Each to the Other

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"I'll see!" Mia grinned at the idea, as if trusting Sonia somehow excited her. "There's a whale, somewhere out here in the Pacific, whose honker's off-key. She sings soprano and all the others warble baritone so she's called the loneliest whale. There's only one of her and she's never been seen, but we've been hearing her for fifty years and she still cries for a friend."

Mia looked over to Sonia after the anecdote, raising a brow with intent. "So what's the name of two whales who sing fifty-two hertz?"
 
Ah. The whale. What a leap in logic, or at least that was how it seemed to Sonia. But it did fit the situation. Two of the loneliest whales in the world. Well, maybe they weren't so lonely now, huh?

She couldn't help but let a smile creep across her face as Mia grinned. Looking off into the distance, Sonia thought for a little while. "If biologists were to find that there was a whole species of whale who sing fifty-two hertz, they would get a scientific name, which I cannot even really guess at. But, well, just two? ...I believe the two of us are the best descriptors for that." After finishing, she turned back to Mia. "But what's your answer? This isn't exactly a right-or-wrong kind of question, I don't think."
 
"Whalus Sopranus?" she mused. "Because most whales sing baritone compared to them." But Sonia went on with the idea, and Mia's grin grew even wider. "Just what I was thinking."

"What, work? Oh," liar, "I've got a plan. Don't worry about me." Her hand waved dismissively before she even started the thought. "I mean, I was hoping to get into my usual routine like I had at home. Doesn't pay too well, but I enjoy it, so..."
 
"I would like to imagine they would directly refer to the exact number 52, but perhaps it's more realistic that they wouldn't." She listened to Mia before speaking again. "Oh? And what was your routine?"
 
"Well, I'm an illusionist," she said. "A street show kind of deal, you know? Just a hobby I've picked up over the years and apparently people will pay a few pennies to have their senses fooled." Mia scratched her head while making to lean against the wall beside the exit. "Kept me afloat, at least."

The station crept along the horizon before coming into full view. It was only a few minutes out.
 
"Interesting. Illusions, huh?" Was Mia some sort of street performer before? Or something more? Either way, if she had to scrap by, she was raised quite a bit differently from herself. But what would be the point of different lives if everyone was the same?

"What kind of illusions?" She glanced out to see their destination in sight. Well, not like she was in a rush at the moment anyway, so it didn't really matter when they got there as long as it was today. Her gaze returned to Mia.
 
"Why, magic ones, silly!" Mia replied with a grin. "Cards, bobs and baubles, legerdemain; things like that. The smart ones tip the most, because they know that they've been played." With a wink, she let down her baggage next to the door.

"Of course, nobody loses a penny or gets touched without consent. That'd be criminal!" Somehow this amused Mia, and for a moment she couldn't hold back that goofy face of hers and the way she snickered. Strange.

"What about you? What sort of things do you put out for a bite?"
 
A little magician, huh? How fun. She raised an eyebrow as Mia suddenly snickered, somewhat confused. Well, she was right, but what was funny about it? Oh well.

"Yes, yes it would. What do I do? I just..hold a little job," Sonia replied, not quite giving the whole truth. She didn't really have much trouble getting food on the table, really.
 
"A little magician and a little job-girl? Sound sketchy. Adventurous. I like it." Mia grinned. Her body swayed a bit, which Sonia could probably see now that she'd been standing in place for longer than two seconds, to some unknown tune.

"Do you make something? Are you a technician? — You'd be a great technician! — Are you into animals?"
 
Sketchy wasn't how Sonia exactly wanted to describe herself, but if it worked for her she'd roll with it. As opposed to Mia's movements to the unheard tune, Sonia was almost completely still, bar her mouth.

"I guess it's something like that. I work with computers and such," she patted her bag with her laptop inside it. "And, er, I don't mind them?"
 
"You don't mind them? Do they mind you?" Mia looked at the denoted laptop and tilted her head. "We all could use a friend every once in a while. Is it the laptop or who's availed by it?"

The train conductor was announcing near-arrival over the intercom, and passengers had started to pack and file. Sonia and Mia were fortunately up front, and so avoided most of the pressure of that bustle, but eventually the train was crowded, front of the line or back.
 
"I certainly hope not," Sonia laughed before answering her other question. "I guess this laptop is my only friend. But hey, it's reliable, and does its job. Not a bad companion, right?"

It was quite crowded, but that was to be expected given the ride was about to end. "Got enough room there, Mia?" Sonia asked, wondering how her new friend felt about it.
 
Mia seemed perfectly content to be surrounded, even in such close quarters, though her swaying had stopped. "Enough, yeah."

"Did you make some sort of super AI to pass the time with?" she blurted, as if such a thing were perfectly normal and yet simultaneously exciting.
 
Sonia seemed a little bothered, though not enough to complain about it. She just stared at the other girl for a little while before chuckling. "No, no, not to pass the time with. I just did it for my job. It's a simple information processor, and it automatically stores files in logical places, even creating folders if the need arises." It wasn't exactly something crazy, probably not worth even calling "super" AI, but it was a pretty good piece of technology. So Mia's excitement seemed rather rational to her.
 
"Your job?" Oh, Mia was hooked when she heard that. "A software firm, then? You wrote something for — oh, you're good, Sonia." She grinned wide and shuffled through a few bodies to end up shoulder-to-shoulder with her peer. "Can I see?"
 
Ai-ya, every time she gave info, the questions flooded in. Of course, this was only natural, and she didn't really mind answering. Though she made a mental note to list Mia as the curious type, as if she hadn't figured that already.

"Haha, thanks, thanks, it's not such a big deal though. I'd show you, but I wouldn't have much luck opening my laptop in this crowd," she grinned sheepishly, "But once we're off and got some space, sure."
 
Mia slipped a half-smile — whether nervous or reckless unclear — and lifted her head up to get a view of the window. "But it's a general intelligence, isn't it? I mean, lingui-mnemonics aren't something just anybody can come up with, and you've got a machine doing it." She batted her eyes and turned to level them on Sonia again. "Who do you work for, anyway? I thought you were still studying, the way you dress."

Her gaze glazed a bit, and she noted, "Well, that wouldn't make sense; you're running away." And focus. "Are you moving for work? That's your setup, huh?"
 
"Indeed. Many do consider it a rather...well, considerable feat of programming." To be perfectly honest, it was. "Like I said, just some company. Nothing special. Gotta get the bills payed, you know?"

She laughed softly as Mia suggested she was a student. "Yeah, I'm not a student. I haven't been for 13 years now. And well, yes, pretty much. What of you? What are you going for? You seemed to have an okay routine back home, doing your illusions."
 
"You're a lot wiser than you look!" Mia remarked, clearly missing the whole child prodigy aspect of Sonia's past.

"I was just looking to make enough to settle in — life's not so generous to all of us — maybe get myself to a point where I could pay my way into college. Honestly, life's been a blur for these past few years." Her eyes glazed over a bit while she dwelt on that thought, and meanwhile, the train finally came to a stop.

"So, what sort of company?"
 
"Oh, is that so?" Sonia replied half-heartedly. Such compliments were common for her, though clearly Mia either ignored or didn't realize that.

As the train stopped, Sonia stepped out with the crowd, presumably with Mia following along. "I see, I see. I believe you can," she said, smiling at the other girl. "As you might have inferred, it's a company that deals with large quantities of data. There is plenty of incoming data about all sorts of things, and storing it quickly and efficiently is of utmost importance. That is the kind of company it is."

Sonia looked around for a more open area to continue talking, eventually settling on a nearby bench. Jerking her head in that direction, she began moving.
 
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