awakened by the sounds of long before [eventually open]

[hauntedsavior]

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 roseward))

Comments

[argone]

"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."

[hauntedsavior]

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."

[argone]

"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?"

[hauntedsavior]

"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.

[argone]

Oh. That is a thought.

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

[hauntedsavior]

"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.

[argone]

"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?

[hauntedsavior]

"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.

[argone]

"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.

[hauntedsavior]

"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."

[argone]

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.

[hauntedsavior]

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.

[argone]

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."

[hauntedsavior]

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.

[argone]

"You can just fly over the rail, you know."

Kara says, sauntering in without a care in the world, pulling the door shut behind them and twisting the bolt so it can't possibly open. They got this, and she can fix that later.

"We won't be interrupted."

[hauntedsavior]

...She stops in what she's doing, looks down at her finger, and tries not to feel like an idiot. "I'm still not used to it, okay?" she says, looking down more towards the ground (though she'll insist that's where the horsefeet are if she gets called on it). At least she knows enough about horses to know that it's a smarter idea to try to mess with their front legs than their back; she bends down on her haunches alongside it, passing the horrid beast some small, ineffective comfort as she does.

"There, there," she says quietly, stopping short of stroking its leg as she reaches down to pick up its front hoof. There's... definitely a horseshoe there, nailed in firmly in such a way that Anna would probably need tools or outside assistance to actually get it out. Her attention goes up to Kara after a moment of picking at the nails futilely to try to yank them out herself.

[argone]

Kara moves on over, floating into the pen and coming down to assist Anna. Kneeling, she checks over the nails and reaches for one, jamming her fingernail under the soft metal and tugging it free. She works another, and another...

"Not so bad, is it?"

[hauntedsavior]

"I don't have fingernails," she protests, but honestly she's just glad they're off. The process from here is probably pretty similar, and they've spent way too much time in here anyway. Whatever they're supposed to do with them next—dragonfire?—they can figure it out later. She'll at least hold the horseshoes so Kara isn't really doing everything herself, but it's still not helping an already persistent intrusive thought of hers.

One that she'll keep to herself as much as she can as she gets up to her feet, flies out of the stables, and tries to let herself relax surrounded by yellowing trees and the autumn weather and... it might be working. She doesn't know yet. "Thanks. So now we need to find a dragon?" she asks. To get it to breathe on the horseshoes. That probably won't work. "Or someone who stole a dragon's fire. Or we can just go the fuck home."

[argone]

"Yeah I...have no idea?"

Kara shakes her head and hops out of the stall, leaving the poor horse to wonder what the fuck just happened and why it's suddenly barefoot. Dragonfire...isn't something she's got any clue about.

"Maybe we can go the fuck home and ask on the network if anyone knows about it? That magic stuff is way, way outside my realm of expertise. I know machines, not fire breathing lizards. Do you know anyone?"

[hauntedsavior]

"Only person I can think of who might know anything about dragons is—" And it catches her off-guard that Nanashi's name is the first that comes to mind. She stops suddenly and the realization makes her heart sink a little more. Couldn't do anything to keep him here either, could you?

"...Off the app." She picks it up where she left off, but she's certain Kara knows what's up. It's not like Anna's subtle. "Like too damn many other people." Sigh. "So I guess it's the network or nothing. It's not like it won't work if we don't temper it, right? It just works better."

So it's not. Necessary, probably. They can do this one way or another.

[argone]

"Ah."

Yeah, she is aware that can happen. Closing her eyes, she turns and puts a hand on Anna's shoulder, giving it a squeeze. There's more going on, of course, but the more they spend time together, the more urges she's having. This touch, and the electric jolt it sends through her whole body, is proof of that. It's gonna get bad again soon.

"We'll do that then. It's getting a little late in the day, though. So maybe I should get you home and find a hole to curl up in."

[hauntedsavior]

"Yeah."

Anna looks at the hand on her shoulder, then to Kara again. There's a puff of air out through her nostrils, a heavy feeling in her chest, and an unsaid wish that Kara weren't infected so Anna could figure out whether she's comfortable enough with Kara to break down some small part of her newly-built walls. But they have to stay up for now. The point of this is to cure, not to spread.

"You have anyone you can be around tonight?" she asks. It's not a happy question.

[argone]

Kara quickly retracts her hand. Like, really quick. She hadn't even realized.

"Yeah. I do. The girl I'm seeing. She...uh...she's the one that gave me this."

[hauntedsavior]

"Okay, well. That's good," she says, trying not to feel her heart sinking too badly when Kara pulls her hand away. Has to pull her hand away. Being alone sucks. Being isolated sucks. But it's what Anna has to do, right?

"At least you won't be alone. And at least this whole thing is probably only going to last the month, right?" She hopes she's right. She hopes that this is Retrospec's idea of a Halloween joke, or something. At her side, her hand curls into a loose fist when she reminds herself that she can't touch Kara back.

[argone]

"It's a retrospec thing. 'Course it's only going to last a month."

Nothing's lasted longer in her experience. And she doesn't want to think about becoming a full on devil for the rest of her life. That would be bad.

"Maybe not even that long, we'll find a cure."