Danny Returns

Danny
*He had returned, he'd set down gifts for people and then just simply stood there with his eyes closed and soaked in the relaxation.  Slowly he made his way to the kitchen, checking things as he went. One hand opened the fridge to see the contents and he pursed his lips slightly in thought. "Hmmm...."

He was dressed properly. The weather wasn't good enough to go out and do anything with really and it was chilly.  So he'd turned up in his leather jacket, jeans and boots, a hoody under the jacket and gloves, when he'd gotten inside he removed the gloves and jacket, hanging them up. So now he was walking around in socks and a hoodie, Examining the contents of the fridge.

Grace
Somebody said there were presents. Grace wondered if Danny had brought her another puzzle box or some Pocky maybe, but this? There's a box with her name on it, full of other people's names.

Names of robot manufacturers and tool makers and contacts in the computing industry. Which, hey -- it's much better than Pocky.

Danny would find the place different than the last time he stepped foot here. There were wards which spoke of new people keeping the place. And the permanent presence of a trio of witches has begun to make itself known, if not by resonance then by their habits.

Grace, also, is different, though that's not something she broadcasts by look alone. No, Danny will find her dressed same as ever, in jeans and grey turtleneck -- if he finds her at all.

"Hey! Are you really here!?" comes a voice from the living room. Well, okay, that should make her a lot easier to find.

Danny
He nearly jumped out of his skin hearing a voice, distracted by the new presences and newer sensations. With a chuckle he closed the fridge door, then made his way through to Grace. As he passed her he bent his head to kiss hers on top gently. Then went and found a place to sit down near her.

"I am really back, yes. This leg of the tour has been done, there's talk of maybe doing a bit of Europe over a few months maybe later in the year but we'll see. How are things?"

He sits casually, leaning back on the couch and smiling as ever. His hair unbound and free to hang down his back and shoulders again. On his wrist is the latest of the new gadget watches.

Grace
She lets him kiss her. The Grace he knew before wouldn't have let him do that, but she accepts it without so much as a missed beat. She's holding her box of names, and lofts it up.

"Thanks. I'll see what I can get out of this."

Damn. An iWatchThingy. She really really wants to go into her rant about Apple products right now, but hell. There is a time and place for everything right? Later.

Danny
"Well I'm hoping you have fun finding things out and making new contacts. You never know, you could perhaps one day do something life changing for billions of people. Its all about the first contact though." He smiled, then took a long deep sigh and relaxed further into the couch.

"So what's new?"

Grace
There's a lot of things Grace Evans could do with a list of names and numbers. She could, for example, 'arrange' things such that these people stumble upon the breakthroughs of their lives, it's true. She could also arrange things such that they form the strangest impromptu flash mob ever, and then make their phones moo. However funny the last bit might be... Probably not worth it.

It still makes her smile.

"New? Apparently, it's vampires and dog monsters in Washington Park. We dealt with the vampires though."

Danny
"Kalen told me about the Vampire, he's going to meet someone who's going to assess the threat level or something. He told me." Danny leaned forwards again though and smiled at Grace.

"Things are different here.  What's going on?"

Grace
"We have some new people. Or, rather, old people. Not old, like, they're 80 or something, just... The old owner of the place came back from Texas."

She takes up a spot on the couch -- the other end of it.

"And oh really? Kalen told you about the vampire? I'm not too pleased about the vampire myself. But Kalen does what he wants. I just hope he keeps his mind shields up."

Danny
"Well, I've never really had anything to do with them myself either. Or at least I hope not!" He chuckled a bit, then smiled once more as he leaned back.

"So what's this dog thing?"

Grace
"It attacked some of ours -- Jo and Lavinia? I don't know if you've met them yet? But it did a lot of damage. And then Lavinia killed it," Grace says, like she's talking about the weather.

"I don't really know specifics, just 'twisted dog thing'."

Danny
His eyebrows shot up in surprise. "That is fucked up!" He shook his head slightly in disbelief.

"This world never ceases to amaze me, so was it like one of those movie were wolves?"

Grace
"I do not even know. You should talk to Jo, she could probably give you about 50 movie references. They're okay now, luckily Ian was there to patch them up."

This is their world, yes? Where werewolves are a thing that might just attack them in a park and need to be put down?

"It was okay. Definitely not something too terrible."

And that, too, is telling.

Danny
His eyebrows relaxed slowly as he folds his arms across his chest and studies Grace for a while, then slowly he leans forwards. "So, what change did you go through? I've spoken to Kalen, remember? Something has changed in you. What is it? What new revelations have you yet to reveal to us?"

None of his tone was mocking, Grace could do things he hadn't even dreamed possible, but hearing things in Tokyo when some of the techs didn't think he could hear them spoke about some of their studies with various things in the 'mirror'. His eyes remained on her and he relaxed his arms as well.

"So, go on, spill."

Grace
"I learned some things that might only apply to myself, really. Nothing more earth-shattering than the idea that my enemies are afraid of me, and to battle them, I cannot be afraid in return.

"Also, I learned what it feels like to fly around on falcon wings -- not bad! Totally cool, that!"

And she kept those wings, Danny. She feels... different, like that.

Danny
The smile grew, hitting his eyes and lifting them from that deep mahogany to a joyful earthy colour. He nodded and chuckled again.

"I dunno, I go away and everything changes on me!  Oh and some of those cards are from New York as well, so hell, you can have a field day looking at their stuff and figuring out new ideas.  Is it a good present?"

Grace
"Yeah. Yeah it is. Jo and I were going to build battle robots together, to see who would win in a fight -- Gamera or Godzilla? I have my leg up now," Grace says, and grins.

"Everything changes, always. It is the way of things. Also! Speaking of, you should totally come play laser tag sometime. The room's all set up."

Danny
"I would love to. Set me up with the armour and rifle and I'll find a snipe point," He grinned, "too many hours of Call of Duty on tour.  You should have seen it Grace." His hands move to start air sketching high story scrapes, towers of glass and the lights, then he began to tell her about a moonlight night flight over the city in a helicopter and how incredible it all was.

Grace
"Ohh, you might be the sniper, but I'm the sneaky spy. You'll never see me coming," Grace says, and her tone is joking -- but isn't that the way of Grace? Her enemies should be afraid of her.

"Tell me all about it! How was Japan?"

Danny
"It was crazy!" He laughs. "But I love the Japanese now, I got to hang out with Harajuku girls, I got to go shopping with them, I got to hang out... " He shrugs and laughs.

"The crowds there were incredible too, they knew every damned song! I've made a dent on the Japanese circuit, which is cool. But, I am damned glad I'm home now and able to chill out. I slept for the best part of a day when we turned our trucks for home." He leans back into the couch again and spreads his arms out lazily.

"I just slept for nearly the entire flight and then the rides across country from time to time. I've officially been to Hawaaii, but I have no idea what goes on there, I was awake for bout half an hour mebe, then I crashed in the lounge, then it was off to another plane."

Grace
"Damn. I like that though -- the always moving, always something different. It would be nice to get out of here for a while, see something else. Maybe meet that priest Kalen has in Chile."

Because Kalen has a priest in Chile, of course...

"I suppose it wouldn't be too different, though. Every place has its share of dog monsters."

Danny
"Yeah, remind me not to go sitting out there with my six string for a while..." He held one index finger up in the air lazily and smiled again.

"I met Ari, did you know she's gone blind?"

Grace
Grace's eyes widen a touch at the new info about Arionna, or 'Ari' as Danny calls her. "No. I didn't. Then again, I try to stay as far away from her as possible, lest we annihilate each other."

Danny
He nods. "Yeah, she uh, said she made some sort of a pact or something?" His eyes narrow a bit in thinking about it and he frowns with a grimace, then sighs heavily.

"She of course then proceeded to berate me for a long assed time about my just up and vanishing and doing my job."

Grace
"A pact with what? The Devil?"

Wouldn't put it past her...

Grace sighs, looks at a wall. It's easier to deal with.

"Also -- so you up and vanish. Is it her business?"

Danny
"Not that I'm aware of." He kept on smiling, Grace always helped put things into perspective.  The smile soon crept back into place by simply being in her company and he waved off the ghost of Arionna as he rose to get up out of the couch.

"I've got some supplies in my car, wanna help me get them in? I can make this great Japanese dish that I had. I harrassed the guy at the stall into writing it down then got our liaison to translate it for me. It's going to be good."

Grace
"Yes! Japanese food is awesome!" Grace leaps off the couch to go help haul the food -- pretty much the only thing she should be allowed to help with, really.

"I suck at cooking, but I can maybe chop things?"

Yes. Someone who feels like the very essence of sliding blades might be able to chop things...

Danny
He was caught out by her enthusiasm but he nodded at it and grinned. "Sure, why not?" He tossed the keys into the air reaching instinctively for the sense of where she was likely to be when the down arc began, then began to head to the kitchen to go start hunting down spices and herbs, filtering through things that weren't necessary. Grabbing pots and pans and other utensils and setting them out in groups, by the time Grace was back and done, there were tools, and Danny had tied his hair up out the way at the nape of his neck in a loose knot of itself.  He was washing his hands.

Turning he nodded to the sideboard. "Okay, well, most of this is flash fried in a hot pan, so we're good on most of it.  It's the prep work that can be an ass though.  First, lets get the rice on so it goes nice and sticky."

Grace
Never let it be said that Grace isn't industrious. She hauls rice bags and veggie bags like a champion, or at least somebody who knows her own strength. There may be multiple trips, but they are all fueled by the excitement of good food, so it gets done pretty fast. And then, she's waiting in the kitchen, somewhat third-wheel-like (Danny and the food being the other two wheels) waiting for something else to do.

"Do you know how to make the rice sticky? Because I don't. Are you supposed to do something to it?"

Grace buys her rice pre-stickied. It's a good thing, really. She could burn water if she tried.

Danny
He grins and sets up the pans and scales. Then sets the rice into a bowl of water, leaving it to soak while he unpacks some more items. "This is the vegetable stuff, we need slices, not too thin, about .5 millimetres?" He shows her with a couple of slices, then steps back after setting the knife down.

"Your turn."

Grace
[Dex + Crafts = Slicing perfection?]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )

Grace
"Right, right..."

She steps up to the cutting board and veggies, lofts the knife up into the air. This might look a little scary -- if so, just smile and nod, Danny.

"Choppy choppy choppy...."

Those slices may not be up to Japanese perfection standards of exactly a half-millimeter, but Grace is giving it a solid effort. And quickly, too.

Danny
Nodding his approval, Danny begins to figure out what else he's got and starts dicing up chicken, begins to simmer up a light soup to start and from time to time he kept an eye on Grace while she got her hands on cooking. Supervision but not quite supervision. After all, if the girl could dance rings about her robotic things, then reason led him to believe she could probably cook too. As he worked he hummed lightly to himself. Then pipped up a little bit later.

"Do you want something to drink by the way Grace? I can put some tea on?"

Grace
"Yes, tea. Good," she says, still chopping. And maybe it's that that makes her words so clipped? She's focusing on that half-millimeter thing.

Danny
He nodded and kept an eye, not intervening nor interfering as she went about her work. He was busy putting the things she'd started on in one by one with a light hand and a hotly oiled pan.  Pretty soon the heady smells of good home cooked food was filling the air.

He turned a short while later and set the up and a tea pot beside her for her to help herself to while he himself held his mug on handed and with the other was stirring the vegetables.

Grace
"You are so good at this," Grace says, and goes for a mug. Surely the pile of veggies she's made will be enough, yes? Time to enjoy the fruits of labor?

And tea?

She fills her mug, content to let somebody else handle the intricacies of food-making, and goes to sit at the kitchen table, to blow on her tea.

Danny
He continues to cook, tasting things. Turning things down and checking things.  Eventually things are turned off and there's the frantic serving up that goes on.  But he comes out finally with the food, bowls for the soup and more bowls for the main course, a platter with sticky rice wrapped in seaweed, a japanese version of perhaps another land, but it was worth it.

He sat and wiped his hands on the cloth he'd casually tucked into the back of his jeans pocket and grinned.

"Enjoy." There was the easy gesture, chopsticks had been set out and a spoon for those who might prefer it.  Danny himself just picked up the chop sticks with practised ease.

Grace
Grace also goes for chopsticks first. With as much Asian food as she eats, it would be hard not to learn.

"It's so much work. I mean, thanks."

There's a smile, and then she starts shuttling various things over to her bowl with the chopsticks. She might not eat it exactly Japanese style, but she doesn't much care for the traditions or manners of any culture, including her own.

Danny
He grins watching her eat, then starts on his own food. "I've got footage and a few videos in the pipeline, it'll be good. Things are heating up."

He comments. "So, next time give me a shopping list of things you really really want from where ever I am in the world, I will try to give you what you need."

Grace
"Are you always going to be on the move like this? It might make it hard to keep in touch with people," Grace says, offhand, like she's not saying anything of any importance.

She might, also, be able to do something about that...

Correspondence can be a wonderful thing, can't it?

Danny
He shrugs slightly, then sighs heavily. "It's going to be hard, honestly from time to time I got real homesick, like I'd lost my tribe or something. I mean I love being on tour, I love playing on the game consoles, I love the creative process that comes with it.... " He shrugs again. Then lifts his eyes to look at Grace. '

"Why? I've got email, I've got skype, I've got an insane schedule to blight the both of them. That's one big issue with it, no privacy nearly. Fame can be great, it can be amazing, but there's the other side to it as well."

Grace
"Ahh. So it's just the time involved? I can do nothing to give you more time. Closer space? Sure..."

She picks up a seaweed-wrapped sticky rice ball, and shoves it in her mouth with her chopsticks. Mmm.

"I guess you'll just have to try that much harder to connect to your 'tribe' when you can, huh?"

Danny
He nods. "Yes, and that means you all got to call me or something from time to time. It gets maddening, it's like this merry go round life that just, constantly keeps going. Does that make sense?  A complete whirlwind.

I mean I can..." Then he frowns hearing her words. "What do you mean by closer space?"

Grace
"I mean lots of things. I could hook you up with some VR, make it almost real. I could give you, I don't know... an enchanted lock of hair perhaps? So I Could follow you wherever you go. I can do that literally, now. There's things I could do."

And then, she's eating again, slurping down hot soup.

Danny
"Ahhh, the art of bending reality in a subtle format." he nods with same smile, eating between talking.

"So how does that work for you anyhow?"

Grace
"I know I see the world in a very different way from most. But I see us as living in a simulation of a universe. A computer program, right? So, we appear to be 'living' in three 'dimensions' but that's not really the case. It's all data that's being read and understood as such by our individual processing unit brains, but it's data, right? Numbers. Bits. There's nothing physically real about space."

Grace talks a lot, but she also does so while eating. Might not be the most pretty thing to look at.

"I can explain how that data is laid out, how its organized, but that's not really the point. The point is that all 'things' are one thing -- data -- and every 'thing' is connected through this. It's holistic -- a holographic display. There is nothing discrete, but rather all events, all matter, all 'things' are enmeshed everywhere at once.

"When you realize this, you can see the connections, and even travel along them, by modifying the underlying data."

Danny
He blinked listening to her, staring with the chopsticks paused halfway between the bowl and his semi open mouth. "The extra dimension? Worm tunnel?

Grace
"No. The 'no' dimension. They don't really exist," Grace says, chews, goes for more tea.

Danny
"Hmm..." He thought about it and then got up from his seat, then got a piece of paper and sat back down as he thought about it. Then he took another bite of the sea weed wrapped ball, munched it and spoke again.

"Okay, space. Or at least how I see it is that fibres of the paper are the different layers." He bends the paper and then drives a chopstick through it. "This is how I see it working. It creates a warp in the weave allowing for two sides to bend and morph close to each other, each of these random spikes or warps can be bridged.  Therefore, making correspondence a workable principal. Or at least that's how I see it." He grins.

Grace
Grace smiles at his depiction of space as a bent piece of paper with a chopstick through it. "That's not bad. It's something kind of similar, I guess, with me. Only I see the paper and the chopstick as ideas, not really existing in a physical sense."

Chew chew chew.

"If that makes sense."

Danny
"It kinda does?" He hedges slightly. "I mean who hasn't seen Matrix? With your idea, there is no way out."

Grace
She giggles at him. He has no idea. "No way out? Why wouldn't there be?"

Danny
Both hands come up gently and he chuckles.

"Its okay, right, explain it to me, but do it slowly and remember that I'm not tech savvy."

Grace
Grace sits up in her chair, says, very slowly: "I have been to another universe."

Danny
His jaw literally drops as he stares at her.  Attention fixed as he stares at her, here, a stunning musician was captivated by talk of other worlds.

He whispered as if afraid of sudden noises for a moment, enrapt with the conversation twist as he was. "Tell me.."

Grace
"I've told you this before, haven't I? Bastion? The thing that Kalen was sucked into, and I tried to rescue him from?"

Kalen would be horrified to hear it referenced as such. A 'rescue' operation. For him. But that's almost what it was.

"It's a specialty of the Virtual Adepts -- creating new universes. Or at least, attempting to. Bastion succeeded, but it drew the ire of the Technocracy, and the makers got killed off one by one, leaving the new, untested Bastion damaged and without any tech support. Fantastic idea, there, Technofucks."

Danny
He nods. "Yeah, you've both told me snippets, but the problem is, I need it in laymans terms."

Grace
"Think of it like this. It was a baby universe, created within our own. Like our universe gave birth, right? And it kept trying to feed off of its mother, until we told it 'no'. We fixed its boo boos and weaned it, and let it go free."

Layman's terms. Weird-ass layman's terms. That's as good as she can get.

Danny
Now that he could get his head around and grinned. "Originally, while it was feeding it would be getting it's own heat and energy? Then some sort of catechism event happened, would this be where you and Kalen got involved?"

Grace
"People's minds were the milk. That was the problem. It needed... I don't know... mental energy? Something like that?"

Danny
He nods. "Absolutely, it's what binary stars do off each other. One feeds the other, usually it ends up with the "mother" or the elder twin star from binary star system leeches power and heat and this makes it flash, the younger ones flash slower than the older ones. As the star gets more energy from it's unfortunate sibling, it spins faster and faster and faster, finally when it's got all the energy it can from the dead star..." He shrugs.

Grace
"If we hadn't fixed it, it might have drawn more attention, and then... either it would have died or we would have. Awful to consider, either way."

Grace picks up her bowl of soup and upends it, trying to get the very last bits. Homecooked meals are so awesome, aren't they?

Danny
"But in the meantime, there's this mirror world to us then?" He leaned on the table with his elbow resting on it and his hand held up to cup his chin as they talked to each other. "I still think something like Correspondence would be nice though, cheaper than phone calls."

Grace
"It can be... tricky. Sometimes, I find the best thing is to make the phone call. It's better than leaving your foot behind."

Danny
"Mmm.." He nods in agreement, "The oldies are still the best, what about wifi though? What I get fascinated from time to time by is how to bond something to something else, you know? So you can get a read of the person you've got the bonded item to.. I'm not too sure about the idea behind it all though. Not sure I like the ethics too much either."

Grace
"Mmm. Binding an item to a person so that they can be tracked? Kalen just ups and leaves sometimes. But he gave me a little stuffed lion once, just so that I could track him if need be. He's like that.

"And ethics? Well. I've tracked vampires before. If they attack you, I consider that to be fair game. I'm just saying."

Danny
"I'll talk to Kalen about it then." He smiled and then shrugged. "I think Vampires should be avoided at all costs thank you. I'm not your Van Helsing type thing. I'm the one that runs round screaming. Utterly useless in conflict. But I'm learning."

Fundamentals of Pumpkin Soup

Danny
(Search for the all-spark)

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 7, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 4 )

Grace
[Awareness/Perceptions!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 6, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )

Jo
There is no doubt that in the event of a lottery win, Jo would make any bakery quite happy. All the delicious frostings, glazes, and sweet treats would be had in droves; honestly if someone could simply beam them into her mouth at any given time, she would be happier than a cat on catnip. Oh... catnip cupcakes...

The eatery, branding itself as a provider of 'gourmet' sweets and coffee, was one of her favorites; it may contain a plethora of hipsters, but at least she wasn't surrounded by blondes. Ok that was unfair. -college- blondes. -Ditzy- blondes. Those people who drink tiny teas and spend their nights wondering which nail polish matches their arm hair... or.. something. Did she really know what they actually cared about?

She sent Grace a text, mostly for a 'HEY I'M TOTALLY OVER HERE' sake, and also because Grace was totally hot and clueless. How adorable is THAT? And cupcakes. Who doesn't want to share in the love of sugar and diabetes?

She sat at a table (where else would she sit) with her laptop busted out on the hard surface and her feet pulled up onto the chair. Her lids remained wide, fixating on the glorious shining screen of her robot overlords. The spongy bit of cake was shoved half into her mouth, frosting having been licked off some time ago to leave a smear of residue, and was now just resting between her lips as she attempted to do...click furiously through a series of forums.

Jo
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 10) ( success x 1 )

Danny
*It was just one of those days, day two of a steaming head cold and he was up before..... Ugh..... before 4pm, he checked his phone without really needing to then parked up and took another swig of the orange juice he had in the side pocket of his car.

Grace had invited him along and he was full of cold.  The things we do for love, right?  Sealing the bottle up he almost considered just closing his eyes and going back to sleep in the car there and then.  Even with the music blaring out of his CD player.  He didn't sniff, well he tried not to. One gimlet eye opened to a slit to look at Grace.* Okay... the coffee is on you, just keep it coming... and lots of cupcakes... Kay?

*His beautiful voice sounded full of hoarse ragged sounds.*

Grace
Grace walks into the place, Danny in tow (though not by the arm). He'd been sick, which was not the best of timing, Danny. But she needed, what? A friend to help her navigate this encounter? He didn't say no. And when she mentioned cupcakes, he didn't even seem too disappointed to be awake.

Now that they were there, however...

"Maybe you should have stayed home? You sound terrible," she said, as she shut the car down and stepped out into the slight chill of a warming Denver afternoon.

"She's here. I can feel her. That humming, do you notice?"

Grace, mind you, seems a bit different. There is still the shift underfoot, like the sliding of a faultline. She still lends her sharpness to the air. But when she steps out of the car, there's a bit of relaxation evident in her body language -- the stretch of an invisible, decidedly feathery wingspan.

Jo
Humming.

The dull vibration of a computer. The sound that, when one pays close attention, seems to emanate from the wires along telephone poles; ever present, consistent. It's a faint humming, the sort that comes from someone so new to the wire that they haven't quite pushed in yet.

Jo has her face so far into the realm of the computer that the sensation is almost normal. She feels them nearby, though it feels almost no different from any others she might come across, and it's not screaming out to her. Focused. Intent. Tapping on the keyboard. Her teen sink into the spongeycake, then the rest is pushed into her mouth, creating a magical chipmunk. A small twitch at her nose and Jo gives just a little movement of her head.

Then tapping. The clacking of her keys, softer on the laptop, yet somehow louder. She has a tendency to become a little overzealous in her...play. It's an instinctual response on her part that drives her to erach around the laptop for the next cupcake, only to come up with air. She meerkats, pulling the top of her computer down just enough to look at her plate, still chewing on the rest of the spongecake before giving a hard swallow.  Her lips purse, eyes narrow, and somehow...discovers that the universe is conspiring to force her into procuring more cupcakes.

Danny
*He raises his eyebrow and reaches for Grace gently.*

Hey.... I said I'd be here... I am never going to turn you away.  *He smiles and nods to her question, then lifted his head and his bright red nose - nice one mister rock star, you look like Rudolph - then smiled again.*

Yeah I can feel it.   It's okay...  I'll get the drinks.  *He went in with her to gain the upper hand on this cold thing, the only thing to herald his entrance this time was that madly spinning flashy pulsar as he drew his scarf in tighter and hunched his shoulders.* Lead on Macduff.

Grace
Grace smiles over to Jo and her meerkat, cupcake devouring ways. She gets a wave.

"Hey!" Just like they're old friends, perhaps, and not just some random people who met in line at the DMV.

She walks over to the table, pulls out a chair, and hooks her coat and laptop bag upon the back. Most Denverites are going without coats right about now, the weather's so 'warm'. But Grace is an Arizonian by nature, and Kalen's gift is warm. And obviously modded. Strips of plastic run around the seams of what once was a fashionable, sharp, red coat. Underneath, she has on a black Linux penguin t-shirt and blue jeans.

"This place has kickass cupcakes. I'm sure you've figured that out by now."

Jo
Warm enough for hoodies. Warm enough for hoodies with their sleeves pulled down a little and having holes cut in to slide their thumbs through; at least that is what Jo does. Dark grey, today, and pulled over a T-shirt that simply sported the power button for any computer these days. She moves her head to Grace, lips curling up into a wide grin. "Yo!" A hand shooting up into the air to give a rather exuberant wave, even though Grace has not only seen Jo, but is also right there. "TCHT. Yeah. Like the -best.- I mean seriously? Starbanks is totally just a brand and doesn't even like, bother to like, put in effort to make quality food. I mean really? Why do like people put crumbles on their stuff? Frosting is way cooler."

She moved her laptop closer to herself and her empty plate. "So like, who's the dude? Is he like, your boy or something?"

Danny
*He made his way to the bar and ordered one of everything on the cupcake menu... then glanced to look at whoever it was that Grace needed a wingman for... and smiled to himself when he saw her just jump right in socially.  He asked for a repeat of whatever it was that Jo had ordered then went for whatever he figured Grace might enjoy the best.... and for himself?  Man he must be suffering!! White hot chocolate with cream and cherry sauce on top and sprinkles of dark chocolate curls on top...  He paid.

Then he made his way over with the girl promising she'd bring it all over.  Warm or not, Danny was wrapped up in a red scarf and coat, and he was doing his best impression of a certain plague victim.

He sat himself down at the table and sank slightly under it as he leaned back. Just glad to not be trying to do anything special today. There... he was parked... and the handbrake was on... for a few minutes he just sat that way as he let things filter up to him from whatever level he was reaching today.*

Grace
"What, Danny? No. He's nobody's... Well, he's with Kalen. You haven't met Kalen yet? I probably would have heard about that."

She gives him a smile as he appears. "He's uh... a little sick."

"Thanks for getting the stuff, Danny. Sometimes they tend to forget I exist."

It's a blessing and a curse, whatever it is that keeps her from being noticed. It's a good thing that Jo recalled the events at the DMV, or remembered who this strange woman was, walking into the cupcake shop. A bit of priming is necessary. And lots of text messages. Waiters in random cafes and restaurants? They tend to be more oblivious.

Danny
*He felt like the opening bars of Complication by nine inch nails truth be told, a bit kind of distorted around the edges of the notes but the truth was there still regardless.

As he sneezed suddenly into the crook of his elbow his feet shot forwards under the table and he all but vanished into a cloud of hair then grimaced, found something to use for his nose and then pushed his hair back out of his face.* Sorry...

I'm Danny... I won't shake your hand, you don't want this, trust me. *He grinned a bit glassy eyed and cleared his throat carefully so's not to spread the lov... erm.. contamination.*

Oh it's fine.... *He waved it off.* So how do you girls know each other?

Jo
"Uh.. lessee..." Jo leaned back in her chair, rolling her eyes to the ceiling, ticking off something in the air. "Nope. Nope. Nope. No Kalen in my system. Never heard. Weird name. Like, what country is that from?" Her head still back, she rolled her head to look at Danny, pulling her arms in and shrinking away from him as he sneezed; she looked like she were afraid someone might have thrown a gun at her. "Holy jesus on a crackerjack stick. Man.. you're like... jesus.. what kinda malware you sportin? They got vaccines and stuff for that you know! You could like.. I dunno.." Jo squinted her eyes, easing back  in a comfortable position (feet flat on the seat). "Oh!" She leaned over to rummage in her backpack, lifting it up and shoving her head inside.  "Where is it?" Came her muffled voice, and then finally she held a hand up triumphantly. "Aha! AHAHA! I have found your ambrosia!" She held out her hand to Danny, unrolling her fingers to show the two pieces of wrapped ginger candy in her hands.

"Tcht! How? TCHT! Like you don't KNOW. I mean seriously? Did you like, miss the alien ship that flew over last month? Like ya know... took us all hostage. We totally saved the day. Musta wiped your memory. " Her lips broadened, showing her teeth. "Was totally cool. Grace went all Sigourney Weaver, and I was like, all Navii, and like, the whole place was like BAM BAM BAM with lasers. Cause Lasers dude. LASERS."

Grace
Grace just nods as Jo explains how they met. Yep, that's exactly what happened.

"It was pretty kickass."

Jo likes lasers. Grace files that away in her own mental databanks with a bit of glee. Jo will love laser-gun-o-rama.

"Oh hey! Ginger candy. You will be fixed up, dude."

Danny
*The look on his face was priceless.... PRICELESS I tell you!! Jo started talking and then went fishing and then offered him some whatever it was.

His jaw dropped and he looked at Grace, stunned temporarily into silence for the first time in ages... then he just smiled and shook his head before chuckling to himself.* Oh. My. God.  Wow..... .Just..... Wow..... How much coffee have you had today and where the hell can I get some!!!?

*Then he spied the pile of cake making its way over and shrugged helplessly.* Pile in.  *The candy was taken from the girl and one was popped into his mouth.* Can't get any worse, right?

Jo
"Oh yeah. It was like... I mean all star trek meets Star Wars. Totally cool. Minus the Force and all. But seriously, cool beans. Like, no casualties or nuthin. We're that cool. Bonny and Clyde without the whole death problem. I mean... you shoulda been there dude... I mean like.. mentally. Guess can't leave like, the whole public with that knowledge. Whole fabric of space be all WOOOSH and then well.. I mean have you -seen- alien invasion movies?"

"Coffee? Like.. a cup.. not much! I'm all sportin a high off whatever they like put in my cup. Dude you should try it. Close your eyes and just point at something. Seriously. Super cool. Ever notice how like, it's not really random? "

"I got more!" And there she was again, ostriching into her backpack and ruffling through. "Aha! See, problem is like, the whole bag opens and spills and then well, it's like you end up with like candy everywhere. Which is totally cool when you're all I NEED CANDY NOW. That's like..always." She tossed a piece of candy at Grace.

"Dude... your entire like..CPU could shut down. Seriously..." Jo looked to Grace, brows furrowed in confusion. "He's like, never had a computer has he? Or seen a doctor. Or takin a class on something about people? Kinda like he walked out of a vagina two seconds ago. I mean... you can always die. That's totally worse than havin a little malware."

And now..cake things. CAKE THINGS. She spares no time before latching her fingers on one and sliding her tongue along the frosting, much like ice cream.

Grace
Oh, Danny. It can get worse. It can get so much worse. The last time she was sick, Grace was bleeding out of every orifice and hallucinating her own death. Maybe that's why she wants to be a bit careful with him, just in case.

And then Jo makes that point for her. Yes. Like he walked out of a vagina two seconds ago. Grace snorts, looks to Danny like: 'oh, that was hilarious'. But then, the look of misery on his face subdues that reaction a little.

She offers him a cupcake. It's blue. Hard to tell what flavor, aside from blue. And with her other hand, she goes for her own -- a multicolored cupcake that obviously came here to party, what with all the sprinkles and things it has going on.

"We actually met at the DVM. I think she's trying to make up for the boringness of that by coming up with something fantastic. But whatever she says, it totally happened."

Danny
*Blue cupcake..... that was kewl, in it's own little way. With amusement he takes it, takes a breath and plunges in on the sugar head first. His arm resting across his front as he ate, trying to ignore the urge to sneeze again.. between bites and breaths he manages to even speak.*  Uh... Right.. Okay... I think I get it...

*he took another bite watching the pair of them.* I'm not that bad, I have computers and things.... I'm not completely inept you know... *He did grin a blue grin though.*

Jo
"TCHT was totally not boring. Was like seein an angel all glowing in the darkest time of my life.." She even adds in the swoony voice. "Ok like seriously? Totally. I mean, it's like the place you get STDS and a bad hangover without like physical contact. Like super weird tho. So like, I went home and tried to like calculate the odds of running into ya know, Grace at like a place like that. Like super rare, but probable. Kinda like runnin into a super computer in your bathroom. Super.. SUPER... SUPER rare but like, ya know, it can happen."

"Babies aren't completely inept. I mean, they can eat and stuff. Clearly takes decent genetics to like, manage that or something. So like, yeah that's good. And I mean, you can feed yourself. You've totally moved beyond the toddler stage. So like yeah, ok totally not inept. Just ya know, not good with like sickness and stuff. Ya know, like, my mom would give me like some pumpkin soup when I wasn't feeling great. Seriously. totally worth it. Totally faked being sick sometimes."

Grace
"The odds of people like us running into each other seem to be skewed. I'm just saying. Like, you're right -- if it were totally random, we'd unintentionally run into each other on extremely rare occasions. But my statistics show that the universe has it out for us. Or, you know, at least it thinks it knows what it's doing. Something like that."

She chomps into her cupcake, icing smudges on her nose and she doesn't seem to care, just looks up from her cake with this grin on her face.

"I'm glad it does though. Makes sure, at least, we're not lonely."

Danny
Pumpkin soup...... *He frowns a bit and looks at Grace.* Do I want soup?  I could kill for some noodles... I think.. *He frowned slightly and then took another bite of the cupcake... then looked back at Jo.* You.......  *He shakes his head.* Like.... you're like the Energizer Bunny or something...

*Yeah, great observation there from the plague victim in the corner. Oh boy he wasn't great right now. Was he? All those LA terms and expressions he tried hard to hide were coming out, so was the accent.*

Jo
Jo blinks, lets her eyes slide to the spot on Grace's nose before reaching out to swipe it with her finger. "That assumes a consciousness exists in the universe itself which is unlikely. Instead, the universe is likely composed of a set of values and integers. It's not like.. out for us, it's more like the algorithms that balance the system are like..such that it means that it hoses what is like inefficient to create efficient. Like, learning. Like a code that learns. AI but without all the like, human concept of consciousness cause then you're like..imposing emotional states on a series of codes and like, there is a specific set of algorithms and checks needed to like.. make something that 'feels' cause like that computer needs to 'feel' in order to make effective like, code learning and like.. " Jo ate the icing and then tapped her own chin. "Well like, all systems need a manager. Cause like without a manager, damage to the system would be like..well it'd be like.. uncontrollable and the system would fall apart. So like, you need cleaners, code seers sort of like. I mean...Like..The Matrix right? Like the system doesn't -want- humans dead cause that's bizarre. If it did, it would just like eliminate the program. I mean like when a program becomes obsolete you just like, delete it. When parts become obsolete you just like take them out and replace them. Nah it's more like when two sets of program interlock, the one that needs the most resources to operate totally takes over. Humans are just like, a small program so we're kind of like insignificant in the end, compared to like, other programs. And sometimes, malware just gets into the system, and the system has to like scan and quarantine or delete."

Jo blinked and looked to Danny. "Whu? Oh man like.. WHY. Udon noodles are like the best and now I want some. " She pursed her lips at him. "And sushi.. could totally rock some fish." Her lips curled into another grin and she slowly sat her chin on her knees. "Once had a teacher that said like, it's like the consequence of  being a quick thinker and stuff. Like always thinking means you can't just like, sit still. You gotta keep going cause yeah I mean there's always this end point right? And if you like sit still you're gunna miss it, and besides... I don't know how like people deal with lulls in their system. Boring! Seriously. Don't you get bored just like..sittin there?"

Grace
And there's Jo, in a cupcake shop, laying out her worldview for all. It's a similar thing to how Grace sees it, so the finger coming out to swipe icing off her nose barely registers as she takes all that in. Her eyes widen a touch. Could it be? Someone who Works like she does? Someone compatible?

"So you don't think you're conscious? You said you don't think one exists in the universe, so...."

Grace prods a little. Tries to, perhaps, ease a little room for other ideas into Jo's mindset, before it hardens up. But then...

"Want to go get some noodles? Something a little more substantial than cupcakes? Might do you some good. Let's do that."

Danny
*Jo was talking.  She was, he knew she was talking but some thing wasn't quite right with his mental processes right now and he almost felt like he was watching her through a goldfish bowl.* Uh.....

*There was this slight frown on his face as she carried on filling in the empty space around him... and now it was like he was in a cartoon, and the words were in little speech-bubbles but there were too many and he couldn't keep up with the flow of words... far too much. He lifts one finger and points at her with his immaculate black nail.* No more coffee for you.

 Uh.... *He frowned again in confusion, then lifted his hand and nodded.* Get this lot boxed up.   We'll take it and force feed someone sugar for a giggle.

*But yeah... he stood slowly, moving too fast might be a bad idea. When he was on his feet and sure he wasn't about to sneeze he nodded.* Noodles.... I need noodles..... And I need coffee...  I think. Or something....

*Then he frowned again and turned back to Jo.* There is a consciousness in the Universe... or else how would there be a universal song?

Jo
"See that's like where it becomes complicated. I mean what -IS- consciousness? I think that like, some people are become -aware- in the like the sense that you know you're a program and you like follow your code diligently. Sort of like that learning right? You become like code that can learn outside of like the usual learning. Evolving maybe? Maybe like it's a code that is incorporating new algorithms to enhance its function. But like most people? Nah I think like people are codes and programs. If you can figure out their programs then you can predict like what they'll do in the context of the system. Ever think it's weirdly coincidental that like, people seem to gravitate where you'd like expect them to? I mean that's their program. They never really thought of like -why- they wanted to do it, they just like 'felt' it was their calling. Seriously what is THAT? Totally not random. That's how the system remains functional right? It's like all the programs are working together without like, realizing it. Just a big network."

"Noodles!" She pushed her hand into the air and quickly packed up her goods. "Dude you're gunna give this to someone? No way!" Jo bounced from her seat, skipping to the register to procure a box and wrap it up tightly so the poor things would go sloshing around. "Dude like if you're gunna just hand it out, I will totally take it for midnight snacking. Games totally take all my energy." She zipped up her hoodie, pulled her backpack on and clasped it into place. "Is this guy for real?" She gestured at Danny with her thumb, already beginning to rock on her heels while she waited for them. "Seriously.. you do know that music and language is really just broken down into formulas. Seriously like, if you look at the musical patterns that are 'enjoyable' to people, it's really just a bunch of math. Seriously.. Like you should totally... dude no.. I'll tutor you in it ya know. Math I mean. It's simply and all but like once you see it..." She flattened her hands out, using them in the air as if seeing something amazing. "It's like the whole universe makes sense. Now come on." She grabbed him by the sleeve, but barely, 'fore you like start the zombie apocalypse in a bakery."

Danny
*He barely has time to mouth to Grace.* HELP ME!!  *Before he's dragged off.*

Grace
"The lady talks like she knows everything about everything," Grace says, gives a little uptick of a smile to Danny.

She starts packing away cupcakes for the ride, but then Jo is there to whisk them all away. To where?

"Hey, where are we going? Somewhere close I hope?"

She grabs her coat and her laptop and... good fucking grief does Jo have a lot of energy.

"There there, Danny," she says, fake pats his purple hair (look, everyone, Grace is willfully touching someone!) and trundles off behind them.

Danny
*He's hauled off into noodle land, which is good, noodles are good. Noodles don't hurt anyone. There's the odd virus cough from time to time as he's dragged.* I have a car.... we can drive... Okay? Driving is better than walking.  And you have to share the cake.



Jo
"Well I mean no, it's just like, math is the foundation of everything. I mean even physicists say that. Like without math you can't like..get it. I mean when you really break everyhting down it's numbers right? So like... if you're trying to find some kind of unversal song, then you're really just looking for the fundamental numbers that like bind people or notes or whatever. See that's the problem. I mean, like I get it. Like...like there is a code and like once you know the code you can like, alter it. But I mean what -IS- it? I figure, I figure like, if I keep looking I'll get the code and and I'll totally get the system right? Maybe like improve the algorithms or something, jump into the wire and just like... be with it. I think that maybe when you like overcome the limitations of the not-knowing, you can like, integrate completely in the system and discard the hardware."

She blinked, stepping outside and dragging him along. Jo paused near the bike rack, letting go of Danny to unhook her bicycle, reaching back to put the lock in her backpack. "Car? Seriously? Like...you know how like bad those things are? Sides I mean, I can't like take my ride with us right? I can totally ride along with you though. OH! Yeah let's do that!"

"I think there is like... an asian place nearby. I mean we are in like....Food Mecca. "

Grace
"Nah, Food Mecca is down Federal. They have this place with like, wonton tacos? It's amazement. You'd love it," Grace says, takes the other side of Danny so he can't escape.

Her hand goes to her pocket, and she slips out her phone. Okay, Google. Where's the nearest noodle store? Aha. Yes.

"Just down the strip of this mall, there's a Veitnachinese place. Bound to be noodles. Don't know how good they are."

But hey, it's close, and Danny is a bundle of cold virii loosely held together by human tissue. He might not last the night. Woe be unto Danny.

"You can get it without the math. The math just makes it easier for you. For someone like Danny, it just confuses. Everyone gets it in their own way, right? It's personal. Unique to you. Even those who try to codify it and lead others down the path in a rigorous way, they have subtle differences in the way they get it."

Danny
*It was fascinating in a terrifying way... and this bemused grin just started to appear on his face. Or was it one of those hallucination grins? Who knew... He just kept on waiting for the next load of words to come out.* If I say a random word, will you fill in the rest of the sentence? Can we try that?

*Yeah, she was cool in a totally nuts kind of way.. and kind of addictive too.*  Yeah..... *he coughs again into his free hand.* What Grace said... maths is... like.... effort.... I don't get it. I mean, just cos I'm s'posed to it don't mean I do.

Jo
"Wonton tacos? Like for realsies? DUDE. We have totally got to go there sometime. Like woah."

"But like, how do you get it without getting it? I mean if it's all numbers how can you like, get it without knowing the numbers? I mean like... how can you get the program if you don't know the code or like the function of the code and like the function of programs. Like.." She scratched her head, rolling the bike along with her and them. "I mean it's the thing. I mean like.. ok like... ok so say it's like pumpkin soup right? I mean like someone like Danny? Danny right? Might like... I dunno... get that it's made of pumpkin and like cream and stuff. But what does that mean really? Like... you get the basic components but ike without knowing what makes up the components then how do you really know what pumpkin soup -is?- I mean like... I mean like I think a chemist would say that right? It's not -just- pumpkin soup right?It's composed of like chemicals that react in like a very particular way to create the particular texture and flavor, and like without that it wouldn't even -be- pumpkin. So like..you can go further and be like.. Ok so I get the chemicals, but what defines like the... the thing that makes the chemicals and the flavor. Like what defines what they taste like and how do we like define pumpkin? So like when you break it down into numbers, it's a very particular pattern of integers that leads to that particular chemical and then those two programs interact to create a very particular, prespecified flavor."

"I mean I guess the person who like...says pumpkin and creap is pumpkin soup isn't -wrong- cause like it is that, sure but like... it's surface information. Like saying a computer is a computer. But it's composed of parts and energy."

"And you can SO get math. Seriously.. it's really just practice. Like.. I was the chess and math champ in school. I can totally show you the tricks. Promise."

Grace
"I dunno, Danny. How do you do it? I suppose you taste the soup, no?"

She walks along, looks up at the sky.

"I've seen a guy read the patterns of fate in a wisp of glitter dust. I've felt veils of perception ripped away from my eyes when a woman lit some incense and started chanting. They don't need the math to do what they do, but it works all the same.

"People like us, we need to understand a thing down to its roots. We need to know the chemical formula for pumpkin soup. Others might hear the pumpkins whispering to them from October past, telling the history of pumpkinness. It's not up to us to tell them they're wrong."

They arrive at the Asian food place (Grace bets they have pho, korean spare ribs, fried rice, and sweet-and-sour something on the menu here) and she opens the door for Danny. Poor colded Danny.

Danny
Okay... maths.  I'll put it into a version I can understand. Like Pulsars, right?  *he frowns as he thinks, trying to gather the frayed ropes of his intelligence and bringing them forwards to map them out and plait them together.* Music is maths, pure and simple maths, the frequency of the beat the precise rates of which each tone is put into sequence is a code all of its own.  Sound waves are a certain math, how it works is beyond me though. I just know I can do it. I don't need to understand it.  It's just there.

Much like soup.  *He nods to Grace.* It's there... it's that sense, that innate nature of what we are but on a more subliminal level. Raw energy.  *He nearly walked into the door itself when he sneezed again and gathered himself enough with just about enough dignity to go with it to avoid the door as he tries again and slips his hand into his pocket to pull out a hair band to tie his hair up, which he does with a lazy twist of his fingers and hands.*

I want something with ginger in it, apparently it's good for colds.  Ginger and vegetables with noodles... *He nods, then whatever else it was he was going to say is lost in a series of sneezes, which he does into the crook of his elbow again.* And I need alcohol.  Lots of it.

Jo
Jo couldn't help but laugh, almost hysterically. "No way! People think soup talks to them? That's SO weird! Like..woah.. seriously? Man...that must be like the best high ever. Like way better than like acid or mushrooms. " She locked up her bike outside of the restaurant and followed Grace in. "Dude, if you can like grasp physics, you should totally be grasping math. I mean seriously? That's what physics is... math like everywhere."

She slid into a seat with them, placing her backpack on the ground and wasting no time pulling out her phone, sliding her thumb along it for a moment. "Your peeps sound totally trippy. I have a few friends who are so into that kind of experience. Like... they'd totally love it. "

Grace
"Not everybody does, when it happens to them. I know a guy who spent a while on antipsychotics because he heard things he shouldn't. He was always meant to hear though.

"Have you met any others who can... get it? Like you do?"

She takes a seat next to Jo, wondering about her. She certainly sounds newish. Doesn't yet know that other people can understand the universe without math...

Danny
Yeah... but maths with physics is easy.... *he moans slightly...* I mean, I can't explain how I know it!! I just like that kind of thing so I can pick it up. And I'll have you know that Lamp posts can talk to people, they have this odd little tinny sound though to their voices.  Mostly they say "don't puke on me."  *He shrugs helplessly and slides into a seat to lean against the wall slightly with a sigh of relief and pulls out his wallet again.*

I don't need to understand the universal song but I can dance to it and play with it. *He shrugs and sits up again then picks up a menu.* Something with ginger in.... and shots... we need shots... correction, I need shots.

Jo
The laugh keeps up. "No way! You guys have -got- to intro me to whatever you do on the weekends cause it's totally awesome."

She pulled a leg up, pressing her cheek to her knee and looking at Grace. It was a tight fit but she made it -work.- "Like me? Nah. I mean like no one is like me. I mean, was. Though I never did really..I mean... you have Clippy on your word don't you? I mean do people not like listen to his help? If they totally listened, they'd be much more ya know..like in the know."

"The math isn't like..different. I mean if you get numbers you get numbers. Seriously. I think like most people are just scared of it. It's fun really. It's like... data. It's objective right? Not all hyped in feelings and beliefs. It just like...is. "

"Noodles for me! Like with lots of sauce and meat and sesame seeds. Dude we could ya know like... get the sharey plates. Totally like...cultural and all."

Grace
"Dude. I do not. Clippy," Grace says, scowls, points at her Tux logo shirt, like 'do you even know what this means?!?'

"I don't even Word."

Menu, menu, oh, save us from technological ideology clash. Grace peers over the offerings, and orders ginger chicken for Danny (because he's too sick to think straight, apparently) and Ma Po To Fu for herself (though they're all going to share anyway, from the look of it)

"I was working on my robot arm with laser gun attachment this weekend, actually. Going to suspend it from the ceiling of my laser tag training arena."

And, unlike previous conversations involving lasers, Grace is totally serious about that last statement.

Danny
Oh boy no... *He laughs then coughs again into his hand.* You don't get to share a plate with me... hell, I wouldn't even share food with me right now!!

*He does ask for rice wine as soon as they get to order though.  And the aforementioned noodles and vegetables. His head wasn't pounding, but that was probably the tylenol he'd taken before leaving this afternoon. Then here came that 'stuck' sneeze and the face to go with it.*

Aww come on already!! Someone sneeze for me? It's stu... *Ahh there it came. straight into the napkin he found before him on the table and no, he didn't blow then look, he just sneezed and groaned as he wiped.* Grace... I have to show you this cat I have. Made of metal.. and it's totally bitchin.... Joints and gears... real cool with it.  And I got me one of those "alien" things folded over on it's knee's  with glass on it's back.

*He nods with relief at the food and leans back in his seat to listen as the tech heads talk.*

Jo
"Tcht.. Dad was totally the same way. Gotta change with the times yo. Like, ya gotta progress. You gotta ya know, move with the tech. Incorporate new ideas. Ya know? New breakthroughs. New machinery. Can't be hanging out in the past and all. " She grinned slowly. "Clippy is super cool. Pushy, but man he can be a life saver."

She blinked, then slowly squinted, then furrowed ber brows as if she were digesting Grace's statement and trying to understand whether it was a joke or not. Then she softened, eyes widening slowly. "Really? You're totally doing stuff with lasers? MAN that is COOL."

Jo tilted her attention to Danny. "Well it's not like you share the same fork. I mean you get like a communal fork right, and then you like drop the bits on your plate and stuff. Totally normal culturally in asia and stuff."

Serafíne
Perception + Awareness

Dice: 7 d10 TN5 (3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 5 ) Re-rolls: 1

Serafíne
Noodle place.  Noodle place?  At the absurd hour of the ordinary, work-a-day evening meal.  An unfamiliar sensation to those open to the sense of the universe, perhaps.  Gut-wrenching, enthralling, threshold-hovering see, just outside the door.  Then in the door: long, bottle-blond hair with dark roots with a signature sidecut on the left otherwise falls in coils of curls around her shoulder, down her back.  Still a bit damp from the morning shower she took forty-five minutes ago.  Sera opens the door with her right shoulder and sort of spins around as if she always meant to complete a circle.

Leather jacket over a band t-shirt (white) over a bra (black - because), cut-off denim shorts over thigh-high fishnets held up by garters.  Tattoos all over her hands and forearms, visible where the cuffs of the jacket are pushed up.

She doesn't bother with order.  Doesn't care about food.  Just takes a minute while the door is open to take a last drag off her clove cigarette and chuck it into the nearby ashtray, then ducks inside and heads right for Grace, Jo, Danny.

Grace
"Clippy is... new ideas? They got rid of him what, ten years ago?" Grace shakes her head. Poor little new kid.

"It'll be fine, Danny. Fine. We can use chopsticks to move stuff to our plates, and eat with our forks."

She closes her eyes, seems to breathe in the scent of the place, such as it is. "Sera's here." Her eyes open and she smiles at Jo. "You'll like her."

Danny
Yeah I know that... *he nods.* But I'd feel really bad if you guys caught this.  *he waits for the drinks to arrive, then mercilessly begins to obliterate his senses with the rice wine.* I'ma get a cab home later.

*And there was Serafine... which was cool in her own way.. He turns with a smile for her and pours another shot.* Hey... *Is the greeting Serafine gets from the hoarse throated musician with what looks like a head cold judging from his nose.*

Huh? *His attention went back to the girls he was with where he stared at the pair of them blankly.*

Jo
"Clippy isn't no..well I mean -my- clippy is. I mean he's annoying sure but like.. he's actually useful. Seriously like the first time I calculated the probability of existing as a managerial program, he was totally there to help me locate the right search term."

Jo hums. The electrical current of her wires hum...that was the very sensation she gave. The subtle vibration of the computer fan, the move of electrical currents through wires...soft, still untapped, but present.  Unlike the group, Jo is having a hard time focusing on the energies they give off. Maybe she's still thinking about the initial problem she faced earlier, still, or maybe it's just her off day. She hadn't been very good at noticing Grace or Danny either..But she does notice a shift; enough that when Grace mentions it, she's not completely oblivious.

Jo drops her leg and puts one hand on the back of the chair and the other on Grace's shoulder to lift up enough to look back. "Really? Like where? I mean like who am I - Oh you mean her? Dude! For Real? Is she the one that hears pumpkin soup talk to her cause I'd totally buy that."

Jo glanced to Danny. "Eh no sweat ya know? Like I hang with gamers, and they are some of like the filthiest people ever. I'm immune. I have the latest upgrade of virus protection. Cool beans yeah?"

Serafíne
Sera is smiling, not precisely blissed out yet and probably still mostly sober but - smiling as she curves around a booth and dodges another table and comes up to / by / behind the small group, all of whom have noticed her already.  Grace she greets with a light touch of her tattooed left hand (the flash of ink on both the palm and the fingers) and this pressure of her mouth to the crown of Grace's head.

Danny next: a hand curving over his left shoulder as she slips by, smelling of patchouli and Chanel No. 5 and clove cigarettes, this pile of found-object necklaces 'round her neck (bicycle chain, pop can tabs strung together on wire) mixed in with south sea pearls, why the fuck not.  She's carrying a little clutch with a brass-knuckles clasp through which she has threaded her fingers.  Crystal-eyed skulls, there.  Just about enough room for a credit card, four cigarettes, a joint, a condom and three tabs of acid.

Everything a girl could ever need.

"Hey."  To all and sundry, Danny yeah, and Grace, and Jo to whom she has not been introduced.  Her smile easy, simmering, engaging.  A little waver of her hand through the clasp of that clutch for Jo, just because.  "What the fuck are y'all up to?"

Grace
Grace lets Sera kiss her head, and even lets Jo use her as a prop to climb upon -- almost as if she were open to the concept of being touched today.

"Getting Danny something more nutritious than cupcakes to eat because he said he needs a bunch of ginger and alcohol.

Also, we're getting to meet The Collective here. She's new. Fairly new, at least."

TheCollective is the name Jo gave her, so that's what she's going to use.

Danny
Gaming huh? *He blinks a bit, then shifts in the seat to give Sera room to move herself into the seat. For once, no guitar was present.* Silent Hill.... All I'm sayin.. *He nods again and clears his throat slightly.*

My mission for today is to get hammered and eat noodles.  How about you? *He smiles his approval of Sera's outfit.* Lookin good chica. *He turns back to stare at Grace, then Jo again.* Huh? Collective?  *That first shot went down waaaaaaaaaaay too easy.*

Danny
(i'm sorry guys. I need to bail. it's really late here.  Danny will stick around until there's a cab for him to fall out of later.)

Jo
Her lips curl into a broad grin as she regards Sera, certainly taking a moment to get a good glance at the whole package. "Yup, gamin. Silent hill is only like good up to four. Beyond that it's really a joke. The new PT totally came out though and it is Awesome! I looove watching people have like a total freak out. Super wicked."

"It is known. Collective I am. Well  I mean it's my youtube handle. I'm Jo..." She winked at Sera, the same one she had given Grace when they first met. Sliding back down into her seat, she focused on the drinks at hand. "When I calculated the probability of being a managerial program, I discovered that the probability was small now. So small that it's like.. not even likely. But! That was like... I don't know, a month ago? See the thing is, it's unlikely that I am -now- but that if I were to discover the beginning of the universal code, it would increase exponentially. So like...I could become the Architect! And that's totally like the collective."

"Didn't the alcohol come like.. after? I think we came here for noodles cause he totally couldn't stomach all the sugar. I mean... when you have malware, it's totally not a good idea to put puttin bad stuff in."

Serafíne
If Jo wants some time to take in the whole package, well, Sera's perfectly content to let her gaze.  No one dresses the way Sera does by accident, after all.  It's a calculated sartorial choice.

The clutch she drops onto the table top, curling a bit to the side as Danny gets up to head to the little boy's room - maybe for a quick bump, maybe for a hit of Kleenex, maybe because he actually has to pee.

"Serafíne," so Sera introduces herself, holding out one of those tattooed hands.  "You can call me Sera, though.  Fuckin' everyone does."

Like Jo: there's no last name, just a first name that sounds like it is both long enough and significant enough to stand in for every possible naming iteration one might require in the modern world.

"And I have no idea what the fuck you just said," this to Jo, a lazy lift of her sharp little chin flinging the concept of conversation back across the table to Grace, "but it sounds like it is all right up her goddamned alley.  You two must be getting along swimmingly."

Grace
"With the exception that she seems to like Clippy the animated paperclip abomination entirely too much, sure," Grace says, but she's smiling when she says it. Lucky Jo. "I think we'll get along."

"Last month, really? Is that when you woke up?"

Jo
"But like, is that what you go by? Sera? Or like Serafine?" She's quite content to take Sera's hand, though there's no grace to it. "That's cool beans. Lots of people don't. It's really just this. Everyone is software walking in hardware. With the like, proper understanding of the machine, and the system that contains it, we can become complete software, able to like, move around and stuff and eventually have more control over the system. Ya know, sort of like...like how your manager at like work makes sure all the ducks are in a row ya know? We're all just ducks but.. like you can be the bigger duck if you figure out the system."

"Huh? A month? Oh no like that's not it at all. I mean.. are you askin when I became aware that I wasn't like, a separate entity with full consciousness? Well I mean i sort of always knew a little.. here and there.. I just kind of put all the pieces together like last yearish. Nah I was just trying to calculate my odds. I mean you can't like, you can't just calculate your odds, you have to understand what you're calculating first and all that."

Serafíne
Jo asks whether she goes by Sera or like Serafine? and Sera just smiles and says "Yeah." to both.  She goes by Sera or like Serafine.  Gives Jo this quick flash of a peace sign - two fingers up, thumb and remaining fingers curved over her palm - that gives another hint of the ink on that left hand.

"You can call me either one, long as you don't call me a fucking machine or whatever the hell else you just said.  I mean, I'm happy to deconstruct the illusion of separation as much as you like," this little hook of her right shoulder, a supple curve, not quite surrender, but something close to it, "but the rest of it doesn't really make my blood sing, you know?  Doesn't resonate, in any way, shape or form, with how I see the world.

"Which is cool, actually.  Multiplicity is what we're all about."

Then Sera's glancing out the picture windows at a small knot of folks dressed not-entirely-unlike her post-punk Siouxsie Sioux, one of whom - a tall girl with a red-painted mouth and a rockabilly style all her own - is tapping on the glass to get Sera's attention.

"Grace, you oughta give her my number.  Gimme a call sometime, Jo.  I throw the wickedest fucking parties."

Grace
"Wicked parties," Grace assents, waves goodbye to Sera. "At least, as I understand it."

Grace prods the poor Danny, who seems to have checked out. Oh well. She'll make sure the noodles and chicken make their way to him eventually. Take out is mightily resilient, and better the next day out of the microwave anyway.

"Listen. I don't go in for the whole managerial thing either. Machines, sure. Being an Arch of any kind? Architect? Inefficient. Backwards. You don't want to rule over people like you're the juggernaut and they're the ducks. It won't work. At least, not for long. You want to change the world, you want to make the ducks do what you want? Okay. You gotta play subtler than that. You gotta build things that the ducks want to use of their own free will. You have to give them the freedom and the ability to join you. You can't do that if you're going around making sure they stay under your thumb. I mean, you can, but it's..."

She shakes her head. "Considered harmful."

Serafíne
(Thanks for the RP folks!)

Jo
"What who are about?" Her brows furrow slowly. "What are you like some.. OH.. it's like a club! Oh cool beans! So like your club is all about like.. oh ok I getcha. Yeah it's like, like ya gotta have diversity as a form of discovering new ideas to integrate into the fold. Totally makes sense. I mean any system that rejects new ideas dies. Totally have to be open to modernization."

When Jo lifts her hand, she gives Sera the rock symbol...and no tattoos. "Rock out right? Like totally. I will so have to like come by or something. I'll like, bring my computing system. We can totally rock out some Natural Selection."

Whatever Grace says is confusing, or at least seems to be given the way her face scrunches. "Ok so like, the architect is like the best analogy I can think of but like, you never rule over the system really. Look it's like...a functional and efficient system ingrates new objects and code routinely as a method of ascertaining if the old method is wrong. Like.. like reworking the logic of the system based on new information. So like all the programs in their hardware aren't rules cause that is still base don human logic of hierarchy and control. Systems are like, composed of smaller system interconnected with the bigger, aware system combining the congruence of thought to create organization. It's like..." She pulls her leg up again, scrunching her nose to try and explain. " It's like..like looking at infinite levels of numbers. So like what do you do with that? I mean if you like do nothing, there's chaos. Cause then all the data just does something. So instead, what you do is like, you find the commonalities of the numbers to create a uniform network. The differences in numbers allow for like...the creation of new ideas and progression of the system for the benefit of the group. So a true collective. I mean you get diversity cause you need it. A system composed of the same deteriorates just as like fast as one without organization. So like, you don't impose your own ideas on the whole. It's more like being the one who locates the pattern and finds the commonality of the system, giving it voice."

Grace
Any system that rejects new ideas dies -- succumbs to stasis and calcifies until it disintegrates.

"I've always thought that people look at the universe in the wrong way. Like, they see themselves, and then they see the universe, and they think they are separate. Such a loss. Like how people talk about natural this and unnatural that as though human acts were not natural? Are we not a part of nature?

You talk about us as interconnected systems, and that -- that is the key. We exist as networks. It only starts becoming unbalanced when something tries to control the network -- when we allow data to be weighted and prioritized. When you see yourself as data, you start to understand how precarious it all is. Because people start weighing each other and find everyone else lacking, and thus start dragging us down like the weights they've gone and attached to themselves.

That's all natural. It's what systems do. Water flows downhill, people seek survival. It's entropy at its finest. The trick is to find configurations where people and nature and all the other things made of data naturally find it in their best interests to be free."

Jo
"But that's like an illusion. I mean there is no freedom when we're just composed on numbers in a system. Like, computers aren't free. Nothing is free. It's just that like, we think we're free because it keeps the system running. Or at least..I mean... it keeps people from rejecting it, if you want to go all matrixy." She stretched an arm out. "It's not liek you're prioritizing data. You like, find the correct formula for a better system. A better system is one in which the components are like healthy... so like, like when you have a program taking up too much space and it's slowing the system down and like offering little in return. You strip the program and integrate a better program for the same function. It's like..." Jo leaned her head back and then "OH" befor elooking back at Grace. "Like..sort of like the BORG, only you're not against diversity. And you're not like controlling the individuals. I mean to some people it seems that way but the programs are all talking. Conversing, coming to a consensus. Like it might not be a conscious consensus but it's totally a consensus. Then your managerial program puts that consensus into action."

Grace
"It's interesting that you bring up the consensus. It's really the other way around. The consensus defines what we're capable of, in many ways. Like, I..." she leans in, starts going all hush-hush, as though anyone listening in would be able to remember anything except for Jo and her wild gesticulating self. "I could produce fireballs out of both my hands right now, and everybody watching would be incredulous. So much so that it could hurt me, even kill me to try. Like the universe has security protocols in place to prevent that sort of misuse."

She leans back. "Sometimes, it happens anyway. You screw up your code, and the segmentation faults are killer."

"I'll tell you something else, too. Everything intelligent exists because of that struggle to be free. What do you think entropy is? The winding down of the universe, they call it, right? Things settle down into a lower energy state, but why? Because localized events are using that energy to gain the freedom to do more. Things seek to maximize their ability to continue to be able to do. That's the primary, the root of intelligent behavior. You open up a box, you get the food inside, you eat it, each and every step of that process you're increasing your local entropic state and even that of the box. Why do you do it? Because you want to be able to climb the next tree and reach the next mountain, see the next thing that there is to see. And that is a basic function of nature. It's writ in the very laws of thermodynamics, baby.

Numbers can be free. I have proofs."

And with someone like Grace, you can guess that she does have them at her fingertips.

Jo
She blinks and can't help laugh. "People can't do that. I mean if they could well, I mean the code would be wrong. But see that didn't like just happen. Ok so let's assume you COULD and that the program punished you for like, stepping out, that's because everyone -now- agrees that like that isn't real. I mean teh code is too archaic. But it didn't just happen. Like a new idea came in, maybe two or like three but it was totally the minority. Maybe it wasn't like dangerous. Maybe those programs still provided some benefit, so they were like..integrated and then the data began to evolve to fit that consensus and the managerial program put it into action because like, the system worked -better- for it."

Jo shrugged slowly. "The winding down of the universe? Totally not my gig. I mean it's just not important to me. I mean like, it's an interesting question and stuff, but like...I don't know the answer and I'm not really, like, interested. I want the base code. I want to know like the foundations, the thing that makes it go. I want to like....BE the wire, not just like a program. I can you know. There is probability. I mean it's not impossible. I mean like, the free movement in the system is totally cool. Like think about it, being able to span the globe, beyond the globe..I mean like.. everywhere. It's all Ghost in the Shell, and I mean traditional, not like that new non-canon stuff. "

"I mean it's like totally cool you care about the  winding down and all that, I think, but I totally don't agree that the consensus defines capability. I mean if the commonality decided the possibilities then like, there would be no diversity. We'd just be like ants... and we'd just do what the consensus agrees to always. But that's totally not what happens. New code springs out and is incorporated. I mean like, the enlightenment. Seriously. The consensus was totally against that but like ti happened. People -did- things that the whole disagreed with, broke the mold by providing some new code that the managerial saw as like... better and more beneficial. "

Grace
"I don't care about the universe's winding down so much, actually. It went bang once, it can go bang again. All things end, and all things continue. It's the way. I only care about it as far as it shines a light on how the base code operates. Which, you're likely to find, requires looking in strange places."

She looks over at Danny, who seemed to have only needed a few shots of rice wine to pass out. "Um... Do you mind if we continue this conversation at a later date? I think I should get him home. And in bed. And set up with dinner for when he wakes up."

Jo
Jo leaned over to look at Danny and couldn't help but laugh a little. "Like totally. He needs some serious blankets and soup. Like woah. I mean really. Poor dude. I'll pay for dinner and stuff. I mean, like I'll probably like stay for more anyway and grab some extra left overs. The roommates looove it when I totally bring in chinese."

Grace
"Okay. And, ah... Welcome to the club, Jo. I'll call you sometime? We can mess around with my robots?"

Jo
"Totally! That's the lasers right? Cause like yeah, we have SO gotta do that!"

The music of the meteors

Danny
*He hadn't really kidnapped anyone in ages, so he was a bit rusty, but he did manage somehow to convince Grace that it was worth coming out tonight to go watch a meteor shower fall.  And so it was, the Observatory door was open, light streaming out from it and Danny was showing Grace around.* So if we wanted to look at this section of the sky for example, we could just easily rotate the wheel, you see the notches? That's how many degrees.  It's cool huh? Even from the 1890s everything still works!

*The dome shaped top of the slightly weathered pale blue green observatory roof was built on red brick, and had formal looking stone steps that lead down to a nice lawn.  Outside, there were random students and teachers all setting up their telescopes and some of them were setting up digital recorders to go with it.*

Grace
Danny's no good at kidnapping. He is, however, insanely good at convincing people to go with him, like some kind of pied piper of meteor showers.

"You don't think anyone's going to ask what you're doing touching the 1890s era telescope?" Grace asks, not really concerned about what those nebulous other people might say about Danny. She could easily walk up to the wheel and mess with it herself for all she cares. She'd probably get away with it easier too. Her friend has long purple hair and a penchant for outfits designed to draw the eye. He's somewhat... noticeable, shall we say?

Grace is not so loudly announcing her presence. Jeans, sneakers, short straight dark-ish hair. Trying to describe her would describe about half of the people in the room. So she could totally mess with that telescope. If she wanted. Only Danny would probably get blamed for it.

"We're traveling through an asteroid's debris trail, Google says."

Grace has been checking her phone now and then throughout this 'adventure'. Apparently she's been looking things up.

Danny
*He was dressed warmly, it had snowed lightly during the day and nearly the event had to be called off, but as usual, someone had cleared the snow from the roof to allow for a good show, and at this time at night, there was little alive in the world.  Apart from the warm heater in the Observatory itself, there were hot beverages and soup on supply via a good travel stove someone had brought, no one was going to starve.

Danny himself had a his leather jacket on, when didn't he? He also had a cowboy had on of all things, and jeans with instead of the usual shabby combats, tonight he had walking boots on that would grip to the snow easily.  Even with the chill in the air, he was happy. His cheeks bright. His long purple hair was loose today, it hung straight and there was a long desert scarf around his neck, tied so it could mask his face a bit if he needed it to.  Nope, our boy wasn't getting cold for anything.  Tonight he wore black leather gloves.*

I won't get in trouble. *he grins.* I've enrolled, I'm studying Cosmology and this is literal mana from the heavens.  We doing an experiment as well with some other places to see if there's a sound made when the Meteors skim.   It'll just add to the Cosmic Music.

Grace
"Of course there's a sound made. The meteors light up when they hit the atmosphere, so by the time we can see them, they're having rather violent interactions with air. That tends to make noise. Though, we might have trouble hearing it from here. They are small things. Usually burn up pretty fast," Grace says, spouting off the facts with great speed.

From the surrounding people, a chorus of interested voices pipe up, announcing the arrival of a meteor, an early arrival? Or just one of the normal meteors one can spot on any night? It doesn't matter. For those who were looking up, it was something to see, apparently.

Grace was not looking up.

"Damnit... Missed it," she says, scanning the sky for a few seconds.

Danny
That's why we've got other installations working with us. *He grins.*

We're going to share the data, and well, as I'm  musician, they want me to take a listen as well.  I think it's going to sound like one constant note, I hope so anyhow.

*He looks up and grins, then moves to where they had wifi set up to listen in on other places. The speakers are set up but for now they're just listening to make sure they get the right place and frequency.

He looks up and frowns, then leans with his arm outstretched.* That's where we're looking.  See? Not too far from Orion.

Grace
"Oh hey, that's kick ass," Grace says, going right over to the tech setup. "Can I get a copy? For fun?"

Grace is, predictably, looking over the equipment (because ooo pretty toys) when the next fireball streaks the sky. Distracted much? Maybe.

"Aaaugh, I'm going to have to just lie down and look up aren't I?"

Danny
Absolutely! *he grins and glances up with a nod before heading over to her.* If you want to you can, or we can....

*he leans and moves the mouse then brings up the large flat screen monitor, turns on the speakers and less than a second later, the live feed from four different camera installations were on the screen.* I'm not going to worry about explaining.

*He let her take the seat if she wanted to, and nodded over her head to the professor with a knowing smile. Then turned around and looked up and out through the hole in the roof to let the telescope work. People were lined up to take turns round the big old brass thing, all it's cogs and wheels shining. For such an old machine, it was beautiful.*



Grace
"Ooh hey, or, alternatively, man the video feed," Grace says, and takes the seat. "Thaaaanks."

With the speakers turned on, the slow, trickling start of the shower will now be audible. And what noise does a meteor make?

After a few minutes of tense anticipation, a light streaks across the screen of the laptop, and a whooshing noise emanates from the speaker. This, followed by the ghostly echo of the meteor's passing -- a long, bell-like tone. It sounds like it comes from a cold, dead place. But to the students and professors, it might as well be the most amazing thing they've ever heard, judging by the smiles.

Danny
*He drops his jaw and spins back around hearing it, his eyes widening up and this look of sheer delight on his face. He had silent joy written all over his face and he even hi fived his delighted professor, who then went about collecting data from the different readouts and noting things down. The techs were congratulating themselves quietly as the notes continue to chime away* Isn't that incredible?

Grace
It's been a long time since Grace had anything to do with the academia scene. Or at least, it feels like a long time. So much has happened, so many events, that it's hard to reconcile her current life with the one she left behind.

They are amazed to hear the meteors. And truly, it touches some of Grace's own need for discovery and experience. But...

The stars and their rocky children remind her of the space station she lived on for a short while, where every window's view led to the starfield. It reminds her of that time she met a universe. There are some things, wilder than meteor songs, that she'd never be able to share with these students, these professors.

The ringing atmosphere does put a smile on her own face, but it's brought there by other means than just the meteor shower.

"Oh, it's credible. But very neat all the same."

Danny
*He laughed.* Well, thank you for coming along anyhow... Do you want to stay here watching it through the screen?

Grace
"Well, I suppose I could. That's not the 'analog' way though, is it? I suppose if I want to 'really' experience it, I've got to go outside," Grace says, layering her sarcastic distaste of the analog ways in her voice.

"This is really neat, what you've got here. But I'm afraid to fuck with it any. I don't know, would that mess up your experiment?"

Danny
*The questions began at once. Could she improve the feed some? Could she think of any thing that might improve the tech here full stop?  It appeared that as usual, this sort of department might not get the same share of money as say the Smithsonian for example.  So of course there were going to be questions. Danny smiled.* It's up to you, I'm happy to just stay here staring up and listening in.

Grace
"I suppose it wouldn't be good to cause a bunch of questions wondering what I did to you guys' poor machine," Grace says, and leaves the computer screen for a bit. Let someone else have a turn at it, eh?

She starts looking up at the sky then, head craning up to see. Without taking her eyes off of the up, she lays down on the floor, just as another whooshing sound fills the air.

"Oooh. Nice one."

Danny
*He grinned, then sat down too before laying back, staring up.* This is just...  So yeah, this is my big secret. Sounds of the Universe.

Grace
"It's kind of lonely-sounding. Beautiful, but eerie, don't you think?" Grace says, listening to the echoing ring.

Danny
It is, but essentially what we're listening to is a dirge of a sorts isn't it? As they burn up, parts fall off and are ground to dust, perhaps some of the meteor flies on, perhaps most of it is destroyed?  I think it's a beautiful sound  as well.

*he falls silent, listening as a few go across together, the smile coming back onto his face.* It's like they're singing.

Grace
"Mmm. The mourning of a lost space rock. Kind of poetic, that," Grace says. It's cold here. Elevation combined with winter does that. But as they lie there, listening to the sky, they are not lonely.

Perhaps the rocks would be pleased to know that their music was heard by someone, appreciated by some small corner of the universe. It heard them as they sang their last.

"It's good you brought me up here. I'd have sat in my room drinking coffee all night, you know it."

Danny
*The grin broadened and he nodded in satisfaction.* Well you're welcome to come up here whenever you want to, if there are other things going on, I'll let you know.  It's pretty cool... Oh wow look at that long one go!

*The keening faintly flat note rang out true and sharp, then it was joined by another one go to with it. Shorter bursts sang out around it as a cluster of the space rocks rang out across the sky.*

Grace
"I think it's starting to get going full speed, what do you think?"

The meteors are coming in quicker now. Shower would be a bit of a misnomer. They're not literally spraying the sky, but certainly come in faster than the usual. Some rare ones are true fireballs, that leave little trails in their wake.

Each one sounds a little different to the ear. They're not 'in tune' to any human measure, but the notes they sing are at times a little higher or lower.

"Maybe you could map that to actual notes and make a melody out of it? It'd be pretty random I guess."

Danny
That's what I'm planning on doing. Writing around the notes and tones set out.  There are sounds from pulsars that I've retrieved as well, so I can punctuate all around it. It's all going to be very experimental. I might need a sound engineer though. *he glanced at her.*

Grace
"Oh man, I know just the person. Lena," Grace says, perhaps surprising Danny by not bothering to apply for the position herself. "She's one of us, she's a deejay, and she's totally awesome."

The sky rings a hollow note again. For a time nobody speaks, everyone listens. And then, when it's over...

"You should talk to her, at least. I'd be terrible at that."

Danny
*He nodded in agreement to her.* Well if you can hook me up I'd be grateful.

*He couldn't help but grin and be happy about this, then when he speaks again it's quieter.*

Coffee? Or are you warm enough?

Danny
(((FADE)))