Scene #2784: The Melancholy of Steven Universe

Owner	Pose
Steven Universe	It's late in the evening, and Steven has been missing from Peridot's ship since this morning. He left without asking anyone and took Lion with him. Right now Steven is laying in the middle of a park in some small Japanese town. He's in the grass in a large clearing, not too many trees, staring up at the night sky. Lion is playfully scaring birds away like any cat would, but Steven doesn't seem to be in a great mood at all. In fact, he skipped all of his meals and didn't even watch Crying Breakfast Friends.
Sunstone	Sunstone has been constantly vigilant in her search for other Gems. This time, it leads her to locating a buzz of social media pictures of a large pink lion, which set off her searches quickly. So she tracked down where all of that was coming from and eventually it led her to where Steven happens to be. Her hovercar buzzes up to the park and comes to a halt, and Sunstone frowns up at the night sky, which is inconsistent with the world she just drove from. She hopes she doesn't have to fight anything out here. She climbs out of the vehicle and steps toward the sight of the huge pink lion, but then over to the mopey looking boy that doesn't look like he fits in with the locals. The glowing, smiling gem steps over there, and leeeeans over tentatively to block his view of the stars. "Hi. I'm Sunstone," she greets, smiling tiredly at him.
Peridot	A pod shaped shadow races over the cityscape, being cast from an overhead vessel moving rather rapidly. Peridot had been somewhat delayed in reacting to Steven being missing. She had more or less, let Lapis take over for her in the care of Steven. However, when she discovered that Steven was out again and Lapis was not with him she had set her robonoids on the task of locating him. Having them scan the internet, and all of Stevens known media accounts would prove fruitful in locating him once more. And since Lapis was not on the warship, it fell into Peridot's lap to be nerdmom. Soon the shadow settles over Steven, and the ship lowers down. Opening a small round door that opens up. Peridot steps out, with a look of mild annoyance, to focused on her holopad to notice Sunstone. "Steven." She says. "You know you're supposed to be supervised when you leave the warship. Outside time is a privilige, not a--What?" Peridots brow raise in alarm as she finally looks up and notices the smiley gem. "You!? Is this a trap?" She looks around rapidly, her fingers taking their blaster formation.
Steven Universe	"Oh, hey... You're a gem." Steven notices without the typical enthusiasm that he'd normally have about meeting a new gem. Then he begins to slowly sit up when he hears Peridot's voice, hunching over to rest his elbows onto his legs. "I learned some things about life, and I don't know..." He flops back down to his back, allowing his arms to just sort of stretch. "That Vega guy is human, and he likes hurting people, for fun. He doesn't care about anything, and doesn't want friends... If humans can be that bad, how do you know who to trust?"
Sunstone	Sunstone looks away from Steven and up to the sight of Peridot, who is... well, frankly, not someone that the smiley gem can be very smiley toward. Her smile slowly melts into being an exhausted frown, and when the blaster is pointed at her, she looks down at it, and then up at Peridot's face with this ... Look. The 'Are you serious???' look. She looks away from that and focuses back on Steven, not even acknowledging the question. Rude. "That's simple, Steven... you don't," she tells him, rubbing the back of her neck. "There are a lot of bad people out there, whether they're Gems, humans or otherwise. You mentioned that your caretakers told you not to tell people your name and other stuff like that, right? They're trying to protect you from people that might hurt you." "Some people just can't be trusted. Vega might be one of those. But it's not universal... You can trust the Gems in certain ways. Like Peridot... she's smart, you can trust her to know how Gem technology works." She waves at Peridot, mostly as a prop. "Some people make mistakes that hurt your ability to trust them, but then you have to decide whether you should forgive them." She steps away from Steven and sits on the ground at a kneeling posture. She looks up at Peridot, questioningly, after that.
Peridot	She squinted, eyes full of mistrust. She looked left, and then right; waiting for more union soldiers to leap out at her. But, her gears began turning as the scene settled before her and Steven continued talking. She soon deduced that she had walked into something but it wasn't a trap. This was a bit more treacherous, something Lapis was better equipped to deal with. She puffed out her cheeks for a moment, and waved her hand, dissipating her blaster. "The answer-" She starts, approaching them. "Is to not trust them. Ever. Sentient beings are conditioned to want something from you. The key, Steven, is once you know what they need, then you are equipped with all the knowledge you need to control them. Your default state should be one of suspicion. You will survive a lot longer, if you can accurately apply skepticism."
Steven Universe	Steven sits up as they both offer two very different answers, rubbing his chin as he looks between the two. He looks to be in deep thought, furrowing his brow. "Well, what Sunstone says makes a lot of sense... and what Peridot says seems like it could work, but it doesn't seem like a fun way to be... I don't want to be suspicious of everyone!"
Sunstone	Sunstone's look of intense disbelief returns when Peridot gives her answer. She looks at the other Gem for a while until she decides that it's not worth confronting her based on that. She looks back over to Steven, and let out a heavy sigh. "Then don't be," she tells Steven, "If it makes you happier to try to trust people, then do that. But... don't leave yourself open to betrayal. Don't give people ways to hurt you. You have to be careful, Steven, keep your defenses up, but don't be suspicious of others." She tilts her head, and when she says this next part, she looks up to Peridot. She's more musing on it, but it's meant for the other gem. "I think that's a safe middle ground for a human child..." As if she weren't entirely sure how to approach this. "Does that even make sense?" she wonders, her gaze lowering to her hands, where she plays her fingers together nervously.
Peridot	"Life is not meant to be fun. It's a job. The best you can do is to serve your kind to the best of your ability-- to do your job at peak efficiency." At this, she looks to Sunstone with some disdain before considering her words. What is best for a human child? Peridot didn't know the first thing about caring for a human. Young gems were far more independant. But, then again... Steven was rather independent on his own. He had saved her from Vega's attack. "Steven is not a human child." She went on, addressing Sunstone directly. "Raising him as a human is a fools errand. There is no safe middle ground when it comes to him. I don't fully even understand what he is. But, due to his unique circumstances; The human, Vega was first to seek him out but he will most certainly not be the last." She looked to Steven. "There will be others like him, and they won't all be as obvious as the red-garbed being. Some will smile at you, as they ready a gem destablizer behind their back." She paused, the stabilizer wasn't the most effective weapon against the Steven. "You get the idea." "You know by now that you stand apart from humanity. Above it. As much as you try to lower yourself to their level, the humans will never be your equals. At best, they will be your pets."
Steven Universe	"Humans are my friends and family, just because I have powers doesn't make me better than them! But, I understand that I can't trust everyone. I think, um..." Steven takes a moment to consider things for a moment, crossing his arms. "I think that I need to give people a chance, and see where it goes! Vega's bad, he's /really/ bad, but if he's the only person I've met like that, then it probably means that there aren't a /lot/ of bad people like him... Most people are probably good!"
Sunstone	Sunstone puts a hand on her face. She really, really doesn't seem to enjoy Peridot's incessant Homeworld mentality. She thinks about it to the point of letting out a sigh that rolls out of her like she's just barely avoiding getting up and socking Peridot while she's talking. But Steven seems to be getting it, so Sunstone doesn't get too up in arms about it. She sets her hands kn her knees and looks over at Peridot again. "You're right," she points out, "You don't understand what he is. Only he will, because he will be the one that defines that. If he doesn't want to subjugate entire worlds, then he doesn't have to." She frowns in an exaggerated way. Venomous. "You're just telling him what makes YOU happy," she says, in a 'by the way...' tone. "Why do you want to protect him so badly? This isn't like you," she adds, as if finally realizing it, "You called him 'the Steven' before, now you're using his name." She scrutinizes Peridot's face. This is probably a familiar scenario, back in this few moments they interacted with each other. It was hard to slip something like that past her.
Peridot	"I don't understand yet. But if there is one thing I am skilled at, it is acquiring knowledge. I simply haven't had the resources to dedicate to a full study as of yet." She gives a look to Steven, as he makes his declaration. "If I were to digest my sentiment into a more... simplistic analysis. My advice would be to not inherently assume people are good." She starts, her expression becoming one of boredom. "Ascertain their definition of what is good is as it may vary from yours. Then choose whether they are worth the effort to show them why they are wrong." As Peridot is pressed about her reason for caring about Steven, her shoulders hunch slightly as she seems to get somewhat defensive. "My mission parameters do not involve the capture or release of Steven." She squints, looking up. "I am simply doing someone a favor."
Steven Universe	Steven suddenly stands up, rushing over to suddenly cling his arms around Peridot's shoulders. "I love you too!" he says with an incredible amount of enthusiasm. Then he looks up at her. "We should all go to Tokyo and visit an arcade!"
Sunstone	Sunstone considers this idea. She looks at Peridot for a while, having seen... well, maybe a glimmer of motivations beyond the raw workaholic attitude she has always displayed. The orange gem shrugs her shoulders. "It's Lapis, right?" she wonders at Peridot, not really sure who else it could possibly be. For the first time ... ever, at least toward Peridot, a genuine and warm smile shows on the gem's face. It's kind of odd, since she's always seemed kind of manic before. "We can go check out an arcade," she agrees, "I like these human entertainment machines." She scratches her cheek, blushing to herself.
Peridot	Peridot grew uncomfortable at Sunstones smile and what it implied. Peridot was important to gem society, and had previously never been one to make friends. But, she had never been stranded from her home for so long either. She felt the need to defend herself. "Lapis is a valuable asset for my mission." She added quickly. "Therefore, it is both viable and tactical to maintain a working agreement and social alliance." She crossed her arms looking up. As she is hugged by Steven, she grimaced. She had yet to ever return one of these uninvited gestures. "Is this one of those little rooms where humans just waste hours of their short existence to watch a screen flash pretty colors at them? You would think beings of finite existences would make more valuable use of their time." Well, that wasn't a no, exactly.
Steven Universe	"Yeah!" Steven answers Peridot in an incredibly cheerful tone, releasing her and taking the Homeworld gem's hand. "Let's fly there. Lion's doing his own thing. Come on, Sunstone!"
Sunstone	Sunstone gathers herself up to a stand, and starts to see something else to Peridot. Although they have to be enemies on principle... she's starting to forgive all of that. It was a quick turn, and largely because of Steven's presence. Sunstone's mouth widens some, a look of strain, when she realizes that this might change when Peridot discovers that Homeworld still exists. She pushes all of that aside for the sake of showing she's a good person, though. "Sure," she replies, shortly manifesting some angular wings made of sunlight. "I should have enough to follow the both of you to an arcade. I'll need to get back to the hovercar afterwards."
Peridot	Peridot wasn't entirely sure the Lion wasn't a security risk. It appeared to aid her for the time being, it had after brought Steven back to the Warship. But, what if the Crystal Gems resurfaced? There had to be a way to block the pink beast's portal tunneling capability. Should it ever try to return him to his original gem guardians. She turns and walks to her gem pod. "Let's go then, Steven." The pod opened up creating floating step platforms that lead to the interior of the ship.