Meeting Ian

Kalen Holliday
[How much sanity do you have today, Kalen?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (2, 4, 4, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )

Ian Lai
Considering how long Ian had been in Denver, it was a bit surprising that he hadn't been out to the Chantry before now. But that was the thing about living on the periphery - in some ways it was safer, but it also made you an outsider.
In the end, the curiosity was just a little too difficult to pass up. So when Kalen made the offer, Ian took it.
The drive out to Morrison was fairly uneventful. Minutes passed as the urban scenery gradually faded into rolling hills and tall pines and fenced pastures. In the car, they talked a little. Kalen gave periodic directions while Ian drove. And in the downtime, a steady flow of moody electronic music filled the cab, creating an interesting contrast with the naturalistic landscape.
It was growing dark by the time they arrived. Ian parked his audi in the driveway and exited the car, giving the chantry house a long, appreciative gaze.
"Somehow this is exactly what I imagined."

Grace
So, it's been busy for a lazy day. Grace met a couple of new people in Denver, at a place with a warning bell over the door to announce the presence of any Mages who walked through.
And Lena. She was meeting Lena there. Surprisingly, for the first time in a long while, their meeting didn't go terribly. At least, Grace doesn't think it did. She hopes it went as well as it seemed. Lena hides the truth sometimes.
So does Kalen. She can see it sometimes, in the things he tells her and the things he won't show her. Like how horrible he really feels. She knows what it's like to have screaming nightmares and then try to work through the rest of the day without showing off how broken you really are, so hey. Understandable, that. Sometimes you need to pretend. Fake it 'till you make it. Even if you never do.
"Really? 'Cause I always thought it was too big and too ranch-y," Grace says from the wall she's been leaning up against near the entrance to the place. She's been waiting for them. "Of course, the first time I came here, I had no expectations. Hard to have them when you don't know what a Chantry is."
She'd arrived just a few minutes before. Kalen had given her a text, something about needing a ride back to his car later, and wouldn't she like to provide such? So she did, because he's Kalen. And he gets a smile, yes he does. Nothing fake in it either. "Who's this?"

Kalen Holliday
One car ride full of Kalen watching the road through half closed eyes until he has to start actively giving directions later, they arrive at the chantry.  If nothing else, it's probably enough to convince Ian that throwing on some music and driving Kalen around will probably get him to fall asleep, or at least rest, if he isn't worried about giving directions.
He slips out of the car and watches Ian study the chantry for a minute.  There is no rush.  No rush at all.  He smiles a little at that statement.  "Of course, it is.  As with all cats, one would assume you are well acquainted with all the mysteries."  His tone is relaxed, threaded through with a warm, amused purr.  Nothing barbed at all.  No sign of something dark and broken lurking just beneath the surface.
"You want to head straight in, or go in through the back so you can see the Node first?"
He smiles and waves to Grace.  "Hey, Kit.  Kit, this is Ian."  Ian who spoils all his fun by not answering to Kitty-cat.  "That's Grace," he says to Ian.  "She is like, my psuedo-apprentice and we also practically live together, since neither of us knows quite how to stop.  We spend a lot of time at the office."

[And...because I must know...how distracted are you by Resonance?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )

Ian Lai
I always thought it was too big and too ranch-y.
"It's Colorado," Ian replied with a smirk, as though that somehow explained everything. He didn't respond to Kalen's assertion about cats and mysteries, which may have been as close to a confirmation as Kalen was going to get. (More than likely Ian was quite content to let everyone think that about him, whether or not it was true.)
Grace was a new entity, and Ian regarded her with a level gaze while Kalen introduced them. He didn't offer any sort of formal greeting of his own. Just a light nod of his head.
Grace's first impression of Ian might very well fit with the image Kalen had (rather vaguely) sketched of him during a past conversation. Attractive (beautiful, even.) Lean and agile, and dressed in an outfit that looked like it had cost a lot more than any sane person would actually pay for casual clothes. (Dark blue skinny selvage jeans, black boots and a fitted white t-shirt.)
But none of that really compared to the overall sensory impression that he seemed to radiate. Kalen had been right - Ian felt exactly like a hunting cat.
(Not exactly a house-cat, either.)
"I'll take the Node for a thousand, Alex."

[Awareness]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )

Grace
[Awareness!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 3, 10) ( success x 1 )

Grace
"Ahh, Ian, yes. Hello! Welcome! All that stuff," Grace says, as if Kalen's told her all about him already. He has. Or at least, what he knew, and what they've been up to. Apparently, he's decided he trusts Ian enough to bring him to the Chantry finally, as well as... huh. Well, she can see why one might want to ignore trust issues to get with that.
Ian looks like he stepped out of the pages of a fashion mag or something. Not that Grace pays attention to fashion. At all. Ian can probably tell, with how she dresses in jeans (of the non-expensive variety), sneakers, and a grey turtleneck jacket, zipped up to the neck. With her face bare of makeup, she looks somewhere in between male and female. No curves. All sharpness.
"Node. Cool. It's a hot spring, kinda neat," she says, and starts leading the way out to the back of the house, her laptop bag swinging from a shoulder.

Kalen Holliday
Kalen rolls his eyes.  "I suppose turnabout is fair play, but we already have an Alex.  That will just confuse everyone."  He is not even joking.  And it isn't that he is particularly annoyed, for all his tone isn't quite as warm.  He is somehow, remarkably, oblivious to that reference.
"Come on then, we'll go on the scenic around-the-house route."  He smiles faintly.  "And yes.  It is a hot spring.  Some people love that."

Ian Lai
The fact that Kalen didn't understand a Jeopardy reference was of fairly minimal importance to Ian, who probably hadn't actually watched a single episode of Jeopardy in his life. (Some pop culture references were like that - you didn't have to experience them to know that they existed.) He didn't bother to fill Kalen in on the joke. Grace could do that, if she wanted. Otherwise it would pass without much notice.
Grace was markedly more welcoming to Ian than he'd been in his own greeting. And she led the way around the house toward their destination. As they walked, Ian eyed her laptop bag and her clothes and took in the sharp (keen) and shifting energy of her resonance.
"We can all go skinny dipping," he offered, and it wasn't entirely clear if he was joking or not.
But then they rounded the house and Ian... well. It was hard not to get hit with that overwhelming flow of rejuvenation and not be at least a little bit awed by it. He approached the node slowly, taking in the sight of the spring and the vibrant, early growth in the nearby gardens. And when he crouched down at the edge of the rocks his body went almost perfectly still.

Grace
Grace snorts, actually, when Ian says they can go skinny dipping. It's lucky for her it's dark out and she's in the lead, or otherwise they might see how red her face can actually turn. It would be like going skinny dipping with your brother while he's (probably) making out with some dude.
She does manage to control herself by the time they're out in the backyard, and she watches Ian meet the node. "I think he likes it," she whispers, loudly, to Kalen.
"I'm not going skinny dipping," she adds, again in a loud whisper.

Kalen Holliday
Kalen shudders a little at the mention of skinny dipping.  Ninety-five percent of cats fucking hate water.  But of course Ian wouldn't.  No skinny dipping, Ian.  No SCUBA diving, Grace.  Never mind it's the fucking Great Barrier Reef you're going to.
He watches Ian crouch down at the edge of the rocks.  He does not rush Ian, any more than he rushes Sera.  He understands wanting to be close to that energy.  Sometimes, with Sera, he will even come within arm's length of the pool.  It is hardly frozen over.  Or deep enough to drown him under any normal circumstances.  Still.  It is a tiny pond, and he wants nothing to do with that.
"Good," he says to Grace.  "I would prefer you stay the Hell out of the water anyway."

Ian Lai
Many cats hate water - but not all. Evidently Ian was one of the latter sort.
Distantly, he registered Grace and Kalen's mutual objections to the prospect of skinny dipping, but Ian wasn't focused on them. Instead, he reached out and let his fingers drift through the surface of the water. It was warm, and smelled faintly salty. And if the others hadn't been there, Ian might very well have shed his clothes and climbed in, but he wasn't alone.
So he stood up and turned around.
"Don't like water?" he asked Kalen.

Grace
There are times she wants to tell Kalen that no matter how much it might seem like it, she isn't his sister. That she can swim. That she's not going to drown any time soon. It bothers him so much.
"I know. If I ever go for a dip in the Node, I promise I won't tell you," she says, her voice soft, but not a joking whisper anymore.
Then Ian asks him why, and Grace just watches Kalen. It's not her story to tell. How much do you trust him, eh?

Kalen Holliday
"I-"  He looks at Ian, running his hands through the water.  In this particular moment, this decision isn't about trust at all.  It's about sanity.  And he is not burdened with an overabundance of that.  "Will tell you that story later perhaps.  For now...no.  I am not."
"You can go."  He nudges Grace.  "Did I not tell you could could go SCUBA diving in Australia?  I'll just get very drunk and pretend it's not happening.  It'll be great times all around."

Ian Lai
[Empathy on Kalen: This... seems like something important]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (6, 7, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )

Kalen Holliday
[So...how together are we....?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )

niko
[Does Grace have her phone nearby?  Because it alerts her to a new message from Lucy:
I didn't think you meant it like that, but thank you.  I'll see you around sometime.]

Ian Lai
Normally Ian might have teased him about it - the same way he'd teased Kalen for not knowing how to talk about phone sex. But he didn't. Instead he just watched Kalen silently, his eyes dark and contemplative.
Then he turned and began to walk toward the house.
"So who owns this place?" he asked, casually curious. And if perhaps the subject change had been intentional, well, no one here was likely to mind.

Grace
Something goes 'bloop' in Grace's laptop bag, and she rummages around inside it for her phone. She pulls it out, unlocks the thing, and smiles at it. Taps in a response. And then, shuffles it back into her bag.
Who could live without a telephone, really?
Really, who can? Because it's a good cover for Grace, hiding her red face in her phone because there's Kalen telling her she can go take a dip in the Node. Geez.
"I uh... wouldn't want to upset you. And I don't really want to. Right now. You know."
Ian gets the hints, the way Kalen tries to hide his lack of sanity, and Grace relaxes a little. Thanks for the change of topic, Ian. "It's owed by someone down in Texas, actually. Never met her."

Grace
Good, good. Sometimes I do cram both feet in my mouth by mistake... Just being sure I didn't run you off. See ya.

Kalen Holliday
"Despite your phenomenal aptitude, you really should not rearrange your life around what does and does not make me crazy.  Even I think those are unreasonable parameters."
Kalen heads into the chantry, and elects not to give a super grand tour.  Parading Ian around seems ridiculous.  So instead, he waves in various directions as he heads toward the living room.  "The kitchen is over there.  The stairs over there lead up to bedrooms.  The library is downstairs, I think Pan and Shoshannah can get you access, though I can let you in."
He flops onto one of the couches.  "The bar is right there."  He gives a last wave, with a little flourish, at the bar.

Ian Lai
Those were both names that Ian was only passingly familiar with, though he still had an entry in his contacts that listed Shoshannah's number. Pan's name he only knew because Serafine had mumbled it drunkenly one night after that priest had showed up out of the blue to whisk her away.
Grace said the house was owned by someone in Texas, and Kalen evidently knew little more, since he didn't seem inclined to elaborate. Ian made note of that information as he followed Kalen and Grace around the house, taking in the decor and the architecture. When Kalen flopped down on the couch, Ian neglected to join him, choosing instead to pace slowly around the room. When he reached the bar, he dragged a finger across it and tapped the surface lightly.
"Can I see the library?"

Grace
"Ugh," Grace says, and it's her turn to roll her eyes at Kalen. "I'm not. Okay in this case I am not. Just... Have I ever given you the impression that I might be a secret exhibitionist? If so, I am deeply sorry."
They go and join each other inside, and Kalen (of course) flops down and claims a couch with his entire body, as usual. Even with his leg healed, he loves lounging like that. But Ian wants to see the library, and Grace smiles. "Sure, we can. It's this way," she says, and again leads, showing him the way downstairs. At the bottom, she opens the (heavy, locked) door.

Kalen Holliday
Kalen gets up off of the couch, to come with them toward the library.  It is one of his favorite parts of the chantry and all.  Besides, watching Ian respond to things is entertaining.  And educational.
"Sometimes, Kit," he says, voice heavy with amusement.  "People surprise me."

Ian Lai
"What's the point of being an exhibitionist if you have to keep it a secret?"
Ian smiled at Grace, all bright teeth and wry charm, like he was daring her to prove herself wrong. And maybe if she was the sort to take the bait, he'd follow it up with the same thing he'd said to Alex - I'll show you mine if you show me yours.
But more than likely Grace would stay focused on the task at hand, and Ian was quite content to examine the contents of the spacious library, with or without the flirtatious banter.
After all, when did a cat ever turn down an opportunity to learn a few secrets?

Ian Lai
True to form, Kalen found himself a couch to occupy within moments of entering the library. Ian watched him for a moment as though he found this behavior curious, but he let the Hermetic doze off without interruption. There were, after all, books to be had, and Ian took his time wandering through the library, letting his eyes roam across the various volumes and titles that lay upon the wooden shelves.
Ian didn't precisely give off the impression of being an academic type, but nonetheless his interest in the library seemed genuine - if perhaps of a different sort than Grace's own interest. While he wandered, he grew quiet, and perhaps Grace would begin to feel as though her presence had been forgotten, but then Ian paused and looked back at her, his expression contemplative.
"How long have you and Kalen known each other?"

Grace
When they first walked in, Grace led Ian around to the different sections. The library is ordered, in a certain way. The books aren't nearly as haphazardly placed as they might seem. But then, she let him browse, and Kalen sleep, by plucking a familiar worn manual off the shelves and slinking off to a chair with it.
Kalen sleeps with twitchy restlessness. It's easy to see why he's always tired, if this is what constitutes sleep for him. If Ian pays any attention, he might find her occasionally peeling her eyes off of her book to watch him, but she's not going to wake him up. He needs what little rest he can find.
The question... ahh. It has Grace pondering for a moment. "It was August or September last year. Something like that. School had started. I was only a few weeks Awake. He likes new Mages, I think."

Ian Lai
"That doesn't surprise me."
Ian hovered a moment near a section of books about spirit lore, tracing the tip of a finger over a couple of the bindings. Not all of them had obvious titles, and he had to pull a couple off the shelf in order to inspect their contents.
"You a Hermetic too, then?"
The stereotype didn't seem to fit her quite as well as it did Kalen, but then, one couldn't always go by stereotypes. What little Ian knew of Hermetics included the fact that they did not like to share knowledge with anyone outside of their Tradition.
(Then again, Kalen had already proved that assumption wrong on a couple of occasions.)

Grace
"Nope, I am a certified Virtual Adept. He did try to recruit me, but not much. And I'd already been spotted ages ago by the Adepts, so," she says, and lays her book down on the side table. Seems it's conversation time. Sometimes, Grace follows social rules, like 'don't read when people are trying to talk to you' and such. Sometimes.
"I'd be a pretty poor match for the Hermetics," she says, and she can already hear Adam's complaint. "Not all of them seem to think so, but I do."
"What about you?"

Ian Lai
Ian made a sound in his throat - a little hmm - when Grace said that she was with the Virtual Adepts. Not so much in question as in understanding. But whatever his opinion of that Tradition, he kept it to himself. When Grace tossed the question back at him he smiled, just a little, in amusement.
"I'm not a Hermetic."
That wasn't exactly a complete answer, but Ian didn't seem terribly inclined to offer further information. He moved toward a table and set his books down, pulling out one of the chairs so that he could sit and look through what he'd found.
"Are you the one who set up Ginger?"

Grace
Ohh Ian, you make this mysteriousness into something fun. "Aww come on. You must be an... Ecstatic?" Grace says, making this into a game of Guess the Tradition. She gives him a bright grin at that.
Are you the one who set up Ginger?
"Well, yes and no. I helped set it up, but it was the brainchild of another. Gadfly, he called himself. But I administrate it now, along with Kalen. Either of us can set you up with it, you know," she says, and looks over to the twitching Kalen, mumbling in his sleep. "I can probably answer more questions than he can though. Especially right now."

Ian Lai
Ian glanced at Kalen when Grace made mention of him, watching the way the Hermetic slept (the restlessness of it.) The silent pause before his next response seemed to indicate thought.
"He already offered. I turned him down." Though something about the way Ian was questioning Grace now seemed to indicate that he was still at least considering it.
He shifted in his chair, leaning forward with both elbows on the table, and met Grace's eyes with his own. Ian's gaze was sharp and steady, laced around the edges with notes of his cunning resonance. "What makes you think I'm an Ecstatic, hmm?" He seemed amused by the question, and interested to hear Grace's response. Light flickers of humor touched the not-quite-smile that hovered at the corners of his mouth.

Grace
Ian turned down the prospect of Ginger, hmm. "Well, I'm not going to pressure you into it, or sell you some lie about it being perfectly safe. It's not. It's just safer. I understand if you don't want in."
And Grace meets his eyes with a touch of... well, not humor exactly. Calculation, perhaps. "Well, it's the way you... I don't know. You seemed to be really into the Node. Feeling it, you know, like you had to bodily connect to it or something. And you flirt. Not that that's a purely Ecstatic trait, mind you. But yeah, I can see how you might be someone who enjoys experiencing things to their fullest. Am I wrong?"

Patience Mason
Another night, another visit to the chantry. Some might notice, or they might not that the curious woman from out of time did infact stop by the Chantry on a semi regular occasion. Be it to recharge in the nodes healing waters or to peruse the chantry's ample library the woman, dressed in her uniquely vintage garb was starting to become a regular haunter of these halls.
Some might notice that Patience rarely seemed to enter through the front door, sometimes it was a second story window, other times it was the back door, others the garage...tonight for once shes coming through the front door. Dressed in a pair overalls with a leather panel sewn into the front, pockets at her hips bulging with various and unusual devices the woman stepped into the chantry and moved through to the lower levels, carrying a large package in both arms.
She would descend to the library package in tow and when she spied the two occupant's, sky blue eyes would widen in both surprise, and pleasure.
"Appropriate temporally alligned sociological verbal salutations Grace." She would say with a nod. "It is an appropriately positive temporal reference frame to re-acquire and actualize your individualized paradigmic personage."  She said as she moved towards the large central table.
"Addendum, uncategorized, unactualized bio-paradigmic personage, it is of equal parts positivity that I actualize your relativistic existence and disseminate my heritalogical identifier. I am catagorized as Patience Mason." The package, made of burlap is deposited onto the table with a heavy thunk, indicating something heavy and metal within, and Patience began to unpack it.

Kalen Holliday
[Work cooperates!  --  Kalen, how much do you hate your subconscious right now?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 6 )

Ian Lai
"The Cultists certainly have their appeal. But their point of view has its limits." He seemed about to elaborate on that, but then the door to the library opened, and Patience appeared. Ian regarded her with a nebulous expression... somewhat reserved and touched with a kind of wary skepticism. He didn't return her greeting, perhaps because he couldn't figure out how communication with her might actually work.
When he turned his attention back to Grace, some of his relaxed humor seemed to have evaporated. "You aren't wrong in your observations, but no. Not an Ecstatic."
He opened one of his books and began to flip slowly through the various chapters (as though looking for something in particular.) "Who else is involved in Ginger? Tell me about them."

Kalen Holliday
Kalen's eyes flutter open.  Where the Hell is he?  Ah.  The library.  Ian and Grace and something luminous to chase away the echoing memory of living, all-consuming shadow.  And death.  Always so much death.
He takes a slow breath.  There is that luminous glow and the sense of Ian like some lurking great and Grace all ever-moving and brilliant.  He thinks that she must feel like those sharp-angled outlines that keep changing colors on screen savers.  See.  They are not dead.  They are right here.
He sits up slowly, giving Grace a 'did you seriously let me fall asleep here?' look.  It doesn't manage, what with Kalen still being not entirely awake, to look particularly annoyed.  He glances over at Ian, and though he considers it for a second, he doesn't try to summon him any closer.  He does smile a little as he watches him flipping through the book.
And then he looks at Patience, gives her a warm, half-apologetic smile.  "Hey, Firefly.  I am...not awake enough to remember what noospheric means and put all the words together in a manner more customary to you.  It's good to see you, though."  Give him a minute, though.  He might start managing to catch up to her speech patterns yet.  It is one of his favorite games, after all.

Grace
"Hey Patience. Good to see you," Grace says, and smiles. It's a bit of a show that, meant to reassure the woman. The last time they met, Grace was... not well. And in this library too.
Her package goes thump on the table they're all sitting (or laying, in Kalen's case) at, and Grace puts a finger up to her mouth. "Kalen's sleeping," she says, quietly. So do try to be quiet too, Patience.
Apparently, she's not going to introduce the newcomer to Patience. Maybe she thinks that he doesn't want to tell her his name.
"Ahh, there's a lot of people who have access, but as far as admins, just myself and Kalen so far. You know about him already. Gadfly was... hmm. He was a good guy. Socially inept, but a good guy. Showed up at my book signing, and had memorized every word in the story I read, and I could tell by the way his lips moved along with, even though he was staring off into space. Virtual Adept, if that wasn't obvious. He disappeared," she says, and the story is touched with nostalgia and sadness. She speaks of he whom she believes to be dead.
And then, Kalen wakes up. She smirks back at his look, nonverbally communicating back a 'yes, I did, you were tired'.
"What is that, Patience?"

Patience Mason
The package is unwrapped with care, and what lays within seems to be a series of parts and pieces, of what was likely some device, some assembly required. There were panels of circuits, gears and gyro's along with four curiously fashioned crystalline panels which were each in turn wrapped carefully within heavy felt parcels of their own.
The newcomer offers no response to Patience's greeting, and it amounts to nothing more then a gentle puckering of the woman's full lips as she regarded him. Those sky blue eyes met his and she smiled, before shrugging and turning back to her venture at hand. She would have tried to be more quiet from that point, but Kalen had already risen, risen and greeted Grace and herself and she smiles back at the man and offers.
"Verbally transmitted Salutations Kalen, actualization of your relativistic bio-para-noospheric existence is complete. Were your REM units appropriately allocated this juncture?" She inquires idly as she pulled out a long thin screwdriver and began piece the device together, affixing several parts to a large brass frame.
"It is as she works that Patience explains the device, not looking up from the work as she lowers an image enhancing monocle over one eye. Her voice calm and clear as she went on. "This basal electro-paradigmic device is cataloged as a multi-spectral indexer, a supplementary component of the Aurora's primary, secondary, and tertiary data acquisition array. It's primary methodology for data acquisition and compilation is utilizing spectral luminal wave variances to correlate data and assign appropriate catagories to foreign and frotean elements not registered within its primary data latice." Patience looked up briefly as she slotted the first of several boards into the main housing.
"Further verbal dissemination of the device's intrinsic nature is possible Grace, if such data transmission is requested?"

Ian Lai
A lot of people, Grace said, and perhaps that wasn't precisely the answer that Ian wanted to hear, because the questions stopped after that. He just listened and nodded and went back to his book. And likely he would have remained that way, quietly reading while Grace and Patience conversed beside him, but then Kalen woke up.
And here, see, an interesting thing:
Ian looked up and watched him silently. But he didn't make a move to approach the space where Kalen had laid himself out. And though he could have asked if Kalen had enjoyed his nap, he didn't. Possibly the answer to that question was easy enough to discern. One did not enjoy sleep when one's dreams were full of shadows.
Patience went about assembling the contents of her package, explaining it to Grace as she did, and Ian finally afforded Patience a steady glance. But it was like trying to fathom a completely alien species, and after a moment he seemed to abandon the effort.
"I'll leave you two to your little geek-fest."
And he picked up his books and moved to a chair that was further out of the range of their conversation (presumably so he could focus on what he was reading.

Kalen Holliday
[Ian.  Why are you so hard to figure out like a cat?  Some people are tired but still trying to figure out all your mysterious. Spending WP, because last time they hung out was kind of a disaster....]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 4, 5, 8, 10) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Ian Lai
[Because I just wouldn't be as much fun if I was easy to figure out.]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 6, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 4 )

Kalen Holliday
Kalen is, fortunate enough for the moment, relatively used to speaking with Patience.  "For me, incredibly so.  Thank you."  He smiles as he listens to her explain the thing she's brought with her to work on, follows half of it, and resolves at some point to ask if she can build him a robot lion.  Because he really, really wants a full-sized lion sentry for the library.  And he doesn't think anyone he knows in Denver can animate that marble statue.  Yet.
He rises and moves closer to Ian.  Patience gets a hand on her shoulder for a second as he passes, because it would be a terrible, terrible thing to muss whatever intricate thing she does to her hair.  Grace gets a tiny little wave, but no touching.  And then he settles into a chair near Ian and leans into him to murmur something.

Grace
Ian goes off to have a little privacy, or a little snit. One of the two. Doesn't seem to like nerds. Well, he can just continue to not like them, and she and Patience can continue to be completely awesome. Grace does give him a little fake-pout, if he's even looking. Sad to see him go. Not so sad as to be overly upset though. It's a fake pout, after all.
It's good to hear Kalen had a good rest. So rare these days, she knows. She can tell. And she lets him pretend that she actually can't tell. He gets a smile, but no words. Sometimes they don't even need to speak.
Then, it's back to the thing on the table, which is far more interesting than trying to figure out the reason why Ian wants to be by himself. Kalen seems to be on that job anyway. "So like, a magic sensor? It categorizes the stuff you detect?"

Patience Mason
Geekfest, Ian had called what they were doing a geek-fest. Several looks cross the woman's features from confusion, to realization, and then to utter amusement. She actually lets out a warm, full bodied laugh as Ian moves off to another side and Patience simply looked back to Grace with a warm smile.
Kalen has slept well, or at least he seems to say he has and to that Patience offers a agreeable smile. When the man walks past, heading after Ian he places a hand upon her shoulder, an act which draws a surprised, if not unhappy look to the surface of her features and she blinks at the man, halfway through inserting the next circuit board before looking at Grace in silent question. It seemed she was drawing alot of information from Grace, simply through reading her facial expressions.
But then its back to the ultimate geekery, to which Patience's eyes gleam with excitement and pride as she inserted the last of the primary chip sets and began to work on some of the cogs and armatures. "A appropriate approximation of the standard operating procedure of this device Grace, this unit has been active and cataloging redundantly for the past twenty two solar traversal's having actualized and catagorized significant data in its activity cycle. Though concurrently this particular schematical variant is no longer nominally efficient, its highly erudite index supposes its utilization as an pre-emptive dissident and frotean detection alert system is subjectively prominent. Successful integration with the data acquisition and dissemination algorithm concurrently identified as 'Ginger' may increase paradigmically actualized individuals awareness and prepardness ratios by a factor of fifteen."

Ian Lai
Given Grace's assumptions about Ian (and his opinion of nerds,) she might have been a little surprised if she'd met him as a kid. People changed, though. Not always for the better.
When Kalen sat down next to him, Ian looked up from his book and raised an eyebrow in a manner markedly similar to that of a person who was being told the benefits of some extremely dubious looking new food-stuff. His response came in a half-whisper, soft enough to match Kalen's tone.

Kalen Holliday
Kalen smiles at Ian's response, murmuring back.  It's totally calm for a minute, and then even from across the room you can see Kalen retake some of his more customary distance, pulling back a little and expression smoothing into something emptier.  Safer.

Grace
"You want to give it a Ginger account? You don't even have Ginger yet! Oh! Oh I should..." Grace says, and doesn't finish, as she rummages around in the laptop bag she laid at the foot of her chair. She pulls out her laptop, and starts booting it up. Yes, we need Patience on the network. This must happen.
"You have a phone? Or a computer? Or... whatever you would want me to put Ginger on, for you own use? I could do that right now," Grace says, and hopes that whatever device Patience might want to hand her comes with a USB adapter, or else they're going to have to get Creative.
Not that that is ever a bad thing.
"So, it would post updates on dangerous things automatically? Like... a weather alert system? Only instead of storm warnings, we'd get magic warnings? That would be so helpful... What's it's range? Like, how far is it looking for 'dissident frotean' stuff?"
Meanwhile, as she speaks, she's booting up a monster of a laptop. It's powerful. And fast. Ready in seconds, and nearly silent. It was purchased specifically for such qualities, and that didn't come cheap. Whatever lack of interest she seems to put into her car or her clothes, this does not extend to her hardware.

Patience Mason
"Though this device's standard operating dynamic is for that of atmospheric actualization, even located upon the external elemental reduction and diversion layer of this paradigmic facility a range of approximately one standard mile would not be beyond its concurrent abilities." Patience offers as she looks briefly over at the two men conversing quietly.
Grace is going on about giving Patience a Ginger account, and though Patience smiles, equally eager to have access to the service she frowns ever so slightly, her brows furrowing in contemplation as a finger raised to tap at her chin idly. "The mobile verbal/aural telecommunications transmitter which is concurrently present upon my bio-physical structure is automatically updated via the Aurora's primary computational matrix. Inload of the algorithm would require direct access to the matrice's to efficiently affect software alterations and repurposing." She pulls out a small cell shaped device from one of her many pockets, showing Grace that there really was no port on the device.
"We could movate our locality to the Aurora to affect such application, it is concurrently stationed at a relativistic altitude of twenty point three five meter units above this geographical locality." She offers.

Ian Lai
Given Ian's seeming absorption in both his book and his whispered conversation with Kalen, one might imagine that he'd long stopped listening to whatever it was that Grace and Patience were talking about. And it's true, he wasn't directly focused on them anymore, but his ears picked up a lot more information than most people assumed.
At this moment, that information was being filed away somewhere for later use.
The reality was this: there was a person who was missing, trapped and cold underground. Who the hell knew if he was even still alive. And another person... taken. Possessed. And Ian couldn't do a damn thing about it except to look. And look. And hope that he got lucky. The fact that he could stroll around and make jokes and sit here calmly having conversations about Traditions and secret communication software was not necessarily an indication that he was handling things well.
But that didn't mean he wanted to be reminded of that fact, either. So whatever Kalen said to him then, it got a pointed look.

Kalen Holliday
Kalen sighs, murmurs something else to Ian, and then glances over the books he can reach without getting up.  After a few second's consideration, he picks one out, reaches over and pulls it off the shelf, and flips through it for a minute before settling on a page to start with.
And then he curls up in the chair, still close enough for murmured conversation but no longer really leaning into Ian's space.

Grace
Grace gives Patience a look that is at once awed and massively intrigued. "Your ship is?" she says, and points up. "Well. Hmm. We will have to get creative then."
"I could try to directly connect to the Aurora computational matrix, if you would allow it? I don't really need a wire, it just helps. I can piggyback on the phone's connection. It would be secure. But I would have access to your databanks. I'll let you watch the whole thing. Considering this all seems to be homebrew equipment, I might need your help navigating it all, actually...
"And... oh wow, I would not mind a tour either. But I do have to give Kalen a ride home later."
And, let's just put it bluntly -- Kalen and Ian are being ignored for the time being. Grace is absorbed in Patience's stuff, and her idea for upgrading Ginger with an automated sensor is killer.

Patience Mason
"The Aurora has sufficient volume and internalized capacity to relocate Kalen, your movating internal combustion drive system structure and your own physical bio-structure along with several other parties, if so required." It is offered as an option for getting him home, if perhaps Grace didn't feel like driving.
"If such socio-political dynamism is not concurrently appropriate or noospherically positive we could initate a remote data transmission and dissemination algorithm to upload your directives into the system, upon such actualization if within alternate and divergent temporal frames Ginger users could gain sufficent access to the Aurora's primary data acquisition apparatus for improved logistical analysis and situational awareness." She makes this offer freely, either shes quite certain of her security, or just that willing to help out the others of the city.
She hands her little communication device to Grace regardless however, and turns it on with the depression of a tiny indent on its side, the surface folds open revealing an operating screen on a crystalline surface, it seems to operate through the manipulation of various light streams visible on the screen itself using ones fingers.

Ian Lai
It was probably a good thing that Grace's attention lay elsewhere at the moment, given the spike of awkward energy that had bloomed between Ian and Kalen. It wasn't really clear what had caused it, but anyone giving a close read of their body language might identify Ian as the source of the upset. Kalen was pulling back. Retreating. And Ian didn't seem especially concerned with drawing him back in.
"I'm almost afraid to ask what 'The Aurora' is," Ian finally rejoined the general conversation, looking up from his book with a tentatively curious expression.

Kalen Holliday
Kalen doesn't seem particularly upset now, but he definitely did retreat.  Whatever sparked off that distance...seems to not matter so much anymore.  Ian speaking gets a little flick of his eyes in that direction, but he's asking about Patience's...whatever the Aurora is.  It is in the sky, which is awesome, but Kalen isn't quite in the mood for that.
And he is in the mood for herbalism?  Since when does Kalen care about that?  But he seems perfectly content reading about mandrake roots for the moment.

Grace
[Corr 2: Secure Connection -- Diff 5 -1 for taking time. Connecting to the Aurora.]
Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (5, 6) ( success x 2 )

Grace
[Int 4 + Computers 4, diff 8 - 1 (Computer Aptitude); Specialization: Int (Creative), Computer (Analysis) = Okay, now figure out this completely new, foreign operating system, Grace!]
Dice: 8 d10 TN7 (1, 1, 3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 10, 10) ( success x 3 ) Re-rolls: 2

Grace
"Oh wow, Patience. That is amazing," she says, and gently takes the device. She puts it down on the table next to the sensor array, and begins typing away at her own device.
The screen on Grace's laptop turns black, and then begins to churn with the loading of her programs. Text blocks scroll down the screen in stutter-stops as she works.
And then, the people in the room will feel it -- the way she slices through, all the way up. Like the rug being pulled out from under with a sharp tug, like a surgical [bit]shift. And her screen now mirrors that of the phone on the table, ready for upload.
"Oh well... hmm. It's not standard is it?" she says, after a bit of trial-and-error attempts at working the interface. "I think I can figure out how to at least install the payload though. You want to give me access to the installation routines, Patience? I'm the process 'chimeric01'."

Ian Lai
Grace and Patience were likely too absorbed in their conversation to notice that Ian had asked a question, and well, to be fair, he was the one who'd gotten up and walked off to begin with. So he didn't take the lack of response personally (or at least, didn't seem to.) Instead he just pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger and closed his eyes for a moment.
"I'm going to go read these upstairs."
Perhaps he ought to have asked permission first, given the value of the books in his hands and the fact that he was a relative newcomer (unproven and untrusted.) But it wasn't as though he was going very far, and presumably the three of them could probably stop him if he tried to make off with anything that didn't belong to him.
In any case, he closed the book in his lap and stood up, making his way toward the door. And if he wasn't stopped, he'd keep going up, past the living room and into one of the unclaimed guest rooms on the top floor.

Kalen Holliday
Kalen lets Grace and Patience work, and he lets Ian go with no more than a wave.  He has plants to read about, and he is perfectly content with that for now.

Grace
"Hey, um... er..." Grace looks up at Ian with a remarkable face that reads like she's encountering a marvelous new moral dilemma.
The last thing Grace wants to do is be a rule-maker. She doesn't really do that. She's no authority. But still.
"Maybe you shouldn't? I don't mean to be rude, but there's a reason why the door is thick and has some massive locks on it. I don't know if this place has alarms for the removal of inventory or whatever. I've never tried."
She's not going to tell him no. She's just going to give him reasons, and hope he follows the logical path. Either that, or she'll find out if the place is wired to go into alert mode if books leave the premises.
She looks over to Kalen, who is busy reading a book on... plants? Clearly something has been missed here, and it has Grace confounded. Ugh. People. Why are they so hard to figure out? Computers are infinitely easier.

Ian Lai
[Let's make a WP roll, shall we?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN8 (1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9) ( success x 1 )

Ian Lai
Grace interjected, and Ian? Stopped just before the door. He didn't say anything for a moment, but there was this little click of his jaw as he rolled the muscle and bit down. (Not really angry, but... frustrated, maybe.)
"Fine." His voice sounded deceptively placid. Accepting, if not overly thrilled with the situation. And he walked back to the shelf where he found the books, moving to replace them in their proper locations.
But then... he paused. And gave a little twitch of his head, rolling it on the axis where it met with his vertebrae. Then, without a word, he picked the books back up again and drifted back into the furthest corner he could find. Presumably in an attempt to avoid distractions (of all varieties.)
And that was where he would remain for most of the night.

Ian Lai
[Ok, this is a roll for Ix's SL. Wits+Occult, diff 8, cause someone doesn't have any Cosmology]
Dice: 4 d10 TN8 (3, 5, 6, 10) ( success x 1 )

Grace
Grace and Patience will work on their little project for some time. It's a thing, trying to connect two wildly different systems, and Grace is going to have to recode the Ginger program to Patience's specifications to get it to work. But in the end, they'll have achieved some success. Let's hand it to them, they are no slouches in the technology department, either of them.
Patience, at least, will have Ginger access. And, the program will have been installed into the sensor array. Whether they can get everything communicating with the Ginger server is anyone's guess, but still. Between the two of them, it's likely.
Grace will have to ask Kalen later what had the two so upset. Probably on the ride back, if he doesn't just doesn't want to sleep the whole way. She does worry that it might be her, or Ginger, or... something. Ian is difficult to read. Mysterious as Kalen said he would be. And humans are somewhat mysterious beasts to Grace even at the best of times. But for now, she leaves them be, to work and plan and possibly provide a automated magical sensor readout to the people of her city.

Ian Lai
[Int+Library, spending WP because this is actually important, yo]
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 8) ( success x 2 ) [WP]

Sapphire

Yun
Sapphire opened quietly.
It may not be what anyone would have expected, but the cafe with its glass tables and its soft wash of blue light and its juice bar did not really do any advertising.  It just appeared, an old cafe that used to host poets and that had checkers sets missing enough pieces that you had to substitute coins or chess pieces or poker chips converted quickly, quietly into this trendy glass and metal and colored light kind of space.
Despite the lack of attention drawn to the opening, the cafe is rapidly drawing a clientèle that appreciate fancy coffee, exotic drinks, free Internet, and late night hours.  It is modestly populated at the moment, people alone or in small groups, drinking coffee or juice cocktails.  Some have wraps or soup or salads in various stages of being eaten.

Grace
[Perception/Awareness!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )

Lena Reilly
[[Per+Aware, Uncanny Instincts]]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 3 ) Re-rolls: 1

Lucy
[sure why not, awareness!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 5, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )

Lena Reilly
A cafe?  Well, you know why Lena Reilly is here.  The Cultist of Ecstasy can always be found looking for new places to subsist on caffeine; despite claims to the contrary, she does have a preference for the non-Starbucks kind.  (It's just when you have a headache, you find the quickest source.)  The woman is dressed down a bit; it's a warm day, a comfortable mid-seventies and so she's wearing a sea blue babydoll tee that reads "In Love With the DJ" and a pair of jeans.  Her backpack is slung over her shoulder, a pair of Lennon-style sunglasses perched on her nose as she makes her way into the place for her meeting.
They'd planned this, after all.  Lena and Grace.  Their text conversation ended with promises of meeting for coffee at some point, and so here we are.  She's in a pretty good mood, all things considered, as she strolls in and looks to find the Virtual Adept (and the menu).  There are bad days in Lena's life, but this isn't one of them.  Yet.
[[Per+Alert]]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 9) ( success x 3 )

Yun
Grace can sense an unfamiliar Resonance in Sapphire.  Justice/Serenity/Immersion - like being bathed in a constant, warm, peaceful lagoon.

Lucy
Lucy isn't here for fancy coffee.  She's here looking for a job - sort of.  The tall woman with the long vibrant red hair is not looking to get behind the counter and learn how to make espresso.  She's looking for a manager or someone who can tell her if they ever need a live performance, something that can draw in more customers or soothe those inside already.  Someone to set the embience.  And Lucy is pretty damn good at setting an embience that encourages people to order more hot drinks.
She does not have a manager to do this sort of thing for her, and her business cards are hand-written (about half of which have lipstick kisses pressed into the back).  She doesn't always get the gig, but that's alright.  Like she told someone else, this is just a way to pass the time and keep her and August fed.
She does not have her cat with her this time, she is alone.  Clothes tonight are short denim shorts over a pair of black tights and knee-high, heeled black boots.  Her shirt is white and has a jester's cap over a black face-mask.  Beneath it reads "I'm not saying I'm HARLEY QUINN I'm just saying no one has ever seen me and Harley Quinn in a room together."
As she walks into the room it feels like the warmth gets leeched right back out of it.
[alertness!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (4, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )

Grace
Grace woke up late today, still somewhat worn out after her marathon coding session. Not that she had to be anywhere today, but that's the fine thing about Saturdays. They're lazy things.
It's the perfect day to set up a date for coffee with a... well, let us call Lena a friend, and figure out what it really means later. More than that, and yet love is the best of vehicles with which to truly crush someone isn't it?
They agreed on Sapphire, a place for coffee and juice and free Internet (all lovely things). Grace got there first, and noticed the strangeness inside, unable to break it down to a particular person, but it could be just that someone like them lives here. Like Adam and the bookstore infused with the flashing of steel. It doesn't necessarily mean danger, but still. When Lena arrives, Grace appears to be watching the place closely.
She's dressed in what's now practically a uniform. Jeans, gray jacket, tennis shoes, laptop bag. The laptop is out on her table, as is a froufy espresso thing.

Grace
[Perc+ Alert]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (7, 9, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )

Yun
When she steps into the cafe, there is a soft chime, and it is just slightly different from the soft chime of the young man who entered ahead of Grace, Lucy, and Lena, though it is like theirs.  At the sound of the chime, a woman looks up from her laptop and glances at the three Mages, then returns her attention to the laptop.  It wouldn't seem terribly significant perhaps, but that woman also seems to be the source of the Resonance.

Yun
[I suck.  Alter that to Lena and Lucy getting diferent chimes than all the mundane peeps.  Thats what I get for editing their results.]

Lucy
To Lucy, all the resonances in here are unfamiliar to her.  There is the woman with her laptop who feels shifting but keen.  She walked in just after someone who feels withering and pulsing.  And there is the other woman with her laptop.  When the other woman looks up at her Lucy offers her a smile, lifting her hand in a brief wave.  When her hand lowers she rests it on the strap of her slouching canvas bag, the strap hanging from one shoulder rather than across her body.  Sure that makes it easier to get snagged off her person, but she's inside and about to try and persuade someone to give her a gig.
First, though, she looks up.  Up to see the chime that sounded one way for her, one way for the woman with resonance, and differently for the person without.  Huh.
Bright green eyes thickly outlined in black with lids made smoky by shadow take in a quick sweep of the room.  It's as she's heading toward the counter - which means heading around Lena - that she glances at her, sees her face, and stops.  And she very blatantly studies her face thoughtfully before asking, "Do I know you?"
Straight to the point, this one.

Lena Reilly
Lena is reasonably alert today.  To be fair, part of that is because she doesn't have her headphones in as she dances her way down the street.  She hasn't done that in a while.  So she pauses a moment, head lifting in a curious expression as she gets the sense of a couple Resonances she doesn't know.  First among those directs her eyes to a woman with a laptop, watching as she gets looked at herself.  And the second, the chill that winds its way around the edge of her consciousness, draws her attention over to Lucy who has also just walked in.
There's a moment's pause there, a recollection from an earlier day.  An earlier Lena.  Of course, for Lena time is relative and like most Cultists, earlier could be the same as later.  Regardless, she recognizes this person, if vaguely, and she has to think on it a moment.  Believe me, Lena would remember someone like Lucy.  It's there, and it's...somewhere past.  Distant but not.  She looks back around momentarily and notices Grace, giving her a little warm smile and wave before she looks back to Lucy and her question.
"You know, I was literally just thinking the same thing."  She smiles.  "So I guess so.  Did you ever live in New York, perchance?"
There's a pause before she says.  "Oh!  Right, sorry.  I'm Lena."
She's still keeping the laptop woman in the corner of her vision, though.  Something interesting there.  Those Ecstatics, always distracted...

Grace
Grace slides out of her chair, shuts her laptop, starts packing it up (apparently she's ready to leave now and will abandon the coffee even). Some horrible memories flood back -- the ones about being singled out as a Mage on a date out for coffee with Lena. This has happened before. They must be cursed, 'cause history's repeating itself.
She tries to remain calm, to make it look like there's nothing wrong. Just late for an appointment.
But she does make a beeline for Lena, and grabs her teeshirt to give it a tug before giving her a reason. "We should go. Somebody here has set up a warning system for us."
She tries to keep her voice low, but there's this (frozen, cold) woman trying to have a conversation.
"Did you notice the chimes?"

Lucy
"I did," says Lucy brightly.  "My sister and I went to school there for a while.  Lucy."  She doesn't offer her hand to shake in greeting.  If this seems at all strange, hopefully it's covered up by the approach of the shifting woman.
"Oh you two know each other?" she asks, curious, and not at all put off by Grace's furtive paranoia.  Lucy's been a lot of places and she's seen a lot of people be a lot of different things.
"I did."  Notice the chimes, that is.  "Do you think maybe it's set up so that they can go if we show up?" she asks, and it's contemplative.  And she looks past the two new (to her) oracles to the third stranger.  And again, if this stranger with the laptop looks up and sees Lucy looking back, she'll offer that same smile to her, friendly but distant.

Yun
The woman with the laptop returns waves and smiles, but makes no move toward them.  She does peek at them from the corners of her eyes, but most of her attention seems to be concentrated on her laptop.
Other people drift in.  Other people drift out.  Some people stay.  Off to one side is a first date, complete with a tiny brunette that cannot bring herself to tell her date that he has whipped cream on his nose.  It's okay though, he thinks his stories are extra-hilarious today.  There is a guy laying across a lightly padded bench, headphones on, who seems to be asleep.  He's been here since before Grace got here.  Maybe since before dawn.  Around them, people seem to have picked up off that initial Resonance they sensed, and though the shifting, pulsing, cold notes seem to be jarring some of them into more animate states, most of them still seem very calm.

Lena Reilly
Grace comes over and she's worried, and Lena understands that.  Two mages walk into a cafe and something funky happens...well, with these two there is a history, and Lena gets why Grace might default to alarm.  Lena, on the other hand, doesn't feel that way.  It's a tenet of the Cult not to let fear overpower you, and Lena has rededicated herself to the Code of Ananda recently.  So when the Adept comes over, Lena smiles a bit and shakes her head.
"An alert system.  Yeah, I noticed.  But we don't know that it's a warning.  Not yet."  Lena isn't intending to run out of here just because she heard some pings.  Lucy has her own ideas about it, and Lena nods.  Also a possibility, though she has her own idea.
"Or the owners have it set up so they can know their own.  It's the kind of security we might set up," she says to Grace.  The Chantry is warded against several things, after all.  She follows Lucy's gaze to the woman, and gets a thought.
"I'm going to go say hi."  A little shrug to the other two women, before she puts a foot forward to head over.

Grace
Grace turns her attention to Lucy, and she's still a little spooked by the warning chimes, but manages a smile anyway. "Yeah, we know each other. Were going to meet here to catch up, but that seems like a mistake," she says, her eyes gliding over the room by the end, drifting off.
Lena goes off to say hi, and okay... that's uh... Not the right direction, Lena. But Grace follows. Safety in numbers and all that. She stays behind, cautious, watching.

Lucy
[awareness-as-empathy: how YOU doin', lady?]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 7, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )

Yun
The woman pushes her chair back a few inches as Lena and Grace begin to approach, her smile brightening as she turns more fully toward them.  She moves like water, fluid and graceful.  Turn, twist, tilt.  She closed the laptop with a gentle motion of one hand, looks away from them for a few seconds as she slips it into the bag hanging off the back of her chair.

Lucy
Grace says meeting here seems to have been a mistake.  Lucy's brows lift, but she says nothing.  She doesn't know Grace, doesn't know where she's been or what she's been through, but from Lucy's angle?  From Lucy's angle this meeting is far from a mistake.  In fact, all two of her encounters in this city so far (two in a row, two days in a row, what will tomorrow bring?) have seemed auspicious.
Lena's going to go say hi and Lucy turns to go with her, but when Grace moves to follow she pauses.  She watches the woman who has noticed them, has waved to Lucy and returned her smile.  She was the one, Lucy noted, who paid attention to the way the door chimed.  Her suggestion that it was a warning for someone in here to run, someone who might just be as paranoid about strange happenings and untoward gatherings as Grace appears to be, it had been her turning Grace's own hypothesis.  Now she's not so sure.
Either way, she's not going to join the posse currently ganging up on the woman.  Not that they're ganging up on her, but if it were Lucy, and Lucy had been minding her own business, and suddenly three people walked up to her?  Yeah, she'd probably think about bolting, too.
Instead she goes to her intended target all along.  She heads for the counter to see if she can speak to a manager about a job, and order an iced coffee while she's at it.  But while she's there, asking, she keeps an eye on the woman with the laptop, Grace, and Lena.

Lena Reilly
If she's going the wrong way, there's nothing to indicate to the Ecstatic that this is the case.  In fact, everything points to the woman as being potentially involved, so they should at least eliminate the possibility.  Lucy is headed in her own direction and Lena doesn't argue it; we all go our own way and what's best.  Three on one probably isn't the best idea anyway.
She gives the woman a friendly smile as she comes up...not getting so close as to tower over her in her seat and intimidate, but not so far away as to seem wary.  Because she isn't...not yet, anyway.
"Hey," she says with a little nod.  "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be interrupting what you're doing.  I just wanted to say hi.  I'm Lena."  No offered hand, because the Ecstatic may be making physical contact with people she knows these days but the woman is someone she doesn't know.  She doesn't introduce the other two because she doesn't know if they want their names to be known to random Awakened. "I don't mean to pry if it's not wanted, but is the heads-up alert yours?"
Because hey, she could be talking about a text alert or something else to the people around her.

Grace
Grace gives the woman a little wave, a small smile, but otherwise Grace today looks tired and cautious. Trust seems to be the order of the day, so yes, we'll go with it while it lasts. Though Katie looked nice and sweet at first too, you know. Grace doesn't offer a hand to her either. Never was one for handshakes though. Not even before.
"I'm Grace," she adds, to Lena's greeting. "Hi."

Yun
The person behind the counter is all smiles to Lucy, just as she was to the people before her.  The person she needs isn't here right now, but would Lucy like to leave her information?  Would Lucy like to take his card?
~~~
The woman does offer her hand, bracelets glittering at chiming at her wrist.  Her nails are perfectly manicured, delicately painted cherry blossoms on either ring finger and the other fingers a wash of patterned lines.  Each of the bracelets is engraved, though the patterns are so delicate it isn't possible to make them out from any distance.
"Yun," she says quietly.  Softly.  Like a flower petal falling to the surface of a slow pool.
If they take her hand, she shakes, very gently.  If they do not, after a slight pause she brings her hand back to herself.
"It is not mine specifically," Yun says.  "But I listen for it, yes."

Lucy
Lucy would absolutely love to take his card, and she even offers one of her own.  Before handing it over, she writes beneath the handwritten script of her name (using a silver-ink pen found in her bag) "Musician."
Then she waits, patiently, for her iced coffee before finally meandering over in the direction of the others.  She wants to make sure the woman has time enough to settle after the approach before adding a third new face.
[so like one more turn and she'll be with them]

Lena Reilly
The hand is offered.  Of course it is.  There's a moment where she's considering it, shaking this stranger's hand.  It isn't like she doesn't occasionally make contact with people in the club, but that's different.  That's not coffee shop Lena; that's DJ Halcyon.  And for the moment her personal issues win out, so instead of shaking the hand it is her head that shakes, accompanied by an apologetic smile.  "I'm sorry Yun, I don't...it doesn't have anything to do with you, I promise.  It's nice to meet you, though."
Yun says the alarm isn't not hers, which only serves to pique her curosity.  "Do you know who's it is?  The owners of this place, or...?"  She trails off there, leaving it open for Yun to fill in the blanks if she does.  "Are you new to town?  I'm sort of a relative newcomer myself, only about a year."
She glances over, more a shifting of the eyes really, as Lucy is starting to make her way in this direction.  She slips that attention back to Yun quickly enough.

Grace
Grace looks at the hand offered, the delicate bracelets and manicured nails. Decorative, huh. People like being complimented on their appearance if they have put that much effort into it right? "Oh, cool nails."
Yes, Grace, they are cool. But observing her nails was not likely the point of that particular action.
She does notice that Lena's not shaking Yun's hand either. Grace gives an awkward smile to the woman. "Yeah, same here. I don't."

Yun
"It is for all of us," Yun explains, as though that is the entirety of an explanation.  Perhaps to her it is.  There is an elegance to simplicity.  It echoes through art and lines of ice cream with fewer than five pronounceable ingredients and computer code.  Sure, there are other artistic movements, other styles of architecture, shitake mushroom and raspberry reductions with goat cheese over tiny puffs stuffed with grass-fed aged beef.  And those things find their place.  Some of them in the juice bar near the little gathering.
"Thank you," she says to Grace.

Lucy
Lena looks back and sees Lucy making her way over again, meandering a little, taking it slow.  She can see that the woman's movements are light.  She is lithe, and there is a kind of soft gracefulness in how she moves.
"Don't what?" asks Lucy, upon them at last.  One hand is wrapped around the plastic to-go cup, the other is lifted to hold onto the straw as she takes a drink.  She is a towering thing, is Lucy, five feet nine inches in her bare feet but her feet aren't bare.  The heels of them are elevated a few inches.  She stops so that she's maybe half a step behind Lena and Grace, still not wanting to crowd up on the woman.
"I'm Lucy.  This place is pretty cool, is it yours?  It's so peaceful."

Lena Reilly
She watches Lucy meander a little longer before hearing Yun's response.  It is for all of us, she says, and that seems to be satisfactory to Lena.  Is there a curiosity underneath it all?  Yes, absolutely.  But there's also a willingness to go with the flow, and the important part is that none of this seems to be a terrible trap.  Lena's hopes are rewarded this time, or at least she thinks they are.
"I'm just not one for a lot of touching, is all," she says in response to Lucy.  There's a faint smile and a shrug, a sort of it is what it is expression.  She doesn't interject further into the conversation though, letting Lucy's question stand.

Grace
"Shake hands. Bizarre ritual in my opinion," Grace says to Lucy in an attempt to explain. "Why is that a greeting? What is the purpose behind grabbing someone's personal... you know, hand... like that? And then you just let it go afterwards." Grace shrugs, as if to say the act described is one she just cannot fathom for the life of her.
There's more to it than that. She knows it's the socially acceptable thing to do. But why do something so unnecessary and so dangerous?
Lucy says the place is peaceful. Perhaps Grace brings her own lack of peace here, with her skittering blade's edge self. It doesn't feel like peace to her. Perhaps the woman does. But it's not as though people like them get to choose what they feel like.

Yun
"It is not mine.  I've known the people who opened it only a short time.  I may have assisted them, but I do not feel any particular sense of ownership."  Peaceful, Lucy says, and Yun is peaceful.  But, as Grace understands, still surfaces cast reflections.  Sometimes you look out over peaceful water and see storms brewing in uneasy clouds.  Raised weapons.  Falling bodies.  Some of what you see of the world comes from where you look at it.
"There are theories that it is meant as a sign of peace."  Yun rises.  Lifts her bag from the back of the chair and settles the strap across her body.  "Regardless, it has come to be understood as a part of a polite greeting.  Language is equally arbitrary, and you use that well enough.  It does not matter, in the end, why the word we use for apple sounds like apple so much as we understand that that collection of sounds symbolizes the apple.  You are free to question whatever conventions and traditions and customs you like, of course.  Everyone comes to question something.  I think, in the end, it is those things we choose to question that most define us."

Lucy
Grace explains to her that the handshake ritual is unfathomable, and Lucy turns her head as she listens, watching Grace politely.  When she finishes Lucy offers her a smile.
A smile which she turns to Yun.  It becomes a little warmer that smile.  She nods.  "The theory is it's meant to show the other person you're unarmed and welcoming.  Most of us are always armed, though, depending, which makes it meaningless if you look at it that way."
She looks at Grace.  "But it's also a ritual.  And some people find comfort in rituals."  She steps aside to make room for the woman to pass if she is indeed about to pass on out of this building.  "Who are the people that opened it?" she asks, and she pulls the card from her pocket, looks at it, flips it so that Yun can see it.  "Is it this guy?"

Grace
"So you think people have definitions?" Grace shrugs. "Who are you, then?"
It's an old question, one without an answer. Yun could try, and Grace would decline every one. A name is not who you are. A title isn't. Neither are all the adjectives in the world. People don't fit labels. They're perpetually undefined. Sand mandalas busy being blown away even as they're being created.
Even still, she's curious about what Yun's answer might be.
Grace holds her hands in the air, a 'hands up' gesture, like she might make to a policeman. "Unarmed. Honest. Is it the touching that makes it a welcoming gesture? That's so weird."
Grace questions rituals and human social interactions and perhaps humanity itself. Why why why? And how does that define her?

Lena Reilly
Grace's explanation makes Lena press her lips together a little bit.  She gets it from Grace's perspective; she knows the woman.  Lena has her own reasons for it of course.  It's not a disapproving look at all; it's more of a sense like she feels compelled to explain as well now, especially as the Virtual Adept presses the issue.  She doesn't venture such an explanation though.  They all have their reasons.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Yun."  She lets the smile return to her face, an easy gesture that slides there.  This is how she was before, and she's definitely getting back to that person as of late.  "Are you heading off?  If so, I'd like to give you my contact number.  It's always good to know more of us here in Denver."
She reaches into a pocket, pulls out one of her DJ business cards and reaches to hand it over.  There's one offered to Lucy too, if she wants to accept it.

Yun
Yun pauses to look at the card, then steps into the opening Lucy so generously offered.  "Among others, yes."
She turns to Grace.  "You are grasping at the wrong aspect of that word.  There are others.  But in answer to the question you lay more as a statement, no.  I do not believe in that sense, that people have definitions.  They do have borders, edges, that form a perimeter.  Those borders are fluid.  Porous.  They may allow some entry and barricade others.  But, in the end, we see most often only the shifting edges of the boundaries of other people.  What lies past those boundaries...it may be possible to define, though I would not try such a thing.  Not even with those who have let me pass through the edges of their space.  Such an act seems overly prideful to me."
She reaches out to take the card from Lena, slips it into a small compartment of her bag.  "Thank you.  It was nice to meet you as well.  All of you."

Lucy
Among others, she says, and Lucy's brows go up.  She seems to have landed in a pretty populous place.  Luckily, the people she's met thus far have been - more or less - friendly.
She of course accepts Lena's card, looking it over and nodding once before smiling to the Ecstatic.  While Yun explains the shifting nature of people to Grace, Lucy opens up her bag and starts looking around in it for something.  First she looks into its surprising depths, then she starts rooting blindly, her face turned up toward the ceiling, biting a brightly painted lower lip as she tries to find-
Yes.  Smiling, her hand comes free of the bag.  Between her index and middle fingers are a handful of what look like business cards.  They are business cards, or business card stock at least.  On one side is Lucy's name handwritten in a looping, silvery script.  In the bottom corner is a phone number with an out of state area code.  On the backs of a few of them are lipstick kisses.
So, Lena's card is returned with one of Lucy's own, and she also offers one to Yun.  She holds one up between the middle and forefingers of her right hand, giving Grace a questioning look.  If she'd like the card it's hers, if not, well, that's no skin off Lucy's nose.
"And you," she says to Yun.  "I'll probably see you around."

Lena Reilly
It's some kind of communal place, is what Lena takes from that.  Interesting.  She takes that in, thinks about it.  It's a conclusion that is based on a leap of logic, but it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility.  The chantry wasn't known to them until it was, so of course it's possible that others exist.  She'll have to ask about that later.
It will be later and not now, because Yun is moving to go.  She smiles to the woman and nods.  "Have a good day.  I hope I'll meet you again sometime."
And Lucy trades cards with her.  She takes the offered card with, looks at the front and then the back.  A little smile hits her when she looks back to Lucy.  "Thanks.  Did you do the club scene in New York?  We might have met there, I worked them pretty regularly."

Grace
Yun talks a lot of... well, calling it nonsense would be rude -- about people having borders, boundaries, edges, perimeters. Even if she admits to some porosity being in the mix. Grace smiles in return, though. It does explain a bit about Yun. Perhaps she sees everyone as the placid lakes that she herself feels like. A fluid boundary into which we are sometimes poured. And she doesn't think that the roiling going on under the surface can, or should be noted.
It certainly is a way to see people.
Grace gets offered a card, which she accepts. It's one with a lipstick kiss on the back, which Grace frowns at. Not in admonition, more in mild confusion.
"It was. Nice. Pleasant," Grace says to Yun as it seems she is leaving. And then, Grace goes to retrieve her poor forgotten espresso thing on the table. It's a crime to waste caffeine. When she returns, Lena and Lucy are talking about New York, and Grace just starts digging her laptop out again.

Yun
Yun takes Lucy's card as well, offers them all a final smile, and slips toward the door.

Grace
The others talk, and Grace is curiously out of touch, into her computer. Her screen is loading a special program, of course. To most, it would look like a screensaver, if it ends up working. But to her, it's the Code, the Data. And she wants to know where its been altered.
Those chimes. How? What? Do they seem like they were made by Yun or someone else?

[Prime 1: Watch the Weaving Code. Diff 4]
Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (2, 9) ( success x 1 )

Lucy
The frown at the lipstick marked card is noticed, noted, filed away for another time perhaps.  Grace goes to collect her drink and Lucy takes another drink of hers.  At least this time no one's asking her about sex and just the right time to make her choke.
"That's!" she says, starting off excitedly when Lena asks if she did the club scene in New York.  Toning it back to a grin, Lucy continues, "That's probably where I know you from.  So wow, you've been going that long, huh?  Impressive."

Yun
Those chimes  have a Prime/Forces effect built into them.  They are a blanket 'detect Awakened crossing this line' warning.  Aside from the sound, they do not have any other effects.  It does not look like Yun made them.

Lena Reilly
Grace is heading off for her espresso and at that point, Lucy and Lena make the connection to where they know each other.  It puts a grin on the DJ's face; it's been a long time since she met anyone from back in the days, and she reaches up to run a hand through her hair.  It's a bit self-conscious, because that's another life ago for her.  She was a different person then (not literally, but she has changed) and there's a tendency to want to slip back into that which she holds off.  Plus, there was a compliment in there.
"Yeah, that long.  There's no other job for me as far as I'm concerned.  Music's my passion, you know?"  Grace comes up and Lena smiles to her; she's not trying to ignore the Adept, of course.  But she's working with her computer and Lena gets that little ping in the air, with Grace's Resonance.  Best not to distract.
"What brought you out here to Denver?  I was traveling a lot for my work, but decided to settle here about a year ago."

Grace
Well, that was boring. At least they are boring chimes and not adventurous chimes. Grace closes the laptop, puts it away again, and gulps coffee, looking at Lucy and Lena in turn as they talk.
Grace isn't much of a club-goer. Or a music-fiend. Not that there's anything wrong with either of those interests. It just means she has nothing to add to that particular part of the conversation.
"I came to Denver for school," she says -- in an attempt at joining in. She gives a sheepish grin and then, "I kind of dropped out though."

Lucy
Lucy smiles, and she nods.  She does get that.  Granted, she has several jobs these days, but there are a few things that she counts as the real thing.  Those aren't really the things she gets paid to do, though.
Grace is busy examining the code of the universe for a bit, and so the former-NY residents chat for a little bit.  Lucy's eyes widen slightly when she feels the shift in the air, but she places it quickly enough that it doesn't make for a distraction for long.
Music brought Lena into Denver, and school brought Grace.  Lucy listens, and she grins.  "Well.  My sister and I are just sort of wandering around.  You're now the second and third," she angles her drink toward Lena and then Grace, "people I've met here who make me think we're not going to be able to leave.  Is Denver one big Hotel California or something?"

Lena Reilly
She chuckles a little bit at Grace, and shrugs.  "You've gotta do what's best for you, Grace.  Frankly, I think that's probably best.  You run yourself a bit ragged, you know?"
The 'Hotel California' reference brings a grin to her face.  "Okay, you've clubbed in New York and you can make Eagles references on the fly.  You're on my good list already.  And maybe.  That would explain the colitas I smelled when I stepped off the plane.  Although that could have also just been a few people pre-empting the recreational smoking law, too."
See, Lena can banter.  It has been known to happen from time to time.

Grace
"Why do I make you think you're not able to leave? You can leave. I'm not some creepy-ass doorman asking if you wanna 'check out' you know."
Grace sips (okay gulps) more espresso thing. Nods at Lena as if to say 'I KNOW' without so much as verbalizing that.

Lucy
One moment she's grinning at the bantered conversation with Lena, the next she's looking at Grace and she is unsettled.  She says nothing, only looks at her a moment, brows together and wide mouth turned into a slight frown.
"I didn't say you were," she says quietly.  Breathing in deep, summoning up some inner something, she turns to Lena.  "Well.  I should get going.  I have a lot of other places to hit before sundown."  A little of that smile of hers comes back, mostly in the form of a forced relaxing at the corners of her mouth.  "I'll give you a call later for sure."
And with that, the tall redhead turns to make her way out.

Grace
Grace turns to Lena, a little worried. "Did I offend her? I did, didn't I..."

Lena Reilly
Grace's sense of humor doesn't always come across to everyone.  Lena knows this, because it doesn't always carry to her either.  She's not sure, but she's assuming that's what just happened.  She lets it go for a moment, smiles and nods to Lucy.  There's warmth there.  "Awesome.  Let me know, I'll show you around to all the good night spots.  I know them well...kind of my job."
And with that, Lucy is gone.  Lena watches her go, and then looks back to Grace suddenly with a blink.  She doesn't dip heavily into the drug pool like most Cultists (occasional, yes; regular and heavy?  No.), but she does still have the tendancy to zone out, get lost in through from time to time.
"Hm?  Oh."  She sighs a bit, then shrugs.  "I don't honestly know, hon.  Maybe.  She probably just took the joke wrong, perhaps."  There's a little smile.  "You're a good deadpanner."
And that's when her phone goes off.  She frowns, looks at it and sighs.  "Shit...I have to go Grace, I'm sorry.  Work thing, someone needs me to help.  We'll do this again though, okay?"

Grace
"Yeah, we will," Grace says, gives her a smile. She's still a little sad, probably over the fact that she just told Lucy she could LEAVE. Like NOW, Lucy. Don't you know nobody wants you around here?
Except that's totally not what she meant.
So many times, the words that come out of Grace's mouth get taken in ways she doesn't intend. Most of the time she doesn't even notice.
For the time being, espresso will serve to sooth the ragged mind, though. Eventually, she'll give Lucy's number a try. Perhaps a text that says "I didn't mean it like that! You are free to stay or go as you wish. Free. I'm not trying to trap you, that's all I meant."
Like Grace would ever try to hold someone back, restrict their freedom...
Alone at last, as much as one can be in a room full of people enjoying themselves, Grace stares at the corners of the room, lost in her own meandering thoughts.

The Amenti (Mummy SL)

Halima Rahal
It's been a little while since our heroes rescued a reawakened mummy from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science's Egyptian exhibit.  Once she was escorted out by Serafine, Grace, Pan and Riley, the former three got her to the good Father's church where he allowed her to stay in the rectory for the time being.  The woman--Halima Rahal is how she identified herself--has taken the time in the meantime to shake off the last sixty years that she lay at rest.  She has managed to secure clothes in the form of a purple dress and matching tweed jacket-like top that doesn't stand out too much in the church.  Halima has largely stayed within the confines of the rectory for now though, as she becomes acclimated to the world that she has woken up to.
This is where Serafine and Grace find her.  She has managed somehow to acquire books and newspapers to catch up on the last sixty years of history, particularly regarding her home country but also America, where she finds herself now.  She sits at a table, her dark hair pulled back and over one shoulder as she reads about recent events in Egypt with a frown of concern.  It is her home, after all, whether she is a thousands year-old Egyptian or a museum researcher who has been missing for the last sixty years.

Serafi­ne
The rectory has a surreal familiarity for Sera.  The worn floorboards, the short, narrow hallways.  The untouched-since-1972 kitchen where the bachelor priest boils water for tea and stores the goodies the women of his parish bring him so regularly.   Pan is absent - at the Church offices, perhaps - but Sera must either have permission or perhaps she is just brazen enough to walk through the unlocked doors without asking.
"You been here before?" Sera asks Grace as she catches the screen door and opens it; opens, too, the interior door which is - Grace may note - unlocked.  A plain foyer and living room, with only religious art and worn furnishings.  A blanket folded neatly over the spine of the couch, which Sera has had spread over her more than one late and aching night.  The familiar scent, which she inhales.
Sera does not dress in any way that Pan's congregation might find respectable and most must surely assume that she is a prostitute or something similar.  More than a few go further in their assumptions, but she has not been around as often as late so perhaps some of those rumors have faded.  Regardless, Grace will surely note how familiar Sera - anything but the religious sort - is with the space.  "Kitchen's back through here."
So it is.
That's where they find Halima; in the kitchen, at the kitchen table, reading the newspaper.
Pan's not here to put water on for tea but Sera at least knows where he keeps the bottled water.  Opens the fridge and grabs one for herself and maybe Grace, then circles to the kitchen table.

Grace
[Perception + Awareness!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 4, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )

Grace
"Nope, can't say I make a habit of breaking into Pan's house," Grace says. She's been to the church just once. And then there was tacos or something -- hard to remember. It was as freaky then as it is now, all bright with Pan's luminous resonance -- one Grace finds akin to standing in a prison courtyard at night staring down the searchlight.
Going into the rectory without Pan here feels like a trespassing to her, especially with that judgey brightness. But it's not like they don't have reason, and it's not like Pan's going to mind.
They stroll together into the kitchen, and find Halima reading a (nearly dead media) newspaper. Of course Pan wouldn't have a computer for her to borrow, and of course Halima might end up worse at using them than even he.
"Halima, hello. It's good to see you again. Nice dress," Grace says, and not really because she likes the dress. Just that it is clothing, which is a change for the better.

Halima Rahal
[[Halima Per+Aware!]]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )

Halima Rahal
She already sensed them when they were approaching, but she doesn't look up until they've actually come into the kitchen.  Halima carries her own sense of Resonance, it is worth noting.  It is sense of eternity, as if it was frozen in place in the blink of an eye.  They also get a slight sense that may be unnerving (or may not)..that chilling of Jhor.  It's barely there, as if it's just on the verge of fading completely away.  But they can still pick up on it.
She smiles when she sees the two mages, sets down the newspaper.  "Good day.  And thank you," she says to Grace with a little nod.  Faint amusement, as if she understands.  She knows it's not normal for people to just walk around fully naked, after all, and she has a sense of propriety, even if it didn't bother her so much at the time.  "Sera, yes?  And Grace, if I recall correctly.  I'm pleased to see you both.  I did not get a chance to thank you properly in the chaos of our escape from the museum.  I owe you both, and your friend Father Echeverria, a great debt.  I do not know what may have happened if I had been caught by someone else."

Serafi­ne
"You'd probably've been arrested and imprisoned, or maybe locked up in a mental facility or - "
See, people say I don't know what would've happened about the things they do not wish to imagine; or the things they refuse to imagine.  On some level, though, Sera must believe that Halima intends to ask herself - perhaps has already interrogated herself - on 'what would have happened' had they all not somehow felt the surging change in pattern, the reassertion of LIFE LIFE LIFE and all its consequences, somewhere way upstairs.
"You know when we felt that from downstairs we thought you were a fucking dinosaur.  But seriously, what the actual fuck.  How did you become a mummy?"

Grace
"Riley's also one to thank, you know. She got you out of there," Grace says, sticking up for her Traditionmate in absentia.
She walks over to the kitchen table to inspect the back of Halima's newspaper, curious over what the time-lost woman has been reading about. And, still reading, she echoes Sera. "Yes, how did that happen? Was it something like fake-death on a timer? Wake me up in fifty years?"
Grace stands up straight again, looks at the wall. "I suppose I could see why someone might want to do that."

Halima Rahal
"Yes, very possibly," she says in agreement with Serafine's assessment of what may have happened.  "Or worse.  I am sure that you know, there are things out there that have no problem believing in such things as me, or you, but would not be so welcoming."  Yes, she does indeed know the possibilities of what may have happened.  It's just which of them that it would have come down to.
There is a fain smile that lights on the woman's face when Sera asks, and Grace echoes, the question of how she ended up in that spot.  It's a valid question.  I mean, come on.  You don't end up spending sixty years in a sarcophagus and then just wake up, borrow a shirt to wear as a skirt and skip away without some very valid curiosities being arisen.  Halima leans into the table, interlaces her fingers and sets her hand on the surface, shaking her head to Grace's thought of the timed fake-death.
"No, that's not it.  Or, I suppose, not entirely."  She pauses there, lets out a breath.  There's no annoyance or the like; just prepping herself to explain.  It's a difficult thing to do in her situation.  "I am...two people, essentially.  Part of me--most of me, at least consciously in my mind--is Halima Rahal.  I was an expert in anthropology and Egyptology, which led to my employment at the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities. I grew up as normal, I had a sister and a mother and father.  No...significant other, I understand the term is now.
"That was where I met Amunet," she continues.  "Amunet is my tem-akh...the spirit that completes me.  Many years ago, Osiris warred with his brother Sutekh in what is now called Egypt.  When Sutekh killed Osiris through treachery, his son Horus used the Spell of Life to create the Shemsu-Hero.  Those loyal to him, undying, who could aid in the struggle.  This struggle continued for millenia, until what we call the dja-akh, the ghost storm, ravaged the Underworld and tore us apart.  We were forced to find new bodies...new hosts.  Amunet found me."
It's strange, the way that she's talking, of course.  She refers to both parts in the third person, sometimes the first.  She even knows it's strange, but it's the way that it works.  "Unfortunately, she did not find me for long before the agents of Sutekh did.  We were not quite strong enough yet to repel them, and they destroyed my body.  Drained it to look like a preserved corpse, thousands of years old, and sealed it away.  It is difficult to destroy us.  I was trapped in the underworld for some time, while my body become ready and my soul regained its strength.  And then it was time and I came forth."  She smiles.  "When you found me."

Serafi­ne
int + occult
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (4, 10, 10) ( success x 2 )

Serafi­ne
Sera listens as Halima unfolds her story; listens closely and as carefully as she can, which is not perhaps as carefully as one might wish.  The creature is sitting in one of Pan's kitchen chairs with a bottle of water in one hand and she doesn't understand a thing Halima is telling her, knows she is not going to get one single piece of the story right, and Amunet and Horus and Spell of Life and what the fuck?
See, Sera cannot hide anything and does not bother to hide anything because why the hell would she hide anything, so there's a sort of polite interest/concern because she is genuinely interested/concerned but also Halima is so matter-of-fact that Sera is not swept away in a tide of emotion and also Sera is sure that none of this will make sense to her,
except some of it does.  The names.  The names of the gods.
Which she interprets, and interprets, and interprets, a narrow line stitching itself between her brows.
"So like.  Basically, you have these enemies who worship Set, and like.  They tried to kill you but didn't kill you, they just put you to sleep?  Then your avatar woke you up again, somehow.  Will they be able to find out that you've come back?
"Will they come looking for you?
"What - what do you plan to do next?
"What can we do to help?"

Grace
[Int + Academics = What are those words, Halima?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (7, 7, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 7 )

Grace
Grace has heard the mythology of Horus and Osiris and Sutekh. It's pretty much all about how Horus and Sutekh had a 'who can be the biggest dick' war with each other. Horus, the smart one, once challenged the evil dude to a boat race, only the boats had to be made of stone. He painted his normal boat to look like rock and won.
And that's not even to speak of the time when Horus wanked it on Sutekh's lunch, so that when the gods challenged them to figure out who had fucked who, his semen would be found in the right place. Oh, the stories...
But yes, the real story, the one everyone knows (who knows of Sutekh and Osiris and Horus and Isis anyway) is the one where Sutekh killed Osiris and scattered the pieces of his body. Isis put the body back together minus a cock (because they had to have some pathos in there somewhere) so she made him a new one, and raised him from the dead.
"Why would anybody worship Sutekh? He's like the Egyptian pantheon's loser supreme. I mean, who worships a guy who gets tricked all the time?" Grace says, trying to choose sides for Halima's sake. To be honest, though, she thinks them stories. Perhaps stories based on some truth. Perhaps there were people like herself alive back in those days who could very well put the pieces of someone back together and raise them from the dead. She doesn't deny that. But that they were gods?
And the Underworld...
"If they come looking for her, apparently what we need to do is challenge them to a concrete boat race. Engineering isn't their strong point."

Halima Rahal
It's a lot to take in, and Halima knows that it is.  There are very few like her in existance and only the rarest of individuals ever meet them.  Sera knows the gods; Grace knows the stories.  Each of them interprets it in their own way; the Cultist into Awakened terms and for the Virtual Adept...well, they're just stories as far as she's concerned.  But she's humoring it.  Halima smiles a little bit.
"Because he is a creature of great power.  He is living death now, and his children are many compared to Osiris'.  Luckily, he has very few like us, although those few are truly things of nightmares.  And unkillable to boot.  None of the Amenti--this is what we call ourselves, after our home in the Underworld--can be truly killed by anything but the most complete and utter destructions.  That includes the Children of Apophis.  Bane Mummys, to use the vulgar term."
She sighs.  "As to what to help...I do not know.  I am going to try to contact those like me.  Perhaps I will stay here.  Even a place this far from out home has things that must be protected.  For now, I am merely thankful that you have done all this to aid me so far."

Grace
"I could see what I could find out, do some searching for you if you like. See if I could help you find some more people like you, perhaps? If your people aren't hiding a little too well. If I were your people, I'd hide pretty damn well, I know. Still, I could ask around."
Ask around, in Virtual Adept circles perhaps? Or query the all-powerful Google? Or even ask her own increasingly dense digital library? Kalen might have a book somewhere that speaks of the Amenti.
I mean, it's almost her job isn't it? Information-giver?
"You have anything that might help me look? Key words perhaps?"

Halima Rahal
Grace wants to help, and Halima appreciates it.  You can see it in the warm--if reserved--smile in her eyes and on her face.  She is obviously quite a ways behind on the technology game, and what Grace is offering could certainly be a help to her.  She turns to face the Virtual Adept more fully, though her lips press together slightly at the idea of giving key words and terms.  Words are power, and especially to her it would seem.
"There are some that may help.  Dja-akh, Shemsu-heru in particular.  Amenti.  I am afraid I cannot tell you the names of my brethren, as I do not know the name of their...new identities.  And we do not generally reveal our original names, for their is power that can be had by using that name."

Grace
Grace digs around in the laptop bag she always drags around with her, and pulls out her phone. She's going to take notes. Of course, she spells everything wrong, but gives it a good try anyway.
Ja'ankh. Shemsu eru. Amenti. At least she got the last one right. And then, she turns the phone to Halima. "Like this?"
It might be the first time Halima's seen the glowing screen of a smart phone. Pan technically has a phone now, technically... Maybe he's shown her? Anyway, the words she'll have to correct. Words are powerful, but so is spelling.

Halima Rahal
She squints as she looks at it.  She's had some time to get at least vaguely used to things, but the glare of a touch screen is new and it's bright to her eyes.  She smiles faintly when she makes it out and gently shakes her head.
"I am sorry, I am used to being in countries where it would be easier to guess.  You were very close.  Dee-jay-ay-hyphen-ay-kay-aitch.  Shemsu-heru is mostly correct, but a dash and an aitch between the yew and ee.  And Amenti is completely accurate."

Grace
"Ahh, okay, thanks," Grace says, and makes corrections with little tapping noises.
"I will do some looking. It's about all I can do, really. But I know you're in good hands with Pan. He's fought against some pretty terrible things, you know? He's a good protector, if a bit... Intense. A little. Maybe."
"How have you been? It must be kind of a weird thing for you, waking up like this, years later," she says. And her voice changes from a curious, goal-seeking, excited tone, to something a bit softer. If you 'died' and woke up 60 years later, so many people would have died for real. So much would have changed. Culture shock comes to mind. Grief comes to mind.

Halima Rahal
Grace has definitely touched on the issue, and it shows in the woman's face.  It's not sadness exactly that she feels, but there's a distant sort of reflection that hits Halima's face, softens her brown eyes.  She gives a slight nod to that, taking a breath as she leans back to contemplate her words.
"It is...yes.  Strange, for sure."  She reaches up to rub her index finger lightly and absently at the hollow of her throat.  "I had not much time to come to terms with what I had become before I was ambushed.  It is different than just being asleep...my spirit traveled to Duat and you can see through the veil to some degree, but it is vague...hazy.  Only those close to death show clearly.  So I had time to adjust somewhat and come to terms with what I am, but still, it is..."
She smiles.  There isn't a great word to use here, so she goes with a merely adequate one.  "Different.  Being back within the world of the living."

Grace
"I can't even imagine," Grace says, and truly she can't. "I haven't been at this for very long myself. Not having a lot of time to come to terms with how weird the world is? With how you are? I get that, though," Grace says, and looks somewhat awkward while doing so. Talking with people about their inner struggles isn't really her strong suit.
"But um.. Yeah. I'll get to looking. See what I can find. I'll let you know, okay?"
She gives Halima a smile, tucks her phone back into place, and looks to Sera in silent communication. Got to go. She doesn't reach for the Ecstatic's hand or try to drag her out, but Grace is intent on the goal -- go somewhere and chill out for a few hours behind a screen. Find out what happened to the other 'Amenti'. Where are they? Who are they? And how much of what Halima said is true?