Silence Is Golden, Duct Tape Is Silver (Open!)

[Riley O'Connor]

Riley was a bit annoyed.

She was trying to study, see, and some kid - she recognized him as Noam Goldstein, the annoying flier kid in the year above her, was humming some stupid song from a musical, though which one he was humming escaped her, but it was annoying. And most importantly, it was distracting, and she was certain that half of the library could hear his annoying song. Sure, he was good and all, but not when she was trying to study for a history test. Memorizing all of those facts and dates? Pointless, simply pointless. When was it even going to be useful to spit out all of that silly information when she was one day an engineer?

Sighing, she locked eyes with the teen, who winked. "Go away," she hissed. He chuckled. "I mean it." Still, Noam looked unfazed. "You're distracting me. I'll get some duct tape," she told him, crossing her arms. Of course, she'd never actually do such a thing, but at least it got him to go away. She felt a bit relieved as he hurried towards the door, though he'd never exactly liked her, nor had she ever really liked him.

She didn't look up as someone else sat down at her table.

[Miriam Cohen]

Miri had not been at school long enough to feel she had fallen behind, but her powers were making it difficult to keep up. She could not stop thinking about them, and sometimes thinking was all it took to push her into using. It left her feeling tired and confused. Luckily, her gloves were new. They had been unnecessary back home. Now they protected her from her powers.

Between that and the noise in the dorms, she was starting to spend a lot of time in the library. She did not know the boy who kept messing around, but it didn’t matter. She would not have been able to scrape up the courage to say anything, anyway.

The other girl sitting close by, though, apparently had no qualms. So many of the kids at this school seemed to have an endless supply of attitude. Miri envied them. Lucy never worried about how other people viewed her, did she? And apparently, neither did this girl.

Still, Miri had to admire how she used her guts. After the boy left, she debated, gnawing at her lip for a moment, then scooped up her books and backpack and shifted to the other table. “So, that was cool. Not talking,” she added, “not beyond that, just… very cool.” She kept her voice low, not wanting to distract the other students.

[Riley O'Connor]

Riley looked over at the new arrival, checking over her curiously. So Goldstein was bothering people other than her, it seemed, which made her a bit more annoyed with the guy. He had absolutely zero tact whatsoever, that was undeniable, and she really disliked the older guy. He'd always gotten on her nerves, and normally, it was her leaving, but this time, things had been different. Riley felt empowered by the entire thing. For the first time standing up to a guy like Noam, she didn't consider it too hard at all, and hopefully, the other girl hadn't been too peeved by the other boy. If so, she'd rig something for a prank, though she didn't want to risk a detention. Her power would surely help, but she'd have to be careful...

"Thanks," Riley replied with an embarrassed grin(in a whisper, of course). So someone else had been paying attention. Hopefully she wouldn't spread rumors about the thing, because she was sure that Goldstein would. It was mainly a guess -- she'd hurt his pride, but it had been necessary for her concentration. "I just did what needed to be done, y'see... me studying was getting hard with him making all that noise.." She hoped her accent wasn't showing to obviously, though it had, for the most part, faded while she was at Hammel. "I don't normally stand up to him. He's as annoying as it gets."

She took another look at the girl. "I haven't seen you around," she mused. "I'm Riley."

[Miriam Cohen]

In truth, Miri would have been able to just ignore the humming—it was distracting, sure, but once she got into her reading she would have been able to shut out the noise. She took her impression of Riley away from this experience, not frustration. Hanging on to negative emotions never did anyone any good.

She grinned back and offered her hand at Riley’s introduction. “Miri. I just started last week. Ooh, the Civil War!” she said, noticing the subject in Riley’s history book. U.S. history was not Miri’s favorite, but she had studied it so many times in school, she just had to learn more, to really know what was going on.

Sympathetically, she offered, “They make it so boring in the textbooks, don’t they?” Miri was a history geek and always had been. She loved learning about how people lived in different times. The battles and stuff interested her less, but the social upheaval and far-reaching echoes were fascinating.

She realized a moment too late that she had claimed she wouldn’t talk any more, but Riley seemed okay with it. She had engaged enough that this was not weird… right? Uncertain, Miri just kept smiling and waited to see how the other girl would respond.

[Riley O'Connor]

The girl liked history. Great. Well, maybe it could work to her advantage, and possibly she had a few tips to remember all of the names to those generals and the dates and all of the useless information she'd have to spit out in the upcoming test. She was a science and math girl, logical and calculating, though awful at memorization of facts. Remembering formulas and systems were okay, but dates and things? Forget them. It just wasn't her thing, really, though she could try.

"Well, it is," she admitted with a shrug. "I just can't memorize all of that information..." She shook her head, giving a slightly annoyed look to the textbook. "I mean, sure, it's interesting, but when will I ever need to remember that General Robert Lee commanded the Confederate army?" She sounded a little bit frustrated with the entire thing. "I'm an engineer, not a historian."

Maybe the kid would have some sort of trick, or at least a tip to help her remember things.

[Miriam Cohen]

That was a fair challenge. Miri thought for a moment. “You’re right,” she agreed, first. “Besides your next history test, you might never need to know that.” She did not like to contradict somebody right away, even someone who seemed to want an answer. The distance between history and engineering seemed apparent enough.

“But, okay,” she said, “so… let’s say you finish college, and you get this really great job offer, but it’s in the South. Maybe you don’t need to know about General Lee, but what if someone gives you a paperweight with the Dixie flag and you don’t know what that is? Or if there’s tension between coworkers of different races ‘cause of the lingering racism in the culture there?”

Fonder of history, Miri did not know enough about engineering to suggest engineering in history. She was not even sure what an engineer would do, exactly. Would the introduction of rifling and the now-traditional ‘bullet’ shape matter? Or the technical contributions of Leonardo da Vinci? Surely a maker of things, an introducer of new ideas, ought to know more than anyone the mistakes of the past!

All those arguments were based on uncertain assumptions, though.

[Riley O'Connor]

Finally, someone who agreed that History at times was useless rubbish that no one needed to know. Though, as the girl went on, she had to admit that there was some logic behind it. Riley would likely avoid any job offer in the south if possible, but hey, a job offer was a job offer, and if that particular offer was the only one, than maybe, just maybe, she'd take it. "Well, that'd be background reading to do. I mean, yes, research is key, but I'd only do it if necessary." This girl was practical, and preferred sticking to logic more than anything.

"I mean, sure, I might have to take some History classes in college, like History of Technology, but still, that's a maybe. Plus... US History isn't as relevant to me. I'm from Ireland, originally," she admitted to the girl. It probably was slightly obvious, but her accent had faded slightly during her time here at Hammel. She normally stuck around during breaks to see her cousin's family, but occasionally she'd go home during breaks for a week or two. It all depended on what her family wanted her to do.

"I'm just awful at memorization, though." And there she was, admitting a weakness to a complete stranger. Riley mentally cursed.

[Miriam Cohen]

Miri believed that a person never knew what knowledge would be necessary and so cramming as much in as possible was the best solution—but then, Miri also believed that learning was cool and she had not decided what she wanted to do with her life, so maybe those were not ideal arguments for Riley.

“Whether it’s your own history or not, though,” she pointed out, “it’s still what you’re getting a grade in.” Perhaps not the best argument, but no matter how she felt about it, Riley was still in a U.S. History class. At least, Miri guessed she was because of the book.

From her older brother, she knew that most colleges had general education requirements that put even engineering students into arts classes. That could be different in Ireland, though. The U.S. History requirement would definitely be scrapped there.

Shifting the blame for Riley’s trouble, Miri suggested, “Oh, of course, facts without context are meaningless, that’s a stupid way to teach, well, anything. Maybe I can help? I’m pretty good at history. Plus I’ve already done U.S. history twice to get a background. Fourth and eighth grades.”

[Riley O'Connor]

The comment about grades sort of got Riley to be quiet. She was a bit of a perfectionist about them, and obsessed over getting perfect scores so she would stand out to her parents, who barely paid attention to her, due to the fact that she had quite a few siblings running around who were extraordinary compared to her with their academic prowess. Heck, some of them would get into Harvard without even trying, or so it seemed. Riley was at Hammel, away from it all, which was alright, but it still meant that she felt like her siblings were making her forgotten at home.

"That would be great. Thanks," she said quickly, opening the book. "Civil war era... it's difficult. Too many names and dates. Engineering innovations, now that I could remember, but not Generals...."