Alright, I decided to continue this! Where will this go? Uhh... you tell me :P I have basic outlines, but not much other than that. So here's hoping! Lemme know if you enjoy!
Two
Peridot had begun a habit of chewing the tips of pencils and pens. It was an easy habit to fall into, especially when her mind was rushing for answers. In her little corner of the barn, notes were scattered all over the place, with little to no organization in mind. She grumbled to herself as she finished a sentence on the newest piece of paper. As her writing furthered, however, no conclusions could be made. She spit out the pen from her mouth.
"Aaaaaaagh! What is happening to me?" she cried out, falling onto her back in her rage. Her voice cracked as she added in a more distressed tone, "I've finally lost it. Failing my mission and being stuck on earth? That didn't cause it. Joining the Crystal Gems in their mission? It wasn't that either. Gahhhhhhhhhh," she growled, and in her rage, tore the paper in half. Then in quarters. Then further until little pieces of paper fell like snow onto the ground.
Peridot, her teeth gritted, turned around at a sound by the ladder. A few moments later, Steven's head appeared from the floor, a wide grin on his face. As expected, given his cheerful nature, she mentally noted. "Hey, Peridot! I was wondering—well, now I'm wondering something else."
Curiosity was visible on his face as he took in the papers littering the floor, including the small pieces she threw at her feet. Peridot worried if she ended up blushing, feeling flustered by the sight. He would start asking about it, and how could she possibly explain her research? Especially considering she herself could not even begin to explain what was happening?
"Such as?" she asked in hopes of keeping a calm attitude.
"Well, what is all of this?" He stepped away from the ladder and gestured to all the papers strewn about.
"Notes."
"Are you writing down more notes for Camp Pining Hearts? Because you still haven't even gotten to the next episodes yet…" He bent down and picked up one paper.
Just as he began to turn it over, Peridot tore it from his grasp, letting out a territorial hiss. She clutched the paper to her chest and turned away. Steven stepped back, taking the hint fairly well, as well as a bit concerned.
Peridot cleared her throat. "This is all classified. But I will say that this has nothing to do with that entertainment program. I'm just… making notes on… something. Only I have yet to reach any conclusions."
"Is it serious?"
Steven's concern made her turn back to look at him. Darn this strange, innocent hybrid. She smiled. "It's nothing to concern over, I assure you." Then she frowns, feeling a sense of paranoia. One look at these papers, and Steven would figure out everything. And she simply was not ready to let just anyone see these! "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have further observational notes to work out and hope to come to some sort of answer.
He did not look fazed, still looking worried, but then his wide smile returned. "Alright. I, uh, hope you figure it out. We can always help, if you need anything. Just in case. Uhh, see ya." He walked over to the ladder, but then stopped at the edge and looked back over. "Oh, and I was going to ask you before if you wanted to watch another show with me?"
"Another one? Just how many programs are there on Earth?"
Steven counted on his fingers, but after the five, he shrugged. "Well, a lot. There's hundreds."
Peridot's eyes grew. "I still have yet to complete Camp Pining Hearts, so I doubt I can add in some time for another."
"Well, you can always watch as many shows as you like, even if you haven't finished others." Steven smiled. "You can come back to Camp Pining Hearts when we're done, and when that's over—since I'm pretty sure they only had two seasons—you can come back to this one. If you like it, that is."
Peridot gave him a doubtful look. Would anything really be as entertaining as her show, the one that introduced her to such programs? She did not buy it. However, the hopeful look on his face made it incredibly difficult to deny this. Instead, she said, "Will any of the others be watching?"
"I'm pretty sure Amethyst is going to watch with us, too, so—"
"Yes!" was her immediate answer, voice rising.
Steven blinked. Peridot blushed and tried to get a hold of herself. She tried to make up for her outburst by saying, "That would be fine. What time is this show on, by the way?"
"About ten minutes." He made no comments on her reaction, nor questioned any part of it. If anything, he simply looked more excited, his eyes filled with stars. "You'll love it! It's got drama and fighting and robots and-actually, I'll stop before I spoil the whole first fifteen episodes." He blushed and walked off, bidding her goodbye until later.
Peridot stood where she was, feeling embarrassed even further. Just hearing her name made her react so viciously.
"This is all her fault!" she exclaimed, stomping her feet around in a circular pace. With a huff of air, she kicked around some papers, watching them fly around, until she slipped onto her back.
One paper landed on her face. Picking it up, she read it. This piece noted how aesthetically pleasing Amethyst's hair looked. Despite being ridiculously messy, its color, its length, its style, it all worked. It was natural, too.
Peridot frowned. No, no, she knew this change was not Amethyst's doing. If so, this likely would have happened when she met them formerly, all the way back when she was doing work with the Cluster and the shards. This… this thing was recent. And it was unlike any other feeling she had experienced. The question she had yet to answer, though: was this a good or bad thing?
She had no idea.
And it annoyed her to no end. Her cluelessness, the vagueness, the unknown, all of it! It made no sense, had no logic, and it was driving her up a wall. This irritance alone brought anger, stress, fear—
Unable to take the unbridled rage within her, among other emotions sherefused to partake in, she retreated not just down the stairs, not just out the barn doors, but farther into the meadows. All the while, she let out an "ahhhhh!" mixed with rage and stress. She ignored the shocked reactions of the other gems and ran ran ran.
"I figured she'd crack eventually." Amethyst leaned onto the grass again with a smirk.
Steven watched her run off with a worried look.
"Is she tired of us already?" Garnet grinned.
Steven shook his head. "No, she was taking notes." His concerned look became bemused again, just as when Peridot had given him her vague answer.
"On… what, exactly?" Pearl asked, with a brow raised and wrists against her sides.
"She wouldn't say. It sounds complicated, though. Should we talk to her?" He turned to all three of them.
They exchanged glances before Garnet decided to answer. "Let's give her time to cool off. Besides, I don't think we'd be much help here… not yet, at least."
"Do you know what's bothering her?" he asked. "I want to help her."
Garnet smiled again. "I have a few ideas, but it's her business, and her business only. So why don't we let her keep to herself? And whatever she wants to tell us, when she decides to, we'll be there to lend a hand or two."
"Or eight!" Steven stretched out his hands, beaming.
She chuckled. "Exactly."
Peridot returned to the barn with a tired sigh. Though not technically tired, she did feel energy exhausted from within her after running away from the barn and kicking rocks and bushes and one tree only to find out kicking trees was painful without limb enhancers.
Rubbing her arm, she walked toward the barn and noticed the others were not around. They were elsewhere, which did not concern her. Then she looked up and noticed Amethyst leaning against the door, and that feeling returned.
"Welcome back to the barn, Peri," she said with a grin. "Thought you'd run off."
"Of course not. I have no other place to stay!" Peridot stared at her. "I wasn't gone that long, was I?"
"Well, it is nighttime now." Amethyst pointed up. "You probably were out for about an hour."
She glanced up and blinked. Rather than a starry sky illuminating the dark night, grey clouds loomed over, making it look darker out. Peridot missed this in her return, apparently. "There aren't any stars." Peridot bit her lip.
"Nah, looks like a cloudy night. It's all dark and spooky out. Heh heh heh." She wiggled her fingers toward Peridot, who was not fazed.
"So much for our plans tonight." Peridot kept looking up, as if expecting the clouds to part for her sake. She frowned.
Amethyst nudged her. "Hey, it's no big deal. There's always tomorrow. They'll still be there."
"You're right." Peridot smiled, mostly for Amethyst's sake.
She nodded. "But I do think we should chill in the barn. You seem, uh… what's the word? Let's see… weird. Extra weird tonight." She pointed at her.
Peridot looked down at herself. "How could you tell?"
"Well, you did run out of the barn, shouting like a rat bit you on the butt." Amethyst rested her hands on her lips, a small smile on her face that did not look amused.
"Oh, right." Peridot straightened her shoulders. "I just needed some air."
"Says the gem who watched one episode of that camp show for hours and hours! I don't think that's the problem." Amethyst's face fell, and her eyebrows knitted downward. She walked closer to Peridot and placed her arm across Peridot's shoulders. "C'mon. Talk to your ol' buddy, Amethyst." The grin returned.
Warning signs blared in her mind. She did not want Amethyst asking or finding out. It would only complicate her situation, and possibly mess with her research. "It's none of your concern, I assure you."
Until she could get closer to a result, she wished to keep it a secret.
Amethyst looked at her for a few pauses that made Peridot feel nervous inside. Then she shrugged. "Alright, then. Buuut, Steven did want me to join him in watching this anime Connie showed him."
"What is… anime?" Peridot's brows jumped.
Amethyst patted her shoulder. "We have much to discuss." She sounded serious for a moment, but a chuckle made it break. "It's like cartoons, but… weirder. And therefore, funnier. For the most part. Wanna watch with us?"
"Sure. If that's fine with you."
Amethyst stared at her, grinning. "I did just invite you, so yeah, it's cool."
"Right."
Amethyst guided Peridot inside with her arm still slung on her shoulders. Peridot wondered if this was common with her. Knowing Amethyst, perhaps it was.
They walked up the stairs to the right and found Steven's makeshift room, resting on his back but with his head facing upward. When he saw the two, he spun around to wave and shout, "Hey, guys!"
"I decided ol' P-girl could use a break or something. So she's going to watch the show with us."
Steven beamed. "That sounds great! You only missed the first five minutes of the episode," he explained. "Which is actually the beginning of a big showdown. Since the first episode's a flashback to how it started."
Peridot sat down crossed-legged beside Steven. "What's happening now?" She saw three females sitting in a food place of sorts, smiling as they exchanged stories. One female, with long hair and wearing square visor-like things on her eyes, glanced between the two others and accused them both of being foolish and dumb. She liked this one already.
"Well, those three are the main characters; that's Bailey, Lacey, and Abbey." Steven pointed to the visor one, then the tan skinned one with the largest chest, and the pale one with markings on her neck and arms, in that order. "They're just talking, and this is before the whole story starts. Bailey's noticing what everyone else does even by the first episode, too!"
"And that is?"
"Lacey and Abbey are meant for each other!" Steven cried out. "But now they're just too busy dealing with the Wrath to talk about it. It's going to happen."
Amethyst shrugged. "Bailey is trying to get them to just wake up and smell the looooove." She shook her shoulders as she said the last word. "They'll figure it out sooner or later."
Steven rested his arms underneath his chin. "I hope it's sooner."
"Well, what is this show about, anyway? What is the Wrath?" Peridot asked, brow quirked.
Steven leaned onto his slumber bag. "Oh, I can answer this!" He cleared his throat, and with eyes shut, explained, "Armed and Precious is about a team of female fighters who keep their city of Tunic Town at peace. Until a mysterious force called the Wrath tries to conquer the town, and it turns people against each other, creates smoke enemies from thin air, all that kinda stuff. So the team called the Initiation is a rebel group who does their best to save their friends and family from being corrupted and destroy the bad guys. All while keeping each other safe as well."
Amethyst chuckled. "So, what, did'ya write all that down?"
"Well, that's how Connie described it." His face lit up. "Oh! And like I said before, Lacey and Abbey are two characters who totally love each other, but they haven't realized it yet." He looked down with mild disappointment. "I hope it's before the series finale. I want to see them being all cute together."
Peridot smiled. "That reminds me of Percy and Pierre! The answer is right in front of them if they simply realized their connection and chemistry proved them to be a powerful couple!"
Steven giggled. "Yeah, kinda like that. Only this show has a lot more seriousness. It's got some funny stuff, too, but it's a bit heavier."
"Better than that camp show, that's for sure." Amethyst shot her a look, her eyes glinting. As if giving Peridot a challenge.
"Oh, really?" Peridot said, her fingers stroking her chin. "We'll see about that." And bringing her knees to her chest, she and the others watched the rest of the first episode.
Suffice to say, it started off slow, but Peridot appreciated the tension because it led to plenty of observations for her to look at afterwards. Plenty of new companionships to form and share to the others. This Lacey and Abbey had drama between each other to spare. This, to put simply, greatly intrigued her.
Once the episode ended, something brushed Peridot's skin, on her arms and her legs. Glancing to her right, she caught Amethyst sitting beside her, laying her head on the mattress Garnet dragged in from the temple. Her body made contact with Peridot's, but she made no signs of concern… unlike Peridot. When she caught Peridot looking at her, she just waved.
Peridot felt her face burn, and that feeling returned. She glanced at her notebook for a moment, tempted to grab it to write down these findings. Then her eyes wandered to the other side, right at Amethyst. If she leaned over, she would break the contact. Something within her downright refused this, and she stayed where she sat, her shoulder and leg brushing against Amethyst's.
They arrived at the fourth episode, and Peridot's eyes did not leave the screen. Something about the situation involving worlds of great, technological advances and robotic machines enticed her. That, and Steven was right; Lacey and Abbey's relationship, or the girls' lack of understanding it, drove her mad, but she cheered and squealed for every moment they made contact. She heard giggling beside her, but did not comment on it.
"You're missing the big picture, Lacey!" Abbey cried out in great distress, dust flying around them. Violins sang in the background. She gripped Lacey's tan, scarred shoulders, who Peridot imagined as a smaller, human Jasper—but she put that thought away when her thoughts came to the Jasper underseas. With a shake of her head, she returned to the program.
"If you fall, we can't catch you!"
Tears slipped from Lacey's face. "But I have to!" she stuttered through the tears. "There's no other way."
"I can't lose you…"
"Just tell her, you engineering clod! Gahhh! Is it not obvious that you share this connection unlike the others?" Peridot shouted, clenching her fists with great anger. She turned to the other two, gesturing toward the screen. "Do these humans fail to see what is happening before them?"
Steven jumped out from his sitting position. "Exactly!" And with a loud sigh, he flopped back onto his mattress, staring at the boarded ceiling.
"It's cause drama, dudes," Amethyst answered. "Though the fact that the fourth episode is so over the top, I kinda wonder how it's gonna end. I bet it's, like, with time traveling junk or, even worse, it's all just a dream and Abbey's in a coma or something. You know, something dumb like that."
Peridot shot her a look. "Time traveling is far from technological advances, even for gems."
"It's television." Amethyst shrugged. "They can get away with it."
Still not pleased, Peridot said, "I'm not sure how I feel about this lack of realism."
Amethyst chuckled. "Says the alien gem from another world. Cause lemme tell you, Peri, there are plenty of people on Earth that don't even know about us."
Peridot pondered this. "I suppose it's not that surprising. We don't make our experiments and visits loud or like a presentation. We come and go. Being too rowdy would create a scene, and m-their Diamond probably wouldn't want that."
"Television isn't meant to be real, anyway!" Steven pointed out, tongue sticking out as he started up another episode. "That's the fun part; anything can happen. Anything!" he repeated with his fists beside him and a grin on his face.
"This includes inanimate objects crying for no reason, apparently," Peridot pointed out.
"Well, yeah, but there is a reason they're crying. They just haven't really gone into it yet. It's probably a big mystery that has yet to be revealed!" Steven mused with a smile.
"I've seen a couple episodes. They could be crying because they're on that show."
Amethyst cracked up, clutching her stomach. "Oh, man, Crying Breakfast Friends shot down!" She pushed Peridot's shoulder, which caught the green gem off guard.
A lot of notes, she recalled, noted how her laugh made Peridot's chest tighten. This, however, became a stronger feeling when it was because she made a joke that Amethyst laughed at. It filled her with joy, and she smiled. Even once Amethyst calmed down and told Steven it was all a joke, that she didn't mean to laugh, that it was a fine show, a perfectly decent show, Peridot smiled at her because she liked staring at this gem with a wonderful laugh. Then Amethyst's attention turned to her.
"What? Is there something on my face?" Amethyst scratched her nose.
Peridot flinched. "Uhh…" she stammered. "Besides your nose, mouth, and eyes?"
Amethyst burst out laughing. "Okay, genius! Not that. Just… your staring at me, and I'm wondering if I've got some leftovers in my teeth." She flashed her teeth to demonstrate.
"No, no. All clear." She gave her a thumbs up.
"Shame, but maybe next time." Amethyst struck her a thumbs up back, despite this letdown, and leaned back. And once the screen went to credits, she stood up and stretched her muscles. "Well, I think that's enough for me tonight. I've got a sleeping bag calling my name." She cupped her hands around her lips and whispered, "Amethyst, Amethyst, please sleep on me."
Steven chuckled. "Okay. I guess I'll head to bed, too. What're you up tonight, Peridot?"
"Well, I do have more… research to do." Peridot crossed her arms. "I have plenty to work out."
"What's got you so worked up nowadays, girl?" Amethyst reached her arms out before straightening herself. "Steven said you've been writing junk like crazy recently. You sure everything's alright in that head of yours?" She tapped Peridot's visor, which made her recoil and hope the touch didn't leave prints.
"It-it's nothing." She cleared her throat. "It's nothing you two need to be concerned with, I assure you. Now if you'll excuse me." She walked away, but watched Amethyst retreat outside with the other gems. And Steven curled into his sleeping bag and shut his eyes.
Peridot scrambled up to her side of the barn, sprawling on the couch as she watched the static. Though she put on the first episode of Camp Pining Hearts, she did not pay attention. It became noise in the background and gave her a strange company. Though every so often, she muttered phrases in the episode without even knowing, but the rest of her time, her mind wandered.
What had happened to drive her to act so unprofessionally, so out of control? She normally knew how she would react, had an air of diplomacy—with a hint of irritation, admittedly—that made her feel like a proper Peridot. Then she started dealing with these Crystal Gems, and she arrived with the Jasper and Lapis to check on the Cluster and see what they were up to. In the end, she found herself trapped and stuck on a planet that was so alien to her and—
Wait. Peridot's eyes grew. She figured it out.
It was this planet's doing! That was the only explanation. She picked up a pen with a bitten top and scribbled angrily onto it. Since arriving here, and being part of the Crystal Gems, she changed so much. Whether for better or worse, that wasn't the question.
"Clearly, there is something toxic in this air that makes me react so ridiculously around Amethyst." When she said the words aloud, it left many questions (such as why Amethyst? Why now?), but it was a start!
She was going to have a word with that Steven!
Then she looked over at his sleeping form, all peaceful and quiet, except for his snoring.
She was going to have a word with him… after he woke up.