ic Visiting Hours (IC)

[Fox]

Her face faltered, just for a moment, before the smile returned - albeit bashful. Dragonfly was just too happy (and nervous, and excited) to care, her hand idly playing behind Jill's head. "Think...I plan to. Not used to being...open, and happy. Around other people, I mean. But seem to have a reason to be, now."

She bit her lip, knitting her eyebrows for a moment. "I mean, if you- not that I'm assuming...."

[Gizmo]

Jill snorted lightly. "Yeah, now that I've gotten fried rice and a couple kisses, I'm totally done with you," she drawled sardonically, leaning forward enough so that her bangs fell across Dragonfly's forehead. "Idiota. Have to work harder than that to get rid of me." Mirroring the physicist's expression, she bit the corner of her bottom lip while the other side turned upward nervously as he moved her second hand upward. "'Fly... I'm going to take off your visor, okay? Then my mask."

[Fox]

Dragonfly rapidly cycled through relief, happiness, and apprehension, finally settling on nervous acceptance as she nodded her head. "Mmh. Seems...fair. Visor's flexible," she explained, well aware she was rambling a little, as said visor dimmed and shut down at a mental command. "Can just kind of...um, pull it out and away from the ears. ....sorry. Could probably figure that out yourself...."

[Gizmo]

Jill's smile widened for a brief moment at the rambling before she gingerly moved her hands to either side of Dragonfly's face, running her fingers lightly over the visor's earpieces, her expression thoughtful. With delicate care, she pulled them away, the curved headset giving way slightly as she removed it and set it aside on the desk. Her mouth opening slightly, the medic traced the revealed hairline with her fingertips. "Ha, blue," she murmured with a faint smile, "thought so." After a moment, she brought her other hand back around to the knot of her bandanna mask, running into Dragonfly's gauntlet as she did. There was a slight pause, then rather than undoing the twisted fabric, she guided the other girl's hand to the braid and waited expectantly.

[Fox]

Dragonfly smiled, biting her lip as she reached for the cloth...and then frowned, pausing, her mind running (if not quite as fast as normal) ahead of her fingers. She pulled her hand away just long enough to remove her gauntlets - which, obligingly, had already shut down and simply had to be told to release from her arms and tossed onto the desk with a heavy thunk, their creator flexing dexterous, lightly-calloused hands as they adjusted to freedom.

She turned back to Jill with an apologetic mutter and reached back behind the healer's head, meeting dark blue eyes with her own as she gently worked the mask's knot free and pulled it away to join the visor on her desk. Without anything covering their faces the proximity seemed more...more than before, and she returned her hands to link behind her companion's head. "H..hi."

[Gizmo]

"Hee." Jill's nose crinkled slightly with a pleased look. "Hi." Removing their masks had probably been a bad idea, objectively, but the young woman was far too happy with the results to care. Tossing her black, fingerless glove on the growing pile on a whim, she reasoned that so long as she was making bad decisions, she might as well make them all at once. "Listen, I... Jill's not my real name," she explained in a rush, her expression turning troubled as she looked away. "I let people think it is, 'cause that's part of why it works as a codename but... but it's not really and I just... I didn't want you to think you were here with Jill, 'cause she's made up and now I just sound like a crazy person, argh!" With her bandanna removed, it was much more obvious as the sidekick turned a ruddy hue, wringing her hands in front of her.

[Fox]

This time Dragonfly really did giggle a little, cutting Jill - notJill? - off with a quick, almost shy, peck on the lips. "Very absurd," she admonished, "for me to have to stop you from sounding crazy. Amusing. Good to know what it feels like - will keep it in mind next time I ramble. Maybe. Promise nothing."

She got serious now, settling back a couple inches to get a good look at Jill's face. "Get the secret identity thing. I do. S'important. Names are...information. Information is power. Power is dangerous. Very...very aware. Tell me your real name only when you're comfortable and sure. 'Jill', until then." She hesitated, clearly turning something over in her head before adding, "....Mara. I am, I mean. For me, safe enough on its own."

[Gizmo]

Dragonfly's sudden kiss succeeded in surprising Jill out of her spiraling ramble. "Like you get a monopoly on crazy," she retorted with a rueful smile. "Thank you. For understanding, I mean. If it were just about me, I... it's just something I need to take slow." With the inventor's arms around her neck, Jill placed her hands on either side of Dragonfly's seat, supporting herself as she leaned forward slightly. "Hee. I shall call you Marbar and you shall be my Marbar," she decided with a wider grin, closing the short distance into a kiss, easier now that there was nothing obstructing their faces.

[Fox]

Her good-natured objections to candybar-sounding names cut off - in, she had to admit to herself, the most pleasant way possible - Dragonfly had to settle for a little grumbling noise and a quick nibble on Jill's lower lip. The rest of her body betrayed the feigned mood, however, as her eyes closed and her arms wrapped around behind Jill to pull her a little closer and play with the hair behind her head. think - I could get used to this

[Gizmo]

Jill moved forward obligingly at Dragonfly's pull, nearly loosing her precarious balance between the pair of office chairs. Fed up with the awkward position, she spared enough of her attention from the kiss to make a small application of her powers. A wedge shaped bioelectric construct shimmered into being the inventor's chair, gently raising its far legs until Mara slid off with a slight bump to land on Jill's lap. Grinning innocently at the transplanted engineer, the medic wrapped her arms around the smaller girl's waist and feigned surprise. "Oh my, how did that happen?"

[Fox]

Dragonfly landed with a surprised noise, having been a bit too busy to notice the tipping chair until it was too late. She glanced at the offending furniture and then back at the owner of her new seat. "Chair imps," she suggested, raising an eyebrow, shifting position to straddle Jill's lap and rest her hands on the chair's back. "Or very cheeky magic-users."

[Gizmo]

"Oh, well," Jill began with a pleased look as Dragonfly settled into place, brushing a light kiss on the inventor's right cheek. "If that's the only scientific explanation..." Shifting her head slowly, she mirrored the gesture on the other cheek. "...who am I to argue?" Craning her neck now that Mara had the advantage in height, she kissed the tip of her companion's nose, her expression puckish as she settled back in the chair.

[Fox]

Dragonfly hmmed, going cross-eyed for a moment to watch the nose-kiss, sitting back a little to admire Jill's face with a smile...that faltered just a little. The engineer bit her lip, a finger tapping on the chair back as she tried to get her brain to phrase a concern that had started to nibble at the edge of her thoughts, fought off so far with kisses and wit. "Where- mmh." It wasn't the best start, and she tried again. "....what now? Not now now, I mean - think I know what I'd like for now but probably too early to--" She cut herself off, frowning. no good either - third try?

"...sorry. Mean, what now, with us. Assume you want to keep things private? No objections, just...don't...have no experience. Not sure how these things....go."

[Gizmo]

Jill blinked, doing her best to follow what Dragonfly was trying to say. "Hey, secret identity thing aside, I want to shout this from the rooftops," the medic assured her, "and I spend a lot of time on rooftops. Okay, yes, I just went from zero to lap full of cute blonde in record time, so I'm kinda emotionally punch drunk, but still." Leaving one hand on Mara's back, she used the other to loosely comb through the hair about the inventor's shoulders. "We're going to have to figure some stuff out, logistically speaking, but I figure we're pretty bright, we can handle it."

[Fox]

The corner of Dragonfly's mouth twitched. "Lap full of cute blonde?" she echoed, rewarding that one by leaning down for a quick kiss. "Wasn't sure how you wanted to do things if only I know that you...mmh. Have better taste than most attractive female athletes. And have no experience with relationships at all...." She shook her head, relaxing again - or giving it a good try, anyway. "Sorry. Shouldn't worry so much. Haven't...dated. Too much I don't know. Will learn by doing like everyone else."

[Gizmo]

"Well, I definitely advocate learning by doing in this case," Jill laughed, the corners of her mouth dimpling slightly as her grin widened. "Yeah, that's... that's going to be interesting, but it's like... okay," she restarted, bringing her hands into the small space between them to illustrate her point with vague miming. "Imagine you had this really frustrating puzzle box you'd been working on for ages, and it seemed like everyone else had already got theirs solved and you're starting to wonder if your puzzle is just broken or missing a piece and then you figure out that you've been holding the stupid thing upside down the whole time and tada!" Emphasizing with jazz hands, she let them fall to rest on Mara's hips. "I dunno, does that make any sense?"

[Fox]

Dragonfly paused, tired eyes blinking as something caught in her brain and stuck there. The corner of her mouth twitched a little and some perfect combination of nerves, hormones, and the night's excitement aligned; the young woman started laughing. The sort of laugh you hear from someone who doesn't laugh much, or who has way too much pent up under the surface, or both - she practically collapsed against Jill, laughing and snickering so hard she had tears in her eyes and trying to get herself back under control. "Glad--" she started, when she could manage it, "-- glad I could help you...you figure out your box."

That got her laughing again, though not quite as hard as before.

[Gizmo]

Jill gave the suddenly overcome engineer a startled look as Dragonfly burst out in laughter and fell forward. The taller girl wrapped her arms around her shaking companion to keep her from falling off of their shared chair, her expression turning bemused. When Mara shared the joke, Jill gaped for a beat before pulling a face that incorporated far too wide a grin to come across as properly indignant. "Hey!" she balked, giving the inventor a playful shove in the shoulder, "I was trying to be serious! I swear, you are terrible, you know that?" Despite her words, she couldn't help a laugh of her own that started off as a snort and developed into a rolling sound fueled by Dragonfly's mirth.

[Fox]

Dragonfly sniffed, pushing herself upright again with her sense of humor under better control - though she still found it awfully hard to keep a straight face. "S...sorry," she replied, wiping away the humor-fueled tears at the corners of her eyes. "Needed that. Mmh. Just...got into my head and wouldn't leave. Does make sense, yes...should have taken it more seriously. Really will support you however you need it," she added, quite sincerely. "Promise."

[Gizmo]

"It's okay," Jill assured her with a exaggeratedly sweet expression. "Just know that I will have my revenge, and it shall be delicious." In truth, the joke, off-colour though it had been, put her at ease. Not only did she not have to censor herself around Dragonfly, the other young woman was clearly capable of holding her own when it came to verbal sparring. That, as much as anything, was an extremely attractive quality. "And... thanks." The simple promise of support brought a blush to Jill's cheeks where the bawdy pun had not.

[Fox]

"Delicious?" Dragonfly raised an eyebrow at that, tilting her head. "Should probably be afraid. Mostly sounds fun." She leaned down, gently tilting Jill's head back to give her a short kiss - lingering a little partly for the intimacy, and partly just to enjoy being tall. "Don't thank me yet, though," she admonished. "Thank me when robot drones crush anyone who causes trouble when you explain things. With lasers. And science."

[Gizmo]

"Hmm," Jill murmured in the back of her throat, tapping a finger lightly to Dragonfly's forehead. "The gutters are as wide as the street in there, aren't they?" The hand drifted slowly to one side, brushing back the blonde hair hanging down as Dragonfly leaned forward. "Well, so long as I have your big, strong brain to protect me, I'm sure I'll be fine," the medic teased, letting her voice fall into a huskier range.

[Fox]

Dragonfly snorted a bit, shaking her head. "Mmh. You're very capable - have faith that you don't need help. Have it anyway. And gutters - not usually," added noted, shifting a little closer on Jill's lap and looking a little impish. "Must have run into a bad influence somewhere. Have to be careful meeting new people - never know what will happen. Might end up in the lap of a very nice heroine with a head full of thoughts and impulses."

[Gizmo]

Jill rolled her eyes over a grin. "Oh, yeah, poor you," she drawled with amusement, slipping her arms under he bottom of Dragonfly's jacket as the inventor shifted closer, sliding her hands up her companion's back and between the two layers of fabric. "Still, I guess that might be partly my fault," she allowed, tilting her chin upward, "and there's really only one way to keep those impulses in check." Straightening her back, she closed the remaining distance into a slow kiss.

[Fox]

Dragonfly made a happy murmur, wrapping her arms around Jill's shoulders and settling into the kiss - she may not have had much experience, but she learned awfully fast with sufficient motivation. A short while later she pulled back - less than an inch - to bite her lip, run a hand through Jill's hair, and rather breathlessly complement her on her healing abilities before closing the distance again.