ArchivedLogs:Interesting Hobbies

Interesting Hobbies
Dramatis Personae Peter, Anima
In Absentia	2013-04-14 Peter and Anima meet at the hobby shop!
Location Queens
It's actually a hobby shop; something like Radioshack mixed with a comic book shop (but sans comics). Electric trains, Warhammer figurines, model kits, and - various mechanical devices. Including soldering kits. And solenoid valves. The latter might be why Peter is here; he's browsing a selection of circuits with his eyebrows furrowed - he's already got a number of items in his basket, ranging from - straps of leather to batteries to contact points to wiring to an LCD display - good LORD what is the boy building? A more cynical person might suspect a bomb; it's certainly got enough stuff for that. But, hn. No explosives. Maybe he's buying those separately. At the moment, Peter's clad in a black hoodie, blue jeans, sneakers, those /rebonkular/ glasses of his, and a t-shirt that says 'TEACH THE CONTROVERSY' with a picture of the Devil burying fossils. Also, nylon backpack. Interest captures the wayward attention of passerby Tanya(Anima), a wanderer through the streets on this brisk spring evening. Curiosity piqued by the flash and sound of gadgetry lures her to the window, a casual spectator peering through. Lip-biting, her plain features evoke a certain could-be beauty, as she contemplates entering. Eventually, she spies Peter through the glass screen, and, squinting, determines to investigate the hobby shop, seeing someone within her age range perusing inside. The door rings, registering her entrance, and she starts among the model trains, watching as one caboose plugs along on the tracks. Peter continues /investigating/. HM. HM HM HM. No, no, this is probably not what he needs why is he even LOOKING at solenoid valves they are the wrong thing /completely/ - he moves on to some of the circuitry kits, not too far away from where Tanimya is investigating those model trains. Gnawing away at his own bottom lip. When he notices her, he blinks, owlishly, and gives her a quick (and hesitant) smile. "Ohpardonsorry," he mumbles, reaching to snag one of the circuitry kits all /quickly/ now. It's one of the cheaper ones; Peter's moneysupplies are somewhat depleted at the moment. Anima leans over, knees bent forward, palms cupped over her thighs to closer inspect the trains. She squints, drinking in the miniature scenery around her until she becomes conscious of being NOTICED. Face a blank, unemotive mask of come, her mouth mobilizes to return his smile after a moment. Straightening herself into an upright position, "Oh, no problem. I was -- looking," she explains, gesticulating down at the train, disappearing through a tunnel to emerge through on the other side. Glancing back at Peter, she provides an inquiring lift of a brow at the odd assortment of items in his basket. "School project?" she guesses. "Uh, I guess," Peter says, dropping his eyes down to the assortment of electronic paraphenelia he has gathered. "I guess - um, a personal project. "Not /really/ school, I mean - I'm kinda just doing it for myself - as - uh hm you know I used to mess with electric trains, the one I had if you put the batteries in backwards it /ran/ backwards," Peter finishes, MASTERFULLY changing the subject as he turns to look at the train as it plunges through the tunnel. Anima cannot mask well her bewilderment at the awkward navigating of the conversation. "So." She stares at him with a lingering confusion, turning back to face the table with the train display. "Really, the trains will run backwards if you put the batteries in wrong? That's... interesting. I guess." Initial interest that drew her in begins to wane as she scans the aisles, sight landing back on Peter. And his basket. //Still// curious about that. Belated, in a blurt, "Oh, um. I am Tanya." "Yeah uh the old ones I don't know about the new ones I think it's because - actually I have no idea why they work like that," Peter confesses, looking briefly confused. He scratches the back of his head and offers Tanya/Anima a /deeply/ sheepish grin: "Peter. Um. Hi." The items in the basket shift; Peter looks down at them, then back up at her. He really should have figured out a cover story for this /before/ coming to buy the parts. "...it's, uh. I'm experimenting with - um - electronic... stuff. I'm building... a type of water gun." Peter is /not/ good at lying. But he figures this is half-true, at least. Not time like the present to practice the art of alibi creation. Tanya(Anima) shrugs, opining, "I don't think the model train business has seen much innovation in recent years. Can't imagine its a //thriving// business, right? I mean..." She indicates the hobby shop around him -- clearly, a targeted, small demographic makes purchases here. "Nice to meet you. I really only came in because you looked like you knew what you were doing with all the weird stuff in here," is confessed with zero-abashment. "A water gun? Don't they...sell those? Already assembled? Water works well with circuitry?" Not time like the present to practice the art of alibi creation. Tanya(Anima) shrugs, opining, "I don't think the model train business has seen much innovation in recent years. Can't imagine its a //thriving// business, right? I mean..." She indicates the hobby shop around him -- clearly, a targeted, small demographic makes purchases here. "Nice to meet you. I really only came in because you looked like you knew what you were doing with all the weird stuff in here," is confessed with zero-abashment. "A water gun? Don't they...sell those? Already assembled? Water works well with circuitry?" "Oh, I know some of this stuff I mean I build stuff /sometimes/," Peter explains with a hint of a blush touching those cheeks, "I mean I can't build like /killer robots/ but I build electric stuff sometimes, um yeah but I want, like, a custom one? A sneaky stealth one," Peter says, and now he realizes, /oho/, this actually /works/. "One that slips on the wrist? All strapped in /stealthily/. And it has a monitor to tell you how close to empty it is. And no but if you keep everything - airtight - except the pump portion, obviously - it won't be a problem. And then when I want I can just go - THWP." And here, Peter lifts his wrist and presses his fingers down on his palm, making the audible sound at Tanya/Anima, as if it was his intention to squirt her with a stealthily secreted watergun. This, of course, prompts him to blush more. Yep. Peter might just be a crazy person. Peter, crazy? The expression writ on Anima's face does little to console or alleviate that her impression of him is otherwise. Still, overt denouncements contained and civil discourse sustained, she slowly tilts her head forward in a nod. "Right. And, uh, why do you need a stealth-water-gun? Are you in some sort of competitive water sports league, or-- I don't know. What do schools offer these days?" She pauses. "I guess everyone needs a hobby." His blushing seems to amuse her, prompting a small laugh at his demonstration. "...oh, uh." Peter didn't think about /why/ he'd need a -- "Well, I guess it's just - good practice. To learn how to do that kind of stuff. Plus, uh, sometimes you need to get somebody wet?" Again with the sheepish grinning. "Yeah I've got like /eight/ hobbies my advisor keeps telling me I should slow down but I don't think it's /possible/ honestly--" He certainly doesn't sound capable of it. "Parents wouldn't buy you a paintball gun or something?" Anima hazards a guess, conviction hard to discern in the face of continuing questions that entertain Peter's explanations. "But I guess you're...at least enthusiastic about it. Hm. And it's not like //I// have any hobbies." Again with the overt studying. Peter bristles beneath said overt studying, turning a /brighter/ shade of red. "Oh no I mean - paintball's kinda fun I tried it once but like - nobody ever wants to play /against/ me," and then Peter bristles again, realizing he is precariously close to /SPILLING SECRETS/. "I mean, uh, you should get hobbies they're really cool and I should probably be going it was nice meeting you." All in one breath. Goodness! Anima blinks, taken aback by the abrupt segue-ways Peter continues to weave around her. Backing off with little time to formulate a different reaction, she finds herself inevitably nodding along with him again. "Oh, um. Okay. It was nice meeting you too. I suppose. Good luck with your water gun." "Thanks! I'll - um, maybe see you around bye," and then he's /gone/ - well, not really. FIRST, he darts up to the counter and pays. /Then/ he's gone. With surprising speed - Peter's fleet of foot, it seems!