Adrienne & Clint | Wednesday Afternoon

[x-hawkeye.livejournal.com]

Clint asks Adrienne about summer classes and somehow they get around to discussing robots.


Clint tucked his review notes into his backpack, then waited until the computers had all been turned off and the other students had left the room before approaching Miss Frost. He gave her a slightly awkward smile before asking, "Could we talk about classes for next year?"

Adrienne nearly responded with a whiny 'do we have to?' but stopped herself in time. "Of course we can," she answered instead, forcing a smile. It was great that she had enthusiastic students, right? "I'm sure I don't need to tell you, though, you don't have anything to be worried about with next year. Your grades are good enough that you could take pretty much whatever classes you want. Maybe even some college-level stuff. Sky's the limit. So... if you're worried... don't be!" Was that what he'd come to her for?

"That's sort of what I wanted to talk about," Clint said, nodding. "I really like your class and I was hoping I could take a couple over the summer so I could take other science things next year. I've checked out everything and I figured maybe Pre-Cal and Economics? I remember Matt talking about taking summer classes, so I thought I'd ask."

"Oh! Right!" Shiiiiiiiiit, there went her summer vacation. Oh well. She should take it as a compliment that he liked her class and wanted to take more classes with her, right? And Clint was a good kid. It wasn't like spending extra time teaching him would be a chore or anything. And maybe she could convince Tandy to sign up, too. She and Clint could spend more time together. And time together in the classroom was time that wasn't going to be spent going out to get drunk, do drugs, and have sex or anything like that, right? "Yeah, of course we can do that. It's a good idea," she nodded, her smile more genuine now than it had been earlier. "What other science things are you looking at taking next year?"

"Genetics and Mutation and Astronomy," Clint said, grinning now. "I want to take AP Calculus BC, too. And Maddie's dragging me into something history related - apparently I have to take some kind of history next year." He also really wanted to look into Robotics, too, but he hadn't had a chance to talk to anyone about it yet. He thought maybe Mr. Summers would be able to help with that, but he wasn't sure. Robotics probably didn't have much to do with cars.

"That's a nice assortment," Adrienne praised, eyebrow raised. "So what are you looking at studying in college with all these courses under your belt from high school? I mean... I'm assuming you want to go to college? Or were you thinking of doing a trade or something?"

"Definitely college," Clint said, tilting his head to the side. "Sharon, one of the RAs, says she's gonna open a restaurant, so I can work somewhere - she said I could have a job whenever it opens. But I want to get a degree or two. I don't know in what, but probably something science related. I'm kind of interested in robotics, actually. I'd love to take a course in that. I just haven't talked to anybody about it."

"Gah! Another robot fan?" Adrienne said before she could stop herself. And then since she'd already said it, and didn't figure there was any point to taking it back or pretending she hadn't said it, she wrinkled her nose and gave Clint a smirk. "What is it with robots? I don't get it!"

"Somebody else is interested in robots?" Clint smiled. "And I dunno, it's just cool to think that I can design something and build it and have it operate on its own eventually, I guess. Like the coffeemaker in the kitchen. It's got robotic parts interfaced with an AI and it tells me what kind of drink I want... and it's usually right."

"OhmygodyouWANTittooperateonitsown?!" Adrienne squeaked, eyes wide. "No! Nononono! No robots operating on their own! That's the beginning of the end!" She made a mental note to take Garrison's baseball bat to the damn coffeemaker that Sue and Clint seemed to love so much. It was only a matter of time before the thing took over the mansion, as far as Adrienne was concerned. "Between you and Sue and the coffeemaker, I think we're all doomed," she lamented, sounding completely serious.

That actually startled a laugh from Clint. He was still smiling as he said, "The coffeemaker just makes coffee, Miss Frost. It's not a tool for evil. It can only work with the tools it has within its programming. Like it'd never be able to take arsenic and stick that in your tea because it doesn't have any arsenic but also because I'm pretty sure it's programmed to detect toxic substances or something. I could be wrong. But if it's not, it ought to be. Hm..."

"Are you 'hming' because you want to make it be able to detect toxic substances?" Adrienne questioned. "Because that would be a great idea. Make them work for good, instead of evil. And make sure it can't communicate with Sue's spider robots. Because now I'm going to have nightmares about the coffee maker telling the spiders to go find arsenic and bring it to the coffee maker."

"Yeah," Clint said, nodding. "I think it should be able to detect toxic substances. Of course, if anybody comes around who has like. Poison as part of their mutation, that could be kind of awkward. Still, it's something to think about. I didn't know Sue had robotic spiders - that's pretty cool. Of course, the coffeemaker should tell the spider robots to destroy all the arsenic or whatever. Which again - that'd be awkward if it was a person with poison..." He trailed off again as he thought about that. "I think I need to do some research."

This was exactly why robots freaked Adrienne out. "But... if it just... detects toxic substances, it wouldn't... do anything to anyone who has poison as part of their mutation, right? Or would it send the spiders after them? Is that why it would be awkward?"

"Yeah, exactly!" Clint said, nodding enthusiastically. "That'd be bad. So we should probably ix-nay the spiders all together. But maybe just an alert that toxic materials are around or something would be good for the coffeemaker."

"Is 'ix-nay some sort of code for 'crush so they can't be used for evil'?" Adrienne asked him. "I mean, I'm sure she'd be sad if we crushed them, so I'd feel kind of bad, but she'd get over it, right? If she knew we did it for the good of, you know, the universe?"

"I don't actually know what ix-nay means," Clint said, frowning a little. "But we probably shouldn't crush Sue's spiders until we figure out what she's designed them to do. If it's toss bread at people, we're probably safe leaving them uncrushed. If it's 'build ein empire' we should probably be worried."

"Oh...kay," Adrienne responded, frowning thoughtfully at Clint as if struggling with a mental decision, overacting as if in a really bad B-movie. "I can't detect any plans for world domination out of you. You seem like you're on the level, all concerned about the spiders possibly taking over and the fate of humanity and all that. I think I trust you not to be working for the robots. So I'll encourage your interest in robotics rather than being afraid of you." She nodded and carried on in her normal voice. "I should put you in touch with my sister. She's nuts about robots. Do you know Frost Enterprises?"

"Not really? I mean, I know the name. It sounds familiar. But I don't know a lot about it or anything," Clint said, shaking his head. "Would she be able to find somebody to help me with a robotics class or something?"

Adrienne grinned at his question. "She'd probably do one better and teach you herself. She's kind of a robotics expert. She was involved in making robotic legs for a guy once, even. Smart cookie, my sister. But if you ever tell her I told you that, I'll flunk you in math," she teased. "And Frost Enterprises is, to quote their PR releases, 'an acknowledged leader in the area of robotics and various connected fields like electronics and avionics.' I like to tell people the reason I didn't end up running the family business is actually because of my crippling fear of robots."

Clint grinned. "Seriously? She might teach me? And Sue, if Sue wants? That'd be amazing. I thought we'd probably have to take some kind of class down at Salem High or something, but if it's here, it'll probably be way better."

"She might," the brunette agreed. "She used to teach at the school, so she knows her way around students. And it would be funny to me to see her teaching, since I've never seen it in person, so yeah, I really hope we can make this happen."

"Me, too," Clint said, still grinning. "Thanks, Miss Frost. You're awesome."