Who: Tinkerbell and Derek Souza When: Mid October Where: UCI What: Random Encounter Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete
Derek wasn’t sure what he was doing at this gathering. One of his professors had insisted he go and Derek wanted to stay on the guy’s good side. But really, social gatherings weren’t his thing. At least there was food. Derek wasn’t one to turn down food, especially free food. You wouldn’t know it by looking at him, but the guy could eat.
He stood in the corner awkwardly, a plate full of appetizers in his hand. How long did he have to stay at this thing?
Belle was wandering through the party… thing… and was also wondering what on Earth she was doing here. This was one of those mixers where different heads of different departments would gather to pat each other on the back for their inclusiveness. And grad students were all invited to support… the faculty? Belle didn’t really understand how these things went, but there was free food, so she came. And hey, maybe she’d meet… people?
She found a spot near the corner and tried to juggle a plate of food and a drink, but ended up dropping a mini quiche off her plate. It fell to the floor and rolled a couple feet, only to make contact with someone’s boot. Belle went pink and bent down to pick it up, still juggling the two things and having a hard time with it.
Derek remained in the corner, eyes scanning over the other attendees. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. Sometimes he wished he had Simon’s charm. It’d make things like this a hell of a lot easier.
There was someone else there that seemed out of place. He spotted a blonde haired girl who had dropped her food and seemed to be struggling to pick it up. Derek had great reflexes and while he wasn’t fast enough to catch the quiche he could still help. “Let me hold that for you,” Derek said grabbing her plate from her without even waiting for a response.
Belle was a little surprised--and feeling quite sheepish--at the sound of the other man’s voice. She turned bright eyes to him, wearing an embarrassed half-smile. “Thanks,” she said, then bent down to pick up the fallen food, and tossed it into a nearby bin. Then she came back for the plate.
“I don’t know why they don’t have… tables. Or something. You know? People can’t eat and drink while holding all this crap in their hands,” she smiled apologetically.
“Clearly party planning isn’t their thing.” He had no idea who the hell had even planned this thing. One of his professors had been adamant that he showed up so he assumed it was some sort of faculty or administrator that had planned it. Probably an administrator. “They should just stick to teaching,” he added handing her plate of food back to her.
“Agreed,” Belle said, and gave him another smile. “Thanks. I’m… Belle. Mechanical Engineering.” She would have offered him her hand, but suddenly she had her hands full again. So she slipped the edge of the disposable cup between her teeth so she could offer a hand to him to shake.
“Derek. Medicine,” he replied shaking Belle’s hand quickly before she dropped her drink . “What got you interested in Mechanical Engineering?” Look at him, making small talk.
Hey, that’s what these mixers were for, right? Small talk. Networking. It beat the heck out of Belle what a Mechanical Engineer and a Medical student would have to network for, but who was she to question these things?
“I like inventing things.” She said, and gave him a smile. “I’ve been doing it since I was a kid. What about you? Medicine’s pretty demanding.” Not that she didn’t think he could do it. She passed no judgements.
That may be what mixers were for, but it certainly wasn’t something Derek was good at. Or talking, in general. Unless it was about science.
“Have you invented anything yet?” he asked his curiosity honestly piqued. He didn’t think it would be anything he had heard of, might not even be patented. But if she had been inventing things her whole life there had to be a creation or two out there.
“I’ve always been into science,” Derek admitted. “Science fairs were my favorite time of the year,” when he was growing up that was. “But genetics is what I’m most interested in.”
“Oh yeah. I’ve got, like, four patents, or something. Not sure what to do with them, but…” Belle shrugged her shoulders in a whaddya gonna do? sort of way. She didn’t have much of a head for business, so her dad was helping her with the patent applications. It was exciting to have them, now she just needed to know what to do with them.
“Yeah, me, too!” Belle lit up a little at that thought. She had great memories of science fairs and Maker Faire and building things with her brothers. “Wow, genetics! That’s heavy stuff. Finding out what makes us all tick?”
“On what?” Derek ask curious to what she had invented. As far as science fairs went, Derek didn’t really make anything. He was more into experiments. Always winning first place too. “Not so much what makes us all tick, although that’s the reason I got into it. But I’m more interested in genetic diseases.”
“Things I’ve invented. I’ve got one on a new heating mechanism for a toaster. I can program my toaster to toast different designs or even words into the bread. It’s pretty cool. I put the first thirty digits of pi into slices on March fourteenth.” Belle was a complete nerd. She nodded in response to his answer. “Genetic diseases? Like, Downs Syndrome?” Belle didn’t know much about that kind of thing. She wasn’t great in biology.
Obviously things she invented. Derek almost looked at her like she was an idiot for feeling the need to clarify that, but then she went on to explain her toaster invention. “Perfect breakfast,” he almost smirked at the thought. “Yeah, like Down Syndrome,” that was the most common one. There were a lot of others too, but Derek didn’t feel the need to name them all. It seemed like Belle basically got it.
“Right? I think my dad’s looking into a company that might want to use the technology to make a toaster for residential use. You know, like a Sky Mall product, or something? We’re still working things out, though. And it’s not really… I mean, it bleeds over a lot. So I’ll have to continue to figure things out.” She was pretty proud of that invention. It was her favorite to use at home, too.
“Ah. I guess there’s a lot of things that need to be studied. How genetics and genetic mutations and stuff can affect… ah… people.” She said, lamely. “Good for you.” She cleared her throat. “Well, I should… get some food. It was really nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too,” Derek said with a half smile. He meant it too, which was rare for Derek. But even if he had enjoyed meeting her he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep up the small talk. “See you around, Belle.”