495/Other Intelligent Beings

Other Intelligent Beings
Date of Scene:	13 March 2020
Location:	Library - Happy Harbor High School
Synopsis:	Vivian complains about Roy putting his feet on the library chairs and the two end up having a chat about better ways to describe metahuman students and the various school clubs at Happy Harbor.
Cast of Characters:	Roy Harper, Vivian Vision

---

Roy Harper has posed:
It's Friday afternoon and Spring Break is swift approaching, which is something that a lot of the students are looking for. For his part, Roy is seated in a chair in the library with his feet up in the chair opposite him, slouched down so that his legs reach under the table, a book propped up in front of him as his eyes drift back and forth across the text. He seems to actually be.. studying? Oliver might start to wonder if Roy has been replaced by Folger's Crystals if this keeps up. He bops his head a little every so often. There are earbuds in his ears and some music is playing in them, but it's too quiet to be heard outside of them.

Vivian Vision has posed:
For Vivian the mere concept of Spring Break is a bit weird. But then she's only really been 'awake' for a few weeks rather than living through the cycle of school and breaks. She moves between the stacks of the library picking out key books. Some for class, some for fun but the key thing about every book she selects? No pdf copies online.

She's masking her synthezoid nature with a clever holographic projection that makes her appear pretty normal. Aside from green hair, which at least looks like it came from a bottle of dye, and the jewel set in her forehead. Which she needs to keep uncovered or else she's running on battery power.

She heads over to the table next to Roys and puts her books down with a thwump. Picking a dusty book on chess strategy for her first read. Every now and again she gives Roy a disapproving look. Is it because his feet are on the chair? Or perhaps it's because he's got music on in the library? It certainly couldn't be because her hearing is vastly improved over a baseline Human and the noise from the earbuds is distracting her!

Roy Harper has posed:
Given the seal on the earbuds and the volume at which he's playing the music, no normal person should be able to hear them. He can't account for super hearing, though, and so he doesn't think much of it. The fwump of the books draws his attention for a moment and his eyes briefly scan the titles before his eyes shift back to his own reading. The presence of other students coming and going from the library is a pretty common occurrence and not enough to really be of note.

However, it doesn't take long to feel the /eyes/ on him, and their disapproving look. Finally, he lifts his and glances over at Vivian and really /looks/ at her for a moment. He notes the hair, the jewel, the general normalish appearance, and the pile of books once more. He tugs one of the earbuds out of his ear, which likely makes it all that much louder to her and asks, "Sup?"

Vivian Vision has posed:
By the time Roy eventually speaks Vivian is already perhaps a full third of the way through her first book. Either she started it on a previous occasion or she is a master of speed reading. "It is very rude of you to put your shoes on the chairs," she informs solemly. "And while I am uncertain as to the exact rules I do not think we are supposed to have music playing in here either. It is certainly against the spirit of a library to be listening to music."

She turns to look at her book again, then pauses. "Which is not to say that I disapprove of listening to music, it can after all be very helpful to some people when studying, but I felt I should warn you in case a teacher came through." She shrugs. "The chair thing however I do disapprove of. What if you had stepped in something unpleasant?"

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper lifts both brows as he glances at Vivian, and then at his shoes and then back at her. But it's the music that throws him. "Uh, you can absolutely listen to music in the library so long as you have headphones on and it's not loud." He pulls both earbuds off and holds them in front of his face. "I can't even hear them from here and they're not even in my ears." But he reaches down and turns the music off and it stops instantly. "You can /hear/ that?" He squints at her a little bit skeptically.

He does, however, straighten up in his chair and puts his feet on the floor, crossing them at the ankles. "I'll clean off the seat before I go." Not that there's anything on it. There wasn't anything of note on the bottoms of his shoes. "Better?" he asks, a faint little smile tugging at the edge of his lips.

Vivian Vision has posed:
Vivian Vision frowns. An electronic subsection of her mind going to try find the library rules. "If that's the case I'm sorry for mentioning it," she offers, dipping her head to concede the point. "I've only been at the school a few weeks now. And I assumed it would be against the rules. It was frowned upon at my previous school." Admittedly that school didn't exist and it's rules were set in place to stop virtual students doing virtual hijinks. "Hear it? Oh not in great detail, just that it was on. I have very good hearing."

When Roy removes his feet she does at least offer a narrow smile. "That would be an acceptable compromise. Thank you." She flicks through a few more pages. It must be speed reading. Then glances up again "Have you been attending this school long? Are there any weird things, like rumours or legends, I should know about?"

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper shrugs his shoulders and says "If it was bothering you then it's more than fine to mention it. I just didn't think anyone could hear it at that volume. I'm not looking to bother anybody else's reading." Hence why he'd had them on and so low to begin with. "I can keep'm off while you're here. It's cool." He gives her a thumbs up for the narrow smile that she gives him and seems comfortable with the compromise. He notices how quickly she reads but then his own eyes flick back to his own book for a while, which he seems content to read in silence. "I haven't been here all that long," Roy admits. "I don't know any particular legends or anything. I think the school itself is pretty new -- so I guess we get to make the rumors and legends."

Vivian Vision has posed:
"Ideally I'd be reading everything on a screen," Vivian admits, then after a seconds consideration she frowns again. "I'm Viv by the way. I should have probably introduced myself before making any requests... The only reason I mentioned rumours was I heard a superhero was investigating the school for some reason. But I couldn't think of any possible cause. Unless a student had gone missing or something people would not feel inclined to discuss."

Roy Harper has posed:
"Roy," he introduces ihmself when she offers her name, grinning just a little bit and then shrugging his shoulders, apparently getting used to people starting mid conversation without introduction or pre-amble. It seems to be a pretty common occurrence at the school. "Oh yeah? Which Superhero in particular?" He seems idly curious but doesn't seem to immediately recognize what she's talking about, so it's not likely that he knows much about it one way or another. "I mean, or because there's a lot of meta humans at the school even if everyone's supposed to be blending in."

Vivian Vision has posed:
"I'm unsure precisely what name. A female archer," Viv replies midway through a page turn. "Probably about our age. It could just be she was considering the school I suppose. Especially if those rumours about meta humans aren't exagerations." Her fingers drum almost against her book without actually making contact. As if she's intentionally trying to avoid making any disruptive noises after her earlier complaining. "Personally I think they should use a better term than 'Meta-Humans'. What about aliens? They've come all the way to live on Earth and are not even remotely Human... So it seems unfair to lump them into a broad group that is rather speciesist."

Roy Harper has posed:
"Oh, I doubt they're exaggerations," Roy says with a smirk. "There's way too much emphasis on everybody trying to act normal for it not to be." He continues to flip through the pages of his book as he occasionally glances up and looks over at her. "Female archer, huh?" That piques his interest. "Nice. I could use some fellow archers in this place. Last guy who wanted to show me his new bow meant for a cello." He grins. "Not that there's anything wrong with the cello. It's a pretty cool instrument." He shrugs his shoulders and says, "I mean, yeah, the name would just get really long if they included everything. I guess they just picked one. Guess they could go with humans, enhanced humans, and other non-human life-forms."

Vivian Vision has posed:
Vivian Vision raises an eyebrow at Roys idea of how to rename meta-humans. "That doesn't really help much," she points out. "Non-human life-forms. What if you ran into a sentient computer? Besides people would equate non-Human with sub-Human. It'd be a derogatory term. Personally I prefer a term like Alternate Intelligences. It's broad enough to fit aliens, metahumans, mutants and anything non-biological."

She skims another few pages of her book. "You are interested in archery? For a school club I assume? It's a little odd as a hobby but I suppose much better than allowing a firearms shooting club on school grounds."

Roy Harper has posed:
"A sentient computer is a life-form isn't it? I dunno, man. There's a reason they don't let me name things," Roy grins at her. "Was just trying to think of alternatives. I'll leave the classifications to those better suited to it." He rolls his shoulders just a little bit. "I don't equate non-human with sub-human. Just different-than-human. I'm not down with that human supremacy shit." He does point at her then and says, "Oh, alternate intelligences is kind of cool but then it still kind of assumes human intelligences as default. Maybe we should all just be intelligent beings. That incorporates everybody."

"I've been entering archery competitions and practicing since I was a little kid," Roy says when she asks about archery. "It's kind of my thing. Some people jog. Some people fence. I .. shoot things. Targets." He grins a little, making that correction carefully.

Vivian Vision has posed:
Vivian Vision considers the point for a while. "Sentient beings also works," she agrees. "Although I don't mind the notion of Human intelliegnce being considered the default on Earth. That seems... well statistically appropriate."

"I've been the same way with coding. Started practically as soon as I could talk. But other than that I don't think I've ever developed any hobbies. It's why I've been reading books on chess. Thought it might be an interesting diversion for me but so far.." She sighs. "I'm not trying to boast or anything but it seems a little too easy. Perhaps I just need to find better opponents."

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper dips his head this way and that, "Yeah, sure, since there's a lot of us milling all over and all." He grins, "I was just trying to think of something that didn't set up an us vs them scenario, you know? Something a little more all-inclusive." He taps his fingertips on the edge of his book which he's abandoned even making the pretense of reading at this point.

"Coding is pretty cool. What sort of stuff do you code? Games? Science stuff?" He grins when she mentions chess. "I play sometimes but I'm not great, so I probably wouldn't be much of a challenge," he admits. "I play online with some folks once in a while."

Vivian Vision has posed:
Vivian Vision glances around awkwardly. "Before my twin died we.. used to compete to see which of us could get into places first. That sort of coding. Never anything malicious it was just.. you know.. proving we could. I've never really made any games or software for wider use. Just little things to make my life easier and to keep my personal information secure." She coughs, although it seems a little off. Like she's not really used to coughing and just trying it out. "Of course I don't do anything like that any more. Getting into virtual places I shouldn't that is. Now I'm old enough to know it's wrong.. Besides doing it by myself isn't as fun."

"I should check if the school has a chess club. I don't think I'd ever want to play competitively, but it is probably a more efficient way to meet new people in a new school than complaining about chair usage."

Roy Harper has posed:
There's a furrow of Roy's brow and then a quiet, "Sorry to hear that, about your twin." He pauses and then asks, "So like, white hat hacking? Or I guess.. just grey hat if you were just getting in for funsies to see if you could." He grin a little at that and nods. "That's cool, though, just doing it for yourself. It's good to have something that's yours that you do because you like it, not because you have to or because someone else wants you to do it." He smiles a little when she says she doesn't do it anymore because it's wrong, but he makes no comment on that. "I don't know if they do or not. Never looked into it, but then, I prefer to just play once in a while. But yeah, clubs are usually a good way to meet people I've heard." He laughs then and shrugs his shoulders, "Hey, this seems to have worked."

Vivian Vision has posed:
"I am coping," Vivian assures. "And no need to be sorry. You'd never met him after all." She bites her lip and then adds "I think we did a little white hat hacking. We certainly reported exploits.. I still do that sort of thing for a little side money. It can pay relatively well for the level of time and effort involved." She nods in agreement about clubs being a good place to meet people. "It can't hurt to ask anyway. And if there isn't a club perhaps I could start one. If not there is always online chess." A world where Virtual Vivian has wracked up thousands of games already in a few short days. "I suppose it has been one of the better social interactions I've had since moving to the New York area. Although I am unsure if better is the right word. More normal? Twice when I've been off campus I've met someone who was.. You'll think I'm mad for saying this but... some kind of sentient proto-galaxy. Or something along those lines."

Roy Harper has posed:
"No, but I've lost family," Roy says as he closes up his books and begins to push them into his bag, having given up on studying for the time being. He'd already done more than he had for days. But then he nods in agreement and says "Never hurts to ask. Worst they can say is no." Same thing he'd said to AJ before walking up to Tony Stark to ask him for an autograph. He chuckles a little and says, "Well, I'm pretty sure there's gonna be someone who'll be pleased to hear I'm capable of normal." He smiles a bit wryly to himself. Then he raises both brows and says, "I mean, the world's full of crazy shit. Why not a sentient proto-galaxy. Did the sentient proto-galaxy have a name?"

Vivian Vision has posed:
Vivian raises an eyebrow at the notion people would need re-assuring Roy is normal. "Do people often accuse you of being strange?" she asks, although without any hint of judgement or malice. "Perhaps it's an archery thing? They assume you're a ludite for not just wanting a gun?" She rolls her eyes. "Besides normal is over-rated."

"Her name was Singularity. She might have been a universe not a galaxy. Although I doubt there is a great deal of difference at the science level. Both are equally beyond anything our current understanding of everything says should exist. It does make me smile a little knowing that all the things adults tell us are true is.. basically crap. They're only a little less clueless than we are."

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper grins a little bit oddly and shrugs his shoulders, "There are some who would complain that I'm not normal enough." He's not sure if strange is the exact word that they'd use. Perhaps. "Maybe," he hazards when she mentions the archery thing, though his smile quirks a little wary. "Normal is entirely overrated. Not sure why people try so hard to be it, but I guess it can have its uses."

"Huh. Singularity. That's kind of cool." He nods his head once, apparently approving of the name of this universe, galaxy, whatever she might be. "I dunno if everything they say is crap but a lot of it is, yeah, because most of them are just stumbling through all of this like we are. And really, the important thing is always realizing that the more you know, the more questions you end up with, and the more you have left to learn."

Vivian Vision has posed:
"It does make me wonder," Viv starts, suddenly seeming distracted as an internal reminder popping up inside her mind. "How long all this blending in business will last for. When all the 'normal' students daydream about having powers and all the powered students get sick of hiding themselves and living a lie." She even makes little air quotes for the word normal. "Anyway, it's been nice chatting to you Roy. But I think I have to be somewhere very shortly. An essay that needs handing in and for some bizarre reason can't be submitted electronically."

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper studies Vivian and then nods his head, "Guess we'll see." But he offers no further comment since she seems to be getting up to go. "Nice meeting you, Viv. Look forward to running into you again soon." He lifts a hand in a wave and then begins to get up, himself, slinging his bag over his shoulder. And, true to his word, he does go over and clean off the seat.