02 | Accidental Visual/Location: Gwen's House | I Can't Reach You Anymore

[freaks_myword]

Gwen currently has the privilege of experiencing for herself the Tablet's ability to turn on and off without provocation.  So when the screen flickers on, viewers get just a glimpse--curly brown hair and a shoulder--before the Tablet is unceremoniously knocked off its pedestal and the view changes abruptly, now looking up at her instead of down.

Comments

[visual]

[goodluck_kobra]

Kobra glances at the tablet when the screen flickers to life, recognising...Gwen? Was that her name? He shrugs to himself as he watches her. He'd just been getting some things from a store. Actual hair dye for himself and Party, another pair of sunglasses, some books. He had considered the water and food, mouth watering just from looking at everything displayed, but in the end his paranoia won out and he turned away from it.

Sunglasses perched on his nose to protect his eyes from the bright light outside Kobra tilts his head to the side. "I'm right here, Crashqueen," he says, because well, he's like that. Sometimes Kobra's grip on social conventions and conversation norms are not the best. "What's up?"

[visual]

[freaks_myword]

Gwen squints at the tablet, and when she confirms it's that newcomer--Party's snippy friend--she smirks.

"Someone's in a better mood." She looks around for a bit at what everybody must be seeing around her, and rolls her eyes. Just witness to this place's practical jokes, people, move along.

Re: [visual]

[goodluck_kobra]

"Oh, are you?" Of course Kobra wouldn't think that Gwen's statement was directed at him, because...he's always in a mood. He still feels uncomfortable talking to strangers, but he supposes that it's a necessary thing to do here.

"That's...good to hear?" he tries, thinking it might be the right thing to say. He scratches the bridge of his nose, trying to think of something to say. He really isn't good at this. "I miss music," is what eventually comes out.

[visual]

[freaks_myword]

Gwen blinks. Is he messing with her? The more she spoke with him, the more she discerned the differences between he and Party. They had the same...eclectic style, but she knew where Party stood: a pretty cool girl with superpowers. This one, awkwardness and all, was a little harder to read.

"I meant you, honey," she clarifies slowly, because if he was using sarcasm, he was doing it wrong. And then he says he misses music and she's completely thrown off again. "Why don't you, I don't know, hatch a flute or something and place some?"

[visual]

[goodluck_kobra]

"You...oh." Kobra scrunches his nose up a little. Fuck, he really, really sucked at this. "Um. I guess?" he tried, shifting uncomfortably. he was used to the other Killjoys being able to read him like an open book and he hadn't really interacted with other people in...years? Yeah, possibly years.

"I don't know. Is there music here?" They hadn't had any instruments or records or anything in Battery City because it had been labeled dangerous. Just the DJs out in the zones spinning records. "Do you play flute?"

[visual]

[freaks_myword]

She tilts her head to the side, studying Kobra and actually wondering what his name was, because she just realized that she didn't know. Their first conversation had been anything but friendly, and his school boy schtick is catching her off guard. What kind of place did they come from?

"Don't know. If there is? It's not coming from me," she replies, not wanting to make him feel more awkward. He reminded her of a couple amateur clients, the ones that'd meet up with her in big black trench coats and hem and haw their way to making a deal with her. She always chalked it down to being a mix of beauty and...well, criminal, among other things. But this guy didn't know any of that, unless Party filled him in on the freak subsection of her resume.

"So you finally ready to share your name? Or do I have to keep calling you Party's Boy in my head?"

[visual]

[goodluck_kobra]

The corners of Kobra's lips actually twitched into a tiny grin. He could do, being known as Party's Boy.

"Kobra Kid," he eventually replied though, pushing his sunglasses back up his nose where they'd slipped down a little. "How do you know Party?"

[visual]

[freaks_myword]

Okay, as far as names go, it was...still pretty freaking weird.

"No, really," she says. She doesn't care where they come from: Party Poison and Kobra Kid? "He was part of my welcome wagon," she says simply. "Spouted off a bunch of stuff about not eating the food and drinking the water." She raises an eyebrow, guessing that as Party's friend, this Kobra Kid was probably thinking along the same lines. "How's that working out for you?"

[visual]

[goodluck_kobra]

Once upon a time he and his brother had had different names, but out in the zones it was dangerous to give your identity away. Kobra only rarely used his given name, or his brother's name. More, he uses to slip into them in situations of distress.

"I wouldn't trust the supplies here," he replies with somewhat of a regretful shrug. He's thirsty and he's seen all the amazing things they have in the stores here. Real food, not stupid kibble from a can. Food and drinks, alcohol that's not the result of one of Ghoul's experiments and likely to make them sick. Cola! But he stays away from it because it's not safe.

"Don't you wonder what's in it?"

[visual]

[freaks_myword]

Even after Party's warnings, she didn't really think twice about eating the food. Girl's gotta eat. And she was a lot more alive and kicking here than she was back in L.A, so she took it as a good sign.

"Vitamin A, D, maybe some iron?" Gwen shrugs, indifferently. "Stuff that's good for the hair and skin. You're gonna have to eat sometime. What are you gonna do, starve to death? That'll show 'em."

[visual]

[goodluck_kobra]

Kobra hasn't eaten anything containing vitamins in years. At least he doesn't think there is much of that in PowerPup.

"We won't starve," he shakes his head, fiddling with his sunglasses. "We always manage." For now Party's still got a few cans of PowerPup and then they'll just have to look. He saw a forest on their latest drive, maybe they can find something there.

"You're not from the zones, are you?"

[visual]

[freaks_myword]

Gwen's expression is the equivalent of: Uh...what?, until she remembers something about Party's world, where he came from. It didn't sound like a fun place to be. And wasn't that the general theme all around?

"Los Angeles," she says. "And trust me, it's probably not that much nicer."

[visual]

[goodluck_kobra]

"I've heard of Los Angeles." Or he had, before the Helium Wars. "What's it like?" Kobra asks, finding himself surprisingly intrigued. He's been in the zones for so long and now all of a sudden there are people from entirely different...universes? It's fascinating. "And why isn't it nice?"

[visual]

[freaks_myword]

"It's...nice," she replies, but the word means something different to her. Los Angeles was a beacon of originality, a pot of all different kinds of people--good, bad and ugly. Some of it is shady and dirty and pretty scary, but she always felt more home there than she had anywhere else, even her hometown.

"Or at least it was. A friend of mine got it sucked into hell. Fire and brimstone, the whole nine yards." There's something in her voice here, but it's indiscernible and Gwen certainly is not going to elaborate. "A bunch of white hats are working on clearing it up, though. As far as I know. Didn't get to see the big finale."

[visual]

[goodluck_kobra]

"Yeah?" Kobra asks, tilting his head a little to the side. "What was it like?" he wants to know, suddenly hungry for information. He can't imagine living in a city where things are good.

At the mention of white hats his frown deepens because white means BL/nd. "And you trusted them to take care of your friend? Gonna turn them into a ritalin rat, it's what Blind does, tumbleweed."

[visual]

[freaks_myword]

"Before Hell on Earth, or after?" she asks, and then lets out a sigh. She doesn't want to talk about the after. The amusement park in flames, the demons in the sewers and in the streets, frequenting them as often as pedestrians. Everything there went wrong. So she chooses to stick to the before. "Lots of big men in suits, law firms, restaurants, good vodka." She has a feeling Kobra doesn't know any of this, but she continues. "Homeless people, drugs, killers..." Thieves? Whoops, guess that made her part of the bad, huh? "Art galleries and museums were my favorite," she finishes with a little nostalgic smile.

"Actually, I trusted my friend to take care of them. We...they were like a team of...heroes. Saving people and trying to fix things. I don't know what Blind is, sugar, but the bad guys sure weren't."