karma police, arrest this man, he talks in maths...

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Who: Matt and Ukoku Sanzo
When: January 5; just after morning sirens
Where: fire escape outside the windows of apartments 808 and 810
Summary: a morning smoke after a long night without leads to some random conversation between next door neighbours
Warnings: none, I imagine

Comments

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Having a game to play while he talked had always helped Matt concentrate - it was just the manner of things. Whether it was his console, or some kind of word game in his sentence usage, or something as simple as handling his cigarette as if it was made of spiderweb to make sure the ash didn't fall off. It just helped him focus.

He took another slow puff, his brows furrowing even more deeply as he thought. It was a valid point Ukoku had, but he had an answer for it, "When one is thrown into something that makes no sense, one usually tries to make sense of it. At least where I come from..." he trailed off as the ash fell off his cigarette into a grey smudge on his jeans, and he wiped at it absently with his fingertips - game over.

"I guess it would make sense to look at it that way, but I'm not satisfied with just accepting what people tell me, especially in a place like this. I'd rather know for certain, and at the moment, an alternate dimension sounds like something out of a science fiction picture. Maybe possible, but where I'm from, not plausible. As far as I know, they're not even really trying to do anything along that sort of line."

He sighed, and lifted his right hand to rub at his eyelids, trying to settle the headache that was settling in behind them, "A game, hmmm?" he mumbled, after a moment, interest piqued, "I like games."

Giving his head a small shake, he sighed and looked over at the older man, "I certainly don't feel different than I did at home." he said, shaking his head, "You'd think I'd feel different if they implanted some kind of strange ability into me."

[heretic_monk]

"It's not so much as acceptance, but the removal of bias. This is just the tip of the iceberg."

Ukoku took out a wrinkled carton of cigarettes and a box of matches from his sleeve. The former looked like it had been dragged through rough concrete; Ukoku had dodged Gojyo's shakujou by jumping, but the crescent blade had snagged the end of his sleeve. A quiet tap and a strike of a match later, Ukoku made a soft sigh as the fresh dose of nicotine spread through his nerves.

He estimated that he'd be able to complete his investigation of surface matters within two weeks' time. Only then would he be able to decide on his next move, and the ones after that.

When Matt said he liked games, Ukoku turned to rest the small of his back on the metal rail, and placed his elbow on the back of the arm that he had positioned over his stomach. There was one way of livening up this conversation.

"In that case, shall we play one to pass the time for the morning? The two of us will list down what abilities could possibly count as strange. The one with more answers wins."

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Matt's eyes flicked to Ukoku's hand when he brought out the pack of cigarettes - beat up, almost as much as his own, which was crumpled in the corners but thankfully hadn't been hit by any bullets. Either that or the damage done to them had been corrected along with the damage done to his body, his goggles, his clothing.

Instead of taking out another of his own cigarettes, Matt simply stubbed out the one he was smoking to the best of his ability on the grated bottom of the fire escape, then dropped the still-half-lit butt to the ground, watching the embers fall down several stories before petering out. He was thinking about Ukoku's mention of removing bias, and he tilted his head to the side. He didn't comment on it, but the point was taken and accepted in his own mind.

When Ukoku proposed a game, Matt jerked his head to the side to look at him, eyes narrowing slightly under his messy mop of dark hair. He had a sudden feeling of foreboding - perhaps he shouldn't have said that he enjoyed games. He was familiar with dealing with manipulative people, and there was something about Ukoku that was almost familiar...

Brushing the thought off, Matt tilted his head back to look at the sky through the grating of the fire escape above, thoughtful. What harm was there in this game, what information would he give away? Perhaps what kind of abilities were available where Matt came from, or the abilities he could conceive of. It didn't strike him as particularly useful information, so long as he left out any information pertaining to the Kira case. He could even pull all the abilities from the science fiction shows he knew, just to make sure there were no personal insights in there.

After a moment to think this out, he nodded, "Sure. Why not?" He lifted a hand to his mouth to cover a yawn, "You start."

[heretic_monk]

Matt had already noticed something? What a difference nicotine made.

Ukoku took one long draft from his cigarette as he thought of an ability. There was really no point to this exercise, other than to refresh his memory of the what-could-bes in the advancement of genetic evolution and to see more of what Matty-boy could do. If something new came up, so much the better.

"Pyrokinesis."