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WHO: Hans & Ellie Langford
WHERE: Ellie's apartment
WHEN: Sometime after Yomiel's post but pre-paintball
WHAT: What do you do when your friend got arrested and is now out of the clink? Bring over cookies and try to be sympathetic while secretly looking for ulterior information.
WARNINGS: n/a, will edit if needed.

Hans couldn't cook. Hans had no idea how to cook and could only cook the basics. But, when you're going to visit a friend who was arrested under false pretenses, Hans felt that he really needed to bring something as a sympathy gift. So, he swung by the grocery store and picked up a box of cookies. There we go. Something impersonal enough but showed that he cared.

The visit was twofold. First, Hans simply wanted to show sympathy, wanted to become better 'friends,' wanted to show Ellie that he really did care, he wanted to be sympathetic. Second? This Manipulator was interesting. Hans suspected--no, he knew that he also had been possessed by the man. He wanted to see what Ellie's experience was like.

So, outside of Ellie's apartment, Hans knocked on the door, spare hand holding the box of cookies. "Ellie? Are you in?"

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Ellie had mostly kept to herself since she'd gotten out of jail. While it was far from the worst thing she'd ever experienced, it still had it's own special brand of unsettling. Not only that but it was a very personal kind of unsettling. Having your body taken over and manipulated was not a very good feeling. Especially when it landed her a stint in jail.

Needless to say she wasn't in the greatest place for visitors, but she could appreciate the fact that Hans did drop by. When she opened the door she had a small smile on her face.

"Hans. Hey." She sounded just slightly surprised but she kept her smile up. "If those cookies are for me, then yes, I'm in." She stepped to the side and gestured for him to walk in if he wanted. The apartment itself was a fairly nice looking place, although it definitely had the look of a place that hadn't been completely moved into yet. Being thrown in jail had kind of put a halt to decorating plans.

"Of course they're for you," Hans replied, smile still on his face. As he walked into the apartment, he couldn't help but look around. It was pretty nice, even if the decorating was sparse. Spotting a table, Hans set the cookies down, giving Ellie a sympathetic glance.

"I didn't know what sort of thing to get that said 'I'm sorry you got possessed and unjustly arrested'--but I figured everybody liked cookies." A pause, and a sheepish grin. "They're chocolate chip."

"Thank you." She followed him to where the table was and then gestured at the couch. "Take a seat if you want." There was also a loveseat next to the long couch, they were both black and potentially part of some sort of set.

"I don't think there's really a gift that says those exact words. If there is I might be worried about this world." It was a joke but it really came out very halfhearted. "Chocolate chip cookies are always appreciated though. Even if you didn't really need to bring me anything."

"Well, I wanted to bring something," he remarked, with a smile, as he sat down on the couch. "You're my friend. And...I can only imagine how hard these past few weeks have been for you. I wanted to do something."

She took a seat herself and put the box of cookies on a small table near the edge of the couch. "Thank you. I really appreciate that," she tried to return his smile with one of her own. "It wasn't really that bad. The food was probably the worst part. I could actually lift it off the plate and it'd just stick to my spoon. Terrible, huh?"

Hans couldn't help but laugh a little at that, grin widening. "In that case, I should have tried to bring you the cookies when you were in jail!"

"Living off cookies would have been an improvement," she replied with an even bigger smile. "All the other criminals would have definitely been jealous though."

"You'd have been the talk of the prison!" he teased, grin on his face. Then, he sombered up a bit, grin turning into a frown.

"Do you know anything about that man who put you in jail?"

The turn of the conversation caused Ellie to shift in her sit uncomfortably for a second before she nodded.

"A few things. I talked to him after his announcement."

"What did he say?" Hans asked, gentle tone in his voice, trying his hardest to seem like he was a kind and caring friend.

"Quite a lot actually," Ellie replied, running a hand through her hair. One of the most frustrating parts about talking to him had been the fact that more than a few things he'd said had actually made her feel bad for him. "One of the things he said was that his real intention was to get to the Porter."

That caused Hans to frown, obviously confused. If that was his real intention, then why would that man possess Hans himself in the first place? "Let me guess: he wanted to get home?"

Ellie shook her head. "No, actually. At least that's not exactly what he explained to me. He made it seem like he wanted to see if the Porter could do something for him."

"Well that's...odd." Hans frowned, crossing his arms over his chest as he thought. "I wonder what exactly he thought the Porter could do? I mean, to the best of my knowledge, it's only good at bringing people here and taking them home."

She shrugged and rubbed the back of her neck. "Supposedly it's what gives us our powers, right? Or at least it has something to do with it?"

"Well yes," Hans remarked, leaning forward, look of thought and concentration plain on his face. "But I'd imagine that possessing people would be a fairly useful power. And, based on how he used it, I can't see him wanting to change it."

She nodded. "I don't think it's the power he wants to change. I think he might have wanted to see if the Porter could bring him back to life or maybe the opposite."

Well that was something Hans had missed out on. "Wait. The Manipulator's a ghost?"

Because ghosts possessed people and they weren't alive. Unless he was some sort of other type of spirit.

"It seems so, yeah. At least that's what he told me." She fell silent for a second and then let out a tiny sigh. "It doesn't justify anything, but it does make it harder to stay as mad." Not impossible, but just a bit harder.

It might have made it harder to stay as mad for Ellie, but it just made Hans more and more curious. "It makes you wonder, that's what it does. I didn't know this place could bring in dead people."

"It looks like this place can bring in whoever, or whatever, it wants." Which was a disturbing thought for her. She leaned back and ran a hand through her hair. "I don't know why they'd bring someone like him here though."

"It honestly makes you wonder if the machine even pays attention to what it brings in." Based on the grumpy expression on Hans's face, he doubted it.

"I've heard more than a few people say it might be random." Ellie wasn't sure if she completely bought that herself. She leaned forward again and looked at him. "You're awfully curious about all of this."

"I guess I am!" Hans replied, laughing a bit, sheepish look on his face. "It's just...this place brought in my fiancee twice. I'm thankful, of course, but part of me wonders what exactly makes her special to the Porter."

"Oh wow, I hadn't realized she'd come back," Ellie replied, looking just a bit sheepish herself. She really had gotten horrible at keeping up with people after everything that happened to her back home. "There wasn't a lot of time in between her disappearing and coming back either, was there? Did she remember at all?"

"That's the weird part: she doesn't." Hans frowned, obviously confused. "I don't know how she can't remember this place, but she doesn't. It was like a blank slate."

That got a very confused, and mildly distressed, look from Ellie. She hadn't even really known that was a possibility until now. "I never even considered that happening." She shook her head. "That must be hard for you."

"It's more confusing than anything else," Hans remarked with a sigh.

"I can understand that." It would be confusing and frustrating if it ever happened to her. "Did you tell her she'd been here before?"

"No," Hans admitted, with a frown. "The first time I saw her here, there was so much else on my mind. But honestly, I'd be shocked if she hasn't found it out already."

"Have you two not had many conversations since she came back?" Ellie asked, curiously.

"Oh, we've had plenty of conversations," Hans quickly remarked, in an attempt to cover his tracks and make it seem like he's not an insensitive jerkwad. "It just hasn't come up. And what with things like her sister getting arrested, well we've had to worry about other things."

She arched an eyebrow but let any comments she might have had about how quickly he responded. "Her sister was one of the ones arrested? I can see why you're so interested now. What was she forced to do?"

"She robbed an electronics store," Hans replied, frowning slightly. "Really, I don't know if she knew what she was stealing."

"She probably didn't even realize it," she said shaking her head.

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