(no subject)

[darkforcerising]

Who: Anakin and Martin
What: Meeting in person, eating cupcakes
When: Last Wednesday
Where: A cupcake shop, because Anakin doesn’t drink or know any good bars
Rating/Warnings: Probably low? It’s cupcakes


Anakin was late, time and keeping accurate track of it being one of his great enemies. But it was only ten minutes late- okay, fourteen.

He hoped Martin hadn’t given up on him. The shop had a good selection of cupcakes and he hoped that was enough to entice Martin to stay until Anakin got there.

He walked in, the bell on the door chiming. A few of the tables had people. Just inside the door, Anakin scanned the faces for Martin.

Comments

[not_as_i_do]

Martin was used to tardiness ... he'd had patients skate in right at the end of their grace window more times than he could count. Not only that, but this was hardly a professional setting, and he and Anakin barely knew each other. It didn't seem like anything to even begin to get offended over. He was leaning over the case, still waging an internal debate with himself over red velvet versus German chocolate, when he heard the bell and turned - as he had every time it had gone off in the last fifteen minutes.

"Ah, glad you made it." He smiled, with no trace of offense or passive aggression in the least. "Traffic?"

[darkforcerising]

"Oh, uh..." Anakin tried to think quickly for an excuse but his thoughts escaped cooperation. "... No... I forgot to set an alarm. And I lost track of time- Did you already grab a cupcake?"

[not_as_i_do]

He admired the lack of bullshit, it made things easier and built trust. "Ha, no. It's been a difficult decision. Besides, I didn't want to start without you. ... It's on me, by the way. Last time I met someone from the network for a chat, he insisted on getting the tab, so I'm paying it forward."

[darkforcerising]

It's admirable until people realize that is Anakin's default setting and after the nth time of him being late or forgetting the meeting altogether a person starts to grow tired of him, even if he was honest about it.

"Oh?" He hadn't expected the offer, but he appreciated the gesture. "Uh, thank you. Okay."

And he stood back up. "Then let's get cupcakes."

[not_as_i_do]

He stepped aside a little to give Anakin room, and gestured. "I'm stuck between red velvet and German chocolate, myself. If it's going to be something small, it might as well be rich. I'm getting a coffee with mine, too, so feel free to get a drink as well."

He glances over at the young man, calmly taking his measure. Seeing someone over the network and in person are two different things. "Am I allowed to ask how things are going in your work, or is that against your protocol?"

[darkforcerising]

"Why not get both?" Anakin suggested.

He looked over the selection and he was in luck, there was a funfetti option with rainbow chip frosting.

"I can say general things about my work, nothing specific," Anakin shrugged. "Everything's proprietary and the government doesn't fuck around with its toys. We are getting close to stress testing a few of our projects and that's always the best time." He grinned at that, because he really did like this part of his work.

[not_as_i_do]

"And save one for later? Excellent idea." He beamed, bellying up to the counter at last to place his order. "Cup of coffee, too, then, Anakin? I'm getting one. ... That's seeing how much they can take before they break, yes? I'm guessing that's a much more complicated process than a cardiovascular stress test."

[darkforcerising]

Anakin waved off the offer of coffee. He asked for a water instead because rootbeer was not on service.

He took his cupcake and water back to the table.

"It can be complicated, but it's fun to see the extremes we can put our designs through. Especially when we essentially get to blow them up. What do you do in a cardiovascular stress test?" He was pretty sure no one was blown up in a test like that.

[not_as_i_do]

"Well, we certainly don't blow anyone up," he said with a chuckle as he fixed his coffee with cream and sugar. "It's a simple process, but it takes a few hours because of the materials involved. We have a patient fast before hand so that anything they eat or drink can't have an effect on the results, then they're given an injection that helps their bloodstream show up in imaging."

He began to fastidiously peel the wrapper away from the edges of the red velvet cupcake, as though he were performing confectionary surgery. "Then while that's entering the bloodstream, we take an image of the heart at rest to use as a baseline before the actual stress test."

[darkforcerising]

Anakin had a fork, which he was using in his left hand to poke at the frosting, only taking small small bites at a time.

"So what's the actual test?"

[not_as_i_do]

"Not half as complicated as most people expect," he admits. "We hook them up to an EKG monitor and have them jog on a treadmill for a set length of time. Resting heart rate versus active heart rate, obviously, but there's also the question of any arrhythmia that may present, or whether or not they can even handle an elevated heart rate for an extended period of time."