(Broken into three parts for easier reading)
–
A/N: This is a holiday gift to my lovely mollifiable.
When asked for a short story subject, she gave me this series, the characters 'Lapis x Peridot,' and the prompt 'Helping.' This story ended up becoming longer than I expected! It's almost like I love this series or something.
This one-shot takes place sometime between the episodes 'Beta' and 'Gem Harvest.'
I hope you enjoy, Max-to-my-Chloe.
–
"Rather than admit defeat, I decided to change my goals.
I told myself that I'd never really cared about learning the language.
My main priority was to get the house in shape.
The verbs would come in due time, but until then I needed a comfortable place to hide."
~ David Sedaris
Steven Universe
Life on Earth
–
"Mee-yurrrrghhh…"
The compact block moved a few more inches across the grass.
A contemplative pause. She shifted her positioning.
She tried again.
"Hee-uuurrrrfff…-!"
Another few more inches.
Peridot sure had a lot of...energy...But Lapis had come to notice that the ex-grunt turned ally built gizmos and gadgets for good reason: she didn't seem capable of doing much in and of herself, like most Gems could.
Lapis' time struggling with Jasper beneath the seemingly boundless ocean had made her even more durable. Strong. Being trapped in a mirror for so long had similarly hardened her spirit.
But Peridot's time on this bizarre mishmash of traits that passed as a planet? It had obviously made the scrawny Gem soft.
Or maybe it was Steven who had done that.
Steven, a hybrid Gem/human, seemed to have a knack for that. When Lapis considered it that way, maybe it...wasn't so bad to be a little soft.
"Grrr-eeearrghhhh...-!"
"Need help with that?" Lapis posed dryly, her arms having been crossed this whole time.
Panting grumpily, Peridot let herself fall to the dirt beside the heavy object she'd been trying to move. It looked like...some kind of container? Almost? But based on Peridot's difficulty transporting it, it must've been quite condensed and heavy for how small it was.
Peridot seemed to have ignored – or maybe not heard? – Lapis' vague offer. But she also seemed to be nearly finished. Her target appeared to be the worn device not too far off.
It was some chunk of...metal and mechanisms, human-built. It looked almost like those devices the humans used to quickly move to and fro in the absence of wings. Only this one was...smaller, more compact. Its wheels were tiny, and it had no protective cockpit.
Ignoring Lapis' question, Peridot kicked her little legs against the dirt, pushing herself back up to her feet, and tried again, putting her back into it. This, of course, had a minimal effect. Lapis then noticed the trail of flattened grass and shifted dirt that Peridot must've traveled along from the barn – how long had she been trying to move this thing?
"Eee-yaaahhhghhh...-!"
"Peridot."
"Huh?" Peridot huffed, looking up at her unamused roommate.
"Did you hear me?"
"Uuuhhh...-"
"What are you doing with that thing?" Lapis' eyes narrowed. "What is that thing, even?"
Peridot's eyes sparked with energy, her fists balled up against her chest, and she hopped a little on her toes.
"This is nothing, this is merely some archaic, electrochemical power cell. Pff. An acid-based energy source? No wonder humans haven't left this planet yet!"
Ohhhh kay. Lapis had...gotten her all riled up. Great...
"But Lapis, Lapis!" Peridot squealed as she pranced a bit toward the vehicle up ahead. "Those organic shards we embedded in the dirt?"
"Seeds?"
"Right, right! Yes!" she was shouting a little from the slight distance. "This will help us foster their growth!" She thrust her little arms out toward the...thing.
"Uh...huh." Lapis questioned her roommate's theory.
With a dubious demeanor, Lapis approached the machine that had become Peridot's current obsession. She'd move on to a new one in a day or two, but...for now...-
"All I have to do is get it working, by replacing its power source. And then...once I have it operational, it'll...make this whole...'farr-ming' process so much easier. We'll have a small army of Kuh-Orn soldiers in no time...Our experiment will be a success!"
And there was that smug little pride of hers. Lapis hadn't decided if she much cared for it when Peridot spoke and acted that way, but...it was at least starting to grow on her a bit.
Lapis took note of the manual and tools strewn about in front of this vehicle. Portrayed on the cover of the manual was a human, riding one such device, wearing silly pants and a silly hat.
"So...-?" Lapis wondered, her hands latched cautiously on her elbows. "What is this thing?"
"This, my good Gem-" Peridot beamed cockily, slapping her palm against the metal surface. "-is a...Track-Tohr."
Peridot paused for effect, her eyes closed and her mouth shaped into a proud grin.
"Aaaaaand-" Lapis slowly considered, "it does...what? Exactly?"
The edges of Peridot's grin withered. A second later, her eyes popped open, sliding sideways.
"Yuhhh-...It, uhhh...-"
Lapis smirked at Peridot's pride and excitement seeping out in an instant. It wasn't that she liked seeing Peridot be disappointed – it was more that seeing the oh-so-sophisticated Gem have her moments of confusion was kind of adorable.
"You ride it," Peridot suddenly cited (her voice cracked impatiently). Shuffling her way back to the blocky power cell she'd been trying to transport, Peridot grumbled hastily, "I-...I've done research on this...'A-Grow-Cultural' process, and...and it just-...You ride it."
"Of course," Lapis dryly acknowledged with a soft chuckle, following Peri with her arms still crossed. "Seems important."
"Exactly!"
The real reason Peridot was dead-set on repairing this chunk of human tech, Lapis figured, was more because Peridot had been getting bored out here amongst Earthy nature. She needed devices to fix, to fiddle with, to tinker on...So Lapis wasn't going to convince Peridot otherwise. It'd be like trying to tell Lapis Lazuli not to fly.
They reached the power cell, and-...Well, Lapis had to watch. Just one more time.
"Grrr-yeeeehhh...-!"
Yup. Still amusing.
"Um, Peridot?"
"...Yeh?" Peridot grunted through her recovery.
Lapis walked over to the block, wriggled her hands around it until had a firm grip, and launched herself up into the air. It was a little heavy, sure, but she was used to carrying Steven around. Mere seconds later, and the power cell was on the ground right beside the 'Track-Tohr.'
Peridot, in the distance, paused awkwardly. As Lapis dusted her hands off on her dress, Peridot called out to her.
"...Why didn't you do that in the first place?!"
"You didn't ask!" Lapis called back, shaking her head with a bemused smile.
Peridot was scurrying over with a bashful look about her, making her weird little grunts with each flurrying step.
"Well...I didn't ask just now, either," Peri realized, avoiding Lapis' smile and staring at the heavy block in question.
"Oh. Did you want me to...put it back?" Lapis teased.
"Nnnn-No!" Peridot spit out with a nervous laugh. "No-no-no, it's already…in a suitable location! Uh, thhhh-anks?"
"Yep."
"Yep?" Peridot grunted, puzzled.
"Uh...Yep?"
"I thought-...N-no, you say 'thanks,' and then...-"
"Right. You...just did."
"No-no-no, there's-...The proper response isn't 'Yep,' it's...'You're welcome!'"
"Well...'Yep' is what I...gave you..." Lapis was perplexed.
"Correct, but...not correct. Also." Peridot's expression had turned into a confused shade of...sour.
Ugh. And here they went, with Peridot trying to practice more human mannerisms and getting all caught up in them.
"Right," Lapis puffed impatiently.
"Uhh, no? Not right."
"Mm." Lapis' lips curled unpleasantly.
Try to do a nice thing for Peri, get confused by her response. Seemed to be the norm. Lapis was used to it. But it still disappointed her a little. Why that was didn't make much sense, but...-
"I...see you're not in a pleasant mood today," Peridot observed with a critical gaze.
"Have fun with your toy," Lapis sighed, forcing her wings out. "I'll be back at the barn, in case you need more heavy lifting..."
Which seems to be all I'm any good for, right?
Lapis' brief flight back to the barn slowed before she reached the building – she could see a familiar, thin shape of a Gem in front of their makeshift home, pensively poking at the ornament they'd hung on the front of the barn.
As Lapis arrived, she realized it was the Pearl that lived with Steven. What was she doing there?
And why was she so concerned over their decoration?
"Pearl?" Lapis called out as she came in for her abrupt landing.
Pearl's shoulders twitched up with alarm, inadvertently flinging the dangling rope she'd been pondering over.
"Lapis!" Pearl awkwardly cried, spinning around with a nervous grin. A forced grin. And her hands tied behind her back.
The two just stared at each other for a silent moment. Or two. Maybe three.
When you spent so long trapped, you know, time became a bit more flexible in interpretation.
"What...-?" Pearl started up. "What brings you here? Aheh. Lapis?"
"I live here."
No pretenses today.
"Y-yes, right! Of course."
"You know, because I'm…stuck here? On this planet?"
Definitely…no pretenses.
"..Elgh," Pearl eked out a horribly awkward sound, still…smiling.
More silence.
Expression unchanging, Lapis questioned, "What brings...you here?"
Lapis could feel her hands clenching at her sides. She didn't quite...mean to sound...mean. But she wasn't a fan of unwelcome or unexpected company. Not anymore. Maybe Peridot was correct: maybe she was in a bad mood.
Pearl delicately touched the rope tied to their welcome ornament. "O-oh, just...tidying up your...mess." The judgment was apparent, but Lapis had gotten used to ignoring it.
"That's not a mess. It's intentional."
"...Is it, though?" Pearl doubted with a courteous squeak in her voice, eyes squinting at the edges. She cast a sideways glance at their decoration.
"It's our meep-morp," Lapis tiredly explained. "It's exactly where it's supposed to be."
"Your...uh-what now?" A nervous, flittery laugh.
Lapis sighed, asserting herself in front of Pearl and straightening her collaboration piece. The Earthly horns and Green-Face were arranged back the way they'd had them, with the rope danging down just so.
Lapis dryly cited, "Peridot says it represents our forced symbiotic relationship with this planet, which we're...now stuck on. But...-" Lapis shrugged. "It reminds me of the day we started making meep-morp."
Pearl blankly stared at Lapis, opened her lips slightly, then closed them with a solemn nod, her eyes narrowing with regret.
"Ah," Pearl eked out pathetically, but with that...pushed volume, as if saying it loudly and politely made everything OK. "That...sounds charming..."
"Where's Steven?" Lapis wondered, cutting to the chase. "Why isn't he with you? Why are you here?"
"I-...I was...-" Pearl started, twiddling her lanky fingers around each other. "W-well, I was hoping you'd...tell me...why I was here." Another artificial laugh. Actually, wait. No. It was genuine – genuinely worried.
"Why would I...tell you why you did something...you did?" Lapis flatly demanded. She'd already gotten flustered by one know-it-all not five minutes prior. Her patience was a thin layer of ice and it was already melted. At this rate, she'd form that melted ice into a giant water fist and crush something. Or someone.
Pearl's lips propped outward thoughtfully, and she folded her hands together into a neat, symmetrical gesture against her chest. She lightly tapped her fingertips together.
"Where's...Peridot?" Pearl asked, sidelining Lapis.
"Why?" Lapis pressed, remaining stoic. She wasn't going to just get brushed aside here. This was her home now, and she didn't like Crystal Gems snooping around. They'd caused her enough problems as it was. "Just spit it out," Lapis added, letting her drole tone dissolve into irritation.
"Y-you see," Pearl began squeamishly. "I was told that my help was...needed. Here. Today?"
"By who? Did Peridot want you here?"
Ugh. Not another project. Couldn't these Gems protect their weird human city on their own?
"Actually," Pearl sighed, rubbing her index finger along the edge of her forehead's Gem. "Garnet told me I should stop by to...help. She...-" Pearl's eyes narrowed and her voice cracked again. "She insisted. She has a sort of-...N-nevermind, I just...probably ought to speak with Peridot. Surely there's-"
That was when a loud -POP- echoed across the field. From Peridot's machine, of course. It was followed by a low rumbling. The rumbling of some junky human mechanism.
Lapis and Pearl turned to see blue smoke billowing up from the device.
"Ooo," Pearl grunted with some disconcerted disgust. Creasing her temple, she sighed. "Did she check the oil? Did she...at least clean the carborator before starting that up? Augh, but what if it's the piston rings...?"
"The...what?" replied Lapis, disinterested in being a part of this nonsense.
Peridot was shrieking and squawking in the distance. She bopped the machine with one of her tools a couple times. This did not stop the smoke from continuing to spill out.
Pearl's eyes rolled a bit and she let her hand fall back to her side.
"Ohhhh, dear," Pearl murmured quietly.
Without another word, Pearl trudged her way toward what Lapis knew was going to be...another project.
Worn out from these rather unproductive conversations, Lapis entered the barn.
She spent some time absorbing these...'feelings' she got when lingering around the collection of meep-morp she'd accumulated with Peridot. They didn't seem to be doing much for her that afternoon, though.
She watched Peridot's artificial companion drift through her aquarium. It was...looking pretty rough and ragged, weathered by the prolonged time it had spent submerged. It was almost like being stuck underwater for so long shaved away at one's...everything.
Lapis then tinkered a bit with 'Occupied,' just for kicks. She still was a bit confused as to what Peridot found so hilarious about these ceramic chairs filled with water. Normally she had more fun with it...but she wasn't feeling it right then.
Lapis made her way around the room, but every morp she focused on only seemed to bore her.
But, like usual, she paid her last visit to 'Wow. Thanks.' Peridot's carefully constructed piece utilizing the recording device Lapis had crushed in her hand. Lapis ran her fingertip along the blue ribbon planted at the top of the morp. Lapis…liked the ribbon. Peridot's hunch had been correct. Though it had taken Lapis quite some time to comprehend why Peridot would actively want to keep such a broken thing around when it made her sad.
But by that point...somehow, it made sense to Lapis Lazuli.
There were purposes to stewing in the sadness. For one thing, they'd made her stronger, hadn't they?
Although, as she stared at the scribbled drawings on the broken recording machine...Lapis realized that this meep-morp even made her feel the opposite of sad when she looked at it now.
"Lapis?"
Lapis removed her finger from the ribbon, latching her hands behind her back as she observed Peridot lingering at the entrance.
"Hey," Lapis greeted.
"Whhhhhat are you doing?"
Lapis shrugged blankly.
"Passing time."
She'd gotten quite talented at passing time. If that could be considered a talent.
Lapis retorted, "What are you doing? I thought you were working on your machine."
Peridot dribbled out a funny, dissatisfied noise, then ranted with some disbelief.
"Pearl stepped in and told me to let her work on it. She said I'd just get in her way! Gaahhhh."
"So...she's helping us fix it?"
"Helping? No! She's-...she's undermining me. I helped her with the drill. She just…took over this one."
"But doesn't she...know how human technology works? A lot better than you do?"
Lapis stared with half open eyes of disinterest.
With squinted eyes of offense, Peridot stared back.
"...So?"
Lapis sighed through her nose. "...Right."
"I could've fixed it myself."
Lapis mumbled, "You could've also broken it."
"It's already broken. I couldn't really do any more damage..."
"You'd be surprised," Lapis murmured drearily, gently running her hand through a piece of the strange brown...ribbons...dangling from Peridot's broken recording device. She could feel a chill come over the Gem on her back, and she shivered.
Peridot dismissed the argument with, "I'd rather understand how it functions first-hand than let someone else do it for me..."
At Peridot's words, Lapis felt a strange sensation overcome her.
"That's...a good way to look at things, I guess," she admitted in spite of her own sour mood. She took her hands away from their meep-morp and glanced back to her housemate. "Peridot, you should let Pearl fix the-...the, um...-"
"The Track-Tohr."
Her lips slanted sideways with bridled disdain, Lapis nodded.
Lapis posed, "We should...go...somewhere."
"...Meh?" Peridot grunted out, her tiny little arms hooked behind her back.
"How long has it been since we've...taken a trip?"
Peridot tapped at her chin, and her tiny little foot tapped in sync.
"Are we measuring in Earth time, or...-?"
"Let's just go somewhere."
"...Where would we go? And for what purpose? There's no outstanding tasks to take care of, unless you wanted to start irrigating, but...I thought we possessed all the materials we needed for that already."
Poor Peridot still didn't seem to get it. So Lapis tried to explain it on the other Gem's terms.
"Fff. Peridot, I mean...we could take a break. From the barn. From...farr-ming. And a-grow-culture. It's not every day you don't have...something to work on."
"Well...sure, I guess," Peridot shrugged. "But, again: for what purpose? Why do we need to go anywhere?"
"We don't need to," Lapis said through a soft chuckle, scratching at the side of her head uncertainly. Maybe this wasn't such a smart idea. They might have come from the same planet, and were now stuck on the same planet, but...two different worlds... "I just-...It'd help me feel better? I think."
"Is something wrong?" Peridot pondered suspiciously, like trying to analyze "Did something remind you of Jass-...errrhh, I mean...-" The way Peridot's face flashed pale with regret was...cute. She seemed more wary of bringing up Jasper than Lapis was herself, which...felt nice.
"No, it's not that," Lapis put the Gem's worries at ease. "Hm...-" Lapis crossed her arms and tapped her finger against herself as she studied their collection of meep-morps. As usual, her eyes fell thoughtfully upon 'Wow. Thanks.' She considered Peridot's words from earlier. "You said you prefer...learning how things work directly."
Peridot nodded, still confused.
Lapis walked past her and into the sunlight beyond the barn's entryway doors.
"Look at it as...a way for us to understand each other's...-" She sighed, shrugging up one shoulder. "-...functionality," she finished, giving Peri a sly smirk over her shoulder.
She caught Peri's eyes glaze over a bit at the Gem embedded in her back – which she may or may not have been intentionally drawing a gaze toward.
"Ah," Peridot eked out in a sheepish mumble. "Like...-" Her face beamed with realization. "Like Percy and Pierre!"
Lapis couldn't hold back the laugh that emerged. Smiling to herself, she nodded with amusement, and a snort dribbled out through her laugh.
"Right," she conceded, looking out toward their recently planted plot of soon-to-be-soldiers. "Yea, I guess like those two..."
"Oh! We should visit Steven!" Peridot cried out, her excitement still gushing out. "Steven's skilled at attaining understanding of other lifeforms! Maybe he could teach us! Also...I could show you the bizarre room I was trapped in against my will! With a functioning toilet. Hilarious."
By then, Peridot had scampered out of the barn, eager to head off.
Lapis was a little...unsure of such an idea, but...if it was what Peridot wanted, all right. She was willing to give it a try – and then inevitably redirect their escapade somewhere less...emotionally stressful, when the time came to run off elsewhere.
And the time for Lapis to run away always came.
Lapis flicked up her arm, willing a fist of water from their small Gem-made pond to close the barn door behind them. As she proceeded to approach Pearl's repair job, Peridot followed, her little feet thumping through the grass with vigor.
"Oh, ohhh-ohhh!Maybe we can see if Steven has that missing disc from 'Camp Pining Hearts' Season 2! Then we'd finally understand why Paulette was so morally conflicted during her verbal skirmish at the Season's conclusion!"
Lapis chuckled softly as they walked together, long legs and short legs taking steps quite out of sync.
"I dunno," Lapis mumbled thoughtfully. "I...kind of like reading between the lines like that. Interpreting things we don't know with certainty."
"You like mystery," Peridot slyly observed.
"Yea. I guess so."
"But without the details," Peridot complained softly, "without a logical, cohesive resolution – fully and empirically portrayed – how can you be satisfied?"
Lapis let a gentle sigh spill out and shrugged. "That's fair," she dismissed the topic, not at all interested in another debate about the show. "Maybe I've...just gotten used to never being satisfied to begin with."
"Never satisfied with what?" asked Pearl, amiss from their conversation. She was wiping grimy black goo from her hands on a rag.
"Nothing," Lapis shooed away the subject. "Look, um...Pearl?"
"Yehhhsss?" Pearl replied slowly, her face already right back into the mechanisms before her.
Lapis asked, "What...direction is it to your...home? Again?"
There was a -clunk- as Pearl's tool dinged something in her haste to pull herself back out of her work.
"Beg your pardon?" said Pearl – she hadn't misheard, though she was certainly wondering if she had.
Lapis mumbled, "We've been...working hard lately on the land, and...figured we could...-"
"-pay our best human buddy a visit – in person, in the stone!"
Peridot had finished Lapis' thought a little too...eagerly. Pearl looked...concerned.
"Unless," Peridot worked in facetiously, "you'd rather I take that repair project off your hands and...fix it myself?"
Pearl's eyes rolled, widely and dubiously.
"I'd be...much more comfortable finishing this task on my own," Pearl explained, realigning her weird metal stick around a weird metal...thing, and...twisting it some more. "If you must cure your boredom-" She stuck her hand off in a direction. "-Beach City is approximately-"
-FWOOSH-
That was all the instructions they needed, thank you very much.
Lapis was carrying Peridot through the sky in an instant, her arms latched firmly around Peridot's. There was a certain thrill to the way the mass of Peri's arms tightened within Lapis' fingers. The way Peri's stubby fingers gripped at her own blue limbs. The poor Gem's strength was lacking in a way Steven's was not, and so...Lapis would have to readjust her hold so as to ensure the little green one's safety.
Peridot said not a word for some time, following Lapis' lead of silence and allowing herself to be carried not unlike a human infant. The sights of trees, of grass, of human roads and wheeled machines and...just all of the bizarre structures, all of the strange noises...it was a bit overwhelming. But the higher they flew, the less distracting this got. And the more Lapis could appreciate the simple truth of Peridot trusting her own life within Lapis' arms.
The lair of the Crystal Gems was not difficult to track down – the cliff with the ominous Fusion statue embedded within was...yea. Easy to spot. Despite being called 'Beach City,' there didn't seem to be many humans upon its beach. Lapis did not mind.
She also did not mind that Peridot didn't go squawking out something like, 'THERE IT IS THERE IT IS!' or anything of the sort.
Instead, the pair of them came in for a smooth, brisk landing along the shore, and Lapis cut it so close as to drag Peridot's feet through the sand and feel her arms wriggle with alarm, her little legs flail – and, ultimately, her triangular head flop into the sand. Skidding to her own stop, Lapis let herself tumble and roll through the grains of sand. So many teeny-tiny pieces of rock and stone, worn down by the ocean into massive amounts of miniscule specks. Even on a planet like this, water was mighty, making slow but definitive work of rough and tough rocks.
Having landed on her back, water wings tucked in, Lapis wiped blue bangs from her sight, spread out her limbs, and let herself absorb the salty sea air, the bright blue sky, the...-
-sound of Peridot spitting sand frantically from her mouth.
"What was with that landing, Lapis?" Peridot grumbled, shaking particles from her eyewear as she stood up.
Still sprawled in the sand, Lapis smiled.
"Felt like trying something different, I guess," she decided.
As Peridot approached, she grumbled, "Are you sure you're not...malfunctioning?" She paused, staring down at Lapis, and her tone turned low and awkward. "I-I mean, you're...OK, right?"
Lapis sat upright, shook her head wildly, flinging sand all around, and took a deep breath for the sake of enjoying the scent of the air. She smiled up at Peridot, whose expression seemed to get all the more flustered. For some reason, Lapis was feeling particularly interested in flustering Peridot today – and unpredictable behavior seemed like the fastest way to get there.
Lapis replied, scratching sand from her head, "I'm in a weird mood today."
When she looked back up, Peridot had her arm extended toward her – well, what little distance said arm could extend, ha. She was glancing off sideways. Yea. Flustered.
Lapis found the gesture comical (Peridot was way shorter, so she couldn't really pull Lapis up) but a bit charming at the same time. Lapis played along. She accepted the little hand, felt the little tug, and used her wings to propel herself to her feet. Peridot almost fell backwards, confused, but gave a sort of half-smile, half-grimace of embarrassment as she recovered her footing and realized what had just happened.
"I'm...-" Lapis drizzled out an amused but content sigh. "-...probably not making any sense today."
"You don't make sense most of the time," Peridot stated bluntly. "But...-" She grinned widely – too widely. "But that's life on Earth for you, am I right?" Her eyes twinkled with pride at her...joke?
Lapis wasn't one for 'jokes,' but...she found it kind of cute the way Peri was. And after all, Peridot seemed...to not understand jokes any better than Lapis did, only...Peridot put forth effort into trying.
With a little, single chuckle-snort, Lapis shrugged up one shoulder, surveying the empty beach.
"It's true. Maybe...we should try making more sense of it if we're...going to be living here."
"I would like to state that we have been exerting a lot of effort at understanding human culture, observing their phenomenon, aaaand adapting to it."
"Sure, but...-" Lapis approached the rolling waves against the shore. "There's always more we could learn." She made the incoming waves swerve around her feet. "There's always more to understand..."
"And we shall understand all of it by the time we're done!"
Lapis released her grip on the waves, letting them lick at her toes.
She countered wistfully, "Mm, but...the Crystal Gems have been living on this planet for...thousands of years, and...there's still so much they don't know."
"But Steven's only existed for...for such a miniscule period, and he seems to understand even more than they do."
Lapis was caught off guard by that plain sentiment. That was...rather true, actually. And Steven was half Gem.
"Oh, you're...right," she acknowledged. It was...pretty easy to forget that Steven wasn't...as old as his Gem. Quite a...weird conundrum. He didn't seem to retain the knowledge, nor memories of his Gem, but...then, how could he know so much about Earth in so short a time?
"I've been considering the circumstances," Peridot went on, "and I've realized that the deciding factor seems to be that Steven exists amongst humans for a large portion of time. He intentionally absorbs and observes Earth's traits, human culture, all of it! Almost constantly."
"Sounds exhausting," Lapis ruminated.
"Certainly, certainly," Peridot conceded. She raised her palms up cautiously as Lapis walked away from the ocean's edge. "Hear me out, though: this far-ming process, it could be just the beginning. Think of what knowledge, what understanding we could obtain from even occasional visits to a real human ecosystem?"
That idea sounded like the exact opposite of what Lapis wanted.
But Peridot was...so...excited about it. And Lapis knew how. She knew why: Steven.
Steven seemed to have that kind of effect on Gems. Or, well, anyone, really, from what Lapis could tell.
Lapis walked through the sand, past Peridot, toward the house by the cliff. With each step, hundreds of miniscule mineral particles clung to her damp feet. Sand was...so different when it wasn't submerged in water. It took on a whole new life. Dry, wet, or fully submerged, sand operated differently, depending on the circumstances around it. So many things on this planet seemed to do this – change, transform – and there were so many opportunities for them to do so.
And here she'd been...sitting. Struggling. Locked away. Tied down.
Stuck.
And now that she was free, what had she been doing with her freedom?
Not much of anything.
Lapis Lazuli had gotten so used to...having nothing to do, she'd...started doing nothing.
Maybe Peridot could see this.
Maybe she couldn't.
Maybe Peridot was right, either way.
"I-I mean," Peridot hastily amended, following her roommate across the beach. "I might be a bit, urhh, over-eager on this, so...so don't take it as a forced-"
"Let's do it."
"...Meh?"
As they walked through the warm sand, Lapis marveled quietly at the mighty image of an imposing Fusion she'd never heard of, portrayed in withered stone, towering before them in the distance.
She replied to Peridot, "I think you're right. Life on Earth...it doesn't mean the same thing as living on Earth. Maybe-...Maybe that's what we're missing."
Lapis kept her eyes locked on the...downright strange structure before her. How could Gems willingly choose to dwell in such an...ugly little thing? There was barely any space, from the look of it. But, well...this was how humans lived, apparently.
"Uh...Lapis?" Peridot eked out dubiously. Fretfully. "I'm, erh...not sure I follow."
"That's OK," Lapis decided, having expected such a response. "I'll...try to explain it to you later."
"Mreh."
The building was close now.
Peridot began to get worked up with her vigor.
She whispered enthusiastically, "Steven will be startled by our presence! I mean, us, visiting him? Expectations will be rearranged!"
"Yea," said Lapis, pausing as she reached the archaic stairs. The railing was dry and rough against her hand. Like their new home in the barn. Were all human living spaces...like this? "It'll...be a nice surprise for him, won't it?"
Peridot sprinted past Lapis, scampered up the steps on all fours. The wood rattled beneath her speed, and Lapis pursued, each step bringing a new creak, a new flex, and new question.
"Steeeeeeev-eghh?!"
Peridot had stopped by the entrance way, fists latched to her hips, and had called out for attention...only to be startled by what revealed itself.
"Hello."
The voice was calm, controlled, and...unsurprised.
"Guh-guh-Garnet!" Peridot squeaked out sheepishly. "Hello!..There...Also!"
Lapis reached the top of the stairs and noted the unique Fusion looming before them, blocking their entry. The cold, sterile expression...it unsettled her a bit. But...perhaps being calm and sterile was better for a Fusion than being angry and chaotic.
Garnet said nothing. She just...stood there.
"Um...-" Lapis wasn't in the mood for another Crystal Gem to be...holding her back.
"Steven's not here," Garnet replied simply. "He's training with Amethyst."
"...Training?" Peridot said with some disappointment.
"Yup," said Garnet.
"Like...combat training?" Lapis asked, uneasy about the very idea of Steven...hurting anyone. Or even learning how to hurt anyone.
"Exactly like," said Garnet.
She wasn't budging an inch, or emoting...anything. Hm.
"Can we...-" Lapis crossed her arms, paused, and swallowed her frustration. "-...maybe wait for him?"
Garnet adjusted her reflective eyepiece. It shimmered in the light reflecting from the beach, the sea behind them.
"Sure," said Garnet. This time, however, she shrugged.
And they all stood. For a few seconds.
Quietly.
Awkwardly.
Peridot started laughing. It began with an 'aha' kind of laugh, and...then she kind of pushed it further.
"Oh, Garnet, you-...you're hilarious! We were...-!" Peridot nudged Lapis' shin with her elbow. "Lapis, Garnet was...just going to have us literally wait here! In place! Unmoving! Earth humor is...just...-!"
"Can we wait inside?" Lapis demanded, that icy patience having melted again. She tried to stare Garnet down, but...it was hard to read how Garnet felt about this question.
Garnet nodded. Then shifted herself two enormous steps to the left. Then stood...quietly.
Peridot gasped with giddy glee as she scrambled in. Lapis followed – cautiously.
Garnet didn't move.
Peridot cackled maniacally, thrusting up her fists.
"At long last, we can witness the episodes of Season 2 which have eluded us for so long!"
Peridot continued to laugh...or grunt? Sort of both.
She made way for a raised section of this...strange living structure. Lapis could see a video block residing on the floor up there.
Lapis was...less comfortable charging headlong into this place.
Garnet was just...standing there. Guarding? Making sure they didn't...touch something they shouldn't? Or...-?
Whoa.
Lapis was momentarily stunned. She'd forgotten: the Crystal Gems housed a warp pad here. There was a brief moment where Lapis was tempted to just...warp. Somewhere. Anywhere. Alone.
She could be alone.
But her flights of fancy were quickly weighted down by the reminder that, according to Peridot, it was a bust. The warp pads of this planet had no direct line to Homeworld. Still...-
"She'd be quite upset."
Wait...what?
Garnet had spoke. And it had sent a shiver down Lapis' Gem.
Lapis looked over her shoulder to the Fusion.
Garnet spoke again.
"Humor her. She'll get bored soon enough."
Lapis felt a bit light-headed for just a moment. Did Garnet really know Peridot that well?
"LAZULI! LAZULI! HEY, HEY, LAZULI!"
Peridot was shrieking with excitement from the second floor of Steven's home, raising her voice much higher than was necessary.
"What is it?" Lapis asked, a bit of laughter leaking through.
"I REQUIRE ASSISTANCE! WE SHALL SAVOR GLORIOUS SATISFACTION FROM THE KNOWLEDGE OF EVENTS YET WITNESSED!"
–
"But why don't they stop...crying? I mean, what's the function of crying if they're happy?"
"Maybe they're not happy."
"How could they not be? The metal instrument forgave the green fruit. The conflict has been resolved."
"I'm...not sure it's as simple as that."
"Is this how our fruit soldiers will operate after germinating?"
"How would I know?"
"You've lived here."
"I've existed here."
"R-right...Well. I suppose we'll just need to discipline our Kuh-Orn army properly to avoid these Earthly habits of...crying. It may be messy, but I'll likely have to excise some from our ranks to set a clear example for the rest."
Upon attempting to use Steven's video disc device, Peridot had realized she had no idea where the missing disc of 'Camp Pining Hearts' was located. She'd just...assumed it would've been in plain sight, apparently. That assumption was incorrect.
Instead, Lapis and Peridot had found a program called 'Sad Breakfast Friends' already inserted. They'd tried watching a couple of episodes, but had only emerged further confused. Peridot had become fixated on how the organisms portrayed had faces and everything, but she then became frustrated by how said organisms spent all of their time being sad. Lapis had explained this was...clearly in the title of the show. But-...
Having finished the current episode, Lapis ejected the video disc while Peridot rambled under her breath about a-grow-cultural factors which would result in plant soldiers possessing the 'desired traits' for combat.
Lapis tuned out this talk, spacing out a bit in her own head as she found herself wondering what Peridot would do if their seeds really did grow into soldiers. Part of her...didn't want that. Part of her would prefer crying fruits to soldiers.
Before Lapis knew it, Peridot was downstairs, complaining to Garnet. With a quick glide, Lapis landed beside them.
"What? What do you mean he's going to be busy?"
"I have Crystal Gem business I need his help attending to when he returns."
"But you told us we could wait."
"You can."
"But...-!"
Lapis clamped a hand on Peridot's head, calming her.
Lapis asserted, "We'll...just come back some other time."
Garnet nodded. She then walked past them.
"Buhh...-!" Peridot whimpered with frustration. "But we came all the way here to see Steven! What are we supposed to do now?"
"You'll figure something out," said Garnet.
Garnet walked to Steven's short table, picked up something, then came back over.
Garnet handed the object to Lapis.
"Here," said Garnet.
Lapis was puzzled. It was...some green colored...flat...thing. A piece of paper? It had the image of a human face on it, surrounded by human language and...intricate patterns.
Lapis lifted her hand to accept the object, but paused with hesitation.
"What's this?" Lapis suspiciously wondered.
"Something you'll need," said Garnet.
Lapis felt Garnet's stare piercing through her from behind the orange eyepiece she wore. Her Gem tingled a bit, and she took the piece of green paper in her hand.
Peridot gasped, tugging at her cheeks as she gawked at this exchange.
"I know what that is...!" Peridot whispered with awe. "That...is human currency!"
"Correct," said Garnet. "Greg left some for Steven, but...I think you need it more than he does right now."
"Lapis-Lapis-Lapis...!" Peridot tugged at Lapis' skirt. "I know exactly how to use this!"
"Do you, now?" said Lapis, leveling the paper just out of Peri's reach.
"Yes-yes!" Peridot excitedly insisted, grasping her little hands up.
Lapis couldn't help but smile a little, confused as she was.
She lowered her hand, allowing Peridot to snatch the currency.
"Let's go already!" Peridot squealed, bouncing on her little feet.
"OK," Lapis conceded. She could already feel herself getting exhausted from Peri's abundance of energy over this.
But when she looked up to Garnet, Lapis was surprised.
Garnet was smiling.
"Have fun, you two," said Garnet.
Lapis felt her back shiver, but...this time in a warm way, rather than a cold one?
Lapis found herself being dragged outside by the edge of her skirt.
"Um, thanks," Lapis managed to eke out whilst being removed from the Crystal Gems' lair.