The Future Meets The Past

Log Info

Title: The Future Meets The Past
Emitter: None
Characters: Eshe & Sasha
NPCs: None
Place: Steranko Student Center
Time: 6/2/2010 Lunctime
Summary: Sasha the Cyborg meets Eshe the Ancient Egyptian

Summer has come at last. Memorial Day has come and gone with all the attendant festivities and chaos it brings. Now, the Summer Session of classes is about to begin, the sun is blazing in the sky above and a trickle of new students who need to catch up before the Fall Semester have arrived. There are not many of them and they tend to be a bit lost in the shuffle of getting prepared. One of these new students is the young woman staring in confusion at a vending machine in the Student Center. Her brow furrowed, her lips set in a bit of a pout, she stares at the device as if it has somehow confounded her beyond words. She says something in a Middle-Eastern sounding language and sighs before turning away.

Summer session. Unfortunate, but Sasha's still got lots of things to catch up on after her accident and her attendant convalescence. She's just gotten out of her first summer class and has stopped by the student center for a quick bite. Hearing Eshe's cursing, she strides up to the vending machine, putting a hand against the money reader. Her hand flows silver and she starts tripping the insides. "Whattchyah want?" she asks.

Eshe turns back around to see Sasha's hand suddenly change. Her eyes go wide and she gasps. "I… I merely wanted a bag of that food. I saw another student do something and obtain a portion. I was curious as to how he did it and what that food tastes like." It is painfully clear English is not her first language but her accent is almost impossible to discern. She just points to a bag of Funyuns. "That would be good? Is it?"

"You're supposed to pay," Sasha says. She glances about furtively, and then the machine makes a loud *chunk* noise. Her elbow crashes into the side and then it starts running, dispensing the bag of Funyuns. "Guessing you're not from around here? New?" Sasha ventures.

Taking the small yellow bag, Eshe bows a bit. "Yes. I am new to this school and to your Kingdom. My name is Eshe Hikuptah. My homeland is," she pauses to think, "Long ago and Far Away." She hopes that helps clear things up as she tears open the package and takes a sniff of the contents. Picking one up, she examines it closely and then runs her tongue over the edge, before frowning. "What is this?!"

"Sasha Romanova," Sasha says, offering a hand. "So, like, Ohio?" she asks with a curious look. "Frozen? Lost in time?" she starts to venture. "Brought back from the dead? Brought back from the dead and I think I win Origin Story Bingo."

"Ohio?" Eshe replies, taking a bite of the little yellow ring. "No, not from there though I cannot say I know of that land. I guess you could say I have been brought back from the dead. I was sealed inside of a tomb long ago in the days of the Pharoah Senusret and have only in the last year been freed to live again." She extends her hand and says, a bit clumsily, "It is good to meet you Sasha Romanova." She looks down at the open bag in her other hand. "I think I do not like the food that comes from there. It tastes… wrong."

Sasha leans over and pulls out a ring, sniffing it. "These are pretty much pure chemicals," she says with a look. "Probably not used to it," she explains. Sasha crushes the thing in her hand and wipes the crumbs off.

"Why would anyone eat chemicals?" Eshe looks very confused and deposits the remains of the package in a nearby trashcan. "Is that device some kind of dispensery for poisons?" She looks at the vending machine suspiciously, then takes back the hand she offered. "I feel so very lost since coming to your land and since being freed. So much has changed in the world. There are so many amazing things for me to see and learn about. Would you join me for some more acceptable food. I will gladly pay." She begins to walk over to the manned snack bar, drawn by the scent of hot, real food. Fishing in the pocket of her jeans, she pulls out a small wad of bills and waits in the line, hoping Sasha has followed her.

"Didn't you have junk food in…Egypt?" she asks. "I'm pretty sure they do now." Sasha shrugs fiaintly and follows Eshe into the line. "No need," she says. "I got cash." Her eyes dart over Eshe again, "At least you've figured out jeans," she adds. "Met many people on campus yet?"

Eshe chuckles a bit, it's a pleasant sound, "I was given these clothes so I would not stand out so badly. I find them durable and comfortable. This material does not tear easily and it feels very nice against my skin." She waits her turn, patiently. "To be honest, you are the first other student I have talked to outside of the Orientation. I was worried my unfamiliarity with your culture and time would make it hard for me to meet people or make friends. There is so much I do not understand. I did have someone explain to me that the people inside of the television box are not really there and are… a record of things past. Unless they are live and then they are merely pictures of people very far away. Your magics are astounding."

"Worked for the cowboys," Sasha says. She shifts in the line as it moves forward, bit by bit. Finally their turn comes up. "So what year are you?" Sasha asks. "Or do they have you in special time-lost classes?" she glances around, idly wondering how many other students have had Eshe's issue. "Nah, not magic. I think we've got a couple people who do magic stuff. Not really my bag." She comes up to the counter. "Lemme get a thing of chicken fingers and a chicken ceaser," she asks.

"That is why I am here for the Summer Lessons. To catch up. I am taking History of Western Civilization, History of Asia and American History over this Session." Eshe considers her selections and let's Sasha order first. "Though I have been told they want me to interview with one of the Professors. He seems fascinated by what I can tell him of my time." She blinks as Sasha orders. "Chickens have fingers?"

"Nah," Sasha says, "You just eat it with your fingers. BBQ or honey mustard. I'm a barbeque girl myself," she says. She takes her order ticket and waits for Eshe to do her thing and then they can get over to pay. "Better than digging around in the dirt, I guess. You speak pretty good English," she says.

Eshe replies with a bright smile. "Thank you." For someone from Ancient Times, she has amazingly good teeth. "I spent most of the last year in a monastary learning English, Arabic and Latin. It was all I was allowed to do until I was acceptably skilled." She looks over. "I will have a Salad as well with Honey dressing." She is corrected and nods. "Honey Mustard then. And I would like the Chicken Fingers as well, with the BBQ sauce." She takes her own ticket. "I will admit, I still struggle with reading English sometimes but I am learning quickly. So, I have learned that everyone in this school has some kind of ability, what is yours?"

"Monastary?" Sasha asks. "Strange. Must have been fucked up," she says. Sasha passes her ticket to the cashier when she gets there, slapping down some bills once it's all rung up. "Officially they call me a 'mechanomorph'. Cyborg, really. I don't mind it."

Neither of those terms mean anything to Eshe, she watches the other girl pay and waits her turn. "I… do not understand. I can fly and I no longer age. I have not gotten a day older in over four thousand years. I am also very good with a sword and much stronger than I would appear to be." She smiles softly, paying for her own food next and thanking the cashier for her good work. "And yes, when I was first discovered, they thought it best that I not be allowed out in the modern world. They did not understand what I said so they found someone who could speak to me. He was an old religious man of a faith I had never heard of. He took me in and taught me to speak the important modern languages. He was a harsh teacher, but fair."

"Dunno, can culture shock kill somebody?" she asks. Sasha takes her ticket and circles back to the counter, waiting and lingering for her order to come up. "Yeah, monks, no sense of humour," Sasha says. "Not so tough. I'm part machine and I can reconfigure those parts," she says. "I'd show you but they keept bitching me out for going all cycleform indoors. I don't need more detention."

"Yes, displeasing the Authorities is bad." The Egyptian girl pauses and follows. "That is why I am here. Apparently some new religion came while I was asleep and took over my country. When I left the Monastary to see the world, they tried to arrest me for… what I was wearing and being against their god. I had to fight my way out and then… then I learned I could fly. I went West, hoping to find a place I knew of… I ended up in your King, I mean country. They took me in and sent me here."

"Kinda fun though, "Sasha says with a devilish grin. She takes her tray when the number gets called and goes about finding a seat. "Shit. I didn't think Egypt was that harsh. Hard to tell. Crazies everywhere. I say ignore 'em and keep doing what you do."

Eshe sighs and gets her food as well, looking at it curiously. She takes a seat and closes her eyes, giving silent thanks to the goddesses she reveres. When she opens her eyes again, she watches what Sasha does to put the dressing on her Salad and copies it. "I wish that I could keep doing what I did. That life, that world is gone." She smiles brightly again, refusing to give in to the melancholy. "But I have an entirely new world to learn about and discover. One I could never have dreamed of in my time. I want to learn all about the things of your world. The little things and big. I want to know what makes your conveyances move without horses or other beasts of burden. I want to know how your people can fly across the world. I just want to know."

Sasha takes a seat, sitting casually and a bit inappropriately. She starts in on the chicken fingers, why let all that delicious fried get cold? "Eh, you know whatI mean," Sasha says with a shrug. She looks up, chicken finger half in her mouth. She'd probably gape if she could. Sasha swallows and then says, "The taught you 'conveyance' but not 'car'?"

"I do not think the monks had much use for… cars. They taught me a rather formal kind of English. I am still learning new words." She begins on the chicken as well, savoring the taste. Her eyes go wide when she tastes the BBQ sauce and she gasps. "This is… delicious. It is so sweet and… at the same time slightly bitter. Thank you Sasha. You have given me a new experience!" She just digs in and starts wolfing down the food, she doesn't seem really huge on modesty or manners, at least not the kind of manners people here would know.

"Happy to help," Sasha says with dry amusement, "just don't eat it too much. You'll get fat and dead," Sasha says. She is, after all, an athlete after a fashion and the last thing she wants to do is get Eshe into bad eating habbits. Then again, super-phsyiques seem pretty common in the school, Sasha's noticed.

"Oh, do not worry. My morning exercise routine keeps me nice and trim." Eshe finishes and licks the sauce from her fingers. "The foods here, aside from the chemical ones, are so delicious and plentiful. I do not have to worry about being poisoned by a rival or given bad food and just dying. This is so amazing." She does have the look of someone who stays pretty active. Then again, there weren't many couch potatoes before the invention of the couch.

"Not yet anyway," Sasha says ominously. She looks around again, as if she's waiting for somebody.

Eshe pours the dressing over her salad and begins eating. She uses the fork but she is not skilled with it in the least, she is clearly just learning. "Is something wrong Sasha?" She speaks after finishing chewing her first bite, noticing the look on the other girl's face.

"No, I was just…" she frowns slightly. "Waiting for somebody. Kind of. It's no big deal," she says.

Nodding and continuing to eat, Eshe lets the matter drop. She seems pretty content to eat in peace and watch the other kids play pool or pinball or even the battered old video games in the corner. Her eyes are always looking at something, she never seems to stop staring and getting this look of wonder on her face.

Sasha chews and dips her way through her chicken fingers and looks at her salad in its container. She wraps metal fingers about it and picks it up as she says, "See you around, Eshe. Gotta go see about something." She seems tense.

Eshe nods and eats, then realizes Sasha is leaving and lifts a hand to wave. "It was good to meet you Sasha Romanova!"

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