Lyra's Human 2: Derpy's Human

by pjabrony

128: The Meetderp

The most awkward moment for Karyn and Derpy upon their reuniting that week was the initial meeting. After such a poignant moment the week before, it was hard to get back to the morning routine without looking at each other, and both of them worrying that it would get sad and maudlin again. But Derpy did notice that Karyn had brought the apartment back up to full cleanliness, and she regarded that as a good sign.

But she didn’t press for anything, because the first word of the day—beyond “Hi” and “Good to see you again”—could open things up. So Derpy and Karyn took their breakfasts in silence—except for “Pass the butter” and “More coffee, please”—and it wasn’t until Karyn was washing the dishes that Derpy decided that she finally had to re-break the ice.

“So, how was your week?”

Karyn shut off the faucet. “Good. Not bad. Yours?”

“Same as always. Deliver the mail, feed the cat, plan for Sunday. Do we have any plans?”

“Actually, I had hoped to do something fun.”

Derpy brightened. “Good. Fun can work. I’m glad that you’re feeling better. If you are. Did you have anything in particular or just going out and looking?”

“Well, I signed up for this...thing that’s at the college. You’ll have to be invisible for it.”

“OK. Can you tell me more about it?”

Karyn went to pull up the e-mail confirming her attendance. “Basically it’s a kind of meetup. Not a party per se, but the same general idea. A bunch of people getting together and having fun. There’ll be lots of people into games and geeky stuff, maybe even some who like ponies.”

“Oh! Like when we went to the pony convention!”

“Not quite. In the first place, that was all about ponies. Everyone knew who you were. There are some bigger conventions that cover a lot of stuff, but even they have specific topics. Comic Con is the biggest, so that’s nominally for comic books even though there’s lots of other stuff there including ponies. But I’m getting sidetracked. The point is that this is much smaller. Fewer people, no one staying over in hotels, no guests.”

Derpy tried to digest all this. “What’s it called, though? Like the other one had a name that said what it was about.”

“Yeah, this is just ‘meet-up at USCI Hall Seventy on this date’.”

“I think I get it. What time is this all happening? Do we have to race to get there?”

Karyn checked the time on her phone and got her coat. “No, unless we want to be the first ones in the door. Which I don’t. I’m hoping to blend in.”

“If it’s for something fun, I would say the sooner the better.”

“But again, it’s not going to be major fun, like the convention. Or like going to the water park.”

Derpy shivered. “Of course not. If we went to the water park now, most of the slides would be ice rather than water! And even if it were water, it would be more painful than fun. And when we hit the pools...”

“No, I just meant that as a comparative. All I mean is that it’ll be fun today, but not something that we’re going to look back on years later and reminisce about.”

They left the house and walked casually toward Karyn’s school. Derpy was still skeptical of Karyn’s suspicion that it wouldn’t be fun. If anything, she thought, it could be more fun with a more intimate group.

Despite Karyn’s lack of haste, they walked quickly because it was cold, only pausing once they crossed the barrier of the campus. She took a moment to get her bearings, and Derpy stopped with her.

“Do you know where it is? Should I fly up to spot it?”

“No, I do. At least I know where the seventies are, so it must be there. It’ll be one of the few buildings on campus that I haven’t been to.”

“Yeah?” asked Derpy. “I would think that with all the different courses of study there would be lots of places you haven’t gone.”

“Rooms, yes, but there aren’t a whole lot of buildings dedicated to just one major. Actually, the computer lab would be one of them, along with the science lab. That one too I haven’t been to either. Ah, here we go.”

Karyn had spotted a line in which one of the people was wearing a pink wig, and she took that as a signal that they were in the right place. They queued up, and they could see the sign announcing the entrance fee, with the note that it was waived for anyone with a USCI student ID. And so Derpy was surprised when Karyn passed over a bill.

“Karyn,” Derpy whispered. “You could have gotten in free if you showed them your ID.”

“I did get in free. I paid for you. Unless you want to go to school here.”

“No, I don’t. But why did you pay for me here?”

“Because I want whoever’s running this to make enough money to do more of them.” They made it to the room where they could here the thump of a bass beat from the other side of the door. It wasn’t nearly as loud as when Vinyl had messed with Octavia’s concert, and when they opened the door it was pleasant to listen to.

“Looks like fun to me,” said Derpy.

“Yeah. That being the case, I’m going to put up a flag.”

“Huh?”

“Metaphorically.” The flash of green only showed through the collar the waist of Karyn’s jacket. When it faded and she took it off, she was wearing a pony shirt in loud colors. Prominent next to Rainbow Dash and the other, more well-known ponies was Derpy.

“I thought you said it wasn’t all for pony fans.”

“It isn’t. That’s why I did this. I want people to know that I am one at first glance. It should be easier since I’m a girl, but hopefully everyone here will be tolerant. I’m sure most of them have been made fun of at some point.”

Unfamiliar with the setting, Karyn decided to take a walk around to see what was going on. People were still filing in, and so the room had plenty of space to walk. The door they had come through opened into the middle of the room, but Derpy noticed one of the movable walls that could be folded into an alcove to expand the room, an idea she still thought was brilliant. The part to the right was smaller though, and contained a double row of chairs in front of a projected screen. A video game console stood at the ready, and a clipboard held the signup sheet for a tournament.

Karyn forewent that part and followed the line of the room. Some bare tables were set up, and at them people were unboxing merchandise for sale. Derpy remarked that she didn’t expect them to be selling at such a small meeting.

“You might be right, but they won’t be the biggest sellers. I bet you could find some good deals on rare items from these people, if you put in the effort.

“And if you had the money.”

“Don’t remind me.” They moved on to the back where another projector showed against a tightly-pulled screen. Right then it had only the background of a laptop, but Karyn looked in the taskbar and saw a minimized karaoke program. She nodded approval.

There was a door that led to a darkened room, and Karyn poked her head in to see a conventional TV, albeit a large one, and one of the staff messing around with video disks. It appeared that room was for watching movies.

Walking back toward the front they heard the banter of the attendees. Many of the conversations were the casual and friendly arguments over various pieces of pop culture. They caught a snippet of two young men having one such.

“But I’d much rather drive KITT.”

“Over the batmobile? You’re crazy.”

“Did the batmobile talk? I rest my case.”

Derpy whispered to Karyn, “Do you know what they’re talking about?”

“I think they’re comparing fictional cars, and which one they’d want to drive.”

“Yeah? I would think that in fiction you’d want to ride a horse.”

“Oh, really?” Karyn opened her eyes wide as Derpy had spoken a little too loudly, and one of the young men thought that Karyn had said it.

She decided she would have to stick up for the argument, even if it wasn’t hers. “Yes. All the great heroes ride horses. It makes for a better image, I think. Bouncing in the saddle on the way to the fight rather than just sitting in the driver’s seat grabbing the wheel.”

“You’re just saying that as a pony fan.”

“I was thinking more of regular horses. I’d say that Shadowfax is what comes to mind as the greatest, but as your friend pointed out, it’s a drawback if they don’t talk.”

The friend she had mentioned stepped in. “OK, but how many horses do talk?”

“There’s the Narnian ones,” Karyn said, “and Mr. Ed, though of course that was just comedy. On the other hand, how many talking cars are there? Outside of the movie where they’re the eponym.”

That word confused the young men, and so Karyn had to explain. Derpy was glad of this, since she not only didn’t know the word, but also wasn’t aware of the movie Cars.

They continued to drift from topic to topic, talking about different movies, tv shows, and books that they’d all enjoyed. The arguments changed more to agreements as each person would use a topic to think of something else to say. Soon they were quoting them out loud and half playing the scenes in front of everyone. Karyn smiled and laughed throughout, but took a moment to look back at where Derpy was, wishing that she could bring her in to the conversation.

But another feeling hit her, and that was of how the interaction would look to someone just observing like Derpy. If one didn’t know that they had just met, it could look like a gathering of old friends. And Karyn herself would appear as a confident speaker and partygoer, instead of showing all the nervousness she felt around strangers.

For her own part, Derpy understood almost none of the references that they were making, but silently cheered Karyn on anyway. When one of the young men corrected her on the exact wording of a quote, she hoped strongly that Karyn wouldn’t take it the wrong way, and she thought that Karyn was completely honest when she laughed it off and accepted the correction.

By that time, the meetup had started in earnest, and some of the organizers were thanking everyone for coming and pointing out some of the activities for anyone who hadn’t made a careful circuit as Karyn had. Her two companions went off to look at the sellers’ tables, so she sat down to chat with Derpy while pretending to look at her phone.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered, “to exclude you like that.”

“Don’t be. It looked like you were having a great time. I’m sure you see me having lots of conversations with other ponies where you’re the odd one out, but you never say anything. So I wouldn’t get in the way while you’re doing that.”

Karyn took a deep breath and grinned. “Since I did the convention with you I haven’t been around this level of geekery. I forgot what it’s like, how good it feels. These are my people. In ordinary life, I’m awkward and an outcast, but here...these are my people,” she repeated.

Derpy didn’t say anything, but Karyn could almost see the smile of contentment on her face. She slapped her knees and got up. “I’m going to see if I can’t find some more fun around here.”

The most obvious place to do so was in front by the video games. Two people were sitting and playing, and the tournament signup sheet was still there, but right then it was open play. The game at hand was a fighting game that Karyn had heard of but never played, and it looked interesting. A small line of people who, in gaming parlance, “had next” was also sitting down, and Karyn joined them.

“Want me to sign you up for the tournament?” asked Derpy.

“I’m not sure I want to yet. I haven’t played this one, so if I do it’ll just be to lose early. Not that I would mind that, if the game is fun.”

In short order she reached her seat. To her surprise it hadn’t been a “king of the mountain” situation, but both sides had lost and left before she got there. Without knowing any of the commands, she was left to resort to button mashing and guessing. Still, by timing her jumps and with a little luck, she won her first game and got to stick around for a second one. Beginner’s luck didn’t hold, though, and she was out. She started walking back to the seats in the middle.

“What about the tourney?”

“No, it’s not a game I’d enjoy. There’s no strategy to it, or at least none I can pick up. As a gamer, I’m impatient, so I only like ones with a shallow learning curve.”

Derpy laughed. “Maybe I can play it. You’ll sit there and hold the controller but I’ll push the buttons.”

“I’m too afraid that you’ll beat everyone and then we’ll get prizes by cheating.”

“I do wish that I could participate here, just a little.”

“I’m sorry.” Karyn got up and head toward the closed off section. “Why don’t we go to the TV room to see what’s going on there. If nothing else you can participate there as much as anyone else, since it’s just passive viewing.”

They did that, and the TV room was sparsely filled, mostly for people who needed a brief respite from all the other action. It turned out that that room was being run by the college’s anime club, and while they promised some local stuff later on, at that point it was all subtitled animation. They only stayed a few minutes.

Karyn found some other people to talk to, and they watched the video game tournament as passive participants. As soon as that was over, though, the organizers awarded the prize and said that the event was over.

“Oh, wow,” said Karyn. “that went quickly. I guess time flies when you’re having fun.”

“I like to have fun when I fly too.”

“Yeah, it is kind of a cliche. “

Plenty of people filed out, but it took time for everyone to find coats and say their goodbyes to friends. Karyn noticed that some were staying back to fold their chairs or generally help tidy up. Right as they were about to break down the microphone, the organizer stepped back and said to the remaining group, “Just so you know, we want to do this fairly consistently, and we need help on some things, so if anyone wants to volunteer, let me know.”

While joining in the cleanup, Karyn said, “Shame he forgot, he missed a bunch of people.”

“That might have been smart of him. Anyone who raced out and didn’t help to clean isn’t the person he wants.”

“Maybe, but I’m here and I’m not volunteering. I learned my lesson with the student government.”

“That was different.” They had made it into the TV room where, in the darkness, Derpy could help fold chairs. “This is just for fun. You should go tell him you want to help.”

“I’ll think about it. We’ll stick around until everything’s cleaned up and by then I’ll decide.”

Some of the regular staff who had done other events were the most adept at breaking down and packing the equipment, and there was less and less for inexperienced people to do. Soon it was just Karyn and a few others looking around for anything anyone forgot.

The organizer was a dynamic and energetic young man with spiky blond hair. He bounded from person to person with instructions, advice, questions, or just a show of support. At one point, he came over to Karyn and the other first-timers who had stayed. “Thanks for coming ,” he said.

“So you said you were looking for volunteers...” Karyn brought up, and the others nodded. But she continued. “I’m a senior, though, so I couldn’t give you a long-term commitment.”

“That’s fine. We don’t insist that everyone around be a student. If you stick around the area, you can help out. Otherwise, we’ll appreciate you for the time you have with us.”

He had to go right back to helping someone else, and Karyn started talking to the others who weren’t yet regular members. They too had their own geeky shirts on, and that was an impetus to give them for things to talk about. She almost forgot that Derpy was there, but that worked out well. For the organizer, it was the quickest cleanup they ever had, since every time everyone’s back was turned, it seemed that something else got done, as if by an invisible flying pony.

What Karyn did notice, as she turned her head from her group, was that here and there, among the volunteers, was a beard with a few gray hairs, or a wrinkle, or a mention of having three children. Indicators that this was not merely a group of college students too nervous or too straight-edge to have a drunken party at night, but a real lifestyle choice that these people had chosen to stick with. If anything, it would have been harder for them before the internet let them realize they were not alone.

The cleanup moved from putting things in cases to walking out the door with those cases, and so Karyn moved outside as well. Pulled up outside the building, onto what were normally footpaths, was a truck that everything was loaded into. When Karyn tried to help there, she was told to back off, that there was a certain configuration that was necessary for everything to fit.

“But thanks again. We’re all going to go to a diner to get something to eat. You want to join in?” asked the organizer

“Sure!” Derpy said before she could answer. He seemed to shake off the fact that Karyn’s mouth hadn’t moved and that the voice was rather different.

Only two people rode in the truck, and everyone else was left to walk across campus. It was in the opposite direction from where Karyn lived, and she sneakily looked forward to asking Derpy for a ride home when it was all done. That made her feel guilty, since there was no way she could conceal Derpy among so many people. Nor could she order for two and give Derpy something to eat. Well, she thought, she would just have to make it up with an extra-large dinner.

The diner was one she hadn’t heard of, but the others seemed to be regulars, so she fit in with the crowd. Since she was bringing up the rear, though, she got an and seat, and was able to grasp Derpy’s hoof. She wished that she knew morse code so that she could tap messages to Derpy that way, and made a mental note to try to pursue the idea. As it was, she decided she would make one big apology to Derpy when it was all over, and dove into the shared lunch.

It was between the lunch and dinner hours, and so the diner was nearly empty. Their food came quickly and it was hot. Between her french fries and cole slaw, she had one more enjoyable dialogue. This time it was less about pop culture and more banter as just any group of friends might have. As the new girl, she had to field endless questions as befit an introductory event, but Karyn didn’t mind, since it gave her things to talk about.

The waiter seemed to know the group, since he provided separate checks without having to be asked. Karyn was grateful for that too. She said her final good-byes and walked out.

“Well, Derpy,” she said, “I’m sorry you couldn’t participate in that. For all that we’ve done together, and as accepting as everyone probably would be, you still have to hide in public.”

“I don’t mind. You know, just because we always do things on Sunday doesn’t mean we have to. I know you have some human friends and if you can make more, that’s good. Maybe we can meet on a Saturday now and again.”

“Oh, no. That’s the day I clean up the apartment. If I have to do that on a Friday when I have classes, forget it. Better to just cover your eyes with your wing, pick me up, and fly me right back to Equestria.”

Derpy circled in the air. “Speaking of flying back, can we go to that diner? Everyone else got to eat, and while I don’t want to go overboard...”

“Never you mind. I’ve decided you’ll have a cheat day. But we won’t go there. We’ll stop at the ice cream store.”

“In winter?”

Karyn expected this response, and had one of her own prepared. “We’ll have to use lots of hot fudge. Then you can work it off by flying me home. Come on!”

They went off for their second meal, and Karyn concluded that maybe she could work her schedule around having pony and human friends after all.

Author's Note:

Next week, things come to a head!

“OK, what’s wrong?”

Derpy picked up her eyes. “Nothing.”

“Come on, I know you better than that. It’s bad enough when I’m feeling down, because I’m used to it. Somehow though it doesn’t seem right for you not to smile.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finishing the dishes, Karyn turned off the water and dried her hands. “But what I mean is, I’m coming with you to make sure she’s OK.”

“You don’t have to do that. You have class tomorrow.”

“We’ll treat it as a come-and-go, so time doesn’t move.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the kitchen, the candlelight flickered around the cabinets and fixtures. The lateness of the year meant that it was already waning daylight even though there was a good portion of the day left. In the low and soft light, everyone seemed to talk a little quieter.

Derpy began. “Little Muffin, do you want to tell me what’s wrong?”

Dinky was hesitant. “...Mommy...how would you feel...if I didn’t go back to school?”

Come back next Wednesday for a New Year's Eve cliffhanger!

Comments

[crooked]

I cant wait for the next chapter.

[Booster Spice]

Nice local meet there. Wonder how far some of the older folks come, or if the campus and surrounding housing is just that extensive.

Next time. Dinky is being bullied? Karyn goes undercover to find out?

[Darth Wedgius]

I liked this one a lot. A little break-through for Karyn -- appropriate enough, since the number ended with seven zeroes.

[tsaukpaetra]

Yeah, one doesn't need to be high in the organization to volunteer. Personally we prefer the gopher role. Keep going! ;)

[CoastalSarv]

OOoh... that preview...