a study in: volatile recklessness, little girl turned rage, vengeance, grunge, morbidity, moral dilemmas & eye openers, reaching rock bottom for the fifth time, guilt swallowing you whole. pinterest.
( mia goth / female / she/her ) — ANNALISE 'LIS' HALSTEAD has been living in Port Leiry for HER WHOLE LIFE. They currently work as a STORE ASSISTANT AT EARSHOT RECORDS, and are 23 years old. No one is sure if they’re actually a HUNTER or if they’re connected to THE BROTHERHOOD. They tend to be quite IMPULSIVE and IRRATIONAL, but can also be PROTECTIVE and DETERMINED. — ( dani / gmt / she/her / 29 / n/a )
Name: Annalise 'Lis' Halstead
Occupation: Hunter Store Assistant @ Earshot Records
Age:Â 23
Sexuality: Bisexual
Species: Hunter
Clan/Pack/Coven?:Â The Brotherhood
Hometown: Port Leiry
Relationship Status: Single
Personality Traits: Volatile, Reckless, Impulsive, Irrational, Protective, Adaptable, Loner, Instinctual, Determined.
Important Headcanons:
Abandonment & Loss
Swap Our Places
Biography:
The Halstead's have been Hunters for generations upon generations. There was never a doubt in the world that that would be what Annalise trained for and became. She started training at a young age, the same age as her sister before her, and her brother before that. It was something she enjoyed, something she was finally good at but it all came to a striking stop when she was 15.
The day her mother and father came home without her brother by their side, Annalise immediately knew something was wrong. Her mother looked sick, like she hadn't stopped crying and her father... well, he looked like he always did; never giving away a single emotion. Hardened. He told them, without much empathy, that their brother was dead. Killed during a hunt. No questions were answered, and it was left at that. It couldn't be talked about without their mother shutting down completely and so they didn't talk about it. The two sisters were immediately pulled out of training, the parents not wanting to risk the lives of their daughters; after all, how could they survive if he didn't? Lis' older sister didn't much mind, she wasn't the type for hunting. Far too involved in herself to care for much else. Annalise was furious.
Rage filled her, and it hasn't left since that day. Angry at her father for stopping her training, angry at her brother for dying and leaving her, angry at whatever creature killed him ( read: angry at all creatures until she finds the one responsible ). If you don't anger Annalise, hell must be freezing over. When she turned 18, she went straight back to The Brotherhood. The decision was hers now; she was an adult, and she resumed her training, finally earning her tattoo, which she displays proudly along her forearm.
In 2024, her brother returned, changed. He was a vampire, and whilst angry that he had cut himself out of their lives for so long, it was understandable. As time went on, she understood more and more, until it crescendoed violently when their parents found out. Annalise uncovered their plan to put an end to Reid once and for all, and that, along with her quick spiral due to alcohol and substance abuse, led her to the only decision she thought she could come to.
Annalise Halstead murdered her parents. Her mother was never a target, meant to survive and have a second chance at life after being under her father's thumb her entire adult life, but a tussle at the top of the stairs between her and her father sent her mom tumbling down, hitting her head. Reid caught wind of her plan, but their mother wouldn't invite him in. He had to wait until she passed to cross the threshold, to see Annalise bleeding out on top of the father she was struggling to put a quick end to. He was going to die; it was just whether it was slow and painful or quick and painless. Reid delivered the finishing blow and healed her, then took her to their sister afterwards.
The next month is a blur. She stays at home, the family home where they died, barely surviving. Annalise is sent to rehab, undergoing therapy at the same time. When she returns, she is kept in The Brotherhood on the condition that her leash is very tight and she gets herself a job. She is currently saving to move out of the family home once again, something both she and her therapist decided she needed to do for her mental health. She wants to sell it, but she and Rose both own it, and that would mean Rose sits and has a conversation with her. Something told her that wasn't happening. The guilt of what she had done eats her alive every day, but it's not that she regrets that her parents are dead - she regrets what she put her siblings through by doing it.
Wanted Plots:
Sister: Annalise's older sister. She was never interested in being a Hunter. This wasn't because she disagreed with it, in fact she agreed it just wasn't an aspiration of hers. She wanted desperately to live her own life and make her own decisions. And then her brother died. . . Every cloud, right? - ROSE HALSTEAD
Dead Brother: What if he wasn't dead? Older then Annalise by a good six-eight years, he was experienced. He was trained. The poster boy for The Hunters. The one you would least expect to die. So what if he didn't. . . well, depending on your definition. A wolf or vamp ( utp! ) got him. Turned him. Their parents would rather think of him as dead then think of him as one of them. - REID HALSTEAD
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"Invigorating is one word for it, and I suppose it is in small doses," Annalise replied with a chuckle, looking down at the vinyls that had been presented to her.
It was quite the odd selection, but she spotted something she'd at least listened to before. "Fleetwood Mac is always a go-to of mine. Songbird and The Chain specifically on that one make it worth it." Vinyl was expensive, she should know, but that particular record was one that she had in her own collection, and it probably got more time on the player than the rest of them.
"Oh?" She questions, head tilting as if she's some sort of curious creature before her eyes focus on the record in question. Then, as if a new idea occurs to her, she seems to be overtaken with sudden concern. "I've no money..."
It's said with a deep amount of shame, as if this is one of the most important moments of her life, a test that she's failed. And then, beneath the counter, she spies a look at herself. Fully with shape. Knowable. Percieved. It is not the abstract horror of previous existence. She smiles.
"I shall have to come back." She says earnestly. "I will be back."
Yes. Later - she will have to come back later. She pulls sharply away from the counter, and with a polite nodding bow, she dips away, and out the door.
The club lights shone down on her as she danced in the club, not known for its catering to those who didn't drink alcohol. Lucky for her, she wasn't so worried about keeping her sobriety like the pesky little blonde she had locked safely away. It was annoying that she couldn't make it easy for herself and kill the little hunter, but she was safely locked away, and this was her life now. She was Annalise; she had a hot body, a stable job, and a home of her own. Somewhere to belong.
"You're a pretty little thing," Annalise spoke, looking over the other, "Dance with me." Or leave, this wasn't the place to sit back and hide in the shadows. She remembered AJ, the memories of the girl now her own, remembers the escape he gave her when she needed it most. What would it take to get back to that?
There's a shimmer in the dark space between her and the guest. Apsara (for she is Apsara) has sat for sometime now since this foundling was delivered.
It's always sad, when their kind have trouble doing what must be done. So attached to the original, to a fear of... imperfection ... that they cannot bring themselves to affect the necessary change - the violence required for freedom.
"You're safe here," she says to the stirring woman, eyes casting over her. It will be cold here, enough to keep her sluggish and for the strange haze of this dreamlike space between spaces to keep a grasp on her flighty tendencies.
"I adored your recommendations at the store," she says, as if this is just another meeting about town. "I found The Chain quite evocative."
Annalise jumped at the sound of another voice cutting through the silence. A silence she'd been left with for days, once she realised that no one could hear her screams for help. She was tired, scrambling backwards as she stirred until her back hit the cold of the cave wall.
"I'm not safe, I'm trapped." The blonde spat, eyes narrowing as she looked over Apsara. "Who are you? Did you do this? Trap me here?" She didn't remember seeing her, but her memory was hazy, foggy at best. All Annalise could remember was staring at someone who looked just like her before passing out.
She hears the escape of breath, notices the relaxation of shoulders. All such human things. Things she doesn't remember experiencing herself, but things she's been around with enough time to mimic. And isn't that the truth of things? Of all things Daniella remembers and knows from centuries, the act of being alive is lost on her. She doesn't remember when she last had been, perhaps before she had become an animal. An animal who became more a monster of use with time. She was useful. A creature cloaked in shadow that could at least help those around herself. And now even that was questionable.
"I suppose I could, yes. Maybe a deeper part of me just fears the thought of trust. Very few earn that of me. Least of all little hunters that try to stab through my heart." She gives a wry smile at the tease of their initial meeting. And hadn't violence been how she had become attached to this family? All she had left was for the middle of the three to kick her, or ram a pipe through her gut and the circle would be complete. It amuses her greatly, though she doubts Rose would stay around her long enough to do such things.
The smile on Lis' face falters, and she knows she hit something she hadn't meant to. "It's why we must focus on the positives, hmm? I get to be here, with you, now. That is all that matters. You are alive and breathing and that is the most important thing. Now tell me littlest Halstead, what is the most popular band or musician as of late? It's a hobby of mine to stay attached to popularity in music for the time. I once saw Buddy Holly at a club. God that was in…nineteen - fifty eight..about, I think. Never saw the great appeal." She gives her a playful wink, hoping her dating herself will cause an uptick of the mood.
"Oh, how times have changed." Annalise mused, smirking at Daniella. Sure, if a vampire approached her that she didn't know, she would get ready to fight should she need to, but there were many on her roster of friends now, many Lis wouldn't raise a weapon to unless it was her or them. Violence seemed to be what the Halstead's were known for, and Rose held that mantle too, even if she hadn't made a move to be considered so.
"And when my brother loses his sisters, Anika, all those other mortals he cares for? What will be left of him?" She murmured the question, chewing on her lower lip as she looked down at the floor, pondering what Reid would look like in the future. Lis had made her peace with death - she had been ready to die the day she murdered her parents, but the curse of living forever had to catch up with someone eventually.
Annalise let out a little chuckle, shrugging her shoulders. "I don't keep up with much, honestly. I'm more of a nineties music kind of girl, but I have some stuff on a 'new' display that might just show you so you can keep up with the times."
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It wasn't his best showing as a hunter, to be certain. Lis' shock is something to be expected. Cameron had never once been an impulsive man, acting on emotion rather than carefully planned hunts. It was the emotion blinding him to what he had truly walked into. And now that feeling has all but faded for the woman who now lay in a coma in the hospital. He thinks it both interesting and embarrassing, now, and has once again sworn off of connection of that type. Not out of fear of it happening again, but knowing that it is the best way to conduct his vampiric life. He must avoid disaster once more.
"Yes." He answers with a pause, the word slowly slithering out from between his teeth. "Unfortunately, I do make mistakes when I care for people, and that certainly.. was a mistake." He might laugh here, if he were a different person. Instead the sentence lingers.
"One day at a time is what we must all do." Cam nods, his hands finding the pockets of his thicker jacket - appearances must be made, after all. "I see the job seems to be working out." A quick nod of his head towards Earshot, the muscles in his lips twitching to a slight smile. "You know if you need anything, you can just call me. I know your brother is no longer in town, so."
He cannot be a replacement brother, but he - at the very least - can help keep an eye on her until he's able or willing to return. "You've got a safe place to live, yes?" She should know that he means because of monsters after hunters, because of other hunters who might have it out for the Halsteads, or the weather or what lurks within it.
She gave a half-smile at his confession, but it was understandable. When Reid had been in danger, and she saw red, she didn't think through her decision of what she was doing. Reid had to come and save her; her sister now no longer talked to her... Things were a lot different now, but even now, she wasn't sure she'd consider it a mistake.
"Oh, yeah, for sure. The owner's pretty good with me, and the other workers, too. They're good at covering for me when I need to leave for therapy or whatever." Annalise shrugged, looking back at Cam again. "No, he is not." She replied, tight-lipped, but she managed a smile nevertheless. "Thanks, Cam. You too, you know that."
Lis would be a hypocrite if she didn't stick by people like Cam when she had defended Reid so much. Cam was important to her, had always helped her when she'd needed it; she would help him if he ever needed it.
"Safe as can be, and not many people know where I live right now. It's new, and I've chosen to keep that information close to the chest." There were many people that she wasn't sure if she could trust anymore, and The Brotherhood were right up there. "Is there anything you need, Cam? That I can do?"
Althea waves the apologies off - it's nice to hear, sure, yeah. But she doesn't expect it from others, even though she is grateful. Who else would understand that type of grief other than a fellow hunter? She wonders, briefly, if she'd kept with the Brotherhood way of life, would she still be here mourning a different mentor?
Would Murph still be someone she grieved and feared in equal measure, or simply just missed like she does with Heron?
She's pulled out of her thoughts by Lis up and naming the woman she'd casually mentioned, and can't help but bark out a laugh. "Yeah, Anika. I know things went to shit with her, so we didn't have a whole lot of time to catch up before she shipped out. You close with her, too?" She leans forward, then more amusement on her features than apprehension.
That was a question that Annalise truly didn't know the answer to. She had met Anika when she first rolled into town. The next thing she knew, the woman was her big brother's girlfriend, and everything else was a blur, considering her own rapid spiral. All she knew now was that Anika was the person Reid left town for, and Lis and Rose weren't enough to have him stay.
"Her boyfriend is my brother. I met her when she first came to Port Leiry. She seemed cool enough, but we were each going through our own shit. Didn't really get the chance to bond with her or anything." Lis shrugged, looking over at Althea to see what the reaction might be.
She missed her brother, but she'd be foolish if she blamed Anika for taking him away. He was a big boy who made his own decisions; if he didn't want to leave town, to leave his sisters again, he wouldn't have done.
She reaches into a bundle in the back of the van, taking a break from her juggling of jugs, and slips something from inside of it, handling it over to Lis. "Here." It's a machete, not an axe. "More edge than an axe."
When Lis helps her find the word, she smiles, clicking her tongue and pointing a finger. "Spray."
She slides out of the van, pulling the jug along with her, turning to hitch it into a harness. "We hike." Shouldering the harnessed sprayer, she does a quick pat down to make sure she's got her things. "Can't drive in much further from here, and I definitely don't want to get the wheels stuck in a snowbank. Besides, it's a lovely time of year for hiking, yeah?"
That last bit is purposefully smart-assed, and she gently knuckles Lis on the shoulder as she trudges past her and into the darker parts of the woods.
The blonde grinned as the blade was handed to her, looking it over, "Definitely more my style, thanks." Her weapons were harnessed, her tools strapped to her so they weren't knocked out of her hands when the fight went down.
"Oh, so lovely." At least they were bundled up as much as they could be as they started the hike into the woods. It was bitingly cold, the wind whipping through the trees to lash out at them through any gap it could reach them from. Annalise hoped that this storm would pass soon; she didn't do well with the cold at all, and it only made their job harder.
"Have you gone up against them before? You seem pretty knowledgeable." Or perhaps it was all the training she'd missed out on that was to blame for her obvious lack of knowledge.
The pads of her thumbs whitened as she pushed them against the mirror, testing the strength of the glass before landing a punch that cracked and bloodied knuckles.
Trapped.
She was trapped, able to see out sometimes, momentarily, but only in glimpses. In reflections. Not enough, no way to communicate, no matter how loud she screamed.
Watching, waiting. Waiting, watching. A game was played even if not all the players were aware of their part, and those players were losing. Familiarity set in with the movements - home, work, therapy, home. It rarely changed, but the routine - or lack thereof - before Annalise smashed her life to pieces was intoxicating. The guilt and remorse now exuded from the hunter in droves, and even her therapy couldn't save her from the ones that latched on.
She almost made it too easy, but there were always holes in a plan - things that aren't anticipated. Watching only shows so much.
The guilt she feels is overwhelming; it links them, and it can't kill her. The guilt of killing her added to what was already felt would finish it off; the whole plan would fall apart. No, killing her was no longer an option.
The blonde was taken, moved to a cave in a labyrinth of caves beneath the lake, where she wouldn't be found. Magic bound her to sleep, where she would be trapped in a world similar to her own, but missing all the main components.
The transformation was complete. She was alive, like she had never felt before. Taking the hunter's phone, putting in her earbuds, she pressed play as she walked through the frozen-over town, blonde hair messying in the wind. It was time to live, experience what it was truly like to belong. Annalise had belonged before, felt the most sense of belonging when partying with friends who she felt needed her, even if the little human couldn't see that she was being used. Now, though, she didn't mind. It was the experience she craved; she didn't care what that experience was. Anything to make her forget the blonde trapped in the caves so that the guilt wouldn't keep trying to eat her alive.
Cameron waits. He is a patient man, and simply allows people to process and move on their own time. He's methodical in the way he speaks and moves, and often it leads to people misunderstanding his quiet nature or who he truly is. Lis will speak or ask questions when she is ready.
When she does, he offers the tense, guarded smile that goes away just as quickly as it comes. "I made the terrible decision to conduct a hunt on a man who had fed on someone I cared for. It was a miscalculation and an accident." His shoulders come up into a shrug. "Now here I am." If she puts the pieces together based on that sparse information, then that is up to her. As far as Cam knows or can guess - it is not up to him to tell people that Reid is his sire.
They'll run into each other again, he's sure of it.
"I'm doing well. Adjusting wasn't the easiest, but I have a handle on the feeding schedule now." The snow begins to fall again - slow, thick flakes drift down on them. "What about you? How are you adjusting to this new normal?" It's obvious he does not mean the weather, but everything else that's happened in the time they've not spoken.
"You underestimated him?" Annalise asked, almost shocked. As long as she had known him, Cam had always been meticulous in every plan. Though she supposed if it had been one fuelled by emotions, then the variables shifted, and it wasn't often that those variables moved to the humans' favour.
Still, she was glad to hear that he was doing well. It was becoming commonplace - people she cared about were vampires. Whether they had been them when she met them, or had been turned at some point along the way, it seemed it was almost inevitable.
"One day at a time." She answered truthfully, plastering on a small smile for Cam. "I came back to that house, found a check with my name on it, and moved out. Got a job again, so I'm just... Taking it as it comes." Annalise doubted her siblings would ever truly forgive her for what she had done, but Reid seemed to at least show some understanding as to why she had to do it.
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Althea shakes her head at the question, and thanks the bartender with as much tip as she can muster, pulling the glass close to her chest and cradling it. After a sip, she lets out a sigh, "Nah. Just making conversation or whatever." She's not so much tapped in on Brotherhood business anymore, not since Boston - but the name Annalise does ding that little bell in the back of her mind.
Some story about.. family, or something? She doesn't wanna call attention to it or make her feel like shit about something that probably is just a whole bunch of horseshit, so she just nurses her drink for a few more sips.
"Not that I'm doing much talking, sorry." She offers a crooked little smile, "Port Leiry's been doing my fucking head in, making me feel crazy, like I forget how to talk to people 'n shit." Her accent hasn't loosened up since she's been here, though. "Came around here to meet up with my mentor, she fuckin' died. Met an old buddy I knew back in Boston, and she just up and left with her dude man.. boyfriend, thing. Never met him, though. So now I'm, like, figuring shit out."
She lifts the drink, as if to say: this is how I'm doing that. "Feel like Sweetwater's here to just help us forget the bullshit we deal with."
She lets the other talk, or rather, sit in silence for a few moments until she finds her voice again. Annalise nurses her utterly depressing Coke that was missing the burn of vodka or rum, but that's what being sober meant. It was her least favourite bit, sitting in bars and not ordering alcohol; the toughest bit, too, but she had to test herself. If she couldn't handle it on her good days, she had no hope on the bad ones.
"Sorry about your mentor." Annalise offered, glancing over the other again. No, she definitely didn't recognise Althea, but that was no longer a bad thing. She found herself longing to be around people who didn't know who she was or what she may or may not have done. The comment about the friend leaving had her brow furrowing, tilting her head in thought. Lis was sure people came and went from Port Leiry all the time, but a woman who hadn't been in town her entire life just upping and leaving with her boyfriend was certainly familiar. "Are you talking about Anika?"
She scoffed at the talk of Sweetwater helping them forget. If anything, it just put her more on edge, and she felt more eyes on her, but she was still a hunter. Still Brotherhood. That meant she belonged there as much as anyone else.
She shakes her head a little. "Annalise," she starts, a rare use of a full name. "you neither need to apologize or explain. I've never returned home. My home country, I commend your bravery for returning here. Wanting to prove you are strong enough to handle it on your own, for your own piece of mind is hardly something that I would fault you on." She offers a small smile, moving to leaning against the wall near the door for a moment, keeping distance from her scent and heart beat.
"I've tried therapy a few times over the years. It's a little tricky being as old as I am. I have to tend to warp the mind and then I never feel quite like I am getting the true experience. A sick part of me wants to see the shock and horror of hearing my true story. And another part wants to feel as if it is normal." She lets out a soft chuckle. "I'm glad though, that you have people, so never feel like I expect anything from you. We are fine. I am not hurt."
She finally starts to move, still giving space between the two as she starts paging through records. Watchful eyes flicker up to track the hunter once more a small smile on the vampire's lips. "I'd like that. Both of those things. I do get terribly lonely sometimes, and with the expiration dates on friends? It is always a pleasure to spend as much time as possible with them. I will miss you all very much one day in the future." Another small chuckle leaves her "Sorry, that was morbid, but the truth of some matters tend to be, as I'm sure you are aware."
A small sigh of relief escapes her at Daniella's understanding. She knew that she was bad at making friends, let alone keeping them. The vampire was one of the few that she would consider a friend, but Annalise hadn't had the capacity to focus on anyone other than herself on her return to Port Leiry. She had tried reaching out to Rose, but hadn't pushed there. She didn't have the energy to, and she couldn't fault her sister for not wanting anything to do with her.
"Could you not just compel them so that anything supernatural related, they forget as soon as you're out of their sight? So that you can get the true experience but not have to worry about the consequences of telling all your secrets?" Annalise had experienced the same and often thought about what she would do if she could compel. Therapy still worked for her very human problems, but she couldn't exactly tell her therapist that her brother was a vampire and she murdered her parents so that they wouldn't murder her undead brother. Some things she had to work through entirely alone, and they were the most difficult.
Talk of expiration dates faltered her plastered-on smile as she thought about how one day Reid would be without them all. There would be no Annalise, Annabelle, or Anika to keep him company - or in check - across the eternity he got. She hoped people like Ella would keep tabs on him, if he allowed it. "A lot of the truth of our lives is morbid." Too morbid to dwell on, at least for now.
Her mind's still wandering over the idea of bones. Of flesh and body. Of a life with meaning that isn't just some pale reflection of another's, the agony of being seen and yet unknown.
"Yes! The outdoors!" She smiles, wide and toothy and bright-faced. "Though the cold is invigorating isn't it? Step outside and you'll feel more alive than ever, no? Which of these would make me feel that way, hm?"
Apsara puts a selection of seemingly random vinyls on the countertop.
"Invigorating is one word for it, and I suppose it is in small doses," Annalise replied with a chuckle, looking down at the vinyls that had been presented to her.
It was quite the odd selection, but she spotted something she'd at least listened to before. "Fleetwood Mac is always a go-to of mine. Songbird and The Chain specifically on that one make it worth it." Vinyl was expensive, she should know, but that particular record was one that she had in her own collection, and it probably got more time on the player than the rest of them.
"Just wood yeah but a sledgehammer's just a sledgehammer, too." It's a cheeky aside, but she means it - and Annalise's tone doesn't betray flippancy so much as it does a learner remembering a lesson. Her tone goes reassuring, but also carries a hint of protective warning - "so give it a wide berth."
Her boots crunch in snow as she rounds the little vehicle, swinging the back doors open and rooting through the kit she's assembled from Sweetwater to bring along. "Herbicides should work well enough but we'll need to get it mad enough to show it's roots, which - you know. Also dangerous. Heard they like to tangle you up and bury you under, use you for food for a few months. Nastiness."
She pulls a jug out - an ugly, white plastic thing carrying something that you could buy at any old hardware store - because sometimes the simple truth was that chemicals kill things. The magic might travel to another tree, but that's for witches to dispel; they're just trying to keep the trees from getting angry at hikers.
Tipping it, she pours the stuff into a set of reusable shells. "These'll, uh, what's the word? Uh..." She pantomimes with her hand; "bryzgi... couvre... er, you know, hose it down. Like a gas." Too many languages in her head.
"Point taken." She murmured in reply, nodding at the warning. Annalise was taking this seriously, even if she seemed somewhat lost. Her goal had always been to protect people, and if there was anything that put that at risk, she would do what she needed to do. The Brotherhood just didn't like that logic when it was flipped around onto them, too.
Annalise hadn't thought of it using its roots to take them down; it seemed she had underestimated just how dangerous a sentient tree could be, but the more she learned now, the more prepared she'd be once they reached their target. "Do you have any axes? They'd be good for if a root did get hold of one of us, or a branch came swinging." If you could chop off parts of the monster trying to take you out, it would only help, and she'd always wanted to swing an axe at a monster.
"Spray?" She offered a suggestion, though she didn't really need to. Lis understood what Aelita was getting at enough with the gestures and explanation. "What's the plan for getting there, and the approach?"
It'd been a long, long time since she stepped foot into the Sweetwater. A couple of months? Hard to keep track of things since that one fuckin' full moon. A lot of things in Port Leiry seem to go tits up, and she knows she should have listened to Anika when she said to get the hell out of dodge. But she's here now, stuck in a never-fuckin'-ending blizzard hunting down something she can barely call a lead.
So, whatever, Sweetwater for drinks on a day off from tearing her hair out.
She slides next to the other blonde, and calls the bartender over for something strong. "Haven't seen you around in a minute." She's familiar, but not familiar enough for a name. "Althea - Fellowship."
Sweetwater wasn't a place she belonged anymore, or at least that's what Annalise felt like. She walked in, and she could swear she felt eyes on her instantly, but she tried to ignore them. She was Brotherhood; she had as much right to be there as any other hunter. Taking a deep breath, Lis took a seat at the bar and ordered a drink. She wasn't refused, so that was a plus.
Not even ten minutes later, she was approached, jaw clenched as she prepared for the worst, but it hadn't come yet. The other was familiar, but a name couldn't be put to the face.
"Annalise - Brotherhood." She answered in turn, still a little bit suspicious of the stranger approaching. "Can I help you?"
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It feels good to laugh. With the storm being so bad, most of her interactions this week had been with delivery drivers. “Well I’ll pay for the vinyl but let’s start an account for the movies, if the weather insists on being weird I will probably end up back here for another round.”
She fumbles around in her satchel for her wallet, “I’m Estrid by the way,” hand still digging, “Estrid Pike for the account.” She relays more of the information needed when asked. “Thank you for allowing me to crash in right before closing but I’ll leave you to your evening.” Who knew it would be so nice to run errands, she had seen a dumpling place down the street she thinks, so many stores had been closed because of the storm but eating out sounded nice after being cooped up for so long.
"I can imagine you will be." Annalise chuckled, tapping away at the keyboard as she created an account for the new customer. After she'd scanned the items in, she handed Estrid a plastic card that had printed off with the Earshot Records logo displayed and her name, as well as a leaflet that had the explanation of renting, returns, and extensions. "Try to remember to bring that with you when you're returning stuff, or want to rent new. We can return without it, we can just pull you up in the system, but you can't rent again without it. Policy to make sure we're not renting items to randoms giving customer names."
"Oh, it's absolutely fine, don't worry about it. As mentioned, today's close is earlier than usual. I apologise for that. I'm Annalise, and it certainly sounds like I'll be seeing you again." The blonde chuckled, passing the items over to the other.
"Lis!" Aelita chirps in warm response, practically skipping now that she has something to do that isnt pushups or playing with guns.
"Bug hunt!" She replies with a nod, sliding the side of the panel van open and climbing in the back. "Well, sort of."
She tosses a bandolier to her compatriot, one loaded with kit that all fits a certain purpose-making fire. "You ever have a run-in with an ent? Old world is silly with them, and it sounds like, what with all of this," she motions around them, to the city that, now, seemingly won't let anyone leave "old things are waking up."
Bandolier caught in one hand, she tosses it over her frame before checking it over. Aelita was more than competent, and Lis trusted her, but it was always best to check your kit so you didn't end up completely fucked later down the road.
The enthusiasm was enough to hurt her head, but she had to play ball - she had no doubt that the confident hunter would be reporting back to Aurelia on her every move, so she grinned and bore it.
"No," she admitted, but she had heard enough about them and done her research. "Trees, crushing blows, poison vines, whatever they need to defend their territory if they've absorbed enough energy. Fire will fuck them up, though. They're just wood." Annalise wasn't downplaying their danger, just stating the obvious. If they got close enough with a flamethrower, she was sure that would likely be it for the tree - but then you risked a forest fire, harming more in the long run than just the ent you were hunting.
"Do we have any of the more reliable methods on hand?" That was where her knowledge lacked; she knew that weapons had been developed against them, ones that would be classed as more humane than fire, but she'd never had to ask for them.
