BUSINESS TIME IS GO

[vision_in_stone]

WHO: Toph, and anyone else who wanted to take her up on her business idea. Or anyone else who just wants to notice her.
WHAT: Business time! Toph's gonna make some statues for people. If the price is right.
WHERE: Markets of Zone 4 - neutral meeting zones!
WHEN: After this post.
WARNINGS/NOTES: Snarky blind child, potentially dangerous business

Comments

[dontasktrix]

Slipstream flew through the infrastructure of the Offworlder Zones, to the market area. Once there, she transformed and moved about on foot, heels click-clanging on the roadways. As advanced as her targeting and optical processing was, it really was easier to spot a single small organic, when walking at street level.

Curiously, Slipstream lost her footing, where she had scanned no structural seam or defect below. No smaller mechanisms or organics appeared to be directly underfoot.

She fired thrusters, quickly enough that she righted herself without an embarrassing public fall. It was then, hovering a short distance above the substrate, she identified the small organic with the unusually pale eyes.

"Toph," She said. Slipstream hovered over, then alighted on the ground near the bench on which the girl sat.

[vision_in_stone]

Fliers. She hated fliers. Well, hated having to deal with them landing near her. This one she'd seen walking, though, and couldn't help but play her little trick. When the voice came, she grinned in the direction it came from, recognizing its owner instantly.

"Slipstream, right?"

[dontasktrix]

"Oh. Got it in one. Very good," Slipstream said casually, which probably still sounded a little edgy.

"That wasn't by chance you having fun, there?" She lifted her left thruster, then set it down again, to indicate a step.

[vision_in_stone]

"A lady never reveals her secrets," Toph informed the femme loftily, then grinned. Of course it had been her, and she wasn't going to apologize for it, either.

[dontasktrix]

Slipstream laughed, a machine-generated trill that was unlike the 'ha ha' transliterated in Earth media. "Smart ladies," she said, then. She supposed they counted as 'ladies' in their different ways, if one considered there were certain types of ladies that were mischievous or back-stabbing.

"Should we ladies get to business?" She asked, still standing near the bench. "There's some supplemental raw material, should you need it." Slipstream set a bundle down at her right side, the contents shifted slightly with a low, metal-on-metal ring.

[vision_in_stone]

What other type of lady is there? That's exactly what Toph was talking about, the cool ones who knew how to get what they wanted. Anyone else just wasn't worth the bother, mostly.

Oooooh, stuff! Toph hopped off her bench to go run her hands over what of the material she could reach, totally fearless in the presence of the Decepticon.

"Nice. Yeah, we should. What size exactly are we talking about?"

[dontasktrix]

Slipstream watched Toph move. The girl seemed fearless compared to other organics she had encountered. Granted that hadn't been many: some humans in Detroit, a few of students at her current place of employment. Perhaps Toph didn't need to be afraid, what with her somehow bending earth, including metal and other minerals. That, or she didn't see anything imposing about Slipstream.

"I'm not quite familiar with your abilities. This should be enough to make something full-scale, yet hollow. Naturally, if it must be solid, this is enough for something much smaller."

[vision_in_stone]

No, it was just that she hadn't encountered many Cybertronians she'd consider a threat. Anyone who'd bothered her so far had sorely regretted it shortly afterward. There was nobody here who scared her like Azula or Ozai, back home. Yet.

"Hollow? I can do that. It'll be lighter to move around after, but if you want it anchored on something I can come along and do that."

I dawned on her that she didn't really have a place to work on the statues just yet. Hmmm, maybe she should've thought this through a little better.One of those abandoned warehouse things should do the trick though. Provided she could get the material to it.

[dontasktrix]

"Exactly. Lighter is better for my purposes."

Slipstream shifted her weight slightly as she looked around the markets. "I might have mentioned this is a surprise for somebot. Installation site isn't really determined, yet. You...just do the work here?"

[vision_in_stone]

Toph ran her hand over her hair in a sheepish gesture.

"Iiii actually hadn't thought quite that far yet. But I bet some of the abandoned warehouses or whatever would work. I just need enough height to build it in. Getting it out won't be a problem."

[dontasktrix]

"Sure, just take one of those. Plenty of industrial spaces around here. They're not much to look at, but functional. Some artsy types might even like the...patina. A little refurbishment and you could have a nice loft above your workspace. Some more work and you could get a few renters, maybe even charge Zone 5 rates." Slipstream trilled laughter. She had learned about Gentrification and urban renewal in Detroit.

"You got your...senses on any one in particular?"

[vision_in_stone]

"Hah, now that might be worth doing. And fun besides." Not to mention that the idea of running her own 'business' was entertaining, illegal though it may be. Laws? Tenant rules? Bookkeeping? An Earthbender cares not for these things.

"Not particularly, just yet. Got a suggestion?"

[dontasktrix]

Slipstream scanned the area, then consulted her map, using her internal comm's wireless bond to the external device. The area was heavily industrial, but the older structures suggested the area had once been more lively. It really did remind her of outlying parts of Detroit.

"You want something within easy reach of the transit hub, but not so close to the market or transit that people are interfering with your work." Wouldn't want to draw Security too easily. "Maybe something closer to that Lookout place, without being right in its shade."

"You...want to go search, Toph?" She didn't have any pressing business, and if she helped the girl, perhaps she could get the statue completed, and persuade the Earthbender not to be an enemy. Allies were always useful.

R-rofl.

[vision_in_stone]

If she helped, Toph would probably even give her a discount on the statue, within reason. She still had to study the femme's physical details, at any rate. That could take awhile. Stupid giant robots.

"Lookout? Haven't heard of it, but sure. Any place close enough for me to walk where I need to go but far enough away that nobody'll bother me is perfect," she replied, gaining enthusiasm for the idea. Yesss, her own place. The older structures provided ample opportunity for entrepreneuers...and squatters. Among other things. Mwahaha.

"Yes, let's. If we find somewhere awesome, I will totally give you a discount."

I have no idea what is east or north or whatever.

[dontasktrix]

"Right..." Slipstream had gathered that the human didn't have the visual capacity of others, but she was yet uncertain how much Toph sensed otherwise.

Slipstream extended a hand to point, but realized this too, would be ineffective. "A discount sounds good. Toward your left. We should go a few blocks that way. Do you wish to remain on your feet, or be carried?" Slipstream wasn't in the practice of carrying organics, but it seemed an efficient way to transport one, if they were agreeable. If there were protest, it wouldn't be worth her while to insist.

neither does Toph :D

[vision_in_stone]

Actually, the pointing was 'visible' to her; the movement caused a body to shift weight and thus the vibration of it was transmitted through the ground. Toph had found that the principle worked on Cybertronians too, for the most part. Even if they didn't shift much weight, the movement itself with its accompanying inner mechanical movement did the trick for her, once she'd figured it out. Fun how that works.

"I'd rather walk," she replied out of habit, then frowned. Walking would be totally slow compared to her new favorite client.

"But I can run to keep up. Once we're off the main strip I can do something else, too, but it might get a bit of attention."

Being removed from the ground was one of her greatest fears in the nexus, if not the greatest. She couldn't see anything when not touching a solid surface. The memory of dangling helplessly from Sokka's hand over absolute nothingness still haunted her. So no thanks. Not unless it was absolutely necessary.