Character University

[Bio Lab]

"Can we not talk about Twilight? I'm an English major. It's kind of painful. Twilight jokes are getting kind of old anyway."

As she watched Cyrus do his thing on the whiteboard, Naomi had a feeling she was the only person in the room that had no idea what was going on.

Well. Vampires and magic were real.

Naomi rested her head on the table and sighed.

God help me. I'm trying to write enough short stories and books already. And this is giving me so many plotbunnies....

[Lab]

Ena rested her head on the table as she watched Cyrus write. To Naomi, she replied, "Well, it's not that old. Just last year Meyer released 'Noontime Moon'. It shows us what Jacob was doing during the first novel, like Midnight Sun. It's a terrible piece of writing. 1,198 pages of drek, sexism and what Meyer believes to be 'mucho-speak'. I wish I had a copy to destroy... I'll have to search for one later."

[Bio Lab]

"Noontime Moon? I must live under a rock. I haven't heard of it. Sounds like that's a good thing, though."

Naomi sighed. "Still, I agree with Ezra. If you're going to burn something, burn Mein Kampf. Anyway, do you have any idea what he's doing?" She pointed at Cyrus.

[Bio Lab]

"It's all right if you don't understand it. Most people only have a basic grasp of runeology. But here's something I hope you do know. What is 'gamma?' The computer mentioned it in the game. 'Gamma-leaking portal technology,' I think she said."

Cyrus looks over his calculations, mutters a curse that the others might assume is a weird German dialect, and erases everything. "This is much more convenient than chalk. I'll have to figure out these markers later."

[Lab]

Ena thought back to what she knew about Portal - Alice constantly ranted about how vague the scientific stuff in the game worked. "Er, I believe it refers to the energy balls... oh, right. Gamma rays, probably. They can kill living cells. Dangerous stuff, you know."

[Bio lab]

Ezra sighs.

"Ignore the game for the portal gun, it's a work of fiction. It's about as helpful as the communist manifesto is for setting up feudalism. Besides, I wouldn't trust Gla DOS, the cake is a lie."

edited 19th Jun '12 3:21:22 PM by Aqueos

[Auditorium]

"You just seemed very nervous..." Nathan said, crossing his arms. It seemed that he and Doltur had the same exact thought, because he had already said what he was just about to ask her. "You sure nothing's bothering you?"

[Bio Lab]

"Here, Cyrus." Naomi saved the game, closed it, starte Google Chrome, and tried to explain search engines. "Don't forget to look at the book Ena brought in."

Auditorium

"Well, that's because...." Rachel trailed off. While both of the people she was talking to at the moment definitely figured something was up, she wasn't quite ready to reveal her infected status yet. However, her mouth was open now and words wouldn't come back - she might as well go through with it.

"...that woman over there scares me." she finished, glancing over at Adel. That statement wasn't entirely a lie - it was probably because of her outfit that made her look like military personnel, and the military wasn't exactly known for its compassion in dealing with infected. For Rachel, however, it was more a way to keep beating around the bush.

However, now she had another potential scenario - when the others did find out she was an infected, this little affair just reeked of a hunter getting attached to her prey. That was very far from the truth - Rachel actually spent a lot of time convincing herself that she was still completely human in spirit since she obviously wasn't in flesh. The question was, were these other people going to know that?

[Lab]

Ena looked at the computer and said, "You should search Wikipedia for gamma rays. Wikipedia's like... an encyclopedia. Online. It might help you with the creation of the, ah, portal gun, for a lack of a better word. I can't go near computers, because of my sword's magic, so... I can't really help you in that area."

[Auditorium]

"Ah, don't worry about her. Given how she seemed to be afraid of Kit, who's about as dangerous as your average rabbit, I doubt she'll be any threat to you." Doltur said. "And if she does try something, Kit can always bark at her."

"Are you seriously going with dog jokes again Doltur? Learn some new material." Kit called over.

"Down girl." Doltur said.

Kit rolled her eyes, and instead focused on Adel. "I have to ask, about the armor." Kit said, pointing at the vest. "Are you involved with the military or something?" She asked, more out of honest curiousity than anything.

[Auditorium]

Satisfied, his mind once more at peace (insofar as a mind such as his can ever be called at peace), the musician leaped gracefully back down from the stage, and approached Rachel. "Dear Lady," he said, "please, do not so such fear. You have nothing to worry about here. I must endure enough violence and talk of violence among my brothers — I should prefer that neither taints this fine place, and shall do as much as I am capable of to make it so."

The musician smiled at Rachel and offered his hand, palm upwards, as though to take hers and offer it a kiss.

Auditorium

"I still think she looks a little suspicious...." Rachel said. It was true that this other woman didn't appear to be armed, but who knows. For all she knew, that woman could kill her with her bare hands without getting so much as a speck of blood on her.

Before Rachel could work herself into a nervous breakdown, the musician came down, offered some words of resassurance, and...offered her his hand.

Um, well...this is awkward.

Never before had Rachel received a gesture like this. Not before the P-virus madness, and definitely not after. She was not sure what to think of it, although her facial expression definitely looked quite confused.

Well, it was either blow her cover and reveal herself as an infected or turn down this display and look like a complete and utter jerk. If she was as safe her as the musician said she was, then the former was the lesser of two evils. Besides, she was going to have to stop being evasive about her condition anyway, and this looked like a good place to start....

She gingerly pulled one of her hands out from behind her back and placed it on the magician's hand - disturbingly large claws and all. It was time to see what everyone else thought of this.

[Auditorium]

The musician saw the claw, and examined it only for a moment before planting a gentlemanly kiss upon it. "'Tis a pleasure to meet you, m'Lady," he said. Then he let the hand go, and offered a formal, flourishing bow. If he had any thoughts about or fear of Rachel's condition, he showed no evidence of it. His face still maintained the easy, playful smile he had given to Kit, Adel, and Doltur before, and he remained completely relaxed.

edited 19th Jun '12 5:02:55 PM by KillerClowns

[Library]

Loyce stood, having grown- he'd never thought that he'd ever think that- bored with just sitting there reading, and headed for the exit.

[Auditorium]

Nathan looked at Rachel's claws, and eyes widened. "Wow..." He was actually more amazed than anything else. No wonder she seemed so nervous; she probably thought she would scare people away. He gave her a reassuring smile. "Those look amazing..."

[Auditorium]

"Um, Hello! Someone is asking about where the hell he is you know?" Ian said impatiently to the people at the auditorium, who seemed to be ignoring him. "Okay, sorry for disturbing you, but can I just please ask where I am? Is that better?"

[Auditorium]

The musician smiled at Rachel and said, "my! You seem to have found a friend! I shall let you two speak, then. Now if you will pardon me for a moment..."

He turned to Ian and said, "Sora-sama," he motioned to Sora, "already offered you an answer to your question, albeit an incomplete and approximate one. Suffice it to say this place was — or perhaps, in a manner of speaking, still is — a place of learning and discovery, a university. Evidence suggests, perhaps incorrectly, it is not upon any world with which I am familiar. Others have spoken likewise. Beyond this, I can offer you nothing as of yet — we are all strangers here, though I hope to see this unfortunate situation change."

If ever I blatantly misuse a Japanese honorific or pronoun, assume the musician used it correctly and P.M. me the correction. It's the sort of mistake that would be out of character for him.

edited 19th Jun '12 5:50:04 PM by KillerClowns

[Bio Lab]

Cyrus gets to work. "Someone reach into my knapsack and take out a notebook and pencil, please. 'Google' is an awfully strange name for a search... engine, isn't it? Why do they call it an engine? Wait! Never mind about the notebook. Naomi, can you explain printers again?"

He rubs his hands with glee. "I think I'm going to hit something good soon."

edited 19th Jun '12 6:28:49 PM by SnowyFoxes

[Lab]

Ena's eyes lit up. Even though she wasn't super-smart like Alice, she still appreciated science; after all, science usually led to stuff like fires and explosions! Why wouldn't she enjoy it?

Ena walked over to Cyrus's side. "When you're done with the science and stuff, can I try out the gun? I promise I won't break it... probably."

"Okay sorry," I an apologized, then realized weird. For once he was catching on to something, "Wait! This place is a little populated for an abandoned university isn't it? So it's a coincidence everyone just got lost at the same place?"

edited 19th Jun '12 6:05:29 PM by PsychoFreaX

[Auditorium]

The musician chuckled lightly and said, "you don't believe in coincidences, do you?" He shook his head, then tapped his guitar and said, "I played a little tune when I found myself alone here, in the hopes of attracting some company with whom to converse and banter. As you can see," he swept his arm around the auditorium, "my goal stands quite achieved. Or do you perhaps mean 'here' as in this curious university in of itself?"

[Library]

"Thank you," Athalia said, continuing to press away at the buttons of the console.

"Please, don't give her any more compliments," Peter said, "She can get really annoying when her ego is given room to breathe."

Auditorium

Rachel looked rather surprised when the only reaction to her claws was but a moment's hesitation. The musician simply kissed her hand (a greeting common in the days of old Europe, if she remembered correctly) and bowed with a greeting. He didn't seem unnerved about her physique at all.

For that matter, neither did Nathan. While his eyes were indeed a bit wide, he apparently found her claws fascinating rather than revolting. Not the sort of reaction she was expecting from a non-infected, but this wasn't her home dimension. Maybe people had different standards around this parts.

"They're a bit of a hindrance," she said, wiggling the pathetic stub that was once a thumb. "It's a bit like the virus that I'm infected with actually wanted me to be a monster with claws like these."

"Well, knowing that would be nice too," Ian replied.