The Perk, Monday afternoon

[mrodneymckay.livejournal.com]

Rodney was in need of better coffee than he could get in the dorms so, with his laptop packed up and ready to go, he made his way into town and to The Perk. He ordered the largest possible mug of French Roast that was available and started drinking it right there at the counter. He moaned embarrassingly loudly at the first taste.

Collecting his coffee and computer (and really, what more did he need in life? Aside from food, of course. Can't forget food.), Rodney selected an empty table and set himself up to get some work done. Once he was settled, he took another large drink and began typing determinedly.



[ooc: Rodney might be irritable at any interruptions of his work, but he is in a public place after all. Bother him at your own risk. The Perk is open for all your coffee needs.]

Comments

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

Mac always has coffee needs.

And she hadn't been to the perk since she'd been back. That had to be remedied. So she headed down there after lunch (http://community.livejournal.com/fandomhigh/1510367.html?thread=92363743#t92363743).

It was only after she'd ordered she noticed Rodney. She'd only met him once, and still, seeing him with a huge mug of coffee didn't seem surprising. She also obviously has a deep desire to be snapped at, because she made her way over once she'd collected her soy latte. "Finally someone else who thinks working in a coffee shop is a good plan," she commented.

[mrodneymckay.livejournal.com]

Rodney tried to ignore the girl walking towards him. Unfortunately, she spoke to him anyway. He looked up and vaguely recognized her but didn't even bother trying to remember how he might know her. He also didn't really listen to what she had said.

"I'm sorry," he said, not sorry at all. "Is there a sign on this table that I missed which says Even though the occupant is completely preoccupied, feel free to stop by and engage him in conversation? Am I broadcasting some sort of 'vibe' that's calling out for company? No? I didn't think so."

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

Good thing Mac has a relatively tough skin and ignored him.

"Actually that's the encompassing vibe of the whole establishment," Mac said. "You're in here, and therefore it covers you too."

[mrodneymckay.livejournal.com]

Rodney stared at her. "Sometimes, a cup of coffee is just a cup of coffee. Especially when the person drinking it is so obviously busy doing something. By himself," he added pointedly.

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"Coffee is, by nature, a social drink," Mac pointed out. "You can't change that."

"Must be deeply fascinating... whatever you're doing, all on your own."

[mrodneymckay.livejournal.com]

"Whatever," he waved away her argument. "And if you must know, I'm working on a proof of Riemann's Hypothesis." He was certain that she wouldn't know what he was talking about and would thus leave him alone.

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"Non trivial zero distribution... " Mac cocked her head, "You think you can prove the truth behind one of mathematics' major unsolved problems?"

Yeah, like that was going to stop Mac, math dork and programming whizz that she is.

[mrodneymckay.livejournal.com]

Rodney should really stop being surprised that some of the students here were actually intelligent. But he was Rodney and thus he always assumed he was surrounded by idiots. In the past, that had usually been proven true.

"Well, someone is bound to solve it eventually. Why shouldn't it be me?"

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"No reason, I suppose," Mac allowed. "We have more advanced programming and mathematical techniques than many of the people who've tried before. The odds are in your favour."

"You think you're getting somewhere?"

[mrodneymckay.livejournal.com]

"Exactly," he pointed at Mac. "Every year, our understanding of the universe grows and with each new discovery we're one step closer to solving these mysteries." He tended to get excited about this sort of thing and talked rather quickly. "As for getting anywhere on this one," he shrugged. "I'm working on a theory but it'll be a while before I can be sure if it will pan out or not."

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"Can I take a look?" she asked carefully. "Or, is it one of these things no one can see until it's all perfectly finished up."

[mrodneymckay.livejournal.com]

"Oh, sure," Rodney was caught off guard by the request. "But I have to warn you, it's not far enough along for me to consider publishing or anything." He turned the screen towards the empty seat in front of Mac in case she wanted to sit down to take a look.

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"Proving scientific theory takes time," Mac said as she put her coffee mug down on the table, and hung her bag over the back of the chair before sitting down.

"I'm surprised the urge to justify things has stuck around, what with being around this place," Mac remarked. "Nothing makes sense."

[mrodneymckay.livejournal.com]

"Actually, I've been working on this for fun," Rodney said self-deprecatingly. "It's quite relaxing. I mean, even I can only spend so much time on handwavy pseudo-science superstring theories and equations for multi-dimensional quantum mechanics before getting frustrated. I haven't even started to figure out all that magic stuff."

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"I'd recommend not trying to," Mac said leaning in to examine what was on the screen. "It makes my brain hurt just to try and figure out the timeline crossovers, let alone the straight out magic."

[mrodneymckay.livejournal.com]

"So you can see why I like to kick back and study large primes every now and then." He took another drink of coffee. "I agree with you on the magic thing. Those dimensions must have completely different laws of physics and I doubt it would be worth learning it all when none of it will be relevant when I go back home," he shrugged.

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"I'd rather kick back and code a program to do that for me..." Mac said picking up her own mug. "But yeah, I think I can see what you're getting at."

[mrodneymckay.livejournal.com]

"Hey, if you can write a program that'll solve one of the Millennium Prize Problems, I'd be happy to help and we can split the million dollar reward," he smirked. "I'm Rodney, by the way," he added since he wasn't sure if they'd introduced themselves before. And if they had, he couldn't recall her name.