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serendipitous-posts · 5 years ago

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Lapidot Week - Day Five; Confessions

All the "I love you"'s throughout the years

@lapidot-week

"I think I love you."

Peridot glances up from the microwave she's been experimenting with. Lapis is hovering a ways away, the genuinely puzzled look on her face betraying her bland tone.

Peridot puts down the microwave "what?" She asks, because what?

Lapis just stares dramatically off into the distance, like one of those movie stars on the television. "Well, at the very least I don't despise you anymore" she says, then shrugs "I dunno, I was just watching you" she makes a vague gesture with her hands "tinker, and I realised that I like you."

"Gee, thanks" Peridot huffs, turning back around so Lapis can't see her smile.

"I think I love you."

They're watching Andy fly off in his plane (and fighting the urge to blow it up) when Peridot says it.

Lapis turns to regard her, and the little Gem is holding the wedding cake, staring at it with bafflement. "Why though?" She asks, because that seems like a reasonable response. The look Peridot gives her, the same one she gives when Lapis refers to herself as useless, or a waste of space, tells her that she disagrees.

"I asked Steven about this whole 'marriage' thing, and he told me that when two people love each other very much, they decide to live together forever. We live together, so, by reverse engineering this marriage thing, then I love you!" She beams, obviously proud of herself for figuring this out.

Lapis snorts and nods her head "fair enough."

It's watching Camp Pining Hearts that they finally realise what love actually means.

They spend the rest of the night rewatching the show, and not meeting each others eyes.

They stop saying it after that.

"You're my best friend" Peridot says instead.

"I care about you" Lapis will say.

After all, they're Gems. They can't feel that way.

Lapis goes to the moon, tail tucked between her legs, tired in a way she hasn't been in ages.

She originally only stopped there for a quick rest, but then finds an Observation Orb. It's just a quick checkup, making sure that Peridot is okay with the others, a brief glance then she's gone.

. . . . . . she looks so sad.

So Lapis spends weeks, in the same sitting position, watching Peridot interact with other creatures.

I love you sits on her tongue, but she doesn't say it.

There's nobody to say it to.

Lapis returns, and what a return! Dropping their barn on a Diamond!

(Later, she'll be mad at all of the Meep-Morps that were destroyed, but for now-)

Peridot bounds across the beach towards Lapis (Lapis! Peridot felt as if her Gem was full of fizz and stars.), kicking up sand when she skids to a stop.

So many things to say, now that Lapis is here (Lapis! Is! Here! In front of her!) but all she can manage is "hey."

She doesn't seem to comment on the dress Peridot is wearing, or the Wedding Outfits or the Wedding or the realisation that Gems can, in fact feel that way towards another.

(That had been a shock for Peridot, realising that she and Lapis could be-)

I love you, she thinks, I love you, I love you, I love youIloveyou-

No words come out though, and the Diamonds are rising once more, so Lapis turns away from her.

They regenerate, and barely have any time to talk before they're making a beeline towards the nearest scrapyard, trying to build themselves a ship.

Lapis hasn't felt this out of place in a long time.

It's not just because Peridot is angry that she left and stole their entire house in the process, though that doesn't hurt. No, the worst of it is just how . . . close Peridot and Bismuth are.

Lapis doesn't even know Bismuth, yet here she is with Peridot, relaxed and happy, and friendly. Oh, she's nice to Lapis too, but she and Peridot have something special, the kind of bond that could only happen between an Engineer and a Builder; light, cheerful, full of terms that Lapis can't even begin to understand.

She's sitting down, watching them banter back and forth sulkily, when Peridot runs off to find another wrench, and it's then that Bismuth turns to her. "You alright over there?" She calls, face open and friendly, and Lapis shouldn't hate her but she does.

In response, she hums noncommittally, and watches Peridot's retreating figure. Bismuth follows her line of sight and laughs, deep and understanding. "You don't have to worry, y'know" she says.

"I don't?" Lapis challenges, because that is what she's always done, always pushed.

Bismuth shrugs, looking unbothered by her aggressive tone "well, yeah. She likes me, but she loves you."

Then she turns away and gets back to building, leaving Lapis alone to her thoughts.

It takes one year, two months and almost seven days for the phrase to be used again.

Their relationship is at best undefined, and at worst a paradox. Some of their friends think that they're dating, while others just think they're 'gals being pals'. Not even Lapis or Peridot are sure what's going on. Sudden awareness, of being on the precipice of something, but unsure what that something is. Things that could be described as dates, or flirting, fell into this undefined grey area with them.

The rule was simple; don't look too hard, or everything will be gay.

Then, slowly, things begin to change. Surprisingly, Lapis is the one to actually kick start it all, instead of the usual proactive Peridot.

They're at the Arcade, absolutely killing it at Meat Beat Mania, when Lapis finally works up the courage to say "I really like you Peridot." Peridot drops her meat, and promptly bursts into tears. Before Lapis can even begin to panic, Peridot is climbing Lapis and throwing her arms around her neck, the sounds of the Game Over screen behind them.

Lapis teases her about this for a bit, at least until Peridot has the idea to give her flowers; roses. She had burst into tears, and Peridot had panicked and dropped the bouquet in the mud.

As an apology, Lapis sent her a bouquet of her own; Blue Orchids, like the ones that had been on their farm.

Peridot leaves her funny little notes; you're doing great! Remember to smile! Kick their butts! They never fail to get Lapis to smile.

And, finally, there is a day when Peridot finally says "I love you Lapis", only for Lapis to start laughing and crying at the same time.

I love you too, Peri.

Lapis tasts like saltwater and crisp cotton and it is the most amazing thing Peridot has ever experienced.

"I love you" Lapis says, pulling back a bit "I love you ,Peri, I love you so-"

Peridot cuts her off with another kiss.

#steven universe #lapidot #lapidot week #steven universe lapis #peridot #steven universe peridot #bismuth #steven universe fanfic

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krisseycrystal · 5 years ago

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rated: t

fandom: Steven Universe

prompt: “Drunken Shenanigans” + BisPearl

requested by: Anon

SO UH a while ago a super sweet anon here on Tumblr req’d BisPearl + “Drunken Shenanigans” and the idea is GALAXY BRAIN let’s be real i just had to uh...take lots of creative liberties with ancient gem tech to fabricate a reason/way/method gems could become any semblance of “drunk”

then this 5k monster was born because i also felt like indiana jones-ing it and having a LOT of silly shenanigans

i haven’t written this long of a oneshot in a long while but it was FUN and i hope somewhere, out there, that anon that requested this enjoys it! if anyone else wants to req anything, i have about 3 fluff bingo prompts left so have at it

- o - o - o -

Open Again, My Home [Read on AO3]

- o - o - o -

Here’s the thing about exploring ancient gem ruins to assist an “infected” outpost gem colony on the fringes of gem-controlled space dealing with a problem caused by long-forgotten and time-corroded gem technology: if something in this abandoned temple is a potential threat to gemkind, then it is doubly threatening to humankind.

There are only two things keeping Pearl from completely freaking out: one, that Garnet has silently sworn that she won’t let go of Steven’s hand, and two, that Bismuth and Peridot--the only other two Crystal Gems who might know something about what they’re walking into--are with them.

“Whoa-ho-ho!”

Steven’s laughter is infectious: bright and booming. It bounces up and down the crumbling stone walls, and it would be comforting; it would be wonderful to hear; it would probably make her smile, if it didn’t remind Pearl every five minutes that he is here when he probably (no, definitely) should not be.

Steven’s gloved hands run over a long banner of ancient gem glyphs carved into the stone. A thin cord of light runs along the border, where a red dot zips down its surface. It lights up the transparent bubble of Steven’s helmet and illuminates the stars in his eyes.

“This is so cool…!” he enthuses. The quiet crackle of his suit’s radio underplays the projection of his voice, but does nothing to hide his wonder.

Bismuth scoffs and turns back to look at him. “You’re kidding me, right? That little emergency light-show’s nuthin’.”

“It looks cool.”

Bismuth opens her mouth to answer, but Pearl elbows her and sends her a Look that dries up her words in the middle of her throat. Bismuth holds up her hands. She turns around. “Just sayin’. I can make cooler.”

“Really?!”

“Bismuth, we don’t have time to humor him,” Pearl sighs. The light from her gem swings right and left, carefully analyzing every tile before they step on it. “The longer we’re here, the longer we risk exposure to whatever it is that’s affecting the colony.”

“Not a colony.”

“Outpost.” Pearl’s face squeezes tight. “Right.”

Bismuth watches her. They come to a stop, standing at the forefront of their traveling group. Peridot nearly runs into Bismuth, her eyes glued to the tablet she’s never without. Bismuth puts her hand on Peridot’s head and turns her to the left a few degrees. “You don’t have to be so stressed, Pearl. We’re gonna be fine. Tiny herself said this thing isn’t airborne.”

“It scientifically can’t be,” Peridot agrees, deftly stepping around Bismuth’s legs. “Our light-composed forms would be completely immune to it if it was.”

The hall ends in a T. A perpendicular, second hall stretches right and left. Peridot frowns and looks back down at her glowing screen. She swipes madly with her finger. Amethyst frowns, the epitome of boredom, as she peers over Peridot’s shoulder.

Pearl frowns and wraps her arms around herself. “Yes, I know that.”

“As far as I have been able to surmise, the virus is spread through direct contact with one’s gem.”

“Yes, I know, Peridot.”

“Besides, it’s not fatal to gems. It just makes us act strange.”

“I know.”

“Then relax?” Bismuth suggests. She looks Pearl’s rigid form up and down; there’s nothing but tension in her now. “We’re careful. We’re pro’s at fixing things for gem ex-colonies by this point. Besides, we ain’t gonna touch anything in here, Pearl. Peridot and her robonoids have got this covered.”

“I know. I know.” Pearl sighs again. She holds her forehead in her hand. “I just--”

“--ah-ha!” Peridot cheers and with a dramatic pose, directs the group left. “The central maintenance hub should be this way!”

“Woo-hoo!” Steven cheers with both fists in the air.

Bismuth looks to Pearl again. Pearl gives her a small, pained smile, turning away. Amethyst squeezes beyond them to follow on Peridot’s heels with a quiet, faux-accented, “Excuse me.” Steven giggles behind them after Garnet quietly murmurs something.

Bismuth follows Pearl down the darkened corridor.

- o - o - o -

“Interesting…”

“Whatcha got, Peri?”

“The cave-in above those towers.” Peridot taps her screen and zooms in on the data her robonoids are rapidly inputting. The tiny green orbs crawl all over the corroded remains of the temple’s central mainframe. “This planet’s strange merqua must’ve corroded away the temple stone, causing the ceiling to collapse over a couple hundred years ago.”

“Oh?” Amethyst pushes back the lock of her hair that wants to slip in front of her face. “Is, uh, that important to figuring out how to stop this virus?”

Peridot hums, tapping her finger against her chin. “Perhaps not. Unless determining how the virus came to be is our key to creating a cure.”

Pearl tries maybe too hard not to appear like she’s listening in. She stands like a sentry next to Garnet as Garnet sits cross-legged on the floor, both lap and arms full of a slumbering, space-suited and self-proclaimed moon boy.

When Peridot begins pacing again, stepping away and continually reading her screen, murmuring nonsense under her breath, Amethyst groans. She flips her long, white mane over her face and drags her feet towards the others. “Ugh! This is so boring. I wish we had something to fight.”

“Be careful what you wish for,” Garnet murmurs.

Amethyst flops onto her face at Garnet’s knee. Her hair cushions her fall.

Pearl smiles. Her hand curls over her mouth. When she looks to the mainframe again, she sees Bismuth looking at the cave-in. Her broad hands sit on her hips; her mouth is twisted in a way that does nothing to disquiet the anxiety rolling in Pearl’s gut. She puts a hand on the back of Steven’s helmet and then walks over.

“What is it, Bismuth?”

Bismuth glances down at Pearl. “Aw, geez, Pearl. Promise me you’re not gonna flip?”

Pearl’s hands fist in front of her stomach. “Uh. If you tell me what that’s supposed to mean, I’ll think about it.”

Bismuth holds up a finger aimed at the ceiling cave-in. “That merqua is corrosive stuff, right? It ate right through the stone infrastructure of this temple. Course, it took time for that stone to break down, but that stuff’s been sitting here for how long? Centuries?”

“That’s what Peridot said.”

“It’s probably still eating away at this place,” Bismuth mumbles. “No wonder the tech’s all on the fritz. I ain’t ever seen anything like that merqua.”

Pearl lets out a deep and long exhale.

Bismuth turns to her and offers a smile. “Hey, though. Nice job.”

“On what?”

“Not flipping out.”

Pearl’s laugh is too forceful to be genuine. She waves a hand. “Oh, Bismuth, I believe somehow I’ve fooled you if you think this is any semblance of not freaking out.”

“You never did answer me. What’s got you worked up?”

“I--” Pearl stops and looks behind her, to Garnet and the boy curled into her shoulder.

Bismuth nods before Pearl has to say another word. “Steven.”

“Steven,” Pearl sighs. “Look, I realize he’s in that suit and Peridot has assured me over and over again it should protect him, but if it rips and he somehow comes into contact with that merqua, or his gem gets in contact with this virus…”

“If any of us come in contact with that merqua, really.” Bismuth’s face tightens. She scratches the back of her head. “I mean, you did hear me, right? That stuff’s corrosive. That…native liquid to this planet is literally eating through rock and it can malfunction our technology. That’s not something I want anywhere near any of us, human or gem or hybrid.”

“I know, but--”

“--Pearl, maybe for once you should stop bein’ so concerned about someone else, and spare some of that concern for yourself, too.”

Pearl blinks at Bismuth. She opens her mouth as if to say something, stops, and then asks instead, “What, do you think I’m not concerned about my own--”

A shudder runs through the stone of the room as, instantaneously, a loud crack booms loud as thunder.

Steven jerks awake, pulling himself up out of Garnet’s lap. “W-what was that?”

Garnet and Amethyst are on their feet half a second after him.

“Peridot.” Garnet’s voice is low in both warning and question.

Peridot steps back from the towers and monitors. Her fingers hover over her tablet screen, but her eyes roam side-to-side, up-and-down across the chamber. Her gaze lands on the merqua, still steadily dripping down through the broken cracks.

“Uh. I think that was the temple,” Peridot mumbles. “That wasn’t the mainframe.”

Another shudder and a part of the floor drops from under their feet.

It slants at a lopsided angle, the room jaggedly cracked two-thirds of the way across its expanse.

Caught in surprise, Bismuth nearly slips and falls. Pearl grabs her arm to keep her upright. Peridot crashes to the floor with a yelp and a skid until she sticks her heels into the crumbling stonework. Several dark towers, now on uneven ground, crash into one another like dominos. Robonoids squawk as they fall. Sparks sputter and fly, a mini-fireworks show in the dark.

“Are you guys okay?!” Amethyst shouts. She stands square-shouldered in front of Garnet and Steven, on the slender portion of the room that didn’t lurch and tilt out of balance.

Bismuth dusts herself off. “Fine!”

With careful steps, she inches down the floor’s new incline to reach Peridot. Peridot’s eyes are fixed on the gap between the central maintenance hub’s floor and the ceiling of the cavernous room beneath them.

“W-we should get out of here,” Pearl says. “This isn’t safe. Peridot, you have enough data, right?”

Bismuth helps Peridot to her feet and then slowly, up to the other side of the room’s higher floor. Steven and Garnet hurry to extend their hands over the edge’s lip.

Peridot nods, but it’s shaky. “Y-yeah. Wow. That was…something.”

“Yeah,” Bismuth laughs. As soon as Peridot’s on higher, more stable ground, she turns back for Pearl with a breathless smile: more nervous chuckles than anything else. “You can say that again. Let’s just hope that doesn’t happen a--”

The floor drops.

With a great, thundering crack that rips asunder their stability, Pearl and Bismuth fall into open air.

Steven’s scream follows them down--

down--

“Pearl! Bismuth!”

It happens too fast.

Spinning and flapping her arms, Bismuth turns to find Pearl. She reaches out for the speck of white, glimmering teal, and darker blue that she thinks she can see in the middle of the falling temple stone and chunks of floor. Metal crashes behind them, groaning and sparking as it slams into the wall in a free, wild tumble just like them.

And then Bismuth hits the ground.

Earth craters under her. Chunks of floor pierce the ground on either side of her, falling in a dusty upwind. Bismuth coughs and ties to push herself up in the midst of the crashing debris, lifting her head to see if she can find Pearl.

She isn’t sure what it is that makes herself poof: a fallen tower or a piece of what was once the floor--but she knows the instant it happens.

Because all she can think is: shit.

- o - o - o -

Reforming is a surprising challenge and Bismuth doesn’t know how or why or what the heck is keeping her from taking shape until she physically forces the problem away for space to be. Once the glow of her form solidifies, she lands heavily on her knees. A ragged gasp later and Bismuth places a hand on the boulder that had been pinning her down (potentially the one that poofed her?) and pushes herself up to a stand.

“Overalls,” she murmurs. “Nice. I can dig it.”

A glance up and at the pile of broken floor surrounding her brings a grimace to her face. “Literally, I guess.”

After climbing out from under the fallen debris, it takes only a few moments to find Pearl. It takes Bismuth another second to recognize that something must be wrong. Pearl’s curled onto her side, fallen on top of broken and crumpled mainframe towers. She doesn’t seem to be injured. So why isn’t she getting up?

The word cracked doesn’t even finish crossing her mind by the time Bismuth’s already started wobbly descending the rubble, arms outstretched. “Pearl! Answer me, Pearl! Are you okay?”

She doesn’t stir.

Bismuth crashes to her knees beside her and rolls Pearl onto her back. “Pearl! Talk to me!”

And finally, Pearl…laughs?

It’s a laugh Bismuth has never heard, in all the thousands of years she’s known Pearl: high and dreamy, like she’s breathing through clouds and having a great time of it.

“Uh, Pearl?”

“Oh, Bismuth!” And it’s not like Pearl’s voice is particularly different. Maybe there’s a slight slur to her speech and strange saunter to the way she talks, but it shouldn’t be as alarming to Bismuth as it is. Probably. “There…you are. I was worried about you.”

“Uh, yeah. Back atcha.”

Pearl hums and lifts a hand. At first, Bismuth thinks it’s coming for her face but then Pearl tosses her hand back above her head and it lands with an awkward thud on the corner of the tower she’s stretched out on. Pearl giggles. Her shoulders shake, chest lifting up with the motion. She closes her eyes and her head sags towards Bismuth’s knee.

There’s a strange, goopy liquid trailing across her gem, dripping down her right temple and to the metal. Or maybe it came from the exposed innards of the tower?

Oh.

“Aw, gee…” Bismuth swears a colorful storm under her breath. “Pearl, why?”

“Why what?” Pearl blinks slowly.

“Why’d ya have to go and land on the virus?”

“Well, ‘snot my fault. It’s not even on my list.”

Bismuth…tries to follow that line of thought. “Come again?”

“List! My list!” Pearl tosses her hand up again and it falls against Bismuth’s shoulder. Bismuth sighs and gets her hands under Pearl’s shoulder to lift her to her feet as she adds, “You know, the one Amethyst helped me get set up. She’s quite capable, you know. She knows so much more than I do. You know Steven’s been thinking about making a Little Homeworld?”

“Uh-huh.”

Bismuth gets them both standing by the time that she can hear a familiar voice shouting above their heads. She lifts her head to watch a familiar, gleaming pink bubble slowly waft down to them.

“Bismuth! Pearl!” Steven shouts, his voice strange and distant through his suit and bubble. The pink pops away as soon as he lands. “Are you guys all right? You sure fell a long way!”

“Steven, what the heck are you doin’ down here? Don’t tell me Garnet actually let you--no, nuh-uh. Don’t touch her; she’s infected.”

“But I’ve got a suit on! I can help! It’s not like I have a tear in this thing yet; I’ve been super careful and--” Steven brings up his hands to the level of his chest the instant Pearl rolls her head up to see him.

The smile stretching her face is far too wide and bright.

“Steven! You’re okay!” Pearl crows.

“Y-yeah. Uh. Hey, Pearl.”

Pearl takes a step away from Bismuth and wobbles. Immediately, Steven’s gloved hands latch around hers. Her slender knees shake under her as she bends over, elbows bow-legged outward. A giggle runs through her. “Oh, dear. This is a strange feeling.”

“What is?”

“Bops on your head.” Pearl says it so simply, so easily, like it should make sense. When Steven doesn’t answer, she continues, loosely waving a hand. “You know, that apple-falling thing. There were those fig snacks you always enjoyed when you were younger, but only the strawberry ones. Could never get you to eat blueberry until you were seven…”

Steven looks at Bismuth. Bismuth shrugs. “You remember how the other infected gems were acting in the colony?”

“Yeah. Like they were drunk.”

Bismuth makes a strained, odd face. She gestures to Pearl with both hands as Pearl straightens up to frown down at Steven.

“Steven. How do you know how to identify drunken behavior?”

“Uh, well, you see, during our jam sessions, Jenny, Buck, Sour Cream, and Sadie sometimes--”

Bismuth steps in front of him, taking Pearl’s hands and pulling her away. Pearl stumbles into Bismuth’s chest and Bismuth takes extra care to make sure her head is turned away from her gem. “Okay! That’s enough. Let’s just focus on getting us all out of here and rejoining the others. The sooner we do, the sooner we can figure out how to get rid of this virus. Okay? Okay.”

Steven’s booted footfalls behind her are rapid, twice as many for every single stride of Bismuth’s. “Oh! Wait! I know how to get out of here!”

Bismuth stops.

Pearl whips around to look at him. She smiles, nods, then turns to look at Bismuth, smug. “See? ‘Smy smart boy.”

Bismuth doesn’t know what to say to that. She looks over her shoulder to Steven instead. “You do?”

“Yeah! You think I would drop down here after you two without a plan?” he stops, seems to think better of his words, and immediately waves his hands. “Wait, don’t answer that. The others are making their way out of the temple, too. Peridot said she might have enough information to begin working on a cure. Besides, whatever other information she could have gotten is lost, now. So Garnet gave me a future vision kiss and we parted ways and now I know the way out of the temple!”

“Oh.” Bismuth blinks down at Steven.

Pearl grins and pokes Bismuth’s cheek. “You’re impressed.”

“What?”

“Say it. Tell ‘im you’re impressed.”

“What?” Bismuth repeats because her brain feels too full of doe-eyed stupid with Pearl so close to her front that she can’t think of anything else to say. She shakes her head. “Course I’m impressed. This is Steven we’re talkin’ about, here. I’m always impressed with ‘im.”

“Aw, Bismuth!”

Bismuth smiles at the stars in Steven’s eyes and the warm flush in his cheeks. She shakes her head and wants to laugh out loud. Instead, she puts a hand on the back of Steven’s round, transparent helmet and ushers him ahead. “Yeah, yeah. All right. C’mon, then,” she says. “Lead the way, lil man.”

“You got it!”

- o - o - o -

“Oh my gosh. This is hilarious.”

“I know, right?”

“What’s funny?” Pearl looks back at the two pairs of expectant eyes gazing up at her. She smiles and waves back at them, wriggling all the fingers on her right hand.

Amethyst loses it. She clutches at her stomach and rolls onto her back, legs kicking into the air.

Steven laughs, too, but more so at how hard Amethyst is laughing than Pearl’s behavior itself. He grins and looks up at Pearl, who seems pleased at being the object of their humor, grinning airily at them both.

“I mean, it’s kind of funny that I’ve never seen you this relaxed before, Pearl,” Steven hums, propping an elbow up on the couch cushion.

Peal has never slouched for as long as he’s known her. Now, her form is a lazy curve against the back of the couch with her thin legs kicked out before her. She folds her hands over her stomach, the absolute image of comfort. “You haven’t? Huh. Steven, you haven’t seen me like this before.”

“That’s what he just said, man.” Amethyst picks herself up the instant the front screen door of the beach house swings open and Bismuth strides in.

Like a switch has been flipped, Pearl’s face lights up. “Bismuth!”

“H-hey, Pearl. Again.” Bismuth chuckles and doesn’t know what to make of the quick glance Steven and Amethyst throw each other from opposite sides of Pearl. She clears her throat. “How’s she doin’?”

“‘Bout the same,” Steven answers honestly and Pearl makes a move as if to stand.

“Bismuth!” Pearl sings again. Her calf hits the corner of the coffee table and immediately, Amethyst and Steven are on their feet to grab either one of her arms. Pearl wobbles, before righting herself and giggling. “Oh, haha! Stars! Thank you. That would have been an embarr-arra-assing spill.”

Amethyst’s laugh starts in the back of her throat with a shocked, choking sound. “I’m sorry, what was that?”

Bismuth sighs and steps forward to take Pearl’s hand from Steven before Pearl can repeat herself. The corner of her mouth curls up in a humored smile aimed at Amethyst. “Stop it. She can’t help it; you know Pearl would be mortified.”

“Yeah, which is exactly why it’s hilarious.”

Bismuth rolls her eyes and shakes her head. “Anyway, Peridot sent me. She thinks she has an idea she wants to try. Steven, think could we borrow that bottle of Blue’s?”

“Of course!” Before Steven finishes talking, he’s bounding towards the bathroom.

Amethyst has to stifle another laugh behind her hand. “Pearl, what are you doing?”

Bismuth hadn’t even noticed Pearl’s index fingers poking into either side of her bicep as her glassy eyes are fixed on the way the steel-blue tone of Bismuth’s hue bends and warps under the pressure of her touch. Over and over again. Quickly, Pearl withdraws her hands, throwing them behind her own body with such force she nearly topples over. She giggles, her face ice blue, when Bismuth--again--catches her. “N-nothing! Sorry.”

Steven returns with the bottle outstretched. His eyes rake back and forth between Bismuth and Pearl. “Want me to come with?”

“Oh! Oh!” Pearl bounces on the back of her heels and raises her hand up from Bismuth’s hold to her face. “Yes! Me too; me too! Count me in, Bismuth! Wherever you go, I’ll follow! I’m very good at that.”

“Yeah,” Bismuth slowly and awkwardly laughs. “Sure. Why not. We’ll make it a party.” She looks to Amethyst and raises a brow. “You comin’ too?”

“You know it! I ain’t missin’ this!”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought…” Bismuth ruefully grins at the same time Pearl cheers.

- o - o - o -

Peridot’s string of machines and salvaged parts of the outpost temple’s mainframe towers make a curious amphitheatre in the sand. Lapis watches idly, with her arms crossed over her chest, as Peridot runs back and forth between screens and data, huffing and hawing.

“Ugh!” Peridot cries, throwing her hands in the air. “This would be so much better if I had any actual equipment!”

“Well,” Bismuth chimes, holding Pearl up so that she doesn’t sag onto the sand, “Pearl mentioned something about a Little Homeworld I think. Maybe that’ll help you get some, uh, whatever it is you’re wantin’, exactly.”

“Hm? Bismuth, what did I say?”

Amethyst snickers. Lapis Lazuli snorts, turning away.

Peridot spins around to them. “You’re back! Oh, good, good, good, good, good!” With outstretched hands, she makes grabbing motions towards the bottle Steven holds. To Steven’s surprise, she latches on to his arm instead, dragging him over to the biggest screen on display. “Okay, so I have a couple working theories and we’ll probably need to test all of them on Pearl…”

“Oh, I’ve heard of that!” Pearl chimes in. Then, she leans into Bismuth conspiratorially, “That’s what humans call a pair of people who go on dates.”

Bismuth feels her face burst into heat at the same time as laughter busts out of her. “I’m sorry?”

Lapis’ shoulders are shaking as Pearl continues, “You know what I’m talking about, Bismuth, right?”

“I don’t think I do.”

“Couples! A one plus another one! One plus two plus one plus one plus--”

“--how was I supposed to know a human thing like that?”

“Don’t you want to be one?”

Bismuth doesn’t know what to say to that. She thinks she lost track of what it was Pearl was talking about. Or some part of her sorely wishes she did, anyway. “Uh. Pearl, you doin’ okay? Maybe we should sit down…”

“Perfect!” Peridot, fortunately, saves her. “Sit her down on this chair, Bismuth. We’re going to try a few different methods to see if we can combat this virus!”

Bismuth breathes a sigh of relief and pulls Pearl along to the plastic-white lawn chair that looks far too dirty and dusty to be sanitary. Pearl would throw a fit about being expected to sit in it if she were in her right head; thankfully, this Pearl lets Bismuth push her down against its flower-embossed backing without a fight.

Steven raises an eyebrow. “Uh, Peridot? That looks like something out of my dad’s old storage unit.”

“It probably is. I borrowed it from the car wash.”

“Huh.”

Peridot rubs her chin, looking at her glowing screens one final time. Finally, she sighs. “All right. I guess we’ll have to try Steven first.”

“Huh?”

Peridot pushes a quarter-full box of latex gloves into Steven’s chest. “Here. Apply one and lick your hand, please.”

“Didn’t we try this at the outpost?”

“Yes, well, we’re trying it again!” Peridot throws her hands into the air. “Pearl, you’re going to have to look at us.”

Perhaps for the first time in her entire life, Pearl whines. “But then I wouldn’t get to see Bismuth.”

“Oh, what a travesty.” Amethyst sighs dramatically and puts the back of her hand against her forehead. Lapis, now standing at her side, clutches at her stomach, pressing her lips together hard to keep from laughing.

Bismuth rolls her eyes, but with a good-natured grin, she steps around the old chair. “There. Now you can see me, right?”

“Better.” And Pearl extends her hand.

Bismuth can feel everyone else’s eyes on her. Her face blooms with heat. She turns around to the circle of an audience she has, all watching her and Pearl very, very closely. “All right! That’s enough, you guys! Knock it off! We’re just friends,” she shouts as she takes Pearl’s slender hand in her own and squeezes it.

“Oh!” Lapis laughs loudly. “Sure! Because that’s what this is!”

“Just ‘friends.’” Amethyst curls her fingers into air-quotes and bends over, laughing.

“Hey, Amethyst,” Lapis says through chuckles and chortles, extending her dangling hand. “Since we’re…just friends…how about you hold my hand while I get treated for a virus?”

“Why, Lapis,” Amethyst answers, bowing over Lapis’ hand, “since we’re such good friends, I’d be honored to!”

“Oh, Amethyst! Our friendship is just so integral to my feeling of safety and comfort!”

Bismuth tries not to laugh, pushing a hand against her own face.

Steven snickers and tries to stuff his laugh behind his own spit-slobbered hand, until Peridot grabs his wrist and pulls it away. She brings him to Pearl’s front and nods. Steven nods back, mouth pulled into a serious line, then slaps his palm over Pearl’s gem on her brow.

Pearl blinks.

A shiver passes through her.

She giggles. “Wow…it’s been a while since you’ve needed to do that, Steven.”

Peridot squints at her. Bismuth chuckles and moves as if to pull her hand away. “So, uh, okay. How’re you feelin’ now, Pearl?”

Pearl gasps softly. “Certainly not good enough for you to leave me, Bismuth!” And the frown on her face is enough to make Peridot groan and for Bismuth to take her hand back with a quiet, “All right, all right, I’m sorry; I’m here,” that has Lapis and Amethyst snickering all over again behind her.

“It didn’t work!” Peridot huffs. When Steven opens his mouth, she holds up a hand. “Never mind. I know it didn’t work when we were at the gem outpost, either. It was worth a second try. Give me Blue’s Diamond’s bottle.”

Blue Diamond’s essence doesn’t work, either.

Peridot’s a grumbling mess. She pulls Steven and his still-gloved hand aside as Pearl looks up to Bismuth with wide eyes. “Bismuth, is there something wrong with me?”

“What?”

Pearl’s eyes begin to shine with tears, two gleaming, wet pools of baby blue. “The lacrimal essence. It should heal; why aren’t I better? One impossible right after another. Gems can’t get sick! Am I dreaming?”

“Uh…” Bismuth looks behind her to Lapis and Amethyst, but they aren’t even watching anymore. Instead, they are focused on dramatically recreating the scene between Bismuth and Pearl to their own knee-slapping hilarity.

Bismuth sighs and shrugs. “I mean, I guess you’re--”

“--what happens if I wake up?”

“Uh…”

Bismuth moves aside as Peridot comes forward with Steven’s hand again. In the center of his round palm, cushioned against the cool cyan of the disposable latex, is a swirling mix of glowing blue and neon pink.

Bismuth has never seen anything like it.

It’s...remarkably pretty, actually.

Bismuth looks to Pearl and puts on her best, most encouraging smile. “Well, you’ll see me and I’ll be there to tell ya it’s not the end of the world. How’s that?”

Pearl blinks and that’s when Steven slaps his hand against her gem.

There’s a burst of sparkling light.

- o - o - o -

“Ugh, I’m mortified.”

“I knew you would be.”

“How could you let me say those things, Bismuth?”

“I had no idea what was gonna come out of your mouth!” Bismuth laughs and the entire stairway leading up to the beach house shakes with it. “None of us did! It was kinda wild, actually. Amethyst and Lapis got a big kick out of it. Steven, too, I think. Garnet was holding down the fort at the outpost, so she wasn’t there for some of it.”

Pearl groans and shoves her head in her hands. The setting sun casting Beach City in its warm, peach-pink hues should be calming, soothing. Instead, her gut is tying itself in ribbons over her own hazy memories. “They’re never going to let me live this down.”

“Probably not.”

“I’m so embarrassed…”

“Aw, hey,” Bismuth puts a hand on Pearl’s back. “I don’t know if you remember what I told you before Steven and Peridot fixed you, but…this ain’t the end of the world, Pearl. Amethyst, Lapis--we all understand that. It’s why everyone else is givin’ you your space as they fix-up the other infected gems at the outpost.”

When Pearl doesn’t answer and instead, only groans more, Bismuth laughs and wraps her arm around Pearl’s shoulders to bring her against her chest. “C’mere.”

“Bismuth…”

“Yeah, Pearl?”

“How are you not embarrassed?” Pearl pulls away from Bismuth’s arms, slipping down to the step below to frown up at her. “I did so many things that unthinkingly put you in such…awkward situations the entire time. How are you not embarrassed to be by me, right now? How can you look at me?”

Bismuth chuckles. She props her elbow up on her knee and sets her cheek against her loose fist, gazing down at Pearl. “I dunno. I thought it was cute.”

“C--” Pearl’s face flushes with ice. “--Bismuth!” she hisses. “We’re not in one of those anime Steven likes to watch! Cut that out!”

Bismuth laughs again, but it’s soft and fond. “No, not that kinda cute. I thought it was good. It was interesting seeing that side of you, the side of you that wasn’t afraid to ask for me to be there or for physical affirmations. The side that wasn’t afraid to put yourself and what you wanted first for once. Y’know?”

“Oh.”

“I liked it.” Bismuth shrugs a shoulder.

“You did?”

Bismuth chuckles. “Yeah. I like you, Pearl. Every side of you there is.”

Slowly, Pearl smiles. After a moment, she tentatively leans against Bismuth’s knee, eyes on her face as if checking every second, every motion, every contact, was okay. But when Bismuth makes no move to stop her, she lets her cheek bunch up against the surface of Bismuth’s thigh.

The steel-blue tone of Bismuth’s hue bends and warps under the pressure of her touch.

“I like you, too, Bismuth.”

It is as soft and gentle as a thank you.

#steven universe #bismuth #pearl #bispearl #peridot #amethyst #garnet #everyone's here #su #fanfic #krissey writes a thing #drunken shenanigans #minus the alcohol #i invented a virus explanation for drunken behavior #it's all the shenanigans #with zero the liquor #enjoy

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astroi · 5 years ago

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Doesn't this have a Name?

The corruption had spread fast. S̸̵͏͖̙͕̰͇te̵͏̱͎̜͕͔v̷̻́e̺̗͓̰͚n̴͈͈̕ couldn't remember who he used to be. The only people who could get close were his dad, Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl. Connie was hurt that S̸̵͏͖̙͕̰͇te̵͏̱͎̜͕͔v̷̻́e̺̗͓̰͚n̴͈͈̕ didn't recognize her; Peridot assumed this was because S̸̵͏͖̙͕̰͇te̵͏̱͎̜͕͔v̷̻́e̺̗͓̰͚n̴͈͈̕ would be more likely to react to gems rather than humans due to the nature of corruption. Greg had certainly known Steven the longest, and S̸̵͏͖̙͕̰͇te̵͏̱͎̜͕͔v̷̻́e̺̗͓̰͚n̴͈͈̕, in his state, had grown protective of his father even if he couldn't remember how they were related at the moment.

Peridot and Steven had spent plenty of time together in the "bathroom" and at the barn. If anyone could join the small list of people he trusted, it would be her.

Before all this, they had teamed up in taking down her first corrupted gem: he helped her understand what was happening to him. And she saw first-hand what happened to Jasper in the Beta Kindergarten. She slowly stepped toward her former friend, 'It was still him, it had to be.'

"Steven?" Her voice was uncharacteristically quiet, she didn't want to startle him.

The monster stirred at the sound. He had heard it many times before, 'What did it mean?' He inched closer when Peri the green gem sat on her stomach—a message of peace. She was so small, that was significant somehow.

"Are you in there somewhere?" She offered her hand.

He sniffed, it smelled like metal and flowers? And, he sniffed again, pumpkin? What a strange combination of scents.

"Can you hear me?"

He stared at her gem, it was familiar somehow. A flash of something surged through his mind. He heard a voice, his? And another, he recognized it but couldn't place whose it was, hers perhaps?

"I love you, Peridot."

"Gee, thanks."

A drill, he remembered a drill. He remembered a giant, multicolored orb under the surface of the planet. What was it? What did it have to do with this gem? Who was she?

"Do you remember me?"

"I love you, Peridot."

'Peridot?' He mouthed, he looked at his claws. They weren't always like this, were they? Were they hands like hers? No, more like Amethyst's, right? He could almost see them in his mind's eye.

"Steven?" That sound again, what did it mean? Was it him? He reached out, maybe if he touched her gem he'd understand.

He sniffed again, this time near her hair. The metal smell was fainter and there was something else, something new but very familiar. Lemon and salt the caught in the breeze near the beach. Near his home. Only he and his packmates had carried those scents. She didn't carry the human smell that matched his and the Elder. She reminded him of Garnet with the golden glass on her face, she wore the star that His Three share. He knew this gem and she knew him: she's Peridot!

He wrapped his six arms around her and nuzzled her cheek, quick to scent her as one of His lest he forget again.

"Steven! Whoa, I missed you too!"

"P̴̢̩̫̻͠e͏̧͎̫r̢̦̰̥̺͘į̷̺̥̝̝̞̮̮̺́ͅd͎̰̰̹̤͈͢͞o̞͇̣̣̥̕̕t̵̷͈̗̮̮͓̱͉̩!"

Peridot knew one thing for certain. It wasn't a lost cause.

There was hope for him yet.

#corrupted!Steven au #su future #my work #peridot #steven universe

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pettyelves · 6 years ago

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leaving vol’dun: the twisting temple

However Kurel managed it- he seemed to know exactly the path to follow to take them to the temple.They weren’t alone on the desert’s dunes- Eilithe could feel them following, who it was evaded her.

The heat of the day passed and as the sun set- they were in danger of being caught in the freezing air of night. The oasis was a welcome sight, conveniently placed outside of the shifting temple. Whatever followed them was always nearby. Velerodra’s own looking glass revealed exactly what Eilithe feared. The temple had been right there in front of them and no naked eye could see it, what was more disturbing was the way Velerodra described the temple as vibrating-- the further the sun set the more it looked as though it was getting ready to jump.

Eilithe worked quickly.

Five antelope, two jugs of bourbon, and thirty-two gold pieces. Peter, in his mostly-North moral compass, had convinced her to spare human lives for her endeavor. What Eilithe hadn’t told him was that the lower the payment to Saakes, Lord of Deals-- the more the Loa would take from her body. Alone, Eilithe cut open each antelope, thanked them--- prayed for them. With their blood she painted his brand onto the stone that frames a small spring in the oasis. She took the golden orb from her bag and set it beside her. An object of great power it would fuel the ritual. Focus it.

“Saakes, hear me-- take this offering and do my will. Hold the temple in place, stop it’s magic. Reveal it to us!” The searing pain shot across the brand in her back and she bowed-- if only because it felt as though there was a boot in her back. The magic was too much-- quite literally crushing her and with no small effort, she reached for the orb and clutched it.

The light it released was brilliant-- twists of blue and grey, it was just as it was the night the orb had taken her. She prayed this time it would not.

“Uhh..” Velerodra’s voice crinkled over the communicator, informing everyone that the temple was being literally pulled from inside the illusion it was held. Eilithe couldn’t speak for the longest time.

There was no real way it could get worse- until those shadows had revealed themselves. Forty men-- and one woman, who’d Velerodra had taken up calling ‘string lady’ -- but who the rest of them knew as Morinthe.

“Go! Kill all who oppose Lady Moonsong and bring the Eye to me!” she shouted before the men descended upon them.

“Run..” Eilithe managed to get out before she got herself up and sprinted across the sands.

Chaos. Slipping and sliding, Bengal almost met a cruel fate when she lost her footing. Eilithe stopped at the peak of a dune and looked around. “VEL! Where is Velerodra?” She lifted her comm, “Velerodra, do you read me? Velerodra!” She counted her men, one by one. All but her--even Kurel had made it up to the gates of the temple.

More pressing was the locked temple gate-- but it was clear. An offering in blood to pass to safety. Each of them cut their hands and offered, and not a moment too soon had Velerodra’s body materialized from the mists. There was no time to be glad.

Through the gates, Kurel had all but collapsed. “Kurel!” she said, putting fingers to his neck an ear to his lips. “He’s alive.. I don’t know what’s wrong.” Her hand went over his cheek and across his tattered blindfold where she felt the relic. Hidden up under the fold in the gnarled space that was his eye socket. Kurel An’Diel was clever sometimes. She propped him against a wall-- the gates shut behind them. there was no where but forward.

As her spell wore itself down, the temple did shake and vibrate before finally it jumped, presumably to an entirely new location

Inside there were two directions one could go, left or right-- though they would come to understand that these paths led to the same place, which looked to be ..nowhere. What was troublesome was the way that walking around one corner seemed to make a person disappear. Sevalysae, then Perie, the Bengal. Peter and Eilithe seemed locked in the physical world and Velerodra passed back and forth between the two tears.

Eilithe felt Sev and the others, she could still feel them-- and she held out her hand as though to touch them. But as she did, she noticed a hand print against a wall that merely looked like a wall. “Sevalysae?” Eilithe asked and placed her palm across the print.

When their hands touched the wall because like water and the two women dumped out on the other side of it into a large open area. Across from them in the back wall was a massive stone wall with symbols and golden details all over it. Most interesting though, was the hexagonal keystone that was locked into the wall.

Inside, there was the smallest little body of water, like a pond that was entirely out of place. Near it was a hut-- a campfire, someone was living inside of this giant room. The walls were tall and sand pushed back in places to reveal the stone floor of the temple.

Two by two- the others seemed to file in and stare around. In true Dead Sun fashion, they went to looting first. Sev shot her hook up the stone wall and climbed up its face to press on the stone and then wiggle it out of its home in the wall.

Dread. The feeling that they’d made a grave miscalculation. It was immediate for Eilithe and she searched the room. Nothing until a spear, with a sharp bone tip and metal shaft went soaring passed her head and straight into Peter’s leg.

They were not alone here.

[ @velerodra-valesinger @revthepunchbear @raylendaerthe @deadsunharbor @sevalysae-ravensorrow @kurel-andiel ]

#sun and sand #part one #guild arc

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fae-fucker · 6 years ago

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Review: The Murder Complex

by Lindsay Cummings

An action-packed, blood-soaked, futuristic debut thriller set in a world where the murder rate is higher than the birthrate. For fans of Moira Young’s Dust Lands series, La Femme Nikita, and the movie Hanna.

Meadow Woodson, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been trained by her father to fight, to kill, and to survive in any situation, lives with her family on a houseboat in Florida. The state is controlled by The Murder Complex, an organization that tracks the population with precision.

The plot starts to thicken when Meadow meets Zephyr James, who is—although he doesn’t know it—one of the MC’s programmed assassins. Is their meeting a coincidence? Destiny? Or part of a terrifying strategy? And will Zephyr keep Meadow from discovering the haunting truth about her family?

Action-packed, blood-soaked, and chilling, this is a dark and compelling debut novel by Lindsay Cummings.

There’s a video on YouTube where Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings try to promote Zenith and their favorite books by speculating about what sort of books Andi would enjoy reading.

Lindsay, being the humble creature that she is, says that Andi would enjoy this book. Why? Because Andi would recognize Meadow’s methods as similar to her own? Because Andi would enjoy reading an edgy “thriller” because she too is edgy? Or even because both Andi and Meadow are beautiful waifish white girls with silver hair who don’t particularly mind killing people?

Actually, no, you absolute fool. Sasha speculates on why Andi would enjoy this book (because of the title and how both Meadow and Andi have … uh … something … in common) and tries and fails to give Lindsay a way out. Lindsay admits to not listening, occupied with her book, which she lovingly strokes while staring into the camera.

I think this says a lot about Lindsay herself, Andi’s personality (or rather, lack thereof), and most importantly, the content of this here book.

This review contains spoilers and discussions of potentially triggering topics.

The Writing

I don’t have much to say here. Zenith was far, far worse when you just compare the prose. It’s simple, bare-bones, and straight to the point. Perfectly mediocre and not memorable at all. It flows well enough, and if it weren’t for uuuh everything else in this book, I’d say it’s a quick and easy read.

It does get very melodramatic and edgy at times, but that is to be expected, and since the melodrama mostly avoids getting too purple or lasting too long, I will officially give Cummings the “I could read your book mostly without cringing at the words” award.

The story is told from Meadow and Zephyr’s POVs, and I’d have to disagree with other reviewers who said that their narration was too similar. I mean, it wasn’t spectacular and they definitely had some overlap in expressions, but I could tell that Cummings was making a conscious effort to make them distinct and for me, it worked (mostly past the first half of the book where both of them just mope around and sound very similar), so I commend that.

The Characters

Now, while Andi OH SHIT FUCK I DIDN’T MEAN TO DO THAT THAT WASN’T A BIT I LITERALLY JUST TYPED ANDI INSTEAD OF MEADOW

Now, while Meadow and Zephyr are distinct, that doesn’t really mean they’re good characters, yea? Honestly, they’re pretty much the only ones who get any type of development and the only ones who can, paradoxically, turn off their edge and just be normal people every now and then.

Meadow is supposedly this Strong Femail Charactor who does Bad Things for Good Reasons. And … I mean, yeah? Like, I don’t remember ever feeling like she obsessed over a man, and her motivations were always either keeping her little sister safe or surviving or figuring out the mystery around their society and how it ties into her own family. As far as YA heroines go, Meadow isn’t terrible. But she’s not exactly interesting, either. She’s always collected and rarely loses her cool, she displays few emotions outside of anger, and is generally cold and downplayed to the point of having barely any personality traits. I guess it’s sort of on purpose? But there are ways of making a character subtle and still interesting, and Meadow just feels like somebody packaged a Strong Femail Charactor right out of the factory without slapping some paint on her first. Idk, I guess if this is what Lindsay was going for then she did a good job, but personally I prefer my protags to be a bit more … more.

I will apologize to Meadow for calling her Andi, though. Andi is a lot more smug and obnoxious and has fewer reasons to be.

Zephyr is a harder to define because I’m pretty sure he’s intended to be more colorful than Meadow, but he comes off as even more generic than her. He’s a convincing enough teenage boy at times, because he lusts after Meadow like a puppy and thinks in super dramatic and poetic prose about how perfect and beautiful she is. But outside of that, he just sort of exists and the plot happens to him? He has no consistent personality traits and no flaws that he has control over. He’s partially brainwashed to murder on command and he’s like, sad about it, for a second, but accepts it pretty quickly and swears to help Meadow out for … reasons? Idk I guess he’s in love with her or whatever. The blurb implies he wants to keep her from discovering the truth but he pretty much helps her from the start.

He’s perfectly non-threatening — a boy next door type if next door was a war zone. Most of the time I wonder how many hands he needs to count all his braincells. One? Or mayhaps two? Whatever happens he just sort of rolls with after a chapter or two of angst and he ends up feeling like he’s a crutch for Meadow, a non-character there to fill the role of the snarky sidekick whose personal conflict is a minor subplot, which is admittedly fairly unusual in YA, but for a co-protagonist isn’t ideal, as one might imagine.

Koi is Meadow’s overprotective older brother who wants to beat up Zephyr for reasons and refuses to chill. And yes, that’s his name.

Periwinkle/Peri is Meadow’s younger sister and Meadow’s Moality Pet. And yes, that’s her name.

Meadow’s dad is an abusive asshole dad who is Too Hard On His Children but whose lessons Turn Out To Be Helpful in the end. No, it’s not his name but I can’t remember what it is and can’t be assed to look it up because he’s just Meadow’s dad. Oh and he likes torture? While Meadow acknowledges her dad is fucked up he’s still treated as this wise authority figure who gives good advice and is only a result of his environment. Society is evil, so that’s why he treats his children like shit and teaches them how to murder good. It’s to protect them, see?

Talan is Zephyr’s best friend and teenage sex worker who lost her child and now is vaguely suicidal but it’s supposed to be charming and quirky??? Talan is the only major character to die brutally for shock value and she seems to welcome it. Tbh she was the only interesting character in the whole book so I actually felt bad when she was killed off like that.

And then there’s a bunch of other characters but what’s the point of me telling you about them since they’re all generic as hell and only exist to spout exposition at Meadow and her boy toy.

There was another character I liked well enough, but only because she was the only PoC and her name was Sketch, which is a pretty neat name, but she didn’t have much of a personality except “snarky hardass” and was basically a Deluxe Edition of an existing “snarky hardass” character. She appears only in the late chapters of the book and is there to get brutalized for the sake of our two white protags. She didn’t die though, so there’s that?

The Plot

Alright, alright, I guess I have to write something.

I honestly have no fucking idea what the plot was. The blurb pretty much tells it all: Meadow meets Zephyr, they fall in love (?), Zephyr goes all Terminator on her ass and she’s like ??? and then uh … turns out Meadow’s family/dead mom are involved in the Murder Complex, which is the thing that’s making Zephyr and other random people kill others when remotely “activated” and so now they gotta find out what the heckity heck is going on, I guess?

It’s a clear enough plot but the motivations are a little weak, especially on Zephyr’s side. One would think he’d like to get rid of the whole “murder on command” thing in his brain but he seems to be able to fight it off easily once he meets Meadow and he’s more focused on helping her for reasons.

Yeah, I’m … I’ve already forgotten large chunks of the story so that should tell you something.

The “Worldbuilding”

O SHIT HERE COMES THE JUICY PART OF THE REVIEW.

*clears throat* Here we go:

The Shallows, Night Siren, the Initiative, Catalogue Number, Commandments of the Shallows, Creds, the Perimeter, the Silent Hour, Before, Rations Department, Pirates, the Dark Time, the Pulse, the Pin, the Red train, the Blue train, Wards, the Leeches, the Graveyard, the Survivors, Rations Hall, Initiative Headquarters, Wards of the State, the Gravers, NoteScreen, Evaluator, the Catalogue Dome, the Pit, Cred Orb, the Furnace Room, the Library, Sellout, the Hospital, the Believers …

Holy shit I don’t think I’ve gotten all of the Important Names yet and I’m already tired.

Y’all. This is the worst case of worldbuilding laziness I’ve seen in a while, and I’m someone who absolutely hates worldbuilding and will let authors get away with minimal effort. This? This is awful. And the thing is? I get it. I might’ve forgiven this because coming up with names is HARD and we humans usually go for the obvious anyway so this makes some amount of sense.

The problem is the fact that there are some words and concepts that are PERFECTLY REGULAR (i.e. the Hospital is literally just a fucking hospital) but still capitalized for no goddamn reason other than it being an attempt at sounding all sci-fi and dystopian without any actual effort. Everything blends together and the concepts are so generic and so MANY that it just becomes noise and you’re forced to simply roll with it and stop trying to actually imagine what anything looks like or where it’s located or how it works.

*takes deeep breath*

Speaking of how it works, let me tell you about the main premise. Basically, there was a war, a big war that tore the US apart like Lisa tears apart Johnny. Those who survived the war were infected with a plague, creatively named the Plague, that threatened to wipe out the population. One 20-year-old scientist cured the Plague, along with literally everything else, including death. Thanks to “nanites”, humans can no longer die of natural causes. This leads to overpopulation, and to stop this, the person who invented this all-cure comes up with another absolutely brilliant idea: let’s make MORE humans, but these humans have brains that are programmed to kill on command. Who gets murdered is chosen at random each and every night in a lottery, and survivors have to clean up dozens of new corpses every morning. (Meadow mentions the death rate is now 300 people per month.)

Yeah. I know. The same brilliant scientist who CURED DEATH not only fails to reverse the effects of their own invention, but decides that factory printing brainwashed humans who are then released into the world to also consume resources along with their victims is the best course of action?

Also, there are old people in this book. How are they still aging? How do you cure death but keep the aging? Why do you kill random people for shits and giggles instead of offing the semi-sentient sacks of flesh that the old people are bound to become as their bodies grow and decline but refuse to die? Surely you need young people to work in your factories? If resources are scarce, why keep old people alive past the point where they can contribute to society? If you have the technology to make remote controlled brains, why can’t you yank those bad boys out and just put them into robot bodies?

Why did nobody consider sterilization? I know this is a dangerous and sensitive topic that a white author probably shouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole, but if you’re ok with writing indiscriminate murder and pretend that shit wouldn’t become very racist very fast, then you could do the same with sterilization. You can’t tell me that the nanites are so good they could grow you a new uterus. Evidently they’re not good enough to heal bullet wounds or stab wounds or else your little “murder complex” wouldn’t fucking work, would it?

I’m not saying these are “better” options than murder lottery, because these are all terrible things, but I am saying that they’re definitely more logical and profitable if you’re an evil government. Compared to making new people from scratch to kill your already existing people, anyway.

There are also implications of this all being a lie to control the population so that the “Initiative” can remain in control, along with the usual shitty YA dystopia thing where it’s implied that Earth is fucked and we’re out of resources.

This whole thing is a mess of half-assed concepts that are never explored but just sort of jammed together into an incoherent mess. There’s a big war, there’s a big plague, there’s senseless murder, there’s an evil government, there’s child soldiers, there’s brainwashing, there’s a rebel Resistance, there’s climate change … There’s even an Aptitude Test or whatever that never comes back despite being very angsted and exposited about in the opening chapters. It’s like Lindsay read all the YA dystopias that came before and couldn’t pick a gimmick and just went for all of them.

Oh I haven’t even mentioned the funniest part of all this: the swearing. As with Zenith, Lindsay has no problem describing gory murder and calling female characters “sluts”, but actual human curse words like shit and fuck? Don’t be silly. This is CHILD AND PUBLISHER FRIENDLY. Shit is now “skitz”, “fuck” is now “flux”. Can you imagine reading this fluxing bullskitz? WE NEVER EVEN FIND OUT WHAT THESE WORDS MEAN OR WHY THEY WERE REPLACED, SINCE THIS TAKES PLACE RECENT ENOUGH THAT MEADOW REMEMBERS GOING TO BASEBALL GAMES.

Oh and there’s also ChumHead, which, you guessed it, is never explained.

I guess now we know who to blame for “fike” and “starshined”. Oh and there are swears related to the stars in this book as well. I think Lindsay needs to get off that SJM juice.

The Edgy

Allow me to feed quotes into your gaping brain mouths. Not a lot of them because most of my notes are just me going WHAT at the concepts and the names more than the phrasing.

Every night, I stay awake for as long as I can to keep my nightmares at bay.

Scars are trophies in the Shallows. They show we know how to cheat death.

In a paragraph before this one, Meadow mentions that nanites heal everything but leave scars behind for reasons, and it happens to everyone. So why would they be a status symbol?

It’s the moon. The moon that reminds me of the moonlit girl.

My moonlit girl. She’s the cure to my nightmares, the one thing that helps me feel safe when I can’t even trust my own dreams to harbor me.

Spoken like a real teenage boy, Zeph. Would you like some tissues with that spunk?

I hold the door open for [Talan], but she shrugs past me and opens the other one. Always independent. Never taking help from anyone.

Hi is this a Feminism?

I find two leather thigh sheathes and strap them to my legs. I slide two knives into them and stand, slinging the bow over my shoulder. […] Feeling angry. But feeling strong.

Convenient sexy makeover includes leather knife pockets and a cool but completely-impractical-due-to-the-existence-of-enemy-guns crossbow. I also want to mention that the book calls crossbow ammo “arrows”, when they’re usually referred to as bolts, but go off.

The Conclusion

The Murder Complex is a book that straddles the line between mediocre and bad. Its biggest flaw is how boring and shallow its ideas and characters are. Which basically means its biggest flaw is everything about it. I can’t say it was so bad it’s good, but I can’t exactly call it terrible because I’ve read far, far worse. It’s mediocre writing about bland characters angsting and murdering their way through a convoluted plot that’s based on worldbuilding as solid as half-eaten ham standwich found in a rainy alleyway. It’s not fun or entertaining to read and there’s nothing to get outrageously mad about.

In the end, I don’t think you should pick this up unless you’ve somehow read every other book in the world and this is the only one left. Don’t waste your time on this, not even as a joke. Don’t make my sacrifice be in vain.

#book review #repost #the murder complex #i'm pretty sure i'm the only person who's ever read this book

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beyblaiddyd · 7 years ago

Text

A Guide on Writing Niles (FE14):

The way Niles often gets written in this fandom tends to exaggerate a lot of his characteristics and he’s frequently treated as a very cruel, merciless pervert, which is an amplification of a tone of insensitive stereotypes that went into his writing. So today, we’ll be going through discussing his character, most importantly his selective sadism and his selective flirtation, referencing his various supports (Character, Letter), to give authors in the fandom a better foundation for understanding him.

Selective Sadism:

It’s no secret that Niles can be a little rude and that he enjoys teasing other people.

In talking to Corrin, he starts their conversation by teasing them about biting, not trusting them, and their frivolous nature (Corrin, C).

In his supports with Mozu, he’s kind of flippant about Mozu’s desire to find her town treasures and her interest in preserving anything from her village (Mozu, C-B).

He tells Camilla she fixates on helping the weak because she leads a pathetic existence (Camilla, C).

When Effie is giving him a hard time, he gently teases her for her friendship with Elise before moving on quite quickly (Effie, B).

Niles’ supports with Arthur are the 2nd best example of this. He mentions that he’s never gone out of his way to meet Arthur before because he hates a“smug little goody-goody,” calls him a failure, and offers to insult him more (Arthur, C). When Arthur comes to him with accusations that Niles is involved in a planned heist, Niles mocks him thoroughly (Arthur, B). When Arthur eventually expresses regret for his behavior and enthusiastically expresses admiration for him, Niles asks if they can go back to being enemies (Arthur, A).

When Nyx comes to him and tells him to clean up his language, he continues to tease and swear/insult her until she casts a hex on him (Nyx, C-B).

When he realizes Charlotte is putting up a front, he doesn’t feel like listening to her orders, he goes out of his way to give her a hard time in public

Setsuna’s general carefree attitude and the fact that she’s gained her position despite it result in Niles mildly teasing/insulting her a couple of times (Setsuna, C-B).

Niles supports with Subaki are probably the peak example. Niles starts off his conversation with Subaki by teasingly call him Mr. Perfect and telling him he has a punchable face, then going on to say he’ll keep tormenting him and threatening to stab him (Subaki, C). He later legitimately attempts to sneak up and stab Subaki in the back, and notes that Subaki saying his childhood was perfect makes him hate him more (Subaki, B).

So now that we’ve addressed the kind of teasing or outright insulting Niles actually does, it’s very important to address who he targets this insulting and cruelty at and what motivates him to do it. Additionally, it’s important to note when and why he chooses not to do it.

Starting back at the beginning, when Niles talks to Corrin, he states that he doesn’t trust them yet, and that’s part of why his attitude is so barbed. He goes on to suggest that Corrin had a blessed childhood (Corrin, C). When he realizes that not to be true, his tone ends up changing a bit. Though he still does his gentle teasing, he shares information about himself and attempts to build trust with Corrin (Corrin, B). Eventually, he brushes off the facade that he’s just trying to tease them and admits that he just wants to get to know them as a person (Corrin, A).

In his supports with Azura, he avoids rudeness entirely. He states quite clearly, “It left me with a low tolerance for people who lack compassion. I cannot stand shallow people! I try to avoid them at all costs” as well as saying that his efforts to agitate others are done mostly to drive people away, so he doesn’t have to put up with these ‘shallow people’ he despises (Azura, B). Niles hates people who refuse to demonstrate sympathy and who aren’t careful about the feelings of others. He doesn’t go out of his way to make just anyone uncomfortable for no reason.

In his late supports with Felicia (which we’ll discuss in more detail later), he apologizes for calling Felicia frivolous. He says, “Life wasn't easy for me growing up, either. So I take great satisfaction in messing with people who had life handed to them. But in your case, I made a mistake. You weren't raised in any warm, loving arms” (Felicia, A). What’s the important takeaway here? Niles makes it obvious that he only likes making fun of people who are privileged, who he perceives as not having known any suffering. When he realizes he was wrong in this assumption, he feels bad for mocking the person.

Despite his initial rudeness, when Niles realizes just how much the treasure meant to Mozu, he goes out of his way to cash in a favor in order to return the orb to her (Mozu, A).

The point raised in the Felicia supports is bolstered by his Camilla supports. Camilla explains her childhood and how she had very little parental affection and Niles immediately apologizes and feels awful, even going so far as (to perhaps exaggeratedly/jokingly) suggest that she should smack him for this great offense (Camilla, A). Later, Camilla says that this is the fifth time Niles has apologized, demonstrating that he so deeply regrets his mistake that he won’t stop saying sorry even after Camilla has asserted four previous times that they’re alright (Camilla, S).

Elise’s supports with Niles are perhaps the best demonstration of his capacity for compassion. When he catches her skipping on war council, he convinces her to go (Elise, C). When she comes back to him later sobbing about being kicked from the meeting, Niles responds by apologizing for convincing her to do something that caused her pain, then offering her both support and advice, telling her that it is okay to cry as much as she needs to (Elise, B). At no point in these supports does he exploit or enjoy her suffering and he seeks merely to help and to better her.

In his supports with Peri, he states right off the bat that he regrets that his reputation is one of cruelty and insults and that he only “insults people who deserve it” (Peri, C). (This is a small note, but he also frequently reacts with surprise and concern to Peri’s violent tendencies in both their A and S supports.)

In his supports with Selena, he distrusts her and is suspicious about her intents and origins, but mostly avoids insulting her other than to point out her spending habits and how other people can’t buy so much (Selena, C-B). In their later supports, he points out some of her negative attributes, but he does so alongside positive ones, as part of an examination of her character, and decides that he trusts her and would also like to be her friend (Selena, A). It’s also important to note in that support that he states that he’s worse at dishing out compliments than insults, so that is an important thing to consider for his writing- he is awkward at delivering praise (Selena, A).

There’s a lot of interest that happens in his supports with Beruka, though it’s harder to put into words, so they’re worth giving a watch/read. The bigger point to make here is that he doesn’t do much in the way of teasing or insulting her and is merely trying to figure out what she’s doing, probably because they’re both from similar origins and are on a similar playing field.

In his supports with Odin, Niles doesn’t do much insulting besides calling Odin’s weapon names bad (which, to be fair, is very insulting from Odin’s perception, but I’m talking in the grand scheme of things), and Odin quickly returns the favor (Odin, B). In the next support, he apologizes for digging into Odin’s past and even suggests that they should be friends (Odin, A).

In his supports with Effie, it turned out that he wasn’t making an effort to mock her much at all and was instead attempting to indirectly get her advice on how to help Elise shop for Leo’s birthday present (Effie, A).

After Nyx removes her hex, Niles apologizes, saying that if he knew who she was, he never would’ve insulted and teased her as he did. He says, “I came up rough. When I see people who are happy, who've lived charmed lives...I can't resist bringing them down, making them feel filthy, like me. But you've been through your own hell, and worse, it was your own doing.” When Nyx asks if he’ll rein in how he treats people in general, he agrees (Nyx, A). This again strengthens the idea that he only mocks people he believes to lead great lives, wanting to knock them down a peg, and that he regrets insulting people who have already suffered.

In talking to Setsuna, he says, “I've never seen anyone who looked as content as you always seem to. Whenever I see someone looking happy, I just want to wipe that smile off their face. [...] And yet, I don't feel that way when I see you smiling. I can't even picture how your face would look if you were in pain” (Setsuna, A). This implies that even his usual urge to insult people who have it good and live charmed lives can have exceptions.

Even at the end of his supports with Subaki, Niles ends up demonstrating some compassion, offering to listen to Subaki while he vents and giving him advice on how to unload some of the burden (Subaki, A).

So what have we learned about Niles’ sadism? Yes, he can be mean and often likes to make jokes at the expense of others. However, he does his primarily as a defense mechanism or to keep away people who he perceives as lacking compassion. He wants to knock those who had better lives than him or feel they’re above him down a peg. However, he doesn’t extend this same mockery or viciousness to people who are of a similar class to him, feels great regret when he makes a wrong assumption about someone’s life, and is even willing to demonstrate compassion to people he typically dislikes if they’re having a difficult day.

Now on to another part of Niles’ characterization.

Selective Flirtation:

Niles is a bit of a flirt and this is a very obvious fact throughout his supports. However, this is another subject of his personality that has a bit more nuance than it is typically given when people attempt to handle his character. Let’s start first with going through when he does flirt.

In conversations with Corrin, he jokingly meows and bites them (Corrin, C). Later, he suggests that they should oil wrestle and makes cracks about having ‘stimulating conversation’ (Corrin, A). After proposing, he jokes about how he’s not going to act so reserved (Corrin, S). In various quotes when engaging with Corrin elsewhere, he can also be very flirty. When given the towel, he says, “Ooh, kinky! Shall I go put it on right now?“ When invited over as friends, he has lines like, “Are you ready to play a little game? I promise...I won't bite."

When talking to Felicia, he flirts with her quite a bit, mostly making reference to the fact that she’s spilled something on him (Felicia, C). He continues this habit, doing it quite a bit, because she just isn’t catching on to his flirtation, no matter how obvious he is. At one point, he believes she’s admitting to have put up on innocent act, before realizing she’s still not catching on (Felicia, B).

When Mozu mentions being hung up on the passing of her village, Niles says that he’d rather live in the pleasures of the moment and offers to demonstrate, playing into the fact that he was inconsiderate of her feelings (Mozu, B).

After telling Beruka he was tailing her, he makes a joke about it being a pleasant view (Beruka, C).

In talking to Arthur, he says, “Heh. You're already speechless? How cute. How about I say something REALLY offensive? Blow those cute right ears off your head?” (Arthur, C).

When talking to Oboro, he starts off with a great bit of flirting, saying things about her “smoldering gaze penetrating deep into his core” and wanting to “plumb the depths” of their relationship (Oboro, C-B).

So we can see that he flirts pretty frequently and pretty openly. But when does he not flirt? What puts a stop to his usual flirty habits?

After Corrin expresses interest in merely talking, Niles puts a stop to the flirting (though he quickly runs out of conversation topics without it!). He states in this support that he isn’t really used to the whole “human connection” thing (Corrin, A).

Azura states that Niles has a reputation for being inappropriate, and Niles acknowledges that this is true, but promises he’s going to keep his tongue under tight rein, saying he’s not going to expose her to his flirtatious attitude- his explanation is his latter assertion that he hates people without compassion (Azura, C-B). Niles isn’t flirtatious with people who don’t want him to be.

Though slightly off topic, this is still relevant. When the flirtation is flipped back around on him, Niles becomes very flustered. Camilla calling him cute immediately throws him off, though he bounces back fairly quickly. Further, when she says she likes his flirtation, he responds, “Come over here. I'll whisper more of these naughty, little words in your ear.” When she reacts with shock, he asks if that was too much (Camilla, S). This again proves he takes into consideration whether he went too far when flirting with others.

The way he flirts with people in his S supports can often be goofy, as he tries to dance around his feelings often. Using his support with Peri as an example, he states that he wants “another chance to steal her away.” It takes him until towards the end of the support to reveal that he means marriage.

His supports with Selena demonstrate no flirtation, showing that when he’s suspicious of someone, or is otherwise is focused on some goal while talking to them, he doesn’t tend to flirt with them (Selena, C-A).

In his S-support with Effie, he’s unintentionally dirty, using such phrases as “Effie, you have filled me with a burning desire—” and “Trying to imagine what you've got under all that armor...” when attempting to express that he’s in love with her and wants to become familiar with her heart.

He doesn’t flirt with Arthur when Arthur makes accusations of thievery, implying that when he’s thoroughly agitated with someone or when his reputation is called into question, he doesn’t flirt (Arthur, B-A).

When talking to Nyx, he says, “I'd never be that crude to someone I loved,” unless, of course, they asked him to (which she later does) (Nyx, S).

His supports with Oboro give the best insight into Niles’ flirtation. When Oboro points out that the way he phrases things is her problem with him, he promises to dial back. However, he misjudges what counts as appropriate phrasing and says, “Now that that's out of the way... I say we have some "us time" until there's not a single thing between us” and attempts to correct himself when Oboro is not pleased with it, seeming frustrated and saddened when the conversation comes to a close (Oboro, B). In their next conversation, Niles decides he would rather be silent than continue to accidentally offend Oboro. The next thing he states is very important; “I was never trying to—it just comes out that way. I try to make normal conversation, and it always sounds like shameless flirting. So I'm trying other things to get on your good side while keeping my mouth shut” (Oboro, A). So while some of his flirting is doubtlessly intentional (we’ve seen him do it a whole lot of times), some of the innuendo he uses is unintentional. Referring back to his conversation with Corrin, it’s fully possible that because of his lack of understanding of “human connection,” and because of the barbs he’s built, he really doesn’t know how to navigate conversations without resorting to flirtation, even when he doesn’t want to.

So now let’s go back over what we’ve learned about Niles? He loves to flirt, yes, and he will do it a lot, making flirtatious cracks when possible. However, when people are uncomfortable with it, he will not continue to flirt on purpose and will attempt to tone it down for their benefit. This does not always mean he’ll be successful, and flirtation may slip through, but he is respectful of boundaries and would rather remain silent entirely than make someone uncomfortable with his flirting.

Some random additional notes:

EDIT: A very important one that I missed is something his Arthur supports also tell us- “After I dropped them off at the jail, I saw you sneaking in the back entrance. I thought you must have been coming to break them out... So, I stuck around to see what would happen. And I heard every word that you said to them. You were trying to help them turn their lives around” (Arthur, A). Despite the jokes Niles makes in the prison, when ACTUALLY confronted with prisoners, he is not cruel and does not mistreat them and is instead dedicated to HELPING THEM BETTER THEMSELVES. His assertion that the “feeling of power is simply delicious” is part of his edgy facade and not something he acts on.

“Evil? Hardly. I have my flaws, I admit. But at least I'm up front about them” (Subaki, B). Niles is well aware of his flaws and will openly acknowledge them.

His memories of his childhood are incredibly vague, but not pleasant. He discusses a few of these vague memories with Leo (Leo, C).

Niles has “connections” and often uses them to find information that he wants.

He’s very dedicated and would often do anything for the people he cares about.

“Even if my motives, to keep you safe from the war, were good... The emotional damage I did wasn't worth it” (Nina, A). Niles regrets putting Nina in the deeprealms. In his child interaction quotes, he says, “I want to be the sort of father that I never had.”

There’s evidence that Niles has nightmares frequently. In his Japanese skinship quotes, he says, “Even now, I see this dream... A painful and agonizing dream... from when I was a child. But... if I were to wake up and see you beside me..., I’ll be okay. Please stay by my side. And when I sleep... please hold my hand and never let go.”

Now that we’ve covered all this, you can go forward and write a well considered characterization of Niles, bitterness, flirtation, and compassion included!

#fire emblem #fe fates #fe14 #fe niles #niles fire emblem #fe:if #feif #cocoa talks too much

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burchbooks · 6 years ago

Text

Reminiscence

Peridot reminisces about homeworld whilst harvesting potatoes and playing pool. Amedot Fluff.

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14897012

Shards of stone and rock glistened under the light of the sun as though they were fragments of gems themselves, each one scattered along the base of each stalk. Peridot almost reflected upon this as she uprooted another potato plant, sending the specks of light cascading down alongside the dirt they were found in. She was much more preoccupied with the heat, however. It was one of the Earth's idiosyncrasies that she found herself surrounded with since she had started anew. Homeworld didn't have heat.

Well, it'd probably be more accurate to say that Peridots didn't have heat. The richest, oldest gems could afford heat, and by proxy their pearls as well, of course. It reminded them of older times, of comfort, before the X32 star had faded out and they had gone in to decline. Now, most of the gems were left with the coldness of space itself and an almost blue orb that blocked out a third of the sky at any given point.

Peridot had never known heat. She'd never known clothes or organics either, yet here she was, in denim dungarees, harvesting potatoes with the warmth of the sun on her back. It was such an odd concept, to be honest. Accessorising with clothes other than your default standard had felt strange at first, but Amethyst loved it. She also loved potatoes, which was why Peridot had planted so damn many of them.

She pulled up another stem and started dusting off the next plant. Steven had been horrified to find out that Amethyst and Peridot had been eating them raw. Apparently, they were different to his "apples" and had to be heated up until they were mushy on the inside but not on the outside.

It seemed tedious and burnt her mouth, so she just ate them raw.

Not that she ate a whole deal. It was unnecessary and she was indifferent to it as a whole, but it did make her feel like an upper-class gem. It made her feel as though, for reasons she couldn’t pin down just yet, she had made it in life, even though she thought the notion that a raw potato meant anything symbolically was quite ridiculous.

"Hey, 'Dot!"

Her reflections were shattered by the voice that hollered across the field. She could just about see Amethyst's purple hand waving about in the air from where she was, under the massive door to the barn.

"Come play pool with me!"

What the hell was pool?

"OK! I need to finish up and then - "

"Forget the potatoes!"

Well, there was always tomorrow.

"Alright," she hollered back, standing up and giving the plant in her hand one final dust before putting it in the canvas bag to join the rest of them.

Homeworld didn't have games, either.

Amethyst was standing in a shaded corner of the barn, leaning against a table with three legs and crunching on the end of a beer bottle. She had been staring at a pool table. The dark green pelt was peeling up at the corners, slightly, and had one major scuff that went diagonally and was almost impossible to miss. The wood looked sturdy, and the design on the legs had, at some point, been intricate; however, all that was left of it now were scuffs and scratches.

Peridot put the sack of potatoes next to the doorway and fished one out, offering it to Amethyst. She strolled up and took it, eating it whole before putting a white ball down on the table.

"Here," she said, offering the cue to Peridot, "you can start."

Peridot looked from her smile, which looked genuine enough, to the stick, and back to her.

"How do you play pool?"

"You, uuh, put the balls in the holes. You see the holes in the edges?" She gestured towards the table. "Yeah. You put the balls on the table in to the holes. Whoever does that the most wins."

Peridot took the stick and walked up to the table, studying it for a moment in slight confusion. She looked to the white ball, separate from the others. She looked back up to Amethyst, who gave her a smile and a thumbs up, then back down. As it was clearly worth the most points, due to it being separate, she picked it up and put it in the closest pocket.

Amethyst just laughed.

Amethyst's laugh was different to the others' laughs. She doubled over and grabbed her side, laughing louder than anyone else in the area. Pearl's laugh was condescending, and Jasper's laugh was meant to intimidate, but when Amethyst laughed it was out of pure joy. It sounded different because it was different, and that was the beauty of Earth.

People had different laughs because they could.

None of the gems on homeworld laughed. Homeworld had a strict philosophy which stated that if no one had any emotion, there could never be sadness or negativity. The truth, of course, is that when there is no emotion, sadness blossoms and fills the void. Not that any of the gems had been equipped to deal with that.

Amethyst walked forward and plucked the white ball out of the net and placed it back where it had been, completely undoing all of Peridot's work. Peridot went to grab the ball and put it back, but Amethyst's gentle hand on top of her own stopped it mid-air.

"Watch, like this." She placed the cue in to Peridot's hands and lined it up with the ball. "You've got to put your left hand here," she said, moving Peridot's hand so that it could guide the ball, "and your right hand here," she continued, moving it so that it was under her own hand.

"Then," she said, applying pressure to Peridot's back with her own chest, so that Amethyst herself was almost in the right pose to take a shot, "you bend forward. Look down the cue and you'll be fine, P-dot."

That was very easy to say when you didn't have another person pressed up so close to you that all you could think about was how much of you was touching them, and the fact that she could hardly see because she kept on getting distracted by the scent of Amethyst, which was somehow like grapes, and the sensation of her cool fingertips dancing around and brushing over her own hand, and-

"Peri. You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm, I mean, I will be, I'm." She stopped and took a breath. "I'm god. Good! I'm good. The writer made a typo."

Amethyst just chuckled. "Take your shot then, 'Dot. I'm on the edge of my seat here."

She was on the edge of a lot of things, but Peridot decided not to comment as she took the shot. The white ball slid along the table, spinning like a planet in orbit as it curved towards the side of the triangle. They both collided with a satisfying clack before the white ball bounced off and continued to hit the end of the table. The triangle had only slightly parted, with many of the balls still clustered in the centre of the table.

"Not bad, Peri!" Amethyst took the cue and took her own shot. It looked quick and sloppy, done in half the time that Peridot took to take her shot, but it still potted a red ball. She managed to pot three more balls before she had to hand the cue back.

"How did you - "

"I've been doing this for three hundred years. Don't beat yourself up about it."

Peridot looked at the cue in her hands. As a technician, it was vital that she was able to listen to instructions and follow them through perfectly. She prided herself on being able to fix foreign engines after having only been told how to once.

"Could you... show me how to do that again? This stupid game makes no sense."

Amethyst walked over and ran her hand down Peridot's arm, lacing her own fingers through hers to show her how to grip the cue.

"Sure thing."

#amedot #steven universe #su #peridot #amethyst #fanfiction #fluff #flirting #does farming count as a legitimate tag?#I hope so #farming #I'm legally allowed to go on to Farmersonly.com now

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quonit37 · 6 years ago

Text

My live reaction "Can’t Go back” and “A Single Pale Rose”

man it took me too long to edit this

Rules:

Q = Quonit, me.

K = @snakeandapples??? i dunno the url didn’t work so who knows

Q: fine if i message or should i not haha live reaction to episodes

K: No go right on ahead lol

Q: aw ty

awww peri

goodnight steven

RANALDO WHATER YOU DOING HERE

K: being amazing

Q: yes

what is at the lighthouse

oh did you find lapis or smth

to the moon

K: lol that game is sd Q: haha steven should get a moonbase BARN to the moon lion K: lion is th best Q: bubble steven rolly rolly

K: hamster ball steven Q: I mean where else would she put the barn on EARTH?? what a silly idea MEEPMORP hi murals hi hear you lapis hi there K: I like that he keeps calling them meepmorps and not art Q: hehe it is the nickname lapis do not be sad be happy shhhh orb thing awww orb nice cool orb peri :smile: K: the orb is pretty great Q: peri and pearl TRAINING that is epic peri you are wonderful lapis do not be sad man you traveled far amethyst ponytail WHAT IF SOMETHING GOOD HAPPENED?!?! SONG K: I love how peridot fits into the group so seamlessly now Q: yesss dancing so beautiful this show is beautiful lapis you should be happy ya steven is here for you oh more song ya this song is wonderful lapis ghost ya people love you lapis lapis is wonderful

K: man I rally love how beautifully these episodes are animated. Like they are absolutely stunning. So fluid and dynamic Q: ^^^

'MORPS “the moon sucks” alright K: lol Q: ya they could steven sleepy lapis should sleep or you know leave steven on the moon K: it is like the middle of the night for him Q: oh damn another pinkdream aw don't scooled her K: or I suppose early morning and he didn't get sleep Q: pfft ya haha sad diamond oh hey pearl or not pearl shape shifting? idk wtf hey lapis K: nightmare pearl

Q: no it's a flashback LAPIS NO NO LAPIS LAPIS IT'S A DREAM A STEVEN PAST DREAM YOU ARE WE LOVE YOU JUST BECAUSE OYUHAVE A DIFFERENT MINDSET MEANS NOTHING LAPIS NOOOO dammit K: Lapis's ptsd is too strong, man

Q: ^

oh boy wow next episode HEY PEARL tell us your secrets miss K: I love amethyst in this ep

Q: damn i love ame PEARL CALL MYSTERY GIRL hahah

K: lol right Q: pfft amethyst is wonderful lol lol pearl is great yesss the pocket dimention if only she did the dance thing

Q: lol hand thing amethyst help her lol K: it's been a while since we saw pearl perform to retrieve things from her gem

Q: dammit sad huh! learning to text liar or something imagine her preforming every time she pulled something out wtf K: lol right?

Q: get the phone alright then goin the gem hehe that was fun pfft this is great pfffft i love this pearl oh no oh shiet

K: compartmentalizing surface pearl? Q: yes One of the pearls is texting her sorry surface pearl lol yet another level has been added oh hey is this regenerating awwww I LOVE HIS GIRL

K: she has a lot of depth

Q: don't be sad EXIST WHERE IS THE CELLPHONE awww i love this girl oh yet another layer this looked like hell oh shit war pearl REPRESSED WAR MEMORIES K: y u p well, compartmentalized Q: oh shit another layer crying rose rose pearl? gem memories this episode is great K: it really is Q: rose and pearl i love them NO ROSE don't kill people wert WUT HEY PINK K: okay, ngl i just cackled Q: SO NO WONDER PEARL NEVER SHAPESHIFTS TRAUMATIC MEMORIES butt

K: i hadn't thought of that, but it makes sense

Q:what is this

well i was always bothered that she never shapeshifted ever in the show

i always have been

for YEARS

dammit

pink was a sweetie

hi pearl

phone

watching this episode backwards

K: lol

Q: pearl

wtf

WHAT

WHAT TEH FUCK

FUCKING WHAT

SAPPHIRE

K: omg i know right

Q: SO IT TURNED OUT

THAT STUPID THEORY

WAS RIGHT

K: Y U P

Q: ALL AFUCKING LONG

K: I SURE WAS

Q: AND SO WAS THAT OTHER ONE WHERE PEARL KILLED PD

WHAT THE FUCK

STEVEN

YOU ARE NTO A QUARTS APPARENTLY

EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED

WHAT THE HELL

K: like I always thought pearl was either pink or white's, especially after we saw yellow pearl

Q: well i thought she was white's because white is a color that is all colors so it'd make sense for pearl to have more colors

BUT WHAT THE FUCK

THIS IS

FUCKING

WHAT THE HELL

SO ROSE QUARTZ

K: lol rose and pearls relationship is suddenly more fucked up than it was

Q: NEVER EXISTED

HEY ROSE

HEY GREG

HEY GARNET

HEY AMETHYST

HEY ANYBODY AND EVERYBODY FROM HOMEWOLD

FUCKING

PINK DIAMOND IS STEVEN

FUCK

what the fuck

i have no idea what the fuck this show is anymmore

everything is a lie K: lol

Q: i need to rewatch this episode again but i need to sleep

THIS ENTIRE FUCKING SHOW

WHAT THE FUCK

K: it's so good

Q: it is and i watched it from the beginning and loved it

the fucking hell though

K: like, now i know how my mom felt when she saw Empire Strikes Back in the theater and found out Vader is Luke's dad

Q: no wonder pearl felt betrayed when rose and greg got together

sorry i mean

HEY GREG

GUESS WHAT

ROSE QUARTS NEVER EXISTED, THAT WAS PINK DIAMOND

FUCKIN

I THINK THIS IS WORSE NOW

dammit

okay so thing:

K: no wonder pearl felt betrayed when she found out Lion was Rose's

Q: i was told never to watch the episodes until the series finished but now there is nothing i can do

OH SHITE

THAT MAKES SENSE

SO MANY THINGS

ROSE WAS AN ACT

PEARL

WHAT THE FUCK

STEVEN

IS A DIAMOND

what will centipede think of this

WHAT ABOUT JASPER

"hey jasper not only am i rose quartz i am pink fuckin diaMOND apparently"(edited)

K: lol they're both too corrupted to know

Q: eh whatever

was peri in that room K: didn't look like it

Q: no she's gonna have to figure it out later

ALSO LAPIS

HEY LAPIS

GUESS FUCKIN WHAT

K: Y E A H

Q: LAPIS THERE IS ALREADY A DIAMOND ON EARTH

AND HER NAME

IS STEVEN

K: he's no longer steven quartz universe

but steven diamond universe

Q: he is STEVEN DIAMOND UNIVERSE

OR STEVEN PINK UNIVERSE

whatever he likes more

pearl the fuck

K: he has thought about dying his hair pink

Q: THIS IS TRUE

wait doesn't it hurt to shapeshift that long

K: lol i saw someone say that rose kept an even bigger woman from greg

Q: lol

wait what happened

K: i think it has to do with her being a diamond

Q: ya she is powerful

or reform in whatever way you want

K: maybe that's really what her room in the temple was for

Q: get gem bits and then reform as a rose

HEY

so... what about the original rose...

no no there was none...

so pink diamond made up a backstory with her pearl...

pearl played as rose for some time

HEY THAT IS WHY SHE WAS SO MANY COLORS

SO SHE CAN TRANSFORM INTO ANYBODY

now that that is figured out

and Pink diamond after pearl was done being rose took over the rose persona forever

after the war too...

then there was earth and greg and steven

STEVEN

i think i have it figured out did i misunderstand something

K: mmm idk

there are still a lot of mysteries, i think

Q: also that backstory on rose was faked

so of course Sapphire is upset

man

i remember my favorite episode

K: all i know for certain is that rose/pd is not a nice being

Q: keystone motel

oh shit

ruby was angry

AND NOW SAPPHIRE ANGRY

SHE YELLED

K: yeah

Q: HEY GUYS DID YOU KNOW ALL OF YOUR LIVES ARE A LIE

K: lying is one thing both ruby and sapphire consistently fall apart over

Q: this isn't bullshit all of those stupid theories are true

first it was pearl, then it was THEY'RE FUCKING EXISTENCE AS GARNET ya because rose NEVER EXISTED

i need to sleep but that episode successfully made me love this show more

honestly

K: not this rose, at least

th others were all bubbled

Q: That may be my new favorite episode after nearly 3 years of keystone motel YES

they were though

K: likely to keep anyone from finding out she isn't a rose

Q: nah they are tied i love them both too much

how long were they planning that ahhhh

THAT PLAN

K: this? clearly from the beginning

Q: EXACTLY

I NEED TO SLEEP

SHIT

THAT WAS

K: S A M E

Q: GAH

PINK AND PEARL HAD A PLAN ALL ALONG

K: i know i need to scream about it more too

Q: AND THAT WAS ROSE

AND ROSE WAS PINK

fuckinn

HEY STEVEN

YOUR LIFE IS A LIE

YOU MAY BE THE ONLY ONE

WHO'S ENTIRE FUCKING LIFE IS A LIE

i need to sleep

K: okay I finished that row of crochet, thank

lol

and I too desperately need bed

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dragon-age-ocs-and-rp · 3 years ago

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So, I just watched a Try Guys video where they use their non dominant hands, their left hands because all 4 of them are righties, and it made me realize a few things that can kinda tranalate to Dragon Age Inquisition specifically.

People don't tend to reach for things which whatever hand is closest like I, my mother, and my brother all do. They tend to reach for things with their dominant hands.

They avoid holding dangerous or fragile objects with their non dominant hands, something that, again, my family doesn't do. My stepdad is the only person in the house that has to hold things with his dominant hand, the rest of us go with whatever hand is available and if both are available then whichever is closest to the goal, whether that be defending ourselves from attackers or throwing glass in the trash.

People do not trade off hands just so they can get away with taking fewer steps like we do.

Most people's non dominant hands aren't very strong because they specifically don't use it.

People use their silverware in specific hands, here in america most people will use the knife in their dominant hand, put it down, move the fork from their non dominant hand to their dominant hand, and switch like that constantly as they eat, whereas in other countries and in my household it's common place to just... not put the knife down and simply keep the fork in the same hand the whole time... I have gotten comments from friends about that habbit in the past, but something I personally noticed that they never caught on to is that I don't designate which hand is used for which utensil, I juse go based off of where the utensils are set. If I'm grabbing from the drawer directly, I grab them both with one hand, generally the left in my house due to how my kitchen is layed out with the oven across from the drawer and the fridge to the right of it, and at my grandma's I grab the utensils with my right hand because of how her kitchen is layed out. If I'm not grabbing them from the drawer and they're at the table already, rhen no matter how they're set out I put the left most utensil in my left hand and the right most in my right hand. In my family, if we set the silverware out, we do it properly because my mother is a debutante with ocd. Other people always use the knife with their dominant hand and I actually find that quite strange as it's just a back and forth motion, no complexity to it at all.

People don't just have a dominant hand, but also a dominant leg, which is determined by which side you start all motions with, such as when you start walking you'll almost always start with one side then the other, and when you put your pants on one leg goes in before the other every time. I don't do that. I've noticed the others in my family do, but I don't. And I think the reason for this is because I already have horrible balance and need to lift the less stable foot first to ensure I can keep what little balance I already have. I wasn't able to fully dress myself until I was 12 because I couldn't get my pants on by myself due to how horrible my balance has always been, and I still run into walls I know are next to me and haven't moved the whole time I've lived in this house. My mom avoids moving furniture around too often because I already bump into everything when I walk.

People do EVERYTHING with their dominant hand if they can get away with it. If you can get away with not even lifting your non dominant hand you will, and you don't even realize it. When someone who uses both hands calls you out on it and shouts "you have 2 hands, use them" you'll get defensive before you acknowledge that you were being lazy in not using your other hand. That's not something that's in the video, I noticed it because while I was watching the video I could overhear one of the neighbors yelling at their kids for it. Technically still noticed while watching the video.

Due to how many more people are right handed in the world, very little is designed and produced where you can actually use it with both hands and if it is it isn't very comfortable and it's very boxy, like the wii controller.

You probably can't even write your own name with your non domiant hand.

My brother's hand writing isn't bad because he's neurodivergent, it's bad because his preschool teacher thought it was ok to smack his hand with a wooden ruler every time he used his left hand as a kid and now he's too afraid to use it for single handed tasks. I figured out pretty early on that she was doing this, but it didn't stop when I told other adults and he was nonverbal and I had a tendancy to lie a bit too often about authority figures for my mom to believe me. I eventually said enough was enough and durinf nap time when she had made the mistake of falling asleep in a school with no locks on the doors and my teachers getting drunk in the teachers lounge instead of watching us kids I snuck into her class, used a jump rope to tie her to her chair, and when she woke up she was met by a very angry 4 year old with a ruler, and I had no mercy. Still surprised I didn't get kicked out, but looking back on everything from that school I realize I was somehow in the low functioning class with all the kids who couldn't communicate and half of them still couldn't walk, and I was the youngest. I was in no way shape or form supposed to be in that class, but that's where they put me.

Now for the things I noticed during my Lywin playthrough.

The inquisitor reaches for the orb with their left hand.

Cassandra draws her sword with her left hand if you don't give her a shield.

Varric aims Bianca with both hands depending on which direction he last moved. If he ran to the left, he pulls rhw trigger with his right, if he ran to the right he pulls thw trigger with his left, and if he ran straight forward he does a left handed aim.

Cole gaurds with his left, gaurding referring to which hand is closer to the enemy and more likely to block or pery a blow during close quarters combat. He also gaurds pretty high, which isn't quite neccessary given his speed. It would actually be best for him to gaurd a bit lower and protect his vital organs more incase of a long ranged attack, but that's just nitpicking on my end and not important.

Sera claims to be self taught with her bow, but the way she holds it indicates that either she's left handed or somebody corrected the way she holds her bow at some point and she listened. The reason I say this is because I'M self taught with a bow and for the longest time I held the bow in my right hand, drew the arrow with my left, and knocked it on the left. What that means is (since I had an ambidextrous bow from walmart) I would put the bow on the lefthand sight rather than putting it through the bow and on the right. I did this because to me it made sense, although looking back at it now I realize that the way I actually held the bow was all wrong and I definitely could have avoided the many blisters and cuts I got from the string smacking my arm every time I released. Sera doesn't use a HEMA aproved stance, her footing is secure but not what is considered accurate by gatekeepers, meaning she probably didn't get any advice she listened to and figured out what worka best for her on her own, which makes me believe she's probably just left handed. (A lot of this is just speculation acquired from my own personal experiences with a bow, one of which was learning thay the way Sera stands with her knees secerely bent and slightly turned around at the hips hurts like hell after a few shots because you're putting strain on your spine that it doesn't like being put through. Also, elf anatomy could be very different from humans, I don't know, her spine could be just fine standing like that in a fight)

In the game, throw away dialog is one of my favorite things, I'll sit for hours just trying to find every throw away line the npcs have. One of my favorites is when your blacksmith is getting grumpy about fullers being called blood gooves (which I don't know where that nickname for them came from but it's completely inaccurate for any blade ever), and so I decided to pay more attention to things in the smithy from then on. So far I haven't played a warrior or mage, only rogues, but I noticed that when you make a bow, it's always indexted to the left hand. That's how most people say it should be used, held with your left and drawn with your right (though I don't see why, I aim better if holding it in my right and I feel better aim should make all the difference, not forcing practice with an arm you're naturally worse with). But, kf you make daggers, depending on which hand it gets put in it'll show the handle slightly differently, and that's becaused it's being indexed differently, so it's easier to grab and doesn't slip from your hand. I also noticed that if you look down the spine of the blades, certain ones have tiny warps, which is when the blade is bent, and those are mostly on old and spooky looking blades, while your shiny looking ones are perfectly straight. Might just be my bad eyesight and the way they light everything on an angle, but I thought that was neat.

Dorian wields his staff with one hand and holds books with the other.

Leliana lifts her left hand last from any table she leans against. Probably because the inquisitor is usually to her left but I still noticed that and found it cute.

Official art can't seem to remember which hand the anchor was on, I have found promotional art with text on it showing the inquisitor lifting their right hand to the sky with the anchor glowing, but if you're as obsessed with this game as I am you know it's on the left hand.

Cassandra's sheeth for her swords is on her left hip, which means she has to draw the swords with her right hand, but she uses a left handed swing and if you look at official art where she's holding the sword with one hand and no shield it's usually in her left.

All of this indicates that the people making the game didn't notice or didn't think we'd notice something like handedness, being left handed is just as rare in the world of dragon age as it is irl, and the inquisitor probably has to deal with the same stupid bigotry left handed people did before the late 19th century

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thatguywiththefaceog · 3 years ago

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June Smut-Lapidot Skinny Dipping (Rimjob)

Lapis and Peridot takes a dip in the buff. Things get sexy. Dirty version with rimming

This story is rated E for explicit and is for adults only. All characters depicted are over 18.

Lapis flew in holding Peridot by her arms to the lake. Peridot wasn’t sure where on the planet Lapis had taken her, but the green gem didn’t care. Instead of merely landing on the shore, Lapis parted the lake, landing on the wet ground. Peridot looked at the walls of water surrounding them. It was beautiful.

“Ready to take a dip?” Lapis asked her. The blue gem pulled her top off. The sight was wonderful as Peridot watched her blue orbs giggle slightly. Starting with her glasses, Peridot took off her clothes. She kicked off her boots, and tugged off her pants. While she couldn’t shape shift like the way an era one gem could, she could alter her base form when she was poofed. Since studying human biology, Peridot had given herself several human attributes. Her modest breasts had puffy nipples, she’d given herself a pussy with a tuft of hair above it and added an anus between her shapely butt cheeks. Her anus, vaginal walls, and nipples were a forest green. Her pubes were the same color as her hair.

Once naked and blushing slightly, the gremlin walked over to her blue friend. Lapis' current form was in her default state meaning that she was as smooth as a human doll. The naked gem raised her arms. “Ready Perry?” Lapis asked her.

“Just go slow this time Lazuli. We don’t-” A wave of water hit her, cutting Peridot off. Lapis had released her hold of the water, letting it all rush in at once. Peridot was very grateful she didn’t add lungs to her base form. It wouldn’t have drowned her but it would have been uncomfortable. She crossed her arms and mouthed “Real mature.” Neither gem could talk under water but both could read lips. Lapis was laughing her ass off. She looked too adorable for Peridot to be mad at her.

Peridot swam up, giving her girlfriend a good look at her large ass. Lapis licked her lips. She zipped around until she was in front of Peridot again. With a flash Lapis had given herself nipples and vagina all dark blue. Although Peridot could see it, she suspected a butthole too. The blue gem reframed from giving herself pubic hair.

Diving behind Peridot, Lapis placed her face firmly between her buttcheeks. Peridot groaned at the sensation of an underwater rimjob. Floating in the lake Peridot bent over, giving her lover better access to her asshole. The water gem slid two fingers up Peri’s snatch as she ate out her ass. Bubbles popped out of Peridot’s mouth as lapis thrusted her fingers in and out of her.

This continued for a bit before Peridot came. Her walls clenched around Lapis’ fingers. She cleaned herself off by waving her hand in the water. Pari swam around to face her. “Your turn,” she mouthed. Lapis pushed out her hips and spread her lips. Peridot dug her tongue into her folds. She gleefully grabbed her buttcheeks, her right hand inching closer to the middle.

So she did give herself an asshole Peridot thought as she shoved two fingers up Lazuli’s anus. Bubbles burst out of the blue gem’s mouth as peridot swirled her tongue around her clit. Peridot ate her out for a while until Lapis Lazuli came.

Both swam up to the surface. “Holy shit Peridot that was amazing!”

“Not as amazing as you Lapis.” The two then kissed passionately, swapping each other's juices into their mouths. “Now, get our clothes and dry them out since you left them at the bottom of the fucking lake.”

#lemon #stephen galaxy #lapidot

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thegreatandloveableeros · 7 years ago

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Anniversary

This is a gift for one of the best writers I’ve met, made by me and @aphrodite-goddess-of-fluff; Lilly, you deserve the best... Lilly, Thank you for a year with this characters, for give us the chance to meet us, for... evertything @su-mafia-yandere-lapidot-au-blog

She let out a tiny gasp as she felt her cheeks start burning once again, Lapis shortly closing the distance between them as she began placing kisses and nibbles all the way down her throat. The blonde couldn’t help the whimper that left her lips, her breathing becoming erratic as she closed her eyes and tangled her now released hands in soft blue locks.

The blonde’s fingers curling in pleasure, tugging the blue hair a little. Breathing becoming nothing but a moan the moment she feels a vacuum of plump lips against her throat, Peridot knew that if she turned on the lights she could see how her skin was becoming darker and darker under the teeth of the mafia leader.

Suddenly everything stopped as Lapis’ hand came to her hips, touching the little skin the clothes left uncovered, a sweet kiss completely different to what it was seconds ago was left on her lips, “Can I keep going?”, honey sweetness dripping from every word as her whole body just stops, a soft slim smile in her lips as the blue eyes focus on the pale skin of her face.

“You ask?” The blonde said, her hands finding the way into the neck of her lover, tenderly pressing her against her skin, noses colliding as she nuzzles the best she can, “I want nothing more than this... “

“I love you.” The whisper is still sweet as they kissed once again, just slow and steady, conveying in actions what has been said over and over and even more than that, showing how much Lapis cares about Peridot, because she’s her angel, she’s the reason her heart beats over and over again, second by second, she gave her a meaning to the word love, she gave her a meaning on the word family, she gave a new meaning to Pearl and Garnet, to Amethyst and Jasper, to Rose and even Steven, Lapis kissed her but not, because she was also kissing the goddess that brought everything back, the perfect girl hiding in one nook of the city, behind a rusty iron door just to fix Lapis’ car and in the process, mend her heart, to let Crystal rot away and her be free, Lapis kisses her like it’s tomorrow, like they are in front of a church, Lapis kiss her like she loves her, because we all know she does.

And Peridot returns the tender kiss, because that’s everything she cares about, that’s everything she desires and that’s everything that she wants, because she’s in love with Lapis Lazuli and no one is going to take that away, because after the hardships and the fights, the long weeks without her and the days where she didn’t leave her side there was something in the bottom of her heart, undying love for the mafia leader, even when she got afraid at first, the blue haired girl won her heart bit by bit, piece by piece, like making a really hard puzzle, one after the other until everything that was left behind was someone that just wished to be with her, that fell in love with the most beautiful girl she had even encountered.

A whisper breaks the air when the lungs burn and both of them are panting into the air, “It’s your night, that’s why I’m asking.” The bluenette whisper slowly, seductively and most importantly, lovely.

“My Queen.” Peridot bows her head hiding once again in Lapis’ neck, “I want you now.”

And Lapis gives, because that’s everything she wants to do, Lapis touch her cold skin with shaky fingers, trembling because the blonde is a temple, sacred and pure and she can’t risk desecrate such holiness with her touch, Lazuli’s fingers keep shivering because she dreamt of this moment for so long and she still feels unworthy of doing it. While she takes the top and faces a naked chest, the blue haired mafia leader prays to the unnamed god the possibility of being there and doing this, when she latches into the hard nipples and sucks, she thanks the skies for letting her hear an angel moan, and when Peridot’s fingers come so close, pressing her against the skin, she begs the world never stopping this, she begs anything and everything the chance of doing it tomorrow and then after that more times in her life, everytime her little princess asks it of her.

But a jerk against her knee is everything she needs to continue, hands fastly undoing the shorter girl’s pants and touching the bare skin, not a motion wasted as she doesn’t tease the girl asking for it, but she just touches, one finger over her slit, prodding a little and finding a had nub, pressing it with her thumb and waiting for the reaction, whole body shaking over and over as Peridot comes oh so close to climax, but she knows that Lapis is a cruel lover and she’s ready to clench her teeths when Lapis stops.

Because she knows that wet kisses start to roll down from her chest, one and then another, then the third one letting the forth come, until her breath is lining up with the inviting wet core and Peridot has to stop herself from jerking against her face, because that would be rude and certainly bring upon her a punishment that in this night is not that important, because what Peridot wants from this sleepover is not sleep, but now she just wants to feel her so close, so glued to her that it hurts, because Peridot wants to feel love in each and every way, and she knows Lapis Lazuli will give it to her.

A tongue running one single strip, tortuous but loving, over her, before she starts to dig in, the blonde can’t control her body anymore when she spasms against the face of the mafia leader, when she tugs her hair and pulls her even deeper, when the walls inside her tremble in pleasure and her voice breaks in a scream with someone's name, but that doesn’t matter because Lapis Lazuli is giving, she’s licking all the right places, her tongue is going inside and out and she can feel her hot breath cold against the needy skin, she can feel how her nose touches lightly her clit and she can only beg between moans for more contact.

Lapis knows that, Lapis of course does, because this is a dance well practiced, this is something they have both done so many times but that doesn’t mean that this is something old for them. Each time different, more inviting, more private, more pleasurable, each time slower or faster, but each time with the same love they always show. Lapis knows that Peridot needs her elsewhere and she’ll be damned before she won’t give, at the end, what her beautiful goddess needs the most.

And Lapis curls her lips between the hard, swelling and thumbing nub and sucks and Peridot is transported elsewhere, eyes rolling behind her head as she moans even more loudly, screaming Lapis’ name as she feels two fingers going inside her, and she continues repeating the name over and over again, like a mantra, like a prayer, that’s Lapis’ effect in her, making her a religious girl for an unnamed cult, because when she finishes, jerking against the tanned skin and lifting her whole body in the ecstasy and flurry of emotions, the only thing she can do is thanks the fate for bringing Lapis into her doorstep long ago.

And she falls into the bed, shining in the afterglow as she feels a hot body covering her, as she finds lovely blue eyes locking with hers and as she receives a kiss with her own taste, chaste and slow, full of love and care.

Her chest is rising and falling as she tries to catch herself, Peri is undoubtedly exhausted from the rush she just experienced but wants something else for this night and she won’t stop until she gets it.

Peridot pushes Lapis with the last of her strength and pins her into the bed, letting her whole body fall and her lips lining up with a hair covered ear.

“I want you to scream my name.” Peridot whispers with all the seduction she can muster.

And Lapis grows wet as she swallows loudly.

She had known her little Peri for a very long time now, she couldn’t stand a day apart from her because her heart would ache with longing for the blonde goddess in a sea of melancholy. That naturally resulted in her spending as much time as she could with Peridot, because she was the greatest blessing in her life, the reason she had a life. But all that time spent together meant she got to see other facets of the blonde, and as it turned out her precious Peri-baby had secret wicked side nobody had the right to find out but the one and only blue haired girl Peridot trusted so much. And because of that trust, they could do things like this, just the two of them enjoying each other completely, mind, body and soul. Right now though, they would focus on the body.

Or at least that’s what the nibbles and kisses up and down her neck are saying.

Lapis comes back from her train of thought as the blonde puts more pressure on her bites, her little but sharp teeth sinking on the perfectly tanned skin. That incites a moan from the bluenette, her neck was proving to be sensitive more often than not and tonight is no different.

She can feel her breath starting to fasten as small hands take the hem of her shirt and start tugging, asking for permission. The blue haired girl gives a wordless nod, mostly because she can muster a word when Peridot is looking at her like that, those shiny green orbs beaming with want and an expression that can only mean mine. The shirt hits the floor in a beat as the Greek girl throws it carelessly behind her, along with the shorts that completed the outfit. Let’s not forget, the ever so naughty Lapis Lazuli hadn’t put on panties that morning meaning Peridot is free to get right to work.

However it is obvious the blonde isn’t quite ready for that and prefers taking her sweet time on sucking on Lapis’ chest. She trails her tongue over her nipples, taking great delight in the way the bluenette arches her back and pants as she hums on one of them and the other is between her forefinger and thumb. By twisting and pinching it slightly she makes Lapis squirm under her, she tries to muffle the sound with one hand but Peri still has her pinned to the bed, both hands over her head in a light but firm hold that doesn’t seem like ever letting go.

Eventually she does, but only so she can travel down her way to the area that needed more attention than any other. She kisses her sweetly on the lips once before going back down, and before either of them knows it she is already with her head between Lapis’ highs. Her little chubby hands are holding her firmly by the hips, she takes in the view and basks in her scent. Finally, she feels the other shiver as she gives a long, slow lick between her folds.

Lapis moans immediately at that, she doesn’t even feel any shame at this point and she just runs her hand through her hair, just letting herself go. Meanwhile, Peridot seems to take that as a challenge as starts making a solid job of eating her out.

Her tongue stiffens as much as it cans and start attacking all of Lapis’ weak spots, first she carefully spreads the soft folds of her lover, and soon she is toying around with the little bundle of nerves she knows so well by now. She flicks her tongue against it, eliciting a sharp gasp from the bluenette, as soon as she wraps her lips around it and starts sucking it all sounds turn into incoherent pleas and begging to a nameless god mingled with renditions of Peridot’s name.

Not to mention Lapis wouldn’t stop murmuring things under her breath, whimpers and moans intercalate with praises for the blonde and strongly felt ‘I love yous’. Peridot looks up from her place, head still between her legs and lips and chin soaked with Lapis’ arousal.

Said girl almost growls when she stops but looks at her mostly with confusion, “Why did you stop?”

Peridot just smirks slightly, moving herself up slowly to her level, “Because, you are so beautiful my queen, I can’t take my eyes off you. I want to watch you.”

Without another word she presses her lips against her own, Lapis folds her arms around her neck but is still whimpering a little as in asking for at least a little friction, which thankfully for her happens pretty quickly when Peridot pushes two fingers into her core.

Lapis pulls back from the kiss to let out a loud cry that drowns out into a relieved moan, the panting and moaning return as Peridot goes back to nibbling her neck and sucking afterwards, leaving a trail of soon to be hickeys all over her skin. She is alternating between scissoring gently and thrusting in and out of her dripping heat, soon she is stretched open enough for a third finger to join in, and with the way Peridot is going at her breasts so shamelessly rough she can tell she was about to come. She just needs a little push, just a little more…

Sensing this, Peridot pauses on the assault on her chest and whispers in her ear, “Cum for me, your highness.”

And that’s all it takes for Lapis to arch her back and cum with a broken scream of “PERIDOT!”, waves of pleasure flood her senses as her eyes see white on the edges, the coil in her gut came undone and electric shocks go crazy up and down her spine. She rides her orgasm for a blissful moment, Peridot helps her all the way by slowing down the thrusting but keeping her thumb on her clit.

She comes down from her high eventually, and as soon as she’s not too dizzy to think she sees her lover’s warm eyes gazing at her lovingly. She sighs in the most pleased kind of way as she wraps her arms around her, bringing her close for sweaty cuddles.

“I love you.” She whispers, so softly, so gently so, as if she was trying to caress the beautiful being lying on top of her, but still trying to convey all the strength of the love she feels for her.

Apparently it is good enough for the blonde, because she is looking back at her with such adoration she can feel warmth coming out of those captivating eyes that made her fall so long ago.

“I love you too.” Peridot says back, her head moves a little closer so just she can capture the bluenette’s lips in one last chaste kiss. At least for tonight. She knew that was the same set of lips she would kiss every day, for the rest of her life, and she was more than happy with that. She buries her face in the other’s chest, nuzzling slightly and almost purring at the hand petting her fluffy -now very messy- blonde hair.

They both close their eyes, warm bodies press together in the safe solitude of their home. The last thing Lapis remembers before blacking out is Peridot’s soft breathing, and the last thing Peridot remembers is her girlfriend’s sweet scent.

The warm yellow light of a morning sun greets the tanned skin, bathing her in warm affection.

Peridot can feel the sun covering her with a light atmosphere, but she prefers to think those are Lapis’ arms, cradling her to sleep.

The next morning she realized that for a sleepover, they had barely slept at all that night.

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