Chapter Text
Jasper took a steady breath, keeping her stance and form perfect, her body tensing up with power as she clenched her fist tightly. She pulled her arm back, channelling everything she had into one attack before she released the absolute strongest punch she could muster, her fist striking against the rectangular stone block in front of her, the Gem runes etched into side of the stone lighting up with energy as it absorbed the hit. The block wabbled back and forth for a brief moment, held suspended in the air by a thick metal chain, before Jasper struck it again with another powerful blow, this time knocking it back several feet into the air like a pendulum. Jasper continued her assault on block as it swung back her after each hit, maintaining a steady and relentless momentum of blows.
In the solitude of her own room within the Temple, Jasper could train with ease. Here, there were no distractions or annoyances, nothing that could make her lose focus. She didn't need to think about her problems or feel any useless emotions. All that mattered was the next attack, the next punch. All she had to do was hit her target with everything she had. Nothing else mattered. All she had to do was keep hitting.
Maintaining her stance, Jasper raised her fist, preparing to strike the block as it came swinging back toward her.
"How dare you!"
Jasper's face flashed a brief look of anger as she swung her fist, hitting the block with more ferocity than anticipated, missing its centre by a few inches, which was enough to disrupt the blocks trajectory.
Angered by the brief misstep, Jasper pulled her arm back again, trying to re-focus her attention on the block which was now swinging from side to side.
"This is your idea of protecting us?"
Jasper snarled angrily and threw another powerful punch, this time only hitting the edge of the block as it swung back at her, the misaligned impact now causing the block to start bouncing around erratically.
Jasper pressed her hands onto either side of her temples and gritted her teeth as she could hear the voices inside her head growing louder and louder, no matter how hard she tried to block them out.
Now flying into a full-blown fury of rage, Jasper roared and punched blindly at the block, her fists moving in a blur, like bolts of lightning and each blow against the stone bellowing like thunder crack
She was now hitting the block so hard that small pieces of its surface actually stared to break off with each consecutive hit.
"You are the finest Quartz I've ever seen"
"We saw what you did"
"They'll be in your hands now, Jasper"
Eventually, Jasper finally stopped in her onslaught, either due to exhaustion or simply lapse in her rage that allowed her to regain some of her rationality again. The training block now had several cracks all along its side, looking like it would crumble to pieces any moment as it continued to swing in the air. The runes flickering as they released tiny sparks of blue energy, like an electrical socket about to exploded.
After another moment, Jasper seemed to find her second wind once more as she grabbed hold the block, digging her fingers right into the stone and stopping it in mid-swing. She then pulled her head backward, summoned her crash helmet, and with a mighty roar, smashed her head right into the block, shattering it to pieces in an explosion of dust and blue static, which left Jasper herself unscathed other than a few soot marks on her face and hands.
Jasper spent the next several moments breathing heavily, before she finally got control of her body and mind again, though she felt no less tense and angry even as her crash helmet disappeared.
She stared down at the pieces of the destroyed block at her feet, now completely useless for her training. She hit it with all her strength and now it was broken. For a moment, Jasper wondered what it was she had done wrong, but then immediately reassured herself that it wasn't her fault. That block was just worthless if it could break that easily. Anything that breaks was worthless.
"Worthless. Everything that breaks is worthless." she said to herself, kicking away a small piece of rubble.
Jasper was then pulled out of her brief reverie when she heard the familiar cry of Steven as he came running into her room. Jasper didn't turn around to face him as he approached, but she got the impression he was concerned about something as per the norm.
"Jasper, you gotta come quick, I think you're in terrible danger!" he said with great urgency.
"Good" she said, simply, without looking back at him.
"You don't understand" Steven said, sounding abnormally worried. "I think someone is after you!"
Jasper turned around to look at Steven, with a slightly more curious expression. "Who?"
Jasper followed Steven as he led her into town. Despite all the time she had spent on Earth, Jasper had often avoided venturing into any human settlement when she could help it unless there was something very significant. Or, as in this case, Steven was pestering her about something.
They arrived at small suburban area with a number of identical looking houses lined up together. Jasper and Steven walked up the street, coming to a stop at one house, the garage door lying wide open, covered up by a large tarp.
Still following Steven's lead, Jasper pushed past the tarp and entered into the garage. Admittedly, even Jasper didn't really know what to expect but this was a new one for her.
The garage, which was devoid of any actual vehicle, instead was filled with dozens of paintings, all of which were depictions of Jasper herself, standing in various poses, ranging from majestic to mundane. Not only that, but there were a number of small clay figurines, also resembling Jasper, on a nearby bench. Many of them appeared somewhat crude or incomplete, while only a small number were crafted with finer details.
Jasper stared the various sets of painting and sculptures that were dedicated to her likeness, her scowl now converting to a strange mixture of both intrigue and disinterest.
"You said an onion did all this?" she said, turning to Steven.
"This Onion isn't like any onion you know Jasper!" Steven replied grimly. "I think he might be obsessed with you"
"I literally eat onions for breakfast" Jasper replied, unconcerned, feeling her boredom with this situation beginning to rise.
Suddenly, Jasper and Steven heard a voice, coming from behind a drawn-up curtain that was hanging in the garage. "Hey, who's there? This is private property. I don't know how you got past that tarp but…"
Not wasting a second, Jasper summoned her crash helmet and leapt forward toward the unknown individual, becoming so focused on the potential threat and opportunity for battle that she ignored Steven as he shouted a warning for her to wait.
Next, there came a bright flash and a loud bang that forced Steven to cover up his ears from the sound. The shower curtain fell away to the floor, as Jasper now stood, holding the smoking end of a shotgun in her hand, pointing it upward toward the ceiling where a freshly made hole had appeared. At the other end of the shotgun, hanging suspended off the floor, was a middle-aged woman in slippers, with a huge head of blonde hair that was the shape of a round bulb like a vegetable.
Now at eye level, Jasper and the woman stared at one another for a moment, before Jasper's eyes widen in recognition and surprise.
"Vidalia?" she said.
"Jasper?" Vidalia replied.
Jasper lowered her arm and set Vidalia back down to the floor. Vidalia released her grip on the shotgun. Jasper casually dropped the shotgun to floor, the end of which was now crumbled into a small knot.
"I can't believe it's you." Vidalia said, looking up at Jasper. "It's been years."
"You've changed." Jasper said, shocked. Her face then broke into a wide, cheeky smile. "You look terrible."
"You look the same." Vidalia replied in stunned amazement, before she returned Jasper's smile. "Terrible! Guess you really are gonna look that bad forever."
Jasper smiled again and let out a loud, hearty laugh as she delivered a powerful slap on Vidalia's back that left a resounding thud.
Vidalia's eyes widened and her face tightened as she took a long moment to absorb the pain.
"Yup, you're definitely the same" she said, her voice slightly hoarse.
"Wait, whaaat?" Steven said, now looking extremely surprised. "Who's she? How do you know each other?"
"This is Vidalia. I met here back when she used to hang out around Greg." Jasper explained, still smiling. "But since she was a lot better than Greg, I just hung out with her."
"Is that Steven?" Vidalia said, taking full notice of him for the first time. She features softened into a warm and motherly expression. "Look at him. He looks just like Greg. That's good, that's good" she added, reassuringly, as Steven began to blush bashfully at her statement. "He used to be super hot."
"Pfft, Greg wasn't that hot." Jasper scoffed, annoyed. "If he was so hot, how come he couldn't melt rocks with his bare hands?"
"No, Jasper, that's just an expression." Vidalia said, rolling her eyes, exasperatedly. "You see, being hot can also mean that you're attrac…oh, wait a minute, you got me again!" Vidalia said, smiling, once she spotted the sly grin on Jasper's face. Vidalia then gave Jasper a playful punch in the arm as they both shared another laugh with each other.
Steven looked back and forth between the two of them several times, as though he couldn't quite believe or, simply was not sure, of what he was seeing.
"Uh, so, did you paint these when you used to hang out?" Steven asked, looking around the garage again.
"Yeah, some of them." Vidalia said. "Some are new, though."
"You even made these figurines too?" Steven asked.
"Yup, those are from my clay sculpting phase." Vidalia said, with a hint of pride.
"Ah, Jasper, it's like you have your own series of G.U.Y.S." Steven said sweetly, now taking the time to admire some of the little sculptures.
"I don't remember those from before" Jasper said.
"They were something new that I wanted to try" Vidalia said, absently picking up one of the sculptures. "Turns out, though, they were a bit more a challenge. I still find painting a lot easier. Jasper was my favourite model. I could literally get her to stand still for hours."
"I only move when it's something important." Jasper said, sternly. She then gave Vidalia another sly smirk. "Or fun."
"We used to get into all kinds of trouble when we were together." Vidalia said. She picked up a photograph that was hanging on one of the paintings and handed it to Steven. It showed Vidalia with an apathetic expression on her face, arms crossed, standing shoulder to shoulder with a grinning Jasper, both of them wearing a pair of black leather jackets.
"Aren't we the spitting image of mischief?" Vidalia said.
"Please, you're wearing slippers" Jasper said.
"You don't know what I've done in these shoes. " Vidalia said, cheekily. "Actually, I think I still have our old jackets"
"Really?" Jasper said, looking very excited, before she quickly re-arranged her features into an expression of scorn and disinterest. "I mean, I would have just thrown out junk like that."
"Uh-huh" Vidalia replied, nodding knowingly. Vidalia then pulled out a small box from underneath one of the table benches in the garage. She rummaged through the box for a moment before she finally pulled out two black leather biker jackets, one of which was much bigger than the other, both covered in a layer of dust.
Vidalia blew away some of the dust and then gave Jasper the larger jacket, which she happily accepted. Jasper put on the jacket, as did Vidalia. Steven glanced back at the photo and could now see more of the resemblance.
"Still fits." Jasper said, flexing her arms slightly, admiring the jacket.
"This does bring back a lot of memories." Vidalia said, rubbing the collar of her jacket with a nostalgic look. "It's great to see you again. Sorry, it's been so long. I guess we've both been busy."
"Yeah." Jasper briefly glanced over to Steven and gave a small, uncomfortable cough as she avoided Vidalia's eye. "I, uh…guess kids really do keep you busy."
"What about kids?" Steven asked, confused.
"Oh, here's one now!" Vidalia said.
A small child, who could only have been elusive Onion that Steven had warned Jasper about, came scurrying into the garage, seemingly from out of some unseen hiding place, and clung lovely to Vidalia's leg.
"You're Onion's mom!?" Steven exclaimed, sounding perhaps more shocked by the fact Onion had actual human relatives.
"Yup, he's my little troublemaker." Vidalia said, picking Onion up into her arms, while casually removing a pair of scissors that he was holding from his hands. "And Steven, he loves talking about you."
Onion leaned closer to Vidalia and whispered something inaudible into her ear.
"Oh, that's a great idea!" Vidalia said, happily. "Steven, Jasper. Onion wants to know if you'd like to stay for dinner?"
"Ummm…" Steven said, with great hesitation, already beginning to eye the nearest exit.
"Yes, we do." Jasper said, quickly. With a single hand, Jasper swiftly grabbed Onion by his collar, plucking him out of Vidalia's arms and placing him on the floor next to Steven. "Here, Steven, you play with Onion."
Steven looked as though Jasper had just placed a live bomb right next to him, while Onion stared up at Steven as though he was just given the best birthday present ever.
Satisfied that each of their respective kids were now officially out of the way, Jasper put her full arm around Vidalia's shoulder and pulled her closer as they walked out of the room together, side by side once again.
"Now spill it, what did you do in those shoes?"
Jasper and Steven sat at the dinner table. Sitting opposite them was Sour Cream, who was listening to music on his headphones, lost in his own world and Onion, who, rather than eating his own food, was instead moulding it together like some kind of art project.
"This was a really nice meal. Thanks, Vidalia" Steven said, gratefully.
"Oh, it's just a little dish I like to call, noodles and butter." Vidalia said.
"Yeah, that was pretty good" Jasper said, having finished her place. She then unceremoniously picked up her plate and took a clean bite out of it, crunching it up with her teeth before swallowing it.
"I see your taste in tableware hasn't changed either" Vidalia said dryly.
"Can't believe how long it's been since we talked" Jasper said. She then pointed to Sour Cream, who was bobbing his head happily to whatever beat he was listening to on his headphones. "I remember when he used to be so puny. Now look at him, he's even bigger than you"
"Yup, they do grow up fast" Vidalia said, proudly.
Jasper glanced at Sour Cream and then over to Steven who was happily enjoying his meal, looking as though she was expecting him to sprout up a number of inches any moment and appeared disappointed when he didn't. She then turned back to Vidalia.
"So, you still hear from that creep Marty?" she asked, with a disgusted expression.
Vidalia let a brief, derisive laugh. "Ha, no. I don't know where that fool is. Don't care neither"
"You know, if you had just asked me, and I would have taken care of him for you." Jasper said, with an only somewhat evil grin.
"Believe me, I was tempted enough to ask you" Vidalia said, soundingly like she was only semi-joking. She then smiled, rubbing right hand over the fingers on her left hand which now bore a metal ring. "But I'm much happier now. Things with Yellowtail are really good."
"Yellowtail?" Jasper said in surprise, only now just notching the ring on Vidalia's finger. "That guy with the boat?
"Yeah, things just kinda happened." Vidalia pointed to a number of photographs that were hanging on the wall over the kitchen counter, which Steven and Jasper only now seemed to take notice of, showcasing Vidalia alongside Yellowtail, Onion and Sour Cream. "Next thing you know, I'm living with a fisherman. You should see your face right now."
Jasper only now just seemed to realize that she was staring at the photos with a look of disbelief on her face, which she quickly covered up with another aloof expression. She remained silent for a short while before she spoke again. "So, where does he hide it?"
"Hide what?" Vidalia asked, frowning a little.
"Where does he hide his tail?" Jasper asked, straight faced. "I mean, are you sure it's actually yellow?"
Vidalia eyed Jasper with confusion and briefly opened her mouth to reply, but then smiled wryly, wagging her finger at Jasper. "Oho, nice try. Not getting me with that one"
"What'd ya mean?" Jasper said, coolly.
She and Vidalia then laughed again.
"I thought you used to hate the docks?" Jasper said.
"Yeah, it used to be so gross." Vidalia said.
"Remember that time when we snuck under the mayor's boat and wrecked it?" Jasper said, excitedly.
"Oh, man." Vidalia said, putting one hand over her eyes, smiling with embarrassment. "I still can't believe we ended up setting the whole thing on fire."
"Uh, you started the fire" Jasper said, smugly.
"I thought it was regular salt!" Vidalia chortled indignantly.
"It was regular Fire Salt" Jasper said, with a simple shrug.
"And then the fire almost spread to the rest of the docks, and you had to make that giant tidal wave to put it all out."
"You know it would have gone out on its own if had just left it."
"And the whole place was floored for nearly a week!"
"Yeah, and a fire would have been over a lot sooner."
Jasper and Vidalia continued to reminisce about old times, neither of them noticing the disturbed look on Steven's face as he watched Onion began to eat the makeshift food sculpture he had created in the likeness of Steven's own head.
Later, after Jasper and Vidalia had finished telling another anecdote of their past exploits, Vidalia took the plates from the table and began to wash them in the sink, aside from Jasper's half-eaten plate which she simply threw into the trash, and Onion's plate which he was still using for his food sculpture of Steven.
"So, what about you Jasper?" Vidalia asked, turning off the tap once she was finished.
"What'd you mean?" Jasper said, somewhat taken back by the question.
"You haven't said a word about yourself all night." Vidalia said, drying her hands with a towel. "How have you been lately?"
"I'm fine" Jasper said, simply, shrugging her shoulders.
"Alright, how are the Gems?" Vidalia asked.
"They're…fine" Jasper said tensely, after a belaboured pause.
"Okay, thanks for dinner, time to go!" Steven said, very quickly, stepping out from his chair. "Right, Jasper?"
Jasper turned to look at Steven as though she had forgotten he was present. She then glanced back to Vidalia who staring back at her with a bemused expression. All of a sudden, Jasper no longer seemed to be half as thrilled as she had been since she had seen Vidalia, all her previous insistence on staying had now diminished.
"Um, well, if you wanna go now, then I guess…" Jasper began, half-rising out of her chair.
"Mama!
"What's that?" Vidalia turned to Onion, who murmured something that only she could make out.
"Oh, that's a great idea. Steven, Onion wants to show you around the house. What do you say? Can Onion show you around?"
Steven began to sweat as he looked at Onion who was staring back him with an unblinking gaze as the lights in the room began to flicker.
"Ah, what's going on?" Steven yelped.
"Oh, whenever Sour Cream starts DJing, it uses all the electricity in the house." Vidalia said. "Good thing Yellowtail's not here. It drives him nuts. What can you do? Kids gotta express themselves."
Suddenly Onion slammed his hands into his food sculpture, spattering it everywhere, causing Steven to jump in fright at the random act of destruction.
Vidalia, on the other hand, simply laughed at her son's antics. "You too, Onion. Very expressive. Looks like he's ready for you, Steven."
Onion walked to the other side of the table and took Steven's hand, leading him out of the room. Steven threw one last desperate look at Jasper, as if hoping she would rescue him from his fate.
"So, how about I brew us some tea and we can have a little chat?" Vidalia said.
Jasper grimaced uncomfortably, ironically now looking as though she was wishing Steven would be the one to rescue her.
Jasper and Vidalia moved from the kitchen to a small lounge area. Jasper sat on the couch, her arms spread out wide. Vidalia had made a small pot of tea and poured it out into two cups on the coffee table. Vidalia handed one of the cups to Jasper, which she accepted it, without thanks.
"So come on. Spill it, what's eating you up?" Vidalia asked, taking a seat in the chair opposite the couch.
"Nothing" Jasper replied flatly.
"Hey, it's me." Vidalia said, taking a sip of her cup. "I can already tell something is bothering you. Your feelings are still written all over your face."
Jasper curled her lips back with a snarl.
"See, now I know, that you feel like you wanna kill me" Vidalia said, smugly.
Jasper's face became impassive again, though she allowed Vidalia a small smirk of respect. She stared down into her teacup, looking at her own reflection staring back her, before she spoke again. "I don't care if my feelings on my face or not. Feelings are useless. What's the point of them if they just make you feel bad?"
"Bad feelings matter just as much as the good ones." Vidalia said, kindly. "You shouldn't be afraid to hide from them, you gotta be able to express them."
"I'm not hiding from anything." Jasper said, coldly. "I just decided it's not worth my time. I express myself with my actions."
"Well, alright then." Vidalia said, conceding. There was pause in the conversation. Vidalia leaned back in her set and took another tip of her tea, while Jasper watched her carefully.
"So, how did it ever go with Lapis?" Vidalia asked casually.
There was a loud and sudden crack in the living room, as Jasper involuntarily crushed the teacup in her hand, shattering it to pieces, liquid seeping out between her clenched fingers and dripping out onto the carpet below.
After a moment, Jasper released her fingers and glared down at the crushed remains of the teacup in her tea-soaked palm. With a sour expression, hunched forward and rested her elbows onto her knees.
"Sorry" she muttered in a low voice.
"That bad, huh?" Vidalia said, solemnly. There was no hint of anger in her expression at what Jasper had done, merely sympathy.
"Hmph" Jasper grunted.
Vidalia frowned sadly. She set her teacup down on the table and stood up, taking a seat down on the couch beside Jasper.
"You sure you don't wanna talk about it?" Vidalia asked.
"What good does talking do?" Jasper said bitterly, turning away from her.
"Maybe, I could give you some advice?" Vidalia said kindly. "Maybe you'd feel a little better if you say it out loud? Or is this one of those problems that you think can fix by punching something?" Vidalia asked, with a dry smirk.
Jasper sighed deeply and rubbed the back of her neck, craning her head up to look at the ceiling.
"I really wish I could just punch something. Whenever I see a problem, I just smash away at it until it can't bother us anymore." Jasper punched her fist into her hand for empathises. "But I think…I think that's what I ended up doing to the Crystal Gems." Jasper hesitated, staring down at her hands. "I think…I broke us"
"What?" Vidalia said, with an incredulous smile. "Oh, come on, you guys have always been so close together. I mean, how bad could it have been?"
Sometime later, after the pot of tea had since gone cold, Vidalia stared at Jasper in stunned silence, her mouth hanging open, with Jasper simply returning her reaction with an unsurprised, blank expression after having finished her story.
"Okay." Vidalia said, finally. She took a few seconds to collect herself. "Wow. Just, …I mean, wow. You, um….you messed up really badly this time."
"Yeah." Jasper said, tiredly. "Things aren't the same anymore. Except for Steven, Lapis isn't talking to us anymore. And Peridot isn't talking at all. Which I should be happy about. Except… I'm not happy about it."
Jasper sighed again and rubbed her eyes with her index finger and thumb, looking close to defeated. "I don't know what to do now."
"I get what you mean though." Vidalia said, nodding her head in understanding.
Jasper turned to Vidalia in confusion in surprise. "How?"
"Hey, we don't always get along in this family." Vidalia said, amiable. "Yellowtail and Sour Cream are always at each other's throats. It drives me nuts. And believe or not, but even Onion can be a handful. Sometimes I wish I could just snap my fingers and make everybody fall in line. But I can't force anyone around me to want to just be happy and stop fighting with each other. I understand how helpless that can make you feel."
"So, what, you just sit there and endure it?" Jasper said bitterly.
"No, actually, I think about you!" Vidalia said, looking up at Jasper with earnest. "And about you always fight back. No matter how big or small or important it was, no matter the odds, you just never stopped fighting back."
Jasper appeared momentarily taken aback by Vidalia's sudden praise, before her expression settled back into a pessimistic frown. "That's normal for me. I'm a Quartz soldier. Fighting is what I was made for. But you were just a weak and fragile little human with skinny arms." Vidalia dropped her smile and regarded Jasper with an unamused expression for a moment.
"But somehow, you were always …so unfazed by everything." Jasper continued, unable to hide the sense of respect she felt toward Vidalia in her voice. "You could always keep your cool no matter the pressure. Just like her…." Jasper muttered bitterly.
"Aw come on." Vidalia said, playfully nudging Jasper with her elbow. "I always wished that I could have been more like you. The truth is, I admire you, Jasper. The way that you would always put all of your energy and passion into something once you got behind it. You never stop giving it your all. And I think that is a really great about thing about you."
"I always have to give it my all, because that's how I win." Jasper said. "But this whole…. thing, it's like a fight where I can't fight back at all. " Jasper turned to Vidalia, looking as close to desperate as she had ever been. "How am I supposed to win if I can't fight?"
"You know, there are other ways you can fight." Vidalia said, with a warm smile. "Ones that don't involve levelling buildings. Let me show you one of the ways I fight my battles."
Vidalia led Jasper back into the garage. After shifting some assortment of boxes out of the way, Vidalia pull out something that was nested in the corner of the garage; a small metal table with a circular disk in the middle of it. At the base of one of the table legs was a small pedal, which was connected back up to the disk with some kind of pump.
"This is what I use for my pottery." Vidalia explained. "I took it up a couple of years ago, mostly just to experiment a little, but it was a lot trickier than I thought. Pottery is something that takes time and patience. It gets messy but if you persevere through it, the reward can be worth it."
Jasper stared down at the pottery wheel, before her face turned into a condensing and dismissive grin. "So that's how you deal with your problems? Making buckets out of mud? Pfft, and I thought your paintings was dumb."
"Hey, it's a lot tougher than it looks, okay?" Vidalia said, unfazed.
"Yeah, sounds really tough" Jasper said, rolling her eyes.
"You wanna give it a try?" Vidalia asked, her question sounding much more like a challenge.
"No" Jasper scoffed. "Why would I wanna try something so stupid?"
"Okay then. Don't try it" Vidalia said easily, closing her eyes and throwing her hands up in a gesture of defeat.
There was a moment of silence between them as Vidalia and Jasper held each other's gaze for several long seconds.
"I don't need to try it." Jasper said, stubbornly.
"Okay, sure" Vidalia replied, nodding her head.
"It's stupid and pointless".
"Hmm-mmm"
"It'll be nothing but a waste of my time."
"Yuuuuup"
Vidalia continued to smile calmly, looking perfectly untroubled by Jasper's repeated rebuttals. Jasper's face slowly began to contort into an expression of frustration, as though she somehow lost an unseen battle of wills with Vidalia, before she finally turned on her heel and angrily marched right out of the door of the garage.
"Steven, we're leaving!" she snapped.
"Oh, thank you!" Steven exclaimed joyously from somewhere within the house.
"Come back soon!" Vidalia called out, pleasantly.
Sometime the next day, Vidalia was in the middle of sorting out the laundry, when she heard a loud knock on her front door. She opened the door to reveal a scowling Jasper and petrified Steven, standing on her doorstep.
"Steven wanted to hang out with Onion again." Jasper said bluntly.
Vidalia smiled knowingly and beckoned them both to enter. On cue, Onion appeared from out of nowhere and wasted no time in taking a reluctant Steven by the hand, dragging him away somewhere, leaving Vidalia and Jasper alone in the hallway.
"Well, looks like the kids are busy." Vidalia said. "And it just so happens that, I have my pottery wheel all set up this morning. Guess this means we could use it without interruption."
Jasper said nothing and continued to scowl at Vidalia, as though she was simultaneously refusing to acknowledge what she had just said, while also not outright dismissing it.
Not long after, Jasper found herself in the garage, seated crossed armed at the potter wheel, wearing a dirty apron that Vidalia had provided, a block of clay resting in front of her.
Jasper sighed reluctantly but looked determined nonetheless to see this through. "Alright, now just show me how to do this."
Vidalia smiled pleasantly. "Okay, first step is to add some water to the clay and get it ready." Vidalia picked up a pitcher of water and poured out some over the clay.
"Next, you need to press the pedal with your foot to get the wheel spinning." Vidalia indicated down to the pedal at Jasper's feet. Jasper pressed her right foot down hard against the pedal, causing the wheel to spin very fast.
"Remember to take your foot off the pedal once you have speed built." Vidalia explained. "It's all about trying to control your momentum."
Following Vidalia's instruction with a focused expression, Jasper lifted her foot back off the pedal, giving the wheel a chance to slow again, being sure to give another occasional prod to keep the wheel spinning.
"Ok, looks like you have a good pace going" Vidalia said. "Now, next you need to do is grab a hold of the clay."
No sooner than Vidalia had said this, Jasper reached out and literally grabbed the entire lump of clay into her massive right hand, squeezing it as hard as possible. However, the clay immediately collapsed from the strength of her grip and exploded outwards from her between her fingers, splattering itself across the room, as well Jasper and Vidalia.
Jasper pulled her arm back stared at gooey clay smeared over her hand, looking disappointed. "You gave me weak clay" she said, turning to Vidalia.
Vidalia said nothing, casually wiped away some residual clay from her cheek.
"Okay" she said, patiently. "Let's try that again, but this time don't grab the clay with so much force. If you press it too hard, you're just end up mushing it. You gotta keep it at a light touch but also be firm at the same time. You understand?"
"No" Jasper said flatly.
"Just don't smash it this time" Vidalia said wearily, as she prepared another lump of clay onto the wheel. Jasper raised her hand as she prepared to attack the clay once again, only for Vidalia to calmly place her hand on top of Jasper's to retrain her. Vidalia kneeled down on the other side of the pottery wheel, opposite Jasper.
Vidalia demonstrated with one hand as she placed two of her fingers near the top of the clay, slowly sliding them up and down as the clay's shape began to gradually rise sharply upward, taking on the appearance of a tall vase.
Vidalia then pressed her thumbs firmly into the top of the clay as it continued to spin, forming a small hole in the centre. As the wheel spun, the indentation grew wider and wider, taking the shape of a large pot.
"The trick is not you're not trying to force the clay to be anything. You're only helping to guide as it takes its shape, without restricting it."
Vidalia brought Jasper's hand toward the clay and gently opened out Jasper's fingers, allowing the edge of the clay to brush against her fingertips.
Jasper sat awkwardly, with uncomfortable expression on her face as Vidalia kept a firm and yet surprisingly gently grip over her hands, using them to mould the clay into number of different shapes, which could be formed with only a few simple touches here and there.
After a while, Vidalia pulled her hands back and allowed Jasper to continue on her own. Jasper did her best to mimic what Vidalia had shown her but still found it difficult to hold back her strength as the clay would flatten easily in between her fingers if she applied too much force. And top of that, trying to mould the clay into a fine shape proved equally difficult as Jasper's approach was far less elegant than Vidalia's, with the clay's shape becoming increasingly more disjointed and asymmetrical as Jasper struggled to control it with her rougher hands.
Vidalia remained with Jasper the whole time, offering the occasional correction and advice on what to do, showing nothing but absolute patience as Jasper's anger continued to rise over her lack of progress. She came quite close to smashing the clay sculpture onto another mussy pulp a few times. But despite her frustrations, however, Jasper was still determined to see this through to the end, refusing to give up. Slowly, Jasper began to adapt to the process, her hands becoming less tense and rigid as she moulded the clay into a more refined shape, concentrating on finding the right balance between control and freedom, with Vidalia's advice and encouragement helping her to stay focused on the task.
Finally, after a couple more hours of work and few more mishaps, Jasper had finished her clay sculpture. The end result was a simple pot. It was a rather crude designed, with slightly lopsided shape, and far from what one call an eloquent creation, but it seemed to please Jasper, nonetheless.
"Alright, that's a really good first effort." Vidalia said proudly, looking over Jasper's work. "I think it really speaks to your feelings Jasper."
"What are we supposed to do next?" Jasper asked, looking rather excited now after all the progress they had made.
"Well, the next thing we do is dry the clay"
Vidalia walked over to a corner of the garage and pulled down a large blanket, revealing a kind of large metal drum.
"I have this old electric kiln I got at a yard sale." Vidalia said. "It's a bit beat up, but it gets the job done. Of course, I can only really use it when Sour Cream isn't DJing. We'll use this to heat up the clay and allow it to harden."
"So, we just stick the pot in here to dry?" Jasper said, bringing the pot over to the kiln.
"No, actually that's the last step." Vidalia explained, taking the pot out of Jasper's hands. "If there's too much moisture still inside the clay, it could end up expanding when it's heated and cause the clay to crack. So, we need to let it dry on its own first."
Vidalia placed the pot onto the bench and then carefully draped a large plastic sheet over the top, being careful to not to completely cover the entire pot.
"Once the clay dries up a little, we can stick it inside the kiln to finish" Vidalia said.
"And how long will that take?" Jasper asked.
"About a week" Vidalia replied simply.
Jasper's smile instantly dropped her face, and a familiar expression of frustration returned. "What?!" she snapped.
"It takes time for the clay to dry." Vidalia said defensively. She then gave Jasper a sceptical look. "What, you thought we could get all done in one afternoon?"
"But I want it to be ready now!" Jasper said, impatiently.
"Well, you're just gonna have to wait." Vidalia said firmly. "These things take time. If you want, we can start another…"
"Steven, we're leaving again!" Jasper shouted, storming out of the room once more, as Vidalia rolled her eyes in exasperation as she watched her go.
The next day, Vidalia heard another loud knock on her door. Already guessing who it was, she opened the door to find both Jasper and Steven once again on her doorstep.
"Is it ready yet?" Jasper asked.
"Not yet" Vidalia replied, with a deadpanned voice.
"Can I see it?" Jasper said after a moment.
"It still won't be ready." Vidalia said.
"Well, I still wanna see. And…" Jasper pouted and groaned as she seemed to struggle with her next words. "And then I'd like to have tea with you. Please?" she asked, forcing herself a strained smile.
"Alright, alright" Vidalia said, rubbing her eyes wearily, allowing them to come in.
As soon as they entered the house, Steven, who was wearing a haggard expression on his face, offered his hand out expectedly just as Onion once again appeared without explanation and happily lead Steven away to his room for whatever amusement he had in mind next.
At Jasper's insistence, Vidalia had taken her back into the garage to check the process of the clay pot. Removing the plastic sheet, the pot appeared to be still intact, and its surface looked to be slightly firmer than yesterday. This was enough of an incentive for Jasper to persuade Vidalia into placing the pot inside the electric kiln to finish.
"I don't know, Jasper" Vidalia said, looking uncertain as she opened the kiln. "It's only been one day. If you start drying the clay now, you could end up cracking the whole thing"
"It's my pot, so I'll make it how I want it to be" Jasper said, stubbornly, as she held the pot in her hands.
"Well, okay, I guess, if that's how you want to express yourself" Vidalia said, relenting.
Vidalia turned on the electric kiln and allowed Jasper to place her pot inside. Jasper seemed to spend an extra moment or two positioning the pot inside the kiln, before closing the lid. Vidalia then set a timer and pressed a button as the machine let out a soft humming as it began to heat up.
"Now, this is gonna take at least another full day. So don't think about taking it out before it's done" Vidalia said, throwing Jasper a knowing look.
Jasper didn't argue back and simply followed Vidalia into the kitchen, where she started to brew some tea for them.
"I don't see you for years and now it's three days in a row." Vidalia said dryly. "You're starting to smother me."
"You said I could come back here if I wanted to." Jasper muttered, annoyed.
"I know, Jasper." Vidalia said, kindly. "But coming here every day for the next two weeks isn't going to make your pot dry any faster. I know you want it to be done as soon as possible, but this is the part where you need to be patient."
Jasper scowled again, resting her arms on the table, as Vidalia poured her a cup of tea. Jasper accepted the cup and then sprinkled some red power from her right hand into her tea, which made the liquid surfacer shimmer momentarily.
Just then, Steven came walking into the kitchen, already looking even more exhausted than when he had first arrived.
"Fix me up one those too, Vidalia." Steven said, taking a seat beside Jasper. "I'm gonna need it."
"You ok?" Jasper asked.
"I think Onion wants us to watch a couple more….birthday tapes he has" Steven said, with a rather grim expression, as Vidalia poured another cup of tea for him. "I said he should go get some snacks for us."
Jasper stared down at Steven for a long moment, taking note of his tired and word appearance, lacking his usual enthusiasm. Jasper then frowned and shifted uncomfortably in her chair.
"You know, if you want to go home Steven, you can." she said. "I'll catch up later on."
"No, I don't mind, really." Steven said, managing to put on a half-smile. He picked up one of the teacups and lightly blew away some of the steam. "Me and Onion can hang out, and you and Vidalia can hang out. I'm really happy you have someone you can talk to"
Jasper remained silent as she picked up her teacup, contemplating it for a moment before slowly bringing the rim to her lips.
At the same time, Steven took a sip from his teacup. A few moments after he did this, his face suddenly turned bright shade of red, and he let out a loud scream as smoke literally started to emanate from within his mouth. Steven quickly jumped out his chair and ran over to the kitchen sink, turning on the tap before guzzling down a mouth full of water to cool himself.
"You ok, Steven?" Vidalia asked, concerned. She looked at her kettle in her hand curiously. "Didn't think the tea was that hot?"
"I'm fine. " Steven said, after managing to catch his breath again. He then smacked his lips together a few times. But…I think tasted this burning pain before. It's almost like…."
Steven paused and then turned to look at Jasper, whose face was frozen in complete shock, her teacup still resting on her lips.
"Jasper, did you put Fire Salt into the tea?" he asked.
Jasper glanced down at the teacup in her hand and then to the one on the table with a frustrated look. Jasper set her cup down and reluctantly opened her palm to reveal a small vial, containing a red powder, which Steven instantly recognised as the Fire Salt, vividly recalling a past misadventure they had once before at the Big Donut.
"Why did you bring that?" Steven asked, hesitantly.
"I…wanted it to be warmer" Jasper said, flatly, refusing to look Steven in the eye.
Steven and Vidalia shared a brief look with one another.
"Oh." Steven paused. He shifted uncomfortably for a moment, as though grabbling with something internally. "And is that…the only reason you brought it?" he asked Jasper, looking directly at her.
Jasper lowered her head and groaned loudly. "Fine, I was gonna use it to make the clay dry faster, so I could get my pot ready sooner, okay?"
"You really thought that was gonna work?" Vidalia said, after a brief pause.
"Better than sitting around and doing nothing." Jasper said, coldly. "What's wrong with wanting it to be ready as soon as possible?
"Jasper, some problems you can't solve by just using brunt force." Vidalia said sternly. "Sometimes the fastest way to solve a problem is to take your time. You think I got being a parent down in a like a day? It was long. And hard. But it was all worth it by the end. You don't get to take shortcuts."
Jasper said nothing, but her angry expression seemed to falter from Vidalia's firm reprimand, looking much like a child receiving a scolding from their parent.
"Well, at least it's a good thing you realized you're mistake before you actually tried using the Fire Salt, right?" Steven said happily.
Jasper sank further down into her seat, the scowl on her face deepening.
Steven's smile dropped from his face. He and Vidalia quickly shared a concerned look with each other, knowing full well what was about to happen.
"Oh, boy"
Steven, Jasper and Vidalia all ran into the garage. The kiln was now no longer stationary. Instead, it was jostling violently back and forth as though something was pounding at it from the inside. The surface of the kiln appeared red hot and the heat it was generating could be felt across the room. Short, bursts of pink fire were shooting out from underneath the edges of the lid and were likely only a small precursor to the erupting inferno that was inside.
"How much of your magic salt did you put in there?!" Vidalia exclaimed.
"I thought it be faster the more I put in" Jasper said defensively.
A few of the sparks from the kiln landed on one of Vidalia's work benches, slowly turning into a small fire, threatening to spread the rest of the garage.
"You're lucky I keep plenty of fire extinguishers in the house." Vidalia reached under one the nearby benches and pulled out a small fire extinguisher. She began to spray the white form onto the benches and tarps, trying to keep the flames from spreading any further, but the kiln then gave another powerful shudder, and a huge roar of fire came gushing out from beneath the rim of the lid, forcing Vidalia to retreat back out of fear from the intensity of the heat.
"It looks like it's about to blow" Steven warned.
The three of them watched with anticipation as the flames rose up within the kiln, appearing to be only seconds away from erupting all together. However, before anyone could make another move, Onion, suddenly, walked out from behind one of the benches and stood in front of the kiln. Onion was staring at the raging ring of fire with a happy smile, mesmerized by it. He pulled out a small bag of marshmallows and wooden stick. He then fixed one of the marshmallows onto the end of the stick and raised it toward the kiln, just as one would any typical campfire.
"Onion!" Vidalia cried, sounding terrified.
Jasper's eyes were focused on Onion as he walked up toward the fire, knowing at once that this was all her fault. Only this time, she refused to fail again. Any thought she might have had about rescuing her clay pot from the fire was completely discarded as there was only thing she had to protect now.
"Steven, your shield!" Jasper said.
Steven did as Jasper said at once and formed up his shield, readying himself for action. He held his composure as Jasper picked him up in one hand and tossed him into the air, sending him toward the kiln.
Steven then performed an impressive looking (though very unnecessary) flip through the air and slammed his shield down top of the kiln, acting as stopper to contain the fire within. At the same time, Jasper ran forward and threw her outstretched arm around Onion before he got any closer to the fire, pulling him into her chest in a tight embrace, as she crouched down to the floor, ready to use her entire body to shield Onion from any harm.
A second later, there came a loud and muffled bang from inside of the kiln, as it briefly jumped into the air and the landed again, before going perfectly still, the force of the explosion drowned out by Steven's shield.
Steven let out a small sigh of relief as he hopped off the kiln, which appeared now singed and battered, looking as though it might fall apart at the slightest touch.
Jasper stood up, cradling Onion in her arms. She then lifted him to look at him at eye level. Aside from a whiff of soot on his nose, Onion appeared completely unharmed and as unperturbed as ever.
Looking Jasper right in the eye, Onion then out a small smile and happily took a bite out of his freshly toasted marshmallow, evidently quite pleased with how things turned out.
"Well, this sure brings back some memories" Vidalia said dryly, blowing away some of the excess smoke from her face. "Guess, I'm going to have shop around for a new kiln."
Vidalia lifted up the lid of the kiln, expecting to see the extensive internal damage within, when her eyes going wide in disbelief. She reached inside and pulled out Jasper's clay pot, which despite all logic, was intact and without so much as a hairline crack in it. Vidalia tapped her finger against the pot, as it appeared to be solid.
"Hey, check it out." Vidalia said with a smile. "Your pottery survived, Jasper. It looks like your crazy and reckless plan to help dry it really worked out."
Jasper looked at her finalized pot in surprise. She then set Onion down on the floor and gave him a gentle pat on his head.
"Sorry about that Vidalia." Jasper said, accepting the pot from her. "I just really wanted things to work out this time."
"Hey, don't worry about. " Vidalia said, nonchalant. "I know you have got a lot on your mind right now, but whatever it is, you're gonna get through it. You're a rock. That's what you are, right? But whatever you are don't be a stranger, ok? Feel free to come back and talk anytime you want."
"Thanks, Vidalia." Jasper said, with a grateful smile.
In blink of an eye, Vidalia suddenly grabbed Jasper by her collar with an iron clad grip and with an impressively easy display of strength, she pulled Jasper down to face her at eye level, her expression turning cold and terrifying.
"But don't ever put my kid in danger again" Vidalia said, in a low and dangerous voice, which carried a threat of warning far greater than foe Jasper had ever in her life.
"S-sure" Jasper said nervously, a slight bead of sweat rolling down her forehead.
"Great" Vidalia said, smiling happily, releasing Jasper. "Now get out of here!"
Saying their goodbyes to Vidalia and Onion, Steven and Jasper left the garage and began walk down the street, back toward the Temple. Jasper allowed Steven to carry her clay pot for, as he was eager for the chance to admire her work
"So why did you want to make a pot so bad in the first place?" he asked.
Jasper stopped walking for a moment and cleared her throat before speaking. "Could you… help me with something?" she asked.
Steven and Jasper opened the front door of the Beach House, where they found Lapis, sitting alone at the kitchen table. Slowly, Jasper walked up to Lapis, keeping her hands hidden behind her back. Jasper glanced back at Steven, who gave her an encouraging thumbs up. Jasper took a deep breath and faced Lapis again, who took notice of Jasper, regarding her with a neutral expression.
"Hey Lapis. I wanted to give you something."
From behind her back, Jasper revealed her crudely shaped pot, now decorated with some colourful paint. Inside of the pot was a small bouquet of flowers, resting in a body of water.
"This is a pot that I made for you." Jasper explained. "As a way to say, that…." Jasper paused, her expression turning to one of regret and sadness. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I did before. It was wrong of me to treat you like that. I hope you can forgive someday for it."
Lapis said nothing and accepted the pot from Jasper without thanks. She then spent a few moments looking it over with an impassive expression, before she set it down the table.
"Did you pick these flowers, Steven?" Lapis asked, turning to him.
"Uh, yeah, I did" Steven answered, honestly.
"Thank you, Steven" Lapis said, smiling as she removed the flowers from the pot.
She then unceremoniously smashed the clay pot into pieces with a huge watery fist
Jasper and Steven stared in stunned silence at what had just happened, while Lapis simply walked past them both without another word, taking the gift of flowers with her.
"I ….guess she's still mad" Steven said, struggling to find a silver lining in this situation. He stared at the shattered remains of the pot with a guilt expression. "I'm sorry, Jasper. I know you worked really hard your pot"
Jasper picked up one of the broken pieces of her pot from the table. All that time and effort into making, now rendered meaningless, as she was left with nothing but useless shards of dry clay. Jasper closed her eyes and gripped the piece firmly in her hand.
"I can make another." she said, with newfound resolve. "I'll try as many times as I have to. Until I set things right again."
Steven smiled up Jasper, looking both happy and proud of her, before he seemed to realise something.
"Oh, so that means we'll be spending a lot more time at Onion's house?" Steven said, with a nervous chuckle.
"Think you've earned a break from Onion for a while" Jasper said, with a dry smirk, rubbing Steven on the head. "Thanks for the support, Steven"
Steven smiled back at Jasper, as the two allowing themselves to enjoy the moment of peace they had together. Neither of them noticed as one of the kitchen cupboards creaked open from above their heads, and hiding inside was Onion, silently observing Steven and Jasper with his ever-enigmatic smile.