unison, putting your thumbs up.

the boy blinked at you. "amazing! a tame alien monster that understands AND speaks English!" he exclaimed, clasping his hands to his head. you wrinkled your muzzle as the word registered in your head. Monster... spinel must have sensed your despair, because she then positioned herself so she could wrap her arms around your shoulders and nestle into your shoulder comfortingly, eliciting a purr of appreciation from you. the boy 'Ronaldo' took immediate notice, prompting her to squish her cheek into your chest fluff. Clearly, she was spooked. "Aw! And it even has a little pink offspring!" your eyes widened and a faint blush dusted your face. offspring...? steven's gaze darted back and forth between you, looking rather overwhelmed by this frantic kid. "r-ronaldo, um-" before he could speak, Ronaldo dug into his pocket and whipped out what was called a phone and held it up. "your pet alien behemoth and her pink baby will make a great addition to my blog!" steven lifted a finger and attempted a protest. "A-Actually-!"

Snap!

~~~~

~~~~

"perfect!" he squealed, typing rapidly into his phone. "This is gonna get so much hype!" He squinted. "Now... I just need some more detail.." you stared with a deadpan expression as he hunched over his phone. What is this boy. "so steven!" he suddenly spoke up, catching the suddenly tired looking boy's attention. "how does your alien pet feed her offspring? does she hunt for her or manually nurse her?" Your blush darkened, along with Steven's who glowed in a deep shade of red. N-Nursing? He suddenly looked thoughful. "But... I wonder how she'd nurse without any-" steven suddenly threw his arms up, flailing them before he can finish. "OKAY, OKAY, LET'S NOT GO THERE!" he huffed and motioned to you. "come on, (name). let's go." he started to walk away, with you following suit, slowly strolling past the delusional boy as he continued his typing. "o-okay then! be sure to keep me up to date about her offspring! If she changes in color or appearance, give me a shout! because remember!" he suddenly rose his voice dramatically. "KEEP! BEACH! CITY! WIERD!"

Once you got out of his range, steven groaned and clapped a hand to his head. "s-sorry about that guys." he uttered tiredly. "Ronaldo is... always like that. don't worry... he's harmless."

spinel was silent, seemingly trying to process what had happened, while you followed steven with a contemplating face. you couldn't get Ronaldo's claim about spinel out of your head.

spinel?

your baby?

what an odd assumption. you cast your gaze down to the small pink gem, who was still clinging to your shoulders with your arms wrapped securely around her. she looked back up at you, offering a small smile, and leaned into your chest. you grinned and gave her a small lick on the head, eliciting a giggle from her.

but... can't say it's far from the truth.
~~~~~~~~~

I told you.

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