fandomhighdorms | Second Floor Common Room; Friday Evening [09/01].

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Second Floor Common Room; Friday Evening [09/01].

The need for parties and the social status assumed to go along with them was probably the easiest part of roboSummer's programming, easily the best lynch pin that connected the two Summer, that would make someone look at her eagerness to host a party and thinking yup, definitely Summer, nothing wrong here! She'd decked the place out with glitter and streamers, started pumping some sweet tunes, and made sure all the food and beverages were readily available and spread out on the table and counters.

And now all she needed was people.

...she really hoped there would be people, but, unlike OG Summer, she would definitely survive if there weren't.

Whoo, party!

[[ ocd ~~incoming!~~ has landed. go wild. ]]

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"I'll skip the dancing," Breq said. "There's not much space anyway, although I suppose that depends on the style. What are parties like where you are from?"

If Gems had parties. But most peoples had, in one way or another.

"I wouldn't know," Peridot replied with a shrug. "Celebrations are for Gems of a much higher standing than a Peridot. But I imagine they're fairly wasteful, and probably also loud."

"You don't just arrange smaller parties that the others not know of or pay attention to?"

Most people of lower status in a hierarchical society would, in Breq's experience.

Peridot shook her head.

"Too busy to party. A Gem who isn't performing her function is a Gem that could be better put to use in an artifact or something." She shuddered a little. "No party is worth being harvested."

She wasn't sure exactly what being used in an artifact or being harvested entailed, but it was clear enough that it wasn't pleasant.

Perhaps a little how prisoners felt about being turned into ancillaries? She preferred not to think about that.

"That sounds like a good reason to avoid doing anything," she said. "How did you escape?"

"I was sent offworld for a mission," Perdiot replied. "The mission was thwarted by a group of rebels and I became stranded. It wasn't escape so much as a fluke."

"Is it that you can't go back, or do you choose not to?"

People had gone back to horrible places just to be with their friends and family, so Breq wouldn't be surprised if that would have been Peridot's choice too.

"Both," Peridot sighed, after a pause. "I can't go back because I don't have the means to get there. And at this point if I go back, they'll just shatter me anyway. So... Earth is home, now. I guess."

Yay?

"And there is no way to have your family come here?" Breq asked, as Peridot had admitted to missing other Gems.

Peridot shook her head a little.

"Gems... don't really have family," she replied. "There wouldn't be anybody I'd really miss enough to have them strand themselves on this planet, too."

It was different from Breq's situation, but she could relate to it in some ways.

"Don't you miss anyone?"

Peridot's shoulders shrugged up a little bit.

"Not really," she replied. "It wasn't until I came to Earth that I really began to see the use in forming connections, building friendships. Homeworld didn't foster a sense of togetherness, exactly. I had my place, I had a purpose to fill in it, and I knew where I belonged. That... I don't have, here."

"Being forced to question our purpose can have unpredictable consequences," Breq said, having contemplated this a lot herself.

"It's given me some interesting perspective on the nature of change," Peridot replied, "but it doesn't get me any closer to feeling as though I belong here."

"A feeling of belonging isn't something everyone can expect," Breq pointed out. "It's often assumed to be, but that isn't the case."

"But it's something I had," Peridot sighed. "For thousands of years I had it. I knew my purpose, I filled my purpose, life went on. Being without now is taking some getting used to."

This was where Breq was tempted to reply that she had had that too, for thousands of years. She wasn't going to though. It would require making up a long series of lies and half-truths, something she would prefer not to do.

"I think the solution is to find a new purpose, one that you create for yourself."

She had. She wasn't going to talk about that either.

"A task easier said than done until I understand the world that I'm trying to create a purpose for myself in," Peridot noted. "Some days I think I'm almost there, and others..."

She shook her head.

"Is adapting always the best way?" Breq asked. "Of course, I don't know what struggles you're facing."

"If I'm going to be on this planet until the end of time or something shatters me, it's either I adapt, or the Earth does," Peridot pointed out. "For the time being, I'd settle for people not yelling at me for being green."

"There will always be people like that, regardless of whether you are human, Gem or some other species. I think it's best to get used to it and get back at them in some way if you need to."

After two thousand years she had seen a fair share of racism.

"Or just kick them. Unless you shatter easily."

Edited 2017-09-01 20:17 (UTC)

"Peridots are made of sturdy stuff," Peridot boasted with a grin. "Kick them? That might get my point across more easily than trying to explain that my hue is indicative of my rank and rarity."

And the fact that she wasn't human.

"And it would be satisfying."

"Satisfaction is important. At least to humans. Often the long term can require different methods than the short term though. But in this case, I'd go for kicking if I were you."

She herself would probably just have ignored them, but clearly that was difficult for Peridot.

"Kicking it is, then!"

Ah, humans were great sources of advice, weren't they?

This would go wonderfully in future interactions, for sure.

"If you let me know who is bothering you, I can help you come up with more specific solutions," Breq offered. Peridot was clearly in a difficult situation, and could use some assistance.

"I have some experience."

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