IC RADIO CONTACT

[starseedling]

✆CHANNEL FREQUENCY: 123.78383
DESCRIPTION: Steven will be fairly quick to answer, on average, but it's also entirely possible that he'll forget his radio or get distracted from answering.

✉MAIL BOX LOCATION: Mailbox on Door
DESCRIPTION: It's wooden and a little crooked but Steven is gradually covering it in sequins and jewels.

Comments

[periphrasing]

Wait-- What? They were weaponless repair drones, how in the stars did they almost kill you?

[They're getting super off-topic but, Peridot can't let that go uninvestigated.]

[starseedling]

[Whatever, it's not like the topic is probably going anywhere constructive, anyways. Steven pauses to reflect on the event, for the first time in a while. It seems like forever ago.]

Uh... one of them crashed into my house, and I was kind of wrestling with it? But then it tried to go onto the warp pad, and I jumped on it, so we both got warped - and then there were a whole bunch of them in there, and they pushed me out of the warp tunnel into the freezing void in between!

[It was scary and he totally cried!]

Garnet found me before I froze to death and suffocated, though.

[periphrasing]

[She just stares at him in bewilderment for a long moment. Imagining anyone wrestling with a robonoid is... Hm.]

...Wwwow. I didn't even think they were capable of such coordinated attack measures.

[She's not sure if she should be impressed or what.]

Anyway! This is all utterly irrelevant to the real reason why I'm here right now! I asked you whether you were lying because Blue Diamond told me something kind of... Disturbing.

[starseedling]

[His more relaxed expression dims with a grown at that - ah, yes. The topic more disturbing than the casual discussion of his brushes with death: Blue Diamond. What on earth could she had said to make Peridot so upset, though?]

...What did she say?

[periphrasing]

She sighs and wraps her arms around her chest, glancing away.

...It was when I was trying to prove that you're a hybrid. I wanted to tell her about your immunity to the destabilizer weapon-- which is a weapon that no true gem should be capable of resisting. But as soon as I started to explain, she cut me off and told me that any testimony I wanted to give wouldn't matter because...

[She pauses to growl with frustration. It just really doesn't make sense, no matter what way she she tries to slice it, but...]

Because you had already willingly returned to Homeworld with one of her Aquamarines. And that you were on trial there, and that you confessed in front of the Diamond Authority to being Rose Quartz, and to shattering Pink Diamond.

[starseedling]

... I never did that.

[Except, he always knows why it doesn't make any sense to him. It's probably because it's something that's going to happen in the future - and that Blue Diamond must have arrived from a time after he left. That means that almost anything could have happened - it could be a trick on their part. It could just be Blue Diamond misunderstanding something. It could be that he actually did turn himself in, and lie about his identity.

But, he doesn't know. That uncertainty is momentarily dizzying.]

Not... not before I came here, anyway. [He looks up at Peridot, searching.] It's like... how time travel's weird, between here and home. Maybe Blue Diamond saw something we haven't even done yet?

[periphrasing]

[Peridot sits up a little straighter. She's looking agitated again, not at Steven, but just in general.]

Yes! That was my precise theory as well. It's the only feasible explanation, I mean, you would have told me if something like that happened. But that still leaves us with the big, big problem of why? Why in the cosmos would you ever do something like that?

[The look she ends that thought on is one aimed directly at him, pleading for some kind of explanation.]

[starseedling]

[It's not really a fun thing to think about, and that shows on his face. It's really just been a matter of time until something brought them against Homeworld again, isn't it? Especially considering...]

I... I kind of told Eyeball that I was Rose Quartz? But that was just because we were probably dying in space and I guess I wanted to try to make happy... but then she just tried to stab me and stuff.

[He crosses his arms, frowning.]

Maybe... I didn't have a choice?

[periphrasing]

...That... I don't really want to think about the implications for Earth, if that theory turns out to be correct.

[She kind of sinks onto the table, one hand in her hair.]

It's bad enough that Blue Diamond is here at all, but I really don't like the fact that she's apparently so far ahead of us in the time-stream. It puts us at a significant disadvantage for combating her.

[starseedling]

I don't like it either... I didn't even realize she'd seen me before. She didn't act like she had! But I guess Lapis told her I was here first, so I didn't really see her first impression or anything...

[It's not like she's very easy to read, he guesses.]

But what are we supposed to do? I feel like I need to... stop her? But she isn't even doing anything!

[periphrasing]

Like I told Lapis, I think our best bet is to use her own weapon against her. Figuratively speaking, of course.

[starseedling]

[Steven gapes.]

She has a weapon?!

[periphrasing]

What-- NO! Figuratively, I said FIGURATIVELY! You know-- [She flaps one hand.] Like a metaphor!

[AKA those things that she's kind of terrible at detecting in most other circumstances.]

[starseedling]

Oh! A metaphor!

[Okay, he knows what a metaphor is. That totally makes sense. He puts a hand on his chin and nods, like he is totally on the same page as her now.]

I see! But, um... what is her... figurative weapon, then?

[periphrasing]

The Ringmaster, obviously. She's using her deal with the Ringmaster to put us at a disadvantage and get something that she wants, so it follows that one or more of us could sign a new contract to do the same thing.

[starseedling]

Oh... right.

[That gives Steven a great deal of pause. He'd been considering the same thing, ever since talking to Blue Diamond... he hadn't even considered asking for something of that magnitude. Probably because usually bringing people back from the dead like that doesn't seem possible. Maybe gems work by different rules, though?

There's so much that he could ask for, though. Couldn't he ask for Earth's protection from Homeworld? Or something that would allow him to heal the corrupted gems? There are so many things. The idea of staying here only one year seems impossible, sometimes.]

There are so many things we could ask for... [He sounds more subdued now, like the concept makes him uncomfortable.]

There's just so much that still needs to be fixed, and it doesn't feel like I can do anything about it, back home. If Pink Diamond really came back... would it really be that bad? It's been so...

[It's caused so much pain.]

[periphrasing]

[Peridot frowns at him.]

I'm not saying we undo that. [Muttering:] Mostly because I don't think the Ringmaster would allow us to counteract another person's contract by having her do the exact opposite. We wish for something to prove your innocence, or make it so that the Diamonds all collectively forget about Earth. Something like that!

[starseedling]

That second one sounds nice, actually.

[Steven frowns, looking contemplative as he stares off at the floor.]

Even if it means having to work here longer...

[Which he's sort of uncomfortable about, at the moment. A year is still a long time for him.]

[periphrasing]

Well it's not like you would have to be the one to make that contract, necessarily. Anyone else from our world could take on the burden just as easily. Like Pearl! You should ask Pearl. She's all about putting herself on the line to save the Earth and stuff like that, right?

[Hope you weren't expecting Peridot to suggest that she might do something altruistic herself, LOL.]