Thank you, everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited and been with me on this journey of Lapidot week 2016 so far. It's been a very rad experience! Four more days to go, let's DOOOOOOOOOOOO IT!
We'll Do It Together
Day Four (19th): How far we've come (free day)
~About a week later~
The warp pad nearest to the barn sounds off, and in its light appears the familiar shape of Steven. He looks off into the distance of where the barn is.
"Might as well check in on these two again since everyone else is busy today."
Steven then starts, for a lack of better phrasing. 'Hulk-jumping' his way towards the barn. Within a few mere leaps, the barn is easily within sight. It's disorganized beauty a sight to behold, at least in Steven's eyes because it meant two people he cared about very much growing close and learning to live together, and at the end of the day that is really all Steven could ask for.
A few more Leaps and Steven is in reasonable walking distance of the barn, so he opts to just walk the rest of the way there.
"I wonder if these two have anything new going on. Everything they showed me and Amethyst last time was so cool!"
Steven finally makes it to the front entrance of the barn. Peridot and Lapis are not in their truck-bed balcony watching Camp Pining Hearts, much to Steven's surprise.
"Glad to see those two aren't completely obsessing over that show. I thought I'd never get Peridot to stop watching that one episode." Steven thought.
"Peridot! Lapis!"
Steven's yells fell on deaf ears.
"Maybe they're not home?" Steven said walking through the entrance of the barn.
Everything in the Barn looked about the same from where it was the last time Steven visited. All of their "meep morps" were still exactly as they left them. The instruments from Peri's solo were even still on the ground at the entrance of the Barn.
"Maybe they're upstairs?"
Steven jumped up to the second floor of the barn. He quickly noticed a Peridot with her arms raised in the air, currently trying to bend thin metal bars into an unknown shape, and in the distance was Lapis Lazuli standing with one arm held behind her body and the other thrust into the air with her palm facing towards the sky as if she were holding something.
"Oh, hey you guys!"
"Hey, Steven!" Lapis summons her water wings and goes to move-
"W-w-wait! Lapis. I need you to stay still."
Lapis' face contorted into indignity, with her arms crossed.
"Peridot you had me standing here for hours, not only that but you look exhausted."
Peridot tried to respond, but her tired features and the beads of sweat running down her face would say otherwise. Lapis flies over to Peridot first.
"Let's just take a break for a moment, okay?"
Peridot is still trying to unsuccessfully bend a specific piece of metal but after a few more moments of labor, Peridot relented dropping her arms to her sides and looking up at Lapis very tiredly but with a small smile on her face.
"You're right."
Lapis laughed lightly in return.
Steven couldn't help himself.
"Awwwwwe, you guys!"
The two barn mates look towards Steven.
"What?" they say in unison.
"You guys are soooo close now. It just makes me really happy to see you both getting along so well."
The two gems look at each other, before laughing their respective laughs.
"We have you to thank for that, Steven."
"Yes. Both for the living arrangements and for convincing us both to stay on Earth!" Peridot said adding in a finger for the dramatics.
"I mean sure, I helped you guys get here but at the end of the day everything that is happening is all because of you two and what you're doing for each other!"
Steven ran up to his friends and pulled them both into a hug. Lapis and Peridot quickly reacted by wrapping their respective limbs around the boy. Peridot felt Lapis' hand on hers on the other side of Steven's body, causing her to blush lightly. Steven let his friends go and started surveying the second floor of the barn. Steven took note of Peridot's bubble, but the bigger picture here is that Peridot's bubble was much further up and appeared to be held up by a metal hand and statue just to the right of it.
"So what exactly are you guys doing right now?"
"You see Steven. After our fateful journey in the Beta Kindergarten several days ago when I, the Great and loveable Peridot vanquished her mighty foe with great ease."
Steven and Lapis couldn't help but laugh, but they tried not to interrupted Peridot's dramatics.
"After such, I bubbled her gem and it appeared here near Lapis."
Steven looked to Lapis for assurance, and sure enough, she gave a nod of approval.
"So then we got to thinking. What do we do with this bubble? And then it came to us in the thick of the night."
"Meep morp." Lapis said neutrally.
"YES! So then we started thinking of ideas for a meep morp to feature my mighty accomplishment through and it was here Lapis actually came up with the perfect morp!
Steven looked towards Lapis with starry eyes, causing Lapis to blush slightly.
"Uhmm. Well. The morps were just going to be giant versions of us. Peridot was going to make a morp of me out of metal holding up the bubble and I going to make one out of ice when she was done."
"Yes! It represents how our bonds make us stronger and allow us to accomplish things we weren't able to do before! "
"It's also our barn, so it only makes sense the meep morps would be us."
"Also a viable course of explanation, Lapis!" Peridot pointed at Lapis for emphasis.
"Wow, you guys! That's so cool. How did you get that idea?"
"I saw it in Peridot's dreams."
Lapis said this so blatantly and quickly it took Steven off guard who then looked at Peridot whose confidence didn't look shaken.
"Yeah. Her dreams project out of her gem."
"And at the end of the day, it only makes sense that this is the origin of such a magnificent meep morp! I'm just ashamed that I didn't think of it sooner!"
"I guess it also applies to the morp? Since her dream came up with the morp and I helped remind her of it?"
Peridot and Lapis look towards each other and laugh.
"Wow! I just can't believe you guys have gotten this close, this fast. I wish I could have seen it happening but things got a little crazy in Beach City with Restaurant Wars and what not-"
Steven stopped to look at the two gems and they are eyeing him in confusion.
"I just wish I could have seen it."
"Steven!" Peridot ran up and grabbed one of Steven's Arms.
"That can be arranged!"
Peridot throws her arms out towards a pile on the second floor of the barn and out pops her tablet. Peridot slowly windmilled her right arm backwards causing the tablet to come towards here, once within range she grabbed a hold of it and turned it on.
"I documented much of our journey after Lapis returned from her adventures with you the other day."
Lapis' face didn't seem to change much upon hearing this although Steven grew notably awkward at the mention of the venture.
"Wait! Is everyone else with you? They'd probably love to see this!"
Lapis eyed Peridot curiously, she was fine with the Crystal Gems- especially lately but she wasn't necessarily comfortable airing all of her personal business out to everyone.
"No. It's just me today. Amethyst said she was going to sleep a couple of days straight after everything that happened. Pearl was on a mission. Garnet was pretty, surprisingly, but she simply said she wants to 'let what happens, happen.'. Not really sure what all of that meant but I'm still here!"
"Alright. Get ready for my superior documentation!"
Peridot presses a button on her screen reading 'slideshow' and a video begins loading. When it loads we see a wide shot of the rainy countryside next to the barn with two fingers covering parts of the screen on either side.
"Alright. I'm currently trying to document my ascent up to the top of the silo where I saw Lazuli fly to after her time with Steven today. She looked rather downtrodden so I'm going to see if there is anything I can do since we have formed something akin to a friendship since our initial encounter!"
The camera shot starts slowly rising off of the ground, albeit very shakily. Causing the video to blur greatly.
"I usually use a trashcan lid to get up here. It's- wooooooooahwoah!"
The next sound heard in the sound of a hard thud.
"Ow."
That video stops, Steven and Lapis are laughing while Peridot is a little less so, the next video quickly loads and everyone starts tuning in once again. The camera is pointed towards a despondent Lapis look out across the countryside from her vantage point, seemingly unaware of Peridot's existence.
"Okay! So this time, I decided to start recording after I got to the top of the barn silo as to devote all of my focus to use the trash can lid to get up here! I'm now going to approach Lazuli and see if I can get to the root of her bad feelings!"
The camera starts inching closer to Lapis, still, she remains unaware of Peridot.
"Laz? Hey, Lazuli. I know it may not really be my place to ask, but are you doing okay. You seem like your feelings have been hurt and if you want to talk about it, I'm here."
Lapis' head fell and her shoulder rose defensively in response.
"Laz?"
Lapis turned around suddenly and just as suddenly the camera shot turned towards an empty shot of the roof of the silo, but after a moment the camera lifted back up Lapis had moved considerably closer to Peridot. The features on her face were exhausted and her eyes were shimmering with emotions. She wasn't crying, or at least if she was it was hidden by the rainy countryside.
"L-Laz?"
Lapis' arms shoot out from either side of her and quickly envelope Peridot's figure and force the camera into Lapis' torso, and getting a really up close shot of the Diamond part of her crop-top. The video then transitions to the inside of the barn. The camera shot was still littered with rain drops.
"Although I was not allowed to document anything that just happened I can say with absolute certainty that this was a very productive conversation! So productive, in fact, that the rain stopped and the sun is out. Lapis is also currently resting in the chair in the loft of the barn."
Peridot slammed her first into her other hand.
"Also, I will from this point on be referring to her as Lapis as opposed to Lazuli as per her request!"
The video ends and the next one starts loading.
"Why did you ask her to start calling you Lapis instead of Lazuli?"
Lapis casually shrugs off Steven's question, and Steven decides to let it go.
The next video loads.
"Okay, is it recording?" Peridot asked, onscreen.
"Yes." Lapis replied neutrally, her blue fingers now poking out from either side of the screen.
"Alright! As you can see, Lapis and I are outside. And here we have the barn silo."
Lapis starts panning the camera off into the vast distances of the countryside.
"And with my awesome control over the element of-Lapis! Are you documenting this correctly?"
Lapis immediately pointed the camera back at Peridot.
"Huh? Yeah, sure."
"Okay-" Peridot coughs. "I will move this whole silo with my awesome control over metal! And when I move it, I'm going to use it to plug up that hole in the barn I have neglected to fix."
"Are you ready Lapis!?"
"Yes." Lapis replied again.
Peridot then turned her back to the camera and put her arms out in front of her. She then started Lifting her arms in the air, tensing up her muscles all the way up.
"NYaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Peridot cried out.
Futilely.
She let her arms drop to either side and kneeled down on the ground.
"I may…Have bitten off…more than…I could handle." Peridot said between breaths.
"Hey Peridot, I think I have an idea- but you have to trust me."
"Sure. I'll try anything."
The video transitions to the same spot, with Peridot standing in front of the silo less confidently than before.
"Lapis, I'm not so sure about this."
"Just trust me, you can do it this time."
"Okaay." Peridot turned around to the silo and took in a deep breathe.
Peridot lifted her arms up exactly as she had before, the strain in her muscles, obvious.
And unlike before the silo rose from the ground, slowly but surely following Peridot's hands as the rose further and further up into the air.
"LAPISLAPISLAPISLAPIS! I'MDOINGIT!"
Peridot turned the silo slowly and carefully, it gave her a little resistance consider the silo had pipes connected to the ground, but soon enough those were ripped out along with the entire silo and Peridot suddenly started walking the entirety of the Silo towards the barn.
"NYEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEH! I AM YOUR MASTER SILO!"
Lapis couldn't help but laugh from behind the camera.
"Okay, now here comes the hard part. I have to slip the silo delicately into the hole. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand-"
The silo crashes into the hole of the barn, but it falls in crookedly. Peridot lets go of her focus.
"YES!"
Peridot throws her arms into the air.
"I AM VICTORIOUS!"
"Lapis. You were right. When we filled the silo with water it made it a lot easier to carry!"
You can hear Lapis giggle from behind the camera.
"Scientifically, that should be impossible, but who knows, Earth is strange."
"Yes, it is." Although Lapis can't be seen, you can hear the smile on her face when she talked. The next several seconds were Peridot celebrating moving the silo before the video cut out.
The next one began loading.
"I still have no idea how that worked, but I'm just glad that it did."
Steven turned towards Lapis who simply put a finger to her lips, Steven nodded in confirmation.
The next video loads.
"Hey, Lapis! I'm about to start watching Camp Pining Hearts. Do you want to watch it with me!?"
The camera shot points towards Lapis, a little green finger in the top right corner of the shot.
"What. What it that?" Lapis replied, lifting her focus up from a book she had in her hands which read 'Pretty Hairstylist volume #1'.
"It's this really great Earth TV show. Steven showed it to me a while ago and I thought you might like it!"
Lapis looked down at her book, then back to Peridot. She set her book down and summoned her water wings. Flying out of the camera shot. Peridot trailed Lapis' path until she finally landed next to Peridot on the couch they kept in the loft of the barn.
"Let's see it."
Peridot's eyes went starry.
"I promise you won't regret it."
The camera quickly moves towards the small tv on the ground. We see a small green hand shove a DVD into the DVD player of the TV.
The video transitions and all we see is Lapis cross-legged on the floor, right in front of theTV intently focusing on it. Peridot, right next to her pointing the camera at her.
"We're 96 hours into Camp Pining Hearts. Lapis. How are feeling about it?"
"I love this show. I love this show so much and I don't even know why."
The video ends. The next one starts to load.
"It's just so good. It's hard to explain." Lapis piped in.
The next video loads.
The first thing we see is Peridot standing center screen and she is wearing her red bow tie. Surprisingly, there are now fingers blocking any parts of the camera.
"Welcome, everybody. As Lapis and I introduce you to the world of Meep morp. Now you may be questioning yourself, Peridot- What is a meep morp."
Peridot moves to her left and reveals a sculpture consisting of her broken tape recorder strung up on three small rods. The tape leaning against one of the rods. There is a blue ribbon attached to the top.
"I call this Morp 'Wow, Thanks.'. It represents the struggles of intercommunication. The tape is the ribbon that binds Lapis and I's experience on earth together."
Peridot pauses.
"It has no functional purpose! It just make me feel bad."
Peridot recollects herself.
"That's all I have so far, but Lapis has been morping as well- Lapis! Show them."
Peridot does some minor hand gestures and the camera pans over to the right and we see Lapis standing next to a big pile of mud with a leaf sticking out of it. Lapis' expression is mostly blank.
"This is a leaf. From the time Steven gave me a leaf."
There is clapping in the background.
"Lapis! That was so good!"
We see the green gem run into view of the camera and hug Lapis, Lapis let this happen with little resistance, blushing lightly.
"Wow, thanks." Lapis said absentmindedly. Peridot gasped and only strengthened her hug, as much as she could. And just a second before the video ended we see Lapis hug Peridot back, as best as she could having her arms held against her body by Peridot's.
The video ends.
"That's all the videos for now. We've done a lot more between all this but we just didn't record it." Lapis stated.
Peridot held on to her tablet, stunningly silent. She then started typing away on her tablet.
"That was so nice to see! I'm really glad you show them to me, guys!"
"Yeah, it was nice to look back." Lapis replied.
Peridot finished typing on her tablet and threw it to the side.
"Yes! Reminiscing about the past is truly a marvel. It gives you great appreciation of where we are now to see how far we've come."
Lapis smiles while Steven chuckles.
"It was really good to see you guys, I think I'm going to head out and leave you guys to your morping."
"Alright Steven, do you need a lift?"
"No thanks, Lapis. I'm pretty quick these days."
"Okay, Goodbye Steven. It was really good to see you."
"Yes! Visit any time." Peridot tacked on at the end.
"Bye, you guys." Steven said floating down to the first floor of the barn.
"Alright Lapis, are you ready to finish this grand morp to be ALL morps!"
"Sure. Let's do it together!"
Lapis flies back to her post and gets into position, while Peridot lifts her arms and starts bending the metal with great ease.
~In the countryside~
Steven takes out his phone and clicks on Connie's contact info and hits a little envelope button.
Hey Connie! I just needed to tell someone really quick, but I think Peridot and Lapis might like each other. As a little more than friends.
Steven pushed the send button on his text and a little bubble of text appeared underneath bunch of other bunches of text.
You received a notification from 'Cheeper'.
Steven tapped on the notification.
"Oh Hey, Peridot updated her account."
I believe I am feeling a great amount of affection for Lapis.
And not like she's my friend with Steven and Amethyst and everyone else.
It feels like something more.
I can't quite explain it.
I'm just happy when I get to see her.
And I'm ecstatic when I see her happy.
She is my home, after all, the bubble confirmed it.
Steven read the series of updates with gleeful cheer. He went back to his messages with Connie.
Okay, Connie. Now I know something is going on.
Steven then warped away with a familiar 'whir' from the warp pad sounding off and letting the light completely engulf him to take him back home.
