003 ✿ Video

[flowerette]

[ The video is of Raina. At work. On a Sunday evening. Lit by the glow of her computer screen, and even as the feed begins -- she's finishing off her typing. Workaholic, much?

But she does give her attention to the communicator then, offering a sweet, charming smile. ]

Hello, fellow imPorts. I just have a few questions for the community as a whole -- a curiosity, if you will.

[ Her fingers lace in front of herself on her desk. ]

How many of you are satisfied with the power set you received upon arrival? For some of us, powers are new and strange, things we have never encountered in our own world. But for others, we're used to having far more. Abilities that were lost in translation either because they were far too strong or far too destructive. Some abilities may seem relatively useless. Some may be uncontrollable. Some require more thought, practice, and skill than others. While some seem like almost something of a joke on the porter's behalf.

All of this to say, these abilities of ours don't really share a common pattern. But they have become part of our identity as a whole and something that has branded us all as imPorts. And like our identity, there may be things about them we dislike -- things we wish we could make different. So if you had the opportunity to change your powers or alter them in some way, would you? If you could enhance them and make them stronger, would you do that as well?

Please consider my questions something of a survey to measure who may or may not be interested in my next leg of research. Thank you for your time.

[ With a friendly wave, she cuts the feed. ]

Comments

[flowerette]

[ Then he'll just owe that favor for longer! Maybe with interest!!

But as soon as he smiles, she does as well. ]

See. You are getting the much easier end of the deal. Shall we shake on it?

[sunasuna]

[Or he could just threaten and torture. That's preferable to owing people.]

Of course. [And he'll just go ahead and offer her his hook instead of his hand.]

[flowerette]

[ She gives him a look at his offering, taking the hook hand tentatively in her fingers. ]

So what was that earlier that you manifested yourself out of? Sand?

[sunasuna]

[A brief shake, and he brings his hook back to his side.]

That's correct. All sand.

[flowerette]

What a useful ability that is.

[ She regards him the way a cat might study potential prey, determining whether the chase and pursuit would be worth the payoff of the meal. ]

I'd love to see it in action...

[sunasuna]

You just did. [Really, Raina. Do try harder.]

[flowerette]

[ She gives him a look after his sass. ]

I mean turning into it. What I saw was you morphing yourself into your shape from it. And mind you, I was a little too startled to truly appreciate it.

[ But not TOO startled as her science mind is always there to take in the details. ]

[sunasuna]

You'll have more than enough time to see it in the future, I'm sure.

[flowerette]

And how do you intend on getting out of here without raising an issue with security? I'm fairly certain you have to go out the same way you came in.

[sunasuna]

[A chuckle.] So I will. Now, unless there's anything else you want to propose, I think I'm done here.

[flowerette]

No. That's about it.

[sunasuna]

Then I'll be seeing you another time. [And he'll once again dissolve into sand, and leave through the cracks in the doorway.]