Dr. Horrible thinks the status is NOT quo. (billy_horrible) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-01-13 17:50:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, billy horrible, tinkerbell |
Who: Billy Horrible, Tink
What: Drinks
When: Evening, Friday December 21st
Where: A corner bar
Rating: Low
Status: Complete
With Christmas and the rest of the holidays getting closer (and luckily, no apparent Mayan apocalypse), Billy had nearly forgotten that he'd asked the girl who fixed his car out for drinks at all. In fact, it wasn't until after an awkward text conversation ("uh. what. who is this?") that he remembered at all. Maybe it was time he started keeping a daily log.
Anyway! Out for drinks they would go! Billy's button up shirt was ruined by having to wear a winter coat, but there was nothing to be done about it. It didn't matter much anyway -- they'd agreed on a local corner bar to meet at anyway. Those were always the best because there weren't annoying 20 something's out trying to have the night of their lives. Which really meant that the darts and pool tables were always empty, and the jukebox was always available. Old people didn't have a particular interest in that kind of thing, anyway. Plus you never really had to wait for drinks!
Tink was glad to get out of the shop for a while. She’d been working incredibly long hours, trying to get everything done and in place before Christmas, so that people could have their cars for the holiday. Not every car could have the work finished, but Tink was getting her hands dirty trying. It also meant that she was exhausted.
She came into the bar to meet up with Billy, her hair a little bit of a mess and her clothes slightly disheveled. She’d been in her coveralls all day, and hadn’t had time to run home and shower before coming to meet him for drinks. She hoped that he wouldn’t mind, and she hoped she didn’t smell like slightly used engine oil.
Lucky for her, Billy was possibly the most lax person on the planet when it came to dress standards. It was probable that he wouldn’t even really notice. He waved her over when he spotted her, that half smile - half twitchy expression on his face. He made the effort to turn his phone over too, so he wouldn’t be compelled to look at it. “Hey.”
“Hi.” Tink said, breaking into a bright smile as she joined him at his table. It was a nice, quiet, little bar, and Tink waved to the bartender. “What are we having?” She asked. He’d offered to buy drinks, that mean that he was in charge, right? It was one of those little intricacies of human interaction that Tink didn’t quite understand.
Billy had never heard that rule, personally -- then again, he didn’t go out for drinks with ladies all that often. Even so, he was a liberal sort of guy in his own right. And also a bit clueless. So he rose his eyebrows and shrugged. “Whatever you want?”
“Oh. All right.” Tink gave him a smile. “Rum and coke?” That seemed like a pretty simple thing. Drink thing. Not girly, but not boyly, either. She liked the taste of it, and that was the important part, right?
“Gotcha,” Billy drummed his fingers against the table for a short second, before holding up a hand to say he’d be back in a second -- getting up to grab the drinks from the bar. This was an odd experience for him, but if anything his outing with Alice a month or so earlier had taught him the vital lesson of chilling out.
Tink nodded, then leaned back in her chair. It was a nice place. She turned to glance around the bar, and noticed a dart board. It got her thinking about how she could construct a mechanical, dart-throwing arm to attach to her shoulder and make her exceptional at throwing darts. She was counting the number of things she’d need in her head, and was off in her own little world for a few moments.
She appeared to still be in her own little world when Billy returned with the drinks. He sat the two glasses down and then sat down himself. He stared at her for a short moment, noting she was looking at more or less nothing. Raising his eyebrows, he gave a little cough.
Cough? Dart boards didn’t cough. Tink came to suddenly and turned to look at Billy, sitting across from her. A gentle smile crossed her features. “Oh. Drinks. Hi.” She said, her smile turning rather sheepish in the dimly lit bar.
“Hi,” said Billy, with his signature little face tick. He couldn’t control it -- it was a sign of--well. Something. Who knew. “You okay?”
“Yes. Distracted. It happens.” She gave him a smile. “Do you play darts?”
At that question, Billy eyed the dart board - a little warily. “I have thrown darts at a board before,” he said. “But I could not be called a professional.”
Tink turned her eyes toward the dart board, following his, then glanced back at him again. That was a strange way of phrasing it. “...I didn’t expect you were. Aren’t you … um... a professional blogger?”
“Yes,” said Billy, grinning suddenly. “That’s what they pay me for, anyway. It’s good for having a lot of spare time, you know? To do things that I really want.”
“Yeah,” Tink said, giving him a grin. “What do you really want to do?” She added, lifting her drink for a sip.
“I, uhm. Make things. Well. I build things.” Billy frowned, considering how to explain it. “Electronics.” She’d probably get it. It wasn’t like she didn’t fix things for a living, too.
Tink gave a gasp that turned into a squee. “You do?? That’s what I do!!” She laughed. “I’m a mechanic by training and trade, but I’m an inventor in my spare time.”
“What? Really? Get out of town!” Billy -- was honestly a bit lame when it came down to it, but hey, he was fine with it. He leaned forward a little, as if their conversation was a great, exciting secret. “What have you made?”
Tink laughed. “Yes! Wait, did you just say ‘get out of town’?” She asked, but shook her head, happily. “So far I’ve been making things to help me at the mechanic shop, along with a couple of silly inventions at home.” She said, blushing a bit. “I’m working on a robot. Hopefully I’ll get the soldering iron that I want for Christmas.”
Billy flushed and gave his trademark eye-twitch which could in no way be described as a wink. He had said that. He gave a faintly apologetic smile. “What kind of robot? You know, you could probably get a pretty useful design going -- if you modified the idea of iPhones Siri-- you know, the bit you talk to and request information from?” Oh, no! Brainstorm!
“Yes! I’ll have to look into the software that recognizes vocal commands. I mean, what good is a robot if it doesn’t listen to you?” Tink asked, grinning.
“Exactly,” agreed Billy, possibly a little too emphatically. It was clear he’d probably thought on this one for a bit himself, already. “I’m sure there’s got to be some sort of open source program for it already to build upon, too.”
“Oh, I’m sure. I’ll start looking into it. I’ve got a back log of Make Magazine. Have you read Make?” She asked, glad to have someone to talk to about making robots and things.
“I’ve read some Make, yeah.” Billy gave an expression that probably gave away how he really felt about the magazine. “Some of the ideas are good, if you can avoid all the art and craft sections in between that.”
“Well, that’s true. I’m not interested in knitting or making stuffed animals out of socks. But for the rest of the mag, it’s pretty good.” Tink said, giving him a smile. “I spend a lot of time cutting things out of magazines, the things that I want to check out later.”
That was... adorable. Seriously. This girl was adorable. Billy couldn’t help but just smile and shake his head. He wasn’t even sure what to say about it.
“I’ll have to show you my collection sometime.” She said, lifting her cup in a cheers, then she sipped from it, triumphantly.
“And I’d love to see it,” Billy replied, terribly amused. It would be fun to see what exactly this girl meant to invent in her free time.