Lapis Lazuli had come to appreciate several features the Earth had to offer ever since she decided to stay on the planet. Steven was perhaps her favorite thing. He had a kind heart and was willing to listen to anything she was willing to say. She also came to love nature and the plants and the insects that would crawl on her arms as she laid in the fields near the barn. She'd fly over the forests of trees and the bustling beachside city that Steven called home. It was far from Homeworld, but she was warming up to it very quickly.
Oddly enough, another humanly thing Lapis came to enjoy was listening to ASMR. Steven purchased both her and her new roommate, Peridot, a mobile device called a tablet. It had a touchscreen and was able to access another world full of endless data and content. Peridot was the one hogging it most of the time, recording herself talking for minutes on end about her Earthly discoveries and the latest episodes of that Camp Pining Hearts program. But when her smaller green roommate was occupied with another task, Lapis would steal it for her own use. She'd always be on this video streaming application, just occupying her time. There was a search feature, where she'd type whatever she was feeling to infinite results. She'd find videos of the sea, earth foods, and animals performing funny behaviors.
One day, Lapis was in a tense state of mind. She had remembered her days trapped in a mirror, and when she was fused with Jasper under the ocean. As much as she'd like to forget, the pain returns whenever she least expected it. She needed a distraction; something to help her relax. Lapis flew to Peridot's side of the barn, swiped the tablet off of her worktable, and brought it back to her corner. She opened the app, and simply typed the word 'relax.' Thousands of results popped up, and amongst the compilations of relaxing music Lapis was disinterested in, she found the video entitled 'ASMR Microphone Brushing with Whispers and Tapping.'
Clicking on the video, Lapis was greeted to a human woman sat behind a microphone and whispering about what she was about to do, which she found a bit redundant. The woman began rhythmically tapping her fingers on the edges of the fuzzy microphone and whispering about random things going on in her life. The nerves on Lapis' mind went away very soon since playing the video and her ears began…almost tingling. The gem closed her eyes and began falling into sleep, her mind clearing to a blank state. It was not much longer before her short roommate began shaking her awake, begging for the tablet back to record her observations. Lapis awoke feeling like a new gem, and was in a good enough mood to hand it back with no snarky banter.
She went back revisited and discovered new ASMR videos almost daily. Even if she was already calm and relaxed, Lapis would lay down in a pile of hay in the barn and rest easy as the sounds of pops, taps, and whispers filled her ears. She narrowed down her favorite auditory 'triggers' that certain ASMR users would use. The videos were generally really long and she'd waste a lot of the tablet's battery from keeping the app running, which would always cause Peridot to yammer and ramble. Still, Lapis had found peace in these videos, and were definitely one of her favorite features of this planet.
An unfortunate afternoon had arrived. Lapis' mind had relapsed and the visions of her days of imprisonment as Malachite attacked her all at once. She couldn't block it out, and it pestered her to no end. She needed her tablet; she needed her whisper videos. It was nowhere to be found. Shakily, she climbed the ladder to the loft of the barn where Peridot was stationed on the couch, watching her camp-related romantic dramas.
"P-peridot…" She gasped, grabbing hold of her barn mate's shoulder. "Where is the tablet? I need my videos."
The green gem didn't break eye contact with the television. "It's right here." She held up the rectangular device in her hand. "But unfortunately, it has no use. The battery is drained and the electrical power converter is gone."
Lapis nearly exploded. "You lost it?!"
"I didn't lose it! I simply misplaced it when shifting my tools of studies on my desk. It's gotta be here somewhere, you just didn't search well enough." Peridot turned to face the shattering blue gem.
The water gem practically collapsed onto the empty end of the couch. "Peridot, please…I'm not in the mood. I need my videos. I'm about to break down if I can't listen to them."
"What?! You mean those autonomous sensory meridian response sequences? The ones that kill the battery in the tablet in the first place?"
"I need them…" Lapis practically curled into a ball on the couch and began breathing heavily and squeezing her eyes shut.
Peridot had no idea what to do except place one of her hands on the gem of her accomplice. "There's really not much you can do. The tablet won't power on. The only possible solution would be that I perform these for you- "
Lapis swung her head around at a moment's notice. "Please, Peri!" Their faces were mere inches apart. "Just…whisper in my ear…" Peridot's face had flushed a dark shade of green, as she slowly reached for the remote to pause her episode. Once the barn was quiet and easy, she cautiously motioned the gem to scoot closer to her, which she did.
"Uh…okay…" She carefully hushed her voice to as close of a whisper as she could accomplish. She moved her head so that her lips were next to Lapis' ear. "So…what do you…uh…want me to whisper about?"
"Anything. Just, anything to take my mind off of…her..." It took Peridot a second to realize that she was referring to her former escort. Lapis had readjusted herself to where she was almost in Peridot's lap, in between where the smaller gem's legs cling around her waist.
She thought for a second. "Well…I could describe what I see in this barn."
"That's…good."
"Well, okay…uh…" Peridot's eyes scanned the barn, and began her whispered analysis. "First of all, the telecommunication cube is right in front of us, which I've been using to display my new program of study Camp Pining Hearts. And uh…there's a pile of paint cans, of which I've been strapping to my gravity connectors in order to enhance my height. And…"
Lapis, normally, would find her roommate's techno babble to be irritating and absolutely unnecessary. However, the gem began to notice her mind was becoming fuzzier and fuzzier, and less like the pounding she was experiencing a moment before. It seemed that Peridot's improvised ASMR was actually working, and she was calming down tremendously.
She closed her eyes and whispered back to Peridot while she was in the middle of rambling about the hole in the side of the barn. "Peri? Could you, um, like, tap your finger against the outside of my ear? I know it's weird, but it's one of my favorite noises."
"Oh, uh…" The green gem stopped her speech, and raised her hand up behind the ocean gem's outer ear. She began poking and prodding at it at a consistent rate. Lapis was finally at peace; her mind was clear free of any of her troublesome flashbacks. Peridot began whisper again while she tapped near Lapis' ear. She described the latest events that occurred on Camp Pining Hearts, and how Percy and Paulette's ever growing relationship was completely sidetracking the plot and lessening the interactions he and Pierre could be having.
As she always does listening to the typical rants Peridot would deliver, Lapis' eyes were far too heavy to attempt opening. She gave in, and began falling into the weight of sleep. The last thought she had before starting her lucid dreams was that she wouldn't need ASMR videos anymore if Peridot was really this moving. If she ever has an episode, she's going to Peridot first hand. Hearing the whispers and clicks first hand in real time is way better than through her crummy ear buds.
Soon, Lapis was long gone in a sea of unconsciousness. Peridot didn't even notice until the bigger gem gently fell backwards and practically crushed her. Peridot was pinned down into the couch underneath her roommate, as she could feel her chest moving up and down with artificial breaths. Her face was covered in a dark green blush as her mind raced on what to do in the situation.
"…Lazuli?" She quietly enquired, not expecting a reaction. She was correct. "Uh…Lapis. I have something to say to you. Well, I guess I'm not exactly saying it to you since you won't hear me, but it's still you and I need to confess something."
Peridot surprised herself in how flustered she was becoming, even when she knew that nobody could possibly hear her. She cleared her throat and looked up to what she could make out of the ceiling.
"Lapis Lazuli. I know we may not have started out as allies, quite the opposite. You were my informant, and my prisoner. And I regret that, and I don't look back and approve of my previous actions anymore. I may not be on the same level as the Crystal Gems, but I'm much more pleased to be working with them than my previous mission for Homeworld. I'm trying to change, and I wish you could see that,
"In a way, I am confused. But I also understand you. You can have whatever opinion of me as you wish. Truth be told, Lazuli…I just want you to be okay. When you express contentment around Steven and the flora of this planet, I want to feel content too. I guess…you're the gem I respect the most. And I want you to…'feel better'."
Peridot stopped herself, as she figured what she said was enough for nobody listening. To the best of her ability, she forced her head forwards, and pressed her lips momentarily to the back of Lapis' head, just as she had seen the humans do on her show. Her body was sent into a rush of emotions for those few seconds. She pulled away and let her head hit the couch. There was not much for a gem to do in her physical situation but to close her eyes and experience the dream sequence her roommate was experience lying on top of her.