Chapter Text
“He just disappeared?!” Mark asked on the phone, eyes full of wonder. They’ve been nonstop talking about the mystery of this blue gem from earlier. “And this all had to happen the night that I was visiting family?!” He asked again, voice filling with a whiny child’s tone. Why did he have to be gone the one week that something finally happens?
Mark was a curious child, growing up with his brother and usually being let loose to explore back when he lived in Ohio. Soon afterwards he moved into this beach town. He wasn’t the brightest kid but he had a big heart. Sure, he tried talking to people but most of them didn’t seem interested. Sooner or later, an ‘interesting’ family moved in. They called themselves, “The crystal grumps”
He mostly remembered meeting them when Ross was attempting to throw a racket ball at Arin and-long story short, it ended up shattering his window. The gems were more than cool! They protected earth! The place where he recorded his videos and spent his days trying to make people happy!
“Yeah, Suz and Barry hasn’t been able to find the mystery gem. Arin and him are best friends I hear-”
“Shut up Ross!” The pink gem shouted loud enough for Mark to hear on the line.
This caused the raven haired male to have a giggle bubble up in the back of his throat, sitting down at his desk and starting to search for any reports of it. “Anyways, since you’re the earth expert, I was thinking I could call our buddy Mark to help out.”
Mark nodded, typing quickly into the search engine. “Does this mean I’m finally apart of the team?” He asked, trying to hide the pure excitement he felt.
“Huh? Yeah, sure.” Ross shrugged, “You’re always useful anyways!” He added on, listening to the other type.
He was a crystal grump! Well, kind of a crystal grump. Suzy liked to call Mark their human expert. It was actually kind of fun to fill them in on human topics. Last week he had to explain Halloween, due to it’s fast approach. Suzy looked like she was going to explode with how excited she was.
Ross chuckled on the other end of the line, leaning back against the dull white wall of the hallway. “Anyways Mark, looks like I’ve got to go, Arin is getting pissy again.” With that, the line clicked, leaving Mark to himself.
Arin huffed, shooting a dagger like glare at the blue gem as he finished up on the phone. “You know what? I’m going for a walk!” He called, receiving an observant glance of concern from Suzy. “I just, just need some air..” He chewed on his bottom lip, swinging open the door.
Getting outdoors, the sun shined through the clouds, winds picking up to create a nice breeze. Certainly much nicer than yesterday with all the storms of lately. He ran off at a moderate pace, sand shifting under his shoes. Just him on the shoreline today. He exhaled a shaky sigh, crossing his arms and simply staring out at the shore. It seemed to go on forever… That was such the fascinating thing about the ocean-
Within a moment, he felt his body tumble to the sand by another weight running up towards him in a blur of blue. “Arin!” A familiar voice, with a new cheery tone, sung out.
“W-wha?” Arin asked, sitting up once the other slid off him. His gaze looked towards the voice with his eyes widening. “Benitoite?!” He questioned, instantly knowing it was the same blue gem that he’d let out.
He chuckled, spinning around on his heels for him. “What do you think? I took a little time to fix the cracks and-boom baby! Back in business!” The blue gem took a moment to ruffle his messy curls of hair. It certainly seemed longer than before.
This Benitoite was much more.. Cheerful than the last time that they met. He noticed quite a few changes of the bat. Longer dark curled hair going down to his shoulders, a dark blue one piece with red star around his gem.. The gem also was much much happier than the last time they met.
“I-Uh-nice to see you again.” Arin murmured, at a pure loss for the words. His cheeks flushed a light pink, watching the other fiddle around with the cape around his shoulders.
The blue gem snickered, covering his mouth to hide his wide grin. “Happy to see me? I said I’d come back for you.” He rolled back on his heels gleefully. “May I ask, why..” He cleared his throat, gathering Arin’s attention. “Why do you all have such, odd names?”
“Oh.” Arin nodded, looking back at the other. “Our neighbor, Mark, thought we should all try out human names.” He explained, trying to… Make it as easy as possible to understand. Not that Benitoite was dumb or anything! He understood how confusing human customs were! “I am known as Tourmaline, back on Homeworld. It’s kind of a way of saying that we’re here, on earth now.” He shrugged.
The blue gem slowly raised a brow, nodding as he processed the thought. “That makes sense, I suppose.” His eyes widened, grin returning to his face. “Can I have some sort of ‘human name’ as well?” He asked him.
“Yeah, I suppose so.” The pink gem paused, pondering over names. What could they go with? They already have Suzy, Ross, Kevin, Barry, Mark, and of course Arin.. “What about…” The name was on the tip of his tongue.. “Dan!” He proclaimed once he remembered a name.
The other raised a brow, face flattening. “What.. What does that mean?”
“It’s short for Daniel, but we could also call you Danny.” He replied, fiddling with his fingers. “I mean, if you don’t like that, it’s fine-”
“I love it!” The gem, now known as Danny, grinned back at Arin.
Why would they think this gem would hurt him? Dan seemed harmless infact, well, besides his sore knees from hitting the sand. “You got your gem fixed right?” Arin asked, sneaking a peek at the gem lying on Dan’s stomach in the spot of a belly button.
Dan nodded and tapped the gem with pride, “Where’s your’s?” He questioned the other, looking for some sort of jewel on the other.
He pointed to the bright pink gem on his hand, flashing it in the light of the sun's rays beating down on them. “Here, crappy I know-”
“No, I like it.” Dan mumbled, reaching out and grabbing the other’s hand to observe the gem. “It’s cool, really.” He whispered.
The gem’s face flushed darker, quick to avoid eye contact with the other. “Thanks, really man.” He replied in a hushed tone, slowly pulling his hand back. “Hey Dan, I’m glad you came back-”
“Hey! Guess that guy is flocking to Arin!” A sly voice shouted, causing the blue gem to tense. Standing at the end of the beach stood two boys. A light blue gem with an interesting accent and another dark haired boy with large glasses.