Indeterminate cause [Mood]

Alexander sits on his couch, watching the TV.  Warm sunlight streams in through the uncovered windows but the chill in the room doesn’t really seem to fade.  A half-finished mug of coffee sits on the coffee table, long since cold.  The TV doesn’t get turned on often, but today there is something specific he wants to see.  He’s flicking between the local news channel and stops on one of them as the news ticker at the bottom shows:

Breaking News: Several bodies found at South Platte Reservoir after anonymous tipoff.

The footage cuts from a politician trying to dodge accusations of a certain indiscretion with a certain lady of indeterminate repute to an area of forest near a large body of water.  Several police cars and vans are parked nearby, lights throwing red and blue streaks through the undergrowth.  Tape, guarded by beat cops, cordons off a large area.  The cameraman can’t get close enough to pick up much in the way of detail, but several paper-suited CSIs are hovering near one obviously-dead body.  Others move between their van and a cave by the waterline, carrying various pieces of evidence-gathering equipment.  A couple of detectives – obvious from their lack of uniform but their presence beyond the cordon – speak to one unformed officer to one side.  Presumably the first on scene.  Officially on scene, anyway.

*-*-*-*-*

Alexander had been far away when the call had been made, out at some ramshackle Ma-and-Pa diner in the middle of the Colorado plains.  The ride there had taken a good while - time which he would normally have revelled in the pleasure of mile after mile of asphalt passing underneath him.  There was no thrill of adrenaline this time, no breaking of the speed limits on the long, straight, unpatrolled areas; only ice inside.  He pulled up outside, the engine of the bike dying out with one last roar, and headed inside while pulling off his helmet.  Alexander sat at the counter and ordered a coffee.  His appetite had been somewhat lacking recently and the thought of eating just then turned his stomach.  Other than the Ma, nobody else was in the place.  It was between what could have been the breakfast and lunchtime rushes, assuming the place ever had them.

The cloth bag was laid on the counter and opened up.  Alexander fished through the contents without pulling them out, not letting Ma see what they were.  The names of the dead were read again, to be remembered.  Having barely touched the coffee, Alexander waited for Ma to head back out in the kitchen.  He grabbed the bag and returned it to a pocket, then moved over to the payphone in the corner.  The payphone receiver wasn’t picked up straight away, though.  Instead, Alexander pulled out his mobile phone and opened up a newly-installed app.  Although not massively technical, he knew enough to find and install useful software on his phone.  It had never crossed his mind that he’d need something like this, though.  He tapped away on the mobile’s flat surface, stopping a couple of times to revise what he’d typed.  Only then had he picked up the payphone receiver and dialled.  The ringing ended after a few moments and a female voice asked,

“Denver Police, which department please?”

Alexander tapped a button on his mobile and held the phone up to the payphone receiver, letting the synthetic female voice tell its pre-programmed tale.

“Look at South Platte Reservoir.  The victims are there.  You will not hear from me again.”

The receiver was replaced as soon as the message had been delivered, and Alexander moved back to where his coffee was sitting on the counter.  He threw a few bucks on the counter and walked out, an engine roared and then faded away into the background shortly after.

*-*-*-*-*

Alexander stays sat on the couch watching the footage.  The only difference is that he pulls his legs up and hugs them, feet flat on the couch.  The contents of the cloth bag have been spread out on the table.

He sits there, rocking gently.

Next time? Don't hesitate.

Ix

So. This is planning o'clock for last minute plans. I know there has been at least a little of that going on individual-like, but now is when we pulls it into one plan. Or so we hope. :)

Ian Lai

Ian would have relayed what he found at the Library to Alyssa. So basically the plan on his end being: They go deal with this spirit thing, then Ian will try to deal with the roots in Sky's body and wake Sky up so that Sky can heal himself (because Verbena Disciple.) Also they should probably burn everything afterwards.

Alyssa Solomon

[[AIM Chat created BTW!]]

Alyssa Solomon

[[Alyssa's Idea/Plan:

Step 1: She's going to give herself Spirit Sight and ask Ian and whoever else is coming along to keep the material world side version busy.

Step 2: Prime 2 blast the shit out of the spirits through the Gauntlet (Spirit 2) infecting Sky and maybe Claire in an attempt to kill them without physically killing the hosts. (She is no Adept, so no Exorcisming possible sadly).

Step 3: Summon Spirit of Restoration with Spirit 2: Call Spirit to make a deal for a ton of Quintessence in order to restore anyone semi-affected and still living to their natural selves, and possibly cleanse the area. Use Hearts Blood if needed.

Step 4: Stop Bleeding and deal with Paradox. :D]]

Alexander

Alexander is basically there for physical backup, given his lack of power and practice. He doesn't have any way of poking Umbral stuff - only seeing it - so he'll be there to work on dealing with the material side of things.

Alyssa Solomon

Addendum to Plan: Alexander has Spirit Sight. He can keep an eye on things and be Eyes and Ears for Ian in case they are dealing with multiple spirits, and if/when Alyssa goes down.

Also, there may will probably be plenty of corporeal monsters to fight too, so there is that. =)

Ix

Our Scene Guidelines:

1. We do have a time limit, please try to keep your posts to within ten minutes. I know we all love to be pretty, and detailed, and awesome. But really, really we do need to move on this one. There are only three of you, and you blew through planning, so unless we fall behind I'm not going to threaten to skip any peeps.

2. I'm not setting rolling time guidelines because I am still relearning Mage and Vesta is learning combat. Let's not make ourselves nuts.

3. There may be a coda scene or two to this one, so don't panic about loose ends too much. This is the only time I could get you all for a definite assault, so we're doing that now and coda scenes as appropriate.

4. If you have anything you absolutely don't want to see in this scene because it will ruin your day, please tell me now.

5. If you have any questions - ask. I won't be mad. It's cool.

6. Have fun. :)

Alexander

[[Curiosity and Concentration are probably the only relevant merits and flaws. Alex is taking along a heavy pistol, a couple of spare clips, and an armoured undervest (AR2, dex penalty 1)]]

Ix

The South Platte Reservoir is alive with the sounds of nature in twilight. The dark water looks peaceful and the recent deaths have sent most of the people who might otherwise be drinking here in search of metaphorical greener pastures. Everything here is so very green, even the trunks of the trees and the last traces of color over the water before darkness steals them have a decidedly greenish cast.

[Please to roll Perception+Awareness; and, if you would like, Perception+Survival. I realize you may also desire to roll some other things and we can do those things too.]

Alyssa Solomon

[[Per+Awarness]]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 5, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )

Alyssa Solomon

[[Per, No Survival so +1 diff]]

Dice: 3 d10 TN7 (1, 6, 7) ( success x 1 )

Alexander

[Per+Awareness]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (4, 4, 7, 10) ( success x 2 )

Alexander

[Per+Survival]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 6, 7, 7) ( success x 3 )

Alyssa Solomon

[[Oh, whoops. Diff 8, so a botch. We're off to a grand start!]]

Ian Lai

[Per+Aware]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 8, 8) ( success x 2 )

Ian Lai

[Per+Survival, Acute Senses for the win (-2 diff)]

Dice: 5 d10 TN4 (1, 2, 3, 3, 10) ( success x 1 )

Ian Lai

[Ignore that last roll because I fail. This is the real one.]

Dice: 4 d10 TN4 (2, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )

Ix

The three Mages can sense something. It isn't Resonance in the sense that a Mage has Resonance but it is a sort of echoing of the awareness of the forest around them - there is a sense of warm humidity that isn't actually present that presses dreamlike against their skin, the feel of something gritty on the air that they breathe in almost like dust that seems to catch on their tongues and in the backs of their throats, the smell of something damp and decaying. And, through all of that, very faintly, they can sense an echo of the fading sunlight filtered not through this humid haze but through oak leaves and the scent of rich, uncorrupted earth.

Ix

To Alexander and Ian, something is definitely wrong with the forest. There should be sound, yes, and there is. But this is all insect sounds. Flies and mosquitoes and droning wings. There should be birds, maybe not many as the light fades, but there should be the last sounds of the birds. The sounds of squirrels or chipmunks returning to their burrows. But there is only the oppressive humming of so many wings.

Ian Lai

For all that it had taken them so long to finally get together, once the ball started rolling it didn't take long for Ian and Alyssa to formulate a plan that felt at least reasonably sound. A lot of things could go wrong. Probably at least one thing would. None of them were walking into this naively, with the possible exception of Alex - whom Ian hadn't even known would be there until very recently.

Ian drove out to the lake alone, arriving a few minutes before the other two. By the time Alex and Alyssa arrived, they'd find him standing near his car with his eyes on the surrounding forest, a rather lethal-looking katana strapped to his back and a second blade (a hunting knife) hooked onto his belt. He didn't look much different than usual (though his clothes were more serviceable,) but there was a strong sense of something focused and predatory in his demeanor. Quiet and alert. Like he was hunting.

"The air is wrong, here. The sounds are wrong. We're in the right place."

(As if there was any doubt remaining.)

Alyssa Solomon

Alyssa picked up Alexander in her red, beat-up but trusty '89 Acura Legend Coupe. On the way she had given him the heads up on everything: that they've definitvely narrowed down the source to the park that she had told him about and that there was a Verbena who is trapped there, being slowly killed with roots stuck into him. And that they were going to have to free Sky (the Verbena), possibly free Claire (a Consor) or kill her--or she may already be dead--get rid of the spirits and cleanse the area.

All in a day's work, really. And then, close to the location, she pulls over and asks him to drive the rest of the way. From the passenger seat she begins catagorizing everything she's brought:

* Several vials of blood, kept in the pockets of a leather trenchcoat that has had the sleeves cut of.

* A simple but elegantly-designed ritual knife, adorned with several Enochian symbols and kept quite clean, in a belt sheath.

* A .45 in a shoulder holster.

* Five black wax candles, matches, a needle and spare vials, stowed in a backpack.

She's already painted some Enochian on her hands and arms (thus the sleeveless trenchcoat--also, no need to pull a sleeve up and draw blood), along her forearms and on the back of her hands. She's rocking those steel-toed boots of hers and under the trenchoat is a form-fitting turtleneck and jeans. Her makeup is symbolic tonight, with dark green dripping from her eyes and her hair and lips taking a dark forest tone.

And then they're there, and they meet up with Ian. She nods to him, deadly serious. "Looks like. Gimme a sec, I just need to get Spirit-suited up."

Out comes one of the blood vials, when she uncorks and dabs on her fingers to start painting her eyelids. Red over green. It's all blood, all life.

Alexander

Alexander rides along with Alyssa, trying to relax in the passenger seat and enjoy the view. There’s usually something calming about heading out of the city and into the wilderness, but it’s just not happening this time. Had it just been a matter of some people disappearing and nothing else, the pleasure might still have been there. But, as they say, knowledge is a dangerous thing. And the little knowledge that Alexander has picked up about what they’re coming here to face hasn’t done anything to relax him.

As they approach the area where the three of them are to meet, the autumn-like aura thickens. “This is it. It feels the same as when I bumped into that guy downtown,” he tells Alyssa as she pulls over so that he can take over driving. It’s a short drive to where they’re all meeting.

Parking up, Alexander gets out of the car and sorts his own modest gear out. A .45 pistol is tucked into the back of his black combats, and two spare slips tucked into the pockets. A dark blue, hooded sweatshirt covers his top half with a bulk that hints at something more underneath. He looks around, listening to the woods. “Yeah, this isn’t right.” Alyssa mentions getting spirited-up, and he moves to do the same. Peering into one of the car’s wing mirrors, he adjusts his own view of the world.

Alexander

[Spirit sight, going for 2 succs - one for the effect, one to last the scene. Diff 4, -1 for taking time, throwing in a WP]

Dice: 1 d10 TN3 (8) ( success x 2 ) [WP]

Ian Lai

[And lo, we have the sensing effects: Life 1 / Prime 1, diff 4 - 1 (practiced)]

Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (6, 6) ( success x 2 )

Ian Lai

[extending once, +1 diff, -1 for focus]

Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (1, 8) ( success x 1 )

Alyssa Solomon

[[First up: Spirit Sight! -1 Practiced, 1st WP]]

Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (2, 5) ( success x 2 ) [WP]

Ix

To the Mages who open their awareness to the spirits, this is a forest besieged by some kind of infestation of spiritual corruption. There is not so much one large spirit as a swarm of smaller spirits. Spectral mushrooms and mold grow on the trees and over the ground. There are three moving concentrations of those swarms nearby, and one large concentration at a nearby edge of the reservoir.

To Ian, who looks for life on this side of the Gauntlet, he can also sense those three things moving through the forest, though it takes him a few seconds to filter through the insects and the flora. He can also sense, in the same area as that concentration of the spirits at the reservoir edge, where Sky is. He seems, perhaps, to be in better health than Ian expected.

Alyssa Solomon

She blinks, eyes unfocused, and looks around the vicinity. One hand comes over to the inner arm and wrist of the other, rubbing at light scars long since gone. She sighs a little bit, shaking her head.

"You know what's nice about spirits? Their simplicity. Their single-mindedness. Only the high-level ones or ones specifically dedicated to the concept do much in the way of manipulation or misdirection."

She nods toward where the highest accumulation seems to be, the reservoir edge. "That's probably where we need to go."

Ian Lai

While Alex and Alyssa prepared their effects, Ian pulled the knife from his hip and used it to nick the flesh on his thumb. Blood welled up from the wound, and he put it to his lips and sucked on it briefly, until his senses opened up to the patterns and prime that swirled around them. Ian's attention was focused on the forest, watchful for any early signs of trouble. He didn't ask if either of the others felt like they could handle what was ahead. Hopefully, if they were here, it meant that they could. And if not, well. They would either survive, or they wouldn't.

As soon as they were all ready, Ian gave a little tip of his head toward their destination, giving silent agreement with Alyssa.

"Let's go, then."

Alexander

Alexander looks around, seeing the same changes in the surroundings as Alyssa. Where she seems to have an idea what what’s going on – and a lot more experience dealing with spirits – Alexander is still very new to all this. The forest just doesn’t look right any more, and he moves a little closer to the others.

“So it’s easy to tell when you’ve annoyed them, then?” The thought of an ants nest comes to mind. What will the bugs see as poking their nest with a stick? Alyssa points the way towards the reservoir, towards the largest concentration. He nods silently, following the others.

Alyssa Solomon

[[Perception!]]

Dice: 3 d10 TN7 (5, 5, 6) ( fail )

Alexander

[Per+Survival]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 4, 6) ( success x 1 )

Ian Lai

[Per+Survival]

Dice: 4 d10 TN4 (1, 5, 6, 10) ( success x 3 )

Ix

They move deeper into the reservoir, and each of them can sense the things that trace them. Three things, until, abruptly, one of the them veers off at a sharp angle, deeper into the forest. Between Ian and Alexander, they can find and follow the trails the creatures use to get to and from their nest.

It is not until they reach a point where they can see a tunnel, the earth pulled aside and held back by a mass of roots, the tunnel floor flooded by a few inches of murky water, that the two remaining creatures begin to close the last distance between them.

[Initiative!]

Alyssa Solomon

[[WEEE INIT! +7]]

Dice: 1 d10 TN7 (8) ( success x 1 )

Ix

[+8 A]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (6) ( success x 1 )

Alexander

[Gulp! +6]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (4) ( fail )

Ix

[+8 B]

Ix

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (3) ( fail )

Ian Lai

[+7]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (7) ( success x 1 )

Ix

So, our order goes as follows:

Ian

Alyssa

A

B

Alexander

Alexander

[Drawing pistol and aiming at A, but not actually firing yet - still not sure if they're actually going to attack]

Ix

B - who is the bobcat

a-claw Ian

b-tentacle scourge-also Ian

Ix

A - who is a person

a-grab Alexander

b-bear hug (with thorns)

Ian Lai

[Declare: Split action

1a: Katana Strike the bobcat (aka creature B)

1b: Dodge]

Alyssa Solomon

She grabs a vial and opens it, splashing blood over her palm and piercing the point of her knife lightly into her palm, tracing a symbol. Extending her hand out she shouts in Enochian, aiming at the human.

[[Prime 2/Spirit 2: Quintessence Strike across the Gauntlet, focused on the spirit infesting the human.]]

Alyssa Solomon

[[Prime 2/Spirit 2! -2 for Unique Foci (Dagger), WP]]

Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (7, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Ian Lai

[Dex+Melee -2]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (4, 6, 6, 8, 8) ( success x 4 )

Ian Lai

[Str+3 (sword) + 3 (successes)]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )

Ian Lai

[Er, one more]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (2) ( fail )

Ix

A - grab Alexander

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9) ( success x 2 )

Ix

A - b. hug!

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (5, 6, 7, 7, 8) ( success x 4 )

Alexander

[Soak - please! ]

Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (2, 5) ( fail )

Alexander

[Stam soak, pleeease!]

Dice: 4 d10 TN8 (1, 1, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )

Ix

B - a. claw Ian

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8) ( success x 5 )

Ix

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )

Ian Lai

[Dex+Athletics -3]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5, 7) ( success x 1 )

Ix

Dmg

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 8) ( success x 1 )

Ian Lai

[Soak?]

Dice: 2 d10 TN8 (3, 5) ( fail )

Ix

B - b. crazy vine tentacles

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )

Ix

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 5, 6) ( success x 1 )

Ian Lai

[Soak]

Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (7, 8) ( success x 2 )

Alexander

[WP to break free?]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 5, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )

Alexander

[Or change action, rather]

Alexander

[Break free - Str+Brawl, -1 wounds]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 6, 8) ( success x 2 )

Ix

Your Round recap:A thing that was once a young man, that Alexander met once before leaps from the cover of the trees and wraps its arms around Alexander. Alyssa strikes at it as it breaks cover, but the creature continues all the same. The creature tightens its hold on Alexander, its thorns biting into his flesh, before Alexander can break free.

From above in the branches a bobcat, tendrils of vines writhing where they sprout from its shoulders, leaps for Ian. Ian cuts deeply into it with his sword, but the creature still manages to swipe at him with one claw. Its vines flail at him, but he is unharmed by the them.

Alexander

[Shoot the little wossname that hugged me! 3 round burst]

Ix

B - a. punch Alexander

b. punch Alyssa

Ix

[That is totes A.]

Ix

B - a. claw Ian

b. claw Ian

Ian Lai

[Declare: split action again

1a: Katana Strike the bobcat (will you just die already?)

1b: Katana Strike creature A aka the possessed person]

Alyssa Solomon

[[Prime Blast For Realz this time yo]]

Alyssa Solomon

[[One more time! +1 diff so 1 quint to get that shit back down to 3, third WP]]

Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (2, 9) ( success x 2 ) [WP]

Ian Lai

[Dex+Melee -2]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 5, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )

Ian Lai

[Str+3+1]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 2, 5, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )

Ian Lai

[Dex+Melee -3 on the dude]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (5, 6, 7, 9) ( success x 3 )

Ian Lai

[Str+3+2]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 6, 7, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 6 )

Ix

B - claw a

Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (5, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )

Ix

Dmg

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )

Ian Lai

[Soak]

Dice: 2 d10 TN8 (9, 9) ( success x 2 )

Ix

B - claw b

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 4, 4) ( fail )

Alexander

[Shooting kitty - Dex+Firearms+2 -1 for wounds -1 for armour, +1 diff]

Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (1, 2, 8, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 4 )

Alexander

[Dmg]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 5, 5, 7, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )

Alyssa Solomon

Alyssa is pretty hard-boiled, all things considered. You have to be, to stand still and focus, harness your Will and take the time necessary to unleash a Prime-powered assault while others are getting hurt (possibly badly) around you. And in truth, she was hoping they would have more time when they came upon something, but she wasn't expecting it. And if there's one thing you can say about her...her Will will not be denied. Ever.

And so she unleashes her magic and Ian and Alex do the nasty work on this side, and the human and bobcat fall. If there's sorrow, she doesn't show it. She isn't flippant; she has respect for the dead. More than for humans, sometimes. But she doesn't let herself feel bad for what she had to so.

She looks around, her blood dripping lightly off her fingers. "How're we doing? Everyone more or less okay?"

Alexander

It’s over – or, at least, this part of it is over. Two bodies – one a man, the other a cat, lie on the ground. And Alexander hurts. Breathing heavily, he walks over to the man that he recognises from the city. He drops to his knees next to him, letting the pistol fall to the ground by him, and looks at the man. Still now, Alexander pulls his eyelids closed.

He pulls the sweatshirt off and dumps it on the ground. Blood has oozed from puncture marks in his armoured vest, but doesn’t seem to be flowing freely any more. Alyssa asks how they’re all doing. He winces as he adjusts the armour.

“Been better,” he replies as he picks up the pistol and replaces the half-used clip with a fresh one.

Ian Lai

Neither of these creatures deserved the fate they got. They's been in the wrong place at the wrong time - that was all. Then something had taken them and mangled them beyond recognition. Who knew if there was anything left of either the man or the cat to feel pain or to understand what was happening to them. If there was any mercy left in the world, they did not.

Alyssa attacked the spirit possessing the man, while Ian's sword tore apart the thing that was attacking him. The cat got in a couple of quick swipes with its claws, one on Ian's leg and the other on his side, tearing through denim and cotton to leave marks on the flesh below, but although he registered the damage done to his pattern, it was only distantly.

Beside Ian, Alex hesitated to shoot the creature that bore down on him, and in an instant Ian turned and swung his sword in a lethal arc, cutting the man (or what used to be a man) clean in half. The creature fell to the ground just in time for Alex to shoot the bobcat dead.

And then everything was still and quiet once more. Ian, now splattered in blood and whatever else happened to be oozing out of those creatures, looked down at the person he'd killed and for a moment, said nothing.

"Yeah," he finally offered, tightly, to Alyssa's query. And then to Alex, "Next time? Don't hesitate."

And then he began to walk toward the entrance to the reservoir.

Ian Lai

[Edit: "They'd been in the wrong place..."]

Alyssa Solomon

She frowns a little bit when Ian delivers his advice to Alex, and clasps the most recently-Awakened of them lightly on his shoulder. With her unbloodied hand, luckily.

"You did good. Something to keep in mind going forward, but I get it. You're allowed to feel this way. That we don't? It's a reflection on us more than it is you."

They'll talk more about it later, on the car ride home. But she felt that needed said.

Alexander

Alexander looks up at Alyssa, the air around him cooling. Whatever did this to the man and the cat needed to be stopped. Ice in his voice, too, he replies, "Later." He gets up and walks after Ian.

Ix

The tunnel is damp and warmer than the outside air. Thick algae grows along the earthen walls. It isn't hard to see, with the smooth curves of the walls and ceiling. There are no other things lurking and waiting for them in the tunnel, none that move on their own anyway. There are the remains of prey in here, covered with sprouting mushrooms and algae: birds, raccoons, foxes, a few people. All this to feed whatever is the center of this thing. The heart which does not move.

They follow the tunnel until they reach a small chamber. There are beds of molding leaves and algae and what looks more like kelp than vines. At the far end of the chamber is a human-like shape, but it is only the memory of a person now. It is no longer really flesh at all, only a whole living mass of roots and vines. It is only in the shape that echoes the form that any memory of what it once was remains.

And before it, raised up out of the water, is Sky. Ashen and very still, roots threading through and under his skin.

Alyssa Solomon

Her blade is kept out, held in her free hand. If she cares about the fact that she's dripping blood the whole way into the chamber, she doesn't care. She's not heavily bleeding; it's just scratches in her palm, really, and most of it is from the vial. She's otherwise silent as she moves along, tensed and ready. She's hard-boiled, but that doesn't mean she doesn't get on edge.

They hit the chamber, and Alyssa looks it over. The human shape gets a frown, but only for a moment until she sees Sky.

There it is.

She looks at the others, taps her chest, makes a move with her hand as if she's firing one of Iron Man's repulsor rays as if to say Let me blast the spirit. Points down (Then), gestures to all of them. (We all get in on it).

Ian Lai

Before heading into the tunnel, Ian wiped his sword clean and re-sheathed it. There was nothing inside here that he could harm with it anyway - nothing besides Sky. On another day, the dirty water might have bothered him (and it still did, distantly in the back of his awareness - a crawling, itching distaste,) but today he had more important things on his mind.

When they reached the room where Sky was being kept, Ian took a step as though he wanted to approach. But Alyssa reminded him of why they were there and what they needed to accomplish, and Ian stopped moving and nodded, waiting for her signal.

Alexander

The coolness fades a little as, once again, Alexander is faced with something completely beyond his experience and understanding. The ice is still there, though, sourced from a feeling that justice – for the people lost here – needs to be done. There’s more he’ll want to do after this is all over – fully over – assuming he’s still standing to do it.

Alyssa makes her gestures. Alexander nods. Back pressed against one of the walls, he’ll stand watch for the others.

Ix

Evil vs Sky?

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )

Ian Lai

[+7]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (2) ( fail )

Alexander

[+6]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (1) ( fail )

Ix

Evil initiative +4

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (3) ( fail )

Alyssa Solomon

[[+7]]

Dice: 1 d10 TN3 (8) ( success x 1 )

Ix

[If you wake your sleeping princess? +2]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (6) ( success x 1 )

Ix

So our order goes:

Inciting reflexive action: Around them the leaves shake as if in a strong wind but the air is still. Sky does does not scream but he thrashes against the roots. The leaves closest to him take on a reddish tinge. Ian can see what is happening by the damage it does to Sky. Alyssa and Alexander can see what is happening by the spiritual energy that makes it's way up the roots and to the central form against the back wall.

Ian

Alyssa

[Sky]

Alexander

Evil

Ix

Evil is going to do wiggy hallucination magic,

Alexander

[Alexander is going to shoot the crap out of the person/plant thing - 3 round burst]

Ian Lai

[Declare: Split action

1a: Draw weapon (because apparently someone put their sword away prematurely)

1b: Katana the Evil]

Alyssa Solomon

[[Start Charging Prime blast on the spirit fucking up Sky's world.]]

Alyssa Solomon

[[Spirit 2/Prime 2, WP, -2 for unique]]

Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (4, 6) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Ian Lai

[First split draws sword, second split Dex+Melee -3]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 6, 6, 9) ( success x 3 )

Ian Lai

[Str+3+2 damage]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 4, 6, 6, 7, 9) ( success x 4 )

Alexander

[Dex+Firearms+2 -1 for wounds -1 for armour, +1 diff]

Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (2, 4, 4, 4, 6, 10) ( success x 1 )

Alexander

[Well, at least it's a hit - 5 dam]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 5, 6, 8) ( success x 2 )

Ix

[You want hallucinations, right?]

Dice: 4 d10 TN8 (1, 4, 5, 7) ( fail )

Ix

Evil - SPORES!!!

Alexander

[More shootiness - 3 round burst]

Ian Lai

[Declare: Split Katana/Katana the Evil.]

Alyssa Solomon

[[This magic effect? We're gonna...LET IT GO! LET IT GOOOOO! *Drifts into song*]]

Alyssa Solomon

[[Rollies! -1 practiced, -2 unique, +1 for extending, Quintessence for -1 to bring it back to 3, fifth WP because WHO NEEDS WP?]]

Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (2, 5) ( success x 2 ) [WP]

Ian Lai

[Dex+Melee -2]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 2, 2, 7) ( success x 1 )

Ian Lai

[Str+3]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 6, 7, 7) ( success x 3 )

Ian Lai

[Dex+Melee -3]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (5, 5, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )

Ian Lai

[Str+3+1]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (6, 7, 8, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 6 )

Alexander

[Shoot the damned thing anyway : Dex+Firearms+2 -1 for wounds -1 for armour, +1 diff]

Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (1, 2, 5, 5, 6, 8) ( success x 1 )

Alexander

[Dam, not that it matters beyond making compost]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (6, 8, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )

Ix

The spirit is gone. Alyssa and Alexander can see that. It will be some time before all of the algae and fungi will die off, but already Ian can see something vital in them fading.

They are left before the splintered remains of the creature. Behind them is Sky, still tangled in roots.

Alyssa Solomon

The spirit destroyed and the situation handled, Alyssa doesn't look to Sky. She has something else to handle, and that's where the backpack comes into play.

She lets them deal with the cleanup of the Verbena; she takes her five candles out, sets them down in a circle, equal lengths apart. This time, she cuts deeper. She needs to to get her blood involved on this one; there's a wince and a hiss as she draws the blade hard across her hand, making the coppery red stuff start to well up. She quickly uses it to outline the circle, fill in the lines in the center to make a pentagram and then stands in the center.

The Enochian begins quietly, but rises. She's summoning, or trying. Offering her mystical energy (what's left, and what she can pull from herself) in order to get the spirits, if called, to cleanse this place. So this never happens again.

[[Spirit 2: Call Spirit. Final WP, Unique foci to -2. Taking time for another -1 to make it diff 3. Will extend twice]]

Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (5, 10) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Ian Lai

The creature came alive, and in the ensuing flurry of action Ian tore into the vines and roots of the creature's physical form, slicing it open while Alyssa shot it with a burst of pure Prime energy. This time, Alexander didn't hesitate to shoot, but by the time his bullet made a splattered mess of the thing on the wall, it was already dead and gone. The shot echoed around the chamber, and Ian, with his delicate senses, flinched as though the sound was physically painful. He shook it off a moment later though, because his focus was on Sky.

Sky, who at this moment was barely alive, damaged and defiled by the thing they had just killed. Ian walked up to the unconscious Verbena and put his hand on Sky's chest, feeling the man's heartbeat. Memories came, then. Sounds and tastes. They barely knew each other, but they knew each other well. It was a stark contrast to the Sky that Ian remembered, this ruined body that lay before him.

But he was still alive. So Ian leaned down and pressed a kiss to Sky's forehead, then he reached down to the claw wound on his side and came up with a smear of his own blood on his hand. First he licked it, then he pressed one hand against Sky and one against the roots that sprung from his body.

[Life 2 - forcing the roots to leave Sky's body. Vulgar. Diff 6 -1 for focus, -1 for taking his time, -1 for lore, will extend]

Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (7, 8) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Alexander

As the remains of the spirit fade away from Alexander’s vision like candle smoke in a breeze, dissipating through the Umbra, Alexander lowers his pistol to his side. The safety is flicked on and the clip changed for the last, full one. It seems that this might be the end, but then again it might not. The gun is slipped back into the waistband of his trousers.

Somewhere, buried in police record and on a barely-viewed website, is a list of missing people. Sons and daughters, brothers and sisters who will never be seen again. The families left behind will never know what happened to them, or even if they’re alive or dead. Their own brand of purgatory. With Ian working on freeing Sky and Alyssa calling on a spirit to cleanse the area, he moves over to the remains of the others. He spends a little time with each of them, checking what belongings may surround them for some identification or unique belonging. He’ll do the same for the unknown man the met and defeated earlier, but there’s one person left. The one that they had just fought. He moves over, crouching by the remains.

Ix

Alyssa begins to call to spirits for aid in cleansing and perhaps healing this place.

Ian sends the roots coiling back from Sky, freeing him of them entirely.

Alexander begins the process of identifying bodies, all but the one at the center have something that can identify them.

Alyssa Solomon

[[Extendy! All those other mods but +1 diff for extending]]

Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (6, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Alyssa Solomon

[[Second extend; we're at 5 succ so far]]

Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (5, 9) ( success x 2 )

Alyssa Solomon

[[And Paradox: 3 vulgar Spirit 2 effects, so 6 potential damage!]]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )

Alyssa Solomon

[[Soak]]

Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 7) ( success x 1 )

Ian Lai

Ian tapped into the life force of the roots, willing them to release their hold on Sky, and slowly, the twisted coils of plant-matter pulled themselves from the Verbena's body, retreating like something out of a dark fairy tale.

But Sky was still unconscious, and now that the things keeping him alive had been torn away, there wasn't much time left. So Ian leaned down quickly and whispered into his ear. "Wake up."

(He'd done this before. It recalled memories of other things, and other people.)

[Mind 2 / Life 2 diff 5 -1 (focus) -1 (practiced)]

Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (3, 5) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Alexander

Having found all he’s likely to for those who passed on in the cave, he stays crouched by the remains. Alexander watches Alyssa work her will, summoning the spirits who would clean and restore this place to its original former glory. His vision still attuned to the other side of the looking glass, he watches as they start to gather. He keeps an eye on Ian, watching him tend to his friend. If nothing else, it shows a side of the other man that might not have been obvious from their earlier encounters. It shows that he’s human.

If Alexander is needed to help with anything, like assisting people back to where they had parked not that long ago. It seemed so much longer than, in reality, it actually was. Time is strange like that. Otherwise he’s mostly quiet and watchful, the chill that had surrounded him earlier fading into the more natural background.

Ix

Sky's eyes flutter open. He gasps, once. Twice. And then he forces his breathing to slow. To deepen.

He knows where he is. He does not, entirely, understand why Ian is there.

But he can see that Ian is exhausted by all of this, so he reaches up to run a hand through Ian's hair before he asks the the question they both know is coming. It isn't even his first question. Or the second.

"Are you alright? Is anyone hurt?" His voice is rough. Hoarse. But even half-ruined, it is full of all the warmth of summer.

Ian Lai

"Sky, you need to heal yourself or you're going to die."

There was enough of an edge of desperation to Ian's voice that Sky would be able to tell how serious (and immediate) the situation was. That now was hardly the time to take stock of the aftermath (because the aftermath hadn't yet arrived.)

"Here," he said quietly, moving into a seated position over Sky's body with knees at either side of Sky's hips. Ian was careful not to put weight on Sky as he leaned over and used his own knife to slice a deep cut down the center of his palm. Then he pressed his bloody hand over Sky's heart.

"Take what you need."

Ix

Sky reaches for Ian's hand and presses it to his lips, not to drink the blood, no, this is a kiss.

[Prime 3 - WP]

Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (10, 10, 10) ( success x 4 ) [WP]

Ix
[And, just so we know
Life 2/Prime 2 - WP -1 D practiced]
Dice: 3 d10 TN5 (2, 5, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Ix
Paradox
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (3, 9) ( success x 1 )
Ix
[Soak?]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (4, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Ian Lai
[Oh yeah, I should do that too]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (1, 1) ( fail )
Ian Lai
Sharing blood (and Quintessence) this way was an extraordinarily intimate thing, something that Ian had not planned on ever doing it with Sky. He had not, in fact, done this with anyone before in his life. But Sky didn't know that, and Ian wasn't likely to ever tell him. It would only serve to make things more awkward.
And in the moment, he wasn't thinking about that. He was thinking that this was a sacrifice he could afford to make in the service of saving Sky's life. No, it didn't mean that they were any closer than they actually were, but it meant something all the same.
Life was valuable. Perhaps, after taking it from an unknown man only moments earlier, Ian was all the more aware of how fragile and precious it actually was.
He let Sky kiss his hand, and sat still and watchful as Sky pulled the Quintessence from deep within his being. It was an odd sensation, and afterward Ian felt drained and empty. But then Sky's body began to heal, knitting itself whole once more, and Ian finally allowed some of the tension to seep from his muscles.
"Come on, I'll get you home."
He stood up and offered a hand to help Sky carefully to his feet.
Ian Lai
[Edit: "something Ian had not planned on ever doing with Sky."]
Ix
Sky looks over Ian.  There is a second where he looks like he is going to say something ridiculous, like, 'I'm okay.  Let me help you.'  Except, he doesn't.  It seems, in this moment, the kindest thing to give Ian whatever control he's taking and make no mention of anything.  Not the exhaustion, not the wounds, not fact that despite everything that just happened Sky might be the one of them in better shape.
At least until he starts to process any of this.
"Yeah," is all he says.  Softly.  Very softly.  "Thanks."
Ix
[But we will heal Alex, if we can.  Because some Verbena have a helping people compulsion.
Life 3/Prime 2 WP -1 D practiced/-1 D time]
Dice: 3 d10 TN5 (3, 7, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Ix
Paradox
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (6, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )
Ix
Soak
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (7, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
Ian Lai
[First, Per+Meditation]
Dice: 4 d10 TN7 (1, 2, 4, 6) ( fail )
Ian Lai
[Of course]
Ian Lai
[No quint for you Ian]
Ian Lai
[Fine then. Life 2, Vulgar, diff 6 -1 going slow, -1 focus, -1 practiced]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (3, 5) ( success x 2 )
Ian Lai
[Paradox]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (7, 7) ( success x 2 )
Ian Lai
[Soak?]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (2, 8) ( success x 1 )
Ix
and I think we're done with this room.

Will you people stop doing that?!

Elijah

[nightmares for the day]

Dice: 4 d10 TN7 (1, 1, 3, 10) ( success x 1 )

Kalen Holliday

[Oh. Way to remind me. Nightmares.]

Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )

Kalen Holliday

[Awareness because it will be relevant in like ten seconds]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 7, 10) ( success x 3 )

Kalen Holliday

Kalen is jogging. Which is both fantastic because jogging and depressing because he used to be so much better at this. Still, this is better than just about a month ago when he was constrained to hobbling around with a cane. So, there is not so much sulking and a lot of, among other things, jogging.

And thus, Elijah gets to meet Kalen under circumstances most people don't. Involving running shoes and gray pants for working out in and a white tee-shirt. The running shoes, and this may or may not please him for tormenting Kalen later, are a bizarre mix of neon orange and ridiculously vibrant blue.

Lucy

[awarenazzzzz]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (4, 4, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )

Elijah

He didn't much care for jogging, but he was told rather emphatically that he needed to go out and exercise because of something that one called a runner's hgih. He'd never actually experienced it. Elijah could run and run and the only thing that he got up here was a seizing feeling in his lungs and the reminder that there is no air in Colorado. It was clean, pure, and fresh, but there was about half as much of it as he was used to.

Elijah Poirot was accustomed to chewing the air. Jenn said this was totally worth it, but Jenn? Jenn wasn't always right.

Attire was comfortable. Tennis shoes, tee shirt from some cheap New Orleans gas station, and shorts. Reasonable shorts, not short shorts. Elijah Poirot was not serious enough about anything for short shorts, even if he did have the legs for it. He paused, patting himself down and noticing something very important was missing.

"Son of a bitch," he muttered, and the young man started to double back on his way. What did you lose? I lost something once... can I help you find it?

Eyes on the grass.

Hello?

Eyes on the grass, Poirot.

Oh, okay...

Elijah

[awareness?]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 5, 7, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 4 ) Re-rolls: 1

Lena Reilly

[[Awaredar! Uncanny Instincts]]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 6 ) Re-rolls: 1

Lucy

A park is not the best place for a Lucy to be walking, but it is in a park that we find the tall young woman with the (now) shoulder-length, vibrant maroon-red hair. That hair has been braided back from her temples and fastened at the back of her head, keeping most (but not all) of the strands from hanging in front of her bright green eyes.

She's not dressed for a park, not wearing athletic gear or even tennis shoes, though she is wearing shorts, so there's that at least. Shorts over a pair of sheer black tights that disappear into a pair of knee-high black boots. The shorts are denim cut-offs, and above that is a red t-shirt, long enough to cover Lucy's hips. The design on the front is of a black sugar skull. And of course there is the ever-present slouching canvas bag, today hanging across her body, the strap bisecting her body hip-to-shoulder. If one looks closely at her right thigh, it's obvious there's a large tattoo there, but it is blurred by the tights.

She is walking along one of the paths, directly in the center of that path, bringing with her a sense of cold, of frost creeping over each blade of grass and climbing over toes. Of needle-and-thread, threading through the Pattern and drawing-

Two Mages running, one walking, all of them converging in one way or another. One she recognizes, and on recognizing Kalen - storm centralized in the park, gliding along the path toward her - she lifts her chin and smiles in greeting.

Immediately her eyes are drawn down. And she stops in her tracks in the middle of the path, mesmerized by the vibrant color and movement of his bright orange and blue shoes.

Lena Reilly

There are times when Lena Reilly is exceptionally in sync with her sixth sense. It has been known to happen, and it is very often when she is lost in herself...in a good way, mind. Let's not quibble; Lena has been known to lose herself in the worst possible ways and get sucked into herself like an escape pod jettisoned directly into a black hole. But she's past that for now and today its the good form of losing yourself.

That means she's feeling the music. In this case (as in most cases), "the music" comes from the earbuds that go from the sides of her head into the iTouch at her beltline. She's not dancing; not exactly. This has been known to happen and Kalen has seen it before, but right now it isn't dancing. It's Walking With Rhythm, as the sandles on her feet make contact with the ground in time with the beat of the trance song in her ears. Her head nods along with it, a warm smile and half-lidded eyes as she slips along, heading over the grass toward the jogging path. Her heartbeat (all heartbeats) thrum in time to the beat; her Resonance pulses and then withers away in time to the music. It almost makes her an antenna of sorts; she's transmitting, you could say.

She has no intention of jogging; she's more wandering than anything. Remember the old Tolkein quote, ladies and gentlemen. Two mages running; one walking, and one dance-walking. Convergance strikes again, and Lena--so in tune with the heartbeat of the universe--feels those Resonances. It's how she knows they're there even before she focuses her eyes, takes a look. Two she knows. One is new. It is Kalen and Lucy who get warm and friendly waves, while the newcomer gets a curious look. The woman in the Paul Oakenfeld logo-screened T-Shirt and the slim jeans moves to approach the others, plotting a course for where they'll best converge.

Kalen Holliday

Kalen looks around when he senses another unknown Mage. Seriously? You know who should get to cold open conversations with all the new Magi? Connor. Or maybe Sera, nevermind she sent Connie bolting. Maybe one of the Mages who gets being an actual human being. That was never, even before he Awakened, Kalen's thing. He has that much in common with other Hermetics.

He spots Elijah about the same time that he senses Lena and Lucy. Lena and Lucy get waves and he slows to a stop as they come together. His eyes track Lucy's and he laughs.

"Yeah. I couldn't find any that were a nice charcoal gray with heraldry on them. I'm not sure what the world is coming to. We definitely did something very wrong somewhere around the Renaissance."

But then his attention snaps back to Elijah. The last Mages have been extra skittish. Hopefully this one won't run.

Elijah

Somewhere, there was a wall that was screaming. Vicious, spiteful, angry I told you so again and again, because there is nothing the soul likes more than to be vindicated.

Elijah wasn't anywhere near walls, though. And it hits on his senses and he looks around and there is a disconnect in his green eyes because he knows precisely where the feelings of tempestuousness, the stormy feeling, the beating heart and that... those feelings weren't supposed to come from people. He blinked, having almost forgotten about his phone and instead he was staring at people.

A glance at Lena's shirt (faster, pussycat, kill!), another at the cherry-haired woman (Lucy) and the owner of some obscenely bright tennis shoes (Kalen)-

Then, a bright smile- not so much full of teeth but of the practiced calm that comes with holding a bag full of broken glass and pretending things are intact. Elijah Poirot was, for his part, good at pretending... but this was too weird.

"Hey... uh... You fine people wouldn't happen to have seen a phone laying around, would you?" there is the lilt of something hinting at the south in his voice.

Lucy

Lucy wasn't a skittish new Mage. In fact, it was Lucy who'd had to make the first move for introductions with the first Awakened she met in this city. She is not wearing her fine fedora and there is no guitar strapped to her back, but then she was not out to go to or from some little performance.

In fact, if one sniffs the air when its direction shifts just so, they'd note the fair young woman who feels like a mobile cold spot smells like coffee. And the smell is too strong for it to've come from passing in and out of a coffee shop, Lucy wears it like a purfume. Which may or may not detract from the fact standing too close to her feels like standing in a graveyard in the middle of winter.

Kalen's voice draws her attention away from his shoes. With a blink she looks up, and she smiles at him. The last few times she's seen the Hermetic she's beelined out of his presence, but every time they run into each other things seem to have reset. She doesn't look like she's a little hurt, or a little concerned, or like she should pivot and take off in the opposite direction. Lucy gets that people can only handle being around her for so long, then they need a break.

"If you're looking for designs, I can stitch something into the sides if you want. Hermes' wings for swiftness, or maybe something a little more protector-y." He looks away and she joins him in looking, and she's about to ask if Lena and Kalen know that guy - Lucy's the new kid in town still, or one of them - when that guy calls out to them. Immediately, Lucy looks back the way she came.

She shakes her head, but she heads over toward the newcomer. "I haven't seen one, but I bet if we look together we'll find it. I'm Lucy," she introduces herself, and gestures over to the other two. "And that's Lena and that's Kalen. Do you remember where you had it last?"

Lena Reilly

Lucy is boondoggled by Kalen's shoes; Lena just finds them amusing. There's a sparkle of laughter in the Ecstatic's eyes in regard to the Flambeau's style of dress, but she is polite enough not to call attention to it. Lena is a lot of things and she makes apologies for relatively few of them, but there is a time and a place and this is not it. Instead, she joins into the banter.

"I suggest a lightning bolt," she says with a smile. "Now that you have your running feet again, I'm surprised you're not Flash-like all the time, racing everywhere you go."

Elijah comes closer and givesn them a bright smile, and Lena returns it with an only slightly-more reserved one. It's gentle and friendly, accepting. She glances over toward Kalen as if to say let's go say hi, then moves to follow Lucy. The headphones are withdrawn and pocketed. "Hey," she says with a nod. "Nice to meet you. I haven't seen a phone, but yeah...what Lucy said. I can absolutely help you look if you'd like."

Kalen Holliday

[Kalen cannot help himself. He has to try to get a read on all the new people. Awarepathy. (On Elijah. He and Lucy can maybe play later.)]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 6, 8, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 5 )

Kalen Holliday

"Not just now, no. But we can look." He gives Elijah a reassuring smile that actually hits his eyes.

And then he is distracted by this Very Important Shoe discussion. "Well, as far as know you cannot get running shoes in a sane color spectrum. So there may be no tasteful heraldry option. Further embellishing these...well...I suppose it may be that I should just embrace as much of the insanity as possible."

Introductions. You were on introductions.

He turns back to Elijah. "Yeah," he says, extending a hand, smile caught halfway between reassuring and playing now. "Kalen Holliday. I am occasionally more dignified." He holds up the hand he's not offering to shake up with his thumb and forefinger practically touching. Just a smidge, that gesture says.

Elijah

"Well, it's a phone. In a worst case scenario it has insurance... we can call it an adventure," that smile turns into a grin, and there is delight in that, the idea of an adventure even if it was just for a phone. His handshake is firm, but his shoulders are relaxed. The young man makes good eye contact- not too direct, not too imposing. Long enough to show interest but short enough not to be creepy.

"I'm Elijah, Elijah Poirot," like Bond, James Bond. But backwards- James, James Bond. Somehow it didn't have the same ring. elijah is thankful his name isn't James, though his reaction times are a little slower than they would be.

"Last place I had it was in my pocket, but I figure I was at least by that tree over there-" he gestures off by a bench with atree near it. So descriptive, that bench.

Lucy

[what the hey, let's go passive awarepathy on Mr. Elijah]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 4, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )

Lucy

Lucy does not offer her hand for a shake, though she'll (reluctantly) accept if offered. Most people don't find it terribly off-putting that she doesn't pair her introduction with an automatic offer for someone to put 'er there. She is young, and young people these days are nothing if not devoid of manners, right?

Elijah points over to that bench by that tree, but Lucy doesn't follow the gesture. Her expression brightens, and then she pulls open her bag and starts searching inside of it. "Did you have the ringer on? Aha." She straightens, holding up her own phone. "We can try calling it. Sometimes you can even hear the vibrate go if it's loud enough. It's not much of an adventure, but if it works, hey. Denver's pretty big, I'm sure there's another adventure waiting to be discovered."

Lena Reilly

For all her quiet friendliness, Lena also does not shake hands. She lets the contact greetings go on but doesn't offer nor accept if offered, only smiles to the new man. "Hi, Elijah.

"That's a good idea," she says to Lucy when she suggests calling the phone. Smart girl. Lena hadn't thought of that, had only thought to go check around the tree and the oh-so-descriptive bench. She's good with electronics, but while she's happy to help find the phone and committed to doing so, she's more interested in the people that have gathered here. Kalen thinks he's not a people person but he's getting better. Lena tries, even if sometimes she gets a little skittish.

"I've misplaced my own phone so many times, you'd think I would have some good ideas myself." It's not untrue, but it's not self-recriminating; it's said more as a joke. "Let's go head that way, and we can call too if that's an option."

Alexander

[Per+Aware, for fun and profit]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 6, 8) ( success x 2 )

Alexander

Most of the city may be slowly thawing from the winter and the occasional snow storm that the mountains throw over it occasionally, but there are still parts that are frozen. One of those parts is Alexander, who just happens to be walking through the park just now. Alexander, who doesn’t believe in Fate but is constantly amazed by the sense of humour Chance has in drawing strands together, even if only temporarily.

So here is Alexander, roaming through the park absent-mindedly. Well, not absent exactly. More distracted. A pair of headphones, snaking down into a jacket pocket, drowns out what background noise there is with music. He’s walking, wandering really, while reading something in a slightly dog-eared tourist guide to the city. A few corners have been folded over, but most haven’t been touched. Desecration, some might say. Those that hold books in a higher regard than Alexander, maybe.

He drifts towards a park bench that he’s not particularly paying attention to and sits. A few moments pass before the niggling feeling of Others nearby gets enough attention for him to look up and scan the park.

#Alleinesein, Alleinesein, Heute bin ich einfach mein, In vertrauter Einsamkeit. Alleinesein, Alleinesein, Heute bin ich mir genug, Und das tut auch mal ganz gut#

Kalen Holliday

"I love adventures. Although this may be the least interesting adventure ever. We'll have to add side quests to make it more exciting. Like for coffee. Coffee is amazing. Totally worth adventures and maybe even dragons." There is just a hint of an amused purr in his voice.

He watches as Lena and Lucy start being useful, searching for the phone and then notices Alexander. His eyes light up a little more, and he goes bounding over to where Alexander is sitting and drops his hands onto Alexander's shoulders. From behind him. With no warning. Because that is totally going to end well.

"How can you even do that, I go crazy if I can't hear what's going on around me," he says, whether or not Alexander managed to get his earphones out before he was accosted.

Lucy

Lucy holds up her phone and unlocks it without looking at the screen. She's looking at Elijah because they're talking and then she's looking at him a little more curiously. And a little more intently. There are aspects of that look and the things he's trying to soldier past that she's seen before, and that she recognizes.

The look she returns to him is sympathetic as she holds out her phone to him, not really sure where to start with the questions she'd like to ask the poor guy, but there's something she wants to know first. Lena suggests they head that way and Lucy says, "Not yet."

She's still looking at Elijah, poor guy. Lucy is a lovely girl, friendly with an open demeanor, but there is Something Not Quite Right about her. About the paleness of her skin, or the cold, frosted resonance threading through and through the air around her. Kalen goes bounding off toward the other cold spot in the park and Lucy glances thataway, but her eyes flick back to Elijah.

"This is going to sound weird, but, have you had any strange meetings, strong, eye-opening epiphanies, or any other kind of bizarre thing happen that maybe belongs in an episode of the Twilight Zone?"

Elijah

"Mmmn, coffee and the opportunity to vanquish a worthy foe. Kalen, you are a genius," Elijah replied, that hint of the south becoming more than a hint for just a second, "coffee is truly a worthwhile adversary."

Lucy has her phone out and Elijah, for his part, was… confused. she looked at him with sympathy and his first thought was that she knew- she knew something was off and she was looking at him with… no, it wasn't pity. He was smart enough that he knew what pity looked like. Wait, why was she being sympathetic?

"Recently or within the last few years?" he… isn't even sure why he's entertaining the notion. The young man's tone is a little guarded, but not guarded enough that he wasn't willing to at least answer.

Alexander

Again, Chance seems to have a very dark, twisted sense of humour. If Alexander had been paying a little more attention to his surroundings... If he’d sat in a different place, looking in a different direction... If the music playing through the headphones was just a little quieter... If...

One of the things that a few of the others in the city might have learned is that it’s not always a good idea to sneak up on people. Not those with a profession which means that they’re constantly watching their back. Not when they have no idea that you’re there when you grab their shoulders. So instincts take over as the book falls to the floor, forgotten about for the moment, as the air suddenly turns chilled. Alexander grabs the wrist of one hand, turning away from the other hand as he stands. His grip on the wrist is tight as he moves to pull the owner forward over the bench and wrap it around the owner’s back to hold him (or her) where they land...

[Str+Brawl – going for a hold, so +1 diff]

Dice: 5 d10 TN7 (1, 5, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )

Lena Reilly

Lena is supremely in sync with her mystical senses right now and so she feels another cold front coming in to the already-chilly, tumultuous storm that surrounds her. Some people might take that particular combination of Resonances as a sign to get the fuck out of Dodge. Lena? Not so much. It's rare that a Resonance bothers her; like most of them there are only certain feels that strike at something inside her and repel her away. Nothing currently present qualifies.

She grins as Kalen goes bounding over to sneak up on Alexander, shaking her head. They all make their own choices, and she isn't going to mother him not to nor prevent him from likely ending up on the ground. She gets how Alexander does that which makes Kalen go crazy; after all, that's exactly what Lena was doing when she walked up to the Hermetic and Lucy with Elijah not so far away. Music focuses her own senses and that's enough for her.

Lucy tells her not yet and she starts questioning Elijah about strange meetings. That draws a frown from the Ecstatic. It's not overtly disapproving, exactly. But it does seem to frustrate her somehow. And since the conversation has abruptly shifted with Lucy guiding the way, Lena is at a standstill.

So she stands there for the moment, letting Lucy and Elijah speak.

Kalen Holliday

[Dex+Athletics - We'll just roll with that throw.... (hopefully)]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 5, 7) ( success x 1 )

Kalen Holliday

Practice being thrown around, Kalen has in spades. Recent practice, not so much. Still, for all he doesn't manage a spectacularly pretty landing, he goes with being pulled over a bench easily enough. He lands with one hand, as Alexander intended, caught behind his back. After a second to try to regain something like proper balance he drops his head back to look at Alexander and smiles, as though this is a perfectly normal way to be greeting other people.

"Hey, Alce. You should come meet our new friend."

Alexander

Brain re-engaged and catching up with recent events, Alexander realises who he’s just dragged over the bench and tried pinning down.

“Will you people stop doing that?!”

Letting go of Kalen’s arm, he pulls out the headphones and exhales loudly. But then a smile starts to pull at the edges of his mouth as he helps Kalen back to his feet and regain his balance. “Someone will get hurt one of these times, and then I’ll feel guilty for aaaages.” He crouches to recover the book, giving it a bit of a shake to knock loose anything it might have picked up from its brief stay on the ground. He looks towards the others, now that he is actually paying attention, and waves to Lena, Lucy and the other.

“Another member of the cool kids club? Wait... What?” Alce? Alexander’s forehead creases as he reruns that last bit of the conversation. Maybe he just misheard...

Lucy

If Lena disapproves of Lucy's tactics - or if she simply chafes against someone telling her to hold her horses - she's more than welcome to wander on over to that bench. Lucy won't actually stop her, but she's curious. About it, about old Elijah here, about this park. She realizes that something is...different here, but she's going to start at the first step and circle out from there.

First step is finding out just why this guy is looking so unsettled. Lucy draws her own conclusions, given his distraction, and the way he's been looking at the lot of them like he's one confusing puzzle piece away from figuring something out. Of course, he could also just be on something. But he doesn't appear to have the telltale marks.

And so.

Does she mean recently, or in the last few years? "I'm guessing recently," she says, that smile and her demeanor kind. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but uh. You're not the only one waiting to hear Rod Serling's voice over." Oh my god Lucy let that go.

"Anyway," and here she turns to look at Lena before dropping her phone back into her bag. Then she's widening the bag's opening and searching until, "Aha." She produces what looks like a very strange pen, or maybe it's some brand's bizarre take on a lip gloss or lip stick holder.

Lucy turns away from them, then, and she closes her eyes.

Dusk handmaiden, let your light reveal what's hidden.

She pushes up on a switch on the side, and lo! It's a little Zippo candle lighter. The flame setting is not set to terribly high, and when it's lit, Lucy opens up her eyes. When she does, the temperature around her drops.

[Spirit 1: Scan for the stuff or whatevs! Coincidental and super crazy practiced]

Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (2, 5) ( success x 1 )

Elijah

This… this felt weird. This felt incredibly weird, like it was going to get even weirder even quicker and there were two incredibly attractive ladies talking to him and all of a sudden there were people and it was getting very hard to pay attention because all of a sudden whomever was on the other side was being very, very, very insistent that he listen to her because she knows he can hear her.

The lady was holding a pen and the weird got ramped up to an eleven and without warning his phone rang.

Never had he looked more relieved to hear something playing the meow mix song.

"Hey, I… need to take that," he offered an apologetic smile, putting a hand up and taking the opportunity to retreat.

"I… will be… right back."

Maybe.

Hopefully.

Maybe he was a little freaked out.

A little.

Lena Reilly

Her attention is diverted when Kalen is thrown to the ground, a little grin lighting her face...at least once she knows he's okay. The deejay hasn't always had the best relationship with Kalen but they've gotten well past that now, and she's grown fond of him. She watches as Alexander helps him up and then returns the wave that they direct this way.

Lucy is talking with Elijah, getting into the beginnings of explaining some things to him. Lena wasn't entirely sure if it was a conversation that should have begun at this point--for all they knew, he was experienced--but she seems to be possibly making some traction and then she pulls out a lighter and starts working her magick.

The chill that emanates from Lucy sends a shiver down the Ecstatic's spine, and she reaches up to rub at her arms impulsively. Cold is often a precursor to being sick, and it's not exactly Lena's favorite sensation but she's not repelled away. There's a moment when she smiles to Elijah, a reassuring expression, but she doesn't interject otherwise at the moment. It isn't until Elijah hears his phone and makes a convenient escape to retrieve it that she finally speaks up, nodding.

"Take your time. We'll be here." Whether she agreed with Lucy's tactics or not, she's not abandoning the situation right now. She watches him head off, then looks to the Dreamspeaker.

"Well, that went well." It isn't said in the manner of judgment toward Lucy. It's more an attempt to insert some levity into the potential awkwardness, her little smile and the tenor of her voice indicating the good-natured humor.

Lucy

[awareness-as-empathy to see if she picks up any of that subtext]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (6, 6, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 5 )

Kalen Holliday

"Orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr you could relax." Kalen grins. "I was reasonably sure you wouldn't shoot me. And outside of that...nothing I can't handle. Who else is crazy enough to do that to you?"

He laughs, bouncing his shoulder into Alexander's. "You don't even know what I Named you for, do you?" He is energetic, but also relaxed. There's no real tension in the set of his shoulders, and for all his eyes do flick over the park, there is no real sign of outright wariness.

"Our new friend seems to have found his phone, but hey...Lena and Lucy."

Lucy

Off away by another bench, Kalen is thrown to the ground and nearly pinned. The boys are rough housing while the ladies try to talk to the newcomer. And Elijah is new, quite new if Lucy knows that look.

Of course, it could be something else. There are people, Awakened and not, who can sense and even hear the presence of ghosts left behind after death without a knowledge of Spirit. Lucy performs a small rote to see for herself, and as she does her vision changes.

The park looks a little different to her eyes. There are people, and there are shades of people. There are Others. Most of who Lucy sees are benign. Listless wanderers so far gone even she can't help them at this point. But, nothing that looks like it would've distracted Elijah the way he'd been distracted. Curious.

Sighing, she lets the filter slide from her sight. The park is bright, the horizon dark with storms on the horizon. Two college aged males are throwing a frisbee back and forth. A couple is sitting on a blanket beneath the shade of a tree having a picnic. Everything looks normal again.

Except that they're down a person. Lucy looks around and she sees him, off a ways and talking on that supposedly missing phone. She frowns, because Elijah presents a puzzle, one she can't work out if she doesn't get a chance to talk to him. But first...

Well, that went well.

She looks at Lena and that frown deepens. Just because Lena doesn't intend for her words to be judgemental, that doesn't mean they're not. She looks over the Ecstatic, shrugs, and takes a few steps away. "Yeah, well I didn't see you helping. I didn't see anything that could be trying to get his attention in particular," she says, her tone and expression saying clearly that this is very strange. She's distracted by it when Kalen and Alexander make their way over.

"Hey..." And then she shakes her head. "I should go." Because once someone's unsettled by her - and in this case it appears to be not one, but two people - there is no comfortable recovery until they're given a day or two free from her presence. "It was nice to see you all." Dropping the lighter into her bag, she heads in the opposite direction of where Elijah went, giving the poor guy some space.

Alexander

“Or I could get a t-shirt made, with a sign on the back saying ‘Danger of splattage: approach from the front. And of course I wouldn’t shoot you.” Alexander looks deadpan when he adds, quietly but loud enough for Kalen to easily hear, “My gun’s at home.” But the serious face only lasts a few moments when he answers the ‘who’ question. “Oh, Sera tried sneaking up on me. I kinda threw her on her ass in front of Shoshannah and some new guy.” He snorts in slightly embarrassed amusement at the moment. “She bounces well.”

Alexander bounces shoulders back before glancing sideways at Kalen, looking worried. “I have no idea. What was it you called me?“

He looks back towards Lucy as he feels a familiar tingle as what could feel like a cool breeze blows past. “Who is he?”

Alexander

[Sorry, tack on the end of that]

He doesn't catch the conversation that passes between Lucy and Lena, but Lucy leaves abruptly. The reason unknown, but at least it's probably not him. He manages to get in a brief, "Hey" before she heads away though.

Lucy

[oh! i thought that Kalen was talking to Lucy and Lena at the end of his post. Strike "by it when Kalen and Alexander make their way over" and that "Hey..." the rest still stands!]

Lena Reilly

She blinks when Lucy turns what was meant to be a light-hearted take on the situation into a reason to be offended, and flips it back on her. Lena is quick to her emotions anymore, and a frown quickly forms on her expression, especially when Lucy makes to go without giving her a chance to explain herself.

"Jesus." The reaction fuels her own mood, and then suddenly Lucy's not the only one walking away. She turns and starts off on her own direction, giving Kalen and Alexander an apologetic shrug. Her mood has been swept away and she's self-aware enough to know that she's just going to be bad company from here.

Kalen Holliday

"Yeah. That doesn't surpri...." Lena and Lucy both leave as they arrive and Kalen blinks. He waves at them both, then sighs.

He waits until they are out of earshot to murmur to Alexander. "Have I mentioned that people are exhausting lately? Because sometimes they really are and also they confuse the Hell out of me. Plus not everyone fights and then decides to form a cabal. It's like all that matters or something. Please tell me they make sense to you. I would just be really glad to hear that they make sense to someone." He is mostly playing. Mostly.

"Anyway. Alce. It's like a griffin, but without wings. You know...the lion-y eagle-y things....?"

Alexander

The air definitely feels a little chillier, and for once it’s nothing to do with the resonances of the gathered Awakened. Alexander holds up a hand in farewell, unseen by Lena as she stalks away.

The hand sinks, and Alexander looks just as confused as Kalen feels as he watches Lucy and Lena head off along different paths. “You mentioned the whole tiredness thing. But this? Yeah, not a clue. Maybe it’s one of those things you had to be there for. Hopefully they make sense to themselves, or we’re really in trouble.” Something Kalen said registers... “Wait a minute, does everyone who likes you try to punch, shoot, throw or otherwise cause you at some point?” He smiles as he says it – it is meant as a joke. “Was it Alyssa, Sid or both you ended up fighting with?”

Kalen explains what an Alce is, and Alexander looks a little blank. “Yeah, never heard of them before.” He runs through various combinations of the parts of eagles and lions, ending up with a bizarre mental image of a lion’s front half with an eagle’s rear end – although it ends up with more chicken legs. “Do I need to hit you again?” He nudges Kalen’s shoulder again before heading towards a bench.

Kalen Holliday

Kalen settles onto the bench, close to but not sprawling over Alexander. Thus far at least, Alexander is spared that. He keeps half an eye on Elijah, but staying aware of him and needing to actively watch him are two different things.

He laughs. "Well, Alyssa and I fought and then formed a cabal. Awhile ago though, Sid and I got into a fight in Trent's office and he had this expression like he was scared we were going to get blood all over his walls. Then she left and I tried to pick a fight with Trent. He wasn't having any of that though, so then we just started drinking whiskey and it turned out fine."

"Do you need to hit me? You're the one who somehow never learned your mythical creatures." He fiddles with his phone. "How does that even happen?" He shows Alexander a picture of a proper griffin on his phone. "Like this. But no wings."

Alexander

Alexander stuffs the increasingly battered book into a jacket pocket and relaxes back on the bench. He looks over to the man Kalen keeps an eye on, watching him in some animated conversation on his mobile phone – the distance too great to actually make out any of the words. “So who is he?”

He listens as Kalen explains his track record of fighting with the others. “I guess fighting is one way of breaking the ice. Although getting drunk with people might be easier on the furniture. Maybe. Except if tequila was involved. Was medical attention involved in the fights, or did you stop at first blood?” He looks around the park, watching the other city dwellers pass by in their normal – or not so normal – daily routines. “Who’s Trent?”

“Oh suuuure, like being able to stick together random bits of zoo exhibits is a useful life skill to learn. Although I’d like to see you get from First and Broad over to 23rd and Jackson in 10 minutes in rush hour traffic.” He looks down at the phone when it’s offered, contemplating the image. He grins as he says, “Ok, I guess you live.”

Kalen Holliday

"No idea. His name is Elijah."

Kalen laughs. "Tequila is kind of how I got to know Sera, actually. None of those fights drew blood. I apologized to Alyssa. And Sid and I...." He glances around to be sure no one is close and leans a little closer to Alexander to say very quietly, "Sid and I did not get along until an evil Fallen Mage invaded our dreams to tell us she was going to kill everyone we knew if we didn't let her facilitate the entry of an evil spirit that feeds an fear and madness into this world. We were unimpressed by that threat. Then we stopped her. And now we're friends."

He regards Alexander steadily. "Fate. Mage." He grins. "I can totally do that. I might get in way more trouble for it, but I could do it...."

Alexander

Alexander nods, making a mental note of the name. “Any idea if he’s new-new, or just new to the city?”

He listens, eyebrows rising at the mention of the Fallen Mage, and replies equally quietly. There’s nobody nearby, but better to be safe than sorry and all that. “I like Sera, and she’s done an awful lot for me. But I can’t help feeling that I don’t really know her. Although talking to her, I can’t help wondering if she really knows herself sometimes. Or at least how she’s ended up where she is. Which, thinking about it, is kinda strange for someone who can look back centures to see what a long-dead Archmage did before he passed away.” He shrugs. Whether she doesn’t feel able to, or just doesn’t want to, look back is her decision.

“So exactly how much death and destruction have I signed up to fight against? It doesn’t sound like there’s been any great shortage of it so far.” It’s always nice to know exactly how large a hole you’ve managed to dig yourself. “And, um... any tips for not getting squished by big nasty things?”

Alexander smiles back. “Point. You’d save a fortune on fuel, too, but I hear that paradox is a bitch. If you ever want to start up a courier run, though, I can give you some tips.”

Kalen Holliday

"Mmmmmmmmm...all of it?" Kalen smiles. "We can do that. Maybe practice a bit. Not so much here, but definitely. Actually, the four of us should. We should know each other's limits.

"It's not all bad though. And some of it is fantastic."

"My guess would be new-new, but it could be either. Or both, even."

Alexander

“Maybe we can start out with something small and squeaky and work up. A possessed cat toy, something like that” Alexander smiles, laughing quietly, before getting a little more serious again. “Practice would be great, though. You know I don’t think I’m anything special at the moment in those kinda ways, and yeah – I know I can learn, and I’m definitely up for that. But I guess I want to find out what else I can do to help you guys out.” He remembers an earlier conversation, when Kalen was talking about the way he got between a spirit and a rather-out-of-it-Sera. “Other than as a meat shield, anyway.” He smiles again, not really serious – at least about the last part.

“Oh, I’ve seen some of the fantastic – you were there! It’s the bad that I haven’t met yet.”

Elijah

"Jenn?"

Nothing. The young man started pacing. It wasn't ever a good thing when Elijah started pacing because it meant he wasn't going to stop. There was rambling on the other end. Lots and lots of rambling. It was clearly rambling because the expression on his face was somewhere between confusion and incredible focus because he could focus on this instead of whatever else was playing through his head loud and angry and echoing.

"Jenn, calm down."

She kept going. This clearly was not the thing to say.

"Have you talked to the land lord?.. well, put him on the line," he said, "what do you mean he's not there?.. oh… wow, really? Yeah, no, we are going to have- no no no, don't unpack anything. No no no it needs- don't get anything out of the truck fuck bedbugs. We are not moving into an apartment with bed bugs. We are getting our deposit back… well, does he need both knees?"

Elijah Poirot hated bedbugs. He hated them with a passion, with something fiery and bright and terrible. LIke the light of a thousand suns. His voice softened, "don't worry about it, we'll figure it out. Just go grab a hotel... yeah, i've got it."

Kalen Holliday

"The Message was great but the...." He shudders a little, resettles a fraction of an inch closer to Alexander. "The Storm a bit less so. That was...that was when Sera showed up with tequila. She couldn't stay asleep. I was still awake. Maybe because we both knew what-"

His eyes flick over toward Elijah. "That's sounding like it's going well...."

Lucy

Lucy did not leave because she needed to take a phone call. She didn't particularly plan on leaving, and when she took off - giving both the newbie Mage and the, well, and Lena some freedom from the uncomfortable chill of her presence - she deliberately went the opposite direction of Elijah so he wouldn't have to have this weirdly cold woman passing too close to him on her way to where she was going.

Unfortunately, Alex isn't the only person new to Denver. He's not the only one in need of a guide book. The difference is, he has a guide book. Lucy has her phone but sometimes the GPS is wonky and sometimes it freezes (hah) and a lot of times if she could afford to chuck it in a lake she would.

She is not even out of sight when she stops on the path and pulls out her phone and tries to get the blasted thing to load a damn map. Finally, she gives up and has to - very warily - head back toward the cluster of Magi. She glances at Elijah as she passes, but looks away again, mouth screwed up to the side.

When she's close enough to where Kalen and Alexander are seated, the maroon-haired young woman stops again. This time, giving all of them a wide wide wide berth. "Ah, sorry to interrupt, but do either of you know how I get to the twenty line from here?" Of course she needs to know where the nearest bus stop is, they both know she and her sister don't have a car.

Alexander

Alexander looks at Kalen when he feels, more than sees, the shudder. “It wasn’t pleasant, but it didn't seem too bad. Grace didn’t seem to suffer that much either. But I can’t imagine what you went through, and Sera..” He goes quiet for a few moments, aware now of exactly what it was that they had been dragged through. “Worth it, though. I hope the tequila helped.”

Alexander looks over to Elijah, as parts of the conversation start to drift over. “New to the city, anyway.”

He sits up and look around as Lucy approaches again, having stopped watching her walk through the park soon after she’d left. He gives her a smile – warm in the rather chilled atmosphere surrounding them. He pulls out the guide book, checking the back to see if there’s a bus map there. “Where are you trying to get to?”

Elijah

Elijah could deal with the Voice. He had done a decent enough job with medication and focus and dedication and hoping that anything he could throw at himself would make it happy, but he could not deal with bedbugs. There was an article he read once about how people feel like they have post traumatic stress after a bedbug infestation and Elijah Poirot was convinced that he was not going to go a day with wondering if it had burrowed into his books of some painting or took up residence in-

Elijah could have pantomimed shooting himself, but the fact that his finger-gun wasn't loaded didn't give him the incentive. Bed bugs- worse than death.

"Looks like we're going to be residents of the Marriott until we get a new apartment." he uncovered the receiver, "yeah… yeah… I met some people at the park… yeah… mmmn-hmmmn…. we won't have a fridge, so there's no point… okay… okay… okay I'll call him. I'll call him. Don't stress… okaybye."

bweep.

He looked back towards the people.

"Found it!"

Kalen Holliday

"It was worth it. We did a good thing. I'm glad. It was just...a little rough for a minute." He smiles, and it is a real smile, even if his eyes stay a bit haunted.

And then he looks up at Lucy and his eyes are distant. "I...have no idea about where to find buses sadly." But Alexander is pulling out a guidebook and so he turns his attention to Elijah.

"Just in time apparently." He waves Elijah over toward them, rather than getting up.

Lucy

Keeping a decent distance means she doesn't exactly crowd in on a private conversation. If Lucy realizes she returned during some sort of heart-to-heart it doesn't show. Maybe she doesn't realize.

Her hands are in the pockets of her shorts and while that definitely makes her posture a little more closed off, at least she's not curled in on herself. As aware as she is of how her presence affects those around her, she is not ashamed or nervous or terribly self-conscious. Stray animals need their space, and in this case Lucy considers Alex, Kalen, and Elijah to be the strays.

"The nearest light rail station," she replies, glancing at Kalen. She offers him a smile that is more mollifying than it is apologetic. She'll be out of his hair soon enough. Her attention returns to Alex. It's a delicate dance she starts to do, trying to move a step or two close to Alexander without encroaching too much on Kalen's space and also giving Elijah room to breathe. It's delicate but it's practiced.

Alexander

Alexander taps Kalen gently on the arm a couple of times as one trail of conversation fades and others rise to take its place. “Give me a yell if you need more tequila,” he offers at the end, though.

He gets up from the bench and moves to stand next to Lucy, trying to make it a little to work out where they are on the small (crumpled, slightly muddy) map in the back of the book. He gives it a wipe before rotating the whole book upside down and taking another look. Had his resonance developed differently, maybe Lucy’s chill would have been a little more uncomfortable to be around. But, as it was, it didn’t overly bother him. And maybe it was his early exposure to spirits in his Awakened life that keeps the graveyard-feeling from getting too overpowering too. He hasn’t noticed his resonance having a similar effect on others – at least not yet, but who knows how things will develop. Sera, maybe?

“That way, I think,” he says pointing off towards one of the distant park gates. He glances at Kalen before looking back at Lucy. “Want some company?”

Elijah

He meandered over. It wasn't so much walking as trudging, and his attention turned and… there was that lady. Lucy, the one who made things feel like a sudden snap of cold. The one who happened to know any number of things about the world around him and, frankly, had a bit of a love of the Twilight Zone. Not that there's anything wrong with that; Elijah was a Seinfeld guy (not that there's anything wrong with that, but he wasn't even old enough to have seen it the first time around.)

With the promise of coffee, their darling rabbit began his approach.

"Hey, uh… sorry about that, I seem to have found myself unexpectedly relocated," he said with a smile not unlike someone who found out they were being held for ransom, "hoping to get a deposit back."

Kalen Holliday

Kalen smiles. "Yeah," he says to Alexander. "I'll keep that in mind. Go on." He waves a hand in a shooing motion. "I'm fine."

He rolls his eyes at what Elijah says. "Ugh. That is the worst. I used to have horrible luck with apartments. You still want to go on coffee seeking adventures?"

Hawksley Rothschild

There are people. These are people in a park, special people who are simply more than other people. And then there's a man taking advantage of the cooling evening to work out in said park. He's jumping rope, rapid and clipped, turning the rope with flicks of his wrist. He is shirtless. He is wearing trainers and basketball shorts and a sweatband and his skin is made of burnished bronze, his hair is made of gold, and every time his feet leave the earth for a half-step one expects him to just keep rising. He has that sense about him.

Hawksley Rothschild

[before anyone rolls, Hawksley's resonance: http://youtu.be/SeIJmciN8mo]

Elijah

"Of course I want to go on a coffee-seeking adventure, I've been sent into apartment exile courtesy of hoards of tiny, tiny vermin- short of having bloody, squishing things-related vengeance for having been vexed so thoroughly, I could go for coffee," if what he drank actually constituted as coffee. It was mostly milk and sugar. Elijah Poirot was not ashamed of his coffee drinking proclivities.

Or proud, really. One should not be proud of how Elijah drinks coffee, because it's not really coffee at that point.

He paused, and looked over in Lucy's direction, "hey… uh… Lucy, right? Can we… uh… talk later? I think we got off to a bad start."

Lucy

Lucy moves to stand a little closer to Alex, to peer at the map he's trying to read and maybe figure it out. She frowns at it, looking for the green square that is City Park, and then the little blue squares marking the bus stops. Her mouth screws to the side and she looks up and around. Alex offers to go with her and she smiles, giving him a look that is grateful and also amused. "You sure? Seems like you're always helping me get from one place to another."

Kalen isn't the only one who has some sympathy for Elijah's predicament. "Sorry to hear that. If you need a place to stay," do they think she's going to offer him a couch or something the way Kalen offered her sister and her his house? "my sister and I are at [some conveniently located inexpensive hotel *handwave*]. I know they still have some vacancies."

Then she blinks at him, clearly surprised. She doesn't let it steamroll her, though. She smiles. "It's...yeah, that'd be great. If you want," she looks at Alex who had just offered to walk with her, then at Kalen who she can never get a good read on, Kalen who looks distant when he looks at her. She doesn't look at him for very long. "If you don't mind, I can hang around a little longer. If you're looking for coffee the place where I work is pretty close?"

Lucy

[sure why not, awareness again! (maybe i should stop being so offhand about it? perhaps that's why the 1s rain down?]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (5, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )

Alexander

Alexander smiles again. "I wouldn't offer if I wasn't sure."

And then it's his turn for the mobile phone to start buzzing away in his pocket. He apologises and steps to one side to take the call, moving far enough away for his conversation to be inaudible to the others and vice versa.

[And now I go crash out because I've been awake for 22 hours and I need sleep. Thanks for the scene!]

Need a lift?

Lucy

It is a cold grey day in the Foothills today. The sky is choked with clouds perpetually dumping heaps of wet snow on the roads, on cars, and on the occasional weary foot traveler.

Lucy is one of these weary foot travelers. She had nothing planned for things to do today, so she decided to take a trek out and finally visit the address that Richard gave her. He'd said she'd find plenty of people who had similar interests here. Lucy had her thoughts on what that might mean, and she wanted to see them verified (or discounted, whichever).

What she hadn't counted on was just how far out of the way the place is. The buses will only take her so far and she hadn't considered she might need a cab to make the rest of the journey. So it is that a tall, hooded figure trudges along one of the main access roads up through the foothills and the house there. Every once in a while she checks her phone to make sure she's still on the right track. While cold and chill and frost affect her very little, she's never tested the theory of whether or not she can get frostbite or die from exposure. She hopes today isn't the day that she finds out either.

And with each step that she ascends in the direction of the various gulches at the start of the mountains she asserts that this time, this place, here and now. Soon as she gets herself some permanent, long-term, gainful employment she's going to get herself a goddamn car.

Alyssa Solomon

Alyssa saw Kalen's note on Ginger, of course. The Hollow One has been hooked up to the MMS (magely messaging service) for a short while now and she finds it all amusing, but also useful. So she noticed when he said that he would be at the Chantry and that's what brings her there. Although her reasoning has nothing to do with hot chocolate or snow or anything like that. Nope, she's going there with a purpose.

Of course, this doesn't mean that she hasn't skimped out on her regular routine, and that includes making herself up. It's a bit less flashy than perhaps she has been known to do; instead of fancy color schemes, she's kept it limited to pale and heavy eyeliner, with painted brows. The one flourish is her lips: black, with a dark red right down the middle. It's a tasteful look but still distinctly Alyssa. It's complemented by a top that starts off dark and faces into a transparency by the time it gets to the waist, a skirted pair of leggings and a leather jacket. A leather cuff is wrapped around her left wrist.

And that's how she looks as she gets out of her trusty, rusty red '89 Acura Legend, whistling a little as she heads her way to the door.

Kalen Holliday

[Nightmares]

Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 9) ( success x 1 )

Kalen Holliday

Kalen has, as promised, made hot chocolate. The long way, where you have to melt chocolate and mix it with milk, which makes some of his protests about not being able to cook are probably based less on the fact that he could not learn to cook and has instead just decided not to learn. Or perhaps he got tired of accidentally summoning demons.

Okay. That probably didn't happen.

But there is hot chocolate and there are marshmallows and there are a ridiculous number of bottles of alcohol in various flavors lined up near a line of those ridiculous ceramic hand-warmer mugs and piles of marshmallows. There are pans of lasagna in the refrigerator, with instructions written out carefully on star-shaped post-it notes in sparkly purple pen. The last step, for anyone ambitious enough to look, reads, 'I promise if you do what I say you will not light the kitchen on fire. And can't you just put it out with your mind anyway? ;P'

And Kalen, who can actually walk now, is stirring hot chocolate and rearranging all the bottles and straightening the line of mugs and walking to the windows to look at the snow and generally wandering here and there because he can. Annnnnnnnd...possibly because if he stays still he will fall asleep.

Alexander

[Hang on, do we actually notice you..?

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 6, 8) ( success x 2 )

Alexander

The weather is cold, wet, miserable. But at least it’s too warm for the ground to freeze and black ice to cover the roads up to the Chantry. Somewhere between Morrison and who-knows-where, a salt-stained blue motorbike slowly (for the rider) makes its way along a road. The rider is well-insulated against the cold, although it seems to bother him less these days than it used to. But, as Lucy, he has no inclination to see if that makes the slightest difference to the effects exposure has on him.

So somewhere along that road, a bike passes a hooded figure from behind. Between the hood and the rider’s helmet, there are no faces to recognise. But these aren’t ordinary people, and there are more ways to recognise someone than just their facial features. The cold, threading feeling emanating from the figure, blending in with the rider’s Frozen aura, seems to bring the temperature in the air down further. The brake lights come on and the bike pulls over to the side, waiting for the walker to catch up. The rider lifts the mirrored visor up to look at her when she does.

“Need a lift?”

Alyssa Solomon

[[Awareness Magedar just because why not? And to set a baseline for when the others get there!]]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )

Kalen Holliday

[Everyone else is doing it! Awareness!]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5, 5, 6, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )

Lucy

Lucy knows nothing about hot chocolate and alcohol and a certain lanky Hermetic she met that one time waiting at her destination. Not for her, of course, but when she gets there she'll definitely think it a fortuitous coincidence. Although, when one is so knowledgeable in the ways of Entropy as she is, is anything really a coincidence anymore?

Like, for instance, the sound of a motorbike coming up behind her, the sight of it pulling a little ways ahead, then pulling off to the side. Like he's waiting for her. Alexander would be the first person to stop and offer the young woman a lift, not because the general populace is generally uncaring of the plights of strangers, but because out here there simply aren't many people driving past.

There isn't much to recognize her by other than that cold, frosted resonance, that threading, stitching feeling. Her hoodie is black with pink plaid accents and lace-up detailing. Her legs are covered in the same shredded (hard to tell if all those tears were made with a purpose or gradually over time) jeans Alexander last saw her wearing. Same black boots, too, which are comfortable but not really made for hiking. A thick lock of maroon-red hair and the curve of a pale chin are all he has to go by for facial recognition, at least until she looks up and sees him there. Then her face breaks out into a wide and grateful smile and she hurries the last few feet to him.

"Do I ever," she says, and for all that she's been trekking uphill for the past half hour, she doesn't sound winded or out of breath. Adjusting the fall of her slouching, canvas shoulder bag, she takes the offered seat behind him on the bike. He may not have a spare helmet at the ready for her, but she doesn't mind. She'll wrap her arms around his waist and duck her face against his shoulder to protect it from the wind and the sting of falling snow.

"I can't believe you can ride in this!" she says, and even without the benefit of seeing her face he can hear the amusement in her voice. Meanwhile, all around them, the world turns ever more frigid.

[sure WHAT COULD GO WRONG??]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 8, 9) ( success x 2 )

Alyssa Solomon

She's gotten past the knocking stage, for the record. She still doesn't quite consider herself part of the Chantry yet, so to speak, but she doesn't feel the need to knock anymore. It's still distinctly strange to her though, this fairly unprotected place. One of these days, as she told Kalen a while back, this is going to bite the Chantry in the ass. But until she considers it home, it's not really her place to say.

So the door opens and it shuts, and she knows approximately where Kalen is because she can sense that ever-so-strong storm off in the direction of the kitchen. She calls out as she starts heading that way. "Hey, Kalen. Someone claiming to be one of your boy-toys called me up right before I was about to call him up. Anything about that sound familiar to you?"

The final word is out just as she does reach the kitchen, taking a sideways lean to rest her shoulder against the door jamb.

Kalen Holliday

Kalen laughs. "One of my what now? I think you may have me confused with someone else on that count."

His expression smooths over into something more serious though, after that. "If you mean Ian, yes. He's the friend I told you had a problem I couldn't help with that you likely could." He pauses. "Ah. Did he act like an obnoxiously smug cat at you? He does that sometimes. I'd say I don't think he means it, but he probably does. I don't think he means it in a targeted way, but he's...well...kind of...." Kalen rolls his eyes. "You talked to him. He was either incredibly charming or a jerk, or maybe both. So you probably already know."

"Anyway, hot chocolate?"

Alexander

“I’ve had practice.” Whether that’s practice at riding, or at dealing with dangerous weather, he doesn’t elaborate. “You headed to the house?” he asks, though, before the visor comes down again. Perhaps it’s a little too trusting, and a little too naive, or Alexander to assume that she knows where it is. Or would even be welcome there. But she seems to know enough of the other Awakened in the city, and seems relatively normal enough, to seem like she’d be accepted there. Getting a nod, or a “yes”, in answer, the visor comes back down and the bike pulls away.

There’s no spare helmet, so the ride from there is slower than it was before he’d stopped. But it’s still quicker than walking the rest of the way would have been. Given a good day, warm weather, and decent clothes on his passenger? That would be a different matter.

And so a short time later, a bike pulls up onto the drive of the house. The engine dies down with a last roar, and two people get off. “I’ve not seen you here before. First visit?”

Alyssa Solomon

"Uh, yeah. No, he wasn't obnoxiously smug, he was just basically a complete dick." She doesn't say it in an angry or bitter way; in fact, it's fairly matter of fact. She's used to having to work with complete dicks before, and it doesn't affect her ability to do so unless they actively let their attitude get in the way of what they're trying to accomplish. Alyssa's demeanor suggests they haven't hit that stage, yet at least.

"He's the one who called me to ask for help and then got all suspicious when I said I was looking to call him too. Which was a fun flip when he got indignant after I said I was going to confirm who the shit he was before I started handing out information like it was a roll of Smarties on Halloween."

She pauses there, partially because she feels a couple Resonances pull up, It's a brief pause though, and she looks back to Kalen. "What do you know about him? He's tied into a case that I'm working on and his story seems legit to the naked ear, but I'm not born yesterday so I'm not taking it on that alone."

Lucy

"Yes," she answers at his ear. "You're a lifesaver, I thought I was going to have to try to cut across the gulch." Lucy's been a few places, enough that it surprised her that Richard would give up the address of this place to someone he'd just met. But she doesn't know that it's this city's Chantry, not definitively, at any rate. She just knows that there'll be others like her there, maybe, so it could just be some other gathering space.

She'll find out for certain soon enough. In the meanwhile, if Alexander is going to drive more slowly then Lucy relaxes her grip around his midsection. Not much. And she doesn't lift her head, though once or twice she turns it, and in so doing she catches glimpses of the Chantry's acreage. And then they're pulling up the long drive. Lucy dismounts as Alexander cuts the engine, and she looks around, eyes wide.

"Wow." And that may answer his question for him.

The Chantry grounds, despite the snowfall, looks much the same as it did yesterday, the day before, a month ago. It looks much the same as it will for the next several months, beneath the thickening layer of snow that is. The gras that pokes through the snow in place is thick, lush, verdant green. The flowers in their beds are in full bloom despite the weather, multicolored blossoms rising valiantly above the line of the snow. Lucy can still feel it, the faintest tingle of an older Working, something empowered, something desperate and euphoric. Something verdant.

"What?" she asks, turning to look at Alexander, and for a moment her expression maintains that look of almost childlike wonder. A blink and it becomes sheepish. "Yeah, first time. I have to tell my sister about this place, I think she'll love it." Of course, she would tell her sister about it anyway, but still. Lucy had been in the process of removing her gloves, but she stopped, left them on. Uses one of those hands to motion ahead.

"You're the regular, lead the way."

Kalen Holliday

Kalen sighs. "I know that he's hard to read, mostly." He shrugs. "He's just...what he is. The only thing I can get a decent feel for is that his friend, or his whatever he is, because I'm not sure friends are really a thing Ian is prone to having, is missing. And it bothers him more than he wants to admit to.

"And I think the only thing he may hate more than needing help is asking for it. So if he called you...it means something, even if he was insufferable." His expression softens a little and his eyes go a little distant, like he's thinking about something, but he doesn't say anything else about that. Particularly not when he can sense the others coming.

"I invited him here. For this. But it...." He shrugs. "I don't expect him."

Alexander

The helmet comes off, revealing a little more of Alexander. There’s a scarf wrapped around his neck, although more to keep the wetness from getting too far underneath his gear than for the cold. He smiles at her initial reaction to the ground, easily answering the question. He’s a little curious about the abundance of flowers too. He’s not had enough contact with Sid yet to connect the working with her resonance – the only reason he picked up on Lucy’s on the way here was because he’d bumped into her so recently.

“There’s a lot more land around the back, but it’s probably best to wait until the weather’s a little better to go poking around back there.” He looks down at her boots as he says it. “You hadn’t walked all the way out from the city, had you?”

As those inside had felt their arrival, Alexander had already picked up on a couple of familiar resonances coming from inside the house. Not yet talking to Ginger, Alexander is equally clueless about the offerings of hot chocolate and potentially-demon-summoning lasagne. He turns and starts walking towards the door. Looking back, to check Lucy is following, he asks her, “Have you met Kalen and Alyssa yet?”

Opening the door, he stamps his boots on the ground to dislodge any stuck snow before rubbing them on the door mat a few times to dry the bottoms out. “Hi guys,” he calls, bending over to start loosening the clips and working his way out of his leathers. “I’ve brought company. Meet Lucy.” He gestures towards the others, motioning Lucy on while he works on freeing himself.

Lucy

Lucy picks up on the others more strongly than she picks up the Working, but the Working - no offense intended to the Mages - is so much more interesting. Especially for someone like Lucy, who is made, or rather was turned into being the way that she is. She wouldn't mind wandering the grounds in snow or sleet or hail or rain, but that Working gives her pause. Beneath the snow everything is so lush and green. It would be a shame if Lucy were to somehow ruin it.

That can come later, though, she'll figure something out by then surely. Alexander looks down at her boots and Lucy, straightening her legs and bending to follow his gaze down, looks back up with a chuckle. "Ah, no. Rode the bus most of the way, but the only ones that come up farther than the town are Greyhounds, and I didn't want to wait an hour or two for the next one to find out if they make earlier stops."

So she follows Alexander toward the front door, keeping her hands and elbows in tight to her body so she doesn't brush against any bushes or outstretched branches or leaves of the other plants. Not that her clothing won't protect the living green things, but still she's nervous now.

"Um, unless there's more than one Kalen, I've met him. Alyssa, that'd be a no." She follows him up the front steps and waits her turn to stamp her boots out, but then ah, hm. "Should I take off my boots? I'd really rather not but," but what will have to wait. Alexander is calling out that he's brought company and so she follows up with her own call of, "Halloo!"

Alyssa Solomon

Kalen's response is, perhaps, a bit less than Alyssa was hoping for. It shows in the crease that briefly lines her brow, the downward tug at the corner of painted lips. It's easy for the Hollow One to go Newp, not good enough, sorry Ian. That's what her habit has been up until the point when she came into Denver and started meeting the Awakened here: if you don't have certifiable proof that someone's on the level, then move on. Fuck 'em.

But she doesn't here. Whether it's a good idea or not, she trusts Kalen's judgment. They wouldn't be a cabal if she didn't. And so when he vouches for Ian (albeit in a circuitous way), she sighs and reaches up to scratch at her hairline. "Well, that's not encouraging, but I'll take it I suppose. I've gone on less when it worked out fine." A pause. "You know. Once."

And then the door is opening and Alexander and a woman Alyssa hasn't yet met are coming in. The Hollower gets a sense of that chill in Lucy's aura, and it seems distinctly appropriate considering the weather. She looks over her shoulder toward the opening hallway and calls out. "In the kitchen! Hurry up before Kalen explodes over the fact that no one's eating or drinking all of his stuff! I don't want to spend my day trying to get Flambeau out of the linoleum."

Kalen Holliday

"He doesn't really seem to be better at trusting than we are. But he-" Kalen frowns. "I just know how that is. And we're...for better or worse so far we seem to go on faith here. I didn't give much of anything, and even knowing I was actively being hunted they brought me here. I know it may not be the wisest thing, but it's the thing they did. So I'm trying it out a little.

"And...for whatever it's worth, I don't think there is anyone else to help him. The only time I've ever seen him need something he came to me. And I don't have any illusions he has some great fondness for me. I'm not crazy. I just don't think he had anywhere else to go."

He raises his voice a little then, less serious and more playful. "I will not explode! I haven't even made the food yet yet." He clears his throat. "By which, of course, I mean followed the attached reheating instructions."

Alexander

“At least you’re not completely mad then,” he says with a smile to show that he’s joking. “I’m guessing you don’t have your own transport.” It’s not really a question – if she had something with wheels, he’s pretty sure she wouldn’t have been trekking through the weather outside. But, then, stranger things have happened.

Lucy asks about leaving her boots on, and Alexander pauses for a moment. “I’m not actually sure. I just didn’t want to drag wet crap into the house and these things aren’t all the comfortable anyway.” He shrugs. “If anyone yells, there’s cleaning stuff out in the garage.”

Alexander calls back, “As long as he explodes on the linoleum, at least that stuff can be mopped. Just keep him away from the carpets.” The boots are off and he sits on the ground to get his feet out of the trousers. A pair of decent socks have appeared from under the boots, and there’s some jeans emerging too. A few layers of t-shirts can be seen under the open jacket. Finally wiggling out of the last of the gear, he hangs it up by the door and wanders through to join the others.

“What’s the occasion,” he asks, seeing the array of drinks and things to add to drinks.

Lucy

"Not completely, no," she replies, her smile shifting toward impish and more grin-like. She nods, though, and she looks down to see just how much snow and water and slush she'll be tracking through someone else's house, and her mouth quirks. Thoughtful. A moment later she bends as well and starts undoing the elaborate laces. Shooting a grin to Alexander she says, "Might as well, right? And I don't have my own, uh, transport yet. I have to get a steady paycheck for that to happen."

She peels out of her boots, one after the other, and leaves them on the mat by the door to dry. Her own socks are colorful - in that one is rainbow colored and the other is orange and yellow giraffe spots colored. The legs of her jeans are tapered, of course, the better to fit into a pair of boots. Finally she straightens, unzips her jacket to reveal her Harley Quinn t-shirt. After a moment's hesitation she leaves her bag hanging with her sweatshirt. There are no extra layers to her, no long-sleeved shirt, although at least it looks like she has on tights beneath her jeans. Lucy isn't dressed for cold because Lucy doesn't need to dress for cold. She outfits herself in the hopes that no one will ask her Are you cold? After all these years, she's still not sure how to answer that question.

Once she's divested of her own outerwear, she pauses again. By now, Alexander has probably already made his way to the kitchen while Lucy considers her appearance. Should she stop in the bathroom first, make sure that everything's in order? No, she thinks, tugging her hair to fall over one shoulder. No don't be silly, Luce, just go say hello to everyone. Sliding her hands into the butt-pockets of her jeans, she makes her way to the kitchen finally. She brings the frost from outside with her, chilly icy cold, creeping over the surfaces around her, radiating out from her like a living ice cube.

"What's all this?" she asks, moving between people so that she's inside the kitchen proper and able to look at the spread. "Hi," she says when she looks over at Alyssa. "I'm Lucy."

Alyssa Solomon

"Alex, you say that like someone who's never tried to clean blood out of the seams in linoleum." She smirks. "Trust me, personal experience here. You will never get that cleaning deposit back."

She nods a little in response to Kalen. It's still not entirely accepting of Ian (or the idea of him), but it is acknowledgement and that's something. And perhaps they can talk about it later, even. After all, she's talked with Alexander about this and he had his own experience. Something to keep in mind, perhaps, once pleasantries are done.

She slips fully into the kitchen as the two come over that way. It's not a retreat of any kind, just her getting out of the doorway so that they can come in. She moves to hop up on one of the counters, one wrapped leg crossing over the other at the knee. Lucy gets a quick once-over and a half-smile. It's not hard to guess that she's the source of the chill. Even if it weren't getting stronger as she got closer, her aura exudes that cold.

"Alyssa Solomon. Hollow One. This is Kalen. Hermetic, but don't hold it against him. I try not to." Even if Lucy and Kalen do know each other, Alyssa's in the mood for giving the intro. Maybe just so she could have delivered that little poke at him. The fact that it comes with a glitter of amusement in her kohl-lined eyes takes some of the sting out, perhaps.

Kalen Holliday

Kalen just waves to Lucy. No wary eyes. He huffs softly at Alyssa's little barb, but he seems completely unbothered by it.

"Oh, we've met, Angel," he says, his voice gone all amused purr. "We've even planned our first date. Though I haven't managed to find a moment to go on it yet. I've been terribly preoccupied."

"No occasion," he says to Alexander, in a more proper voice. "It was cold, and I-" Hate the cold. Probably not the thing to say to Alexander.

"You know how I hate company. I thought people might come here. And look, here you are." He smiles. "Have at, if you want any. Kharisma made lasagna. I made her promise to put only the legal mushrooms in the sauce, just for you."

Alexander

Alexander looks at Alyssa for a moment, apparently thinking something over before mentally shrugging without saying anything. “Isn’t there something about cold salty water for getting blood out? And, anyway – surely there’s someone around here who can figure out a way to get rid of awkward stains that doesn’t involve scrubbing.” He looks over the drinks, checking for coffee. If there’s some there, he’ll fish a mug out of one of the cupboards and pour some out – waving it at the others in offering.

He looks to Lucy, continuing the introductions. “Alexander. New-last-Thursday-so-still-figuring-out-the-teams.” She already knew his name, but the lack of affiliation is new. He cocks his head, curious what her background is.

He laughs a little as Kalen mentions their planned first date. “Alyssa’s taking me on a tour of a polluted lake, I do hope your plans can compare.” He sips his coffee as Kalen stops mid sentence, raising his eyebrows as he tries to figure out what the rest of the sentence was going to be. But Kalen doesn’t seem as if he’s about to explain, so he lets it pass. Prodding Kalen a little himself, adding, “Well it’s been at least a week since you last tried feeding somebody into submission.” He looks at the pans, seeing if any appeal.

Lucy

[date did someone say date? psh, psh i say, he's probably joking, look, look how chill we are CHILL GET IT (oh my god I can't stop): manip+subt]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8) ( success x 3 )

Alyssa Solomon

[[Eh, why not just for grinsies? Per+Sub]]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 5, 8) ( success x 1 )

Kalen Holliday

[Oh dices - Per+Subt]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 6, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )

Alexander

[Eh? Wutwut? Per+Sub]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (4, 6, 9, 9) ( success x 3 )

Lucy

Alyssa's comment about the blood in the linoleum causes Lucy's brows to raise. She is not appalled, she's not even vaguely alarmed. It is more of an ah hah look. Talk of blood would explain that bloody resonance. Not so much the wings, though, that's curious.

"Oh no," she says to Alexander. Bright green eyes slanting a glance toward Kalen and then Alyssa, she faces the apprentice. "Once that stuff finds a crack it's best to rip everything out or it'll start to smell no matter what you do."

Introductions are being made, and she blinks, brows lifting in mild surprise. "Oh! Are we doing the...whole thing, okay. Lucy Simms, Dreamspeaker," she says, pressing her palm to her sternum. "Dreamspeakers, we're kind of a hodge podge of spirit types. Ghosts and things, but like all the Traditions there's a lot of room for variation. My sister and I just moved to Denver. She's not a Dreamspeaker, though. She's...well she's just not." Is someone flustered? That must be because she's in someone else's house talking to people she's barely met and stuff. Yes, that must be it.

Clearing her throat, Lucy shifts her hands from her back pockets to her hip pockets and looks for something to lean back against, but oh, there's hot chocolate. Before she can settle she moves to take up one of the mugs that are out and look for what to pour into it. "What are all these marshmallows? Oh my god are they different flavors?" She looks around hopefully.

Lucy

Lucy does a pretty excellent job of playing it...cool (i'm not sorry), but Alexander's a police officer. He has some training in determining if someone is lying - which Lucy is not - or trying to hide something - which she sort of is - or if they're trying to make one thing look like it's being caused by something else. While some of her flusteredness is from being the new girl on campus, it seems to have a different source, as well. Just what, though, is difficult to say.

Alyssa Solomon

"A date, already?" She chuckles. "Man, it's hard to keep track of your little black book. How many volumes is it at this point?"

It's not intended to be cruel or insulting; it's just the teasing that Alyssa and Kalen throw back and forth. Lucy seems flustered but not by the whole date thing, so maybe the Hollower is hoping that a joke will put her at ease. But then, is Alyssa big on putting people at ease at all? She's unapologetic about who she is and she can certainly be abrasive, but this is a little different in tone and demeanor than her usual This is me, deal with it vibe. And Lucy endears herself to Alyssa a bit when she points out that once blood gets in, you'd better just pull the flooring up. She puts a finger on the side of her nose and points at the newly-introduced Dreamspeaker.

"See, this one knows what she's talking about. I like you." She leans back in her seat on the counter, fingers lacing as her hands come to rest around her upraised knee. "Nice to meet you, Lucy. Welcome to the Denver society for Awakened individuals, or whatever it is we call ourselves. We try not to bite too hard."

Kalen Holliday

"They are so totally different flavors. I recommend the hazelnut ones, personally, but you do what you want, Snowdrop." Welcome to Kalen's life, Lucy. That's what those Names mean. You just wait, Alexander. As soon as he figures yours out.....

He glances between Alexander and Alyssa and laughs, low and warm and rich and completely unruffled. But he did see Lucy's response, so he does not play as much as he otherwise might. "First," he says, and has picked up that silken purr again, "I'll have you know that as a Hermetic I do not have a black book. I have little parchment scrolls, bound with black satin ribbons in elaborate knots according custom. And there are no few of them, I suppose. Lucy and I are going to explore some mine shafts. With champagne. I would say we may or may not have fascinating post-champagne moments, but every time I try to do anything fun outside a secure space there is some mystical crisis, so I'm going to count this whole affair as a victory if we get through the first glass of champagne."

Lucy

[her reaction is too complicated and i don't want to describe it *lazy* MAYBE SHE WILL HIDE IT?? manip+subt again, hopefully the last]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 5 )

Kalen Holliday

[Are you still freakishly perceptive?]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 5 )

Lucy

[DAMN IT KALEN]

Alexander

That Alyssa knows about the problems of cleaning up blood is no surprise, after seeing... Well, after seeing. That Lucy also knows makes him start to wonder how she knows. Most likely similar reasons? After all, it doesn’t sound like spreading the red stuff around is a particularly uncommon way to make things happen. Maybe something else, though?

The train of thought shifts rapidly onto a new track as she finishes her introduction. There’s a long look of interest on his face as she mentions the Dreamspeakers. It’s one of the Traditions he hasn’t really found out much about so far, and having one stood here? “Um. Can we talk sometimes? About the Dreamspeakers, I mean. You’re the first one I’ve met, as far as I know, and... well, I have some questions.” Probably more than ‘some’ by the time he’s through. He picks up that Lucy is being a little evasive when prodded about the date. While he wonders what that be, he’s not going to probe. Just... no.

Kalen has a library of... little black-ribboned scrolls? Alexander hides a snicker with the mug, taking a sip once it passes. The teasing is obvious, but there’s likely some truth behind it. It’s not a side of Kalen he knows about but, then, there’s a lot about off of these people that he doesn’t know. And there’s that phrase again, but it’s not as frustrating as it used to be. Maybe it’s starting to turn into more of a challenge. And given his acceptance of Kalen’s invitation a few days ago? There will be plenty of time to learn.

“Ah, c’mon Kalen. Sera’s little picnic in the park was fun, and there wasn’t even a hint of the end of the world then. Although... there had been there a few weeks before, so maybe it’s like lightning.” Again, he cocks his head a little while he thinks. Although...

He clears his throat quietly. “I’ll, um, be back in a minute. Too much cold, too much coffee.” He sets the coffee cup on the counter and heads off to find the bathroom.

Alexander

[And now I go *poof* because I so should have been asleep an hour ago. Thanks for the scene!]