fandomhigh | Working With Jerks. Still, Thursday, July 7, 2016 [1st period]

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Working With Jerks. Still, Thursday, July 7, 2016 [1st period]

There was only one teacher in front of the class today. And no, it wasn't the Dorito shaped one. Sorry, kids.

"Welcome Working with Jerks," Tony said. "Or welcome back if you took it last time as well. Captain Rogers will be here next week to introduce himself, but for now you'll have to deal with just me. My name is Tony and I'll be teaching you for the next few weeks."

He clapped his hands together like he needed to get their attention. "We'll be using Steve's absence as a lesson in how to handle being left to complete a task meant fo. It's not specifically a jerk thing, but if you're busy, I can make your day a whole lot more hectic."

The room changed from looking like a classroom into looking like the lobby of a fancy office building, complete with way too much glass and modern art. Yes, it was possibly the Stark Building in NYC. What of it?

"We'll do quick introductions before starting a little scenario, okay? Let me know your name and what you'd like to learn."

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Peridot was just looking in horror at you now, Tony. Horrified, scandalized, and utterly insulted.

"What?"

"A Pearl!" Peridot threw her hands up into the air as if that on its own ought to be explanation enough. "A common Pearl? They're... they're accessories. Made-to-order gems who mostly exist to stand around and look nice."

Welcome to the wonderful world of the caste system of the Gems, Tony.

And now Tony was looking a little horrified for all different reasons!

"What?"

Wait, was there something the matter with that?

... Peridot honestly didn't know. She squinted at Tony for a moment, and then crossed her arms over her chest, still looking indignant.

"I might as well ask you to pretend to be a... a..." She wrinkled her nose. "What's a job most commonly held by humans who are incapable of contributing anything useful to society?"

Peridot, no, honey, stop.

Tony went from looking horrified to mad, and right on into a sort of blank calm. "Peridot, someone's worth doesn't depend on their ability to contribute."

Said the guy still desperately trying to fund Barton's Avengers team because issues. But shh.

Well, Peridot's rant died out, right about there. She wasn't so great at a lot of basic emotions, but she did recognize anger. The calm in the wake of that was... unsettling.

She was left sitting there and looking more than a little confused. And maybe just a touch nervous, too.

"... Doesn't it?"

Tony sighed and shook his head, trying to exude calm and relaxed with his body language.

"Not here it doesn't," he said, keeping his tone gentle. "What you're capable of doing, I'm not. And what I'm capable of doing you're not either. That doesn't mean one of us has more value than the other. It just means we're different."

Peridot sat there, looking kind of helplessly at Tony.

"I don't understand," she hedged. "I'm worth exactly as much as a Peridot is worth. Which isn't as much as a Quartz or a Sapphire, and nobody is worth as much as a Diamond. And that has everything to do with what we're capable of. Why even make more of any one type of Gem if it isn't for what function we serve?"

She hesitated, and then ventured, "We are what we're made to be. Any Gem who can't be... well, they get shattered."

Well, now Tony just looked a little stricken before to got that under control. "Not here. Here you can choose what you want to be or do."

Peridot wasn't entirely certain what to make of that expression. She sat, looking vaguely uncomfortable, before spreading her hands a little.

"What if I just want to be a Peridot?"

It was kind of all she knew.

"Then you can be a Peridot," Tony replied. "But you're limited to just that if you want to try dome thing else."

There was a long pause before Peridot asked what was probably the inevitable, by this point.

"... Then why am I being a 'receptionist?'"

"Think of it as a test of your ability to adapt to new situations," Tony replied. "Survival can sometimes depend on your ability to adapt."

She gave the phones a skeptical look, and then raised an eyebrow back at Tony.

"Adapt to using primitive human communication technology?"

This was now less an argument and more a curious line of questioning.

"What is my goal here, then?"

"To remain calm and in control of the situation." Like that would help. "And not resort to just hanging up the phones."

Peridot scrunched up her nose a little, and then looked back at the phones.

"I've never used them before. Do they serve any function beyond simple verbal communication?"

Most of the ones she wound up repairing were far more multipurpose than those things seemed to be.

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Working With Jerks. Still, Thursday, July 7, 2016 [1st period]

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