Mexican Standoff 'You Take Care of Yourself'

Pan Echeverria
Even if he were still leading the congregation back in Denver Father Echeverría would not have been leading them in anything other than the usual ceremonies this time of year. Most of his parishioners only observe the holiday insofar as their children are home from school and the federal government shuts itself down for a day. Life goes on as usual for them.
He has been absent from the place the last few days and this is the first time Sid has seen the man since his powerful-bright resonance began to stain the place. Like so many of them he has lost weight and looks tired. This is not the same strain of exhaustion. His ordeal came of his own making. Pride is a sin. The fact that he didn't go home to his maker in August has less to do with faith and prayer than it has to do with the determination of people who love him despite his obstinance.
So: they both happen to be in the living room at the same time. The Orphan sees the Chorister. He sees her. For the first time since he met her many months ago the young woman does not drop her eyes and try to slink away into the background before he can look at her. And he does look at her.
She is the first to speak. He answers her. The question of whether Shoshannah knows he's back is met with a scant nod. As for Sera:
"I don't know." It's hard to tell what Sera does and does not know. She's a seer, after all. "She came to the Verbena's a couple of weeks ago, but I haven't seen her since I got back."

Sid
A couple of weeks ago would mean Sera has been out and about after their terrible illness.  That means all of them are at least getting outside.  Not bad, that, though Sid has seen with her own eyes that 'getting outside' isn't everything, but maybe it's a start.
She nods her head once, and then frowns.  "The Verbena?"

Pan Echeverri­a
He was on his way in from outside when their paths crossed. The day is warmer than it has been and he has the sleeves of his flannel shirt rolled up to his elbows. Though his work tends to have him stationary for long periods and he does not have a young man's energy he does not believe in idleness.
"Katiana," he says. "I'm afraid I don't know her last name."

Sid
When Pan first met Sid she did everything she could think of to escape notice.  Hunched posture, unkempt hair, oversized clothes, and radiating a desperate aura of don'tnoticeme.  Sometime between the last time he saw her and now she'd stopped caring about that.  What was the point?  People had noticed her and continuedt to notice her, might as well be comfortable.
And then she got sick.  And then she fought for her life with all of her might.  And then she stopped sleeping for a while.  The trials of the last month have left their mark on Sid Rhodes, and left her this quietly defiant creature who stands in the living room-turned-rec room of the Chantry.
That quiet defiance falters only a little when Pan mentions a name, and Sid's eyes drop a moment in thought.  The name is familiar, but where...ah.  Justin's friend.
"Mmh."  Those dark eyes travel over the padre and she tilts her head.  "How are you?  The last I heard you had to go to the hospital."

Pan Echeverri­a
Something about the question has a flicker of a smile threatening to come to his face. He knows he looks as if he's recovering from a karmic kick to the head. Months ago the man looked like a mountain. His build was muscular underneath the padding come from grandmothers and widows feeding him on the regular and he wore a spare tire around his waist. Kept his face shaved and his hair trimmed.
Living out in the woods for months at a time learning how to function as an independent entity again took the motivation out of him. His hair has gone shaggy and he could stand to shave his face more often than he does. He is at least fifty pounds lighter than he was this summer, maybe more. His weight loss is not as horrifying as is the women's but it still declares loud that he isn't in the greatest condition.
And yet he looks as if she caught him in the middle of something. The man can be a persuasive speaker and his presence is centripetal. But he doesn't aim to deceive those around him. It's hard to move a mountain. Sera managed to talk him out of confronting John Brogan not by using logic or reason but by bursting into tears and hitting him and calling him and Jim idiots. The enemy of the hour is a vengeful spirit named Thakinyan. Shoshannah was going to scry for this demon herself until a group of people talked her out of it.
Last Sid heard Pan had to go to the hospital.
"I did, in August, yeah. I'm alright now."

Sid
Sid doesn't know the padre well enough to advise him on how to fix up or do down his appearance.  She doesn't know much about him at all beyond what he does usually, and that two people she cares about care about him enough that his absence caused them to shut down a little.  And now here he is, and here is Sid, so perhaps it's time to break down whatever barriers are between them.
It starts with little flickers of almost-but-not-quite smiles.  With Pan it's for Sid's question.  With Sid, it's for his answer.  Obviously he is not alright now.  None of them are.
"I see," she says, her tone veering closer to sardonic, but she's not about to call bullshit to his face.  Not yet.
"Are you staying here now?"

Pan Echeverria
'Alright' is a relative term. So long as he has breath in his lungs he would declare himself to be alright. He has declared himself to be alright covered in his own blood having just been attacked by a Nephandus.
That Sid doesn't believe him would earn her points from her friends. Someone has to call bullshit even if it's only by refusing to indulge him.
"Until this business with Thakinyan is finished, yeah."

Sid
That Sid is relieved isn't as noticeable as it would be on Sera.  There was a time when that was different.  There was a time when the woman standing before him in clothes made a size too big and counting was more vibrant, more open.  There is only one person in this city who has seen that, and his memory of that time is hazy.
But she is relieved.  She's relieved for her friends' sake, because she saw how Pan's absence affected them.  She's relieved for Shoshannah's in particular.  Here is someone who the Dreamspeaker listens to at least some of the time, someone who is better equipped to protect her from the things that have already and are still trying to crawl inside her skin.
"So you know."  And he brow furrows a little.  "I don't suppose you know how to get it out of Shoshannah and the others, do you?"

Pan Echeverri­a
Though the priest is of an age and has been practicing his faith and his magick for longer than some of them have been able to speak he has not acquired a level of enlightenment that would make him laugh in the face of things like demon possession and portals opened up between worlds. He has only recently started down the path of understanding spirits and how they operate.
The good book has loads to say about demonic possession and the things that spirits do. The Book of Revelation has zombies and sea monsters rising up. Giant fiery pits swallowing the wicked. Shadowy horsemen riding around spreading devastation throughout the lands. All of that makes demon possession sound easy enough to manage.
It ain't.
"That's what I'm working on now. We're going to have to destroy it, but I don't got a clue where it is."
He doesn't say yet but Sid can hear it.

Sid
Sid can indeed hear that yet.  It's something he's working on, locating the umbrood that's been terrorizing them for the past few months.  She nods, hooking her thumbs into the belt loops of her jeans.
"There's a house in the mountains.  Shoshannah scried it at least twice, and Mara went up to it to do some on site investigation."
Pan has been Awake and been practicing magic for far longer than Sid.  For her it's only been a few years, and most of that she's been on the move, hiding, ducking, avoiding others like them.  She's refused to let people get close to her in any sense, or had.  Then she landed in Denver, which had been so delightfully quiet and void of other Awakened for months.  Now that she's planted herself in one place she's started to learn a few things, but even so, one of the greatest benefits of knowing Sid is the information she gathers and disseminates freely to those who need it.  For someone so averse to contact, she became strangely in-the-know, and she's stayed that way.
Her mouth firms into a line of vague concern.  Turning away from him, she gestures to one of the living room's many couches.  "Why don't you tell me what you know.  Maybe I can fill in any gaps."

Pan Echeverri­a
"The big gap right now is what's anchoring it here."
Shoshannah referred to tether points the afternoon he and Kalen and Grace ganged up on the Dreamspeaker to talk her out of exploring their locations herself. Kalen had explained that they are exploring a plan that would have them learning its hunting pattern and severing the Umbrood's tethers outside its protective circle.
Of course Kalen had also explained that searching them out from afar has proven a bit risky.
Pan lowers himself onto one of the couches slow as if rising again will be the tricky part.
"Shoshannah wanted to look for possible anchors herself, but that's not going to happen."

Sid
[percept+alert: what's up, Pan, are you just an old fart or is something wrong with your body?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (4, 4, 6, 7, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 5 ) Re-rolls: 1

Sid
She watches him lower himself slowly onto the couch, dark eyes narrowing as she studies him, particularly his face.  Something isn't right, but she knows if she asks him the answer she gets is most likely going to be I'm alright.
"Good," she says, quiet yet firm.  Shoshannah's gotten herself into enough trouble going off and doing things alone.  They all have.  If she could, Sid would make it so she received an alert to her phone whenever one of her friends was about to go off and try to do something very dangerous all by themselves.  As it is, she wouldn't even know where to start with something like that.  All she can do is hope that they'll stop it, or that they'll at least send some word of what they're doing and where they're going.
She pats her hands over the pockets of her jeans, and she frowns.  "Hang on, I need a pen."  Pivoting on stockinged feet, Sid makes her way into the kitchen, and it's a moment or two before she goes back to the living room.  When she does, she settles down on the other end of the couch from him, her knees angled toward him, and her attention on the inside of her wrist, where she draws something.

[Life scan because I don't think you'll tell me things, coincidental and practiced]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (9, 10) ( success x 2 )

Pan Echeverri­a
[awareness?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 6, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )

Kalen Holliday
[How are we sleeping?]
Dice: 5 d10 TN7 (3, 3, 4, 6, 10) ( success x 1 )

Kalen Holliday
There is always at least a few seconds between sensing Kalen and his appearance.  Sometimes a few moments.  The living room is close enough to where he can park that it isn't the same amount of time as it would take him to reach the library.  Or the second floor bedrooms.
Still, it is a moment before he steps into the living room.  He doesn't knock anymore, just opens the door as if he belongs there.  As if he's just coming home.
He raises a hand in what may be the least enthusiastic wave ever when he sees Sid and Pan, and heads in their direction.  A year ago, that entrance would have involved a lot more energy.  And probably ended with Kalen flinging himself onto the couch between the two of them and grinning.  Sid has gotten to see just bits of what Kalen used to be like.  She might be able to believe someone who told her that by now.
Kalen settles onto a nearby chair.  Carefully.  Stiffly.
"Hey," he says with a faint smile.  "How are you?"

Pan Echeverri­a
Sid is suspicious. The priest moves like he's older than his mid-forties and she gets up to retrieve a pen. She does not retrieve paper. Anything she'd need to write down he has not said yet.
And then she starts to Work.
Though he does not look surprised Pan does wear an expression of beleaguered amusement. After all the invasive procedures he's endured between the hospital and the Verbena the last few months this is a mild sort of violation of what little privacy he can claim to have anymore. As she reads his pattern the priest draws a deep breath like a bear roused from its slumber and he sits up straighter. Knits his fingers together and leans forward so his forearms are on his thighs.
Considering the fact that he was torn open by dogs and suffered what the doctors called a subarachnoid hemorrhage the man is in decent shape. His vital signs are all normal but his metabolic function isn't great. Blame it on the stroke. His hypothalamus didn't appreciate the increased pressure it had to endure for a few hours this summer.
He's doing freakishly well for someone who had a stroke at the age of 45 though.
Pan clears his throat once he figures out what it is she's figuring out but he doesn't chastise her. Here comes Kalen. If Kalen gets the impression he's interrupting something no one would blame him.
"We were just discussing the possessions," he says, "and Miss Rhodes was checking my blood pressure."

Sid
It doesn't take her long to do what she does, a few strokes of that pen to center her focus and then she's reaching out in a way she's reached out a hundred times in the past month.  She's examined the make-up of blood cells and the workings of immune systems and now she's unapologetically looking at Pan in an intimate manner, examining him in a way that a Sleeper doctor could only hope to look.  He doesn't know precisely what she's doing, if she's looking at him or at the Workings set up around the house, but he can make a very good educated guess.
By the time he sits up, Sid is tucking that pen behind her right ear, pinning it beneath the stem of her glasses so that she doesn't end up fidgeting with it.  She doesn't broadcast her findings, of his blood pressure or his metabolic function or some other thing.
"Well, Father Alright, would you have told me what's wrong if I'd asked?" she asks, something in her demeanor shifting, lightening very slightly.  "In case no one else has said it to you yet, you should see your Verbena friend again.  Hi, Kalen."

Kalen Holliday
"I'm sure it's perfect," Kalen says.  Because everyone in this room is perfectly fine.  Never better, in fact. 
"I'm going to try to find Lucia Montanari's old cabal.  There is a chance they may want to save her.  Considering what we know of them, they may even manage it.  Or they might have to give her up for lost and kill her.  In either case, that would be one less thing we have to dedicate our attention to.
"Of course, it has been years.  They may no longer feel responsible for her."
Pan Echeverría
The priest maintains this pensive posture throughout Kalen's explanation of what it is he hopes to accomplish by seeking out the Montanari woman's old cabal. Though he all but ignores Sid's advice he gives a slow nod to the idea that tracking down the woman would help par down the number of tasks to which they have to attend.
"Or they may not be around anymore," he says. "Can't hurt, though. They don't need to feel responsible to want to help."

Grace
[Nightmares!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (2, 3, 3, 6, 7, 10) ( success x 2 )

Grace
[Awarepathy!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 6, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )

Sid
She's sat the priest down so that she could maybe fill him in on some gaps he may have in his information, but he ignores her in favor of the Hermetic.  She watches them talk for a bit, taking in the information but having nothing of value to contribute in return.
"Do you have a place to start?" she asks Kalen.

Grace
Grace has been sleeping at odd hours. It's not so rare for a college student, especially one on holiday. Not so rare either for her to want to catch up on sleep after so many nights interrupted by bad memories. When you have the spare hours, it would be criminal not to take advantage.
So, a drowsy Grace makes her way down the stairs, down the hall, to the living room where she can sense the telltale sign of Sid. Sid's here.
So are the others, but you know, she hasn't seen her friend since...

Kalen Holliday
"There is someone I can ask, though, she may not be willing to go any further into this than she already has.  I know we're talking about Dreamspeakers, Hollow Ones, and Euthanatos."  He sighs.
"I may be about out of options here, actually."  He sounds almost apologetic about that.
He waves to Grace, only barely more animated than his wave to Pan and Sid earlier.  "Hello, Kit."

Pan Echeverri­a
The priest had been in the middle of some task he'd assigned himself when his path converged with Sid's a few minutes ago. She had sat him down that she might fill in gaps in his understanding of the situation. Her scan of his pattern might have derailed them. Kalen and Grace served as a decent distraction.
And Grace finds Pan hard enough to be around when he hasn't been Working. She can practically hear his recent efforts though. The man's presence is nigh unto overpowering. He isn't blind or insensitive. He knows she isn't comfortable around him.
He rises easier from the couch than he did earlier this week when he first arrived back from the woods but he still rises slowly.
"Grace," he greets the apprentice as he gets to his feet. Then: "Sid, I wanna talk to you, in private, if you got a minute."

Sid
Sid had just come from upstairs when her path crossed Pan's.  From there she could have been on her way to anywhere, but was, in fact, outside.  Instead she stopped and seemed content to stay stopped, even with the interruptions and the derailing of her initial purpose.
They're talking about ways to forge ahead with the Thakinyan business when Pan leverages himself up off the couch.  Sid's gaze shifts immediately to him, watchful and wary and intense.  So intent is her watch that she at first misses when that shifting resonance that indicates Grace is here has moved and moved until it - or rather Grace - is there in the doorway.  Sid turns to look at her, and offers her a faint whisper of a smile.  The last time they saw each other - good and properly saw each other - was the night a lab of nightmares went up in flames.  Sid at least doesn't look much better than she did that night, though she's had a month to recover.  She's thinner, more shadowed.  But for Grace she can offer that faint smile.
But Pan would like to speak to her in private.  Sid looks up at him, the seconds ticking by until they number five before she moves.  "Sure."  Planting her hands to either side of her hips, she pushes herself up from the couch, and motions with a sweep of her hand for him to lead the way.

Grace
She gives a little smile to Kalen when he's in view, but it's nearly wiped away at the listlessness of the man. He looks tired. But she knows how that can be deceiving.
And then, Pan is about to take away her friend before they can even say their hellos. She looks back and forth between them, between the desperation and the spotlight. And it's true, Pan gives her the feeling that he's going to judge her, harshly, under a hot lamp, until she breaks. But this is more important than stupid impressions. This is Sid.
"Can it wait, Pan? I haven't seen Sid in so long. Just give her a break. And give me a couple minutes?"

Kalen Holliday
Kalen just watches them for the moment.  He has no reason to try to get Sid or Pan to stay, particularly if they'll only be gone for a short time.  He doesn't know what Pan wants with Sid, but if he's asking to speak with her in private, Kalen isn't going to do anything but assume there is something they need to talk about.  They'll stay or they'll go, but he'll wait to see before he says anything further.

Pan Echeverri­a
Though he'd requested her time and privacy at once Pan did not stand towering over everyone else while he waited for her to speak. In the five seconds that ticked by between the end of his question and the start of her response the Chorister had walked part of the way across the living room. His intended destination was the kitchen and Sid was willing to follow him.
At the threshold between the living and dining rooms, at Grace's question, Pan puts one hand on the doorframe and the other on his hip. He squints at her as if he cannot understand her urgency or the source of it.
It must cause some sort of forced recalibration of his perspective. The older man huffs out a humorless laugh and pushes himself off the doorframe. Pushes his hair back off his brow. When he speaks his admonition is a mild thing but he sounds tired. His palm pauses over his forehead as if it pains him. His hand does not stay there.
The lives they live, the life he's lived, hasn't left him assured of the fact that they have a couple minutes. Better to just have out in case something does happen that Sid won't go the rest of her life agonizing over whatever he wanted to talk to her about and never ended up saying. Call it absolution. Forgiveness. Whatever.
"I'm just gonna say this," he says. "Anything you wanna ask me, if you ask me straight, I'll answer it straight. I don't wanna catch nobody reading my pattern when they could just as soon ask me what they wanna know, huh? That's all.

Sid
The others are more wary of this request from the good father than is Sid.  There was a time when Sid would have worried right along with them.  Being called off to privacy with a man older, bigger, and stronger than she is?  She would not have agreed to it.  She would have curled in on herself and tried to make herself small, or she would have found the nearest exit and promptly left through it.  She would not have calmly agreed and then risen to follow after him.
She offers Grace a look that is more encouraging than she herself feels.  Sid has been through things lately, things that have changed her, made her stronger in ways that even she hasn't fully realized.  She is more patient in some areas and much, much less patient in others.  Pan does not seem like he's going to drag her by the hair into a small cramped room to make her relive the story of her Awakening, so she is inclined to be patient and see what he wants.
What he wants, it would appear, is for her to ask him straight instead of scanning his pattern without asking permission first.  Head canting slightly to the side, Sid says, "I did ask, and you didn't," she says quietly.  "You tried to pass it off like you haven't been recovering from an attack that left you in the hospital and who knows where else since you left.  If there wasn't anything going on, believe me, I would have left it at that, but there is something going on.  There's a virus out there that is very brutal and very deadly and was made to kill us.  There is some thing out there that makes us experience our worst fears so it can feed off it, and there's nothing any of us have been able do to stop it.
"You might be able to, though."  Inhaling deep, Sid lifts her chin.  "For that we need you at your best, so do us all a favor and get yourself checked out."

Grace
Sid explains herself, but that's really unimportant right now. So she had a looksee into Pan? Hell, probably should be doing that to anybody who walks into the Chantry right now, with how unsure they are that Hydra didn't leak out of that stupid lab right by the international airport. Grace will never get over how utterly insane they all were. Or maybe that was the plan all along, and killing the world was intentional. Whatever.
Sid looks... well, physically horrible. But she's strong, and making sense, and damn it is good to see her. Grace isn't the type to run up and hug, or she would be. But there is gratitude and warmth in the sad smile she gives to Sid. She walks over to a chair next to Kalen's and sits down, wrapping her legs up into it. She glances over to Kalen and gives him a smile too, a 'yes, I'm okay, and I see you over there'.
"We need you at your best too, Sid. You look horrible," she says, completely blunt. "You know you need to eat after an illness like that. Lots of red meat."
She looks a bit embarrassed after that, like she's sure that wasn't the best thing to say really. "Also, hi. I missed you. And also, thanks for saving my life. I haven't gotten the chance to properly thank you for that. We were all so... messed up."

Kalen Holliday
Kalen looks from Sid and makes a little huffing noise.  "I know it's my turn, but I'm not playing Mexican standoff 'you should take care of yourself' games today.  Perhaps some other time."  He does sound at least slightly amused.
Grace does get a return smile when she sits near him.  And then he mouths, 'But you should totally eat something' at her.  His smile flickers a bit wider and he winks.
Other than that though, he lets her talk to Sid.  Without any interruptions for plans or findings or anything like that.

Pan Echeverri­a
Though he does not speak again before he disappears across the threshold and pulls himself out of the conversation Pan does give Sid his full attention while she speaks.
If they were alone and discussing the issue rather than throwing their opinions out into the aether to see what sticks they might have reached some sort of verbal understanding about this. Instead it's left at the Chorister doesn't want anyone reading his pattern without permission and the Orphan would have left it at that if there weren't anything going on but there is so she didn't.
They're not in agreement but it isn't an argument either. Grace has already asked him to cut her a break. She does not distract Sid by throwing her arms around her but she does serve as a distraction all the same. As she begins to talk to the other woman about their recent ordeal Pan levels his gaze at Sid and decides to let it go for now.
There are worse shit lists to be on than that of a man who believes in turning the other cheek. Of course if one is terrified of him already his silence probably feels ominous.
It feels ominous and then it doesn't feel anything at all. He's stepped back into the dining room and in a few moments he'll be outside again. He has another bad decision to follow through on.

Sid
Grace interrupts and Sid angles her head slightly, just enough to show that she's listening, but not so far as to take her eyes off Pan.
His silence is not ominous to her.  She knows that he's older and stronger than she is, both physically and magically, but she's not afraid of him.  He makes her a little nervous, always has, but even that's abated.
He leaves, and he leaves that moment unresolved, ignoring Sid all over again.  This time her eyes narrow.  Looking back at Grace and Kalen, she gives them a distracted smile.  "You're welcome, Grace.  Excuse me."
And then she's off after the Chorister, disappearing out into the cool afternoon light in a t-shirt and jeans and socks.

Grace
Sid leaves, and takes her desperate happiness along, to chase after the glow that is Pan. Grace just kind of slumps in her chair, dejected.
"I swear, the universe is conspiring against me -- or maybe Pan is -- to keep Sid and I from having a real conversation," she sighs. "Or maybe Sid just really doesn't want to talk to me right now. I can get that."
She looks over to Kalen, like at least he's still here. "I should totally eat something, huh?"

Kalen Holliday
"Probably you should."  He shrugs, then shifts so that he can face her, resting his cheek against the back of the chair.  "I think they were...I don't even know.  I have no idea what to think of him.
"I'm sure you'll talk to Sid eventually.  Have you tried setting a date?  You could bribe her with coffee or scones or something?"

Grace
"Setting a date?" she blinks, like this is a new idea. "I never set a date. And I couldn't gush over her scientific skills at a coffee shop, she'd probably gut me. Talking about that kind of stuff in public isn't in our best interest."
Kalen probably means coffee and scones at the Chantry, or at her place, or somewhere more private. But Grace? A hostess? As far as rare things go, that's fairly up there. It would probably be a strange ordeal, punctuated by Grace's exclamations of 'Oh shit, napkins! I'll be right back!' and such.
"Oh, and while we're playing Mexican standoff 'take care of yourself', you should get more sleep. I'll leave you the upstairs sleeping couch. I just woke up."

Kalen Holliday
"I appreciate that, but I'll slink off to sleep somewhere else, probably.   It's a quality more than quantity thing, anyway.  I'm fine."
He smiles a little.  "You could have her over for pizza?  I don't know.  I learned to make coffee and then used that to cover for that face that it is like the only thing I make well."

Grace
"I get that," she says. They may not have the same nightmares, but quality sleep is hard to come by for the both of them.
"Pizza. Sure," she says, and starts digging into her laptop bag. She pulls out her phone and starts tapping away at it. After a bit, though, she sets it aside. "Done. Pizza it is."
Of course, Sid has yet to actually respond, but it's done as far as Grace is concerned. Done for now at least.
"So... any new news?"

Kalen Holliday
[Fade]