#stapis

Trying out a new line brush with some Lapiven and then I threw some color and stuff in, and wound up with this.

Antis DNI

Propaganda for both ships provided under the cut

I will miss this show so much...

hahahahaha has spilling the tea just become my calling in life now

I can tell you right now I can’t really do this ship justice. Because I actually don’t ship Steven and Lapis. 

Of course, I’m cool with anyone who does. And I’ll even admit that of all her options, Steven is probably one of the healthiest candidates for Lapis to foster a deeper relationship with.

I can totally see where the appeal lies in Lapiven. Steven was the one who liberated Lapis from that mirror his own family hoarded away for millennia, and he managed to repair Lapis’ gemstone. 

So Steven is basically single-handedly responsible for giving Lapis her life back.

Kinda scary when one considers how easily Lapis could have never been recovered from the mirror and just remained trapped in that and Pearl’s storage space for lord knows how long.

And of course, Steven went out of his way to help Lapis despite her nearly drowning him and Connie, as well as fucking over the Earth by stealing the ocean early on. Always a compelling element in the shipping.

I would say it’s a bit of a misstep that Lapis interacted only with Steven and Peridot (and in the case of the latter, she only did that because Steven wanted her to); in contrast to Peridot, Lapis felt very disconnected from the rest of the cast and sat out a lot of events where she easily could have played a role.

I mean, to be fair, Lapis had valid reasons to not affiliate herself with the Crystal Gems. They’re kinda responsible for her wrongful imprisonment, after all. 

But compare her to Peridot, who went out of her way to get to know everyone and Earth itself. While Peridot had a very involved development arc that persisted even after her official redemption, Lapis just languished in the background while keeping to herself. Not exactly engaging and certainly not making her more endearing, you know?

Really, the breaking point for me is Raising the Barn. I’m one of those people who believes Lapis was genuinely a piece of shit in that episode, and I’m very annoyed to this day that she never had to answer for that when she came back. 

After all, Lapis’ actions didn’t just hurt Peridot - she hurt Steven, too. 

She basically left Steven, Peridot, and everyone else to die; there’s no two ways about that. 

Yeah, she felt bad about doing it, but even after Steven found Lapis hiding out on the moon and a heartfelt talk, Lapis still wouldn’t budge on her “Screw this, I’m outta here” agenda. 

Yes, Lapis did eventually return in Reunion in a badass fashion and officially declared herself a Crystal Gem at long last, buuuuut....

This reasoning really rubbed me the wrong way. It’s valid and logical, but it’s also easily interpreted as Lapis only deciding to return to Earth and stand by her alleged friends when she realized there was no goddamn way she’d ever be welcomed back anywhere else.

Just sayin’, this worked waaaaaay better when Peridot had an opportunity to return to Homeworld and still be in good graces with Yellow Diamond - only for her to throw that away because she would not sell out the Crystal Gems. 

Basically, Lapis’ return and formal alignment felt like one of convenience, rather than the genuine change of heart we saw Peridot experience. 

Considering this major misstep in Lapis’ character was never addressed/revisited after her return in Reunion, needless to say I was heavily annoyed that Lapis was basically going to get away with being an asshole who broke Steven’s and Peridot’s hearts in the process. She was willing to leave them to die. I just can’t in all good conscience say that Lapis is worthy of Steven’s love after all that. 

Maybe if they properly addressed this later on, I’d be more lenient, but I think we all know there’s a high likelihood Lapis would somehow be completely absolved of all blame in that incident, because god forbid we have assholes who just stay assholes in this show (y’know, outside of strawmen like Kevin, Eyeball, and Aquamarine). 

That being said, Why So Blue? was one of the better episodes of Future. Nowhere near the leagues of In Dreams, but I do appreciate it for being an episode that actually focuses on Lapis (without any involvement from Peridot).

I also like that it’s one of the very few SUF episodes that has Steven actually act like himself, rather than have him dwell on how fucked-up he is. He and Lapis had some genuinely good interaction in this episode - I appreciated Lapis bringing up regrets over the death and destruction she caused as a terraformer (that for once I’m not blaming her for because that was literally her job in a do-or-die society). And I like that they’re self-aware enough to acknowledge that Lapis isn’t exactly the most pleasant gem to be around.

In the end, I won’t deny this: Steven brings out the best in Lapis. That’s reason enough to ship them.

Kinda by default since she really only ever interacted with Peridot beyond him (and THAT relationship is a hot toxic mess, I do NOT care how popular it is), but it is what it is. 

Lapiven is a very niche ship, but in a way that’s a blessing in disguise, as I’m pretty sure that’s spared them the wrath of the moronic antis. Still, I sympathize with your relatively small fanbase.

Even though I don’t ship it myself, I’ll always defend your right to to so yourself, if you so choose. 

Ugh I really hope Stapis is real!! They’re a Spirit Quartz, and in my headcanon, they’re voiced by a men but use only they/them pronoums.