Room 307, Tuesday Afternoon

[dollpocalypse]

In preparation for his portal tomorrow morning, Topher was cleaning his room -- no. Topher was organizing his room, and it was turning out to be a surprisingly horrifying process.

The thing was that he was, on the surface, a very neat person. His clean clothes were always folded because that's how the dry-cleaners left them and there was rarely visible stuff on the floor of his side of the room besides wires. However, that was only because all of the stuff that was on the floor inevitably got shoved under his desk or bed or into his closet so he wouldn't have to see it all the time. Having a mess was fine, but having to look at it was quite another. No, thank you.

Unfortunately, packing for the summer meant that he finally did have to deal with this mess, which led to situations like, for instance, Topher crouching beside his bed, squinting at the mess underneath it, and asking aloud, "Is that a shirt or a possum?"

He wasn't a hundred percent sure, and it was a rather alarming concern to have, so to avoid having to go near the maybe-possum, Topher decided to abandon his half-packed bags for right now and perch himself on top of his desk with his laptop in his lap, where he began modifying Broca II's code so that he could go check it out. Robot dogs were useful that way.

[[open door, open post! probably his last on-island dorm post until fall.]]

Comments

[ultron_junior]

Victor knew Topher was taking off, and -- since this seemed to be the week for goodbyes -- showed up at his dorm room to send him off.

"So, this is it?" he checked, leaning in the doorframe. "You're really taking that internship?"

[dollpocalypse]

Topher set his laptop down beside him on the desk and hopped down to sit in his desk chair like a normal person. "Yup," he confirmed. "Four months of science and people as smart as me. It's the dream."

It really was. He had had this dream repeatedly.

"You're sticking around here?"

[ultron_junior]

"Mostly," Victor confirmed. "I'll probably go to L.A. for at least a couple days, but ... mostly I'm gonna be here."

Excitement central, yup. Victor slid down against the wall to sit on the floor.

"What kind of science?"

[dollpocalypse]

"R&D," Topher said, with an enthusiastic swivel of his chair. "Lasers and stuff for testing. And, potentially, eavesdropping on the meetings about a big AI project that I will not technically be assisting with."

Seriously, he had never been more excited.

"You should come visit once I'm settled in. I can be all 'hey, I have AI expertise by association 'cause I know a guy.'"

His tone was teasing enough to suggest that that wasn't the real reason that Victor should visit, but because it was Topher, it wasn't entirely a joke either.

[ultron_junior]

"Yeah, bro," Victor said, sounding distinctly not-enthused. "And then I spend the rest of my life as a lab rat."

A pause. "But I might come visit anyhow. The laser part is cool."

[dollpocalypse]

"Nah, I think they only test on dumb people," Topher assured him absently. "Anyway, it's still probably safer than your LA, right?"

Uh, well. There were the turrets... and the toxic water...

[ultron_junior]

Victor quirked an eyebrow. "Depends what D-list villain's trying to get into the tabloids this week, I guess," he said. "So, is this, like, a government thing you're doing?"

[dollpocalypse]

"Nah, private company," Topher said. "They make... actually, I'm not sure what they make, officially. It's not even in my universe. But it's where whatsherface, the AI teacher from last semester, was from."

Which might have been why he'd been so intent on sending them his resume, universal boundaries be damned. You know. Possibly.

[ultron_junior]

"Oh." Victor frowned. "I kinda figured the people who programmed her were sadists. Or they had a really sick sense of humor."

Seriously, was this who Topher wanted to work for?

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

Kenzi had remembered (belatedly) that Topher was taking off today for... somewhere, so stopped by with a bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

"Dude. This is your first step to... something. What are they going to have you doing?"

[for great SP! if that is cool]

[dollpocalypse]

"Stuff, I guess," Topher said, swiping the bag of Reese's cups and plucking some from the bag. "You know. Lab coat stuff. R&D. Fun with lasers."

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"Fetching coffee for lab mice? Fetching lab mice for evil overlords? Fetching evil overlords for world-killing AI's?"

Too much MST3K for you, Kenzi.

[dollpocalypse]

"I was thinking none of the above," Topher said after a small pause for head-tilting. "Probably less fetching, more poking things with different things."

In typical conceited fashion, Topher was actually planning to be phenomenally disappointed if he wound up having to fetch coffee even once. He was way too smart to be wasting his time on that, thank you.

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"Like a cattle-prod? Or needles?" Kenzi grinned. "What's the name of this place? And is it anywhere you'll have fun besides poking things?" Look, she was being good! So many pokey jokes... "Or Billy?" Or not.

[dollpocalypse]

"Laaaaaaaaasers," Topher repeated, stretching out the word. Partly because he just liked the word 'lasers.' "Tragically, there will be no Billy at the laser place."

It was pretty distressing.

"What are you doing now, anyway? Probably... not working?"

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"I am so sorta working. Well, I get paid to torture Tiny on Thursdays. Same as usual." Kenzi grimaced. WORK. She was avoiding the thought for as long as possible. "But real work, nooooo, I'm gonna be one of Petra's TA's for her style class. For which I do not get paid, but I may get to dress people up like Barbie dolls." She paused. "Sadly, no lasers."

[dollpocalypse]

"Armor with lasers is a style!" Topher protested. "You should tell her that."

[selfhelphero]

"I want a postcard. Or text messages, if that's possible with where you're going to be," Billy said, grinning at Topher from the doorway. "Also, hi."

[dollpocalypse]

"Like I'd go anywhere without cell service," Topher scoffed, smirking, and he hopped off his desk to give Billy a quick kiss. "Are those annoying e-cards okay?"

[selfhelphero]

"Definitely. Some of them are really funny," Billy said, kissing Topher back. "Do you need any help packing?"

[dollpocalypse]

"Nah, I think I'm about done," Topher said, taking in the total disarray he'd created. "Laptops, snacks, clothes... that sounds like pretty much everything I'll need, right?"

[selfhelphero]

"Uh, that's a start," Billy said with a laugh. "Don't you need like, shampoo and deodorant and maybe more clothes? They'll have snacks there, won't they?"

[dollpocalypse]

"Maybe, but what if that dimension doesn't have Doritos or something?" Topher asked very seriously. "But shampoo and deodorant are probably a good plan. Or just deodorant. They'll probably have shampoo at... wherever I'm staying at, right?"

It was a hotel, but Topher had so far asked his parents exactly nothing about that.

"Clothes don't really matter, though. I'm gonna get a lab coat."

[selfhelphero]

"Don't you need things to wear under the lab coat?"

Don't mind the grin on Billy's face, Topher. He just couldn't stop his brain from going somewhere dirty.

[dollpocalypse]

"I have some stuff!" Topher insisted, patting his stack of pants and sweater vests that had yet to be shoved in his suitcase. "Just, you know, variety isn't that important, since lab coat and all, and hey, relatedly, are we gonna sext?"

What.