Stark Industries, Monday

[endsthegame]

After an incredibly quiet weekend - which meant Ender had been able to put more work into his research than he had anticipated - Ender found himself facing a quiet day at Stark's with little in the way of random produce and a lot more in the way of working on Jack's telegraph.

Really, once he got the schematics, it wasn't much of a problem to put together how to build the actual thing. The real challenge laid in finding a way to hook it up to Fandom's multiversal communications systems, whatever they might be.

Which meant Ender had a few phones on hand, yes.

[[ and open! ]]

Comments

[momslilassassin]

"Ho, Ender," Ben said, poking his head into the shop with a grin. "Miss me?"

[endsthegame]

"Who are you, again?"

[momslilassassin]

"The guy who brings you coffee," Ben said, holding up the cup. "Pretend to be grateful."

[endsthegame]

"This is me, pretending," Ender said, taking the cup. "I hope you appreciate it."

[momslilassassin]

"Oh, hugely," Ben assured him. "Connecticut, in case you were wondering, is cold."

[endsthegame]

"I wasn't," he returned, "But I figured you'd tell me anyway."

[momslilassassin]

"And I had to call my great-great-grandmother 'Mrs. Gilmore' or else she turned interesting shades of red," Ben added.

[endsthegame]

"So how often did you call her 'Mrs. Gilmore'," Ender prompted, kindly taking the set-up.

[momslilassassin]

Ben completely failed at looking innocent. "Couple of times."

He leaned against the counter. "How was your weekend?"

[endsthegame]

"Quiet," he said. It was easier to research obsessively when your roommate wasn't looking over your shoulder, too. "I ate a lot of turkey. Think I'm catching up on years of lost traditions?"

[momslilassassin]

"Depends entirely on how many pounds of turkey you ate," Ben declared. "There's a mathematical correlation."

[endsthegame]

"I think I managed three," he said, "How's that?"

[momslilassassin]

"If we portion out a half pound of turkey per year, that catches you up on six Thanksgivings," Ben said with a nod. "Close enough?"

[bitten_notshy]

Per his promise, Jack was stopping by to check on the progress of said telegraph.

He wasn't twitchy. Perish the thought. He was just rather excited that he might be able to get a note to or from Sebastien without relying on either the post or private messengers.

"Hello, Ender," he said, glancing about the shop for any evidence of progress.

[endsthegame]

"Hey, Jack," Ender said, his laptop shutting as it usually did whenever someone entered the building. His eyes shifted up to award Jack his full attention.

There were components strewn around, and some blueprints; he didn't want to get started on the actual thing until he was sure he could tap it into the communications grid.

[bitten_notshy]

And the components could have been almost anything to Jack's untrained eyes, so he glanced at them for only a moment before shifting his gaze to Ender.

"Was your break as quiet as mine?"

[endsthegame]

"Probably quieter," he said, "My roommate decided to take off elsewhere for the holiday. Unfortunately, I'm a little further from home." Or fortunately, depending.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack took a second to remember who Ender lived with. "Oh, Ben went off with his grandfather? I was here -- it's not my holiday -- but I didn't do much of anything."

[endsthegame]

"It's pretty silent without a Skywalker tinkering around the room." He didn't much mind. "I'm pretty sure the holidays are designed for slacking, anyway, unless the island gets ideas."

[bitten_notshy]

"Both of my roommates have been quiet most of the time. I'd almost wonder if it was me." This was not actually a major worry of Jack's, no. He was fine with distant politeness in a roommate.

The corners of his mouth quirked up. "Almost everything here is punctuated by 'it'll be quiet, unless the island has other plans.' No reason holidays should be an exception."

[endsthegame]

Ender's mouth quirked up in turn. "The island is like Lady Chance that way," he said, "Driven by unpredictable whimsy. Or the need to fuel paranoia for our later days."

[bitten_notshy]

"Do you think our latter days will be enriched by paranoia?" Jack wondered. "Or will it just leave us looking over our shoulders at nothing?"

[endsthegame]

"A little paranoia is only healthy," he said, "Survival instinct. Sometimes they are out to get you. I'm just not sure 'they' will always be glitter from the skies, or flesh-eating vegetables."

[bitten_notshy]

"Sometimes they are," Jack agreed. "Though if it was ever glitter rain at home I would conclude things had gone very wrong."

Flesh-eating vegetables struck him as a good sight more plausible.

[endsthegame]

"It doesn't pop up a lot," he agreed, quirking a grin. "On the other hand, people would say it's good to be prepared for everything, but that's just throwing yourself at the dangerous notion that that's even possible."

He glanced towards the schematics, "But as much as I enjoy arguing philosophy, I doubt that's why you're here."