She wouldn't admit it, but it was obvious that she missed Homeworld.

Peridot took note of it when she started taking visits to her ship. It started out innocent enough, one visits a day. Then it increased to two a day, three. Even four on some days.

Stargazing was also something Aquamarine was more enthusiastic about. Previously, she treated it the same way she had treated other activities. Just a way to kill time.

Like with most of her views on Earth and such, she quickly grew out of this. Waiting in the desert and her natural curiosity probably helped.

But something was off. Aquamarine was never someone who would dedicate herself to doing something for periods of a long time, so it came as a shock when Peridot spotted her spending hours looking for constellations and such.

There were other factors, such as the times she went into rambling on about the history of the planet and how there was a distant gaze in her eyes every time it was mentioned being the most prominent, but the former two were the most glaring.

So, Peridot came up with her first plan to catch her in the act. Follow her, hide behind a car or two, wait for the right moment, and introduce herself.

Obviously, after thinking about it for a few minutes afterward, Peridot scrapped the plan, as that kind of thing only worked out in CPH.

She decided on a more practical way. She'd join her when Aquamarine was out and then proceed to question her.

With that in mind, Peridot did a couple of stretches, reached for the remote, and flipped on the TV. It was going to be a long day.

When night came, Peridot was starting to have conflicting feelings about the whole ordeal. She was all for learning more about Homeworld, especially from a high ranking Gem like her, but Peridot also had a feeling that the more she pressed on about it, the more likely Aquamarine would try to back out or get suspicious. After all, Peridot was never the kind who could start a conversation off the bat.

After taking a deep breath, Peridot spotted the tiny Gem staring at the night sky, completely engrossed. Truth be told, it unnerved Peridot a little.

She sat a distance away from Aquamarine, doing the same as her. Once she regained her composure, Peridot scooted over to Aquamarine, little by little.

Aquamarine didn't change when Peridot got close to her. In fact, she seemed even more interested in the stars than before, like she found a new constellation. Or she could've been trying to ignore Peridot.

Peridot didn't take her eyes off the sky, and so didn't Aquamarine. When it became clear that Aquamarine wasn't going to start talking, Peridot took it into her own hands.

"So, hi."

Aquamarine flinched, than relaxed when she heard the green Gem's voice. "Oh, it's you. Hey."

"So I see that you're interested in stargazing of lately."

"Ah, so that's what it's called. I guess you could say that."

"How is it? The stargazing, I mean."

"It's relaxing. Lapis introduced it to me. Sometimes, I sit here for hours without moving a finger."

"Oh yeah, I know that feeling. Sometimes you get so into it that you don't notice anything else."

There was silence for a couple of minutes. During the time span, Peridot snatched a book about stars. She leafed through the pages until she found an index about various constellations.

She passed the book to Aquamarine. "This is a book on space related topics, including constellations. Think you'll like it," Peridot said as the green Gem put her arms behind her head and laid down.

With a quiet "Thanks," Aquamarine took it.

One minute later, she placed it on the ground. She looked at Peridot and said with a smile, "I appreciate the book. I'll get you something in return."

"Aww, that's kind of you. Though that's odd for something like that coming out of your mouth."

"What can I say? I've changed. Guess Earth really does do something to your heads."

"Maybe Steven's gotten into you. That would explain it."

"He certainly does have that effect on everyone he meets. He's like, what was is it called again? A beacon of hope?"

Peridot nodded in response, like how a teacher would congratulate a student on correctly answering a question. "You're right on the 'beacon of hope' thing. Everything seems to be better whenever Steven's around. No wonder he makes friends with everyone he meets."

For a while, there wasn't much of a conversation. After Peridot settled down, Aquamarine took off and came back with a notebook. The twenty minutes afterwards were dedicated to her sketching down the many constellations she found inside the book and trying to find them on the sky.

When Aquamarine couldn't find a single one, she nearly threw the notebook. Luckily, she didn't let her impulses get the best of her and simply set aside the object while grumbling.

Aquamarine slid down. If she had a nose, she would be pinching it by now. "Now that I think about it, finding a constellation is so much harder than I thought it would be."

"Same."

The voice belonged to Lapis, who was sitting next to Peridot. Aquamarine would've ben easily startled by her presence, but a headache was starting to form, so she simply gave a curt, "Oh, you're here."

"How long have you been here? I'll have to start keeping an eye out for you next time."

"Not long. I just wanted a place to relax and well, this place was the best I could find."

"Nah," Peridot replied, "There's another reason you're here. Something that none of us would expect..."

She began to look at and around Lapis, to her ire. And when that didn't yield results, Peridot climbed out and started to investigate Lapis' stash.

Peridot didn't get far before Lapis stopped her by creating a tentacle and forcefully pulled her back. She landed face first.

"Oww..."

"Now you know not to get snoopy. Especially around my stuff."

After getting up, Peridot raises her hands in defeat. "Alright, I apologize."

"Apology accepted. Just don't do anything like that again."

Peridot didn't have anything to say to that. And so, the trio simply stared at the stars, enjoying a rare moment of serenity in the chaotic life in the barn.

At this point, Peridot had nearly forgotten about her original objective. While she did want to know more about why Aquamarine was starting to get homesick, she also didn't want to ruin this moment.

"I'll wait. She has to speak up at some point." Peridot was content with the thought.

No one spoke until Lapis took out her own notebook and pencil. She got Aquamarine's attention and pointed to the sky. From what Peridot could hear from their chatter, she was having trouble spotting constellations.

"Eh. Don't worry about it," Aquamarine said. "Those things are rare. There's only one or two of them out tonight. Don't bother yourself with it."

"Oh." Lapis looked genuinely confused, like she expected that they all would be here. "That makes more sense."

Aquamarine went on a lecture about the stars and their various properties, like how hot they were, how many of them were speculated to be in the universe, and most importantly, how they went up in a bang.

It was cut short when Lapis pointed her finger at a familiar arrangement of stars. "Hey, those stars kinda look like your ship."

Aquamarine shut her mouth. She narrowed her eyes while frantically starting to look for them. "Where? Where's the position? The arrangement? How many are there?"

This caught Peridot's attention as well. Immediately after, the green Gem was straight up and managed to squeeze herself between the two Gems.

"What... are you doing?" Lapis asked, the first part drawn out as she took a step back.

"It's there! To the bottom left!"

"Oh yeah! There it is!"

As she spent more time looking at it, her face shifted from one of emotion to a more solemn one.

"Heh... it's been such a long time. How long has it been? One and a half month ever since I arrived to take most of Beach City to space?"

"Yup. I can't believe it either. From a cold, snobby, and easily angered Gem to a mellowed out one, its been quite the change."

"I propose we call it 'The Peridot effect'." Lapis replied.

Crickets could be heard before Lapis hurriedly added in, "Because, you know, what you've gone through is really similar to what Peridot's been through."

"Actually, that doesn't sound too bad to me." That came from Peridot, who was genuinely interested in the phrase. "'The Peridot Effect.' Hmm... Yeah, that does sound good!"

Aquamarine turned back to Lapis and gave her a grin. "Congratulations Lapis, you've created a new phrase. We could probably get that in a dictionary if we try hard enough."

A snicker escaped the blue Gem's mouth. "Lovebirds," Lapis said in a quiet voice. Neither of the other Gems seemed to notice this.

"So, if you two are done cuddling..." Lapis' voice brought the two back to Earth. "What were you about to say about those stars?"

"Cuddling? What's that?"

"Like what you're doing right now." It was only then that Aquamarine looked down and realized that she was way too close for her own comfort. She didn't hesitate pulling herself apart from the small Gem.

"Oh, right. Anyways, uh, we should get back on track. What did you say again?"

"You said those," Lapis stated, raising a finger, "look like your ship."

"Ah, right. My ship..."

While Aquamarine was internally brooding, Lapis gave Peridot a thumbs up. Peridot couldn't decide if that was supposed to be a good or bad thing.

All Peridot could give back was a weak smile. "Guess she knew after all."

"That's what I wanted to talk about. You seem to be growing sick for Homeworld."

"Ah. So I guess this is what this has all been leading up to?"

"Kinda..." Peridot replied while brushing a hand against the back of her head.

"Look, this is getting out of hand. It's ok for you to feel homesick, but I don't think visiting your spaceship five times out of seven is a good sign."

"I know. But still, that spaceship meant so much to me. It was one of my few possessions, other than my wand. And now? It's broken!"

"This again? You know very well that it *had* to be destroyed for the sake of everyone in this town. If not, than this place would become little more than a ghost town, and the Gems would never forgive themselves. Especially Steven."

For a short moment, Aquamarine appeared ready to have an argument with the green Gem. It all but disappeared when she simply gave a sigh and muttered, "You do have a point." A solemn expression appeared on the cyan Gem's face, and it looked like she was about to go into a fit of depression...

...until that same face melted as quickly as it appeared. A bright one took its place, and Peridot swore she could hear a light bulb going off above Aquamarine's head.

"Wait a minute. Peridot, your kind are technicians, right?"

"If that ship wasn't made by Peridots or Bismuths, than no one could've built it."

"And you have experience with ships as well? Preferably building them, but if you managed to get ahold of a blueprint of one, that's fine too."

Peridot raised and eyebrow. In the back, Lapis did the same. "Where are you going with this?"

"Just answer the question. Please?"

"I've had some experience with them. Keyword being 'some' here."

There was no hint of the calm and developed Aquamarine from before. It was as if she was replaced by a hyperactive child. "I was wondering if you could... you know, repair it?"

Peridot nearly fell down from pure shock. "Repair your ship? Are you crazy?"

"If you're wondering about the whole 'kidnap humans' thing, than don't worry, I've moved past that a long time ago."

"But why? You know the consequences of doing so. The Gems are still iffy about you, sans Steven, obviously. If they found out about this whole plan..."

"Bah! You claim to have built a robot back when you were still new here, if I recall correctly. And I never heard about any consequences. If you can build something like that and get off scot free, than what's stopping you and me from repairing the spacecraft?"

"You just reminded me, I didn't tell you the full story. One, the Crystal Gems were there to watch over me and to ensure I didn't try to trick them. Two, I built that robot solely for competing with Pearl, and it was destroyed a while after."

"It was destroyed? You mean after you told off Yellow Diamond?"

A blush was on Peridot's face instantly. From the way she spoke, she was treating it like it was an extremely embarrassing memory. "Well, I guess you can put it like that..."

Snickering could be heard from both of the blue Gems. The embarrassed blush only grew larger, but nonetheless Peridot still gave a warm smile.

"But seriously," Peridot suddenly said, setting the mood back to the way it was, "I'm afraid that ship will have to stay broken. The risks are simply too large to ignore."

"Yeah, I get what you're saying. Maybe some time in the future, when my trust is fully repaired with them, I'll have a chance."

"If it lightens the mood," Lapis interjected, making her way to the two small Gems, "I tried to escape Earth once by stealing the worlds water. And I mean all of it."

"Wait, seriously? You're strong for a Lazuli, but that feat of nature is, to put it lightly, absurd."

"Everything about it is true. Peridot can tell you more about it."

"Oh yes, she's not lying about it at all. There's so much you should hear, and I think the best time would be now."

And so the night from then on turned to stories about Lapis' feats of power to Peridot's iron-hard defense. Some time afterwards, Topaz joined in and brought in her own stories from beyond the galaxy.

It was all too reminiscent of typical campfire tales. And while Aquamarine normally would consider it childlike, on this night, she managed to keep her mouth closed.

"It's nice to have friends like these." She thought.