recolle | awakened by the sounds of long before [eventually open]

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awakened by the sounds of long before [eventually open]

WHO: Anna Lehmann and, eventually, you!!
WHERE: All throughout the city
WHEN: Through October
WHAT: October catch-all!
WARNINGS: Nothing yet, updates to come when they become necessary

a. hidden from this, an end, middle, beginning [closed]

Is showing up to the amusement park with a katana in poor taste? The better question is whether Anna cares. She hadn't made plans with Jasmine to go anywhere in a while, much less to check out the possible point of origin for whatever this infectant is. She still can't come up with a single damn thread to follow herself, since all the branding she was expecting to be here is gone now, but... but. Jasmine is smarter than she is. Maybe they can figure something out working together.

Maybe if Anna would put a little more effort into looking like she's here to investigate. She's got the katana strapped to her back, the tang (or whatever) tied down in a jury-rigged holster (or whatever) and she's mostly just waiting around wondering if Jasmine will actually show. From Anna's perspective, she's been isolating herself lately, and it's hard not to get a little worried.

b. maybe it's my night to turn it upside down [wildcard]

((more prompts to be added!! if you have anything you want to thread, hit me up in DMs or at

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c. the world's not quite what you believed

Okay, well. Cold iron horseshoes can't be too hard to find. Supposed to protect against faeries, as far as Anna's heard, but she guesses it works for demons, too. The whole thing is Calvinball anyway, right? This could be a harder little fetch quest, especially because Anna's already had to relocate her standard Brooding Spot once to get out of the path of these hayrides.

"They've got horses running through the woods now for Halloween. Think we should check them out?" she asks, staring at their note more than at Kara herself. There's a few problems she can already think of with that, but none that wouldn't also come up from taking the shoes off any other horse in the city.

Edited 2018-10-11 02:35 (UTC)

Kara, sporting short horns that grow up out of her hair, along with a thin, ropy tail, looks every inch the troublemaker. Fortunately for both of them, she's more or less in control during the day, or Anna might get her wish for another round granted and then some. Probably more than she bargained for.

"Absolutely," she replies. "Cold Iron Horseshoes shouldn't be too hard to find. We can get there pretty easy."

Plucking her flight ring out of her belt pouch, she holds it out.

"That way there's no chance I'll get handsy. The point of this is to cure, not spread."

It's not hard to stay focused on the mission, but Kara's got the right idea anyway. If this thing spreads through touch and Anna already knows how attractive Kara is, it's best to eliminate any factors that could end with them in worse shape than when they started.

"Oh, jesus," she says, not really thinking about her words as she carefully takes the ring and... hesitates to put it on. This sort of thing was life-changing last time and she can't guarantee she won't get disgustingly emotional again. But of course she remembers how it works, because that moment is seared into her head, and she just... she hopes it was something that Kara still got to experience with her.

"Still works the same way, right?" she asks as a way to, like. Litmus test it.

Kara remembers, just slightly differently. Things weren't all that different for her, not really, merely changes in the logic behind why she'd done some of what she'd done. She recalls how hard that letting go of the ring had been for Anna, too, but it wasn't the One Ring...she'd be fine. It was necessary.

"Yeah, it does. Just like last time."

Litmus? Tested.

All it takes is for Anna to hear that there had been a last time for her to be completely okay with taking the ring. It's one thing... it's one of many things that she doesn't want to be forgotten. It shaped her, and it shaped friendships, and—it's not important. The ring adjusts itself and after a couple seconds, she's hovering off the ground like she never stopped using it.

Pushing back the lightness in her chest so it doesn't overwhelm her again, she looks back at her friend and jerks her head towards the woods. "Come on. They ran a path right through where I used to chill out and clear my head, so they should've set up shop this way." Because obviously she'd never get into a haunted hayride herself. She's a grown-ass woman who doesn't have time for things like fun.

"Sounds good. You lead the way," Kara replies, floating off the ground to follow.

Something about this feels way, way more significant the second time. Kara can feel how Anna's reacting, her heartbeat quickening with evident delight. This is unmistakably far more important than even the scientist Kara would have understood, but the depth of understanding is increased by her powers, a key difference that makes her feel all the more close to the woman working with her.

One day, Anna will remember the entire suite of abilities that Kara's picked up and might get a little weirded out by how even her body doesn't get to keep secrets from her. But for now, ignorance is bliss, and she's managing to keep a straight face as they fly out to the woods, and she doesn't even cry this time.

Which is good, because from up here she can clearly lead them to where these hayrides start, and she guides Kara to a near enough spot where they won't just be touching down in plain sight (as though they need to worry about being stealthy anymore). Once they drop down under the rapidly-disappearing canopy and both of Anna's feet are on the ground, she puts her hands in the pockets of her jacket and starts walking idly towards the hayride. They should have time to talk a little, though.

"You ever get used to that feeling? Flying, I mean."

"Yes and no..."

That's a loaded, somewhat strange question, but Kara answers honestly, floating a few feet in front of Anna, not even bothering to touch down. Breathing in, she tries to figure out how to elaborate on that without seeming pompous and full of herself.

"I...it's weird, but like, it's become such a part of my every day life. But it's also amazing, and every time I stop and think about it, I'm just plain shocked."

Because, like so many other things, it's hard to really wrap her head around the fact that she's not human.

"And I guess I'm worried? That I'll get too used to having the kind of power I have."

"Oh." Yeah, that's... a real answer. A really real answer that for some reason she just wasn't expecting to hear, but. Anna thinks back to that time in the woods when the monster had chomped on her hair and she split one of those things in half. She'd fallen into the role of being a killer too fast, too easily; she'd gotten... she'd gotten used to it. And that still worries her sometimes, but now isn't the time to bring it up.

"Well, as long as it's still something that... you know. Does this to me," she says, gesturing mostly at her face though Kara can definitely still hear her heartbeat, too. "There's a lot of good stuff that this app can do."

And on that note, she starts walking in the direction of the hayrides. "It's easy to forget that," she says like she's sharing new information. "It's easy to forget a lot of obvious stuff."

Kara follows, letting all of that sink in...particularly the heartbeat. The way things had happened, changed. She wants to reach out and take Anna's shoulder, give her a hug, but she's concerned about the hunger taking hold of her again, and so she doesn't.

"There is. And...yeah. There's bad parts, and good But I think it evens out."

At least, it has for her?

"Anything wild happened to you lately that I've missed?"

"I mean."

She has some answers for that. There's the haunted house excursion where she'd had to face down Annalise. There's the part where she knows that A2 was the sole survivor of the squad she used to lead, or where that guilt is hitting Anna in its own way over not being there for Clover's death—and then going on to annihilate her friendship with her in a few wildly misguided sentences.

"Not really. I think I got a lot of the wildness out of my system with those dreams a couple months ago." And a lie by omission shouldn't have the same physiological effects as an outright lie, right? Not that she knows to be concerned. "Just kind of glad to be back in the city the way it should be. Feels like I haven't seen it like this for most of the year."

"Well..."

Kara knows she's lying but she trails off, not wanting to pry. It's not her business. Not at all.

"...d'you hear that?"

In the distance, horses. The whickering, whinnying sound of of horses waiting to be let loose.

"I'd say we found our goal."

There's a breath let out from lungs that needed to exhale a few seconds ago, and she does hear the hoofbeats as the horses prepare to take off on hayrides lazing along their path and right through her spot, dammit.

"Yeah. Sounds like. You work with animals much?" she asks as though Anna doesn't have, like, a summer of volunteering at a shelter under her belt. Horses are different beasts no matter what, so they're still probably out of their element, but that's never stopped Anna before.

"We'll just have to steal their shoes. Easy."

"Dogs yeah. I have two at work, and Krypto. But horses? Not unless you count metal ones."

Heh.

"Stealing shoes should be fine. I mean, I think we can get them off without hurting them. Probably. I can outrun them, and I guess you can pry them off. They use those little nails, right?"

"Dude, I don't know what they secure horseshoes with." Not when she's got Bon Jovi blaring in her head. Thanks, Kar. "I mean, it can't be too hard for you to get them off however they're secured, yeah? Or, like."

Outrunning seems like a bad idea. The next thing that comes to mind also seems like a bad idea, but she hasn't exactly been batting a thousand lately. "You could pick one of them up? And then I could work on the horseshoes while they're off the ground."

That's a fantastic way to get kicked so hard her fucking head comes off, but she's just spitballing.

Oh. That is a thought.

"Yeah. I can do that. You wanna try?"

"I mean, I guess?" She stops before they can get too close and talks through her reasoning.

"We'll have to steal these in broad daylight, in front of the people who are actually on the hayrides, or otherwise, like, sneak up on an entire horse. I really don't know how we're gonna pull this off. Neither of us is exactly stealthy." God. Anna should really be used to not knowing a damn thing by now.

"Do we need to be stealthy?"

Honest question, Anna. She really, really doesn't see why it matters or not if they sneak up on the animal that can't really outrun them or hurt them?

"Do we want to get known as horseshoe thieves?" she shoots back. It's kind of a dumb question, but this whole situation is kind of dumb. What exactly do they have to lose? Not exactly like Anna has a reputation.

She shoves her hands into her pockets while she considers the possibility of that being the way she makes her mark on the world.

"I don't see why it matters. We could always sneak into the stables and snag one though, if you're worried about being seen."

Reputation? Please, this just plays into Kara's reputation.

"Oh, fuck me, right. I didn't even think about the stables," she says, stopping short of smacking herself in the forehead. "All right, fine, we'll check those out, see if we can steal 'em when nobody's looking. They keep them nearby," and she points over in the direction of a covered building that they'd both seen on the way in, then redirects them that way.

"Look, I don't give a shit about getting a reputation. I just don't want people asking questions about why we're stealing horseshoes."

Kara swishes her demon tail and grins, reaching into her pocket and getting out her phone. A few quick taps and a song starts playing.

She says nothing, just heads towards the stables.

Look. Look. Is it cliche for a huge lesbian to rock out to Joan Jett and/or the Blackhearts in a leather jacket in the middle of the woods? Yes. Is it going to stop Anna? Yes, but not as much as it should. Her footfalls sync up with every other beat of the song (because it's too fast to walk every beat) and she starts putting a little more rhythm into the sway of her hips.

Enjoy that, Kara, because she's probably never going to bring it up again once they get there. And once it gets to the solo, they're within sight of the stables, so there's not much time left to call her out about it before they have to do this. God, her life is weird sometimes. Wordlessly, she tilts her head in the direction of the big main door and just keeps walking forward. Might as well get this done fast.

Kara would say she's a coward for not humming along. Because she's definitely humming along...mostly because surprise the former biker doesn't give a damn about her reputation. Really. At all. This is not even that weird.

She gives the building a once over with her X-Ray vision, and satisfied that there's nobody inside, she flashes a thumbs up.

"it's clear, go for it."

Coward. Any day. But no, okay, dumb jokes aside Anna is she guesses ready to duck in there and steal some fucking horseshoes, because this is her life now. This is what she does. Is steal horseshoes from horses without getting kicked in the face.

She heaves a sigh and lets her shoulders slump and tries to slink her way inside even though she's clunky and not at all a master of stealth. It doesn't take long to find a horse, and jesus christ these things are scarier than they should be up close like this, but she... she puts out her hand? She guesses. To let one of them get her scent.

And it rubs its big gross horse lips all over her fingers. Which is great. Anna groans and looks around for Kara, hoping that there's at least something sparing her from that level of embarrassment. But she can't focus on it for that long anyway because she has to. Get inside one of their, uh. Horse cells, without letting one out. Which could be tricky. She hesitates, her hand on the latch.

for Kara

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