Sept 15: After the Pub

by **Ayami Morita** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 12:46 am

Ayami, looking to get out of the conflict in the bar, was taking a walk on the quad, trying to get her bearings.

by **Calvin Strong** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:00 am

A short while later, Cal was walking down the paths of the quad.

And have we traced the website yet, HAL?

Code: Select all: Negative.

Oh, what the hell? Nothing? No trace on the website? The computer that attacked us? Nothing?

Code: Select all: Negative.

What the fuck? My fucking brain is all over the fucking internet, and you don't have anything?

Code: Select all: 80% of nonessential process space is being allocated to security upgrade development.

Oh my fucking god, you have to be the most useless voice in my head I could ever want.

Code: Select all: However, at least I will be secure in that head.

"Dammit," he muttered, distractedly not noticing when he turned down the path that Ayami was on.

by **Ayami Morita** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:03 am

As Cal turned down the path Ayami's mood suddenly shifted to being annoyed, but she was still looking down at her map, and didn't notice Cal coming down, either.

This may explain the incoming collision.

by **Calvin Strong** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:10 am

Okay, okay... reallocate resources. 30% to security upgrades.

Code: Select all: Administrator override required: This reallocation is not recommended.

Then fucking override it, god damn it. You can worry about renovating your little home in there after we find that si- "Ah!" Cal was cut off in mid-thought when he ran into Ayami.

Code: Select all: Balance protocols engaged.

Cal stumbled to the side, managing to catch Ayami, too, in case she was falling. "Oh, hell, I'm sorry," he said, embarassed.

by **Ayami Morita** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:13 am

"ああ！" Ayami says, nearly falling down.

"Oh! Oh, I'm so sorry" She adds, her face turning red. "I...I wasn't looking where I was going..."

by **Calvin Strong** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:26 am

"Neither was I," Cal said, helping her get steady again. "Sorry, I was... lost in thought, I guess."

by **Ayami Morita** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:27 am

"No, no, it was my fault" Ayami says, bowing repeatedly. "I shouldn't have been walking around with my map, I'm really very very sorry."

by **Calvin Strong** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:29 am

"I wasn't looking either," Cal said, smiling a little. "How about we just stick with 'there are worse ways to meet someone' and not get caught in an endless loop of apology?"

by **Ayami Morita** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:33 am

"I'm just...OK. I'll be more careful in the future."

by **Calvin Strong** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:52 am

"So will I. Call this karma for both of us not paying attention, I guess."

Code: Select all: Alert: User requested reminder to give disclaimer

Shit. "Oh... I ought to get this out of the way now... do I have permission to look at you? Some people have lately taken offense to it."

by **Ayami Morita** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:57 am

"...Why would you need permission to look at me?"

by **Calvin Strong** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 2:08 am

He rolled his eyes slightly at that. "My eyes are technically digital cameras. So everything I see is recorded and, if I'm really unlucky, can be hacked out of my head. I figure I'd better not take chances," he said, only a little bitterly.

by **Ayami Morita** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 2:45 am

"You record everything you see? That seems a bit..."

Ayami stops as she puts two and two together from the conversation earlier in the bar.

"Oh! Would you be the reason those girls were so upset earlier?"

by **Calvin Strong** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:16 am

"I remember everything I see. Only there's kind of a computer involved, so people like to call it recording. And yeah... I'm... sort of why they were angry," he said, growing a little uncomfortable with where the conversation was turning now. Me and my big fucking mouth.

by **Ayami Morita** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:18 am

"...are you feeling alright? You seem rather upset..." Ayami said, growing a little uncomfortable as well.

by **Calvin Strong** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:50 am

"It's... been a long day," he said, deciding to just not mention it again and hope that she wouldn't. "I'm Calvin. I don't think I caught your name down in the bar."

by **Ayami Morita** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 4:05 am

"Ayami Morita. It's very nice to meet you, Calvin-san" Ayami said with a bow.

by **Teri Napliotis** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 9:45 am

A distant buzzing can be heard that slowly grows louder. After a short while a swirling cloud of locust comes flying out of the direction of the dorms. Strangely purposefully the insects seem to fly around the small park for a while until they find a small tree to settle down on, almost completely covering the branches. After a moment of silence they start to chirp. Randomly and rather annoying at such numbers at first, but after a while it almost sounds as if they're trying to form a melody between them.

by **Ayami Morita** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 9:52 am

"Ah, the music of the cicadas. Just like home."

by **Teri Napliotis** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 10:02 am

It takes a while, but eventually the creatures find into a kind of symphonie that sounds much too harmonic to be a coincidence, they sing on for a while, giving off an eerie vibe.

by **Calvin Strong** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 12:59 pm

"Do they sound like that back home?" Cal asked, listening closely.

by **Ayami Morita** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 6:09 pm

"Something like this, yes."

by **Calvin Strong** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 6:39 pm

"Something kind of... eerie about the way they sound," he said, giving an involuntary little shudder.

by **Ayami Morita** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 6:42 pm

Ayami shrugs. "Well, I don't know what English insects are supposed to sound like, but it's not too too different from the cicadas back home..."

She pauses.

"Although, these seem to be a bit more...rehearsed."

by **Teri Napliotis** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 6:47 pm

The locust continue their 'singing', groups of them occasionally flying up in spirals and dancing through the air.
As a few of them spot Cal and Ayami listening the patterns suddenly collapses in on itself, the creatures fluttering around, agitated, and the chirping stops. Silence fills the quad as the insects land on the tree again, groups of them looking over to the two.

by **Ayami Morita** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 6:51 pm

"Do they...normally do that?"

by **Calvin Strong** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 8:37 pm

"No, they don't," Cal said, watching the insects' progress. "But we're at Mutant school, so 'normal' is kind of a subjective thing."

by **Teri Napliotis** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:57 am

About half of the critters suddenly take flight and disappear towards the dorms.

After a few minutes they return, tumbling through the air as they carry along what appears to be a light dress between them, hundreds of them clinging on to it as they fly.
They join the rest of the swarm that has been patiently sitting in the tree and the whole swarm starts to crawl into the piece of clothing until they filled it out enough for Teri to assemble herself inside it. Sitting on the branch she curiously peers at Calvin and Ayami.

"Hey. We... didn't know anyone was watching."

by **Ayami Morita** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 5:36 am

"Oh, figures it was you, Teri-san" Ayami says with a smile, her attitude having shifted a complete 180 from their conversation earlier in the bar.

"That was very nice. Like I was telling Calvin-san, it reminds me of home."

by **Teri Napliotis** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:52 am

"Why home? Is that why you... liked it?"

likedit lieing home no honest? nice? flyaway! no nothome neverhome

by **Ayami Morita** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:59 am

She smiled. "At home, the sounds of the cicadas meant it was summertime. Nothing to do, just a long lazy day. Good times. That's why I liked it, I guess. Good memories."

by **Teri Napliotis** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:19 am

"That's neat. Do they sing about things other than mating sometimes?"

by **Ayami Morita** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:47 am

Ayami laughs. "Probably not. I don't speak the language.

I like to think that they do, at least."

by **Teri Napliotis** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:58 am

"Well they're usually pretty dumb and go 'Heyheyheyhey heyhey lookatme heyheyhey', but at least the ones back home sometimes sang together just for the heck of it."

by **Ayami Morita** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 8:03 am

"Oh!" Ayami says, surprised. "I thought you were joking. You really can speak to insects? That's neat!"

by **Teri Napliotis** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 8:13 am

"Not really. We usually get what they mean, but they don't talk. They're not smart enough for that. They don't understand our singing either, which is kind of sad because they're the only ones who can hear it like we do. When we're like this..." she looks down at her dangling legs, "...it sounds so fast and shrill, we're surprised you liked it."

by **Ayami Morita** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:15 am

"What were you singing about, anyway? Is it something, uh, that can be spoken in, uh, not-bug?"

by **Teri Napliotis** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:57 am

"It's not 'bug-language', it just sounds different in tiny, fast-firing bug brains." The way she pronounces 'bug' makes it pretty obvious that she's not paticularly fond of the word for some reason.

homesick? no wanttofly needtobeourselves whydoweseekhumanswhenwedon'tbelong? don'tknow
"And we... don't like to talk about it. It's what we do when we want to feel... what's the opposite word of lonely?"

by **Calvin Strong** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:02 pm

"Accepted?" Cal suggested.

by **Teri Napliotis** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:15 pm

"Close enough, we suppose. Thanks. Anyway, we like doing it because it helps to unite our thoughts and feel closer."

Who is online