University

[Jak]

No child proteges. That's all I remember

Character Page

[Jak]

Scott walked up to the school with his mother Georgette and his sisters Vivian, Joanne, Yvonne, Penelope, Diana, Amanda, and Jenny. Georgette fiddled with Scott's deep violet tie and said "now you be careful Scott. Lady Luck has it in for you" Scott laughed and replied "I'll be careful Mom. But I have one of my feelings." Vivian poked Scott's cheek and chuckled "is that why you insisted on that stupid shirt and fairy wings?" Scott playfully swatted his eldest sister's hand away and said "Mauve happens to be my favorite color, and my wings are lucky." Yvonne gave Scott his Danny Phantom backpack and said "you go straight to the sign-in and then your dorm, you hear me? I don't care what your feelings tell you. you don't want a repeat of your high school incident, do you?" Scott hugged Yvonne and replied "I'll do my best" He hugged the rest of his family and went inside. Diana put her hands on her hips and sighed "he's such a child"

By the time Scott got to the sign-in he was soaked with ice-cold water, covered in silly string, and missing a shoe.

[Rifter]

A plain, black car drove up to the registration centre, a moving truck following close behind, two people stepped out of the car, Stanley Grey and his mother. His mother was dressed in very formal attire, black pencil skirt, white blouse and black jacket. She walked around to Stanley, "Stanley, go get registered. I have to talk to the movers." Stanley nodded, "Yes, ma'am."

About fifteen minutes later, he came out of the centre with the manilla envelope in hand, walking back over the black car, he caught sight of an individual missing a shoe, looking soaked and covered in silly string. He bit his lip, he knew the feeling of being bullied and humiliated.

Getting back into the car, his mother was already in the driver's seat, he wordlessly handed her the paper with his dorm assignment. She nodded and they drove off.

About a half hour later, Stanley was standing in his dorm apartment, computer equipment stored in one of the bedrooms. His mother hugged him, breaking her stolid attitude, "Try not to get into trouble, alright Stan? Marcia's attending here too, she'll give you a hand if I'm out of reach. Okay?" She smiled slightly. Stanley smiled, "I know."

"Good, now I have to go, I have an appointment to go to. I'll try to call you this evening." With that, she left him there.

Sighing, he walked into his room, amid the computer paraphernalia and got to work assembling the equipment.

[Jak]

Scott walked into his dorm and immediately noted the tech. He chuckled and called out "Hey! Did a people come with all these computers, or am I sharing a dorm with some AI from the future?"

[Rifter]

Stanley poked his head out from around the door frame, and saw the same person from earlier, "Ha ha, very funny." He pulled himself out of a tangle of wires so that he stood in the apartment hallway, "Stanley Grey, you must be Scott." He walked up to Scott and held out his hand.

[Jak]

Scott offered his hand, took it back to remove some silly string, then shook Stan's hand vigorously, saying "Yep, my name's Scott Sinclaire."

[Rifter]

Stanley let his hand drop to his side, "Thirsty? I'm stocked on at least five kinds of soda."

[Jak]

"Got any water?"

[Rifter]

"Check the dorm fridge, I think I put some water in there."

[Jak]

Scott retrieved a bottle of water and sat down on the unclaimed bed and gulped the whole bottle down

[Rifter]

Eyeing Scott, "Thirsty, much?"

[Jak]

"Yeah! I ran around the whole school, through every floor, into every classroom, and even in a closet!" Scott replied excitedly

[Rifter]

Raising an eyebrow as he fiddled with a power bar, "A closet? Do I- No, don't answer that, I don't want to know."

[Jak]

Scott laughed and said "I get that a lot"

[Rifter]

Standing up straight, Stanley leaned backwards, his back cracking a few times, "Come to think about it, your last name sounds familiar... You wouldn't happen to have any well-known relatives, would you?"

[Jak]

"My Dad was a military man"

[Rifter]

Thinking for moment, "Oh! Oh... Now I remember. Your father, Sergeant Sinclaire. He... I'm sorry for your loss."

[Jak]

Scott chuckled and replied cheerily "thanks, but it's ok. I managed to get rid of all the grey"

[Rifter]

Eyebrow raised, he had to stop himself from asking.

Walking into the "server room" Stanley flipped a few power switches. The machines started to hum, walking back out, he dusted his hands off, "There. The mainframe's up and running. Not exactly a vacuum-tight room, but the shielding and fans I bought should help."

[Jak]

Scott looked at the computers and asked "what's all this for?"

[Rifter]

"Well... Can't call it a 'mainframe' per se, rather a supercomputer array. I was loaning processing time to several government organizations, and I would've left it at home, but my mother's planning on moving while I'm here, and I don't trust anyone really with my equipment." Walking over to the fridge, Stanley pulled out a can of ginger ale and popped it open and took a few liberal drinks.

[Jak]

Scott stretched and said "tech stuff is all above my head"

[Rifter]

Closing the "server room" door, "Suffice to say, these companies pay me to run simulations and analysis on that mess in there. And they pay well."

[Jak]

"Oh. Kinda like... how people sometimes pay me to take their photos?"

[Rifter]

Thinking for moment, "Sorta. Try multiplying your pay by a few thousands." Stanley shrugged, "Doesn't matter much."

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