"Brittney Wong." Star watched as the girl that terrorized her at once point walked up and smugly grabbed her high school diploma. Who knew the high school bitch's mom was such a great therapist?
But here Star was now, getting the point every teenager who went to school anticipated, although in this instance, her reasons for being excited were majorly different from everyone elses. While most of her classmates were excited finally being down with highschool, Star saw it as finally passing one of the greatest hurdles of her life.
She had reached a major accomplishment. She succeeded in something she didn't even care about at one point, let alone think she would accomplish.
"Justin Armberg." The football star walked up as many cheered him on, the dude waving as he walked off.
She looked out to her parents, sitting in the front row as her dad cried tears of joy while Mom did her best to console him. Another perk to getting this diploma thing was that Mom had a graduation pie waiting back home with her name on it, literally, the entire pie was for her and her alone. She'd share some with Steven of course … but she was definitely taking most of it. "Jana Ordonia."
"I got a surprise surprise for you when you're up." The girl whispered as she walked to the stage. She didn't trust that troubling smirk the girl carried, but it had been a good long while since she's enjoyed a jannaigin. Might as well let it slide for just today.
She then looked to her boyfriend, waiting for her on the side with a bouquet of flowers. To think that she was doing this without him walking alongside her to grab that diploma. It was a shame that Marco finished his schooling early with that GED thing, but this whole experience proved she could get through school on her own, that completing school was her choice, and her choice alone. Plus there was an added perk to bragging about your boyfriend who was tough enough to train policemen during lunch..
"Jackie Lynn Thomas." The girl sent her a thumbs up as she walked on the stage. Still the coolest girl in school after all this time. She also apparently doubled as one of the miraculous holders from time to time, so guess that added to the badass streak.
"Rholnaldo Fryman." The conspiracy theorist walked onto the stage, and there was the particular sound of loud sobbing in the background.
"Dad, you're being embarrassing right now!" Rholnaldo shouted to the audience.
"I'm sorry, I just never expected you to finish school at all!" The owner of the fryshack cried as the younger Fryman, Peedee she thinks it was, patted the man's back. "I was always afraid you were just going to drop out!" Yikes, sounds like things weren't so squeaky clean in the fry shop.
"Sadie Miller." There was some soundful cheering from their group, the fans of her band, Lar's, and the girl's mom.
"My little girl's out of highschool! They grow up so fast!" She shouted.
"Eighteen years old and still treats me like a baby." Sadie grumbled. Well that was just the pattern of being a parent from what she experienced.
"Buck Dewey."
"On my way to my doctorats!" The boy shouted to the crowd once he received his own diploma. Good for him. Nice to see the cool kids had plans outside of just being in a band.
The principal looked down at the list and just gave a sigh. "Did you really have to legally change your name to this?"
"Just say it!" Her number one fangirl shouted back.
"Fine….Starfan13 Forever." Wow, now that was dedication.
"I love you Star Butterfly!" The girl shouted as she ran up and grabbed the diploma, blowing a kiss.
Luz poked her shoulder. "So were you like, aware of what's going on there or …"
"I was sort of aware, but I also sort of ignored it." Star shrugged. "Maybe if she turned down the obsessiveness and gained a six pack there could've been something."
"Jenny Pizza." The girl in question went on stage, blowing kisses to her excited family. It was nice to see even Nana joining in on it with how busy the woman was with this crazy town.
"Sour Cream Layer." The tale pale skinned teen walked up, with his brother Onion sitting on top of his head while waving a pipe around. Aww, little brother bonding.
Speaking of, she turned to her own little brother, and that smile of pride on his face let her know that every struggle she had gone through had been worth it. To see him looking at her like that, it was all she could ask for. He had supported her through this entire time, and she would do the same with whatever he chose to do with his life. "Star Butterfly." The crowd exploded the instant she was called up.
"STAR BUTTERFLY RULES!" Justin shouted, just like always.
"You go girl, thanks for bringing crazy to our town!" Kiki shouted out.
"THAT'S MY GIRL!" Star tried to hide her head a little as her dad cheered loudly. She loved the attention and praise, but maybe they could've saved this for after she went home at least.
"Celebration!" Jana pressed a button as fireworks went off. "Loud and proud, just how you love it!" Well yes, that was true … but they were indors with a sprinkler system to so …
In an instant the entire gymnasium went from cheering loudly to screaming for cover to not get wet. "Huh, we actually lasted longer than I thought we would." Steven snickered as he covered their entire family with his shield, acting like a large umbrella. "Way to go, Star!"
"Yeah, thanks Steven." She laughed as she did her best to keep her diploma dry, jumping into the arms of her boyfriend. "I know graduations are exciting, but I was thinking more along the lines of carnival rides than a pool party."
"That's just how we roll." Marco smiled and kissed passionately with each other.
"Aww, but we haven't even gotten to the wild dogs yet." Jana was patted by her now damp and not flaming boyfriend.
"There's still time. The day's still young after all." She definitely wouldn't have foreseen Jana and Tom getting together at all, but love was as strange as it was frustrating and wonderful.
"Well I've gotta keep going." The wet principal responded. "Luz Noceda Universe."
"I graduated!" The girl shouted. "Goodbye normal life, hello crazy fantasy!"
"... I feel this is just encouraging bad reality management." Mrs Noceda muttered as she was hugged by her husband
========================================================================
Rosie walked up to some of the other Rose Quartzes,, specifically the two she got to spend the most time with before she got bubbled. The old human zoo was decommissioned, and now the once trapped humans got to run and drive the ship wherever they wanted. Luckily for her, it just so happened to pass by earth.
"Thanks for coming with me." She gestured to Steven. "I know it's awkward for you to see so many faces reminding you of 'you know who'."
"It's a family I have to meet, it was gonna be awkward eventually." He muttered. "Besides, it can't be any worse than Dad and Camila dealing with all his 'exes' at once."
"You, Tiny, and Sta-ar are more than welcome to explore our cruise ship." The head Zoo man, J-10, smiled before it went dark. "Gar-reg however is forever banned, and shall be shot into space the moment we lay eyes on him again."
"Yay, that's another dozen or so less people who hate us." Star chuckled as they opened up the main zoo area.
"Don't forget my people!" Amethyst shouted as she cannonballed straight to a few more of her own kind. "Famethyst for life!"
"FAMETHYST!" They watched as all the quartz's dogpiled together. It was so surreal, seeing this many humans get long and getting cozy with so many gems.
"You know, when you look past the fact this used to essentially be a prison, it actually looks and feels like a relaxing spa." Steven noted as several people cannonballed into the water. "Everyone seems to be having fun.
"Once the gems were free, the Amethysts taught us how to do things without following orders, and can work to help others as they helped us." A woman smiled. "Even if they are are a bunch of 'clods' … did I get that right Holly Blue?"
"I can't believe it, all this chaos and disharmony." An Agate growled to herself. "It was fine the way it was, with orders from Diamonds and a mission so close to Blue's standards. But now all the Diamonds talk about is 'Steven this', 'Steven that', 'Steven Steven-" She cut herself off after looking at them. "STEVEN!"
"Sup Holly Blue." Star waved with a snarky look on her face. "I see you're as uptight as ever."
They gave a Diamond salute, but it was filled with immense displeasure, nervousness, and rage in their face as they slowly backed away. "Eh, she'll adjust eventually." Steven said. "It's not as if she's actively attacking anyone."
"And that's the bar we live with." Rosie nodded as they continued to walk. Eventually they reached a pink door. "Should I do the honors?"
"You'd know them better than any of us." Steven gestured 'go head'. "Whenever you're ready."
She pressed the button instantly, revealing multiple Rose Quartzes chatting away with each together. "Can you believe it!?" A really bubbly one spoke. "We're free, we get to explore everything! I wanna eat some dirt and lick some air!"
"I heard that organics have a strange fascination with smell." One with little clothing muttered quietly. "Who should I sniff first?"
"From experience, you shouldn't sniff anything labeled 'garbage' or 'poop'. People look at you weirdly if you do." Rosie interrupted as she waved her hand. "Sup girls."
"YOU'RE BACK!" The hyper one quickly jumped on her and squeezed her tight. "Oh I missed you! It's been so long, like two years! I know that's normally pretty short for us, but when we were let go and I didn't see you around I got worried and thought they might've shattered you and we would've had to spend the next thousand years trying to put together your shards and…." Still as talkative as ever.
"Actually it's been longer." They patted her back. "Steven, this is AF4, that's AR9, and that's AV3." Rosie told the boy.
"Steven, as in the boy that freed us?" The thin one walked up, staring the boy in the eyes. "Thank you so much for that, now we can experience everything." She said, clasping his hand.
"No problem." The boy may have shook a little, but nonetheless smiled confidently. "You guys had a rough deal dealt to you. I'm just doing my best to make it right."
"Oh, I heard that you've been outside longer than all of us. How's it been? Did you have fun, what did you experience!?" The gem asked one question after another.
She decided to answer honestly with everything she's learned from these guys, both personally and from what they've talked about. "Well the sky is blue, food tastes nice, earth makes people crazy, family cares even if they always lie, and …" She paused. "I'm part of a fusion now."
"What?" The shy one looked astonished. "As in, you're fused with another Rose Quartz?"
"Not another Rose Quartz." Rosie corrected. "They're called Fluorite, they're actually a lot of gems."
"Oh, that sounds crazy!" The bouncy one shouted. "What's it like, fusing with another gem!?"
"... Weird, confusing … and warm." She smiled. "There's a lot of comfort …" Rose reminisced. "When we're together, there's always these voices. They say different things, but they also seem to agree on a lot of things too. The Peridot parts of them try to be funny, even if she doesn't always succeed. The Bismuth part tries to act tough in every situation to hide her soft side. The Nephrite has all these fun little stories that always make you want to hear her talk endlessly, The Agate tries to be strong to keep them all safe like a caretaker, and the Pearl, she's blunt, but she's also very honest. She always knows what to tell you at exactly the right time." They explained it the best they could. "And it's so … harmonious, when we're all together … I love it."
"Whoa, and here I thought fusion was just a tool." The skinny one's eyes were opened widely. "And you got to experience that because you lived on earth?"
"Pretty much." She nodded. "There's a lot of things I still don't understand about it, but sometimes I can have fun not understanding it."
"There's so many planets to find such incredible experiences." Steven smiled. "The universe is amazing."
========================================================================
White was quite glad that Steven and his human friend attended this meeting … she was quite sure she should just eradicate them all and get it over with. "I was told this was a war summit!" The incursion shouted. "How dare you trick me with a peace summit! I should declare war on you for that alone!"
"Why is that the first decision they come-never mind." Steven shook his head. "Look, the war you're so keen on engaging has only depleted your forces and numbers. This is literally the only moment where no one's going to be attacking anyone. Don't you think you can at least take the time to think about your next move?"
The man hummed. "You do have a point … end this war and build up an army for the next one …"
"Steven Universe." The single galvan spoke. "They come from a civil war based culture, that's the best you're going to get for the next few years."
"I'll take what I can get for now." The boy sighed. He must've had the patience of a saint if he was willing to accept that. Much more patience than any of the diamond's combined had. "Anyone else have any colorful comments?"
"We actually have a bit." A Lewodan spoke. "The appoplexians have made a large crime on our planet."
"We just went in the litter box." The feline species commented.
"We live on a planet of sand!"
"Trust me dude, those urges can be pretty intense." The one known as 'Ben Tennyson' spoke. "Like, following a blue light intensely."
"I see …" As if by magic, they instantly calmed down.
"Never took you for the peace keeping type, no offense." Steven remarked to his friend.
"Dude, I literally transform into everything inside of here." The boy pointed at his watch. "I know how they all act … even people like them." He glared at the Ectonurite. "Do you even care about peace?"
"Actually, we're quite accepting of peace." The floating creature explained. "We just won't allow ourselves to align with Galvans or Humans due to the actions of Azmuth and Ben Tennyson to our high ecto lord, Zs'Skayr."
"Who now?" The small boy with the strange watch asked in confusion.
"I believe your plumbers files insensitively referred to him as … 'Ghost Freak'?" They asked, indiginence in their voice.
"He tried taking over my body, almost killed my cousin, and tried to put the earth in a permanent blackout!" The watch wearing boy yelled.
"After being trapped inside of an encasing device for a few decades, along with constantly being possessed by you, then obliterated on an atomic level … TWICE!" The human and the ectonurite looked like they were about to clash, but Steven's shield got in between them.
"Okay, we're here to discuss the future, not to bring up past wounds." Steven firmly said without fully yelling. "While it may be much to ask for a full alliance, can we agree to a ceasefire?
"Of course, we are very passive people." The being nodded. "As long as it is not one of our listed enemies, we can make a pact of mutual non aggression." He paused. "But we will include one 'Lars Bardinga' into the mix."
Half of the audience groaned. "Oh that bastard." A pterodactyl-like creature muttered. "What I wouldn't give to gut him for his atrocities." They balked.
"Did you know they stole a prototype temporal stabilization field from us before it was tested?" A Cerebrocrustacian asked. "They could have destroyed space time."
"And the bastard even promised me a wedding …" The Teramand paused. "Then again, his blows were nothing like yours, universe." She purred.
"Nice to see you again too, Looma." Steven blushed as he tried to hide his face. Weird, White assumed he only did that around his mate. "Alright, then, next on the list, Krypton. I believe we'll be able to stop the planet's core from exploding with a couple drops of the Diamond's essence into the crust."
"Thank you, that means so much." The Kryptonian representing the planet in question, a Dru-Zod, bowed. "We will make sure to return this debt in full." Seems like a nice fellow.
"No problem, thank you for being so cooperative." The child gave a warm smile. "Okay let's see …" Steven looked over to the list. "From what I've gathered, the majority of planets here have had at least one violent encounter with the species known as the Highbreed."
The Atasian that had been there since the start, silent the entire time, turned to Steven. "Of course … they are inferior species."
Long ago, she would've been inclined to crush the bug's head on the spot. "Don't give them too much heed, Steven." White turned to the boy. "They've been in this mindset for the past century. They may sound threatening, but in the grand scheme of things, they're not much in power." Especially given the clear signs of inbreeding all over their bodies.
Steven just sighed. "If you weren't interested in peace, why show up at all?" He asked.
"The filthy rock known as 'Blue Diamond' promised to release a planet they colonized if a Highbreed attended this sumit … they said nothing about agreeing with your insignificant notions of compromise." They stood up. "Our kind was the first race in the universe to exist, and it shall be the last … of that, you have my dying promise."
"The first to exist…more like the first parasites to emerge from the gutters of the universe." White mocked. Between them and the filth known as the Kraanng, she didn't know which was more annoying.
"This is coming from the artificial lifeform that needed assistance with its own development. I don't know where to call that cute or pathetic."
"Watch whatever you have for a tounge." Yellow began to spark. "You may regret moving it."
They merely growled. "We may be willing to compromise to a ten year ceasefire …"
"Thank corn." Steven sighed in relief.
"If you can deliver the head of Lars of the Bardinga clan."
Steven hands gripped the board he was holding the list on, sending little cracks into it. "I'll get back to you on that at a later date." The boy sent his hand into one of his pockets and seemed to have squeezed something. "I propose we take a ten minute recess to think over the discussions of trade and sharing resources."
The creatures agreed, walking away and leaving into their own separate locations. "So … clearly Lars has made a lot of people angry." The child deadpanned.
"You have no idea." Yellow rolled her eyes. "An Emerald of mine keeps ranting on about him … I can't quite tell if she wants to murder him or become intimate."
"It'll unfortunately probably be the latter." Steven placed his head on the table. "I never thought just talking to people would be more exhausting than fighting them."
"At least you know how to talk to people." Blue patted the boy's head. "We'd probably start five different wars within the first two minutes had it just been us alone. You're doing amazing."
"Thank you for the vote of confidence …" Steven gave his ball a few more squeezes. "Okay, so we definitely can't give them Lars …"
"I'd say just wait it out." Yellow rolled her eyes. "The Highbreed are so obsessed with their purity the inbreeding is killing them on a genetic level. At one point ten of them could give me a challenge on a good day, now a hundred can barely make me flinch."
"So they're just really sick and really angry aliens." The Ben human hummed. "We'll have to remember that for later."
"Meanwhile the Incursions are another problem …" Steven turned to the Galvan. "Any advice?"
"You already went far and beyond … the last attempt I made to help them stop fighting led to the destruction of their own home world." The frog spoke cryptically.
"Ah, so they're so obsessed that they become their own worst enemy." Steven sighed. "Probably gonna have to put a pin on that problem too.."
"You know.." They turned to see that the tetremand female was still in the room. "I'd be more than willing to fight side by side with earth against the incursions if the time comes."
"Thanks Looma…" Steven laughed hesitantly. "But you know I'm with someone.."
"I know. It's a sign of my respect for your strength. Plus I'm betrothed to someone as well." The red creature bowed. "Although, if you happened to duel me on any occasion and I lose…I would not object to it."
The small ball in his hand popped. "... I'm gonna need a replacement." The boy sighed. White merely patted his head in condolence, hoping it'd ease the pain.
========================================================================
"Welcome Humans, Mewmans, Gems, Monsters, Witches, and undisclosed creatures that would take too long to list." Marco greeted the latest batch of tourists and guests. "Welcome to Nexus City!" He displayed the giant town full of shine and glory. "Where all creatures of the multiverse can learn to live together in peace and harmony!"
Kaboom
"Why did you mix nitroglycerin in the cake mix!" A slime creature yelled from inside.
"You said you wanted an explosion of flavor!" An agate shouted back.
"Those are quite the amazing sounds of two neighbors GETTING along!" Marco yelled at the two as they scrambled to get their act together. He cleared his throat and turned back to his audience. "As you can see, our fair city has only just opened and we've already become a thriving community."
"Move out of the way hippie!" A small alien in a scooter shouted.
"I work for dance money!" A witch accused back.
"We've accommodated each house and neighborhood with specific creatures and beings in mind. No two houses are alike, and no matter how big or small, you're guaranteed to find one that's the perfect fit for you."
They walked by a couple of neighborhoods labeled on air quality, gravity, size, etc. People stared in awe as Marco smirked internally. "Do they also cater to our diets?" A fairy asked. "Like human flesh?"
"Cannibalism is genuinely frowned upon in most places on this planet, but luckily we do serve soy people." Marco answered, fortunately ready for questions such as that as he pointed to a stand where Jake's (the dog one) rainicorn girlfriend was serving said dish. "Delicious and nutritious, you'll never know the difference."
"Interesting." A goblin noted. "Do you also have solid piles of gold we can steal from, or do we have to rob from our neighbors?"
"Many pieces of the town are coated in gold, and we do accept multiple forms of currency from all over the expanding universe, from cash, credit, technos, units, snails, coppers ancient lost buried treasure, cursed items and many more to come, but be warned that any attempt at stealing will be met with brutal retaliation."
"Wait, you sell snails!?" Shouted a humanoid slug. "Some of my best friends are snails!"
"No, that's just the name of the main currency used on the Boiling Isles. No human, monster, alien, or other sentient creature trafficking occurs in the city." Marco responded calmly. "Speaking of which, for those that have an affinity for the supernatural, we are offering classes on the uses of glyph magic in Little Homeschool, the first school to teach everyone of every species the different walks of life across the multiverse."
"I can learn how to set cats on fire!"
"Again, violence is very frowned upon here." Marco tried to state clearly. "Please do not set people on fire … unless they're frozen." He wished he could go back to the days where it wasn't second nature to expect something like this to occur. "And as you look around, you can clearly see several methods for fast travel around the city, the crystal warp pads. Operated only by gems, instantaneous travel can now be achieved within a blink of an eye."
"Get ready for a magical tour to a far away museum." People 'oooed' at Pearl as she warped a group away … quickly followed by Amethyst coming back with laughing children, high fiving Jana.
"Told you, seeing a dead body is always cool." … Move on Marco, you have more important things to worry about.
"Anyways, as you can see, our fair and fine city is always looking for ways to improve itself." Marco looked to a shop where Bismuth and Heckapoo were hard at work crafting. "We pride ourselves on always expanding and listening to the people who live here. Every idea everyone has for improvements is considered and thought through thoroughly. Here in Nexus city, we want to make sure your voices are heard."
"So that means I get to sing?" A duck child with a scratchy voice asked. "Louie said I'd make an excellent career here."
"Yes." Marco made sure to make sure he didn't look put off by the kid.
She smiled, then began a frankly beautiful melody-
After five hours, he finally came too while fighting Star. Thus realizing that he forgot a very important rule … no good ever came out of a creepy child singing.
========================================================================
Steven was hard at work. After embracing his role as a space ambassador, this was a much needed stress reliever. "Whatcha working on, bro?" Star asked him.
"Finally decided it was time to make an official family tree." He answered with a smile.
"Oh cool." Star smiled, sitting down next to him. "How far did you get?"
"Working on the Johnson's now … nicest family we have and we barely know anything about them." Steven chuckled. "We spent so much time learning everything about the Butterfly family these past couple of years that it's almost hard to remember we have other members on Dad's side."
"We were also focusing on your mom's side of the family, so that was its own thing." Star said as she sipped a drink she had in hand. "If I remember correctly … cousin Rock was married to a bear?"
"He got engaged to it about six months before Spinel happened. A wrestling match went wrong and he fell in love…that sounds even weirder after saying it out loud." Steven realized, before going back to his project. "I even managed to catch up with Aunt Etheria, she's gotten married to three different monster guys, guess monster lovers run in the family."
Star began laughing hysterically. "This coming from the woman who called Kelly a 'hillbilly' and a savage." Steven snorted as well. People changed in the ways you least expected. "It's so weird being able to trace this back to Skywyne's time."
"That's where things got a little tricky, seeing how there's two branches of Butterfly families. Almost got things tangled up for a second." He pointed out. "I just listed them as distant aunts to avoid the needless confusion."
"Good call." Star smiled as she looked it over. "Why did you mention that Jushtin slept with Rose?"
"Couldn't focus on anything else until I acknowledged it, somehow made me feel less awkward." Steven shrugged. "Should I just place the Diaz family next to you?"
"Steven, Marco and I aren't.." He gave her a look. "Yeah, you're right, you should definitely put it there. But you have to do the same for Kelly."
"Sure." He just licked her picture and stuck it next to his. "Her family tree is complete."
"I know things are bad with her dad, but I thought she had a decent relationship with her mom."
"There was a bad fight a while back when Kelly went off on her own when we broke up, she just wants to ditch Woolia all together at this point." Steven said with a tinge of regret. "I tried offering to help, but it just made her super uncomfortable, so I dropped it."
"Hey, not every family is able to heal. It's just like Greg and his parents, both parties don't want to see each other, so we shouldn't force them." Star patted him on the back. "I mean, you only made good with the Diamond's because the alternative would've been them leading universal conquest."
"Ain't that the truth." Steven snickered as he turned to that section in particular. Even if they still made them uncomfortable, they were still family, and unlike Rose, they were still around to make up for their mistakes. "Maybe after a thousand years, they'll actually be better people."
"Yo Steven." Amethyst came by, dumping a large pile of stickers next to them. "I got all the earth gem stickers made."
"Good, I'll just place them in this empty section right here." He began placing them one by one. "The crystal gems, old and current members, Amethysts, and Rose Quartz's. It's a division between placing them in either half sister or cousin territory."
"Aww, I'm family either way." Amethyst snickered as she squeezed the two of them. "Famethyst for life!"
"Heck yeah!" Star cheered. "This family tree is gonna be the bomb!"
"Don't forget about me!" Luz barged into the room with her own stickers.
"Not a chance, sis." He smiled as he presented an open spot for Luz's side. "I made sure to leave enough space for you, your mom, Vee, Eda, King, and Amity."
"I will be the greatest family member there ever was!" The now surprisingly bigger King shouted, already taller than Garnet.
"So he's just gonna be boiling isle sized one day." Star pointed out.
"Pretty much, but that won't be for another hundred years or so." Luz pointed out. "Pretty sure we can find something to cover that by that point, I mean.." Luz turned to him. "You're going to live pretty long too, right?"
"I rather not think about it." He winced. From what he picked up from the guardian, he was already going to live longer than the average person. Steven chose to leave that existential dread for later however. "As for Rose …"
Steven stared down at the picture in his hand. He thought he forgave her all things considered … but then Spinel happened, and part of him thought-no, knew there was gonna be more problems. Like, an uncornly amount of problems she made for them … "Even if she wasn't around to be my mom, and she left way too many of her own problems for me to deal with…she still gave me life." He sighed slowly as he placed the picture down, next to his earth dad. "I can appreciate THAT much about her at the very least."
"Obviously." Star celebrated. "Oh, one more." Star magicked up a sticker, placing Firstborn onto the bottom under her and Steven. "There we go."
"So weird to think you already have your own kid." Luz laughed.
"She's made of magic, but she's our child." He smiled at the picture. "Hope she's in a better place now." He held onto faith that restoring the realm of magic meant she was still around. They only never tried to check because nothing good ever happened when someone entered the realm.
"Wait, are we counting animals?" Amethyst asked. "Cause Rose keeps nibbling at my feet." The gem pointed to the laser puppy, shooting off beams of energy.
"Oh, you're just a little trouble maker, aren't you?" He laughed as he picked the girl up, who instantly licked his face. "Don't worry, we got a spot right up here, next to Lion, Quartz Jr, and Steven Jr."
They looked over as the small trap door opened, Steven Jr walking in with a clip of bullets, walking past them and into Steven's room. "… What's the story there?" Luz asked.
"Neverzone accident, she got stuck there for about ten to twelve years." Star waved off. They were still trying to keep the Mariposa and Meteora incident under wraps.
"Interesting …" He and Star slowly turned to the face of Eclipsa, an unknown look in her eye. "When exactly was this incident?" She asked with a hint of accusation. He totally forgot he invited her today to show off his project.
"I-ah.." Star began to sweat, and Steven wondered if Eclipsa would still kill them even without access to magi-no, she totally would. "Hey, Mr and Mrs Universe, wanna check out the family tree!?" Luckily two distractions came into the room that hopefully saved their bacon for another year.
"Oh sure." The man in question said as he walked in. "Did you get cousin Andy?"
"Just placed him on here." He pointed, showing off his hard work. "I tried to spread it out as thoroughly as possible, and get as many as I could."
"That's impressive work Steven." His step mom smiled. "Although I believe there's someone you're missing."
"Ah shoot, was it a grandma or grandpa on your side?" He could have sworn he got all his bases there.
"No, this one's much younger, or at least, they will be." Camila chuckled as she patted her stomach, which looked notably bigger.
"Will be..?" Luz looked confused, before her eyes lit up, obviously realizing something he didn't. "Mom, are you actually..?!"
"Yes…I'm pregnant."
Steven was feeling a strong mixture of shock, exhaustion, absolute joy, excitement, and all around panic. "I'm gonna be an older brother!"
"Feel my pain!" Marco's voice called out from the kitchen.
"A new sibling…a new baby sibling!" Star whirled him around as Luz jumped in the air. "MORE FAMILY!"
"Mom, Greg, you have to give me details!" Luz could barely contain herself. "Tell me, how long have you known!? Is it going to be a boy or a girl!? What are the baby names!? Oh, can I pick them out!"
"Calm down kiddo, we're only into the first month." His dad calmed the girl down. "We didn't even know she was pregnant until yesterday." Well that would explain the violent mood swing that sent Mewni dad through a window. "And considering the Diaz family's last experience with this, I think we'll leave it a surprise."
"That's completely fair." Marco came out with dinner. "Sorry about this, if I knew she was pregnant I would have adjusted it to not have so much fish."
"It's fine, I'll just sprinkle on some pickles and we'll be good to go." So the tales about the cravings were true. This was going to be an interesting, and exciting, next few months.