Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lapis had been wandering the cold, abandoned streets of beach city for a handful of hours, it was extremely dangerous to go out alone, at any moment some gang could round the corner and gut her before she could think.

Nah, I’m not that lucky… she thought. Lapis was looking for guitar strings, her instrument had recently broken and she figured that she was going to go insane without anything to do. Lapis had a pretty good amount of rations, and the frequent light rains gave plenty of water for everyone on the east coast, beach city included. Unfortunately, her plentiful food was due to a different factor; she couldn’t leave the damn city. Lapis’s vehicle, affectionately called a ‘Shaver’ she had stolen a couple months ago was out of commission, and she wasn’t a fixer, mechanical crap wasn’t really her domain.

These thoughts swirled through Lapis’s head, if she couldn’t find a good fixer willing to work no-strings-attached within a month, her food would run out, once her food runs out she’d have to toss herself into the ocean, or join a gang.

A shiver made its way up the girl's spine. With all the bullshit I’ve pulled on the gangs of the east coast? I’d be a target on the back of whoever picks me up.

Lapis rounded a corner and almost tripped over herself at her surprise. Lapis had expected to find either guitar strings or… well she didn’t really know what she expected, but it wasn’t this.  

The first thing that struck Lapis about the girl lying prone before her were her right arm and left leg, with her left pant leg rolled up Lapis could see her leg was pale-skinned flesh that ended at the knee, where two long metal rods jutted out, extending further outwards and completing a metallic artificial leg. The short girl’s arm, in contrast, was mechanical all the way through, ending partway into her shoulder. Beyond the obvious, the girl looked like quite the character, thick blonde hair covered her head, and the girl’s total stature appeared comparatively small, she didn’t appear to be a child but she was surely shorter than Lapis. 

Lapis was suddenly hit with memories of her broken vehicle, she’d need a fixer for the job and as it would turn out, the spitting image of one appears at her feet. Getting on her knees, Lapis felt for the girl’s pulse, and as she did, noticed bleeding at where the flesh connected to the metal. This girl needed help, and luckily for her, Lapis was willing to give it. For a price of course.

Lapis slung the unconscious girl over her shoulder, she was surprisingly heavy, most likely due to the prosthesis. Lapis knew where to take the girl, there was an abandoned convenience store a couple blocks down that she had stopped at a couple times, it was surprisingly well put together, clearly not many gangs, if any, knew about it, making it Lapis’s go-to for any sort of amenities, probably not enough for the condition that the smaller girl was in, but hey, it’s not like Lapis is a medical service. Sauntering her way to the shop, Lapis noticed the goggles positioned on the girl’s forehead, her relaxed expression, and the small dash of freckles dotting her face. Lapis grinned faintly. She knew nothing of this girl, she might be a maniac going to claw Lapis’s throat out the first moment she could. But the passively pensive look on her face gave slight relief to Lapis. She had to admit, the girl did look a little cute-

Lapis immediately put a halt to that train of thought, she wasn’t going to be weighed down by someone, Lapis didn’t like owing anybody anything. so Lapis drowned out her thoughts by trying to think of song ideas for when she got her guitar strung up again. She just remembered that she hadn’t gotten the guitar strings.

Lapis was relieved to have arrived at the convenience store, the girl slung over her shoulder was a nice added warmth, but she was still heavy, and had started chafing Lapis's shoulder through her jacket. Walking through the broken automatic door let out a low mechanical gurgle, a comparatively warm welcome. Lapis set the girl's body down in one of the far aisles of the store, she looked down at the girl's leg and could see even in the low light that it was still bleeding. Lapis was born in the wastelands, she had gotten used to seeing gore her entire life, but her gut lurched a bit at the sight, maybe it was the idea of metal being so far ingrained into a body, maybe it was the feeling that this girl didn't seem like she deserved it, Lapis convinced herself that it was the former and made her way over to the medicine aisle.

Perusing the aisle for medicine proved a bit of a challenge for Lapis, the smaller girl was in dire need of bandages, she knew that much, but Lapis didn't know anything about the girl's condition beyond that, she could be sick, depending on how long she was lying there she might be infected. She knew enough that rubbing alcohol might help, unfortunately anything in the store that had a fleeting mention of the word 'alcohol' was immediately ransacked by the early rounds of loons running through the east coast.

How the hell do you disinfect something? Lapis thought, she picked a bottle of tile cleaner off of the shelf behind her

Can tile cleaner disinfect wounds? Lapis remembered watching a guy drink half a bottle of the stuff on a bet before he seized up and dropped dead on the spot. Lapis put the bottle of cleaner back on the shelf. A loud crash resounded throughout the entire building.

"Hey! watch it! This is supposed to be a stealth mission!" A high-pitched voice said following the crash.

"Nuh-uh! This is for reconnaissance!" A similarly sounding voice responded, this one a little gruffer.

"Both of you quite!" A third, similarly sounding voice said. "We were hired to retrieve the fixer, and get back as soon as possible. If she's in here and hears us? It's all over, and we aren't getting our payment. Y'hear?"

Listening to the three voices Lapis recognized the nearly identical sound. The Ruby Squad: A group of five sisters working as a mercenary group in the wastelands. They called themselves mercenaries, but Lapis heard that they'd do pretty much any job as long as they got payed for it.

"Alright, remember! The fixer's short, blond and has two mechanical limbs." Hearing the description, Lapis thought

Wait a second... that's my fixer.

Lapis wasn't sure what the ruby squad wanted with the girl she found on the street, but if she was good enough to get a known mercenary group sent to retrieve her, then she was probably good enough to repair Lapis's shaver. Lapis walked out of the medicine aisle in front of the three sisters. Her first thought was Alright, am I actually average height? She'd forgotten that The Ruby Squad sisters were also comparatively small, probably the same height as the wounded girl she brought here. Lapis cleared her thoughts so as to not snort in laughter at the height of them.

"What brings you here?" Lapis said in a calm tone.

"Lapis..." the one in the middle said, all three of them looked almost identical, having stocky builds, with somewhat large Afros and dark skin. to the left was one wearing an eye patch and a chisel knife at her hip. On the right was one looking especially angry, like Lapis had killed her mom and pissed on her grave right in front of her. Finally, the one in the middle probably looked the most different, wearing suspenders, aviators, and a determined look on her face.

"The one and only." Lapis responded, giving a little bow. "Now that you've all gotten a good look at this hot mess, how about you be on your way?"

The one on the left stepped forward "sorry, but unless you've got double our payment here and now, we still have a job to do"

Lapis leaned against the aisle, blocking the easiest path from them to the girl in the back of the store. "Sorry girls, every drop of booze here was taken months ago, trust me I've looked." That was true.

"I don't think you understand how this works" the one in the middle said. She had tattoos on her arm, visible from the wife beater she was wearing. The jagged lines, shapes, and patterns immediately noted Lapis of what this girl should be capable of "If you don't let me, Eyeball, and Army go on by you, we could have a bit of a problem."

Lapis didn't move, just looked at the girls with a blank expression and her eyes half lidded. Eyeball huffed and tried to push her way past Lapis to the aisle next to her, but Lapis, unfaltering, drew a butterfly knife from her skirt pocket. "I don't think you understand how this works." She said in a low tone, leaning in towards the three sisters "If you three are going to ignore me, then maybe I'll just take that other eye of yours." Eyeball stopped in surprise, and probably also fear. Lapis continued "Or maybe I'll make the three of you look even more like twins! I can make the two of you look just like her." Lapis gestured to Eyeball, all three of the mercenaries looked scared, Eyeball even taking a step back from her. Lapis's plan was working, keep this up and they'll be out of her hair, and Lapis can be out of this city as soon as possible.

But before the Ruby Squad could retreat entirely, a sound came from the back of the store, where Lapis had left the unconscious body of the girl she'd found. From the back of the store Lapis heard the girl, it wasn't actual words, just whimpering and sobbing. Lapis's guard was broken and she looked back in the direction of the aisle she'd left the girl in.

"Hey, Doc" Army said to her sister "Do ya think that's-"

"Peridot." Her sister cut her off, and before Lapis could regain her composure and intimidation, the tattoos across the girls shoulders and arms began to emanate a bright, yellow glow, illuminating the glyphs on her arms and engulfing her in a light before she dashed forwards in the direction of the, now somewhat conscious, Peridot, leaving a singed trail behind her.

Lapis panicked at seeing the girl quickly making her way to Lapis's... well she wasn't really sure what Peridot was to Lapis, but she sure as hell wasn't going to be anything to the Ruby Squad either. From under Lapis's sleeves emanated a similar glow to Doc's, but this one, a bright blue. Doc went to grab for her knife as a large, ghostly blue hand emerged from Lapis's back, grabbing Doc out of her magically-enhanced charge towards Peridot, and slinging her hard in the opposite direction, crashing fast out the window into the streets gray streets of beach city.

Seeing her sister disarmed, Eyeball jumped off of a wall, getting a height advantage as she lunged towards Lapis while her sister, Army, charged towards Lapis from below. As Lapis turned around, both sisters could see the taller girl's face, seeing a cold look of disdain as she swiped a hand through the air, creating a long, thin blade of ice, using it to parry the mid-air attack from Eyeball and rearing her foot up before kicking Army in the same direction as her other two sisters. Lapis took in a deep breath before looking in the direction of the Ruby Squad, eyes wide and pupils constricted to pinpricks before stating in a commanding tone with an otherworldly voice. 

"Leave."

Eyeball scrambled off her feet and helped her sister do the same before they both ran out the new window Lapis had made with the help of their sister. Lapis exhaled the breath she took, dropping her impromptu ice-blade and collapsing her butterfly knife before slipping it back into her skirt pocket. She rolled up her sleeve to see her own glyph tattoos, with soft curves and wavy patterns still glowing a faint blue as cosmic magic steadily flowed through them, she'd need to get a drink before they died down completely.

Walking back to the girl she'd left in the back of the store, Lapis kneeled in front of her Peridot she thought. The girl was in the same place, and once again unconscious, but in a fetal position now. Hopefully you're not more trouble than your worth. 

Chapter Text

The last thing Peridot could remember was a bit of a grab-bag variety of different things: a massive sense of urgency, an intense pain in her knee, collapsing on the streets, and then being rescued by an ethereal being dressed in blue, a guardian angel. Peridot shot up like a piston, sitting at a nearly perfect 90 degree angle.

Peridot didn't quite know what was going on and was sweating bullets, so she took a breath and focused on what she could see around her, which wasn’t much without her glasses. Patting around for them, she found that while they weren’t far, they weren't intact either, fishing the lenses out from beneath her thigh and placing the crooked frames on her face. She found that the left lens was almost completely shattered. It would have to do.

With the newly cracked lenses perched on her nose, the fixer first took note of the very dimly lit room she was currently in, illuminated with small orange flames on dozens of dark blue candles. Feeling the thick cushions beneath her, Peridot seemed to be sitting on a couch in the center of the room, with a very thin curtain draped over her as a makeshift blanket. Scanning her eyes around the room she noticed other features of the room: a massive rear-projection TV with two speakers installed at the bottom and a very clearly dented screen, it clearly wasn’t in use. Flanking a large door were two windows without any glass panes, replaced instead by thin veils with symmetrical dark blue patterns, minimal light seeped through. It was probably night. On her left the carpeted ground transitioned abruptly to hard stone floor in what appeared to be the kitchen in a very open floor plan.

The only noise to be heard was the gentle white noise of what sounded like… running water? Water was a common enough occurrence from the frequent east coast rainfall, but fully modernized running water was known to be a massive luxury in the American wastelands. Deciding to investigate, Peridot adjusted her legs to the floor by the couch, wincing a bit at the still persistent pain in her knee, she rolled the pant leg up again, seeing it was wrapped in beige bandages with large brown stains. Although it appeared to be patched up, it definitely wasn’t a professional job. Steeling herself, the fixer abruptly stood up, putting all of her weight onto her legs and losing all the blood rushing from her head, the immediate dizziness of her head coupled poorly with the steering pain of her prosthetic, the two metal bars still digging themselves into the meat of her leg.

“Sonava bitch” Peridot hissed loudly as she fell backwards once again on the couch. Clutching to her now bleeding knee, quickly staining the beige and brown bandages a fresh shade of red. Pressing both her hands on the wound, the cold metal of her right hand felt better, but didn’t do much to stop the bleeding. She groaned under her breath again at the persistent pain, the dizziness was starting to fade, but in its wake she felt the beginnings of a headache. 

The droning white noise of water abruptly stopped, Peridot looked behind herself to find that there was a door behind the couch that Peridot hadn’t noticed before the water was probably coming from there Peridot assumed. Still looking at the door, Peridot heard muffled shuffling coupled with the slapping of footsteps against a hard floor. The girl knew that it would be most wise to try and escape right now, to hide beneath the couch or crawl her way out the door. But a larger part of Peridot was infinitely curious about who was behind the door, who had (attempted) to patch up her when she was unconscious? Who had laid her down into an all around comfortable place? The first question was about to be answered as the door opened

The shorter girl was first startled at the sound of the doorknob turning. Snapping Peridot out of her curiosity-fueled gaze, the fixer stood up onto one leg, letting one leg still rest on the couch to ease the still searing pain. Peridot knew that even standing with a stick up her ass generally didn't make her look any more intimidating, resolving to point an accusatory mechanical claw at whoever walked through the doorway, hoping it would make her seem more confident. The door swung open and in it's place stood a darker skinned girl of around average height and lean build, she was wearing pants that looked a size or two bigger for her and a short dark blue t-shirt with a long since faded graphic. The girl looked about half-focused on Peridot, eyes half-lidded as she dropped the towel she was using to dry her hair, revealing her damp blue hair, with short black roots growing in. Bringing her eyes down to the taller girl's midriff, Peridot could feel an electrical fuzziness burst through her by simply seeing more skin, prompting Peridot to bring her eyes instead to the other girl's arms, seeing dark tattoos in wavy patterns reaching down to the middle of her forearm, increasing and decreasing in their depth across her long, toned arms. Peridot suddenly remembered that the girl she was describing in her mind was standing right in front of her, simply letting her look over every visible detail of her body as leaned against the bathroom doorway. Peridot steeled herself, readjusting her posture and keeping her arm pointed at the taller girl.

"wHo?" Peridot's voice cracked. All bravado, gone in an instant. The previously stoic girl across from her snorted at her, a small smile appearing on her face. Peridot’s face became bright red and irradiating enough heat to warm the whole house. Peridot cleared her throat and started again. “Who are you and… where am I? What is this place? Did you take me here?” The opposing girl sighed.

“Do you want to know my favorite color along with that?”

Peridot stood, perplexed, and quirked her head a bit. The taller girl strides with long legs closer to the couch.

“I found you, unconscious on the side of the road, and instead of stripping you of any valuables, I helped you get in better health”

“Better feels like an overstatement” Peridot said dryly

“Look, I risked my own safety to help you get back on your feet.” The taller girl rested her elbows on the back of the couch “now you’re going to have to do something for me”

Peridot let out a chirp of surprise and her cheeks reddened again. The blue-haired girl snorts.

“Get your mind out of the gutter. You’re a fixer, right?”

Peridot tensed her posture “How could you tell?”

“Most people who are missing limbs have two options: they either replace them themselves, or they’re left for dead. So you're basically the spitting image of one” The taller girl deadpanned.

Peridot hummed at this “very well, what are your demands?”

“Finally," the taller girl said with relief "well first of all I’d like to know, your name’s Peridot, right?”

Peridot tensed again “How do you know that?”

She shrugged “there were some people looking for you, don’t worry I got them off your tail”

“Alright… what’s your name then?”

The taller girl stood up and stretched a bit, “Lapis” she let out a sigh of relief “Lapis Lazuli” she stuck out her right hand. Peridot took it with her left.

“Charmed”

Neither of them let go of the other’s hand quick enough. Creating a very awkward feeling of tension.

“So” Peridot broke it “what do you want with me?”

Lapis vaulted the couch to sit on the left side, she pat the right side, prompting Peridot to sit with her. Peridot complied

"I've got something I want to be fixed, so I need a fixer, once you help me out you can piss off to wherever you want, but until then you help me."

"And why don't I just run away right now?"

"That's fine, I can't really stop you, but in the condition that I found you in, I doubted you'd want to go back."

At that reminder, Peridot considered her options: she really didn't have anywhere to go. Going back to where she came from sounded extremely unappealing, so this would probably be the best that she could get for a while. This "Lapis Lazuli" woman could still definitely be a serial killer but where Peridot had run from, that sounded like a preferable outcome to going back. If this girl wanted to place a target on her back and keep Peridot comparatively safe while she was at it, that was fine with her.

"Alright, assume I do stay, what would I fix?"

Lapis stood up from the couch and gestured for the shorter girl to follow. Standing up slowly, Peridot’s knee still stung with pain, halting Peridot’s movement while she powered through the aching. Peridot looked around as she limped towards Lapis walking to the kitchen, to her left there looked to be a small kitchen unit, a couple cupboards for storage and a gas stove, no refrigerator. Everything still seemed to be illuminated by dark blue candles.

Lapis led the fixer to a door in the kitchen that opened to a pitch black room.

“One second.” Lapis said as she walked into the darkness. After a few seconds lapis watched a faint blue glow in the middle of the room before dozens of candles in the room ignited at once.

Huh. Peridot thought. “Your a warlock”

Lapis looked back at Peridot, her tattoos faint glow dimming quickly. “Yep, gotta be good at something to survive on your own. Magic just comes easy to me.”

Peridot stepped down the minor decline into the larger room. Telling from the wide door to her right, this seemed to be a garage. There was a massive pile of boxes on the leftmost side of the room, and in the center was a roughly large car-sized object covered in a tarp that Lapis was leaning on. Getting a firm grip on the polyester, Lapis pulled the tarp off the object revealing a large vehicle. 

It was sleek and aerodynamic in design once, probably. It looked heavily guarded, with many layers of metal tightly bolted or welded on, along with what looked like about 30 years of different paint jobs by multiple gangs.

"It got me a quarter way across the continent, now I'm stuck in Beach City because it's busted and I don't know what to do about it, that's where you come in. Fix my shit, and I'm out of your hair, got it? You can stay in my house for a while you're at it, so you won't be sleeping in the dog house, unless you're into that" Lapis added snarkily, Peridot rolled her eyes "So, what's the verdict?"

Peridot thought hard about it. She really didn't have anywhere else to go, she wasn't keen to go back where she came from soon, if ever. She remembered the burning pain of a cattle brand, busy in the sweltering inner workings of machines for hours at a time, punished for 'hearing something wrong' even if she was hearing something right from someone hammered on booze. She really didn't want to go back from where she came from, and now this strange warlock living on her own was offering to house her while she did what she was best at in much better conditions.

"It's not the hardest thing I've been asked to do. Fine, I'll fix your shaver, and in return you can offer me shelter and food, right?"

Lapis nodded.

"Deal."

"Glad we got that covered, now follow me, you're not going to make my house smell like engine oil and shit." Lapis slipped around Peridot and walked back into the main home. Peridot was starting to feel like she was getting a tutorial from a video game character, and an annoying one at that. So much for a guardian angel.

Shutting the water off, Peridot got up from her place on the floor of the shower. it wasn't easy, but she'd managed to get this far without two limbs, a shower was just par for the course by this point. Drying off the detachable joint at her shoulder and the two prongs sticking from her leg, she first affixed her arm, waiting a second for her mechanical talons to calibrate before she could easily snap her fingers with it. Next was her leg, much more simple in design, and much less comfortable. Latching the mechanism in place she tested the movement in the foot, rotating it clockwise and counterclockwise before gently lending to the bottom of the wet shower floor. It still gave a bit of grievance to put her weight onto.

Peridot stepped out of the shower, the running water had perplexed her until she remembered what else her new roommate had done. She's absolutely a warlock, and a powerful one at that, if the color of her tattoos are anything to go off of, probably using the powers of The Being. The Being, one of the three cosmic terrors still surveying the globe after decades, it's users were generally more in-tune with the arcane, generally utilizing it in place of other areas of expertise like mechanics, or ripping someone apart with your bare hands.

Peridot was snapped out of her thoughts by a knock on the door. "Hey, your clothes are getting washed, I left a towel and a change of clothes outside the door, come get them when you're ready." Lapis was further proving to be - outside of her suggestive comments - a fairly hospitable roommate, a blessing to Peridot. Maybe this wouldn't be too bad? That thought was short-lived as she looked through the clothes Lapis had set for her. It was mostly simple, comfortable clothes, a pale yellow sweater and thigh length basketball shorts, but was interrupted by the... extremely interesting choice of underwear. It was beyond her how one could even find something like this in the wastelands, but it seemed Lapis had managed. It was fairly erotic to say the least, and that's all Peridot wanted to be said about it. Thankfully, Lapis seemed to have the decency to put actual underwear hidden in the pocket of the sweater, lessening the blow of the prank.

What are this damn women's intentions with me? Different thoughts rushed Peridot's mind, she didn't even know Lapis Lazuli, let alone her intentions with her.

stepping back into the living room Lapis was once again nowhere to be seen. Peridot shrugged and decided to have a look around, previous thoughts igniting a curiosity about one thing in particular. She looked around the living room, discovering multiple ornate porcelain plates on the ground that had yet more dark blue candles on them, Strange for sure, but not what she's looking for. walking into the kitchen likewise came up short, though Lapis's cupboards were miraculously fully stocked with perishable canned goods, Peridot couldn't really think of a reason Lapis would want to leave if she seemed to have fairly comfortable living conditions here but that was a question for another time. The fixer stepped back into the garage, everything was as she remembered, she searched as best she could behind the mountain of boxes but still came up short, amplifying Peridot's questioning. Peridot walked back into the living room, sitting back on the couch. It was as she thought.

there's no second floor. Which means no bedroom.

Unless... the way to the second floor was some sort of balcony outside? Yes, perhaps she was just overthinking it, it was just outside. Just as Peridot marched over to the door that lead outside, Lapis walked through, looking little surprised.

"Hey." She said simply before surely noticing the manic look on Peridot's face "are you on something?" Before Peridot could respond Lapis spoke again "New rule: roomies are required to share their goods."

“Does this place not have any sort of bedroom!?” Peridot inquired loudly.

Lapis stared at Peridot, a little disappointed that her joke didn't seem to land “Nope, I sleep on the couch." She stated simply.

So Peridot hadn't been over thinking this.

"Where do you expect me to sleep!?"

"I don't know. The couch?"

Peridot's face flushed once more and the warlock smirked at this.

"Don't get your panties in a twist, Dot. I set up a hammock in the garage, I'll sleep there, alright?"

"I-" Peridot opened her mouth to say something about how that should've been stated beforehand, about how she'd assumed that Lapis wanted something else from her. But then she thought.

I’m just overreacting. Aren’t I? Lapis barely wants anything to do with you. You over-thought it.

She closed her mouth and lowered her shoulders before taking in a short breath and bowing her head to the ground. “I think I need sleep.”

Lapis didn’t show it but she was slightly taken aback by this. Peridot seemed like someone who was fun to tease, and she definitely was, but her change in attitude bothered Lapis, some strange feeling like warmth inside and cold outside, twisting in her gut. Guilt.

“Are you sure you’re not hungry or anything?” Lapis suggested. She knew that Peridot probably hadn't eaten anything in at least a day.

“I’m fine,” Peridot turned her back to Lapis and walked back to the couch. “But…” she paused again, thinking “…goodnight, Lapis”

Lapis didn’t know what to do now, she made her way through the kitchen to the heavy door to the garage, deciding to skip dinner as well. She opened the door with a creak. Before she closed the door she looked back at Peridot.

“Goodnight, cutie.”

The door was shut behind her before Peridot could respond. She sat on the cold hard floor of the garage and leaned back against the door, slowly sliding down to lay on the dirty ground. Why did I say that? She obviously doesn’t think it’s funny. Why can’t I just… act like a person? Lapis knew the answer to that, she thought about it as old thoughts swam through her head, of blistering sun, and long mangled hair, and the iconography of a green hand print.

On the other side of the door, Peridot lay on the couch, the thin covering barely giving enough respite from the cold. You’re overthinking it. Your worth is what you can give to people, and for now, you can give something. Peridot closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep, after hours of her mind reminding her of what she ran from.

Chapter Text

Peridot watched as her eyes drifted, heavy lidded along the vast, dark, ocean of sand. It was nothing she hadn't seen before, massive dunes in a distance that she could never reach on her own, entirely lifeless and quiet, engulfed in heavy shadows only slightly nullified by the dim crescent moon from above. She looked down to see an entirely mechanical body automatically stringing her along, the gentle sound of pistons working to use as little energy as possible while one foot pushed off from the ground, her entire body's weight shifted slightly forward, almost falling until her next foot caught her and the cycle began anew, the gentle hum of mechanics the only sound in Peridot's head.

I'm not moving on my own she thought, and she was right, only being carried into a long journey, a head on a flimsy metal scaffolding. Peridot opened her eyes wide, seeing the desert around her, taking in every subtle curve of the dunes, the normally yellow sand, now dyed a muted, cold color by the crack of waning moonlight from above. Peridot repeated it with consistency, opening her eyes to take in her surroundings before closing her eyes again, and opening them again to find that nothing of her environment had changed. She used the hum of mechanics as a quiet metronome to time her silent gasps into the outside world.

It might've been the sixth time she repeated the process of opening and shutting her eyes. It might've been seventieth. But as she closed her eyes that final time, she felt the metronome stop, the reliable consistency of her world shattered and her eyes shot open once more, and she looked down at the metal framework of her body to see yellow-orange light wrapping itself around her legs, it singed the metal of her legs, it's erratic movement betraying some kind of personified emotion:

Cruel, hateful, mania.

Peridot normally would've fallen over, tried to scramble away, tried to kick off the malevolent light that was now engulfing her, but this wasn't her body, it was merely a steel throne that her head was sitting on as she was forced to watch as the surrounding sand grew more accustomed to the new light, and likewise betrayed itself to its true colors of a yellow hue. Peridot screamed out for help, her vocal chords giving out leaving only a desperate, harsh whisper as the light crawled up the length of the wire-frame body, starting to singe and burn her neck and chin before she stared into the abyss of the desert one final time to see a figure not too far from her. 

The figure's stature was huge, easily double Peridot's height as it walked forward, a massive silhouette that stepped towards her in confident strides, its massive cascade of disheveled hair swaying steadily as it stepped into the light of Peridot's torment. Peridot knew this person, the stature, the wild mane of hair, the way her mouth was filled with white teeth that glowed as they reflected the colors of the energy engulfing Peridot. Peridot tried to utter an apology, but the light swallowed her too fast and her throat had long since given out.Peridot settled for pleading with her eyes, looking up at the giant woman with tears streaming from her eyes as they evaporated instantly with contact to the light that was swallowing her, she begged with her eyes, asking to be pitied, to be spared. But the woman only looked at her with wide eyes covered in shadows as bright runes starting at her face and ending at the tips of her fingers illuminated with the same orange-yellow light. Peridot couldn’t even be spared looking away, as her body kept her head facing her assailant as she slowly stepped forward with heavy feet, soon her massive body took up Peridot’s entire field of view. She locked eyes with Peridot, flashing her a manic grin before the energy consumed her entirely, leaving nothing in its wake.

Peridot woke up, beads of sweat still rolling down her forehead with her nightmare still fresh in her mind in vivid detail. She rubbed the rest out of her eyes with her good hand as she sat up to collect her glasses from the small table sitting on the ground to the left of the couch. Cramming the lenses onto her face, she was quickly reminded that she’d lost a lense as only half of the world became clearer. She sighed as she let her eyes wander the building she was in. It was quiet, and dark save for the early daylight beaming through the thin blue curtains that acted as makeshift windows. It wasn’t too unlike her dream  before it had turned for the worst: slightly eerie, but in an almost calming way. Peridot mentally prepared herself for the day as she stepped off her makeshift bed, right into something cold and moist.

“Gagghuugh” Peridot groaned automatically as her good foot stepped into the unknown substance. She stiffly lifted her foot up and wiped off the feeling onto the carpeted ground next to the spot she’d just stepped into. She looked down to analyze the substance she’d woken up to in order to decide if another shower was in order. Looking down it seemed to be a pile of yellow mush on a plate, and next to it, a note. Peridot glared at the piece of light blue paper as she reached down to read its contents.

Morning Peri, I’ll be out of the house for most of the morning, see what you can do to fix the thing. 

P.S. I made powdered eggs for u.

Peridot’s glare softened as she read the note, it was a… kind gesture. Even if the eggs were now partially on the ground next to the plate. Peridot let out another sigh as she picked up the plate and walked to the garage. 

Lapis’s garage Peridot corrected in her head, reminding herself that she wasn’t a mainstay here; you're only worth what you can do. Do a good job and get it over with. She reinstated in her head.

As Peridot passed through Lapis’s kitchen on her way to the garage, she emptied the powdered eggs into a wastebasket full of other assorted garbage. She still had enough dignity to not eat her own foot eggs. Glancing up to look at the rest of the kitchen Peridot found that she was rather hungry, she considered for a moment taking something for herself - just to get her through the day - before she shoved the idea to the back of her mind, it’s not like she couldn’t work on an empty stomach. She’d gone a couple days without food before.

A shiver crawled up Peridot’s spine as she made her way down the three cold steps down to the garage. It was much colder in the morning than it had been the other day when Lapis was showing her around. Peridot ignored the shiver and relinquished the tarp covering Lapis’s vehicle. Searching around for the various tools Peridot assumed she’d need, She was thankful to find that Lapis had just about everything she’d need in her various boxes of assorted supplies. After organizing her numerous instruments, Peridot finally got to work, starting to piece apart the vehicle to find out what the issue was.

The actions Peridot took had become automatic over the years, as usual whenever she was fixing something, Peridot remained entirely silent, nearly zoning out as she worked on checking aspects of the mechanics. Peridot was only snapped out of her working daze when the garage door was opened and suddenly slammed, nearly startling Peridot into breaking the small bolt she was screwing back into place.

“Morning, Peridot.” Lapis said as she waltzed into the cold room, her voice echoing slightly.

“It’s probably afternoon by now right?” Peridot responded, she wasn’t quite sure of the time herself, but the small window close to the garage ceiling gave a good idea of how long she’d worked.

“Yeah, but I didn’t say good morning earlier, so it’s morning now.”

“You said as such in your note”

“Alright, good afternoon, then.”

Peridot grumbled a response that neither of them really heard as she turned back to the mechanics she was working with. Lapis watched her for a second before opening her mouth again.

"Do you need anything?"

"No I'm... uh..." Peridot wasn't listening as she returned her full focus to her repairs.

“I’ll be on the roof, scream if you need me.”

Peridot grumbled another muffled response as she stayed focused on her task. Lapis sighed, shutting the garage door quietly behind her.

Eventually, Peridot found the clear issue with the vehicle, one of the pistons was cracked entirely in half, most likely from over exerting the engine by going too fast. Peridot lifted herself onto her feet and blood rushed from her head as she stood up, combined with the pain still very much present in her knee, she felt a headache approaching soon. She groaned.

“Might as well get this done soon.” She mumbled to herself as she made her way back through the garage door, through the kitchen, into the living room, and to the door parallel to the couch she slept on. Walking outside, she was immediately blinded by the sun, now setting in the distance as the area around was bathed in yellowish light. As Peridot got used to the outside light, she quickly took notice of something else: music.

It wasn’t anything that she’d heard before; simple, slow strumming of chords. Peridot hadn’t really heard music before, she knew what it was, of course, but she never had the opportunity to listen to any of it. The fixer stopped for a moment, listening to the melody while she took a deep breath, momentarily ignoring all her concerns and hesitations as she relaxed into the song, and felt her approaching headache fade away. Listening to the song slowly quiet down, Peridot steadily opened her eyes, remembering her job and what she’d come outside to do.

Circling the house, Peridot found an old ladder leading to the roof; this is where Lapis said I’d find her. She thought. As she took hold of the bars and pulled herself up to the roof, Peridot could hear another song beginning in the wake of the silence. Peridot quickly found herself at the top of the ladder looking over the roof. Lapis was on the roof, sitting cross-legged with her back turned towards Peridot as she held an acoustic guitar close to her body and the song became clearer to Peridot. But unlike the previous, Lapis began to sing.

“I guess I’ll have to face that in this awful place, I shouldn’t show a trace of doubt.”

Peridot stepped onto the roof, momentarily worried that Lapis would hear her and stop playing, but Lapis continued to deftly move her fingers onto other positions on the fretboard.

“But pulled against the grain, I feel a little pain that I would rather do without.”

The fixer watched, enraptured with the performance that Lapis had unknowingly given to her she’d just been given. She let out a low sigh as a small bluster of wind tousled Lapis’s short hair around, outlining the warlock's dark blue silhouette against the bright yellow-orange light that coated the town. As well as causing Peridot to momentarily lose her footing as the shingle she’d rested her right foot on slipped from beneath her, sending her tumbling down the roof.

“OH- CRAP” Peridot exclaimed as she tried to no avail to desperately stop herself from sliding down a roof that was still icy from a recent drizzle of rain followed by a cold night. Peridot shut her eyes tight, bracing herself to land on her prosthetic. It felt like the world was moving in slow motion - she could swear that the fall would’ve taken shorter than that - she opened one eye to see that she was no longer falling, but also wasn’t on the roof. She glanced over her shoulder at Lapis, who held her arm out as a bright blue glow beamed from beneath her jacket, manifesting a large hand of blue energy to wrap around Peridot, saving the shorter girl from her swift descent. Peridot simply looked at Lapis surprised, while the taller girl guided her arcane hand from holding Peridot far above the ground back to the rooftop, dispelling the magic as Peridot was swiftly plopped down on her rear. First analyzing herself to learn that she was, indeed, not dead, Peridot looked back up at Lapis with wide eyes, only now seeing the very apparent blush that darkened Lapis's cheeks. They locked eyes with one another as they stared at each other for a moment before either of them spoke.

"I-uh, thanks." Peridot stuttered out.

"Why are you up here?" the question came with an almost accusing tone. Peridot flinched as she noticed the runes on Lapis's body hadn't faded yet.

"You said that this is where I would find you?" She really didn't understand what she did wrong.

"I... yeah I did." Lapis responded, the glowing of her tattoos finally fading. She broke eye contact with Peridot, staring at the ground instead.

"That..." Peridot lost a bit of confidence as Lapis looked back at her. She realized that this is probably the most vulnerable that she'd seen Lapis at all. "Your singing was pretty." Peridot finally said, a reddening on her cheeks becoming apparent on her pale skin.

"Oh, thanks."

"Did you write that?"

"Not really, I found a music store a while back and found that one on a cassette B-side."

"I see." Peridot didn't see, she didn't know what the hell a 'B-side' even is. "Well either way, I think you played it very well." Peridot had a nervous smile on her face

They stood awkwardly looking at the ground and blushing for several more moments until Lapis took in another breath and spoke again.

“You wanted to tell me something?”

“Huh? -oh, yes, there’s an issue with the repairs, and as such, I’ll need your assistance.”

“Ehh, depends, what do you need?”

“It’d be easier to show you.” Peridot started climbing back down the ladder.

Peridot opened Lapis’s vehicle back up to show the engine, explaining the cracked piston. “Electrical vehicles like this completely deactivate when something like this happens to lower the chances exacerbating the apparent issue. I'll need a replacement cylinder to get it back in working order."

"Uh huh. I'm not seeing where I come in here."

Peridot sighed, "As much junk as you may have here" Peridot gestured to the mountain of boxes at the back of Lapis's garage, "none of it is suitable for replacing the piston cylinder."

Lapis knelt down to inspect the engine closer "hmm. Have you tried using a candle?"

Peridot scoffed. "No, I have not tried using a candle."

"Looks about the same size, I think it'd work."

"Yes, that would be extremely effective at melting immediately and ruining any chance of fixing the shaver." Peridot said with obvious frustration.

"I know, I'm just messing with you, Dot."

Peridot ignored the nickname "As I was saying, I need to procure a new piston cylinder, as well as the implements I'd need to install it."

"Hold that thought, sorry, but I haven't eaten since this morning, so I need to get some food in my system." Lapis started leaving for the door to the kitchen before turning back to see Peridot remained in her place. “Are you coming? C’mon, walk and talk, Dot.” Lapis turned back to the kitchen door. Peridot watched her for a moment before following suit through the doorway, back into the main house.

Lapis sat on her knees on top of the counter top in order to reach the higher shelves of her kitchen cupboards, Peridot awkwardly shifted in place as Lapis rummaged for food, eventually sitting on the floor against the wall opposite of Lapis. “How does refried beans and brown rice sound?” Lapis asked, pulling a can and box from their respective shelves. Peridot remained silent, without the distraction of work it was that much easier for her thoughts to be dragged back to the nightmare she’d had before waking up. “Hey. Peridot. Food.” Peridot was pulled from her thoughts.

“What?”

“I asked you, are you fine with beans in rice?”

“I guess? Why?”

“Because that’s what I’m making for dinner. You haven’t eaten since this morning, right?”

“Not really.”

Lapis began to prepare the contents of the containers “didn’t I give you the powdered eggs this morning?”

“I stepped into it when I got out of bed.”

“Oh, sorry. But you didn’t just get more food?”

“I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to.”

“For future reference: you can, just ask me first, I guess? Don’t eat all my food.”

Peridot severely doubted that she would be hungry often enough to eat all of Lapis’s food, but it felt nice to be trusted enough to help herself to the rations that it was probably difficult to stock up on. Peridot remained sat on the floor, content with her current situation, her mind was going to drift back to her nightmare before Lapis began to hum. It was a different song than before, but still very nice, no vocals that Peridot could extrapolate from the humming, but even still, Lapis’s voice sounded very nice itself. Peridot let herself focus on Lapis's humming as she lit the stove to start the cooking.

Lapis set down two plates as she scooped the two flavors of brown mush onto them. The meal certainly wasn’t the most appetizing thing she’d made in her life, but they’d get by. Lapis glanced down at her roommate. Peridot was slumped over on the ground with both hands inside her sweater pocket, Lapis kneeled down to nudge Peridot on the shoulder to wake her up. Peridot started a little at being woken abruptly before making a vaguely annoyed noise, she squeezed her eyes shut before rubbing the sleep out of them. She yawned widely while extending her body.

She’s like a tired cat Lapis thought. She felt heat rushing to her cheeks before she glanced away, drifting back to the small round table she’d placed the food at. A moment later Peridot got up and sat herself down in the seat across from Lapis as she stared at the plate sitting before her.

“You don’t need to eat.” Lapis said with her mouth half-full of beans, she swallowed. “If you aren’t hungry.” Lapis wasn’t really used to giving people food, was this how it worked?

Peridot looked up at Lapis “No, it’s I’m…” She thought of an excuse, she wasn’t at all used to being given food, “…still tired, is all.” She picked up the fork to the right of the plate and ate a mouthful of the rice. “Uh- thanks. For the food.”

“No problem.” Lapis responded without looking up. They sat in semi-awkward silence for a while. Eating the food and avoiding eye contact before Peridot spoke again.

“I actually know where we could probably find the piston nearby.”

“Oh?” Lapis responded hesitantly. She knew where this was more than likely going. She’d avoid it while she could.

“A nearby hidden market I’ve heard about. Called The Temple I think? From what I heard they have plenty of parts that could complete the repairs, along with all the tools I need for the repairs themselves.” Peridot stated pragmatically.

“Alright, good luck” Lapis said as she finished the last bit of her food

Peridot let out a small sigh “I’m going to need you to come with me aswell.”

“Why?”

“If you couldn’t tell before, I don’t know how to fight, going somewhere like The Temple could be a fairly dangerous task. If someone else were to, say, kill me, then you’d lose the fixer for your vehicle.”

Lapis scraped her fork at the bottom of her plate, now bereft of food. “I see… and you’re sure there’s absolutely no other place that I could just loot for it?”

“The correct piston cylinder model needed for your engine isn’t easy to come across. A place with people coming and going, like The Temple is where I’d have the best chance of finding it.”

Lapis put her fork down on the table. “I raided a bunch of old stores full of junk when I got here, are you sure there might not be something in the garage that would work?”

“As far as I’ve looked-”

“‘As far as you’ve looked.’ So have you looked through all of it?” Lapis interrupted. Peridot’s face went slightly redder.

“Admittedly, I haven’t, but I have my doubts if something at the bottom of your mountain of things would be what I’m looking for, nonetheless, be intact.”

“All I’m saying is that it might be worth it to avoid going through that whole ordeal if we can.”

Peridot thought for a moment. “Fine.” She said, “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to check the rest of it first thing tomorrow.”

“Sounds good.” Lapis said simply. She stood up from her seat and walked her plate to the sink.

That night Peridot retired somewhat early to her couch. Lapis gave a half-hearted “goodnight” before she left into the other room. As Peridot drifted to sleep, Lapis continued to scrub the dishes she’d made clean with water, the black rubber gloves she’d found months ago were tattered around the edges and were a little big for her hands, but they were still in workable condition regardless.

Eventually, Lapis’s focus left thinking about her rubber gloves, or the dishes she was doing, and they moved to thinking about the short girl in her living room. She was somewhat of an unknown quantity: she could theoretically be dangerous, but from what Lapis had seen, she didn’t seem to be graceful enough to be that much of a fighter, so unless she was hiding something very well, Lapis probably had nothing to worry about. Lapis remembered back to when she brought Peridot home, any noises that Peridot made was just breathing, even still Lapis felt a sense of… cruelty that the girl had faced. As if she wouldn’t be in this situation regardless. Lapis ignored the feeling she had about this girl’s past, it didn’t matter to her. All that mattered is that she was in good condition to fix her vehicle, right? Lapis tried to convince herself while she took a damp rag and wiped off any obvious dirt on the small woman’s body, lightly at first, then harder as she realised washing her with a damp rag wasn’t going to wake her. Lapis found a bundle of clean gauze bandages somewhere in her junk pile that she used to wrap the bleeding leg of the fixer. Throughout the whole process Lapis found something oddly intimate about at. But not erotic, two things that Lapis had assumed were simply inextricably tied to one another, but this intimacy was different: simply helping a girl she did not know, with injuries that she could not understand, from problems that she did not know about.

Cold water suddenly filled the rubber gloves as Lapis realized that she was finished cleaning the dishes, and had been listening to the water run for several moments now. She shut the water off, it was unlikely that Lapis would ever run out but she felt that it was unnecessary to leave it running through the night regardless. Lapis left the gloves on the counter to dry overnight before she made her way to the garage door.

Lapis closed the door quietly behind her, she took a deep breath as she looked to the pile of boxes to her left. She and Peridot would need to look through nearly all of it in the morning. It wasn’t something Lapis was particularly excited for, but she’d take an excuse to not go to The Temple if she could get one. Lapis fell into her hammock without much grace and thought about tomorrow. The idea that she and Peridot would have to work together on it gave a strange anxiety in her stomach. On one hand she knew that she really didn’t know how to talk to people if the day that Peridot woke up was anything to go off of. On the other hand Lapis was conflicted on why she wanted to make a good impression on Peridot in the first place, she thought about it. Peridot had been honest the entire time Lapis knew her, she didn’t give the sense that she had anything to hide. Lapis turned over in her hammock, still trying to understand her thoughts about the shorter girl as she fell back into her dreams.