Kalen called Sid and asked her to meet him. He seems slightly amused that she has things like schedules, but offers to come downtown to meet her as though he can be anywhere at anytime.
Well, he basically can be, as long as he doesn't need to be in two places at once. But as soon as he can figure out how....
He's waiting for her in the pub, already having secured a corner booth and coffee. It is in a glass that indicates it might be laced with whiskey and covered in whipped cream. Of course, there is space for people to join them. Denver Mages flock in public in unexpected and interesting ways.
It's going to make ever having a date interesting. Oh, wait, who does formal dating? Not Kalen.
So, yes. Waiting.
Sid Weston[awareness because that's what she do: percept (paranoid) + awareness]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 4, 4, 7, 7, 7, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 6 ) Re-rolls: 3
Kalen Holliday[Oh. Dice. Nightmares!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (2, 2, 4, 7, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )
Kalen Holliday[Awareness]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7) ( success x 4 )
Alexander Brandt[And to get Alex's out of the way - Per/Aware]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 7, 8) ( success x 2 )
Sid WestonIf Kalen had called her last week he might have had a better chance of getting Sid to meet with him whenever. Maybe. She'd been in an unsteady place last week, what with reclaiming her given name, unlocking the chains on the doors leading to her personal Ascension, and going on a quest for spiritual and magical enlightenment. And there was - and still is - the recent heartbreak.
Today the only obstacle to getting her out into the world is work, which she has been going to ever since Monday even though the place sits even less well with her than it had before she ventured east. She welcomed the chance to step away from it to meet with Kalen, and plus she's curious. They don't really hang, those two, which isn't a product of unpleasantness of a disliking of each other. They just...haven't.
She enters the bar dressed in fitted jeans tucked into knee-high black boots, a dark blue button-down shirt, and a black leather jacket. Her long red hair has been left down to spill over her shoulders.
She feels Kalen long before she even opens the door, so there's no searching around for him once she's in. Her eyes go directly toward his place and her eyes, dark brown behind a pair of black glasses, warm. Her awareness spread far and wide today, she picks up on others not far from them. Perhaps Lena is getting coffee from a Starbucks three blocks over, or maybe Shoshannah has made her way to Tattered Cover. Maybe she picks up on someone new. Sid keeps them in mind and she goes to meet the Hermetic.
"Hey," she greets, removing her bag and shrugging out of her jacket, draping both over the back of her chair. The sleeves of her shirt are rolled up so that anyone who happens to catch the flash of her pale left arm as she shifts it can see black ink inside of it and maybe a long, straight scar on the outside of her forearm.
Sid Weston[Resonance: Kalen, and Alexander when they get there, get a sense of frantically reaching searching go go go! [desperate] intertwined with a sense of bright, boundless happiness [euphoric]. There is a sense of strength, an ability to stand on one's own [empowered], and something greenish, like the cast of the light has changed or there's a whiff of plantlife on the wind [verdant].
Kalen HollidayKalen's attention focuses when he senses Sid. It is Sid. But it is on levels that most people cannot grasp Sid transformed. She makes his coffee taste like it has deeper hues of rich earth and oak leaves, this new Sid. And she tastes like eternity. Fortunately, Kalen is on relatively good terms with eternity.
Anyone who can sense them...storms raging over some primal forest in this bar...leaves and raindrops dancing...this place may not be terribly crowded today.
Sid-transformed sits down across from him and he meets her eyes, now full of something ageless and knowing, and he smiles. "Well, first, congratulations. Buy you a drink? Or, at this hour, possibly brunch? Both is a valid answer."
Sid WestonShe is not quite all the way into her seat when Kalen offers his congratulations. Sid pauses, looks at him with brows raised and dark eyes a little wider. Makes it easier to see the faint circles beneath them, along with the curiosity and a sense of weight. Not a heavy one, but one that's there just the same.
She forgets sometimes that others don't have her lack of training. She'd picked up on the change in Sera but didn't know what it meant. Kalen picks it up in her and does. The corners of her mouth lift in a faint but warm and perhaps a little sad smile, and she sits.
"Thanks," she says quietly. "Coffee for now is good," she adds. "Though who knows. There were bagels in the office, but," her eyes lift up and she takes in the atmosphere of the pub before coming to rest on Kalen again, "this place seems like it'll have something more filling." There is amusement in her tone.
"How are you?"
Kalen Holliday"Normal human coffee, or 'I don't care about when I drink, I want my coffee with whiskey in it and maybe whipped cream' coffee?" He smiles. "However you like. I will order you coffee with shots of raspberry vodka topped with whipped cream and pink sprinkles if you want. Though I don't hold much hope they have the pink sprinkles. And personally...I'd recommend always liqueur over flavored vodka, but it's your coffee. Do what you want." His tone says amused, but his eyes are serious. It probably isn't about the advocating raspberry liqueur over raspberry flavored vodka.
"I'm having an interesting week. But on the whole...good. You?"
Alexander BrandtSomewhere nearby, Alexander is making his way through the tourist crowds who have come to explore Downtown. The office wage slaves are all beavering away at their desks, doing whatever it is they do to keep the rent, the bills, the addictions paid for. That just means the streets are busy, rather than completely crowded. Still new to the city, he’s learning his way around. There’s no specific destination in mind, but there is a folded up map for tourists sticking out of his jacket pocket. A pair of comfortable boots, brown combats, white t-shirt and, as the sun has decided to make an appearance, a pair of sunglasses.The sky looks beautifully clear.
Perhaps if it had only been Kalen, he may have missed the stormy sensation and carried on walking by. But mixed with the desperate euphoria and empowered verdancy, it carries into the street and attracts Alexander’s curiosity. He enters and walks up to the bar, sliding the sunglasses up onto the top of his head. He looks round, at the layout of the bar and trying to see where the familiar and new resonances are coming from. Whether it’s being caught in ice or just in the moment, there’s a new feeling of frozen in the room.
Sid WestonSid only wanted coffee with maybe some cream, but Kalen suggests coffee with alcohol. Coffee with whiskey or coffee with flavored vodka and-or coffee with sprinkles? Could that be a thing? Sid considers it, elbow resting on the table so her crooked index finger can tap against her mouth.
"That sounds really good, actually. With the shot of raspberry vodka," she clarifies. Yes, it is a work day, and yes, she's due back when she's done here for this 'meeting' she skipped out to do, but honestly what would one drink hurt? She hates being an office admin, and once her paperwork - her degrees, her old life braided in with her current one - is in order she's going to quit, anyway.
Kalen turns her question back on her, as she assumed he might. A year ago she wouldn't have asked him at all for just that reason. Not all that long ago she would have deflected, or given him a true but vastly downplayed answer. Today, she stares at him with those strange almost animal eyes, warm and intelligent and eternal, and she answers in the truest way she has answered anyone since...well since last week. But it's the first time her honesty is given to someone who is not Jim Thompson.
Mouth quirked upward at the side, she says, "My boyfriend dumped, and when I went home to take care of some things I found out my mom died." Something cold and frozen is making its way closer to the pub, but since it doesn't feel like drowning and it doesn't feel like something cracking the world in half it can't belong to Eleanor. "That's," she says, brows coming together slightly, "not the reason for the alcohol, though. In spite of that, I'm surprisingly...okay."
The frozen one enters the pub, a feeling of frost spreading across the walls and over the floor and tries to cover her skin. But Sid is warm, she is always warm, the cold cannot touch her heart. Sid's head lifts with a deerlike grace, tilts to the side first as though she's listening for something. Then she turns finally to look at the bar and the man standing there.
"Do you know him?" she asks Kalen.
Kalen HollidayDenver has changed them both.
Kalen reaches over to lay one hand over one of hers and squeezes. Once. She isn't crying and she seems, even considering what she just told him, perhaps better than he has ever seen her. "We so very rarely find ourselves in peaceful times." Whether he is speaking of finding oneself in some spiritual sense or just the general range of chaos is hard to tell.
"That," he says, leaning over the table and dropping his voice a little, even though no one is particularly close to them anyway, "Is Alexander. Just Awakened. Sera's been working with him thus far."
He straightens up a little and waves to Alexander, then looks back to Sid. "You should meet him." And that statement...that statement has some emphasis. He specifically wants them to meet. Not just for the new Mage to meet some other Mages.
But then he's flagging down a server for Sid's coffee and for whatever Alexander wants, because he is greeted with Kalen giving him the same offer he gave Sid. Drinks. Brunch. Whatever. He just needs to tell the nice server before they vanish. And any traces of whatever serious thing Sid is here for in his expression, and despite the fact that he is being relaxed about it there is definitely something serious going on here, vanishes for a few moments.
Alexander BrandtFrom the bar, the booth is tucked away a little and not so easy to see into. But it’s where the resonance is coming from, so Alexander moves along a little so he can get a better view. With nobody behind the bar at the moment, hopefully it looks like he’s just trying to find someone to order from. At this time of the morning, the owners know there won’t be too many people coming through the door so there are fewer staff around.
The first person he sees there is Sid, someone completely new to him in the city. With the unfamiliar face, he almost decides to head back out – he’s not usually so shy, but too much weirdness has landed in his lap in such a short space of time that he really want to invite more. But then Kalen’s face comes around the edge of the booth and Alexander changes his mind. He can at least say hello, especially as he’s being waved at.
“Hi, Kalen,” he says when he gets to the side of the table. “I wasn’t expecting to bump into you again so soon. How are you doing after..” a pause, trying to decide how to word the rest of the sentence. “After the other afternoon.” There’s a smile for Sid, and a black coffee is ordered.
Sid WestonKalen places his hand over hers - Sid's hands are so very warm, like she's already had them wrapped around a cup of hot coffee for twenty minutes and the heat's sunk into her skin - and she twists her wrist so that her palm faces up. Wrapping her fingers around his hand, she gives a squeeze back, and she smiles at him a little. Denver has changed them, and this moment is a glimpse of it. She doesn't release his hand unless he lets go first. Contact is comfort, and for Sid a hand held is as good as a hug most days.
So, the new guy. It's easier to look out from the booth than it is to see into it, and when Alexander peers around to find the source of resonance he'll find a quiet, pale-skinned redhead with glasses staring straight at him. Sid looks away, from Kalen and back to Alexander, a man she should meet, and for something more than getting a newcomer further enmeshed in the Denver chapter of Awakened society.
He comes over when he's waved at and Sid quietly watches his progress as he threads through the tables and empty chairs between the bar and the booth. Her things are on the bench seat beside her, between her hip and the wall, and she's seated closer to the edge of the booth than the center. She does not move to invite the stranger down next to her. His smile is returned with a studious expression.
Alexander mentions something about another afternoon, and the sort of hesitant way that it comes out piques Sid's curiosity. She looks at Kalen. "The other afternoon?"
Kalen HollidayKalen moves over a bit so there is more space for Alexander, not taking his hand from Sid's in the process. If she wants contact, he's hardly going to deny her that.
He smiles at Alexander. "I'm good. Sera fixed it with tequila." And Mind magic lullabies, but he doesn't mention that part. He glances around, determines no one is near enough for it to matter, and continues, "So, you are both getting congratulatory coffees. His is for managing to make his Awakening and his first time getting dragged through the Avatar Storm happening within a week of each other somehow not leaving him cowering in a corner somewhere." He gives Sid a half smile. "Possibly a story for later, unless Alexander wants to tell you his first Awakened war story. Everyone's alright. All the things that needed to happen happened. Nothing to worry about."
"Ah, Alexander, this is Sid. Sid, Alexander."
Alexander BrandtAlexander takes of his jacket, hanging it on the edge of the booth as he slides into the space made by Kalen. The mention of Sera and Tequila gets a smile and a snort of amusement. “Tequila, she makes everything better. Or at least stop you caring about it, anyway.” Then there’s a blush..? He looks down at the table, as Kalen talks about things that Alexander isn’t sure if he wants to brush under the carpet and ignore, or embrace and dive into. The meeting with Leonhard on the mountain certainly wasn’t a big selling point for Awakened life.
“I’m glad it’s all sorted now,” comes the reply though. “Was that pretty normal for what goes on behind the scene around here, then?” Where does retrieving the remains of an Archmage and helping a Sending regain some of its identity come in the grand scheme of things, anyway?” Alexander looks up to Sid, giving something in the way of an explanation. “Kalen, Sera, and... Grace, was it? The four of us got dragged Elsewhere to learn the secrets of an old Chorister Archmage. Only he was already dead when his spirit, I guess, left to get back into the real world to find someone.”
He holds out a hand in greeting as Kalen finishes the introductions. “Nice to meet you.”
Sid WestonSid finally offers a faint smile to Alexander when Kalen offers introductions. When he sits she shifts where she sits, angling her legs so there's no risk of knees bumping, and sliding her feet so her heels bump against the wood of the booth. And yet she maintains that hold on Kalen. If he's not letting go, she's not letting go until she absolutely has to. The contact isn't intimate, their fingers aren't laced together and neither runs a thumb over the back of the other's hand, but it's not exactly casual, either.
She should tell Alexander that he doesn't have to talk about it if it makes him uncomfortable. But while Sid is not the woman she was a year ago when the Denver Magi first started climbing out of the woodwork around her - terrified of strangers to the point of shyness - she is quiet on most first meetings, perferring to listen and observe before interacting more. There have been exceptions, but that's generally how it goes with her.
So she listens to Kalen explain why Alexander is being congratulated and she listens to what happened the other afternoon, attentive and thoughtful and quiet. Then she's a little more thoughtful. Where does that rank on the scale?
Her expression smooths, and she gives him an empathetic smile. "In the grand scheme of things that sounds sort of...pleasant." Finally, she releases Kalen's hand to take the one offered by Alexander. Her own is soft, smooth, and warmer than it could be from simply holding someone's hand for a while. "Congratulations, Alexander."
Alyssa Solomon[[Magedar!]]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (6, 7, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 5 )
Kalen HollidayKalen blinks when Sid refers to that as sort of pleasant. "It...." And then his mind catches up to Umbrood spirits trying to take over the world and the Hydra virus and he sighs. "Yeah. Actually. Your life just got really interesting. It isn't all bad. You'll never be bored. Sometimes you get to save the world." He. Isn't. Even. Joking.
He grins at Sid. "Speaking of which, and now that you're both here I can do this with both of you together." He looks at Alexander, so excited that his pale green eyes are practically glowing. There is, even more stongly, the sense of the air just before lightning strikes. "So...half of what I say is totally going to be nothing you're prepared for. That's okay. Ask about anything.
"The things you absolutely need to know to understand is that we gather into groups called cabals to do things. They're lasting groups, most often. And we have larger groups that are more like factions and they get along as swimmingly as you'd expect given the course of human history. Just imagine knowing you're right and having phenomenal cosmic power. It's a special kind of politics. That I mostly want to punch in the face. But...in some ways, I do conform exactly in ways you might expect." He smiles. At least Sid knows why he'd say it. Poor Alexander. Sid is direct and conversation with Kalen when he isn't half asleep takes sudden leaps from pint to point like lightning.
He looks back to Sid. Grins again. "Save the world with me?" And with those luminous eyes and that grin it is perhaps the least orchestrated expression Sid has ever seen on him. "And Alyssa. We're forming a cabal. For saving the world. And punching politics in the face. I'd say metaphorically, but it's me and Alyssa. We're probably going to do it literally at some point."
His attention bounces back to Alexander. "And you too, I think. I'm rarely wrong about these things, but I suppose it's possible you may want to run screaming in the opposite direction."
Alyssa SolomonAlyssa Solomon has many reasons for being at a pub in mid-morning. Sometimes she meets clients at such places, and sometimes she just wants a drink this early. Sometimes she's looking for a greasy breakfast of the non-breakfast variety. Today could be any of those things.
It could be, but it's not. No, today Alyssa just happens to be walking by the pub. That tips off the Awakened inside, with that taste of coppery stickiness on the tip of your tongue and the rustle of feathered wings at the edge of your hearing. Alyssa is particularly attuned this morning and she picks up...
Well now. That's interesting. She knows the storm, and she knows what she thinks is Sid...but there's something more there. Different. And the frozen chill is something entirely new for her. She can't pass that up, so the door opens and the outline of Alyssa can be seen in the light that comes in from outside. She's dressed in a pair of slacks, a men's dress shirt and a black longcoat, her makeup light except for the lipstick which is black with a swath of neon green blended into the center. It matches her hair color for the day.
The occultist gives a look around the place, although she already knows where the Resonance is coming from. It's more of a general scan for what else might be in here. And once she's done that, she puts a half-quirked grin on her face and saunters on over on thick-soled heels.
"You know, a girl's not even safe to walk down the street anymore without running into miscreants in a pub. Howdy ho."
Alexander BrandtConsidering that first day, with the bad dream, the bad luck, the ice, and the truck... Yeah, he supposes it was almost pleasant. Apart from the fear, the feeling of being powerless, passing through the Avatar Storm... “Well I guess it feel nice helping that poor thing out. So maybe pleasant is as good a word as any. Although I do wonder where it went, how it’s getting on.” He shrugs, mainly resigned to never knowing but still having a glowing need to know. “And thanks. I think. Still figuring that part out,” he says in reply to Sid’s congratulations.
Kalen lays out the invitation to join a cabal. He thinks for a moment, scratching something dried from the top of the table. “Those big groups, those are the Traditions? I’m not in one, so I’m not sure about joining any kind of cabal. At least not until I’ve worked things out more in my head.”
Decided if he’s going to embrace his Awakened side. Decided if any of the Traditions are for him. Decided if Seattle really wasn’t all that bad.
Another stranger walks up to the table and greets everyone. Alexander looks up at her, a little uncomfortable with the change in atmosphere in the bar that comes with her resonance, but stays silent – assuming the others know her, and will introduce them.
Sid WestonSid has seen more than just the umbrood, has done more than suffer from and cure an incredibly deadly (and dangerously targeted) virus. There were the Nephandi, the widderslainte girl, a warehouse full of the cremated ashes of an entire cabal of Mages. She's been locked in a motel room for days with fellow refugees. She's faced dangerous, malicious Mages at random, and she used to work in retail. Putting someone to rest almost sounds like a vacation by comparision.
So when Alexander says that maybe pleasant is as good a word as any, Sid diverts her attention to keep from giving him an enfuriatingly knowing look with a possibly sympathetic smile. He doesn't need to see that, because maybe he'll be lucky. He'll experience what he'll experience. All in good time.
Kalen may or may not realize it, but Alexander isn't the only one he's educating about the forming of cabals. Sid has been Awakened for a few years, but she was on her own for most of that time. She knows what they are, of course. And of course she knows about factions. But she listens to the Hermetic with her hands folded before her until a waitress arrives with drinks. Sid's is coffee with a shot of raspberry vodka, smothered in whipped cream melting from the heat, and covered in chocolate (not pink, unless they are pink and chocolate) sprinkles. She hasn't ordered food yet, but she might.
She's holding the mug between her palms, looking at the swirl of the whipped cream but looking up suddenly when she realizes Kalen is looking at her. Then her brows lift in surprise. She lets out a quiet breath of a laugh, she knows how likely it is the metaphor could become literal.
Sid senses Alyssa's presence first, has probably been feeling it for some time [6 suxx on awareness, yo!]. As with Alexander's foreign resonance, though, she hasn't paid it any mind because it wasn't coming in their direction. Now that it is her attention is pricked, and she turns to look at the door before it even opens, letting in that blood-winged angel. Then it does and there she is, Alyssa Solomon, the woman Sid has only met a couple of times but who has said she likes the Verbena witch. She lifts her hand to the woman, more than likely needlessly. Three Mages at a table together. They don't exactly disappear into the background.
She returns her attention to the table, giving Alexander a curious look. "You might not ever be in one. A Tradition, that is. You don't have to be, it's not a requirement or anything. If I were you," she stops, frowns, gives a small shake of her head. Goes a different way. "You should consider reversing those priorities. We do better when we band together here." Back to Kalen, "Let me think about it."
Kalen HollidayKalen's grin widens as he senses Alyssa. "Angel! We had just had a conversation involving both of us deliberately disarming ourselves and you were an easier sell on this. Of course, I may have been too tired to be overwhelming at the time."
He looks back to Alexander. "And this is Alyssa." There is a pause as he considers Alexander, and despite his playful greeting with Alyssa, his eyes are still serious. "She's right about that. You don't have to sign any contracts in blood or anything, you can try it and then go. You can think about it and then do whatever you want. But right now, you need someone to teach you. You've crossed a threshold that attracts attention, you're not going to have an easy time of it if you don't join up with someone. I'd be more cautious about what Tradition I joined than what cabal. I'll help you regardless, and I'm sure we all will, but trust me...you need someone. Probably more than one of them. And from what I know of her, and of you, Sera will do everything she can for you, but she's not the only kind of help you might need."
His attention slides back to Sid. "Of course. I had rather expected you would want to think about it. And likely discuss it a bit. With the context and everything though...I just couldn't help it. We weren't really sure we were what you wanted, but we thought rather than trying to figure it out and then maybe offer, we'd just let you decide."
Sid Weston[shh everybody just shhh: manip+subt (hidden emotions)]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 6 ) Re-rolls: 1
Sid WestonThen Alyssa's at the table and Sid offers her a smile but-- ah. Kalen knew she'd want to think about it and rather than try to figure her out he and Alyssa thought they'd go to her and just.
Oh.
Sid looks at Kalen then, her expression not a whit different from one moment to the next when she says, "I'm in." Just like that.
Alyssa SolomonAlyssa is thoroughly used to people feeling uncomfortable around her. Let's face it; her Resonance isn't exactly the most comforting sense. And this is when she's in a good mood; wait until she's really pissed off at the feathered wings become leathery and batlike. So Alexander's discomfort isn't so strange to her and doesn't put her off, although she doesn't apologize or give a sympathetic look either. She makes no apologies for who and what she is. If Alexander happens to glance at any of the mirrored surfaces that may be in here--behind the bar, perhaps, or even in silverwear or the like--he might just note that Alyssa doesn't show up. It's like looking at Dracula in a mirror, which probably isn't helped by the goth look.
Sid waves, and Alyssa gives her a little nod as she approaches. And then Kalen does introductions for Alyssa and Alexander's sake. She picked up on the conversation as she came up, of course. Not to mention what's come up after. She reaches out and extends a hand to Alexander. "Nice to meet you. Kalen's told me a little about you. And far be it for me to intrude on a convo, but what they said. I grew up from literally as far back as I can consciously remember thinking I was going into one Tradition, and then ended up in the polar opposite. The point is, you'll end up where you're meant to."
Whether Alex takes her hand or not, she moves to take a seat once that pleasantry is finished with. Kalen gets a chuckle, the goth private investigator pulling the bright green hair back over her shoulder. "Well, to be fair, you still might get hit. You realize I haven't decided on that part of it yet. But that's no reason not to partner up, you know?"
Then Sid says she's in, just like that. Alyssa arches a paited brow, and looks back at Kalen. "You know I'm going to take credit for that, right? She didn't say yes until I walked up, so it was clearly all my doing."
Alexander BrandtOne thing that did stick with Alexander after that afternoon in the mountains was “don’t be alone”. Whatever happens, wherever things head in the future, it’s good advice. If he is going to learn, develop, or at the very least avoid jumping into holes into the Umbra, he is going to need people who know what they’re doing. Well, know more than he does about what they’re doing. Trying the metaphysical equivalent of sticking things in electrical sockets to see what happens doesn’t seem like the greatest way to maintain a decent life expectancy. But, on the other hand, these are people he barely knows. Kalen says there’s the option of trying it out and walking away if it doesn’t work out. It is tempting. He seems like a pretty decent guy. But who else will there be..?
To Kalen: “I’d be lying if I said it didn’t appeal. Who else are you asking to join this cabal of yours? I think I’d need to know everyone a little better, and get a better idea of what’s involved before I sign on any dotted lines. And it’s probably fair to say you need to see if I’ll fit in, too. Unless you have a particular place for a clueless new guy.” There’s a self-deprecating shrug. “Let me think about it.”
Alexander does take the offered hand and shakes it, “Nice to meet you.” After she explains her experience with the Tradition, he replies, “I’d heard you would be a good person to talk to about staying unaligned. Would you be up for talking about it some time?”
Sid WestonAlyssa needs a place to sit. With Kalen and Alexander on the other side of the booth, that would put her next to Sid, who slides off the bench and rises so that Alyssa can sit between the Verbena and the wall.
"It was half your doing," Sid replies with a slight smile as she sits back down again beside the Hollow One.
She slides her coffee over before her and takes a cautious sip. One never knows how these culinary experiments are going to work out, but it seems this one does. She takes a drink and sets her mug down again, listening to the others discuss dotted lines with a look of quiet disdain. But she's not an expert on the thing, so she keeps quiet.
At least until Alexander mentions staying unaligned. He's talking to Alyssa, but it's the redhead who feels like a desperately growing, joyful forest.
"Being unaligned has it's good and bad points. I was an Orphan for years." A sudden pause, a slight tightening of her expression, and some of the heaviness that seems to be weighing on her becomes a little heavier. She clears her throat, and continues. "You can learn a lot from the outside, but there are people won't stop treating you like an outsider.
"Which," she stops in the process of holding out her mug toward Kalen, offering it to him to try with a look, "doesn't really happen here. You won't be left out of the loop unless you choose to be, and," she smiles a little, because she's usually (though not always) the one reaching out to keep everyone informed of things that are happening, "sometimes you won't have a choice about it. If it's in regards to your safety, anyway."
Kalen HollidaySid gets a smile when she says she's in, and that is pure unreserved joy. Kalen doesn't bother to hide happiness. Not right now, anyway.
"Wellllllllllllll...." Kalen purrs at Alyssa. "If you weren't a fucking megalomaniac you wouldn't get all up in my face and threaten to punch me, and then where would we be?" He grins again. "Oh. Right. With me as some kind of horrible tyrant...."
"Just us, for now." And even if he is still smiling at least he knocks off the affected purr when he addresses Alexander. "Later, maybe more, but these are generally smaller groups. And we'd want to figure out how we work a little, I think, before we started dragging in the whole world." The smile fades a bit. "I was trained by two of us from different Traditions, one of them Sera's, for a couple years after I Awakened and before I started training with the Tradition I ended up in. And, unlike the rest of the Order...I highly recommend it."
He reaches out to try Sid's coffee, then hands it back to her. "Yes. Perfect. I'd claim brilliance, but I know someone else who does that to her coffee. Complete with pink sprinkles and that sparkley purple sugar. Also, she flavors the whipped cream with lemoncello. It is the most ridiculous coffee ever, but actually amazing. I should get her recipe for you."
When he looks back to Alexander though, his expression it totally serious. "I didn't pick out a clueless new guy. I picked you out when dragged into an Umbral realm with no idea what was going and no idea if you could even fight it you decided your place was between a spirit and Sera. I don't care what you know. We can teach you that. I care what you are."
Sid Weston[edit: but it's the redhead who feels like a desperately growing, joyful forest who answers.]
Alexander BrandtThings... actually aren’t sounding quite as bad as they did at the start of the day. It seems Alexander has more freedom and opportunity than he really realised before, and people apparently see more potential in him than he’s seeing at the moment. And it’s not like anyone’s asking for body parts of first born as payment for joining these guys, or splitting in the future. Kalen’s enthusiasm is quite contagious, and he is tempted – very tempted – to accept there and then. He already seems like a really decent guy, but it’s just the other two... It’s one thing to be dragged somewhere and make the best of a situation. But when there’s a chance to test the waters before jumping in with both feet...
“Give me time. It’s been an absolutely crazy week, and I think I still need to work some stuff out. And,” he looks at Sid and Alyssa as he continues, “I think I need to know you guys a little better first. But what you’ve said about joining a Tradition or not has actually been really helpful. So thank you.”
Alexander glances up as a server knocks a tray onto the floor, catching a glance at the clock mounted behind the bar. “Ach! Sorry, I’ve got to run. I’m due at work soon and need to get ready. Um.” He stands, pats his pockets before searching through his jacket. “I don’t have any of your numbers, so here’s mine. Give me a call or a message or something with yours. I really would like to talk more. Just.. bad timing.” He looks at the clock again, before finally finding a card in his jacket. He drops it in the middle of the table.
Alexander BrandtPolice Officer 2Denver PD, Distict 6Tel: xxx-xxx-xxxx
“Give me a call?” With that, he shrugs into his jacket, waves, then heads towards the door.
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