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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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.

Vic put the notepad in his pocket and picked up the comm. After focusing on the video for a moment, he turned and directly at Ari. "Well, that covers that. Ari, how old are you?"

He pushed the pen and paper in Ari's direction.

The pen vanished from view before the number "16" wrote itself on the paper.

Koto kept her mouth shut and just watched. This was going well and she didn't want to screw it up.

Sixteen? He was a little apprehensive about that. "And you've been invisible nonstop for three weeks now?" He looked right in Ari's eyes, or at least where he was sure they are. "Do you know a lot bout evading detection, or are you just working with the invisibility?"

"One week" wrote the reply. "Most people don't notice me when I can be seen, especially here."

It was a bit of an understatement, really. Even before he'd gone invisible it would take him ten minutes just to get a store clerks attention so he could pay for his food. People here were worse than back home. At least there it only took two minutes.

...

If someone was expecting him.

Vic gave him a soft smile. "This isn't just slipping by regular people who don't notice you. Where you'd be going if you worked with me, they'll be looking, anticipating disturbances. And if you get caught, they wouldn't mean well for you."

There was a stillness a while as Ari debated this. A novel concept, him being able to actually made a choice about his own life.

It couldn't be any worse than fighting ghosts and Evil Kings.

He shrugged before recalling that no one could see that. "I think I can manage."

His smile dropped a little. "I'm not kidding, Ari. You'll probably get really hurt on the kind of jobs I do. I have been trained for this sort of thing and I still get into bad situations. These are people who would have no qualms with killing you."

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