Kid really needs to learn to watch where he's going [Open like an open thing]

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

 "You've gotta be kiddin me!" Alex shouted, shaking this video screen he was holding. "My own AI! Stop that!"

Apparently he was having trouble getting through one of the levels of his own game. 

Sure it was using basic text for it's graphics, but he was a programmer, not a graphic's artist. Besides, since he just had different symbols for different units and different colours for different armies and some symbols set aside for use with terrain, there was no need for fancy graphics.

So distracted by his strategy game he nearly walked into one of Stacy's fleshy walls as he wandered down the hallway, stretching his legs. He had spent his time from when he got on the ship until now programming this thing and convincing people from the engineering department to made the equipment he needed. He was damn well going to enjoy this game, even if strategy wasn't his thing. In fact, the only reason why he had made a strategy game at all was because he had an idea earlier for a new algorithm that would more efficiently analyse enemy movements and know how to react better. This was of course, best suited for a.)a fighting game- which would require a graphics artist for it to be really playable- or b.) a strategy game.

So here he was, forty battles in, fighting an AI who seemed to know what moves he would make before he did.

"Come on! Get out of my friggin head you pile of bytes!"

Yup, he was far too into this game to notice much of anything around him. Even the walls sometimes got in his way. He didn't much care- usually you were left alone if you appeared very busy, and this game was getting to be such a pain now, he had to focus on it. For all he knew, he was about to walk straight into someone. Given the sheer number of people on the ship, this was bound to happen.

Comments

Thiiis is technically pending something I need to talk to mods about, buuuut....have cranky Mao?

[hatesheroes.livejournal.com]

Violation?!

What--

Mao's mind boggled at the sheer inconsequence, the impertinence, the insultingly irrelevant impudence of the missive he'd just received (although he was rather proud of his own alliteration).

Who the hell cared about a violation--what did he think he was, some sort of meek, subserviant piece of trash? A human? No self-respecting demon in their right mind would give a damn about something like that! 'Violation.' What a joke! It was an insult, that's what it was, denigrating something interesting and informative like his experiment into something so feeble and weak as a 'violation.' So what if he had a violation? Who cared!

What did it even mean?

Clearly, the only thing for it was to break more rules, to show them exactly what a real demon could do--they'd regret their pansy little 'violations' then...

Mao's mind spiralled on, railing against the insolence of this stupid galactic hunk of meat, so much so that he very nearly didn't see Alex--well, all right, he didn't see him, but in his defence, there was a corner. He turned it quickly, his temper high, and crashed directly into--something, someone taller than he was and carrying something hard at just the right height to crack him in the forehead.

"OW!"

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

There was a squeak and a "argh!" as Alex lost his balance from the impact and fell backwards. A tiny black rat rushed over Alex's shoulder back into hiding as Alex fumbled, keeping his game from falling.

Once the system was securely in his hand again he pet Alice, "It's okay." The rat was more important- and less terrifying- than any person he knew on this ship. Granted, he didn't know just about anyone on the ship.

With the rat reassured, he turned his attention to the boy muttering, "I-uh... I'm... Sorry." He stood, all the while averting his eyes. Why hadn't he been paying more attention? He ought to look up from the game every so often so he could see where he was going. He wasn't used to hand-helds. He usually played his games in his room. Why did he make this one a hand-held?

Nervously Alex looked up, just to see a tier I shadow surrounding this kid. Alex backed up in fear, staring. Well, at least it was only a tier I. he could handle that... Right?

[hatesheroes.livejournal.com]

Mao didn't miss the rat, and there was a brief moment of irritated disbelief while he straightened his glasses before his eyes flicked up to Alex's face: another human. A terrified human, for whatever reason--averting its eyes, flustering and stammering all about like some addlepatted moron; it was terrified of him.

Normally, this would be gratifying--it still was, on some level, but at the same time, something seemed off; he hadn't even done anything yet, and around here it usually took at least a little persuasion to get these idiots to bow down before him like they were supposed to.

Or at least get out of his way.

"You'd better be sorry!" he snapped, picking himself up to throw his coat back over his shoulders properly. "Do you even know who I am?!"

Of course he didn't--they never did, not around here. But that was all the better--a decent chance to introduce himself and cow this person properly.

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

His eyes were still on the tier I shadow more than on Mao himself. He had only eaten a animate shadow on his own once before, and even then the others hadn't been far off. "I-uh... No. No clue."

If he could just get a little closer to this kid, he could eat that shadow, make sure it didn't grow any more. He would be in trouble if it was a tier two shadow. He would not know how to even go about trying to take that on, and he would be getting attacked.

Alex sort of awkwardly reached his hand out towards Mao. Just a little closer now and it would be easy to eat this shadow. Yes! He could feel the shadow rushing through his fingers, feel the irritation that Mao was just experiencing, but without the personal connection to the cause, he was able to quell the irritation pretty quickly.

With the shadow gone Alex was a little calmer. A little. "Erm, are you okay?" Even Alice was happier as she stuck her head out from over his shoulder to look at this new guy and try to decide if he was safe to explore.

Cleared stuff with mods. All is well.

[hatesheroes.livejournal.com]

"Wh--what are you doing?! Stop it!" Mao was more than a little disconcerted, and it echoed in his voice; the kid wasn't even looking at him, he was--what-- "Don't touch me!"

Thankfully, it seemed the human was listening, and just in time--it didn't touch him, pulling back its hand instead, calming down mysteriously over... something. What the hell had just happened?

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, damnit!" A lot of the violence, the real anger was gone from his tone suddenly, however--of course,
'a lot' was very different from 'all.' And Mao might have gone on to introduce himself, if something metal and quadrangular and very very interesting hadn't caught his eye.

"What is that?"

[bladesinflight.livejournal.com]

Really, it was more or less guaranteed to happen, especially considering that there were many other people in the ship just as distracted as Alex. Setsuna Sakurazaki, for instance. She had finally figured out the basic workings of the Omnicomm she'd been given. Mostly by experimentation, pressing buttons and selecting menus and hoping she didn't manage to erase its memory somehow. And she hadn't, luckily.

So Setsuna had downloaded a great deal of information on Stacy and the Ohm -- everything she could find that was cleared for public consumption -- and was reading through it with fierce determination. And somewhat uncharacteristically for her, she was doing so while she walked through the halls of the ship, completely engrossed in the story of the crew's first encounter with the alien menace. So it wasn't surprising at all that she collided with Alex as they both came around a corner.

Setsuna stumbled backward a few steps, blinking as she came out of her distracted state. "I-I'm terribly sorry! I'm afraid I wasn't paying --" Her eyebrows shot up as she recognized the figure before her. Well, this certainly seemed a bit familiar. "Ah, you're --" They hadn't exchanged names that she could recall, but... "We met in the pod caverns, yes?"

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex fumbled with his game, managing to catch it last second. "O-oh, uh, s-sorry i-it's my f-fau-"

She knew him? Oh. The pod caverns. The colour drained from his face. He had hoped that he hadn't met anyone there. He hoped that whatever they spoke about wouldn't spark his memory. From his experience, when he forgot something, it was better off left that way. "O-oh, er... M-m-maybe. I-I d-dunno." He smiled a very awkward nervous smile, his hand going up to scratch the back of his head, "I-I d-don' r-r-really re-remember th-that."

[bladesinflight.livejournal.com]

"Hm?" Setsuna blinked at the boy before her. With that stutter, he reminded her of her classmate Nodoka, back before she had grown and gained confidence in herself. And... he didn't remember? Well, that was understandable. There were certainly things about that day that Setsuna might have wished she didn't remember.

"Ah, that's quite alright," she finally said. "It was a very trying time for all of us, I'm certain." She bowed at the waist, ever polite. "My name is Setsuna Sakurazaki. It is a pleasure to meet you."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex sighed with relief that she didn't seem to show any desire to press the issue. Still, he ogled at her when she bowed at the waist, bowing back as awkwardly as humanly possible. "Ah, I-I'm A-Alex. Alex Furest. N-nice to meet you." He offered his hand, then dropped it, realizing that the bow took the place of a hand shake.

Even now that he was in a t-shirt and jeans, he didn't seem all that much more relaxed. This seemed to be accentuated by his stammering as he attempted to figure out what to say next. "S-so, uh... H-how l-long h-have you b-been h-here. Oh, p-podpop... R-right. Er... S-sorry. Uh..." He ended up smiling weakly, looking scared, while scratching the back of his head some more.

Alice, on the other hand, seemed much more relaxed. She popped her head out from under Alex's jacket, by his shoulder, sniffing at Setsuna.

[isee-snorkacks.livejournal.com]

It just so happens that Luna is too busy staring at a particularly exuberant vein in the upper area of the wall to notice the similarly--but not--distracted boy coming her way.

It is entirely inevitable that he trips over her, and she looks rather surprised to find herself on the floor.

"Oh, hello," she says from several feet below her normal--well, normal as of a week ago--height, not paying any particular attention to awkwardness of her newly acquired sitting position, or the fact that her sunflower-covered dress is two inches shorter than she's really used to it being.

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex tripped and landed perfectly gracefully on his face, holding his new game above his head. He groaned. Before he said anything, he checked on Alice- or rather, Alice checked on Alex, popping her head out of somewhere in the jacket where she had presumably managed to hold onto as Alex fell. Having made sure she was safe Alex turned over looking at the spacy young girl, "O-oh... uh, hi... I-I mean s-sorry, b-but st-still hi."

[isee-snorkacks.livejournal.com]

Luna's head tilts slightly, eyes fixed half on the boy's face, and half on that of his rat's.

"These hallways are rather small, aren't they? There never seems to be quite enough space to exist. Is that a Foracious Fortinagalof? I can't quite see if it's got the second set of elbows. Daddy would be so excited to see a Foracious Fortinagalof. He's always wanted one, you see. They're ever so useful for managing cupboards."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex stares at the girl, extremely confused. He was getting better at recovering from these moments of confusion and disbelief. He figured her weirdness was probably cultural... or something. "I... I, uh, n-never r-really f-found th-them t-too s-small b-before. A-and I-I've n-never h-heard of Foracious For-Forni-Fort- th-those things be-before. A-Alice's a r-rat. O-one e-elbow p-per a-arm... leg... W-well, she h-has the n-normal a-anatomy o-of a r-rat."

Alice turned her attention to the strange girl, and immediately took a liking to her. She ran down Alex's side and across the ground to sniff at her curiously.

[fail-umbrella.livejournal.com]

Nothing like a nice hallway to stalk! Kogasa had been in this particular hallway for close to three hours, looking for someone to spook. It was her bad luck that nobody had happened to walk down it at all during those three hours. She was starting to get a little bored, but the cheerful, slightly hopeful expression never left her face. After all, it would just be five more minutes until someone showed up!

...The umbrella had counted the number of times it would only be five more minutes, and deduced rather quickly that it would not, in fact, only be five more minutes, but it wasn't like it was in a position to argue with Kogasa.

And then, in a miraculous turn of events, Kogasa's prediction of five more minutes came true! The unmistakable sounds of someone muttering furiously could be heard, and Kogasa cackled, quieting down when she received a stern look from the umbrella. She hid just around a corner (though not very well; if Alex looked up for even a second he'd see her leg sticking out) and tried to muffle her giggles. This one was going to be so good. All she had to do was wait until this person had almost turned the corner, and then...

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex did not, in fact, look up. He had been crashing into people and walls all evening, and was starting to get the idea that he should find some-place to sit and play his game.

Alex yelped, nearly running into- well, it really could have been her or the wall, really. He managed to catch his balance before falling at least. Having managed to figure out which way was up, he notices the girl with the umbrella, "O-oh... er... R-really s-sorry 'bout th-that.

[fail-umbrella.livejournal.com]

Kogasa stared at Alex, then turned to her umbrella. "You think that counts?" The umbrella looked back at her and frowned. Technically, she hadn't really done anything to scare him, so...Kogasa sighed in defeat. "So this didn't work either...and I thought for sure I'd do really well here."

She turned her attention back to the boy in front of her. "It's okay, you don't have to be sorry! I'm fine, see?"

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

"I-I w-wasn't watching w-where I w-was going. I-I sh-should be m-more c-careful." He scratched the back of his head nervously, looking to the side as if he had done something seriously wrong.

"Y-you s-sure y-you're o-okay."

[dhianeila.livejournal.com]

"Alex!" a familiar voice cheerfully called from behind him. Dhianeila had sensed him wandering about, so decided to mover her projection over to the area to see what the boy was up to. Just in time to see him either crashing into or falling over one of the many others who were wandering the hallways.

"Ah..."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex had just managed to walk into a wall with the grace of a pirouetting elephant. He recovered with the agility of one of those therapeutic punching clowns. Having heard his name called from behind him he turned once he recovered himself. The slumbering rat in his hood had become accustomed to such jolts, it seemed, since she did not even stir.

It was that projection girl that he couldn't see the shadows of from the meet and greet. He hit a button on the game system, pausing it out of habit, since a turn based strategy game didn't much need a pause button. With that attended to, he smiled, "H-hey, o-oh, I-I'm o-okay."

[dhianeila.livejournal.com]

"Are you sure? You should watch your step, you seem pretty engrossed in what you're doing."

With that, she looked a the device in his hands. "What is it?"

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex laughed a bit, "I-I'm pretty re-resilient." He scratched the back of his head as he held out the screen for Dhianeila to see, "I-it's a v-video g-game, p-programmed it m-myself, l-last f-few d-days. R-really b-basic."

[riseupnchargem.livejournal.com]

Jamie, having paused en route to the hangar to peruse his omnicomm, was more than a little surprised when something large and solid collided with his back. Lurching forward a few steps, flailing to keep ahold of his comm, once he was back under control he turned to see what had run into him. " - ah, sorry," he said, mainly out of reflex, though he did look fairly contrite. "You okay?"

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

"Gah! N-no! I-I'm sorry! I-I was j-just so i-into my g-game!" Alex's cheeks were flushed as he held his hands up in front of him, game in one hand, the palm of the other hand facing out.

[riseupnchargem.livejournal.com]

Jamie blinked at the other teen's outburst, momentarily taken aback by the notion that someone was apologizing so frantically to him. It wasn't as though Jamie was capable of doing anything horrendous in retaliation, after all. Or that Stacy would let him get away with it even if he could. "Um...it's okay, really. No harm done, right?"

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

"A-are you s-sure? I r-really shoulda been payin' m-more attention!" Alex's hands were still up as he franticly replied.