"Look At Your Faces"
(Diagnostics and Operation branch)
"Em, Excuse me?"
"Hello?"
"Hi! Could you-."
"Argh! Why is everyone ignoring me?! Am I invisible or are they all legally blind?!" Ok. Deep breaths. You just need some directions Sky. There's no way to fuck this up!
...
Well. At least whatever Sapphire doesn't see won't end in a lecture.
Just in time, one of the peridots is walking strait at me, and without even looking up from her holographic screen goes around me like I'm just some metal pole in her way.
"Hey!" I grab her shoulder before she can get out of my reach. "I have some questions."
"Ugh! Who-! Eh-?! Don't touch me you, clod! I'm on a schedule and I don't have time to deal with whatever problems you might be having!" Wow. She looks like an angry cat. It's cute but also, she's rude. I guess I'll give her a second chance. You know. 'Cause I'm so nice.
"Look. I just need to meet with the higher-ups of this place and would appreciate some directions. You don't have to be rude."
"What does that have to do with me? It's not my problem if you can't remember simple directives. Now stop wasting my time or I'll have to report that someone's pearl can't do her job!"
...
I just wanted some directions. I was even extra nice for a change. It's a shame really. If only Jasper was here... I would've had someone to hold me back. Literally.
"Ok! That's It! I'm going to end your-!
~{《》}~
"IN MY ENTIRE CAREER, I HAVE NOT HAD TO DEAL WITH A MISCONDUCT THIS SEVERE! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT EMBARRASSMENT YOU BROUGHT TO THE ENTIRE BRANCH WITH THAT STUNT?!"
Ok. So you might be confused why me and that same peridot from before are now very nervously standing in the Supervisor's office looking worse for wear and sweating bullets.
From the top then. Not surprisingly, we both got dragged before the Head of Discipline of the O'n'D after we got into a tiny scuffle. I'll spare you the details but long story short. I grabbed her and was going to gently fold her into a nice table. Which she answered by electrocuting me with the similar stuff Jasper did when we first met. The only difference being, this peridot had that just built-in into her arms. It appears that all peridots have technologically enhanced limbs, weird. Anyway. It went downhill from there.
Soon after, we ended up here. Oh and as for the sweating bullets part...
"I expected more self control from someone so high up our Diamond's court-. And you, Peridot facet-2F5L cut-5XG You've been noted before to be less troublesome when dealing with other gems then your average cut. So pray tell me. What possessed you to call Zircon 09, a "pearl clod"?
Well... She's kind of terrifying, for one. She's also what you would call, quite damn hot. It might be my stupid teen hormones speaking but there's definitely a lot to- not look at. Add to that a killer figure, pair of glasses, ponytail style hair and a whip, yes, a god damn whip, and you have yourself a dangerous combination. One I don't want to be any more mad at me or I feel I won't be leaving this room with my dignity intact.
"W-Well I-... Didn't a-actually call her that? I c-called her... clod and a pearl-"
It probably sounded better in her head but damn... Did... The temperature drop? I had a massive urge to turn around and see if Sapphire wasn't there glaring at me but I didn't hear the door open so I'm just hoping the gem that the Supervisors are, can't freeze stuff. 'Else we're fucked. Wait. Why 'we'.
"*cough cough* O-Oh! Look at the time! I'm really sorry Supervisor, for both the incident and taking your time but I really need to meet the head of this department to get everything sorted. You know how it is, right? Yel- Our Diamond doesn't like things being off schedule so... I'll-... Can I go?"
She leaned back in her chair. Slowly. Then looked at me. "Well of course. We wouldn't want Our Diamond's right hand to be off schedule here. How fortunate that I have all the authority to fill you in on how this branch operates as well. Isn't that lovely?"
I can't be sure but I swear she switched her legs under the table after she said it. Damn me and my big mouth, and my trigger fists, yes I'm blaming you two for this, if you didn't know how to throw the best haymakers we wouldn't be here.
"That being said I don't have the time to do it personally. However since I have to deal with the fallout of this incident you two will have to deal with each other for a while. Peridot facet... will accompany you and show you around, as well as answer your questions. But. If I hear, of a single micro aggression, in this place, you won't like the consequences. That goes double for you, peridot."
"O-Of course! Now come on, what are you standing here for? After you." I motion for Peridot to move in front of me and she nods rapidly a couple of times with wide eyes. I don't think she expected us to be on the same page. Funny. Neither have I.
~{《》}~
After leaving the office we were now walking slowly down the hallways of the Diagnostics and Operation branch facility. Peridot would call out the different rooms and what they are reserved for as we passed them. Also while I was keeping my hands behind my head, still feeling relief from not getting into too much trouble on my first day. Peridot had a constant 'thinking face' with one hand holding her chin and the other holding it's elbow. She almost missed a couple of rooms while we were walking like this. It's still an improvement over the weird shifty look she'd give my every now and again but...
I guess I might as well see what's up with her. It would be nice to get a real tour of the place. I'll be working here for some time after all.
"So! What got you so caught up in your head?" I raised my voice just a little, to snap her out. Which worked just a little too well because she got startled and tripped.
"Woah-There! Keep yo' balance girl." I caught her by the arm and pulled so she can stand properly. It's a bit hard to explain but as I do it, it feels like her centre of mass is a bit wonky. Like it's anywhere but in the centre of her body. These gem 'prosthetics' look really bad when it comes to balance to me. Weird way to design a piece of already advanced tech in my opinion.
"Hey! Don't touch me! I didn't need-!" She caught herself before finishing whatever colourful sentence that was going to be.
"I mean-! Thank, you... General Zircon." She whimpered out while avoiding eye contact.
Oh no.
She cute.
...
Damn you brain!
"No problem. But I'd like to know what got you so distracted. I get it that this is not the best thing you could be doing right now but I kind of want an actual tour around the place."
"You do? But, why? Ugh-! Well it's just that- This is just a punishment for the two of us! A very light one at that. Given your status you could leave me to my own things at any given point and find someone higher in the chain of command to give you all the attention and complement filled tour guide the right hand of Our Diamond deserves." She nervously crossed her arms in the diamond salute and I shuddered at the thought. Having some gem literally and figuratively rolling out the red carpet in front of me constantly is just the thing I wish to avoid as long as I can. I've been lucky with Sapphire, Jasper and now this peridot for not trying to play some character with a constant smile on their face just to please me.
"Yeah, no. The last thing I need is some weirdo who would put me higher on their list of priorities then doing their god-damn job. All the gems I had the pleasure of working with so far had a very 'no-nonsense' approach to their job and I respect that."
She blinked twice. I could hear her do a low 'hm' with confused eyes.
"I... Suppose there are worse assignments to be stuck with." She turned around and begone to fill in a lot more details about the rooms we already passed as well as make sure to show me the insides of any new rooms and sectors we encountered. She even almost doesn't look like a cat on edge. Nice.
~{《》}~
The tour lasted about an hour or so. I learned that most of this place is different hangars for different types of ships that Homeworld possess and a lot of computer rooms of sorts. Also these cute little robots called 'marbles' keep scuttling around. They look like small semi-translucent orbs with four small cylinders (not physically connected to the body somehow) for legs.
And speaking of looks I should talk about my current tour guide 'cause It feels like high time to stop calling her a peridot and just Peridot. Not to mention, there obviously are differences between all of them even if they are the same kind of gem. Even if some of them only seem to differ from each other with the placement of their gem on their body.
For instance Peridot's gem was on her forehead in the shape of a small triangle pointing downward and light-green in colour. Her heir was also mostly triangle in shape but pointing up, which combined with her sharp chin makes her head almost look like a diamond. Oh, and she has some form of... glasses, googles? Well she has what looks like glass covering her eyes and forehead, and I can't tell if it's just attached to her face or not.
"And that concludes the entire O'n'D branch HQ and it's facilities. Any questions?" She asked annoyed as if she wanted to be anywhere else but by now I know It's just part of her 'charm'.
"Well I was wandering if I could work with you?" I ask with a strait face.
"What?" Then again. By now, she might just be genuinely annoyed with my presence. You never know.
"Weeell... I honestly don't know where to start with the whole thing. I wasn't born- made for this from the get go and I feel like being able to observe someone with much more experience then me going through all the motions would make me learn faster. Not to mention the Supervisor mentioning about how you're considered pretty good among your pears so... Oh! And I already know you so that's a big plus." I try to list of the most convincing arguments just so I don't have to meet more new people but-
"Ah! Of course you would think I'm qualified to teaching you about what we do here-. Because I am! Ha! Finally someone noticed my brilliant cut and It's Yellow Diamond's right hand gem! *cough cough* V-very well. You can follow me and if you show enough premise I just might let you be my assistant. Yes. Yellow Zirconia, my assistant, hehehe. I can't wait to rub this into everyone's faces." Well... It seems I don't have to overly exert myself on that front. All I needed was stroke her ego a bit... Eh. What works, works, I guess.
"Cool!... Oh! And just call me Sky." I extend my hand to Peridot.
She looks at me and the offered appendage with an air of hesitance but shakes it non the less. Great.
"Why would you want me to call you like the atmosphere? Did you crack your gem?"
...
I can feel my eyebrow twitching. I regret everything.
~{《》}~
"Entry number 03-A"
It's been day two of me working under Peridot at the O'n'D.
I have to admit learning about alien tech is... taxing. But enjoyable.
Nothing beats a good old-fashioned spar or two but testing and diagnosing all the different types of ships and other gadgets is fun in how challenging it is.
Well. Challenging for me. For Peridot all this shit is like an alphabet, 'You just know it'. Thanks to Sapphire's lessons I wasn't completely in the dark. I know the actual gem alphabet and language so I just need to learn the kind of programming gem-kind uses and then I can start learning on how to use the ships and computers. For now, after some awkward conversations, I volunteered to be used by Peridot as a testing dummy for all the faulty tech that comes around.
How it usually goes is Peridot gets an assignment to diagnose some piece of equipment. She tells me to use it and how. I get electrocuted. She hums to herself, writes something, press a few buttons on her "gem-pc" and soon after marbles show up (of varying size) and fix the thing. Job done. Hurray!
Well there are also the kind of assignments that are one hundred percent coding and data checking and these ones Peridot does herself with me only watching from over her shoulders until I learn the code.
Oh yeah. It all seems kind of a lot for just two day doesn't it? Well it's because I mean that forty eight hours passed. Forty eight hours of nonstop learning, testing and listening to Peridot complaining and sassing me all the time as her assistant.
From other kids that were around my age at the farm back home, you know, that actually went to school instead of doing all schooling online. I know that if you include the going to and from school as well all the breaks in between lessons they got, the entire thing lasted for around nine to ten hours.
And they would complain about how long these nine hours could feel. Yeah. Try doing something similar, no breaks, for more then five times that amount of time. I'm pretty sure a human brain is not supposed to feel anywhere close to the amount of not-fine that mine feels even now (small headaches from the injury excluded).
Just goes to show how much not human I really was all this time... Again.
I guess I shouldn't complain. I'll need all the world's fortitude if my life gonna look like this for the foreseeable future.
I wonder how Umber is doing...
~{《》}~
"I have an assignment for you two."
This time it wasn't the Head of Discipline office we were in, thank god. It was the actual head gem of the O'n'D department which to no surprise was a peridot. I don't think I'd be comfortable seeing another gem like the Supervisor. Which is an agate. A Yellow Lace Agate as Sapphire explained to me.
"One of Our Diamond's yet incomplete colonies has faced some unknown biological setbacks in it's development. At this rate the entire process will have to be rescheduled. Yellow Diamond requires one of our peridots to go to the site and give a report on what causes this slowdown. I think Our Diamond would appreciate if Zircon 09 could re-experience a proper assignment and since the two of you already work together the choice was made. You are to depart immediately and be done with your mission in the next three planetary rotations. Dismissed."
"Our Diamond wills it." Peridot does the diamond salute and I follow suit. Soon we're on our way to the Galactic Warp with the planet's coordinates.
First actual mission? To another planet? Sweet! Hopefully it isn't already a planet wide metropolis strait from Samurai Jack. If you ask me, I had my fill.
Hmmmm... I could probably smuggle Jasper along. She's been complaining about having nothing to do all the time.
~{《》}~
"Oh come on! It'll be fun!"
I think my constructive argument was lost on the brute as she continues to punch the testing machine. Jasper just likes to use this thing that tests a gems' strength. It's pretty Dragon Ball-esk. Why? Well, gems don't exactly have any training equipment. Just training rooms that they use for learning how to fight more effectively, since gems can't get any "better" physically like humans and I can.
I also found out that before I came around, no one was willing (crazy) enough to actually train with Jasper because of her ferocity in battle, no matter how small. That's kind of why I want her to tag along. Both her and Peridot need friends, hard, and if I'm going to be both of their first friend then I'll need to somehow have them get to know each other. If only for convenience sake.
"I don't see how an escort mission of such low calibre is even worth my time. Much less- RhaaA-! *crash*. Fun." Aaaand the machine broke. I don't even wanna know how many of these she brakes daily.
"Don't be like that. You can't tell me you'd rather sit here and punch walls all day instead of something that's at least moving." I deadpan with my arms crossed. I don't understand why she insists at being difficult.
Peridot looks between the two of us. Confused. "Wait. For What do we need this rocks-for-brains? She's not necessary for the mission." Great now she's annoyed and Jasper's about to get angry in two- one-
"What did you call me? You insignificant marble?!" She's slowly approaching Peridot.
"Eep!" And said gem technician is now hiding behind me. Off to a great start.
"Okey~! *clap* Violence is what our mission is and now you're definitely coming with us Jasper, since otherwise you'll probably end up venting your anger on the entire training room."
"WHAT?!" Now it's Peridot's turn to scowl. "Are you kidding?! This thing will crush me the first opportunity it gets! Just look at her! I think her hands are bigger then my head." She even whispered the last part to me like she's afraid she can anger Jasper any more then she already did.
"Look. Both of you. This is my first mission outside of Homeworld. Peridot is my partner when it comes to "nerd stuff" and you are my partner when it comes to fighting. I want to be good at both so I want both of you there with me. Also both of you are my friends, want it or not. You don't have to like each other but I do need the two of you to be able to at least work with each other."
They look at me, surprised, then at each other. They both look as if they sucked on a lemon, making me roll my eyes.
I hope whatever the problem on that planet is, it better be serious. God knows I'm going to need something to punch if they're gonna be insistent on being like that.
Ok. Took me some time, eh? Yeah. I have a problem with doing stuff once I start doing set stuff.
But I'm back! For now.
Courtesy of Adventure Time: Distant Lands and a lot of music that gave me inspiration to write again. Also I finally wrote for myself where I want the story to be heading... Well for now I only have the season 1 of cannon pretty figured out.
Small steps.
Either way. See ya next time ; l