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kevin & darcy | status update
Kevin and Darcy discuss modifications to her room and tac gear, her favorite purple menace, the new hippie commune, and the X-Ranch Halloween Bash. At least the work he drops into her lap is before her planned date with Inez.
"So, you've redecorated." Kevin said, quietly, as he walked into Darcy's suite. "Want to walk me through all of this?"
"Not much." The thimble on her finger was getting a workout as she pushed the needle through the collar of her tac jacket, a repetitive motion of tiny, neat stitches that held the bulk of her attention. "Shut the door behind you and take a seat, please." She gave Kevin a brief smile, then turned back to the work in her hands. "How's your psychic shielding? I always forget if you're immune or just good at hiding your mind."
"Sharon. That's the cat shapeshifter, right? You scoped her out yet? Powers could be extremely useful for our shop." Kevin said. "And my shielding is fine. Nothing special, but my powers make reading me more difficult, I'm told."
"She's a cat and human hybrid of some flavor. I thought she was a hallucination at first, but then I'd just gotten back from Stacy's that morning and was still a bit jetlagged. She's blunt, minimal overt concept of shame, probably has better human manners than she lets on. If she can shift, she hasn't in front of me yet. Seems clever though. I'm not sure if we'd be the best fit long term, but I think she'd be good to cultivate as a contact and occasional asset."
"I hope so. So guess what, you just added another assignment to your list." Kevin said, with his wolfish grin. "God, I'd hate to work for me."
"What is it? I'm a little pressed for free time, if you haven't noticed." Darcy's voice was wary. "And for Thor's sake, sit down before I make you. You know I don't like it when you loom."
"Recruit Sharon. We could use her down the road." He said, before taking a seat. "So tell me about the room."
"I don't know if that'll be possible, but I'll see if she's open to working with us at minimum." Another neat line of stitches accompanied her silence as she started around the curve of the collar. "In theory, it's an inverse of The Box down in the basement. Not quite as strong, maybe–we didn't have time or permission to get really drastic with the reno, but from our limited testing my abilities work just fine in here, but don't extend past the room once the door is shut." Darcy shrugged. "Testing was limited. I haven't had Emma test it yet, but we've scheduled time for her to help with getting my shields back in order, and I'll ask her to throw power at it then. If nothing else, to make sure my warning system works."
"Hmm... psionic defense." Kevin said, looking around. He didn't need to ask why. "Makes sense. When is Frost testing it?"
"Couple weeks, when all three of our schedules match up. Well. Hers, mine, Doug's. We're going to work on getting my shielding back in place as well. Otherwise I would've asked Haller to throw some brute force at it, had it checked in a few minutes." The embroidery on the collar of her jacket was starting to take shape, a field of poppies in a dark green that didn't stand out overly much on the brown jacket. "Kevlar thread. There's a cut-and-puncture resistant throat protector in the collar now. Doing full embroidery will make it less obvious that the collar has been modified. I'm thinking about doing something similar to the spine, but that might need to be a series of undershirts."
"I've got people you can outsource that sort of work to, unless you're intent on... what is it? A DIY solution? I think that's what Hardy said doing it yourself is now." He said, a touch wryly.
"For spine protection? Absolutely. I'm sure I could find something ready made, but mass production doesn't take the girls into account. DIY for my collar was more falling into the rabbit hole and then not liking the way the padding from just wearing the collar under it felt. If it'll stop a hockey skate it'll probably stop teeth, right?" She tied a tiny knot at the end of a finished flower and stuck the needle into a pin cushion, setting it to the side. "So things with the Ranch have been going well. Stacy's still getting the occasional traveler going to or coming from that commune she mentioned a few months ago, but the ones coming back all seem healthy and mentally okay."
"Dig into our SHIELD streams and see if you can find any overlapping intel. Communes make far too useful covers for all kinds of fuckery for me to trust them ever." Kevin said, switching tracks easily. "I'm almost tempted to try and get someone inside, but a mix of mutant powers makes the risks of someone with exactly the wrong type of powers for us revealing us."
Darcy rubbed the back of her neck. "I asked Haller to find a way to mention it to X-Factor after I first found out. There was nothing suspicious, but y'know. Stacy's been around, places like that get her hackles up too. Just something for them to keep an eye on, a place to check if they get a missing persons or something. Since people seem to be able to travel freely and are in good health, it didn't seem like an us concern as much. I've been keeping an eye on it too, but nothing really stands out. They seem like a colony of mutant hippies, basically."
"Jim Jones started in a similar way." Kevin said, but didn't follow up. He'd already given his opinion to Darcy, but this was her contact. It was her responsibility to monitor and report on.
"I am keeping an eye on it. I'm just also... delegating." She gave Kevin a cheeky grin, then twisted to stretch out with her head on his lap. "Stacy wants you to come visit. Not for intel, but just because. Do some delegating of your own, make time to come with me for the Halloween bash. I've got fun costumes for the shows I offered to do that week."
"You don't want to take one or all of your various partners instead?" Kevin said.
"Matt wouldn't get anything out of it except overstimulation from things assaulting his senses. I'm not sure what Inez is doing, but she's gone on a few dates with Clarice. It's cute. I can ask Doug if he has other plans. But it's a business trip, so I thought of you first. Aren't you lucky?"
"I'll talk to Stacy. I have a few demands, but I might be able to spare a day in or around the celebration. As I'm told, it lasts a damn week regardless."
"Twenty-sixth through the second this year, yeah. I'll be there on Halloween of course, and depending on what we've got going on here maybe the whole thing. But the plan right now is flying out no later than the evening of the twenty-ninth so I can sleep off the little bit of jetlag before performing on Halloween proper."
"Fair enough. I can likely make at least one night happen." Kevin nodded. "Besides, someone needs to keep an eye on the shop during the holiday while you kids all go and play." He said with a grin.
"Excuse you, I am going to be working," Darcy said with a huff and a poke to Kevin's stomach. "You know, that whole network you dropped in my lap earlier this year? I work hard for that intel. And the bonus pay. But sure, be boring and sit at the shop instead of networking with me." Her voice was fond and a bit teasing, eyes crinkled slightly at the edges from her smile.
"I don't think I dropped it into your lap." Kevin countered. "I think you jumped for it, thank you very much."
Darcy waved her hand airily. "I definitely remember some negotiation and questions about my readiness for taking on a network, not that I'd admit it to people that actually somehow think I have my shit together. Besides, I'm good at the side work and get people to talk more when I'm also one of them and not just a... tourist, basically." Her eyes brightened a bit. "Hey, did I tell you about the fan that paid me to record myself reading 'Go the Fuck to Sleep' for them? Not even like, my face or body, literally just a vocal recording."
"The technology changes but the kinks never do. Well done though. Building a professional rep under a cover is difficult to do without risking compromising your position." He tapped the edge of the seat. "Obviously I'm going to start running out of things to teach you."
"Lie. You'll never run out of things to teach me, Boss. Can't get rid of me quite that easily. And the nice thing about mostly doing cam work is I just need a few really good wigs and some makeup adjustments to slightly reshape my face. Few tweaks to make my tech look a little less professional, and I'm a new woman." She nodded at the two long red wigs in the corner, and the slightly messier brown chin length one with short bangs. "I'll make that one look a little more obvious over Halloween, do some work with some modeling putty to round my chin area a little. Maybe see if we can swing the budget to get me into some sessions on special effects and prosthetic makeup next year. I wouldn't mind working on some good disguises."
"I vote for Universal Monsters. I loved those films when I was a kid." Kevin said, musing a bit. "I'm sure you could come up with something for the Mummy or Bride of Frankenstein."
Darcy grinned. "Well, the burlesque show that I know I'm doing I'm going to be Velma. Jenn wanted to be a genderbent Fred, and Dane agreed to be Scooby, although... not sexy. I agreed to make Scooby snack cookies for him to eat or toss to the audience while watching us. She'll figure out the other two, there's plenty of people that would look just fine in adaptations of those outfits. It doesn't have to be exact."
"I remember that cartoon. The Great Dane and the hippies, right?" Kevin said, a quirk to his mouth so she couldn't be sure if he was kidding or not.
She poked him in the side. "He's like, totally a beatnik dude." Her attempt at Shaggy's voice was laughably bad. "Ugh, I'm better at Kasem's radio voice," she said with a pout. "Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars." Darcy didn't quite nail it, but it was much closer to accurate.
"I prefer Oscar. We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." He said, a touch of relish in his tone. Kevin had admitted that his education was largely deficit, not even graduating from high school before the Army. But he was a voracious reader, as the stacks of old used books that cycled in and out of his suite attested to.
"You're very romantic tonight, Lord Darlington," she teased. "Wilde's got some excellent quotes, often taken out of context. But we weren't talking about men and their lack of moral qualities, unless you need to tell me something?"
"You know by now my lack of moral turpitude. Also, I don't get a lot of chances to use turpitude."
"Your wicked behavior hasn't sent me off screaming yet, now has it? Your window to convince me of that was in the months after Baltimore, and letting me sink in over my head and drown. Or after Laurie, maybe. Too late now, I'm yours. Well, your problem." Darcy winked up at him, lips upturned in a smirk. "I don't think you'd have me any other way, really."
"Problem I'm willing to agree with." He said with a nudge. "And that said, I have work to do and so do you. So once you're done getting ready, we've got a new stack of Asian intel coming in to work through."
Darcy didn't actually whine, but it was a near thing. "Please tell me you brought this intel with you and we can go over it without me having to do more than maybe sit up instead of using your thigh as a pillow."
"Sorry kid, I'm afraid this is office work." Kevin grinned. "But I'll buy you a pasty the size of your head in apology."
"Good thing you asked me today, I've got a date with my lady tomorrow and absolutely would've ignored your calls to stay in and see her instead." She sat up though, and wormed out of her blanket burrito with a smile. "I'll be ready in five."
"So, you've redecorated." Kevin said, quietly, as he walked into Darcy's suite. "Want to walk me through all of this?"
"Not much." The thimble on her finger was getting a workout as she pushed the needle through the collar of her tac jacket, a repetitive motion of tiny, neat stitches that held the bulk of her attention. "Shut the door behind you and take a seat, please." She gave Kevin a brief smile, then turned back to the work in her hands. "How's your psychic shielding? I always forget if you're immune or just good at hiding your mind."
"Sharon. That's the cat shapeshifter, right? You scoped her out yet? Powers could be extremely useful for our shop." Kevin said. "And my shielding is fine. Nothing special, but my powers make reading me more difficult, I'm told."
"She's a cat and human hybrid of some flavor. I thought she was a hallucination at first, but then I'd just gotten back from Stacy's that morning and was still a bit jetlagged. She's blunt, minimal overt concept of shame, probably has better human manners than she lets on. If she can shift, she hasn't in front of me yet. Seems clever though. I'm not sure if we'd be the best fit long term, but I think she'd be good to cultivate as a contact and occasional asset."
"I hope so. So guess what, you just added another assignment to your list." Kevin said, with his wolfish grin. "God, I'd hate to work for me."
"What is it? I'm a little pressed for free time, if you haven't noticed." Darcy's voice was wary. "And for Thor's sake, sit down before I make you. You know I don't like it when you loom."
"Recruit Sharon. We could use her down the road." He said, before taking a seat. "So tell me about the room."
"I don't know if that'll be possible, but I'll see if she's open to working with us at minimum." Another neat line of stitches accompanied her silence as she started around the curve of the collar. "In theory, it's an inverse of The Box down in the basement. Not quite as strong, maybe–we didn't have time or permission to get really drastic with the reno, but from our limited testing my abilities work just fine in here, but don't extend past the room once the door is shut." Darcy shrugged. "Testing was limited. I haven't had Emma test it yet, but we've scheduled time for her to help with getting my shields back in order, and I'll ask her to throw power at it then. If nothing else, to make sure my warning system works."
"Hmm... psionic defense." Kevin said, looking around. He didn't need to ask why. "Makes sense. When is Frost testing it?"
"Couple weeks, when all three of our schedules match up. Well. Hers, mine, Doug's. We're going to work on getting my shielding back in place as well. Otherwise I would've asked Haller to throw some brute force at it, had it checked in a few minutes." The embroidery on the collar of her jacket was starting to take shape, a field of poppies in a dark green that didn't stand out overly much on the brown jacket. "Kevlar thread. There's a cut-and-puncture resistant throat protector in the collar now. Doing full embroidery will make it less obvious that the collar has been modified. I'm thinking about doing something similar to the spine, but that might need to be a series of undershirts."
"I've got people you can outsource that sort of work to, unless you're intent on... what is it? A DIY solution? I think that's what Hardy said doing it yourself is now." He said, a touch wryly.
"For spine protection? Absolutely. I'm sure I could find something ready made, but mass production doesn't take the girls into account. DIY for my collar was more falling into the rabbit hole and then not liking the way the padding from just wearing the collar under it felt. If it'll stop a hockey skate it'll probably stop teeth, right?" She tied a tiny knot at the end of a finished flower and stuck the needle into a pin cushion, setting it to the side. "So things with the Ranch have been going well. Stacy's still getting the occasional traveler going to or coming from that commune she mentioned a few months ago, but the ones coming back all seem healthy and mentally okay."
"Dig into our SHIELD streams and see if you can find any overlapping intel. Communes make far too useful covers for all kinds of fuckery for me to trust them ever." Kevin said, switching tracks easily. "I'm almost tempted to try and get someone inside, but a mix of mutant powers makes the risks of someone with exactly the wrong type of powers for us revealing us."
Darcy rubbed the back of her neck. "I asked Haller to find a way to mention it to X-Factor after I first found out. There was nothing suspicious, but y'know. Stacy's been around, places like that get her hackles up too. Just something for them to keep an eye on, a place to check if they get a missing persons or something. Since people seem to be able to travel freely and are in good health, it didn't seem like an us concern as much. I've been keeping an eye on it too, but nothing really stands out. They seem like a colony of mutant hippies, basically."
"Jim Jones started in a similar way." Kevin said, but didn't follow up. He'd already given his opinion to Darcy, but this was her contact. It was her responsibility to monitor and report on.
"I am keeping an eye on it. I'm just also... delegating." She gave Kevin a cheeky grin, then twisted to stretch out with her head on his lap. "Stacy wants you to come visit. Not for intel, but just because. Do some delegating of your own, make time to come with me for the Halloween bash. I've got fun costumes for the shows I offered to do that week."
"You don't want to take one or all of your various partners instead?" Kevin said.
"Matt wouldn't get anything out of it except overstimulation from things assaulting his senses. I'm not sure what Inez is doing, but she's gone on a few dates with Clarice. It's cute. I can ask Doug if he has other plans. But it's a business trip, so I thought of you first. Aren't you lucky?"
"I'll talk to Stacy. I have a few demands, but I might be able to spare a day in or around the celebration. As I'm told, it lasts a damn week regardless."
"Twenty-sixth through the second this year, yeah. I'll be there on Halloween of course, and depending on what we've got going on here maybe the whole thing. But the plan right now is flying out no later than the evening of the twenty-ninth so I can sleep off the little bit of jetlag before performing on Halloween proper."
"Fair enough. I can likely make at least one night happen." Kevin nodded. "Besides, someone needs to keep an eye on the shop during the holiday while you kids all go and play." He said with a grin.
"Excuse you, I am going to be working," Darcy said with a huff and a poke to Kevin's stomach. "You know, that whole network you dropped in my lap earlier this year? I work hard for that intel. And the bonus pay. But sure, be boring and sit at the shop instead of networking with me." Her voice was fond and a bit teasing, eyes crinkled slightly at the edges from her smile.
"I don't think I dropped it into your lap." Kevin countered. "I think you jumped for it, thank you very much."
Darcy waved her hand airily. "I definitely remember some negotiation and questions about my readiness for taking on a network, not that I'd admit it to people that actually somehow think I have my shit together. Besides, I'm good at the side work and get people to talk more when I'm also one of them and not just a... tourist, basically." Her eyes brightened a bit. "Hey, did I tell you about the fan that paid me to record myself reading 'Go the Fuck to Sleep' for them? Not even like, my face or body, literally just a vocal recording."
"The technology changes but the kinks never do. Well done though. Building a professional rep under a cover is difficult to do without risking compromising your position." He tapped the edge of the seat. "Obviously I'm going to start running out of things to teach you."
"Lie. You'll never run out of things to teach me, Boss. Can't get rid of me quite that easily. And the nice thing about mostly doing cam work is I just need a few really good wigs and some makeup adjustments to slightly reshape my face. Few tweaks to make my tech look a little less professional, and I'm a new woman." She nodded at the two long red wigs in the corner, and the slightly messier brown chin length one with short bangs. "I'll make that one look a little more obvious over Halloween, do some work with some modeling putty to round my chin area a little. Maybe see if we can swing the budget to get me into some sessions on special effects and prosthetic makeup next year. I wouldn't mind working on some good disguises."
"I vote for Universal Monsters. I loved those films when I was a kid." Kevin said, musing a bit. "I'm sure you could come up with something for the Mummy or Bride of Frankenstein."
Darcy grinned. "Well, the burlesque show that I know I'm doing I'm going to be Velma. Jenn wanted to be a genderbent Fred, and Dane agreed to be Scooby, although... not sexy. I agreed to make Scooby snack cookies for him to eat or toss to the audience while watching us. She'll figure out the other two, there's plenty of people that would look just fine in adaptations of those outfits. It doesn't have to be exact."
"I remember that cartoon. The Great Dane and the hippies, right?" Kevin said, a quirk to his mouth so she couldn't be sure if he was kidding or not.
She poked him in the side. "He's like, totally a beatnik dude." Her attempt at Shaggy's voice was laughably bad. "Ugh, I'm better at Kasem's radio voice," she said with a pout. "Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars." Darcy didn't quite nail it, but it was much closer to accurate.
"I prefer Oscar. We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." He said, a touch of relish in his tone. Kevin had admitted that his education was largely deficit, not even graduating from high school before the Army. But he was a voracious reader, as the stacks of old used books that cycled in and out of his suite attested to.
"You're very romantic tonight, Lord Darlington," she teased. "Wilde's got some excellent quotes, often taken out of context. But we weren't talking about men and their lack of moral qualities, unless you need to tell me something?"
"You know by now my lack of moral turpitude. Also, I don't get a lot of chances to use turpitude."
"Your wicked behavior hasn't sent me off screaming yet, now has it? Your window to convince me of that was in the months after Baltimore, and letting me sink in over my head and drown. Or after Laurie, maybe. Too late now, I'm yours. Well, your problem." Darcy winked up at him, lips upturned in a smirk. "I don't think you'd have me any other way, really."
"Problem I'm willing to agree with." He said with a nudge. "And that said, I have work to do and so do you. So once you're done getting ready, we've got a new stack of Asian intel coming in to work through."
Darcy didn't actually whine, but it was a near thing. "Please tell me you brought this intel with you and we can go over it without me having to do more than maybe sit up instead of using your thigh as a pillow."
"Sorry kid, I'm afraid this is office work." Kevin grinned. "But I'll buy you a pasty the size of your head in apology."
"Good thing you asked me today, I've got a date with my lady tomorrow and absolutely would've ignored your calls to stay in and see her instead." She sat up though, and wormed out of her blanket burrito with a smile. "I'll be ready in five."