The very first thing I created was a cube. It had no texture, no details, it was perfect in its simplicity. That's the reason we start by creating geometric shapes, they can be so easily visualized. Something about it fascinated me, it was almost comforting. Such an unnaturally blank shape floating slightly above the table, so black it appeared like a hole in the world.
Long ago, I learned to create shapes out of hard light. A type of hologram, a projection given form. Back then all I could do were the shapes; my skills far exceed that now yet a simple cube still hovers above my workbench. My fascination with this perfect geometry had me leaving some in the background, almost like a toy. I'd spin it slightly while gathering my thoughts or just observe it for a second when glancing away from my computer.
Around the cube, the rest of my room takes form. Below it is what gives it form; the projector table, it extends from my workbench with a soft, white, surface looking almost like a screen. It connects to the computer upon which I originally design my creations. The remainder of the room is simple and clean, the mild gray color on the walls gives it a pleasant, modern feel. It primarily serves as a backdrop to where the creating happens.
A ring wakes me from these idle thoughts. I instinctively grab the cube to stop its lazy spinning before turning my attention towards the monitor. The beautiful forest serving as the backdrop to the screen is ignored out of habit as all my attention turns towards the white box lower right corner.
The only written thing was a familiar name, "Nia Everett". Above the name is a profile picture of a smiling woman, below are two buttons; one green and one red. With a soft tap, the prompt disappears as I smile, a display immediately covers the whole screen with a pleasant sight.
"Good morning!" Nia opens with an expression positive enough to match her tone. Unlike the picture, her light brown hair is unkempt and messy while she still carries a slightly tired expression. She was hastily dressed, I wouldn't be surprised if she just rolled out of bed.
"Morning, Nia! Comb your hair yet?" I respond, both a lighthearted joke as well as an inquiry into why she doesn't wear her usual getup. She chuckles lightly and glances away before replying:
"Hehe, I may have woken up a little later than expected," she explains before looking right at me again: "I think that's fair enough since it's our day off, but I wanted to make sure I caught you before you went anywhere."
"Well, I am caught. Guess it worked out, although I wasn't planning on going anywhere yet." She reacts quickly to my remark, her smile turns playful as she retorts:
"Ah-ha! Then you have no excuse!" She half shouts, mostly for effect: "I've been thinking, Ro. We're on our third year here, it's almost time to start on our first projects. You haven't decided on anything yet, have you?"
She drops the accusatory act to adopt an expression of genuine curiosity. She already knew the answer, of course, but I suppose asking is still polite: "No, we've got some time still and it's pretty hard to decide on anything."
"I think we should get ahead of it. How about we meet up in the study lounge to bounce ideas back and forth? I'm sure we'll run into some of the others too!" Her happy enthusiasm convinced me before her sentence was coherent.
"Sounds good! I'll head out now, you just take your time and I'll meet you there, yeah?"
She keeps smiling and nods slightly: "Yeah, see you!" I see her quickly reaching forward before the display turns off.
Her suggestion probably didn't change the course of my day a lot. I'd probably have spent today messing around with my friends anyway, but there's something nice about it. She cared enough about us getting that time together to make the plans before even waking up properly. Who can say no to effort like that?
With a quick tap on the surface of the projector bench, a holographic display appears above the edge of the table. I manage to tap the button to turn it off before even fully standing up, the cube vanishes along with the soft white glow emanating from the projector. A quick glance over my room reveals nothing out of the ordinary, after patting my pockets to check if anything was missing I conclude that I'm ready. Thus, I embark into the academy.
