Justin Hale
[Hey I remembered to make a Nightmares roll at the beginning of the scene when I'm supposed to!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )
Justin Hale
Summer
was typically a big time for remodeling and new construction on college
campuses. With fewer students to get in the way, the building and
landscaping crews inevitably rolled in. One such landscaping crew bore
the title Green Landscapes on the sides of their trucks. Today
they'd been working on planting new trees along the edge of the grass
lawn at the campus entrance. It was a small crew: just four guys and
and an older (middle aged) woman. They finished up around seven and
began to pack up their supplies and equipment into the backs of the
trucks. One of the trucks drove away shortly after, leaving the second
truck parked on the sidewalk with bags full of soil and mulch loaded
into its bed.
Of the three workers who'd stuck around, two of them
were currently chatting up a couple of female students who'd been
playing frisbee in the grass. The third was lying stretched out on his
back on one of the stone benches, catching what little shade he could
find beneath the branches of a nearby tree. His eyes were shut, and his
arms were folded beneath his head. Patches of sweat marked his white
t-shirt, and his jeans were covered in a film of dirt and grass stains,
with one knee torn open.
He looked tired, but not really asleep. Resting.
Grace Evans
Grace
was a bit of a misnomer, really. Somewhere along her life, she'd
forgotten how grace was supposed to look, and instead went with what
felt right. Today, she walked through campus on her way back from the
library, and she looked somewhat defeated. Under her eyes, dark circles
betrayed a lack of sleep, and her expression -- even while walking --
said that she was in deep thought.
She caught notice of the new
trees, but they didn't seem to excite her much. No, she was looking for
something other than trees. And couldn't find it.
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 5) ( fail )
Justin Hale
[Awareness?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )
Justin Hale
Whatever
Grace was looking for, the man on the bench may or may not have been
able to help. But whether or not he had any answers for her (or indeed,
if the answers he had would ever be useful,) her presence certainly
didn't go unnoticed. The nearer she drew, the more prominent her small,
flickering note of shifting resonance became, until finally Justin
opened his eyes and rolled his head to one side, searching for the
resonance's source. When his eyes (a murky shade of hazel: grey with
amber hues when the sun hit them, a sort of colorless brown the rest of
the time) landed on Grace, he watched her for a moment before pushing up
to a sitting position.
"You look a bit lost," he greeted.
Grace Evans
"Huh?"
she said, stopping short before the bench. Being pulled out of her
musing so abruptly by a stranger was a bit jarring. "Oh, um... I'm not
lost. I'm going home," she said, giving him a confused look. Lost?
She
wore her usual jeans and t-shirt combination, this one some sort of
stick-figure conversation in white on black, and a laptop bag was slung
over her shoulder.
Justin Hale
"Tired, then," he
corrected. The man (he looked about 23, though in actuality he was a
few years older) tilted his head lightly to one side as he looked at
her. A softly curious pose, and his gaze was neither overly direct nor
particularly flirtatious. But there was interest there, of another
sort. Perhaps that alone was enough to mark the moment as odd or
unwelcome, especially for someone who wasn't especially social.
"Sorry
if I bothered you. I was just curious. I haven't seen you before.
Are you..." he paused, letting his eyes shift away to make a quick scan
of their immediate surroundings. "... with anyone?"
And if the
answer to that question was no, then she likely had absolutely no idea
what he was talking about (and would, in fact, probably think he was
trying to pick her up.)
Grace Evans
Her face
looked like it was going through contortions, trying to figure out what
to express. Getting hit on while walking home was definitely not normal
in Grace's world. There was, granted, a bit a flattery, but also a bit
of fear (what was he after, really?), and her confusion level
skyrocketed.
"No. No I am not. Nor do I really wish to be going
out with anyone right now," she said, in a low, definitive tone. She
backed off, and switched her attention elsewhere, continuing her walk.
Justin Hale
"Oh,
wait, no..." Justin couldn't help the small eruption of awkward
laughter that welled up in his throat. Grace was already walking away,
but he shook his head quickly and got to his feet. "No, I didn't mean
that. I mean... I'm gay."
And maybe she was still walking away,
at this point, or maybe she'd pause long enough to let him finish
speaking. If not, he took a few slow, uncertain steps in her direction.
Wanting to talk, but not wishing to invade her space.
"I just wasn't sure if you knew... what you are?"
Grace Evans
She did stop and turn to look back at him at that one. "What I am?"
Her eyes slid sideways, with her eyebrows crooked up, as if to say, 'well, what else would I be?'
"I don't think I follow you, sorry."
Justin Hale
[Per+Subterfuge - oh god, I think I just found an orphan]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 6, 8) ( success x 2 )
Justin Hale
Well.
That answered that question. But of course, now that they were
standing there, and Grace was giving him that look - like she maybe
thinking of having him committed - Justin didn't seem to know entirely
what to say. They were in public. Students drifted past them on the
sidewalk. His co-workers were still talking to those girls about 20
yards away.
There wasn't really much he could say here. And this... wasn't really something he'd ever had to do before.
"Ok,
I get that this seems really weird. I don't know you at all, and I
have no idea what you've been through lately. I just want you to know
that it's ok, and you're not crazy, and there are other people in Denver
who can help you, if you want it."
Justin Hale
[Edit: like she was maybe thinking of having him committed.]
Grace Evans
Well,
yes, it did seem really weird, but then... Her face softened when he
told her that it was okay, she wasn't crazy. Though, how could he know
that? "How... I mean... What do you mean by help?" She cocked her head,
still rather unsure of this guy. Maybe he was with a cult.
Justin Hale
He
stepped closer toward her, giving a quick look back to the two other
workers. They seemed to be getting ready to leave. When Justin looked
back at Grace, he met her eyes with a steady gaze and dropped his voice
to a softer register.
"With whatever it is you want to know.
About what you've seen, or felt, or done. I can feel it on you. Some
time you'll be able to feel it too. On me, and others. It's not a good
place to talk, but I can give you a number for someone... she may not
be what you need, but it's someone you can talk to. And she knows other
people." Justin reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone,
flipping through the contacts until he found the one he was looking
for.
"Do you have a phone on you?"
Grace Evans
"Yeah,"
she said, still kind of giving him the side-eye. But there was
something about the way he spoke. Like he was talking around a bigger
issue, perhaps. And that one sentence, 'I can feel it on you.', her eyes
widened at that.
She flung the laptop bag around to her front, and pulled her phone out, ready to take down a new contact.
Grace Evans
"What do you mean, you can feel it on me? What's it?" she asked, once she had it out.
Justin Hale
"You."
His voice softened again, barely a whisper now. And he leaned into
her space so she could hear it. "It's you. What you are. The mark you
make. It resonates."
Justin leaned back and let his
voice come back to a normal volume. "Her name is Serafine. And she
comes on a little strong, but she's a good person. You can trust her."
And here he read out the phone number in a quiet voice, waiting until
Grace had entered the numbers accurately before he continued. "Tell her
that Justin gave you the number."
Grace Evans
He
was still speaking in riddles, and trying to make sense of his words
was... trying. He was hinting. That much was obvious. But in asking
herself what, her heart raced. It was like she was on the edge of what
she'd been searching for, and he was playing his cards close to his
chest, whispering, speaking around the subject in low tones... It made
her almost want to strangle him. Tell me what you're getting at!
"Right, Justin. I'll.. um.. get in contact."
She, of course, started texting the new number immediately.
Justin Hale
"Yo, Justin... you coming?"
One
of the guys at the truck called out to him. Justin shot a look over
his shoulder and answered, "Yeah, just a sec." He tucked his phone back
into his pocket.
"I gotta take off. But hopefully we'll meet again."
And there he was, being cryptic again. He hadn't even offered to give Grace his own
number, which could have meant any number of things. Clearly he had
one, given that he owned a cell phone. Maybe he was messing with her.
Maybe he was just really private and didn't like to give his number
out. In either case, he left her with a little nod of goodbye, and a
lingering look that suggested maybe he wished he had more time (or more
privacy) to talk.
Hopefully Sera would answer that text.
And
then he climbed into the passenger side of the truck, squeezing in next
to the other two landscapers. The door closed, and they drove away,
leaving Grace to wonder what the hell she was getting herself into.
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