2012-08-12 Awkward Rain is Awkward

The middle of the night, and the Phantom is on his throne, facing the tunnel that leads out of his lair and to the world beyond. Left elbow on the arm of the throne, he rests his chin on his fist and strokes his chin with his index finger. His right hand is stretched down to Devil, who sits next to him. The Phantom idly scratches the wolf's head as he ponders. The last few days have been--interesting. And confusing. Still no closer to finding out anything about this Red Hood character, but at least his plans for getting new weaponry are one step closer to fruition, even if it's not really a large step. "What do you think, Devil?" he asks, turning his head to glance down at the wolf, who looks up at him with one ear pricked. "Yeah, you're right, but I still need parts. The problem with what I want to build is that we can't just go down to Radio Shack." Devil snorts softly, then yawns and lays down, resting his head on his forepaws. The Phantom chuckles, then goes back to his thinking.

The trouble with scrying is... unless you know someone's schedule well, sometimes it gets a bit awkward. Rain peers intently, looking thoughtful. ... sorta less exciting than the movies have you believe, scrying is. Even a hero has to eat and pay bills. Or take some downtime. Either way, she feels a brief flash of guilt and hmms softly at his plans to build stuff. Well. Reaching through the portal might freak the heck out if she reached through a portal... Oh well. Proof is in the pudding. Or portal. He will hear a disembodied voice: "Hiiiiii! How are you? Wait, that's too cheerful. Man, that's irritating..."

At the voice, both the Phantom and Devil look up and around, trying to track its source. His left hand automatically goes for his gun, but then he recognizes that voice. That's--odd. He knew she had magic abilities, though, so it's not a /huge/ surprise--but it /is/ something of a surprise. "Rain...?" he asks, arching a brow as he tries to pin-point the source of her voice. Devil's ears are raised cautiously, and he sniffs the air, trying to figure out just what the heck is going on. "I'm, uh--fine, I guess," says the Phantom, a smile appearing on his lips. "Uh--how are--you?" Yes, this is definitely odd, and one that will doubtless be new to the Chronicles.

Hehe. Well, at least he didn't pull the gun out. That's definitely a plus. Some people don't react so well to magic. Rain watches, tilting her head. "Yup! That's correct. I'm okay. I wasn't sure you'd believe me about the magic thing at first... so... proof and all that jazz. Anyway, I figured as an apology, you could have some tea. This sort of thing is kind of invasive," She admits. "... and creepy. So very creepy." She's somewhat witty when she pokes out of her shell. Or at least, somewhat self-aware. "Still. I'm glad to hear you're well." There's a long pause. She's very much likely fidgeting. "..." Yup. "... would it help if I showed some sort of visual?"

Man and wolf look to each other, and they exchange a look of surprise mixed with curiosity, then both look back up to the source of the voice. The Phantom can't really tell if she can see him right then or not, but if nothing else, it would be obvious that he's at least speaking to her directly. ...assuming that however this works, whatever it is, senses sound in a directional sense. Yeah, he's going to stop analyzing it. "Uh, sure, tea would be great," he says, easing back against the back of his throne once more. "Ah, you know, sure, a visual might be a good idea." A pause, there, as he grins, then he adds, "I've got to say, it /is/ a bit odd, speaking to--nothing." Says the man who talks to his wolf and horse, but in their fashion, they talk back, so it doesn't count.

She can! She totally can. And she thanks her lucky stars she didn't pick a bad time for scrying. Ahem. Regardless, after a moment, there's a shimmering window on a wall about viewing height. "How's here? Would up be better? Gah, relative space is hard," Her eyes nearly cross. Rain is quiet for a long moment. Still awkward... but trying. Deep breath. "I figured just figuring that to hop in would be truly rude," She notes. "Though, I have to admit, I'm really new to the portal business..." Sigh. "I hope I didn't startle you too much..." She frowns, furrowing her eyebrows. And frankly, the disembodied voice thing may not be many notices above the diving in portal style. "Um." She was totally going somewhere with this. "Oh yeah. I have a box of tea I can send by if you'd like. I haven't the foggiest where you're actually -at- so much..." It's a work in progress and likely a good deal of practice to match a location to a map. For her part, Rain's sitting in a rather grey room. At least, the walls behind her are. She looks to be sitting by a desk of some sort.

Well, that's something one doesn't see every day. At least, that's something the Phantom doesn't see every day. Devil, either, for that matter, and they both look rather surprised when the window-portal-thing shimmers into existence. "That's--certainly a good trick," he says with a grin, as he gets to his feet and goes closer to it. "But, ah, I do thank you for the tea, and for thinking of me. It's appreciated.  Also, if you think relative space is hard to deal with, might not want to try and pin me down, then.  It's--complicated," he offers with a waggle of his hand. He's mostly just trying to help her, though there /is/ a little bit of self-preservation there. On the other hand, he likes to think he's a decent judge of character, and she really doesn't seem the type to suddenly tell the Singh where he is or anything.

Who's the Singh? Rain wouldn't have the foggiest, anyway. She smiles faintly. "It's still kinda tough. It's really not my specialty..." She admits. "And no problem. I can probably drop it through, if you'd like." She seems to care, in a painfully, painfully awkward way. She's not being creepy, right? "I hope you're not allergic to white lavender tea," She remarks, suddenly thinking of it. "And um, yeah, I won't pin down the location. It seems ... like it might be rude to just drop in." Also, creepy. And it would be incredibly invasive and she'd rather not startle him or the wolf. She is in fact, made of meat. "So it's fine for now." She just goes with it, as it is. She's quiet for a long moment, looking thoughtful. "I think I can definitely do this sort of thing again. Hopefully." Confident!

That makes the Phantom give an appreciative and supportive nod, as he says, "That's--good to hear. I imagine it's like any other skill, where practice makes perfect.  And if you want, yeah, you can just drop the tea on through.  I'm not allergic to lavender tea as far as I know, so.  I actually would like it; I've been using the Lipton bags, so something like that would be a great change of pace." An uplifting comment, that, hopefully. It also has the benefit of being true. He likes his tea, but he's been dealing with the cheap stuff for a good while now. And suddenly Devil's head will appear. He'd leapt up, paws on the wall, so he could get a better look through this portal-window-thing. He gives Rain a friendly bark, and from the slight wag of his body, it can be deduced that he's likely wagging his tail. She's gotten about as close to an official seal of approval as she can get, so she's okay in the wolf's book.

"Sure, it's loose leaf, if that's alright," Rain smiles faintly. She genuinely looks pleased he's appreciative. It takes her a bit, and she looks like she's either dazed, daydreaming or concentrating. And lo! A box of loose leaf tea- well, okay, there's a bag inside. But details! She looks thoughtful, "I'm glad to hear that." Actually, she kinda took a shot in the dark with this one. And there's a Devil! She smiles and waves. "Hello there! Aww, you're adorable." With tail wagging! It's hard to resist that, though - she refrains from sticking her hand further through than to hand over tea. "But mostly... I wanted to see how things were. Probably pretty busy with all the little incidents in Gotham," She considers. She goes quiet, then, her expression slightly more peaceful - though, that awkward is gonna be hard to shake.

When she hands over the tea and, thus, her hand is empty, Devil uses his nose to nudge her hand into a proper scritching position. "You attention-seeking mutt," says the Phantom, though definitely not unkindly. It's said with a grin, in fact, as he shakes his head. Wolves are social creatures, though, so it's not really all that surprising. Plus this one wasn't exactly raised with a normal wolf pack, either. While Devil is trying to get his scritchings, the Phantom opens the box and looks inside, then takes a whiff. "Wow, thank you," he says, even more appreciative. "It smells just dandy. I'll try some of this later on." A beat's pause as he considers her, then he adds, "I wish there were something I could do for you. I'm just not sure what I could do for you that you couldn't do for yourself, at least with your--abilities." He's genuinely trying to come up with some way to properly thank for the thinking of him like this, but given that magic is, essentially limitless--at least as far as he knows.

Rain giggles at the nosenudge. Aw. She smiles a little and will carefully oblige with a little scritch here and there. "Aw..." Humanity has a great weakness for fuzzy critters and dogs and wolves are hardly exceptions. "Very friendly. Well, I suppose as I'm not evil..." She considers. Still, she appreciates it. She smiles as he looks inside. "I'm glad you like it. I wasn't sure..." Admittedly, it was a rather large risk on her part. "The purple just reminded me of your outfit," Which is even odder, given she has purple friggin' eyes. Pause. "... that sounds weird." Her face goes a bit red at that connection. She shakes her head. "Mostly, I hope you like it. And if I expected something back, it wouldn't be a gift," She notes. "Furthermore, there's plenty of stuff you do ... lots better than me." Smile. "Of course, like... you can probably fight better than me without magic. I'm um. I can slap pretty well, I guess," She considers. "But if I tried that acrobatics stuff, I'd end up with a busted backside at best," She notes. "So don't... sell yourself short," Nod. It looks a bit hard for her to say it without being a total creepster, but she's trying. Still, she scritches Devil as he likes. "Magic has its limits and costs. I'm hardly all... super cosmic awesome power. I don't really need to chant or wave my hands around, but I'm slower as a result."

And the Phantom just has to grin at the way the young woman, well, rambles. It's actually somewhat endearing. It's nice to see he's not the only one who gets uncomfortable in weird situations sometimes. "Well, I do like it very much, and thank you," he tells her, giving a polite inclination of his head. "And don't sell yourself short, either. There's always room in the world for someone intelligent, creative, and thoughtful.  The world has too few of them as it is.  The magic is just a bonus, however you do it." Devil, for his part, is content to continue to try and get scritchings out of the poor woman. He'll stand there, leaning against the wall, as long as she's willing to give him that attention. He has a sense of "on duty" and "off duty", and right now he's off duty.

Awkward has two modes: Deer in headlights and nervous babbling. She was at least, trying to be somewhat encouraging. She smiles faintly and listens. "I'm glad you like it. You're welcome." Nod. She turns red. "Oh... that's, er, um, really kind of you to say," She replies. Insults are easy to deal with. Being ignored, too. Kindness tends to get through armor better. Funny how that works. Yes. "I appreciate it. Thank you." She seems amused, and will scritch Devil as she chats. She resists the urge to grin as the wolf leans against the wall. "He's pretty good at being adorable," It had to be said. She looks to the Phantom. "I apologize for just kind of um, scrying in. I forgot to add that..." Really, all things considered, she did kinda violate the ole personal space. Hff. Awkward.

"You don't need to apologize. Friends don't need to apologize to each other for contacting one another, after all," says the Phantom, that grin still on his face. "And yes, the mutt here /is/ adorable. Somewhat.  For an attention-seeking mutt." That's said with humor in his voice, accompanied by a lift of his brows, and it makes the wolf glare over his shoulder at him. He reaches out to give Devil a scritch as well, then he offers her his hand, for one of his firm-but-not-overbearing handshakes. "Thank you, Rain," he says, just as sincerely as before. "I do appreciate the thought, and the contact." He honestly believes she didn't mean anything untoward by it all, so he's not about to take offense.

Pause. Rain considers that. "Well. That's true. It just feels like scrying might be different, is all," She notes. It is a bit more intrusive than say, a phone call. She smiles at Devil. "Aww. He's a sweetie. Thank you for letting me pet you," So there. Scritches. She smiles as the Phantom offers her his hand. She will accept it carefully, still making sure she's not about to start portal hijinx with anyone's limbs here. He is the Phantom. Not the Phantom Limb, after all. "Think nothing of it. You're welcome," She smiles over. "And I'm glad. I was kinda worried it was creepy and weird. But... I won't keep you too long. I figure you have tea to have and stuff to do." Sagenod.

"Alright, Rain. One of these times, though, we'll have to figure out a way for you to do your, ah, scrying at a certain time or something," says the Phantom, trying to be serious but it fails horribly and he ends up grinning once more. "Otherwise, one of these times you're going to see a side of me you don't want to see--my backside." And that's as close to "toilet humor" as the Phantom will ever get. "Come on, Devil, and let the poor woman have her hand back," he says to the wolf, who, with obvious reluctance, pulls back from the window-portal-thing and gets down to the floor proper.

At that? Rain goes briiiiiight red. She smiles weakly. "I'll... yeah... definitely some good times would be wise. I'd feel bad to surprise you like that..." She stays red, looking sheepish. She probably hadn't thought too much about it. A farewell scritch. "Be well, both of you. I'll try to check in for times to avoid or that are okay. Whichever you like," A handwave. "Have a good evening. It was nice to see you guys." Nod. She waves and the portal will quietly close once everyone and their limbs/noses and such are out of the way.

"Be well, yourself," says the Phantom, grinning even wider and giving her a wave in return. When the portal-window-thing closes, he chuckles softly and reaches down to scritch Devil behind his ear. "Come on, Devil, let's see about trying this stuff out, eh?" The wolf wags his tail once, and goes to follow the man through the tunnels. Tonight got better by a good bit, the Phantom thinks to himself. It's never a bad thing when friends call on one another, after all.

((Fade Out))