undergrounds | [Open] Unary Game

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[Open] Unary Game

(This is a July catchall kind of post for Light/Snake so tag where you'd like or let me know if you want to work out something via plurk! You can also call him either name as both pretty much apply.)

A.

Nothing like moving across the ocean and having to figure out where to go in a new town. Especially in a place like London. Light "Snake" Averly, armed with a braille map, takes the time to explore London when he's not teaching at university. Each street and bus route he can travel safely is another piece of London memorized. Perhaps he might also meet friendly (and not-so-friendly) faces as he travels...

B.

He's heard about Redbright, now that he's been in London for a little bit. He'd heard rumors about the school having something to do with the supernatural, but nothing concrete. Snake would love to do nothing more than excise his powers from his brain, but the science hadn't gotten around to that. Yet. He didn't really feel any kinship to other supernatural, having stayed far the hell away from anything back home in Washington State. Still, he can't help but have some curiosity for the Institute.

C. Choose your own adventure.

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Snake chuckled a tiny bit at her tone. "Nothing so mysterious about me. My name is Light Averly and I teach and research physics." His flat American accent gave him away as not being from around London. "Wherever you'd like to start is perfectly fine with me."

"Physics? That's math, right?" She hasn't been able to pursue an education in her youth and managed to pick up some things along the way but most of the subjects past grade school are lost to her. "Anyways please! Follow me!

"I'm thinking maybe we can first start at the lecture hall nearby. One of the teachers is holding a class there but I'm sure she won't mind a quick visit. It's down this hall, over here."

"Physics does include math but it's basically trying to peel away and understand the physical laws of the universe on micro and macro levels. There's many, many levels to it."

He followed the young woman, noting she really didn't make a lot of noise other than when she talked. Odd, that.

Maybe she's just a very quiet woman? It is a little strange that Clara makes not a peep besides her speaking-- Not even a need to take a breath or such.

The only time she gives pause is when she greets back a student who greets her and that's rare with how she's seemingly ignored in favour of saying hello to the newcomer or whispering about him as they pass by.

"Hear we are! The lecture hall. Looks like they're just winding down the talk." Students are standing up, closing books, chatting to each other as the teacher adds one last thing on the board. "Redbright covers all sorts of subjects and topics here, to the mundane to the more. I bet physics too! It sounds so fascinating from how you say it. It must be amazing to study."

Oh, Snake can hear the whispering, but he lets it slide. He's used to it. He's a little intrigued about her lack of understanding about physics.

"You must not have had to take it in high school. It has multiple subfields ranging from studying the atom to studying stars. But it's also the study of the physical world. I enjoy because whether or not you can see the rules of physics, they're still true. Same with math."

She can't help but laugh a bit nervously as the students open the door and pour out, the chatter increasing as they eagerly discuss no more classes and plans of what to do if this person graduate or if this person opts to stay in Redbright.

"You're right! I didn't take it in high school." Because um… "I didn't take it at all. Both physics and high school, I mean."

"Oh. Well, that would explain that." Not go to high school? Oh, a story lay there, to be sure, but Snake's not going to get into it with someone he'd just met. Instead, he asked, "So what is your role here at Redbright, Clara?"

"I work here as a security guard during the night shift," she replies easily enough, "I'm just here to check up on some people I know. Given that both summer and graduation is so near for students, they're quite eager and we're trying to keep them calm."

Evident by the buzz of activity in the hallway now as students made their way to their break or their next class or to a club meeting. "It's not much. Especially compared to your work. It sounds so fascinating to do, study space and such and share it with students. You're clearly a very brilliant man."

"Well, I'm not an astrophysicist but it is fascinating work." Snake wasn't above preening a bit at being called "brilliant."

"I would have loved to study the human brain more, but that's more of a sight field. Still, working out the physics of things is gratifying. There's new fields cropping up every so often." He chuckled, more to himself. "Next we'll have a field in the physics of the supernatural, if you believe in that sort of thing."

Hahaha yes… A serious course about the supernatural? How impossible to believe for somewhere in Redbright. Ignore the students who are eavesdropping on them giggling.

They're clearly tittering over something else. Clearly.

"It would be interesting," she says, a chuckle from sounding both amused and nervous. "I mean! I bet a lot of students would be interested in it to join if they could. Don't you think that's the advantage of an education? Discovering what you adore and realising you can learn more about it?"

Snake tilted his head toward her with a broad smile. "Exactly. And in education, you discover what truly drives you."

Why the odd tone in her voice, though? Was it something about the supernatural that made her nervous? And really, the more he stood with her, the more he noticed the lack of sound from her. The answer was almost on the tip of his tongue.

"It's so good that the children here have a chance to do that. I wish I had more time to pursue my interests when I was you-- Ah!" Her sentence is cut off by her yelp of the name and it's drowned out by the other person's louder shout of surprise. "Bobby!"

"Whoa! Sorry I ran through you, Missus Seville!" 'Bobby' yells back as he hurries out of the classroom to wherever else he's going.

"Ran...through?" Snake tilted his head and squeezed his already shut eyes tighter. "Oh." The idea came to him then. Not quite the right one but the most logical one. "You have a power, don't you?"

Powers? Oh! He is one of them then? Thank goodness.

"No… I'm not a metahuman." A beat as she tries to think of a less ridiculous way to explain herself but finds it almost impossible to do so: "I'm a ghost. If that's believable."

A ghost? He'd certainly heard of such things, along with werewolves and vampires and the like, but never in person. "I imagine it's much easier to prove to someone who can see. I can only take your word for it. Unless...can you go through anything you want?"

"Yes. I can phase through anything, and anyone, I want. It comes with being a ghost." A beat, as she actually takes time to consider why he would ask her this. "... Do you want me to prove my status by that way?"

"Well...more that I want to feel how the process works and then try to determine the physics behind it." It'd certainly give him new ideas for his PhD thesis. He held out his right arm, the real one. "If you don't mind of course."

"Not at all. In advance: Do brace yourself. It gets a little chilly."

Clara reaches out for his arm and, for a second, he could probably feel a press of fingers. Her touch is cool and 'damp' in a sense of it doesn't feel like it's really there. Talk about having a phantom touch.

Then it comes cold, sharp is the best way to describe it, when her hand gives away and plunges through. She shudders and makes an unhappy sound. "Oh!"

He could feel the chill through his jacket, down to his skin. Then the oddest sensation of something passing through his bones before it stopped. Snake patted his arm and moved his fingers.

"That...that was quite fascinating, Clara. I think if I studied enough, I could determine exactly the process of what just happened." His voice grew animated as he talked. "I'm certain it's a form of tunneling like molecules or maybe like the qualities of light."

"Could you do that?" Now that's a statement she never heard before. Really. She isn't being sarcastic because why would she be?

Clara has never heard someone say that to her after she demonstrates her most obvious of skills. Usually what she got was either a question of how she did that or if she could do anything else. "It would be interesting to hear how I make sense in the eyes of science. That'll make an interesting project for someone."

"I'm afraid I couldn't really go for it as a project for my PhD. Still, it would be something I'd enjoy studying when I had time." There were practical applications to be had if it could be proven scientifically how a ghost passed through walls.

"So if people are comfortable with you as a ghost, then they're most likely comfortable with other kinds of supernatural types. Meaning they hang out here, correct?"

"More than that-- They study here." She hopes that it's safe to tell him all this if he's like them. Better to try than not to try at all. "This is where young students go to gain both an education and a better handle of their abilities."

Whether they be a metahuman, or witch, or the others. "I take it you've never learned in a school like this before."

"I can't say they have those where I'm from. Just lots of rumors on what exists and nothing more. Better to keep to oneself than calling attention to oneself. However, this is a good place to have for people who can't figure out control on their own."

What would it have been like to have this when he started showing his powers as a teenager?

"That's the way to look at it! I know there's some tension with the school and the others here but I think, at the end of the day, the school has its heart in the right place." By helping students learn more about themselves, about their powers. Giving them a place to hide for a bit as they try to get ready for everything that's going to be thrown at them.

It's why she's happily thrown her hat, so to speak, with Redbright to ensure the youngsters continued to have places to call their own. "I guess you'll be hearing a lot of that soon: Rumours and gossip. A lot has happened in the last few months so be prepared to hear a lot of wild stories."

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[Open] Unary Game

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