Chapter Seven - Night Flight

Lapis was fascinated and could've carried on watching all night, but after less than an hour, Connie glanced at her cell phone and sighed. "We need to go now, Steven, my parents are supposed to collect me from the temple in twenty minutes."

"You're going?" This time, Lapis couldn't keep the disappointment out of her voice. "Already?"

"I have to warp Connie back. And I wanna see the Crystal Gems," Steven said, gathering up a few scattered items to put back in his backpack. "But why don't you two come over tomorrow? You can search Amethyst's room for supplies."

"Sure," Peridot said before Lapis could object. "Hey Lazuli," she added, nudging the gem with a pointy green elbow. "If you want, I can make you a TV of your own."

"Yeah, sure," Lapis muttered, scooting out of range. "Or," she added, perking up as an idea occurred to her. "I could have this one and you could make your own."

Peridot considered that for a moment. "Actually, that's not a bad idea. I'll add it to my plans." She hopped up from the sofa and followed Steven and Connie down the ladder.

"OK, I'll see you both in the morning then. Bye!" Steven and Connie waved, and then left.

For the next few minutes, all was peaceful in the barn as Peridot sketched ideas for a dual-widescreen TV with surround sound and built-in game emulator, DVD and video player. She didn't notice as Lapis quietly unplugged the television, bubbled it and sent it to the other side of the barn. It wasn't until she'd finished that she realised the sound was now coming from a different place. "You moved it already?" she said in surprise.

Lapis shrugged indifferently. "You said I could have it."

"Yes, but…" Peridot trailed off. She had said that, she just hadn't expected Lapis to move the TV immediately. "Can I join you?" she asked instead.

"Well, actually…" Lapis said, trying to sound apologetic. "The past few days have been really overwhelming. You don't mind if I just sit by myself for a while, do you?"

"I guess not," Peridot muttered. She sighed, rolled up the plan and climbed back up to her own side of the barn. Then she reached into her gem and pulled out her new diary and pens.

Lapis caught sight of the gem glow in the corner of her eye and filled with curiosity, she tore her eyes away from the television, where a man named Wolf was talking about how to extract fluid from a camel's hump (whatever that was), and looked over at Peridot. "What's that?" she asked, nodding at the notebook the other gem was now holding.

"This?" Peridot looked down at the notebook. "It's a diary. Steven suggested I keep one to replace-" She suddenly stopped talking, realising the unfortunate tape recorder might be a sensitive subject to mention. "It's an alternative method of keeping logs," she rephrased. "It's a little slower to record than my audio logs, but it is easier to update existing entries. And I can add illustrations," she added with a small smile.

Lapis narrowed her eyes slightly. "Did Steven give it to you?" she asked casually.

"We purchased it in Beach City yesterday," Peridot confirmed, unaware of the other gem's growing annoyance. "So many of my logs are missing now, I thought I might begin by re-recording the events that lead to my becoming a member of the Crystal Gems.

"Oh, OK." Lapis smiled over at her. "I'll let you get on with that then." She turned back to the TV, but she couldn't concentrate on it any more. Anger and envy were brewing inside her as she mentally ran over a checklist of Peridot's gifts. A diary from Steven, a shirt from Connie, a bird book from Steven's father… and those were just the ones she knew about. Not to mention the bracelet. She couldn't help scowling at that thought. Didn't Peridot have enough presents already without being given a copy of her own gift?

She was deeply tempted to yank the bracelet off of the other gem's wrist, but as she stared unconsciously at the screen before her, a better idea popped into her head and a malicious smile began to creep across her face. She waited patiently for the show to finish, then stood up, stretched, and switched the screen off. "Peridot?" she called sweetly. "Would you like to go bird watching?"

xXxXx

The sky was darkening as Lapis flew through the nearby woodland with Peridot on her back. "The organic lifeforms on this planet go into regular periods of stasis to restore their energy," Peridot was explaining. "They call it 'sleep'. Most of them do it at 'night', the period of darkness that occurs when the Earth faces away from its primary star, but there are some who are active during that period. We should be able to see some of Earth's nocturnal birds emerging shortly."

"I know," Lapis said dryly. "'Nocturnal' was mentioned in one of the encyclopaedias. So was 'night'."

"Right, of course." Peridot was quiet for a moment, slightly disappointed at her failure to share her Earth knowledge. "Can you hear any bird calls yet?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Nope, just you talking."

Peridot got the hint and shut up and for a while, there was no sound other than the wind in the leaves, the chittering of woodland animals and the quiet swish of Lapis's wings. They flew on for a few more minutes, then Lapis felt Peridot shift. "Look, a spotted owl," she said in a loud whisper.

Lapis saw the bird perched on a branch a short distance away, but turned her head slowly from side to side as if she were still trying to spot it. "Where?" she whispered back.

"Over there!" Peridot leaned over Lapis's shoulder so the other gem could see where she was pointing.

"There?" Lapis said innocently, pointing in the opposite direction.

"No, there," Peridot persisted, and leaned over a little more. But as she did, Lapis turned her body in the same direction and suddenly, Peridot felt herself falling. "Lapis!" she shrieked.

Lapis shot an arm out and grabbed Peridot's wrist tightly. As she did so, she slipped a finger underneath the other gem's bracelet and swiftly snapped the thread, sending beads raining down into the forest below.

"My bracelet!" Peridot howled, making a wild lunge for the beads. "Quick, we have to land, we have to find the beads!"

"Hold still!" Lapis ordered. "I can't fly properly if you keep struggling like that!"

Peridot immediately stopped wriggling and hung limply from Lapis's grip as the other gem circled the trees, looking for a place to land. As soon as Peridot's feet touched the ground, she tore herself free from Lapis's grip and rushed off into the undergrowth, her gem casting a ghostly green glow as she went. Lapis strolled sedately after her and made a convincing show of helping to look for the lost beads, but several hours later, all they had to show for their efforts was an 'i', a 't' and a star. Finally Peridot slumped down onto a fallen tree and admitted defeat. "It's no good. They could be anywhere. They could've been eaten by wolves, for all I know."

"I'm really sorry," Lapis lied. "I must have grabbed your arm too tightly, but it all happened so fast."

"It's not your fault," Peridot said glumly. She rolled the star bead between her fingers and sighed heavily. "What am I going to say to Steven?"

"You can't say anything!" Lapis said at once. "He brought us these bracelets to show we're part of the team and you already lost yours? He'd be devastated!"

"But-" Peridot began.

"Why don't you tell him you put it in a safe place because you were worried it would get broken while you were doing all your repairs?" Lapis cut in. "And then we can come back another time and look again."

Peridot opened her mouth, hesitated and then closed it again. Then she bit her lip and nodded slowly. "All right."

"Come on." Lapis held out her hand and gave the other gem an encouraging smile. "Let's go home."

xXx

Not-Kevin called it! I have to admit, I was deeply tempted not to let their review through until after I posted this chapter!

I also have to admit, I'm not actually sure whether Peridot can store stuff in her gem. I initially thought she could, but I've seen screencaps of that scene in Warp Tour where she grabs the bomb to disable her robonoids, and people have suggested that she actually pulled it out of her hair, not her gem. But on the other hand, we have seen her use her gem as a flashlight on the moon, so clearly, despite what she said in Too Short To Ride, she did have some gem powers, even before finding out she could control metal. So when she said she had no powers, she could mean that the powers she does have are so basic, they're not really considered powers, in which case, maybe she can store stuff in her gem after all and it's just a basic power she doesn't really think about. It doesn't really matter too much, I suppose.