#codearvis:starter

[baileyfuge]

“It’s coming down pretty hard, suppose we can just wait it out in here for a while.” Bailey smiled glad to at least have a bit of company and the rain beat against the window.

[shadia-abassi]

Shadia was back in Boston for a work trip and even though her schedule was packed, she did have some time to visit some friends. Facetime calls and online chats were alright, but they didn’t compare to the real thing. She headed over towards the new computer science building that replaced the old one and therefore their old computer room. Shadia smiled as she saw a familiar face and headed towards them. “So I see that once I left that everything went to shit,” she said. “Mind telling me everything that went down?”

[kishan-ahuja]

#Flashback - February 2019 (one month before Kishan’s death) @baileyfuge​​

Kishan sat down on a bench in the courtyard with a journal and text book next to him. He leaned back, closing his eyes for a moment, a little tired of staring at code all day. He took a deep breath, opening his eyes again. He squinted though because of the harsh sunlight reflecting off the buildings and sidewalk. He needed something to ease his mind and relax a little. And as if his prayers had been answered, he noticed Bailey walking by. He waved to try and flag her down. “Hey! Bailey!” He called out when only waving didn’t work. Once he caught her eye, he grinned and waved to her, hoping she’d come over to his bench.

[elcucuy-reyes]

“We’ve got a huge problem,” was all Sebastian could say when someone from their group came into the room. He glanced up at them before looking back down at the paper in front of him with scribbles everywhere. He clenched his jaw, unsure of how to explain to them their next big challenge when it came to the Grid. This time, the problem was directly caused by him. He’d just started getting used to having friends and partners again, but now he was about to lose them all.

[sal-rizzo]

Two months of shit nonstop. There came another promotion, which apparently involved more paperwork, which had him strapped to his office as much as he was out supervising. All time outside of work was now fully dedicated to academics, and what came next. He was just heading out through one of the most populous parts of the Academy one day when he recognized a familiar face. Had he not been so deprived of interaction, he might not have even said anything. “Hey, what’s up?”

[elena-arias]

“So,” Elena began, taking a seat on one of the scattered chairs inside the old computer room. “This place’s getting demolished in no time. What’s the plan now?”. Even though she was no longer a Turing student, she read The Epigram from time to time, mostly fond of the time she had collaborating within the academy’s newspaper. And now she’d gotten the new: good ol’ Turing Laboratory would be demolished and a shiny, new building would be built there. For the Grid group that meant they had to make some plans to take out their equipment -was that even something they could do...?- and find a new HQ.

[june-maslow]

"Dinner’s not ready yet” she said without looking up as she continued to crush some garlic cloves under the knife to put in the pan for the tomato and basil sauce she was making. June had offered to make dinner for her housemates and whoever from the other Turing house who wanted to come. It wasn’t implied that this would be some group dinner or anything, if anyone wanted to just grab a plate and go up to their room she was fine with it. She’d offered to cook mostly to kill some time more than anything else, and because it had been a while since she spent some time at a kitchen which she happened to enjoy. She wasn’t left alone despite her statement that dinner wasn’t yet ready and the hacker finally looked, raising an eyebrow “Yeah?”.

[wes-lamar]

Wes stared at the plaque on the statue that was dedicated to his best friend. Correction. Former best friend. Extra emphasis on former now that he was dead and had been dead for over a year now. He beat himself up over and over again over not being there for him or the rest of his (former) friends. It was one of his greatest regrets having missed so much. It turned out that putting himself first because of his crisis didn’t necessarily mean closing himself off from the world. Wes traced his fingers over the careful detailing of the statue, eventually going down to the plaque to run his fingers along the words. Finally, he traced Kishan’s name and the dates written on it. It was beautiful and strong, but filled with overwhelming sadness of dreams cut short and years not lived. It was sobering and maddening to think of someone dying so young. Wes thought of his own fate, which was also going to be filled with dreams cut short and years not lived. He thought he could fix things now by calling his friends to apologize and fix everything, which turned out not to be so simple. Wes began to think that it might be too late and he would have to start over. He glanced over his shoulder at the person lurking behind him and the statue. “It seems....surreal that it’s been a year,” he told them. 

[the-epigram]

Ines had attended the retreat so that a piece could be published in The Epigram about it. She had attended the courses and workshops, taken notes and chatted with participants from the other universities in the past two days. But she wanted to get to know the opinions and impressions from the participants from her own university so when she spotted one of the Turing participants as she headed out for a walk on the beach, Ines thought it could be a good opportunity to talk. “Hey” she said as she approached them.

[jonas-hartmann]

Texting 📱 Grid gang

Jonas: Hey guys Jonas: My family has a house in Nantucket and it’s going to be free this summer Jonas: You’re all invited if you want to come ✌️

[jack-vargas]

“Hey, I heard something was up with the Grid,” Jack said, stepping into the computer lab. They didn’t know the whole story, but June just sent a text letting everyone know not to go in alone. “Is it about the whole Kishan’s consciousness being in there because that’s still super weird and kind of creepy to me. Or is it something else?” They asked, looking over at their friend who had also come into the lab. It did seem strange to get a text like that without much of an explanation. They had hoped that maybe June would call some kind of meeting and explain, but she went dark after that. They hadn’t been super involved in the Grid after Level 40 when they got stuck working on a project and then began auditioning again for some projects filming in the area. 

[baileyfuge]

“I didn’t imagine I’d be back here so soon, but it’s good to be home,” Bailey said with a smile looking around the campus. “I hope teaching suits me.” She added with sigh.

[shadia-abassi]

"Alright, bitches, this is my last school retreat so let’s make it count,” Shadia said with a wide grin. She stepped out of the van and slung her bag over her shoulder. She hadn’t been in New York in a while, not since she did some interviews for some companies. As much as she liked New York and Boston, she was happy that she’d be getting away from the cold weather. She adjusted her scarf and turned towards her friends. “What’s first on our list?”

[kishan-ahuja]

Kishan noticed something was off in the Grid, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He could only do and see so much from inside the Grid, so he hoped that one of his friends on the outside could notice something different. “Like I said, I’m not entirely sure what it is, but something is just...off. I don’t know how to explain it. The programs that are usually benevolent have seemed more agitated lately at random times and believe it or not, it feels...cold in here,” he said. He was trying to find the best words to explain how he felt, which was harder than it seemed now that he was a digital program and not a real human being with skin and nerves and everything else that made someone human. “It even has Sera spooked and she can’t even explain what’s going on. It’s like something has changed suddenly, so Gaia must have found a way to corrupt the Grid or taken more control of more sectors or something. That’s the only logical explanation I can think of right now.”

[elcucuy-reyes]

“As fun as it sounds to crash at a rich white man’s beach house, I’m gonna have to decline,” Sebastian said. Not everyone knew the reason why he didn’t and couldn’t go very far off campus and he kind of wanted to keep it that way. He walked around the pool table as May tried to figure out what her next turn would be. Sebastian faced his friend and took a sip of his drink and raised his eyebrows. “Don’t tell me you’re gonna miss me now,” he said. “Next time. Promise.”

[sal-rizzo]

Location: Loft rooftop deck

Was he avoiding the room? No. He wanted to think he was instead avoiding this city that smelled bad and was too busy. He’d grown up in a city and hopped from city to city on his way to Boston, but there was a reason he’d gone right past New York City. It was too expensive, too dirty, and he didn’t understand the parking rules.

With a six-pack of beer resting in a small cooler next to him, he was content to stay alone and do some schoolwork. He was trying to fill out his final required literature elective and it was honestly a worse experience than some of the toilets he’d had to plunge at Turing. When he heard someone else walk on the deck, he was eager to close his book and actually be the one to start a conversation. “How’re your lectures and shit going?”