[PRP] Out on the town [Fin]

[TawnyAngel]

KO had a way of walking around not as if he owned the place, but as if he unequivocally belonged. He wore his surroundings just as he wore his suit; with style, grace, and the confidence of a cat. The suit was white today, worn with a dark red shirt and shiny black ankle boots. It was a casual cut, perfectly fitted of course; just the thing for a night out, which was just what he had planned.

First though, business.

Shiny black boots tap-tapped slowly down the hall, eventually halting outside a dorm room. Putting on his best smile KO raise his left hand and rapped out a casual rhythm on the door. "Star, are you in there? I've got a delivery for you!" Said delivery was folded neatly over his right arm; a uniform, and a status symbol from days gone by. He'd done a good job on both of them if he said so himself - his best! - because he did want Star to be pleased with him.  

[Dante-Sayre]

A few moments passed before Star answered the door. He had a pair of goggles pushed up on top of his head, pinning his red hair spike. His face looked sweaty and smudged with dark stuff; presumably from welding he'd been doing. The whole room had that sort of burning metal smell.

His dorm was small. Star's half was easy to distinguish. One half was modestly decorated, stocked with books and currently occupied by his quiet female roomate. The other half was nothing but red and black. The bed sheets, the pillows. The window was covered by what looked to be a banner bearing Star's precious emblem, repurposed as drapes. The wall along his side of the room had various plans and the occasional emblem hanging from it. In the corner, a pair of mismatched tables served as Star's workspace. Currently a pointy-fingered gauntlet lay there next to a spark welder. A bizarre (though happy) looking Magnemite sat on the floor nearby. A wire led from the chipper pokemon to the welder.

Star arched a thick eyebrow at the man on the other side of the door. Under the goggles and work grime, the ex-commander looked tired and run down. It was pretty clear he'd had a bad day at work. Once he'd taken in the redhead, pressed and clean and smiling... pretty much everything he wasn't, he sighed. "What is it?"  

[Gwennythe]

"... You have a visitor." Tambrey sounded, if not incredulous as she looked up from some paperback book, surprised and slightly sceptical.
Star. Star had a visitor who, apparently, from the polite way of announcing the delivery, didn't want to punch him in the face or tell him off regarding the odd noise complaint.

She leaned forward, curiously, to 'peer' at the door and 'around' the spindly man, which was actually more difficult than the grunt thought acceptable, even if she were on the bed.

Grey-socked feet found the floor, Tam' still in a few bits of her uniform, and she leaned further to, unashamedly, gawk at whoever owned that voice out there.
She was pleasantly surprised, and slightly amused, at the striking contrast between raggedy Star and the preened KO.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Star, shame on you!" KO grinned, resting his weight on one hip as he looked the young woman on the bed up and down. "You never told me your roommate was pretty." She might be in a decent outfit in any case, but he wasn't here to do anything but make friends so he didn't add that proviso. "Pleased to meet you," he threw a casual salute to the dark-haired grunt, "Name's Kirk, tend to go by KO around here, but some people have taken to calling me Captain; take your pick.

"And don't think I've forgotten about you Commander," he continued smoothly, turning to face the dishevelled stick insect. "I brought you a present; two actually." He nodded to the garments folded over his arm. "A tailored uniform, and your coat as good as new.... Had an interesting day?" Star looked awful. It was hilarious. KO smiled his usual faintly smug, somewhat suggestive smile and wondered if there was any way he could include having fun with the former Commander in his evening plans.  

[Dante-Sayre]

Star rolled his eyes as KO started complimenting Tambrey and listing off his various nicknames. He turned a glare on his fellow Grunt, "Don't sound so surprised."

When KO addressed him again, he looked back at the shorter man and blinked at the garments draped over his arm. At the sight of his coat he forgot to look annoyed for a moment. He'd felt uncomfortable and naked without it for so long. It was like reuniting with a close friend.

The moment passed quickly and he resumed scowling, "It's about time." He reached out to snatch the clothing items off KO's arm and stalked back into the room.

"Magnemite!!" Wheatley greeted from the floor, waving a magnet at the new visitor.

"Shut up." Star muttered as he passed.

"Mite..." The science project pokemon stopped waving.  

[Gwennythe]

Right.
Star had a pleasant, if suspiciously complimentary, handsome visitor.
Bringing gifts.
Oh! Were they..?
No, surely not...
She blinked once and gave Star a very quick, appraising, look.
Surely not.
"Uh, thanks... 'Captain'. That's an interestin' one. For 'Kirk', I guess? Y've got some of his..." Was that impolite? Was it charm, she was looking for? Nevermind.
"Nevermind." She smiled, a little more embarrassed, "Nice to meet you, 'Captain'. I'm Tambrey. Or Tam. Whichever." She waved a little.
The grunt threw a smirk at Star then.
"Well, you usually don't have 'visitors'... Just, y'know, when the neighbours call round."  

[TawnyAngel]

KO let Star take the clothes, still smiling his usual smile. When the tall man turned away for a moment however he turned his head to Tambery and raised an eyebrow. "You're welcome, Commander," he said, stepping fully into the room himself and taking a better look around. The two themes of the room clashed horribly, and made him determined to be in control of décor whenever he got promoted to Grunt. "Nice Maganmite," he added, and then turned his attention back to Tambery.

"One of the medical staff coined it, seems to be catching on," he grinned. "I suppose I must have some of his... something or other. Not his propensity for ripping his shirt though; I'm careful with my clothes, as one is with anything special one creates." If she hadn't known he was into tailoring before, he had made sure she knew now; the more people knew the better if he was going to get reasonably regular comissions.

"What's today's project then Star?" he went on, closing the door and leaning back against it casually. "Looks fascinating, but you know your work isn't my area of expertise so you'll have to explain it to me."  

[Dante-Sayre]

Star looked up from inspecting his coat to squinting at KO suspiciously. He did like explaining things...........

After another few moments of squinting he set the coat down and crossed the room (which took all of two steps) back over to his work station. "It's a weaponized gauntlet. I'm making some modifications to it."

All around the work area Star's creations sat perched precariously on boxes or small shelves. It wasn't ideal but he wasn't going to have his precious work crammed in a crate somewhere. His helmet and the gauntlet matching the one he was working on were closest, on a low shelf where they'd be easy to grab. On the floor beneath them sat his impact absorption boots. A confusing lump of rubbery material and dark interlocking plates sat on an adjacent box. Whatever that was, it wasn't as far along as his other things.

Star had picked up the gauntlet on the table and slipped it on. It closed with a satisfying click. The fingers were absurdly long and ended in dangerous points. Somehow it looked appropriate on the spindly man. As he moved his hand the sound of mechanics whirred softly. "It augments strength." Smirking, he picked up a small, mostly empty metal container housing a couple nails and a screw, and crushed it like an aluminum can. Tired or not he always had the energy to show off.  

[Gwennythe]

Handsome and handy then, that was ni-
No.
That was just weird; she shouldn't really think such things about Star's, uh, friend really.
"A tailor? That's pretty neat." She sounded like she meant it and was clearly, now, looking over the red-head's outfit. "It does look good..."
Her book had closed over her thumb and was held just ahead of her knee, 'abandoned' for now.
Tam's eyes widened and she shook her head, or started too, before realising it was too late.
All right, so Star's work /was/ pretty interesting sometimes, but asking him directly about it might just mean they needed to: "Prepare for a monologue..." She muttered.
Still, the actual demonstration and talk was pretty neat.
"Hm. The burn marks on my furniture are just a bonus of such projects. His stuff is kind 'f neat though, when it works."  

[TawnyAngel]

KO smiled a little wider, entertained by Star's posturing, but for all his smile gave away he might just have been impressed by the sight. "Impressive," he said, to reinforce that impression. "I know that hardware isn't Hayes' speciality, but I'm sure he'll be able to see the value of such a thing right away. The combat division will be pleased too, no doubt." Naturally he had found out who all the department heads were by now, and gathered as much gossip about them as he could too. He really ought to drop in on the tech department head sometime, find out if he really was sleeping with his bodyguard or not.

Looking at Tambery again, KO raised his eyebrows. "Well, I suppose some collateral damage is to be expected in the name of Science. Maybe you could add some burns yourself to make a pattern." And she was at least somewhat enthused by the idea of tailoring, which was good. He smoothed down his jacket. "I thought this outfit came out rather well, I'm glad you agree! Drop me a line if you decide you want something bespoke made for you; I'm sure I could arrange a discount for a friend of Star's." Somehow he doubted they were 'friends', but the girl seemed to tolerate the arrogant beanpole which was a fairly impressive feat. Anyway, it didn't matter what their relationship was; what mattered was that Star thought he thought they were friends, and that his esteem for the Commander meant he was willing to let somebody pay him less because of that relationship with his glorious self.  

[Dante-Sayre]

Star's chest puffed out as Tambrey and KO discussed his work. For a moment the look of exhaustion faded and pride washed over his tired features. The moment was brief, however, as the pair soon moved on to discussing KO's tailoring skills. The spindly ex-galactic deflated and went back to frowning. Sighing, he removed the gauntlet, along with his work goggles. With the goggles off his head, his iconic hair spike attempted to recover, though it had a crooked kink in the middle where it'd been pinned.

Once he'd returned his work to the table, Star meandered back to his bed to resume inspecting his coat, which he finally tried on. He looked about 100% more himself with the garment on.

Meanwhile, Wheatley was trying to get a better look at this fancy new visitor. Wow, he was fancy. The little magnemite had never seen such an outfit in all his life. As he drifted closer to KO and further from the work station, the cord attached to his plating went taught and dragged the spark welder at the other end off the table.

Star looked up at the loud clatter of the tool on the floor. Fortunately it hadn't ignited or lit anything on fire. Instead about three pieces had flown off of it. The ex-Galactic's shoulders sank. He looked to be contemplating whether or not he had the energy reserves to punt Wheatley out the window.

Startled by the loud noise, Wheatley was already backtracking and whirling around to see what damage he'd inadvertently caused. In the process he was winding himself up in the cord.  

[Gwennythe]

"Collateral damage, sure. 'Ve been guilty o' that myself, but I'd venture 'collateral damage' would be a little different t' near demolition."
She suspected Hayes might find Star's work pretty neat- it /was/ even if he, himself, was a bit of a nightmare- but rather suspected Star might be disappointed by whatever the reaction all the same.
Still, she kept that to herself, smirking slightly at the very obvious, rapid, changes in Star's moods.
"I could try making a pattern, but all m' stuff capable of it, f'r now, 's stored in the labs."
She nodded and did agree, it was a nice outfit and very well tailored; having clothes made (that weren't home-knitted scarves or such) was an intriguing, rather new idea to her. She hadn't ever the funds, nor knew someone who could do such things before.
"Well. 'S kind 'f you, thanks." She smiled at KO's offer, but seemed hesitant. "Uh. Maybe. I doubt I could even 'fford your discount though if you make stuff like that," She gestured toward KO's suit and then Star's coat "at the same rates as other tailors. Uh, grunt pay and all."

And then there were Wheatley antics.
The dark-haired grunt looked from KO to Star, trying to see if he had any plans to help the Magnemite and found, perhaps predictably, that he looked more annoyed than anything else.
She started to get up, fully intending to go across the room to try and help unwind the pokémon if Star wasn't going to.  

[TawnyAngel]

KO cleared his throat quietly. "Um, Star? You've got a little-" he gestured above his own head "-hair problem." Never say he never did anything for anybody... alright maybe he'd done it because it was annoying to look at but in principle it was a good an altruistic thing to do.

Naturally at that point there was a mild disaster; one was seldom more than a breath away with Star around so far as he could tell. It looked like Tambery was going to the rescue though, so he remained relaxed against the door.

"I'm sure we can work something out, if you are interested," he said with an easy smile to the young woman. "I'm not as expensive as you might think." Working for less than he would if he were actually making a living off his skills was definitely the way to go; it made you friends, and friends were worth a lot more than money.  

[Dante-Sayre]

When he saw that Tambrey was handling his wayward pokemon, who was thoroughly tangled in the wire at this point, Star grunted and set about smoothing out his hair spike; a task he didn't seem to need a mirror for. The fact he wasn't screaming at Wheatley probably spoke to how worn out he was. He did seem more content now that he was back in his jacket, at least.

"If you're done trying to sell dresses to my roomate you can go."
 

[Gwennythe]

Interesting; it actually seemed like Star might have a real friend in this 'Captain' whether he knew it or not- from Tambrey's point of view, anyway.
She looked a little more interested as KO reassured her about his prices but was a little bit distracted with trying to rescue Star's pokémon from himself.
"Hey, hey, can y' turn the other way? Y've wound yourself up doing that, see..."
The former directed at Wheatley then "Well. I usually jus' get anything that's not m' uniform from, y'know, little shops in Camphoreon or I've brought it from, uh, home... It could be nice to have something new."

She shot a frown at Star, adding "Not dresses" to the end of what she'd just said.
"I'm sure he doesn't mean that." Actually she was sure he did, but it wasn't a very polite or nice thing to say to his friend.