exsiliumlogs | [OPEN] BABES IN TOYLAND

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[OPEN] BABES IN TOYLAND

Date & Time: December 20th, 2013
Location: New York City!!!
Characters: HOLIDAY SHOPPERS. Please note that with mod approval, any character is allowed to have joined the mob in front of the transporter, regardless of whether they responded to the network post advertising this event.
Summary: In a bid to conserve energy, over a dozen transports do all of their Christmas shopping at once. I hope you brought money!
Warnings: None for now!

All the transports are dropped into New York at 6:00, simultaneously but scattered. Coding the drop points for this mission was hell.

It turns out that the weather is actually fairly mild on this date; there is snow neither in the air nor in the ground. That isn't to say there's nothing of visual interest: All the lights of the city are on at this hour.

The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree was lit back on December 4th.

Shop until you drop, Transports.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Who doesn't miss Starbucks? Peter's on his second peppermint mocha when he spots Stephanie in the crowd. He doesn't exactly know her that well, but they're here, and he's afraid of disrupting this place too much with his presence. (Which, for what it's worth, is an excuse and code for "he's too socially awkward to chat up strangers unless he's wearing his Spider-Man mask." It's just how he works.)]

Hey, having fun? [It's asked after he trots up to her and comes to stand alongside her. Peter, for his part, looks pretty cheerful. He can't really help it.]

[She turns when someone addresses her, recognizing him straight away and giving a bright smile, which probably answers his question.]

I am, yeah. [It's a chance to forget about all the bullshit or a little while, about Jesse and Dick and the war.] You look like you're enjoying yourself.

Well, New York helps. It's infectious here, or maybe I'm just glad to be home.

[It's a home, and he knows he has to be careful. Anything like "I never thought I'd see it again" might seem strange, and he's not interested in the very involved story he'll have to make up that doesn't involve his name on a gravestone. No, he's not interested in that.]

I haven't done much exactly, but it's good.

Going home makes things easier.

[There's something bittersweet in her smile, because unlike a lot of the Transports from Earth, she can't just go into the past and visit Gotham. The VR simulation she made helps, but it's not the real thing.

She doesn't let it bother her, though, just forces her smile a little brighter and holds up the bags in her hands.]

I've probably done enough shopping for about five people, so don't worry about not having done much.

Yeah, it certainly does. I'd rather be up there—[He points up.]—but they're absent a Spider-Man, probably, so that'd be strange. [He doesn't even bother to hush his voice, because he doubts anyone is listening in, and he's still trying to figure out where he's going with the whole Spider-Man thing. Going from zombies to mutiny to politics really involves a lot less punching on the normal transition of things, and he's aware of that.]

And shopping is good. I mean, you could be shopping upstate somewhere. That wouldn't be doing much.

It wouldn't make too much of a difference if you don't let anyone see you.

[Although that might be a little tricky when he has a bright red and blue costume, but she doesn't know how good Spider-Man is at stealth.

The comment gets a huff a laugh.]

I've got a stolen credit card and a utility belt with unlimited twenty dollar bills, I think I could find a way.

Not that easy. The trick is to swing between buildings. I'd stand out. [And he has a feeling that that might ruin all of their efforts if some Spider-Man guy came out of nowhere in a world considerably lacking superheroes. And his guess so far is that they're really lacking superheroes, given everything.

It's only after that remark that he processes the rest. Which follows with:]

Can I get one of those utility belts?

That's the problem with having bright red in your suit.

[There's a reason that Robin's cape was black, because while the bright colours served a purpose, sometimes secrecy was more important.]

Well, I could make you a normal utility belt, but you'd have to weaponize it. That's why mine's the way it is.

The secret is that I didn't design the suit. [He shrugs uselessly. In hindsight, he knows he could come up with something newer and sharper, but he likes the design; he likes what it means to him. Plus, he kind of wants that version of the suit but it being one that can't be easily destroyed.]

... And what if my suit is my weapon?

I didn't design mine, either. [Babs made it for her, which was a nice gesture, and it's not like Steph doesn't like her suit. Still.] You could always make yourself a new one.

[And then he says that, so she adds:]

Or try to get it to evolve into something a little more stealthy. As for the utility belt, mine's part of my suit which is my weapon, so I guess it'd depend if you could convince your suit that the belt counts.

[Did that even make sense......]

[Fortunately, Peter is a scientist and a superhero who thrives on quick talking and banter. He manages to make it out of what Stephanie says with full comprehension.]

I'd have to make the belt important to me somehow. Some way to be a better Peter Parker. [He pauses, considering that.] So some kind of ... engineering device. For mechanical things, ready to still jump into a fight at a moment's notice. Probably way more effective than what I've been doing.

More of a toolbelt, then?

[She grins, but she does mean that suggestion a little bit. Although after a second she gives him a look up and down.]

Spider-man's meant to be pretty streamlined, right? Would a belt break that up too much?

[There's a thoughtful look on her face that could either mean awesome or terrible things will happen.]

... I haven't put that much thought into the suit. I just sorta ... haphazardly added webs. [That means: he added it to a previous suit.] I'm bad at the marketing bit. But yeah, a tool belt. A tool belt that also gives me a lot of money.

[Because that would be helpful. Not that he thinks he's entitled to money—it's the exact opposite—but he's not exactly working for anyone.

... Though he's been meaning to look into that.]

Okay, well--

[She goes to get out her notebook, then realizes that she wouldn't be able to draw while juggling all the bags she's got.

So:]

Have you had dinner? I've got a couple ideas I could sketch up for you, but I'll need to sit down.

[And she hasn't eaten for a while, so they can kill two birds with one stone.]

I was gonna hit a Whole Foods for their samples. [There are a lot of samples, and the Whole Foods at Columbus Circle isn't that hard to get to from their current location. He even made sure it's still there!] ... So that's a no.

[Peter.....]

How about you pick a real restaurant and we'll grab something to eat?

[The I'll pay is implied.]

What do you want? We can see if it's still there in this version of New York. [He hasn't exactly had a chance to check on everything, after all. Though given where they are, they could just walk and pick a place they like.]

[You know what she wants? Peking duck. You know what she can never eat ever again? Any kind of duck.

Thanks, Ahiru.]

How about Thai?

[She wants to eat something a little different than what they can get in Exsilium.]

[There's a moment where he considers where they are. The closest place that has great Asian is Koreatown, at least that's reliable, but he knows there are some awesome Thai restaurants in Chelsea. Given the number of them, the odds that all of them will be gone when Whole Foods is in the same position is slim.]

Let's get to Chelsea, then.

[Without hesitating, he starts walking with the intention of heading south. He assumes she'll follow.]

[And follow she does, falling into step beside Peter. Though she does also pull a cellphone out of her pocket and starts typing up a text, just to let Saul know where she is.]

We wanna lay some ground rules about how to deal with any criminals we run across?

[It's said with a grin, but considering her luck, she wouldn't be surprised if dinner got interrupted by an armed robbery or something.]

I've got a spider-sense. [It seems important to tell her that right now.] So, I'll give you a signal when it's going off. ... If we're about to get food poisoning, though, it won't work out in our favor. [He knows it's a joke, so he's gotta run with it. It's kind of what he does.]

[That's all well and good, Peter, but:]

Does that mean you can tell when spiders are close by, or....?

No. ... My life would be a major headache and I'd be loving the cold more back where we usually are. [Because the spiders are probably all dead.] I can sense danger.

So like, an internal radar?

[sort of?

can spiders even do that?]

Kiiiiind of. Yes. [Peter shrugs.] It helps in a fight. You know, unless I'm in danger constantly, and then it's just annoying.

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