Welcome to the World IC

[Vietmyke]

"YOU...took something from my room...d-didn't you?!"

TK tilted his head in curiosity. He had done no such thing. He chuckled and opened his mouth to respond, but the hyperactive smoker kept driving on, muttering "I know you did...that's right, why else would you text me?!"

Maybe this was going a bit too far. TK again opened his mouth to sooth the smoker's frayed nerves, but once again he did not get the chance to respond. The smoker had turned on Miu, "What happened to you? What did he say you have to do? Wait, what?"

Do? Realization dawned on TK fairly quickly, he spluttered and cut the smoker off before he could continue.

"Hey! Hey, hey, chill. I was just joking around with you." TK said calmly, his hands held out in front of him in a calming gesture. "I have no idea about anything about your room, but me and Miu here are looking for the rest of our group members. You're, Martin right?"

TK reached back and lightly touched Miu's arm, gesturing towards the girl in the wheelchair, as he began to walk over. "According to the name on her book, that's Yoshiko," TK said as he began making his way over to her. She had gotten back in her chair, and their other team member Arthur was nowhere to be found. TK turned his head around searching for the guy, but there was no one there. In place of Arthur, was an older guy, one of Dr. Klein's aides, TK believed he went by the name Eric. He was fairly well known around campus. He was smart, successful, and known to be a bit cocky and arrogant. Of course, when you're good at something, it tends to be difficult not to be somewhat cocky and arrogant. TK could only wonder why someone like Eric would be here. He didn't have to wonder very long however, as Eric quickly made with introductions and explained why he had arrived.

TK offered a confident grin in response to Eric's own confident air, and held out his hand for a firm handshake. "I'm afraid I don't know you," TK laughed. This was a blatant lie. He knew Eric from one of his other classes, in which Eric had helped him, not enough for them to be on a name basis, but enough so TK could recognize him. "I'm actually not sure if many people on campus know you either, Mr. Talbor." Another blatant lie. Turning his head to glance at everyone else as well, TK introduced himself.

"My name's Tai Kuroi, thats TK for short, I'm more of a musician than a programmer, but I guess I can give this project of ours a shot."

[Celestial]

The teasing had turned out to be a major success. Miu, ever since the beginning, had to force her body to not rock with the laughter that she knew was about to spill over. Before she could further exacerbate the teasing that she and TK had silently agreed to, TK had to spoil the fun. "Hey! Hey, hey, chill. I was just joking around with you." TK said as he held up his hands soothingly. "I have no idea about anything about your room, but me and Miu here are looking for the rest of our group members. You're, Martin right?"

Ah good going TK, it was just getting kind of good Miu thought silently to herself. She giggled slightly as she saw the outraged look on Martin's face. She was going to apologize until she felt a light touch on her arm. She saw TK's hand on her arm as he motioned over to the fallen girl whom was being attended to by another student that walked out. "So, now we've found almost everyone in our little group," she said as she followed TK over. Before she got too far she looked back towards Martin. She threw him a wink as she waved him over. "Come on, there's no need to be angry; we were just teasing ya!"

She made her way towards Yoshiko with an energetic gait. She noticed a slight blush on her face and just smiled. "Yoshiko is it? Well Yoshiko," Miu said with a genuine smile on her face. "I'm Miu it's nice to meet you."

Before she could hear Yoshiko's response, the new comer had began to speak. She listened to him as he and TK conversed. She couldn't help but notice the slight sarcasm in his voice. She took stock of the new face and surprisingly she knew him. Eric was in some of her classes, she didn't talk to him too much but he was an interesting guy. He seemed friendly enough in her opinion.

"Eric right?" she said as she smiled at him. "I'm Miu. You may not know me, but we have a couple of classes together. I'm pretty new to this computer design field, so please bear with me."

As she finished her little introduction, she returned her focus to the girl in the wheelchair. "I couldn't help notice your notebook of compositions. Are you in the universities composition major class then?" she asked as her eyes beamed with delight. "What's your favorite piece?"

[Hymusia]

Had not truly been following the interactions between Miu, TK And Martin, her own problems taking priority. However now as she sat and dusted the dirt and grit from her knees and hands she heard all she needed to. What despicable people, making fun of a person like that, when he's clearly got problems of his own as well. She thought to herself with a slight shake of her head. Then again I suppose that is normal teenage behaviour, not that I can agree with it. For obvious reasons she had a problem with bully's, even if they were just 'having a joke'. It was usually at someone elses expense and made said person feel horrible, there was no need for it and that was the bit that really annoyed her.

During her reflection on the two people nearby someone came up and rescued her music book, he had all the pomp and attitude of a celebrity, but she had no idea who he was. She'd seen him a few times of course, but she had no idea what his name was or what he majored in. Though when he spoke to her he seemed a completely different person and she offered a small smile as he offered her back her book. “Thank you very much...” She left her sentence hanging, hoping he'd give her his name, but soon he was asking her for music lessons. She usually tutored younger people, but she couldn't see the harm. “I...I guess I could teach you how to read and write music, and play an instrument if you tell me what it is you'd like to learn.” Teaching how to put together a composition though was like trying to teach someone how to write poetry or a story, you could give them guidelines but truly the content came from the person.

Soon T.K and Miu had joined them, but Yoshiko spent her time carefully brushing the grit from her book with a tender affection. Already she was not looking forward to being part of this group, they were people she would never usually choose to be her friends or even her partners in a school project. Still, she didn't have a choice here, and while Miu spoke to her she felt she really ought to tell the girl and K that she had no intention of working with them until they apologised to Martin for their stupid and immature prank. Of course what she actually said differed so much in comparison it made her feel briefly dizzy and nauseous. “I'm Fukusaku Yoshiko, nice to meet you.” She offered a polite bow of her head and shoulders, her face a blank slate if not for the blush plastered across her cheeks, that even now was fading in the wake of the cruelty and arrogance she had suddenly been surrounded by.

“I am yes. We have a recital at the end of the month which is why I missed the lecture.” Not that she thought for a second she'd be able to get notes from Miu on the lecture. She didn’t' seem the kind of student that paid any attention in class. “My favourite piece?” This was quite a hard question and briefly it made her forget the fact this girl was really no different than any of those who'd watch her fall and mock her behind her back for it. “Night on bald mountain, by Mussorgsky or any of Vilvaldi's four seasons; as cliché as that may be, though winter is my favourite of the four.” She finally answered thoughtfully, her attention returning to the book in her lap which she closed carefully and tucked back into the bag along with her pencil. “Do you study music as well?” She certainly didn't have the elegance to be in the orchestra, but then again that wasn’t' the only kind of music they taught.

Carefully she unwound her PFT from it's headphones and put them both in opposing pockets, now the group was all assembled it would be rather rude to go back to listening to her music and continuing writing her own. To Eric she spoke next, offering; as everyone else seemed to be, her computer expertise. “I've written some code and been successful with basic programming and design, though I am far from an expert.” She just studied, which seemed to be a rather lacking trait in this group, other than Eric of course, and she wouldn't be overly surprised if she and he were going to do the lion's share of the work on the project. I suppose though at least it would get done, I can't wait for this to be over with so I can phone Ellie.

[Mercenary Lord]

Eric nodded to each of his partners in turn, and then turned to Yoshiko. “Thank you, Yoshiko. No one has ever agreed to teach me before. I would love to learn what I can from you about your expertise.” He glanced back at the rest of them. “I’m pretty good at the whole three-dee design thing. At least, I hope I am. I’ll be getting my Bachelor’s degree in Engineering this year, so I pray that I’m good enough.” Then Yoshiko’s words registered. “Wait, you like Vivaldi’s Four Seasons? I love the summer piece. But overall, when I listen to classical music, I like to listen to Haydn. That man was a miracle of music.” Eric wasn’t as big a fan of older classical music, but he enjoyed orchestral pieces far more than modern day 'music'. He hated 'rap', and hip-hop wasn't much better for him. Most of his music was wordless and inspirational, and it had helped him finish many a project.

It was only after he finished that he realized the tension in the air. “I’m sorry, guys…but is something the matter? You don’t seem very easy around me. Then Eric swore. “Damn it. It’s my bearing, isn’t it? People always think I think I’m an arrogant bastard. Somehow, I ‘hold’ myself in a way that makes people think I’m full of myself.” He frowned. “I really try to keep away from self-destroying ideas like that. In my humble opinion, arrogance and getting cocky are the worst things you can do. It hurts yourself, and everyone around you.” He laughed a bit. “It makes no sense, since the people who tell me that spend the rest of the day trying to talk to me, or get closer to me. I find it a bit ironic.”

Eric broke off as he noticed the last student, the ‘grizzled’ one, who seemed to be lost in thought, glaring at Miu and T.K. Eric took it in, and then the pieces snapped together. “T.K. Miu. What did the pair of you do to this guy? It really isn’t morally correct to antagonize your co-workers.” He chuckled dryly. “We can’t fight amongst ourselves. I’ve seen it happen before, a few years ago, and Ivan failed the whole group. According to him, this is ‘a project designed to improve your design, but it’s also been made to make friendships. In this day and age, working together is as important as knowing your stuff.’” Eric grinned. “In his accent, of course.”

He fell silent, thinking. Seems like a well-rounded, if slightly belligerent group. All of them seem bright, except for Grizzled, but I don’t know him enough to pass judgment. I haven’t even heard him talk, yet, after all. Yoshiko seems nice, but she seems almost like she wants to say something, but then says something completely different. Strange. I’ll have to ask her about that sometime. Miu doesn’t seem like a bad person, but she seems a bit confused about her morals. I’m probably wrong, but whatever. T.K. seems to be misguided as well, but perhaps they’re both just nervous about meeting new people. I don’t believe T.K. for a second. The kid is enjoying himself. His voice is all the proof I need. It just isn’t…right.

He kept his ears open while he thought, determined not to miss anything.

[Vietmyke]

TK's face hid a frown as he acknowledged what Eric had said. It seemed he was lumped in with several stuffy types. He pulled back his outstretched arm and crossed them across his chest. He noticed with relative ease Eric and Yoshiko's disdain, something he had long been accustomed too. He rarely cared about other's disdain for him and was more often than not completely indifferent to scorn. However he was in a group this time, and their disdain may or may not have a significant effect on his grade. He'd have to fix things later, if not just for the sake of his grade. TK snuck a quick grin at Miu, his current partner in crime. At least one of them liked to have fun. He made that into a mental note, he figured more entertaining types like Miu or himself would have a good idea or a visual that could impress a crowd. Not that he doubted the technical genius of people like Eric, but everything needed its flair.

"Its not fighting, its just a bit of humorous friendly bonding," TK retorted, though his voice did have a more apologetic tone to it. "And furthermore, I don't know why he's convinced that I took something from his room, when the only interaction I've had with him is asking him to meet up with the rest of the group." he continued, just slightly put off by the fact that he had to defend himself and his actions. Just who did that guy think he was?

"C'mon," he said to Martin, waving at him a bit to get his attention, "We'll find whatever you lost eventually, in the meantime, how do we want to go about doing this? Do we want to all meet up online or something?"

TK reached for his guitar case and sheathed his guitar inside it. Slinging the case over his shoulder, TK adjusted his shoulder straps. He doubted they'd finish anything worth noting the first day, but he figured some time for bonding wouldn't hurt. Maybe he could 'make up' with Martin without actually having to apologize either. Warm up stone cold Yoshiko, and relax that straight-iron Eric. It wouldn't be that difficult to get together online either, most places had internet, and with the weekend coming up, it seemed TK had plenty of time to spare. Time that wasn't spent playing his music or sleeping anyway.

TK huffed to himself. This group may take some getting used to. He figured most people were thinking something along the same lines as well. He shrugged, they had 2 months to either get to know eachother and get some work done, or tear eachother apart. What happens happens.

[Celestial]

Rapture filled Miu's face as she listened with interest. “Night on bald mountain, by Mussorgsky or any of Vilvaldi's four seasons; as cliché as that may be, though winter is my favourite of the four,” She said. "Do you study music as well?

Beautiful pieces Yoshiko! I'm not a scholar in music, but I'm an enjoyer in the finer classical arts. Do you, by chance, visit the classical hall in the prefecture of Art? The composers that perform there are phenomenal. Miu was filled with excitement as she found another classical listener and practitioner. She unzipped her bag and took out her computer. No doubt she would get weird looks, but she didn't pay them any mind. She quickly booted it up and opened up her University's email. "I'll send you my notes since you missed the lecture. It wasn't really too in depth just details about the projec-- there we go!

A slight ping beeped on the device as a successful sent sign popped up on her screen. "Check your email whenever you want! The notes should be there.

As she folded her computer and stowed it away, she turned towards Eric whom had a note of disapproval in his voice as he spoke to T.K. A slight pang of guilt welled up in her chest, but she didn't see the harm in what they did. Sure, the teasing may have been taken a little too far, but it was all for fun. She looked up from where she leaned against the fountain and offered a word of support for T.K. "It wasn't meant to be aggressive or insulting. Our teasing was carried out in good spirit. And as T.K said," she said as she looked apologetically to Martin. "We can help him find whatever he's missing when we can. However, surely there are more pressing details to discuss?

[Hymusia]

Couldn't believe what she was hearing, but so rare was it that someone would compliment her so earnestly; without jealousy in their tone, that she was speechless for a moment. He truly was enthusiastic and that was an important quality when it came to music, “I'm hardly an expert myself, but I can teach you the basics I'm sure. I'm not sure why anyone would not teach you, you seem so enthusiastic about it all.” Cue a shy smile and a moment of fumbling for words, which stopped when Eric addressed the issue that was on her mind and she almost dared a smile. Maybe he was different from her initial thoughts on him, not that she'd say as much.

Miu then drew her attention while T.K made excuses and tried to make amends maybe he isn't all bad either, just misguided and a little foolish. She thought to herself, the girl in front of her seemed quite passionate about classical music, which was a rather stunning turn of events in her opinion. Not many outside the music department had care for classics, it was now the 'modern classics' that people paid attention too, names like David Garett and Vanessa Mae had replaced those of Bach and Handel, “I do, I have classes there twice a week, the upper classman don't seem to mind me being there which is a relief.”

Miu then became busy with sending her the notes from the lesson, a resounding ping from Miu's laptop and a beep from her PFT meant she had received the mail. “Thank you, I'll check it once we are done here for the day.” It was a lot of effort and rather difficult for her to get the laptop out of her bag, a lot harder than putting it in anyway and she was always afraid of dropping it.

Miu then defended T.K's excuses for bullying the boy. It was mild compared to some sure, but it still was neither funny nor kind. There was no way that kind of thing could be 'good natured' either, tricking someone into believing you were being blackmailed, or in fact blackmailing someone else. Where was the humour in that? It was like the time she had come to school and some of the girls in her year had 'good naturedly' hidden her crutches as a 'joke they could all enjoy'. Of course Yoshi hadn't enjoyed hobbling painfully along the corridors trying to find them, or falling down the stairs because she didn't have them. It wasn't a joke it was bullying and while it seemed harmless she still had to have three stitches and her leg reset. However, how could she bring that up? Or the statistic's of suicides committed because of 'good natured' bullying?

She had no right to reprimand these people, so instead she turned to Eric. “I'm relieved someone here knows a little of what we are doing, I wonder, will you help me learn how to do three dee design? Its always fascinated me but Art isn't really my strongest forte.” In fact she could just about make a three dee rendering of a cube before she got too agitated to continue and returned to music. “We can do a study exchange.” She uttered with an almost mirthful but serious tone, she could teach him music and he could teach her design. "I mean, if that's okay by you?"

[Mercenary Lord]

Eric nodded. “That seems like good idea, I’d like that. But first-” He held up a finger, and flipped open his laptop. “I’m a big fan of the classics, but there are some orchestral pieces out today that you have got to hear! You might not like them as much as I do, but they definitely inspire me as much as the masters. His computer booted up and logged in in less than a second, courtesy of the program he had written a while back. He opened up a folder, then another, and then a third. “I like to be organized,” He explained to no one in particular. Then: “Ah, here we go. One moment…” He opened up his web browser, entered the web address of the university, and then ran a quick search for Yoshiko. Her name and email address appeared, and he opened a third tab, directly to her email account. Finally, he posted the links to several of his favorite pieces into the e-letter, and sent it. “There we go…check those out when you have the time, if you want. They are some of my reasons for living. They aren't all strictly classical, but I think you'll find them nice, anyway.” He chuckled a bit, to himself.

“In point of fact, Miu, you are correct. There are several things we can be doing at the moment, and I'd love to see if I've gotten this right. You see, I made a custom, built-from-absolute-scratch World Persona that I've spent a loooong time on. I'm really looking forward to testing it. So, or that matter, I believe going on world is the first step we should be doing. Either that, or I you three can go on world and look for something, and I can give Yoshiko a crash course on 3-D design. I don't really mind either way, although I've never taught anyone before."

He looked at his computer screen. "It's about...three in the afternoon right now. I think we should try to work on this for maybe...three or four hours? I don't really know. I've never worked with others in this kind of way before. Actually, there is a third option. We could all go to a cafe somewhere and grab a bite to eat, and get to know each other a bit. I kind of like that option. It might prevent similar problems like the one we've today."

He glanced at Miu. "Well, Miu, I can see that you didn't mean any harm, but things like this generally cause harm. How much pain and humiliation and possible death do you think 'good-spirited' teasing has caused. Having someone knock all the books out of your hands, down the stairs, and then not help you pick them up, and laugh? That might seem 'good-spirited', but it certainly wasn't enjoyable for me. The point is, unless the targeted person is laughing and enjoying themselves the same as you, you probably shouldn't 'teasing' them. I don't think it was much of a problem this time, but you never know." He shook his head. "Anyway, if we stand here much long, Ivan is going to come and chase us off himself. We'd better find a comfortable place to work, and get workin'!" He smiled.

[Celestial]

She knew she went a little far on that one. Miu shouldn't have pulled out the blackmail card. But at the time, she just had to do it. She had wanted to tease someone like that for a long time, and it seemed like that was the perfect opportunity. However, after listening to Eric, she did start to feel somewhat guilty for what she did. Whenever she could, she'd apologize to Martin.

She didn't want to think about it now though. She was more interested in what Eric had said earlier. "You made a custom world persona? How in the world did you do that? Of course, I guess adept programming and computer graphics skills were used, but The World moderators approved it? You need approval for things like that right?"

She checked the time and noticed how late it had gotten. "Goodness. We've been here that long? Anyways, I agree Eric! Why don't we all meet on world and explore for a bit. We'll probably come across a scene that catches each of our eye. In the meantime," she said as she put away her things, "I'll see what I can do about the programming part of the assignment. Can't leave everything to you all now."

She smiled to everyone as excitement and dread bubbled inside as she thought of how the project would end up. Anyways, as of now, she had high hopes.

She turned to Yoshiko. "Everyone can come if they want, but I'd think you'd appreciate this more so... maybe Eric as well. We should attend a concert next week at the orchestra hall! They're debuting some new composers who are suppose to be really good! Girls night out; what do ya think?"

[Vietmyke]

"If we're looking for someplace to do work, the Rhythm & Bar Music Cafe on the west side of campus has a small computer lounge, I'll bet my manager will let us use it free." TK voiced, the cafe was a medium sized place and fairly well known, but quiet enough for a small amount of work to be done. TK didn't expect them to get a major amount done in a few hours anyway. TK also wasn't one for sitting in a quiet computer lab in one of the campus libraries, the librarians didn't seem to like him either, music and quiet didn't generally mix that well.

TK Listened, mildly interested, as Miu discussed the upcoming concert. He wasn't much for classical music, but classical music did provide a powerful platform on which to learn music from. As for the concert Miu spoke of, it took TK a moment to realize that she was talking about the Debut concert at the Shinoda Center, down in the Prefecture of the Arts. It was a big annual event down in the prefecture, and he had been to several of them, not many because classical music wasn't really his forte, but they often had several contemporary composers from which he borrowed ideas from. For this particular event however, his sister was supposed to be doing news coverage of the event, and his brother's recruiter was running security. With his older siblings combined resources, along with their parent's influence, they could easily get into the concert, or even a bit more than in.

Pointing at Yoshiko's music book, TK spoke, "If you can finish that piece you're working on, I can one-up going to the concert. How about being part of that concert?" he left the thought in the air. His parents, as impersonal as they were, were still mildly interested in their childrens' interests, and as the sponsors of many artists and musicians in the Prefecture of the Arts, the Kuroi family had moderate influence on the area. He couldn't get into something like the Grand Arts Festival the prefecture held every four years, but getting into something geared towards the inexperienced but talented like the Debut concert was child's play.

TK heard a shuffling, and he turned back towards the door of the lecture hall. He laughed, just as Eric had predicted, Dr. Klein was hobbling towards the door, waving at them with his hand. He was either greeting them, or shooing them, though TK had a strong feeling that it was the latter. He laughed again, his musical and rolling laughter before he turned his attention back to the group.

"Speak of the devil," TK managed through his chuckling, "Eric I think you're right, we should get moving."