Work Text:
Wasps
“Rose, don’t you think this is enough?”
“Just a few more, I promise!”
Pearl’s smile is framed by the mass of blooms. They’ve engulfed her from chest-up, rising to wrap her face in waves of swaying flowers. Still, Rose can’t help herself. There’s flowers as far as they can see, the bundle Pearl holds barely a fraction of the richness that surrounds them. They could spend days, maybe years, in this tiny section and still find things to discover.
Rose is planted herself, running fingers through stem bases into the dirt and finds her final prize: a small, deep purple flower. Just as she grabs it, Pearl yelps and Rose leaps to her feet. There’s an explosion of color as the bouquet goes airborne, but no other sign of danger. Still, Pearl is holding her face and grimacing in pain. The tiny culprit whizzes up to Rose, swaying from side to side as if sizing her up, before descending into the brush.
“It stung me!” Pearl cries indignantly. Rose bites back a snicker. This is not their first encounter with these brightly-colored insects. They love flowers as much as she. Their buzzing fills the air and Pearl’s antagonist is lost among her sisters, crisscrossing the field.
“How about a kiss to make it better?” Rose asks. Pearl smiles.
“I’d never say no to a kiss.”
Rose giggles and kisses the mark on Pearl’s nose. She adds one to her cheek and another to her gem for good measure.
“Better?” she asks.
“Much,” Pearls answers with a wide grin. It disappears as she kneels down and starts collecting the scattered remains.
“I can’t those awful creatures,” she grumbles.
“Actually, they remind me of you,” Rose tells her.
“In what possible way am I like those things?”
“Well, they shouldn’t be underestimated, for one.”
Pearl tries to hide a hint of a grin. Rose thoughtfully turns a flower in her hand.
“They’re tiny creatures, but they don’t hesitate to fight against something so much larger than them. They have to be brave to do that. This is their home, and they were only trying to protect it. Just like you.”
Rose crouches beside Pearl to gather a handful of fallen flowers.
“We’ll leave the rest for you, okay?” She tells a wasp that has come to investigate. Pearl still looks grouchy, but is mollified with another kiss. They leave with a handful of flowers each, escorted by their fellow defenders of Earth.
Seagulls
The birds scatter in an explosion of wings and shrieks. Amethyst's laugh cuts through as she surges through the flock. She twists and dips, holding the burrito close to her chest. Her cackle and the seagulls' cries converge as they move together. They collect in an instant, trying to snatch her prize while she tries to keep them at bay.
Rose giggles as she watches from a distance. Pearl would scoff at the idea, but it makes Rose think of a dance. There is a grace to this interplay, a coordination of action and forms that is beautiful to behold. Amethyst takes another bite, triumphant, as a beak snaps empty air.
Who on Homeworld could've imagined an Amethyst dancing?
Who on Homeworld could've imagined dancing like this, free, and jubilant, and kinetic?
And what Amethyst on Homeworld could dance like this, even if she wanted?
They’ve told her a little of Homeworld over the millennia, of the callousness to organic life and rigidity of purpose, but Rose doesn’t know if Amethyst can truly understand what that society, that mindset, is like. Not a day passes she isn’t thankful for that. Amethyst is the first Gem, maybe only Gem, to develop into herself without being told what she ought to be.
This is the power and beauty of life on Earth. Amethyst halts her dash to duck and jump backward. The flock congeals and reverses at her lead. This is what she fought to protect. Every day, there are new wonders.
Amethyst trips in the loose sand and the flock descends. The burrito’s scattered contents are devoured instantly by a lucky few and the remainder peck and pull at Amethyst in search of stray crumbs.
"Roooooose!" She calls in mock distress, arms and legs playfully flailing in the air, "Help! They're eating me!"
Rose laughs and trots forward. She has a feeling this won’t be Amethyst's last dance today.
Frogs
“There it goes!”
Rose lurches forward and stumbles onto her hands and knees. She lands with a splash, muddy water splattering further up her arms. The frog nimbly zig-zags past her and with one last half-fall, half-lurch forward, Sapphire snares her prize. She holds it up for Rose to admire. It’s a magnificent creature; the largest frog she’s ever seen. Its mottled skin glistens in shades of green and dark brown, which matches all the mud splotches on their bodies. Rose tries to wring some of the excess water from her curls. Sapphire chuckles softly.
“It’ll wash out!” Rose tells her. Sapphire shakes her head.
“I was just thinking what some of the other Sapphires would say if they saw me like this.”
“They’d ask to have a closer look,” Rose tells her. Sapphire laughs. The frog croaks.
It happens less and less, but there’s intrusive moments where Rose will see herself through their eyes and see only things to criticize. She’d tried so hard, for so long, to get them to appreciate life like this. That’s why it’s so exhilarating now, to have Gems who want to join her escapades. Rose never wants to go back, but...
“Do you miss any of them?” she asks Sapphire. Sapphire shakes her head.
“I was never close with anyone. As an elite Gem, I was considered above almost everyone, except the Diamonds.”
Rose swallows her guilt and Sapphire continues.
“You don’t make friends like that. It’s all formality without connection.”
“It’s a lonely way to live,” Rose admits. The frog croaks again and starts to squirm. Sapphire smiles.
“Which is why I’d rather be in this creek than any court on Homeworld.”
She gently places the frog back down on the creek bed. It takes off with an explosive jump, showering them in another spray of water. Rose and Sapphire laugh as they trudge their way to the bank.
Daisies
Rose doesn’t say anything as she picks up a charred flower. It crumbles in her hands and she smears the dark residue between her fingers. She brushes the rest of the burned pile aside (more ash, on her hands and dress now), sits with her knees to her chest in imitation of Ruby, and waits for her to speak.
“I can’t do this,” she mumbles from the nest of her wrapped arms.
“Can’t do what?” Rose asks.
“IT’S SO SIMPLE, HOW CAN I KEEP-” Ruby darts up and looks to a second pile of intact daisies. She flops down again and runs a hand across her temple, a trail of steam wisping past her brow. “I thought it’d be a nice surprise for Sapphire. But I can’t thread them right, and then I get frustrated, and I-” Ruby offers her open palm & clenches it, smoke slipping from her fist.
“You’ll get it right,” Rose tries to assure her.
“That’s not the point!” Ruby yells, jumping up again and gesticulating wildly. “It’s not fair, you know? It’s fine when other Gems get upset, but when it’s little old Ruby it’s a problem. Can’t get mad or else-”
She kicks a patch of grass that ignites underfoot.
“I know,” Rose interrupts before she can stop herself. “I know how it feels when you can’t…”
She twists the fabric of her dress. Can’t is wrong. She always could, she just wouldn’t, and now…
“You didn’t want to hurt them,” she murmurs as she caresses the stained ground.
“Yeah,” Ruby sighs and flops down next to her. “I should stop before I destroy any more. That’s all I can do anyway.”
“That’s not true,” Rose insists. “No matter how you’re made, you can decide who you want to be and what you want to do.”
“Do you really believe that?” Ruby asks. “That everyone can change even when they can’t change?”
Rose nods.
“I do.”
She wants to. She has to. She picks up a fresh daisy.
“Once more? Together?”
It’s not as floriferous as Ruby wanted, not like the overflowing crowns they’d seen humans wear sometimes, but Sapphire is still delighted. Ruby nearly drops it when Sapphire throws herself into an embrace, but manages to place it on Sapphire’s head where it belongs. She pulls her bangs aside and kisses Ruby.
“You always give me the best surprises. It’s beautiful.”
“I had some help,” Ruby mumbles and looks up at Rose. She kneels down and tucks a final daisy in Ruby’s hair.
“This is all you,” she tells Ruby.
“It suits you,” Sapphire adds with another kiss.
Bats
"Doesn't the noise frighten them?"
"It did at first, but they kept coming back. They're used to it now."
Bismuth pounds a strip of metal to demonstrate, the sharp clang barely disturbing the new occupants. Rose has never seen a bat up close, only quick glimpses as they flutter through the twilight sky. She tilts her head to the side and Bismuth laughs behind her. Rose giggles back. The Earth never ceases to amaze her. Animals that rest upside down? They are strange and fantastic and silly, all perfectly encapsulating Earth’s marvels.
It started as a few that left during the night and returned by day, but within a short time the colony expands to a a few dozen. Bismuth hangs a tarp beneath them (they are still animals) that serves as the boundary to their space. As long as Gems remain outside and on the ground, the bats don’t seem to mind the company.
Many of the Gems who visit become similarly enamored, and as time passes it’s not unusual to find small groups sitting together to watch them. Today, Little Larimar is seated on Snowflake Obsidian’s shoulder as she points to a new arrival. Despite the Forge’s size, the bats choose to stay clustered. Returning individuals are greeted with a fanfare of squeaks and licks as they wedge themselves beside neighbors.
Rose is so focused on the scene she doesn’t notice Bismuth’s approach until the hand rests on her shoulder.
“Looks cozy, huh?”
Rose nods.
“This is what I like to imagine, when I think about us sharing the planet. Ways that allow us to peacefully coexist and benefit each other.”
“You know, it’s funny.” Bismuth tells her. “For all the time I spent building, I never had to think about the building itself. What the elites wanted, they got. But once we crush those upper crusts and get to start making our own communities? Everyone’s gonna get a say. It’s exciting, but those blueprints will be something else.”
“It’s going to be complex,” Rose acknowledges.
“More than just a tarp,” Bismuth adds. Rose snorts.
“Well, you won’t be alone. All of us will be here supporting you.”
She places her own hand on Bismuth’s shoulder, interlinking their arms. Bismuth leans in and gently knocks the side of her head against Rose.
“We’re building something pretty amazing here, aren’t we?”
“I can’t wait to see it,” Rose tells her. Bismuth hums in agreement. Above them, more bats have arrived and are being welcomed home.
Strawberries
There's still work to be done. The war continues, even if it's not right here. There’s plans to be made, weapons to be forged, and Gems to be trained. Rose delegates as much as she can, but at the end of the day, she’s the leader of the Crystal Gems. The fate of her friends, of this planet, depends on her effort.
Sometimes it feels like enough is never enough.
She longs so deeply to be in the future where this is a distant memory, but at the same time wishes the days would slow, just to give her more space to breathe, to think. Garnet's told her how hard it can be to live in the moment. She, more than anyone, understands Rose’s situation. Pearl, stars shine on her, is an unstoppable machine when it comes to the war effort. There’s a reason both allies and foes call her terrifying. (Rose hates impeding on her freedom, but sometimes Pearl’s tenacity is so intense Rose has to ask her to step back. It scares her a bit, how deep that resolve runs.)
So when Garnet points out a strawberry patch on their scouting trip and tells her they'll be bad in a few days, it feels like a rare permission to stop. Even as she takes a seat beside Garnet, Rose wants to tell her they don’t have the time. Just as she’s about to say something, Garnet pops a strawberry in her open mouth to silence her. Rose’s eyebrows skyrocket and Garnet snickers. Rose smiles, huffs, and bites down.
It is tart, juicy, sweet. Delicious.
She supposes a small break couldn’t hurt.
The berries are small, but the patch is plentiful. More than enough for two Gems to peruse. They take their time, fingers drifting over each red fruit before choosing one that looks the most enticing. Sometimes they had one off to each other, swapping strawberry for strawberry. Each one is carefully savored and enjoyed before the next is picked.
Sometimes they need to remember what they're fighting to protect. Simple joys like this.
There’s work waiting for them at base camp. They’ll need to finish their scouting mission, then report in, then plan for an upcoming raid. And they will. But that's for future Rose and Garnet. For the moment, there's strawberries to enjoy.