sixthiterationlogs | No More Foxes (OPEN)

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No More Foxes (OPEN)

WHO: Diana Prince and Open
WHERE: 7I area
WHEN: September 30th
OPEN TO: Anyone in the area
WARNINGS: None as of right now.

Diana had heard that there was another area, had heard that it was pretty much just the same as the original area. She had been meaning to check it out, to see what the deal was with this new area, but time had slipped away from her - besides, she hadn't wanted to go too far from Steve just in case he had a relapse with the illness he'd had.

But, when she'd heard that the new area had been overrun by foxes, she'd had to go and check it out for herself. She'd left Steve a short note, just to let him know where she was, because she knew he'd be worried if she didn't and knowing him, he'd set off to find her and make sure that she was doing okay. That's just the type of man he was and it was one of the reasons she loved him.

With everything all set, she'd packed her pack with water and some sandwiches and off she'd gone.

It took a little longer than she'd planned to get there. And at first, she wasn't even sure that she'd arrived at the correct place, only because it pretty much looked like the other area - though the fountain... That was strange, it looked like it had smashed or neglected. She shook her head and moved on.

No foxes. She peered around, peeking under things as she moved through the area and yet there wasn't any signs of the so called foxes. Maybe people had been mistaken. Maybe they'd only thought that they'd seen them. Or maybe they'd just returned from wherever they had come from. It was odd and for a moment she felt a flash of disappointment. She'd missed the foxes.

Sighing, she made her way back to the crumbling fountain and took a seat on an edge that was still intact and began to dig through her pack for the sandwiches.

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Steve's been in the kitchen at the inn since he got Diana's note, not really planning on cooking anything, because he's not very good at that kind of thing, but he's managed to put together a decent pot of herbs and protein into a kind of stew, enough that it'll get them through a few meals. It's strange to be out of the war and sometimes feel like he'd never left, but cooking for himself with limited supplies always has a habit of knocking him right back in time. He knows that the note says that she'll be back, but once the food is in the fridge (or the closest thing to a fridge), he sets out after her with a few dried pieces of meat and some water, just in case she'd forgotten those things.

When he finds her, he's about halfway to the other side when he sees her, brightening at the sight of her (he always will, he thinks). "Judging by the look on your face, I should've found some alcohol, not water," he says, but still ends up offering out the container to her with a pointed look for her to have some.

Diana's head whipped up and she blinked seeing Steve there. It really shouldn't have surprised her to see him there, but maybe she was still getting use to him being around. It was still a strange notion knowing that he was there and not just some figment of her imagination, not a memory. She wasn't even annoyed to see him there, wasn't bothered knowing that he was more than likely checking up on her.

It was a good feeling.

She managed a smile and rose slowly to her feet. "The foxes are all gone," she said as she took the container from him, as if that one sentence explained everything. She uncapped the container and took a sip of the water before holding it out for him to take. "Water is really perfect, thank you."

Steve always loves watching her reaction when she hasn't been expecting him. Adorable isn't a word he'd ever use out loud with her around, but it's pretty much adorable. He knows that Diana might hit him hard enough that he bruises if he tells her, so he doesn't. He'll just think it. "The foxes," he echoes, "those are the ones who were stealing clothes and stirring up trouble."

Weird that he's suddenly fending off fox invasions and not worrying about no man's land and the Germans, not to mention widescale gas attacks. "I know they didn't steal anything from you, because if they did, we would've been free of a fox problem a long time ago," he can't help teasing.

Diana would never hit him... Without a really good reason. Though, she probably wouldn't have liked being called adorable. Still, she couldn't help but smile every time she saw him because she knew she shouldn't be able to see him anymore. Shouldn't be able to talk to him, hold him, anything.

"It just shows us how smart foxes can be if they've been able to get about and into people's things without getting caught." She thought for a moment and then motioned for him to join her on the crumbling fountain. "Thankfully I don't have many things for them to steal." She laughed shaking her head. Truthfully, she couldn't say what would have happened had they stolen for her... Maybe they would have had some lining for new jackets.

"I heard they were stealing people's clothes from right off them if they got too frisky," Steve says, with a smile on his face that borders on suggestive, "but I'd like to think that if a fox took that away from me, I might have been the one to drive them away." He leans in to press a hand to the small of her back so that he can give Diana a fond look. "Hi," he says, leaning in to brush a kiss to the corner of her lips, because he can.

He settles on the fountain beside her, hip to hip, resting a hand beside her on the stonework. "Did you find anything else over there that gives us a clue about what this place is?"

Diana's eyebrows perked right up. "Really? Would you have truly driven them away if they'd taken your clothing?" she asked, her tone right up there with bordering on being suggestive. She wasn't all that positive she would have if he'd been anywhere near her... But that was her mind shifting into a direction it most likely didn't need to be going at the moment.

It's amazing that he's still able to make her stomach flutter the way it is with just an innocent kiss on the corner of her mouth. It wasn't even a proper kiss but it still made her feel like her pulse might make her take flight with how rapid it suddenly was. "Hi."

She drew in a deep breath and looked around, her eyebrows drawing together. "No, just more questions. It's almost exactly like the village we live in. Except for the fountain... I don't really understand."

Steve lets out a wry laugh, seeing as he can't help but think of those strange bright blue pools of water that he still can't explain, not blushing, but ducking his head down as he remembers how Diana had stared at him so unabashedly as he'd stepped out of them, naked. "Maybe not my clothing, but definitely if they decided to mess with yours," he vows, leaning over to pick a little at the sandwich in her hands while they sit.

"What was different about the fountain?" he asks. That's something, given that the fountain definitely seems to be the reason and the method of how they all get here. If there's something different, does that mean that he just hasn't looked at this one long enough?

"Really? I doubt people would be seeing anything they haven't before," Diana teased but it made her happy that Steve wouldn't want anything happening to her clothing. But truthfully, she wouldn't want anyone seeing him without his either. It was odd really because she hadn't felt that way when she'd first met him and hadn't even thought about it before arriving in the strange village.

"Well, for starters, it's falling apart," she said and motioned to the other side which was crumbling. "There's no water in it so I don't believe anyone is going to be showing up in this one."

"I know you're probably just joking with me, but the last thing I need is to act like a jealous asshole in front of all these nice people, so I'm going to pretend that I'm still the only one who's seen you like that," he says. "At least, to that degree," he adds, not intending to tell her that she has to cover up completely.

He dismisses that in order to pay more attention to the information, wondering if it falling apart means anything. "Did it look like age had made it crumble or did someone do it? Maybe with a hammer or a sword or some very strong hands taking it apart?"

Diana's eyebrows lifted and after a moment she just smiled a shook her head. He hadn't been the first person to see her that way, but she supposed he was the first one to see her without clothing in a way that truly mattered. But he was a smart man for not telling her what she had to do because she rarely did things when someone told her too. He should have learned that a long time ago.

She shrugged her shoulders and glanced back over towards the other side of the fountain. "It looks aged and neglected. Perhaps this side has been sealed off for so long that it's just... falling apart." She looked back over to Steve. "But why would it be sealed off from the other village to begin with?"

Steve's line of thought has been fixated on the existence of another place that looks just like this, because as far as he's concerned, he still has no idea what it could possibly be for. "If they have a fountain like ours, but it's not been used, does that mean they had people turning up another way? Was there something else?"

Or is it just like this place, where the minute you find your way into the well of the fountain, it appears to seize up and close, leaving you no closer to any solution.

Between one thing and the other, Finnick and Annie haven't had much chance or inclination to go exploring the new area. But with Finnick getting back on his feet, and the weather still decent, they decide to look around. It could be somewhere to live, to lead their flock - but only if Johanna would come.

If not, then Careers will be Careers, and it's part of the arena to inspect.

Which is how it is that Annie is actually in a position to see the other young woman. She'd been up a tree in the park while Finnick was looking at something, and she'd been keeping watch for him when her gaze went back and, there.

Annie thinks she's seen the other woman about. She's tall and fit, charismatic in ways that remind her a little of Finnick. Knows how to move through the world, is wearing black. Beautiful enough that for a moment, Annie is keenly aware that she's wearing her old overalls, her old, stained white blouse (for exploring) with her hair falling out of her braid. Just a moment. Well, maybe two.

She's not sure if the other woman has seen her or not - she knows how to hide, but then, she hadn't been trying that hard - so she decides to err on the side of politeness. You do that, with people who move like the other woman does.

"Um," Annie says. "Hello."

While Diana didn't have any of her powers, she still had the training she'd received back on Themyscira. So while she might not have seen the young woman up in the tree at first, she had felt her watching her. It didn't take her long after that to realize just where she was. She didn't let on that she knew though, there was a reason the young woman was up in the tree and Diana figured that she would let on when she was ready to.

She had just laid out her small meal when she finally heard the woman speaking and she lifted her gaze up to the tree and even smiled at her. "Well, hello." She studied her for a moment before lifting a sandwich. "Are you hungry?"

"A little," she admits. This isn't the Hunger Games, this isn't an arena, but it'd still been a hike to get here, to this strange mirror of the other, more familiar place. This isn't the Hunger Games and she isn't starving and this woman probably isn't going to kill her, but...

Politeness. Alliances.

"I could swap some smoked fish," she offers then, shifting a little on her branch. There. Equals. No matter that she is up a tree and is being all odd, again. Today is nice enough, though, that she doesn't mind as much. The hike had been good.

Diana's eyebrows lifted. She hadn't expected the woman to offer anything in return for the sandwich, she'd just been trying to be nice. But she also didn't want to be rude and offend her by saying no, so she smiled and nodded her head.

"Sure, that actually sound rather good. I have not had smoked fish in quite some time." And she wasn't even lying. She truly hadn't had smoked fish in a while, it would be a nice change to what she'd been eating there in the village.

"Did you want to come down and join me?"

Wanda had been going through painstaking lengths to keep the god damn foxes on the other side of the breach. All month she had traveled to the opening between the rocks, planting traps for the tricky creatures or hunting those who slipped through. It was tiring work but it was worth it if it meant keeping her home, and the animals who lived there, safe.

Towards the end of the month, Wanda had noticed less foxes slipping through the breach. She finally slipped through the towering rocks to look at the other side. Her light green eyes scanned the town, weaving through the buildings, before stopping at the fountain.

She had seen Diana around the Inn but she hadn't spoken to her before. Now seemed as good as time as any to and Wanda was looking for another account of the odd disappearance of foxes. "Have you seen any foxes running around?" Wanda had fought with one early in the month, she knew that they had been there.

Diana had pulled a sandwich out and it was resting on her knees while she dug right back into the pack for the water she had brought with her. It was so quiet in the village that it wasn't very hard to hear the approach of another person, and because she had heard the woman's approach, she hadn't been startled when she finally spoke up.

She glanced up and shook her head with a small smile. "No, I haven't seen not even one. Which is odd considering how many were running about just a few days ago." She fell quiet for a moment and then lifted the water container. "Would you like some water?"

Wanda exhaled, only realizing then that she had been holding her breath. It was hard to believe that the foxes had just vanished though she supposed the fireflies had done something similar. Discomfort twisted in Wanda's chest but she ignored it, hoping that her uneasiness would ease with time.

The tension remained tight in her shoulders but her face began to relax. "Yes. Thank you." Her throat was dry and while she had rations for her short trip, she had run out of water. She planned to refill her small container at the river but has yet to walk in that direction.

"Are you usually over here?"

She had heard stories about the foxes, as well as experienced a bit of strangeness herself, but it wasn't the foxes that drew her to the new village. In the course of her hunting, she had come upon an elusive stag in the forest. The large beast enough to feed all of them for a week. But just as she notched her bow, it had darted off, running in the direction of the village.

Lyanna took after it, tearing through the forest, but ultimately losing sight of it. How such a large creature could slip away was beyond her. When she emerged near the broken fountain, panting and cut from the branches, her eyes searched frantically about, finding only Diana seated and disappointed. That would make to of them.

"You all right?" Lyanna asked, putting her arrow back into her quiver. "I don't suppose you've seen a stag come by here?"

Diana had indeed seen the stag that Lady Lyanna was asking about. It had just darted past her and Diana had honestly been able to do nothing but stare at it dumbfounded. She had seen a lot of animals while she'd been exploring but she had yet to see anything as beautiful as the stag that had just passed it.

It made her smile.

And then there was Lyanna and Diana's eyebrows lifted as her gaze swung back to the young woman. Well, she looked a sight. Her smile grew a bit. "I'm fine, thank you... And the stag, I fear went that way," she said motioning behind her. "But I don't know where it went from there, I'm sorry." She rose to her feet and stepped towards her. "You're hurt. I might have something in my pack to clean out your cut."

"Seven hells! I nearly had it too!" She stamped her foot, her youth and temperament clear. Reluctantly, she sheathed her arrow in the quiver and slung her bow onto her back. So much for the full meal they could have had. It was a wily creature, but sooner or later she would find it.

Diana was kind, at least. She had forgotten her cuts until something was said, only then did the sting start to draw her attention away from the hunt. Obediently, she sat on the edge of the broken fountain, waiting to be tended to.

"It's faster than me and doesn't seem to mind the branches." But there was always next time. She would find it again and be quicker in her reflexes. "What are you doing out here? Hunting?"

Steve had missed the foxes. He'd been mostly in the forest not near the canyon walls for most of the month and was now just starting to come over and explore the new area opened up to them. That this village was so similar to the one he'd arrived in was a bit disconcerting. He hadn't explored the insides of the building much, or at all, in the main village before he'd decided finding a way to escape was a better first priority, but here there were less people and the building he could get into, he did.

Finishing one side of the street, he decides to cut through the park before continuing on the other side. He wondered about the fountain there and as he got closer he could see that it looked like it had been smashed, although not recently. Coming up closer to get a better look, he sees movement on the other side.

"Hello...?" He calls out as he rounds the fountain, curious to see who he may have run into.

Diana had been picking at the crust of the sandwich she'd pulled from her pack when she heard the male voice calling out. For a moment she had been tempted on ignoring it, but that wasn't how she was. Setting her sandwich off to the side on the edge of the fountain and rose to her feet, brushing the crumbs from her lap.

She stepped around the fountain, pushing her dark braid over her shoulder. "Hello," she called back to him. "I didn't realize that there were other people over here."

Stopping his movement as she comes around the fountain, Steve smiled and shrugged. He still looked fairly new, at least if you went by what he was wearing - still in his green scrubs, and with the provided backpack strapped to his back, although it looked fuller than it was on arrival. The clothes have seen a bit of wear however and are certainly dirty. He carries a homemade spear in his hand, but right now it's being used more as a walking stick with the pointy side towards the sky.

"I've not been on this side long. A couple of days maybe, but I have seen a couple of others." Tilting his head, he gives her a curious look. He'd noticed the slight delay in her response. "I apologize for intruding if you wanted to be alone."

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