Stark Industries, Monday

[endsthegame]

It was a quiet day with nothing much going on. Ender spent a few minutes discussing some things with JARVIS before he settled in to work. He liked the AI, even if it was just a computer; he was a lot easier to work with than a lot of the people he'd met.

Which was why, occasionally, he'd ask a question in the middle of wiring one thing to something else, questions that had little to do with the wires and more with general stuff. Engineering, physics, the works. Sometimes even things that weren't related at all, just to see how the AI would respond.

[ open! ]

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[momslilassassin]

Ben walked into the store with a mouse droid following along behind him, beeping to itself irritably about the snow.

"Ho, Ender," Ben said.

[endsthegame]

"Ho, Ben," Ender replied, looking up over the live project he was tweaking right now. "Didn't want to face me alone? Or are you holding out for a gremlin?"

[momslilassassin]

Ben rolled his eyes. "Apparently your boss finds me distracting to your work ethic. I can visit, but only if I bring a project."

[endsthegame]

"Stark just likes to do things for the sake of stirring the pot," Ender said, mildly. "And because he has delusions of authority. JARVIS?"

"That may be an accurate assessment."

"Thank you."

The novelty of the AI hadn't quite worn off yet.

[momslilassassin]

Ben blinked and glanced around the room. "Jarvis?" he repeated.

[endsthegame]

"He's got an artificial intelligence running most processes in the building," Ender explained. "Jarvis does most of the work," he added, dryly.

[momslilassassin]

"That doesn't surprise me at all," Ben said with an equally dry smile.

[endsthegame]

"Stark's mostly just charisma," he continued, calmly, "I'm not sure he could actually throw you out. What did you bring?"

[momslilassassin]

"Didn't want to push it the first day," Ben said. "This is a modified mouse droid. I've got a bunch of them."

[endsthegame]

"What does it do?" he asked.

Because, you know, important question. He put down his screwdriver.

[momslilassassin]

"Delivers messages, mostly," Ben said, picking it up. "This one can also record and play holo images. Oh, and it vacuums."

[endsthegame]

"Does it play music too?" he asked, wryly. "Bring it over here."

[momslilassassin]

"Music would be a little much," Ben decided, hauling the droid to where Ender could get a closer look at it.

[endsthegame]

"But vacuuming is completely normal," Ender said, reaching over so he could run his fingers over it, take a close look at some of the panels. "It looks pretty efficient."

[momslilassassin]

"Vacuuming means I don't have to clean my own room," Ben said, looking pleased by the compliment.

[endsthegame]

"Lazy, not efficient, then," he said, "Although they're kind of the same thing." Ender kind of wanted to push some of the buttons, but he wasn't about to without knowing what they'd do.

[momslilassassin]

Ben leaned over and pointed out the buttons. "Forward, reverse, vacuum, record, play back, and the big one is the power button." He smiled. "It also replies to voice command."

[endsthegame]

Ender squinted at him over the droid. He touched the power button first. "I'm not surprised Stark told you to bring this one," he said, "It's right up his alley."

[momslilassassin]

"This is kid's stuff," Ben said. "The big project is trying to make a droid like my dad has. Artoo is crazy complicated, and he's about sixty years out of date."

[endsthegame]

"Have you been working on it?" he asked, tapping the play back button just to see what would happen. "No wonder you keep dropping by."

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

Robin screeched his skateboard to a stop outside the shop and hurried in. "Can you fix a cell phone?"

[endsthegame]

"I can try," Ender offered. He knew that probably didn't sound confident, but it was an accurate show of his skill level.

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

Robin hoped he'd get credit just for trying. The cell phone he handed over to Ender did not have anything seriously wrong with it. Merely a simple thing that would justify sending a student out to get it looked at.

[endsthegame]

Ender took the phone, flipped it, opened up the battery compartment. He futzed with a little bit, and pressed the on button to see if it worked.

It did. Which was good enough, for his sake. He could design the interiors of starships, to a point, but tiny things... He held it up.

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

"Yay! Thank you. This is one of the stranger assignments I've had in class."