( closed ) said you would never give up easy

[gevurah]

Date & Time: from early to mid-january
Location: various locations
Characters: kate & various
Summary: doing things and running into people: the rp life.
Warnings: there will be some violence eventually
Notes: while there's prompts for those from the CR meme, if anyone else wants to do something don't hesitate to ask. feel free to PM me on this account or through plurk.


Raiden

[ Richard Lawson's parting words have left quite an impression on Kate.

Don't let them find you.

Her nights are a lot more restless than usual. The bottle of wine she gifted Ros is tempting, but she knows better than to turn to alcohol again while there are pressing matters. As usual, she dons her layers and boots and heads outside. She goes for a jog again today. Without any kind of workout facility she relies on the cold terrain.

The shelters are her first pit stop. They need to be cleaned out and stabilized, but at the forefront of her mind the UE's stash of bombs render shelters useless if they can easily drop another nuke on them.

If they know they're here, why haven't they? She stands with her hands on her hips, lost in thought. ]


Lightning

[ She's grown somewhat rusty with hunting. In spite of her intensive training that pit her around and against the world in various death traps and unfamiliar land, until last year she's lived a life of luxury.

The elderly woman she and Roslyn have been residing with lent her copper wire to ensnare rabbits with. She stalks the snow covered land for a rabbit trail, following their footprints into a good clearing where it appears they pass through.

As quickly and quietly as she can, she cuts down branches thick enough to hold any large rabbit. When she's done with setting up the branches and placing the wire, tying a noose and letting it hang in the center.

There are heavy footsteps in the distance. Yeti, she concludes, and hopes they don't frighten off the rabbits. ]


Seiya

[ Another grey and cold morning, but Kate's out for her usual jog. She warms up with basic stretches outside her current residence and half a minute after she's completed them, she's off. She sticks to a familiar path, edging along the outskirt of the town, but never wandering too far off.

She breathes through both her nose and mouth, but exhales through the latter only. Always breathing through the stomach or diaphragm to ensure she's getting enough air.

It's not always the most quiet run; there's always someone, be it Transport or one of the locals. A yard away from her she can hear dogs barking and the loud crunching of snow as the dogs run forward, pulling along a large sleigh with dead their master and his bag of what appears to be his hunt for the day. ]


Actual Damsel Martin

[ Today's jog is quickly disrupted by deep rumbling and the ground beneath her shaking to a point Kate nearly loses her footing. She stands with feet spaced out, applying as much weight as possible to keep herself upright while her eyes scour the clearing to spot whatever large animal it is stomping across.

It doesn't take long, but it's not exactly difficult to miss the mammoths bursting into the clearing. She's ready to hightail it out of here when she catches a glimpse of something else running ahead of the pack.

No, not something. Someone.

Kate's heart is almost ready to leap from her chest as she shouts: ]

Martin!

[ There's no hesitation, no second thoughts. She breaks into a sprint to meet the boy halfway, maneuvering with her bag to dig into its content, reaching for the grappling hook she always has on hand.

Cue. ]


Roslyn

[ Kate shudders one last time as she pushes the door in behind her. She notes the silence in the house, cocking her head to one side curiously and wiping excess snow off her boots on the rug. Then she begins to undo the buttons on her jacket, angling her head the other way. ]

Anyone home?

[ Home. It's almost laughable. God knows how long this setup will last this time. Lawson's disappearance reminds her the kind woman who owns this house may someday vanish before her own eyes. It's an unsettling feeling, not knowing it will happen and if it does. ]

Ros?

Comments

Actual Damsel Martin

[theguideless]

[this is no time to get into the hows or whys of this situation, not with tree-trunk legs kicking up snow and packed ice, all ready to flatten Martin for as much as he knew.

he's lucky he's lighter, but only a little lucky: he's not exactly built for speed, and four legs are always better than two.

it's weird that amid the angry rumbling and grumbling he can hear his own name; he doesn't even think to whip his head around to search for the sound, because all he can think of right now is RUN!]

[gevurah]

[ She procures her grappling hook, trying to zip the bag shut to keep its contents from spilling out as she draws closer to Martin and risking being trampled to death by the angered mammoths. With every step she can feel her feet growing unsteady against the quaking earth.

She stops at a safe enough distance, beckoning Martin to run faster. ]

Grab my hand!

[theguideless]

[he gives shout of surprise, doing a double-take and seeing Kate there – Kate, who's not so much Kate right now as just another fast-moving shape.

a fast-moving shape that has a better idea than simply running.

his arm flails out and then over, trying to grasp at hers, losing a bit of the speed he had in that rhythm steps ago.]

[gevurah]

[ She pushes forward to snatch his hand and then pulls him in the opposite direction, moving fast to keep ahead of the herd that continues to pursue them down the stretch of land.

She only needs to get closer to the trees... ]

[pauldron]

[Under the yeti's thudding along is another set of footsteps. Lighter, they crunch through the snow instead of flattening it outright, and come from the direction of town. Lightning's been scouting, but those thuds make her slow to a stop not far from Kate, her eyes narrowed and hand on the hilt of her blade.]

Where's that coming from?

[Not "do you hear that?" because it's almost impossible to not hear in the otherwise still silence. Sounds like it's getting louder, too.]

[gevurah]

[ She's just about finishing her set-up when Lightning makes her appearance. Kate is mildly surprised to see her again. It seems they're both destined to run into each other about once a month.

She pauses after Lightning's inquiry, listening intently to the noise that does appear to be growing louder. ]

Must be an animal.

[ Given the stability of the ground, it's safe to ascertain it's not a mammoth. ]

[pauldron]

[Not a mammoth, but not a rabbit. Why is it, Lightning almost wonders, that they only seem to run into each other when there's fighting likely to happen or already happening? The thought gets lost in her brain, shoved away for another time as she walks closer. Where is that coming from?]

One that's not going get caught in that trap. [a glance at Kate.] You have a weapon on you?

[gevurah]

[ She produces a hunting knife from her bag. Its real use lies with killing and skinning animals, but it's the only weapon she has on her for the time being.

She hears something scurry off between the bushes, twigs snapping and snow crunching as it apparently leaps away from their general vicinity. Sounds like a rabbit, but it's not falling into the trap Kate's set up.

She rises, already backing away from the trap. ]

Think it's headed this —

[ A loud growl and the heavy sound of rushed footsteps drowns out the rest of her words as something large, with shaggy white fur barrels out from the forest. ]

[highfrequency]

[Raiden has been coming and going from the tunnels to the shelters and back again, doing what he can to help Transports find homes here on earth.

When he sees Kate he stops his busy trudging and looks back at her. For the moment he does not appear to be a cyborg, but a flesh-and-blood man. Mistaking him for one would be easy if not for the fact that he has a log the size of a tree under one arm with claw marks gouged in it. He's using the Old Initiative holo-technology to look human. Best not to scare the natives into thinking he's a weapon from the United Earth.]

You okay?

[His rusty voice, however, has not changed.]

[gevurah]

[ She had heard him from the distance, but she doesn't turn her head to look until she's addressed. While she registers his voice, it still comes as a surprise to see him. As she glances over her shoulder, it's even more of a surprise to see how calm he appears. Then again, the mutiny didn't help anyone with first impressions. ]

Fine.

[ She quirks an eyebrow at the log. ]

You good?

[highfrequency]

Mmhmm.

[He shifts the weight of the log under his arm.]

Just doing a lumber run. Wood is pretty useful when you're trying to build a shelter.

[His faded blue eyes flick upwards and he watches the sky.]

...It'll keep people safe from the cold for a while at least....

[Nuclear threat not so much. The UE and their bombs are always on his mind.]

[gevurah]

[ Her own follow his gaze, lips pressing into a thin line at the mere thought of more bombs falling from the sky. They aren't equipped to handle something like it again and with new Transports on the way, they would have a much larger mess on their hands. ]

The underground buildings?

[ Kate finally tears her eyes away from the sky, refocusing on Raiden. ]

[devotedtothecore]

[ It's at the ground-level entrance to one of the shelters not too far from the riverside-- an underground affair, like most of them, and a warehouse once upon a time-- that there's fresh pair of bootprints in the snow, leading down the stairs. Tied to a post a few feet away sit a small sleigh and its team of huskies, who lift their heads at her approach, staring in silence.

Further downstairs, a circle of light moves around in the dim, turning this way and that; the headlamp it comes from attached to an unknown man, pacing around the vacant lot with a notebook in hand, eyes flitting between the walls and the scrawling he's doing on the go, muttering quietly to himself in the dim. ]

...twenty-five by fifteen, cement, should hold against... fit pipes along here, cut the distance, works as a contingency...

[gevurah]

[ Naturally, she follows the footsteps where it leads her to whoever it is talking aloud to himself in the empty building. Kate's approach is quiet, initially cautious to see who or what it is that's made its way down here and for what reason.

Chrysos seems relatively harmless. She finally steps out from the shadows, letting her boot drag along the floor to alert him to her presence. ]

[devotedtothecore]

[ Some might call it a risky habit, how much he tunes out everything else when he's focused on something. A sharp pair of ears does little good if the owner doesn't pay attention to them; even after that deliberate scrape, it takes him a moment or two to actually look up.

The notebook goes down, a hand goes to his jacket. Wary eyes and the headlamp's shine aim at her. ]

State your business.

[ Calmly, but firmly. ]

[gevurah]

You first.

[ She mirrors his tone, not looking particularly alarmed or upset. She maintains her distance, however.

She isn't armed. She stands with her hands at her sides, duffel bag slung around her shoulders as usual. There's not a detail on her that stands out, unless the pale skin counts. ]

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

[The landscape of the city has changed with the climate, and while Nate feels that it's still too fucking cold, he can't resist the lure of people, the chance to feel the city's atmosphere. And with Barbara back, he's feeling a little more up to facing people, too.

And the brightly-lit little bakery reminds him of New York, of the little family businesses stuffed into all the nooks and crannies, and their warmth, even if the decor was three decades out of date.

...And it seems to have something resembling coffee for sale. He still has plenty left from San Francisco, but testing an alternative never hurts]

[gevurah]

[ Kate likes to have her coffee, black, in the morning. Back home, the Colonel always had a fresh cup waiting for her before her workout. Coffee commercials might have been cheesy, but they seemed to mirror her home life for a while.

She comes from the opposite side, eyeing the small bakery with renewed curiosity. She may as well try it out; it's cold out and she can use something hot.

It's impossible to miss Nate, even from a short distance. She straightens her posture and raises her arm halfway, waving in greeting. ]

Morning.

[ Excellent timing as well. She's been meaning to speak with him. ]

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

[Nate blinks, pulling his attention away from the honestly pretty tasty looking pastry display and the sign tempting coffee, and manages to refocus it on Kate. He smiles, returns the wave.]

Hey. Hunting down breakfast too?

/slams in here

[pixieboots]

[ Leaving his mittens back at the apartment is a serious mistake today, but building a snow fort in the few minutes he has to wait for Kate is keeping his hands busy anyway. It’s just a small one, just high enough on two sides that he can disappear when he lays down on his stomach, with a discreet lookout tunneled in beside a stash of snowballs by his elbow.

He’s not really planning to use them on Kate when she shows - not as long as he’s so unsure just how she’d react to snow in her hair - but not making a few to match the wall just feels like a waste.

And this way he'll have them ready. His luck could change any minute. ]

[gevurah]

[ It always comes as a mild surprise Dick keeps in contact with her. She's made him feel small and possibly scared, she's now knocked him out during the mutiny, but he insists they're still friends in spite of everything.

They are, however there's a weighted guilt ever present on her shoulders when they text each other.

Still, she heads out to meet up with him. She had promised to see him after her short trip in Paris and if there's anything Kate loathes to do it's break a promise.

She's close. The sound of boots sinking deep into the snow can be heard as she makes her way through the area, checking around for Dick. Instinctively, she surveys whatever is above her, as if Dick might be up in a tree or rooftop. ]

[pixieboots]

[ He hears Kate before he sees her; there's a Kate-ness to the way her boots crunch that he knows he'd never mistake for anyone else. He's still on his stomach, still pressed into the relative safety of the fort when he catches her looking up, and that's enough to start the giggles before he can help himself. On any other day she'd be right.

And since that'll give him away before he even has the chance to keep the element of surprise a little longer, on a whim he hefts one of the smaller snowballs and lobs at a spot a few feet behind her and then darts for the nearby roof. ]

so late and i only brought bagels

[boughtabookstore]

[ Roslyn's in the kitchen, sitting on the table as she bends over paperwork. She hadn't been expecting Kate back quite yet, but there's a pot of soup warming over the back burner of the stove. Apparently she was intending to eat sometime soon.

But she looks up as soon as she hears Kate's voice, calls back. ]

I'm in here. How'd it go?

delicious :9

[gevurah]

[ The aroma finally reaches her nose. It's warm and homely and she breathes it in deeply before following the sound of Roslyn's voice. She enters the kitchen, her boots off, but jacket and scarf still on. The bag she's already pulling over her head to set down. ]

Hey, babe. [ She leans in for a kiss, her lips still cold. ] Missed you.

All good. Paris is the same, even in the future.

[boughtabookstore]

[ Roslyn reaches up with one hand to cup it around Kate's face for a moment while they kiss, and by the time Kate pulls away to keep talking Roslyn's smiling, looking clearly pleased. It's good to have her back. ]

Missed you too. Did you at least get to see the Louvre?