OPEN

[commandeer]

WHO: Parker, everyone. SUPER OPEN.
WHERE: A cafe in Heropa or Residence #021 (Separate headers)
WHEN: June 19th for option (1), 20th for option (2).
WHAT: Adjusting to the new environment.
WARNINGS: None.


(1) People-watching and lock-picking

[ It's been a couple of days and Parker's starting to get the lay of the land. The shady government people who apparently kidnapped her don't seem too interested in pursuing her, which is convenient. She's been keeping a low profile just in case but she's starting to get bored. In the past she would have gone and planned a good heist to cheer herself up but she knows from experience it doesn't feel right anymore unless it's for a good cause. As is, she's been picking her pickpocket targets carefully (only those who look like they can spare it) and only taking the cash out of the wallets before handing them in anonymously. It's irritating, being good.

For now, she's bought herself a handful of padlocks of brands she's never heard of before and is sitting in a cafe, picking them and locking them again, getting used to the feel of them. She had an odd sense of already knowing their mechanisms when she bought them but nothing beats practical experience. And it's good to do something familiar and calming while she watches the people around her. ]


(2) Good Morning, Residence #021

[ Parker may not have paid much attention to her file, but she did note the address on it. It's not as if she was going to take the job: her would-be employers had kidnapped her and worse, hadn't said a word about payment. And there hadn't been any mention of what she was meant to be stealing from the place, which you'd think would be a basic enough part of hiring someone. Then again, they also seemed to think she had magic powers so they were clearly not operating at full capacity.

So when she finds herself standing outside the place that night, it's out of curiosity more than anything else. It looks fairly unassuming and she finds herself wondering how bad the people inside can really be. The government does want her to steal from them, after all. Maybe she'd better have a look inside and introduce herself.

And that's why when the residents of residence #021 get up in the morning they'll find a small blonde woman ensconced on their couch with a bowl of whatever cereal she's managed to find, munching away. ]

Comments

2

[attractedtodarkness]

[Some people actually work nights so Violet actually walks in in the early morning. She freezes at the doorway, frowning at the newcomer.]

Uh. Who are you?

[Sure she doesn't see her housemates all the time but they can't have lost someone without realizing... right?]

[commandeer]

[Parker looks her up and down with no small amount of suspicion. This could be one of the people she's here to talk to, but who knows? She's pretty sure people who live in actual homes are meant to sleep there.]

That depends. Who are you?

[One thing she has learned is that you can get away with a lot if you act like you're exactly where you're supposed to be.]

[attractedtodarkness]

Violet. I live here. [Violet is asserting her place. Parker is the outsider here. For now]

Did you get assigned here or did you just break in for the hell of it?

[commandeer]

[So apparently she's not the first to be sent here. She keeps eating her cereal for now but stays aware of her potential exit options in case this goes bad.]

Assigned. Do you know what they want me to take? 'Cause I sure don't.

[attractedtodarkness]

There's nothing to take. You're stuck here like the rest of us.

[Violet steps inside the house and closes the door behind her, moving to take up a seat on another couch]

[commandeer]

[The first part of that sentence goes right by her but the last part sticks.]

You don't look stuck. I mean, you were out all night.

[attractedtodarkness]

I meant this world. We've been kidnapped.

one!

[redhairring]

[ Cafes were good for writing. She wasn't in her house with her three male housemates (a fact which still managed to annoy Freddie) and here she could get some relative peace and quiet. However, as she tapped away on her laptop's keyboard, Freddie soon came to realize that she was stuck in that pitiful state called 'writer's block.' So, people watching until she got inspiration it was.

Eyes scanning the cafe, her eyes lingered on Parker, watching her for a minute or so as she locked and unlocked a bunch of padlocks. That...was exceedingly suspicious. Freddie loved it. Closing the laptop, she stuck it in her messenger bag. Talking and investigating this odd woman it was.

Walking over towards Parker, she gave the woman a small smile, looking over the locks. ] You know, most people might get the wrong idea if they saw you here, sitting by yourself, picking locks.

[commandeer]

[ Parker wasn't expecting to be approached and for a second she gives the other woman a small frown, not sure what to do. She probably shouldn't be herself to a normal citizen but she isn't sure what sort of character she should try to put on, either. She also has a suspicion she's meant to know what sort of wrong idea this woman's talking about. Oh well, she can always make a run for it if she has to. ]

Don't they have hobbies?

[redhairring]

[ Without paying attention to what Parker was thinking, Freddie slid into the chair on the other end of the table, shrugging slightly as she sat down. ]

Most people don't broadcast their potentially illegal hobbies in broad daylight in a public space.

[commandeer]

[ Parker grabs another lock and starts picking it while they talk. She keeps her eyes up, just going by feel. ]

It's not illegal if they're my locks. I paid for them and everything.

[redhairring]

But considering that picking locks is generally done by people who do illegal things? [ Freddie grimaced, making a strained noise obviously trying to imply 'it's not going to end up well for you.' ]

[commandeer]

Hey, there are people who get paid to pick locks for other people in a totally legal way. [A slight pause.] There are, aren't there? I'm pretty sure there are.

2

[godly]

[By the time Light wanders into the living room in the morning, he often looks like he's ready to walk out the door. For a nineteen year-old, one must consider this a fairly impressive feat; fully dressed, fully alert, not a hair out of place. And it's even his day off.

When he enters, he hears the sound of a spoon clinking against a cereal bowl. He thinks little of it, or at least not until he actually turns to look to see who it is.

And, surprisingly, it's not a face he recognizes.]

Er-

[He blinks, then furrows his brow, and crosses his arms quizzically.]

Hello? [-in a tone much more reminiscent of "who are you?"]

[commandeer]

[Parker looks up at him, as relaxed as if she has every right to be there and nothing is out of the ordinary.]

Hi. So I'm meant to be stealing something from here, but I'm not sure what it is and those army guys didn't even say anything about paying me, so I thought I'd come talk to you instead. You know, in an enemy-of-my-enemy kind of way.

[godly]

[wait what?

His frown deepens, but if he's thrown off by such an honest admission, he hardly shows it.]

Hold on. Do you mean to tell me that you're simply here as a thief?

[commandeer]

[She gives him a confused look and speaks slowly and clearly, as if she's not sure he heard her properly.]

No, if I was here to actually steal something you wouldn't have known I was even here.

So what are you hiding here that they want so badly?

[godly]

[Light isn't quite sure he enjoys that patronizing tone, and while he does take the time to properly answer, his own has gone dry.]

I honestly don't know what you're talking about. This is a residence for imPorts; fairly standard and likely identical to all the others with the exception of personal items. And would you care to explain why the government would ask you to steal from here? That hardly bodes well for their public image of trying to aid all imPorts.

[commandeer]

[The tone of voice goes right by her and the parts about imports don't make sense so she ignores them, but she gets the gist of what he's asking.]

I don't know why. But this is the address that was on the file, so...

1! hope prose is okay? i'll do brackets if you prefer!

[shittybirthday]

Coffee. Joel is still getting used to being able to actually go into a store to buy coffee: freshly ground, freshly brewed, steaming hot. Something he took for granted before the world went to hell over twenty years ago back where he's from, and something he missed like hell once society collapsed and little luxuries like hot, fresh coffee (and hot showers like the one he'd had before heading out this morning, and clean clothes like the new red flannel shirt and jeans he's wearing) became nothing but a distant memory of a world that once existed. It's damn well worth the apprehension of stepping out into the streets of this place, with its strange hovering cars and unfamiliar calm civility, to be able to walk down to the cafe from his house to buy some coffee.

Taking a seat at a table closest to the exit where he feels safest (he's beginning to relax a little in this place but the hardened survivor instincts that have long since been hardwired into his way of thinking and behaving are hard to shake), his hard eyes throw a glance around the cafe like he's keeping a careful watch on his surroundings as he lifts the mug to his lips, and his gaze lands on the woman with the array of padlocks spread out before her.

Huh. He watches her with subtle curiosity as he takes a sip. He's momentarily distracted by the glorious taste of the coffee - he lets out a small sound of appreciation for it as he swallows and sets the mug back down on the table. But then his attention reverts to the woman again, watching her pick the locks and locking them again only to pick them unlocked once more. Like she's learning them, or learning how to pick locks. After watching her for a little while, he finds himself unable to resist making a comment.

"Hope you don't mind me sayin' so, ma'am," Joel says in a Texan drawl, "but that's, uh, that's a helluva way to be inconspicuous."

I do prefer brackets, yeah

[commandeer]

[She glances up, hands still working one of the locks]

I tried being inconspicuous and it was really boring, so I found something to do.

[Not that she was expecting to draw any real attention with what she's doing. No one's bothering the woman knitting in another corner of the cafe, after all. Parker doesn't see what's so interesting about trying out some locks]

no worries. brackets it is, then! c:

[shittybirthday]

Pickin' locks? For everyone to see?

[Alright, then. Well, he's seen far weirder things, of course, but in his experience, people tend to keep dodgy looking activities under wraps.]

[commandeer]

What? It's not like I'm doing it naked or something.

["For everyone to see" makes it sound like something she shouldn't be doing in public but she can't see the problem with it.]

[shittybirthday]

Well, not gonna argue that. [He takes a small sip of his coffee.] Still looks mighty suspicious.

[commandeer]

So you think I should stop?

[She clicks open one of them, nods to herself and places it to the far left of the table.]