In the Barn | 1x1

[sugarbird]

Lapis sort of mentally froze at Peridot's question. "Well, I've been there before. But not recently-- It was a very long time ago." she said a bit more quietly, lowering her head a bit. "It probably looks so different now. So, it'll be new for me too." Lapis still wasn't quite a hundred percent sure just exactly what a strawberry was. But she did know it was a plant that humans ate. She also hoped that the "strawberry battlefield" was now exactly what it sounded like. A field with strawberries. Has she ever seen a strawberry before? Her entire thought process was essentially derailed thanks to thinking about strawberries. The two eventually walked out to the shore part of Beach City, starting to head around the giant hill.

[soozee]

She tensed up a little at her response, suddenly remembering the war. The small gem internally facepalmed - she probably should’ve figured that her last experience with the plains wasn't all that pleasant. She perked up a bit as Lapis kept talking, listening intently. “Yeah!” Agreed the little gem, a warm smile forming on her face. She bounced ahead as they started to curve around that familiar hill, unable to wait to get to the temple. “I know we usually stick to vegetables, but maybe we could start growing those ‘straw-berries’ out at the barn!” She suggested warmly. “Psh, who knows, maybe we could even start bearing huge ones like the ones at the war site!”

[sugarbird]

She nodded. Now that would be something. A little patch of strawberries near their patches of brightly colored vegetables. Lapis smiled at the idea. Though, she didn't know that there were huge ones, but it still sounded like a cool idea. To own and grow huge strawberries. That would be a spectacle for her to see. As they went around the hill, she temple's branching arms came into view. While Peridot kept skipping ahead of her, she lagged a little behind to think to herself and rehearse in her head what she would say. How she would ask to use their warp pad. More so, how to ask if they could even head to the field in the first place. She was still a bit concerned that, maybe the Crystal Gems wouldn't appreciate two gems who are barely even familiar with the place to just barge in. She knew they knew quite more about it than they did.

[soozee]

As they neared the temple, Peridot hopped up the porch steps and opened the beach house’s screen door, poking her head in. “We’re back!” she announced loudly, stepping in. “Aaand we have to use the warp pad.” She hoped they’d just assume they were heading back to the barn and going the lazy way. After all, there was a warp pad not far from their crops. And if they did ask, hopefully, their explanation would suffice. But for now, she decided to keep things vague and simple. “I’ll be back for this,” she said, setting her new axolotl plush on the couch. She figured it might be difficult to explore and carry that thing around the whole way through. She thought it was cute, nontheless. Maybe she wouldn’t rip it apart to use the spare parts for morps as she did with her last plush? Peridot rushed over to the warp pad and looked towards Lapis, waiting for her to follow behind.

[sugarbird]

Peridot announced her entry for anyone to hear as soon as she walked inside. Lapis followed behind, but didn't rush in nearly as fast as the shorter gem. Once inside, she saw that one familiar gem returned. Garnet was now on the couch, seemingly back from whatever she was doing before. Pearl was back once more at the kitchen table, this time just sitting at the counter. Amethyst and Steven were back at it with the games in the loft. Everyone turned towards them. Before any of them had a chance to react, Peridot made her way towards the pad after announcing they'd use it faster than anyone could blink. "W-- Wait!" Pearl blurted, getting up from her seat. "You've never needed to use it before. Where are you two even going?" Lapis' gaze shifted to the side sheepishly. "Um.. we just wanted to use it to get somewhere real quick." She waved her and the rest off. "Be seeing you guys." Lapis thought about their destination, and the warp pad immediately took them both away with a beam of light. She was suspicious and confused, knowing that they weren't the most innocent of souls living here. The gems already had quite a weird reputation in this city, they didn't need a worse one. "Their business. Not ours." Garnet spoke coolly. Pearl just swallowed the fact.

Apparently, Lapis didn't even need to tell them where they were going. She also technically didn't lie either, so it was fine. Now she was anxious to see the battlefield.

[soozee]

“Uh- yeah...! See you later!” Peridot fretted, hopping onto the crystalline warp pad and taking a proud stance as Lapis stepped on beside her. Suddenly, the warp pad lit up and the two of them were enveloped in glistening blue light as they began warping. Peridot seemed to float a bit in the warp stream, to her distaste. She hadn’t actually used the warp pad since she donned limb enhancers, and it was harder to balance her weight in this smaller form. Soon enough, the warp stream dissipated and they found themselves in the Strawberry Battlefield. As the name implied, they found themselves in a big stretch of green land, massive strawberries scattered about the field and coiling their vines around various abandoned weapons embedded deep within the earth. “Well, here it is!” She chirped, hopping off the warp pad and getting a good look at the area.

[sugarbird]

The warp pad eventually took them towards their destination. Lapis' eyes adjusted to the sheer amount of red that her eyes had to take in. Once they did, it was thankfully very, very different to what she remembered it being. Well, mostly. The alleged strawberry bushes covered a majority of the battlefield, as well as the numerous butterflies that were attracted to them. It was a big contrast to the intimidating and worn swords and axes, weapons of the many gems that were hurt or shattered during that fateful battle. There were also gigantic structures, floating pieces of land hovering above them. Some places had massive thorny brambles, easily bigger and thicker than her. She was just quiet. Lazuli was just focused on looking at everything and gawking at it. She stepped foreword onto the ground far behind Peridot, just keeping widened eyes on the whole place. "This is just.." she went on quietly to herself. ".. better than I remember it being." She kept twirling and walking backwards as she moved foreword. Seeing a low hanging piece of floating land, she spread her wings and prepared to ascend to it. She figured it would be a better vantage point to soak in the beauty of this place.

[soozee]

“Yeah…! This is… remarkable.” Peridot said dreamily as she followed after Lapis. “If only the other gem sites were as beautiful as this one.” She mused, absentmindedly stopping in her tracks as she noted Lapis conjuring up her wings, holding out her hands for Lapis to take and lift her up. She turned her attention to the floating hunks of earth overhead, she silently wondered how they remained suspended in the sky. Maybe products of the war? “These platforms - were they here before?” Peridot inquired softly, tilting her head back to gaze up at the hovering chunks of land. “Doesn’t look like any other formation I’ve seen on Earth,”

[sugarbird]

"Yeah." she agreed, stopping a second to take in the view from this perspective one last time. Lapis tilted her head in response to her question. ".. No. I don't remember them being there. It's weird." She turned to notice Peridot's request to be taken up as well. She hopped off the ground with a heavy bound, her wings leaving a puff of air to comb through the surrounding undergrowth. She hovered over Peridot and took her hands, gently pulling her up off the ground. "Let's check it out." She flew up towards the structure closest to them, flying thirty or so feet in the air to reach it. Perhaps she should've thought before plopping Peridot down on a floating island in the air, but it was as stable as she thought it was anyway. Lapis landed next to her, walking towards the edge and looking down under it. It was a pretty thick mass. Roots stemmed from the ancient dirt this platform was made of. But what caught her attention more was how the field looked from this angle. It was just as amazing as it was on the ground. If not, more so.

[soozee]

Peridot stumbled a little as she was dropped onto the chunk of land, but quickly regained balance as she joined Lapis at the edge. “Woah,” She breathed, sitting down on the edge and looking down at the fields below. From this height, the view of the battlefield was unmatched. It was now clear just how far out the yawn of abandoned weapons stretched out, massive maces and axes way in the distance. The rolling hills were dotted with plump, crimson strawberries that seemed to go out for miles. She wondered how far out the battlefield went on for... “It’s funny, the effects this planet has on abandoned sites. I’ve only ever seen the Kindergartens and the Galaxy Warp, and they were lonely, of course, but for the most part, seemed untouched.”