[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]

Maya, nice to meet you! I'm Sam, and also surprised. You get many ghosts talking to you?

[It's a perfectly serious question---she's not trying to tease.]

[cutejustice]

Back home, I did. I'm from a town called Kurain. Home of the Kurain Channeling Technique. I can talk to ghosts, I can channel spirits. I can see ghosts, even if I don't channel them. Since some ghosts just never really go away. Most ghosts are actually pretty harmless though.

[Note: most ghosts.]

So, Sam. Are you new too? Or have you been here for awhile?

[10_20_15_5_50]

And you're not yanking my chain, here?

Newish. I'm coming up on two months, though that sounds strange; I can barely believe it.

[cutejustice]

There are better stories I could make up if I wanted to yank your chain.

[Maya wasn't really surprised at Sam's question. She heard it, or questions similar to it often enough. Spirit medium wasn't exactly a super-common profession, after all.]

You've still been here a little longer than me. I just got here. No warning. Everyone back home is probably frantic.

[10_20_15_5_50]

I didn't mean anything by it, but I had to ask since I sometimes see ghosts. Not all that often, and not well, unless they're... I guess, attached, to a live person, but still!

[What was growing excitement falls away at 'everyone back home,' and the girl grimaces.]

I'm sorry. It sucks, I know. There wasn't any warning for me, either---I was walking to my car after work, was all.

[cutejustice]

You can see ghosts too?

[And my, wasn't that some hopeful excitement in Maya's tone.]

Ghosts can be attached to a living person but, well, the circumstances in those cases aren't usually good in my experience. Occasionally it's not a bad thing, but... try explaining that to the scared person that's being haunted.

[At Sam's description as to what she had been doing when she had ended up on Cybertron, Maya smiled sympathetically.]

I was meditating. I had gone home to finish my training. Or figure out what I wanted to do with myself. One minute I was trying to focus and trying to keep my mind from wandering, the next I was waking up in a lake here on Cybertron.

[10_20_15_5_50]

[In for a penny, in for a pound.]

Auras, mostly. I think it's an extension of that, the ghosts and some other stuff. It's almost like... if there's something with enough of a tie to someone, that illuminates it. 'Illuminates' is not the word I want, exactly, but it's the closest thing I can think of.

[And for things to think of---]

In a lake?

[cutejustice]

Well... when I see auras, it's a bit different. But I actually can relate to what you're saying. In my experience, people who are sensitive to that sort of thing each tend to see auras a bit differently.

[Maya tended to see auras as colors around a person, for example.]

Did you know, ghosts don't have auras?

[At Sam's other question, Maya smiled a bit sheepishly.]

There's a lake in south sector. One minute I was meditating, the next thing I know, I'm in a lake, surrounded by gross black-purple mist stuff on Cybertron. I've trained under freezing cold waterfalls before, so this wasn't the worst, but it was pretty bad.

[thankyou4myheart]

Good afternoon, Maya. My name is Deckard, with the Haven police. I'm not familiar with the legal side of things, but I'd imagine the police chief could direct you. The main precint is in the South region. I could take you there if you'd like.

[knight_light]

Spirit medium?

[He shakes himself] My apologies. My name is Wing. It's a pleasure to meet you, Maya.

[video]

[not_a_ghost]

[Just a face. A ghostly kitty face]

[video]

[cutejustice]

[Ghost cat. Ghost cat. Oh well. It's not the weirdest thing that Maya has ever seen. And she smiles at it.]

Kitty! Where did you come from?

[If this was, in fact, just a ghost cat... well... she wasn't really expecting much of an answer. Not all ghosts were exactly something that you could do something about, after all.]

Re: [video]

[not_a_ghost]

Very far from here.

[cutejustice]

[Wow. Another robot man. This place was, indeed, full of them. Maya stared at him a little, before shaking herself out of it. Someday she might get used to really tall robots, but today was clearly not that day.]

Yeah. Spirit medium. I see ghosts, I can channel spirits. That sort of thing. Are there robot ghosts?

[She would probably regret asking that question later.]

It's nice to meet you, Wing. I just showed up here not that long ago, so I'm still kind of getting used to everything.

[video]

[cutejustice]

Oh wow! You can talk? What's your name?

[Correction: a talking ghost cat. This? This had just gotten way more interesting.]

[cutejustice]

[She paused before she responded to that. She hadn't really been looking for any cases. After all, technically she wasn't a lawyer yet, but it might not be bad to get an idea of what was going on around here. Robot crimes might be better to deal with than robot ghosts.]

So... are you a detective or an officer, Mr. Deckard?

[He didn't look quite as big as the other robots. Maya hadn't actually thought that the police force would be robots, honestly. She thought, once more, of a giant robot Detective Gumshoe, and giggled a little.]

I've been to the South region. I woke up in the lake there. It was cold.

[She made a slight face at the memory.]

[knight_light]

Wow, that sounds quite amazing.

There are stories of ghosts, though I can't say if they're real or not.

[He smiles.]

In that case, welcome Maya. If you need help with anything you're welcome to call me.

Re: [video]

[not_a_ghost]

Sirrah, I'm one of the Guardians here.

It is nice to meet you, my dear. [She gives a deep nod of her head.]

[cutejustice]

It's not too bad. The problem with ghosts is that I can see them... and they never quite go away, even if I can't channel them.

[Maya shrugged. Robot ghost stories. She filed that away for later. She would have to keep an eye out for robot ghosts now. Great.]

Oh there are so many things that I need help with. I don't even know where to start.

[She was smiling a little, but there was a slight serious note to her voice. She was so overwhelmed by being here. She had a million questions, and her little robot buddy could only do so much.]

[video]

[cutejustice]

What the...?!

You're one of the Guardians? I thought that the Guardians would all be Giant Robot people...

[Maya honestly looked a little confused. She had gotten a little of the tutorial, but apparently Helper there had only mentioned that there were Guardians, not that one of them was a Ghost Cat. And Maya peered at Sirrah, blinking a little.]

You aren't a ghost, either.

[10_20_15_5_50]

To understate! [Sam's surprise is milder this time, but the exclaimation's authentic; she spreads her hands.] If I see see a ghost, especially if it isn't attached to anyone alive, the aura's most of it. It's like... all the emotion I'd expect off a person, on its own.

[It's the sheepishness as much as the story which prompts a look of sympathy.]

Ohh, no, poor you! At least it's pretty nice here, weather-wise...? And generally, the situation aside. But it's what, something like seventeen C?

[That's acclimatization speaking. It's more like 15 C during the day, and 10 C after dark, but Sam's given to overestimating the temperature on account of arriving fresh out of February.]

[Video]

[dirge]

You can talk to ghosts?

[He's only recently found out about human ghosts and how they could haunt him via the Sam Witch's threats to do so if he killed her.]

Would you be able to convince one to go away?

[Video]

[cutejustice]

I can talk to ghosts!

[At the big robot man's question, Maya frowns a little.]

I can do exorcisms, if that's what you're asking. Are you being haunted by a ghost?

[Great. Robot ghosts. This could be tricky. Where did robots even go when they died? That was the real question.]

Re: [Video]

[dirge]

...Not at the moment. But possibly in the future.

What about curses? Can you remove those?

[Humans were a lot more powerful here than any he had encountered back in his own universe, it seemed.]

[Video]

[cutejustice]

[At that question, Maya looks at the large robot man with a very sideways look.]

I can remove curses. But if you're doing something that involves angry ghosts and getting curses flung your way, I'm not sure I should be talking to you, let alone helping you.

Not to mention, I don't even know your name.

[One thing she had learned very young - if a person brought a haunting or a curse upon themselves, sometimes it was just better to leave well enough alone. This might be one of those sometimes.]