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The day before, Peridot and Steven explained what the cluster was, demonstrating it with no more than a cardboard box and a green monster puppet. It didn't take long for the gems to be convinced that Peridot was telling the truth, but they were still unsure about Peridots loyalty to the team, especially since she had tried to kill and or capture them a numerous amount of times, but Steven believed in her.
"Pshhew! Rawr! Rawr!" Steven howled as he slammed the puppet through the cardboard box. The other gems gasped as Steven did this, "Oh, no!" Pearl wailed as she shook Garnet. Peridot wanted to facepalm so badly but she couldn't, she instead quietly laughed before stating, "Kind of, but not exactly, it's more like this."
The other gems gasped once more as Peridot started attacking the cardboard box, punching and ripping it to shreds while Steven helped by kicking it to the ground in a curb-stomping motion. Steven and Peridot laughed together as they continued to beat up the cardboard box, this ended up putting everyone else in the room on edge. It wasn't just because of them working together to destroy the box, it was the fact that they were getting along.
After Peridot and Stevens' presentation was finished, the team was still left with one problem. This problem was getting on the nerves of all the gems, that question being, why and how did Steven fuse with Peridot? Garnet was more surprised than baffled like Pearl and Amethyst were, she was able to stay cool and calm. Seeing Steven fuse with a human was a good clarification in understanding Stevens' powers, but having both the ability to fuse with humans and gems was too much of a miracle for them to believe just yet, or at least for Pearl and Amethyst. Pearl had advised that Peridot will be monitored by her and Steven while Garnet and Amethyst stay on standby in case anything happens. Garnet and Amethyst agreed on the plan but were unsure about the schedule that Pearl had placed to watch over Peridot.
Meanwhile, in the Temple, Garnet and Amethyst were packing to move out to the barn by Stevens' command after Peridot started the initiative to break things in the Temple for scrap. Steven guided the four, skipping along an imaginary sidewalk as he hummed a song in his head.
"Steven, what is a barn?" Peridot asked.
Steven didn't move his sight from the ground as he replied, "It's kinda like a thing where humans store their junk."
Peridot tilted her head slightly as she turned her sight towards the ground, "so it's basically a storage unit, correct?" she asked.
Steven stopped for only a moment to look at Peridot and explain further, "Well, barns actually have a lot of uses, but that's how we use ours."
"I see, how will I know when we get there? What does it look like?" Peridot asked as she looked around, only spotting a small hill in front of them and the gems from behind, which she tried to avoid looking at.
Steven smiled as he looked ahead, "It'll just be over this hill, the barn's pretty big too I guess," Steven explained as he started climbing the hill, but momentarily stopped when he realized that Peridot wasn't following anymore.
"Peridot?" Steven asked, wondering why she had stopped until he noticed that Peridot wasn't able to get over certain parts of the steep hill.
"I... can't seem to-" Peridot inquired before Steven shoved out his hand towards hers. "Here, let me help you Peridot," Steven offered. Peridot flushed as she accepted Stevens offer, not knowing why she was feeling as if there was a battle in the making. The moment that Steven touched Peridots hand, his body felt lighter, like he could jump to the moon and back, but he didn't know why... maybe it was because they fused? He had felt this feeling once before with Connie, but he assumed it was just a gem thing. Little did he know, it was a direct emotion of attachment that was conflicted of both his human and gem counterparts. Peridot also had this feeling, causing her eyes to widen and glaze, her hands tightening until she suddenly realized that she was at the top of the hill.
Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst watched the two very carefully, slightly hinged at their displays of attachment. Garnet assumed the best scenario's, those being that Peridot really wanted to be part of the crystal gems or love. Garnet couldn't determine if she should step in and stop the two before they do something that they might regret, that being, permanent fusion right off the bat, something like Ruby and Saphire had done a long time ago despite not knowing each other all that well.
Pearl, however, was thinking that Peridot was trying to soften Steven into a state of outright trust so she could use him to get off the planet, but like Garnet, she was also unsure of Peridots plans and couldn't do anything without being sure. Pearl felt a tint of jealousy run through her, 'Rose never held my hand like that,' she thought as Steven started to laugh.
Amethyst wasn't as wary as the others, her only thought as to why it was weird was because of how right it looked. She was full on board with the whole idea of them, if ever, to be a 'thing' in the future. The other part of it was that Steven was being much more friendly with Peridot than Connie, setting Amethyst to assume that Steven might've grown a thing for gems instead of humans more due to him growing up with three gem moms, that including herself.
It was only when Peridot and Steven had reached the top that they realized how intensely the other gems were staring at them. Steven gulped, confused as to why they were being so intense. Peridot yelped when she saw Pearls gem slightly glow, revealing the handle of one of Peridots spears, "Eep!" Steven turned to Pearl with a small frown on his face, "Peeearrrll," Steven ridiculed as he felt Peridot hide behind him again. Pearl, now realizing that her gem was shining, apologized, "S-sorry Steven, can't be unguarded with all these nasty bugs out here right?" Steven cringed at Pearls obvious lie but decided to drop it there as faced the barn, "It's okay Peridot, anyways, there's the barn I was telling you about," Steven said as he turned back around to Peridot.
Peridot looked back and slightly gasped as her eyes widened to the amount of scrap within the barn, "Oh my stars!" Steven smiled as pointed at the barn, "I know right? Not too bad if I have to say so myself," Steven stated as he opened his mouth, forming a sly grin.
Pearl cleared her throat as she looked at the two, "Yes, and now that we are here we need to get started on making this drill of yours..." Pearl stated as she continued her descent towards the barn. Steven followed Pearl and Peridot clung to Steven from behind, Garnet and Amethyst following Peridot from behind as well.
"What we have here should be adequate enough to get started... We should first organize the components first before getting started on the actual building its self," Pearl said as she walked into the barn.
After an hour or so, Pearl had completely alphabetized the barn and was now exiting the barn, "So what do we have so far Steven?" Pearl asked as she took a look at the green chalkboard. Steven smiled as he turned the chalkboard around, showing his scribbles of a drill going into the Earth. Peridot had been working on a project herself with a separate chalkboard not too far from Stevens'. Peridot had just finished making the schematics with ease as she tapped the board one last time with her chalk before looking at Pearl approach Steven... 'like she owns the place,' Peridot thought.
As Peridot approached, she could hear Pearl, "-Sorry Steven, it's a lovely drawing but it won't look like this," Pearl stated as she clasped her hands together. Upon hearing this, Stevens' smile disappeared, he made no response until Peridot came by and defended him.
"Well, I actually think it will... It's very close to what I expect it to look like, I have to admit, Steven's smarter than he looks," Peridot assessed as she took a good look at the board and back at Steven, whose smile had returned. "Really!?" Steven asked as he rose his fists up in excitement. "No," Pearl responded as she laid a hand on Stevens' shoulder, his frown reappearing.
Peridot was shocked upon hearing a 'Pearl', talk like that and clearly showed it as she sassed at Pearl, "Alright, that's enough Pearl, you can go now. Can you also acquire some donuts for me on your way back? Preferably a green one?"
Pearl straightened her shoulders, knowing what Peridot was meaning, "What?" Pearl asked as she held a firm gaze on Peridot.
Peridot looked back at Steven, "How do you get her to leave?" she asked in a sarcastic whisper.
Pearl made a frown as she placed a random piece of chalk onto the chalkboard, "Excuse me, but I'm not leaving," Pearl then crossed her arms.
Steven made a confused look but kept his smile appearant, "Yeah! She's gotta help build that drill thing right?" Steven asked. Peridot made a confused look as well, "What? No no, you must be confused, Steven. A Pearl can't build a thing like this," Peridot stated as she pointed to the drawing of the drill behind her.
Steven lost his smile and tilted his head, "Hm? Why not?" he asked.
Peridot threw out her hands, "Because Pearls' aren't for 'this'. They're for... standing around and for looking nice, and uh, holding your stuff for you, right?"
Pearl put her hand to her gem in frustration, "That enough, if we're going to work together you're going to have to listen to me."
Peridot laughed as she turned back to Steven, "You did a good job on making your Pearl a comedian," she affirmed as she continued to laugh. Pearl was starting to get angrily flustered as she was about to pull out a spear until Steven stood from his chair and threw both his arms out, separating the two from each other.
Steven looked back at Peridot, "What do you mean?" he asked.
Peridot smiled at the chance to teach Steven something new, "She's a Pearl, she was made an order servant like the hundreds of other Pearls being 'flaunted' around back on homeworld.
Stevens face recoiled as he looked up towards Pearl, "Wait... there's hundreds of Pearls?"
Pearl blushed for reasons unbeknownst to herself as she answered, "Well... yes-"
"And she looks like a fancy one too," Peridot said as she took hold of one of Pearls ribbons. Steven fell on his butt, hitting the ground as he rose his fingers to his face, his eyes widening, "Hundreds of Pearls..."
Peridot slathered the ribbon with her fingers as she looked back towards Pearl, "It's good to know we have an efficient Pearl on our side... I assume that she's yours, correct Steven?" Peridot asked as she returned to Stevens' side. Steven didn't respond as he looked back at Peridot, "What am I saying, of course, she is... You're obviously the leader of this team," Peridot responded as she patted Stevens back with a grin, "That's why-"
Pearl cut off Peridot with a rage, "I am nobody's servant! And Garnet is the leader-"
"Not according to my database. Every gem in this universe know that Rose Quartz is in charge of this rebellion, and just by looking, Steven is obviously the infamous Rose Quartz. Although, there is something a little odd about his-" Peridot acquired but was cut off by Steven and Pearl who had now been, what looked like, in a battle. Pearl was about to attack Peridot with her spear until Steven jumped out at her and blocked it with his shield. Steven made a frown as he looked at Pearl, "Pearl!" he shouted, upset that Pearl had attacked for no reason known to him.
{Well, she did, but only the people reading this here fanfic would know why} (Steven is a diamond and not a Rose Quartz, and Pearl didn't want anyone starting an investigation with his gem)
Pearl retracted her spear behind her, "Steven!" Steven didn't say anything as he dropped his shield and formed a bubble instead. "Peridot, Pearl doesn't belong to anybody... and Garnet is the leader," He informed Peridot with a calm and slightly shaken voice as he rose his hand to his head.
"Are you saying that my given information is a miscalculation?" Peridot asked.
Steven's frown contorted even more as he looked at the ground, "Wait... you do know how I'm a human/gem hybrid... but does your database say how I became this way?" Steven asked. Peridot thought for a moment, "No, why?" She asked.
"Well, my mother..." Steven continued to explain until Peridot finally understood. "You should probably apologize to Pearl, Peridot," Steven finished as he placed a hand on Peridots shoulder.
"But she's a P-" Peridot argued but was cut short by Steven. "Well maybe on homeworld that's what she was, but she isn't on homeworld anymore," Steven paused for a moment as he hugged Peridot, "And... neither are you, we're on Earth now." Peridot couldn't handle her emotions anymore as she blushed a dark purple upon her cheeks. Peridot nodded as she tried to smile, "I-I guess I should."
Steven finally let go and smiled as he dropped his bubble.
"Pearl, Peridot has something to say," Steven explained.
Pearl rose her brow, curious as to what Peridot had to say since Steven had made his bubble extra thick, blocking all sound from escaping.
Peridot looked down for a moment as she approached. She cleared her throat before speaking, "I apologize Pearl... I forgot that we aren't on homeworld and-" She apologized.
"It's in the past, you're apology is all I needed, now, let's get started on this drill," Pearl said before retracting her spear back into her gem.
"Okay then!" Steven shouted as the two grabbed tools.
'Maybe Peridot isn't all that bad... Maybe she really does want to help our cause despite not fully understanding it yet. Steven, try your best to teach Peridot about Earth.' Pearl thought as she picked up a regular power drill and blow torch.