Rikku is aggressively cheerful. (justrikku) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-07-23 01:32:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, kim hyun-ae, rikku |
Who: Rikku and Hyun-ae.
What: Engineering, man!
When: This past Saturday, 7/20.
Where: Rikku's place.
Rating: PG!
Status: Complete!
Hyun-ae arrived at Rikku’s place with a bag of snacks and a couple iced coffees. She had some things for Rikku to put in since she didn’t know how the girl liked her coffee or if she liked coffee at all but she didn’t really mind.
She’d drink it herself if she had to.
She walked up and knocked on the door.
Rikku opened the door, goggles on her eyes and shorts spattered with motor oil. “Hey! You ready to get your hands dirty?”
Blinking, Hyun-ae nodded her head. She’d worn old jeans and an older shirt. “Yeah! I don’t mind dirt! I want to see if I really like this sort of thing!”
“Well, I’m working on a robot that gives hugs now, just to be silly. It’s a competition with a few other engineers,” she chuckled. Flopping down on the floor, she got out her tools and started to assemble some gears together.
"That's kind of fun though." Hyun-ae sat as well, holding out one of the drinks. "Are they cushioned? Wouldn't a robot hug hurt?"
“I was going to cushion the arms and set a level so that it won’t squish any people.” Rikku grinned, accepting the drink with a thank you.
“What if you made kitten robots that hugged?” Hyun-ae suggested, thinking that would be cuddlier.
Rikku’s eyes lit up. “Everyone likes kittens,” she mused aloud.
“Yes! I have cat ears and I kind of brought them but I didn’t know they’d work but I did cospaly as a kitty once....” Hyun-ae blushed a bit as she pulled them out.
“Oh, any kitty in particular?” Rikku grinned, motioning for Hyun-ae to put the ears on even as she made sure her goggles were fitting snugly.
“The one from Darkstalkers,” she replied, pulling the ears on. Like they were some sort of badge or work accessory.
“Morrigan? Wait, no, she was the witch. Felicia?” Rikku cocked her head to the side, still rewiring things. Her fingers moved with purpose.
“Yeah! Felicia! And I think she was a succubus. Morrigan. She had the bat wings! Ooh you’d make a great Morrigan!” She scooted closer to watch. It was less complex than the systems her father had worked on, and she started to grasp it quickly.
“Eh, I never was a Darkstalkers person. I always wanted to be Chun Li.” Rikku grinned. She’d liked the bouncy, happy characters, of course!
“She’s fun too. I could help you with that!” She was all over the idea of dragging someone into the world of cosplay. Especially cute people, so they could fight the creeps with the power of cute.
Rikku never thought about cosplaying, but she’d probably be able to make some really kick ass props.
“So what’s this you’re doing? Working on the tension so the robot doesn’t kill someone?”
Nodding, Rikku looked up. “How’d you know?”
“Well you can see the tension wires here.” She pointed. “I guess that they led to the arms. Right?”
“Right. Who taught you engineering?” Rikku stopped soldering for a moment.
“My dad...” She chewed her lip, looking at Rikku worriedly. “I mean I dreamed it. It was just...I don’t know. So real.”
Blinking, Rikku looked up. “You have dreams like that too? I think a lot of people around here do. My girlfr - this girl I’m seeing? She can do all sorts of awesome things because of them.”
“I don’t think I do anything more often then shadow my dad and learn from him.” she smiled sheepishly. “It’s probably nothing.”
“It’s awesome is what it is! Don’t do that, you know cool things, and you’re a fast learner. Be proud of that!” Rikku grinned brightly.
It made Hyun-ae smile. “I wonder if I’ll do awesome things like your...friend..” And she blushed at that word. “But just working on a big ship like that was nice.”
“Well, if you want to be an engineer, you totally could.” Rikku powered up her prototype, watching as it reached out for Hyun-ae. And denial about the whole friend thing was go! Rikku didn’t want to think about what it meant that she’d almost slipped up. And she didn’t want to tell Kitty.
“I know some people might be annoyed because I’m a girl, but I figure they weren’t very good people to begin with,” Hyun-ae replied. She eyed Rikku a little bit, but decided she wasn’t going to be a nagging auntie or something and call Rikku on it. She didn’t know her well enough.
“Those people are stupid. It shouldn’t matter.” Rikku hated guys who were all ‘girls don’t belong in robotics’. She generally tried to bite them.
"Yeah!" Hyun-ae couldn't agree more. "It's like in cosplay..they like looking at us but then they treat us like crap for wanting to play dress up."
Rikku wrinkled her nose. “Boys are smelly and sometimes I hate them but there’s a few who’re nice.”
“I think some boys are awesome? Some girls too. It depends on the person, but really, what does it matter?”
“Exactly.” Rikku shook her head. “I just mean like... we don’t get paid as much as boys and there’s not as many women in the government and all of that is just ... poopie.” She was a feminist, but her rant was ruined by Rikku’s natural tendency to be adorable.
“Some day...” Hyun-ae said, with a soft grin. “Maybe you should build a robot, the best robot ever built, to prove that girls can do anything better than guys.”
“That’s the plan!” Always had been, too. She wanted to make nanogenes that could cure cancer, or regrow limbs or something. Someday.
“I believe you can do it. Just look at this thing! You don’t seem that far away from some kind of … artificial muscle.”
“That’s a great idea, you know. For people with atrophied limbs or who experience muscle loss...” Rikku was off and running with the idea, jotting things down on a notepad she used to jot down her thoughts.
“Huh.” She hadn’t thought about that. She was just thinking robotics and engineering, but that was a real world application. This was neat!
Rikku grinned at her new friend. “Thanks for coming over. I still don’t have a lot of friends outside of work yet.”
“You’re really nice, I’m sure you’ll be swimming in friends soon enough!” She gave Rikku an impulsive hug. “I’m not that good at making them. I mean I have some, but I don’t have that many. I think I talk too much.”
Rikku hugged back. “I think you talk just enough.” She was kind of the same way, truth be told.
“Thanks, Rikku.” She squeezed a bit, and made a little squeaking sound.
“We’re a lot alike, I think,” Rikku beamed.
Hyun-ae flushed. “Well I am pretty awesome, so that means you’re pretty awesome.”
Rikku laughed. “See?” She turned on the little robot to see how it moved, evaluating everything.
It was amazing, to Hyun-ae. It reminded her of some of the little bots that were used to make repairs on the generation ship. Only cooler looking.
It was still too herky jerky for Rikku’s liking, so she sighed, turning it off and fiddling with it.
“What was wrong with it?” She asked, looking at Rikku, a little confused.
“I don’t think it moves smoothly enough. You know how cats are sleek? A cat robot would be too.”
“Oh. Maybe you’re over tightening it?” Hyun-ae sounded apologetic.
“That’s what I was thinking. And some WD-40,” Rikku grinned. “That stuff fixes everything.”
“Yeah? Is there anything it can’t fix??”
“Open wounds are about the only thing I’ve found!” Rikku saluted.
“Eew wouldn’t that burn?” She blinked, wide-eyed.
“Exactly, that’s why it’s stinky for it.” Rikku wrinkled her nose.
“Okay so no oil on open wounds.” It sounded to her like Rikku might have had experience with that. A cut when working on a robot maybe! She hugged her impulsively. Again.
Laughing, Rikku hugged her back. “Do you have any family around here?” It seemed like Hyun-ae needed friends too.
“Just my parents. Most of our family is in Korea. The North of Korea.” She shrugged a shoulder. She’d never even spoke to any of her cousins or aunts and uncles. “I’m got friends but no one really close, I guess.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. That’s got to be hard.” Rikku figured they weren’t in a lot of contact. “Well, we’re friends now, right?”
“Can we be?” Hyun-ae sat up on her haunches, then leaned forward, before starting to topple over in a great flailing of arms.
“Of course we can, silly.” Rikku grinned and helped to catch her. “Who doesn’t want more friends?”
“Stupid people?”
“Exactly.” Rikku beamed, bouncing a little herself.