Poem: "A Rare Sense of Elegance"
This poem is spillover from the April 6, 2021 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
chanter1944, technoshaman, kengr, and 
rix_scaedu. It also fills the "Senses" square in my 4-4-21 "Aspects" card for the Genderplay Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by janetmiles. It belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics.
"A Rare Sense of Elegance"
[1948]
The Cartier pilot watch that had
belonged to Alberto Santos-Dumont
was passed down through the family,
wandering all around Brazil.
Stories grew up around it,
and sometimes its wearers.
There were people who thought
it granted wishes and people who
thought it did nothing at all.
Most considered it simply
an eccentric good-luck piece
from a quirky ancestor.
In any case, it seemed
to like quirky descendents,
who got the best luck from it.
So the Cartier pilot watch came
to Honorée Santos-Dumont, who was
much like the smart and spunky women
that Alberto once admired, for all that
she mixed men's and women's clothes.
Wearing that watch enhanced
her innate sense of elegance.
Instead of inventing things,
Honorée picked up pieces of
bleeding-edge technology and
made them lighter, smoother,
prettier, and easier to use.
Her improved designs became
quite popular, soon making her
an influential person in Brazil.
Nobody had expected this
to happen, but with that watch,
you never knew what could.
The family would on the porch and
argue about what the watch did,
and how, and why it worked for
some people but not others.
They argued over whether it was
science, or magic, or something else
that they couldn't even name.
Honorée just laughed and said
that of course it was because of
science -- what else could it be?
It was just science that nobody but
old Cartier had really understood yet.
So she corresponded with other scientists
and improved everyone else's inventions
and went out dancing with colorful people of
questionable character and mysterious dress.
Her family sighed a bit over the shenanigans,
but they were Santos-Dumont and thus
no stranger to such challenges.
After all, Honorée had the rare sense
of elegance that had allowed Alberto
to refine flying machines into something
that was actually practical to use.
They could put up with a bit of
mischief for the sake of that.
* * *
Notes:
Honorée Santos-Dumont -- She has tinted skin, brown eyes, and long curly black hair. A descendant of Luis Santos-Dumont, she received the Cartier pilot watch that had first belonged to Alberto Santos-Dumont. Instead of inventing things, Honorée takes bleeding-edge technology and makes it lighter, smoother, prettier, and easier to use. Her designs are popular, making her an influential person in Brazil. She is a gender maverick, like the smart and spunky women that Alberto once admired. Many of her interests are masculine, but her sense of design is more feminine.
Origin: A Super-Gizmo enhanced her elegance to a superpower.
Uniform: She wears lightweight, practical clothes to suit Brazil's hot weather. She dislikes frilly clothes, often mixing and matching men's and women's wear.
Qualities: Expert (+2) Mechanical Intelligence, Good (+2) Dexterity, Good (+2) Gender Maverick, Good (+2) Influential
Poor (-2) Low Alcohol Tolerance
Powers: Good (+2) Elegance
Motivation: "There. Now it works right."
* * *
Alberto Santos-Dumont and his Cartier pilot watch are first mentioned in "The Lights Behind Us."
Alberto Santos Dumont was a famous aviator originally from Brazil. People argue about his sex/gender dynamics.
See some genealogy for Alberto's brother Luis Santos Dumont (1869-1930).
chanter1944, technoshaman, kengr, and rix_scaedu. It also fills the "Senses" square in my 4-4-21 "Aspects" card for the Genderplay Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by janetmiles. It belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics."A Rare Sense of Elegance"
[1948]
The Cartier pilot watch that had
belonged to Alberto Santos-Dumont
was passed down through the family,
wandering all around Brazil.
Stories grew up around it,
and sometimes its wearers.
There were people who thought
it granted wishes and people who
thought it did nothing at all.
Most considered it simply
an eccentric good-luck piece
from a quirky ancestor.
In any case, it seemed
to like quirky descendents,
who got the best luck from it.
So the Cartier pilot watch came
to Honorée Santos-Dumont, who was
much like the smart and spunky women
that Alberto once admired, for all that
she mixed men's and women's clothes.
Wearing that watch enhanced
her innate sense of elegance.
Instead of inventing things,
Honorée picked up pieces of
bleeding-edge technology and
made them lighter, smoother,
prettier, and easier to use.
Her improved designs became
quite popular, soon making her
an influential person in Brazil.
Nobody had expected this
to happen, but with that watch,
you never knew what could.
The family would on the porch and
argue about what the watch did,
and how, and why it worked for
some people but not others.
They argued over whether it was
science, or magic, or something else
that they couldn't even name.
Honorée just laughed and said
that of course it was because of
science -- what else could it be?
It was just science that nobody but
old Cartier had really understood yet.
So she corresponded with other scientists
and improved everyone else's inventions
and went out dancing with colorful people of
questionable character and mysterious dress.
Her family sighed a bit over the shenanigans,
but they were Santos-Dumont and thus
no stranger to such challenges.
After all, Honorée had the rare sense
of elegance that had allowed Alberto
to refine flying machines into something
that was actually practical to use.
They could put up with a bit of
mischief for the sake of that.
* * *
Notes:
Honorée Santos-Dumont -- She has tinted skin, brown eyes, and long curly black hair. A descendant of Luis Santos-Dumont, she received the Cartier pilot watch that had first belonged to Alberto Santos-Dumont. Instead of inventing things, Honorée takes bleeding-edge technology and makes it lighter, smoother, prettier, and easier to use. Her designs are popular, making her an influential person in Brazil. She is a gender maverick, like the smart and spunky women that Alberto once admired. Many of her interests are masculine, but her sense of design is more feminine.
Origin: A Super-Gizmo enhanced her elegance to a superpower.
Uniform: She wears lightweight, practical clothes to suit Brazil's hot weather. She dislikes frilly clothes, often mixing and matching men's and women's wear.
Qualities: Expert (+2) Mechanical Intelligence, Good (+2) Dexterity, Good (+2) Gender Maverick, Good (+2) Influential
Poor (-2) Low Alcohol Tolerance
Powers: Good (+2) Elegance
Motivation: "There. Now it works right."
* * *
Alberto Santos-Dumont and his Cartier pilot watch are first mentioned in "The Lights Behind Us."
Alberto Santos Dumont was a famous aviator originally from Brazil. People argue about his sex/gender dynamics.
See some genealogy for Alberto's brother Luis Santos Dumont (1869-1930).