Old Yru Academy of Medicine and Healing, Auditorium | 11:02 AM | First Day

"Well," Kam said, rising from her seat. "Much as I'd love to hear you continue to crush my dreams underfoot with the force of your logic, I have someone I need to meet before we depart in a couple hours."

"It's 3 hours, I think," I said.

She blinked, confused for a moment, then chuckled and tapped her forehead in a oh-I'm-so-silly gesture. "Of course. 2 PM is 3 hours after 11 AM." She shook her head. "Gosh, I know I said I have no sense of time, but that was bad even by my standards."

"You're probably just stressed out from the conference," I said. Not that things like that usually seem to stress you out much.

"Aw, Su! It's so sweet of you to try and comfort me." She smirked. "Well, let's hope you're right. I'm all for poetic irony, but it'd be a little much if I came down with early-onset dementia right after making that speech."

"They, uh, do say that people in more cerebral vocations tend to see more cases..." Theo said, now having returned to sorting through his luggage.

"Oh, eminently helpful, Theo. Extremely reassuring," Kam begun sifting through her shoulderbag herself. She withdrew a circular, silver-encased and largely flat object from inside, and pushed her hand against it. Then she frowned. "Tch, what the..."

"What is it?" I asked.

"My logic engine isn't working," she said, pushing her hand against it again with a more frustrated expression.

"You've, um," Theo hesitated, "you've kept it wound it up, right?"

"Yes, Theodoros, I've kept it wound up," she said, her brow flat. "I'm not a child. I do understand the basic thermodynamic concept of machines requiring power to be able to function."

"Hey, don't get mad at me," he said, defensive. "I was just trying to help..."

She shook the object around, tapping at it, her brow curling into a grimace. "Ughhh. This is such a nuisance! I need this for my presentation!"

"Maybe Lilith could fix it...?" I suggested, referring to the only member of our class with any expertise in machinery.

Kam shook her head. "She's already run off somewhere with her mother. I don't expect they'll be back until it's time for us to set off."

"She could do it on the way, couldn't she?" I said. "Or tonight?"

She considered this, but eventually clicked her tongue, shaking her head. "No, I can ill afford the risk. I'll have to go back home and pick up my spare." She sighed, but managed to bring a smile back to her face after a few moments. "Well, then! I suppose I better hurry off. I'll see you lot of sad sacks in a few hours-- Do try to get a little excited, would you?"

We exchanged farewells, and she headed out through the backdoor of the auditorium.

"She's really enthusiastic about all this," Theo commented, after she'd slammed the door closed.

"Aren't you, too?" I asked.

"No, I am! I mean. Obviously." He let out an awkward laugh, scratching the back of his head. "You know I've been curious about my fathers work ever since I was boy. It's just that... well, the way she's acting, you'd think she's about to go on holiday, not to speak with a bunch of old academics."

I shrugged, and picked up another piece of chocolate, slowly removing the papyrus wrapping. "I'd suppose her perspective on it is probably a little different than ours."

He looked confused. "How do you mean?"

I munched. "For you, me, and Lilith, we've been exposed to this stuff for half our lives. But for everyone else, um..." I struggled to find the right wording. "I think there's a special sort of excitement to something that used to be part of the cultural background becoming part of your personal life, so to speak? Like stepping into a painting." I swallowed. "That's on top of Kamrusepa's interest in the subject to begin with."

What was her interest? I didn't actually know, when I thought about it.

"Hmmm," he said, staring into the middle distance for a brief moment. "I suppose."

Theodoros could be a little clueless when it to came to other people, especially when it came to their internal narratives. Saying that is - once again - hypocrisy, but we again differed in one notable fashion. While I reacted to that lack of intuitive understanding by indulging in neuroticism and obsessively speculating about the thoughts of others, Theo just kind of didn't bother most of the time, content not to really understand them.

It frustrated some, but I was used to it.

My relationship with Theo was... Complicated. In one sense, I'd known him longer than anyone in the entire class. We'd met in primary school, on account of the relationship between his father and my grandfather. For a while we'd been close friends, in the way that children are, where they just blabber to each other about things they like without any deeper substance. It was only in our teens that we'd begun to drift apart.

I still I cared for him, in a vague sort of way. Like the way you care for a cousin. But I didn't know him, as such.

"I better go for now, too," he said, looking back down to his bags, a little anxious. "I'm pretty sure I forgot to pack any soap."

Ran looked up, raising an eyebrow. "Won't they have soap there...?"

"No, no, that won't be any good," he said, shaking his head. "It-- It, uh, has to be this one type, or I'll get a rash." He hesitated, looking up. "I know that sounds ridiculous, but it always happens."

"Would've thought you'd have got a biomancer to fix an allergy like that," she said.

"I... well, I suppose I could," he said, scratching his head. "It goes against my upbringing, though. I don't know if it would feel right. "

"It's sort of funny for you to be saying that, Ran," I said. "Since you're always refusing to get your lactose intolerance corrected."

"That's different," she said dismissively. "I don't even like milk, so there's no point."

"It'd make it easier to eat out."

"I hate eating out," she replied flatly.

"Um, anyway," Theo interjected. "I'll see you later, Utsu. And you, Ran."

"Bye, Theo," I said, holding up a hand in a small wave.

He headed out the door two, leaving us alone.

For about two minutes afterwards, we sat in silence. The last of the lingering voices of the auditorium guests had faded, so all that remained was the beat of the rain, and the distant but omnipresent sound of the city; movement, people, machines.

I finished the chocolate bar I was eating, and tossed the papyrus aside. I looked at the little table, considering another.

"You're getting through a lot of those," Ran remarked.

"Yeah, I guess so," I said, and then, "How's the book?"

"Not great," she said. "I'm saving a better one from a series I like for when we're out there, since there'll be nothing to do."

"That's smart," I said.

She snorted. "Thanks." And then, after a pause, "You have anything you wanted to do until it's time?"

I thought about it, then shook my head. "No, I don't think so."

"You want to get some lunch?"

I blinked, surprised. This was rare for Ran. Like she'd said a moment ago, she hated eating out.

...but, well. This was a special day for us, wasn't it?

In a fucked-up sense.

"Sure," I said.