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Summary: Quetzal and Rashmi enjoy the new HoloQuad at Barnes.
Date: December 14, 2010
Log Title: Being Outdoors, Inside
Rating: PG
Barnes Academy - HoloQuad
Stepping into the HoloQuad one would almost forget that they were in an underwater school. The sky changes to reflect the time of day, sunny with clouds during the day to night time reflecting what the Northern Hemisphere would look like without light pollution. Sunsets and Sunrises are even reflected in the room. It's impossible to tell there is a ceiling up there. Plant life, benches, fountains and pathways make the room look like a luxurious park and unlike the sky, the rest of the room is real. Sometimes a breeze passes buy and the room is always a comfortable temperature giving the students a way to feel like they're outside enjoying the fresh air.
With the recent additions to Barnes, Quetzal has been exploring them a bit. Today he's in the HoloDeck walking around enjoying that fake outdoors. Their a lights about to set against the night sky filled with stars and he can't help but enjoy it. Verde seems like he's loving it away leaping from tree to tree as a flying squirrel but always staying close to Qutezal. He hums a bit to himself, a not so recognizable tune of Bon Jovi's 'It's my Life', as he walks along.
Rashmi, it would seem, has also recently discovered the magic of the HoloQuad, as the flickering glow of a running video can be seen at the base of one of the trees. But the redhead's attention isn't on the movie — by the sound of Viggo Mortensen's voice, likely it's one she's long since memorized — but the star-speckled hologram making up the ceiling, and the treeline that nudges the bottom of her feild of vision. The expression on her face, something very close to a beatific peace.
Before Quetzal even appears in Rashmi's view, Verde jumps down next to Rashmi and puts his paws on her lap to view what's on the screen. "What are you watching?" The flying squirrel asks as the click of Quetzal's cane can be heard as he comes into view. He smiles down at Rashmi and chuckles. "Don't mind him, he gets curious often."
Rashmi starts at the soft plop of a flying squirrel's paws on the ground, even loosing a quiet squeak as her hindbrain reacts to 'animal paws on me!' before her forebrain recognizes and identifies the voice. "…Um… hi Verde," she says, pausing to let out a shaky breath, then smiling down at the spirit. "Return of the King, actually… my favorite scene." The earbud is pulled out from the other side of her head, then unplugged entirely. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me! The movie is paused, then, and she turns her head toward the sound of Quetzal's voice. "Oh, it's okay, sir. Just, this place is *incredible,* I just sort of forgot that I wasn't actually *in* the forest, y'know?"
Quetzal sits down next to Rashmi with a slight groan as he straightens out his leg and then lays his cane down next to him. Verde is the first one to speak as he watches the screen with fascination before it's put on pause. "We've never seen this movie, it looks good." The squirrel looks to Verde. "Can we watch it?" Quetzal laughs and nods. "Sure." He says as he knows of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy but has never read or watched it. "I agree, I like it in here it's so relaxing and peaceful."
"Um… sure," Rashmi says, closing down the video player and tapping another file in the folder. "But you should really watch it from the start. There's, um… a lot of it, actually, I can email you the videos if you want. It's like nine hours, all told?" With that, the tale of Sauron unfolds on the screen, the PDA tilted so Verde can see better. "How're you doing, Agent Quetzal?"
Verde climbs onto Quetzal into his arms shifting into an Ocelot so he can cuddle against him. "When I have free time, the only thing I have planned this weekend is to try to crash that blockparty that bartender is having. Oh he's an interesting guy." He says with a smile as Bruce's naivety amuses him. "And I'm doing okay, the cold weather sometimes gets to my leg a bit, but I'm adjusting here just fine. How about yourself Rashmi?"
"Actually I *really* like it here," Rashmi says, shifting against the tree, taking another look up at the stars and shaking her head in wonder. "But I've always enjoyed school, and here there's things to learn I never even thought *existed,* you know? It almost makes me wish I were twins… or triplets… a lot of people, anyway, just so I could check it all out."
Quetzal laughs. "Well twins…it doesn't help with what you learn." He says with a warm smile. "I have a twin sister but she's not into this sort of life." He says with a shrug. "I'm glad you like it here, I'm enjoying it too. It's different, a lot calmer than what I'm used to but I think it's needed. I'm still trying to adjust to being a teacher." He's one of those teachers that needs the teachers books right now. "I plan on exploring a bit this weekend."
"Well yeah, I'm just saying," Rashmi says, lifting a shoulder. "But yeah, I'm probably going to be poking around a lot when I've got the time… Hopefully things won't go *too* bad at the party, and I'll be able to. I sort of have a bad habit of taking up space in the Medbay when things go really wrong, watching out for friends that've gotten hurt. So, here's hoping." She falls silent for a moment, as Isildur turns away from the heart of Mount Doom, much to Elrond's consternation. "You'll be a good teacher, I think; it doesn't seem like you're having much problem so far, right?"
"Well let's hope you don't end up in the medbay this time." Quetzal says as he doesn't want to see any students end up in there. "I'm hoping they won't go too badly either but I'm just as worried about Bruce provoking things to make it worse then also stoping them." He admits. "No, not a horrible problem it's just weird teaching something that is second nature to you. Language is something that's just there. There is no such thing as a language barrier…well there was a girl recently who spoke in a language I couldn't understand. I wonder if she was an alien."
"Probably," Rashmi sighs, shaking her head. "He doesn't really strike me as the type to do anything in moderation… I think the biggest headache will be trying to convince him that these people need to be taken alive, whenever possible, so you guys can figure out who's *behind* this game, you know? I can… see what I can do until Friday, talk to him and Magneto and try to get at least *one* of them to see reason." Mentally rewinding the conversation, she tilts her head, brow furrowing. "So, wait… your power has to do with language, right? Wow… that's odd, if you couldn't understand her."
"We don't want too many casualties, even if people do deserve it." Though Quetzal doesn't want to go into the fact that if ordered, he would shoot to kill but that's part of being a soldier. "Finding out whose behind it will probably be the most important part." He wonders if Index would be a help in figuring that out. "Yes, I can just understand languages but I can't understand anything that is alien. We found that out when SWORD was having a problem."
Rashmi tilts her head. "Alien like 'outer space,' or alien like 'anything not from the planet?' Cause it's probably a more important difference than I'd normally think at first."
"Well Alien like outer space since that's what I definitely know. As for anything not from this planet, well I think it has to be a language here on Earth." Quetzal says as there haven't been much he hasn't been able to read. "What about you Rashmi, what are you abilities?"
"Maybe talk to some of the staff that deals with mystic stuff, too, if you want to pin down where it comes from. I mean, we've barely gotten a semester into Supernatural Studies, and I don't think I'm even *capable* of learning a fraction of the languages some of what lives out there uses." To answer the question of her abilities, she cocks her head briefly, and a half-dozen gently glowing spheres fade into view, lazily orbiting the elder agent's head.
"I don't know much about magic and mystic stuff but that's how I was able to understand Verde." The ocelot looks up and nods. "Yup, I don't remember much before being with Quetzal but he was able to talk to me cause he understood magic. I know other languages through him." The cat explains as Quetzal scratches Verde's ears as the Ocelot tries to swat at one of Rashmi's orbs. "So you can summon up..orbs? What can you do with them?" Quetzal asks.
In response to the exploratory batting, the spheres seem to scatter, drifting outseveral yards away in seemingly random directions, each setting up its own orbital axis and speed, each different from the others. "Stuff like that, really… Tell them where to go, and how fast to get there. They're solid, so they can hit pretty hard if I need them to."
"That seems very useful, can you control the number you can create?" Quetzal asks as he pulls Verde's paw back so he can stop swatting with a chuckle. "Sorry, Verde is..well..he gets playful." The cat then looks at Quetzal and sticks his tongue out at him. "I can't help it if you're an old man." He jokes with the SHIELD agent. "If you ever need help with powers training, I can help you with accuracy."
Rashmi bobs her head. "I'd like that. I have a couple things I use to help train, but repetition only goes so far, even when it's randomized, right? And no… it's always six, and my brain's sort of rewired itself to make it work. …Like, Mr. diLucci thought I was halfway to a seizure, all the time, until I explained my powers. Something to do with the crazy pig-Martian supermath involved in dealing with orbital vectors or something… I only understood two words in nine of what Dr. McCoy was saying…"
Quetzal blinks for a second and nods. "Well, I understood a part of what you said. Sciences and physics and such, I never studied them much. I was always more interested in flying planes than studying." He says and with secondary school being so long ago, a lot of that stuff has escaped him. "And Pig-Martian super-math? Is that the offical term?"
Rashmi chuckles. "Hardly… It's like you know how Pig Latin makes it hard to understand by swapping around words? So… imagine how hard it would be if you did that with Martian. And that's how confusing it is just *trying* to figure out the math involved, so I just call it that and let the back half of my brain do all the heavy lifting."
Quetzal shakes his head. "Actually I don't. Pig Latin sounds like any other language to me..well I should say I understand it as easily as any other." He says with a smile. "But I think I understand and it's something I don't think I'll be trying to figure out." He says as goes to push himself up but before he can Verde hops out of his arms and transforms into a gorilla so he can help Quetzal up. "It was a pleasure talking to you Rashmi but I have to head back to my room now. Enjoy the stars."
Rashmi bobs her head, smiling brightly. "You too, Agent Quetzal. I'll email you two the movies before I go to bed, okay?"
Quetzal smiles at her and bows his head slightly. "Thank you very much, I'm sure Verde and I will enjoy them." The Gorilla smiles and nods. "We'll have a movie weekend." Quetzal laughs before looking at Rashmi. "Have a good night Rashmi." He says as he makes his way out of the HoloQuad.
