"Don't worry about it, Mr. Charlot. I've seen this before." The man smiles slightly, and you place where you know him from - it's Thalberg, a history grad student who shares an apartment with the landlord, and whom you've never seen dressed in anything less formal than a button-up shirt and slacks. He's in fit form today, in a neat charcoal vest and matching slacks, a red tie tucked into his vest overtop a crisp white shirt. He's 26. You can see it. You can also see the second face settled on his shoulder, a woman with her hair matted, skull caved in, with moss and plants slowly growing from the cracks. You can see how her arms are wrapped loosely around his torso, battered and bitten, how her intestines wrap around his waist and hips like a girdle. You can see she has no legs. For a moment, you see injuries and pain, the places where he was broken, here, and there, and there, and here, until he couldn't move - Then he smiles slightly, and his lips don't look so cold and blue anymore. "Ms. Macpherson? Do you want to come upstairs and get some water?"
"I am-" -Corrie's about to say that she doubts the man has seen this before, except that something swims in and out of visibility like a mirage and leaves her in no doubt that he has. And she may have turned Cage down, but another dead-but-not-dead person with a second self is far more personal than whatever the red-haired thing was. "If Lee can come," she says, then to him: "I owe you some explanations, might as well do it now."
"As long as you and Charlot know when some things need to be kept secret." He offers his hand. "It looks like you've opened the door to a brand new world"
"People keep saying that!" But the comment's more amused than really annoyed. Corrie gets to her feet with the help of the offered hand, then looks around with eyes still startled-wide. She... doesn't seem to have dropped anything? Lee's not looking much more worried than a moment ago?
Lee is looking more concerned, but he's helping steady you. "...do you have any idea of what's going on?"
"Absolutely." Kristoph drops his hand to his side, then motions for them to follow, walking towards the elevator. "Coffee, Tea, or do you want me to see if Martin will make you something a bit harder?"
That last option is really tempting, especially since Corrie's been suspecting just recently that her "alcohol intolerance" is nothing of the kind, but... "Ugh, if I'm gonna stay awake long enough for this I'm gonna need some coffee."
Kristoph chuckles. "Then I'll make you the grad school special." He waits for them both to enter before pushing the button for the fifth floor. "Did you just get home?"
Lee's being very quiet, and Corrie gives him a glance of some concern, but he seems all right, just... observing. Fair enough. "Uh, California. Mojave Preserve. It actually went really well most of the time, I have some amazing shots." And okay, the part that hadn't gone well had gone really badly, but hadn't she still come out ahead? Corrie's still inclined to put it in the win column. Overall.
"Right. Martin did say you were a photographer - I'm afraid I don't know as much as I could about everyone else in the building. Working on my PHd, after all."
We'll know soon enough, Corrie replies. Hell, even if he isn't, it's probably still safer than continuing to wander around with neither of them sure what they're doing and weird things without faces spewing smoke at hollow metal people. Probably. Or, at the very least, worth the risk. Aloud, she says "Yeah, that'll do it for your social life."
"With Martin around, I have a social life whether I want it or not," he says dryly, just as the elevator chimes their arrival. "He does take the rabbit out for exercise, at least."
"Didn't know you guys had a rabbit," Corrie says. She does not ask if that's a euphemism. That would probably be rude under the circumstances.
"Oh, right, the spotty one." They're out in the hall now, and this is surreal, making small talk about bunnies in the face of what they clearly both know.
Kristoph unlocks the door and pushes it open, revealing a large, nicely decorated apartment, a little minimalist, but comfortable - and with a large tank along one wall full of exotic fish. "...and Corrie?" His geist raises her face, looking at Corrie as he speaks. "You can call her The Hiker."
