Audience: Yuri Leclerc

[probe]

Comments

[aubins]

[ yuri's face ]

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...like...creatures from outer space that are from a planet not your own?

[aubins]

...

Space?

[ hoo boy ]

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...Yuri, don't take this the wrong way but have you ever seen the sun?

[aubins]

Sometimes, yes.

[ haha abyss humour ]

[probe]

[god.]

And what about the moon? Stars?

[aubins]

[ looks at clock. nods. hello ty. ]

Yes. They're just up there. [ please take that to mean no one's devoted time to space travel because they haven't and i don't want to think up fantasy era understanding space reasons. ]

[probe]

Well sure, but they're up in space! It's a whole galaxy where the stars and planets are, millions of miles away from where we are. Sometimes you can't even see stuff out there without a really powerful telescope, but some people train to be astronauts and fly up there in rockets.

[aubins]

[ ... don't overwhelm him. ]

I'm... sorry. Galaxy? Planets?

[probe]

...hmmm. Maybe we should've put on a sci-fi movie instead. But don't worry about it! Think of aliens like...monsters from another world, but they're not totally bad all the time.

[aubins]

[ sci-fi... ]

That... might've been a bit on the overwhelming side. Mysteries I do understand.

[probe]

I don't mind sticking to the stuff you know. [there is now silver polish on yuri's nails of his right hand.] And mysteries keep people busy for a long time anyway.

[aubins]

Maybe. For the moment. [ he looks pleased by the silver! ] That's the joy of them though, isn't it? Putting the pieces together to make the bigger picture.

[probe]

Wait for this to dry and then we'll add the other colors, okay? [but they're already grabbing for a lovely shade of purple to shake the bottle while they talk.]

But I think so, yeah! Some of the mysteries I've helped solve were pretty hard, but the agent on the case knew what to do.

[aubins]

Does it take a long time to dry? [ i mean. this is basically one of the best things he's ever seen but the drying part could be a little bit of a down side. ]

-- You solve mysteries as a job?

[probe]

Five minutes or less! I got the fast-drying kind but we'll need to do a second coat to make sure it doesn't chip.

[that said, they shake their head.] No, not me. But I used to know people who do. Sometimes they'd let me come along to their crime scenes.

[aubins]

[ oh that makes it better. ] They think of everything with this, huh? I was thinking how easy it'd be to smudge this if it took a long time to dry.

[ he tilts his head. ] So you were a mystery fan tag-along? [ .. cute... ] What sort of crimes did your friends solve?

[probe]

It's pretty bad if you get the clumpy kind. But I have a topcoat, too, that we can use when the whole thing's done and dry.

[painting, painting.] Something like that! I guess I was also sort of involved. [don't say that so casually, lust.] They were solving some murder mysteries.

[aubins]

This is a really big hobby of yours, huh?

[ watching watching ] ... In the cases themselves or the solving of them? [ hello? ]

[probe]

I don't know if I'd call it a hobby, but I have an image to maintain. So I learned how to do this myself.

[hello!] It was kinda both though. But everything's okay now.

[aubins]

Image is important.

[ he understands. ] ... I'm going to pretend that was reassuring. [ he wants to boop them on the forehead, but not while they're painting his nails. ] But I'm glad it was okay in the end?

[probe]

Somehow I thought you'd understand. [thank you, leave their forehead alone :(]

But it was! Everyone's okay and everything turned out the way it was supposed to, so...can't really complain.

[aubins]

There's nothing wrong with wanting to look good.

[ he leaves the forehead alone :c ]

Were they your friends? The people who were solving the case.

[probe]

[there's a nod and it seems to be both for wanting to look good and an answer to the question.]

Yeah. They didn't really want me involved at first, but I talked them into it.

[aubins]

... Sounds like they care a lot about you. [ and that lust is stubborn as fuck. ]