Evolution is a Tinkerer

[banthesun†]

The story was even more amazing than Will had expected. Did Neil have a death wish? Will could understand insulting Monty, but to his face? That was asking to get punched. No wonder he ran like hell. He probably still was hiding somewhere. But then Chris had hopped into the fight, was that bravery, stupidity, or both?

"From what I saw of Sarah's video everyone will be wanting a copy. It looked brutal!"

Will wondered if he was being a bit too enthusiastic about this. Nah, Chris would probably laugh a little at the video himself, chances being that would be seeing it a few more times in the coming weeks. And at the end of the year. And at his eighteenth. And his twenty first.

"To be frank, Chris deserves a medal. What the hell was he thinking? Wonder where Neil got to. Did he see Chris trip Monty, or is he hiding in a broom closet terrified?"

Will wondered if Monty would hold a grudge against Neil and Chris, almost definitely. But would he actually pursue vengeance. All Will knew was he wouldn't want to be in their shoes.

"Black hair, blue eyes," said Will at the paddle-pop sticks, he wasn't too knowledgeable about things like this, but it sounded a little odd, "guess it's time to cut and paste. Patronising, much?"

[Fanatic†]

"Alpha hey?" Sarah Atwell mused, "I kinda like that." her face breaking out in to a grin. Writing down the dominant genes she continued to talk. "Russian revolution. That was pretty horrible and all, I can't imagine what it would like to have been to live there at the time. I don't think I would of survived."

Thinking to herself she frowned. At least dad and mum wouldn't be fighting all the time, hell, they might of even worked together for once. Her mind absent-mindedly flicked to her brother, away in Iraq. She hoped he was ok, she hadn't recieved a letter from him in a month and was beginning to worry. Sarah knew that this train of thought led only to stress so focused back on the conversation.

"So, uh, the books about Lenin then? Is it an autobiography or something?"

[ifnotwinter†]

"Tell me about it." Dominic rolled his eyes, turning back to the work that actually had to be done. "Neill's probably still running, if you ask me. I don't think he saw Monty go down."

He sighed, mind only half on the pieces of paper listing traits. "He really pisses me off, you know. I mean - you saw at least a bit of what Sarah got on tape, he was getting pretty damn vicious with Chris. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll expel him."

Dominic had always hated violence. An outspoken pacifist, he was one of the few people he knew who wasn't really into first-person shooter videogames, and although only his closest friends knew, he would often close his eyes during particularly action-packed movies. It pissed him off that Monty had gone for Chris, but the fact that he hadn't done anything to try and stop it aside from waving over the cafeteria worker was starting to gnaw on him even more.

"I mean...shit." He flicked at one of the sticks, shaking his head. "He could've hurt him pretty badly. That's just...not on, you know?"

[Gwbiii†]

((OOC- sorry about the short post, brain is not working today))

"So, uh, the books about Lenin then? Is it an autobiography or something?"

"Haa, yeah sort of. I'm not too far in but he wrote it during the revolution. 'The State & Revolution' is kind of self-explanatory i suppose, he's mostly just re-affirming stuff that Marx wrote." she paused for a second. "And, yeah living through the Russian Revolution would've been hard, but imagine how exciting it would have been!" She was starting to go kind of glassy-eyed, "just imagine, taking to the streets, throwing off centuries of oppression, building a new society on the ruins of the old one, raising the red flag, surrounded by friends, comrades!" and then she grinned and looked sideways at Sarah "Of course, there's no reason why we can't have that here, too."

[banthesun†]

Whoops, Will hadn't really been thinking about how Dominic felt. Will knew Dom was a serious pacifist. Perhaps he was still a bit upset about the fight. Monty was always causing trouble, he shouldn't even be at this school. No one here liked the stuff he did, well no one in Will's experience at least. Actually, that gave Will an idea.

"Hey, Dom, do you think that people might stand up to Monty if we rallied support? He can't beat up everyone, and it'd let him know that people won't stand for his shit. Kinda like safety in numbers and all that."

They'd have a lot of people on their side, if they could just get enough to make the group snowball. It would help everyone who had been bullied by him. Break the cycle of fear and all that. Will was getting excited about the idea. In his mind it was heroic. Will was standing at the head of a group of students confronting Monty. It looked very noble, and Will felt a bit silly for imagining it, but was excited nonetheless.

"Maybe we could rally people with the tape?" Or maybe not, it was pretty violent. Will continued, "Actually, probably best not to. Chris and Neil stood up to him, maybe they'd help"

Will had completely forgotten about the work, his new idea seemed much more important.

[Fanatic†]

Atwell scratched her head and laughed, trying not to appear confused. "uh, yeah I guess, although we do have it pretty good at the moment."

What the hell? Sarah thought to herself. A revolution here would be crazy, I like my life and I'd rather not get shot and things being as they are that would never happen to her. She shuddered silently, imagining herself having to pick up a gun herself. That's what her brother was fighting for. He was fighting so she wouldn't have to.

Glancing at the last pop sticks she scrawled the genes into her lab-book. "Well, uh, anyway, looks like we have our baby. She should be more than a handful, what with her high IQ, extra X chromosome and crazy hair colour." Eying the time she relaxed a little, still ten minutes until the class was over and she was pretty confident that the work was done for the period. Reaching over her back with her arms she stretched out letting out a sigh of relief. All that hunched over writing had left her stiff. "So, you know something's been bugging me about you." Sarah grinned, watching her counter-part for her reaction. "I never see you with any boys, anyone you've been looking at?"

[ifnotwinter†]

"That's - not a half bad idea." Dominic pushed his papers to one side, mulling over Will's suggestion. There was strength and safety in numbers, after all. Monty couldn't attack them all, plus the school might be more inclined to kick him out if there were multiple students all with complaints. It wasn't like it was an isolated incident, either, hadn't Monty said something about beating up another two kids before Chris?

Shit. He really needed to get out of the school. "I bet Chris would be willing to help us, not sure about Neill but I can ask. And we should talk to other kids - maybe we can use the video. I mean, it's solid evidence. He can't just keep getting away with this."

He glanced at Will, seeing that the other boy was just as excited by the idea. "I can talk to Sarah A, too, see what she thinks."

[Gwbiii†]

"Uh, yeah I guess, although we do have it pretty good at the moment."

Sarah looked down at her paper, doodling as she thought, she was a bit worried that she might have hit a nerve, judging by the way Sarah A had replied. She tried to weigh up whether that line of thought was worth pursuing right now. Maybe she should just leave explaining how fucked up everything is for some other time. She looked up again. She doesn't look too happy, leave it.

Sarah A was writing in her book, so she found herself just kind of sitting there, her head on her right hand, sketching her into her book.
"Well, uh, anyway, looks like we have our baby. She should be more than a handful, what with her high IQ, extra X chromosome and crazy hair colour."
Sarah Atwell leaned back and stretched. that's cute. Suddenly she finished the yawn.
"So, you know something's been bugging me about you."
And then she grinned...
"I never see you with any boys, anyone you've been looking at?"
Sarah's eyes widened, her hand flew up to the back of her neck and she could feel herself blushing. The question took her completely off-guard. "uuh..." She also realised that she'd practically stared at Sarah for the past few minutes, which didn't help to make things any less awkward. Realising she still was, she fixed her eyes to her book, scribbling idly in a corner. "Uhm, no, not really."

[banthesun†]

"Cool," replied Will, he didn't really have much else to say

Will started packing up his books, he was often the last to leave so it was good to start early. Will had completely forgotten about the diagram Mr Mizela had asked for, and with any luck, he had too. Will hadn't even done a proper write up of the prac. He had a free period next and wanted to be on his way. Perhaps he could recruit some more people before going home. Aaron had invited him to a D&D session in the evening. This was his first time playing under Aaron, and he needed to get his character ready.

"Hey, Dom, you doing anything tonight? I got a D&D game with Aaron if you're interested.'

Will wasn't sure if Aaron would want him inviting people over, but of course this was balanced by him not expecting Dom to be interested at all. Will finished shoving books into his bag and sat waiting for class to end.

[Fanatic†]

The loud shrill of the end of class bell prompted the mass exodus of the student body in the biology class, hurrying to their next period. "Remember students, I *will* be checking your lab books for results next class so have the ready. This exercise counts towards 2% of your grade, it may not seem like much but it stacks up."

Sarah shut her book and smiled at her lab partner - the girl seemed embarrassed by the question, maybe she didn't get much luck with the opposite sex. She should help her out. "Well that's fine, plenty of guys out there ya know. If you are looking I'm probably going to head to the mall after study club, so feel free to give me a ring. We can check out some of the boys there, A friend of mine works on the third level and she says all the hot guys come through there. See if we can't find a special someone for you."

Slipping her books into her bag she slung her camera over her shoulder and headed for the door.

((Sarah Atwell continued in Roses Without Thorns ))

[Gwbiii†]

The bell ringing out was a relief to Sarah, partly because it meant getting out of such an awkward conversation, but mostly because she had a free now, which meant school was finally over. Mr Mizela said something about checking class work, which she ignored, she was already sort of ahead of the class anyway. She looked up again when Sarah A started speaking.

"Well that's fine, plenty of guys out there ya know. If you are looking I'm probably going to head to the mall after study club, so feel free to give me a ring. We can check out some of the boys there, A friend of mine works on the third level and she says all the hot guys come through there. See if we can't find a special someone for you."

She returned a smile from where she was sitting. "Uh, yeah, maybe. Thanks." She wasn't really looking and the mall wasn't exactly her kind of place, but it was a definite 'maybe'. Mum was always saying she should get out more 'and not just with your brothers' that and to 'get a boyfriend or a girlfriend or something already, anyone would think you're weird' of course, mum didn't actually have a problem, and wasn't exactly 'normal' herself, but anyway.

Without anything better to do she pulled out her battered old cell-phone with dangly things on red strings attached, and punched the number Sarah had left her on a bit of paper into it. Then she got out of her seat, eased her things in her bag and strolled out of the classroom.

((Sarah Xu continued in 11th Meter))

[ifnotwinter†]

(ooc: ack, guys, I'm so sorry! I got confused about the post order)

Dominic was bent over their sheet of paper, writing up the last of the genetic traits, when Will asked him about D&D. He looked up and shook his head, grinning.

"Not really my thing, but thanks for the offer. Have fun, yeah?"

The bell rang, and he stood up, gathering his things together. "I'll see you around, Will. If you see Chris before I do, let him know I'm looking for him?"

And with that, and a final half-wave, he headed out.

(Dominic Stratford continued in The Halls of 'Fashion')

[banthesun†]

Even though he'd started packing early, Will was still the last one to leave. He just had so much stuff to put away, sketch books, work books, sheets of paper, loose drawings and about ten types of stationary. No surprise Will tended to be the last out of the room. Of course, that meant he was easy pickings for Mr Mizela.

"Will, you have that diagram to show me?"

Yikes! Will had only done a rough sketch, but Mr Mizela was asking to see what he'd done. Will pulled his Chem book from his bag, scattering stationary again. He meekly showed Mizela his sketch.

"Hmmm, that's not really good enough Will. What about today's experiment?"

Another thing Will hadn't done properly.

"I'm finishing it at home, if that's all right," said Will as he turned to the mostly barren page.

"You better be, I'll be checking it tomorrow."

Mizela seemed upset, but not as angry as he had been earlier.

"Sorry for before, Sir," said Will as he left.

He wasn't really planning on doing the work tonight, he had other business. He was glad to just get out of this one fine.

((William Sears continued in D&D Night))