Post by Andradite on Feb 21, 2016 3:14:02 GMT
The day to day life in Beach City is a mixture of the mundane and marvelous. The humans tend to completely submerge themselves in the former and ignore the latter, sometimes to such rediculous lengths that at times it almost seems intentional. It appears as even though they've accepted the existence of Gems into their world, they're nearly entirely ignorant of what exactly they do on this planet. Self deception and obliviousness are the defining traits of this species. At least this is what he's observed.
Andradite had spent the last few weeks with the humans. After gaining the favour of a Mr. Harley, Andradite was able to acquire a job at his appliance store. The entry level position entailed nine to five work hours, minimum wage and weekends off. Andradite found the arrangement agreeable. Initially. It didn't take long for Andradite to realize what he had gotten himself into. Little did he know that Customer Service required him to deal with the most frustrating and savage human one can encounter... the shopper. The day gave him little to look forward to but the night however was another story. Mr. Harley had granted Andradite permission to use the workshop on the second floor and had even allowed him to use it as an apartment! This gave Andradite the perfect opportunity to work on some projects that would aid him on Earth.
One such project was constructing and installing a Warp Pad in his new home. War was coming to Earth sooner or later and having a personal network to get around the planet would give him a tactical advantage. The old network was compromised. Too many unstable Earth Gems had knowledge of the preexisting warp locations and Homeworld would likely disable them once they were in orbit. Without a working warp network the Earth wouldn't stand much of a chance.
The basic components for a Warp Pad weren't overly complicated. A standard crystalline platform with a control module were simple enough to construct in a few afternoons but the void stream generator was another beast all together. Days of engineering gave way only to dead ends...
It was a slow weekday just before noon and the shop was barren. Not a single customer had entered all morning. Inside Andradite was leaning back against the check-out counter jamming a screwdriver into a small bit of machinery. His face expressing his boredom and irradiation as he fiddled with his project. Not that he didn't prefer this over dealing with customers mind you but this is all he had been doing since he opened. If he was going to stand around all day in an empty store he was gonna work on his void stream generator. This was mod version seven, affectionately named 'the one that hadn't caught fire yet'. Andradite muttered under his breath as he worked. He was so enthralled in his tinkering that he didn't notice his boss enter from the back room carrying a large box of Cola. Mr. Harley was a huge bear of a man with a gut so nearly round one might assume he swallowed a bolder. He was quick to notice the slacking Andradite and made his way over to him.
With a loud thump Mr. Harley let the box fall onto the counter beside Andradite causing the distracted Gem to jump and drop the mod. Mr. Harley expertly snatched the mod from the air and began to examine it. "Now what's so important that you're willing to ignore these dirty floors to work on?". Andradite steadied himself with the counter-top and regained his footing. "I-its nothing, a broken radio I found.". He struggled reclaim the mod but even standing on his toes he wasn't able to reach Mr. Harley's grasp. The man wasn't even paying the Gem any attention as he looked over the strange tech. He was almost as tall as he was wide, towering over Andradite at nearly seven feet tall. "Yeah of course it is.", Mr. Harley said unconvincingly. "If this one 'splodes like the lot of them Im gonna start charging ya rent.". With that he tossed it into the air and headed back into the rear of the store. Andradite hastily jumped to catch it, unintentionally juggling it before getting a solid grip on it. Landing on his feet he held it causiously away from his body and braced himself. After a tense moment he relaxed. This was a dangerous, and sensitive, bit of machinery, any sudden trama could-
"Excuse me sir where are your-"
The sudden appearance of a customer startled Andradite and the mod slipped from his hands falling to the floor. On impact it did as Andradite predicted. The fire ball wasn't deadly but the burning embers igniting the customers shorts were still quite lively. The customer was not amused. Evident by the tight lipped scowl he wore on his face. "Id like to talk to the manager.".
"Right."
After cleaning up the mess and getting his butt chewed Andradite was given time for lunch. Grabbing his blue hoodie he went out into the town. As he grudgingly walked down the street Andradite was running new schematics through his head trying to figure what he did wrong. Eventuality he made it to his favorite cafe and took a seat at one of their outside tables. Not long after taking his seat a waitress zipped by on roller blades to take his order.
"Hiya Arty, the usual?". She asked in a young bubbly tone. The smile she brought with her gave way to a curious stare, "Did you catch on fire recently?". His face was still covered in small patches of ash and smelt slightly of burnt cotton. Andradite responded with a raise of his brow as if to tell her that he was in no mood to entertain her questions. "Um, one latte coming up.". With that she skated away. Andradite groaned and let his head fall to the table. 'What am I getting wrong?' He questioned. He was no Melanite, he wasn't designed for this kind of engineering. All he knows came from watching Fuscite, an old friend who was much better suited for this sort of task. Unfortunately Andradite didn't know how to find her. 'Why didn't we exchange contact protocols?'. Andradite slumped back in his chair, looking like a laid out corpse. He didn't stir when the waitress came back with his drink. "I need a technician.".
Andradite had spent the last few weeks with the humans. After gaining the favour of a Mr. Harley, Andradite was able to acquire a job at his appliance store. The entry level position entailed nine to five work hours, minimum wage and weekends off. Andradite found the arrangement agreeable. Initially. It didn't take long for Andradite to realize what he had gotten himself into. Little did he know that Customer Service required him to deal with the most frustrating and savage human one can encounter... the shopper. The day gave him little to look forward to but the night however was another story. Mr. Harley had granted Andradite permission to use the workshop on the second floor and had even allowed him to use it as an apartment! This gave Andradite the perfect opportunity to work on some projects that would aid him on Earth.
One such project was constructing and installing a Warp Pad in his new home. War was coming to Earth sooner or later and having a personal network to get around the planet would give him a tactical advantage. The old network was compromised. Too many unstable Earth Gems had knowledge of the preexisting warp locations and Homeworld would likely disable them once they were in orbit. Without a working warp network the Earth wouldn't stand much of a chance.
The basic components for a Warp Pad weren't overly complicated. A standard crystalline platform with a control module were simple enough to construct in a few afternoons but the void stream generator was another beast all together. Days of engineering gave way only to dead ends...
It was a slow weekday just before noon and the shop was barren. Not a single customer had entered all morning. Inside Andradite was leaning back against the check-out counter jamming a screwdriver into a small bit of machinery. His face expressing his boredom and irradiation as he fiddled with his project. Not that he didn't prefer this over dealing with customers mind you but this is all he had been doing since he opened. If he was going to stand around all day in an empty store he was gonna work on his void stream generator. This was mod version seven, affectionately named 'the one that hadn't caught fire yet'. Andradite muttered under his breath as he worked. He was so enthralled in his tinkering that he didn't notice his boss enter from the back room carrying a large box of Cola. Mr. Harley was a huge bear of a man with a gut so nearly round one might assume he swallowed a bolder. He was quick to notice the slacking Andradite and made his way over to him.
With a loud thump Mr. Harley let the box fall onto the counter beside Andradite causing the distracted Gem to jump and drop the mod. Mr. Harley expertly snatched the mod from the air and began to examine it. "Now what's so important that you're willing to ignore these dirty floors to work on?". Andradite steadied himself with the counter-top and regained his footing. "I-its nothing, a broken radio I found.". He struggled reclaim the mod but even standing on his toes he wasn't able to reach Mr. Harley's grasp. The man wasn't even paying the Gem any attention as he looked over the strange tech. He was almost as tall as he was wide, towering over Andradite at nearly seven feet tall. "Yeah of course it is.", Mr. Harley said unconvincingly. "If this one 'splodes like the lot of them Im gonna start charging ya rent.". With that he tossed it into the air and headed back into the rear of the store. Andradite hastily jumped to catch it, unintentionally juggling it before getting a solid grip on it. Landing on his feet he held it causiously away from his body and braced himself. After a tense moment he relaxed. This was a dangerous, and sensitive, bit of machinery, any sudden trama could-
"Excuse me sir where are your-"
The sudden appearance of a customer startled Andradite and the mod slipped from his hands falling to the floor. On impact it did as Andradite predicted. The fire ball wasn't deadly but the burning embers igniting the customers shorts were still quite lively. The customer was not amused. Evident by the tight lipped scowl he wore on his face. "Id like to talk to the manager.".
"Right."
After cleaning up the mess and getting his butt chewed Andradite was given time for lunch. Grabbing his blue hoodie he went out into the town. As he grudgingly walked down the street Andradite was running new schematics through his head trying to figure what he did wrong. Eventuality he made it to his favorite cafe and took a seat at one of their outside tables. Not long after taking his seat a waitress zipped by on roller blades to take his order.
"Hiya Arty, the usual?". She asked in a young bubbly tone. The smile she brought with her gave way to a curious stare, "Did you catch on fire recently?". His face was still covered in small patches of ash and smelt slightly of burnt cotton. Andradite responded with a raise of his brow as if to tell her that he was in no mood to entertain her questions. "Um, one latte coming up.". With that she skated away. Andradite groaned and let his head fall to the table. 'What am I getting wrong?' He questioned. He was no Melanite, he wasn't designed for this kind of engineering. All he knows came from watching Fuscite, an old friend who was much better suited for this sort of task. Unfortunately Andradite didn't know how to find her. 'Why didn't we exchange contact protocols?'. Andradite slumped back in his chair, looking like a laid out corpse. He didn't stir when the waitress came back with his drink. "I need a technician.".