Lapis Lazuli and Peridot

Peridot: Initially, Peridot is shown to be extremely morose and ruthless. She is skilled with Gem technology and works for the Homeworld Gems as a technician and takes her work seriously, crushing one of her Robonoids underfoot when it was minimally damaged and useless to her in her first appearance during "Warp Tour". In "Marble Madness", she briefly interacts with Steven, questioning him about the current state of Earth before losing interest and attempting to crush him. When the Crystal Gems intervene and reveal themselves, Peridot is shocked and flustered. Peridot also seems to be a bit stubborn. This is shown when she realizes that the Crystal Gems were the ones that have been destroying her equipment, she quickly loses her temper and asks "Why do you keep destroying my things?!". Despite Jasper being her direct superior, Peridot actually dislikes her aggressive and authoritarian nature. Since "Jail Break", Peridot becomes increasingly hyperactive, anxious and temperamental in her attempts to contact Homeworld and stop the Crystal Gems interfering with her mission, as she realized that the Cluster will emerge and that, when it does, it will obliterate all life on Earth. In "Keeping it Together", for example, when flying away with her helicopter fingers, she smiles down and laughs hysterically and her facial expressions are exaggerated throughout the episode. In "Cry for Help", Peridot interrupts Crying Breakfast Friends! and all other television signals with her own broadcast from the Communication Hub begging Yellow Diamond to rescue her. In "Catch and Release", Peridot kidnaps Steven with the hope he will be able to fix the Homeworld Warp. When he cannot, Peridot becomes extremely hysterical and frantic, as she eventually breaks down with the realization she is stuck on Earth with the Cluster. Before she can elaborate, the Crystal Gems arrive and disarm, poof and bubble her. After reforming into her natural self with no armor, Peridot is rather diminutive, and she becomes very juvenile and paranoid, assuming that harmless household items are "weapons" and that hostility drives every action from the Crystal Gems. However, once comforted by Steven, she becomes much more relaxed and cooperative, although she still refuses to cooperate with the Gems and sequesters herself in Steven's bathroom. Peridot is also very naïve and trustworthy when it comes to Earth, especially when the information is not relevant to her mission. She was unaware of the existence of rain or thunderstorms, believed that Steven was a member of a species called "Stevens" because that's what he called himself, and in "Catch and Release", she believed Steven's bathroom to be an archaic think chamber and almost everything in the bathroom to be a weapon. Curiously, she is familiar with the scent of citrus fruit despite her general ignorance of Earth. She is also socially absentminded and oblivious, as she tends to offend all of the Crystal Gems at some point due to her keeping to the Homeworld social hierarchy. Despite her overall unawareness of Earth, she has said that she finds organic life fascinating and is willing to defend the planet from the Cluster and Yellow Diamond. Peridot has been shown to be incredibly headstrong and tenacious, as it takes several attempts from the Crystal Gems for Peridot to discuss even the Cluster. Often when working, Peridot insists things be done her way and despises compromising. When she does cooperate, it typically takes some persuasion from Steven. She also continues to keep her log, despite the task being a moot point, more or less for a sense of normalcy. She is also extremely vocal and honest about her viewpoints and will bluntly state what is on her mind regardless of the audience. Her statements have put her in harms way on several occasions, whether by the Crystal Gems or her Homeworld superiors. She does take responsibility for what she says and has learned how to keep some of her more offensive opinions to herself. Her recent behavior around the Crystal Gems has shown that she has opened herself up to new ideas and beliefs. Peridot is incredibly dedicated and somewhat possessive, occasionally to the point of obsession. She becomes visibly upset when she discovers that others have damaged her things and is emotionally attached to her mechanical foot, as it is her only remaining part of her limb enhancers. Peridot is also truly demonstrative and loyal towards people that she respects, as she was driven to complete her mission and return to Homeworld despite no contact from Yellow Diamond and has been shown to cling to Steven when she is scared. However, after realizing that now she is stuck on the Earth without any form of escape, she decides to betray Homeworld and destroy the Cluster with the help of Steven and the Crystal Gems. In "Message Received", after managing to contact Yellow Diamond and pleading for the Earth to be spared, she realized her perspective of her leader has changed, and she saw her as the cruel, callous, and oppressive tyrant she is. Peridot then rebels against Yellow Diamond's wishes, cementing her loyalty to the Crystal Gems. Peridot still clings to the Homeworld's social dogma. In "Back to the Barn", Peridot acts very condescending and arrogant towards Pearl due to her position in Homeworld's caste system as a made-to-order servant. She refuses to acknowledge Pearl's skill as a technician for this reason. However, after a competition between self-built robots who ended on Pearl's defeat, Peridot concedes that she may have been wrong. In "Too Far", Peridot shows a strong aversion to fusion, similar to Jasper, referring to Garnet as a "permafusion", and in "Catch and Release" she refers to Garnet as a "filthy war machine" due to the Homeworld belief that fusion should only be used for combat. Peridot has also stated that Garnet makes her "incredibly uncomfortable". Peridot does try to appeal to Amethyst's favor, as she sees Amethyst as the closest thing to a "normal" Gem, by getting her to laugh despite Peridot being incredibly socially unaware and unfamiliar with the concept of humor. Peridot does feel bad when she unknowingly hurts Amethyst's feelings but is confused until Steven explains it. Peridot has a difficult time apologizing for her behavior but is willing to. It is shown in "It Could've Been Great" that while she likes to follow the rules she gets slightly excited when she breaks them (e.g. sitting in an elite Gem's seat.) During her time with Steven and the Crystal Gems, she begins to realize that Homeworld's philosophy is very flawed, and she defects as a member of the Crystal Gems. Peridot is also extremely egotistical, self-absorbed and manipulative, which leads her to continually underestimate the Gems. Even after defecting to aid the Crystal Gems, she thinks mainly of her needs. Many of her childlike behaviors, particularly her temper and arrogance, stem from her over-inflated ego. This is not to say Peridot is incapable of putting others above herself; she is just not used to having others who are willing to do the same for her. The same behavior extends to her admitting something personal. As she spends more time on Earth, Peridot has started developing a more compassionate attitude. She fully demonstrates this when she challenges Jasper's denigrating claims about Earth, valuing both humans and the Earth. Peridot prioritizes logic, reason and objectivity above emotions, while also displaying natural curiosity and a great desire to learn and understand. She is also extremely stupendous and great at problem-solving as she uses her observations and experiments to make a conclusion, though her experiments are sometimes ill-conceived. Peridot feels that a practical and systematic approach is the correct way to do things while thinking the Crystal Gems are insane for relying on their emotions, particularly when they chose to relax despite imminent danger. Her logical mind tends to put Peridot at odds with the rest of the Gems and has caused her difficulty with communicating. Peridot's reasoning led her to contact Yellow Diamond in an attempt to persuade her to protect the Earth but ultimately decided to betray Homeworld. When a cause is important to her, Peridot can be just as emotionally charged as the rest of the Crystal Gems Lapis Lazuil: According to herself, before incarceration she was like most of her former Homeworld peers in that she had no qualms over terraforming planets and was openly dismissive of and callous towards non-Gem life before meeting Steven; before having her gemstone healed she stated she "never believed in" Earth as a planet. However, the suffering of being trapped for over nearly 6,000 years has changed her deeply. It was a recurring theme for her to be used by others and these experiences have cemented in her a general mistrust of others. Furious and unable to easily let things go, she initially harbored hatred and mistrust for the Crystal Gems since they knew she was in the mirror but never helped. She had a strong dislike towards Peridot because she had dragged her back to Earth, being unforgiving and grumpy when she didn't accept her apologies and rudely destroying her gifts. In "Room for Ruby" it is shown Lapis doesn't trust strangers when she meets them, being skeptical of "Navy"'s appreciative behavior when she lived in the barn due to her being unappreciative and worried when she first arrived. ​​​​​​On the other hand, Lapis opened up to Steven for showing kindness towards her, being the one to free her and healing her cracked gem. After talking with him she eventually warms up and defends Peridot and Steven from the Rubies showing that she is starting to forgive and be friendlier with others. In "The New Crystal Gems" it is shown that Lapis is neutral and somewhat indifferent, barely recognizing Connie until she came to respect her in how she could deal with Steven's life. In "Alone at Sea" Lapis reveals a cynicism about herself which borders on self-hatred, harboring a deep regret for her actions as Malachite and in "Ocean Gem". She briefly doubts whether she is different from Jasper but gathers the resolve to avoid reigniting their abusive relationship with Steven's encouragement. Having been captured several times, Lapis was constantly grappling for control as Malachite not only for Steven but for her reasons. Still, though, she shows a profound fear of responsibility, immediately rebuffing Greg's offer for her to be captain of the boat before Steven reassures her by insisting that they all be first mates and share responsibility. Furthermore, Lapis felt insecure about taking a long time to understand how things work on Earth while "Navy" was able to do it on the first try, being glad to find out that "Navy" was still loyal to Homeworld and everything she did was a charade to get back the Roaming Eye. When confronted with an enemy stronger than herself, Lapis usually displays a defeatist and pessimistic approach, believing that putting up a struggle can only make the situation worse. She delivers a frantic message to Steven about the approaching invasion and begged him to submit to Homeworld should they cross paths in "The Message", giving similar advice when Steven stumbled across her in "Jail Break" by mentioning that Homeworld might go easy on them if they follow orders. In "Raising the Barn", she packs up the Barn and flees Earth to avoid another war at the hands of the Diamonds, still not being comfortable enough defending the planet from a Homeworld attack. She wanted Steven and Peridot to flee Earth with her, but she decided to leave on her own and took the Barn (her comfort zone) when they refused. However, in "Reunited" Lapis makes a surprisingly brave appearance and officially proclaims herself to be a Crystal Gem, joining the fight against Blue Diamond and Yellow Diamond showing she would rather be with her new friends than alone anymore.​​​​​​ Some of Lapis' notable characteristics are her strong willpower and lack of hesitation towards those who stand against her: Even with a cracked gemstone, she managed to control the Earth's entire ocean through sheer determination to return to Homeworld which she considers "home" though she can be rather inconsiderate and indifferent in her ways as this act could damage the human race or the planet. Once her gemstone was healed she flew a vast distance through space to eventually reach Homeworld. Her strength of mind is so great that she suppressed the equally resolved Jasper for months on end. Detrimentally though she can be stubborn and hesitant in cooperation or accepting any kind of help from others unless she has no other choice, refusing to be set free by Steven in "Jail Break" or doesn't want to tell the Crystal Gems her location for them to find her and aid in the situation in "Chille Tid". However, most of these situations stem from returning a favor to help Steven without involving him in more dangerous situations or simply mistrust towards others from previous encounters. Having gone through several traumatizing events, Lapis gradually showed a more dour and deadpan side to her, especially after facing Peridot again. She is upset when she discovers that Peridot has been keeping information that she had deemed too substantial, suggesting that she considers herself emotionally stable enough to overcome most of her past traumas. She was able to resist Blue Diamond's pathokinesis thanks to how much trauma she has been through, barely shedding a tear upon being hit by the aura. However, Lapis ranges from being deadpan to emotional throughout the show as seen in "Alone in the Sea" where she appears to be more lively and cheerful out of curiosity towards Earth but seems less enthusiastic in "Beta" possibly due to her encounter with Jasper as implied by Peridot's reluctance to mention her name around her. After overcoming the majority of her traumas Lapis' true personality seems to be extremely laid back, almost blasé and even somewhat lazy. She seems to be barely fazed towards events like the Rubies' return and Andy DeMayo yelling at her, being typically seen sitting or lounging around while watching Camp Pining Hearts or reading. Similar to Amethyst she has a habit of sleeping despite not having to, resting on an amp like a pillow while everyone is gathered on the beach at the end of "Change Your Mind" with Peridot noting that she snores. "Beta" shows that Lapis has acclimated to living in the barn. Although she is still dour to an extent, she has helped renovate the barn and become comfortable living with Peridot, creating pieces of art they call "meep-morps" and helping to do a farm through her hydrokinesis. In The Steven Universe Podcast, Rebecca Sugar described Lapis as a vulnerable character who is taken advantage of constantly but interested in opening up to people who offer her kindness, like Steven. In the same podcast, she says that Lapis is constantly grappling for some kind of control, but once she has it she is scared that she will do something bad with it. It was when she was Malachite that she exercised control to take out her hate on Jasper, and then when they separated, she started to harbor regrets for that desire. She is unable to find direction because she can't see a big part of herself even when it is exposed to everyone else. During her time with Peridot, Lapis was still living in fear as she doesn't see the difference between leaving Earth and hiding like a refugee on the planet. She has more fear because she has experienced the horror Homeworld can dish out, unlike Peridot who hasn't had such conflict that she lost to.[2] Being a realist, Lapis acknowledges that Homeworld is targeting Earth so her first instinct is to flee the planet to not be caught in the conflict or have any interaction with the Diamonds again. Peridot and Steven support the idea of fighting back, but she tries to solve problems for herself instead due to having trouble asking and using this assistance, leading to her fleeing the planet with the barn. The decision to face her fears and choosing to face the Diamonds with her friends instead of fleeing signals a change in Lapis; this is indicated after reforming and joining the Crystal Gems with her being much more relaxed and braver than she used to be. This is especially true during the events of Steven Universe: The Movie as while living in a time of peace she is shown to be downright chipper and exuberant while assisting Bismuth and Peridot in the construction of Little Homeworld. "Why So Blue?" shows her happy, confident, and joyful while visiting another planet with Steven though she is aggressive and abrasive when dealing with other Lapis Lazulis willing to put them through "a little torture" to get them to stop. She also shows regret for the destruction she wrought when still terraforming worlds and the other Lapis Lazulis made her angry by reminding her of this.