Author's Note: User MadameX818 gave me the prompt, "Lapis explaining what happened with Jasper to Peridot after she comes back to the barn and Peridot attempts to comfort her in her own way." Here's my attempt at filling it.

oOoOoOo

what happened

As soon as the Roaming Eye had taken off for the moon and disappeared out of sight, Peridot had rushed into the barn. Lapis had followed at a much slower pace, and by the time she'd gotten inside, found Peridot already busy constructing… something. What, exactly, wasn't clear. It seemed to involve a stuffed corpse of some Earth creature, pinecones, nails, glue, and a generous amount of green and orange paint. Lapis leaned against the wall to watch her work.

After a frenzy of activity, Peridot finally took a step back to proudly survey her creation. Lapis surveyed it too, but with considerably more confusion.

"What is it?" Lapis asked.

Peridot jumped, flailing. Seemingly she'd forgotten the other Gem was even there. "A morp!"

"Clearly," said Lapis. Knowing that her barn-mate's morps tended to be highly symbolic, she asked, "What's it about?"

"Ah… well…" Peridot hesitated.

That grabbed Lapis's attention. Peridot never hesitated. She could yammer on about her pieces for hours.

With more force, Lapis asked again, "What's it about?"

Peridot fiddled with the paintbrush she was holding. "Er… um, I'm not… not sure if I should tell you."

"What?"

Peridot threw up her hands placatingly. "It's not that I don't want to tell you!" she stuttered. "It's just— well, it's about the J-word!"

"What."

"See?" Peridot said. Face scrunched up, she turned back to her sculpture.

Lapis curled her fists and took another look at it. The dead Earth animal— a racoon, possibly, if she remembered correctly— had been covered in pinecone spikes and hay, then doused in orange paint. Green had then been splattered on top of the orange, and a nail had been thrust right through the animal's chest. "What does this have to do with Jasper?"

Peridot didn't look at her. "Are you sure you want me to tell you?"

Lapis hesitated a moment. Then, "Yes."

Peridot told her everything. Everything that had happened at the Beta Kindergarten. It came out in a rush, words tripping over each other, but something coherent formed out of the jumble. Lapis let the words wash over her— prison, Jasper, fight, fusion, corruption—not allowing herself to react.

"So… yeah. That's what this is about," Peridot said, once she had finished her explanation. She watched Lapis nervously. "Are you okay?"

Lapis didn't answer.

A few moments passed, then Peridot rephrased the question. "How're you feeling?"

"I don't know."

Jasper was corrupted. Jasper was bubbled. Jasper was gone.

And Lapis didn't know how to feel about that.

Peridot abandoned her paintbrush, and came to Lapis's side, attempting to initiate an awkward back-patting. Lapis let her. It felt kind of nice.

They stood there for a while, not saying anything. There were no words they could say.

"If you would like," Peridot said, "we could read the Camp Pining Hearts prequel novelisation. I am certain it will be fascinating to see how the story is adapted into another medium."

Lapis took a shuddering breath, and unclenched her hands. "Okay," she said. She turned her back on the sculpture. "Sure."