Adrien Agreste has a (featherallergy) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2020-07-20 11:31:00 |
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Entry tags: | adrien agreste (cat noir), nova artino |
Who: Adrien and Nova
What: Random run-in
When: Recently
Where: Some store
Rating/Warnings: None
Status: Complete when posted
This was one of those moments when Adrien couldn’t even lie to himself that the choices Gabriel was making made any sense. If it was so important for Adrien to have the newest phone and computer and everything else technology wise then why didn’t he just have Nathalie pick it all up for him from the stores? Why did he have to take what little time he had outside of school and work, the time he got for his homework and sometimes maybe friends, to go and try to figure this out by himself? She was still Gabriel’s assistant even though she was now Adrien’s legal guardian and wasn’t one of her jobs still to make sure Gabriel’s instructions were followed to the letter?
He wished Alya had been able to come with him. Technology and the internet were things she got on a level he would never match and maybe all of these specifications he was looking at would have made sense to her. To him it just looked like a bunch of numbers and letters arranged in what was supposed to be some type of order. He let out a sigh as he looked around one more time to see if he could find the clerk who’d helped him last time he’d been in here. They’d thought his accent and obvious cluelessness about all of this had been cute but they weren’t working tonight.
***
Nova had never had a phone before. Not a smart phone, at least. She had, for a while, had an old flip phone so that she could contact The Family or they could contact her if they needed to, but that had been all it was. There hadn’t even been a texting option, and if she ever made any calls that her uncle couldn’t recognize, he would ask her about them.
This was different. Leroy had thought that if Nova was going to start college and was going to start meeting people her own age, then it was about time that she got a proper phone. Her peers would think it was strange if all she used was the old brick, and he’d gone to talk to her uncle on her behalf. He’d come out of the meeting with a bloody lip, but he’d smiled and told her that she was in the clear, and so, here she was, looking for her first ever phone.
And she was excited. She’d done her homework - weeks of diligent research on the various brands of phones and what would best suit her needs. She’d come alone - Leroy didn’t currently have any warrants out, but he was a known criminal and they all agreed that it was best if Nova wasn’t caught in the company of any of the Family for the time being - which meant that she had time to test out all the test phones, even the ones that she was sure that she didn’t want.
She was just about to look at one of the Huawei’s when she accidentally made eye contact with a blond guy who looked completely lost. She quickly looked back at the phone that she was looking at, wondering if she could get away with pretending she hadn’t seen him. But no, she couldn’t. Not to herself, at least.
“Do you need help?” she asked, putting down the phone.
***
Adrien had noticed the girl not that far from him looking at the phones. She obviously knew more about this than he did and he could easily have asked her for help but she was a customer herself and something in that didn’t strike him as right. He blushed a little when she heard her question. “That obvious I’m out of my depths here?”
***
“It’s written all over your face,” Nova confirmed. “It almost looks like you’ve never seen a phone in your life.”
***
Adrien laughed at her comment, realizing how true it was. “Normally my guardian buys the new devices for me. This time though...all I was told was to upgrade to the best. And no way of knowing how to figure out what that would be.”
***
Nova didn’t catch the use of guardian instead of parent, and there was a part of her that wondered a little about it, but she wasn’t about to pry into someone’s family situation. That normally resulted in people asking about her family life, and that was the last thing she wanted or was able to talk about.
Especially since the family she had on paper was completely made up.
“Well, depends what you’re using as a measure of ‘best,’” Nova said. “Are you looking for durability? Processing speed? Space or how good the camera is? Bang for your buck?”
***
Adrien thought for a moment about the answer to those rapid fire questions. “Money isn’t a consideration. I’m thinking probably space is the main priority? And the camera.” It would make sense he thought. Maybe. Plus he could use a good camera on the phone to take pictures when he was with Alya and her family.
***
Nova nodded, considering. If money wasn’t a consideration, it sure opened a lot of doors. Looking at him, she thought she might have recognized him… “you’re on that Network, aren’t you?” she suddenly. “The one who didn’t know how Google worked?”
***
Adrien gave an almost embarrassed laugh at that question as he nodded. “That’s me. Adrien Agreste if you want a shorter name for me.” He joked, rolling with the situation as much as he could.
***
“Nova McLain,” Nova said, a barely perceptible stumble before she said her last name. But, well, that made it easy. Lots of space, good camera, decent processing speed. And dead easy to use. “Over here,” Nova said, leading Adrien to a particular display phone. “I think this is the phone for you.”
***
Adrien noticed that little pause before she gave her last name but he didn’t say anything about that. Maybe she had just changed her name and was still getting used to it. He looked over the phone she was recommending, noticing it looked a lot like the one who already had so hopefully he wouldn’t have to learn a new operating system just to use it. “It looks a lot like the phone I have now so that’s a point in my favor right?”
***
“I think if anything, it’s a point in my favour,” Nova said with a cheeky smile, the first genuine one she’d given so far. “I’m the one who picked it out, after all. Guess that proves that I know my stuff.”
***
Adrien’s smile was one of those rare genuine ones that normally only his friends got. “You have a point there. And I don’t think you knowing your stuff was ever in doubt by me. I apologize if I made it seem like it was.” Manners drilled into him by tutors over the years coming out in full force.
***
“I wasn’t sure I knew my stuff,” Nova said, laughing. Sure, she’d spent the last couple of days learning all she could about all the phones on the market, but research iwas not actual experience. “I’ve never actually had a cell phone before,” she said, and then hesitated. “Well, not a smartphone, at least. I used to have one of those old bricks that couldn’t connect to the internet.” Had Nova tried, she probably could have found a way to make it connect to the internet, but what was the point if it didn’t have a screen? It seemed like it would be easier to just get something that had that capability already and modify it how she liked afterward.
***
"There have been times I've been tempted to get one of those just for a break from all of this but it would be my luck that it wouldn't be able to connect a network." Adrien admitted with a grin.
***
“Oh yeah, there’s definitely no Network access on my old phone,” Nova said. “What exactly do you need a break from?”
***
"Facebook and instagram mainly." Adrien admitted. It was mentally exhausting to him to keep up with the image his father had decided on for his presence on those platforms.
***
“Sounds rough,” Nova said. She’d never actually used either of the platforms. Her uncle had warned her away from social media, talking about how it heralded the further degradation of society and how it drowned out any intelligent or nuanced discourse, and how disappointed he would be in her if she was ever to fall victim to such trivialities. Valarnet might have been the first and only social media platform she’d ever used, but from what she had seen, she couldn’t help but agree with Alec.
“I hear they’re a real timesuck. Why not just get rid of them if you need a break from them?”
***
“Work. I have to keep an active profile on them for my career.” Adrien told her with a shrug.
***
“What is it you do?” Nova asked. “I’m going to assume you’re not some sort of social media tech guy,” she added with a teasing smily.
***
Adrien laughed at her teasing and shook his head. “Smart assumption to make. I’m a model. Primarily for the French brand Gabriel but I’ve been working with some others since moving to California.”
***
Of course he was a model, who wasn’t in this area of California? She supposed she could see it though, he was cute enough, if you liked them blond and fresh faced. “Guess that’s why having a good camera is so important,” Nova said.
***
“Probably. Even if I would be more likely to just use it to take pictures of my friends.” Adrien told her.
***
“You don’t think that your adoring fans would want to see all the great selfies you could take with that great forward facing camera?” Nova asked, quirking an eyebrow, her sarcasm only a little detectable.
***
Adrien laughed at that question. “But what if I don’t want to share them all?” he asked her.
***
“You’ll have to take that up with your fans,” Nova said, shrugging. Her uncle had never really let her watch TV or check out the teen magazines that she always saw sitting on the shelves. Honestly, she didn’t really know why people would want to see photos of some stranger, even if he was kind of cute.
"Anything else you wanted advice on?" she asked.
***
“Or...leave Nathalie to deal with my not sharing.” Adrien told her, a little hint of his mischievous nature showing through for a moment.
“No. Thank you for helping me with this. Now to find an employee to get this model from.”
***
“Glad I could help,” Nova said, not quite smiling. Now, time for her to find herself a phone.