The tension in the room was thick, as the original Crystal Gems and their new recruits all sat in the same room.
Of course there was tension; until very recently they had all been enemies- enemies who had fought, enslaved, and had even planned to kill. Enemies who's very core values and beliefs were as different as black and white, or so they thought.
Just a few days earlier, the four Crystal Gems had brought the hand-shaped ship crashing down onto their beach, where Peridot, Jasper and Lapis emerged from the rubble of the crashed ship. Jasper decided to take the Gems on again, even after her and Garnet's fight ended up bringing a ship down.
Jasper might have even won this battle, had it not been for the blue ocean gem.
Lapis saw the direction the fight was quickly going and decided to take action, fighting on the side of her former captors- well, both sides had once kept her captive, but the Crystal Gems definitely kept her longer- for the fate of a certain half-human boy she called her friend, and the place he called home, and the people he called family.
The battle quickly turned, which ended up with Peridot bound in Amethyst's whip, and Jasper with a spear pointed directly to her gem by a defective Pearl with a clear message- you either submit, and join us, and live on Earth, and learn our ways.. or we shatter your gem, right here.
The choice was clear, and Jasper spoke both for herself and the Peridot she was sent here with- we submit.
Three days later, the three Homeworld gems are still coming to terms with Earth and their new teammates.
Jasper had been refusing to speak, and Peridot was also of few words. Lapis was settling in nicely- to her environment and Steven at least, she understandably wasn't quite getting along with the other Gems quite yet.
Pearl was more uncomfortable than unwelcoming or angry at her new teammates. She had once kept Lapis prisoner, but she so quickly and easily fought for her. Jasper had hurt her and her friends, and the boy who might as well be her son, but when she held her spear to Jasper's gem, she saw a true and genuine fear at the thought of death and losing and disappointing her team.
Peridot, to Pearl, reminded her of Homeworld, so much. She so desperately wanted to go home, back to space, back to the stars, back to the planet where there were Gems like her.. but Peridot also reminded her what Homeworld was really like aside from her homesickness. It was cruel back in the place where she came from. Back there, they would see her as nothing more than the defective Pearl she is.
Amethyst, however, looked at Peridot and saw the kind of gem who's responsible for making her, the kind that planted Gems in Kindergartens in hopes of turning them into warriors. The kind of Gem who unknowingly sentenced Amethyst to a lifetime of regret just for existing.
The purple gem saw Jasper in a completely different view, though. She saw Jasper as what she should have been, what she could've been. What everyone probably expected out of her, a real warrior, not a stupid runt.
Jasper obviously just looked down on them all, especially the fusion who damn near defeated her twice. Fusion is a disgusting tactic, no wonder Homeworld looks down on these Gems if they just use it all the time like that. No wonder Homeworld hates fusion if packs of runts like this use it.
Peridot couldn't believe she was even spending time with these clods that wasn't trying to crush them, much less associate with them! Her escort and her informant had so quickly switched sides and submitted! Of course she submitted too, but that's because she's a technician, not a warrior. Jasper should've been able to fight those clods, especially that skimpy, defective Pearl.
Garnet knew that this new addition to their team would prove useful in time to come, once they got over themselves and all started working as a team. However, she didn't know how long it would take them to get to that point, but she was sure it would happen. She knew these Gems had more in common than they thought. Maybe even the original members of the team would end up getting along better?
