Topiaries in the Shape of Sabre-Toothed Tigers

Grace
So, the scene today is much like the scene has been for several days. Grace sits in her chair, hunched over the desk, and it really is a good desk for this sort of work isn't it?
There's a setup of three disemboweled calculator kits, their innards thoroughly exposed and peeled and ultimately set aside once she'd managed to wrest from them the initial parameters of The Wall -- that cryptographic nightmare that keeps turning off any technologic calculating machine she attempts to use.
Scattered around the U-shaped desk are also papers, some weighted flat with whatever she had on hand (like calculator pieces) with diagrams of circuits and translated binary ones and zeros.
But for the past few days, Grace has seemed preoccupied with one notebook in particular, alternately scribbling and staring, scribbling and staring.
Sometimes, she gets so lost in the figures that she looks angry. But she always looks a little mad. (Granted, the strange apparatuses she created with those calculator kits in order to map them out do not help any with the 'looking mad' part.)
It's a good thing Kalen always makes sure she eats, even though some days, she only murmurs that she's 'not at a stopping point'. Still, it's appreciated. As is Kalen's almost prescient furnishing of the (deep blue, constellationed) room with a couch.

Kalen Holliday
Kalen would be the first person to tell you that some things he does and he does not know until later.  There are some things he can logically predict and some things he sees in visions but there are huge portions of his life dictated by nothing but what seem, on the surface, to be whims.  He caught a bus to Denver with a backpack full of things and came back from the dead by running into people who had known him before.  Lazarus.
Right now he arrives at Grace's office with sushi and soba noodles, a bottle of sparkling mineral water, a bottle of sake, a thermos full of green tea, and a bag of mail from the PO Box of someone he fabricated once and still keeps up just in case.  He maintains that these people he has been are like ghosts, but this one...this one he still gets very real letters for.  Postcards.  If Grace pays attention, mostly in Spanish.  This time there is a package with foreign stamps all over it.
He sets the mail beside a nice leather chair he helpfully brought in, and tends to take possession of when he visits.  He only joins Grace on her couch if she invites him.  It is a strange nod to her privacy perhaps.  There are things about Kalen which can be baffling.  He starts to unpack all of the food from bags onto the counter in the tiny kitchen, whether Grace indicates she is at a stopping point or not.

Grace
It doesn't seem to be one of those days, as Grace peeks up above the leather-bound notebook and watches dinner arrive. "Hey, you've got stuff," she says, and yes, Grace, how very specific.
She puts down the notebook and stretches with what sounds like a pop and a creak from sitting in one position for way too long, her pencil jabbed up toward the ceiling like she's trying to kill some invisible thing up there somewhere. And then, a yawn.
"I think I'm getting somewhere," she says, with a little smirk of a smile. "Whoever did this though? This Anarchyangel? Pain in the ass. Could have picked a better time. Spring break maybe? Why not then?"
Because, Grace, you're getting fucked with. That would be the point, right?
She gets up, wanders over to hover by the kitchen. Someone's hungry. And at a stopping point, apparently.

Kalen Holliday
"Well, if you get stuck, I can always ask my other Kit-because-it-is-short-for-Christopher if he has any useful books on cryptography."  He offers Grace a plate, so that she can cover said plate with sushi and noodles.  And rice paper rolls with shrimp and greens with peanut dipping sauce.  These, Grace has probably figured out, are one of Kalen's favorite things.
"I will endeavor to impress upon the cosmos how it is inconvenient," Kalen says with a faint smile.  "But I think that inconvenient is sometimes just how the cosmos rolls."  His eyes roll and he gives a dramatic sigh.  "That bitch is lucky she's pretty."

Grace
"Kit-because-it-is-short-for-Christopher?" she asks. "I don't think I know him."
Which is odd, because she seems to know everybody, despite not being the perfect social butterfly.
The plate she accepts, and begins filling with sushi and noodles (lots of noodles, because they are fun) and she takes a roll too, just because it works as a nice conveying device for delicious peanut sauce.
She snorts at Kalen's comment about the cosmos. "Tell me about it."
"How's things been lately? I've been all wrapped up in this tedious shit, and with no way to actually contact the outside world. What's going on?"

Kalen Holliday
"Gallowglass.  You texted me about him.  We Hermetics...so many names."  Kalen pauses.  "You did do that already, right?  I think?"
"Mmmmmm...I went to visit Pan and we ran into Alyssa.  It was delightful.  Alyssa and I made a date for the inevitable fighting.  It should be delightful."
He starts to fix a plate when she is done.  Summer rolls.  Barely any noodles.  A few bites of sushi.  He takes his plate and the bottle of sake over to his chair.  He assumes Grace isn't drinking, but he certainly will share if she seems interested.  He brought other things for her, but she can have what she wants.
"When this is over, and maybe spring break, we should do something fun.  Something that we can talk about.  In public.  Because there is almost literally nothing I can talk about in a restaurant that I don't make up.  How do you feel about skydiving?  Or white water rafting?  There are places we can fly where it's warm enough.  What about the Amazon?  Have you seen it?  Do you want to?  We could try Antarctica, but seriously, I hate the cold.  I was thinking warmer."

Grace
"Oh, Adam?" she looks up at the ceiling and huffs. Hermetics and their names. "And yes, Kalen, I have already texted you about that. Geez, you're as bad as Sera," she jibes, and heads over to crash on the couch with that fixed-up plate.
Grace pauses and squints at Kalen when he starts talking about exotic places they could go. Sometimes, she cannot tell whether he's joking or not. Like, for instance, when he invited her to Chile for Christmas, like that's just a thing that everyone does. It turned out to be a quite honest actual trip to Chile.
This time, however, she's suspecting he's bringing up Antarctica as a possible vacation locale for other reasons. "So, you're saying you want to get that far away from her?"
There is a little smirk, and then she seemingly reconsiders. "Sorry. I couldn't help it. I mean, if you're serious, I'd love to go somewhere fun. I've never even been outside the states. Mexico doesn't really count, does it?"
She picks up a roll of sushi and rolls it around in the noodle sauce, and then pops it into her mouth whole. A few seconds later, mouth still quite full, she mumbles out, "Wa? you mave a dae for fighdeen?"

Kalen Holliday
"Oh.  I think we'll have already handled this by the time we can go on a trip," Kalen says with a laugh.  "Well.  We did agree that we needed to have a discussion and that it should be at the chantry and soon.  I'm not exactly planning on candles and roses.  Perhaps tequila."
He takes a sip of the sake.  Grace has rarely seen Kalen drink, despite the fact that there is a considerable store of alcohol around.  She has never seen him drunk.  The closest she's ever seen him to completely unrestrained was at the carnevale.  It was definitely something, all luminous pale eyes and wild, reckless joy.  Until it wasn't.
"I am serious though.  I think we should possibly have more things than this."  He takes another sip of sake as he considers that statement.  "You have school.  And a writing career.  I suppose I should have something other than this.  The last something other than this I came up with was a library collecting and scanning project which is...still this."
He laughs, and sets the sake down so he can pick up his food.  "I'm really just no good at everything else."

Grace
"You have school too," she says, trying to cheer him up. Last she knew, anyway, he was still going. Perhaps that has changed. "And I don't so much have a writing career as I have a writing disaster area. I mean, isn't that what got me into this mess?"
Mmm. Spring rolls. She digs in again, of course she does. This time, though, she doesn't talk with her mouth full. Sometimes, she remembers the little things. Most of the time, not, it's true.
"What about... uh... Australia. It's summer there. New Zealand? Oooh, we could go see the kiwis, they're so cute. And the penguins. They have penguins there, did you know? We wouldn't have to go to Antarctica at all." Besides, it's a lot more likely she'd get wifi in Auckland than in the middle of a rainforest. Not that she's going to bring up that as a positive, but damn. She's been completely without the internet for so long now...

Kalen Holliday
"Okay.  Australia.  Sure."  He shrugs, swipes a piece of sushi with his chopsticks while seeming to barely pay attention, and pops it whole into his mouth.  Like you do.  Sushi and noodles are not for people overly concerned with their dignity.
"I do still have school," he says, once he's done chewing.  "But you actually care about yours.  Mine is just to stave off boredom and amuse Garrett.  It's not the same."

Grace
She sighs, leans her head to the left while maneuvering noodles around. "I might not have school for long at this rate. I doubt they're really going to accept the 'I have a deadly contagious illness' excuse around midterms for a third time."
"But you know," she says, lifting a wad of noodles up with her fork and staring at them like they're something far more beautiful. "It wouldn't be that bad. I could still get a job somewhere."
Get a job somewhere, like she doesn't already have something-like-a-job here -- even has her own office. Just, there are no bosses, just Kalen. And sushi. Technically, she could live here or at the Chantry, and never need pay for an apartment. She knows that, it's just...

Kalen Holliday
"We do often have trouble with maintaining mundane lives, yes.  It does tend to explain why I never really bothered."  Except that there is a bag of mail beside his chair that says that is not entirely true.It may not be true in this country.  But somewhere there are people who know Kalen as someone with a mundane life.  And a job.
"Can you make your own job?  Or do programming work for the security company?  I'll understand your scheduling demands.  That could be a real thing."

Grace
"I'm trying to make my own job with the writing, but sadly it doesn't pay nearly enough to live on," she says, munches noodles, nods with eyes opening a touch wider at the job offer.
"Well, but... you're my friend, Kalen. Couldn't that put a strain on our, you know, friendship?" She pauses, head tilting the other way. "Maybe that's just me though. I never met a boss I couldn't despise."

Kalen Holliday
"I don't understand what you do.  I think it would go...so there are electronic things and maybe you can write programs or find better equipment or whatever.  Do that.  And then I would walk away and let you do what you do until you had something to show me.  And then we could show our clients.  I think we'd be fine.  You can set your own goals.  I wouldn't even know what they should be."  Kalen shrugs and trades his food for the sake bottle again.
"I can sell ice to Eskimos, but there is no way I can really design a functional security system.  And for what this is, better one of us, really.  We have...special needs.  And it would be nice if our cover business was viable."

Grace
"So, like, a partnership?" she smiles. "I think I could deal with that. You handle the talky crap with customers, and I make cool stuff. Sounds... better than every other job I've ever had," she laughs. "Lots better."
How the hell did you luck yourself into this one, Grace?
"Blackberries. We should go somewhere with blackberries. Can you imagine? Just all those drupes sitting there unawares, minding their own business, and then we pounce!" She makes motions like a pouncing animal with her fork substituting for claws.

Kalen Holliday
"We can plant blackberries, I bet."  Kalen says with a smile.  "Sculpt them into dinosaurs fighting robots or something.  I was thinking of planting some kind of edible or medicinal or ritually useful plant garden on the grounds anyway.  I've just never had plants before.  But there are books, I suppose."
"But you're right.  There are important considerations.  Like it being a partnership.  I have a guy.  I'll have him draft us some stuff.  Which brings us to the next important consideration."  Kalen raises an eyebrow.  "Sabretooth tiger made of a collection of dwarf peach trees?"  He grins and takes another sip of sake.

Grace
"Yes. Definitely yes. To both things. Also, Sid is good with plants, we should talk to her about gardening, I'm sure she knows lots of stuff. She's a biologist, even." So yes, Sid probably knows a thing or two about plants, at that.
"Now... assuming I ever get my tech back, I might actually be able to do something for our company," she says, casting a weary glance at the notebook over there on that cluttered desk.
"I swear, Kalen, it's like someone went and cut my arms and legs off, and then said I had to run a marathon to get them back."

Kalen Holliday
"As a Knight of the Order who can barely walk, I sympathize."  Kalen smiles.  "You'll figure it out.  Adapt.  Learn new methods.  Continue to defeat all the monsters.  Because that is what we do.  Even when the monsters are puzzles."  Another sip of sake.  "I have complete faith in you."  And he does.
"Intermission puzzle.  Reasons I should not bring a bottle of whiskey to Pan's office and get drunk enough to demand he guards everything in existence for me while I sleep.  Do they exist?"

Grace
Grace looks down into the plate of sushi, but there is still a smile on her face. There is something to that, isn't there? Here in the office, guarded by biometric locks and the typical presence of Kalen, it is a bit easier to sleep. Especially when she's got a fucking stalker she can't even keep tabs on.
Hopefully with all her equipment dead, her adversary can't keep tabs on her either.
"Well, Sera went to confessional once and asked him to make out in the booth, and he didn't call down any judgement of God on her or anything. So I don't think he'd be so offended he'd do something horrible to you. There is that."

Kalen Holliday
"I threatened to bring a bottle of whiskey and get drunk in his office and all he said was that I should do it after the day care was closed for the day."  He smiles faintly.  "He hugged me the other other day.  It was the strangest thing."  By which Kalen means strange, but not unwelcome, clearly enough.  He simply cannot comprehend how hugging came into any interactions between himself and Pan that did not involve people dying or something.
"Pan and Sera have something.  I'm not surprised.  It's a good thing to have.  I'm glad."  He glances at the padded envelope in the bag next to him.  Trades the sake for food again.

Grace
She huffs a little, "I guess he can be cool sometimes."
Sometimes. Because Pan is a priest. Badass all the time, perhaps. But not cool exactly.
"I personally don't see anything wrong with you getting drunk in his office and sleeping," she says, and of course she doesn't. Propriety means about as much as a hill of beans to Grace. She just nods at her flawless logic. Getting drunk only really harms Kalen's liver, so long as he doesn't drive or get angry and hit someone. Sleeping harms nobody, so doing either of those things somewhere where you're unlikely to get stepped on? Why not? Very few moral qualms. Although perhaps the bible says something about 'thou shalt not get drunk in priest's offices', who knows.
"I got fairly good sleep last night myself, this couch is comfy," she says, sidestepping the real issue with their sleeping habits entirely.

Kalen Holliday
"Well.  We'll see about sleeping.  Or getting drunk.  But I may stop by."  He smiles.  "I'm glad you liked it.  I flopped onto many couches before I found you that one.  It was very scientific.  I evaluated them."  He looks at her steadily, managing not to start laughing,.  "There may have been parameters."

Grace
Snort. Hah. Parameters. "I'm sure there were parameters. Squishiness, for example. That's a parameter. Width and height of course, but that's boring. Ability to fit in a staircase, though, that's a better parameter. Oooh, TTS: Time To Sleep. We could write a journal article on this thing..."
She smirks, and downs another sushi roll. By now, she's starting to get full, and starting to get itchy about that notebook again. Breaks like this are few and far between these days, with the exception of Carnivale, since Kalen was so incredibly excited about it. Looking back on it, that hadn't been much of a break, really.
"Thanks for giving me something else to focus on. Needed to chill out the cerebellum a bit."

Kalen Holliday
"Time for more work?"  Kalen asks, glancing at the notebook.

Grace
"Yeah, maybe. It's like the most complicated mathematical crossword puzzle ever, and if I just had my computer, this would be over by now. I don't understand how they're supposed to be judging my skills, if I'm not allowed to actually use them," Grace says, griping for what must be the umpeenth time to Kalen about how much it sucks that her computer is dead.
"If that's even what all this is about. Could be that weird stalkery person behind all this."

Kalen Holliday
"Could be.  It doesn't seem to quite fit, but it could be.  Soon enough, we will know."  He smiles.  "I'll leave you to your work."
He rises, and packs up the food they didn't finish, putting it in her refrigerator so she can have more food later.