deernet | [VIDEO | un: inkmetal]

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[VIDEO | un: inkmetal]

[It's disgustingly hot and humid and even with most of her hair pulled up and twisted back away from her face, she's got curly tendrils hanging down and a light sheen on her forehead. Ugh. But at least she's back to finding things to keep herself busy.]

My chair is open at Ursula's again, if anyone is looking for regular tattoos or some runework. Want anything more intricate let's talk and we'll see what I need and what deal works for you.

[Best way to act like nothing is wrong is to go right back to what she was doing before, right? Right.]

Catching up on the insane shit y'all love to get up to, but what little changes, a lot stays the same, doesn't it? Like how I still don't know who most of you asses are. Keeping track of the coming and goings ain't easy. Anyone keeping a list?

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Yeah, it definitely took me some time to figure things including my blood type. [because unlike most people, her blood colour ended up being the same as it was back home] I'm a darkblood though.

[Luz brightened. She knew she was probably asking a lot, but to get conformation that it would be done made her pretty happy].

What do you need for payment? I'll work it out on layaway if you need!

[Luz was just like that].

Ooh, you got it!

[Luz picked out a larger blue quartz crystal]. Will this work?

You're telling me. I came back without ever really knowing I left. [and her sister had possibly done the same.]

Eight sharp. Got it.

[vi lightly huffs before winking into the camera because she can. and she's also trying to impress - only partially because she wants the job. she'll be a few minutes early.]

Well..

[ The girl seems to still be thinking about it, even as she's speaking up here. Hence why that 'well' trails off for a moment, hanging in the air as she slowly speaks on.

Chizuru even sounds thoughtful. ]

Even if you don't have a power like that.. It still isn't too hard to empathize with other people, right..? [ Granted, it's not hard for Chizuru, who is just naturally Like That. Hence why she might have a hard time imagining a place where people wouldn't do that for other people. ] I'm sure that even people who don't have paleblood look out for people. A lot of people have already saved me from various situations since I've been here..!

Oh, um, I don't mean your family, I mean the world! Is it anything like what you know?

[She takes the crystal out of Luz's hand, feels the heft of it and looks over the colors.] Cute. The blues will look nice with the carving.

Layaway? I'm not a Walmart. This isn't a commission, it's a late birthday gift. I'm sure I missed one or fourteen.

Empathizing isn't the same thing as being an empath. I can empathize with a lot of people, but I'm not feeling their emotions directly.

[Usually. Things have happened sometimes.]

I don't think it means no one else can help, I just wouldn't want those kind of abilities pushed on me. Not my wheelhouse.

Oh. Same. Bleeding glitter was an experience the first time before I figured it out. You managed to turn it into anything yet?

[Oh. Oh Vi is a dangerous one. That much Saeri can tell. And maybe she kind of likes that. Not used to this, but it's not in a bad way. She half-smirks, an eyebrow cocked upward in response.]

I'll see you then.

[Saeri always shows up with plenty of time to prep for her chair at the parlor. Not that many people came in this early anyway, but it gave her time to sketch and outline and work on new inks on her mixing table off behind the curtains. She heard the bell of the door ring out and makes her way to the sitting room.]

Oh look who it is. [She waves with her metal hand, the full prosthetic visible up to her elbow from her rolled up sleeves.] You do know how not to keep a girl waiting.

Oh. [Good job cutting her off from a potential under the breath rant.]

This world isn't anything like mine, but back home magic is so commonplace I wouldn't know what it would be like without it. Even the people who don't know about magic would notice if it was gone.

[vi holds up a hand as she approaches, still wearing the lightweight dress (which she has tucked and belted to be more of a long shirt) and pants sansa had given her. from the way she moves it's possibly obvious she has yet to feel truly comfortable in them. it's not a fabric thing, the feel of them is lovely (and they're well made) it's more of a cut issue: she isn't used to anything this loose. or maybe this clean, either. the second point makes her laugh a little, and she'll just work that into her stance.]

What can I say, I'm true to my word.

[she's very familiar with prosthetics - so many in the undercity - one in particular that she kept landing on the wrong side of - and it's interest of design that drives her gaze there. it doesn't linger overlong, and she breaks into an easy grin.]

Nice setup you've got here.

[The outfit is definitely mismatched and something she assumes Vi got stuck with. She definitely doesn't come across to her like someone who would pick that type of look. It's cute, but doesn't fit the vibe Saeri's been getting from her. Not enough jean and leather maybe. Too breezy.]

Yeah, Ursula's can be...a lot. If you're not used to inking. But they keep it clean and give you plenty of space to work. [She motions back to the curtain set up.]

My own workshop within a shop right there. Plenty of space for you to get a sneak peek. [She raises her eyebrows just a little.] Of my work, of course.

[only one of vi's brows goes up in response.]

Your work. Of course. Yeah, totally.

[she'll follow - hanging back a few paces, walking slow, looking upward and around, and nodding in approval.]

Everything's a lot right now, honestly. My...uh, "workshop" [can airquotes be heard?] was a lot smaller. No complaints here, though.

[that last sentence. deliberately vague on what she's referring to. it's not false confidence, she's got confidence to spare, but this. this is ...overcompensation, a sense of "gotta keep the game going", only she wouldn't exactly call it a game, either. mindgames are not really her thing.]

Before I remodeled my carriage house here, my workshop was half a dorm room so I am used to working in smaller spaces, too.

[And when she pushes aside the curtain, Vi can see that this is a cozy space. A variety of lights all over that seem to have individual controls. Bigger than a closet, with a third of the space taken over by a long table covered in inkwells of a dozen different colors and shades, quills, needles, knives, a tattoo gun, sketchpads, a stack of paper, and other materials. Neat somehow despite the sheer amount of items. And there is still enough room for two people to move around without immediately bumping into each other. Saeri has to keep her head slightly bowed under her strings of lights.

She'll close the curtain after them, affording a bit of privacy. Maybe her heart is beating a little bit faster. Has the fun little run of flirting ever gone this far? No. Did that mean she was going to back down? Hell no.]

As you can see, I have a lot of options for you. But a promise is a promise.

[And so she holds out her prosthetic hand. There is clearly a deep engraving on the palm of the metal hand. A diamond with a "X" bisecting it, creating four quadrants with rune symbols etched into each.]

Purification runes. [Yes she's being cheeky.]

[it's early enough in her time here that she's still (visibly) caught off guard by - well, all of it - but the coziness, the variety and scope of inks and tools, the lights - the intricacy and order of it all. and the strings of lights. she might look at them a little too long.

shit. nope, stop looking around like an idiot, vi.]

I like options. [it's back to flirting again - and why shouldn't she, saeri is pretty, smart, interesting and talented, and not shy. what harm was there in it? it certainly distracts her from all the other less pleasant things she's been pushing to the edges of her mind.

but then saeri's hand is out and vi looks at it - no, it's not skin - but this is...]

Runework. [it's almost a whisper, but not quite, and she leans in a little closer to look at the shapes - the symbols residing in each quadrant, a mystery of a language that made things work, that stopped other things from working.] So, like, if you touch something, or someone ...it takes away the corruption?

What do you use to inscribe the metal?

[It's not skin. Not anymore. But she couldn't give up any of her runes. Her arm may have been gone but the runes would stay. Something about the way Vi looks a them though... She breathes in deep and lets out a little huff. Breathless laughter.]

Hah...uh...used an engraver pen with a reinforced diamond tip. I have a few for different sized projects. And it purifies organic matter for consumption. Needed it to eat for a while when I was on an impromptu vacation to the middle of Hell-knows-where.

[The fact she doesn't grit her teeth just talking about it is progress. Or maybe she has so many other things to grit her teeth about something had to get pushed down the rankings.]

Kind of funny to put something for organic matter on the metal hand, huh.

[vi can be oblivious but she isn't to the shift, here. makes note: reinforced diamond tip.]

Like the canteen in our bags, only ...much cooler, and not limited to liquid. Could have used something like that back home. Could have used it in my workspace. Which, by the way, was also an impromptu vacation to hell no.

[it sounds like saeri has been through something, and similar or not, it's a phrasing she can identify with, even if bitterly. so what else to do but use humor as a deflection?]

Yeah, kinda. But not the belly-laugh kind of funny. It's resourceful, though.

[Considering the nature of Vi's tattoos that she could see, she wonders just what brand of "Hell no" she got saddled with. But she doesn't ask. Because of the well known "no one's damn business" etiquette.]

I walk my life on the lines of irony as I live to defy expectations. Like right now.

[And with that Saeri brings her right hand up and easily undoes the buttons on her vest one-handed. She's had a lot of practice by this point. Metal fingers aren't always the best with buttons. Doesn't take that long to undo the top buttons of her blouse either. The scar down the center of her breasts is a lot more visible this way, but she's not trying to bring attention to its surgical precision. She pulls the top of her shirt partly to the side and reveal another of her tattoos right along her breastbone. It's in a perfect sphere with a line through the center. What may look to be shapes compiled against each other actually runes melded into seamless geometric order.]

A promise is a promise, after all. This one is a health rune.

Not everybody knows? Then hey, maybe it is real in my world after all. Who knows? I never really believed in all that stuff before.

I thought so too! Plus, those colors work well with her too!

[Luz turned red]. R-right! Sorry! Just as well though, since I got corrupted the month of my birthday anyway. Talk about bad timing. Probably would have a quinceañera at some point, but that's come and gone.

It's really easy to ignore things right in your face if you have excuses to why a duck isn't a duck. So yeah, maybe you just never noticed.

[Saeri barely even remembers when her birthday is going to be besides counting down the time until she was Legal. But it was different for other people. She liked making their birthdays count.]

See? All the more reason for me to catch up. I'll test out the carving on a different piece of crystal before I cut into this one, but I know it's going to look great. Gonna blow your girl away.

[She nudges are her with her elbow.]

[To be honest, Ryan doesn't want to dwell on it either. The urge to skip ahead to the part where it hurts less is really strong.]

Yeah, of course! We're closed this week while we figure out how running a business works, but once we reopen it's gonna be business as usual - except with me and Min behind the wheel.

[ Oh. Chizuru can see the difference between that, sure, but that brings up an entirely different problem. ]

I don't think I can.. feel people's feelings directly though..?

[ Granted, she isn't sure how she'd have to feel them for them to be direct. She understands the line in theory between emphathizing and the direct emotion sharing, but it's a lot harder to draw the line in practice.

Though Chizuru thinks the way she feels leans much more towards the former than the latter. ]

.. maybe my paleblood just isn't very strong. [ There's something sheepish about the way she says it, because..

Well. It doesn't exactly feel great to admit.

On the other hand, it feels like it's got to be the truth. If other people with paleblood can do all these amazing things, then how come she can't? ]

[Luz is going to want to know her birthday eventually! Her birthday did matter to her, but the past few years had been so crazy that she'd let it go, since it really couldn't be helped].

You're a lifesaver and people really need to be doing you favors! You will tell me if you ever need one, right?

[Luz is blushing here, because of course she was still a girl fumbling around with her first relationship and still can't believe it's happening].

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[VIDEO | un: inkmetal]

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