fandomtownies | Fixer-Uppers, Monday

It was his second week of work after the trip to Eros, and Ender was feeling fairly-- well, stable, at least. He was sorting oranges from pomegranets that morning (just don't ask; the best he'd tell you was that it involved an incident with a power converter and Fandom Whimsy) while Jane kept up a running tally of fruits from his laptop.

He finally told her to quit it, and promptly got another show of some programmer having a terrible sense of humor, as she played the innocent card and then mocked him for hauling heavy objects all day when he could be spending more time on cerebral pursuits.

He told her to quit being such a smartass, she retorted that he seemed to enjoy it, and he finally just banished her down to the task bar about an hour before noon.

One thing had to be said: having chatty software on his computer was making his life a little more interesting.

[[ second verse, same as the first: for all the squirrels know, Ender's chatting with someone via VOIP. Jane as an entity remains NFB. And open! ]]

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Shelley walked in with a coffee maker under one arm and a four-slot toaster under the other. She had no idea if this place worked on appliances, but she had become rather dependent on her morning cup of coffee, so she was a desperate.

"Ho, Ender," Ben said, coming it with lunch. "Ready for our class with Jaina today?"

Ender glanced up from the desk (and his current argument with his computer) to see ... someone he hadn't spoken to before. With an appliance.

He sat up, all professional. "Welcome to Fixer-Uppers," he said, "Can I help you?"

"More than," Ender said, waving him over towards the desk. "Which I think is the point, right?"

"Probably," Ben agreed. "It'd be a bad class to sleep through."

"Were you planning to, kreetle?" he wondered.

"Nope," Ben said with a grin. "Jaina would get mad and no one really needs to see that."

"Then no, I don't think anyone in this room is going to be falling asleep in that class any time soon," he said, reaching for the sandwiches. "On the other hand, I'm hungry."

Shelley set the coffee maker and the toaster down on the counter and crossed her arms, frowning. "Neither of these things are working," she explained. She pointed to a very un-toasted slice of bread sticking out of its slot and explained, "The toaster doesn't toast."

She was very helpful.

"Fortunately for you, I brought enough to share," Ben teased.

"Then we'll figure out why it isn't toasting," Ender said. Because no, that was not very helpful, but if she knew how to take a toaster apart, she most likely wouldn't be here. "Or making coffee. Is there any time you need this done by...?"

Ender, this was not the time to realise you actually kind of disliked serving people at the desk.

"I am staggered by this sudden turn of good fortune," Ender returned. "Anything try to eat you since I left you this morning?"

"Well I'm pretty hungry now," she explained. "Though... I guess I could just go out for breakfast." She seemed genuinely surprised at the thought.

"The diner isn't too far," Ender said - any sudden revelations hadn't exactly damaged his customer service any. "Or if you want, I think I've got some apples in the back. Fandom accident."

"Oh, I don't accept apples from strangers. I mean, one bite and I could find myself sleeping for years until Prince Charming shows up to kiss me and show me the nature of true love."

She shook her head and smiled. "On second thought, I'll take two."

"...Right," Ender said. Customer service smile still in place. He pushed his hands down to shut his laptop really fast before the Jane program started getting any ideas about commenting. "I'll be back in a second."

He got up and wandered into the back, then came back with two apples. And a pomegranate. Apple. Thing. He wasn't sure he could classify it, exactly, but he put them down on the desk anyway.

"Those look delicious, thank you," she said, taking them and dropping them in her handbag.

"It just sucks living on my own, you know? Having a guy around was just so helpful. Not that I think that women can't be all amazing and living on their own and stuff, it was just that Dimitri would just laugh at me when the toaster wasn't working and ask if I had plugged it in and I would ask him what kind of idiot he thought I was and then check anyway and it was never plugged in and that was always the problem, I mean you think I would learn, right? But no, time and time again..."

Shelley might be missing consistent human interaction.

She clearly did miss having someone to talk to. Ender juggled a sense of dawning resignation with an innate instinct to let her voice her problems and send her on her way a little more stable, and... caved for the latter.

"It sounds like you haven't had anyone around for a while in general," he said, sympathetically. "How long have you been here?"

"Just about a year," she replied. "And it's been an adjustment, let me tell you. I used to live with five to six, depending on the contract length, of the most beautiful and friendly girls you would ever want to know. We did everything together, and when something broke, Mansion maintenance would have it fixed in a jiff."

She sighed. "I miss having girlfriends. Or gay friends. And fans..."

Well, at least closing down on Jane for the moment had turned out to be a stunning case of forsight on his part.

"I think some of the houses around here used to offer room to two or more people at a time," Ender suggested. "Maybe it's time to find a roommate?"

(Somewhere, along the ansible, Jane was dying of laughter.)

"I've got a spare room right now. Do you think I should advertise that? Is there a paper? Oh, maybe they can make an announcement on radio. Do they do that? You're cute. Do you have a girlfriend? Boyfriend?"

This was a perfectly logical progression of thought for her.

Ender... blinked.

"That's a pretty personal question," he said, sounding utterly taken aback.

"Oh, so you've got your eye on someone? Is it complicated?" Shelley paused, reminding herself that this was not Marvin and that this young man probably hadn't learned to appreciate the joys of idle gossip.

She stood up and adjusted her top. "Sorry, it's just... well, sorry." She bit her lip.

"Do I pay now or later?"

"High school isn't exactly made for lasting relationships," Ender pointed out, still mildly shell-shocked.

There were many things Battle School prepared you for. Direct questions about your love life by strangers: not so much. "...And later is fine. And it's-- fine. You just sounded like you haven't had anyone to talk to recently."

"High school sucks, and then you have an allergic reaction and you realize you're beautiful." That pretty summed it up for her.

"Thanks for chatting. When should I come pick them back up?"

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