ic The Strange Case of Room 404 (IC)

[Fox]

Indira wasn't sure what death gods Earth had, but she liked to imagine that whoever it or they were they'd find Kimber's approach to death rather refreshing. "Well, if there are bug-eating plants, however small they may be, there is hope for your planet's plants yet," she mused, cheerfully. "Perhaps one day they shall grow larger, to fight larger insects and animals, and you may have a proper ecosystem."

She was quiet for a moment, not quite sure what to say after that, or what she should ask. So she pulled her face back, like it was being melted backwards into the shape of a silvery human skull, third eye disappearing as the other two became the bony head's black, empty sockets; it wasn't perfect, but it could easily have been a metalworker's abstraction. "Is this what a human skull looks like?"

[Gizmo]

"Yeek!" Kimber half-shrieked and half-laughed, her floating hair briefly standing on end in response to Indira's unexpected display. "Ohmigoodness, is that what I look like? Haha, yes, that's pretty close. It's kind weird seeing a skull all shiny like that, but you've got the right idea." Absently drifting through the room to circle around her alien roommate's chair, she considered. "Hm, pretending to be human must be really hard if you're not even used to having bones..." she observed as she came back around to face her friend again. "My real ones are buried under an unmarked pile of dirt and rocks super far away, which is actually sorta icky to think about now that I say it out loud. Ooh!" Abruptly recovering from that idle thought, she clapped her hands. "Did you sign up for any biology courses this term? I bet you'd totally be into that stuff!"

[Fox]

"Not this term," Indira said, speaking with the clacking voice of a skeleton (and exaggerating the jaw-flapping a bit) before her face filled back in to its smooth, three-eyed form. "Next term, perhaps; biology is very strange. It does help me understand how to pretend to be human, but I do not know many details yet...it is a difficult subject. Humans are made of meat, and many complex solid pieces. It is difficult to get used to."

She formed her arm into something more human-looking, parts straightening out to form a limb and a joint. "Part of my ability to look human is not my own...the color, especially. It is some sort of science, but I do not know much about how it works."

[Gizmo]

Kimber tilted her head slightly to one side, looking brightly curious about the ill explained alien enhancement. "So then you're like... a meta-Kinigosi, then? With special powers! So rad." Shifting her head to lean toward her opposite shoulder, an approximation of a sly look spread across her face, though it lost something in combination with her ever present exuberance. "Y'know, I was wondering about that. For somebody who acts like she doesn't know much about Earth and humans, you sure picked a really pretty disguised form."

[Fox]

"I do not really have much control over it," Indira admitted, the rest of her taking her adopted human form, color fading in until she was - visually - indistinguishable from a normal human being. At least, she would have been, if she didn't immediately turn one of her arms into a three-foot razor-sharp scythe blade, leaving her with an arm that was perfectly normal from the elbow up and wicked, glinting metal from the elbow down. She examined her reflection a bit, continuing, "I did have some input, and I can change some details -" - to underscore the point, her clothing shifted, momentarily turning back to metal as it lengthened and became a winter-worthy jacket and heavier jeans, her hair similarly pulling up into a practical braid - "- but the actual human body is...pre-set. It is a fairly common...'technology' is not the right word."

She frowned, trying to figure out what she wanted to say. "....treatment? I think that is as close as I can get. It is unpleasant, and expensive, but not so unusual. It is, however, fairly limited. I do kind of like the idea of being a 'meta-Kinigosi', however - I wonder if such a thing is possible."

[Gizmo]

"Well, I hear there's a Meta-Grue, so I don't see why not," Kimber opined airily, not overly concerned with the details or practical obstacles to such a thing. "Maybe it's like a muscle you need to exercise until-- oh, wait. Hrn, I guess you don't actually have muscles, either, huh? Still!" Clearly the phantom had every confidence that her friend could learn whatever new applications of her abilities she liked, and didn't seem bothered by the idea of human disguises being relatively common to come by among the more space-faring species.

Eyes lighting up with inspiration and a little unnatural light, she bobbed up and down in the air. "Oh! Oh! Okay, I know you can just make your hair take whatever style you want, but let it down again. Trust me, it's another slumber party thing."

[Fox]

Indira blinked; she clearly wasn't sure what purpose letting her hair down would serve, but she apparently trusted Kimber enough to just go with it, her braid flowing together and then splitting apart into countless free, dark strands. Her hand, too, returned to normal, though that was more so that she didn't have to worry about where it was pointed; just because she wasn't capable of hurting Kimber didn't mean she wanted to gouge the few furnishings they had in their school home.

"I think I have heard of the Meta-Grue," she said, stretching a little to adjust to her human disguise. "I am not sure what to think of him. It is encouraging to know that a Grue can live freely, but...disappointing that it does not seem better than the group it used to be part of."

[Gizmo]

Floating around to Indira's back, Kimber folded her leg underneath her levitating form and places a ethereal hand on each knee. "Okay, gimme a sec, I'm probably kinda out of practice with this," she forewarned before furrowing her brow in concentration. For a moment nothing happened, then the disguised Kinigosi's hair shifted as if of its own accord, separating into two halves. The right bundle then further split before slowly twining itself together in a methodical braid. From Indira's perspective, it felt very much as though the hair was being manipulated by nimble, unseen hands.

[Fox]

"That is a very odd sensation," Indira admitted, resisting the urge to extend an eye or something to peer at the process as it happened. "It must be a very interesting and useful talent, however, especially when you cannot....ah."

She frowned, mostly at herself, and would have bit her tongue if she was very used to having one. "....I am sorry," she apologized. "I am a very physical person - it is all I can do. I have no talents that do not involve physical action. You are, I think, nearly my full opposite, and it is a very...different thing to consider. I should be more polite."

[Gizmo]

"Aw, it's okay," Kimber assured her, still keeping her attention on the increasingly complex braid she was working into Indira's hair. "I used to be a pretty physical person, too, I think! I don't really remember, but it feels that way. Now I'm not physical or a person, so what're you gonna do, eh?" Her voice remained chipper enough, but there a bit of wistful sigh behind it. "Back before Dan found me, I mostly used this to smash dishware and toss things all over the cabin while shrieking at campers to get out, but this is way more fun!"

[Fox]

"Scaring campers sound like it might be fun, if you are not crazy at the time," Indira pondered, trying to imagine how she's go about that. Probably less dish-throwing and shrieking, probably more hiding and stalking and disappearing-of-campers-when-nobody-is-looking-ing. She was pretty sure she saw that in the movies at some point.... "I think I can see how it may get old, however. For what it is worth, it is much more fun to have you here, and cheerful. I think that too many people are far too serious."

[Gizmo]

"Aw, thanks, Indira!" Kimber beamed brightly enough that the young alien could practically feel her roommate's sunny smile on the back of her neck. "Apparently not everybody likes having a dead girl around, the snobs." Finishing with one side of Kinigosi's hair, the ghost began telekinetically working with the other half. "Being crazy is really not as much fun as you might think," she continued, "I really wouldn't recommend it. Spent an awful lot of time curled up in the corner, sobbing and flickering in and out of sight, making horrible faces in broken windows, semi-existing as a general malignant presence, that sort of thing." After a little more work, she had successfully braided Indira's hair into a pair intricately crisscrossing pigtails. "There!"

[Fox]

She briefly contemplated just extending her face out on a stalk so that she could see the back of her own head, but Indira wasn't sure what kind of effect that would have on anyone watching her do it. Instead she made her own mirror, her left hand flattening out and going smooth enough to be a imperfect but perfectly serviceable reflective surface.

"Hmm. I like it - it is very complex. I think I will have to try to remember what it feels like, so that I can do it again later. You are very good!"

[Gizmo]

Kimber's smile widened even further, reflected in Indira's makeshift mirror. "Yay! I'm glad you like it!" she enthused, bobbing up and down a bit as she floated back around to the Kinigosi girl's front. "I wonder if I practiced a lot. When I was alive, I mean. It's sorta wiggy not knowing what I'm actually good at or if I've done stuff before or not, but sometimes it's kinda like finding five bucks in the pocket of a winter coat you forgot about!" Tapping a finger to her chin, the phantom considered. "Hm. Traditionally, you're supposed to try to do my hair now, but that's... probably going to be tough." She shrugged broadly, sending a ripple through her silently buoyant hair.

[Fox]

"Hmm." Indira leaned forward in a spineless sort of way, arcing a little further forward than was strictly reasonable even for her tall build; she reached out with one finger and poked her ghost-friend in the intangible ghost-stomach. "I think you are correct. It may be for the best, perhaps: I am still not used to having hair at all, and I do not know how good a job I would do trying to braid yours."

"I think," she added, forming the non-poking mirror-hand back into a normal non-poking non-mirror hand, "that it is admirable you are so cheerful in a position where most would be very depressed. It is...we have words for it, but I think the literal translation would sound insulting. You would say, perhaps, 'great strength of character'?"

[Gizmo]

Kimber regarded the metallic finger sliding into her stomach with curiosity more than anything else. It didn't really feel like anything at all and she found she didn't have any reflexive need to pull herself out of the way, either. A human trying the same thing probably would have found their probing digit uncomfortably cold, but it was no bother to a Kinigosi. "Hee, yeah, I could probably make a 'lost weight' joke, but..."

Considering Indira's appraisal of her character, the ghost's cheeks darkened to a deeper blue momentarily. "I don't think I'm anything so special, really. Not being able to touch anything is kinda terrible, but it beats being all-the-way-dead, and I get hang out with superheroes! It'd probably be worse if I could remember stuff!" she decided with a small shrug, running one fingertip self-consciously up and down the bridge of her nose. "I mean, I don't really remember any of what I left behind, so no point in getting sad about it. You must get homesick for Kinigos. I think you're probably a lot stronger than me that way."

[Fox]

Indira took a moment to quietly reflect on that, folding her arms over the top of the chair. "I will not claim that I do not miss my home," she replied, thoughtfully, "nor will I claim that I was never angry about having to come here. Perhaps, even, I will not claim that I am never angry that I had to come here. There are...things, that never feel right. Your plants do not move, your people are fragile, and your technology is old."

"But," she countered, lifting a finger off her arm, "your world is not without...I think the word is 'perks'? Your people are interesting, and your society is...different. It is nice to feel powerful - on Kinigos I would have been only somewhat above-average. I have made friends here, too, and I admit that it is nice to be able to walk outside the city without worrying about being eaten by a poison tiger-bug."

[Gizmo]

"Well sure, poison tiger-bugs sound like they'd be pretty much the worst," Kimber agreed amiably, despite only barely following Indira's statements. She tried for a moment to imagine a creature that fit that fanciful name but found herself picturing a regular bear instead. "Well, I'm glad it hasn't been all bad, at least. Hey, we should try to make the room feel a little more like home!" The ghost floated closer the ceiling to take a look at the spartan dwelling from above. "We haven't really done much to move in yet. Hm. Usually a potted plant or something would be traditional, but that might actually make things worse, eh?"

[Fox]

"We did keep some house plants - the right kinds can be very good pest control." Indira looked around the room, pondering. "I do not think I know what is traditional for a human room to make it feel like 'home'. Normally I would have a box for personal items, an item for my goddess, and perhaps a trophy or two...I do not know what the school policy is on keeping bones in our dorm room. This seems like something humans find very unsettling, for some reason."

[Gizmo]

"Oh, well, that's just 'cause bones remind people of death! Oo~eee~ooh!" Kimber rose higher into the air and wiggled her fingers dramatically, her hair blowing into a wilder mane that framed a face suddenly heavy with shadows before she devoled into peals of laughter, doubling over as she floated horizontally for a moment then completing the loop back down to Indira's eye-level. "Hee. Well, it wouldn't bother me any, but you're right, we should probably ask a teacher if it's okay." Pondering for a moment, she frowned a little. "We should probably try not to get, y'know, a reputation with the other students... More than a floating dead girl and an alien death machine already have, I mean."

[Fox]

"We are, I think, fortunate that we are where we are," Indira mused, after she stopped laughing at Kimber's observant antics. "In this city we may be assumed to have very strange powers, instead of being a dead human and an alien. People seem oddly frightened by the idea of the....is the term 'acorporeal undead'? That does not sound right....hm. And as few people as possible are supposed to know that I am here at all."

She hummed on that for a moment, and then brushed the thought away with one hand. "But you are right. High school, I think, will be difficult enough without either of us hurting our reputations any more than we must."

[Gizmo]

Kimber placed the fingers of one hand on the front of her pajama top in an exaggerated manner. "That's incorporeal, thank you very much!" she corrected haughtily before breaking into a fit of giggles alongside her roommate. "I'm not sure how I feel about 'undead'. I guess it's more or less accurate, at least, but I feel like people use it like, 'oh no, she doesn't have a pulse, run away!'" She pursed her lips before admitting, "...actually, that's still better than the kids here who think I'm just being dramatic when I say I died. Maybe. It's annoying, anyway." Sighing, she shook her head as though physically dismissing the feeling. "Do Kinigosi have high schools?"

[Fox]

"Ah - 'incorporeal', thank you. And if they do not wish to associate with you then that is their loss, and they are worse-off for it," Indira assured her, frowning. "We do not have high school, as such, no. Our schools are...merit-based? You move to the next level when you can demonstrate success at the previous one; your graduation is less guaranteed than it is here, but there is less...'stigma'?...against failing once, or twice. Our total schooling years, if you do well, do not last any longer than humans', but it is structured differently, I think, and we do not make a distinction between early school and later school. It is just 'school'. What you would consider college is very similar, however, from what I hear."

[Gizmo]

"University," Kimber corrected reflexively before offering Indira a sheepish look of apology. "Er, in Canada, anyway. But I think I understand. Oh! They won't make you catch up when you get home, will they? Maybe you can get, like, transfer credits!" Even if the other world held a lesser stigma against having to repeat studies, the ghost didn't expect being is the equivalent of a classroom with a bunch of kids younger than you was much fun. "Anyway, thanks for that," she continued gratefully in response to her friend's assurances. "I'm really glad they made us roomies."

[Fox]

<If I get to go home.> But that was a thought for another time, and not one the alien was inclined to dwell on at the moment. Earth wasn't so bad, right? At least she'd made good friends. "I, too, am glad. I think that living with a normal human girl would have been...very awkward. There is something to be said for the companionship of another outsider." Indira held up a hand, part of it flowing into the shape of a silver goblet of sorts; not too ornate, and her skin noticeably turned silver where she was 'touching' the item, but it was the effect that counted. She raised it up a bit. "Here is to being strange."

"...did I do that right? I believe I saw it in a movie once."