Library, Wednesday

[era_two_triangle]

The books were actually behaving themselves today, and so Peridot was making use of any of her spare time in the library by looking up the properties of Earth's metals. She wanted something sturdy, but lightweight, and preferably only faintly magnetic...

... Maybe capable of having an antimatter blaster built into it...

Not that she didn't enjoy being short, but she couldn't find the ladder again, and was having one of her 'I really miss my limb enhancers' days. If she could just figure out adequate replacements, maybe a ladder would be entirely unnecessary anyway.

Maybe. Hopefully.

Probably not.

[OOC: Open!]

Comments

[era_two_triangle]

"I can go back to my universe," Peridot replied, shrugging her shoulders. "I choose not to. I'm finding this place to be far more accommodating in my efforts to come to understand this planet, since I'm going to be here for... forever."

More or less literally.

"And my people will find a way to justify anything that suits them best," she said, tiredly. "Especially if the Diamonds want it to happen."

[justice_undone]

"They are not alone in that," Breq said. "Most people do. It's just a matter of what they can do about it. And who pays the price."

She was still looking att the page.

"And what they do to those who see through it."

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot wrinkled her nose.

"Yellow Diamond tried to obliterate me," she noted. "For calling her a clod."

It had to be done, okay?

[justice_undone]

Breq was impressed and had she been someone who expressed herself by facial expressions she would have smiled.

"Someone I loved stood up against a tyrant, when she was forced to act. She died for it."

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot found herself a little bit at a loss for how to react to a statement like that. On Homeworld, the appropriate response would have been a 'good riddance,' if anything at all.

This wasn't Homeworld. And Peridot found that she actually wanted to care. So she was silent for a moment before offering a tentative, "I'm sorry."

That was the right phrase, wasn't it?

[justice_undone]

Breq had executed officers before for disobedience. Lieutenant Awn had been different in so many ways. For one, it had been unjust.

"I'm not sure if I could have saved her. I thought I couldn't at the time."

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot considered that for a moment, too. She was fairly new to the concept of regret, but...

"If you thought you couldn't, then you couldn't," she said, finally. "Sometimes, perhaps, people can surprise themselves, but it's unreasonable to blame yourself for not doing something you had no way of knowing you were capable of."

[justice_undone]

"No. I know. It's not reasonable, but not all question you can ask yourself are."

Possibly that didn't apply to Gems.

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot opened her mouth to protest that, because where she was standing, logic and objectivity were everything.

She stopped herself and frowned a little, instead.

"You're talking about regret?"

[justice_undone]

"Yes." Breq looked up. "Does that surprise you?"

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot shrugged a little.

"I never understood regret until recently," she admitted. "I never had anything to regret. It always made more sense to do my best and continue forward, learning from my mistakes. Now I understand it isn't always so simple."

[justice_undone]

"You never had any choices?" Breq guessed. "Or thought you hadn't?"

[era_two_triangle]

"Up until I came to Earth, it never occurred to me that I could choose," Peridot explained. "I served my purpose. I piloted ships, I ran Kindergartens, I did science. I didn't say no."

Why would she?

[justice_undone]

"Not saying no doesn't mean you don't have choices," Breq replied. "There are plenty of choices that no one expects you to make, and that they won't notice because they don't expect you ti make them."

It would be easier to get her point across of she could be open about where she got her perspective from.

[era_two_triangle]

"And I know that now," Peridot replied, nodding. "They certainly didn't expect me to destroy their geoweapon."

She paused.

"Actually, I don't think they know I did that, yet."

[justice_undone]

"How did you do it?" Breq asked, curious.

[era_two_triangle]

"I built a drill," Peridot replied, proudly.

...

"The Crystal Gems helped. A little."

Okay. They helped a lot.

[justice_undone]

"You are good at building things?"

The next question might be why a drill was useful in the first place.

[era_two_triangle]

"I am a Peridot."

... That was a yes.

"I'm a technician," she amended. "Building things and using technology is one of my main purposes."

[justice_undone]

"What kind of things do you build?" Breq asked. "Apart from drills?"

[era_two_triangle]

"Ships, robonoids, new Gems..." Peridot shrugged. "I have multiple talents, really."

A few thousand years of experience would do that.

[justice_undone]

Breq made a mental note of this. "You haven't considered using your skills to set up some kind of defense system for the island?" she asked. "There isn't one, as far as I understand."

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot paused to consider that for a few seconds.

"What sort of defense system, exactly?"

[justice_undone]

"I understand that the attacks are unpredictable," Breq said, "so it would require consideration of that."

Breq had yet to experience an invasion.

"Perhaps something registering when new beings appear on the island, and, as we lack troops, some kind of missiles. Is there a way to detect the changes in reality that opens connections to other universes?"

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot considered that for a moment, and then shook her head.

"It would be possible, but determining intent would be difficult," she noted. "If it simply attacks anything that approaches the island from somewhere other than a portal or the Causeway, it could potentially be destroying people who are coming here looking for refuge."

She tilted her head a bit.

"My escape pod crashed here. I would have been one of those people."