cityofcoba | (no subject)

Who: Istas and you!
When: Day 9, midday
Where: On a random city street
What: Istas arrives, and everything is now ridiculously cold.

Istas had just stepped out of the store when it happened, brand new midnight blue petticoat in hand. She'd expected to emerge to blaring horns, towering skyscrapers, and countless busy humans rushing down the sidewalk.

Instead she emerged to a small town, surrounded by snow and land where trees could not grow. The buildings were familiar - in fact, if she wasn't mistaken, they were exactly the same as those in Kugluktuk, which had seemed so large when she was young. But the smells here that were not the scents of Kugluktuk, and the people were not the people of Kugluktuk. The place before her was not as it appeared.

It was also not New York. Istas stood frozen in confusion and bewilderment. How could she be here, in Not-Kugluktuk? She had not arrived here by plane, or run across the frozen tundras. She had only walked through a door.

Istas did not understand. And she did not like it. She spun around, wishing to flee back into the store that she had left, but it was gone. Instead there was just a house, without even any parasols for sale in the window. With an angry growl, she clawed at the door with fingernails that had grown larger and sharper, leaving deep gouges in the wood.

[[ooc: Istas wears Gothic Lolita clothing and this is her current outfit<]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Well, that's new. For one, she can see him. For another, she seems angry. He squints at hers, twirling his shepherd's crook in his hands ]

I wouldn't take all the credit. At least I don't think this is all just my handiwork.

[ He cocks his head at her ] Why do you care?

"I care because I do not wish to be here," Istas growled, stalking forward. "I wish to be in New York. You will return me, or I will rip out your intestines and decorate the snow with your blood."

[ That's a little intense, even for him. He frowns at her, crossing his arms briefly ]

I didn't transport you. I just made it a little colder, that's all.

"But who, if not you, is responsible?"

She drew closer to the pole. Perhaps he was up there, and she was down here...but she need only bring the pole down, and that would change.

No clue. I just found myself here, same as you. I just don't get cranky about it.

[ He didn't like the way she was eyeing his spot, but Jack had plenty of tricks. Besides, it's not as if he had a fear of dying ]

So you say

And with that she struck, reaching with arms that were suddenly much larger and furrier than they were before, snapping the pole.

[ Jack laughs, free and mischievous as the wind carefully plucks him away from falling ]

That was cool. What else can you do?

That, Istas did not expect. She had never before encountered prey that floated on the wind. She did not even know how to hunt such prey.

"Come down!" she growled angrily. "Come down where I can eviscerate you!"

Yeah, see, that's not exactly motivation for me.

[ Jack doesn't even know if he can bleed, but he rather not test it out ] Look, I don't have a reason to lie to you.

Istas pauses, tilting her head. "Yes you do. You wish to survive."

Not really.

[ He finds himself a ledge to perch on ] I'm a spirit. Can't kill something that's already dead.

"You are not dead," Istas accused. "I am familiar with dead bodies. You do not resemble one."

That's why I said spirit. Not walking zombie body.

"...You also said you are already dead."

Yep.

[ He walks on the side of the building, like Spider-man, showing no fear of heights. ]

Human-turned-spirit. Guardian. Whatever word you wanna use. Usually, I can't be seen at all.

"I see you." From anyone else - anyone human - that might have been sarcasm, but from Istas it was simple observation.

For a moment she said nothing, simply inspecting Jack closely with watchful, wary eyes. She could not be certain if he was telling the truth, but if he was a spirit - if he was a powerful entity, with powers beyond her knowledge, then perhaps she should not risk angering him.

Also, she had no idea how to hunt prey that hung in the air like snowflakes. Her claws could not kill that which they could not reach.

"Very well. I shall believe you, and I will not tear your lungs from your body. Unless I find evidence that you are lying, of course."

[ dryly ] Thanks, I'm thrilled.

So what are you planning on doing now?

"I do not have a plan. I dislike plans. They involve too much strategic thinking."

Whereas Istas preferred to simply charge in and start removing heads.

[ He chuckles, drifting from place to place ]

How much of thinking do you do?