Welcome to Beach City!
"This place seems… Hrmg…" Perry's visor was pressed against the window, while the rest of his body was hidden behind the car door as he stared out at the "town" he had recently entered.
"This is a… Human settlement, correct?" He briefly glanced behind him at Sour Cream, who appeared to be in the middle of a conversation with Jenny and Buck. He quickly turned his attention back to Perry.
"Huh? Oh like, it's alright I guess." Sour cream mumbled, accompanying his statement with a shrug.
"Man, this place rules. And not just because I'm the mayor's son or anything. It's got some real interesting people in it." Buck turned around to face Perry, briefly pulling his shades down to wink at him. Perry felt rather uncomfortable, quickly turning to face Jenny.
"Well, we're here!" The car screeched to a halt, Perry slammed into the back of Bucks seat, letting out a disgruntled groan.
"Yeesh, that's why seat belt safety's important man." Sour Cream said as he pulled Perry back up to his seat.
"Seat-Belt…?" He looked around the car, his shaggy hair now partially parted due to his recent encounter with the back of Bucks Seat.
"Mhm, next time you ride with me I expect you to be wearin' a belt. Anyway, welcome to Beach City!" Jenny finally turned her head around to get a good look at Perry, before her gaze suddenly shifted to his forehead.
"W-Wait, you're one of those uh, gem people aren't you?!" She pointed at the now visible gem on Perrys forehead. Perry quickly ruffled his own hair, before turning back to her.
"I-I su-suppose…" He mumbled, glancing around the car to gauge their reactions.
"Dude. That's radical." Buck turned around to face Perry, giving him a single head-nod.
"Heck yeah man, anyone who's a friend of Steven has gotta be cool!" Sour cream grinned as he spoke, giving Perry a pat on the back. Perry shuddered at the touch, moving to the door.
"W-Well er, thank you for the ride my fellow er- Uhm… People?" He stepped out of the car, staring down at the group. Buck had begun consuming some kind of strange circular object with a hole through the middle of it.
"No problem man! You should tell Steven we said hi though!" Jenny said as the car began to turn around, going back up the road he had previously driven down.
"Later, dude!" Sour Cream shouted from the back of the car as they sped off down the road.
"Hmmm… So there appears to be other gems on this planet, and a "Steven", perhaps some kind of gem I'm unaware of?" Perry's limb-enhancers rubbed the sides of his temples as he spoke. He began to look around the strange "Town" he was in, or "Beach City" as the other humans had called it. It was rather small, and he had been dropped off right next to some kind of strange stone building. Perry raised one of his floating fingers, and pointed it at the building. A small green beam appeared out of the finger, indicating that it had begun scanning the wall.
"Hmph, how primitive. They appear to still be using STONE to construct most of their buildings." Perry muttered, staring at a screen that had formed in front of their face via their fingers. The screen quickly dissipated, and Perry began their walk into the strange settlement. Various humans walked by them, not really seeming to pay them much mind other than a few whispers about "Steven" and "Crystals?" that he could just barely hear as they talked amongst themselves.
"Perhaps I should find this "Steven", he's most likely in contact with other gems on this hunk of D-DIIIRT!" He screamed, crashing to the ground after a collision with some kind of storage unit. He pushed himself back to his boots, and stared down at the strange open tube-shaped storage unit. Clearly, it was some kind of communal storage unit, judging by the various items that he could see within. He hesitantly reached his hand into the Storage Unit, pushing past the old food and various other things people had thrown into it. He managed to grab onto something that didn't feel squishy or organic, so he began to pull it out from under the pile of junk.
"Uh, is that girl digging around in a garbage can?" PeeDee asked while he stared at Perry who continued to attempt to pull something out from under the pile of rubbish.
"CLEARLY that's a ROCK HUMAN PeeDee, their fingers are LITERALLY floating!" Ronaldo raised his voice as he pointed accusingly at the oblivious teenager.
"Huh, actually… They kinda look like Steven's family, don't they?" PeeDee scratched his chin as he spoke, glancing back up at his brother who was furiously scribbling something down in his notebook.
"Likes… To… Eat… Trash…" He muttered, as he continued writing. PeeDee groaned, turning around.
"Well, time to get back to work Ronaldo" He dragged his brother by the back of his collar, ignoring his protests as they walked along the boardwalk.
"I'VE GOT IT!" Perry shouted, ripping an old stained leather satchel out from under the pile of junk. He squinted, inspecting the old satchel.
"It appears to be some kind of… Mobile storage device" He muttered, as he attempted to sling the smelly satchel over his head.
"Aha, now I have somewhere safe to put you guys!" He grinned, staring down at the two gems he was still cradling in his left hand. He fumbled with the satchel for a while, before finally managing to open it after a lot of trial and error.
Now staring inside the satchel, he saw… A couple tiny disc-shaped metallic objects and a piece of paper with more gibberish on it. He tossed the paper out of the bag, and gently placed the two cracked gems inside.
"Safe and sound!" He let out a long sigh of relief, as he patted his satchel.
"Now, time to locate this "STE-VAN"." A confident smile spread across Perry's face, as he began to walk towards the boardwalk… Only to immediately stop the second his stomach let out a deep, angry rumbling sound.
"S-So hungry… A-And thirsty…" He grumbled, clutching his stomach. He was too far away from the plant-field to go back, but this was a human settlement! There had to be some kind of food and water they could drink here. He looked around the small town, before finally spotting a building with a larger version of the object Buck had been eating attached to it. Deciding to take his chances, he ran towards the building.
"I'm so BOOOORED!" Lars groaned, turning to Sadie who appeared to be playing a game on her phone.
"Yup, I guess even Steven's gone for today. Probably out having magical adventures or something." She snickered, turning to face Lars as she spoke.
"Ergh, I can't believe I WANT Steven to be here." He moaned, rubbing his face while Sadie patted him on the back.
"C'mon Lars, you shouldn't be talking about Steven like tha-" She was interrupted as the doors to the store suddenly opened, both cashiers spinning back around to see whoever had entered the store.
"Welp, it's an alien." Lars grumbled, staring at the girl who had recently entered the store.
"Heh, at least he's handsome." Sadie grinned, also staring at the guy who had recently entered the store.
"What?! Clearly that's some gem-babe, like the ones Steven hangs around with!" Lars shout-whispered, turning back to face Sadie.
"Pssh, I bet that's a guy- Y'know, Steven's a gem and HE'S a guy." She spoke with a smug tone to her voice, grinning at Lars who had decided to begin grumbling incoherently.
"Plus, HE doesn't have any boobs, see?" She continued to speak in a hushed tone, motioning with her head towards the presumed Aliens flat chest. The alien in question currently had their head pressed up against the freezer door containing various fizzy drinks, and was staring intently at them.
"A lot of girls have flat chests SADIE, so just let me handle this. I'll PROVE that this alien's another beach city BABE." He ran his hands through his hair, briefly raising his voice near the end of his sentence, catching the attention of said "Alien Babe".
"Uh, greetings?" They turned to face the two cashiers, their fingers floating a ways away from their strangely shaped metallic-hands.
"Whoa, how are your fingers-" Sadie spoke first, only to be cut off as Lars began to speak
"Hey there, girl. You know for BABES like you those drinks are only HALF PRICE!" He winked at the presumed alien, as his mouth spread into a "dashing" smile.
The aliens' eyes briefly became obscured by their visor, as they took a step towards the counter. And then another. And another step… And another… And… They were finally eye-to-eye with Lars, being almost exactly the same height as him, if not slightly taller.
"I am not a woman." The tone to his voice was as cold as ice, while his eyes stared daggers through Lars's heart.
Lars found himself shaking, as he took a large step away from the suddenly very imposing space alien who's fingers was slowly reaching towards his neck- OH CRAP OH CRAP!
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience sir!" Sadie spat out, the presumed alien's fingers inches away from Lars's Neck before his arm and fingers dropped back down to his sides.
"It's… Fine…" He practically forced out, his voice full of malice.
"U-Uh… F-For your troubles sir, how about you take something on the house?" She weakly grinned at the alien, who appeared to be satisfied by this offer.
"I appreciate your generosity, human." He grumbled, turning back around towards the freezer. He grabbed a cherry flavored fizzy drink, along with a donut.
"I will consume this "food" here…" He squinted at the donut, holding it as if he had never held one before in his life.
"O-Of course sir, just try not to make a mess!" Sadie stuttered once again, briefly glancing over at the still shivering Lars.
"THIS FOOD IS AMAZING!" Perry took another long swig of the strange red liquid that popped on their tongue, and took another large bite out of their "donut" as one of the humans called it. They continued to ravenously devour their meal, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the strange store. The two cashiers seemed to be watching them with a look of confusion and fear on their faces while they watched the presumably ice-cold alien happily devour an entire donut and an entire one litre bottle of soda. Perry burped, slowly standing up, their fingers holding their stomach.
"That was AMAZING! I've never tasted ANYTHING like it, I'll be sure to come back if I get the chance!" Perry bolted out of the store.
"I-I guess they're like amethyst?" Sadie mumbled to Lars, who still appeared to be shivering.
"T-They're coming back?" He gulped, anxiously running a hand through his hair as he watched Perry leave the store.
A small holographic screen composed of four of Perry's fingers floated in front of the honorary gem's face while he walked along the boardwalk.
"Note to self; Return to earth to obtain more food and drinks when possible." The screen instantly dissipated, having recorded his last sentence. Perry briefly glanced down at his right hand, watching his fingers return back into their neutral-floating position. He once again looked up, only to accidentally stumble into a much smaller human.
"Hey- Watch it!" The small human grumbled, rubbing their head
"It's like your legs are made of metal or some...thing…" His voice trailed off as he stared up at the rather displeased Perry, who glared back down at him through his visor.
"Actually, the material they're made of is-" Perry attempted to explain, before being cut off by the smaller human.
"Wait, wait- You're one of Steven's friends aren't you? You've even got one of those GEMS on your forehead right?" He scratched his cheek as he spoke. The young human pointed at the gem lodged in Perry's Forehead.
"Oh- Actually, I'm not sure WHO this STEVEN is. However, you appear to be in the know about gem related subjects, correct?" Perry leaned forward, getting a little too to the smaller human.
"U-Uh, I guess? I'm PeeDee by the way." He mumbled while he awkwardly began scratching the back of his head.
"Well then P-D, my designation is P-17. You may also call me "Perry" if you so wish" He grumbled, still a little too close to PeeDee.
"Well then, I think it's about time I started asking questions," Perry clasped both of his hands together, "Would you happen to know if there's a gem-healing facility located near this colony?" Perry attempted to kindly ask the clearly rather scared smaller human, trying to use the same tone Peridot once used when talking to him.
"I uh- Oh, you want something to HEAL you? Dude, STEVEN healed this weird quiet girl's eyesight called CONNIE! Nobody believes me, not even my brother. But she doesn't even wear her freakin' lenses anymore, and it's all after she started hanging out with him! And then there's his dad who magically healed his broken leg in a couple of days, and- And…" PeeDee seemed to trail off, grasping at his strangely shaped hair with both of his hands
"Ah crap, I'm starting to sound like my brother" He muttered, before shivering for a split second.
"Hmph, then where is this "Steven" I have heard so much about?" Perry leaned back, thankfully giving PeeDee some space.
"Oh he lives down by that old statue on the beach over there, but who knows? I could just be wrong about his healing magic or whatever…" PeeDee shrugged, before walking away.
"Excellent, I shall soon meet this "Steven" and YOU shall soon be fixed!" He exclaimed excitedly. He gently tapped the side of his smelly satchel, giggling to himself as he began to run down the beach towards the presumed location of Steven.
"Nooo! Why would you say that to him Blubbering Bagel, Crying Cracker isn't a wimp!" Steven grabbed both sides of the TV, leaning closer to the television as tears began to welt up in his eyes. His secret indulgence in crying breakfast friends was soon interrupted however, as he heard someone rattling the doorknob to his home.
"H-Huh?" He wiped some tears from his eyes before standing up, now staring directly at the door.
"That… Kinda looks like…" He squinted, the silhouette of the person attempting to get inside looked vaguely familiar…
"That looks like… Peridot?!" Steven gasped, running down the stairs as he walked towards the door.
"I'm sure she just wants to talk to us because we destroyed her stuff!" He spoke in a cheery, energetic voice as he unlocked the door. The door swung open, revealing…
"Huh, you're not her are you?" Steven glanced at the… Gem? Standing in the doorway. Their messy, curly hair covered most of their face, and fell down to their shoulders. He briefly thought they COULD be human due to their brown hair, only to notice the floating fingers, green jumpsuit and their awesome looking green legs and hands!
"Whoa, you're REALLY green!" He stared up at the presumed gem, who simply stared back at them through their visor. Wait a second, that was a GEM! It looked almost identical to Peridot's.
"So uh- Who are you?" Steven asked,curiously poking their right leg.
"My designation is P-17, are you-" Before the gem could finish talking, the warp pad activated. Both Steven and the mysterious gem seemed rather surprised by this, as both of them turned to face the warp pad.
"BOOYA, WE TOTALLY ANNIHILATED THAT MONSTER P!" Amethyst cackled, slapping Pearl on the back.
"Oh- Well, I couldn't have poofed it if it weren't for Garnets distraction!" Pearl proudly exclaimed, pressing her hand against her chest as she glanced up at Garnet.
"Good job, I'm proud of you." There wasn't much emotion in her voice, but both Pearl and Amethyst seemed to lap up the praise as their smiles grew even wider.
"Anyway STE-" Amethyst turned to the door, her eyes growing wide as she stared at the GEM who was talking to Steven.
"Who the heck is-" Amethyst was once again interrupted, as both Pearl and Garnet summoned their weapons.
"Gargh, I knew we shouldn't have let her get away, now there's another Peridot!" Pearl grimaced, entering a battle-stance. She seemed dangerously focused, glaring at the Peridot standing just behind Steven- STEVEN!
"STEVEN, GET AWAY FROM HER!" Pearl stumbled forward, only for Garnet to leap towards the shocked Peridot.
"W-Wargh?!" The peridot narrowly avoided getting flattened by Garnet's gauntlets as she whizzed by. Pearl leapt towards the Peridot, only to instead scoop up Steven and began to rapidly backpedal towards the Warp.
"Amethyst, hold them off!" Pearl looked to Amethyst, who gave her a knowing nod. Two whips were summoned into Amethyst's hands as she began to approach the Gem. Pearl attempted to shield Steven from the fight.
"Pearl, I don't think they're here to hurt us!" Steven whimpered, clutching Pearl's hands.
"Steven- We… We just need to make sure she doesn't get away, alright? We're just going to poof her. You don't have to watch." Pearl calmly explained, although her voice seemed to waver slightly. Steven pressed his head against Pearl's stomach as he continued to whimper.
"Get away from me you damn FUSION!" The Peridot shrieked, barely avoiding another one of the fusions strikes, quickly retaliating with a clumsy blow to her face.
"GOTCHYA!" He grinned, feeling the flat metal surface of his arm impact the fusions face.
"Nope." The fusion seemed unphased by the attack, as she grabbed ahold of his arm and proceeded to fling the Peridot away from the beach-house, and onto the beach itself. The Peridot landed with a grunt, making a smaller crater in the sand as he slowly attempted to push himself back to his feet.
"Y-You're making a mistake! I-I'm not a fighter, I'm just a technician! I don't care what you weird rebels are doing!" They kept on backpedaling, only stopping once the ocean began lapping at their worn green boots.
"You've got nowhere to run!" Amethyst snarkily remarked, cracking both of her whips.
"Just let yourself be poofed, we're not going to shatter you." Garnet stoically continued her march towards the Peridot.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" The Peridot screamed, as a large ball of green energy began to form in his right hand.
"Amethyst, get down!" The fusion shouted back towards Amethyst, barely leaping away before the Peridot launched the massive ball of energy in their general direction, impacting the spot where the Garnet once was. The ball of energy exploded, and a massive green explosion knocked everyone on the beach to the ground. Pearl stared out of the cabin's window in horror, still embracing steven.
"Gergh, my head…" Amethyst slowly stood up, coughing up green smoke as she attempted to waft the smoke away with her hands. The smoke soon dissipated however, revealing the Peridot had… Began flying away, somehow using their floating fingers as some kind of makeshift helicopter blades.
"YOU'LL NEVER CATCH ME, YOU TERRORIST CLODS!" The Peridot shrieked, as they slowly got further and further away.
"Awww… Crap…" Amethyst mumbled, squinting her eyes as she watched the Peridot disappear over the horizon.
"So, what now Garnet?" Amethyst turned to her side, only to find Garnet flat on her back, groaning as she struggled to keep herself together.
"T-That blast, it-it… It must have drained most of their energy." Garnet muttered, slowly pushing herself back to her feet.
"Yeesh Garnet, you must've really taken most of that explosion huh?" Amethyst brushed some sand off of her shoulders, Garnet simply stared ahead at where the Peridot once was.
"This… Isn't going to be that big of a problem." She adjusted her visor as she spoke.
"GARNET, AMETHYST, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" Pearl sprinted towards the two, the second she reached them she immediately began inspecting Garnet's gems for any cracks.
"Y-You two aren't cracked are you?! And we let them get away, AGAIN! That's the SECOND Peridot we've seen! Oh stars, what if more of them start coming- What if… What if-" Pearl was suddenly forced to stop her ramblings via a slap provided kindly by Garnet.
"Pearl. Focus. She's not here because of the other Peridot, and isn't here as a scout either." Garnet placed both of her hands on Pearl's shoulders.
"She most likely didn't intend to come here, perhaps it was the work of a faulty warp-pad, a malfunctioning ship or maybe even some kind of Escape pod that's left them stranded here. But that's the important part, they're stranded. They can't leave, and they're clearly confused." Garnet once again adjusted her visor, before stepping back away from Pearl.
"Do you have any questions?" She stared down at Pearl and Amethyst.
"Uh, like what should we do now? They're probably gonna try to figure out a way to contact homeworld…" Amethyst began picking her nose while she spoke.
"What if she tries fixing the galaxy warp, like the other Peridot did!" Pearl began to panic once again, anxiously rubbing her hands together.
"T-They just wanna get home! Just like Lapis!" Steven sniffled, making his presence known to the other gems.
"Aw Steven, they're like SUPER bad and stuff! If we let them get away, who knows what they'd do?" Amethyst patted Steven on his back, although this didn't seem to improve his rather sad expression.
"Steven. I know this is hard to understand, but certain gems want to HURT you, and earth. We already have one Peridot to worry about, and we don't need two. Amethyst, Pearl- Check the communications hub and galaxy warp for any sign of them. I'll look around the kindergarten for any suspicious activity." Garnet turned around, and began making her way towards the warp pad.
"G-Guys?" Steven mumbled, watching the trio slowly begin walking back towards his Cabin.
"Steven, please don't worry. We'll just be gone for one night to deal with them. We'll figure all of this out once she's bubbled, alright?" Pearl turned around to face Steven, only to turn back around to quickly catch up with Garnet and Amethyst.
In a flash of blinding light, they were gone. Steven let out a groan of anguish, staring intently at the still playing episode of breakfast friends.
"Well, I guess it's just you and me now, T.V" He gently patted the top of the television, before sitting down on the edge of his bed.
"HOW- WHO- WHO WERE THEY?!" Perry spoke through gritted teeth, pacing up and down the almost deserted beach.
"A-AND THEY KEPT ON CALLING ME A GIRL!" He let out a long angry scream, before repeatedly slamming his flat metal limb enhancer into the sandy ground.
"Ergh- And they… They thought I was a gem?" He mumbled, both of his eyes suddenly looking up at the fake Peridot gem still embedded in his head.
"If I just get that off of me, they might leave me alone! Those crystal-whatevers love humans don't they?!" He partially slid his visor down to begin pulling at his Gem.
"C'mon… C'MOOOON!" He wheezed, before falling back into the sandy beach.
"Crap, I need an amethyst for this." He grumbled, staring up at the now orange sky, illuminated beautifully by the setting sun.
"Ergh… If only Righty were here, Or Lefty… Or Forehead, or even Eye. They were- They were…" Perry soon felt tears begin to flow down his face, quickly curling up into a ball as he began to softly whimper.
"I-I'm sorry… I-I couldn't do anything." He whispered, clutching the old satchel tightly against his chest.
"S-Square…" He barely managed to sputter out, before continuing to sob into his limb enhancers. After a couple of minutes of crying, he wiped the tears from his eyes and stood up.
"I can- I can still save you two, though" He looked down at the old satchel slung over him, gently tapping his right set of fingers against it. Perry took a deep breath, and began to walk towards the cabin once again.
"Ergh, I can't believe that child was living with a fusion. Doesn't he realize how INAPPROPRIATE that kind of stuff is?" He shuddered at the thought, eventually reaching the cabin once again. He looked up at the night sky, briefly catching himself getting lost in the starry sky. He quickly refocused his attention back to the cabin.
"I just need this "Steven" to heal my friends, then I can focus on finding a way off of this rock, or finding Peridot…" He grumbled, looking up at the cabin's roof.
"Hmmm... " A smile slowly spread across his face, as a plan of entry was soon formed in his mind.
Crying breakfast friends was barely audible over the sounds of Steven snoring, drool was slowly dripping out of his mouth. This rather peaceful ambiance was suddenly interrupted as Perry fell straight through the roof, right next to Stevens bed. Landing with a grunt, he quickly pushed himself back to his boots, expecting the child to be awake and ready to fi-
"He's still sleeping." He muttered, staring at the clearly rather tired child.
"Sorry "Steven", but I'm in need of your abilities." He wrapped an arm around Steven's mouth, instantly causing the child to wake up as he dragged him towards the warp pad.
"C'mon gem, please work…" He mumbled, glancing up at his fake Peridot gem, and then back down at Steven whom he was still holding tightly. In an instant, the warp pad activated, sending both Perry and Steven tumbling towards an unknown destination.
"WHOAAAA!" Perry fell face first into the soft, muddy ground, having risen a couple of meters from the warp. Steven soon followed, landing in a slightly softer patch of grass next to Perry.
"W-where are we?" Perry grumbled, slowly standing up as he began to take in his surroundings. There were a lot of oversized red fruits all around him, along with ancient gem weaponry littered throughout the field.
"Huh…" He quickly turned to face Steven, who was still face down in the sand groaning from the rather high drop.
"STEVEN?!" He grabbed the boy by his shoulders, picking him up and shaking him violently as he attempted to get him to respond.
"Whoa- I'm alright, I'm alright P-17!" Steven exclaimed, before being immediately dropped by Perry. He thankfully landed on his butt, and quickly stood back up.
"So uh, why'd you take me here?" He stared up at Perry, who was staring curiously down at Steven.
"I-I require you to do SOMETHING for me Steven, and once you do- I'll be gone. I do not CARE if you are associated with those terrorists, I only care about- About… About my friends!" He whimpered, grabbing the old satchel tightly as he spoke.
"You're friends with a smelly old Satchel?" Steven tilted his head, snickering slightly.
"NO, THESE ARE MY FRIENDS!" He reached into the satchel, pulling the cracked gems of Carnelian and Jasper. He cradled both of them in his hands, as he felt tears begin to form in his eyes.
"P-Please Steven, I don't care about your weird friends or whatever's going on in this planet, I just- I just want my friends back… T-They're the only ones I have left." He spoke almost in a whisper, before he began quietly whimpering.
"I-I can try, but my healing powers don't always work." Steven stuttered, staring down at the two gems that were held lovingly in Perry's fingers. Steven licked his hand, and slowly inched it forwards towards the gems. He slapped the two gems with his spit-covered hand, Perry simply watched in awe as… Nothing happened.
Both boys stared down at the two gems.
"Nothing… HAPPENED!" Perry screamed in anger, only to immediately begin sobbing again as he clutched the two gems even tighter against his chest, falling face first into the dirt as he continued his sobs.
"A-Aw jeez, I'm sorry P-P-17." Steven stuttered, nervously rubbing his hands together.
"I'm just some HUMAN, I can't even fix my friends!" He whimpered, his voice muffled slightly by the ground.
"Huh, you're a HUMAN?!" Steven leaned forward, his mouth hung open.
"You're like me then, you've got a gem and you're human!" He grinned, raising the bottom of his t-shirt to reveal the gem of his mother.
"H-Huh?" Perry sniffled, slowly turning his head to face Steven. His eyes grew extremely wide under his foggy Visor as he quickly pushed himself to his feet, bending over to examine the Gem closer.
"I-It's real?" He leaned in towards the gem, reaching out to grab it- Only for a bubble to abruptly form around Steven.
"Gargh!" Perry stumbled back, and Steven looked rather embarrassed.
"Ah, sorry! I was just a little nervous" He mumbled, sliding his shirt back down as the bubble popped.
"Y-You're really a hybrid?" Perry's eyes grew even wider, and Steven simply nodded in response.
"It's… Hard isn't it?" Stevens' tone of voice suddenly changed, as he sat down next to Perry.
"I mean, I don't get cool robot limbs or floating fingers, I'm just… Me. And the gems expect me to go on all these crazy adventures and live up to what my mom did but- But I just don't know if I can sometimes." Steven let out a long sigh, staring up at the now rather uncomfortable looking Perry.
"U-Uh I sorta understand what you're talking about." Perry muttered, sliding the two gems he was cradling back into his satchel.
"I uh, my… I didn't really know my mother either. But I guess that wasn't really ever a bad thing, since it's not like they did anything important. Everyone just saw me as a regular human, until I started doing WEIRD stuff like fixing crud. But uh- But it just sorta sucks, y'know? I just want to be able to SHOW everyone that I'm a gem, that I can do everything a GEM can, and I /CAN/, A lot of gems used to like me and- And… And… And I just feel so… Empty, like I'm missing something. Like I WANT to be human even though I don't… Want to?" He broke away from his ramblings, turning to face Steven who stared at him, eyes full of wonder.
"Huh, so you want to be more… Human? Like knowing your parents and stuff and talking to people?"
"No, no… Maybe? I dunno, it just feels so WEIRD. I guess I did have a mother though, or three I guess… They were all a bunch of Peridots, and they were basically my family." Perry chuckled to himself. "Never thought I'd say that out-loud." He muttered, staring back at Steven.
"Whoa, I was ALSO raised by three gems! Do you also have a dad who runs a car-wash?" Steven excitedly began to bounce up and down, his energetic tone returning to his voice.
"Uh, I don't know who my dad is." He shrugged, staring up at the night sky.
"You know, I can always be your friend, if you're lonely." Steven continued to smile as he spoke.
"You know… Maybe… Maybe that wouldn't be so bad, Steven. And you can call me Perry." He mumbled, staring up at the stars.
"Alright, half-human club rules!" Steven began to giggle, a wide smile spread across his face. A large tang of guilt ran through Perry's body at the thought of deceiving Steven, but… Well, he sorta was in a similar situation to him, right? Right…?
His train of thought was once again sadly interrupted. However, this time it was the result of the warp-pad activating.
"STEVEN?!" An extremely worried Pearl held her spear tightly in her hands, while Garnet and Amethyst looked like they were ready to shatter someone. All three of them took a step forward as their gaze shifted to Perry.
"You shouldn't have taken him." Garnet's voice sent a shiver down Perry's spine. He shakily clenched his fingers, ready for a fight.