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 Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2010 9:34 am
It was just your regular Saturday afternoon, the weather was a bit nippy due to the winter months fast approaching and people where out doing their Christmas shopping. Talim had made her way over to the mall today, to check out what was on sale and had quickly been drawn to her favourite haunt. Since she was a little girl she had loved video games and it had proved to be a hobby that not even age could defeat. Her cotton candy coloured eyes scanned the racks to see what was new and just as important what old treasures she might stumble across.
The game shop was a little busier than usual due to her holiday season. With clueless parents coming into a territory they clearly did not understand in the slightest. She could not say much, her Mum and Dad where the same, they still called everything a Game Boy. She picked up a box to read the back before putting it back on the shelf. Her hands fell in the pockets of her black hoody. It was one of her prize possessions because it was made just for her. On the front was a pink angel wing chibified to the point of cuteness whilst on the back was ‘Tali’ in big pink writing.
Ever since she was a little girl she had been drawing these wings. She never really understood why, they were just nice to look at. More so she had always loved the idea of one day sprouting wings and flying away. It was the ultimate sign of independence and freedom. Her pink bangs stroked her forehead and her pigtails bounced as she made her way down the aisle to check out what they might have in the pre-owned section.
She stopped looking ahead, her eyes caught sight of a familiar character. Tara? She was a girl from school however she had to admit she had never really talked to her. In high school you seem to know everyone’s name however when it came to knowing them on a personal basis a lot was a rarity, especially for someone as quite as Tali. She cocked her head to the side and wondered over quite casually.
“Tara? From school right?”
She asked standing by the girl. She had a knack for faces however she wanted to make sure incase she was wrong, it might seem strange if she went and greated a total stranger. She had to admit she did look a little lost and for sure Talim had never seen her around these parts, believe me she had been hanging around in this place long enough to know which faces where common and which where a rarity.
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Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2010 10:03 pm
It was surprisingly hard for Tara to get used to all of her newfound free time. She supposed it was due to the fact that she had been patrolling since before her death... or something. When had the Zodiacs first met, again? Her memories of the time before and during Barren Pines were still muddled, and she tried not to think about it too much. It only gave her a headache.
More importantly to Tara, she had free time for a while, and wanted to take advantage of it. Her afternoons and weekends were easy enough to fill, but nights were another story. With all the snow, it was far too cold for Tara to go out with her telescope and tinfoil hat, much as she wanted to. She had already marathoned all of the Star Wars movies, and was wondering what to do when she remembered that they had video games. Usually she preferred the realism of lightsaber combat to anything a game could offer her, but now that her nights were empty, why not give them a try again?
Of course, the only game system she had was her ancient Game Boy Color, so as she eyed the newer systems, she wondered if this was a bad idea. Anything she got could cost at least a hundred dollars, even used. Tara bit her lip as she examined the possibilities, so busy calculating her budget that she jumped when someone behind her said her name.
"Oh! Hi there!" Once she turned around, Tara did recognize the girl who was talking to her, at least by face. They had a class together, but she couldn't remember which one. Which was probably why the girl recognized her... that, or her reputation from the organ ring and coma epidemic preceded her. Whichever the reason, Tara didn't care, since being recognized was important. It did, however, lead to a problem."
"What's your name, again?" Memory was always a weak point for her.
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Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2010 10:22 pm
“Uh, it’s Talim.”
She added her hands still sluped in her pockets and her posture still very laid back. Tali never really knew much about the Barren Pines incident, she knew that a lot of kids suddenly came into the Meadowview system at the same time and even more so there were some reports of an organ ring of some kind. However whilst all this was going on Tali was just going about her business, it was one of those stories on the news that you would hear but not pay any attention to because it effected you in no way what so ever.
She turned and leaned against the track to face Tara, she guessed at least she did not go up to a stranger. Indeed they did have a class together. However since it was maths and the maths teacher was one of those scary old people who looked like he was going to explode half the time now many people talked in his class, even more so Tali had tucked herself away right at the back of the room like she did for most her class’s. She was a good student and not many things came hard to her; however that did not mean she liked to be pestered with questions in class.
She would rather sit back and do her own thing. She came over because the girl seemed lost and despite the fact that Talim was really quiet most of the time outside school she was a little more vocal and starting a conversation was something that did not really faze her. She could socialise after all she was just too lazy to unless approached half of the time.
“Anyway, are you looking for anything specific?”
She asked, she knew this place like the back of her hand so she was sure she could help in some way or another.
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Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2010 11:06 pm
"Talim, that's right!" Tara said, in a way that clearly showed that she did not remember at all. Usually, she didn't bother learning names since she knew it was only a matter of time before she forgot them. Or got switched to another school, or ended up in a coma, or dead...
No. No, this was the reason that Tara was on vacation. She was not going to let being a senshi get in the way of her living life. She could kick butt AND learn names, and now she was going to focus on the latter. Whether she succeeded... well, that was less important, in the long run.
"Talim," she repeated, trying to sear it into her memory. "Uh, I'm not sure. This is actually my first time here, so right now I'm kind of... well, I dunno. I mean, most of my allowance goes into supplies and stuff- test tubes and slides are really breakable- so maybe that's why I haven't gotten anything like this since I was eight."
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Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 7:42 am
“Test tubes... and slides?”
She repeated to herself, she had to admit that sounded very strange, was she some kind of scientist or something? She tilted her head to the side slightly, looking on with a pretty blank expression. She knew as much as any other person in her class would but she never really sought to go further than that. She had not chosen the profession she would like to follow when she left, she just know she wanted to be high up the pecking order.
Talim had her allowance and she usually traded in old games in order to buy new ones, so the flow was constant; however she had to admit she did not get anything unless it was something she really wanted. She could play threw something again and enjoy it as much as she did the first time. Maybe she bought five in a year. She had actually been thinking of starting a games club but she did not really know how many people would be interested in such a thing. However if some cool people joined she guessed it could be some fun.
“I see, well not all games have to be expensive. I mean some pretty cool older games are pre-owned and in the bargain bin. Come on I will show you.”
She nodded and walked to the other side of the shop to the section where all the cheaper stuff was sold. Even though they were older games it did not mean they were not fun. You had things like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and Soul Calibour which were all pretty good. She turned around once more to look at Tara.
“I was about to say, I hang out here a lot and I have not seen you around.”
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Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 4:47 pm
Tara folded her arms proudly. She was far from ashamed of her somewhat quirky interests, and loved to tell people about her research projects. Most of which had come to a halt since her vacation had started. Maybe it was that she now had too much free time, or maybe she was feeling confused over her true goals, but Tara spent far less time poring over slides and looking for new types of chemicals. Even the announcement of arsenic-based lifeforms didn't excite her as much as she'd thought it would.
Still, her inner conflict didn't keep her from offering "I'll show you sometime! Maybe after school. They really don't like to show us the interesting stuff, so I get it if you think it's boring, but believe me, nothing could be further from the truth." Tara paused. "Except maybe the whole 'aliens are a hoax' rumor. That's about as far from the truth as you get."
Heck, she'd been one, so she would know.
"Really?" Tara followed Talim to the bargain bin eagerly, having mostly missed the older games. "But you know, I don't really have anything to play games on, either. Unless you count my Game Boy Color, but I don't think they make games for those anymore, right?" The fact that Tara guessed, and didn't know for sure, went even further to display her complete lack of knowledge about video games.
Fortunately for her, it seemed that she'd found the perfect teacher. "I don't think I've ever been here," she admitted. "I'm usually too busy with... other things, really, to play video games. But I've got some free time for a while and thought I'd give 'em a go. And lucky me, I've found myself an expert!" She grinned at Talim. "So I'm ready to be exposed to the wild world of wideo- I mea, video games!"
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Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 10:45 am
“Aliens? Sure, why not. I mean I guess with how much space is up there it would be stupid to think we were the only life forms to exist. I just do not think we will ever experience meeting another race because if the universe is that big the thought of two sentient races bumping into each other would be almost as impossible as them not existing in the first place. Even if a plot like that in Mass Effect comes around I will be long gone so you know. That’s no fun.”
She gave a small smile, if only something interesting like that would actually happen. However Tali had long before accepted life was boring and nothing magical would happen like it did in the manga books she read – no matter how much she wished it would. I mean she had heard about the rumours of powered characters fighting in the night but had no idea if there was any truth behind them. She had always wondered how the end of the world would come and that seemed to be the closest thing to it. If only she could be part of something that amazing.
“Haha, I still have mine too, when I was little I was a Poke’mon whore to the extreme. Hmm, how about a computer? I mean you can get almost everything for the PC.”
Almost everyone these days had some kind of a computer and there where many fun games on it, in fact most of the epic games for the X-Box had some kind of PC based alternative. Tali had so many MMO’s on hers it was unbelievable. Just for when she wanted to play but did not want to do it alone. She had spent many hours in the early morning playing on Ragnorok, she had even learned a little German so she could understand instruction from the players. She had always thought that would be a awesome teaching method in schools.
“Yea. I have been a huge fan for a long time, I mean I do not waste my life on them but it’s a fun way to eat away some time.”
That was a lie. Tali was so up to date with the world of gaming it was stupid and even though it had not consumed her life, it had consumed and taken over the hours she was meant to be asleep. It is a wonder how little you needed when you drank as much red bull as she did. She was a girl with many hobbies, between Manga Books, Movies and Videao Games she had little time for friend; which is a good thing really because she never let anyone get particularly close to her. She was nice to people and was easy enough to talk to but she never really had anyone who she told secretes to or would practically miss if they disappeared.
“Sure, if you think you can show me the fun side to that stuff. I am not a huge fan on class or lectures but I am willing to give it a shot. So more specifically what kind of stuff do you do?”
She added in reply to Tara’s offer of showing her it could be fun, heck what did she have to lose. Part of her truly did wonder if it was possible to make a topic as academic as science... fun.
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Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 10:40 pm
"Exactly!" Tara nodded approvingly. This was an unexpected viewpoint, though when she thought about it, it only made sense for video game geeks to believe in aliens. They were more susceptible to delusions, she'd read, but that also meant that they accepted the truth more easily. Or something like that. "Don't count out meetings, though," she warned. "If two sentient races want to find each other, wouldn't it make less sense for them not to?"
The revelation that she was not initially from Earth had done little to dampen Tara's enthusiasm for searching the stars for signs of sentience. If anything, it only served to prove that she had been right all along. If there could be life in the Solar System, who was to say that there wasn't even more life throughout the universe, and not all of it amounted to magical boys and girls with tiaras?
Even though their opinions differed a bit, Tara could see that they had a few things in common as well. "I played Pokemon when I was little!" she said excitedly. "But after I caught them all, it got boring." Video games held little replay value for her. Movies were okay- you didn't have to level-grind, or try to catch that one monster that only appeared at 3AM on the third Friday of the month, or try to beat that one impossible boss fifteen times. Not that Tara disliked challenges, but eventually you had to draw a line between refreshingly tough and mind-numbingly tedious.
A computer, however, was something that had never occurred to her. "I've been using my brother's for a while," she said sheepishly. Her computer had been at Barren Pines, and she doubted she could sue the Negaverse for property damage. Then she brightened. "I think he might let me have it for Christmas, though. One of the many bonuses of having a brother who can put together computers practically from scratch."
Maybe that was another reason she'd never gotten sucked into video games. It was just more fun to watch Kent reassemble a hard drive. Real life easily outdid anything that games could offer, but Tara could see why a break from reality would be readily sought by people her age. "They do look fun," she admitted. "Some of them, anyway." If this girl tried to set her up with some silly princess game or another, she would never come back to the store again.
"You bet I can show you!" If Talim knew what she'd gotten herself into, she might have regretted it. "There's more to science than rocks and leaves, of course. Everyone has a different interest. Some people like biology- what makes us up, what's different between birds and bees and aliens. Or maybe chemistry- there's nothing quite like blowing up school property, even if they do make you pay for it." Tara winked mischievously. "Or you could be like me, and go with all of the above- with a healthy dose of astronomy as the main course."
It would be too much to hope for to find someone else committed to searching for life in the universe. But if Tara could find another way their interests overlapped, there would be a healthy amount of potential for collaboration. Even if it didn't serve her overarching goal, she missed working with other nerds in her free time.
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