Researching Boredom (OPEN)

[Cateline Rodriguez]

Ashlyn settled down at the computer in front of her, looking at the screen for a moment before turning it on, glad that she had found one that didn't need to be started up. She glanced down at the mouse, testing the sensitivity, a small frown gracing her mostly hidden features. The pointer was barely moving across the screen, why people liked it like that she didn't know, but she preferred the movements to be small in her hand, large on the screen. She felt that a person should be able to use the mouse without having to actually remove their hand from one place on the mouse-pad. She felt the familiar tug at the back of her mind, Faith mumbling something about how she should just leave the settings be and get to her research paper.

"No Faith, you know how I am...This is annoying me," she stated, surprisingly good English coming from the young Japanese girl as she changed the settings. "It's not like it takes long to do anyways..." She looked back up at the screen, silently scanning the desktop for a moment before recognizing an internet browser and opening, quickly setting about searching for what she could use for the paper. Why had she decided to go with a topic she found dull and boring? Oh yeah, that's right, her teacher had suggested researching how hurricanes form. She guessed the teacher had thought it was relevant since she was from Tokyo, but she could care less about the weather. She sighed softly and looked at the book sitting on her lap. She should have just gone with researching it more, writing a paper on the history. At least that way she'd be interested in the subject and not bored out of her mind.

Can't be that bad, can it?

[Shizuko Hongo]

The blonde young woman was not expecting to find anyone else in the computer lab. After all, the internet on the campus typically blocked nearly everything, including useful sites. That was why she had spent her early days tirelessly hacking and sabotaging the connection to get a good, unblocked one from the mainland. She had been able to get the signal on her laptop, but when she had tried a few other computers, she had no such luck. After all her control over machines was nowhere near perfect yet. In fact, the only ones that seemed to respond to her were ones that she owned or made. She figured that, in time, she would be able to control other ones if she needed to. The last thing she wanted was to be caught in a fight and have no way of fighting back or defending herself. Of course, she did not come to the Media Room looking for a fight. In fact, she was doing quite the opposite. The rooms around her hidden lab were so noisy that she could not concentrate on what she was doing, and she did not want to make a mistake. That was her main reason for going to the room, though there was another one that she was not readily willing to “talk” about if she had to out loud.

In the many letters that she and Samara had exchanged, the other young woman often spoke of a room full of computers that was often her haven. She was able to practice her powers and hide from the rest of the school. The two young women very much alike in some ways; they both liked quiet surroundings and were not very fond of obtrusive people. The brown-eyed young woman held back a soft sigh and shook her head a little, tightening her hold on the book she held against her chest. There was no time to be thinking about sad things; she knew that Samara would not want her to be sad. Besides, she was on a mission and there was only one way to complete it. Her brown eyes glanced around the room, noting only one other person. Pink started to spread on her cheeks, as if by magic. She always became slightly embarrassed when sharing a room with another person, even if they were not addressing her directly. She was frozen at the door in indecision; should she go in and just fiddle with some of the computers, or should she just go back to her room and work on some more designs for a suit she had an idea for? The silence allowed her to hear the slow ticking of the clock which made her bite her lower lip and start to shift back and forth on her feet out of nervousness.

The next sound she heard was a soft voice, which made her snap back to reality. She shifted herself to see the profile of the person sitting at one of the computers. The only thing she could really see was the young woman’s long, black hair. She did note that the young woman had an open book on her lap, but, from a distance, she could not tell what book it was. She briefly glanced down to the book clutched against her chest in white knuckles before shuffling quietly over to a computer that was a few seats away from the young woman who had already been in the room. She gently placed a hand on the tower and murmured something and a humming sound came from it. The screen it was attached to flickered to life and she smiled triumphantly. A computer that actually worked for her! She sat down in the seat with a small smile on her face, hoping that she would be able to work with this computer. Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to get a better connection from the mainland with this one too? she thought to herself, typing her username and password into the computer and leaning back slightly to let it boot up.