The next morning, Steven was awoken by Amethyst. "Her majesty is calling for you. She won't stop complainin'."

Steven rubbed his eyes and walked downstairs. He knocked on the bathroom door. The toilet troll snarled, "Who is it?"

"It's Steven Universe."

Peridot unlocked and cracked open the door. "These... tapes... they've run out."

"Already?!"

"They are clearly inefficient and primitive, but I am requesting for more, post haste."

"Uh, sure," replied Steven. Thinking first thing in the morning wasn't something he was used to. But, then he had a thought that perked him up like a hot cup of fresh morning brew. "Sure, you can have more, but we'll have to go to the store to get them."

Peridot shooed him with her hand. "Well go, go get more."

"I'll only gooo," sung Steven, "if you come with me to get them."

Peridot's face pinched.

After Steven had breakfast and got dressed, and with Garnet's approval, Steven and Peridot strolled down the beach together. It was a lovely, sunny morning filled with a light breeze, tumbling waves, cooing birds, plus one disgruntled little green Gem who hated the sand.

"So, how have you been?" asked Steven.

Peridot eyeballed him. "Horrendous," she said. "Stagnant."

"Like I keep telling you, you don't have to stay cooped up in the bathroom. You can come out and see the world, see all Beach City has to offer! Meet people, make friends."

"I'd prefer not..." Suddenly, Peridot seemed exhausted. "I just want to go home, where everything makes sense."

"...Oh."

"Did I say that out loud? Great. Now, I'm losing my mind. That's the only thing I've got left..."

Steven watched the ocean roll up on the beach a little. "Is Earth really so bad?"

"It's disorganized. Dysfunctional. Unproductive. Too much room for error. Not to mention it's abound with biological organisms. Gems have no need for things so counterintuitive."

"But," said Steven, "it's being unpredictable that makes things about life beautiful, makes you appreciate it more, and-"

"I don't care how you see it, Quartz. All I care about is finding a way home."

Steven focused on the sand between his toes. The sand they walked on was loose. He watched Peridot walk. Her gait was too big for her size, and he wondered if sand was getting in through her "socks"-the footy part of her one-piece uniform from Homeworld. "With Topaz, right?"

Peridot scoffed, "If she wants to be petulant, then that's fine with me! She can stay here. Abandoning Homeworld, everything she'd ever known, she'd ever worked for; she's too much like this planet: reckless; absent-minded. She best be glad she's replaceable, that Homeworld won't come looking for her. She'd be shattered if they ever found her. ...She can stay here."

Steven pocketed his hands. "She cares about you."

Peridot laughed. "Oh, yes, she cares about me. She'd go to great lengths to keep me in my place." Her cheeks pinched her eyes. "What do you know about it?"

"I've spent more time around her than you think," said Steven, "and when I see her, when it looks like she has nothing, the thing she clings to is you. She'd do anything for you."

"Even throw herself off a cliff..."

Steven gasped. "Now that's not fair."

"That's not FAIR?!" Peridot tore apart her crossed arms. "What's not fair is not being recognized for all that I do for her. What's not fair is constantly worrying what mood she's in, which, nine times out of ten, it's not good, and if she'll take it out on me. What's not fair is being stranded on an alien planet with little hope for rescue because somebody decided this was the best time to have a neurotic breakdown!" Peridot huffed at Steven. "She's not fair!" Steven's chest crumpled, and his shoulders tried to hide it. "So, I can't leave. No matter how much I want to. Because my maniac of an escort is at the bottom of your ocean fused to another maniac. And my other maniac is off who knows where being petulant. Leaving me in a mess, I'm stuck. I'm stuck here, and surrounded by morons like you."

Steven was silent. Not because he was belittled, but because he was searching through all of what Peridot said to him; he tried to find some hidden meaning or reason to all of it, how such frustration between Peridot and Topaz could've happened, if all Peridot told him was true. He'd seen it in both her and Topaz, that they deeply cared for one another, yet how either of them talked about one another-to one another-didn't make sense to Steven. But, he came up with no meaning or reason, and felt he had been quiet too long, along the beach. So, with his hands still in his pockets, Steven said to Peridot, "You care about her, too, don't you?"

Peridot spoke with her hands. "Let me put this in a way a human could understand: Me stressed. Me no want to talk no more. We get more tapes, so me can go back to talking to me, me, me. Alone." Peridot walked ahead of Steven with her pinched face in the air. Steven trotted along a little to catch up; he was supposed to lead the way. "You Crystal Clods owe me a new ship..."

...