Life is complex (Cera)

[Lani Hunter]

Lani swatted at his alarm until it finally ceased its blaring. Classes this semester had not worked out in his favor. One started at the unholy hour of 11am. Which to the thief whose primary source of income kept him up until odd hours of the morning, getting up at 10 was not fun. Lani needed to get some form of a real job. Theft was a job that required cunning and stamina, stealth and agility. Lani’s body and wits had not failed him, not yet, but after how hard he worked to get out from underneath of his boss’s thumb, he had realized that the world was bigger than he thought it was. He could be more than what he had been made to be. Something that he worked toward, something that he made himself into.

These thoughts drifted in and out of his consciousness as he pulled on his socks and boots and headed to the bus stop. One of these days he was going to buy a car. Or steal one. One or the other, Lani was just so sick of wading through the snow and hunkering down for a bus that was going to be late anyways. Unless of course Lani was late then it was on time. It was the way the universe worked. Lani pulled gloves on as he left his apartment building and pulled the beanie over his ears then the headphones he had over that and began flooding his existence with the guitar rift from Pinball Wizard.

It didn’t take long for Lani to get to class and he shook the snow off of his shoulders with a shrug and didn’t bother to remove his hat and headphones, though he pulled off his gloves as he settled in his usual seat, near the side, about halfway from the board. He’d prefer to sit further back, but annoyingly, his eyes couldn’t see the board that far away. Lani loved this class, it was an applied math class and he was really liking seeing the equations as they related to the world around them. It was like when he was taking regular physics and he saw the equations and the forces that dominated his power. It was this understanding that was fundamental to his power. To using it and understanding how it moved things. Well, not how his mind was able to reach out and touch things, but how applying forces allowed him to move them.

Plus the professor was an old retired infantryman with a tongue and dry humor that was right up Lani’s alley. He pulled off his headphones when the professor walked in and started class. At the end of class he introduced the project that had been hanging over their heads for half a semester. A twist. They had partners. Lani groaned involuntarily and rubbed his forehead already weary of the idea. He looked up when the professor put a list on the board and said, “I’ll give you the last five minutes of class to find your partner and discuss, your project proposals will be due Friday.” Lani found his name and his eyes trailed across to the name next to his. Cera Lamprey. It wasn’t anyone Lani had ever spoke to, nor anyone he’d ever worked with at the study group he went to from time to time. But as people started pairing up, Lani figured he should find this person. He dumped his notebook into his bag and rose. He raised a brow when a woman with pink hair approached, currently the only woman unpaired. He lifted his chin and asked, “Cera?”

[Cera Lamprey]

Math had never been Cera's strong suit, despite the fact that her high school math teachers had told her more than once that if one was good with music one ought to be good at math. She found equations confusing more than interesting, and tended to work at them slowly. 

Applied mathematics was somewhat easier for her than other math classes had been, however, if only because she was able to relate her work with real life problems. 

She still didn't do fantastic in her math class, but her grades were better than they had been back at Hammel. 

She had bundled up in pink uggs and teal woolen tights, a pink skirt, and a pink A-line coat with double line buttons. Making her way to school in the snow may have been more of an adventure than she enjoyed, but at least she looked (in her opinion) adorable. She would accept endless snow if it meant she could wear that coat all year round. 

She tapped at her desk with her pencil throughout the class, striving to pay attention -- a difficult feat for someone who required getting up and moving. But then...then! The professor made an announcement that caught her attention. 

Group projects! 

Group projects were Cera's absolute favorite part of school, and she had to suppress a squeal of delight. Even if this was math the fact that she would be working with another person made that worth it. 

She looked around for her partner, trying to recall what face went with the name Lani. She edged her way through the crowds of students pairing up until she found the person she thought was her partner. 

When he asked her name she beamed down at him. 

"That's me! You're Lani, right? Looks like we're together! Should we compare schedules and see when we can both get together?"

[Lani Hunter]

Lani yawned to cover his annoyance at the idea of a group project. This wasn’t even fair! Maybe he could go to the professor and ask to do it solo. There was no way this wasn’t going to be painful. Lani kept a neutral expression, packing his notes away and slinging his bag over a shoulder and went in search of his partner. As soon as her name left his lips he mentally started hoping he was wrong. He had never seen someone so… pink. She was his complete antithesis. Here he was, dressed from head to toe in subdued grays and dark colors. She was a walking neon sign. Please no, please no…

It was a testament to his skill that he didn’t wince when she confirmed his suspicions. And worse! She was enthusiastic. The universe was punishing him for something. He forced a smile in greeting. “Yeah, uh… sounds good,” he said, with significantly less excitement. He propped himself up on the back of one of the chairs as he pulled out his phone to check his week. “So, we have to have a proposal by Friday, does any day not work for you?” He asked, looking up at her, it would be easier for him to work his schedule around her. Considering his ‘work’ didn’t exactly have hours. Though, if Odion was in, there was a particularly tempting security system going into the Jeweler downtown on Wednesday night. Lani loved nothing more than to breaking new locks.

He still couldn’t believe that she was so colorful, he thought that some of the things Odion wore were colorful, but nothing had ever prepared him for so much pink. She was honestly a little hard to look at. “What kinda project were you thinking?” He asked, forcing himself not to judge her before he knew her. Just because she was super pink didn’t mean anything. People were surprising. She was probably much more than met the eye, as blindingly bright as that was. Lani shifted, casually crossing his arms, for someone who liked to blend in, partnering with someone so very attention drawing was going to wreak havoc on him. “I’m leaning toward something physics related myself,” he supplied with a shrug. Now that his eyes were adjusting, she didn’t seem so bad, pretty even. But so pink…

[Cera Lamprey]

Cera didn't notice Lani's lack of enthusiasm regarding either her person or their project. Instead she beamed over at him as she ran a hand through her hair. 

"I have band practice Tuesday night, but that's it for this week." 

Of course, her schedule might have been a little less forgiving had Shane not managed to get them uninvited from every single club in Pilot Ridge. She still needed to put her foot down about his drinking, but she hadn't been able to get up the nerve. So instead they had one practice this week that maybe if she was lucky he would show up to, and zero shows. 

That was probably for the best, though; math projects weren't exactly known for being easy. 

"I was thinking of music transcription," She admitted, shifting her bag as it slid down her shoulder. That was relevant to her own interests, and since their textbook had mentioned foundational algorithms as useful for music that had been where her thoughts drifted for the project. "But physics could be fun! What sort of physics project did you have in mind?"

[Lani Hunter]

((I'm so sorry this is sooo late))

Lani cooled his expression expertly, the hint of a smile on his face, but nothing more than to be polite. He raised a brow, the only indication that he was surprised. “A band? Alright, not Tuesday then.” He hummed absently as he mentally went through his calendar. Okay, without Tuesday that would leave Thursday, and that was assuming that Lani didn’t get arrested. He silently laughed, as if that was a possibility. “How about Thursday? I’m busy Wednesday night.” Busy, yes, that was an understatement. The thief was excited, more about getting a look at the new lock than actually getting in. It was all about the challenge, the puzzle of solving a new lock.

He nodded his head, his mind already way ahead of her. “That’s actually not a bad idea. We could do something with both, music and sounds are just waves and we have equations for waves,” he said suddenly much more excited about the project, “We could look at how the waves interact for different instruments. You said you were in a band, maybe we can record something and analyze it.” He shrugged, and calmed himself down, it would not do to get overly nerdy early on. He had a reputation to uphold. Sounds were amazing, a mix of different wavelengths and frequencies all moving at the same time at the same speed.

Curiosity got the best of him. “What kinda band are you in?” Something techno or pop, he had to guess, for he could not think of any other genre that allowed for so much pink. It was more than a little blinding. He couldn’t help but think that they were standing out. Or rather she was standing out and forcibly dragging Lani from his dark hiding place. Illuminating the darkness where he resided. He didn’t like it, it brought too much attention. Why would anyone want to call that much attention to themselves?

[Cera Lamprey]

((you're totally fine! You did warn me, after all!!))

Cera beamed at Lani's enthusiasm, which was clearly what the phrase Not a bad idea conveyed. Good! Maybe she could make another friend during this project! That was always a bonus to interacting with new people. 

"Sure! We have a laptop with some recording programs on it, so I can ask everyone to record their part solo and bring it with me on Thursday. How long a recording do you think we'd need? A minute per instrument? Less than that?" 

This was all important information, since she would be meeting with her band before she and Lani met for their project. 

Actually, this lead to another question. "Ummm....where d'you wanna meet up? If we're working with sound the library's probably a bad idea. Maybe we can find a spot out on the quad." 

Or that might be too noisy. What a dilemma. 

She felt a surge of delight when he asked what sort of band she was in. How lucky was she, getting a partner who was so friendly? 

"We actually play ska. Well, third wave ska, not really Desmond Dekker or anything. Although I would love to do a Desmond Dekker cover someday. I don't know how popular that would make us, though. Do people still know who Desmond Dekker is?" 

[Lani Hunter]

Lani’s lip twitched into a smile. “Great…” he began but she was already rattling off. Lani hummed unconsciously, “Actually we can record them all at the same time. We know that sound waves all move at the same speed, so we can see if we can use the Fourier Transform and see if we can back out the individual instruments. Though, if might be a good idea to have individual instruments to compare our results to.” Lani looked at his pink partner for her opinion. The Fourier Transform was the most recent topic, so it would probably be a challenge to get it working, but Lani also knew from his physics classes that programming languages made doing them very easy.

With a shrug, Lani nodded noncommittally. “We can always just grab one of the study rooms in the library, I think we’ll be okay in one of those.” The quad would be too crowed and loud likely, and Lani wasn’t too confident that their computers would connect to the wifi smoothly out there. In the library it would be fine.

Lani shifted his bag on his shoulder as she rattled on about Ska. Lani’s brow raised steadily as she continued to speak. It was like she was speaking a different language. If there was one thing that Lani and his father could agree on, it was that The Who was the single greatest band alive. Rock and anything with a heavy beat was up Lani’s alley. Lani wondered if his expression was a little to clear when she asked if people knew Dekker. Lani shook his head, “Sorry, I can’t say I’ve ever heard of him. Or ska…” He gave an apologetic smile, wondering if it was some hipster thing, it wasn’t like Lani was super in on what was popular.