I'm in the neighborhood. Mind if I swing by?
Ian shot a text off to Grace a few minutes before he arrived at the warehouse. There'd been talk at one point of him paying a visit to see her robots, though with Ian it was just as likely that he had some alternative motivation. Regardless of his intentions, he hadn't forgotten their conversation in the park. And so it was that he happened to be driving out near the place where the warehouse property sat, and since (for once) he didn't have any plans for the evening, it seemed an opportune time to stop in.
When he arrived, Ian pulled into the lot and left his car parked near the building where he usually came to meet Kalen. He already had security access, so he let himself in, taking the stairs at a relaxed pace as he headed into the Office. When he caught sight of Grace, he leaned against the wall and smiled a greeting.
"Fancy meeting you here."
He had on dark jeans, black leather boots and a white v-neck t-shirt. Leather bracelets adorned both wrists. At some point recently he'd gotten his hair cut.
Grace
[Awareness]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 5, 7, 8) ( success x 2 )
Grace
The response comes almost immediately, because even when she's eating, Grace isn't far away from her phone.
You can swing by anytime :)
Ian's no stranger to the Office. She's felt his presence come and go in this place, without breaking her coding trance. Today, he texted her. Curious, that, but not unwelcome at all -- oh no. Ian is great. Ian can jump and makes her play basketball.
So, when she feels him coming, like some wild mystery knocking at her sixth sense, she peeks out of her office door.
Grace's hair is getting shaggy. It should get cut soon. For now, it just looks messy and unkempt.
"Almost like I spend four fifths of my waking hours here, huh? What's up?"
Ian
"Well, I did say I wanted to see your robots." Somehow when Ian said that, it came out sounding a bit like an innuendo. He stepped into Grace's office and let his eyes wander a moment, taking in the state of her surroundings - whether it was messy or organized, how many personal touches she'd left in easy view (photos, etc.) After a beat, he regarded her with a more genuine expression.
"I also wanted to apologize. For being dismissive about Arionna that day."
Ian Lai apologizing? What will the world come to.
Grace
She opens her door wide, and lets Ian peer inside, because hey -- here be robots.
The place shows some obvious signs of Kalen having been here and done the decorating. The walls, for example, are a deep cobalt blue, with constellations of stars painted in silver. If he had only thought to stud them with diamonds, he would have. Her desk is an L-shaped cherry-wood thing, with a workspace covered in leather, upon which sits a horrible-looking robotic turtle. Grace would win no awards for aesthetics. This is a solidly functional turtle, with a shell and retractable legs, and something that looks like a head, but there the resemblance to a turtle stops. Its feet are rubbery prongs. There are exposed wires. Presumably the latter will be stuffed inside the shell at some point for protection, but that time has not yet arrived.
There's also an ivy plant on the desk with a nametag that reads "Chloe III". There were two previous Chloes, but they died horrible dehydration-related deaths when Grace was dragged away from the real world for months at a time. This plant has a failsafe in the form of a glass bulb full of water, upturned and slowly dispensing into the pot. But what Ian would really notice is that It's surrounded by a scaffold which holds robot arms. Each arm holds a laser, and is busy teasing the leaves with tiny bursts of red beams.
Shelves line the wall, and they hold some leather-bound journals with "Teh Wall 01" and "Teh Wall 02" etc. labeling their spines in black Sharpie marker. There are many of these, from a time when Grace actually used journals instead of her computer (because she couldn't). A copper fox mask leans against the wall on a shelf, along with a Japanese wooden puzzle box and a container of syringes.
Also in the room is her office chair, and a large, overstuffed leather couch, that boasts a Grace-sized indentation in it, and a fuzzy blanket thrown over the armrest. She has her own mini-kitchen and fridge off to the side of the room in a little nook. Is it any wonder why she seems to live here? It has all the necessary elements. It feels like Grace here, like feathers, and like the edges are sharp.
"Robots," she says, and gestures toward her desk with the disemboweled Gamera-bot. "I have more impressive ones in the Danger Room, have you seen it yet?"
Then, he brings up Arionna. She squints. "I heard she's being taken care of now. A Chorister who will try to teach her the difference between evil and misunderstood. Maybe she'll get better someday," Grace says, shrugs.
Ian
[Awareness]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8) ( success x 3 )
Ian
Everywhere in this room felt like Grace. Her resonance had long-since rubbed off on the objects and furniture, making the place feel more like a home than an office. It looked a bit like one too.
"You really do spend a lot of time here, don't you?" It was a rhetorical question. Ian's focus swung back to the robotic turtle for a moment, but when Grace mentioned Arionna's mentor, his eyebrows went up. "Arionna's being mentored by a Chorister?" Almost, he seemed about to object to this, but then he thought about it for a moment and laughed. "I think I might like to see that."
He wandered over to the sofa, but didn't sit down. Instead he ran a finger across the top of the leather. "I don't know if she'll get better. I try not to expect things from people. But she's human, whatever she wants people to think. Insecure kids who feel isolated tend to lash out." He glanced at Grace, weighing something in his head. "I spent some time in group homes when I was a kid. I saw a lot of that shit back then.
"Anyway, you really need to show me this Danger Room. Because right now I'm picturing something out of a science fiction movie."
Grace
"If Arionna gets worse, well. Lavinia hunts demons as a hobby. She can take care of her apprentice, no matter what care that includes," Grace says, as if speaking of someone's descent into actual evil and subsequently being put down were just a thing that happens.
In her experience it very much is a thing that happens. It's happened a lot in Denver. Some Mage gets one too many kicks in the ego, or delusions of better-than-anyone-else and decides to unleash terror. Mages can do that quite literally. There's a problem with being the equivalent of a walking nuclear bomb, is that sometimes people are people and want to go off.
You have to want to become something better than your average Joe, with vengeances and hatreds and terrible fears, and yet do that without actually imagining yourself to be better than Joe.
"I know, Chorister... But Lavinia sounds good. Not out to convert people, and I doubt very seriously she's trying to do that with Arionna. I mean, can you imagine?"
Ian says he wants to see the Danger Room, and Grace lights up, thankful to have a change from having to think about the problem of Arionna. "It's my favorite part. Jo and I have played with the lasers in there. I learned to watch the floor, because I tripped over her!"
It's like tripping is awesome, because she learned something, right?
Ian
"Oh, Lavinia. Yeah, I know her. That's... a little reassuring, actually."
But Grace didn't much want to talk about Arionna, and Ian was happy enough to let the subject slide. Apparently the Danger Room had both lasers and robots, and this fact was doing nothing to deter Ian's natural curiosity. He laughed at Grace's excited description (and the image of her tripping over Jo.) "You think you'll do better with me?"
It almost sounded like a challenge. Ian lifted his eyebrows meaningfully and walked over to the door, where he paused to wait for Grace to join him.
Grace
"Haha! No," she says, and yet -- there is a grin on her face.
Ian is probably better at this than she. Grace is under no illusions that the room she built will be kind to her just because she made it.
"It's downstairs, I'll show you," she says, and starts for the door.
Sure enough, down the stairs and past a few doors is an unmarked one that Grace opens. Kalen has had little influence here. If he had decorated the place, the mirrors would be framed in gold and there might be plush carpet that wasn't black padding, and the walls wouldn't be a uniform shade of grey. It won't really matter once the lights are off, will it?
There are knobs and buttons along the wall here, labeled with plastic label-maker strips as: "Lights", "Fog", "Ultraviolet", and "START". A row of coathooks is on the other side of the door, and this at least shows some of Kalen's doing, because these are some classy coats. There's the one Grace wore all winter -- her red, sharply tailored thing -- but also many others, some of which are Kalen's old things, all done up with LED strips. Ian should remember that in action. Also hanging on the wall are a number of modded NERF guns with their own wires and added hardware. It's a little chillier here than in the rest of the office, just so one would be comfortable wearing a modded coat.
Hanging from the ceiling are a number of robot arms wielding the same (obviously fake) modded guns with laser attachments. You don't need a person to train with here -- Grace has provided autonomous antagonists. There could very well be more, hidden within the maze of mirrors and grey walls, but they're out of sight.
"I want to do much more with it, but this is a functional alpha," she says, grinning at the magnificence of her creation. "We can totally play games here."
Ian
When Ian stepped into the training room, he cast a long, slow sweep of his gaze over the space, taking in the layout and the obstacles. When his eyes landed on the robot arms, he tilted his head and stared at them curiously.
"You really made all this?" There was a kind of quiet admiration in his voice. He stepped over to the wall, running a finger over a couple of the labels. "You know, I never actually learned how to shoot. Not properly, anyway. I've never really liked guns."
Maybe that sounded odd, coming from someone with as much martial capability as Ian had.
"You might kick my ass after all."
Grace
"Good! I have a chance after all, then," she says, pulls her red coat off its hook, dons it, and flips a switch in the sleeve. It lights up, of course, because otherwise, how would you see your target?
She also picks out her favorite gun. It's light plastic and doesn't take up much space, which is nice. They all perform basically the same, the bigger ones don't actually throw more of a punch, because it's all light anyway. They do run under slightly different frequencies, so that the game can be tallied at the end (a computer will know which gun shot which targets, for scoring purposes) but they're not too far off from each other.
She punches the fog button, which causes a few hissing jets to blow from the ceiling. The next thing she does it hit the lights, and then the ultraviolet lights, flooding the place with a dark purple haze that turns the mist, along with their teeth, eyes, and fingernails to slightly glowing. The low light doesn't illuminate as much as it makes the fog a more solid thing -- something to show where the lasers actually shoot, and something to hide within. It's not quite descended yet, the cloud of mist at the ceiling, but it promises to.
A glowing-eyed, bright-toothed Grace tells Ian: "The coats all have a switch in the right-hand sleeve, you just turn it on, and then we're ready to go."
Ian
[Mind 2 *innocent whistle* coincidental diff 5 -1 (cunning resonance)]
Dice: 3 d10 TN4 (8, 8, 9) ( success x 4 ) [WP]
Ian
[That's 3 dots of resonance cloaking for the duration of the scene.]
Ian
Ian watched the fog roll into the room, taking in the way the UV lights bathed the room in an unearthly kind of glow. It wasn't the kind of environment that he was used to training in, but that only made it more of a challenge. Grace grabbed one of the coats, and after a moment Ian followed suit, finding one that was his size and made of light, breathable fabric.
Before they got started, he crouched down for a moment against the wall and closed his eyes, breathing in this steady, rhythmic pattern. Grace might well wonder what exactly he was doing. At least, until she felt his resonance dim and slip away, as though covered by a kind of mist of its own.
When he was ready, he grabbed one of the smaller guns and flicked the switch in his coat. Then he jumped down into the arena.
Ian
[Edit: (after putting on the coat) "He also took a moment to remove his footwear. Quiet maneuvering would be easier barefoot."]
Grace
"Oh, we're playing that kind of game, eh?" Grace says, smiles, pulls her phone out of the pocket of her jeans.
The first bit of magic she ever did was to sense space. The second was sensing life. If reality-bending antics are on the menu, Ian will have to do a lot more than just mask his resonance in order to hide.
At least, that is the theory.
A few flicks of the thumb, and she's opened her special program, the raw data feed of the Code. Now, it's time to tell it how to render...
Her gun hangs from her pinky finger as she types out the designation -- she wants relative coordinate information and an indicator of that complicated fractal-like material called living tissue.
[Corr 2, Life 1 = Life forms, you precious little life forms, *musical button pressing* where are you?]
Dice: 3 d10 TN5 (1, 3, 4) ( success x 1 ) [WP]
Ian
[Awareness to see if he notices her casting something]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 4, 4, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )
Ian
[Mind shield from this morning. Diff 4 -1 (practiced as all hell)]
Dice: 3 d10 TN3 (4, 8, 8) ( success x 3 )
Ian
[Extending once +1 diff -1 for going slow]
Dice: 3 d10 TN3 (4, 6, 8) ( success x 3 )
Ian
[We'll call this a level 3 shield for one month.]
Ian
[I sense Life magic, and, uh, something. Mind 3 / Life 2 (targeting himself) - there is no living pattern here. (This is meant to counter attempts to sense his pattern via Life magic.) diff 6 -1 (cunning)]
Dice: 3 d10 TN5 (3, 6, 10) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Ian
[He's going to roll an extension for that but I'll save it for next turn.]
Ian
Ian didn't get far into the arena before he felt the first stirrings of Grace's will. It wasn't a surprise, really. He'd started the game off by employing a trick of his own, and Grace was nothing if not resourceful. So Ian slipped behind a blockade and took a moment to focus his mind, slipping back into the meditative breathing as he began to weave a second cloaking effect into his own pattern.
Yes, it most certainly was that kind of game.
Grace
Okay, the universe is not cooperating. She has to grab these strings of the right kind of data and merge them into a structure that makes some sense, and it's just not working all that well.
So she bashes her phone on the side, with a grunt. Come on, function...
All the while, she's focusing intently on her phone and not on the game. Just standing there concentrating real hard is... not a good strategy.
The mist begins to descend over the room, offering Ian even more ability to hide. This is going to be a tough game.
[Extending!]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 8) ( success x 2 ) [WP]
Ian
[And rolling that extension, +1 diff]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 5) ( success x 1 ) [WP]
Ian
[3 successes toward the effect, 1 to last the scene. Stopping there so he can do actual things now.]
Ian
It wasn't wise to waste too much time sitting still when someone was hunting you. Ian gave himself just enough time to build a reasonably effective illusion before slipping off quietly into the mist. Grace could stand there trying to track him if she liked, but in the meantime he was going to put some distance between them.
The room was dark and full of fog, and the strips on his coat glowed with that ultraviolet cast. His feet tread softly along the floor as he moved, keeping as much out of sight as he could manage.
Grace
She's got... something. The bacteria on surfaces, a spider in a corner on the ceiling, herself. All these shine out like beacons, but Ian?
Oh you little jerkface.
But note, she's smiling. He's making this a challenge.
Something in here is hiding, and she's going to find it.
[One more! Extending agaaaain!]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (1, 6, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Ian
[Stealth]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 5, 6, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )
Ian
[Alertness - Grace are you really still standing in plain sight? (acute senses -2 diff, fog +1)]
Dice: 6 d10 TN5 (2, 2, 4, 5, 6, 6) ( success x 3 )
Ian
Ian was on the move. But Grace? Grace was still just... standing there. Like a small, glowing beacon across the room. Ian peered out from behind an obstacle, staring through the mist until his eyes landed on the glowing streaks of light that marked Grace's coat.
Ian knew both his strengths and his weaknesses. The best thing for him to do would be to close with Grace and fire at point blank range, where his lack of gun training would be less of a hindrance. But look, there was the target standing in plain view just... begging to be fired at.
So he did.
[Dex 4 + Firearms 0, +1 diff for an untrained skill]
Dice: 4 d10 TN7 (3, 4, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )
Grace
Buzzt! Grace's coat makes a noise at her, and her lights go out. She's got a little time to re-position before the targets and her gun go active again.
Doesn't matter, got target. "Ian! You got me," she shouts, laughter in her voice.
And she got him. His is a weaker signal than anything else in the room, but he's there.
Now that that's done, she's on the run, skittering her blanked-out self into the arena to go hide.
[Stealth too! Dex 3 + Stealth 2 + Arcane 2]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 2, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
Ian
Ian had no way of knowing whether his various cloaking effects were sufficient to block Grace from finding him, but at the very least they'd given him time to get in a free shot. He grinned quietly to himself when Grace's coat went dark, but he didn't respond verbally to her confirmation. No sense revealing himself if he didn't have to.
Of course, Grace knew where he was anyway.
Grace dashed into the arena, hiding herself from sight. Ian gave her a few seconds before he began to creep around the obstacles. Wherever she was he couldn't see her, but he listened - hoping for some hint of movement. A rustle of fabric. A footstep.
[Alertness]
Dice: 6 d10 TN5 (2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 6) ( success x 1 )
Ian
[And stealth again, not that it matters]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5) ( botch x 1 )
Ian
[That should have been 7]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (3) ( fail )
Ian
[But still a botch. *L*]
Grace
Really, she almost doesn't need the display showing her where Ian is right now. He's being... uncharacteristically obvious. Still, she can see where he is (on her phone, by the noise he's making, by anything really) making hiding from him easy. Once her lights flick back on, she's positioned herself right behind the bend he's rounding, ready and waiting.
Gotcha.
Maybe...
[dex 3 + firearms 1 = shooting Ian with laser!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 7, 10) ( success x 2 )
Ian
"Fuck." Ian hissed when he felt a buzz in his jacket, dropping his silent act for a moment. His toe still throbbed a bit from where he'd stubbed it against the corner of an obstacle, but he ignored it. The pain was less severe than his irritation with himself for making the mistake in the first place. A moment later he jumped behind the obstacle, hoping to move out of Grace's line of sight (though he wasn't entirely sure which direction the shot had come from.) He took a moment to listen to his heartbeat, expanding his senses out to search for Grace's pattern. Without her mastery of Correspondence, he wouldn't be able to pin-point her exact location, but a little extra awareness couldn't hurt.
[Life 1, diff 4 -1 (practiced)]
Dice: 3 d10 TN3 (1, 2, 4) ( success x 1 )
Grace
[Stealth!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )
Grace
In between successful strikes, the best thing Grace can think to do is use that intervening time to put some distance between herself and Ian, getting ready for the next successful strike.
One further benefit she has over Ian right now is that she built this place. The maze is her own, and she's got the twists and turns mapped out in her head, simply from having put up the walls herself.
So, she knows where to hide.
Ian might have other tricks up his sleeve, but she's fairly competent at staying out of his sight while she waits on his time-out. He'll have a hell of a time trying to spot her, even with the mirrors around to help with that.
Ian
[extending *mutter*]
Dice: 3 d10 TN4 (7, 9, 9) ( success x 3 )
Ian
[Alertness again]
Dice: 6 d10 TN5 (1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
Ian
It was difficult to sneak up on Ian (his natural senses were sharper than most,) but Grace had already proven herself quiet and inconspicuous enough to accomplish it. Even now, as he finished working his effect and looked around, listening carefully for any sign of movement, her presence went undetected - at least by mundane methods.
He could feel her though. A subtle heartbeat flickering at the edge of his senses. The closer she was, the clearer the impression became. Rather than following it, Ian darted in the opposite direction - forcing her to chase after him. His intention was to head for the far end of the arena.
[Dex+Athletics - *zoom*]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 6, 6, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 6 )
Ian
[And Stealth]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )
Grace
She's watching the faint trace of Ian on her phone every now and then while she plots the next move, when the dot that represents him leaps off to the other side of the arena faster than anyone should be able to. It's like he's not in a maze, but running a race somewhere.
Damn. Gotta give him props for that, no?
Grace is not nearly so agile as to try to race him back. This isn't a speed contest, it's a hunt, and the maze has limits. She'll follow, inexorably and slowly, trying to cut off the available paths -- trying to corner him.
[wits + athletics = nuh uh, no escape!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 6, 7) ( success x 2 )
Ian
Grace had the advantage here. She knew the layout of the arena like the back of her hand. Ian had barely gotten a cursory glance before the room was plunged into shadowy fog. At present, his only real boon was his speed and agility, but that couldn't help him if he was cornered. He felt Grace's pattern recede as he put distance between them. And for a while, there was a sense of relief, because wherever she was, she wasn't able to follow quickly enough to catch him. But she kept after him anyway, using her knowledge of the space and Ian's own breakneck momentum against him.
Until suddenly he found himself facing a dead end with only one available escape route - the route from which Grace was steadily approaching.
Animals hated being cornered. So Ian did the first thing his instincts told him to do - climb the fuck out of there.
[He's going to attempt to scale over the side of something. The wall? An obstacle? Whatever is easier and will hold his weight. Dex+Ath, diff... 7?]
Dice: 8 d10 TN7 (2, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )
Grace
[Dex + Ath = Can she stay out in front of him with this new wall-climbing strategy? Double-back in the maze quick-like!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )
Grace
[Now, can she stay quiet and sneaky while she does this?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10) ( success x 2 )
Ian
[Oh, can he actually detect her this time? Maybe?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN5 (1, 4, 4, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 3 )
Grace
She's got her gun ready to go again, because Ian could very well choose to come right to her, with his choices so limited. She keeps glancing at her phone to be sure of that. But then?
The dot on her screen hops a wall.
She blinks.
Resourceful, oh yes...
She was walking forward, but then turns on a dime and quickly shuffles her way around a corner, through a doorway, out to... a better spot.
Ian
[Initiative +7]
Dice: 1 d10 TN1 (9) ( success x 1 )
Grace
[Initiative + 6!]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (1) ( botch x 1 )
Grace
[Shoot Ian! With laser!]
Ian
[Split roll (this is going to be hilarious) 1a: Shoot 1b: Evade]
Ian
[Dex+Firearms -2 +1 diff, and yes of course he's spending WP]
Dice: 2 d10 TN7 (4, 7) ( success x 2 ) [WP]
Ian
[Dex+Athletics (evasion spec!) -3]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 10, 10) ( success x 8 ) Re-rolls: 2
Ian
Aaa sorry that was supposed to be 5. Re-roll]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (6, 6, 7, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 6 ) Re-rolls: 1
Grace
[Well, you were right, that was hilarious! Shooting Ian, which is not going to work!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 9) ( success x 1 )
Grace
Ian is fast, and he was not surprised by Grace's presence. Now is the time for him to shine, apparently, and the lights on her coat go out just as she was going to shoot him back.
Not that she could have, because like a ghost, he's gone in a split second, leaping off behind walls again, much faster than she could possibly chase.
"Daaaamn. Okay, fine! You win at laser tag!"
It's a concession, to be sure, but boy does he deserve it. Ian could be a Navy Seal or something, good grief...
Ian
It was perhaps inevitable that the two of them would end up in a face-off. Grace managed to trap down a corridor, but he when he jumped the wall she was forced to change her route. Perhaps it was surprise or carelessness, but her footsteps made just the barest bit of sound as she moved. Between that and the approaching pulse of her pattern, Ian knew where she was. And she knew where he was. There was nothing left for them at that point but to face each other.
In the end, it came down to simple agility. Both of them raised their guns, but Ian was quicker on the draw. Grace's coat went dark at the same moment that Ian leaped out of the path of her aim.
Okay, fine! You win at laser tag!
Ian dusted off his jeans and grinned as he walked into view again. "I suppose it's only fair, considering you helped Kiara tie with me at basketball."
Grace
[Manipulation + Subterfuge = I'm totally not going to try to shoot you as soon as my rig comes back to life again...]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 5, 6) ( success x 1 )
Ian
[Per+Subterfuge - oh I see how it is]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 4, 6, 6, 7, 7) ( success x 4 )
Grace
Ian shows himself again, while Grace is still down for the count, her glowing-bright grin showing just how gleeful and... menacing she is.
"Hey, I help out the underdog. Somebody has to help balance the scales right?"
Heh, heh, heh. Balance things indeed.
Okay, count the seconds -- three, two, one...
Ian
[Dex+Brawl - grab Grace's gun]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )
Ian
[oh sorry, disarms are at diff 7 so that's 4 successes]
Grace
[Dex + Ath = noooo, don't take my gun!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 9, 9) ( success x 2 )
Ian
[Strength]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 8) ( success x 1 )
Ian
Something about the look on Grace's face made Ian pause a moment, eyeing the tense set of her shoulders. And just as she went to raise her gun his hand shot out, fingers wrapping around the plastic muzzle as he pulled it up and out of the way. He didn't disarm her - not quite - but she'd have a struggle on her hands if she wanted to try and shoot him.
He raised an eyebrow pointedly.
"Sore loser, I see."
Grace
Grace is still in a rather playful mood, so her pout is a decidedly fake one. Boooooo, she loses again!
"Well, I had to try! I can't catch you, so..."
Her eyes shift from side to side. "Good game, though. Want some coffee? More robots?"
Ian
Ian pressed the button inside his coat sleeve, releasing his hold on Grace's weapon now that he was no longer an active target. "Yeah, it was... fun." He said that last word as though it surprised him a little. "I should probably get going though. I have to be up early tomorrow." He unzipped the jacket and slung it over an arm, walking back toward the row of hooks and switches on the wall where they'd come in. The room looked different when he flipped off the fog and the UV and turned the regular lights back on. Less ominous. He returned his gun and coat and knelt down to put his boots back on.
"Hey," he asked, glancing up from what he was doing to take in the profile of Grace's figure. "Out of curiosity... are you into women, or... just not really into anyone at all?"
Grace
Okay, that came out of nowhere. Grace is busy putting her coat away when he brings up the question of Grace's sexuality, apropos of nothing.
She gives him this sharp look, still quite amused. "Are you that upset that I don't stare at your butt? Does it bruise your little ego?"
"Seriously, though? Complicated question. I count myself as rather asexual, though, yeah. For the longest time, I really didn't want to touch anybody, but I still tried out of this desire to be normal. Of course, now, I have given up on ever being normal. It's not exactly in the cards for me."
Ian
There was a huff of laughter at that. "Upset? No. Just curious. I thought you might be, but then I saw the way Jo acted around you. Figured instead of making assumptions, maybe I should just ask."
Ian finished sliding his second boot on and got to his feet. "Anyway, it's not abnormal. People are who they are. I take shit for having too much sex, you probably get shit for not having enough. Fuck other people's opinions."
He started through the door, but turned back, smiling. "Also, my ego is not little."
Grace
"The way Jo acts around me?" Grace has to actually think about that one. But then, the only other person to have remarked on her unusual lack of attention to either sex -- was Jo. Hmm.
"She doesn't act like that with everyone?"
There's a shrug to that.
"And I meant that as a sarcastic 'little'," she says, following him on the way out.
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