Sparks Fly [Dee & Death]

[Death]

[googlefont="Amatic SC:400"]Eden Simmons

He shuffled some papers.

white papers
graph        
math        
papers. 

He lay them down on the simple square white desk that had a computer, a couple pens and a little green planet until he added the papers. They were in a manilla folder, marked with red green blue yellow tabs. Color-coded information was the best kind.

He thumbed through some papers. He looked back at the plant.

When other kids moved out, their parents gave them a family picture, or a scarf or food or something. His parents-- ever the botanists-- gave him a little plant. This was the only plant he'd never managed to kill. A little, single-leaved, bright green plant.

Its name was Mr. Plant. Because Eden was rubbish with any sort of thing that wasn't obvious. Like names. Blonde female was as good of a name to him as "Heather" or "Prissy."

He should stop in and see his parents. They'd paid a lot of money for him to have life. The least he could do would be to visit them every once in a while. He could have dinner. Maybe he'd bring the alcohol. He and mum liked alcohol. Dad didn't. Dad didn't like anything that required "ruining" plants. Fermentation of grains or rices or whatever wasn't ruining, though. Or, at least, in Eden's mind. 

Actually, that sounded like a great idea. Stop at the store. Grab a bottle or two of liquor and bring it to go relax with Mum and Dad. A quiet evening at home. He'd surprise them. He could see them now. And he could see himself sitting among the multitudes of planets. It was like a jungle in his parents' house. A veritable jungle.

He took a seat in the cheap, fabric-and-plastic chair and leaned back, going back through the numbers. They just didn't look right. This was the third test-run, damnit.

Wait a minute.

He ran through the numbers from the other tests, scanning through the digits as quickly and accurately as possible. Comparing them to the most recent test.

A pattern. That was what he saw. A shared pattern that could only be the cause of the strange numbers.

He studied them just a bit more and then looked over the information for the circuitry and electrical data for the vehicle. It looked like that was where the problem lay. He'd have to have a talk with the chick who oversaw that bit of the intern project. 

[ᕙʕ•ᴥ•ʔᕗ]

It didn’t feel late but as all the other interns said their goodbyes and left Shiori still working on her design, she knew it was going to be another late night. It wasn’t dinnertime yet, but the soft growl in her stomach reminded her that in two hours, her mother would be placing a hot bowl of soup on the table and she dreaded not sitting in her spot at that moment. Mrrrghh, she heard as she placed her arm across the source of the sound. Despite the increasing emptiness of the room, no one seemed to notice or cared that her stomach was demanding attention. She resumed etching another line when one of her supervisors approached her. “Shiori,” her supervisor started. Shiori quickly placed the pencil down and looked up at her supervisor. “Can you pick something up, please? Eden should have some files for me, but I have to go to a meeting now. Just hold on to them until I come back.”

Shiori stared for a few minutes, thinking about what her supervisor was asking for. “Eden?” she asked, trying to remember all the other workers on the project. Her supervisor nodded impatiently and brusquely responded, “Yes, Eden. The tall one. You’ll know him when you see him.” But he’s probably sitting down, Shiori wanted to respond but dared not to. After all, her supervisor was the authority and the last thing she wanted was to be one internship less. So she nodded her head and walked out into the hallway, her eyes scouting for a tall man or a nameplate.

It took her a while but she found someone who was in the same department and he looked tall from her perspective, a rather terrible perspective considering most people were taller than her. But the legs were much longer than usual and nobody else seemed to be as tall as him. He was looking through some papers so Shiori knocked and softly said, “Excuse me.” He made no indication of hearing her and he continued looking at the papers. Not knowing what else to do, Shiori stepped into the room and quietly approached him, her feet barely making a sound as they inched towards this man and his papers.

She took a look at some of the papers that were lying around. Shiori was no expert in information analysis or electronics, but she knew enough to know there was something wrong with the numbers on the paper. Was that the reason why he was so concentrated in his work that he didn’t notice her approaching? Finally, she knew she had to speak up. Even if her supervisor was in a meeting, she wanted to finish the task so she could get back to her own project. “There’s something wrong with the numbers,” she said, her voice a little louder than usual in an attempt to get his attention. “Maybe it’s a component?” Her voice grew softer as she suggested the problem, aware that she was talking to someone who probably knew way more than she did about the field.

[Death]

[googlefont="Amatic SC:400"]Eden Simmons

Suddenly, a girl.

tiny girl
pretty          
young         
speaking             

He was looking at the papers, then looking up at her. Opening his ears that had become deaf to the sounds of the world that wasn't nearly as interesting as the complex bit of reality he was studying.

"Excuse me," she had said.

wow such polite much impress

"There's something wrong with the numbers," she had said.

She was smart. Only took a glance at the papers to tell her that. She hadn't been in here very long. Had she? He couldn't remember. When had she come in?

He focused more attention on the girl who had gained his respect in a matter of mere seconds. Polite. Intelligent. Formal, but not stiff. Professional.

beautiful

shut up

Oh, you noticed it Eden. Admit it. You'd like to pretend that it was her politeness that got your interest. Or even her intelligence. But it was because of a pretty face. 

i am weak

No, you're not. You're growing up. You're becoming a man who can notice a girl's beauty and then be drawn in by her qualities. You have nothing to be ashamed of. You have nothing to fear from her. Attraction is good. Feel the pull, Eden. Feel it coursing through you. The beating of a heart that has never been given to another living soul. Never been broken. Unwrap that precious piece of ancient pottery from its bubble wrap and storage container. Take it out and display it.

Your guests might break it. But you can always get it fixed.

"Maybe it's a component?" she asked.

Eden faltered. That was his thought. "Yes, that was my thought exactly. Now, miss, I'm sorry, but how long did I leave you standing there?"

[ᕙʕ•ᴥ•ʔᕗ]

He didn’t respond quickly which made Shiori doubt her suspicion and go over all of the information she had glanced at before she spoke. No, the math was supporting her argument, but he—and then he spoke, agreeing with what she had said. She exhaled ever so slightly just before he asked her a question. Her eyes widened for a quick second before she realized she had entered his workspace without even asking.

“Oh! I’m sorry. Um, only for a few minutes. I knocked earlier but you didn’t respond.” She looked to the side before remembering why she was there in the first place. “Tammy told me you have some files for her. I’m supposed to pick them up.” But what she really wanted was to talk about the numbers with this guy. It was a problem that was in front of them, and Shiori found it way more exciting than the low-level design she had been working on.

Not really wanting the conversation to end, she pointed at the diagram and said, “I think your problem is there.” She quickly withdrew her hand, remembering that she was talking about something she wasn’t working on. Had she already crossed the boundary by speaking up? Would she get in trouble? But a part of her was enthralled with the idea of discussing this problem even more, especially with this man. Talking to him wasn’t the same as the collaborations she was forced to do with the other interns. Most of the problems that were given to them were usually practice, and like any practice set, there was always a cheat. You couldn’t cheat real-life problems, though.

“Um, right. I’ll just take the files and let you do your work.” She bit her lip nervously as she said those words. It would do no good if she kept interfering with his work; her supervisor definitely wouldn’t be pleased.

[Death]

[googlefont="Amatic SC:400"]Eden Simmons

He glanced down to his hands.

Large hands.
Slender             
Gifted (?)               
Tender              

He didn't much care for his hands, but there were the only ones he had and so he dealt with them. He wasn't quite sure what about them displeased him. Maybe that they were so spindly, with highly visibly tendons and knuckle bones.

“Oh! I’m sorry. Um, only for a few minutes. I knocked earlier but you didn’t respond.”

He sighed in embarrassed relief as she glanced to her side. What was she looking at? Then, something seemed to light in her eyes. Memory?

“Tammy told me you have some files for her. I’m supposed to pick them up.”

"They're not ready," Eden said quickly. He winced. He was going to chase her away just like all the others who couldn't handle his bluntness and efficiency. He wasn't one to waste time on things that had little benefit. Like empathy. Or making others feel comfortable. He knew he should care, but he couldn't bring himself to.

Except with her. Something about her was different. Something about her made him want to spend all the time in the world making her feel comfortable. Maybe so that she wouldn't leave.

"I'm trying to nail down the errors for certain. I'm thinking something in the electrical system malfunctioned, forcing the vehicle to perform incorrectly. It could just be something wrong with our data collecting equipment, though. It's not exactly the newest."  

[ᕙʕ•ᴥ•ʔᕗ]

His quick response startled her, but instead of running off, her feet refused to move. Answering quickly must mean that he is busy with something, she thought to herself. She knew it only made sense for her to leave him to his work, but she wasn’t really sure how to respond. Her mouth formed a soft “Oh…” as she contemplated pressing him for the files or to just leave him alone. She was in no position to pressure him to give her the files, even if her supervisor would have been mad that she hadn’t obtained what she had asked for, but she wanted to stay just a little longer. But if they weren’t ready, then he must have been really busy with the papers that were in his hands.

He continued talking though, and a little part of her felt relieved. She had no idea what he was thinking but a part of her wanted to believe that he felt the same way as she did about the conversation—she wanted it to last forever, talking about this problem, not Tammy’s files. To her, his words sounded like an invitation to probe further into the problem, to offer some solutions from the information that was available. If only she knew who this guy was would she have felt completely at ease with butting in.

There were two propositions: a problem with the electrical system or a problem with the equipment used to collect data. To Shiori, the latter was easier to solve, although data analysis was never fun. The former probably required more testing unless there was a way to pinpoint… But she decided to ask about the second proposition, forgetting about her original task completely. “Do you have the test results from other projects using the same equipment? Any tests done with the data collection equipment in the past month should suffice for analysis.” Was it too much to pull up a chair? Probably.

“If it’s something wrong with the data collection equipment, there’s a department at the college doing specific research on advancing methods using older technology. You can ask them to reveal some of their research; they’re particularly fond of discussing any new developments they’ve made, even if it isn’t published. Plus, this department wouldn’t have to spend money on a new machine from District 3.” She inhaled before she continued. “But if it’s the electrical system—,” she cut herself before she got too caught up with the conversation. He probably knew everything that she had just said. After all, it seemed like he was determining what the problem was, not figuring out a solution. She gave him a nervous smile as she said, “Sorry. What I meant was looking at the test results done on other products might help determine if it’s an equipment error or something else.” She really hoped that it was something else that was causing the problem. If only she could stay in that room forever.

Her supervisor was going to kill her.

[Death]

She had a lovely voice.

beaming voice

charming          
intelligent            
beautiful          

The kind of voice that he didn't mind listening to for long periods of time. Although, the sound of her voice what being interrupted and ruined by the loud beating of his heart. It wasn't even beating very quickly. It was its usual thudding pace. But it was so much louder.

He swallowed quickly and tried to push away the warm feeling he had inside of himself. He'd felt this way about the blonde whose name he didn't remember. This feeling was weakness. But...

It felt so good.

She smelled so good. He couldn't figure out what it even was. But whatever it was, it smelled amazing.

“Do you have the test results from other projects using the same equipment?" She asked. "Any tests done with the data collection equipment in the past month should suffice for analysis.”

"Yes," Eden said, quickly flying after his papers that scrambled for the floor. "I've got two other tests."

He hadn't felt this clumsy and huge since he'd first hit his growth spurt. He went from 5' 6" to 6' 4" just over the course of a summer, then he'd just kept growing.

“If it’s something wrong with the data collection equipment," she continued, "there’s a department at the college doing specific research on advancing methods using older technology. You can ask them to reveal some of their research; they’re particularly fond of discussing any new developments they’ve made, even if it isn’t published. Plus, this department wouldn’t have to spend money on a new machine from District 3.”

She took a deep breath, pulling the air into her tiny body. Why was he always attracted to the tiny girls?

“But if it’s the electrical system,--"

She'd stopped.

Why had she stopped herself? She was clearly in the middle of a huge thought. Why stop now?

She smiled a nervous, watery smile and said, “Sorry. What I meant was looking at the test results done on other products might help determine if it’s an equipment error or something else.”

Eden's face fell, his brows coming together. He paused and looked down at her. "You were going to tell me something about the electrical system. Why did you stop? You're obviously a smart as you are beautiful, so why hold yourself back?"

Wait. What?

Oh my Ripred.

He'd just said that out loud. To a girl. He'd called her beautiful. He wasn't thinking. It was late. He couldn't...

He took a step away from her and brought his hand over his lips, rubbing the side of his cheek. 

"Sorry," he murmured. "That was unprofessional of me. Why don't you have a seat and we can problem solve this together."

[ᕙʕ•ᴥ•ʔᕗ]

He gathered the other test results and it was only then that Shiori realized how tall he really was. She had noticed that he was taller than most average people when he was sitting down, but it wasn’t until he stood up to his full height that Shiori understood why Tammy had called him “the tall one”. His height suddenly made her conscious of how small she really was. She had always been shorter than her peers, but standing right by him, she was tiny. But their height difference wasn’t what mattered; what mattered were the papers in his hands.

She noticed that he didn’t seem fazed by what she was saying and even encouraging her to discuss the electrical—did he really just say that? Shiori thought as her face blushed a bright red. How was she supposed to respond? She knew it was polite to say something back regarding his looks, but she was so flustered she didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t that he wasn’t good-looking—in fact, she found him rather attractive—but she was just foreign to this whole situation. She couldn’t even bring herself to say anything coherent.

When he took a step away from her, it was only then she realized how close he had been standing to her—and how okay she had been with it. Close human contact was not strange for her; although she and her brother often spent their childhood fighting each other with their minds, there were also physical struggles. But this situation was different, almost…electric? She didn’t understand it herself, but she noticed that he looked just as flustered as she was. What was she supposed to do?

He was the one who spoke up and broke the standstill of the atmosphere as he suggested that they work on the problem together. His words were enough to snap her out of her thoughts, but her mind still lingered on what he had said before. “Um, it’s okay.” If anything, Shiori didn’t mind it—how could she be thinking like that? They were co-workers, or even worse, he was in a higher position than her. Wasn’t there something in the rule book against this? But how she wanted to just take a step closer, turn her body so they were facing the same direction, and lean in to him as she looked at the papers in his hand.

She thought that she had gotten over being flustered, but her mind was only making it worse. She gave him a smile and nodded, hoping to break whatever was in the air before. “I would like to work on this as well,” she said as she pulled up a chair, exhaling and letting go that tight feeling in her chest that she was certain she hadn’t felt before. “About the electrical system. I was thinking if it had something to do with the electrical system, we—I mean, you could do some experiments on different components.” She blushed again as she realized that she had just included herself when she shouldn’t have. “But maybe we should look at the tests first. You seem to have noticed something before?”

[Death]

[googlefont="Amatic SC:400"]Eden Simmons

She released a sigh.

sweet sigh
tired (?)          
patient        
small      

"I would like to work on this as well," she said. Eden grinned. He hadn't ruined everything. He hadn't. Oh, it was... well, some sort of holiday that made people happy. Holidays... do we have holidays? Reaping day... but that doesn't make most folks happy.

The uncomfortable wooden chair Eden used to use creaked and groaned as she yanked at its beams and rods, pulling it up to his desk and the pile of papers left to rest on it. The hair that lightly coated his arms stood straight up, making his skin prickle like little quill nibs were poking at his skin. He couldn't tell if that was because the AC had just noisily kicked on or she had come closer to him of her own volition. 

The nearby vent rattled softly as fresh, glacial air pumped into the room.

“About the electrical system," she said. "I was thinking if it had something to do with the electrical system, we—I mean, you could do some experiments on different components.”
         
"I like we," he heard himself murmur. She was so careful, like a mouse that would take a few confident steps into the open, and then pause and sniff about at the slightest sound or thought that didn't seem quite right.

It made him feel like a blundering elephant.

A light pink tinged the tops of her cheeks, just under her eye and his gaze briefly darted to her lips. He tore his gaze away with a sharp mental chastisement. You're working, dammit. Quit getting distracted by every little thing.

“But maybe we should look at the tests first. You seem to have noticed something before?”

He nodded. "That sounds like a good place to start. And, yes. It's been the same kind of errors. I figured they would disappear after a few tests, but they haven't and it doesn't look like they'll be improving. See, look at test one, then at test two. The numbers from the first row are different, but each subsequent one is off by the same interval amount, like some kind of geometric sequence. That was made me think it might be a timing delay in the electrical system."

[ᕙʕ•ᴥ•ʔᕗ]

Was her face visibly red? Shiori could feel the heat still resting at her cheeks, and it wasn’t until she felt the first wave of cool air that she realized how warm her face felt. He said he likes ‘we’. Her mind was running on all different wires as she thought about how great it would be to continue to work with him—wait, no. I have to remember my place. But that hadn’t stopped her from pulling up that chair and sitting down right next to him..

It felt like a relief when he went back to talking about the tests and it gave her mind something else to think about. A pattern. Yes, that would explain why he mentioned an error. But is this due to the equipment or the system itself? Shiori’s eyes were now focused on the numbers he had pointed out, moving up and down and back and forth between the two tests. She could see the pattern he was seeing, but oddly enough, it wasn’t the pattern she had first spotted. When she had walked into the room, it was clear the numbers were wrong, but instead of the intervals he saw, she saw a pattern that looked more like a logarithmic graph.

Were the two connected? Were they two different events? Or was her speculation completely incorrect? It was the safer path to ask him, but she was so scared that she was wrong and what if I leave a bad impression on him? Shiori had never felt so flustered when it came to learning—she would always stick to her guns when it came to academics and fight until the other person could convince her that what they were saying was the truth. She didn’t understand why this situation would be any different. He was a mentor is he? and he was there to help her learn.

Except she wasn’t even supposed to be sitting in that chair in the first place. Her task was to pick up files, files that weren’t ready but she had a design still sitting on her desk, waiting to be completed so she could go home and have dinner. And that was when her stomach did the worst thing it could possibly do: it grumbled. Blushing again but for a different reason, Shiori hastily pointed at the tests. “What about these numbers?” the words tumbling out of her mouth as she tried to cover up that loud sound. “There seems to be a pattern here as well, but it looks logarithmic. I don’t know if that’s supposed to be expected; we were always taught linear patterns at school.” She gave him a curious look. Was it wrong for her eyes to linger on the features of his face before looking into his eyes? They’re really beautiful, she thought, the words still trapped in her throat. “Maybe—maybe the two patterns are…connected?” Were heartbeats supposed to be this loud?