005 - Video (Accidentally not private to Gamzee)

[samantha_grey]

[It's about two hours after Samantha met Gamzee for the first time. She's got a splitting headache and a nasty snarl on her face as she's holding an ice pack to her head. Her original intent in setting this post up is to make this a private post to the troll, but either because of that splitting headache, the fact that she's not 100% sure which is his account or just being in an angry rush, she's not getting the privacy thing quite right. So everyone gets to hear her cuss that looks at the video.]

Hey! Gamzee!

Round one, you dumbass, troglodyte clown. You win round one. The next time you try to wang me over the head, you bloody well swing better than a gimp chimpanzee or you're going to regret it. You hear me, motherfucker? I'm going to find you one of these days and re-arrange that ugly little face of yours until you can't recognize it in a mirror.

Comments

[samantha_grey]

Yeah. I guess that makes sense. It's not something I've really encountered too much in my life, but I was pretty limited in my experiences until about a year and a half or so ago. At least you haven't had too many problems one way or another.

So, if you don't mind me asking a stupid question. Why the hell you hanging around me? It's not exactly as if my life's prone to being boring and quiet, you know.

[seventeenpills]

And I'm supposed to enjoy boring and quiet just because I have a heart condition?

[He asked it with a wry smile and a quirked brow - there was no confrontation in his tone.]

If you want to know, it's just because you seem cool and I enjoy talking to you. That's pretty much it. I'd like us to be friends. And so far I haven't been hit with any boulders or bitten by any clowns, so, we're in good shape thus far.

[samantha_grey]

Yeah, because I heard clownism was infectious once upon a time. [The only episode of ATHF she ever watched. Most days, she was grateful she didn't grow up with a TV.]

I'm not really good at this whole friend thing, just so you know Hisao. I lived with my mom all my life, and I haven't held onto a friend long before I've ended up hurting them. It's... awkward to have people ask. I've given up trying to stop people, since everyone around here either has the sense to stay away or they're just dense about it, but you should know I'm not really sure how to be a friend, other than having someone's back.

...

And I'm not asking the Neighbor's Club. They're nucking futs.

[seventeenpills]

Maybe the neighbors club was bitten by clowns? Actually, they seem OK. Just... really, really exuberantly awkward.

But, I mean, there isn't any special skillset required for being friends. It's just... well, this. Being able to sit around and have coffee and chat about stuff every so often. And maybe you're right and maybe I'm dense and I wind up getting hurt at some point. That doesn't mean it's a bad idea. It just has some risks attached, but most firendships do in one way or another.

[samantha_grey]

Some? You, sir, have a knack for understatement. But, I'll give. It's not like I haven't traveled with some people who weren't dangerous in their own ways.

[seventeenpills]

I've been told before that euphimisms are one of my trademarks. There are worse things to be defined by, I guess. I'm sorry to dissapoint but being my friend isn't really dangerous or exciting so, don't compare me too harshly with your old travelling partners.

[samantha_grey]

My old travelling partners are usually more trouble than they're worth. A few of them damned near got me into some serious trouble at times. I could use a friend or two that avoid that sort of over-the-top nonsense if I'm being really honest.

Don't need to go traipsing down to hell's gates to bargain with Charon for someone's soul again, now do I?

[seventeenpills]

I can with all earnestness swear I would never ask you to do anything like that!

[He chuckles into his coffee, taking another sip.]

It sounds like an interesting story, though.

[samantha_grey]

Less than you'd think. It involved two gold drachma. Nothing more complicated than that. He'd never been paid a toll properly before for me, so I think he appreciated someone actually taking the time to pay him for once. The bastard rarely gets that much respect from much of anyone in the underworld.

[seventeenpills]

Wow! I mean, where I'm from, Charon and the river Styx are known as Greek myths. The fact that you can talk about them being real so casually is kind of amazing. I guess if the toll wasn't paid, the soul is left to wander the banks and catacombs there for a hundred years, right? That's how the story goes in my world, at least.

[samantha_grey]

They're myths in my world too. Charon's kind of an asshole, actually. Understandably so, but still an asshole. The toll... was a little complicated actually.

You see, it was my toll. Not hers.

[She took a long sip of her coffee, not looking at him.]

[seventeenpills]

Yeah, I mean, I can't imagine there being a lot of job satisfaction in what he does, you know?

...wait, your toll? Yikes. I'm sorry to hear that.

[samantha_grey]

Sorry, it's not ... quite like that. My father had been cheating him out of my toll several times. Every time I died and he took my soul directly and then returned me, the ferryman wasn't given his due. Actually paying him... was enough, with the right apology.

It's not that I paid the toll that's the problem. It's that there was any reason to cheat Charon in the first place. People ... shouldn't have to die more than once.

[seventeenpills]

...oh wow. That's...

[He really had nothing to compare that to. At all.]

No, they shouldn't. That sounds like a lot to go through. Um. If you want to change topics, I'm good with that - I don't want to pry or anything.

[Frankly, he was curious as all hell but considering how much he hated talking about his one little didn't-quite-kill-him heart attack? Actually dying and being brought back multiple times had to be way, way worse.]

[samantha_grey]

The cat's out of the bag. I've died before, a few times. You can ask, Hisao but I'm not really sure I want to tell you how I've died. That's not really pleasant. But there's a reason I don't like some of the aspects of this place.

It's making other people face what I consider torture.

[seventeenpills]

Oh, geeze, no - I wasn't going to ask for any specifics about That. I mean, that would be more than a little morbid. I guess my main set of queries is to do with your world's Pantheon. I know a little bit about the Greek Pantheon from reading the Iliad and the Odyssey.

But I know what you mean about the torture thing - I already told you what happened to Hanako. The friend who has a fear of being touched who wound up having to hug a lot of people.

[samantha_grey]

Well, you should... be aware that Charon's a name that isn't only known in pagan circles. There's a reason he got put into Dante's Inferno. The drachma were just old rules, reflections of the truth. Then again, he might have been running the ferry business for Tartarus along with the hell I knew. That was a little on the tough side to understand, honestly.

I... can understand the fear of being touched. I saw a picture of her. Those... burn marks didn't come the easy way I am betting.

[seventeenpills]

Sure. I can understand it would be hard to figure out - It's not something mortals are generally privvy to, to begin with.

...and yeah. I mean, without going into any specifics, because it's not my place to do so, her life has been pretty hard. Just accepting me as a friend took a while and a lot of effort on her part. But to be honest, how she is here and how she was back home is... it's like night and day. Back home she could barely speak a sentence to anyone. Now, she has a lot of friends and she's involved in so many things.

[He smiled into his coffee cup.]

[samantha_grey]

Maybe this place has been good for her, at least a little. I'm not entirely sure it's going to be so simple for me, though it doesn't sound like any of that was really simple. But yeah, this isn't the sort of thing mortals were supposed to know about much. Family business just gave me insider knowledge.

[seventeenpills]

I think it has its good and bad points. I know the hugging thing upset her at the time... but since then she organized the Arbor day, and also the Travellers festival. I mean, she went from skipping class to hide in her room to that? Whatever else might be wrong with this place...

[It was hard to vocalize. He was grateful, but was it his place to be grateful in this case? He wasn't even sure. And he didn't want to sound presumptive or condescending, so, he cut it short.]

....anyway, yeah. You mentioned your bloodline so I can see how that would come with knowledge the rest of us might never get. I don't even know if what you're saying is true of my world. This whole time I've been a little jealous of some of these other worlds filled with magic and monsters and things, but my world may just have them too and I'd never know it. Well. Till I died. Properly.

[samantha_grey]

It seems, overall, to be helping her. Magic... really isn't something that you want in your world. I know it perfectly well, since I studied it. That's the sort of power you really don't want in other peoples' hands. At the same time, once you have access to magic, everyone else gets access to it that would cause you problems. It ends up like nuclear weapons. Everyone tries to get more and more of it, and eventually someone does something stupid that sets off the apocalypse.

[she sighed and smiled sadly.]

Sorry. I am never the most cheerful of souls, Hisao.

[seventeenpills]

No! No, it's fine - see, that's just sensible. I hadn't really thought about it like that. Y'know, that other thing I'm known for gets in the way sometimes - naivety.

[He chuckled and took a gulp of his coffee - it was cooler by now.]

I guess I just expect everyone would use a gift like that appropriately and those that didn't would be in an extreme minority. But you're probably right - it is a bit like weapons escalation isn't it? People just can't stand to be outdone, I guess.

[samantha_grey]

It's a pretty big mix, but weapons escalation is a pretty accurate term. In some ways, the situation is worse because most of those who learn it have an agenda to begin with, or otherwise they wouldn't have bothered with the amount of study to get past the basics of power. So, you're more likely to run into your fair share of the power-grabbing sorts.

And careful about that naivete. You'll lose it staying around me too long.

[seventeenpills]

That might not be a terrible thing in and of itself. Compared to so many here, my life has been really very sheltered. I mean, the heart thing is a problem but that's a relatively recent development and everything before that was smooth sailing.

[samantha_grey]

I suppose some things should be taken away, just to protect yourself. But, really, you don't want to lose all of it. You'll end up jaded and bitter, and that's no way to ever be happy, trust me.