No matter what Peridot did, Amethyst wouldn't pay her any attention. She tried naming earth items again, she tried waving, she tried smiling. Nothing worked. Even Twoie was more distant with her. When she talked to him, he gave minimal responses and then went back to whatever task she had set him on. Peridot was impressed when they arrived back, and she had discovered that he knew some basics of technological engineering. Apparently, a friend of his taught him how to do some electrical wiring and some other basics when he hung out with her. But when she praised him for being a quartz with brains, he had looked pained and didn't respond.
Pearl had called Twoie over for something, leaving the green gem alone with Steven. "I don't get it. Twoie is barely talking to me, and Amethyst won't even look at me. It's making me feel… smaller."
Steven stopped sorting nails into cans. "You feel bad! That's how you made them feel!"
Peridot scoffed and crossed her hands. "Who cares about how they feel. Who cares about any of you? You're all just rocks, muddy clumps beneath my gravity connectors." She stomped her feet into the ground.
Steven narrowed his eyes at her. "I get it if you still don't trust the gems, but you can't say that about Twoie and Amethyst. They're both doing their best to get along with you. Especially Twoie! He's done a lot for you, Peridot, and a lot of that got him hurt and distrusted by the gems."
He looked to see Pearl remark something to the others, which only got her a terse reply from Amethyst and a poorly hidden look of hurt from Twoie. "He cares about you. Probably the most out of all of us. Doesn't that mean anything to you?" Peridot glowered as she stormed over to the drill head. Steven followed along and waited in silence for Twoie to return.
When the young man returned, waving as Pearl and Garnet walked off somewhere, he chatted quietly with Steven about farms and agriculture. Peridot huffed as she worked on the drill, grumbling when it wouldn't work the way she wanted it to. "Uh, are you okay up there?" Steven could tell that she was on a short fuse.
"It's fine. There's nothing wrong. Everything's fine." Right as she said that, the drill started up. "No! No, no, no, no, no, no, stop!" She was flung from the control seat and thrown into Twoie. They both let out a groan when they hit the ground. The drill began spinning in place.
"The panel!" She coughed as Twoie helped her up. Steven timed his jump and managed to grab hold of the edge, but it was spinning too quickly for him to get into the seat. "Wait!" Peridot and Twoie started chasing after him.
Although the gem was too slow to catch up, Twoie managed to grab the edge and pull Steven and himself into the pilot's seat. He kept a tight grip on Steven and the chair. "Pull out the panel, Steven!" Twoie shouted.
"I'm gonna be sick!" Steven screamed as the drill spun right on course towards Amethyst, who had just turned the corner of the barn.
"AMETHYST!" Peridot slammed into her side, shoving them both out of the way as Steven pulled the whole control pad apart from the drill. The drill head came to a complete stop, and both Steven and Twoie looked green.
Steven dizzily shouted, "It's okay, everything's okay. It was just a drill! Ha-ha-ha-ugh." The two both slumped over the edge of the drill head.
"I d-don't think… I'll ever get used to spinning..." Twoie tried to take deep breaths to calm his queasiness. They slowly made their way back to the ground. The youngest was kneeling, and he chuckled as Twoie face-planted on the dirt. Twoie was unashamed to admit that he was content just lying there.
"Go check on them without me, Sunshine. I need some time to get reacquainted with the earth." Steven looked over at Peridot and Amethyst.
"-an accident, I swear!" Steven walked over to them.
"Hey, don't worry about it! We know you didn't mean to start the drill." She looked away in embarrassment.
"Uh, yeah. That was an accident too." She cleared her throat and shuffled away, intent on fixing up the damage to the drill head.
When Pearl and Garnet came back, from who knows where they went, Pearl was understandably freaked out from the damage. "We leave for one second, and everything goes off the rails!" Garnet looked around her. The moment they returned, Twoie had asked if he could take a breather. The young man then disappeared somewhere, but she expected he'd return soon.
Steven had wanted to go along, but his older brother had said he wanted "time alone to think." He was working with Amethyst instead. Both were cleaning up the debris the drill head had left behind. "I blame the cows." Garnet watched in slight amusement as Pearl ranted about adding seatbelts to the drill.
Steven felt concerned as Amethyst moodily pulled a unicycle out of the dirt. "Hey, are you alright? That was a close one. It was a good thing Peridot was there to save you." She narrowed her eyes at the gem's name. The aforementioned gem walked up to them a moment later.
"Yes, it is a good thing." She noticed Amethyst was refusing to look at her. "Listen. I -uh."
The other gem glared at her. "Just spit it out." Peridot brought out her recorder.
"Log date. 7112. This entire planet is backwards. There hasn't been one instance of correct behavior being exhibited by any one of these Crystal Gems. I have concluded that they are all defective. But I am no better. I failed my mission, and now I am working with the enemy, and I can't even get that right. I have apparently hurt Amethyst's feelings, which was not my intent. If I damaged my standing with one of the best gems here, then I've made a serious mistake. I'm still learning. I hope you understand. I want to understand. I'm sorry. Peridot. Facet 5. End log."
Steven smushed his cheeks and aww'ed in pride. The purple gem blinked in surprise at the apology. She wasn't expecting it, but it meant a lot to her. "Hey, -uhh, Peridot. Thanks." Amethyst smiled at her. "But you're still a nerd." She waved to them as she walked off.
Peridot pouted, "I'll be sure to add that to my notes…" She sighed and looked around from where she was standing. She couldn't see Twoie anywhere, so he must not be back yet.
She fiddled with the tape in her hands. "How do you feel?" Steven gave her an encouraging smile.
Peridot smiled softly, as well. "Big." She turned to face Steven. "Do you know where Twoie is? I have a recording for him too."
The youngest frowned and shook his head. "I think today was really hard on him. He left for a walk a while ago and still hasn't come back." He sighed as he went back to shoveling dirt into the gouges caused by the drill. "I'm worried about him."
Peridot raised a brow. "Why? He's a tough quartz. He's the most sensible of you, Crystal Gems, besides Amethyst."
Steven half-heartedly pushed some dirt around. "You know how Twoie got hurt protecting you?" Peridot nodded. "Well, only Amethyst has apologized. I think the others still don't trust him. That's why Pearl asked Amethyst and me to go with you guys. And I'm pretty sure he's aware of it."
He dropped the shovel to the ground. "That's why he was so quiet and upset at the Kindergarten. It's also why he didn't like it when you compared Amethyst to him. It kinda felt like you were starting trouble, and the last thing he wants is Amethyst not liking him again." They headed back towards the barn. "This whole situation is pretty stressful and I think he's pretending it's not bothering him because he believes that stopping the Cluster is more important than his feelings."
Peridot hummed as they stopped right out of Pearl and Garnet's hearing range. "I suspected that there was some tension between him and the other two clods. Why doesn't he just demand they apologize for their transgressions?"
The youngest rubbed his opposite arm. "I told him not to blame himself, but I'm positive he still does. He's not going to ask them if he believes it's not their fault. And I don't want to tell Garnet and Pearl to apologize because I want them to figure it out on their own."
Peridot scowled at his reasoning. It made sense to her, even though it was troublesome for everyone. She may not understand humans yet, but there always seemed to be a tenseness in the half-quartz when he was around those two. "I understand your frustration. I'll be sure to keep this between us." And as Steven walked into the barn, Peridot wondered how she came to understand this form of correct behavior before the Pearl and the permafusion.
Twoie had originally planned on just taking a walk through the fields around the barn. He wasn't sure how he ended up in the forest outside of Beach City or how long he had been staring at their garden. The flowers swayed in the light breeze as the first stars of the night appeared in the sky. He propped himself against a nearby tree and stared up into the sky.
"I wonder what you guys are doing? Have you noticed that I'm gone? Do you know what happened?" He wished there was a way to know what was going on back in his timeline. At least it would keep the sad thoughts at bay. "I wonder if life is better for you guys now that I'm not messing everything up. I wonder if the gems are happy in Little Homeschool now that I haven't been teaching for a while." He listened to the rustle of the leaves. "Connie, what would you say if I told you that I keep messing up here as well? I hid so much about the future that the gems didn't trust me. They still don't trust me. Only Amethyst does."
He could feel the stress and exhaustion eating away at him. "You'd probably go confront them and make them apologize. But it's my fault that they're acting like this. I also failed to stop Peridot from hurting Amethyst's feelings." He laughed bitterly. "Ha… A Quartz. Not like I could correct her since everyone would flip if they knew the truth. I wish you could give me some advice. I don't know what to do…" He laid there for a while longer, until the sun was no longer out. That's when he realized Steven was probably worried about him. 'Shoot… One thing after another, right?' He pushed himself to his feet and started the trek back to the barn.
It didn't take him too long to arrive back at their temporary home. The gems were all outside talking about the drill, but he couldn't see Steven. Must be inside the barn. Garnet was the first to notice his return. She waved, which alerted the others that he as back. Amethyst ran up to him and gently punched him in the arm. "Dude, where you've been? Little man was worried about you."
Twoie brushed away her concern. "I just needed a walk. I didn't mean to be gone so long. Where is he anyway?" Pearl gestured to the loft.
"He fell asleep waiting for you to come back. I tucked him in on the couch though so he could rest." He nodded and mumbled his thanks. He'll apologize to Steven in the morning for worrying him.
Peridot cleared her throat as she stepped out from the sidelines. "Could I speak with you for a moment?" When he nodded, she led him away from the group. The full moon provided enough light that they didn't need a lamp to see their surroundings. "I already made up with Amethyst, but I want to… Well… Just listen to this." She pressed the play button on her recorder.
"Log date. 7112. I have stated this previously in my log for the Amethyst, but I had no intent on hurting Amethyst's feelings. I also had no intent on hurting Twoie's feelings. The Twoie has fought the Crystal Gems on my behalf and continues to vouch for me in regards to my ability to assist the enemy in stopping the Cluster, as well as my ability to be trusted. I feel that without him, I would still be poofed in a bubble." Peridot blushed as she shifted her gaze from Twoie as the recording continued.
"I am indebted to the Twoie for saving me from the gems, and giving me the chance to prevent my shattering at the hands of the Cluster, now that I am trapped here on earth. He is performing as my guide to earth customs and behavior, which I am heavily in need of. I apologize for comparing Amethyst to him and possibly damaging not only my standing with one of the best gems here but also his standing with Amethyst. I'm still learning. I hope you understand. I want to understand. Peridot. Facet 5. End Log." He smiled at the sincerity of her apology. He knelt and pulled her into a hug.
"What are you doing?" She panicked. "Are you trying to poof me with your strength? I am sorry if you are that upset with me! I really didn't mean it!" Twoie chuckled and he hugged her tighter.
"This is called a hug, Peridot. Humans hug each other when they want to show affection. It means a lot to me that you apologized." Peridot blushed as she awkwardly tried to mimic him.
She wrapped her arms around his back. "Like this?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Like that. Thank you, Peridot. I'm glad you're my friend."
She smiled. "Yeah. I guess we are friends." He broke the hug and stood up. Twoie looked at the Crystal Gems, working on the drill under the light of a lamp, then turned back to Peridot.
"I've got an idea." She stared at him questioningly as he led the way back to the barn. "Why don't we set up power in the barn? That way, you guys can work on the drill at night without using a lamp. I could show you how some earth appliances work as well!"
She broke into a wide smile. "What are we waiting for? Come on! I bet we can get it done by morning if we start now!" She grabbed his hand and tugged him into the barn.
Twoie chuckled at her enthusiasm. "If you're this excited to start, then I can't wait to see your reaction when I show you how a TV works. I have a feeling you're gonna love this show called 'Camp Pining Hearts.'"