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[ladybro]

Who: Kate Bishop and YOU
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Planetside
When: This morning

[ kate is down on the planet, hair tied back with a light-coloured bandanna. she's holding the device selfie-style -- a shooting aesthetic born of the snapchat and periscope generation. ]

Do any of you know the story of the one red paperclip? Some guy up in Canada started with a paperclip, which he traded for a pen, and then traded that pen for a hand-made doorknob, and then that for a camping stove (plus fuel). And he kept going until fourteen trades after the red paperclip... he got a house. A whole futzing house.

Well, my one red paperclip was a piece of foil-wrapped gum I was holding onto since the day I arrived. Two votive candles, one fishtail braid, some dice, a repaired rope bridge, wooden shoes, and a barrel of mead later? [ her free hand reaches for something off-screen, which turns out to be a simple wooden bow. ] This is my whole futzing house. Suck it, whatever intergalactic bank handles our fleet credits. Suck it.

[ later, she can be found celebrating her minor economic victory down at the BEACH -- sunbathing, or swimming, or just diverting herself by building odd shapes in the sand. find her there, or cooling off in the evening at one of the taverns -- a little sunburned, but looking thoroughly satisfied. ]

Comments

video;

[winn]

[ with eyes as big as they can get. ]

That. Is awesome. How's it handle? Oh - oh - and I got something for you too - [ bouncing with excitement. ]

video;

[ladybro]

It handles about as primitively as one might expect. But that's okay -- it'll get the job done. [ not that she has any jobs in mind, and not that she even stays focused after winn drops that generosity bomb on her.

her eyes are pretty big now, too. ] Are you saying what I think you're saying?

video;

[winn]

You bet your bow I am.

[ one supersuit: completed. ]

video;

[ladybro]

Winn, you devilish genius. [ so? pleased. ] When can I see it?

video;

[winn]

[ she gets a devilish grin. ]

Right now works for me - it'll cost you one demo with your new toy.

video;

[ladybro]

I'll have to owe you. I don't have any arrows. Yet.

video;

[winn]

Since you're a friend - you can owe me. Meet me on the Tourist? [ he likes to work on super-stuff in a room he can lock. ]

action

[bullhorned]

He'd arrived on the beach with two buckets. This would have seemed like the sort of thing that would be conducive to playing in the sand, if it wasn't a solid wooden bucket and were it not for the fact that Gendry was squinting in the sun whilst Gendry was completely dressed for a day's labor. But he had not yet begun to filling either of them before he was suddenly gaping. It was unclear if it was over the sculptures in the sand or the fact that women seemed to be cavorting about in less than their smallclothes.

action

[ladybro]

As far as Kate was concerned, she appeared perfectly respectable. After all, it wasn't as though she was on the clock. So, (naturally), she mistook the strange guy's expression for shock-and-awe at her wonderful Empire Sand Building. Kate dusted grains of sand off her palms and rose to her feet.

"Pretty impressive, isn't she? And that's just from memory." Her smile was wide.

action

[bullhorned]

Ah. Gendry looked at that now. As someone who was well practiced in making things, he could see some work had went into this. He even knelt down to inspect the ridges along the wall. The real building must be impressive, was the conclusion he was forced to draw. Working with the sand wasn't so bad either.

"It won't last," he commented mildly. "Won't take much to knock it down."

He didn't really see the point in an adult making something like this.

action

[ladybro]

"That's kinda the point."

Her brows raised. Kate crossed her arms -- not combative, per se. But a comfortable, closed-off piece of body language. And yet she felt a soaring bit of pride when she noticed how carefully he examined the structure. Actions, after all, spoke louder than words. He can't be that unimpressed with it if he'd go so far as to kneel in the sand to check it out.

A+, Katie.

"It's not about keeping it forever."

video;

[ladybro]

Be there pronto. Just gotta leave the planet -- so gimme, like, an hour.

[ and true to her word (after an hour) there's a knock on his door. kate's hair is still tied back with the bandanna, and she has her bow with her slung over her back -- despite the lack of quiver and arrows. ]

[bullhorned]

He stood. "What's it for, then?"

Gendry wasn't so dense as to not grasp that it was just for fun. That's clearly what it had been for, but he was so far removed from letting his time flit by on useless endeavors that he didn't really like it when others did. It all seemed like such a waste of time, effort, and skill. Those were things too valuable to waste making castles to be washed away.

video;

[winn]

[ he opens the door instantly, excitement written all over his face. after perfecting and changing the design over and over again - it's finally ready. a suit that's fashionable, practical, and protective. it's some of his best work here, really.

he pulls her inside and shuts the door behind her. ]

Alright - it's got everything we discussed - hidden compartments for arrowheads in the boots and over the shoulder - the glasses are still going to take a little tweaking but Cisco and I are on it - I got you a mock up pair for now just so you can see how it looks - [ he pulls out the suit. the design is very tactical - after the incident on the iskaulit this became very serious business to him - and the colors are dark purple with black ascents. across her shoulder is a very subtle shadow of a hawk's head, its eye the one bright feature of the suit. ]

It's made entirely out of structured polymer composites - very light - very strong. It won't stop an armor piercing round or something at zero range - but it'll stop a lot. [ he looks at her excitedly. ]

...what do you think?

[ladybro]

He was questioning it. That was alright -- Kate's smile persisted. All in all, she exuded a kind of easy friendliness. Prickly in places, but not especially guarded. She glanced from the tower to the guy and then back to the tower again.

Instead of answering his question, she simply offered: "Wanna kick it down?"

[bullhorned]

The amount of friendliness that Gendry had been reputed to radiate was somewhere around some and none at all. It generally took very little time to realize he had such a large chip on his shoulder, that it was remarkable that he could walk through doorways without turning sideways first. When other people were friendly, he found it cause enough to become extremely suspicious. Such was the case now.

His eyes widened. "What? Why?"

video;

[ladybro]

[ -- winn, please don't be too weirded out that she's already hauling off her shirt in anticipation of trying this beauty on. at the very least, it looks like she's wearing a swimsuit beneath her clothing. after all, she had just been down by the beach. ]

It looks amazing. Winn, this -- like -- exceeds expectations.

[ladybro]

"Because I don't mind if you do. Because somewhere, there are these monks that make the most beautiful coloured mandalas out of sand and after hours of work they just...sweep it all away. Because building something to last leads to legacy which leads to ego. And I already got enough of that."

Because Derek Bishop built a lot of big buildings and not a one of them have brought him happiness, but Kate exalted in this one simple sandcastle. Because there's no pressure to maintain it, to build on it, or to represent it.

"Kate, by the way. I'm Kate."

video;

[winn]

[ he blushes a little and looks away - he notices the swimsuit, but he was already averting his eyes when he noticed it so he's committed now. ]

It's some of my best work, hands down. [ he's so thrilled that she likes it because he's practically in love with this suit. ]

video;

[ladybro]

[ katie, being very hard to embarrass, seems not to notice. or perhaps not to care. she's shimmying her way into the suit in no time, relishing in the difference a good poly-whatever makes in comparison to plain old spandex.

there sounds the muted buzz of a zipper being zipped. ] ...How do I look?

video;

[winn]

[ he turns his eyes back at her and they just light up. it looks better than he hoped. ]

Like a hero.

[bullhorned]

He had a few opinions about these monks, which he ultimately decided to keep to himself. They were, succinctly, bad opinions.

"Gendry." He tilted his head in the direction he came from. "I'm just here for sand. The forge ran out."

[ladybro]

"...Do you work there?"

Her eyes can't be helped; they drop to glance at his arms and imagine what muscle might hide beneath his clothing. It was sort of a professional ogle, if you will. In the same way she might expect anyone else to check out her own guns after learning she was an archer. Musculature could be very telling.

[bullhorned]

He nodded, his lips curling inward into a widened frown as he watched her eyes move about. This was generally the part where people, which had lately been disproportionately women, started to move to the subject of having a weapon forged. He wondered if this had been happening so frequently because they thought they were pretty enough to get a discount. They were probably right.

Best to settle things quickly. "I don't have any decent steel to work with," he said very matter-of-fact. "So it's no use asking for a sword."

[ladybro]

"Down, boy. I've got no use for a sword. Promise." Kate waves two empty hands in front of her, as though warding off his scowl. "I mean, I know how to use a sword."

(After all, she was a Hawthorne Academy fencing champ.)

Kate shrugged. "But it's not really my first choice, weapon-wise. You're off the hook, Gendry."

Nevermind that it was a hook he'd already adamantly refused to put himself onto.