Chapter Text
A gentle breeze flowed through the open barn door. Peridot’s eyes were locked onto the vast, empty field in front of her, although she wasn’t particularly paying attention to what she was looking at. She was too busy with her thoughts. It had been two weeks since the cluster was stabilized and Lapis was saved. Everything finally seemed to calm down, at least for the time being. She turned back into the barn and closed the door behind her. Aside from some random bits of junk here and there, the barn was empty. Lapis had apparently taken Steven’s advice to “take a better look at the world” to heart, and was routinely gone for days at a time, flying to who-knows-where.
Although she preferred having time to herself, Peridot found that solitude left her with too much time to her thoughts, and an unpleasant feeling began to loom over her. She had called the crystal gems her friends earlier, and while she did truly believe that they meant her no real harm, she still couldn’t shake the feeling that she just didn’t fit in. The world was still so….different than everything she had been used to on Homeworld.
“There must be a way,” she said to the grand total of zero people listening, “there must be a way for me to feel the way they feel. Perhaps if I-”
Her sentence was cut short by the sound of the door being thrown open, causing her to jump.
“Hey Peri, talking to all your friends?” the short figure in the doorway asked.
Peridot was still trying to get a hang of sarcasm, but she was able to restrain herself from truthfully answering the question.
“Hello Amethyst, what do you want? I’m busy.”
“Yeah you look like you’re getting a lot done over here,” she said surveying the empty barn, “Me, Steven, and Connie are all heading down to the beach for a while, you wanna come with?”
Peridot was slightly surprised by Amethyst’s suggestion. She figured it was probably Steven’s idea. But then a new idea crossed her mind. Maybe this was just the opportunity she was looking for. After all, no one seemed to have a higher opinion of the earth then Steven and Amethyst, so maybe they could help her feel a little more connected.
“A-alright. Let’s go,” she said after a moment.
“Alright!”
Amethyst grabbed Peridot’s hand and ran down the hill, excitedly laughing the whole time. The green gem’s feet barely touched the ground as she was being dragged. They were halfway to the beach before she had enough time to reconsider her decision.