Chapter Text
The beach was full of Gems when Lars stepped out of the Sun Incinerator, smuggling a bulky diamond-shaped item under his cape. Fluorite was sprawled across the sands, her spindly limbs dragging halfway across the beach. Amethyst was on one of her many bulbs, snoring loud enough to be mistaken for a semi. A little ways off was Rhodonite and Pearl, the duo chatting animatedly about the coarseness of sand as they fiddled with their hair. Ru and Til were playfighting with Garnet, who was smiling so wide Lars was certain she was plotting a tickle-fest.
Lars sucked in a deep breath. He wondered if he could manage to make it past without having to say a word. Then a pointy pink nose jabbed him between the shoulder blades, almost sending him to the ground in what would've been an embarrassing fall, and there's no real coming back from that.
"Hi, Captain Lars!" Padparadscha called, a second too late. Steven was strumming his ukulele beside her. "I predict you're going on a trip!"
Lars let out an awkward chuckle, patting Lion's head. "Ah, not really. Just gonna take fido over here for a walk."
"Be back soon," Rhodonite said, sounding concerned. "We wouldn't want another repeat of the island."
He sent her some finger guns and backed away. Lion followed with a flat expression, clearly unamused by his antics. Lars got around the side of the temple and leaned against it with a sigh of relief.
Lion grunted at him.
"Lay off, Chewbacca," he grumbled. Lars patted at his nonexistent pockets, eventually retrieving a phone from within. He scrolled down his recent received calls and hit send. It rang five times before clicking. "Hey, Connie. You know that thing about you feeling insecure and underappreciated?"
"What the-" A loud thudding noise echoed in his ears as Connie fumbled her phone. "Lars, I am at school."
"Oh, yeah. I forgot normal people did that," he mused.
"Did you seriously call me to spit on my insecurities?"
"Absolutely not. I would do that in person," Lars says, which is a complete lie, simply because she could knock him out with one solid punch. "Listen, you got a second? I have a bit of an issue."
"I'm thirteen."
"Not those kinds of issues," the captain retorted. He pulled the object out from behind his back, tucking the cell phone between his chin and shoulder as he gave it a good twist. It split, showing off a holographic screen covered in symbols. "I think I got a callout post in Gem."
"You can read Gem?"
"Not in the slightest. But I got really bored on the Incinerator, so I got went looking around and found some records. I know what Emerald's signature looks like." Lars enhanced the bottom, showing off a line of green text. "Lion brought this fancy doohickey to me, so Emerald probably gave it to him."
"Makes sense. You're both bright pink and obnoxious," Connie said. "But Lion can't warp far off-planet."
"So I've heard. It's a bit of a concern." Lars twisted it shut, scowling. "I know we're not that close, but I also know you're pretty good with a sword. Wanna be my backup?" He paused. "After school, I mean."
Connie let out a chuckle. "Okay, real talk? I'm like ten minutes away. Less than that if you send Lion."
"Did you cut school for me?"
"I cut school to fight with a big sword in space."
"Touché," he admitted. "See ya in ten, Maheswaran."