01 | Video/Action | Day 108

[animator]

[It's been a week since Anita's arrival in the Cape, and all that time, she's managed to monitor the network without actually making herself known, taking the opportunity the blackout and the defunct network had provided her to move around town unnoticed and get the lay of the land. By now, she's more or less settled -- she has housemates she gets along with reasonably well, one of them a stray Allison brought home after no less than two days after their arrival. She has a potential ally in a man she's still not entirely convinced isn't a yeti, and a woman who practically reeks of magic but without that undertone of malice.

All things considered, there's something of a silver lining to this new situation, though she certainly has plenty of choice words for their captors if she ever gets the chance. She's determined to make that opportunity arise sooner or later.

When she addresses the feed, she's sitting on the front steps of House 10, arms resting on her knees.]

I haven't been here long, but I think I've got most of the details by now. [People had been helpful, for the most part.] The food supply is low and it sounds like people are doing whatever they can to help supplement it. I hear people hunt. I'd like to get in on that, but it would help to know what's available to us in the way of weapons.

[She has her knives, and her guns with their limited ammo, but she's never been much of a trapper despite being vaguely outdoorsy. She'd done a lot of field work during college that had required her to spend time out in the woods and knew well enough how to forage, but hunting anything that wasn't, you know, monstrous was entirely new. Animals couldn't be all that different, could they? Just... smaller. Potentially less vicious.

Right.]

Do we have the resources to replace or even forge spent ammunition, for instance? Or do we get to play pioneer and do it the authentic way?

[You know. Bows and arrows. That kind of thing.]

Any kind of feedback would be appreciated. If I'm going to be stuck here, might as well pitch in and do what I can to help.

[The feed ends. She'll be sitting outside of House 10 for awhile if anyone comes by or wants to pester her, and later in the day, she can be found at the docks, doing a little investigating.]

Comments

Action/docks

[purplishgreen]

[Shiala considers, briefly, leaving whoever is foolish enough to hang around so close to the water to their own fate, but... she's not nearly that heartless. She's the last person inclined to go anywhere near the water herself, but... well, it's in a good cause.]

Goddess, what are you doing down there? Are you insane?

[animator]

I've been called that.

[The response comes while Anita's back is still turned, standing near the edge of the dock and looking out over the water with her hand shielding her eyes. When she does turn to face the speaker, she braces her hands against both hips, raising an eyebrow.

Well. She's seen a lot of things, but this woman is a new one on her. Whatever. She'll roll with it.]

We're not under attack anymore. I came by during the blackout, but thought I'd come check out the aftermath now that there's some natural light.

[purplishgreen]

If there's one thing I've learned about creatures like that, you make certain they're dead. I doubt that this one is.

[And she won't be satisfied until she knows, which could be any time or never.]

Were you here for the attack?

[animator]

That's part of why I'm here.

[To make sure it's dead, that is. Creatures of myth are something of a specialty, and sea monsters definitely qualify. Even from a distance, she imagines she'll be able to spot something worth seeing. Either a glimpse of the creature itself, or some other tell-tale clue.]

I was, though. Saw most of it as it happened. You were taken, right?

[Anita knew she looked familiar. Hard to forget a face like that.]

You okay?

video.

[intelligently]

I don't know about the weapon situation but I know that some people have brought some in.

[ She's trying to push her worries away and get her natural sass back, to be and sound more Lydia again. She doesn't like feeling weak ]

Or made them, like bows.

video.

[animator]

[Anita nods in reply, listening. Bows are easy enough to make, she would think. She's never shot one, but she could probably manage. Can't be that much harder than all the other weapons she's used, right?]

Good to know. I got to bring a few of my own from home, but if I have to shoot at something to protect myself, those bullets aren't going to last forever.

[She has knives, too, but she prefers to keep a distance between herself and most monsters or professional bad guys. Most of them have her outsized. It's a problem.]

video.

[intelligently]

I'd ask the hunters.

[ She means the food hunters, rather than the supernatural ones ]

They'd probably know.

video »

[intraining]

Hunting's definitely a thing. I'm uh- not the person to ask about it, but yeah. Fishing too, if you like the whole 'sitting on the dock patiently' shindig.

[ or when you have a magical not-girlfriend who just kind of scoops up the fish on her own. ]

You're new?

video »

[animator]

'Patient' isn't really in my vocabulary.

[She smiles wryly. Helpful information, at least.]

I'll leave that to someone else. I'd get frustrated and scare the fish away.

You got it. Been here about a week.

video »

[intraining]

It's not so bad when you're in the right company.

[ LOVESTRUCK THIS ONE ]

Well, welcome to cape constant nightmare. Usually we at least have electricity but oh well. I'm Charlie.

[video]

[triplelindy]

[ Yetis are way hairer than this guy, Anita. Promise.

He's been thinking about her and Allison, wondering if they're doing ok. He's seen Allison around on the network, but Sam doesn't do much venturing out right now. Unless he managed to fix himself up a wheelchair or something, but he would rather just stay in and work through it. It's been working so far.

Kind of.

Anita's question is a good one, and Sam's been thinking on it himself. He hasn't had to use his gun yet, but bullets are not an infinite resource and it will always be a last resort. ]

I think right now going pioneer might be the ticket. [ He looks marginally better than when he first met her, but his eyes are way tired. Like he's been up for days - which hasn't been the case, he's been sleeping more often than not. ] Unless we start making our own bullets. You wouldn't happen to know how, would you?

[ Ignoring the whole 'needing the equipment to do that' thing. Sam knows how to dump some salt in some shotgun shells, but making bullets from scratch is not a skill he's learned. ]

[video]

[animator]

Well, look who it is.

[She gives him a tired but genuine half-smile. She hasn't seen him since the day they got here, but she's been wondering about him -- he'd been in such bad shape that it was hard not to worry, even if they didn't know each other particularly well.]

How are you feeling, Stretch? Doing any better now that you've got your land legs?

[She purses her lips slightly as she considers the effort it would take to whittle or bend a bow and have it be nowhere near as effective as a gun would be, in her opinion. Not that arrows weren't great in the right hands, but she had next to no experience with them. They weren't her projectile of choice.]

They're simple enough, if we have the resources. If there's material to be melted down, we could always find a way to make a mold and give it our best shot. Better than no bullets at all.

[video]

[triplelindy]

Doing pretty good, considering. Our friendly neighborhood kidnappers kind of snatched me at a bad time.

[ Understatement, of course, but it's not like Sam will ever fully admit to how bad it is. Not even to his brother - mostly because it's not like Dean doesn't have enough to worry about - so keeping it on the dl is his priority.

He thinks it should be fine as long as he doesn't become a liability, which hasn't happened just yet. ]

And that reminds me - thank you. For helping me out when we got here. I appreciate it.

[ Sam's sincere with this, because though he tries to brush off the concern about his health, he isn't one to take help for granted. ]

True enough. Who knows, maybe there's something in one of these buildings that could be used. It doesn't hurt to take a look.

video

[venatical]

We have limited resources for ammunition. I don't know if all the garages and attics around here have been checked; sometimes there's stuff in there.

[ He wonders if he couldn't coax some out of an angel either, in a pinch. ]

I found a shotgun and some shot that I'm using now for my hunting. You're new, huh?

video

[animator]

I've been scouring the attic of the place I wound up assigned to. Might have found things that can be melted down to forge bullets, but the metal might be too soft. Guess I'll have to try and see. I have some of my own that I brought with me, but it's not going to last me forever, and I hate the idea of always using it as a last resort.

[She trusts a gun. Feels safer having one on her. That's just the kind of world she lives in.]

Sounds like you're doing well for yourself, though. [A pause.] Anita Blake. Been here about a week now.

[venatical]

[ He knows the feeling, though the demon knife has been handier to him of late when it comes to his personal security. He can't demon knife a tiger to death without coming back looking like Cas on his last date with his tiger friend, probably, so that's out. ]

Not too bad. Only things I've really had to shoot so far have been deer. [ He starts to add something about how he couldn't really shoot the people he'd most like to, but then he decides not to. ]

Dean Winchester. Two months. [ And some time before that, but he's never sure if he should count that. He probably should, but having no memory of it makes it weird. ]

Feels longer. You know a lot about guns; you a hunter, soldier... Spy, secret agent? [ Only half kidding. ]

[action]

[wolfofmidgard]

[Meja's been concentrating as much as she can on magic. If she recalls enough, experiments enough, the possibilities are huge in a situation like this. But even a Valkyrie can only sit still for so long, and she sets out to stretch her legs — heading inland. Three tangles with a Kraken is enough for even an immortal lifetime. It's three times too many. She's not even curious about visual differences between the Kraken of various universes, and what that implies.

Giant, hungry tentacles? Are still giant, hungry tentacles.

So she heads in a curved loop inland, leaving her cloak behind today. It feels odd to walk for so long without a sardonic comment from her missing feathered friend. She has the wrist comm for company, instead, and hears the stranger's message. Not too long thereafter, she comes across her sitting in front of what she's assuming is her house. Meja offers a friendly smile. She has her swords, magic armor, and daggers. Even in Cape Kore, she stands out a little.]

I'm afraid if it's a forge you're looking for, I haven't seen one yet.

[action]

[animator]

[Anita finds herself raising an eyebrow at the stranger's appearance, interested rather than critical. It's certainly not the first time she's seen someone in what could be considered old-world garb, but it's a hell of a lot more striking than most of what she sees the fashion-challenged vampires in her life wear. She'll take armor over neon lycra and lace any day.

The weapons, however, are what catch her interest most of all. It's enough to put her on edge, wary despite that friendly smile. The woman is carrying as many weapons as Anita herself tends to, if not more, and it's generally a good rule of thumb to be a little more cautious around people who are openly armed.]

I haven't seen one, either. If the place had the resources to keep one running, it wouldn't be a bad idea to establish one, but somehow, I don't see that happening if it hasn't already.

[action]

[wolfofmidgard]

I'm not altogether certain what you'd make it out of. Although certain metal can be — unsafely — melted down over a stove. But I suppose that's an option.

[Generally, though, not metal you'd be making into bullets. Not unless there's a lot of jewelry here that people don't want to keep.

She gestures to her own wrist comm.]

Is yours acting up as well?

[servingmichael]

I'd worry less about bullets and more about gun powder.

[ Humans. How quickly you unlearn things. ]

[animator]

I'm not out of that yet. If I'm lucky enough to find the right resources, I can make more. I've done it before.

[For a new arrival, she's pretty well-equipped.]

But my shots are specially made. I don't carry that many on my person. Bullets are trickier.

[All her spare clips were in her car. Damn it.]

[servingmichael]

I would assume there is more powder currently available than bullets, but as I use neither, it hasn't bee my concern. Charcoal is easy to make, sulfur can be gathered.

[ Well. Meg as a use. Good to remember. ]

Potassium Nitrate is going to be of an issue, as while it can be produced, and there is some currently around, producing it takes some time.

A ball mill could be built as well.

[ He's going to assume she can store it. ]

Video

[recognize_an_opportunity]

The ammunition situation's problematic. If I'd've known I'd get stuck here, I'd've carried some extra with me, but as it is...

[A shrug.]

We might need to do it the "authentic" way.

Video

[animator]

Yeah, I feel you. Hindsight is twenty/twenty. They couldn't have given us ten minutes to pack?

[Seriously. Not that much to ask for, is it?]

If that's what's available to us, I can deal with it.

Re: Video

[recognize_an_opportunity]

I wish they had, but somehow, I have the feeling that if they'd told us we'd be showing up here, we might have protested a little more.