because this guy has a GREAT track record with fire...

[diagnosispuberty]

Who: Sam and Hiro
Where: Their hip happening bachelor(ette) pad
When: post-April-Fool's-effects (April 20th-ish)
What: COOKIES also Hiro clarifying a few things
Warnings: Excessive amounts of cookies and sad attempts at baking

Years of watching sitcoms about people in wacky roommate situations had not adequately prepared Hiro for the reality of living with someone. All right, yes, granted, he'd never so much "watched" them as "begged Aunt Cass to stop watching them and let him change to channel to something with monsters or robots", but still -- this never happened to people on TV.

"This" being a sad, well-meant but poorly executed attempt at baking. The butter was a solid lump in the middle of the mixing bowl, the vanilla smelled amazing but tasted nasty, and most of the flour was spread over the counters and in Hiro's hair, and he was way too young to rock the grey-haired look. He may have been a certified genius, but when it came to baking, he was absolutely hopeless.

"Stupid space cookies," he muttered, glaring at the congealed mess in the mixing bowl. That was a good plan, blame Haven for his mishaps, rather than taking responsibility. That miiiight not work too well once Sam returned home, however, especially not when Hiro took into account what Dirge had said.

A witch. Sam was a witch. A witch who could apparently curse people (though Hiro wasn't too sure how much faith he should put into a conversation had between talking about robotic tongues) if she was mad enough. Would the total destruction of her (their?) kitchen be enough to make her that mad?

Hiro exhaled slowly, wiping baking soda off his face. Well, that was that. He was going to spend the rest of his life as a newt. At least until Sam needed his eyes for some secret deadly potion. A dismal end to a dismal day.

Comments

[diagnosispuberty]

Unfortunately for Sam, Hiro can still throw bits of cookie at her. Fortunately for Sam, his aim is absolutely terrible.

"Sucks to be me, I guess," he teases, but he's grinning. Clearly this isn't such a bad thing.

[10_20_15_5_50]

"Cut that out, we just cleaned!" After trying and failing to catch a piece of cookie, Sam shifted to spawl along her side of the counter best she could. "You're only guessing? Then my puns aren't as bad as they ought to be, and that's some bull. I should raise the steaks. And, I suppose, I should ask if there's anything else you want to ask. Now's the time; everything's on the table."

[diagnosispuberty]

Have some more cookie crumbs flicked your way, Sam, out of principle, while Hiro ponders what else he's curious about. "...what happens when you run outta space for tattoos?"

[10_20_15_5_50]

"It's not going to be pretty." She spoke matter-of-factly and without moving, ignoring the additional cookies crumbs just to be contrary. "Full-body demabrasion---or almost full-body, because I have some sections of skin I don't want to subject to that---and I start over again."

[diagnosispuberty]

Hiro looks somewhere between fascinated and horrified at this new information, wrinkling his nose and staring at Sam. "Like...take off your skin?"

[10_20_15_5_50]

"Yeah. At least, the layers that have ink in." Sam sat up so that she could turn to Hiro, offering him a small shrug. The issue of limited skin space could be resolved only one way, and she'd long ago resigned herself to the hell of it. "It's either I find some way to strip myself down, or I give up most of my magic. The latter's not even an option---like I said, it's me at potential. What I have to do, I'll do, and I'll just have to be able to take it."

[diagnosispuberty]

Hiro's nose is wrinkled at the idea, imagining some sort of hardcore rugburn all over, taking off layers of skin. On the one hand, that's pretty sick, but on the other, ouch.

"...what if you could...remove the pigmented cells and at the same time stimulate new skin growth instantaneously? Like an automated skin graft?" Uh-oh, he's got his idea face on.

[10_20_15_5_50]

"Is that a doable thing?" Sam didn't sound skeptical, but mildly surprised. "The new skin growth stimulation, I mean. Gonna have to sit you down for the whole scoop on advances in medical science one of these days. I'm hoping to hear there's an improved alternative to MRIs... but I don't want to derail just yet. We'll get back to that. Back to removing pigmented tissue? That's a tricky bit of business, since I'm going to be saturated."

The adept shifted, leaning back on her hands to look up at the ceiling. Her bent for blood and ink carried with it several complications; limited skin space was the most consequential.

"A person only has so many square feet of skin, so I'm getting the most out of mine by inking it up in three stages. The first stage is the sheet music. I like the look, like it a lot, and the bars mean it's easily measured. The second stage is filling in the notation's negative space with white ink. Already tried a test patch, and it worked well. Gonna do my face, too." She lifted a leg, setting its ankle on the opposite knee to show off the sole. "The third stage will be a full face-and-body blacklight tattoo. Stages two and three---alongside the scope---make removal complicated, and may make dermabrasion necessary. Laser removal is actually ideal for black ink, but I don't know how well or even if it would work for blacklight colour, and it was long ago ruled out on account of expense---originally. Availability, now."

[diagnosispuberty]

Hiro shrugs a little, already thinking out the logistics of such an invention. It's nothing too complicated -- at least, not for him. Sam's explanation is intense, after all, and if there's any way he can help her out, he wants to.

And will say so, kicking his feet lightly against the cabinets once more. "Well, if you ever want help with figuring out how to do all that in a less...painful way..."

[10_20_15_5_50]

Sam looked over, smile genuine and a little grateful. Whatever came of the conversation, Hiro wanted to help---the intent was there, and evidenced, and enough to spark a warm appreciation: it was a good kid she had in her home.

"What help's on the table, I'm happy to take." She slid as close as she could without tipping sideways into the sink, reaching over to ruffle Hiro's hair. "It's just, like I said, a tricky bit of business. I never looked much into laser removal since I never thought I'd be able to afford it, so I know like the barest broad strokes. Black and blue inks go out easiest, but green and yellow are the hardest to get rid of. White ink? UV ink? I haven't heard anything at all. Dermabrasion is, alas, the surest shot."

The adept offered a wry little grin. "Once upon a time, I would've been bartering for it. Now, it's more like 'apologizing profusely to Paian for taking up his time,' when the time comes. I guess." She shrugged.