imafuturist | Regolith Range, Elpis

Firmly planted on the ground, not bothering with any of the oxygen equipment or even really noticing a difference in gravity, there was a Peridot. She'd worked late last night, finishing the last of her repairs on her screen, and was reasonably certain she had it in proper working order now.

This was her field test. She was wandering around, running scans on anything she didn't immediately recognize, her screen out and a businesslike expression on her face.

It was possible that she was so intently watching the readouts on her screen that she wasn't completely aware of anything that might be eyeing her hungrily. There was science afoot, here, and she'd missed her screen! Missed it so!

Tony was watching the 'kraggins' from a distance, analyzing them in case the weird... rhino... dinosaur... lava... things attacked. Which seemed pretty likely since everything so far had attacked him.

Which was why he noticed the little grouping of them start away from the lava pits and over toward a green--

"Oh for the love of god," he muttered, suit quickly assembling around him as he rushed after them.

It was probably a few moments too late for most people to actually do anything about being stalked by kraggins before Peridot noticed a reading that had her blinking up and away from her research, finding herself within a range of the creatures that would have probably made saner persons jump.

"... Non-organic life?"

Peridot, meanwhile, was mostly just thrilled.

"Finally, a non-Gem species that makes sense!" Wait. They weren't looking terribly docile, were they? "Oh."

Yeah. That was a Peridot, turning to run. And feeling terribly put out that the first non-organic non-Gem life-forms she'd encountered since leaving for her mission on Earth apparently all wanted to maul her.

Well, welcome to Elpis, Peridot. It was only moderately less of a hellhole than Pandora.

Tony circled around, placing himself between his newest employee and the now only slightly confused creatures. Who just took this to mean they had another thing to kill.

"Okay, fire what we've got," Tony told JARVIS, letting missiles fly at the kraggins.

So, if anybody could at all hear her over the explosions that were now going on, Peridot was shrieking as she dove for some kind of cover behind an outcropping of rubble. She was more durable than most humans by far, but that didn't mean she wanted to get caught by any sort of shrapnel that might come flying her way. A damaged body would be inconvenient. A damaged gem would be disastrous.

Once the explosions seemed to settle down, she was peering out from behind her makeshift shelter, though.

"You made MORE?"

She sounded somewhere between panicked and scandalized, at that.

JARVIS could hear her. But then JARVIS had more ability to filter everything going on.

Which was why he relayed it to Tony. "Stay down!" he said instead of the 'OH GOD, I MADE MORE?!' that he really wanted to say as he shot at the smaller ones that popped out of the explosion of the larger ones in little, angry balls of rock and lava.

"Why did you make MORE? Are you making more now?!"

All of this, of course, was being yelled from where Peridot had ducked back down again. Because that really was the sane course of action, here. At least, it was saner than her urge to see if one of the smaller ones could be taken alive for research purposes.

...

"If they get even smaller, I want one!"

Shut up.

Sadly a few repulsor blasts later, the baby kraggins did not survive. It was because they wanted to eat your face, Peridot. And Tony's. They wanted to eat a lot of faces.

Only once Tony did a quick scan of the area for ~~red dots of enemies~~ anything he missed, did he turn toward where she was hiding. "You okay, kid?"

Peridot was still much, much older than you, Tony.

Though, in fairness, it would probably be difficult to tell. Especially given the way she was peering out from behind the rubble looking like the universe's most disgruntled triangle.

"I'll be fine," she said, simply, before picking herself up again and dusting herself off. "I suppose I should thank you."

That was basically all the thanks she was going to give, right there. She was bad at this.

He'd call her a kid until she stopped acting like one!

"Yeah, don't worry about it," Tony replied dryly, tilting his head to inspect some scorch marks on the armor.

... Peridot was going to get called a kid for the rest of Tony's life, then. Fair enough.

After another few moments, she ventured out and made her way to Tony, eyeing him speculatively. The enhancement gear that he was wearing was intriguing, if still a little bit rudimentary when compared to Gem technology.

"Why did you intervene? Wasn't that a waste of your resources?"

At that Tony tilted his head, letting the suit disassemble around him into a neat little stack. The Oz kit he'd been provided (and tinkered with a little, shhh) flared up to surround his face before he could, you know... die of asphyxiation. "Because you were in trouble."

And it was as simple as that.

Bah. Asphyxiation. Organic concerns were so weird.

"Well, yeah," Peridot replied, spreading her hands a little bit as if it helped better illustrate her point. "But it wasn't your trouble. You could have avoided those creatures completely. Easily."

Oxygen was necessary!

Tony shrugged, putting the armor into collecting the armor to place into a bag he'd brought with him for the storage. He occasionally paused to check for damage that would need to be fixed later. "If someone is in trouble and I can help the, I'll help the. It doesn't have to be my trouble for me to take action."

And sometimes he helped even when he couldn't. Because why not just put your self at risk doing something stupid, Tony. Go ahead.

Peridot squinted a little, but seemed... sort of mollified with that answer, even if it was because she was mostly filing it under 'human foolishness.'

"What do you get out of it, then?"

Please excuse the way she was leaning forward to look curiously at that storage bag, Tony.

He blinked at her for that question, at least certain this question wasn't a slam again him as a person as it might have been in the past. "What do I get out of helping people?" he asked slowly.

The armor was as light as he could make it and as flexible as his current limitations allowed. No more brick of metal for him. At least not for now.

"Right," Peridot replied, equally slowly, looking up from the armor at Tony in open bafflement. "It seems like such a... a miscalculation. Putting yourself in danger to help somebody that you hardly know. I'm hardly an irreplaceable resource. There must be some reason I'm not seeing."

And it frustrated her, knowing that there was something that she was clearly missing, here.

"Irreplaceable resource," Tony repeated, making such a face about it before trying to approach this in a way she'd understand "A miscalculation implies the outcome where I do nothing is the optimal one."

"Clearly it wouldn't have been optimal for me," Peridot allowed, making a bit of a face as she pictured the sort of damage that those creatures could likely do, even to a Gem. Especially to a Gem. She didn't bother to try to bite back an involuntary shudder at the possibilities. "So, how isn't it for you?"

"It's not optimal for me either," Tony replied sincerely. "I want to help people however I can. You count among them."

It was clear that there was something about that answer that bothered Peridot, given how long she stared at Tony just trying to make sense of it. Finally, she looked back at the gear again, deciding to focus on something that she could comprehend.

"Your equipment does seem adequate for the task," she settled on. "A hard shell with flight capabilities, good for keeping a fragile human body out of harm's way. Even," and she threw another scrutinizing look at Tony, "when that human is throwing himself into harm's way."

At least she wasn't having this conversation with Captain 'actual sad puppy' America.

"Thanks," he replied dryly. "I try my best to keep from dying."

HE DID NO SUCH THING. JESUS, TONY.

"Doing your best to keep from not dying wouldn't include getting involved in the first place," Peridot pointed out. Because she was seeing the holes in your logic, Tony. The really big gaping ones! She was helpful like that. "But since you seem to feel so obligated toward throwing yourself in harm's way, it's reassuring to see that you've at least taken some rudimentary sort of precautions against taking on immediate physical damage."

There was a pause, and then she added, "I suppose now would be a bad time to mention that I probably could also have flown out of there."

"Calculated risks," he countered, pushing himself back up and checking the oxygen levels he had. "What are you doing out here anyway?"

"Testing my screen," Peridot replied, holding up one set of free-floating fingers by way of explanation. "I wanted to run it through some tests in an unfamiliar environment, to be certain that I've got most of the damages repaired. Your equipment turned out to be satisfactory in effecting repairs."

Wasn't that good to know, Tony?

"This particular ecosystem is fascinating," she added. "It's a shame you destroyed all of those creatures. I would have loved the opportunity to study them."

"You can always try making friends with them again," Tony replied, heading for one of the scattered oxygen vents if this conversation was to continue. "But good to see you've repaired your kit."

"I might observe them from a distance, now that I know they're here," Peridot mused, following along behind Tony because... hey, she didn't understand why he had saved her, but she wasn't stupid enough to stay out here alone knowing about the danger, either. "Seeing what I can only assume is naturally-occurring non-organic life has left me curious. I've got more than a passing scientific interest in the phenomenon, and a limited window in which to explore it, provided the island continues its pattern of land, linger, and leave."

"So, time to get readings to study as we move onto the next place?" he asked with all good humor in his tone.

"Hopefully enough time," Peridot agreed, in all seriousness. She was still catching on to the subtleties of human humor, herself. "I suppose I could make note of this place's coordinates, and then deliver that information to Homeworld in case they've got an interest in these creatures as well. It means putting further research on hold, but at least there's a chance of being able to return to it, eventually."

She glanced sidelong at a nearby lava flow.

"There's a lot about this place that makes more sense to me than Earth."

"Yeah?" In the distance, massive shugguraths floated peacefully.

Peridot nodded, looking up and watching them quietly for a moment as they went.

"It's about survival, here," she noted, as if it ought to be obvious. "Those creatures that attacked weren't concerned about my feelings on the matter, they were just doing what they exist for. I'm not even certain if they thought they were going to eat me, or if they were being territorial, but they clearly attacked with a purpose."

"Earth can be like that," Tony replied. "Just on a different level."

"The only levels I've seen so far are either frustratingly destructive, or strangely concerned about whether or not I know how to enjoy myself," Peridot noted, looking back toward Tony. "I've never seen a species so preoccupied with having 'fun,' before."

"That's a pretty accurate assessment of humanity," Tony said cheerfully. "But I find the best innovations come from strife or fun."

Mostly the former. But the latter on occasion!

Okay, Tony, you just knew Peridot was going to look at you and ask, right?

"Innovations? Such as?"

"Advancements in science or any other field," he replied, looking at a distant building rather than at her. "My armor, for instance. I never would have come up with it had I not needed protection."

"Protection," Peridot echoed, and then something that vaguely resembled a wry smile crossed her face. "When you go throwing yourself in front of things that want to destroy you?"

She noticed that he wasn't looking her way, though she wasn't completely certain what to make of that fact. So she grasped onto something that seemed at least slightly related to the topic at hand.

"I noticed it has some kind of self-contained propulsion system, but I wasn't aware that humans had developed any kind of personal flight technology that was that efficient. Was that another innovation that you developed for protection?"

"I built it to protect myself and now I use it to protect other people," Tony corrected gently. "Out of the suit I've developed clean energy methods, prosthetic limbs based off the designs, new communication devices..."

Peridot looked at Tony curiously, processing that. Chewing on it.

And then she tilted her head a bit.

"I could... probably help you make it run more efficiently."

She didn't particularly care for the state of humanity as a whole. But Tony had saved her.

"Hit me with your designs then," he replied with a grin. And then, "Not literally hit me."

Because aliens.

It was probably for the best that Tony had clarified that. Peridot nodded, looking thoughtful, and, yes, making a mental note to not literally hit Tony with her designs.

"I'll draft something up for you during the week," she decided. "I might even be able to put together a working prototype for you during my shift. Provided there aren't too many interruptions by people with broken toasters."

Peridot worked fast, but kind of considered this sort of thing to be child's play. Because aliens.

Always because aliens.

"Try to keep it within what you find in the shop. Interfacing with alien tech gives me a migraine."

"You and me both," Peridot replied, faintly amused. In her case, of course, she wasn't the alien. "But I'll see what I can do."

It helped that she didn't actually have any Gem tech on hand, with the exception of her limb enhancers.

Edited 2016-06-12 15:29 (UTC)

Regolith Range, Elpis - Saturday Afternoon

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