Getting In Train (Open) - Pregame - August 16, Early Afternoon

[Iris Pythia]

Iris keeps a slow jogging pace on the treadmill, not seeing much point in trying to go faster, the girl two rows back had super speed anyway. Besides, a workout wasn't really what she was here for. It was about the access.

Her gaze flickers over to facility 2.

Lame, lame, lame, cool, lame, ewww gross, lame, actually cool.

A drop of sweat slides down her shoulder and into an eye half opened on her arm and she grimaces.
"Ah fuck! God damn it." Irritatedly she starts rearranging the dozens sweat bands festooning her arms and head.

She angrily rubs at her arm, concentration broken before shaking her head and glancing back around the center wondering if any of the fresh blood would show up.

[Dapper Dog]

Watching the Elites work out like a mother hen, was a woman, well she had a feminine looking frame but the body was made of red crystalline matter from head to what she assumed were her toes. She had workout clothes on but her body was all crystal underneath.

The badge identified her as a member of staff and it read, ‘Ruby’.

[Iris Pythia]

Watching the Elites work out like a mother hen, was a woman, well she had a feminine looking frame but the body was made of red crystalline matter from head to what she assumed were her toes. She had workout clothes on but her body was all crystal underneath.

The badge identified her as a member of staff and it read, ‘Ruby’.

"Heya Ruby!"
Iris keeps her gaze trained on the other building, was that laser eyes? Sweet, a classic.

"How's the new gig". In a joking turn. "Screwed anything up yet?"

[Mucuzz]

The rhythmic sloshing of pseudo-feet on treadmill rubber is drowned out by several pairs of strategically placed wireless earbuds. When you don't hear with your ears, you can afford to get a little creative, so why not enjoy surround sound?

They peer around the room people watching and concocting a D.I.Y music video in their head as they enjoy their run. To their disappointment, there are mostly conventionally attractive muscle-folks getting in their gains, which pairs nicely with the music but severely lacks in spice.

Mucuzz turns their head back to the control panel on the machine, and prods the > button with a tendril, happy to amp up the speed. As they get into the groove they begin singing out the lyrics subconsciously to themselves as they continue scoping out the room.

The top of their body twists, observing the other elites, as the rest of it remains moving forward at a brisk speed

"Come ride on me, I mean comradarie" they sing out loud when they realize the most interesting-looking individual is looking them right in the pseudo-face.

"Oh...god..." They mumble to themselves as they melt down into a puddle and let the treadmill take them, wrapping around the underside and back up again as the machine continues on.

After a few moments the emergency stop kicks in and the treadmill comes to a halt, Mucuzz drops to the floor from under the conveyor belt. While this moment would probably necessitate them just staying there forever, they decide to mute their music, slink out from under the machine, and end up next to the two women engaged in conversation. Mucuzz pops back up into humanoid form and briefly looks back at the treadmill. "Not a towel in the world good enough to clean that up." They remark with a slightly embarrassed chuckle.

[Iris Pythia]

Snip

An eye briefly pops out of Iris' cheek to regard the treadmill while her usual two focus on Mucuzz.
"Oh good you're not...well you're not what would usually happen to someone who gets sucked into a treadmill."

Still jogging up and down she grins.
"That's sick. Your molecular structure is...well I don't really know, but that's kinda even cooler. You're like the Ying to Ruby's Yang."
She absently mindedly pats her singlet or where a camera would usually be hanging.

"So, are you new? I feel like I'd remember you."

[Mucuzz]

"Oh good you're not...well you're not what would usually happen to someone who gets sucked into a treadmill."

"That's sick. Your molecular structure is...well I don't really know, but that's kinda even cooler. You're like the Ying to Ruby's Yang."

"Compliments from the jump? Elite school rules." Mucuzz thought to themself, celebrating the minor victory that their unintentional pass at a teacher went relatively unnoticed. I guess that's one of the advantages of having an appearance that upstages your words.

"If you think that's cool you should have seen what happened I tried to ride the Totally X-treme Tilt-a-Whirl at Elite Land. The other riders were pretty divided on the degree of awesome it was." Mucuzz formed a slight indent in their face blob, mimicking a mischievous grin.

"So, are you new? I feel like I'd remember you."

Speaking to someone still jogging while standing on the floor felt awkward, so while responding they jump back up on the treadmill and poke the start button.
"New? Yep yep. Been here a couple of days! Currently doing battle with a wicked case of jet lag and a complete unfamiliarity with the local dishes. How about yourself? Are you from around here?" Their legs become less distinct as they speed up and start to look more like something out of a cartoon

[Iris Pythia]

Snip

"Folks don't always recognise greatness, or x-treme tilting and whirling when they see it, usually because they're not looking right."
Another drop of sweat on her forehead finds an eyelid and she swipes at it for a moment in annoyance as Mucuzz's own machine starts up.

"Sweet, well it can be a bit of a thing. New country, new school, new climate. I was really out of it my first year." Frowning for a moment. "But you just have to find your niche. It's my second year now and I mostly don't hate everything."

Shaking her head.
"I'm Greek myself, from a small town called Delphi. So the heat I can deal with, but when it gets humid...ugggh, I hate sweating."
Looking over.
"I'm Iris by the way, if you're gonna do any arts classes we might run into one another, I'm majoring in photography... Hey, this is pretty invasive but I think it's more polite than just looking. So you're like..."
She pauses for a moment, deciding 'blob' was kinda rude even as the other elite's legs roadrunnered.
"Malleable? Like, how malleable? And have you ever done modelling?"

[Mucuzz]

Snip snip

People don't recognize greatness when they see it...
I know that's right...


"Nice to meet you Iris. I'm Mucuzz. You can call me Mochou too if you want, but I've mostly gotten used to answering to my alias." In reality, it's just their family that refers to them as their pre-manifestation name. They don't really mind, but it does feel like a different world.

"I don't know much about Greece but we had a kickass gyro place on one of those foreigner streets in Shanghai. Good food = great people in my book." just thinking about it got their tummy(?) rumbling.

"Art....classes....yeah! I do think I have something like that on my schedule." They lied through their lack of teeth. They'd been meaning to look over their schedule when they got some time and well....they hadn't yet. There probably was some sort of art...something there though.

"Yeah! Malleable is kinda my thing I guess! Is there like a scale or something for how stretchy someone can be? I don't mean to brag but I can cram myself into most things IKEA sells and then some.

"Modeling?" They shuddered a bit at the word. The last time they attempted anything resembling modeling was a photoshoot for their high school's ballet club. They never liked how they looked in those pictures. One of those gaunt, pale-stricken ballerinas from a Degas painting. Miserable.

"Why do you ask?" Their jolly tone became a bit more neutral as their head turned 90 degrees to the left to face Iris.

[Iris Pythia]

Snip

"Nice. My alias is 'Eyeris' which...well look it's simple and I was 12 when I picked it. Mom said it'd be marketable."
Slight shudder and she focuses on the treadmill for a few more moments, looking more flushed.

"Gyros are sweet yeah, that's one of the things I like about Ethiopia, they know their lamb and goat. Now those are some prime meats."
And as for classes, she brightens.
"Awesome! Can't recommend 'introduction to forms' enough, the professor had been thinking about shapes and composition in a whole new way. Changed how I see things, which is saying something."

Shooting a thumbs up at confirmation of malleability.
"I don't know much about scales, but IKEA has to be at least an 8. I think I've still got a bookshelf somewhere I never assembled."

She blinks at the last questions, which was sort of a whole of body affair.
"I like taking photos of cool things. Capturing more and less than reality you know. Always looking for subjects. But hey, it's not for everyone, takes guts to be the subject. I hated all my selfies for years, and I was a teen girl with a lot of spare time and a stunted social life so there were a lot of them."

[Mucuzz]

snip snip snip

Most people would be a little taken aback at being considered "a cool thing" but Mucuzz was not most people.

Iris' earnest admission made Mucuzz feel at ease. As much as they don't mind attention these days there's always a gnawing suspicion that people might be out to make fun of them behind their back.

"Well, how about this. Let me take a selfie with you, and I'll consider hitting you up to apply for a subject position. After all I've got a lot of guts. I could even show them off for the camera if that'd make for a better pic."

[Iris Pythia]

Snip

"Guts? Terrifying, I love it!"
Iris slaps the stop machine on her treadmill as it slows, hastily toweling herself.

"So we can do modern" she mouths 'gag' "Or I'll get my analog camera and we'll do it old school. Bit more awkward but the results are more real. And that way it's just for you, no cloud copies or whatever."

[Mucuzz]

snippy

They mirror Iris in turning off the machine but instead of stepping off, stretch over to a nearby pullup bar and dangle upside down for a face-to-face convo. Like the Spider-Man kiss position but between bros. "I wanna go into that creepy red room like they do in the movies when they're solving a murder or whatever. Do we have one of those here?" Photography was clearly not their strong suit if it didn't involve being utilized as a human selfie stick.

[Dapper Dog]

["Heya Ruby!"
Iris keeps her gaze trained on the other building, was that laser eyes? Sweet, a classic.

"How's the new gig". In a joking turn. "Screwed anything up yet?"

“I… uh, no… not yet,” she said with more awkward energy than she would have liked.

Ruby does wave and she even smiles but when the two students start in she is content to stay in the background. It was good to see Iris and the girl made of ooze or goo… or whatever made her reflect on her own state.

[Iris Pythia]

They mirror Iris in turning off the machine but instead of stepping off, stretch over to a nearby pullup bar and dangle upside down for a face-to-face convo. Like the Spider-Man kiss position but between bros. "I wanna go into that creepy red room like they do in the movies when they're solving a murder or whatever. Do we have one of those here?" Photography was clearly not their strong suit if it didn't involve being utilized as a human selfie stick.

"You want to do a selfie in the dark room?"
Pause.

"Rad as hell, your colour will look awesome in there, I'll have to think on how to do the lighting since you know, a flash not only ruins the mood but also the negatives. But they absolutely have one."

She tosses her towel into a duffel bag before grabbing a sweater with 'it's all Greek to me' and shrugging it on.
"I like it in there, less stuff going on, easier to concentrate. Not perfect but better. Never solved a murder in there, but I could probably solve one from there?"

“I… uh, no… not yet,” she said with more awkward energy than she would have liked.

Snip

Thumbs up and a mouthed 'you go girl'

[Mucuzz]

OOC: It seems they got ahead of themself....they thought they were talking about a photo shoot not a selfie. I guess that's what happens when you get too hype too quick, but whatever, c'est la vie and all that jazz.

"I'm up for whatever! But you're right, how about we just start with a gym selfie here, much less complicated." Mucuzz pulls out an older-looking Nokia brick-type cellphone with several little Hello Kitty phone charms dangling from it. Goo and touch screens don't vibe very well... They stretch a limb far up to the ceiling and another limb around Iris' shoulder for an extreme angle and snap a selfie...a very...very low-res selfie #FitnessPhreaks #NewBuds #WokeUpLikeThis

Honestly, I'm still fighting to stay awake with all this jet lag hitting, so taking a tour with a friend also sounds perfect. Despite the probable lack of murder, maybe you can show me how things work? Who knows maybe I'll catch the shutterbug and wanna try my hand at snapping some real artsy pics too "

[Iris Pythia]

OOC: It seems they got ahead of themself....they thought they were talking about a photo shoot not a selfie. I guess that's what happens when you get too hype too quick, but whatever, c'est la vie and all that jazz.

"I'm up for whatever! But you're right, how about we just start with a gym selfie here, much less complicated." Mucuzz pulls out an older-looking Nokia brick-type cellphone with several little Hello Kitty phone charms dangling from it. Goo and touch screens don't vibe very well... They stretch a limb far up to the ceiling and another limb around Iris' shoulder for an extreme angle and snap a selfie...a very...very low-res selfie #FitnessPhreaks #NewBuds #WokeUpLikeThis

Honestly, I'm still fighting to stay awake with all this jet lag hitting, so taking a tour with a friend also sounds perfect. Despite the probable lack of murder, maybe you can show me how things work? Who knows maybe I'll catch the shutterbug and wanna try my hand at snapping some real artsy pics too "

((All good!))

Iris does the 'overly serious not serious' expression for the selfie, already considering all the unusual angles extendo arms would allow for as Mucuzz takes the photo.

"Digging your brick by the way, bet that thing could do some damage if you whacked someone with it. But phones aside probably no murder, this campus is kinda a fortress. Besides, Ruby would kill me...wait, then that would be more murder. Ehh, maybe she'd just club me unconscious."
With a wave to the supervisor she nods at Mucuzz's suggestion and starts trying to (hesitantly, she doesn't want an arm around Mucuzz's shoulder to become an arm in Mucuzz's shoulder) steer them both towards the exit, eyes (several now opening in her forehead) firmly focused on the arts building.

"Well, we'll be quick since you know, dark room...you might fall asleep. But photography is one of the few things that gets me out of bed in the morning and I'll never turn down a chance to talk shop. So I'm going to do my best to sell you on it."

Which she does as they begin the journey across campus, indeed the young woman is pretty dang animated about it by her standards launching into spiels about the role and history of photos and the development of the medium (and how modern tech was doing it's best to ruin it).

[Mucuzz]

Though not entirely understanding Iris' enthusiastic musings, Mucuzz certainly appreciated the passion. If someone is passionate enough about something it is certainly worth hearing them out.

"Ahh I see, so it used to be a lot more difficult to take pictures...so we ugh...put more thought into them?" They know they were coming off as ignorant but alas, they got the vibe that Iris would happily explain to people of all knowledge bases.

"You know one time, someone was taking a picture of me doing a keg stand, and I fell inside the keg. You'd think it'd kill the vibe, but they still chugged from that bad boy after I wriggled my way out. In a way...that's kind of thoughtful art...right?"

[Iris Pythia]

Though not entirely understanding Iris' enthusiastic musings, Mucuzz certainly appreciated the passion. If someone is passionate enough about something it is certainly worth hearing them out.

"Ahh I see, so it used to be a lot more difficult to take pictures...so we ugh...put more thought into them?" They know they were coming off as ignorant but alas, they got the vibe that Iris would happily explain to people of all knowledge bases.

"You know one time, someone was taking a picture of me doing a keg stand, and I fell inside the keg. You'd think it'd kill the vibe, but they still chugged from that bad boy after I wriggled my way out. In a way...that's kind of thoughtful art...right?"

"At the start taking a photo was so hard that putting thought into composition was really hard. That's why you hardly ever see anyone smiling in 19th century photos, they had to stand completely still for ages or it would get blurry.

Of course, sometimes you want a little bit of blur to emphasize..." Iris continues on as the two exit out of the hot African sun into an air conditioned art building decorated with artworks from the past years students hanging from walls or suspended from ceilings.

"They still chugged form it? That's hardcore, but like affectionate, true. Certainly something in there about vessels and meaning and...beer."
Nodding at the hologram receptionist she leads on, swapping her bag to her other shoulder into the building to the elevator.

"So, dark room's in the basement because you don't want people going through there all the time and obviously, less light the better, well non-red light anyway. Which reminds me, do you glow? Or emit radiation or UV? We kinda have to ask everyone this on their first time in. We had this one guy, 'Neutron Boy', wrecked about a month's work from half the department, not his fault but yikes."

[Mucuzz]

"Sounds rough. I hope the photography professors were understanding about not meeting deadlines." Mucuzz often thought about how fortunate they were to have been gifted with abilities that were mostly under control. Being a human microwave could have it's uses but one bad day and....well...

"That reminds me! How do you feel about that one picture. I know it's real controversial for some reason, but I never quite understood why. The First Elite or something like that?"

[Dapper Dog]

Ruby gave the statement about chugging the goo girl… or from the keg she was in with bombastic side eye. Thank goodness her stomach was made of diamonds.

Maybe she just lived a sheltered life.

Maybe she should party more.