The C.I.C. - Wednesday, 9am-Midnight

[spectre_alenko]

Wednesday hadn't started out great. Kaidan was still pushing away the agoraphobia by stubbornly refusing to stay in his apartment. After a quick shower, he opened the store and let the raven inside.

"Buzzy, up," he called. The Robonoid whirred to life and spun up out of its little countertop pet bed, beginning a slow circuit of the storefront. It would eventually settle and walk around the counter, or use Kaidan as some sort of bipedal jungle gym. The raven didn't seem to mind the company. The two even played some sort of strange game of 'tag' occasionally.

He dusted off the 'help wanted' sign and put it in the window. There were new students on the island. Maybe he'd find a local this time.

[OOC: Open, no OCD!]

Shop description badly in need of updating is here.

Comments

[chirpchirpchirp]

Vette was continuing her explorations of the island today, poking her head in random doors of places that looked like businesses. Today? That one with the... you know. Door. It wasn't like she could read the signs yet, anyway.

"Oh, hey! I know you."

Sort of.

[spectre_alenko]

"Hi, Vette. How's it going?" Kaidan greeted her.

Buzzy swooped over and waved a fore--arm?.. at her in hello before pirouetting in the air and continuing to explore.

[chirpchirpchirp]

"Still here," Vette replied wryly, smiling and waving a hand at the little droid-copter thing. "Still a student at the school. Today was 'learning about crazy rulers' day. And 'pretending I know what any of this food is' day, besides. You?"

[spectre_alenko]

"Crazy Earth rulers or crazy anywhere rulers?" Kaidan asked, mildly curious. Then he tilted his head, "Aren't there signs on the food? There should be, even just for allergy purposes."

He lifted a shoulder, "Day's going well so far."

He'd made it out of bed. He'd made it out of the apartment. He'd gone shooting with Atton, which he was totally counting as 'spending time with other people', and now he was at work and functional. It was a banner day here in Kaidan land.

[chirpchirpchirp]

"No idea yet," Vette replied. "Earth, I'm guessing. I couldn't read the class synopsis. I can't read the signs on the food, either."

She spread her hands a little.

"High Galactic. English? Whatever you call the alphabet you write Basic in, here." Snob alphabet. Everywhere. "Hera's offered to get me some study materials, but learning to read in between figuring out what classes I'm supposed to be in at any given moment without being able to read is going to be great."

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan blinked. "Uh. Do you read Aurebesh? Because I can probably help you there, if you do. I'm learning Aurebesh and a friend made me a translation of the alphabet. You're welcome to it, if you need it?"

[chirpchirpchirp]

"Please? Please? Nobody I know back home can read High Galactic either, everything is Aurebesh, of course everything is Aurebesh. We're on Nar Shaddaa!"

So it was either Aurebesh or Huttese, and she only knew enough of that to be able to rob Hutts blind.

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan blinked again and reached under the counter. Out came a children's book - written in English, post-its with Aurebesh translations over them. Tucked under the front cover was the alphabet key Kanan had written for him.

He knew the book by heart at this point, and he could write Aurebesh without the key. Slowly, because he had to think about each letter, but he could write it at this point.

With a small shrug, he handed it to Vette. "If you want to set up a time to do some cross training, I'm open to it. I'd like to be more fluent, since it looks like I'll be going back to Coruscant sometime. Might keep me out of at least a little trouble."

[chirpchirpchirp]

"Wait... seriously?" Vette was actually a little wide-eyed as she reached to take the book, not quite so tentatively that one might assume she was expecting it to be pulled away at any moment. But... close. "I mean, if you really want to. I can probably use the help."

[spectre_alenko]

More blinking. "Why wouldn't I be serious about it? But, uh, yeah, I am. I'd like to be able to read and write it more quickly, look less like a tourist, you know?"

It was kind of a relief to have someone he could actually ask for that help who didn't wince whenever the word 'Coruscant' came up.

Now that Coruscant was a thing, and Sparkle had indicated that he'd like company, and Kaidan could go somewhere that was at least a little more like home even if the races walking around weren't the ones he was familiar with.

"Heh. I should have you tell me about the currencies, too. I know they're called 'credits' - same as where I'm from - but they're not the same thing at all."

[chirpchirpchirp]

"Credits are pretty straightforward," Vette replied, shrugging. "I can take you on a spin through those if you want to explain this currency to me."

It was very... Paper. And not paper.

"At some point."

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan shook his head, "The school really needs to put together a welcome packet for this planet."

He gave her the same brief but a little confusing explanation he'd given Fjord.

Sans the bits about gold and platinum.

[chirpchirpchirp]

That was fine. Vette's explanation of credits left about as much to be desired.

Maybe gold and platinum would've made it more straightforward?

Still, she seemed pretty pleased with it as she finished up, grinned, and looked around the room. "So, what is this place, anyway?"

[spectre_alenko]

"The store's called the CIC. There are rooms where people can play video games," he paused and considered, "Like..holo..chess? Only more ..interactive and.. usually not chess? Also, on a screen instead of holos because this world is nowhere near that tech level yet. I also do electronics repair."

He lifted a shoulder, "Keeps me from being bored."

Almost half jokingly, he asked, "Know anyone looking for a job? I'm hiring."

[chirpchirpchirp]

Vette's hand immediately shot up into the air.

... So, yeah. She knew someone.

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan huffed a laugh, "Ok, well. I know you can hotwire a bus. What else do you know about electronics? That's not a requirement, I can teach you whatever you need to run the joint, but it helps if I know where your baseline is first."

[chirpchirpchirp]

Vette just lifted her chin in challenge.

"Give me anything in here to fix and twenty minutes," she said, quite boldly.

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan arched a brow, but then he shrugged. "Buzzy, grab me one of the phones Nate's buddy dropped off."

Buzzy, happy to have A Job To Do, dived down behind the counter and began scrambling through a box of mostly dead cell phones. Kaidan mostly kept them around for parts. Buzzy found one and clutched it with two legs, spinning its way up to the counter to deposit it in front of Vette.

Kaidan glanced at it. Battery had overheated and fried some parts. "Do you want a toolkit, or do you have one on you?"

He was more curious what she'd do with the phone than anything else. It wasn't part of the hiring process - or hadn't been - to require the staff to know how to fix things.

[chirpchirpchirp]

Vette tilted her head a little, considering the phone, reaching to pick it up and turning it over in her hands. A few seconds later, she'd taken the back panel off the phone, and was nodding a little at the damage.

"Nothing in my toolkit is going to be compatible with this thing," she replied. "If you have one I can borrow, that would be great."

She'd already popped the battery out and was leaning in for a better look.

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan nodded and pulled out the tackle box of tools. He set it on the counter where Vette could reach it, watching curiously. "If you need parts, let me know what. I have a box of random dead electronics specifically for this."

[chirpchirpchirp]

"Perfect," Vette said brightly, already making a reach for something that looked like it would fit in the teeny tiny screws holding one of the fried pieces in. A few more moments later, and she was grabbing for some tweezers, giving this, this, that a few tugs, and then laying them out on the table beside the battery.

She squinted at them a moment, and then back at the inside of the phone.

"How random are those dead electronics, anyway?"

[spectre_alenko]

"Pretty random," Kaidan shrugged. He pulled up the cardboard box full of random things. A few other phones, not of the same brand, couple game consoles, part of a computer. "Have at." That was also set on the counter. The raven gave an irritated quok at losing its perch. It flew over to parade back and forth in front of the window.

[chirpchirpchirp]

Vette considered for a minute before deciding to start by prying the other phones open. If there was any chance of finding parts that were at all comparable, that would be the place to start, after all. And for a couple of bits and bobs, she was almost immediately successful, though there was one part...

She gave a soft hum, and then reached for the fried piece, turning it over in her hand again. It looked to be a piece meant to run power to the screen, sooooo...

Yeah, she was absolutely getting creative now, ransacking one of the little hand-held game consoles and keeping a few bits here and there from another phone. She tinkered around a bit more, used some pliers to bend some wire into shape, experimented with the solder -- there was a delighted little cackle as the bit of melted metal dripped into place -- and then poked around a few moments more to be sure she hadn't missed anything.

Finally, she picked up the battery.

"... Do you have a fresh one of these, by any chance? None of the other ones are compatible with what's already in there." She paused. "Unless this is a common flaw in this particular make? Then I might have to reconfigure this thing to accept a more stable battery..."

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan shook his head, bemused, "Nope. That brand of phone is known for taking only that type of battery. I hadn't been planning to fix that one, just use it for parts, so I don't have one handy. I could pick one up tomorrow."

Watching her work was amusing the heck out of him. He recognized the curiosity, and the little laugh she'd done when she'd perfectly placed her solder.

Very similar to another kid he'd known.. 20+ years ago.

[chirpchirpchirp]

"Well then," she picked up the phone and waved it around, "looks like you're ordering in a new battery. I could probably make it cooperate with another one, but then I'd be going over my twenty-minute time limit."