#wdau meta

[ask-whitepearl-and-steven]

Hi! I used to read this comic back in the day (last thing I remember is everyone mad that you didn't draw 'Earl's pink spots and consolidated it into the shorts. Idk when that was, might try to catch up) nice it's still going. I was just wondering, how do you handle the blog in-universe? (obviously stuff from you isn't canon and such, steven set up a blog iirc, but we're basically omniscient other dimensional people who see everything? (like, the pure story stuff with no asks) Because we know so much from the og show already and the goings-on and personal moments and such. I hope this made sense. (I'm thinking of starting my own character ask blog haha)

Ahhh, the good old days...

...how do you handle the blog in-universe?

Great question. The reality is... I really kinda don't.

I try not to overthink that part of it, because while the asks DO drive the story forward, they don't really direct it, if that makes sense. I pick which asks to post, which means I'm directing. The asks are just a vehicle, and thus, I don't really wanna focus on whether it's a clown car or a Mercedes Benz.

...we're basically omniscient other dimensional people who see everything?

Not quite! Although I do let a few meta asks slip through the narrative, for the most part, I stubbornly ignore any asks that try to spoil the plot for Steven. So not the "omniscient other dimensinal people" part. Just regular people who read the blog!

The in-story explanation is that Steven writes down what happens, even if there are no asks to accompany the story. He posts photos sometimes, and describes his adventures. This is kind of like Steven's personal diary? That's why you're all privy to most of what goes on in the story.

Granted, sometimes I bend or break the rules for that, if it serves the plot better. So, you know... the car has a bit of a Fred Flinstone vibe to it.

[ask-whitepearl-and-steven]

Why are Lapis and Peridot so desperate to escape when they're safe on the moon base?

I think that's a great question.

People often presume that Lapis' primary motivation is merely 'get away from the Crystal Gems' and 'be safe'. They take her going to the moon as a 'win' in her arc. Like it was a logical and final solution, and therefore - yeah, why not go to the moon and just be done with it?

Easy, right?

But Lapis never wanted to be alone on the moon. Lapis' primary, original motivation is and always has been 'I Want To Go Home.'

Even in canon, her going to the moon wasn't a happy ending. She was using it as a last resort. She isolated herself there and was miserable because Lapis isn't actually antisocial. She wants to have friends.

The problem is, she's traumatized and scared and that doesn't make her a good team-player. She's scared of being trapped, and she's scared of being mistaken for an enemy. Don't forget that she was originally trapped in the mirror because she "was picked up by a Homeworld Soldier and confused for a Crystal Gem... and used as a tool."

She doesn't want to stay indefinitely on the moon.

In the AU, she took Peridot there because she does feel it's safe for the moment and she feels in control. But ultimately, she wants something Definitive that would prove to Homeworld that that she is, without a doubt, NOT a traitor, and should not be treated as one.

The first time she tried to leave Earth, she got caught by Jasper and Peridot, and she realized that just going back wasn't going to cut it.

So she switched tactics. She decided to use Peridot as a shield, to prove that she was doing what was 'right' - working WITH Homeworld.

And Peridot? Doesn't want to be on the moon either.

Peridot wants to complete her mission and be a good gem. In a way, she's also using Lapis as a shield - but more physically, because Lapis is clearly the stronger fighter of the two of them.

Both of them want to go home. Both of them are simply trying to do what they think is necessary to prove themselves 'good soldiers' so that what happened to Lapis doesn't happen to them again.

That's why they're so desperate to get Stevonnie and Earl off their backs. Their plan was to make a call to Yellow and pacify her needs, and essencially use the Cluster's flawless emergence as currency to beg for her protection and safe transport.

But now that Yellow has been...

hung up on in the middle of conversation

not called back in time to watch the Cluster emerge

third thing - take your pick (Lapis and Peridot merged, Stevonnie is in the moonbase, etc)

...Peridot realized that there is no salvaging this situation. There's no more time to fix it, rather. She has not technically failed her mission, but in trying to protect it, she has dug herself an ever-deeper hole. And there's no missing the fact that Stevonnie's words DID resonate with her.

It's not a clean cut 'just stay on the moonbase, it's not like the Cluster will get you here :)'

Things are already permanently fucked. Peridot and Lapis are both doomed, and in a sense, their desperate scramble for survival they have ultimately doomed each other.