Meeting Stevonnie
Seven different dance styles. He’s too young and unfamiliar with his body to be sensual. He doesn’t have the delicacy required to be graceful. He’s too impulsive to appreciate the overly-choreographed. Too short to lead. Too giggly to be serious. Too childish to focus. He’s trying, he really is, but he can’t seem to remember all of the steps, let alone feel that the steps aren’t actually the point.
Steven has an innate understanding for music. All of the chords and rhythms come to him as easy as breathing. He has a deeply ingrained, if informal, understanding of the difference between four-time and six-four-time and the like. Music makes sense to him.
Dancing, however, doesn’t seem to—well, strike the same chord. Dancing is the easiest way to access fusion, but he doesn’t seem to see it as a means to an end so much as the end product itself.
It isn’t until they let Steven go to the beach to play with his friend Connie that the Crystal Gems have a serious and better-informed discussion about Steven and fusion.
“Man, I dunno,” Amethyst says. Still sitting on the breakfast bar, she puts her hands behind herself and leans back. “Isn’t it a little awkward to be fusing with Steven, anyway? I mean, he isn’t just little, he’s young.”
“Having access to fusions from Rose’s gem again will be useful,” Garnet reiterates. As cold and clinical as it sounds, it’s why they initiated the fusion lessons to begin with.
“Yes, but it didn’t feel like he was trying to match our wavelengths at all,” says Pearl, waving her hands in graceful semicircles. “Garnet, are we even sure he can sense them?”
“So neither of you think it would be weird to fuse with Steven,” Amethyst says flatly. “At all.”
“Of course it would be weird!” snaps Pearl. “Would we become the same person as with Rose? What differences will there be, if there are any at all?” Her pale hands clap against her cheeks, and she lets out a squeak of horror. “Would we start to feel human urges, like hunger? What if—”
“You know, P, believe it or not, that’s not actually what I’m talking about.”
“Yes, Amethyst, it would feel strange,” Garnet says. Her arms are crossed, and she’s still leaning on the counter next to the refrigerator. “But no stranger than the first time you fuse with anyone.”
“Steven isn’t just a friend or teammate, though, he’s…” Amethyst falters, either unsure about saying it aloud or lost for words entirely. “He’s…”
Their son.
Fusion can lend a huge tactical advantage, but the intimacy it requires, with someone they all consider a son…
It leaves an odd taste in your mouth, to put it lightly. They all love Steven, deeply and unconditionally, but something like that…
“There may come a time where we won’t have the luxury of allowing those feelings to guide us,” Garnet says softly. “Any of us. If we’re not prepared for that—”
“Okay, Queen of Fusion. Then you do it.”
Garnet doesn’t say anything. She presses her lips into a firm line. Steven doesn’t know about Sapphire and Ruby yet. She’s going to tell him who and what she is when he’s ready (when she’s ready), but neither of them are ready right now. Fusing with Steven would only overwhelm him—not to mention what might happen if he is exposed to the relentless, unadulterated streams of future vision. If her power transfers, Sapphire’s influence on her fusions can be tough to handle for the first time. Sardonyx doesn’t have to worry, but Sugilite Sees quite clearly (of course, she’s always too caught up in her own glory to pay it much attention, but that’s not the point).
Though her presence was an incredible rarity, Garnet’s fusion with Rose Quartz could See too. Considering that Steven has the same gem, it’s more than likely that the trend would continue.
“You know why Garnet can’t do that, Amethyst,” says Pearl witheringly. “If it could be that easy, don’t you think it would have happened already? Out of the three of us, you’re the best candidate for fusion with Steven.”
Pearl’s candidacy was dismissed so quickly there hadn’t even been a discussion about it, actually. She’s still too raw from Rose leaving. None of them want Steven feeling the brunt of that.
“Yeah, well, it’s awkward, okay? I know I agreed when you pressured me or whatever, but that’s what I think now.” Amethyst straightens and brings her foot up on the breakfast bar. She holds onto her own ankle with one purple hand. “He’s just a little kid. I have a great time playing around with him and stuff, but that’s just it: playing around. I don’t want to drag him into my psyche.”
That’s the moment in which a being with Steven’s unmistakable nose and Connie’s characteristic long hair comes marching into Steven’s room, seven feet tall and as proud as a peacock.
The most extraordinary part is that there are no extra… anything. Two arms, two legs, two eyes—it’s magnificent! They are magnificent.
Garnet has never been more proud of her little boy.
Pearl is simultaneously baffled and aghast. “He fused… with his friend Connie?”
Amethyst cackles, then hisses, “Pearl, look at Garnet!”
Garnet has never been more ecstatic about anything. Steven is finally going to understand when he meets Ruby and Sapphire! How many questions has this incident helped her avoid? Oh, who cares, this is fantastic!
I knew he could do it.
Don’t act so smug; we were bluffing before and you know it.
Steven’s fusion lessons were monumental enough that Sapphire and Ruby have not only been awake, but avidly watching, for most of it. They haven’t felt the need to take over (they rarely do—they implicitly trust that Garnet knows what she’s doing at this point, and besides, this whole situation is kind of her forte), but they’ve certainly had a running commentary.
“This is unprecedented! A gem fusing with a human being…” mutters Pearl as she inspects the fusion for any imperfections. “It’s impossible! Or at the very least inappropriate.”
How did Garnet not see this coming, anyway? She should have known to use her future vision to look for alternative solutions.
“Wow! You two look great together!” Amethyst puts her hands on the fusion’s lean, bared stomach. She has to tilt her head back to see their face. “How does it feel, Steven—Connie?—Stevonnie!”
But how was she supposed to know that Steven could fuse with Connie? No gem has ever, in their long history on this planet, fused with a human before, and stars know that Rose and Greg tried their best.
“It feels amazing!” gushes Stevonnie.
If Steven can do this with a human on his first time, just imagine what he can do with a gem!
“Yes, well, I’m glad you’re enjoying yourselves, but you two should unfuse this instant.”
How did they manage it, anyway? What dance were they doing? Is this a sign that Steven is more comfortable with Connie than with the Crystal Gems?
Stevonnie is indignant. “Wait, what? Pearl, you were so worried Steven wouldn’t be able to do this. Aren’t you proud of him?”
Oh, the details can wait! Steven is finally going to understand!
“Oh course I am! I…” Pearl says, wincing. “Garnet, help me out here!”
She knows what must be done.
“Stevonnie, listen to me.” Garnet is serious approaches the young fusion. She touches Stevonnie’s cheek with her right hand—and the gesture is so quintessentially Ruby, which is ironic given the current subject matter, but that’s not the point. “You are not two people, and you are not one person. You are an experience. Make sure you are a good experience.”
There are some things that can only be understood by another fusion. While you may feel whole, you knowingly carry your components with you at all times—they are yours to protect, always. They are at their most vulnerable within you, just as outwardly you are so much more powerful than they are alone. The choices you make don’t just affect you, they affect them. A good fusion can’t forget that, and Garnet certainly doesn’t want Steven’s first to taint his memories with rash, unhealthy decisions.
Stevonnie seems like a good thing, though. As they gaze at her, a bit mystified, Garnet can see that they have Steven’s wonder-filled eyes. Stevonnie cherishes Steven and Connie and the bond that created them, already; they wouldn’t do anything they think might hurt them.
Oh, she can’t help it! Garnet’s too giddy not to grin. Out of all his possible first fusions, she already knows that this is the one that will suit Steven best.
“Now go have fun!”