Dorm roof, Tuesday afternoon

[intotheout]

It was a particularly gorgeous day out, and Tip didn't have any classes or work or anything she needed to get done. She did have a care package from home, full of snacks from Mom's current grocery store (which included basically anything that would stand up to being dipped or coated in dark chocolate), a case of birch beer, and the world's ugliest belt, courtesy of J.Lo.

She was absolutely rocking that ugly ass belt, thank you. She was also munching on chocolate covered edamame and flipping through the paperback her mom had sent her (a cheesy looking YA romance about gay dragons, excellent) and kicking her feet out into the open air in a manner that would probably make anyone afraid of heights moan and cringe. Rihanna was playing on her phone, the sun was shining on her face, and all was right and pleasant in the world.

[open!]

Comments

[intotheout]

Oh yes. They absolutely were.

"I mean I could have broken my neck or -- or knocked my head in or -- splattered on a sidewalk! I'm not made of rock, Peridot, I'm made of . . . meat."

Gross.

[era_two_triangle]

Super gross.

Probably. Peridot had no idea what a human's insides looked like, but 'splatter' sounded properly horrifying. She resolved to pick up a book on human anatomy as soon as she better understood the written word. Maybe once she was finished with the workbook she had.

That seemed reasonable.

"I was under the impression that your bodies fixed most of the damage dealt to them! It's why you eat!"

Something had apparently been lost in translation, there. She did pause for a moment, though, and look over the edge of the roof again.

"... Damaging you was... not my intention, though."

That was kind of apologetic.

[intotheout]

"Not immediately," Tip said. "Healing takes time, and some damage is too big. Just -- don't do that kind of thing again. If you wanna know something, ask. If it's something we can do, I don't mind demonstrating."

She might regret that if Peridot got interested in bodily functions.

[era_two_triangle]

Like eating! And all that entailed!

Peridot probably wouldn't remain interested long enough for that to come to anything unfortunate, at least.

"... Nothing that might bring damage to a human body," Peridot replied, frowning a bit, but nodding. Is there something I can use to be sure? Some standard I can test by?"

[intotheout]

"About whether you're going to damage a human?" Tip asked. "Uh. I mean. Different humans have different limits. So I guess just . . . go slow and if they say stop or 'ow', then -- stop. But mostly just ask. People know a lot about their own limits."

[era_two_triangle]

Please pardon just how skeptical Peridot looked at that. Homeworld had never really been big on things like asking permission or respecting bodily autonomy. She'd made up her mind to follow the advice, but it was still kind of a new concept.

"... And you're sure asking is all it takes?"

[intotheout]

"Well, it's not a guarantee. But if you ask and they say yes and then they get hurt then it's at least partially their fault." She tilted her head, studying Peridot. "And you have to be ready for them to say 'no', too."

[era_two_triangle]

"Or giving completely unhelpful answers entirely," Peridot agreed, frowning as she remembered the coffee shop, and the frustrating boy's unwillingness to explain anything back on the deck. "In my experience, asking only yields useful results in a small percentage of scenarios."

[intotheout]

"Learning to read will help with that," Tip offered. "Books are usually better at explaining things than people."

[era_two_triangle]

"They're less likely to get angry at me for asking too many questions," Peridot mumbled, looking down at her book again. "I'm looking forward to being able to make my way through a book without having to stop to second-guess if what I'm reading is even part of what gets said aloud."

[intotheout]

"Maybe you could try audiobooks," Tip suggested.

[era_two_triangle]

"... Try what?"

THIS WAS THE FIRST PERIDOT HAD EVER HEARD OF THESE.

[intotheout]

"Audiobooks? They're recordings of books being read out loud. For people to listen to if they can't see or have to concentrate on looking at other things or have some other trouble with written words."

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot was squinting in thought, then.

"... Recordings of books that are also in a written format?"

[intotheout]

"Yup. Hey, maybe you could get the book and the audio and follow along, see if that helps you get the letters down."

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot gave her head a nod. A perilous, triangular nod.

"That's what I was thinking," she agreed, and now she was standing up and pacing again. "I know enough of the letters now to be able to tell if I'm completely off-track. I should be able to use these 'audiobooks' in order to help me figure out the differences between words from there."

[intotheout]

"Good plan," Tip said. Then noticed a flaw. ". . . You don't have a phone or a computer yet, do you?"

[era_two_triangle]

Yeah, that was a bit of a glaring flaw, wasn't it?

"With my screen still broken? No." Peridot tilted her head a little. "What's a phone?"

[intotheout]

Tip pulled hers out and held it up. "It's a little computer that lets you look up things on the internet and play games and watch videos and listen to music and things." A beat. "And talk to other people long distance."

No one Tip's age used their phone that way, though. Not unless forced to by a parent or someone.

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot would probably have to downgrade to a clamshell phone, so it wouldn't even be that exciting. There was no way her touch-stumps would do anything useful with those touchscreens.

That was okay, though. She thought games and music and things were more or less a waste of time.

"And the internet is...?"

[intotheout]

Yeah, but could a clamshell phone do audiobooks? Peridot might have to use her actual limbs.

"It's a huge global network of computers storing information. Probably a little like your information screen thing? It stores data and connects to other systems to exchange information, right?"

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot's eyes were getting a bit larger as Tip spoke.

"I need that."

Desperately. A lot. Right now.

[intotheout]

"Um." Tip held onto her phone a little tighter. Peridot had pushed her off a roof not very long ago, she was pretty sure she wasn't above stealing, either. "Well, this one's mine. But we can probably get you one in town." Another flaw. "Do you have any money?"

[era_two_triangle]

You knew the question that was about to come next, right?

You really had to by now.

"What is money??"

[intotheout]

Yeah, Tip really should have seen that coming.

"When you do your investigations and things, do you get anything in return for it? Anything you can then use to . . ." Well, she didn't eat. What would Peridot possibly need money for in her strange rock culture? ". . . replace busted equipment, or acquire anything additional you need?"