Chapter Text
The night ran long. Steven’s blanket was warm, but staying still for too long was definitely off the docket. Spinel folded the blanket, set the bear on top, and put a finger to her chin. The lights inside the big box were dim now, which probably meant something, but what, exactly she had no clue. It was temping to go inside and find out for herself, but when she’d come close enough, she could see Pearl at the window, staring back. The white gem’s gaze was unwavering. Not unblinking, at least, but still weird. Whatever was up with that, Spinel didn’t have the nerve or energy to deal with right now.
“What to do, what to do…”
She had the whole world to herself, didn’t she? A whole wide world. Teeming with life and lights and sounds and smells. And for some reason, Spinel wasn’t sure she wanted to go past the beach itself. Maybe it was as simple as not wanting to be so far away from her new friend. If Steven came out and she wasn’t there to greet him, wouldn’t he be heart-broken? She couldn’t abandon him like that.
So… She looked around.
Combed the shoreline. Found small, funny-looking pink shell things. Round, bumpy white things. Some twigs and the barest specks of shiny green metal. The way the grainy stuff beneath clung when wet gave her an idea.
“I’ll… make something! Yeah!”
Spinel began to gather sand in comically oversized hands, taking chunks from beneath the waves. It had no problem sticking together, forming a huge mound close to the shoreline. She began to stack and form the shape, squeezing it all together and smoothing the piles out until they became a collection of spires. The towers in Homeworld had always been so impressive, even to her. Like each Bismuth had been dared to outdo the last. Taller, taller, more elaborate, more patterns, more shine. Spinel did her best to recreate that, a clockwise series of steadily taller shapes, saving the majority of her baubles for the final tower.
And then, an oversized wave crashed down, turning the towers to stumps.
Spinel frowned.
Maybe it would just be better not to bother.
Curly end of her pony-tail now dragged down with water, Spinel stood, and nearly jumped upon hearing a voice.
“That sucks. Those towers looked pretty cool.”
It was the Amethyst gem. But, Spinel had no idea where it was coming from.
“Yo, over here. No, here. A little to the left. Up a bit.” A purple, floofy, feathery bird sat atop a tall, jutting rock. And at its center was a deeply purple gem. “Sup.”
Spinel tilted her head. “How are you… a bird?” She’d never seen anything like it. Amethyst was small before, but nothing like this. It was a totally different shape, too.
“Whaat?” The bird tilted its head nearly ninety degrees. “I just shape-shifted. You know, like you were doing earlier?”
“Shape-what-now?”
The bird’s eyes narrowed. “No way… You don’t know what shape-shifting is?”
Spinel stretched an arm all the way to the cliff-face from the shore. “Like this?”
“Yeah, like that!” The bird’s head straightened, then cocked out. “You’re pretty good at that.”
She chuckled, other hand rubbing the back of her neck. “Well, gee, it’s nothin special. I was made to do it. But alls I know how to do is stretch and bend. I’ve got no clue how to do what you’re doin’.”
Again, the bird’s eyes narrowed. Amethyst was quiet for a little while, and Spinel began to worry she’d said something wrong. But with a ‘hoo’, the bird jumped, transforming mid fall and landing in its normal shape. The purple gem leaned against the rock with an easy smile. “You know, Pearl told me to keep an eye on you, but you seem pretty chill to me.”
She glanced back to the blanket. “Am I… supposed to be cold?”
The small gem snorted and laughed. “No, dude, it means, like, you’re cool.” Spinel stared blankly. Amethyst slapped a hand to her forehead. “I mean, you’re relaxed. Like, you’re not gonna go do something crazy any time soon.”
Spinel frowned. “Pearl thinks I’d do something crazy?” Maybe that was all there was to it. Worrying was part of a pearl’s job, after all.
“Yeah, she’s always stressing over something. Just let it roll off you.” Amethyst transformed again, this time into a long-necked bird with smooth, downy feathers. “Like water off a duck.”
Silence.
“Ugh, right, you wouldn’t get that either.” Her shape returned, and there was a pause. “Hey, know what? You’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Lemme show you around town.”
Spinel glanced back to the box. “I dunno…”
Amethyst made a dismissive gesture. “Steven’s not gonna be up for a while, it’s cool.”
“Not gonna be up?” She questioned. “Did something knock him down? Does he need help?”
Again, Amethyst snickered. Spinel might’ve taken offense, except that even accidental laughs were a reward. “Noo, dude, he’s just sleeping. It’s like, this thing humans do. They lay down for a while with their eyes closed and dream and stuff. You should try it, actually, it’s pretty good for when you’re stressed.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t sound like something I’d do.” Spinel answered quickly.
Amethyst shrugged. “Your loss.” She gestured again, this time past the beach. “Come on. Steven doesn’t get up ‘til sunrise at the earliest. And, usually he sleeps way past that. You’ve got time.”
One last time, Spinel cast a nervous glance back. Amethyst seemed nice. And… Steven wanted her to see more of Beach City anyways, didn’t he?
“Aw, what the heck, why not?”
“Yes!” Amethyst pumped a fist. “You’re gonna love this place, it’s the best at night.”
Really, what was the worst that could happen?
The whole way over, Amethyst talked about all the stuff she had to show her. The walk wasn’t long, but the purple gem still managed to fit an awful lot of words Spinel had no clue what meant in those few minutes. Mostly, Spinel was just focused on the view as it came. ‘Beach City’ was about the size of Pink’s Garden, maybe a little bigger. A peninsula set against rolling hills, jam-packed with wood and brick buildings just like the one Steven apparently lived in.
“So, there’s a bunch of people like Steven here?” Spinel asked, hopefully not interrupting.
“Oh, uh, I guess? Sorta.” Amethyst buried a hand in her long, lavender hair. “Steven’s a little different, but most of the people here are cool anyways.”
There was still a lot she didn’t understand. But piece by piece, it would all come together. The best jigsaw puzzles always did.
Suddenly Amethyst turned, and shot up her arms. “So?”
Silence.
Oh no, did she ask me something? “Sooo…?”
“So, what do you wanna do here? I’ve been blabbin on for a while, so something must’ve sounded good in there.”
Oh, gee, she really should’ve been listening, huh? “The… one with the games?” Spinel hazarded, fingers tapped together.
“Oh, Funland.” Amethyst grinned, and nodded sagely. “Good choice. The big park’s closed at night-- Not like that’d stop us-- but the arcade’s open ‘til midnight on the weekends, so we can still sorta do that one.”
“Oh, goody!” Spinel took a breath, and wiped her forehead when Amethyst wasn’t looking. She hadn’t bungled anything up yet.
The wood beneath was old and faded, cracks running all over the place. With every thumping step came a small creak, but aside from that and the wind, the night was quiet. Facing the ocean were a long line of buildings with colorful, elaborate signs and awnings, tall umbrellas held at the center of tables, flimsy-looking chairs tucked beneath. Farther down the way was a single building with its lights still on, a neon haze of colors and noise streaming out, jagged, wave-like patterns molded along the headboards above its entryways.
“This,” Amethyst gestured wide. “Is my Boardwalk Empire.”
Spinel blinked. “Really?”
“Nahh, but it sounded cool, right?” The purple gem grinned. She grinned too. “Pretty much every place along here's either got some decent people running it or something to do, so it’s probably where you’ll hang out the most. Honestly, I kinda used to hate the arcade, but that was before I figured out how to have fun with it my way.”
Mischief just oozed off Amethyst. It was in her eyes, in her smile, in her voice. Spinel decided right then that she wanted a part of that mischief for herself.
“Oooh, tell me more!” She clapped her hands together. “I love a good game!”
“First, we gotta go undercover.” The purple gem took her hand and lead them a little farther away, through a narrow passage between buildings. Then, to a place with a bunch of humanoid, featureless figures holding poses in some window displays. There was a small glow as one of the purple gem’s fingers became a key, and the swinging glass doors in front clicked open. “The guy who runs Funland isn’t gonna trust you if your gem’s showing. He’s... kinda got it figured out by now that we’re not, like, ‘normal’.” Amethyst threw up air-quotes with her free hand. “Totally not my fault, by the way.”
Spinel stepped in and looked around at all the appearance modifiers. Humans must have held their fashion in high regard.
“So, it’s like we’re playing a game of pretend, just to get to the other games?” She wondered absently, pawing at all the fabrics. “That must be tough for Steven.”
Amethyst was snooping around too, and grinned her way. “Nah, Mr. Smiley’s actually pretty okay with Steven. That’s kind of like, his super-power. Everyone loves Steven.”
“... Must be nice.” Spinel said quietly, picking out a hot-pink leather jacket.
“Here, put this on too.” Amethyst held out a long, black strip of cloth with a silver diamond pattern embroidered at the ends. “‘S for your neck. You wrap it around and let some of it dangled off. Called a ‘scarf’.”
Spinel stood in front of a mirror, zipped up the jacket, and threw on the ‘scarf’. Her eyes met themselves for a moment, and it was enough to make her wonder if her smile just then had been real. But, it had to be, didn’t it? She hadn’t even been thinking about it.
“Nice.” Amethyst was behind, and put a hand on her shoulder. “I like the look...”
Spinel blushed a little. “Well, you gave me the, uh, scarf, so…” All things considered, it was a pretty simple compliment. But after a few thousand years of not hearing any, it was a little embarrassing how touched she felt.
The purple gem took her pick and slipped on a black, oversized jacket with a hood that had a single pocket in front and a grey, brimless cap that hugged her head. The two left wordlessly, and it wasn’t until the tight alley that Amethyst spoke again.
“Hey, that doesn’t feel weird, right?”
“Whu, the appearance modifiers?”
“The what?” Her expression was dumbfounded, but then she made the connection. “Oh, we just call ‘em clothes here. Pearl said she hates having her gem covered, but I’ve never minded it for a little while.”
“Uh… dunno.” Spinel tugged at the jacket, collar flattened. It wasn’t totally covering her gem, just most of it. It felt a bit weird to have something hugging the edges of her light for so long, but the ‘clothes’ were practically weightless, and had textures she liked. “I like ‘em fine enough for now, I guess.”
“Cool, just checkin.” The purple gem didn’t quite meet her eyes, just carried on. “I know what it’s like to feel like you can’t say something, so…”
She didn’t have long to think about the weird sentence her new friend had said, because it was cut off by thoughts about the weird things she was looking at instead. Machines were scattered all around, and none with a purpose she could immediately understand. Some were a little taller than her, some were a lot taller than her. Every one of them was bright, or flashing, or blaring some kind of audio. It was… more than a little overwhelming.
“Oh yeah.” Amethyst bumped her elbow. “And if anyone calls me Amy, don’t freak out.”
“Why would--” But then there was a shrill shriek from the other side of the arcade. Spinel’s head jerked, and she saw a trio of what she could only assume were other humans. A tall, fair-skinned one with wild, off-white hair that curved up, a much shorter one with a red jacket, shades, and thin brown hair, and a dark-skinned one with curly, close black hair. The latter was the one who’d made the noise.
“Oooh, Sour Cream I cannot believe you actually won something from that.” ‘That’ was some kind of machine with a mechanical claw and a bunch of bright stuffed toys on a bed of small rocks. In the claws grasp was a bright blue teddy bear, slowly working it sway to an empty slot at one of the corners.
“Man, don’t jinx it.” ‘Sour Cream’ said, his voice low and sort of nasally. As if on cue, the bear fell from the claws grasp as it arbitrarily decided to loosen its grip. The one with the shades stayed still, while the other two seemed devastated.
“Wack.” Came his soft voice.
Amethyst was already ambling over, so Spinel hurried closer, determined not to be left alone in a place like this.
“Don’t worry guys, I got this.” One of the purple gem’s hands pried the slot below open while her other arm stretched and snaked through, coming out inside the machine and grabbing onto the blue bear. After pulling it out, she presented it to the tallest one. “Ta-da!”
“Hey, thanks Ameth--” Sour Cream’s words were cut off by a sharp elbow from the loud girl.
“It’s Amy while we’re in here, fool.” She crossed her arms. “Don’t get Steven in trouble.”
Spinel tilted her head. “So, why’s it Amy?” She managed, a little quiet. And who are these people?
Amethyst seemed to pick up on her quiet worry, so she quickly gestured to the three humans. “Oh, right, sorry. These are the ‘cool kids’, or at least, that’s what Steven calls them.” She snorted, teasing. “Tallest to shortest, that’s Sour Cream, Jenny, and Buck.”
“Sup.” Buck offered.
“Man, why you always gotta put it in quotation marks?” Sour Cream added quietly in the background, arms folded. Buck chuckled, then pressed on.
“You new here?” His voice was remarkably even. It had a sort of effervescent happiness to it, something truly ‘cool’, like a breeze on the wind. Jenny piled in.
“Heyy. Girl, that jacket looks good on you. I love that scarf. You do your own hair?” Her hands were together, smile broad and satisfied, eyes curious and intense.
“Uhh…” Spinel managed, blushing again.
“She’s not from around here,” Amethyst answered. “If you catch my drift.”
“Cool.” Buck said simply.
“You’re not here to hurt the Earth, are you?” Sour Cream asked. “Cuz we kinda just got done with that a few days ago.”
“No way!” Spinel answered. “I couldn’t hurt a thing. Uh, probably.”
“Ha!” Jenny laughed. “I bet she’s just like Steven. All pink and soft and stuff. Ooh, but listen to all this. Here we are, goin’ on and on, and we didn’t even ask your name. Pfft, why didn’t one of you two ask her name?”
“Whaat? You could’ve--” Sour Cream started but Buck interrupted.
“Yeah, that’s our bad. What’s your name?”
“Uh…” Spinel started again. Amethyst had an expectant look. Did she want a real name, or a fake one? If it was to protect Steven somehow, it should be fake, right? What sounded sorta human? “Spring!” Spinel blurted. She winced, and Amethyst cackled.
“Hey, I kinda like it! I gotta use a fake name so the guy who runs this place won’t track anything back to Steven. Funland kinda sucks, but Steven likes it, sooo…” She shrugged. “Anyways, her real name’s--”
“Ahem.” A new voice. Directly behind Amethyst was suddenly a large, bald man in a button-up shirt with an almost angry smile. Spinel hadn’t even heard him coming. “Well well well, look who it is. You know you’re not supposed to be here.”
The cool kids folded their arms. Spinel tensed.
Amethyst, with unblinking, straight faced obliviousness, turned to the man. “Like, what’re you talking about?” Her inflection raised, becoming sort of nasally and obnoxious.
“Don’t play dumb with me.” He pressed. “You gotta wake up pretty early to think a hoodie and a beanie are gonna be enough to put one over on me.”
Again, quietly, Sour Cream added, “I don’t think that’s how that phrase goes…”
Amethyst continued. “Like, I don’t know what your problem is, but, you’re totally harshing my vibe. I’m here with my sister, and if you don’t buzz off, we’re gonna like, totally take our money elsewhere.”
The man’s gaze turned on Spinel and practically pierced right through. Acting, acting, it’s all a game, don’t let her down, don’t-- “Yeah! Me and my sister--” Whatever that was, “-- heard this was a ‘cool’ arcade, so, uh, don’t be so uncool!”
“Yeah, sheesh Mr. Smiley.” Jenny added. “We were just showing these two around.”
At that, Mr. Smiley’s eyes narrowed. And after a brief pause, he began to walk backwards, never taking his eyes off the group. Still smiling. “I’ll be watching you…”
Spinel shivered. Amethyst groaned once he was out of sight, voice returning to normal. “Ugh, it’s like that guy never sleeps.”
“He’s definitely not human.” Sour Cream agreed.
“Wait, really?” Spinel asked, tilting her head.
“No, they’re just messing around.” Buck said, smile easy.
“... Oh.” She didn’t really get it, but after a bit of not getting it, her smile snapped back.
Amethyst blew a few strands from her face. “Come on, let’s actually play some games.”
As it would turn out, there were a few more steps before they could ‘play some games’. First, Amethyst had to agree to help Sour Cream with something called a ‘rave’ later to ‘bum some money’, but then Jenny reminded Amethyst that she still owed her a favor for some money too. Buck offered five ‘dollars’, but Amethyst insisted that wouldn’t be good enough to show Spinel all the cool stuff. She tried to convince her a few times that it probably wasn’t worth all the trouble, but the purple gem refused, confident that she’d find something for her to enjoy here.
Spinel wasn’t so sure, since the noise was no less loud and while there was comfort in a crowd, having so many people around her all the time was making her strangely weary. Fortunately, the cool kids dispersed as soon as Amethyst got her money.
“Finally, that’s done.” Amethyst declared, twenty of the small crumpled paper strips in her hand. “Sorry this is taking so long, I--” The machine spit the first bill back out. Apparently, coins were supposed to come out instead. “This… is so… Stupid! I’m doing my best here, and this stupid thing…”
Suddenly, something that should’ve clicked a long time ago finally did.
“You’re… really doing all this for me?” Spinel asked, almost shocked.
“Duh.” Amethyst answered. “You’re new here, and the Earth’s got… it’s got a lot more to offer than the beach. Or some rocks. Or whatever.” She scoffed, face hidden by her hair as she leaned forward. “I dunno, I just… saw the way you looked when the wave came down and I… it reminded me…” There was a pause. “I just had to do something, you know? It sucked.”
Spinel felt her chest seize. The words came out a bit breathless. “Well, gee golly…”
“Yeah, don’t mention it.” Amethyst said, and it sounded like she meant it.
There was obviously more to the small gem than she understood, but that was fine for now. For now, she’d have to focus on returning the favor, and really trying to like this place. Finally, the machine started accepting the green paper, and a bunch of coins plopped down. “Haha, take that Funland! Can’t keep a good gem down!” She flinched, and looked around for Mr. Smiley, who was thankfully nowhere in sight. “Alright, come on.”
Amethyst lead Spinel along, dragged Sour Cream over by the back of his hoodie (“Hey, what the--”), and brought them to a set of machines with long, gently sloped lanes that carried up into a big set of wooden rings with numbers on them.
“Kay, so, the way this all works is, you do really good at whatever game you’re playing, and get a bunch of tickets, and turn those in for prizes. This game’s called Skee-Ball.” She slotted in a coin on two machines side-by-side, and a bunch of not-quite wooden balls rolled down a gap on the side of each. “Sour Cream, you’re on lookout duty. I’m gonna teach Spring here the real way to win.”
Sour Cream, now recovered, stood resolute not too far away. “Aye aye ma’am.”
Amethyst nodded, satisfied, and without even looking, grabbed one of the balls and extended her arm across the whole lane, dunking it into the center ring. The machine made a satisfying jingle, and her arm returned. She looked pleased, but Spinel was reading the rules.
“Uh, Ame-- Amy, it says you can’t do that.” She put a finger to her chin. “No climbing, over-hand throws, or… limb stretching. Can humans do that too?”
Amethyst seemed shocked. “Ugh, what? Are you like Pearl? No, dude, playing by the rules is not fun. When’s the last time you played a game where following the rules made it better?”
She froze a little, thoughts of the longest game still fresh. Tried to cast back, past that point. Most of the games then were so simple that there hadn’t even been a need for rules. So, maybe putting a ball in a hole should be the same? But, still, it felt wrong. Something deep inside her didn’t like the idea. Buut… “I guess, one little ball won’t hurt.”
Spinel grabbed one and stretched her arm, just as Amethyst had done, and gently pushed it into the center hole. The machine made a pleasant jingle, the score went up, and the world didn’t end.
She was winning a game again.
“Heck yeah!” Amethyst cheered, and put another ball in. Spinel giggled, then started racing her. Soon the two of them were using both their arms, stretched halfway to close the distance faster. The machine made an elaborate jingle as both of them rolled a ‘perfect’ game, and they were both laughing pretty hard.
Suddenly, Sour Cream spoke up. “Oh man, sure is windy out there, huh?” The cue was so out of place and obvious that even Spinel understood the intent.
Mr. Smiley trundled up, smile just the same, and made a thoughtful hum. “Two perfect games, huh?” There was a device for dispensing coins at his side, and he thumbed one over to the machine in front of Spinel. “Here, have another one. It’s on the house.”
The intent was clear. Prove the feat, or else.
“Uh, thanks,” ‘Amy’ said quickly. “But, actually, we don’t wanna play this one any more.”
‘Spring’ hefted one of the balls, spinning it on one finger. “No, it’s fine.” She felt the weight, calculated the distance. “I’m real good at games.” Amethyst’s eyes were uncertain, but she gave a confident nod all the same. ‘Spring’ took a step back, wound up the pitch, and let loose. The ball sunk perfectly into the middle. Then the next one. And the next one. Amethyst’s jaw dropped, and Mr. Smiley was sweating. The final ball was the one to bounce off the center ring, and swished into the bottom hole. “Ugh, I’m so rusty.” She looked to Amethyst. “Hey, Amy, remember when we were the best at this game?”
Spinel smiled easy, and Amethyst’s open mouth slowly turned to a wide grin. “Well, duh, it wasn’t that long ago. But, you know, it’s a shame…” She turned to Mr. Smiley. “I guess we’re not gonna be able to enjoy the place with this guy breathing down our necks…”
“Uh.” Mr. Smiley’s voice pitched up. “Hey, no need for that! Spend all the time you want. In fact, here, have a few more games on the house.” He dispensed a handful of coins and handed them over. “We’ve just got some real trouble-makers out here, you know? Gotta be careful, hahaha.” And again, the man strolled backwards, eyes on them. Only this time, he was laughing forcibly. “Enjoy those games!” He shouted, before disappearing around a corner.
Amethyst waited a few seconds, then turned to Spinel.
“Woah, that was awesome, Spring.” She raised a hand, palm out. “Oh, this is a--” But Spinel already understood, and clapped her hand to theirs. That put stars in the purple gem’s eyes. “Only on Earth for half a day and you’re already lying, cheating, and stealing. Pearl’s gonna be pissed.” Amethyst cackled madly. Spinel didn’t know what that last word meant, and wasn’t so sure what stealing was, but it didn’t really matter. She was having fun, despite everything. “What do you wanna do next?”
“Uh, is there a dancing game?”
As it would turn out, yes.
Sour Cream and the other teens were cooperating on some kind of ‘zombie shooter’ now, while Amethyst showed her a game with two sets of four directional pads called ‘Stance Stance Evolution’.
“Don’t stress too hard if you don’t get it right away. It’s not like, real dancing, you just match your feet to the arrows on the screen. It kinda moves to the beat of the song, so if you’ve got some rhythm it’s not too bad.” She displayed by playing a grungy song with a lot of bass, obviously not too worried about her performance. There were a lot of ‘boos’ as she closed her eyes, dancing freely, flipping her hair and moving her hips to the beat. It was almost captivating, the way the light hit behind her. It was like nothing she’d ever seen on Homeworld, but looked fun all the same.
The song ended prematurely, and Amethyst gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “You can’t really cheat at this one, so, you know, just have fun with it.” She fumbled with the pad for a bit and inserted a bunch of coins. “Here, play the story mode for a while. It starts off real easy, so we can figure out what kinda songs you can play.”
Spinel stepped up on the pad and gulped, suddenly nervous. “So, is this the sorta game you can lose real easy?”
“Pfft. No? I dunno, ‘sup to you.” Amethyst thought a moment, then leaned against the bar opposite Spinel. “Stuff just kinda… doesn’t work that way here, I guess. You decide how good you’ve gotta be to win.”
“... I decide.” Spinel thought about that for a moment, but didn’t have long to before a scene was playing out on the big screen in front of her. A princess was kidnapped from the castle, and the king needed her to rescue the damsel from a terrifying beast called a ‘dragon’. She was a knight, whatever that meant, and her first challenge on the journey was a bandit in the roads.
It started simple, one arrow at a time, with a lot of space in between notes. Then two at a time. The beat was slow, and it matched the images of a fight in the background. She beat it. Then the next one, a haunting ghoul in a graveyard. A funky song with held steps. The knight had to hide behind pillars to get through. Then the next. A warlord laying siege to a town. The notes got closer together. Steps ‘drilled’ together. A wizard that made the notes invisible before they reached the top. Quad steps, Spins. ‘Gallops’. Distantly, she was aware of Amethyst’s cheering, but her mind was so solely focused on the game.
On the knight’s journey to save the princess he loved.
It was the final challenge. There was nothing in the world but her steps, this game, and the dragon-fire she had to avoid. It was the fastest her legs had ever moved, and she barely managed to scrape through. The knight swung their ancient, glowing sword, and banished the dragon to another dimension. The princess was in his arms, no worse for wear, and together they rode off into the sunset. She took a deep breath, swallowed, and turned to see and hear the amazed cheering of Amethyst and the cool kids.
It was the first performance she’d put on in millennia, and it wasn’t even on purpose. She soaked in the happy faces, the cheering, the praise, and swelled with pride, giving a stage-bow.
“Hey, you made it to the top of the leaderboard!” Amethyst shouted. “Put in your name, you got third place!”
Spinel thought on that for a while. There was only space for three characters, so she settled for ‘K N T’.
“K-N-T?” Amethyst asked.
“Yeah!” Spinel mocked unsheathing a sword and raised it high, just as the knight had done before facing the dragon. “I’m the knight of your Boardwalk Empire!”
Amethyst chuckled weakly, a blush across her face. Jenny elbowed her. The purple gem gave a dismissive wave and elbowed back. Spinel tilted her head, not understanding the interaction.
“Did I say something wrong?”
“No!” Amethyst said quickly. “I’m… glad to have a knight.” She saluted back, just as the king had done before the hero departed. The cool kids cheered again, and after a brief pause, Amethyst pulled her aside. “Hey, you wanna go make those sand-castles again?”
Spinel gasped. “Would I?”