July: The Poisoned Cup

Grace
[Nightmares, please don't botch, please don't botch...]
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (4, 4, 5, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 3 )

Kalen Holliday
[Nightmares!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 10) ( success x 2 )

Grace
It's been a week since the incident when Grace lost her sanity. It's something that the Fallacy of Impulse people had down pat about her in their predictions -- her mind had broken. But, as the days went on, as her nightmares failed to bleed into the waking world again, it would seem this insanity was a temporary ordeal.
The more days that pass, the easier it gets. Even if sleep never is, and waking is harder.
But there is another prediction. An omen. A date. There's no telling how long this relative peace is going to last her, but Grace has an inkling it's all going to go to Hell again in July.
Because they were right once.
They'll probably be right again.
Right at the moment, Grace is curled up in a (expensively) upholstered chair in the study of the Warehouse, barefoot and tangled of limb, with her laptop in the mix lighting her face with phosphor glow.

Kalen Holliday
Kalen arrives back at the warehouse from...god knows where.  But he has takeout, this time Italian.  Both meat and vegetarian lasagna.  Garlic bread.  Mozzarella sticks. Cheesecake.  He starts setting the things out so Grace can get to them, then settles into one of the chairs.
He seems absolutely unconcerned about the upholstery.
"Hello, Kit."

Grace
Blink. Blink. Apparently Kalen apparated in while she wasn't paying attention. With Italian, because he always comes bearing gifts of food. She's regained what was lost to the Hydra, but Grace suspects that fact won't stop him from delivering her food.
Well. It doesn't hurt that he has great taste in take-out.
She gives him a smile, perhaps one worn down by stress and remembered pain, but bright enough.
"Hey. That smells good," she says, and untangles her legs out of the knot she had them in -- puts the laptop aside for a moment.
She grabs the thing of mozzarella sticks, and goes back to her laptop. And it's not to slight Kalen, though it might seem as though he's being ignored for a few seconds.
"Hey... um..." she starts, apparently weighing her words. "You ever have any ominous dreams about me? Like, prophetic ones?"
There's a mozzarella stick in her hand by the time she gets the words all out, and when she realizes that, she bites it in half.

Kalen Holliday
"Never prophetic ones, no."  Kalen says slowly.  "Why?"
He leans over to grab a mozzarella stick, but that seems more to be doing something than because he is terribly interested in it.

Grace
So. Ominous dreams, just not the type to come true. Right.
"Well, it's about Mysterious Internet Stalker. The forum, it has some --" And this, this is where it starts getting weird. Because why?
"It has some prophesies about me in it. Some things that have already happened, and some things that haven't yet. You said you'd help me in this if you could, and well... Like I know a thing about prophesy. But you kind of do. Right?"

Kalen Holliday
"Well.  Anything that you see can be changed.  Sometimes...sometimes it is very difficult, but no future is entirely certain.  I can try to see into your future.
"But..what do the prophecies say?"

Grace
She looks over at her laptop, and takes care of the second half of her mozzarella stick by eating it. Greasy hands get wiped on her jeans, and then she grabs her rig and turns it around so Kalen can read.
"Remember how I said their initial message to me was a little weird, with their 'L. Marshall has been sentenced to the Turing Test' line? How I said it might have something to do with poison?" she says, and then lets him read.
The prophesy, the one she had to pry out of an encrypted and mind-twisted data dump reads as follows:

The Poisoned Cup. Better be careful here.
Verdancy Ascendant + [long string of numbers = July]. Pin-Point July. First shadows go long and lightning in shadows? Lightning or electric shocks? The metal will react. That will happen for the rest to happen + snark a lot of snark + noodles? I think this will be v d4ng3r + Sleeper Cyclops. The cup is the danger but is it touching the cup or is it drinking the cup = will she drink? I think that she will drink even tho remembering I think that the ?? bees what the fuck the bees will still sing that song. The bees are going to sing after the shadows spark that will be the end of it. But first loss? Lost. Lost memory book-opened up. I predict eyes not These but other eyes and they will move like a stutter or fucking shaky cam? Not alone I predict that shoes and shadowless and ok after that a period of rest. Hibernation. Hiding, but only if the eyes are watching. Poisoned cup I wonder. Too much there and gum on the shoes sticky. NO FIREWORKS THO. More darkness tenebrous than anything. Address? [There is an address here - it is for a restaurant near the University.]

Kalen Holliday
"That...does appear to be at least a little bit ominous."  He frowns and rereads it.
"It's like a dark mirror Grail quest?  Lightning and shadows."  Again he rereads the message.
"I can try to look but I'm not sure I'll get much clearer information.  Do you know any of these references?"

Grace
"Well, I'm pretty sure I know who 'snark a lot of snark plus noodles' refers to," she says, and gives him a smirk. Just in case he doesn't get it though, she points at him with another snagged mozzarella stick.
"The address is a restaurant. I've been there before, but I certainly don't remember any bee lightning."

Kalen Holliday
"I think, regardless of what I can or cannot see we just be cautious.  Or spend all of July in Australia."  He's probably joking about Australia there.  Probably.
He finally remembers he has a mozzarella stick and takes a bite of it.
"I'm more interested in the cup and the bees and the shadows and the metal."

Grace
"The eyes. Someone's going to be watching me, like... I'm going to have to hide somewhere, like at the Chantry with wards up," she sighs.
"Like I said, I know jack about prophesy, or how to interpret this. Sounds like the writer of this thing didn't know how to interpret it either. I wouldn't mind spending the entirety of July in Australia, mind you, but I don't know if that would change anything, you know? Maybe going to Australia is what we do to cause this to happen?"

Kalen Holliday
"Yeah.  Prophecy...it is an uncertain thing at best.  I'll see what I can do, but we may not be able to really understand until closer to July."

Grace
"I know... I just," she sighs, looks up at the ceiling. "I've been avoiding telling you about it, because I didn't want you to worry. But it's not like you're not directly referenced in the fucking thing or anything, right? I'd have to tell you eventually."
She continues chewing on the oh-so-convenient finger food that is fried cheese.
"I just wanted you to know. In case you ran across something, or one of the references suddenly makes itself clear. Or you have a dream. Or whatever," she says, mouth half-full.

Kalen Holliday
"Thank you."  He smiles.  "We'll figure it out.  There's time before July."

Grace
"I'm sure it'll be fine," she says. A beat. And then, "Okay, that's a lie. But still."
Even so, there's a smile for him in return.
"What's new in your life? Mine continues to be interesting, I know."

Kalen Holliday
"I'm trying to understand having friends.  Still confused.  Of course, it is pretty awesome, so I'm okay with that."
"I think Ryne is a vegetarian."  Wait.  What?  That sequence makes sense to Kalen, anyway.

Grace
"What are you confused about, regarding friends?" she asks, a touch of amusement passing over her features.

Kalen Holliday
"I've never really had any.  It's kind of a new, weird thing."

Grace
"Well, welcome to the club. People are weird. Not that vegetarianism is weird, I didn't mean that," she turns her laptop back, putting it away, so Kalen doesn't have to stare at that fucked-up prophesy anymore.
"Sometimes, it hurts to have friends, too. But it hurt a lot more not having them I suppose."

Kalen Holliday
"I rather like it."