Just out of curiosity, does anyone else think that Lapis and Peridot will eventually fuse and even dabble with the idea of becoming a Perma-fusion like Garnet? I mean...I think they'd try but their personalities would likely clash a lot. Lapis is pretty...uh, nonchalant and the strong silent type. But Peridot is prone to freaking out and overreacting with varying levels of hype. I dunno...I just have a hard time visualizing their personality dynamic as a fusion.
Alien scrap metal was actually worth quite a lot if you knew what to do with it. As one could assume, there were numbers to calls and dates to set up with agents who would come and pick up alien artifacts or bits of their tech for some pretty substantial cash. And as luck would have it, Debbie's farm was littered with wreckage. Whether it be thousands of years old and unearthed by her farming equipment or bits of one of Peridot's contraptions gone awry, Debbie found herself with no shortage of cash flow. So Debbie felt she owed it to herself to do a little self-care after the world was finally prevented from ending. Such things, were well above her pay-grade...not that she didn't enjoy it at least a little bit.
Two months in passing found Debbie sitting on her porch swing, wrapped in an afghan, and a hot plate of breakfast in her lap. The woman smiled despite her loneliness.
"It's almost too quiet around here without you Peri," the redhead whispered to the sunrise, "It's strange...heh, I think I might wind up missing you more than I thought I would."
A few minutes passed quietly for the woman, but a loud shimmery noise from inside her house nearly sent her hot plate clattering to the floor. Debbie set the plate aside but took the fork with her as she bolted back into her house.
A stream of alien-esk curses flowed in a stream from the basement and Debbie snickered. The pitch was impossible to misplace. The ginger made her way slowly down the wooden stairs and found Peridot struggling to untangle herself from a box of Christmas lights.
"Need some help, shorty?" Debbie chuckled, making her way over to help regardless of the answer.
"Ah, Debbie! I was hoping you'd be around!" Peridot bared her teeth, "And I won't be short for long! In a few more days, my fabricator will be complete!"
"Fabri-what?" Debbie raised a brow and finally lifted the green alien from the box.
"Fabricator! It can make anything so long as it has blueprints and materials!"
"Oh...so it's like a 3D printer…?"
"...a what?"
"A...y'know what? Never mind." Debbie grinned, "So what did you need?"
"I...well, I wanted to...um," Peridot twiddled her thumbs for a moment. "Okay, so Lapis kicked me out of the house-."
"Whoa, whoa, back up! Who's Lapis? And since when do you have a house?" Debbie gawked.
Peridot seemed surprised, "Oh...right. I forgot. You haven't met Lapis yet."
"Is she friendly?"
"Well, sorta. Once you get to know her…" Peridot grinned sheepishly.
Debbie just laughed, "How's about we move the conversation upstairs? I don't want to be down here with the spiders much longer than I have to."
"So...yeah," Peridot smiled sheepishly, "It took forever to win her over...but now we live together!"
"...ah."
Peridot raised a brow, "That's all you've got to say. Ah? What's wrong with you?" The gem huffed, "I thought you'd be...I dunno, more excited?!"
"I am happy for you." Debbie said calmly, yet a blush marred her cheeks, "I just, well, I kinda...oh geeze this is embarrassing."
"What? Spit it out already!" Peridot bounced her leg impatiently from the loveseat.
Debbie sighed, a sheepish look in her eyes. "I...uh, I think I'm a little jealous of this, Lapis Lazuli."
Peridot's eyes grew wide, "Wait...you're jealous of Lapis? Why?"
"I've...honestly I've been missing having you around as of late." The ginger admitted, "While I'm glad to see you're making friends and moving on, I can't help but envy Lapis a little."
"Oh...I didn't…" Peridot wrung her fingers awkwardly, "Wow, I hadn't even realized how long it's been since I saw you last. I was so worried about Lapis I didn't really think about this place all that much…"
Well...that stung a little.
Debbie couldn't deny the pang of hurt that balled in her chest. She could almost feel herself deflate a little as she downcast her eyes. "Oh...uh, I see."
"You okay? You look a little redder than normal." Peridot raised a brow.
"I'm fine. Thanks." Debbie muttered.
"You sure? Steven got sick a-."
"I said I was fine, Peridot." Debbie snapped and stood up from the couch, "Look...I, not gonna lie, I need to go lie down...distract myself for a little while."
"H-hey! Wait!" Peri yelped as Debbie stormed out the front door, "What's your problem?!"
"Just leave, Peridot!" Debbie snapped, "I don't want to talk to you right now…"
Peridot slowed to a halt and watched the redhead disappear into the field without even a glance back, "...what just happened…?"