Today had been very quiet. Few clouds could be seen in the sky, there was no loud ‘vrooming’ to be heard in the distance like there was a few nights ago, but the quiet mostly came down to the fact that Lapis wasn’t here. She hadn’t been all day. Of course, Peridot somewhat knew where she was, that being with Steven, for he had some sort of ‘surprise’ for her. She could guess that it must have been some sort of trip somewhere, since she had been gone all day.
“Who knows where they went. Funland, perhaps?” she wondered out loud, before attempting to shake the ocean gem out of her mind. “She’ll tell me all about it as soon as she gets back - which should be soon.” She glanced towards the half-open barn door, seeing that the sun was just past the midpoint in the sky. From her observations, she knew Steven needed to restore his energy every twelve hours or so, therefore he would have to return from his and Lazuli’s trip around when the sun was seen ducking behind the hills.
She shook her head again. “Nevermind when they’ll return - their trip will end whenever it’ll end,” she told herself firmly, irritated that she was allowing herself to be distracted by petty thoughts.
She blinked, realizing she had been staring at her tablet without actually studying anything that was on the screen. Letting out a grunt of annoyance, she raised her hand to touch the screen and drag the ‘web page’ down. So far, Peridot had found herself especially liking the website that went by the name of ‘Cheeper’, however, if she had any complaints, it would be that other being’s logs would come up on her homepage when she really didn’t care about what they had to say. She scrolled through the logs more frantically until she finally landed on her own ‘cheeps’.
‘WAIT. I HAVE THE BARN ALL TO MYSELF.’
‘...’
‘COLON THREE INTERNET FACE.’
She tapped her chin, debating on what she could do to entertain herself while she still had the barn to herself.
“Considering Lazuli isn’t here, she is unable to watch me while I enjoy any sort of activities that she may judge me for,” she said, narrowing her eyes. Then, she snapped her fingers as an idea popped into her head. However, before moving from her settlement on the ledge of the second floor, she quickly typed in a new status update with her finger:
‘’IT’S PERIDOT TIME!!!!’
---
Peridot stared at the spoon in front of her, all focus on the metal object. She lifted her hands out in front of her so that they hovered above it. She stretched and clenched her fingers, preparing herself for the skill she was about to show off to the world wide web. She had already recorded the original position and posted it online, so she had all the proof she needed for what was about to happen.
“Okay… here we go…” She inhaled deeply, despite the fact that her gem body didn’t need her to do so. She stared at the spoon, then in her mind, commanded it to shift.
And it did. It shifted to the right. Three whole centimeters.
She gasped excitedly, beaming, before grabbing her tablet and aiming it at the now moved spoon, the flashing as soon as she tapped the symbol to take a photo. After the tablet saved the data, she opened up Cheeper once again, posting the photo, followed by,
‘DID YOU SEE THAT? I MOVED THE SPOON WITH MY MIND!’
She chortled to herself, proud that she had come so far with her powers in a course of seven days. She sat there, staring at her new log, before the corners of her mouth drooped a little.
“It’s a shame Lazuli wasn’t here to see this,” she mused. Before her finger trailed up to the icon that would open up the cheeping tool. Slowly she tapped each letter, eventually typing,
‘LAZULI WOULD GET A KICK OUT OF THIS I BET.’
Her smile returned, wondering if Lapis could somehow see what she had posted. She doubted it, considering Lazuli had little interest in Earth’s electronics, but regardless, there was still a chance. She grabbed the tablet out of the air before standing up on her feet, stalking towards the couch, where she placed it. She looked at the mess she had made on the floor - scattered papers of her Camp Pining Hearts essay that mostly covered the frisbee she had been playing with earlier - only to find that it was most likely to be used as a two-player game. She had done many activities today, but if she were to be honest with herself, she preferred the company of Lapis.
She stood there, staring at the evidence of what she had participated in today, before a distant rumbling caught her attention. She whipped her head around towards the barn door, before scampering over to the ladder, on which she slided down rather than climbed, since it was a quicker method of transportation. She stumbled backwards as the wooden floor met her heels quicker than she expected, but she soon found her balance and could dart over to the door. Her insides churned at the sight of distant, dark grey clouds rolling over Beach City, coming in her direction.
“Not another one…” she muttered, about to fetch her tablet to cheep about the horrid weather that was to come, however stopped herself, realizing she wouldn’t want inferior humans to know about her fear of thunder. She turned back to the entrance of the barn and leaned on the door, staring at the clouds in the distance. Even when she wasn’t underneath them, they still looked threatening. She craned her head over her shoulder so that her tablet was in her view, where she commanded it to make its way to her. With some hand, and occasionally feet gestures, she was able to grab it. The first thing she saw as she unlocked it was her cheep about Lapis, which brought her back into mind.
“Hopefully she’s back soon… I don’t want to spend a night alone with a thunderstorm up ahead,” she murmured, feeling her cheeks heat up. It was a petty thing for her to say, but she couldn’t deny that Lapis’ company had grown on her.
Suddenly, a blue shape from the corner of her broke her out of her thoughts. She snapped her head up, and immediately she couldn’t help but grin at the sight of Lapis landing and making her way towards the barn. She quickly tapped the ‘cheep’ icon and began typing.
‘SPEAK OF THE STARS! SHE’S BACK!’
She was in the process of writing ‘I GOTTA SHOW HER WHAT I’ when Lapis stalked past her. Peridot grinned, waving.
“Lazuli! How was your trip? What was this ‘surprise’ Steven had for you?”
The ocean gem didn’t even look at her. Instead, she summoned her wings, which carried her over to the couch. This confused Peridot. In fact, it kind of stung. This would’ve been normal behaviour from the gem had this been three weeks ago, but that wasn’t the case. Lapis would actually face her now - talk to her. She wouldn’t always smile, but that was something Peridot had come to accept about her.
Peridot glanced at her half finished cheep, thinking of what she should write, all ideas she previously had now gone. She then gave up, simply ending it with two dashes before cheeping. She then turned her gaze up to Lapis, who was lying on the couch, facing away from her. The thought that maybe Lapis simply had a rough day came into mind, and any offence she took from the gem ignoring her greeting faded. She wondered if anyone would question why she had a half finished cheep, so she quickly typed in,
‘OH.’
After that was sent, she hurried over the ladder and clambered up the steps, making sure her tablet was hovering close behind. She soon reached the top; as soon as she did, the air felt thicker. She knew it really wasn’t, but the tense feeling was almost suffocating. Rather than rush over to Lapis, she instead sauntered over to where she was lying, stopping next to the arm of the couch. Lapis’ blue hair covered her face, so she couldn’t see her expression. Her body was limp - almost looking lifeless. Her fingers itched, and she was biting down on her lip without realizing how painful it was. Stalling, she grabbed her tablet again, typing ‘oh’, but this time in lower case letters. The need to yell was no longer existent in Peridot.
Cautiously, she shuffled over to where Lapis’ head lay, then kneeled down onto the wooden floor so that they were at similar. She forced a smile as she opened her mouth to speak.
“Hey… uh…” She placed her tablet on the floor next to her. “Are you… okay?”
She saw her hand shift, probably tightening its grip on her face that it was covering.
Peridot’s smile faded. It was at this moment that she realized just how grateful she was for a happy Lapis.
“Lazuli… did something happen?” She leaned forward a little, her hand even ready to nudge her. However, that wasn’t necessary.
Lapis slammed her hand on the sofa, yanking herself up. Her wet and tattered fringe covered most of her face, but her expression was still visible, and it sent a chill down Peridot’s spine. The ocean gem glared down at her, her eyes wide, burning right into the shorter gem.
“I’m fine!” she snapped. Peridot was frozen in place, her gaze locked with Lapis’. The blue gem continued to stare at her with her ferocious glare, before her gaze suddenly melted, the anger bubbling underneath her beginning to calm. Her expression was eventually replaced with a look of fear and regret. She clenched her teeth, before turning away from Peridot, her shoulders slumped over as she sat, supposedly staring at the dress that covered her legs that was folded in front of her. Peridot stared at her, her green eyes wide with pity and confusion. She glanced at her tablet, quickly cheeping,
‘I’LL BE BACK LATER!!!!’
She then turned it off. For the first time since she got it, she turned it off by her will. She watched as the screen faded into black, her emotions completely disconnected from the the device, and was instead aimed towards her roommate. She pushed the tablet aside, before crawling forward until she was sitting just behind Lapis, who was still staring at the sofa’s arm. Peridot leaned forward slightly, peaking over Lapis’ slumped shoulders to see if she could even get a glimpse of the gem’s face. Unfortunately for her, her soaking wet hair was stuck to her skin, not allowing her to see what her expression was.
“If I were to take a guess, the trip didn’t go as well as Steven would have liked?” She twiddled her fingers, staring at Lapis in hopes for some sort of reaction.
She heard her sniff.
“I’ll take that as a no,” she murmured. “But that’s okay! Plans don’t always meet your expectations. That doesn’t mean nothing good can come out of it!” She glanced at the spoon she had abandoned and summoned it over to just above the tip of her index finger. “After all, if my trip to Funland didn’t go so… mediocre… I wouldn’t have discovered that I could move metal with my mind!” She grinned proudly, then took a glimpse at Lapis. She saw her curl up even tighter. Peridot’s grin dropped, as well as the spoon. She lowered her hand, resting it on her thigh, and sighed.
“Okay, you want to be alone. I’m sorry.”
Her hands moved to her sides as she was about to push herself off of the couch, when a blue arm was thrown in front of her, stopping her every move. She glanced at the gem, who was now sitting forward rather than sideways, her legs hanging over the edge of the sofa. The sight was enough for Peridot to push herself further back on the couch until her back touched the cushion behind her.
“No… No, I don’t,” she croaked, staring at the floor with bleak, exhausted eyes. She drew her arm back and latched her hand on the other arm, and doing the same with the other. She was still after that, creating an awkward silence between them both. Peridot chewed on her lip, before shifting over until she was right next to the gem.
“Okay, um…” Her digits anxiously tapped her thighs, writing an inconsistent rhythm. “So… where did Steven take you?”
Lapis let her head droop, before answering in an almost inaudible voice,
“Over sea.”
“Oh! That, uh… that sounds interesting,” she stuttered. “Did you have fun?”
She shrugged. “I was trying, but…” She brought a hand up to cup her face, covering her mouth. “I couldn’t.”
“Th-that’s okay! I know how uncomfortable you feel around water and all,” she offered a supportive smile, but she wasn’t sure Lapis even saw it.
The gem’s hand crawled up her face until it was covering one eye, while the other came to mimic it, covering the other. The sight upsetted Peridot - Lapis had been moody and bitter before, but never like this. The gem looked so… defeated. Whatever had happened out there, she was positive it was more than just a mishap.
And all she could do was rest a hand on her shoulder.
“So… what all that water just too much for you?” she asked.
The ocean gem suddenly slammed her hands down on the sofa, causing Peridot to jolt away, surprised.
“No! I… it was all my fault! I should have enjoyed it out there!” she bawled. “I shouldn’t have even had to go out there in the first place. Then none of it would’ve ever happened!”
Peridot stared at her, her eyes wide and her body tense. The older gem was trembling, her lip quivering under her teeth that were trying to keep it still, her bangs casted a dark shadow on her eyes.
“What happened?”
Lapis slowly turned her head, some light finally being shed on her face. She could finally see her eyes; they weren’t full of anger or hatred like she had feared. No… they looked remorseful.
“Why do you care?” she questioned, her tone monotone so that Peridot couldn’t tell if she was angry at her or something else. All she knew was that she wasn’t happy.
Her green eyes trailed away from her deep blue, landing on her fidgeting fingers. “Well… our friendship has been improving greatly as of recently, so I just figured…” She mustered up enough courage to look at her again. “I don’t like seeing you upset, Laz. You’re a lot more pleasant when you’re happy.”
Lapis furrowed her brow, then sighed.
“Alright,” she said in a hushed voice. “I just… out there, I couldn’t stop thinking about Malachite.”
Peridot gave a subtle nod. “That’s perfectly understandable. Considering you trapped her at the bottom of the ocean for all those months, of course the sea would remind you of that.”
She saw Lapis visibly tense up, causing something to churn in her stomach. She searched for some way to take what she had just said back.
“I-I didn’t mean- did I say something wrong?” she stammered. Lapis ignored her question.
“I just wanted to enjoy myself. I wanted to have a nice time with Steven. But I couldn’t.” She then tucked her knees up to her chin. “I couldn’t stop thinking about her.”
“Malachite?” Peridot tilted her head. Lapis’ head just sank further behind her knees.
“Jasper.”
Jasper? Why would she want to think about her? She figured that they hated each other in light of recent events.
“Why Jasper? I mean… she did some awful stuff to you, didn’t she?”
Lapis’ fingers rolled up, gripping her skirt tightly.
“I did awful stuff to her,” she corrected her coldly. Peridot was taken aback by the statement.
“But… she deserved it, didn’t she? She was about to kill Steven and the others, so-”
“No, no, NO!” the gem suddenly screeched, grasping the sides of her hair, ruffling her bangs up even more. “She didn’t! I don’t care how awful she may had been, she didn’t deserve any of it!”
Peridot pondered on what to say next, completely stunned by the gem’s outburst. She took note that the gem’s nails were digging into her scalp, which lured some concern out of her. Without really thinking, she reached forward and grasped her thin wrists, edging them away from her head. As she did, Lapis dared to look at her, her expression a mixture of confusion and fear.
“Hey… uh… I don’t know what went on down there…” Peridot stuttered. “But… I do know that you clearly regret whatever that was? I mean…” She glanced at her hands that she held. “You’re really upset over this.”
Lapis didn’t even blink, or speak, for that matter. Instead, she twisted her hands around so that she could hold Peridot’s wrists, as she was holding hers. She pursed her lips as she thought up her words.
“She found me,” she whispered, so quietly that Peridot almost didn’t catch it.
“She… what?” She arched a brow.
The grip around her wrists tightened. “Jasper. She found me. She was following me.”
Peridot was in awe. Jasper was following her? For what?
“Why?” she urged her to go on. Lapis hesitated, biting the inside of her cheek.
“She asked if we could- no, she begged me to form Malachite again.” She squeezed her eyes shut, as if trying to block out a memory.
The younger gem was silent. Jasper begging to fuse? Was this the same gem that she had been ordered around by on the ship? The same huge quartz soldier that who had memories of the gem war thousands of years ago?
She scoffed, amused that the gem had stooped to such a low level. “Geez! What’s gotten into her?”
Lapis, however, didn’t find any of this amusing in the slightest. Her hands fell to her thighs that were now facing in Peridot’s direction, as was most of her body. Peridot frowned, annoyance towards herself building up as she continued to fail to make the gem smile. Still, she made sure to keep her fingers wrapped around the blue wrists, as blue digits still had their hold around her own.
“I did. I did that to her,” she admitted shamefully. Peridot furrowed her brow as she continued. “It’s like she was addicted. Addicted to me. If it weren’t for me, then maybe…” She sighed. “This shouldn’t have happened.”
Peridot pouted, trying to think of some words of support. A number of options buzzed around in her head, but none of which would fix anything.
“What happened? After she asked you to fuse, I mean.”
“I said no,” she answered weakly. “I knew fusing again wouldn’t bring anything good…”
“Exactly! See, you did the right thing!” She grinned, letting go of one of her wrists to put an arm around her back. The gesture made Lapis lift her head up, showing the most of her face so far. She still looked so.... tired. And yet, Peridot persisted with her positive demeanor. “Sure, you both did some stuff that you may not be proud of. Granted, I can’t really speak for her, considering she wanted to fuse again, but you,” she released her other wrist so that she can point at her, “you did what was best! So why feel horrible about the not-so-good stuff you’ve done rather than be proud of the good stuff?”
Lapis’ mouth didn’t even twitch, remaining a frown. She turned her head away from her.
“Because that doesn’t automatically make the bad stuff go away,” she muttered dryly.
The corners of Peridot’s mouth dropped. “Well, no, obviously.” She decided to keep her arm wrapped around the back on the older gem, as she had come to recognize it as a friendly gesture. “But it’s better to do some good and bad things rather than just bad things, right?”
Lapis gave a snort of disbelief. “Not when your wrong-doings outshine the good things.”
“If that were true, then I should be drowning with guilt right now.”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” She suddenly whipped her head around to meet her, making her jolt backwards and drawing her hand from the gem.
“I’m not being ridiculous! Do you know how many times I tried to kill Steven?” She raised her hands defensively. Lapis gave an exasperated groan.
“Peridot, you saved the Earth! You gave me several gifts to apologize for what you did! And what have I done?”
“Uh, you saved me?” she said in a-matter-of-fact way. “Twice, if you count the baseball game.”
“But I broke your tape recorder!” she protested. “That was something important to you and I broke it. Simply just to get you to leave.” She jerked away from her, folding her arms around her chest tightly. “I hurt you. I hurt Steven. I hurt Jasper. I’ve hurt everyone.” She hung her head in shame, clenching her teeth.
“Jasper was right. I am a monster.”
Peridot blinked.
“You’re not a monster, Lapis.”
She scoffed at the statement. “Don’t lie.”
“I’m not,” she told her firmly. “You’re not a monster. A monster wouldn’t feel guilt for this!”
Lapis didn’t reply, giving Peridot the opportunity to carry on.
“I’ve known you for some time now. And I’ve enjoyed your company and having you as a roommate! You can’t tell me that I’d enjoy the company of a monster - that makes no logical sense!” She threw her arms up in the air, beginning to get frustrated by the situation. “I didn’t see Malachite. All I have to go off of is that she was huge and had six arms, four eyes and no legs. So perhaps Malachite was a monster - her physical appearance sure matches the description of one.” She breathed in. “Or, more so, what went on in her head. So yes, by all means, Malachite was a monster.”
Lapis stared at her, her pupils looking as if they were trembling, which told her to quickly finish what she was saying.
“But… you’re not Malachite. You’re Lapis. Lapis Lazuli.” She pursed her lips. “You’re not Malachite, therefore you’re not a monster.”
“But I’ve still done awful things, Malachite or not,” she muttered.
Peridot scowled at the statement. “So have I.”
“You’ve been able to make up for them.”
“You can too. I’m sure you did us all a favour in not fusing as Malachite again, so that’s something.”
The blue gem scoffed, but said nothing. Peridot searched for any left over words that she could say, but found nothing, so she sighed, let herself slide down on the couch, ready to give up.
But she didn’t want to give up. She knew it would be wrong to do so and leave her roommate feeling as if she were irredeemable. Not only that, but she knew for a fact that she was redeemable. If a gem like her, who had tried to murder Steven and his family for no other reason than to get rid of what she considered a nuisance, had changed for the better, then there was no reason why the gem next to her couldn’t do the same.
Her thoughts were racing through her mind as she tried to pick out some idea that could cheer her up. She thought back to when she was still building the drill, back to a time where she felt scared and vulnerable. The gems had been able to take her mind of things with all the peculiar rituals they so often did, including eating, sleeping, joking and of course, singing.
The singing was probably the most memorable to her. At the time she felt there was little purpose to it, and an overall waste of time, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t enjoy participating. She’d been able to share her worries without it sounding like she was complaining, and even transform them into a pleasant-sounding melody.
‘Plans don’t always meet your expectations. That doesn’t mean nothing good can come out of it!’
Her own words echoed in her mind, followed by the memory of how she thought giving Lapis her tape recorder would win her friendship, only to be disappointed, to say the least, by the results.
Obviously she’d moved past that little mishap, and was honestly consent with having Lapis as a friend, even if she no longer had her tape recorder. However, it was clear the the other gem hadn’t put it behind her, along with many other things that she now regretted.
“I’m not mad about you breaking my tape recorder, you know.”
Lapis didn’t stir, only answering in a raspy voice, “Yes you are. Even if you’ve forgiven me, you’re still mad.”
Peridot sighed, feeling defeated. She wanted her to believe that she had moved past their first mishap, and that she was happy that she was here. But every word fell onto deaf ears. She needed to think of another method.
Singing came to mind, but again, it didn’t matter if Lapis heard her, for she wasn’t going to listen, so that was out of the question.
It was a shame though, she thought, because singing had been an enjoyable experience. Then again… what song could she create with her tape recorder? The possibilities were practically non-existence.
Or, perhaps not.
She shot up from her slouching position as an idea popped into her head. A grin began to spread across her face as she turned to the gem sitting next to her, who hadn’t acknowledged her sudden enthusiasm. She grabbed her by the arm, which made her flinch before turning to lock eyes with her, a quizzical look on her face.
“Lazuli! Where did you say you put my tape recorder?” she asked, speeding through her words. Guilt flickered in the gem’s eyes, but Peridot payed no attention to it.
“It’s… why? What do you need it for?”
Peridot giggled childishly, only confusing Lapis more. “You’ll see! Just tell me where it is.”
Lapis sighed and stood up, her lids covering most of her eyes. Peridot bounced onto her feet and followed the older gem to the edge of the floor, watching her summon her wings to fly down to the floor. Usually she would’ve taken the ladder, but her body was filled with excitement that she didn’t bother, and instead leaped down after her. The taller gem stalked over to a pile of boxes that sat next to the hole in the wall of the barn. She bent over to open up one of the boxes, her hand rummaging through the content inside, until she fished out the broken device. She spun around, about to hand it over, but Peridot had already snatched it out of her hand, still grinning.
“Perfect!” she exclaimed.
“It’s not perfect. It’s broken,” Lapis stated dryly.
“True, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be improved,” she replied, scampering over to the other side of the barn, where unorganized clutter was scattered along the floor. She slid over to where a knocked over table lay and grabbed it by the leg, then flipped it upright. Once it was balanced on all four legs, she dropped the pieces of her tape recorder onto the flat surface. With all the pieces she needed in front of her, she cracked her knuckles and licked her dry lips, prepared to get started.
A blue shape came into view to her left.
“Are you going to fix it?” Lapis asked, sounding disinterested.
“No. I mean, I could, but I have another idea in mind,” she said, her eyes glued to the broken box and her finger and thumb cupping her chin as she thought about where would be the best place to start. “Hmm…”
She saw Lapis sit down on the floor next to her, her hand holding up her head. Peridot wasn’t sure if she was watching her or not, but either way, she went to work on the tape recorder.
First, she tried holding the device up by making it lean on the tape, however that just ended in them both toppling over, to her frustration. Her eyes then scanned the rubble in front of her, searching for some material that would be of some use to her. She gasped when she saw two metal rods lying on the wooden floor, and summoned them over with a hand gesture.
“I think I’ve got this,” she declared, with the two metal rods gripped in between her fingers.
---
Peridot shook Lapis by the shoulder.
“Lazuli! Lazuli, you gotta see the finished result!”
One eye slowly opened, the rest of her unmoving.
“What?” she muttered tiredly. She was still sitting in that same position on the floor, her chin resting on her knuckle. Peridot, with her wide, toothy grin, was hopping from one foot to another, her green eyes sparkling with excitement.
“Take a look!” she pleaded, pointing to the table with one hand while trying to pick her up by her arm with the other. Lapis sighed, then picked herself up from the ground until Peridot would let go of her. Once her hand left her arm, she rubbed where she had been tugging at.
“Ta-da!” The younger gem cheered, stepping back so that she was out of the way of her new model. Lapis squinted and bit her lip.
“Uh… I don’t think your tape recorder’s going to work like that…”
Her tape recorder was now being held up by two metal rods, balanced on a black stand with a shiny material coming from the tape wrapped around the model, holding it in place. Peridot laughed.
“Oh, it’s not supposed to work! Here, allow me to explain.” She smiled, walking over to the side of the table. “You see, Steven taught me how to make music, but I couldn’t figure out a way to create music from an object that can no longer produce sound.
“You see, while writing my first ‘song’, I was able to sing about my fears and concerns, however despite the fact that those are both negative factors when it comes to emotions, all of it was… nice to listen to.” She then pointed to her model. “I wanted to do the same with my tape recorder, in order to prove that good can come out of bad stages of your life.”
Lapis’ face scrunched up in confusion. “...How does this change the fact that your tape recorder is broken.” She narrowed her eyes. “Or anything, for that matter.”
Peridot hesitated, before shaking the thought off and laying her hand on the tape. “Singing didn’t exactly accomplish anything in a time of urgency,” she retorted. “Neither does this. I agree that it has no functional purpose, but…” the corners of her mouth picked up, “...that’s not what matters. What matters is the emotions involved. That was my aim for this project, anyway.” She shrugged.
Lapis tilted her head. “How does this convey any sort of emotions?” she questioned. “It’s a broken tape recorder.”
The younger gem’s eyes lit up. “Right! You see, it isn’t so much the object that is conveying the emotions,” she shuffled behind the model, “but rather, the ideas behind them.” She pointed to the black silk pouring from the tape. “You see, this is the ribbon that binds our experience on Earth together-”
“Um, no. It’s a ribbon.”
“Yes, literally, it is. But figuratively, it’s our experiences on Earth. Mainly our first interactions with one another after you unfused with Jasper.”
Peridot saw her visibly grow uncomfortable at the mention of unwelcome memories, causing something to tighten inside her chest. “Uh… and, um…” She stumbled over her own words. “This-” she gestured to the recorder, “-is a representation of-”
“Peridot.”
Peridot whipped her head up to look at Lapis, who was staring at the ground and still gripping her arm. The sight made her smile drop.
“This doesn’t help anything…” she muttered, her bangs drooping over her face. The smaller gem stared at her, before letting out a long sigh and maneuvering around the table, sauntering over to her.
She wasn’t sure if she knew she was standing right in front of her, for she had no reaction, however when Peridot slipped her digits around her wrist, she finally averted her gaze from the ground and focused it on her.
“I know it doesn’t necessarily do anything, but…” she lightly pulled her towards the model. “It’s purpose is to emote. It doesn’t have to have a positive background - when I sang with Steven, none of the lyrics I wrote were joyful in anyway.” She squeezed Lapis’ wrist. “I just wanted something good to come out of something that wasn’t so good.”
“I don’t understand,” Lapis murmured. “All this will do is remind me what I did to your tape recorder.”
“I know but…” She pursed her lips. “It looks cool, is what I’m trying to say.”
She glanced up at Lapis, who had arched a brow at her. Peridot felt beads of sweat begin to run down her forehead, the longer she was pinned down by the deep blue gaze.
“...Tell me more,” she suddenly told her. Peridot let go of her wrist, eyes widening in surprise. She then smiled.
“Okay!” She skidded over to the model once again, and continued her explanation. “So as I was saying, this ribbon binds both of our experiences on Earth together, which keeps this tape and case,” she placed one hand on the tape and one on the case, “together, even if they are broken and no longer of a purpose. But that doesn’t matter!” She flailed her arms in opposite directions. “Because as long as they’re together, they’ll still be… something.”
She risked looking at Lapis once again, who no longer held an expression overflowing with shame. Rather, it looked… neutral. This was a sign for her to continue.
“Overall, it’s supposed to represent the struggles of intercommunication. Yes, we had opposing views at first, but that’s okay, because look at us now!”
She and Lapis held each other’s gazes for a while longer, neither of them saying a word. Peridot was straining to keep her grin from faltering.
Then Lapis snorted.
Not out of disbelief, not out of disinterest. No… it was out of amusement.
Peridot no longer felt the need to put effort into holding her smile. It stayed there all by itself.
“You like it?”
Giggles overflowed from Lapis’ mouth as her shoulders bounced uncontrollably. Her hand trailed up to her mouth as she tried to contain herself, only to fail. Peridot glanced to her left, then right, then back at her.
“Lazuli?” she questioned. Lapis peeked at her through a tight gap between her fingers, and Peridot’s chest twisted to see that there were tears flooding in her eyes. “Are you okay?” She dashed over to her, almost knocking over her model in the process. Then, before she was even standing still, she was tugged forward by two thin, yet surprisingly strong arms, making her topple over. She would’ve hit the ground, had the body kneeling in front of her not caught her.
The smaller gem was stunned for a moment. All she knew was that Lapis was holding her tightly, her head resting on her shoulder with her blend of laughs and sobs sang to her. Eventually, she brought her hand up to her back and gently patted it, unsure how else to react.
“Thanks...” she heard her say through her hiccups. Peridot laughed nervously.
“Eheh… you’re welcome… for what exactly?”
She felt her head leave her shoulder, her eyes gazing into her own, now full of relief rather than sorrow.
“For just… being here. With me.” She sniffed, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, while gripping onto her shoulder with the other. “I don’t know why you’d want to after everything, but-”
“What?” Peridot interrupted, to Lapis’ surprise. “It’s me who should be thanking you. I mean, the whole reason why you’re here on this planet is because of me.” She grinned sheepishly.
The taller gem snickered. “I don’t think me staying here is something worth thanking, Peridot.”
She widened her eyes. “Of course it is! My experience on Earth has only been improved. It’s much better being able to share it with someone.” She glanced over her shoulder, looking at her tape recorder. “I mean, that’s the whole point behind the model.” She turned back to meet Lapis’ gaze, and was met with a warm smile, making something do a gleeful flip in her chest. She guessed it was because seeing her with a genuine smile had been so unexpected. That was just a guess, though.
“You mean it when you say you enjoy me being here?” she murmured.
“You think I’d put this much effort and talent into a lie?” She gave a smug grin, gesturing towards the model behind her. “Because that would be ridiculous.”
Lapis gave another amused huff, before falling back onto her shoulder. This time, Peridot smiled, wrapping her own short arms around the gem, all the while a warm feeling burned inside of her. Even if the older gem was on her knees, she was still shorter than her, thus she had no choice but to lean her own chin on her bare shoulder - not that she minded.
“Peridot?”
“Yes?”
She felt the grip on her tighten. “I’m glad I’m with you instead of Jasper.”
Peridot felt all heat in her physical form rush to her cheeks. “Oh- heh, well, I am superior to that clod.” A thought suddenly came to mind. “Um… where exactly is she now?”
A hand was then placed over her lips.
“I don’t want to think about her.” She pulled away, glaring at her with stern eyes. “I want to move on from this… mess.” She withdrew her hand from her mouth.
Peridot provided a sympathetic smile, nodding. “I understand. I want you to move on too-” she slipped out of Lapis’ embrace to canter over to her model, “because I want to explore Earth with you. Just like this… uh…” She cupped her chin. “Hmm…”
“What?” Lapis asked, getting back up onto her feet.
“It’s just that… this piece of work doesn’t have a name. I mean, it’s like singing… but with things.” She paced around in circles, her face scrunched up as she was lost in thought. “I need a competent name for it. Music… but with things.”
Lapis snickered. “Just name it meep-morp.” She shrugged, rolling her eyes.
Peridot turned to Lapis with stars shining in her eyes.
“We should,” she declared, beaming. Lapis blinked and pursed her lips.
“I wasn’t being serious, you know.”
Peridot’s wrist flicked her hand forward. “Pshh, don’t be ridiculous. ‘Meep-morp’ sounds perfect!”
Lapis’ cheeks tinted a darker shade of blue. “You think so?”
“Of course I do!” she insisted. “From this moment on, I, Peridot, declare that my ‘music made with things’ will be known as ‘meep-morps’,” she announced, one hand on her chest.
She then rested on arm on the stand to lean on it. “And I think I’ll name this specific meep-morp as ‘Wow, Thanks’.”
Lapis arched a brow. “‘Wow, Thanks’?” she echoed.
“Yep. It’s what one says after being given a gift, and that’s what this tape-recorder was,” the little gem explained. Lapis gave a cool smile, eyes half-lidded.
“I like it.” She rubbed her arm, her eyes scanning the barn. “I might just make my own meep-morp one day.”
Peridot gasped, excitement bubbling beneath. “You should! Maybe we can make one together at some point.”
The corners of the ocean gem’s mouth picked up even further. “I’d like that,” she said, gazing at the meep-morp. “But now I just…” She sighed, dragging her fingers through her matted hair. “I just want to rest. This whole ordeal made me exhausted…”
“Sure thing. I’ve found that the sofa helps after a tiring day,” she suggested, gesturing the the second floor, before her green eyes lit up eagerly. “Oh! And I can show you what I learned I could do with a spoon! I was practicing my metal powers while you were gone.” She flashed her a toothy grin.
Lapis chuckled. “Sure.”
The two proceeded to return to the sofa upstairs, both taking a seat on the plush surface, Peridot would blether on about her metal powers, along with some other discoveries she had made in Lapis’ absence. The words seemed muted though, as the ocean gem’s energy began to seep away with each passing moment.
Her gaze would lazily follow the spoon as it was flung around the room at Peridot’s command, while she listened to the sound of her choppy voice eat away at her consciousness, her lids drooping further over her eyes at each passing moment. The younger gem had been too indulged in her performance that she didn’t notice the other gem edging towards her up until she felt a head rest on her shoulder. It had surprised so much that she dropped the spoon onto the wooden floor, a clanging sound echoing in the barn. She turned to her, seeing Lapis with her eyes closed and her body relaxed. Peridot felt her cheeks burn, having never seen her so at peace as she appeared now.
She smiled, forgetting about impressing her with her metal powers, and instead turning her focus to making sure she stayed as happy as she currently felt, leaning her head against Lapis.
“And, Peridot,” the blue gem suddenly murmured. Peridot turned to the gem resting on her shoulder.
“Yes, Lazuli?”
She shuffled closer to her. “Call me Lapis.”