2010-04-22 - Little Villain, Big Stones
From JLU MUX
| The information contained within this log is to be considered information gained Out of Character (OOC) . This information may not be used as In Character (IC) knowledge or in roleplay unless it has been learned in-game or permission has been granted by the parties involved. Questions should be directed to staff. |
| Little Villain, Big Stones | |||
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| Summary: Aquaman helps Widget test her suit's strength mods, still thinking she's a hero. | |||
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Aquaman is walking from the waves, out onto the beach. He glances around in the dim light of the evening, finding no one nearby. He seems contemplative and glances toward a lighted house as he hears the noise of the evil surface dwellers carrying on, probably drinking. Water drips off of him as he starts to walk up the beach, but glances back around where he came from, as if lost.
Well it is pretty dim out, so it's reasonable that Aquaman might not have caught sight of Widget in his initial survey of the area. She's also testing out her cloak's chameleon camouflage, which makes her even harder to see. Not impossible, however, as that cloak's cover... isn't perfect. The colors and imagery are pixellated much like military digital camo, and so while she does blend in better she's not anything resembling invisible. The girl mutters to herself and walks around under the cloak's cover, trying to observe how it adapts to the movement and change in surroundings as she obliviously heads in Aquaman's direction.
Aquaman sniffs the air, finding something peculiar, particularily at this hour. He stops walking and seems to look out at the waves, as if thinking about something. Turning about, Aquaman frowns as he seems to spot something just ahead and being that he has nightvision, seems to see it clearly. Balling up his fists as if ready for a fight, "Who...?"
The voice catches the woman's attention and she stops midstep, the top of the abstract image shifting as Widget looks up. "Oh," she says, tapping a button on her arm that drops the effect. Now it's just Widget with her cloak - now black again - drawn around her, "Hello again, Aquaman. I didn't mean to startle you, I didn't realize anyone was out here. Testing my suit again."
"Oh, it's you. Good," Aquaman says, pleased that Widget has appeared instead of an attacker ready to kill him, "Are you wearing perfume?" he asks curiously, "I smell something. Perhaps it is the houses nearby," he assures himself, rubbing his chin in thought. He walks over to Widget to greet her, "How are you?"
"Um...," Widget lowers her head to sniff at herself, "No, I don't think I am... Might be my shampoo? I just had a shower." She shrugs, then, "I'm all right. Worked out the problems with my servos, finally. Took me a week to figure out the problem and fix it. How about you?" The girl pulls out a notepad and a pen and marks down notes about her cloak's performance while she speaks.
"I am well," Aquaman replies quickly, "You know, it is difficult to discern much from you," he explains, perhaps this is why she has duped him so easily. "I cannot tell if you are frowning at me or what," he adds amusedly, chuckling a bit, "I just have never seen an armored woman like you. You are an armored woman, arent you?"
"What?" Widget tilts her head lightly and looks down at herself, "Yeah I'm an armored woman. Don't tell me I look masculine in this, I tried to build it so it'd work with my figure. Easier to maneuver in something form-fitting." She shrugs, then, "That's the point of the helmet."
Aquaman raises his chin as he analyzes Widget mysteriously, "No no, it's not that," he assures her, "Your voice does have a feminine quality..." he begins, and then trails off without finishing his sentence. "Where are you going?" he asks.
"Right now? Nowhere," Widget replies, "Just testing things. The cloak's going to need a lot of work... Jump jets are next, then strength testing." She puts her notepad away and looks back to Aquaman, "Why do you ask?"
Aquaman shakes his head to her question, "I thought you were perhaps on your way to help someone," he says in admiration of her, "Perhaps I can assist you when you are in need of an extra hand," he offers, "Of course, I must protect the waters first..." he adds quickly.
"Eh... right," Widget slows and looks to Aquaman with those mirrored lenses, "Like I said before... can't really go off, um, helping people. Until I've f-fixed the problems... with my suit. But I'll keep that in mind. Th-thanks." She rubs the back of her helmet in discomfort. "Um, but... if you want to help, maybe you can help with my tests? I could use another set of eyes. Another point of view, you know? And maybe a baseline to test the strength enhancements against, how strong are you?"
Aquaman gives a nod to Widget's answer, "You're right to be cautious and not rush into it," he explains, even pleased with her silly answer, "But I will do what I can to help you prepare. What is you need? I have...considerable strength."
"Well, it would be helpful to know how I compare against natural super-beings in terms of strength," Widget replies, "I know I won't compare to beings like Superman, but I should be able to comfortably lift a car. Maybe. It depends on if something breaks. So, I'm thinking of starting with assisted lifting to make sure nothing breaks. Boulders would be ideal. Cars if we have to, but gotta be careful not to damage them."
Aquaman gives a nod to what she says, "Yes, I agree. Perhaps I can find some large rocks instead of a parking lot," he tells her, glancing down the beach, "In southern California, there are many sharp cliffs by the water, maybe we can find some tests for your strength there."
"Okay," Widget agrees with a nod, "Lead the way, Aquaman. I'm just a visitor around here, so I wouldn't know which way to go." She looks around some and adjusts her goggles to full zoom, in hopes of finding a clue as to which way might be the best to head in search of some really big rocks.
Aquaman gives another nod to Widget and motions her toward him, leading the way. He takes off for the water, "Try to keep up!" he says, with an intrigued glance back at the mysterious Widget. He dives into the water and takes off for the southern coast, being quite a swimmer.
"Oo. Good thing I waterproofed my suit," Widget remarks as Aquaman heads for the water, the woman flicking on her speed enhancement and following after the man. She's a strong swimmer for a human, and the increased speed of her limbs helps her to at least keep Aquaman within sight. Possibly keep up with some effort.
Aquaman does not outswim Widget, not being an arrogant jerk, after all. After a while, he rolls onto his back to check on Widget to see if she is still with him, perhaps slowing down to not be so unkind. He looks like he is in his element, but does reach his target, climbing out of the water slowly onto a big rock. He looks up at the massive cliff shadowing above him.
Widget slips onto the shore after him, crawling onto hands and knees on the shore and coughing some. "Oh, man," she remarks, "Didn't *cough* account for the *coughcough* increased breathing from moving that fast..." She pulls out her notepad - dry, apparently its pocket is even waterproof - and makes a note to herself to bring a small rebreather next time.
Aquaman reaches back and tries to help Widget, looking concerned as she crawls along, "Are you alright? We are here," he explains. He reaches down and slides his hand under her elbow, helping her up, "There, by the cave, are some rocks that might serve your purpose. Perhaps you should remember this place."
"I'm fine," Widget assures, turning off her servos and accepting the help up, "Just choked a little, I'll *cough* be fine." The notepad goes away again, replaced with a dry cloth that she uses to wipe the water from her goggles before she looks around. "Oh, this is great," she nods, the helmet's form shifting enough to betray a wide grin, "I think this place could serve more than just for strength testing. But I'll worry about that later. Let's pick out a nice not-too-heavy boulder to start off with, shall we?"
Aquaman nods to what she says and notes what she says about the place, "It is an isolated place for training. The beach does not run down this far," he explains. He pats her on the shoulder with a chuckle, "Good, over here," he encourages her, walking over to a small rock. Looking down at it, he picks it up and holds it out for her.
Widget eyes the rock and pokes another button on her arm, to activate the strength modification of her suit. The woman reaches out carefully to accept the rock, and practically holds her breath. She takes it and moves to carefully accept the weight, the servos at her shoulders and elbowz 'whirring' softly as they work to share the load. So far, everything seems to be fine, the woman able to hold the rock without any signs of stress. "Oo, hey," she remarks as she shifts it into a one-armed hold, "That's surprisingly comfortable to hold... Let's up the weight some. Upper limit should be about two tons."
Aquaman gives a look over Widget as she becomes superpowered, "Good," he tells her in a pleased way, then snatches the rock back. He rolls in back into place as if he were in the garden and retrieves a much larger one. He hefts it slightly and shoves it into her arms.
This time the girl lets out a soft, "Oof," as she receives the next rock, holding it carefully. And a bit awkwardly, consider its size compared to her small frame. She's only 5'5" and that's with the three-inch platforms on her boots. More 'whirring', and Widget bends her knees this time to make sure /all/ of the servos are working well. "Oh wow, this is kinda cool," she muses with a light giggle, "This thing should be squashing me, but it's like it's made of foam or something... Hm, frame is holding up nicely, servos seem to be in good working order. Let's up the weight again, see what maximum capacity feels like. Be ready to catch." She moves to hand the rock back.
Aquaman hefts the rock back into place and dusts his hands off, smirking a bit at Widget's experimental exploration of her strength, "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" he asks and then shakes his head. He walks over to a boulder and it is so large that he doesn't even have to bend over to heft it up, rolling it onto his shoulder. He tries not to seem weak in front of Widget as he hefts the rock off his shoulder and into her arms, "Ready!"
"Holy crap, man...," Widget peers at the boulder-hefting, "They don't call you a 'super' hero for nothing, huh?" She clears her throat, then, and moves to position herself for the weight of the large boulder - up on her back this time, because if her servos fail it should roll off of her. "Ready," she agrees as she tries to slowly and carefully take the boulder from Aquaman, "And sure I know what I'm doing. I'm getting ready to crush myself under two tons of stone, that's why I asked you to be ready to save me if something goes wrong." She chuckles.
The weight is definitely a strain this time, the servos' noise increasing with the added workload and the girl groaning softly. "Now this one," she grunts, "Feels heav-" Her words are cut off with a loud -SNAP- of one of the supports at her back, and the girl squeaks, "Ow, OW, OFF, OW!" She at least has the decency to try and not drop it on Aquaman.
Aquaman blinks as he tries to save her from being crushed by the boulder, "Widget!" he lets out as he hefts the boulder away from her and plops it down with a bang. He frowns at her like a concerned parent and approaches her, "What happened? Are you alright? You are not doing that again," he tells her.
"My back...," Widget complains, one arm on said back as the other seeks support to lean on, "I'm not sure, just... a snap and this shooting pain in my back. Did my suit break?" Her voice carries a trace of a wimper, and she lets go of her back to lift the bottom of her goggles enough to let some tears escape their grasp. "Yeah, not... not trying that again. Hurts like #@$&..." The supports in her lower back appear to be a bit crumpled, one jabbing into her spine while the others are clearly severed from too much crushing.
Aquaman looks more concerned as time passes, "Oh my," he lets out and walks to her, leaning over to help her, bending the crumpled metal away from her soft skin, "I believe it is damaged," he explains simply, "Well, it is seems that was your limit," he says, growing parental again. He touches her, trying to help her, "Can you straighten up?" he asks her, trying to support her.
"Oooow," the girl grumbles as the support is pulled out of her back, before letting out a sigh, "Oh, that's loads better already. I think..." Widget accepts the help, hooking an arm around the Atlantean as she tries to straighten up. "Mmmmph," her other arm moves back to rub at her back, "No bone damage as far as I can tell... but I think I pulled a muscle, and that one spot where my suit dug is going to bruise up something awful." She pulls down the mask portion of her helmet to offer Aquaman a visible smile of gratitude, "Thank you, for all the help. I'd probably be a lot worse off if I'd done something like that alone."
Aquaman slides his hand up her side to support her and hugs her against him as he says, "Just relax for a moment," he tells her with a concerned look, though chuckles as she smiles at him. He pats her side gently to reassure her, "It's alright, don't thank me for hurting you," he tells her amusedly, "Now, I want you to go and rest..."
"You didn't hurt me," Widget shakes her head, "I hurt myself. I'd have tried this alone if you weren't around. Probably with a car... which would have hurt me worse /and/ wrecked someone's ride." She takes a deep breath and nods, then, "Yeah, rest... rest sounds good. With a nice heating pad and a cup of tea."
Aquaman pats her on the shoulder again and straightens up, giving an approving nod, "Good, then I will leave you. But...I will come back to check on you," he tells her, "I will bring you some Atlantis tea," he promises, trying to let her stand on her own, "Alright?"
Widget seems able to stand well enough, although she holds her back like an old man. "That sounds great, thank you," she replies lightly, "I'll see you later, then, Aquaman."
Aquaman frowns concernedly again and nods to her, then turns away. He walks to the waves and is off.
