Work Text:
Tech Tampering
Peridot hadn’t had an opportunity to study some real, honest-to-goodness Homeworld tech in far, far too long.
She sat in Amethyst’s room, staring at the little gizmo in front of her - a small ball, about the size of a ‘potato’, coloured in dark yellow. She had shown it to Steven and Connie already - Connie had said it resembled a ‘pokey ball’, which Peridot didn’t understand at all - as well as to Garnet, who had told her it wasn’t dangerous (‘probably’) and that she was free to poke around with it.
So poke around she would.
So, what did she know about the ball. She knew it was from Yellow Diamond’s ship - she’d found it next to the warp drive. Apart from that, she had nothing - this was ultra-secret Diamond technology that mere Peridots like her weren’t supposed to touch.
Stars, this was exhilarating.
She turned the ball over in her hand, finding only a single button - no other activation module seemed to exist. She wondered what it did, and realised there was no way to find out except - well - first hand experience.
Slowly, gingerly, she pressed the button.
Flash.
Peridot stumbled back as the ball cracked open, spilling golden light into the room.
“Yo, Peri, what’s…”
Amethyst rounded a corner, trailing off as she saw the opened device laying on the floor. Slowly, ever so slowly, she approached, leaning down in front of it.
“What the heck is this thing?” she asked, raising her hand.
“Don’t touch it!” exclaimed Peridot, “The light could be dangerous!”
Amethyst nodded, lowering her hand.
“So, is it some kind of Y-D nightlight?” asked Amethyst, “Yellow ‘fraid of the dark or something?”
“Most likely not, entertaining though that image is,” replied Peridot, “This appears to be very ancient Homeworld technology. It could do anything. It could contain Yellow Diamond’s aura. It could transmute matter into gold. It could erase reality from existence. It could…”
“...make a pretty mean disco ball, gotta say it.”
“...true.”
“So, how do we find out, ‘Dot?” asked Amethyst.
Peridot mused on the question for a few seconds, then slowly raised her hands.
“We touch it together,” she said, “On three. One… two… two point five… two point seven five… two point eight three three-”
“THREE!” bellowed Amethyst.
They drew their hands forward into the little ball.
There was a sonic boom, and both flew backwards, crashing into piles of trash. From the ball emerged a swirling maelstrom of light, dancing and twisting as it grew bigger and bigger.
“You fools!” a deep voice bellowed, “You have set me loose!”
“Aw great, we woke Satan,” grunted Amethyst.
“Satan? No, you clods, I am the greatest criminal in Homeworld’s history!” the voice bellowed, “I am Blood Diamond! I-”
“Wow, three edgy five me,” grunted Amethyst, “If you’re such a great criminal, how come they caught you?”
“I… I… shut up! I will reclaim my domination over Homeworld, and neither of you can stop me! For I am Blood Diamond, and all will bow before me! Hohohohoho! HOHOHOHOHO! HOHOHO-”
Click.
Amethyst closed the ball, the light instantly cutting off.
“...aaaaaaand that was interesting,” she shrugged, “You ever hear of Blood Diamond, Peri?”
“Yeah, she was a Ruby that pretended to be a Diamond as a con,” replied Peridot, “She was actually doing quite well until they caught her.”
“Sick,” nodded Amethyst, “Anyone else pretend to be a Diamond?”
“Black Diamond,” shrugged Peridot, “That was an Amethyst. Nobody quite knows how she pulled that off.”
“Edgy,” nodded Amethyst.
Peridot looked down at the ball and sighed.
“Well, that was disappointing,” she admitted, “I had hoped it would be a navigational system, or an ancient communicator, or… or a time machine or something. I mean, we’d probably have wrecked the space-time continuum, but it’d be a nice way to spend an afternoon.”
Amethyst smirked, lifting up her chin and looking into her eyes.
“I’ve got another way to spend an afternoon, if you get what I mean?”
The two stared for a long time, warm blushes forming on their cheeks.
“Are we gonna go to the Pear Shop?”
“We’re gonna go to the Pear Shop.”