Digital World at my Fingertips

"So, I put it on like...this?" the gem asked, placing the headset awkwardly over her oddly shaped lime hair. You nodded, encouragingly extending the Xbox controller towards Peridot. She glared at it warily before hesitantly lifting the device out of your hand and holding it in hers. "What do I do with this," she said plainly, giving the controller a judgmental glance.

She seemed to be having trouble keeping a hold of the controller with her rigid cylindrical fingers, and it kept sliding off and almost hitting the floor. Turning it over in her hands, Peridot finally decided on what she thought to be the correct orientation of the device, which happened to be upside down. You held back a laugh at your normally tech-savvy friend's blunder, "Here let me help."

Placing your hands over hers, you helped her hold it properly, falling onto your rustic orange bean-bag next to your friend when you were done.

"What do I do now?" Peridot asked, moving the joystick in pointless circles, "How do these controls even work?"

Sitting up, you took the controller from Peridot. "This one here is the joystick, it, well actually it kind of depends on which game you're playing. And you press these buttons here to interact with stuff, or open the menu, or whatever. There should be some sort of tutorial at the beginning that tells you what to do."

"I'm not sure I understand the point of this technology, but I'll try it..." she said, opening the game. It had taken a lot of convincing to get her to use this sort of "primitive human technology", and the gem still didn't seem entirely sure what to expect from such a different setup than what she was accustomed to. She'd barely agreed to try the game for a few minutes, but you took what you could get out from your stubborn roommate.

Peridot was running through the tutorial for Halo 3, one of your favorite games. Though it wasn't necessarily the best game for a first-timer, you personally loved its design and was sure it would satisfy Peridot's annoyingly low attention-span.

"Okay, I have to go do homework," you said, clapping your hands together and rising to your feet. "You can keep playing, I'll just be in my room."

"Yeah okay," she said absentmindedly, her gaze not straying from the small television set (you were pretty sure it was older than you) in front of her. "Okay," you said in a lower voice, more to yourself.

Grabbing your backpack from the floor, you dragged it out of the small side room where you kept your video games, across the hall to your bedroom; dropping it carelessly on your cluttered desk. Pushing aside a pile of junk, you took out your notebooks and started scribbling away at some calculus problems.

You emerged a little over an hour and a half later, stretching your arms triumphantly above your head. You were surprised Peridot hadn't interrupted you with demands of finding her something more interesting to do, as she did most days. Your astonishment only grew when you walked back in to find Peridot still playing Halo.

Smiling to yourself a little, you sat on the floor next to her. Peridot found most human pastimes (many gem ones too, actually) boring, and only sat through them for your sake. You were happy to see she'd finally found something she liked, and...was pretty good at too. She was already halfway through.

You shouldn't have expected anything different from Peridot though.

Another ten or so minutes passed before the pause screen popped up. "Oh you're here," Peridot said, lowering the controller and looking in your direction. "Yeah, have been for a while now....you just noticed?" you asked, admiring the level of complete dedication Peridot could put into something if she really had her mind set on it; so much so she'd shut out the world around her.

"Your human earth game isn't terrible, I guess," she said monotonously, looking back at the screen. "Glad you like it," you smiled, earning a disdainful smirk from the gem who resumed play.

You decided to leave Peridot to it, not wanting to disturb her unnatural interest to human tech. You watched her play for another couple hours, amazed at how shockingly good she was. You even had to begrudgingly admit that she was better than you, despite the fact this was your favorite platform you'd been using for years.

You'd started to doze off when Peridot elbowed you hard in the shoulder. "What is it," you said groggily, shooting up into a sitting position from your place on the floor. "I'm done with this one. Do you have any others." The gem demanded, glaring at you from behind her glass visor.

You shook your head, "Not from that series, but I have a lot of other games for the Xbox," you gestured to your messy pile of game discs in the corner. Peridot leaned forward, looking around you at the large pile. "I even have some multiplayer ones...you know, where you play with other people on the internet. That's what this is for," you tapped on the headset she was wearing.

"Well," you stood up, "I'm glad you like it, but I'm going to bed. I have classes tomorrow." She shrugged her shoulder away when you tried to pat it, so you flicked her in the ear instead before walking back into your bedroom.

You weren't worried about Peridot, gems didn't need sleep, so she'd be fine even if she played for a few more hours. She'd probably get bored before morning anyway.

But the next day you found that she hadn't moved from her position on the bean-bag, her eyes still intently staring at the screen. She was playing some first person shooter you'd forgotten you'd bought. Your first class wouldn't start for another hour, so you decided to sit and watch again. By the time you had to leave, she'd beaten that game too.

You were beginning to get worried that Peridot might have a problem.

Your eyelids kept wanting to close as the teacher droned on, and it was all you could do to stop from falling asleep in your chair. You hadn't realized how late you'd stayed up watching Peridot last night.

Later on when, you were just about to leave for the day, you felt a small cold hand lightly grip your shoulder. "[y/n] wait," It was your friend Lapis Lazuli. Lapis wasn't really your friend as much as she was Peridot's, but the two of you still got along well enough. "Oh Lapis hi, what's up?" you asked, turning to face her.

Her features held an odd, concerned expression, "[y/n], Peridot wasn't in class today. Is she okay?" she asked worriedly. "I...I don't know. She was this morning, but...why wouldn't she show up to class?"

Lapis shook her head, "I don't know, that's why I asked you. It's not like she could have gotten sick or anything, and it's not like Peridot to skip..." she trailed off, her eyebrows knitting together.

A knot of worry clenched your throat. What if Peridot had gotten hurt? It was highly unlikely she had, but not impossible. "Sorry Lapis, I have to go check on Peridot," you said, giving the gem a quick wave before running in the direction of home.

The only thing you could think as you ran was that something bad had happened to Peridot, that she was hurt and you wouldn't be able to help her, and just hoping and praying she was okay.

You ran up the stairwell of your apartment, arriving to your unit so out of breath your hands shook as you unlocked the door. "Peridot!" you gasped, dropping your things clumsily in a pile by the door. "Peridot!" you yelled, rushing around the house in search of any sign of your friend.

"What, what is it?!" she said, her voice stressed as she poked her head out from the game room. "Peridot," you wheezed, relief flooding you. "Why weren't you in class today?" you demanded, critically staring down at the gem. She shrugged, "I don't know, I just didn't feel like going."

There was a pile of three or four games sitting next to her on the floor, the pause screen of one of them shining through the television. "Were you seriously playing video games all day?!" you asked, incredulous. Again she shrugged, "Yeah, I guess."

"Peridot, I was worried about you. When Lapis said you didn't come to school today I thought something bad had happened. You can't just skip like that," you sighed, sitting down against the doorway. "Honestly Peridot, you've never missed a day, so why didn't you come?"

"I told you, I just didn't feel like it," she replied simply, unpausing her game. You sighed, knowing she was done talking to you. "I'm going to do my homework," you said annoyedly, knowing she wasn't listening.

Before you went to sleep that night you decided to check on Peridot, who'd been playing for over twenty-four hours straight now. "Good night," you muttered before returning to your room with no reply. You left the next morning in much the same way.

You'd almost reached the campus when Lapis came running up to you, "Did you find out what happened with Peridot?"

You sighed, slumping forward slightly. "Yeah, she stayed home and played video games all day," you said in a defeated tone. "Video games? All day? Peridot? Really?" she questioned, knowing just as well as you of Peridot's incredibly short attention-span.

"Yeah. She probably won't come today either, she was playing when I left," you responded miserably. Lapis nodded, "I...see. Thanks for telling me. See you later," she said, walking away. You could tell Lapis was worried about Peridot; so were you. You hoped Peridot's obsession would be a temporary one, and she'd get bored with it soon enough.

But her apparent obsessive dedication was far from temporary, and after three weeks of the same schedule you'd decided to upgrade it to an unhealthy obsession. It had only gotten worse when she'd discovered the joys of massive-multi-player gameplay.

She'd only gone to class once, and that was only because you'd snatched the controller from her and refused to give it back until she went. After that she hadn't let you near the thing.

Occasionally she'd talk to you for brief periods of time, but never giving her full attention to the conversation. She'd told you that she was going to buy more games off the internet, and you didn't need to worry because she would pay for it herself. By this time she'd made her way through your entire collection, even some of the iffy-er games.

You were getting really concerned for Peridot. She wasn't even talking anymore, she'd just nod whenever anyone said anything to her, never really paying any attention to them.

Lapis had gotten so worried about her constant absences that she'd even come over once to try and persuade her friend to take a break, but to no avail. Peridot wouldn't talk to Lapis either.

About a week ago, she'd begun locking the door.

You didn't even bother saying goodbye in the morning, or goodnight before bed. She'd never answer. You'd just stare at the closed door as you passed, wishing she'd just come out already.

Why'd you have to go and show her your Xbox? Why hadn't you just left her alone, knowing full well the addictive properties of the device. But the gem had developed something more than an addiction at this point.

You couldn't bear it anymore, couldn't just stand by and do nothing. There had to be some way to get her out of there.

"Peridot! Open this door!" you yelled, pounding the closed door with your palm. "Come out! You've been in there for weeks! You need to come outside!" you said trying to keep an angry tone without letting it slip to concern. You'd tried to persuade her before with no result, but perhaps if you were a bit more forceful...

"Peridot!" you repeated, tears beginning to prick at the back of your eyes, "Peridot, please," you said softly, "please come out."

"Go away." You heard a muffled reply on the other side of the door. "Peridot, this isn't healthy, you need to come out. You need to be with real people again, not just play that game all the time. Lapis misses you, I miss you. Please..." you couldn't think of what else to say, what else to do. You wanted to help Peridot so badly, but you didn't know how and it was killing you.

The lock slowly scraped open, but there was no other sound. Walking inside, you carefully slid the door shut behind you. Peridot was sitting in the bean-bag, staring straight ahead at the screen. She glanced your way quickly as you sat next to her, giving her a sad look.

"Why are you doing this?" you asked quietly. Peridot's lip quivered once before she bit down hard on it. "I...just like it better here. It's not as stressful, being around people when I can't see their faces, when they can't see who I am. It's just...easier, this way."

"Do you, want to be alone?" you asked hesitantly. "No, I...well I don't know. I don't feel like I fit in, not just with humans but with you and Lapis and our other friends. I always make you wait, and do what I want. I know I'm not the nicest person, and I don't want to force you to have to deal with me.

"But in these games, with these people, everything's set up perfectly. It's all so straight forward; no matter what I say or do, I'm never wrong, I don't have to worry about anyone else, as long as I'm doing what the game needs me to do.

"I just...[y/n] sometimes I just feel so isolated when I'm with regular people."

You sat there in shocked silence for a second. You hadn't realized she'd felt this way, that she'd felt so out of place she'd had to find one through this sort of medium. "Peridot," you said gently.

"Peridot, I don't think of you as anything but a good friend, nothing even close to a misfit. You're really smart, and you may be a bit, icy, at times but not mean, and...you shouldn't have to feel alone," you took her hand in yours, the controller clattering to the ground.

Lacing your fingers a little awkwardly with her free-floating appendages and placing your other hand on her leg, your eyes locked onto her bright green ones. "I mean, I'll be there and...I like you a lot, and if I'm there, you can't be alone."

Peridot nodded, blinking a couple times. "That sounds okay, I think...that sounds good."