o2.

[soundcirculates.livejournal.com]

[ there's music coming from one corner of the Quad; it's not so loud that it's overly intrusive, but it is noticeable, to anyone passing by. At the source of the sound sits Luka, legs crossed as she scribbles down a mixture of musical symbols and binary code. While she doesn't have any sort of music player on her person, the sound is definitely coming from her. It's not one set tune or song, and it changes entirely every few seconds, interjected with short bursts of static. All the while, Luka half-hums, half-sings under her breath ]

… I wanna rip and release your throat right now, I want to make you all mine... ♪ [ she pauses, and taps her pen against her lower lip, muttering to herself ] I probably ought to stop writing songs like that. [ with a sigh, she changes her tone, continuing to make notes on the sheet of paper set out in front of her ] ♫ Japanese ninja number one, we go creeping into the girls' locker room...

Comments

[macgyvered.livejournal.com]

Talking in nanograms of difference there, we are.

[ she raises one eyebrow and glances at luka as she makes a squeezing motion with her thumb and forefinger to demonstrate. and then back to the lyrics! because translating binary on the fly is kind of tricky, don't you know. it is amazing that this is the same girl who routinely sleeps through COD 101, honestly; if only she understood the concept of "applying herself" outside of stuff she likes. ]

... does that say "Google".

[soundcirculates.livejournal.com]

[ ]

The full sentence reads “Don't replicate anything used in Google It, You Moron.”

[macgyvered.livejournal.com]

There's a song called "Google It, You Moron"?

[ the way einiona says it makes it sound like that's the most amazing thing she's heard all week. ]

[soundcirculates.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, yes. It's one of the few – love songs, I suppose, that I've had to record with someone who irritates me. He would ask me a question, and no matter what it was, the answer would always be “Go Google it, you moron.” Unfortunately, my character in the song was simply masking her true feelings...

[macgyvered.livejournal.com]

It's a love song?

[ einiona purses her lips. well, anything's possible, she supposes, up to and including homicidal space bears. ]

Guess that makes sense. Mom says stuff like that to my dad all the time, and all she means is "I wish I hadn't married you for exactly this".

I figure if I ever get married I'll be saying that a lot, too.

[soundcirculates.livejournal.com]

[ ] I've recorded much more notable love songs, that I'd rather be remembered for. Google It was... a mishap, shall we say.

[macgyvered.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm sure I'd like to hear you sing sometime -

[ dot dot dot accessing central database: SHE IS IN PHILOSOPHY AND DRAMA WITH ME, ALSO HELPED ME TORMENT KAITO ON THE BBS THAT ONE TIME - oh yeah :D - ]

Luka, innit?

[soundcirculates.livejournal.com]

[ ]

Indeed it is. Einiona, correct?

[macgyvered.livejournal.com]

[ must be nice to have one of those be literal. ]

That's me, yeah.

[ einiona grins big and goofy for a second, then shrugs, staring down at the pages again. ]

Man. I wish you could meet my sister. She's addicted to this stuff - it's like she dreams in music. She'd go nuts to meet you.

[soundcirculates.livejournal.com]

She does? Ah, well, you never know how these things will turn out! After all, two of my three sisters are already here...

[macgyvered.livejournal.com]

Anything's possible, dad always says. Including homicidal space bears.

Who's the third?

[soundcirculates.livejournal.com]

... indeed.

That'd be Meiko. She's the oldest of us all; without her, our set isn't quite complete.

[macgyvered.livejournal.com]

If the rest of you are here, I'm sure she'll have to come aboard eventually. Not fair for her to get left behind and miss all the fun.

[ she grins, cheerful and encouraging. ]

That's how it works, innit?

[ an assumption that einiona leaves unspoken because it's so intrinsic to her perception of the world she doesn't even notice she's making it: einiona might believe everyone else gets the happy ending, but she doesn't expect the universe to ever provide any piece of her missing set. ]

[soundcirculates.livejournal.com]

[ ]

I suppose it is, yes. With five of us here, I'm not willing to believe that it's a complete coincidence. I imagine that time compression is often located to specific places, in the separate worlds, or some such. [ ] Or she's already here, and is simply too drunk to go to classes, or hook into the BBS system.

[macgyvered.livejournal.com]

Got me. I only know the basics.

[ whoa whoa wait back up the hovercar. ]

You can get drunk?

[soundcirculates.livejournal.com]

We can. Not that I've tried it myself, of course. It's best to overlook the moral implications of designing robots to become drunk and feel pain...

[macgyvered.livejournal.com]

[ hmmm. einiona's brow furrows as she considers this, and she rubs her chin, mouth puckering with intensity. finally, she spreads her hands out to her side, expansively. ]

Well, you can't make the words you sing mean anything if you don't know what the words mean, can you? What all of them mean.

[ a shrug. ]

Stands to reason if you don't know what hurting is, or happiness is, you can't make anyone else hear it in your voice.

Something like that, anyway.

[ she rubs at her mouth with her bandaged hand. ]

I don't think it's immoral. I think it makes you people.

[soundcirculates.livejournal.com]

That's quite right! Still, when you're only a year old, and you're made to sing songs of a romantic nature – you do have to wonder about these things. The knowledge of those experiences could easily be programmed into us.

[macgyvered.livejournal.com]

Suppose that's tr -

[ hey kids, let's play shattered assumptions time! ]

- you're only a year old?

[ pause. ]

I wish I looked that pretty at one year old.

[soundcirculates.livejournal.com]

Mm. I turned one at the end of January. Birthdays are quite an interesting experience, aren't they?

[macgyvered.livejournal.com]

[ einiona laughs. ]

Guess so. Too young to remember my first, I was, or my second ... or my fifth. I don't think I remember any of my birthdays before age seven very well.

What was it like for you?

[soundcirculates.livejournal.com]

Enjoyable! We had two main events, really. One for my fans, which was an open-air concert, and one with my family, that consisted of – well, the usual madness.

[macgyvered.livejournal.com]

[ oh lookit that smile. that is the smile of HAPPY MEMORIES. possibly (... well let's be honest there's no "possibly" about it) memories of family birthday beatings. einiona would find it strange to experience a birthday that didn't end with the unfortunate celebrant getting dogpiled by their siblings until they cried "uncle". after all, wasn't that how every family showed its love? ]

Families are like that.