"C'mon, c'mon Peri!" Amethyst hollered excitedly, racing towards the market stands. The green gem trotted after the rambunctious quartz, careful not to trip on any miscellaneous items left on the ground. Surprisingly, there was a lot.
They had come to the first 'Beach city market', where people from near and far came to set up stands and tents to sell merchandise, food, animals, goods, and junk. The stands spread out from the town square, and in some cases, were set up alongside the roads.
It was very loud and confusing, and there were lots of sights and sounds to see. Amethyst had to grab Peridot's hand in order to regain her attention, dragging her. The purple gem already had some sort of salty, starchy, spirally treat on a stick in her paw, which she quickly loaded into her maw.
Peridot watched in half disgust, half fascination before averting her eyes, realising she was staring again. She had been doing that a lot lately.
"Heh, you okay?" Amethyst asked, slowing down. "Is everything a bit much?"
"N-No, I'm brave!" Peridot replied, thinking that responding that way would answer Amethyst. And also account for her awkward gawking at the quartz.
"…Let's go see the animals." Amethyst suggested, perhaps thinking the green gem WAS at least a bit intimidated, and that the creatures native to earth would fascinate her more.
They walked for a while, unsure of where the animals were actually sold, before coming up to some sort of sheltered pen. It was temporary, like everything else in the 3 day market, but it looked more secure and set up than any other shop.
What caught Peridot and Amethyst's eyes however, was a girl sitting in a chair supported by wheels. Atop her lap was a small furry animal with long ears that sat pointed and listening on its head. It had a short pelt with earthy tones that looked nice and soft to touch.
The gems approached the girl. Amethyst smelt the distinct scent of muddied hay as she got closer, along with hearing bleats, barks, cluckles and snorts. She guessed they had found the animals.
"Hey," she greeted the seated girl. "Is this where the animals at?"
"Yep!" The brunette confirmed, giving her animal companion a little scratch. "We have a lot of cute animal friends here for sale today."
"Sweet" Amethyst said, stepping on the tips of her boots to see over the temporary undercover pen to look at what types of animals were there. "Ooo, Peri, look, they got baby pigs! Oink oink, hah!"
But Peridot was not interested in piglets. Or anything else, for that matter. She only had her eyes on the brown rabbit sitting on the attendant's lap.
"Why does this cat have long ears?" she asked with all seriousness.
Amethyst burst out laughing and the girl chuckled shyly. "It's a rabbit."
"Oh! That explains it." Peridot said without missing a beat. She continued to ogle it while assuming various thoughtful positions.
The girl watched the green gem being awkward for a while before asking "Do you want to pet it?"
Peridot inched towards the two and held a hand out, pushing it into the fur of the animal. Amethyst watched with a smirk, seeing Peridot become more and more enthralled with the rabbit.
Five minutes later, Peridot was holding the small creature. Its nose continuously twitched as it sniffed her, as well as making sure it could smell its owner's familiar scent.
The green gem pet it happily, shuffling on her feet. Her fingers trailed through the strange but alluring mix of brown and black, and she examined the white on its nose. "Cool" she said in that adorkable voice of hers.
While she was in her own little world with the rabbit, Amethyst watched many of the stalls closing down for the early evening. She decided it was time for the two to head home. They had got there late, the reason they only spent a short amount of time there.
"C'mon nerd, let's go home." She beckoned, waiting for Peridot to put down the rabbit and follow her home.
But it seemed Peridot forgot or didn't adhere to step one. Returning the rabbit. The green gem walked towards Amethyst with the rabbit in her arms. "Coming!"
"Hey! My bunny!" the girl cried as Peridot unwittingly walked away with her cherished pet bunny.
Fortunately, it was all resolved without injury or lawsuits as Amethyst got it out of Peridot's grip and back into its owners.
"Sorry 'bout that, eheh."
The green gem scowled. They set off for home.
Amethyst decided to walk back with Peridot to her shared barn. The sun took its time lazily, as did they.
"Hey, you really seemed to like that rabbit." she commented, turning her head to the green gem. Hair fell over one eye again, and her other eye peeked out to view Peridot.
Peridot seemed to be shaken out of her thoughts. "Hmm? Oh, yes. I didn't even know that those creatures existed until today." She admitted distractedly.
"Yeah?" Amethyst had never heard anyone say that they didn't know what a rabbit was before. Times like these hit her like a trainwreck; she often forgot that Peridot was not from Earth and knew actually quite little about it. She ended up saying "Well, I guess they are pretty shy."
"That one was friendly." Peridot reminisced contently.
"Most rabbits let you pat 'em pretty easy. But you're right. It was tame."
The grass crunched underneath them as they trod on, a dog barking somewhere distant. Then silence. "I wish we purchased one." Peridot sighed.
"I told you this before. If you got one, you woulda had to feed it every day and clean its poop. You gotta get bunny supplies too." Amethyst reminded, internally cringing at herself for sounding like Pearl. "Plus, we didn't bring enough money to buy it."
"I can do those things!" Peridot snapped, turning to Amethyst sharply. "And, I could have gotten the adequate amount of earth currency from Pearl if you informed me earlier that you didn't bring any!"
"C'mon, don't start this again." Amethyst whined. Getting the rabbit from Peridot had actually been a bit of a hassle. She was still ruffled. "You and Lapis already have doggy pumpkin. Isn't that enough?"
"Veggiehead isn't soft! And he's heavy to carry!" Peridot growled. "He's also very noisy!"
"He doesn't need any food! And he won't croak easy!" Amethyst argued back, knowing Peridot would be upset if she bought a rabbit and it passed away. She was also aware of the astonishing difference in lifespans between pet and owner, a reason she herself never owned pets. That was the true reason why she didn't want the green gem to get a bunny. She didn't want to see her best friend sad.
"It won't 'croak' if it's a rabbit, Amethyst!" Peridot yelled, voice escalated and euphemism misunderstood.
Amethyst took a cautious step forward, arms out. "Not what I meant. I don't wanna fight about this."
"I can make my own decisions, and I decide that I want to fight!" she growled irrationally. "And get a rabbit!" she added stubbornly.
Amethyst grabbed her thin wrist. "You remember the goldfish, don't you?" she warned, bringing a misfortunate event back to Peridot's mind. Once, they had given her a goldfish. It…didn't turn out so good.
"I didn't know it had to stay in the water bowl! It looked bored in there!" she snarled defensively. She became upset as she realized Amethyst was alluding to her not being able to take care of an animal. "Are you saying I wouldn't treat it well?!" she cried, fists balling and teeth baring. "You know I liked the rabbit! I wouldn't hurt it!"
The maned quartz pulled Peridot close and took hold of her other wrist. "That's not it! That's not the point!" she barked. "Rabbits don't live forever, Peri." Amethyst said bluntly, lowering her tone carefully. "Like the fish. They die."
"I don't care! Release me!" Peridot cried, tugging away. Amethyst's point of view was becoming apparent to her and she didn't like it.
Amethyst did the opposite, letting go of Peridot's wrists and hugging her tightly. Her strong arms wrapped around Peridot's lean back, keeping her from pulling away. Small hands wriggled, trapped between their chests pressed together. Amethyst hid her face from Peridot, feeling guilt.
The green gem didn't try to struggle. Instead, she whispered, her tone pronouncing her true hurt. "Don't you trust me?"
It was all Amethyst could hear as their heads were so close together, and it made her heart ache. All the gem wanted was to protect her emotionally.
A minute passed. The quartz's breath released in a sigh "Of course I do." she said gently, with a guilty rasp. Her bangs hid her eyes.
"It doesn't feel like it." The green gem's voice vibrated lowly.
"I trust you with me." Amethyst confessed.
Peridot remained quiet, unsure of what Amethyst truly meant. Despite not understanding, she felt her face become darker and hotter anyway.
"That's why…" Amethyst glowed as she transformed her form into something much smaller and compact, with the same lavender tint. Long ears sprouted from her shrunken head and her gemstone held to a smaller, fuzzier chest. The light solidified, and she looked up from Peridot's hands with beady eyes.
"What…Amethyst…" Peridot whispered, eyes subtly sparkling.
"I'm sorry about not letting you get a bunny rabbit." Amethyst apologized. "I just…you blink and their life is over. I know you aren't used to things disappearing in an instant like that - with you it's forever - and I don't wanna see you get messed up about it." She blurted, revealing her true concerns for Peridot.
The technician's fingers pressed into Amethyst's fur gently, subconsciously. She listened to what Amethyst had to say.
"I hate seeing you sad. Like, when you get all down and you call stuff by their regular names. And grief isn't something you've dealt with-"
"I've grieved over my old life, when I was taller than you." Peridot murmured humorously, bringing the rabbit gem closer and higher up on her chest.
"Heh, true. But you've never…missed someone." Amethyst suddenly felt a pang of sadness. Her long ears flattened down joylessly beside her head and she crouched her body.
Peridot shifted Amethyst into one arm, and with the other she ran her hand over the small form comfortingly. She had clearly noticed the other's sorrow.
"I don't want you to go through that. It-It sucks." Amethyst said quietly.
The sun had decided to set now, and it was quickly getting dark. Peridot began walking again, seeing the shaded barn come into view. The green gem continued to pat the purple rabbit, fur conforming to the press and drag of her contrasting fingers. A furry chin rubbed into her arm and chest in response, ears slowly perking up.
"Sorry for yelling at you. You were only trying to protect me." Peridot apologized as she trod on.
"S'okay. I wasn't clear 'bout it."
Silence was again between them and Amethyst decided on something.
"Hey." She piped up, Peridot's fingers on her head. She had lay herself out a bit in the technician's grip, relaxed. "How about…tomorrow" she began to suggest "we go back to the market when it opens, and get you a rabbit. Whaddya say?"
Peridot remained quiet for a long while, not even looking down at the waiting Amethyst, who chattered her teeth gently. Finally, she spoke.
"I think…I like you as a rabbit."
Amethyst ears twitched. "Yeah?"
"Yes. Instead of getting a real rabbit, promise me that you can be my bunny whenever."
"Whenever. Promise."
"I'll have to feed you," Peridot chuckled "but you can stay with me forever." She said with sincerity.
Amethyst was glad she had fur to cover her blushing cheeks. "Heh, yeah…"
*Amethyst sings* "I can be your rabbit, baby"
Total of times Peridot misunderstood earth things: 4
Hey, everyone knows what "croak" means, right? Apart from describing a frog noise, I mean. If you don't, it means "to die". Amethyst meant that Veggiehead won't die easily (Rabbits need food, water, grooming and shelter. They are easily susceptible to dying if they become frightened too). That's the joke. The croak joke, if you will. (kill me)
This fic, in part, shows Amethyst's growing maturity. I think that she adopts a guiding-sorta tone in this because she's looking out for someone else/ someone else's feelings instead of her own/ being defensive about her own. So if she seemed a little OOC, I was just tryna show that she's learning and caring.
Lastly, I must mention that this is for Purple-apple578. She loves all my stuff so I love her. And she loves rabbits too. I sorta put my own message all over the rabbit patting part, lo siento XD And I mentioned rabbits dying I'm so sorry XD