video; one

[hairswirls]

( the feed opens up to kirie sitting on the sidewalk, her entire face and arms covered in red bumps and bites. one minute into this place and somehow she's already managed to summon large swarms of mosquitoes to her, only to have the suckers all attack her. she's scratching herself all right, her face pale and twisted to an annoyed expression. )

I'm not sure if this is some kind of cruel joke or I just really have bad luck all over me...

( scratch break. )

So far I've discovered two powers and I'm afraid to discover more. Does anyone have any tips for controlling powers? It took me a while but it seems like they become activated when I get stressed out or really anxious...though I could be wrong.

( as she speaks, she leans back against the sidewalk, her hands resting against the floor. she begins to sigh heavily and as she does, her body begins to darken. )

Worst of all I've got a really weird and probably another cruel joke of a job. I mean...I don't have anything against hairdressers but there was a point in time where my own hair tried to kill me.

( though that was really more of a curse from the spiral that held her town captive.

as she finishes her conversation, she begins to darken even more, eventually becoming the shadow reflected behind her. )

Comments

Video;

[fridgeflower]

Oh. Are you still--? [ Is that, like, a shadow meld? Some form of invisibility? Or something else entirely? ] Um.

My powers are tied to my feelings, as well, and I couldn't control them for a long time. I can try to tell you how went about it, but I don't really recommend it for the long term.

Being in this situation is probably stressful in itself. I can probably help with that, too, if your powers are giving you grief.

[hairswirls]

( laurie isn't the only one surprised. the moment kirie realized she couldn't see her own hands, she became even more nervous about the situation. this is the first time she's dealing with this. )

What....what exactly are your powers if I might ask? When I first got here, I walked out on my own and all of a sudden I was swarmed by large bodies of mosquitoes. The more I ran away from them, the more I screamed, the more they attacked me.

It wasn't until I took a deep breath and counted to ten that they began to fly away.

[fridgeflower]

I release pheromones that control other people's emotions, so... Nothing like swarms.

I used to to just be constantly emitting them, though, and people would feel everything I felt, so I had to learn not to do that.

[hairswirls]

That sounds....intense. It must have been hard to deal with. I'm just not sure how to deal with all of this or what I can even do with it.

( perhaps she could become a hero like she was told to be or simply be a hairdresser.

either way she needed to control her powers. )

I'm guessing you can remove my stress if we were together though right? In person.

text;

[reexamined]

Maybe your third power is bad luck.

[hairswirls]

well it could be but I've been pretty unlucky for the past few months so....

I just think I drew the short stick on powers.

[reexamined]

[Hmm. That shadow...]

What are your powers?

[Text]

[granddevil]

Just get a different job if it's that traumatic.

[hairswirls]

is that even allowed here?

I mean maybe a part of me is afraid of dealing with hair but I also realize I don’t know anything about cutting it or dying it

I’m not sure how well this will all go

[granddevil]

Why wouldn't it be allowed? What can they do if you don't show up for your job? Fire you?

Why are you afraid of dealing with hair?

audio;

[uzumaniac]

[He stares in disbelief for a while, crouched in his unattended to room, in darkness, in solitude. He stares at the video wide eyed and his hands tighten on his phone, thumbs lifting to reply, to start his mic but-

Then he stops quickly, swallowing hard as a realization takes him over.]

[There were good things about this, selfish good things, but at the same time...]

Kirie.

[He finally said, simply just her name in a voice she would recognize, weak yet familiar.]

[hairswirls]

( aside from being tormented by her new powers and reminders of a painful past, kirie was just honestly confused. she was confused as to why she was brought here and why she was being pushed to be a hero of all things all of a sudden. a part of her was hopeful that maybe someone else she knew was here but as she looked through the feed and spoke to others she began to think she was alone.

until that soft voice spoke through to her.

she remained silent for a moment, both overwhelmed with happiness and stress. she was also a bit uncertain- it could be a trap after all. )

Is this.....Shuichi?

( if it really is then by all means she’s just gonna cry in both joy and sorrow. sorrow for how they ended their last moments the way they did. )

[uzumaniac]

Yes. It's Shuichi, Shuichi Saito.

...

Do you remember it- everything?

[He asks tentatively, holding back his own happiness at seeing her here, though he's always been really good at seeming completely apathetic or worried about everything. That seems to be just as true now.]

voice

[queenofseers]

[ Man, what the hell happened to this girl? Whatever her set of powers is, it seems like a real mess. ]

If no one's told you yet, you don't have to go to the job you're assigned. Most of us get something that seems like a sick joke, so you're actually not alone on that one.

[ ...But also. ] Your hair tried to kill you?

[hairswirls]

I don't know....I mean I'm kind of tempted to try it out and see but...

( her parents pretty much drilled a sense of 'obligation' and 'duty' into her. )

Well I don't think it wanted to but rather it was cursed. It would grow and grow and feed on the attention of other people. Whenever I tried getting it cut, it would either strangle other people or me.

[queenofseers]

Annnnd that's absolutely fucked. [ Maybe not the weirdest thing she's heard here, but close? ]

I mean, if it strangled other people- let alone you- you might not want to go into a hairdresser until you know you're safe. Are you?

video

[fehus]

[have a Very concerned blond pretty boy]

Um. [is she... still there, even...] I don't know shit about controlling nanite powers, 'cuz mine aren't, but I can chill out your anxiety and stress, if that would help. [we can... work backwards to that hair comment. and the becoming a shadow. and the red bumps all over her] -- And heal you, if figuring them out hurts.

[hairswirls]

I'd appreciate being healed, though I did get another offer on the anxiety and stress.

( thankfully people here seemed nicer than most-

most people in her home at least. )

How did you discover your powers?

[fehus]

After I died. It was like a cool second puberty, except for dead demigods. It was, sort of intuitive, I guess. Um -- where you at?

video;

[353]

Woah, are you okay? [ The mosquitoes have sure made a meal out of her. ] You look like mosquitoes had you for breakfast, lunch and dinner...

[ Wants to hear more about this near death experience. ] Did your hair have a mind of its own or something?

[hairswirls]

I'm pretty sure I need some lotion but-

( where exactly was she going to put it, on the floor?

being kirie is hard. )

Ah that...well it was more of a curse. Back home my town was plagued by curses until the very end and that happen to be one of them. It wasn't until I finally managed to get it cut shortly that it stopped.

[353]

[ Curses remind Mike of fairytales... He wonders if that's the kind of world she's from. ]

Did someone evil put a curse on everyone? [ That's usually how it went down in stories - some wicked witch was to blame. ]

[video]

[topmeup]

Powers responding to feelings is pretty normal where I'm from. [His do in some ways, but in a lot he doesn't exactly have pure control over them.] You just gotta work on handling the cool down is all. I mean, you know have feelings and you can't shut them down, so you work on knowing which feelings they react to most and when you're going too far.

[hairswirls]

You're right, I just never really had my own feelings affect me in such a way.

To be honest I never even thought about feelings as much I have in these past few hours. What did you do to control your powers?

[topmeup]

I got help. Training. Practice is really the only thing that works, unless you're looking into suppression, but that's not really healthy for you. I don't recommend it.