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runswithferrets — A113-96s
Published: 2017-11-19 23:16:43 +0000 UTC; Views: 5336; Favourites: 25; Downloads: 76
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“Tanya ... right?”
Tanya nodded to the pink haired girl, but her mind was somewhere else.
“I’m not good remembering names. I should. You and that other girl are like the tallest girls I’ve met.”
'Ah - Kennedy', she realized she was lost in thought as she scrambled to answer. “Well, Kari’s tall.. I’ll be bringing Niki - the twelve year old - tomorrow"
“You’ll have to call tonight - life’s crazy again.”
“We could wait.” Tanya was a bit disappointed, but the price was right.
“No need. I found a better place for plans and, well, sort of pulled an all-nighter. Follow me and I’ll give you something.” She started off walking fast and Tanya found it hard keeping up even with her longer legs.
“You know how sometimes you just have to make something work…” Tanya just followed. They rounded the corner and then straight into old engineering and down the stairs. Kennedy just jumped forward, hitting the rails about halfway down and then launched herself downward again. Tanya wondered how she went upstairs or if she ever had quiet moments.
She led on to a large glass walled room and peered into a box to unlock the door. “It’s too easy to spoof. I have a photo of one of my professors that works better than my face.”
Inside she opened a box and pulled out a little door in a doorframe. “I didn’t want people to think I’m making doll houses…” She offered it to Tanya “Sweet, eh..? The hinges aren’t real. That’s just strips of tape for now, but I’ll print some hinges. The trick’ll be getting them on. This is really small! A twelfth scale like everyone else would be cake.” She turned and opened a box on the table. “And this.. well…” now she handed Tanya a miniature office chair.
“It’s just like one of those fancy chairs..”
“An Aeron. It doesn’t tilt or roll, but the file was free. It’s so small I printed it in two hours. Twenty dollars ‘ll get you one that tilts and has little wheels. And smoother too…”
“Can I borrow these for Niki?”
“Keep ‘em. I’m making better hinges and better everything. Look at this..” She pointed to bundles of little sticks., “We have five sizes of beams for the house,. These are cut to the right length. Just pop ‘em in place in this jig” she held up a sheet with groves and pins “and glue ‘em in place. They’ll be enough to work with Niki. And I’ve got a better place to assemble ‘em.”
They talked about all kinds of things. Kennedy could only get them started, but what a start she provided.
“Let’s forget about tomorrow - I’ll show Niki. The big thing is connecting with Niki on Saturday or Sunday.”
“Saturday morning works for me.” Kennedy said. “If you get a time I’ll be around all morning. Oh .. I think we’ve gotta do a few things more exciting than just a doll house to keep my department head happy. He’s all for art and twelve year olds, but he wants his nerd stamp on everything. You know how that is..”
Tanya didn’t know about nerd stamps, but she was only too aware of men getting their way. “I hear ya.. I’ll get back to you by Friday afternoon with the time.
________
“Hey Niki - It’s Tanya. ‘ free in the next hour or two..”
“Mom!” Niki was yelling half into the phone and half across the room. “That lady with the crazy last name wants to know if we can meet up.” The voice changed a bit “she’ll probably have to talk to you..”
“Hello Tanya. I’m Niki’s mother.”
“Hi. I want to talk to her about the project. I’m down at the Port Boutique.. there’s an office just behind it.”
“She has to finish her chores.”
“Mom!” Tanya could hear that.
“Maybe an hour? I can bring her over. Will you still be there?”
“Yeah. We’ll probably take an hour or an hour and a half. She’ll be back by five.”
“OK.. see you.”
________
Tanya drove over to the boutique so she could take Niki home. The old micro buses’ engine needed some work, but that’d have to wait for money. If it died at least she could walk most places.
The bells over the door rang as she walked in.
“Hey Mari. Can I use the back office? Niki’s coming in an hour and I’ve got some things to show her.”
“You know the way..” Mari said before asking a customer if she needed help.
Austin was with Mari today. Chances were he was in the back room. Tanya took unlocked the door’s keypad and looked around. There was something that sounded like a radio talk show or a podcast.
“Austin?” She walked over to the desk and looked around. Nothing. The sound was coming from a shelf behind her.
“Tanya! turn around and looked down.. waist level.” She did and there he was standing between some notebooks. The audio had stopped, He waved.
“What was that?”
“A lecture. I’m taking two courses. I found some tuition free courses that might help me find something.”
“I had no idea.”
“I didn’t start ’til yesterday. I was going to surprise you.”
“Count me surprised. Niki’s coming over in an hour. I have something to show the two of you.”
“Well.. what?”
“A surprise for both of you. I’d like to talk to you first if you can take a break from your course.”
“It was getting boring. What’s up?”
She kicked off her boots and put them under the desk before getting down cross legged on the floor. Now he was just above her eye level.. maybe fifteen feet up,
“It’s nice to not have to look up at you.”
She gave a nervous little laugh. “I’m glad we’re talking more openly now. How are you feeling? Signing up for the course sounds positive.”
“To be honest I’m still depressed. ‘ good you guys try and make me laugh. No job after all that work feels like a kick in the face. Plus I have this family reunion next week. I only sent two emails and Kari had to type both of them for me. ‘ turns out I can stand an a key and nothing happens. All of you think there’s something great out there for me, but it always hinges on coming out. I’m not there.”
Tanya sighed.. there wasn’t much she could do. “I’m so sorry..”
“I know that. I just have to own it and move on. The thing I’d like to know is if that spaceman or thing knew what it was doing…”
“It’ll probably never come back, but we can hope.”
“Hope’s the wrong thing. Like I said. I’ve gotta just own it and move on.”
Tanya didn’t know where to go after that. All she could feel is guilt.
“Hey.. you’re not supposed to cry.”
“.. can’t help it.”
“Look. I had a date, more than one, with someone beyond my dreams. That’s worth something, right?”
“a nightmare if you ask me…”
“How’s it going with the doll house?”
“It’s not a doll house..”
“Yeah.. I’m too small for that…”
She didn’t respond to the last line. “Better than I thought. That’s what I’m going to show you and Niki. She’d probably going to end up doing a lot of the assembly work.”
“The good thing is houses, boats, food .. things like that.. are going to be cheap. It’d be a great way to deal with overpopulation. If you had whole cities of shrunken people it wouldn’t matter… they’d have others their size,”
“Well it was for keeping space travel cheap.”
“I wonder if anyone went the other way.. if they grew things?”
“They grew back to normal..”
“Not that.. I mean starting from normal and growing into giants”
“That’d be bad. Everything that is cheap for you would be super expensive, plus they’d always be on display.”
“They wouldn’t have to worry about a spider or mouse getting them..”
“I just thought the size difference would be fun for an hour or two .. “
“iMaybe, but when you cut into the roof.. that’s when I wished I had more underwear.”
She really screwed things up. If she set it on Barbie doll size in the first place. That’d probably be more fun for the date anyway and with the failure it would have been a lot better for everyone.
The conversation moved to her summer classes and the new restaurant job and before they knew it Mari came in with Niki.
“ ‘ gotta go back and work, but I’ll be done at six..” she turned to Niki “learn a lot so you can teach me.”
NIki tried to be cool and not stare, but …
“Hi Niki” he waved.
“Uh… Hi Mr..” she turned to Tanya “I forget..”
Austin interrupted. “We’re friends now.. I’m Austin. Just not mister, shortstuff or shrimp, got it?”
She smiled “ok!”
“Tanya pulled out the chair and doorway setting them on the desk. Then she turned and bent down to his level. “wanna lift?”
Once on the desk he walked up to the door and pulled on the handle. It moved a bit, but not steadily.
“It’s just tape now. Kennedy’s working on making real hinges”
“Whoa!” Niki said. They look real.
“The chair’s just a prototype. The next one pivots and bends.”
“Amazing” he said to Tanya. Is she charging much?”
“No. Her department’s excited because they think it’s an art project, so we need to think about pitching it that way.. But check this out..” she pulled the wall segment our of her bag and held it for him to look at.
“There’s a real wood frame with sheets glued on either side. You coud run wires in there. It’s all modular. She’s making a kit.” she turned to Niki “she’s going to show you how to make walls and then maybe even turn them them into a house.”
“That’s so dope! I’m making houses!”
“She’ll probably teach you about how her printers work and you can make working things like showers, sinks and toilets.”
“or cars!”
“The two of you can talk about that. She wants to work with you this weekend so we’ll have to ask your mom.”
Austin waved at Tanya “Can you stand it on the desk? I want a closer look before they’re in production.”
She stood it up, but had to hold it in place with a finger. He walked up and tapped on it. “it feels solid enough and it looks about the height a normal room is”
“You know” he said to her “this just might work.”
__________
[the full sized, more detailed 4000 pixel render goes out to donors]
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Comments: 5
Very cool scene! So fun that he is the center of attention, like when entering an elevator and there's a baby there - everyone will look at the baby! 
I love that gum! ...the brand it mimics
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heh -- thanks.. one tries to put in a few jokes
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thanks.. she's the main character in this series
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What I'm thinking is what if they killed two birds with one stone? Have Austin decide to go public but first come out to Kennedy -and probably the department head, consider the small house a part of his big public reveal, and do both it and the tiny house unveiling at some sorta art or tech show? It'd be like, a more techy form of performance art or whatever, kinda?
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