Coding the Night Away (Mia)

[Mia Keystone]

He was totally checking her out! Mia had caught him just as he looked away and got ready for a smart remark until she thought about it and realized that a) her outfit was pretty damn nifty (the vest was totally Kevlar) and b) he might still be processing the fact a random chick had been spying on him then jumped into his room then proceeded to challenge him to a hacking contest. Staring was maybe a bit justified.

Still, she smirked to herself as she took another swipe at the muck on her face.

Speaking binary was always interesting. Firstly, the need to breath got in the way. Secondly... breath was really underrated. Thirdly, it was like actually being a machine, rather then just using one. But it was kind of cool to say it to someone else. It was a lot slower speaking it, so it took a bit longer to sink in but Mia bowed her head with a flourish in acceptance of the compliment.

She could see him glancing at the chair. When Mia had friends over... well, Jonah over, she let him sit on the bed. The chair was hers. It was her throne, thank you very much. So while she maybe didn’t get that for Reeve that was a once in a life time sort of deal, she did get the deal of someone who spent all their time at a desk offering a desk chair.

So, while she didn’t actually thank him out loud, she took the chair and gave Reeve a crooked smile. ”Is this seat memory gel? Nice.”

”Yeah, I don’t ask...” Mia said dryly, ”for me, it’s more like seeing pathways and running through them. And they update sort of... with a thought. If a computer can’t update like I want it to, it does as near as it can.” That was a big deal for Mia; she never explained how she saw her power; no one would get it. Maybe Reeve would. But she should maybe stop telling him stuff; he wasn’t saying anything in return. Something for nothing was not a good habit.

Eyes lighting up as her favorite topic rolled around, Mia’s smirk grew. ”Yeah, but then every now and then, gold. It’s like hunting down a terrorist. Or like picking off grunts to get to the boss.” It was, in other words, like crack to the tiny girl. Like inexpensive invasive crack. And while no one else ever seemed to get it, Mia knew what she was doing was important. The truth was out there and she got a step closer with every single thing she found out, no matter how trivial.

”I use what I know,” she said slowly, still smirking as she idly ran searches on her palm pilot to download the music that was still playing. The music recognition program had given her the name as they had been talking.

”Knowledge is power, dude. Hence why I needed to find out who was good enough to crack WoW without being involved in any of the major tech groups. It’s kinda cool. There’s only one other tech student here.” Mia paused for a moment, chewing on her lip rings as she thought. ”Think you could help me get the lenses of a pair of night vision goggles into sunglass frames? I can’t figure out how to hide the battery.”

[Reeve Rzeznik]

Reeve wasn't exactly preoccupied as he spoke with Mia while creating an operating system from the ground up. Reeve didn't have the kind of data-storage in his brain that many technopaths managed to develop, but he was adept at multi-tasking and partitioning separate trains of thought for separate tasks. The more he did, the more stressful it became, but doing two things at once wasn't too terribly hard. The only real downside was that, while Mia was talking, Reeve would maximize his time on coding instead of playing the part of an attentive listener. He didn't figure Mia would mind, but it did make him look like he wasn't exactly listening when she spoke.

"I love that chair," he said, rather dispassionately, making it sound as if he didn't love it nearly as much as he claimed to. This was, however, false. Reeve loved that damn chair, just as the girl did hers. The 'throne' analogy couldn't have been worded any better for Reeve, either.

"Computers for me are like an epic conversation," Reeve said as she spoke about her power. "It's like sitting in a library, but the library is filled with every book ever, even ones that aren't yet written, and all I have to do to read one is ask to see it. Computers for you are like a journey. You go down a road which opens new roads, which in turn opens even more, right? And at the end of each journey... paydirt." Reeve paused from his coding to look up at her with a bit of a nod, to see if he'd gotten the analogy right. "You go to your destination, so to speak, while I ask mine to come to me."

He shrugged, grinning just a little. He was pretty sure he had it figured about. The rest of her? Not so much. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

For starters, she certainly seemed incredibly interested in exactly what Reeve said he wasn't at all interested in. He chuckled slightly, his focus returning to his work as she explained herself. "I suppose the payout would be worth the work and risk to someone who was so inclined," he admitted, back to his usual noncommittal tone.

At her request for some help with a pair of goggles, though, it was Reeve's turn to light up. He actually stopped work completely, shutting his laptop's lid for a moment as Brains, Comrade, picked through Reeve's vast mp3 archive to select another song to play, the piano tones coming in softly underneath the conversation. Meanwhile, Reeve scratched his chin, considering the idea of night vision inside sunglass frames.

"Well, you could always go solar," he said at length. "Maybe coat the frames in a solar-trapping metal, or probably better off if you just make the frames out of solar paneling..." he nodded, clearly lost in his own head as he began to ramble on about ideas, inadvertently tapping into BC for quick searches on the feasibility of the subject, browsing through Wikipedia at lightning speeds to find out the types of metals used in solar paneling, whether or not they could be hammered into sunglass frame shape and still work. "You could wear them out and about during the day, or set them on your windowsill, and they'd build a charge, then use them at night. If the whole frames were wired to store energy, and maybe use the nubs at the ends of each leg," Reeve lifted his hands to the back of his ears, where the end-pieces of glasses usually resided, "to hide a couple little NiCad batteries that soaked up any excess energy... you could probably even etch out a microscopic trigger on the inside of the lenses, set to activate by a certain amount of rapid eyelash-strokes against it..."

Reeve nodded and scratched the side of his face as he continued to consider the notion with such intensity that, even if the girl decided against allowing him to try it, he might just work out the design on his own, anyway.

[Mia Keystone]

”Dude, give this chair the respect it deserves,” Mia shook her head, disappointed at the seemingly lack-luster response to a fine bit of seating technology.

Ah, fantastic. Mia quickly put her hand on her audio recorder and organized a new folder for data record. She had a separate heading for detailed accounts of personal abilities, and this would be excellent intel. ”Mine sounds way cooler,” Mia grinned good naturally, stretching her arms out behind her head. ”I get to be in Grand Theft Auto, you get... a library.” Still, he had a point. She had to search, he just asked. Eh, her way was still way more fun.

It suited him, though. Or at least what she had gotten a sense of by his operating systems. All about the theories and knowing how. Mia was more of a ‘crash through everything in her way no matter what it is’ sort of person. She smirked back, metaling storing away that it was the first time he’d actually smiled properly. Interesting...


The classical music earned one of Mia’s famous eye rolls, and she glanced over at the computer, contemplating a change in music. She stopped though, and just tapped her fingers on the arm rest. Comrade had boring as taste in music. Stupid russian zombie computer.

Mia’s eyes lit up and she lent forward, chin on hands as she listened close. He was actually thinking this one through, and what he was thinking up, well, some of them, Mia hadn’t even thought of. ”I have the glasses, my brother’s got me a pair but those things are fucking insane,” she added at the end, excitement creeping into her voice. This was so freaken cool. This was clearly Reeve’s area. ”Now you look interested!” she cackled, even as she kicked her feet in their combat boots. ”Zero visibility without night vision is a no go, so I’ll need transparency. There are some plastics that can hold the solar panelling wires, so it we combined those with copper wired frames to conduct the current to...”

Mia had stopped talking and was tapping into her palm pilot, eyes starting to glaze over. Realizing what was happened, she shook it off and looked up with a crooked smile. ”Dude, you’re sort of wooden and your computer has a weird name but if you can make shit up like that..." Pushing back her hair, the tiny technopath gave a grin that promised little good. "I can get you the stuff, easy. I've got that covered. I feel this may be the beginning of a beautiful partnership.”

[Reeve Rzeznik]

"I love that chair," Reeve repeated, glancing back up in Mia's direction for a second as he said it, the emphasis sounding almost threatening, as if he was daring her to assume that he did not give the chair the respect it deserved. The stare lasted for a second or two, no more, and then he was back down at his computer.

Her remark about Grand Theft Auto left a smirk on his lips, one that lingered a bit as she continued to talk about it. Reeve supposed there was some truth to that, her version of technopathy certainly did sound a lot more exciting, but Reeve was willing to bet that, even if he wasn't as good at circumnavigating computers with her speed and dexterity, given an unlimited amount of time, he could probably get around just as well, if not better, than she could. She had to bash her way through most doors, so to speak, and while it was quick and effective, it lacked in subtlety. Reeve suspected she had to either be extremely quick about hacking higher-level mainframes, or that she had to actually watch her step more than she usually did. Lucky for her, he didn't care about that stuff, much, but the fact remained, if he wanted to, he could probably beat her.

Once they kicked into overdrive on the topic of the night-vision shades, however, Reeve was right there on top of her, metaphorically speaking, of course. As she began to brainstorm, Reeve set his laptop down to the side and hopped over his bed to stand at his desk, mind racing with ideas so fast that he either didn't have the mental capacity to use his power to connect with BC, or simply didn't care to. Hand going to the mouse, Reeve pulled up a drafting program he'd pirated back when just for this purpose, and with gritted teeth, blinked a few times and rested his hands on the keyboard, spitting out a few binary lines under his breath to get inside the system, translating his own ideas into binary code which were transmitted into the computer's system files and applied to the drafting program. Almost as if on-cue, a pair of aviator sunglasses appeared on the screen, little copper filaments running up and down the wire-frames.

As the girl helped brainstorm, Reeve nodded, intensely, his eyes focused on the computer as the little details began popping up in a text file on top of the drafting image. "Transparency is simple, we can set you up with a set of polarized lenses. They're shades in the sun and glasses in the not-sun. We take a set of lenses like that, and we..." Reeve paused a moment, rifling through some ideas in his head thanks to suggestions from BC and an army surplus website, and nodded, this time more to himself. "We shave them down as thin as they can get and still maintain stability. After all, they're just for show, it's the NV you want. The rest of the lenses can be the NV ones... and then when you route the solar wiring into them... it should be perf- hey wait a sec,"

Reeve paused what he was doing, turning around to face the girl sitting in his chair with a sudden, confused look. "Did you say wooden?"

[Mia Keystone]

Meeting his eyes, Mia crooked an eyebrow. ”Good.” she said simply and lent back. Odd; his reactions were not typical. Not enough then aggressive... not at all typical. Worth investigation if she was going to invest time in this guy. He would be useful, and he was interesting. Worth noting his abnormalities then.

If Mia could have read Reeve’s mind, she would have made sure he knew just how unlikely he was to ever beat her. Ever.

They were both speaking quickly, practically finishing each other’s sentences. Every now and again Mia would glance up in amusement, and perhaps a little bit of enjoyment. She;d never met another tech meta before; so this was what it was like to have a kindred spirit. Jonah had talked about the deaf parties and feeling like you belonged but it had seemed stupid to think you could like someone just because you had one thing in common.

Well, Mia would have to get Jonah a present or find some other way to apologize without actually having to say the s word.

It sounded so good, it sounded like real spy gear, and it was going to be so exciting but first...

”Yeah, wooden,” Mia smirked, guessing that the mention of wood itself was a bit of a blow to someone who lived with computers. ”Limited facial cues, lack in inflections... I mean, I know when you spend time on computers you get a bit flat, people tell me I’m robotic all the time, but dude,” Mia shook her head, ”love your work, but you may actually be a cyborg. Now,”

Mia moved quickly from topic to topic, and given her own limited understanding and respect for personal feelings never really did think to pause after saying something meaningful or even mildly insulting. ”I can get the stuff now? Do you sleep? I stay up a lot but not everyone recharges as quickly. I’ve got a fuckload of parts in my room, and I can start filing orders in for anything I don’t have.”

He hadn’t even asked what she wanted the glasses for. Oh yes, she liked this one.

[Reeve Rzeznik]

Everything had been going so well, for a chance encounter with what had at first (and still, somewhat) seemed a little bit like a meeting with a stalker, until Mia dropped that last bomb. He looked up at her with an expression that revealed confusion, concern, and even a bit of hurt. Had he been acting that wooden? She had caught him off guard, he hadn't gotten a chance to really play off his weirdness, alone in his room was supposed to be his little sanctum, where he didn't have to worry about that, and yet, here he was, being called out on the one thing that worried him over all other things.

Quickly, he shook it off. Dwelling on it would do no good, especially not now. He looked back up at her and shrugged, scratching the back of his head with a rather misplaced grin, considering the situation. "Yeah?" The grin widened a little as he glanced away. Nothing about the show was as convincing as he could usually make it. "I dunno, I guess you just caught me on a bad day?" It was a lame excuse, but Reeve didn't care. He just needed something to cover himself, because unlike most people, he actually DID experience a kind of connection with Mia, and he didn't want his slowly failing sense of emotional attachment to ruin that, at least not without a fighting chance.

Thankfully, she didn't press the issue, and moved on to the more important part of the conversation: producing her night vision shades. After proposing a few more questions in that rapid-fire nature of hers, Reeve paused, taking them all in, and nodding before his reply. "Well, yeah, I sleep, I am human," he said, unintentionally going back to the prior conversation before he caught himself, and shook his head. "I mean, but it's whatever. If you can get me the parts, I can get this done. You said you've got a fuckload of parts in your room?" he said, more or less echoing her word for word. As he asked, he imagined what her room must look like, and in his mind, it was drastically over-exaggerated (or perhaps not) with computers and mainframes and wires everywhere, workbenches full of copper and excess solder, basically a cyberpunk wet dream, complete with Mia working ceaselessly wearing nothing but-

Reeve shook his head, his eyes widening as he looked at her again, wondering uselessly if somehow she'd managed to use her power to get into his brain, when he knew full well that couldn't happen. "I'd like to see that," he decided with a quiet sort of finality. "The more things I have to talk to, the better I work, after all."

[Mia Keystone]

Just when she thought she had him pegged down... Mia’s eyes widened slightly in surprise as a whole wreath of emotions ran across Reeve’s face. He actually looked offended... it was the second time that night she’d seen him look genuinely... well, anything. Interesting, very interesting. An odd little gleam set in Mia’s eye; she’d caught the sent of some mystery. This was worth investigating,

That smile, on the other hand, was plain creepy. Mia’s nose wrinkled as she crooked an eyebrow. His poker face was more natural. It was like watching a character from Oblivion or Fable talking after some stupid designer had tried and failed to code in facial expressions. She had no idea what to make of it, bit it was spiking her curiosity something terrible. Not even bothering to respond, the short girl just steepled her fingers and raised an eyebrow, for a moment every inch the archetypical villainess. I’m keeping an eye on you, mate.

The slight unease that had built up in the room dispersed as both tech heads got back to a topic they were both enthusiastic about. Unable to hide the grin she had been wearing for at least a minute now (possible record), Mia kicked her feet against the chair’s legs in excitement. Still, there was one problem with this idea... ”I’d want to see you make it, don’t want anything going...” the girl’s voice faded off as Reeve remained staring at a spot that seemed to occupy the same space as her chest. Slowly, she waved a hand in front of his eyes, then laughed as he started and to her surprise, blushed.

”Welcome back to planet earth, dude,” she kicked his leg lightly, smirking. ”You’re pink as a my little pony.” Then she realized what he was suggesting, and the smirk dropped a little as her protectiveness of her room and privacy kicked in. Sure, it seemed a little hypocritical as she had quite literally barged in only minutes ago but Mia was a self confessed hypocrite with no intention of changing. ”Ok, I guess. I’m pretty sure I’m just across the hall, same dorm. Room 208. The one with the keypad lock.” Her tone sounded cautionary, her expression made it clearer; just because I let myself into your room doesn’t mean you can pull any of that shit with me.

"When exactly do you want to see? I'm nicer at night," Mia grinned wickedly, but it was true. Anyone who ventured into the room of the Keystone before the hour of midday would meet with a fate worse then death. Anyway, maybe she had found a drinking buddy, finally. After that one time with Jonah, neither of them really wanted to get drunk with each other again...

[Reeve Rzeznik]

She hadn't bought his excuse, and Reeve could see it written all over her face. Her arched eyebrow and hand gesture was met on his part with a slightly open mouth, as if he was attempting to continue with the excuses, and then he closed it again, just as quickly, almost shaking his head, but deciding that would be too obvious. Instead, he just caught her eye with a curious, doubting gaze for a second before turning away.

Talking shop was much easier, after all. Until, of course, he had his little episode.

He shook his head and came to as Mia waved, snapping him out of his reverie. Her comment about a My Little Pony made him realize the heat in his face, and, much to his surprise, he was actually excited about it. As wild and somewhat depraved as his thought was, it was still a thought, a feeling, an emotion, and being caught had brought on yet another, on top of it. They weren't the best of emotions, but Reeve would rather have a couple awkward feelings than none at all. He blinked a few more times, shaking it off and grinning, slightly stupidly and awkwardly, at her as she continued.

"Oh, yeah. I should have known. Keypad code is 8422 this week, right? So you're Mia."

He shrugged, his eyebrows raising slightly. It was basically an answer to her tone, the conversation behind the conversation: You aren't the only one who's got a few tricks up their sleeve.

"I told you machines talk to me, after all." It was mostly true. Even when he wasn't speaking to them, sometimes computers and electric devices still told him their secrets. It was the very reason any electric combination locks were never really safe from Reeve. Just walking by could sometimes be enough to hear the whisper of a sudden, random number in his head.

He leaned back a bit when Mia mentioned she was nicer at night, an eyebrow raising slightly. What exactly was she suggesting? Had she somehow seen into his little dream? Had his mind become so computer-like that technopaths and not telepaths could get inside? Before he became lost in thought again, Reeve spoke up quickly to answer her, stumbling over himself a bit in the process.

"Oh, uh, yeah. I mean, I get that, I'm more or less a night person, too. It's when the servers are the quietest on WoW and stuff. But, anyway, whatever, why not tomorrow or something?"

[Mia Keystone]

He had a pretty neat smile, but what he was saying wiped off any chance of her returning it. ”Say what now?” Mia’s eyes widened and she scowled for a moment, then, in a move that was pretty big for her, shrugged. ”I neither confirm nor deny. You get into my stuff, I’ll break your hands.” With a threatening smirk she cracked her knuckles, then lent forward and gave Reeve a friendly punch on the shoulder.

”But you won’t do that. Because you seem kinda cool and there aren't any technopaths around this school so me and you, we’re going to get on ok. Truce and all that.” While the scowl was replaced by a smirk, Mia’s eyes were still calculating. Any system was possible to bring down if it wasn’t being maintained constantly. She’d have to up her surveillance in her room. Just in case.

”I guess machines are pretty rubbish at secrets, though.” she went on, thoughtfully. ”Well, to people like us, or you, in this case. If my lock was conscience I would bitch slap it for being so loose lipped.”

Some other girl might have blushed and explained that wasn't what she meant at Reeve’s expression. Mia just raised an eyebrow in reply, and smirked at his quick, slightly stuttering reply. Interesting... Mia was no mindreader but she was starting to make a bit of a guess about what was going on. Her own eyes flicked up and down, and her grin widened slightly. Cute. He was nervous. He hadn’t looked nervous before. Hey, he was kinda cute, knew computers, would actually find it funny if she offered to download his hard drive.

”You can come by whenever you want,” Mia chuckled, then just to really push it, she winked lewdly. It was time to take her leave; the night had not gone as expected, but she’d not only met a fellow technopath who seemed as chilled about rules as she was, but she’d met someone who thought making night vision glasses was great instead of just weird, and could actually improve her ideas.

But someone who wasn’t better at hacking then she was.

”Me and you, we’re going to hang out. And not just on WoW.” It was not a suggestion. When Mia decided she wanted to be friends or whatever with someone, it happened. And Reeve met the criteria; interesting, didn’t talk shit, let her talk about computers.

Pushing herself off the comfy chair with a sigh, Mia turned and vaulted out the still open window. Pausing, she turned around and leant back inside. ”By the way, you didn’t ask. I’m Mia.” With a smirk, she gave a little wave, then executed a perfect commando roll out the window. Boyah.

[Reeve Rzeznik]

"You say that like I-ow!"

Reeve flinched a bit at her punch, as playful as it was, and leaned back, rubbing his shoulder as if it hurt. In truth, it hadn't, but it had surprised him, and Reeve didn't really like to be surprised.

"You say that like I need my hands in the first place," he finished, offering up a little half-smirk at the modest joke. He could tell that she wasn't particularly excited about the fact that he knew how to get into her room without her express permission, though, so he didn't push the subject too far. After all, there was no sense in alienating the only other technopath worth noting in the entire school.

"A truce seems fair to me. The way I see it, the only person who could really get into any of my systems would be you, and vice versa. It's better for us to get along than fight all the time, don't you think?"

Reeve leaned back again and returned the shrug, resting his hands behind him on the bed once more. He had assumed his best impression of a nonchalant bad-ass. That impersonation only lasted as long as it took for her to make her suggestive comment.

"I, uh, ye-ah?" Reeve said/asked, his arms buckling a bit in sudden nervous as he flopped onto his side on the bed. He quickly scrambled back up, this time deciding to place his weight further onto the edge of the bed, draping his legs over to stabilize himself. "I mean, ah, yeah. Sure." He opened his mouth to continue spouting words with no meaning, but caught himself before he could get too far off the mark.

She then proclaimed, in more of a statement than a request, that they were going to hang out, and Reeve, still fumbling over his last comment, decided it would be best not to try to say anything else on the matter. He just nodded, trying to make sure the slight smile on his face didn't look too goofy and plastered-on. She vaulted out the window, causing Reeve to stand up himself and move closer towards it. She came back and gave her name, to which Reeve could only raise an eyebrow.

"Yeah, Mia Keystone, room 208, here in the co-eds. You're not the only one who can get into the school dorm layouts, you know."

He smirked, a bit more confident this time, and leaned against the window frame. As she turned and executed the perfect commando roll, he just shook his head, tight-lipped, and watched her go for a moment before shutting the window behind her.

"I like her."

"Oh shut it, Comrade, you just want to jump her drives."

"I do not think that is within my programming, Reeve."

"Shut up, Comrade."

"Okay, Reeve."