harrisonwells | EUDIO: IC INBOX

I wouldn't have said 'render' if I was talking about other things I could make pink. See you tonight.

[ she wants to text him back maybe, make some remark that would most likely end with "you nerd", but she doesn't. ten minutes later and she's feeling something that's a little bit like guilt, but not enough to change her mind, send a text to cancel. work goes by quick, and she heads to the labs with her webshooters on her wrists and her portal watch in her backpack, costume stuffed in there too, but she doesn't change. she kinda loves that she doesn't have to anymore.

when she buzzes to get into the building and pops up on the security cameras, her hair's got that same wild windswept look it always does after she gets done swinging around the city, but she's not making any moves to fix it. any guilt of nerves she might be feeling ( it's been a little while since she's last hung out with Harrison, maybe the stuff going on with Barry will change things. she doesn't know. but she needs to find out for herself ) are wiped from her expression once she's strolling into Harrison's lab, already moving to swing her backpack around to the front so she can get the watch out ]

I'd say hey and ask how've you been, but I know you're only going to be thinking of one thing the whole time so- [ tada! it looks like a power ranger morphin time device thing. i'd link a picture but I can't find a good shot of the dang thing. anyway! ] Et voila. My portal watch.

[The little buzz of the security measures—increased significantly lately—has Harrison glancing up, and setting aside what he'd been working on, and then picking it up again so he's working when she arrives. He isn't certain either how his conflict with Barry is going to change things between them, so it's better to stay busy.

But she looks no different, and just seeing her again makes him smile as he sets aside what he'd been working on and swings around to face her. And to accept the device she holds out. He might have been thinking of something else, but now that's made an appearance, she's right, that's all he'd be thinking of until he got a chance to look it over.

He still gives her an absent "I'm fine" as he swings around again to put it under the light.] And this lets you move between universes. Just you?

Well, I can bring a buddy or two. The portal stays open as long as I want it to. Also it wasn't really made for me, exactly, I was just the one that ended up with it at the end of- everything. [ the fight against the Inheritors. which feels like forever ago ( over a year now, wow ), but it still stings to think about it. to think how she just ran off to this place after. ehh, it's fine. ]

I haven't told anybody about it back home, but I imagine if it ever came up, I'd just tell them it was for me only. The last thing I need is somebody swiping it and making bad life decisions in other universes.

[He's nodding along, listening to every word even as he's sitting down and plucking a tiny screwdriver out of the tool rack nearby. He doesn't plan on taking it apart immediately, but the outer plates can come off without affecting the mechanism, he can see that already.]

Good idea. I might—might—be able to personalize it. We'll see.

[And then he remembers himself and glances over his shoulder, and smiles a little.] Hi. [And the little smile is still there when he goes back to work.]

[ she's most definitely hovering, but only because she is protective of that tech, even if it's totally useless here. it's what allows her to hang out with Jess, which is vitally important to her mental health, okay. that woman is her supertherapist. but she does trust Harrison, so when he turns around just to say hi to her, she grins back, relaxes a bit.

relaxing, in this case, meaning she's leaning down to rest her chin on his shoulder, her arm moving to kinda drape over his opposite shoulder, hand on his chest. just one hand, though! wouldn't want to get in the way of all that nerdy tinkering ]

Hi.

[And that right there, that is not a problem at all. It's familiar, it seems to be something people he cares about like to do, watching him work over his shoulder. But it's new, because it's Gwen, and she's new and familiar at the same time, so he just absently leans his head over to rest it against hers for a moment before gingerly lifting one of the plates off to expose the watch's innards.

Now he might not talk again for a while, as he looks over it, assembling the pieces in his mind and deconstructing it there, tracing what goes where and why, starting to unravel how it does what it does. Always in the back of his mind looking for ways to improve, or customize it so she's the only one who can use it. Maybe it isn't possible, but if it is, he'll find it.]

[ it's kind of cool, watching him do whatever he's doing here - just looking, but still - because even if she's not a science whiz kid like Peter was, she's still interested in it. it allows her to safely walk into other universes like she's walking through a doorway, that's rad. plus, he's looking at it like he actually understands it, how it works, and that's enough to get her to be quiet for a little bit and appreciate the level of nerd required to do that.

and appreciate how attractive he is right now, yeah. Gwen's type is weird, ok, she knows. ]

Did you make things like this in your world? Is it possible? [ it's a quiet kind of curiosity, she's too comfortable to get hyped and ask a bajillion questions, even if she has them ] I heard about the breaches, but I never thought to ask Barry or Cisco about this stuff. I mean, I know it's Cisco's job, but. [ not the point!! ] Tell me about what kind of stuff you worked on back home?

I didn't, but it might be possible. [With everything he's inadvertently learned about traveling between worlds, he might actually be able to make something like this, given some time to actually sit in a research lab without needing to worry about being interrupted by someone trying to kill him, or his friends, or the rest of the world.

The question makes him smile as he traces a wire back into the depths.]

Well. Before we activated the accelerator. [And everything changed for the substantially worse.] Particle physics was my area, I wanted to understand how the universe worked, but Tess, she was the one who looked at the world and led the way. We...Tess and I started STAR Labs to research projects unconnected to the government, or commercial business interests. We started with clean energy.

Better intentions than the big sciencey corporation in my world. Oscorp, it's- [ her eyes widen and she shakes her head a little bit, finally standing up straight again, even if she keeps her hands on his shoulders. she's not even actively making a point to be touchy or handsy, she's just- comfortable with him. she'll clue into it later, maybe. ]

They're the reason behind most of the crime and corruption in my city, but they never take responsibility, never face the consequences. They get away with murder, sometimes literally. [ she huffs, and she doesn't mean to be fidgeting or poking him with her hands on his shoulders, but her fingers are drumming a bit, as always. she doesn't notice it anymore. ] I get that people make mistakes, but they seem to hold the record for using that excuse every time something goes wrong.

[ .... but she's ranting now, so. maybe she'll stop. ]

But you're not like Norman Osborn. At all. Maybe that's the difference. I don't know the first thing about running a big lab, but it's pretty easy to see that it depends on the type of person running the show to determine if they're going to stand for something terrible or great. When it stops being about helping people and starts being about money and power.

[ there's a long pause, then- ]

People suck, sometimes. [ her thumb taps his shoulder a little more deliberately now, like she's finally zoning back into the actual moment and not where her brain went, jeeze ] You'll figure it out though, I know it. And when you do, maybe you can stop by my world and run Oscorp out of business. That'd be nice.

Edited 2016-05-16 01:12 (UTC)

[She makes good background noise—which is a compliment—and he lets her voice wash over him, leaning into the hands on her shoulders as he picks up a pen and equations begin growing across the pad of paper. But as she straightens, and her voice gets a little more heated, he pauses, sets the pen down, tips his head to listen.

There had been a time when he hadn't stood for very much to be proud of. He doesn't know how long that would have gone on, if Zoom hadn't violently altered his world. But he'd never been about money or power. Not really.

But this Norman Osborn sounds like someone he wouldn't mind running out of business, if that was the kind of thing he did.

He turns on the stool, reaching up to catch at one of the hands that's been thrumming against his shoulders, looking up at her, and he wants to tug her down into his lap, but he doesn't. And it's fairly clear that wants to, but he doesn't...know...where they stand. So he doesn't.]

I might. Does your world need STAR Labs?

We might.

[ she lets him catch her hand, even lets her fingers lace loosely with his, not like it's automatic or anything, but because it's more comfortable than anything else. she doesn't make any moves herself just yet, more curious to see what he'll do.

and it's definitely interesting to see something like hesitation in Harrison Wells' movements. ]

I wouldn't hate having a team to help me with stuff the way Barry does. But Spider-Woman's not like the Flash, not when it comes to public image. There's no Spider-Woman Day or anything like that. [ she smirks ] Would the founder of STAR Labs help a hero like that fix her reputation?

Well. I know a little something about public perception.

[Again, he almost tugs her closer, but instead he just brushes his lips against the back of her hand and turns back to the work. He's starting to get the hang of how this is constructed, the way it might generate fluctuations that open portals, and it's a tidy piece of equipment.

Which only makes him want to replicate it, but he isn't entirely sure he can do that with the equipment he has here. At home, in his STAR Labs, maybe...

He's lost in it again already, sketching an exploded diagram of the device, using shorthand to label the parts, jotting notes beneath all of them, before he begins replacing the external plates. That goes much more quickly, and it isn't long before her portal watch is back, good as new.]

That. Is an interesting piece of equipment you have, Ms. Stacy.

[ EHEH it's good that he turns around after kissing her knuckles because she all but bites her fist a la Cisco Ramon because eheh, hehhhh. it just makes her feel silly and girlish and she's trying to be cool here, okay. but he's back to tinkering and she watches him because it's impossible not to, keeping her hands to herself this time because she's maybe pacing around a little bit too. antsy, in a way, but mostly just impatient for something she's not going to put a name on right now.

... no, not sex, she's not jonesing right now. she's not sure why she's feeling antsy.

maybe she just missed hanging out with him and wants to tell him so.

ahahahaha, no, no not that. ]

Well, if I talk to the guy that made it ever again, I'll give him your compliments. Oh- [ but that just reminds her she has some more tech that he might actually be able to upgrade or something here. maybe. not that she's really looking for that right now but she can pretend. she moves back over to her backpack so she can get out her webshooters, slipping them on ] Hey, c'mere, let me show you how these bad boys work. Away from your important work stuff, yeah. [ like she doesn't have perfect control of them by now, riiight riiight ]

There isn't anything in particular. [But it's probably for the best, just in case, and he's been wanting to get a closer look at those webshooters to see if there's anything he can do to increase their effectiveness against speedsters.

So he pushes up from the work table, slipping his hands into his pockets as he crosses to join her.]

I have a few ideas. But I need a baseline before I go too into depth, so— [He gestures vaguely at her wrists] —let's see 'em.

[ she holds her hands out so he can see the shooters, the triggers that sit over her palms, the way the little red disk blinks on when she presses the side of it. and then she's aiming at a water bottle a few yards away, shooting it dead on, then dragging it back to her palm in a quick snap, pretty much just so she can show him how different movements of her wrist and the pressure of her fingers on the trigger can make the shooters ..shoot webs, or cut them off, all controlled by her. when she passes him the water bottle, it's got a little webbing on it still, but she moves along pretty quick ]

My accuracy is fine, I just think the triggers are starting to get a little worn down. Like the gas pedal on an old car, or something. [ she picks a spot on the wall to fire off four splotches of webbing, two from each hand, hitting the same mark all four times. ] The webbing's fine, too, it's just the actual- mechanical part, I guess, that needs an adjustment.

[ and to prove her webbing works just fine, she shoots a long string up to the ceiling and tugs herself up there as soon as it sticks, hands and feet stuck to the ceiling. and then she'll do some classic spider-woman hanging, both hands holding onto the web as she lowers herself upside down until she's right above him. ]

Apparently these things suck the moisture out of the air and turn it into sticky web-stuff. Wasp made them for me, out of the goodness of her little heart.

[He's still picking lightly at the webbing left on the water bottle when she startles the hell out him by climbing to the ceiling as if gravity is an afterthought for her. He's staring a little, he knows it, but in his defense, she's never shown him what it means to be Spider-Woman. It's a little different seeing it in person.]

That's certainly. Something. To watch.

[But there's a little smile now as she dangles above him, and he sets the bottle down and folds his arms, looking straight up now.]

Should be an easy fix. Coming down again anytime soon, or do you like it up there?

You're not freaked out, are you? There's no way this is the weirdest power you've ever seen.

[ she doesn't sound like she minds either way, she's even lowering a tiny bit more so she can shake her head, tickle his face with her hair. because she's ten, apparently. ]

I do like it up here, actually. I feel good, hanging from things, swinging around, balancing wherever. I'm still very human, obviously, but there's definitely a visceral kind of comfort that comes from hanging from the ceiling by my webs.

I'm not freaked out.

[He's a little fascinated. It's actually pretty rare that he gets to see a metahuman's power up close, and isn't trying to evade it or keep them from killing him with it, or killing Barry with it, or Cisco or Caitlin or a building full of innocent people. Most of the time, metahumans aren't so human. It's a new experience.]

That is interesting. I can see it comes naturally. [He raises a hand to run a finger lightly over her cheek, still only her usual shade of pink, not the too-red he would have expected after she's been upside down for this long.

Then he tweaks lightly at a lock of the hair that's been tickling his cheek.]

Stay up there if you like, but I can't work on those unless you hand them over, you know.

[ she grins when he touches her face, even once she tugs her hair. maybe she can tell he actually means it when he says it's interesting, that he's interested, or maybe it's just wishful thinking that her and her weird powers impress him in whatever way. most of the time, in most situations, Gwen doesn't care who's impressed with her. but, when she thinks about it, it definitely all stems from how her Peter Parker to her powers, to Spider-Woman. it means something to her, someone brilliantly smart and creative finding something about her interesting.

so yeah, she's a happy camper right now. ]

What's the rush, doc? [ she lets herself lower a little more, a quick drop that makes her eyes go wide, like she hadn't meant it, but she stops with her face level with his, grinning again after ] I have a better idea.

[ which is why she's letting to with one hand so she can cup it behind his neck, and it's probably a little weird how easy it is for her to function upside down, but she's not thinking anything of it. she pulls him in for a kiss, because it's different, okay. it's kinda fun. and maybe she's always wanted to try it. and hey, what do you know, lips still slot together nicely, even when one person is hanging upside down. ]

[If she was hoping to make him jump, she almost doesn't get her reward, but his eyes flared open too at the little drop, and he was half a step away from shifting to try and catch her before she stops herself again. It prompts a little roll of the eyes, the good-natured kind that he knows she'll see through, she knows him well enough.]

It's not my rush, you're the one who—

[Wanted me to look at them now gets lost entirely because, oh. This is different. And new. Good different and good new. She's still surprising him, and although this feels strange, it still makes him smile into the kiss and reach up to slide his fingers through her hair, closing his eyes and tipping his head a bit just to bring them that much deeper.

She's probably going to keep surprising him. It's increasingly difficult to know what to expect, which is probably exactly what he should be expecting by now. But it looks like they're...not going to have much trouble getting back to where they'd been. It's more of a relief than he'd realized it would be.]

[ it's definitely a pretty tame kiss, all things considered, but it's also a kiss that lets him know that yeah, maybe she kinda missed this. it wasn't that long, it really wasn't, but it's hard going from spending that first night together to not seeing each other at all. which- she knows how that sounds, but it's nothing so feelsy. no, she gets enough of that from Barry, and Cisco. she's way, way over her quota of people that make her heart skip a few beats per day. no, what she and Harrison have is way different, but no less fun or addicting, in its own way.

the needy little hum she gives him in the kiss is telling enough, she's sure. ]

-- I like cutting you off with kisses, I think. Mhm.

[ said kind of against his mouth, like she's ready to kiss him again as soon as he tries to say something. which makes her smile, the obviousness of it, but whatever ]

[What they have is easy. It's comfortable. It's something they can slip in and out of if they need to, which is different from something that doesn't mean anything. It doesn't need to make their hearts flutter to mean something, and having it back in any capacity is like being able to take a deeper breath more easily.

The smile is still there when he pulls back, paired now with a skeptical brow-raise that might lose its impact from her perspective. He takes a breath as if he's going to speak, and doesn't, and then a second time, testing just how quickly she wants to try cutting him off with kisses.]

Really. [He leans back a little more, definitely not too far back for her to catch up.] How much?

[ Gwen definitely falls for the bait, both times, her fingers pressing and releasing, making it really terribly obvious she's looking for an excuse to pull him in for more. he leans back and she lets her hand fall away then, mostly because she wants to be back down on solid ground now. so the extra space is good, gives her enough room to let her legs drop backwards so she can flip rightside up that way, turn around to face him properly without needing any time at all to recenter herself. wahoo, spider powers. ]

Very much, actually. [ said like she'd be moving in to go for another quick kiss, but she only makes it as far as stepping right up to him, hand on his chest, then realizing - ] Aaand I'm totally not tall enough to steal kisses when we're both standing, how is that fair?

[ she might be stepping forward anyway, urging him to walk backwards. what do you mean there's a wall behind him, she has no idea what you're talking about ]

It's not. [He's backing up obligingly, and he knows there's a wall behind him, but he's also not about to object to her cornering him against a wall right now. He can think of several things to do with the help of a wall, and somehow he doesn't think he's going to be getting around to fixing up her webshooters today after all.

That's fine. It's not urgent. He'll do it later, when they come up for air again.]

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