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Summary: Bruce stops by “Capes & Cowls” to order a costume for himself. Jesse helps him to design the outfit.
Log Title: Designing Dingo
Rating: PG (LN)
NYC - Hell's Kitchen - Capes and Cowls
The business is not fancy. However, right next to the door is a large sign that says "Privacy Guaranteed and Certified." There are quite a few costumes hanging from racks around the place, all of the 'for fun' variety. The costumes that are similar to those of the heroes of the world. There is a fitting room to the right, and a register near the door.
There is a door leading to a back room, however, with a sign above it. 'Protective Wear'. On the door is an additional sign about guaranteed, certified privacy. For those that DO go into the backroom, there are samples of materials as well as a few designs of actual heroic costumes, with a stack of business cards. "For more information on actual protective, fashionable costumes, please contact Jesse Hartley" His number is listed below.
Scene
Most days, like today, Jesse's working, while in his costume. He's doing a few minor repairs to a Barnes Academy costume. Part of his contract contains repair work. He doesn't have his vest on, though, preferring to remain bare-chested. Saturdays are generally quiet. He and Elizabeth are the only ones in the shop. He has about three needles in the side of his mouth as he sews.
Bruce hovers around the shop for a few minutes, trying to decide whether or not he wants to go in during broad daylight. He glances around and decides no one's really paying much attention to him. He sighs and shakes his head. To go through that much trouble and not get a costume wouldn't make much sense. He enters the shop and looks around.
Bruce is wearing leather pants and a black leather coat. He's got tinted riding goggles on and looks to be sweating a bit. The outfit's nice while on the motorbike, but on hot days like today it can be an annoyance. The man tentatively walks over to where Jesse is, not seeing Elizabeth right now. He clears his throat and speaks, "'Scuse me, mate. Was wonderin' if I could ah…Order a suit here."
Looking up to the entrant, Jesse grins broadly before 'ow'. He reaches up to take the needles out of his mouth. "Protective, or for fun?" He asks, raising an eyebrow. That's generally the codeterm he uses for REAL or just a costume for a party or something. He's seen Bruce around at the bars, but doesn't say anything. There are signs about anonymity up everywhere, after all.
Bruce leaves his goggles down to cover his eyes. It makes things a little harder to see, but it makes him feel a little incognito. Bruce furrows his brow for a moment. "Fun? No no. I need something uh…Specific. I heard you can do special orders here? For people with abilities." He glances around to see how crowded the store is. Seems there's only one other person in here, and she might be an employee. His eyes linger on one of the "Anonymity" signs and he seems to relax slightly.
"Liz! Take the front." Jesse says with a nod as he rises, placing the costume he's working on on a rack. He moves to a door at the back of the shop and opens the door. He waits. "We'll talk in here. Quieter. Nobody else around." He offers as he waits. "I do special orders. I do costumes for the big names you see out here and there.
Bruce looks up from the costumes he is looking at and nods, following the other man into the back room. He stops in the room and glances around again, looking up toward the corners of the room for cameras. He decides it would be safe to remove his goggles and pushes them up on his head, allowing him to distinguish colors a bit easier. "Yeah I saw your add in the paper. I'd heard from a few people At the…Where I work that you do a good job here."
"By the way. Goggles work for Clark Kent. They don't work in the real world." Jesse winks after closing the door. He snaps his fingers, and white noise fills the air. Loud enough to prevent anyone listening in. Not too loud that they can't talk at a reasonable level. "It's ok, though. I know how to keep my mouth shut." He says with a grin, pulling a pad of paper, a pencil, and sitting at a small table in the room. The room itself is fairly empty, save for a pair of chairs around a table. The rest is simply empty space. "Ok, so what TYPE of costume are you looking for? Protection, or do you need something a little more high-end because of an odd power? One that'll react to your abilities?"
Bruce tenses up for a moment when the white noise starts, but relaxes after he realises what it is. "Ah, nice touch that." He points a finger to nothing in particular to indicate the sound. He touches his goggles and smirks. "Yeah well, Didn't want to come in here in a ski mask, might give off the wrong impression."
He frowns at Jesse's question. "No, no. I don't really need protection from attack. And nothing that'll REACT with my abilities, really. My basic problem is…Maybe I should just show you." He holds up a hand and removes his glove, sitting it on a table. He turns his hand into sand and dissipates it for a momentbefore reforming the hand. "I can do that. Which is useful, but I can't turn my clothes. They're hard to put on when I'm made of sand, so I tend to turn back in the nude. Which can be…Annoying."
"Ah, so reactive IS what you need. Unstable Molecules is best. I have a contract to use it, now that it's being manufactured a little more. I can do that. UM costumes tend to be a little expensive, but that's only because of the exclusivity. Only one company makes it, and it reacts with any ability. It turns invisible with people who do. It turns to sound with people who do. It'll turn to sand with you." Jesse says with a nod as he just watches, looking over the bartender (at least, that's all HE knows him to be). "And yeah, having my own walking soundtrack comes in VERY handy." He grins impishly.
Bruce ponders for a moment about this "Unstable Molecules" type of costume. That could be very handy, but if it's so exclusive it may be difficult to get repairs if he ever leaves the city. "Cost really isn't an issue. I've been…Saving up for this." He shrugs, "That would be useful…I didn't even know it existed." He pulls a crumpled up piece of paper with a few crude sketches out of his pocket. "I was actually just planning for an empty suit of armor. You know, something I could leave and possess while made of sand, but it won't lose it's form when empty." He looks around for a source of the sound. "Oh that's you? I thought it was just a speaker." He laughs a little.
"Nah. It's me. You know the Avengers? The X-Men? Their costumes conform to work with their powers, using Unstable Molecules. What it'll do, basically… here." He says, taking a glove made of the material that he keeps around for that very reason. He offers it to Bruce. "Put this on. Shift. And shift back. It'll go with you and return when you do." He explains. "As long as we're clear on the cost thing, we're good." He winks, "Sand, huh? Sound is my thing. I don't hide it. But then, I'm a public figure. Costumer and all."
Bruce looks very very slightly annoyed at the mention of the Avengers, but it could be from something else. "Ah, the X-Men. Just heard about them the other night. Something about a school for mutant kiddos? Me mate and I were thinking of checking that out at some point." For nefarious purposes no doubt. He takes the glove and puts it on, flexing his fingers a few times to test the flexibility. He turns his hand into sand again and dissipates it into a cloud before returning it to normal again. Even though he heard the explanation, Bruce still looks surprised. "Wow! It turned into real sand, too. I could feel it happen. That's pretty ripper!"
"That's the joy of UM." He says with a laugh. "And I can make it look like spandex, cloth, or even almost like leather. It's what mine's made of now. So that when I turn to sound, it turns too. Though, I could just do regular clothing. Doesn't make a big difference to me. So, I take it that sounds rather appealing to you?" He says with a grin.
Bruce considers the material for a moment. "I do like this. In fact, I may order a few things from ya. Deffinately a propper suit. And maybe a few sets of skivvies in case I need to change away from me costume." He removes the U.M. glove and folds up the paper with the sketches, placing it in his pocket. "That means I won't need armor, so I'll need to redesign the costume I guess." He ponders for a moment. "I can also control sand that's not made of me. I wanted to have some sort of way to carry a lot of sand with me in the suit. I was just going to add hollows to the metal, but maybe I need a different idea now."
"Keep sandbags in your car?" Jesse asks, with a chuckle. He starts to sketch out a basic costume shape on the paper. No designs or anything yet. "Plain? Ornamented? Sleeves? What are you looking for in the look? We'll get that down and then start on measurements." He says with a grin. "And there is SOME protection that goes into all costumes. After all, if someone knees you in the nads when you're NOT sand, it's gonna hurt like hell, so I try to help with that. Just like women get some upper body support."
Bruce nods and chuckles a bit. "Yeah I'd prefer to NOT be kneed in the nads if I can help it." He smirks, "Well, case you couldn't guess I'm from Australia. I decided my alias'll be 'Dingo'. Cause, you know, they're from Australia. My old design was just armor with a helmet that looked like a dog's head, but I don't need that now." He ponders for a moment. "Maybe just something plain? Maybe a body suit with some design on it or something." He points at the glove again, "By the way, how is this stuff? Is it easy to tear? Can I throw it in a washing machine? Is it gonna set off metal detectors or anything?"
"You can wash it. It's about as tough as leather, so it CAN tear, it's just a bit more durable. But for UM, I offer free repairs for the first year. AFter that, they're more expensive. The repairs also depend on the amount of damage. If it's shredded, I can't repair that. If it's just sliced… that I can do." Jesse explains. "Hmmm… design. Perhaps some sort of australian motif… not that I have a clue what. For colors, do you want it to be a basic sand or shale shade?" He asks, making notations.
Bruce chuckles. "An Australian motif could work. Maybe Khakis, but I wear that anyway. People would probably recognize me as easy as if I didn't have a costume at all." He ponders for a minute "Probably just Spandex, maybe gold with some sort of design on it. And Could you make me a duster? Brown or black, out of the leather material. How about boots? If any part of the costume is made up of normal materials, it'll fall apart when I shift."
"The whole thing can be made of UM. It's fine, don't worry about that. But each extra piece adds to it. The suit itself with gloves and boots included is about 5k. For a duster, add another 3k. Not too bad." He says, adding to the sketches as he figures things out. "Will probably take about a week to make it. Give or take. Got a contract going with someone and have about three costumes to finish first. But, this is my job, so…" He laughs.
Bruce points to the sketches and gives a few specifics on the design that he wants. "Like I said money's no object here. I actually expected it to be much more expensive than this, so I'm not concerned." He looks down at the sketch and nods in approval. "Yeah I understand how that is. At least you've got steady business. I can wait the week or two to come pick it up." He does a quick calculation in his head before adding, "And I would like to switch all me boxers over to this material, too. Just so I'm always a little prepared. Maybe 15 pair? Nothing too crazy with pattern, just basic design." A suit, coat, and 15 pairs of shorts? He must have quite a bit of money stashed away somewhere. "If you can get me a price quote I can stop in with the cash a little later today or tomorrow."
"Hmm. For that amount of stuff, probably about 30k. But, it'll last you a long time, too. Though, before we even start anything like that, we do have to get measurements." Jesse says, nodding. "We'll figure out a price after we get all of that."
Bruce chuckles and rubs the back of his head. "Oh right, measurements might be important." He ponders for a moment. "I usually just buy mediums, but I assume that won't be specific enough for a custom suit." He takes a mental note of the price. It seems he drastically overestimated the cost of a suit. He'll stop by later with the money and a five or ten thousand dollar tip. He thinks this guy's another mutant and likes to support the businesses of the superior race. "You have like, size charts around here?"
"Not specific enough at all. Nope. I do measurements by hand." Jesse says with a grin, waggling his eyebrows. "You gotta strip, handsome." He winks, teasing. "Don't worry. I'm a professional. I see it all the time. I won't let it turn me on." He continues teasing.
Bruce lets out a laugh and shakes his head. "Oh right, like I've never stripped in front of another man." He begins taking off his clothing and wonders for a moment just how many mutants this man knows. It could be a good way to get in contact with others.
"So like I said, friend and I were looking for this Xavier's School. He says he can find it easy, but you wouldn't happen to know where it's at, would you?" He assumes Jesse won't tell due to the anonymity clause. Bruce strips down to his underwear, a pair of khaki boxers. He still has his goggles and dogtags on. If Jesse actually reads them he'll see they have different names on them.
Jesse stands up and moves around behind Bruce and taps his arms while he holds a measuring tape. "Arms up." He says. "Straight out at the sides." He starts measuring as the man moves. "I've heard of it. It's NOT public knowledge. Be careful talking about it. Some people will get angry if it gets out to the public. I know a person or two who have been students there." And he leaves it at that. AFter all, Daisuke goes there. He's going to have to tell Daisuke that someone's asking questions, but he won't say who. "By the way, in a minute, boxers gotta go too. I gotta measure everything to make sure you get proper protection. Right size fit." He chuckles, continuing with his normal teasing nature.
Bruce quirks a brow at the boxer comment. "Really? Don't remember being measured for a uniform being that in depth. When he's asked to however, he calmly removes his boxers as well. His entire body from the neck down is tattood with swirling lines and dots that resemble Aboriginal body paint. He has a paw print on his left upper arm. "Right, I try to be careful about that sort of stuff. Trust me, if humans found that place there'd be a war." He frowns slightly. "But since you mentioned the X-Men I thought you might know where it was. I've overheard it at the bar, too. But it's usually whispers and hushes."
“Exactly. Fortunately, I'm an alien, so I get away witha lot more." Jesse says with a nod as he comes around to the front to measure around the chest, and then down the sides of the body. "That's… really nice ink." He states simply as he measures, making little notations onto the pad from time to time. "Interesting patterns. Could always do something similar in your costume." He offers before moving to measure inseam. And no, most don't measure that indepth. He does, simply to make sure it fits well. Like those places that women go for a proper bra fitting.
Bruce seems perfectly calm to be measured in this manner, but the inseem measurement does cause him to go quiet for a moment. "An alien, eh?" He looks a little skeptical, but remembers that Pietro mentioned going into space. He supposes that is a possibility. Bruce nods about the Tattoos. "Thanks, I'm a fan of em meself. Maybe a little commonality in the suit. But still, don't want it to be exact. People might recognize the tats if I go to the beach." He ponders for a moment, "But I do have a few design ideas. I'll jot em down before I go."
"Didn't it hurt?" Jesse asks as he looks closely at some of them. "Sorry, not meaning to pry or to seem too flirty with that. I just… I really find it intriguing. I'm too much of a wuss for it." He laughs. But then, Jesse is a big guy with broad shoulders. "Yeah, I think that's part of the almost-not-quite-gay side of me. I scream like a girl when needles come around." He grins, as he goes in to actually do the 'other' measurements. He does his best to keep his hands from touching anything, letting the measuring tape actually do the touching.
Bruce shrugs "Eh, it weren't too bad. Took a while. Got em all over the course of a year. Just gotta drink a lot before going out there to get 'em." He chuckles, "I don't think they'll let you do that in America, though." He tries to distract himself by looking around the room as the other measurements are taken. "Almost not quite gay?" He thinks about that for a moment, trying to decide which side of the fence that actually means.
"Means I like it all." Jesse admits. "I don't hide it. My roommate calls me a slut. I call him the same." He laughs as he moves back and makes a notation about measurements. "I've been with girls. I've been with guys. I'm young. I'm just out to have a good time. And believe me, I do." He laughs. "There's so much liquor and… a few recreational things that aren't QUITE allowed… in my apartment." He laughs, winking as he finishes.
Bruce nods as it's explained. "Ah alright. Yeah I tend to stick with guys meself. Not hard to find in this city I've found." He stands there after Jesse is done, waiting to see if the man needs to do any other measurements before he puts his clothes back on. "I've seen you around Nowhere I think…Maybe. It's a pretty good place to drink. Like the company there." He shrugs "Yeah and all that illegal stuff seems to be pretty common in this city. I don't think it'll be illegal much longer."
"Ah, good. Then it doesn't bother you if I flirt." Jesse says, waggling his eyebrows. He hasn't mentioned anymore measurements, but he's not saying he's done. "There are a LOT of gay or bi heroes and villains in this town, let me tell ya." He laughs, waggling his eyebrows. He offers the pad over, "Go ahead and make a few sketches on this page and the next, so I can see what you have in mind. For designs.
"Bruce assumes that Jesse is done when he offers over the pad. He decides to put on his boxers for now, in case the girl up front happens to wander back this way. "Ah, well maybe it's a genetic link then, eh?" He laughs. "Wouldn't that be a riot? Gays are 20% more likely to be mutants or something. They'd legalize some stuff pretty quick." He looks over the pad and makes a few notations, making light design markings and notes for color. When he's done the suit is mostly orange with some black swirls, spots, and stripes. He thinks for a moment. "Well the name's dingo. Maybe there should be like…A dog head or a paw on the chest? Whadda you think?""
"Then you're gonna have the furries running after ya." Jesse grins. "Not such a bad thing, really." He laughs. "Had a few of those in my time. But, maybe a tribal dingo-head, rather than a standard. SOmething more representative than actual." He explains with a nod. "A paw print will just call the bear community in to say 'woof' at you." He ponders for a moment. "Well, if you wanna hang out sometime, you're more than welcome to give me a call." He winks, being a little more obvious in his flirtation this time.
Bruce laughs at all the comments about his costume. "Alright, will the tribal dingo head does sound like a pretty cool idea. I'm not so good with that sort of thing, though." He redoes some of the chest markings to accommodate the head and just writes the word "Head" on the chest. "There we are." He tilts his head and looks at the image. "And we'll make the duster brown." Bruce nods one last time and grins up at Jesse. "Hey, I'd be happy to hang out some time. I'm a bit boring, though. I work at the bar, I spend my free time at the bar. Sometimes I walk the dog and then go to the bar." He shrugs again, "But yeah. Basically if you want to hang out I'll be at the bar."
"Groovy." Jesse says with a nod as he looks over the page and begins to hum. The humming turns to a soft singing, adding in the word Dingo to it. Within a few second, a crystal has formed. He take that crystal and places it on a shelf. Right behind four other crystals. He then takes the paperwork in one hand and a lighter in the other and winks. "Like I said. Total anonymity here. Only I can read what I imprint in the crystal."
Bruce watches with moderate interest as Jesse creates his song crystal. He seems terribly confused as to what just happened, but assumes it must have something to do with the other man's ability. "Right, well that's a good thing. Didn't even think about it, but if you kept normal notes and someone came in here and stole them, everyone'd be in a bit of trouble." He decides it is safe to put his clothes back on now, so he does.
"Exactly. And you didn't have to get dressed on my account." He laughs. "Liz isn't allowed back here. Only Darrell, when he's working. And that's rare." Jesse grins. "But yeah, I'm sure people would try. Thus why my abilities come in so handy.":
Bruce chuckles. "Yeah well, thought it was a bit unprofessional to stand around in me skivvies all day." He is mostly dressed now but leaves his jacket on his arm, it's a bit too warm to put that on right now. "So not to seem too "All Business" and all that, but you said about $30,000 for all the work? You have a more exact price or would that be it?"
"Well, we still have to figure out the civvie clothes you wanted from earlier. Or just boxer styles. Maybe I'll throw in something neat." Jesse laughs. "Yeah, that should cover it." He says with a firm nod. "It's the costume itself that's the biggie. The rest, not so much.
Bruce nods again and slings the jacket over his shoulder. "Right-o. Boxers work fine for me. Just keep in mind I want them in case I end up having to transform in public. So no like, rainbow unicorns or lobsters or Christmas Trees or whatnot." He glances at his watch. "I could go withdraw some cash, get it to you before you close I think. I can just drop it off up front with me name, right?" Yes, he will pay full in cash today. Maybe he'll return the rest of that money to the bank…Unless Kage has better plans for it.
"Either way you want. AS long as it's in the next couple of days before I start work. And don't worry. Nothing too embarassing. MUAHAHAHAHA!" Jesse says, maniacally before grinning and winking. "It's really all good. Don't worry."
Bruce eyes the other man suspiciously and pulls down his goggles again, preparing for when he exits the room. "Alright, but if I get trout boxers I'm coming after you." He chuckles "I can see the headlines now. 'Mysterious Mutant Rampages Downtown in Fish Boxers.'" He shakes his head. "Not that I'd rampage…Just you know…The media." Actually he does rampage sometimes, but it's a gentle rampaging.
"Is that a promise or a threat?" Jesse says, waggling his eyebrows with a grin. "Maybe I WANT you to come after me." He laughs. "You can leave it with Liz. Just use your codename. THat's all she needs. She won't do anything with it but give it to me."
Bruce grins again. "Ok well I'll come after you in the bad way, then." He reaches for the door handle and prepares to exit. "I'll stop it down in a couple hours, then I'll stop by next week to check up on progress. If you need to find me you can stop by the bar. Or you can uh…" He pulls out his crumpled sketch and jots a cell number on it. "Or you can call me cell if you need to know anything specific for the suit." The name on the paper simply says "Dingo".
"Nice! Digits!" Jesse says with a grin. "Time to make darrell jealous!" He teases, before pocketing the number. "Groovy. Anyway, I'll get started on it by… hmm. It's Saturday? By Wednesday, probably. Should be done by next saturday or monday. Not too long."
Bruce nods. "Alright. Well it was great to meet you, sir." He offers a hand to shake. "And I'll stop by next Monday. No rush if it's not done, I'll just stop by to check the progress. You never know, could get some contract thing that needs done." He offers a wave and opens the door and heads out. A little later he'll stop by and drop off $35,000 for the costume in a plain black bag.
~ Fin ~
