I smiled slightly. "No... really, that's about what I was going for," I commented. "I wouldn't be caught dead in this either... which is good in this case; I'm trying to stay off people's radar."
She finally managed to calm down. "Heh. Well, you haven't seen what I'm offering yet."
I shook my head. "Mebbe, but I'm not wearing women's clothing when I'm not one. It's just weird." Well, weird was a strange adjective given my circumstances, but hey, I had to draw the line somewhere.
"Girly clothes? Naw...lesse, I've got some Saxon stuff, that Shinigami rig...actually, got a few of those Bleach hakama and pants outfits."
"Right, but I'd be caught dead in those, whereas everyone 'knows' I dislike the senshi and naruclones after that bigass brawl." I watched as she suddenly got the idea. I had to chuckle myself. "Besides, it was sorta a joke. The... group I've been working with did some crosstraining with some of the more serious ninja, and I anticipated this sorta thing would come up... we all got drunk and assembled the most steretypicially awful outfits possible." B giggled at that. Actually, again, the kunoichi outfit wasn't that terrible in comparison. As KJ, the green jumpsuit, bandanna, pulled up turtleneck and utility vest made me resemble a terrible hybrid of Guy and Kakashi but the kunoichi outfit for Kali was more easily described as the results of someone in a bathrobe and too many braids raiding a Hot Topic.
"Mal mention what I'm back for?" I asked, wanting to get a handle on what she'd been told and not. It wasn't that I didn't trust her or any of the rest, but... well, isn't need to know supposed to be at the core of keeping things covert?
"Not exactly," she replied. "'Grandfather' told me to pick you up here." I had to snicker at that; a typical Mal detail.
"Well, I won't go into it then... various secret squirrel stuff. Some other tinkering too as long as I'm here. That and Dee wanted me to try to find her a worryingly large amount of goop."
"Oh. Oh dear. I got some in the back for my projects, but knowing Dee..." I nodded.
"She wants about 120 pounds of it. Didn't say for what, but..." B looked even more surprised than I had been.
"Sweet Eris," she finally remarked. "I'm going to have to talk to my suppliers. You really want to get that much? I can get it within a couple days, though you might not want to know how." I shrugged.
"Depends on the rest of my schedule. I can pay you for it though, obviously." She got a gleam in her eye at that, which almost would have been worrying too.
"Really? There's a few rare bits and pieces I need..." I waved my hand vaguely, gesturing for her to go on. B ticked things off on her fingers as she answered. "Titanium, for one. Meteoric steel and cold iron...woods like yew and rowan would be nice as well, but I might be able to get it myself." I took a seat and thought. Dee would be able to look all of this up, but her PDA was still linked to the hardsuit.
"Well, titanium's the easy one, I've got suppliers that I do enough trade with to get discounts. Meteoric steel... well, there really aren't enough meteors for meaningful amounts, but it just happens that we've got a bunch of pre-metors that are floating around." Nevermind the fact that some of them even had mining operations on them already. "Cold iron though... I half suspect that it's one of those things that fantasy writers with no metallurgy knowledge just made up properties of; you can't really get iron approaching a useful form without smelting. Going historicially, it's just cold-worked wrought iron though." I shrugged.
"Hrm. My Christmas wishlist is really topped off by the meteoric steel, so if you could grab me some, that'd be perfect."
"For your purposes, is asteroidic steel close enough?"
"Yeah, it should be fine. I would like meteoric, but you don't need to go to any great lengths for it if it's that much trouble. I'll take what I can get." She grinned slightly and it made me think of something that would solve it.
"Well, coming to that, I could find a nice big nickel-iron rock and drop it on Earth... but people might disapprove," I commented in my near-perfect deadpan. B gave me the combination of a wince and chuckle that accompanied a lot of my ideas.
"Aye, they might."
She finally managed to calm down. "Heh. Well, you haven't seen what I'm offering yet."
I shook my head. "Mebbe, but I'm not wearing women's clothing when I'm not one. It's just weird." Well, weird was a strange adjective given my circumstances, but hey, I had to draw the line somewhere.
"Girly clothes? Naw...lesse, I've got some Saxon stuff, that Shinigami rig...actually, got a few of those Bleach hakama and pants outfits."
"Right, but I'd be caught dead in those, whereas everyone 'knows' I dislike the senshi and naruclones after that bigass brawl." I watched as she suddenly got the idea. I had to chuckle myself. "Besides, it was sorta a joke. The... group I've been working with did some crosstraining with some of the more serious ninja, and I anticipated this sorta thing would come up... we all got drunk and assembled the most steretypicially awful outfits possible." B giggled at that. Actually, again, the kunoichi outfit wasn't that terrible in comparison. As KJ, the green jumpsuit, bandanna, pulled up turtleneck and utility vest made me resemble a terrible hybrid of Guy and Kakashi but the kunoichi outfit for Kali was more easily described as the results of someone in a bathrobe and too many braids raiding a Hot Topic.
"Mal mention what I'm back for?" I asked, wanting to get a handle on what she'd been told and not. It wasn't that I didn't trust her or any of the rest, but... well, isn't need to know supposed to be at the core of keeping things covert?
"Not exactly," she replied. "'Grandfather' told me to pick you up here." I had to snicker at that; a typical Mal detail.
"Well, I won't go into it then... various secret squirrel stuff. Some other tinkering too as long as I'm here. That and Dee wanted me to try to find her a worryingly large amount of goop."
"Oh. Oh dear. I got some in the back for my projects, but knowing Dee..." I nodded.
"She wants about 120 pounds of it. Didn't say for what, but..." B looked even more surprised than I had been.
"Sweet Eris," she finally remarked. "I'm going to have to talk to my suppliers. You really want to get that much? I can get it within a couple days, though you might not want to know how." I shrugged.
"Depends on the rest of my schedule. I can pay you for it though, obviously." She got a gleam in her eye at that, which almost would have been worrying too.
"Really? There's a few rare bits and pieces I need..." I waved my hand vaguely, gesturing for her to go on. B ticked things off on her fingers as she answered. "Titanium, for one. Meteoric steel and cold iron...woods like yew and rowan would be nice as well, but I might be able to get it myself." I took a seat and thought. Dee would be able to look all of this up, but her PDA was still linked to the hardsuit.
"Well, titanium's the easy one, I've got suppliers that I do enough trade with to get discounts. Meteoric steel... well, there really aren't enough meteors for meaningful amounts, but it just happens that we've got a bunch of pre-metors that are floating around." Nevermind the fact that some of them even had mining operations on them already. "Cold iron though... I half suspect that it's one of those things that fantasy writers with no metallurgy knowledge just made up properties of; you can't really get iron approaching a useful form without smelting. Going historicially, it's just cold-worked wrought iron though." I shrugged.
"Hrm. My Christmas wishlist is really topped off by the meteoric steel, so if you could grab me some, that'd be perfect."
"For your purposes, is asteroidic steel close enough?"
"Yeah, it should be fine. I would like meteoric, but you don't need to go to any great lengths for it if it's that much trouble. I'll take what I can get." She grinned slightly and it made me think of something that would solve it.
"Well, coming to that, I could find a nice big nickel-iron rock and drop it on Earth... but people might disapprove," I commented in my near-perfect deadpan. B gave me the combination of a wince and chuckle that accompanied a lot of my ideas.
"Aye, they might."