010; accidental video/action; early hours of day 75

[afallenstar]

[ Of course she's been trying to leave since the moment she had been taken, but it hasn't worked. Each and every attempt had been completely unsuccessful, with literally no effect whatsoever.

Until, that is, when one attempt finally does work.

The feed kicks in with enough time to show little more than white light, almost like there's a problem with the video, and there's the faint sound of wings. It fades fast though, along with the light, and it's replaced with the slightly dishevelled looking face of one missing angel. She's out of breath, a little dizzy and definitely disoriented, but the one thing she does before anything else is drop a hand over the communicator. It's black for a few seconds while she fumbles with the buttons, and then the feed cuts out.

Welcome back to Kore, Anna. ]

Comments

[magnets]

[ There's some- weird shit going on with his communicator, some lights and flashes and noises coming out of it that has him tapping at the screen impatiently before he responds - a little confused, a little concerned. ]

Yo, lady-- You okay?

[afallenstar]

[ Her first instinct is obviously to say no. Anna doesn't accept help at the best of times, let alone from strangers in the small town they've been kidnapped in - but well, circumstances change. She's disoriented and dizzy, concerning enough as it is without the obvious questions of why. Why now? Why did it work this time, and not all the others? It hardly bodes well.

Circumstances change, and Anna's not so sure she trusts her feet right now. Or her wings for that matter. It's a grim smile that appears when she turns the communicator back to face her and take a look at the person on the screen. ]

Perhaps, yes. I'm not quite sure what happened.

[magnets]

[ He's seen her around before, here or there, on the network. He knows her face but never met her until now for whatever reason. She just looked- so damn upset, lost or something; he felt compelled. ]

Well, ya just start from the beginning, right? What's your name?

[ video - private ]

[foundacause]

Well, well, well... look what the kitty cats dragged home.

[ Anna definitely looks a little worse for wear. The angels are going to be pissed about that. Good times for all. ]

So, been playing nice with our captors or did you get a little visit back home? Gotta say the vacation hasn't done you any favours.

... Is Lucifer with you?

[afallenstar]

[ She's just going to go ahead and ignore that, because in case things weren't obvious enough she really isn't in the mood for snide comments right now. Except Meg asks about Lucifer, and that's enough to get her attention at least. ]

He's missing?

[ That's not good. Both of them missing at the same time- how long has it even been? A day? A week? The angels can't be coping well.

And now only one of them have returned. Great. ]

No day trips out this time.

[foundacause]

Apparently whoever brought us here likes to show off their power by sending archangels on their way. If you're back and Lucifer's not, I can only imagine that they're drilling into his dear old head or he's back home.

Either way, isn't so good for the rest of us. If they have the power to yank an archangel around on a leash... Who other than God himself would have that power?

[ See? Meg can be serious when she needs to be. ]

[Video]

[lightgunhustler]

[Jo's not exactly sure what she just saw -- but hell if she's going to turn a blind eye without saying anything. Her experience with angels is too limited for her to put the pieces together, but the fact that the woman on the other end of the feed looks a little roughed-up is worth mentioning. That's just common decency.]

Hey -- are you alright?

[afallenstar]

[ The answer to that is a little ambiguous right now, honestly. A hell of a lot more ambiguous than it should be, considering what she is, and that's just one thing on a list of all the reasons why this whole scenario worries her.

Still, no need to say any of that. No need to worry what must be a newbie, given that she's never even seen her face before. It takes a couple of moments, but eventually she manages to force some semblance of a smile on her face. At least, a half decent attempt, anyway. ]

Just fine, don't worry. Little field trip out of the bubble, that's all.

[lightgunhustler]

[It's a passable attempt at being friendly, as far as Jo can tell. To be honest, there's not a whole lot to smile about in this place. She can't hold the fact that it takes effort to be pleasant against anyone. Not here.]

You got to leave.

[All she's heard so far is that they're stuck.]

How?

[video]

[tooghoulforschool]

[Was that real? Or just wishful thinking? Maybe he's dreaming, or hallucinating, but who the fuck cares? Whatever it is, he'll take it.]

Anna. [His voice is hoarse at first, real quiet, too. He repeats himself, a little louder this time but it gets a bit shaky at the end.] ... Anna?

[afallenstar]

[ See, normally she's all for the stuff upper lip, no nonsense kind of thing. Normally she's the first person to jam a tight smile on her face and say that everything's fine, but he's the first familiar face that she's seen - the first that she wants to see anyway, and she cracks just a little. ]

Ghoul? I'm...back, right? I'm here? I'm-

[ Okay, getting a grip now. She takes a breath - takes a few actually, because everything is still being pieced together and she's not used to being this confused. She's getting there. Slowly, really slowly, but getting there. ]

It's me. I'm- ....hi.

[video]

[tooghoulforschool]

Hi. [He breathes it out, smiling a little. She's back. But that means she was gone. He swallows hard, smile gone, and scrubs a hand over his face.]

I want-- I wanna see you. Can I see you?

in person

[hung_garian]

[As on-edge as they've been, it'd be impossible to miss her return even without the video. Now, he could just wait for her to get home and make her a nice cup of tea, but that would be too sensible, so instead he turns up next to her with no warning whatsoever and tries to simultaneously fuss over her and pretend he hasn't been worried.]

How many fingers?

[Two, for reference, though he's not holding them anywhere near still enough for it to be a very good test of her vision. And three more, if you count the ones he's using to check her scalp for bumps... as if head injuries are a serious issue for angels.]

Didja have a good vacation? And do you know if we have any carpet cleaner? There was an incident with some golden syrup and... yeah. It's icky.

[And, the only one of those questions to which he actually expects an answer:]

Are you okay?

[afallenstar]

[ She knows that Gabriel is there, but jumps a little all the same as he starts to talk and fuss away. It's just a little...intense, after her time out of the town. Time that she still can't entirely account for, but that's just something else to worry about later. For now she just blinks at the fingers being waved away in front of her face, trying to focus before giving up.

In the end it's the golden syrup comment that gets the first response. ]

You didn't, did you? There's stuff under the sink, it's not hard to find.

[ Because act like everything's fine and it probably will be, right? Big brother is the master at that one, after all. ]

It's fine. I'm fine. [ ...ish. ] I didn't go home, just...out of here. Wherever that was.

video/angel radio

[tryingitall]

[Balthazar immediately tries to connect back to her via communicator.] Anna? Anna!

[At the same time, he reaches out in two different directions on angel radio. To her, the sending is tinged with anxiety: Are you all right? You've been missing for several days. Are you hurt? I'll come to you if you need me to.

To one other: Raphael! Anna's back.

He'd call Gabriel, too, except he can tell he's not in the house, which probably means he's already gone to fetch her.]

angel radio! communicators are for chumps

[afallenstar]

Balthazar.

[ She doesn't want to worry him. He already feels anxious enough, and the instinct to protect him from that kicks in immediately. It's so good to hear him though, the sudden wash of relief is almost unmissable. He's okay still. Lucifer might be gone, but Gabriel and Balthazar are okay. They're still here.

She might never have forgiven herself if anything had happened to them during her absence. ]

I'm okay, don't worry. No damage done. [ ...Well, nothing apparent, anyway. ] Feels like it's been weeks though. Or...no time at all. It's hard to tell.

angel radio

[servingmichael]

[ He's aware, but he does appreciate the call.

Wonderful.

The relief is almost palpable.

Is she all right? Am I needed? ]

Jumping on the angel radio bandwagon

[happytobleed]

[ He feels her presence as the communicator does its thing. He's sure it's an angel and he prays that it's her, because there isn't another angel he misses more right now ]

Anna?! Are you back? Are you alright?

it is the best bandwagon

[afallenstar]

Alive and in one piece.

[ Mostly. There's a hell of a chunk she can't account for, and it's no surprise that this doesn't sit well with her, but she certainly seems mostly unharmed. It's as much as she could hope for, given the circumstances. There's even the slightest hint of amusement in her response, weak but still there. ]

Hope you kept everything running smoothly while I was out.

[video]

[heavensmostadorable]

[The moment he catches sight of the feed, Samandriel is certain of who it is. And from what he's heard in the brief time he's been around here, it's a relief to see her. He responds via video, either too surprised to even consider angel radio, or still a little put off on using it for the time being. Possibly a combination. Regardless, his voice holds both relief and concern as he speaks up.]

Anna? I heard you were here--...Or, that you had been, but you-- you disappeared, and no one knew where--

[He pauses, and quickly realizes there's something more important to ask than babbling on about what he's heard since he arrived.]

...Are you okay?

[video]

[afallenstar]

[ Of course she doesn't recognise the vessel, that's far after her time, but she knows that it's another angel instantly. Beyond that, it's not exactly hard to connect the dots, and... ]

Samandriel. I'd heard that you were dragged here too.

[ Heard that there had been some rather vicious things happening to him back home too, but she'll leave that for now. Instead, he just gets a friendly smile. She hardly wants to worry him now, does she. ]

Don't worry, I'm okay. Or...will be, anyway. How are you? Are you okay now?

[gleans]

[ SheeeeEEIT. ] Anna, is that you?

[afallenstar]

[ Now how's that for an entrance, buddy. ]

Yes, it's Anna.

[ It takes half a second longer than normal to recognise the voice, but when it clicks she sounds a little more relieved. ]

Galen. Sorry, it's...been a long day.

[ Or she assumes so, anyway. ]

[servingmichael]

Anna.

[ It's almost, but not quite, a call. ]

Are you well?

[afallenstar]

That depends on your definition of well.

[ Slightly tense, but look big brother you still kind of scare her in a big way. Family is great and everything, but just like she can't ever quite let Castiel's betrayal slip her mind, she can't forget that he had her hunted for daring to leave. ]

The others said it's been a few days. It seems...our captors were responsible for this, since I didn't go home.