It had been a long, hectic sort of week -- Dreogan was beginning to wonder if he could have any other kind -- but with Adon finally arrived from Jerusalem to stay with his mum, things were looking up.

And this evening had been the highlight of his past two weeks, ever since he'd made the date. Adon had, of course, advised against asking a woman out two weeks before the fact, thinking it sounded a bit too "anal-retentive" but Dreogan was busy and, recently, Akiva's weekends had been occupied with other dates, particularly with his best friend, Gil.

Dreogan had tried not to blame his best friend. For the most part he had succeeded by cutting off all communication with him. One could not snap at someone if one did not talk to them. And for two weeks, Dreogan had preserved a reserved distance until Gil had spoken to him about it.

"At first," Gill had confessed, "it was nice that we had you as a mutual friend. We had something to talk about. After the third hour of conversation about you and your . . . passions, however, it was a little less convenient."

Reminding Dreogan that he would never let a girl get in the middle of their relationship and not so gently throwing Dree's phone at him, Dreogan had called.

And had been, frankly, rather surprised she had accepted. What was worse was that both Dreogan's mother and his brother seemed even more so. He only hoped she was not surprised she'd accepted.

Preparing for the date had been out of the question: both his brother and mother had shown far too abashedly much interest, and as he tried to get ready under the same roof as both of them, he finally left a good hour earlier than he had intended, enjoying a walk about London.

Once more, he found himself slightly early, waiting on her doorstep, hands shoved into his blazer as he thought. Hearing Lady barking inside, he knew he was already discovered and so knocked on the door.

“Mum… Yes,” a pause, “No mum, no.  It’s not  –“ she tugged on her shoe as she hopped a little, the skirt of her dress riding up as she tripped over her own heel.  “I’m not mad, Mum,” she continued, “just trying to put on my shoes,” and she ceremoniously lifted the other and slipped it on, resolute to stay standing and not mess up what she had worked on for the past hour and a half.  It wasn’t that she liked to toil away behind the vanity and look through her closet for half an hour, but really, it was kind of important…

It didn’t take much to realize after the first few dates when almost every conversation turned toward Dreogan that Akiva had different things in mind.  It wasn’t that she didn’t like Gil, quite the contrary, but it wasn’t the same.  He was a very good friend, a better male friend than she had in a while (not counting Frank and Arius, of course), and well, when her mobile rang that day and it was Dree to ask her… she was first very surprised and second very excited.

Of course she accepted the offer and then from the time of the call until the moment she was about to hang up with her mother, she had been fretting about it for quite some time.  Now though, it was a little too late to continue to fret and the young woman looked at the phone, “I’ve got to go, Mum.  Love you!” Another pause and sigh, “I will call you as soon as I get in.  Good night!” And she swiftly hung up the phone and tossed it to the couch. Lady chased it, sniffed it, and then lost interest almost immediately, deciding to curl up on the cushion instead.

Joining her little dog, Akiva smoothed out the black skirt and bit her lip.  She wondered if it was too much.  She didn’t know what they were doing after all, and thought that maybe it was better to do nothing special, but then again, it was a first date and she had learned that first dates were always the most important – it was conflicting.  Being one to always stay on the safe side, however, Akiva picked the simple black dress her mother had suggested (Though she would never tell her) and waited anxiously, her hand stroking the top of the dog’s head, glancing from the pet to the door whenever she felt the need. 

It did pay off in the end, however, as she lifted her head only to be greeted by a knock instead of the silence she was accustomed to.  Lady jumped off the couch without hesitation as was her custom and Akiva followed only moments after, standing and arranging herself presentably, smoothing her appearance and taking one last look in the mirror – she did want to make sure she looked alright after having seen very little of Dreogan since they last dined together.  She hoped that much time would not pass again between them.

Taking a deep breath, she reached out and opened the door (after peeping through the peep hole) and smiled widely, “Dreogan!” she greeted, “I’m so glad to see you,” she didn’t even realize that he was early, as it felt like she had been waiting an eternity, and she immediately attempted to give a hug, only to realize how awkward of a greeting that was for a date.  Clearing her throat, she looked down and blushed, only to smile up once again, “You can come if you’d like, I just have to set Lady and Gordon up for the night…” a fat cat lifted his head from the back of the couch at the sound of his name and then unceremoniously lowered it when there was no food to be had.  Lady, on the other hand, sniffed at his ankles and huffed at the stranger in the middle of the doorway.

"Dreogan! I'm so glad to see you!" Well, that was a positive reception.

"Hey, Kiva! Likewise," Dreogan returned brightly as the door opened, trying to turn his smile down as he suspected it was, perhaps, overtaking his face.  He felt suddenly filled with nervous energy and, in this moment, very nearly reached out to hug her. As she shied away, however, blushing, he was glad he hadn't.

One disaster averted. Dreogan: one. Universe: zero.

“You can come if you’d like, I just have to set Lady and Gordon up for the night…”

"Mkay," Dreogan said, loooking down at Lady, who was sniffing about him experimentally. He crouched down to pet the top of her head, thinking for a moment, how pleasant it was that Akiva had such agreeable pets, but how much more practical it would be to have a dog more like Moira's. For safety. "Lady, Gordon, we meet again," he said addressing both domestic animals most officiously. For a moment, he managed to engage Gordon in a staring contest from the couch before Gordon blinked his eyes and lazily swished his tail in acknowledgment of the stranger's address. Lady was distracted by the movement of her mistress and padded off after her. Straightening to his full height, Dreogan also trailed after Akiva as she prepared.

"You look great, by the way," he said, panicking the moment he said it; realising that he should not have been standing behind her when he paid her the compliment. He let loose his breath in a nervous, silent laugh and shook his head. "Sorry I'm early. My brother just came into town a short while ago and," he said with a grin, "I was eager to get out of the house."

Akiva didn’t realize just how nervous she was until she saw the large way in which he smiled at her.  It made her chest tighten a little and her stomach did a small somersault; she felt like she was in fourth year again, staring at Cedric.  It felt oddly good, however, and very different from when she was fourteen.  She was far less nervous, more excited, and extremely disinclined to complain.  She knew nothing of what was to go on for the evening as he wouldn’t say and she hoped that she wasn’t dressed up too much – that happened at times, but she tried to be as simple but appropriate as possible, a daily routine as a librarian.

Hearing several sets of feet trailing behind, she was sure the loping was attributed to a certain canine (her breathing was also a dead giveaway) and the other more careful treading was her guest.  She was glad she actually cleaned for once, completely aware of how devastatingly embarrassing that situation could have been – especially in regards to the killer dust bunnies that may have actually tried to bite her guest’s ankles.  Crouching down to retrieve the water bowls, Akiva blushed as she was addressed.

She peered over her shoulder as she stood, a modest blush coloring her usually pale face.  “Thank you,” she replied simply, unsure of what exactly to say, though she was thankful.  It was an indication that she was doing something right; much appreciated.  Moving to the sink, she laughed a little awkwardly as she turned on the faucet, “I would have had this done before you came – but I was on the phone with my mum…” she trailed off as she switched from Gordon’s bowl to Lady’s.

And if he did not indicate that he had actually been early, Akiva wouldn’t have looked over to clock above the stove to see that he was indeed quite a bit early.  She did not feel quite so badly for not having this done anymore.  Placing the bowls on the ground, she picked up the food and opened a cupboard, two separate bags of dry food waiting for her to scoop out of and into the little plastic containers.  “It’s no problem,” she smiled easily as she quickly finished up with the food, Gordon and Lady now expectantly trotting about her legs, rubbing against her in eager anticipation for their dinners. 

“Though I’m surprised you left him so soon,” she pointed out.  “From how you’ve talked about him, I would have thought you would have stayed to catch up!  Not that I’m complaining, of course,” she fumbled with a nervous giggle, turning from the counter to look at him, the food on the floor for both creatures as they now completely ignored the presence of humans and enjoyed their crunchy morsels of food.  “Is he in town for anything special?” she asked, curious to know for no reason other than to be informed about her friend (and date) and his personal life.  Now that she was, to some degree, part of that realm, she was just a tiny bit curious. 

“Though I’m surprised you left him so soon,” she pointed out.  “From how you’ve talked about him, I would have thought you would have stayed to catch up!  Not that I’m complaining, of course.

"Ah, well," Dreogan said with a smirk, "I can tell that you've never had a little brother." He looked about the kitchen, finding it bright and sunny in here. His mother would envy this kitchen. So much light. His mum was always complaining about her flat--the other complexes seemed to shut out the light. Dreogan took in most details, finding himself too nervous to look at Kiva for too long. His face as a book, after all. And Dreogan was beginning to think he should have planned more things for tonight. And he was thinking that maybe he should have at least looked in the mirror before he left. Particularly as she looked so beautiful . . .

As she asked about the purpose of his brother's visit, Dreogan picked up a loose pen he found on the counter, fidgeting with it as he spoke. "He's just in town for a visit. Which, frankly, was overdue. I finally convinced him to make the visit to see our mother, even though he sees me so regularly," Dreogan said, some satisfaction in his voice. "He's not been back much since we moved to Israel when he was just -- " Dreogan was silent a moment. "He must have been eight. I'm not sure if I should tour him around London or . . ." he laughed slightly, realising he was, once more, overanalysing. He was certain at least, that Adon would tell him exactly what he wanted to do. "It'll be good to have him back, though. I might even convince him to stay. . . You should meet him. You two'd get along, I think."

Realising he had been gushing far too long about his brother --  and Dreogan did not want his brother being a pivotal part of his date -- he cleared his throat and put the pen down. He was about to find some innocuous topic to move on to when he realised that he had, somehow, invited her to meet his family. He could hear Adon in his head, advising him that such a thing did not come until at least the fifth date.

"Well," he managed, not finding a topic at hand to fill the void, "Gordon and Lady all set up?"

Akiva was truly comfortable in the kitchen.  It seemed like the room she spent more time in than any other, particularly when she had company over.  She always liked to be making something, doing something.  It was hard to sit still and just do nothing, so the kitchen was a wonderful place to exercise the ability to multitask.  She also put a few charms on the space to aid in its homey feeling, including the oddly persistent smell of cinnamon.  Taking a deep breath sweet air, Akiva smiled easily, leaning against the counter to listen.

The way he talked about his brother, it was evident that there was a lot of love between them.  She had no siblings, but often adopted others to fill those positions in her life.  She could only imagine with how attached she was to some people how much an actual blood related person could mean.  Her expression was soft and she leaned her palms against the kitchen counter top, tilting her head just slightly to the side so her long hair brushed against her shoulder.  She wondered if it was fairly obvious she hadn’t had a hair cut in a while – a momentary panic about split ends was resolved with the fact he probably didn’t even notice.

He was a man, and as much as women liked to think they noticed even the smallest details, Akiva was not silly enough to think he would be picky about the uneven edges of her hair.  There were more important things to pay attention to anyway – she was trying to listen even if she did get momentarily distracted by his brown eyes or curly hair… Blushing softly, she played with the fabric of her dress for a moment before nodding in agreement, “I would like that – though I’m not sure how able a tour guide you would be,” she teased, “I suppose you could show him from your flat to the ministry to Gil’s…” it was a good natured prod at his tendency to stay in familiar territory.  She did not think it was a bad thing, of course, far from, but it was funny and she would never intentionally make anyone feel bad. 

She was smiling far too wide for him to take her seriously anyway, and glancing down at her pets, she was satisfied that they were content and distracted.  “Oh yes,” she responded eagerly, “and we should go before they finish – or I’ll never get out,” she laughed softly and pushed herself off the counter and toward the open space between the kitchen and the living room, the front door was in view.  She waited for him, of course, to step in line with her and she tried to step softly, avoiding distracting the eating animals. 

At the door, she turned toward her date (how odd to think that way!), “You’ve been very secretive about this,” she commented with a sly smile - she very much liked surprises from those that she could trust, “so you’ll have to lead."

"Well it's--" Dreogan said with a smile as he rubbed the back of his neck. From the way she tiptoed around her pets, he decided to lower his voice and also tread softly, amused and yet not surprised that they should be such demanding creatures. "It's funny you should tease me about that, actually, because a change in scenery was just what I was thinking of. . ."

Dreogan walked alongside her until they reached the door; he brushed ahead of her to open the door, gesturing her through with a smile made goofy by his nervousness.

Dree had not done this in a very long time. It didn't feel at all natural. But good, he reminded himself. It felt very good to be doing this.

Closing the door after them, he waited for her to lock up. "Have you ever seen a Muggle film called Breakfast at Tiffany's?" he asked. It had been a favourite of Milly's and all her Muggle friends in America. Dreogan had seen it and he wasn't sure if it was the acting, the actual idea of a movie, or the script that reminded him vaguely of an acid trip. The plot was haphazard and halting at best, but from what he had gauged, women loved it. "Well, in it, I mean," he needed to rewind or this was not going to make any sense. With a look of concentration, he said, "to recap, there are a guy and a girl in New York. They both live in the same complex. And want to get to know each other better. So they decide to spend an entire day doing things that neither of them have done before."

And now Dreogan was worried that perhaps this was sounding a bit too sentimental. Clearing his throat, he pressed on. Words were like water -- once poured out, they couldn't be taken back. "So, I was thinking we could do the same thing. You clearly," he said with a teasing smile, "think I have a lot to improve upon in that department, but I suspect you've not done a few things, either. But I'll be fair and go first." While ladies were meant to go first, Dree well knew; however, he was not about to put her on the spot.

He now directed her to the street, pausing in front of a ridiculously small, dark blue vehicle: the SmartCar. "So, to start: I've never driven an automobile." His hand hovered over the handle of the passenger side as he waited for her reaction, trying his best at his most convincing -- and rather practised -- earnest face.

Tilting her head at his suggestion that they change scenery was Akiva’s not so subtle way of indicating distinct interest.  She didn’t know him to be quite so surprising and hoped he wasn’t thinking of doing something terribly drastic.  While she liked to be adventurous on a small scale, she was not terribly interested in floo-ing halfway across the world or doing something equally as daring.  She was timid to an extent and looked at him with curiosity as she passed.

She blushed and returned his smile as she passed, moving out of the way so he might pass and she could lock the door.  Taking the key out of her purse, she put it to the keyhole and turned, the familiar click alerting her that she had adequately shut up her home.  Granted, some would argue as to whether or not just one little key could keep someone from breaking in, but she was in a very nice part of town and had very little worry about – at least she thought so.  As soon as she dropped her key back into her purse, she glanced up – his voice pulling her from silent thoughts.

“Have you ever seen a Muggle film called Breakfast at Tiffany's?"

Her eyebrows rose considerably, “A long time ago… why?” she questioned, wondering if he had some sort of movie viewing experience in order.  Her inquiry was not hesitant, but rather curious without any clue as to what he was getting at.  Naturally, his explanation took her down a twisting road toward the conclusion.  The conclusion, she found, was very pleasing and she couldn’t help but laugh in the most amiable way.  It was very sweet, and she smiled easily, regarding him with a searching look – she didn’t expect such a surprise.

“Don’t put words in my mouth, Mr. Eleor!” she chastised playfully, touching the end of her hair with a sly smile – it seemed to be a comforting action for no particular reason.  “I just think you need to… explore within a safe environment,” she returned to the topic just to clarify.  She didn’t think anything bad about him – she couldn’t, really, except maybe he didn’t take care of himself as much as he should have, but that could be remedied if someone else was there to remind him. 

When he said he would go first however, Akiva looked to his indication and beheld the tiny vehicle.  Well, that was interesting.  And when he spoke, she looked at him with wide eyes, his hand hovering over that little handle.  She didn’t know if he was serious or not – his expression indicated all points toward that, but he wouldn’t be that… foolhardy. It wasn’t him.  “You’re lying,” she finally said, looking at the passenger side and climbing in.  "You wouldn't have made it here if you didn't know how to drive, and I know you wouldn't risk yourself and another person like that."  She looked up at him with amused sincerity, "You're too cautious."

Dreogan had serious reservations on the slight precautions taken on her home security -- but didn't voice them, rather deciding that any objections might run the risk of appearing . . . overly-involved, even meddling.

As Kiva actually seated herself in the SmartCar, a car which had not so smartly been locked, Dreogan assumed, he once more stayed quiet for a time, eyes widening, but moving to the driver's seat and climbing in as well.

"Actually," he said gently, "I'm not lying. I have never driven." Once, in fact, when Dreogan had been dating Milly, an American Muggle, he had managed to actually convince her that people were not allowed to drive in Israel, thus excusing him from this seemingly necessary skill in Southern California. Besides, she had had a very nice Lexus. He had been happy to let her drive her anywhere, though his advisee, Aldwynn, had given him a few lessons in an empty car park once.

"And," Dreogan said, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel and looking in the rear-view mirror with some anxiety, "I do not think you have gone to prison before and so I suggest," he now turned his head to look at her, "we get out of your neighbours' automobile. Before they notice." He grinned, already finding the humour in the situation. "It's not my car. . . I've no idea whose this is. I . . ." hoping she wouldn't be cross, he looked rather apologetic now. "I meant it only as a joke. I didn't. . ." he wet his lip. "I didn't think you'd actually get in."

As he closed the door, a series of beeps and whistles accompanied by flashing lights of the car sounded the alarm. Dreogan watched a moment in fascination before reaching out and touching the car handle again. The alarm stopped immediately. A part of Dreogan was fascinated. He wanted to see it again! Muggle alarms had always been, truly and deeply interesting to him -- a combination of two of his passions -- but he did not wish to raise more attention than he already had, particularly with Akiva still in the passenger seat.

Well. They certainly weren't being too cautious now. "Shall we?" he asked, getting out of the seat and closing his door.

As he waited for her, slightly pink-faced -- that joke had not gone over quite as anticipated -- he said, "Alright. I had asked the Ministry about flying carpets, thinking you might not have ever ridden one, but Arthur Weasley is still as adamant about the laws banning at as he ever was." He shook his head. "If you go to Israel, that is something to try. "

OOC: I'm stopping because there is probably some response by this point??

There was a look of disbelief on Akiva’s face.  If he had, indeed, intended to come here in a car, he clearly would have had to have a license.  She was not entirely sure what he was playing at – if he was trying to make her nervous or something before he turned on the car, whatever it was, it was most assuredly working.  He was either a very good liar or had plans that did not entail surviving the rest of the evening…

She was about to comment on such a terrible idea when he mentioned prison.  Her dark eyes widened considerably, especially as he started to grin.  This had to be a joke.  Though, as the moments passed, she began to feel as though perhaps it wasn’t.  He had never mentioned having a car, he walked to pick her up to have dinner, they had walked there and back… she awkwardly fumbled for the handle but could not, for the life of her, find it.

Her blush of embarrassment doubled in brightness as he indicated that he did not actually think she would get into the car.  This was certainly troublesome.  “I… well… it…” she fumbled for a response but could muster only half sounded out starts before she blanked entirely on what to say.  She shouldn’t have gotten in!  The woman felt ridiculous and laughed softly to herself, more uncomfortable than finding the situation truly hilarious, “I hope they don’t mind…” she trailed off, starting suddenly as a loud beeping and whirring began.

The startled woman practically jumped out of her seat, and in the process hit her knees against the dashboard, accompanied by a yelp of pain and she clasped her hands over her mouth for a moment, panicking whilst looking for the handle to get out.  It took her several moments to actually located it, disoriented by the loud noise and the blinking lights (she supposed the alarm was definitely doing its job) and she grasped onto it, jumping out of the car as quickly as possible.  The alarm stopped, Dreogan paused, but Akiva was breathing heavily, clutching her purse to her chest and red in the face outside of the vehicle.

Her eyes searched the face of the building to see an angry person running out about the car, but no one came.  Her heart was still beating like it was going to pop out of her chest as he got out of the car looking so calm, but a little pink, and she must have been horrified.  Had her face not been so hot, it could have been white as a sheet.  “I guess we’ve accomplished one thing neither of us has ever done before…” she commented lamely, wringing her purse in her hands momentarily. Calm down Akiva, really, it wasn’t THAT bad.

“For the next thing,” she smiled, a little more easily, “let’s make it less… illegal.  And unfortunately, that means no flying carpets either – though I would love to try.  There’s a great muggle movie… cartoon… that has a flying carpet,” she laughed softly, “I doubt you’ve seen it – you’d probably die of horror – it’s terribly inaccurate and said to be completely offensive, but it is very pretty…” she realized she was rambling. 

Another awkward laugh accompanied a small movement of her hand to her face, pushing her thick hair back. There was a moment of silent contemplation (not entirely uncomfortable) and she bit her lip.  “I know something you’ll never have done before,” she said suddenly, a flash of inspiration overtook her as she looked down the street and toward a typical destination.  Reaching out, she took his hand and pulled him toward King’s College. “I’m going to show you my father’s office… you’ll love this,” she smiled back at him, thinking of something in particular to show him.

“I hope they don’t mind…”   Akiva had said feebly before pandemonium broke forth. He watched in mixed embarrassment and mortification as she clawed at the door like a cat in water. He wet his lips and looked away a moment.

Practical jokes hadn't been his forte. Somehow, he could never quite seem to make them practical enough. He'd embarrassed her, hurt and frightened her, and made himself look like, well, an ass.

"They won't know," he said, managing a poised smile that, he hoped, hid the twisting feeling in his stomach.

Anxious to latch on to anything that was not car-related, Dreogan stopped her at her rambling. "Cartoon? Those are the drawn pictures that move, correct? Raphael made cartoons, too. . . but I don't remember them moving, though," he mused, patting his chin as he thought. Perhaps he could take her to the Victoria & Albert museum. But maybe she'd already been.

At her idea, he brightened. Even more so as he looked down at their hands intertwined. He allowed himself to be led, a laugh bubbling up as he listened to her proposal. "Alright. Lead the way!"

Though, he realised in a momentary panic, he rather hoped her father was not at the office.

Thankfully, the conversation turned away from the debacle they had both just taken part in.  She knew after a week or a two it would be funny, but for now she was still a bit concerned and nervous that they would get in trouble and after having not been in trouble with the law before, she did not intend to starting a life of crime this evening, even if it was, for a moment, a rush.  She wasn’t going to admit it, however. 

So, she latched onto the next available conversation topic: cartoons.  “Modern cartoons are the ones that move, yes,” she pointed out with a happy smile, “there are political cartoons too – in newspapers, they’ve been around for centuries and don’t move.  I’ll show you someday,” she nodded eagerly.  She always liked to lend a hand in helping to teach a little, especially about muggle culture (as it was what she grew up in).  It’d be fun anyway, especially since she thought he knew of muggle current events, so he would actually understand them. 

She hoped he would also understand her enthusiasm for what she was going to show him.  Her father had always imparted unto her a distinct appreciation for science and mathematics and she thought that the combination was exciting.  She intended to make it that way for him to and her father’s latest pet project was just the thing.  He was working on electromagnets – something she herself found rather interesting. 

“It’s a five minute walk,” she informed him, moving quickly along the narrow streets and into what clearly turned into a college.  The buildings were entirely academic and each had a name plastered above the doorway in a gilded fashion, important to the school.  Walking up the steps to the building, she pushed the door to the building open and was greeted by slightly dimmed lights (it was the evening and only a few professors were still lingering about), and she smiled back at him, “Move slowly – don’t spook any of the mathematicians,” she teased and walked in with easy steps.  She didn’t think her father was in his office, he usually left by six, so that wouldn’t be a problem.

Knocking on the door of the office toward the middle of the hallway (KATZ on a small plaque above the door), she heard no sound and reached for the doorknob. It opened and the lights were out, clearly her father had left.  Thankfully, she thought, as she was not sure she wanted Dreogan to have to run that gauntlet right off the bat.  Flicking on the light, Kiki stepped through the threshold and urged him in right after.  “This is Isaac Katz’s office,” she introduced, turning and gesturing to the clutter. 

It was a funny space, large with chalkboards and a cluttered desk as well as a few other tables.  On one of the tables was a rather funny looking contraption that plugged into the wall.  Around it sat several items, including a Styrofoam cup, wires, a small magnet, and sandpaper, amongst other things, including larger cups of different materials and other wires.  Her father was testing out ways to make makeshift speakers with his students and then using other instruments, measure the mathematic stats of each set up.  She just wanted to have him do the simplest one – thankfully her father’s iPod was on the table – he was going to be so mad he forgot it. 

“We’re going to make a speaker,” she informed him pleasantly, and looking to the table and then back at him, her eyes glittered playfully, “with only these materials here.”  She picked  up one of the Styrofoam cups and a few wires and things spread around the table, smirking all the while.  She hadn’t really done this before (though her father showed her) and she thought she knew enough to do it…

Dreogan looked around with suppressed interest -- one could not look too eagerly about; it might look like spying -- and clasped his hands behind his back as he looked at the chalkboards. "So. . ." he began, then paused as he saw the odd configuration plugged into the wall.

"S- did you say speakers?" Dreogan asked, breaking his hand from behind his back to run his finger along the rim of a styrofoam cup. "Those are the black boxes with netting the sound comes out of, correct?"

Akiva beamed. "Yes! Only this one... we make with a cup and some wires.  the sound will come out from the top of the cup because of electromagnetics."

"Electro. . . magnetics." Dreogan pulled his hand away. "Electro" had, of course, the same root as electricity. Which, etymologically speaking, was too near to electrocution for his liking. He turned to her and, seeing the glint in her eyes, could not help but meet her gaze. Feeling himself short of breath suddenly, he looked for something else. "Alright. So, I'm guessing that the sound comes through one of these," he said, picking up a wire and examining it so near to his nose he was nearly cross-eyed, "and out of. . . this," he said, reaching for a cup on the table.

Speaker Experiment

It was actually quite charming that he didn’t know much about muggle technology outside of the physical appearances of things.  She was impressed, however, that he correctly identified what she was talking about and nodded eagerly as she explained the basics of what they were going to be doing.  Putting down the things she was holding, Akiva smiled and watched as he looked at the materials.

“Electromagnets,” she repeated in a matter-of-fact sort of way.  “Basically, you take a normal piece of metal and run electricity through it to create a magnetic field.  You can make very small ones with a battery, wire, and a nail – or there are big ones like this,” she put her hand on the plugged in machine that was turned off.  Had she turned it on, it probably would have attracted all metal objects at close range toward it, thankfully she did not make this mistake. 

"Alright. So, I'm guessing that the sound comes through one of these," he said, picking up a wire and examining it so near to his nose he was nearly cross-eyed, "and out of. . . this," he said, reaching for a cup on the table.

She appreciated his curiosity and was glad that he did not look around as though he was bored and coerce her into doing something differently.  “Correct,” she smiled encouragingly and picked up a little steel brad from the table and one of the Styrofoam cups.  There were enough for each of them to make one – stereo; she smiled to herself, amused.  “Take the brad,” she held up the little metal tool, “And the wire,” she held it up in her other hand, “and wrap it tightly around.”  She demonstrated slowly, wrapping the wire meticulously around the little metal tool, “but don’t wrap the whole thing or you won’t be able to get it through the Styrofoam.”   

"When you're done," she continued after  a short pause to make sure he was following along, "you can poke the brad through the cup and separate the prongs," she stuck her fingers into the Styrofoam and pulled the prongs apart, bending the ends out so it looked like two very bowed legs in the white cup, "see?" she said, holding it up for him to see.  She rather hoped that when she applied the electricity it worked...

Magnetic field. Alright. . . Dreogan tried to understand it all but could not exactly understand what, exactly, an electromagnetic field might do. It wasn't a place. Probably more like a force or . . . magnetic presence.

He held the brad. ("Brad," he repeated to himself.) And the wire and did as instructed, holding the brad very close to his eye and moving with the intricacy of a perfectionist. He poked them through, cautiously bending them until it formed nearly a "C" and handed it to her.

"Have you always done things like this?" he asked, curious at what else she could do. "I took apart a Gee-Pee-Es today," he said with some pride. "But perhaps, if I had known your knack for these things, I should have waited for some further instruction."