Jo

Grace
The DMV in Denver sits in an inauspicious part of town. It's the kind of place where you don't want to let anything remotely valuable show from the windows of your car. So it's good that Grace has nothing of value she ever decides to take with her other than her laptop, and that doesn't often make it out of her sight.

It's two in the afternoon. The lines leading to the desks are about a mile long, if you were to stack all the people lengthwise. And it's this sort of thing Grace contemplates while in lines, because it is so much more fun than actually contemplating where you are. With all those people. Shuffling along.

Once five-o-clock rolls by, this place will turn into a madhouse of people trying to get their thing done before it closes, because they can't take off of work. Grace thinks the cops must snipe this place around that time, looking for the people who left with their hands empty of required registration documents. Slaves to the system, right? It always finds another way to keep you in your place, like a line that goes on forever, until you finally get to the end and have to leave without anything to show for it.

It sucks here. At least the ceiling is interesting.

Jo
"Dude...for real?" She teeters on her heels next to girl with round glasses and that Harry Potter look; the kind of look that indicates she has no life, and likely lives for the one moment where she could maybe...just maybe Wingardium leviosa the hell out of all those boys who bypassed her for Barbie. Jo likes people like here. All smarts, hidden beauty, and no fucks. Oh yeah.

"I'm telling you, Kit Harrington cut his hair. "

The vibration of the electrical current hummed out from Jo as she rocked, snapping a green tea pocket between her tea and chewing on it. It was low, always present, and easy to miss. Her hard drive was still in the early stages of technological advancement; she was more like a powerline, almost old school Edison with a hint of the progress that Tesla would bring.

"Nah, gotta be nuthin. Martin so didn't write him off completely."

"But what he's actually going to kill him off?" The girl shrilled out. "I can't. Even. What if Jon Snow..."

"TCHT!" Jo reached her green fingers into the box of pocky, pulling out another twig. "Dude so not gunna happen. Jon is one of the dragon riders. Duh. I mean. We all know that his daddy wasn't old Lord of Winterfell himself. Was totes his sister and Rhaegar havin a jig."

Harry potter pursed her lips. "Spoiler you know."

"What eff. Totally not a spoiler if it hasn't been written." Jo waved the half eaten pocky at Harry Potter and grinned widely. "Seriously. 'sides, if Jon kicks the bucket, he's totally gunna warg into Ghost. Everyone knows that."

Grace
[Awareness???]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )

Jo
[whoops aware]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )

Grace
Standing in line at the DMV is the last place one expects to run into the Awakened. I mean, there's just appropriate settings, right? Places where convergence of they ley lines and whims of fate and what the fuck ever subroutine of Magedom runs to randomly assign a load of them to the same bookstore or the same coffee shop or the same park. This is the fucking DMV. Grace looks around, and there exists so many people.

The feeling she gets reminds her of Awakening. Of the hum of an electric power station. The hum of creation, destruction, and stasis in a single breath. But it's one she's never felt since.

Okay... So, not to be falling prey to stereotypes or anything but... Mohawk dude? Or maybe the woman with bright orange eye shadow? Or... the one with the arm warmers talking about Game of Thrones?

Right. So Jo is getting stared at now by a woman in jeans and a bright red coat that's festooned with strips of LED infused plastic. Welcome to Grace's full attention.

Jo
"It's Martin! Jon is too good to stay alive!" Harry potty huffs and crosses her arms over her chest. "He's going to kill him off."

"Tcht. Seriously? Daenarys is alive. I mean that's totes gotta mean something."

"She's a bratty bitch."

Jo grins widely, slipping another pocky between her lips. "You know, if that was like..Jon snow, you'd be like..all over it."

"Would not." The girl grumbles.

"Like, I don't even get why everyone likes Jon. He's all pouty cry cry, pouty, oh I have pretty hair." Jo pushed out in a mocking voice. "If you're totes gunna be all over some guy, the Viper dude."

"He's dead."

"Tcht. So what? That dude was all cool. And Tyrion?"

"He's a dwarf."

"For reals? Like that's just all discriminatory and shit. Totally awesome dude. All brains and totes knows how to have fun."

This time, she stuffed her hands into her panda hoodie, which looked much less like a panda hoodie from where Grace could see. It was just white and black. If she pulled it up, the ears could give it away...and the fluffy puff tail on the back. Harry Potter tightens her lips a little and cringes. "I can't wait for next season." She laments.

"Could, ya know, like keep  yourself busy with Walking Dead. Darryl is still kickin and all."

"Peh!" The girl spewed out. "Why does everyone like him?"

Jo's brows furrow slowly in confusion and disbelief. "Cause he's like, the coolest guy ever? I mean uses a crossbow and like..I dunno...makes redneck look cool."

"Redneck is never cool."

Jo looks out of the corner of her eye to Grace, blinking for a moment before she gives the woman a wide grin and lifts her fingers, wiggling them. Whatever Grace meant by staring at her, Jo took a different way; Jo gave Grace a glance over and a little wink.

Grace
Blink. Blink. It's got to be code, right? The wink means she's been seen and acknowledged. Grace tries to go back to nonchalantness, and resorts to scratching at her knuckles.

Minutes pass. Feels like hours, but no. The lines shift, and people flow onward towards their destinations, and Grace and Jo end up next to each other. Separate lines, sliding faults.

"Hi," she says, and gives a wary smile to Jo and Harry Potter Girl.

Nothing further than that. No 'I like Tyrion too' or the like. Just a quick, short greeting.

Jo
Oh she's been seen and acknowledged alright, though in the way that only a fresh college student could manage who still hadn't worked out the dating scene beyond which options to choose in Hatoful Boyfriend. Harry Potter girl blinks, adjusts her glasses and looks towards Grace. "How do you even know?"

"Know what?" Jo blinks at the girl, crunching the last of her pocky and realizing that, yes, the box was empty, with a bit of a frown. Jo stuffs it in the bag at her side.

"You know... if someone likes girls."

Her head cocks a little to the side. "Totes didn't seen the sign didja? Must be like...something only lesbian super powers pick up. "

"Like Superman's Xray vision?"

"TCHT. Screw Superman. Worst. Super hero. Ever. Totes not at all."

But hell, at that point they were standing near one another and Jo was already in the midst of ruffling through her bag for...

AHA! Panda chocolate filled tiny cookies. Pandas. It's all about the pandas. The foil wrapping is popped open and she holds the box out towards Grace with a half-cocked smile. "Hiiiiii. Chocolate things. Like.. super good. Totally should try it." She jingled the box like it were filled with coins.



Grace
Grace doesn't accept handshakes from people she meets. That sort of thing will just get you tagged and bagged. Accepting food from random strangers is so far beyond the pale, it gets Jo a look of utter confusion.

"Oh, no, no. I'm fine. Really. I don't um..." Um what? Eat? Damn it, Grace, pull it together.

She fishes around in her laptop bag and pulls out her phone next, seemingly done with conversation. She is so very not done with conversation.

[Corr 2: Secure Connection: Diff 5 - 1 for taking her time]

Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (1, 7) ( success x 1 )

Grace
[Extend! And WP!]

Dice: 2 d10 TN5 (4, 5) ( success x 2 ) [WP]

Jo
"Totally get it. Chocolate not your thing right? Like.. woah. Some people got this like weird allergy to chocolate. Get it tho. Ran across it like once or twice. Better than like, not liking chocolate cause that is just bizarre." But Jo is the friendly sort, and she stuffs the chocolates in, ruffling around in the bag for something else. "Jelly babies? Cause I got those.  Kitkats? Like I got green tea, and kiwi and strawberry cheesecake..." Her nose scrunches.

Harry Potter watches in a sort of fascination and leans in as if to enlighten Jo on the situation. "She isn't a fan of carpet."

If there were a way to clock the speed by which Jo throws her head up to look at Harry Potter, it would have outranked airliners. "Whu? Dude, like where did you even like hear that phrase? Seriously like the 80s?"

Grace
On Grace's phone screen, the black of shiny nothing slowly seeps with the light of something. A game? Looks like it. It seems to respond to her fingertips, accepting some input.

Somebody is talking about Kit-Kats, but it cannot be to her, right? She's busy. Totally absorbed. And the feeling of a faultline suddenly jolting pops into Jo's sixth sense with all the lack of subtlety resonance is fond of.

There's a noise coming from Jo's phone. It doesn't sound like any text notification she's ever received -- some new little jingle -- but it is definitely her phone.

If she checks it, there will be a message written on the screen, white on black, no apps apparently visible.

You're humming.

Jo
It is definitely not Thunder Cats that comes through her phone. Liono does not pronounce their organization name, and no, there is not a diddy to celebrate bipedal hominid cat people and their valiant efforts to protect the universe. That only serves to confuse Jo, particularly when that deviation does not follow into Mario Kart or Tetris.

Her senses have pricked and something has sparked her, the little fuzz hairs that have managed to escape the confines of the rest, rising up just a little to tell her that, yes, there is something odd happening...and it's not just a strange diddy on her phone. She can't help but rub at her ribs a little, reaching into her pocket for the phone. Unlike those in Grace's circle, she's not accustom to this affair.

"Ugh." Harry potter mutters, now feeling a flush of embarrassment from her friend. "Can you hold the spot?"

"Like...totes. Don't take forever cause like the police are totally gunna know it's not you when you get a picture of like..me on your license." Harry Potter bites her lip and scampers off to the restroom while Jo bothers to look at her screen. Idly, since there has been no response from the woman next to her, she chooses a sucker and stuffs the end into her mouth. Her head cants from one side, to the other, as if she's singing in her head, brows furrowed curiously.

Follow the Cheshire Cat, Neo.

It makes her snicker as she taps it into her phone, lifting her head and then rolling it to the side to look at Grace curiously.

Grace
Grace giggles into her phone, and walks up a few steps to avoid the ire of people behind her.

Hey, you're cool. You new in town?

It's the awkward Magic welcome wagon. Hooray.

Jo
I'm awesome. Way better than cool.

New like a spiderman movie.

You're consciously jacked too?

Jo lulls the sucker around in her mouth slowly while she frantically types, eyes glued now to the bright screen of her phone.

Jo
[meh forgot the font! Sorry]

Grace
Sweet.

Well, consciously? I am conscious. I'm not unconscious at least.

Ahh. Awake. Yes.

There's some people you should meet. Not sleepy peeps. Want me to just, like, put them in your contacts list for you?

Jo
Unplugged. Whatever.

Anyone named Trinity? That'd be rad.

You can do that? Put them in?

Jo rolled her attention back towards Grace, who was now ahead of her. Her brows knit, the sucker rolled in her mouth.

Grace
Grace snorts. Can she do that? Really?

I can do anything. But I won't unless you say so.

Nobody named Trinity. That'd be stealing someone's handle. Someone named Chimeric01 tho. Who's you?

Jo
CIN.

TheCollective on youtube.

All out in the wire baby. 

Jo does not know Grace's foibles. Not in the least bit. That's why she feels comfortable doing something like lifting her foot and lightly poking Grace in the hip with her toe. Others who know Grace might not have ever done that.

Totes share. We're all connected.

Grace
Okay. So, first things first right? Grace goes to check out TheCollective. It sounds like the Borg. Borg are bad, mmkay? CIN doesn't seem like a stuck-up corporate drone on a mission to uncover the denizens of Denver, but it never hurts to be cautious.

TheCollective's feed is full of gameplay videos from Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid, etc. No spreadsheets. Good sign.

So, CIN will be the welcome recipient of new contacts, new phone numbers: Kalen, Lena, Pan, Eleanor, Grace. For Kalen and Grace's location, she puts "The Office" and nothing else. Pan actually has an address listed, that of a church on Federal. Lena's listed as 'awesome' and Eleanor's location is apparently 'probably some place with fucking solid marble desks, idek'.

Shared. If you run into any trouble, don't hesitate to call somebody. Or just say hi. 

Jo
"Super cool!" She lets out with a cheer, and yes, people give her the odd look. Jo doesn't seem to mind all that much.

You're Chimeric01 I guess?

Jo rocks on her heels again, one hand in her pocket of her hoodie while her thumb works swiftly on the phone.

You got an e-mail? IM? Contact other than phone?

Grace
About fifty of them. I'll give you one.

Under Grace's contact, there's now an email: gevans@gmail. Not very creative, but it's a point of nerd pride. To have a gmail address of such simplicity means she had to have been an early adopter.

Grace
And yeah. That's me. Chimeric.

Jo
She grins as widely as her lips can manage, just as Harry Potter manages her way back with a straight face. Jo looks up and gives the girl a little nudge with her hips. "Yer up. Come on, let's get this like..overwith so we can get some scones or something. "

"Ugh, where do you PUT it? We -just- had burgers!"

Jo takes it with a bit of pride. "In my like, third stomach. I'm like a cow like that. Just stashin it in case of emergencies."

Harry potter twists her face in disgust and takes her place at the register.

Gotcha covered Trinity. Give me a holler if you get bored over there in awkward land.

She stepped over and eventually away with Harry Potter, lifting her hand up to give Grace a salute and a wink.

Grace
What? Awkward land? Oh. It must be pretty blatant today, huh?

She twists her mouth to the side, slides the Code away with a finger on her phone's screen. Jo's phone stops reporting phantom texts, and lines reach their ends.

It was nice, having someone to talk to while waiting. She smiles back at Jo, and gives a Spaceballs salute in return, complete with royal wave. She can lack complete levels of awkwardness. Sometimes.