Saturday, The Barn 10:00
"Peridot, are you coming along for my 'introductory' session with Pearl today?" Lapis asked as she mentally prepared herself for her first day with Pearl as her mentor. Peridot had received a message from Steven on her tablet yesterday telling her that Lapis needed to meet with Pearl on Saturday. It was described as an 'introductory' meeting. Lapis wasn't exactly sure it could be considered an 'introductory' meeting by any standards. She'd been inside Pearl's head for several thousand years. Lapis probably knew more about what was in Pearl's gem than she did. Well, she actually didn't have a clue because time was stopped inside of the pocket dimension of a Gem's gemstone and all the items held inside were held in stasis. Still, this was silly.
"Not today Lapis. Something is wrong with this primitive communication tower." Peridot spoke from the base of the large antenna tower that was near the barn. "It's likely going to take some time before I can fully repair it. So you'll have to go on your own today. Try to have a better experience with Pearl and the other gems and don't have another breakdown." If anybody else had said something like that Lapis might have drowned them. But she knew what Peridot was really trying to say. "I hope you have a better day today and I hope you don't have another breakdown". Or something to that effect. Peridot was really a great friend but she'd be even better if only she could be a better conversationalist.
"Okay, I guess I'm heading out then. I'll see you when I get back. Make sure to let me know if anything exciting happens on the TV." She heard a grunt of acknowledgment from Peridot and slowly walked to the warp pad, dreading the no doubt awkward encounter she was bound to have. Between the new knowledge that Pearl had been so caring as to hold her until she fell asleep during her outburst two days ago, and her much too touchy rescue of Lapis from the impending peril of stairs, Lapis realized that she would soon have to thank Pearl instead of brooding the way she was right now. She just wasn't sure how. Pearl was no fool, and she was bound to know that Lapis despised her. That would just make it awkward on Lapis' part. She was getting a knot in her stomach just thinking about it.
"I don't want to do this anymore." And with that one singular thought, she nearly turned around. It would have been so easy. She could just sit in the truck and Peridot wouldn't be any the wiser until she was done repairing the tower. She didn't have to go. Nobody was forcing her. She could say no right?
Just then the warp pad activated and as the glow faded it was… Pearl. Destroying Lapis' plan to skip out. Yay.
"Oh, hello Lapis there you are, I was starting to get worried you wouldn't come by. I um, I know it must be hard for you to force yourself to do this after what happened, so I thought I would come to the barn instead if it made you feel better." Pearl exploded into nervous chatter before Lapis could even fully comprehend that she was there. Luckily for Pearl, Lapis had her beaten as far as who was more nervous.
"Uh, hi Pearl, I… Sure?" Lapis was already anxious and Pearl's sudden appearance had only made it worse. Hopefully she wouldn't be like this for the rest of the day.
"Oh, good! This is going to be a great day Lapis!" Pearl said, stepping past Lapis. "I figured you'd had enough of talking about the terrible time you've had on Earth. I know I called it an introductory meeting in the message I sent to you and Peridot, but I decided that maybe you don't want to talk. If Thursday was any indication, talking about these things is clearly upsetting, so why don't we just do something that you want to do? I know you haven't been able to enjoy much of Earth and honestly there are some things about Earth that even I just don't understand but nonetheless I enjoy them and I know there must be something that you enjoy doing. Right?" When Pearl turned back around to Lapis she wore a nervous grin.
"What's with that smile of hers? Does she want something from me?"
"Uh. What?" Lapis had been trying to follow Pearl but honestly she'd gotten lost in Pearl's ramblings.
"I was saying that we could do whatever you wanted today. Or maybe I could introduce you to some of my pass-times? I know you haven't had very much time to get used to Earth so maybe we could find some activities that you like." Pearl was really beaming at Lapis now and she found it unnerving. She liked this idea over talking about how she felt about the gems but she didn't have anything she enjoyed really. Well, anything she enjoyed and wanted to share with Pearl. The meep morps were something she shared with Peridot and she actually felt like the meep morps were at the core of how she and Peridot had bonded so quickly. She didn't want to lose that special connection just because Pearl wanted to foster her own odd connection to Lapis. The same with the TV and "Camp Pining Hearts". Those things belonged to her and Peridot. But at the same time... She actually was really relieved that Pearl had thought to let her do something instead of having to talk about herself more, so maybe she could do something with Pearl?
"Um… out of curiosity… how long are these weird sessions supposed to last?" Lapis asked Pearl while trying to trace an indiscernible figure in the dirt with her toe.
"That's actually a good question. I haven't really thought about it, I was so concerned with thinking of a way we could bo-…" Here, Pearl seemed to stiffen and watched Lapis as if she might have triggered a tripwire and Lapis was the impending trap. She continued only after Lapis looked up and cocked her head like a confused animal. "um nevermind, f-for now, you can simply tell me when you've had enough for the day and that's when we'll end it. In exchange, if I ask a somewhat… personal, question you'll answer me truthfully and without too much complaint and I'll do the same. This way, I can help you with whatever is bothering you, but at your pace. Hopefully you'll also feel somewhat more open knowing that I'll also always answer your questions. Agreed?"
Lapis wasn't particularly keen on the arrangement of always answering Pearl's questions but she had to admit she was curious to see into the life of other gems. It might be balanced out by the fact that she could at any time call it quits for the day but there were things that she didn't like to talk about, even with Peridot. There was no way she'd ever even be able to get the words out in front of Pearl when she could barely talk without any "personal" and tear inducing memories. This was a gray for her. She wasn't sure how this was going to help and honestly she didn't want to talk either. At the same time, while she didn't really want to learn more about Pearl in particular, she did want to know about anything important that had happened in the last few thousand years. Besides she might find a new way to pass the time with these little session.
"I guess that's fair. I'll… I'll answer your questions. But for every question you ask me, I'm gonna ask you something similar. It'll be give and take." Lapis said.
"What a wonderful idea! It'll feel more like we're uh… associates?I can't wait for us to get to know each other and get past… what happened before..." Pearl started excitedly but her momentum quickly fell apart at her less than discreet mention of their hostile history.
"Yeah… Just don't make the mistake of thinking we're actually friends… I'm… I'm not here to make friends with you." When she looked at Pearl's completely dejected face she knew she had said the wrong words to her. "Shit. I wanted to apologize not tell her I hated her."
"Wait! I didn't mean it like that. I mean we're… we're not friends yet. We can become friends but it's not that easy..." Pearl looked at her and nodded as if she understood but there was still hurt in her eyes. There it was again too. That look that Lapis didn't understand. It was working her nerves to see it but she had no idea what it meant other than it was a negative feeling. She did know that it was making her angry though.
Pearl awkward smile had just faded and there was no more happiness in the conversation. They simply stood there in awkward silence for awhile. Neither of them were sure what to say or do at this point in the conversation. Eventually though, Pearl once again took the initiative to break the silence.
"So… we should probably begin with today's activities. What would you like to do Lapis?" Pearl asked Lapis in a tone that couldn't be mistaken for anything but forlorn.
Because she had to mentally tell herself to calm down, and because she wasn't thinking clearly in the first place, she wasn't actually sure what she wanted to do. "I… I don't know. I guess we could try something you like to do?" Lapis slowly replied. Honestly, she wanted to call it quits. She'd had enough of awkward silences already and she knew there would only be more but she also knew she had to do this. She also knew Pearl wouldn't let her back out before the day was even started.
"Oh. Well I know one thing that I like to do is bake. Of course, I don't eat the food afterwards but I do enjoy the process of baking it." Pearl babbled.
"I see. I… I guess we could try that. We're gonna do it at the barn right? I don't really wanna speak with all of the other gems right now..." Lapis stared at the figure that she'd been carving into the ground with her toe and it was shaped something like Homeworld's star system. Pearl noticed but didn't comment.
"Lapis, I don't want to do any baking in your barn even if you did somehow manage to get the equipment somehow…" Pearl stared at Lapis and then seemed to have a realization. "How did you get something like an oven in the barn? You couldn't have made it seeing as most of the spare parts in the barn were used up on the drill..." Pearl began to ponder before Lapis answered her question.
"Okay, so we don't have an oven in the barn. Let's just go to the temple then…" Lapis admitted with slight frustration in her voice. She started to step on the warp pad but Pearl called to her before she could activate it. When she turned Pearl was staring at her with concern again.
"Lapis. It'll be okay. I'd be lying if I said we've never seen our own cry in the temple. I've cried in front of the Crystal Gems more times than I can count. And that's just since Steven was born. They'll understand. I promise." Pearl tried to give Lapis an encouraging smile, but it was obvious looking she was still hurt by Lapis' previous comment. Lapis almost apologized to Pearl because she still felt like it was something she had to do but she couldn't think of any sensible way to apologize for being mean at the moment.
"Thanks Pearl." Lapis said in a low voice.
"You're welcome Lapis"
"… I… Um can I ask you something before we go Pearl…?" Lapis asked sheepishly
"Yes, Lapis?" Pearl responded, still sounding a little hurt but clearly trying to seem confident again.
"What's baking?"
*A/N: Hi everybody. First of all, I'm sorry this update took so long. I had horrible writers block combined with having to get ready for an event with my battle gaming group (Think LARPs but with none of the leveling and magic and just straight up combat. Much more fun.) It was fun but exhaustive, and it took away another three days of writing time and now mother nature decides that she want to beat up the Floridians. Grr. So, in light of all that, this is a really short chapter to sate everyone until everything calms down here. I just don't want to keep you all waiting another week for an update that may not come (~Hurricane Matthew is made of evil and I may die~) So I'll try to type up the rest of this chapter and get it posted ASAP if my computer survives this ordeal. Anyways… comments! I got good feedback and I'm thankful that everyone is enjoying the story. Hopefully once this whole fiasco is done I'll get to a sense of normalcy with my updates and we'll all be happy! Anyways, be safe guys and wish me luck! BYE!
