Lapis heard everything.

Due to some subtle sarcasm on her part, she initially suspected Peridot's attempt to introduce her to 'Camp Pining Hearts' to be another misconstrued joke. So color her curious when, during a light nap in the loft, she awoke to the sound of the green Gem's grumbling and dashing out the barn.

But hey, peace is peace, right? Except when Lapis spotted the DVD casing left behind in the open barn door and glided down to take a look, her peace went south.

Cue facepalm.

And thanks to Peridot's talkative nature, Lapis already figured out the technician's only plausible source for more content of this show: Steven.

Now, at this point in their 'friendship', Lapis already knew Peridot would do nothing to harm the boy, infuriation or not. However, she also knew Peridot tended to run her mouth a bit too much, particularly around a certain purple Quartz, and if that Quartz got in her head that Lapis enjoyed the same TV show she openly cold-shouldered on a daily basis, the blue Gem would never hear the end of it.

That lovely motivation in mind, our blue grump arrived onto the porch by flight (the Warp Pad would have attracted too much attention), on the verge of knocking rather than barging in to avoid making a scene.

That's when she caught whiff of the conversation inside.

She left just as quickly, needing to see the truth for herself, if not to seek closure than at least to confirm she hadn't been hearing things.

Now here she was, standing right in front of the designated human dwelling.

And standing.

And still standing.

...Seriously, why was she still standing?

This building contained only humans, just like the other ones she saw on the way here, and reportedly one Gem in disguise. What did Lapis, who once stole the entire ocean, have to fear from the inhabitants?

Oh yeah, like you have the right to think yourself innocent? Flashes of Steven and Connie struggling to breathe flickered in her memory, chaining her in place. Humans needed oxygen. How could she have forgotten such a basic fact, even in her anger?

Maybe it'd be best if—

"If you're that nervous about going in, just ask."

Lapis nearly jumped into poofing at the aged voice, and spun to the right to discover an old diminutive human female with mahogany-brown skin and tied up gray-and-black hair smiling at her, her wrinkled face a cross between comfort and playfulness. Her clothing consisted of a purple sweater open at the front, revealing a black turtle vest with a matching knee-length skirt, and medium-brown Velcro shoes with white orthopedic socks.

"Are you one of Amber's humans?" the Water Witch asked in restrained unease.

"Depends." The elder angled her head to the side in curiosity. "Are you one of Amber's old friends?"

Was this human making fun of her? Lapis shook her head and, preferring not go into the details with someone she only just met, replied with a curt yes.

The elder smiled, completely unfazed by the aqua alien's cold demeanor, as she set the broom under her arm, walked up to Lapis, and opened the door with a flourish, the bells above tinkling. "Then allow me to extend welcome to Flores and Gardening, Miss Stranger."

Lapis resisted the urge to scowl at the title, so she settled for a disinterested grimace. "It's Lapis Lazuli."

"And I am Uma. It's nice to meet you."

Nice to meet me? The azure Gem blinked not so much in shock as much as in wonder. How can she be that welcoming already?

Lapis stored the question at the back of her mind (for now) as she followed the old human inside.

The interior looked decent enough: wide space in the center for visitors to stroll around, burgundy tiles that felt refreshingly cool against Lapis' bare feet, white walls lined with dark-brown shelves containing various tools for gardening, a wide display window to the Gem's right, and a black counter on the right that divided between the majority of the room and the space close to the shelves.

Most of all, there were flowers everywhere: flower pots lining the wall, flowers in the display window, flowers on the counter, and even the shape of the human's hair bun resembled the 'sunflowers' Lapis remembered seeing both before her time in the mirror and after her decision to remain on Earth.

So many colors, so many shapes, Lapis would have stumbled back from the sheer variety if Uma hadn't nudged the tip of the broom's handle against the water stone's back, steadying her. Lapis immediately gave a wide berth between herself and the old lady who, once again, kept smiling in that infuriatingly cool and soothing way.

"I take you've never seen flowers."

At this soft-spoken statement, Lapis scoffed—or at least tried to. Something about this human and way she effortlessly maneuvered around Lapis' defensive attitude not so much as unsettled the water-user as much as...comforted her? "I've seen flowers before. Just...," her eyes panned the entire scene, "not so many in a human's living space."

"Ah, another day in the life of a florist," spoke a deep smooth voice with a rich accent Lapis could not identify. From an open doorway opposite Lapis and Uma came another human, only this one, much to the Gem's further interest, ambled into the room through use of some transport with wheels attached to it.

"Marcus Flores, at your bllllllossomin' service! To what do we owe this fine visit, Miss?" His face downturned into a thoughtful frown. "By the by, do you use," his eyebrows furrowed as he waved a hand around to jog his own memory, "female pronouns?"

Not expecting that question, Lapis blinked with eyes wide and defenses down once again before shrugging. "Uh, yeah?"

Marcus smiled triumphantly in a way that revealed his shiny white teeth and gave a thumbs-up—whether for himself or Lapis, the water stone could not tell. Either way, she broke eye contact, both out of embarrassment and how increasingly these humans kept reminding her of Steven.

Only to discover the absence of Uma at her side; the Gem's eyes soon discovered the older human at the bottom of the stairs viewable through the entrance Marcus emerged, calling for someone named 'Kurtis'.

Seriously, where do humans come up with all these weird names?

The sound of footsteps brought Lapis' attention to the stairs once again, where a third human, a younger cinnamon-toned male with longer black hair and definite musculature, descended down. His clothing consisted of a black T-shirt, blue jeans, and gray shoes. Once he reached the floor, he immediately noted Lapis with the best poker face the Gem had seen from anyone besides Garnet.

Only here his eyes were visible, more piercing than any blade Lapis ever saw.

Not the best sign in Water Witch's opinion.

Fortunately, Kurtis broke eye-contact, silently nodded at Uma and proceeded into the back of the building—until three steps forwards he suddenly walked smack into thin air with a surprised 'OOMPH'. Immediately Marcus snorted, Uma instinctively bit back a tiny smile, and even Lapis turned to hide her smirk, recollective enough of this trick to recognize the culprit.

Kurtis, face full of attempted-annoyance-coming-out-as-amusement, crossed his arms over his chest and patiently tapped his right foot, waiting.

WHOOSH.

Right in front of the young man materialized a yellow, white under-bellied, bear-like badger that towered over him by a head and a half, a circular golden gemstone on the solar plexus. The hairy being's right paw was handling what Lapis assumed to be a container for water judging by the liquid presence she could sense inside it. She perked a questioning eyebrow at the light-green sun hat perched atop the larger Gem's head.

When Kurtis gestured his head behind himself, Amber raised her head and locked eyes with the alien visitor in question. Every photon of Lapis' body froze in time under that calm, unassuming stare, feeling like the times Blue Diamond would stare her down, only somehow more nerve-wracking.

At last, a wide genuine grin took over Amber's face, accompanied by a hearty wave. Lapis hesitantly returned the gesture, taking note of a yellow bound variety of what Steven called a 'notebook' under the other stone's left armpit, a writing utensil resting within the spiral spine. The badger put down the water vessel, switched the hat from her head to Kurtis's, side-stepped him, and entered the room after a swift duck under the doorway as her body shifted into its dog form.

Lapis crossed her arms once the furry canine, which interestingly came close to Amber's original size, stopped a foot in front of her. "You're larger than I remember."

Amber opened the notebook to a blank page, removed the pencil from the spine, and scribbled something down. Once she finished, she showed Lapis what she'd wrote.

You're poutier than I remember.

A warm scoff escaped Lapis at this statement. At least no one could say this old spark-ball lost her sense of humor.

The water Gem suddenly remembered the humans around them, except none of them seemed to be paying attention to them anymore. Uma was behind the counter, talking into some kind of communication transmitter, Marcus was outside sweeping the front in the elder's place, and Kurtis was nowhere in sight, probably to store the water vessel judging by its likewise absence.

Good, the lack of an audience will make this less awkward. With a sigh, Lapis mustered the best smile she could. "I just wanted to see how you were doing."

Only to immediately cringe at Amber's unchanging stare.

'See how you were doing?' That's the best excuse you could think up to someone who's not only been missing for centuries but also been living with...corruption is what the others called it, right?

Lapis hunched her shoulders in self-reprimand. "A-Ah, sorry! It's been a while and things have been," she pointedly looked away, eyes somber and heavy with memory, "rough."

Okay, best to resurrect her previous façade before the discomfort increased any further. Her view returned to Amber. "Anyway, I better get going. Some Gems you might recognize are coming by soon, so I wanted to check in on you first and get out without trouble."

Wait, why was Amber's face scrunching—and why wasn't she looking at her anymore? The following answer came in the form of more writing. Lapis got a sick feeling in her gemstone once she read the next sentence.

That is going to be a problem.

"How exactly?"

On cue, the bells sounded off again.

"Hello, Lapis."