"you weren't supposed to love me."

(my friend compared him to Caine, and I cannot unsee it)

Mama's gonna buy you another horse fly

Watch your step Jimmy.

[Image ID: GIFs of Ruby and Sapphire from Steven Universe sitting in a fire-lit cave. Ruby says "I've never had a third eye before." Sapphire replies "I've never had more than one! It was nice." /.End ID]

A change of vision

This scene is more complicated than it looks at first glance.

Ruby and Sapphire have just fused for the first time and are awkwardly talking about their experience. Ruby says "I've never had a third eye before." On the surface, that's just a statement of fact, as is Sapphire's "I've never had more than one!" Ruby's only ever fused with other Rubies, and we saw that the Giant Ruby still had only two eyes. Sapphire's never fused at all, so of course she's only had one eye her whole life.

But we know from both the show's subtext and from Crewniverse statements that Sapphire's future vision is quite different from Garnet's. Sapphire sees one future, inevitable, unrelenting, separate from her involvement. She does not interfere; she describes what is. Ruby is the opposite; she is a Gem of action and emotion, impulsive, without much consideration. When they are combined as Garnet, Sapphire's future vision transmutes into something more dynamic. Garnet can see multiple futures, and she can get involved to choose the one she wants.

When Ruby states that she's "never had a third eye before," she's subtly making reference to the experience of seeing in a way that's new to her--not just a simplistic statement of physically having a different number of eyes than she's used to. Through being part of Garnet, she had a new experience of perception. She saw outside of the right now. She saw beyond a life of taking orders and carrying them out without any thought of what's next, any shred of judgment, any expectation of consideration. Even though it was just for a moment, her world opened up in a tantalizing way.

And when Sapphire said she's "never had more than one," she was describing a transformative experience as well. There was always one way before. One future. Vision, but no complexity. No consideration for emotion, for desire, for passion. With Ruby's impulsivity, her chaos, her ability to make destiny change, Sapphire's future vision became multifaceted when she was part of Garnet. She, too, saw beyond in a way she never had before. Suddenly, futures could involve choices SHE could make, and though that was scary enough to freeze her temporarily, she knew she wanted to have an opportunity to take leave of her tunnel vision and see in three dimensions (and beyond). "It was nice."