The Gems went and got Peridot. Peridot was very disagreeable about it, but Garnet waited on the beach for her consent. Eventually, she did, on the terms that she wouldn't go back in a bubble. Garnet told her that was never a part of the question.
Peridot had been hiding out in the bathroom, since it received the least amount of traffic. She refused to leave it, so Steven always asked her to turn around when he showered or to go behind the shower curtain when he had to go. It was pretty awkward, especially when it came to smells. At first, whenever Steven had to go the big "number 2," he went to the Big Donut. But, emergencies happen. Nevertheless, Steven was glad that Peridot was staying with him and the Crystal Gems. It was a chance to get to know her... despite her kidnapping, imprisonment, and attempted murder.
Nobody knew where Topaz had gone off to.
Peridot was very difficult to talk to. For one thing, she was constantly paranoid that Steven and the Crystal Gems were plotting her torture, or some means of conspiracy against her and her Homeworld. Furthermore, she was adamant that anything and everything Steven ever had in his hands was a weapon-his toothbrush, his deodorant, his shampoo; she even cowered under the omnipotent power of his toilet paper, at first.
Steven assured her that his things weren't torture devices, that the bathroom wasn't a prison-despite its smells-and that she could come out whenever she wanted. But, Peridot was convinced he was a liar.
One day, at a time when Steven didn't have to pee or whatever, he knocked on the bathroom door. A nasally little voice from the other side piped up and said, "What's the pass-sentence?"
"Glorious Peridot is the magnanimous leader of all who will one day rule the treacherous Crystal Gems with her iron fist."
The door clicked. "You may enter."
Steven walked into what used to be his bathroom, which now had become Peridot's laboratory of mad science. She tested anything she could get her little hands on-toothpaste, cotton swabs, hand soap-and never failed to make a mess.
The walls were still stained blue from when she got ahold of the liquid toilet bowl cleaner, and the mirror was cracked from the incident with the electric hair trimmers. The shower curtain hung by thread-thread that became necessary after Peridot tore the curtain down in one fell terrified swoop.
Too, she's caused more than her fair share of household floods. "Reverse engineering" caused Steven to lose a few toothbrushes, seven of his shirts, two pairs of his pants, and all the elastic from nearly all pairs of his underwear; he resorted to taking all of his personal things with him to and from the bathroom.
Garnet, however-praise her-had the foresight to remove all the cold medicine and mouthwash before Peridot shut herself away.
Once Peridot got over her fear of toilet paper, she had been using it as a substitute for her audio logs, scrawling thought after thought on them with a pen. The teetering mountain of Aleister Crowley's toilet tissue, mostly piled next to the toilet, had numerous tears in them. Some were ripped to shreds. Some pieces were in the sink.
"Be quick with whatever you have to do and leave," said Peridot.
"Actually," said Steven, "I have something for you."
"Is it DEATH?"
"No, it's a tape recorder."
"And why, pray tell, would I ever need such a degenerate piece of equipment?" she said, looking down at Steven's hands.
"Well, now you won't have to write everything down anymore."
"...How's it work?"
Steven showed her. He handed it over, as well as a package of blank tapes.
"Do you have any further business in here?" said Peridot with her cheeks pinched.
Steven replied, "Unless you want to talk abou-"
"No. No talking. Away with you!" She shooed him out the door and shoved him-which, from Peridot and her infantile form, felt more like nihilistic petting (if such a creepy mode of molestation could ever be described)-into the hall. She slammed the bathroom door behind him and locked it. Not a moment passed before Steven heard her talking to herself. "Log date: 6-21-1..."
Later, in bed, Steven could here her mumbling through the floor. He had to fall asleep to it.
...