Danny
(Awareness)
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )
Arionna
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 6, 7, 8) ( success x 3 )
Danny
*He
yawned while he was standing in line waiting for the books to be
returned at the library. All of them were there, he'd found what he
needed fairly quickly when he'd put his mind to it. The books were in a
backpack he'd brought with him, part of an older life, part of a time
before his being well, who he was now.
His hair was tied back
at the nape of his neck again, it was too hot for jeans so he'd put on a
pair of three quarter baggy jeans, a pair of flip flops and a t shirt
that said. "Always be yourself, unless you can be Batman. Then always be Batman."*
Arionna
She
had this magical skill of appearing. Well..maybe not really, but
sometimes it seemed like she just popped up out of no where. She felt
him when he came in, knew it was him, and curiosity got the better of
her.
Arionna, in a long skirt and a T-shirt, stepped up behind
him slowly, her long hair sliding around her face. She reached out and,
with one finger, poked his shoulder. That was the extent of her
greeting, and well..touching for that matter.
Danny
*He....
swayed, merely took the energy with a shiver at her icy presence, then
swayed back slightly as he turned his head.* Returning the books, as
promised.
*With his shades up on his head and the way he was
dressed he could technically just fit in with the other students here.
But now he smiled for Arionna he raised both eyebrows slightly in
question.* And how are you today?
Arionna
"I
can see." Arionna said softly, letting her eyes wander to the backpack
and then back to his face. "You have more time." Though he might have
already gleaned what he needed. The smile was an odd thing, though he
never seemed the sort to not do so...even given their last encounter. "I
have a midterm tomorrow." She said simply, as if that would somehow
explain how she felt. "And the library is barren, for now."
Danny
*He
sighs softly.* Yeah, that can be a killer. What do you need? I can't
promise much but I can allow you access to my netbook, you can do some
research on that?
Arionna
She canted her head a
little. "I don't need it. I've been reading." She moved to slip her
hand into her bag at her side, pulling out the hair she had put into a
small container, and handing it to him. "As promised."
Danny
*He took the hair and nodded, then slipped it into his pocket.*
So,
coffee after? *It was his turn suddenly and he just handed the books
back with a smile, polite, easy going, the librarian didn't seem to mind
this approach and he turned then looked at Arionna again.*
Well?
Arionna
"After?"
Her brows furrow a little in question. "After what? My studying?" She
considered that for a moment and then slowly nodded. "I think I will.
And a walk in the woods. I think it clears my head sometimes." But then
when he turned and gave her that sort of expectant look, she blinked.
"Oh. You meant now?"
Danny
*That had him chuckling.* Yes, now... We'll go get some coffee, find a tree on campus and just sit, that okay by you?
Arionna
She
pursed her lips a little, letting her eyes fall to the side for a
moment. "Even with what you said before?" He seemed so...unhappy with
her previously, it seemed odd that he'd be suggesting they have coffee
together. "How is your friend?"
Danny
He's
taking a rest. *He smiles, then slowly reaches out one hand, moving to
the side of the line with her when the librarian reminded them they were
in the way. One hand, and it had a big silver ring on his middle finger
with what looked like a light switch on it. Then he smiled again.*
That's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about actually, and no, it's
not going to be another ripping. Okay? You game with that?
Arionna
She
stepped to the side just before he touched her shoulder, avoiding it.
It wasn't a fear of touching, so much as being unaccustomed to
it...still. Ari turned slowly to lead him out of the library at the very
least. "I was unharmed by it. You're welcome to accompany me. I won't
mind it. I certainly don't mind drinking coffee."
Danny
I
figured as much, those midterms can kind of keep you awake for a few
days. *He smiled though, following her and going with her to grab some
coffee.* I know that you were unharmed by it, but I'm not Kalen, I don't
just dismiss people without at least taking the time to try and see
things from their point of view. I mean, people become what life makes
them, and that means that sometimes you cannot control the things around
you. Or you just plain old don't learn the same way other people do.
*he shrugs.* Specially if you're not one of the kids that fits in to the
societal niche that high school kids force upon themselves.
*What did he know? He was beautiful, he was popular, he was a musician, what's not to love?^
Arionna
The
university campus is never without a coffee shop, and like all
students, Ari knows where to find them. She leads them down the steps of
the library, making their way along campus. "Did you choose to be
different?"
Danny
I chose to be me. *He
shrugs.* I didn't want to play football, I didn't want to do much more
than play music to be honest, that and to read when I could what i
could. But the music I guess helped... *he shrugged.* Did you?
*He
kept pace with her, slipping the backpack onto his shoulder on habit,
he just seemed to almost fit in, apart from the fact that he was walking
with Arionna, and more than a few of the girls and guys on campus
around them were turning and looking at the pair of them as they
passed.*
Arionna
"No." She expected people to
react poorly. The city was less of a problem than her own home.
Diversity was tolerated and encouraged, though looks were not foreign.
"The
entire purpose of sports is to mimic wartime. It's a method for humans
to practice and engage in the centers of our minds which are dedicated
to such activities. You're not missing anything important by disliking
it."
Danny
See, I never thought of it like
that. Mind you I guess the amount of testosterone has to have something
to do with it. *He continued walking with her, the looks he just didn't
pay any real attention to. But he smiled, just as they walked, he kept
on smiling and talking to her. The looks appeared to be mostly of
surprise, complete and utter surprise.*
You didn't choose it
then. *he nods a bit more and even walked before her to open the door to
the coffee place, waited til she'd gone through then went in behind
her.* What do you want to drink, apart from soya?
Arionna
"MMA
matches are obvious examples of this desire to replicate war as a means
of practice. Modern society tends to steer away from blatant use of
violence and attempts covert violence in the form of sports." Arionna
stepped in, making her way to the counter. "Soy? I don't drink soymilk."
The barista smiled at her. "Hey! Coffee like usual?" Ari
nodded slowly, sliding out her wallet to slip a few dollars to her. With
ehr cup in hand she moved around to decide on her coffee... Hm..what'll
it be today...
Danny
*He puts his hand over
hers, not making contact.* No, my treat as a thank you for your help the
other day. *There's a smile on his face and waits for hers. He already
knew what he wanted, coffee, cold, with cream and plenty of toffee
syrup. Lashings of the stuff. He said so after Ari ordered.*
Yeah i didn't think about it to be honest but you're right. You're totally right.
Arionna
She
put her money away and slipped the wallet back into her purse. "Thank
you." Because she does understand basic etiquette. You don't come from a
small town without having some form of it. With her cup, she moves to
the door and waits, slipping through when they're both satisfied and
begins to move to a tree away from the building. "What did you want to
say?"
Danny
Well... *he took a
suck of the drink and swallowed. Then steered away from people.*
Firstly, I wanted to talk to you. Find out more about you and why you do
what you do, secondly, you're kind of well. Unless you give me a reason
to walk away. I just wont. And you look like you could do with someone
to talk to from time to time.
Arionna
She
moved them to a tree that was shedding its leaves all over and hadn't
been destroyed by the mower. Ari set her bag down among the leaves and
plopped herself among them. She set her cup near her bag and laid back
on the ground. "People prove the point often enough. "
"Talking is nice. I use to visit the trees when I needed to talk. That's a longer travel here."
Danny
*He
nodded.* Feel at peace there huh? Feel like the world is just melting
away in the susurrus of the tree's and the outer world, the world away
from the city?
*Taking another sip he got comfortable, moving
the pack to rest against the tree then leaned back on it.* You don't
need to just spend time around the tree's though, you need to also be
round people from time to time, people that can get to learn to
understand you better if you give them the chance.
Arionna
"I
don't like the term 'peace.' Peace is an illusion, a fallacy. It's
better to say that a person feels complete or as they are meant to.
Balanced. Yes, I do. They're my home. And the home of my ancestors."
"I'm here, aren't I? I don't like people very much. I only like a few."
Danny
Sometimes
it's easier like that. *He nodded as he swirled the straw in his
coffee shake, eased his legs out to stretch in front of him, crossing
them at the ankles. There was ink there, on one foot a musical bar with
notes on it in a ribbon of ink across the top of his foot, on the arm
nearest her was that time tattoo that turned into the birds, on the
forearm on the left as well was that latin script in heavy bold and
black.*
Why don't you like people? Or is it just harder to get to know them?
Arionna
"People
are cruel, misguided. The world is dying, the balance is off...humans
did it. Humans even hurt their own. Those that are 'kind' are naive to
the way the world is. "
She sat up enough to sip at her coffee, then leaned back again in the leaves.
Danny
No...
*he shakes his head and stares off into the middle distance, then sat
up slowly.* No, we're not naive. We just choose to see things a bit
differently to everyone else. Some times, bad things happen and they can
be complete game changers, it's how you choose to learn from it and
move on, learn to live with it and yourself regardless of the actions of
those around you.. some times it makes you want to do things, it makes
you angry, it makes you hostile, it makes you so... *He shakes his head,
speaking from the heart it would appear.* confused... and... *There's a
sigh before he speaks again.* It's hard to live with.
So,
you get to choose, you can either let it consume you and destroy you, or
you can learn to deal with it, learn to accept all those things it
makes you feel then slowly move on from each moment. Acceptance, grief,
hate, those are things you need to go through in your own time... Its
all rather personal you see? *he turned his head and glanced at her for
a moment, then looked off again.*
Or you can let the hate
and the anger consume you. Let it destroy you by isolating you from
people. Perhaps it's easier to just not be around them and deal with
them, contempt as well is powerful.
Arionna
"That's
where your trouble is. You and Kalen. You think I'm angry. I'm not
angry. I understand my place. We can't choose which god favors us, which
gives us ability and strength. We're born to them. I know where I am,
who I belong to. If we want balance in life, we have to accept the parts
of it that scare us the most. I always see people trying to be 'good'
and embody the 'light' fearing what's in the shadows. But the sun hides
villainy just as much, sometimes more, than the moon. The night has so
much to offer, and so many don't see it."
Danny
Yeah,
so many don't see it. *he nods.* The mountains at night, with the
galaxy is incredible. I just love going up into the mountains, turning
off the car and laying back with the roof down staring up at the sky.
*He
smiled as he leaned back again.* Someone once said what you said,
years ago - A fool feels no fear, A sleeper remains shackled by it, A
Master transcends it yet recalls its wisdom. It is good to be afraid. It
is folly to bow to terror.
A sleeper is what you were. *he
looks around.* All those people out there, those you don't feel with
that spark that makes us us, those are sleepers. They are the
unawakened. You are now awakened. He also said - Some minds rest best
asleep, stir not those who would not waken otherwise.
Arionna
"I
was never asleep. Neither was my mom. Or my aunt. We've never been
asleep. Who is it to created those words? Asleep, and awakened? What
does awaken really mean? You'll say that you are awakened, that Kalen is
too, but neither of you seem it."
Danny
Ahhh
and now we get to the tricky bit. *He sighed and took another suck on
the straw.* See... There's this balance as you say, it's how things are
linked to each other, from the tree's to the people, to the insects and
well.... *he shrugs.* It's the energy flows, we really are all linked.
Being awakened doesn't mean that you're the most special people on the
planet, it means you have a larger degree of responsibility to those
around you.
It means what you do, can have an effect on
things round you, like I dunno, plants growing better because of the way
you talk to them, that's kind of mundane.. but perhaps unwittingly
you're releasing something as you go through the ritual of the planting
itself. We are after all, creatures of habit. Or perhaps you see
things?
*he takes another sip and glances at her again.* What
did you do that time, the thing that really 'worked'. *He kept his
voice calm, just sharing a conversation with her by the looks of it. He
even smiled as well. Those that still stared from time to time would
soon enough drift away.*
Arionna
"My
responsibility is to the gods. And to the earth, and the animals. I was
responsible for them even before. It just makes more sense now. I wasn't
sure when I was younger, why things were as they were. But now I
understand."
She closed her eyes, taking in a breath of air,
inhaling the scent of the leaves. "I didn't try. I wasn't trying to do
anything but run. I thought I was being attacked. And then I
just...flew. I was one with the crows. We were together, flying through
the world. "
Danny
*He blinked and turned to look at her.* That wasn't what I was expecting. What did you think was attacking you?
Arionna
"A
mountain lion." She said calmly. "It was beautiful. It went quiet. The
trees were still. The crows were in the trees. They kept coming. I've
never seen so many before. And then he was there. Beautiful eyes. Just
watching me. I ran. He clawed me. I felt the pain in my back, knew he
made contact. Then I was soaring, flapping my wings as if I were born to
it. He wasn't there when I looked back. I never saw him again."
Danny
*Danny's
eyebrows raise.* Well you were damned lucky. And it's never happened
since? Have you tried to do anything like it since?
Arionna
She
frowned slowly. "I've tried. I can't." She sat up slowly, taking her
cooling coffee in her hands and curling her feet in a little.
Danny
*He
nodded at that.* Well, this is where knowing people like us can come in
useful, we can teach you. But you have to learn to meet us half way.
You
don't have to like any of us, but to learn to work with us means
learning how to fit in. Learning that sometimes people take apart what
you say a little too literally and they might get offended, or you might
get offended. Like well, last night.
You're entitled to
your world view, everyone has one after all, but putting down someone
elses in the need to prove yours to them can be rather uhm... difficult.
See, that's the other part of what we are, we have our set way of
seeing things, because well, Thou art Miraculous, so are we all.
Arionna
"I
didn't do anything wrong. You jumped to conclusions. Kalen didn't want
me there from the beginning." She glanced to the side at Danny. "Why
should I try to fit in? If people want to be friends, they accept the
other as they are. You can't make a cat a dog, even if that would make
it easier for the dog."
Danny
No, that's true
enough.. *He sighs.* Oh well, how about this. If you see some of us,
talk to us, but talk to us from the thoughts of I dunno... we might be
just as anxious about you as you are about us, or intrigued. *He
shrugs.* He's worried that you're some kind of sociopath in the making I
think. And he's had enough of monsters.
Arionna
"Because
he's prejudice. People think that. I was called a devils child once.
Satan's offspring. Witch. Plenty of names for being different." She
sipped her coffee slowly. "Sociopath sounds tame now. He should try
something more flowery."
"I've seen people like him. Hundreds
of years ago, people who acted like him would take people like me...and
they'd put them through trials to make sure they weren't evil, or
casting magic. There was nothing scarier than having a witch in the
village. Monsters hide most often where people can see them, but never
notice. And they make monsters by influencing everyone else to act like
them."
She looked more fully at Danny, though still kept her
eyes down just a little. "People forget that so many of the animals in
the night...wolves...bears...mountain lions...they want to be left
alone. It's only when you throw stones that they become 'monsters.'"
Danny
Sociopath
is my word, not his. *he points out, then nods.* I've heard of the
witch trials. So is that how you see yourself? A witch?
*he
nodded again at her words.* Yeah, some times that's what happens
sometimes. But with people, it's more to do with how the person just is.
And I don't think you're a monster, I think you've had some problems
along the way and they've made you hard.
Arionna
"Then you should be more creative. I like to hear what new ideas people make up."
"It's
what people use to call me. It's what my aunt calls herself. It's what
those before me call themselves. I think that makes me one. Yes. I'm a
witch. " She let out a small puff of a laugh. "I wonder if I weigh the
same as a duck..."
Danny
*Now
Danny stared at her and then laughed as he got the joke.* There you
go... see? I doubt you do weigh as much as a joke... but you've not got
a bad nose. So so far, being simply different is working well enough
for you.
I won't call you anymore names, you are who you
are. It's honestly just the lack of social empathy you project from
yourself, its like... *he thinks about it.* No it's not like... your
aura, your whole... resonance, how others "feel" you its frozen, it's
real cold. And while that's useful, it can also make it harder for
others to get along with you.
Danny
(Duck not joke)
Arionna
"I
don't mind anymore if people get along with me. I don't mind if there
are people like me who have their parties while I sit in the forest.
Each person is favored by a god, and they carry that in them. Even gods
have rivalries. Some get along better than others, some like to be
alone. They're all important."
She sipped her coffee again slowly. "You seem happy enough all the time. You even feel that way. Too much like the sun. "
Danny
*He
laughed again.* That's probably the California in me. *Taking another
suck of his drink he shakes it slightly then takes another drink.*
You're right, they are all important.
Is it so bad I'm happy?
Danny
(Dun dun DUUUUUUN!)
Kalen Holliday
[How awake are we?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 10, 10) ( success x 2 )
Kalen Holliday
[And how distracted by Resonance are we?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )
Danny
*His
hair was tied back at the nape of his neck again, it was too hot for
jeans so he'd put on a pair of three quarter baggy jeans, a pair of flip
flops and a t shirt that said. "Always be yourself, unless you can be Batman. Then always be Batman."*
Arionna
She
was sitting in the leaves with Danny, under a tree, a long black skirt
to her ankles, and a black T. Her hair was loose, hanging over her
shoulder as she sat talking with Danny. "Maybe." She looked to her cup
slowly. "Happy people miss the problems in the world. Or they think all
is well around them. They're often first to point fingers at people who
aren't as happy as they are."
Danny
No... we
don't miss the problems in the world. *he shakes his head and smiles
again, this time sadly.* We see them, they are as valuable to us as any
other emotion that they bring about. All of it is important, not to feel
any of them is to allow a chance for weakness to come. All of it is
important, feeling the fullest range of emotions that there are around
us all is what makes us us... but how we choose to deal with those
emotions is also important. Accepting them allows you to learn how to
cope and grow.
Kalen Holliday
Kalen wanders
around the university grounds and he looks like he might belong there.
Maybe a grad student. He's wearing jeans and a moss green tee-shirt
and a messenger bag and he could be on his way to a class or the
library. Technically, he is on his way to the library, just not for the reasons one might think.
And
at first Danny's brightness and Arionna's coldness don't register to
him as more than the sun and the approaching chill of evening, but as he
gets closer he recognizes the sense of them for what it is. And,
Arionna alone he might have left, but Danny is not someone he ignores.
Danny is the kind of person he cancels coffee with repeatedly because
he has to stop one apocalypse or another, but would never ignore.
And really, if there is no world left there won't be any
coffee. And then where would the uncaffeinated universe be? One could
only assume grouchy. And whatever is left in other worlds...they
certainly can't want that, now an they?
Arionna
She
moved her eyes to look at Danny askance, once again. "You're more a
preacher than a musician." Another slow sip of her coffee. When she felt
Kalen approaching, she lifted her chin and looked off in his direction.
"Your boyfriend is somewhere close." She moved, rising to her feet.
"I'll leave."
Danny
*He sighed softly then
lifted his head staring up between the branches.* You don't have to.
Tell you what, why don't you just stay and I dunno... maybe put yourself
in his shoes for a bit? I mean, you don't know if you don't try? But
if you don't want to.... *he shrugged.* I won't make you stay.
Kalen Holliday
Kalen
is not prone to hesitation, so he doesn't really seem to question
whether he should be coming to join them, but he does pause when he
reaches them, before settling onto the ground. His eyes track from
Danny to Arionna and then back to Danny again.
"Am I
interrupting anything? Because I can just go play with newspapers and
old maps in the library." He sounds absolutely unconcerned, though
whether that is of the thought of interrupting or the thought of not
being welcome, or even both is hard to say. "It is, after all, a thing
that needs doing."
Arionna
Her brows furrow
and she looks at Danny a bit hard. "He's scared of what he doesn't
understand. I don't need to 'be in his shoes' to know that. I've been
around enough people who act the same."
But before she can
grab her bag and saunter off, he's already there and taking a seat.
Arionna settles back in her space, pulling her bag to her to pull out a
book and sit it in her lap, open. "No." She says to Kalen, focusing on
the pages in front of her while they talk about...maps.
And really why should she leave? She was there first. He tried to chase her off the other night, not the other way around.
Danny
*Danny smiles seeing Kalen when he sits down.* Okay, I'll bite. Why the maps?
Kalen Holliday
"Because
one never knows when it will be advantageous to know about the current
and historic location of sewers. Or mines. Or mysterious tunnels,
though I haven't found any interesting mystery tunnels beneath Denver.
"Yet."
He settles beside Danny, leaving Danny between himself and Arionna.
And he does warily scan the grounds now and again, but really, this is
rather open and populated for vampires or cannibals or most of the
things that might ambush them. And he is tired.
But look,
also places that have been ambushed in Denver include movie showings and
club openings. Just because something sounds reasonably safe doesn't
mean it is.
"How are you two?"
Danny
Me
I'm fine.. *he smiles and lifts his drink to take another slurp of that
lethal concoction of coffee, toffee syrup ice and milk, all topped with
more toffee syrup and cream. What about up and around in the locale? I
mean, this is Colorado, right? Gold country? What about old mines?
Danny
(Shit sorry, bloody fingers)
Arionna
"The
word mysterious would indicate that you'll not likely find that they
exist through the library. It wouldn't very much of a mystery if one
only needed to look at the university library." She turned a page and
sipped her coffee lightly. She glanced to Kalen, considering his
question to one of politeness and less of caring. Still she gives him a
small shrug. "Acceptable."
Danny
There's always the land register? *he looks between the pair of them.* Why wouldn't they exist through the library?
Kalen Holliday
Kalen
rolls his eyes. "Sometimes you find accounts of mysterious tunnels.
I;m not expecting any here. But places like New York and some cities
in other countries, you do. Mysterious and secret are often different
things. I'm not expecting to find much for tunnels of either kind under
Denver, though. Granted, I may yet be surprised. But Denver has very
different historical build patterns that make that rather unlikely.
"And...yes.
There are land registers and such. Old claims maps. Not all the
older records are terribly complete, but I am trying to put notes about
where one might find...well...everything. And mines and caves make good
lairs for a number of things. Grace and I occasionally cross reference
them with locations for animal mutilations or missing people or missing
animals or whatever else. Just in case. So...the more of them we have
the better, really.
"And, at some point, perhaps I will want
one. For an underground fortress. With shiny gold walls." There is a
slight pause. "Please don't tell me that's not going to happen. I am
joking. I realize you feel the need to tell me about every little
potential thing that might be wrong with anything I say because I don't
even know, but I am not even in the mood to wait for you to tell me
mines make terrible underground fortresses and are not in fact walled in
gold. I know that. Much like I know I'm almost certainly not about to
find mystery tunnels."
Arionna
"Wouldn't be a
mystery if you could find them inside of something so easy to access."
She flipped another page, slowly crossing an ankle over the other. Kalen
may be trying to nip her in the bud, but oh she's not having it."You
could paint the walls gold. It will likely take you several coats to
achieve the appropriate color, but if you're after something so gaudy,
it's achievable. If you mean solid gold, it will be harder to
create, and also would be unwise if you're attempting to maintain
structural strength. Gold is terrible as a building material, fantastic
as a conductor."
Danny
*He'd held his breath
waiting for Arionna's answer... and then blinked before his shoulders
began to shake as the silent laughter caught them. Then he chuckled
shaking his head.* She's actually kinda got you there Kalen. You know...
I bet that Arionna knows the terrain pretty well, and knows the caves
too, places bears sleep, other ones.... *he eyed first Kalen, then
Arionna. Still smiling her answer.*
(They're sat under a tree away from people.)
Grace
[Awareness!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (5, 6, 6, 7, 9) ( success x 4 )
Kalen Holliday
"I
have absolutely no desire for gold walls. The fact that you somehow
still think that after I stopped to actually clarify I wasn't serious
qualifies as unfriendly in normal human interaction. Despite the fact
that Danny is amused. I have no idea if you're honestly oblivious, or
just a fucking bitch. But, for the record, the fact that by any
conventional reading you are a cold bitch is why I'm not trying to be
extra nice to you.
"Perhaps you just are incapable of anything
resembling normal human interaction. In which case, I'm sorry I'm
being kind of cool with you. But, honestly, you seem to not like me and
so I rather expect that like practically the rest of Denver, you also
hate me. That's fine.
"But on the off chance you're actually about as feral as I was when I got here, we could call a truce."
He
huffs at Danny. "Only if I were serious. Which I wasn't. Or if
mysterious things did not get written about all the time. Some
mysteries are in the open just unsolved. So, mysterious tunnels are
unlikely for a variety of reasons, but might be found by research.
Secret tunnels no. If we are going to pick apart everything I say for
spite, lets do it properly, shall we?"
Grace
So,
Grace is on point today. Then again, she always feels a little spiky.
Or sharp. Or stabbing. Right now, her senses are wide open to the world,
and Kalen is...
Not at the library. That much can be gleaned by the light hint of ozone that does not
seem to be coming from that particular building. Oh yes, having trouble
with a database (like he texted)? Or did he just get stuck gazing in
wonder at a goose or something?
Hey. It's Kalen. He could easily get stuck.
A little wandering finds another resonance in the mix, one that beams and flashes. Ohhh, well now everything is making sense.
Those
paying attention will have to pay a great deal of it in order to notice
Grace walking up a path to the tree under which they sit. She goes
silent. Even her resonance is a bit difficult to detect until she's gone
and made herself be seen.
She hears him, yeah? Cold bitch? You hate me? Sounds like Kalen made a friend.
Arionna
She
feels like winter. That's the best way to explain it simply. The wind
seeping into your clothes and the chill of the ice crawling into your
bones to remind you that, yes, the cold of the night and the deep winter
can kill you, and it won't be painless like some imagine it.
"Well...
if we're going to call names." Arionna closed her book and looked
slowly at Kalen. "You're a hot-headed, ill-tempered, judgmental dick.
Perhaps I'm not 'friendly' but you're hardly approachable. I find you
strangely egotistical to think that I have considered you so much that I
hate you, and that the entirety of Denver has enough knowledge of your
presence to know you're not just another man on the street. Only someone
full of themselves would think they're so important that they could
express even half of the perspectives elicited by the city. Unless of
course you meant the very small select people that you know, in which
case...You don't know me, and I don't know you, so the emotional
connection we have is currently residing at 0. For clarification, that
is not hate, in case you get the wrong idea."
"Now. We can call a truce." She put her finger back between the pages of the book and opened it up to continue.
Danny
She doesn't hate you....
*He again looked up at the sky. Squinting a bit as he did so then shook his head again.* Arionna, you could help out here.
*He
turns his head downwards to look at her, restraining himself from
wanting too hard for the pair of them to get along enough. He didn't
notice Grace, his ping-dar didn't seem to be working so well today. Then
Arionna spoke and he actually let his head fall back against the tree
with a hollow thunk, then sighs heavily.*
Kalen Holliday
And
you see, it here that, for the first time, Kalen laughs. "I'm not
terribly approachable right now, am I? I try. I do. But I spent a
very long time on my own. I sometimes forget I've learned to purr and
take food from people's hands." He smiles faintly. "Speaking of which,
I'd offer to shake hands but last we met you seemed intent on the not
touching. Which is fine."
He looks up at where Grace is
approaching and grins. "Hey, Kit. I found someone else who thinks all
other humans have cooties." And then he waits, not for Arionna's likely
response, but for Grace's. Because, once he knows you, sometimes
provocation is love.
"It's alright, Star. I'm not actually as
hot-headed and ill-tempered and judgmental as people tend to think.
You know-" He settles against Danny's side, "Quite."
Grace
"Well,
everyone has 'cooties'. I mean, there's millions of bacteria on our
skins. Some of which is actually beneficial, fighting the good fight
against the baddies. I don't really care about it," Grace says, but
there's a quizzical expression on her face as she walks up.
"Are
you guys fighting or not?" she asks. Honestly curious. Maybe ready to
bolt (in case someone starts throwing bolts of their own).
Arionna
"It's
not cooties." She lifted her head just enough to look at Grace from
behind the strands of dark hair. "We're in-between matches."
"She's
right though. Humans are foul and full of germs. Not exactly the most
cleanly animal." Another turn of the page and she looked back towards
Grace slowly. "You're new. Weasel-face's friend, or Mr. Sunshine?"
Danny
*He
let out the next breath with a large grin on his face.... then slipped
his arm around Kalen giving him a hug one armed.* Thank you.... Thank
you thank you thank you...
*Then Arionna spoke and he started to chuckle again, this time shaking his head.* Oh. My. God.
*Grace was greeted to that sight yes, he turns his head to look at Grace.* Grace!! Come sit down! How's it going?
*Yeah,
now he just took another suck of the cold drink. His hair was tied back
at the nape of his neck again, it was too hot for jeans so he'd put on a
pair of three quarter baggy jeans, a pair of flip flops and a t shirt
that said. "Always be yourself, unless you can be Batman. Then always be Batman."*
So, what are you wearing for the Halloween do? Still going with the
coat? I've gotten stuff sorted out for me, it's just right.... I juust
need to find my Mardi Gras beads to complete it.
They're not going to fight, thinks are cool but okay. Come on, plant your ass.
Kalen Holliday
"We're
not fighting."" He rolls his eyes, but he can't really mean it because
he doesn't even bother to sit up properly. "Although, clearly, her
eyesight is compromised because I do not look like a weasel.
"Anyway, Kit, this is Arionna. Arionna, this is Grace."
He
nudges Danny lightly. "Look. I sometimes have to interact with other
humans without Serafine. It can be done. Clearly, I possess some
ability to play nice." He has more than some ability to play nice, but
that...well that was practically another lifetime. And that was less
nice and more playing.
Grace
Grace waves at
Arionna. "Both of them. And he isn't a weasel. Mr. Sunshine is more the
weasel. A ferret, really. Kalen is an undomesticated cat. But he,
obviously, thinks of me as a vulpine species, from the name he gave me."
Yes, Danny, you are a ferret. Congratulations.
"The coat? I suppose I could. But it's more of a laser tag thing than a costume. I don't know what I could go as
with a light-up coat," she says to Danny. "I could make it blink really
fast and go as a pulsar, but then I might give someone a seizure."
"I
would plant my ass, but my butt could grow roots and that would be so
uncomfortable. I think I'll just sit," she says, and plops down, not
next to the trunk, but facing the others.
Arionna
She
looks to Danny for a moment. "Mmm... no.. not a ferret. Unless he's a
thief. Do you have a tendency to take things of little to no monetary
value and hide them under couches? Do you do the weasel war dance when
you become excited?"
"Kalen has a very weasel face. It's the
bone structure. Pointed nose." She pointd at her own nose as if to make
the point. Arionna closed her book again and lifted her attention to the
group finally. "If you grow roots, I hope you have the courtesy to wait
until I can document it. I've never seen a human grow roots before."
Danny
*Letting
his arm remain there, he just let the smile stay on his face. What
wasn't to love? It was getting darker, they were relaxing in the last
rays of summer, yeah all in all, life wasn't too terrible if you ignored
that there were a hoard of nasty evil cannibals on the rampage and who
knew what else..*
Nope, you're not a weasel face. Definitely a
cat. *He chuckled a bit at that. Then stared at Grace in shock.* How
the hell am I a ferret?
*He shook his head still smiling and chuckling.* No I'm not thief. And what the hell is a weasel war dance? Kalen's beautiful.
Kalen Holliday
"Excitable, curious, fond of shiny objects?" Kalen smiles. "I could see it."
"Lots
of animals have pointed noses." The protest doesn't even sound
serious. Because he is calm, and not actually concerned about it.
Weasels are kind of cute.
And then Danny is calling him beautiful, so Kalen responds exactly as one might expect. "Purr."
Grace
"You
haven't? I have seen humans growing roots. It wasn't very cool. We
managed to save one of them, but from what I gather, it wasn't easy,"
Grace says. Oh yeah, Arionna. Have we mentioned this is Denver yet?
"You are a ferret," she says to Danny, and shrugs. Like, that's the only evidence she has really. That he just is one.
Arionna
"The
weasel war dance is..." Either youtube was going to explain it or Ari
was going to be left to it. She took in a slow breath, tightening her
lips a little. Slowly, she rose from her feet, setting her book aside.
Arionna slipped her hands under her hair, pushing it out of her face.
With a small shake of her limbs and a straight, poised stance, she
began.
First, she bounced in place, then forwards and
backwards, giving it a little spin. And maybe that would have been it,
but oh.. oh no it wasn't. She ran forward, stopped, bounced, then jumped
a bit in the air, wiggling as much of her body as she could. With
another spin, she ran back to the group, bumping into Danny with a few
bounces, giving another twirl and wiggle in the air before she bounced
back to her place and stood there, panting from the exertion. "That...is
the weasel war dance. And it's done when a weasel or ferret
successfully takes an item. "
Her hands brushed at her skirt
as if it might wash away the strangeness that just presented itself.
"People grew roots?" A look of confusion sliding over to Grace. "How?"
Danny
*There
was another sigh and he shook his head again with another chuckle, but
this time it was to Grace..* Fine, Ferret then. I guess I should see
this whole war dance thing at least though before I accept it.
*He
grinned even more at Kalen's purr.* It's true... I could scritch, your
chin but I think that'd be pushing too far. Maybe... so..... Me and Ari
were talking earlier.... just chatting shit. She's uh.... very new to the scene.
*And
then Ari got up, and began to prance about, pronging around and
bouncing. All he could do was stare at her, his eyebrows rising higher
and higher, right before he burst out laughing. A proper full on laugh.*
Oh. My. God. I do not do that!! Do I? Ferrets gloat?
*But he settled down some more when Arionna asked the right question, if she saw his face, she'd see him nod in encouragement.*
Kalen Holliday
Kalen
stretches and then resettles. "Careful. Grace did specify that I was
undomesticated." He watches the war dance, which is far from the
strangest spontaneous demonstration he has seen without comment. Random
passers-by might be surprised, but it takes mythical creatures and
being dragged into the Umbra, and other rather more extreme
circumstances to surprise Kalen.
Like finding out someone was reading to your body while you were functionally comatose.
"So
was Grace, when we met," Kalen says. "Remember that, Kit? And you
were skeptical about coming out to my totally not creepy warehouse....?"
He sounds amused.
"Actually, unless you can think of an
appropriate nature witch I was thinking maybe we should introduce her to
Eleanor. They'll be like instant wintery friends or someone will start
hissing, I think. But in the event of the first one I think the
balance thing would be an ideal point of commonality.
"I
picked up less from Jack and more from Kharisma, so I know some
principals but...I'm more fate than balance. Even if we actually got on
and wanted to...I don't think I'd be any good for her." Says the
Flambeau who practically took Grace as an apprentice for awhile. And,
lo, it did it goeth more smoothly than his actual apprentice.
Grace
"I don't know how
it happened," Grace says, to Arionna. "Not exactly. Apparently some
plant 'spirit' or other got a little too into messing with people.
Turned them into horrible shambling root monsters."
She doesn't say zombies. She doesn't want to unnecessarily set him on edge.
"Well, the warehouse is not creepy," she starts to answer Kalen, even though her eyes stay on Arionna. "But I didn't know
that beforehand. Just there's this guy I just met and he's saying I
should come to his warehouse to shoot guns, and that doesn't exactly
inspire gobs of trust."
Arionna
She sat back
down in her seat, stretching her legs out and acting as if the whole war
dance had never occurred. "Ferrets gloat, yes. Very much so. I imagine
they have very humorous personalities."
She cast her green eyes a little to Kalen. "No, I suppose it wouldn't. He does
have a little of a serial killer look. Not very approachable either.
Gives off a bit of an air. I wouldn't trust that either." Her book was
placed right back in her lap and she crossed her ankles. "Suppose I
can't blame the earth for retaliating. "
Danny
*He was relieved. Turning his head to Kalen as he spoke.* Hey, I like being bitten! *Reveal time?!!*
Yeah,
that's probably the best way to go. Right now, I'm keen on preventing
things getting out of hand without her having any idea of what the cost
is from the burn. *Perhaps it was impolite to speak about Ari with her
there, but it was better probably with her there rather than not.* And
no, I don't think I know of any nature witches.
*He turns to
stare at Grace then laughs as his head goes to Kalen.* You didn't! Oh
god, that's terrible! I'm surprised she didn't run a mile!
*He
never knew what Arionna was going to say next,* I'd have never guessed
that Ferrets gloat, but I'd hope I wouldn't do that... unless I really
was right.
Kalen Holliday
"Oh, I totally
did. And she asked if she could bring a friend. And then I told her
that if she'd trusted me I would have been slightly disappointed in her
and we've been friends ever since." Not precisely true. But
he doesn't bring up what they've more technically been friends ever
since. But that first day she got her Name and they've been friendly
since. That counts, right?
Grace
"He did. But
then, I don't know. He turned out not to be an axe murderer, and when I
did go to the warehouse, we just drank coffee and talked about the true
nature of the universe, so..." she shrugs.
"I can blame the spirit plenty. It tried to kill me. Strangely enough, that's still cause for blame. I don't know. I actually grew some roots there myself, but fought it off."
Kiara Woolfe
It's
getting darker and the lights on Denver Campus have ignited, dull
yellow orbs flickering to life and casting feeble attempts at lighting
down upon the pathways that weave throughout the sprawling campus lawns.
There's more than a single figure navigating said pathways at this time
of day, when the sun retreats and the moon peeks from under the
horizon, ascending into an inky black sky scattered with stars.
Kiara
Woolfe is among those souls, a dark figure cutting across the lawn with
her arms full of papers, a bag slung casually over a shoulder in some
intimation of a perfectly acceptable college student and that bold mouth
of hers painted as richly crimson red as ever. She's a striking figure,
not merely for the mundane reasons, but also for the way she invokes a
certain supernatural je ne sais quoi from those with the senses
to detect it. It's very particular, that feeling of your skin being
prickled and stripped, only to be pressed back into feeling with a
sudden jolt. Like someone has torn a intangible bandaid off without the
manners to forewarn it.
The Dreamweaver has no pressing
business to her stride, her long legs are eating up the lawn with casual
determination. Still, her path intends to lead her quite close to the
small gathering under the trees.
Arionna
With
the drop of the sun and the rise of the moon, she feels...more alive,
rejuvenated...free. It's always with the coming dark that she feels
stronger, better at everything. She curls her legs under her slowly,
shoving the book back into her bag. "Nothing is getting out of hand.
You're treating me like a child. As if I've never been prepared for
this. I'm likely not the first in my line to be gifted."
"You
killed it, didn't you? That's part of everything. Something is always
trying to kill something else. If its motivations were just, then I
couldn't be upset about it."
Danny
If I didn't
know you, I'd say you were exaggerating, but I know you well enough by
now I think. . *he laughed softly to Kalen. Then looked to the girls as
they talked. If he didn't see Kiara or didn't really pay attention to
her was purely because he was having an off day as far as his ping-dar
was working.
His head turned to Arionna as she spoke, then he
gently hugged Kalen again.* You okay? Getting enough rest or you need
me to come over?
Kalen Holliday
"On the
contrary, I spend a considerable amount of time either teaching or
learning, and I've spent a decade learning already. Having people who
understand and can work with you is a good thing. I think there is a
good chance you might have that with Eleanor. There is almost no chance
you'll have it with me.
"I don't think you need someone to
hold your hand while you cross the street, and you'll understand when
you meet her...but Eleanor has never struck me as the hand-holding or
coddling type. She is one of the more intimidating people I have met,
but she seems in my experience reasonable, fair, and dedicated to
justice.
"If you were a different person, I'd introduce you to someone else."
He glances at Danny. "I'm fine, Star."
Kiara Woolfe
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 7, 7, 9) ( success x 3 )
Grace
"I
don't know if its motivations were just, or if it even had a concept of
what justice is, necessarily. I think that's the only thing that really
gives it much of a pass in my opinion. Someone once told me that
spirits don't really see things the same way we do. They only know their
own natures, or something. So us complicated humans with our concepts
of justice and right and wrong? They don't really get it. I mean, I
wouldn't expect it. They're like automatons. Daemons. One job, one
purpose. I don't know really. I've never had much contact with
'spirits'."
She leans back to look at the sky, and a touch of
surprise crosses her when she feels Kiara. This surprise is directed at
the last embers of sunset. She doesn't actually look to the source.
"I
don't think it's that he's treating you like a child. Just in Denver,
we tend to have to stick together. The world ends here about two or
three times a season. We've had world-ending plague, world-ending viral
plant things, a world-ending spirit of terror I like to call Thakky,
another universe tried to eat ours from here. Just lots and lots of
shit. Eventually, if you're unlucky, you'll want someone watching your
back.
"Also... who is that? Someone's coming?"
Kiara Woolfe
Not
everyone among the collection under the tree is familiar, but there's
enough to slow the brunette's momentum somewhat as she nears, the heels
of her boots sinking easily into the earth. Kiara pauses, tenders aside a
lock of dark hair from her eye and with a small smile hinging the edge
of her mouth, redirects her footsteps so that they fall into direct line
with the grouping by the tree.
"Don't tell me," she offers, a
thin eyebrow drawn upward, her gaze settling on one face she does
recognize, slouched against the tree with Danny. "Stargazing Club?" The
Verbena's eyes flick upward, musing. "You might get lucky." They drop.
Shift between the various gathered Awakened. Grace gets a slightly
longer look, more measured, a calculation perhaps of the odds of her
being what Kiara assumes, given her company, she must be. Arionna gets
the benefit of a wider smile of recognition before the dark eyes return
to Kalen.
"Private party or can a girl pull up a square of lawn?"
Arionna
She
knows Kiara from their moment in the herb shop. So when she approaches,
Ari shifts her eyes to the woman, picking up her now cold coffee and
sipping at it. There wasn't much left, but it still had a pleasant
flavor.Her eyes flit among the group, and despite her own beliefs, she
can't seem to accept that the world has nearly ended a few
times...particularly since she didn't experience it herself.
"If
you pull up a square of lawn, I don't think the university will be very
pleased. They'll have to put it back, and I've learned that city people
truly enjoy their artificial lawns."
Danny
*He
nodded sagely to the pair of them when they spoke to Arionna, and no,
there was no gloating what so ever, some might lift their hand and "air
chalk" the wall, others might crow "I told you so!" Triumphantly, Danny
smiles, but it's not so much as it was.
Then at Graces other
words, he frowns slightly and starts to look out. Panning the area until
he felt that something different.*
Uh, be my guest? *he was
comfortable, his arm was draped around Kalen but his skin was cooling
rapidly now that night had fallen in full and he wriggled just that
little bit closer to Kalen.*
Kalen Holliday
"Figure of speech," Kalen murmurs to Arionna, but there is no venom or even really censure.
"They
let me in. I assume they'll let anyone." He doesn't move from where
he's settled against Danny's side, but his eyes track Kiara now, wary
despite the playful tone. "And...on occasion. On occasion there is
stargazing." He doesn't offer introductions this time. Of course, he
doesn't actually know Kiara. That does tend to put a bit of a strain on
introductions.
Grace
[Reference for the adorables: http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/da/16/e9/da16e99efe497c00ecae599e2b9e4ec5.jpg]
Grace
smirks at Danny and pulls out her smart phone. A few seconds later, she
turns it around to show him a picture of a ferret and a cat cuddling
each other. Kalen will probably see it too, as his vantage point is so
close to Danny's.
Seems like they've been that way since the beginning -- touchy feely in a way Grace can't comprehend. But she can do a mean image search.
"It's
totally private. I mean, where did you get the idea that people should
be allowed to sit wherever? In the outdoors? We have rules and
regulations like a mile long as to how you can socially interface with
us. How dare you," Grace says, but the words are so blatantly full of
jest at the very idea of private gatherings out in the open, it would
take a miracle to miss the sarcasm.
Kiara Woolfe
"Grazie."
She drops the bag to the ground with a heavy thunk, things inside
rattle together before adding a pile of papers to the lawn beside it and
setting a foot lightly on top to hold its position while she gathers
together the heavy fall of her hair from her nape and shifts it over a
shoulder.
For a (near) perfect stranger, the female has an odd
degree of certainty about her acceptance to the gathering. That, or
perhaps she takes a little pleasure in any discomfort that follows it.
Arionna draws laughter, its warm, vital. It reaches the Pagan's eyes
tonight. "Oh, I don't know, I think it could add character. A few
missing pieces here and there, it might be exciting." She turns her
attention back to Grace.
"Lawn elitism. I should have known.
It's a college thing, isn't it?" Glib for glib. Then. "I'm Kiara, by the
way. Kiara Woolfe. Newcomer, social interloper." She holds out a hand,
ring laiden and with a wrist bound by clinking bracelets. "Woman of
mystery, defier of social lawn etiquette." The last added on idly, as an
afterthought.
Arionna
"If you remove just
the right pieces, we can have a game of chess, much like Alice did.
Though we'll never get anywhere because the whole world isn't quite
right. "
"It wasn't so much that we let him in, but that he
sort of appeared, and we didn't have the energy to kick him out. The sun
has a way of doing that." She popped the lid of her coffee to examine
how low the contents were and let her lips drop into a small frown.
"Arionna. Kalen is the weasel. Danny is the one with the long hair. Grace is the only other female present. Besides you."
Danny
*His
eyebrows shot up seeing the picture and he laughs again in surprise.*
That is sheer class. Bravo.. *He grinned at Grace. He didn't know Kiara
but was not giving off the prickles that Kalen almost exhibits, it was
merely curiosity now. Even as he laughed again at Grace's words, the
laugh still a chuckle at Kiara's words before he shifted slowly so's not
to dislodge Kalen. His hand coming out to shake Kiara's lightly.*
Danny. *When he'd shook hands he nestled back again, this time with a shiver.* I'm going to have to go soon, I'm sorry.
*And again he had to laugh at Arionna with a shake of his head.*
Kalen Holliday
His
eyes roll at Arionna's continued references to him as a weasel, but
Kiara amuses him and there a picture of a cat and a ferret and they are
so cute and-
...ahem. Decorum. Or something.
"Me too. I did come here to work." But he doesn't move from where he is yet, save for just enough to offer a hand to Kiara.
"Hey."
Grace
Grace does not offer a hand. She never offers that. But she does smile.
"Man, you do not even
know about lawn elitism until you've lived in Phoenix. It's a status
symbol that says just how much you care about the expense of water
usage. Hell, the fountains-per-capita in that place is astounding. And
then, the border towns about riot over the people crossing the border
who have the temerity to drink from their precious lawn fountains. Like how dare
they survive, right? It's like the border jumpers are attacking them
right in the elitist status symbol," Grace says, obviously a bit on a
particular side when it comes to elitism.
She shifts her
attention back to Kalen. "Oh yes, Mr. I Had This Problem With a
Database, who had to text me about it. Then I find you here being all with people."
Kiara Woolfe
"Arionna.
Kalen, I remember. We had a tryst over ice cream. Or at least,
meaningful dialogue, I think. Danny, I'm sure I've seen you before. I'd
like to think I'd remember." The edge of her mouth again. Playful.
Flicking to Grace and her speech on elitism. "Grace."
She
slides down into a cross legged collection of limbs and reclines back on
one hand. "I come from New York, I think anything not resembling a
sidewalk is considered fair game." She jingles when she shifts her
weight, Kiara, a collection of gems gleam around her neck, her wrist
too. Beneath one leg the edge of her papers are slightly dislodged,
though they appear far less any sort of college level work and more bold
colored flyers advertising something or other.
Arionna
The
reference will never die. Grace may see Kalen as a cat, but he will
always be a weasel in Ari's mind. Always. Probably one of those little
albino ones. She doesn't need to give an exit speech, or a mention that
she needs to slip off into the night. Arionna rises from her seat,
grabbing her bag and sliding it over her shoulder.
"I have
studying to complete." Her hands wrapped around her nearly empty coffee
cup. She stepped around and out of the little group to make her way
right back towards the library. [Ugh it's past midnight on my clock -
and school calls]
Danny
Okay... Well... *he
reluctantly shifts to move away from Kalen then stands up. T-shirt,
three quarter length jeans which were fabulous in the heat of the day,
but it was colder now by about ten degrees c.* I got to move on I'm
afraid, I'm fucking freezing here.
*He laughed at Grace,
then looked at Kalen with a fond shake of his head.* Kiara it was nice
to meet you, everyone else? I bid you a fond farewell, and I shall see
you all again soon. So take care of yourselves and each other.
*With that he began to make his way to where his car had been parked. Soon only his resonance lingered, then he was gone.*
(I'm really sorry, it's really early here... cars outside and I need to go to bed before the sun comes up.)
Kiara Woolfe
(No worries, guys! Thanks for playing. :) )
Kalen Holliday
Kalen
rises too. "As lovely as it is to see you again, I come from a nice
southern sunny place and I might freeze out here." He smiles. "Did I
give you my card last time?"
He glances over at Grace. "You
can be social. I'll get set up. And then fail at keywords until you
get there. There are only so many possibilities. I might luck into
something....."
Grace
"Kalen, databases don't
generally have keywords. They have queries. Remember, 'select' whatever
'from' the database 'where' things are the way you want them," Grace
says, and realizes upon blinking that he probably still has no clue what
she means.
"I'll just go with you, okay? Sorry, Kiara. I do have to go help Kalen. He needs it."
With
that, she stands from her plot of grass, thankfully not having grown
roots into it, and joins Kalen. Not at his side. She's the type to keep a
large bubble of personal space. But with him? That bubble is smaller
than with most.
Kiara Woolfe
The departing
figures receive a brief salute from the brunette, Kalen a winged smile
and a nod, yes, she had his card before he and Grace stand to head on
their way. "Don't let me keep you, I was just waiting you out to steal
your piece of lawn, anyway."
There's a laugh and she watches the pair depart, her dark eyes following them until they vanish into the inky darkness.
Kiara Woolfe
(Thanks for letting me crash your scene, guys! Sleep well.)
Monday, November 3, 2014
Tensions
Kalen Holliday
[How awake are we?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (2, 5, 6, 9, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )
Kalen Holliday
[How distracted by Resonance are we?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 6, 6, 7, 10) ( success x 4 )
Grace
Perhaps it's a bit disconcerting to find the woman who feels like an embodiment of hack-and-slash hanging up man-like dolls in order to smash them into teeny bits.
But then, they're only man-like. They don't look like vampires, not really. Their skin is whiteish grey and they smile a lot, showing off their fangs. Vampires just look like normal people. That's what makes them all the scarier.
Aside from the pinatas (one hung up in the kitchen to look like it is flying, another in the living room by the arms, and one outside) there are also sticks and blindfolds. Staves for a band of mages? How appropriate, no?
Grace is in the living room, while her grayish, black-clad victim swings from the rafters, a gummy heart already pinned to its chest. She is trying to tie a knot in the string such that it won't fall, and yet can be untied later.
Kalen Holliday
Kalen glances over the staves and smiles faintly. "Really?" He asks. "I thought we were staking them? For extra hilarity. And fake candy blood spattered stakes. You know you want one. As a trophy. But we have to varnish it or something, to keep the ants from erasing all the delicious sugary traces of your valor."
He picks up one of the staves, gives it an absent twirl, and then sets it back down. "Although, I suppose, that cuts down on the blindfolding options."
"Though...these could be serviceable spears, with a bit of sharpening....."
Grace
"Hmm. I have the stakes too. Those are in the kitchen. I figure we can do both? Maybe break the thing with a stick and then stab it with a stake? Or we can make spears. Though handing a spear to a blindfolded person and telling them to stab at things might not be so wise.
Or it might be perfectly wise. Hand one to Alexander and have him practice how to really take a vampire down? Assuming the 'staking with wood' thing isn't just a myth."
Tied down, the poor thing swings from the ceiling, twisting a bit. Soon, your candy will flow, beastie. Soon.
Kalen Holliday
"We might want to bring them all outside to kill them. But they can menace the inside until then." He sighs. "Halloween parties seem doomed around here. But...pinatas. We will get them. Even if it turns out to be only us." He taps the pinata on its gummy heart.
"Because, really. We must."
Grace
"We must. Yes. And I do want a souvenir," Grace says, grinning like mad. Something about stabbing monsters in the chest, finding the heart... it resonates with her. Literally.
"I hope nothing happens between now and Halloween, but you know. Got to make the good memories while you can."
She goes over to grab a stick, hefts it up in fake inspection of its balance (as if she knows weaponry). "It's a good stick."
Alyssa Solomon
[[Magedar!]]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 6, 8) ( success x 2 )
Alyssa Solomon
Truth be told, Alyssa isn't really here for the Halloween party. Kalen may know this, but it would surprise many to find out that Alyssa isn't gaga over Samhain the way that other Hollow Ones are. She doesn't dislike it but it is a time when the spirits are out in force and she often finds herself inundated by them. Sometimes it leads to good things, like Molly leading her to Connor. Other times she just finds herself irritated or worse, assaulted because Alyssa Solomon is no one's errand girl.
Anyway, the point is that she's here less for festivities than she is for reflection. That little flap of wings and drip of blood graces its way into sensory range as she pulls her car into the driveway and kills the engine. She's not made up today at all, looking far more like a "normal girl" than usual. Heavy eyeshadow lines her eyes of course, but there's no foundation to pale her face, no high-heeled boots or green lipstick or colored hair. She's dressed in an old Fields of the Nephilim shirt underneath a leather jacket, jeans and steel-toed boots as she stubs her cigarette out in the ashtray and heads to the door.
She picks up on the presence of those in the house, Kalen and Grace. There's a little quirk of a smile and she forces it brighter. She's not here to start anything, after all. Putting up the mask of a smirk she opens the door and lets herself inside, calling out.
"Hollower in the house. Hide your respectability and Tradition secrets and bring out the hard cider and heavy liquor."
Grace
[Magedar too!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )
Kalen Holliday
"Really, Angel?" Kalen calls back. "Because I thought you were probably most dangerous to the liquor."
He turns back to Grace and nods, just slightly more serious, though he still smiles. "We do. And it is a good stick."
Grace
Oh. Shit. Alyssa.
Well, it's not as if ever meeting Alyssa again in the flesh wasn't bound to happen. But, in a place with beating sticks handily supplied? Grace's grin disappears and her face goes paler.
It doesn't help that Alyssa's presence brings with it the scent of blood. Real blood, not the fake candy stuff in wrappers that the vampire pinatas have.
She turns to Alyssa, still holding her stick, but it seems as though as far as Grace is concerned, she's forgotten about its existence. "Uh. I have respectability to hide?"
Alyssa Solomon
"Fuck that. I wasn't talking about what I was more dangerous to. I was talking about how you could make me feel like a proper wannabe." She makes her way into the living room and if she has any problems with Grace, she's not showing it. Their little spat is far from forgotten, but at the moment at least she doesn't bring it up. Instead Grace gets a wry smile and she shrugs, which turns into a shuffling off of her jacket.
"If you have a Tradition name that doesn't start with 'H,' you have more respectability than me." She unclips the gun holster and sets it on a side table, looking around at the decorations.
"Looks like you guys are keeping yourselves busy."
Kalen Holliday
"Hey!" Kalen sticks his tongue out at Alyssa. "That...sometimes includes me when I don't feel like using alllllllllll the Names."
"And yeah. Halloween is still on and we're still with the pinata staking. Possibly just beating. And some drinks. Because...the world is apparently always about to end and we shouldn't refuse to have any fun ever. Or...you know...life will be even more depressing."
He grins. "And, you know, that would be bad. I am not actually that cute in black eyeliner. I've tried."
Grace
Grace ponders what to say for a good while. None of the options seem quite like they're too keen. Mostly they all seem to be trying to start a war over who is least respectable in the room, which, yeah. Why?
People certainly liked her a lot more before she joined the Virtual Adepts. Nobody cornered her and told her that her practices were akin to baby murder. Respectability be damned if it comes with all this political baggage.
After a while of silence, watching Alyssa and Kalen happily converse, she wanders into the kitchen with her stick.
Alyssa Solomon
She gives a snort of amusement at Kalen's self-deprecation. "I'm gonna make you try again so I can get photographic evidence of that shit for my own personal amusement during bad says."
Then Grace wanders out of the living room into the kitchen, and she frowns, looking to Kalen. "Okay, what the fuck did I say this time? I wasn't even trying to be insulting."
There's a shake of her head and she goes for the alcohol.
Kalen Holliday
"I...don't even know? Maybe she's still unnerved by the blood thing?" Kalen frowns. "Although, she does seem mostly over that." He shrugs. "I think she'll be back?"
"But. I am trying, very hard, to do fun things. I'm not sure how fun this will be, but it will definitely be ridiculous and Grace loves pinatas, and actually they're kind of fun. I think laser tag will be fun, particularly if more people end up coming. If not, we'll just beat up all the pinatas.
"You know I never went trick-or-treating that I can remember? I'm probably too old for that, but look. I want a Christmas tree. I'll even let you hang little skull ornaments on it and mock me, but you should help me decorate it."
"Anyway. How have you been?"
Grace
Once in the kitchen, she goes for the kettle under the sink. It will give her some time, and an excuse to be... you know... in the kitchen. Away from all that.
They'll hear the water running, and the stove starting, and a stick prodding at the superman-style vampire hanging in the kitchen. She doesn't want to break it yet though, so she leaves her stick on the table next to the stakes, and wanders back into the living room.
And... nope. Still nothing coming to mind that would be at all advantageous to say.
"You can hand out candy. Nobody's too old for that," she says, finally, but the glee is totally gone. "I'm making some coffee," she adds, and it comes out in a blurt. Yeah. No ulterior motive to that at all. Just randomly went to make coffee.
Alyssa Solomon
"Oh hell no." She frowns. She really doesn't have the patience for this right now. Kalen's question is forgotten for now, a wave of her hand in his direction as she follows the Virtual Adept into the other room.
"Grace, I'm not even playing. What the hell did I do that completely destroyed whatever good time you seemed having to be virtue of the sudden dying-off of banter before I showed up?"
Alyssa Solomon
[["after I showed up." Not before.]]
Kalen Holliday
Doesn't have the patience for Kalen's bizarre desire for Christmas trees?
Oh. No. That's maybe not why she is frowning. And, judging by the fact that she addresses Grace then, probably not. So he stays silent. They can address the Christmas tree thing later. Sure.
Grace
Stopped short, Grace blinks and rubs an earlobe. "Last time you and I talked, it didn't go so well. Like, it sounded like you wanted to track me down in real life in order to scratch my eyes out? And so this confuses me. I don't understand why you're being so cool about me being here.
"Which, I don't know, I'm just... Maybe I'm wrong?" she shrugs, and her entire countenance betrays just how lost she is. When people don't make sense, and they're people like Alyssa... Maybe outside would make a better hiding spot?
Alyssa Solomon
She stares at Grace for a long moment, with a lot of emotions rolling around underneath the frustrated surface. There's a little tilt of the Hollow One's head, a moment of consideration. There are many ways to respond, and some of them are ways that she wants to respond. Others are ways she knows she should do instead.
Finally, after a couple of beats, she puts her hands on her hips and shifts her head into a tilt in the other direction.
"Do you want to get into it now? We can. Settle it all out, move on. That wasn't my goal because I, like the majority of other people on this planet, am capable of being angry at people that they otherwise generally like. I can still have major problems with what you said to me and not get into it for the moment because I would rather we be pleasant and friendly, since you seemed to be enjoying yourself. But I'm honestly not sure if that's possible with you the way you're reacting and I'll be honest, I'm really tired of being treated like a leper by the mages around here. So if you would rather, we can settle this out now."
Kalen Holliday
Kalen's eyes widen, just a touch. And then he settles into a chair. Quietly.
Grace
Well, okay. Retreating to the outdoors would be 'treating Alyssa like a leper' even if that's not the intent. So, she stays.
"People are treating you like you're a leper? I just... didn't want to get kicked, to be honest," Grace says, and raises a brow.
"Actually? I'd much rather run and not deal with it ever, because of that aforementioned not wanting to get kicked thing. But I can see the benefits of trying to deal with it now. Not that I think talking with me is actually going to work. It might make everything much worse. You haven't seen me shove my foot halfway down my digestive tract yet."
Alyssa Solomon
She sighs, and the frustration doesn't go away but she looks...a little drained. Disappointed maybe, whether in Grace or something else.
"I'm not going to kick you, or punch you or stab you or whatever you may think I'm going to do. I'm not someone who just goes around beating on people who irritate me. Even when he..."
She jerks her thumb back at the living room and Kalen.
"...pissed me off over something I thought at the time was much more serious than what you did--misunderstanding though it was--I didn't attack him, whatever you may think. I talked with him and we argued, and it was settled because shocker of all shockers, I am a rational human being. I'm an angry person sometimes, but what went down between you and I was very different than even that. And if I'm ever going to attack you--which I don't see happening--I will make it clear ahead of time. I don't sucker punch people, and when I say that we'll have a conversation in person, I actually mean conversation.
"As to our dispute..." She shrugs. "I want to make this clear, and I'm not trying to say you don't know what you're doing. I've been hiding from the Technocracy since I was fifteen years old and was taught about them starting at age six, before I Awakened. When you try to lecture me about what can and can't be said over email and suggest that you know better than me because you've had friends taken down, I counter that I had almost literally everyone I knew destroyed by the Technocracy as a teenager. I've seen other people make mistakes and die, and I not only know the stakes, I know what can and can't be gotten away with. Suggesting that I don't is insulting, but I know you don't know my story so I'm willing to overlook that. This is what I wanted to say to you but I knew that if we tried to have this conversation outside of a face-to-face it would just get worse and worse."
Kalen Holliday
Kalen stays still. And quiet. He, after all, was trained to wait and to watch by a cat.
He is not nearly so indifferent as that cat could could be, but this fight isn't his. And, it is looking less and less like it will even be a fight.
But Alyssa hooks her thumb at him and brings him up, and he does speak, if only to soften the tone a little and give Grace a second. "It's true," he says. "And if she hasn't hit me yet, you're probably pretty safe unless you do something horrific. We fought a little and then co-founded a cabal. Seriously. Same conversation. She's not actually terrifying in the sense that she'll come after you without any warning or reason.
"Terrifying in other ways, sure. But those are why I wanted her in my cabal."
Grace
Grace sighs. Okay, so this is not going to go well. There is no way this is going to go well. And the good memories will not be made tonight. When will they be?
"So, okay. Suggesting that I don't know what can and can't be done online is even more insulting, considering that it's my entire... thing. Don't you think?" Grace says, and her eyes swivel up to the ceiling, where they will stay, in her effort to forget that there are other people in the room.
"The email thing is big in hacker circles right now. They're saying about the only safe email server is one you set up yourself using your own encryption, because then you have control over the keys. That's been the buzz for about... since Spring. I'm sorry if you thought I was treating you like a child. I wasn't. I was treating you like someone who has less computing knowledge than myself, which includes just about everyone.
"You don't trust me to be able to do my job. You question my knowledge in an area I'm incredibly versed in. And I'm the insulting one? Granted, it didn't make me mad. More distrusted. Very much like a leper, and more like I totally needed to do something, anything, to gain people's trust. But how, I don't know."
Alyssa Solomon
"You're not getting my point here." She shakes her head. "I trust you implicitly to do your job. As much as I trust anyone to, including myself. But when you're talking about computers--and make no mistake, I know you're amazing at that--you're talking about a tool. I'm talking about the people using the tool who want us dead. Two entirely different things. That's like saying you know what ISIS is going to do because you know how IEDs and AK-47s work. Not the same, but very similar. You know risks, and I understand and bow to your knowledge in them."
She puts her hands up in front of her chest, palms out to Grace. "I get that. But is Sleeper hackers say that's the case--and I assume you mean Sleepers because I figure you'd say Virtual Adepts or the like otherwise--the Technocracy has been able to do that kind of thing for years, probably decades. They can track you down wherever you go if they have reason to. And yet I'm not dead having used these tactics for years."
She sighs. "Paranoia is good, Grace. But you can't let it run your life. You can't live afraid of the fact that I might hit you because I'm angry, or the Union is going to come swooping in if you used the wrong code word. I have never doubted, nor have I claimed to doubt, your superiority over me in computers. But please, trust that I know the Technocracy a little better. If they have the technology to find us via a random email sent to a random email, then we might as well surrender right now. But they don't, because we're not all dead already.
"Fear them, yes. But don't live in fear of them. We have to take risks sometimes in order to do what we do. Which is help people and sometimes save them from monsters or worse."
Kalen Holliday
Kalen sighs. "You both know what you're doing. And you both know that. There's nothing to fight about there. Can we please hit pretend vampires with sticks now?"
He looks between the two of them, a bit hopefully. "I would use more words and all, but I'm actually too unnerved by being the one suggesting we all be calm and do this party thing that I can't really do sentences. And, unlike Alexander, I have horrible aim and no peaches to throw at anyone."
Grace
Grace turns her head over to Kalen, sad-eyed. "No."
And then, she actually looks at Alyssa while talking to her at last.
"They found me using some random text I sent to some random person. We were talking about the wrong thing. We used the wrong code words. And now he's disappeared. So they have that technology. You're saying they don't want to use it because, hey, maybe they just don't have the resources or the willingness to go after everything that goes 'ping' on their radar. All I'm saying is that they do get the pings. They have that capability. It's been used against me before.
She looks down at the ground, then, threads fingers into her messy hair. "I didn't mean to insinuate that you didn't know what you were doing."
Alyssa Solomon
She sighs, and then smiles. "I've heard. And I get that. I understand. But I worry that you live in a way that isn't really living. Part of the reason I dress how I do and act how I do, why I became a Hollow One and not a Hermetic, is that I refused to let anyone control me or my life. That includes myself and my fear, and my anger, and all that. If I'm going to die--and I will, and so will all of us, one day--I want to look back and say 'I don't regret anything.' It won't happen because I have regrets, but the biggest regrets are the ones that you could have done something and didn't."
She looks back at Kalen, then at Grace. "We're cool, I promise. Go hit things with sticks. Don't be upset, because there's no reason to be. Hit things with sticks because that's how you show your fears that you're not afraid of them. I just came to hit up the library anyway."
She takes a couple of steps back and then pauses. "And if you tell anyone I got all touchy-feely, I...probably won't do anything, but please don't. Image to maintain and all."
She smiles again and then heads off toward the library, winking at Kalen as she does.
[And Hollower out! Thanks for the scene!]
[How awake are we?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (2, 5, 6, 9, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )
Kalen Holliday
[How distracted by Resonance are we?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 6, 6, 7, 10) ( success x 4 )
Grace
Perhaps it's a bit disconcerting to find the woman who feels like an embodiment of hack-and-slash hanging up man-like dolls in order to smash them into teeny bits.
But then, they're only man-like. They don't look like vampires, not really. Their skin is whiteish grey and they smile a lot, showing off their fangs. Vampires just look like normal people. That's what makes them all the scarier.
Aside from the pinatas (one hung up in the kitchen to look like it is flying, another in the living room by the arms, and one outside) there are also sticks and blindfolds. Staves for a band of mages? How appropriate, no?
Grace is in the living room, while her grayish, black-clad victim swings from the rafters, a gummy heart already pinned to its chest. She is trying to tie a knot in the string such that it won't fall, and yet can be untied later.
Kalen Holliday
Kalen glances over the staves and smiles faintly. "Really?" He asks. "I thought we were staking them? For extra hilarity. And fake candy blood spattered stakes. You know you want one. As a trophy. But we have to varnish it or something, to keep the ants from erasing all the delicious sugary traces of your valor."
He picks up one of the staves, gives it an absent twirl, and then sets it back down. "Although, I suppose, that cuts down on the blindfolding options."
"Though...these could be serviceable spears, with a bit of sharpening....."
Grace
"Hmm. I have the stakes too. Those are in the kitchen. I figure we can do both? Maybe break the thing with a stick and then stab it with a stake? Or we can make spears. Though handing a spear to a blindfolded person and telling them to stab at things might not be so wise.
Or it might be perfectly wise. Hand one to Alexander and have him practice how to really take a vampire down? Assuming the 'staking with wood' thing isn't just a myth."
Tied down, the poor thing swings from the ceiling, twisting a bit. Soon, your candy will flow, beastie. Soon.
Kalen Holliday
"We might want to bring them all outside to kill them. But they can menace the inside until then." He sighs. "Halloween parties seem doomed around here. But...pinatas. We will get them. Even if it turns out to be only us." He taps the pinata on its gummy heart.
"Because, really. We must."
Grace
"We must. Yes. And I do want a souvenir," Grace says, grinning like mad. Something about stabbing monsters in the chest, finding the heart... it resonates with her. Literally.
"I hope nothing happens between now and Halloween, but you know. Got to make the good memories while you can."
She goes over to grab a stick, hefts it up in fake inspection of its balance (as if she knows weaponry). "It's a good stick."
Alyssa Solomon
[[Magedar!]]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 6, 8) ( success x 2 )
Alyssa Solomon
Truth be told, Alyssa isn't really here for the Halloween party. Kalen may know this, but it would surprise many to find out that Alyssa isn't gaga over Samhain the way that other Hollow Ones are. She doesn't dislike it but it is a time when the spirits are out in force and she often finds herself inundated by them. Sometimes it leads to good things, like Molly leading her to Connor. Other times she just finds herself irritated or worse, assaulted because Alyssa Solomon is no one's errand girl.
Anyway, the point is that she's here less for festivities than she is for reflection. That little flap of wings and drip of blood graces its way into sensory range as she pulls her car into the driveway and kills the engine. She's not made up today at all, looking far more like a "normal girl" than usual. Heavy eyeshadow lines her eyes of course, but there's no foundation to pale her face, no high-heeled boots or green lipstick or colored hair. She's dressed in an old Fields of the Nephilim shirt underneath a leather jacket, jeans and steel-toed boots as she stubs her cigarette out in the ashtray and heads to the door.
She picks up on the presence of those in the house, Kalen and Grace. There's a little quirk of a smile and she forces it brighter. She's not here to start anything, after all. Putting up the mask of a smirk she opens the door and lets herself inside, calling out.
"Hollower in the house. Hide your respectability and Tradition secrets and bring out the hard cider and heavy liquor."
Grace
[Magedar too!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )
Kalen Holliday
"Really, Angel?" Kalen calls back. "Because I thought you were probably most dangerous to the liquor."
He turns back to Grace and nods, just slightly more serious, though he still smiles. "We do. And it is a good stick."
Grace
Oh. Shit. Alyssa.
Well, it's not as if ever meeting Alyssa again in the flesh wasn't bound to happen. But, in a place with beating sticks handily supplied? Grace's grin disappears and her face goes paler.
It doesn't help that Alyssa's presence brings with it the scent of blood. Real blood, not the fake candy stuff in wrappers that the vampire pinatas have.
She turns to Alyssa, still holding her stick, but it seems as though as far as Grace is concerned, she's forgotten about its existence. "Uh. I have respectability to hide?"
Alyssa Solomon
"Fuck that. I wasn't talking about what I was more dangerous to. I was talking about how you could make me feel like a proper wannabe." She makes her way into the living room and if she has any problems with Grace, she's not showing it. Their little spat is far from forgotten, but at the moment at least she doesn't bring it up. Instead Grace gets a wry smile and she shrugs, which turns into a shuffling off of her jacket.
"If you have a Tradition name that doesn't start with 'H,' you have more respectability than me." She unclips the gun holster and sets it on a side table, looking around at the decorations.
"Looks like you guys are keeping yourselves busy."
Kalen Holliday
"Hey!" Kalen sticks his tongue out at Alyssa. "That...sometimes includes me when I don't feel like using alllllllllll the Names."
"And yeah. Halloween is still on and we're still with the pinata staking. Possibly just beating. And some drinks. Because...the world is apparently always about to end and we shouldn't refuse to have any fun ever. Or...you know...life will be even more depressing."
He grins. "And, you know, that would be bad. I am not actually that cute in black eyeliner. I've tried."
Grace
Grace ponders what to say for a good while. None of the options seem quite like they're too keen. Mostly they all seem to be trying to start a war over who is least respectable in the room, which, yeah. Why?
People certainly liked her a lot more before she joined the Virtual Adepts. Nobody cornered her and told her that her practices were akin to baby murder. Respectability be damned if it comes with all this political baggage.
After a while of silence, watching Alyssa and Kalen happily converse, she wanders into the kitchen with her stick.
Alyssa Solomon
She gives a snort of amusement at Kalen's self-deprecation. "I'm gonna make you try again so I can get photographic evidence of that shit for my own personal amusement during bad says."
Then Grace wanders out of the living room into the kitchen, and she frowns, looking to Kalen. "Okay, what the fuck did I say this time? I wasn't even trying to be insulting."
There's a shake of her head and she goes for the alcohol.
Kalen Holliday
"I...don't even know? Maybe she's still unnerved by the blood thing?" Kalen frowns. "Although, she does seem mostly over that." He shrugs. "I think she'll be back?"
"But. I am trying, very hard, to do fun things. I'm not sure how fun this will be, but it will definitely be ridiculous and Grace loves pinatas, and actually they're kind of fun. I think laser tag will be fun, particularly if more people end up coming. If not, we'll just beat up all the pinatas.
"You know I never went trick-or-treating that I can remember? I'm probably too old for that, but look. I want a Christmas tree. I'll even let you hang little skull ornaments on it and mock me, but you should help me decorate it."
"Anyway. How have you been?"
Grace
Once in the kitchen, she goes for the kettle under the sink. It will give her some time, and an excuse to be... you know... in the kitchen. Away from all that.
They'll hear the water running, and the stove starting, and a stick prodding at the superman-style vampire hanging in the kitchen. She doesn't want to break it yet though, so she leaves her stick on the table next to the stakes, and wanders back into the living room.
And... nope. Still nothing coming to mind that would be at all advantageous to say.
"You can hand out candy. Nobody's too old for that," she says, finally, but the glee is totally gone. "I'm making some coffee," she adds, and it comes out in a blurt. Yeah. No ulterior motive to that at all. Just randomly went to make coffee.
Alyssa Solomon
"Oh hell no." She frowns. She really doesn't have the patience for this right now. Kalen's question is forgotten for now, a wave of her hand in his direction as she follows the Virtual Adept into the other room.
"Grace, I'm not even playing. What the hell did I do that completely destroyed whatever good time you seemed having to be virtue of the sudden dying-off of banter before I showed up?"
Alyssa Solomon
[["after I showed up." Not before.]]
Kalen Holliday
Doesn't have the patience for Kalen's bizarre desire for Christmas trees?
Oh. No. That's maybe not why she is frowning. And, judging by the fact that she addresses Grace then, probably not. So he stays silent. They can address the Christmas tree thing later. Sure.
Grace
Stopped short, Grace blinks and rubs an earlobe. "Last time you and I talked, it didn't go so well. Like, it sounded like you wanted to track me down in real life in order to scratch my eyes out? And so this confuses me. I don't understand why you're being so cool about me being here.
"Which, I don't know, I'm just... Maybe I'm wrong?" she shrugs, and her entire countenance betrays just how lost she is. When people don't make sense, and they're people like Alyssa... Maybe outside would make a better hiding spot?
Alyssa Solomon
She stares at Grace for a long moment, with a lot of emotions rolling around underneath the frustrated surface. There's a little tilt of the Hollow One's head, a moment of consideration. There are many ways to respond, and some of them are ways that she wants to respond. Others are ways she knows she should do instead.
Finally, after a couple of beats, she puts her hands on her hips and shifts her head into a tilt in the other direction.
"Do you want to get into it now? We can. Settle it all out, move on. That wasn't my goal because I, like the majority of other people on this planet, am capable of being angry at people that they otherwise generally like. I can still have major problems with what you said to me and not get into it for the moment because I would rather we be pleasant and friendly, since you seemed to be enjoying yourself. But I'm honestly not sure if that's possible with you the way you're reacting and I'll be honest, I'm really tired of being treated like a leper by the mages around here. So if you would rather, we can settle this out now."
Kalen Holliday
Kalen's eyes widen, just a touch. And then he settles into a chair. Quietly.
Grace
Well, okay. Retreating to the outdoors would be 'treating Alyssa like a leper' even if that's not the intent. So, she stays.
"People are treating you like you're a leper? I just... didn't want to get kicked, to be honest," Grace says, and raises a brow.
"Actually? I'd much rather run and not deal with it ever, because of that aforementioned not wanting to get kicked thing. But I can see the benefits of trying to deal with it now. Not that I think talking with me is actually going to work. It might make everything much worse. You haven't seen me shove my foot halfway down my digestive tract yet."
Alyssa Solomon
She sighs, and the frustration doesn't go away but she looks...a little drained. Disappointed maybe, whether in Grace or something else.
"I'm not going to kick you, or punch you or stab you or whatever you may think I'm going to do. I'm not someone who just goes around beating on people who irritate me. Even when he..."
She jerks her thumb back at the living room and Kalen.
"...pissed me off over something I thought at the time was much more serious than what you did--misunderstanding though it was--I didn't attack him, whatever you may think. I talked with him and we argued, and it was settled because shocker of all shockers, I am a rational human being. I'm an angry person sometimes, but what went down between you and I was very different than even that. And if I'm ever going to attack you--which I don't see happening--I will make it clear ahead of time. I don't sucker punch people, and when I say that we'll have a conversation in person, I actually mean conversation.
"As to our dispute..." She shrugs. "I want to make this clear, and I'm not trying to say you don't know what you're doing. I've been hiding from the Technocracy since I was fifteen years old and was taught about them starting at age six, before I Awakened. When you try to lecture me about what can and can't be said over email and suggest that you know better than me because you've had friends taken down, I counter that I had almost literally everyone I knew destroyed by the Technocracy as a teenager. I've seen other people make mistakes and die, and I not only know the stakes, I know what can and can't be gotten away with. Suggesting that I don't is insulting, but I know you don't know my story so I'm willing to overlook that. This is what I wanted to say to you but I knew that if we tried to have this conversation outside of a face-to-face it would just get worse and worse."
Kalen Holliday
Kalen stays still. And quiet. He, after all, was trained to wait and to watch by a cat.
He is not nearly so indifferent as that cat could could be, but this fight isn't his. And, it is looking less and less like it will even be a fight.
But Alyssa hooks her thumb at him and brings him up, and he does speak, if only to soften the tone a little and give Grace a second. "It's true," he says. "And if she hasn't hit me yet, you're probably pretty safe unless you do something horrific. We fought a little and then co-founded a cabal. Seriously. Same conversation. She's not actually terrifying in the sense that she'll come after you without any warning or reason.
"Terrifying in other ways, sure. But those are why I wanted her in my cabal."
Grace
Grace sighs. Okay, so this is not going to go well. There is no way this is going to go well. And the good memories will not be made tonight. When will they be?
"So, okay. Suggesting that I don't know what can and can't be done online is even more insulting, considering that it's my entire... thing. Don't you think?" Grace says, and her eyes swivel up to the ceiling, where they will stay, in her effort to forget that there are other people in the room.
"The email thing is big in hacker circles right now. They're saying about the only safe email server is one you set up yourself using your own encryption, because then you have control over the keys. That's been the buzz for about... since Spring. I'm sorry if you thought I was treating you like a child. I wasn't. I was treating you like someone who has less computing knowledge than myself, which includes just about everyone.
"You don't trust me to be able to do my job. You question my knowledge in an area I'm incredibly versed in. And I'm the insulting one? Granted, it didn't make me mad. More distrusted. Very much like a leper, and more like I totally needed to do something, anything, to gain people's trust. But how, I don't know."
Alyssa Solomon
"You're not getting my point here." She shakes her head. "I trust you implicitly to do your job. As much as I trust anyone to, including myself. But when you're talking about computers--and make no mistake, I know you're amazing at that--you're talking about a tool. I'm talking about the people using the tool who want us dead. Two entirely different things. That's like saying you know what ISIS is going to do because you know how IEDs and AK-47s work. Not the same, but very similar. You know risks, and I understand and bow to your knowledge in them."
She puts her hands up in front of her chest, palms out to Grace. "I get that. But is Sleeper hackers say that's the case--and I assume you mean Sleepers because I figure you'd say Virtual Adepts or the like otherwise--the Technocracy has been able to do that kind of thing for years, probably decades. They can track you down wherever you go if they have reason to. And yet I'm not dead having used these tactics for years."
She sighs. "Paranoia is good, Grace. But you can't let it run your life. You can't live afraid of the fact that I might hit you because I'm angry, or the Union is going to come swooping in if you used the wrong code word. I have never doubted, nor have I claimed to doubt, your superiority over me in computers. But please, trust that I know the Technocracy a little better. If they have the technology to find us via a random email sent to a random email, then we might as well surrender right now. But they don't, because we're not all dead already.
"Fear them, yes. But don't live in fear of them. We have to take risks sometimes in order to do what we do. Which is help people and sometimes save them from monsters or worse."
Kalen Holliday
Kalen sighs. "You both know what you're doing. And you both know that. There's nothing to fight about there. Can we please hit pretend vampires with sticks now?"
He looks between the two of them, a bit hopefully. "I would use more words and all, but I'm actually too unnerved by being the one suggesting we all be calm and do this party thing that I can't really do sentences. And, unlike Alexander, I have horrible aim and no peaches to throw at anyone."
Grace
Grace turns her head over to Kalen, sad-eyed. "No."
And then, she actually looks at Alyssa while talking to her at last.
"They found me using some random text I sent to some random person. We were talking about the wrong thing. We used the wrong code words. And now he's disappeared. So they have that technology. You're saying they don't want to use it because, hey, maybe they just don't have the resources or the willingness to go after everything that goes 'ping' on their radar. All I'm saying is that they do get the pings. They have that capability. It's been used against me before.
She looks down at the ground, then, threads fingers into her messy hair. "I didn't mean to insinuate that you didn't know what you were doing."
Alyssa Solomon
She sighs, and then smiles. "I've heard. And I get that. I understand. But I worry that you live in a way that isn't really living. Part of the reason I dress how I do and act how I do, why I became a Hollow One and not a Hermetic, is that I refused to let anyone control me or my life. That includes myself and my fear, and my anger, and all that. If I'm going to die--and I will, and so will all of us, one day--I want to look back and say 'I don't regret anything.' It won't happen because I have regrets, but the biggest regrets are the ones that you could have done something and didn't."
She looks back at Kalen, then at Grace. "We're cool, I promise. Go hit things with sticks. Don't be upset, because there's no reason to be. Hit things with sticks because that's how you show your fears that you're not afraid of them. I just came to hit up the library anyway."
She takes a couple of steps back and then pauses. "And if you tell anyone I got all touchy-feely, I...probably won't do anything, but please don't. Image to maintain and all."
She smiles again and then heads off toward the library, winking at Kalen as she does.
[And Hollower out! Thanks for the scene!]
Who the hell studies cannibalism?
Danny
(Awareness)
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 4, 5, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )
Danny
*Danny was absorbed and for once it wasn't music filling his head, no he was going through notes, reading cross references and then going through the library using key words to build his search on. Firstly cannibalism, the cause of, the cults of, the reasons for.
That was the first step of looking for information, when he'd done that he went through the books again using more key words encouraged by this first search. He'd started with using music to help him concentrate, he'd even brought a writing pad doing this old school and college like. Something he'd not done for a couple of years, but he knew how to conduct a search, and with the entire of the day devoted to this, he finally sat up and groaned softly then got up to walk about barefooted. Moving to the french windows with something pre rolled, the door open and lit up. The day was cooling down but it was still warm enough for him to be able to step out side and have quite little smoke.*
Kalen Holliday
[How awake are we?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (1, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
Kalen Holliday
[And how distracted by Resonance are we?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )
Kalen Holliday
Kalen comes wandering outside a few minutes later, drinking a cup of coffee. It has hazelnut syrup and cream and sugar and whipped cream because Kalen and coffee have this bizarrely variable relationship. He at least looks like he's gotten some sleep recently, though there are still shadows under his eyes.
"Hey," He says quietly.
Danny
Hey... *He took the smoke down into his lungs and held it there, then let it out slowly into the air.* Just taking a break, but I'm onto something. Okay... Cannibals, the history the whole lot, there's like fuckloads of em out there. I mean all historical references cite back thousands of years to as recent as rumours of brazillian tribes still practising it today. So it's big search.
Kalen Holliday
"Yes. Cannibalism is a pretty broad topic."
Danny
Right so... Loads of cultures all chomping on eachother, some as funeral rites, some as victors over conquered people, some as offerings to the gods of their land. Either way, it's all pretty dark. One commonly held assumption is that you can gain a person's strength by eating their flesh, though the details will differ as far as just precisely how this works. The heart is commonly mentioned as having a lot of significance, and some believe that it is the primary source of strength. While there is universal agreement that some Mesoamerican people practiced human sacrifice, there is a lack of scholarly consensus as to whether cannibalism was widespread in pre-Columbian America the Aztec economy would not support feeding them as slaves and the columns of prisoners were "marching meat". They did their whole blood alter thing, devouring hearts and other parts of the body to allow the dead guys spirit to kind of add some strength to the consumer. So that's the history, but if we follow some of those facts and use them to bring up another keyword search you come to other thoughts and practises.
*He sets the smokable down in an ashtray then comes back into the library takes a book that's very old, he's been handling it with extreme paranoia. then hands it to Kalen.* Read this... *he taps on the page lightly he's pointing at.*
Danny
I know it's about theoretically dead magic... Before you go telling me I'm in the wrong tree or something.
Kalen Holliday
Kalen takes the book gently and scans over the page. "You'd be amazed ow not dead magic can be...."
Danny
Yeah so... here's the theory, some dude stumbles across it by accident, or has been introduced to it. From the sketches I saw by Lucy, these dudes are not mexican, or hispanic. But if you read on, on the next page there's a footnote about curing the addiction. But addicts rarely want fixing.
Kalen Holliday
"That certainly sounds like some of what's been described. If they're working with Aztec rites, it might be worth looking into what objects of power the Aztec used for battle. Specifically, if they had them, the tools of good sorcery.
"And curing the addiction...well. If we can save them we should. But, addicts also need to want help, usually. This is likely no different."
Danny
Yeah exactly.. and so.. that's all I got, I don't know if it gives you anything more to go on, I can keep on looking if you want? *he shrugs again.*
Kalen Holliday
"We may not get much more. Not here, anyway. This is specialized. We might actually be better asking a normal professor of history or anthropology if they know about this specific ritual. It may be that there are records somewhere.
"I still have yet to hear back from the people I asked, so they may yet find us something. We should update Ginger. It is possible that Trent or Eleanor will have colleagues at the university they could ask, or that someone knows of someone who can help. But this...we should see if this is in line with what Sera and the others have seen."
Danny
Well there's that other line. *He takes the book and reads out.* The physical boons last for a full 24 hours, but there are unpleasant side effects. The first is that those who participate in the ritual gain entropic resonance from it, and can be susceptible to Quiet.
Kalen Holliday
"Yeah. Quiet is not good. But...our priority is stopping them. For whatever reason they became involved in this, and this is not at all the kind of magic that is easy to justify.
"I don't want to kill anyone we don't have to. But...I doubt this will be bloodless."
Danny
Why can't we track them through that whole entropic thing? Kind of like, looking for the ripples in the pond, you find the spot in the middle? *He looks at Kalen.*
Kalen Holliday
"We don't have to. We already know where they live."
Danny
Uh.... that was unexpected. *He blinked in surprise.* So, why was I rummaging in old books all day again?
Kalen Holliday
"Because knowing where they are is different from knowing what they are. Also, because I only just found out we know."
Danny
Oh well... that's a start . *He sounds suprised.* Okay, so, is there a guy in charge?
Kalen Holliday
"No. Welcome to Denver. Here we just hivemind. Or behave like a herd of cats, depending on the day."
Danny
*That got a stare and he blinked again not long after.* So we've all got to work together then.. I actually meant their guy in charge though.
Kalen Holliday
"Oh. Yes. They seem to, but we don't know much about that yet. It's one reason for the research."
Danny
Well, perhaps he's the reason for them doing this in the first place, in which case, maybe he's the one swaying the others to do it? He's not stupid, why go out and take your own body when you can get some other dude to do it? *he sets the book down again.* What do you think as a work in progress?
Kalen Holliday
"I think we don't have enough information. We don't know what the group taking bodies is doing. I've asked Serafine, and I'm waiting on a response, but until I have details, we can't evaluate our theories."
Danny
Right... *he nods and sighs softly.* Well, at least we got somewhere. I can keep digging if you want? What I want to know is where they got this supposedly dead ritual in the first place. Not without stumbling over a book somewhere... or a guy with a psychopathic thought process?
Danny
(brb)
Kalen Holliday
"This is the kind of thing we can't really know now. False assumptions are more dangerous than a lack of knowledge. You need to learn that until you have enough information, you need to be comfortable not knowing. It need not prevent you from acting, but knowing...it is good. But you won't always know what happened, sometimes even after everything is over."
Danny
*He frowned at those words, his lips forming a line.* I guess you're not going to tell me what happens at the end, is there a reason why?
Kalen Holliday
"I don't know what happens at the end."
Danny
UH huh... *He nods finally.* Right. Okay. Well tell me if you want more research done? I'll do what i can?
Kalen Holliday
"Star...I don't know. Maybe we'll find more information. Maybe we'll go in blind. But I don't know what's happening, not with any certainty. We could be dealing with a Mage. We could be dealing with a possession. For all we know the leader is the physical manifestation of an Aztec god. That last one isn't likely. But I don't know how this ends at all."
Danny
*His eyebrows shot up at that.* Some Aztec god? Like, for real? Shit.... *His shoulders relax from their surprised stance and he moves to set the book back neatly where he'd left it on the desk, then sat down.* Well. I've written it all down. *he nods to the pad.* That's all I could find.
Kalen Holliday
Kalen's hands settle on Danny's shoulders. "You did good. Okay. This is good. We know now this sounds like this ritual. Having the ritual would be best, to understand how to undo it, but if this is right we might be able to help some of the people trapped in this. I don't know to what end, you can't just let them go. But...we have options. Options are good. It is, at least theoretically, possible they were compelled."
Danny
*There the frown was again.* I've done that.... I didn't realise I was doing it at the time, that night at the gig... They were so vibrant, I could feel all of them so I decided to throw them a loop... and well, I just started singing Born this way by Gaga.... and.... I swear I didn't mean to.. I swear I didn't do it on purpose. *he pauses.* It was like they were just extentions, we were linked. Ripples from back to the front and side to side. They were just... all there, all of them. Mine. It was like I was being made a part of something bigger. The crowd though, they really did do everything I said. specially those at the front.
Kalen Holliday
Kalen sighs and starts to rub Danny's shoulders. "Look. It's okay. You didn't know what you were doing. Don't worry. You couldn't have known."
Danny
Yeah, but I need to remember not to push things. Right? *He leans back into Kalens hands and closes his eyes.* What about you? You ever wandered in someones mind unwittingly?
Kalen Holliday
"No. But...that is not something I can do." He sighs. "And yes. You should not compel people, under most circumstances. Awakening though...can be messy."
Danny
Yeah it was.... *He nodded.* I've avoided singing that, playing it... *he shakes his head.* I don't want it to happen again. I want people to like my music for what it is, or hate it just the same. What did you find? *He frowns an notices the shadows, then reaches up to stroke the shadow under Kalens eye.* You look like you didn't quite get the right amount of sleep.
Kalen Holliday
"Well. Your magic is part of you. It is arguably part of everything you do. That doesn't mean what you do is any less. Just that there are things you can manage other people can't. It isn't...so different really from any other difference in innate ability."
Kalen smiles. "I never do. Don't worry about it."
Danny
*He leaned his head back though looking up at Kalen.* So, what now? I mean, does this mean that I could help unspell them or whatever it is that happened? Un-Sith them?
Kalen Holliday
Kalen's phone chirps and he glances at it. And then frowns. And then sighs. "Fucking Tytalans. I might know who the head of this is after all." He sighs and starts typing another message to Ginger. "And I might know what some of this is about. Are you familiar with the concept of Jhor?"
Danny
Uh......... *There was a shake of his head.* Jhor?
Kalen Holliday
"Yeah. Okay. That'll be an explanation. Hold on. This puzzle just got a lot less full of holes and I need to let like five people know right fucking now." Tap-tap-tap-tappity-tap.
Danny
*Standing up and nodding, Danny merely began to put the books away that he'd gotten out over the course of the day. Letting Kalen do what he needed to do.*
Grace
[Awareness!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )
Grace
The first thing they'll notice (if they don't already sense the presence of Grace, the way the universe warps around her) is a series of thumps and bumps from car doors slamming, and maybe from their vantage point outside, they'll even hear the rustle of her noisy entrance into the Chantry.
She's usually a lot more subtle than that. But usually, she's not carrying three large vampire pi atas and a plastic sack of (gummy) hearts. They get dumped on the couch in the living room, because someone is here. She didn't think he was going to be here just yet...
She slips off over toward the french doors, slides it open. "Hey. What's up?"
Kalen Holliday
After a moment Kalen stops typing. "Okay. Ginger is updated. Now we'll have a delightful new round of people disliking the Order, probably. But...things they need to know." Kalen sighs. "Jhor is...a certain kind of...energy. It's...sort of like a death Resonance that can linger on a Mage. And it leads to pretty disturbing kinds of Quiet. I only know a little, actually, about it."
"Oh. I think probably another Hermetic has brought a mess to Denver. You know how we are. Some of us are cool. Some of us can't be bothered to not fuck up the world."
Danny
*He slowly turned and looked at Kalen from where he was putting a book back.* So, this guy came in like Jessie James and is leaving death and destruction in his wake? Why? I thought we were supposed to help mankind?
Grace
Kalen says that Ginger is updated, and Grace's face goes to 'thinking mode' for a split second before her hand goes to her pocket to retrieve her phone.
"Ohh, shit," she says, reading the messages. "Who the hell even 'researches' cannibalistic rituals? Maybe I should have a talk with Adam, Mr. 'Technology is like sacrificing babies'," Grace says, then takes a deep breath. "No. No. That would be bad."
"Look. Okay, I have no room to talk, really. I mean, Virtual Adepts made another universe that started eating our own, remora-like. And while it wasn't their fault exactly, they did make the thing. And one of them probably had romantic zombie-survivalist notions, and look where that got us all, right? Sometimes people are just individually fucked up. I get that."
Kalen Holliday
"Yeah. And...honestly...it isn't as though other Mages don't turn out badly. But...right after Lucia Montanari and Lucy asking me if I was just another power-mad Hermetic? I almost wish I'd hidden it. Almost."
He sighs and glances back to Danny. "Awakening happens to people. They are, by virtue of being human, flawed. Not all of us do good. Which is how you get Nephandi. And a jost of other problematic things, including, most likely, this one."
Danny
*Grace says, who would research cannibalistic rituals and then glances uneasily at Kalen before clearing his throat.* I uh left something outside.. I'll uh... be outside. Smoking.
*Turning to Kalen when he spoke as well he listened.* Right, so this guy was sick and this just gave him a means to an end? So, uh... Yeah, I'm going to go wrap my head around this and smoke, you uh.. want some you know where I'll be.
*With that he vanished out through the door and when he was outside again he picked up the smokable he had left, relit it and began to smoke, enjoying the fragrance and the subsequent peace that came with it. Despite feeling more than a little worried, he'd not used his computer at all in the searches, he'd done it old fashioned and it was making him pace, as he looked back he could begin to understand why Kalen was so reserved.*
Grace
"Oh. Did I say something..." Grace says, and sighs. Any time someone just leaves abruptly like that, she thinks it's her own doing. Maybe Danny researches cannibalistic rituals?
In an attempt at stopping them perhaps?
"I said something wrong didn't I?"
Kalen Holliday
"Danny's been researching cannibalistic rituals, since...you know...cannibals. And we may even have a way to stop these people's addiction and therefore their feeding in a way other than killing them. I mean. They also are kind of murderers and all, so I don't know how we'll handle it. But...it means we have the option."
Serafíne
(Awareness and whatall.)
Dice: 7 d10 TN5 (3, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 10, 10) ( success x 8 ) Re-rolls: 2
Danny
*He was outside smoking.. staring out into the space around them around the house. Just taking that puff on it, then holding it in his lungs before he exhaled it gently.* Bloody Cannibals, that is some fucked up shit. *he muttered to himself quietly.*
Elijah
What does Elijah do in his spare time?
Does Elijah even have spare time?
The answer is no, no he does not have spare time. All he has is whatever it is that he is doing at this particular juncture and he manages to balance his work, his social life, and the abundance of homework from various teachers and his mentor only by staying up entirely too late and drinking entirely too much coffee and then sleeping in and then starting the cycle of staying up/going to sleep/doing entirely too much and repeating. Thus far, it seems to be working for him, and his draems have skewed towards the bizarre.
Overall, not an unwelcome thing.
So, this is where he enters the scene, pulls up on a beat up motor cycle and takes off his helmet and exhales long and deep and- "Jeezus, it's actually nice out tonight."
He says to no one in particular. Perhaps the sky. He's been conversing with it a lot recently.
Grace
Grace screws up her face (at the wall) and then slides the door open again. "Danny. I'm sorry. I didn't mean you. I meant, how does one start studying rituals like that only to start doing them? I mean, studying vampires so you can kill them is a whole lot different than studying vampires so you can become one, right?"
She seems to be studying the sky herself, but bites at her lip. No, maybe... Maybe he just wants to be alone?
"I'll uh. You go smoke. Right."
Grace
[For the newcomers, there is a pile of vampire pinatas and gummy hearts on the couch in the living room. Enjoy.]
Danny
*He turned when Grace spoke to him, then even blushed at her words.* No, seriously Grace. I know why you said it and trust me. All the while I had to damned well keep thinking to myself, this is just research. Trust me. I've got no intention of uh... eating anyone.
Did Kalen tell you what got found? I'll be back in in a minute, unless you want some? *he even held it out for her.*
Kalen Holliday
"He hasn't been at this long. This whole cannibals and danger thing...it's a bit new to him." He settles into a chair.
"I don't think he'll hold it against you. He's just unsettled by all this. I'm not sure how he made it into a Tradition with so little training, but I guess I joined the tradition with insane amounts of training. I got all the training. From all the people."
Danny
Did Grace follow Danny to talk to him?
Grace
Yes.
Kalen Holliday
[*L* I thought she was still in the library. Reading fail.]
Grace
[I thought the situation was entirely different! Argh. It might be my reading fail. I didn't realize a library was involved.]
Serafíne
This is how she is. Attuned, see. Sometimes you think she's high and she's not just high or maybe not even high, simply aware of all the many layers of creation, and they way the strangest things bend them, like waves of light around the curve of -
well, fuck it. See, Sera doesn't give a damn about science. Doesn't understand it, doesn't know it, doesn't believe it it. Fuck cells and quantum mechanics: she doesn't need them. And so, for her, in the very small pocket of her reality, they do not exist.
Right now, what does exist is her forehead against the cool glass of the passenger's window, the rumble of the engine, the blur of the countryside. Dan in the driver's seat and oh, here they are. She smiles.
From the correct angle, it is more than a little bit sad.
--
Sera rocks up behind Elijah who is talking to the sky and she slips an arm through his own. She is a little bit aching and a little bit tired and why the hell would Elijah know that?
She's always warm. Tips her temple against the prominence of his shoulder and says, with a sideways smile, "C'mon, other folks are downstairs in the library."
Pays no attention to the pinatas and the gummy hearts except with - maybe - a kind of squeezing of her own. Makes a stop in the kitchen for a beer and a bottle of tequila, though, before starting down the stairs to the library. The bones of the house creaking not because she weighs so much, but because she's all stompy in her Doc's tonight. Plus there's Elijah.
She's dragging him along.
(Apologies, my posts from here on will be shorter since it is early to be for me tonight. :D)
Grace
[Anyway, Grace is not going to just let him go like that.]
Danny
The only thing I know for sure is Danny is outside smoking -something-
Kalen Holliday
[Whatever. They can leave Kalen in the library. He doesn't even care.]
Danny
(Danny is outside smoking. Just for clarify.)
Danny
:-P
Elijah
[Do I feel things? Per+aware]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 8) ( success x 3 )
Elijah
And he is dragged, dragged we say! Inward and outward to people- yes, to people. He didn't care where they people were, so long as there were, in fact, people. He liked people, he had his arm in Sera's and there's a smile on his face- something familiar, something warm. He doesn't know that she seems sad, doesn't know yet, but he's content to be in Sera's presence and content to feel that visceral enthralling Sera-ness nearby.
"Bonjour! Nous avons apport tequila," well, less we. More Sera.
Serafíne
(Hey, I didn't mean to ignore Danny, just given the posts I assumed that he was outside the library (which is downstairs from the main living area / down an open-out slope I think) rather than outside the garage where they'd pull up. But if I'm wrong let's say that Sera with her massive awareness roll got an "I need time alone now will go back inside in five when this smoke is done," vibe from Danny and just gave him a chin up and wave/nod of invitation to follow them back inside and downstairs when he was up to it. Cool?)
Danny
(Post around me for a bit.)
Serafíne
There's such a rigamarole to get into the library. Sometimes Sera is so wasted she cannot manage the handprint, or remember the point of it, or keeps setting her wineglass down on the expensive electronics. Today she does manage a handprint on the palm reader and whatever the fuck else the thing asks to usher her into the library.
"I have no idea what the fuck he just said," says Seraf ne. "Except for tequila. Tequila. That part's true. Hey."
Kalen Holliday
Kalen smiles when Serafine appears, and it is perhaps a distracted smile but it is still real. "Tequila is the true part. Got you. How are you?"
And there, behind her, is Elijah. Elijah gets a wave.
Elijah
Elijah kind of lives with Kalen, who gets a wave and a smile and he goes about what he was actually going to do- which was setting out book upon book upon notebook upon notebook and pens and- jesus Elijah looks like he prepared for the office supply apocalypse. Half of his notes are in French.
"Nous avons apport tequila, means we brought tequila. The tequila part should always be true, because tequila? Is amazing."
Serafíne
Sera looks fine. Refined somehow - thinner or sharper and bleeding through those edges the way she always does, but also somehow present, immediate, so very in-her-skin and she favors Kalen with a smile of her own, which is not full but also not at all distracted, edged perhaps but -
"They killed five young mages." Sera, of course, lived through it all. Carries it in her body, as one always does with death. Kalen knows part of that already, but the details she has not shared on Ginger. "One of them caught Zoe with a hook in her back. She only survived because one of her friends sacrificed himself for her, and she has that something that makes it hard to remember her. That ability to fade from notice.
"She landed safely though. On a coast, near an ocean. I got a text.
"Have you learned anything else?"
Somewhere in the middle of all that Sera finds a library table. Sprawls across it, as you do.
Grace
Danny lets her shut the door. Apparently it is one of those 'must be left alone' things. And thus...
"Fucking foot in fucking mouth," Grace mutters, once the door is shut, once he can't hear. This was supposed to be a fun day, she thinks, looking at the pile of tissue paper and candy on the couch.
Can't have any of those, no sir. Gotta have cannibals eating people. Or vampires doing the same. Or universes eating universes. Or whatever it is. Everything eats its own in this world, apparently.
Morose, she makes her way back down to the library again, to crack the door.
Danny
*When it was finished he stubbed out the end and pocketed it when he was sure it was out, then zipped it out of sight, out of mind and made his way back to the library that was still strewn with his research notes on a table and a few more books on the nasty stuff he'd been looking into. All about cannibalism.
It was in Sera's speech that he reappeared, nodding to those gathered before he went back to where he'd been working and sat down, picking up the pencil with his left hand and moving the pad to before him.* Huh?
Kalen Holliday
"Tequila sounds pretty amazing right now," Kalen says to Elijah before he turns his attention back to Serafine.
"What I posted to Ginger like five minutes ago, which is, admittedly, only so much." He runs a hand through his hair and then pulls out his phone, opens the picture of Victoria Drake, and holds the phone out to Serafine.
"Her name is Victoria Drake. Hermetic, or possibly was, because this is the kind of thing that tends to get you excommunicated or quietly killed. The Order is hunting her, and that may be what they planned. She's suspected to be in this area, was exhibiting signs of Jhor before she vanished, evidence she had some cannibalism happening.
"Danny found an account of a ritual that grants additional speed and strength for 24 hours following cannibalism. It notes the ritual can be addictive and also notes how the addiction can be broken. I don't know if that changes any plans, but there is a chance they can be stopped without killing them. They did murder people though, so...I really don't know. I'm not even sure it will be possible to help them, under the present circumstances."
Elijah
he has his papers out, and whatever homework he was doing seems to be put to the wayside in favor of actual work. He takes notes, writes things down with names and circles and he stops and-
"But... I think we should help them. If we can help these people, I feel like we should because... I don't..." he stops, "what these people have done is horrible. We know that. But killing someone, legitimately ending someone's life so they go on to the next one should be an absolute last resort."
It bothers him. It very clearly bothers him. But he continues taking notes and making diagrams.
Serafíne
Tequila sounds pretty amazing right now. Sera picks up her bottle and she didn't bother with shotglasses and salt and limes, so she just licks the edge of her tattooed hand to steal the salt from her skin and then tosses back a shot.
Holds out the bottle to Kalen, if he wants to take it. Inhales, see, and goes a little bit far away, and glances at the phone.
The picture.
Shakes her head, no, before verbalizing it.
"Zoe never saw her, just the young men who attacked them. She could feel someone inside and though she wasn't casting anything when Zoe and her friends were being attacked Zoe could feel her presence inside the house."
A brief, half-lashed glance toward Danny. "How can the addiction be broken?"
Grace
She steps in just before Danny does, and looks around a bit, listening to the conversation.
"Will they stop if the addiction is broken? I mean, someone here decided that killing and eating people was an okay thing to do to begin with, right? Who's to say they won't just do it again?"
Grace has been sighing all night it seems. She does so again, just in time to let Danny have enough space to enter the room. Well, enough space for Grace is about six feet, but you know. She just goes off to a corner without really looking at him.
"Hi Sera. Elijah. Should have said that first."
Danny
*And now he was happy.. He'd done a good job if he did say so himself, proved himself to be able to help in some small way. Now he felt even better with that smoke, so when he resumed his seat he slouched in it a little more.*
Well you've got me there... *he shrugs apologetically at Serafinea.* Like any addiction I guess, remove the supplier and cut them off cold. The worst part will be if they don't know they need help or do know and don't care.*He glances at Grace and smiles at her, then turns his attention back to the room.*
Kalen Holliday
"And what? We don't have a jail for them. They did decide to go eat people. Unless they were compelled, which is not unreasonable but we have no idea right now. There aren't a lot of really good solutions and the last person I tried to save we ended up killing anyway. Saving people who are actively trying to kill you is practically impossible."
He takes the tequila from Serafine, takes a drink of it, and hands it back. "I'm not saying we shouldn't. I'm saying in my experience it doesn't work. Just be ready for that.
"I'm going to contact the Order and see what they know about her and if anyone is in the area hunting her. If anyone knows anything, and it is her, that might help. Particularly if we go to her."
Danny
(It's nearly 3am here, I'm going to have to bail, Danny's passed on the information and now I think he's going to vegetate on a couch or something.)
Danny
(thnks for the scenes!)
Elijah
"Generally, you turn to less legitimate means when conventional means of making your situation better have failed. Addiction is a big deal- and imagine if you're used to feeling powerless or weak or hurt and suddenly you're not. And you might hate what you're doing, and you might want to stop at some point, but-" he stops himself. He really stops himself and takes a long breath.
"I don't know, I just don't think... killing people does not sit well with me."
Serafíne
"We don't know that, Grace. We can't. Uncertainty, right? I don't know how much room there is for that in your paradigm, but I'm not prepared to execute people because we don't know how much of their behavior is based on the corruption and influence of a much stronger mind, or how much is based on their own sickness.
"I'm not a wheel-turner. And unless it is necessary for self-defense I don't think we should kill them - execute them. Even if they made a choice, they can make a different one. A new one, and anyway there are so many other options. Psychic healing, memory removal. Jail.
"I stopped one of them before, without time to prepare. With enough time, I could probably - divert more of them from violence. You'd probably have to deal with her on your own, though, if I'm occupied with diverting her worshippers."
The briefest, loveliest little smile.
"Something to think about. Let me know what you find out, okay?"
--
Just then, Dan pops his head down the stairs, and beckons Sera to come deal with something on her phone. Which she does, passing a kiss across Kalen's brow and one on Elijah's temple, with a little ruffle of Grace's hair.
Serafíne
(I also need to sleep my darlings! ninini! thank you for the scene!)
Grace
"There's only the principle, a law writ into the fabric of reality, that you can never know the whole of anything with certainty. I mean, in my paradigm," Grace says, lets Sera ruffle her hair. Sera's the only one who can really do that.
"Killing people doesn't sit well with me either. That's why we have to do something about these guys. And if that does mean having to kill them because they won't back down? It's going to suck for the person who has to do it. But it's better one person dies than ten."
Kalen Holliday
"I think we agree that we don't want to kill anyone we don't have to. I am, honestly, hopeful we can avoid that. I'm just pointing out that the last person I tried to save did not want to be saved and forced us to kill her.
"And, I do understand addiction, but they are addicted to murder. Murder. In order to become addicted to killing people they had to kill people. Maybe they do want to stop. I pointed out that there was a way to help them because I wanted to try. Not because I wanted to go on a killing spree.
"Anyway. I'll see you both at home. I have some calls to make. To see if anyone knows anything about Victoria Drake that might save her. " Elijah gets a look that isn't precisely friendly. "Because, in case you forgot, saving people is what I do."
Elijah
[willpower?]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 6, 6, 8) ( success x 3 )
Elijah
"I'm gonna be in late, I have homework," he says. It's all he says. It's all he brings himself to say.
But he inhales, long and deep and meditative, and exhales just the same. Exhales because exhaling is its own process and he has a lot to process. Words he could say, wants to say, but has the tact and the self-control not to say. So, instead, he is just there. Silent, back to writing. Looking over his notes of the conversation as though there might be some solution there.
Grace
So they've said their individual stances on the matter. Whatever Elijah isn't saying will go unsaid, because Grace follows after Kalen. Not to join him at 'home', but to be alone herself. "I'll see ya," is all she says on her way out the door.
Kalen's the only one who seems to understand her point that this started somewhere -- that these people didn't just accidentally stumble upon getting addicted to murder. And wherever that starting point is? It needs to go do that somewhere else. On the other side of living might be for the best.
If they can save people? That's a mighty big 'if'. How many have been saved? None of the members of Hydra made it out of their self-fashioned deathtrap alive. Lucia Montanari didn't make it. And why? Because when faced with all the chances to turn away from what they'd become, they chose to double-down on hate.
Sometimes, it's just not up to a team of super-saviors to come and save the day. It's up to each individual to save themselves. And what if they don't want to? What is everyone prepared to do?
Kalen Holliday
Kalen's expression softens, and he lingers, just for a second. "If you ask Danny, he'll probably show you the book from the library he found. I need to make these calls, but maybe look for some Aztec healing or purification rituals. We'll see what we can adapt, maybe. Maybe something with symbols from something closer to home will help." But then he does leave.
[Thank you for scenes!]
Grace
[Yes! Sorry for all the confusion.]
(Awareness)
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 4, 5, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )
Danny
*Danny was absorbed and for once it wasn't music filling his head, no he was going through notes, reading cross references and then going through the library using key words to build his search on. Firstly cannibalism, the cause of, the cults of, the reasons for.
That was the first step of looking for information, when he'd done that he went through the books again using more key words encouraged by this first search. He'd started with using music to help him concentrate, he'd even brought a writing pad doing this old school and college like. Something he'd not done for a couple of years, but he knew how to conduct a search, and with the entire of the day devoted to this, he finally sat up and groaned softly then got up to walk about barefooted. Moving to the french windows with something pre rolled, the door open and lit up. The day was cooling down but it was still warm enough for him to be able to step out side and have quite little smoke.*
Kalen Holliday
[How awake are we?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (1, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
Kalen Holliday
[And how distracted by Resonance are we?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )
Kalen Holliday
Kalen comes wandering outside a few minutes later, drinking a cup of coffee. It has hazelnut syrup and cream and sugar and whipped cream because Kalen and coffee have this bizarrely variable relationship. He at least looks like he's gotten some sleep recently, though there are still shadows under his eyes.
"Hey," He says quietly.
Danny
Hey... *He took the smoke down into his lungs and held it there, then let it out slowly into the air.* Just taking a break, but I'm onto something. Okay... Cannibals, the history the whole lot, there's like fuckloads of em out there. I mean all historical references cite back thousands of years to as recent as rumours of brazillian tribes still practising it today. So it's big search.
Kalen Holliday
"Yes. Cannibalism is a pretty broad topic."
Danny
Right so... Loads of cultures all chomping on eachother, some as funeral rites, some as victors over conquered people, some as offerings to the gods of their land. Either way, it's all pretty dark. One commonly held assumption is that you can gain a person's strength by eating their flesh, though the details will differ as far as just precisely how this works. The heart is commonly mentioned as having a lot of significance, and some believe that it is the primary source of strength. While there is universal agreement that some Mesoamerican people practiced human sacrifice, there is a lack of scholarly consensus as to whether cannibalism was widespread in pre-Columbian America the Aztec economy would not support feeding them as slaves and the columns of prisoners were "marching meat". They did their whole blood alter thing, devouring hearts and other parts of the body to allow the dead guys spirit to kind of add some strength to the consumer. So that's the history, but if we follow some of those facts and use them to bring up another keyword search you come to other thoughts and practises.
*He sets the smokable down in an ashtray then comes back into the library takes a book that's very old, he's been handling it with extreme paranoia. then hands it to Kalen.* Read this... *he taps on the page lightly he's pointing at.*
Danny
I know it's about theoretically dead magic... Before you go telling me I'm in the wrong tree or something.
Kalen Holliday
Kalen takes the book gently and scans over the page. "You'd be amazed ow not dead magic can be...."
Danny
Yeah so... here's the theory, some dude stumbles across it by accident, or has been introduced to it. From the sketches I saw by Lucy, these dudes are not mexican, or hispanic. But if you read on, on the next page there's a footnote about curing the addiction. But addicts rarely want fixing.
Kalen Holliday
"That certainly sounds like some of what's been described. If they're working with Aztec rites, it might be worth looking into what objects of power the Aztec used for battle. Specifically, if they had them, the tools of good sorcery.
"And curing the addiction...well. If we can save them we should. But, addicts also need to want help, usually. This is likely no different."
Danny
Yeah exactly.. and so.. that's all I got, I don't know if it gives you anything more to go on, I can keep on looking if you want? *he shrugs again.*
Kalen Holliday
"We may not get much more. Not here, anyway. This is specialized. We might actually be better asking a normal professor of history or anthropology if they know about this specific ritual. It may be that there are records somewhere.
"I still have yet to hear back from the people I asked, so they may yet find us something. We should update Ginger. It is possible that Trent or Eleanor will have colleagues at the university they could ask, or that someone knows of someone who can help. But this...we should see if this is in line with what Sera and the others have seen."
Danny
Well there's that other line. *He takes the book and reads out.* The physical boons last for a full 24 hours, but there are unpleasant side effects. The first is that those who participate in the ritual gain entropic resonance from it, and can be susceptible to Quiet.
Kalen Holliday
"Yeah. Quiet is not good. But...our priority is stopping them. For whatever reason they became involved in this, and this is not at all the kind of magic that is easy to justify.
"I don't want to kill anyone we don't have to. But...I doubt this will be bloodless."
Danny
Why can't we track them through that whole entropic thing? Kind of like, looking for the ripples in the pond, you find the spot in the middle? *He looks at Kalen.*
Kalen Holliday
"We don't have to. We already know where they live."
Danny
Uh.... that was unexpected. *He blinked in surprise.* So, why was I rummaging in old books all day again?
Kalen Holliday
"Because knowing where they are is different from knowing what they are. Also, because I only just found out we know."
Danny
Oh well... that's a start . *He sounds suprised.* Okay, so, is there a guy in charge?
Kalen Holliday
"No. Welcome to Denver. Here we just hivemind. Or behave like a herd of cats, depending on the day."
Danny
*That got a stare and he blinked again not long after.* So we've all got to work together then.. I actually meant their guy in charge though.
Kalen Holliday
"Oh. Yes. They seem to, but we don't know much about that yet. It's one reason for the research."
Danny
Well, perhaps he's the reason for them doing this in the first place, in which case, maybe he's the one swaying the others to do it? He's not stupid, why go out and take your own body when you can get some other dude to do it? *he sets the book down again.* What do you think as a work in progress?
Kalen Holliday
"I think we don't have enough information. We don't know what the group taking bodies is doing. I've asked Serafine, and I'm waiting on a response, but until I have details, we can't evaluate our theories."
Danny
Right... *he nods and sighs softly.* Well, at least we got somewhere. I can keep digging if you want? What I want to know is where they got this supposedly dead ritual in the first place. Not without stumbling over a book somewhere... or a guy with a psychopathic thought process?
Danny
(brb)
Kalen Holliday
"This is the kind of thing we can't really know now. False assumptions are more dangerous than a lack of knowledge. You need to learn that until you have enough information, you need to be comfortable not knowing. It need not prevent you from acting, but knowing...it is good. But you won't always know what happened, sometimes even after everything is over."
Danny
*He frowned at those words, his lips forming a line.* I guess you're not going to tell me what happens at the end, is there a reason why?
Kalen Holliday
"I don't know what happens at the end."
Danny
UH huh... *He nods finally.* Right. Okay. Well tell me if you want more research done? I'll do what i can?
Kalen Holliday
"Star...I don't know. Maybe we'll find more information. Maybe we'll go in blind. But I don't know what's happening, not with any certainty. We could be dealing with a Mage. We could be dealing with a possession. For all we know the leader is the physical manifestation of an Aztec god. That last one isn't likely. But I don't know how this ends at all."
Danny
*His eyebrows shot up at that.* Some Aztec god? Like, for real? Shit.... *His shoulders relax from their surprised stance and he moves to set the book back neatly where he'd left it on the desk, then sat down.* Well. I've written it all down. *he nods to the pad.* That's all I could find.
Kalen Holliday
Kalen's hands settle on Danny's shoulders. "You did good. Okay. This is good. We know now this sounds like this ritual. Having the ritual would be best, to understand how to undo it, but if this is right we might be able to help some of the people trapped in this. I don't know to what end, you can't just let them go. But...we have options. Options are good. It is, at least theoretically, possible they were compelled."
Danny
*There the frown was again.* I've done that.... I didn't realise I was doing it at the time, that night at the gig... They were so vibrant, I could feel all of them so I decided to throw them a loop... and well, I just started singing Born this way by Gaga.... and.... I swear I didn't mean to.. I swear I didn't do it on purpose. *he pauses.* It was like they were just extentions, we were linked. Ripples from back to the front and side to side. They were just... all there, all of them. Mine. It was like I was being made a part of something bigger. The crowd though, they really did do everything I said. specially those at the front.
Kalen Holliday
Kalen sighs and starts to rub Danny's shoulders. "Look. It's okay. You didn't know what you were doing. Don't worry. You couldn't have known."
Danny
Yeah, but I need to remember not to push things. Right? *He leans back into Kalens hands and closes his eyes.* What about you? You ever wandered in someones mind unwittingly?
Kalen Holliday
"No. But...that is not something I can do." He sighs. "And yes. You should not compel people, under most circumstances. Awakening though...can be messy."
Danny
Yeah it was.... *He nodded.* I've avoided singing that, playing it... *he shakes his head.* I don't want it to happen again. I want people to like my music for what it is, or hate it just the same. What did you find? *He frowns an notices the shadows, then reaches up to stroke the shadow under Kalens eye.* You look like you didn't quite get the right amount of sleep.
Kalen Holliday
"Well. Your magic is part of you. It is arguably part of everything you do. That doesn't mean what you do is any less. Just that there are things you can manage other people can't. It isn't...so different really from any other difference in innate ability."
Kalen smiles. "I never do. Don't worry about it."
Danny
*He leaned his head back though looking up at Kalen.* So, what now? I mean, does this mean that I could help unspell them or whatever it is that happened? Un-Sith them?
Kalen Holliday
Kalen's phone chirps and he glances at it. And then frowns. And then sighs. "Fucking Tytalans. I might know who the head of this is after all." He sighs and starts typing another message to Ginger. "And I might know what some of this is about. Are you familiar with the concept of Jhor?"
Danny
Uh......... *There was a shake of his head.* Jhor?
Kalen Holliday
"Yeah. Okay. That'll be an explanation. Hold on. This puzzle just got a lot less full of holes and I need to let like five people know right fucking now." Tap-tap-tap-tappity-tap.
Danny
*Standing up and nodding, Danny merely began to put the books away that he'd gotten out over the course of the day. Letting Kalen do what he needed to do.*
Grace
[Awareness!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )
Grace
The first thing they'll notice (if they don't already sense the presence of Grace, the way the universe warps around her) is a series of thumps and bumps from car doors slamming, and maybe from their vantage point outside, they'll even hear the rustle of her noisy entrance into the Chantry.
She's usually a lot more subtle than that. But usually, she's not carrying three large vampire pi atas and a plastic sack of (gummy) hearts. They get dumped on the couch in the living room, because someone is here. She didn't think he was going to be here just yet...
She slips off over toward the french doors, slides it open. "Hey. What's up?"
Kalen Holliday
After a moment Kalen stops typing. "Okay. Ginger is updated. Now we'll have a delightful new round of people disliking the Order, probably. But...things they need to know." Kalen sighs. "Jhor is...a certain kind of...energy. It's...sort of like a death Resonance that can linger on a Mage. And it leads to pretty disturbing kinds of Quiet. I only know a little, actually, about it."
"Oh. I think probably another Hermetic has brought a mess to Denver. You know how we are. Some of us are cool. Some of us can't be bothered to not fuck up the world."
Danny
*He slowly turned and looked at Kalen from where he was putting a book back.* So, this guy came in like Jessie James and is leaving death and destruction in his wake? Why? I thought we were supposed to help mankind?
Grace
Kalen says that Ginger is updated, and Grace's face goes to 'thinking mode' for a split second before her hand goes to her pocket to retrieve her phone.
"Ohh, shit," she says, reading the messages. "Who the hell even 'researches' cannibalistic rituals? Maybe I should have a talk with Adam, Mr. 'Technology is like sacrificing babies'," Grace says, then takes a deep breath. "No. No. That would be bad."
"Look. Okay, I have no room to talk, really. I mean, Virtual Adepts made another universe that started eating our own, remora-like. And while it wasn't their fault exactly, they did make the thing. And one of them probably had romantic zombie-survivalist notions, and look where that got us all, right? Sometimes people are just individually fucked up. I get that."
Kalen Holliday
"Yeah. And...honestly...it isn't as though other Mages don't turn out badly. But...right after Lucia Montanari and Lucy asking me if I was just another power-mad Hermetic? I almost wish I'd hidden it. Almost."
He sighs and glances back to Danny. "Awakening happens to people. They are, by virtue of being human, flawed. Not all of us do good. Which is how you get Nephandi. And a jost of other problematic things, including, most likely, this one."
Danny
*Grace says, who would research cannibalistic rituals and then glances uneasily at Kalen before clearing his throat.* I uh left something outside.. I'll uh... be outside. Smoking.
*Turning to Kalen when he spoke as well he listened.* Right, so this guy was sick and this just gave him a means to an end? So, uh... Yeah, I'm going to go wrap my head around this and smoke, you uh.. want some you know where I'll be.
*With that he vanished out through the door and when he was outside again he picked up the smokable he had left, relit it and began to smoke, enjoying the fragrance and the subsequent peace that came with it. Despite feeling more than a little worried, he'd not used his computer at all in the searches, he'd done it old fashioned and it was making him pace, as he looked back he could begin to understand why Kalen was so reserved.*
Grace
"Oh. Did I say something..." Grace says, and sighs. Any time someone just leaves abruptly like that, she thinks it's her own doing. Maybe Danny researches cannibalistic rituals?
In an attempt at stopping them perhaps?
"I said something wrong didn't I?"
Kalen Holliday
"Danny's been researching cannibalistic rituals, since...you know...cannibals. And we may even have a way to stop these people's addiction and therefore their feeding in a way other than killing them. I mean. They also are kind of murderers and all, so I don't know how we'll handle it. But...it means we have the option."
Serafíne
(Awareness and whatall.)
Dice: 7 d10 TN5 (3, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 10, 10) ( success x 8 ) Re-rolls: 2
Danny
*He was outside smoking.. staring out into the space around them around the house. Just taking that puff on it, then holding it in his lungs before he exhaled it gently.* Bloody Cannibals, that is some fucked up shit. *he muttered to himself quietly.*
Elijah
What does Elijah do in his spare time?
Does Elijah even have spare time?
The answer is no, no he does not have spare time. All he has is whatever it is that he is doing at this particular juncture and he manages to balance his work, his social life, and the abundance of homework from various teachers and his mentor only by staying up entirely too late and drinking entirely too much coffee and then sleeping in and then starting the cycle of staying up/going to sleep/doing entirely too much and repeating. Thus far, it seems to be working for him, and his draems have skewed towards the bizarre.
Overall, not an unwelcome thing.
So, this is where he enters the scene, pulls up on a beat up motor cycle and takes off his helmet and exhales long and deep and- "Jeezus, it's actually nice out tonight."
He says to no one in particular. Perhaps the sky. He's been conversing with it a lot recently.
Grace
Grace screws up her face (at the wall) and then slides the door open again. "Danny. I'm sorry. I didn't mean you. I meant, how does one start studying rituals like that only to start doing them? I mean, studying vampires so you can kill them is a whole lot different than studying vampires so you can become one, right?"
She seems to be studying the sky herself, but bites at her lip. No, maybe... Maybe he just wants to be alone?
"I'll uh. You go smoke. Right."
Grace
[For the newcomers, there is a pile of vampire pinatas and gummy hearts on the couch in the living room. Enjoy.]
Danny
*He turned when Grace spoke to him, then even blushed at her words.* No, seriously Grace. I know why you said it and trust me. All the while I had to damned well keep thinking to myself, this is just research. Trust me. I've got no intention of uh... eating anyone.
Did Kalen tell you what got found? I'll be back in in a minute, unless you want some? *he even held it out for her.*
Kalen Holliday
"He hasn't been at this long. This whole cannibals and danger thing...it's a bit new to him." He settles into a chair.
"I don't think he'll hold it against you. He's just unsettled by all this. I'm not sure how he made it into a Tradition with so little training, but I guess I joined the tradition with insane amounts of training. I got all the training. From all the people."
Danny
Did Grace follow Danny to talk to him?
Grace
Yes.
Kalen Holliday
[*L* I thought she was still in the library. Reading fail.]
Grace
[I thought the situation was entirely different! Argh. It might be my reading fail. I didn't realize a library was involved.]
Serafíne
This is how she is. Attuned, see. Sometimes you think she's high and she's not just high or maybe not even high, simply aware of all the many layers of creation, and they way the strangest things bend them, like waves of light around the curve of -
well, fuck it. See, Sera doesn't give a damn about science. Doesn't understand it, doesn't know it, doesn't believe it it. Fuck cells and quantum mechanics: she doesn't need them. And so, for her, in the very small pocket of her reality, they do not exist.
Right now, what does exist is her forehead against the cool glass of the passenger's window, the rumble of the engine, the blur of the countryside. Dan in the driver's seat and oh, here they are. She smiles.
From the correct angle, it is more than a little bit sad.
--
Sera rocks up behind Elijah who is talking to the sky and she slips an arm through his own. She is a little bit aching and a little bit tired and why the hell would Elijah know that?
She's always warm. Tips her temple against the prominence of his shoulder and says, with a sideways smile, "C'mon, other folks are downstairs in the library."
Pays no attention to the pinatas and the gummy hearts except with - maybe - a kind of squeezing of her own. Makes a stop in the kitchen for a beer and a bottle of tequila, though, before starting down the stairs to the library. The bones of the house creaking not because she weighs so much, but because she's all stompy in her Doc's tonight. Plus there's Elijah.
She's dragging him along.
(Apologies, my posts from here on will be shorter since it is early to be for me tonight. :D)
Grace
[Anyway, Grace is not going to just let him go like that.]
Danny
The only thing I know for sure is Danny is outside smoking -something-
Kalen Holliday
[Whatever. They can leave Kalen in the library. He doesn't even care.]
Danny
(Danny is outside smoking. Just for clarify.)
Danny
:-P
Elijah
[Do I feel things? Per+aware]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 8) ( success x 3 )
Elijah
And he is dragged, dragged we say! Inward and outward to people- yes, to people. He didn't care where they people were, so long as there were, in fact, people. He liked people, he had his arm in Sera's and there's a smile on his face- something familiar, something warm. He doesn't know that she seems sad, doesn't know yet, but he's content to be in Sera's presence and content to feel that visceral enthralling Sera-ness nearby.
"Bonjour! Nous avons apport tequila," well, less we. More Sera.
Serafíne
(Hey, I didn't mean to ignore Danny, just given the posts I assumed that he was outside the library (which is downstairs from the main living area / down an open-out slope I think) rather than outside the garage where they'd pull up. But if I'm wrong let's say that Sera with her massive awareness roll got an "I need time alone now will go back inside in five when this smoke is done," vibe from Danny and just gave him a chin up and wave/nod of invitation to follow them back inside and downstairs when he was up to it. Cool?)
Danny
(Post around me for a bit.)
Serafíne
There's such a rigamarole to get into the library. Sometimes Sera is so wasted she cannot manage the handprint, or remember the point of it, or keeps setting her wineglass down on the expensive electronics. Today she does manage a handprint on the palm reader and whatever the fuck else the thing asks to usher her into the library.
"I have no idea what the fuck he just said," says Seraf ne. "Except for tequila. Tequila. That part's true. Hey."
Kalen Holliday
Kalen smiles when Serafine appears, and it is perhaps a distracted smile but it is still real. "Tequila is the true part. Got you. How are you?"
And there, behind her, is Elijah. Elijah gets a wave.
Elijah
Elijah kind of lives with Kalen, who gets a wave and a smile and he goes about what he was actually going to do- which was setting out book upon book upon notebook upon notebook and pens and- jesus Elijah looks like he prepared for the office supply apocalypse. Half of his notes are in French.
"Nous avons apport tequila, means we brought tequila. The tequila part should always be true, because tequila? Is amazing."
Serafíne
Sera looks fine. Refined somehow - thinner or sharper and bleeding through those edges the way she always does, but also somehow present, immediate, so very in-her-skin and she favors Kalen with a smile of her own, which is not full but also not at all distracted, edged perhaps but -
"They killed five young mages." Sera, of course, lived through it all. Carries it in her body, as one always does with death. Kalen knows part of that already, but the details she has not shared on Ginger. "One of them caught Zoe with a hook in her back. She only survived because one of her friends sacrificed himself for her, and she has that something that makes it hard to remember her. That ability to fade from notice.
"She landed safely though. On a coast, near an ocean. I got a text.
"Have you learned anything else?"
Somewhere in the middle of all that Sera finds a library table. Sprawls across it, as you do.
Grace
Danny lets her shut the door. Apparently it is one of those 'must be left alone' things. And thus...
"Fucking foot in fucking mouth," Grace mutters, once the door is shut, once he can't hear. This was supposed to be a fun day, she thinks, looking at the pile of tissue paper and candy on the couch.
Can't have any of those, no sir. Gotta have cannibals eating people. Or vampires doing the same. Or universes eating universes. Or whatever it is. Everything eats its own in this world, apparently.
Morose, she makes her way back down to the library again, to crack the door.
Danny
*When it was finished he stubbed out the end and pocketed it when he was sure it was out, then zipped it out of sight, out of mind and made his way back to the library that was still strewn with his research notes on a table and a few more books on the nasty stuff he'd been looking into. All about cannibalism.
It was in Sera's speech that he reappeared, nodding to those gathered before he went back to where he'd been working and sat down, picking up the pencil with his left hand and moving the pad to before him.* Huh?
Kalen Holliday
"Tequila sounds pretty amazing right now," Kalen says to Elijah before he turns his attention back to Serafine.
"What I posted to Ginger like five minutes ago, which is, admittedly, only so much." He runs a hand through his hair and then pulls out his phone, opens the picture of Victoria Drake, and holds the phone out to Serafine.
"Her name is Victoria Drake. Hermetic, or possibly was, because this is the kind of thing that tends to get you excommunicated or quietly killed. The Order is hunting her, and that may be what they planned. She's suspected to be in this area, was exhibiting signs of Jhor before she vanished, evidence she had some cannibalism happening.
"Danny found an account of a ritual that grants additional speed and strength for 24 hours following cannibalism. It notes the ritual can be addictive and also notes how the addiction can be broken. I don't know if that changes any plans, but there is a chance they can be stopped without killing them. They did murder people though, so...I really don't know. I'm not even sure it will be possible to help them, under the present circumstances."
Elijah
he has his papers out, and whatever homework he was doing seems to be put to the wayside in favor of actual work. He takes notes, writes things down with names and circles and he stops and-
"But... I think we should help them. If we can help these people, I feel like we should because... I don't..." he stops, "what these people have done is horrible. We know that. But killing someone, legitimately ending someone's life so they go on to the next one should be an absolute last resort."
It bothers him. It very clearly bothers him. But he continues taking notes and making diagrams.
Serafíne
Tequila sounds pretty amazing right now. Sera picks up her bottle and she didn't bother with shotglasses and salt and limes, so she just licks the edge of her tattooed hand to steal the salt from her skin and then tosses back a shot.
Holds out the bottle to Kalen, if he wants to take it. Inhales, see, and goes a little bit far away, and glances at the phone.
The picture.
Shakes her head, no, before verbalizing it.
"Zoe never saw her, just the young men who attacked them. She could feel someone inside and though she wasn't casting anything when Zoe and her friends were being attacked Zoe could feel her presence inside the house."
A brief, half-lashed glance toward Danny. "How can the addiction be broken?"
Grace
She steps in just before Danny does, and looks around a bit, listening to the conversation.
"Will they stop if the addiction is broken? I mean, someone here decided that killing and eating people was an okay thing to do to begin with, right? Who's to say they won't just do it again?"
Grace has been sighing all night it seems. She does so again, just in time to let Danny have enough space to enter the room. Well, enough space for Grace is about six feet, but you know. She just goes off to a corner without really looking at him.
"Hi Sera. Elijah. Should have said that first."
Danny
*And now he was happy.. He'd done a good job if he did say so himself, proved himself to be able to help in some small way. Now he felt even better with that smoke, so when he resumed his seat he slouched in it a little more.*
Well you've got me there... *he shrugs apologetically at Serafinea.* Like any addiction I guess, remove the supplier and cut them off cold. The worst part will be if they don't know they need help or do know and don't care.*He glances at Grace and smiles at her, then turns his attention back to the room.*
Kalen Holliday
"And what? We don't have a jail for them. They did decide to go eat people. Unless they were compelled, which is not unreasonable but we have no idea right now. There aren't a lot of really good solutions and the last person I tried to save we ended up killing anyway. Saving people who are actively trying to kill you is practically impossible."
He takes the tequila from Serafine, takes a drink of it, and hands it back. "I'm not saying we shouldn't. I'm saying in my experience it doesn't work. Just be ready for that.
"I'm going to contact the Order and see what they know about her and if anyone is in the area hunting her. If anyone knows anything, and it is her, that might help. Particularly if we go to her."
Danny
(It's nearly 3am here, I'm going to have to bail, Danny's passed on the information and now I think he's going to vegetate on a couch or something.)
Danny
(thnks for the scenes!)
Elijah
"Generally, you turn to less legitimate means when conventional means of making your situation better have failed. Addiction is a big deal- and imagine if you're used to feeling powerless or weak or hurt and suddenly you're not. And you might hate what you're doing, and you might want to stop at some point, but-" he stops himself. He really stops himself and takes a long breath.
"I don't know, I just don't think... killing people does not sit well with me."
Serafíne
"We don't know that, Grace. We can't. Uncertainty, right? I don't know how much room there is for that in your paradigm, but I'm not prepared to execute people because we don't know how much of their behavior is based on the corruption and influence of a much stronger mind, or how much is based on their own sickness.
"I'm not a wheel-turner. And unless it is necessary for self-defense I don't think we should kill them - execute them. Even if they made a choice, they can make a different one. A new one, and anyway there are so many other options. Psychic healing, memory removal. Jail.
"I stopped one of them before, without time to prepare. With enough time, I could probably - divert more of them from violence. You'd probably have to deal with her on your own, though, if I'm occupied with diverting her worshippers."
The briefest, loveliest little smile.
"Something to think about. Let me know what you find out, okay?"
--
Just then, Dan pops his head down the stairs, and beckons Sera to come deal with something on her phone. Which she does, passing a kiss across Kalen's brow and one on Elijah's temple, with a little ruffle of Grace's hair.
Serafíne
(I also need to sleep my darlings! ninini! thank you for the scene!)
Grace
"There's only the principle, a law writ into the fabric of reality, that you can never know the whole of anything with certainty. I mean, in my paradigm," Grace says, lets Sera ruffle her hair. Sera's the only one who can really do that.
"Killing people doesn't sit well with me either. That's why we have to do something about these guys. And if that does mean having to kill them because they won't back down? It's going to suck for the person who has to do it. But it's better one person dies than ten."
Kalen Holliday
"I think we agree that we don't want to kill anyone we don't have to. I am, honestly, hopeful we can avoid that. I'm just pointing out that the last person I tried to save did not want to be saved and forced us to kill her.
"And, I do understand addiction, but they are addicted to murder. Murder. In order to become addicted to killing people they had to kill people. Maybe they do want to stop. I pointed out that there was a way to help them because I wanted to try. Not because I wanted to go on a killing spree.
"Anyway. I'll see you both at home. I have some calls to make. To see if anyone knows anything about Victoria Drake that might save her. " Elijah gets a look that isn't precisely friendly. "Because, in case you forgot, saving people is what I do."
Elijah
[willpower?]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 6, 6, 8) ( success x 3 )
Elijah
"I'm gonna be in late, I have homework," he says. It's all he says. It's all he brings himself to say.
But he inhales, long and deep and meditative, and exhales just the same. Exhales because exhaling is its own process and he has a lot to process. Words he could say, wants to say, but has the tact and the self-control not to say. So, instead, he is just there. Silent, back to writing. Looking over his notes of the conversation as though there might be some solution there.
Grace
So they've said their individual stances on the matter. Whatever Elijah isn't saying will go unsaid, because Grace follows after Kalen. Not to join him at 'home', but to be alone herself. "I'll see ya," is all she says on her way out the door.
Kalen's the only one who seems to understand her point that this started somewhere -- that these people didn't just accidentally stumble upon getting addicted to murder. And wherever that starting point is? It needs to go do that somewhere else. On the other side of living might be for the best.
If they can save people? That's a mighty big 'if'. How many have been saved? None of the members of Hydra made it out of their self-fashioned deathtrap alive. Lucia Montanari didn't make it. And why? Because when faced with all the chances to turn away from what they'd become, they chose to double-down on hate.
Sometimes, it's just not up to a team of super-saviors to come and save the day. It's up to each individual to save themselves. And what if they don't want to? What is everyone prepared to do?
Kalen Holliday
Kalen's expression softens, and he lingers, just for a second. "If you ask Danny, he'll probably show you the book from the library he found. I need to make these calls, but maybe look for some Aztec healing or purification rituals. We'll see what we can adapt, maybe. Maybe something with symbols from something closer to home will help." But then he does leave.
[Thank you for scenes!]
Grace
[Yes! Sorry for all the confusion.]
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