Title: Just Another Day
Fandom: Diane Duane's Young Wizards series
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Up to the current novel, Wizards At War
Character(s): Dairine Callahan, Original Male and Female Characters
Ship(s): Dairine/Roshuan
Summary: A day in the life of Dairine Callahan, wizard, college junior, and future Queen.
Disclaimer: The characters you recognize belong to Diane Duane. I just like to play with them, I make no money from this. The OCs are mine. I'd love it if you wanted to play with them, just ask first.
Notes: Originally written for Avendya for Yuletide 2007. Thanks go to rhap-chan and Zola for the beta.
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Too quick quicklife too quickly.
Dairine Callahan scrubbed at her head, working the lather through her short red hair. The repetitive motion, along with the heat of the shower, helped her to think. At six a.m that morning, Spot sat on her chest and said those words to her. Two hours later, she was still no closer to figuring out what he meant by them. Quicklife, she knew, was a phrase used by Gigo and his people to describe Earth's computers.
Other than that? Dairine had no clue.
A thin voice barely carried over the sound of running water. "Well, I still think we should invite them," it said.
"Those freaks in the triple?" said another feminine voice. "Those girls are just weird. Dairine thinks she knows everything. Archadia follows her around like she's a princess or something. And that Iless is so bizarre she might as well be from another planet."
Dairine snorted, nearly getting soapy water in her mouth. She turned off the water, and grabbed her towel off the door. She never claimed to know everything- at least not since she was eleven years old. She just knew more than some of her fellow university students who seemed to view class as something you did when you had nothing better to do. As for Iless, the girl was in fact from another planet. Archadia was extraterrestrial as well, and Dairine would take them over these particular humans any day.
She tied her bathrobe into place and pulled open the shower curtain. Standing by the sinks, three girls from down the hall turned to see who'd heard their conversation. Two of them wore sheepish expressions that screamed busted. The third stared at her with bright, defiant eyes.
Dairine walked past them without a word.
Back in the room, Iless was still asleep. Dairine didn't bother being quiet. Iless' people only slept two hours at a time, but when they slept, they slept hard. Nothing short of a bullhorn going off beside her head would wake Iless. Dairine knew because she'd tried it once. And lived to regret it- barely.
"You should have woken me," came a raspy voice.
Dairine didn't turn around. She pulled a pair of jeans out of her drawer. "Archadia, we're not on Wellakh," she reminded her lady- in- waiting and one woman security force. "Assassins aren't going to jump out of the shower."
Dairine meant it as a joke, but Archadia didn't laugh. "It wouldn't surprise me if they did one day," she said.
Archadia took her responsibilities very seriously. But then again, the woman had been trained from birth to keep Dairine safe. Dairine yanked a sweater off a hanger, then turned and looked at Archadia thoughtfully. People talked about making compromises for love. Archadia began as Dairine's compromise, her one concession to the customs of Roshaun's world. Lately, she'd started to want the girl to treat her like a friend, and not an obligation.
Dairine wasn't surprised at her lack of humor. What did surprise her was who sat nestled in the girl's lap.
"Spot came to you?" she asked.
Archadia shook her head. "I had to pick him up," she said. "He has made no protest to leave my lap. He repeats the same words, over and over..."
"Too quick quicklife too quickly," Dairine said with her. "I know. He's been saying it since six a.m." She pulled on her sweater over her head. "I don't know what it means," she said, staving off the inevitable question. "But I'm on active now, so it has to have something to do with Spot. "
"Should you need me..." Archadia offered reluctantly. She was trying very hard not to look at her own computer and the pile of hard copy on top of it.
Dairine grinned at her knowingly. ""You've got plenty of time left to finish your paper today," she said.
"I did not come here to acquire knowledge," said Archadia levelly. Seeing Dairine laughing, her own expression softened slightly. "Though I must admit that I enjoy it," she added grudgingly.
"You've got the bug," Dairine teased her. "Are you and Iless going to join me for lunch in Murphy Hall?"
Archadia nodded. "I will need a break from my paper. I'm certain Iless will need to replenish her sugar intake by that time." She set Spot down on the floor. The little laptop made for beneath Dairine's bed, but Dairine intercepted him.
"What are you going to do about Spot?" Archadia asked.
Dairine sighed in resignation. "I'm going to see Owens," she said. "After my 9:15 history class."
"Good luck," said Archadia gravely.
"Gee, thanks."
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Dairine made it to her first class with two minutes to spare. She flashed the professor a smile that was somewhere between "I'm sorry" and and "you don't get me, nee nee nee", and made for the back of the classroom. She scanned the rows until she found a familiar face.
"Look, it's the prodigal," Gemma greeted as Dairine made her way along the row. Dairine gave her study buddy a look, then slid into the seat next to her.
"Please tell me you were at least skipping class, and not simply studying for another class," Gemma continued.
Dairine had not been studying for another class. She'd been on a particularly long term assignment. Not that she could tell Gemma anything about it. "What did I miss?" she asked instead. Gemma tossed a green folder onto Dairine's desk. Dairine flipped it open, then stopped and stared at the thick pile of notes stuffed inside.
"January to April of 1810," said Gemma. Her tone of voice was so dry that Dairine couldn't tell if she was kidding or not. "Man's a sadist," Gemma continued. She nodded towards the desk where the professor stood waiting to pounce on unsuspecting late arrivals. "And we're his unwilling victims," she added dramatically.
She gave Dairine a long searching look. "Not you though. You're here willingly." she said. "Which again leads me back to that old question: what are you doing here?"
For a moment, Dairine wondered what Gemma's reaction would be if she were to tell her the truth. I"m going to be a Queen. Ruling over an alien people who hate and fear me as much as they need me. I was hoping that studying Earth history would provide useful insight into monarchy? Or at least tell me how to least likely end up separated from my head?
Dairine knew she couldn't tell Gemma the truth. In that moment of realization, the gulf between normal life and wizarding life semmed impassable. She suddenly wanted Archadia and Iless sitting beside her.
Dairine kept the conflicting feelings out of her face. "I'm trying to keep up with my fiance," she smiled as she gave her almost answer. "History defines his life."
Gemma rolled her eyes. "Thank you for setting feminism back two hundred years," she sighed. Before Dairine could defend herself, the professor slammed the door shut, signalling the start of class.
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"Dairine!"
Guided by Iless' wildly waving hand, Dairine found her way through the cafeteria. Her guardian and partner sat at a table in the back. A few other wizards sat with them. Dairine said her hellos and then sat down opposite Iless.
"How was Owens?" asked her partner, not bother to hide her amusement.
Dairine looked askance at Archadia. "I had to tell her," Archadia grumbled. "She is both remarkably cheerful and persistent in the morning." She tore the top off her sandwhich. "How did you find the Advisory this morning?"
Confused was the first word that came to Dairine's mind. Not that she could blame the woman for seeming confused. Catriona Owens was not only an Advisory, she also stood as academic advisor for every wizard in the University system. She had letters after her name that not even Dairine knew what they stood for. No wonder she was confused.
"Owens was Owens," said Dairine. The other wizards nodded their understanding, then went on with their conversations. But Iless, as Archadia had noted, was persistent.
"Could she help you?" she asked.
Dairine shook her head no. "All she could tell me was that something is up with the school server."
"Better than nothing," Iless said lightly. She'd finished the two pudding cups on her own tray, as well as the one she'd stolen off Archadia's tray. Without a word, Dairine gave Iless hers as well. The girl literally lived on various forms of sugars, and Dairine didn't need the calories.
"What will you do now?" asked Archadia, not bothering not to stare at Iless wolfing down pudding.
Dairine shrugged. "It's Tuesday," she reminded her guardian. "SDDCU Night. Thought I'd drop in."
Iless smiled. "She's going to ask Henry," she said. Her cheeks flushed. "He has administration privileges."
Her partner's blush didn't escape Dairine's notice. Iless had it bad, but was afraid to approach Henry because of species issues. Privately, Dairine thought that Iless' alieness would probably be more of a turn on for her sci-fi obsessed friend. Not that she had a lot of room to talk about falling in love with aliens.
"I'm going to talk to Henry," she confirmed.
The University's science fiction and fantasy club met in a conference room in the basement of Henry Miller hall. The location appealed to the members sense of humor. On her way down the stairs, Dairine passed a Dalek Crossing sign, a photo collage of cheesy movie monsters, and a few artfully placed cobwebs. Someone had scrawled "The F.B.I's Most Unwanted" on a piece of cardboard and stuck it on the door.
Smiling. Dairine pushed against said door. It stuck; it was a constant of her personal universe that that particular door would always stick. She applied more pressure, and the door opened with a squeal.
"Oil that!" someone yelled.
"And lose the only warning system we have?" Dairine called back. "Haven't you people watched any movies?" Cheers, laughter, and various rude suggestions followed. Laughing despite her worry, Dairine went looking for Henry.
She found him by the portable DVD shelf. "Dai," he greeted her. Like her old guidance counselor Mr. Millman, Henry was a non-wizard who knew about wizardy. He told her the only thing he envied about her was Spot, and she believed him.
"Dai," she returned in kind. "Do you have a moment?" She patted her backpack. "And possibly someplace I could plug this in."
He knew what this was without asking. "Sure! The janitor left the temporary wall down, we can get into the next room." Dairine followed him into the empty room. "I should warn you though, the server's down," he told her, flipping on the light switch. "We have no idea why. Jensen is pissed."
"I know. It's why I'm here." She sat down on the floor, and took Spot out of her backpack. He chirped at Henry, then settled down. "I'm having problems with Spot, and I think your problem and my problem are connected."
Henry sat down beside her on the floor. "How do you figure that?"
Dairine asked Spot for his help. Attaining it, she turned her attention back to Henry. "Spot kept referring to quick life. That's..."
"An alien reference to our computers," Henry finished. "I remember you telling me," he explained off her look.
"Right," Dairine said after a moment. "Well I'm thinking Spot might be able to help your server issues..." That was all the encouragement Henry needed. Like a child opening a toy at Christmas, he took Spot from her. A few minutes of fast and furious typing later, he reluctantly handed him back.
Dairine thanked him. Then she punched a key and...the screen flared, leaving only a plain white background.
"Well that's interesting," Dairine and Henry said at the same time.
Dairine started punching keys. Spot sat unresponsive. She groaned. This was not good. She leaned over and went digging through her bag. She wasn't sure she had what she needed with her; she might have to run back to the dorm. She wondered if Archadia was back from class and in their room. She might know...
"Hey Dairine?"
"Yeah?"
"Look."
Dairine sat up quickly. A single word in black letters stood against the whiteness of the screen.
"Ooohkay," said Dairine. "This I can deal with. Hey Spot, can you switch keyboards for me please? And run the translation beta so Henry can read too?"
To her relief, Spot did as she asked. The keyboard seemed to flicker in and out of existence, settling into a new pattern. The usual QWERTY was replaced with the fluid characters of the Speech. Beneath the word, in Earth Standard, was the word HELLO.
"Weird," said Henry.
"Uh uh," Dairine shook her head, "See that? That's Dai, a word in the Speech. The translation beta is being a little literal by translating it as just hello." She took a deep breath, and then started typing.
Dai. My name is Dairine Callahan. I am on errantry, and I greet you.
The response came back immediately. Dai, fellow wizard. I am called Tersa.
Great, typed Dairine. Now that we've gotten the pleasantries over with, may I enquire what exactly you're doing to the University computer systems?
Improving them.
"Improving them?" echoed Henry. "So what we've got here is a wizard on a power trip?"
"Possible," Dairine admitted grudgingly. "It's happened before. But it's not very likely. I think something else is up here."
She typed out her suspicions. A short second the answer came back. We have traveled quite a distance, yes. You were not expecting us? Our future books said you would be expecting us.
"Future books?" asked Henry, sounding intrigued.
Dairine kept typing. She spoke to Henry at the same time. "Not all species in the universe live in linear time," she explained. "I think that explains a lot of what's happening here." She frowned, leaning forward to tap at the screen. "Check this out.
Henry read nearly as fast as she did. "Unreal," he breathed. "Dairine, if they did this...if they gave this level of technology to the human race..."
"At this point int time?" Dairine finished. "Yeah. Major disaster. We're nowhere near ready for this sort of thing. I don't think we will be ready for a really long time." A thought occurred to her. She typed in her next question.
When did your future books say to meet us?
The answer didn't surprise her. "They're a little early," she said drily. "About seven hundred years too early." She told Tersa, and waited for the response.
Seven hundred of your years?
A different font appeared on the screen. Tersa, I told you your choice of speed was excessive. You overestimated the travel time.
I wasn't to know...
Henry started to laugh. "All this way and they're arguing about that now?"
Dairine's mouth twitched as she tried not smile. "I suspect they may be pure, sentient data," she shrugged. "What does data know about directions?"
Henry's mouth turned up. "Don't say it," she cautioned him as she typed. Return at the proper time, if you would like. We would welcome you then. We're not ready now.
The second font again. We used most of our resources coming here. By the time we returned home and came back again...
You'd miss your window, Dairine typed her understanding.
Yes.
"Store them." Henry's suggestion broke into her thoughts. Dairine looked over her shoulder at him. He smiled sheepishly. "If they are nothing but data, then they can be stored. We save them to whatever we can, transfer the files whenever the technology updates, and when the time comes we download them."
Dairine considered the idea. It could work. Wizards had the technology and the resources to make certain that Tersa and the others were kept safe until the proper time. "I like it," she decided. "Let me try."
Another flurry of typing, another quick response. "Oh good, they wouldn't experience time between now and then," she muttered. "Talk about your long wait." She typed out another question. "Let's see what their requirements are."
A whole block of text appeared in response.
"Whoa," breathed Dairine. We don't have that capacity for storage, she typed.
"I doubt we ever will," added Henry.
Dairine expressed their concern. The answer appeared in seconds, as if the entity had anticipated the issue. This is not a problem. We can compress.
"Nice," Dairine nodded. "Alright. Lets do this." She pushed herself away from the keyboard. She went rummaging through her bag again. The flash drive she'd bought last night wasn't in it. She looked again, and still nothing. "Great," she mumbled. "Hey Henry?"
"Yeah?"
"How much will I owe you..."
"To take my flash drive?" he finished. She sat up and looked at him. He pretended to consider. "Since we are talking about the fate of the human race here," he said, and she rolled her eyes at him. "A new flash drive, and my movie ticket on Friday. And popcorn."
"If you promise not to throw it every time something's left out of the movie," she countered. He left the room and came back quickly. He handed the flashdrive. She took it from him, slipping it into place.
Ready? Dairine typed.
We are ready. Thank you, Dairine Callahan.
You're welcome. I just wish I could be there to see what you can really do.
Be careful what you wish for. Dai, friend.
The moment the upload finished, Spot's screen went blank. Henry fussed, but Dairine waited a moment. With a small noise, Spot restarted himself. Moments later, he was running as if nothing had happened.
"Good job," Dairine patted him.
That's it?" Henry sounded disbelieving. "That simple."
Dairine pushed herself back from the computer. "Yep," she said with satisfaction. "Sometimes it is just that simple." She stood up. Following her lead, Spot went scuttling down to his place in her backpack. Henry watched him with undisguised envy.
"Are you sure we can't get mine to do that?" he asked again. Dairine laughed, and he laughed with her.
"You staying?" he asked her a moment later.. "We're going to have an X-Files marathon this evening. Since there's going to be another movie."
"You're kidding me."
Henry shook his head no. "I think another movie might be interesting," he said. "Shelly wants to watch episodes to block out the horror of what Carter and his merry men might do to her beloved Mulder next."
"Mulder's a putz," Dairine told him. "Skinner's the man. But no, it's pizza and a movie night. Roommate bonding time with Archadia and Iless." As she'd expected, Henry started smiling like he couldn't stop at the mention of Iless. Dairine was just going to have to lock them both in a closet and not let them out until they'd talked to each other.
"I'll tell Iless you said hi," she teased. "See you later Henry."
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The scent of pizza was in the hallway. Dairine followed it down to her room. "You ordered already," she said as she opened her door.
"You're predictable," Iless told her. "At least when it comes to pizza."
Dairine didn't argue this. The pizza smelled too good, and besides Iless was right. She could really go for a slice of veggie pizza. Or maybe three. She opened her bag, and Spot climbed out. He stopped at the pizza boxes, considered them, and then went to the nest he'd made under Dairine's bed.
"He took more of my socks," Iless said brightly.
She thought it was funny, obviously. Dairine made a mental note to work on Spot's concept of personal property. Later. She grabbed a slice of pizza and sat down on her bed. Only then did she notice the movie playing in the background.
Archadia must have seen the amusement on her face. "Iless chose the movie," she informed her. "I think she's obsessed with this movie."
Iless opened the second box of cinnasticks. "Dairine likes this movie," she defended her choice. "Don't you Dairine."
Before Dairine could answer, Archadia spoke again. "Dairine is fond of this movie because that monarach has hair almost as implausible as the Prince's own," she said straight faced.
Iless started to giggle, and Dairine stared at Archadia. Was it her imagination, or was the formidable girl trying not to smile? No, there it was, a certain sparkle in her eye. Dairine was making progress with her lady in waiting after all.
Wizardry accomplished, Archadia joking, and three slices of veggie pizza. Dairine smiled. All and all, another ordinary day. Just the way she liked them.
Once in a while.
fin