darkSpyro

Mrs. Lansford chuckled at Allison's first statement, announcing to the rest of the class, "See? One person agrees with me!" Some of the other students who had met Mrs. Lansford years earlier snickered a bit. Turning back her attention to Allison, she told her, "You might want to give it a try. It was the first book featuring Sherlock Holmes. It's a classic."

ooc: Wylrin, did you see my response on the previous page?

Seytrius looked at the boy sitting in front of him. Like Zurgoh, he didn't expect that the boy might be an alien, nonetheless from the Brotherhood. He looked at Zurgon. "Hello." He said waving his hand.

"I would rather read classics like Night by Elie Wiesel. Or even To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, " Ryo suggested, ignoring the voice in his head.

((OOC: Yeah, I saw it. I'm just really slow at responding. ))

"Sherlock Holmes? I never really liked the British that much. But then again, detectives and mysteries are quite interesting. I might as well, I hope my mom will buy it for me." P3 stated, "oh yeah, and the first thing you said, I was being serious. You don't look to old."

//Continuity error, Rickorio, you said Nathan was sitting in the middle of the class, Zurgon is sitting directly in front of the desk, so therefore not in front of Nathan. //

Zurgon looked in the direction of the voice that called out, he gave a quick wave back and a nod, acknowledging the boy, he then directed himself back towards the teacher, he studied her for awhile, he took into account her nail color and the way she dressed, making mental notes as he did so, he noted her Star Trek apparel and got a bit excited, his home planet was very different from Earth but every so often they would send recruits down to bring Earth objects to study, and they often brought back movies, one such movie was Star Trek.

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked, a mixture of concern and timidity in her voice. Syndral looked like she wanted to murder the person who had been responsible for her ending position on the floor. Although she couldn't blame her at all for that, it made her cautious in speaking to her when she was clearly in an irritated mood.


"Well, we'll be reading plenty of books in this class," Mrs. Lansford said in both response to Ryo and Allison. "Plenty of books," she repeated, as if for emphasis. "For some assignments, you'll even get to choose on your book to read."

The voice in his head whispered dark quotes in Ryo's ear as Ryo smirked revile then got a huge migrane.

Syndral took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. She closed her eyes for a moment, ignoring how infuriating her current surrounding environment could be. She sighed as she opened her eyes.

Syndral glanced at Rachel, and took note of the timidity in her tone of voice. She wasn't sure what it meant exactly, but she was observant enough to notice it. It made her curious, since she hadn't noticed anyone else with such a soft tone of voice before now.

"Yes, I am alright." She said to Rachel, speaking more calmly now, going back to her usual monotone voice. "I have just had a bad day so far, and that did not help matters..." She muttered.

((Wait....aren't desks at the front if the class? If so that means Zurgon would be in front of Seytrius.))

"Great! Although my inability to choose for a little while will be dissatisfying. But all books are great anyways, so." Allison/P3 stated In a so-so voice and she gave a so-so shrug.

//What? High school desks aren't just in a straight row, there are generally three or five rows, the teachers desk is either on the far right or the far left depending on which side the classroom is, if Nathan is in the middle he'd be in the third row about, but Zurgon is in front of the teacher's desk so he would be in the fifth row.//

((I meant the teacher'a desk. Like in the middle of the room.))

Ooc: I've never seen a teachers desk in the middle if the room.

OOC: Wow, I missed a lot. And Lunarz, Ms. Espinoza is wearing a Star Trek shirt, not Star Wars (but she likes both).
By the way, her desk is at the front. All the student desks are in five straight rows facing her.

Ms. Espinoza got up and introduced herself, asking the rest of the students to go up to the front to do the same. Her tone was obviously jovial, if not a bit strange.

--

Mort, unfortunately, wasn't able to greet Diane at the time. He managed to reach his next class before the tardy bell rang. He sat at the left in the middle, and watched his teacher, Mr. White. While the Order typically keeps information to themselves, he quickly discovered that one of his teachers would be a fellow agent. He had known Elim from the same mission he had with Syndral before, and they were also on good terms. Well, as good of terms anyone could be with someone so... apathetic. But he didn't complain. In fact, he had been greatly looking forward to reuniting with him. He'd been thinking about it all day, and mentally prepared himself a means of making his presence aware to him.
While he waited for him to introduce himself to the class, he glanced around at the other students. A few of them were from his previous class. Mort sighed irritably. He shouldn't have reacted so... aggressively... towards the situation. He realized now that hissing wasn't a noise humans typically made. Well, crap. Hopefully they didn't think too much of it. Maybe he could just play as the weird kid in school.

//Alright, I'll change that. My bad.//

Zurgon was always eager to go first, he thought that if he got up and introduced himself other students would find him interesting and talk to him, anything to make a new friend, so he hopped out of his desk and ran to the front of the class, he stood in an upright stance as he spoke. "Hey guys, my name is Shane Blair, I like long walks on the beach and sunsets." He snickered at his own joke. "I'm just kidding, I do enjoy such activities as acting and music, but I'll talk about anything you want to talk about, hopefully we can all become friends!" He wasn't lying, on his planet he had participated in many plays, and he loved to play instruments, any he could get his hands on, particularly the guitar, his father got him one when he was younger and he had played it ever since. If thought about, Aliens and humans weren't all that different.

"Ooh, what instruments do you play? Accordion? Didgeridoo? Xylophone? Box cutter?" Ms. Espinoza asked, using every unlikely guess possible. Whether she did this on purpose or not was for the students to decide.

Zurgon had indeed heard of all these instruments, he may not have studied much for this mission, but he always loved music and he studied it every day. "I've played most of those before, but I prefer Guitar or Harmonica." he had returned to his seat, a pencil and paper now on his desk. "I was thinking I could perhaps put together a band." That was indeed something he always wanted to do.

"Oh, I love the harmonica. My mommy played it for me all the time when I was a kid," the teacher said as Shane took his seat. "And a band, huh? I'm sure you can pull something like that together. You look like band material." She glanced around at the other students. "So who's next?"

Seytrius got up, and went to the front. "Hi, I'm Nathaniel Evans, though you can call me Nathan, and I like to read, I love music, and no a lot about Greek, Roman, and Egyptian myths. I'm very interested in mythology." He explained as he finished, hoping someone wouldn't throw a piece of paper or something at him. He'd seen it before.

OOC: I'm gonna leave the classroom to you two guys. I need to go to bed. G'night, all!


"Mythology is so cool! Thanks for sharing, Nathan!" the teacher said, head resting on her hands. "Next?" The students continued to introduce themselves. Once they were finished, Ms. Espinoza allowed them some chatting time.

“Oh,” was all Rachel said. It was strange; for being a person with a rather happy, outgoing nature, she wasn’t that good with talking to new people or making friends. It was sort of contradictory, but Rachel was a person of many contradictions. When she was comfortable around someone, she would become happy and energized, but she wasn’t naturally this way all the time. She couldn’t go up to someone she’d never seen before and just.. talk to them so fluently like her peers seemed to do. Quite frankly, she honestly didn’t understand how they did it, make friends so easily and quickly.

When she had been in Kindergarten, Rachel had tried to go up to other kids and talk to them, try to become their friend. They would always reject her, however, for reasons that to this day she didn’t understand. So, she had given up on trying to make friends. Over the course of her life, she would go about her business, usually alone, yet sometimes with other people. They would interact; they would become the familiar face to one another, the one that the other naturally gravitated towards in a classroom full of unfamiliar faces; they would spend more time together that way; then, all of the sudden, they would be friends, laughing and talking with each other as any friends would. There was really no decision in the matter, no moment of realizing ‘This person’s my friend’. It was simply a matter of subtle changes over time that transformed two strangers into two friends.

That was how it was now, as well. Rachel wasn’t trying to make Syndral her friend, she was just being nice, being herself. There was a certain curiosity about the other, of course, but not much beyond that. Rachel found herself idly wondering if this girl was upset about leaving wherever she had come from, her old school or her old town. She didn’t ask, of course, for that just wasn’t in her nature. Instead, she simply sat quietly, glancing at Syndral out of the corner of her eye every now and then inquisitively.


Mrs. Lansford smiled gently at Allison’s statement, saying, “That’s alright. And I agree. I think all books are wonderful pieces of art. Which reminds me, I wanted to ask the lot of you: Which you do think is better? The book? Or the movie? Generally speaking, of course. I’d like to hear what your opinions are.”


Shaking his head as Ryo finally left his classroom, Mr. White looked back to the students awaiting their instructions. Or at least, he liked to pretend that’s what they were doing. He realized just now that he was going to have to introduce himself again. He held back an irritated sigh. It would be better for him once they got to the second day, when things wouldn’t be so monotonous. He kept himself from sighing at his own feelings. Normally he wasn’t so agitated. In his past missions, he had remained calm, had even enjoyed completing his work. The difference now, he knew, was his unfortunate weaknesses.

In most of his past missions, Elim had been infiltrating advanced societies, planets that knew of other races and mingled in every aspect of life. He’d even taken a mission on his own home planet once. In all of these missions, he’d had to keep his identity a secret, but not his race. Hiding one’s identity was one thing, but hiding every distinct trace of your species? On this mission, he had to hide how desperately he needed water, he had to hide how his skin would burn upon contact with salt, he had to hide his appearance and his technological capabilities and every single aspect of him. That was something he’d never had to do before, and it was significantly harder than simply remaining anonymous among hundreds, if not thousands, of extraterrestrial species. Now, he was the black sheep in the flock, and he so desperately needed to keep that a secret. As far as any of them knew, he was as white as any of them.

Turning towards the classroom and folding his hands behind his back, preparing for his little speech that was to come, he cleared his throat and said, “Welcome to math class, students. My name is Mr. White. I will be your mathematics teacher this year. For those of you who are intending to shirk your responsibility of learning in this class, you’d better not be, for both my sake and yours.” It was a bit more threatening than his earlier introductions, but he wasn’t in the greatest mood right now, and he had no qualms with frightening any of his students, though he doubted they'd take any heed of his warnings. And that’s what they were: warnings. “Now, if any of you would like to introduce yourselves, do so now so that we may proceed to the matter at hand.

Allison looked at Mrs. Lansford as if she had three heads. "The book. Always. Every time, ever." Allison stated. She had read manuy books and watched matching Movies. Her statement was, in her opinion, completely true.

Mrs. Lansford nodded in approval, a smile on her face. "I agree entirely. However, it seems many of your classmates disagree. How would you argue in favor of the books? What makes them better than the movies, in your mind?"

"In movies, they set everything to a limitation. In Journey to the Center of The Earth, did they ever mention the shapes of the insects wings? I imagined them more graceful, rounded. They made them snappier, sharp in the movie. Plus, they can't convey thought as well in movies." Allison stated.

Ryo thought for a second

"I have more of a taste for plays, " he claimed, a bit of darkness in his voice, but not a noticeable amount.

Syndral blinked and glanced at Rachel curiously. Her response was so simple and short. Rachel didn't seem to care to continue the conversation or delve further into more private matters. This sort of puzzled and intrigued Syndral. So far, she had seen humans have little concern for others, and they all seemed too social and annoying for her taste. But this one seemed different.

She showed concern for Syndral, but wasn't bombarding her with questions and such. She wasn't sickeningly friendly with a seemingly permanent smile on her face. Rachel seemed a bit more calm and reserved compared to the other humans. So far, Syndral hadn't found her to be highly annoying, and wasn't immediately wanting to shoot her with a laser gun or abduct the girl to her lab. Perhaps this girl was also a bit more intelligent than the rest of her kind, Syndral doubted as such, but now she wanted to see how else this girl was different from the others.

Syndral was going to make an attempt to continue the conversation, but her social skills were weak, and she wasn't sure on how to do that. So far, she had pretty much bombed social interactions and failed miserably to fake being friends with anyone, just to lead them to her lab later on. She knew she needed to improve such skills to succeed in her mission, and maybe she could do better with this girl. Syndral just needed to remember to be nice and not scare the poor girl off before she can dissect her.

"So.... Uh...." Syndral muttered, not sure of what to say. "My name is Mari." She stated awkwardly. She wasn't sure of what else to add or say, if anything, and wasn't even sure if she should offer to shake the girls hand. Shaking ones hand wasn't a gesture of greeting someone on her home planet. It just seemed weird to Syndral. Her kind almost never issued physical contact with a stranger. Back home, it was considered rude to touch someone you hardly knew in any way.

With an approving smile, Mrs. Lansford nodded in agreement. “Precisely.” Turning to address the rest of the class, she began, “Like Allison described, books give the reader the opportunity to make their own conclusions, to interpret things their own way. One piece of literature can give every person who reads it a potentially different view on it in our mind’s eye. Like Allison had said, she had pictured the wings of insects in Journey to the Center of the Earth differently than the developers of the movie had. That’s what we’re going to begin exploring at the start of this school year; just how stories can put different images in our minds.”


Rachel looked over to Syndral, blinking owlishly. In all honesty, she hadn’t expected the girl to speak to her at all. Not much cognitive thought had been put into the assumption. In actuality, there hadn’t been an assumption at all. She hadn’t thought about whether or not Syndral would talk to her more or not. It was when she did speak again that Rachel found that, apparently, some subconscious part of her was assuming the conversation had ended, given her surprise when it became apparent that it wasn’t.

Clearing her throat a bit to make sure her speech wasn’t garbled in any way, she replied quietly, “I’m Rachel.” She fell silent after saying this. A few moments later, she wondered if she should have said something more, like ‘Nice to meet you’ or something. It hadn’t occurred to her then, and really, she wasn’t good with pleasantries like that. It felt a little too formal to her, like people say it out of obligation than out of its genuine meaning. So Rachel stayed silent after her short introduction, not really sure what else, if anything, she should say.

OOC: Y'know what we should have? Random staff, like a janitor or bus driver, that keep seeing the oddest things about the "students". That would build tension/suspense, right? Plus, it would provide awesomely cliched scenes!


While the students were talking to one another, Ms. Espinoza remained at her desk, hands clasped together. Her grinning face looked oddly younger than her age, but there were still a few greying streaks in her curly, brown hair. She was looking at several different students, constantly switching from one kid to the next. Although quiet, the teacher was involved, ready for any conversation to come in her particular way.

--

Morph sat attentively while students were introducing themselves up front, although his mind occasionally wandered elsewhere, remembering aspects of his previous mission. About five Earth years ago, he was part of a stealth mission, along with Syndral and Elim, in which they were to retrieve information on the militaristic capabilities of a newly discovered civilization. It... didn't go as planned... but it tested their abilities. Especially his.

Morph didn't exactly have the best work ethic. Or... ethic in general. He was rude, abrasive, angry, and easily quit when things got too heated. However, Elim and Syndral had set him straight. Their ship had crashed on the alien planet, and they were forced to work to the best of their abilities. It was a real eye-opener for the Kwuerk.

Syndral in particular had helped him grab his footing. She was no-nonsense, and wouldn't let anything or anyone stand in between her and the success of the mission. She told him off when no one else wanted to deal with him, and made him see the error of his behavior. Their relationship was... rocky, at the time. However, hard work together and perseverance resulted in mutual trust.

Morph held his comrades in high esteem for this reason, and he was very much eager to formally greet himself to them.

Mort drifted out of his thoughts and focused on Mr. White. He was looking forward to catching up. It had been a very long time.

//OMG WAAK, THE JANITOR WHO LITERALLY SEE'S THEM TRANSFORM TO AN ALIEN BTU NO ONE BELIEVES HIM BECAUSE THEY THINK HE'S INSANE...Also, I have a strange urge to make Zurgon want to be Mort's friend, only to find out what he really is at some point.//

Zurgon didn't have anyone to talk to accept Nathan, but he has noticed that even he had averted his attention from Zurgon and unto someone else, so all he could do was sit there and wait....Or he could converse with his teacher, get on her good side, get information, he liked that idea. Zurgon generally had good ideas but people very rarely tended to listen to him and his, as his race would put it; convoluted ideas. On his planet they were flourishing everyday, something was always being invented, but Zurgon's ideas were different and...Odd, to say the least.

"So, Ms. E, You look very nice, why is someone as young as you working here at a place so dull?" He spoke with a bit of jokey-ness in his voice, he knew the school wasn't that dull, but he had hoped his compliment would spark her interest and earn him some information in some way, shape, or form.

OOC: AND THE BUS DRIVER WHO KEEPS SEEING STRANGE THINGS IN THE MIRROR, YESH!! Oh, don't worry, Zurgon'll get to him. And when he does, he'll learn all of Mort's secrets (and not just the ones concerning the Order... dramatic high school secrets, too...).


Ms. Espinoza laughed heartily at Shane's question. "Oh, I've been here for yeeeaaars! I'm almost as much of a dinosaur as Casper High!" she replied, brushing her hair out of her face some more. "I just love kids! They're always so carefree, having provisions met for them and not worrying about a certain dictator in the Principal's office," the teacher covered her mouth in mock dismay. "Oh, did I say that out loud? Don't tell anyone I said that!" she said in a hushed tone, smiling behind her hand.


OOC2: I need to get some shuteye now; even dangerous spyliens need their rest every once in a while. I'll be back to terrorize humans tomorrow! G'night, fellow invaders!

((OOC: I think I'm officially in love with that idea. It needs to be done! And goodnight! :3))

P3's face brightened, as she was trying to fake loving attention. And besides, she was basically just called smart in front of the entire class. Yush, this was awesome. She looked up at Mrs. Lansford. "What are we reading first?"

//I cannot contain my excite., and Farewell!//

Zurgon gave a hushed chuckle, containing it so as to not let the teachers across the hall hear him laughing. "Don't you worry, Ms. E, I'll keep your secret, but only if you keep my secret..." Zurgon swished his head to the left and to the right, making sure no one was there to hear him...

"I'm......" He paused for a moment.

"Loving your hair! It reminds me of my moms." It didn't, of course, but if he was going to pretend to be human, he could at least have a human family and backstory.

Syndral gave a slight nod, and then totally blanked out. Well, now what? We don't have social interactions on my planet, unless it is for business or necessity. All we really do is acknowledge each other's existence and then continue working. What should I say to her? How do I keep a conversation going? Do bonds form by working together or sharing information on this planet? Should I just spew out random facts until she is impressed with my vast knowledge? No, that sounds absurd. Humans seem to be a primitive race that care nothing for the intelligence of their peers. So what do I do?

Syndral sighed, having no idea how to make a friend. She looked around the room, observing the other students for a moment. Some were conversing over similar interests, others seem to talk at random about nothing, at least from Syndral's perspective. She didn't understand how they did it. She didn't understand any of this. Syndral was afraid of completely blowing her mission, simply because she wouldn't be able to get close enough to a human to experiment on them. She wondered if she should just abduct one against the will. No, that wasn't a good idea. She would likely get in trouble for that. Syndral needed to play it smart.

"Um....." She muttered, having no clue what to say. Syndral had noticed that similar interests seemed to aid in communication, but what were the odds that she had something in common with this human? "Uh, I like machines and technology. I can build machines and such, like robots." She stated awkwardly. Syndral hoped that would be enough to continue the conversation, or impress this girl.

Back home, her people held much respect for each other for being highly skilled with machinery and technology. Her people were known for being inventive, and the more you were, the more you were respected, and the more others would want to work with you. It was how bonds were essentially formed on her planet, based on skill and who works well together. Those people who worked well together usually went on to form a family together.

P3 studied the appearance of a few of the students while awaiting an answer. She spotted a tall, blonde boy that looked arrogant. Obviously a football player.

Ooc: I'll make his sheet in my next post.

Turning her attention from the classroom in its entirety and focusing on Allison and her question stated, Mrs. Lansford told her, "We won't be reading anything today, seeing as it's the first day of school and we're all getting settled in. But we will start reading tomorrow. We'll be starting with short stories and poems by Edgar Allan Poe."

Seytrius looked at the two people conversing across and in front of him. Odd, I'd never think of conversing with a teacher like that. As of they were a friend of mine. He thought to himself. Maybe that's the normal way thing spark on Earth? he shrugged, seeing an open seat next to Zurgon and moving to it. "I was bored back there." He said, butting into the conversation.

It might have seemed obvious to anyone else how much trouble Syndral was having with coming up with how to start a conversation, but not to Rachel. She was more interested in what the other girl was saying, not how she said it. So it didn’t matter to her at all how Syndral had spouted out a fact about herself at random. In truth, she was actually interested in what she was saying, however brief it had been.

“Really? I like the concept of robots, especially sentient ones, but I’m not really good with technology or anything,” Rachel admitted. “Honestly, I’m more interested in how the mind works. I suppose that’s why I find the possibility of sentient robots to be fascinating; I’d be interested in seeing how they learned, how they interacted with people.” Chuckling a bit, she told Syndral, “But other than that, I honestly just don’t have an interest in such things. Heck, I’m probably lucky to know there’s an engine in a car.”

HUMAN:

Name: Gordon Norris
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Job: Casper High Janitor
Personality: Gordon is laid-back and calm, however his personality can be odd at times, when's alone, he's calm and quiet, but when he's with students, he's wacky and fun, he can, however, be very strict and strong if someone rubs him off the wrong way, he doesn't take disrespect lightly.
Appearance: Gordon is tall and lanky, he wears a blue janitorial outfit with his name hemmed onto the left side of the chest area, he has messy brown hair and crazy eyes.
Other: He always seems to be around when alien activity is happening, though the aliens never notice he is around, he is always caught up in the mess and having to clean up whatever the mess is, be it spilled water or alien slime, he doesn't tell the principal because he knows they won't believe him, besides, they aren't bothering him, so why she he bother them? Students also tend to think of him as a counselor for their problems, as the schools real student Counselors aren't very enticing.

Had Syndral been human, she might have snickered or lightly chuckled at that, but instead she just smirked in amusement. She knew humans were inferior to her race when it came to machines, but it still seemed amusing to have one not only admit to it, but sort of poke fun at themselves. Still, Syndral was proud of herself for keeping the conversation alive and impressing this girl. She also found it interesting how Rachel showed fascination in robots. Perhaps humans weren't a total waste of time to talk to.

Syndral was actually eager to brag about how she had built sentient robots before, and had actually brought one with her to play as her 'mother' while living on this planet. Still, she figured humans were behind on such feats, and it would be unwise to reveal how truly intelligent and inventive she really was. She bet that Rachel would be impressed with her mother robot, but she needed her creation to be in disguise, so she couldn't share that secret with her.

"The possibility of sentient robots isn't as low as you might think. It really isn't that hard of a concept. My mother is actually a leading mind in machines when it comes to inventing robots with actual intelligence, and I have been working on perfecting her work. I've studied the minds of living creatures for years, trying to emulate such intelligence and behavior in my robots." Syndral explained. Suddenly, it was if all that social awkwardness was gone. She was confident and at ease, having vast knowledge of the subject matter.

((OOC: The janitor is accepted! ))

At this, Rachel perked up a bit, becoming more intrigued as she listened. "Wow. You must be a savant or something, then. I'd never be able to do anything like that as I am now," she said. In reality, she wasn't sure she'd be able to do anything like that ever, even when she got to be an adult. Of course, that just wasn't what she was interested in, career-wise, that is. She was hoping to become a psychologist one day. Or a psychiatrist. Or maybe just a counselor. Something to do with psychology, was all she knew. And she wanted to help people.

Thinking of what Syndral had said, she thought for a minute before saying, "I'd be really neat if there were sentient robots, like androids or something." She frowned. "But then I'd be worried about inequality amongst organic and inorganic life forms. I tend to worry about stuff like that too much..."

As much as the concept of sentient robots excited and intrigued her, she was still held back by that nagging feeling that they'd create a race only to bind it to servitude. Rachel tended to think a lot when she wasn't talking with someone, and a lot of what she thought about was morals and ethics. She'd thought about many similar things in the past. Once, a science teacher had asked the class what they thought about scientists essentially 'growing' people to use their organs for transplants to help sick and dying people. Her input had been that doing so would be creating life only to destroy it. Such things tended to nag at her, honestly, and that was why she felt unsure about sentient robotics.

Syndral was puzzled by this and thought for a moment. She thought back to the race of sentient robots on her home planet, since there were nearly as many of them as there were of her own kind. She thought of their jobs, their place on her planet, and whether or not that would be considered fair. It was strange, because she had never thought of that before.

On her planet, the robots were created by their masters, to serve them and do the jobs that her kind wouldn't be bothered to do. Essentially, they were almost like slaves, but not exactly. At least, she never thought of it that way. The robots knew their place. They were based on her own race anyway, so they too lacked much emotion, took their jobs seriously, and were basically workaholics that cared for nothing else.

Now she was wondering if they were really even that sentient, being based on an introverted, anti-social race of aliens. But the jobs the robots did were important, just beneath the level of intelligence of their masters, and therefore not worth their time. Robots were to do menial chores and tasks, and also do such jobs as raise the young, since the adults were always busy with more important jobs, like working with machines.

"Inequality amongst organic and inorganic life forms?" Syndral questioned with a thoughtful gaze. "I suppose that is a problem. Even if the robots are created by their masters, set to have certain traits, and told to perform certain tasks, if they are truly to be sentient, then they would require the same treatment as their masters. Otherwise, they are more so robotic slaves, then sentient beings. I suppose I need to put this into consideration for when I work on my next project." She said. Now that she thought about, even her motherbot was basically a slave to being a stay at home mom, with nothing better to do than to serve Syndral's every need.

Rachel nodded mutely. She didn't like it when her mind delved into such topics. There were many questionable things about society as it was and society as it potentially could be; thinking about them in great detail didn't bode well for her mental health, especially if she obsessed over trying to come up with an answer. It was strange, if she thought about it, how she, and most people, didn't really have a set of morals they followed. It was strange how many normal things in life could be thought over, and how the thinker might not know what to think of such things. As if, to some degree, people walked blindly through life. As if people only came to decisions when faced with certain circumstances, rather than thinking it through beforehand, rather than having a sort of.. 'code', one could say, to live by. It also confused her how opinions and decisions could change in people. What might have been wrong ten years ago to a person could now be right, depending on what their values are and how they have changed. How...

Ah, her mind was racing again. Something she really, really shouldn't let it do, for the sake of her mental health. Rachel chuckled aloud at that thought. Looking back up to Syndral, wanting to change the topic to something less.. sensitive, in her mind, she asked, "So, how do you like it here so far? I mean, besides from having a crappy day and all."

"Well..." Syndral muttered, not sure of what to say. She wasn't sure how much truth she should spew out, she knew she couldn't reveal what she really was. So she decided to answer somewhat truthfully, but vaguely so. "This town, this school, it's so different from where I used to live." She said, and nearly had a mental chuckle at how true that really was. "The people here are much more open and social. They behave differently than the people back home. It is a bit uncomfortable and unsettling, as it is so different from what I am used to. I'm rather introverted myself, in case you could not tell. I am more used to dealing with machines, so dealing with people is challenging. However, I suppose that I will adjust to it eventually." She shrugged. There was so much Syndral could have ranted on about, of all the differences, but she knew she couldn't share those thoughts with a human.

"Oh, I understand that," Rachel told her truthfully. "I mean, I like talking to people, but it can be annoying when I'm trying to work." Smirking a bit amusedly, she said, "Not many people seem to care about their work. Most of them would rather goof off the whole time. I guess I sort of understand.. but that doesn't mean I like it." In truth, Rachel really couldn't understand at all how someone could disregard their work in such a way, but she tried to keep an open mind. To her, her schoolwork and her academics was her life. Her grades now would determine her future for college, for a job, pretty much everything. It was kind of scary in a way, how so much depended on someone's actions in a time when they were mentally unstable, as Rachel tended to refer to most teenagers' states of mind.

"Yes, I have noticed others' lack of concern for something so important as one's own work ethic. Work is essential for choosing the appropriate career path for oneself and gaining the skills required to reach one's greatest potential. It should be a top priority. Work is a part of life, it determines everything." Syndral stated.

She was surprised at this girl, and even herself. Rachel was so different from the other humans. She wasn't overly social, in fact, she understood Syndral in that regard. She wasn't the least bit annoying thus far. She was even interested in machines and impressed with Syndral for being able to build robots. Rachel even shared Syndral's work ethic. She was intriguing and interesting, and Syndral was actually enjoying the conversation with her.

Then she had a horrifying thought. Syndral honestly didn't know how she missed it and didn't think of it sooner. With all these overlapping views and opinions, it seemed clear to her now. They shared similar interests and Syndral thought she finally realized why.

She's a member of the Brotherhood. She has to be. No human could be this easy to get along with. No human could agree with me or understand me on some level. She has to be an alien, like me, sent here on a mission. Except, I don't know who she is, so she must be from the Brotherhood. She's my enemy. If it's true, then I have to kill her. She could prevent me from doing my job. I can't allow that. Then again, even if I'm wrong, which I doubt, she's still my enemy as a human. I have to experiment on her at some point. I suppose dissecting her would answer all my questions about her, and I could easily dispose of her regardless.

Rachel was silent for a few moments even after Syndral was finished. She was currently full of many emotions and feelings that were conflicting with her ability to form a response. Firstly, she was overjoyed. Rachel had friends, of course. They would talk and they would laugh and they would spend time with each other regularly. But none of them seemed to have the same.. ideals as she did. When it came right down to it, her friends were mostly concerned with things she really couldn't care less about, like how they looked, their boyfriends, etc. That didn't mean that they couldn't be friends and share some laughs with each other, but there wasn't so much of a.. connection. In reality, Rachel supposed that her friends were really just acquaintances. She was a nice person, and thus, people generally tended to like her, and she reciprocated that.

With Syndral, however, there was a connection, there were similarities between them that drew one to the other. Syndral, unlike pretty much every other teenager, actually cared about getting her work done. She would go into deep thought the way she herself did and would give her opinions about things in an intellectual way. Even the girl's vocabulary spoke its volumes. Most teens' ways of speech was filled with slang and curses in every other sentence. While the former wasn't bad, it was refreshing to hear someone talk in such a manner. Rachel herself wasn't as formal in her speech as Syndral apparently was, but that didn't bother her. If anything, in fact, it actually interested her.

"I really like having conversations with you," Rachel told her, a bit awkwardly. "It seems like you understand where I'm coming from." I don't get that a lot, she didn't add. While she enjoyed her discussions with other students, when she would try to talk about things in depth like she had just moments before, they usually didn't react well. Normally, they'd either give her strange looks or just not know what to say at all. There was nothing hostile about it, but it did become bothersome after a while. It was why Rachel had often taken to talking with her teachers as opposed to her peers. Now, though, it appears that would change.

"You know, for once, I do not really mind social interactions." Syndral replied back, returning to the awkward tone she was using earlier. "I have enjoyed our conversation thus far, and it does appear that we have a mutual understanding. I have never really shared a pleasant conversation with someone who was not all about business. I suppose it is a nice change."