Summary:Blackbird contacts Silk and offers to help her out with a costume that is not made up of bodily secretions. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Things in Helena's life are not what she wants them to be. She can't find a solution for the Nightfall, her almost-brother is alive but her parents are convinced he's going to try to kill her, and her dad is being framed for multiple murders. So with such looming topics unable to be resolved, she's putting some focus on things she can actually make better.
One of those things is helping the spiders with a few…basic hero safety topics. She put out a message to the spiders, with a time and a location, then got herself there a good hour early. At first she ate her packed dinner, but eventually she settled for getting in a little quality brooding time, perched on the edge of the rooftop as she watches the city below.
Had Helena ever seen a Spider in action? She gets to, now, as Silk - easily identifiable by her 'unique' costume begins to come into view, over the skyline as her weblines are cast with expertise, her body moving with grace that would earn all 10's from any judge at any Olympic event, and /damn/ the girl is fast - enough to keep up with almost any traffic that she might chase on the streets below.
As her web-slinging brings her to the rooftop designated, she is a good twenty feet in the air as she lets go and sails over the lip of the building to land effortlessly not too far away from Helena.
The young girl nods her head, "Blackbird." She remembered the other hero's name. "You wished to see me? You have information on these Nightfall?"
Helena's seen the spiders in action a little bit, but she's seen plenty of acrobatics. She might have a little bit of an attitude about them, thanks to one older brother with his own acrobatic gifts. When Silk comes flying through the air, she watches with those bright golden eyes, pulling down the mask across the lower half of her face when the other girl arrives.
"Not exactly," she answers with a small, wry smile. "Probably wouldn't just be me if that was the case. No, actually. I was thinking I might be able to help with a few things."
That throws Cindy off her guard and the intense focused brown eyes widen, just a little into something that speaks of some naivity when it comes to heroing. "Oh." Her voice changes a little. Her brow scrunches, slight confusion, maybe concern. "About what? I didn't make anyone mad at me at the meeting, did I? Or, maybe I didn't speak up enough? I didn't have much to offer. I am not like Spider-Girl or Spider-Man."
"I mean, not that I've heard of," Helena shrugs, smile easy. "And anyhow, there was a whole lot of not being helpful at that meeting, so you wouldn't be alone there either. No, it was more that…" She pauses, clearing her throat and rubbing a hand at the back of her neck. I kind of got the feeling you could maybe use a costume. Yeah?"
Relief is first in Cindy's eyes, then her jawline creases into what might just be a smile. "It's - a long story," she says, quietly. "And," she looks down at herself, "Well. Costumes cost money. And I never learned how to sew. So." She almost looks apologetic.
"But it works, for now. But - yes, really. I'd love a real costume. One that doesn't make me look like a walking mummy." She sounds slightly humored at that last, and shrugs helplessly.
"Good news, I have access to both money and people who can sew," Blackbird grins, reaching into one of the pouches at her waist to pull out…huh. A measuring tape. And a small notepad with a pencil built into it. "Works for now is fine and all, but, uh. Well. It's not super practical, really. That's gotta take a minute, right? Does it offer any actual protection? Sorry, stop me if I start getting too personal," she adds quickly. "But I saw Spider-Man's web shooters, and you don't move from the wrist like that. So I'm guessing you're a little different than he is."
Cindy blinks. "Web shooters?" She looks confused, cocking her head on one side. Apparently she and Spider-Man hadn't gotten that far, just yet. Or maybe he didn't want to share anything about his web-shooters with her, just yet, because, well, she offers, "His webs come from his wrists. Mine come from my fingers. So I would need fingerless gloves."
The girl then demonstrates by twisting her hand and shooting weblines from all four fingers and thumb onto the air conditioner. She lets the lines drop. She shakes her head, then, "You're not getting too personal. It's okay. Just don't ask me where I came from yet, and we're cool." She's not yet quite ready to talk about that with non-Spidery people.
"Hey, fair enough," Blackbird agrees. "I don't tell people where I'm from either." She tilts her head as she watches the demonstration of the webs. "Huh. Well, I guess it beats coming out of your butt," she winks, setting the notepad on the edge of the roof as she pulls out the measuring tape. "Mind if I take a few measurements? Make it easier to get the fit right, at least. Anything else to consider? You guys all seem to be pretty acrobatic, so I assume we're going for flexibility over strength. Increased body heat that needs to be vented?"
"I don't think so? But, it needs to not rip easily. I mean, I'm sure you already figured that out. But if I end up having to fight those Nightfall again or half of the criminals Spider-Man has fought, then …," she shrugs some ahd half-smiles beneath her lower-face veil.
"Can you make my costume black? And maybe red and white too? I should have my own look. And, this." She gestures to that self-same lower face viel. "Like a cool scarf or bandana. Something I could keep in my pocket and use in case of an emergency?"
She may or may not start to be getting excited.
Helena takes some quick measurements, jotting them down in her notebook as she nods along. "Yeah, for sure. No fingers. Black with red and white accents…" She lifts the mask that hangs around the front of her throat with a wry smile. "Yeah, these are handy," she agrees. "So if you get the webs from your fingers, I guess you don't get a lot of call to carry things. And you guys all seem to have the strength and stamina and durability down, so nothing to compensate for there. How about comms? Vision?" Batman obsessively researches people. Helena just…talks to them.
There's a distinct and obvious pause, as if Cindy were truly considering something. But, if Spider-Man has shown Helena his web-shooters, and has promised to work with them on other technology, she nods, slowly. A bit like her fellow spider-bitten, she wants to trust where she can. Nothing like Batman at all.
She peels back a fine layer of webbing on her wrist to show off the small gizmos and tech that make up the 'Spider-Comm' system that Peter and Anya created. "Just this. For communication if we need, amongst each other. Otherwise, I don't carry anything else with me. It's just me. And my skills. And, well, what I can do."
She half-smiles, "I really appreciate this. I'll have to figure out a way to repay you."
"Man, he makes nice tech," Helena sighs as she gets a glimpse of the comm. Envy? Admiration? Seriously, she says it the way some women talk about an actor's abs. "Okay, cool then, nothing to worry about wiring in on that front. And seriously, don't worry about paybacks," she adds, looking up from tucking away her notebook with a crooked smile. "I've spent…a lot of time watching other people get to do things and not really being a part of it. You guys all seem to be pretty cool. And you're doing good work. If I can help you out, why wouldn't I?"
She resumes her perch on the edge of the rooftop, raising a finger. "Ah, speaking of. If you can get hold of Spider-Girl - the one with the big black exo…thing? Could you let her know I'm trying to reach her too?"
Cindy nods, "I can," she agrees, easily. "Promise. You want to make her a costume too?" Curious.
She doens't press the issue of payback any further, but depending on how well Helena can read people, she's pretty much ignoring Helena's request to ignore it. Helena's going to get some kind of compensation, even if it takes her a few months to do so.
A pause, "If you want to meet me again you can just leave a note attached to the air conditioner. I'll see it. I'll check on my route."
"Mmmm, she doesn't seem to need much in the way of costume, so much," Helena shrugs. "But there's some other stuff we should talk about. You're watching your tracks, right?" she asks, glancing to the air conditioner as well to mark it in her mind. "I mean, you know. Being careful about your identity, making sure the bad guys can't follow you home, that sort of thing?" It's all second nature to her, but for all her dad talks about them having super-powers, they might not have an entire lifetime of being told how to keep things quiet.
Cindy gets quiet a moment, "I'm being careful," she says, and sounds earnest. "Working on getting a real home. But I have a safe place to stay, for now." She doesn't expand on that, and by her words and body language, doesn't seem she is really willing to. "I've not been a hero very long, but that's like, rule one of being a hero. You don't tell anyone who you are, except your closest of friends."
Or people who bust you out of your own bunker and are also Spider-People.
"Yeah, well. You might not have to go that far. It's a choice, one way or the other, and it's yours to make." Helena might feel like she's a little locked in on her end, with all the people whose identities she needs to protect, but she's seen both sides of the coin enough. "But until you make it, it's just important for you to be safe in general." She heard the 'real home' bit. But she also picked up on not wanting to talk about it. So she scribbles something down on that notepad, offering it over. "Secure line," she smiles faintly. "In case you ever need help with something you can't get from spider-people."
Silk reaches out to take it, looks at it gratefully. "Thanks," she says, once again earnest in her gratitude. "I —," a pause, as she seems to catch herself from saying something she feels she probably shouldn't and then follows it up with, "I hope we can be friends, Blackbird."
Helena grins, the expression friendly even despite that bright gold eyes and all of that black gear. "Me too," she agrees, holding out a hand. "Can never have too many friends in this business, right? Oh!" She pauses, looking a little sheepish. "Okay, so this is going to sound…weird? But. If you see someone who looks like Batman but isn't Batman, could you let me know? This whole thing in the news is as much BS as all the stuff about Spider-Man is. Batman doesn't kill. He never has. So whoever's trying to mess with him with this? They're at some other game."
Cindy pauses, frowning. SHe nods. She saw the news. Who -hasn't- seen the news? It's all anyone is talking about, and has been, for the last few days. It's EVERYWHERE. She asks a very important question. Just one. But, one very important, nevertheless. "How do I know if it's Batman or someone pretending to be him?"
"That is a good question." Helena grimaces, trying to work that one out. "He's doing something awful, like trying to kill somebody?" She'd know Batman in her sleep, sure. It's a little less clear for others. "He's…not stopping by to hand out overly cautious advice." That last one gets a faint quirk of a smile.
5rSilk looks uncertain at that, but nods. "I'll call you if I see any Batmans," she decides back. "And let you figure it out. I don't want to make a mistake and make the real one mad."
Then, she asks, "You need a ride anywhere?" Yeah, Blackbird. She just offered to take you web-slinging.
Helena grins slowly at the offer. It's definitely got its appeal. But she finally shakes her head, rueful. "Thanks, but I'm going to see if I can catch someone else while I'm in this part of town. Bit of a stretch, but it's not a conversation that's going to go smoothly with more people. And then I've got a costume to perfect."
"See you soon, then. Thanks, Blackbird." Silk nods, and then webcasts out from her opposite hand she'd previously shown to sling webs from, and she jumps, and is off, heading further down the city to patrol, protect, and keep New York as safe as one spider girl can.