Ezekiel had been to the arts centre only once before, the day of the grand opening. He had gone to show his support and eat the free food, leaving what he could in the donation box before he had left. He had known Tina for such a long time, that even he knew that it would have been a dick move to not show up.
But it went to show that Zeke had shown some growth, when he went down to the Art of Expression and rented one of their smaller theater rooms and had sent up an old timey projector - Le Prince's Stereopticon. It was an artifact from the Library, one that could show a person's memories of their past, and Ezekiel was using it to try and remember the details of a project he had been working on with Raven, back in Blackpoint. Most of the tech and notes had been in her workshop at Starfleet and, unfortunately, it hadn't come through with the Library, like his and Jake's had.
He could have easily done this at the Library, but he had figured this would actually benefit someone he called a rare friend. And he also hadn't wanted to chance Jake walking in on him staring longingly at memories of Raven. Because that was exactly what he was doing, every so often.
Frustrated at himself for being a sap, he flung the notebook he had been taking notes into one of the theater chairs and flopped down on the empty one next to it. Pulling out his cellphone, he decided to DoorDash some pizza. Order placed, he left the room to go wait outside of the converted warehouse for his food.
While this place wasn’t chaotically busy yet, like she would prefer, their numbers were doing decently for a brand new to Vallo business. She needed to sit down and find more creative ways to market some of programs that were getting less attention, she wasn't ready to consider a complete schedule change just yet, but would do it if there really was not any interest.
She was cleaning up after an art class with moms and babies, and was carrying supplies to the sinks to clean when she saw a familiar face go by through the glass doors. She had to do a double take to confirm that it was Ezekiel, and was a little surprised to see him here. As far as she knew, it wasn’t registered in any class, but there were other aspects of the facility.
The supplies could wait a few minutes, so she washed off most of the paint from her hands, and then headed out of the studio. She was stopped once or twice by parents for a moment, but eventually found herself standing in the doorways to the centre, and there he was, waiting outside.
“I thought I saw you a second ago.” she said with a smile. “What are you standing out here for?” Or what was he doing in general. He absolutely could be there, and was more than welcome, she was curious though.
Zeke hadn't planned on letting Tina know he had patronized her business, but hadn't gone out of his way to hide it from her either. So he wasn't too surprised to find her there, when she showed up in the doorways. He was a little off to the side, flipping through random social medias to pass the time, when he heard her.
"Hey," he said, turning slightly to face her. "I was just waiting on my pizza." Which didn't explain why he was there in the first place, he knew. There was no point in being secretive though, so he further explained. "I rented one of your rooms to work on a project. Hope that's okay? No explosions. Yet."
Thankfully he followed that pizza explanation up further, because that would have made her all the more confused. “Of course it’s okay.” she had to wonder what her centre might offer that the Library didn’t, but for all she knew he just wanted a change of scenery. “As long as you keep the explosions to zero. I just got this place open.” she added with a smirk. If she had to do more work from damages, she was going to be next level annoyed.
“What are you working on? Unless that’s secret.” Just because there was no Star Fleet here to do work that was years ahead of its time, didn’t mean he didn’t have something else on the go.
“Remember how Starfleet had moved into Jaeger territory?” Zeke asked, feeling a pang of loss at the words. “Well, Raven and I had been working on a plasma cannon for them before we started jumping through worlds again. Woke up yesterday morning wanting to start work on that again and so,” he shrugged, looking down at his phone and seeing that his DoorDasher was going to be there in a few minutes. “Just trying to get some notes on what we had so far.” Which still didn’t really explain why he was at the centre rather than the Library where his workshop was, but he didn’t really know how to explain that without showing her.
So he switched gears. “You hungry? I ordered pineapple ham and I guess I can share.” He wasn’t exactly sure what Tina did all day, never having seen the behind the scenes workings of the arts centre, but he figured since she was the boss, she could take a lunch whenever she wanted.
“Sure.” she said with a nod, it was hard to forget the feeling of being told they were going to be making Jaeger’s at the place she had worked in. Between Starfleet and that, Tina had woken up several mornings wondering if she should try pinching herself to make sure it was all actually happening. Tina knew next to nothing about plasma cannons, other than that they existed in some worlds. If anyone could have made one, it would have been Raven and Ezekiel. Tina was well aware that he missed her, even if he’d never say it or show any signs.
It did not explain why he was here, but that was fine. “How’s that going? Is it coming back to you?” She knew he had a brilliant mind, but she didn’t know how easy or not it would be to remember that kind of information.
“You guess? Gee, thanks.” she said with a smile. Tina glanced down at her watch, checking the time and running over her schedule. “I have a class in half an hour, but if it gets there before then, sure, I could eat.” She wasn’t starving, but it was hard to say no to pizza.
“Well, I’m using an artifact to look at my memories more closely. I can’t remember it too clearly, but I’m hoping it’s somewhere in my brain where I can get a better look,” Ezekiel explained, before hesitantly adding, “Most of the notes and prototypes were in Raven’s workshop since it was more of her expertise and that didn’t come through in the Library.” He felt like it revealed more than he liked if his face decided to betray him, but also nothing at the same time since he did his best to keep his voice neutral.
But thankfully, the delivery person arrived as a car pulled up to the building, so that he didn’t need to talk about it more. “Oh hey, pizza. Be right back!” There was a quick exchange with the driver, before a box of pizza and a bag of fries was passed through the window. Zeke waved the driver off, before holding up his spoils. “Where do you want to go? We can head to your class early if you want and eat there?”
Was an artifact looking at memories potentially dangerous? It kind of sounded like it was, but she assumed he knew what he was doing. Her lips pulled down in a slightly frown as she considered his situation. There was literally nothing he could do to help him figure out the information he was missing, but hopefully he wasn’t going to beat himself up trying to get it. “Things come through all the time though, maybe that part will follow?” Even if Raven wasn’t here, Tina wasn’t sure if that specifically mattered or not. “Is the artifact you’re using getting you anywhere?”
She was going to follow that up with another question when he was off to meet the delivery person. Tina held up open the door for him to head back into the centre. “There’s a room in the back for staff.” she said, “Head passed the washrooms. There’s tables and chairs back there.” It wasn’t anything too elaborate, just a kitchenette type area for staff to eat and sit down if they taught multiple classes or were going to be here for several hours.
Ezekiel knew about 95% of the time what he was doing. But he wasn’t too worried about Le Prince’s Stereopticon. It was mostly a harmless artifact, the fact that it was magical was why they kept it locked up. “Honestly kind of hoping her stuff doesn’t come through,” Zeke said with a wry smile. “Anyway, I’m getting enough that I have something to work off. I might do something collaborative with it. It’s just a pet project though, nothing important.”
Finding the room that Tina was directing them to, he deposited the pizza onto one of the empty tables and flopped down on a chair. He didn’t waste time, pulling the top open and getting slices for them on the paper plates that had been provided. “So how’s the business doing? I saw a couple of full classrooms when I was walking through earlier.”
She wanted to ask why he didn’t want her lab to come through, but she pushed the question aside and considered the idea of something like that being a pet project. You’d think after years it would be no surprise at all, but she still found herself thrown off by how some of these things could be so casual. “Who would you ask to collaborate with you?” she asked, curious. There were probably a number of people who might be interested, but she wasn’t sure who could potentially pull it off.
She followed him into the staff room, dropping down into another chair around the table. She waited until he got his slice before she went for one of her own. “Thanks for sharing.” she said with a smile before taking a bite.
“Decent.” she said after a moment when she was no longer chewing. “Luckily there seems to be a pretty thriving arts scene in this area, and not a lot of centers that provide more than one kind of service.” There were dance schools, art studios, but not quite like this. “We’re meeting the numbers I was hoping we would. I’d feel less stressed about it all if Gabrielle was here with me, but…” she shrugged, that wasn’t an option and she had to accept that.
“Stark maybe? Though he’s been quiet since getting here and I don’t know if he’d be cool working on a weapon, given that the last one we ran into wasn’t down with that. Maybe Doc McCoy? I don’t know, you know I’m not exactly the most social type, I haven’t really made any connections yet,” Ezekiel explained, staring at his pizza in thought. If Raven had been around, she would have pushed him to be a lot more outgoing. As it was, he focused mostly internally when it came to anything he did.
Curious how other people handled losing people cause portals were stupid, he was pretty blunt when he asked, “You ever think about finding someone else to fill her role? Or is that too...soon?” He didn’t know. He still refused to acknowledge half the feelings he had about life and relationships, platonic or more.
Maybe Stark, though considering he was from the same reality as Torunn and James, maybe not. “McCoy works at STAR Labs, which is technically part of the DOA and defense department? They might not mind having more advanced weapons.” Especially since they seemed to be facing a threat at least once a month, sometimes more.
Tina was quiet for a moment as she ate the pizza and thought about what he said. First she nodded, and put the food down. “Gabrille vanished in the last world we were in too. In Texas. I eventually worked something out with Eliot Waugh and the centre. Not to take over the dance classes, but to help run it in general. If I could find someone else who was interested in the arts that I got along with, I’d consider it.” It wasn’t easy to consider the idea of ‘replacing’ anyone, but there was a reason for it. “I have to look at it less like replacing her and more like ensuring the centre keeps going. It was her idea to even open it in the first place. With all the work we’ve put into it, she’d want to see it continue.”
“I know Raven would have kicked my ass if we didn’t continue on with our impulse projects,” Zeke agreed, knowing that even though the people they had known were not with them anymore, they would have been disappointed to see them be down about any of this. “Hopefully you figure that out. Because you’re young and already acting like you’re forty years old, I would hate to see what running this place on your own would do to you.” He grinned cheekily at her then, snagging another slice of the pizza, knowing full well she was going to throw something at his head or roll her eyes at him.
“She absolutely would kick your ass,” Tina agreed with a grin. “Don’t let her genius sit on the sidelines collecting dust.” It would be a shame to let Raven’s ideas end up going nowhere when there was the possibility that someone else here could deliver them.
Tina sat up a bit straighter, wishing she had something she could lob at his head. The only thing in her hand was pizza and she wasn’t wasting that. “I do not act like I’m forty years old.” She just worried too much, she always had. Tina made plans and that hadn’t failed her yet. “I am organized. There’s a difference.”
He’d have to reach out to one of the more engineering minds in Vallo to make Raven’s visions come true, but there was still time for that. First, he had notes to collect. He glanced up at the clock and noted the time. “Uh huh, Ms. Organized. It looks like you have about fifteen minutes to get cleaned up and get to class, so how about we save this fight for later?” He grinned as he shoved half a pizza into his mouth and grinned around it like the animal he was.
Tina glanced at the clock, then back to Ezekiel, with a glare. “Saved by the pending arrival of kids.” but he had a point, she needed to go get set up, which she could do while finishing her pizza slice. Tina grabbed a few extra napkins to take with her. “Good luck with your research though. Let me know how it goes later, and if we should be expecting any new weapons to help deal with the next round of nightmare birds?”
“Jaegers are years away from being a thing in this world, but plasma cannons? Maybe sooner than you think,” Zeke said with a grin, packing up an extra two slices for her in some paper plates. “Here. Take this so you can’t say I didn’t feed you properly.” Then he waved her off, while he started to clean up.