Third Floor Common Room, Tuesday Afternoon

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

The radio they were building needed to get finished. Or perhaps not finished, rather approaching a little further towards a finished state. Sov enjoyed building it with Tony as much as they suspected they would like it finished. It was a project aimed at learning and understanding, after all.

This time they had brought the broken radio that Rikku had given them. Yes, it was still broken. It had been taken apart quite thoroughly though, also in the name of learning and understanding, and the pieces were now spread out on the table in the common room. Sov doubted that they would be able to put it back together.

[Sov and Tony are going to build stuff again, but it's a very open common room, of course]

Comments

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"Well," Tony said, scanning over the parts. "At least we have all the parts."

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

Sov nodded, then looked at Tony. "I got it from Fixer-Uppers," they said. "And I got a job there too."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"I used to own that place!" Kinda.

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

Sov laughed, assuming that Tony was joking. "You did? And lost it gambling?"

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"Some other me," he corrected. "An older one used to live here too."

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"Oh, him! I mean, you. Or another you." Sov still had some trouble with the idea. "Did that other you sell it?"

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

Tony was getting used to it if only because there was no other way. "He must have. Ender said it was called Stark Industries before."

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"Really? Have you met Rikku, by the way? Who owns it now?" Sov was a lot less interested in other, older versions of Tony than meeting people who were actually here. No offence, Tony!

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"No, but I've met... three of the people working there now."

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"Who else?" Sov asked, fumbling with an unidentified radio part.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"Ben and Ender also work there," Tony replied, reaching over to help Sov without much of a thought. "So, I guess I just need to meet the rest of the people working there now to complete the set."

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"I don't think I've met either Ben or Ender." Sov watched Tony not fumbling with a radio part. "Or anyone else working there apart from Rikku."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"You should! They're pretty cool," Tony said tossing the part up before catching it. "One of them is from space."

WHICH WAS SO AWESOME.

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"I guess I have a reason to talk to them if we work in the same place."

"From space?" Sov asked. "They live on a ship?"

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"Well, he has one. It's smaller than I would have expected for something that can hit the edge of the solar system in under an hour."

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"Really?" Sov might be from another planet, but the Gethenians hadn't invented space travel themselves. They had been contacted by the Ekumen, and it was still unusual for anyone to go off-planet.

"And can they travel to other solar systems?"

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"And he said it was one of the slower ships."

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"Our king went away on a ship to a different solar system and returned 60 years later," Sov said. "And they had only aged a year. I don't think I'd like to travel like that."

[twintuitionist.livejournal.com]

"You like to build things too?" Juliet asked, still incredulous.

Look, she thought it was a weird hobby.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"...is that a bad thing?"

[twintuitionist.livejournal.com]

"No?" Juliet sounded confused. "I've just never known people who did it before."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"Well, someone has to design all the things you use everyday," Tony pointed out. "Someone built your--hair dryer."

Girls had those, right?

[twintuitionist.livejournal.com]

"Tourmaline," Juliet supplied. "It's professional grade. I think it's Greek or something."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"Isn't that a type of crystal?"

Yeah, he'd know that more than anything for hair products.

[twintuitionist.livejournal.com]

"Is it?" Juliet asked. "It's the best brand for hair dryers, that's what I know."

She didn't know from jewelry that wasn't precious stones.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"It's a crystal boron silicate," Tony replied slowly. NEEEEEEEERD. He frowned for a moment before catching what his original thought was about. "But yeah. It wouldn't be so nice if people like me didn't work to improve it."

[twintuitionist.livejournal.com]

"So you can do that,"Juliet said, still not really understanding why anyone would unless they needed money, "and I and my hair will be very grateful."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"I'll put aside my work on the next big vacuum to work on that," he promised.

[twintuitionist.livejournal.com]

"Way more people buy hair dryers than vacuum cleaners," Juliet said. "So, good idea."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"Not according to Mr. Rogers." WHO WAS STILL MAD THAT HE FIXED THE VACCUM. GOD.

[twintuitionist.livejournal.com]

"Mr. Rogers thinks we should sew up holes in socks," Juliet pointed out airily.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"I know, right?" Just buy more socks! "You just throw those out."

[twintuitionist.livejournal.com]

"Or give them to a seamstress to fix if you really love them," Juliet supplied.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"...or that, I guess." Replace 'seamstress' with a secretary and you got it.

[twintuitionist.livejournal.com]

"Are you guys fixing something?" Juliet wondered aloud as she started poking casually through the kitchen cabinets. She needed chocolates to go with her shiny new romance novel.

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"We're building a radio," Sov replied. Well, it was Tony who knew how to build it, but Sov was doing their best to help. And learn.

[twintuitionist.livejournal.com]

"Oh." Juliet stepped away from the food, biting her lip as she came closer to get a better look. "How come? You can buy one for practically nothing."

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"But it's not as fun. And you don't learn." They smiled. "I'm Sov, by the way. I don't think we've met."

[twintuitionist.livejournal.com]

"I don't think so," Juliet agreed, still furrowing her brow as if she was trying to see anything fun about building things. "I'm Juliet. It's a pleasure."

She looked at the radio again. "Do you build things a lot?"

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"I used to work as a caprenter's apprentice," Sov said, "But that wasn't much fun." And the frown had been noted. "So, you'd rather buy things? I guess I would when it comes to tables and chairs." They made a face.

[twintuitionist.livejournal.com]

"I'm a lot better at buying things than at making them," Juliet said solemnly. "Like, tables? I know they're made out of wood, but I really admire people who can turn wood into a table. It's like art."

"Where are you from that they still have carpenters?"

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"The planet of Gethen," Sov replied, and now they were the one frowning. "There are no carpenters here? Then who made this table?" They nodded at the one they were sitting at.

[twintuitionist.livejournal.com]

"I don't know," Juliet said, a bit dismissively. "Somebody in a factory somewhere, I guess? So they must have them, I've just never met one."

She frowned. "I've never heard of that planet."

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"No one here has." Sov was clearly not offended. "And you haven't met a carpenter? What do your family do for a living, then?"

[twintuitionist.livejournal.com]

"My dad mostly owns stuff?" Juliet sounded a little tentative; she left the money to people who understood it. "Like ... buildings. And companies. And my mom goes to meetings."

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

Oh. Sov was going to assume they were rich then. "My family manufactures and sells things. Are you going to follow in your parents footsteps, then?"

[twintuitionist.livejournal.com]

Juliet shook her head. "Nope, I'm going to be an actress. Are you going to go back to being a carpenter?"

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"An actress? That sounds fun! I like to listen to the radio plays," Sov said cheerfully. "And I hope I'll find something else to do. There are other options after all. I think I'd prefer working in the gardens."