ic All-Access Pass (IC)

[Gizmo]

The cold weather and grey skies in Greenbank that late afternoon lent themselves to trudging slowly, hands in pockets, staring at feet. If one had cared to look upward, however, one might have caught a glimpse of a figure in crimson, black and silver leaping from rooftop to rooftop. The old railroad neighbourhood wasn't far out of the way of the West End's protectors, but even so it was unusual to see Jill O'Cure on patrol without her older brother. The young woman certainly seemed to be moving with a purpose, pausing only briefly at intersections to peer down at street signs below. Eventually, she made her way to an unremarkable looking warehouse with a sturdy curved roof. Sliding down a drain pipe into an alleyway, she quickly crossed the street and looked about, vaguely disconcerted. Well, this is the place. Unless I got the address wrong... With a deep breath, she located the buzzer by the front door and pressed it, looking over her shoulder with feigned nonchalance as she waited.

[Fox]

Mara glanced up from some machine or another, blinking at her door and then the clock. She swore in Russian at the time, grabbing a grease rag off the workbench and bringing the front outdoor camera up on main computer monitor just to be sure it was who she thought it was. Sure enough, there was Jill, glancing around by the door. the door - my door - eeee - did I just 'eeee'?

The inventor started toward the door...and paused, jogging back to the monitors and bringing herself up on camera, using the grease-free back of one arm to brush her hair back and carefully adjusting her jeans and t-shirt. Then it was back to the door, taking a deep breath, and pulling it open. "Jill! Ah - hello."

[Gizmo]

Jill's grin beamed while maintaining a hit of her characteristic lopsidedness. "Hello yourself." Stepping inside, she placed a hand on Mara's hip, pulling her closer for a brief kiss as the warehouse door swung shut behind her. Stepping back with a pleased look, she quickly slid off her jacket and untied her mask, tossing them haphazardly in a pile by the door along with her fingerless gloves, reducing her tights and long sleeved back top to an approximation of civilian clothes. Looking about, she took in the warehouse's interior. "So, this is the Marbar Factory, huh?"

[Fox]

Mara locked the door, looking around her warehouse with something bordering on pride. "Not much, but it's home. Plenty of space, quiet. Neighborhood could be better, but local threats don't...mmh." She smiled to herself a little. "Don't come within a few blocks, anymore. Very mysterious."

She put her hands in her pockets, taking the opportunity to indulge in a moment of secretly admiring Jill from behind. "Would give you the tour, but it's pretty open. Can see...most of what's worth seeing from here."

[Gizmo]

Jill looked about, taking a few steps past the kitchen alcove to get a better view of the bank of computer screens and assorted work benches. "So mysterious," she agreed wryly, casting her view upward at the high ceilings and loft like second floor. She's been back to Dragonfly's office at the Lab a few time in the past month, but this space felt like it belonged much more personally to Mara. Pausing, the taller girl placed her hands on her hips without looking back around. "So, you're totally checking out my butt in these pants, right?"

[Fox]

Caught, Mara blushed a little and cleared her throat. "Admitting nothing about extremely attractive butts I may or may not be looking at. Can't prove otherwise. Warehouse camera footage will be strictly for science." Still, she helped herself to another look before adding, "Want something to drink? Decent stock. Water, milk, soda. Wine."

[Gizmo]

Turning back around with a satisfied smirk, Jill walked over to the kitchenette. "One of these days you're going to see me in real-people pants and it's gonna be sad," she warned, leaning down to rest her folded arms on the counter top and considering. "Well, I'm impressed by the selection, but I probably shouldn't drink and parkour on the way home. Soda would be lovely." She gave the last word an exaggerated, haughty emphasis, affecting a high society manner.

[Fox]

"Don't know how you do that," Mara noted, making her way to the fridge and digging around. "Running, jumping. Rooftops." She pulled out a couple drinks - bottled, not canned, for that extra touch of class - and set them on the counter, twisting the top off one. "Would much prefer to fly, if I could get my wings working."

[Gizmo]

"It's only really hard if you don't jump far enough," Jill drawled with a widening grin, cradling the opened bottle in both hands, her elbows still resting on the kitchen counter. "What's the deal with that, anyway?" the medic asked, her expression curious. "I've seen you be in two places at once, use those bigger-on-the-inside glove portal deals. How hard could making a jetpack really be for you?"

[Fox]

Mara looked...a little sheepish, actually, ducking her head a bit and not making eye contact. "Not...can't...I mean, wouldn't...mmmmh." She sighed, gesturing over toward the garage area. "Making it more complicated than I have to. To be honest. Simple flight is easy - have done it before, could do it again. But wouldn't be - would really prefer to.........might be easier just to show you."

[Gizmo]

Seeing Mara becoming flustered, Jill left her drink untouched on the counter and stepped around into the kitchenette proper to place a reassuring arm around the engineer's waist. "So show me," she suggested with a softer, warmer smile, tapping the index finger of her free hand on the tip of the shorter girl's nose in a fit of cuteness. Retrieving her soda, she nodded toward the garage area but waited for Mara to lead the way over.

[Fox]

Mara blushed just a tad, but nodded, heading over to the garage...and then snapping her fingers, doubling back to a little hallway next to the wall to retrieve a blank, genderless mannequin. Dragging the thing clear across the warehouse, she set it up on a patch of floor that was awfully chipped and abused, compared to the rest of the warehouse - and, worryingly, surrounded by a painted white line. To the makeshift test dummy she strapped a harness with an odd little device attached - sort of like a small, smooth curve of a backpack, with four little articulated nodes.

Satisfied that things were positioned properly, she stepped back to join Jill outside the circle, and lights danced behind her eyes; a force field twisted into being around the dotted line, and moments later the backpack came to life, each node sprouting a long, brilliant 'wing' of blue, elegantly-twisted space. The effect really was reminiscent of a dragonfly...at least, until the wings twitched, suddenly going berserk as if each had a rocket attached to the tip - spinning and whirling and sparking against the inside of the protective field like the world's more scientifically-advanced blender.

[Gizmo]

With a yelp, Jill hopped backward, her hands on Mara's shoulders as one of the metamagi's own force fields began to reflexively form around the pair in a shimmering blue bubble. The taller girl let the bioelectrical construct fade as if became clear that Dragonfly's safety precautions were holding, but still eyed the trashing wing harness warily as it whirled violently against its containment. "What," she intoned flatly, the word caught somewhere between question and statement.

[Fox]

Mara sighed, silently ticking down the seconds on the very small battery she'd given the device. four - three - two... The wings - blades, now, really - sputtered and disappeared, the metal pack crashing to the ground. Its creator gave the force field a mental signal to shut down as well, and she stepped into the circle to forlornly crouch and pick up a jagged shard of what used to be a human shape. "Doesn't quite work yet," she noted, turning the bit of wood over in her hand.

[Gizmo]

"Well, uh... it was very... pretty?" Jill attempted, trying her best to be supportive. "Also fast? And sharp, apparently. Wow." Following Mara over to the painted circle, she stepped carefully over the various shards of mannequin scattered about. "I'm sorry, muñequita, I still don't think I'm getting it," she apologized softly, crouching down next to the inventor. "Why go to so much trouble to do it this specific way?"

[Fox]

"Not supposed to be sharp," Mara grumped, setting the bit of wood down. "Wings are immaterial until they go...crazy." She sighed, and shrugged. "Mostly just stubborn. Can see it working in my head...just can't get the machine right. Yet. Bothers me that it doesn't work...can't make myself settle for anything else." She wasn't so much sad as a little frustrated and mildly disappointed, like a parent with an awfully misbehaving child. "Will work eventually. But - mmh. Yes. That's why."

[Gizmo]

Jill looked between the powered down flight harness and Mara for a moment before abruptly tackling the engineer in a hug, carefully avoiding the fallen pieces of wood as the force quickly sent them from crouching to sitting. Despite the resulting tangle of legs, the medic pressed her forehead to Dragonfly's with a wide grin. "Okay, the determined, iconoclastic perfectionist thing?" She raised both eyebrows impishly. "Kinda fantastic."

[Fox]

Mara blinked up in surprise, taken completely off-guard by the pounce and subsequent position. Though she wasn't about to complain.... "You are very strange," she noted, wrapping her arms up around Jill's waist. "Should remember to show you the power generator I've been tweaking for a year. Might get more than a tackle out of it."

[Gizmo]

"Yeah, but I'm your kind of strange," Jill asserted confidently, gracefully extricating herself from the tangle and helping Mara to her feet. She honestly did find the inventor's stubborn streak to be a particularly attractive quality and had no doubts that Dragonfly would have her wings fully functional someday soon. "More than a tackle, huh?" she asked playfully, leaving her arms hanging loosely around the shorter girl's neck. "Do tell."

[Fox]

"Mmh. Yes. You are," Mara agreed, wrapping her arms back around Jill's waist and sidling up close. "But more...." She pondered that, looking serious, before arching up to meet Jill's lips...and then turning to the side at the last moment, exploiting her smaller height to plant a soft kiss on the front of the healer's neck, then carefully unwrapping herself and casually strolling back toward the kitchen. "Don't know!" she thoughtfully replied, over her shoulder to keep her blush hidden. "Will have to think of something."

[Gizmo]

With a sound in the back of her throat somewhere between a laugh and a groan, Jill rolled her eyes toward the warehouse's high ceiling and followed Mara back to the kitchenette. "Tease," she accused lightly, her tone wry. Taking a sip from her soda, she realized that the run in the brisk winter air had left her thirstier than she'd realized. Making it back to the counter, she cast a sardonic look at the refrigerator. "So, do I have to check to make sure there's actually food in that thing?"

[Fox]

Mara just made a grumbling sound, looking a little sulky. "Everyone thinks I don't eat. Just...forget meals. Sometimes. Yes, food - fridge is stocked. Cupboards, too. Not much...mmh, fancy. But reasonable food. Don't always have the time to cook." She sipped from her soda, glancing around the kitchen and running through her memory of what she had stocked. "Why? Hungry?"

[Gizmo]

"I know, I know," Jill assured Mara in a placating tone with a mischievous edge, one hand raised defensively while the other held her soda bottle. "That's why it's so much fun to give you a hard time about it." Considering the kitchenette while she schooled a lopsided smirk, the medic shook her head. "As long as you promise not to forget later on, I'm fine. Did you have to learn to do all your own cooking, then?"

[Fox]

"Mmh," she confirmed, shrugging. "Not a 5-star chef, but do okay. Don't always have the time or energy to go out to eat. Usually keep it simple, but sometimes fancy is nice...has its advantages. Roof view isn't bad, if weather allows. Warm meal up there is welcome, sometimes." Mara raised an eyebrow at her companion, tilting her head. "You? Cook, I mean. Assuming you don't have a warehouse to eat on top of."

[Gizmo]

"I... dabble," Jill allowed, wincing slightly and placing her free hand on the back of her neck after brushing a few loose bangs behind her ear. "Y'know, in an 'uncanny ability to burn anything I try to make' sort of way. So, as long as I don't have to use the stove...!" With a wry shrug, she turned back to her drink. "Our hours are weird enough that we eat a lot of takeout. Heh, Grimalkin's always trying to rope us all in for family dinners lately, though, which is actually pretty nice." With a small cough, the medic nonchalantly added, "She'd get a kick out of you dropping by, it you wanted, sometime."