[How awake are we?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )
Alexander Brandt[Meh, Awareness, it might tweak what I write.]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 8) ( success x 1 )
Kalen Holliday[Oh. Yes. How distracted are we by Resonance?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 4, 6, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )
Alexander BrandtThe early evening sun is still well above the peaks of the mountains to the west, but its effect on the temperature is starting to wane after the heat of the day. Small white clouds drift leisurely overhead, and a light breeze passes through. There’s no sign at the moment of rain, but there is always the possibility in Denver. The city is always changing, always adapting.
The imminent arrival of a certain storm is guaranteed, though. There had been talk, between the members of their little cabal, of training. Learning to work together; to fight together. Without any current crisis hitting the city – or, at least, none involving Alexander or Kalen – they’ve made plans to take advantage of the time they have to practice. Alex’s bike is parked on the other side of the nondescript warehouse building, helmet hanging from one of the handlebars. He’s walked around the buildings, looking for a good spot to spar, and settled on an area of flat grass. The remote location and, even if there had been anybody who happened to be taking their dog out for a walk, the fence keep anybody who might interfere or get in the way safely away.
So here he is, dressed in loose, black jogging bottoms, vest, and nothing on his feet. He’s currently sat on the grass, legs extended, stretching. There’s a full rucksack lying against the wall of the warehouse. Otherwise, it’s quiet. For the moment.
Kalen HollidayKalen is not stretching. Whether that is more of a not yet or a not anymore is not the most certain. He met Alexander outside, where he had a bag and a handful of water bottles. He's barefoot, in a pair of loose-fitting grey silk pants with just a hint of a shimmer and a white tee-shirt. Even having rested, he's still ghost-pale. Kalen is naturally pale, though it looks healthier with only the very faintest traces of shadows beneath those eyes.
He smiles when he sees Alexander, a real smile. Because Kalen loves very few things as much as he loves doing things. And he gets to spar. And he gets to do magic.
It is the magic that he settles across from Alexander to do, kneeling so that he is facing Alexander and closing his eyes. The thing about most sparring is that you have to be so gentle or you have to use padding or you have to end up with bruises you might not be able to afford to have in the morning. The thing about being able to bend Creation to your will is that you can not have to deal with any of those things.
So he settles across from Alexander and he breathes in frost until despite the warmth of the sun on his skin all he can taste is winter. He breathes in the taste of frost and he finds Alexander's breath and then the sun on Alexander's skin and then with the faintest of smiles he lets power spread out over him like frost spreads out over a windowpane, all intricate swirling tendrils until the whole of the glass is opaque.
[Force Sheild| Forces 2/Life 1 D=4 [3standard+2highest sphere-1taking time] WP -- Target 6 suxx [1 target/1 effect/1 duration/3 shield] will extend]
Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (1, 2) ( success x 1 ) [WP]
Kalen Holliday[And, extend, D+1 for extend/WP because reality really loves to hate on this particular spell]
Dice: 2 d10 TN5 (2, 10) ( success x 2 ) [WP]
Kalen Holliday[And again - hopefully God will love us....]
Dice: 2 d10 TN5 (3, 10) ( success x 1 )
Kalen Holliday[Okay...come on magic!]
Dice: 2 d10 TN5 (1, 4) ( fail )
Kalen Holliday[Bad magic. WP to not lose one effect]
Kalen Holliday[One more time - D=6-2Q=4 WP]
Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (2, 4) ( success x 2 ) [WP]
Alexander Brandt[Because we're watching, even if we don't have a clue what it is you're doing...]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )
Kalen Holliday[Annnd, because Kalen also likes not dying - same trick, one less suxx because he doesn't need to target himself. D=4 for the first roll.]
Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (3, 6) ( success x 1 )
Kalen Holliday[Now 5]
Dice: 2 d10 TN5 (6, 9) ( success x 2 )
Kalen Holliday[Still 5]
Dice: 2 d10 TN5 (5, 8) ( success x 2 )
Kalen Holliday[Done!!!]
Alexander BrandtKalen smiles at Alexander, and the smile is returned. “Hey. Going to try to get even for me throwing you on your ass before?” He’s remembering a time in a park where an ill-advised hug turned into a short flight over a park bench. Although also not the first time that he’s thrown one of the city’s awakened before realising what was going on. And probably not the last either.
As Kalen sits and starts working his effect, Alex leans back on his hands and watches. He doesn’t understand what’s going on, it’s magic that he hasn’t even begun to understand, but he feels the work itself. The pushing of reality just a little to make things different somehow. What those things are, though... Instead he watches Kalen as he pushes. Feels something slip before it’s put right and the loose ends tied up. Watches him breathe.
“Should I ask..?”
Kalen Holliday"About how easily unnerved by the sense of ice I am?" Kalen smiles faintly. "I would think you'd know. About it costing more to Work with something you are so uneasy with?" The smile widens. "I would assume you are not blind. About what I just did?" The smile is a real grin now, for all that Effect took something out of him. "Let's just say I don't like to worry too much about being terribly gentle. Reasonably so, perhaps. But I don't think either of us is lacking control."
He rises, then extends a hand to Alexander. "Come. You'll see."
Alexander Brandt“I knew about the water, but ice too? You must love it when Eleanor’s around, then.” The one meeting wasn’t enough to form too much of an opinion on the woman - beyond her maintaining a certain objective distance – but the memory of her resonance, the feeling of drowning under ice, is hard to forget.
Alexander takes the hand and uses it to pull himself up. “Yeah, about what you were just doing. I could tell something was happening, but couldn’t even begin to guess what.” He shrugs, smiling, content to wait and to see.
He takes a few steps across the grass and turns to face Kalen. “So when was the last time you practiced like this?”
Kalen Holliday"Eleanor fucking terrifies me." He smiles. "She's good to have with you when you go fight the minions of an evil Umbrood spirit in their lair, though." And so was Sid, though he doesn't mention Sid. Not now. He is, even with some of his weight back, lightly built. He has to brace for Alexander's weight, but he does so easily enough.
"Oh, since I was actually physically imposing. So...two years, give or take."
Alexander Brandt
“Her, or the way she feels? What’s she like?” When you’re not accusing people of thinking you’re Union, or in the middle of melting down after some particularly bad weird shit. She did, after all, seem to want to offer some kind of help. Maybe he should look her up some time...
But not now. Now, Alex settles back into a comfortable stance. One leg in front of the other, back foot pointing to the side, knees bent. “I’m not sure I can see you as physically imposing. But maybe I just haven’t seen you in the right setting.” He shrugs, then grins. “Think you can remember your hands from your feet.”
Kalen Holliday"Terrifying. But, that can be a good thing when she's killing monsters with you." There is a certain undercurrent of playfulness to that, as Kalen takes a few quick steps back.
"I'm hoping to keep up for perhaps a minute, but I do know how woefully out of practice I am. I'd started training a little, but then, you know, Mindscape. I rather expect you're going to get entirely the wrong idea about how scary the Flambeau are." He does not fall into anything that looks like a proper martial arts stance. Just relaxed, arms up. But then, Kalen never really took much in the way of formal training in this regard. "I was, in a life before this one, in much better shape."
He starts to circle. The movements are unhurried. Relaxed. He is still smiling but his eyes are wary, tracking Alexander's hips and shoulders now, instead of watching his face.
Alexander Brandt“Do we all turn into terrifying people in the end?” Alexander turns to watch Kalen, equally unhurried but his smile fading. Whether that’s from concentration or something else... His arms come up, hands relaxed.
“Well, given how much time you’ve taken on this poor, squishy newcomer I think it’s only fair that I help you blow off some of that rust. How are you with a gun?”
Kalen Holliday[Dex+Brawl (try not to laugh too hard here, posting the roll first so I can tailor the post)]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 5) ( fail )
Kalen HollidayKalen laughs, although his eyes keep watching. "Oh, come, Alce. I'm like a fucking teddy bear."
And of course, of course he comes forward then. But he has been out of this a long time. He's no judge of distance anymore. Or timing. He's lost track of things that used to be reflexive. His strike skims the edge of Alexander's space, but even if Alexander doesn't move it doesn't connect.
There is a second, when he's already moving when he realizes, there is a little tug of his eyebrows toward the center and a softly muttered curse.
Alexander Brandt[Dex+Brawl. G'wan dice roller, botch on me now...]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (7, 7, 7, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 6 )
Alexander Brandt[Damage? Str(3) + 5 succs past the first -3 for the shield?]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 4, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )
Alexander Brandt[Theoretical damage, anyway - pulling punches as they're sparring.]
Kalen Holliday[And, because this is bashing - theoretical soak. Which is Stamina D=6]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (8, 9) ( success x 2 )
Alexander Brandt“Yeah, a teddy bear that can stop time and throw lightning.”
Alexander leans back a little as Kalen takes his swing, watching as he falls short. He follows Kalen’s swing with one of his own, before the other man settles back into his guard position. Possibly a little unfairly, given how out of practice Kalen appears to be. But, then, it’s one way of learning. Quite literally through hard knocks.
He seems to catch Kalen unawares and swings an almost-perfect hook at him, pulling the punch at the last moment when he realises that Kalen isn’t ready. But Alexander’s fist meets Kalen’s shield and it starts to feel like pushing through water – the energy from the movement is drained off, but not completely. He catches Kalen on the cheek, but not hard enough to actually hurt him.
“Ok, you weren’t kidding, were you. Come at me again.”
Kalen Holliday[Do we do any better this time?]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3) ( fail )
Kalen HollidayAlexander taps his face, and Kalen's smile doesn't vanish.
It fucking brightens.
"Ohhhhhhhh...I can't stop time." Pause. Breath. He tries to evaluate a proper distance this time. "You know," he says lightly. "Yet. The lightning I can do."
He starts forward, but he put Alexander into his path this time, tries to sidestep, and ends up sprawled over the ground.
Alexander Brandt“Stopping time? Been there, done that...” Alexander gives a weak smile. It really was intended as a joke, but it wasn’t the best day of his life. The smile fades completely as he thinks about the truck tyre...
He shakes his head, bringing his thoughts back to the present. Just in time to watch Kalen trip over his own feet and land on the ground. He coughs, trying to suppress the laugh that’s threatening to escape. There’s a twinkle in his eyes as he smiles, bending over to help Kalen to his feet.
Once Kalen is up, Alexander clears his throat although the smile is still there. “Stop rushing it, I’m not going anywhere. Just take a breath, take your time, then try again.”
Kalen Holliday[Okay. This time?]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 10, 10) ( success x 2 )
Kalen HollidayKalen is laughing when Alexander pulls him up, although his eyes are more serious. "Fuck. This was much easier before I started landing under buildings and falling into comas." Under all that playfulness, he's a little unnerved. There was a time when he was terrifying. Of course, he was sparring daily with Marcellus then. In addition to training with a handful of others less frequently. He expected to be off. He had not expected to be this off.
He's spent two years relying on guns and magic to survive. Mostly magic. He can manipulate probability and he can make himself practically bulletproof and he can command electricity and fire. He cannot manage to consistently hit a non-moving target with his hand.
Two years ago, that was easy.
He takes another breath and then comes at Alexander again. A touch more slowly. And this time he get the distance right.
Alexander Brandt“If you could do it once, you can do it again. I’m more than happy to help you practice, if you like. See if Grace wants to join in too. Just imagine yourself as Eleanor with a big stick, if it helps. Or get a big stick, if you think that would be better. Or maybe Alyssa in a bad mood. Why did she take a swing at you before, anyway?”
Alexander takes a step back and faces up to Kalen again. “Try to stay on your feet.”
[Leg sweep. Dex/Brawl, +1 diff]
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8) ( success x 2 )
Kalen Holliday[Dex+Ath]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 4, 10) ( success x 1 )
Kalen HollidayWhy did Alyssa take a swing at him? Kalen's smile actually widens a little at the memory of Basil. Of the Carnevale. Of warmth flooding over winter.
"Technically, she was taking a swing at someone else. There was a crowd. There were other Magi there. They...were playing a bit. Alyssa did not approve. Probably you would not either. I was...well...I was at least not in a mood to strongly protest. But I've been to places where there were similar Workings, if not quite the same and...." And those nights are a tangle of memories of the taste of strawberries and salt, of the warmth of people's skin, the lingering sense of their hair and their limbs against him. The weight of them. Their bodies and their dreams and their oceans of potential.
"I was concerned that if she hit him while we were in a crowd whose inhibitions were lowered the violence would spark off a riot. So I stepped between them. She never actually deliberately hit me.
"Well. She did throw something at me. A shoe, I think. Right after the whole coma thing. She was a little irate about that. And that whole my being a terrible friend thing. I really am kind of terrible at that. Ah. Sorry."
Stay on his feet. He's too slow, really. He isn't too slow in the end because Alexander can connect, but there is no real force left in the strike. There is a second where his eyes widen but then the Effect bleeds the force out of Alexander's sweep and he does, in the end, stay on his feet.
Paused
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