Chapter Text
"I don't understand the point of this activity." Peridot folded her arms, frowning as Steven filed into the seat beside her, "Amethyst is objectively stronger and faster than any of these so-called 'wrestlers.' She's obviously going to win."
"It's not just about winning, Peridot!" Steven informed her, before biting into a small piece of some sort of overheated organic plant seed matter. "There's a whole story involved! See, the Quartz Carrot-"
"The carrot is a quartz?"
"No, it's - oh, it's starting! Maybe it'll make more sense if you just watch?"
Peridot doubted it, but she sat patiently through the matches as she watched the inoptimal techniques of the various fighters leading up to Amethyst's fight.
"That carrot is in no way a quartz," she muttered, only to be "shushed" loudly by someone behind her.
"Look, Amethyst's match is starting!" Steven began to wave excitedly, jumping up and down in his seat. "Woo! Go Purple Puma, we love you!"
"'Purple Puma'?" Peridot asked. "That's not her name."
"They're stage names, Peridot," Steven explained. "To make it more fun!"
"Right..."
Amethyst, exactly as Peridot had predicted, won her fight easily, even with the ridiculous waste of energy she was dumping into this substandard shapeshifting form. She triumphed in the next one as well, as well as all of her subsequent matches, up until the tournament finale, wherein she was awarded some sort of belt.
"Is that a weapon?" Amethyst asked? "Is that why they're fighting, to get the weapon?"
"SHH!" came the voice from behind her again, and Peridot grumbled as Steven grabbed her wrist, dragging her towards the exit of the small seating area.
"Come on, we should congratulate Amethyst!" Steven said. Pearl just shrugged and followed.
Amethyst was... smiling. "Steven! You made it!" She grabbed Steven and swung him into the air, clearly overjoyed with her victory.
"You did it! I knew you'd win!"
"Yes, we knew," Peridot said informatively. Amethyst looked at her, and set Steven down, staring curiously.
"Peridot? You came?"
"Steven said it would be... 'fun'." She paused, Amethyst seeming to expect something further of her.
"Well, did you like it?" Amethyst asked eventually.
Peridot paused, remembering the obvious elation of Amethyst in her victory. She didn't really understand it - she'd fought far worthier battles - but...
"I think I see the point of this now," she said, and didn't understand why Amethyst and Steven immediately grabbed her and pulled her closer.
Earth was strange.