kore_logs | What made you fall from grace?

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What made you fall from grace?

Who: Anna Milton & Steve Rogers
Where: The Lighthouse ~~everyone loves it there okay?~~
When: Early day 18
What: Early morning company is never a bad thing.

The cold bite of the wind is a bizarre feeling for Anna. She remembers what it's supposed to feel like, in theory, and can almost imagine the goosebumps on her arms if she tries hard enough. The wind is the best way to remember, which is why she's even out at this time. That, and the lack of need to sleep of course. It's early enough that she risks flying, and she has to put a hand out to steady herself against the lighthouse as she lands. It's taking a little while to get used to freedom again, let alone flying, but she's getting there.

Drawing her jacket tighter around her shoulders out of force of habit, she walks around the base of the lighthouse slowly to where she can face the sea. It's a boring way for most to pass the time, but Anna is finding herself doing it more and more the longer she's stuck in Cape Kore. She'll never tell a soul, but she misses her old life more than she can possibly say. She's past resentment towards the angels by now, and although sometimes small reminders still leave a bitter taste in her mouth she's not angry about what she is. These are the cards that she has been dealt, she has to make the best until it's safe to take the risk of tearing it out again.

Until then, she has the cold wind on the edge of a rocky beach, the pointless habits of a life she's had to leave and the small, dwindling hope that maybe one day she'll be able to return.

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Something Steve is very conscious of missing is the New York weather. He's not a big fan of the cold anymore, and it's nippy out here. He usually feels calm looking out at sea, but now all he really sees is something treacherous and sinister. He hates that.

He's been walking around town (there's not a whole lot to explore on a cursory glance) and he's made his way to the lighthouse. Lost in his thoughts, none of which involve the reality of being stuck in this place, he didn't expect to see someone else.

"Hi... Anna, right?" He offers a smile.

He slowly approaches, like to test if it's alright for him to join her on this little adventure.

Anna isn't expecting company any more than Steve is expecting to see someone at the lighthouse. It's not that she's deliberately trying to get away from people so much as she doesn't know what to do with herself. She's got a lot of free time these days. Not sleeping and lacking both things to run from and apocalypses to help prevent, Anna's not used to having all this spare time, she's certainly not used to people being able to randomly walk up to her.

That's why she looks momentarily confused when she turns to look at Steve, not because she doesn't want to see him as such, but certainly because she hadn't planned on it any time soon. Still, he gets a friendly enough smile and after a moment she turns and walks over to meet him.

"Anna, that's right." She's given up keeping the jacket drawn around her, it's purely for show, and as she approaches she offers a hand out to him. It's an oddly formalized approach for a girl who appears to be in her early twenties, but old habits die hard and Anna is long used to formalities. "Steve? It's nice to meet you in person. What are you doing up this way?"

He doesn't think anything of it. Most of the women he meets (who are pleasant to him) are through work, and he's kind of grown to accept that. He shakes her hand, firm but not too tight, and looks around.

"Thought I'd do some exploring." He zips his own jacket up, since he's reminded how he's actually a little bit cold.

"I guess I wanted to see the lighthouse, since it's the tallest building and it'd give us a good view of what the surrounding area is like."

She looked confused when she turned to view him, so he thinks he must have been interrupting her thoughts. The crash of wave on rock is a good thing to have as a backdrop. Maybe if it were a warmer day.

"Don't let me keep you from the view."

"Oh, no don't worry about that."

Anna quickly waves a dismissive gesture towards the water, shaking her head. She's been out here for far too long anyway, and spending her time wishing for a life she can't get back isn't going to change anything. What she needs to focus on right now is getting everyone home, and figuring out how to keep herself from going back to where she had been before here. Until then, she can at least start to get to know the people around here.

So it's settled, she's going to make friends and not alienate people, and after all there isn't much of a better 'screw you' to Heaven anyway. Angels be damned, she'll feel as much as she wants to feel. She follows his suit and pulls her worn blue jacket around herself tightly again. It's small, but it's a start.

"Do you want some company? I'm not sure how you get up there, but there's got to be a door or something. Might not be so cold up there either."

"Might actually be colder, but if you want, I could lend you my jacket." He's survived much worse, so it's not like it would be unbearable for him, literally. He looks up at the lighthouse and squints at it, like he's trying to pull apart a puzzle. But it's brief, and he's back to looking at Anna.

"I would like the company though, and maybe a second pair of eyes." He nods towards the lighthouse. He waits for her to answer his offer, whether or not she wants his jacket, and whether or not she still wants to go up there.

Then he looks up at the clouds, slightly distracted. "It looks like it might rain soon..." And then thinks about the cold. "Or snow." He kind of grins at the ludicrousness of that statement, considering what time of year it was where he was last. Back to winter so soon... He doesn't think he'll enjoy the ice this year.

"It's okay, I'm not cold."

It's probably one of the few times anyone has ever sounded almost sad while saying that sentence, but there it is. For a moment she doesn't get away with hiding it, but as quickly as it's there it's gone. Instead it's replaced with a bright smile and a firm nod. The top of the lighthouse is a good idea. Of course she could get them up there much faster, but she's trying to play normal here, at least as long as she can get away with it.

"A bit of rain won't do you any harm," she chuckles lightly, tone gently teasing. Her hands quickly push into her pockets and Anna takes a step to the side to peer at the base of the lighthouse. "I heard it's haunted. You're not scared, are you?"

He notices, but decides not to say anything. Maybe she's from way up north or something, and misses that kind of weather. He can't judge; he does love New York snow.

And it doesn't matter anyway, since she's changed the line of subject. If she does start to shiver, he'll be here and he'll still have his jacket, anyway. "Can't say I've ever let a haunted lighthouse scare me," he replies. And it's a technicality, because one Halloween he went to a haunted house, he thought he could make it through but grabbed his friend's hand and ran through the whole thing with his eyes shut.

Okay, he was seven. So this is different.

He makes his way to the entrance, and it doesn't look so very haunted. He gives it a little tug, and it opens up easily enough.

"I'll go first."

Haunted rumours aside the lighthouse doesn't look all that welcoming, and though Anna has very little to actually be scared of here, old habits must die hard because as she eyes the building she can't help but feel a little uncomfortable. Enough so that she's glad that someone else is here too at least, and his offer to go first is met with an amused smile.

"And to think people say chivalry is dead." She lets him lead the way anyway though. There's no sense in protesting really, and in the unlikely event that there is any real danger she can get them out of there easily enough. Anna might be trying to stay under the radar, might be doing her very best impression of normal human girl, but she's not self-serving enough to risk anyone's life or well being protecting a secret.

"So what were you doing before you wound up here, anyway?" It's not just polite conversation, she's actually genuinely interested. It's not often that Anna gets to meet nice people, and that's one change brought about by their predicament that she isn't taking for granted. "Seems people are winding up here from completely different worlds, it's almost fascinating really."

"Kind of, I know what you mean." But he's not sure how to answer her question. Does he say he was a superhero or a soldier? He decides to go with the thing he's more comfortable being. "I served in the army," he said. "Just got promoted to Captain." He's proud of that, since he earned it and it wasn't just a gimmick anymore.

He starts walking up the stairs, since there's not really much at the bottom landing, although he does walk around to check for loose stones in the floor. It looks like it's going to be a long climb, but he doesn't mind. He might come back just for the exercise, since there's no gym here.

"What do you do?" he asks, because he wants to make it sound like it's something they're still doing. He doesn't know if he's still eligible for active service in the military, since it has been seventy years, but for everyone else, he doesn't think it should matter. If they were an accountant, they still are. He wants everyone to think presently, like they all believe they'll be going home soon. So far, the person he's talked to who's been here the longest has been here less than a month.

It can still be an extended vacation.

"Congratulations are in order then." She means it too, and there's a friendly smile to go with the well wishing. She doesn't know anyone here very well - except the few people she does know from home and they're more complicated than anything else. It's nice to have some company that doesn't make her feel unquestionably guilty for an act she hasn't committed or unbearably bitter.

That's a complicated question for a lot of people in Kore it seems, and Anna is no exception. She's determined to keep her secrets hidden from everyone that doesn't already know, but she isn't even really sure why any more. There is the glaringly obvious reason of having escaped from prison, though she doesn't know how she managed that to begin with, and the Host aren't exactly known for leaving loose ends. There's been no sign of anything angelic so far though, there's no need to lie to everyone, and yet she does all the same.

"Journalism student. I was- am almost done with the degree." She falls back on her old life as she so often has before, using the memories and experiences she'd held then to fake a new life for now. She follows him up the stairs without the same qualms. She doesn't get tired, doesn't need to rest, eat, sleep, and it's easy to forget that in her present masquerade she at least need to pretend.

There's a small pause, and then she asks the one question they've all been wondering. "Do you think we'll get out of here?"

"I do," he replies affirmatively. "And when we do, you can finish your degree." He looks back to smile at her as he continues walking up the stairs, and it's not such a bad trek. It looked bigger from outside. There's a little landing on the inside where Steve stops, because it looks like someone's been here already.

"What do you want to write about?" he asks, as he bypasses the room. It looks like it might belong to someone else, although he's not sure who'd choose to stake claim to it while it's cold. But he supposes that might also be a good time to do so. It'll be significantly windier and colder up there, Steve thinks. He should have put on one of the ugly sweaters he found in his house.

He looks over to check if Anna is showing any signs that she's colder than she lets on.

Finish her degree. It feels like decades since she last sat in a lecture theater, only concerned with her next paper or what her next grade was going to be. It may well have been that long, maybe longer. She has no real way of telling, no point of reference. All she really knows is that any chance she had of a semi-normal life was lost the moment that the angels found her again.

Still, Steve's so convinced and his smile is so genuine, what's the harm in pretending that he's right for a little while? It's what she's been doing all this time anyway after all, what difference will it make to pretend for herself for a little while too? It won't kill her to be Anna Milton - journalism student, just temporarily.

"The important things?" She follows him up, glancing briefly in the room herself, though it doesn't hold nearly so much interest as the view from the top to her. She laughs quietly as she rubs the back of her head, and when she continues it's almost a little sheepish. It's far too easy to pretend. "That sounds stupid, I know. I just never wanted to be one of the types that lie through their teeth to get to the top, I guess. I didn't care if articles about the latest hot thing in Hollywood sell better, I wanted what I wrote to matter."

Not that easy though, evidently, she's still talking in past tense.

"I don't think it sounds stupid at all," he assures her. "I think the world could use more people like you." After all, some of that media and that propaganda had really gotten out of hand. He knows a lot of those people were just trying to do what they thought was right, but he also knows that a few of them knew it was wrong and did it anyway, got caught up in patriotism and jingoism.

After a brief pause, he starts heading up to the very top, and it's a much narrower stair. If he was carrying the shield, he wouldn't be able to make it through. But still, he makes it to the top and steps out. It is really freezing up here, and he pulls his jacket tighter but so that Anna won't see, in case she's trying to be brave and tough it out.

He looks over at everything and... wow. Aside from the town, there's not much up here to be looking at. He's disappointed.

Anna's not used to this kind of encouragement coming from anyone. There was the brief period of time - brief to her, anyway - where she had parents who would do it for her, but twenty years is little more than a blip when you've lived as long as Anna has. It earns a surprisingly warm smile, and that's even the slightest hint of embarrassment as she ducks her head and just follows him up the narrowing stairs.

"It's not big or brave, I know, but it's just...always something I thought I'd end up doing, ever since I was a little kid." Why she's telling him this, she's not sure, but she can't help but give away all these little details about her human life. There's never been anyone to listen, really, so perhaps that's it.

She steps out into the air without so much as a blink though, and as she looks around at the place surrounding them, her focus is much more on the horizon than anything else. It fades out much in the way normal line of sight does, but there's definitely something about looking at it that makes her feel uneasy. There's something wrong here, that much is obvious, she just can't figure out what.

"I didn't realise how small this place is," she comments quietly, directed at Steve but said more under her breath than anything. "It feels a lot bigger."

"I think it's just because there's nothing around it," he says. And that's what makes him feel uncomfortable. There's no base in sight, unless it's underground or underwater or disguised as trees. There's just... there's absolutely nothing. He doesn't understand. It's surreal. He should be able to see the next town over, or grass, or anything. It's like land that hasn't been touched, which is absurd.

"I've never even heard of this place in my life," he adds, to add insult to injury. But everything around here looks like the splitting image of New England. The church, the schoolhouse-- Nothing about it from where they stand down in the town looks off at all. It's only when they get up here that it just seems like a false movie screen with a pre-recorded background on it.

He feels a great kind of dread and discomfort that hasn't happened to him for some time.

Anna silently nods her agreement, moving to stand next to Steve and looking around them again. It doesn't get any less foreboding the second time, and after a moment she has to tear her eyes away. It's very different seeing it there in front of her, intense in ways she can't quite comprehend, and more than ever she can't help but feel like they won't be going home after all. "I don't think anyone here has heard of it."

Which really is one of the strangest things about it all. They all seem to come from different worlds and different times, but not one of them has heard of Cape Kore? It's unsettling, and it has her frowning as she thinks about it all. Rubbing the back of her neck lightly, the shock has her completely unaware of the cold but also the expectation that she should be feeling it. She has far more to be worried about, and more than likely so does Steve anyway.

"You still think we're all going to get home fine?"

"That's the goal," he replies, looking over the cape like it's some sort of strange enemy. But he's no stranger to tackling that kind of thing-- it's just a new playing field and new rules, but he's got this handled. Or, he thinks he does. Like a group of reeds together, he's hard to bend and even harder to break. He won't give in.

"You don't?" he asks, like that's a valid question. Anyone would take at least a moment to let it sink in how doomed they are, but Steve is strong. Steve will be strong. "I'll sprout wings and fly us out of here if I have to," he jokes. But honestly, he thinks maybe he could get some attached to his cowl, if he ever gets a new one.

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What made you fall from grace?

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SO I GOT DISTRACTED BY SAVING TONY TIME

IT'S OK ME TOO

WE CAN FAIL TOGETHER

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