Peridot was a Geek. But everyone knew that. She was top of her class in Robotics, Math and science. She loved everything that could be logically explained. She loved creating things with that logic. She would build all types of things; thanks to her part-time job she could spend her type building computers, she spent her spare time building small robots using automated systems to perform simple tasks. Her long-term project to create an almost independent robot that could perform multiple tasks using reasoning, though the process was slow, she knew that her 'robonoids' would someday become a reality. But she also enjoyed the simpler things such as browsing the internet, and even owning a rather popular blog named 'Peribot'; the content was usually about scientific news but also her personal projects, and very rarely, her own troubles. She just really loved electronics and how it meant she didn't really have to interact with many people in real life.

It wasn't that she disliked people, she just couldn't use her logic to understand erratic human behavior. When asked a question, a human had way too many possibilities in responses, physically, mentally, vocally... Too many chances an interaction could go wrong. Something she'd experienced too many times for her to ever enjoy it. Robots had predictable responses to stimuli, she liked predictability. At least then she could have control.

Peridot was sitting at the desk in the bedroom, lights off except the desk light that shone over her textbook. She had a pen in one hand, writing calculations and design details down as the other one hovered over her calculator. She wasn't sure what time it was, but she figured it was approximately 3 hours since she got home, making it about 7pm, which would explain her mother calling her to come downstairs. But she simply ignored it, preferring to finish what she was doing before she forgot what she was thinking.

Finishing up, she shut the book and moved it aside, put the cover over her overly expensive calculator and put the lid back on her pen. Once she was happy with the order of her desk, she switched off the light and headed downstairs.

Reaching the kitchen, she stood silently, waiting for her mother to turn around to speak to her. She was finishing serving up the evening dinner, what smelt like it was lasagna. And as her mother noticed her presence, Peridot confirmed the meal.

"Peridot! Grab a plate and go sit down; your father and I have some good news for next week!" She smiled and handed her a plate. Peridot silently sighed and headed through to the dining room, successfully avoiding her short brother's sprint to the kitchen. She sat at her spot, opposite her dad and waited for the other two to join them. As usual, her father simply waited for his dear wife to bring him his food while he sat doing nothing. Peridot could never understand why her mother just simply catered to his needs when he clearly had the capability of doing it himself. But that was a conversation she learnt not to start with the close minded man.

Her little brother ran back through holding his plate, followed by his mother, bringing in two plates as she had predicted. Her father scolded her brother for running and thanked his wife for the food. She sat beside him and her brother next to her. The usual placement for the evening meal. She waited till the great man of the house started eating before allowing herself to start. And to avoid conversation, she looked down at her lasagna, reciting the ingredients and the recipe in her head with a slight smile.

"As at the end of this week it is Spring Break for both of you, your mother and i have decided that we'll go for a week's holiday at Beach City!"

Her little brother raised his arms up and waved them happily, his fork still in hand and flicking food around the table. Peridot on the other hand was less joyous. Not only she was receiving bits of sauce on her, but she didn't really fancy the idea of leaving her home and having to interact actively with her family. She did love them, but she didn't enjoy spending time with them, her father was difficult to talk to, though predictable; her little brother was the devil; and her mother... Wasn't helpful.

"Danny" her mother softly reprimanded the boy with a tired sigh. He grinned back at her, as if pleased with his mess. She guessed that cleaning him now would be useless as he'd probably make a mess again, so she let him be. Much to Peridot's displeasure. She wiped her glasses clean and looked for all the stains on her clothing. She glared at the happy boy. He'd stained her favorite sweater.

"We'll be leaving on Saturday, the trip will take us a couple of hours so plan a book or something." Her father added between fork fulls of food. Peridot grumbled under her breath, she knew how this holiday was going to go. It was going to be like every other one that she'd been forced into. Her father would leave after two days for a work emergency, her mother would try too hard, her brother would get in trouble and she would simply be annoyed and bored. But at least she would have her laptop and internet to keep her busy.

"So how was school today Danny?" her mother asked, not truly caring about what he had done at school.

"It was boring, we read poetry..."

"Oh, whose poetry did you read?"

"Um.. Robert Louis Stevenson? It was about a cow, " he grinned as he remembered "He said he loved his cow and it ate flowers" Her mother's eyes then shifted to Peridot who had continued to avoid their stare.

"And you Peridot?"

"School was fine." Her mother raised a brow. Peridot knew that her mother was waiting to hear more, she didn't even need to look up to know that. So she raised her head and looked at her blankly "We discussed navigation sensors and systems in Robotics, but i doubt you want me to go into that." She smirked slightly as her mother gave up on pursuing more information about her day, put off by the details of her classes. After a few minutes, she finished her portion of Lasagna and looked up to her father. "Can I leave the table please?"

"Yes" Peridot hated that even at her age, she had to wait for permission to leave the table like a child. She was in college now, she was nineteen, an adult. Yet she still lived with her parents. It wasn't that she didn't want to leave, it was a more of a case that they didn't want her to leave. She found their reasoning on that quite wrong, but it was a another fragile subject. She headed out to the kitchen and slid her plate into the dishwasher before making her way back up to her bedroom. Time to prepare her bags for their family holiday.