Obviously, Peridot wasn't going to be back. Of course she went back to Topaz. Peridot doesn't take strolls. She has a very habitual personality, and only something extraordinary would take her away from her barn and her silo. And that something was Topaz, obviously.
It couldn't have been anything else, not with Topaz so fresh in Peridot's mind. And Steven lost sleep imagining all the ways things could go wrong, and the distance Peridot was from him and the Crystal Gems.
Topaz's tallness cast a shadow over Peridot. Out of the darkness, arms coiled around Peridot and dragged her into Topaz's shadow-her discontent.
And it was all Steven's fault. He knew in the back of his mind that for Peridot to be missing meant something, but Steven ignored it yesterday because he was with Connie. Not to protect Connie from it, but because Steven was selfish.
Every apparition of Topaz's discontent came true in the night as Steven tried to dream, and they all lead to her imprisonment, whence she'd never again feel the warmth of the sun. At that, Topaz may as well be dead, and, deep down, Steven was ok with that.
And then, after Steven had rushed up to the barn early Sunday morning and knocked on the silo's door only once, Peridot's voice echoed.
"It's open-pen-en-en-n!" Her response shocked Steven at first, but elephants of worry slipped off of his shoulders with every echo of Peridot's sweet, sweet, sour little voice; Steven had never been happier in his life to hear her say anything, and to have been so wrong.
He muscled the rusty door open and hustled up those rickety stairs and gave Peridot the warmest embrace she had, maybe, ever gotten in her life.
"Oh, Peridot, I was so worried about you!"
"AGH! WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT PERSONAL SPACE!"
Steven sat down at Peridot's kiddie table 'cause she told him to. Hands on his knees, he couldn't stop smiling up at her. It made Peridot scowl.
"What?"
"Whachya doin'?"
"Reprogramming my soil analyzing device." She had her device connected to an old computer fitted with modern parts.
"What for?"
"So it'll tell me the exact percentages of the content of the soil sample being analyzed. I'm also compiling Earth metals and minerals into its data bank, which I'll have to rewrite those elements into what I know them to be," she scoffed. "And that shouldn't be hard considering how scant Earth's table of elements is. But, it's what I can expect to find occurring naturally in the soil on this planet."
"You have different names for elements?"
"Of course," she said. "We're from different planets, societies, histories. What'd you expect?" She typed. "Oxygen. Have you ever heard of a more dumb name? 'Ooh, look at me! I'm a human! And I'm gonna name this stuff I breathe "Oxygen!"' More like Oxy-moron. Might as well label fire cold!"
"What do you call it?"
"Combustion Irritator."
"What about calcium?"
"Biological Cell Intracommunicator. Or, Infrastructure Strengthening Agent, depending on the context. Usually, the latter."
Steven frowned. "What about... gold?"
"...Useless."
Steven giggled, then just watched Peridot type awhile. Then he thought about why he was here. "Oh," he began cautiously, "is... everything ok?"
Peridot retorted, "Everything's fine. Why?"
"Nothing! It's just... I thought... I'm just glad you're ok."
"Never. Been. Better."
Steven sniffled. "So, where were you yesterday?"
Peridot stopped typing only briefly to eyeball Steven. "Out testing this." She went back to typing.
"Really?" he said quickly. It made Peridot grimace.
"Yeah."
Languidness flowed into Steven's limbs, sinking him. His father had been right, and it made him a little embarrassed. He played with his knees some. "I was just worried... We couldn't find you and no one knew where you were."
Peridot typed. "I went to the forest, to the beach, to the cliffs. I wanted a decent sample size. I had inconsistencies and traces of substances that couldn't be read because, originally, I had only programmed it for very basic analyses of soil acidity. Now, I'm expanding its programming. Any other defects are purely speculation at this point. Only more field tests will reveal them."
She stopped typing, and after a moment, sighed. She glowered at Steven. "So, if I'm gone again, which I will be, I'm out testing my device." Programming again, she added, "Get a grip. I can take care of myself. I'm sick of everyone thinking I can't."
Steven left for home with his hands in his pockets. He didn't feel like warping home; he took the long way, and, on the way, he punted rocks into fences, and buildings, and the wild blue yonder.
At least Peridot had stayed in Beach City all along. Steven texted Connie and his dad to let them know.
It occurred to Steven that the acronym for Peridot's soil analyzing device, like her F.A.R.T., spelled sad. Just like her. Just like him, in this moment, because of her.
Useless symbolism? Maybe. But, Steven supposed it was part of human nature to make meanings out of that that had no meaning; it's what a lot of songs and poetry are made of.
Steven was thirsty.
...