Who: Stuart and Setsuna Where: the park When: mid day Why: Random Warnings: none Status: Completed GDoc
Setsuna was sitting at a picnic table in the park, her long green hair braided back today though it still touched the ground, she had a stack of papers before her, and a stack of books. They were physics books. Both regular and quantum. She had a red pen out and a large mug of tea.
She sighed and set the pen down to take a sip from the mug. Students were exhausting, she decided.
Stuart had been working on his fitness. He wasn't buff, he had to accept the fact he was never going to be buff like Thomas. But he was more in shape than he'd ever been. And he was dedicated to staying that way, which was why he was out early on his day off, jogging in the park. No one was with him to keep him on task, he had ear buds in, using music to keep himself motivated.
But after a while, he needed to take a break. He made his way to the picnic tables, and pulled his water bottle out of his pocket, and promptly dropped it. It rolled right over to someone's feet. Stuart gave her a sheepish smile as he tugged the buds out of his ears and let the wires fall to his shoulders. "Sorry. Mind if I...if I just reach down and get that?"
Setsuna looked as the water bottle rolled by her feet then up at the young man who dropped it. "Here." she leaned down so he wouldn't be any more awkward than he already appeared to be and handed it out to him. "Here, hope it's not too dirty." she smiled warmly. She was pleasant, and gave off the feeling of being very, very old.
****
"No, it's fine." Stuart wiped off the dirt, but since the bottle had been cold and was a little bit sweaty, some of the dirt clung to it and he had to use his shirt to wipe it off. Uncapping it, he shrugged. The lip of the bottle had been under the cap, so it was clean. Fine for drinking. He took a generous sip, and recapped it.
"Sorry, though. I should have been more careful." He was a clumsy oaf, and he knew it. The only time his clumsiness wasn't really an issue ever was when he was working on a device. "I hope I didn't interrupt you?"
***
She nodded softly as she set her own mug down and rested her arms on the picnic table. "No, I was taking a break from grading final papers. It is a welcome interruption if anything." Setsuna smiled gently at the boy, clumsy she knew. Usagi was clumsy as all get out. She could manage that.
***
He nodded, and while he didn't look at her papers to see what was on them, he glanced at the stack. ""I guess being a teacher, grading papers is the bane of your existence." He felt like that was probably true. He had no desire to ever teach. Well, he'd teach someone how to work on a computer or something. Hands on. Not on paper. That seemed boring.
***
"It can be. I teach various forms of physics. They can get very.. interesting." she laughed softly as she shook her head a bit as she tapped the papers. "And boring after awhile reading the same thing over and over again"
***
"Physics? Wow. You must be smart." He hadn't done particularly well in science type classes. Or math, really. Technology was his strong point. That was why he worked with computers. "That's cool though. That you share your interest with students." It seemed a reasonable assumption, anyway.
***
"It was an interest of mine." she said with a slow shrug. "I had aeons to watch it evolve into what it is today." she smiled a bit as she shook he rhead. "It is ... not something I ever thought I would be teaching, or doing. It is not my job."
***
"Are you one of the people here from somewhere else?" Stuart wasn't the smartest guy out there. But he could read between the lines. And he'd been in Madison Valley two years now. Long enough to know and accept that people came from different time and places.
***
"I am from Pluto. And the Time/Space gate, so yes." she laughed softly. "I guard time, I don't interact with people much." usually.
***
"Oh wow." That sounded like a character from one of the video games he played. He was smart enough to realise that might be insulting to say, so he didn't say it. But he thought it. And he thought it was really cool. "Being here must be really weird for you." Probably. He smiled a little. "I'm Stuart."
***
"I am Setsuna. It is a pleasure to meet you, Stuart. What do you like to too them?" She asked genuinely curious. She liked meeting new people here.
***
Stuart decided to sit down. He felt weird standing over her, looking down at her. He sat on the side of the table opposite her, and a few inches to one side so he wasn't directly in front of her.
"I like technology. Computer and phones and whatever. I like taking things apart and rebuilding them."
***
"Those are fascinating subjects too. I am not very good with them I admit." She smiled gently. "I can imagine it can be complicated work?"
***
"It's...yeah. Complicated. but I enjoy it." He smiled. He'd been raised by computers, really. His parents hadn't been hands on, had left him alone much of the time. He'd kept himself busy with the electronics. Computers were his first love, and he still loved working with them
"A friend had her phone from home with her, when she came here. But it was dead and she had no way to access the pictures on it. She gave it to me and I managed to get into it. The tech is so different than I'm used to, but I loved it. Loved the challenge of it."
**
Setsuna smiled warmly, "than that is good. A good challenge is fun. I'm glad you were able to help your friend gain access to her things." She took a drink from her mug and sighed.
***
"It was fun." He hoped he'd find another similar challenge at some point. But even if he didn't, he had the building of new computer snad what not to keep him busy. He enjoyed that just as much.
***
"I bet it was." She smiled gently. "I should get back to finishing these. It was a lovely break that you gave me and I'm thankful for it, Stuart." She smiled again as she offered her hand to him. "I am pleasedto have met you"
***
"Same," Stuart could take a hint. And he understood. he needed to get back to his run, anyway. He got to his feet, water bottle in hand, with a firm grip so he wouldn't drop it again. "See you around, Setsuna." He smiled and headed off.
***
Setsuna smiled as she waved him off.It was nice to have a break every now and then. He was a nice young man too, polite..she didn't meet many of those in this era. She turned back to the stack of papers with a smile.