Reach Beyond the Heavens

[Ryn]

It's been a week since Ryn had determined that the strange siren's voice did indeed carry a magic that made her want to do things with seemingly little to resist her. To say she was confused would be putting it lightly. And when the following days saw the Agency offer no leads to potential quarry but just piles of incomprehensible paper-words on her desk that she continued to ignore in the hopes that the issue would resolve itself somehow. Instead she ran along the twisting corridors of the House and it's ghostpaths, searching for ones that would open up to a place where she could feel the wind whip in her face and soothe the restlessness she felt building in her bones and burning behind her eyes. And the further she ran, the more the House receded from sterile concrete walls to fired brick to straw-stuffed clay and wood to stacked logs with mud smeared into the cracks. Until finally she ran through caverns of stone and she almost felt like she'd found a way home to the feeling of a disembodied shadow in the night, stalking the darkness and sending it's inhabitants flee at the terror burning behind the dark sunglasses she worse to shield the fragile and clumsy humans she'd found herself living among.

But here she could pretend for a little and breathe air that lacked the acrid taste of belching smoke and man-wrought chemicals. Here she could feel time pass like it used to, swiftly like the wind blowing across the plains. She can almost feel the ragged edge where history shattered and rewove into something more palatable to it's new human masters. Where the stakes of their recollection sat looser in the bleeding limbs of time. Perhaps there was a way back home after all...

But for all her running, the corridors of the House don't always reflect distance traversed and somewhere closer to the human world the pile of untouched paperwork had caused human bureaucracy to turn it's gears and dispatched Agent Kane to retrieve the monster from it's self-imposed exile.

When Ryn sees her step out from around a corner and into the dark passages of shadow-filled caverns, silhouetted against stark fluorescent lights she realizes a number of things. Even though she stepped out from a world steeped in all-pervasive stench of humanity it does not cling to or follow her at all, sliding off her like fresh rain gently shaken off a feather. And that in trying to show her the truth about herself Ryn had risked dragging something perched precariously on the edge of human and monster down into the darkness where she'd have no choice but to devour her, something she finds herself unwilling to even contemplate for some strange reason.

So she slows her run and lets her feet make what she thinks is plenty of noise on the stone floor, though to human senses she probably still manages to suddenly coalesce from the shadows at the edge of the light shining into the ancient corner of the ghostpaths a mere couple of feet from Katarina.

[Katarina Kane]

"Good heavens, Ryn, we need to put a bell on you," Katarina Kane said, with a half-smile. Ryn could tell that her heart-rate was elevated from her sudden appearance, but, as per usual, there wasn't the same fear so many people had when she came before them -- the sort of calm, soothing presence she had come to associate with Katarina. Perhaps that was some sort of secondary side-effect to the Siren's magic voice? Surely, that must be it.

"You're a hard one to find, you know? I suppose you don't care much for your desk, or your room," she said, with a light laugh.

[Ryn]

Katarina being merely startled felt almost reassuring. It meant she didn't see the real her while the sound of her heart beating faster in her chest tugs at the primal core of Ryn. Only she doesn't want to chase after the quickening flutter of her pulse for her own exhilaration. Right?

Katarina's tone is friendly as always but the words don't match and as per usual Ryn isn't sure how to respond. "Sorry." she tries. She doesn't care if she's hard to find, but for some reason she doesn't mind if it's Katarina intruding on her solitude. "I didn't mean to hide from you."

[Katarina Kane]

If Katarina picked up on the meaning of 'didn't mean to hide from you, she certainly did a good job of hiding it.

"It's alright, Ryn, I know you don't do 'people' much. There are days I wish I could say the same," Katarina smiled. "Nothing wrong with being a little shy. Besides, no one can blame you from hiding from all the paperwork...er... 'paper-words'," she said, trying to use the phrase Ryn had used before. "There's something a little...frustrating about trying to put everything down on paper so clinically, isn't there?"

[Ryn]

"It's pointless. They should not need more than my word that something has been dealt with." And they certainly should not have the audacity to demand compliance. She's hoping if she neglects it for long enough, eventually they will simply stop asking. "Why were you looking for me?"

[Katarina Kane]

"I need an excuse to find you?" Katarina smiled. "I didn't realize my company was so unappreciated."

Before Ryn could protest too much, Katarina waved her off. "No, no, a joke, a joke, that's all. Honestly, part of it was I needed a little more soothing company after getting prodded by the doctor and lectured by the Wyldclay. It's been one of those sorts of days."

Katarina had been spending more time in the infirmary recently, as her 'condition', as she put it, continued to develop. That involved a lot of needles and a lot of excited yammering on from the doc, and a lot of uncertainty about her own future. You know, super fun times. There were theories about what was going on, and some attempts at curtailing or reversing it, but nothing concrete. And as such, the scaly patch on her lower back had continued to spread, despite the soothing effects of the various balms and creams the Wyldclay had supplied her.

She also had been pushing for more autonomy, and the ability to go out on missions on her own. That had been firmly denied by The Directorate, but they had been working on workarounds -- and, as always Ryn was considered her handler, with the instructions to deal with the pop star-turned-siren should she get out of control. The irony of Ryn being the one charged with ensuring normality did not go unmentioned by people who knew what Ryn really was.

[Ryn]

Ryn's mouth barely opens before Katarina cuts her off and Ryn is once again baffled that she somehow knew not just what was going through her head but that she'd gotten it wrong. How.

"Most don't consider my company soothing. Unsettling and weird." she quotes two of the things she'd been told to her face. Now she wonders if those were jokes too and if they'd get replaced with 'no sense of humor' now. It'd be just as accurate and yet even thinking about it makes her clench her fists. "You want... honesty." she takes a stab in the dark. There's not a lot she has to offer with absolute certainty and she doubts something monstrous needs killing. That usually entails one of the few human emotions Ryn has absolutely no problem identifying and Katarina does not smell of terror-fear. Hers is a quieter, slower one. And 'those days' she's managed to gather means it is louder than normal.

After a moment of not knowing what to say even though she's identified the problem she reaches over (and a bit up) to pat Katarina on the shoulder with the grace of a cat and the same kind of used-to-instinctual-violence repurposed into a hesitant tapping.

[Katarina Kane]

"Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Ryn, but you are a bit weird," Katarina laughed, putting one hand on Ryn's briefly in acknowledgement. "But that's OK. Your brand of weirdness I think I can handle today. Highly preferable to being a lab rat."

"Besides, you're no stranger than anyone else here. Less so, than some."

[Ryn]

Katarina's hand on hers sends a confusing feeling of warmth through her and yet prickles enough to make her arm twitch. Katarina confuses her in not entirely unpleasant ways, but being touched brings with it things she'd rather forget. Unspeakable things. Things that happen to humans. Not her.

"I will stop them sticking you with needles. If you want." she tries to shift her mind. The Doctor doesn't exactly smell pure, no matter how much humans think the sharp-toothed chemicals that cling to her translate to cleanliness and maybe it'd make her feel better if she had a reason to snap off a finger or two. Just to make a point.

[Katarina Kane]

"Do that, and you might make people mad. And I know you don't care about that, but if you do, then they won't let you take me out, and I'll be cooped up down here until doomsday," Katarina sighed. "I'd rather put up with the needles."

[Ryn]

Ryn has additional suggestions for what to do to people who wouldn't let Katarina leave, but somehow she doesn't think Katarina would approve of that either. Which only leaves an avenue to make Katarina feel better that Ryn is quite bad at. Cheering her up. She chews on her bottom-lip, making sure to not let her sharp teeth show and in the process looking like she's pulling a strange pout. Katarina likes to dance and drive her car. Moving her body and being swift and free are two things Ryn is exceptional at and yet she struggles to put them together in a way that might work for a human. If only she had a way to take Katarina with her when she breathes from treetop to treetop like the wind. Her head snaps up to look at Katarina in surprise. Somehow she'd intruded into a space that Ryn would kill to protect from being encroached on by anybody's presence. She had, in fact. And yet that doesn't dispel the thought.

"What do humans do to go fast to music?" she blurts out. If she can't come up with something she can always just... ask. And so the ancient deva is about to stumble onto inviting the siren-ridden human out to a roller-rink.

[Katarina Kane]

"Drive down with the top down," Katarina smiled, trying to keep up with Ryn's non-sequitur. "Or jogging seems to be quite popular. Skating alongside the beach with a Walkman, if you're hip and trendy."

"I'm not sure the Powers that Be would view that as an important and necessary reason for me to go out," she said, with a sly smile.

[Ryn]

In Ryn's estimation the powers that be rank somewhere below her in terms of importance. And she's gone up against actual Powers-That-Be a long, long time ago. Didn't matter that she'd lost and been banished from civilized lands as a result until bumbling Americans had inadvertently invited her back in and made her subject to their laws and covenants; she'd keep doing as she always did.

"I do as I please." she responds with a bit of a devious grin. "And that is take you skating. What is it?"

[Katarina Kane]

"Skating? Well, people, erm..." Katarina said, trying to figure out how to explain it.

"Skates are shoes. With wheels on them. So, you can...push yourself along the ground, and get a lot more speed than just running.

'Rollerblading' is the new craze...or was, last time I was out there. It puts all the wheels in a line so you can go faster. I've never done it; I've just used regular old roller skates before."

[Ryn]

Ryn turns the mental picture of shoes with wheels over in her head. The mechanics of it aren't entirely clear to her, but she can sort of picture the reduced friction. "Like sliding on ice." she concludes. "Where do we get rollers?"

[Katarina Kane]

"Well, we could attempt to requisition some from the equipment department...

...Or we could find a roller rink and just rent some there. I'm sure there must be something for people new at this."

[Ryn]

That sounds a lot like something they'll only find in a city and Ryn would rather deal with the quartermaster, but taking Katarina out of the House is half the point. It takes them a little bit to find a path that leads them to somewhere promising. After sticking her head through and out of a number of closets, isolated gas stations, the backroom of a casino, a radar facility on a mountain somewhere, Ryn finally pops out into a warm breeze in a small alleyway between store-fronts wedged closely together and almost overflowing with racks of stuff. Sunglasses and t-shirts and weird flat boards, some of which are almost twice as tall as Ryn. Across the way are palm-trees swaying in the breeze and the salty smell of the ocean almost manages to wash away the choking air of cars and human ambition of the rest of the so-called City of Angels. Ryn has yet to spot any celestial messengers and she doubts they would even care to approach this city. Maybe with flaming sword in hand, but by Ryn's reckoning that hasn't happened in a long time.

The rot still hangs as heavy over the city as the last time Ryn had been here, directed to Katarina's old apartment by Wyll. But here it's not as bad, even if there's just as many humans bustling about, hitting balls to each other clumsily, just lieing in sun reeking of the oily sheen they rub ointo their skin, others riding those large boards on the ocean waves. And some gliding past the alley on wheels strapped to their feet. There's even music in the distance, something rhythmic and more aggressive than what Katarina has played for her and peeking out from the alley she spots a tight circle of humans around one of them convulsing on the ground on a sheet of cardboard in time with the sound.

"Why are so many of them half-naked?" she notes the amount of people dressed in swim-wear, regardless of whether or not they smell of the salty touch of the ocean. Ryn doesn't really mind the nudity; clothes by and large were a human invention but one of the few she'd accepted as generally worthwhile. The comfortable ones anyway. Much of this display looks less about that and more about... presenting. "Are they begging by showing everyone how malnourished they are?"

[Katarina Kane]

Katarina takes a moment before following Ryn through the door. From a pocket of her jacket, she pulled out a thin black collar, clasping it around her neck, over her throat. Wordlessly, she handed a small remote to Ryn -- a silent ritual that the Wyldclay insisted they follow if Katarina was to be allowed out and about.

"Begging? Some of them, perhaps, but not for food. No, many people work hard to get their bodies toned and shaped. The cruel tyranny of Richard Simmons, at work," Katarina said, with a rueful chuckle.

"No, Ryn. They think they look good, and are hoping other people will notice. Worked on you, didn't it?"

[Ryn]

"Oh, mating rituals. I don't think they want my attention." In the steppes she'd occasionally seen glimpses of courtship from a distance and it had been just as inscrutable then as it is now. She doesn't comment on the remote and it disappears into her pocket. She'd sooner crush it than activate it but everyone seems calmer with it's continued existence and at least when she's holding it nobody else would have a chance to use it.

She steps out of the alley and finds that she draws little attention. The tyranny of the Simmons doing it's work, people are looking more at scantly clad men and women, not the short woman wearing a plain short-sleeved shirt and a pair of loose slacks she likes because they don't restrict her movement. Even her sunglasses are boring compared to some of the garish rainbow-hued wrap-around ones that seem to be favored by many around here. It makes moving through the crowd a lot more tolerable as they look to track down a source for the shoe-wheels.

A kid on a skateboard comes weaving through the crowd, oblivious to their existence and on direct collision course with Katarina as he curves around a particularly wide muscled human. He tries to swerve to avoid hitting her but one of the wheels catches at an angle on the sidewalk and sends him flying head over heels, board kicked into the air. Ryn is already moving, shoving Katarina out of the way and twisting herself around, somehow fast enough to duck beneath the suddenly airborne skateboarder with her hand at Katarina's back, arm around her waist to keep her from falling over. The unfortunate kid lands in an ungraceful roll on the other side of her and Ryn sticks out her other hand and catches the falling skateboard without even looking at it.

"Oof..." he says as he picks himself up and brushes the inevitable sand off of himself. "Close one huh? My bad. Thanks for catching my boa....ard." his voice hitches before trailing off under Ryn's withering stare.

"I claim it." she growls sharply and she might not have magic in her voice but she knows how to be terrifying. And this barely-grown human is clearly too clumsy to be allowed to keep his roller-board. "You go now." The kid looks like he wants to argue but the adrenaline hammering through his reptile brain makes him feel like he just stepped into the shadow of a hungry predator. Ryn snaps her teeth at him with an audible 'clack' and he bails, much to Ryn's delight.

[Katarina Kane]

"My hero," Katarina said, flatly, still in Ryn's arms. "You see some of the danger of the scantily-clad around here. Draws people's attention away from being careful."

"You're sure you're not the siren-to-be?" she joked, watching the boy run away. "Frightened him enough to make sure I wasn't recognized."

[Ryn]

Ryn is entirely unaware of any possible connotations. All she knows is that she doesn't mind at all to hold Katarina like this, which is confusing enough on it's own. "Not a hero. Or a siren." she mumbles awkwardly and snakes her arm out from her friend's waist after moving her upright. Katarina is laughing and yet she feels... strange. Embarrassed not for having shown off but for wanting to in the first place. She could have just shoved the kid out of the way instead. Katarina already knows how quick and graceful Ryn can move so why show her again? Because she'd wanted to. But any reasoning beyond that escapes her.

"Is this like the skate you talked about?" she asks to distract herself from her own thoughts and spins one of the wheels on the skateboard with her finger.

[Katarina Kane]

"Not at all, no. That's not shoes, see? That's a skateboard. See how the wheels are attached to the board itself?"

Katarina looked at it, dubiously. "There was a pilot that wanted me to learn how to ride one of these things. Never got to the point of actually having to stand on one, though. It seems like you would just fall over and crack your head open."

[Ryn]

"Then we'll find skate-shoes for you." she says and tucks the board under her arm to continue their trek along Venice Beach until they find a shop that is renting out what they're looking for. While Katarina does whatever is required to complete the ritual of exchanging numbered paper, Ryn waits just outside and sets the skateboard down. With one foot on it she tests it by sliding it back and forth, tilting her foot to find the give in it. It doesn't seem like it has any hidden parts that would make you fall over, but then she reminds herself that humans are clumsy and Katarina probably didn't mean that there are any tricks built into the board.

[Katarina Kane]

Katarina, however, does not due the ritualistic exchanging of numbered paper. Instead, after finding a pair of skates (and not rollerblades, not wanting to be adventurous), she went up to the shopkeeper and cleared her throat.

"You will let us take these now, and forget we were ever here," she said, enunciating as clearly as she could. The shopkeeper's eyes glazed over slightly, and he nodded, dumbly, as Katarina walked from the store.

In her pocket, the remote Ryn was carrying vibrated strongly as Katarina's voice reverberated, fading back to stillness as she left the store.

[Ryn]

Ryn's head swivels at the presence in Katarina's voice, the angry buzzing of the remote almost more of a distraction than the warning it's supposed to be. If anything, this makes more sense to her than the exchange of money and the only harm a loss of roller-shoes. Something he clearly had plenty of. She gives what she hopes is an encouraging smile to Katarina when she rejoins her outside. "He recognized you." she simply says. She still can't imagine the searing of the kind of attention Katarina can garner, even if she insists it could have been more.

"Come on, show me how fast they let you move." she says from where she's standing with her newly acquired skateboard. She places her second foot on it as well and lets it slowly roll onto the sidewalk as if she's testing her movements, but Katarina can probably tell she's being intentionally slow and uncertain. Sure, her legs are shaking a bit like someone trying to stand on a skateboard the first time might in a small but constant struggle to balance themselves but she's never seen Ryn as much as stumble or miss a step, even in a dark and slippery sewer with nothing but flashlights she moved with the certainty. She's faking it to fit in. Or to draw less attention? A weird choice after her earlier display but maybe she thinks that hadn't gone well?

[Katarina Kane]

"He did," Katarina agreed. "He shouldn't have, but Los Angeles is probably...more dangerous than most places for that."

She hesitated for a moment, lost in thought, as she laced up the skates.

"...Is there a problem, Ryn? Not used to the wheels?" she asked, straightening up and limbering out, her eyes already scanning the walkway ahead.

[Ryn]

"I've never stood on wheels before." she points out and sways her upper body a bit as if to stress the point. She doesn't look like she's actually in any danger of losing her balance or control. In the process she's actually adjusted her trajectory a bit to keep her from rolling into foot traffic. Fortunately for Katarina, Ryn has a terrible poker face and it's easy enough to tell she's on the verge of a cheeky grin, the corner of her mouth twitching and threatening to break out into that tight-lipped, closed-mouth grin she does when she's particularly pleased with herself.

[Katarina Kane]

"Well, I have," Katarina said, almost matter of factly. "So, try and keep up, yes?"

With that, Katrina pressed back against the curve and shot forward on her skates, rapidly picking up speed in a surprising show of athleticism for the human. Clearly, this was not her first time on skates, as she started weaving her way through the crowd.

[Ryn]

Something not unpleasant jerks in Ryn's chest. Katarina is her quarry and she wants her to give chase. Told her to. Made her to. Her entire posture relaxes immediately and with a push of her foot an one additional kick she's off. She can feel the ground and the slight rattle of it's surface through the board underneath her feet and it's simply a matter of shifting her weight to make it curve at her whim. She cuts around a throng of people and instinctually makes herself smaller, knees bend to put her lower tot he ground and she picks up speed. She briefly wonders if the people out on the water with the larger boards feel the same, only with the might of the ocean bucking beneath them rather than pavement and she nods in approval. They might be bad at it, but the humans clearly had some good ideas here.

Her eyes find Katarina again, still some distance ahead of her, and her focus settles on her. It's a gaze that sets neck-hairs on edge and flows down shoulder-blades like ice as the deva weaves through the crowd, picking up speed as she chases after Katarina. But when she gets within a couple feet she finds herself slowing just enough to let her pull ahead again. Try. It carries the possibility of failure and has settled into Ryn's mind right behind her eyes, but she doesn't mind. The chase is fun, the odd inhibition the magic in Katarina's voice has placed on her a barrier against which to throw herself over and over without ever reaching her. Not that she has any idea what she would do if she did. She's hardly going to sink her teeth into her but she feels like there's something else? She's almost glad she doesn't have to worry about it as she once again fails to actually reach Katarina, having swerved in the wrong direction and into the path of a jogger whom she now has to cut around sharply, losing ground once again.

A singular laugh escapes her as she kicks off and flies after Katarina again.

[Katarina Kane]

On top and above any restrictions Ryn feels (or doesn't feel) due to Katarina's command, the fact is that Katarina...is pretty damn fast? Maybe not deva fast, mind you, but with the skates on, she was in a different class of speed; something more on Ryn's wavelength, if not quite her grace.

Katarina was clearly practiced. And it didn't hurt that it just took a couple barked commands -- "Left. Right. Stop. Three steps back" to clear a path for her, sending the remote vibrating like crazy in Ryn's pocket.

Her hair flew behind her as she continued to cut down the walkway alongside the beach, continuing to pick up speed. Her lungs working overtime, her heart racing in her chest, as she hit a good 20 miles an hour, maintaining balance as she cut across and around a crowd that was parting in front of her.

What were they teaching pop stars in finishing school nowadays?

[Ryn]

As far as Ryn is concerned, this is what they should teach pop stars. Or anybody. She almost forgets how many humans are around her or the amount of them that stare at her as she zips around them in bright sunlight, there's only her, the wind and the chase. Katarina carves a path through the crowd and Ryn follows in the scattered wake. She can't remember the last time she's felt like this, if ever. On the prowl she is chasing a goal and satisfying as that is there's a sharpness that's missing here and when she'd run in the steppes she'd been alone. Always. Right now, in this moment, there is nowhere Ryn wouldn't follow Katarina.

And she does have to work to keep up. The siren's command might keep her at bay but the skates strip away much of her natural advantage and she loves it with every kick she needs to bring her back up to speed and each curve she leans into to preserve as much of her momentum as she can.

"You will get tired eventually." she can't help herself but shout after Katarina when she's closed the gap once more. It's a threat without fangs. What is she even going to do upon tiring out her mark with her heart hammering, breath hitched and gasping for air and Ryn bearing down on her slowly. And then the unthinkable happens. The balls of her foot slip and instead of tilting the board on the right path they hit the rapidly moving ground. She feels something give and in the blink of an eye the board catches on her foot and then the sidewalk and sky switch position on her. She hits the ground and rolls to a stop in the sand, board somehow still entangled in her legs and her foot at distinctly unnatural angle.

The pain doesn't hit her nearly as hard as the shock of what just happened, though from the outside it probably looks much the same. She slipped. Water would sooner run uphill and the sun wink out in the sky...

[Katarina Kane]

"Ryn!" she cries out, going to her friend's side. "Oh, geez. Don't move your ankle, this doesn't look good," she said, quietly, trying to remove the board, and ignoring the crowd slowly gathering around them, who were murmuring amongst themselves.

"Deep breaths, Ryn; in and out...that's a good girl..." Katarina said, gingerly examining Ryn's ankle for swelling as she went into First Aid Mode.

[Ryn]

Ryn looks at Katarina in a stupor, then when she says something about her ankle she thinks to look down at what is at best a horribly sprain and at worst a straight-up break. For a moment she doesn't understand Katarina's concern. Doesn't she know she's focusing on the wrong thing? The ankle isn't what's broken with her. But then again Ryn doesn't know what is. "Something is wrong." she notes calmly. Shock, clearly, from the point of view of someone with military and first aid training. The ankle is swelling but it does seem to be easily righted by careful hands, so maybe it's not completely broken despite the angry purple blemishes forming already.

[Katarina Kane]

"Right..." Katarina says with a frown, looking around. "We can't exactly take you to the hospital."

She paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. "You. And you. We need a stretcher; improvise something," she said, pointing at two younger men in the crowd. "You, with the shaved ice. We need ice for the ankle right now. The rest of you, disperse. Go...enjoy the surf" she said, beads of sweat appearing on her face, the remote in Ryn's pocket vibrating like crazy. "Hang in there, Ryn. We'll get you home soon enough..."


"Wasn't that Katy Kane?" one of the departing people asked, as they marched en masse towards the sea.

[Ryn]

"No stretcher!" Ryn snaps. This is too many people, touching her, even if it's Katarina. She awkwardly climbs to her feet foot to hop backwards in the sand. In that moment she seems more like an injured wildcat, ready to swipe at anyone and anything coming too close to try and help. Her head is spinning. Most of the crowd turns to leave and the pressure that seemed to crush her lets off a little. Enough that when somebody leans down to put their shaved ice on her ankle she doesn't drive her elbow into their face. Instead she let's herself fall backwards onto a nearby bench.

She belatedly follows Katarina's instructions, mundane as they might have been. Breathe. Think. This is not then. There's no helicopter waiting to take her away. No clumsy medics to prod her. No leaving behind a slaughterhouse where she'd been... Her breath quickens and she has to fight to keep it steady. "No stretcher..." she repeats if only just to make sure her objections are being listened to, even if they seem irrational.

[Katarina Kane]

"Ryn. You can't put pressure on your ankle. I can't carry you to the pathway. We can't bring an ambulance to take you somewhere where they'll ask questions. We can't leave you here. We are low on options. We need to get you back to PATHS; to the infirmary."

Katarina was concerned, but firm. "This is my fault, and I'm going to get you somewhere where you can be helped. But you must trust me now. And to do that, we need to carry you back to the Path."

[Ryn]

Ryn looks up at Katarina and just for a split second there's so much tension in her body she looks like she's about to launch herself at whoever is in her way. She can't see her eyes but she can imagine the look in them. She's seen something close to it in older Czechoslovakian soldiers, usually before barely or entirely unprovoked outbursts of violence. Ryn's hands are clenching the seat of the bench she's on and later Katarina might wonder if she hadn't heard the thick wood groaning and beginning to splinter. In that brief moment she doesn't look like an overwhelmed woman unused to civilization. Maybe a war orphan or abandoned child soldier. Not just feral but hurt.

The moment passes with just a single burst of adrenaline at the possibility of being attacked by this injured thing in front of her. Ryn forces herself to relax. Katarina is her friend. She's helping. She's not clumsy American Soldiers. She understands. At least a little. Trust. She trusts Katarina. Her deep breaths are still more angry huffs pressed through her nose and clenched teeth but she gives the slightest of nods. When the two guys (half-naked, Ryn notes with a snarl) Katarina send off return with a surfboard to carry her on she lets them though one of them almost loses a hand when he tries to take her arm in order to help her onto it. At least he feels like he might pull back a bloody stump if he tried touching her again, as ridiculous as that might seem.

Sitting on the board and refusing to lie down to escape further humiliation she quietly asks Katarina to bring her 'skating-board' along.

[Katarina Kane]

Katarina picked up the skateboard, and frowned as the men helped carry Ryn along. This, she was sure, was her fault. Not only had she made Ryn feel responsible for her own well-being, but she had been the one to use The Voice on her, forcing her to chase after her. Clearly -- clearly! -- the injury was her direct fault; the recklessness shown leading directly to Ryn breaking her ankle. This was exactly what the Directorate and the Wyldclay had warned her about; the danger of her even existing in public spaces. And here, sneaking out without their permission, she just proven them all right -- injuring a far more valuable asset to the society than she was, after all. Reporting this one was not going to be fun, and would probably have consequences down the line.

She avoided looking Ryn directly in the eyes (well, glasses), as they reached the entry path. She used her power once more to have the two leave and forget they were there, and then helped Ryn back through the doorway to the enclosed, dark corridors of the House.

[Ryn]

Ryn visibly relaxes in the dark, her breathing less forced into deep and steady rhythm, her posture on the board (now set on the ground) looking less like she might leap off it at any second.

"I am fine!" she bites off, still a bit harshly. "I did not need help." now more sullen than anything. "My ankle is fine. I am fine." she says and slides off the board, rising onto her good foot. She somewhat gingerly sets her injured foot down and doesn't fully put her weight on it but she's standing at her less-than-imposing full height. "I don't like people touching me. Doing things I don't want. It hurts worse than my foot. Hurts differently." She doesn't want to be mad at Katarina. Doesn't want her to think she's... what, angry? Able to be hurt?

[Katarina Kane]

"Your ankle is not fine, Ryn," Katarina said, reaching up and pulling her collar off with frustration, the clasp loudly snapping as she ripped it off.

"You are damn fortunate it's not broken. It may well be broken, and you're just being stubborn about handling it! At the very least, it is very badly sprained. If you had not had help, you would have been lying there on the beach surrounded by people with questions. And then you would have had more than a few people touching you."

Katarina was quite heated, as she bent over to allow Ryn to put her weight on her. "We are supposed to be partners out there. When I'm lost and in trouble, I rely on you. And when you injure yourself because I am an idiot, you need to rely on me to get you home safely. I understand you don't like being touched. I don't like being cooped up in this base. But I guess some things just have to happen sometimes, don't they?

Now. We're going to get you to the infirmary, and I'm going to go file a report on this, and I'm going to pray the Wyldclay finds this amusing rather than upsetting. Understood?"