Library, Wednesday

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot had been planning on bringing her notes in from Jenkins' class today in order to go through the library to research some of the terminology he'd used during whatever spare time she had.

As the day progressed, it became fairly clear that Peridot wasn't going to have spare time. A few of the books had taken to running down the aisles, and then a few more, and before Peridot could rein in the first few runners it had spiralled out of control into a whole book stampede.

She might have gotten trampled.

It wasn't pretty.

[OOC: Open! Mind the books!]

Comments

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot did a quick calculation in her head, and then nodded a little.

"Centuries, by Earth standards," she noted. "Plenty of time for paper records to be torn apart by the elements. Even Gem technology left behind on Earth thousands of years ago has fallen into ruin, I doubt paper would stand much of a chance."

[not_of_the_nora]

"Hm," Aloy said. She turned the book over, her Focus working immediately to translate the lettering within it to something she could read. "It does use the same symbols."

[era_two_triangle]

"Deceptively simple ones," Peridot complained. "It took me weeks to learn to read it."

Her screen had been helpful with that, at least. She was thankful she'd learned before losing it.

[not_of_the_nora]

Aloy's mouth curved. "My Focus helps with that," she said, patting the small triangle by her ear. "It's of Old One make, too, and they stored some of their writing in it. That's my working theory, at least."

[era_two_triangle]

"Convenient," Peridot decided, leaning up for a better look. "Where do you get something like that, anyway?"

Her phone was useful, sure, but it wasn't her screen. And she could tell herself she loved the internet, but it still had its limits.

[not_of_the_nora]

"Off a dead body in the ruins the Old One left behind," Aloy said, shrugging.

[era_two_triangle]

"Huh." Peridot nodded a little. That seemed to make sense enough to her, anyway. Of course, she hadn't ever seen a dead body, really. "Do you go on expeditions, then? Look in old ruins, see what you can find?"

[not_of_the_nora]

"Sometimes," Aloy said. "My mentor doesn't like it when I do that - our tribe thinks all technology is dangerous."

Clearly, she didn't agree.

"But what do they know?"

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.

"Technology got me here in the first place," she noted. "I'm a technician, it's..." She had to stop herself from saying 'everything I am,' and a moment later supplied, "It's what I was made for. So without technology, I wouldn't have much of a purpose."

Without technology, she wouldn't exist.

[not_of_the_nora]

"The Nora think that the ruins of the Old Ones are cursed," Aloy explained. "It's okay to use pieces of dead machines, but that's it."

She fidgeted with her Focus. "It's what you were made for?"

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot wasn't about to disregard a curse out of hand, though she generally accepted that they didn't necessarily have the mystical origins that people tended to attribute to them. Then again, many still did. It was an interesting thought.

"Gems aren't born, the way you organic beings are," she pointed out. "We're made, in... big gardens, basically. For specific purposes. Peridots are made to perform scientific study, to build machines, and to run the Kindergartens we're made in. Without technology, I wouldn't have had a reason to exist in the first place."

[not_of_the_nora]

"Why specifically peridots?" Aloy asked, tilting her head curiously. "Are you just born with bigger brains, or...?"

She thought about the machines for a moment, who all seemed to have a purpose of their own.

[era_two_triangle]

"Gems don't really have brains," Peridot noted. "But Peridots are more prone to logical thinking, problem solving, creative solutions..."

Not that she was bragging or anything.

"In the same way that Rubies are better suited to serve as foot soldiers, and Lapis Lazuli are made for terraforming new worlds. Different Gems... different functions."

[not_of_the_nora]

Aloy listened until Peridot was finished. She pursed her lips.

"Why?" she finally asked.

[era_two_triangle]

"Why... do we have different functions?"

Peridot blinked a little.

"Why... not? You wouldn't send a..." She paused a moment, trying to think of two Earth professions for an example. "... A plumber in to do surgery, right?"

[not_of_the_nora]

"I don't know what either of those things are," Aloy said, though her Focus was working hard to try and explain it. "But humans aren't born into particular roles - at least not unless someone tries to decide it for them first."

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot hesitated another moment more. She knew that about people, but she had never encountered a human who was confused by the concept of being made with a purpose before.

Usually they were just horrified.

"Then..." She sighed. "Think of us like... components in a machine. There are functions they serve, so that the whole unit can operate at peak efficiency. We aren't born the same way humans are, either. We always exist to full our purpose, though we can be diverted away from it. It... takes some doing."

[not_of_the_nora]

Aloy didn't often do horrified. Pointedly disagree with something, yes. Question something's objective validity? Also yes.

She was doing both, more than jut being confused.

"What you're describing sounds like a machine all right," she said. "But you don't act like one."

[era_two_triangle]

"I don't," Peridot agreed, "because I'm not."

She spread her hands a little.

"But I'm not human, either."

This was a pretty interesting semester for small existential crises, for Peridot. Between this and Breq asking if she was artificial...

[not_of_the_nora]

"No, but I think you're closer to one than the other," Aloy said, shrugging. "In my limited experience with peridots."

[era_two_triangle]

"In a good way?"

Not that she was trying to simplify it or anything, but with the conversations Peridot had had with various people this semester, it could really go either way.

[not_of_the_nora]

"In an objective way, but sure, also a good one," Aloy said, tilting her head.

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot tilted her own head right back, and then, satisfied with that answer, she nodded.

"It might be a case of organic versus inorganic life," she offered. "Not to be confused with inorganic versus machine... I was made with a purpose, but I had the ability to choose to stray from it. To decide I didn't like being part of the system I was created to slot into. I can function without my society, and my society can function without me."

She paced around a little.

"My existence would have elements of both, of my inorganic nature, but also..." She shrugged. "Of life."

[not_of_the_nora]

"So you were built, not born and then assigned to something?" Aloy asked, tilting her head further as she parsed all that.