Meanwhile, back at Engineering...[Semi-Open]

[sonofether.livejournal.com]

It had taken him a little time, as he hadn't had many serious projects outside of his own lab until now, but finally, Stephen had a delivery to make.

By his own admission, it wasn't much--he hadn't checked Stacy for the Eva unit's schematics yet, but even the merest theories for the fusion generator he was planning. Well. It might be worth something at least. Or so he hoped.

He also hoped that he'd find Billy on duty. In truth, it was likely, as Stephen knew very well that Billy didn't precisely believe in "time off".

"Mr. Cranston?" he called as he entered the Engineering area. "Are you here?"

Comments

[morphitudinous]

"Affirmative," Billy called out, peeking out from behind one of the walls. "I'll be with you in a moment."

Stephen would hear some clanging sounds and caps being screwed on, followed by footsteps. Billy emerged after a minute or two, a towel flung over his plantsuit's shoulders. "Hey Stephen, what do you need?"

[sonofether.livejournal.com]

"I have a minor upload. I'm working on a project for Miss Soryu, a power source for her machine. Tentative, but the theories are sound." Well. For Etherite theories, anyway. For most other normal scientists it might seem a little out there.

"Been keeping busy, I see?"

[morphitudinous]

"Go ahead," he waved to their databases. "If you'd like another set of eyes to look it over, I'd be happy to help."

After a pause, he withdrew his project from behind the wall. It almost looked like a tiny egg. "This is a shielding device prototype in its earliest stages. When it's completed, we'll have portable energy fields capable of blocking most lasers. I've been testing different materials to use as the shell."

It was an almost enjoyable little project, and it kept him busy.

[sonofether.livejournal.com]

Stephen slid his goggles down over his eyes and leaned in to get a better look at the prototype, the beginnings of a grin quirking at the corners of his mouth.

"I like it. I wonder if Miss Soryu would be averse to having something like that on her unit? She doesn't seem particularly concerned with defense, but..." Sometimes the best defense was a good offense. And, frankly, Stephen was on her team, now. At least in his own mind.

"Feel free to take a look once I get it uploaded. I've always been of the belief that two heads are better than one." Especially when it came to geniuses.

[morphitudinous]

"She's not concerned with defense? I suppose her offensive arsenal must be superior." He shook his head, smiling slightly as the upload progressed.

"We are, most of the time. It depends on the experience of the heads involved." Now it was a waiting game as the upload approached completion, and he was left to eye Stephen curiously.

"Do you need anything else while you're here?" In truth, he'd been a little lonely for once.

[sonofether.livejournal.com]

"Not precisely, but I haven't any place else to be, either. Unless I'm interrupting you--if so I could certainly find something else to do." Well, he could always go back to his own lab, but after a while, he got a bit stir crazy after looking at the same four unadorned walls all the time.

"That or you could always give me something to do. Or--did you need something?" He arched his brows questioningly.

[morphitudinous]

"I'm sure I could too, yet here I am," he smiled slightly.

Billy started twiddling with his thumbs, wishing he'd put some small wires in his hand to twist. "We haven't talked lately. Did you want to?"

Awkward, but curious about the person he was beginning to consider a friend.

[sonofether.livejournal.com]

Stephen chuckled, but it was pleased, rather than malicious. He nodded, and then spread his hands.

"Anything specific you wanted to know? I can't precisely say I'm an open book, but I'll at least attempt to tell you about anything you ask about."

[morphitudinous]

Few people were open books. Open books tended to have their pages smudged by careless people. With a slight lean forward, Billy launched into his first question.

"What do you do to entertain yourself?" A simple question, maybe, but Billy was looking for something.

[sonofether.livejournal.com]

"I read a lot of Popular Mechanic, back home," Stephen quipped. "I hung out with my best friend, Morgan, and people he knew. We screwed around a lot, doing things kids do. Drag raced our cars. Paintball. Snowboarding when it was cold--we lived in Pittsburgh for a while."

If he had the option, he'd still do some of the above. The paintball and snowboarding especially--the Sensoriums would be perfect for that. He missed his car a little too much to make a replica, though.

"That's not all though. I had my own lab, and I did a bunch of building stuff there. Weird science stuff. I never really exploded much of anything, probably because I was lucky. My dad got really pissed when I hotwired his DeLorean, though..."

So did the DeLorean, but he wasn't going to mention that part.

[morphitudinous]

Billy looked suitably impressed. Paintball? Snowboarding? He hadn't been brave enough to try those things yet.

"I was similar, though I was rarely brave enough to compete in sports. My lab was in my family's garage, and I did suffer the occasional explosion."

A somewhat embarrassed smile appeared on his face at the thought of those explosions. "Wow, you hotwired? What was the motivation?"

[sonofether.livejournal.com]

Stephen chuckled a bit at that. "What wasn't? It was a DeLorean! I loved Back to the Future when I was a kid, although the later movies were sort of silly."

He grinned, shaking his head a bit. "I never really lived the hotwiring down, though. I still get reminded of it, sometimes. Anyway, you should come to the Sensoriums sometime and try snowboarding, or skiing at least. I kind of had a bit of skateboarding under my belt before I tried that. Skiing is easier, since you don't have to worry about your balance as much."

[morphitudinous]

"Back to the...Future?"

A nod at the sport suggestions. "Over time, my friends introduced me to more and more sports. We rarely had snow in California, so snow sports were some of the few we didn't try. If I have free time, I may try it out."

Billy snorted. "I had my own mishaps, particularly involving the explosions. I once burnt my eyebrows off---that was a particularly amusing matter to my classmates."

Then, quietly: "I wonder if it was amusing to Marco as well."

SuperBee, al Rescate!

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

Sniffing metal isn't the oddest thing he's done in his life. He's done some odd things and really, that had been on the more mundane side. Having sniffed things out and organised each metal type to a practically OCD level of neat-freak-ness -- complete with labels despite his bad writing! -- Renne had taken a bit of time to play.

Now, he's back in Engineering, still somewhat immersed in a game of Superhero. He's over here, on crawl-level rather than walking, with his plushie in one paw. Said plushie at the moment, has on a blue "cape" made from some scrap cloth and it's "flying" about.

"Eeeeeee, Rrrrraowrrrr! SOO-PERRR BEE, hell-p! Doo-doo-dooo! SOO-PERR BEE, is RRRRES-CUE!"

Re: SuperBee, al Rescate!

[morphitudinous]

What was that noise?

Human feet padded over to this spot on the grounds, wondering if there was a disturbance. Instead, the searching human found a very familiar face...playing. With his favorite plushie, which of course was a likeness of him.

Billy instantly felt his darker thoughts from before evaporate.

"Who is Bee rescuing?" he asked, barely holding back a note of pleased embarrassment mixed in with his happiness.

Re: SuperBee, al Rescate!

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

"Eeee! Bad Woof go-t krrrit-terrr, ahn-d Woof wahn-t eat ahn-d ma-ke to bad!"

Swoop, soar, dive. Yep, it's a SuperBee plushie "battling against a pack of evil wolf-creatures, fully intent upon devouring a sacrifice and turning a whole group of aliens into servants of evil"!

[morphitudinous]

"Bee will solve this. He'll draw the wolves away somehow, right?"

Billy didn't bother to point out that he can't fly. Sometimes detail just gets in the way of harmless fun. Even he knows that.

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

"Eey-ess. Bee ahl-ways do. See?"

Swoop. Why, he's a ferocious plushie against the evil wolf-monsters! Two are down!

"Rrrrraowrrr! Doo-doo-doo! Soo-perrr Beeee!"

[morphitudinous]

Blast it all, he laughed and...high-fived the little plushie.

"He's doing pretty well for himself."

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

"Ee-yess. Soo-perrr Bee ge-t Bad Woof! Rrrraowrrr!"

By now, he's bouncing just a bit, taking on the role of the chief "big bad wolf-monster". Rowr-chirping and generally pretending to be a fearsome foe!

SuperBee? That's your cue.

[morphitudinous]

"You're mine, Bad Wolf!"

Diving (careful of the equipment, they're still in a lab), he grabs Renne and rolls them to plant the imp on top. Tickling is go!

If Stephen shows up soon, Billy's reputation will be shot.

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

"Rrrraowrrrr! Eeee!"

Of course, he's careful here. With that in mind, the "bad wolf monster" squirms and rowrs but as yet, doesn't show signs of surrendering.

"Soo-perrr Bee noh ge-t! Rrrraowrrrr!"

[morphitudinous]

"Not until you stop hurting the innocent!"

All of it is clearly a joke. Billy proceeds with his tickling, mercilessly going after knees.

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

"Eeeee! Eeeee, Bad Woof do surrr-en-derrr!"

Squeal, squirm. And then? Ha-ha, the knees! The weak spot! Down the dastardly Bad Wolf Monster goes. And yes, he plays up the "being defeated" act quite well.

[morphitudinous]

"And that's that," Billy says with a small smile, falling back against the floor and grinning. He lets Renne rest for now, waiting until he's ready to talk.