the balance of complete and incomplete [open]

[hauntedsavior]

Who: Anna Amarande and you!
What: January event catchall
When: January
Where: The Snake Den and around Trench

Content Warnings: Eye trauma, blood, swearing, artful robot nudity, will add as they come in

a. i will trust the artist molding me [the snake den]

Anna doesn't really need much help right now cutting loose at the Snake Den. Madam G has been on her list of Pthumerians to check out for a while, and even if there had been some kind of reluctance to begin with, now that she's here mingling in a borrowed suit she feels downright comfortable. It's like she's ten years younger, and though her voice is still smoky and she's still missing an eye as far as physical age goes, socially she's just. Free, right now. It's nice.

It's nice enough that, when she's not striking up conversation with other people, she decides to indulge herself in the open mic. Borrowing an electric bass from backstage, she walks up, sits down, plugs in, and grabs the mic. "This is one from back home," she says, "By a band called Silversun Pickups. It's about finding freedom and acceptance and love in the places and with the people that everyone else tells you to stay away from. They'll say that the only way to be who you are is to file yourself off. That you need to hold yourself back to make other people comfortable without ever worrying if you're comfortable." She's talking very passionately for someone who doesn't think of herself as a motivational speaker. With a confident look, she finally leads into the song. "Let's bury that lie, Trench. This is called 'The Pit'."

And she starts playing, and she starts singing. And when she doesn't need to be playing and her hands are free, even she's not really sure how she does it, but she finds a way to channel her androidinous self to modify her own voice—just for a little bit, just to test it out. Just to see what happens, before she snaps back into the final lines of the song. And regardless of how it's received, once she's done, she puts the bass down and gently thanks the crowd. Her heart-simulacrum is pulsing faster than it should be as she gets off the stage, and she waits there in the wings in case she happened to inspire anyone with that performance.

b. the echo of what is and what will be [the shedding ceremony]

This is... not a good month for Anna outside of that, so far. For her time at the Snake Den, yes, she's still resonating with A2, and she's still who she thinks she is. But it never really takes long for her to start shedding her own skin again, and damn her brain but she can't stop fucking picking at it long enough to avoid the transformation.

The first time it happens, Anna emerges in a pure white dress that she's wasting no time in staining red. Her hair is longer, cleaner, and in lieu of a katana she's brandishing a blood-red shortsword in her battles with these beasts at the edge of the city. Taking zero precautions against pollution or corruption, she swings her blade right at the neck and lets the blood spray wash over her. When it stops, she hunches forward and shrieks out a strangely melodic note while the beast falls over dead. Her back straightens, and it's clear even from whatever distance anyone may be watching at that she's no longer entirely who people might know. The flower blossoming from her right eye is a good early warning sign, but you'd better act fast, because her good eye is a blazing red and she's rushing towards her spectator with that bloodblade at the ready.

The second time is much less interesting by comparison, but it's not doing her much good. Because the second time, she's just... a normal 29 year old. Both her eyes are fine, she's fully organic, and she doesn't know how to use a sword. In fact, she's taking her time and walking slowly through the streets of a town that she's starting to get to know better, wondering what her life even is anymore. Her Omni helps her keep connected with back home, sure, but nobody can get in touch with her no matter how hard she tries. And she woke up, for lack of a better word, with this katana that she's got on her back, and the first friendly-looking person she sees, she just asks outright, "Hey, uh. You have any idea why I would have a sword if I don't remember ever actually owning a sword?"

c. i am creation both haunted and holy [wildcard]

((got anything else you want to do? hit me up here or at roseward!! also: source for the suit image and lyrics for the cover.))

Comments

Zero

[threelayers]

Ok, officially, fuck her life. Look, she loved her wife, but she could hardly be blamed for just staring for a moment. She'd been out on patrol, and one look at the flower popping out of Anna's right eye like some twisted decoration, and she knew something was up. Deep down, she knew, but seeing her tearing into things with the blade, listening to the shrieks, she was momentarily captivated and stopped in her tracks. She really should do something, but for just a split second...

Yep, she was done staring now.

Why? Oh, that would because there was absolutely ZERO chance of ignoring Anna as she came charging straight at her. Neopolitan leaped back and rolled behind a tree, two splitting off in other directions to keep this woman busy. She'd never seen Anna fight properly, much less in this situation. She was going to play this cautiously and uh... see if she could wear her down, so the other hunters didn't have to get involved. But she was absolutely not above ducking out if the heat got too much.

(OOC: Going with either 'wear her down until she calms down' or 'get out with hide intact just barely, if you're good with that.)

[hauntedsavior]

The important thing to note about this Anna was her utter frenzy as she took to the battle. In the back of her mind, she knew that this Neo woman, this friend of hers who she was now attacking was a master illusionist and that one of the images she was chasing had to, necessarily, be a fake.

But whether it was real or not barely mattered in the grand scheme. It had gotten Anna's attention, and her eye flit towards the sudden motion like a feral beast. Her steps quickened, and the blade swung not quite fast enough to find purchase. She threw it aside, then, letting it explode into blood, and took a wild swipe with her other hand as she let out another horrid, on-key shriek.

[threelayers]

Raw, mindless fury was helpful. It didn't make it any easier to strike with an intention of knocking her out for her own sake. No, she couldn't immediately go on the offense, but rather had to stay on the defense. However, it was helpful for avoiding the blow. One of the trees nearby didn't fare so well, but Neo managed to make her way back in a fast sommersault while her partner came in from the side to swipe with her umbrella, intent on blocking the blow before jumping back.

For the moment, she was trying to keep Anna busy, each of her two clones lunging in just long enough to give the other a chance to get away. It was a constant back and forth that she hoped was winding her a little bit. However, she had a bad feeling this wasn't going to be an easy little battle attrition, not with that hideous shriek coming from her crazed friend.

wildcard

[loopsbian]

[ she's not sure what at all to expect from a place like this - a place called the snake den in a world of tentacles and squids. all she knows is that it certainly wasn't this.

she's in the process of reclining into a pile of off-color pillows, relaxing fully and completely for the first time in what feels like decades, when she sees the woman returning to the audience. she reaches for a name - anna, her mind supplies - and before she can stop herself she finds herself lazily waving and calling out. ]

Miss Anna. [ some old habits die hard. besides, she's fifteen now, isn't she? best to maintain some veneer of respectability. ] You're looking well.

[hauntedsavior]

Just Anna, Satoko-chan.

[she feels so relaxed right now that it really isn't much effort at all to head over to the place that she's being beckoned from and sit down, though she's not at the point of sprawling out yet. the pillows are nice. she could see herself staying for a while. as she sits, she starts shaking herself out of the jacket so she can just lounge in a dress shirt and tie.]

I'm feeling pretty good. I didn't know that was something I felt like doing until I got the invite, then it just wouldn't leave my head until I did. You doing okay here?

[loopsbian]

Miss Anna, your voice was quite lovely, but I've only enough yobisute to spare for one girl.

[ it's a great deal more forthcoming than she originally intended, but she can't bring herself to care right now. not in this atmosphere - not when things are genuinely peaceful for the first time in however many years. ]

Mm... It's certainly a bit much to adjust to. [ she crosses her arms behind her head, staring up at the ceiling for a moment. ] But I can't say it's been boring yet. That's all that really matters, in the end.

[ well. that's... a bit nihilistic, perhaps? ]

A

[justoscar]

It's not inspiration that strikes young Ossi-- but awe. Despite everything brewing inside her and everything that she carried on her shoulders, the sheer dread of being known was too heavy for her shoulders... but there was no force on the planet that would stop her from vaulting the barriers and seeking out her sister backstage.

With her heart pounding and eyes bright with excitement, she scampered through the crowds and arrived before Anna a disheveled mess of layers and fluff. Her grin was bright enough to dim the sun.

"That-- that was amazing Anna!"

She exclaimed-- and Anna would see that the little teenage wizard before here looked entirely the same in nearly every way except for a little extra care in her hair and a somewhat different voice.

Ossi didn't know who Oscar was, but for all intents and purposes she was the same.

She had no idea that Anna might know a different version of her.

[hauntedsavior]

"Oh, hey, kid, glad you could make it!"

She hasn't seen Oscar in a grip, and it's only because of that that she doesn't really notice anything new or strange about the one standing before her right now.

"What do you think about some good old fashioned Earth music?" she asks, smiling with just a whole lot of tension finally working its way out of her system. She knows that some of this has got to be the Pthumerians' doing, but fuck it, if MG can make her feel happy like this then she might have a new favorite god. "The real one's got way more texture in it, but I'm only one girl, you know? I should play you the original sometime."

[justoscar]

"You can play me whatever you want,"

Ossi declared, somewhat star struck and giddy from the atmosphere. She had known Anna was really cool, but this was another level. Pthumerian involvement or no, she was eager to find out more about what her adopted sister could do.

"Everything from Earth seems really cool. There's so many different versions of it, but it's amazing how the basics-- like music-- are still kinda the same on them all."

Not that Remnant didn't have arts and music, but there was a reason the kingdom that became Atlas had tried to ban it. Art carried with it a legitimately dangerous element, and they all needed to be a little careful about getting too carried away.

A

[entreats]

"You sure seemed happy."

If someone suddenly speaking up to Anna wouldn't be enough to draw her attention, then Ange's outfit sure might do the job. It's rather hard to not spot her while she's wearing something like that, after all. But whereas it usually would be way too much for Ange, right now she doesn't seem to mind. She doesn't even seem to pay it any notice, all of her attention instead turned towards Anna as she approaches the other after her performance.

She tilts her head slightly to the side, an actual small smile on her face.

".. though I guess that isn't too surprising, considering you're so talented." If that performance was anything to go by, anyway. Ange won't delude herself that she's musically inclined in any sort of way, but even she could tell that performance was really good.

[hauntedsavior]

"Holy shit, Ange," she finds herself saying without even meaning to. But how else is she supposed to react to that dress? She looks amazing. Ruby's an incredibly lucky girl, even if right now Anna's pretty sure that Rubes could be hiding under that dress and nobody would ever know.

When she's done admiring that, she shakes her head a little to snap her mind out of it and returns to that relaxed, casual grin that feels so very, very good on her face right now.

"Nah, I'm not that talented. You want talented bassists, I got a ton of them I could give you. I'm still learning." But she's not gonna be humble like that for too long. "This is the first time I've done something like this in a couple years, though. I'm glad you liked it." A pause. "—you did like it, right? Like, it sounded okay out there and everything?"

[entreats]

Watch that 'holy shit' go about ten miles over Ange's head as she's standing here. Sure, she hears Anna saying it, but she has absolutely no idea what the other is talking about. She glances over her shoulder, looking behind her, as if something there would give Anna a reason to say it, but.. nope.

Her mind is totally coming up blank, because Ange is never going to assume she looks good, okay. She's as thick as a wall when it comes to this stuff. It's a small miracle she and Ruby got together.

Instead she focuses on the rest of what the other says - the part she can actually make sense of. And the part that demands so much more of an answer, because Ange is determined that Anna leaves this night knowing that she's great at what she does.

"Of course it sounded okay! It sounded more than okay." She's pretty sure anyone in the audience would've agreed on that. "I can't believe you're even this worried about it when you did great! Come on, this is the part where you're allowed to brag, you know."

.. okay, yes, Ange sure seems more playful than she usually does. But it's just a whole lot easier to express herself more openly with the way her blood currently flows through her veins.

b

[vibing]

Yuri runs into the totally normal human Anna one day later in the month, when he himself has already been through a shedding, and he's trying to get used to what life seems to be now: living with two psychics who can feel his every emotion. It certainly isn't what he would have chosen, but it's sure what he has, and it's not like he would kick either one of them out, so he's just spending a lot of time outside of the house, despite the cold.

He left early for his shift at the bakery, and is wasting time at the market, looking over things that he might buy with the stones and gems burning a whole in his pocket when a familiar voice asks him that. He glances up at Anna and does a double take. It's the two eyes that gets him. He's never seen her with both, he doesn't think, and there they are: plain as day?

It takes him a long moment to register the question, and his eyes flick to the sword on her back, brows furrowing in confusion. "Is that a trick question?"

[hauntedsavior]

Now, this guy, like. Seems familiar; they're definitely not enemies, she can tell that much somewhere deep in her soul. But there's also less of her soul there than anyone might come to expect, or there would be if she knew a single damn thing about soul magic or whatever.

"I mean, not really?" she replies, her voice dry but with a hint of humor still living behind it. "I know I'm kind of a weeb, but I don't really remember going out and buying a sword. Especially not one that's this well-made." She takes it off her back and carefully opens the case, but there's less precision in her movements as she grabs the hilt of it and extends it out for this purple-haired man (Y✕✕✕ or something?) to examine.

"At least, I assume this is well-made." And with a note of obvious concern, "It, uh, looks like someone's been getting some use out of it."

[vibing]

That makes his laugh a little, a soft huff of a laugh as he takes the sword to look it over. He glances up at her, still trying to see if she's fucking with him, but... no. It doesn't seem like it.

He pulls the katana out of its sheath, to the chagrin of the vendor whose stall they're near, and clears a bit of a space to go through a few moves. Yep, that's sure Anna's sword.

He hands it back to her, hilt first.

"Yeah, you have. But it seems like you don't remember it, huh?" If he were more careful, maybe he wouldn't be so direct about this, but, well, this is just who he is. "You use it, a lot. We hunt monsters together." He looks her over, noting all the differences again. "Let me guess: you woke up like this with a weird gross skin next to you?"

[hauntedsavior]

d. look inside my heart and find a perilous ravine [for dirk]

All right. Well. Time to let someone take a look inside her for the first time ever. Anna tries not to pace around the doorway of her sparsely-decorated place too hard, but this is unknown territory, man. No matter how much she trusts Dirk, she isn't sure how happy she'll be with whatever he finds in there. Maybe she can get anesthetized or whatever so she can pass out and not find out exactly how the blood and wires work together—no, she doesn't want that. She wants to be conscious the whole time, just in case. It probably won't hurt, right? It's on purpose.

She groans and audibly knocks her forehead against the door, trying to get the anxiety to just chill out and leave her alone for a second. "I can't believe I'm actually fucking doing this," she mutters. The table she's about to lie down on is all prepped and everything, or at least it's cleared away of any obstructions and it's strong enough to support her. (Not that there's much clutter to get rid of in the first place.) They're doing this, man.

[givehead]

Dirk was confident that he could do this. He was confident about anything when it came to robotics. What he wasn't confident about was how to handle the personal aspect of this. Cracking open Sawtooth to fix a few kinks wasn't exactly the same thing as opening a more fully formed artificial intelligence. Anna might not be a standard human, but she had a sense of personhood and self. She obviously didn't have a disconnect from her body. There was a relationship there and it was a relationship that Dirk desperately wanted to respect.

He was okay with being an asshole in a variety of ways, but autonomy mattered to him. He knew what it felt like to feel controlled by the idea of a body, of a certain image of self. So. He was nervous too. Not about the mechanics. He just didn't want to fuck Anna up. Dirk didn't think he was the warmest source of comfort either.

Dirk arrives on time, a backpack on his shoulders. He felt he wouldn't need too much, but if he did, he could just race back to his place to get it. He was fast as fuck. He takes a deep breath and knocks just about a second after Anna's head is hitting her side of the door. He blinks.

"Hey, princess. I'm here. Is this a two-way knock door or am I just hallucinating?" Nah, he knows what it is, but he's giving her an easy out.

[hauntedsavior]

Ha. She exhales slowly, trying hard not to panic-laugh, and pulls away from the door enough to open it. It's a hell of a thing, seeing Dirk for the first time. She's still draped in loose-fitting clothes, mostly an oversized band t-shirt that leaves a lot of her limbs and lower body exposed and ready for examining, and she's really not, like. She's not focusing on the idea that this is her actual body that she's letting him see, or at least she wasn't until Dirk stopped being a line of orange text on a screen and she started staring him down with her actual human eye.

"Hey, king," she says with that same kind of tone, just pretending that that little awkward interaction didn't just happen. "Welcome to the palace, I guess." There's not much to see and she knows it, but they're only going to be working on the table anyway so it's probably fine. "I've never been a great host, so, like... you just wanna get into it?" If she looks away from him as she asks it, it's easier to hide the way she's worrying her lip.

[hauntedsavior]

e. discovering the patterns of my soul [for kainé]

Well, uh. Of all the places out here in the town of Trench that she was expecting her hotel-destroying friend to end up, a dilapidated shack out on the fringes of town was not on her list. It seems a little more dangerous out here, but Anna's also seen Kainé fight, so she knows that the beasts probably aren't much of a threat.

So the main concern, then, is that she's isolating herself when she probably doesn't have to be doing that. Which means that Anna's out here tentatively knocking on the loudest-looking flat surface she can find to announce her presence. "Hey, K? It's Anna. From the hotel?" She truly, deeply resists the urge to quote the foundational 21st century work "Damn, Bitch, You Live Like This?", because that's a terrible way to begin a conversation, but that won't exactly stop her from approaching this conversation with that same sort of energy.

"You're really holed up all the way out here? There's other places you can live, you know."

[foulhussy]

It's easier this way. That's what Kainé has been thinking in the days since she arrived in Deer Country. She hasn't lived in a proper human settlement since she was a little girl, and she wouldn't know how to start. She never wants to return to those days living in the Aerie. And people are too complicated anyway.

The shack doesn't have a door, and the windows are broken, but the eaves keep the rain out more or less. She's starting to build a reputation out here in these few days for the handful of Beasts she's killed, and the locals have already started leaving food and supplies and incense. Easier this way.

But the solitude and despair will turn her Corrupt sooner or later. She feels like crap all the time anyway, though. Whats the difference? When Anna knocks and just waltzes right on into her hidey hole, Kainé is sitting cross-legged on the floor, the only functioning furniture being a low table and an intensely mildewy couch. She's polishing her sword, looking rather pale and haggard.

"Oh, it's you." She looks up, expression blank but vaguely exasperated. Of course she wouldn't know, she doesn't know Kainé at all. So she doesn't know that this is just how it is for her.

"Yeah, pass. Not a people person."

[hauntedsavior]

Anna doesn't understand how anyone could really be comfortable living like this, but she doesn't understand a lot about this woman, does she? Just 'cause it's how it is right now doesn't mean it's how it always has to be, right...?

"Yeah, me neither, dude," she says, electing to stand so she doesn't accidentally, like, ruin something by putting her weight on it. At least she's standing near what seems like a sturdy piece of the structure if she decides to lean, but this just seems... depressing. It's easy enough not to be judgmental, but she's bordering on concerned.

"But that's no excuse for not having a sturdy roof over your head and working windows and all that," she continues. "You're gonna freeze to death out here. You could at least isolate yourself in a place that won't kill you."

A (mid-late jan)

[azurestar]

Lance is currently an AU version of himself where he just discovered he's actually a highly advanced android. Many things are the same for him aside from that, and he's figured out he might be in an alternate reality. And who does he know who is at least part Android and also knows a lot about alternate realities?

Of course, he's not sure if he wants to talk about his situation, he just wants to hang out and be around someone he knows wouldn't freak out about it. Maybe he'll never tell a soul, it's just about a sense of security and also needing a distraction. And boy was her speech something that hit him where he lives. He comes over to her when she finishes and grins.

"Sooo, why didn't you tell me you play bass?"

[hauntedsavior]

She laughs brightly at the question, or as brightly as she can right now. With no idea anything is different about him at all, Anna just leans against the stage and goes as casual as possible when she answers, "Lot of stuff you don't know about me."

And though she could leave it there, she won't. "Used to be in a band with a couple friends back home, for example. We were called GIANT⚡ROBOT and I played bass. My buddy Eren played drums, and his husband Elliot was violin. We never got to do much playing for, you know, reasons," she brushes past, "But playing bass stuck with me. Now I'm pretty okay at it, even if I only bust it out for open mics like this."

[hauntedsavior]

f. the pull of tension's empathy [for kainé]

So. Shit. Having a roommate, huh? That's new. Anna's chilling in the main room with her electric bass unplugged and her Omni out in projector mode on the table, just trying to teach herself something new for the next open mic. She's been looping the song for a bit at a low volume, trying her best not to disturb anyone, but anyone's voice would grate repeated enough times, much less Colin Meloy's.

She's removed last month's Winter Mourning by now, but the house is still pretty sparsely decorated, the walls devoid of any hangings and only the most basic of chairs and tables as furniture. At least the kitchen is as stocked as it's gonna get, and she's been staying out of the spare bedroom that she'd given to Kainé, so she has no clue what that looks like. The whole place isn't really that bad; there's definitely more than enough room for two people to live comfortably here. Provided the person Anna's living with isn't pissed off by the constant unamplified rattle of strings.

"Hey, K, you okay if I keep going?" she asks, finally, generally just assuming that she's being a bother to her roommate, and that she's still here to hear it.

[foulhussy]

It's not as though Kainé's room is any better furnished— aside from the staff carried by a fallen friend, and a framed crayon scribble, it's completely bare. But she appreciates the privacy. Living with somebody else after so long spent alone is strange. Not unpleasant. But strange. The last time she'd spent so much time so close to somebody was when she'd camped out with Emil on that journey. But these memories were blurry and painful and made her head hurt when she tried to remember.

She's surprised how quickly she adjusts. Sure, she's still cold and surly, but she's had meals with Anna, tidied the house, got drawn into superficial conversations. If Anna expected somebody slovenly and boisterous from their initial encounter, she'll be surprised at how quiet and industrious the young woman is.

She spends a lot of time out, but for now she's at home, stirring a pot of vegetable and fish stew, thickened with stale bread. All cheap fare, but frankly luxurious compared to what she usually eats, even the hardscrabble world she finds herself in far more comfortable than what she's used to.

She grunts vaguely at Anna's question, taking a sniff of stew. She doesn't know if she'll ever get used to the shit those Omnis can do. "Turn it off, can't hear myself think." A definite note of irritation in her voice, but she was reluctant to just ask her.