sixthiterationlogs

Entry tags:

OTA

WHO: Anne and OTA
WHERE: Around the South Village
WHEN: End of April/beginning of May
OPEN TO: OTA
WARNINGS: N/A - will add as necessary

After returning from the caves and rescuing the kidnapped villagers, and soon thereafter finding themselves besieged, Anne is putting her animal transformation powers to use; you may very well see, or be aided by, a large tawny tiger.

She does expend a lot of energy, however, so when she's not fighting or trying to secure the village, she's resting at home or trying to be excited about rationed meals at the Inn. Or, just catching a quick nap at the Inn.

As the month wears on and the ghosts visits become more frequent, Anne spends more and more time at and defending the Inn, but if you need to get to one of the other buildings, she will offer to run escort.

She's used to pushing herself under normal circumstances, doing so as a tiger isn't much different.

Private to Foggy - post-rescue

Anne was ready to be home. While the rescue missions had been a success, they had been stressful, full of fighting and biting the familiar ghost-like enemies, and not everyone had made it out alive. She finally finally - makes it through her front door and closes it behind her, dropping her pack on the floor.

"Foggy? I'm back!"

And she could really use a hug.

Private to Eddie - backdated to mid-April

She'd gotten a crash course in tigering in the caves, but now that she's back and still in possession of the ability, she's eager to see what else she can accomplish with it, and how else she can make it useful to the village as a whole. It's not exactly like her time with Venom, but she figures he more than anyone else has the kind of experience that might be useful in helping her push her skills further.

Still, it'd be polite to ask Eddie first, and so she makes a point to arrive early enough to catch him first, knocking on the door as a warmly-dressed human to start.

Seifer's House, shortly post-rescue

Anne had returned to find the attacks from the ghost-residents increased, and the actual residents ... waning. She was lucky that the two most important people in her life were still here, but not everyone was so lucky.

She makes a point to gather up a small skein of yarn she'd worked up before heading off to the caves, and heads out to see Seifer. Making her way across the village, she's alert and ready to transform into a tiger at the first sign of trouble, but fortunately it's a quick, quiet trek from her house to his.

She knocks onn the door, looking over her shoulder as she waits for him to answer.

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If they had stayed home, Foggy would've demanded a chance to completely brush and cuddle her like this, because she is magnificent and beautiful and hello? Tiger.

But instead he tangles his fingers in the fur of her ruff, feeling the plush undercoat. "You look amazing."

There would be time for tiger cuddles later, for now Anne is excited about the prospect of a good soak.

At his touch she gives him a pleased chuff, and bumps her shoulder against his thigh before starting out. She - loved it; feeling the muscles move with each stride, flexing her claws into the dirt, licking the rough tongue over fangs; it was like carrying Venom except she was in full control.

And now? It was needed. Her ears flick left and right as they make their way to the springs, listening for any sign of interlopers.

Foggy is keeping his own eyes and ears open for trouble, ready to throw up the armour on them both at the first hint of danger.

He keeps pace alongside her, hand on her neck, not gripping, just resting there in case. It's not like walking with a cat or a dog, more like having a small horse there, radiating heat and power.

As they leave the village proper, Anne bends down to sniff the trail periodically, noting the creatures that had passed over it earlier in the day. It's all fairly innocuous. Eventually, though, her ears catch a crunch of twigs and now. She stops, raising her head and focusing her ears forward, chest rumbling with a low growl.

They're currently upwind; she tips her head up and sniffs the air but she can't tell what's past in the brush. It could be nothing, maybe a deer, but she doesn't want to chance it, taking a couple steps to place herself in front of Foggy just in case.

There is a small number of animals following them. A few of the squirrel dogs were following at a discreet distance, apparently enchanted by Foggy's presence and a few peacats were flapping into trees to watch them pass.

When Anne pauses, Foggy does too and then he thinks. The armour ripples out over his skin and then out wards to enfold Anne as well, hidden by her fur though.

Anne has not experienced Foggy's particular brand of power, so when the armor ripples against her skin under her coat, she flinches and takes a step back, looking down at her paws and legs before figuring out what's going on. She looks up at Foggy with an appreciative sway of her tail and then pads into the woods to stalk whatever it was that was stalking them.

Foggy gives her a small, quick smile and steps back a little. He can fight, but he's not going to be as effective as an enraged, armour plated tiger. "You go get 'em, Anne."

He can give encouragement from the sidelines.

She disappears into the woods, quietly thankful that it's far enough that Foggy won't have to watch her track down and dismember Village Resident lookalike.

Anne likes the power, likes the feeling of being in control when she inevitably confronts the thing - taking a moment to make sure it wasn't actually the person it looks like - and then ensure that they don't live long enough to bother the rest of the village.

It's a few minutes of silence followed by some distant growling and sounds of a fight, and then tigerAnne is padding back to Foggy, lapping blood from her muzzle and hoping the internal moral monologue she's got going on doesn't translate on her feline face.

Foggy stays away.

He's mostly spotted the imposters at a distance. Glimpses of people he knows are gone, or wearing scrubs when they never do so. He hears things though, in the woods with Anne, and he ends up gathering up one of the squirrel dogs that comes over to him, apparently moved by his distress.

When she comes back, the little animal cowers against him and then flees at the scent of blood and predator, but he's more concerned with his girlfriend. "You okay, there?"

Anne lopes over to him and tips her head down, leaning into his legs with a chuff in reply.

She liked the power. She liked the upper-hand, but killing? Mauling people that looked like people she knew? It's starting to weigh on her. It was nice to have Foggy here, and once they make it to the spring and she's able to change back she may ask him to weigh in.

For now, though, she's sticking with tiger until they get passed the dangers of the forest.

Foggy pauses and kneels down, scooping up a handful of snow and beckoning her close, to rub the blood from her muzzle. "So you don't have to deal with that when you shift back," he says quietly.

Then he continues on with her, hand on her shoulder blade as they walk.

Hazel eyes watch him as he cleans her up, she's patient and still. As a tiger, sometimes she forgot about the human details, and she's glad he thought of this one where she hadn't.

The rest of the trek is uneventful; a quiet, almost peaceful stroll through a winter wood. It'd be relaxing in and of itself if she weren't constantly twitching her ears at every sound, sniffing the air for intruders. No more come by the time they reach the spring.

Once there, she sets off from Foggy' s side and makes a quick circuit of the springs, sniffing the ground and stopping to listen, rubbing against trees to leave her scent and claim this territory. Content that these wards have been set and the space is clear, she pads back to Foggy and finally shifts back to Anne the Human.

"There, that should do it. "

While Anne is patrolling, Foggy sets his pack within reach, so nothing can be stolen by either the dopplegangers or the local wildlife. He's removing his boots when Anne shifts back and he smiles up at her from where he sits on the ground. "With any luck we'll manage to fend off the hostiles and the locals."

Anne chuckles, starting with her scarf and coat and gradually disrobing, folding the items and carefully stacking them on Foggy's pack. Her breath comes out in little dragon puffs, and she shivers slightly as the cool air hits exposed skin - but the thought of a warm soak is literally seconds away and she's smiling despite the chill.

"Just you and me, baby; I'll growl at anyone who gets too close."

Foggy gives her a smile and chuckle and when she's getting into the water, he strips off quickly and slips in next to her, because it will take more than a few months of being here to make him totally comfortable with being naked in front of people. (Even Anne.)

"I love this spring so much," he sighs. "It's the one thing about this place that I would take with me everywhere. If I could."

She won't press him; there's no rush, no agenda to push. She's given up on her big beautiful wedding and is just thankful she's got someone she can confide in and trust. As he settles in next to her she rests her head against his shoulder, pulling in a breath and letting it out in a slow, content sigh.

"Dear sir, are you unaware of the existence of Jacuzzi jets in our world? " she teases, although even then a regular hot tub wouldn't have the healing powers of this spring, even if you dumped in a whole bag of Epsom salts. She can feel the knots in her back and shoulders start to loosen, "it feels so far away sometimes; a whole other lifetime ago..."

Foggy sinks and settles mostly underwater. He's fairly sure he can't actually feel the waters working their magic, but he still thinks he can, the way it wriggles into the body and heals all those old marks.

"It's not even remotely the same and you know it." He slides a hand to her knee, head tipping back onto the stones around the spring. "It's.... I feel awful, that I miss my family but I miss my life back there less and less every day, you know?"

Anne settles a hand over his, speaking plain and sombre, "I think that's what aclimation looks like. Here and Now is demanding more of our attention. It's survival, Foggy, you're not to blame."

Dan rarely crosses her mind anymore; she's been here nearly as long as she's been dating him. "I find it hard to remember my co-workers, anymore. Fellow counselors, firm security, they're there but, hazy."

"My family aside... there's something about living here that I like. The pressures are different. I've worried a lot less about status and getting ahead and all of that."

He misses his family. He finds he's acclimated to this place quite well, though. "No blame. Just... I've noticed."

"There's actually something beautifully simple about base survival. No stress about car payments, insurance, retirement, stocks ... It's scary, it is stressful, but it's uncomplicated."

She falls quiet for a moment, thinking on their conversation as she soaks. "I had a brief moment of panic last month where I realized I hadn't done my taxes ..."

Foggy laughs. He doesn't mean to, but it's the sort of random thing that hits him too. "Mine was realising I hadn't filed my bar registry renewal."

It is funny, and she chuckles along with him. "It seems so silly now, the things we used to worry about. This place has been dangerous and scary at times, but ... it's still a bit of a vacation in some ways."

She pushes the water out with her hand as if to demonstrate; they're currently in a natural hot-spring that's within walking distance of their little village. Still after a moment of thought, her mind wanders and her expression darkens. "Well, for us, at least. There are some others that - this is all they have."

Foggy hums, looking around them. "Joshua said that if he gets sent back, it's to his death. His friend had already survived past when Joshua died."

Whereas Foggy would go back to a world where his dead friend wasn't dead. "Elektra... died. In my world and time. Was dead already."

"Seifer ..." She doesn't feel the heart to really get into what that poor boy has already been through, "And he's lost most of his friends here, as well. When I was his age, I was busy working on college admissions essays."

She laces her fingers with his under the water. "I'm sorry about Natasha. Is she still ... here?" So many people had been disappearing lately, it's hard to keep track.

"Oh. Poor kid." Foggy's an empathic soul... he can't imagine that sort of strain.

"I don't even know who is here and who isn't, who I'm just not able to catch up with, you know?" It's a bit stressful. A lot stressful. He squeezes her hand gently.

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