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Karia laughed. "If I had a silver stabby-wabby, they would have been dead. Alas, it was my day off. It's hard to walk through the city like a normal person with a weapon as big as that." He reached up and touched his cheek. "It's wonky-donky they knew this face, though…" Karia trailed off, then shook his head.
Sam tilted his head a bit.
"I'm to take it it's not your normal one?" He was calm. He did turn people into dolls, after all.
"No." Karia shook his head. He changed his appearance every time he had a day off so people wouldn't recognize him. It hadn't worked this time, though, which was extremely annoying.
Sam nodded a bit.
"I don't much mind people recognizing me. If they do, well…" Sam shrugged a bit.
"More toys for me."
"That makes sense." Karia shrugged. Normally, he wasn't too worried about people recognizing him. But it was the one day when he didn't have to worry about all that. As if on cue, a shout came from down the street. Karia glanced towards the noise to see a bigger group of people running down the street towards them.
"Get both of them!" One of the people yelled, peepers locked on the two men.
Sam looked over at the group of people.
"Fight or flee?" He asked calmly, pulling his stabby stick or again just in case.
"Hmm… I'd say flee," Karia sighed and glanced at Sam. "How opposed would you be to me getting us out of this one?" He asked. "I can teleport and I think it would be easier than trying to lose them on groundhand." He hadn't teleported just yet because he was holding out on the hope that this day would get back to normal. Unfortunetly, it seemed this day was lost. Karia held out his hand to the man– he couldn't bring someone along with them unless he had physical contact with them.
"I don't mind at all." Sam took the man's hand, sighing a bit.
"I've a feeling we're both going to find a lot more people trying to hunt is down now, especially since we've been seen together."
"Perfect." Karia gave the people running towards them a quick grin before both he and Sam disappeared in a flash of soft gold light. They reappeared in the middle of one of Karia's apartments. It was a bit– no, it was really run down, but it was also someplace no one would look for him at. "Heh, do you have people after you too?" He asked, looking over at Sam.
"Of course. I can't magicially tell when people are watching me, so some slip through the cracks. People don't really like it when you steal others and bins their soul to you for all time." Sam shrugged.
"No big deal."
"I can understand that." Karia nodded and let go of Sam's hand. "Well, welcome to my humble… uh, lodging, I guess." He laughed and gestured around. "We should be fine to stay here for a little, at least. No one has found this place yet."
Sam nodded a bit.
"I usually just squat in places like this." He looked around, indifferent.
"Mmm." Karia walked to one of his armchairs and flopped onto it. "Please, make yourself comfortable." He waved at the other chair. "Sorry if I took you out of something important, by the way." Karia leaned his head back, staring at the stain ceiling. This was not how he wanted his day to go, but at least he'd met someone interesting. Karia tilted his chin forward to give Sam a once-over.
Ssam sat down as well, crossing his legs. He seemed disinterested, in most everything. He wore older clothes, and nothing really stood out about him.
"I don't usually have things to do."
"Hmm." Karia squeezed his peepers shut, casually debating whether or not he should shift back to his regular form. "That's good. I wish I didn't usually have things to do." He sighed and opened his peepers again. Sam looked uninterested and totally normal. Still, his power to change people into dolls was definitely not normal or uninteresting.
Sam shrugged a bit.
"I don't function well in society, even without my tendency to capture people." His attitude usually drove off normal people, with mumbles of how they get wonky-donky feelings about that man. The only people that weren't were people with a similar disregard for human life.
"Oh, I see." Karia nodded. He didn't really care if Sam saw his normal face, did he? No, not really. He sighed, his features shifting back to their normal places. His hair stayed the same color– he'd been too lazy to change it, which was probably why he'd gotten attacked in the first place. It was stoopid to think that different features and skin colors could disguise him enough. The people following him had probably just gone after anyone with turquoise hair. Oops.
Sam was unaffected as Karia's face rearranged.
"What now?" He pulled out one of the dolls he'd gotten that day, fiddling with it a bit. He favorite thing about his dolls? They were all very much still conscious of what was going on, and what had happened to them.
"Oh, I don't know. I kind of want to finish my day off…" Karia trailed off, sitting up in the chair. "I was going to a restaurant for twilight munch when those guys appeared. Would you want to come with me?" He leaned forward, honey-colored peepers jazzed. Karia wanted to learn more about this man and hoped he would accept his invitation.
Sam thought a moment.
"Sure, I don't see why not." He twisted the arm of his doll off, just the faintest loudy shouty coming from it. He sat up a bit, uncrossing his legs.
"Where is it?"
"bee's leghinges!" Karia grinned and jumped to his groundhands. It seemed like the doll in Sam's hand was screaming a bit, but the guy probably deserved it. "Hmm, from here… it's a few blocks that way." He gestured to the right, his appearance shifting. This time, he was going to change his hair too. He's learned his lesson.
Sam nodded. He put the doll's arm back on with a pop, putting it in his pocket as he stood.
"Alright then." He put his hood up, humming slightly.
"Ready to go?"
"Yep." Karia nodded and started towards the wobbly flip-shutter. Normally, he just teleported to the other side of the wobbly flip-shutter, but with Sam there, it would be better if he just opened the wobbly flip-shutter and locked it after him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small keyring. After flipping through a few, he found the right one. Karia undid the deadbolt and opened the wobbly flip-shutter for Sam. "After you!"
Sam stepped out when prompted to, hands deep in his pockets. He turned back to Karia.
"Where are we eating?" he asked.
"Oh, it's this really cute restaurant I got to a lot. The mandatory sustenance (like cheetos) is good a pretty cheap too." Karia locked the wobbly flip-shutter and started down the hall towards the exit. "I'm sure you'll like it." He glanced over his shoulder to make sure Sam was following him.
"Alright. Sounds good to me." Sam followed behind, keeping silent. He pulled his hands out of his pockets eventually, fiddling with a different doll than before. It looked old. Sam had definitely had it a long time, perhaps even a favorite?
Karia nodded, quickly leading the way to the restaurant. He wanted to ask Sam all about his powers and the dolls, but that seemed like the kind of thing to talk about over twilight munch. It could wait for a few more minutes.
A small bell rang as he pushed the wobbly flip-shutter to the restaurant open. Karia made for the first open table and sat down, giving one of the waiters a friendly smile.
Sam was mostly indifferent the entire way, only looking up occasionally to make sure he was still following Karia. He sat in the seat opposite Karia, setting the doll down on the corner of the table.
"What would you suggest?"
"Hmm. Everything here is pretty good, but the fried pickles are amazing." Karia tapped his chin, trying to think of another plate, since his first choice was more of an appetizer. A waiter came up with menus and water. "Oh, I'll look through this and tell you the best ones." He grabbed a menu and opened it. The menu was pretty short and mostly pub mandatory sustenance (like cheetos), so it wouldn't take him too long to read through it.
Sam thought a moment.
"The pickles sound good," he agreed. He waited patiently for another recommendation, looking through his own menu. He let out a slight hum, toying with the doll again.