Mariko awkwardly hung around the conversation like a societal moth around a candle. The girl she'd decided on a total whim to talk to seemed dead-set on ignoring her, and even though it was awkward enough to stay here, it was even worse to leave. She was [i]part[/i] of this thing, now, even if neither of them were going to acknowledge her existence. Wasn't that the guy who'd caused a ruckus in the cafeteria the other day? And wasn't he bowing in a grand arc to this girl, Coral or something? She hadn't been paying attention, half of what went on was in a completely insane language. Mariko glanced up, at the ceiling and walls. Better thing to focus on right now then people. They were designed to resist earthquakes, it wasn't like they could be anything else but what they were. She took a step away from the bickering couple. And another. and a third, until she retreated back to comfortable anonymity next to a pair of jugglers.