cala cant be arsed to sign in
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Post by cala cant be arsed to sign in on May 13, 2008 3:44:01 GMT -5
Rain pattered softly on the leather shell of the Corvette, painting the scenery outside a dull grey color. For the first time in about a month, the windows on both the passenger and driver’s side were up. Abigail felt oddly confined in the small interior of the car, so she curled up and slept in the passenger seat. If there had been a back seat, she might have lain there or at least reclined.
Getting a car with only two seats was her idea, she reminded herself venemously, curling up and trying to find a comfortable position where her neck wouldn't kink as she slept. The soft sound of the rain lulled her to sleep sooner than she would have thought, but at least it dissolved her nerves.
She was so deep asleep that she didn't notice that the car had stopped and remained that way for a long time. Somewhere in her subconscious, however, she noticed that the smooth sound of the wheels over the road had subsided. Abigail stirred slightly.
The door to the driver's side opened, and a dark-haired woman climbed into the seat. She threw the newspaper at her sleeping counterpart, who jerked awake at once and clutched the thing that had landed in her lap.
“Mmph?” She inquired, blinking groggily down at the headline.
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cala really needs to sign in
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Post by cala really needs to sign in on May 13, 2008 4:39:59 GMT -5
It took her a few moments to re-aquire the ability to read, and then she added, “Dead nuns?”
“Yeah, the town about five miles from here. Argonia.”
Abigail read through the story quickly, then tucked the paper into the hanging pocket that served as a glove compartment.
“Do tell me how that turns out, will you Anna?”
Anna looked at her, annoyed. “As soon as you tell me why you're object to helping.”
“Well. You know. Me and hallowed ground... I don’t particularly like the stomach aches and vomitting.” She shrugged, squirming in her seat slightly and trying to find that comfortable spot again. “And you’re dripping on the upholstery.”
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cala is going to sign in
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Post by cala is going to sign in on May 13, 2008 5:11:18 GMT -5
Anna shot the darker-haired woman a dirty, exasperated look. "'s a bloody car, Abby, it'll be fine. I, on the other hand, 'm not in the mood to get a cold."
Abby looked offended and stroked the inside of the door affectionately. "S'okay, baby," she crooned, "You ignore the mean Aussie." Then she directed her words to Anna, "You never catch a cold anyway, what're you complaining about?"
"Never been to Kansas before, that's quite possibly why 've never caught cold. It's freezing out there," Anna retorted, starting the engine and waiting for it to warm up. For a moment, they sat there in silence.
Abby caught the sound of the rattle underneath the hood and leaned back into her seat. "D'you think Argonia has a good mechanic?"
"'ow the bloody hell should I know?" Anna waited another moment, before putting it in drive and leaving the little gas station where they had been stopped.
"Well, if you're going to be rude to her you can just pull over and let me drive." Abby feels like sticking her tongue out at the other girl, but resists. Besides, she's too sleepy anyway. She stretches and yawns.
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Post by caladwen on May 13, 2008 6:05:11 GMT -5
"I am not going out in the rain again, Abby," Anna said calmly, stretching her fingers lazily across the wheel. "I loved it as a kid, but I'm wearin' white righ'now."
Abby rolled her eyes, chuckling slightly. "Fine, you win. But if anything goes wrong you are so totally fixing it. Or at least paying for it to be fixed." Anna snorted, only half of her attention on the road. Not that it mattered, really, on back country roads like this. There never was a car coming in the opposite direction, no matter what state you were in. Abby liked it.
In fact, she really wanted to roll her window down. But the upholstery. Again, she refrained. Feeling vaguely as though she should be pacing, she played with the dial on the radio, but was met with nothing but white noise.
"Doesn' work," Anna said automatically, "Hasn' for some time now."
"Probably the rain," Abby nodded, sighing and shifting again. Any moment now Anna was going to snap at her, but she couldn't keep still. She kept folding her legs and unfolding them, crossing them and uncrossing them, sliding on the leather that covered the seats and making it crack.
"Okay Roxy," She grinned slightly as she saw Anna's fingers tighten on the wheel, "Maybe you can stand being shut up like this, but I've got to walk around a bit. You don't have to get out," she added hastily. "Just let me. Please?" It was her car, and she felt a bit indignant having to ask, but Anna was in a bad mood for some reason Abby probably didn't want to know.
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Post by caladwen on May 13, 2008 7:31:34 GMT -5
She was relieved when the car slowed to a stop and angled towards the curb. It was pointless, but Anna knew that Abby would kill her if she so much as scratched the new paint job she'd just finished purchasing.
Abby threw the passenger side door open and stepped out into the gentle onslaught of rain, closing the door behind her quickly to avoid getting the interior wet. She walked around in circles for a bit, turning her face up into the rain every once and a while, breathing and wishing that it wasn’t raining so they could put the top down again.
Glancing back toward the car, she noticed Anna eyeing her impatiently. She wanted to get going, Abby knew, but she was sure that if she spent one more minute in that seat she was going to scream. Instead of climbing back into the passenger seat, however, she walked around the back of the Corvette and opened the driver's side door.
Anna shot her an annoyed expression that was more tense than anything. “What?”
“You don't have to get out. Just climb over the console. I swear if I have to sit in that seat for one more mile I’m going to scream.” The other girl raised an eyebrow, before climbing over the center console and settling herself in the passenger seat and crossing her arms over her chest. Her right leg crossed over her left above the knee, and her foot tapped in the air impatiently.
Grinning, Abby climbed into the driver’s seat, dripping more onto it than Anna ever had. She still regretted not having the freedom of the wind, but at least driving gave her something to do other than look at the trees and the neverending fields of cows. Oddly enough, she had expected Kansas to be more... flat, more brown.
“Thanks,” she said, kicking the gear back into drive and angling back up onto the road.
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Post by caladwen on May 13, 2008 19:40:01 GMT -5
They drove for a while in silence, each of them leaving the other to her own devices and occupying themselves with thoughts of their own. Anna kept reading over the story in the newspaper, no doubt trying to discern what might be killing the nuns. Abby knew that she was psyching herself up for the hunt. Which, in retrospect, might have been why she had been in such a mood. The closer they got to their destination, the more Abby’s skin crawled. It was like there was an itch just below the surface of her skin that she couldn’t reach. She knew it was no use, but she kept rolling her shoulders and scratching at her arms to get the feeling to go away. How many damn churches could one little town have? This became evident, however, as they got closer and closer to the city limits. Before they even got to the sign, there was a church off to the right of the road. It didn’t really look like a church, more like a regular, mud-brown building, but there was a cross mounted on the highest point. It made Abby shiver. “I really don’t like this place,” she commented, breaking the silence. “We aren’t even there yet. How do you know you don’t like it?” Abby nodded out of the windshield at the little building. “That’s the point. We aren’t even there yet and there’s a church.” “It’s not all that uncommon, you know. Small town America, and all that.” Anna shrugged, and he foot continued it's methodical tapping. “Yes, well. It still makes my skin crawl.” she shuddered to illustrate the point. “I think you're going to be the one that’s going after this thing. I’ll do the research.” Anna nodded, and Abby returned her attention to the road, ignoring the strange itchy feeling as well as she could. “‘Welcome to Argonia, Kansas. Population: 534’,” Anna read the sign as they passed. “To answer your earlier question, no. I don't think they’ll have a mechanic that specializes in Stingrays.” “Damn. How far are we from the nearest major city?” Abby didn’t know anything about cars, besides how to drive them and perhaps change a tire if she absolutely had to, but she knew that the rattling issuing from under the sky-blue hood didn’t sound healthy. Anna dug through the numerous papers and guidebooks sticking up from the hanging pocket and retrieved the atlas. “I'd say about... three, four hours? Wellington, Kansas, population 8,687. Might have some luck there...” “Mm,” The small, squat buildings that made up the downtown area of Argonia started to roll past the windows. There were several little odd shops, family-owned by the look of them, and a few people with umbrellas were walking down the rain-slicked sidewalk. They passed another car every once and again. Abby even caught a few people staring at their car, which made her grin smugly. “I need to take her in for a tune-up.” “Didn’t you just get her out of the shop?” Anna sounded amused. “Well, yes, but that was for new paint. I didn’t think to have them check everything else..." Abby frowned as Anna snickered from the passenger seat. “Oh shush,” she added for good measure, returning to the observation of the small town. ((I didn't tweak Anna's speaking here, so you'll have to do that. But I was eager to get it posted up for you, even though I now don't know where to go. ))
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Post by caladwen on May 16, 2008 5:11:17 GMT -5
“Speaking of,” Anna said, smirk fading. Abby followed her gaze across the street, where it lighted on a long black four-door parked on the curb. It looked completely out of place, but well taken-care-of, though there was a thin layer of dirt on it that somehow looked like it belonged there.
“Hm,” Abby said, eyeing the car, “Do you think they might have a mechanic here after all? That thing’s got to be older that this.” She patted the armrest affectionately.
“Dunno. Doubt it. Looks like its more well-used than any other cars here.” Anna gestered around at the others parked in front of and behind the mystery car, which were all varying shades of silver, red, and blue and looked like they hadn’t ever been really broken in.
Abby shrugged. “I’ll check the phone book tonight.”
“In the meantime, we need to do some digging, no?” Anna pulled out the newspaper again, smoothing it in her lap.
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