Testdrive for Zoe

[subtleserenity]

[Zoe paces the corridors, quiet as a ghost, but dragging the scent of powder and fire behind her. The Keeper must be somewhere. Half of her wants to find them and stand by their side, a guard as she's always been. Has it been always? That other half of her that says it hasn't, wants to beat the bun tyen-shung duh ee-dway-ro's face in with the butt of her rifle.

She's wearing a frown on her metallic lips, whichever option she chooses in the end.]

Comments

[seerchlight]

[It's hard to pace in a place like this without getting noticed, especially when you've got a look that could mean murder on your face. A glowing form, a fairest probably, literally floats in her direction after spotting her a few times. His feet aren't even touching the floor.]

Sup. You look like you're planning on culling someone.

[His eyes aren't so much eyes as empty voids, and he doesn't direct them to her at all when he talks.]

[subtleserenity]

[She squints in the light he's casting, but her own peculiar eyes are drawn to those voids. His accent is strange, though she can't place why that might be.]

Lookin' for the Keeper. Seen him anywhere?

[She's not going to bother to refute his observation. Guns are made to 'cull,' after all. Her stance becomes a little more guarded, though. Now that she has her own body, has seen more of the Keeper's servants with her own eyes, she can't help feeling suspicious of those who kept their movement free. This one looks like he had. Unless he'd been a lamp.]

[seerchlight]

No. Kind of sure they're not around or else we wouldn't be having this conversation.

[He makes a pointed gesture to his eyes.]

And I'm pretty much the best at seeing things, so you should take my word for it. I feel like that's funny for some reason but. Well. You know.

[subtleserenity]

[She raises a brow. It's a fair point. His eyes, though... those don't make sense.]

Not good enough to see a way out, are they?

[It's half-challenge and half-honest question. The boy really does look like light and shadows. Perhaps he can move between them. That thought is more comforting than she thinks it should be, all things considered. But it would feel familiar somehow.]

[seerchlight]

[He still doesn't look at her while the talks, the same way a blind person has no use for their eyes.]

All I'm seeing is a long time spent going nowhere. So I guess I'd just take the opportunity to chill out if I were you.

[subtleserenity]

[She can't help the smirk that tugs at her lips. Not a lamp. Perhaps he'd been a crystal ball.]

That don't sound half cryptic and creepified. You got some kind of second sight?

[She relaxes slightly, folding her arms over her chest and turning to face him fully.]

[seerchlight]

To be honest, I don't think I even have a first sight.

[This is obviously something he's only just recently had the conscious ability to analyse. He doesn't seem disturbed though - maybe he just finds it mildly novel.]

Second and third, probably. [A snort.] But yeah that's basically douchebag beastshit for "I guess I can see the future, maybe." And a lot of other shit, apparently.

[subtleserenity]

Any chance it could get to lookin' at the past?

[It seems unlikely, but worth a shot. He's being genial, at least. That's more than she might have expected from someone who made her think too much of the Fae and their unnatural beauty.]

I think you might find yourself a rich man, that kind of service.

[The sudden attention to business is curious, but it feels right, like a long-forgotten habit renewed.]

[seerchlight]

[He...looks at her, tilting his head.]

The hell would anyone even pay me with, around here?

[subtleserenity]

[She tilts her head right back.]

Favors. Goods you can't find yourself. Rich don't always mean money. Depends on what you want. Food, medical supplies, bullets. Everyone's got somethin' they need, and tradin's as honest a way to get it as any.

[seerchlight]

[He snorts at her.]

Well I guess I'll see what people are willing to offer up for vaguely cryptic notions about nothing in particular. Tons of shit, I bet.

[subtleserenity]

[She almost says she's certain they would, but she's not sure why. The sensation of a memory just out of reach washes over her, souring her amusement.]

Just so long as you ain't taking too much advantage, I don't see a problem lettin' them hang themselves out for you. All the best psychics are cryptic, too. Saves them havin' to be full right.

I take it that's a no to my question, though?

[seerchlight]

[He shrugs a shoulder.]

I don't think so. Can't remember shit so seeing the past seems like a bit much to hope for.

[subtleserenity]

[Her lips draw to a thin line.]

Hope's the only thing we got, seems like. I've just got the one memory. You remember any kind of war?

[seerchlight]

[He watches her contemplatively for a moment, and then shakes his head.]

I dunno. Maybe. I mostly just remember being dead.

[subtleserenity]

[She opens her mouth to reply to that, then closes it again. That... is certainly a statement, right there.]

You wanna tell me how you remember bein' dead?

[seerchlight]

[He frowns, and makes a dismissive gesture. It feels so normal to him, he doesn't know why everybody gets so weird about it.]

Fuck I don't know, I remember dying and then being dead! Like I knew I was in the afterlife or whatever. It was chill.

[subtleserenity]

[She's trying to imagine anything resembling 'chill' in the memory she'd woken to, but apart from 'chilling,' she can't relate much to the glowing changeling's experience.]

You remember how you died?

It's a little morbid, but he did say he remembered.]

I got pictures in my head of what happened, but no words or stories to go with them.

[seerchlight]

[He crosses his arms over his chest.]

No. I just remember that it hurt a fucking lot, so being dead was pretty sweet in comparison. It was nice.

[He gives her an uncertain look.]

What do you remember?

[subtleserenity]

[Smoke, blood, dirt... the battlefield. There's a voice in her ear telling them to lay down arms. They're on their own. She turns to look at two men she doesn't recognize. And then the sound of death.]

Not dyin'. It hurt, too.

[And the sense that it had never stopped hurting worries her with needle-sharp teeth even now. She doesn't trust him enough to tell him just yet. Not everything.]

There was a war. The Keeper said I could protect him, make up for not doing it right the first time.

[But his face, even his voice is distant, muddled. She can't quite recall either.]

[seerchlight]

[He looks at her for a few moments, not really sure what to say.]

Could be related, but probably not. I mean you don't even have horns.

[subtleserenity]

You sure those're from before, then? Pretty sure that ain't normal where I'm from.

[She points up at the points on his head that she assumes are horns. It's a bit hard to tell when he's made of light.]

[seerchlight]

No, those are definitely normal. It just feels right, you know?

[He doesn't seem that bothered by the difference.]

Probably difference species or whatever.

[subtleserenity]

[Different species? As strange as their situation is here, as real as the Fae are, the idea that there is something beyond her own species and that of their Keeper just seems patently ridiculous somehow.]

Or whatever...

[The urge to stalk the corridors in search of the Keeper has dissipated, but the urge to get outside.]

You got any notion what'll happen if we do get out of this house? Don't seem like it wants us runnin' free, twistin' corridors back on themselves.

[seerchlight]

Oh.

[He hesitates on that one for a second.]

Well...my job is usually standing watch out there in case anyone tries to leave. If they do...that's what the beast horde is for.

[subtleserenity]

Them's the beasts that have come back to themselves here? Or others?

[She has few compunctions about shooting mindless changelings that stand in her way. She'd prefer to just avoid them. If they're the thinking sort, though, they might be reasoned with.]

[seerchlight]

Both.

[He shrugs.]

I've seen some of them around, but there's probably a lot still out there. You know. Doing their thing.

[subtleserenity]

[Keeping them here being chief among 'their things.' She arches a brow at his seeming-indifference.]

Appreciate the heads up, then.

[Without the Keeper to murder or protect, and the trials of facing mindless changelings ahead, provisioning herself would seem to be the best option. With what, she's not entirely sure. She's still growing accustomed to this form.]

You got any notion how long this'll last? Us being as we are? Is the Keeper gone for good?

[seerchlight]

[Something for him to look genuinely uncertain about.]

No idea. Except that those two questions are probably intimately related. You know like...in that we'll probably be like this until the Keeper sets us straight whenever they do come back.

So...have fun while you can, I guess.

[subtleserenity]

[It's a grim thought to end on, but it's nice to have honesty over sugar-coating.]

You, too, Lights. Hope we get to crossin' paths before I try to head out.

[She could do with whatever guidance - cryptic or otherwise - the changeling might have to offer.]