Moving Day

[isthisapidge]

Who| Pidge and Agent Washington
What| Washington, the lab assistant
Where| Science Lab
When| Before Tinker, Tailor, Hero, Spy

All these devices, all this potential, absolutely no way to move any of it.

Yet again, as in so many things, Pidge is far too short. And she doesn't have Hunk around to be her muscle right now. She could maybe bring herself to hope that someday that would be different, but that wish kind of depends on how well her new lab assistant does.

This is part of the deal. She trains with Wash and he helps her with her research. She wants to experiment with her own powers for a bit: boosting, suppressing, adjusting...just seeing what she can do. It's out of her expertise, sure, but it's exciting and challenging and she gets to play with the cool tech toys!

Of course, to play with the cool tech toys, she needs them in her lab space. And the meters can be picked up and carried around. Just not by her. It's a small space too, meaning a LOT of adjustments.

Comments

[unrecovered]

Wash had expected to do a lot of grunt work as part of his end of the deal - he isn't exactly a scientist himself, and he's not about to go digging into the Director's memories to change that - but he wasn't expecting quite so much lift and carry. Or to be moving things he's already moved. For half an hour. He's starting to get a little worn out.

"Where do you want this one, again?"

[isthisapidge]

"On the desk, I think? No, wait, that'd take up too much room. Maybe to the left of it, on the floor."

Economizing space was the name of the game, but it's hard when you don't have an entire rooftop to work with. One thing she missed about the Garrison, even if sneaking out was a pain.

[unrecovered]

Wash just looks at the recommended space, then at Pidge. "You realize it was there ten minutes ago and you moved it."

[isthisapidge]

"Well, I didn't know how big the energy converters were ten minutes ago. But they're perfect to go on top of it!"

If he wants to argue he can, but it just means he'll be holding it longer.

[unrecovered]

He's not going to argue right now, but he will grouse while he's moving it. "Is there a reason you didn't do any measurements? Draw up a plan? Something?"

[isthisapidge]

"I did! These just...kind of weren't in the plans."

She shoots him a sheepish grin. "I was looking for some extra connection cables when I found some extra machines that were, well, pretty much perfect!"

[unrecovered]

He looks down at the machine, then back at Pidge. "Tell me you checked to see if these belonged to someone before you had me take them."

[isthisapidge]

"No, Wash, I'm a complete jerk who just takes things from people when they aren't looking. Why do you ask?"

If he can't tell she's being sarcastic, she can do it harder.

[unrecovered]

"Okay, one, I live with people who do do that; two, I've known you for like a week; and three, I've been unpleasantly surprised by people I've known a hell of a lot longer than that. So excuse me for trying to cover the bases."

Wash has mastered the art of sarcasm and is not afraid to use it.

"Now what else needs to be moved?"

[isthisapidge]

An annoyed little sound emanates from the back of her throat. "Sure, sorry I defend myself when you imply I might be a thief. How insensitive of me."

She studies the space they've created intently before leaning.

"I dunno...something about the workflow seems...off to me."

[unrecovered]

Oh for fuck's sake. "Like I said: covering the bases." End of conversation, as far as he's concerned.

Wash looks around the room. Nothing looks out of place to him, but he doesn't exactly know what she's going for either. "Test it out?"

[isthisapidge]

Fine, fine, she can let it go for now. For now.

"OK...Stand over in the corner, and I'll hook you up."

[unrecovered]

He could not have heard that correctly. "Wait, what?"

[isthisapidge]

"You heard me. I want to make sure I can hook up all the monitors to someone without getting wires tangled or having to play Jenga with these expensive machines!"

The electrodes in her hand are like a bouquet of flowers, except science-y.

[unrecovered]

She's serious. She's absolutely serious.

In that split second, his demeanor changes, any exasperated good humor gone. When he speaks again, his tone is flat with an undercurrent of stone. He's done joking. "Pudge, I'm your lab assistant, not your lab rat. If that's what you're looking for, you can find someone else."

[isthisapidge]

"Wash...It was a joke."

Pidge may be young, but she's already in the big leagues when it comes to non-plussed facial expressions. "I promise, I'm not going to run any experiments on you. Calm down."

[unrecovered]

...well shit, he misjudged that.

There's a moment where he doesn't move, and then the tension drains out of him all at once and he heaves a frustrated sigh, burying his face in his palm. "I've known you for like two weeks and you're better at pushing my buttons than people I've known for years. How do you do that?" He's perplexed - a little frustrated at himself, yes, but mostly perplexed.

[isthisapidge]

"Heh. I think you and my instructors at the Garrison would have something to talk about."

She lowers the electrodes and sighs in relief. She's not sure how she would have handled it if that hadn't defused the atmosphere. "Why don't we take a break and come back to this later?"

[unrecovered]

Wash's first reaction is to wonder if Pidge's instructors drink heavily, because he can definitely see how she'd be a problem child in any form of military setting. It's inappropriate in multiple ways, so he shuts it down and moves on.

"No, we're already here - we might as well finish this." He lets his hand drop and looks at her. "Aside from electrode testing, what else needs to be done?"

[isthisapidge]

Wash has no idea that she joined the army more or less exclusively to steal state secrets, so she's kind of glad he drops it. She doesn't want to have to go into that, it'll give him an aneurysm.

She moves to the machines, examining them this way and that "Hmmm...well, I...I need to hook up my laptop to some of these machines and..."

She sighs. "My arms are too short to reach the hookups in back, so I need you to pull them out so I can plug it in."

[unrecovered]

Wash gives her a long-suffering look - this is the fourth time he's moved this particular machine, he's sure of it - and sets to work pulling the machine out. "What if we just put these on wheels? If the space future even believes in wheels anymore. It might be hover platforms. I don't know."

[isthisapidge]

"Well, I hope it's wheels. I don't want to put anything fragile on something that can run out of power and smash all over the ground." Simple things are normally simple for a reason.

"I didn't see any casters in the supplies." This plug here, that plug there, hook that up and give it time to upload. "But then again, I didn't search it top to bottom."

[unrecovered]

"We can ask where we can get wheels." He leans against a wall, watching Pidge do her thing and noting which plugs go where, just in case it's important later. "Or we can find an office supply store, or cannibalize a desk chair, or something."