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[baedalites]

Who: EVERYONE.
What: Swap meet.
Where: The Apache and surrounding environs.
When: Sukkardi the 14th of Haneden
Notes:

• Swap Meet Spreadsheet: Pre-chosen swaps are green. Assigned are blue. There were a few characters that were selected more than once, so objects were assigned on a first-come first-serve basis. If you have any issues or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the mod team.
• For objects that might not be immediately apparent as belonging to their owners, there may be a picture or name attached, or players are welcome to have their characters ~just know~ it's for them. Drr drr drr, bb.
• Party post nights are a great time to come join the chatroom.
• The topic threads are just suggestions; if you've got somewhere else that your characters simply must be, make your own thread.

Warnings: None yet. Please put warnings up on individual threads.

The Apache is much the same as it always is: dimly lit, with the jukebox playing in the background, and the bartender serving whatever's on tap.

Comments

[controlledvariable]

It's the slight change in illumination that catches Steph's attention, because she's trained to notice those things even when off duty and her gaze drifts towards the fairy lights, and subsequently Lea -- did she just light those up somehow? Steph's handed the wooden box off to it's owner and she's been dividing her time between socializing and searching since then.

She recognizes Lea, of course, they only chatted a couple of days ago and Steph's definitely going to remember someone she plans to race. Not really thinking of her object for now, she decides to go say hello.

"Lea?" She marks her approach by calling out, not wanting to startle the other woman. Especially not if Steph is right in thinking she's responsible for fixing those fairy lights.

[agrat]

Lea turns; she knows when she's being approached, by the feeling of blood and heartbeat or sometimes lack thereof, but her eyes widen in friendly almost-surprise, anyway, one of those little social cues she's learned to present without thinking much of it. "Well, well. I half-expected to see you in the flesh with one of those fringed biker jackets on."

She has the peculiar device in one hand, and when she lifts said hand to greet Steph, it's held between two fingertips.

[controlledvariable]

"Sorry to disappoint, but all my leather jackets are lacking in fringes," Which isn't to say she doesn't have any, they're just the regular kind of biker jackets.

She opens her mouth to say something else, maybe a proper greeting, but nothing comes out because she just caught sight of the device. Her brow furrows in an I think I know that but I'm not sure why sort of way and she comes closer, "What is that?"

Her eyes flick back up to Lea, just because it's impolite to stare so intently at a random device someone's holding, and because she wants to know the answer. Is it Lea's? Or is it something she has to give away.

[agrat]

"Hell if I know," she says, glancing at said item with some amused ruefulness, "I've thought about giving it a better examination, but...it's not mine, I'm meant to find its owner."

Steph's reaction, however, is pretty telling, and Lea watches her expression from beneath her lashes.

"Familiar?"

[controlledvariable]

"I tried to pick the lock on the box I got," There is only a hint of sheepishness there. Sometimes a girl just can't resist and Steph is a Bat kinda girl -- it might've been dangerous, for example, and it would've been best to know that before handing it over to someone. She's also just lacking in sheepishness because her attention is focused on the device.

"Yeah, it's-" She's not quite sure, it's so familiar, but it's been a while since she'd seen it back home, "Can I..?"

[agrat]

Lea proffers the item, wordless. She's pretty sure it's Steph's, if only because a) that reaction and b) her instincts, again, which have been dimmed since her arrival in Baedal to the effects of Lucas's poison leaving her system, but nevertheless remain, to a degree.

Right now she's mostly curious as to what that thing is.

[controlledvariable]

Steph takes it, a little cautiously, and turns it around once in her hands. As soon as she spots the S.T.A.R inscribed on it, she laughs, "Holy shit." Because she knows what it is and this is possibly the best gift ever.

And then she's busy opening it and putting in the keycode she remembers setting it with, "C'mon, c'mon," muttered under her breath and she's rewarded when the display comes on, the words active disaplayed on the screen.

She looks up at Lea, her eyes wide in delight and her smile mischievous, and then without another word, she closes the device and squeezes it between her hands, her body shimmering briefly before disappearing from view.

She's still there, just invisible.

[agrat]

...well. That's a neat trick, though, after her initial surprise, forgive her for taking a moment to be very glad human technology has not, as far as she knows, progressed to mimic magic so much in her own world.

Lea aims a look out at the courtyard itself, and then back at where she can tell Steph is, aware that most people probably have no idea anyone else is even present anymore. It's only her senses that allow her to keep track of Steph's presence.

"Now you are just about legally obligated to eavesdrop on everybody else," Lea says, a tremor of a laugh in her voice, "Tie somebody's shoelaces together."

[controlledvariable]

Steph stays relatively still for a few moments before switching the device off. She doesn't want Lea to look like she's talking to no one, and it's probably for the best that not too many people find out about this. She's still grinning, though, and Lea's suggestion gets a laugh.

"That was the plan," Both eavesdropping and trolling people, "Man, I don't know what I did to make the gods like me, but I'll have to keep it up."

Not that her last gift was terrible, per se, it was just, kind of depressing. This is much more fun and useful; she's already thinking of ways to use this against the militia.

[agrat]

"Now you know I have to ask where a person gets a thing like that," Lea says, as though this inquiry was an inevitability--and maybe it was. She moves to lean against the wall of the courtyard, framed by the dim glow of the fairy lights.

"Unless the K-mart in your world is a lot different to how it used to be in mine."

[controlledvariable]

Steph can understand that, she'd been curious about Sebastian's gift, too, and she likes Lea so far.

"Science and Technology Advanced Reserach Laboratories," She shows the acronym on the back of the device to back that up, "It's an international organization that works on ridiculously advanced tech. The main division deals with aliens and metahumans - helping people with their powers, reverse enhineering alien tech and detaining supervillains; stuff like that."

That's a very condescended version of what STAR Labs does, but Steph figures Lea doesn't need to whole business plan. Although, with a smirk, she adds, "I stole this from them a couple years ago."

[agrat]

That very description is enough to set her teeth on edge--sure, this place might advertise as 'helping' metahumans, but in her experience, that can often go awry. It's funny that she has a substantial science background and no longer trusts it on an institutional level, but maybe that would have happened regardless of apocalypses. Her body language remains relatively relaxed, anyway.

"If you stole it from them, should I take that as your not being a fan...?"

[controlledvariable]

"Nah, I mean, I don't know much about them, but if they've got Superman's stamp of approval, they're probably alright," She's a bit caught up in thinking about home, and has forgotten that Superman doesn't mean anything to a lot of people. STAR Labs is actually an alright place, criminals aside, all the metahumans are there consensually and are free to leave whenever they want.

"I stole it 'cause I needed it and they weren't gonna just let me borrow it."