A/N: Aaaand here's Chapter Fifty-Six! let's take a break from all the action, kay? xD
Also, important announcement! my roleplay partner is now here on FF. Her name here is Anonymistress. She's got some great stories, so I hope you check her out! and I'd like to thank E1R1N149, whitediana5ever, and TechBee for favoriting and following this! I know there were more, but this was very recent! thanks, guys!

A Triangle in the Stars
Chapter Fifty-Six: Thirty Minutes of Fun

The green Gem in particular was still hanging out on the boat, not having drove off with it like the elder twins expected. Not that she knew of their thoughts anyway. She didn't even have the keys, and even if she did, she wouldn't have. She sighed, looking up at the now clear sky. The boat was starting to get really uninteresting, especially since she'd already seen all there was to it. Peridot sighed once again. This was getting really boring, and the desire to see what else was in this town was beginning to rise. She looked around, eventually over at Yellowtail, pursing her lips. Perhaps it'd be okay? maybe she wouldn't run into.. them..

The boat rocked, in a way that might lull one to sleep. Except Peridot wasn't one to sleep. Neither was the rest of her species. No. She wanted to explore. She soon called for Yellowtail, wondering if he could watch the boat for her while she was gone. He walked over, speaking in his strange tongue, and then looked up at her, a little confused.

The alien couldn't understand a word he said, but went on with her request anyway, tilting her head and narrowing her eyes a bit, "I'm going to go explore. Do you think you could watch over this.. er.. boat..? ship? while I'm gone?"

He nodded then, the confusion having cleared up. He said some more gibberish, but she could tell he was mostly cheerful about helping out. The Gem smiled then, "Thanks!" and quickly hopped off the boat. She took one last look at it before she started walking across the dock to land, with the fisherman waving her off. Now.. where could she go?

There were numerous stores all across the boardwalk. The arcade, the pizza place, the fry place... and so forth. The few people wandering around mostly ignored Peridot. Her eyes soon became sparkly diamonds as they took all this in. This was all so fantastic to her. Even the people, even though they mostly ignored her. They were just lively, not like Ocean Town's denizens at all. And it made it all the more enjoyable. She soon settled near the arcade, and scratched her head. What could she do now?

Well, she didn't have any money, so she could only look and watch. She was okay with this, not that she knew what money was anyway. So the alien entered and hung back and watched how the games operated, and noticed how all of them were manned and maintained by only one person. The alien found this very strange. Back home, there were at least a dozen working on one project. Maybe more. She hummed at this. Soon, she got bored simply watching all this, and decided to try one of these.. things.. herself. So she walked around, trying to search for a vacant chair.

There was one, a car racing game, similar to the one Pearl played. But this one was far better, with better graphics. A single shiny quarter sat near the wheel. It was like destiny itself was calling to Peridot. The green Gem's eyes sparkled like diamonds. She made her way over to it, and spotted the quarter. She hummed, picking it up with her floating fingers and examining it for a short while, before she turned her attention to the console itself. She eventually found a slot. "Insert Quarter Here", it said. So that's what this strange object was? well, why not? she shrugged, and then inserted the coin and taking a seat, pursing her lips This was all so strange...

Images of nine different cars showed up, different styles and colors, with different numbers too. It began to count down from ten, waiting for her to choose one. The alien bit her lip, and quickly chose the green car, getting the hang of the controls rapidly. She didn't know what that time meant, but didn't want to find out.

Then it showed her car and some of the others lined up on a line, spinning the view of it around. "Ready... set... go!" it announced, having counted down from three on the screen, and then allowed her car to move.

Peridot zoomed along the track, pressing onto the accelerator a little too hard. But it was worth it. She passed the other cars without a hitch. But not too far. She chuckled, "Clods..."

A sharp turn came up. A minimap was displayed in the corner, and in another corner, her place in the race. And Peridot almost skidded off the side of the turn, but kept on the path. She sighed of relief, still zooming forwards and not daring to look back. She was in first place. But there was a similar machine next to her game, showcasing the same race. A kid sat down there, put in a quarter, and joined her race, all the while saying nothing.

Peridot glanced over, frowning a little, and sped up. She supposed this was little competition, but worthy for her skills. It wouldn't hurt to play against him. He chose the red car, and somehow sped past her. He smiled, just a little, just barely. He was a short kid, a child much smaller than she, even without her limb enhancers. Peridot gasped, and glanced at him for a short time period. She growled, "No, not today! you're not winning against me!"

She punched the gas a lot more, hoping to speed past him. But while she may be outwardly angry, on the inside she was having the most fun she's ever had since she and the elder twins played Poker together.

He said nothing, smiling sinisterly. They were neck and neck now. He slammed into her car, once, twice, trying to knock her off the path. Peridot seconded these gestures, pressing up against him. She, on the other hand, was giving off the most vicious snarl, contrasting his sinister smile. He sped up, faster, pushing her ever so closer to the edge of the path. The alien sped up as well, before she actually pulled out, slowing down. She had a plan. A really good plan.

Unfortunately, he seemed to see through this, rapidly fixing himself before he vaulted off the path, and then sped past her. She thought she still had a chance, so she took advantage of this, holding down the gas and hoping to take the lead once more. But it didn't exactly work, as he was still way in the lead.

Oh, that was a stupid plan! she sighed, but eventually saw a shortcut. She smirked mischievously, and took it. It was going to cut off a good section of the path for her, but the road was much thinner here, barely enough for one car.
She'd just have to manage this. So she laughed, speeding through it carefully. She'd beat him. She'd become champion!

People seemed to flock over to them, watching this race for some weird reason. Peridot ignored them, only focusing on this game. She'd get a happy surprise when she was done. The kid's car soon set itself on fire, it was going so fast. And maybe that wasn't a good thing. Peridot noticed this, and laughed. She eventually reached the end of the shortcut, and kept speeding along, ending up right in front of him. He tried to slam into her with his flaming vehicle. His expression never changed from that unsettling smile.

Peridot grew a bit nervous, but started zig-zagging. These targets were harder to hit.

The finish line was just up ahead now. The alien grinned, still gunning it. She was gonna make it. She was gonna win and be crowned champion! and she didn't even know what this game really was. He went a little faster, narrowing his eyes a little. She narrowed her eyes too. She was almost there.

And finally, she passed the finish line, seconds before he. A voice yelled, "WINNER!" and began to dispense for her. The other kid got some tickets too, for being in second. He seemed unfazed by it, collecting his tickets, still having that unsettling smile.

"Yeah!" she cheered, as did the crowd that gathered behind them. She collected the tickets, and turned to the kid, "Nice job! but it wasn't enough to beat me!"

He didn't even look at her, just ran away with his tickets.

"Uh, well, that's weird," Peridot sneered a little bit. She quickly forgot, however, and eyed the tickets, getting up. Chuckling, she thought about how she could break this to the twins. And then she finally noticed the crowd, her eyes widening.

"You were awesome! I didn't know beating him at that game was even possible..." said a darker-skinned woman.

Peridot blinked, and chuckled, "Oh, well, thank you."

This made her think, though. She eventually said, confused with a bit of a head tilt, "He's never lost..?"

"Well, not that I've seen," she shrugged. "I know I can't beat him."

"Well, then I guess I beat him for you," the alien grinned, handing over the tickets. She didn't really need them anyway.

"Wait, are you giving me these? don't you wanna go spend them on some prizes or something?" she pointed over to the counter where the strange boy from earlier was looking around at the things to buy.

Peridot blinked and looked over. She didn't think there was more to these tickets. She hummed, "Maybe I'll check them out..."

The girl smiled. "Alrighty then. I'll be over here playing Meat Beat Mania if you need me!" she then gestured to another game, which she proceeded to head towards. The Gem scratched her head, nodding. Nice girl. She wondered if everyone in this town was as nice. She started examining the tickets as she started over to the prize table.

Mr. Smiley was leaning on the table when he spotted Peridot, and smiled, "Hey, kid, you wanna get something with those tickets?"

She nodded, nearly scrutinizing him and holding out the tickets. She had little idea how this worked.

"So how many tickets do you have?" he glanced at the tickets she held out, the smile now impatient.

"I'm not sure?" she was a little confused. She looked at the tickets, and tried to quantify them. That smile stayed in her head. It was impatient, rushing. Not at all unlike how some of her superiors treated her. It kinda unnerved her.

He soon sighed, "Look, we have ticket-eating machines that will tell you how many you have. Try one of those." He pointed to one such machine.

Peridot looked over, and then nodded, "Okay. Thanks.."

But it wasn't really that genuine. She crossed the room to said machine, and started examining it. How does this work..?

There was a sign with an arrow pointing down from the words, to a little slot. The words said, "Insert Tickets Here". And so she did, extremely curious. The man said this thing eats tickets. It couldn't have been literal, right?

And it wasn't. It more sucked them up whole, quickly and not needing her assistance. Her total was a whopping one hundred tickets. The alien jumped a bit, but quickly composed herself. She read the total, and her eyes sparkled a little. She then walked back over to the man and announced, "One hundred tickets! I earned one hundred!"

She was a bit excited. If only this was how Homeworld ran. But she knew she didn't belong anyway.

"Alright. You can get anything here, and anything on the first shelf," he pointed, still smiling. The items all had their ticket price listed. The counter had little candies and erasers and bracelets, all for five or ten or fifteen tickets each. The shelves, however, had things like smaller stuffed animals, which were more expensive: fifty or one hundred or one hundred and fifty.

Peridot nodded, and then eyed the stuffed animals much more closely, but then shifted to look at the bracelets. Fifteen tickets. She could get three—one for her, one for Stan, and one for Ford—in exchange for fifty-five. She wanted to remember this experience in some way, and something told her stuffed animals wouldn't exactly last the same way bracelets would, and they'd get easily lost. And they looked beautiful too. She soon smiled, and pointed at the green, blue and red bracelets, "I'll have these please."

He picked them out, and handed them to her, "Is that it?"

"Yeah, that'll be all," she nodded, taking them. And then she thought of something else. That girl she was speaking too. She jerked a little, and her smile broadened, "Oh, wait! I'd also like a bag of.. candy? yeah, candy."

He grabbed some random candy and stuck it all in a baggie. Of course, he made sure there wasn't more than she could afford. Eleven pieces, total.

"Thanks again!" she took the candy, and examined it closely. She was curious to see how they tasted, but decided this was more important. She promptly walked away and started heading towards this.. Meat Beat Mania thingy. And then she tried putting on her green bracelet. It was almost impossible, but she managed.
The dark-skinned girl was hard at work, sweating up a storm. So Peridot waited, tilting her head as she watched. Eventually, the game announced, "You're toast, player one!"

She grunted, and set the ham sticks down. Peridot frowned a little, and then tapped her on the shoulder with a floating finger. She gasped, surprised, turning on hr heel, and then she sighed and laughed when she saw Peridot. She smiled a little, "You know, I don't think I ever got your name."

"Oh!" the alien blinked, and then held out the baggie of candy, "my name's Peridot."

This time she had no inclination of spilling out her full designation. The girl nodded, and gasped a bit. "Is this for me?" she asked, her eyes widening, and her smile too.

"Of course," her smile widened as well. "I decided to get you some with the remaining tickets.

"Aww, thank you..." she took it gingerly.

"You're welcome, uh?" she paused for a moment, waiting for her name.

"Connie. My name's Connie," she frowned. "So are you related to Steven, or something?"

Peridot's eyebrow rose, and she tilted her head, "Steven?"

There went that name again. Did this girl know him too? wait, what kinda question was that? of course she did.

"Steven Quartz Universe. He's my best friend..." she chuckled, somewhat ignoring for now why she left his house. "He has three moms."

She blinked. Three moms? from what Stanford told her, there was only one and could only be one. Except if the relationship was lesbian, then two. Whatever that meant. But three? she blinked again, "Uhh? three moms?"

"I know right? wacky, huh? but they're not human, and they're not his real mom..." Connie sighed then, "he could probably explain better."

The green Gem blinked again, her lip twisting a little, "Uhh, okay then.. so.. why are you here? besides the obvious?"

She wanted to change the subject, for she was far too confused, and would rather this Steven to further explain.

"What do you mean?" asked the girl, unsure of what the green Gem meant.

"Why are you here?" she simply repeated the question. She didn't see how to explain it.

"To have fun, at this arcade... is that what you mean?" she arched an eyebrow.

Peridot facepalmed and shook her head, feeling a bit exasperated, "That's the obvious though."

She shrugged, "I don't know what you mean then."

"Where did you come from?" she began pacing, in an attempt to calm herself down. "What happened? in those terms, why are you here?"

The Gem had no idea why she was so curious, however. Probably because this girl was so nice and so she wanted to gather as much information as possible about her.

"Oh, um, my mom and dad loved each other very much... and then I was born. It's... well, it's hard to explain..." Connie blushed furiously.

Peridot blushed too, halting her steps so she could fully stare at her, and then facepalmed even harder. She took a deep breath, and exhaled into few little rapid-fire no's, before, "Not what I meant, Connie. Not what I meant."

"Oh. I'm sorry..." she sighed, biting her lip. "Maybe Steven will have a better answer for you? c'mon, it's getting late." She was also anxious to make sure her friend was alright after what she thought had happened.

Peridot then nodded, "Well, alright then.."

She was becoming a bit anxious too, and thankfully it wasn't due to what Connie implied. Not that she got it, but mentally rehearing Ford's small, minor explanation kinda clued her in. But it was just as bad because it was why she was hiding out in the boat in the first place. She hoped they weren't here. She hoped they wouldn't bump into them. Because they would be useless against the likes of them. The Gem started sweating despite herself. Connie then began out into the boardwalk, out of the arcade. And Peridot followed her, growing increasingly paranoid and apprehensive. Little did she know, it would all become proper...

A/N: And there's Chapter Fifty-Six! a chapter focused almost solely on Peridot! if you hadn't gathered it already, the guest who played against Peridot was Onion, and Ace played him perfectly! she also had Yellowtail, the racing game, Connie, Mr. Smiley, and a few other things. :3 I was Peridot, and controlled a few things here and there. X3 There's also a few small references. Maybe you'll find them~
I hope you enjoyed it!