[Peridot likes to think she has relatively few regrets in life, but the choice to investigate the source of this particularly familiar voice is in a dreadful category of all its own.
Of course she had recognized that shouting. How could she not? The very sound of it is seared into her memory like a painful brand. At first, the tech had almost just assumed she'd finally gone and cracked or something; she has to be imagining things, right, because why would Yellow be HERE, at the carnival of all places? It's ludicrous! Ridiculous! Absolutely improbable. The only thing more improbable? The odds of Peridot successfully being able to relax at all if she didn't go and check things out, just to be absolutely certain.
And that's where the regret comes in, because her calculations were incorrect. Yellow Diamond is much smaller than she should be, but to Peridot she's still larger than life... and that is definitely her, there's no mistaking it. She nearly dissipates her form right then and there out of sheer terror, and only the fact that Yellow Diamond represents a clear and present threat to her friends is enough to convince her to keep it together.
But what the hell is she supposed to do about it? She stands there cowering behind a trash can while her (former?) Diamond screams at the cinder sprite at the admissions counter, trying to come up with a plan or will herself into moving or doing something when the lightning charges up and-- Oh stars no, she wouldn't, she can't--]
WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!
[...She did. And Peridot was a split second too late to stop her. That sprite is toast, and she just blew her cover for nothing. The green gem freezes on the spot, gaping with horror and trembling with terror, hoping against all hope that maybe Yellow Diamond didn't hear her shout and she can still run away while her back is turned. Or maybe... maybe she just won't recognize her as a gem, what with all her physical changes and her carnival uniform covering up her old Homeworld uniform? MAYBE?]
A.
Of course she had recognized that shouting. How could she not? The very sound of it is seared into her memory like a painful brand. At first, the tech had almost just assumed she'd finally gone and cracked or something; she has to be imagining things, right, because why would Yellow be HERE, at the carnival of all places? It's ludicrous! Ridiculous! Absolutely improbable. The only thing more improbable? The odds of Peridot successfully being able to relax at all if she didn't go and check things out, just to be absolutely certain.
And that's where the regret comes in, because her calculations were incorrect. Yellow Diamond is much smaller than she should be, but to Peridot she's still larger than life... and that is definitely her, there's no mistaking it. She nearly dissipates her form right then and there out of sheer terror, and only the fact that Yellow Diamond represents a clear and present threat to her friends is enough to convince her to keep it together.
But what the hell is she supposed to do about it? She stands there cowering behind a trash can while her (former?) Diamond screams at the cinder sprite at the admissions counter, trying to come up with a plan or will herself into moving or doing something when the lightning charges up and-- Oh stars no, she wouldn't, she can't--]
WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!
[...She did. And Peridot was a split second too late to stop her. That sprite is toast, and she just blew her cover for nothing. The green gem freezes on the spot, gaping with horror and trembling with terror, hoping against all hope that maybe Yellow Diamond didn't hear her shout and she can still run away while her back is turned. Or maybe... maybe she just won't recognize her as a gem, what with all her physical changes and her carnival uniform covering up her old Homeworld uniform? MAYBE?]