"What? I-I don't understand."

"Listen Peridot, you're putting our other employees out of work doing all these shifts. Just you your day shift, and let everyone else work."

"B-But I need my second shift."

"B-But everyone else needs their first." Peridot's boss said, mocking her. "Now just work your assigned time, and go home. You look a mess, like rest is completely out of your schedule anyway. And I don't think our customers would enjoy seeing a zombie at the counter." The man patted Peridot's head and left the building.

"I-I..." Peridot began after he left. "I don't look like a zombie, do I?" She sat down in her chair and got into her phone's camera, since nobody was even around to buy anything or to catch her. Hopefully. She went into the selfie mode, and indeed, she did not look like a zombie. Just like a normal, tired, employee. She pocketed her phone and worked her shift. Hopefully I'll have just enough. I've calculated my hours right, I haven't worked enough as I would have liked, wanting a head start at next months rent, but maybe I can pull this off.

I really need this house.

...

It's the second day after The Crystal Gems meet up, and Steven and Lapis were trying to relax. They played some video games and thought about some more meet up times, but no good time came to mind. "Two meetings in the same week? That'd be exhausting, right?" Lapis pointed out.

"Well, I guess that's true." Steven said in defeat. Lapis was getting bored with the video games, and when she lost the final round of Steven's Lonely Blade battle game, she decided to take a trip.

"I'll be back by dark, I know that much." Lapis said when asked how long she'd be gone.

"Are you sure I can't come?"

"I bet you're too young to go." Lapis said with a smile. She hoped that this was a good enough excuse to keep Steven home.

"Lapis, I'm not that young!"

The girl walked to the door and opened it. "You're young enough." She said over her shoulder. Steven groaned and waved good-bye, and the traveler headed for the wash. Hopefully Steven's dad is there and can take a second to give me a ride.

Luckily, he did, and Greg dropped Lapis off at Peridot's house. When he left, the traveler knocked on the sliding door and waited. She heard something fall from within the building and stepped back from the door. Somebody groaned and opened the door. "Hi Peridot." Lapis said in greeting.

"Wha-?" Peridot rubbed her eyes from behind her glasses and looked up to Lapis. She choked and almost hid behind the door. "Lapis! It's like, noon, what are you doing here?"

"What are you doing half asleep?" Peridot blinked. "Can I come in?"

"S-Sure, I suppose." Peridot stepped away from the door and let Lapis in.

"I see you still have a lot of boxes to unpack."

"I don't want to put anything up until I'm sure to keep this place."

"Yet you have a corner full of clocks and another full of tools and metal."

"The metal was already there!" Peridot objected. "Besides, I got kinda bored with the space, and it's not a lot to repack the clocks anyway." Lapis hummed and looked around, audibly noting the merch box Jasper stole from, an open box of shirts, and a mysterious chest. She said that those were interesting at the least. "You wanna see something really cool?" Peridot said, standing from her mattress and going to open one of the boxes in the back of the room. She began looking through it, and Lapis decided to tease her for the moment.

"Cool? You mean besides those designer alien boxer shorts?" Lapis said grinning. Peridot threw a nearby wrench at her, which went over Lapis' head. She made no attempt to catch it. Peridot began cursing and brought a circular robot to her. "What's that?"

"It's a Robonoid. They can do anything, but I programmed this one to record and play back audio."

"Has it recorded anything?" Lapis asked.

"I think so." Peridot rubbed the top of the robot with her palm and it activated. "Playback audio." Peridot commanded. The robot began replaying a clip of Peridot's voice.

"Lapis is completely insane," Lapis herself raised an eyebrow. "Like she can't be serious at all." Peridot freaked out and began shouting at the Robonoid to shut off. It's automated voice kept saying that the recording wasn't finished yet.

"I don't care! Off! Deactivate! Stop recording!"

"But maybe that's good? She might become a great ally to me-as long as nothing goes wrong." The recording continued. Peridot threw the Robonoid to the floor and smashed it with her foot. "If I dont'... screw... up." It finished, sparking and shutting off, officially broken. Peridot tried to smile at Lapis, who kept her eyebrow raised, skeptical. The girl swallowed.

"Uh, wrong Robonoid?" She said.

"The only thing I need to hear is why you're recording audio about me."

"Well, you're in my life now, and I-I just record a rant about my day, kinda."

She's one of those. There was something more to the recording that Lapis didn't quite understand yet. "Peridot?"

"Y-Yes?"

"Why'd the recording start by mentioning me? And what do you mean by me being a useful ally? And if you screw up? What's that about?" The blonde seemed bombarded by the questions, so Lapis stepped back and didn't say anything.

"I-I uh..." Peridot stuttered. "I don't have a good social game? I'm not into risking my status with you and the rest of the now-Crystal Gems." She said, a bit quiet.

I guess that's a bit understandable. Lapis sighed. "Fine, I'll take it." She decided to change the subject. "So, what are you going to do with the place?"

"Well, I probably won't have the money to renovate this barn in a million years, so I'll just use my technical skills to add some modern decorations. Maybe a functional Robonoid here and there, but I'll absolutely have a few of my inventions-also here and there," she pointed around the barn, "and of course my collection of, erm, things."

"Things?"

"Yes, things. It'll be sure to look better than Jasper's house, though."

I'll still have to see her place, if she'll let me. "Mind if I help you arrange stuff when you're set to keep this place?"

Peridot threw the Robonoid into the trash by the door. "Help? Of course you can help, I don't mind, as long as you don't break anything, of course."

"Oh I won't break a thing. Promise." The blonde smiled and nodded in appreciation. The two talked about what to do with the barn until Lapis decided to get back to Steven's house. She decided to walk back to town, even though the distance was going to make quite the long walk, but Peridot insisted that she call Greg. She did, and he joked about running out of gas money before Lapis hopped into the van and they drove off.

...

Peridot sat down on her bed and thought about what she said to Lapis about her social game. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't what she was wanting to say either. After convincing herself to brush it off, Peridot fell asleep.

At the end of the week, Peridot got her payment of exactly six-hundred dollars. When she got home, she looked at the barn and flopped onto her mattress with her money. "Yes." She sighed. "I needed this." Now she could invite Lapis to help her with the barn. "Now things are getting smooth."