video | un: PERIDOT5XG

[slapfight]

 [it's about a DAY after Rey and Keith's message goes up that Peridot's patience wears out. she may no longer be a Homeworld gem and she is aware that there were multiple objectives in this mission, but the Deemers are not as important to her as, say, THE CONTINUED SAFETY OF THIS MISERABLE PLANET.

THAT THEY HAPPEN TO STILL BE ON.

it's time for enlightenment, friends. courtesy of this lime green drama queen.]

I realize that these "Deemers" you're all so focused on are a threat that shouldn't be ignored, but may I remind you of the much bigger threat? As in the fact that this planet may actually collapse in on itself if we don't do something about the mining? As someone who has been stuck on a planet that came this close to being destroyed by a similar situation [well not exactly, but she'll exaggerate a bit for effect], I don't want to repeat that. Ever.

[she waves a hand in a shooing motion condescendingly] So while you all go out and chase down... brain worms or whatever they are, I'm going to orchestrate the destruction of the remainder of the mining efforts, and anyone who wants to take care of a real threat can join me before it's too late. It may go against everything I know as a kindergartner, but as a Crystal Gem, I can't let a planet be destroyed just for its resources, even if it's an objectively terrible planet.

Especially while I'm still living on it.

That is all.

Comments

[pummelling]

Now you're thinking with your head. I say we have a team destroy all of it, and have everyone else take on the Deemers. That way we're covering all our bases.

[endeudado]

Right. Probably helps them fix up whatever's broken at their base somehow, huh.

[ It's not like she's wrong. A planet exploding under their feet sounds like the kind of thing everyone should want to avoid. ]

Have you considered a method that doesn't paint a huge target on our back, though?

[ofobedience]

Babysitting, basically.

[He says it dismissively enough, like it had no impact at all besides inciting his distaste. Like it didn't leave it's mark on him. Hahah]

They could do the same with mining equipment, in that case. What would be more off-putting to you, the slaughter of your people, or some broken machinery? Think of it that way.

[onethousen]

Mm... broken machinery. My people getting murdered wouldn't make me want to ignore what happened. [ Hlatingly: ] So I don't think it would be more off-putting to have my people killed. I'd want some kind of justice really badly, even if there wasn't much I could do. Machines are easier to abandon.

[ofobedience]

[Machines are easier to abandon. Perhaps he's closer to that than she is, more like a machine than a person, because 'his people' had been torn apart with teeth and nails under the direction of another, hadn't they? He's never sought revenge against the one who orchestrated it despite the thoughts the feelings the longing and nostalgia, quite the opposite really (MotherMotherMother) and it's because of this that her reasoning still evades him, can't quite be grasped.

Life is cheap. Disposable. Even when it isn't.]

These people hollow out worlds. It's what they do, what they are. Broken machinery isn't going to change that. Don't get me wrong now, I don't very much care what happens to this planet and I have no feelings one way or the other towards the people who populate it. But broken tools don't dampen one's goals or prevent one from doing what it's in one's bones to do.

Even if they abandoned this world, they'd just move on to another.

AUDIO | username: huntsman

[dishearten]

I agree, we can't forget what we came here for. I'll help if I can.

How do you intend to stop the mining efforts? ( because as much as he wants to do that, he can't deny he's lost on where to start. especially when the qorral themselves seem so disinclined to ceasing production. )

[twinkle_toes]

[great plan, peridot]

We have to find a way to teach them that destroying [mining, whatever] the planet is wrong. Even if we did break all their equipment, they could just rebuild it again.

[twinkle_toes]

Yeah, maybe if you're a dog.

[it's obvious he doesn't believe in giovanni's viewpoint for a second.]

But we're not dogs though, we're people. We're supposed to be better than that. We know how to make friends, and to compromise with each other.

video; un: unknownrealms

[headlining]

[Oh, look, it's the person who can't ride a metal horse to save her life! (From the person who also can't ride a metal horse to save his life.)]

Good on you for bringing the focus back to the real mission at hand. Though, how are you going to get through their forces on your own? You need back-up to keep them away so you can do whatever you need to do.

[ofobedience]

Speak for yourself.

[And there's something there, some edge to his voice, wryly amused. Because that's exactly what he is, a hound of war, as long as we wear these collars, we're dogs. But never mind that.]

People are animals, just like dogs, and underneath it all they work on the same principles. Better than that. Ha. History will tell you otherwise. Human nature doesn't seem any more lofty or elevated than that of us dogs, not from where I'm standing. The rest is all window dressing and pretension.

[twinkle_toes]

[bless u, chihiro]

[twinkle_toes]

Yeah, maybe history hasn't been so great but that doesn't mean we can't change history or that we can't make the world a better place. Maybe there are some animals that do nothing but kill each other, but that doesn't mean we have to be like them. We're better than that.

[ugh]

Why can't you get it?

[probably because aang sucks at explaining, but you know.]

[ofobedience]

[And because his own - admittedly limited - experience of the world has given him no reason to believe that there's any truth in what Aang is saying. It's hard to see otherwise when this way of being has been hammered into him since the moment he opened his eyes.

Perhaps there was a time when he thought he could see beyond it, when he wanted something different for himself. But that part of him died along with siblings back then.]

Because you're not better than that. You're part of it. Cultural and moralistic constructions are all well and good within the confines of polite society, but when push comes to shove humans will bare their teeth along with the rest of us. Violence is the one true universal language.

Besides. It'll be fun.

[onethousen]

[ She goes quiet, eventually breathing out in a soft, unhappy sigh. ]

That's the thing, though. We're not here to say what they can or can't do across the universe. We're just here to get them to abandon their mining efforts on this world.

[ They are, in effect, terribly shitty guardians of ALASTAIR's goals. ]

Which is gross. 'Cause ALASTAIR doesn't say we need to care about any other place... We're not the Qorral. Or the alien slugs. We don't believe what they do, and we can't make them believe what we do. So we're selfish too. We don't care about those other worlds. Just this one.

[ofobedience]

Who's to say whether ALASTAIR cares or not? How do we know there aren't other teams on other planets, culling the Qorral as we speak? We're not the ones giving the orders, calling the shots. We're following commands and as such we're in no position to judge whether what they're doing is right or wrong.

[Because they don't have all the facts, and that's okay, isn't it? He's never fully grasped Mother's intentions, what her ultimate goal might be. If he understood such things perhaps he'd be in her place instead of just one of the dogs-- a thought that feels like blasphemy, makes something twist up inside him, sickly.]

I'm of the opinion that ALASTAIR ought to mind their own business rather than interfering with the affairs of others, whether that leads to the destruction of worlds or not. But it's not down to me, and it's not down to you either.

[He still recalls the way things went on Nalawi, the nerve it had peeled back and prodded, something ugly and raw. The death of the Goddesses, how he'd feel if ALASTAIR invaded his world and decided his 'Goddess' needed to be stopped. But it's a thought he pushes back and swallows down and tries to forget.]

But cleaning up on this world is. And disposing of the problem on a permanent basis still seems, from where I'm standing, to be the best solution.

[slapfight]

[that hit her right in her redemption arc, giovanni.]

But they could still learn! They might be able to do real good with their technology and resources that doesn't harm planets.

[slapfight]

By making it impossible for them to mine! If they have no equipment, they can't do anything at all. It's so exceedingly simple, I don't know why no one's done it before.

[slapfight]

Of course I am. It's just like on Homeworld- if a kindergarten ceases to function, then we can't produce more gems, and thus can't drain the planet's minerals and render it effectively useless for organic life.

It does feel a bit unsettling to go against my intended purpose so blatantly, but it's all part of the New and Improved Peridot.

[slapfight]

The Deemer problem is likely being handled by the strongest warriors on the team. They won't have time to retaliate in an ideal situation.

[slapfight]

Yes, yes! Exactly that. We have a team of brutes and tech-minded individuals take out the equipment, while the soldiers take out the Deemers. It's brilliant!

[slapfight]

The Qorral may all be possessed by... by... brain slugs for all we know. And if they're not, we're just going to have to appeal to their logic and reason. Destroying an entire planet to get what they want is bad.

[or so she has learned through her redemption arc.]

[slapfight]

In the dead of night, a group of highly skilled technicians and brutes capable of immense destruction storm the fracking fields and destroy everything.

[slapfight]

That's the next step. I learned that lesson once, so I'm qualified to impart that knowledge to others.

[slapfight]

[HRGH. YOU AGAIN.]

I've already received numerous offers from several members of the team who look like they could take on armies. They're no quartz soldiers, but they'll do.

[headlining]

Quartz soldiers? Why not diamond? Quartz is rather a poor metaphor if you're looking for a rock that's hard and tough.

[keats, do you WANT to trigger her]