Owner	Pose
Ted Kord	Ted Kord has healed, mostly. His shoulder still bears some evidence of the burns he received on Pago Pago but are healing. The abrasions in the hardest fight of his life have shrunk and are covered by some bandages. At the moment the engineer is working shirtless to let the air and light help him heal further, his uniform pants and boots cover his lower body. He sits at his desk and works carefully on a thick foot wide metallic disk. Another lies besde it. Of course he's wearing his goggles. He also needs a haircut and shave. You can let that slide when convalescing. The question is how long will this convalescence last?
Joan Wright	Miraculously, Joan did not get injured at Pago Pago. Granted, most of her time was doing her best to avoid combat and it helped that there were others covering for her to make sure she wouldn't have to. With that in mind, Joan does not have any injuries to heal from. Instead she's just gotten back from a nice trip visiting her parents for Thanksgiving and wouldn't you know it? One of the more recent messages she came across coming back was from Ted asking her to come by. Still dressed in her work attire and giving a call ahead to indicate she's coming over. The Damage Control representative quietly waits for the elevator to lead her up to the penthouse. In her hand, a simple, medium sized gift bag.
Ted Kord	Ted Kord looks at the signal for a visitor on his desk top. It also plays across the inside of his goggles. He smiles and grants Joan access. As he waits for the elevator to arrive he shrugs into a lab coat. Guests after all. He wonders what he has in the house to eat?
Joan Wright	Joan hums lowly as she watches the numbers beep by before the block 'P' appears on the screen. Her head tilts down, looking forward as the cab does a slight shift and the doors part way with a notable ding. Quietly she shuffles over towards where Ted sits. "Afternoon!" Joan greets, glancing to the desk surface for an empty spot to set the bag down. "Happy Holidays." The bag is held up, a design of a snowman on a blue background smiles back to Ted.
Ted Kord	Ted Kord looks amused. "Oh you didn't have to bring anything. Thank you. Happy Holidays. You present wasn't delivered yet. I have coffee on, help yourself," he says before he gets to work on his own gift. Yes he is one of those people who tries to salvage gift wrappings. Or maybe he just disarmed one too many bombs. "How ya been? It's been weeks. Are you enjoying the quiet, with me sidelined?"
Joan Wright	Spotting an empty spot, the bag continues forward before setting down on the desk. "I know I didn't but don't worry. It's not over the top or anything like that." Joan replies. There's not much in terms of wrapping paper, just some tissue paper hiding the contents from those peeking from above. Inside, a Beetle Blue Mug and an assortment of instant cocoa, a bag of mini marshmallows, and a few peppermint spoons. "I'm doing alright. Visited my parents for Thanksgiving. Slept in. Got some LEGOs on sale. All in all, good times." The architect nods to the bag, "Your account was so quiet I thought I'd bring the bag over now, just in case you continued to be quiet this month."
Ted Kord	Ted Kord smiles and says, "Thanks again. Yeah I been quiet. Huntress... split. Booster went somewhen. SWATH is gone off. Just me again. I'm actually turning Kord Co around and building on its previous successes. I'm getting a private project going too. Here, watch." He closes a panel on the disk he was working on and touches a stud, then throws it. The disk comes to a stop in midair, a foot off the ground. Its twin floats up to hover beside it. Ted grins, "Aerodiscs. I finally back engineered some GodTech. Mr. Miracle used these all the time. Don't need a Bug with these." Wait! There's more! Ted steps onto the disks that seem to snap to the soles of his boots with a beep. He floats there, smiling. "Taa-dah!"
Joan Wright	Joan frowns a bit as Ted lists those around him leaving. "S-" She pauses as Ted indicates towards something he's working on. As he throws the disk, she instinctively steps back because...odds were in her favor that might be the right move. Her glance follows the disk. Tilting her head as it hovers above the floor. When the second joins it and Ted steps on to them, she gives a nod. "Oh. So like hover skates. Interesting."
Ted Kord	Ted Kord looks slightly affronted. "Not at all. Here follow me." He floats quickly to the patio doors, stopping just in time. He opens the door and flies outside. These are advanced personal anti-grav units. Watch!" And he flips upside down. Ted hangs head down for a few moments then rights himself. "I wish I knew hoe Bats hangs upside down like that without blacking out. Now watch..." He flies over the pool and makes nary a ripple. Then he gets a wild look and shoots out beyond the roof and flies around the building fast. Very fast indeed. The disks make a jarring keen at the higher speed. Ted Yee-haws. With a flourish he returns to float by Joan. "Hover skates are old tech."
Joan Wright	Joan turns her head, watching as Ted starts to demonstrate the capabilities of the aerodiscs. Stepping out to the pool area, her eyes widen as Ted disregards the basic gist of controlled testing environment by flying off the building. Her mouth opens in protest. The mouth is sitll open by the time Ted returns. "...How much did you test these before I got here?"
Ted Kord	Ted Kord huffs and closes his coat. "A lot! there's a difference between foolhardy and suicidal. Come sit. Bobo will get us some coffee." Ted drops to the floor. He gallumps to a lounge and removes the disks with some effort. "I rather they come off with difficulty than too easily. "I'm a good engineer Joan. I don't fly over the city n an untested device. these things had a couple hundred hours static testing. Then I flew around Central Park at nap of Earth a couple nights. Caught three muggers."
Joan Wright	As Ted confirms that he had indeed been testing them before doing that demonstration, the architect lets out a breath of relief. "Ok good." Joan responds, "Now, mind you. I just saw you working on them and suddenly start using them. So my question was valid."
Ted Kord	Ted Kord shrugs. "I wanted them to beep louder when they clamped on. You know how noisy a fight or a construction site say will get. I can't get the tone right yet. I may need to move the speakers. Ehhh. Not sure what I'm going to do with them. You need to be an acrobat and an engineer to control them and not wreck yourself. I have a bunch of engineers and some freelance Cirque du Soleil performers on the injured list. But they kept me busy. I'm not sure if I want to continue as the Blue Beetle. My uncle's gone. My mentor is laid to rest. the scarab is... safe. I spent these six months trying to get back to where I was before Doomsday took me apart. I think I did... but... I don't know. Despite rejoining the League. I still feel like an imposter among the real heroes. I mean Batman and Green Arrow make me redundant. In the JLI... I drove everyone to the fight. Do I want to do that again? Equipment got trashed, Bug got trashed. Do I want to start again, and alone?"
Joan Wright	As Ted starts to drift further and further away from the discussion of the aerodiscs, her brows get higher and higher at where the topic is going. As he poses the final question, she answers with a long pause. Just processing what was said. "...I can't answer that for you, Ted. But as for the redundancy thing... Just because someone else does something similar, doesn't mean they have a monopoly on that something. They can't be in several places at the same time."
Ted Kord	Ted Kord listens carefully and considers a long moment. "Good point. I will weigh it against my other points. Thanks for listening anyway. I'm sorry for all my silly hitting on you by the way. I never did apologize for that. You're a good woman. But... listen if things don't feel right they don't feel right, you know? No pun intended."
Joan Wright	Joan face scunches up, head glancing aside in thought to the apology. "... was that why you were wearing that tux during the night of no dumpings?"
Ted Kord	Ted Kord smirks. "I was planning to sweep you off your feet. Alphonse and Gaston beat me to it. Then I met Huntress. Now she left... temperamental. Anyway sorry for that. Night of the dumplings... good title for the Blue Beetle's casebook... except I don't have a casebook. Listen, whatever I decide regarding Blue Beetle, I'm not crawling into a hole. I'm going to help and support the League, and the Bat Kids and really anyone who needs my help. I just feel like something big is off my chest, that I didn't even realize was there, but I was carrying for years. I need to take stock of things at the very least."
Joan Wright	"Oh..." Joan's face flushes, "OH." The architect grows quiet, glancing away from Ted, looking towards the still surface of the pool for a few moments. "...Well, one benefit of having to take time to heal up is that you have plenty of time to do just that. Get things organized."
Ted Kord	Ted Kord sits for a while after he and Joan say their good-byes. He watches the sunset. How long was it since he did that? He watches the stars come out and stares into the sky. He looks at the patio door and the penthouse beyond. he built all that. Ted Kord at least has his place and he is sure of it, a an employer and a builder. He could just go back inside and be Theodore Steven Kord... With a quick motion Ted slaps the disks to his feet. they beep and e rises floating off the roof tov swoop down and then climb high into the darkening sky, goggles down, hair waving in the wind he lets out a raucous, "Bwahahaha!" Maybe he'll be Ted Kord later...