Strength in numbers

Kalen Holliday

Kalen could use a friend right now. And thus, naturally, instead of calling his friends he has come to Washington Park.

There is no scarecrow by the lake. There is almost never a scarecrow by the lake, but Kalen has yet to give up hope of seeing The Message again. Washington Park is also where he runs into other friends and fascinating things happen. It is largely for that first thing that he has spread a wool blanket over the ground at the base of a tree and settled down to stay awhile. He's sprawled partly on the blanket and partly against the tree.

He's been in and out of Denver and he's running with no few projects simultaneously, so he is sipping at coffee. However much he loves Washington Park and however much he would like a nap, this is not the place for sleeping. At least not alone. There are books in the bad that he brought, but he is not reading through any of them in an attempt to cling to productivity. Instead, he watches the park through half-closed eyes. Both he and the park are calm enough for that, at least for the moment.

[And, how distracted by Resonance are we?]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8) ( success x 5 )

Alexander Brandt

[Awareapathy]

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

Alexander Brandt

[Ugh...]

Alexander Brandt

One thing that an observer might have noticed about Alexander since his ‘release’ was just how much time he was spending outdoors. He had always been an active person, preferring to be outside than stuck inside, but this was almost being taken to an extreme. Home was somewhere to store things, to sleep. He had some plans to change some things – those white walls needed painting, for one thing – but they were things that he was in no rush to get to.

The park calls to him for a similar reason to Kalen. It’s somewhere peaceful in the city, and it’s a place with memories tied to it. He comes here looking for the same scarecrow, although not really expecting to find it. There had been… maybe not a promise as such, but certainly an acknowledgement that travelling through the Umbra together was something that he and The Message could both get something from. Alex had no way to get through the Umbra – yet, anyway – and so he returned from time to time to see if The Message had decided that it was time. Not yet.

There is something he picks up on, though, close to the lake. There’s a presence close to the tree line, something that makes him tense up. He doesn’t turn to look, but it’s something he would always remember. Something Potent, Incisive and Reflective. He has a light jacket on, which he reaches into to check for something. He doesn’t close, doesn’t turn to look. He walks away.

Grace

Kalen, trusting in Fate, just brings another blanket as means to summon friends. If he were anyone else, if Denver wasn't what it is, this might not work. Fortunately for him, he is Kalen and Denver is Denver.

Denver sometimes likes to be a dick, though.

Grace is Grace. Taking straight lines through curving sidewalks, only moving for the trees, because the probably won't move for her.

She's in nature, yes, but distracted by her phone, because this is the kind of relaxation a Mercurial Elite enjoys. Get away from it all, and plug into the all.

Kalen Holliday

Kalen senses Resonance, but it isn't familiar. Interesting, but unfamiliar.

There was a time when he would have gone to chase down this new Mage. Evaluate them. Offer them things.

What does he have to offer now? Not Ginger. Not the library. He himself is hardly in a position to take on a student. Friends? He in't sure he's in much of a position for that either.

But then there is Grace, proceeding linearly through the park. And so, he chases nothing, at least for now. Instead he waits. Perhaps Grace will get this new Mage. Perhaps Grace will come alone. Regardless, he stays where he is.

Alexander Brandt

[Totally trying again, given the new Resonance!]

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

Alexander Brandt

[I AM NOT SERAFINE!! But at least we can get them talking now.]

Alexander Brandt

Alex walks around the edge of the lake, getting further from that unseen resonance. It brings him closer to another, though. Something familiar, someone who had come to see him out at the motel. This time, no awkward semi-nakedness to get in the way. He pats his jacket pocket again, reassuring himself that he has some kind of protection. Hopefully it won’t be needed, but you never can tell. He gets closer to her, skipping the niceties as he tells her, “I think I just felt a Technocrat.” He jerks his head in the direction of the treeline, still not turning to look.

Grace

[Awareness!]

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

Grace

Grace looks up, smiles at Alex, until his serious face and words sink in, and that's no longer the appropriate response. The seriousness in Alex's face gets reflected, then.

"Kalen's here. We should get with him. Strength in numbers," she says, though she doesn't sense anything more than friendlies, herself.

She then sets off, quicker now, more alert now, in the direction she had already been taking.

Alexander Brandt

Grace starts to head off again, but Alex grabs her arm to stop her. “If it’s who I think it is, he’s powerful. More powerful than Sera is, or Victoria was.” Now he starts scanning the treeline, looking for some sign of movement. His hand goes pack into his jacket and stays there this time, a faint click of something metallic following.

“With you on the safety in numbers, though.” He walks along side Grace when she sets off again, although does slow down if their route seems to be heading towards that feeling of resonance he picked up on moments before.

Grace

Their route is heading toward Kalen, if that is where Alex is afraid to go. But look, it's him, on a blanket, and Grace is undisturbed.

Well, maybe a little disturbed by the noises coming from behind her.

"Let's try using diplomancy first? If it comes to that. But I'm glad you're prepared."

Kalen Holliday

Kalen looks up to see Grace approaching with the new Mage, who appears not to be new at all.

Different. Everything is different because of things that happened and Alexander feels different. Kalen is used to reaching out and breathing in the solidity of Alexander's Resonance, but now Alexander is closer to the kind of infinite possibility that Kalen has always seen. Closer to what he should be, perhaps.

Grace is with him though. And Grace wouldn't bring him here if he was angry. If she knew. Would she know?

He sets down his coffee, rises from his sprawl, and heads slowly out to meet them. They are wary of potential Technocrats. Kalen is wary because abandoning him, one way or another, is basically what people do.

"Hey," he says quietly as he reaches them. Just that. And then he studies them, more Alexander than Grace, as he waits.

Alexander Brandt

Let’s try using diplomacy first?

“Right. Sure.” Because that’s totally what got him into the whole pile of shit two months ago. Nothing to do with being shot in the leg with a tranquiliser, nothing to do with blacking out after having his knee destroyed by gunfire. Either way, he isn’t planning on shooting the floor if circumstances ever repeat themselves.

He still slows as they close with Kalen’s rug, expecting… something. “Oh, I’m the proverbial boy scout, right?”

It isn’t Kalen that he’s expecting to see. He doesn’t immediately react to seeing him, instead turning to check the other parts of the park that are visible from where they are. The bastard must have gone somewhere. He is still a little paranoid in some ways, but now he knows that the bad guys really are out there. He finds… nothing. Nobody. There’s a deep growl, followed by another faint click and Alex’s hand coming out from his jacket.

“Hey.” The distraction fades and Kalen’s presence is registered more. That much is obvious, as Alex closes the distance between them and pulls Kalen into a bear hug. “I’ve missed you.”

Grace

Grace watches them hug, but more importantly, watches the people, keeps her senses open. And then, takes her phone out again.

"Alex thought he sensed a Technocrat. I'm going to set up some protection," she says, all business and focus.

[Corr 2: Stiffening space against Corr manipulation. Diff 5, -1 = taking time]

Dice: 3 d10 TN4 (1, 2, 4) ( success x 1 )

Kalen Holliday

Infinite possibility is a thing with which Kalen has at least a passing acquaintance. And he has, on occasion, been accused of unchecked optimism and completely foundless hope.

Hell, he has tried to make peace with vampires and wants to make peace with the Technocracy. He loves to live in the edges of the world where improbability and reality and faith and hope collide into something transcendent.

And Kalen Holliday, despite all of these things, never considered this possibility for his reunion with Alexander. He does not, at all, fight with being hugged. Kalen fighting against hugs is not a common occurrence, particularly from people he is close to. It takes a second for him to process exactly what this moment is, because he expected something so very different.

"Missed you too."

Grace mentions a potential Technocrat, but Kalen stays where he is. Grace with get them some kind of protection. Alexander is there. And most of what Kalen can do about the Technocracy he could do without stepping away from Alexander anyway. And, from here, no one is taking Alexander without taking him. There is, also, that.

"Welcome home," he says softly.

Alexander Brandt

Alexander has changed. More than the simple (or not so simple) changing of his resonance, he had been given something of a wake-up call over the past couple of months. Part of that is that he needs other people. He’d pushed others away before, when things were going badly. He might return to old ways later, but for now? For now he doesn’t push, but pulls them closer. Kiara had been the first, now Kalen. Others, too, who are close to Alex may well get the same reaction when he meets them. Other who may be equally surprised.

Welcome home.

“Funny that. It finally does feel like home.” He releases Kalen, turning back to scan the park. “But, yeah. I felt…” A pause. “Someone.” There’s the flow of Grace’s resonance around them as she does something that Alex can’t, yet, comprehend. With more experience, a greater connection with reality, he might be able to do something more to help. His connection had strengthened, but it was something that he was barely beginning to scratch the surface of: that being able to make a change, rather than standing and watching. But he’s never been one to sit and watch others do all the work. So he looks around, concentrating on finding that familiar resonance again.

[Per+Awareness, WP because we’re really blood trying to find him]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (7, 9, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 6 ) [WP]

Alexander Brandt

[Third eye: well-squeegeed. Bill Hicks would be pleased.]

Grace

Grace is still hard at Work. She clunks her phone hard across the side, because sometimes you need to do a bit of manual debugging, right? Not everything is going smoothly with this. But if she tries, really hard...

Oblivious to the rest of the world, she continues trying to weave the connections of the world in on themselves so that they cannot be used...

[Extending, with wp, because the code is being dumb]

Dice: 3 d10 TN5 (1, 7, 8) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Kalen Holliday

Alexander releases Kalen and Kalen takes a half step away. He stays close. He has sensed nothing. There is, even if there are Technocrats present, some chance that there may be no cause to fight. No need to get aggressive and provoke anyone. He tries to remember Ms. Grey and that Technocrat from the coffeehouse more than any of his other experiences with them.

Years of coming to the conclusion that more blood is not the way to the world he wants war against a decade of training that his enemies are clear and his responses are equally clear.

Grace is still working, so, for now, he waits. Alert enough, but not quite concerned enough to be spooked. His eyes scan over the park

"Once you're ready, Kit," he says quietly. "I suggest a change of location."

Alexander Brandt

“Dammit.” It’s a mild curse, quietly spoken. Maybe the guy had moved on, or used some way to hide himself.

Experience shapes actions, and recent experience has perhaps made Alexander a little less tolerant in some ways. Blood is, mostly, not the first option unless it can’t be helped. But there are now certain circumstances where he is more likely to fight before talking. More than standing between an Apprentice and her potential abductor, this is something more targeted. Something that comes from fear that it could happen again. And a very certain attitude that he wouldn’t be caught again.

Alex nods, though, at the suggestion of changing location. “Being somewhere else seems like a great idea right now.” He hasn’t completely shifted the idea that he’s still being watched, but there doesn’t seem to be an immediate danger now.

Grace

"Yeah," she says to Kalen. "I was making it harder for them to track us on the way to said location."

She sighs and lets her eyes scan the park again, a little upset at how weak her shield was, but what can you do?

"Let's go."

Go where? That's something she leaves unsaid, because there's more than one way to find out where people are going to go.

Kalen Holliday

Kalen glances between the two of them. It takes him less than ten seconds to come up with a workable plan and then an alternate plan. He takes the few steps to pick up his coffee and his blanket, then looks back to them and smiles.

"My car?" Apparently he isn't interested in broadcasting their destination, or potential destinations, either.

Alexander Brandt

“Works for me.” Alex would normally offer to help Kalen carry something, but he doesn’t want to get his arms tied up with anything right at the moment. He lets Kalen lead, knowing where the car is currently parked. “I can drive.” It seems sensible: he assumes that he’s had the most experience behind a wheel, and the others can do more if they’re not distracted by patty issues like not driving under an 18-wheeler. Still, there’s no talk of location until they’re safely away from this one.

cricket

(My vote is they all rock up to Kiara's apartment at 10PM without warning.)

Alexander Brandt

[Partay!]

I don’t want to be left hanging

Alexander

Winter has well and truly taken the city in its grip. The temperature during the day barely scrapes above freezing, nights are colder. The temperamental weather that the area is known for – at least by its residents – has turned from wind and rain to wind and snow. It’s cold.

Cold cold cold.

It’s sometime around noon, give or take an hour or so. The sky is bright and white and holding the promise of yet more snow. A light sprinkling falls, blown around by the occasional gust of frigid wind, making the more distant parts of the park – and the city – seem even further away.

In the park there is a playground. The spring-mounted animals are covered with snow, not cleared or used since the thick downfall of snow during the night. Likewise with the roundabout – not even a trail of footprints leads to it. Maybe when it’s a little warmer, or parents are a little more desperate to keep their offspring entertained in the short winter days, the park will show some sort of life again.

There is a trail of footprints leading to the swings, though. A lone figure, dressed for the weather, sits on one of the swings and... well, just watches the snow really. He swings gently, rocking back and forth with his feet staying on the ground. His hands are currently gloveless, cupping a disposable paper cup between them.

He seems to somehow fit into the near-frozen scene.

Kalen

[How distracted by Resonance are we?]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 6, 6, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )

Alexander

[While we're at it, Awareness too]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )

Kalen

Even Kalen, who loves Washington Park, comes here barely at all in winter. Of course, he still likes to come close to it, close enough at least that he might sense The Message. He has not, not for some time, but that has not dimmed his hopes. Instead of an angelic (if not Angelic) spirit he senses someone else, more familiar but someone he also met at the same time in the same place.

Kalen stops to buy hot chocolate before he heads out into the park. Alexander has something, or had, Kalen isn't totally sure. He sets Alexander's hot chocolate, not in a paper cup but in a reusable lidded cup with a snowman on it, in the snow near him. It's insulated. The snow will protect it well enough from falling.

WIth one (very definitely gloved) hand now free, He swipes at the snow on one of the swings next to Alexander, settling onto it once enough of the snow has been cleared off to satisfy him. It's hardly as though he'd have much noticed the snow through his long wool coat. No hat, though. Kalen never seems to do hats. Coats, gloves, scarves, boots...but not hats.

"You know I got in a snowball fight for the first time the other day," he says. Because who says hello, really, with people they know? Okay. Plenty of people, but not so much Kalen. That is for other people.

Alexander

Alex also has reasons for coming here. As Kalen, a hope that The Message would one day make an appearance is one of them. There hadn’t been a promise, the last time they had met. Nothing so definite. He had asked to travel with The Message some time, and there had been an acknowledgement that it could, perhaps, happen. So he waits.

There were other reasons for coming here, though. The park was equally a good place to watch people as it was a place to be alone; it was all a matter of timing. Although this wasn’t really a place to come if there was no desire to be with others. It was just too well travelled for that. A crossroads in the city. But, for the moment, it was a place of relative quiet. Oh, there’s the occasional sound of traffic: a honking horn, a car alarm going off, the sirens of one emergency service or other making their way through the city. But there are times when it’s just the wind, and you can almost hear the snow settling on the ground.

Alexander feels Kalen’s approach, still getting used to the change in his Resonance. He could have left, if he’d wanted to. If it had been Grace, he might have done. Or Ms Ghali. But Kalen? Kalen he stays for.

Alex’s cup had pretty much run dry, so it’s emptied with one last swig. The new cup is picked up and the empty, paper one slipped back into the indentation in the snow. He goes back to gently rocking on the swing.

You know I got in a snowball fight for the first time the other day. Alexander smiles. He had missed this. Had missed Kalen, and his randomness. “Oh? I’d assume that it wasn’t in Santiago, but given the strange stuff that we drag around I’m not sure it would actually surprise me if it had been. How was it?”

Kalen

"Well," Kalen says. "I've learned to preemptively wear gloves." He sounds amused though, so he can't have been too scarred by the experience. "It was in Denver. I was meeting a new addition to Denver who is...either unable to speak or chooses not to speak. My guess would be the former, but there are people who take vows of silence, so I would not presume."

"I talked to Grace and then set up a new phone for you. I probably should have just carried it around with me, upon reflection. But, there is a phone for you ready. You can drop by to pick it up at the library or I can bring it into the city. I'm running no few errands here over the next week, so it's no trouble."

"How've you been?"

Alexander

There’s a snort of amusement from Alex as Kalen mentions the gloves. “Yeah, gloves are kinda required uniform for snowball fights. It tends to be a short fight if you have to duck out because you can’t feel your hands any more.” He takes a sip from cup, testing to see what – if any – additions had been made when it was bought.

“Another newcomer? New new? Or just new to town?”

The rocking stops when Kalen mentions his talk with Grace. What had happened with Ms Ghali had obviously come up if he’d sorted out a new, Gingered phone. “What did she tell you?”

How’ve you been?

“I’m told that’s something of a loaded question to be asking these days. I’m better than I have been for the past month or so.” The month where I thought I had picked up Union interest and cut myself off from everyone.

Kalen

It is, for Kalen, exceptionally boring hot chocolate. Good. But there are no flavored marshmallows or alcohol. Clearly this was a concession in the interest of actually catching Alexander before he left the park, over parading to four stores to actually fuss over a thing.

"Not much," Kalen says quietly. "That you and another of our new arrivals had a bit of an unfortunate meeting. She may also have mentioned that I should perhaps also give you your blanket before Christmas too, because she thinks she may have accidentally given you the impression everyone hates you."

There is a faint smile. "Though, knowing her and knowing you, whatever isolationist tendencies you display I wouldn't necessarily put down to something she's influenced overly much. At least not since your rather rocky introduction to our red-headed friend." He looks over at Alexander, eyes seeming more green against the grey he's wearing and the snow obscuring so much of the color that would otherwise draw more attention. Serious. Calm. "We're here for you. Whether it's dangerous or not. You're not on your own with any of this unless you want to be.

"And even then I retain the right to throw things at you and tell you to get over yourself and let me help, because that's totally club privileges apparently."

Alexander

There’s another snort, although this one is definitely less amused than the first. If it wasn’t already cold in the little playground, things would certainly feel frostier than they did a few minutes before.

“If you count her showing up at the station completely unannounced, talking about a murder case that might have involved an Awakened as unfortunate. This after Sasha had warned me to be on the lookout for Union agents trying to worm their way into the department. Yeah, that could have gone better. And that’s why I shredded my phone. Because I thought keeping it in once piece put Ginger, and you guys, in danger. “

He pushes back, setting the swing in motion. “I’m not feeling sorry for myself because I think everyone hates me. I’m pissed because I was forgotten about. I’m pissed because I wasn’t worth the ten seconds it would have taken to say ‘a friend of Michael is coming to see you’. I’m pissed because that woman who showed up was more interested in yanking my chain than finding some way to let me know who had sent her. I’m pissed because I’ve been waiting for someone with a black suit to want a little chat, when that was never going to happen.” His voice does get louder, but it does get harder as he runs through what’s bothering him. Some of it, anyway.

The swing slows again, Alex sighing as he returns to just rocking back and forth a little. “I did think about staying off Ginger again. But I guess I am better off being able to listen into what’s going on. I don’t particularly want to be alone, but that swings both ways. I don’t want to be left hanging like that again either.”

Kalen

"Well, I didn't hear much about any of that. If I had known, I would have told you." And if he had been in Denver would he have known? He couldn't say for certain. "We've all been quieter than we should have been in that sense, and I think...I think partly that's my fault. I did stop talking to...most of Denver and the other people who tended to be most communicative are gone.

"I could have tried to reach out instead of being a jerk. I probably should have. And maybe...." And maybe what, Kalen? Maybe you should what, be responsible for monitoring all of Denver? How even would you do that.

"Sometimes I miss having more structure because there were less of these moments. But...." There is something he almost says, something that is probably important. "But I stay here. That's really all...here. But later.

"There are a few things we should discuss. I'm leaving soon, for a business thing. If...the one thing is personal but the other...if I am gone and you haven't heard about the family reunion, ask Sasha. I know you can find her if you need to and she's involved in everything else since...well, before last weekend, but that's when she and Kiara and Henry and I talked.

"So...this you aren't so much behind on. And our lovely red-headed friend isn't even involved in this one."

Alexander

“Kalen, this isn’t your fault. You weren’t here, you didn’t know, and you can’t be responsible for what everyone else does or doesn’t do. But this woman could have found some way to tell me. Grace could have warned me. Hell, Michael could have found some way to warn me. But apparently there were more important things to be getting on with.”

Alex pushes off again. “You ever think that is how we forget why we do this?” This time Alex does turn his head to look at Kalen. “Why we fight? Does it get to the point where it’s just the fight that matters? Is that how Victoria became what she did?” Again, the swing slows.

He watches Kalen, though, as he says – and doesn’t say – whatever it is on his mind. “Hey, are you ok? Did something happen in Santiago? Or is this all since you got back?”

A beat passes, confusion appearing on Alex’s face. “Kalen, what the hell’s going on? What family, and who the hell is Henry?”

Kalen

Kalen processes that for a few seconds. The list of people who have given warnings. The assurance it is not his fault. The flurry of questions. "Yeah, some things happened in Santiago, but not...." Kalen smiles, and it is, for at least right then, radiant. The circumstances of their conversation and the other things that this is about bleed some of the light out of his eyes, but for a second Alexander gets to see the very rarely seen absolutely thrilled with life version of Kalen.

"I'm better than I've been in a long time. Here, let's get out of here so we can really talk." He slips off of his swing and onto his feet. "I'll tell you everything."

Alexander

For the moment Alexander is even more confused. Happy for his friend, as it’s so rare to see him so alive. But, then, what was it that pulled him away from that radiance so quickly. Suddenly concerned about what might be going on that he doesn’t know about – even if access to Ginger wouldn’t have been any more help with that little niggle.

His swing finally stops and, after grabbing the empty cup with his free hand, stands. “Why do I start to worry when you tell me that?” Alex follows wherever Kalen leads them to, though.

---

Kalen

This place of Kalen's is minimally decorated. There is a wreath on the door and there are little arrangements with candles and pine cones and holly sprigs, but there is no tree. No pinatas. Still, the house smells like evergreen and cinnamon. Kalen heads into the living room, where there are a few bags and a little pile of neatly stacked rolls of wrapping paper and a little mound or ribbons and a stack of gift bags and tissue paper. He glances over a neat parade of already wrapped gifts and picks up one of the gift bags. A wintery scene. With glittery snow.

"Phone," he says absently. "Also blanket. The phone was less for Christmas and more put in the bag so I could carry it around. People get very puzzled when you hand off prepaid phones at random." And there is, nestled in a heavy wool blanket in mottled shades of dark blue, a prepaid phone with Ginger already installed. Also Kalen's information. Because of course also that.

If Alexander really examines that though, he'll see an additional number labelled 'Santiago' and an international phone number.

"Well, you're about to speed on the family reunion and the possible war with the Technocracy. You think quite possibly I'm crazy to try this olive branch thing. I'm ridiculously optimistic." Kalen flops onto one half of the couch, mostly finished cocoa in hand. "The update is that Henry, this rather eccentric Hermetic who mentored Elijah for a little while and who also happens to be the father of one of the visiting Hermetics, and Sasha found out about Orrin's plan this weekend and are going to try to get this whole attack called right the fuck off.

"Sasha is kind of terrifying, by the way. I might love her." He says that in a tone that conveys not a trace of romantic interest. Kalen just has an appreciation for people who are terrifying.

"And they had an artifact that...for reasons I support we are not making a public discussion. It's old. And powerful. And incomplete." Kalen sighs. "I'm a little nervous about making it whole but I did scry for...." He can practically taste blood again. "I trust at least Kiara and Henry. Sasha...personally I barely know her but she seems fine. Anyway, Kiara and I are headed off in about a week to get a piece of the artifact that is missing. It's far from complete even then." Kalen shrugs. "Honestly, I'm willing to let that be Henry and Sasha's show."

"They're not telling me everything. But I don't think they need to."

Alexander

Alexander follows Kalen into the house, closing the front door firmly behind them as they enter. The gift bag? The contents get a brief look before the bag is set on the ground next to Alex’s feet, as he takes a seat on the couch.

And then he listens in silence. And he stays silent when Kalen’s explanation of recent happenings ends, running over what he’s just been told.

“I do think you’re nuts, but I’ve already told you I’ll watch your back while you try to do what you need to. I can’t really see Daddy telling Orrin to stop trying to start a war working, but it’s worth a try I guess. It has the advantage of being fairly low in risk.

“How well do you know Henry? And this artefact, did they say what it was? What it does? What risk there is in fetching this last bit of it?” There’s a more meaningful look at Kalen with this last question.

“Is that all that they’ve told you? Because I’d want to know a damned sight more than that, especially if there’s any great risk involved in the whole thing.”

Kalen

"Oh, he's Richard's father. Richard is...both more reasonable and higher ranked than Orrin. I don't know that it will work, but at least there is a change he'll see reason and this will be over. And then we can figure out what the hell is with Atreyu's little group absent immanent war.

"I was with Henry when he found the map. He told me it led to a powerful artifact. I...I looked into the future. I got...omens are not like video footage from the future. But Henry having it...I'm okay with that. Or I wouldn't have given it to him when I got the puzzle sphere open."

"There will probably be some risk, there always is. Power is always dangerous. I...I'm fine with that. And handling the stone may give me more insight into what this is. I'm going to see what I figure out searching for the stone we have a location for. I think I might be able to find out more from them when I bring the stone back.

"But I'm not worried. Not about them. Kiara I trust because I've gotten to know her, Henry I trust because of the scrying, and Sasha...we have no reason not to trust her or her cabal. And they have been sharing their Node and their Library and their home with us. That's not nothing."

Alexander

“I can’t say I’m keen on much of any of this. Orrin and Richard want to start a war without, apparently, considering the poor bastards caught in the crossfire. And now there’s some magical MacGuffin that’s supposed to make everything better, when we don’t have a clue what it is, what it does, if it works, or how the damned thing can go wrong.

“Oh, I trust Sasha and her cabal. And if you think Kiara and Henry are good people, I’m definitely willing to give them time. But even so, it feels an awful lot like we’re being sent off on errands without enough detail to really make an informed choice about whether we should or not.

“I’m fed up of being made to feel like a child around those who have power. Be a darling and run off on this errand, there’s a good little Mage.”

Kalen

Kalen laughs. "I had a choice, at least on this errand. It would have been easy enough to refuse. If nothing else, being halfway around the world when Orrin finds out I'm trying to cancel his war sounds like a decent idea. That's probably the last bridge I have to burn with the Order, but I have no intention of letting them start that war.

"Of course," And here his tone softens. Warms. "There are other places I can go. And, regardless of how well this does or doesn't blow over, probably will." He sighs.

"What Marcellus and I wanted to build...he meant to rebuild them in the process. He was my mentor and practically my father, but his plans...they need not be mine. Even if his dreams still are."

Alexander

“What about the others in the Order? Do they know what those guys have planned for the city? Surely someone sees the insanity of starting a war between vampires and Awakened? Or do they really think that the vampires will stop to check that it’s the right kind of Mage that they’re about to kill?”

Alex slumps back in the couch, resting his head against the back of it. “Are you really that close to being kicked out of the Order? Or does it not work that way? And... go? You’re planning on leaving then?”

Others had come and gone through the city in the time that he’d been Awake and aware of their passing, but he’d never really thought that Kalen would be one of the ones to leave. It had always seemed as if he’d chosen to make his stand here, and nothing would make him shift. Alex’s heart sinks at the thought of him leaving.

Kalen

Kalen looks puzzled by Alexander's reaction. And then he registers what Alexander must think. "No." He sets his drink down and settles back onto the couch, this time right at Alexander's side. "Not going anywhere. Quite possibly not that close to getting kicked out of the Order. We did not get our reputation for arrogance for nothing, but I don't know how much support this plan has. I think that if Henry can sway Richard to our side of it we have a real chance even if there is some considerable support.

"Barring that...not going to lie, my plan is to start blackmailing whoever I need to. There's a chance I can trade what I need to know for advance favors which may not be entirely the cleanest things but I know who I'd be working for and...it'd be less fucked up than this."

"And if I can't do that...." Kalen sighs. "I get everyone I can get out of here out and accept, once again, being at war. But I don't intend to let it get to that."

He takes a deep breath. "I meant I have Denver. There is a good chance I could join the Chorus. I mean I could stay here and build the world I want to build with the people I most want to build it with. On my terms. Our terms.

"I can let the past go instead of clinging to fragments of dreams I hadn't the faintest clue how to put back together."

Alexander

Alexander settles back on the couch, relieved that there doesn’t appear to be any imminent risk of Kalen vanishing. Not unless this trip to retrieve the lump of rock goes wrong, or one of the several hundred other ways that a Flambeau is likely to burn out in a blaze of glory occurs.

“There are definitely times when I’m glad I didn’t try joining the Order. I really don’t think the Order and I would have gotten on at all well.” Alex thinks briefly of another mage who has passed out of the city. “Hey, you know I never did get to tell Orrin and Richard to go fuck themselves. Alyssa would be so disappointed. I wonder how she’s getting on these days.” Sid, too. The rest of their little cabal.

Alex sounds almost resigned to what may well come as he nudges Kalen. “I’ll stick around. I don’t really have anywhere else to go.” Back to Seattle? It doesn’t really feel like home any more. “Someone has to remind you that you’re only human now and again.”

Kalen

"I'm sure Alyssa is good. But, I know. We might need a new cabalmate. You used to have Alyssa to help you keep me in line and that was when I was just getting all high on pedestrian mortal hubris. Once I can convince myself I'm doing the will of God...." Kalen laughs. "Maybe a few more cabalmates. And a lot of things to throw at me."

"Not that I even have thoughts of who to ask. There are a few of us I really like in Denver, but for us...?" Kalen shrugs, his movement slightly hampered by the fact he's practically on to op of Alexander.

"You want to get a Christmas tree again this year? I got one for the House. But we could do one at the office. You and me and Grace and maybe a couple people. I can make gingerbread men again. Maybe better this year....."

Alexander

“Wherever she is, I’m sure she’s being a massive pain in the ass.” Alex laughs a little before sighing. “I miss her.” Her, and Delilah, and Lucy, and... He shakes his head, shakes away the train of thought. “I wouldn’t know who to ask either. I don’t think I know anyone well enough these days to really suggest anyone. Elijah, maybe?“

“I dunno about the tree. It’s not really feeling a lot like Christmas at the moment. Might be the looming threat of being caught in a war, you know?”

“Well you did manage to avoid opening a portal to a hell dimension the last time you baked. Or was that specific to lasagne? Either way, sounds good. Maybe try making a gingerbread house or something. Or does that lead to throwing children in the oven? I lose track.”

Kalen

"No. Elijah and I...we're fine. But probably he's not really so much for us. If anyone I might suggest Kiara, but I don't know her well enough either." Kalen smiles. "If we find someone, we do. If not...we do fine, just us."

"We should do that. It sounds hilarious. I expect that whatever I try I will end up with ruins."

"Assuming that we manage to avert this looming war, I had a thought...."

Alexander

“I don’t really know Kiara much either. I’ll try to keep an eye out for her, though. You know how it is with us bumping into each other, and all. I might have suggested Lavinia, but she seems to have left town too. She’d probably have been right up there on the smiting front.”

Alex laughs a little again. “Well if you leave it in the oven too long, you can just say it was all intentional. But I’m pretty sure you can build something that will stand. At least until something comes along and takes a big bite out of it.”

He turns his head, curious about the hanging thought. “Oh..? Why do I worry when you have these thoughts? You know that they’re not good for you.”

Kalen

"Well, this sort of ties into the smiting. I...." Kalen sighs and closes his eyes. "It's not that I won't. Show me a monster and it isn't in me to just let it go. But that isn't really who I want to be now.

"Not like before. The Order trained me for war and showed me war and I...would rather find some other, better way." And this is what happens if you leave Kalen alone too long with Ramon. "So I thought, maybe we could set up some kind of program, a community outreach thing. Just...mostly people but also use it to help people that get bruised up in our world and see more than they want to. Maybe we'll find other people through the program. And yeah, it will end up being mostly mundane people and paperwork, but...I want to make a better world some way other than violence.

"I'm just so fucking tired of killing people, because all that means is that I got there too late to save them and it was the only option left. It just...it isn't enough for me anymore."

Alexander

“I think I can get that. That’s why I made a tipoff when that whole corruption spirit thing was ended.” Kalen gets another glance. “Did I ever tell you that before? We were too late to help to people it had already killed, but they still had families. It got them some sort of closure, even if they really found out what had happened. Hopefully knowing that they were dead was enough to let them grieve.” Alexander sighs, closes his own eyes. “I’d love to do the same for the victims of the Nephandus who just tore through town, but I have no idea how this time. I don’t know if there was enough of them left. Not the women he merged, anyway.

“And I think that’s the other thing that’s been bothering me. That it’s all taken care of. Only it isn’t. Not when the parents of the girls are sat at home, wondering if they’ll ever be walking through the door again.

“So, go for it. It might not work, but it’s gotta be worth a try. Right? If nothing else, it might show where things are starting to go bump in the night before they get out of hand.”

Kalen

"Yeah. I'll probably talk to Grace to get it set up, she has more time than you do and we work really well together. But...you can be involved too, if you want. I can't do it by myself."

"And it might serve as a warning system too, yeah." Kalen nods. "And, as much as I wish it were otherwise, I doubt I'm done killing. I don't think I can really walk away from some of the things that we find. I just...if nothing else I want it not to be the only thing anymore."

"And I didn't know, really. But I'm glad at least some of them could know something. I...it's hard having never gotten to say goodbye or hold a funeral or even know with absolute certainty what happened to someone you love. Even if you're about ninety-six-and-a-half percent sure they're gone." And he would know, wouldn't he? The difference between ashes that might be books or floor joists or people you knew and trying and failing to stop blood flowing from a wound you knew was beyond anything you could do but trying anyway and what it was like to view a body lying at rest on a bed of flowers.

"I think we'll get it though," he says. "A better world. A little at a time and maybe not soon enough for everyone we'd hope, but we'll get it."

Alexander

“I know a lot of people get twitchy when any kind of authority figure is involved. Even if I’m not there as a cop, if people get wind that I am then it might make it harder to get people to come forward. I’m not saying I won’t help. Just... you know how Grace was when I come to town? Yeah, that. I’m not sure how you’d be able to keep it under the radar of groups that it would be better to avoid. Vampires as much as Union. “

“I did what I could to keep the magical stuff out of sight. I’m really hoping they all think that it was a serial killer on a spree, for as much comfort as that is. But, you know... The reason we do this? I think that’s as much a part of it as beating back the bad guys in the first place. People aren’t just so much inconvenient flesh, regardless of what certain Hermetics with their wands stuck up their asses think.”

“But, yeah. We’ll get there. Eventually. With gingerbread houses.”

Kalen

"Those too. Now I am going to have to buy so much candy. Ridiculous amounts of candy. This should be amazing."

"I think, if it involved enough mundane people and services, it shouldn't attract any of the wrong attention that way. Only a little of it would really be part of what we do more directly. The rest...I can even dig up mundane volunteers. Staff. Set up fundraisers. It'll be hilarious."

Kalen laughs. "I'm telling you, if this works, next year I am inviting you to build gingerbread houses with graham crackers and milk cartons and a room full of rescued children. And you can pretend to hate it if you want, but I know you won't."

Kalen

[And fade....]

So we’ve got until Saturday then

Kalen

Kalen has built a house that he mostly insists is for Elliott. Not Elliott Dane, the name he was first given, but Elliott Chandler. The name he took after relaxing enough to offer that first name, the one before he took a name and tried to leave that life behind to settle into a life of duty. And he did the things that he should do for that, tango lessons and photography classes and eventually SCUBA diving, because he needed it to sound real enough.

And then there was an uncertain peace with the vampires and he had this house. With books and cameras and antiques. There are framed illustrations from old books on the walls, foxes, griffons, humming birds. Downstairs there is a nearly life-sized portrait of a tiger in oils. Original, of course. For anyone who knows him, anyone who has been Named by him, it is clear the lines he tried to draw here are blurred. He does not keep pictures, tries to keep from holding onto things from which those he loves could be traced, but here are their pictures in some way.

The living room has a couch, a coffee table with a whiskey decanter and two glasses and an antique globe, and a fireplace. The most evident thing on the walls here is a massive map of constellations, but the illustrations are here too: a fox, a set of hummingbirds, butterflies. There are plants inside too, rosemary in window boxes, a dwarf tree in a corner. The garden outside is neat, bushes trimmed into squared-off lines, but these plants inside are not shaped at all.

The house smells like pipe tobacco and old books and beneath that sage smoke and lemon furniture polish. And Kalen, Kalen who has let people into the library and brought people who killed him in visions home to live with him, hesitates a little as he opens the door wider. More self-conscious than reluctant. Not for years has he had a home to show anyone.

"Come in. Ah." He runs a hand through his hair and smiles a smile that makes his eyes look no less tired. "Mi casa es su casa."

The smile grows slightly darker and slightly less for show. "Drink?" He sighs heavily. "Because you might need one. Or ten. Pretty sure I do."

Alexander

There had been a message left somewhere, it doesn’t really matter where. But it was a request to meet Kalen, and it was somewhere new. New to Alex, anyway. Kalen had all kinds of places that he liked to hang around – that much Alex did know, even if he didn’t know where a lot of them were. He didn’t ask. He understood the need to keep certain things in life separate from each other, even with the occasional troublesome overlap. Things like having to call in the remains of corpses as some kind of serial killer, just to get the families some sort of closure. And, if they cared, the spirits.

There wasn’t much in the way of hints as to what they would be talking about, but when there’s a risk of someone intercepting messages then the less said is often for the better. So the only real way to find out is to arrive and talk and see what comes. So outside the house, in an area that Alex hadn’t really spent any great time exploring – it was always somewhere he passed through on the way elsewhere – a blue sports bike pulls off the road and onto a driveway. The sound of the engine fades away suddenly as the keys are removed, and the presumably male figure swings a leg over the bike to dismount. The helmet comes off and Alex takes a moment to look over the immediate neighbourhood. There were worse places to live.

He pulls off the gloves and tucks them into his helmet, before unzipping the jacket and heading towards the door. He knocks and waits until the familiar face of Kalen appears. But there’s some hesitation – none of the barely restrained movements that he’s used to. No... well, you can’t call them unexpected if you’ve gotten used to the way they’re offered, but no hugs from Kalen.

Alex steps in, shrugging out of the jacket and laying it over the back of the sofa. The helmet gets set on the floor just behind it. And, just as most people do, Alex takes a look around. More out of curiosity than anything else. The furnishings are, in some ways, what Alex would have expected Kalen to choose. Old, expensive, impressive.

“That sounds ominous. Either you have the end of the world in your basement, given the way you opened the door, or you’re about to tell me it arrives next Thursday. I’ll go for coffee, for now. Thanks.”

Kalen

"No," Kalen says quietly. "At least on your first guess. The basement has a bar and a pool table and a bunch of storage and a panic room." Kalen says this as though those things all belong in basements. "As to the second-" There is a second of contact as Kalen walks past Alexander into the kitchen, though neither of them really needs the hand Kalen rests against him to avoid colliding with each other.

"Probably not so soon as Thursday." He takes advantage of a moment not looking at Alexander and not really in easy to ask, "You remember when I was in that coma? That particular intelligence has...transcended at least some of its bounds. Also, one of the parts of it is here. But not in a mindscape or a computer program. He's a Mage."

Kalen tries to focus more on making coffee than on what he is saying. Tries to pay attention to setting water up to boil and measuring coffee instead of what Denver was like after everyone was dead. The hollow chantry. The husk of the Node. Sid taking the only way that they had out and abandoning them. It might be easier if that way out hadn't been, at that moment a twelve-year-old girl and was not now a slightly older Mage working with...Technocrats. Former Technocrats. Tradition Mages.

"And he's trying to reform the Technocracy. Which is apparently about as fucked up in its politics and its cohesion as the Tradition Council right now. But...whatever we do about this mess, I doubt that the world ends, at least because of this, so soon as Thursday."

Alexander

Alex follows Kalen through to the kitchen, not pulling away at the casual contact. He isn’t against physical contact, not in the way some of the others were. But there were certain boundaries. He wouldn’t kiss Sera. When he’s withdrawn, he doesn’t want to be touched. He wouldn’t particularly welcome contact from people he’s only just met. Assuming they wanted to get close enough to the heart of the comet to touch it, anyway. He continues the casual survey of the house – the home? – on the way through to the kitchen.

In a more familiar place, he might help Kalen to get the coffee ready. But this is a new place, and he doesn’t know where anything is. That, and it seems as if the simple motions are aids for Kalen to get his thought in order. Instead he rests back against the corner of the counter and watches.

“Yeah, I remember. I.. Wait, what? There’s a computer program walking around in a body somewhere? How is that even possible? Is he some kind of robot?” Alex shakes his head, lost once again in just what Awakened and their creations are capable of. “Wait, doesn’t matter. Right? Didn’t Elijah start poking around in the wrong places and nearly ended up landing the Union on top of us? We already know that they’re starting to pay more attention to the city, and we have this guy prodding them with a stick to find the friendly ones?”

“Great. Fucking wonderful. So we’ve got until Saturday then.”

Kalen

"It's a bit more complicated than that, though I don't have most of those specifics. I haven't gotten to meet the people he's working with yet and I...I might know someone who can tell me more about one of them, but I'm going to have to go meet him." Out of things to do while the coffee brews in the press, Kalen leans into the counter. Close to Alexander, though he doesn't flop against him. "I could do with spiritual counseling right now anyway."

Kalen sighs heavily and looks up at Alexander. "I've fought the Technocracy before. We've played this war out once.

"We need some way other than blood to end it. It's...the more dangerous thing. I think it's the right one. If-" Kalen frowns a little and then reaches out for Alexander again, resting a hand on his arm. "If it's a thing you can't or won't do with me, I understand. But I'm going to meet with them. And if there is a chance to stop this before we nearly destroy everything again, with or without you, I will take it." His expression stays still, difficult to read, but if Alexander hasn't pulled away from him he can feel little tremors in the hand resting against him.

"There's nothing else I can do." And then he waits, because he cannot, not at this moment, bear to ask if he has ruined everything.

Alexander

“All anyone has told me since I found out about the Union is that they’re dangerous. Not to be trusted. That we’re all uncontrolled reality deviants that need to be killed, controlled or converted. I’m failing to see the happy, fluffy side of these guys that might be in the slightest way inclined to find a way other than through blood.”

Alex sighs, more out of frustration than anything. “Do you even know if you can trust this guy? Are you sure it’s really the program you met? Not some Union construct designed to drag you out into the open? It does seem awfully convenient that rumours start surfacing about their return and, hey!, look!, your new best friend is here to give you some dire warning and wants to take you along to see a group of people you’ve not met, have no reason to trust, and no reason to believe will do anything other than bundle you into the back of a black car, never to be seen again.”

Alex isn’t pulling away. Instead, he rests a hand of his own on Kalen’s. “I really, really don’t like this.”

Kalen

"It's not my favorite either. And I'm not sure. Not yet." Kalen takes a deep breath. "One of the people with him is a Mage who left the Technocracy and joined the Chorus. I'm flying to Santiago. I'm going to see what Ramon can tell me. And then I will meet them, and I will see what I think."

Kalen leans into Alexander's side, now that he has apparently calmed down enough for that. "I never told you the long version of how I met Kelsey. I dreamed about it first. The way it would have happened if I hadn't known. So...I got all bulletproof and went about my day. Stopped off for coffee, because I was exhausted. I'm standing in line, and also in line, just in front of me, is a man I'm relatively sure might be a Technocrat. So he looks back at me and we are both trying to figure out what we are going to do, standing here in this coffee shop, about having just encountered each other.

"So. Before we get there, I see the people I remembered taking the place hostage. There are two of them. I can hardly move, both because this was before I could really walk and because this was shortly after I woke up from that mindscape. I took the chance that he was more concerned about the threat gunfire posed to all the people in that place, because he could have gone for a weapon. He could have tried to shoot me. He had a gun. I know that.

"And so, I warned him. And then I ran for where they'd hidden the shotgun. Diffused that whole situation. He was there. Ready to fire. He could have done it in the middle of all that. Claimed he hit me by accident. It would have been the perfect cover. But we resolved that with no one getting shot.

"I waited for someone to come after me. I didn't go to the chantry. I was careful about being followed. I never found anyone following me. No one ever came." Kalen lets his head rest against Alexander's shoulder. "I think he had a choice too, and I think he let me go. I don't know if he could have caught me, but I don't think he ever tried.

"I don't think we hear about that. Because in a relationship marked so dramatically by aggression, there is almost no chance to interact and show anything else. There is the change to fight, and there is the chance to choose not to fight. But there is very little room in this relationship to send an olive branch or a basket of oranges and indicate the chance to take another option than violence or avoidance.

"Maybe there isn't one. But I can't not try to find it. If we try, and if this doesn't seem like a viable option, I can let it go. But I cannot refuse to try at all."

Alexander

“Or he was too concerned about the other men shooting him in the back. Or he thought he didn’t have much chance to pull it off with your shield up. Or he was hit by a bus on the way back to base. Or he didn’t think you were worth the risk of a bloodbath of Sleepers. Or that what’s going on now isn’t actually the result of your being followed. I’m not going to deny the potential that there was some reason why you weren’t shot, or captured, or tracked that didn’t involve incompetence or capacity or other flukes of random chance.

“But I haven’t heard a single good thing about these guys. And yes, I know, that is all I have to go on. But when that’s all you hear? That’s a hard message to ignore.”

Alexander knocks his own head against Kalen’s, sighing and sagging a little. He already knows where things are likely to head, with or without him. And Kalen’s chances? Would be somewhat higher if he wasn’t alone.

“Just for the record, I think this is an exceptionally bad idea. And I reserve the right to tell you ‘I told you so’ if we survive it all turning to crap. But if you think there’s the possibility that this might work out? Hell, you said the same with the vampires and that didn’t turn out… entirely awful. So if you think this is something that needs doing, I’ll see what I can do to help. Just promise me that you’re going to everything you can to make sure that this isn’t some ridiculously convoluted plot designed to wipe the city clean of reality deviants. And I’m really not sure I trust this contact of yours as far as I can throw this house. But… do what you’ve got to do.”

Kalen

Kalen laughs a little. "Just for the record, I wish I had better options. I have what I have. Which is people who seem unable to conceptually understand a truth beyond that we have the chance to be better than what we have been. We could have a world where so much of the horror we have now is unnecessary. I know better than to expect a perfect utopia, the same way I know better than to expect to live long enough see whatever form it takes.

"It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to be for me. It just has to be better. That's all I want."

Kalen sighs heavily and pushes reluctantly away from Alexander. "Let's not overbrew your coffee any more than we already have." He presses the filter down slowly and grabs a mug from one of the cabinets. "Probably," he says, "We have until at least the Tuesday after next for the end of the world.

"And I promise. I want this to be real. I do. But I'm still checking it out. And Grace and Ian are...well...cautiously willing to consider this. They met Atreyu with me. I...did not know it was going to turn into this. I'm not sure what's going on. I'm not sure what that artificial intelligence getting loose means. I don't...I don't really know anything except that this is much bigger than me, and whatever I've trained for, whatever I've already accomplished...I am fucking terrified.

"Less for me. I made peace with my death years ago. More for you. All of you. If I'm wrong. If I'm right but I'm not strong enough. I never thought I would be here. I never thought I would have to make these choices. I know I'm not making them alone, but I always expected, when we spoke of these moments, that I would taking the orders of the people who stood here."

Alexander

“Well I guess when the options you have are both awful, you’ve got to make the best of them that you can. Unless you suddenly fancy moving to another city. Although I can’t say I really want to go through all that again. I was starting to like the place, even with all of its problems, vampires, corrupt spirits, and who knows what else lurking.

“Does anyone else know what’s going on? Do you know if these guys have been in contact with any of the Traditions? Assuming that they would be prepared to listen.” In a war lasting as long as the one between the Traditions and the Union, it’s almost to be expected that knee-jerk reactions would lead the way more than considered thought.

“Artificial intelligence isn’t really something I understand, but don’t they run under a set of rules? Three laws, or something? What if Atreyu isn’t bound by those rules any more, and decides the best thing to do is wipe both side of the war out by aggravating what little peace there is? Or how about if it was sent out into the world to get revenge for what the Union did to their new universe? I don’t think I trust the guy any more than I’d trust someone who walked in saying that they’re Union and are offering free hugs.”

Kalen

"I was there with her," Kalen says softly. "She and Ian and I held hands and waited for the world to end. She looks different now. But...whoever or whatever that is now, I know that they are brave and I know...I don't know. It's hard to explain. I think we can trust him. Maybe he will fail. But I don't think he's lying.

"I'm not sure who else they've spoken to. We'll have a chance to meet them. We can ask more then." He pours coffee into Alexander's mug and slides it across the counter toward him.

"You want to return to where there are couches and whiskey?"

Alexander

“I’m still not convinced. You’ve got something that, let’s face it, isn’t natural. Who knows how he, or she, or it for all we know, reacts and things. Or believes. Maybe he does want to try to avoid a flare up of the war. Or maybe it thinks that this planet would be better off without any of us and wants a rerun of whatever the hell it was that happened in the ‘90s.”

Kalen pushes the mug towards Alex. Alex picks it up and swirls it round, watching the motion of the fluid without any movement to start drinking it.

“Or maybe pie. Or just to escape the city for a while. Not that there’s any shortage of dangerous strange things in the wilds, but at least they don’t tend to be quite so… political.”

Kalen

"I am entirely willing to go hang out on a mountain with pie and try very hard not to talk about politics. I like stars. Also, pie." Kalen smiles a little. "Even willing to risk marshmallows. Valentine's day turned out okay and there were marshmallows." He heads back into the living room and flops onto one side of the couch.

"But you have to promise to protect me if Arionna shows up, because I don't think I can handle that right now."

Alexander

“Stars are good. If we head west far enough, you lose the light from the city and you see so much more of the sky. I’m game if you are.” He finally takes a sip of the coffee. It’s drinkable buy, hey – cop – cold instant coffee is drinkable.

“I think I’ve missed something, what’s up with Arionna.” The edge of a smile surfaces. “She was quite keen on hiking some time, we could pick her up if you’re worries about getting away from the stress for too long.”

Kalen

"She just likes to torment me. Particularly since she discovered I was Christian." Kalen laughs. "Intolerant people like me, you see, are the reason for the witch trials. Terrible, closed-minded, vicious people like me just love to persecute." There is a little twitch at the corner of his mouth. "You know how I am, Alce...."

"Should I be grabbing blankets and more coffee instead of being here? I'm sure that we can find a pie somewhere in Denver. Or three. And marshmallows. Though possibly not the good flavored ones. Might have to settle for the bagged ones."

Alexander

“Ah, that sounds familiar. Because you were there setting fire to the straw under her great-something-grandmother, right? Or because you’re in some was responsible for something that happened a ridiculously long time before your parents were alive. Unless you’re actually a lot older than you look. Which would explain the money you have to play with, if you’re selling the secret to eternal youth. I’m assuming it doesn’t involve burning witches?”

“Blankets and coffee are good. And food. We can swing by a supermarket on the way out, if you don’t mind slumming it a bit. Grab some sausages to roast, maybe.”

Alex gently digs an elbow into Kalen’s side. “You’re not luring me into the middle of nowhere to burn me for your next century of youth, are you? Just so I know not to wear anything too warm.”

Kalen

"Mmmmmmm...." Kalen says. "Also, apparently, I don't like assertive women. Whatever you do, don't call up Alyssa and tell her." He pushes up to his feet with a sigh.

"Okay. Blankets. Coffee. Food." Kalen smiles a little. "And no, no sacrificing you for eternal youth. You'll probably still be entirely underdressed and fine, while I am buried under a small mountain of blankets and shivering. Still. I am learning to like the outside. Trees. They're a new thing for me, outside of the mostly anemic and relatively solitary ones you find in the city."

Alexander

Alexander stops moving for a few moment, considering what would happen if Ari and Alyssa ever met. It was probably for the best that Alyssa was out of town at the moment. Certainly best for the neighborhood that they might have bumped into each other in. “I think I can wait until New Year to see those kinds of fireworks.”

“If you’re that against the cold, I guess you’re driving. Unless you really want to perch on the back of a bike freezing the less important parts of your anatomy off, but then where would we keep the munchies? Next you’ll be telling me that you don’t like the sound of owls in the night.”

Kalen

"One of these days," Kalen says with a smile, "I'll have to try this letting you drive. But...not tonight. Still. It seems like yet another reason for people to make the damnedest assumptions about our relationship. Though, admittedly, Serafine's assumption that I was dating Gallowglass may be difficult to outdo in the amusement department." He wanders toward a closet to grab a small stack of blankets.

"Owls are the things that make that whooooooo sound, right? Like ghosts, but alive?"

Alexander

“What, don’t you trust my driving? It’s not like I go that far over the speed limit. Not where there are cameras and patrols anyway.”

Kalen and Gallowglass. Gallowglass? “Wait. The guy. With the glasses. And… Damn, I’d completely forgotten about him. What’s he up to these days?” The memory is strangely fuzzy. Something about a shop. And a weasel?

“Yeah, the whooo things. Unless you mean the howling thing. Those tend to be wolves and are a bit less friendly. Owls just tend to fall asleep and fall off the branch. Anyway, define alive? If a bit of code running in a compute can be alive, why can’t a spirit? The ghost might have more free will.”

The last of the coffee gets drunk in one, swift go and the empty mug left in the sink.

Kalen

"Wolves are, what, aooo-ooooo?" Following what may be the least enthusiastic howl attempt on record, Kalen reaches out to squeeze Alexander's shoulder. "Did I mention before, that I really missed you?"

"Gallowglass is off on business. He's alright. C'mon. Let's get out of here before I throw my keys at you and force you to drive so I can take a nap. We are getting so much more coffee on our way out of the city." That threat doesn't seem very serious.

You’ve changed

Kalen Holliday

[You want to start or shall I?]

Alex

[I don't mind starting]

Kalen Holliday

[Okay. I will let you do that then.]

Alex

Somewhere in Denver there is a warehouse-and-office complex. It’s a complex that has been there for a while, a place that doesn’t really stand out and anything special. Two buildings, surrounded by tall fencing, are secured by a gate that has, on closer inspection, a suspiciously advanced security system. These features are repeated, once you manage to get into the grounds and start trying to get through the doors. It’s not the easiest of places to get into, unless you’re expected, welcomed, or been introduced to the security system.

Appearances can be deceiving, though, and these buildings house more than might be expected from first glance. There’s the library, housing who knows what knowledge. (If we’re being pedantic, probably Kalen, as its caretaker, and Grace, through her work in digitizing the arcane information for the Awakened masses.) The offices, where the occupants work and Work.

Then there’s the firing range; because all warehouses have a firing range, equipped with a decent selection of weapons. All secured, all in their own little space. Well, until someone comes and breaks them free for a little while. That might be for when they’re to be used on the latest piece of unpleasantness to grace the city and its surroundings. Or it might be when they’re taken out, cleaned, tested, and returned.

And this is where we find Alexander on this warm and sunny afternoon. If his resonance seeping into the surroundings isn’t hint enough on its own that he’s around, the bike parked outside is another. He’s dressed in boots, black combat shorts and a plain red t-shirt, with a couple of smudged grease marks on his face. The pistol – something small, low calibre – is currently aimed at a paper target somewhere along the range. A phone sits on a table, sharing the space with various pieces of cleaning equipment. Something fairly ambient fills the silence, between the loud, sharp cracks of test shots.

Kalen Holliday

Kalen has been having the kind of month where he has to seriously consider whether or not he wants to approach Alexander while he is currently holding a weapon. In the end, he determines that if Alexander wanted to avoid him, he could have gone to use some other firing range. It is hardly as though Denver had a shortage of firing ranges and Alexander more than most of the Magi in town, has little reason not to be found in one.

And so, Kalen wanders out to the warehouse. He comes bearing gifts because Kalen likes to have gifts, though in this case the gifts are bottled water because neither snacks nor whiskey seemed appropriate to bring to the firing range. Tea..just seems incongruous. He does not come in through the door to the outside, instead coming in through one of the other warehouse doors and moving from there to the interior door. It's a longer walk, but Kalen is warier now than he was a few months ago. Warier and not nearly so inclined to trust in the glimpses of the best natures he sees in people.

He's not dressed up at all, jeans and a purple shirt so pale it seems nearly white (it was probably more notably purple once) that is soft and tight enough to cling to him. Kalen is still thin, but there is only the faintest trace of the outlines of his ribs now. There are hints of muscle now, for all that Kalen isn't concerned with that. If he is pleased with anything about his improved condition, it's his balance and not that he looks better in fitted clothing.

Once he reaches the doorway he stops, leans into the doorframe, and waits.

Alex

[Dex+Firearms, make the paper target suffer! Or botch and shoot Kalen?]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 4, 4, 5, 8) ( success x 1 )

Alex

[Ah, yeah, and that Awareness thing]

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

Alex

[*squints at the dice roller*]

Alex

Not so long ago, there had been an individual in the city surrounded by the sense of a storm. For over a year that presence had announced that person’s arrival, or their presence. It was something that Alex had just taken for granted, that it would always be there in one form or another.

That it had changed so completely? Hell, he hadn’t even known that could happen. He’d just assumed that resonance was something that was constant, consistent, around Awakened. Oh, something that could broaden and deepen and become more complex. He’d seen it happen a few times for some of the others, but there had always been a consistent flow from what it had been into what it became.

This new combination is, really, exactly that. New. And it’s getting closer, something that it takes a while for Alex to register. Maybe his mind is on other things – there’s never any shortage of other things to be thinking about – or maybe it’s just not his day for being overly perceptive. Either way, the presence is noted at the door and checked with a glance – it’s not, yet, familiar enough to be familiar and comfortable. Alex glances, and then returns to his aim. It’s a little off – not exactly central – but it still hits the black outline of a person on the paper target. The round fired, Alex ejects the magazine and checks the chamber – empty. He sets the pistol and empty magazine on the counter before turning to perch on the edge of it, looking at the man at the door.

“You’re looking well.” There’s a smile that goes along with the simple statement, something a little awkward.

Kalen Holliday

"Am I?" Kalen asks. It's reflexive and a little curious, because Kalen doesn't really know what to make of that. He shrugs a little. "I suppose you've never known me when I slept. I did look pretty awful for awhile. This is more like normal, I guess." There is a slight smile. "For awhile I was in great shape, actually, but I doubt I'm ever going to have that training schedule again."

He glances at the target and then looks back to Alexander. "Am I disturbing you? Because I can go." He has very rarely hidden from Alex, but for all he is practically posed in the doorframe he is hiding now. Cautious. Uncertain.

Alex

“I just assumed lousy sleep was normal for you, what with the whole dreaming what was going to happen to people thing.” He shrugs. “But it’s good that you’re sleeping better.” He smiles again, a little awkwardly again, offering just a little bit of teasing. “You really did look like crap at times.”

Am I disturbing you? Alex glances over his shoulder at the target, a little annoyed that the shot had gone a little wide. “I think I was disturbed about 18 months ago, I’m not entirely sure I’ve not been undisturbed since.” That awkwardness again. “No, it’s fine. He’s not going anywhere,” he points back up the range with a thumb, “and I could probably use the break.” Alex twists, picking up the pistol and the magazine, before returning to the table with the cleaning materials.

Kalen Holliday

Kalen listens and then nods and stays where he is. He would have come closer once, would have reached out and touched Alexander in greeting or because of empathy. For now he stays still. Distant.

"It does change the world for us," he says quietly. "It remains the same world, for all it doesn't seem that way for awhile. I think my introduction to this was, in some ways, easier than yours. Possibly not in the first few minutes, but the first few months after were...some of the best months I had ever had. They still are some of the best months I've ever had, really. And they were only possible because of my Awakening.

"It was, to me, entirely a good thing. And that...I did not realise at the time how lucky I was to experience it in the way that I did."

Alex

There’s the movement of tools, the twisting of something in Alex’s hands, and the pistol comes apart. It’s all easy, practiced movement, as is the threading of a cloth through the barrel after he sits on the edge of the table, feet resting on the top of a stool. “I’m pretty sure the wall isn’t going to fall down if you stop supporting it. You can make yourself comfortable, you know, it is your place after all.”

The movements are practiced, ingrained in muscle memory, so they don’t draw Alex’s attention away from Kalen as he talks. It’s an automatic thing, the cleaning, although maybe the breaking apart of the weapon wasn’t entirely thoughtless. Their previous meeting had been somewhat tense, Alex feeling threatened by sudden, unexpected strangeness in someone he knew.

Or thought he knew. But, then, things had been happening that he didn’t know anything about. Or, for that matter, the effect they’d had on Kalen. His friend. Hopefully, still his friend. “If there was anything to hand that isn’t likely to cause an injury, I should probably be throwing it at you about now.” There’s a brief smile, an attempt at humour, remembering possibly better times.

“You’ve changed. What’s happened?”

Kalen Holliday

"Ours," Kalen says absently. "This place has never been mine. I bought it. But it was never for me." At least Kalen, now that he's invited at least in some sense, comes over to lean on the table where Alexander is working. It's not quite the casual use of Alexander as furniture that has happened in the past, but Alexander is trying to accomplish something. The threat to throw things gets a little amused huff, very much like old times.

"I thought about calling, but then I thought you might need to do your detective thing. Figure out for yourself that I wasn't actually some creepy spy imposter. Somehow pestering you in an attempt to make you realise I was who I said I was seemed just a touch ill-advised. I assumed you'd call me me if I was due an interrogation." He doesn't sound angry, but he hasn't entirely let his guard down.

Kalen sighs. "I'm guessing you don't mean the new vibes? Since you probably found out about that, somewhere in the whole detective-ing."

Alex

The movement of the cloth through the barrel slows, almost to the point that it seem that it’s been forgotten about. It mostly has, given that it hadn’t really needed cleaning again. It was simply something to keep his hands occupied, something to try to distract him from his nerves and worrying about what could happen.

There’s a thoughtful pause, a pause during which Alex takes a look through the barrel for dirt. There’s none to be seen, but he carries on polishing anyway. “That was probably best. I’d apologise for what happened in the park, but I don’t know if it would be an honest thing to do. You probably know more than I do about how screwed up things can get in this life of ours, so having someone who looks like a friend but who feels completely different creeping up on me?” There’s a lopsided shrug. “I am sorry for hurting you, though.

“Grace explained a few things, but I didn’t really ask about the details of what actually happened. She said you’d had a Seeking and that it had changed you, or at least your whole vibe thing. Beyond that, I don’t really know what happened. And things started getting bad weird again, so...” There’s another shrug, this one with Alex looking a little sheepish. “I got tied up with other things, and it seemed like the best idea to talk to you about it when we next met. I know these things can be very personal, so it didn’t seem... right finding things out through the grapevine. I just didn’t expect it to take so damned long.”

Alex looks up from the cloth, meeting Kalen’s gaze. “Are you ok?”

Kalen Holliday

Kalen is quiet while Alexander speaks and he lets that first question pass. He assumes that it is rhetorical.

I'm sorry for hurting you, though. That gets a little blink, less because Kalen had largely pretended to be unbothered than because he just isn't used to apologies. Anyone who knew him, and Alexander certainly knew him, would have known better than to believe the way he'd wandered off as though he had no pressing interest in whether or not Alexander thought he was a clone.

Kalen doesn't really have much other visible, readable expression change until Alexander asks if he's okay. Then there are so many emotions they aren't really readable for a second. And then Kalen smiles.

And then he hugs Alexander with about as much warning as the first time. "You have no idea how fucking much I missed you."

Alex

The smile should have been warning that something was about to happen, but it registered just a little too late. Not that much would have changed, other than maybe putting down the barrel and the cloth before his arms got pinned to his side as Kalen wrapped his arms around him.

He does relax, though – Kalen will feel the tension dropping out of Alex’s shoulders. “Maybe just warn me next time something funky happens and it looks like you’ve been replaced? It was bad enough thinking you’d been body swapped, then weird spiritual crap started happening, and not it sounds like the Union are starting to sniff around.” Alex sighs. “I’ve missed you too, though. And you really have changed, haven’t you? I think this is the...best I’ve ever seen you.”

Once released, and now that there isn’t so much need to occupy his hands, Alex returns the cloth and barrel to the table before turning to perch on its edge. “So what did happen to you?”

Kalen

"Yes, the advisability of that course of action did occur to me later." Kalen says as he settles against the edge of the table next to Alexander.

He makes a soft protesting sound when Alexander mentions the Technocracy. "No. Stop. I have lost enough sleep over that lately. I demand at least two minutes to just have my best friend back before I have to think about all the ways everyone might die. Maybe three."

"What happened to me? I...fell in love with a vampire and realised that maybe if that was possible all the things I thought I knew about the world might not be so accurate. And then we had some philosophy discussions about that and...then my Avatar and I had a moment. And...I opened myself up to a lot of things I had shut myself off from.

"Which has probably been really good for me, but it drives me crazy actually experiencing emotions and the things causing those emotions at the same time." He rubs at his eyes with the heels of his hands and sighs again. "I fucking fell apart on Ian while he was trying to give me a tango lesson."

He turns to look at Alex and he smiles a little and his eyes drop a little bit and he makes a sound that is almost a laugh. "Feelings make me such a mess. I really am not sure having them was the best tactical decision."

Alex

“On the upside, you didn’t pick a time when I was armed to show up. I think drawing a gun on you might have freaked Lavinia out even more. Although seeing how she handles herself, maybe not all that much. Have you met her, by the way?”

Alex nudges Kalen with an elbow, nodding at the bottles of water that he’d carried down. “Fair enough, I’m pretty sure they’re not going anywhere. Take five.” Another nudge. “You’ve probably earned it by now.”

“You know, of all the people who shouldn’t assume that the world is what we think it is, it really shouldn’t be us. Awakened, that is. I mean, that whole Waking Up thing running over you and leaving you in a bloody heap on the sidewalk? Yeah, there’s a hell of a lesson. I just don’t get why your vibe thing changed so completely. I didn’t know that could be a thing. Grace said this happens every time you go through a Seeking, though?”

“It’ll get better? I’m guessing. I mean, maybe it’s just a practice thing and you won’t feel so swamped once you get used to it? Or drink until they go away. But that’s probably a bad plan.

“And screw tactics. If having them makes you happier, or more complete, or whatever, then keep on doing it. It’s not like you have to do everything on your own.” Alex gives Kalen a meaningful look. “Right?”

Kalen

"I have met her, though only ever briefly." That nudging gets a bit of a smile from Kalen. He reaches out to slide one water bottle closer to Alexander and then grabs the other one.

"Mmmmmmmhmmmmm," Kalen says, leaning a little into Alexander. "But, you see, we have these moments of such transcendent clarity. And at fist we throw ourselves wide to possibility and then we start to dissect all these new facets of the universe. We reach out to grasp something sacred and it turns into something lesser in our hands because it can only be to us what we can perceive.

"And then we take what we've found and we share it, and that goes fine for awhile, but the next thing you know we have Traditions and rules and we can't even really remember where we came from." He sighs and opens his water bottle.

"Well, I doubt you're willing to go with me on it being sacred, but something vast and unknowable at least." Kalen takes a drink.

"You were right, I think. Not to join the Order. You...you won't try to see it through anyone's eyes but your own and you're in a place where you still can have any of the resources most of us can."

"Seekings change everyone. Not always this completely. I'm...my last Seeking was right after the last chantry I belonged to was destroyed. I...I was very different then. I didn't...I couldn't look at the world like this then. I don't know that my next Seeking will lead to quite so dramatic a change. This...this is more like who I was before. Different, too." He smiles a little. "But I'll warn you next time."

Kalen laughs. "And yeah, I know. I knew you'd come back. I just...really missed you."

Alex

“She seems cool. Not that we talked an amazing amount before the others in the bar we bumped into each other in decided that it was much too quiet a night.” Alex runs a finger along his jaw, even though the bruising has long since faded.

Alex takes the bottle and twists the cap off, taking a slow sip as Kalen talks. “Because there are people who think that they are right, and they try to make other people see things their way? I’ve never been on for religion or anything like that, but a lot of it seems to work along the lines of the guys at the top telling you what to think and what to do. Do it another way and you’re just not doing it right and, hey, straight to hell you go. If you try to see things through someone else’s eyes, are you really going to be seeing the world as it is? It’s… like putting someone else’s glasses on, I guess?

“You most sound like you regret joining them.”

“I’m sure there’s some saying about the only consistent thing in the world being change. Or was it death and taxes? Either way, you’re still you. And I will still throw things at you if you try taking on the world by yourself.

“And I’m not going anywhere any time soon.”

Kalen

"No," Kalen says softly. "I do not regret joining them at all. I needed them. They're my family, Alce. Sometimes they make me crazy and sometimes I make them crazy, but they're my family. This...I've made this my home. And I may like being a little outside the range that sees their most frequent attention. But even so, I love them. Maybe sometimes I hate them too, but that changes nothing about love. It just makes it more complicated."

He sighs heavily. "Speaking of violent disagreements, one of them wants to make the vampires and the Technocrats fight and then finish off what's left. And most of you haven't really had to fight vampires or Technocrats, but I've done both. It won't be pretty. People will die.

"And...for all we go on about the Technocracy...maybe we fought a war we didn't have to fight there. They are by no means not dangerous and they are by no means our friends and I do not want to go hold their hands and sing kumbaya. They've killed friends of mine. I don't expect that we can have anything more than an uneasy peace.

"But I am so tired of everyone dying. I am especially tired of people dying for nothing more than that in the past other people died. And, honestly, I'm not sure how much of that war is still about anything else. If they were willing to just leave us alone, I was willing to just leave them alone."

Alex

“Well, that sounds like family alright. They drive you mad, but you wouldn’t want to live without them. And they’re there when you need them.”

There’s another sip of water. “Is that your watcher who wants to kick the hornet nests and hope to get out of the way before they explode? Or someone else who should stop trying to play power games and pay attention to the pieces?

“I really don’t like the idea of either of them, but I think you’re right. But I’d like to point out that you were the one who brought them up again, and it hasn’t been five minutes.” Alex nudges Kalen again, slipping the bottle back onto the table and picking up a couple of gun parts to start slotting them back together.

Kalen

"I'm really bad at not thinking about all the ways that people might die." Kalen sighs, then smiles faintly. "So...some things definitely haven't changed."

"I'm not thrilled about vampires or Technocrats in general, but on threats to the city at large...I'm pretty sure there are more deaths attributable to domestic violence annually than either of them. Hell, probably both of them combined. That doesn't absolve them of their sins, but...if I'm pick a fight I'd rather it be one for the most good. And in this case, I don't think that's what this would be.

"I felt differently, once. But then there were zombies. And...Ceth. I just-" There is a pause while Kalen takes a breath. "I'm not sure I really want to take out the people who are good at hunting monsters. I know they count us on their list of monsters. But there are a lot of other things on that list and a lot of them are really monsters.

"Oh. And something from that whole mess is back. Grace is investigating it." Kalen sighs heavily. "I'm just really glad you're back. Have you figured much out about those spirits? I'm no real help there for you, I'm afraid, but if you need me, I'm there anyway."

Alex

The pieces of gun slot together quickly, easily, and a few twists of a tool locks them all into place. “Sounds like some things really haven’t.” Alex nudges Kalen again before pushing up from the table, heading to the gun store to put the pistol back in its cage and lock it away.

“Come on, enough worrying about that stuff right now.” He pulls at Kalen’s shirt sleeve, pulling towards the exit. “There’s a new diner over on West 12th that’s supposed to do pretty good pie. And stop worrying about dying all the time, or I’ll stick you on the back of my bike, drive you there, and really give you something to worry about.”

Kalen

Kalen lets himself be tugged toward the exit. "Okay. We can worry about what kind of pie we want instead of all this. That sounds kind of perfect actually."

I think there's been a misunderstanding here

Alexander

[Before we start writing, Arete. Sensing stuff so TN4, -1 for taking time, aiming for 2 successes]

Dice: 1 d10 TN3 (5) ( success x 2 ) [WP]

Alexander

[And Int+Med?]

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

Alexander

They say that the city boasts 300 days of sun a year. Many of those days may include sun at some point, but the climate has a tendency to the wildly variable. Today? Today is not one of those days. Today has been peaceful and calm. There hasn’t been much more than a breeze to slowly push what cloud there is over the city. Maybe, to those who pay attention to such things, the hovering calm had muted the wailing horns and sirens of traffic forcing its way along crowded roads.

So the sky is mostly blue, with a few high, wispy clouds overhead. And here, in the park, the grass is green and flourishing in the warmth of the sun. The water of the lake laps gently at its shore nearby. There’s the sound of activity carrying on the air from the sports pitched not so far away and an occasional, rhythmic pounding marks a jogger running through their laps.

And Alexander? Alexander is lying on that grass, by that lake, with eyes closed and breathing slow. He almost seems immobile – frozen – until you watch him long enough to see his chest rise and fall. Next to him is a small rucksack, a discarded tshirt, and a bottle of water. Boots and socks are paired up, sitting by the rucksack. He could be asleep? Only he isn’t, quite. It started out with wanting to feel the flow of the breeze around and over him, so that’s what he pushed his will against reality to do. Then the mix of the warmth, the calmness, and the hypnotic beauty of sensing the currents of air... It’s easy to wait for thought to slow and stop and freeze in its tracks and simply be.

Lavinia

It's a beautiful eighty-one degrees fahrenheit today, and she is out running. She has a pretty easy schedule, one that doesn't demand that she actually be doing much any given day. Lavinia was running, because running felt fantastic, because the air felt fantastic, and most importantly she had recently acquired tennis shoes and she needed to actually wear them in. She now had four pairs of shoes. It was starting to get to the point of ridiculous, she had decided. Since coming to Denver she has all but doubled the number of shoes she owned after coming to Denver.

The sky was blue, with some wispy clouds overhead. She had her hair pulled back in a high ponytail, curls bouncing when she moved, choice in clothing made it abundantly clear that Lavinia Cervantes had legs that went on forever and, whilst running, she was content to just be in the zone. That is, of course, until she saw a person. It's telling that the things that come to the tall blonde's mind when she saw a person laying in the grass that she wasn't entirely certain if they were alive or not. She missed a lot of the big cues, like the sound of someone breathing and it was just a little bright for her to possibly catch the rhythmic rise and fall of someone's chest.

Now, there were things that crossed her mind- if she was wrong and this wasn't a dead body, it was for the best that she not disturb said person because saying sorry, I thought you were a recently made corpse doesn't seem to set well with most people. If she woke the person up, they wouldn't be so forgiving.

So, Lavinia started her approach. Slow and steady and cautious. There is a feeling that comes with her, and it is that feeling that signals her arrival more than anything. It is that feeling of something beyond walls, beyond definitions, something that would be and always had been. Something that was larger than the mortal frame carrying it. So, there she was, approaching Alexander to make certain he wasn't a dead body. Because that's a normal concern. Totally.

Kalen

[How distracted by Resonance are we today?]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (3, 7, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 6 )

Kalen

Kalen adores Washington Park. It has been some time since he's seen one of the friends he met there, because, at this point he considers a spirit a friend without so much as the batting of an eyelash. He senses, for the first time in a long time, something angelic in the park. He remembers Lavinia, mostly from the art gallery.

He has a green tea smoothie, because he has just discovered the glory of green tea smoothies. Through perhaps slightly distressing circumstances, but it is hardly as though his tongue did not heal.

Healing, after all, is what they do. Sometimes more quickly than others, perhaps. But. As a rule.

He approaches Lavinia and Alexander, though, really, more Alexander. Lavinia may feel like an angel, but she is hardly the first being Kalen met who has had that kind of resonance. Certainly not the first with whom he has associated divinity. Alexander gets the most of his focus for now.

Alexander

[Int+Med still?]

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

Alexander

He can feel it. Oh, he can feel the way the breeze drifts over his body. But he can really feel it. The way that the warmth of the sun heats the ground, creating tiny thermals as the air warms and rises. The way that the air sinks as it passes over the lake. The occasional eddy as some nearby object or other blocks and redirects the flow. The swirling currents as he inhales and exhales.

Something tugs at the edge of his awareness – or maybe his Awareness – but it’s something subtle and far distant for now. Unimportant for the moment, really. Whatever happens, happens. Much like the hopelessness of trying to stop the wind in its tracks, or the flow of water downhill; It can be done, but at the moment it’s far too much effort to try.

There’s a slightly quickening of his breathing, but otherwise Alexander lies still on the grass and lets the flow of air and time and the universe wash over him.

In another world, maybe someone could make an Ecstatic out of him in the end.

Lavinia

She finally got close enough to recognize that the person in the grass wasn't probably in need of medical attention, but rather, said person in said grass was probably having a good moment just communing with nature and, therefore, should probably be left alone, but then there's movement and then there's people and she suddenly becomes aware of the fact that, oh, shit, I'm not alone and this is now awkward. She clears her throat, carefully starts to steer herself along her way. Wiggles her fingers and gives a little half audible "Hi," to whichever of the people- either Kalen (whose name she vaguely remembered) or Alexander (whose name she had no idea of, but she had been making sure he wasn't dead because nobody can be that sort of serene without pushing up daisies).

Abort mission, abort mission!

Serafíne

(Awareness.)

Dice: 7 d10 TN5 (1, 4, 4, 5, 5, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 ) Re-rolls: 1

Kalen

Kalen gives Lavinia a little nod. "Hey," he says quietly. And then he drops onto the blanket to sprawl beside Alexander, not touching him him but not far from it. It is, in some ways, a thing might more expect from a cat, the intent watching and the silence and the being only inches away.

No. We lie.

It is not quite like a cat. Because Kalen is not impatiently pawing at Alexander and meowing insistently for attention. At least not yet.

Alexander

[Awareness]

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

Alexander

[Dex+Ath]

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

Serafíne

"This is fucking good enough - " Rick is grumbling, though his grumble has a fond edge to it that excises the immediate meaning from the words and changes them incrementally into something ever-so-slightly else. He and Dan and Dee have the heaviest loads, Sera the lightest. A picnic blanket slung over one arm and a kale-pineapple smoothie in the other hand. The quartet tramp through the park to a small knoll with a view of the water and the soon-to-be setting sun: picnic basket and reuseable grocery bags and a pair of guitars and a giant tub of CheezBallz (TM) and there is other conversation, backwards and forwards and forwards and backwards, which we will not take long to relate as it is offscreen for most of the principals tonight. Low and laughing, familiar, sure.

They are an attractive quartet: Dee is a tall girl with deep dark hair and skin so fine and pale and clarified that strangers call it creamy. Summertime, in a mile-high city, she must be well-committed to sunscreen to keep it that way. Dee is wearing a knee-length, flouncy skirt in a fine dark navy with two rows of white brick-brack trimming the bottom hem. Dark hair piled and perfectly pin-curled atop her head. Rick and Dan have the requisite hipster-garb: skinny eans and band t-shirts, beards in varying lengths (short, dark - Rick; longer, blond - Dan) and Vans or in Dan's case schlubby Birkenstocks he picked up at Buffalo Exchange. Dan (or someone) has painted his toenails a lovely metallic teal.

When they arrive at the picnic site, he offloads his guitar case and leans it against a convenient tree, sets down: cooler and reuseable shopping bag and gives Sera a hand unfurling the picnic blanket.

Alexander

That something at the edge of being noticed, it turns out that there is more than one something. Sleepers had passed by completely unnoticed, lost as he was in... not exactly pulling the world apart and putting it back together, but figuring out how it lies. Where the edges are, the strong points and the weak ones. Maybe – with luck – where he might be able to push a little harder in the future to do more than simply sense. To change.

His breathing speeds a little more, not far from normal, when Lavinia approaches. She had been slow and unthreatening, her distance kept as she closed and watched for signs of life. Had that been the only presence, Alexander’s return to wakefulness and alertness might have been rather more gentle.

The second presence, though. The one that gets closer and closer and drops down and almost touches. Now that is rather more threatening. The resonance is new and unfamiliar and... powerful? A danger. A threat. It takes a little while for conscious thought to fire up, for the image of Kalen to register and be recognised. But even then, this doesn’t feel like Kalen. This isn’t the approaching storm. This is something else.

As the presence gets closer and lowers to the ground, Alexander rolls and kicks up. Instinct pushes his up and away from the newcomers, turning to face the threat. His breathing, calm and peaceful just a few moments before, is now faster and deeper. His bare feet dig into the soft, grassy ground. He’s up and ready to fight, turned a little and arms up ready to fend off what might physically come.

His gaze switches between Kalen and Lavinia. “Who the fuck are you?”

Kalen

Kalen tilts his head, then realizes what the fuck that is about.

"Mmmmmmmm...Grace said she thought I might be a clone. I'm relatively certain that is not true." There is a hint of a smile. "I suppose I should just be glad you didn't throw me onto the ground this time, Alce."

And he waits. Patient. Calm. If anything seems off other than the Resonance it's that calm. The lack of shadows under his eyes. Peace and Kalen were not so much things that got on.

Lavinia

She doesn't jump.

Things change very quickly and she doesn't take a step back, doesn't hesitate, doesn't seem like she is making a reach for anything because where the Hell would she keep it? She's not got a lot in the way of fabric on her personage. If she managed to hide a lethal weapon on her then she has very much created a pocket that exists outside of space and time and the last thing one has to worry about is the fact that she might be carrying a knife and more about the fact that she made a bag of fucking holding. There was no bag of holding, therefore, nothing to fear. We digress.

She takes in the tension, takes in the way that Alex rolls up, practiced and comfortable and ready for something Very Bad to happen and she puts her hands up, just enough to not be a threat. Just enough to indicate that she isn't going to snap and that this? This isn't a dangerous situation.

"Hey," she says, "just passing through, I'm Lavinia-" she then looks between the two males, "-I think there's been a misunderstanding here, let's just breathe and talk it out… okay?"

She wasn't going to walk away now, she was pretty sure that this guy could render the dude she met at the art gallery (Kalen, right? He looked like a Kalen) into a fine powder and she couldn't exactly walk away and let that happen, right? Of course right. Though she does try very hard not to wince when Kalen says something about maybe being a clone but probably not.

Serafíne

The blanket is old and worn, and plaid of course, fringed at the edges with a few strands of dried grass stuck in the nap of the flannel from the last time it was dragged outdoors for this particular purpose. Dan and Sera open it up until it covers an area of grass nearly as large as a queen-sized bed. Dan slips off his sandals to step onto the blanket and trample it down. Dee follows suit while Rick anchors one end of the blanket with the cooler and starts digging around for the bottle of Malbec and stemless red-wine glasses they brought with them for the party.

Sera is still at the edge: alert, aware, a vision in a little white sundress so fine as to be translucent, worn over crisp black lingerie. It is harder for her to slip off her combat boots, so Dee wades over to give her a hand. Takes the smoothie in her right and holds up her left while Sera balances and tries to make the laces come up almost by magic or - you know - fingertips. Some combination of the two.

Alexander

It’s not the first time that one of the Awakened in the city has surprised Alex. It’s not even the first time that Kalen has managed to do it, not so far and not so long ago from the here and now. At least this time hasn’t – yet – ended up with bruising, or worse.

Alexander takes a longer look at Lavinia when she tries to reassure him that she isn’t a threat. His gaze lingers for a moment longer before it returns to Kalen and stays there. She’s still in his peripheral vision – he’s not ignoring her – but she’s not seen at the threat right now.

Kalen – or the man who looks like Kalen, sounds like Kalen, but just feels so damned wrong for Kalen – is the one getting his the focus of his attention. He’s the unknown. Given the strange stuff that he’d seen, and the even stranger things he’d heard about, it doesn’t seem unreasonable that someone could look and sound like another person. He’d felt the change in Grace recently as she had ‘upgraded’, but that was a broadening and deepening of what was already there. This? This is different.

“No way are you Kalen. You might look and sound like him, but there’s no fucking way. So who. The fuck. Are you?”

Kalen

Kalen rolls his eyes. "Exactly who are are so very sure I am not. Which is an interesting enough situation, I admit."

He pulls out his phone and taps on a few keys. Then a few more.

"Check your messages sometime," he says, rising to his feet. "Get back to me. I'll be at home. Call and warn Grace if you must."

Lavinia

(skip me, please!)

Serafíne

(also no reason to wait for me since: my screen froze and I had no idea anyone had posted. and am not really interacting with folks!)

Alexander

Alexander’s eyes narrow a little,watchful and wary as “Kalen” stands and offers his words. There’s no attempt at explanation, but then standing in the middle of a wide-open public space possibly isn’t the best of places to discuss things that a certain group of well-dressed individuals with their towncars and mirrored glasses would just love to know about.

There are times when he wonders if he’s a little too paranoid about thing. And then there are times when he thinks he’s not paranoid enough. Having his friend possibly snagged by some kind of... B-movie baddie and cloned, or whatever? Or maybe this was a spiritual thing – it wouldn’t be the first time, and wouldn’t be the last time, that something from the other side of the Umbra had interfered with things in this world.

He pauses before replying, watching. This is going to be hard, but it’s worth a shot...

[Arete, sensing spirits. Base TN4, +3 for no focus, -1 for practiced. So very much spending the WP.]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (2) ( success x 1 ) [WP]

Lavinia

[Do I notice this? Per+aware]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 5, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )

Kalen

Kalen sighs. "Really. I commend your vigilance." Even if it doesn't exactly please him right this moment.

But then he turns to leave. He does not run. He does not seem terribly concerned Alexander will shoot him while he isn't looking. He heads away with the same easy pace he approached with. There are conversations that could be had and there are things he might try to say, but here, with an audience...no.

Serafíne

(going to go, actually. night folks!)

Lavinia

She looks confused. She looks unabashedly confused, actually. She hadn't ever really interacted with Kalen, save for the moment that they had exchanged numbers. Truth be told she mostly remembered hearing a circle jerk joke from a guy who was a foot shorter than she was and laughing hard enough that her ribs hurt. She looked back at Alex, hands still up, and she knows she should keep her mouth shut, but she blurts it out anyway.

"If you know how to look a little closer at people, like, the metal they're mode of, you might have a little more luck assuaging your concerns?"

No, this is not a teachable moment, Lavinia. Walk away.

Alexander

Alex watches Kalen turn and leave, forcing – really forcing this time – his will against the universe. It’s only that force of will that gives him the fleeting sense of the spirits. There’s the sense of crying coming from the lake, but that’s ignored. Kalen is the focus – his focus – and... It doesn’t feel like he’s been infested with a spirit. Not unless it’s very different to that man in the broken window, or the other in the forest or...

There’s a sighing growl deep in his throat as he watches and waits until the figure disappears, frustration at – once again – not knowing what the hell is going on. The tension drops a notch or two, the arms come down and he doesn’t seem quite so ready to leap into a fight. But he’s hardly what anyone would call relaxed now. In other, better circumstances he might be more approachable, more amenable to meeting up with another Awakened. These aren’t exactly better circumstances, though.

So he looks at Lavinia, considering her for some moments, considering his words. “You have no idea what just happened, do you. That isn’t the man he appears to be. I don’t know who or what he is, but that is not the Kalen I know.”

He stands, watchful. He doesn’t close, doesn’t offer a hand in greeting. Doesn’t even offer his name, although more from having other concerns .

Kalen

[Thank you for scenes!]

Lavinia

She doesn't come any closer, but she is watching him. The way that she's watching him has shifted. There is a tension in her shoulders, a readiness in her core, a balance in the way that she carries her weight. She's looking at Alex, ready and waiting, like she needs to know whether she needs to defend herself. She looks at him like she's sizing him up, that if push came to shove- could she take him?

Lavinia isn't sure. That seems to account for the tension.

"I don't have a standing relationship with… Kalen?" she asks herself more than anyone else, "Kalen. So I don't have a basis for comparison. He doesn't exhibit any of the things that I would look for when trying to determine whether or not someone is possessed or no longer in control of their faculties, though. But, again, I don't have a basis for comparison."

She doesn't ask his name, but she does continue with caution, "do you need some kind of assistance? Are you doing this on your own?"

A beat.

"I'm being really pushy, I'm sorry. you just seem really spooked and I need to know whether or not this is something I need to be concerned about."

Alexander

“I do. That doesn’t feel like Kalen, his resonance isn’t right and he’s too different. He’s just...” he shrugs, “wrong. Right now, I don’t trust him.” A phrase that won’t mean a lot to someone who doesn’t know him, but might give a clue about how wrong he really did feel.

He still isn’t relaxing, but the tension seems to be more down to the strange situation and that he doesn’t know Lavinia than any kind of hostility or expectation that there will be the need to fight. He takes a deep breath, trying to force his shoulders down to their usual position and to work the nerves from facing something unknown out of his body.

His head cocks to the side, a puzzled expression passing over his face as she asks if he needs help. “Do I look like I need assistance? And if I do, wouldn’t you expect me to ask the people I know for it?” He’s just not giving right now. But then he has just found that his friend might have been the victim of... something.

“I’m fine.” Liar. “But I think you should get back to your run, and be very careful if you meet him again.” Again, he stands and watches and waits. He isn’t threatening, but he’s not backing down and not relaxing any further. Not, at least, while Lavinia is here.

Alexander

[Man+Sub - Totes ok!]

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

Lavinia

[Are you really okay?]

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

Alexander

[Alex is shaken and he's trying not to show it, especially to a stranger. Her being a complete unknown isn't helping. He just doesn't want her here right now.]

Lavinia

"You do look like you need assistance," she tells him, nods like this is a matter of fact, "but you don't look like someone who is stupid, so… yeah, I don't know what I was-" she stumbles with that, shrugs because she doesn't quite know what to say, "anyway, didn't think you'd take it because that would be dumb. Anyway."

She takes a step back, reaches up to retighten her ponytail, which didn't really need it but we digress.

"Just… take care of yourself, okay?" She takes another step back, turns, and the tall blonde turns to get back on the road. And, with little ado, she turned slowly to go back on her run.

Alexander

As with Kalen turning to leave, Alex stays quiet and watches. There isn’t really anything he feels the need to add. She’s turning to leave and, at the moment, that’s really all he wants. Another time, another place, another disaster and he might have been amused at her awkwardness, thanked her for her concern. But this isn’t any of those things and he just stands and watches as she retreats.

Only then does he take a deep, sighing breath and really, physically, relax. He steps into his boots, scooping the bottle and other pieces of clothing into the pack before that gets slung over a shoulder. He makes his way out of the park, in a different direction that the others had taken.