kismet_loop | [accidental video]

Entry tags:

unknown armies | samantha patchowski (oc

[accidental video]

[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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah. If he graduates to something more deadly than water.

[Hiro doesn't even remotely have the words to articulate it, but it comes down to: Sam is family, and you protect your family.

The question gets a shrug and a nod.] I'm pretty much always in. [His own personal haunting didn't usually follow him inside the apartment.]

Sounds good, and okay, I'll be there in a bit.

[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.]

[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.]

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.]

[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.

...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.]

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

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

...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.

[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?

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.

...that's...wow. [Now that Hiro isn't in "protect home from intruders" mode, he can take a step back and realize how cool that is.] That must...come in handy, huh?

[Despite everything preceding this part of the conversation---up to and including the ruin of toaster #2---Sam smiles broadly. It is cool, and incredibly useful.]

Days like today? You bet. I didn't want Dirge to see me on my way home, swoop down, and take some surer shot at me... so I made sure he wouldn't see me.

[Don't worry, Hiro can fix the toaster! ~~He can make it BETTER!~~ And now that things are explained and the adrenaline is fading, he's feeling very awkward and sheepish.]

Uhhhh...right. Maybe, um...we should work out some kinda...signal, when you do that. So I don't uh...attack you again.

I'm not planning on doing it again any time soon, but I am open to suggestions, planning to warn you if possible, planning to drop the ruse as soon as I am safely indoors, and frankly impressed. You wasted no time tossing that toaster.

[Talk about a surprise attack! It's enough to earn an approving nod.]

...I'm also sorry for giving you a scare like that.

[So maybe Hiro isn't the only one feeling sort of sheepish.]

...yeahhhh, sorry about that. You're lucky I wasn't holding anything more dangerous though. [Who's been working on a laser gun, not Hiro, nope, not at all.]

It's fine. The toaster sacrificed itself and evened out the playing field, let's say.

True. You can do a number on somebody with a toaster, though.

[Certain ongoing projects are going to make life even more interesting upon being uncovered, but the incident at hand is one Sam already regards as being no big deal, now that the air's clear. She steps over the ruins of toaster #2 to get further into the apartment, and spares the wreck a glance.]

Are you already thinking about how to best build/rebuild the thing? And I've got another question...

Ehhh, my aim was a little off.

[Hiro's going to hunch down by the toaster, looking thoughtful.] Yeah, I'm thinking combination toaster/toaster oven. Less aerodynamic, so it won't get thrown.

...what kinda question?

[Sam hunches across from him, so as to look him in the face.]

The kind you might not like so much, since it's 'what's this about you being haunted?'

[What, wait, no fair, he wasn't expecting that. Hiro backs up a couple steps, automatically twisting his fingers together, for once without something in his hands to fiddle with.]

I-I don't know what you mean.

[That's exactly why she's asking now, instead of allowing him more time to come up with some cover.]

Still a shit liar on the spot.

[It's a nearly-neutral observation, but then her expression softens somewhat, concern surfacing.]

Tell me what's happened? Please, kiddo. C'mon.

[gdit Sam, now Hiro's too far away to elbow you for the insult re: his fibbing skills. So instead he'll try and shrug the concern off.]

I-It was a ghost thing. Happened to everyone here, yeah? No big deal.

[Elbowing can come later, when she least expects it.]

Some sort of deal. Why didn't you say anything? Has it been an ongoing thing? We could find a way to clear the apartment, probably---I have done some work for ghost wards.

[There's a long moment of hesitation before Hiro says, quietly:]

I'm actually sort of used to it. The whole ghost thing just...enhanced what I already kept seeing and hearing.

...does that make me totally crazy, or....?

Nah, it doesn't.

[That answer comes easily, almost immediately, as Sam lowers herself to sit on the floor next to what remains of their toaster.]

It makes me kinda curious, though. I can tell you're a bit bothered---maybe just because this has come up in conversation, maybe by something more---by looking at you, so I want to know; what aspect of it is it? How bad would you say it is? And, do you want to do something about it?

If it's the talking about this that's really bothering you, I'm not gonna take offence. Promise. It's just...

[She shrugs.]

I want to have your back, here. And having missed all this, I feel like I could do a lot better when it comes to looking out for you.

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