xp_logs | Nathan and Jane, Saturday morning (Reply)

Nathan finds Jane making wind chimes out of silverware. Nathan suspects Jane needs something to occupy her time. Jane gets a job offer!

Jane sat alone in the art room examining a pair of forks. In front of her was a considerable pile of dented and tarnished flatware mixed with the occasional power tool. On one hand, she noted, the little fork matched better with the other pieces of silverware she'd already picked out size-wise. But the pattern on the larger fork was much more interesting.

"Oh, I don't knoooooooow," she moaned quietly to herself as she began inspecting the pattern on the smaller piece more closely.

Someone passed by the doorway - and stopped, backing up a few steps. Nathan tilted his head as he saw what Jane was doing... well, the specifics of what she was doing, because he really wasn't sure at all what the purpose of it was. "Jane?" he ventured. "New project?"

"Hey Nathan." Jane dropped the fork and looked up at him with a smile. "Would you like a windchime?" she asked, pointing to a pair that were hanging in the window, the tiered spirals of flatware twinkling in the bright light.

Nathan gazed at the windchime for a long moment, a smile tugging at his lips. "I would love one," he said, turning his attention back to Jane. "Rachel would adore it. I can see her playing with it for hours." And driving everyone within earshot insane, but that was the price of a telekinetic toddler sometimes.

"Oh, yay! I'm glad," Jane practically bounced in her seat. "Do you like either of those? Or you could pick out your own pieces." She gestured to the pile of silver on the table. "I could put it together pretty quickly."

"Since it's for Rachel, I think I'd better be a spoon man today." Nathan sat down and started to pick through the pile of battered silverware. It gave him the opportunity to talk to Jane and figure out why she was making silverware-windchimes, too. Although the answer to that question might very well be 'because she's Jane', he preferred to make sure. She'd sounded a bit disconsolate. "So you just woke up this morning and decided to make windchimes, mm?"

"Golly, doesn't everybody?" she asked, lightly lacing her cheery tone with sarcasm before dissolving into giggles, her imagination pulling up an image of Logan an the Professor working on a set of chimes . "Sorry, sorry, " she apologized. "I don''t know, I guess. I had a neighbor who used to make these for craft fairs, and when I saw the box of silver in a junk shop the other day, I thought it'd be fun. Something to do." Not that she had anything else to do these days, she added to herself. Maybe it was time to think about getting a job at the mall.

"Given what I do in my infrequent spare time, trust me, I'm not knocking the windchimes." He eyed the completed ones for a moment, then smiled. "They are kind of unique."

"You're going to need six spoons," she told him, adding, "That's why I like them, though. Each one is a little different. They're never the same" Jane picked up a pair of tin snips and started measuring lengths of chain off a spool. "So what odd things do you do in your spare time?"

"Write poetry. I think the windchimes have greater artistic value." Nathan picked up a spoon, eyeing it thoughtfully. He let go, levitating it and then pulling carefully at the metal, shifting and stretching it until what had been a spoon was twice the size it had started and fantastically rippled.

Jane laughed. "Maybe when you do that to the spoons they do. Otherwise, I'm not so sure." She nudged him gently in the side with an elbow. "And how is writing poetry odd? I was half expecting you to say you crocheted sweaters for cats or something equally...unique."

"Moira threatens sometimes to make me learn how to knit. Apparently she thinks it would be a safe, sedate pursuit," Nathan said, but didn't answer Jane's question. "So while I do appreciate the windchimes on a number of levels, I have to wonder why you've found yourself in the art room looking for something to do this afternoon."

"She knows that knitting needles have pointy ends, yes?" Jane asked airily, missing Nathan's dodge completely. She set aside the chain and looked at her hands for a moment. It wasn't complaining if someone asked, even if they hadn't really asked-asked, right? "I just don't have anything to do," she explained. "I mean, I study for the GED in the morning, but it's nothing really hard, and I'll probably end up taking the test next month if I get my application in because i took a practice test and I passed just fine, but after that I don't really have anything to do. I feel weird hanging out with the younger kids, and everyone else I know have jobs, or boyfriends, or they've moved out, or something. And, I don't know. I get bored." Jane paused for a breath and then looked up at Nathan. "And you know. Idle hands, tools of the devil. That sort of thing."

Nathan nodded slightly, still sorting through the pile of spoons. "What would you like to do?" he asked lightly. "I mean, your focus obviously needs to be your GED right now. Do you want to think about college afterwards? Do you want to look for a job? Both?"

"I was thinking of getting a job," she admitted, reaching across the table to grab a polishing cloth and the soldering iron. "I know I have to go to college eventually, I just need to figure out for what. I've been thinking about getting a mall job, but there was that thing last month when I was there with Yvette." Her nose wrinkled in disgust at the memory. "I don't know if that's the best idea right now." Beating customers over the head with cash registers was generally frowned upon, she'd found.

Nathan paused and blinked suddenly. ...you're a bad, bad man, Dayspring. But it was such an elegant solution! And she was such an unconventional thinker. He liked unconventional thinkers. "You know," he said, feeling rather shameless, "you don't necessarily need to go off-campus to find a job. We could use some more help in the boathouse. Office help, research work, that sort of thing.."

"Really?" Jane tilted her head. "I thought you had a small army there already." It was something she hadn't considered before, and the immediate perks were admittedly perky. She wouldn't have to shell out for bus fare, she doubted that Nathan made his employees wear little McHats, and the work had to be more interesting than talking teenagers into overpriced prom dresses.

"Yes, but when some of your soldiers are volunteers and others are trying to balance work with numerous other committments, more help's always really welcome." Nathan gave her a tentative look. "I think you might like it," he said. "It's work that's meant to help people, so there's a bit more of a point to it than a job in the mall. Plus I do pay well."

Jane nodded and picked up one of the spoons Nathan had sorted out. Ooh. He knew she was a sucker for helping people. And the money was not unwelcome. She enveloped the spoon in the rouge cloth and began to polish it to a bright sheen. "Would you want me to start now, or after I pass the GED?"

"Whatever you'd like. If you want to start after, that's fine. If you want to come in a few hours a week so that you don't find yourself bored while you're finishing getting ready for the GED, you can do that too. I wouldn't want you to be working too much until you pass, though - your education's got to be the priority."

Jane nodded again. "I could probably do a couple afternoons a week," she offered. "That shouldn't be a problem."

"It'll give you a chance to figure out whether this is really something you want to do," Nathan said, unable to repress a smile. "I mean, you may hate the lot of us when you're actually working in close quarters with us..."

"l'll take my chances, and warn you if I suddenly feel the need to do something drastic." Jane chuckled softly. "Seriously though, Nathan. Thank you."

"You're quite welcome," Nathan said cheerfully. "I don't really think you'll hate us," he confided. "Although John can be a bear in the mornings..."