Stark Industries, Monday

[endsthegame]

On Monday, Ender started off his day by putting a HELP WANTED sign in front of the window. If he was going to be running a business, he might as well be pretending to run a functioning one; with no offense to Spock, but they were running out of workers.

On one level, this suited Ender fine - it meant he could come into the store whenever it was closed to work on his projects without any prying eyes. On the other, if Stark remembered they existed, it might lead to questions. Possibly.

And a few employees couldn't do any harm.

He cleaned the cherry tomatoes out of the engine at the back of the room, brushed off his desk, and propped up his laptop.

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

It was early when Hiccup arrived. Not as early as he'd wanted, because it took just a tad longer to walk (Toothless was off playing in the woods) down from the dorms than he'd estimated, and he was limping a teeny tiny bit, but it didn't stop him from smiling when he found the right building.

"And suddenly out of nowhere a Viking appeared," he announced as, in fact, a Viking appeared in the doorway. Smiling. "Assuming it's still okay to visit. If it's not I can, you know, go away again."

[endsthegame]

"Have I forgotten to put up my 'keep out, Vikings' sign again?" Ender asked, but he was smiling back. "Make yourself at home."

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

"You know us Vikings, the ravening hordes will descend on you first chance they get if you don't put a sign up telling them to keep out," he said as he came inside. "We're strangely obedient that way." He was glancing around, completely failing to disguise his interest. "This is quite the place you have here."

[endsthegame]

"It technically belongs to Tony Stark," Ender said. He pushed up out of his chair so he was properly visible, and walked around it, towards Hiccup. "He's the leader of a large technology firm called Stark Industries. But since he's left recently, I'm managing it now."

He shot a glance back into the store proper. "This is where we work on new innovations," he said, and paused for effect. "Technically. I also seem to be spending a lot of my time reinventing old stuff for time-lost students." Hiccup got a wry look. "Want a tour?"

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

His eyes lit up. "If you're not doing anything more important," he said casually. Well, he tried for casual, anyway. He didn't quite get there. "I would love a tour."

[endsthegame]

"I do have to stave off the ravening hordes," Ender quipped. He nodded at the front desk. "This is the front desk," he said, "It's absolutely riveting."

Then he cracked a slight smile, and stepped past the desk, into the workshop. "This, meanwhile, is boring," he said, walking up to the table in the center of the room. "It's the holographic display. We can use this to view images of the stuff we're working on before it actually has to be made."

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

"Hey, don't underestimate the importance of a good front desk," he replied, but his eyes, and his attention, were on the aforementioned table as he followed Ender.

Hiccup walked closer to the table, eyes narrowed as he studied it, then glanced up. "Images." It was thoughtful, fascinated, as he recalled what Hawkeye had said on Friday. "Images of things that seem real?"

[endsthegame]

"Exactly," Ender said, "Come on, I'll show you what I'm working on."

His fingers slid over the buttons quickly, bringing the device to life. A few more clicks of the button, and a blue, 3D representation of the arc reactor came to life.

Ender touched the image, making a sliding movement; the representation moved with, turning.

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

Hiccup's jaw actually dropped. Eyes wide, he reached slowly forward to touch it, but pulled his hand back just shy of touching. "How?" he finally breathed, never taking his eyes off the image. "Where does it come from? How does it work? It looks, it looks completely real."

[endsthegame]

"It's just light," Ender said, glancing at him. "We've got these computers - I don't know if you've seen any of them yet, but I can show you. Anyway, you can 'draw' a picture in three dimensions. Height, width, depth. Then the computer uses little lines of light to draw it in the air. It's got sensors, too, to see where you're trying to 'touch' it, so it can respond accordingly."

He shifted his finger over it, 'breaking' open the reactor to show the inner component more clearly.

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I have got to get one of these." It was almost under his breath, and he was grinning. He knew most, no, pretty much all of this was going over his head. He didn't care. "Do you know how easy it would be to build things, to design things, with this? There'd be no calibration errors, no ripping things down and remaking them a million times!" He blinked once and looked up at Ender. "I have no idea what a computer is. Can I try it?"

[endsthegame]

"It's a system that was designed to help make sure nothing explodes in a firey inferno, yes," Ender deadpanned. "The projector, I mean."

He shot a glance towards the more advanced systems set up around the workshop, but quickly dismissed them. He'd have to ease Hiccup in. "I'll show you my laptop," he said instead, turning back towards the front desk. "It's a smaller computer you can keep in your lap."

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

And he had a Hiccup close behind him, but it was a Hiccup who kept sneaking glances behind him at the holograph. "Yeah, fiery infernos are not good. Neither is hitting your fellow Vikings in the head with a bola because the aiming control wasn't adjusted properly." A beat. "It's amazing how much a fiery inferno and an annoyed Viking have in common."

[momslilassassin]

Ben came in at lunch with two cups of coffee and sandwiches. "Ho, Ender."

[endsthegame]

As it turned out, teaching a viking about modern technology was an exhausting task. Not that Ender minded, but that, plus the thoughts that had been milling around his head since he first met Hiccup, meant that his return "Ho, Ben," was more distracted tahn he'd be willing to admit.

[momslilassassin]

And Ben, being a little bit paranoid these days what with knowing there was someone running around with Peter's face and noting that Ender had been making himself scarce in their room, noticed it. "Something on your mind?" he asked, holding out the coffee.

[endsthegame]

"Nothing big," Ender said, taking the coffee, "I just spent the entire morning explaining computers to a Viking."

[momslilassassin]

"Did he wear a hat with horns on his head?" Ben asked excitedly.

Yes, everything Ben knew about Vikings he'd learned from Jono and their discussions about Thor.

[endsthegame]

"No," Ender said, shooting him an amused look. "Sorry to disappoint you. But he does have a dragon."

[momslilassassin]

"Really?"

Don't squeal, Ben.

"How big is it?"

[endsthegame]

"Bigger than you, pipsqueak," Ender said, affably, of the boy who was taller than he was. "The dragon's name is Toothless - but don't let that fool you. He's got a broken tailfin, so Hiccup - the viking - rigged him up a replacement."

[momslilassassin]

"So he's an ancient tinkerer?" Ben said, smiling. "The Viking, not the dragon."

[endsthegame]

"Right on the nose," Ender said, with a slight nod. "I invited him over here last week. It was like watching a kid in a candy store."

Ender had gotten fond of Hiccup rather quickly.

[momslilassassin]

Ben laughed. "I'll bet. I should try to meet him. But back to what's on your mind..."

[endsthegame]

"There's nothing pressing on my mind, Skywalker," Ender said. His face was back to 'amused', with a side-order of slightly annoyed. Subtle, Ben. "I've just been busy."