~~~~~~[near the restrooms]~~~~~~

"Things are going pretty good so far, huh?"

Steven chirps, blissfully unaware of the girl's blatant frustration as she gripped her head in her hands.

"Steven, are you kidding me?!" Connie exclaims. "I know about (name) but what is that thing you brought to dinner?!"

"It's my family." Steven answers, unsure of why Connie was miffed. "All the gems, fused together into a... six-armed giant woman."

"Why couldn't you bring just (name)?" She questions.

"'Cause this is (name)'s first time shape-shifting as a corrupted gem." He explains. "If something happened to her, spinel and I couldn't handle it ourselves." He then squints his eyes at Connie; notably the accessory on her face. "Your... glasses.."

Now it was Connie's turn to be confused. "What about them?"

"I healed your eyes," he states, almost to himself. "You don't even need them anymore..."

"What are you talking about?" Connie wasn't aware of what the boy was hinting at.

"All that stuff you told your parents about my family!" there was a flash of anger in steven's eyes as he pieced together one conclusion. "You're just ashamed of me!"

He turns away from the girl and crosses his arms into a bitter pout.

"Oh, whatever Steven," Connie retorts, now just thoroughly annoyed with everything that was happened. "Let's just focus on getting through the evening."

~~~~~[back to dinner!]~~~~~~

Back at the table, you watched with a smile as the two kids returned to the table, but the smile faltered as you caught the sight of their annoyed expressions. "Everything okay, steven?"

He sat next to you with his arms crossed. "Yes mom, everything's just fine." He grumbles moodily, which deepens your frown.

"Yeah, steven was just telling me that on your apple farm, you were bioengineering a gala-fuji hybrid." Connie states, her tone mirroring steven's which made your pelt prick even more, and you itched at your chest. Exactly what transpired during that rather short restroom visit..?

"Yeah, that's definitely true, right mom?" Steven asks, looking up at you.

"Is that right, Mrs. Universe?" Mrs. Maheswaran asks, looking at you prompting you to tense up.

"Y-yes... it is" You answered steadily, with a low chuckle, scratching at your head, feeling a small bump at the spot of where your horn was.

"Oh, that's an interesting mix." Commented Mrs. Maheswaran, in which you shrugged, tugging at the chafe neck accessory. "Well... we figured that... fuji apple's crisp would pair well with gala apple's sweetness."

"That does sound delicious." Mr. Maheswaran gives a genuinely interested smile, which relaxes the two tensed children slightly.

You chuckled gently. "It does, doesn't it?"

It was around this time that the food finally served up dinner; an exotic looking shrimp dish. You didn't hesitate in trying out the food, which was actually quite delicious, in which spinel also tries, humming in satisfaction at the taste. "This stuff is good!" She pipes, picking up another shrimp and smiled up at the massive woman behind her, offering the fork to her. "Try it, ally!"

Alexandrite sits for a second before taking the fork from the small gem, staring at the food on it and sniffs at it, and prepares to take a bite.

...only for her to turn her head away and smooshes the shrimp into her cheek.

"What are you doing?" Asks Alexandrite out loud. From the tone of her voice, that was pearl speaking within the fusion.

Her hand slaps her head towards the foodstuff, and reveals a second, drooling mouth, full of sharp teeth. It speaks in a tone that could only Ameythyst would use. "I'm hungry!"

The fusion's hand covers the shrimp, preventing it from reaching the second mouth. "I don't think so!"

The two teal gloved hands, belonging to garnet, grabs the other two fists, speaking with garnet's inflection. "Cut it out, you two!"

The fusion now starts to fight itself, from punching herself in the face, to biting her own hand, much to the shock, confusion and fear of the group.

...and much to your anger and embarrassment.

You slammed your hands onto the table with a snarl, startling spinel as she not only watched the self fight Alexandrite was having, but she also noted the crackling (color) energy briefly flicker around your body.

"Alexandrite! Self control!"

Seeing how everything was unfolding, steven finally broke and cried out. "Stop! You don't have to eat it!"

At this, the fusion's face suddenly cracked, much to the horror of the maheswarans, and as the massive woman stumbled to her feet, she broke apart and all three gems fell onto the floor.

As the three gems picked themselves up, they caught sight of you, glaring daggers at them with smoldering eyes.

"Uuh ooh." Ameythyst uttered.

Ignoring spinel's insistance for you to calm down, you stomped over to the trio, with your fists clenched, making them tense up and whimper.

"N-now (name), let me explain..." pearl stutters, dragging herself over to you. "Y-you don't know how horrified I was when that dreck nearly fell into our mouths." She explained to the best of her ability, as she got to her feet, still trembling beneath you. "Eating food is so disgusting! You chew it into nasty mush, swallow that goop, and it comes out of you?" She shudders. "What a disgusting experience!"

"Uh, speak for yourself." Ameythyst retorts, walking up beside her with a chuckle. "I love it when mush passes through my body!"

"I tried to keep them under control." Garnet quickly states, walking up to the other two gems.

"It doesn't matter." You growled deeply, making the two gems in front of you whimper. "Pearl and amethyst's fighting has yet again ruined things. We were doing this--" You grabbed Ameythyst by her head, eliciting a yelp of surprise as you yanked her off the ground with ease. "FOR STEVEN!!"

You threw the purple gem into pearl with quite a bit of force, knocking them both onto the ground with a pained yell.

"What's going on here?!" Exclaimed Mr. Maheswaran, both angered and confused. "Who are they!?"

"I knew I should have trusted my bad feelings about this new friend of yours," Mrs. Maheswaran states, glaring at Connie. "But I never thought I wouldn't be able to trust my own daughter."

This sent Connie running off, much to the alarm of steven and spinel. "Connie!" Steven shouted as he after her.

As you watched the two broken kids run off, the heat in your body started to rise to impossible temperatures, energy crackling around your body as your rage over the situation build.

"Oh no." Spinel muttered.