Sunday, August 18, 2013

Bring up the Future, She'll Talk your Ears Off

Mara
A sabbatical that's what Mara had chosen to call her rather sudden departure from the city of Denver a little over a month ago. She'd been out of touch, out of place...so she'd taken another trip, disappeared for a while...and now she was back, wether it was the winds of fate, her own choice, or random chance one could not be certain. What mattered was she was back...

She'd already set up shop depositing her gear in the Chantry once more, having taken up residence in one of the few empty rooms remaining, she had duties to attend too, but that would happen in time. More importantly she needed money, and so for that she took to the streets.

Dressed in a flowing and airy outfit of forest green Mara was playing to the crowds in the early afternoon, dangerous and nerve wracking acrobatics were her busking act of choice, her bare head skimming the surface of the hard concrete sidewalk as she did flips, cartwheels and other intensive and intriguing maneuvers with the aid of sword, stave, and rope.

Even the awakened of the world needed money afterall.

Grace
[Awareness? Notice Mara (or anybody?)]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 6, 6) ( success x 2 )

Lena Reilly
[[Pre-emptive Awareness ding, spec Uncanny Instincts!]]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 4, 5, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )

Grace
Waking up this morning afternoon wasn't the trial most had been in the past... what was it now, week? Most days lately had seen Grace's bleary-eyed self slamming Amp to pry her eyes open and get it finished.

Whatever it was really depended on the day. But Saturdays are days of rest, right? And 2 in the afternoon is just the perfect time to wake up on a day of rest.

She must have thought that it was Friday, for some reason, and headed down to the Arts District for some heavily-needed distraction with the art walk, but sadly, it was not yesterday.

There were still people around, like always, but not the huge crowd (likely for the best). A few of the sidewalk artists and buskers were still around, good for some distraction at least. And Grace, dressed in jeans and a tee shirt, her laptop bag slung across her back... Like always.

It wasn't until she came across the (extremely impressive) acrobat that she really stopped in her tracks though. The woman was talented enough to get her to stop anyway, but that feeling lingered in the back of Grace's mind, of someone Talented.

Strange how words seemed so different now when she capitalized them in her thoughts...

Lena Reilly
Lena loves getting out on the weekends.  She spends so much time at the clubs at night that she relishes the chance to get out, get some fresh air and just enjoy being one person in the midst of a throng of humanity.  This weekend...more so.  The girl has spent most of her time this week at the hospital, holding to her promise to Sera to keep an eye out there and let her know of any developments.  Lena is entirely familiar with spending an exceptional amount of time in hospitals and while she knows it well--it fits like an old shoe--she doesn't like it all that much.

And that's why she's out today; she really just needs warmth and colors and something outside of the washed-out, clinical, antisepticked world of the medical world.  She's gone home for a change of clothes and is dressed in a white baby doll T-Shirt with the double-helmeted Daft Punk logo on the front, a pair of jeans and sandals.  For once her headphones aren't in (though they are of course on her person) and she's walking along, just enjoying herself until

something pings.

One of them is familiar; its a resonance she recognizes.  The other, not so much.  She looks in that direction and smiles as she sees Grace, crossing the street to come up.  Mara's acrobatic skill draws an impressed look from the Ecstatic before she looks over at Grace and smiles warmly.  "Hey, you."

Mara
[Distracted or no?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 5) ( fail )

Mara
It had been to long, the mixture of Kata and dance, intertwined with the art of the blade and the stave is something Mara had not had to rely on in some time, the usually hotheaded woman had learned something of discretion in the last few months. That and how not to blow all your money at once. But now as she weaves the weighted rope around her body, twisting and turning as the weight whistles through the air about her she is lost in the purity of motion and action.

So lost that she doesn't even feel the presence of two magi so close, so close that they are standing amongst the small crowd of onlookers as Mara works to earn their coin. Out of the corner of her eye she notes the two women meeting but her only thought was.

'Don't walk away, don't walk away!'

[How impressive? Damn impressive]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 4 )

Grace
Grace noted Lena's presence before the 'hey, you' of course. She was like the very pulse of the crowd, and that came through in full, making her twist her head in the direction of it. Lena, good.

"Hey yourself," she nodded. "Interesting, ah, performance yes?" she tilted her head in Mara's direction, her arms crossed in front of her, she couldn't easily point.

Lena Reilly
She smiles a little bit, turning her attention back to the mixture of martial arts and dance moves when Grace makes mention of it. The fluidity, the sheer grace of Mara's movements clearly register high in the Ecstatic's estimation.  She gives a little nod in response to Grace's comment.

"It's damned impressive.  I bet she kills on the dance floor."  Haha, 'kills.'  with swords and staves and katas.  She actually didn't mean it as a pun, but it doesn't stop it from being there.  Lena views Mara appraisingly, as if sizing her up a little bit.  Not tactically and not aesthetically...more like trying to guess what kind of person she is from the clues they have.

"How are things with you?"  The words said to Grace, of course, as she turns her attention back to the other.  "Everything going okay?"

Mara
Even Mara can only keep such act's up for so long, the rope was the tail end of her act, it might not be as dangerous, but with the scraps of colourful satin fitted into the rope at equal distances and the sheer difficulty involved controlling it as she moved, it was definitely the most impressive. But all things must end, and so to does Mara's act, coming out of a cart wheel she launches the weight into the air, waits for it to come back down and kicks it against a tiny gong set up next to the tray of change and loose bills, the strike of the gong has her standing, bowing once and then offering a half assed salute to those present.

"Thank you very much, that's it for now, but by all means, share the good Karma, girls gotta eat after all." She stands there, chatting for a few moments as money drops into the box and she keeps a watchful green eye for potential looters. But when all is said and done she hunkers down before the box and begins to count her take.

"Course I came in the day after the artwalk." She shook her head with a chuckle, her lips curled into a smirk as she checked a bill.

Grace
Grace did chuckle at the 'kills on the dance floor' bit, imagining the woman set loose in a dance hall. Oh the screams, the chaos...

And her face falls a bit, when the conversation shifts, "Everything's going. I'm on schedule, at least. First time in a long time for that. Is why I'm here, you know? Rewarding myself."

She looked back at the martial artist with a stern expression on her face that might be confused with anger. Really, she was more trying to figure out the sheer physics of this woman, amongst other things.

And then, it was over, with a gong and a plea for money, and oh shit, money... Grace's mouth formed a silent 'fuck' as she looked at nothing in particular. "Aha, well, I don't really carry money around... Bad Karma for me!"

Lena Reilly
Lena isn't a particularly inobservant person as a rule.  And thus, she catches the little falling of Grace's face from the chuckle into the thoughts on how she's doing.  Her lips purse a moment, though she nods.  "Well, that's good at least.  It's always important to enjoy the successes.  But not so much beyond that?"

She follows Grace's gaze to Mara when the acrobat finishes up and and signals a gong; Lena offers some applause.  Once people have cleared away from the offering box she steps forward and slips a five into the box.  She's not the richest person on the planet but she is a performer herself (of a fashion) and she knows what it's like to live as one.  Keep the money flowing through the arts communities and it's good for everyone.

"That's pretty amazing," she says to Mara with a smile.  It's one of those warm, friendly kinds she gives when she first meets people.  "How long have you been performing like that?"

Mara
Mara is looking at her take, counting things out, starting of course with the Bills and working her way to the smaller change that was a common sight for buskers. On good days Mara could knock someone out with all the small change she ended up with, today though, she could probably only stun someone.

Grace speaks of bad karma and that smirk is pulled just a little tighter the woman looking up and tilting her head ever so slightly at the woman. "Plastics great until you gotta pay someone other then a corporation girl...but its all good."

And then another fiver is dropped into her lap and the smirk becomes a pretty smile as Mara looks up at Lena and picks up the bill between two long fingers, turning it over deftly. "Like this?" She asks gesturing back over her shoulder at her array of tools and shrugs. "Maybe...five six years? Depending on who you talk to I've been doing it alot longer then that."

Cryptic responses are a given with magi, and it seems at least in part, the same is true for Mara. She looks between them as she pockets the bill. Her gaze going to Grace. "Better buy your friend a drink, she just saved you any bad mojo." A wink is offered in good humour before she straightened out, before pulling one leg up behind her and stretching it out, perfectly balanced.

Grace
"Um... I got a weird text. Said 'he' was in the hospital, but it didn't seem like the message was meant for me," she said, and her arms tightened around her small frame a bit.

And Lena then went and embarrassed her a bit by being more-than-prepared to pay a busker.

Feathers are ruffled further when Mara speaks of plastic being no good, except to pay a corporation, as if Grace likes the idea of paying a corporation. "I don't even like the idea of money at all. Unnecessary evil if you ask me."

And there goes the kid, off in Idealism and Uniqueness, while she is carrying plastic, and expensive toys. But in the back of her mind, she's searching out an ATM, because it never hurts to be prepared...

Lena Reilly
Bad karma is something Lena knows all about, even if it's not why she deposited the money.  She nods a little bit when Mara says she's doing it five or six years.  "Well, you're fantastic.  I've seen my share of performers in my time and you're already one of my favorites."

Grace mentions a weird text, and that causes Lena's smile to drop.  She knows exactly what the other is talking about, and she sighs a little bit.  A reminder of what she's been up to the last half a week.  "Yeah...that would be, ah, one of our like-minded types.  Have you met Pan?  There was a...dog attack.  It's....he, Serafine and I ran into them in the park when we happened to cross each other's paths.  He got pretty badly hurt, but he's at the hospital and recovering now.

Mara
It might surprise both of them, but when the names of Pan and Serafine are brought up that casual yet oddly disturbing stretching is kicked like a bad habit, Mara's leg snaps back under her as her eyes widen in a mixture of surprise and a tiny hint of worry.

"Pan and Serafine?" She asks for confirmation as she looked speculatively between the two women. "You mean Pancho? The ol priest right? And Sera of the fine drugs, fine parties and freakin awesome hair?" She gestures to one side of her head, sweeping a hand across it to indicate Serafine's half shaved head.
"Shit me...Shows what happens when I go walkabout."

Grace
Pan. Grace has heard the name, but has not yet met this person, and so the emotion doesn't exactly rise quite so high, but a look of concern crosses her face as Lena continues, halting, talking around the things that cannot be said. "Dog, huh. Well, I'm glad he's okay."

She looked back to Mara when the acrobat's body lunged in recognition of those names. Didn't mean she was exactly to be trusted, though, and Grace looked to Lena for cues on how to act.
This one didn't seem like the bad sort...

But with 'dog' attacks, and the latest news from the 'net, it wouldn't pay for the n00b to go opening her trap to someone she didn't know.

Lena Reilly
Her attention immediately slides back to Mara when she asks after Pan and Sera and...well, describes them to a T.  She already had a feeling someone in the area besides Grace was pinging for her and she had an idea it was the street performer, but she didn't think that she necessarily knew the others.  Many mages are transitory by nature; they come and go through society and Lena is one of those people.  So when Mara shows concern and shows that she knows their associates, Lena gives her her full attention for the moment.
"That's them, yeah.  You must have gone on your walkabout before I arrived...I'm Lena."  She extends her hand to Mara.  She's smiling, even if the conversation took a turn toward the somber with talk of Pan's injuries.  "It's nice to meet you."

She looks at Grace a moment and shrugs lightly.  As we've covered before, Lena is a trusting sort...when she has evidence that backs that trust up anyway.

Mara
"Mara good to meet ya." She takes that hand and gives it a few good pumps before offering it up to Grace as well. "Ol man must have done something intense to piss of a dog...glad to hear he's gonna pull through though." She offers as she looks from Lena to Grace curiously.

"I guess your both new huh? There were only a few of us here last time I was in town." She moves away once and if Grace decides to shake her hand, moving to dump all of the money into a sock and then started to pack up her gear. Apparently the show as over for the day.

"Wondered why it was so dead at the....country club." The last two words were said quickly, as if the young woman was catching herself and diverting her words from what she meant to say..to something else entirely.

Grace
Picking up from Lena that this one was 'okay' she gave Mara a smile, "Hey, I'm Grace. I was probably wandering around here with my eyes shut last time you were in town."

The hand is offered, and Grace clumsily accepts, first with one hand, then the other when she realizes a left hand and a right hand just aren't going to work together like she'd hoped.

Lena Reilly
"Trust me, in this case it was the dogs who instigated, not him."  They all had their wounds they had to lick after that incident, some more physical and others more emotional.  Lena puts her thumbs in her jeans pockets, banishing memories of the aftermath from her mind for the moment.

"You've been to the country club then?"  A change of conversation from the dogs, for the moment anyway.  And that's just further reassurance from Lena that Mara's good to talk to.  Lena isn't stupid; the amount of trust she extends is proportional to the amount if information she has to go on.  But the more evidence she has that trust is warranted, the more she is willing to open up.  "That's cool.  Yeah, from what I understand it's grown quite a bit recently.  Who all was there when you were here earlier?"

Mara
Mara is collection weapons, weapons that unlike most performer's tools, look very real, and very very dangerous. She rolls them up in a long canvas bag and then slings it over one shoulder as she regards Grace with an appreciative eye. "Good for you girl, welcome to the wide world, the Akashakarma always welcomes its own." She offers the woman a smile before looking over at Lena.

"Not many, actual residents before I took a powder pretty much constitute me, and Shoshannah." She said as she stood up and picked up the coin box, examined it for a moment, and then tossed it, letting it sail through the air before landing in a garbage bin.

"I mean Pan was the guy in charge, and I'm pretty sure Sera was in there too...but i could be wrong, I was kinda out of the loop by the time I took off."

Lena Reilly
Soshanna is another name that Lena knows, and better than she did at the beginning of the week.  She smiles when she hears the name--

And that's when her phone goes off.  She looks at it and sighs.  "Sorry," she says apologetically.  "I have to take this.  It's work."

And with a smile to the two, she slips away and sets the phone to her ear.  She'll be called away on a DJ emergency, filling in for someone at the last moment.  With a little wave to Mara and Grace, she's off into the crowd.

Grace
Another welcome from another new face. They always were happy to hear about the new one. Grace returned the smile, and pondered the word Akashakarma for a bit.

And then, Lena was gone.

She shifted her weight back and forth, those arms returned to hugging herself. The woman's weaponry looked like it would slice through a dog. And for once Grace wished her name had some bearing on her body...

"You've got ah... nice weapons."

Mara
A hand is held in the air in silent farewell as Lena suddenly takes her leave, and then it is simply Mara and Grace.

Mara for her part is at ease, comfortable and casual as she stands with one hip swayed to the side and her arms free beside her as she looks over her shoulder to the canvas bag and shrugged. "Thanks, heirlooms of another lifetime." She said it like it was no big deal, or perhaps more like it was a deal she prefered not to brag about.

"I prefer my body to any blade, stave, or bar stool though. She holds up a hand with a smile. "Someones gotta get pretty drastic to take this away from you after all."

She quickly looks Grace up and down before tilting her head to the side. "Lets take a walk." She offers, gesturing forward downt he street as she asked. "So, you on a team yet Grace? Or are you still finding your path?"

Grace
The walk is accepted, and Grace appears to pay attention to everything and nothing as she does so, those eyes shifting from thing to thing like the world is fascinating, but only for so long...

"A team? Oh... Kind of, sort of," she says, "at least I'm trying to find a place on a team." It's cryptic, but then, they have to be a bit cryptic, don't they?

"My path is fairly well laid, I'm afraid." The woman's tools do not look like her own. From her estimation, Mara is not on her 'team' per-se.

Mara
"Nothing wrong with a well laid path so long as the scenery is good." Mara's smirk returns as she moves along, entirely non-pulsed by the fact that Grace was already on a team, if she had been trying to recruit, she isn't to upset by failing. "Mind if I ask what path you follow?" She inquires because she is curious, the woman to incognito, her path not writ upon her features so one has to do such things.

"I'm with the brotherhood, you know...from out east." She offers with that little smirk. "Wouldn't have been my first pick had I had the choice...but it suits well enough."

Grace
"Oh, sure, the brotherhood," Grace said, "Yeah, truth is, I don't know a lot of the team names yet. Doesn't mean much to me. You don't look much like a 'brother' though," she said with a kind of chuckle.

"I'm kind-of-sort-of with the adepts," she answered, "Though I think I'm being probation-ed, monitored so as to be sure I'm on the up-and-up so to speak."

Mara
"You know my sensei says the same damn thing all the time." Mara chuckled as they moved along through the crowd, blending in with humanity in all its guises. "Good thing hes all the way up in canada and my ass is down here in that case."

She gets a response at that and nods, looking at Grace one more time in consideration before speaking. "Yeah some of them aint to trusting, but its understandable. All kinds of folks out here pulling all sorts of tricks, even with newbs." She blinks and looks at Grace quickly. "I don't mean it like that of course...newcomers would be better right?" Her smirk grows into a proper smile as she takes them around a corner, out of the main thoroughfare so that they have more space, and fewer prying ears.

"That workin out for you?"

Grace
Grace chuckled, "No, no, newb is fine." More than fine, in fact. It seemed Mara knew some lingo.

And Mara rounded the corner, thankfully. "It's working. I've got connections now, and some interesting plans," she got a little more serious at that point, her face not quite as happy. "I know why they're being careful with me. I guess they have to. New faces in their crowd can switch sides so easily."

Mara
"Like a spy in a cold war movie." Mara agree's with a nod and takes them away from the crowd, heading towards a little run down parkette which, for the moment appeared empty.  "Half the time it isn't even a conscious thing. They get all up in your head change your wiring around and bam. Your the newest Bourne agent or something." Mara shrugs, like it was a fact of life.

"Last time I was here I got cornered by a couple of the black hats and I thought that was exactly what was gonna happen to me. Luckily..it didn't funny freaks wanted to broker an alliance to deal with this kid, thankfully we didn't have to make that deal with the devil."

The Parkette is reached and Mara steps onto the grass and goes to pull off the performance slippers she was wearing, letting her toes dig into the grass with a contented sigh as she continued walking. "Don't take it personal, its just the wider world we live in."

Grace
Grace's face turned ashen for a bit as Mara just carelessly rattled off what might be her fate. Messing around with her 'wiring'.

"I get it. I've heard enough of them to kind of understand what I'm up against. Not cool."

For a while, at least, Grace knew she'd have to depend on the kindness of strangers like Mara, to look out for her and keep those black hats and dogs and whatever else away. The community was important because it meant safety...

Mara
Mara see's that ashen look on Grace's face and her lips thin, an apologetic look flashing across her features before she gently punches the other woman in the arm and chuckles.

"But hey, the upsides seriously outweigh the down. The world really is our oyster at this point in the game girl. The powers cosmic and all time space and reality are ours to control...if we feel like it." She pauses and tilts her head slowly to the side with an implicit meaning. "Annnd of course protect it, in our own way." She chuckles as she find a bench and flops out on it, leaving enough space for Grace to take a seat if she wishes.
"So whats your deal Grace? Whats your great hope?"

Grace
"Oh, me? I just want to live to see the world change," she smirked. "Help it get there."

"I believe in the future still. Some of my friends disagree, they say it's all downhill from here, and the best we can do is escape. I don't buy that."

"All it takes is one viral idea. Somewhere, someone's going to come up with something they can't control, and it'll break all the rules. Like money, right? What if everyone realized money to be the scam that it really is? It gets devalued, nobody needs it anymore..."

"It's coming," she said, cryptically as usual. "I can see it. In fact, it's already happening. I think, personally, that They're scared."

Mara
Grace's words bring a smile to Mara's lips, even if the look is slightly doubtful.

"I admire your spunk, i aint some old hat at this mind ya, I just...well I gotta different view on things, how it all works out in the end ya know? Don't have much choice when I got an old man jabberin away in the back of my skull with all his fortune cookie bullshit."

Mara pulled the canvas bag from behind her then, pulling it over her shoulder and just setting it next to her on the bench.

"But I fuckin hope your right. Somethings gotta break the cycle sometime."

Grace
"Even Rome fell," she said, plopping down on the bench with her own bag. "It won't last forever. Give me 50 years."

And she says that like it'll be all her work too, but what she really means is that she figures it'll be all said and done by then... whatever change happens, happens in the span of a lifetime. And she wants to live to see it.
"What's your view then?"

Mara
Mara was silent for a few moments before she looked over at Grace, giving her a good long look. She'd said she could see change in the next 50 years, that the war would be over, enlightenment would be everyone's.
"Cycles...were in a cycle girl, like a spin wash going round and round. Sometimes we got dirt on us, sometimes were clean as a whistle...but the cycle just keeps going. Rome fell yeah? So did the USSR, so did Japan, but other places, other people just rise up and take over." She shrugged.

"Gotta break the cycle, just breaking the current problem set? That ain't gonna solve the long term issue."

Grace
"Yes. I hear you. Get rid of the ability for people to hold power over others. But it's gotta be systemic, right? You've got to remove the very essence of control."

Grace looked out over the sky, her eyes tracing the shapes of clouds.

"It's going to hurt at first. People don't know how to be. That's where they stand the most chance of taking up the reigns again. I've got a story about that..."

Mara
"More like you'd have to get rid of the reigns all together." Mara offered in return and chuckled at Grace's offer of a story.

"You and Ghoa Tzi both." She leaned back then, letting one hand fall over the back of the bench as she let out a gentle sigh and closed her eyes, letting herself relax.

"Whats gotta happen? Is people like us? Just keep tryin...somethings gotta give eventually."

Grace
"What's gotta happen is that people have to lay down all the bullshit. The ties that keep them bound. Like, people are so afraid to lose their jobs, afraid about the economy and shit, well, the economy goes bye-bye, and then what? People freak out, because they don't know how to be without a 9 to 5, you see?"

"The reigns comfort us. But it's all meaningless slavery. Doesn't have to be like this."

Mara
"Guess we'll have to wait and see what the ending has in store for us right?" Mara grins at that nodding a few times as she looks around the parkette.

"You met any other folks who are new to the city?" She asks casually. "Like i said before, I've been outta Denver for the last month or so...figured there must be some others who popped up in that time."

Grace
"Ahh, well... Lena, heh. There's also Hawksley, he's kinda... in your face. But he likes books. And there's Sid, she's nice. I don't know if you know them or not, but there's that."

She stretches her neck with a few loud pops and a sigh. Been strained a bit lately perhaps?

Mara
Mara listens as Grace's neck pops and strains, a sound that she likely rarely had to deal with. She looks over at Grace with a curious look and said. "You should really get yourself into a yoga class girl, I know it sounds cheesy as shit...but it'll help that stress, and the tight muscles."

She considers the list of names and that little smirk flitters across her lips once more and she nods. "I know Sid, much as she might not wanna know me. The Hawksley guy though....thats a new one." She muses on that for a moment, her hand reaching up to run along the smooth plane of her skull.

"You need some help with those kinks?"

Grace
Hah, yoga? Grace would die. Lihiterally die. It would be less than pretty. She just needed a good neck pillow, yeah.

"Uh, help? No... no, I'm fine. Just been staring at my monitor too long. The neck strain. You understand."

Mara
Mara shrugged at that, once again non-pulsed by the fact that Grace didn't need her help. "Your call girl, I just know more then a little about how the human body works. Figured I'd offer." She rolls her own neck about, the movement fluid and perhaps just a ittle more flexible then normal.

"Seriously though....I get the whole, transcend the flesh thing...but for now. All we got is the flesh were in. Gotta keep it in workin order or you aint gonna be able to transcend the next door you come across."

Grace
"True, just... " touching isn't really her thing. Would make her more tense, would make her up and leave, and that would be awkward as hell.

"Heheh, there is no door. Except when you run into it," she giggled at her own joke.

Mara
Mara chuckles too and shakes her head. "Well keep that sense of humour girl, seriously. It will help you aaalot." Mara nods as she considers her watch and frowns.

"Alright...fun as this is? I gotta hoof it back to the Chantry, I have some duties to take care of there that I've been neglecting for oh....about a month and a half." Mara chuckles as she moves to rise, pulling the canvas bag over her shoulder once more and turned to Grace, offering her a half assed salute.

"See you round girl...you keep safe alright?"

Grace
"I'll try to stay away from dogs," she said, taking this as a cue to leave, herself, she packed on the laptop bag and stood. "And black hats."

"Was nice meeting you," she gave a smile to Mara in farewell.

Mara
"You too Grace." At that Mara turns and starts to hoof it...its only a few steps before shes actually running, maybe she really meant it when she said she had to hoof it back to the Chantry.

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