[Open]

[peridork]

Who: Peridot and YOU
What: Catch-All for when Peridot's TRUE FORM is exposed in the aftermath of the break-in debacle, when her limb extenders are confiscated as part of her punishment.
Where: Mero Deck (Room #011 and the deck at large), Mess Hall on Tue/Th/Sun evenings, the library.
When: Back-dated to the week of the 27th of October to November 3rd.
Warnings: N/A, it's all rated PG up in here.

Even if you hadn't ever actually talked to Peridot before, so long as you had seen her around it would be impossible to miss that there is something very different about her. She's small. Like, really small, by a good 6 inches or so, but it's not even just the reduced height that makes her appear that way. Without her heavy gauntlets and boots, she looks almost disproportionate, the empty space where there should be bulky metal standing out only serving to make her appear even scrawnier.

It's shameful to be seen like this to begin with, but more than just feeling small, Peridot feels insecure. Powerless. Everything seems a million times scarier when you have no fighting or defensive skills, and you're used to relying on gadgetry to keep yourself safe. But what Peridot misses the most is her audio logs. They're an integral part of her daily routine, a crutch that helps her keep her thoughts organized and makes her feel stable. As long as she has that screen, with its informational databases and carefully cataloged encyclopedia of human customs that she has been building, she feels confident enough to face the day. Without it...

Well. Lets just say she's even more jumpy than usual.

A) Mess Hall OR Med Bay. She refuses to wander the ship like this. Peridot rarely leaves her cabin on the Mero deck now, emerging only when she has Mess Hall duty, or she's scheduled for a shift down in Cryo. Whichever she's at, she is theoretically approachable... though her heightened defensive and easily nettled tendencies make her even more unpleasant to converse with than usual.

B) Library Not the sort to be easily deterred from a job, the electronic catalog project for the library is one of the few things that gets Peridot out of her cabin when she isn't due to work in the mess hall or med-bay. Trouble is, entering the information on those books into the library computer requires her to actually look at them first, and books, as you may know, tend to be organized on tall shelves... The resulting problem is obvious. At random points throughout the week she can be found clambering on things, standing on her tip-toes in a desperate bid to reach the tomes that are oh the higher shelves. Good Samaritans who come to lend the little gem a hand had best be prepared to get nothing but ungrateful scoffing and blustering comments about how she "could have done it herself" as their thanks.

[[OOC: If you are canon blind, please feel free to take a look at Peridot's status page if you need visuals on how drastic the change is. And yes, she is wearing what is basically the equivalent of footie pajamas. ]]

Comments

[hyperkinesia]

If any of the robonoids happened to roll away he wouldn't have sat on them anyway. He settles down slowly, though not too close to her, keeping that usual layer of distance he always seems to have around himself. Not that he feels as much the need for it around Peridot, she's hardly shown to be dangerous in the little time they've known each other.

"Can I see your hand, please?"

[peridork]

Peridot looks highly suspicious of the request; if it weren't for the fact that she has been sharing a space with Bruce for nearly a month at this point, she would not even consider compliance.

But since they have been...

"What for?"

[hyperkinesia]

"Nothing bad, I promise."

Why would he, anyway? It would be a little stupid of him to do anything to antagonize someone he saw every day, not only as a roommate, but also as a coworker. She must see that too, even without her knowing about his peculiar condition.

"I just want to look at it." He smiles and offers a shrug. "You can always punch me if I do something you don't like."

[peridork]

"Hm." Good enough for her. Expression unchanging, Peridot gives him a curt nod of agreement (making a mental note that she absolutely will take advantage of that offer and punch him if she has to), and holds a hand out for him to inspect.

[hyperkinesia]

Inspect isn't the term exactly. Well, Bruce does spend a few seconds looking it over, but it's just... a hand. Green, small, but a hand nonetheless. He lifts up his own hand and holds it next to hers. Her fingers are much tinier than his, but he doesn't point that out - he goes with something else instead.

"We look alike."

In one other way she wouldn't know about too; but he keeps that tiny detail to himself.

[peridork]

She stares and blinks with bemusement, not sure what to make of that statement at first. Glances between their hands and his face, eyebrows raising.

"...We do?"

Okay so the sentiment kind of goes over her head a little bit because... She's shit at relating to people. But Bruce sure is succeeding at distracting her from her troubles.

[hyperkinesia]

"Sure."

Her confusion is almost sweet, really. Bruce should've figured out that showing her how to relate wouldn't be easy - doesn't mean he won't try, though. He turns his hand around, places his palm against hers, wiggling his fingers a little and making hers move too.

"Five fingers, a thumb, physically connected to a palm and an arm." He glances at her. "Being like this... it doesn't make you weak. Or useless, for that matter."

[peridork]

She doesn't seem especially fond of the prolonged contact, but her discomfort is more of a superficial moment of confusion than anything that is actually deeply upsetting to her.

"Hmmm." Mulling that over, Peridot draws back after a moment, draws her knees up to her chest and rests her chin on them, the blanket is still loosely draped over her head. With her feet now visible too, it makes her true diminutive size that much more obvious. As a species, Gems don't recognize age as a concept, nor do they experience childhood, for that matter... but the technician's posture and demeanor at the moment certainly give off the illusion of extreme youth.

"Hnnh. That's all well and good for a human, I guess," she mutters, staring out into the room with her eyes fixed on nothing in particular. "Your kind is chaotic, you aren't made with a specific purpose or function in mind. You just adapt and move on."

She definitely doesn't mean that as a compliment.

"I was formed for a single purpose, trained with a single focus, a-and... Without my equipment--" she sniffs suddenly, eyes growing watery-- "without it I don't know anything! I'm just a pathetic, pointless little pebble, and I'm stuck that way until the Captains decide I've been punished enough!"

[hyperkinesia]

He doesn't let the touch linger for too long, anyway. Bruce isn't the kind for physical contact as it is, and despite feeling comfortable enough around Peridot, there's really no need for the prolonged contact once he's made his point. Or tried, anyway.

Somehow he has a feeling she doesn't mean that as a compliment, but still, he grins a little and shrugs, quick to admit it once she finishes her little rant.

"You say we adapt and move on, we do. And you say that like it's a bad thing, but I don't think so. Look at me, I got brought here without my glasses, my watch, every equipment I used to work-- but I did just fine. None of that stopped me."

He gestures vaguely at her. "But you-- I mean, it's... good to rely on equipments, devices, interfaces. But it's not good to be entirely dependant on them. I mean, take away the enhancers, there's still a Peridot. One that has the same mind, and is still just as smart as before. You just need to figure out another way to make use of that. A way to-- well, adapt."

[peridork]

She blinks at him with wide eyes, considering his words for a moment before putting her head back down on her knees. Bruce's advice is actually pretty comforting, though she won't readily admit it. She's silent for a little while after that.

"It's just... It's embarrassing," Peridot admits at a mutter, squeezing her knees tighter. She heaves a sigh, trying to chase off the lingering urge to cry. "I'm glad there aren't other gems around to see me like this. Struggling to fulfill my function." With none of her own kind present, more than anything else she's just embarrassed about having to deal with the rest of the crew reacting to the change she's undergone.

[hyperkinesia]

"I get that," he says with a smile. He might not be a gem, and not understand what she's feeling to the same extent, but he's more than familiar with feeling embarrassed or even left out for being different, lacking in some way. It's far from a novel sentiment to him. "Then it's a good thing there are no gems around, at least right now. No one here will judge you for it... my guess is most people won't even realize there's something different or-- well, missing."

And he doubts anyone would make fun of her or criticize her for it either, even if they noticed the difference.

"How long do you think until they give them back?"

[peridork]

"I'm not really sure," she says truthfully. "They said a week, at least, but... I think they're still discussing the specifics. It'll probably depend on how long it takes for them to change the locks on the out of bounds areas, so that my equipment can't interact with them anymore."

With such a flippant admittance of her wrongdoing, it's obvious that she doesn't view her actions as anything negative.

[hyperkinesia]

"So that's what you did?"

He can't help the amused tone to his words, his smile growing a little wider. He's not going to reprimand her for it, no - it's not his place, and not so long ago, he's learned what people can sometimes hide behind locked doors. He can't blame her for wanting to know.

"I'm sure it shouldn't be much longer." Clasping his hands together, he huffs a sound close to a chuckle. "You remind me of someone."

[peridork]

She gives him a quizzical look, tilting her head a bit like a confused dog, unsure if he's making fun of her or not.

"Who?"

[hyperkinesia]

He's not, really. It's a nice thought to him, and hopefully he'll make that plenty clear.

"A friend of mine, Tony. My best friend, actually. He's here too, on the ship." He shrugs a little. "He also likes poking around in places when he's told not to."

[peridork]

"Oh." She has not yet met this... "Tony"... Perhaps he would be worth speaking to.

"In my own defense, no one ever explicitly told me not to go in there," says Peridot seriously. Putting locks on the doors doesn't count, in her expert opinion.

[hyperkinesia]

He lets out a sound at that, a little more than a huff or a chuckle, but not quite a laughter. Still, close enough - as close as Peridot's likely heard from him. Because he knows that is pretty much what Tony would say in a situation like this too. Almost verbatim, Bruce would guess.

"I think 'out of bounds' pretty much covers that." Not scolding her. Just pointing it out.

[peridork]

Peridot shrugs aggressively, still looking stubborn. "If they'd just be up front with us about why those rooms are off limits, then it wouldn't even be a problem."

She pauses, eyes rolling towards the ceiling as she contemplates something. "I don't even get why they had to lock that junk up anyway. All that was in the room that we found was a bunch of weird shaped glass."

[hyperkinesia]

"Glass?" He arches an eyebrow, admittedly confused. "Well, maybe that's why it's there. So people don't get hurt. Especially if it serves no purpose, there's no point having it elsewhere around the ship."

It is a little strange, though. And she's right. If it's just glass, why not just say so? Keeping that a secret makes it sound suspicious, even if there's no reason for it to be.

[peridork]

She echoes that precise thought out loud: "Well then why not just explain that? It seems like a whole lot of unnecessary secrecy to me."

Peridot scowls, staring at her knees again. "Either way, they made their point. I won't be doing that again."

[hyperkinesia]

He can't argue that, she's right. And he's really trying to avoid starting trouble here, but it does smell a little funky to him. (Tony would definitely agree.)

"Good." He says it with a smile. Not that he thinks an inquiring mind is a bad thing, but he doesn't want her getting into any real trouble. Who knows the full extent of what the captains could really do to them? "How about I read you a book now? Just to get your mind off things. And you can tell me a little about these robonoids of yours."

Sorry I was so damn slow FEEL FREE TO IGNORE/END HERE

[peridork]

She squints thoughtfully, and then nods, pulling back into her typical overly-professional demeanor. "That... sounds like a logical course of action. I accept your offer."