Abandoned Crystal System Colony Planet Earth - Friday, Fandom Time

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It had all started with the Crystal Gems taking a break. A break! In building the drill! To save the planet! The work was so tantalizingly close to being done that Peridot had complained to Steven, vehemently. It had involved waving a little power drill in the air for emphasis. Which had, as most things around here seemed to do, inspired Steven to sing.

The difference is, this time, Peridot made an effort to understand why. And the whole thing had culminated in all four Crystal Gems sitting with their backs to the barn as Peridot showed off her take on the 'singing' that Steven had introduced her to.

"I guess we're already here,
I guess we already know.
We've all got something to fear,
We've all got nowhere to go.
I think you're all INSANE!
But I guess I am too...
Anybody would be
If they were stuck on Earth with you."

That one got a little grin from the trio of gems who were watching, and a cheer of triumph from Steven. None of them really noticed the portal that opened up nearby while Peridot was singing.

Tip	Peridot was singing. Tip would have bet money that Peridot didn't now what singing was, but there she was, apparently improvising a song verse and not doing a terrible job at it. Tip blinked as she stepped through the portal, then smiled, watching Peridot have this weird candid little moment. She'd learned so much so fast. It was really impressive! . . . Also there was the whole "Peridot shrunk" thing, but Tip had seen her missing one of her feet, so it didn't take long for her to realize that this was Peridot missing both her feet and also her weird floaty finger things. That was probably driving her absolutely bonkers.
Rufus	Rufus' lip curled in silent disgust at the fact that Peridot was singing. He didn't miss the fact that she'd lost a number of things (including height) but the singing was off-putting enough that he was going to ignore her. His gaze settled on Garnet instead. He should have just let them kidnap Peridot. She'd wound up here anyway. What a perfectly good waste of effort. At least Garnet had been amusing.
Jalian	Jalian blinked at the singing, and she wrinkled her nose. This didn't seem like an emergency. She eyed the other beings suspiciously, though, just in case Peridot still needed help; she had promised, after all.
Anakin	Anakin was less concerned about the singing and more about the lyrics, especially after his talk with Peridot a few weeks back. Something to fear, nowhere to go? Stuck on Earth? He had a bad feeling about this.
Peridot	Peridot was wearing a sheepish little smile at the accolades from the other Gems when she turned around to see the Fandomites standing there, listening. And then she blushed. A lot. Her face flushed blue. "Guys!" ... "You're here?" They were not Yellow Diamond, but she'd take it.
Jalian	"You said you needed help," Jalian answered, a touch of accusation in the explanation. Singing didn't seem like it needed help.
Peridot	Peridot hesitated for a moment, blinking a little more, and then looked between the group assembled. "My message reached you?" Well, they weren't Yellow Diamond, but still, she was touched. To the point of standing there awkwardly, looking between them.
Garnet	Behind her, Garnet smiled, just a little. Ah, the cavalry had arrived. "We were taking a break," she said in that calm, too-cool tone. "Peridot has been working hard to help us stop the Cluster." Which would mean nothing to everybody but exactly one of the newcomers, but Garnet was confident that they'd get to that.
Tip	"Well, we're here to help too then," Tip said. ". . . What's the Cluster?"
Anakin	"Sithspit," Anakin said eloquently, then gestured to Garnet. "Your world, your time to explain."
Garnet	Garnet looked faintly amused at being assigned the role of chief explainer of the situation, but shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest. Not so much in spite of but because of Peridot's own indignant noise about it. Homeworld was where she'd come from, initially, but it was hardly her world now. This Earth, however... "A weapon," she said, simply. "Created by the Gem Homeworld out of the shards of Gems who were shattered in our rebellion to save the planet. One last ditch effort to destroy the world." She cast a glance Peridot's way. "An abomination." One that she felt at least partly guilty for, herself. After all, if Ruby and Sapphire hadn't fused, Homeworld might never have gotten the idea in the first place. "They're using the Gems of those fallen in battle, ours and theirs alike, to create one massive fusion. A Gem monster larger than the planet itself. And it's somewhere underneath us right now."
Rufus	"A giant zombie-gem monster," Rufus said flatly, summing it up. Great. There was nothing that could go wrong with that, right? "What are your preparations like for dealing with it?"
Peridot	"We made a drill!" ... That was it. That was the plan. Peridot still seemed pleased that they'd gotten that far.
Jalian	"Why did you need to make one?" Jalian asked, confused. Drills were everywhere.
Garnet	In reply, Garnet simply cleared her throat and gestured with one hand to the object that was propped up behind the gathered Fandomites. It was... large.
Jalian	That...was a very large drill, yes.
Anakin	"Somebody's feeling inadequate," Anakin muttered.
Peridot	Yeah, that would be Peridot. But look at her now. Could anybody really blame her for that?
Peridot	It was really a great, illuminating sort of conversation they were having, wasn't it? Of course Peridot, being the forward-thinking if not polite individual that was was, was gasping and perking up a little. "Oh, wait! I need to check on something!" And then she made a beeline for the drill. "She's come so far," Steven said to the group assembled, looking proud. "It seems like just yesterday she was trying to kill us." "No, no," Pearl corrected. "That was several weeks ago." Apparently the flow of time here was cranked up to fast-forward compared to Fandom's own at the moment. What else was new?
Tip	Tip wanted to follow after, but Rufus and Jalian were already doing it. She didn't want to crowd her. Also: "Did she try to push you guys off a roof?" she asked. Peridot said Tip was the experiment, but she couldn't really see Peridot as the lurking with a dagger type.
Garnet	"No," Garnet said, glancing at Tip with that ever-so-calm look on her face. "She tried to vaporize us with lasers and then crush us." Really, at this point, she almost - almost - sounded fond. It was easy for Garnet to not hold any hard feelings about it. After all, she'd destroyed Peridot's body by brutally crushing her torso in her hands, and all. It had been very cathartic.
Tip	"Where did she even get lasers?" Tip did not remember any lasers in Peridot's limb enhancers.
Garnet	"In her limb enhancers," Garnet replied easily. Because of course there had been lasers in her limb enhancers. "And in the derelict Gem colony ship she lured us into." Crafty little Gem.
Tip	Tip shook her head. "But when did she even do that? I just saw her this weekend. She and my friend bonded over being alien-fish out of space-water."
Garnet	Garnet looked at Tip in silence for a moment. Maybe she didn't understand the turn of phrase. Maybe she was trying to piece the rest of that mystery together. Maybe she just liked standing there quietly for a few beats too long before replying. "Would that be the weekend that saw friends and family visiting the island?" Friends, family, and the occasional looming space rocks?
Tip	"Well -- yeah. You were there." Tip and Garnet hadn't talked there, but Garnet was hard to miss.
Garnet	"I was," Garnet agreed. "Over a month ago." It had been a very eventful week. Apparently a full month's worth of eventful. "It helps if you think of time as a river," she noted. "Or a series of rivers. At certain points, they flow more quickly, or branch off into other rivers entirely. This timeline is flowing faster than that of the island, at the moment. Peridot has had plenty of time to shoot a few lasers."
Tip	"I guess that makes about as much sense as alternate earths do," Tip said. "Does that mean time travel is like swimming up or downstream?" She was going to have to tell J.Lo all about this later.
Garnet	"That would depend," Garnet deadpanned, "on how good you are at swimming." And on what ancient Gem artifacts you happened to be misusing at any given point in time for the express purpose of making snappy comebacks or building your own personal band out of alternate versions of yourself.
Tip	Or using the power of a moon-core powered death ray to go back and try to fix a mistake only to be the thing that actually ended up causing it in the first place! "Wait. Does this mean we might go back to school and end up having missed a month of classes?"
Garnet	"That is one possibility," Garnet agreed. And really, she would know. "Or you might go back to find that you've only been gone a matter of hours. Time can be slippery that way." Did Garnet know which it was? Probably. Was Garnet going to tell? Nah.
Tip	"That sucks," Tip said. "I mean, classes at Fandom aren't really very . . . traditional . . . but I still probably don't want to miss a month of them." And what about fall break? They were going to stay in a castle! Peridot better appreciate this.
Garnet	Garnet nodded her head faintly. "It isn't an easy thing to do," she acknowledged, "and what we're up against here is very dangerous. Are you certain this is where you want to be? There's still time to leave before the cluster tries to form."
Tip	Tip shook her head. "Peridot's my friend. If I can help, I'm going to do it."
Garnet	"Well," Garnet glanced up at the roar of the pink Lion that Steven was talking to. "Then we had better be on our way."
Rufus	As amusing as Peridot's failed attempts at killing people were (and they were amusing, deeply) Rufus drifted off after Peridot instead. It seemed more productive and he would like this trip to not be a total waste of his time. "What are you checking?" he asked, once he was close enough.
Jalian	Jalian was heading after Peridot, too; there was no telling what other dangers there might be around here. "Can I help?" she offered.
Peridot	"No, I'm fine," Peridot said, a little triangle vanishing into the cockpit of the drill for a moment before she peered her head out again. "I was just checking to see if we had coordinates. We still need the Cluster's exact coordinates in order to drill!" Spoiler: They did not have such a thing.
Rufus	Of course they didn't. Why make this easy on them? "And?" Rufus prompted.
Peridot	"And if we don't get them, we all die?" Peridot, that wasn't very reassuring, there.
Pearl	Fortunately, Pearl stepped forward to mediate. More or less. "There's a Diamond Base that may hold that information," she mused, "but getting there is going to be difficult."
Rufus	"You mean you'll die. I won't," Rufus pointed out. He couldn't resist. Because really. If death was the only outcome, he was taking a portal out of here. "Where would we have to get to in order to obtain the coordinates?" he asked Pearl.
Pearl	Pearl almost - almost looked apologetic. For a whole second. "It's not accessible by warp pad," she noted. "It's on--" She gestured upwards with one hand.
Steven	Steven gasped. "The moon!"
Pearl	"Yes, Steven. The moon." Because of course it was on the moon.
Jalian	Jalian frowned. "Is there a means of getting there?"
Steven & Lion	Never fear, all. Steven Universe had this situation handled. With a grin on his face, he ran over to the large, pink feline who was laying down nearby. "Come on, Lion, we gotta do this to stop the Cluster!" The lion didn't seem terribly impressed, cracking open one eye to look at Steven coolly. "If we don't there's gonna be no more Earth! No more fun times with your pals, no more Lion Lickers... no more naps?" Ah, that was what it took. Lion stood up and loosed a roar, his eyes glowing white. "Guess it was naps," Steven mused, shrugging. And then he gestured for everyone to climb aboard. The lion. Yes.
Rufus	Rufus made no move to go anywhere near the pink lion. "...There's no atmosphere out in space," he said, unimpressed. "How are we supposed to breathe?" He was willing to buy that the Gems didn't need to, but he did.
Pearl	"There ought to be adequate atmosphere within the walls of the base," Pearl said easily, even as she was shooed onto the lion's back courtesy of Steven. "Just so long as we stay inside, you'll all be fine."
Peridot	Peridot eyed Lion warily. And then was basically herded up into his mane, also courtesy of Steven. "This was not what I had in mind," she muttered, sourly. She expected to be sitting on the creature's head, but her bottom half, anything inside the mane, appeared to be... dangling into nothingness. She wasn't going to ask why or how.
Tip	Tip came over after talking to Garnet and climbed willingly enough onto Lion. She'd taken weirder forms of transportation. A hoverbutt, for instance. At least this one was larger than a dinner plate. "I'm assuming the magic pink lion knows where it's going, right?"
Jalian	Jalian frowned at the lion but climbed on. "How does it get us from here to there without our needing to breathe?"
Garnet	Garnet simply followed along a few steps behind, standing beside Lion in case anybody else needed help climbing aboard. "Magic." ... Probably.
Rufus	"That's not particularly reassuring," Rufus said, as he finally climbed on the lion. He had his PHS out and was recording. For reasons.

[OOC: MORE CANON... more or less. Getting into the It Could Have Been Great chunks of canon, and will be pushing all the way through to Gem Drill as we go. Preplayed with the fantabulous sith_happened, studyingfear, intotheout, and kenselvren, and there is plenty more to come, which will get dumped into the comments as I code it or liveplayed in here. After work. La.]

Comments

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Anakin	"No!" Anakin said. "Planet destroying is not a good thing." And he knew from planet destroying.
Peridot	Peridot made a disgruntled sound of frustration right about the same time Steven made a dive for the crystal in her hand, and since her arm was being held in place, there wasn't exactly anything she could do to stop him. "Why do I keep sticking my neck out for you? You're never gonna be on our side!" He clutched the thing close, and then made a break for the barn door. "Garnet! Amethyst! Pearl!" "Steven, no!" Peridot wriggled and squirmed, trying to free herself from Jalian's grip. "Don't get them! Steven! Release me!"
Tip	Tip thought about J.Lo and how mad he got when she always second guessed his plans. Maybe Peridot was onto something? Maybe the diamonds would help? She didn't know Steven as well; she didn't know if he was overreacting or not. So she ran after him and tackled him, sending the crystal flying. "Heyyyy!" he cried, and tried to scramble after it again. Tip sat on him. "Let's at least hear her out, okay?" Tip looked back at Peridot. "What's your actual plan?"
Peridot (et al)	Peridot's plan, apparently, was to pull herself free of Jalian and make a dive for the communicator, clutching it fiercely to her chest and turning to Steven with a hiss. The overall effect was a bit like that of a mildly irritated kitten, but she figured she got her point across. The fact that the Crystal Gems were appearing in the barn doorway in response to Steven's cries mostly just served to make Peridot growl again, this time in frustration, and then drop down to all fours to scamper out of the barn, blowing right by them as she went and earning a few confused looks from the trio as she did so. "Did she have--" A bemused Pearl asked, looking back over her shoulder. "Yep," Garnet agreed. And then she called her gauntlets to her. This was going well.
Jalian	Jalian scowled and stepped between the Gems and where Peridot had gone. "No. You won't be hurting her."
Steven	Peridot looked over her shoulder as she ran, giving a delighted little cackle. This was what friends were for, right? Steven didn't seem quite so thrilled, squirming and writhing under Tip. He probably could have picked her up and thrown her- he did have the partial strength of a Quartz, after all - but there were some things you just didn't do. "Peridot, I trusted you! I spend all that time bonding and hoping and caring about you!"

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Peridot	Peridot could barely hear, rounding on her heel and holding up the communicator. "You don't get it either! This is your whole problem! Your emotions rule out reason!" She turned the top half of the crystal so that the yellow facet aligned with the yellow facet on the bottom, and then stepped back with a satisfied smile as the whole device began to glow, and then lifted into the air. "I will do what has to be done!" ... That would be the Gems, ducking quickly into the barn and out of sight as a hologram formed, revealing the somewhat distracted face of a yellow Pearl. "This is the Yellow Diamond control room," she said, sounding dryly unimpressed. "Who authorized you to make this call?" "No-one," Peridot replied, looking somewhat chagrined. "B-b-but this is an emergency!"
Tip	Tip noticed the other gems hiding away and did her best to stay out of the crystal's . . . camera? . . . range. While she blatantly listened in on the conversation. As you do.
Yellow Diamond	Peridot still looked as though she was sweating bullets as the Pearl on the other side of the call turned up her nose at her. "That's no excuse to use the direct Diamond communication channel--" "Pearl." The voice that came from offscreen was calm. Poised. Cold. "Yes, my Diamond?" "Why is there someone on the Diamond line?" "I don't know," the Pearl said, sounding... frightened? Frightened. "I was just about to tell her that-" "I'll take it from here." A giant hand came into view on the screen, re-angling the crystal on her own end so that it was directed toward her face. She didn't so much as look toward Peridot, however, her expression bored. Inconvenienced.
Peridot	"My diamond!" Peridot struck a pose that could only be a salute, crossing her arms over her chest and bending her hands back so that when her fingertips touched, the overall shape created a diamond. "Peridot, reporting in." "Which Peridot?" "F-Facet-2F5L, Cut-5XG." Peridot herself looked as though she was going to just faint at any moment, clearly nervous. "I'm sorry to contact you this way, but all other forms of communications have been destroyed and--"
Yellow Diamond	Yellow Diamond held up a hand, signalling for silence. She was looking at a monitor on her end of the call, frowning in annoyance. "This says you're behind schedule on your mission to..." A sudden spark of fierce interest flared up in her eyes, and she looked toward Peridot for the first time during the call. "How is... the Earth?" "It's..." Peridot grimaced a little. "Full of life?" "Organic life," Yellow Diamond replied, disgust dripping from every drawn out syllable. "And where is the Jasper I assigned you? And why aren't you calling from the ship?" "The ship was destroyed," Peridot said, wincing. "By whom?" The menace in Yellow Diamond's voice was thick and clear. If the ship had been destroyed on a mission to Earth...

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Rufus	So, it turned out, Rufus was only mostly out of fucks to give, because when Peridot clambered out of the barn on all fours--Shiva's tits, she had no dignity at all--and summoned a... Well. That was one way to make a phone call. Rufus weighed the odds of being able to get close enough to hear and remain unnoticed with how long the Diamond was likely to let Peridot talk and, reluctantly, decided it was probably a lost cause. But he was watching. Peridot's expressions would still tell him something.
Peridot	By whom? Who destroyed the ship? Peridot looked around frantically for a second before replying. "I-I-I-It was destroyed by..." She stared at the barn for a few seconds. "No one! There was... an accident... while we were...landing?" Oof. That wasn't terribly convincing. Even Yellow Diamond raised an eyebrow skeptically. "I'll inform your manager of your incompetence. And what is the status of The Cluster?" "The Cluster..." Peridot chewed her lip, "will emerge shortly." "Good." Yellow Diamond's voice sounded pleased for the first time in the conversation. "We'll finally get some use out of that miserable planet... Thank you for your report, Peridot. There'll be a ship heading to your location to take you to your next assignment." Yellow Diamond reached to terminate the call. "Wait!" Okay. Okay okay okay, Peridot could do this. "I-I wouldn't have called just to waste your time with a report." "You already have," Yellow Diamond replied in a tone so dry that Peridot balked and cringed away from the screen. "No," she managed, "I mean... the reason I called... the real reason is... I believe we should terminate The Cluster."
Yellow Diamond	"... Why?" "The organic ecosystem creates resources unique to this world," Peridot explained quickly, "we can't sacrifice all that potential just for one geo-weapon! I'd like to tell you some plans I came up with to utilize a planet without disrupting the local-" "I've heard enough!" And now the Diamond's voice was coldly condescending, her words coming out clipped, pronouncing each syllable carefully. "I don't care about potential and resources." "What?!" Peridot was absolutely gobsmacked. With Homeworld as low on resources as it was, a statement like that made no sense at all. It... it was insanity. "I want my Cluster," Yellow Diamond said, "and I want that planet to die. Just make that happen." "No!" The word exploded out of Peridot's mouth almost before she was aware she was going to say it, and the second it had, she looked like she was going to be ill. Which would be a mean feat for a Gem, but special circumstances...

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Jalian	Jalian scowled at the Diamond. She was tempted, very tempted, to march up there and have it out with her. But she couldn't exactly knife her, and Peridot seemed to have words covered for the moment, so... Jalian grumped and stayed where she was, poised to run out there if anything happened.
Yellow Diamond	Peridot looked faint. The Pearl on the other side of the line gasped. Yellow Diamond... Yellow Diamond looked like she was about to shatter somebody. "Are you questioning my authority?!" "I'm... questioning your objectivity!" Peridot fell into another diamond-shaped salute, sweat forming on her face. "My Diamond." "You," the screen's view shifted as Yellow Diamond stood, her Pearl shrinking out of the way to avoid being crushed underfoot, "are out of line." "I just think-" "I'm not interested in the puny thoughts of a Peridot!" "But-" "You," Yellow Diamond snarled, "have disrespected this channel and my time with your presence and you would do well to-" "But-" "Shut your mouth!" The sound came forth from the communicator so fiercely that Peridot clamped her mouth shut by reflex, shrinking away from the angry Diamond's reprimand. "You have failed at every stage of this mission. Your only chance to redeem yourself is to obey this simple order. You are to leave the Cluster to grow. It will tear apart the Earth, and I will take immense satisfaction in erasing that hideous rock off of our star maps. Is that clear?!"
Peridot	"I won't do it!" And once again, Peridot was raising her voice, going from an outburst to a full-on screaming tirade, zero to sixty. "I can tell you with certainty that there are things on this planet worth protecting!" "What," Yellow Diamond yelled back, "do you know about the Earth?" "Apparently more than YOU! You... CLOD!!" If looks could kill, the one that Yellow Diamond gave Peridot would have turned her gem into dust. The Crystal Gems clamped hands over their mouths to keep from gasping aloud, and Peridot fell into another hasty salute, eyes wide, before spitting out a quick, "Peridot, out!" She snatched the communicator, terminated the call, and stared with wide, horrified eyes at the crystal in her hand.

[kenselvren]

Jalian was still scowling at where the Diamond had been when she came out to see Peridot. "Idiot. Her, I mean." She nodded her head toward where the picture had been. "Will it make any difference?"

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Peridot stared at the crystal in mute shock for another few seconds, distantly aware that she was being spoken to. It was Garnet, then, who stepped up to answer Jalian's question while the little green Gem processed what had just gone on.

"Yellow Diamond has a grudge against Earth," she explained, though she was looking pleased at what had just transpired. Look at Peridot, all grown up and telling off the elites. "It marks the site of the first real loss that Homeworld's empire ever experienced. She's made it personal."

"I can't believe I just did that," Peridot lamented, somehow managing to look more green than usual.

[kenselvren]

"Good for you," Jalian said. "She deserved it. So," she said to Garnet, "no difference then. Unless she'll try to stop us?"

[made_of_love]

"She'll try," Garnet replied, giving one short nod. "The Cluster is a revenge that she's had in the making for thousands of years. She'll try. She'll have a difficult time of it if she thinks she'll be able to get Homeworld forces here in time to stop us, though."

"I can't believe I just did that," Peridot said again, sounding dazed. Very, very dazed.

[kenselvren]

"Why not?" Jalian asked.

Then, belatedly, "Both of you."

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"Because we've destroyed every means of getting here that isn't direct space travel," Garnet said at the exact same time Peridot groaned again, holding the communicator up in the air.

The other Gems were catching up to them now, Amethyst crowing a victorious, "Yellow D got torn down by the Peri-dactyl!"

"Can one of you take this?" Peridot wasn't even looking at who she was holding the communicator to, just so long as it wasn't in her hand.

[kenselvren]

Jalian took it, then shrugged and looked around, and Pearl took it from her.

"She won't stop us, then," she answered Garnet, then nodded to Peridot. "You stood up to your leader when she wasn't acting for the good of the tribe. It was your duty."

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"Why am I holding this?" Pearl blinked down at the communicator curiously.

"Because it can be detonated remotely," Peridot muttered numbly, and then balled herself up a little bit more, ignoring the Gems' reactions to this news as the communicator started to glow a dangerous red. "... My duty?"

The fact that they were all apparently about to die was taking a back seat to this.

"... You really think so?"

[kenselvren]

"Ken Selvren ways are not Gem ways," Jalian said. "But the leader is supposed to do what's best for the tribe. If she isn't, it is the job of every woman to speak out against her, to ensure the tribe's safety."

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Peridot looked up at Jalian quietly while Pearl and Amethyst threw the communicator-now-bomb back and forth a few times. Steven bubbled it.

Garnet punched the thing into the stratosphere, where it made for a fantastic light show in the distance.

"... Uuuuuuuuuggggghhhhh," Peridot said, because that seemed easier than processing everything that was going on. And then, for good measure, she balled herself up tighter and said it again.

[kenselvren]

Jalian rolled her eyes, picked up Peridot, and set her on her feet. "It's done. No point in worrying after."