This is not fine art on my planet. [Open, see note]

[starbolts]

With enough diligence and care, Starfire firmly believed, it was possible to learn most any skill. She wasn't always as firm with herself as she needed to be about learning things such as preparing palatable food for her crewmates, correctly understanding English idioms, or backing away when someone needed to be cheered up, but for a friend? Anything was worth the effort for a dear friend.

And Peter Parker was certainly a dear friend of hers. Now that he was away on a mission, she had the perfect opportunity to finish her gift to him. The car loss that had upset him so much on the planet would be rectified, she swore. Her method for solving this problem was, naturally, the refurbishing of his very own car.

Unfortunately for Starfire, Cyborg was the team mechanic, and he was conspicuously absent from the ship's crew. That left her and the few volunteers kind enough to assist her to finish the job. They were short on available crew, especially now that so many had regressed to childhood, but with enough effort they would finish! And she would then be free to play with the children.

Those were her thoughts as she continued with her work under the hood, carefully consulting the manual that detailed the connection of the last few wires. This was the necessary configuration for the speed he would want, yes? The tires were in place, the body was placed...after this last bit of wiring and testing, all that would remain would be the polishing and painting.

If she had any luck. In reality, she was the grease-coated alien girl floating in the middle of the Hangar, a welcome target for any and all curiosity-seekers. Even young ones, she worried.

Pushing those thoughts aside, she withdrew from the building fumes and removed sludge (now all over her) with a sigh. "I feel as though I am a regurgitated spudling."

((ooc: Open to volunteers, children, and anyone really. It takes place during the early stage of the Galileo's Burden mission, before she knows Peter is captured and about to be sacrificed.))

Comments

[thewunderkind]

"Pffft what's practical compared to things being cool? Washing window fluid spiders are way more cool...and fun!"

Put your foot down Starfire. Before it's too late! Lash was already reaching for the container...

[starbolts]

"I believe Peter would approve of 'the coolness'..." Starfire tried to rationalize it in her mind. Teen boys were fond of that sort of gadget, yes? He would be happy, but on the other hand, he was already receiving a flying car. And window washers were critical when driving in dusty areas, as he might very well do.

"But he will be very satisfied with a flying car!" she finally decided, floating over to pluck the container. "We do not need to replace everything. He will be returning home soon."

[thewunderkind]

Thankfully Lash did have some degree of respect for her which meant she didn't just completely ignore her.

"W-what? No cool washing window spiders?" If you ever wanted a wunderkind to sound disappointed...

[starbolts]

"When he realizes that his car is capable of flight, I do not believe he will miss them."

There there, Lash, it's okay. They have something even more important to work on! "Let us install the new engines!"

...did that work? Come on. It's gotta.

1/2

[thewunderkind]

"..."

Uh oh. Here it came. Lash's greatest weapon when dealing with these situations...

[thewunderkind]

The dreaded kicked puppy face.

"...are you really, really, REALLY sure?"

[starbolts]

...no. Suddenly, she was not so sure at all. Perhaps it was the youthfulness she saw, the relief that her friend was no longer acting evil, or the excitement of doing this for Peter that changed her mind.

"Very well, you may construct the spiders. But be sure that they are durable!"

With that said, Starfire began laser-focusing her powers to weld in a few parts. She trusted Lash not to create too much trouble.

[thewunderkind]

Score. See Hawke? Sometimes that look totally won people over. Only your stupid birdie face was the one who told her no all the time.

She was already sketching out ideas in her dream book. If she gave them only five legs, they wouldn't look exactly like spiders, but they could move a lot faster across the glass. Some sticky material to hold on and not slide even when applying cleaning fluid and....

"Maybe if I gave them a laser to zap away any bugs that got stuck on the windshield..."

GOD. DAMN.

[starbolts]

"What if they ate the bugs, as real spiders do? I worry that the laser could misfire."

Starfire's legs kicked up as she worked inside the engine, tinkering and laser-shooting here and there. What? It was efficient.

[thewunderkind]

"Maybe..." she erased a few things from her sketches and suddenly, they had a much larger belly with an internal heater. "Tee hee! That can work! I can harness a laser internal and incinerate them to death. Like a venus flytrap, only with lasers and mechanical spiders. Since it's inside, there no way it could misfire!"

Absolutely Genius.

She stopped sketching to start grabbing parts of the discarded engine parts, going back to her own toolbox for all her pre-made parts.

"I can probably do this really easily!" She moved over to where Starfire was working. "Hey, not bad!" A compliment! Savor them while you could.

[starbolts]

"That is safer, yes," Starfire was placated, smiling at the sketch. "I hope that he likes them."

She giggled, getting right back to work on her end of the car. "Though I also hope he does not try to offer rides to arachnophobic people. That could end very badly."

[thewunderkind]

"Who wouldn't like these?" No one that had good taste, that's what. "I'll help you with the engine for now. I suppose getting it to hover first would be a good idea."

[starbolts]

"Yes! Do not worry, I will lift the car if you need to work beneath it later on."

Why bother with the jack when you can do the heavy lifting yourself? It's so much easier. Starfire giggled, doing one last welding check before glancing over the engines and the area. They were good to install the first few components.

She eagerly followed Lash's lead on this project, picking up and testing various pieces. No, not those, they were dangerous---the next plugs. There.

[thewunderkind]

"Okay!" She replied, being in a really good mood from being allowed to build so many things for one car, even if she didn't know the person it was for much. Speaking of which...she suddenly shifted her tone of voice.

"Sooooooooooo...why are you taking all this effort to make him a car anyway?" Lash let the last word linger on a little bit longer than the others.

[starbolts]

As always, Starfire leaned away from her work to obediently answer the question.

"Peter's car was very important to him. He was forced to sell its remains on XaXing when the car was hijacked and involved in a crash, and this upset him greatly. We had an argument in the aftermath, and I wish to make things right."

That was all, really. He mattered to her that much.

[thewunderkind]

Matter that much, huh.

"That's a lot of care for someone," she almost sang, in a teasing voice. "The car's important to him, but you had no obligation to do it, right? So he's that important to you?" Please pay no attention to the grin on her lips.

[starbolts]

"Yes. He is a very close friend. We fight together when the opportunity arises, we visit interesting places, and he rescued me from my false life in Fairplay. I would be a poor friend if I did not attempt to make him happy."

Really...this wasn't that much extra work. It was almost fun to learn how to build a car! Sure, it would've been a much faster process with Cyborg around, but others were here who were just as good.

[thewunderkind]

Like a hunter looking for prey, she closed in for the kill. "Sounds like a really good friend alright. So how close are we talking about here? Like, 'I kissed him on the lips' friend or 'I wish I could kiss him on the lips' friend?"

Lash, that was really unfair to Starfire. Not that she cared.

[starbolts]

"I kissed him on the cheek," Starfire countered quietly. "And that seemed to cause his mind great temporary difficulties in functioning. I will not act if he is not ready."

That was all. Really.

[thewunderkind]

WELP.

"Oh well I guess in that case I can understand being responsible and all." She said with a sage nod. It wasn't like Lash was going to do anything at all now that she had this information! Really! That would be silly.

"Are we almost done with the motors? I want to give it a run to see what they do and how much more power we'd need to add."

Back to the other stuff.

[starbolts]

"Yes, just allow me to fix them into place!" A few screws, a few Tamaranean curse words, and a few welding shots later, all was done. When it appeared to be safe, Starfire withdrew from her spot and closed the hood.

"I will catch the car if it behaves unexpectedly. Here, take the keys!"

...she was going to regret this, wasn't she?

[thewunderkind]

Definitely.

A few seconds later, there was a key in the ignition. And nothing was blowing up. In fact the engine was so quiet Lash wasn't sure it was on at first. Quiet and efficient! Not bad. This Blue Falcon guy really knew his stuff. Lash appeared from the side window. "Okay! Start up looks fine! I'm going to press on the gas now and...."

She looked down and noticed that the wheels weren't touching the ground.

"...tee hee hee! Would you look at that."

[starbolts]

"Oh, wonderful!" Starfire bobbed below to examine the hovering, confident for now that it appeared to be stable. "I will be flying alongside you, it is all right."

It is...for now.

[thewunderkind]

"Okay!"

Lash stepped on the gas and...nothing. A few seconds later she groaned. "Duuuuh! Now that the wheels are floating, there's no system to move it ahead." She shut off the motor and to her surprise, the car didn't just fall but gently drifted back to the ground from the small inches it was hovering.

"We're going to need to give it a propulsion system in the back so it can move forward. I doubt he'd want to push his car all the time."

[starbolts]

Starfire made sure to gently guide the car down, tapping her chin in thought. "Like the T-Ship's! I know how to identify one. Shall we look?"

...and trust her with this? That...might not end too well. But Starfire was determined to give this a try.