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“Ughhhhhh… It took longer than I expected to build a simple barn. Maybe we didn’t have to remodel it exactly like the previous one?” Lapis suggested arms crossed as she viewed the barn from the outside. Everything about this barn was exactly the same as the last.
It felt strangely comforting.
Peridot, staring at a weed of grass, crouched down, replied back with a sneer. “Maybe you didn’t have to drop the barn on Blue Diamond-” She knew that Lapis would see this as an opportunity to stop her, but as usual, Peridot was ten steps ahead of everyone else. Maybe Lapis was just closer to her than everyone else. Step-wise, anyway.
She raised her hands before Lapis could say anything. “It was simply unneeded for you to have done it. The probability of Blue Diamond getting hurt by the barn was...” Peridot struggled to find a specific number to describe it. “... minimal.”
Lapis scoffs, knowing that she had to drop the barn on her. She had to do something to help them out. “I recall you and the other gems struggling to fight her. Or maybe you were the only one who did.” She stops gazing at the barn and looks at Peridot, still crouched on the floor. “You know, struggle.”
“Hey! I did NOT struggle.” Peridot stopped crouching to stand up, walking directly in front of Lapis. “With my newly learned powers and overall coolness, I was able to defeat the diamonds into my submission and I didn’t even need to use Steven’s limb enhancers.” She said with a smug grin, one of her hands on her torso indicating that she did all of it. One her other hand, a lone finger pops out. “I’ll give credit to you guys and Steven. But most of it is me.” Self-proclaimed messiah, she was, Peridot’s eyes would be closed imagining the fight in a different hue. She took a peek, only to see an uninterested Lapis staring back. Peridot simply smiled innocently back, not knowing why she was so down today.
“Ugh.” She walks past Peridot, only slightly bumping into her, not wanting to actually shove the small gem. She kneels to inspect one of the Meep Morps that Peridot so meticulously recreated. “You can be so annoying sometimes, you know?” She wasn’t sure if that was her inner voice referring to Peridot or it was intentional.
Peridot comes into the barn, inspecting their work. Lapis’s insults were endearing. Cute, even. “I prefer the term be: Infuriatingly vexatious.”
Lapis waved her hand, not really replying back. Standing up, she brushes some dust off of her dress and just crossed her arms, staring at the roof. “You know, when you get in this mood- spouting little tirades like that, I normally try to respond against you. Trying to correct you though is impossible. You’re just so…” Her gaze transfers from the roof to the gem, seeing her down there look so. “...cute.” Her cheeks became dark blue as she realized what she just said, her hand instinctively covering up her face. Of course, Peridot would have seen everything anyway. She let her hand down as the embarrassment went away. “This is why, in moments like these, I’ve learned to simply ignore you. I’ve changed Peridot.” She smiles smugly at Peridot this time, knowing that there was nothing she could say. She won that argument.
That’s why it was really shocking, downright infuriating. Peridot’s reply was a short one. Shorter than most of her usual ones. “But you just did.”
Confusion marred Lapis’s face as she didn’t comprehend for a second. It took a second for her to finally understand, one of her eyes ticking in anger. Did she just really? Fall for one of the classic Peridot traps? One of her hands would be raised, before going down again. It seemed that her body was unsure of what exactly to do at that moment. She settled for standing upright, not covering up her blush of embarrassment, not looking at Peridot.
Peridot didn’t say anything as she approached Lapis, reaching up to grasp her shoulders. She tip-toed to be able to reach close enough to one of her ears. “24 to 0.” It seemed that Peridot’s game was on point today, not even having to say much. Lapis did everything for her already. She lets her hands fall down and puts them on her hips, inspecting their finished work. The two of them working together was always better. “Well then, was that everything we had to do for today?”
Peridot’s thoughts left her distracted for a moment. Not hearing a reply, she looked behind her only to notice that no one was there. Lapis was gone. She shrugged, deciding not to say anything. She knew where Lapis would have gone. Peridot decided against confronting her right now. If she was Lapis, she’d also be surely irritated that it was already 0 to 24.
Flying to the hill where the corn dome was- it was instinct. A few years back, when she still didn’t want to be anywhere near Peridot, she always came here. Whenever she had anything heavy on her mind, she always came here. Whenever she felt like it, whenever she needed it, the corn dome was her place of solitude. It was always peaceful here, with only nearby birds as neighbors. An occasional Peridot screaming at her from the ground was unprecedented but possible.
She reaches the hill where her area of comfort was. It was automatic already. She could close her eyes, not seeing anything, and she’d end up here. There was a problem though.
The corn dome wasn’t here. Just patches of upturned dirt and grass. Right. In her haste to come here, she forgot that she and Peridot installed the corn dome just by the barn- serving as a storage area for water.
It was somewhat depressing, seeing this hill so… out of place. What once was hers, was now theirs. What once was her place of relaxation, now seemed lifeless. Dead even. Pulling out a building from the ground tended to do that. Even if the corn dome was by the barn, she wasn’t going back there. Not yet anyway.
Her gaze slowly goes down to the lower ground. Something was missing here. She didn’t know what it was. It wasn’t the tower as she already recognized that. It was something else. She continues to stand up but shuts her eyes to think.
“Hey, Lazuli! Hey Lazuli! Hey! Laaaazuliiiiiii! Hey!” Her eyes open, blinking in confusion. She swore she heard Peridot. It felt so clear- strangely so right. Seeing that no one was there, she sighed in disappointment. Really? Disappointment? How low has she stooped to be disappointed that Peridot wasn’t there to annoy her? She grimaced, remembering the memory.
“Tada!” Peridot said, slowly inching towards her, arms outstretched revealing a box with blue strips of paper. The smaller gem seemed nervous, something unnormal with Peridot. “See, the ribbon is even blue! I gotcha number.” She winked, revealing that ever annoying smug smile she always wore. Not responding, she looked unsure of what to do and looks behind her, getting nothing from Steven. “Ugh... Here!” She offers an innocent suggestion, not knowing if she messed something up. “I’ll unwrap it for you. When I was stuck here, Steven gave me this tape recorder as a gift but I didn’t really…” She tore off the paper, revealing a gray device.
“...get it at first- but it made me feel better. Just to think about all the weird stuff that was happening.” Peridot gives the device to her, looking less nervous now and more content- happy even. Lapis simply stared at Peridot, still clutching the gift with one hand. “You… U-um… Press the button to record… and then an-and the-then you talk into it.” Peridot offered, stammering over her words. Very uncharacteristic of her. Peridot gave off a radiant smile, believing that all was good now. It was the complete opposite though. “I don’t want… your garbage.”
She would brush her hair aside, somehow feeling worse. She was supposed to be cooling down. Not remembering her mistakes...She couldn’t bring herself to think of what she did to Peridot’s present afterward. Eyes surprisingly misty, she decides to do something productive instead of remembering her mistakes.
After all, what good did it bring to cry about mistakes when you don’t even try to fix it.
Fix it. Repair it. Solve the problem. That would be a Peridot thing to do. Gripping her hand tightly, she decides to do what Peridot would do. Lapis did say to Peridot that she changed.
It was time to prove it.
“My fellow campers. Fear not, I, Peridot of the Crystal Gems… have come to save you.” She was situated near the middle of the camp, one foot slightly higher, stepping on a small mound of dirt, giving the impression of a leader ordering a charge. “I offer a solution.” And there goes her leader aura as she steps off the mound and grabs a chalkboard from... somewhere. On it was random, highly specific doodles that all connected to a singular circle in the middle. “The answer to all your problems is here!”
She waves her hand, vaguely referring to the spot in the middle. Before Peridot herself could get a proper look at it though, a rumble deep in the ground shook everyone, even the buildings. The rumbling seemed to stop, only to be replaced by streams of water leaking from the heavens. Peridot’s first thought, instead of paying attention to the campers, was to look for someone else.
“Lapis? Lapis? Where are you!” She screams, trying to see past the screaming campers and the increasing water level. Before she knew it, the water level was so high that it was suddenly entering her mouth. She couldn’t swim up for some reason.
“Lazuli!?!” These were her last coherent thoughts as everything turned dark… before white started to fill her vision.
Why was everything orange? Why did her mouth taste that way? She couldn’t place what flavor it was- she wasn’t that much of an eater. Random thoughts aside, she was coherent enough to lazily use her arms to identify the object sitting on her face.
She turned it around, revealing…
“Pumpkin!” She said, sitting straight up from the couch. She must have fallen asleep while she was watching Camp Pining Hearts… The taste in her mouth… The wet, sticky liquid on her face… Her face of joy at seeing pumpkin suddenly turned into a grimace of disgust as she let Pumpkin down on the floor before spitting out pumpkin drool from her mouth. Wiping herself off, she looked at Pumpkin with a betrayed look.
“I thought we agreed that you won’t lick me anymore to wake me up!” She more or less whined, inspecting her tongue to see if there was still anything there. “You could’ve just vocalized-” She stops as Pumpkin looks up at her, all innocent and confused. Maybe the term vocalization was too hard for the pet.
“Bark. You should’ve barked.” Pumpkin still wore a confused look on his orange face, his face tilting to one side indicating that he still didn’t get it.
Peridot crouches down so she was somewhat facing Pumpkin, thinking of a way to express it to him so he could understand. Her eyes would twinkle as an idea pops up in her head.
“Allow me…” She goes on all fours, facing Pumpkin with a smug grin on her face. “...to demonstrate.” Her smug grin would be replaced with Peridot’s best imitation of Pumpkin’s face. Eyes seeming to sparkle yet be unfocused at the same time while her tongue would be stuck out, panting.“Bark! Bark! Rrrrrrrrrr… arf!” Peridot wiggled her hips for a second, looking behind, only to realize that she had no tail. A disappointing, mediocre fact but she tried her best anyway. Even without the said tail.
Pumpkin smiles and barks in response, green tail wagging happily from behind. Peridot breaks up her act and smiles, bowing to an invisible crowd.
“Now you understand, right?”
He could only bark in agreement after that impressive performance from his green space Dorito. Pumpkin agreed that she was indeed, very funny and amusing, completely forgetting the whole reason why Peridot did it in the first place.
Peridot nods in agreement as well, a beaming smile now etched on her face. “My work here is done. Pumpkin will no longer lick me on the face…” She looked around if anyone was nearby before crouching down next to Pumpkin, whispering to him. “You can do it to Lapis though.”
She giggled, imagining Lapis being abruptly awoken that way as well.
That reminded her. Where was she? It seemed that Pumpkin had the same idea, looking around over the pickup truck to see if there was any floating water witch nearby. No luck for both of them though. He could only whine, already missing her presence. Peridot notices this and picks the cute, orange fruit up into her hands, stroking his green stem to calm him down.
“Don’t worry Pumpkin. She’ll come back.” Peridot unconsciously stares up at the moon, getting a dark look on her face. She shakes her head, jumping down to the ground before letting Pumpkin down.
Peridot uses her powers to float a small stick on the ground into her hands, waving it in front of Pumpkin “Now… Who wants to play fetch?”
Lapis had a difficult time trying to find an appropriate gift for both Peridot and Pumpkin. Her knowledge about earth customs, culture, and different possible locations to visit was still minimal- even with Steven’s efforts to open her eyes. New york city was fairly large. It was sparkling bright, filled with so much movement and life. For some reason though, flying over it, she didn’t feel comfortable going around such a dense place with people she didn’t know of.
That was one location down.
Lapis ended up in front of a technology store in a rural area. This was much easier than the bustling crowds of New York. She entered the store, hearing a small tune play. Interesting, really. It felt much more homey and peaceful. It seemed she was the only one in the store browsing though. She spotted an old man at the desk, oblivious to her as he seemed to be only interested in the TV in the top corner. TV… After a few minutes, her eyes would settle on a large screened TV with the most vivid of colors. It looked so real. They would probably enjoy watching Camp Pining Hearts so much more with this. Walking up to the counter, she briefly glanced at what the man was watching before looking back at him. “That’d be 1,800 dollars, girl.” Lapis didn’t know how much that was, but she knew she didn’t have whatever he was talking about. She suddenly had a magnificent idea. Humans liked strange objects right? Maybe the man would be interested in her offer. “Do you accept seashells?”
She didn’t understand why she got kicked out of the store, genuinely confused.
Maybe little homeworld would prove to be a different cause. Lapis stood in the middle of the plaza, gazing around the different stores and shops to see if there was anything that would feel special and worthy enough for the two back at home. This wasn’t it. Even if little homeworld was getting larger and larger every few months, it only felt like there was so much this settlement could offer. Only Pumpkin would be amazed by this place. Peridot knew this place too well- after all, she taught horticulture. It was such an interesting word for taking care of plants. She couldn’t help but snort at the ridiculousness of the whole situation- a Peridot teaching about organic plant life. You’d think Peridot would start up a class similar to Pearl’s. Peridot really liked to surprise Lapis even in the most little of ways. Lapis sighed, once again knowing this location wasn’t it.
That was another one down.
After all those different places and attempts, she finally found herself in front of the temple at the dead of night. She knocked politely, waiting if anyone was here at all. After Steven left, it seemed like the temple was more quiet, subdued. It felt strange how losing one member of the temple made it seem less lively. Steven isn't gone. He just went away… far far away from home. It still hurt for pretty much everyone though. She was interrupted by the door opening, revealing Amethyst who seemed to be gorging herself on Chaaaaps. She didn’t say anything at all and went inside, sitting down on the barstool to continue eating her chips, staring into the wall in front of her.
Lapis went into the temple, noticing how all the lights were shut off except for the one in the kitchen. She wasn’t sure what to do at first so she simply walked up next to the resident gem and took a seat. Amethyst continued to eat as if Lapis wasn’t even there.
Lapis tried for conversation. “So… where are the others?”
Amethyst deflated at the question, suddenly feeling queasy from the snack. “Pearl is hanging out with her new girlfriend, Sapphire and Ruby went on a trip somewhere in the Dessert, Greg’s… somewhere. I don’t know. But I’m here at least.” Lapis noticed that Steven wasn’t mentioned in the sentence but she decided not to push.
“Well, do you know any good places that are accessible by warp pad?” The question was so out of the ordinary that Amethyst wasn’t sure what to answer at first.
“Um… How about a field of flowers?” Lapis shook her head at that. “Peridot already stated that we had the best countryside in the whole world.
“Gem battlefield with these massive weapons?” Lapis once again shook her head at the suggestion. “I don’t think that’d be a nice place to visit. Plus if I wanted weapons, I’d just go to Bismuth.”
Amethyst stayed silent for a few more seconds. “Peridot is a nerd… She likes studying stuff… Water… You can control water…” An imaginary lightbulb popped over her head. “The Sea Shrine. It’s an underwater temple that has all these time thingies. It’s flooded right now though and we don’t have a way to get the water out. You can control the water though, so no biggie.”
“Let me see.”
“Lapis, this is very unusual for you. I didn’t know you liked to kidnap awesome gems and their pets. Isn’t that right Pumpkin? You and I are very cool. Lapis though…”
Pumpkin could only bark in agreement. These blindfolds sure were annoying and itchy to deal with. His stubby little feet couldn’t even reach and remove them. He was so clumsy already that the orange little guy had to be carried by Peridot who was also in a blindfold.
“Shut up Peridot. We’re on a warp pad right now. Don’t fall out.” That was all she said before wrapping her arms around the gem. “What do you- Wait-” Peridot was interrupted by the warp. It took a few seconds to reach their destination.
Peridot would have stumbled if it wasn’t for Lapis holding them so tightly. “You can take off your blindfold now.” She couldn’t help but feel excited at Peridot’s reaction to the ancient temple. Without further ado, Peridot started to remove hers and Pumpkin’s blindfolds.
“You know Lapis if I didn’t know you so well, I’d say you were trying to get rid of me and Pumpkin. I’m pretty sure…” As she removed her blindfold, her jaw was left hanging as she was stunned at the building she currently was in. “Welcome to the Sea Shrine.” Lapis said, nervous at Peridot’s reaction. “Do you… like it?”
No words could describe the beauty of the temple she was in. Hundreds of hourglasses from the largest to the smallest. The designs and murals on the walls, depicting gem history from eons ago. This was a haven of undiscovered potential. Why was this building here? How was it made? When was it made? Who built it? All these unanswered questions left Peridot stunned as she turned around to face Lapis with stars in her eyes.
“What do you mean? I Love it!” Peridot rushed up to Lapis and hugged her tightly as Lapis gaped like a fish, not expecting this kind of reaction from Peridot. “Thanks.” Lapis didn’t need to say anything. She just needed to see that this brought joy to Peridot and all was good. Peridot let go and rushed to a nearby hourglass to look at it, careful to not touch it. “How?”
“Well, Amethyst showed me this temple that was previously flooded. It was easy enough to reset to its default state.”
Peridot could only think about the other places those 3 gems hid from everyone else.
Lapis smiled with content. “Does that mean I’m 1 to 24 now?” Peridot didn’t respond, Lapis not knowing if she ignored her or actually didn’t hear her. Strangely, it felt silent and peaceful. No sounds except for their footsteps on the slightly wet floor.
Now that she thought about it…
“Peridot. Where’s Pumpkin?”