Nolan & Gilmore | Dec. 30

[ax_glory]

Gilmore goes hunting around the work rooms and meets another young entrepreneur who captures his attention. The feeling seems to be mutual, and he and Nolan embark on a fully superfluous art project together.

Shaun Gilmore had still not completely mapped out the labs and workrooms available to students, especially given that large parts of what should be the lower levels were completely off-limits. He had a pretty fair idea, but finding any specific place or person still required a bit of knocking around. To be truthful, he felt like something of an intruder here. His powers of invention were new to him, and the students who worked in these rooms regularly had been tinkering and building for years. They had credibility, internships -- even companies of their own, he'd heard. Gilmore did not enjoy feeling like a small fish in this incredibly impressive pond.

He tapped on a door he thought was Kitty Pryde's lab, hoping to catch her working when he pushed the door open. "Mademoiselle Kit... oh."

Well, this was most assuredly not Kitty... though at first glance, Gilmore thought he'd call this fine specimen any pet name he'd requested. "Hello there. May I interrupt?"

Nolan had looked up from the software he was working on, the one for Kitty's wrist drone, and over towards the door when it opened. The face was known to him, of course; he'd looked into Shaun Gilmore since Warren had brought him up. And Nolan wanted to meet him, too, if only because the numbers on his etsy shop were in fact impressive. But he'd let his own social awkwardness get in the way, as it tended to.

"Hi," he answered, saving his work and minimizing the window without looking away from the other boy. "Of course." He stood, inviting the other boy to come in with a gesture. "I'm afraid Kitty's out there having a life." Something he himself had done very little of in the last little while. He clearly wasn't fit to have a life outside of work.

Gilmore slid into the room, rather feeling like he'd been invited into some sort of inner sanctum. Kitty was already legendary at the school, and if this blond fellow with the cut-glass cheekbones was sharing her workspace, then...

"Nolan Ross, I presume?" Gilmore asked with a budding grin. He'd never dreamed that moving across the country to attend mutant school would drop him in the lap -- figuratively speaking, so far, more's the pity -- of so many brilliant (and loaded) fellow buisnesspeople.

"Shaun Gilmore," Nolan retorted, holding a hand out for a shake, all business and business charm. This he could do, this he was good at. "Warren mentioned you. You made a great impression."

Gilmore's dark brown eyes lit up briefly at this news, delighted but caught quite off-guard. He stammered for a few moments before managing to recover himself. "Did... did he. Well, I'm... he made quite the impression on me, too. It's not often I meet a multi-millionaire who's willing to help me weigh envelopes and stick on mailing labels."

He took Nolan's hand for a firm, lingering shake, as if they were already friends and Gilmore had missed seeing him. "Tell me, are all the brilliant young entrepreneurs already friends, or does proximity breed familiarity?"

"We have connections in common to thank for it, mostly," Nolan replied, slightly surprised by the duration of the handshake, but not about to make anything of it. He pulled his hand back and slid it in his pocket. "We're both friends with Shinobi Shaw."

"Ross, Worthington, and Shaw?" Gilmore pressed a hand to his heart dramatically, then melted into laughter that was only a little nervous. He was in the company of luminaries, after all, and he was but a small flicker in comparison. "Am I dreaming? I'm pretty sure I've had this dream before."

"Feel free to take a seat, if you're feeling faint," Nolan stated, the dryness of his tone counteracted by a certain softness. It was more of a joke he wanted them to share than him laughing at Shaun Gilmore's expense. If anything, he was poking fun at himself with that remark. "I've had a look at your Etsy shop. Your numbers are impressive."

Gilmore laughed warmly, but he did take the offer of a chair, and draped himself over it with one arm propped up so he could continue to gesture. If he couldn't use his hands, he probably wouldn't be able to talk at all. "That's... very encouraging, coming from someone in your position," he laughed almost self-consciously, fingers toying at his well-sculpted facial hair. "Granted, handmade fan goods aren't exactly on par with a privately-owned software corporation, but I do what I can. I did not, by the way, wander down here just to put myself in your line of sight," Gilmore added quickly. No one, after all, was at this school to be used for their talent and connections.

Nolan sat back down on his own chair, turning it so he could face the other boy. His glance only briefly dipped to Shaun's fingers as they played with his beard. "No, you came here looking for Kitty, didn't you?" Nolan had no idea whether that was true or not, and in the end, it did not matter. It wasn't the sort of deception that mattered, especially not since he'd wanted to meet Shaun.

"Well, yes, I suppose. I, ah, I guess I wanted a little inspiration. She's done so many things for people here, and it isn't even her mutation, she's just brilliant." Gilmore looked more than a little chagrined. "Invention is the expression of my X-gene, you see. I'm just more used to pondering which candle scent represents which Disney Princess, and less used to coming up with helpful gadgets to benefit mutantkind."

"Invention?" Nolan echoed, doing nothing to hide his interest from his expression, or his body language, leaning his elbows on his thighs, clearly focused on Shaun. "What do you mean, exactly?"

It was so innate and simple to Gilmore that he had trouble articulating it -- which was strange for someone as articulate as he. "Did you ever see that old TV show, MacGuyver? The guy could make something out of anything. Sometimes it was scientifically plausible, sometimes not. I'm like that. I can put materials together and it just works. I mean, I can't make a robot out of a necktie, but out of an Energizer battery and some wire? Definitely."

"That... wow." It was very rare for Nolan to find himself at a loss for words, and own up to it, but this certainly ranked as one such moment. He frowned, trying to understand what Shaun was saying exactly. "Though I don't suppose that robot could then be manufactured?"

Gilmore spread his hands in a shrug, though his fingers quickly returned to toying with the beard on his chin. "I've never tried, but I don't imagine so. But with real materials and real tools, then... maybe? As far as I know, I don't have to suffer through trial and error and the problem-solving iterations most R&D divisions do. What I make is going to work the first time."

Nolan was, again, briefly distracted by Shaun's fingers; he had to wonder if it was a subconscious mannerism, or the sort studied for effect.

Not that it mattered, or his reaction to it.

"You would be the wet dream of any R&D department," he stated. "What are your plans, after graduation?" Of course he had to ask.

"Six months ago, I would have said business school and planning my empire, but now? After being here, seeing what the world is like for our kind? I don't know," Gilmore admitted. He looked up with a quirk of a smile. "What do you suggest?"

"Very selfishly, I can't think of a single company that couldn't use you, and that includes my own," Nolan remarked with a small, soft-dry smile. "But there's no reason you couldn't build yourself an empire that benefits mutantkind." He was certainly doing his best with NolCorp, offering a safe, inclusive environment for mutants to work in and taking a very clear stance on the matter. He was even thinking of setting up a charity, and meant to talk to Warren and Shinobi about it.

“Well, Worthington Industries, the Third, had already expressed a bit of interest in financing my expansion,” Gilmore admitted, in a voice that could only be paradoxically described as a modest purr. He was terribly proud but didn’t want to come off as boasting. “And off-license fan goods can only go so far. I will have to develop a new product line eventually. That’s why I need minds like Kitty, and Percy, do you know Percy? Brilliant fellow.”

Worthington Industries, the Third. For a second, Nolan was amused, before his vision came back to him, vague and unhelpful though it had been. He forced his mind off of the sight of Worthington the Second, collapsed at his desk, off of the shrill sound of a woman's scream, and onto Shaun's question. "We haven't met," he replied with a shake of his head. To be fair, he hadn't met many people at all.

"Shock-white hair, fashion sense on point, you can't miss him," Gilmore enthused about his friend. "Right now, I'm helping to conspire in Christmas gifts for the most part. It's dreadfully useful not to have to worry about having just the right materials. I can do things with simple tempera paint, Mr. Ross. Marvelous things," he promised, though he was grinning and probably exaggerating just a little bit.

Nolan was smiling by the end of that little speech, something very akin a genuine smile. "That sounds like too much of a boast for me to let it go unchallenged. I'm afraid I'm going to require proof."

Gilmore considered objecting that he never boasted, but that argument would fall apart in half a second. "Should we adjourn to the art room? ... do we have an art room? I have half my supplies in my room and half in the workspace I'm sharing with Percy, but that's, you know, the good stuff. I'm curious to see what I could do with pipe cleaners and construction paper, myself."

"Some type of highly-advanced glider?" Nolan offered. "A 1/32 model of the city of Osgiliath? No. A new water treatment system, clearly. I have no idea whether there is an art room here. Are there art classes?"

Gilmore was laughing, rich and deep and warm, before Nolan had ever finished his suggestions. He laughed easily and he laughed well, especially when clever people inspired it. "I have no idea, myself! I'm sure we could scrounge up something. Did you need a new water treatment system? Because the city model, that sounds a good deal more fun."

That was the sort of laugh in answer to which it was impossible not to smile. Nolan's smile was still not a full grin, but it showed a hint of genuine appreciation, more than he usually let through. "I'll let my geek show and admit that it does. By far."

"Well then!" Gilmore exclaimed, clapping his hand as he straightened up. "By Gandalf's beard, we shall scour this school for the finest in craft supplies to create this masterwork. It will be a truly grand undertaking."

"And if the school fails us, I'm sure one online store or another will supply us with what you might or might not need," Nolan concluded, still smiling. This conversation had completely gotten away from him, but he was surprisingly all right with that.

Gilmore rubbed his hands together as if in preparation for some magical trick. "Come, my genius youthful millionaire wunderkind friend. Let us leave this dark dungeon and begin our quest."

"Now?" Nolan asked with unconcealed surprise. He had taken the entire conversation for a lark for several reasons, one of which being that he rarely expected anyone - never mind someone like Shaun - to want to spend time with him, not socially, and that sort of pursuit was hardly anything but social. Besides, he'd been in the middle of working on that software, perfecting it, because there was no software that couldn't be perfected if you spent long enough on it.

He could almost hear Shinobi tell him to take a break and spend some time with a handsome, charming boy - one that wasn't him, for a change.

"Why not?" Gilmore laughed. "The inspiration has struck, and we must make hay while the sun shines... or strike while the iron is hot... or choose your idiomatic expression of choice. When you are seized by an idea, you must pursue it, yes? If it holds true with work, it holds true with the passionate creativity of the heart." Besides, Shaun would rather like to spend a bit more time with Nolan. There was something there, behind his polite smile and perfectly-chiseled face. This fellow had depths.

Nolan was actually tempted, for a couple of seconds that felt a lot longer than that, but he ended up shaking his head with a small, apologetic smile. "Sorry, I was - in the middle of something." He nodded towards the open laptop, which he knew was nothing more than an alibi. But after that mess with Lil, it was obvious he should limit his social interactions. No matter how tempting Shaun made it sound. "It holds true with work, too," he remarked, in his soft-dry tone, although there was a sad undertone to it then.

Never mind that he had already been completely derailed from the work he had been doing. This was for the best.

Gilmore considered this for a moment, tapping his chin, then came to a decision. "I understand completely. Your time is valuable. However, your expertise will be required for quality assistance. Why don't I begin the masterpiece here, and you and I can make a project of it whenever you need a bit of a mental break." This was not exactly phrased as a question.

"I'm not sure how Kitty would feel about Gondor invading the workshop," Nolan replied with a twitching smile. Part of him did not like the thought of giving a free access pass to their workshop to someone he'd just met, either, but he did not quite have it in him to turn down Shaun. Again. Not when the thought of spending time around that warm smile and impressive mind felt so welcome - on top of nerve-wracking. So he added, evenly, "But we hardly ever use the couch."

"It is your shared space, after all, and if our pipe-cleaner artwork becomes problematic, only tell me, and I will vacate," Gilmore promised, that broad grin blossoming again. "In the meantime, I'll do my best to confine myself to the couch."

"Please do," Nolan confirmed with a bit of a dry smile, as if he already expected Shaun to fail. Nothing about his short acquaintance with the young man - and his smiles - hinted that Shaun was the sort to easily restrain himself. And having him around would be a distraction, there was no doubt there. If Kitty minded, Nolan would ask him to leave, and that was that. But he found that he did not entirely mind the thought of being distracted, now and then.

"I imagine I should wish you luck on your quest for art supplies, then," he added, his own small smile stretching into something more honestly amused.

"With your blessing, I feel positively charmed." Still, even Gilmore knew when he was, however kindly, being asked to go. He swiped his hands together as if dusting them off, and started for the exit. "It's been an exceptional pleasure meeting you, Nolan. I'll see you again soon, you can be sure, but... don't wait up," he teased.

Nolan stood when Shaun did, and walked him to the door; it was basic manners. "I can make no promises," he surprised himself by answering, before he could think better of it, lips slightly curved.

Gilmore briefly entertained the notion of a have-a-nice-day-at-work-honey kiss at the door, but Nolan was a reserved enough sort of guy that he thought better of it. Instead, he smacked a kiss to his own fingers and blew it Nolan's way before making his grand exit -- gently bumping the door shut with his butt as a parting reward.