Library, Monday

[intotheout]

Thanks to her conversation with Peridot in class, Tip spent the first chunk of her shift today looking up geology, specifically the way scientists had come up with to identify different minerals.

Well shit. Geologists did lick rocks after all. She was never going to hear the end of this.

[open!]

Comments

[intotheout]

"I bet you're still a lot better at Fandom than they would be."

[era_two_triangle]

"Well, I don't eat garbage, at least."

Like Amethyst did.

"... I'm going to miss it here when it's my turn to go. I didn't realize how short a year really was until coming here."

[intotheout]

"I thought gems didn't eat anything at all," Tip said, then frowned. "We're going to miss you, too. You're not going to stick around after school ends?"

[era_two_triangle]

"The ones who can shapeshift can," Peridot muttered, a little sore about that one. "Can I stick around? Beyond the summer, I mean?"

Summer had left right away. That had hurt, a little.

[intotheout]

"I don't see why not," Tip said. "There's plenty of people who just live in town and don't go to school."

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot fidgeted a little.

"I suppose the Diamonds wouldn't find me here," she said, at length.

Calling Yellow a clod hadn't been one of her more intelligent life choices.

[intotheout]

"They probably wouldn't. Though . . . do you miss your own universe?"

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot shrugged a little, and now she was kind of hugging the book to her chest.

"I miss my Homeworld," she settled on. "I miss the barn. I can have one of two of those things."

[intotheout]

"Which one are you going to go back to after school?"

[era_two_triangle]

"The barn," Peridot replied. "I'd be shattered on Homeworld within minutes. And... I don't think Pumpkin would be very happy there anyway."

[intotheout]

"Barns are probably way better for pumpkins," Tip agreed. "Guess you're kinda . . . stuck when it comes to Homeworld, huh."

[era_two_triangle]

"There's no going back." Peridot hugged the book a little more tightly. "I'm a traitor to my Homeworld. But Earth is good. Earth is freedom."

And that was new. And that was good.

[intotheout]

"Still has to suck a little. I mean, I'm really glad you're here and you've adjusted so well, but still. I'd hate to never be able to go home again."

She'd seen a little of how hard it was, thanks to the Boov, who didn't even have a homeworld anymore. That was about as close as she ever wanted to get to that feeling.

[era_two_triangle]

"I mean... it's not great," Peridot said, and wow, was it hard to look anywhere in anyone's direction right now. Weren't Tip's feet great, though? "But I get to be a person, here. That's good, right?"

[intotheout]

"Yeah," Tip said, giving her a small smile even if she wasn't looking. "That's real great."

[era_two_triangle]

"Yeah," Peridot echoed, and then stood there quietly for a few more seconds before shaking herself out of it and looking up at Tip again all of a sudden. "So! Did you find anything else interesting about geological studies on Earth?"

HEY LOOK A TOPIC CHANGE.

Peridot didn't do caring and sharing time well.

[intotheout]

"Well, some rocks are really really really really really old," Tip said.

"Billions of years" definitely required that many "really"s.

[era_two_triangle]

"Older than the Earth," Peridot agreed, smiling at that. "Meteorites that came here from elsewhere could be. And the volcanic rock that formed this world in the first place... some of that is still around, too."

She had a soft place in her heart for volcanic rock.

[intotheout]

"Yep. And when your personal time-frame barely reaches 100 years? That's crazy."

[era_two_triangle]

Was it safe to say that Peridot loathed the human life expectancy?

Peridot loathed it. A lot.

"A hundred years," she echoed, and nodded, looking down at Pumpkin, now, who was content to sit and try to chew on her own foot. "That's not all that much at all."

[intotheout]

"Yeah, but we pack in a lot."

[era_two_triangle]

"More than most Gems do," Peridot agreed. "It's really no wonder the Crystal Gems believe that Earth is a world worth saving."

And since she was one of them now too, hey, she fit right in.

Sorta.

[intotheout]

". . . What's the difference between a Crystal Gem and a regular Gem?"

[era_two_triangle]

"The Crystal Gems were the rebel Gems who stood up against Pink Diamond in order to save the Earth," Peridot explained. "The original traitors to Homeworld. But... Earth's heroes. There's no real difference physically. It's... It's a mindset."

[intotheout]

"Like a superhero team," Tip mused. "Like the Y-Men. I get it."