Fifth Floor Common Room, Monday Afternoon

[soniaroadsqueen]

It had required moving some furniture around in order to create the space necessary, but Ringo had managed to lay down a big white sheet on the floor and pin its corners with some large boxes. She'd even had boxes left over, and those were stacked near the edge of the area she'd blocked off.

Most of the boxes were open, too, and revealed their contents to be hundreds of tiny different bits of metal. Ringo had asked Ume to send her AT parts, and Ume had delivered in spades. She had enough pieces here to put together dozens pairs. Sometimes, apparently, little sisters were good for something after all!

Of course so many boxes had taken a lot of work to get up to the fifth floor, and she hoped no one had been annoyed as she had painstakingly moved one box at a time from the lobby.

Now Ringo was sitting in the middle of that white sheet, her smile matched by some happy humming as her hands rapidly swapped out small screwdrivers for tiny wrenches and the pile of precisely-machined metal in front of her began to take shape.

Every so often some screw or gear would slip from her fingers, and she'd have to put down what she had so far and find it. Fortunately, the sheet was very, very clean, and practically nothing blended in against it. So soon enough she'd be back to humming and assembling, and she was almost done with the first unit.

[Open!]

Comments

[kenselvren]

"To change the first one," Jalian said. "That is how I got here; I was traveling back when the island pulled me off course."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Wow," Kathy said, resolving never to complain about anything ever again. "How were you supposed to stop something like that?"

[kenselvren]

"It depends upon what started it," Jalian answered. "I only know it was men being stupid. And it involved the United States and the Soviet Union. I've looked at the history since I arrived here - it seems to have been a result of the thing you call the Cold War." She shrugged. "But in this timeline, that ended without so much destruction." Maybe she could push hers in that direction, although honestly she wasn't thrilled with parts of this timeline, either.

[spin_kick_snap]

That plan was unsettlingly vague. "Still, how is one person supposed to stop a war between nations? You don't have the political power or even monetary clout to keep the Powers-That-Be from being idiots if they've a mind to."

[kenselvren]

"Not yet," Jalian agreed. "But I'm very good at a lot of things. And I am very motivated, and have nothing to lose." She'd already lost it.

[spin_kick_snap]

"That, I can't argue with," Kathy said. "And--hey. If there's ever anything I can do...let me know, all right? I think lending a hand to prevent an Armageddon is the least I could do."

Sure, she had no idea what Jalian could possibly need her for, but she had to at least offer. This was literally the fate of a world they were talking about. Even if it wasn't Kathy's own, it wasn't something she could just turn away from.

[kenselvren]

"I will." Jalian smiled her thanks. "For now, I'm learning as much as I can about the timeline here; it seems similar enough to the stories of mine that it may help."

[spin_kick_snap]

"If you need extra information about politics and history and stuff, I've got a bunch of books about US History and world politics for the exams I was just talking about," Kathy offered. "I mean, it's written with the US as a focal point and it's for high schoolers, so there's a bunch of stuff you just get an overview of, but it'd be a place to start."

[kenselvren]

"Books I have," Jalian answered. So many books. "But I could ask you questions about them?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Of course!" Kathy said immediately. "Anytime!"

She meant that, Jalian. She'd consider it fun.