Elijah

Kalen Holliday
[How awake are we?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (2, 2, 2, 4, 7, 10) ( success x 2 )

Kalen Holliday
[How distracted by Resonance are we?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 4, 6, 6, 10) ( success x 3 )

Elijah Poirot
[good sleep day]
Dice: 3 d10 TN7 (4, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )

Kalen Holliday
Elijah has been to Kalen's house.  He's seen the spiritual reflection of Kalen's house.  He knows how little time Kalen spends there.
This place is different.  There is a sense of Kalen's Resonance that has started to linger here, a sense of a storm never far away even when he is gone.  The two long buildings sit side by side in a reasonably sized parking lot, back from the main road a bit, surrounded by a new, sturdy fence.  The gate of the fence for the driveway is open when they arrive.
There is more security on the buildings themselves, one an office, one a warehouse.  Kalen puts his hand on a scanner at the door to the office, then enters a code.  Then plays with the system for a minute.
"Here," he says.  "Give it your hand.  We'll have it make friends with you."

Elijah Poirot
He wondered what this place looked like on the other side- if there were clouds overhead and the rumble of thunder that would no doubt bring forth lightning and a torrential downpour. He'd been to Kalen's house, and that place didn't feel like Kalen. This place felt like him. This place had a feeling like there was something that was going to happen, like there was that tension and turbulence hat spoke volumes. It had a parking lot. It has a warehouse.
Elijah offered his hand, looking at the scanner cautiously, "is this going to hurt? Or is it a normal scanner thing?"
He looked at the scanner, and impulsively gave a tentative, "hi."
Did he just say hi to the scanner? Yes, yes he did.

Elijah Poirot
(crap, forgot awareness. because awareness)
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 7, 10) ( success x 4 )

Kalen Holliday
"It's just a scanner.  Also, despite the fact that I occasionally talk about it like it is self aware, it isn't."  He pauses.
"Yet."  YET?
He enters a few more things, then moves his hands away from the keypad.  "Pick a six digit code, and then you'll be all set to get in here to read books without me.  Or have a place to be that isn't with Jenna, who sounds great but isn't really a part of all this.  Or, if you want to come play with the kittens.  They think everyone comes here for them."

Elijah Poirot
It's just a scanner.  Also, despite the fact that I occasionally talk about it like it is self aware, it isn't.
He looks mildly embarrassed that he had just attributed the scanner its own life and consciousness when, really, sometimes a cigar really is a cigar. Or, in this instance, a scanner.
Yet.
Which was about when the embarrassment subsided and his eyebrows shot up. here were the vestiges of a tiny grin on his youthful features. The young man picked a six digit code, 514229, because at one point knowing fibonacci numbers had been important and perhaps the young man had a desire to remember a six digit prime number. Or perhaps it was asignificant number to him for reasons not mathematical. Whatever the case, he continued onward.
"you have kittens? Are they like the cat whose Name you didn't know?" because he remembered that answer about the cat, how that one had ben truth.
"And... uh... yeah. Jenn... Jenn's Jenn. For as open minded as she is this is really not something I want to tell her about-" lies, he did want to tell her, it was just something he knew he couldn't tell her.

Sid
The day outside is warm and dry, the clouds great big puffy bundles of cotton against otherwise clear, vivid blue.  Summer came to Denver slowly, with a few fits and spurts and a couple of steps backward towards winter, but it's here.
And yet.
Elijah is Aware, and what he is Aware of is this:  Spring is coming.  Not in a general sense of rains and wet weather and blossoming flowers, this Spring is more direct.  It is more person shaped.  He can sense the desperate struggle of the seed in the ground, breaking free of its shell and driving up up up to the surface of the soil.  He can sense the boundless joy, the euphoria found in the sunlight.  He can sense something green, the scent of fresh green things just barely tantalizing his sense of smell.  He can sense the strength of it all.
And then there she is.  Tall and lovely, long dark red hair left to fall loose over her shoulders, dark brown eyes that seem older than time itself and yet all too present.  Glasses, stylish back square-rimmed things.  She has a black canvas-and-leather bag hanging from one shoulder, green and brown.  Her shirt is a bright spring green with a distressed CHEERS logo stretched across an ample bosom.  She is fit, this woman, this stranger, he can tell that, too.
And something else.  Something he can't quite put his finger on, something about her that seems...not like a doe.  Her eyes are not big and wide, she does not seem a delicate, agile thing but strong.  Seems there should be a spreading rack of antlers rising up from the crown of her head, dripping moss and green things.  But there isn't.
"Kalen," she greets and her voice is quiet.  She looks from the one she knows to the one that she doesn't.
[and does an Awareness check on him yo]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 2, 2, 4, 6, 6) ( success x 2 )

Kalen Holliday
Kalen smiles, finishes training the security system that Elijah is to be trusted, and then opens the door to step inside.
And then senses Sid, less perhaps as just Sid and more as the shift from the sense of standing in some wild storm to standing in some wild storm in an ancient forest.  Perhaps more the Platonic ideal of some primordial forest, wild things hunting and living and dying in cycles that-
Kalen.  Fucking focus.
"These are Named, one by me and one by a friend of mine.  I keep them both, but only one is mine.  That other cat...she was different.  She didn't belong to anyone but herself.  Not even a little.  It's why I never had a Name for her.
"These are Persimmon and Pomegranate.  And they are actually growing up to be something ridiculous like half the size of tigers, because they are Bengal cats."
"Sid," he says quietly.  "This is Elijah.  He's...well, we can explain more later but he's just found out what he is.
"Fae, this is Sid.  She's part of a cabal with me."  Welcome to the joy of having a Name, Elijah.  One you'd need all of, not a shortened version to even hope to translate.
"Shall we teach this place to let you in too?"  He asks Sid.  And again he plays with the keypad.  "Here.  Let it see your hand."

Elijah Poirot
Spring was coming. No, literally, spring was coming, not like winter that he had met, but this was spring, the season after all tall and red and... staglike. He wasn't sure why she made him think of a stag, possibly because of the red. Possibly because of the strength, possibly because fo the quiet. He'd never known a sag to be a loud creature. There he was, that beginning of a disaster, that call for change and that momen inside of a hurricane, the restlessness of men seeking change- real change. Elijah was gree, yes, but he was so many senses of the word.
He was a young man, tall and hin and blond and decently dressed. Some combination of nice and comfortable- jeans and a button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a vest. And he was torn, clear in his eyes that he was torn because there was a person to meet but-but-but there were kittens. Kittens and a person and the promise of books to read and-
Kalen Hollida had the best toys
"Oh my god, they're fucking made of preciousness," he murmured in the kind of awe that is usually only reserved for human babies. He cleared his throat. Right.
Focus.
There are people here. People trump kitten. (Usually)
"It's great to meet you Sid," he offered a hand, but then Kalen was offering to teach the system to recognize Sid, "I'll,uh, wait to shake your hand... Kalen, did you just call me Fae?"

Sid
There are kittens who are growing massive, kittens that Sid might not call kittens anymore but then who is Sid to determine what one calls one's pets?  She thinks she heard once that all dogs are puppies.  Maybe all cats are kittens.  Maybe they're just all kittens to their owners and caretakers.
She has seen these kittens, at least in image form, maybe has a few still stored in the cell phone Kalen let her use while she was traveling.  Mention of Persimmon and Pomegranate means that there is a slight smile playing at the corners of Sid's mouth.  It is the promise of a smile.  Or a smile's ghost.  Depends on who's looking, really, and how they feel about such small and subtle expressions.
She looks at Elijah who is also Fae, deep dark eyes staring at and seeming to stare through him.  He is a tumult, a hurricane on the horizon, winds whipped to fury.  Kalen is a storm, a crackling charge in the air with the promise of thunder.  Together the trio feel like a monsoon crashing through a rainforest, strong and steady but also chaotic.  Sid inclines her head to Elijah.
"Welcome to the club."  Then her eyes lower to the offered hand.  Her hands remain where they were, one resting on her bag, the other hanging limp at her side.  Kalen will set her up with security clearance it seems, though that is obviously not why she doesn't move to take his hand.  Elijah will know because Sid says, "I don't shake hands."  There is no accusation in her tone, and no apology either, she will not apologize for being careful.  Though the odds of Elijah turning out to be a threat-
No.  Sid knows better than to think like that.  "It's nice to meet you, though, Elijah."  Then she looks to the keypad and the palm reader.  Sid's head tilts curiously, but she steps forward and she rests the falt of her palm where it seems her palm should go.  Once there, she looks to Kalen expectantly.

Kalen Holliday
"It is short for Faolan.  Which translates vaguely to wolf.  Not precisely.  Wolf in Gaelic, afterall, is faol."  He explains this as though the question Elijah meant to ask is, 'why that Name?' and not, 'did you just randomly decide to call me something that is not even kind of like my name?'
Kalen plays with the security system for another minute, then looks up to Sid.  "Enter a six digit code, and from there you can get in whenever you want.  Grace is here a lot, because we both work from here.  Gallowglass can get in.  Elijah can get in.  More people eventually.  Definitely Alyssa and Alexander."  He offered no such explanation of who might be able to enter the space to Elijah, and even if those names would have meant something to Elijah, he probably still wouldn't have.  "It was always meant to be shared.  But it also is only partly ready.
"Of course, I will probably say that until I die." He holds open the door so they can both step inside.
"Come in.  Welcome to our...not entirely digital library."  He directs them down a wide hallway to a large room that is full of bookshelves in rich hardwoods.  Small clusters of furniture are tucked into spaces framed by the shelves.  There are antique maps in gilded frames on the walls, and for some reason a marble lion.  The shelves are mostly empty, though there are some books here.

Elijah Poirot
"That's cool," he replies, and loops his thumbs through his belt loops. He smiles, and it is surprisingly easy going. He seems relaxed, whether that is the truth or if that is a falsehood wrapped in a very good act remains to be seen. Things have been better, not spectacular, but it would seem that the young man- who feels so much like tension and the ever present possibility of turning poential to kinetic energy- to seem vaguely easy going.
he opened his mouth to ask more- why wolf? though that would probably make some sense once Elijah had a moment to really think about it- but he was soon enough too busy taking the whole place in to really be anything other than surprised with the location. It felt sowarm and rich and golden. Golden was a good way to put it, something that glimmered and had promise, and while it wasn't overwhelmingly full of books, Elijah knew potential when he saw it.
"Wow..."
A second passed as he looked around.
"Ohhhh, there's room to expand," there was that delight again. It took all of his inconsiderable willpower to keep from darting of and touching everything. "This is going to be great!"

Sid
Sid pauses for a moment, then enters in a code.  It is not anyone's birthdate, nor is it any other sort of important date.  If they have a significance at all only Sid knows it.  She is curious, though.
"This is like at the house," she says, and there is the slightest lifting of the corner of her mouth.  "But without the retinal scan."  There is a mixture of feelings in that small statement.  Quiet as she is, she doesn't really hide anything, what is there is simply subdued.  There is some incredulity and some exasperation, not for this system, but for that other one.  She listens to the names he lists and she nods.
Then she follows him inside, down the hallway and into the not entirely digital library.  Sid's feathery red brows lift and her dark eyes widen as she looks around, both hands coming to grasp the strap of her bag as she does a full turn.
"This is nice," she says, casting a look at Elijah.  She can't help but smile a little.  New Mages are always interesting to her, and she never ever looks at them with pity for what's to come or exasperation for what's there.  She watches Elijah with interest and warmth because she was never like that.
Looking to Kalen, she asks, "Are you making a Chantry, then?"  She looks up and around again.  "Or some other kind of gathering place thats...closer."

Kalen Holliday
"No.  This isn't meant to be a Chantry.  I mean, you can do that without a Node, but honestly...that's just odd.
"Grace and I are making a virtual library.  And there are some physical books that we're collecting that live here, but...this is not part of the House.  We made it separate so we could have some control over it without trying to deal with politics and all that just to get anything done.
"And once we figure out a way to do it safely, like with Ginger, we're going to share all the books we can.  This...I don't think it will be a chantry.  It might be a library.  It might be a place for our cabal or Grace's cabal.  Or even other cabals if they happen.  But...this is a library.
"Or...given enough time it will be."

Sid
Freeing one hand from her bag, Sid reaches up to tuck her hair behind one ear, exposing the curve of her cheek and the graceful line of her throat.  Her weight has fluctuated often since she was so terribly sick with that nasty Hydra virus, but it seems to have settled just a hair to the wrong side of too thin.  There is a hollowness to cheeks that were once almost cherub round, but she doesn't look haggard at least.  She does not look gaunt or terribly underfed.
She shifts the fall of her bag a little, and all these slight movements might draw an eye to her arms.  There is of course on her left that long, straight fat scar on the outside of her forearm, and the familiar concentric circles with their dots with the words WE ARE MADE OF STARSTUFF beneath.  The sleeves of her t-shirt are short enough though that they can easily see the new markings on the backs of her upper arms.  They look like the sketchy outlines of feathers, nearly but not quite identical on both arms.
A nod to Kalen.  "I remember Grace posted something about wanting to digitize the Chantry's library.  Is that going in here, too?" she asks like the digitalization of all those books is a foregone conclusion.  She didn't respond, but only because she doesn't have an opinion on it.  Sid does not feel particularly defensive or protective of the books kept at the Chantry.  Truth is, she doesn't understand why such stringent security measures are in place for a room of a house that is far away and not eas to find.  And oh, protected by a bear, they say.  Seems pointless.  To her, anyway.

Elijah Poirot
He'd been distracted by shiny things. Well, maybe not necessarily shiny things, but they were most assuredly interesting things that warranted his full attention, like inspecting the marble lion that something told him he probably shouldn't touch… but he wanted to touch because it looked incredibly smooth and it always bothered him that one was not intended to touch sculptures. It bothered him because once, he had been to a museum full of pieces from antiquity and even though he knew they were supposed to be garish colors, he marveled at how well carved those pieces had been, right down to the feeling of bare veils against cold, stony flesh.
He had, though, taken his time looking at whatever books were there with a suit sort of glee on his face that only came with the presence of books. His fingertips traced idly against one particular title and then something hit him from the conversation he only marginally heard in the background.
"What's a node?"
A second.
"And what's a chantry?"

Kalen Holliday
"Mmmmmm...Shoshannah seems okay with it.  No one has objected.  We can scan the books in the library there, so they won't come here.  These are just things I've pulled together for testing the scanner and for reference.  That library will stay where it is.  At least physically.
"Lena mentioned maybe a meeting place closer to Denver.  But I don't know how well that will or won't go.  It's...for various reasons that shouldn't be my project really, but it can be hers.
"This is meant to be open to the Awakened in general.  Maybe not like open access open access, but at least to come by and be brought inside.  For people we can trust who are local, or people we know we can trust who come enough to grant that kind of access though, I don''t see why they can't have access."

Sid
"They shouldn't come here anyway," Sid says by way of correction, voice still low but gentle.  She hadn't meant if they would bring the physical library here.  This is a digital library, or will be.  Mostly.  And Grace had wanted to make the Chantry's library digital.  "We're free to use the house, but the property belongs to Annie.  I expect that means the physical library, too, but I don't know."  She never really talked to Annie.
She looks at Elijah, corners of her mouth softening again.  Turning to him, she says, "A node is a place of power.  Sometimes a working requires us to dig deeper into our own wells, which exist in more or less finite containers inside of us.  Meditating at a node...it recharges us.  It'll refill that container."
As for a chantry, first, Sid looks at Kalen.  Her expression relaxes into something more like a frown.
"If that's on the table it shouldn't be any one person's project.  We used to work together," she muses, looking away to a map on the wall.  Looking at it without really seeing it, she continues, "Now everyone's so scattered."  She shakes her head like she's shaking off a reverie.
Like she should be shaking out a coat of fur, muscles twitching from neck to shoulders and throughout her body.
Clearing her throat, she says, "A chantry's a gathering place.  It doesn't have to have a node or a library to be a place for us to gather."

Kalen Holliday
He blinks when Sid tries to correct a statement about not bringing chantry books here with a statement about not bringing chantry books here.  Maybe she meant to correct that she hadn't been asking?  He can recognize the tone, but not attach it anything directly.  There are a few seconds of confusion, not annoyance, he's just trying to place why they aren't having the same conversation before he decides that they ended up at the same place so it doesn't really matter.
"She isn't doing anything about it right now.  She just mentioned to me that she was interested in maybe seeing it happen.  And that she was interested in it being more inclusive of people who aren't already at the chantry all the time.  Being as I have been all over that, and because I think half of us here are still waiting for me to start lording over them like they expect, I'm probably not the best person for her to involve.  I certainly don't think she means to do it on her own, particularly since I asked if she wanted me to hand out her number to a few people I thought might be interested and she was into that."
"Chantries are one of those things that...varies a bit by who you ask.  I come from somewhere where they are a bit more complicated, but Sid isn't wrong."
He sighs.  "Everyone isn't totally scattered.  We have...a bunch of newly Awakened, multiple Traditions, and a chantry without any formality at all.  I want to talk to you about some of that later, but, honestly, under the circumstances, we are remarkably unscattered."
"Oh," he says, as something occurs to him.  "Our Node is a hot pool.  Very pretty.  But...just so you know what to expect."

Elijah Poirot
He followed along for the time being until they started talking about wells and containers and there was something very fundamental missing. He nods, and then cocks his head tot he side, "but… does it have to be somewhere special? If you need to… uh… recharge, can't you just do yoga or something at your house? A mean, a pool sounds pretty relaxing and recharging, but I… uh… I don't think we're talking about recharging the same things."

The place is full of new people and there isn't a lot of structure or formality and he does perk up for a second and, "Do you know somebody named Alicia by any chance?"

Kalen Holliday
"Don't worry.  We'll explain.  And some of it is also here, and you're welcome here anytime.
"We haven't gotten to Quintessence yet.  We've covered that hearing his Avatar does not mean he is crazy, what foci are, and that there are Traditions.  And the Technocracy.  And Nephandi.
"That's pretty much his whole education summation right there.  Oh.  And we think he sees ghosts.  Hears ghosts.  But, I think since before his Awakening."
He sighs heavily.  "Yeah.  I think she wants to hit me in the face.  I know you love me, but really, lots of people want to hit me in the face.  It's a thing that happens.  I think because sometimes I'm a jerk.
"But I could be like all sunshine and daffodils and cotton candy and lots of people could just hate me for some other weird reason.  Seems unlikely though.""

Elijah Poirot
Elijah winced at the prospect of Alicia duking it out with Kalen, mostly because the idea of punching people in the face made his face sympathetically hurt. None of it seemed pleasant or desirous in the slightest. "Maaaybe… you two could just not be around each other for awhile. Sounds like it's not super friendly but hey, you two could fix it if you really need to.
"She's just… I dunno. I feel for her, I really do," because he was there right now, and while both of them were so afraid of so many things, he met her in a different place, too. When they could both look at things with wonder and sleep off whatever negatives were coming. They had a good morning, "We're gonna have lunch or something at some point. I guess mentioning you is not a good way to kick that off?
"Besides, if you were sunshine, daffodils, and cotton candy you would be a jerk because you'd be responsible for cancer, bumble bees, and diabetes."

Grace
[Awareness!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )

Sid
Kalen goes to great lengths to tell Sid that the Mages of Denver are not, in fact, scattered in the slightest.
Which means it's just her.  Somehow over the last few months Sid went from being somehow right in the center of everything to being on the outside.  The outcast.  An unnecessary spare piece in this particular machine.  Her gaze lowers, but she nods.  Acceptance of this, the state of the city as well as her place outside of it.
"I met her," she says, when talk turns to Alicia.  "She's scared.  She seems to like science, and space.  Maybe if you can find a way to start there."  You, she says.  Sid expects that should her path cross with the girl again she will be as unnecessary and unwanted then as she was the other day.
"I'm sorry, I should get going," she says, frowning.  Suddenly, she doesn't remember why she came here.  Did Kalen call her?  Send her a text?  Did she ask to see him?  "Good luck with the ghosts, Elijah," she says.  With a slight nod to Kalen she turns and leaves.

Kalen Holliday
[Awarepathy?  (@Sid)]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 7, 8) ( success x 2 )

Sid
[manip+subt (hidden emotions)]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 ) Re-rolls: 1

Kalen Holliday
"I was kind of having a horrible day, and she was having trust issues and I was...having trust issues and only Lena was having any patience and it was kind of terrible.  I sent her a note to apologize.  But she probably still doesn't like me much."
He glances at Sid and frowns a little.  "Yeah.  Okay.  One of these days though it'd be awesome if you could actually stay around for a bit because there's a thing I was talking about with Alyssa and we kind of wanted your help with it.  And then you kind of were in Russia and stuff with about no warning, so...yeah.  I guess it can wait though, if you're busy.  We can do it later if now doesn't work but it's kind of important."

Sid
[psh grownups don't cry]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 5 )

Kalen Holliday
[Not like we have a chance, but hey...Awarepathy again]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 6, 6, 7, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )

Sid
[I guess we re-roll?  since he's taking a second look and she's still hiding things?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 5 )

Kalen Holliday
[Annnnnnnnd...]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 7) ( success x 1 )

Grace
There are people here today. People come here often, but this is the first time that Grace has felt this particular mix of resonance in this space. She can't really put the sense of Sid into one concept, one word, but green comes to mind easily. And there's someone else, someone new.
Congregating at the library, because of course Kalen would want to show off his books. And that lion.
So she swings by, a peek -- a chance to see Sid. Sid who is leaving. But Grace loves Sid for many reasons. Saving her life tends to inspire that kind of thing. Sid always gets a smile.
"Sid! You made it to the Office at last? Kalen showed you his dead trees I take it? I'd like to show you my stuff sometime, if you'd like. It's a very early work in progress, but it's got plants, and I..."
Oh, Grace. Control thyself. Sid's on her way out, she doesn't want your dissertation.
"I should let you get going, I'm sorry. I do tend to get maybe a little carried away."
She then pops her head into view of the library door frame and waves to the occupants.

Sid
She pauses at the threshold, where she goes completely still.  Not rigid, her muscles don't bunch, there is no sign of tension.  For a moment Sid closes her eyes, but she doesn't need to, really.  She is remarkably in control of the sudden tide of emotion that tries - and fails - to rise up in her.
Turning her head to look at the Hermetic, whatever she feels is lost behind impenetrable dark eyes.  Sid is used to people trying to pry into her heart and she won't have it.  Not anymore.
"You had something to say to me," she says.  "While I was in Russia, with a phone that you gave me."  Her voice, for the record, is calm, quiet.  If she is angry, or if she is upset, or if she is near a brink of tears there is no sign of it in her face or in her voice.  "And if it couldn't be said on a phone you could have come to see me, I know you could've.  But you didn't."  Her head angles to the side, and the look on her face?  It's one of understanding.  "And when I came back.  Adam's the one who told me something happened to Alexander.  I sent a message to both you and Alyssa.  Neither of you got back to me.  Nobody here will talk to me.  Or tell me anything.  And I get it, okay.  I'm not part of this place anymore.  You can stop pretending," she finishes in a voice that is painfully accepting, or perhaps absolving.  No really don't waste your time on this charade.
And then there is Grace.  Sweeping past but pausing to say hello to Sid, while Sid is staring at Kalen.  Something obviously having happened.  Sid turns away at her voice and she musters up the closest she can ever get to a smile these days.  Which is to say that one does not manage to grace her lips, but maybe Grace can see its ghost.
"Another time."  Adjusting the fall of her bag, Sid moves to slip past the Virtual Adept.

Kalen Holliday
There are a few seconds where his eyes flash.  Hurt.  Angry.
Only one of them is hiding.  He decided he trusts her.  She gets to see the things that he is thinking now.  But he takes a breath and doesn't scream at her.
"You're wrong."  His tone is quiet.  Gentle, even.  "About why I didn't talk to you about it then.  Call me sometime, I'll tell you the actual reason.  Or stay now.  I don't care.  But I'll tell you when you want to talk to me."
His eyes flick over to Grace, but she doesn't really get his attention.  Not now.

Sid
[psh i'm not wrong, you all are full of lies (you're not but Sid, she's in this weird place): percept+subt to see if she notices that Kalen's not a lying liarface]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )

Grace
Sid proclaims the most calm, collected diatribe Grace has ever seen. The words say one thing, the tone and body language say another, and...
Ugh, people.
Sid's hurting, but what is she going to do? Tell Sid she's wrong? That would possibly just make her more angry. Tell her she's right? That would be not so cool.
Maybe this is why hugs were invented -- to fill the silence when you don't know what to say to someone. But Sid's not a thing to be broken and fixed, and that's not Grace's purpose in life. Since when did trying to fix someone's hurt feelings ever work anyway? They're not yours to fix. Lena taught her that one.
"Right... right. Another time," is all Grace manages to get out in all the confusion, which is a plain thing on her face.

Sid
The words and tone all say the same thing.  Sid understands.  She's an outsider now.  Like there can and must be one at all times, she is filling up Katiana's place as Verbena on the Outskirts.  Now all she needs to do is purchase a home well outside the city and spurn all technology.  Then she, too, will disappear, leaving a space for someone else to take up.  And on and on, the cycle repeating.
Sid does not lie.  It's very rare that the redhead standing before them now will utter a bold or outright lie.  Not since she stopped hiding her history or denying that she and Amelia Weston are in fact the same person.  The one did not die, the other did not spring from nothing like Athena from Zeus' skull.
What she hides is her own hurt.  Her own pain.  She tucks away the guilt, the shame, the self-hatred.  She buries them deep down inside of her where they can't see it so that she can give them the flat and honest truth.  She has been left out, cast out it seems.  She is unnecessary and unneeded.  Maybe they want her around, but it's not the same thing.  Does that hurt her?  Does that make her sad?  They don't know, because Sid is used to people trying to pry into her heart just so they can break it, smash it, tear it into pieces.  She is used to hiding the feelings that shift deep inside of her.
What they get is someone who is very frank, and someone who is very understanding.  But she does not lie or hide the truth of what she's observed and the conclusion that she's made.  Very analytical it is, too.  Kalen can tell that there is more there, maybe.  He can just see the very tip of the iceberg.  To Grace, Sid's true feelings are as hidden as if they were at the bottom of a deep, deep, unfathomable well, but she comes to her own conclusions regardless.
There is another reason Kalen kept her in the dark, and Sid frowns to hear even that much.  He doesn't seem to be lying, but then the others never seemed like they were lying, either, until they'd all cast her out.  He will tell her now, but Sid looks to Elijah.  She can feel Grace's presence at her back.  She shakes her head.
"Another time," she says, and maybe she actually means it.  Turning away again, she disappears down the hallway.

Kalen Holliday
[Just how well do you stop expressing things?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 5, 5, 5, 8) ( success x 1 )

Kalen Holliday
Kalen watches Sid leave.  Then he watches the space where he last saw her until he hears the door close.
And then he flops over one of the couches with a heavy sigh.
And then he looks up with his face arranged into a pretty, distant mask.  "Hey, Kit.  Have you met Elijah?"  Grace has watched Kalen do this when he's actually good at it.  But this is only a marginally convincing show of normality and anyway they just saw that.  Why does he even bother?
But he does.

Elijah Poirot
[What the fuck just happened?! O_O Awarepathy Mr. Holliday]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 5 )

Elijah Poirot
There was a point when the conversation started that the young man soon enough found himself a book to read and really… really… really dig into. It was  good book, he supposed, and given he fact that he has been reading the same page for the last few moments so intently one can assume that it is either very, very interesting or he is very, very interested in not being privy to what is going on. It never really worked, but it ws worth a shot.
Perhaps there were things he had to say. Perhaps he had thoughts and emotions and clarifications, but at that juncture his green eyes were wide and his words stayed caught in his throat and Elijah seemed very, very young. Or at least he felt young, hearing the more seasoned people have their arguments about community and being fractured or not fractured. He wasn't sure what to do. He wasn't sure there was something he could do. And Sid keeps looking his way and suddenly there is a feeling of awkwardness after she left- or, really, in the process of her leaving.
Another thing Elijah Poirot was not entirely certain about.
"Hi," he offers chipperly, or about as chipperly as he could. He coughed, "I'm Elijah, I'm new, shiny, and hear dead people."
Which was basically the run down of himself in a nutshell.

Grace
"No... no I have not," Grace says, and smiles in Elijah's direction as she steps into the doorway. "I'm Grace. Kalen just calls me Kit because he calls everyone something. It seems to bother the guy whose name is actually Kit."
She steps into the library, at his pronouncement that he hears dead people. Far be it for Grace to deny someone's personal experiences, but...
It would be nice to believe in an afterlife, wouldn't it? To have that kind of certainty? Sometimes, in a computer, the memory of data lingers on. When you delete a file from your hard drive, the data's not exactly replaced with zeros. It's just removed from sight. Maybe ghosts are something like that. Echoes of people lingering on until they're overwritten.
Well, okay. Maybe being deleted would be much better than that.
"Dead people? I'm sorry. That sounds pretty much like the worst superpower ever. Or not. Maybe you like it?"

Kalen Holliday
"It's not as though I call him Kit," Kalen says with a roll of his eyes.
"He seems a lot better with it now that he knows he's not crazy. For that.  I mean, he thinks I'm endearing, which makes his sanity and yours suspect in that regard...."

Elijah Poirot
"So, what do you call the guy whose name is Kit?" Elijah asked curiously.
It was time to move on and there was the question of whether or not that was the worst super power ever, "I'm pretty sure flying is the worst super power ever, because it never comes bundled with the ability to breathe thinner air effectively, though hearing dead people is probably third. It's not terrible? They're just needy- you have to talk to people, you have to go find this ring, you need to get out of my house, they're really… hearing dead people is probably the most depressing super power ever but it's not too bad. It helped me win fifty bucks worth of gummy bears once,so I probably shouldn't complain too terribly much."
And, finally, the young man heaved a mock huff of indignation, "and? You areendearing, despite any efforts to the contrary. We just said I wasn't crazy because of voices. We have not ruled out any number of other things."

Grace
"He reminds me of you," she says to Kalen. "Except that you don't find yourself endearing."
Grace walks up to Elijah, and whispers next to him, loud enough for Kalen to hear: "He's totally endearing."
Then, she walks over to the books, dead trees resting on shelves made of dead tree. They're so much better as ghosts of books, really.
"I'm glad you found out you're not crazy. That's probably the first thing on a lot of new Mages' minds. It certainly was something that crossed mine once or twice. I didn't believe I was, not really. But I sure thought about it every now and then. And I don't even hear voices."

Kalen Holliday
A lot of things had gone through Kalen's mind when he Awakened.  Oddly, not one of those things had to do with his sanity.  His place in things is...very different.  For the moment he mostly lets them talk, although he does answer Elijah's question with a quiet, "Gallowglass," and rolls his eyes at Grace's 'whispering.'

Elijah Poirot
Elijah nods with a certain degree of, well, certainty that only comes with knowing that he is right and not crazy. Perhaps it would be better if he did think he was crazy or else he wouldn't be so certain about the most random of things. Like finding Kalen endearing, despite Kalen being… well… Kalen. Or, really, because of it.
He looks at the book he had been reading the first seven pages of and carefully headed back to shelve it again. Clearly, Elijah wasn't going to get more than seven pages into it at this particular juncture. He walked and talked, "apparently, my avatar was not making death threats, it was just being-" terrifying? "-really insistent. The whole me not being crazy is a really… really nice revelation, because if nothing else it is saving me a ton of money."

Grace
Grace smirks and rolls her eyes at Kalen's rolled eyes, because. They're like that.
Her small amount of physical books are on a shelf here too, having relocated them for the scanning -- Ancillary Justice being the latest addition. Let's face it, not many of hers are works of the occult or arcane. There's a few textbooks on programming and math and science in there, and they make up the largest chunk of actual bookshelf space. That's only because some of her college courses required one to buy the damn things.
"Death threats? Really? Huh. Your and my Avatars would probably get along swimmingly. Last time I had a 'conversation' with mine, it took the form of a hydra with the heads of people and tried to kill me. Of course, it also made sure I had something to fight back with..."

Kalen Holliday
"We're trying not to scare the nice newly minted Magi, Kit," Kalen says with a laugh.  "But I thought I'd bring him by here, get him set up with Ginger, and then bring him by the House at some point.  Not today.  Just...soon.
"Sometimes the House is...well...a little interesting.  I was thinking of somewhat controlled environments for our first few meetings.  To avoid, well...today."

Elijah Poirot
"Holy crap, if they talk to each other, I really think they might get along. It… uh… I think it's pretty invested in my continued not sucking, so maybe it's more like Joan Crawford meets Tiger Mom," and he has zero desire to ever see it in person. Just mentioning the Voice made the younger man's gaze flicker warily towards the walls and made a knot in his stomach form before he forced it away for the time being. "Lucy made it sound like threats of imminent danger were probably not the norm… though admittedly, multi headed people hydra sounds… really offsetting."
But, for a moment, he had to revel in the fact of how offsetting the mental image was. once he determined that this was enough discomfort to be enjoying (because, on some level, he did enjoy the discomfort and the disconcerting nature of a many headed People Hydra)
"Is Ginger a person or is Ginger a thing? I did try to talk to your security system. Trying to avoid that."

Grace
"Oh it was a... A little more than a dream," she says, still eyeing the books on the shelves. "I don't think it would have actually killed me. Just wanted to see me fight back -- cut to the heart of things, as it were. It gave me a target to be victorious against, if that makes sense."
He asks about Ginger, and Grace eyes Kalen in a wordless message before turning to Elijah. "How good are you at dealing with the wildly illegal?"

Kalen Holliday
Kalen arches one eyebrow up at Grace's look, but lets her also try to get a read on Elijah.
And stays quiet.  For once.

Elijah Poirot
"It depends on what it is, so long as it's not hurting anybody I don't see why it's a problem, but if it's something like don't download movies or something like that, I'd be cool," he said.
"The official answer is that I don't do things that are wildly illegal because I am a law abiding citizen, though," matter-of-factly. Were it not for his previous statement, it might even be pretty damned believable.

Grace
"Damn straight you're a law abiding citizen. In public," she says, and smirks. "Okay, so. Ginger."
She leans back on the bookshelves, brushing away the idle thoughts that this new kid could be a mole or could totally turn her in, because doesn't she always get on to Kalen about trusting people?
"Ginger is a phone sex line. That my mentor and I hacked. You get the Ginger software installed on your phone or computer, and you can access the message drop for the Denver Mage community. By dialing said phone sex line.
"I'm not going to lie and say that it's completely safe. It's not. Having that software on your phone could someday be a liability. But if you're willing to take the risk, it offers us all a way to stay connected and not have to speak in code language. We can talk freely about the weird stuff that goes on and warn each other."

Kalen Holliday
"Ginger is pretty great that way.  And...honestly, if someone has managed to capture you that is going to be searching your phone for something like Ginger...you probably have bigger problems than having Ginger.
"And can maybe have managed to let the rest of us know what was happening."

Elijah Poirot
"… you know, the more weird stuff I hear about, the more I am seriously amazed that I managed to avoid mages for two years and some change," Elijah sounded bewildered. Not terribly bewildered, but more like he was amazed that he really was supposed to come here. It had to be fate, because nothing happened to him and now here? Here, over the span of a week or two at best, people were talking to him, there were others who were just as wide eyed and shocked as he was, and nobody thought he was crazy.
Either Elijah Poirot has cracked and found a community full of people having the same delusion, or magic really, really was real. He was betting on the latter, because the former involved far too many coincidences to be plausible.
"I… am… so down for this."

Grace
"It must be Denver, you know? Maybe it's the mountains," she muses.
And then, she considers him, eyes narrowing down to slits. "Down for the Gingery goodness?"
"If you've got your phone, I'll go get my tools and we'll get this thing started, man."

Kalen Holliday
Kalen watches them, then reaches for the book still sitting near the couch.  His work here is clearly and books do not read themselves.

Elijah Poirot
The phone is procured and handed over to Grace with little fanfare. It's a boring phone, some touch screen that has clearly been dropped a few times and by the good graces of fate has not shattered into a bajillion little pieces. It would seem avoiding mages and avoiding having to use an indestructible Nokia phone are two things Elijah was quite good at.
"I'm down for Ginger, this is my verbal onset that you can do whatever you need to do on my phone even if it violates the warranty," now that, ladies and gentlemen, is trust.

Grace
"Oh man, you wouldn't want to see all the rules I have to break every time I have to put this thing on an iPhone. Warranty? Pheh. Just leave it on the table, I'll be right back," Grace says, and goes off to fetch her gear.
It doesn't take long. Her laptop was set up in her own office down the hall, so it's just a matter of going fetch. And when she returns, she's got a magnificent piece of equipment with her. And a few cables. Just in case.
She slides her way into a chair, and slips the slim laptop on the table, opens it up, plugs in Elijah's phone, all that business. When she turns it on, Elijah can barely hear the thing come to life.
"Nokia brick. You've got to respect hardware that lasts for a decade and still functions, huh?"

Kalen Holliday
Kalen is definitely aware that they are there.  He is probably even paying some attention, but he also seems to be reading, because pages are turning.  Grace knows his normal page-turning speed, and this is a little slow, but close.
For all he probably is listening, he does not look away from his book to watch them.

Elijah Poirot
"What's funny is that I have a nice phone, but I have no idea where it is at the moment. I mean,it's great and all? But it's pretty much a tablet, so that's what I've been using it as- I've become attached to this thing, I'm pretty sure that phone-" he gestured to the Nokia "-could survive the apocalypse. It'll actually support Ginger, right?"
That was an incredulous sound. It wasn't that he was a luddite by any means, Elijah Poirot just couldn't keep up with his phone and knew himself well enough to know that he probably shouldn't use the phone his parents pay for to call a phone sex line to leave secret messages for people.
Nope. Because that doesn't make you sound even crazier.

Grace
"Oh yeah. I mean, I've got someone who wanted me to put Ginger on a computer she custom rolled. We're talking from the ground up. I think it uses light to calculate things. Trust me, that is a little more difficult than a Nokia."
Grace gives him a reassuring smile. See? Not going to judge your brick. It's a nice brick.
She focuses on the task at hand while Kalen leaves them both in silence, studying his book. Whatever, Kalen. She knows you're listening with at least one ear.
But she, after a short while, seems to be paying no attention at all. She's sharply focused on the task at hand -- much like how she feels to a certain extent.
When she's done, the phone gets presented back to Elijah like she's carrying a precious jewel -- all fake pomp and circumstance over his busted old phone.
"All right. I've got you a default contact now named 'Ginger'. You call the number, say 'Hello, Ginger,' and follow her instructions. It's pretty simple. Also, if you want to just dial in directly, it's... ah..." she nods, a little halting, a little embarrassed. "It's 1-800-FAT-GRLS"
(And, for Elijah's education, after the saying of the "Hello Ginger" passphrase, the following voice-menu will be read out in a sexy, sexy, robot voice:
"Hello, and welcome. To listen to messages, dial 1. To view text messages, dial 2. To leave a voice message, dial 3. To leave a text message, dial 4. And remember, love is just a dial away.")

Elijah Poirot
"… you hacked a phone sex line for people who like Rubenesque women?"
He couldn't help it, he had to laugh, tr at least make the attempt to not laugh, but it was funny enough to think of how glad he was that he was doing this on the phone he paid for versus one someone else paid for. Nothing was more embarrassing than sitting down with your parents and making up excuses as to why one kept calling a phone sex line called 1-800-FAT-GRLS.
He took his phone, keeping with the pomp and circumstance and, soon enough, he was on his way to dialing-
"Hello, Ginger," he said, and damned if the tone wasn't just the slightest hint of flirtatiousness. There was a grin on his face, the corners of his smile turning upward with some sort of impish delight and behold the marvels of technology.
"… oh holy shit, this is cool."

Kalen Holliday
Is that a flicker of a smile at the thought of Grace blushing?
It very well might be.
But he still doesn't say anything to them, even if the little trace of a smile lingers on his face.

Grace
"Oh, shut up, Kalen," Grace says, obviously joking. Besides, he didn't actually say anything.
"You'll be able to read the messages now. I'll warn you, if Kalen was getting on to me earlier about scaring you, some of those might just actually do the trick. But we manage, okay? Sometimes, people don't often get to the whole 'and everybody lived happily ever after' part when leaving messages on Ginger. So there's lots of warnings about various nastiness."