even better (open)

[nate]

We moved from one corner of Hell to another, didn't we? And this one's wet

Nate's eyes went to the rain streaked windows, and his hand curled around a coffee mug. Once again, the Academy had plunked down near a college town. College towns met coffee shops. Coffee shops meant Nate Wakeman.

Does it ever stop raining here? It's beginning to remind me of home.

The rain had indeed been going for quite a while now. Every time Nate had bothered to go out, a veritable deluge had emptied from the sky above. Clearly God hated Washington as much as Nate.

The scrawny young man turned to his laptop screen, flicking a finger. Unlike most people, Nate had actually built his own machine, entirely out of spare parts. He couldn't very well afford to buy a new one. As a result, his machine looked like it had been pieced together with duct tape and chewing gum. But it worked better then most of the top-of-the-line store brands.

The bell to the shop jingled, but Nate ignored it, instead focusing on the screen. His fingers danced across the keys, inputting commands and readying his latest "blog" entry:

My life in the Ninth Circle

[Skye Malizia]

Ooh, it went from cold to cold and wet! Skye had just gone to deliver a letter to the post office which would inform her family in Italy about her change of address. She was extremely paranoid about her parents sending her birthday present to the wrong place - even though her birthday wasn't until May.

She hadn't prepared an umbrella, she was still wearing her winter jacket for heaven's sake! Weather in Washington was moodier than her cousin Emilio, and if you knew Emilio then you would understand the reason behind her unspoken allusion.

Her hair was drenched and she felt like a drowned rat. She made a beeline to the ladies room and took her sweet time hogging the hand drying. The Italian girl fixed her make-up, silently praising whoever had invented waterproof mascara, and blew herself a kiss in the washroom mirror. Then she left the small corner room, feeling much warmer and dryer.

The smell of coffee had before been masked by the rain, but now that her breathing was no longer obstructed it hit her full-on. And although she knew American espresso was nowhere near as delicious as Italian, she was craving the caffiene.

So she got in the long line-up and stared up at the menu, trying to figure out what she was going to order. But her mind digressed, and soon her eyes traveled around the little shop. Nate sort of stuck out like a sore thumb, and although she tried to be indifferent to his poorly patched up computer, her eyes kept coming back to it. She wasn't the only one - an older couple standing in the line in front of her were obviously talking about it.

It was taking an awefully long time for the line to move, and Skye quickly grew bored. So just because she could, she projected a pop-up to show up only in Nate's mind. He would see it just as though it were a usual ad on a computer, but instead of there being an 'OK' or 'Cancel' button, there was nothing. All that showed up was an unnerving...

I can see you!

Skye returned her gaze to the overhead menu.

[nate]

Most people would probably figure they were being hacked. Maybe they'd think that some hacker was targeting them personally, for that matter. Someone else might wonder if they had a friend nearby who was doing something strange with an instant message surface.

Nate assumed someone was f**king with his head.

Yeah, not in the mood for that.

He dragged his mouse over to the little "X" at the top right of the ad, clicking it. To his mind, that meant that the ad would disappear, so it did. Thus settled Nate began jabbing the keys again, though with decidedly more force.