deercountry | fall for me from reality [open]

Entry tags:

fall for me from reality [open]

Who: Anna Amarande and you
What: November catch-all!
When: Throughout November
Where: The Entertainment Feed; Anna's usual club; other locations TBD

Content Warnings: Manipulation, blood + oil, lacerations, restraints

a. hold shut the wounds of the past [for murderbot]

An android walks into the Entertainment Feed. Stop me if you've heard this one before. She's wrapped in a heavier coat than usual, black fur around the collar, and she's wearing a new-looking pair of black jeans with no holes in it except for the ones that the guy who made them put in there for her feet and torso. Her boots are the ones she used to sail with, and her jeans are tucked into them. And, because she's committed to her own brand, she's got a white t-shirt with a faded picture of yet another robot on it.

"Anna Amarande," she says to one of the drones, identifying herself like she'd been asked. "Fantasy Twitter user rin should be expecting me? We have some things to discuss."

b. to the rhythm of eternity [open]

Anna usually limits her performances at the bar she's taken to calling her home in Cellar Door to three nights a week, but lately, she's felt a little more inspired than usual. She's chalking that one up to the Tower's influence, and she'd feel a little ungrateful if she didn't bump it up to five nights a week for at least a little while. She's playing most of the songs in her repertoire over a given week, her voice and her bass on full display with any other instruments covered by backing tracks from the glowing projected screen of her Omni.

Of course, maybe you didn't walk into this bar to listen to Anna play music. Maybe you're here for a conversation—maybe something important, maybe just catching up with old friends. If that's the case, she's glad to wave you over to the booth that she's stolen for herself in the back, dimly lit but private. She's got a bottle of beer in her hand as she does it, and she tilts it towards the bartender as if to say "one more for my friend".

"Hey, glad you could make it. C'mon, let's take a load off for a bit. What's been up with you?"

c. there are burning cathedrals [for makima]

This is going to be interesting, she thinks. She'd met Makima online in a curious conversation about godliness, and she wonders very much whether it's going to play out the same way in person. Right now, she's dressed as normal; it's a little bit colder this morning, so she has her thick, fur-collared coat over those new black jeans and Hatsune Miku tee, and she's looking around the coffee shop for anyone who looks even remotely like a Makima.

"Hey," says the woman with more souls than eyes once she's pretty sure she's got the right person. "Sorry, usually the places I hang are a little... grungier than this. Hope I didn't keep you waiting long. You're Makima?"

d. turning the skies into glass [friend of mine]

"All right," Anna says, in the heavier coat she's been wearing this whole time. She shrugs her shoulders up to wrap the collar around her neck properly, and she adjusts the strap over her chest that secures her katana to her back. "We're here to find something to help the Tower. Thanks for coming along." She turns her head towards her companion and smiles appreciatively. "I'm not in the business of walking into danger alone anymore. So—"

She reaches into her pocket and slips the crescent necklace she'd gotten from the Reckoning over her head, around her neck. "This can make sure that at least someone already knows where we are, in case there's an emergency, but how are you with tracking? I don't think a lot of us have been out this deep in the woods before." She looks back out ahead of them; the trees might be starting to die off, but that doesn't make the thicket of branches before them any less intimidating. She rolls her neck until it cracks, then starts walking forward, because there's nothing else for it. "Let's save a god's life."

e. i cannot pretend that i never think of you [for ange]

She's lost track of time. The zealots didn't seem to enjoy what they found when they'd cut into her side very much, and she can still feel the blood and oil oozing out of her very slowly. If nothing else, she thinks, they know how to keep people alive enough to actually treat them like a farm. She would find it funny if there were anything to laugh about, that this is the second time this year she'd ended up strung up and in restraints waiting for something mysterious to return and do whatever it is that they want to do.

Right now, Anna feels woozy. Half-awake, really, with her head lolling and her white hair streaked with red. The zealots, from what she can remember, had left her alone for the moment to try to figure out what exactly it is she has inside her. She remembers frenzied talk about how the Tower can't accept any of this because it's not flesh, it's not real, and she can only assume that they're waiting to commune with whoever, whatever to get a real answer. Her thoughts are going in circles right now. She misses her friends, her loved ones, her family. She wishes that she weren't here. Hell, she doesn't even have her katana with her, so even if she found some way to get out of these chains holding her upright, the ones on her wrists spreading her arms wide and the ones on her legs binding them together, she wouldn't be able to do anything but tap into the teachings of Sensei Lawrence.

She laughs dry into the darkened, empty room. Someone's going to save her. Right?

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"Hey, that's still a big help! I know I have a lot of experience being 'the muscle' in a lot of situations." She offers as she looks towards the metal arm. It's a curious site to be sure! And one that seems to make her stronger. Well, Scorpia's always glad to have strong friends.

But the rest of what she has to say is serious. Her smile tightens into a frown as she listens. "I'm so sorry that happened. I guess it shows that kind of cruelty can come from everywhere. Same as the kindness."

"Yeah. Yeah, it's... I don't know, dude. It's the kind of stuff that I feel like maybe I want to write about, one day," she says, and she recognizes that her tone has gotten way too heavy for things, but she's fine with just letting that happen for the moment. "Lot of complex stuff about, like... what makes people human, whether you can really understand other people if you're not living their lives... I don't know."

She waves a hand in front of her body dismissively. "It's real heady, philosophical shit. It's not really the kind of stuff I'm built for, but after everything I've been through I've kind of got a lot of opinions on it, you know? So, like, who knows. Maybe one day you guys will get to hear that, if you're all still around."

"I hear you." Scorpia gives a solemn nod as she takes all that in.

"And what's more, I support you! I hope I am still around when the day comes. I'd really love to be here to listen to what you come up with! And if you ever need a sounding board while you're making it, I'm game for that too! It could definitely make for a powerful subject for a song, the kind that can make people think. But yeah, definitely sounds like something that would be hard to work out! From one singer to another, I wish you all the luck."

"Ha, thank you. I appreciate it." She still thinks her reach might be exceeding her grasp here, but that's not really the worst thing in the world, is it? From the looks of things, "exceeding one's grasp" might not be something Scorpia struggles with—and yeah, that's probably literal, but there's something to be said about the metaphorical meaning, too. She's bringing a lot of positive energy here.

"I have a poet friend of mine helping me out, too. He's not much for the spotlight, so he doesn't come on stage with me much, but he's got some great ideas." She thinks of Ortus, and decides that it might be fun to tease him a little. "And they aren't all about the poetic hero that I think he's probably got a crush on, either."

Scorpia is full of positive energy and faith. She simply feels that if Anna tries her hardest and believes, eventually she'll succeed! Anything is possible.

"Ooh nice, I'm glad your friend's a poet - and you know it! That should be a big help with nailing down lyrics." She can tell that last part's supposed to be a joke, so she chuckles as she adds on. "Good, that's great for him to start branching out!"

"Yeah, he's got, like... I don't know. He's been working on this epic poem of his own for a while," she says, and she's glad to hype him up a little. "His name's Ortus. Don't know if you've seen him around—if you remember when that John Gaius asshole made a pretty pompous post over the summer, Ortus showed up to read him the fuckin' riot act."

She leans back a little, resting one hand flat on the stage, and smiles with pride. "God, that was cool. I mean, I couldn't appreciate it as much as I wanted to, but, like, shit, dude. You ever just see a dude get his comeuppance?"

Scorpia remains leaning casually against the stage while she listens to Anna smiling. "Interesting! I like that name, it feels like a fun name to say. 'Ortus'. 'Ortus'. 'Hey Ortus, how's it going? Orting it up?'" She chuckles.

"Right, comeuppances. Not my first resort, but they, they can be nice! Sometimes people really need to be learn a lesson the hard way. And I'm glad that our Ortus really rose to the occasion!"

"I call him 'Orts'. Nice one syllable thing." She grins like she's clever. "But I do nicknames for all my friends, big girl." And it stays on her face—again, she thinks she's so smart for being able to say stuff without saying it outright. Sometimes. When the stakes are this low.

"Do me a favor, though, stay far away from John if you do run into him. He's... I don't know. You seem like the kind of person who tries to be as nice as possible to as many people as you can." And that's not a detriment or anything. She appreciates that someone can have that energy. "But John's not worth it. He's not worth much anymore."

"'Orts'." She repeats to herself, sounding it out with amusement. "Wow, that's even more impressive!" With that, she brings a pincer to her mouth with joy. "Wait, big girl - is that my friendly nickname? I am so honored! I'll have to give you one too!"

But the rest of what she says has Scorpia feeling more uncertain. "Um, thanks for the warning? I, I appreciate you looking out for me! Although it is hard to imagine someone not being worth anything. And sad."

She fires off a casual fingergun at Scorpia just to confirm it. No wink, because with one eye they just look the same as blinks, but it's a casual enough gesture that she can sneak it in before the conversation gets serious again.

"It's... listen, I don't want to kill the vibes or anything, but he's just." She looks towards the ceiling, then sighs. "I can't tell you what to do with your life. Just try not to believe everything he says. He's gonna be begging for sympathy, and he's really good at it, but he doesn't deserve it. He could've stopped a thousand times by now and he just keeps going."

Scorpia does appreciate that finger gun! She gives a light smile in response before it fades as they take in the more serious subject.

The warning could end up having the opposite of the intended effect, as now she's curious about this guy and wonders if she could help him. Scorpia does still have her limits. She doesn't want any friendship to get as bad as things got with Catra back home, but even Catra ended up improving in time. So she is contemplating giving him a chance at the very least. But without forgetting Anna's warnings.

"I understand. I'll be careful! And weigh out whatever he says to me. You don't have to worry about me. But again, I do appreciate the warning and concern and all."

"Gotcha." She nods, very glad that she can move on from the subject that she introduced. (The subject that she would love to continue talking more about, but that she still has some... twisted reason inside of her to want to keep his secrets.)

"Anyway, hey, do you have any requests or anything? I don't wanna brag, but being part robot makes me pretty good at this thing." She slaps her hand down lightly on the top of the bass. "I can pick stuff up pretty fast, and I'm always looking for new stuff to fill my repertoire."

Scorpia's glad to move back to the topic of music, especially with the prospect of a request! A smile returns to her face as she wonders.

"Ooh! Well hey, brag away! You live up to the bragging. Man, what to even request... Do you know this band called Fleetwood Mac? I have dug some of their songs I've heard, I think that could be fun!"

"Oh, hell yeah." She leans back, brings her bass back into her lap, and starts playing a song that she actually already knows. She hasn't prepped a backing track, so it's just her solo, but she sings along as she dirnts her way through the root notes.

"And if you don't love me now, you will never love me again," she starts, picking up the chorus effortlessly. "I can still hear you sayin' you would never break the chain." And she slides her way into the bass part that initially drew her to the song in the first place—and when the time comes for the chai-ai-ain to keep 'em together, she tilts her head in Scorpia's direction to offer her the chance to sing along in this little casual jam sesh.

Scorpia's excitement builds at her response! She steps back and looks on with wonder as she goes into it. She even happened to pick one of Scorpia's favorites. "Yes. Yes yes yes!" she mutters excitedly as Anna gets started.

She taps her feet to the beat and listens, humming along here and there. And then once it's time to keep 'em together, she absolutely lives up to her cue and gets right into singing out that part!

Anna's mostly taking a backseat to singing once Scorpia picks it up; after a little bit of guide vocals just to establish where they both are, she starts focusing on the bass line and plays it out until the end of the song, jumping in with the occasional "runnin' with the shadows" as appropriate. Once they finish up, she's smiling as she usually does with that effortless energy that accompanies her after a performance.

"Hey, you're pretty good at this, big girl. Maybe we can get you doing a song or two on stage with me one of these days."

Scorpia just gets more and more into it as they finish, excitedly belting it out! And then as the song ends, she laughs joyfully.

"That was so much fun! You were great." She smiles sheepishly at her own praise. "Aw, thanks. I'd be honored to perform with you someday. Just say when and we'll figure something out!"

"Hey, shouldn't be too hard. Like I said, I'm here a lot. And... well, as long as the snow's not too bad this year, this place should still be open."

She doesn't know what she'll do with herself if this bar has to close, but she'll figure something out. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, or whatever. "I think I gotta close out the show, though—anything else you wanna ask me about before I get back up there?"

She knows one more place to frequent now and looks forward to their possible collaboration.

"Not that I can think of! I think I learned a lot as it is, and we can always talk more another time." With a smile, she salutes her. "Go put that crowd to bed, Anna... Banana!" There, nicknamed!

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fall for me from reality [open]

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