Abandoned Crystal System Colony Planet Earth - Friday, Fandom Time

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It had all started with the Crystal Gems taking a break. A break! In building the drill! To save the planet! The work was so tantalizingly close to being done that Peridot had complained to Steven, vehemently. It had involved waving a little power drill in the air for emphasis. Which had, as most things around here seemed to do, inspired Steven to

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[studyingfear]

Rufus noted that smile and, after what felt like an eternity of waiting for someone else to say something, anything, dear gods why him, he still thought about saying nothing.

"Could you augment yourself with peridotite?" he asked dispassionately.

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Peridot blinked up at Rufus for a moment at that, seeming to consider for a moment. Her mind had gone drifting a little for a few seconds there, and there was clearly a bit of something chewing at it, but now really wasn't the time.

"I don't... actually know," she said, after a pause. "I assume it could theoretically be possible, though the process could take hundreds of your Earth years. Which I would have to spend without a body. Something to consider, if I ever need-"

She was interrupted by a sudden banging on the top of the drill's cockpit compartment, and looked up just in time to see a red hand press itself against the window, quickly and forcefully. It was a rather fearsome sight when highlighted by the peridotite's molten glow.

"Fusion experiments," she moaned. "They must have buried some prototypes with the Cluster."

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Rufus' pale eyes widened, but not in fear. It was hard to see, especially given the close quarters and awkward positioning, but it was an emotion closer to glee.

Or fascination. Or some combination of the both.

Either way, he was not nearly as discomfited as Peridot.

"As guardians or as garbage?" he asked, even as a second hand followed with more banging. He was still filming. Tseng was going to have a heart attack.

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"If I had to guess... possibly even both," Peridot replied. She hit a button on the control panel, and then gestured toward the game controllers. "Or simply to incubate. Would you like to do something about them, or would you rather get out and ask them?"

Please keep all arms and legs inside the vehicle while traversing the asthenosphere.

[studyingfear]

Rufus didn't need further explanation for the game controllers, he really didn't.

He reached for them carefully, around the others, and settled one in his lap--well, more like perched on his knee--and considered the other one and his PHS.

"Hold this," he ordered Peridot, handing his PHS over. "Keep it pointed at me and at the things outside. Touch none of the buttons on it." He didn't want her messing up his recording! It was important.

Then he took up the controller that wasn't on his knee and got to work.

It took him a few moments to figure out which button did what but, after that brief learning period... his aim was very, very good.

The reckless glee that, many years later, would drive him to jump off a building without a safety net was evident now in the smile he was wearing. It wasn't a grin, he didn't do grins, but it was gleeful in a sharp, hard-edged way.

Rufus should have been born a Diamond, really.

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Rufus would have made a terrifying Diamond.

Peridot wasn't thinking that exactly as she took the phone-thing from Rufus, blinking and... pointing it at him. She was pretty sure it was at him. She'd never handled one of these things before.

It was possible that there was going to be the tiniest bit of a little green thumb in the frame. It was going to stay there until the drill broke through the asthenosphere and into a layer of dense rock. The few remaining fusion experiments were thrown off as the drill started to shake. Sorry, Rufus. Peridot was dropping your phone in favor of grabbing the steering controls so that they didn't get torn apart at the last moment.

"We're hitting some denser rock! This is it!"

Brace yourselves, folks.

[studyingfear]

Rufus did not brace himself, nor did he stop shooting until it was clear that once they'd hit the rock the remaining experiments had been flung clear.

Then he lunged for his PHS and held it back up.

BECAUSE SCREW BEING SAFE.

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... Sigh, Rufus. Peridot didn't even breathe and she was sighing at you. NOT DYING IN THE DRILL JUST FIFTY FEET AWAY FROM THE CLUSTER'S CHAMBER WAS HER PRIORITY HE--

The rattling of the drill suddenly stopped, and a bright, dazzling light filled the tunnel that they had come to rest in. Peridot frowned, then reached for her periscope. Which... was really just a pair of binoculars with a flashlight on it, but that flashlight had just survived impossible degrees of pressure and heat, so periscope win, right there.

"Recovery depth achieved. Target found."

And then she steered the drill into the chamber of the cluster.

It was... it was definitely a sight to behold.

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Oooo, pretty!

"We made it," Rufus breathed.

Yeah, that had been rather in doubt. Not that he'd had a bad time of it so far, but getting this far hadn't been assured.

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"The Cluster," Peridot agreed, looking down through the window at it with some grim satisfaction.

They'd survived! Against all odds! There had been insane grinning in there somewhere! And now... now the Earth was shaking. The Cluster was shaking. The cluster, that was made of the shards of millions of shattered Gems. Peridot didn't even care that her first instinct was to shriek in terror, because, frankly, it was terrifying.

Especially when the whole surface of the gigantic Gem fusion began to ripple, and then a series of arms, legs, entire torsos, screaming faces and all, tried to break free from the resulting ripples, trying desperately to take shape.

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Peridot shrieked and Rufus winced from the noise. Honestly, there was no need for that.

Especially not while he was filming.

Though it likely that she was going to be tempted to kill him as the world went rather... rainbow and white under them and around them and Rufus started to laugh.

[kenselvren]

Peridot might or might not, but Jalian certainly was. Somewhere at the edge of her thoughts, she could feel screaming, babbling confusion and terror, and it wasn't exactly conducive to a good frame of mind. She could barely move, as squished as they were in there, but she was kneeing his shoulder. This was no time for laughter!