Marvin
New London public library was a small library built to be central to the surrounding residential and slums district, a building that seemed to always be poorly staffed yet still strangely organized and functional. It wasn't the cleanest place, or the most well kept, but the books were always in order, and they didn't forget about your late fees.

Esther was waiting a little past the check in area, sitting with their laptop at one of the long tables inbetween the book shelves and the large windows at the front of the building. Every few minutes he looked up from his computer to check for a sign of katie, perhaps a little too impatient or excited to see his dear friend.
Aaron
The bus hissed to a stop and Katie Hughes stepped off, walking the short distance up the road to the library. Her hands stuffed into the pockets of her sweater and hair tied back into a loose pony tail. It wasn't too cold but it seemed that it didn't make much difference to Katie's fashion sense. With a huff Katie would push through the doors of the library. 

Katie Hughes was not the bombastic and extraverted Heartthrob, she was introved and cozy. None of that shooting energy ran through her as she quietly raised her hand to Esther and shuffled across the library to him. "Hey, stranger." A soft voice, her accent notable but not heavy. She took a seat across from him with a chuckle and let her big sweater drape over her. "Miss me?"
Marvin
'Yes' He motioned, an excited, almost shut-eyed smile growing on his warm cheeks. Esther had hoped she remembered something as simple as yes, it wasn't like he could really mouth the words to her- being as expressive as he was was mostly instinct and a bit of training.

'How are you' Esther signed to her again. This was a little more complicated, with any luck from their last lesson, she'll have have retained her understanding of it. The look in his eyes was so hopeful and eager. They bounce a little in their seat as they waited for her, Signing it once more for clarification and repetition's sake.
Aaron
Katie gaze a tired grin to her friend. Her eyes watched the hand movements as she tried to get use to sign. She never had to learn it before she met Esther but she was eager! It would not only be useful to communicate with her friend but also, as a plus, it would be useful for her hero career! Make it easier to interview victims if they are deaf or mute.

Katie sat up and shuffled in her chair as she made clumsy handsigns to reply 'Good' Her movements were a little slow and she seemed to have some trouble remembering but she was enthusiastic to continue to show off the research she did in her free time. 'Studied' followed by 'How are you' It wasn't perfect but she was learning! She did study.
Marvin
Esther understood it perfectly, and he was overjoyed to see she was picking up on it. He took out a piece of paper from the notebook in his pocket, and a pencil. Esther began to write for her

`You're doing great! And I'm okay. I mentioned I wanted to talk about the recent behemoth attack. It's about the victims that have been coming into the hospital`

His joy faded, his smile felt more hollow as his eyes lost their luster. He.. Was a nurse after all.
Aaron
She smiled a bigger smile as the exhaustion in her misty eyes grew a little less intense, clearing up a little from the exhaustion of a sleepless night. She leaned forward to watch him write and nodded her head along with it. The smile faltering at the last half. 

"Alright, go head. I didn't see much, I was working.."

It wasn't a complete lie. Katie hadn't seen much but she wasn't at her day job. She had been out and about as Heartthrob, trying to help in the city while Behemoth was being fought off.
Marvin
`It's been rough. Seeing people with radiation poisoning or burns, capes and non capes alike missing limbs or barely even breathing. Others never even saw Behemoth but they felt his presence, the entire waterfront district was affected.`

Thoguh what he wrote was devastating, Esther still kept his head about him, taking glances to the sides before continuing, his gip on the pencils strengthened, his smile, as hard as it wasa to keep, never faded.

`Katie, when stuff gets bad, gets dire... Don't you want to make a difference?`

It was a simple question, wouldn't anyone? Anyone who wasn't an absolute monster anyways. But Esther was using this wasn't he? It wasn't all he had to say, he was framing what came after...
Aaron
She would frown and lightly reach out to touch his shoulder. She wanted to be comforting. She was trying to be. But she really wasn't sure what to say so she just, didn't at first. She let him write for the moment before finally opening her mouth.

"I've.. Always wanted to make a difference. It's hard though, you know?"

Katie knew he was dealing with something rough but.. Something was off about the phrasing. She wondered if this was going to be some grand reveal. She hoped he wasn't going to reveal himself to be a terrorist or anything. Her smile was comforting as she looked at him but worry was clear in it.
Marvin
Esther wasn't pulling his head up to look at her when they finished writing. They listened, sure, but Esther didn't have a smile anymore. They were depe in thought over what they would write next.

When they didn't turn their head up, and saw that expression, it solidified his choice, brows knitted together, he wrote furiously across the page.

`I am a tinker, Katie. Have been for a bit now. I can't sit by anymore. I have to help people.`

As soon as he was done writing, Esther reached across the table with the paper in hand, and as he did, he pulled the sleeve up on his shirt to show the thin seams in his arm. His own _ARM_ was tinker tech...
Aaron
A sigh of relief escaped Katie's lips before she could hold it in. She put her hand in his as she saw the seams. Tinkertech. She could feel her own power looking for ideas with what she was seeing. Her own mind scanning for his power. A tinker.

"So.. Funny story.. Uhh.." 

She reached down and carefully retrieved something from her pocket. A small, paneled with blue glass, black box with a green gauge on it. A battery, it seems. Tinker tech. 

"I don't want to get the whole thing out."
Marvin
It was a good thing he was mute, he would have shouted In amazement. Instead, Esther went wide eyed, pointing at the thing with his mouth agape in shock. It grew into a bright, giddy smile and their eyes met hers with renewed, reinvigorated, rejoice.

He waved his hands about wildly, shaking out his own excitement as he laid eyes on the tinker made battery. He couldn't believe it, Katie was a tinker?!
Aaron
She grinned a wide, goofy smile as she looked at his excitement. She would tap her head with one finger as she looked at him. She has not gotten a chance to tell anyone about this before. Not a single soul. It was liberating. 

"You'll never guess who I am."

She gave a smug smile at him and leaned back in her seat. A little game at his expense but only because she knows he won't know. Besides, she didn't plan on telling anyone else.
Marvin
`You've got me there, I can't think of who you could be. I would have guessed Utopia but, I've actually met her! As for myself?`

The puzzled expression on his faced that told of the turning cogs in his brain still obviously trying to think of who she was, faded to a proud smile, him rolling up his sleeve, and watching as the panel of flesh sliped under his skin and up came his communicator. On a low volume, it spoke as he struck a heroic pose with one foot on the table.

That androgynous synthetic voice whispered out `"I, am Toy Maker!"`
Aaron
She laughed at the comment as she thought about how silly of an idea that would be. That shook her head at their comment on Utopia. No, she was not that level. Not yet.

"I am not Utopia. You wouldn't be able to guess, I think."

She dug out what looked similar to a glasses case from her sweater. She slid it across the table and clicked it open. A pink case with a heart shaped glass face to it. 

"Toy Maker? See if you can identify this."
Marvin
Curiously, he pawed at it with his hands, fingers drumming along the side of the case and he observed the item carefully. The sleekness of the case, the adornment of the glass heart. Oh, they KNEW what this was.

A gleam in his eye shined bright as they drew their fingers along the case looking for the seams for the battery. Esther..._Toy Maker_... Wanted a peak inside. A battery was just one part of the puzzle, a source of power for whatever mechanism generated what **Heartthrob** Used to create blasts of light and electricity from her wand.

And yet when he found it, his smile shifted, and he closed the case for the wand. Her secrets were hers to share and to kept, just as Esther's was Esther's to do the same with. He slid it back across the table and with his left hand, re-adjusted his glasses. A flash of light from outside obscured the view of his eyes.

`"Oh I know what that is. To think... You were into such media this whole time and you didn't tell me."`

From the bag of his, sitting next to him in the empty seat by the window, he pulled out several books. Manga, nothing from aleph, but old books from inspired authors from Bet. He kept surprisingly good care of them. `"We could have been talking about this for years."`
Aaron
The seams were not hard to find once he had his hands on the wand. A nearly invisible dial built into the side, a small opening at the bottom to slide a battery into, and finally the slightest hum of from inside. Electric. She grinned at him and leaned into her chair as she put her case back where it belonged. She tapped the side of her nose.

"C'mon! You could have asked at any point! I'm a huge fan of all of that stuff!"

She sat up as he pulled out the books from his bag. She scooted forward in her seat and looked over what he had. A nostalgic excitement filling her as she poked through the options.

"My dad use to buy Aleph movies for me on holidays. All of those old Japanese cartoons and shows. I loved the guys in the costumes with cool transformation belts and- well, my first crush was Sailor Uranus."
Marvin
`"I was always a bigger fan of mecha. Things like Gurren Lagann and Gundam."` Esther's bright and cheery smile seemed to calm as he put what she wasn't interested in away. He sat with the revelation for a moment, that she too was a cape. It took him at least a year to come clean to her about this, And she seemed so ready to face him with it on the spot? Was it because he was a cape? Even so, he wasn't so sure he would have had that same courage...

It was nice at least, to be able to confide in another cape, a best friend, at that. Katie was surely strong, he thought, if she was able to face telling him. It's taken him so long...

`"I. I hope I can really make a difference. My power doesn't seem that special. Tinkering is not exactly difficult, but it isn't easy either."`
Aaron
"Gurren lagann? I saw that once but it never.. Dunno. Got me?" She picked up a manga with a look of wistfulness. Her hands carefully flicked through it as she skimmed the pages with mild interest as she tried not to divide her attention too much from Esther. She was much calmer about the hero thing since Esther had, really, worked up the courage to say it the first. He gave her the motivation to willingly say it. Besides, she couldn't leave a friend hanging.

"My father always told me that little girls and boys can change the world with little kindnesses. I think I didn't get that until I lost my mum." She sighed and sat down the manga, giving a sad smile. "I realized that with what I have now, I can perform kindnesses that could change the fate of people like my mother. Change the hearts of people like her." It was something she's been thinking about for a long time. Something that she reminded herself of every time she put on the costume.
Marvin
Esther didn't move to comment, they didn't feel there was much to be added to what she'd said, they felt the sentiment and let the weight of it rest on them for a moment before taking pen and paper again to write, instead of speaking through the arm.

' I appreciate your friendship Katie. You're inspiring.' was all it said when he passed it to her. They didn't have much time left on their lunch break, gathering their things and scooting out of his chair to come to her side for a hug, if she'd take it.

_"Little girls and boys change the world"_

What she'd told him of her father's words rang true in him a little, he still kind of felt like a kid. He pushed himself to get ahead in the wake of all that threatened to destabilize his life, and to an extent, he'd made it for himself, at least as a citizen, but there was still so much more they wanted, or rather needed to do now. They had to grow up, push even further, because people would need what they were capable of. At least now he didn't have to hold the burden alone. 

They had Katie, always had them since they met in highschool. Now they had Heartthrob too.
Aaron
She would lean into the hug as he approached, arms open for them. She didn't really have anything she could say about being told she was inspiring, she wasn't anything special, she was just a girl with a love of anime. She was just some dork.. But she wouldn't put herself down. She couldn't let her friend down. Esther being a tinker made her feel better about her own abilities. It made her feel like she wasn't alone.

"I'm glad we got to talk. I'm glad we could come clean about this. I haven't told anyone what I am."

She squeezed them tight before letting go and standing up with a stretch. With a sigh, she slipped her hands back into her sweater pockets and shook her head. She turned back to Esther and tilted her head, seeing if he had anything left to say before they parted.
Marvin
Esther could see her take pause, and they crossed their arms for a moment with an infectious smile. They came close again, bending over, as if to whisper. `There is.. One thing, I'd like, with the cat out of the bag now. Call me up sometime soon? I'd like to work together.`

His smile turned playful and mischievous, and he turned finally to walk away, waving Katie goodbye asthey turned the corner past the tall bookshelves.