Chapter Text
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They let Jasper go live with Peridot and Lapis in the new barn. No one at first thought it was a good idea, and everyone believed either she or Lapis would have reacted badly to the mere suggestion of such an arrangement. Yet two months had passed, and there was still no sign of disturbance coming from the cohabiting trio. If anything, things had become rather quiet since Jasper had stopped living with the other quartzes.
In fact, until then the warrior gem had not seemed able to find peace of mind for herself. Everyone had noticed how uncharacteristically jumpy she was around the other uncorrupted gems. Of course, it was not unusual for a warrior gem to be alert most of the time, as that came as a habit for someone so used to the dangers of the battlefield. Yet, since her reformation, Jasper had not just seemed alert, she had looked outright on edge.
Peridot had noticed immediately one evening when everyone had gathered on the beach for a family barbecue, family in this case including all of the gems that had recently been uncorrupted, and even some Homeworld gems that had decided to stay on Earth. Among all of these people, Jasper was sticking out for looking obviously and uncharacteristically uncomfortable.
Now, the thing about Peridot was that she was much more observant than most people gave her credit for. For a while she could just guess what was bothering the large gem, but it did not take her long to put the pieces together when a commotion broke the cheerful atmosphere.
"Hey, sister, calm down! It wasn't on purpose".
Peridot looked up from the videogame Connie had just started showing her on the girl's portable console, and saw Amethyst standing in between Jasper and a small group of uncorrupted Chrystal Gems. Behind her the other gems and Steven had noticed something was off, and were looking in concern.
"I'm sorry... it's better if I go back inside", grumbled Jasper, visibly embarrassed, as she made a move to go back inside the provisional shelter beside the beach house.
Steven rushed to Amethyst's side. "What happened?!", he asked, to which the purple gem replied shrugging.
"Watermelongirl here-", she said patting a mortified-looking Watermelon Tourmaline on the back of the leg, "-bumped into Jasper as she was backing up to receive a volley, and big sis got all riled up, for some reason!".
"Well, if someone I fought against in a war bumped into me I would be riled up, too!".
Everyone turned to look at Peridot in surprise, not having noticed that she had been following what was happening, until she had spoken. "I'm just saying that she must be tense, having to share her living space with ex enemies, while also having to come to terms with the fact that her diamond was Rose Quartz".
"Well, she has a point", Steven admitted, gloomily, "we might have overestimated how alright everyone would have been now that the conflict was over". They all looked at each other. The reality of facts had finally hit them, and they all felt a little embarrassed that they just now realised that not everyone may have adapted too well to their new life, at least not at first and not so easily. "What do we do, now?", Amethyst asked.
Peridot scrunched her brows, assuming a thoughtful expression for a while. "I need to ask Lapis first, but maybe Jasper could come stay with us". Both Steven and Amethyst looked at her like she had sprouted a second head.
"Duuude, you can't be serious?!", shouted Amethyst. "Is she serious?", she asked again, this time to a confused Steven.
"I am here, you know...", said Peridot, slightly annoyed. "And, yes, I am serious. After all we've got a barn all by ourselves, while Jasper is surrounded by so many other gems all day".
Steven frowned. "That's true, but do you think Lapis will be ok with it?". Amethyst nodded solemnly to stress his point.
"I don't know, that's why I said I'll ask her, first".
To say the truth, she did not expect Lapis to say yes to her idea. Yet, she felt like she had to try. Something was very off about how things had gone down between jasper and the two of them.
Lapis and herself had both got their chances at redemption and at finding a place they could call home, but Jasper had not. True, she had not made things easier for herself, antagonising the Chrystal Gems at every occasion, but neither had them, in the beginning. They were all just acting according to what they knew and were taught on Homeworld. Maybe if they gave Jasper some breathing space, and let her live with people she was already somewhat familiar with, then she also would have a chance to find her place in this world.
That's why she was relieved when Lapis unexpectedly said yes.
Peridot did not ask Lapis what made her agree to this. As much as she disliked feeling like this, she still feared the blue gem's reaction to some topics, something she also wanted to sort out, soon. Yet, she hoped that Lapis had also reached her same conclusion.
And so, with no little reluctance from the Chrystal Gems, and confusion from Jasper, the orange gem moved to the new barn on the beach.