(Peridot's day when Lapis went out during Alone at Sea)

Peridot was laying down on her makeshift bed made out of hay, grass clippings, and a tarp. Lapis had traveled to Beach City earlier that morning to attend a fun activity with Steven and his dad. Even though that meant she had the whole barn to herself, Peridot still laid stationary staring at the roof.

'Why isn't there anything interesting here? Sure I don't mind being in a safe retreat away from Yellow Diamond, but that doesn't mean I want to be stuck in such a monotonous environment.'

She stood up and climbed down the ladder and then made her way towards the section of the barn that Lapis had designated to be the living room. This however was just a mindless action. Peridot had read every book on the shelves and watched every VHS tape Steven had brought to the point of knowing the dialogue backwards.

'If there was something mildly intriguing in this barn, it definitely won't be here.'

But as she was about to go back upstairs, she saw a sketchbook on the table. It was Steven's side present for Lapis when she first moved into the barn. He hoped that by expressing her thoughts through visual art she would recover better from her experience as Malachite. Since then, Lapis had kept the sketchbook close by her side.

'While that is intriguing, I really shouldn't look at that. But how private could it be if Lazuli just left it sitting here in plain sight. She probably didn't mean to do that besides this breach of personal space will absolutely set back your relationship with her. Then again she isn't here to witness this.'

This moral argument continued on in her head like this until Peridot finally decided to open the portfolio. As she gently lifted the cover, her mind was racing trying to predict what Lapis could have drawn on the matted paper. But when she opened to the first page, Peridot soon became disappointed when she saw that the whole drawing was done in different shades of blue.

The first sketches were mostly landscapes and crude yet animated sketches of the nearby lifeforms. Each had their own beauty but every one of them was blue. Peridot briskly flipped through the pages hoping to see a different shade; even a little dot of something else would have been enough.

'I mean everyone is a fan of colors between the 450 and 495 nanometer wavelengths but this is approaching overkill.'

Finally, she found a page where Lapis had used grey along with blue. When she looked more closely though she saw that the grey was used for a pair of eyes. Peridot tried to look for the outline of the body that possessed the eyes but she couldn't find it. As she went further on though, Peridot saw the same grey eyes on each page.

'That's weird. Maybe that's there to express an emotion or something.'

Then Peridot noticed that each successive drawing used darker shades than the previous one. Eventually, the blue gave way to black and the eyes appeared to be glaring more intensely. When she reached the last page, Peridot saw that only a small corner was left blue and the black formed a large, intimidating outline with eyes full of anger.

'That must be Jasper.'

For a moment, Peridot didn't know what to feel. She felt immense regret for delving this far into her friend's tortured past but she also felt a fervor to help Lapis in any way she could. However, Peridot knew all these efforts would have to be subtle or else Lapis would begin to suspect something.

All of a sudden, a solution came to her and she grabbed all the jars they had as well as a small bag and headed out to the warp pad.


When Peridot returned to barn it was well past evening. After rushing inside, she found Lapis sitting on the couch reading a book.

"Hey Peridot. Where have you been?"

"Oh just some abandoned gem colony site but that's not important right now. I got you this." Peridot showed Lapis the small bag.

Lapis accepted the bag and found that it was full of the richest colors she had ever seen.

"Peridot, where on earth did you find these pigments?"

"When I was hiding from the Crystal Gems, I stumbled onto one of the first gem injector sites. Apparently when they failed, the soil took in elements from Homeworld and assimilated them to make all these colors. I figured since you liked drawing you would find some utility with them."

Peridot waited for Lapis's response but instead of words she saw tears in her eyes.

"I messed up didn't I. Sorry I just thought that it would have been the right gift and…"

Before she could say anything else, Lapis embraced her in a tight but warm hug.

"Thank you Peridot, this is the most perfect gift I could have gotten after the day I've had."

The following day, Peridot climbed down and found that the floor of the barn had been covered by a vibrant mural. It was a collection of colors strewn together in complementary chaos.

"Do you like it?" asked Lapis.

"It's different. What's the inspiration?"

"I guess it's just how I felt today."