(open)

[driverslicense]

Characters: Chase AND YOU
Date: anywhen Jan 30 - Feb 2
Location: Breakwater Wing + out and about
Situation: discovering his Talent + this is what rank 5 commerce has wrought
Warnings/Rating: n/a


A. Destruction
[He'd returned to the room he'd been assigned last night, and so it is that he gets up bright and early, ready for the day, swinging his legs out of bed without any need to throw off a blanket because he didn't sleep with one, and heads out.]

[Opening doors...it's a fact of life. But not once in his life has Chase pulled on a doorknob to have the doorknob get pulled without the door. He's left standing with a doorknob in his hand, door still firmly closed, while pieces of metal fall to the floor and roll by his feet.]

[Hope no one wanted to exit or enter Breakwater Wing today.]
 

B. Commerce
[Chase doesn't interact with the proper residents of Aifaran often; the daily lives of the people who belong here simply doesn't concern him most of the time. But today he's accosted by a man. Wearing shades. Indoors.]

[Who takes one look at Chase's purple leather outfit and, upon declaring Chase the perfect man for the job, has dragged him outside, across the street, and stuck him out in front of a store with a sign.]

Hip & Trendy Clothes
They're hip! And trendy!
[The sign is made of only moderately stiff cardboard and glitter paste. The store may or may not be a front for something. And Chase looks entirely deadpan to be there.]

Comments

B

[freezetheheavens]

[Chase, you have terrible luck.

And Hitsugaya is still in the process of exploring when he notices him. He raises an eyebrow.]

...Couldn't find a way to get out of this?

[driverslicense]

[The thought of getting out of it had never even crossed his mind, so he stares at Hitsugaya blankly for a second before he gets the gist.]

I can leave...anytime.

[...He doesn't move, though. Is this what humans call "being helpful"?]

...You wish to enter?

[freezetheheavens]

Then why don't you?

[You look...as if you'd rather not be here.

A blink.]

No. [This place already looks sketchy enough as it is.]

[driverslicense]

I am assisting.

[He turns his head slightly to look at someone coming up, but it's just a representative of a faith group approaching for the third time in days, apparently seizing his chance when Chase is "at work (kind of)."] I am not interested.

[He glances at Hitsugaya, and holds the sign out slightly—nonverbally asking him to hold it for Chase, although his still-unchanging expression might make that unclear.]

[freezetheheavens]

You seem reluctant. [Or rather not be here.

When he holds out the sign, he shakes his head in a clear refusal to hold the sign.]

[driverslicense]

I see... [He doesn’t feel reluctant. But he's been called (twitch) "doll-like" before.]

[He holds the sign out for a moment more, and then props it up against the building behind him, instead. Then he drags the faith-rep somewhere.]

[He comes back a moment later, having tossed the man into a pile of garbage bags (being the softest things he could find in the immediate vicinity, so the man wouldn’t get hurt), picking up the sign and resuming conversation like nothing happened.]

Does it concern you? [Because if he does look concerning, he can attempt a smile. (Spoilers, Chase trying to smile is horrific.)]

[freezetheheavens]

[...The poor faith-rep.

Toushirou looks somewhat bemused when Chase returns, acting as if he's done nothing.

Even the smile gets a raised eyebrow.]

No, not particularly. It's just an observation. [Please don't smile.]

[driverslicense]

[He stares blankly for a moment. Then he glances to the side, where the man is coming back. Looks like he was unsuccessful at dissuading.]

[Drastic measures it is, then. He drops the sign and starts to walk away.] ...You have heard of the turtles?

[freezetheheavens]

[Well, guess he's walking with you.]

No, I haven't. Have you?

B

[powertotearer]

[Eiji is not someone who pays attention to clothes much. Which may be obvious, considering he is wearing a tie-dye T-shirt, a long white vest, and extremely baggy purple pants. If anything, he probably should go to this store. But he doesn't plan on it.

He does, however stop when he notices the model just...staring. Into nothing.]

Um, are you okay?

[driverslicense]

It is an errand. [Those are things that exist, therefore.]

[He looks Eiji up and down. Chase really isn't one to talk about fashion, but—] You are Dreamfolk?

[Totally not (intentionally) insinuating things, there, nope.]

[powertotearer]

[Errand...that's...okay. The funny thing is that Eiji can accept that because he has volunteered to do ridiculous things to help other people. He just usually doesn't stare blankly the whole time.]

Dreamfolk? Um, yeah, I guess that's what they called us. Are you too?

[driverslicense]

[It’s just his resting robot face.]

I am.

[His expression is a little more engaged when he answers, but it's still mostly expressionless. That is, until he sees a member of the Sentry pass by—looks innocuous enough, but Chase's gaze follows her until she's passed.]

There have been more of them than usual in this area. ...Have you been here long enough to notice?

[powertotearer]

[Eiji follows that gaze, but he just looks puzzled--everything seemed to be all right to him, but did Chase see something he missed?]

Not really. I kinda just got here. I'm still trying to figure everything out.

[driverslicense]

Verdant Sentry...otherwise known as...police.

They don't normally follow me around. [Chase has been here long enough to notice that much. And if Eiji hasn't noticed, then they must be here for Chase. That, or something unrelated, but what are the odds?]

I will investigate. [It doesn't occur to him to ask whether Eiji will, too, but he does push the sign toward Eiji a little, like he's asking him to hold it.]

[powertotearer]

[Eiji does take the sign, which is probably a mistake, but he's still trying to keep an eye on Chase.]

Why would they be following you?

[driverslicense]

I don't know.

[Without waiting to see if Eiji will follow, he turns and heads into the shop. Spotting a door behind the cashier, he overrides the clerk's protests with, "I work here" (is that why he handed off the sign? Who knows) and flings open the suspicious door.]

[...Looks like a closet. So he starts running his hands along the back wall.]

What do you know of secret entrances?

A

[corundrum]

[Well, Padparadscha was on their way out, but they're a good way behind Chase. They are not, however, far enough away not to catch that wholesale destruction of the doorknob when he tries to open the door.

Padparadscha comes up behind him, looking over his shoulder at the damage done, before breaking into laughter.]

You know, where I come from, we break the door if we can't get it open another way.

[driverslicense]

[...Good idea.]

[He takes a single step back and kicks the door down. Problem solved.]

I do not normally break off doorknobs. [He frowns down at the bits of metal on the floor. Looks like they'd fallen off, but from the shape of this doorknob...how?]

[He kneels down for a closer look.] Looks like...this was not installed properly.

[corundrum]

[Well, they weren't entirely expecting him to take that at face value, but it was probably better this way anyway, if the door wasn't going to open otherwise. Repairing it probably would've required a new one anyway.

Padparadscha comes around to the side this time, crouching down alongside him and tilting their head a bit at the remains of the doorknob with a faint hum.]

I don't think so. See, this is unusual. [Padparadscha picks up a piece of the doorknob, that definitely looks like it was supposed to be attached to one of the other parts a moment ago, then picks up another, putting the edges together to mark what looks like a very sudden fracture.] It would take a very long time for metal to break like this naturally, unless it was bad from the start. But this is a very clean break.

[driverslicense]

[He glances over. He's certain he didn't use that much force trying to open it.]

This may have been premeditated. [He's not a cop, but he's friends with a couple, so he gets up and starts down the hall back the way he came, intent on knocking on people's doors and questioning if they heard anything last night.]

[Because clearly that is what's going on here. That is, until his hand lightly brushes a decorative doodad hanging off a plant (Aifaran customs: kind of weird??) and the thing comes apart into its component pieces, one of them bouncing off his foot, the other dropping into the planter. Welp.]

[corundrum]

[Padparadscha is about to remark that that's not the kind of damage that generally comes from anything but lengthy fatigue or sabotage, but then Chase touches that plant decoration, and the entire thing falls to pieces faster than anything they've ever seen.

They don't make all that much of an effort to hide their amusement, even as they step forward to fish out the piece that fell into the planter.] Ah, so you're premeditating it, then?

[driverslicense]

I did not intend it. [Sorry, Padparadscha, Chase doesn’t understand that joke.]

[He picks up the piece that dropped by his foot.] I did not use force.

[As he peers at the thingamajig, it occurs to him that the thing had fallen apart. Like it was dismantled, without him having to dismantle it.]

[He glances at the piece in Padparadscha’s hands, then wordlessly holds out his own piece, to see if it fits perfectly with theirs.]

[corundrum]

[Padparadscha's coming to that conclusion themselves as they look at the piece they're holding, though Chase holding up the other one certainly helps. They match theirs along the seams where it came apart - a perfect break.

That only seems to amuse Padparadscha more, and they turn the piece in their hands.]

So it just came apart perfectly, huh? How strange. Almost like this "magic" people keep talking about.

[driverslicense]

I don't possess magic.

[It's hard to deny that the effect seems centered on him, though. He peers at his hand for a moment, and then touches another doodad on the plant. It falls apart just like the other one, this time into three pieces.]

...It's me.

[He glances significantly at the remaining thingadoodadamajig.] You try.