starlightcafe | Why don't you let yourself just be somewhere different?

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Why don't you let yourself just be somewhere different?

It could be worse. They could have broken down in the van. Greg would've been very upset if they'd broken down in the van.

The station wagon had been in the Crystal Gems' possession for decades, such an unremarkable item that even Pearl could barely remember how they'd obtained it. It had certainly seen better days, even with as little use as it got. She wished it had given out closer to Beach City, of course, but compared to some of the things she'd worked on - robots, the drill, Peridot's old ship - it was incredibly primitive.

"In fact," she murmured to herself as she peered inside the hood again, "I wouldn't be surprised if I had it fixed before Steven gets back." She'd sent him off on his own - reluctantly, but he was far older and more mature now - to get himself food. Steven was only half-Gem, after all, and his stomach had been actually rumbling. It must be quite the inconvenience, she mused as she poked around, to have to stop and consume things so often.

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Though most people would consider this the middle of nowhere, there was still someone else out this far. Creatures could be found anywhere after all, and that is exactly what Chris was here for. Oh sure, he might look odd crawling along the ground on all fours, but since when has looking odd concerned him?

"Let's see... A little bent grass here, some disturbed dirt- ah! Tracks!" Nose practically to the dirt as he went up and over a little mound, and on. "Now if I could only find... Ooh! Perfect!"

He came to a stop, glanced around, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of tweezers. Carefully, OHHHH so carefully, he plucked the object off the ground- a long crinkle of snake shed, an errant breeze gently buffeting the left skin.

"Nearly intact, too! This was a very healthy snake. I wonder if it's still around...?" On glancing around he happened to look toward the road, first noticing it was there through the trees in the first place, then realizing he could hear sounds of clinking and clanking. Carefully putting the shed back where he found it, he pocketed the tweezers and brushed his hands off, heading up to the road. Oh, it was a car, and in the hood...

"Hey!" Leaning a little, he waved a hand to catch her attention. "Do you need any help?"

Pearl looked up, keeping her poise despite some surprise, and smiled hesitantly. She'd been on Earth for thousands of years, yet interacting with humans still didn't quite come naturally to her.

"Hello. I think I have everything here covered. Oh, although..." She nodded towards the toolbox on the ground by her feet. Her hands were currently occupied, after all. "There should be a monkey wrench in there, if you could pass that to me."

Chris smiled and nodded, walking over. "You got it!" He knelt by the toolbox and easily found the monkey wrench, flipping it around expertly in his hand before he passed it up to her.

"Broken down car, huh?"

Pearl's smile grew a bit easier as she took the wrench. "It doesn't see a lot of use, but I'm teaching a friend to drive," she explained.

That was also something that was tricky - defining her relationship to Steven to those who weren't familiar with the group. There was always the possibility of referring to him as her son, but Pearl felt that it might presume a bit too much.

Another half-beat passed, and she realized that since Steven wasn't present, that might seem like an odd statement. Maybe? She did tend to overthink this kind of interaction...

"He went to find a hot dog."

Still crouched by the toolbox, he looked down the road at her last statement.

"He did? Well, at least he shouldn't have to go too far..."

His hands clapped his knees and he stood up easily, turning back toward her with a smile. "You know, I'm not too bad at fixing cars. My brother and I used to have one that broke down all the time!" He laughed softly. "You sure you wouldn't like an extra set of hands? Could let you pick your friend up quicker."

Pearl looked to Chris almost cautiously, blinking a few times. "Well..."

If his old car broke down all the time, was he really that good at fixing them? Still, she did like the idea of Steven spending less time on his own out here. After a moment, her smile returned. "If you don't mind. Thank you."

Chris smiled, walking around to the front of the car. "You'll have it fixed lickety-split, don't worry."

Before he started work though; he offered his hand toward her for a shake. "Oh! I'm Chris, Chris Kratt."

"Oh!" Pearl shook his hand - she knew to do that much - and nodded. "My name's Pearl. It's nice to meet you, Chris."

Kratt... That sounded familiar, but she couldn't place why. A name she'd heard before in passing, perhaps, but from who, and in what context?

She shrugged a bit, letting the moment pass as she looked under the hood once more. With strangers, Pearl was more comfortable with the delegating than with actual teamwork, but they'd officially moved into that kind of territory... So now she wasn't sure how to proceed.

"Nice to meet you, Pearl!" A bit of a grin and then he leaned into the car, looking over the engine. "Now, let's see what we've got here..."

Luckily for her, Chris did seem to know how to proceed, going straight past any delegation or teamwork and investigating the engine himself. He tweaked and pulled a few things, used a tool here and shone a flashlight there- from a device sitting in its own holster on the strange gloves he was wearing -and leaned in a bit further. Every now and then he'd ask for a tool from Pearl or to have her help him hold, pull, or re-fasten something, and after a little while of all of this he stepped away.

"Alright, watch your head!" He detached the hood's hook and lowered the hood, letting it drop the last few inches so it clapped shut. Smiling, he brushed his hands off. "Okay, crank 'er up and see whatcha got."

Well, that was a surprise. In all honesty, Pearl hadn't expected Chris to be so adept at this. She knew Greg's livelihood these days was... Something that involved cars, yet he often needed assistance when his own van wasn't working. Really, she was impressed with what Chris had managed.

Once the hood was shut, Pearl gave Chris a nod and climbed into the driver's seat. After taking a moment to wipe her hands on a rag she produced from her gem, she put the key in the ignition. A moment of sputtering, but then the station wagon started up.

With a grin, Pearl leaned her head out the window, and waved Chris closer. "It works! Wonderful!"

That car revving up is just what he wanted to hear. He walked around to the window, grinning brightly.

"Great! Looks like you're good to go to pick up your friend, then. Oh, but be careful." He glanced around them, waving one hand to indicate their surroundings. "This is deer country, y'know. It's a little early in the afternoon to really be seeing them, but they can pop up before ya know it." He held one arm in front of him and tweaked the little device sitting there, which projected a screen into the air a few inches above it. A video began playing after a moment, showing a group of whitetails crossing the road. "Even a young adult can weigh up to 100 pounds, and it'd be bad news both for the deer and the car if you two met." The video disappeared. "But just drive carefully, look far ahead of you, and take curves nice and easy, and you hopefully shouldn't have any problems at all."

Pearl watched the video that appeared from the device... That wasn't standard human technology, by any means - no wonder he'd been so skilled with the car. She did listen to what he said, and gave a nod to show her understanding.

"You certainly know about the wildlife in this area. Are you from around here?" she asked. Perhaps he could point out where Steven might have gone to find that hot dog. And then, another question, because while Steven was the priority, she was extremely curious to know - "Did you make that?" She pointed out the device.

Chris laughed softly before answering. "Me, nah I'm from further north than this. But studying wildlife is what I do! That's what I was doing before I came across you, actually; I was tracking a snake I'd spotted earlier, but had gotten away from me before I could ID it."

When the device was acknowledged, he glanced down toward it curiously, then shook his head. "No, but I wish I did! This was made by one of my teammates. She's an incredible inventor, and we're pretty lucky to have her around."

"I see," she said, although... She couldn't quite understand why someone would bother tracking a snake. They weren't exactly hard to come by, and besides, there were books for that sort of thing.

But the device - that truly held her interest. She leaned a bit closer. "You certainly are!" She hadn't thought humans could create such a thing as that. "You said she's a teammate? Does she also study wildlife?"

Seeing her interest, he popped the creature pod out and held it in the palm of his hand so Pearl could see it better.

"She sure does! We all do. In fact, it was her idea to get the whole team as we are right now together. Me and my brother go out and get the information on different creatures, Aviva- the inventor -creates different things for that and from our data, Jimmy is the pilot of our ship, and Koki is the creator of it and the mechanic. Together, we're the Wild Kratts, creature adventurers extraordinaire."

Pearl looked at the device for a while, speaking softly as she checked it out. "And you have a ship! That's remarkable." She paused just a moment before pointing out, "I'm not sure where my friend is, exactly, but if you'd like to come along for the ride, I would love to hear more about the technology your team uses."

He glanced at her a moment then smiled, nodding. "Sure! Just lemme send a message to my team real quick." This was accomplished on his creature pod as he walked around to the passenger side of the car. Once he was in and ready to go, he glanced over at her.

"So, what would you like to hear about?"

Pearl began driving down the road. Fortunately, the streets were clear for the time being, allowing her to move down slowly and keep an eye out for a place that it seemed Steven might have stopped at.

"Let's start with the ship."

"The Tortuga! Got it." Pictures or video would have to wait, he knew better than to distract a driver. Of course, when Martin was behind the wheel it never seemed to matter one way or another...

"It's huge, easily room for the five of us and the space we need, and a garage in the second level. It's shaped like a tortoise but has a sea turtle mode for more aerodynamic flying, and with it we can float on the ocean, soar the skies, and even skim the edges of the atmosphere! Wherever there's interesting creature adventures to be found, the Wild Kratts Tortuga isn't far behind."

Pearl frowned a bit, confused. She was about to double-check that a tortoise was, in fact, a turtle-like creature - she was pretty sure? - when Chris explained just how far the Tortuga could go. Her confusion seemed to grow stronger, then.

"And... Your team built this ship?"

"Sure did! Koki and Aviva, mostly. But I don't know how long it took, 'cuz when Martin and I joined the team, it was already built. I know it takes long enough to work on it when it needs maintenance, though."

Of course, that could also just be his eternal impatience to go creature adventuring that was talking...

Pearl would never understand why humans always seemed in such a rush to do what usually boiled down to a waste of time, but still-

"I'm impressed. That's... Not something I would've thought possible."

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Why don't you let yourself just be somewhere different?

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