Fox

Mara made a soft snorting noise, snuggling a little closer to Ellie as they drifted off. "S'not 'bout the size of the bed," she murmured, though even she didn't know if she was talking to herself, her nearly-asleep girlfriend, or the universe at large. "S'about where it is. 'N what's in it. Makes all the difference...." Her voice, barely audible already, faded into nothing as her consciousness did the same. mmh - sleeping bags - don't know why anyone would bother

Replying with a cheerful "Mmh!" Mara almost reached out for the lights with her mind before realizing that wouldn't work here - she was apparently far too used to places like her warehouse or the Lab, where everything was on computer control. Instead, she turned them off the old-fashioned way and made her way to the bed with an amount of cheer in her step that she'd have found distressing if anyone but Ellie were around to see it. She paused only to shed her clothes (and blush, darkness or not) and carefully deposit them in a pile in imitation of Ellie's handling of the blouse; then she slipped into bed and carefully cuddled up to her warm, comfortable girlfriend.

Mara looked - for Mara - a little happy and highly distracted, looking at Ellie's shirtless back in an unfocused sort of way until her brain smacked itself upside the...brain...and pulled her out of it. "Mmh? Mmh! S...sorry." She coughed, and took a moment to remember what she'd missed. "Should...will probably have to go by seven. Alarm...six in the morning, six thirty? Will probably be tempted to push snooze - or just set it forward - once or twice."

Dragonfly winced as she saw Miss Americana's reaction to the tinkering, and shook her head a little as she tried to keep an eye on the scans. know the feeling - both sides - tinkering - people messing with your things - unpleasant "It happens," she noted, as she was apparently more than familiar with sudden compulsions to mess with technology; all the same, Miss Americana got a sympathetic glance. "Seem to be....social? I think," she observed, turning back to the information coming in through the computer. "Specialized. Diplomacy?"

Mara tugged at the vest a little, eyeing it with what little attention span she had left after the kisses. "Think it looks better on you," she admitted. "But not bad. Will have to get my own for when I want to look nice." She wrapped her arms around Ellie's back, sliding her hands up under the edge of the - her - shirt. "Is kind of weird to wear each other's clothes," she agreed, tilting her head and looking down at the article in question. "Interesting. Oddly attractive. But weird - suppose we could fix that. Probably not good for the vest to sleep in it, anyway."

[bg=#555555]"Swedish...mmh."[/bg] Dragonfly tilted her head back the other way, frowning under her helmet at Sharl and, more abstractly, the problem. [bg=#555555]"Don't know that language. Probably wouldn't help if I did. Difficult to download that kind of data in isolation for use elsewhere. Can work on it during the flight, maybe; will need to ask Miss Americana if the computer will have internet access...take advantage of translation services already existing, maybe a learning algorithm for compiling and comparing various translation results. Would need to translate from audio to text first, but that isn't a problem. Mmmmh...."[/bg] She tapped her metal-clad leg, sitting cross-legged on the box and staring off into space as her brain started building and discarding designs.

Mara raised her eyebrows, picking up her bag as she took Ellie's hand. "Well. Clearly not our fault if we have to fight drafts. Supposed to be sleeping over for my health - defeats the purpose if we get sick from the cold." She got to her feet, and clearly wasn't quite so conflicted about staying over anymore. "Should probably skip the pajamas, then, yes," she noted, quite seriously. "Insulators, by design. Very inefficient for heat transfer. It's science."

One day, I will have a character with Raptor Pop Culture.

Mara ducked her head, muttering a 'good night' and blushing a bit at the implied accusation Gina'd made on her way out of the room. "Was...unexpected. Sleeping over, I mean. Really would have been okay, but...mmh. Concern is...touching?" She looked like she wasn't quite sure what to think about that; her independence and urge to stand on her own was fighting tooth and nail with not knowing what to do with parental concern over her well-being, and it left her feeling like she didn't quite know where to stand. Her foot bumped her bag as she shifted, and she glanced down at it. "...don't think I brought anything to sleep in."

Dragonfly tilted her head, sizing Sharl up in his new clothes. costume? - interesting - phrase...'suits him' [bg=#555555]"Suits you,"[/bg] she replied, nodding. [bg=#555555]"Interesting choice of symbol. Appropriate. Amusing coincidence, as well - didn't finish the armor too long ago. Not sure I'm happy with the plating, but difficult to test the metal without fielding it...mmh."[/bg] She regarded an armored arm with what was probably a frown, and shook her head. [bg=#555555]"Not important for now. Welcome back, and it's a good idea - patient will probably appreciate having someone to hang out with."[/bg]

A lone armored figure sat cross-legged on top of one of the less sensitive boxes, her posture unmistakably sulking. She didn't even turn around when Miss Americana showed up; she just sat there hunched, gazing at the airfield and looking annoyed. [bg=#555555]"Was asked to 'remain on or close to the ground for the time being',"[/bg] Dragonfly supplied, her voice coming out a little filtered and electronic. A quartet of articulated nodes pushed out of a more armored spot on her back, and flickered frustrated energy before retreating. [bg=#555555]"Very...annoying. But reasonable. Which makes it more annoying. Didn't want to start loading without you: know it's usually preferable to be there in person - make sure nothing's missed or damaged. No possible loading report or manifest detailed enough to make up for lack of personal oversight."[/bg]

"Not...used to...interacting with family structure?" Mara tried, before giving up completely and ducking her head in either embarrassment or sulking. "Would have been okay. But...thank you. Am sure Ellie and I will figure out sleeping arrangement somehow." She frowned, growing at least a little more serious. "Will probably have to leave in the morning, however. Do have...things that will require my attention. Have a couple very important projects that need attention before the month ends to stay on schedule."

Mara looked a little blank herself, blinking as she glanced between Erik and his mother. "Not...really in any danger. Not the best neighborhood, but not that dangerous. If you're properly equipped. Mostly just gang members and thugs, anyway - might be good to give the area a midnight sweep anyway and...check for...late-night break ins?" The young woman's protests were rapidly losing steam as she realized what they probably sounded like to someone - a mother! - who didn't run around with force fields or flaming swords. She coughed. "Wouldn't...want to intrude, anyway?"

Dragonfly frowned at the live scans, tilting her head and biting her lip at parts of the Doktor's brain lit up or shut down. that...shouldn't happen "Zero-sum system," she noted, mostly to herself. "Shuts down to focus activity in....mmmh. Dangerous. But interesting. Probably kept him from burning his brain out by now." She glanced over at the 'patient', tapping her finger and trying to bring up knowledge that was frustratingly absent. "Going to have to do a lot of research over the next two weeks. Very...odd. Can see what it's doing...almost how. But hard to imagine how it'd be possible to...alter the brain to allow for it. Very strange."

"Not admitting to anything," Mara deadpanned, but she looked more than a little satisfied with the response her terrible pun had gotten. "Not typically very good with puns - brain's too literal, I think. Have to take advantage of them when they occur to me. Anything else is...a beneficial side-effect." The young woman blinked, glancing quickly from the light fixture to Erik. mmh - interesting "Was...nice to be over. Thank you for the food. ...graveyard shift?" She blinked as her brain almost audibly clicked over to that train of thought, and little lights danced behind her eyes for a fraction of a second as she asked the digital watch in her bag what time it was. "Mmh! ...later than I thought. Phrase...'time flies'?"

"Hard to set parameters if the point is that your brain is so atypical," Dragonfly pointed out with a raised eyebrow. "Could, of course - not that hard to write a small program to watch the feed. Imagine incoming data will be monitored, but if looked at too early may not have enough information to analyze." She tilted her head, crossing her arms and tapping a finger against her arm. "That said: would be useful to get information in a controlled environment. Truly test our monitoring abilities. And, if not necessarily set parameters, at least a starting idea of what constitutes 'normal' brain use."

Tarrant chuckled, keeping a respectful distance from both Stesha and her patient. "I'm sure you would have gotten to it before it got out of hand...or stopped it if it had gotten out of hand. I was just in the right place at the right time." He leaned against the doorframe, watching the woman work and trying not to look too hard at the burns, healing though they might be. "Talking with some people afterward gave me some ideas for helping out, though. I bet I could find all kinds of buried or collapsed stockpiles or supplies around here or out in the less...ah, clean, areas. Hopefully we can get some big pots that won't explode, at the very least."

Dragonfly nodded and wandered wordlessly toward 'her' room, her gauntlets flaring briefly to life as she pulled a familiar-looking cloth sack out of her dimensional pocket. She was tired, fairly hungry, and annoyingly depressed from the goodbyes...but even her brief time in Tronik had given her some very interesting ideas. She hadn't thought of the sylph design in ages, but as an AI it had some promise, and with the proper application of technology, maybe she could.... It was a pretty long time before she got any real rest.

"Hm. Interesting folks," Gaian Knight commented to himself as the platform the pair had been standing on disassembled back into small shards and rocks that retreated back to his own stony ride. "Still," he reflected as he flew lower and headed off in the general direction of Freedom City University, "I guess I've met stranger. And in a city like this, it certainly takes all types...." He tossed an amused salute to a gargoyle as he passed, chuckling to himself. It makes me wonder how many of these guys are on duty, and how many are just chunks of granite.

Chuckling, Gaian Knight stretched a little and glanced at what was left of the dim sun on the horizon. "Speaking of fighting, I should probably get back to things - not that I'm complaining, of course, but I'd only intended to take a short break in my patrol. Completely worth it to meet a couple of interesting people, mind," he added, giving the gargoyle and - I'm not even sure. A faerie? - a short bow, "but I ought to get back to things. A pleasure to meet you both, and good luck out there. Goodness knows we could all use it sometimes, heh."

Dragonfly nodded, and did a little wave with her hand. "Good luck, Sharl, Leroj. Stay safe. Phrase....'don't do anything I wouldn't do'." She tilted her head, frowning, and corrected, "Actually. Probably shouldn't do several things I'd do. Would violate 'stay safe'." She looked like she wasn't sure what to say after that, and apparently decided to just say nothing. Her avatar flickered, twitched, and disappeared like someone had shut off a television...and then she was gone. Dragonfly - the meat-and-bones (though not much of either) Dragonfly - opened her eyes and sat up, immediately regretting doing so as her brain informed her that she needed far more practice projecting into computers, and her body informed her that she'd been motionless for a little longer than it appreciated. Wincing and shifting her visor a bit to pinch her temples, she pulled her knees up a bit so she had something to lean on and waited for Miss Americana to finish her goodbyes.

Gaian Knight laughed and held up his hands. "No, no, sorry. I didn't mean to imply anything by it - that's just the term. For architecture, anyway, which I admit I'm not exactly an expert on; my understanding is that a gargoyle is only properly called a gargoyle if it's a water spout, channeling water out of gutters and away from the building. Statues that're just decorative are called grotesques, or...oh, whatsits." He frowned, bowing his head a little to think, before snapping his fingers. "Chimera! That's it. But that wouldn't really fit, since I'm sure somewhere out there is an actual, mythological chimera that'd take offense to not getting its own classification." He shrugged, and sounded kind of amused. "Of course, you can move and talk, so presumably you have the authority to call yourself whatever you please, water spouts or not."

Dragonfly scratched at her neck, where she - the real her, not the ghostly, floating her surrounded by hard-light constructs - had been developing an itch over the course of the day's work. "Happy to help. Very...interesting project. And no major disasters, out of control bus aside, which helps. Didn't almost die or anything, so turned out well." She made herself stop trying to scratch an itch that wasn't coming from this body. "Don't...know how often I'll be able to help out after this. Likely to see more of Sharl and Miss Americana than me. Still. Will help when I can, when asked or allowed."

"That reminds me that I need to go take a better look at this place...the parts that're outside Fleur's paradise, I mean." Gaian Knight put his hands back in his pockets, hunching his shoulders a little as he recalled the little poking at the borders that he'd done already. "I just...the ground's sick out there," he admitted, "and it's a little uncomfortable to be near. A lot of it's okay, but parts...there's some bad stuff in the soil and rock in some places, and it makes my skin crawl to be around it. I dunno. Anyway - speaking of Fleur, why don't we go see how your injured folks are doing? I don't think there's a lot else to be done here until it rains."

Even balancing her own project and helping Miss Americana and Leroj, Dragonfly's mystery project was barely done by the time she could feel her tiredness really set in; even her projection was starting to look tired, as if it was thinner or less substantial, as she put in the final touches and a few little bug checks. Still, she looked pretty pleased with herself as she told the collection of programs and threads to run itself. When the code pulled itself together it looked for all the world like a big furry puffball, oblong and maybe half a foot across: it had four stubby little legs that barely poked out of its fluff, a long tail, and four thin antennae arching back above two little iridescent eyes. It even opened its mouth (full of pointy, pointy teeth) and made a cute little purring chirp as she gave it a pet and shooed it off toward Leroj, zipping winglessly through the air in little happy swooping motions. She gave it a little time to settle down before even trying to cut in. "Gift. Know what it's like to spend too much time alone," she explained, a little awkwardly, watching the little thing dance through the air and explore its surroundings. "Not to mention, maintenance workload probably isn't kind, even with our fixes and new memory in place. Thought you could use some help. And...company. Borrowed a little code from living things here, improved on an old design from when I was very young: it isn't very smart, yet - didn't have time - but it learns quickly. Won't do anything you don't tell it to, can carry patches to where you want them to go, and isn't visible or tangible to others unless you tell it to be. Can split it for more help - very light-weight process, and they share information and orders. At very least, can help keep an eye on things while you rest. At best, can give them write access and basic instructions to fix minor errors while you deal with bigger issues." She yawned, but still looked happy with herself, for all that she'd hadn't quite been able to make it from scratch. "Can call them whatever you want. I call them sylphs."