particles collide [pika!]

It takes light just over a second to get from the Earth to the Moon in the sky. In that incredibly small amount of time, so much can change. It can be as simple as getting the last bit of the coffee pot, thus ruining the rest of your day. It can be as complicated as a worldwide disaster. All that is needed in life are instants of time for everything to flip on its side and cause a shift. In those moments, life becomes precious and fluid, the part that Leo especially enjoyed. What was the fun in living the same simple pattern for the rest of eternity?

People believed in a God as the controller of said moments. Leo was never one of them, but he couldn't deny the fact that those fascinating movements were beyond any scientific explanation. Destiny had to have a part in it, and that may as well take the role of a God for all intents and purposes. A teacher had berated Leo for his lack of beliefs in his younger years, especially since his parents were very strong believers. Normally Leo would tune them out and retreat, but he had heard words that caused even him to ponder. Long ago, creatures existed with the inability to see light. They would carry on in their days and never know of the blinding bundle of science. And yet light existed, and was all around them. His teacher had told him to wait for the day where he saw the light.

This was not one of those moments. He heard a voice from behind him; softer and higher pitched, so he concluded it was likely a girl. He turned on his heels, fingers still clutching tightly at the cup. I'm going to need another one of these soon, I can already feel it. She was plain, but not in the way that you'd expect her to compensate with her intelligence. In fact, she was rather normal at first glance. It's not that she wasn't pretty; Leo noticed right away how beautiful he found her eyes to be. She was unique in the fact that the world didn't stop, and life didn't flip on its side. And Leo took that as a sign that this potential God didn't want him to win the tech fair. You couldn't have added another believer by giving me a little something here?

He responded to her greeting with a nod. It may not have been the most polite way to do so, but he wasn't one for formalities. After all, he knew the girl that stood before him, now that the initial despair of surely losing left his system. They had never been friends, even in their youth when kids were always friends with each other. Leo had just assumed they were two very different people whose paths wouldn't cross. Or maybe she didn't want to share her new pencils, Leo really couldn't care less about the reason for never speaking with this girl. Whilst there was something about her that was intriguing, it couldn't be modeled by an equation and so it slowly became a minor interest of the young man. You should probably speak though so she isn't offended or something.

"Gwen, right?" A smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth, ever so slightly raising it. Okay, that's probably fine. Good job. His brain, however, was slowly drifting off as he spiraled through the different projects they could do. Anything complex was out of the question, surely, so he may as well build another head lamp and hope that there's suddenly a desperate need for it. "So, ideas?"

A second passed. The world stayed the same.

A dynamite is an interesting contraption, at least in the eyes of Leo Everitt. It didn't possess many different parts and yet it could explode and cause absolute chaos and destruction. The gunpowder within is so incredibly small and with fire, boom. Just like that. And yet the part that Leo loved the most was the fuse. You could watch as the seconds ticked by and as that spark crept closer and closer to the goods on the inside. As soon as it did, chaos and destruction. Everywhere. No turning back.

The girl, this Gwen, came closer to the young man and he could feel the room grow tighter. That was the best way to describe it as the walls seemed to close in even more. It's not that he didn't like being in the room with other people; it was fine. Their space just became smaller, and he was quite aware of it. His numbers upon the whiteboard were becoming less and less interesting to him as he eyed them up, so he shrugged and turned his attention fully to his partner. After all, they would need to try to be friends if they were to spend every day of the next week together. It was bound to be interesting otherwise.

And then she said music and the fuse was lit. Leo was never exactly a fan of music, though sound had always been intriguing. To him, he felt as if there were better uses of creativity and time than to make sounds with different instruments. Like build something interesting and cool and actually worth making. Not something that may only appease those of the artistic side. He would never fully admit it, but there was a side of Leo that was a little judgmental to those that were artistic. The truth behind it was that he was kind of jealous as he had absolutely no talent in that regard. If it worked, that's all that mattered. So what he said next was a surprise to himself.

"If that's what you want." Maybe he was testing himself. After all if he could manage to make something artsy but also manage to make it pretty cool, and useful, there was no doubt in his mind he would appease to all of the minds around District Three. And to be completely honest, he wanted to see if this Gwen girl could bring out a creative side in him. You learn best from others, obviously. He just wanted to learn something new. "Can we combine it with something else? Like light?"

It was an attempt to reach out and bridge the gap. There felt like a bubble around the girl as he spoke to her, like there was some sort of conflicting attitude between the two of them. Maybe they just didn't match and this was a huge mistake on the part of the teachers. That was logical. But it was worth extending the connection towards her. "Both sound and colour have wavelengths. We could have a sensor react to the music by recording the sound's wavelength, and then have it give out a corresponding colour. It'd be like a mood lighting system?"

If she responded in kind, that fuse may have been extinguished. But for now, it got closer and closer.