get out the abacus and count this. [active; open]

[brokencopy]

Who: Beyond Birthday; OPEN to anyone else.
Where: Entry way; first floor.
When: Late Day 02
What: B arrives; shenanigans(?) ensue.
Warnings: Nothing yet, but please do take a moment to fill out the permissions? c:

Comments

[visioneightfold]

Instead of a computer monitor, Vriska stared up at a ceiling that was not made of stars or metal.

For a moment, it didn't really register; she simply stared up at it, lying on her back on some cold floor. This lasted almost an entire second.

Where--?

She shoved herself up off the floor, yellow eyes scanning as she regained her feet, taking in chairs, walls, door, flowers--she almost didn't care about any of that, though. Almost.

All eight pupils locked onto the one living being present besides her.

A...

Was... that a human?

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"Hey, you!"

[brokencopy]

B almost jumped at the sound of the voice coming from behind him; he'd been fairly certain there was no one else in the immediate vicinity just a moment ago. The fact that someone had been able to sneak up on him like this - well, it was disturbing, to say the least.

Or it was, until B craned his head around to gaze behind his shoulder and take in the form of the person attached to the voice addressing him - a girl with mismatched horns, grey skin, yellow eyes, and one especially particular thing missing, something that should be there, but wasn't.

There was no name visible. B kept his face in a neutral expression as he turned to face her more fully. Still nothing. He glanced from one side to the other, making a good show of checking to see if there was anyone else this peculiar girl might be addressing.

"Are you talking to me?"

This is kind of brief, sorry. :V

[visioneightfold]

Vriska studied him, scrutinising the figure in front of her and looking him up and down. She wasn't looking for anything in particular so much as she was just looking--not that it did her any good. He could have been a stone for all the relevant information she got from him.

She did learn a thing or two about how humans worked, though.

"I don't see anyone else," the troll replied curtly, showing sharp fangs as she spoke.

noooooooo worries <3

[brokencopy]

"Then you must be speaking to me." It was a logical conclusion to draw - the girl was speaking to someone, and B was the only person in the room, therefore she was speaking to him.

But B already knew she'd addressed him; his questioning was more a piece of his "Rue Ryuzaki" act, his intentional cluelessness, than a genuine quest for information. He turned around to face her fully, tilting his head to one side, then the other, hard enough to make the bones of his neck creak and then audibly pop. He shuffled a few steps toward her, making a visual imprint of her appearance, committing every detail to memory even while approaching in his peculiar, hunched manner.

He stopped a few steps in front of the decidedly odd-looking girl and fixed his wide, unblinking stare directly on her. "How may I help you?" he asked, his voice flat with a controlled lack of emotion.

[visioneightfold]

No shit she was speaking to you.

But whatever answers Vriska had prepared herself for, that was not one of them. For a second she just stared at him; the look on her face implied nothing terribly flattering, and covered for her brief confusion rather nicely.

"What?"

Then, rather more belligerently:

"What do you think?"

[brokencopy]

"About what?"

B's tone remained unfazed as ever. The girl's change in expression garnered a small flicker of satisfaction for B, but that was nothing unusual. Part of the reason why he adopted such mannerisms was for reactions exactly like this from other people. It was a small amusement, but one he'd never tired of.

"I'm afraid you'll have to be a little more specific if you're going to request something of me. I am not a mind-reader."

[visioneightfold]

Patience was a virtue that Vriska possessed on a highly conditional basis. It wasn't that she wasn't patient, or couldn't be when her needs called for it, but being patient for someone else was not generally a habitual thing. Moody though she was, though, she recognised the situation was pretty undefined right now. Better to scope it out first.

She ran her tongue over her gums and teeth inside her mouth, grinding her teeth before answering--she took a step forward, odd eyes glinting penetratingly. "Where. Am. I."

[brokencopy]

"I'm afraid I haven't the foggiest." If the girl's movement was intended to be a form of intimidation, there was no indication it was working on B. He replied calmly, his body language remaining unruffled.

"But I'm actually right in the midst of investigating that myself. Perhaps you'd care to join me? Two heads are better than one, and I could use the help. I don't seem to have any sweets on me at the moment."

[visioneightfold]

Some part of her--some small, smothered, distant part of her, reminded her that she might find it easier to strangle him. His ensuing offer, however, came right on its tail, and cut it off before any notion properly associated with it could take root. In a way, it really took her off guard. Normally people didn't offer things like that. Not to her. Vriska stared at him for a second--a long second, gears and assorted other machinery turning in her head

[brokencopy]

"Very well." B wasted no further time in going down on all fours and crawling around on the floor to resume his investigation. From his complete lack of self-consciousness in this mannerism, one might assume he found it the most natural investigation method

[visioneightfold]

If Vriska was taken aback in any way by B's decision to investigate on the floor, she didn't show it. In fact, she hardly seemed to notice. Her attention was on the door, which she of course tried to open, but it didn't budge. She stepped back to look at it--really look at it: on the surface, it was huge and dark and made of solid wood, with big, slightly tarnished gold-brass hinges and a round knob. Whatever.

Unfortunately, that was all it was. She wasn't really seeing anything special about it. Somehow this door didn't appear to have any bolts accessible from the inside, though. Or even a keyhole for unlocking it. Odd.

B's voice tore her attention away from it before she could really think about that, though, and she turned back to look down at him again.

"I don't need to crawl around like a wiggler to see what I want to," she replied with a note of condescension, all eight eyes fixed coolly on him as he tilted his head to peer up at her. Weirdo.

[brokencopy]

"Oh? What a shame." B made sure to sound genuinely disappointed. "I can't tell you how valuable a change in perspective can be in cracking a critical piece of an investigation." The troll's reaction hadn't been quite what he'd expected, but it was interesting all the same.

Regardless, B kept up his crawling routine, backing up, turning around, and heading toward the door. "It seems you've found something," he said, eying wooden slap from his position on the ground. "Well done ... " Here he trailed off, once again tilting his head up at the girl, with an expression equal parts blankness and mild confusion. "Sorry, what did you say your name was?" B knew full well they hadn't made any formal introductions.

And the fact that he couldn't see her name at all was still a puzzle he couldn't quite get a fix on.

[visioneightfold]

"I didn't," she replied somewhat tartly, her fangs showing as she spoke. Then she flipped her hair back, using her hand to toss the thick locks back against her shoulder--an action as much of vanity as demonstration. "I'm Vriska." There was a faint element of superiority in the name, as though it was something to be proud of--or else she was just very proud of herself. Her next sentence, however, was abjectly deadpan.

"And I found a door." She turned to brush past him, headed to the other one, which, while less promising in scale, was hopefully more open. Or at least more interesting.

"A door that won't open," she added dryly. The implication, of course, was obvious. She glanced at him. "Who are you?"

[brokencopy]

"Nice to meet you, Vriska." As fluidly as he'd begun the crawling position, B pulled himself back to standing at his regular pronounced stoop. He dusted his hands off on the front of his jeans, and produced a black business card from his pocket with white lettering that read simply Rue Ryuzaki: Detective. "Please call me Ryuzaki." He didn't sound particularly impressed with meeting her, however - merely kept the same flat tone he'd been using the entire time.

B glanced back over his shoulder at the door, giving it a final inspection from afar, apparently satisfied with Vriska's conclusion. "A locked door? That's most unusual."

[visioneightfold]

Vriska just looked at the card for a moment, then one eyebrow raised quizzically--as though perhaps he had pulled a small frog out of his pocket and offered it to her. She turned her back on him, glancing back over her shoulder at the solid door. A brief frown passed over her expression.

"Yeah." She put her hand on the knob to the other door. "It is."

Then, reaching into her pocket, she moved as though to pull something out of it swiftly and dramatically--only once she had her hand inside, she realised that there was nothing there. Only space and air. Her shock showed plainly on her features as she patted herself down, her long, sharp teeth bared and eyes wide with panic as she dug desperately through her pockets, unable to even find her specibus or sylladex.

"Fuck!"