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Retr

spec Incorporated

Per the mod plotting post, you may use this post to obtain one of this month's freebies! This month's freebie can be earned by turning in a thread on this post that has 10 or more consecutive comments from you.

Please feel free to use this post as a network mingle. Every toplevel can be considered a new post, and threadjacking is permitted. No NPC response will be given. Alphas, Betas, and Epsilons will notice that network posts will continue to be tagged without names attached but rather their newly issued IDs. OOCly, IDs are comprised of their title, the date they showed up on the app, and the digits on your character's inbox post. So for example, the Recollé NPC who was on the app would have an ID of Beta#0201188329. While user pictures can be displayed, Retrospec users will also experience broken pixels on occasion that obscure the face of whoever they're speaking to. (i.e. we will allow for players to play with an anonymous option if they wish.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hey.

[they needed to have a better way to greet each other, not that Anna minded right now. her head turned in Lillian's direction and her eyes lazily opened. it was good to see her out in the real world again. everything seemed way better, way easier to handle when every texture was the same resolution and that resolution just happened to show off autumn. Anna may have felt fucking exhausted, but at least the season helped. so did looking at a cute girl, even if she was way younger than her.]

You didn't need me to ask you to come out here. What was the deal with that?

Yeah, I know. [She shrugged and gave a small, amused smile.] But sometimes it's just nice to be asked.

[That, and frankly, with the insecurity she'd been feeling lately well...reassurance was helpful.]

[After a few more seconds of silence, she closed the distance between them, turning around to sink down on to the ground next to Anna and rest her back against the tree too.]

[ha. yeah, okay, Anna understood that, even if she still thought differently about it for the two of them specifically. it seemed like it was a good enough answer for her to let it go, and she just watched idly as Lillian settled in next to her.]

[from this distance, she'd almost definitely be able to see the notepad with its clear lowercase letters written in the same way that Anna seemed to live every part of her life. the name "VANDERWEELE" was the only thing in caps, at the top, and words like "infection" and "pixels" and "fake retrospec" were scattered around the rest of the sheet, all disconnected from each other. she hadn't gotten very far in her connections yet.]

I'm not great at asking for help. Never feels right.

I've noticed.

[Lillian laughed, an almost silent noise, as she was reaching up to tug that massive ponytail over her shoulder and into her lap so she could lean her head back against the tree.]

I promise not to make you do it often.

[She added as her metal hands came to rest in her lap, and she let her gaze wander until it wound up on Anna's notebook. Hm.]

...Fake retrospec?

[man. watching that scene almost made Anna wish she hadn't gotten her hair ruined by a ball-mouth monster. it hadn't been that long ago, but obviously it felt like an eternity. either way, she only watched Lillian for a moment before her gaze returned to the notepad.]

Yeah. [she grabbed her pen again and tapped the end of it against the words. as she spoke, she focused more on that than anything else.] That amusement park out there wasn't set up by them. The logo and color were wrong. Someone was impersonating Retrospec and I can't figure out why.

[and preempting what immediately strikes her as the obvious question, she continued, looking up at Lillian as she did.] They didn't stick around. The ones who talked to us today are legit.

[Lillian didn't really know what to think of that, her gaze resting on the notebook until she finally looked up again.]

Yeah but...why would somebody impersonate retrospec? And even if they were, how would they do it inside, what was it, 'safe mode?'

Don't know. Safe from what, is my question. Or who. Because everyone who called them out on that being bullshit was right. It sure as hell was not safe.

[Anna flipped the pen around and scribbled "safe mode?" underneath that header.]

Not safe enough if it could get infiltrated like that.

Yeah. Those bugs were just...

[Lillian sighed.]

It don't make sense, you know? I get the idea, and I honestly think they're tryin' to help us but if they really wanted to, I wish they'd just let us help them too.

[Anna shook her head very, very slightly, thinking back to some of the other things she'd written down. Annalise hadn't taken notes. that wasn't the kind of person she was, so there were just two months of gaps in Anna's knowledge. (not that she wasn't trying to fill them.)]

I think they're trying. I think they want help and they don't have the resources they need to ask for it properly. Especially not after what happened to Zee.

Yeah...[Another sigh.] Course, if they really wanted to, they could just say it when they send us these dumb messages every month, and not just be weird and cryptic instead.

[She gestured vaguely at the woods, putting on a silly voice.]

'we want your help but we ain't gonna ask, we're just gonna throw you a riddle and hope you figure it out! Good luck!'

[Anna barked out a laugh, then unsubtly reached out for Lillian's hand to pull her out of the gesture and into, well. another, nicer gesture. catching her hands with Anna's own. don't say anything about it, it's fine.]

Hey, in our defense, someone always does, yeah? Maybe if we bombed one of these riddles, they'd dumb 'em down for us. [but that was clearly not an option; only bad things awaited in that direction otherwise.] Then I could spend more time doing something instead of sitting out here figuring nothing out.

[she tried not to look down at their hands, or at least not too obviously. whether Lillian was self-conscious about it or not, Anna was doing it. and she liked it, really.]

[Lillian's voice hitched, just for a second, when Anna caught her hand, but then it was gone and she seemed to be back to normal. Her metal fingers absently curled through Anna's as their hands dropped back down between them.]

Pretty sure there's too many nerds on here to ignore the riddles.

[She shook her head, her own gaze away from them both, just looking out at the trees. There was a little smile on her lips now though.]

Oh yeah? Doing something fun, or something useful? [She teased.] 'Cause fun is usually way better than helpful.

I prefer useful when I can make it happen.

[might as well be honest. lately, they'd had a lot to worry about. a lot going on, a lot that made her feel a little more like Annalise, which. didn't feel great as she contextualized it that way.]

But I haven't done something just for fun in a while. [not that she's suggesting anything.] Haven't had the time.

Somehow I ain't surprised. [Lillian joked.]

Well, ya should! All work and no play and all that. [She didn't seem all that interested in moving though.]

Otherwise you'll go crazy. Or get really boring.

Nothing's boring when I'm on the app, dude. There's just too damn much of it.

[might as well be honest about that too, right? hell, she was doing a real damn bad job at keeping up her pretenses around Lillian. she could kind of see where this conversation was going from here—she'd be, like, doing something instead of chilling in the forest racking her brain—but didn't really know what was going to come next.]

You suggesting anything? [she glanced very, very briefly at their hands.]

Hmm...

[Lillian seemed to think it over, her hand shifting in Anna's grip, the cool metal of her thumb running absently over the back of the other's hand.]

Not anything out in the woods.

[She said with a little laugh, then a dramatic sigh as she let her self slump to the side so her head fell onto Anna's shoulder.]

We may need to stand up.

Mm.

[well, that was a lot easier of an idea to stomach before Lillian put herself right there on Anna's shoulder. and her dumb touch-starved ass lapped that whole sensation up, even more than she liked the idea of them holding hands or being this close to each other in the first place. this was the problem. this was how it had started with Astin. Anna was depressed and looking for some comfort and someone was there to provide it and...]

[well. she and Lillian knew each other a lot better than she and Astin had. maybe it wasn't the worst thing in the world to see where this took them. she turned her head very slightly, just to see what Lillian looked like like this.]

What were you thinking?

[The problem was, Lillian wasn't really sure what she was thinking. Well, no, she had ideas, but they were all...hm. She knew she should stop worrying about every detail of everything, she hadn't been like this until recently. Too many things changing, too many things being done to her instead of just with her. And too many things she wanted to do, but felt a kind of urging not to.]

[How many years had she ignored voices like that? And here she was, being indecisive...or as indecisive as she was capable of being, anyway. She didn't answer at first, just feeling the faint rise of Anna's shoulders as she breathed, the warmth of her hand against her own cool metal one, the feeling of the chill autumn air. Eventually she let out a slow breath, lifting her head again off Anna's shoulder. No more of this worrying.]

I am thinking that I'm doin' way too much thinking.

[Without letting go of Anna's hand, she turned so that she could climb to her feet, then made to tug the taller girl up also. Her legs and butt were covered in leaves but she'd deal with that in a minute.]

Come on. We'll figure out where we're going once we're actually goin' somewhere.

[Anna got to her feet readily, not even questioning it. that was the kind of reasoning she could get behind. especially after she'd spent so much time being... intense, trying in vain to solve problems she only halfway had the answers to.]

[she liked having a point B from her point A. after spending so many years trying to figure out where her point B was and feeling utterly aimless, restless, useless, it was something she could focus on. but if she spent too much time thinking about the path, she'd end up burned out. like she was now. if she could just... have some time to spend with Lillian? that would be fine.]

Sounds like a plan to me. [maybe walking through the forest holding a cute girl's hand could be the rest of her day.] I could use the excuse to just hang out with you some more. Long as it's not weird to do stuff with someone six years older than you.

Of course it sounds like a plan, it's a great plan. [Lillian grinned brightly once the taller girl was upright, then gently tugged her into a walk back towards the town. She was still, frankly, self-conscious about her hands, and the tug was probably weaker than it would have been before the change, worried some that she might actually crush Anna's hand.]

[So far so good, at least.]

Mmm... [At the second comment she just smirked and shrugged.] I don't know, I ain't gonna complain about hangin' out with a hot older lady, you know. [A little chuckle.] Pretty sure nobody's gonna complain about that.

[Lil didn't have to worry that hard, not that Anna really noticed anything quite yet. she had this... idea that she'd be losing the rest of her body one way or another to the metal. so she was delighting in any sensation she could get. on top of being touch-starved.]

Maybe we can go find you some water. [yes, because of the thirst.] You're gonna give me a big head if you keep talking about me like this. Swooning over the shit I say, calling me hot... come on, Lil.

Nah, I've got what I need right here. [Lillian could roll with any sarcastic comment, Anna, don't even bother.] And it ain't fault if you say swoon-worth stuff! The big heads all on you though.

[She found herself hurrying up, tugging the taller woman along without any real sense of where she was going. She just felt good to be moving again.]

Oh! Did you want to see my axe?

[She did not have enough excuses to show off her axe.]

I... yes? Absolutely.

[okay, look. Anna wasn't, for a lot of reasons, super into how easy she'd fallen into the mindset of using her own swords to take a human life. she didn't care a lot about weapons and the longer she could go without actually having to use one to cut someone down, the better. but come on. how could she have said no to a question like that?]

Where are you keeping it? We heading back to your place?

[which was. also something Anna could get behind.]

[Lillian snickered at that answer, steadying her pace just a bit when she realized she'd been going faster then seemed...not embarrassing.]

Oh, no, I totally keep my giant axe in a locker at the bus station.

[She smirked, then nodded.]

Yeah, it's in my livin' room. [A beat, as she realized she was dragging a woman she basically flirted with non-stop home with her.]

...That's cool, right?

[okay. okay. there was an opening here for Anna to be cool, and she definitely wanted to take it, because it was being handed to her on a literal silver platter. she glanced at Lillian, looked at their intertwined hands, then smirked right back at her. in a lower voice, meant more for the two of them, she said,]

You are terrible at this.

[and waited for Lillian to lead the way with a playful look in the direction they'd been going anyway. well, as playful as any look Anna wore.]

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