[accidental video]

[10_20_15_5_50]

[The feed cuts in mid-shriek, Sam’s drone apparently having interpreted the start of the sound as its cue to begin broadcasting. It shows the adept pushing herself to her feet, having been knocked to her hands and knees by---what? Water. She’s drenched to dripping, and the street she stands on is wet for several metres all around.]

Calvaire de crisse...!

[It’s no more than a mutter as she straightens and immediately starts for the shelter of the closest building, casting an anxious glance up as she goes. She’s through a doorway in a matter of moments due to making haste, and relaxes---marginally---as she moves further away from the entrance.]

Comments

Re: [Video]

[knight_light]

Good, that's good to know.

[He sighs.] I'm...going to have to have a talk with him...

[Video]

[10_20_15_5_50]

That might not be a bad idea...? And just---excuse me a minute. Just a minute.

[The feed cuts out. After a minute or two, it cuts back in, Sam seeming a bit more settled. By the background, she's still in the same building.]

Just had to set myself in order. Wing, I figure I have a favour to ask of you.

Re: [Video]

[knight_light]

[He'll wait for her return.]

Ask it.

[Video]

[10_20_15_5_50]

Y'mind seeing me to the spa, soonish? An escort might not be a bad idea, but this is the thing; that's all I'm going to ask, because I will see myself safely home---and from here.

Re: [Video]

[knight_light]

I will escort you any time, anywhere, my friend. Just say when and where.

[Video]

[10_20_15_5_50]

You really are wonderful, Wing.

I thought about asking you now, but... no. I have problems, and Dirge is one of them, but I'm not helpless, and sooner or later he'll have to understand that's for a fact.

Re: [Video]

[knight_light]

[He gives her a little smile and a nod.]

Just be careful. I'll be here when you're ready for that escort.

[video to text]

[10_20_15_5_50]

[She nods, smiling back.]

Of course. Until then.

[The feed blips out. After a little while, Wing's drone will chime with an incoming text.]

home safe just give me a bit

I shall! :)

[the_other_green_seeker]

Heh, anyone who gives me grief will usually end up getting some of their own right back. But I'll remember that, thanks.

Now you should probably find somewhere to dry off. I know you won't melt but last I heard, standing around cold and wet wasn't that great for humans.

[text]

[knight_light]

[He's quick to reply]

Thank you for telling me.

Just let me know. I'll come right over.

[10_20_15_5_50]

I'd expect as much, but I'd be happy to add to what grief they'd get.

[It is an odd friendship... but it boasts a genuine camaraderie, and, for each, an interest in the other's well-being---as evidenced! Sam makes an amused little sound, but nods at that observation.]

I'm gonna head home in a minute, here, so no worries.

[action]

[10_20_15_5_50]

[It isn't long after the locked exchange (maybe ten, twelve minutes) that the apartment's door can be heard opening, and then clicking closed. Should Hiro go to greet his roommate, on account of expecting her---

---he'll see a stranger.]

[text]

[10_20_15_5_50]

wouldn't want you worried :)

[some time later, there's another message]

good to go

Re: [action]

[diagnosispuberty]

[Sam should really take it as a good thing that Hiro's first reaction is one that demonstrates he's protective of his new home --

-- he immediately grabs the toaster and throws it at the intruder, yelling something unintelligible, but hopefully intimidating.]

[action]

[10_20_15_5_50]

Oh, shit! [Startled, Sam bats the toaster aside, and it crashes to the floor with a snap-sproing-rattle that doesn't bode well at all. There's time to think great there goes the second toaster somewhere under all her what the hell and then it hits: the Ruse hasn't yet timed out, and she didn't drop it.] Shit.

[And, abruptly, what was unfamiliar resolves itself into the recognized---somehow, without involving an actual change. It's a little like recognizing someone's old, old photo, or a family resemblance, only much... more, and in a way, worse, because so many features simply failing to register is nonsensical stuff.]

Re: [action]

[diagnosispuberty]

[It's fortunate that Sam chooses to make herself known (however that works) when she does, because Hiro has the coffee machine hefted up over his head and is about .5 seconds from throwing that too.

Once he registers who it is, however, he freezes, brow furrowed, appliance still held up threateningly.]

....explain, please.

[action]

[10_20_15_5_50]

...I was preoccupied with the whole Problem of Dirge?

[She turns her palms up, as that's the best she's got to begin with, and kicks off the shoe she hadn't had time to remove before being (understandably) assaulted before stepping over to Hiro and taking the coffeemaker from his hands.]

And I wasn't expecting to be met at the door.

[Even if the aptly-named Danger Zone is immediately to the side of it.]

Re: [text]

[knight_light]

I’ll be there shortly.

[Give him a few minutes, he’ll be there.]

[Action]

[10_20_15_5_50]

[Having been watching at the window, Sam opens it enough to lean out, hands cupped to her mouth, and shout for the mech's attention.]

Wing!

Thank you for coming.

Re: [action]

[diagnosispuberty]

[Hiro surrenders the coffeemaker, albeit reluctantly, still giving Sam a very suspicious look.]

...how can I be sure you're really you, then?

[action]

[10_20_15_5_50]

...I ate all the clear gummy bears out of the bag you have hidden in the turkey trying to figure out what the flavour's supposed to be. Who else would know about the bag there, or that all the clear ones went missing? And, I'll actually explain now.

[After setting the machine onto a clear bit of counter, Sam crosses her arms---she's still damp from her drenching, and so kind of cold---and shrugs.]

I can go without other people really seeing me for a short...spell. [Look within your heart, Hiro; that lame pun carries more weight than any I.D.] They see 'somebody,' sure, but I don't really register.

Re: [Action]

[knight_light]

[He smiles as he approaches, kneeling near her.] Of course. Anything for a friend.

[Action]

[10_20_15_5_50]

You say that, and I think 'nobody could ask for a better one.'

Should I bother going down and out, or...?

[The window is big enough to accommodate furniture like bedframes, and at a height for handing.]

[action]

[diagnosispuberty]

[Hiro slowly relaxes bit by bit -- it's mostly the pun that does it -- but he still keeps the counter between the two of them.]

...how?

[action]

[10_20_15_5_50]

Magic.

[That's it, that's the one kinda-concise answer you're going to get.]

Friend of mine liked to joke it's 'the octopus ruse' since I'm obscuring myself with my ink, but if you want to get technical, it's like... 'Associative visual agnosia' would be the technical term. It's, what, prosopagnosia when a person can recognize that they are looking at a face, but not whose? Like that, but for every feature, and for about fifteen minutes.