[Gems] - Beautiful Weather (pt.2)

     “So... she’s... NICE now?” Howl asks, only holding their cup of tea and not sipping it. Garnet, on the other hand, in hospitable solidarity takes a long sip of her own Earl Grey between words.

“Well... not yet, but she’s trying. They all are. It’s something brand new to them, but it’s happening. With Steven’s guidance, they’ll succeed. It’s over.” There’s a soft and serene, almost dreamy sound to the Fusion’s words that makes Howl wring their fingers along the handle of their mug. Something twists over Howl’s features and Garnet reaches a tea-warmed hand out to rest on their shoulder, ruby facets pressed flat to the still rain-damp fabric of their jacket. Howl raises their eyes from their reflection in the untouched tea to stare themselves down in Garnet’s shades instead. There’s a question they desperately want to ask but can’t. It’s trapped somewhere behind their gem.

“—We don’t have her, but that doesn’t mean she’s not out there somewhere. Ah’m sorry.”

It’s not the answer Howl wanted, but it is the one they were expecting. A held and unnecessary breath released itself and Howl sighs out a defeated huff of a laugh before they bring their sleeve up to press at their eyes. There weren’t full on tears yet, but Howl knew they were there and didn’t want them to fall. Not in front of Garnet.

“There are still Gems we haven’t recovered, it’s a big, wide world. I’m sure we’ll find her.”  Garnet’s words should have been reassuring but Howl can’t shake the feeling that the Fusion knows something they don’t, which... she absolutely did. Whether or not Garnet would tell a lie like that to protect them, they weren’t so sure about. The pad of their thumb rolled over the lip of their mug.

“Thank you.” Was all they could manage at the moment. Garnet understood.
     “There’s nothing we can do about it right now. What have you been up to?” Garnet moves as she speaks, setting her now emptied cup on the worn coffee table and shuffling her hip so it was up against the stormy Gem. Howl tries to be present. The contact helps, but not enough. A gloved hand raises to Garnet’s face and, with a pull of her fingers in the air above her visor, it vanishes in a sparkle of dissipated light. Three gentle, loving, and knowing eyes fall on Howlite and they appreciate the gesture. It brings a weakened smile to their lips.

“Oh, y’know... Working at the library. Taking care of them,” Howl says with a loose gesture to the several dogs curled up in the corner of the room. The Mother is awake but her four puppies aren’t. “—nothing much. Definitely not fighting a Diamond Warship on Homeworld.” There’s another nervous laugh that passes over their Gem. Garnet’s brows screw up a little.

“Howl... I wanted to ask you something.”

It was a statement that should have been benign but brought with it an uneasy tension that Howl couldn’t quite place. It felt wrong to hear that Garnet had a question, they think. What could she possibly have to ask that she didn’t already know the answer to?

“Uhh...sssure?” Howlite replies, suddenly all but too overly aware of how they were sitting and the heated weight of the mug in their hands.

“With the Diamonds repairing what they’d done, there are a number of displaced Gems. They don’t want to go back to Homeworld. Earth is their home, but there are too many to house in Beach City.

We can provide the materials to build, help set it up, but—“

“Wait, wait, wait— what are you saying? You want... to bring them all here??” Howl’s sitting up straight now, their entire body turned towards Garnet. They grip their mug so tightly that it cracks the glaze on the porcelain. They don’t notice.
     “I can’t just... Garnet, there are SO many of them!!!” The look on their face is best described as ‘pleading and panicked’, made even more evident by the hand that had shot its way up to twist up a lock of their choppy white hair.

Garnet just smiles, raising her hand back to her face and summoning the half-star of her visor. Her smile spreads into a full grin as she does. “And here I thought you enjoyed taking in strays~”

Garnet wouldn’t have asked if she’d known it would be a no, right? Howl sits there, staring for a moment, the weight of indecision and the twisting rivers of fate consuming them. They hadn’t been around too many Gems since their Kindergarten, they hadn’t had to mentor anyone about humans and life on modern Earth EVER. Were they the best person for this? Garnet must believe in them if she’s suggesting it at all.
Their mind ran a mile a minute as rumbling thunder sung out outside.

“...you don’t have to say yes, you know. That’s why it’s a question.” Garnet leans down as she speaks, her head tips, and she offers another soft smile after a far-to-long silence from the Howlite.

“—yes.” They reply curtly. It was instantaneous after Garnet’s voice stopped, it nearly cuts her off.
     “Okay, Well then, you can take as long as you need to t—“

“No no no, YES. Yes I’ll... I’ll do it. I... whew boy.” Their words lose steam and the devolve into laughing, a firm palm pressed to their forehead at their hairline lifting their bangs from their face as they stare headlong into the distance.
     Garnet lurches forwards and hugs them tight. One of her hands comes to cradle the back of Howl’s head and she lets out her own happy bubble of a chuckle. “Thank you! It won’t be forever. Steven, Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot will eventually cooperate to create a safe-haven for Gems on Earth closer to the Temple, Ah’m sure of it! It’ll just be until then!”

Howl melts into the embrace, nodding where they can and trying to understand the scope of what they’d just agreed to. The mother dog rests her head over one of her puppies and settles down quietly. The steady static of the rain fills the comfortable silence of the farmhouse. Howl thinks that this is probably one of the last nights they’ll have to themselves for a while.

     That thought isn’t nearly as jarring or horrifying as they thought it would be.