Chapter 1 Video Games
I don't own Steven Universe Rebecca Sugar does.
This is part of my Yellow Diamond is Peridot's Mom Universe.
When Priyanka and Doug Maheswaran grounded their daughter after they saw her fusing with Steven they expected some sort of defiance. Instead Connie just kept silent and shuffled her way through the world. She came straight home after school, ate sparingly if at all and showed no interest in any of the activities she used to enjoy. At first Priyanka thought she was sulking but when she crept into her daughter's room and saw her sitting with tears dripping down her eyes she knew something was wrong.
Doug decided to cheer things up. One day while Connie was supposed to be doing homework he burst into her room. Carrying two drinks in his hand.
"I made mango lassis," he said cheerily.
Connie did not respond. Instead she just kept on crying.
"Dear this is not like you, what is the matter," he tried again.
"You know what the matter is. I'm not allowed to see Steven or go on magic adventures anymore," she said sullenly.
"Connie we can't you see that boy anymore. I'm sure he cares about you but you're much too young to be doing that fusion thing. You're only 12."
"He was my only friend Dad and I can't make any friends grounded like this." Said Connie as she punched a wall.
Emotion at least. So Connie's parents ungrounded her but it did no good. Her marks plummeted, her tennis instructor reported a slump in her performance and she still drifted around the house. Not even bothering to go out and enjoy things.
It was Priyanka who finally thought of a solution. In desperation she called up Pearl's number. After a couple of rings Pearl picked up. In the background she could hear shouting and screaming. What was going on?
"Hello, who is this?" said Pearl in a tired voice.
The gem Garnet was shouting and a small voice warbled something angrily back.
"I'm sorry perhaps this is a bad time, but I was wondering if I could arrange a playdate with Connie."
"Actually that sounds like a great idea. Tell me more."
And two the adults made plans to appease their children. The next day which was a Saturday, Priyanka marched straight into her daughter's room and pulled her blinds up.
"Wake up, sleepyhead. It's 11 am," announced Connie's mother.
"Why should I get up? There's nothing to do," answered Connie.
"No more whining young lady you have a big day ahead. I was just talking with Pearl and I have arranged a playdate for you."
That certainly made Connie jump up. She raced to the bathroom, had a shower and put on a nice outfit but not too nice so that her parents wouldn't suspect anything. Within minutes she was waiting at the door ready to spring into action.
Soon the family car drove up and dropped its load. The door knocked and Connie pulled it open with a big smile on her face. The smile faded when she saw who it really was. Peridot stood patiently outside waiting to come in.
"Ah Peridot come in, good to see you," cried Connie mother from behind her.
Connie stared at the thing. What a disappointment, she was hoping for her jam bud. The little weirdo stepped right into their house.
"Bank you," it said haltingly. Oh great now it knew English.
"We're having lunch right now and then you two can have the rest of the day in town. What would you like to eat?" said her mother. Why was she being so nice to this thing?
"Just tea, gems don't need to eat," said Peridot.
When Priyanka first saw Peridot she saw how dirty she looked. Though the gem was about her daughter's size she appeared much smaller being hunched over. Bags were clearly visible under eyes the poor girl just looked sad and tired.
While they were eating lunch Doug had the presence of mind to start a conversation with the little technician.
"So Peridot how are things going at the barn?" he said between bites.
"My mission is going well. I am building a drill for the gems. We should be done in a few mouths?" said Peridot as she nursed her tea.
"And after the mission is over what then?" prompted Priyanka.
"I don't know," Peridot lied. The little technician was quite sure she would be beaten, poofed and bubbled after the gems had no use for her.
"Well today you can forget about the mission. In our house you can do whatever you want? What would you like to do." said Connie's mother. Unbelievable, usually there would be a big list of ground rules for guests. Why was she being so nice?
"I would like a wash. Do you have any facilities?"
After Priyanka had guided the green girl into the washroom and instructed her on how to use the shower and bath she turned to her daughter with a scowl on her face.
"Young lady I don't know what your problem is but I want you to be nice to Peridot."
"But Mom I thought you were inviting Steven over not that thing?"
"That thing is a sad little girl far from her home. Even you can see things haven't been easy for her. Now here's what I want you to do. You are going to go onto the boardwalk, you are going to show her the sights and you are going to be a proper young lady. Do you understand."
Mom gave her a look that brooked no argument. Connie sighed. A few moments later Peridot came out looking a little damper but seemed to be much cleaner. With that out of the way Connie pulled her by the hand out to Beach City's famous boardwalk.
The first place they stopped was an ice cream store. Nothing could go wrong there. Connie ordered two servings of Rocky road and brusquely shoved it under Peridot's nose.
"Here eat this," ordered Connie.
"No bank you," said Peridot sweating a little.
"Why not it's the best flavor they've got?" Connie pushed the cone back.
"No, I don't want to,"
"I'm trying to be nice what is your problem?"
"Crap! It looks like Crap!" shouted Peridot.
It really did look like crap come to think of it. Losing her appetite Connie dumped the two cones in the garbage.
"Fine let's go to Funland. They've got some great rides there," said Connie.
When Connie came to the gates of the amusement park. Peridot's eyes widened and she started to sweat.
"You humans are strange, in Homeworld these devices would be used to interrogate criminals," said Peridot.
"Fine, let's go to the arcade! Nothing can go wrong there," snarled Connie.
One they got into the arcade Peridot scoped out the entire scene. There were devices of every kind, lights flashing and bleeping. This was something she understood.
"Okay Peridot here we've got games of all kinds. You put a token in the slot and depending on how well you play you get these tickets. Get enough tickets and you can use it to buy a prize. How about we try cowboy shootout."
Once the tokens were in Connie handed Peridot a control shaped like a gun and started shooting. If only Mom could see her now. She would have been shocked at the violent nature of the game. Even more so at how well Connie was doing. It was all due to Pearl's training. Peridot, on the other hand was not doing well, the little gem couldn't hit any of her targets and in no time used up all her lives. Clearly the gem's aim sucked.
When Connie was done she pulled Peridot to another game. Perhaps the green gem would be better at another game.
"Alright how about this game Beat town Danceoff," said Connie with a fake smile.
Within no time a crowd gathered round to watch the pair play. Connie admitted to her herself was spectacular. Peridot was spectacularly bad, falling several times.
"Look at that green loser, man she sucks," jeered Peedee.
"Steven was telling me about her. I thought for a techno geek she would be good at video games," said Lars.
Okay it was the wrong sort of attention that they were getting. Connie could feel their staring judging eyes. It made her lose her concentration and pretty soon she lost with only a few tickets to show for it and Peridot was not having fun. What would she tell her Mom, Pearl when she got home?
"Peridot how about you chose a game this time?" asked Connie nicely.
"What's this," Peridot pointed to a game.
"That's a boxing game Garnet broke it when she played it."
"And this?" Peridot pointed to Wackerman Junior.
"Oh this game might be good for you actually you hit the targets with the mallet like so. Get it?"
Peridot nodded and proceeded to hit away with enthusiasm. What Connie didn't know it that Peridot had developed a technique on her own. The green gem had imagined the targets were actually Connie. Although Peridot had missed most of the time she was not half as bad as with the other games.
When that was over Connie introduced Peridot over to the skeet ball game.
"So you roll in the balls like so, and depending on how well you do you get tickets, understand?" said Connie
"No, what military purpose does this game serve?" asked Peridot.
"No purpose you're supposed to have fun."
"So these are not military training exercises?"
"No, Peridot," was this girl a complete dork? "These are supposed to be enjoyable."
"Human children simulate slaughtering their own kind for fun? That's perverse!"
"Fine what would you consider fun."
"I like fixing things."
"Fine let me go talk to Mr. Smiley."
Initially Mr. Smiley was suspicious but decided it couldn't hurt. After all, if it worked he wouldn't have to pay the repairman and he was on a month long waiting list. Giving Peridot a tool belt he led the gem at the simpler games. So while Connie played her games, Peridot quietly tinkered on the broken games. This was one gem who would be welcome at the arcade.
When it started getting late Connie wrapped things up and gathered her tickets. She had a lot this time, enough to get herself a decent prize. When she went up with Peridot to collect her prize. Mr. Smilely was actually smiling.
"Peridot you did a wonderful job you can pick anything you want from the prizes," the man was actually beaming.
"Do you have a washroom set?" asked Peridot. "Toilet, sink, shower stall"
"Peridot you can't ask for that?" shouted Connie. "That's too expensive."
"Actually it isn't, Peridot just saved me 10 000 dollars and actually I do have something like that in stock. Now what about your tickets young lady?" smiled the black man.
"I'll take the giant pink lion," replied Connie. "Now I have to call dad to pick these things up."
When Connie finally reached her Dad after a few rings. She explained the situation. Strangely enough her father was surprisingly down with it.
"This is a good thing actually. Your mother and I want to check out Peridot's situation anyway," replied her father.
Moments later, her Dad's car arrived with Mom driving. Connie shoved her lion into the back seat with her while her parents put the package shower set into the trunk. As they drove Mr. Smilely waved at them.
"Connie, that prize is way too big how is Peridot going to fit in?" scolded Mom.
"I will be fine," said Peridot.
"Connie tell your friend she's welcome here anytime," called out Smilely.
Connie's parents were strangely quiet. Usually that meant that Connie would be in big trouble when she got home but she hadn't done anything wrong had she. Did this mean they were going to ground her again?
A half hour later they were at the barn. Her Dad was silent as he pulled out the shower set. Steven and Pearl raced to greet them. Priyanka just stood there in stoney silence.
Pearl smiled "Dr. Maheswaran thank you for-"
"I want to see Steven and Peridot's living situation," said Connie's mother coldly.
Steven was hugging Peridot oblivious to what was going on, the lucky idiot.
Pearl hesitantly took her to the barn. In the background Amethyst could see something was wrong. She hastily swallowed something before Connie's parents could see.
"Well here we have the barn were we work and live," sweated Pearl. "It's just temporary until we get the drill operational."
Garnet strode in with her arms crossed. That did not stop Priyanka from scanning the room. There was a mattress placed on an old truck bed. The loft had been turned into a lounge of some sort and machine parts were in every corner of the barn.
"So is this where Peridot and Steven sleep?" asked Connie's Mom.
Pearl and Amethyst looked uncomfortable.
"Peridot is not human and does not need to sleep," answered Garnet.
"Really because she looks quite tired right now and even if she weren't this is inadequate for one child let alone two. How long are you going to be building this drill?" Connie's Dad asked this time. Connie could tell he was angry and he rarely got mad.
"Look we'll take Steven back to the beach house when it gets dark. He can sleep in a proper bed, that way everybody's happy," said Amethyst.
"Not Peridot," Doug said this time.
Garnet pulled on Peridot's arm. The technician yelped, "Peridot what have you been saying?"
Priyanka had had enough. She shoved Garnet away, "Nothing she said nothing, but I'm a mother and a doctor I could sense something was wrong. When Peridot came to our house she was filthy. The first thing she did in our house was have a bath and she never smiled not once.
Look things have got to change, I'll be coming over in a week's time and if I see no changes in the living arrangements of either Steven or Peridot. I'm calling social services and Connie will never see Steven again. You got that."
Steven started to tear up visibly. Connie hugged him, she started crying too. The gems looked on uncomfortably. At least they had the sense to be ashamed.
"You know we could be here for months. Let's rebuild the farmhouse," said Pearl.
Connie won: one pink lion
Peridot won: Bathroom set and a reprieve