No Sheol Were Harmed in the Making of This Post (Mostly)

[flickerflash]

Who: Katie and you.
Broadcast: N/A
Action: Planetside, deep forest.
When: before the birthday announcements

[It's been a great month for Katie.  She spent most of it as a cat out of sheer self-defence given she wasn't entirely sure when the whole truth compulsion would wear off, and truth be told (oh haha) she's felt pretty horrible ever since.  The whole idea of an amazing adventure through space and how amazing that might be?  It's starting to wear a little thin.  Especially if she's going to get stuck in a place with random glitches that try their best to kill her, and a threat fleetwide that nobody seems to be taking seriously.  Kids just wanna have fun, y'know? 

So the planet with its forests is a godsend, and she knew it from the moment that first weird wave hit and she felt all the power, there and gone again.  It's a place to put distance between herself and others and explore and-- after a few hours of delighted discovery-- recharge.  There's magic soaked into everything out here.  For once, regaining glamour really is just as easy as sleeping in a sunbeam.  She is vaguely aware that too much can be a bad thing.  She remembers forced addictions in Adstringendum, hers to glamour and Sam's to blood (and Mihawk's to her blood, she didn't hit him hard enough--) how crazy that made people.  But she's not taking it from anyone, not draining it off wholesale, so it's completely different, right?  It just.  Takes longer.  It's more subtle.  And she forgets to be careful.  There's a shifting of balance deep within, and when the onset of bedlam finally arrives it goes mostly unnoticed. 

Her comm gets left behind under a tree purely because she gets too distracted to pick it up again.  Katie goes deep into the forest, pursuing something only she can hear, distracted by lights flitting through trees in the distance.  It won't be so bad.  Once she realises what's happened she'll head for home where she can get her head straightened out.  But until then...

To meet her might be an awfully big adventure, depending on who you are. 

Please someone make sure she gets home safely.]

Comments

[goldenglasses]

[Vash was trying to visit the crashed ship. And he's wasn't exactly lost.

He was just taking the scenic view in the wrong direction!




...okay. He was lost. It's not easy to find your way around when you can't see the sun or stars clearly.]

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. [Oh, hey! Is that a kid over there?] Katie? Is that you?

[aigue]

[The trees are pretty nice. Foxes aren't exactly expert climbers but they've been known to scamper up trees for fun, which is what Renart happens to be doing right now. It's refreshing to get away from the metal and the cramped spaces of the ships.

Even though she's in her human body, he efforts instinct is to sniff the communicator that's been abandoned in one of the trees she's enjoying. It smells vaguely familiar, so she decides to follow the scent until she spies a girl she most definitely does not remember meeting before. Probably.]

You dropped something.

[She's going to sit herself down on a lower branch, holding the communicator up.]

[flickerflash]

[Katie jumps a little at the voice, and turns her face up to the trees, nose wrinkling. She hadn't realised there was company, which was a little disconcerting all things considered. But after a moment of blinking owlishly up, gaze travelling between Renart and the communicator, her expression clears.]

Oh. Did I? Are you sure? It could have wanted some time to itself.

[aigue]

Hmm?

[Renart leans back casually on her free hand, lowering the communicator so she can examine it.]

Do you think so? What happens if we lose these things, anyway? Do we get new ones?

[flickerflash]

We could find out. I could bury it and see what happens.

[She jumps. One, two bounces, off the trunk and onto the branch Renart is on, wobbling a little on her feet, which is mostly for fun and then any real danger of falling. She'd pretend to climb like a human, but well. You kind of. Have fluffy ears. And you reek of glamour.]

Have we met?

[flickerflash]

[Turns out Katie is wandering in his general direction as it is, humming lightly under her breath. Rem's song has always been pretty, and it drowns out some of the other voices she hears. Not that she minds those either, just--

This one always makes things feel nice.

She stops when she sees him though, pulling back as if he startled her. But eh.]

No. It's just your imagination.

[goldenglasses]

[For a moment, once he recognizes the tune, Vash is startled that Katie is singing Sound Life. It was always Rem's favorite. Then he remembers that it is available to listen in some of the media this place has. He's still surprised regardless that it's one Katie chose to listen to.]

You like that song? I didn't think anyone else would listen to it very much.

[flickerflash]

That's just your imagination too. [Belatedly she thinks she probably shouldn't have been singing that out loud. Whoops.]

But if I was singing it, you have very good taste. To imagine me singing it, that is.

[goldenglasses]

It's a good song. Isn't it? I'm glad you like it.

[Oh wait. Lost deep in the forest.] What are you doing out here anyway?

[aigue]

[One exceedingly fluffy tail, as well!

She's quietly impressed at this girl's leaping skills (foxes enjoy leaping, after all, and pouncing) and idly tosses the communicator up in the air, catching it again. She nods.]

You smell familiar, so I believe we have. Up until recently I've been going about looking a lot more foxlike, paws and everything.

[pneumo]

[ The planet's amazing.

It's lush and verdant, beautiful and just smells so much better than the recycled air on their ships ever could. As much fun as it is to be in a place where most people don't have too much of a problem with him, Sascha misses the freshness and greenery of the wild--and apparently it's the same for Bigby, because he took one whiff of the air down here before tearing off into the woods to do his "wolf thing."

That leaves Sascha on his own to wander and explore, bright-eyed as the sun's light begins to wane and night approaches. His nostrils flare as he takes in all the scents the planet has to offer as he walks, eyes bright behind his UV shades. ]

[flickerflash]

[Katie blinks at him a moment, before giving her head a little shake. Sorry Vash, it's hard to hear you past all the singing some days, y'know? (No, only today.)]

...oh. I'm making a coffee table. But I can't find any coffee.

[flickerflash]

[Blink. Oh. The accent and the foxiness...! She wasn't very well that day, but Katie brightens now she can actually talk. In her own special way. She flops down on the branch suddenly, one leg folded beneath her, and beams.]

You licked my face! I'm not sure why, I was terribly clean that day. Not covered in blood at all.

[goldenglasses]

Oh, yeah? [Vash seriously doubts that, but he scrunches his face as if he's in serious thought.] We'll have to find a coffee plant. I think they're in places with lots of energy and everyone is wide awake! What do you think?

[flickerflash]

[The dark doesn't mean much to Katie, and she barely pays attention to the sun dipping below the horizon. For one, she can see in the dark. Cat is as cat does, and she has no intention of returning home like a good little kid with a curfew. That would require her being a child, wouldn't it? She's much, much older than that, and her parents aren't exactly around.

For the other, well. Tiny lights dot their way through the trees, leading a trail ever inward, and she's more than happy to see where they go; follow the encouragement of the soft whispers on the edge of her hearing. They're welcoming. There's nobody here to trap her into the truth, and no...

...well, there were no monsters.

She realises something's wrong when the lights further away seem to bend away into shadow, and for a moment she's tickled by the effect, until she realises it's not a fancy play of light... something dark is drawing them in. And Katie goes still as all her tiny lights go out, one by one, leaving her in the dark. There's a monster up ahead, and a small thrill of ice travels down her spine. The fact that Sascha might just be out here as a coincidence?

Well, maybe that's a good thing, all things considered. There's nobody but them all the way out here.

Sascha won't see the lights go out-- they're a figment of Katie's vision. But she's not the only one who can see in the dark, and there's a small child absolutely still, standing in his path when he emerges between two trees.]

Hello.

[pneumo]

[ Very much unlike Katie though, Sascha lacks any sense of danger or self-preservation whatsoever. He sees someone step into his line of sight and his first reaction is joy. He's never met Katie in this form, hasn't heard or caught her scent--but she's a person, and she hasn't immediately yelled at him to get out or die. So that's a bonus! ]

Hi! [ he practically chirps out the reply as he lifts a hand in greeting. ]

[flickerflash]

[You know what such a cheerful smile will do for you when you're surrounded by a sucking vortex of that much darkness Sascha

it'll make you look psychotic 8| She narrows her gaze and tries her best not to look nervous as hell.]

Why are you out here?

[I am very welcoming.]

[aigue]

[Renart just chuckles.Alright, this kid appears to be as cute as she is while in kitten form.]

Sorry, parental instincts are a hard habit to kick.

[pneumo]

[ But he doesn't know he does that Katie!! ]

Well Bigby ran off to go be in the forest so I'm just kinda looking around right now. It's awesome isn't it?? It's so green and smells super-nice~

[ Sascha is immune to Very Welcoming attitudes ]

[flickerflash]

That's what coffee wants you to think. [Her fingers are still tapping out the beats to that song, but she looks more focused now, scrunching up her face in some thought.] But really, finding the coffee isn't the hardest part. You also need to convince it to stay really still. A coffee table that falls to pieces isn't any good to anyone.

[goldenglasses]

No. That would drop the coffee cake you want to put on it.


Hmmm. What if we used glue to keep it still?

[flickerflash]

Glue! Then we need to find a glue tree without getting stuck to it. Have you seen any?

[flickerflash]

Are you sure that's what they are? If my mother saw me covered in blood I think she'd just scream and faint. [She's teasing a little. And not homesick at all. But.] Thank you, though. I'm sure I look less scary without it.

[aigue]

Is your mother a fox?

[Rhetorical question. Anyways.]

You look infinitely less scary. I suppose that's a good thing, generally. I'm Renart, by the way.

[flickerflash]

[She jerks a glance over her shoulder at the mention of Bigby. He can't be anywhere nearby if he's not already here, because lord knows he'd probably be aware this meeting isn't a good idea.

Hnn.]

Did anyone ever talk to you about what you are?