[OPEN] Fatality Is Like Ghosts In The Snow

[speakveryclearly]

Date & Time: December 8th onward
Location: Snowsilium
Characters: Kanaya Maryam and you
Summary: A day in the undeath: meandering through the snowy landscape hunting for prey; work at the seamstress's house where she wrangled residence for herself, Mami, and Alice; evening gun lessons in the Mekakushi Dan mansion; and night shift in the Transporter facility.
Warnings: Noon prompt has potential vampirism; closed McGill-Brown prompt will lead to discussion of war, death, and such intersections as erasure phenomena


[Closed to Mami and Alice]
She "gets up" early to "help make breakfast", a convenient reason to never take meals in front of her mistress. Though Kanaya derives a little pleasure from doing chores for the woman that has accommodated herself as well as her two friends, the hologram she has on practically twenty-four/seven is not one of them. Here her short black hair "is cut" more conventionally, her skin is a less sparkly sort of pale, and her teeth are supposed to be flat. She practices expressions in the mirror for a few minutes a day, to make sure that the physical presence of her fangs doesn't interfere too much with the purely visual illusion. Then she turns away and places her empty plate on the countertop, ready to engage in conversation with her coworkers.

[Open: Outdoors]
By noon she's gone out "for lunch". It's an opportunity to explore, the only one she really has during the day... though sometimes as she glares at snow hares or penguins with blood thirst in her eyes, it seems like she wishes her excuse were true. Maybe if she went far enough into the forest nobody would notice. God, though, does she hate the cold. At least she has a practical black coat from Christmas last year. Soon she'll have to go shopping - her midday socializations are a little tainted with this anxiety, whom to give gifts and whom to ignore.

[Closed to Saul, Steph, Ahiru, and Dick]
On the 10th of December she has a destination in mind. A quick phone call has verified for her the location of Saul Goodman's current sanctuary. She knocks on the door and a dusting of snow falls off her black gloves. Who'll answer? Who else will be there? She doubts, upon thinking, that Saul lives alone...

[Open: Clotheshop]
And in the afternoon? She's back to work, of course. The future sewing machine is a different model from what she bought with her first paycheck in Exsilium, and she's never seen a future loom in person at all. The smile on her face as she works behind these machines is a decent approximation of happiness, less artificial than when she's selling clothes from behind the counter.

[Closed to Mekakushi Dan]
When she "goes out for dinner", her dining establishment of choice is the Mekakushi Dan's mansion, and she's glad for it because this is the only place where she keeps the hologram off long-term. In their common area she takes up as much space as she likes on the couch, wearing a T-shirt and loose skirt, and dismantles firearms blindfolded. "This is how Kano should learn," she insists with a good-natured imperiousness, "aren't you part of the blindfold brigade anyway." Part of the pretense is to delay the progression to outdoor practice, when her holographic facade will have to go back up.

[Open: Transporter Central Building]
Only at night, sneaking out of the shop when she's supposed to (need) be asleep, can she log her hours of temporal programming. Inside the complex, too, she retains her supernatural appearance if only for increased recognizability. The terminal where she works is separate from her tablet; both devices see a lot of use, though, as this is the place natives are least likely to look over her shoulder.

Comments

Mekakushi Dan!!

[reassures]

Nill is seated on one of the cozier chairs in the room, her own jacket and shoes discarded somewhere near the entrance. She has on a simple outfit, a blouse cut low in the back to make room for her wings without alterations, and a pair of jeans, prepared for whenever they go outside next. She has her own guns set to the side, out of the way for the moment, and she idly toys with a flip-knife while she watches Kanaya take the guns apart by memory and instinct alone.

They're good things to know, and Kano should probably be taught how to do that eventually, but it's not hard to tell that Kanaya's stalling. Even so, Nill indicates nothing to the contrary. She likes the idea of staying inside for a few extra minutes more as well - her wings get very cramped under that jacket after a few hours.

[speakveryclearly]

There is only so much she can do this way, even working with both her own evolving jade-and-onyx weapon and the plainer Armory pistol actually intended for Kano, blanks or bullets or neither, and she can feel more knowledgeable eyes on her. This is only the second time she's tried to teach someone, and a year of experience is less than some other transports have. "That's enough of that, I guess." Eventually with her right thumb Kanaya pushes the blindfold up onto her forehead, revealing the unholy saffron yellow headlamps she has the nerve to call "Eyes" once more.

...with which she can see Nill! That makes sense - she's a brigade member and had responded to the post with concern about firearm safety. What a convenient obstructionist... er, educational opportunity. Kanaya leans away from Kano to move across the couch closer to Nill (so she can view her tablet should it be shown to her, though not type over it; she's learned that the hard way) and ask: "What are Nill's thoughts on the subject?"

[reassures]

A small smile appears on Nill's face when Kanaya takes off the blindfold enough to look at her, a greeting of sorts. Her tablet is tucked into a pocket on her jeans, and she reaches for it - but her fingers stop before she ever pulls it out, and instead she places her hands palm down beside her on the couch. She had to get more used to trusting people-- it was something she was well aware of, and Kanaya was in the house frequently enough that she might as well live there, to some extent. And really... Nill was tired of hiding everything and lying to everyone.

"I think," The voice that could be considered her own chimes in, soft and careful; trying not to startle Kanaya too badly. "A smaller gun might be better to begin with. It would have less kickback until he's more used to handling one."

She doesn't say it to Kanaya alone, instead extending it to everyone in the room, much like a voice would. There's nothing too intrusive about it, not really.

[speakveryclearly]

Kanaya's face morphs from confusion into a smile typical of someone recognizing music. I didn't know she could do that! The ability makes sense from Nill, though, and she tries not to let shock delay her too much.

"Recoil can be awful, Nill's right. And clip size is less of a concern here when there isn't any particular need for the units of ammunition to remain embedded in their targets."

[duplicitoussight]

Kano, who'd been watching Kanaya keenly as she dismantled each gun, perks up when Nill enters the room. They've been at it for some time now--he's glad to have the distraction and he waves from the couch, grinning.

The telepathic voice he expects. He shrugs at her response, turning his gaze back to the guns before him. It's a little frightening to see so many weapons laid out like this, intimidating as well. But he supposes he'll have to grow accustomed to the sight of it.

"Ahh, I don't know anything about guns aside from pointing and shooting!" He throws out a carefree answer, as usual. "Kanaya seems awfully familiar with them, though. I guess I'm lucky to have her as a teacher."

[reassures]

Nill's smile widens slightly, but she tries to keep it gentle. She wasn't that fond of it when she learned how to do these things either, but it had been necessary for her. She didn't have any powers at the time, and it was the only thing she could do to protect herself or the people she cared about.

She moves to kneel down beside the table, looking over the gun, before turning her attention to Kanaya and Kano again.

"Are you sure you want to learn how to use a gun? There are other things we could teach you."

[speakveryclearly]

"Like what?"

Kanaya has never entirely understood the enamorment certain humans have with firearms, even less than the non-universal proliferation of the same sentiment (pitfalls of a non-monolitihic culture). It's a method of distancing, perhaps, from their likely lethality? There are traits her own weapon has that give it personal appeal, of course. She is somewhat interested in Nill's implication of an alternative, though there's a problem with that...

"I have to admit guns are the only weapon *I* can really teach myself... the only other one I've been using this long is a chainsaw, and I hadn't envisioned that as Kano's style." She glances at the boy next to her, asking with her raised eyebrows: Or is it? Some Transports thought the gore inherent in the item was too much, and she sees most of the Mekakushi Dan as shy - maybe even a little innocent - in the same way.

[duplicitoussight]

Him, wielding a chainsaw? Just the idea of it makes him snicker quietly. He's lied to himself about many things, but being strong's never been one of them. Punching and heavy lifting was left to Kido and Seto. He dealt with his problems with words and a fleet foot instead.

"I don't like sharp weapons," he says, tapping his fingers together in his lap. "I can't swing them well. Things like crossbows and all that--that's way too old-fashioned. Guns are easier. In any case, they're the coolest and most convenient weaponss, aren't they?"

[reassures]

If she were being truthful, Nill couldn't even see herself trying to manage a chainsaw. Most of her specialties lay in long-distance combat - she could certainly handle getting closer than that, but it would also raise the risk of running into someone that could beat her.

"I suppose they are..."

Her feelings are a little mixed when it comes to calling them cool, but they were certainly convenient. She doubts she would have been taught how to use them if they hadn't been the best thing she could learn at the time. And if he can still view them in that way, then that's probably a good thing for him.

"Alright."

There's a brief pause, before Nill reaches for one of the guns at her side, and sets it on the table as well. It's not the biggest gun ever, but it certainly looks like it's seen some use.

"This is a SIG Sauer P226. It's not very complicated-- a lot of police officers use them."