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For Research Purposes (Mellow Yellow x Applepoisoneer)

(Don't worry about it)

He listened as Peridot explained her status, and he found that it made sense. A newcomer to the planet, all the way from wherever it was her kind called home. "Well, welcome to earth in that case," he greeted, giving her a soft chuckle. Isaac took a long sip of coffee and once more regarded Peridot. "If you ever need help from a human Peridot, well I'll always be available. Never had an alien friend before."
 
While she wanted to sneer at his offer of human-based help, she found herself caught a little off-guard by his offer of friendship. When it had just been she and Lapis, she had thought it was all they needed; friends forever, no humans, and so on and soforth. But not only did it seem useful to have an outside human as an ally, she thought she might really like Isaac. He was subdued and seemed to know a lot about not only human things (duh) but how to communicate them to someone who wasn't "local". And the best part was, he didn't seem to patronize her while he did it. So instead, she grinned and nodded.

"Friends. Okay, that'll be another facet of humanity you can show me more of. I mean, we sort of had the concept on Homeworld, but it was really more like; Hey, we have to work together and I don't hate you, so that's something." She snickered a little. "Imagine Gems being friends between ranks. It's so weird, right?" She laughed aloud, not considering that he might not appreciate the joke without context.
 
Indeed, he didn't get it. But going by how she spoke, he was going to assume it would be like a plantation owner getting chummy with his slaves. So he laughed a bit in return, and finished off his coffee. "In any case, I'll assume you don't have a phone, so giving you my number won't help. But most days you can find me at the library. Oh!" a realisation hit him. She was tech savvy, maybe she had a computer?

"If you have e-mail, I'd be happy to keep in touch over that."
 
"Yes, you do. Or else I'll have to go and get 'em," he said, before winking "Kidding, of course. The government handles things like that." He took out his wallet, and then a small scrap of paper. He was quick to write his email address and then slid the paper over to Peridot. "Feel free to message me if you have any questions. Or if, I dunno, you just want to chat. You're a very interesting woman Peridot."
 
"Woman...?" She had suddenly realized how she looked on this planet, especially to other humans. "Huh, I guess I am!" She announced proudly. Dozens of lightyears, millions of miles, and all for a gender identity. Earth was great! And more importantly, she had something she could relate to her studies in human biology. Sure some of the necessary parts weren't exactly there, but she knew what to be watching for now. She knew she appeared female, most all Gems did. But she'd always thought of her true identity as a Peridot; that was her Gem, and kind of her class. But now, she was a Peridot Woman... was that a thing? She clasped a hand over her chin and beamed. It was now, because she would make it one!

"I think ou've given me a lot to consider. And because of that, I'm looking forward to seeing you again, Isaac." Somehow, it was hard to pull his name into the conversation. It was the first completely human name she'd bothered to remember, and she didn't want to forget it.
 
"Oh?" he seemed surprised that she'd never considered herself a woman before now. But then again, she was an alien, so he supposed things like that didn't factor overmuch into her society. Still, it was nice to help people. "Think nothing of it," Isaac said. Now finished he moved to stand, and held a hand out to the short alien. "So, need a hand getting back home? I'd be happy to drop you off," Isaac said.
 
"Sure!" She took his hand and practically dragged him back to his vehicle. "Maybe Lapis will meet you. She's kind of... shy? I think that's the right word. I think sometimes she's worse than me at interacting with humans." She laughed and piled into the seat. "I think she'd like you though. You're pretty quiet. It's kind of an, I don't know, calming trait."
 
"Lapis?" He asked. Another new one? Certainly, the name didn't appear in any of the history books he had read. Once Isaac got to driving he followed Peridot's instructions, until they reached a barn on the outskirts of town. The fields had been cleaned up, but the barn itself was... well it was a mess. Damn thing had a grain silo protruding from the side, like a very bizarre and unnatural growth.

"Nice place," Isaac remarked, admiring from afar. "Well, at least I know where to come now."
 
"Thanks," Peridot smiled, completely missing his tone and confusion. "we worked really hard on it." She rolled out of the car and shouted up into the loft for Lapis to come down.

A slender blue woman with darker blue hair floated down on gossamer wings, like a space angel. When her feet touched the grass, they melted away and returned to water where she stood. She looked somewhat disapprovingly at the man her room mate had brought with her, but her voice was fairly light in contrast. "I thought you were supposed to bring books back from the library. Leave it to you to check out a person."

Peridot laughed, finding the joke a bit funnier than Lapis had intended. "Lapis Lazuli, this is my new friend, Isaac. Isaac, this is Lapis. She's a really rare Gem. There are only seventeen accounted for Lapis Lazuli in the entire universe, but none like her, of course."

The thin blue lips couldn't help but curl into a tiny smile accompanied by a little joyless laugh. Lapis knew Peridot only siad the things she did because she cared about here, but being on Earth for as long as she had, she knew that none of that kind of stuff mattered to people here. Still, it was almost flattering to have someone talk about how rare she was. Rare was a much nicer word than "different" or "freak"
 
Yep, definitely one he had never heard of. She stood out, and Isaac would freely admit that she made for a rather attractive figure. Blue skin aside, she could easily pass for human. "Pleased to meet you," Isaac replied, lifting his left hand and giving the slender blue gem a polite wave of greeting.

"I'm the librarian. I helped Peridot find some books she needed, and then we kind of hung out. So now I'm dropping her home," he explained. He had a feeling that humans being around here was a bit of a rarity, so there was no harm in explaining a little bit. And something told Isaac that this 'Lapis' wasn't just some waif. "And if Peridot is fine with it, I guess I'll be coming around here again in the future."
 
"I'd like that." Peridot nodded, her hands resting on the admitedly impressive round of her hips. "Maybe next time we can show you our Morps. Lapis is really great with Morps."

Lapis's smile grew and she shrugged. "They're okay. I mean, we're just getting started so..." She rolled her slender hand to dispell the awkward end to her thought.

"I think Steven sait humans call them... art? " Peri explained. "But we'd just been refering to them as Meep-Morps. It's fun, I guess."
 
"Morps?" he repeated, and then gave an understanding 'ah' sound when Peridot elaborated on what she meant. Alien art. Sounded fun, and it'd make for an interesting exchange. "Well, I'll be happy to come around anytime. But for now, I should probably get home." He flashed the cute alien a quick grin, and then turned on his heel. "Feel free to get in touch whenever. And I hope to see you again at the library soon."
 
Peridot bade him goodbye and waved exuberantly. And even Lapis managed a half-hearted sweep of her hand.

A day and a half passed as Peridot poured over the books she'd borrowed. When she'd finally finished, she emailed Isaac to let him know she would be in. Having never mailed anyone before, it sounded a little more formal, reminiscent of her logged reports for the Diamond Authority.

She walked quite the distence from the barn to the library and set the books on the desk. "How've you been?" She asked. "I feel like I've really learned quite a lot from this collection." The little green Gem leaned on her elbow and smiled up at him.
 
Peridot's email had been as funny as the gem herself. So formal... even his boss wouldn't drop such a formal message. But he could certainly appreciate her enthusiasm, and how efficiently she got through them. But by his understanding, gems didn't need to sleep. So he supposed she could comb through these books without pause.

"Oh pretty good," Isaac happily replied, logging in each book and updating their status. He smiled down at Peridot "Glad to hear it. I'd picked these out since they cover the subject at a beginner and more in depth level," he explained. Having finished logging them, he gave the pretty alien a quick once-over. "So... why did you want to learn about mating and stuff in the first place? If you don't mind me asking."
 
She maintained her position against the counter, but cocked her head a little, unsure if she should be embarrassed or not. "Well, there was an image that popped up on my tablet a few days ago, and when I asked the Pearl here about it, she'd said it was the prelude to a human mating ritual. I know virtually everything there is to know about cultivating Gems, and I was looking into plants, but it occurred to me that I don't know nearly enough about humans." She paused and shrugged quickly. "I thought if I had to live here, I ought to know as much as I can learn."
 
"Ahh. Filling a gap in your knowledge then? Yeah, I can understand that," he replied. Though, Isaac would have thought the other gems would have been around long enough to inform her of the details. Not that Isaac minded, if they had he wouldn't be spending time with an alien right now. "Still, I guess there are some intricacies a book can't help you with. It's one of those things you might need firsthand experience with to get the full package."
 
If Peridot could have blushed, she would have. "Well... that would require a little form--changing to have all the necessary parts. And besides that, there are still some things I'm not sure about. Like, what kind of signals does a human give off when they're ready to mate?" The question seemed rather stupid coming out of her mouth, but she pressed on with her eamples. "Birds dance, fireflies light up. What do humans do?"
 
"They date," Isaac explained. "I guess you could consider it some kind of ah... prolonged mating dance. Typically, people go on a few dates to see how compatible they are. And if they like each other enough, they try mating. Though, these days, people use mating mostly for fun rather than procreation." He smiled playfully down at Peridot, and seemed drawn in by how flustered the short gem was. "It can be pretty fun, not gonna lie."
 
"It looks so uncomfortable." She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. "But the uh... specimens I've observed, accidentally or otherwise, all seemed to enjoy it. And I guess there's different forms of it."

She rested her chin on her palms again and contemplated whether it was something she could see herself doing. As a Peridot Woman, which she decided she was, she thought perhaps she might. If nothing else, for research purposes. And besides all that, she liked Isaac, liked spending time with him, and thought it might be an alright way to continue.
 
"Uncomfortable? Well, I guess at first. I mean it's pretty tight down there, so the first time is always gonna be a challenge. That aside though, it's supposed to get really good after you adjust." As Isaac explained what he knew, he could almost see the mental debate Peridot was having with herself. "Curious to try it out?" he asked, sounding only a little playful. "If you want, I'd be happy to help," Isaac explained.
 
"Hmmm, I'm still not sure..." She left the counter and paced back and forth, her chin still cupped in her fingers. "I guess there's not a chance of me catching anything, or getting pregnant, or..." Something still felt a little off about the idea, and she couldn't put her finger on it. She stopped pacing and held up her hands in a kind of "stop" gesture.

"Okay, here's my thought. Let me regenorate, get all the necessary parts, assemble them properly, then go from there." It would take her a few days to reform, much longer than the original Crystal Gems. It was harder for Gen 2. Gems, who weren't designed to "take a lickin' and keep on kickin'" the way old school Gems were. But the reformation would give her time to really think about why she was doing this renovation of her physical form. It was certainly time for some changes, so why not physical ones.
 
"Regenerate?" he asked. Sounded odd. It was probably some kind of strange alien thing, and he supposed he ultimately didn't need to know about it. If this was what she needed to do, then it was worth a shot. "Alright. While you do that, I suppose I'll think up a date we could both enjoy." Dinner was out of the question anyway, considering she couldn't eat. It'd be awkward going for a meal and being the only man eating.

"Anything else I can do for this? I wanna be as helpful as I can."
 
Peridot thought a moment longer and shook her head. "It's going to be weird explaining it to Lapis, but I think she'll get it eventually." She seemed to shift nervously. "Just...uh, be patient. I've never actually regenerated before. I've never had to." She reached up and absently smoothed an edge of the triangle that made up her hair. "I'll meet you back here in exactly four days. Okay?"
 
"No problem. I promise I'll have something in mind by then." Isaac moved around the counter, and crouched slightly so he was closer to eye level with the short alien. Their lips met in a brief exchange, a show of support on his end, and the librarian was smiling brightly as he stood back up. "Good luck Peri."
 
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