Well... That night had been... long. Between a trip to the moon base and the skirmish to try to get the communication device back from Peridot, Steven, at least, decided that he needed to nap. The visitors from Fandom were welcome to do the same, if they needed to. After all, the drill was built, and coordinates had been programmed in. They were good to go whenev-
Of course, that was about the moment the ground shook. Peridot had turned to Steven and the Gems at first, insisting that it was the cluster. Steven, who had apparently... just been possessing... a watermelon? Swore up and down that no, it was Malachite.
Which led to a whole explanation of how Lapis had Jasper in a forced fusion somewhere and the Gems (and Steven) had run off to save the day. Or something.
Peridot remained unconvinced. And rather than sit there waiting for the Gems' return, she was going to try again with the cavalry.
"Did you feel that?"
Rufus
"I think corpses would've felt that," Rufus snarked. "Of course I felt that."
And he didn't much like it either. He'd wanted to get some time to himself to look over what he'd learned about the situation.
(But not sleep. Rufus never slept around strangers.)
Jalian
"Are earthquakes unusual in this place?" Jalian asked, unconcerned.
Post-apocalyptic California had its share; they were just a thing that happened.
Peridot
"I have no idea," Peridot admitted, "but I would rather not take the risk."
She climbed up onto a crate in front of a diagram she'd drawn out on a chalkboard, outlining what appeared to be seismic activity in varying degrees of severity. "This could be the start of the emergence of the Cluster. Stage 1: Slight tremors every quarter hour. Stage 2: Full scale earthquakes. Stage 3: the Earth is destroyed! We're running out of time. We need to drill right now!"
... She was still a bit anxious, here. Please excuse the hopping from foot to foot she was doing.
Rufus
"If we're only in stage one then we have a bit of time," Rufus pointed out.
A beat.
"Also, you look idiotic. Stop that."
Tip
Tip gave Rufus a rather eloquent look. Peridot was bright green with triangle hair. A little panic reaction wasn't even close to what made her look "ridiculous".
"Do you know how to run the drill?" she asked. "Or do we need to wait for the . . . other people . . . to come back?"
She was not calling them 'Crystal Gems'. That made them sound like something out of a book her mom would have gotten her from a school book fair when she was eight.
Peridot
"I helped design the drill," Peridot replied, and then... basically had to drop to all fours to climb back down off of the crates she'd been sitting on. "And then helped to build it as well. Of course I know how to operate the device."
They could run around beating on unstable fusions all they wanted. There was an Earth to save.
no subject
Peridot
Well... That night had been... long. Between a trip to the moon base and the skirmish to try to get the communication device back from Peridot, Steven, at least, decided that he needed to nap. The visitors from Fandom were welcome to do the same, if they needed to. After all, the drill was built, and coordinates had been programmed in. They were good to go whenev-
Of course, that was about the moment the ground shook. Peridot had turned to Steven and the Gems at first, insisting that it was the cluster. Steven, who had apparently... just been possessing... a watermelon? Swore up and down that no, it was Malachite.
Which led to a whole explanation of how Lapis had Jasper in a forced fusion somewhere and the Gems (and Steven) had run off to save the day. Or something.
Peridot remained unconvinced. And rather than sit there waiting for the Gems' return, she was going to try again with the cavalry.
"Did you feel that?"
Rufus
"I think corpses would've felt that," Rufus snarked. "Of course I felt that."
And he didn't much like it either. He'd wanted to get some time to himself to look over what he'd learned about the situation.
(But not sleep. Rufus never slept around strangers.)
Jalian
"Are earthquakes unusual in this place?" Jalian asked, unconcerned.
Post-apocalyptic California had its share; they were just a thing that happened.
Peridot
"I have no idea," Peridot admitted, "but I would rather not take the risk."
She climbed up onto a crate in front of a diagram she'd drawn out on a chalkboard, outlining what appeared to be seismic activity in varying degrees of severity. "This could be the start of the emergence of the Cluster. Stage 1: Slight tremors every quarter hour. Stage 2: Full scale earthquakes. Stage 3: the Earth is destroyed! We're running out of time. We need to drill right now!"
... She was still a bit anxious, here. Please excuse the hopping from foot to foot she was doing.
Rufus
"If we're only in stage one then we have a bit of time," Rufus pointed out.
A beat.
"Also, you look idiotic. Stop that."
Tip
Tip gave Rufus a rather eloquent look. Peridot was bright green with triangle hair. A little panic reaction wasn't even close to what made her look "ridiculous".
"Do you know how to run the drill?" she asked. "Or do we need to wait for the . . . other people . . . to come back?"
She was not calling them 'Crystal Gems'. That made them sound like something out of a book her mom would have gotten her from a school book fair when she was eight.
Peridot
"I helped design the drill," Peridot replied, and then... basically had to drop to all fours to climb back down off of the crates she'd been sitting on. "And then helped to build it as well. Of course I know how to operate the device."
They could run around beating on unstable fusions all they wanted. There was an Earth to save.