#a perfect

Hi anon!=)

Part 1

—

Steven peered out of the tent, only daring to slip an eye through the opening. He saw Lapis and Connie still cackling in victory. Pulling back in to avoid being seen, he turned back to Peridot and Amethyst.

“OK, I think they won’t touch us for now. Maybe.”, Steven uneasily assured them.

“What was that all about?!”, yelled Peridot, pointing to the door flap of the tent, slightly bouncing from her sitting position on the layers of cloths and cushions that made up the tents floor, “Have they descended into complete madness?!”

“I don’t know, P.”, shrugged Amethyst, “I get a little freaky every few hundred years. Never wanted to, what was it, ‘conquer the world’? Nah, not like that.” Amethyst fell backwards onto a cushion, stretching out as she stared at the tent ceiling.

“Well, I don’t like it!”, Peridot huffed, crossing her arms, “Lapis wouldn’t hurt an insect, and now here she is throwing water at people! Especially me! Me!”, she repeated, tapping on her chest in emphasis.

Amethyst raised a hand, “She did nearly steal the Ocean. And she did say she went mad with power.”

“Hey, hey, hold on.”, entered Steven, “Let’s not get carried away.”

Turning around, Steven approached the open flap of the tent, peeling it away just slightly to see outside.

“Ha ha ha! Oh Lapis, you were amazing!”, shouting Connie, jumping up and down in front of Connie, making Lapis giggle in turn.

“Are you sure? I thought I might’ve been laying it on a little thick once or twice.”

Connie shook her head, taking a step toward Lapis, “No, you were perfect! Absolutely perfect! You were straight out of a comic!”

Lapis blushed, squeezing Pumpkin tighter in her arms.

Steven smiled, and crawled back in, “Guys, I think they’re just playing. Maybe Connie has shown her a few comics.”

Peridot squinted, “‘Comics’?”

“Oh yeah!”, declared Amethyst, “Yeah, that makes sense. I thought Lapis reminded me of something.”

“You collect comic books, Amethyst?”, asked Steven.

“Ehh, used to.”, shrugged Amethyst, “Got sick of them before we met Greg. Man, they went bad in the Nineties.”

“Can someone please explain to me what these ‘comics’ are?”, Peridot said, annoyed, putting ‘comics’ in finger quotes.

“They’re like…”, Steven started, “They’re stories, but full of pictures, and they’re about, like, superpowered people, and some of them are good and some are bad and they fight to protect people or to, like, rule the world, and stuff.”

“Hmmm.”, Peridot grumbled, only partially satisfied. “And you hypothesise Lapis and Connie are partaking in some…comic themed performance meepmorp?”

“Uhhh…”, Steven looked to the side, “Yeah.”

Peridot’s look of suspicion, after a moment of retaining itself, blew apart to form a face of pure enthusiasm, “Then we shall endeavour to join them in this! What do we need?”

Steven rubbed his chin, “Well, we need some costumes, I think. I’m not sure if we–”

“I’m way ahead of ya.”, interrupted Amethyst, before burst into a purple light as she shapeshifted a new set of something, what looked like a purple leotard with a cat paw symbol on her belly, with a small mask around her eyes and a set of sat ears on her head, “Whatdayathink? Puma Girl!”, she boomed, striking a pose even in her sitting position.

“That’s cheating, not all of us can shapeshift!”, complained Peridot, “And what are you supposed to be?!”

Amethyst dived to a pounding stance, lowering her voice into a gravel, “Lost to the mountains at an early age, I was taken in by a Puma mother. Raised on the values of strength, stealth and solitude, I came back to civilisation to fight injustice wherever it was.”

It her answer did not appear to be adequate for Peridot.

“It’s alright, Peridot.”, Steven butted in, “We’ll work on some costumes with what we have, and I’ll explain it to you.”

—

An hour passed, and at last the three heroes felt ready to leave the safety of the tent.

“Are you sure this plan is going to work, Steven?”, asked Peridot, scratching her arms in nervousness.

Steven reassured her, “I’m certain. OK, Amethyst, you first. Remember, they could have a trap out there.”

“Sure, bub.”, agreed Amethyst, before she dived forward, out of the tent, performing a roll before entering a combat stance. “Alright, Aquatic, show yourse–”

She was halted in her attack by the sight of Pumpkin, still with a mask, chasing a butterfly in circles.

Amethyst heard a few stifles of laughter from a distance, turning to see Lapis and Connie sitting on the ‘balcony’ on the front of the barn. Breaking out of their giggles, Lapis grabbed Connie by the  arms and formed her wings, bringing them both down to the ground.

“So, you’ve come crawling back? Have you decided to join my army of evil?”, greeted Lapis, getting back into character.

Amethyst turned her body to fully face the two. “No way, Jose! We’re gonna stop you! And then we’re gonna kick your butt!”

“Ha!”, snorted Lapis, “You’re brave, foolishly brave, for you are alone and we are many. And the last I heard…”, Lapis formed a water orb, “Kitties don’t like BATHS!”

The jet of water approaching Amethyst’s face was nearly as fast as the manhole cover that was lifted from its place leaning against the barn wall and was spinning towards her, and even if she knew the reason why it still made her flinch a whole lot more than the water did. Thankfully, however, it halted in the air right in front of her, in time to completely block the water, the jet splashing harmlessly on the side facing away from her.

Both Connie and Lapis were stunned, jointly stammering, “Wah?!”

“That’s right, clods!”, Peridot burst out of the tent, sporting a green cape and a large ‘G’ made of turquoise tape stuck to her belly, striking a pose, one that Steven had told her was ‘heroic’, beside Amethyst as she made the cover hover to her side. “Your troublemaking days are over!”

Connie had a look of concern, but Lapis took a step forward. “Hmm, a duo of do-gooders, then? Well, no matter, it is still three against–”, turning to try to spot Pumpkin, Lapis was dismayed to find them rolled over on the ground, taking a nap. Three distinct ‘awws’ were heard, causing Lapis to to turn back to Connie, finding a henchman incapacitated by the cute sight, and gave her a glare to return back to form. At last, she continued her gaze on the heroes. “Regardless, this battle will be over quickly, for though our numbers are equal–”

“No they’re not!” came a third voice from the tent, before Steven, in a white bedsheet fashioned into a short toga, jumped out, holding a bow and a set of arrows with suction cups. “Time to give it up, Dr. Aquatic, you’re facing the combined power of…”, Steven struck a pose, “Cupid’s Arrow!”

Amethyst put up her hands to make a clawing pose, “Puma Girl!”

At last, Peridot pushed a fist into the air, seeming to be punching the air, “And the Green Magnet!”

Another ‘aww’ came from beside Lapis, “Steven, you look so adorable!”, exclaimed Connie, causing Steven to blush and fidget on the spot.

Lapis barked, “Silence, Weirdtask! Destroy them!”

“Yes, Ma’am!”, Connie snapped back to attention, aiming down her sights at Peridot, only to be interrupted by the need to dodge an arrow coming from Steven’s way, diving to the side.

“Fools!”, shouted Lapis, swiping to the heros to send a wide stream of water towards them in an arc, “Retreat into the fortress!”

Steven, Peridot and Amethyst were all pushed back by the stream, but Peridot was the first to react, spotting a line of tinsel draped over a tree branch nearby. “Oh, no you don’t!”

Using her powers, Peridot made the tinsel pull itself off of the tree and fly towards the villain, it catching and wrapping around Connie’s ankles, flipping and raising her off the ground, immobilised. “Oh, ow!”

“Sorry, Connie!”, shouted Peridot, still manipulating the tinsel to pull her away from the barn door, which Lapis was just about running through. “You two, go get Lapis!”

Nodding in agreement, Steven and Amethyst ran in pursuit of Lapis, stopping in their sprint just before entering the barn. Amethyst turned to Steven, “You sure you can do this?”

“I’m sure, I just have to get close.”

Sliding in through the door, Steven and Amethyst found Lapis climbing the last rung of steps up the ladder to the second floor, turning around to greet them. “You’ve taken my henchman, but you won’t take me!”

Amethyst shook her fist, “Can it, you drip!”

Lapis snarled, “Ahhh! Away!”, and she began forming orbs of water, causing Steven and Amethyst to split in preparation for the throws. She chose Amethyst as her target, hurling the orbs down at her. Against her expectation, Amethyst did not try to duck out of the way, instead raising her hands to block the worst of the throws with her wrists and knuckles. She maintained a zig-zag advance, until she made a large jump up to the second floor.

“Stay back!”, screamed Lapis, drawing in some water from the aquarium to form shields, only for Amethyst to punch through them as quickly as she can form them.

“Enough”, Lapis boomed, gathering up the water just as Amethyst came within 20 feet of her, wrapping the formed ring around Amethyst into a cocoon.

“Oof! Let me go!”, Amethyst struggled, fighting against the tight hold of the water, but Lapis maintained her advantage, even having enough space to indulge in a laugh.

She stopped laughing once she heard the voice behind her.

“Put her down, Aquatic.”

Lapis barely had time to turn around before she saw Steven begin his sprint directly towards her. She had water, but it was all expended on holding Amethyst. She tried to look over to the aquarium, but it was too far awa–

All thought halted as she felt the blow to her chest as Steven ran into her, grabbing onto her and sending her down to the floor. She lost grip on her water as her head banged against the floor, and she nearly started to struggle as she regained her wits, but then she realised something.

Looking down at her tackler, Lapis saw that she wasn’t being tackled. She was being hugged.

“Dr. Aquatic.”, Steven began, looking up at her, his eyes seeming to get bigger. “I know that people haven’t been nice to you, and have done bad things to you, and you’ve been made to feel like you’re a bad person that can only hurt others, but I wanted you to know that are guys out there who think you’re sweet and amazing and one of the goodest people that they know. Well, at least I think you are.”

Lapis noticed that she had gone numb in shock, but she couldn’t help but feel the smile growing on her face, her cheeks flushing their dark blue, her jaw trembling. “Steven…”, was all she could manage, before giving in and wrapping her arms around the little boy on top of her, squeezing him tight.

“You three ok up there?!”, shouted Peridot from the ground floor, Lapis able to see her standing with Connie. She and Steven also looked up to see Amethyst getting on her feet, running a hand through her soaked hair.

“Yeah!”, answered Steven, “We’re doing great!”

Steven nuzzled up under Lapis’s chin, and she hugged him even tighter.

A Perfect, Affordable Beach Destination – Unawatuna, Sri Lanka

A Perfect, Affordable Beach Destination – Unawatuna, Sri Lanka

I’m sorry, Sri Lanka.

For many years, I chose to ignore you, to shun you, to shrug my shoulders and say “Eh” whenever you were mentioned.

After a quick 3-day visit to Colombo back in 2002, I never thought about paying a visit to your shores again. This was despite 30 trips to India, your neighbor to the north, and despite rumors…