2. Curiosity

The house crafted around the midsection of a giant, stone-carved woman, was quiet. Steven burst through the front door with a genuine smile on his face, which felt refreshing after so much has happened. He felt a bit exhilarated with his new found resolve and wanted to do something. He thought about asking Amethyst to join him at the Big Donut, or maybe the Gems and him could have a regular 'beach day' (Volleyball, swimming, snacks, the works!)

Steven wasn't necessarily surprised to find the house empty, as he guessed if the Gems had entered the house at some point they would have gone outside to see him on the beach and would have come to join him (or, in the case of Pearl, yelled for him to have some breakfast). Nevertheless, a growing boy has got to eat, so Steven goes to fix himself breakfast.

Cereal, he thought, would be enough to wade off the small pangs of hunger he was having since he had hadn't eaten yet today, but small enough to leave room for donuts if Amethyst shows up soon. Grabbing his plastic stool, Steven climbs onto the counter so he can reach the bowls. Much to his surprise, however, he found a note inside of his signature Cookie Cat cereal bowl.

Steven,

We had to leave early this morning to go on a mission. We wanted to bring you along, but we are going underwater. I predict we will be home a few hours before dinner, so try to enjoy your day without us. We love you.

Garnet

P.S. I left this note in the bowl so you would see it after you had a chance to relax this morning. Cereal is always a good choice.

Smiling as he re-read the note a second time, and then a third, it made Steven feel sentimental to read Garnet's note. Of course, he knew the Gems loved him, but there was something about reading it that made it feel special. He didn't have a lot of hand-written things from the Gems, especially from Garnet, so he took down the bowl, set it on the counter, and leaped up the stairs to his room. Floating gently down and landing on his toes, Steven gave himself a small cheer as he continues to better his control of his floating powers.

Returning to the task at hand, Steven leaned over his bed and set the note down next to his picture of Connie on the shelves. He tried positioning the small piece of paper so that it would stand up. He resorted to leaning it slightly against Connie's frame, so you could see most of the note if you looked straight at it without obstructing the photo.

Pressing his knee into the mattress as he leaned over, he smiled thoughtfully down at the sight of the note and the photo. He was going to do whatever it takes to stop Homeworld from hurting this Earth, his family, and the people he loved.

As the seconds became minutes, Steven snapped out of his stupor when he saw something moving in the corner of his eye. Out the window, on the beach, was a green snowman flying towards him at a startling speed. Steven did a double-take, thinking there was more than a dozen reasons that this was horribly wrong.

Snowmen aren't green. They can't move. We're on a beach, how could it snow? Why is it coming towards me? Are those wheels? Wait…

As it got closer, he squinted and realized it wasn't a snowman at all. It was…

"Peridot?!" Steven jumped down the bed and turned the corner out of the beach house to confirm his thoughts. It was Peridot, and she was wearing some sort of… ice, garment? Ice? But that would mean…

"Steven!" Just on cue, Lapis Lazuli descended from above, retracting her water wings and breaking into a big smile. She landed gracefully next to Steven on the front porch of the house.

"Lapis! What are you doing here? And what's, uh, with Peridot?" Steven asked, trying and failing to mask his confusion as she wheeled herself closer to us. She came to a stop at the bottom of the steps and angrily bumped her wheels into the bottom.

"Ugh, this is exactly why I needed to come here!" Peridot grumbled to herself. She quickly jumped out of the odd mechanism, which Steven realized now was more like a Segway with a vest binding the rider to the mechanism.

"Steven! Your favorite Crystal Gem has arrived!" Peridot practically leaped up the steps and gave Steven a hug. Steven shivered once she did and, realizing her mistake, pulled back.

"Um, Lapis. Could you…?" Peridot gestured at her torso.

"Oh. Right." Lapis said simply. She flicked her hand gently and the ice flew off, onto the sand near where Peridot parked her contraption.

"It's so good to see you both! What is that thing Peridot?" Steven gave Lapis a quick hug while looking over at the odd mechanism.

"I'm glad you asked, Steven! This is my newest creation, to help me to travel around. Lapis has her wings, so she can go virtually anywhere she pleases. But I'm stuck at the barn with just the warp pad, and sometimes I just want to explore a bit. Not that I don't want to go with you, Lapis!" Period added the last part quickly, raising her hands. Lapis merely raised an eyebrow and said nothing.

"I just, you know… Sometimes, you go by yourself places and I thought I could use it to get around. I got here much quicker than walking, approximately 5.5 times faster, if my calculations are correct!" Peridot smiled proudly while Steven looked down at the strange machine. It was like a cross between a bicycle and a Segway, with wheels on the bottom and a seat with a cubby that reminded him of the drill, suspended by two rods. It was made from mismatched parts of what looked like Gem tech from the Hand Ship and odd pieces of equipment from the barn.

"It's really cool!" Steven said excitedly. He felt so happy when Lapis and Peridot had shown him the meep-morps the first time, seeing them express their creativity. Now, Peridot was returning to her engineering roots and making gadgets to make her life on Earth more comfortable.

"It is cool, thank you, Steven. But it's incomplete. Which is part of the reason we came today!" Peridot exclaimed, obviously pleased with the compliment.

Lapis couldn't help but stifle a laugh, causing her to snort slightly. She blushed a deeper shade of blue, surprising herself with her laugh, and then just couldn't stop.

"What's funny?" Steven said, turning to Lapis.

"I'm sorry, Steven. It's nothing." Lapis stopped herself from laughing as suddenly as she started.

That was odd? I wonder…

But before Steven could think much further, Steven felt another pang of hunger in his stomach.

"Oh. Well why don't you tell me more about it inside? I was just going to have some breakfast… erm, lunch? Brunch? Yeah, brunch."

"Brunch? What is this brunch?" Peridot began inquiring as she followed Steven's lead into the house. Lapis came in behind her, sitting down on the steps near the door. Lapis gazed outside while Steven educated Peridot on the difference between breakfast, lunch, and brunch.

"So, since it's three in the afternoon, it's really more of a brunch than a breakfast, but it's a breakfast food for lunch! Get it?" Steven explained while he sat on the couch, Peridot sitting cross-legged on the floor across from him.

"Yes… I think so… It's just a different naming convention, used to distinguish time differences in relation to the meals of the day rather than the rotational position of the Earth relative to the Sun!"

"Uh, yeah. That sounds right." Steven slurped up the milk at the bottom of the bowl and glanced over at Lapis. She was watching him with a curious smile.

Lapis hasn't said much since they've been over, Steven realized. This wasn't totally unlike Lapis, as she was a bit more introverted than the rest of the Gems (except maybe Garnet), but she kept giving him odd looks that were making him somewhat self-conscious. And that weird bout of laughter earlier, what was with that? Steven tried to clear his mind of the unnecessary worries – he realized both of these things he was worried about implied positive changes for Lapis. Maybe she really was just settling into Earth.

"Steven," Peridot said seriously, placing both hands on the table. This broke Steven out of his train of thought and he lowered his bowl into his lap.

"Brunch aside, I came here to ask a favor. I know – " she stopped for a second and glanced over at Lapis, embarrassed. Steven was only more interested as she paused.

"I know that you recently had an… experience, in space. In the presence of, um… the Diamonds." Peridot began, measuring her words carefully, knowing Steven was still a bit on edge from the whole episode. Lapis' face betrayed no sign of emotion now, and she simply watched Peridot explain.

Steven felt the same pit of discomfort that he felt this morning on the beach. He was trying to forget about this and move on. What did Peridot need from him? Was she contacted again by Yellow Diamond? He pushed that thought away, hoping beyond hopes that it wasn't that.

Peridot continued when Steven said nothing.

"Yes, um. Well. You know, maybe it was a bad idea to bring it up. Forget it! Do you want to accompany us to the barn, Steven? We can play with Pumpkin…" she began to become frazzled and started speaking quickly, her embarrassment becoming increasingly obvious. She started to stumble over her words and suddenly stopped speaking altogether. Lapis had stood up and taken a seat next to Steven.

Okay, this is getting really weird. What is going on with these two?

Peridot stood up and opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but shut it again. Instead, Lapis turned towards Steven with a bemused expression on her face.

"Steven, what Peridot is trying to say is that she wants to see if there's anything from the Ruby ship or that you brought home from space that she could bring back to the barn. But only if she has your express permission, first." Lapis held a completely straight face until she reached the very end of the sentence, and then she started laughing again like earlier. Steven just wore a look of plain confusion.

"It's not funny, Lapis!" Peridot turned towards them and she was blushing dark-green. Now that the jig was up, Peridot put her hands back on the table and leaned towards Steven.

"Steven. I'm sorry. I don't miss Homeworld, please, believe me. I just miss having something to do with my hands. The time we all spent working on the drill? Despite the fact that I was fearing for my life, it was important to me. It made me feel important. I want to be helpful to the team too, and I have been practicing my metal powers, but I thought maybe I could try to make some defensive mechanisms for the Temple and the barn? In case Homeworld, you know, comes around? I know it's probably stupid to ask and I know you just got back but I… – why are you laughing?" Peridot's words spilled over like a waterfall, only to be cut short as Lapis and Steven both started laughing together. Peridot just looked at them indignantly. Now it all makes sense.

"Peridot! You don't have to be sorry! I'm sorry for laughing, really…" Steven said as he rubbed his nose to wipe away some of the giggles. "I just didn't know you felt this way. Why were you so nervous to ask me? Of course you can have whatever you can find here at the Temple that might be useful!"

"R-really?" Peridot stammered, still blushing but now she was smiling. Lapis was just smirking and watching the two.

"Of course! I'm just, phew, relieved!" Steven slapped his forehead gently, leaning back into the seat cusions and chuckled again. "I just thought it was going to be something horrible. I didn't know you were so worried."

"Well, I… I just didn't want anyone to think, you know, that I wanted to access this stuff because it reminded me of Homeworld. That's not it." Peridot added firmly. "I just…" she twiddled her fingers together a bit nervously, a habit she had no doubt picked up from Pearl.

"I just wanted to build something with Lapis so I could feel important to her like I was important to you all!" Peridot was practically yelling by now, so flustered that she looked at the table and looked miserable. Steven was just shocked, he couldn't believe Peridot was so sensitive about this sort of thing.

Steven got up from the couch and put a hand on Peridot's shoulder.

"Peridot, really, it's okay. I think it's sweet that you want to make a difference. It shows you care about us." Steven glanced up at Lapis who was smiling down at the two of them.

"You knew?" Steven guessed from the way she had been acting that afternoon.

"She gave me the same speech this morning. Then she showed me that," Lapis used her thumb and pointed somewhere in the direction of the beach, implying she meant the odd locomotive Peridot had used to get here. "It was supposed to be her first prototype, proving that she could make herself useful."

Peridot said nothing but peeked over at Steven to make sure he wasn't upset. Lapis let out a small sigh and smiled at Peridot again.

"Peridot. I told you not to be so worried. I know you think we're jumpy about Homeworld. You're not exactly wrong…" Peridot squirmed a bit as Lapis spoke. "But there's no need to feel bad for trying to do good. No matter what happens, you were just trying to help. And I think it could be fun, for both of us." Lapis stood up and offered Peridot a hand. The green gem looked dumbfounded at Lapis' hand, like she had never seen a hand in the entirety of her existence. Steven just beamed at the both of them, thinking how much they've grown.

Peridot seemed to recover her confidence after Lapis helped her up, and turned to Steven with her familiar mischievous smile.

"Well, if you don't mind, could we start with the ship?"