audio.

[mercedis]

( as always, he's trying to make this as short as possible, but it's hard to even know where to stop with the way his voice carries into the charm. it's likely going to come out all wrong, but: he figures it's like posting something on the notice board in the slums. no one's going to listen to it, right? )

Looking to head back out into the forest to see if there's any trace of the people that went missing.

Figured it might be best to find someone, or someones, to come with me. Not looking to become one of the missing myself.

Some questions if you're considering it...

One, are you afraid of ghosts?

Two, how do you react when you're scared?

( --and then, with a measured sigh: )

My name is Cloud. Blonde hair, big sword. If you're worried, I'm pretty good at keeping people alive, but.

( imagine if he had just, you know, done a video. )

Comments

... vid...eo

[galling]

... You gonna answer those questions first, Spiky?

video!

[mercedis]

( ...he deigns to turn the video on for that one, though it mostly, comically, ends up a shot of his aforementioned spiky head before he jerks it down to meet his face. eyes narrowed. clearly impatient. )

Give and take. You answer, I'll consider answering back.

[galling]

[ yeah, he's just grinning over the transmission, perky and pleased. that may have been the fastest audio to video transition yet, and there's no accompanying explanation as to how he clocked that particular facet of cloud's... personality... when he'd said nothing about it in his outreach, but - ]

Ooh, straight into the job interview! You certainly are all business. Impressive.

[ ... eh, but if gojo's not saying anything about it, it must not be important... ]

But most folks would prioritize the skills we'd bring to the table during the introduction, no? The big, bad ghosties aren't usually a point of note unless you're already unhealthily fixated.

[mercedis]

I didn't ask for an introduction, I asked for answers.

( there's an exasperated breath. he's being baited, and it's better not to fall into it: but he still isn't cutting from video to audio, so there's that.

how the hell did this guy know his hair was spikey, anyway...... )

If you pass the first round, then we'll get to your skills. ( and here, just the faint quirk of his mouth, almost into a smirk. ) If you have any. You look stringy.

[galling]

[ LMAO.......... ]

Thanks, man! Took a bit to shed off the weight. Nice to hear my effort gettin' recognized.

[ alas, he's been called... worse... and he knows what he looks like. which means cloud's taunt works just as well as his does -- or maybe even better, because at least he's finally answering the question with a little smile. ]

So? We just tell you we won't run from the bogeys and keep you safe when you're quaking, and then what?

[mercedis]

I didn't ask for anyone to keep me safe. But it would be nice to have someone be able to hold their own.

( not that he's completely against bringing someone along that he has to look out for, but. )

You still aren't answering.

[galling]

Hey, I exorcise for a living back home.

Need me to prove it?

[mercedis]

Exorcise?

( he is using his Not Impressed face. )

[galling]

Yeah, I lift.

[ please disregard the language barrier for as long as it takes for him to make a homophone joke, ty ]

Not that you'd know it, but hey, appearances must be deceiving. I wouldn't have pegged you as a guy that can hurl a pretty impressive piece of metal around.

[mercedis]

( ...wow, what a pun. there is one moment where his eyes close, like he's resisting the urge to throttle--the charm. )

Yeah, well, we've never met before, so it'd be kind of hard for you to peg me as any kind of guy at all.

[galling]

[ meanwhile, on this side of the feed... there's just one moment where -

well. he's wearing a blindfold, so cloud probably doesn't even know if he's being looked at, really. but there's something in the Tone of the pause that might imply that gojo's blinking (not at all) innocently underneath the cover of cloth. ]

Ah. But I pegged ya right earlier.

[ awful wording besides.

spiky ]

[mercedis]

Congratulations. How did you come to this...pegging?

[galling]

Guess it must be something I'm good at.

[ also he might've asked nanami about the local denizens and cloud got namedropped, but that reveal won't see its payoff until later probably... ]