capeandcowllogs | Chapter 2.5: The Boy Tries to Find a Job. [Semi-Open]

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Chapter 2.5: The Boy Tries to Find a Job. [Semi-Open]

WHO: Ari, Koto and various detectives (Set up a subthread saying where you are if you want a visit!)
WHERE: Various detective agencies in the City.
WHEN: Friday and Saturday
SUMMARY: Ari needs a job, but is invisible, so Koto is going with him to help him get one as a detective cause that would be perfect for someone invisible, right?
FORMAT: Para to start, whatever you'd like after.

There were a few inherent flaws in this plan, Ari realized a bit belatedly. First: He had no idea what the heck this person he was going to meet looked like. Second: He was invisible so there wasn't any way she could spot him.

So he was standing around where she had said to meet, looking down at the communicator in his hand. If he spotted someone who looked like she was looking for someone, he could just... send her a message asking if that was her. That could work.

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Koto, well, she was pretty hard to miss. Tackily dressed with a baseball cap shoved down on her head and her tail well-concealed in voluminous magenta shorts, auburn-red bob and big blue eyes... muttering to herself in Japanese.

She was here. But whether the invisible boy was here or not, well, that was another thing. It's not like she could see him, after all.

She milled around on the corner for a few minutes, impatiently, realizing how impulsive she had been this time. She'd forgotten to ask his name, so she couldn't call out to him; she couldn't very well call out "Hey, Invisible Boy!" either. Perturbed, she dug her communicator out of her pocket and furiously typed away with her thumbs. She had had the same idea as Ari, but acted on it more impulsively.

The message she sent, private to the invisible kid's serial number, read:

i'm the lady with the baseball cap and big pink shorts. shortish brown hair, asian. get over here and bump into me or something.

Ari had no idea what "asian" meant, but the rest was enough. That and the fact that he saw her typing.

As he had had absolutely no luck with actually poking people when he had been trying to be noticed before, he instead went to move her hat.

Because Koto's ears were jammed into the hat, she immediately felt the pressure lifting. She panicked, dropped her communicator, and slammed the hat back down, injuring her poor ears in the process - but she couldn't let the hate go. There was the off chance that people would just think she was a crazy lady with a headband, but she didn't want to take any chances, especially ones that would have her locked up in some laboratory.

Hat's brim gripped tightly, she whirled before realizing that, no, she couldn't see him. Instead, she sighed. "Oh, you're here. Um, nudging the hat is enough from here on," she added quietly. "There are two secrets under it and I'm not too keen on people being able to see them."

Moving straight to business, she dug the papers folded in another of her large magenta pockets as she retrieved her intact communicator. "I thought we would visit this place, [Insert name of Vic's office here], first. Uh..." She paused. "Nudge the hat brim up and down for okay, side to side for no."

Ari blinked a few times, not at all having expected that sort of reaction.

Two secrets? What, was she a demon too? The hat was big enough to cover a pair of horns...

Whatever.

Instead of moving the hat again, he just sent her a text message. "Sounds fine."

Because really, they had these things, why would he poke her hat?

She blinked and picked up the communicator. "...or you could do that." She seemed a little perturbed by the disobedience, but only briefly as she realized that the text was more convenient. And that people might stare if they saw her hat moving of its own accord.

She was still getting used to this whole technology thing; she was more about sound equipment than about computers and phones.

She shrugged and began to lead a wild goose chase through the city to find the first office.

Ari himself was still getting used to it all, but he had gotten very well acquainted with the communicator rather quickly since it was his only way to talk to people as long as he was stuck this way.

He followed, not really feeling too sure about this whole thing, but he needed to get a job to start paying Keiko back. He couldn't keep mooching like this...

Vic didn't spend a lot of time in the office most days, but he figured somewhere quiet would be best to gather his notes and plan for this job Waller wanted him on.

He flipped through a few files as he leaned back in his chair, making notes on pad on his knee as he went on.

Koto crumpled the papers and shoved them in her pocket, simultaneously pushing open the door to the office. It had taken her much longer than it should have to locate the place, but hey, she never claimed to be any good with directions.

She saw a man leaning back in a chair in the quiet atmosphere. "Excuse me." Her voice was loud and projected clearly. "Are you the owner of this business...?"

Ari stood next to Koto, still invisible, looking around the office, feeling a bit apprehensive. Hopefully this would work....

When he saw Koto, he shut the folder and the notepad, then laid both on top of the desk. He leaned forward and clasped his hands in front of him.

"Sure, it's my name on the door," he answered with a smirk. "What can I help you with?"

She glanced back to the door and hesitated. Then she met his eyes, blinked seriously, and without quite knowing that she was tapping into the manipulative powers bestowed on her upon her entry of the City, told him, "You're hiring, right."

It wasn't even a question. It was an uncharacteristically pushy answer.

... that wasn't even a question.

Suddenly, he felt right at home.

Vic blinked a couple times and, to his surprise, found himself humoring the question. He was still polite, but somehow his manner seemed less amused than usual. "Well, the pay wouldn't be great, and I've only been set up here for a month, but I might be able to swing it. What are your qualifications?"

"Well," she heckled. "It's not me I'm asking for, it's..." She paused, glanced behind her where she assumed the invisible boy would be, and rubbed the back of her head. "What's your name again?" She dug her communicator out of her pocket and waited for the text.

"Ari." Came the return text.

Oh yeah. This was gonna go real well.

... Maybe he should just answer the questions.

A follow up text came a moment later. "Invisibility and being overlooked."

"Ari," she said. "The job is for Ari. And his qualifications are invisibility and being overlooked. As you can see." She waved an all-encompassing arm, meant to gesture to the presence of the invisible boy.

"Unfortunately he hasn't yet figured out how not to be invisible... but invisibility is a huge asset in the private-detective business, right? Invaluable. And he's quiet as a mouse. He would be perfect for legwork." She smiled sunnily, as if the matter were already resolved.

Vic burrowed his brows and got up from his chair, his hands still on the desk. He gave Koto a long, hard look. "Invisible, huh?"

He crossed to the other side of the desk and looked around the room. "I guess you wouldn't have a photo, does he talk? What about a last name?" He obviously couldn't work with an invisible kid if he wouldn't even know where he is.

Somewhere in all of this, he forgot to be skeptical about an invisible kid in the room. Stranger things have happened.

Edited 2011-02-13 00:45 (UTC)

Ari instinctively moved out of the way when Vic got near him. It was sort of counter productive to interacting, unfortunately.

'I can't be heard when invisible,' he texted. Didn't matter if Koto knew it, he was just gonna try and directly answer. 'No last name.'

He paused, noticing the note pad that Vic had been looking at when they'd come in. Hrm...

Again avoiding physical contact, he picked up the notepad, which vanished from view the instant he had it in hand. Hopefully there was a blank page in it... then he could write his responses.

Though he probably should have asked before just picking things up. Being inaudible had made him a bit rude.

She waited for the text, looking down to skim it quickly. "He can't talk," she replied. "At least while invisible... like I said, quiet as a mouse." She grinned as if this was some sort of inside joke. "But he can text, obviously, and write. And handle a video camera. So he would still be useful. I mean, every asset comes with a trade-off, right?" she purred.

"Um." She glanced at where she thought Ari would be, then down at the text message she had received on the communicator. "He doesn't have one. He's probably from a place like me where last names aren't necessary. He is an imPort, after all. I hope that's not a dealbreaker," but she said it as if there could be no such thing as a dealbreaker.

She was a little surprised at herself. This was going a little too well. She'd always had a way with words, but it was more with description and commentary than interaction. She just hoped that whatever was going right wouldn't suddenly reverse... knock on wood.

She blinked and watched the notebook rise, pointing over to the desk as Ari picked it up. "See, there he is."

"It won't be a problem that he's an imPort, but I'd still need to--" He heard the rustling on the desk before she said anything. He turned around quickly and saw his notepad disappear. That wasn't going to go over well. "Hey!"

He crossed back around to the desk. "What are you doing with that?!"

Crap crap crap--

The note pad fell to the desk as he let go.

A moment later Koto got a text. 'I was looking for blank paper to write on. Sorry.'

Good job, Ari. Screw it up when it's going well, why don't you.

After glancing at the message, she hurried over to Vic and gesticulated apologetically. "He said he was looking for blank paper to write on," she dismissed quickly. "He's very eager to get this job, as you see."

She moved on at lightning speed. "It's not a problem that he's an imPort," she echoed him, "but...?"

"Didn't ask. That's important. Sneaking's well and good, but you have to know how to ask questions in this business." He held up the notepad in the direction Ari'd dropped it. "And this is something I'm particularly protective of." He tore a blank sheet from the back and left it on the desk, next to a pen.

He turned back to Koto and continued. "As I was saying, I'd still need to be able to find him. Was he always this way? If not, are there any recordings of his face or voice on the Network?"

Her eyes scanned the area, trying to look towards Ari but not finding him, obviously. "He said that he's been invisible consistently for the past week, but he's been in the City for a month. I'd assume he would have previous recordings... Well, Ari...?" she asked.

It was hard to ask questions when you couldn't be heard. And Ari was so used to being ignored...

There was a pause before his comm showed up on Vic's desk, one of his posts (http://community.livejournal.com/capeandcowl/2867499.html) up on the screen to be viewed.

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Vic's office on Worth St., in Tribeca

Re: Vic's office on Worth St., in Tribeca

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