ic All-Access Pass (IC)

[Fox]

"Does sound better than takeout," Mara noted, sipping from her bottle. "Or coal. Not much of that out here, anyway. Takeout, I mean, not coal. Bad neighborhood. Hard to convince people to deliver to the middle of a warehouse district. Nearest good restaurant is a short motorcycle ride away, anyway - probably why I learned to cook in the first-- what?" She blinked, turning to look at Jill. "Drop by for...family dinner?"

[Gizmo]

"Wait, 'motorcycle'?" Jill interjected simultaneously as Mara asked for her own clarification. "Oh, uh, well I mean, we call it that," she started to explain, stumbling over her words a bit in her rush. "The Interceptors. Y'know, my brother's team. I'm like their junior, reserve intern thing, but they live together mostly and Grim -- the kinda pixie looking... anyway, she really likes having everybody together for dinner and holidays and stuff, so, um." Catching her breath, the taller girl took a second to follow her own train of thought. "Obviously, if you don't feel like it, no sweat, but she'd seriously, whatsit, plotz if you stopped by some time."

[Fox]

Mara blinked, tilting her head. "'Plotz'...? Pixie....that's...probably makes sense in context. Or was literal. Magic...mmh. But I...yes, okay." She ducked her head a little, but nodded, thinking about that. "Sounds...nice. And very social. But...might be good to meet your friends? Teammates. If you think that's okay."

There had been a question in there somewhere, but she'd almost forgotten.... ah - yes "Yes. Motorcycle," she belatedly replied, gesturing back toward the garage a bit and a covered vehicle parked a decent distance away from the testing area. "Good machine. Mostly stock...keep it in very good shape, but don't have the driving skill to justify combat or utility upgrades. Prefer to keep it street-legal, anyway. Drive it out of costume a fair bit."

[Gizmo]

"Yeah? Well, ah, cool," Jill grinned a little as jogged back to the warehouse's front door and picked up her jacket, rifling through the inner pockets. "Not to play into stereotypes, but the motorcycle thing is pretty super hot," she called over, frowning as she failed to find what she was looking for. "The dinner thing's not going to be like this second or anything, but... where did I - ah!" Switching sides, she finally retrieved a plain, eggshell hued rectangle of stiff paper and hastily returned to the counter, sliding it over to Mara. A simple capital letter I was embossed in the card, while one side had contact information written in a faint off-white that showed up at a certain angle. "So... that's the place. Um. If somebody else answers the door, just... tell then you're looking for Ellie. ...which is me," she added somewhat unnecessarily, biting her lower lip.

[Fox]

"An address. And 'Ellie'," Mara repeated, turning the card over in her hand. She tilted her head, pondering it in silence for a moment, memorizing every detail before she gingerly set it to the side like it was going to evaporate on her. Then it was her turn to pounce, darting up to lean over the counter and pull Jill - Ellie - into a sudden kiss, holding for a few seconds before sitting back again, afraid she couldn't maintain the awkward lunge without knocking a bottle over. She bit her lip, but looked...happy. "Ellie. It's pretty - suits you. And...thank you."

[Gizmo]

Settling back down from the counter, Ellie beamed through a fierce flush, evidently feeling more confident about her decision. "Technically it's Eliza, but nobody ever uses that. So it's pretty much just Ellie." Bobbing her head from right to left, she let out a long breath. "Well, I mean, it's still Jill in costume, obviously, and at school too, which I know is pretty weird but that's a whole thing, too. It's just..." Stopping for a moment she reached across into the kitchenette to take Mara's hands. "When it's just us I wanted it to actually be, y'know, us."

[Fox]

Mara blushed, but her hands held back. She was suddenly, keenly aware of just how quiet and private her warehouse really was; the nature of the building zone and her own discouragement of local crime meant that there probably wasn't another soul for a couple blocks in any given direction, much less anyone who'd stop by one warehouse out of a score or more just like it. Her blush got a little deeper, and she tried to clear her thoughts when she realized she'd been silently holding Ellie's hands for a fair bit. "Mmh. So. What's - what's school like, anyway?"

[Gizmo]

"You mean regular school or Claremont school?" Ellie asked with a sardonic drawl. Letting go of Mara's right hand but keeping hold of the engineer's left, she walked slowly around to the other side of the countertop into the kitchenette proper, nestled amongst the fridge and cupboards. "The first one is... kinda awful, honestly. Well, depending on who you are, I guess. In theory it's the 'best years of your life', which is just sad in a different way." Sidling up to Mara so that they were simply standing next to each other, holding hands, she mused. "Claremont's pretty different, since everybody there's some level of freaky and they all actually want to be there. It's tough to explain without any context."

[Fox]

She nodded, frowning. "Makes sense. Context is important. Will remain satisfied I missed it. Claremont, though...mmh." She tilted her head, looking curiously at Ellie. "Met a student from there - Etain Maher. School for the freaky...mmh. Illusionists, tentacle-faced magic-users, people who find obsessive engineers attractive. Makes sense," she noted, raising an eyebrow. "But you seem to not dislike it so much. Good enough for me."

[Gizmo]

Ellie pursed her lips and make a short, derisive sound. "Y'know, it's no fun giving you a hard time if you're gonna play the self-deprecating card," she scolded lightly, absently brushing Mara's blonde hair with her free hand. "All that leaves is raving on and on about how you're determined and gorgeous and brilliant and blah de blah blah. Who wants to hear about all that?" With an exaggerated sigh, she retrieved her soda from the other side of the table.

[Fox]

"Mmh." Mara tilted her head, thinking. "Meant to imply you were crazy - found strange things exciting. Will try to phrase things better in the future. Don't want to spoil the fun," she added, completely sincere. She picked up her bottle, tilting it at her. "Only crazy enough to be interesting, anyway. Speaking of. What have you been...mmh. Phrase. Up to? Am curious. Can't all be pixie dinners and roof-jumping."

[Gizmo]

"Ha, a surprising amount of my life these days is pixie dinners and roof-jumping," Ellie admitted, shaking her head in muted amazement at her own statement. "Class has been okay. The advanced bio courses are interesting enough that I actually feel like I'm learning something, which is a nice change." With the fingers of one hand still intertwined with Mara's she turned to lean he back against the counter. "Oh, I almost got totally busted using my powers at the hospital the other day."

[Fox]

Mara squeezed the hand, sipping from her soda as she listened. "Good to keep learning. Imagine a lot of classes are just...boring. Sounds like torture. Ought to be illegal...mmh." She shook her head, frowning. "Have been doing some learning myself, lately. Picking my own subject and material is certainly an advantage."

"Oh, I almost got totally busted using my powers at the hospital the other day."

She raised an eyebrow. "Risky. Interesting story? Seems like your powers would be useful, at a hospital...what happened?"

[Gizmo]

Ellie shrugged, clearly chagrined as she elaborated. "Not so much interesting as sloppy. When I volunteer at the hospital they mostly have be taking care of paperwork type stuff in the ER, signing people in, that kinda thing," the medic explained. Despite her knowledge and talents, there was only so much trust a traditional medical facility was willing to put in an eighteen year old, early 90s television dramedies not withstanding. "Sometime I manage to fix some broken bones on the sly while people are waiting or whatever, but since its flu season, there's been a lot of people suddenly feeling much better all of the sudden, go figure!" With a rueful sigh, the taller of the pair reached the embarrassing part of the story. "Only it turns out this one guy who stops coughing all magic like had already been diagnosed with chronic bronchitis, and they kinda notice when that disappears without warning."

[Fox]

The engineer snorted, shaking her head. "Probably didn't consider it an unquestioned miracle. Good cause, though. Helping people, I mean. Directly. If sneaking is required, so be it." She frowned as a thought occurred, glancing off into space. "Not sure if getting caught would be worse because it blows cover, or because they might...heap expectations. Or treat you differently. Sounds...unpleasant, either way."

[Gizmo]

With a troubled sigh, Ellie let her shoulders slump slightly. "Yeah. I'm still trying to work out a system." The medic fidgeted, tipping her empty bottle back and forth on the counter idly. "Even if I didn't have to be sneaky about it, I couldn't help everyone. There's so many, I- I..." With a shaky sniff, her expression turned pained for a moment, although she attempted to wave off the sudden show of emotion, clearly flustered. "Hunh... Sorry, sorry...!"

[Fox]

Mara looked pained for a moment as she tried to figure out how to react; seeing Ellie look so distressed almost physically hurt. After a moment she apparently decided to just trust her instincts, because she used their clasped hands to pull the young woman into a hug. It was a little awkward - even with several dates' of practice she apparently wasn't quite used to it - but she held her girlfriend close, silently embracing her and trying to offer whatever comfort she could.

[Gizmo]

Mirroring Mara's moment of conflicted hesitation, Ellie froze briefly before practically collapsing into the smaller girl's shoulder as months of bottled frustration and self reproach crashed over her. "M'sorry..." she mumbled apologetically into the engineer's t-shirt as she struggled to steady her halting breath. The hot sting of embarrassment over looking foolish gradually gave way to the comforting immediacy of Mara's quiet presence.

[Fox]

Mara shook her head, quietly holding Ellie as she released some of her pent-up emotion. "No," she finally noted, very quietly. "Shouldn't be. Good to let it out sometimes. Might need a hug, or to cry. Might need to play sad double bass songs." She shook her head again, gently rubbing the medic's back. "Have to find some way, or it eats you. Go crazy. ...crazier. Regardless, am here if you need me."

[Gizmo]

Extricating her spare hand from between them, Ellie returned the hug with a fierce squeeze, butting her head into the crook of Mara's neck briefly before straightening. "Ah... that means a lot, muñequita. Estoy agradecida." Pulling the hand from the inventor's back, she wiped the back of a long, black sleeve over eyes threatening to tear up. "Kinda came outta nowhere," she attempted to play it off with a forced chuckle. "Hem. But, uh... thanks for being here. When I need you."

[Fox]

Mara leaned up for a quick kiss, releasing Ellie from the hug. "De nada," she quietly replied, putting her hands in her pockets and trying to smooth her personal (and personal contact) uncertainties as it had apparently worked...or at least improved things. "De rien. And always, for as long as I'm wanted. Always. Besides," she added, raising an eyebrow. "Am sure you'll repay the favor eventually. Relying on you next time I think building a gender-changing ray is a good idea."

[Gizmo]

"I'm not going anywhere if you're not, Marbar," Ellie promised with a genuine smile, evidently cheering up. The sense of responsibility that came with her powers still weighed on her, but it felt much lighter for the moment. "We can be hilariously codependent together. Deal?" At Mara's offhand comment, however, the taller girl paused with nonplussed look. "...okay, I still can't tell when you're joking about that kind of stuff."

[Fox]

"Deal," Mara replied, making a failed attempt to get her heart not to skip quite so large a beat at the thought. "And...mmh. Yes. That's.......yes." Looking more than a little abashed, she ducked her head down and gestured in the general direction of an odd, smooth-surfaced device about the size of a basketball, with a covered grip on one end. "Didn't...don't really plan to build these things.... Sometimes a design or idea is in my head. Won't leave until I make it. Gotten very good at filtering out the-" don't say 'lethal devices' - violent devices? - no - also bad "-...filtering out some of them. Others get put together over a few late nights. Works, though. Most of the time. Doesn't have much use, but can't bring myself to take it apart."

[Gizmo]

Ellie looked from the device Mara had pointed at back the inventor with a small frown. She opened her mouth as if to speak but instead closed in again and turned back to the alleged ray. Finally, she let out a breath she'd been holding unintentionally and shrugged in resignation. "I got nothin'," she admitted, leaning back against the kitchen counter and offering Mara a bemused smile. "That is some pretty crazy stuff."

[Fox]

Mara blinked, raising an eyebrow as she picked up her bottle again. "'Got nothin''? You?" She tilted her head in feigned concern. "Feeling okay? Need to lie down? Have a thermometer somewhere....is kind of crazy, though. Yes. Try to keep it under control. Otherwise risk waking up one morning with a half-built robot duplicate on the workbench."

She hesitated, and took a sip of her soda. "....a joke, that time." The eyebrow went a little higher, and she tilted her head, apparently pondering something. "Mostly."