ArchivedLogs:What Is This Feeling?

What Is This Feeling?
Dramatis Personae Lyric, Kisha
In Absentia	2016-02-24 "I mean if you're going to be revolutionaries you may as well think big."
Location <XS> Kisha, Liv, and Lyric's Dorm - FL2
One side of this room is bright and exuberantly colorful. Green and pink batik-dyed curtains drape the windows and the loft bed is generally layered with a myriad of elaborately hand-stitched coverlets in a vivid mosaic of shades. A few paintings hang on the wall, surrealist and whimsical depicting odd fantasy-inspired scenes. Stained-glass suncatchers throw cheery light from the windows, and the back and sides of the desk's hutch are papered in a collage of photographs. A set of hand drums of various sizes are stacked, often in their carriers, beside the bed. Though generally kept quite tidy there's plenty of /things/ tucked around in their places; toiletries and makeup and jewelry in neat organizers on top of the dresser, the desk crammed with schoolbooks and novels alike alongside the computer and huge speakers, sporting goods stored in neat plastic tubs under the bed. A twenty-gallon aquarium on a stand sits to one side of the desk, home to a brilliantly blue Betta and a squad of neon tetras. Kisha's section of the room is more than a little outlandish as the young mutant has decorated in a highly unconventional style by covering the walls and windows in a selection of cork boards and white boards - each of which is covered in diagrams and schematics of various kinds. Plastic storage boxes filled with bits of machinery are stacked waist high along the walls and her wardrobe is filled with various overalls, tool belts and other oddities. No bed, here; her space seems to function mostly as a storage place for her clothing, school books, her desk and couch tucked under the windows. The opposite side of the room from Lyric's colorful loft bed holds Liv's identical loft setup, desk and dresser also stored beneath. PROBABLY EVENTUALLY there will be a description for the customization of these things. Precariously perched cross-legged on her chair Kisha is busy doing technical computer things with a soldering iron. A soldering iron she almost certainly isn't supposed to have in the dorm room... But fear not! For she has helpfully wrapped the smoke alarm in plastic and duct tape then cracked the window open to let the smell out. She's dressed in her usual dorm room clothing, a Kuma Bear onesie and aviator goggles. The height of teenage mad science fashion. And of course Kisha has a large pot of black coffee on the go because if you are going to risk being in trouble for having electronics in the room you may as well have a coffee machine running too! Lyric, on the other hand, is looking a good deal more put-together in a slim red and gold tunic over long black slacks and sheer ombre tights, multilayered gold and black scarf neatly tucked and wrapped around her head. For a long while she has been at her computer, alternately signing at her webcam and typing, though at length she finally turns, face (very neatly make-upped face) scrunched up. She plucks a slim tablet off her desk, picking up a stylus to write on it: 'Shouldn't you be doing that in the workshop?' It takes a little while for Kisha to notice that Lyric is no longer typing and to look over. "Oh. Probably, but then I would have to carry my computer all the way out to the workshop. Do the work. Carry it back. Test it and if it wasn't working repeat the process," she responds without actually stopping her soldering. "Would it be easier if I started an IM conversation to save you switching devices?" Lyric stares for quite a long time over at Kisha in silence, her brows drawing in together before she turns back toward the computer. A moment later an IM come through from her: 'Easier.' She gets up a moment later, though, to put a small cone of incense on her desk and light it before sitting back down. 'What are you doing, anyway?' is the next message she sends. 'I'm turning my desktop machine into a beowulf cluster. Which is basically a super computer made out of less powerful regular computers.' Kisha even includes a helpful wiki link and sort of waves at the overly large computer case that is taking up all the space under her desk. 'Help yourself to coffee by the way. There are some sachets of milk powder and sugar in the top drawer of the desk. And if the smell is bothering you the coffee will certainly help to mask it.' 'Beowulf.' Lyric mouths this with one eyebrow raising, glancing back over at Kisha and her soldering for a moment before looking back to her own computer. 'It definitely SMELLS monstrous.' Her fingers flick towards her cone of incense, though, now at least starting to fill /her/ half of the room with a pleasant amber scent. 'I've already had too much coffee today. I've been helping B with a project and it's making my eyes bleed. On top of my own CS project due. I'd trade you for not-sleeping in a heartbeat.' Kisha leans in and sniffs her soldering. "Smells fine to me," she muses aloud. 'Anything interesting? The project that is. Not sleeping is pretty handy, although there are times you wish you can switch yourself off. Every ethics class I sit through feels like an eternity.' 'Interesting to me. He's working on a program that will recognize ASL and translate it into other languages. A lot more complicated than other language recognition programs because of how much of ASL relies on physical cues and expressions. I think he is pretty interested in what getting it right would mean for making progress on computers' ability to accurately identify emotion in facial expressions anyway.' Lyric shrugs, leaning back for a moment in her chair. 'I just want better communication tools. What happens if you take sedatives?' Kisha scratches her head. 'That depends on the dose. Low levels it just muddles me, but a strong enough dose will knock me out. Which is for the best really, not long after my power manifested I was pretty badly burnt in an explosion. If sedatives didn't work the pain would have driven me crazy.' She hrms and does a little more work on her computer. 'I made a really simple ASL program during the second zombie outbreak, but all it does is load finger spelling up in order based on what someone types. Nothing fancy like you and B are trying.' 'You, explode something?' Lyric has glanced back over her shoulder -- towards the covered fire alarm, towards Kisha's soldering. 'Color me surprised. I'm honestly surprised anyone survives long enough to make it TO this school much less actually graduate from here. Anyway I think this is just a school project for B but it's coming along really well. If it gets done it'll be revolutionary. For Deaf people anyway.' Kisha shrugs. 'In my defense my brain was changing and I wasn't really thinking clearly at the time. It was mostly an EMP blast rather than a conventional explosion, but I was rather close to it at the time and... well.. it exploded enough. For the record nothing else I've made since has exploded unless I wanted it to. My inventions rarely even catch fire.' She pauses to top her oversized coffee cup up. 'You mean for Deaf people who can afford to carry round a computer all the time? Or is it mostly just intended for use online?' '"Rarely." That's what I'm talking about. Only at this school is that qualifier reassuring.' Lyric's chair briefly spins around, eyebrows hiking up again as she gives Kisha a briefly skeptical look. Turns back to her computer a moment later. 'I thought you were supposed to be the technophile. What on earth world are YOU living in. Nearly EVERYONE carries around a computer all the damn time now, ffs. Deaf people especially.' 'Only Deaf people that can afford smartphones. Sure that's a lot in places like New York, but there are still plenty of poor people in the world.' Kisha points out. 'And all the work I do which has a chance of complications is done in the workshop. Often by Bob so I don't have to risk being set on fire again. Trust me I have more reason to take fire safety seriously than most in this school. I only cover the smoke alarm if I'm certain there is no risk.' 'Deaf people all over the world don't speak the same language.' Lyric's back is solidly to Kisha, but there's a faint tightening in the set of her shoulders. 'This program is only going to WORK in America, it only translates ASL. And trust me, the vast majority of Deaf people here already have smartphones. It's pretty much an essential accessibility device for us.' Lyric tips her head back, eyes briefly fixing on the ceiling. 'There's a risk of terrible smell.' 'Is it close enough to working to act as a proof of concept?' Kisha responds, taking a gulp of coffee. 'I wasn't trying to imply what you're doing is bad or won't help a lot of people. Just that revolutions sometimes leave people behind. Have you spoke with B about sharing the idea with various international sign language groups, get people working on localizations for other countries? I mean if you're going to be revolutionaries you may as well think big.' She sniffs at her coffee, then at her work. 'I really don't get why people dislike the smell of soldering. It's like the smell of progress. I can open the window further if you would prefer?' 'What I'm doing is helping B with homework. To be perfectly frank, I'm not particularly interested in advice from someone who didn't even know enough about Deaf people to know we didn't all speak the same language worldwide or thinks it's only rich New Yorkers who carry smartphones. You might know a lot about computers but you don't know very much about people. And what I'd prefer is if you kept the soldering to the workshop where it's SUPPOSED to be.' Lyric gets up, kind of abruptly, plucking her tablet off her desk and hitching it with a carabiner to a beltloop of her slacks. She takes a pocketknife from her desk drawer, dragging a chair beneath the fire alarm as she goes to cut the plastic and tape off of it. Kisha glances up at the noise and watches Lyric climb on the chair with bland indifference. Then with finger spelling she slowly signs 'Just pull on the loose bit of tape.' At the same time a little IM message pops up which notes 'I never claimed Deaf people all spoke one language. I said lots of people in the world are poor. Perhaps my choice of phrasing caused a misunderstanding, although last time I checked America is still part of the world and contains many people who are in fact poor.' She turns back to the desk, turns off the soldering iron and begins pouring the coffee from her cup and the coffee machine into a thermos with a carry strap. 'I concede it will probably help a lot of people, but I would hope you are not naive enough to assume it'll help everyone.' Lyric tugs the covering off the fire alarm, balling up the plastic and tape to toss it in the trash. She snuffs out her incense cone and leaves the room without actually checking her computer again, though she does carry her tablet with her. Her final message comes through only after she's headed out: 'omg you are insufferable just step off.' Kisha just shrugs as Lyric leaves the room, flicks the soldering iron back on and reaches for the duct tape. "At least now I can work in peace."