Before There Was Blue-Screen

[Sebastian Bolstad]

Thack thack thack…… Thack thack…. Thack…….. ThackThackThack

Sebastian stared at the typewriter on the desk in front of him, wondering why the letters had stopped printing all of a sudden. Once he had gotten over his initial fear of the machine Seb had been very slowly but surely learning how to use it. He still got confused often and it took him a while to find certain keys sometimes, but he liked to think he was getting pretty okay at using it. Oddly, he also found that he was rather enjoying using it too. That was something he had never, ever expected would happen.

With a quiet huff of a frustrated breath, Sebastian removed the half-finished letter from the machine and stared down at it, as though the answer to the problem would just kindly point itself out to him. Sadly the device seemed to be being uncooperative, and the blonde irritably poked it with a slender finger. No wonder computers caused so much chaos and harm in the world if their older relatives could not work reliably. He still did not understand why so many of the teachers were unhappy with him submitting handwritten assignments.

After packing the typewriter into its case, Seb hauled it out of his dorm and headed for the computing classroom. The typewriter had been loaned to him from the computing teacher not long after Seb had first started at Hammel, so he hoped that Mr Cohen would be able to fix it for him again so he wouldn’t have to touch any of the computers. On arrival at the IT classroom, however, Seb was met with an unfamiliar face. He was out of breath from lugging the heavy machine around, and settled it onto a desk before addressing the stranger. “Hello. I do not mean to disturb you, but I wonder if you might help me, please? Mr Cohen’s typewriter appears to be broken.”

[Wynn Cooper]

Wynn spent his time loitering in the IT room. A lot of this time was on his beloved laptop chatting with some online friends. For him it was easier to talk to people through electronic means rather than face to face where body-language and tone of voice played roles in how the conversation took it's course. After a while many of the people had actual work to go do, or needed to appease their children, so the chat box seemed to die out. He did find other means of entertainment through Tetris and Mine sweeper.

All the same it was just another slow day for the Technopath, who wanted to find something that would hold his interest.
Low and behold someone who could possibly do just that entered the scene.

Closing his laptop, Wynn looked at the blonde boy with wide-eyed curiosity. The student to his time to lug a typewriter all the way to the IT room for assistance. The Vermonter couldn't help but get chills up his spine by this. Why someone would go through such great lengths to get it fixed, let alone type something up at all, completely dumbfounded him. The boy could've just used a school computer. It would be less likely to fall apart on your lap, and you wouldn't have an obnoxious sound every time a character has been typed nor erased.

"Hi." That was the first word that came out of a very befuddled Wynn's mouth. "You're not really interrupting anything." He assured him before listening to the kid's problem. Mr Cohen's typewriter. That made a bit more sense. Maybe the man was still paranoid enough that he though a typewriter wouldn't get a virus from the government (or some organization). But still, why the blond would borrow it was beyond him.

"Um, I can try...." Typewriters weren't really Wynn's thing. The thought of someone choosing to use one over a computer almost made him cringe. Stepping over to the desk where the machine laid to examine it. He picked it up to look around at it with little idea of what to do. He gave sigh. Turning to the boy he asked a question he couldn't help but wonder about, "why're you using it the first place?"

[Sebastian Bolstad]

Seb's first few days at Hammel had been unpleasant to say the very least, and he still found it very bizarre to believe that one of the people he got along best with was a man he had initially been completely afraid of. Seb was a firm believer that modern technology was a route cause of many of the problems with the world as it was, and Mr Cohen's affinity with the unnatural machines had made the blonde incredibly wary of him. However, he had quickly learned that the man was kind and amicable, and the teacher had helped him out as best as he could despite the huge gap in their beliefs and attitudes towards many things.

The new face of course brought new worries to the blonde's mind, and he nervously chewed the corner of his lip as the long-haired man eyed him. His right hand curled around his left elbow and Seb rocked slightly from one foot to the other in discomfort. He hated this room and everything that it stood for. For the life of him he couldn't understand why people found these creepy things so appealing, and the unfamiliar face amongst them was doing little to ease his tension.

If he didn't have an English paper due in a few days he would have just left it and gone back to his dorm.

“Thank you so much, sir.” Seb stood out of the way as the man came over to inspect the typewriter, and he was a little surprised to see him looking at it much the same way he had. Seb didn't comment on that, of course, but he watched from a distance as the machine was turned over and inspected.

The man's question caused Seb to flash a very wary glance towards the computers before blue eyes returned to the stranger. “I have been informed that I cannot turn in certain assignments if they are handwritten, they must be typed out. Mr Cohen was kind enough to loan this to me so that I could do that.”

[Wynn Cooper]

Wynn was still new at Hammel, at least as a staff. He had yet to get used to interacting with a larger variety of students who needed his assistance. Most of the kids hesitated to ask him so far, seeing how they were more used to Mr. Cohen this made some sense. Still, Wynn didn't see why they would feel that way. He was in no way intimidating or scary. Perhaps it was how he always muttered to the computer as he fixed it? Ah, who cared at this point anyways?

Well, this boy who came to see Wynn seemed just as hesitant, maybe even more so if the Technopath even cared to examine his body language. Wynn's reaction to the predicament was mutual. As far as he was concerned the device in front of him was nothing more than a keyboard attached to a printer. He laid his long fingers onto the home row, glad it too was 'QWERTY' keyboard. With computers there was screen where he and the device could 'chat' with one another. But for this there was no screen, and an unsure technopath who offered his services. He nodded to the boys thanks, paying little attention to him. He was deep in thought as to how to 'talk' with the machine.

"You could always use a computer..." He gestured to the row of computers with screen savers buzzing around. "There're plenty in the school, and they aren't all used at once." His fingers tapped rythmically against the keys, but nothing happened. Paper or not, it didn't make the annoying Thack. "Hmmmmm..."

[Sebastian Bolstad]

Sebastian could kind of understand the man's sudden concentration on the machine – he often got the same look on his face when happened upon an interesting bug or rodent, or when he heard a particularly stirring piece of music. However, he still always made sure to pay some attention to his surroundings and if there was another person around they got the lions share of his attention. That was how civilised society worked; it would all fall apart if people stopped communicating just because a shiny thing appeared. He knew he had brought the typewriter in for the man to hopefully fix for him, but he still believed that the basic rules of decency he had been brought up with should still apply.

As such Seb was mildly offended when the man offered simply a curt nod in response to his thanks, without even looking at him, and the blonde shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. The man was his superior in every sense and it would be incorrect to comment on his manners, so to try and ease a little of his discomfort Sebastian moved and took a seat in one of the vacant computer chairs. If nothing else, at least it would stop his fidgeting. When the man did speak, again without looking at him, Seb let out a whisper-quiet huff of a breath. After composing himself for a moment, he spoke slowly and softly. “I cannot use a computer, sir. I do not know how... and they frighten me.”

Twisting a long lock of blonde hair around a slender finger, Sebastian glanced around the room at the machines. The quiet humming sound was disconcerting, and he hated the energy of the place. “Would it be more prudent for me to wait for Mr Cohen to return? Or perhaps I could take it into town with me somehow. Perhaps there is a place there where they might be able to fix it.” Even sat down Seb was a bundle of nervous energy, spinning the chair slightly with his foot on the ground. “My name is Sebastian, by the way, sir.”