ic Visiting Hours (IC)

[Gizmo]

Jill visibly winced. "Dios, don't force it!" the taller girl exclaimed, he nose wrinkling under her bandanna mask. "I mean, yeah, it's creepy when Avenger does it, and there's this guy I know from school who kinda talks that way, too, but in a 'I'm too busy to waste time with you' way. But with you it's... well, I like it, anyway!" she declared, crossing her arms as though daring the inventor to argue despite failing to put her position into words. "So pthb. And yeah, hands-on, with the metal and the grease and the sweat and the thrum." Jill gestured dramatically with one hand while remaining balanced on the edge of the desk with the other.

[Fox]

She blinked. "Mmh. Thank you. ....an unusual sentiment. Can't speak for other 'super-smart types', though. Just...like building things. Getting my hands dirty. Craftsmanship." She shrugged, apparently not entirely sure how to explain it. "Mass-production is useful, machines building machines is fast...but doesn't have the same soul. Something to be said for doing it yourself, being good with your hands. Plus...it's fun. Like a puzzle. Satisfying to get dirty, turn something on and watch it move."

[Gizmo]

Jill made an amused, half-stifled sound that started at the roof of her mouth, her lips turning up and down as she struggled to contain a laugh. "Well, that does sound satisfying," she drawled as she composed herself, straightening the sides of her crimson jacket before offering the petite inventor an apologetic shrug. "Look, I'm sorry, but if you're gonna lob them over the plate like that..."

[Fox]

"What?" Dragonfly turned her head to face Jill, shaken out of her thoughts. "Lob them over...? Admit I get a little carried away with building things, but what did I-"

She blinked, twice, and then started to blush so hard it looked like she was going to bruise. One hand came up to cover her mouth as she shook her head, giving what she'd been saying a more...critical look. oh god "S-sorry," she said, a little muffled. "Didn't....I mean, I don't- not really what I-"

[Gizmo]

"No no, see, this is the part where you say something snarky back," Jill corrected Dragonfly quickly, hopping off the edge of the desk and waving her hands in front of herself as though attempting to ward off the other girl's embarrassment. Holding one hand beside her mouth she continued in a loud stage whisper. "I can give people diseases through bodily contact. There's a lot of good material there."

[Fox]

She paused, hands still over her mouth. "....seriously?" Relaxing, and blush fading away, Dragonfly was quickly - and thankfully - distracted and started to just look...bemused. "Diseases? Incredible powers of healing, creating magic energy fields, and....having leprosy? Not so much a power as a regretted vacation in backwater India."

[Gizmo]

"Back in the game!" Jill beamed as Dragonfly rebounded. "Also: heeeeey." Crossing her arms, the slim teenager sniffed with exaggerated haughtiness. "It's actually more like overloading the immune system. You know what happens when you convince somebody's body to reject everything in their digestive tract? Bad things, is what." Raising her left hand in front of her, the medic made a fist as a sickly green light faded into being, darker sections floating about the aura like flotsam. "Not one of the powers I really show off to most people."

[Fox]

"Aaaah," Dragonfly observed, nodding sagely. "Not leprosy. Magic, glowing leprosy. That's fine, then."

She did take the glowing fist seriously, at least, giving it a critical eye. "Admit it does look effective. Don't have many options besides 'hurt things' and 'temporarily store things', myself. Should consider less violent additions. Though...perhaps options that don't generate a gross mess."

[Gizmo]

"'Mets mine men'," Jill imitated in a comically higher register that sounded nothing at all like Dragonfly. The coltish young woman offered her friend a thin, wry smirk, but reflexively hid her left hand behind her back as she let the glowing halo of energy fade away. That particular facet of her powerset was still one she wasn't entirely comfortable with, despite her nonchalant attitude. "Yeah, it's, uh, it's a pretty gross trick. But hey, options, right?"

[Fox]

"Gross but effective," Dragonfly corrected, wagging a finger. "Effectiveness is ultimately more important. More options, better strategy; better strategy, better odds of winning a fight." She shrugged, adding with a great deal of confidence, "Am sure you can find ways to use it that don't provoke vomit, anyway. Too clever not to."

[Gizmo]

"Pfft, please," Jill snorted dismissively, waving her right hand vaguely in response to Dragonfly's stern gesture and turning away slightly to look out the wide windows. "Don't need to pull the positive reinforcement thing with me. Not exactly heading up the department of slapping the laws of the universe in the face and making them ask for more, am I?" Looking back over at the inventor, she offered a sardonic smirk. "Which isn't to say I don't make out just fine, naturally."

[Fox]

"Do not pull anything," Dragonfly defended herself, frowning. "Do not lie, either, if I can help it. Very bad at lying - call things as I see them. You," she continued, emphasizing it with a poke of a finger, "are skilled, intelligent, attractive, fit, have friends, family, a goal, the drive to achieve that goal. Cannot comment on your ability to make out. A question to pose to your significant other, if you have one. Will assume you have talent there as well."

She gave a little grumping noise, sticking her hands in her jacket and looking around her office. "...am very good at making physics shut up and sit down, though. Should get an outfit for that." One hand, still in her pocket, made a motion like cracking a whip.

[Gizmo]

Jill let out a short, surprisingly throaty chuckle in spite of herself. "Hawt. And I guess I was asking for that one," she admitted, amused to see her encouragement of sardonic, off-colour wordplay being taken to heart, even as her cheeks darkened all but imperceptibly. "Glad I didn't say 'I do fine'. Anyway, blatant flattery will get you everywhere, but no, a 'significant other' would require an actual social life," she drawled sardonically, placing her own hands in her jacket pockets, mirroring Dragonfly. "This is the longest actual conversation I've had with somebody my own age in forever and I'm wearing a mask. Oy, as a wise lady once said."

[Fox]

Dragonfly made a face, shifting her weight a little. "Social life. Sympathetic, there. Not terribly outgoing...surprising, I know. Probably the longest single conversation I've had in a month, masks or not. Usually talk to people when I have to, or when they talk to me. Have...one other person I speak at length with? I think." She didn't seem too awfully bothered by that, though, and she shrugged. "Masks...awkward, maybe. Could always remove it," she teased, "if it bothers you. And consider: no mask, no hero work; no hero work, wouldn't have met to have this conversation in the first place."

[Gizmo]

Unexpectedly, Jill almost looked like she was considering Dragonfly's offhand suggestion, biting her lower lip for a moment. "Good point. I definitely meet a more... interesting type of person 'on the job'," she admitted instead, resting her chin contemplatively in one palm. "And I plead the fifth regarding how surprised I may or not be," she continued, a broad smirk pulling at her lips. "So... speaking of significant others - and you totally brought it up, so deal with it - is this 'one other person' cute?" One eyebrow raising behind her crimson bandanna mask as an index finger tapped on her chin.

[Fox]

She met the eyebrow with one of her own, tilting her head. "Looking for a date? Attractive, yes, but taken. And straight, I think; probably to her boyfriend's...regret. Boys," she snorted, shaking her head. "So just a friend, yes. Sorry to disappoint - no juicy gossip here. Did meet her on the job, though. Fighting hobos in the sewers isn't as amazing as saving Christmas, but it breaks the ice."

[Gizmo]

Jill paused, finger poised in mid-chin tap, and blinked slowly. "Oh. Oh! Ohhhhh..." Coughing conspicuously, the medic turned back to this window as she turned a hue that matched her crimson jacket as her head reflexively sunk between her rising shoulder blades. Stupidstupidstupidarrrrrgh... she berated herself inwardly. "Well, yeah, I mean, sewer hobos are really one of symptoms of larger, societal problems, aheh," she managed to ramble at a noticeably increased speed.

[Fox]

Dragonfly blinked, the eyebrow going a little higher, if possible, as she watched Jill get unsettled. "....feeling okay? Didn't say something weird, did I? Happens sometimes. Not sure what it would have been...." She frowned. "Sorry if I did. Social skills need work, still. Slow going without a social life. Not all of us can cheat bantering with a wisecracking brother."

[Gizmo]

"There are some unfortunate side effects that particular source of education," Jill grumbled in annoyance as she ran a hand over her face with a sigh. Turning back around she gave Dragonfly an apologetic look, he face still touched by a ruddy though diminished colour. "You didn't say anything weird, I just didn't pick up until now that you... ah, y'know. Were hinged that way. Because apparently? Really not that clever."

[Fox]

"Hinged?" Dragonfly blinked, thinking that one out. "Reasonably flexible, but don't-- ah. Ah." Realization dawned on her face and she frowned, thoughtfully, arms crossed and one finger tapping. "Sorry. Not sure why cleverness enters into it though...just doesn't come up much. Think you might be the only person who knows for sure. Could be wrong. Not something people ask about - hard to judge." She gave a small, helpless shrug, and went back to a mildly concerned grimace. "Does it bother you?"

[Gizmo]

"What? No! C'mon. No," Jill responded immediately, straightening to her full height holding her hands out in protest. "It's not that. I mean, it's not you, anything you did. It's just, in that context... I've basically been hardcore flirting with you for like an hour and a half, which is kinda less 'haha, witty banter' and more 'so, sheeeee's a little skanky'." Jill's mouth stretched into a wide grimace as she ducked her head down again before throwing her hands in the air in resignation. "Awkward? Don't mind if I do! Anyway. Is that like your powers? You've always known, I mean?"

[Fox]

Dragonfly raised an eyebrow, frowning. "Flirt-"

She turned just a little bit red, and coughed. "Didn't- I mean, didn't think that...mmh." Sighing, the young woman held her hands up and took a moment to compose her thoughts. "Will...address the second one first. Make more sense that way....I think. Didn't...ahh." right - censor that story - mmh "Didn't...have much of a...libido...for a very long time. Knew that I wasn't attracted to men, didn't think anything of it because I wasn't attracted to much anything. Bigger concerns. After that...yes, I suppose. Have known...can be hard to miss. Still just not used to thinking about it though - usually catches me off-guard. Or sneaks into a conversation." Her hands went back into her pockets, and she frowned again, some of the blush coming back to color her face. "Didn't...give enough thought to things to consider it hardcore flirting. Can see it in retrospect. Suppose I've been nearly as bad as you have; wouldn't think worse of you for it regardless. Not 'skanky'...just a fun conversation, I suppose?"

[Gizmo]

"The corset line was a little skanky," Jill insisted dryly, rubbing the back of her neck. "You're right, though. I'm making this a thing when it wasn't a thing. Wasn't trying to embarrass you, too. This is just becoming sort of a pattern, and..." Shaking her head slightly, the taller girl mentally finished, raising certain questions. Regardless, she wasn't about to let the visit derail over her unresolved baggage. "Right about it being fun, too," she added with reluctant grin. "So."

[Fox]

"Not skanky if you could pull it off," Dragonfly pointed out, "though maybe skanky if you did so literally. Am sorry if you got uncomfortable, though. Will try to keep these things in mind in the future."

The young woman had a moment of silence then, part thinking and part just awkward, between-subjects quiet. She stretched a little, paused, and raised an eyebrow. "Becoming a pattern...? Have a history of 'basically hardcore flirting', intended or not, with people you meet?"

[Gizmo]

"Starting to really regret that particular turn of phrase," Jill grumbled, folding her arms sullenly. "Look, for a while, before I switched schools, I got a lot of flak for not exactly being a feature on the party circuit, y'know? Had other things going on, but people can be jerks and a couple racy comebacks from the 'alternative' girl shuts the average meat-for-brains up pretty quickly. Dunno, guess it got to be a habit." Tapping the tips of her index fingers together uncertainly, the teenager bit her bottom lip. "Nothing I can't handle. It's just maybe been flaring up a bit around certain 'people I meet', lately."