Under a blood red sky

The fair chaos was over and gone. Ana had been able to breathe a sigh of relief. She had managed to say goodbye to the people she had worked and lived beside before the fair left, wishing them luck. It really hadn't been their fault that the fair had been camped too close to a vile influence. Then she went back to her trailer and slept. A lot.

Now she had other concerns, the least of which was hunting for the demon that cursed her. What she really needed was a job. Her work visa was still good, and would be for some time to come thanks to the efforts of her connections, and she had enough saved up to last her for a little while, but she would like to have another source of income before that was exhausted.

It was growing colder, but she was used to this sort of weather. She knew how to dress for it with the fact that she would have to walk everywhere in mind. A newspaper was bought and she made her way to a nearby coffee shop for something to warm her up as she looked through the employment section of the want ads.

Everything was out of control and Ana felt helpless to stop it. On top of that she felt like she was the only one trying to do anything about all of the chaos. What was worse was having to creep around and go against the people she had worked with, lived with for months. These people had been like family to her since she came to America, and now she didn't even recognize them for as much as they were encouraging the victims onto the rides, winning the demonic prizes, all of it. Ana just did what she could to redirect people and intervene as safely as possible.

She was wandering the midway having just managed to bump into a player at one of the games making him lose when she caught sight of someone she'd seen before. He'd been here at least twice that she knew of. Neither time had she been able to get near him, but this time she was planning on changing that.

She pushed her way through a sudden knot of teenagers that seemed to have come from nowhere, her jaw set and her lips tightened together stubbornly. Once she was through she practically had to jog to catch up with the guy. Damn he was tall and could move like the wind itself apparently! When she finally did reach him, she grabbed a hold of his arm and dug her feet in to stop them.

"Don't you think twice is enough or do you want to get a full taste of everything the fair has to offer? I wouldn't recommend it. For sanity's sake."

Carr had returned to the fair, hoping to see Molly, or the friend she'd recommended who might be able to give him a job. And it had nothing to do with the appeal of more funnel cake, nope, not at all. Having seen most of the sights - and been vaguely unsettled by a few of them - he'd jumped on the Tunnel of Love. Cheesy, and it wasn't like he had anyone to share the ride with.

It seems that didn't matter, though; just as he passed into the Tunnel, the slightly sleazy guy had helped someone else into the car beside him. Awkwardly swallowing his bite of funnel cake, Carr glanced over at his new companion.

"Uh, hi," he mumbled.

This form wasn't her favorite to be wandering in. It was vulnerable, small and sometimes some do-gooder tried to catch her and give her a nice home. But when it came to scouting out a new territory inconspicuously she couldn't do better than as a little black alley cat. The same reasons she didn't prefer this form were the same reasons that made it the best choice for learning her new location.

There were more than a few scents in this town that put her fur on edge. Some made her growl and want to hiss before avoiding the area entirely, while others just made her even more curious. She made a note of the locations she wanted to know more about such as the people who lived there with the plan to come back later, preferably when she didn't have to keep track of where she'd left the dufflebag containing her clothing.

Right now she was padding quietly down a sidewalk near an apartment building. Some local dog picked up her scent and set off barking making her startle before flattening her ears. She couldn't be sure the stupid thing wasn't off the leash so she jumped up onto the nearest vehicle just in case.

So this was York. Quaint. It smelled clean with a crisp edge of Autumn in the air. The people she'd seen so far looked perhaps a tad nervous, but not paranoid or overly scared. But something about the place put her fur backwards. Made her want to back herself into a corner and growl. The rumors hadn't exaggerated then.

Since she would be staying on once the fair left Ana was the shill tonight, the wanderer through the fair grounds keeping an eye out for trouble and playing the occasional game where she'd win to make it look easy and draw in more marks. She moved through the early crowd with her eyes scanning around but instead of looking interested, carefree and having a good time she looked suspicious.

It wasn't entirely inconspicuous but that was hard to pull off in a small town where everyone probably knew everyone else so she didn't worry about it. What she was looking for were people as edgy as she was, possibly standing out. She'd like some information on this place before she set up stakes with her trailer.