14673/Three Hour Tour

Three Hour Tour
Date of Scene:	13 April 2023
Location:	Kate Kane's Office at Kane Capital
Synopsis:	Kate blows up Bette's phone (figuratively) to drag her cousin over to brainstorm about strapping a spaceship to her yacht (semi-literally)
Cast of Characters:	Kate Kane, Bette Kane

---

Kate Kane has posed:
It's just another day for Kate Kane, Queen of Numbers, Mistress of Mathematics, Signer of Cheques and.... other... business stuff! But that business stuff is all a clever ruse. For, you see, the real business is _justice_ and business is good! Well, not really, it's Gotham. Business is bad because so much of the city seems dead set against business. When the business is justice. And then there's all the other crime. Outside Gotham. And Kate's been stewing on that. Thinking on it. And she's got a plan.

And that plan can only be handled by one woman. Bette Kane! Who has received no less than six texts from Kate. 'R U Awake?' 'Wake up' 'Time sleeping is time not fighting crime' 'I know U R awake, the penthouse motion sensors are registering movement' 'Srsly, I need you' 'OMFG that was my last bagel'

Just cousin stuff. But once Bette's arriving, she finds Kate in her modern office space, a whiteboard on the back wall behind her desk with a schematic tacked up on it. A schematic of a 50 metre long yacht, low profile, sleek hulled, it looks like it's from the near future... where it's not covered in Kate's tight-lettered notes and scribbles. The redhead is staring at the schematic like if she focuses hard enough it will sail off the board.

Bette Kane has posed:
Buzz. Buzz. BUZZZ. Bette's phone is getting, as the kids say, blown the fuck up by Kate. Is Bette awake? Absolutely. She's an early riser most of the time, unless she tied one on the night before. Which she only sort of did. With no drinking. It was patrol! That's important!

It's also why she feels justified in making Kate wait. And why she's okay eating the last bagel. On the bright side, when she finally moseys into Kate's office with damp hair and a few crumbs on the corner of her mouth, she's carrying two cups of coffee. One she sets on the desk, the other she keeps. They're both just plain black, no sassy mugs in this house.

Scrubbing her mouth with the back of her hand, she eyeballs the whiteboard. "Nice boat. What's so important you forgot how to type?"

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate's reaching out for the coffee practically on instinct, like she can echolocate it, bringing it to her lips and taking a slow, lingering sip that keeps her too busy to answer for long moments. Eyes glance over, level, controlled... those eyebrows only arch and furrow a little bit. "It's the Sequoia. It's a yacht. My yacht. Our? Our yacht I guess?" She shrugs lightly. Hey, when your cousin's living in your guest room, she may as well also use your yacht, right?

She gestures to the tightly bunched scribbles of words... modifications to the yacht, ranging from changing storage rooms into enough bunks to hold eight... plus Kate's quarters on the top deck... lower decks with equipment storage, sauna and jacuzzi, though 'RECOVERY ROOM' is written in emphatic quotes above that. There's even a moon pool at the stern of the lowest deck where there's apparently currently a billiards room. "I was thinking we need a mobile base, I used the yacht before, but like... just for me. I was thinking we need something more like... Babs's place. But mobile. Maybe no arcade machines. But medical supplies, equipment, communications and the like. Right now if we're tracking someone and they leave the tristate area we have to go back to basics. Why not have mobile support we can use?"

Bette Kane has posed:
It's good to be a freeloader. Okay, that's not fair. Bette does all sorts of useful things, like punch bad guys and make sure the couch stays put. Very important things. She moves up to stand next to Kate, peering at the diagram. "The perils of the idle rich, huh? Gotta have a floating party platform to go along with the rest of them," she quips, glancing at Kate sidelong and taking a sip of coffee.

Then the actual explanation comes out and she just nods. "It's not a bad idea, honestly. Though cruising through the Atlantic on a luxury yacht might not be the best idea. Unless, like, you're doing even more modifications beyond these," she says, gesturing with her cup. "Engines and all that."

Kate Kane has posed:
There's only the /mildest/ eyeroll from Kate as she mutters dryly, "If I was the /idle/ rich, I wouldn't have been at a dinosaur auction last week. A goddamn /dinosaur/ auction." She shrugs and sighs out, "And that was close enough I could get an Uber there. There's enough bad stuff going on in the world that... stopping because they leave it out of Gotham isn't enough. If we just tell criminals not to do their business in Gotham, and pass all the trouble off to other cities, we're failures."

She sips her coffee again and murmurs dryly, "That's another like... philosophy or Kate tip or whatever you and Harper call them." And then she pauses again, "How /are/ you doing, Bette? You know I couldn't be happier with how good you're doing, right?" She clears her throat and mutters, "I have... an idea for an engine. Prototype. Was part of a... space plane. Not thinking we make the yacht like... capable of permanent flight or something, just... /fast/."

Bette Kane has posed:
Now it's Bette's turn to roll her eyes. "A dinosaur auction, huh. Is that a euphemism?" Her grin is sassy, and she just reaches over and punches Kate in the shoulder lightly. "I kid, I heard about it on the news. Didn't hear you were there, though. Which, top marks. And you're right. Even if it was something we could even -consider-, Batman wouldn't let that fly. He'd go get them and then come for whoever let it happen," she says as she takes another sip of coffee.

Then the praise comes, and Bette looks away. She's unprepared for it. It never comes too often, and it's always a shock when it does. "T-thanks, Kate. You're a great teacher. I'm okay. Had a ...hard conversation with Harper a while ago, but we're cool now. Friends, even. Nothing too wacky on the rooftops either"

She tries to hide her awkwardness with her coffee cup. It only vaguely works. At least Kate goes back to the boat. "A space engine? Nothing can go wrong with that."

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate snickers and rolls her eyes, "Oh, no, I was there. I mean... /me/ me. Not Batwoman. Harper was there and I figured I'd... you know, check out her moves without it being via surveillance cameras and drones. She did good. Had a partner... also there was... this /really/ tall dark haired woman that..." She frowns slightly, "I haven't looked her up, but she's got to be an amazon or something."

She shrugs lightly and narrows her eyes as Bette's turned away from the praise. Her eyebrows perk and she murmurs out dryly, "Oh! So if I ask Harper to bring her partner by the penthouse for pizza and vigilante discussion, you'll hang out too?"

She sighs and rolls her eyes, "Hey, engines are engines. If you can put a marine engine in a fighter plane, why not a... space plane engine in a boat?" She shrugs and sighs out, head rolling back, eyes staring up at the ceiling. "Okay, maybe that one's a bridge too far. I got a little carried away. But really. I know I push you hard. It's... just... how I am. But you can take it. You do great."

Bette Kane has posed:
Bette has no idea about whatever giant woman Kate is talking about, but an impression must have been made. There's a phrase for Kate Kane, but Bette just keeps her mouth shut. For now. "And, yeah. That'd be cool," she says, though something unreadable flickers in her eyes. Kate will absolutely catch that Bette felt -something- about that, but what is much harder to pick up.

"I mean, it might be okay. I'm no engineer, though," she says regarding the engine. "Just have to, like, limit it or something. ... Or reinforce the hull."

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate bobs her head, although given the way her eyes narrow... either she knows Bette was thinking a phrase about her. Orrrr, she saw that little flicker of emotion. There's a pause and she sighs out, draining her coffee and putting the cup down, "Alright, that's it, we're ordering pizza now. You, me, pizza. You need to unwind. We're going to have some quality cousin time. And bad movie time.

She narrows her eyes and murmurs dryly, "And I'll just send the schematics to someone who... is an engineer. Let them figure out the details. I just play the bank." She snaps her fingers and gestures, "Now, off to pizza. I'm starving."

And then Kate stands up to effectively /usher/ Bette out of her office. There is no escape for her from cousin-mandated relaxation.

Bette Kane has posed:
On one hand, Kate's being nice and almost like a normal person, and this is great. On the other, Kate is being nice and almost like a normal person, and this is very suspicious. Bette is lucky that she manages to drain her cup before she's being ushered out of the office like she's a sheep and Kate's a Corgi.

Complete with sputtering bleats from Bette.

"I'm fine, really! There's absolutely nothing wrong, and I just ate your last bagel! ...And stole a bottle of vodka to share with Harper. Oops."

Apparently some admissions, too. She does, at least, stop protesting eventually and just marches along. Not quite sullen, more like resigned to her fate. Though inside, this makes her happy. A taste of normalcy, no matter how brief, is something to cherish. And there's not much more normal than eating pizza and watching a terrible movie.