Peridot sat at the helm of the Gem Warship, completely focused on the task at hand. Peridot loved flow-a state where she was completely absorbed in what she did. She at her most efficient-
cli-CLUNK. cli-CLUNK. cli-CLUNK. cli-CLUNK.
…
Something about the noise completely threw off Peridot's thinking. Perhaps it was the small scrape just before the noise that made Peridot grit her teeth, or maybe the sharp, piercing clicks just before the dull, dry clunks.
Peridot stopped what she was doing, and craned her head over her shoulder. Jasper, who had once been standing behind her, had moved a couple feet over to the left, staring into space. That noise was Jasper's shoes, Peridot mused.
Now that Peridot had turned around, Jasper's gaze focused on her. "What is it?" she asked.
"Stop moving." Peridot said.
Jasper frowned, the area around her Gem wrinkling. "Why?" Her voice was dripping with suspicion.
So much, that Jasper had to be acting dramatic. Peridot looked at her with distaste. She still did not understand why Jasper had to be here. "You're distracting me."
Jasper scoffed. "Does such a small noise distract you?"
Peridot felt her calm inching away. "That noise annoys me. You have to be doing it on purpose." Peridot mimed the noise-a sharp click, then a dull thud.
Jasper growled, and seemed to calm down a bit. A moment passed, and Peridot turned around, trying to remember what she had been doing.
cli-CLUNK.
Peridot made a face. She took a moment to calm down, then wheeled around again to stare at Jasper. Jasper was smirking, the left side of her face curving upward, wrinkles all around her Gem. Once Peridot was sure she would not scream, she hissed, "Stop doing that."
"What?" asked Jasper, her face not losing its sadistic expression.
That was it. Peridot flung herself out of her chair, pointing at Jasper: "You are throwing off my balance! I can't focus with your big, clodding feet going-" Peridot stomped around, causing clunks of her own.
Peridot aired all her grievances in one go. She didn't want Jasper to be here any more than Jasper wanted to be here, she really hated that noise her shoes made, she really really wanted to be done with this job, and the noise made it hard to think, it was impossible for a Gem to make such a cacophonous noise inadvertently, it was so inharmonious, so discordant it made her angry, so would Jasper please PLEASE PLEASE stop making that horrible noise?!
Jasper listened wordlessly. Peridot sunk back into her chair, taking a moment to reorient herself. To her great happiness, the room was silent. After a while, a soft clink-clunk noise reached Peridot. Peridot turned around. Jasper was slowly, one foot in front of the other, creeping out of the room.
It looked kind of ridiculous. When she had nearly reached the door, Peridot said, "What are you doing?"
Jasper's head snapped around. Before she could defend herself, Peridot said slowly so as to make Jasper understand, "Listen, clod, I need to focus on my work, and for that to happen, you need to be quiet-"
Jasper's face seemed to writhe and twist into a rather horrible snarl, and roared at Peridot, "I AM TRYING TO BE QUIET, YOU INGRATE!"
Whirling around, expletives flying from her mouth, Jasper stomped out of the room, slamming the door. It occurred to Peridot that she should scold Jasper for slamming an expensive piece of hardware, but instead she turned back to her work.
At least it's quiet, Peridot thought, as the warship approached Earth.
