As tensions mount between Pearl and Peridot, Connie, Amethyst take their captive to Funland to keep her from fighting with Pearl.
behold, i have written more of this schlock
A darkness found only within the depths of the ocean. A loneliness found only by those who seek it.
She sinks, and sinks, and sinks until the waters around her engulf her miles from shore. It is a prison of irony; her natural element is now what chains her, what tethers her to her-
The flora and fauna seem to mock her. Taunting her with how free they are. A flora has never experienced the pain of having everything that mattered taken from you, only to be ground up into dust at your feet. Spit on, buried in the ground. Dug back up, it's rotting corpse lit aflame.
A flora doesn't even have the capacity to ever feel that pain.
A fauna doesn't live the life complex enough to ever feel that pain.
She wishes someone could understand.
She wishes they could understand.
She wishes you-
thE IntErrOgAtIOn wIll cOntInUE In-
oOoOo
"Bad dream Connie?" Amethyst gently slugs her shoulder, having noticed her groggy mood.
The half-gem nods in weary agreement, groggy eyed and winded from her nightmare last night. "Yep." Under other circumstances, the prospect of an underwater excursion by bathysphere would have excited the half-gem. Her nightmare's drained all such prospective energy from her.
Amethyst frowns, rubbing against her hair to wake her up, "Sleeping's always good for me, so that must suck for you."
The half-gem yawns, rapping her fingers against the bathysphere's surface to keep her awake. "You don't have dreams Amethyst?"
"Well… yeah, but whenever a dream of mine gets all janked up, I just… stop. Must suck that people can't just clock out whenever things get weird.
"What exactly are you two talking about?" Peridot asks, attention currently captured by a bed of kelp. Connie yawns again, sound amplified by the bubble surrounding them, causing Pearl to cover her ears.
"Did we really need to bring everyone on this mission Garnet? Since the Bubble can only hold so many people?"
The Dry Bubble. Not referring to bubbling, a power inherent to every gem, but a transparent, impermeable bathysphere propelled by the bodily motions of it's inhabitants. Manufactured to specifically cater to higher ranking Homeworld gems that would never be caught shattered soaking their physical forms with putrid, unfiltered water, contaminated by organic life.
"We need Peridot so we can identify what's valuable from the wreck, and what isn't. Otherwise, we'll be making return trips for months on end." Garnet replies, referring to the wreckage of the crashed Red Eye resting on the depths of Beach City Bay.
"So why did y'all need us?" Amethyst groans, referring to her and the half-gem.
"Just in case we need a quick escape, you'll shapeshift into something… floatable. And fast. Connie," she grins, "I felt would want to come with us."
Connie smiles, though still trying to ward off her exhaustion.
The mission: salvage anything useful from the sunken wreckage of the Red Eye, almost half a year after it's initial sinking.
Though all four gems were simply capable of simply walking to the wreckage from the beach, Pearl had… strong objections to soaking her form in said putrid beachfront organic water for extended periods of time. Peridot, even more so.
"Though I have made… concessions," Peridot comments, "regarding the ability of Earth to produce aesthetically pleasing landscapes, I feel obliged to comment on our current surroundings. The underwater is visually atrocious." A discarded soda can floats past their bathysphere as if to accentuate her point.
"That's because we're near the coast. And near a human settlement." Garnet adds. "Humans have a tendency of taking the easy way out when it comes to disposing of their waste."
Peridot winces. "How wasteful. Why you clods continue to protect the Earth when humans seem bent on ruining it themselves is beyond me." She muses, as she observes a migrating school of plastic bags.
The half-gem can't help but agree with some of the Homeworld gem's comments, given her personal frustrations with what Pearl herself has termed the "imminent man-made climate crisis."
"This isn't a very good example of Earth's underwater landscapes." Pearl adds, earning an eye roll from Peridot. "There are a plethora of locations I've personally found to be quite visually majestic, some of which the humans have documented."
Amethyst snickers, "Peri, if you want to see some of that scenery, we should watch Planet Earth some time."
The homeworld gem raises an eyebrow. "Planet Earth?"
"It's a movie. About plants and animals and landscapes and stuff. It's pretty boring, but I've got some stuff that'll make watching it an experience."
"What… stuff?"
Amethyst just grins at her. The Homeworld gem awkwardly grins back.
"While I will accept your offer… Amethyst," she carefully voices out, "I highly doubt your 'Planet Earth' would be able to match the majesty of a properly planned and managed water world."
"What would that look like?" Connie asks, starry eyed.
Peridot clears her throat, "Well-"
"I'll explain!" Pearl jumps in, just as starry eyed as her pupil, before embarking on a brief review of Earth's architectural history. (covered in a ten-module learning schema by Pearl a few months or so ago,) Drawing comparisons from the relevant architectural style whenever Pearl's wide vocabulary fails her to illustrate how much humanity has 'ripped off' from architectural discoveries and whatever kernels of knowledge the gems 'leak' to them from century to century.
"Which is where the Roman and Art Deco architectural styles even originated from in the first place. Art historians frequently give far too much credit to 'human creativity,' when it comes to speculating on the origins of architectural waves and movements." Pearl laughs haughtily, a tad high on a power trip, prompting Amethyst to roll her eyes.
The half-gem still has stars in her eyes. "Did you ever get to see one of these ocean worlds in person?"
The alabaster gem freezes. "That's… a story for another time." She forces a laugh, looking for something to change the subject, "Perhaps Peridot would be able to shine a light on several details I've missed?"
The Homeworld gem breaks her silence. "Did I need to be interrupted?"
The alabaster gem frowns. "...Excuse me?"
Just like that, the tension in the bathysphere flares up. Peridot interrogates her with her gaze, "I was clear with what I said. Did. I. Need to be interrupted?"
And unfortunately for everyone else, Pearl's shot right up there with Peridot. Seconds from exploding and bursting her bubble (literally), "Now you listen here, you… you tiny twerp! In case you've forgotten, you're on our turf now! And I didn't fight a thousand-year war for this planet's independence just so I could be informed when and when not to speak from the likes of you!"
"Peridot..." Connie grates, trying to pull the Homeworld gem away, but the bathysphere's too cramped to allow more than one step or two back.
Peridot laughs. "I'll never be able to understand why you allow your Pearl to clod around like this!"
"She's not our pearl. She's Pearl, and that's the way it should be." Connie glares at her.
Peridot, unfazed, clears her throat. "Perhaps you can see my logic Connie. I, though a lowly Peridot, am a natural made technician, while you," she waggles a finger at an increasingly-about-to-explode Pearl, "are a made-to-order servant, just like all the other Pearls on Homeworld. Our designated roles have a clear hierarchy, with you, Pearl, at the bottom. Whatever adaptability the Pearl has managed to display so far is just that. Adaptability. A lowly Pearl, clodding around in the dust of others, desperately trying to pick up whatever crumbs the gems who actually know their roles leave behind."
"Peridot," Garnet tries, before Pearl chucks Peridot out of the bathysphere (if she doesn't do it first,) "that's enough-"
"And who do you belong to anyways, if not them?" Peridot surmises, digging her hole deeper, and eliciting a facepalm from Connie.
"Stop it," Pearl growls through barely clenched teeth. Peridot doesn't get it.
"If you don't belong to anyone, then what are you for?"
Pearl moves to throttle the green gem by the neck, only to be pre-empted by Amethyst holding Peridot from behind, "Alright, not in here! If you two are going to fight, do it on the surface. Not in here, where I can barely breathe with the four of you in here!"
"Amethyst," Peridot struggles, "you're a quartz too-!"
"Would you just shut up for ten seconds?! You can be all Homeworld back on the surface, when Garnet isn't three seconds from clobbering you back up there!"
"If you three won't behave, I will turn this bathysphere around." Garnet states, having regained her composure.
The other three Crystal gems nod in agreement, eliciting a laugh from the Peridot. "See, even in your informal organization, the three of you clods have a clear leader-"
"Especially you Peridot."
The Homeworld gem just meeps in response.
oOoOo
After the mission, against her instincts, sheasks Pearl in her room if she can talk more about Pearls. Pearl freezes, nearly dropping the salvaged propulsion engine she's been working so hard to carefully derust over the past hour or so.
"You don't have to answer, I-" she falters, "this… probably wasn't a good idea! Curiosity and all-"
"I-is this about Peridot?" Pearl quietly asks.
She nods, guilty, "I... was just wondering, if you were comfortable of course! If you could elaborate more on pearls and Homeworld… we went over this a… really long time ago, and I curious… what Peridot meant about you being subservient."
Pearl sets down the engine, and invites Connie to sit down, summoning a bench from a pool of water with a snap of her fingers. "We've discussed this before. Pearls are akin to slaves on Homeworld, lacking any of the relative autonomy and liberties granted to other types of gems." She pauses, unsure if she should continue, "Perhaps a more appropriate allegory would be to the concubines of Imperial China."
"I... see. What makes you different from other Pearls?"
A faraway look. "...I don't wish to talk about it Connie."
Connie nods. "I understand. Thanks Pearl."
Pearl nods as well, and takes some time to regain her bearings before cleaning her arms off to pull Connie into a hug. "Thank you Connie. For… defending me."
"Pearl?"
"I'm sorry for fighting with your friend. It's… it's just taken so much for me to become what I am today, that when I have to talk to Peridot… it feels as if everything's coming back. As if nothing's changed. All the progress I've made during the rebellion, when I was with your mother while she was still on earth…" She swallows hard, musing what to say.
"It… all feels like everything's crumbling whenever I talk to Peridot. I hope you understand. I know you and Amethyst are getting her to grow closer to you two, but it feels like she's beyond hope."
"I understand. Peridot was being a jerk, but… she's made so much progress in the past month. Maybe… maybe if we introduced her to more human stuff?" She muses into Pearl's shoulder.
The alabaster gem breaks off the hugs, before scratching the back of her head. It's rare for the alabaster gem to open up to her like this; she's put on a professional demeanor for so long, it's sometimes hard for her to remember that there's more to Pearl than Pearl, the mother hen.
"You're so much like your mother at times…"
oOoOo
A darkness found only within the depths of space. A loneliness found only by those unfortunate.
Chained to the walls around her, chained to her surroundings. Her past will never leave her.
When THEY come, THEY ask questions. Questions she doesn't know the answer to, that she wishes she didn't know the answer to, that she doesn't know if she knows the answer to.
THEY come. THEY come, drag you out of your cold, miserable cell and-
"LAPIS!"
She stirs violently, she's back home. In bed. Where she should be sleeping, accompanied only by her bedding and the watchful eye of Pearl.
"Pearl?"
"Lapis?" Pearl asks, clearly confused by Connie's outburst.
Groggy eyed and not a morning person, the half-gem groans. "It was just a dream Pearl…" She frowns, realizing she had an audience. "Wait, are you still watching me when I sleep!?"
The alabaster gem wordlessly walks away.
"Pearl!?"
oOoOo
Trying to decipher the circuitry of the recovered salvage proves to be a much harder task than Pearl initially expected. It's not that Pearl doesn't understand circuitry and electronics; it's just that the methodology used by Homeworld is absolutely foreign; the alabaster gem compares it to the historical evolution of modern day French from Latin. Ancient, 200 B.C.E. Latin.
What they are certain of, confirms Peridot's testimony; Homeworld has long advanced technology-wise since the rebellion. Exactly how advanced, the gems don't have an estimate.
"What exactly is this strange ritual?"
The Homeworld gem appears to be completely enraptured by whatever's playing on the T.V, whether out of mockery or derision. Probably a combination of both.
"Aren't you supposed to be helping Pearl analyze the salvage?" Connie poses to Peridot, tweaking with a recovered circuitry board.
"This broadcast playing on the 'television,' caught my attention."
"On the last episode of Camp Pining Hearts…"
"Percy, meet with me on the south shore. I know we can make this work."
"Pierre, that's when I have to meet Paulette at the cafeteria-"
"Oh, that's just some T.V. show. I… have no idea what it's about, honestly."
As if to answer their questions, both Percy and Pierre on screen lean in for a kiss. Romance.
"What are they doing?"
Connie blushes, distracted enough that her circuitry board catches fire for whatever reason. "Uh… that's…"
"Hey nerds." Amethyst struts on in from the town. "Yo Connie, your stuff's on fire."
"IT IS!?"
"I'll get it." The violet gem stretches her arm out to grab hold of the circuitry, before consuming it whole, fire and everything.
Connie grumbles, "I was working on that…"
The temple doors open, this time; out comes Pearl. "Peridot, I thought I told you I need you inside my room so you can help me-" Her attention falls to Peridot's current object of interest, and she blushes lightly. "You're… interested in this? Peridot?"
The Homeworld gem jumps. "No! How could anyone indulge in this? Baseless drivel, I'll have no part of it!"
"How could you Percy? You couldn't even do your job, what you were here for! You've broken your pact with your fellow campers, you've broken the reason why you came here, you've even broken my heart!"
"Pierre…" (they kiss again)
The Homeworld gem just freezes, her attention captive to the show again, before audibly sniffling.
"Peridot…?" Connie tries to nudge the Homeworld gem, but fails to get a response.
"Nothing." She meeps out. "Just leave me alone. Especially you Pearl."
oOoOo
"She's been obsessed with that television show since yesterday." Connie points to the captive green gem, still visibly entranced by the Camp Pining Hearts weekly marathon.
"I don't know what to do Garnet," Pearl sighs, placing a bag of ice over her gem, "I can't crack it. None of this circuitry makes any sense."
"Talk to Peridot. We need to understand how far Homeworld is past us technology wise, and how to use this technology when we need to fight back." Garnet orders.
Pearl looks incredibly reluctant, trying to object, but making an incredibly unpearl-like sound. "Do… you really think Peridot would ever be willing to help me out?"
The fusion shrugs. "Not my problem yet. Go figure it out Pearl. Everyone else is making strides but you."
Pearl shrinks, before groaning.
"Come on Pearl… Peridot's becoming cooler than she was when she first came here…" Amethyst stops, "okay, not really, but you know what I mean!"
"Pearl." Garnet places a hand on her shoulder.
"Garnet?"
"I know it's hard. But Peridot's made great progress since she's started living with us. At the very least, do this because we need the information."
Pearl nods. "Right. I'm a Crystal Gem. Rose… Rose would also have given her a chance."
That gets a grin out of Garnet. "Go get 'em Pearl."
The alabaster gem nods, before approaching Peridot, who hasn't noticed a thing.
"Garnet, you really think Pearl will be able to talk to Peridot?" Connie whispers.
"... Probably not." Garnet admits.
"Maybe it'll be funny?" Amethyst whispers, to which Garnet shakes her head.
Pearl clears her throat. "Ahem. Peridot?"
No vocal acknowledgement, but Peridot cracks an eye in her direction.
She clears her throat again. "I've been working on deciphering the circuitry from what we've salvaged, and I've hit a dead end. I… require your help, in understanding how the red eye's circuitry works."
"Oh? So you admit that there are things outside of the limitations of a Pearl's abilities?"
"Yep. This was a mistake." Garnet whispers?
"Excuse me?"
Apparently, the chance to insult Pearl breaks Peridot from her trance.
"I am asking for you to assist me in deciphering how the circuitry of a Red Eye works, since it's clear that in the several millennia since the rebellion, Homeworld's technological capacity has long since surpassed my own. If you won't assist me with this, then I'll just have to decipher this own my own."
Peridot laughs at her. "You can't even get your prisoner to cooperate! Face it, Pearl, you're just not cut out for this. You," she waves an accusatory finger, "were made to take orders, not give them."
That does it. "You tiny green, insolent little-"
"Pearl can do everything you can, and more." Connie yells at her from the kitchen. "She's taught me everything about Earth science, swordsmanship, and everyday she works hard to be a better version of herself than before. What reason could you possibly have that makes you think Pearl can't do any of what you said?"
Peridot facepalms. "Because pearls aren't for this! They're for standing around, and looking nice, and holding your stuff for you!" She scoffs, "You know what, if you want me to help you out so bad, maybe I will help you. It'll be as if I'm owning a Pearl." She laughs, "A peridot owning a pearl, what would they have thought back home?"
Peridot looks blissfully unaware of how much the energy in the room has turned against her. In a repeat of the mission, the alabaster gem moves to throttle the green gem by the neck, only for Peridot to be saved last minute by Amethyst.
"Alright, I'll take Peridot for now, since you two can't be together. Connie, you with me?" Amethyst intervenes, dragging the Homeworld gem away from Pearl, who briefly sputters, then seethes in response.
The half-gem follows. "I guess? I thought we were heading into the town later today though-"
"Make sure she doesn't leave the established perimeters!" Pearl orders.
Amethyst waves her off, before glaring at Peridot once they're outside on the patio. "Geezus Peri, I know pissing her off is fun and all, but can't you shut up about Homeworld for ten seconds around Pearl…?"
"It's not my fault that the Pearl refuses to see reason." Peridot grumbles, crossing her arms as Amethyst drags her outside of the house, Connie in tow.
"Where exactly are we going anyways? There's only so much of the 'beach' I can see."
"We're gonna go somewhere fun, where you and Pearly won't be able to strangle each others' throats. Outside of the fence." Amethyst smiles wickedly, dragging Peridot closer and closer to the established perimeter.
"...Outside of the established boundaries?" Peridot panics.
"Don't worry P-pod, we'll be back before they notice. And if they get mad, I'll take the heat, okay? Besides, I'm sure Garnet would understand."
"Wait Amethyst, we're taking her with us to Funland?" Connie asks, to which Amethyst nods.
"...Fun...Land?"
"It's an amusement park. For amusement? For amusing the… the… sensory-whatever you call it faculties?" Amethyst gestures, trying to speak in Peridot's nerd tongue.
"A public space dedicated for the amusement of whoever attends?" Peridot raises an eyebrow.
"Yeah! Probably. Come on!"
oOoOo
The trip to Funland is marked by Peridot critiquing every detail she observes with how Beach City is organized, "I wasn't programmed for architecture, but even I can tell the amount of space you humans are forced to dedicate for your primitive motorized vehicles is absurd!" to the point where Connie wonders whether she should teach her how to play Cities: Horizons.
She isn't wrong with half her observations though, Connie notices.
"And here we are!" Amethyst gestures to the Funland entrance.
"You… brought me to a sign." Peridot observes.
"Nah nah," Amethyst places her hands on Peridot's back, making her squeak, "you've got to go inside," before pushing her into the amusement park.
She's only been here twice before, once because a gem monster had disguised itself amongst one of the many "win a prize" carnival games, the other being during the fall with Steven. She distinctly remembers nearly getting sick, partly from overloading on sweets, winning Steven too many prizes for them to carry back home, and being sad that the ferris wheel had broken down for the day back then.
"Ahem." Amethyst leans against a food stand, staffed by a (clearly) exhausted tall, bald man with a dark complexion. "Churro. Extreme size."
Wearing a moustache which serves to highlight his (plastered on) bright and shining smile, the stand worker greets her uncannily, "Sure!" Serving up the ludicrously engorged Mexican pastry to the violet gem, he doesn't even blink twice when she swallows the larger-than-her churro whole.
Peridot shivers. "Why do you do that?"
Amethyst licks her fingers, before taking Peridot by the hand, causing the poor gem to wince. "It's fun. Stuff tastes good, so I eat it. Why else would I do it?" She hands the cashier a sticky wad of cash from her gem, "you two want any?"
Connie holds up one finger, Peridot nods warily, and before long the green gem is nursing her extra small wrapped churro warily, unsure whether she should consume it or not.
"Why is it so sticky?"
"That's the sugar Peri. Or the oil they fry it in. Makes it taste good. Right Connie?"
The half-gem, still chewing, throws her a thumbs up, wiping her lips of sugar.
Peridot just groans, before shoving down the treat down her mouth whole. "Ugh…"
Amethyst notices, worrying. "Taste bad?"
The Homeworld gem jumps a little. "Um...No." She goes quiet.
"Peridot," Connie jumps in, "You do know you can take your food in portions, right?" She shows her half-eaten churro, which the green gem readily inspects.
"There are multiple ways of eating?"
"Yeah. Amethyst usually swallows everything whole-"
"-oh."
"But it's better if you take your food in bites. Manageable portions."
She stares at her empty wrapper, still covered with sugar. "I see." She blankly says, disconnected from the rest of the world.
"Hey Peri, can I have your wrapper?" Amethyst asks, to which she acquiesces. The violet gem balls up the wrapper before throwing it in her mouth as well.
Peridot tries to hide her disgust, but says nothing.
"What? You used to me eating stuff that's not food yet?"
"Yes." Peridot answers, to which Amethyst stifles a groan from the one-word response.
"What… is that?" Peridot points at the theme park's centerpiece attraction; the Appalachian, AKA the the other half of the reason why Connie had nearly thrown up during her visit here with Steven.
Amethyst perks up. "That's a roller coaster dude. It's the most fun thing in Funland."
"...A primitive speed pattern transportation circuit?" Peridot asks warily.
Amethyst sighs. "Can you stop ruining everything with your nerd words? Come on!"
As the three of them approach The Appalachian, the ride's signature school bell rings loudly, and Peridot tenses up.
The ride entrance lacks a staff, until the same man from the food stands hastily rushes over to them, getting behind the stand.
"Uh… three please?" Amethyst scratches her head.
"Sure! Just... come... over here and... let me... measure... your heights." He says in between ragged breaths, pointing towards a height measure.
Both Connie and Amethyst straight up fail to measure up to the minimum height, Peridot nearly passes due to her hair, eliciting the man to press his hands on her it to use her skull as a measure.
Connie just glares at him for touching her hair unsolicited, while Peridot seethes with rage, straightening her hair and throwing her hands up in frustration.
"Ha-ha! Sorry, guys. Looks like this squad has some growing to do before you can ride."
"DO. NOT TOUCH ME WITH YOUR FILTHY TOUCH STUMPS YOU DISGUSTING ORGANIC! I do not have to grow. This height is indicative of my rarity and importance. I demand entry, you CLOD!"
The ride operator clears his throat. "You kids want a lifetime ban?"
Connie swiftly pulls Peridot away before she can cause trouble. "Peridot, let me try." She clears her throat, "so… I'm guessing you're the only person who works in this park?"
He answers, smile still plastered on his face. She wonders what he's taking for him to smile so widely for so long. "Yep! Haven't seen a bed in an entire week! You can say we're a bit… 'fun-derstaffed.'"
"Is it worker exploitation if the victim is both owner, manager, and victim?" Connie wonders to herself.
"So I'm guessing you're the mechanic for this place?"
"Yep! Janitor, mechanic, inspector, everything!"
She grins to him. "And are you sure that's exactly legal? It does seem a bit unlikely that a person such as yourself would have the necessary credentials in food service, ride maintenance, business management, advertising, and otherwise all at once."
A beat.
"You know what? As the proud owner of this establishment, I can be a bit flexible with the rules." He unlocks the entrance to the ride, "You kids have fun."
As the three of them strap in their seat-belts, Connie makes a note to tip off the relevant government organization first thing when she gets home.
The ride is… fun, but unimpressive to her for the most part. She already gets to feel like she's on a roller coaster on a weekly basis from missions; why would she gain anything new from being strapped in on a linear, no-context adventure specifically designed for a calculated amount of g's and adrenaline flies past her.
It's still fun, but it's something for her to think about. And that's more than Peridot can say, who just looks uncomfortable the whole ride, holding onto Amethyst the entire time, who doesn't seem to take notice.
"Wasn't that fun?" Amethyst asks her once they're off.
"Oh. Um, yes." She admits.
"That's good. Where should we go now?"
She doesn't answer.
"Peri?" Amethyst pokes.
Peridot looks at her.
"Having fun?" Amethyst grins.
"Yes."
Amethyst looks at her bluntly, before sighing. "You're not having fun." She drags her to a bench, "you wanna tell me what's going on?"
It takes a while for her to answer. "...Why do you prioritize my well-being so much?"
Amethyst quizzically looks at her. "I brought you here to get away from Pearl. And you're my friend. Even if you're a bit of a nerd. Why wouldn't I want you to have fun?"
"Friend?"
"Yeah, me and Connie are your friends. And Garnet's starting to warm up to you. And before you know it…" Amethyst looks like she wants to complete a thought, but whatever it is is dropped at the last moment.
Peridot sighs. "I'm… I'm not used to this. Any of this. Being on Earth." She looks at her, then turns away, as if looking at Amethyst is making her sick. "Why did you stop?"
"Stop what?"
"Holding my hand."
Amethyst flushes violet briefly, before regaining her composure, shaking her hair out. "Oh. I got… distracted." She pauses for a moment to think. "Shit, was that bothering you?"
"I…" She looks down. "Yes."
Amethyst brushes her fingers in her long, mangy hair. "Shit, I forgot you Homeworld gems don't like being touched. Peridot, I'm sorry. I… you have any other boundaries you wanna tell me about? I won't judge."
"No Amethyst." She blushes, trying not to look at Amethyst in the eye.
Another pause, broken this time by Connie.
"Peridot, are you like this right now because we're… me and Connie are supposed to 'outrank' you on Homeworld?" She inducts.
No answer, no hint of acknowledgement.
Amethyst pats her on the back. "Listen Peridot, you know that's not how we work. This is Earth. You can do whatever you want, like whatever the heck you want. Well… do whatever you want, as long as it's in the perimeter… look, I'll talk to Pearl and Garnet about letting me show you around other places." She grins. "We're not Homeworld Peri. We're not those types of gems."
Peridot wordlessly nods in acknowledgement.
"There anything you like Peri? Anything you wanna do?" Amethyst asks.
An uncomfortably long pause.
"I…" Peridot starts, "Um… I like it when you touch me."
Amethyst flushes. Connie struggles to hold back a laugh.
Then Amethyst bursts out laughing.
"What!?"
It takes her a while for her to stop laughing before patting her on the back. "Peri… god, jeez, sometime when Connie's not around, okay?"
Peridot groans. "I honestly don't see the point of why you've brought me here.. Each contraption here seems like a needlessly complicated way to waste one's time, made especially egregious by the fact that the human lifespan is so pathetically short."
"Okay, now you're sounding like Pearl."
Peridot glares at the playful accusation. "I do not sound anything like her-" She freezes.
"Peridot? What's wrong-" Connie turns to see what's captured Peridot's attention; a large, green, glowing alien plush doll out of reach, conveniently behind a ring toss game.
"Connie! Amethyst! Look at this being! Its large head, swollen with thoughts! Those compassionate eyes. It understands. I need it. NOW!"
"Peridot, that's a prize." Connie explains. "You need to win it by playing."
Once more, the ride operator-food stall worker rushes over to the ring toss stand, completely out of breath, and sounding like he's three seconds from an asthma attack.
"Maybe we could just take the doll without playing?" Amethyst quietly muses, to which Connie slugs her.
"Three please." The exhausted jack-of-all trades complies, handing them three stacks of rings each, and pocketing Connie's cash.
"So… how do you 'play?'" Peridot asks.
The jack-of-all trades tries to open his mouth, but just ends up collapsing on the floor. "Don't… worry… I'm just fine down here…"
"Uh… if you say so?" Connie answers back, before turning to Peridot. "The rules say that if you get one ring around one of those bottles, you get the big prize."
Peridot nods, before chucking all three stacks at the bottles. Her aim is off as well, going straight for the bottles,, and predictably knocking all of them over. To the ground. Where they break.
"I win!"
Amethyst bursts out laughing, and the half-gem has to stifle a laugh. "You… Peridot,"
"What you three just won, is a lifetime ban!" The jack-of-all trades gets up, and stares down the Homeworld Gem.
"A… a lifetime ban? This… is ridiculous! Nobody bans me, a peridot under Yellow Diamond's service!"
It doesn't faze him in the slightest. "Well you just got banned pal."
"You… you have clearly designed this game to be unwinnable, you… RIP-OFF ARTIST!"
Then she kicks him in the shin.
"OW, MY SHIN!"
oOoOo
One lifetime ban later…
"Okay, that was not cool, but it was also really funny, which makes what you pulled back there pretty freaking cool." Amethyst cackles, having thrown the park security (again, the same man,) into the ocean upon his very brief attempt to throw them out.
"Yes. Continue to make fun of my existential plight and despair." Peridot muses, carrying her desired (stolen) plush doll in tow.
"Alright, something's still bothering you." Amethyst stops the group, and motions for Peridot to sit down with her on a nearby bench, which the green gem tepidly accepts.
"There is absolutely nothing bothering me." Peridot crosses her arms, refusing to look her in the eye.
"Look, the only reason I risked getting my ass being yelled at by Garnet was so you could get away from Pearl!? Is it her?"
"Pearl? No, absolutely nothing about the defective, neurotic pearl who thinks she's so above her post. Nothing about that at all, from the way she speaks to me, from the way she thinks she can order me around, from the way she carries herself…" She nearly throttles her (stolen) prize to communicate her anger. "AAARAGH!"
"I thought I told you to at least try to move past this Peri."
"Yes, but it's so… so inconceivable that a Pearl like her would be acting this way that I just can't move past it! The way she treats me, me, a perfectly designed, made-to-order peridot who served her diamond faithfully, now being ordered around by a… a fusion and a defective rebel pearl…"
"You think you're the only one with problems with Pearl?" Amethyst seethes.
"Yes! And noone, not even you, could ever come close to understanding my despair as to my situation-"
Amethyst grips her by the collar of her jumpsuit.
"A-Amethyst?" Peridot starts to shrink a little.
"You. Don't. Know. Anything. About. Pearl. All you know is what those Homeworld Gems told you. So sure, you might know a couple of things about your fancy circuitry technology, but you only won because you're programmed to!"
Peridot tries to stammer out, "B-but she's just a common Pearl!"
"Everything Pearl can build, everything Pearl can do, she taught herself, because she chose to. She's the best damn swordswoman in the entire world, she's so smart it physically hurts to talk to her because she just nerds out half the time, and she's so infuriating to talk to, you… you…" Her face glows dark violet in frustration. "You understand that Peridot? She. Chose. To. Be. Defective. Unlike you, who got everything in your life shoved down your throat from day friggin one. So yeah, you can say you're all high and mighty above us, but that's only because you're programmed to!"
Peridot freezes.
"Just… I don't even know why I bother with you sometimes." Amethyst grumbles, before heading off. "Connie, can you take Peridot back home? I need a break from everything."
The half-gem's spent her time watching on in a mixture of fear and awe. Amethyst rarely gets angry about anything (other than Pearl, and even then, it's been a while,) and much like Pearl, it's hard to imagine her outside of her 'default' setting. "A-Amethyst, wait-"
Peridot tries for her. "Forget it dude. I'm done. I'm clocking out for the day."
The ocean trembles.
Everyone freezes.
Something screeches. From the depths of the sea, a giant worm-like monster bursts from the shallow waters of the beachfront, tunneling directly towards Peridot. At the end of it's thin, worm-like body lies the head, enlarged with a circular maw, toothy and bloodied. Within the mouth, a red gem. Body colored light brown, with scattered spots of different hues of blue and purple across it. It's frame is coated in a translucent, shiny coating that forms three tentacles near it's mouth.
"Gem monster!" Connie summons her sword, but the Worm Monster just charges past her, straight for Peridot and almost swallowing up the green gem whole, had it not been for a vault to the left on her part.
"PERIDOT!"
Amethyst draws her whip from her gem and furiously cracks her whip against the Worm Monster.
If anything the two of them are doing are having any effect on the monster, it's not apparent. The coating just glances off every blow against it, despite the ample time afforded to the both of them by the monster's tunnel vision on Peridot.
"Why isn't this working!" Amethyst lassoes the monster's head, but ends up being the one taken for a ride; the monster just pulls her form along, ragdolling like a kite.
"SOMEBODY SAVE ME FROM THIS WRETCHED BEAST!" Peridot screams.
The homeworld gem tries to climb atop several rocks perched on the beachfront, but struggles to traverse them before the Worm Monster can snatch her up whole-
"GYAAAH!"
Suddenly, a blur. Snatching the Homeworld gem from the Worm Monster's maw is a form of teal which whips past the Worm Monster before it can properly react, carrying Peridot to relative safety.
"My body construct cannot take this amount of adrenaline in one sitting." Peridot grumbles, eyes dizzy as Pearl sets her down.
"Peridot." Pearl's physical form has sustained a direct gash in her back, ripping the back of her top into two, false teal blood generously dripping from the open wound. Are you alright?"
Peridot grumbles, causing Pearl to roll her eyes. "I thought we made it clear that Peridot wasn't allowed to leave the temple premises!" She shouts at Amethyst, still being taken for a ride.
"NOT THE TIME FOR THIS P. How were we supposed to know this was going to happen!?" Amethyst yells back, as she tries to pull on the lasso, only for the monster to shriek in response.
The Worm Monster readies, charging at Peridot again; before the green gem has time to complain, her attacker is intercepted by a blunt force; Garnet's fists, pummeling the worm monster into the rock bed. It hisses painfully in response, it's coating flickering, but the monster does not poof; instead lashing out at Garnet, forcing the fusion on the defensive.
"HEY!" Connie taunts the monster, before throwing sand into it's gaping maw. "Choke on this!"
The Worm Monster coughs and hacks up sand, repulsive, but effective enough to buy the fusion and half-gem enough time to unleash a torrent of blows onto the monster's body.
It's a no sell. The coating makes the Worm Monster nigh invulnerable.
"What do we do! This isn't working!" The half-gem panics, as the Worm Monster regains it's composure, and charges after Peridot again.
"WHY ME!?"
Pearl freezes. "Peridot! Your plush doll! It glows in the dark!"
"AN EXCELLENT OBSERVATION PEARL!"
Connie freezes. "It eats glowy things!"
"GYAH! Why must my existence have all the things I love taken from me!?" Peridot tries to throw the plush doll away.
"Wait! Peridot!" Pearl calls after her, "Keep hold of your doll! And run that way, under the bridge!" She directs, pointing towards the underside of a wooden bridge.
"What!? You've seen what that monster's coating can do! It's nigh invincible!" Peridot barks back, running as fast as her short limbs can carry her for.
"Would you just entertain my idea for once! What we need to do is stop it's movement!" Pearl replies.
"Why would that work-"
"Just listen to her you clod!" Garnet orders.
"That's my line…" Peridot groans, sliding towards the underside of the bridge, taking the glowing alien doll and the Monster Worm with her.
"I WAS NOT BUILT FOR THIS YOU CLODDY CLOD WORM!" She cries out as the worm gains ground, only to be distracted by a strong underside punch by Garnet, again, repulsed by the coating.
"Peridot! Zig zag between the beams!" Pearl orders her, to which Peridot follows to the best of her ability.
"GYAH!" Despite Garnet and Connie's best efforts, the Monster Worm continues to gain ground against a flailing Peridot, whose escape is cut short by one stray rock which trips her up.
"Oh dear." She meeps out before covering her eyes right before what will surely be her death-
Only for Pearl to sweep her up, taking off into the air where they'll be safe.
It was a perfect plan; the result being the Worm Monster's movement now impotent, it's body immobilized and entangled by the wooden beams of the bridge. Though the worm desperately struggles against it's new cage, it only brings about it's own demise as the beams crack, bringing down the bridge onto it's body, immobilizing it under the weight of the remains.
Garnet picks up the half-gem, carrying her away and ordering Amethyst back, to which she complies, confusing the half-gem.
"Garnet? Shouldn't we poof it-?"
"Watch." Garnet orders, pointing to Pearl's form.
The alabaster gem, Peridot in hand, releases her as she somersaults through the air, projecting twin spears from her gem. Both weapons charged up, she takes aim.
The Worm Monster's physical form disappears under a full hailfire of teal, pearlescent fireballs which consume it's outline whole; incredibly majestic. Incredibly Pearl.
The alabaster gem finishes her performance sticking the landing, and recieving a full encore from her comrades-in-arms. More than Peridot can say, who's gotten herself stuck headfirst in a sand dune.
oOoOo
It's later, after the sun has long set on Beach City during the night that Peridot gets the courage to talk to Pearl again, whilst she and Connie have made themselves busy derusting what appears to be a propulsion system of the Red Eye.
The alabaster gem wordlessly listens as the homeworld gem struggles to come up with her words; I… have been spending much time with Amethyst and Connie."
Pearl nods warily.
Peridot grumbles, "And my time with Amethyst has… encouraged me to admit, it's… remarkable that a Pearl such as yourself could become such a... knowledgeable technician, as well as a capable force in the battlefield. Your adaptability… clearly exceeded my, and… mmm… Homeworld's expectations." She clears her throat, "does that count as an apology?"
A beat. Pearl just looks at her blankly.
"Shall we… get to work? Did you not require my help in understanding the circuitry of the salvage operation?" Peridot asks, looking visibly awkward.
Pearl lets out a small laugh, further compounding on Peridot's clear discomfort. "Did I do something wrong?"
"No, no, Peridot." Pearl kneels down to her level, before pulling out a present from her gem; the alien plush doll Peridot had left behind at the battle scene, almost forgotten. "I think you forgot this."
Peridot smiles, a bit wary of herself. "Yes. Yes, I did. Thank you Pearl."
oOoOo
When the cool ocean breeze tickles her nose, the girl named Connie Quartz finally stirs from her nap and awakens, greeted by an ever-familiar scene; herself, resting upon a grassy knoll overlooking Beach City.
Alone, save for her copy of Unfamiliar Familiar, though it was not the adventures of Lisa the witch and her familiar Archimicarus which had made her drowsier earlier. She distinctly remembers what she had been doing before falling asleep; a familiar game where she would debate whether to go down and try to make friends in Beach City, or head back home. Naturally, her body had opted for the 'abstention' option.
Her bones and muscles protest as she tries to pick herself off the ground and stretch, her joints cracking sharply. As she stretches however, she finds a familiar tune stuck in her head once more.
"HELP ME-"
"-HELP ME-"
"-HELP ME-"
"-HELP ME-"
Her eyes vault open. "I'm dreaming!" She screams, as the infinitesimal cosmos come to greet her.
Floating through space, trapped through space, stuck through space. Her body floats lifelessly through the infinite vacuum, accompanied only by the decaying eternity of universes past, the finite innumerability that is sum of all existences.
"Where… am I?
No echo.
"This is weird…"
"This is weird."
She recognizes that voice.
"Lapis!?"
Her form appears before her. For the first time in almost a year, Lapis Lazuli, in the light.
She'd tackle her with a hug if it weren't for the fact that Lapis is missing both her arms.
"Connie, what are you doing in here?" Besides her arms, her legs look like they've been processed by a grinder, black marks welt where her eyes should be, her nose looks irreconcilably broken, smashed up beyond belief.
"I… I'm dreaming? Maybe it's telepathy? Forget what I'm doing, w-where are you! Who… who's hurting you!?"
"What? No Connie, I'm trying to concentrate! I've… I've got to concentrate so they can't learn where you are-"
"yOU wIll prEcIsElY tEll Us whAt YOU sAw On thE plAnEt EArth In FUllEst dEtAIl-"
"WRRAAARAGH!" Lapis screamed.
"Lapis, w-what's going on!?" She couldn't look around, she couldn't move, it felt like she was locked in a camera position, "T-tell me where you are, i-I can help you!"
"I told you, NO!" Her physical form shatters into shards and disappears fragments, dissipates, splinters, fractures. Scatters into dust. Ground up. No more.
"...Lapis?"
"What exactly are you?"
Behind you.
A familiar green gem, tall and lanky, stature augmented with limb enhancers.
"P...peridot?"
No, this one has a mildly darker complexion than that of her Peridot, her hair being rectangular in shape, and her gemstone located… on her eye?
Her torso is bulkier than Peridot's, and her form is adorned with spherical shoulder pads to augment her stature.
The peridot kneels down to inspect her. Her arm transfigures into a weapon of some sort; a tractor beam, which freezes the half-gem in place.
"I will ask you again. What exactly are you, and what is your role within Lapis Lazuli Facet-?"
She gasps, awakening in a cold sweat, this time with the gems surrounding her.
"A-are you alright!?" Pearl fusses, checking her temperature, her bedsheets, if anything is physically wrong with her. "We heard from Peridot that you were struggling with something during your nap-"
"It was likely a bad dream P," Amethyst reassures her, "Connie's going to be fine for the most part."
"L-Lapis! She's hurting! Someone is hurting her!" Her words take a few seconds to register for Pearl and Amethyst. (Peridot doesn't register, for obvious reasons.)
"Lapis Lazuli?" Garnet asks.
"Lapis!?" Pearl squawks.
"There are more of you…?" Peridot wonders out loud.
Connie does her best to continue, "I had a dream… but that's the wrong way to describe it! It felt like…" She snaps her fingers to try to find the right words, "Telepathy! She was in space! And she was trapped, and imprisoned, and she was being interrogated by another Peridot… she… she sounded like she was in terrible pain…"
"Another Peridot?" Peridot asks.
She looks her in the eyes. "Yes, one with rectangular hair, limb enhancers, gemstone on her eye, and shoulder pads?"
Peridot nods, unsure why she's looking to her for answers. "There are thousands of other Peridots. If you're directing this to me in the hopes that I'll know which one she is, you'll be disappointed to know that isn't the case."
"They must be…" Pearl almost muses a thought, but a swift glare from Garnet reminds her of her audience. "Nevermind. Connie, describe how the experience felt?"
"It… it felt like I was really there. But I couldn't do anything. It was cold, and all I could do was watch Lapis in pain, until I realized I could talk to her, then she forced me out."
Pearl crinkles her nose. "It must be another one of your powers…"
She's not in the mood for war planning. "W-we have to do something!"
She tries to get up out of bed to dress for the warp pad, only to be brought back down by Garnet.
"Connie. I know you and Lapis were friends. But now, it's physically impossible to get to her. You said she was in space?"
"It felt like it."
"You've never even been in space before." Pearl adds. "How would you have known you were in space?"
Connie shakes her head. "I… I know I was in space Pearl. I… I was inside Lapis' head, and she felt… lonely… isolated… tortured… rejected… abandoned." She could have saved her. Back then, she could have asked for her to stay on Earth, so none of this could be happening-, "I… I could have gotten her to stay here on Earth. I could have-"
"Connie." Garnet sets her down, None of this is your fault. You couldn't have predicted any of this."
The half-gem nods, then frowns. "Garnet, back then, did you see-"
"I can only see futures based off of information I know, and inquiries I make. I…" Her voice is tense, "I never would have imagined Homeworld would…" She falters.
"Homeworld would what?" Connie asks, knowing she won't get an answer. "They… they're torturing her right?"
Pearl and Garnet fail to face her directly. Peridot, not one for tact, proceeds after a period of silence. "If they were following standard protocol upon readmission of exiled gems, they will likely be dissecting her core in order to render all her knowledge visible. The mind of the gem becomes probeable, accessible, visible, for the most part."
Pearl's eyes go wide as saucers.
"So that means Homeworld will know of our survival." Pearl inducts, looking to Garnet for reassurance.
But Garnet looks as unsure as the rest of them.
"Likely, but it is possible to hide information," Peridot continues, "but it is… very difficult. To illustrate this difficulty, it would be akin to attempting to hide something in one's quarters whilst the entity that you wish to hide this thing from has an omnipresent view of the interior of your quarters." She pauses. "The interrogator typically knows if the interrogated is hiding something. Resistance… typically leads to more primitive forms of interrogation." She admits.
"So they're torturing her." Connie states bluntly. "Because of us."
The room grows cold.
"That's all I know." Peridot finishes.
Amethyst sighs. "Man, this is janked."
Even Peridot nods. "Yes I agree, this is… janked. Whatever that means."
The bond between Lapis and Connie is much stronger since she doesn't have nearly as many contacts with beach City as Steven, meaning Connie's thought about her time with Lapis more often. And yes, i just realized i ludicrously extended the distance of connie's telepathic powers (if steven had a max distance in the first place,) (even though the bottom of the sea is ludicrously far for steven, across galaxies is a whole other category)