[Video]

[cutejustice]

[Well. Maya had gotten settled, such as it was. She had found a place to live for the time being. But so far not really doing much of anything was driving her up one wall and back down the other. So, it was clearly time to change that.

The screen flashed on. She at least had figured out how to access the network. Though it had taken many questions (sometimes asked more than once!) of her long suffering robot buddy, Helper.]

Hi! For those of you who don't know, I am Maya! I know there are a lot of people and robots and stuff I probably haven't met yet!

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone needed a lawyer around here? Or a spirit medium/ghost talker type person? Don't think it's weird that I'm mentioning the two of those things in close proximity. You'd be surprised at how often the two intersect!

[Robots could get into trouble, right? Besides, there were human people around. Besides... Maya didn't want to know know about the existence of robot ghosts, thanks. Though she had a feeling she might find out before she got to go home.]

Comments

[10_20_15_5_50]

Oh, their burgers are good! Better bison than I've had in the last year. Moved to Manitoba from Alberta a year ago, missed it ever since.

[Sam nods, grinning, and takes the helmet to tuck it into the storage space beneath the streetdoo's seat.]

Glad you thought so.

[knight_light]

[He smiles, understanding.] It's quite a shock, being here. Take your time. I'm glad to help.

Way backdated. X3 Pretend I'm not super late. XD

[hotheadwarmheart]

[Oh hey, a new face! And a new human face at that; always good.]

Dunno anybody who needs a lawyer. Come to think of it, I really have no idea how the court system around here even works.

[Or even if there was one, really. He should maybe look into that...]

Though you may find that the whole thing with ghosts is a bit more... interesting than you're used to.

[cutejustice]

Are there robot ghosts?

[Of all the questions to start with, Maya, you choose that one? Really?]

Also... how the heck do you get around this place? It's so big! Walking takes forever!

And is there anything fun to do?

[What did giant robots consider fun, anyway?]

[cutejustice]

I'm not sure I want to figure out the legal system here, truth be told. I mean... I've seen some pretty weird things back home, but I'm not sure how I'd go about defending a giant robot in a murder case.

[At the redhead's statement that the ghosts were more interesting than she was used to, Maya just groaned.]

All right. Tell me. How weird are the ghosts around here? Are there robot ghosts? Are there zombies? I already had someone tell me that there used to be these guys who could reverse death at a whim, but they don't seem to be around anymore. How much worse does it get?

[cutejustice]

All right! Good burgers! Sounds like we're in business!

[Truly the way to Maya's heart was through her stomach.]

I'm starving, you're starving, what are we waiting for, let's go!

[That declared, Maya practically bolted into the restaurant.]

[10_20_15_5_50]

[Laughing, Sam followed at a much more leisurely pace.]

So tell me, Maya! Are you a fries or onion rings kind of girl, or all about the burgers?

[cutejustice]

Fries aren't bad, but burgers are the main attraction!

[Maya had a second stomach for burgers after all! (And a second stomach for ramen, and a second stomach for steak... the list just went on and on!) They were seated relatively quickly, at least.]

So... have you always been able to see ghosts, or did this start happening to you more recently?

[10_20_15_5_50]

Y'wanna split a side, then? I won't have room for a burger and poutine, but that doesn't stop me from wanting both.

[Yeah, the service at... well, every establishment in Haven was pretty good. For an obviously-underpopulated city on an alien planet, it was a surprisingly pleasant place to be marooned.]

To the extent that I'm able, always. Auras always, too, but I've gotten better at picking stuff out since I was a kid. What about you?

[knight_light]

[That first question made his optics flicker in surprise.]

I don't know. We have stories of ardent sparks, or "robot ghosts" if you will, but I've never seen one for myself, so I don't know if they actually exist.

[This next one was easier to answer.]

There are Gateways. You'd still have to walk some, but the Gateways will help a lot if you know how to use them. I can show you, if you'd like. They're pretty common around here, especially within the city.

[Aaand the last one.]

Well, I guess that depends on what you consider fun. I've noticed all kinds of shops and places of entertainment in the city. What do you like to do for fun?

Re: [video]

[not_a_ghost]

I am. If you want to get technical I'm an alien, of a race of energy beings known as Tej Abri, but I take this form because I find it beautiful and graceful.

[Has she broken your brain yet, Maya? She kind of is and kind of isn't trying to.]

It is indeed a strange place. Don't worry, though, you're not alone and will have help getting settled in.

[cutejustice]

Sure! I don't think that I've ever had poutine before!

[That didn't mean that she'd turn it down! As to Sam's second question, Maya considered it, looking over the menu a little, before answering.]

Well... I'm from a town called Kurain. The women of Kurain are generally spirit channelers. The most powerful family is where the Master comes from. Technically, I'm the Master of Kurain right now, since my mother died. I've never been the best spirit medium, but I've been able to see ghosts and auras since I've been little. I've gotten better at it as I've gotten older.

[cutejustice]

[Ardent sparks? Maya wasn't familiar with that term. So she filed it away for later. But there were robot ghost stories. Which meant there might well be robot ghosts. Wonderful.]

Help using these "Gateway" things would be great! I'm really bad with technology. With my luck I'd find myself on the other side of the city or inside a wall or something!

[She smiled at him then. Most of the robots that she'd met so far had been pretty nice. Which meant that somewhere there were probably not-so-nice robots. She really hoped that she didn't run into them.]

I consider all sorts of stuff fun! I love to eat! But even better, do you guys have any amusement parks in this place? You know, places to ride rides like roller coasters and stuff?

[Giant robots might not know the most about roller coasters, but it never hurt to ask!]

Re: [video]

[cutejustice]

...Do you purr if people pet you?

[Cats were many things in Maya's experience. Beautiful and Graceful weren't exactly either of those things. Clearly Sirrah had met different cats than Maya had.

And she hasn't succeeded quite in breaking Maya's brain. Maya's seen some stuff.]

I know I'm not alone. And it's nice to have help. But sometimes, that can be hard when all your friends and family are on a completely different planet and you have no way of getting home.

[Everyone had been pretty nice so far. But homesickness was a thing that existed. And Maya was trying not to get hit by it. It wasn't working too well.]

Re: [video]

[not_a_ghost]

I do.

[She studies the girl a moment.] Maya, my dear, are you sitting? Please do so, if you're not.

[Go on, she'll wait.]

Re: [video]

[cutejustice]

[Sigh. This is one of those conversations, is it? Maya sits, and the drone accomodates, shifting position accordingly.]

I'm sitting now. How bad is this news going to be?

[Bracing for the worst. Like... is this where she gets told that she's a million years in the future on top of flung far into space and is never going home?]

[Video => Action]

[not_a_ghost]

[She smiles.] No worse than you've already stated.

[But with that she leaps at the screen....and right through it onto Maya's lap.] You just seemed like you could use a little comfort.

[Here that? She's purring at you now.]

[10_20_15_5_50]

If you like fries, you'll like it---unless you hate gravy. It's pretty much just fries with melty chunks of cheese mixed in, topped with gravy, but the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

[Arms folded on the tabletop, Sam leaned forward, absolutely fascinated.]

Wow. I---

[Wait. Priorities.]

I'm sorry about your mom.

Generally, for the entire town? Multiple families practicing? That's...

[She opens one hand beside her head; mind blown.]

I'd wondered off and on if I'd ever actually meet anyone else who saw any of this stuff, y'know? Read through so many parapsychology books growing up, trying to find something that meshed with my own experience, but never turned up much of anything.

[hotheadwarmheart]

[Lea shrugged.]

The same as you would anyone else would be my guess. I've lived with these guys awhile; they might be different from us physically, but I've found that if you just treat them like really huge people you won't be too far off the mark.

[That makes Lea smirk though]

The zombies... we had to deal with at one point but hopefully not again. They weren't native, and were brought in by this huge, evil chaos deity called Unicron. You'll be finding out more about him if you stick around long enough, but for now, just take my word for it; the guy and anything associated with him are seriously bad news.

Also there's the cats. One of them looks like a ghost, but really isn't; she's actually some kind of energy based alien, which is weird enough. Both she and the other cat are among the Guardians here.

And that other cat... is Death. Literally. He's the aspect of Death that serves this world, and though he can really look like anything, he usually takes the shape of a black cat with glowing red eyes, so as not to scare everyone. He kinda can't help being creepy, but he's actually an OK guy... force... whatever, and doesn't usually scare people on purpose.

[cutejustice]

[Robot. Zombies. Maya didn't like dealing with any kind of zombies, but robot zombies? This was going to be awful.]

Evil Chaos Deities are usually bad news. I think I'm going to want to stay far away from this Unicron guy. I mean, if he's an Evil Chaos God, I might not be able to do anything if he shows up, but I'm not going to go looking for trouble, you know?

[At Lea's discussion of cats, Maya blinked.]

I've met one of the cats, Sirrah, not that long ago. But Death around here is a cat? Wow. I just... Wow. I never thought Death would be a cat. I always thought he'd be a bear... or an angry old man with a tazer...

[Maya's seen some weird stuff. Though it's somewhat comforting that Death is a cat and not an angry old prosecutor with a tazer.]

[Action]

[cutejustice]

Oh wow! I didn't think you could do something like that!

[Not like Maya was complaining. She reached out to pet Sirrah. Cat purring was always comforting.]

This whole place is full of surprises. At least not all of them suck.

[cutejustice]

That sounds really good.

[Depending on how awesome this poutine was, Maya might have a second stomach for poutine by the end of lunch.

She also pointedly ignored Sam's sympathy about her mom. That? Was still a topic Maya wasn't sure how she felt about it, so she just wasn't going to talk about it right now.]

From what I've been able to tell, even people from the same tradition experience things slightly differently. My cousin, Pearl, is a lot younger than I am, but she's a lot more powerful than I am too. She should probably be the Master, but she was born in the branch part of the family. Honestly, I'd give her the title if she wanted it though.

[At this, Maya shrugs.]

It's always interesting to meet other people who can see this sort of stuff. A lot of people dismiss me as crazy, because being a spirit medium isn't exactly a "normal" profession, you know? And a lot of people just find it easier to not believe in ghosts than to believe in spirit mediums.

[10_20_15_5_50]

It is really good.

[It's also quick to prepare, even with the care that the cook---whoever/whatever that is---clearly puts into it, so it'll arrive before anything else.]

[Sam nods.]

Oh, I know. Where I'm from---and where I've been!---you just don't talk about this sort of stuff unless you've got an inkling the person you're talking to has... Oh, we'll say 'a talent,' too, because if they don't? They probably won't take you seriously... and if they do, decent odds it would end worse. People can kind of freak out, and it's sort of scary.

[knight_light]

[He chuckles] You'd not end up in a wall, but finding your way around the city could certainly be a challenge. I'd be happy to show you how they work. Where are you now?

I...don't know. There's some sort of concrete ramp around here, but it's not in the best shape.

[And then there's an amused little smile on his face.] There's also a couch fort in the warehouse people are welcome to.

Re: [Action]

[not_a_ghost]

[Sirrah pressed up into the petting with a loud purr before settling in a fluffy ball on the girl's lap.]

You seemed as though you could use a little comfort.