Debbie sighed and swirled her coffee half-heartedly. Peridot had stowed herself away in that barn for three days now. She was starting to worry. Yes, Peridot wasn't pro-earth like the crystal gems...

"But does that make me a bad person for warming up to her?" The redhead mumbled to herself.

Peridot hadn't been very hostile as of late. Quite the opposite in fact. They had been sharing a living space for well over a month and a half and it hadn't been bad.

Debbie stood up and eyed the barn, hesitantly rocking back and forth on her feet. With a sigh, she set down her breakfast and padded down the steps, quietly making her way towards the barn.

Hesitating for only a second, Debbie put her hands on the wooden doors and shoved them open.

At first glance she didn't see any sign of her green acquaintance in the barn which was odd because her bright colors tended to stick out in the place. Debbie only took a few steps inside before a wayward flask-robonoid suddenly charged her and harmlessly bounced off her leg.

Rolling her eyes Debbie made her way towards the ladder to the second floor landing and about halfway up began to heard noises.

Upon reaching the top Debbie found Peridot hunched over numerous mechanical and obviously alien devices. Some of the machine bits did not have her color scheme and appeared to quite possibly be from her farm fields.

Peridot grumbled and banged on the thing irritably.

"Now that wasn't very nice." Debbie joked softly as she neared the woman.

Peridot jumped, having been too wrapped up in her work to take notice of her. Peridot scanned the woman's form, finding her to show no signs of hostility or anger. She was just a little nervous.

"What do you want?" Peridot said in as cold a voice as she could muster.

"Don't be like that, damnit." Debbie replied sharply, "We've known each other for a month and a half."

"What about it?" Peridot grunted.

"So, I want to know where we stand with one another." Debbie said calmly.

"We're enemies. Nothing else!" Peridot snapped.

Debbie abruptly stood up from the machine she had sat on and glared at the woman. Peridot shrunk back a little, never having experienced the business end of the woman's anger.

"Bullshit."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Debbie glowered, "That's a lie and you damn well know it."

"It's the truth!" Peridot shouted.

"And you know it's not!" Debbie thundered.

Peridot found herself shaken. That was the first time Debbie had ever truly risen her voice at her. She watched as the human began to pace, "I take in interest in your work. You took an interest in my music. I adore the nativity you have of this world. And you enjoy certain aspects of the planet, no matter how much you deny it."

Now Peridot was on her feet. "I cannot befriend a human! It is against my mission, my ethics, my existence!"

"And how is that any different from me?!" Debbie spat, "Your goal is to destroy my planet! As a human and as a part of my kind it is my job to hate you, to kill you, to do my best to off every last one of your kind in a violent bloodshed of an army!" She roared, "Befriending you means giving my enemy trust! Going back on some of my own blood ties! If anyone knew I was associated with you, that I didn't smash your gem to bits upon discovering it I would be murdered!"

Peridot and Debbie were both panting from their argument, just glaring at one another.

"You're not going to off us with your puny military." Peridot said after a few moments had passed.

Debbie nearly lost her patience, "That's not the point!"

"I know!" Peridot snapped and tossed her a cube-like crystal looking thing, "Let me finish."

Peridot gathered something in her hands before gesturing for her to move aside. "You're holding a portable Warp Pad."

Debbie raised a brow, "And what are we going to do with this...warp pad."

"We'll be going to another part of Earth where I've stashed extra equipment and personal items. You humans refer to it as 'The Stadium'." Peridot said briskly before pausing for a long moment, "I refuse to acknowledge any change in our current relations with one another. I would not go so far as to call us friends." She paused again, "But I will acknowledge your tendency to drag uncharacteristic actions from me that admittedly have little to do with my personal debt to you. So as more than acquaintances but less than friends, we have a middle ground."

Debbie locked a gaze with her for a long time, "Just say what you want to say for pity's sake. Yeah, I know we're not friends but more than acquaintances. What's that got to do with going to 'The Stadium'?"

"According to you friends protect one another." Peridot paused, "But since we are not friends yet I also do not wish you to die...I will leave it up to you to find something to defend yourself with and learn to use it on your own time...since your primitive weapons do not adhere much damage to us gems."

"Yeah, let's see if you can say that after being hit with a shotgun close range." Debbie muttered before padding after the gem.

It's somewhat overdue, but thank you so much for your reviews and feedback to the story. It's very appreciated.

As for the Featheroids mentioned in the previous chapter, if you would like to see concept art of them PM me for a link.

The Stadium is currently being designed and given a story. So I'll explain that on my DeviantArt page as well.

A big thanks to NobodyJinx, Spektor vox, AlmostSuspicious, Beem0b0t, MizoreShirayukiFan, and the Guest.