video; un: patty

[taskforcing]

Greetings my fellow citizens of Cuddle City! [ she makes a face because that sounded so... dorky but whatever moving on.]

My name is Patty Spivot and while this city seems safe enough, you can never be too careful. I was a police officer back home in Central City and I wanted to do my part to help. So I'll be offering self-defense lessons private or maybe even a group one, depending on how many people are interested.

Let me know.

[ she's about to turn off the camera before--] Oh! And don't worry, it won't be a 'wax on, wax off' kind of thing, we'll be doing some hands-on and very effective self-defense training.

Comments

[scovilles]

video reply | un: spicechampion

( sure, sure, self-defense. whatever you say, patty spivot. it's mostly the city that catches her attention. )

... wait, did you say Central City? Like, Combines and STAR Labs Central City?

[taskforcing]

That's the very one! Are you from there?

audio.

[speedforcer]

Sooo...you know that the department has vacancies here, right? I'm not saying you have to join! I just-- I wanted to make sure you knew. Just in case.

[because there's no way that working together again would be awkward. not at all.]

[scovilles]

Yeah, I am. Picture News, sports. My friend Iris did most of the police consults, though.

( she's already found the flash on okcuddle, so how much weirder could it get? )

I didn't expect to find anybody else from home here. Kind of weird, huh?

[taskforcing]

I've been running into a lot of people I recognize, actually. What's your name? Maybe I've read your stuff.

[taskforcing]

[ it's because of the awkward.]

I thought it might be awkward. [ pause.] I only meant... I thought you might need space.

[scovilles]

It's Park — Linda Park, I mostly cover the Combines, some of the races out in Keystone, that sort of thing.

It's a relatively new gig for me, I used to do reporting for KSFZ a few years back. ( two years back, actually. the particle accelerator explosion was the moment she realized she needed a break from the serious stuff. )

[taskforcing]

Your name seems familiar to me... I've probably read something of yours. [ let's be real, patty is probably the kind of person who still gets a newspaper and reads it all. ]

[scovilles]

I didn't think anybody but bookies and old white guys read the sports pages. ( not that patty's an old white guy... but... okay. ) Kind of nice to know somebody's reading.

[speedforcer]

[and this is exactly what he wanted to avoid]

Things between us-- They shouldn't have ended the way they did. You deserved so much more.

[which, okay. that's kind of a given.]

You're still important to me though, Patty. I'd like to be able to consider you a friend. So working together should be easy, right?

[taskforcing]

Honestly? It helped stake outs be more bearable.

[taskforcing]

Barry-- [ she smiles softly even if he can't see it.] I understand why you did it. Why you couldn't be honest with me. And the last thing I wanted was to hurt you either.

As for being friends? [ DRAMATIC PAUSE IS UNINTENTIONAL.] I'd really like that.

[scovilles]

Are you getting the whole Match.com missed connections vibe here, or is that just me?

( she's kidding. mostly. right? )

You should definitely hit me up if-slash-when we get back to Central City. I almost always have an extra ticket for Combines games — we can hassle the players together, see if we can't score a locker room invite.

[taskforcing]

Why wait until we get back to Central City? We can always find something here to do. [ she smiles.] I don't know if this place has any professional teams but there's got to be a place with attractive guys that we can ogle, respectfully.

[scovilles]

Oh, if it's dude ogling you want, Sucker Punch is totally the place. Boxing rings, shirtless guys wailing on punching bags, the occasional water bottle shower...

( if it sounds like she's been there before... well, you're not wrong in that assumption, patty. )

I don't know that it's necessarily respectable, but hey, it gets the job done.

[taskforcing]

And we can get a work out in too? Seems like a good two birds and one stone situation to me.

[speedforcer]

[he can't help but breathe a sigh of relief at that. maybe things aren't as bad as he'd expected.]

Do you want to come to the station tomorrow? I could introduce you to the Captain.

[taskforcing]

[ A part of her wants to make her own introduction but this is an extended olive branch and she wants to take it.]

That sounds good, actually.

[ un; rogers ]

[recruited]

That's a pretty good idea. Lemme know if you need a hand at all with that.

[ So helpful. ]

[taskforcing]

I bet there's some moves I don't know about that you know.

[recruited]

The elderly have a lot to offer to the youth of today I've been told.

[taskforcing]

You barely look a day over 60.

[recruited]

Flash freezing I've heard does that for people.

[taskforcing]

Maybe I need to try some kind of ice facial.

[recruited]

I'm pretty sure it only works if it's full body submersion. Gotta stay in there at least twenty years. I sorta overdid it though on my end.

[taskforcing]

Well, I might selfishly say that I'm glad you came out whenever you did. [ you know because she gets to know him.]

[recruited]

Me too. Definitely. I'd hate to have missed the chance of meeting you.

[ He's much better at this kind of flirting. Plus it helps that he's been on a date with Patty before. ]

[taskforcing]

[ She grins at that.]

So have you ever been to a talkie? [ It's a tease. She knows movies back then had sound.]

[recruited]

[ Steve used to love the movies. One of the few activities he could do usually without getting hurt or sick. ]

Yeah. I've been to a few in my day. Was in a few as well. But they were a long time ago and truth be told I don't think they were any good. They were promoting war bonds so the plots were a little thin.

[taskforcing]

Of course you're a movie star on top of everything else. [ She says it teasingly, smiling because it's almost overwhelming how Good he is.]

How do you feel about movies that don't star you?

[recruited]

I'm not a movie star. To be honest I was more of a guinea pig and then I was a guinea pig who could do tricks. Which they put to use.

[ He knows the military exploited him after the procedure. Used by officials to boost war bonds and things alike. ]

Oh. Well, I hate 'em. If they don't have my face plastered on them--then what's the point?

[ Definitely kidding. ]

[taskforcing]

[ Her expression falters for a moment, if only because the idea of him being anyone's test subject bothers her. He's a human being, a great one at that. It doesn't seem fair that he sees himself that way but at the same time, he has every right.

She smiles, however, at his joke--

Well, if you can dig up a few of your cinematic masterpieces, somehow, we could always watch those.

[recruited]

[ He knows Howard and Abraham never intended for it to go that way for Steve. They wanted this process to thrive. They weren't out to use Steve as a cash cow, but unfortunately he became more of a dancing monkey than he cared to admit. ]

Oh no, no, no, no. We don't need to go down that dark alley. It's not pretty. I am not a good actor and I know it.

[taskforcing]

That's a shame. [ STEVE YOU GOOBER, SHE'S TRYING TO ASK YOU OUT TO A MOVIE.]

[recruited]

[ Short of her using the words sometimes Steve just gets confused. ]

I uh--might make an exception though for a regular one with you.

[taskforcing]

We can always do something else.

[ she smiles.] I'd just like to see you again. Without it being related to a natural disaster.

[recruited]

I'd certainly like to see you again without being bleeding. That'd be nice.

[ Steve nods his head. ]

I can do a movie though. Maybe dinner too?

[taskforcing]

A movie dinner date sounds great.

[recruited]

When'd you have in mind? I wanna make sure I'm on time.

[ He's not late, but sometimes he has to crash planes into the ice caps okay, Patty? ]

[taskforcing]

Friday?

[recruited]

I can do Friday.