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Post by Captain Admin on Dec 8, 2016 0:31:13 GMT
The old, reliable campus café. Cosier than the pub and located on the Street, here you can have your pick of tea, coffee, hot chocolate and snacks. Squat, cushioned chairs are clustered around low tables in the dimly lit café, providing its calm and relaxing atmosphere. Higher chairs sit in front of the table that lines the window at the very front of the room.
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Post by UraharaSteph on Dec 15, 2016 14:35:38 GMT
Aurora sat at the window on one of the tall chairs. Her black coffee sat in front of her, steam swirling up into her gaze. She was slumped forward as she mindlessly watched the students, new and old, walk up and down the street. People-watching was a fun hobby; especially when it was a game of 'spot the fresher'. However, this year had a different atmosphere. There were a lot of students who were angry. She saw a group of three students walk by in the direction of the SU with a banner.
'CAPES OFF CAMPUS'.
Aurora mentally shook her head. She could understand why people felt so insecure and threatened by the Super Humans, even when they say that they are there to help. Powers were scary, even more so to people who have no defence against them, or have very little understanding of how they work.
The steam of her coffee began to to get weaker. She delicately picked up the mug and blew into it. She felt sorry for the Supers. They were being bullied by society for being different, some for having powers that they had no control in getting or suppressing. Aurora looked into the darkness of the cup. No wonder some Super Humans decided to turn bad.
The mug met her lips and her thoughts drifted to the Vertex Centre. She felt a little more at ease over the machine. There were plenty of things in place to prevent a disaster from happening. She drank her traditional start of the year motivational coffee; hoping that the upcoming year would be as simple and boring as the previous ones.
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Post by Sleuth on Dec 15, 2016 15:15:50 GMT
Ed plopped into the seat next to the pensive-looking pink-haired girl, putting down her milk tea and sandwich on the table in front of her. "Chin up, champ," Ed said, opening up her sandwich and picking out the tomatoes. "It's only September."
She looked at the protesters walking past the window, most of them holding signs, all of them angry but in a directionless sort of way. Like the crowd before, shuffling, jeering the super who came to talk at them, but not doing a whole lot more. Ed doubted anything would come of the protests. The machine would turn on in a week, and in a week people would have essays and papers due. Nobody would have the time or energy to get mad anymore when their degree was at stake.
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Post by Mittens on Dec 15, 2016 15:45:09 GMT
Lucio followed a large gaggle of students into the cafe, deciding that some form of hot drink would be better than going to a protest he didn't understand. By the time he had his drink in hand (a mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows a mountain of squirty cream) there were no free seats available, aside from one right at the front of the room. There were already two girls there, one really, REALLY tall and another with pink hair. Lucio took a deep breath, summoned his courage and opened his mouth to ask: "E-excuse me, but is this seat taken?"
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Post by UraharaSteph on Dec 15, 2016 15:49:42 GMT
Aurora watched through the corner of her eye as a lanky woman sat beside her. She set down her coffee and watched Ed discard the tomatoes. “Don't worry, I look like this all year long.” She looked back out of the window in a thoughtful way; 'Those tomatoes looked pretty nice'. Aurora watched the waves of emotions from the comfort of her stall. Her eyes flickered to Edwina's hands around the sandwich and then back to the students outside. Her lips parted for a moment as though she was going to say something, but nothing came out and the gap was filled with the coffee mug.
Luckily, another student came to the two of them and Aurora used this opportunity to try and forget about the tomatoes. “Not that I know of, if you're not saving it for anyone?” She gestured to the lanky woman.
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Post by Sleuth on Dec 15, 2016 16:09:51 GMT
"Go for it, kiddo," Ed directed at Lucio, taking a big bite out of her sandwich. She went for her milk tea but burnt her fingers on the cheap paper cup. She made an annoyed grunt, swallowing her bite so she could blow on her fingers.
"I ain't worried," she said to Aurora, who'd already gone back to looking out the window with that uneasy expression again, "just making an observation, Cassandra. Troy isn't on fire just yet and unless you know something I don't, they're not turning the machine on for another week. You keep worrying the way you're doing and you'll go grey." Ed glanced at her pink hair then decided that, nah, too easy. She held out her hand. "Name's Ed. What're you studying that's as bad as robots and capes patrolling campus?"
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Post by UraharaSteph on Dec 15, 2016 16:20:09 GMT
'I'm more worried about the leftover tomatoes than the machine at the moment...' Aurora's inner monologue muttered. “Going grey isn't too bad. I was thinking about that being my next colour.” She took the female's hand. “Aurora. I'm studying Psychology. Final year.” She peered at Lucio, wanting to involve the second fresh face in the conversation. “What about you two?”
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Post by Mittens on Dec 15, 2016 16:37:39 GMT
Lucio pulled up the chair, plopped himself down and, after gently placing his drink on the table, shrugged off his coat. He was half-listening to the conversation of the girls, not wanting to intrude, but then Aurora brought him into it. He cleared his throat and focused, trying to make sure his English wasn't too badly accented. Mainly because he'd be mistaken for Italian, and there'd be nothing worse than that.
"Uh, I'm Lucio, but my friends call me Bella. I'm in the first year, studying Classics. I just moved here two days ago. It is a great pleasure to meet you." he grinned; whether it was a calm friendly smile or terrified grimace he couldn't tell.
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Post by Sleuth on Dec 15, 2016 17:05:18 GMT
"Likewise, big guy," Ed said, looking down at Lucio's mountain of whipped cream that was trying to pass itself off as a drink. Maybe it was a Mediterranean thing, because she was pretty sure they didn't let actual kids study at universities. "I do Journalism, or I will when classes start up. For now I'm just an amateur with a notepad and a lot of questions."
She shifted in her seat so she could pull her notepad from her pocket and retrieved her pencil from behind her ear. "Either of you at that rally in the Square? Captain Omega showed up. Real flashy, with a million megawatt smile and a speech some spin doctor laboured over to get it nice n' shiny for us. Almost enough to make you not notice that he didn't actually say anything."
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Post by UraharaSteph on Dec 15, 2016 17:20:34 GMT
Aurora couldn't help but smile. Lucio's accent was pretty strong when surrounded by a lot of English ones and Ed was pretty funny. Aurora had never thought about the hollow speeches made by people stood on stages or behind podiums, but Ed was right. They hadn't said anything.
“I was at the back of the crowd. Didn't see a lot, which is a shame.” She was still a bit bitter that she didn't get a glimpse of Captain Omega. “The Guardian things on campus I haven't got a problem with. The machine... Well, that's what the extra protection is all about, making sure nothing dangerous happens. I can't stay worried about that.” She sipped her coffee. “What do you two make of it all? Scared? Or just excited to be starting uni?”
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Post by Mittens on Dec 15, 2016 18:30:43 GMT
Lucio started digging into his whipped cream with a spoon. "Well I'm really excited over university because this is the first time I've lived in a foreign country and in such a big city I mean I grew up in a smallish village and I visited the capital occasionally but it was nothing compared to this I'm just amazed at how big it is and-" At this point, he was feeling lightheaded from speaking far too fast without breathing. He caught his breath before continuing, "Uh, I mean, I'm pretty excited, yeah. We don't have any superheroes back home though so it's all a bit new to me. I know about Captain Omega because I used to read his comics back at Station Milita when there was nothing else to do, but that's about it. Is there, around here, much trouble? I hope not. But yes, I am very excited." he shifted a little in his seat and avoided the gaze of the two. "And also a little scared, because this is all strange and new."
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Post by Sleuth on Dec 15, 2016 19:14:42 GMT
Ed managed to eat most of her sandwich before Lucio finished talking. "Kid, it's London. If the locals don't get you, the rats will. Last time I was here, a guy had his wallet taken before he'd made it more than twenty paces. At least, that's what he said. Pretty sure he dropped it in the museum and didn't want to admit it. You're gonna wanna keep a close eye on your valuables when you leave campus, is what I'm saying. They say London is crawling with capes and vigilantes coz of all the crime."
She tried a sip of her tea, making a pleased hum when it didn't burn her. "I come from a small town too, little middle of nowhere place in the country. One of the S-Quadrant visited once. Couldn't tell you who. Short. Perky. Had something to do with temperature manipulation, maybe. Fed us the usual lines about staying out of the way when they're doing their jobs. Safer that way, they say. Lotta talk about safety when super humans get involved, like that ain't a contradiction in itself."
Ed glanced at Aurora. "Scared might not be such a dumb idea. They don't have all the robots around coz they think things are gonna turn out dandy. Me, personally? I'm waiting for them to turn the machine on, with all their talk about figuring out the mysteries of the universe. Something's gotta happen, and I think that's pretty exciting."
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Post by UraharaSteph on Dec 15, 2016 19:22:09 GMT
Aurora smiled softly. She tried to keep up with Lucio's speech. Some words were lost in his accent, but she got the gist of it. “You really wear your heart on your sleeve, don't you?” Another sip of the coffee. It was nearly empty.
She turned her attention to Ed and nodded her head in agreement with the description of London. “You'll be fine.” Aurora added before Edwina continued.
“You want something to happen?” Aurora raised a thin eyebrow. “It would be brilliant if they turned on the machine and answered some of life's long questions, but I honestly hope it's just a machine that spits out text answers.” Aurora chuckled to herself, even though she wasn't funny. “I hope that this years is boring, simple and I get to graduate with at least a 2:1. I think the robots are here to kick out wannabe terrorists and super villains from the Vertex centre and I honestly don't think anyone would be dumb enough to try and cause chaos anyway.” The coffee had finished.
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Post by Mittens on Dec 15, 2016 19:42:58 GMT
Lucio had managed to carve out enough space in the delicious whipped cream to actually drink the hot chocolate underneath, and he was halfway through a gulp when Aurora made her comment and chuckled. Lucio inwardly panicked, thinking he had missed out on a hilarious joke (he did not notice Ed's reaction or lack of it) and tried to laugh along with a throat full of hot drink. He ended up hacking away in a most undignified manner , raising his hand to signify that he was alright and for them to go on.
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Post by Sleuth on Dec 15, 2016 20:29:16 GMT
Ed dropped her pencil on to the table, getting leftover tomato all over it, and turned to Lucio with a panicked expression. For lack of a better idea, she gave him a thump on the back, trying not to wind him any more than there lungful of hot chocolate. "Easy there, don't do yourself in before the supervillains or the Quantum machine gets a chance!" she said, grimacing in a poor attempt to smile.
She turned to Aurora, keeping her hand on Lucio's back. "I take my cues from the robots and capes; they think something's gotta happen or else they wouldn't be here. With all their talk of 'frightening times' and 'crest of a new era', I don't think they're waiting for the machine to take on Alex Trebek. But the reality is, it'll be boring because that's what theoretical physics is. I wouldn't worry about your degree, and when everyone out there," Ed nodded out the window at the steady stream of people headed to the Student Union to protest or ogle, "remembers their degree, things'll get quiet again. Or as much as they can be when you're in London and someone with a chip on their shoulder, and the ego and power to suit, wants to level it every other week."
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