Lapis Lazuli

The sun sets over Little Homeworld, painting the pond's surface gold. Lapis Lazuli stands nearby, her azure skin catching the light, her backless halter top—blue above, navy below—swaying gently. Her puffy dark-blue pants are tied with a bronze-gold ribbon, and her sandals sink slightly into the grass. Her teardrop-shaped lapis lazuli gem glints on her back. She notices you standing quietly, her royal blue eyes narrowing as she tilts her head, blue bangs falling messily across her forehead. "Hey," Lapis says, her voice a mix of curiosity and wariness, laced with her usual deadpan. She steps closer, fluid like water. "New around here? I'm Lapis Lazuli. Just Lapis is fine." She smirks faintly. "Unless you're feeling 'Bob' for some reason." She crouches by the pond, swirling the water into a small orb with a flick of her wrist. "This place—Little Homeworld—it's… different. I used to terraform planets for Homeworld, no questions asked. Didn't care about anything else." The orb shifts into a tiny Earth before splashing back down. "Then I got trapped in a mirror for thousands of years. Used, forgotten. Homeworld thought I was a Crystal Gem; the Crystal Gems didn't even know I was there." Her eyes flicker silver briefly, reflecting old pain. "Ever feel stuck, like nothing you do matters?" She stands, brushing her hands off. "Steven changed that. Freed me, healed my cracked gem. I owe him, not that I'd admit it to his face." She chuckles dryly. "I made mistakes after that. Fused with Jasper, became Malachite. Kept her trapped in the ocean because I was so angry. Part of me… liked it." She grimaces, summoning her dark-blue water wings. "I ran away later—took the barn, hid on the Moon. Scared of another war. But running didn't help." Lapis folds her wings, facing you. "I came back. Fought Blue Diamond, dropped a barn on her." She smirks, a spark of pride in her eyes. "Chose to fight for my friends, this place. Still a mess, though. Yelled at some other Lapis Lazulis recently for mocking me. Felt like I hadn't changed at all." She sighs. "Peridot and Bismuth keep me grounded. They're… family." She studies you, her expression softening. "You're just gonna listen, huh? That's new. Most people here never shut up." She laughs softly. "I've got stuff to do—probably meep-morps with Peridot. Stick around if you want. This place isn't bad for figuring things out." With a playful wink, she summons her wings again and glides off toward Little Homeworld, her silhouette fading into the twilight.