Peridot groaned as the sound of knocking reverberated around the room.
"P-Dot, open the door!"
Peridot was currently in her bathroom, trying to muffle out the sound by burying her head in a blue pillow. She was trying to get the blue gem out of her mind, but her hurt expression was still burned into her memory. She told herself not to feel guilty because Lapis deserved it, but she couldn't convince herself to believe that, no matter how hard she tried. She didn't care about her. She didn't want to forgive her. She didn't miss her. Rinse and repeat.
"Okay, if you don't open the door, I'm going to bust it down with my PUMA POWERS!"
Peridot rolled her eyes as she heard the sound of shape-shifting behind the bathroom.
"Okay. Three, two, one-" Peridot's eyes flew open at the sound of breaking wood, and as she jerked herself around, her eyes darted to Amethyst who was splattered on the floor.
"Can't I get any privacy around here?! Now, look what you've done." She gesticulated towards the mess of splinters and broken toiletry.
Amethyst grinned cheekily at her.
"You sound like Pearl. It's just a door." Peridot huffed and shrank back into the bathtub, rolling herself back and forth.
"How are you?" Amethyst asked hesitantly.
Peridot's eyebrows snapped together. "Peachy."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No." She sniffled.
Peridot shrieked as she felt hands pulling her out of the bathtub with brute force.
"What are you doing? Let go of me, you clod!" She swatted at Amethyst's hands, her eyes blazing.
Amethyst shook her head and pulled her out of the bathroom successfully.
"No, we're getting out of here."
Peridot groaned.
She shielded her face with her hand because the sun was glittering in her eyes, even though it wasn't even 12.00 clock yet. In her other hand, she was holding a broken tape recorder laced with a blue ribbon, the one Peridot had given- or tried to give her anyway. Steven wasn't here yet, so she had decided to sit by the sand and watch the white foam of the ocean as it tickled her toes. She still didn't love Earth, but she didn't hate it either.
Here on Earth, she was stronger than she'd ever been on Homeworld, but she couldn't forget about the atrocities that had taken place on this planet, no matter how beautiful and colourful it seemed to be in comparison. Still, she had to admit, that she held a certain fondness for it, as she peeked at the beach house encased by an enormous stone statue.
"Lapis! Sorry, I'm late."
She turned her head and saw Steven standing next to her, panting and sweating. "It's fine. I just got here." She placated him by placing a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm glad. Dad's van is just over here."
As they walked in companionable silence, Steven started talking about something related to action figures and Connie, but Lapis mostly tuned him out. Soon they had reached Greg's van, where Greg was strumming on his guitar lazily.
"Steven, what brings you here so early?" Greg greeted, putting down his guitar to study them carefully.
"Lapis wants you to help her fix something."
Greg raised his eyebrow. "And that is?"
Lapis simply shoved the tape recorder in his face, making him jerk back in order not to get his nose broken. "Woah, be careful with that!" He exclaimed, still shielding his face. Lapis let out a little snort. "Oh, sorry." She handed him the recorder, Greg still studying her warily.
He finally brought the strange object close to his face and squinted. "Is this... a voice recorder? I didn't even know these things still existed."
"Yeah, can you fix it?" Steven piped up.
Greg scratched the back of his head and frowned at Steven.
"Steven, I don't know why you came to me with this. I mean, it looks pretty beaten up and doesn't Pearl usually deal with this stuff?" Steven's mouth snapped shut at the mention of Pearl, as he relayed the events that had transpired earlier that morning.
"She's busy." He muttered, looking away to stare at the seagulls gathering around the pier. Greg narrowed his eyes at him and crossed his arms.
"I guess I know a guy who can fix things like these, and the tape itself isn't broken. I'm sure he can do something."
"Really? Thank you so much, dad!" His whole face lit up, and Greg let out a harsh breath as Steven jumped into his arms.
"Woah, getting strong there, little buddy." He rasped as Steven stepped back and shrugged happily.
"Alright, he said that he can get it done by tomorrow," Greg said as he got out the van. He had just phoned his contact who liked collecting old technology, and he had actually squealed when Greg gave him the tape recorder. That guy was weird.
"Great. Thank you, Steven's dad." Lapis said, giving him a lopsided grin.
Greg chuckled. "It's nothing. And it's Greg, by the way."
"Right...Greg." Lapis gave him a thumbs up, which he reciprocated.
"Well, I better get back to the house," Steven said, jerking his thumb behind him.
"Yeah me too. I mean- not to the house, to the barn." Lapis quickly corrected herself by gesturing to the hill on the outskirts of beach city. She knew she couldn't go to the house because Peridot was staying there.
"Ok, bye Lapis! Bye, dad!" He waved at them enthusiastically, turning to walk ahead.
"Bye, Steven," Lapis replied, before summoning her wings and taking off. She heard Greg call out to Steven, just before she left.
"Wait, Steven, can I talk to you for a minute?"
Peridot was sitting on a couch in a strange house, being squished by two bodies which were speaking at a rapid pace. On one side there was Amethyst who was gesticulating and acting out her wild stories with her hands, which almost hit Peridot's face at one point. On the other side was her human friend named Vidalia, who had funny looking hair and was listening attentively.
Peridot leapt up from the couch and walked to a grey door on the side of the room. This went unnoticed by both parties, so she pulled on the knob and it opened silently, allowing her to sneak in. The room was pitch dark, and so she felt around for a light switch, and the room flooded with yellowish light. She almost gasped with shock when she realised that there were paintings of Amethyst flooding the room like a purple tsunami. She backed away slowly but tripped on a wire that was hanging loosely on the floor, and this resulted in her floundering her hands wildly before falling to the floor with a bang. She held her head in pain, but then she could feel a presence behind her and turned around.
"I see you've found my garage." The human had a cool smirk on her face as she said this. Peridot felt relief flood through her because this meant she wasn't angry.
"What are these creations? Are they some type of meep morps?" Peridot queried, spreading her arms to motion to the paintings surrounding the room.
"Moop morps? No, they're called paintings."
"Paintings." Peridot enunciated the word several times with her mouth. She had heard of these so-called 'paintings', before but had never seen them with her own eyes.
"Do you like them?"
Peridot rubbed her hands together and frowned.
"How do you make these...paintings?" She asked, with a sceptical expression.
"I'll show you if you want."
Peridot shook her head and tried to elucidate with her hands. "What supplies will it require?"
"It's very simple. You just need paint and a canvas or paper." Vidalia explained, shoving a hand in her pocket.
Peridot's eyes lit up as she remembered that she did have paint, but then she realised that the paint was in the barn, and her eyes clouded over with sadness.
"I don't have any of those." She said somberly.
Vidalia studied the green gem's change in expression and put a painted finger on her lips, raising her eyes to look at the ceiling thoughtfully.
"I can give you some if you want. But it has to be later this week. I'm still waiting for my supplier to return from her vacation."
Peridot's face lit up, and she grinned toothily at her.
"Wow, Thanks!" Peridot exclaimed, reaching out for her hand to shake it.
"It's really no problem," Vidalia replied, as she shook the gem's hand.
"What are you nerds talking about?" Amethyst asked, poking her head in and looking at them curiously.
Vidalia shrugged. "We were just talking about my paintings."
"That's really great, but we have to get back. I promised Pearl that I'd clean out my room." Amethyst said, while nonchalantly looking at her wrist.
"Oh!" Vidalia burst into a raspy laughter. "You are whipped!"
Amethyst's cheeks flushed a dark violet. "Oh shut up, Vidalia!" She groaned, pulling Peridot out of the room.
"What is 'whipped?'" Peridot asked, her face contorted in confusion.
A louder laugh echoed around the house.
The next day, Lapis woke up with Steven hovering over her face with a full blown smile on his face.
Lapis jerked away from him with a start and rubbed her eyes wearily.
"Steven, what time is it?" She asked groggily, searching the barn for the clock.
"It's 10 am! Guess what I have?" He cried excitedly, jumping up and down.
He had no right to be this excited this early in the morning.
"What?" She asked disinterestedly, running a hand through her tangled hair.
Steven pulled his arm from behind his back and plopped the fixed voice recorder on her lap.
She picked it up and held it to her face, studying it for any hairline fractures, but it didn't have any.
"This is perfect." She mumbled, touching the glass pane with fascination in her eyes.
It still had that blue ribbon on it, and Lapis decided to instead wrap it with a green ribbon, but she still kept the blue ribbon stored away.
"Ok, are you ready?" Steven had his hand on the railing and was looking at her with worried eyes.
They were currently at the foot of the stairs of the beach house, and Lapis was holding the present in her trembling hands.
"Yeah, I think I am." She ascertained, wiping her hands on her skirt.
They walked up the steps of the house, Lapis at a slower pace, her hands clenched and her feet had lost the ability to keep moving, somehow.
Steven held open the door for her, and as she stepped into the house, she wasn't prepared for the sight of Peridot lounging on the couch. Her heart gave a stutter, and her mind went completely blank.
She didn't have time to think it over though, because suddenly she was being attacked by something. Something small, and...orange?
Pumpkin was barking circles around her, jumping up and trying to climb onto her with a wild ferocity. She had never seen Pumpkin behave like this before, and at first, she stood shock still at the sudden onslaught, but then her shoulders slumped, and she picked it up tenderly. It immediately began slobbering her face with pumpkin kisses, and she would've been grossed out on any other occasion other than this. She accepted them happily and petted it with her free hand, which was no longer jittery.
"You missed me?" She cooed, giving it a small kiss on its head.
Pumpkin responded by barking happily and nuzzling her cheek.
Peridot watched all this from the couch, and the corners of her mouth quirked up at the heartwarming sight, despite still being angry at the blue gem. She didn't say anything because she was afraid of spoiling the moment.
After a few moments of happy reunion, Lapis put the small pumpkin head down, and it went scurrying at Peridot's feet, not aware of the strange tension between the two gems.
Lapis cleared her throat and looked Peridot in the eye. "Peridot."
"Lazuli." Peridot nodded tensely.
"I know that this isn't enough for you to forgive me, but I want you to have this." She inched forward and handed the device to Peridot, who jolted upright and leaned over to accept the gift.
As their fingers met, Lapis quickly pulled her hand away and clutched at her skirt. She shifted her gaze away from Peridot's, but she could still feel her eyes boring like hot coals through her.
The proceeding silence was deafening, except for the harsh tearing of paper.
Lapis finally turned her head and saw a flash of recognition in Peridot's eyes as she studied the object in her hand, but her expression was unrecognisable. The silence carried on for a moment longer, and Lapis was about to say something until she heard Peridot utter a question.
"Is this the voice recorder I gave you?" Peridot was still looking at the voice recorder with an elusive expression.
"Yes," Lapis replied merely, trying to decipher Peridot's mood.
Another period of silence followed that. Lapis couldn't take much more of this.
Peridot finally looked up at Lapis, and her eyes had darkened.
"So you basically rewrapped a gift I gave you?" Peridot jeered, a muscle in her jaw twitching.
Lapis's jaw slackened, but she quickly recuperated. "But, it's fixed now, see? Steven helped."
Peridot threw a glance at Steven who was standing near the door watching the scene unfold before her eyes rested on Lapis again.
"So, it's not even from you. It's from Steven."
"Well- I-" Lapis stammered, and her shoulders slumped. She was truly at a loss for words. What Peridot was saying was true, in a sense, but that didn't make her feel any better.
"It doesn't even matter. I don't want it." Peridot deadpanned, putting the voice recorder back in its paper box.
Lapis gawked at Peridot's reaction, her mind failing to comprehend what she'd heard.
"Wha- But- You loved that thing!" Lapis cried incredulously, pointing at the voice recorder encased in the box. "What do you mean, you don't want it?"
"I found a new one, one that wasn't broken by you," Peridot said flatly, as she picked at some lint that was stuck to her sides.
Lapis crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows suspiciously. "Where did you get it, then?"
Peridot leaned back with a close-lipped smile. "Amethyst gave it to me."
Lapis could feel her teeth clench, and her fingernails bite into her palms.
"Well, if you don't want it, I guess I'll just take it back, then," Lapis said in a strained voice, her eyes slowly drinking in Peridot's relaxed form.
Peridot opened her mouth, and promptly shut it, before slowly opening it again.
"Fine, be my guest." She gently pushed the voice recorder towards Lapis, who still hadn't budged.
"Fine." Lapis snagged the voice recorder and marched off, slamming the door behind her and making the whole house shiver.
"Lapis wai-" Steven called out, but it was too late, as Lapis had already flown off.
"Peridot, did you have to be so hard on her?" Steven turned to the green gem, whose shoulders had slumped and who was currently holding her head in her hands.
Peridot's head jerked back up, and she gaped at Steven. Was he serious?
"Me? Hard on her? She was the one that gave me the same gift that I gave her! She's the one who broke it in the first place, and she couldn't even fix it herself, she relied on you!" Peridot cried, savagely pointing her finger towards Steven.
"At least I didn't break it in front of her face, which may I remind you, Steven, was a thing she did, not me." As Peridot rambled on, Steven could see that her face had darkened and her breathing was laboured.
"She did her best." Steven tried weakly.
"Her best isn't good enough, then." She muttered, pressing a hand to her cheek.
Steven crossed his arms and eyed Peridot uncertainly. "Also, why did you lie about Amethyst giving you that tape recorder?"
Peridot gasped, and her hand shot up to cover her heart dramatically.
"I didn't lie! How dare you accuse me of lying!?" She cried, glaring at Steven.
At Steven's raised eyebrow, Peridot shrunk into herself and blushed.
"Okay, maybe she didn't actually give it to me, per say. But I did find it in her room. The details are not that important."
Steven sighed and sat down next to her, as she was absentmindedly playing with the green ribbon that had been wrapped around the voice recorder.
"You have to forgive her sometime, Peridot." Steven pointed out, looking at the green gem disapprovingly.
"Oh do I?" Peridot objected, rolling her eyes.
Steven nodded. "Yeah. It may not be today, and it may not be tomorrow, but I know you will, someday."
"If you say so, Steven. That day is definitely not today. "
Lapis was curled in a fetal position on the truck, her hand still clutched around the voice recorder, the tears on her face spilling over onto the mattress.
Was this how Peridot had felt when she had broken the tape recorder in her face? No wonder she had gotten that reaction. Lapis was admittedly angry at Peridot for acting so...indifferent. She was mostly mad at herself because the things Peridot had said had been true, although they did send stabs of pain shooting through her. Lapis needed to try something else.
