Fox

"Mmh. Me, please," Mara said to Ellie, raising a cookie. "And could be worse. Could only barely have suspected after an hour of awkward, sort of unintentional flirting...for instance. Completely random example." She coughed a little, ducking her head. still - pleasant memories "Not recognizing your sister as...'a reasonable facsimile of an adult' was probably counterproductive to noticing her preferences. Hard to imagine who she would like if you do not recognize...that...she likes." She grimaced at that last bit. "Sorry. Awkward wording. Point was hopefully clear enough. Life needs a backspace key."

He shrugged. "Well, to be fair, I'm pretty sure many or most of the gargoyles in the city aren't actually...y'know, alive. They're just statues, when they're present at all." Part of the rock Gaian Knight was standing on twisted up like clay into the shape of a decent, if sparsely-detailed, gargoyle. "As for the umbrella...how do I say this." He rubbed the back of his head, pondering. "They're not something people actually...use. I mean you can buy them online, but almost no one is going to actually carry them around. Even sword canes are probably more common, and you pretty much never see those; I'm sure it's useful, for hero work I mean, but to the average person they're just for show, or for fun, or for a costume."

Gaian Knight shook his head, chuckling. I seem to be doing a lot of that lately, here or elsewhere. Hmm. But chivalry - good manners, really - isn't about loss or gain. Though, admittedly, it usually ends up being loss. Heh. "That's...ah, complex, I think. It's my magic, but I'm not a magician or whatever. It's just kind of a part of me, now - has been for a while. It's sort of like being permanently tapped into something bigger than yourself; I'm not certain I could explain it even if I knew all the details. Out of curiosity," he added, gesturing, "how does one end up riding gargoyles and holding sword-umbrellas? Even in a city like this one, you're pretty unique."

Holding up his hands, Gaian Knight shook his head; the stone sword replica fell apart as his attention was taken away, little bits of dirt and stone pulling back into waiting up behind his shoulders. "Er, call me old-fashioned, but I'm not keen on fighting a lady. Even if it's just sparring, and especially one a bit younger than me, no offense." He dropped his hands, shaking his head. "As for souls being burnt away...I'm not sure. Even naturally-occurring pure metals - gold and platinum, say - just seem outside my domain. They're not...rock, somehow. They're just something else. Who knows...maybe the Chinese had something with their old Wu Xing element model, for all I know. I just can't do anything with 'em."

"Hm. That's a good question," Gaian Knight admitted, frowning down at the sword on his waist. "I pull it out to inspect it pretty often, but in a fight, I think...months, at the very least. It really isn't my first choice for a fight, because getting shot at usually means you go with your much better offensive option, as it were." He turned his attention back to Changeling, and some of the rocks floating around behind him came together to form what was probably a pretty good replica of his weapon, in form if not material. This rock sword idly hung around in the air by his side, turning around and jabbing at empty space as he gestured at it. "Metal isn't really rock, though the distinction's probably a little weird if you're not used to feeling it."

Dragonfly nodded, glancing back at Miss Americana as she spoke. "Good suggestion. Better data...always preferable to see things in real-time. Or recorded real-time. Almost as good, much more convenient. Shift is...where I would be concerned. Brain activity is pushing to extremes, but always different extremes. Transition may be fine if the mind's...adapted to handle it." From her pausing and vague hand gestures she was clearly using words that didn't quite mean what she wanted them to, but were serviceable as best approximations. "But not sure it would be easy on you, adapted or not. A lot of stress to put on a brain."

Gaian Knight chuckled, watching her pull out the blade with interest. "Very nice - and unusual, though I'm sure you know that. And yeah, I suppose I'm a little weird to be carrying around a sword I can't use well. I just...don't feel right without it. It's kind of a strange thing. But it doesn't get it my way, and it does look a little impressive, so why not?" He shrugged. "But yes, you're right - it's not as effective as hitting things with rocks, especially since I'm not very good with it...and to be honest I've yet to find a situation where it'd work any better. Rocks are surprisingly versatile."

Mara pulled out a chair to sit in, nibbling on cookies and - though blushing - watching the family mini-comedy play out with avid interest. The whole family dynamic was apparently sorta fascinating to the young engineer, who glanced between the Espadas members like she was watching a play or a very engrossing movie. "Should maybe get used to it," she 'helpfully' pointed out, after clearing her mouth of cookie. "Don't intend to stop dating her because you don't want to imagine your sister...phrase. 'Making out' with another girl."

Tarrant inhaled, deeply, with the pleased expression of someone for whom fresh-baked goods brought back good memories. "Fancy's all well and good, but there's certainly something to be said for simple, delicious food," he assured her, taking a seat and twisting the top off his bottle. "Thank you, it looks and smells wonderful. And school...well, is school." He grimaced a little, but more with good-natured long-suffering than actual dissatisfaction. "I mostly teach freshmen...who are after easy science credits more often than not, or a few credits or hours to round out their semester. Finals come in a week or two, though, so that's at least keeping me busy." He raised an eyebrow, sipping the water. "From the work they've done so far, I'm guessing maybe three quarters of my basic geology class will get a passing grade. But I'm told I'm a pretty nice grader."

"Hm?" It apparently took a moment for the earth-moving hero to realize what she meant, though when he figured it out he had to laugh. "Ah - haha! No, no." Gaian Knight shook his head, looking down at the sword and scabbard that hung from his belt; he barely even remembered he was wearing it some days. "It's a very nice sword, but I'm pretty much awful with it. That's sort of a shame, really - as near as I can tell it never dulls and can't be damaged, so it'd be useful in a fight...but only if I could swing it with any skill whatsoever. Which, I'm sad to say, I can't, though I've had a lesson or two."

Gaian Knight slid a hand under his hood to scratch the back of his head, chewing that one over for a moment. "There's camping in the forest, of course, though I admit I haven't really been out there to try it. And I'm afraid I'm not much of a swimmer...I'm more a rock-climber, though there isn't a lot of that, either." He shrugged a little, helplessly, grimace hidden behind the cloth over his face. "New Jersey doesn't have a lot of natural lakes or mountains...though I guess there's a little bit of mountain up on the north side of the state. There are plenty of rivers, though, and if you hunted around in the forest I bet you'd find a little pool or three. It's not like there aren't enough rivers and streams in the area that could eat one out of the surrounding soil."

"That's likely very true," Gaian Knight replied, sounding fairly amused with the whole situation. It wasn't every day that you got to talk to a strange girl and a gargoyle while standing around way up in the sky, after all. "Riding rocks around works well enough for me - it isn't very fast, no, but it's pretty stable. Though I do run the risk of just being knocked off my ride; I'm pretty tough, but I hit the ground as hard as anybody else, heh." The array of earthen shards up around his shoulders had relaxed somewhat - the effect was sort of like a porcupine laying down its quills: they were still there, but much more relaxed. "I think I've met...only one or two people with wings, come to think of it. As for the bees...well, I'm pretty sure they outweigh you, Custos, but they're also much, much larger."

The hero chuckled, listening to the back-and-forth with a good-natured grin hidden behind the red cloth that covered his lower face. "I'm called Gaian Knight, and it's a pleasure to meet you both, Changeling, Custos." He nodded - deeply, though not quite a bow - at each of them in turn, continuing, "And, no, there aren't any giant bees around the city that I know of. There aren't anymore, anyway. I just happen to know a few for...sort of crazy reasons, really, and they and other assorted flying heroes have given me a bad habit of assuming everyone can hover in mid-air. I apparently need to stop assuming anything in this city, ever. Assumptions never seem to quite work out."

Eyebrows rising up above his goggles, Gaian Knight blinked at the sweeping, circling pair. "Er....sure. I'm probably going to get dizzy trying to keep up with you otherwise, heh...." He gestured with one hand, part of his rock breaking off into fragments and spinning out into a larger, solid - if thinner - platform a few feet away. It sat there, like his own rock (or what was left of it), fixed in the air like it was glued in place. "Sorry, I probably should have thought of that...I've clearly been spending too much time around giant bees." He chuckled a little. "I do have to ask, though: are you moving your friend, there, or is it - he? - moving on his own? I could feel him from way down on the ground, and I don't think I've ever seen....ah, ambulatory statues before."

Somewhere, way deep down - way, way deep down - Mara's burgeoning inner teenage girl did an extremely undignified dance at the word 'love'. The rest of her tried to not pay too much attention (to the reaction; the word itself was cause for warm fuzzy feelings), reminding her that she was nearly twenty, and then taking a moment to ponder the rather teenager-like implications of reminding one's self one was almost twenty. Mostly she just happily snagged a cookie or two or three, thanking Gina and nibbling on one while Erik finished choking. "Don't know what you mean," she replied, with as much deadpan and raised eyebrow as she could muster.

Gaian Knight was standing now, and had a series of rocks and stony shards floating above and behind his shoulders - not that he'd wanted a fight, but just because he'd learned that it was best to be prepared for the worst. Especially when you were approaching some sort of flying stone creature. A flying stone creature with...a human girl in a dress on its back. With a mask, and wings. ....okay, then. She's either some sort of hero or a new, monster-summoning villainess. "Ah. Hello," he replied, waving.

Gaian Knight sat on a rock in a batch of trees, just...enjoying the city as so few people could. Sure, he couldn't see the cars, but he could feel them, ripples of vibrations as they passed over the top of asphalt; in his mind's eye the buildings had no metal or glass but were large, abstract skeletons of concrete and brick rising up out of foundations that reached into the soil like the roots of a mountain. He could stretch out his senses and touch every stone in the earth, every oddly-shaped mass slowly flying through the clouds above the city, every brick in the surrounding buildings- Wait, what? He snapped an eye open, craning his head upwards and turning his senses where they were so rarely turned: up, way up, where there was nothing but ambient dust and the occasional small, falling meteoroid. But this wasn't either of those. This was.... What in the world...this I'm going to have to see for myself. The rock he was sitting on dislodged from the ground, reshaping itself a little for comfort as it and its passenger accelerated toward the very curious flying creature.

Mara blinked. "Not- didn't- mmh." She frowned - at herself, largely - and shook her head. "Didn't mean to...phrase. 'Kill the mood.' Not used to talking about that, either. Usually...concerned by what people think about it, and not...it itself. Was bad, looking back on it, I mean. But to me, is just...my childhood? Try to at least joke about it. I do, I mean; seems healthier. Other option is to just feel sick and angry, but not...pitiable? Don't....mmh. Words." She sighed, giving up on trying to get her tongue to wrap around abstract feelings and fairly-repressed turmoil; she wasn't entirely sure how she'd managed to walk straight into that quagmire at all. "....cookies? Cookies sound good."

Dragonfly frowned; she'd opted to just go up and over the soldiers, following Miss Americana's example of switching to pure code as they neared the 'bad' parts of the area. She reached out a ghost-like hand and 'pulled' at some of the code, unfurling it a little to get a better look - a cosmetic change, mostly, and not something a gesture was really required for, but intuitive habits are the worst ones to try to break. "Hard to say what rebooting a sector would look like from the outside," she pointed out, scowling at what looked like write errors stacked on top of write errors. "Know how I'd do it, but would have to be built into the base engine...can't be sure what the simulation does to handle that. This is...mmh. Hoping it built up over time. Sudden failure like this would be very bad."

The corner of Mara's mouth tugged into the ghost of a smile as she let herself be led back down the stairs. "Makes sense. Matters to me because it likely matters to you. And...sorry. For the insecurities. Still not used to this - being social, I mean, meeting people who matter, making social bonds. Have some adjusting to do, even after....mmh. A year?" She tilted her head, not looking at much of anything for a moment. "...more than. I think. Exact date's...uncertain, head wasn't in good condition to be storing information well. Over a year, at least. Year and a half. Phrase...'time flies'."

Mara blushed a little, tugging at the vest one last time as she turned to follow Ellie through the door. "Suppose I can't argue against that. Just not used to being girly...clothes, makeup. Stereotypes, but still." She paused for just a moment at the top of the stairs, biting her lip. "Won't...mind, will they? Family, I mean. Didn't...do anything, but were gone a while. Don't want them to disapprove...went very well so far." She ducked her head a little, pulling some hair back behind an ear. "Their opinion...matters. To me. ....not used to wanting to be liked."

"Faux-Victorian....?" Mara raised an eyebrow, not really sure what that would even consist of. "Could be...interesting. Deal, if I can use it as an excuse to see you in my size of shirts." She smiled a little, exaggerating how much she was eyeing Ellie...though not by much. She did, at least, get up to look at herself in the standing mirror. "....not terrible," she admitted, turning to look at the vest with a little more vanity than she was comfortable with. "Do like older things. Phrase...'don't make them like they used to'." She raised her eyebrows, glancing back at her girlfriend. "Clothes talk. Makes me feel oddly...girly. Not necessarily a bad thing, I guess."

Dragonfly had to frown, pondering that for a moment. "....change of environment isn't easy," she agreed, thinking back on her own experiences. "But often for the better. Expect it would at least be enough to greatly lower city population. Provide breathing room, lighter traffic, better housing. Technological level is impressive - simulated, cheating, but impressive - to support the population it does, but think I'd go crazy if I lived here. Crazier. Don't deal well with the...crowds. Require personal space." She shrugged, poking at - but being careful not to alter - an incidental bit of code as they passed. "Guess I'd move, if I lived here and had the chance."

Dragonfly had, even after 'ghosting' herself, been visibly uncomfortable around the crowds of people; she relaxed more as the population thinned out. At the very least her finger stopped its nervous and unceasing tapping against her leg. "Digital fertility inhibitors?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow toward 'Mary'. "Not against some editing, if done cleanly, but should be careful how low it goes - both relative and absolute. Sudden drops in birth rate could cause social problems; extremely low birth rate could...not even sure. More social problems, at least. Hard to predict how people will...reorganize, if children become too rare. Still," she agreed, "small adjustments would be good for future stability. Worth looking into."

Dragonfly shook her head as Supercape trailed off, satisfied that at least he wasn't going to get himself into any more trouble. She stood back up, wincing as she felt the start of what was almost certainly going to be a bad headache. She needed sleep, a bath, to repair her gauntlets, and to make sure her radiation-shielding armbands were still functioning correctly, not necessarily in that order. Some of the items on that list were far more important than others. By the time she'd made it back to the elevator she had her gauntlet's plating off, bits of wire and screws sticking out of her mouth as she started figuring out just how long a night it was going to be....