Dorm roof, Tuesday afternoon

[intotheout]

It was a particularly gorgeous day out, and Tip didn't have any classes or work or anything she needed to get done. She did have a care package from home, full of snacks from Mom's current grocery store (which included basically anything that would stand up to being dipped or coated in dark chocolate), a case of birch beer, and the world's ugliest belt, courtesy of J.Lo.

She was absolutely rocking that ugly ass belt, thank you. She was also munching on chocolate covered edamame and flipping through the paperback her mom had sent her (a cheesy looking YA romance about gay dragons, excellent) and kicking her feet out into the open air in a manner that would probably make anyone afraid of heights moan and cringe. Rihanna was playing on her phone, the sun was shining on her face, and all was right and pleasant in the world.

[open!]

Comments

[intotheout]

"Then you're an engineer," Tip said decisively. "Engineers use science and math to make things. Simple as that."

It was slightly more complicated than that, actually. But only slightly.

[kenselvren]

Jalian nodded. "Then I am, yes. And your friend J.Lo is one, too?"

[intotheout]

"Yup. He worked as one for the invasion force. That's why he's got lots of useful tools."

To make belts full of self-inflating safety cushions, for instance. Which Tip thoroughly appreciated now, thanks to Peridot's experiments in Earth-lifeform flight capabilities. Though she still wasn't sure why J.Lo had just randomly decided to send her a belt full of alien airbags.

[kenselvren]

Jalian perked up. "What kinds of tools?"

[intotheout]

". . . Boov ones." Tip shrugged. "I know what some of them do, but I don't really know all their names or anything. But J.Lo used them to make our family car fly."

[kenselvren]

"That sounds like fun!" A car that flew? "Does it go very fast?"

[intotheout]

"It can make it from Earth to Saturn's moon Titan in a day," Tip boasted.

What? She was proud of Slushious.

"But it can't go that fast on Earth. There it goes the usual car speeds. Only floating."

[kenselvren]

"Why is it slower on Earth?" Jalian asked. She thought. "Different forms of propulsion?"

[intotheout]

"And, like, friction and things," Tip said, though she didn't really know. "You know . . . drag. Plus there's more stuff to dodge."

[kenselvren]

"So you dodge faster," Jalian said with a shrug.

Jalian was not the best driving role-model.

[intotheout]

"Uh huh. I don't know how fast your reaction time? But I don't think I could dodge a mountain if I'm flying at it at a land speed that'd get you a billion miles in 24 hours."

[kenselvren]

"It depends how long you have to dodge, and how big the mountain is," Jalian said reasonably.

[intotheout]

"Well, let's see," Tip said, giving Jalian an unimpressed look. "What's a billion divided by 24?" She pulled out her phone to use the calculator function, but it didn't actually let her enter more than 100 million. "Okay, it's like 42 million miles per hour. Which is, like. . . ." She did more math. "12,000 miles per second." She pulled up her search engine and typed some more. "Soooooo half the Earth's circumference. In a second."

[kenselvren]

"How many mountains does the Earth have in a straight line?" Jalian asked.

[intotheout]

"Doesn't matter," Tip said. "Pretty sure at that speed the air's on fire. Also, I don't want to think about what sort of arc you'd get on your turns."

[kenselvren]

"The car would keep the fire out," Jalian said. "But you would need very good steering."

[intotheout]

"Do you -- actually know what a car is?"

[kenselvren]

Jalian looked at her oddly. "A vehicle for driving on roads. But I suppose we would need one that also drives not on roads, to go so straight. Or a very long road." That sounded wonderful; Jalian loved roads, especially freeways.

[intotheout]

"I'm pretty sure you'd need a larger planet. The scale is just completely wrong for Earth."

[kenselvren]

"Maybe we need to make Earth larger, then." Jalian grinned. She was enjoying this.

[intotheout]

"You get on that," Tip said. "I'll keep taking the scenic route."

[kenselvren]

"You don't want to go faster?" Jalian asked.

[intotheout]

Tip shook her head. "Sometimes it's nice to take it slow."

Going faster in Slushious might have meant not getting stuck in Roswell. Sure, she'd've avoided some irritation and found her mom sooner, but she wouldn't have met the Chief, and that was unacceptable.

[kenselvren]

Jalian wrinkled her nose. "I hate having to wait for things."

[intotheout]

"But which do you hate more?" Tip asked. "Waiting, or setting the air on fire?"