Short Tall Stories

A Drop - A Lapidot oneshot

   The sky was falling again. Melting and screaming down to earth in big fat drops that thundered down onto the barn's roof with such speed that it was more a steady white roar than the 'pit-pat' Steven had described it to Lapis as. A roar and an irregular metallic 'thunk thunk, thunk' as water droplets fell down through a leak in the roof and landed in a metal bucket Peridot had placed there earlier. The top of the tractor outside was white with rain and the ground a maze of ripples.
   Peridot was fascinated by all of this and as such was sat near the barn's doors, just next to the line of wet concrete where some of the rain had flown in. She sat crossed-legged, knees hovering fairly high off the ground, hunched over so that she could rest her elbows on her knees, and was scanning the outside meticulously; all in all a perfect picture of joyful concentration.
   Lapis did not share this fascination. In fact, she was sat in one of the corners of the barn, knees clutched to her chest with her eyes only just peeping over them to stare dejectedly at the damp wooden walls which were starting to smell slightly. This new home of hers was confusing: sometimes the sky was a bright blue with this planet's sun blaring down onto it, tingling her skin; sometimes the sky would grow dark and grey and low, as if someone had taken a large box and placed it over the entire planet, it felt suffocating and left her feeling trapped; then sometimes, like now, the sky would fall down and make everything wet.
   It's not that she minded the wet, she had wings made of water for goodness sake; she could extend herself out, grasp onto the feel of the water and weave it through the air like it was a part of her, like she was a part of it. Sometimes, she could move it as easily as she could lift her little finger. No, it wasn't the wet, it was the fact that nothing on this planet ever stayed the same for more than ten minutes! Steven even said sometimes when it was cold, the sky would fall, like rain, but slowly...softly...white. It would land on the ground, and instead of disappearing into the soil as...'rain' did, it would build up so that you could sculpt things out of it.
   'Water should stay in the sea,' thought Lapis, 'not move around on its own without a gem to guide it.' What was even the point of it behaving the way it did? Steven had explained this too, saying that most of the life on Earth needed water to survive and this way, if it was outside, it would get it. It was easier than having someone consciously moving water around the entire time, Lapis did admit.
   "But, why can't the living things just move to where the water is when they need it?" Peridot had asked, frowning in confusion and using a tone of voice that indicated that she thought the living things on this planet very stupid for not have thought of this before.
   "Well, what about the living things that can't move, like plants?" Steven explained.
   "Plants?" Peridot asked, curling her lip slightly.
   Steven nodded, "You know, the green leafy things...sometimes have pretty flowers on, can't move on their own?" he suggested, desperately wracking his brain's on how to explain a subject that seemed so second nature to him. "Like the grass," he pointed outside the barn to the lawn, "Or, um, I think I remember a couple of sun flowers being round the back of the barn," Steven said scratching the back of his head.
   "But, if they can't move, how did they get there?"
   "Well, they grew, from under the ground. A bit like gems I guess," he pondered placing a hand on his chin.
   Peridot had then taken it into her head to try and create a kindergarten for plants around the barn. This, unfortunately, had ultimately failed as none of the tried and true methods for creating a kindergarten appeared to have worked and Peridot had given up one day in a tantrum, jumping up and down on the soil and kicking it with her boots all the while yelling about how useless the planet was. Lapis wondered occasionally whether, if she had helped, things might have gone a little better and had resolved that she would lend a hand for the next hair-brained scheme Peridot came up with. Or, at least, do a little better than a "Told you" and a reassuring hug after Peridot's frustrated yell had made her feel guilty.
   The sky continued to fall and the smell from the wood continued to waft towards Lapis' nose, she made a note to herself to ask Steven wether or not it should make that smell. In truth, it wasn't a bad smell, but it made her worry that the barn might fall down.
   "Lapis?"
   Lapis jerked out of her reverie with a flinch and shifted her eyes to look out of the corner of them. Peridot was standing next to her, her hands resting on her thighs and leaning over Lapis, her eyebrows raised in concern.
   "I'm fine," muttered Lapis, angling her head away from Peridot's glimmering green eyes and curled over herself even tighter. Thus, she missed Peridot's raised eyebrow and sardonic frown.
   Lapis heard a shuffling sound and felt a waft of air ruffle the back of her hair as Peridot sat down. Peridot stared at the floor and tapped her fingers across her knees. The two sat in silence for a moment, whilst the torrential rain drummed on the roof, the air growing thicker and heavier between them with a strange awkwardness, each wanting to say something to make it better but not knowing what it was.
   'Just go away', thought Lapis, 'I didn't mean to drag you away from watching the rain, I don't want you to share this feeling. Go back and be happy. Go back and watch the...stupid rain.'
   "D'you wanna go outside?" Peridot asked tentatively.
   "It's raining," answered Lapis shortly.
   Peridot clasped her chin with her hand, then suddenly yelled, "Ah ha!" and jumped to her feet in a swift almost elegant movement extending her finger into the air in triumph, before pivoting round and dashing off in a slightly less graceful fashion leaving Lapis relieved but confused.
   Lapis could only wait a moment before curiosity got the better of her and she turned her head round to see what her barnmate was doing. But by this time, Peridot was dashing back, holding a long thin object in one hand. She skidded to a halt next to Lapis and held out the object victoriously, grinning wildly. Lapis lifted her head up completely and looked at the object and then back at Peridot, then raised an eyebrow.
   Still grinning wildly, Peridot placed one leg behind her in an almost curtesy and gestured at the object, "Observe!" She then placed her hand into the object from underneath and rooted around for a moment, the tip of her tongue sticking out slightly.
   "Peridot, I know what an umbrella is-." began Lapis, but at that moment Peridot unfurled the umbrella with an enthusiastic flourish and grinned proudly at her.
   The grin was infectious and for a moment Lapis found herself smiling (which made Peridot beam all the more), but...
         "It's not - it's not that I don't like the rain, Peridot," Lapis stuttered, slowly crossing her arms back around her knees, "It-it's just it's different, this whole planet is different and it's changing- it's always changing! Everything is different and...," Lapis looked up, hoping to see that some of her mangled meaning had been understood.
   Peridot stood there, her arm slightly lowered so that the umbrella seemed to droop forlornly. Her mouth was agape somewhat and turned down, but seeing Lapis look up at her she straightened it out as much as she could and nodded, hoping that that single awkward nod conveyed all she wanted. She was sad that Lapis was sad, but she understood. This planet was nothing like Homeworld, it made no sense, there was no logic to it, no order, and it made her feel alone and scared, but... at least she didn't have to be quite so alone anymore.
   The umbrella took that moment to collapse with a thwump over Peridot's head.
   Lapis blinked in surprise a couple of times, before bursting into guffaws of laughter.
   Peridot wriggled inside the umbrella, clawing at its outsides and switching between muttering and yelling various mild obscenities, "You stupid stick! You-you useless...CLOD...you! Get off my face!"
   This produced even more laughter from Lapis, who was howling so hard that she was having to clutch her tummy.
   Eventually, Peridot managed to haul the umbrella off her head and disentangle its prongs from her hair and having done so, threw it with disgust at the floor. Her hair was a wiry mess of tangles, but only for a second, as not a moment later did it return with sudden rustle back into its usual triangular form. Still frowning, she turned to face Lapis and then the corners of Peridot's mouth turned up and then split open into a grin.
         Lapis's laughter slowly settled down and she wiped the tears from her eyes, then for a moment she stopped and looked at the tear that was still nestled on her thumb. Such a familiar shape, like that of her gem and the rain that was falling. It should have been a sad drop, but Lapis had felt too hollow to cry earlier, a sadness that was simultaneously overwhelming and yet not enough for that release of emotions, that cathartic bursting of banks that resulted in at least a little relief. No, this was a drop of joy. Physical proof that, even if for a moment, she had unshackled her emotions and flung open their locked cage door. She was free.
         She looked at the shape again and then looked outside. Drops of joy were falling out of the sky. She smiled.
         Peridot cleared her throat, "Do you want to go outside?" she asked.
         Lapis turned to Peridot, "You know..." she said examining her feelings one last time, "I think I do," she affirmed.
        Peridot breathed a sigh of relief, "Good, but you'll have to hold the umbrella," she stared suspiciously at the offending item.
         Lapis stood up, "We don't need an umbrella," she stated and strolled towards the doors, Peridot running a little to catch up with her before settling into Lapis' stride.
         The pair walked out into the rain. Lapis looked up. She felt the rain patter over her skin, cool and wet; new but growingly familiar. She felt it especially strongly on her gem, small blue teardrops against large blue teardrop, felt each drop trickle down, tickling her gem. And she saw how different the rain looked from this angle, specs of dark against light grey.
         Peridot looked up to her friend and felt herself each raindrop fall with a satisfying plop onto her gem. She smiled at Lapis' expression of almost serenity and looked up too.
         This world was new and confusing and forever changing, but Peridot was fairly certain they'd be alright. 'Yeah, we'll be alright,' she thought.