Dream let out a small laugh and nodded.

"Sure, that's the best idea I've heard all day", Dream said as she went over to the door. "Let's go back before any of the big dogs here chew us up".

She entered back to the kitchen and saw Atrast and Akira both at work on the sink. Dream went over to Akira, placed her hand on her shoulder and gave her a wink.

"Thanks, I'll take over from here, it's my job after all", Dream said as she began to wash the dishes. "So pizza huh? You coming Akira?"

((Atrast is back in the building! She had to go on a business trip...:P))

Before Akira could answer, an elderly female resident suddenly found herself in the kitchen. She looked rather lost. Glancing at the group, her blue eyes began to gleam with a fierce light that was both lucid and "alzied"--meaning, marked by Alzheimer's disease (although none of the students at Uni-Hi knew the full term or how to spell it). "New kids? Always feel sorry for you. Won't last long, though. T-Day is coming, and then you won't be here anymore."

Atrast felt something in her stomach lurch. "T-Day? What's that?"

"Threshold Day. You haven't heard? It's the day when the lines on the bottom of the news screen go from orange to red. You don't want to miss it. You won't." Atrast, assuming the lady meant that the terror threat level of the U.S. would move from orange to red, gave an involuntary shiver. "When?"

"Soon. Stay in your homes, and don't go into the army."

Suddenly, a Nurse Ratchett-type character--this one with a name tag reading IRENE--strode into the kitchen purposefully. "Come on, Nora," she said softly. "This is the kitchen and dishwashing area, not the dining hall."

"I'll go back," said the elderly resident, "but not before I tell these kids goodbye. Goodbye, kids!" she called, waving her long, wrinkled fingers.

Atrast found herself whispering Goodbye, inaudibly, and waving back.

"Done with those dishes?" barked a voice. MELINDA, from her black name-tag. "Good. I was wondering when you would be finished. Pick up the pace next time, all right? And put on some more deodorant," she added to Atrast.

I practically bathed in it today, lady. Let up, Atrast wanted to snarl. Instead, all she said was "Yes, ma'am," and humbly bowed her sweaty head.

"Did Nora get in here again?" asked Melinda. Atrast decided not to tell.

"Well, if she did, don't listen to her. Crazy Alzheimer's patients don't have anything worthwhile to say." She shook her head. "Sad, pathetic folks."

For some reason, the words T-Day and red came to Atrast...

Akira was about to answer when a patient named Nora came into the kitchen. She had just finished rinsing the last glass and had put it in the drainer when Nora began talking about T-day and orange and red.

She didn't mind sticking catheters into people but when it came to someone alzied, her heart went out to them. For some reason she didn't see them as crazy nor pathetic. They usually did have something worthwhile to say though it was often of things that were not pertinent to the here and now. She listened and when Nora said not to go into the army, she replied softly, "Not on my watch."

One of the nurses came in and said, "Well, if she did, don't listen to her. Crazy Alzheimer's patients don't have anything worthwhile to say." She shook her head. "Sad, pathetic folks."

"As if," Akira replied in contradiction. It sounded more like a muttering under her breath when she said it though. She looked at Atrast and saw that what Nora had said made some sort of impact on her. She put her arm around her shoulders and said, "Hey, You awake? If you are, let's go have pizza with Caboose and Dream. We can talk about it then. No use trying when we are surrounded by Nurse Rachett."

For someone shuffled off to bedpan duty, Dee was in a remarkably good mood. And her good mood seemed to improve the moods of most of the old folks she helped. She sang to them, ridiculous songs she'd learned as a child. It struck her as remarkably intriguing that these old people could hum along to most of the songs she picked.

"Good voice, honey," one of the old ladies said sweetly. "You should write music. It'd be good." Then, her nose wrinkled up. "Well... by good, I mean..."

Dee laughed. "You mean a song in txt-speak can only be mediocre. At best. I hear you. And I agree."

The old woman blinked. "With a word like 'mediocre' in your repertoire, I think you may do just fine."

"Not for my generation," Dee replied, smiling faintly. "There. You're all set for a while now."

"Thank you, dear," the woman said. "Have a good day."

And as Dee headed out the door, she heard the woman mutter, "Precious few of them left..."

Shrugging it off, Dee went looking for the rest of the kids. She found a few of them in the kitchen.

"Hey all," she said cheerily. "How's first day?"

Jiyhe had his hands full when Caboose left to go to the dishroom. The manic fellow was strong, but still needed help doing some of the heavier stuff, like lifting large cots, or even residents, but no, of course Jiyhe got stuck with some dumb, moronic guy who ended up leaving him in the middle of putting most of the invalids to bed, yay!

Jihye was, however, a very positive person, his mood hardly ever changed between two different kinds, manic, and crazy, that was about it.

Finally Jiyhe had finished, ending his day with a final feeding of one of the elderly, giving them one last spoonful, and wiping their mouth, he sprang up, and with great gusto grabbed all the trays in the area, and sped off to the dishroom to drop them all off.

Arriving, he saw most of the other failures there too. He simply grinned at them all, and put the trays down where they were supposed to go, and then hopped up onto a counter and sat down, looking around curiously, he asked them all, "Well isn't this fancy! Something I missed while doing meathead's job, and my own!?"

((Yay for lame posts! Don't have the time for anything fancy, meh.))

"Sure, that's the best idea I've heard all day", Dream said as she went over to the door. "Let's go back before any of the big dogs here chew us up".

"I'll be right there," Caboose said to her as he continued to lean on the railing.

Caboose just stared at the sun for an extra minute before he made his way to the door. He wanted to end this moment in a good way just in case something awful was waiting for him on the inside. He opened the door and walked in to see that the a large group had gathered. He even heard some old woman speak about something called T-Day. He just stood there confused by what exactly the old woman had met. He suddenly snapped out of it when he saw Dee and Jihye.

"Oh hey there Dee...and sorry Jihye I uh had something else on my mind but don't worry I'll actually help tomorrow. We're gonna go get some pizza and you two should join us, I'll pay for you Jihye since I let you down today," Caboose said being friendly as possible.

Arvel had got stuck with janitor duty. He didn't really mind the work, but the liquid slop bucket he had to carry around with him did make him wish that he didn't have to constantly look into the disgusting black liquid. Arvel also thought that the job was getting repetitive, just cleaning the floors, but he didn't mind, as, at the very least, it passed the time. He then to think about the world around him, something he often did, as he kept to himself most of the time, and rarely, if ever, made friends. He wondered why almost everyone was diagnosed with some disease, and why he was one of the lucky few. He also wondered why people spoke with txt - having read old books, he was amazed that people didn't speak like that, even after the Digital Age started. He also began to think about people, and why everything seemed so suppressive nowadays. His thinking went on for the rest of his shift, and after he dropped off his equipment and changed back into his normal clothers, he began to think about the others who were assigned to this job. I could talk with them, Arvel thought. But they're only people, and people can be and are cruel. What's the use? Then again, it could help me in the future. It was in the middle of his thoughts that he found the group of students gathered in a room he wandered into. Ah, fork, I'm still indecisive. But I have nothing to lose at this point, so why not try a greeting?

"Hey guys," said Arvel, trying to give the appearence that he wasn't at all nervous, and was actually doing a passable job, much to his own surprise. Out of all the people, he only knew Caboose, as both were classmates. "So, uh, what's going on?"

Atrast gave a despairing glance at the new pile of dirty trays that Jiyhe had deposited on the dishwashing-area counter, and then smiled quickly at Arvel.

"Our shift's over, which is mega-nine!" she cried. "It's six-thirty, and we've all decided to go out for pizza. Which will it be--the Hut, Domino's, Papa John's, or Little Caesar's?" Even in 2064, those chains still sprawled all over the map, even in small towns like Prestile Stream, Maine. Its only other restaurants were a McDonald's and a family diner called Rose's. Rose's had decent pizza, too...

She had a sudden thought. "Who's got a car--one that can hold all of us?"

Atrast herself didn't drive, although she had tried, but her lack of reaction time and her unsteady foot braking due to cerebral palsy precluded that activity. Not that she wanted to reveal this to the rest of the students--it would make her seem even more of a "tard" than the denizens of Uni-Hi thought her to be.

"I have a car, well I'm driven mostly to everywhere I need to be. I'm not rich though but I do have one, we can go together if you like. I don't think he'll mind", Dream said. She had a driver because of her disease, her lack of depth perception would kick in at any time because of her disease and so her parents assigned a driver. "He's probably waiting outside as we speak."

"Sounds good," Akira replied. She had her arm around Atrast's shoulder at the time and when everyone made a move to follow Dream, she used her arm to give a gentle tug. "Come on Atrast. This time you're gonna beat me to the door."

She skirted around Dream and made like she was going to run towards the doors. It was game she and Atrast played as an attempt to build up Atrast's stamina. "Come on. Last time I won by a nose."

"This time, MY nose is coming out ahead," replied Atrast slyly. "One, two, three!" She and Akira took off, and with the thought of hot, delicious pizza propelling her, Atrast managed to find enough stamina to win the day/door!

She gave out a whoop of delight. "A-ha! I am a perda no longer! Come on, everybody--last one out of here is a busted iScreen!" More laughter. It wasn't more than twenty seconds before she, Akira, Caboose, Dream, and the others had sprinted out of the Ashwood LTC into the warm evening twilight.

Piling into Dream's car was no small feat--there were eight passengers in a car that was only built for five at the most--but when there's a will, there's a way!

"So, where are we headed?" asked Atrast. "I'm absolutely starved. You?"

"Well popular vote wins so decide between Hut's, Little Ceasar's or Domino's. Make a pick, I say hut's", Dream said voicing her opinion.

She didn't mind being a little crammed up inside the car, it was a while since she had had friends come with her. But she figured these guys were an interesting bunch. And she really seemed interested in them, they didn't fit the regular txt bunch at all which was something rare to find nowadays.

Caboose did his best to take up as little space as possible once he got into the car. Talk of pizza began to fill the car but that wasn't entirely on his mind. His mind was filled with other stuff with pizza trying to squeeze its way in there. For one thing he still felt guilty about leaving Jiyhe to do all of the work by himself today. He'd do his best to make it up to him tomorrow. He also felt he owed Atrast something. She had given him good advice and it had worked very well. He was concerned what the old woman had meant about T-Day as well. Above all else though he couldn't stop thinking about Dream. Every time he stared at her he felt funny inside. His massive train of thought was brought to a stop by Dream's answers to Atrast's suggestion.

"Um I don't really care where we go so Hut's works for me," he said.

Arvel chuckled as the others rushed into the car, and decided to tag along. Getting into the car was cramped, but he didn't exactly mind, except for the fact that a limb was usually jabbing into some part of his body.

"Um I don't really care where we go so Hut's works for me,"

"Same here," said Arvel, indifferent to where the car took them.

"The Hut it is," smiled Atrast. "Drive on, Dream, to cheese-saturated heaven!"

Dream and her other seven passengers sped on, being careful not to giggle too much or let the actual PO-PO--the police, not the principal--know about their too-full vehicle. It seemed like the police were lurking everywhere these days...

Everyone ordered Individual Pan Pizzas once they were at the Hut. For herself, Atrast chose pepperoni with double mushrooms--weird, yes, but with a spicy kick. Her favorite drink, regular Pepsi, was placed quickly at its side, ice-cold.

She raised her glass. "To victory, especially over a mountain of dirty dishes! And Akira," she added with a wink and a smile. "To fighting the good fight!"

(You called pepperoni pizza with mushrooms weird and it's my favorite pizza XD)

Dream had ordered double cheese with pepperoni, she could notice the others selections and she giggled a bit to herself. She ordered regular pepsi as well and it was soon brought to her side. She looked over at Caboose who seemed to look at her every now and then and she gave him a small smile and then continued to eat. She raised her glass to Atrast's toast.

"To fighting the good fight!", she said and drank a zip from her glass.

Caboose ordered his usual when he got pizza, extra cheese. He went with a root beer as he always did and sat down with the others. He started eating when he noticed Dream look over at him and smile. He finished swallowing and smiled back over at her. He smiled as his new friends began toasting and decided to join in.

"And to new friends," he added in.

Atrast involuntarily found herself glancing over at Jiyhe as Caboose made his toast. New friends, eh? I'd like to get to know you a little better! she thought to herself. The truth was that Jiyhe intrigued her. What made him "tick", as her grandfather used to say? Kids who were that "volted" were highly unusual, whether they drank "juice" or not. Of course, that wasn't the only reason that Jiyhe had caught Atrast's eye. He was also an "inty"...

There was a TV on, with the sound muted, on the wall in the dining room of the Hut. The station was turned to RWBN (Right-Wing Broadcasting Network) News, with its comely anchor Theresa Anne Corbin. ASIAN COMMONWEALTH PREPARED TO STRIKE? read the text below her olive-skinned frame, coiffed hair, and serious gaze. Atrast perked up her ears, or at least her eyes. No one else at the Hut seemed to be paying attention, but she thought it might be rude to ask the sound be turned up. The bottom of the screen read:

WAR IMMINENT?...PRESIDENT ANDERSON ASSESSES RISK...BIOTERRORISM?

Arvel, once at the Hut, ordered a Hawaiian style pizza, with pineapples and ham. That wasn't his usual order, but he absolutely loved food that was foreign - that is, if Hawaiian food could be considered "foreign." He took a Coke along with his order, and allowed himself a small grin as everyone made a toast. At least others were happy. He found himself momentarily wishing for a world like that, where everyone was happy. But then he simply dismissed the notion as a human impulse - since Arvel believed life was meaningless, he thought that, as a result, humans could never achieve happiness. He raised his glass and joined in the toast. He then noticed that Atrast's gaze was averted somehwere else. He followed her gaze to the TV, where he saw the headline.

"Shame, huh?" he said to Atrast. "War is going to engulf the world again." Arvel used "engulf" simply because he couldn't think of a simpler or a txt word for it. "But, then again, I suppose life just goes on like that."

Jeff rushed into the Hut, having just made it out of the LTC. "Sorry I'm late, bedpans are nasty work, and there's no way I'd go out after that without a shower." He explained, but his gaze was soon turned to TV. All he had to say was "How very Orwellian."

"And to risks!" Dee proclaimed, slapping a hand on the table with a wide grin. After all, hadn't it been risks that had gotten her into this mess in the first place? Sitting around the table with a group such as this one certainly seemed to be a decent "consequence" of her actions. Not to mention, the old folks at Ashwood were an interesting bunch.

She caught Arvel's comment to Atrast and turned to find them both staring at the TV screen. She squinted, but the set was too far away, out of Dee's fading eyesight. "War?" she asked sharply. "What does it say?"

"The usual stuff the RWBN says," Atrast replied wryly. "War, bioterrorism, the Asian Commonwealth is evil, they don't believe in our God, yadda-yadda-yadda." She paused for a minute. "However, something's different this time. I've never seen Theresa Anne Corbin look so tense." The others looked confused. Ms. Corbin appeared poised to them. "Her eyes are bugged out in a weird way. It's like she's trying to look through the camera instead of at it." She took a bite of pizza. "Maybe this time it's real."

To Arvel, she muttered, "If it's true that war IS--imminent, whatever the fork that means, then life as we know it might not 'just go on' for much longer. It is a shame, though. That point I'll concede." She knew that word from playing (and losing) many games of chess against her online opponents.

Once Jeff rushed in and blurted out his statement, she motioned for him to take an empty seat in the corner booth that could hold multiple people. "No problem!" she said. "I'm surprised you still have an appetite anyway." After letting out a light snort of laughter, she asked, "Orwellian? What's that?"

"As is George Orwell, and it refers to conditions like in his novel 1984. A world where the government can lie so easily to the people, no one even thinks to question it. Or in this case, no one even thinks at all." Jeff explained to the group, taking a seat in the booth. "They say I think too much, but I say they think too little. I'll believe this talk of war once they show some irrefutable proof. Show, don't tell."

Akira held her own Pepsi up and said, "The good fight."

Her pizza was rather simple with just pepperoni and cheese. The world they lived in, simple was better at times. They were watching the news and saw the war coming on and she let out, "Tark! Another one? You tarking me?"

When Jeff came in and gave his Orwellian speech, she said, "I agree with you there. This is just plain ridiculous. Heck I'd rather have a friend that thinks than be one of them." She had no words for those who actually drank in every word of the party line. She took a drink of her Pepsi. "So Jeff you think our work at the retirement home is part of the system's attempt to mold us into 'model' citizens?"

Dream scoffed at the news. As she heard Jeff talk she nodded because she knew perfectly well what Orwell meant. She looked at Akira and her reaction. She just listened to her companions talk about it and even Akira asking Jeff what he thought about the whole TLC job they were doing.

"It is too apparent for everyone with a braincell that the government is trying and so far succeeding in creating a population full of ignorants. The more ignorant someone is, the easier they are to control. I'm sure everyone on this table has noticed this, with the passing of time, every generation has less knowledge even though the doors to knowledge are even more open than ever, they still restrict it and even in some cases, the same education system just takes things out of the learning programs and just teach us things that are pretty basic. I mean, just talk to your grandparents and you'll see what I mean. What they got taught in high school, was much more than what we're being taught, even our parents had a much larger education than the one we're getting now. It's totally borked", Dream said and realized she may have spoken too much but she knew the people around her weren't the average txt speakers, the ignorants that she hated, no, these people irradiated something else entirely, something she could identify with.

"Borked is an understatement," Akira replied. She figited with a napkin and added, "Which is why I read. I totally ignore the stuff on text screens."

She took a bite of a slice of her pizza. She didn't care if they knew she was a lover of books. Atrast knew since she often read while putting Atrast through her paces for exercise.

"Model citizens?" Atrast gave a snort. "I know one thing for sure: I'm not anyone's idea of a 'model citizen', except a model of someone who doesn't measure up to anyone else's standards. In my classes, I earn fairly good grades, but none of the teachers really like or respect me. They get very annoyed when I ask too many questions. It's like they're scared to admit that they themselves may not know the answers." This brought on a fit of the giggles. "What would anyone stand to gain by making me, or any of us, complete our Mandatory Educational Service Hours at the Ashwood LTC? None of us are using our natural strengths and talents--unless that's the point." She gave an involuntary shiver. "Maybe Principal Patton is trying to show us that we're not so high on the pole at Uni-Hi after all, even though we're smart."

She took another long sip of her Pepsi. "I wouldn't put it past her, or any of the Undertaker administrators. Ever notice how the more intelligent kids at school get in as much trouble, or more, than the ornery ones who directly act out in class?"

Glancing askance at Akira, she asked, "Could this news be just another 'text screen'?"

"If it is, it is starting to bug like flies," Akira replied. "Funny how technology is supposed to make our lives easier yet all it is good for is an instrument of social control. Them so called teachers buy into the party line and then try to make us look like the devil incarnate." Akira continued to munch on her pizza, her body's desire for carbs outweighing her desire to chat.

"Frankly, I'd rather be an individual than a 'model citizen', or normal, whatever that is. We're supposed to be able to think what we want, and they're not supposed to push political viewpoints like this. The fact that they don't like us questioning things is just another thing to question. What are they so afraid we'll figure out?" Jeff pointed out, taking another sip of his Pepsi.

"That really our perfect world is a farce and should the younger generations ever get intelligent enough to take over the government, the politicians would be out of a job. Those who gain power hate giving it up." Akira managed to pause in her munching long enough to answer Jeff's question. "I wonder what Aldous Huxley would have to say on the matter."

"Aldous who?" asked Atrast, quickly stuffing her mouth with another gigantic bite of pizza. She knew, or at least she felt, that she was the stupidest out of all eight students in the group. The rest of them read books, actual books, which had never really interested her because the ones she'd had at her house were dusty old biographies of people she'd never even heard of.

"Never mind," she said with a muffled sigh, pretending that the pepperoni and double mushrooms were all that engrossed her. She was mediocre at math, terrible at physical exercise, and only halfway decent at the game she loved. Atrast, despite the pressure placed upon her by her Undertaker parents and teachers at Uni-Hi, never really excelled at anything--except losing. That was what she was good at, and Atrast was ashamed of this fact.

She did not yet have the wisdom to see her greatest gains came from loss...

The stars twinkled in the evening sky. It was early fall, and Andromeda, in her constellation chains, dangled above the eight students at Pizza Hut...

Day Four: T-DAY!

Out of all her classes at Uni-Hi, the only one that Atrast Valla actually considered even close to "nine" was Current Events, taught by Miss Yseult. She was the only Undertaker--teacher--that ever let her students call her by her first name. She was named for a mythical queen of legend, an accidental adulteress, the wife of King Mark and lover of the hero Tristan. Miss Yseult was as beautiful and "volted" as her name. She was hyper most of the day.

"Oh noes, eleventy-one!" she cried. "We're missing 24/7 Live News!"

It was the class's favorite channel. The anchors talked like human beings insted of bureaucrats, and everyone pretty much understood what was going on. This time, however--not even the anchors did. The screen showed shots of school buildings, one after another, standing in a pile of smoking rubble.

Miss Yseult slapped her hand over her mouth, stifling a scream. She turned up the volume on the television set, which now read "SCHOOLS TARGETED."

"Terrorists from the Asian Commonwealth--juveniles, ages 14 to 18--have today awakened from their 'sleeper cells' and set off bombs in their buildings. Motives for the school bombings have not yet been discovered, although we think this is a series of revenge killings for President Anderson's harsh sanctions against China and other Asian countries. These sanctions have mostly harmed children and ordinary citizens, not the terrorist elite that President Anderson had sought to punish. Schools are being held in lockdown all over the U.S. Any one of them could have a bomb in them at the moment."

Atrast felt her bowels turn to liquid. The screen read: THRESHOLD RED ALERT.

Akira smiled and obliged, "Aldous Huxley was a twentieth century writer. He wrote an interesting book called Brave New World. It is basically about a civilization like ours except children are born by the hundreds and conditioned according to their class. I'll lend it to you."

Akira said no more but continued to munch on her pizza in silence. She knew that Atrast was going through one of her thinking spells about herself. She inwardly cursed the whole tarking system for making Atrast feel that she was mediocre and stupid. She knew that Atrast was good at things evenif they were not completely the norm at Uni-Hi. Still it made her wonder if Atrast resented her for being able to perform to the standards Uni-Hi wanted, up to the point where she outshown them.

**********

Day 4:

Akira had a book open as she sat through Current Events. It was one subject in which she didn't care two pins for and got less than an A on her assignments. Miss Yseult constantly told her that she was capable of doing better than her and the other teachers. It was a rare compliment coming from a teacher and first to admit the posiibility that they might not know something. She had told Miss Yseult that she didn't see the point in preparing a paper on a topic that was more likely edited for the express purpose of controlling the masses.

That earned her a look mixed with frustration and pleading. Akira didn't relent and was content scrapping by in the class. She did watch the news like everyone else though. She wasn't stupid knowing that there was the possibility of some truth in her words. As she watched the screen, her eyes went wide at teh images of the downed school buildings.

The newscasters spoke of sleeper cells bombing their schools and that they were representative of the Asian Commonwealth. Inwardly she cringed and looked to see if any dirty looks were being shot her way. It was no secret that she was of Japanese descent. Still that wouldn't stop suspicious sould from inquiring if she intended to bomb the school. She looked at Atrast who was looking pained in her seat. She looked up at the screen and reacted, "Tark!"

((This thread is officially dead. Thanks for making this RP fairly decent, however!))

((Personally I wanted to keep going, but nobody deemed to push it forward. Ah well.))