Must be a lonely night

Alexander

Winter may be the time where things die down and hibernate in nature, but since when have people let themselves be led completely by what is considered natural. Many people do take the opportunity to stay home, warm and dry and out of the snow. For others, life carries on as it did before the nights got longer and the temperatures colder.

So Union Station is still doing a reasonable business at this small hour in the morning. Clubs are still open, theatres are still putting their shows on, and alcohol still flows in the places between. Which means that people still need to make their way home once their nights draw to an end. Maybe their nights end with an awkward kiss at the doorway, and the promise of more to come. Maybe it’s with an awkward handshake and the empty promise of calling each other.

Alexander, though, started the evening alone and is ending it alone. The club he’d been to tonight had been its usual escape, a chance to drown in the thumping rhythm and flashing lights and just get lost in the crowd. A chance to be normal, really. That’s still important to him. But it’s also what’s brought him here, to a bench near the light rail lines leading out of the station. He’s had too much to drink to want to drive home, so rail seems like the next best option. The indicator boards nearby show that the trains are delayed, so possibly not.

So here is Alexander, relaxed on a bench. Bright blue combats and black boots cover his bottom half, with a thick coat covering whatever he was wearing in the club earlier. He’s got a partly filled/partly emptied bottle of water in his hands, depending on your point of view. He’s passing it between his hands, watching the water flow. His attention appears to be elsewhere.

[Sensing time. Arete, TN4. -1 taking time, we’re not in any rush.]

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

Arionna

[do I feeeeeeeeels you there?

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

Arionna

It's the clothes that make the person, some say. A woman is only a prostitute, when she assumes the role, and that role involves a certain uniform. Same might be said for any profession; policeman, professor, waitress. When the clothes are off, people become something else. Arionna is a shadow. A creature that exists to remind humanity that they are not alone, that they are never truly safe. Two hundred years ago, she would have been called something different, but the meaning ends up the same. And when the clothes of her 'role' are removed, is she no longer a shadow? Is she no longer a dark witch? Would people treat her differently if she wore something brighter?

The black coat keeps the cold out, while accenting the form that makes her noticeably female. The fake black fur, flat and sleek, presses against her neck, warming it against the occasional wind; her hair did the rest. The skirt she wore, with it's light ruffle at the end, extended down to the ankle of her heeled boots, and if she had pulled her hair up off her neck, it would have made her seem more reminiscent of another time.

The question is, why was Arionna clacking her way along the platform now? Why was the cold coming in when it could easily have gone somewhere else? Her destination may be to return home, or perhaps there is another locale she'd like to visit before the time seeps away into nothing. There are reasons, so many reasons, that she could be lingering in a space generally occupied by social creatures. The reason being...irrelevant.

The fact remained that she, with her dark lips and darkly shaded eyes, was now there, bringing with her the freezing touch of winter. Ah but were they not similar? Certainly he didn't mind the sensation. And oh how easy it was for her to know that he, too, was there. Touched, perhaps, by the need to wander. Her steps slowed, the cold air filling her senses even more than it had before. The final state of her being. The end.

Arionna came to a stop, lifting her eyes and turning her form to begin again, only this time trying to find the exact source. Like attracts like, whether one wants it or not.

Alexander

[Awareness?]

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

Alexander

[Extending, because I'd really like this to last.]

Dice: 1 d10 TN4 (1) ( success x 1 ) [WP]

Alexander

[That's 2, we're good for the scene]

Alexander

They say that everyone has their own perception of the world. There are Sleepers who happily walk around with their eyes closed. Other Sleepers make use of drugs to alter their perception of time and space. There are others, those few Awakened, who can see so much more of the world than the Sleepers can even imagine. Seeing and sensing and feeling the flow of time and space and energy. The forces of creation and decay.

It’s this stream of time that Alexander had pulled into his awareness. He sits in its flow, unable to do more than look since that first day when... Well, he’d done more than sense. He feels as the relentless flow of seconds turns into minutes and hours and days, able to count each fraction off in his mind as precisely as the digital clock on the departure board. Constant. Relentless.

There is a part of his awareness that picks up on something else, though. Something different, but not entirely unknown now. Where he seems to feel like the sliver of time between one moment and the next, frozen in the heart of a comet, this new resonance isn’t as static. This feels more like the oncoming ice age. He looks up from the bottle, or the fluid flowing around in the bottle, and tries to place its location. It’s nearby, but maybe he’s distracted, or tired, or it’s just not that strong.

Alexander sees a figure, wrapped in black, nearby. He gives a nod in greeting if their gazes happen to meet.

Arionna

They meet. Easily. Arionna is watching him as she approaches; she is not one to shy from encounters. Taking your eyes off a potential hostile, well, that's just idiotic. The cougar never lets the hunter out of its sight, if it wants to live. Though perhaps that too harsh for someone like Alex, for people like Danny and Elijah. Kalen... on the other hand...

She sits on the bench near him, though not entirely right beside. Arionna has never been very comfortable with closeness, not since she was very small. But then, the hands of people were never very kind. The bag of hers that she takes everywhere is set on the ground, and a book, notably the one from the shop, is slipped out and opened in her lap. This is the way of things. It's comfortable to have a reason to escape if she needs to, and books were perfect for that. Ignoring someone was...expected.

"You're without your companion. Must be a lonely night."

Alexander

“Lonely? Not really. It’s nice to be alone now and again, though. Or at least escape from things for a bit.”

Alexander turns in the bench to face Arionna a little more squarely, holding the water bottle in one hand and resting his head on the other, arm propped on the back of the bench. “We didn’t quite get onto introductions last night before things turned strange. I’m Alexander.” He doesn’t offer a hand, not just yet.

“How’s the book?” He nods down at it.

Arionna

"Strange. The group of you seem in need of one another. Clingy, perhaps. Dependent. " Sometimes, lately, she's wondered if she is developing the same need.

Alex turns, Ari does not. She remains as she is, the book open, her eyes fixated on the words. "It wouldn't have mattered." Because she knows how it's going to end up afterwards. They'll know her name, know to avoid her. "Arionna."

Her eyes shift slowly to look at him from behind strands of dark hair. "Not as enlightening as I had wished. Still, it's worthy of reading, as many books are. You don't seem the scholarly type."

Alexander

Alexander shrugs, quiet for a few seconds while he considers his response. “We... try to look out for each other. The world isn’t a friendly place. Especially when you see more of it that most.” He takes a closer look at Arionna, trying to guess at her age. Her resonance seems fairly simple, much like his own, and he’d seen how they get more complex as people gain in experience. “How long have you been awake for?”

I wouldn’t have mattered? Now here’s a puzzle, someone assuming he’d be lonely while seeming to try to keep people at arm’s length. On the upside, at least she doesn’t appear to want to play games. “Nice to meet you. Certainly in better circumstances than the last time.”

Alex snorts in amusement. “What gave it away? The complete lack of interest in the contents of the store? Naah, I’m not one for reading about stuff. I’d rather do it. Or at least talk to people who have.”

Arionna

"No, it's not. The world would be annoying if it were friendly. I prefer it to be cold. Makes it far more interesting." She lifted her chin to look at him fully. "I guess that depends on how you define it. How long have I known I was different? Well, then since I was very young. How long have I been willing to truly practice the art of my blood? Last year.

"Is it?" Arionna, a girl in her college years, and thus young, watches him with a dark curiosity. "Better circumstances. Is it because of the lack of the man in the shop? Or the lack of Kalen? Or maybe you prefer train stations to book stores."

"An aversion to books is common. Fewer people read than is suspected. Some things can't be done anymore. All that is left are the words of those behind us. And even those...can be scarce. You should appreciate them."

Alexander

Before he continues, Alexander glances around them. The bench he’d picked was away from the main paths people tended to use on their way to and from the platforms, but it’s good to check that nobody’s going to overhear before getting into the meatier stuff.

“Annoying? I’m not talking about your neighbours being overly nice and a little too boring. I’m talking about being able to be what you are without worrying about being bundled into the back of a black limo and never seen again. About not being killed by others like us, or worse than killed. About not getting lost in other worlds completely, getting stranded until you eventually die centuries later.” The bottle of water gets lodged between his thighs, stopping it from rolling away, and he rests his hand on the arm supporting his head. “You have been warned about this stuff, right?”

Is it? Possibly not. “I don’t know if you’ve been told, but the city has an infestation of vampires at the moment. The guy who took an interest in you? I’m pretty sure that he was one. He was some sort of walking dead anyway. So, yeah. If you count not being something’s potential prey, then yes. Circumstances are better.”

Alexander shrugs, a faint smile on his lips. “I’ve never exactly been what you’d call academically minded. It’s just not my thing. But fair play to you if it’s yours.”

Arionna

The book is slowly closed. "Is it common for you to assume that anyone who is new must have lived some rosy life? Does it play well into the hero complex that has risen in so many of you? I know what fear is, contrary to what some believe. This place, is the first place I have felt as if I may be me, in all that I am, without fear. I would very much appreciate it, if all of you would cease assuming that I come from white suburbia. "

Arionna placed her palm on the top of her book, and slipped her other hand around the spine. "But. Despite the obvious miscalculation, I'll play. The only true information, if such exists, that I've received, has been others informing me that I am wrong. That I am something to be worried for. So. Do I expect that I will be carted away in some...limo as you put it? No. Do I feel concern that others might wish to have me dead? In a manner of speaking, and I care very little for it. Am I concerned about being...lost in some other world? No. If anything, I am quite puzzled as to the depths each of you go to in order to conceal your gifts."

Arionna looked towards the tracks momentarily. "That would explain a bit of him, though now I'm only more curious."

"If not books, then what?"

Alexander

Alexander closes his eyes, rubbing his forehead. “Is it common for you to immediately try to jump down the throat of anyone trying to help you out?” He sighs and opens his eyes to look at Arionna again. “I don’t know where you come from and I wouldn’t even try to guess. But if you’re assuming that we’re all here trying to fulfil this hero complex you seem to think that we have, well that’s your opinion. But that doesn’t mean that the Union doesn’t exist. Or the Fallen. Or any other manner of unpleasant things.

“And given that you don’t understand why it’s good to be subtle, I’m going to guess that nobody’s told you about them yet? Have you had the pleasure of Paradox yet?

“I somehow doubt you’ll take this advice, but don’t go looking for him. I’ve fought one of these things and they don’t go down easily. They’re stronger than us, faster than us, and they can make you think that going home alone with them is the best idea in the world. And then? Your spirit waits to pass onto the other side, because there’s no body left for it to inhabit.”

Arionna

Her lips tighten and Ari furrows her brows. It's not anger necessarily that slides over her features, though perhaps it lingers along the edges. It's more...surprise with a little puzzlement. "...Yes. All of you treat me like an infant without regards to the concept that I existed as a person prior to our meeting." Ari looks to her book for a moment. "If it isn't that, others have found it necessary to treat me as something unsuitable to exist. Help...is a nonoccurrence."

Slowly she shook her head. "No. My teachings are my own, and what little my Aunt has given me."

"A predator rarely seeks out the predator overtly. Instead, one stalks it. Learns of it, if only to know better when to avoid their competition. I want to know more. If my safety troubles you, then you are welcome to come along. Otherwise, I am content to do as I have always done, and pursue it on my own."

She took in a deep breath and then slowly let it out. "You didn't answer my question."

Alexander

“You know,” Alexander turns again on the bench, sliding down a little, so that he’s facing forwards with his head resting on the top of the backrest. There are people on the other side of the concourse drunkenly dancing to the music one is playing from their phone, and a smile passes over his face for a moment. “I’ve had nothing but help offered here when I’ve needed it. When I’ve asked for it.” He glances at Ari briefly before going back to watching the dancing. “What you do is your choice. But if I had people trying to warn me to be careful, I’d listen to why. Maybe even ask around, learn more, and then decide. Your own experience doesn’t discount their’s, and vice versa. But that’s all up to you to decide.

“There are a few of us working it out as we go along.” He shrugs. Maybe Ari had been lucky enough to have warning that the world was about to lurch sideways when she woke up, maybe not. She’s not the only one to have done it, though. Whether that makes her feel any less alone? Well, that’s up to her.

He turns his head again, giving her a longer look. “If you want to go poking a tiger, that’s your choice. You know it’s dangerous. If you want help, it’s there if you ask. If you want to help, I’m sure you’d be appreciated. If you choose to do it alone, well. Good luck. I hope chance treats you well.”

“What did you want to know about not books? How I learn? How I spend my free time? How I prop up the coffee table?”

Arionna

"It has been my experience, that when someone offers kindness, there is always a dagger behind their back. No one is ever really kind unless it suits them to be so. No one ever really offers help, unless there is a benefit for them. This is particularly true if one isn't the sort to conform. " She might have even said it gets lonely after awhile, but then she's always felt at least a little alone. But no, she'll keep that bit to herself. It would mean admitting vulnerability, and Ari isn't willing to let that out. Asking for help is much the same way. Admitting defeat; saying that she can't do it on her own. And why can't she?

"I have always found it strange that none of you seem to be practicing as I do. Well, Kiara is...similar I suppose, though watered down as it may be. It's a curious thing. Perhaps you're just better at hiding it."

"Sometimes, the most ecstatic feeling comes from 'poking a tiger.' When one has to rely on their own wit, test their own abilities. When you come out at the end, it only serves to show how much you can accomplish. Though, don't you want to know what an undead finds interesting? If something is to, by definition, defy natural law, are you not curious to know what defines their person?"

Arionna let out a sudden burst of laughter, then promptly extinguished it. "All three." Lifting her hand from her book to slip a strand of hair behind her ear, using the moment to let her fingers pull back down and press into the corner of her lips.

Alexander

Alexander turns his head again to look at Ari, although this time he doesn’t turn back to watch the dancers. Not yet, anyway. “Then you win on the shitty past stakes. Why do you think your Aunt helped you? Or why Wesley got Grayson away from you? What was in it for them? And what do you think I’m hoping to get out of you for offering you this advice?”

He shrugs when Ari says it’s strange nobody really works in the same way. “I just do what works for me.” He pauses for a second, lifts up the bottle of water in one hand, then tilts it side to side to get the water inside moving. He raises his other hand and taps on its end in perfect time with the seconds ticking away on the clocks in the concourse. The clocks he isn’t even looking at. “I guess it’s all to do with how you see the world. I see time as something fluid, so having something fluid to focus on makes it easier for me to see it. Your milage may very well vary.” He shrugs again, putting the bottle back down again. “I’m not trying to hide anything. It’s more that I can’t really do anything that is particularly obvious. I know some of the others could throw fire and lightning around, but reality doesn’t like that. And neither do the reality police. You might want to ask Grace about them, if you’ve bumped into her yet.”

“There’s testing your limitations, and there’s knowing what’s beyond them. At the moment, at least. I can’t stop the flow of time, but I know that I’ll be able to one day. I don’t know if I really care why they do what they do. I’ve seen some of the results of their feeding. They’re dangerous, they kill, and most people don’t even know that they exist, let alone have a chance of stopping them.”

The joke had had its intended effect, if briefly. He gives Ari a smile before turning back to watch the people on the concourse. “In no particular order: I do. I try things. I listen to others. And the coffee table stands fine on its own legs. I guess I’m not one for staying indoors much, so reading was never really a thing for me. I run, hike, climb, shoot, dance. And, on rare occasions, do karaoke. You?”

Arionna

"I'm certain that my aunt did it for herself. Something doesn't precisely feel right about everything with her. But there is little to be done. " She glanced to Alex again. "Well, if we assume that Wesley is in the know of Grayson, then perhaps he didn't wish to sully his store. Would be terrible if it acquired a terrible reputation. It's not often that motivations are obvious. If an individual truly wants to hide what they really believe, then they'll go to great lengths to do so. Effective strategies are rarely quick and blunt."

"And how was it that you learned? You've made it obvious you don't read, so you musn't have learned it from witches before you." Ari looked to the raila gian. "I have met Grace. We do not agree. Though I don't understand your use of 'reality' or the concept of 'reality police.' I suppose they are the equivalent of puritans, witch burners perhaps? Those that find magic to be...abhorrent?"

She shifted a little so that she could see him eithout turning her head completely to the side. "I enjoy the woods. Where I grew up, there were many behind my home. I could venture into them whenever I wanted. I enjoy watching birds, and other creatures. I've never danced, but I find ballroom dancing to be lovely." Arionna tilted her head a little. "Mostly I read, study. People watch. I suppose I'm not nearly as active as you are."

Alexander

“I guess that’s one possibility. But there’s bleach and canvas and plenty of reservoirs and caves where a body wouldn’t be found in a very long time. And that’s assuming that you didn’t suddenly think he was the most enthralling man in existence and want to slip away with him for a little light supper. If you really want to go down that line, then maybe I’m trying to help you because someone helped me. I’m paying off a debt. But, then, I’d do it again, and again, well beyond any debt has been paid off. Being awake and alone is a shitty place to be in. I’m not doing this because I want anything from you, beyond possibly you paying it on to someone else. I’m not trying to con you, here. I’m a lousy liar.

“I’m not exactly formally taught. I remember how things felt when I woke up and I found tools that fit in with how I see things. Sera and Kalen helped me out at the start, but other things I’ve worked out on my own.” He smiles at that, remembering really seeing the wind for the first time. “Much like you said, I’m prodding the universe and seeing what I can accomplish.”

“Reality. Ok, this might take a bit of explaining. You know the guy who said the world was round when everyone else was convinced it was flat? I mean, the ground is flat, maps are flat, they’d never gone all the way around it. So it must be flat. Right? Then this guy comes along saying, naaah – it’s round. That’s reality. Most people who haven’t woken up think the world works in a particular way, so that’s how the world behaves. Then we come along and say naaah, we should be able to throw a ball of fire clean across the platforms. We can, but everyone else doesn’t believe it. So it gets harder and the bit of reality we try to change fights back. And that’s where paradox comes in. Do something too showy, or just have a run of bad luck, and the universe will beat you with a big stick.

“The reality police... The Union? Technocracy? Any of that sound familiar? They don’t think that people should be allowed to mess about with magic and risk destroying reality. So they... Well, from what I’ve been told so far, they usually make people who try disappear. Grace had a friend who vanished. There’s someone else roaming around who’s father disappeared. They’re more your puritans. Most sleepers would struggle to believe in the first place.”

Alexander smiles again – they seem to be finding something in common, at least, and he does love the forests and the mountains. “You’ll love this place then. You need to travel a bit to get out of the city, but when you do... There’s just about everything you could ask for. Plains to the east, mountains to the west, and forests and rivers and lakes all over the place. Go check out Red Rocks, if you haven’t seen it.”

dust motes

.-*****

dust motes

[Sorry. Some cats just jumped on some keyboards.]

Arionna

Arionna is quiet, listening to his words and yes... he's right in some areas. If they assumed that this man was what he was, and that he was dangerous, certainly there would be methods... still her curiosity is there, and she would like to know more about something that...days ago, she didn't even know existed. Witches? Certainly. Undead? Not so much.

He asks her if any of the reality business is familiar and Ari gives a soft shake of her head. She's never heard of these people. She doesn't know about anyone who would be frightened by 'breaking reality.' The thought seems a bit obscene to her. If they believed magic would break it, then it made little sense as to why it existed in the first place. Gods were prone to magical fits. It was simply... normal to her. Ah but that was the point wasn't it?

Her chin dips and Ari gives him a small nod. "I've been to the mountain. My...understanding...awaking, at you call it, was there. That the concept of my humanness is really..a lie in the end. There is no difference between myself and what exists beyond the city. Unfortunately time is scarce as of late."

Alexander

“There’s other stuff that you should probably know about, if you don’t already. Not to make you scared, just so that you know that there are other things going bump in the night that are best avoided, run away from or, failing that, shot repeatedly.” Any humour in his voice falls cold at that last point. Maybe something he’s had experience of? He coughs, clearing his throat. “Either way, admitting that you don’t know things isn’t really a weakness is it. Not if knowledge and the ability to make a decision with it is a strength?”

Alexander glances up as one of the display boards finally changes from Delayed to showing an arrival time. “I’d tell you more, but I’m tired and it’s late and I need to get some sleep.” With that, he pushes himself up from the bench, turning to Ari before he disappears towards the platforms.

“Give the others a chance, you know? They’re a decent bunch, and we’ve helped each other out a few times over the past few months. Everyone has their own stories to tell, if you care to hear them. Most will be happy to talk over this stuff, if you want to. And if you want to tell you own stories? People will want to listen. If you don’t?” He shrugs again. “That’s your choice.”

Arionna

Arionna slides her gaze away from him and towards the ground. It wasn't the admitting she didn't know that was the trouble...it was asking for someone to teach her. Aunt Lil had forced it into her life, it was never asked for. Self sufficiency, to Arionna, was merely a fact of life. There hadn't been anyone else to rely on.

Late. It's late for him. Ari looks up slowly to see the time. Late for him, but perfect timing for her. A time of strength and power. He would sleep, and she would venture home to read a bit more, to try and tease out the way the gods preferred her magic. Appeasing such beings was never easy, it seemed. She leaned over to slide her book in her bag, reaching into a pocket for a pen. She reached out a hand slowly, pausing to reconsider the mere concept of what she was about to do, and then she reached for his hand and leaned in, carefully scrawling her number out in neat, careful writing. "Perhaps, when next you consider hiking, you might call. "

Arionna leaned back, lightly cradling one hand in the other momentarily, then slipped the pen back. "It isn't always what I am willing to do, but I will consider your words. That's all I can offer." He was leaving, and Ari...well, her train wouldn't be far behind. With the bag hoisted up and bag against her hip, she looked at him. "Should you give in and wish to try a book, well, I can lend some of my less complicated. I'm sure you'll enjoy Clifford." There's a small quirk of her lips into a smile, and then it fades.

Alexander

Alex catches the moment of contemplation before he was given Ari’s number. He’d considered doing the same, but wasn’t – quite – ready to offer that connection just yet. With the way the tides of chance push their kind together, it wouldn’t have been long before they met again. But this solves that issue, at least for the moment. He smiles, taking the paper and slipping it into a pocket. “I’ll give you a yell. It’s nice to have company. And some conversation.”

He smiles at the offer of the easier reading material. “Never heard of him. As I say, I’m not really one for reading for fun. But never say never, and all that.

“Nice talking with you, Arionna.” With that, he gives a half-bow and turns to find his train.

A short time later, Arionna's phone will buzz with a text message from Alex. She has his number - of his disposable, burner phone anyway.