Peridot quietly cracked open the door of the bathroom. No Crystal Clods in sight. Good! She stepped fully out into the living room. The house was dark even though it was morning. She peered out the window to see droplets of some kind of liquid falling from the grey sky. "Very interesting. I'll have to ask Steven what this strange phenomenon is."

It didn't take her long to reach the top of the stairs, but her next course of action was debatable. Steven and Twoie were asleep in bed. Now, she could either choose to wake Steven or wake Twoie. "What did the human say last night? Loud noises wake humans?" She approached Twoie's side of the bed and took a deep breath. "WAKE UP TWOIE!"

Twoie screeched, bubbling himself and Steven out of instinct while the younger jolted awake in surprise. Steven scrambled into a sitting position as he pieced together the situation. He didn't summon the pink dome around him which meant-! "Twoie!"

The kid lunged forward and joyfully hugged his older brother as Twoie dispersed the bubble. Twoie threw an arm around him while he took a deep breath to calm down. "Stars, Peri. You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Peridot scrunched her face in indignance. "Excuse me? My name is Peridot, not Peri. Also, blame the other human. He's the one who told me humans wake up this way."

The young man looked questioningly at Steven. "Dad came over last night to check on you, but you were asleep. How are you feeling?"

Twoie could see the worry in his younger brother's eyes. "I'm fine now. I must've been exhausted after yesterday if I slept this long. How are you doing? That must've been scary to see."

Steven hugged him tighter. "I-I was so scared! The gems h-hurt you, and I couldn't get them to stop! And t-then you saved me! I had to dig you out from the rocks, and I was so scared!" Twoie gently rubbed the back of his head as Steven sobbed against him. Peridot looked uncomfortable, pretending to be interested in Steven's action figures as she waited for them to finish.

Twoie let Steven cry. Once the cries faded into sniffles, Twoie broke the hug. "I'm sorry." Steven looked at him, incredulously. "I should've told the gems more about the future. They only attacked me because they were scared that I would hurt you, and because I wasn't clear enough about why I kept withholding information."

Little hands started lightly beating against his chest. "No! It's not your fault, and I don't want to hear you blaming yourself." The younger brother puffed his cheeks in annoyance as he continued his lecture. "You always think it's your fault. The gems were wrong, though. They could've cleared up this whole misunderstanding if they just stopped pressuring you and told you about their worries, but they chose not to. You had good reasons for not telling them, so I don't want to hear you blame yourself again, you got that?"

Twoie was surprised that his younger brother felt so strongly about this. He knew it was his fault, but he didn't want to keep arguing with Steven. "Okay, Sunshine. Where are the gems anyway? I would've thought they'd be hovering around for the chance to talk. Are they on a mission?" Steven huffed in annoyance.

"I told them to leave us alone for a while. I still don't trust them to behave right now." The young man winced at his tone. It was weird hearing the normally happy and trusting kid sounded so angry.

"Are you done yet? I woke you up for a reason." Peridot interrupted. The green gem was standing at the side of the bed again.

Twoie faced her with a look of confusion. "Sorry, what's up?" She cleared her throat.

"I heard about the incident that occurred last night after you sent me into the pink room. I would like to… express my gratitude to you for protecting me from the Crystal Clods at your expense." Her cheeks lit up with a blush when the young man started chuckling. Stars, how he had missed her. "Ngh. Stop laughing at me! I want to know right now the reason you are mocking me."

Twoie held his hands up in a placating manner. "I'm sorry, Peridot. I'm not laughing at you. I'm just happy you're okay."

She blinked in surprise before looking away. "O-of course I'm okay. The Crystal Clods are no match against my superior intellect. Steven showed me the Think Chamber last night, and I kept myself locked in, so I wouldn't have to worry about those clods trying to poof me again."

Both boys smiled at her name for the bathroom. "I'm glad you like the bathroom. Just know that Steven and I will have to go in there sometimes. Only for a couple of minutes, though."

Peridot raised a brow at him. "For what?"

Steven chuckled as he waited for his pot of soup to heat up on the stove. He snuck a glance behind him to see Twoie still pouting as Peridot ranted about how disgusting 'organic life-forms' were. That was a conversation he decided was more suited to Twoie's skills than his own and had promptly excused himself, leaving Twoie to answer Peridot's question. As he was turning back to check on his soup, he noticed that it was pouring outside. "Wow, it's really coming down."

Peridot and Twoie both looked outside when suddenly, a clap of thunder echoed throughout the house. Peridot bowled Twoie over, knocking the breath out of him. She grabbed the collar of his shirt while standing on his chest. "It's happening!"

"What? What's happening?" Steven called out from downstairs.

She hopped off of the disoriented and coughing Twoie, and ran down the stairs. "The Cluster!"

Steven flinched, looking wildly between Peridot and Twoie. "Really?!" Twoie sat up with a groan at Steven's shout while Peridot continued explaining.

"What else could be making that horrible- augh!" She tried to shield herself with her arms as the thunder boomed again. "It's mounting on the earth from the inside!" She ducked behind him. "This is it. This is the end of the world." She whimpered.

Steven stared as it dawned on him that she didn't know what thunder was. Alright! This was his chance to be like Twoie! "Oh, that's just thunder."

Peridot stared at him in confusion. "What?" Twoie smiled as he finally got his breath back. He crawled out of bed and made his way to the couch so he could watch Steven explain.

"Everything is fine! Thunder is just a sound that is created when the air around lightning gets really warm, and lightning is when an electrical charge travels through the clouds. Lightning can strike things, but it rarely hurts people, and it definitely can't hurt gems, so don't worry about it. This is just something that can happen when it rains." Twoie was proud that Steven remembered everything from that lesson.

Peridot shifted uncomfortably. "Okay… What about 'rain'?"

Steven frowned, "You don't know about rain?"

Peridot mumbled uncomfortably, "I don't know anything without my screen." Steven gestured to the covered pot of soup. Water had already condensed onto the inside of the lid.

"It's okay. Here, pretend this soup is the ocean. When the sun warms it up, the water evaporates into clouds." He took the lid off, and the steam billowed into the air. "Like this steam. When the clouds get really heavy, it rains!"

Peridot narrowed her eyes at the pot. "So, scalding liquid pours down from the sky?" Steven shook his head. "No, no. It's just water. It can't hurt you… Here, why don't I just show you?" The kid quickly turned the stove off and ran out into the rain.

Peridot called out after him, but Steven just whooped as he ran down the stairs. Twoie chuckled, getting up from the couch to stand next to Peridot. "Look, I'm okay! It's just water! This is just something that happens on earth. Isn't it cool?" Steven began to dance around in the rain. Twoie doubled over in laughter when Steven slipped in the mud.

Peridot looked at him in surprise until she heard Steven laugh as well. "It's okay, Peridot. Steven and I won't let anything happen to you. Would it help if I go out too?" She nodded, so Twoie also stepped out into the rain.

"Bro! Come join me!" The younger lobbed a ball of mud at him. He recoiled as the ball nailed him on his shirt's star. Twoie's eye twitched as he wiped the mud off his shirt.

"Alright, you asked for it!" He shouted and hopped down from the porch. Steven shrieked in delight and tore away from Twoie as the young man packed a handful of mud into a ball.

Peridot raised a trembling hand out to the doorframe, flinching when the first droplets of rain landed on her fingertips. Assured that it really was just water, she gathered her courage and stepped out into the rain. "Yeah! You did it!" Steven cheered.

Twoie gave her a thumbs up. "I'm proud of you!" She looked back at Steven as he shouted, "What do you think? Isn't it cool?" He yelped as Twoie tackled him to the ground. "Gotcha, Sunshine!"

The two continued wrestling in the mud as Peridot watched on in awe. "Cool."

It didn't take long for Steven and Twoie to shower after their mud fight. Peridot was already pacing in front of Steven when Twoie stepped out of the bathroom. "Hmm. Ah, Twoie, you're done. Good." She placed her hands against each other. "Steven, Twoie, I'm going to say something. Thank you."

Steven tilted his head questioningly. "What for?"

Peridot gestured to the window. "For explaining this 'thunder' and 'rain' business to me."

Twoie smiled. "It was mostly Steven, honestly. He did a good job of explaining it too!"

Steven blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "No problem! I just told her what I remembered from our lessons."

The green gem clapped her hands together. "That reminds me! Steven told me that you 'homeschool' him about the functions of the earth. Do you think I could join you at a later period? I'd like to know more about this planet once we stop the Cluster."

Steven looked surprised. "Wait, does that mean you're going to tell us about the Cluster?"

Peridot looked away from them as she scratched the side of her face in embarrassment. "You're both much more intelligent creatures than I initially thought. Much more useful than those clods. So I have decided to share some information with the two of you about the Cluster."

Steven turned to face Twoie. "I know we haven't talked with them yet, but should I go get the gems?"

Before he could answer, Peridot interrupted them. "No! I don't want to talk to them! I could show you now, but I have nothing! My arm attachments, my fingers, my screen, my log… It's all gone!" She knelt with her hands in a begging position. "But all of my logs up to date 652 still exist. Back up at the facet 5 of the Prime Kindergarten!"

The kid looked unsure. "You want us to take you to the Kindergarten? I don't know. Is it okay to go?" Steven checked in with Twoie. The young man frowned.

"Steven, Twoie, don't you want to know about the Cluster?" Peridot pouted pleadingly at the older brother. When Steven joined in, Twoie sighed in defeat.

"Okay. We should be fine. Especially since I'm coming along." Peridot hopped to her feet. "Yes!"

"Buuut!" Steven held up his pointer finger.

She groaned in exasperation at Steven's interruption. "No! A catch… Fine… What are your demands?" Steven smiled cheerfully as he stuck his hand out to her. "You're gonna have to hold my hand the whole time."