[OUTDATED] ☆The Caged Bird☆ Steven Universe x Siren reader

part 8: education... under watch

Sure enough, from that day onwards, he had you remain within the flower dome, spending most of your time sniffing and tampering with the fragrant land flowers, making sure to be careful with them, as steven had told you to be. After all, he appeared to care for them as well as he cared for you, like they were real people. He also taught you how to care for them as well, making sure to use the right amount of water; not too much, or too little.

Speaking of teaching, he's taken up the time to teach you some human activities to keep you busy during your lengthy time in the dome, such as drawing, writing, using human technology, and reading.

Drawing was a simple task for you; you ran something that was called a crayon over a slab of paper, and bam! You're drawing. You've learned already learned how to draw certain things, stick figures and (animals) at best for now. It was a fun activity overall.

Reading and writing was a bit of a challenge. While you knew bits and pieces of it; you were still very quite new to the human language. Looking at the wierd symbols they called "letters" was more than confusing to you, let alone throwing them together to make a "word" or "sentence". You knew it should have been simple, if humans did it, you sure as seastars could do it! But it was just so... foreign to you.

Capitals, lowercase, UPPERCASE, punctuations, what kind of nonsensical jabberish is this!?

It all made no sense to you, but if you were going to be living amongst these land creatures, you may as well learn the language to fit in better. Luckily however, steven was quite patient with you, regardless of how frustrated you became.

And when you became frustrated, you'd bare your teeth and snarl at the project and either bite the tool you were using in half and/or refuse to go any further and pout.

If it got to that point, you'd need to be encouraged with treats, which were (fruit) slices and (candy) to continue on. It was painful, but with time, you managed to sucessfully learn and write a few words, as well as some sentences. though you both came to an agreement to work in spurts; two days a week to keep your sanity in check. and to top it off, after each session, he'd take something called a ukulele and play you some lovely tunes to help you de-stress.

He says that perhaps someday you could learn how to play as well!

Now using human tech was a bit more easy, though some things were just as confusing. Steven had to straight up LECTURE you on how to be careful when it came to certain things because apparently, something called "the internet" is a dangerous place to be.

So much so, he had to turn on something called "safety search" before giving a certain called a "phone" or "tablet" device to you and monitor something called a "search history.

Most of the time, however, you played on the apps he recommended. Which were educational ones at best. The one where you sling shot birds and pigs were better though...

And to keep you at top comfort, he offered you some of his old keepsakes to keep you company when the time came to where he had to leave the dome.

And speaking of leaving...

He rarely left the dome now that you inhabited it. when he did it was to either eat, sleep or do something of importance. And when he did have to go, he was incredibly reluctant to do so. he'd either stall until one of the gems came to check to see if he's coming or until you fell asleep.

Truth be told, you didn't like it when he left either. You felt a foreign loneliness in your chest when he disappeared through those doors. Not only that, but you hated the saddened face he'd often leave with. Not only that, but it was dreadfully boring. Even with all of the activities provided, you could only do so much.

Kind of a downside, but hey who were you to complain? He just wanted you to be safe. You didn't see it as that big of problem.

Not yet, anyways.