[voice & action]

[swooshycape]

voice

[ Sometime Monday afternoon, a voice pops up on the network to ask a single question. The voice is low and gravelly, and it's relatively toneless, though if one listens closely, there's a faint edge. Anyone who knows Vincent well can probably tell he's not happy, but to others, he's more or less monotonous. ]

Who here has a lab... and where... can I find it?

[ There are words he wishes to have with a certain doctor... ]

action

[ Otherwise, Vincent spends a lot of time lurking and simply watching people during the week - sometimes outright avoiding them but others just... observing. He's starting to gain a few familiar haunts, even if he has yet to claim a room as his own.

Most mornings he begins at the beach, sitting on the pier and watching the sunrise while he smokes a cigarette or two. If any early risers happen to comment on his smoking habit, they will be promptly given a flat look and then ignored. His lungs can take it, and it's soothing as much for the ritualistic movements as the nicotine. Old habits die hard.

Later on in the day, he can be found exploring the forest. He doesn't go too far in, having heard the warnings, and he finds it strange that nothing lives there besides the trees, but that doesn't stop him from investigating. He moves very quietly, and if anyone happens to join him in the forest, they're liable to get stalked... Don't be surprised to find him lurking in the trees, sometimes hopping between them. The strange thing, though, is when he leaps, there's something almost smokey about him, with his cape swirling around him. It's almost like he's flying a little... maybe he is.

But much of the time, when he actually is in the mansion, he can usually be found in one of three places:

The library - where he lurks in dark corners, reading assorted books - or Dean's Bar - where he lurks in a dark corner or at the bar and nurses a variety of drinks - or the tea rooms where he.... ignores the tea and drinks coffee instead. But they're normally quiet, secluded rooms, and he likes that.

(But really, feel free to bother him just about anywhere! At least he's not threatening people with his gun anymore...) ]

Comments

[lightgunhustler]

[Ha ha, like Meg. Funny.]

Spiritual structure?

[She leans forward slightly, resting an arm against the table.]

What do you mean?

[swooshycape]

[ He takes a sip of his drink, swirling the glass a little as he ponders how to best answer that. ]

... all living things possess an energy unique to life... souls, if you will... when things are born in our world... they receive this... spiritual energy from the planet... and when they die, this energy returns to it, increased by the memories and experience it carries with it... And throughout the planet runs a great river of this energy. It is the planet's lifeblood, and we call it the Lifestream. ... from what I have read and seen in films so far... Earth does not seem to possess this... at least... not in the same form...

[lightgunhustler]

If we do have anything like that, I've never heard of it.

[She shifts to rest her chin in her hand, considering.]

So the Lifestream kinda takes the place of our afterlife, from the sounds of it.

[Not that she knows what that might have meant back home, anymore. Heaven or Hell, but she'd heard very little about either, despite knowing people who had visited both. Just wasn't the kind of thing that came up in polite conversation. For now, Wonderland was her afterlife.

Yep. Still felt weird to say.]

Do people ever think of it as being some kind of reincarnation?

[swooshycape]

[ He shrugs. ]

... some do... but reincarnation is not... truly what it is.

It is only the energy that is recycled... not the memories. Not the person. [ He takes another sip. ]

Sometimes the lifestream can be seen in a liquid form, pooling on the surface or in deep caverns.... We call that Mako... it can be utilized for ... various things.

[ He continues on mostly just to illustrate more of the differences.. ]

[lightgunhustler]

[She nods as he continues, making herself a bit more comfortable on her side of the booth.]

So what's it used for?

[Sounds almost like people drilling for oil, except. You know. Spiritual.]

[swooshycape]

[ Funny she should think that... ]

In crystalized form, it can be used to channel magic... it can also be refined and used to generate electricity...

But that... is not without its drawbacks.

[lightgunhustler]

Most things have a price. Electricity is costly where I'm from, too, and I don't just mean money.

[She's no environmental activist, but she's very aware of the resources that go into powering the modern world.]

[swooshycape]

[ He nods, imagining correctly that her world uses something like coal or oil. It's funny to him that the sorts of dirtier things like this are what he remembers being used here and there when he was pretty young. But then Mako had come, and it had seemed so much cleaner and brighter and better, and now? Now they were coming full circle. He's curious to see what's yet to come.. ]

And yet money is so often the deciding factor...

[lightgunhustler]

Yeah. Not always the cost, but often the goal.

[Not that she knows a whole lot about that. Hunting? Not exactly a get-rich-quick kind of career path. Very little of the money she carries around is earned honestly, but hey. That's the price you pay.]

unsure about this tag. :|a

[swooshycape]

Mm. ...

[ He takes another sip. ]

... anything else you want to know about my world...? Or should we exchange death stories?

[ There's something a little wry there, but he admits he is curious what ended her life tragically young. And he's also curious how sore this point is for her. Depending on how she reacts, he will remember to never press the subject again or to offer the appropriate support if a relevant situation comes up in the future. ]

<3

[lightgunhustler]

[The frankness of the question visibly startles her. She hasn't been shy about letting her fate slip if going back home ever comes up in conversation, but other than a vague reference, she hasn't talked about it much. The wry tone of voice doesn't escape her, but there's something about the question that sticks with her all the same.]

I bet you make that offer to all the girls. Long, boring story, I promise you.

E>

[swooshycape]

[ The corner of his lip twitches in an almost-smile at that. ]

I have all day... but you must have had an interesting life if death turned out ... boring.

[lightgunhustler]

Parts of it were, anyway.

[She smiles a little in reply, though it doesn't quite reach her eyes this time.]

Maybe death wasn't that boring, but I think I always knew I wouldn't die of old age.

[swooshycape]

Heh. [ He takes another sip of his drink. ] ... I know the feeling.

[lightgunhustler]

[She raises one eyebrow, looking at him curiously.]

Dangerous line of work?

[swooshycape]

[ He nods. And doesn't really elaborate. If she asks, maybe he'll tell her a bit, but he is content to otherwise just answer simply. ]

[lightgunhustler]

[She leans forward over the table a little.]

So what did you do?

[swooshycape]

... whatever needed done.

[ A very slight smirk creeps onto his face as he thinks about how he's described it to others. ]

... aggressive defense for the company I worked for...

[lightgunhustler]

Aggressive defense.

[She has to smile a little as she echoes that.]

Sounds like you spent a lot of time living in gray areas.

[swooshycape]

Ah... that is one way of putting it.

[lightgunhustler]

Why'd you leave? If it's not too personal to ask. Didn't agree with the lifestyle anymore?

[That would be her first guess for anyone in that kind of profession.]

Or something else?

[swooshycape]

Hn. ... early retirement by way of a couple bullets.

[ So... something else, basically. But then again, one could say the lifestyle didn't agree with him. ]

[lightgunhustler]

Injury? Or is that how you died?

[Injury seemed a little too optimistic. Maybe it was too frank, asking like that, but he'd been the one to suggest trading death stories. Why not ask?]

Sorry. Sounds like a lousy way to retire, either way.

keywords

[swooshycape]

Died.

[ He doesn't really mind, given that he suggested the trading to begin with. ]

... unfortunately I never did get a pension for it. [ In other words, he totally agrees with it being a crap way to retire. ]

He really does though.

[lightgunhustler]

Well, that's just bad form. They could at least give you what you're owed.

[She smirks, though just a little.]

Rude.