[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

Re: [Action]

[cutejustice]

I could.

[This was admitted softly. And Maya just continued to pet Maya.]

You're really soft. I'm glad you're not a ghost. Ghost cats aren't nearly as soft.

[Or quite so solid for pettings.]

[cutejustice]

I'm at my place. I can use Helper to send you the address? [The droid beeped helpfully offscreen.]

Concrete ramp? That almost sounds like it would be used for skateboarding, not a roller coaster. Roller coasters generally have cars and tracks and stuff.

[And then she blinked. She couldn't have heard that right... could she?] Couch fort?

[cutejustice]

[Food was a great distraction, so Maya dug into the poutine when it came, taking the time to consider her next response.]

This is really good!

And I've seen people freak out. I tend to get the ridicule or the sheer disbelief though. I'm not sure which is worse. Of course, then there's the fun option of when people do believe you, wanting you to use your talent all the time. Which also isn't the best option.

[10_20_15_5_50]

[Another nod; she told you so! And although seeing Maya enjoying the poutine is enough to prompt Sam to smile, she leans forward a little and speaks very seriously.]

I hope nobody's tried to twist your arm...?

Re: [Action]

[not_a_ghost]

[Sirrah stands up again, a soft prrt sound coming out of her. She pushes her head up under the girl's chin, just loving on her a bit.]

Why thank you. It's one reason I'm so fond of this form.

[She's solid when she wants to be.]

[thankyou4myheart]

Oh? What kind of training have you done? If you don't mind my asking.

[knight_light]

[He nods.] Do so, I’ll come show you how to use the Gateways.

[He shrugs.] I don’t know, I just know I’ve seen it around.

[And then he laughs.] Yes. A couch fort. [One he helped build ages ago all considering.]

[cutejustice]

[Maya blinked, looking up at Sam's serious tone. That... was a little scary.]

Um... not really. My friend is a lawyer. He worked in my sister's law office, before she was killed. The first year or so he was practicing law, he'd ask me to channel my sister a lot to help him with cases. By the end, I got kind of burned out on channelling.

[She shakes her head a little then.]

I wanted to help him though. And he's gotten better as a lawyer, and I've ended up channeling my sister less over the last few years. But... he never really forced me to do it, or twisted my arm or anything.

Re: [Action]

[cutejustice]

So... can you turn into anything you want?

[Don't worry, Sirrah, Maya wasn't stopping with the pettings any time soon. Though she smiled a little at the ghost energy kitty love.]

[cutejustice]

Spirit medium training.

[Maya smiled a little.]

They say that standing under freezing cold waterfalls for hours raises spiritual power.

[And from the tone in her voice, it was hard to tell if she was being serious or not.]

[cutejustice]

Helper, you heard him! Send him the address!

[The droid beeps and sends the address as requested. No directions though. Hopefully there is a Cybertron equivalent of Google Maps or something you can use, Wing.]

I'll have to check this concrete ramp out...

[This is thoughtful. If nothing else, she and Raiden might be able to use it in their driving car through helicopter stunt.]

A couch fort. Is it used for anything? Or is it just a fort made of couches? [It sounded sort of like the pillow forts of her childhood except... couch sized.]

[thankyou4myheart]

Oh? May I ask what a spirit medium is?

[He honestly doesn't know, oops.]

I see. Does it? That doesn't sound like it's healthy, to be honest.

[cutejustice]

Um... we channel spirits? Like... [Oh god, how to explain this to a robot?] If a person dies, the a spirit medium can channel that person's spirit through their body, and let that person talk to the living.

Does that make sense?

[Did robots have ghosts or spirits for that to make sense? She really couldn't comment on the waterfall bit. It might not be healthy. It certainly wasn't pleasant.]

[10_20_15_5_50]

[The older girl settled back at that answer, looking a little relieved (even in spite of swallowing whatever she would've said about Maya's sister; since 'sorry about your mom' had gone unremarked on, it seemed to be best).]

Oh, that's good to hear. Being taken seriously shouldn't really go wrong here, since occult-y abilities aren't unheard of---in addition to fairies, dragons, and all sorts of stuff---but at home? Someone being believed-in by the wrong people and subsequently strong-armed: kind of a concern.

[hotheadwarmheart]

Yeah, probly not. I mean, no offence and I realize I could easily be misjudging here, but you don't really look like someone who packs that level of firepower.

And while I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of him, I hope it's a long time before he rears his ugly head again. We stopped him the last time but the cost was... a little too high, for my liking.

[He looked solemn for a moment, but it passed as the conversation continued. Her idea of Death made his lips quirk into a small, amused smirk.]

Well, if you wanted him to look like that, I'm sure he'd accommodate you. He's a pretty reasonable guy, when not there to do his job.

[thankyou4myheart]

You mean, you let spirits possess you? How much control do you retain? That could be dangerous, if an evil spirit manages to slip in.

[Yep, it makes sense. It helps that he's a robot built and programmed by humans.]



((ooc: Oh, man, and now I kinda want somehow for her to figure out that he's got a soul too! They don't find this out until the VERY END of the series, but the BP units are, in fact, alive - either have been all along, or an instant in the series climax pushes them that last little bit over the edge, it's not wholly clear [Deckard's pulled from about two months before that], but...yeah... XD))

[cutejustice]

I'll have you know that you're talking to the Master of the Kurain School of Channeling Technique. That means I theoretically have quite a bit of spiritual power at my disposal to throw around, Mister. Maybe even enough to take on this Unicron guy. You shouldn't judge people just because they don't look like much.

[She's teasing. She wants absolutely no part of Evil Chaos Deities. Unicron can stay far far away.]

And I think I could live the rest of my life with Death being a cat. Cats are much less threatening than old men with tazers.

[cutejustice]

[Death wasn't really the end for Feys. You could channel people, talk to their spirits. And Maya's relationship with her sister was a lot less complicated than the one with her mother was. So an offer of sympathy there might have been better received.]

I've met a little fairy dragon. That was actually pretty neat. Not to mention the robots. This place is kind of amazing. At home... yeah, at home can be kind of challenging.

[cutejustice]

[Huh, okay, he got the basic concept. Sort of. that made this a little easier.]

Well... it's not quite possession. It's more like I let the spirit into my body for awhile. I just... don't really remember what happens while the spirit is there.

[Okay, so channeling is totally like a controlled possession. Maya just isn't admitting that.]

But we don't just channel any random spirit. Generally the spirit medium knows who she is calling, so there is a measure of control there. And the medium's spiritual power has to be strong enough to channel the spirit in the first place.




((ooc: The way I tend to play it, Maya tends to see people's souls as their Auras. If Deckard has a soul, Maya will probably be able to see it as an Aura. It will just sort of need to come up, since I doubt she's going to declare "Oh hay! You have a soul!" in the middle of conversation. XD))

[10_20_15_5_50]

[Hindsight: 20/20. But if it comes up again, after they're better-acquainted... well.]

Not only 'kind of,' in my own opinion... and the robots, yeah. They're pretty great. Good people. With, well... one exception I've seen so far.

[cutejustice]

Most of the robots I've met are pretty great. There was one... he was pretty weird. He was asking me about how to get rid of evil spirits and ghosts and stuff.

[Maya shook her head. That had been a weird conversation.]

Weird guy. Didn't even tell me his name. Asked me about hexes too. I didn't want any part of what he was potentially getting into. I told him that too.

[10_20_15_5_50]

[Sam scowls, although it's with no ill will to Maya---no, the robot in question is quite clearly---]

That ass.

[---the source of her ire.]

That would be Dirge, and I would be why he's asking about that sort of stuff. That said, I should thank you for telling him what you did, and also explain.

First things first: Dirge is a very large potential threat, and you're going to have to watch yourself around him, especially if you ever cross paths in person.

[cutejustice]

Sounds like you two have something of a history. What happened between the two of you that you were threatening him with ghosts and hexes and haunting?

[Maya shakes her head.]

He was interrogating me to see if I was worthy to be his friend. Ugh, no thanks. I could go forever without running into him again.

[10_20_15_5_50]

It's actually a pretty short story. Talking to Dirge, I learned that he's an extreme omnivore... who sees no reason eating other people should be, on principle, ruled right out. We... discussed it for a while, but when I was working on all the ethical arguments against murdering people for food, he got this attitude and declared he would eat whatever he wanted. In turn, I told him that if he ate or otherwise did in anyone, I'd witch his sense of taste away.

[She offers Mia a crooked little smile.]

Not everything I can do is as benign as seeing stuff.

[She shrugs one shoulder, before lifting her elbows to the table.]

I also told him he didn't have an easy out in offing me, because if he did, I'd haunt the hell out of him.

[knight_light]

[And his own drone gives a beep when the address comes up on his screen.]

[He’s pretty sure driving a car on it was the purpose behind it, but...] Just be careful...it’s...not in the best state.

[He shakes his head with a light laugh.] I don’t know. A group of us built it...well, compared to people here it was a long time ago. We just did it for fun. [And because it made Ravage happy.] I’m actually really surprised it’s still around, but I have no idea what, if anything, it may be used for now.