On the Trail (open)

James laughed appreciatively, throwing his cup away behind Catherine's.

"Besides, walking with me will let you find at least one speciality shop...for when you can pick up your hobby again."

"Ah, yes," he said, smiling at her, "I should very much like that."

As they left the cafe and began to walk, she had to wonder why she was being so...well, friendly, with James. This happy coincidence was supposed to let her take his measure, nothing more. And yet, she can't stop smiling at him...what is it about him that made her nearly forget her long-term goals?

Even though she couldn't understand it, she was still smiling at him as they strolled down the block. "Tell me then - are you a general hobbyist, or do you have specific subsections of electronics, when you're free to work at your play?"

Catherine kept smiling at James, and he kept smiling at her.

"Tell me then - are you a general hobbyist, or do you have specific subsections of electronics, when you're free to work at your play?"

"Well, I just tinker around a bit, taking things apart, trying to make them better, that sort of thing."

"Well, I just tinker around a bit, taking things apart, trying to make them better, that sort of thing."

"Ever try to conceal an extra function or two as you improve them?" She grinned and waved him to follow her into the small electronics shop they had just come abreast of. "This is an excellent place for bits and bobs, by the way."

James smiled at Catherine's inquiry. "In my younger days I used to plan how to make extraoridinary devices out of everyday items like... remote controls or... electric screwdrivers," he said, smiling to himself.

Kate wasn't finding anything she was quite looking for at the moment, but at least James was being amusing and intriguing to make up for it. "And tell me, how were you planning on making an electric screwdriver into something extraordinary?"

"Oh, I suppose I have it written down somewhere," James said, looking around at some this and thats on the wall. "I was... rather young when I had these plans, you see. You could say I was a different man then, but amibtions change and with them plans."

"You should dig it up again and see if it's worth refining now that you've grown. Or at least share? You've got me quite fascinated." Kate picked up several spools of fine wire and quite a number of blank circuit boards and moved on to the next section of the shop. Perhaps she ought not to have said outright that he fascinated her, though with luck he would simply pass it off as fascination with his old plans.

"I suppose I could dig it up, when I get the time. It's in London now, anyway, if it's in the notebook I think it's in," he smiled, letting out a small laugh.

"Oh drat. That means you'll likely forget it by the time you get back to London, with everything else you've still got to do here." It was logical for the notebook to be in London, if it was as old a design as he claimed, but she was still obscurely disappointed.

"Oh, I don't know," James said, smiling at Catherine, "I've got a fairly good memory. It wasn't a great idea to begin with, though. I would probably just start over if I tried picking it up again." He turned back to the shelf, looking through resistors.

"Well, if there's the slightest bit of potential in an old idea, there's no crime in taking that potential and running in a completly different directioni with it."

She turned to examine the resistors, furious with herself. She'd almost begun dropping hints about the project, and that would not do at all! She would simply have to watch herself better until such time as they parted ways. If only he didn't make it so hard to be restrained...

"May I ask," James said, turning to Catherine, "If you're currently working on any projects of your own?"

Kate made her selection from the resistors, and stepped sideways to the capacitors before answering James' question. As obliquely as possible. "I've always got projects going." She realized he would likely keep pressing for details, and decided to mention the last project. The easy one, so useful for security - and blackmail.

"I'm currently working on video...well, surveillance, I suppose you could call it. It's a bit tricky, getting a digital video camera to look like something else, but I enjoy that challenge, as well as the challenge of making it smaller...and if current estimates prove out in the testing, ten times more efficient than any currently available model. CCTV annoys me as a security measure, you see, so I set out to make something better."

"I never worked much with video... surveillance, as it were," James said, smiling at Catherine. "I'd offer to help, but I don't know how useful I'd be."

"Oh, the video bit's done already. It's when the camera is intended for building security - that's where the problem is coming in. It still has to connect to a central monitoring point, and I'm having an absolute fit trying to see if I can do without wiring altogether."

James smiled at Catherine. He'd already solved the problem, being very clever, but he wouldn't tell her this. "I don't know, It's been a long while and that was never really my... preference, you see."

There wasn't any need for her to tell him that the problem was actually long since solved, as the rehashing of the old project was keeping her from spilling the detals of the new one. Still, it would have been nice to hear how he would have approached it.

"Not your preference....hmm, so what would your preference be?"

James smiled, but didn't answer. Instead he turned his attention back to the wall of electronic bits in front of him, picking a few items up and examining them before returning them to their place.

Kate raised an eyebrow as she stepped around him. "Silent treatment - did I ask the wrong question?" She took several items from under his nose, nearly, examined them, and kept most of them.

"No," James said, turning back to Catherine, still smiling, though not as broadly as before, "You just seem very interested in an old hobby of mine... One I haven't touched in years... I'm beginning to find it peculiar."

"I suppose it was a little too much for me to hope for, some intelligent conversation in a speculative vein, much less a new direction for a problem of my own. As I've offended, allow me to make my apologies." Kate was even more curious about James now though, with this turn in the conversation; she could swear he'd just gotten his back up over potential additions to an electric screwdriver. Unless he was lying through his teeth, and was disturbed over the improved security cameras she'd claimed to yet be working on. Either way, the intrigue just kept piling higher.

James smiled at Catherine again. "You have a very specific way of wording your thoughts. I find it... interesting." She was certainly one of the more interesting people he'd met in a while, humans are such a simple race...

"Do I? Hmm...I suppose I can't really argue with that. Nor with being found interesting. Shall I take it this means my apology was accepted?" Kate smiled at James, wondering still what precisely had gotten him annoyed. Damn him for being intriguing and frustrating, anyway.

James smiled at Catherine. "Absolutely." At that moment his mobile rang. Without looking at it, he said, "Unfortunately, that means I have to cut this outing short. I look forward to seeing you tonight." He smiled and offered his hand.