"Thank you! I mean, the business degree helps with the architecture degree overall, and I wanted to eventually expand and start my own company, so it made sense, y'know?" Maya has big goals, and aspirations. She always has, even as a little girl. Not everyone knows what they want to be when they grow up. Maya has had the privilege of knowing exactly what she wants to be for most of her life. Five years old, is when she started drawing buildings, and structures around her. Her parents picked up on her abilities early on, putting a pen and paper in her hands the minute she showed interest. After her father died, Maya had to reinvigorate the love and drive she has for architecture. Jonas helped with that. Everyone in the group had been there for Maya when it happened too, but Jonas is pretty much the only one she didn't completely shut out, maybe aside from Riley and Javier.
As they fall into step with one another towards Bamboo Sushi, Maya adjusts the messenger bag she's got slung over her right shoulder, and tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear. It's impressive to hear all that Jack's got going on. She knew people in their group were multi-talented, but damn...sometimes she forgets just how much. "Wow Jack, that's...I'm impressed. I mean, either route you go, I know you'll kill it. I've always known you to be the type to go after and get whatever you want, like you're just the succeeding type," Maya chuckles, leaning over to give their shoulder a gentle nudge. She means it. Jack is brilliant, and very talented. Once, they invited the whole group to a screening of a movie they were working on at the time. Maya had been impressed by their ability to immerse themselves in a role. But when the subject switches to The Grid, Maya stiffens a bit, and looks down. Shit. Yeah, yeah she figured this would be a topic of discussion. It has to be, right? Maya sighs before she begins. "Yeah, I...Jonas sort of filled me in on the whole situation. Firstly, I just wanna say that I'm sorry for being a shitty leader, and going completely MIA on everyone. That wasn't cool, even if I was going through something, I...I feel like I should have just come to you guys, told you what was up, and stepped down, or something...I don't know. Anyway, I'm sorry you went at that alone. I don't exactly agree with how everything is being handled now, but I also don't really feel like it's my place to say, since I haven't been around..." Maya pauses in her speech, finally looking over at Jack. "But I wanted to hear from you first before I go on some tirade about my opinion, so, like...what is going on?" They were coming up on Bamboo Sushi now, so maybe they could discuss more inside...
Jack smiled and laughed as Maya nudged their shoulder playfully. They were still sometimes embarrassed to show friends their roles in tv shows or movies, but they were so glad their friends were so supportive. "Aw, thanks, you're making me blush," they joked as they pushed their hair back out of their eyes. "Good news is I still have some time to decide. And even if I do the PhD route, I can jump back into acting pretty easily. And if I do acting, there's no real time limit on when the PhD needs to be completed. I still need to do research too on the area that I want to work in," they said. They'd been weighing the pros and cons for a while now and they had to remind themselves to work on that list of potential careers if they wanted to go for their PhD in biochemistry. "If I go back to acting, I'll have to leave you guys again," they said quietly. It hurt enough when they had to leave the first time and even though they had a great time abroad and had so many fun experiences that they wouldn't change for the world, they did feel like they were missing something when they came back to Turing. There was a missing link. Everything was different. Everything was different now.
The wind picked up as their conversation switched to the Grid. It was as if the world shifted, knowing the topic they were about to get into. "No, don't. Don't apologize," Jack said, glancing away. They did hate that Maya dropped off the face of the earth, even though they also understood that Maya had good reasons to. She had to take the time for herself and get herself back on her feet. They all went to the Grid for a reason and for most of them, it was to get away from everything, but Maya needed her escape to be elsewhere. "But I do wish you had let us be there for you, because you know we all would have been there in a heartbeat. Even Sal would have I'm sure." Jack walked into the restaurant and sat down at the window booth across from Maya. "Well, long story short....GAIA is getting more powerful. Reyes said that GAIA has infected Kishan's program or something and that we need to delete him. The Geists are keeping us from moving ahead in the game. I just think June has mishandled things and put trust in the wrong guy. I don't think we should delete Kishan. It's the last thing we have left of him. Once he's deleted, he's gone for good. We need to hold onto him. No one else gets a second chance to hold onto their friend like this once they die. We can't lose him again." Jack leaned back in their seat, curious to know what Maya, their leader, had to say about it. They needed her. They all did. They needed someone to guide them. Someone with a clear head. They'd tried to get Bailey to fill in that role, but Bailey didn't seemed interested in stepping up, even if it was to save Kishan.
