Running with the Shadows of the Night

[Ryn]

"And you sing and dance." Ryn nods along. "And know clever-words without being deceitful-rude."

[Katarina Kane]

"That last one isn't really a skill," Katarina said, glad she could slip out the topic that way. "That's just being nice."

[Ryn]

"Hrm. Maybe. You're good at it either way. What else?" she presses. Figures she wouldn't let it go. Ryn's not exactly known for backing away from things.

[Katarina Kane]

"Oh, this and that. You know, just the normal sort of things..." Katarina hedged.

"Oh, look, it's one of the transformation sequences. Where all the budget went," she added, hoping the TV would be a distraction. Somehow, in this episode about a horse thief at a horse track surrounded by horses, the main character apparently thought the best thing to do was to transform into a panther.

[Ryn]

"Oh, that's going to scare the horses. He should have changed into something else. Like a mouse or a sparrow to go unnoticed and only turn into a predator to pounce on the thief." Once she's accepted the TV showing entertaining lies it seems she has no trouble accepting special effects for what they are, even if they're a bit ridiculous.

[Katarina Kane]

"I think, in the logic of the show, it would take too long to switch from one to another, and he'd have to go back to human in between.

He does turn into a horse later, but they don't show that on screen. They just had the panther transformation filmed, and so, basically every week, he has to find some reason to turn into a panther."

[Ryn]

"They should have made stories about Man Panther then. Manther."

[Katarina Kane]

"Well, he also has a hawk transformation they used a lot. They're expensive, though, so they really only had the two."

[Ryn]

"They could have tried to get a real skinwalker and pretend it's fake." she says in what is probably one of the more sly things Katarina has heard her voice. For the straight-forward Deva it's a downright convoluted ploy.

[Katarina Kane]

"I think we would have had to stop that to preserve the Veil," Katarina laughed. "If they even knew it existed."

[Ryn]

"I'd probably end up wrestling a panther." she nods. The words seem like a joke, but somehow it sounds like she absolutely would.

[Katarina Kane]

"You probably would end up doing that whether the mission called for it or not, just to see if you could wrestle a panther," Katarina nodded.

[Ryn]

"No." she says. "I'd do it for fun. I already know I can."

[Katarina Kane]

"Ryn." Katarina said, staring at her. "Tell me you do not wrestle wild animals for fun."

[Ryn]

Ryn opens her mouth, then closes it again awkwardly. She doesn't want to lie to Katarina but she also asked her to do very specific thing.

"Sometimes it's for food." is the 'best' she can manage in terms of being evasive.

[Katarina Kane]

"You know, you can just buy food. From the store."

[Ryn]

"It's not as good. Tastes of human hands."

[Katarina Kane]

"Maybe in some lower-quality supermarkets, but people usually do wash their hands, Ryn."

[Ryn]

"No, that's just dirt. I don't know what it is you do to your lifestock but it's more... bitter." she tries.

[Katarina Kane]

"I think the word you may be looking for there is 'clean'. Process things so there's no nasty diseases or whatnot."

[Ryn]

"Nothing's as good and clean as something you k...caught yourself." she insists. "I will show you. Rabbit or boar perhaps."

[Katarina Kane]

"I didn't know you could cook!" Katarina said, wrong once again.

[Ryn]

Ryn nods, though their definitions of cooking probably vary quite significantly.

"You can watch if you want." she says, strangely excited by the idea of impressing Katarina. "For showing me the popped corn and you riding a horse."

[Katarina Kane]

"That sounds nice," Katarina said, imagining Ryn in the kitchen.

[Ryn]

Ryn grins and nods before turning her attention back on the show where some kind of horse-based chase is happening.

[Katarina Kane]

Indeed, Katarina had mounted Mr. Jonathan Manimal and was riding the everloving hell out of him.

...OK, no, we can work on the phrasing there.

Unlike many of the other actors in the scene, Katarina clearly knew what she was doing on horseback, as she raced across country to...stop a guy in a car? Who was driving away from a fire that Katarina herself had set so she could have a distraction to free her own horse? Which she was not riding in this chase scene?

...Honestly, the plot, such as it was, had gone off the rails a while back.

"That horse," Katarina informed Ryn, "was a jerk."

[Ryn]

"All they know is when to run away. It could probably tell you were the most dangerous thing around." she says as if that's a compliment.

[Katarina Kane]

"On a FOX set? Oh, I very much doubt that," Katarina joked.

[Ryn]

"They had foxes around? Why? Did they want to spook the horses?"

[Katarina Kane]

"No, that's just the name of the company that made the show," Katarina explained. "They're not actual foxes."

[Ryn]

"Confusing. Should call it Moving Pictures."

[Katarina Kane]

"Well, there's a bunch of companies out there. They can't be all called Moving Pictures."

[Ryn]

"Never stopped humans from having one word mean multiple things before. It's confusing every which way."

[Katarina Kane]

"Well, companies like to be territorial with their brands, to avoid confusion."

[Ryn]

That, at least, makes some sense.

"Should find something better than a fox then. Like a panther. Or a lion."

[Katarina Kane]

"I'm fairly sure the founder of the company named it after themselves," Katarina laughed.