( open ) they said, "oh, we could love you."

[gevurah]

WHO: KATE and YOU
WHERE: Various places in Heropa.
WHEN: Backdated between 8/13 ― 8/20.
WHAT: It's the summer of port-outs, but a soldier's gotta soldier on.
WARNINGS: Mentions of missing women, and vague references to sex trafficking, discussion of murder/death, potential spoilers for AoT in Levi and Armin's threads.

---

➊ WEDNESDAY | doge problems the streets ( closed to the first person who gets it bradbury )

[ Nill's port out has yet to hit Kate in the emotionally profound way port outs surrounding her friends and practically family normally do. She's half-aware when it finally does, it will be terrible, more than the way Renee's disappearance over a month ago was. Kate's combed through Heropa with a surprising (or maybe alarming) amount of calmness in search of Nill, but in the end, she accepted the girl was gone and there was absolutely nothing she could do to change that fact. The fears she often finds herself facing, such as Nill returning with no recollection of Kate and the memories they made together together, haven't made their usual appearance yet either. Whatever she is feeling, it's indescribable.

Nill is gone. Someone she loved like a sister has finally been ripped from her and she's supposed to feel angry and all she can honestly feel is exhaustion.

And concern for the dog. Kate may not be processing the situation properly, but Schnitzel did immediately. Normally alert and obedient, Kate finds her unresponsive to calls and unenthusiastic about everything, especially the park and meal time, prompting a visit to the vet and the dog needing to stay overnight for a medical assessment.

So here she is, hurrying across the street in the middle of the afternoon before the light can change. She reaches the corner and then continues down the street, flicking her wrist so she glance at her watch. She's twenty minutes earlier than the vet will be expecting, but she'll wait. This is Nill's dog. Together they were a trio of survivors and she'll do whatever she can to ensure nothing happens to her. ]

➋ THURSDAY | the libary

[ It's the age of information, but Kate holes herself up in the library for a few hours today. She's not keen on staying in the house when one of her housemates is a nosy psychiatrist. And anyway, she has been meaning to look into some things recently and a library is never a bad place to scope out before taking to the internet for further inquiries.

While Heropa isn't a small town, neither is it large in comparison to cities like Nonah or De Chima, therefore its public library doesn't host a large occult or supernatural section. She finds it disappointing, but continues to examine what is offered in this small section, eventually taking from the shelf an old, thick black book. As she glosses over its contents, she doesn't find what it is she's looking for: wolves capable of taking on the illusory image of man. Ever since meeting Toboe, she's been curious. She'll just have to take a closer look at the book later.

She'll be seen up and down the library, extracting a book or two from a random shelf and flipping through its pages while deep in thought, or she'll be up on a rickety, old ladder checking out books far from her reach. ]

➌ FRIDAY-SUNDAY | coffee shop

[ Nill's port out is finally beginning to set in.

And as tempting as it is to bury herself in bourbon and maybe a nameless woman, her mind vividly recounts the last time she allowed herself to fall off the wagon. She remembers the anger in Nill's expression when she had finally returned to the home they had built for themselves and the intensity in them in those fleeting seconds. She doesn't want to disappoint her again.

It's so much easier to let go in a crowded room with music so loud it reverberates in your chest, but instead Kate takes herself to a coffee shop. Summer's almost over, which means the seasonal drinks will be shuffled off the menu until next year, and she may as well have herself an iced caramel.

After purchasing a tall glass of her ice drink, she seats herself by the window in the furthest corner of the shop, pouring over the news page she has opened on one of her tabs. The article details yet another woman's disappearance and that the local police are still having no luck determining if these women are alive or dead, as their bodies have not been recovered within the city or outside its limits.


Anna Johnson. 5'2" with medium, black hair and brown yes. 25 years old, worked at an office. Johnson was last seen leaving her workplace with an unidentified man.

Jessica Beck. 5'4" with long, blonde hair and blue eyes. 20 years old, student. Last known whereabouts was en route to a park to walk her dog.

Kimberly Smith. 5'5" with medium, brown hair and blue eyes. 22 and unemployed. Boyfriend reported her missing after he passed by the house and discovered the residence had been broken into and Smith was not inside.

Kate frowns as she finishes reading the article. She's already taken care of one group that had been trafficking girls. Could it be the same men again? She'll have to look into this. ]

➍ SATURDAY-SUNDAY | the park ( early afternoon )

[ Kate prefers to sleep in on weekends, but as the vet's diagnosis of Schnitzel indicates the dog is simply stressed about Nill leaving and that she needs to get back into her usual routine as soon as possible, she heads out earlier than normal, taking her to the park with a frisbee on hand.

It takes a few tosses and Kate having to fetch the frisbee herself as the dog looks on with disinterest, but eventually she warms up to playtime and runs after the frisbee, once in a while leaping as high as she can into the air to snatch it between her teeth. Most of the time she doesn't and instead, the plastic toy keeps sailing until it falls at someone's feet.

Kate's got excellent aim, so she avoids throwing where people are walking. If someone cuts across however, she can't be responsible for thick plastic striking someone's shoulder or the side of their head. ]

❺ ANYTIME | anywhere in heropa

[ These prompts suck, I'm doing something else. GO FOR IT. ]

Comments

Coffee Shop - Friday

[alofts]

[ Fingers chill around the iced espresso infused and unsweetened something in venti size meant to keep him going for the next several hours. Between shifts and none too eager to get back in uniform to be stuffed in the back of a firetruck and shuttled off the the next arson in progress or the handiwork of forgetful wannabe chefs who saw something on Food Network who ignored their stoves. Right now, Levi just wanted to get a little caffeine in his system.

Scanning the shop for an empty seat his eyes immediately fall on a shock of red hair poking out through a trickling crowd of exhausted college students readying for the Fall semester. Kate Kane was definitely not among their numbers, but as he moved in he could see her sweating over something. ]

What are we looking at?

[ Levi put his drink down on the only empty space on the table as he read out the first of the girls' names and fell into the chair across from her with nothing in the way of preamble. It had been months since he was involved, without meaning to, in a missing persons and trafficking case and had yet to identify his stopgap colleague. Only since then he could not shake the feeling he had left a job half-finished, and Kate looked to be worrying over nothing or picking up the threads where he and that other woman left off. ]

[gevurah]

[ Kate doesn't startle, but in one fluid movement her fingers reach over the top of laptop's lid and she pulls it down, the gesture indicating she hardly appreciates someone peering over her shoulder. She chides herself in the back of her head for getting too absorbed in her reading.

Her tall glass of iced caramel is half finished, a napkin stained with speckles of caramel and vibrant lipstick from her lips underneath it. There seems to be something written on the opposite side, but in her preoccupation, what appears to be someone's number went unnoticed until now.

She doesn't pay it any attention yet anyway, focusing on Levi as settles into the chair across from her. While she's still not pleased about the turn of events regarding Annie, Berholdt, and Reiner and the Survey Corps, she doesn't protest his approach. ]

I was reading the news.

[alofts]

[ Eyes flicker down to the napkin, glancing down at numbers smeared under iced coffee and stained lipstick which gets a quirk to Levi's thin black brow. He thinks back to when they first met in person at the records store and how the cashier was ready to trip over the register trying to flirt with her. Kate was popular, he knew, having always found her striking if he had to pick a word for to sum up her conformation. Only Levi didn't go for redheads. Levi didn't really go for anything.

However, he respected Kate and her decision not to get involved with the Corps on-going cold war between themselves and the shifters. It wasn't why he was here. ]

The disappearances?

[ Levi broached the subject as if it was actually a question, and had tellingly failed to apologize for the intrusion. Kate was another imPort, and by now he almost always suspected any interest in the local news from the likes of them as something more than simply browsing interest columns to kill time. ]

I've been following that after something that happened a while back with some human traffickers using local clubs to...scout out talent, I guess. [ He grimaced, visibly. Levi had his limits. ] Young women in their late teens and early twenties picked off when they were alone or with another girl. Usually at a club or at night because they were scouted by a 'boyfriend' connected with the group or a plant among the girls that frequent places like that. A location or affiliation always ended up connecting these women, and I'm not convinced this rash of abduction is not in some way connected.

[ Levi leans forward and his voice drops, hands clamming around his iced coffee cup. ]

Only the last one, Smith. Breaking and entering isn't how these groups operate; they've always bid their time and waited to catch them alone and in the open. What changed? Could be she was a plant that got second thoughts and whoever was behind targeting these girls didn't like it. [ The green straw crunched between his molars as he pulled a long sip of espresso spiked ice coffee as he shrugged. ] Or I'm talking out of my ass.

[gevurah]

[ Her brow furrows as he goes on and she thinks back to the details provided. Right now, on the surface, it appears these girls have nothing in common outside their age group. If they knew each other, the media hasn't made a connection yet, but Kate suspects it's unlikely. There doesn't appear to be any specific pattern to these disappearances. Walking out with one girl, assailing someone in public and then breaking into someone's house? It's escalation. Whoever it is, he's getting bolder, or desperate.

What is he doing with these girls?

Kate reaches for her own glass, taking a quick sip of her iced caramel, her expression still tight, but more or less the expression of the average citizen disgusted by such crimes. If it riles her up any more than it does, she doesn't let it show. ]

You think we've got a sex trafficking problem in Heropa?

[lurings]

[ abigail is also in the library, with a stack of biology books. most of them are just normal high school text books, but some are psychological texts about dealing with trauma because she doesn't need chilton to exist in her life more than he does so abigail will certainly never, ever take him up on his offer for therapy.

not ever.

she's returning one of these books when she passes kate. obviously her roommate looks familiar to her, but abigail tries her best to keep to herself so... she hasn't put much effort into getting to know the people she lives with.

oops?

maybe now is good. she pauses as she passes, hugging the book (healing from trauma: a survivor's guide to understanding your symptoms and reclaiming your life) to her chest. ]

Hi.

[gevurah]

[ If Kate wanted to talk to someone about Nill and Renee's port outs and how they made her feel, she would have gone to Bradbury or hell, even Matt at this point. The fact is she isn't up to discussing how any of it is making her feel, not when she can't find the words to string into a sentence.

She hears the soft shuffling of footsteps from somewhere behind her, but pays it very little attention. It's a public library ― it's only natural there are going to be others milling around the halls and shelves.

She turns quickly, however, registering Abigail's voice. Her brow lifts, surprise evident in her features to see one of her young and new housemates. Her gaze doesn't linger too long on the book. Tucked under her own arm is an old and worn book titled The Book of Were-Wolves, being an account of a terrible superstition. ]

Abigail. Hi.

[ She hasn't been a very welcoming or present housemate since Nill's port out, she knows. ]

I'm surprised to see you here.

[lurings]

I figured it couldn't hurt. At least trying to figure out where history diverted into... this. [ cold war 24/7. not that it wasn't happening back home, cold war 2.0, cold war lite, but it ended and then started up again. here it never ended. the berlin wall was still up when as far as abigail recalled it came down before she was born.

she doesn't seem to mind kate's presence having been missing, but then again... she would have to leave her room and venture into the common areas for that and don't be silly, why would she. for all she knew no one spent time in the house. ]

And I got lost trying to find Will's bait shop.

THURSDAY -- THE LIBRARY

[assemblatore]

[Ezio was never particularly attached to libraries, despite his life-long interest in learning. He's certainly better read than he used to be, considering he has a bookseller for a wife, and he can certainly appreciate the value of easy access to knowledge and information, but he's never been one to go there himself. There's something boring about reading a book when he could engage with people, and the pursuit of knowledge is such a social occasion that he can't just sit and focus.

That and public libraries do not exist in his time, and no one has taught him the rules, so to speak.

As a result, he has no hesitation to make friends in the library.

When he sees Kate climbing a ladder to get a book, he lowers his book.]

Do you need help, signora?

[gevurah]

[ She's climbed fairly high up, only to find where the book she's searching for is missing from the shelf. Where it normally would have been residing is only an empty space covered in dust that's piled up for god knows how many weeks. It irritates her nose, so after a quick search in the case the book's been shelved in the wrong spot, she looks down at the older man with a faint, polite smile and shakes her head. ]

Not unless you know why some of the overdue books haven't been returned.

[ It's his accent that surprises her. Heropa isn't what she would call a tourist destination in spite of it being in Florida and the highest concentration of imPorts residing in the town.

But if he is here for the sun and imPorts (her tattoo is hidden beneath a large cuff as usual), he's come a long way. ]

[assemblatore]

[Ezio smiles faintly in turn. He once thought that Sofia had the brightest red hair he'd ever seen, but this woman (girl?) makes even Sofia's hair look dull by comparison. She looks well old enough to be married with a few children, but Desmond has explained numerous things already that he has to sort through his mind with every encounter to fit in: girls grow to women regardless whether wed or not. Women do not wed until they are much older. Women are permitted to work unsupervised. He imagines he's missed the last one by approaching her as if she were a patron, not a bookkeeper. Oops.

Good thing Desmond has selected "modern" clothing for him. If not, he would be woefully out of place.

He sets down his book entirely.]

I'm afraid not, but if you have names, I would be willing to seek them out and ask. My wife collects and sells books, so I am not unused to running her errands...

[A bit of a wider smile.]

… including reaching the top shelf.

Park - Sunday

[performance]

[ It's afternoon, and Dick is out for a walk. Like a lot of things that seem like fun, he has to justify it to himself in half a dozen different ways before he can really let himself do it. So he tells himself that he's people-watching, keeping an eye on things, staying abreast of current events... but mostly he's just enjoying the sunshine.

And then a frisbee lands with a soft sound in the grass near his feet. He picks it up, glancing around for the owner so he can toss it back, when he sees a familiar shock of red hair and a dog.

He grins, waving the frisbee in the air. ]

Does this belong to either of you?

[gevurah]

[ The Belgian shepherd trots her way toward Dick with Kate following closely. She smiles at Dick and at the fact Schnitzel is finally more eager to play this afternoon. Her arm may have gotten just a tad exhausted from throwing a frisbee all over the place and then having to retrieve it each time the dog simply sat there bored. She doesn't even throw her gauntlet blades that often.

She waves as she gets closer, a touch of guilt in her expression; it's been a while since they've spoken, let alone face-to-face. She knows Bruce is here, but she hasn't checked in on Dick since learning via Alfred's post Dick's family had arrived. ]

Give it a throw. She's waiting.

[performance]

[ In his best enthusiastic dog-exciting voice: ]

Hey, girl! You ready? Yeah? Yeah? Gogetit!

[ He tosses the frisbee, lifting a hand to shield his eyes from the sun as he watches Schnitzel chase after it. His grin softens a little. ]

... you know, I keep thinking I should get a dog. I've always wanted one. But that feels like the final admission that I'm really stuck here or something.

more doge, more problems

[waiting]

[ It's been a trying few weeks for Bradbury. Just as he thinks he's more or less gotten a handle on Ace's lycanthropy problem, he ends up getting in trouble, and while he's had a chance to come in and make sure he's not actually seriously injured, he can't take him out until the three days of probation is up, either, so there's nothing to do but wait.

He's driving home when he catches sight of Kate walking just ahead of him and down on the street, the red hair impossible to miss as it catches the light. He almost considers just passing her by, but there's something about the set of her shoulders and the way she's moving in an obvious hurry that makes him guide the car down towards the curb instead.

Luckily, the window is scrolled down, so all he has to do is pull up beside her and call out. ]

Need a lift?

weredoge problems

[gevurah]

[ She slows down when the car approaches the curb, peering toward the driver's side to see who it is trying to get her attention before she registers Bradbury calling out to her. After momentary surprise, Kate steps closer toward the edge of the sidewalk so she needn't shout her destination from one end of the street to the other. ]

Rick? [ She surveys the car for a moment. She's been meaning to get one herself, quite likely secondhand, but money doesn't come easy. ] I'm headed only two blocks down.

[ If he has somewhere else to be, she doesn't want to impose. ]

[waiting]

[ Really, the only reason Bradbury even has a car is work and realizing it's awfully hard to get a dog around on the back of a bike. It's just a leased car, so he's mindful about driving, but luckily he hasn't run into any emergencies so far. ]

Nah, I was just heading home. [ And if he's honest with himself, he could use the company to try and help himself unwind before he gets home to a mostly-empty house and is reminded of where Ace is at all over again. ]

You look like you're in a hurry. [ He offers, hoping that doesn't sound... what? Needy? ] Come on, it'll be faster.

Sunday - Coffee Shop

[blondtactician]

[Armin's trying to settle back into a routine.

Everything about his life in Heropa has upended since he returned, somewhat by his own design, and he finds himself unable to feel the least bit settled in, even weeks later. He's still having nightmares when he does sleep, and his days are jumpy and strange.

Sundays are still a day off from the library for him, so he's tried to go for his morning-off breakfast at the coffee shop like usual. He's trying not to look like someone who's trying not to be noticed, thinking too much about his walk, his gaze, dressed in grays and blues. He orders his usual smoothie, glancing over the room. For a half-second he sort of forgets he's not meeting Reiner here to trounce him at chess, their little pretense of a friendship is completely destroyed now.

He notices Kate's distinctively red hair off to one corner. What exactly is the ettiquette here? Are they friends? Armin texted her out of the blue not long after he returned, frantic for some sort of advice from someone outside of Erwin and Levi's insistence to "move on as quickly as possible". He admires her - she's nice, and something about the way she holds herself reminds him a little of Mikasa. Maybe it's her strength.

Once his smoothie is finished, Armin approaches Kate's table and clears his throat.]

Kate... hi. Are you very busy?

[gevurah]

[ Kate isn't sure what to make of Armin Arlert. There had been a few moments in the small, handful of conversations they had shared where at times she felt she could understand him better than most of the other imPorts ― one soldier's understanding of another, despite his young age and the vastly different experiences life has thrown at the both of them in their respective worlds. However, after her conversation with Annie and Levi, and discovering Armin purposely omitting facts about titans, his commanding officer approaching her with some notion she could be enlisted into keeping an eye on the titan shifters on their behalf ― she's not so sure.

She's run it through her mind nearly a hundred times over. The possibility she is being played by Annie isn't one she discounts, but being lied to, for whatever those reasons were, is something she can't ignore either.

So when Armin approaches, Kate, who is considering a second glass of iced caramel, looks up to acknowledge his presence with careful neutrality. If anything, she's surprised to see him here.

She turns the lid of her laptop down. ]

Not really. Did you need something?

[blondtactician]

[Armin turns his bright orange smoothie around in his hand once, feeling the condensation from the plastic cup drip over his fingers. Has he done something to anger Kate? It's not impossible - his less-than-scrupulous tendencies have a way of offending the more morally upright - but he doesn't know her that well. She seems like she's a pretty serious person, and she did help him when he asked it of her.]

I wanted to apologize to you for texting you at random like that the other day. I was kind of being inappropriate, not thinking very clearly. And... I wanted to thank you for talking to me in spite of that. Could I buy you another coffee? [It looks like Kate's to the end of hers, and that gives her an out if she doesn't want to stay and talk.]

the park

[acclimatized]

[ despite being here for months, john still can't decide what his super power is. one of the benefits, however, is the implausible reflexes he sometimes has and how it can strike randomly, without warning and without him tapping into it.

when he emerges from behind a tree and wanders into the path, he isn't struck by the frisbee. instead, he whips around and catches it before it can collide with his head, while managing to avoid splashing coffee over his jumper. ]

[gevurah]

[ Kate opens her mouth to call out and warn John, but before she can he's caught the frisbee, his reflexes almost automatic. His reaction timing leaves her quiet for several seconds, overtaken by surprise. Once a soldier, always a soldier, sure ― but that was something a little too autopilot. ]

... Nice catch.

[ She finally calls and starts toward him, the dog following closely. ]

[acclimatized]

Umm.. cheers...

[ really though, john looks as dumbfounded as her. when he spots the dog behind kate, he throws the frisbee away and watches as she chases after it. ]

Afternoon. Didn't realize you had a dog.

Sunday | the park

[youbastard]

[Sunday was Ellie's day off and she'd decided to spend at least a little bit of it taking a walk. Sometimes it still amazed her how different this place was than the Earth where she was from. Quite days like today were especially nice for her, especially as she adjusted more and more to the differences in this world and her own.

As she walked around she kept her hands in the pockets of the light jacket she had on and looked around. She didn't expect to actually run into anyone, but when she saw Kate she actually decided to go over. It'd been a long time since they'd spoken and...well, the dog was cute. Besides, it looked like she was having a problem getting the dog to actually go after the plastic toy.

Ellie picked up the toy that had fallen at her feet and headed over to give it back to Kate and the dog.]

I thought the game was you throw this and they chase after it. [She offered a small smile along with the rather lame joke as she handed the toy her.]

[gevurah]

[ A soft, sheepish chuckle can be heard from the back of Kate's throat. She takes the frisbee, mouthing a 'thank you' as she does so. Her eyes flick over to Schnitzel, who sits nearby only slightly interested in the frisbee and the unfamiliar women who's approached Kate, but not enough to get up and come over. It's rare for the obedient dog to laze about, however, the vet did say it would take her anywhere from a few days to a week before she could adjust to Nill not being around anymore. ]

She's having an off day.

[ Kate whistles and Schnitzel heeds her calling, trotting up to the two women at a leisurely pace. ]

Hey, Ellie. [ When she looks back at the other woman, all she can think about is Renee. Does Ellie know she's gone? ] Long time no speak.

[youbastard]

I guess even dogs have those. [She gave a sympathetic look at the dog and idly found herself wondering what might make a dog have an off day. She'd always heard they were supposed to be mostly happy animals. Then again she didn't have much in the way of experience, pets on the station were pretty much limited to birds.

She looked back to Kate and gave a soft smile.] Too long. How have you been?