[text, backdated to 11/1, around 1 PM]

[two_stones]

Good morning, Locke city. Good morning, post-Halloween hangover.

I trust everybody's behavior was sufficiently irresponsible last night. Was the city taken over by aliens while I was sleeping, or are we good for a few more weeks?


[Locked to Bakura, after she eventually figured out how to reach him]



The time of your interrogation is at hand! I must know what sort of person has so captivated my babby cousin.

We can start with your name.

Comments

[counterclock]

[The "delicate nursing" of her chai disappears into a large, uncomfortable gulp that burns her tongue, and she is trying not to visibly freak out about that when Sara starts speaking to her.]

It was, ahhhhn old bud from a video I did. We've worked together a couple times and he knew I liked the band and trusted my creative integrity (or some bullshit like that) enough to trust me with the intel. Y'know, you can't share the news with just anyone, or everyone will show up and the indie feel will be killed.

[two_stones]

Niiice. So, you do what, music videos?

[Whether or not Sara is picking up on any of these visual cues remains a mystery.]

[counterclock]

Sometimes. I do other stuff, too. I just like doing film. But I got some musician friends who pay me to shoot their MVs on the cheap, so it's a fun side project.

[God Sara we might as well call you Batman. So dark and mysterious.]

[two_stones]

I see I have stumbled upon a girl of many talents. Have you worked on anything I'd have seen?

[counterclock]

Uh.

[This is a surprisingly difficult question. Is she too indie, or too popular? She does have a fuckton of followers on all her blogs. She's nearing four thousand subscribers on Youtube and a big blog posted her video the other day so it's gotten all sorts of recent hits.

Shit.]

Probably... not.

Unless you've seen my youtube channel.

[two_stones]

Mmm... no, I don't think I have. Alas.

[counterclock]

Yeah. Well. Cool. [She breathes the most uncomfortable laugh in the history of laughs and then very... very reluctantly sets the rim of her pretty hipster coffee cup on the edge of her lip. She really does not want to drink any more hot shit because she just roasted her taste buds over a spicy fire, but she also does not want to visibly admit defeat.

She settles by blowing on the liquid to cool it while thinking very studiously about something to say. Jeeze, she could have sworn it wasn't this fucking hard when she was talking to her on the network.]

[two_stones]

[Rather than continue inquiring about Ava's backstory, Sara's just going to take a minute to casually work on her coffee. Let's see if the endearingly awkward girl comes up with something to talk about, or if the silence continues.]

[counterclock]

[It is way, way too long between the time in which Avery chokes down a tiny sip of liberally air-cooled chai and that when she sets the cup down, draws her thumb across her mouth, and gives the other woman a speculative look. Another second is wasted chewing on the corner of her thumb and flicking her eyes up and down nervously, before she finally drops her hand back down to the table and says:] So.

You, uh. Been in Locke long? [So smooth. Killer topic, kid.]

[two_stones]

I was born here, actually, so yes, I have.

[Operation Let Avery Advance The Conversation appears to have been a failure. Apparently she's not so good with talking in person. That, or she has an enormous crush. The jury's still out on that one.]

[Either way, have a hint.] Where you still curious about the backstory behind my indie merch?

[counterclock]

[Now she's being fed lines. This is humiliating. Avery Strider for the lose.]

Sure, [she says faux-easily.] Did you bring photographic evidence or will it remain shrouded in mystery? [Fortunately, she decides she's crashing and burning too severely to continue suggesting that Sara come back to her apartment to see her vinyl collection, but she hopes at least the meeting is salvageable and won't end in horrific shame.]

[two_stones]

[Sara produces an iPhone, but does not yet pull up any photos on it.]

I believe that the arrangement was to be "You show me yours and I'll show you mine," yes?

[counterclock]

That's legit, lady. [Setting her chai down, Avery begins to fumble in her pocket for her phone.] Are we doing this like an illicit drug deal? Do we pretend we're friends and pass it from hand to hand when we're shaking hands, all fuckin' shady-like?

[two_stones]

Or we could slowly push them across the table towards each other and pretend it's a hostage exchange.

Or we could just swap phones.

[counterclock]

I like the middle option.

[She sets her phone facedown on the table and gives Sara a crooked half-smile.] Gimme the goods and nobody gets hurt, [she offers, holding her fingers to her temple in the shape of a gun.]

[two_stones]

Let's all be reasonable here. Nobody has to die today.

[Dork hostage exchange GO]

[counterclock]

Nobody has to die as long as you cooperate an' shit.

Now put the phone on the table, nice and slow. No funny business, alright? [She takes a slow, deliberate sip of her chai, using the hand that isn't posed at her temple.]

[two_stones]

[Phone on table.]

The hostage isn't going anywhere unless you uphold your end of the bargain.

[counterclock]

[Avery resettles her hand on her phone, giving it a nudge forward across the table.] Nothing to worry about; see? I'm perfectly compliant. [She gives kind of a doofy grin that ruins the act a little, but a second later pushes the corners of her mouth back down and tries to maintain her composure.]

[two_stones]

[Eventually, with careful precision and knife-edge suspense, the two phones are exchanged in the most ridiculous manner possible.]

[counterclock]

[She'd already prepared the picture to be visible on the screen with a swipe, but it occurs to her a bit too late that the lock might have activated. Whoops. She hopes it will just... open.

Meanwhile, she unlocks Sara's phone and inspects it, then says:] So how do I get to the, uh, gallery thing? There aren't nudes on here, are there?

[two_stones]

If you stumble across any nudes on there, just go nuts, I guess. [There aren't any.] Tap the Photos app, should be the top two.

[Said photo is, of course, a selfie, for maximum authenticity. Alongside Sara is a vinyl in sleeve, looking like a bit of an amateur print job, bearing the Supergrab album cover, differing only by the presence of the Condor Five logo.]

[Picture two is a closeup of the album cover, showing five scrawled signatures, among them the legendary Ruddha Gill, may he rest in peace, if they ever find the body.]

Your phone locked while we were doing the hostage exchange, by the way.

[counterclock]

Shit.

Just-- fuck. It's -- [She can't really tell her, because it's a pattern, so she ruins the game reaching over and quickly swiping her thumb over the nine dots on the screen, before turning to hand it back to Sara, blushing a little.]

I actually do have nudes on my phone, so don't go swipin' or anything. Just look at the screen and give it back. [Slight exaggeration. But there is an embarrassing shirtless selfie somewhere in there and Avery doesn't remember where it is in the stack and really doesn't want Sara accidentally stumbling upon it and judging her for her fat lines and small tits.

She goes to the photo app and inspects the pictures, then nods in approval.] That is the sickest shit I've seen all day.

[two_stones]

I dunno, you live next to this flawless jewel. I feel like it belongs in a museum.

[Visibility is impaired by the glass but freakin signed contraband Sneaker Pimps, man.]

[counterclock]

I would rob that museum. Fuck the public, that shit is mine alone. No goddamn charity from me, not over this. [And then she feels weird for getting intense suddenly even if it was a joke, and smothers more words with a mouthful of chai.]

... Anyway, if you want to come over to hear it some time, that'd be - cool.