Reverberations

Breakthrough

"You sure this is gonna work?"

Amethyst scoffed at the question, rolling her eyes. "C'mon, Peri. When haven't these things not worked?"

Peridot narrowed her eyes slightly before arching an eyebrow. "Shall I give the list chronologically or alphabetically?" The quartz merely responded with a snort, shuffling her feet slightly to further hide in the corner. Peridot followed her lead, and they sat there, waiting, eyes focused on the stairs.

Peridot's eyes shifted slightly towards the nursery. Blanca was building a tower of blocks, not even bothering to look in their direction. Peridot was tempted to point that out to Amethyst; after all, they were doing this little stunt for Blanca. Not bothering to look at them was defeating the entire purpose.

Then again, Amethyst was far too focused on the stairs to even glance at the nursery. Peridot suppressed a sigh, returning her attention to the plan at hand. The voices downstairs were growing louder, followed by footfalls on the stair case. Bismuth hadn't yet installed the carpet, so the noise was notable and distinct.

Pearl appeared first, her head turned slightly, chatting happily with someone behind her, Garnet probably. Peridot prepared herself, shifting the ridiculous mask fully over her face. She didn't have to wait long, however.

Amethyst leapt out, giving a mighty roar. Peridot moved behind her, ready to jump out when Amethyst was abruptly flung into the air.

Neither gem has bothered to look at the floor in front of them. It wasn't a factor they had considered, or at least a factor that Peridot considered. So, neither gem noticed the small block car sitting innocently near the stairs. It didn't matter how it had wound up there, as poor Amethyst had stepped on it, and of course, she had no time to prepare herself, sending her legs up in the air before landing squarely on her box with a loud and prominent thump.

There was silence, all the gems attempting to process what had just happened when a sudden laugh broke through the silence. A childish, infantile laugh, that most certainly had to belong to one of the toddlers.

Peridot turned her head, the others following suit, watching in mild awe as the infant formerly known as White Diamond, now known as Blanca Universe, was giggling up a storm. A squeal below Peridot caused her to turn back to Amethyst, who had jumped up to her feet, chucking her cheap plastic clown mask to the side with a hearty laugh.

"I did it! Peri, look! I made the snowball laugh!"

"Huh," was all Peridot could respond with, slowly removing her own mask and sharing a confused look with Pearl. Garnet, however, had a knowing smile. Peridot wondered if the fusion had known this would happen. She probably did. It would explain why Garnet hadn't stopped Pearl from coming upstairs or something similar.

Amethyst made a mad dash to the nursery, flinging Blanca up in her arms, still laughing. "I made you laugh, you little snowball!" she cackled, poking the child's nose. That seemed to cause more laughter from Blanca, which, in turn, made Amethyst smile even wider.

Pearl walked over to Peridot's side, hands clasped in front of her while watching the quartz celebrate. "So, the masks...?"

"We were trying to startle you," Peridot replied with a shrug. "Amethyst seemed to think 'slapstick' would be comical enough to make Blanca laugh."

"And you went along with it?"

Another shrug. "I had... nothing better to do."

Pearl smiled slightly. "Well, at least Amethyst got what she wanted. It is nice to see Blanca laughing, too. I was starting to worry."