Being a Student (pt3)

Another way Ortho is attempting to live as a normal student is by artificially limiting his own abilities: 

In his birthday vignette Ortho explains that he can install data repositories to skip the necessity of modifying programs on his own through trial and error, but for learning animal linguistics he is actively choosing to learn through interactions with Lucius instead, which is much more time consuming.

He explains that he is intentionally limiting himself, “because I enjoy updating my knowledge base with external stimuli. That way, I can experience the same feeling of learning that you humans enjoy.”

He brings this up again in another birthday vignette, saying that he has been collecting data on dog biology because of his interest in Cerberus.

He says that he would get permission to pet dogs in Whistle Park but at first he did not know how much pressure to apply while petting them, and they we wary of him for smelling different than humans. Eventually he began communicating with them to build trust, learning through trial and error rather than a pre-installed translation app. He says that his translation accuracy has greatly improved, and there are dogs who now recognize and approach him on their own.

This comes up again in a vignette with Kalim where Ortho volunteers to download information on a variety of dance moves so that they can dance together, but Kalim tells him “it kinda defeats the purpose if you’re perfect right out of the gate…slowly getting better through practice is part of the fun!”

Ortho says that “it seems…inefficient.”

We see Riddle offer to teach Ortho how to ballroom dance during Spectral Soiree, where he again meets up with Kalim.

Ortho is told by Vargas to limit his own functions “to what a normal human can do” for Vargas Camp 2, and Ortho concedes, saying, “There are situations where my capabilities would mean nothing in the face of Mother Nature. My equipment could also break down. So it would be beneficial to proactively train under a simulated worst-case scenario.” Ortho also says it is more fun to limit himself, as it feels like real camping.

Ortho also removes “a lot of components” from his usual school uniform gear was crafting his rabbit gear because he “wanted to get into the spirit of things with everyone.”