fix me up [alaina]

[JOSEPHINE OLIVIA CAMPBELL]

When she wasn't doing artwork or storyboarding for her graphic novel, Joey tried to make money on the side by fixing computers. The collegiate atmosphere was pretty much perfect for collecting potential clients for this side business; as much of college work depended on technology, there was bound to be a generous handful of various tech failures and computer crashes to keep her busy and paid. Even though she was on scholarship for her school, Joey lived off of the money she earned from people subscribing to her graphic novel online and in person, as well as the nominal fees she charged for computer maintenance and upkeep. Although she wasn't a tech wizard by any means, she knew that she could do most basic maintenance work – hardware and software, along with any virus sweeps and other things like fixing registry errors, getting rid of spy-ware and other malware, and those were really the root cause of most failures that people in her general surroundings experienced. With a little bit of free advertisement about her skills on the various bulletin boards, she was in business.

Today, she was working on a beautiful refurbished Dell, sweeping a few viruses and installing some new dual-boot technology to give better optimization of the storage space inside and allow for multiple operating systems to be used. It wasn't her most profitable appointment that week, but the cool one-hundred and fifty dollars she was collecting for two hours of labor, plus software installation from her private stash was pretty well worth her time. Even though she could do this work in her dorm room, Joey had been holed up in there all week, working on the next issue of 'Bravo 18,' and needed a change of scenery, so after meeting with Caleb - this super nice guy that had been in her Microbiology class last term - and collecting his computer and password list, she had taken the machine to one of the large study areas. The space was large, well-lit with big windows, and furnished with plush chairs and sofas, along with long, wooden tables that usually got pretty crowded around finals time, but since it was summertime, most people were gone for the holidays. The campus stayed open, but only a few buildings, because they still had students that lived on campus and needed something to do with all their downtime.

There were a few other students in the study area, a girl in the corner reading a book, a guy sitting in one of the armchairs and playing his DS, and then another guy sitting on the stairs, doing something on his phone that gave him a terrible scowl, so Joey didn't stare at him for very long. People-watching was one of her favorite activities, but she never wanted to seem like a complete creep and get caught watching. So, laptop open, Joey started with her installation procedures, and then sat back, balancing her chair on two legs as she waited for the downloads to complete – the computer was showing nothing more than the download process against an otherwise black screen, and she twiddled her thumbs and whistled quietly while she waited for it to complete. Then, the redhead felt someone staring at her, and turned around, offering a bit of a sideways smile and putting the chair back on all four legs. ”Sorry. Don't tell me you're going to give me judgey face for doing that, though – I've never broken a chair in my life. Promise.” Even though she was pretty sure she wasn't doing anything wrong, Joey liked to keep to herself, stay under the radar. Really, people just made her nervous. But she faked the whole 'not nervous' thing pretty well... most of the time.

OUTFIT:

[/color] Here![/blockquote][/justify]

[allie]

So, the university wasn't really her hang out spot anymore, as Alaina had already graduated, but she was only twenty-two, and she looked like she fit in with the whole college scene still, so every once in a while if she had the day off work, and she really could think of nothing better to do, the firetamer would head back to the place she used to attend school and reminisce a bit and maybe explore the campus. And if she was lucky she might meet a student hanging around and make a new friend. To be honest though, it was summer and most students had gone home for the summer or at the very least weren't spending their free time at school. She had never wanted to spend her time on the weekends at school, she was always out and about with her sister and best friend, or a few of her other friends. Things like that. So the red head wasn't expecting to meet any new people today.

Allie wandered for a while heading in no particular direction just walking, not even shocked that everything was dark and locked up and all the areas of the large school were empty. Well, all wouldn't be the proper work for it. Most was more like it, There were some buildings open, like all the dorms were, she was sure, and the library would be open, and the food court, a handful of self using classrooms for students to use, study halls, and some other classrooms were open for summer classes that were going on. So Allie went to the food courts and got a soda, that was all she really wanted,then she continued on her way. Now what should she do? She started for the library when she passed a study hall and she smiled. Well it seemed that was where she was going today.

The redhead stepped inside and let her green eyes sweep across the room as she walked. Two guy and two girls were inside, one guy upset over something, the other playing games. One of the girls was absorbed in her book tucked away in a far corner of the room. The other girl, a redhead as well, was sitting in front of a laptop that was loading something it looked like. She was leaning back in her chair so it was on two legs. Allie grinned as she watched her, she did that sometimes when she was sitting in chairs. This girl looked like the most fun of the group that was for sure.

'Sorry. Don't tell me you're going to give me judgey face for doing that, though – I've never broken a chair in my life. Promise.'

Allie laughed and shook her head. "No I'm not. I'm amused. I do that too and I can't remember breaking a chair." She stepped closer and slid into the chair next to her and held her hand out. "I'm Alaina. And I love your hair color by the way." She laughed. She couldn't help but comment on it. Redheads unite?

[JOSEPHINE OLIVIA CAMPBELL]

Joey never really knew what to expect when she interacted with new people. Her social skills were... pretty lacking, actually, and she kept hoping that by talking to more people and being more social in her classes that she'd get better about the whole 'talking to people' thing. She just had a different upbringing than most, and was more focused on her family than on being a regular teenager. Joey had even started college later in life, and that was practically because her siblings forced her out the door and promised her that they could handle everything at home after she had gotten her full ride to the University of Manuka. This faith in her was why Joey made sure to be responsible whenever she could – finding ways to make money so she could send back home and her older siblings wouldn't have to each work three jobs just to make ends meet. Joey had also decided to double major in business and graphic design so she could continue work on her graphic novel and have the proper skills to develop her own business for either selling 'Bravo 18' or starting some sort of computer repair business on the side, just so she'd have steady income after she graduated.

As it was, her graphic novel sales had boosted by five percent in the last month, which might not seem like a lot, but it brought in an extra three-hundred dollars or so a month that she couldn't count on before. Then, students were still breaking computers or needing upgrades over the summer, and word about her work and cheap rates had even extended outside of the campus grounds, and Joey was grateful for that, except it still didn't give her time to socialize. Joey's friend Aella had been a little neglected lately, but the redhead wanted to make sure to hang out with her again – she had a lot to tell the dancer, including information about the fact that Joey actually had a girlfriend. Jamie, a gorgeous redhead that was... well, she was a little rough around the edges, a 'rocker' type, but even though they had only been dating for a few months, she made Joey really, really happy. They were taking things more slowly than what Joey guessed she was used to, but she appreciated that Jamie was so respectful of her and her needs. And the steps that they had taken were... incredible.

When her eyes met the green ones of the redhead that approached her, Joey grinned. What, do I have some sort of ginger magnet going on? First my girlfriend and now her... but she seems nice enough.

[/color] The human's thoughts trickled through her brain and then she responded to what the girl was actually thinking.

”Yeah, me either, but people always give the dirtiest looks, so I'm kinda used to it.” Joey looked at the laptop on the table, making sure she wasn't too distracted from what she was being paid to do, but it was still in download stage. ”Joey, and yours is pretty awesome, too. Us gingers are special, and I don't really believe all that crap about us 'going extinct' anyway. Do you?” Okay, so she was going to talk about science right off the bat, which was sort of... strange, for most people, but Joey had never interacted in the same way that most people did.[/blockquote][/justify]

[allie]

'Yeah, me either, but people always give the dirtiest looks, so I'm kinda used to it.'

Allie snorted and shook her head. "Some people are just so rude. I guess a lot of people see that as unsafe and all, but it's not like they can stop us. People should just mind their own business." That was one thing she really didn't like, when people got into other people's business. It was just so annoying when that happened. But at least it didn't always happen so she she decided to push that aside since it wasn't even a big issue at this point in time, and the other girl was talking again, introducing herself.

'Joey, and yours is pretty awesome, too. Us gingers are special, and I don't really believe all that crap about us 'going extinct' anyway. Do you?'

"It's a pleasure to meet you Joey," she started with a bright grin. "And thanks about the hair." Yes she loved her hair, she took pride in her Irish heritage. She wasn't born there, but her parents had and she was happy with that knowledge. She couldn't help but laugh at Joey's comment about gingers going extinct. Mhm, yes they were going extinct. Totally. She rolled her green eyes and shook her head. "Oh yeah. Course I do! i mean if all the nut cases think red hair is dwindling and all of us with red hair are going to die out and no one will have red hair any more, then it must be true right? I mean stupid people like that are always right aren't they?" She blinked at the girl in front of the computer as though she believe what she was saying, but she couldn't keep the smile and laughter in for more than a few seconds.

"Sorry, I just couldn't help it. But really, we are quite unique. After all, not everyone can be graced with such beautiful locks as us redheads. It's too special a color to be given to just anyone." She smirked slightly and shrugged as she watched her, then her eyes flicked to the computer. "So, whatcha working on there?"

((sorry its a bit short))

[JOSEPHINE OLIVIA CAMPBELL]

Right away, she admired Alaina's bold nature. Joey sensed confidence in people sometimes, and it intimidated the hell out of her, but even though this woman seemed pretty confident, there was also an easygoing persona to her that made the human feel comfortable. It was odd, but Joey had noticed that since she'd started dating Jamie, she'd been a little more confident about a lot of things. The friends were starting to stack up in her life, and even though she hadn't come all the way from her socially awkward beginnings, she was making progress. Baby steps. ”Yeah, and sometimes I wanna tell them that, but it's just not in me to be rude back. I wait until they walk away, and then I smack talk them under my breath.” She grinned a little, like it was something to be proud of, although she'd much rather be able to say some of the things she thought of after a rude person walked away to their face. Even though she detested lowering herself to a bully's level, sometimes it was warranted.

”I don't know, maybe stupid people have some sort of insider info,” the human said, obviously joking, because her sense of humor was getting better, too. Sarcasm was becoming one of her best friends, and she was actually started to recognize it when it was used – whether in general or toward her. More reasons to thank her girlfriend, she supposed. Speaking of, Joey noticed her phone light up, and saw that it was from Jamie. For a moment, she was tempted to check it, but didn't want to interrupt the flow she had going. Besides, Jamie wasn't one of those clingy girlfriends, so she could just check in with the other redhead later. ”We're special, though, I agree. Although, I'm not sure why, but there's quite a few around Manuka. You, my girlfriend, me... if my siblings move here, there will be a whole bunch more. People might start to wonder if there's some sort of convention going on or something. All of us gathering in one place like some kind of herd.” Joey didn't know how her humor would go over with someone else, but Aella thought she was funny sometimes, and Jamie laughed at her jokes – maybe just to be nice, but Joey liked to think she was pretty funny.

Alaina asked about her 'project' and Joey looked back to the computer that was still downloading some essential files. ”Oh, this? Um, I fix computers – kind of a side job, make some extra money aside from what my graphic novel pulls in. It's not much, but it's enough to cover my arcade addiction and food that isn't the standard college kid diet of pizza rolls and Top Ramen. So I'm grateful for that,” Joey said, then clicked a few keys to start the next procedure she had to start on the little machine. She gestured to the chair next to her, wondering if Alaina wanted to sit down. ”I'll be at this a while longer, but you can stick around if you wanna.”

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