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Tutoring Sollux @ The Corner Cafe (open to Nepeta and Kanaya)

Dirk had arrived at the cafe early and settled in at his regular table. He had a bunch of tools and supplies scattered over the table, as well as a cup of coffee, and another box of things on the floor next to him. He was seriously behind on his commissions, both for his robots and smuppets, and he was using this extra bit of time to catch up. (Why the hell someone wanted a custom smuppet made of vinyl was beyond him, but he didn't question his customers. Vinyl was a bitch to sew, though, and he was considering taking it off the list of available materials. He'd already pricked his fingers one too many times.)

He also had Jane's birthday gift to finish, and he didn't want that to be a rush job. Most of the physical body was done, at least, he just needed to fine tune some of the coding. (He wasn't going to let Jane end up with another abomination like Lil' Hal.)

He dropped the finished smuppet in the box on the floor, then leaned back in his chair and rubbed at his eyes under his shades. Maybe not sleeping was finally starting to catch up with him... He downed the rest of his coffee. No time for a break. He needed to finish at least one more order before Sollux arrived for his tutoring.

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Sollux walked into the cafe, a bit nervously. He'd dressed up just a bit, because that's what he did when he was nervous. Sol knew that he had pretty much blackmailed Dirk into being his tutor, and from his selfies he was pretty damn built. Not as built as Asshole, but then again, who was?

But the strangest thing was, when he saw Dirk, he didn't get any creep vibes off of him. The man ran a puppet porn site and built robots of dubious morality - he should have been getting at least a little creep vibe. But nope, there he was, swooshed hair, pointy shades that Sol hadn't been able to find a single picture without, and putting away one of his porn puppets into his bag.

"Hey," Sollux said, voice cracking a little. He internally kicked himself, but externally sat down across from Dirk, dropping his backpack to the ground beside him. "What's crack-a-lacking?"

Fucking hell.

He thought he was past the intense social anxiety and ridiculous statements now that he was a superhero. (But it wasn't his fault that Dirk seemed so calm and collected and cool okay.)

Dirk looked up at Sollux's greeting. Fuck. He hadn't finished everything he wanted to get through before this. Oh well. He'd just have to work through his break at the club later.

He raised an eyebrow at the strange greeting, but didn't comment on it. It was pretty easy to tell that Sollux was nervous about meeting him. He found it a little odd that someone who didn't seem to want much attention would have pink and blue hair, but to each their own.

"Hey." He replied, calmly sweeping most of his supplies into the box on the floor beside him. He leaned back in his chair and gave Sollux a once over from behind his shades. "I'm Dirk, but you already knew that. I need to skip the small talk, I don't have a lot of free time. So, tell me what you need help with. The only information Hal would give me was some garbage about Star Gate."

Edited 2016-04-06 20:55 (UTC)

"Yeah, no, that's definitely not it," Sollux said, and opened his backpack. He had made sure to keep everything right on top where he could easily grab it. He pulled out a tangle of uncovered wires hooked up to a display panel in the middle and a connector circuit on each end.

"It just goes haywire whenever I try and put it on," he explained, and put it on to demonstrate, connecting the wires on either end over his wrist. As soon as he did, the device powered on and flashed between red and blue violently, the line that represented his heart rate on the screen doubling until there were two different heartbeat readouts.

"It's supposed to show your heart rate and change the background color between green, yellow and red depending on how fast it's going." Sollux grimaced down at the failure on his wrist, and unplugged it to hand it over to Dirk.

He was almost embarrassed to give this disaster of a piece of technology to someone who had scanned their own brain and turned into an A.I. at thirteen, but he was running out of options. There was no one else he could ask for help - the class was crazy hard and graded on a curve, nobody wanted to risk endangering their own grade for someone they didn't even know.

Edited 2016-04-06 21:11 (UTC)

Dirk watched silently while Sollux pulled out the device and demonstrated what was wrong with it. That was some weird fucking glitch it had going on, but it was probably just a loose wire or connection somewhere.

He told Sollux as much as he took the device. "Should be a pretty easy fix, dude."

He popped open the back panel of the device and poked around inside a little, shoving the wires out of the way with nimble, calloused fingers. After a few minutes of digging, he still couldn't find anything that had come loose or was wrongly connected, so he snapped the panel back into place and strapped the device to his own wrist.

The device powered up quickly like it had for Sollux, but this time the reading came up normal, showing a green light and and the line that represented his steady heartbeat. That... didn't really make sense. But maybe he'd bumped the loose connection while he'd been digging.

He shrugged and held his wrist out to Sollux to show him the screen. "It looks alright to me."

"The fuck," Sollux said. He disconnected the device from Dirk's skin, careful not to touch him more than necessary, and then snapped it on his own.

Nope, still flipping out. He pushed his hand forward to show Dirk, then thought for a second.

Okay, was it really messed up, or was it just messing up for himself in particular? They needed more test subjects. But, it wasn't like he could just walk up to the cashiers and ask them whether they could strap a strange device to their wrist. Like... he had enough money to leave a huge tip in the jar if they did, but adding bribery to the mix would just make it more suspicious.

"Here," he said, dropping the bracelet back in Dirk's hand. "Would you put it on again? Without messing with it first. I want to see if it just doesn't like me or something."

Dirk's brow furrowed as he looked down at the device, still freaking out as soon as Sollux put it on. That was... interesting.

He obligingly took the device back and once again strapped it to his wrist. Same as before, it lit up and correctly displayed his heart beat.

"You got something on you that could be messing it up? Some of that magnetic shit people think helps with their balance? Or a pace maker or something, dude?"

"Um," Sollux said, and thought for a second. He shook his head, coming up empty. "No, nothing."

He reached out and touched just a fingertip to the side of the bracelet. It went haywire again. He pulled his finger back. Normal.

"Uh."

Okay, so... Sollux groaned in frustration, took off his 3D glasses and wiped them clean on his skirt, as if it was all just a trick of smudged plastic.

"Well it... works. Mostly."

Huh. It reacted that way every time Sollux touched it, even if someone else was wearing it? That was interesting.

"You've gotta have some sort of electrical interference on you, dude." He explained as he removed the device from his wrist. "You have a problem with static a lot? Shocking yourself or anyone else?"

"Um," Sollux said, slowly turning red as he realized what was wrong.

It was his stupid telekinesis and eye powers. It had to be. He regarded Dirk, not sure how to explain what he'd just figured out or if he really should. Dirk seemed like a cool guy, yeah, but Sollux was realizing for the first time that superheroes kept their powers secret. 'Cuz people would like turn you into the government to be tested and stuff.

Or, worse, to Crocker Corp. Sollux shuddered. If they found out that he could do like, magic (okay maybe that wasn't the word but it was the best he had), then they'd stop vetting him just for his tech abilities. He was pretty sure that if they knew he could do this, they'd just flat out kidnap him, contract with his brother be damned. The entire corporation was shady as fuck.

"Uh," Sollux said, scrambling for an answer. Dirk was just sitting there impassively, cool as a cucumber. Oh God, that was such a nerdy thing to think. He hoped Dirk couldn't tell on his face that he just thought something that lame. He probably could. Jesus.

"Yes! Definitely. I shock things. And people. And -" Sollux cut himself off before he could say 'furries' or 'demon children'. "Yeah, that's probably it. Definitely it. I just hold a lot of static electricity.

"My sister, Torple, calls me the Sock Shocker. Because I can't walk across the carpet with socks on without zapping someone. Heh." Sollux laughed nervously, and stomped on his own foot as punishment for bringing up Torple.

Christ.

Dirk watched impassively from behind his shades. Sollux was clearly having some sort of internal conflict, but he didn't have the time or energy to devote to figuring out what was going on. One thing was sure, though. Sollux was an even worse liar than Jane.

"Sure." He replied simply.

They were practically strangers, so it made some sense that Sollux would lie to him. But still, he wondered. Did Sollux have something to hide? Or was he just nervous around new people?

He'd look into it later, maybe. Right now, he had more work to do.

"You could put an insulator on the device for when you're wearing it. Might help with your static problem and give you a more accurate reading. Probably mess with anyone else's reading, though."

He started to gather up his supplies, dumping them into the box at his feet.

"Are we done here? I wasn't kidding when I said I didn't have much time."

Sollux jumped a little, feeling guilty for taking up Dirk's time. He'd seen a list of the orders history while he was fucking with his site - he had a lot to do. And Sol had just taken up his time for a problem that neither of them could do anything to fix.

"Yeah, shit, sorry," Sollux said, ducking his head and rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. He got to his feet, stumbling a little bit over his backpack when he forgot it was there. He shoved the bracelet into his backpack. "I'll just turn it in as is, it will work on the professor and that's what matters."

Sollux held out his hand awkwardly to Dirk, realizing a half beat too late that Dirk's hands were busy doing other things. Shit. He didn't pull back though, figuring that an aborted gesture would be even more awkward.

"If um... you ever need help with some coding," Sollux said, hand starting to waver from being extended too long, wanting to offer something in trade even though this whole thing had started as Dirk trading to him. "I'd be willing to do it. My classes aren't that time consuming."

Edited 2016-04-07 16:26 (UTC)

Dirk's hands stilled on the table, and he lifted his head to eye the hand Sollux was offering. After a moment, he wiped his hands off on his jeans and stood to shake Sollux's hand. He noticed he didn't get shocked when they touched, further confirming that Sollux had been lying to him. Interesting.

"No problem, dude." He answered, shrugging. "It'd be pretty sweet if you could keep Lil' Hal off my site, but I won't get my hopes up. That little fucker is crafty."

"Yeah, I'll do my best," Sollux said, pumping Dirk's hand vigorously and then regretting it. At least he hadn't spilled anything, or thrown up. His track record was improving. "He'll probably crack through continuously, so it'll be a challenge."

Sollux grinned thinking about it, and pulled his hand back. "It was really cool to meet you, dude. Tell Hal I said hi."

Clutching his backpack to his chest, Sollux skedaddled before he could do anything else weird.

He wasn't quite sure he had gotten away with his lies, and as soon as he got home he was going to vent on tumblr about it. About everything. But mostly the powers thing.

It wasn't like he had any powers anyways.

Kanaya was wiping down tables when her eye caught on Dirk's sewing supplies. She couldn't help but continue shooting glances his way as she worked. She knew she couldn't just abandon her duties, but once her break hit she grabbed a drink and made her way over.

"Um... I apologize if my approach is unwelcome, but if you'd like it, I have some advice to offer on how to improve your technique. Honestly, there's a much more efficient way to go about what you're attempting."

Dirk looked up, a little startled by Kanaya's approach. He'd sort of spaced out while he was working (hand sewing was a pretty mindless task, and he found more interesting ways to occupy himself when he spaced...), but she dragged him back to himself.

It took him a moment to reorient and figure out what she was talking about. He tore his gaze away from hers and looked down at the half finished smuppet in his hands. Thankfully, this one wasn't made of vinyl, but his fingers were still protesting.

"That would be great." He eventually admitted, a little reluctantly. "Thanks."

He set the puppet down on the table and gestured for her to sit across from him. "Name's Dirk."

"I'm Kanaya," she said with a polite smile, and settled into the offered seat. "Your work is actually fairly professional, but, if you don't mind me demonstrating with this," she said, picking up a few scraps and plucking a threaded needle from the pin cushion. "The duration of your labor will be cut down significantly provided you arrange the pieces in this fashion from the beginning." She laid out the pieces on the table and pinned them together, and cut around the shape.

"For the stuffed plush you're creating, I'd recommend this technique." She sewed a few stitches, tugged to make sure they were holding, and continued more slowly, scooting her chair closer and tilting it towards Dirk so he could see. "This stitch is a bit harder to grasp then some of the more simple ones, but it saves you time and, in the end, the intersecting joint offers more reinforced seams than the one you've been using. Oh, also, you'll get sharper edge if you snip the extra fabric from the corners."

She sped up again and soon had a completed sleeve in her hand. She turned it inside out, puzzling at the bulbous shape it would make were it properly stuffed. "May I inquire as to what this creature is? I don't believe I've ever observed something quite like it."

Dirk watched closely, going as far as lowering his shades to get a proper look at what she was doing. He'd need to practice a bit, but it didn't look too complicated, and she seemed to know what she was talking out. The finished product did look better than some of his own pieces.

He hesitated briefly before answering her question. "It's a puppet. Custom order."

He picked up a few scraps and tried to replicate the technique she'd shown him. He held out the pieces he'd sewn together. "This look right?"

Kanaya saw a flash of orange before Dirk nudged his shades back into place. She had met people with similarly strange eye colors, so she didn't question it. Besides, he could be wearing contacts. His shades looked anime enough to convince her he would.

She looked over the piece and hummed. "Yes, that's about right. Make sure you keep the stitches even and tight -- see where you went a little wider here? -- and it should turn out properly." She tied off the end of her piece and set it down.

"Are these plushes the only manner of puppets you make?" she asked, reaching for her drink. "Or do you produce others, like ventriloquist dummies?"

He nodded along with her instructions, humming softly as he filed the information away. He didn't often take advice from strangers, but he was glad for Kanaya's help.

"I got it." He answered, flashing her a barely there smile. "Thanks."

He lifted his own coffee for a drink, only to remember it was empty and set it back down with a sigh.

"Usually just these guys." He answered, once again leaning back in his chair. "But I could make a ventriloquist dummy, if someone wanted to order one. I'm decent at using them, don't see why I wouldn't be able to make one up."

She gave a quick smile in return, sharp teeth poking into her lower lip.

"I see." She sat silently for a few moments and then said, "I'm going to purchase something to eat while I'm on break. Would you mind if I return to this table and sketch once I've done so?"

He was a little surprised by the offer, but he nodded none-the-less. He had to admit to himself he wasn't exactly the most social person, and it wasn't often that a stranger actually wanted to spend time with him.

"Sure. As long as you don't mind I have to keep working."

"That's perfectly suitable; I have a project to occupy myself with as well."

She soon returned with a sandwich, a small bowl of chili, and her sketchbook. She flipped it open to a new page, blowing on spoonfuls while she worked out the final details of Feferi's many-layered dress. It was pink and frilly, but Kanaya had made sure to add elegant curves in the bodice, giving the fun look an underlying sophisticated vibe.

Dirk didn't get distracted easily when he was working, but he found he couldn't concentrate with Kanaya sitting at the table with him. Not because of anything she was doing, but just because he wasn't used to having anyone but Dave around while he was working.

He forced himself to focus, he really did need to get some work done.

He finished most of his next smuppet order before deciding he needed a break. He stood, dumping his supplies on the table, and stretched his arms over his head.

"I'm going to get a coffee." He paused, unsure in a way he usually wasn't. "Do you want one?"

"No, but thank you for the offer. I still have about half of my tea left. Besides," she glanced at the wristwatch she wore during work. "I have to return behind the counter in a moment."

She flipped her sketchbook closed and placed her dirty dishes in the return area, then waved at Dirk as she walked into the back room. "It was pleasant to work near someone else for a change."

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Tutoring Sollux @ The Corner Cafe (open to Nepeta and Kanaya)

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