Chapter Text
Steven had suddenly remembered some kind of ice cream sandwich sale and had rushed off instantly on a determined quest to feed Connie all the foods her parents don't allow her to eat at home. It's sweet, and she doesn't mind the wait, but it's still a little awkward to suddenly be left alone with Mr. Universe.
Greg.
Greg Universe.
Mr. Greg.
"So.." At least he looks about as awkward as she feels, cheeks puffed out under his beard. "Swords, huh?"
"Oh! Swords! Yeah!" Yep, swords, Connie can talk swords. Connie can talk swords, and keep talking swords until they forget they're supposed to be awkward around eachother. "I've been taking lessons with Pearl every other day after school."
"Oh wow. Pearl as a teacher?" Mr. Greg's bushy eyebrows threaten to fly off his head with surprise. "Pearl as a teacher. Wild. She treatin' you okay?"
"She's a very harsh teacher. But in a good way!" She thumbs at a new rough patch on her hands, and laughs. It's funny, to be so fond about soreness and calluses. "I'm the cool kid in my PE class now. I've never been the cool anything before."
"Then let me officially welcome to Coolsville- population, you." He idly tunes the guitar, not quite ready to put it away. "So you've been at the temple a lot, then. Hanging out with the Gems."
"Just Pearl. A-and Steven, since he's part of the training now. I'm not really... hanging out with Garnet, or Amethyst. Sometimes they watch, though."
"Hmm. They talk to you much? The Gems?"
That's... kind of a weird question. "Well, Pearl talks to me. First it was just pointers, or old war stories, but now we end up talking books while sparring as multitask training. She likes to pick apart how wrong historical books are." The others, on the other hand... "And I guess Amethyst is pretty chatty, when she wants to be. But Garnet's about the same as usual."
All out of guitar to tune, he finally puts it away, fingers drumming on his legs. "Listen, Connie... this is probably gonna sound weird, but have- um, how've you been feeling, now that you hang around the Gems? Physically, I mean."
How doesn't she feel, really. "I'm always a bit achey after training from all the workout, but Steven always heals me afterwords. I think it's been making my muscle build faster?" Connie stops. She doesn't know why she trips over the next example. "He fixed my eyes. That's how we found out he had healing powers." She fishes a hand through her glasses. "I don't even need these anymore. I just wear them so my parents won't freak out." She scrunches up her face to squint at Mr. Greg. "You're asking a lot of weird questions. Are you saying something should be happening?"
"I dunno." He looks away for a moment. "Migraines. Dizziness. Weird head stuff."
What. "Why?"
"You know how Gems are, well, aliens." She nods, he nods. It's good. "Aliens that can speak perfect English."
"Well, they have lived on Earth for thousands of years."
"Jasper didn't. Lapis didn't. They hadn't been on this planet since the Gem War, probably never even met a human before Steven!"
"Oh. Oh."
"Yeah."
"So... how?"
"Gems... don't actually speak. They never have." He rakes a hand through his hair. "Not naturally at least. Their 'language' is more of a... song. This stream of music that worms its way into your brain and turns itself into words. How do you think Steven got so good at music? He's kind of made for it."
"So when you were asking about migraines..."
"Gem language has a lot of weird frequencies, and it can mess with our human heads. It really depends on the Gem, and their mood, ya know?" He winces at an old memory. "I almost passed out once listening to Pearl talk for too long."
If Connie thought about it, really thought about it, she could almost remember an odd pressure in her ears, after the first time she had talked to the Gems. But after her and Steven became friends... it never happened again. She had been so excited, so scared, so happy after all that day, that she had... forgotten.
There must have been something in the look on her face, to make Mr. Greg scramble to reassure her like he did. "Hey, hey! If you couldn't tell anything was wrong, it's obviously different for you. That's a good thing. It means they're learning, and you're part of that."
"I'll keep that in mind, Mr. Greg."
Steven runs back to them as tireless as ever, with a little more snacks than he had meant to leave for. The embarrassed giggle in his voice as it wraps around her name rings like a song.