"Why do I feel like I'm working with children?" Twoie's eye twitched in annoyance as Garnet tied Peridot to the fence.
Steven shifted his worried gaze from his older brother to the Crystal Gem's leader as she walked back up to them. He meekly asked, "Did you really have to do that?"
She swiped her hands together. "Her running around freely made me incredibly uncomfortable." She raised a brow as Twoie huffed and walked towards the fence, where Peridot was struggling with the leash.
"I just scolded Peridot about being petty last night, and now here you are acting the same way. Seriously, Garnet, I know what she said upset you, but this isn't cool." Man, it was tied really well. He scowled as the rope wrapped around his finger and he had to untangle himself.
"Twoie, leave her be. I'll untie her when I trust her on her own." Twoie stood up and faced her. He radiated annoyance as he gestured to Peridot.
"I understand that you want to be cautious but acting like this? It's only going to reinforce the idea that we can't be trusted." Peridot awkwardly watched him as he went back to untying the knot.
Pearl rolled her eyes but didn't make a move to stop him. "I don't know if you've forgotten, but she's the one who needs to earn our trust. Just because we're willing to work with her, doesn't mean we trust her."
Twoie mumbled under his breath, "Isn't that the truth…" He felt guilty when he noticed Steven flinch. Dang it, he didn't mean for anyone to hear that. "Look, I'll take responsibility for her, okay? I won't leave her alone while you're still uncertain." He didn't wait for their reply as he finally managed to untie the leash and pull it off of Peridot. Garnet shook her head and walked away, with Pearl following along.
Amethyst, Peridot, and the two brothers watched them walk back to the barn before Peridot sniffed and turned away from them. "Do you understand now, Twoie?" They all stared questioningly at Peridot. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "This is why I didn't want to work with those clods." She sat down, pushing the microwave over to get better access to the cover. "Can you hand me the leverage optimizer, Amethyst?" She stuck her hand out and beckoned impatiently.
The purple gem began to laugh, annoying Peridot. "You mean you want a screwdriver?" "That's what I said!" Steven handed it to her as Amethyst continued to laugh. "Hey, what do you call this?"
Peridot gestured to her nose. "A sense sponge." Twoie groaned as Steven watched them go back and forth in confusion. Amethyst framed her eye with her fingers. "And this?" "A vision sphere."
Steven made to talk, but Amethyst shook her head. "Wait, wait. These?" She wriggled her fingers.
Peridot narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "Touch stumps."
Amethyst pointed at her foot, voice becoming increasingly high-pitched. "This?" "Gravity-connectors." Peridot ground her teeth together as Amethyst pointed to her butt. "This?"
The green gem was fed up with Amtheyst's mockery of her. "THAT'S YOUR BUTT!" Amethyst keeled over in laughter. Even Steven and Twoie were laughing at the scene.
"Man, Peridot, you're killing me!" Steven bent over and held his gut as he laughed. Peridot held both hands up in surrender.
She fretted, "No, I'm not! That would violate our truce agreement!"
Amethyst waved her concern off. "No, no, no! You're funny!" That made her pause.
"Funny?" She was prevented from saying anything else as Pearl walked over.
"Peridot, if you can get the magnetron from the microwave, we'll have everything we need. Well, everything except the drill head." Twoie stretched and held a hand out for Peridot. He helped her to her feet before facing Pearl.
"Sounds good. We'll go to the Kindergarten and get a drill head from one of the injectors." Pearl hummed as she contemplated the idea.
"Yes, I suppose that'll do. I'll go check with Garnet to make sure you're okay to do so. If she says yes, Amethyst, Steven, can you go with them?" Steven saw the look of hurt flash across Twoie's face. He narrowed his eyes at Pearl.
He had a feeling he knew why she wanted them to go along. "Why? Twoie's strong enough to carry the drill head by himself, and Peridot can help him find the right one."
Twoie shook his head and started walking back to town. "It's fine, Steven. Let's get going." He didn't wait for them as he led Peridot to the warp at the edge of the farm. Steven and Amethyst shot her a glare as they ran to catch up.
Pearl frowned as she worriedly called after them, "But I didn't check with Garnet yet!"
No one said anything as they warped into the Kindergarten. The others kept flashing looks of concern at Twoie as he quietly led them towards the nearest damaged injector. "Does this drill head look operable?" Peridot shuffled forward and examined it. The injector itself was in shambles, but the drill head was in decent condition.
"Yes. This is a satisfactory drill head. Would you be willing to remove the head for me?" She turned to Steven and Amethyst. "You two are probably suited to the task as well if you want to help him." The two exchanged shrugs and walked over to the injector. Twoie dragged it out so that the injector was now lying completely on its side. Steven hopped on top and caught a rock that Amethyst tossed up to him. After. the purple gem started kicking the injector. Twoie bubbled his fists and started punching the area near the drill head.
Confident that the others would be able to disengage the head from the injector, pulled out her tape recorder, and lounged against the injector. "Log date, 7112. The Twoie, the Amethyst, and the Steven have volunteered to help me dismantle this Era 1 drill. How stylistically displeasing. The newer ones have a nicer finish."
Twoie rolled his eyes, but Amethyst chuckled. "You making more nerd notes?" Peridot sent her a look of confusion.
"What is nerd? Can you use it in a sentence?" Amethyst held in her laughter as she replied, "Nerd. You are a nerd."
Twoie sighed and sent her a stern look. "Amethyst." Steven hopped down from the drill to scold her as well.
Peridot scowled and held her recorder closer to her. "As you can see, this planet is annoying, and everything is annoying. Amongst its transgressions, is the need for the Amethyst to ask permission from the permafusion."
Twoie flinched, but no one noticed as Amethyst continued joking around. "Is that what you call Garnet?"
Steven was trying to hold in his laughs, and Peridot was fueled by their behavior to keep going. "I could call her lots of things. I could call her two things. Two clods! Walking around like she's one clod! Nyeh-hehe-hehe!"
Twoie stepped in between everybody. "Okay, that's enough. Amethyst, stop messing with Peridot. Peridot, stop insulting Garnet. Steven, stop encouraging them."
Steven stared at the ground as he apologized, but the others were annoyed at being lectured. "Come on, Twoie. I'm just trying to have a little fun here. Don't be such a sad sack." Amethyst crossed her arms behind her head as she chided him.
Peridot giggled as the insult. "Sad sack, nyeh-hehe-hehe! That's an interesting description for the hybrid abomination." Amethyst snorted at the phrase, uncaring that it made Twoie more annoyed.
"Amethyst, Peridot, I told you to stop. You're laughing at the expense of others. It may seem funny now, but it's going to hurt when the tables turn and people are laughing at your expense."
Amethyst waved him off. "Puh-lease. It's not like they're around to hear it and I won't tell them what she said."
Steven shook his head. "I think you should listen to him, Amethyst. He's right. We are being mean to Garnet. If she finds out, she'll end up trusting Peridot even less."
Peridot couldn't take it anymore. She broke out into full-blown laughter, causing the argument to stop. " I don't get why you think you have to listen to them?!" Twoie bit his lip as she continued. "You're the one who should be in charge!"
Amethyst let out another snort of laughter. "That's your best joke yet."
"No, really. Pearl is a pearl. Garnet is a fusion. I don't even know what these two are supposed to be! You're the only Crystal Gem that's actually a gem!" Peridot gestured to those present as she talked.
Amethyst and Steven stared at her uncomfortably. "Okay, I think I understand now…" The purple gem gave Twoie a sheepish smile.
Peridot didn't notice their discomfort. "You're not like the others on your team. They should be listening to you! You're a strong, singular, fully functioning soldier, despite the fact that your-"
"That's enough!" She jumped as Twoie glared at her. Amethyst and Steven winced as they saw the pink glow across his cheeks.
Twoie bubbled a fist and punched through the injector, causing the drill head to detach and slam against the ground. "There. We have the drill head. Let's get back to the barn."
As Twoie was picking it up, Amethyst turned back to Peridot. "Wait a second. Despite what?"
Twoie quickly spun on his heel. "You don't want to hear it."
She glared at him. "No, I think I do. Despite what Peridot?"
The green gem was confused but decided to ignore Twoie. "You know, despite being defective."
Twoie paled as Steven gasped in shock, and Amethyst's expression turned somber. "Defective?"
"Well, sure! You're small." Peridot laughed and pinched her fingers together.
Amethyst glared at her. "So?"
The technican tossed her head back with a laugh. "You're not supposed to be!"
Peridot ran over to a small hole nearby. "Let me guess. This is the whole you came out of! Too small, too low, the exit marks look about 500 years newer than every other hole. This place must've been empty when you came out. No wonder you have no idea what you're supposed to look like!" Steven walked up to Amethyst in concern. The normally playful gem looked sick as Peridot perfectly guessed everything about her past.
"Peridot, you're upsetting Amethyst." Twoie confronted her but was stopped by Amethyst placing a hand on his arm.
"No, I need to know. What was I supposed to look like?" Peridot guffawed and pointed at Twoie.
"At the very least, you were supposed to look like him!" The young man flinched as Peridot ran over to him. "You're both quartz which means you should be huge loyal soldiers. Twoie is also a little shorter than quartzes should be but not like you are! You should be twice your size!" She made him set the drill head down and pointed at his shoulders. "He's also broad-shouldered, intimidating… For being a hybrid, you're still like a quartz." She shrugged as she faced Amethyst. "But you simply stayed in the ground too long!"
Amethyst clenched her fists tightly. "Are you saying I'm wrong?"
Peridot laughed, "Gemetically speaking, yes. When you think about it, it's all so funny!" Steven put a hand on Amethyst's shoulder.
She patted his hand before turning and lifting the drill into the air. "Let's go back." She quietly began walking back to the warp. Peridot cackled as she ran ahead of her.
"See? You can do everything a normal quartz can do! Hurry up you guys! I wanna shove this thing in Pearl's face." Twoie and Steven caught up as Amethyst continued forward, carrying the drill head with ease.
"I'm sorry I couldn't stop her, Amethyst." Twoie spoke quietly to her.
She paused. "Why are you apologizing? You told me already I wasn't gonna like being on the receiving end, and you were right."
Twoie sighed and brushed a hand through his hair. "I'm in charge of her right now. I should've stopped her from hurting your feelings. And just because I warned you about it, doesn't mean I wanted you to experience it."
She shrugged. "Sure, man, whatever you say. You're the quartz." Steven and Twoie exchanged a worried look.
"Amethyst-." She ignored him as she picked up the pace.