[closed] OK, so we're doing this.

[peridork]

Who: Peridot and Jasper
When: EMBARRASSINGLY HELLA BACK-DATED... Mid-February, the day Peridot wakes up from cryo after her accident on Emiri
Where: The halls outside the medbay
What: Glamrock bodyguard gives green space dorito a lecture about safety, self-preservation, and acting outside protocol.
Warnings: Uhhhh maybe a VERY MILD warn for Jasper being kind of. Aggressive. Otherwise nah.



The doors slide open, and Peridot steps out of medical for the first time in three whole days... A decidedly strange occurrence on its own. Her visits are generally much shorter, since she has never had to check in here as a patient until now. Her presence here in the past was always just in the form of short visits, for working her assigned duty of cryo chamber maintenance, or to see Doc Yewll for a quick chat.

Not this time. This time she'd gotten damaged... Deliberately put herself in harms way and almost wound up shattered as a result. The repercussions and the retained trauma of that would have been more than enough for the little gem to contend with alone, but throw in the troubling visions that she had during her cryo-sleep? It's a concoction for confusion and self-doubt, the kind of emotional turmoil that the logic-driven tech is nowhere near equipped to figure out on her own.

Peridot gives a nasally combination of a grunt and a sigh, absentmindedly adjusting one of her limb enhancers, prodding at her MID as the doors to medical slide shut behind her. She should probably head back to her assigned quarters, check in with her roommates. Her first thought is to call Jasper before anyone else, but with all she has on her mind a the moment...? She pointedly decides that can wait.

Comments

[stompadour]

Jasper's tremendous shoulders untense a little, and the furrow of her brow shifts into something a little more... not exactly sympathetic, but perhaps puzzled that Peridot's reacting this way. Her lips purse in a frown.

"... Yeah, I guess not," she concedes. She puts one hand on her hip and huffs under her breath. "Just... come get me next time."

[peridork]

"If there even is a next time," Peridot grumbles, still looking churlish. She seems a bit more relaxed now that Jasper has let up a little, though.

Of course, that just puts her right back in the same position of being at a loss as to where to go or what to do, now that she's out....

[stompadour]

"There better not be," says Jasper, although not very forcefully. She leans down a little, to get a better look at her - or, more specifically, at her gem. "So what, are you okay now?"

[peridork]

She lifts a hand, rubbing the spot on her visor that's over her gem in a self-conscious manner. "Obviously, since I'm not glitching out all over the place anymore," she grunts, a slight blush creeping into her cheeks again.

[stompadour]

Jasper rolls her eyes a little. Just because the worst of it is resolved doesn't mean there might not be lingering imperfections in her gem or something – but peering at it now she can't spot any problems. And Peridot seems alright...

"Hmph. Good." Jasper straightens up again, frowning. "We can't afford to lose you."

[peridork]

Peridot’s actually kind of surprised to hear Jasper admit that. She blinks up at her, obviously thrown.

“Wait… Seriously?”

[stompadour]

Jasper bristles slightly, in the relatively-rarely-seen way that means she's flustered rather than angry. Peridot may recognise it from times in the past she has questioned her about her cats.

"Obviously," she says. "I mean – you're the only Peridot on this ship, you're not expendable–"

[peridork]

"Oh," she says, unable to keep the flat tone out of her words. A very slight blush tinges her cheeks, her shoulders tense as she glances away. "Right. Obviously."

And she realizes all at once that this right here is such a perfect example of what she's just going to have to keep grappling with, knowing what she knows now. Unbidden, Peridot hears Yellow Diamond's disdainful tone echoing in the back of her head: Which peridot?
Recalling that single specific moment, the one where that conversation started to go downhill in a hurry, makes her gut clench up all over again; not with the anger and disappointment of being spoken to by someone she so admired in such a disrespectful manner, but with the shame of having behaved in such an embarrassing, distinctly un-gem-like manner in front of one of the elites.

She has no way of knowing for certain if what she experienced in cryo was actually real or not, but the implications remain ever present in the back of her mind regardless.

Peridot straightens up; clears her throat, jerking her head slightly off to the side. "Well... I've already lost several days to the recovery process. I'll have fallen behind schedule on setting up my new workshop, so... If that will be all, I really should return to my duties."

[stompadour]

"... Right," says Jasper. "Okay. Good to know you can get back to work already."

She feels kind of awkward about this exchange, and she can't put her finger on why. Why is Peridot disappointed? She's not expendable, that's a good thing, right–? Was she expecting something else? What? Why?

She frowns.

"And, hey, I mean it. You let me know if you need me for anything. It's my job."

[peridork]

Peridot responds with a noncommittal grunt and a nod. She looks tired.

"Affirmative. I will... Be in touch."

And so she turns to plod off down the hall, heading for the J deck. She has a lot to think about...