Stark Industries, Monday

[endsthegame]

Help Wanted sign by the window? Check.

Laptop open and ready for work? Check.

An unusually tired-looking Ender harassing the coffee machine? ...That was new.

So maybe he'd gotten a little overzealous with the raft last night-- he knew insomnia. He'd power through. With caffeine.

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

It was early, it was Monday, and that meant there was a Viking coming through the door. Okay, maybe twice in a row wasn't quite a habit, but it was fair on the way to becoming one.

"Still don't have a sign up, I see," Hiccup said, peering around. "You'll never keep the vikings out like that."

[endsthegame]

"Maybe I don't want to keep the vikings out," Ender said, easily, and closed up his laptop. "Maybe I enjoy the occasional firey inferno."

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

Hiccup grinned and made a show of patting himself down as he came over to the counter. "I'm all out of torches, but I could go get Toothless? There's nothing like a Night Fury for really high quality infernos."

[endsthegame]

"I'll pencil him in at nine," Ender said. He pushed his chair out of the way as he got up. "I heard you found the TVs," he said, with an amused crinkle.

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

And now he was looking a touch sheepish. "Ah, TVs, nothing special," he said, waving it away. "Just a bunch of pictures and a guy on a horse." Not that he actually thought Ender was going to buy that.

[endsthegame]

"Just try not to take one apart in your enthusiasm," Ender said, sincerely. That wasn't... something he was going to buy, no. "The public tends to be a little attached to them."

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

"But Claudia showed me how they work, drew me a picture and everything. It would be a shame to waste all her hard work." He was only half kidding. "I could put it back together when I was done." He paused, then added, "Probably put it back together."

[endsthegame]

"Baby steps, Hiccup. Baby steps."

He flicked his eyes down to Hiccup's leg again.

"Who made that?" A beat. "If you don't mind me asking. You can always tell me to back off."

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

"Gobber, he's Berk's weaponsmith, made it, but I added a few little tweaks of my own." He lifted his leg, held it out so Ender could see it better, looking at it proudly. "Ask away, anything you want to know."

[endsthegame]

"How maneuverable is it?" Ender asked. He took the proffered opportunity and leaned over, studying it. "If you need anything to tinker with it more, I'll be happy to provide it." A long beat. "I have a friend whose father lost his hand."

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

"Good enough to let me get around." Hiccup gave a careless shrug. He wasn't quite as sanguine as he appeared; it still hurt, sometimes, and he missed having two good legs, but this is what he had now. "The hinge helps, and the foot fits into Toothless' harness perfectly." He glanced up from his leg. "It's actually pretty common in Berk. Gobber's missing a hand and a leg, and there's a lot of other vikings with bits missing here and there."

[endsthegame]

"You know prosthetics have gotten more and more sophisticated over the years," Ender said, delicately. He leaned back from the leg, and reached behind him to pick up his cup of coffee. "Ben's father's hand is lifelike."

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

That caught his attention, and he looked at Ender curiosly. "How lifelike? 'Better than a stick' lifelike or 'can't tell by looking' lifelike?"

[momslilassassin]

"Ho, Ender," Ben said, coming in with coffee and lunch. He got one look at his face and bit his lower lip, then teased, "Couldn't sleep without me in the room, huh?"

There was genuine concern under there, but that wasn't how they generally opened their conversation, and so...teasing.

[endsthegame]

"Yeah," Ender said, clicking through a few more things on his laptop, "Your snoring always lulls me to sleep so well."

[momslilassassin]

"I can make a recording of it," Ben said with a little smile. "Where'd they stick you, anyway?"

[endsthegame]

"Mummy Cabin," Ender said, wryly. "They shoved me towards the back and out of sight so no one could see me. I'll make a decent black sheep, I think."

[momslilassassin]

Ben snickered. "Maybe. I'm a monkeypony. I'm trying to decide if that's better or worse than a monkeylizard."

[endsthegame]

"At least you'll be able to cover more ground faster," Ender intoned, "I hear that's useful if you spend a lot of your time antagonizing rancors."

[momslilassassin]

"There's no rancor cabin," Ben said. "I should complain about my culture being marginalized."

[endsthegame]

"Maybe you can picket the office."

[momslilassassin]

"Sounds a little like overkill," Ben mused. "Maybe I'll wait until after the inevitable rancor invasion. How do you like managing the store?"

[endsthegame]

"It's a lot like working at the store," Ender said, wryly, "With a slight increase in paperwork. Stark was always more interested in his own projects, anyway."

[momslilassassin]

"Are you still working on his reactor?" he asked.

[endsthegame]

"Finishing it off," he answered. "I think I'll pick my next project myself."