[open] i can see the flickers

[notched]

Who ⬤ Anna (Tamamo) & Open
What ⬤ May Substories, Etc
Content Warnings ⬤ Probable cause for violence, madness, Bloodborne stuff.

Prompts in comments, wildcard me with anything else you want. You can catch me in the discord or DM me at itsabee#1072. CR meme comment Mingle top level Feel free to double up prompts, I will tag you however many times you want. bloodborne 🎶 ❗ Anna is extremely xenophobic against alien/angel/eldritch creatures and violent against them. If you're not sure you count, DM me. She is *dealing* with the yokai, but especially monstrous ones still set her on edge.

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GENERAL | FERAL CAT NEEDS TLC

[notched]

[ The woman has been bustled in by one of the fox nee-sans and it's put to the other Tamamo Lost Souls that she is absolutely filthy and needs to be made presentable if she wants to be a member of the clan.

Plainly, she is right. The woman in question is wearing a heavy leather coat, singed at the edges, that smells like someone died in it. Someone did. She is coated in dried blood and old viscera. It has probably genuinely an age since that hair was last brushed; thick and black, it's an absolute mess.

Anna herself frowns, crosses her arms over her chest and staring after the kitsune as she leaves in a disgusted huff. Then she turns her gaze warily towards the other lost souls. ]

GENERAL | CLOTHES SHOPPING

[notched]

[ Just in case it wasn't clear, ]

Last set of clothes, I pulled off of a corpse.

[ This is obvious by the state of what was under her large leather jacket (something she insisted that she was keeping, even if only to store it somewhere.)

She's staring at the modern clothing in the store with confusion and a small amount of disdain. She's going to need some help moving this along. ]

[psionicmolotov]

[ Kimmuriel glances over at her from where he's resentfully poking through the racks. He is one of nature's anti-clothing shoppers, someone who will only make a honest effort to procure clothing when absolutely necessary, like now. ]

That much is obvious. [ But in an effort of fellow feeling because he does in fact recognize the look on her face: ] Black clothing shows stains the least. Not that anything in this place is made for practicality.

[notched]

[ She watches him with lazy awareness. Like any Hunter, she is hyper-vigilant. She is never truly at rest and has positioned herself in the store where she can see things. Hard to focus on the stupid clothes when she's doing that. ]

Black it is, then.

[ She doesn't have any interest in something that is going to take a lot of care or maintenance. ]

And none of this.

[ She flicks her hand dismissively at a flowery summer dress. ]

[psionicmolotov]

[ Kimmuriel can't fault that. He's the same, ever-cautious, though his awareness suffers from not having its usual precision. The whispers of surface thoughts ripple his mind like rain on a lake, his own thoughts casually pushing them aside to be heard. ]

Not one for dressing up? I cannot say I disagree with that. It is hardly of any use. [ He knows it has SOME uses but also, like hell is he gonna do that. That's not his job. That's someone else's job. ]

[notched]

Impractical.

[ She agrees, reaching out to feel the texture of one of the shirts with curiosity. ]

Everything is very... soft.

[ Someone is definitely not from the modern world, but maybe Kimmuriel will find being a bit of a ye olde fantasy person relatable. ]

[psionicmolotov]

[ Oh, he really does. The confusion is close to his own, enough that he's a little less of a hardass about the interaction. ]

They seem obsessed with softness. It is a struggle to find working clothes. [ He frowns, just a little. Normally he wouldn't pay this much attention, but he's near-defenseless like this. Without his usual powers, he has to think practically. ]

Most are in a style I am unfamiliar with, and there is little defense to be found with them, but I cannot wear the same thing forever. [ As much as he disregards his own physical form sometimes, he does want to stay clean. ] I assume you are in a similar situation?

[notched]

[ She nods, her eyes tracing someone on the far side of the store. ]

Aye. They decried my armor too filthy for their whorehouse.

[ She doesn't actually have anything against whorehouses, only the irony that when a warrior comes into their midst suddenly they have stones to throw.

It turns out to be a good thing that she was eye-stalking that other customer... Her eyes catch on a wall of leather jackets. That gets her to move from where she's standing to go touch them. ]

Even the leather is soft...

[ryototsukai]

Well that was more of a matter of need, right?

Have you ever paid much mind to, like... what you'd want to look like?

[ She realizes she might be taking the wrong approach here, but surely this woman had some sense of aesthetics, right? It wasn't all just determined by necessity, right? ]

[notched]

[ She blinks at her. ]

The nuns dressed us when we were young, whatever they made.

[ So... nope. ]

[ryototsukai]

[ At least that didn't strike her as unworkable. Instead, Musashi hummed and nodded. ]

Alright! In that case, why not try a bit of everything on the rack? We'll just work through it bit by bit!

[notched]

[ All... of it? She looks like a deer in headlights for a moment, brows pinched. ]

If we must.

[ No points to an airy summer dress on one of the staged mannequins. ]

None of this.

[ryototsukai]

I figured you'd appreciate a more "cool" look. Let's see...

[ Off the rack comes... a pair of aesthetically ripped jeans, a dark red camisole, and a black leather jacket, cropped to the ribs. ]

[notched]

[ Less hateful than she was anticipating, but she is obligated to point out the rips, ]

This damage is acceptable?

[ Just let her wear her nasty shit then 8( ]

SUBSTORY #3: SWIPE LEFT

[notched]

[ She's watching a group of other Tamamo play with their phones, talking about the app that installed itself. She has no idea what they're talking about and when the question is turned to her if she's made a profile, the answer is: ]

What?

[ She doesn't understand cell phones in any capacity, this is going to take some explaining... ]

SUBSTORY #1: MOON MEDICINE (COLD)

[notched]

[ She doesn't catch that it was supposed to be 'medicinal' mochi, or she probably wouldn't have put it in her mouth. She doesn't care much for being experimented on by crazed doctors, actually, thank you. When the mochi's effect begins on her, she turns towards the gyokuto with a scowl. ]

What have you done?

[ Her mind feels a little hot and mad with anger, she never should have thought for a second these creatures could be trusted. She advances on the rabbit, but is stopped by her own shivering. She makes a frustrated sound, sitting down abruptly and curling in on herself for warmth. ]

SUBSTORY #2: VEND ME A DREAM

[notched]

[ Before the plague of beasts had taken over their every waking moment, it hadn't been so uncommon for her to mostly be a courier carrying messages between church and hunters back and forth across the rooftops. Intel, instructions, whatever else they called for. It doesn't bother her much to now be taking on a list of sought after items. ]

What is it this time?

[ She asks, without any apparent sarcasm.

Or she's flagging you down on the rooftops, bringing out her list of sought after items to compare to yours. How many rooftop skulkers are out there? A few, right? ]

[retroductions]

[It is a clear step down from a proper mystery, but this task has become surprisingly lengthy; that does not inherently mean it’s intriguing (in any other case, it might even be a bore), but it proves to familiarize himself with the immediate area, and Sholmes’ interest is at least piqued each time he finds a new item, or speaks to yet another vendor in the endless queue of errands.

Activity is better than stagnation, after all.

He raises his brows at the woman. He does not recall her face— or does he? Around the vicinity of Tamamo housing? Ah, it doesn’t matter right this very moment.]

Quite an interesting request this time. A very specific figurine from a machine that regurgitates round capsules after payment.

[In his arms, he carries a myriad of exactly that: little plastic gacha capsules spat out by one of many machines just around the corner. So many that it’s a wonder he made it this far without them spilling to the ground in a frenzy.]

Though I cannot quite recall which… So I purchased all that I could! Simple!

[notched]

[ Quite honestly, Anna would agree with that assessment. It is a perfectly good excuse to get used to routes across the rooftops. It's not just athletic skill that makes a Hunter so quick, but also their familiarity with their terrain. ]

I see.

[ Quite literally. ]

They're frivolous here.

[ The things they ask for are baffling, really. Yharnam had a pleasure quarter but it wasn't hardly so strange. ]

[retroductions]

[Sholmes grins a little wider. It is definitely frivolous, but he is no stranger to the concept on the whole. The frivolity inherent in his era simply takes a different form than little plastic figures in little plastic capsules. And even then, barely.

Arms still full of them, he steps closer, hefting them towards Anna in an attempt to unload at least half of the haul into her arms, too. He isn't particularly careful about it, and a few will drop and bounce to the ground.]

Yes, but there's some use to be had in even trifling things. Keep the extra ones, use them to decorate your flat. Or they can be steadfast traveling companions in your pockets.

[All of them, except the one they're looking for. Sholmes grabs the top of a capsule with one hand and pops it open.]

Except for a turquoise cat figurine with little glass eyes! That is the one we seek.

[notched]

[ Uhm! She lets him do it, taking this weird shit into her arms but the look on her face is comical in its shock. ]

What? I've no use for--

[ But one is tumbling off, she catches it on her toe like a hackey-sack and catches it without thinking about it. ]

I've no flat, just a bunk.

[retroductions]

[That is a very impressive reaction time, madam. Sholmes does not make an effort to pick up the ones that have already fallen to the ground, though he does stoop low enough to pluck the one off of her boot. It would be too silly if she stood there balancing on one foot. And we all know that Sholmes is the very picture of seriousness.]

Then you may decorate your bunk! Hide one under your pillow, or line them across the edge of your mattress so they may keep watch while you sleep.

[Very serious.]

Waste not, want not. I plan to hide mine in every corner, or put them in inconvenient places on the floor so intruders may step on them and regret, instantly, their trespass.

[notched]

[ Absolute and utter surprise shows on her face for a moment. Hide them... around? Just to fuck with people? What? The laughter that bubbles out of her sounds equally baffled. She can't even remember the last time something made her laugh in earnest, she doesn't know what to do with herself.

As she stuffs her laughter back down into the box it burst out of, she tries to answer soberly. ]

Oh... yes. Very cunning.

SUBSTORY #4: Haniwhat?

[notched]

[ She is noticing the little figurines; here, there, and then another. Her Insight has been quite mercifully muffled by this place, but how exactly does one completely remove intuition? She can feel it prickling ever so faintly, like a small static shock repeating on the back of her neck. She tenses as someone moves to pick up one of the figures, ]

Don't touch that. Leave it be.

[ She gently puts out her arm and actually moves the other person back from it. She's deadly serious. ]

GENERAL | VERY NEGATIVE CR ONLY

[notched]

🌔 Are you any variety of creature, alien, angel, eldritch horror etc? You freak Anna out. Even if it's not terribly obvious what you are, the woman in question is extremely reactive. Uncertain if you count, or what you want to do? Ping me!
🌔 Feel free to arrange a friend to interrupt her, if needed!

---

[ She is staring. Something about this person is making that faint sense of intuition sting again. Her eyes dilate, dark and wide, and the intensity of her gaze is palpable. She puts her hand over what appears to be a metal whip coiled at her hip. ]

You.