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For Research Purposes (Mellow Yellow x Applepoisoneer)

Applepoisoneer

Applepoisoneer

Supernova
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Location
In the deep, dark woods. Where no one can hear you
"Pearl, what's this?"

"GAH!!! Peridot, put that away!"

"But what're they doing?" Peridot waved the little tablet affixed to her arm. "This just came up when I was searching, and I can't figure out wh they're doing it!" The little screen played and replayed a steamy gif of a man and a woman in complete shadow, falling onto a bed together.

"It's probably a vius." Steven offered, taking the tablet from her, but Pearl slapped it away, a little harder than she meant to. Fortunately the device was well-cased.

"I thought you were going to stop wrecking my tech when I joined your team!" Peridot growled.

"I'm sorry." sighed Pearl. "It's just not something Steven needs to see just yet."

"What's the big deal?" Steven asked. "I mean, they kiss in all the time on TV... and that's not just kissing, is it?" He seemed to come to the realization of what it was all on his own.

Pearl floundered for worlds that wouldn't be to explicit. "It's... It's a human mating ritual."

"Oh! So he's putting his injector into a birthing cavity? But where could a human possibly develop? Is it like a spider where the mother becomes a host for her parasitic offspring?"

".....kind of." Steven shrugged helplessly.

"There's still so much I don't know, and that has to change!" The little green Gem crashed her fist into the palm of her hand.

"I guess you could go to the library." The young Gem-Human hybrid offered. "That's where I go when I want to figure stuff out that I can't find online."
 
The library, as ever, was modestly busy. Mainly their patrons consisted of college students, or the occasional zealous high school student, and they would often pick one of the many desks to be found throughout the large two storey structure and settle there for hours at a time. It was as quiet as one could imagine, and even the paved streets outside the library seemed quite silent compared to the rest of the world. Lion knew the way, had known ever since he dropped Steven and Connie out here only a few weeks previously, and it was faster than having Peridot walk there.

Isaac had worked here for months, and treated the job as easy enough. Catalogue books, manage returns, deal with user queries. Easy stuff that never had any trouble behind it. And it suited him down to the ground. He was a decently tall young man, dressed in a crisp white shirt and dark jeans, his raven hair pulled back to keep it from getting in his eyes. He had grown up in Beach City, but his folks weren't nationals- evident from his olive skin.

To him, today was just another day. And he was spending his shift at the reception desk, lazily leafing through a pamphlet in lieu of something to do.
 
Lion dropped Peridot off with an unceremonious thud. Despite her protestations, Lion had felt it necessary (or probably just funny) to carry the little Gem by the scruff of her neck. She picked herself up and justed herself off, straightening up before approaching the building that housed all the knowledge she was looking for. She hesitated, suddenly shy of new human interaction; last time it hadn't gone so well, but surely finding humans found within this... physical database would be much more suitable conversation. With a steadying breath, she put on the face she'd kept for ambassadorial reasons and went inside.

There was a man behind a counter, and she thought he was, in a sense, in charge of the information here. "Excuse me...uh," She struggled for a greeting. "Sir? How would one go about examining one of these primitive data files? And where would be an appropriate place to start, if one wanted to learn all there was of humanity's existence?"
 
The sudden voice made him look up from what he was reading, and then he was stuck looking down when he realised that the person addressing him was rather short. And green, as it turned out. He examined her briefly as she spoke, and from her inhuman skin tone and the fancy gem in her forehead it became clear to him that this was one of those 'gem' aliens. Odd, he thought there were only four of them, and none of the books he'd read ever mentioned a short green one.

But, there she was, plain as day. "Oh, well," he moved around from behind the counter and approached the short alien, managing a modest smile. "Traditionally, if our visitor doesn't know quite what to look for, we show them the catalogue." Isaac led Peridot away from reception, and to a row of PC's positioned at the far wall. He waited for her to get into one chair, and then brought up a webpage. "You type in a term you're interested in here, and the catalogue brings up books related to that subject, and the shelves they can be found on." Certainly, he'd never had one of her kind in here before. Maybe he should go the extra mile in accommodating her? "By the way, I'm Isaac."
 
"Peridot, Facet fi-" She stopped herself from crossing her arms for the sign of the Diamond Authority. "Uh... just Peridot. Nice to meet you." She etended her hand for him to take, just as Steven had instructed, though she still didn't know what it really signafied.

She threw herself onto the chair and looked down at the fairly analog keyboard and monitor, and shook her head. Fortunately it was set up in the same sort of fashion that Homeworld's holographic keyboards were, so typing wasn't an issue. What came next for her was difficult, but she turned to him and, with the straightest face she could manage, spoke again. "I may have further questions regarding your organization of the data files. Please stand by." She started typing before a little voice in her head (that sounded suspiciously like Steven) reminded her of the human touch she was meant to put in conversation. "Oh, and thank you."
 
She extended a hand out, but didn't seem to understand the why of the gesture. Isaac smiled politely in return. "I take it you're new to the planet," he said, keeping his voice low for the benefit of their other patrons. He reached over and took Peridot's hand, giving her a modest shake in return. Warm and soft. That was surprising, he hadn't expected her hand to have such a human texture to it.

Isaac stood by at her next remark, and stood around her computer as she wished. He had a feeling she would indeed need his help, and he was willing to bet he didn't specifically know what she wanted. Or rather, what she wanted to find out. "Think nothing of it," Isaac replied, smiling kindly. "Is there I can help you with? What are you looking to research?"
 
"Human mating rituals." She answered without a moment's hesitation. Although Pearl had been averse to discussing it, Peridot assumed it was because of a lack of knowledge, and Steven's inability stemmed from lack of experience. But surely a fully-formed human male would know a thing or three about what she'd seen on the tablet. "And maybe a crash course in the other basic biological systems might not be a good use of time as well."
 
"You want to..." It took his mind a moment to figure out what she was looking for, mainly because the revelation stunned him a bit. He wanted to laugh, it sounded oddly cute when she brought it up. But for now Isaac decided he would be a gentleman and oblige Peridot. "Well, for books," he moved around to her side and quickly typed 'reproductive biology' into the search bar, bringing up a row of different texts that dealt exclusively with the subject. "Though, if you wanted, I know enough to help coach you through the basics."
 
"Hmmm," Peridot thought it over a moment with her forefinger and thumb braced around her chin. "Well, it would be easier than cycling through your data files. Proceed." She smiled, though trying to subdue it. She didn't want to seem too over-eager, but the though of finally getting some answers ecited.
 
"Well... I'm not a biologist, so my descriptions might be a little rudimentary compared to a book. But..." He leaned over the short gem and brought up a few images on the screen- detailed, labelled scientific diagrams of the human penis and vagina. "Reproduction is the interface of the male sex organ- the penis- being inserted into the female sex organ- the vagina. When a man feels enough pleasure he has an orgasm and, if all work as intended, releases a fertilizing agent called 'semen' into his female partner. And from there the male 'sperm' penetrates the female 'egg' and this joining evolves into a baby during a nine month period. Make sense so far?"
 
At each new piece of information, Peridot nodded. It was easier than she'd thought to absorb all this new information, as soon as she could apply it to Kindergartening. She was a little stunned when she learned just how long it took. "Only nine months? That's really quite impressive. For as... minimal as technology is on this world, humans are pretty biologically complex. For all those systems to develope in less than a full year is incredible."

She pondered the gestation period for Quartz Gems, which were usually the simplest to create. Typically it was about six or seven months for one to come out fully-formed. But when Homeworld started running out of soldiers, they started trying to mass-produce them in three months or less. Thats how you got horrible mistakes. Incomplete Gems or raving beasts. Pearls, the really good ones, took almost a year, and some of the rarer Gems, like the Sapphire that was part of the Perma-fusion, Garnet, took close to ten years. She wondered how long it had taken the Diamond's to form, and if there had been Gems before to Kindergarten them. It seemed impossible.
 
Isaac nodded in return. "It's pretty impressive. Like self-assembling machinery," he remarked. He hadn't ever really stopped to dwell on it, but it was a rather impressive process. Kind of gross, when that nine month period ended, and then the parents had to work for years to get their kid to fully develop. "If you want, I could help you check out a few books on the subject for you to take home. You gotta bring them back on time, of course."
 
"Uh... pretty good," Isaac said. "If they don't return it they get a fine. And if they don't pay that, they go to court. No court cases yet though," he laughed a little, and then motioned for Peridot to follow him. "Biology is just down this way," he said, motioning to rows of shelves labelled for different scientific fields. "I'll pick some out for you. And I'd be happy to help you out more in the future."
 
As fast as her eyes could scan, the small Gem was taking in all the names on the spines of books as she could while still training an eye on Isaac. The word "court" sparked an interest, as it made her think of the Diamonds and whether Earth had some kind of looser authority that held court the way they did. Were their quadrants of the Earth the way there were on Homeworld? She would have to remember to ask after Biology had been successfully learned.

"I hope I'm not taking too much of your time." She offered with kind of a nervous grin. "I'm sure that there are humans less...mentally capable than I who would require your support. But I do like that you know where everything is around here. It makes this search so much more efficient." It took her two or three steps to match one of his, and she had to power-walk just to keep pace.
 
"It's no trouble. It's my job, after all," he replied. For an alien, she was pretty cute. And pretty in general. Though, would she even be remotely interested in dating a human? On the other hand she was the one interested in human mating. Isaac stopped by one shelf and lifted out three decently thick volumes on reproductive biology. "You know, if you wanted to spend some time together outside of here, I'd be pretty happy to."
 
Peridot blinked up at him and accepted the stack of books. "Uh... where would we spend it? I mean, this place is where you're designated to be, right? Do you have other jobs?"

She had seen Steven go other places from time to time, but he spent most of his time around the Temple and with the other Crystal Gems. She'd supposed it was because he was young or partially human that he needed to go out and look for food. And that's when it clicked with her.

"Oh! Do you want to go look for food together?" She hadn't chosen to eat anything. Watching Amethyst do it was bad enough. But if he wanted to spend more time with her, perhaps they would do it that way.
 
He laughed faintly at that. Yeah, she was cute alright.

"I don't spend all my time at work. Much as it feels that way sometimes," he admitted with an awkward smile. She offered to go out for food, and he nodded briefly. He wasn't sure if Peridot needed to eat, but it was as good a way as any to pass the time with someone. "My shift is ending soon. So we'll be able to head out then, if you want," Isaac explained leading the way to the reception desk. He took the time to check each book out, and then handed the stack back over to Peridot.
 
"Well, since I'm already here, I may as well occupy one of tables and read through these..." She looked up just as she was preparing to call them files again. "These books. Then we can leave when you're finished."

Without waiting for much of a reply, Peridot strode to an empty table and cracked the first book on the stack. It was strange having pages instead of being able to drag a finger or stylus down a holo-screen. But eventually she got the hang of it.
 
The young man spent the better part of an hour polishing off the last of his duties for the day, until it came time to clock out. he made his way back over to Peri and smiled. "Okay, I'm set to go. My car's just outside, so I can get us back to Beach City pretty quickly," he offered. The handsome fellow held a hand out to Peridot, and seemed quite comfortable in the presence of a pretty alien.
 
(I can imagine)

The car trip from the library was a quick one, and he came to a stop at a cafe just on the outskirt of Beach City. It was nothing too fancy, and not too many people were here. So it was easy enough to get a seat at a small booth. "You sure you don't need anything?" Isaac asked, setting his bag on one side of the booth. "I wouldn't mind buying something for ya."
 
"Your company will be more than sufficient." She smiled and perched, almost delicately, on the edge of one of the seats, with her feet barely touching the ground. Although she'd never tasted it for herself, she had discovered that she loved the smell of coffee being made. She hadn't realized how little her Homeworld smelled like anything. On occasion, one might get the faintest of burning smells, but nothing like the scent of food or flowers or even the bad smells here on Earth. She raised her tiny, button nose to the air and inhaled deeply; the salt of the sea air comingled with pastrey and coffee, and it broadened her smile. "Is it odd that I like the smell of the atmosphere here more than any place I've been on this planet?" She chuckled.
 
Isaac was returning just as Peridot was deeply breathing in the scent of coffee. He managed a soft smile, and then sat opposite her holding a cup of coffee in one hand and a muffin in the other. "That so? Well, nothing strange there," Isaac said, grinning at the pretty alien. "So, mind if I ask you something?" he asked. "I've read about the gems a lot in the past but I've never actually heard of you. How come you were so interested to learn about mating and stuff?"
 
(OOC: I'm really sorry I haven't posted in a while, but we didn't have internet at the apartment for a week. Apparently, Windstream forgot what it means to communicate effectively)


"Well, you could say I'm a new arrival." She shrugged. "In fact, I'm probably the youngest Gem on this planet, if you don't count Steven, which... that's a whole nother, how does the expression go? Can of worms? Like, his physical construct is half humanoid in nature, but his gem stone is actually older than me... it's kind of confusing." She sighed and shook her head. "But I didn't come to Earth until a few months ago, unlike the rest who've been here since the Rebellion." She concluded with the phrase, as though anyone listening would understand exactly what she meant by "Rebellion".
 
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