[i](Collab between RoadRash, Idlehands and KuroTenshi)[/i])

“Bill,” the driller grunted briefly, enveloping the doctor’s hand in his own. He took a large swig of coffee and delivered the coup-de-grace to the eclair, shoving the rest into his mouth without ceremony.

“I’m a driller. I’ll be on the mining ship,” he said after another slug of coffee. “Hopefully I don’t end up having to come give you extra work. No offense.”

Crap he got caught staring and now the guy was taunting him with the glazed goods. The stare coupled with the thumb lick was a bit weird though and Connor nearly shook his head. He started to turn back forward, it was probably creepy how he was staring at the donuts, but stopped seeing the grizzled looking man holding one up with a little shake. Connor narrowed his eyes, giving the older man a suspicious look. Was he really offering the fried goody or was he messing with him because he was caught staring and drooling?

The introvert in him wanted to turn around and go back to being anti social, but his growling stomach stopped him. [i]Ah, fuck it.[/i] He was hungry and free junk food won out being a hermit. He stood up from his seat and crab walked his way past people already sitting down in his aisle then trotted up the stairs to the row in front of the trio of older gentlemen. All of them were sporting facial hair of some kind and he was really tempted to dub them the Three Mustache-keteers. 

His lips twitched from fighting the urge to grin at his own stupid thoughts. 

He sat his happy ass down in the seat in front of the stranger offering up sweets and tried for a polite grin. "Hi." He greeted, holding up one hand that was crawling with the Celtic knotwork style tattoos. "Are you offering to share or am I just making myself look stupid right now?"

Reece watched with amusement as the kid scurried toward them and sat down. He looked over the blue hair and the tattoos. the facial piercings and he drawled, “Not as stupid as all that makes you look.” 

He laughed and held the donut up, “Whatcha do on this ship, boy?” 

Bill turned his attention to the new arrival, frowning briefly. After a quick once-over, he gestured vaguely to Connor’s hair.

“The fuck’s on your head?”

Connor grinned a bit and shrugged at the question. “Ridiculous head cover to keep my brains from floating out of my skull. Or hair if you want to get technical.” He reached out to take the donut that was offered to him. “My name’s Connor, I’m a mechanic for the mining ships.” He answered before taking a bite of the donut, his taste buds singing and dancing at the sugary taste. “Thanks for the donut, I haven’t eaten in three years.” 

“For the mining ships?” Reece wiped his hand on his jeans, glancing at Bill and back at Connor. He was young, he seemed hardly more than a teenager and the blue hair and piercings did little to change that. “I hope you’re some kind of weirdo genius then because I can’t imagine where they must have dug you up.” 

“You realize those tubs aren’t made outa Legos, right kid?” Bill growled, pointing at him with a donut. “Not fond of the idea of havin’ a kid workin’ on all that’s between me and suffocating…”

“You guys are miners?” Connor asked, sitting up a bit straighter and twisting a bit more to face them better. “Uh, well,” He hated talking about his intelligence since he had been raised not to brag about his accomplishments. “I got my bachelors in mechanical engineering when I was eighteen at MIT, I was going for my masters but that’s when the program found me and pulled me in. So yeah I’m kind of a weirdo genius.” He looked down at his donut and took another bite. 

Reece leaned back, looking at Connor askance and he put a fresh toothpick in his mouth, rolling it around before he spoke, “So you got the book smarts and the paper...but you ever work on the real thing? Other than what you practiced on at the Mountain. You ever been in the field, had to jerry rig and improvise without all your pretty tools and materials available?” 

He was quiet for a moment, “It’s a lot different in the real world. We go out onto those asteroids and something goes down...”

Reece cocked his eyebrow, looking at Connor intently, his grey gaze piercing. “Enjoy your donut.” 

Connor looked up, being careful to keep his face neutral though he couldn’t stop his jaw from clenching. “I know everything about those ships, right down to the number of bolts holding it all together. I’ve worked on them every day for three years straight, hell I helped put some of them together. I know what those ships can do and I know the kind of potential they have; it’s why I asked to be assigned to work on them.” He shook his head, running a hand over his bright hair. “I wouldn’t be a mechanic if they thought I couldn’t do it.” 

“Well, we’ll see,” Reece said, chewing on the toothpick, clearly at the end of this conversation. He lifted his leg and put his ankle across his knee, looking past Connor. His attention focused back onto Abby at the front of the hall where she was left alone, preparing to address the third shift.

Connor frowned and stood up to go find another seat. “Thanks for the donut.” He said as parting words as he moved away. That had been his first encounter with a miner and he found that while he didn’t care if anyone else scoffed at him...The conversation with someone that would be using them left him unsettled and frustrated.