The Sharing: Rebellion From Within

[Terenia]

Aurora jumped back, looking not unlike a deer in headlights, allowing the newcomer closer access to Mike and the pamphlets. Under her breath she mumbles something along the lines of "Sorry..." and turns to walk away awkwardly.

[Myitt]

Corliss turned to Tia, blinking.  "Yeah, er, here you go," he said, handing her a pamphlet, eyes narrowed.  She looked familiar.  Familiar in this room meant Yeerkish.  Why would she want a pamphlet if she already knew what this was all about?

<Maybe she's bored,> Mike droned, sounding bored.  <Or maybe you're just wrong, ever consider that?  Maybe it's not too late for 'er.>

<Oh, be quiet,> Corliss grumbled. 

<Already am, mate.>

Corliss turned that just-slightly-too-late smile on again.  "Hope you enjoy the meeting," he said in a friendly manner. 

He turned and spied Aurora walking away.  "'ey, you'll want one of these, miss," he said, waving a pamphlet and halfheartedly hoping she turns around. 

<Right, torn between recruiting her to the dark side...> Mike began.

<Stoppit...>

<...or sticking a slug in 'er 'ead so she'll join the rebellion.  If we're lucky.  If we can coordinate it right, am I right?> Mike snickers.  <Oh, the angst.>

[Terenia]

"Oh!" Aurora cries when she realizes he is addressing her. A deep flush rises in her cheeks as she re-approaches him, "Sorry...I didn't mean to walk away like that..." She reaches out for the pamphlet shyly. "Thanks..."

[Whammy]

"Okay then." Madat said as the girl walked off to take care of the speakers. He was about to make a comment when Will intervened to stop him. Sometimes it did get old listening to the 'we have better technology thing' thing.

<<So then, maybe we should wait a little before going in, get to know these people some.>> Will suggested.

<<And stop them from joining?>> Madat said, questioning his motives.

<<Well, no, we can't really do that. But talking to them a little and getting to know them...>>

<<Will only make it harder to handle them being infested.>>

<<Oh, just shut up and let me take over for a little bit alright?>>

The two argued a little longer before Madat finally relinquished control back to Will. After disorienting few seconds he was ready to move. Walking up to the guy handing out pamphlets, and the group around him, he introduced himself.

"Hello there everyone. I'm Will and welcome to the Sharing. Is there anything we can help you with?"

[Myitt]

"You're welcome," Corliss says, hoping to set her at ease.  "What's your name?  I'm Mike, I guess you're new here, yeah?  There's a talk on in a few minutes, if you'd like to listen."  He glances briefly at Will, then back at Aurora.  "Might be a meeting afterwards, too, we could get you hooked up with a full member to guide you round."

[Qwerty the Charliecorn]

Kaitlyn tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, put on her usual, soft smile, and headed into the building. She was immediately overwhelmed by the techno music blasting through the speakers, and the unintelligible chatter of new comers and full members.

<It's so loud,> she complained. Illrid didn't argue, just continued to push her further into the room, but Kaitlyn knew that she agreed. Of course, Illrid was very irritable, and would never admit that she shared the same opinion. It was as if the very thought of agreement repulsed her.

She scanned the room with her eyes, searching for someone she did not recognize. She instantly spotted a pre-teen boy standing up against a wall, practically shaking with excitement. She meandered over to him, pretending not to notice him, hoping he would come to her instead. As expected, he did.

"Hey," the boy said. He casually stood next to her and folded his arms over his chest. Both Illrid and Kaitlyn knew he was doing this to look "cool". Kaitlyn would have laughed, had she not been under the control of her Yeerk.

"Hello," she replied with a warm smile. "You new here?"

"Nope," the boy said proudly.

"Really? I don't recognize you," Kaitlyn said.

"Are you a full member?"

"Yup."

"Then you'll be seeing a lot of me. Because in just one day, I'm going to be a full member." Kaitlyn reached over and patted him on the back. An idiotic grin spread over his face. He obviously enjoyed making physical contact with a pretty teen girl, who normally wouldn't have dared to come near him.

"Congratulations," Kaitlyn said, sounding genuinely happy for him. The real Kaitlyn was beginning to feel sick.

After asking the boy's name, she turned away and headed to the opposite side of the room, looking for newbies to welcome and socialize with. She spotted another boy, this one much older, standing and staring straight ahead as one of the full members, Sarah, headed off to meet with someone. Now he was alone.

Illrid decided that he would be a good target. "Hello," she greeted him.

<This is sick, Illrid. Sick and wrong,> Kaitlyn hissed to her Yeerk.

<Shut up. I don't have time for your complaints.>

[traycon3]

"Thanks," Tia said, snatching up the pamplet. "Jeeze no wonder everyone's up in arms about the speakers. Chapman's speaking tonight." Norpo lifted the drink and dumped it down her throat before she could say anything stupid about how idiotic Chapman was.
<Best not say anything, you idiot,> he scolded her.
<Warn me! I almost choaked.>
<But you didn't,> he said firmly.
Then the speakers squeeled again. "Ok, what is with those stupid things?!" It was really hard to tell which one of them had exclaimed, since both of them were pretty much feeling the same way towards the speakers.
"Thanks for the pamplet," Tia said, fanning herself and walking off, musing to herself.
<Oh, by the Elimist! You're disgusting!> Norpo exclaimed.
<What? I'm not allowed to think some guy is hot?>
<You just like his accent,> Norpo complained.
<That too.>
<UUUGH! Come on, you. Let's fix that before Chapman has a fit.>
A few moments later, Norpo finally found the problem.
<Ok, now can we go back to the food table?>
<What is it with you and food today? Did you forget to...Oh, wait. You did. Idiot. Why did you forget to eat?>
<I was taking a shower.>
They headed for the table again. <I should never let you alone.>
<No. Probably not.>
They reached the table, where upon she grabbed a few chips. "I swear, if that speaker starts up again, I'm going to burn it."

[Myitt]

Corliss glances back over at Tia, overhearing, still handing out pamphlets to the lost looking ones.  "You talking to yourself?" he says, smiling wryly.  "Yeah, least they could do is lower the bloody noise."  He pursed his lips.  "Or put on some Nine Inch Nails, you know.  Hi, welcome to the meeting...so, I'm sorry, er, what'd you say your name was?"

[traycon3]

"Yeah, sorry about that. I do that sometimes," Norpo replied, since Tia seemed...at a loss for words. <You're pathetic,> he mumbled to her before responding, "I'm Tiamate. You?" He stuck out her hand.

[Myitt]

"Pleased, Tiamate, I'm Mike Leicester," replied Corliss, shaking her hand.  "That's a nice name.  You go by Tia or something?"

<Are you actually flirting with her?> Mike demanded. 

<'Course not,> Corliss said sourly, distracted.
. 
"...you're not a full member yet, are you?" Corliss added, smiling smugly to himself.

<This is strictly business.  Bet you anything she's one of us.>

<You're on then.  Flirter.>

[traycon3]

"Yeah, Tia," Norpo replied, smiling a bit. <If you make me giggle, I'm going to slap you,> Tia said.
<What you wanna talk?>
<Fine. Let me talk.>
"Yeah, I am. Just moved back here, actually, so I'm sorta out of the loop around here. I'm assuming you are, seeing as you seem to be giving fairly decent directions and are handing out pamphlets. So, how long have you been a member?"
<Oh, my god, you're horrible at flirting,> Norpo scoffed.
<I am not flirting. I'm just...enjoying a conversation with a fairly attractive man.>
<Yeah. Sure you are.>

[Myitt]

Corliss nodded faintly.  "I've been in on it for three years," he said quietly, glancing around to make sure no one overheard.  He set the pamphlets on the table.  "Started in the UK, guess that's obvious.  Last six months or so I've been teaching at UCSB.  Chemistry, just part time.  Pitiful excuse for chemistry.  But the connections are good.  Worked in public relations for The Sharing in London.  There's a pretty good group going over there." He shrugged.  "So I suppose I'm rather new here, as well.  All this California sunshine."  He leaned back on the table, looking over at a shy newcomer.  "Yeah, hi, take one, talk's about to start," he said, gesturing to the red pamphlets.

<Told you so.>

<Fine.  You're still a flirter,> Mike said, fuming. <With my body no less.>

[Terenia]

"Yeah, um...I'm Aurora. Aurora Nailo." Aurora said, giving him an uneasy smile. His attention already seemed to be wavering from her, to this 'Tia' person. "Um...this is my first meeting. I was wondering, who is in charge? I'd like to talk to them. See if maybe I could help out or whatnot. I'm not big on the whole..." she struggled for a word that wouldn't come across as weird but couldn't find one.

"...I don't like sitting around and not doing anything."

[Chad32]

((I'd like to be in this too.))

Finally the day had arrived. Temrash was a young Yeerk, who knew little of the world around him. He had seen Yeerks come and go from the pool, but few of them actually talked to him. They didn't care much about some grub. However, the day had arrived.

He had received a communications to come to the surface, where he was put in a small container to await a host. He was finally going to see what the rest of the world looked like. He had already seen images of Humans and the city, but now he was going to have one.

A dark shadow loomed over the surface of the container, and something touched the surface of the water. It was mostly instinct from there. He found the ear canal, secreted the numbing liquid, and slid towards the brain. It took a minute for him to get comfortable around the brain, but soon he was in.

<No! No! No!>

The host, a 16 year old teenager, struggled to regain control. Temrash clamped down so he wouldn't hurt anyone.

<Stop struggling. You are in no pain.> Temrash said, confused.

"Have you gained full control of your new host yet?" Someone said.

Suddenly, everything was different. Temrash's entire world changed. He saw another Human through the eyes of his host.

"My host is unhappy." He said. "Does he not like us?"

"Whether it likes you or not is irrevelant. It is your new slave now. You have a few minutes to walk around and get acclimated, before the time comes for you to go to your Human home. Your slave is the son of someone of interest to us. Bringing him here eventually will be you main objective."

<Let me go! You can't do this!> Cody screamed.

<This is nothing like what I imagined it would be.> Temrash said to himself.

((I'll post again when I can. This should be enough for now.))

[Myitt]

Corliss smiled at Aurora, gesturing back at Tia.  "We can help you," he said politely. 

<What are you doing, you have no idea if this Tia person is on our side!> Mike hissed.

<She probably isn't.  Let's just play the part, shall we?>

"You can listen to the talk Mr. Chapman's going to give in a few minutes, and if you decide you like it here, we can assign you a guide," Corliss continued, clasping his hands together.

<But her bloody Yeerk's gonna be left up to chance, you stupid git!>

<Not if I'm her guide,> Corliss replied testily.  He sucked in a breath.  <We just need to get this Tia person out of here so we can either get this new girl very far away...or get her to join us.>

<The dark side.>

<Nerd.>