Participants:
Scene Title | Pumpkin Spice |
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Synopsis | A past due notice on a bill prompts Rue to go job hunting with Samara to cheer her on. |
Date | October 25, 2010 |
Siann Hall - #302
The lobby of Siann Hall is a small chamber with eggshell walls and a brown-tiled floor, a handful of artificial potted plants scattered about in an attempt at decoration. A light in the middle of the ceiling and two freestanding lamps wash the room in too-bright light. The superintendent for the building lives in a suite just off the lobby, its door neatly labeled. The apartments are single-bedroom affairs, tucked away behind doors with electronic locks and card-keys. Despite being targeted to low-income renters, they are not shabby; the white walls are generally neat and the floors are covered in hardwood rather than linoleum and cheap carpet.
To the regular citizen, the movement of the cheerio from Rue's kitchen table to the garbage would seem downright impossible. Nothing moves it; it sails through the air with daring ease. But then Rue can see Sami and the freakish amount of exertion this small action takes. The auburn haired would-be twenty year old ghost collapses after doing so. She collapses into one of the kitchen chairs — her chair; no one else is allowed to sit there, mostly because they wouldn't be able to see if she were actually there.
With a heavy sigh, she rests her head on the table and glances up towards her friend, "That was exhausting!!" Her exasperation is more than evident, particularly as she quite literally floats through the table, a note that she's lost any amount of corporeality she exercises.
"What's next on the list? The cheerio trick was lost on me, I think…" her lips press together. She'd always wanted to balance a cheerio on her nose. This proved impossible as a ghost. "Add something about an adventure to the list — " her hand waves fleetingly in the air. "We haven't had an adventure since that time we ran away. Do you remember that? I think we were like… hmmm… ten? But I guess that's only our last adventure if you don't count that day I died… I don't because, well, it didn't really end well. I mean aside from us being able to hang all of the time to share in my afterlife…"
"You mean the time you convinced me to try and walk Missus Granger's fence like it was a balance beam and I lost my footing and needed six stitches?" Rue quirks a brow, standing up from her spot at the table as Samara floats toward it. She gets weirded out when her friend passes through her.
All the same, she picks up a purple pen and crosses off something on a sheet of colourful Hello Kitty stationary, and adding something to the bottom of the list. "Go… on… an… adventure." Exclamation point. "Done."
Then, she starts going through her mail. "Oh, crap. I think I forgot to pay my credit card." If the large PAST DUE notice is any indication. "Don't they know I put things on credit that I can't afford?" Rue sighs heavily. "I need another modelling gig. Or I need to find a new part-time job. I think I saw a game store hiring." Her nose wrinkles at the idea. She'd rather be modelling than be a slave to the nine-to-five world.
"Yes. That would be the time! And come on, the stitches weren't so bad! Just think of the adventure! And they were just stitches! It's not like you broke something…" the words are teasing, spoken with a large toothy grin as the floater leans forward to peek at the stationary. "That's my favourite of all your paper. And my favourite pen. Ooooo! Can we add that to the bucket list? We should paint this room purple. I mean I could do it. One brush stroke a day and we'd be done in… a year…" She winces before shrugging, that's the nature of being a ghost.
"A game store? For real? Like… one of those stores where kids sit and play tabletop for hours with little people that they paint?" Her eyebrows furrow. "If it pays the bills I guess… I always thought you should do something else. Like along with modelling. Maybe you could like work at a clothing store or something? Or we could put some effort into your career and send out more headshots — it's been awhile since we did that hasn't it? I mean, it's like granny always used to say 'You can't get a date if you don't look at a man' — or in your case a woman. I never knew what she meant by that but I think… I THINK she meant we can't get anything unless we put in effort, you know?"
Just stitches. Time has faded the scar, but it was plenty traumatic at the time! "I'm so lucky I didn't land right on those pickets with my—" Rue winces and then pulls a disgusted face. "Okay, I guess the stitches weren't so bad." She glances around the kitchen and shrugs. "Next place. We can paint the next place purple. If they'll let me paint it. I do agree, this place is kind of drab. But I was leaning toward orange, myself."
Samara's wisdom earns a sceptic look from Rue. "I guess. I suppose, I am overdue for sending out more headshots. I'm still so mad that I didn't get that Registration job. My red hair would look awesome on those posters." In her opinion. "I think I'm a shoe in for the job at that store, though. I mean, I would bring the nerds in in droves. They wouldn't have to know that I have no interest in what they've got." A sly grin at that.
"Oh… please Please PUHLEESE! Do not paint it orange! I don't want to live in a pumpkin house — PLEASE. I might have to live there long after you're gone if I don't crossover and then I'll be stuck in this pumpkin halloween room for the rest of my afterlife," Sami floats to her feet and shakes Rue's shoulder. "Please Lanny. Please don't do that to me! I'd rather rove the earth following… following… following the president of all people! I would follow him everywhere if it meant I didn't have to live in the orange house until the end of time! I'd rather die… again." Her eyes shift away from her friend as she floats away.
"And you would've been perfect for that Registration gig! I think you're way prettier than that dark haired girl. I mean who doesn't love a little ginger and spice in their life. We all know redheads are made of ginger and spice and everything nice and brunettes are a dim a dozen." She holds up two fingers into the air, "Scout's honour. But you're right. You could get the job and have killer sales. I mean what nerd wouldn't want to buy from that face?" There's a small pause before she quips, "I bet I could make them run away screaming if I wanted. I won't though. Don't want you getting fired because of me…"
Rue laughs genuinely at Samara's distress over the idea of painting the kitchen orange. "Okay, okay! No pumpkin house," she promises, reaching over to rest a hand over Sami's. "I wouldn't want you to wish a second death."
The young model smirks at the comment about being made of ginger and spice and all that other good stuff. "That's cute. I should put that on my resume." Or not. "Maybe it's because she's a minority. Two birds, one stone?" Rue sinks heavily back into her chair at the kitchen table. "What do you think? Should I go down there in a short skirt and my Batman logo tee shirt and see if I can get myself hired on the spot?"
"Well it could pay the bills, right?" Sami wrinkles her nose before clearing her throat and floating back to her seat. "You should put it on your resume! I mean seriously who wouldn't want to hire that?! I mean honestly!? Think of how cute that would be. They could make an entire advertising campaign around it except then it would be insane because it would've been conceived by a ghost! A dead girl! It would be the best."
"Pfffft. You could get the job if you showed up in jeans. But yeah. A short skirt… Oooooo! Britney Spears their bottoms! Like that whole Catholic schoolgirl thing. I think nerds go for that especially!"
Rue's brows slowly hike upward as Sami babbles away about her epic undead advertising slogan. Then, she laughs. "I'll think about it." She rises again and heads for her bedroom. "Hang on. I think I have juuuust the outfit. You'll have to tell me what you think."
Rue Lancaster could probably hold the world record for fastest wardrobe change. It's a plus when one's working the runway and there's a very small rotation of models. In no time flat, she's strutting back into the kitchen in a black and yellow plaid skirt that may have been purchased specifically to go with the black tee shirt she wears, adorned with the reflective yellow logo synonymous with Batman. The outfit is rounded out with a pair of black Converse All Stars. "Nerds dig the Chucks," she reasons.
Sami's head tilts at the outfit before she shoots her friend a half-smile. "If someone asked me 'Wouldja,' I'd have to say yes and we both know I don't have a thing for lady kisses. I mean… I don't get to have a choice anymore, but you know I was never interested in the ladies… I mean, not that there's anything wrong with — I just was never really attracted to… I mean… I think you make a great lesbian. I just was never one." At this she nods.
"But yeah. I think the outfit works. It'd work better if the shirt shrank a little and showed a little navel. I don't know what it is, but that whole slutty too-short shirt thing is just one of those things that I think the boys like. I think if I were into ladies, I'd like it. Not that I am. But then I guess we covered that, right?"
"Yep. Yes. I put all my skill points into Lesbian," Rue agrees with a nod of her head. "I am the best lesbian to ever dyke it up. Katy Perry's music is inspired by me." With a flourish, she raises her arms up over her head with her best smile. Ta-da!
With a small laugh, the ginger's arms drop back to her side again. Rue's smile fades some. "Have I told you lately how grateful I am to have you? I'm going to miss you something terrible when we've cleared your list of unfinished business, you know."
"Oh I like Katy Perry!" the auburn-haired spectre actually rises from her seat again, giving a little spin, and rising to her feet. She points at her BFF and begins to do a little dance a la Katy Perry accompanied by her song, "You make me feel like I'm livin' a teenage dream~ the way you look at me~" There's a pause in her song as she frowns, "or is it smile at me? I'm not good at lyrics… just not my strength…" With a wince she's shrugging again.
Her smile turns a little reflective at the notion of unfinished business, "I know. I'm going to miss you too, except… I can't just stay here y'know? Like no one except you even knows I exist! My existence is in question! But I KNOW I exist, y'know?" The last bit is a little defeatist.
It's hard to be sullen when Your Best Friend The Ghost is just so quirky and full of—
Well, perhaps life isn't the best word for it.
Rue smirks at Samara's attempt at lyrics shrugs. "I don't know, either." A shake of her head dismisses the other girl's worries. "I know you exist," Rue assures. Even if that took a lot of initial convincing on Samara's part.
It's much more comforting for Rue to believe know she's Evolved, and that she can see ghosts as a part of her ability, than to subscribe to her original working hypothesis that she's just crazy and Sami is only a figment of her imagination.
"Too bad. You should learn them and sing it in karaoke one day! Think of how awesome that would be! Or the other one. The Kissed a Girl one — I mean it's pretty good, right?" If anything, death has made Samara that much more of a chatterbox, probably because she only has one person to talk to. Her tone softens, at Rue's declaration, however, "Thanks Lanny. You have no idea how much that means to me. I'm so glad you can see me." Her gaze turns to the floor, the dance long abandoned for a moment of clear reflection. "I think… I would be so lonely without you. Sometimes I wonder if this is just my way of paying for some unforgivable sin I committed in a past life…"
"You? Commit something unforgivable?" Rue entirely dismisses the notion with a roll of her eyes. "The only time you even came close was that time that you told Mo Gibson that I had a crush on her." The memory wrinkles her nose a bit, brings a pink touch to her cheeks. It's still embarrassing. "Even then I only managed to stop talking to you for like an hour."
"But maybe I was a total b-word in a past life. I mean, I know I'm all perky and quirky now, but maybe I was like Cruella DeVille or something back in the day; out to get puppy fur to make coats — or was it one coat (?) — out of." Sami presses her lips together before leaning absently against a chair, only to float through it. She rolls her eyes once before just allowing herself to float above the floor, it's a rest position for ghosts.
"Pssh! Nah." Rue grabs a black faux-leather purse up off the kitchen counter, adorned with the letters 'f' 'm' and 'l' in white. "C'mon, sillypants. Let's go see some boys' jaws drop to the floor." A set of keys is unclipped from the metal ring that connects handle to bag before Rue pulls open the door, gesturing out into the hallway. "After you, my dear."
"What a lady~" Sami virtually sings as she skips out the door into the hall and then offers her friend a deep curtsey. "You're dressed for the part! I bet at least one of them asks for your number… Whatevs, I know you're going to get this job. I know it."