I couldn't bring my pom poms with me

Elijah

[nightmares?

Dice: 5 d10 TN7 (3, 4, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )

Kalen

[How awake are we?]

Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )

Ian

It was around 1:00 in the afternoon when Grace, Kalen, Lena and Elijah got the text from Ian. And for once, it wasn't anything about some terrible danger or disaster. It was simply this:

Hey, my friend and I are trying to set up an impromptu soccer game at Crestmoor Park. Feel like playing?

He fired that same text off to a handful of other people, at least one of whom (Emma) texted back with a confirmation. Any positive responses would have been given directions and encouraged to 'bring a friend', which was likely how Alex ended up hearing about it. So it was about half an hour later when Ian and Jae-shin arrived at the park, dressed appropriately in soccer gear (Jae-shin had a thin green athletic shirt while Ian went shirtless) and kicking a ball around the field to warm up.

Emma showed up a few minutes later, and she waved at Ian from across the field as she paused to tie her hair up. Ian jogged over at tossed the ball at her chest, smiling when she caught it. "Hey you."

"Who's that?" she asked, nodding towards where Jae-shin stood.

"Just a friend. We train together a lot."

"Ah." There was a little smile at that, which Ian chose to ignore.

The weather was nice. It was sunny. Warm. A perfect day for a game, really.

Lena Reilly

Lena responded back with, I'll be there! I'm gonna play cheerleader. The woman isn't one for the kind of physical exertion that can lead to injuries, after all. She has to be careful about that. But she welcomes the opportunity to show up and hang out with some friends, especially when she's too damned good at making herself a hermit. So her green Ninja motors its way to Crestmoor, the woman dressed in the usual green and black jacket that she wears when she goes out and matching helmet. It may seem strange that a woman who is afraid of a little soccer-induced bruising is willing to zip around on a high-speed death machine, but anyone who knows a Cultist well would know how little their personal boundaries of "acceptably unsafe" vs. "too far" tend to make sense to anyone but themselves.

She steps off the bike and attaches the helmet to the back, unzipping her jacket as she walks over to reveal a T-Shirt that reads "GO TEAM (the one that currently has the ball." She smiles a little bit, hanging back slightly and taking a lean against a tree as she watches for now. More people here so far that she doesn't know compared to ones she does, and that means she doesn't impose herself yet...even if her Resonance does.

Elijah

There wasn't much dragging to be had. All Elijah had to do was mention that Ian said something about soccer and Jenn was there, carting her friend along in the civic and dressed ready forwhat was going to prove to be an actually athletic experience.

"I love soccer," Jenn announced.

Elijah, sadly, was not the kind of athlete that Jenn was. he was terrible at sports, he was largely unafraid of the fact that he was terrible at sports but practice made perfect and all that other stuff and it gave him an excuse to look at people while they were shirtless. Both partes were dressed and ready for soccer, and Elijah even bothered to not wear a vest this time. Which meant his pocketwatch was shoved in Jenn's purse along with a couple water bottles and some brownies.

"you've said that, like, four times," Elijah teased.

"Because I really, really, really, really love soccer," she said with a grin.

Grace

Ian's message came at a good time, yeah? It's a day when people desperately need some companionship and togetherness and all that bullshit that makes you feel human again after, say, talking to a Techocrat or dumping a Nephandus into his own Styx.

She responds back with an: okay. I'll try to drag Kalen with. No guarantees.

Because yeah, he needs to get out.

She met him at the office wearing a sky-blue tee that has a guy playing baseball on the front, with 'TOUCH DOWN' as the verbiage. It's the perfect shirt to go play soccer in. Which, let's say, Grace has not done since grade school, and even then she mostly stood staring off into nothing thinking about anything but soccer.

It's not really about the game is it?

Somehow, she managed to convince him that going and playing a sport in the outside would be at least tolerable. Maybe?

So they show up, Grace bright-eyed, if not exactly enthused about the whole sports aspect of the whole thing. At least her normal uniform of jeans and tee shirts is suitable for this.

"I think you aren't allowed to use your hands. Except sometimes. Like, the goalie can use their hands. And there are times when you throw the ball, but if you do that at other times you are in so much trouble..." Grace says as they walk.

"I think I'm just going to play it by ear. Not literally. Although maybe..."

Alexander

It’s a couple of days since they returned from… if a Sleeper should ask, somewhere out of town. After doing a little gardening for a friend, maybe. Either way, Alexander has been doing reasonably well. Oh, there have been bad dreams about a certain black river, waking with soaked sheets from cold sweats, but he’s looking reasonably awake and with it.

He’d just been arriving at the warehouse to check on Kalen – he didn’t seem to be doing so well after their… trip. Alexander had seem Kalen get a little twitchy around water before – he’d been worried that dipping his hand into the waters of the node was going to break it when he caught the reaction – but he didn’t know the reasons.

So here he is, arriving just behind Grace and Kalen. He’d stopped off at home to change before heading over, and the lack of delay in his arriving probably says something about his driving.

Alexander? Isn’t wearing anything particularly special once he changes out of his bike gear in the lot. Blue trainers, black shorts and a red vest top. There’s a rucksack holding it, slung over one shoulder, and he carries the helmet in the opposite hand. He takes a couple of moments to look over the Ninja parked in the lot nearby, but follows the others over to the field. There’s maybe a momentary pause when he sees Ian on the field. They haven’t so much as spoke to each other since that night by the reservoir. This could be interesting.

Kalen

Kalen had attempted to spend the day sulking in the library. He had tried to insist that there were things he had to do. Put together information on vampires for new Mages. Research the locations of weapons for hunting the undead. Research reanimation rituals. Update their computer model of Denver with current events. Historical events.

But Grace had started on him and then she'd been joined by Alexander and so Kalen has been dragged away from books into the sunshine. He has played soccer. He did attend school until he was fourteen, at least sporadically. He knows...you kick the ball. So he is convinced to come voluntarily instead of being dragged, which he wouldn't put entirely past either Grace or Alexander.

So he is there, listening to Grace explain a game he can't really explain any better, in a pair of loose grey pants and a white tee-shirt. He does grab them bottled water, because of course he has that in abundance. He lets them talk him out of excursions to buy things like soccer shoes or half of a bakery or coffee (who even brings coffee to a soccer game, Kalen?) or tangerines or whatever else he can think of as a stalling tactic because this game is in like five minutes Kalen just get in the fucking car.

Ian

Ian and Emma looked as though they probably moved in the same social and professional spheres. They were both beautiful. Both graceful and athletic in the way that dancers could be. They both had that same kind of untouchable air to them. Emma was tall and darker skinned, with long brown hair (now fixed in a loose knot atop her head) and large eyes. She had on dark blue athletic shorts and a black sports bra.

Jae-shin wasn't a dancer, but he wasn't exactly in poor shape. On the contrary, he looked as though he worked out on a daily basis. (It had, in fact, been his idea to have the soccer game.) He watched Ian and Emma for a moment before jogging over to join them. When he got there, he introduced himself to Emma in an accent that marked him as Korean, and the two of them held a brief conversation as Ian spotted Lena by the trees. It wasn't long before she was joined by the others, and Ian gestured to Emma and Jae-shin to join him at the side of the field, where everyone seemed to be congregating.

So it was that the group came together: seven mages and two sleepers. Jae-shin stood slightly behind Ian, rolling the ball skillfully between his hands. To those who could feel such things, he resonated like the depths of the ocean: Fluid and Abyssal.

"Hey," Ian greeted. He offered a smile to Lena, sweeping his gaze around to include most of the others present. Even Alex got a nod. "This is Emma," Ian introduced the two people behind him, "and Jae-shin." He didn't offer the latter's Tradition, because there were sleepers present, but Jae-shin nodded to the group in a slow, knowing gesture.

"I suppose we should pick teams," Ian offered, glancing around the group with an appraising gaze. Some of them were likely more familiar with the game than others. "Who wants to be captain?"

"I will," Jae-shin offered.

Ian eyed him for a moment, and something passed between them (some small spark of competition.) "Anyone care if I take the other one?"

Grace

It's just like Kalen to stall with the aid of tangerines and why they're a dire need. Nobody ever needed tangerines to play soccer, Kalen.

Still, it's nice to see that he's willing to be argued with. Nice to see Alexander is also arguing on her side.

Sometimes, along the path, you don't exactly stop. Never stop. It's always a help though, to make sure that you can continue putting one foot in front of the other. Sometimes, it's other people who you allow to convince you of this fact.

Grace smiles at Jae-shin when she and her pod of Mages arrives. "Pick me last. I have a reputation to maintain here."

Lena Reilly

"Hey." She says it with a little smile and looks around as she senses first Elijah, then the trio of Grace, Alex and Kalen. She raises her hand to wave at them all, including the ones she doesn't know--Jenn, Jae-shin, Emma--getting comfortable in her position against the tree.

"Nice to meet you," she says, directed to Emma and Jae-shin...and Jenn too, once she gets within the vicinity. Her introductions are made with a warm, easily friendly tone. "I'm Lena." Nice and simple, left there for the moment. "Hey guys," is her greeting to the Awakened that she does know. When the two guys step up to be captains she smiles and shakes her head.

"It's all you guys. I'm just spectating today anyway."

Elijah

"I'll be captain if no one else wants it," Jenn said. She was a pretty enough girl with a messy haircut and a tattoo of an iris on one of her thighs. She had a tank top on, so only part of a unicorn peaked out over her shoulder.

"That's Jenn. Jenn? That's Kalen and Grace and Alex and Lena-"

"I've heard, like, a ton about you guys."

Alexander

Alex jogs over to join Kalen and Grace. Ian gets a nod in return. The jury is still out on the final opinion on the man. Preliminary verdict: dick, but might be ok. Lena gets a smile and a, “Hey!” in return. Elijah, a nod and a wave. Kalen? A grip on the shoulder.

He’s about to introduce himself when Elijah does it for him. “Alexander,” he corrects, giving Elijah a look. He isn’t Alex to strangers. But otherwise it’s smiles and nods for the others.

He shrugs when they ask about captains.

Grace

Grace rolls her eyes at the 'Alexander' comment, because oh God, can he stop being so uptight for five minutes? Something about cops and sticks up their asses huh? But she doesn't say anything. She's in too good a mood to spoil it.

Instead, she waves at Lena, who's 'just spectating' and why didn't anyone tell Grace that spectating would be an option here? She's likely to kick someone. In the head. Somehow. It's bound to happen, despite the unlikelihood.

"Oh, man, Lena has the right idea. Spectating on our excursion to sportsball? Should be just hilarious."

Kalen

Kalen rolls his eyes when Alexander catches his shoulder. "Oh? You think you're already forgiven?" But there is definite affection in that tone, though he doesn't fit himself into Alexander's side or do anything cuddly. He does shake off Alexander's hand, but only so that no fingers are smashed when he bounces his shoulder into Alexander's. It's rougher than he is with Grace, but light enough. Playful.

Look! More people. He waves to them, and doesn't manage quite the show of being social he put on for Alexander. "Hey." But they all get a smile and a bit of a nod.

"However," is all he says about teams and captains.

Ian

"I care," Emma responded to Ian's suggestion with a teasing loft of her brow. "Just because the two of you called us here, don't think you get to run the show. Besides, I'd like a female captain." At this she smiled at Jenn, the expression delicate and wry. Ian glanced between the two, then offered a little huff of laughter that seemed intended mostly for Emma.

"Fair point," he conceded, gesturing to Jenn. "She can have it." There was a quarter stuck between the laces of one of his shoes. Ian retrieved it and flipped it into the air. When he caught it, he pressed his hand down over it, glancing back at Jae-shin. "Heads or tails?"

"Tails."

Ian revealed the quarter on his hand. It was heads. "Jenn gets first pick."

And Jenn's first pick? Ended up being Ian. So when it came time for Jae-shin to select his first player, he surveyed the group for a long moment, then nodded to Alexander.

Back to Jenn, who unsurprisingly grabbed Emma for her team.

Jae-shin's next pick was Kalen. And Jenn went for Grace, who, as it turned out, was not going to be the last picked on this particular day (despite her reputation.)

That honor was left to Elijah, who got to join Jae-shin's team by default. When they were all grouped up, Jae-shin turned to his team and asked, "which positions would you prefer?"

Assuming Jenn did the same, Ian and Emma both offered to take offense.

Lena Reilly

She watches the back-and-forth picking with a bit of a smile, keeping track of who's going where. The team makeups interest her; it's chemistry, or a recipe, or human dynamics. It's connections splitting, forging, reforging. There's a bit of a tilt to her head as she watches, and then they're done choosing and she grins.

"Unfortunately I couldn't bring my pom-poms with me on the motorcycle, but I'll throw out all the 'Go Teams' I can manage."

Alexander

And it’s almost like being back in the high-school gym again. Alexander had been pretty good at the more physical side of high-school, so didn’t often have the honour of being the last picked when teams were being formed. He walks over to stand near Jae-shin while the rest of the teams are picked.

“I’ll go offense.” There’s maybe a flash of a smile as he offers.

Grace

Ohh, so now it comes to it, eh? Grace makes faces at Alex (I'm going to wipe the floor with you!) and Kalen (look out, punk, you're going down!) as she walks over to join the other team.

Which, hello Jenn. Nice to meet you. Have a pale nerd wearing a shirt that displays all of her knowledge of soccer.

"Hi. I'm Grace," she says to the others, before going to stare at the grass. They already kind of knew that, didn't they? "I have no idea what offense means? Uh. I know not to use my hands!"

Elijah

"Okay," Jenn starts, "who wants to be what? Offense goes and takes the ball down the field and scores, defense keeps their people from kicking the ball into our goal. Goalie is in charge of defending the goal. You might wanna be defense? Besides, it's okay if you're not super sure what to do because I've got a good feeling that our offense is going to rock faces."

Jenn said this all with the kind of confidence that came with being team captain, even if she wasn't the best player on the field she certainly tried her best to inspire some kind of confidence in Grace.

--

Meanwhile, there was the question of where it was Elijah was going to play. He looked a little like a deer in the headlights, because this was very much like high school gym class and that usually ended with him getting sent to the nurse because he faked an injury well enough that he didn't have to do pushups anymore.

"Dibs on defense," Elijah said, eager to avoid having to actually make his way down the field.

Kalen

Grace's look gets a little flash of amusement from Kalen, but no return challenge, Jae-shin just gets a black look in return to his question.

"I may not have been into teams as a child. You're going to have to explain." That tone is flat, distant. He'll try for Alex. He'll try for Grace. He cannot be bothered to try for strangers. Even strangers he would otherwise take a stronger interest in. "But I'll do whatever."

Ian

"You can be defense," Ian offered to Grace. "It's easy. Just hang out by the goal and when the ball gets close kick it back down the field, preferably to me or Emma."

And that left Jenn as goalie. Hopefully her skills would make up for her small size.

On to the other team...

Jae-shin nodded to Alex and Elijah. When Kalen offered him that look, Jae-shin regarded him for a moment quietly. "I apologize. I should have explained. The goalie protects the goal." He nodded toward the large white net at the end of the field. "He or she must stay within the boundary of the goal, but within that boundary they can do whatever they need to do to catch the ball, including using their hands. No one else may touch the ball with their hands but the goalie. Defensive players remain on their side of the field, and they help protect the goal. Their job is to get the ball away from the opposing team and back to their offensive players. The offensive players do most of the running. They try to take the ball to the other team's goal in order to score points."

After this explanation, Jae-shin considered the options. "If you think you can run, I can take the goal. If not, I can take offense."

Presumably they would be able to work out who went where by the time they all assembled on the field, because Jenn's team seemed more than ready to get going. Maybe Jenn had some suggestions for them, or maybe she'd wait and see how things went. Either way, when they were ready, Ian and Emma jogged out onto the field and took positions near the center line.

Whenever Jae-shin's team finished debating positions, Jae-shin leaned in to whisper a final piece of advice. "Ian and I have played before. He'll be focused on me as the main threat. Use that to your advantage."

And with that, he led their team onto the field.

Ian

[Alright, in the interest of efficiency, I figured we could handle the mechanics of this scene as follows:

The field is 120 yards long. Each success on a Dex+Athletics roll equals a distance of 10 yards. (Meaning it will take 6 successes to get from the center of the field to the opposing team's goal.) So we will determine where players are located on the field based on their dice rolls.

All other actions (stealing the ball, blocking the goal, etc) are also Dex+Athletics. Easy-peasy. Most will be standard diff, but if you want to do something tricky then add one or two, as suits. We'll be rolling this like rounds of combat, with inits and declares.

Obviously we will not have time to play out an entire game (which would be like... 60+ rounds?) so I figure we'll just go until we have to crash and whichever team is in the lead at that point can be assumed to win.]

Grace

[Init +6!]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (8) ( success x 1 )

Elijah

Jenn: 5+1d10

Dice: 1 d10 TN7 (7) ( success x 1 )

Elijah

Elijah: 5+1d10

Dice: 1 d10 TN7 (9) ( success x 1 )

Ian

[Ian Init +7]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (4) ( fail )

Ian

[Emma +7]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (1) ( fail )

Kalen

[Init +5]

Dice: 1 d10 TN7 (6) ( fail )

Ian

[Jae-shin +6]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (1) ( fail )

Alexander

Alexander catches the look from Grace and pokes his tongue out at her before turning to the others.

[Init+6]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (5) ( fail )

Ian

[And the order is!

Grace: 14 (+6)

Elijah: 14 (+5)

Jenn: 12

Ian: 11 (+7)

Alex: 11 (+6)

Kalen: 11 (+5)

Emma: 8

Jae-shin: 7]

Ian

[Jae-shin: hang out in the goal, like you do]

Emma: Go for the ball and run!]

Kalen

[Let Alex fight for the ball. Get off and ready to take passes.]

Ian

[Who is going first?]

Dice: 1 d10 TN1 (3) ( success x 1 )

Elijah

{Jenn: Hangin' out at the goal, doobeedoo

Elijah: Chill out and wait for the ball to come this way. Block if necessary!

Alexander

[My ball, heading forwards!]

Ian

[Ian will run with Emma and wait for her to pass him the ball if she gets it]

Grace

[Stare at ball. Ooo ball.]

Ian

[Grace, Elijah and Jenn are holding action, so Ian's roll! Dex+Ath run-run-run]

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

Alexander

[Run-kick-run-kick - Dex+Ath]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 6, 7, 7, 9) ( success x 4 )

Kalen

[Do not lose the ball and run]

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

Ian

[Emma split her action so 1a: running -2]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 6, 7, 10) ( success x 3 )

Ian

[Aaand she didn't catch him so the second split is moot]

Elijah

[Ahhhh! Block, block like your life depends on it!]

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

Ian

[New declares!

Jae-shin: still hanging out

Emma: Split 1a: run! 1b: steal the ball if she gets to it]

Ian

[Also, placement:

Alex, Kalen and Elijah are all 40 yards away from Jenn's goal

Emma is 50 yards away

Ian is 60 yards away]

Ian

[Oh my god, I can math.

Alex, Kalen and Elijah are all 20 yards away from Jenn's goal

Emma is 30 yards away

Ian is 40 yards away]

Kalen

[Do I have this ball? I will never get it in the goal. Give it back to Alex.]

Kalen

[Edit: Run-run-run. Watch this ball.]

Ian

[somehow I put Elijah on the wrong team and for a few minutes no one noticed. We will pretend that never happened.]

Alexander

[Can I boot it in from here? Let's give it a try.]

Ian

[Ian: run!]

Elijah

[Jenn: OMG block]

Elijah

[Elijah: Chill out at his end, soooo glad he's not Jenn]

Grace

[Stare at the ball and kick it back without regard to anything! Super focus!]

Grace

[Dex+Ath = 4!]

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

Alexander

[WP?]

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

Alexander

[And evade?]

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

Kalen

[Run-run-run]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )

Ian

[Alex keeps the ball! Ian runs!]

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

Ian

[Emma runs! -2]

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

Ian

[Emma gets to Alex, second split steal! -3]

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

Ian

[Emma has the ball]

Ian

[Positions:

Ian, Kalen, Emma, Alex, Grace = 20 yards from Jenn's goal]

Ian

[Jae-shin: waiting, waiting

Emma: Run with the ball!]

Kalen

[Let Alex fight for the ball, run after the ball and be ready for passing]

Alexander

[Split: Tackle Emma, Pass to Kalen]

Elijah

Jenn: PEOPLE ARE NEAR MY GOAL! D= Block if necessary

Elijah: Doobeedooo, so glad I'm not over there

Ian

[Ian will block Alex]

Lena Reilly

Lena actually knows the game of soccer quite well. One of her many little things she never happens to have shared; she played soccer as a teenager in high school. Her brother always told her that made her a bit of a cliche, but she didn't listen to him. She probably should have paid more attention to him at various times in her life.

But we're getting off-base. The point is, she knows soccer and she used to be a pretty solid center forward. So she can follow the game well and she's enjoying watching her friends, and the people she doesn't really know, having fun together. She cheers for both sides...whoever has the ball and whoever is defending, but more the attackers since that was her positional focus. She gets almost as much fun observing as they probably have playing.

Grace

[Blocking Alex with Ian!]

Ian

[Ian blocks]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )

Grace

[Blocking stuff! Dex+ath!]

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

Alexander

[Dex

Alexander

[Steal the ball? Dex/Ath -2]

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

Ian

[Alex is blocked, yo]

Kalen

[Run-run-run]

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

Ian

[Emma runs towards the other end of the field]

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

Ian

[Alright, positions:

Emma = center-field

Kalen = 30 yards from Jenn's goal

Ian, Alex, Grace = 20 yards from Jenn's goal

Elijah = 40 yards from Jae-shin's goal]

Ian

[Jae-shin: block if necessary

Emma: run!]

Kalen

[Run after Emma]

Alexander

[Run!]

Ian

[Ian: run!]

Elijah

[Jenn: chill out, it's out of danger now

Elijah: OMG wait until you might not have to block again[

Grace

[Hanging out, waiting for need to defense again!]

Ian

[Ian runs]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 8) ( success x 3 )

Alexander

[Run! Dex+Ath]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10) ( success x 2 )

Kalen

[Run-run-run]

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

Ian

[Emma runs]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )

Ian

[Positions:

Emma: 10 yards from Jae-shin's goal

Elijah: 40 yards from Jae-shin's goal (Heather if you want to say Elijah moved to meet Jenn last turn that's fine)

Ian: 70 yards from Jae-shin's goal

Kalen and Alex: 80 yards from Jae-shin's goal

Grace: back with Jenn at the other goal]

Ian

[move to meet Emma, that is. >_>]

Ian

[Jae-shin: block!

Emma: kick the ball into the goal!]

Kalen

[Run-run-run]

Alexander

[Hold action]

Ian

[Ian runs]

Elijah

Jenn: "So, Grace, how do you know Elijah? Also: holy crap you are an awesome pick for soccer." (action: chill)

[Elijah, Shit, try and block!]

Ian

[Grace answers with something typically Grace-like and also chills]

Ian

[Ian running]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 4, 5, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )

Kalen

[run-run-run]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 5, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )

Ian

[Emma shoots!]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (4, 4, 5, 5, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )

Ian

[Jae-shin blocks!]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7) ( success x 4 )

Ian

[And Jae-shin catches the ball!]

Ian

Here's the thing about sports: sometimes the game ends, and no one scores a single point. It doesn't happen often, but it happens.

So the afternoon wound on into evening and the players worked themselves into a sweat, but the score remained a draw. Each of them had their moments. Ian and Emma were excellent runners. Jenna and Jae-shin kept their goals safe even when it seemed sure they might miss. Despite their lack of experience, both Grace and Elijah pulled some great last-ditch defensive maneuvers. And Kalen and Alex worked together like they could practically read each other's minds. And Lena, of course, cheered them on like a pro.

It was a fun afternoon. The kind of cathartic release they likely all needed after the week they'd just had. And even though they ended the game without a clear winner, it still felt like a good note to close the day on.

When it was over, Ian and Emma bumped shoulders in this gesture of friendly comradery, and Jae-shin walked up to shake Jenn's hand as the captains officially called the tie.

"Good game," he said.

Because it had been.

Will you people stop doing that?!

Elijah

[nightmares for the day]

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

Kalen Holliday

[Oh. Way to remind me. Nightmares.]

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

Kalen Holliday

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

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

Kalen Holliday

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

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

Lucy

[awarenazzzzz]

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

Elijah

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

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

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

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

Eyes on the grass.

Hello?

Eyes on the grass, Poirot.

Oh, okay...

Elijah

[awareness?]

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

Lena Reilly

[[Awaredar! Uncanny Instincts]]

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

Lucy

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

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

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

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

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

Lena Reilly

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

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

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

Kalen Holliday

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

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

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

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

Elijah

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

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

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

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

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

Lucy

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

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

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

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

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

Lena Reilly

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

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

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

Kalen Holliday

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

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

Kalen Holliday

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

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

Introductions. You were on introductions.

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

Elijah

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

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

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

Lucy

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

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

Lucy

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

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

Lena Reilly

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

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

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

Alexander

[Per+Aware, for fun and profit]

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

Alexander

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

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

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

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

Kalen Holliday

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

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

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

Lucy

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

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

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

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

Elijah

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

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

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

Alexander

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

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

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

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

Lena Reilly

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

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

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

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

Kalen Holliday

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

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

Kalen Holliday

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

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

Alexander

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

“Will you people stop doing that?!”

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

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

Lucy

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

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

And so.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elijah

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

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

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

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

"I… will be… right back."

Maybe.

Hopefully.

Maybe he was a little freaked out.

A little.

Lena Reilly

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

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

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

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

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

Lucy

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

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

Kalen Holliday

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

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

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

Lucy

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

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

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

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

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

Well, that went well.

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

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

Alexander

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

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

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

Alexander

[Sorry, tack on the end of that]

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

Lucy

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

Lena Reilly

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

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

Kalen Holliday

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

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

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

Alexander

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

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

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

Kalen Holliday

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

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

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

Alexander

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

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

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

Kalen Holliday

"No idea. His name is Elijah."

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

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

Alexander

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

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

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

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

Kalen Holliday

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

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

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

Alexander

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

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

Elijah

"Jenn?"

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

"Jenn, calm down."

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

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

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

Kalen Holliday

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

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

Lucy

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

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

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

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

Alexander

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

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

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

Elijah

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

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

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

bweep.

He looked back towards the people.

"Found it!"

Kalen Holliday

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

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

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

Lucy

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

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

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

Alexander

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

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

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

Elijah

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

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

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

Kalen Holliday

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

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

Hawksley Rothschild

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

Hawksley Rothschild

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

Elijah

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

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

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

Lucy

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

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

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

Lucy

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

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

Alexander

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

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

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

Can you believe there's a storm coming?

Lucy

The day was sunny and warm, but everywhere people with the proper applications were getting the same alerts to their phones. Winter weather watch. A spring storm was crawling its way over the mountain ridge, oozing grey and ominous and heading straight for Denver. Would it last? Would it really snow? That remains to be seen. What matters is that the evening is cool and cooling further with every moment.

And those standing near to a certain tall woman with vibrant (bottle) maroon hair are colder still. The place is a little courtyard of shops. The Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory and Overland and others line the tiny square on two sides, with 16th Street and Lawrence making up the other two sides. Writer Square, it's called, and there are sculptures everywhere. Tall posts with lights atop them sprouting up from empty stone flower pots. Sculptures of children at play, with a bat, with a crown. One with several metal children climbed to the top of a small metal structure.

It's meant to inspire, but in the semi-darkness broken only by the street lamps and the storefronts, it seems a little ominous.

It doesn't help that there's the strange woman standing there, leaning back against the sculpture of the child holding the bat, a paper bag from the Chocolate Factory in one hand. She's dressed in a black lacy top with a deeply scooping neckline, and sleeves that flare out at her elbows. Beneath it is a bright aqua bra. Between the hem of the shirt and the waistband of her shredded skinny jeans her stomach is flat and pale.

She is watching people. Or maybe she's waiting for someone. Or possibly it's both or something else entirely. At the corner the 16th Street shuttle pauses, pouring out riders that push past those waiting to board. Lucy takes a bite of a chocolate bon bon and looks in that direction.

[sure why not try some awareness for the lulz]

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

Alexander

['Cos it might make a difference to the entrance - per+awareness]

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

Lena Reilly

[[Awareness too! Spec: Uncanny Instincts]]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 4 ) Re-rolls: 2

Alexander

The air is already cooling from the slowly setting sun, and the approaching storm promises things to get colder still. But Alexander likes to be prepared for the weather, moving from one city where “wet” is the usual order of the day to one where it can swing between extremes within hours. So he’s out today wearing gear suited for the cooler weather – thick grey hooded sweatshirt with a red t-shirt peeking out, dark green combats and walking boots. There’s a rucksack on his back, looking a little emptier since he pulled out the warmer top to wear. Why is he here? Judging by the Under Armour carrier bag he’s been shopping. Has been, but is now sat on a bench with a Starbucks take-out coffee cup watching the world walk by.

Those walking between Lucy and Alexander might be forgiven for feeling the weather has turned somewhat glacial. The clear air still, frozen for a moment as they pass by. Shrugging further into their thick coats, they hurry through onto warmer places. The coolness of Lucy’s resonance takes a while to notice, similar as it is to his own. But the extra feeling of threading pulls his attention towards the watching or waiting woman, rather than those fighting to get on or off the shuttle.

noel-lurk

[Would you folks like a fourth?]

Lucy

[go for it!]

Lucy

It is cold where the two Awakened stand, not all that far from each other. One is dressed for the oncoming cold, the other is, well, not. Lucy's boots are sturdy black leather with a two inch heel, they are comfortable and can withstand wakling a number of blocks, but they are not cold weather gear.

Whoever she might be waiting for must not have gotten off the bus or come around the corner into the square. The bus pulls away from the curb, the crowd scatters, and Lucy relaxes back against a metal child's chilly pate. The paper of the bag crinkles as she reaches in for another chocolate treat.

The close proximity of another who feels like a touch of winter has been noticed, but, uh. Lucy has been waiting for someone and she doesn't always feel terribly social. But since she has to wait a little longer anyway...

Tilting her head in Alexander's direction, she offers him a wide and friendly smile as she offers up a bit of small talk. "Can you believe there's a storm coming? It's practically swimming season."

Lucy

[HOO HOO HOO WELCOME GRACE TO THE STARBUCKS ROOM OF HORRORS]

Grace

[Grace -- ;O_O]

Grace

[Awareness!]

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

Alexander

People come and go, Alexander watches them as they almost bounce off each other as they work their way through the crowd around the bus stop. Some, the stories behind them are quite obvious – the mother trying to shepherd her kids home for dinner and bed before the weather turns, the man in the suit running before slowing to a halt as a bus pulls away. Others are not so easy.

Alexander gives Lucy a smile in return, glancing down at her clothes and back up to her face. “You’ve not been here long, have you? The mountains can spit out all kinds of weather in a few hours, from sunshine to snow storms and everything in between.” He fishes out a mobile, turning the screen on to the weather warning showing over the lock screen. “A little warning helps. Or the ability to tell the future, but crystal balls are so unreliable. You might be able to get a couple of hours swimming in, but you probably want to avoid doing it up in the mountains for a couple of months yet.”

Lucy

Lucy's smile widens, and she shifts so that she's no longer watching the shuttle bus stop. She'll notice when the one she's waiting arrives, she's a lot like the two of them, after all.

"You know, there are more tools to divination than just crystal balls." Lifting her chin, she looks up at a sky that is blurred by the lights, with only one or two particularly bright stars shining overhead through a film of cloud cover. "Weather's usually pretty easy, actually, there are signs." With another shrug, she looks at Alexander again. "But if the weather here's really all that erratic...Cold doesn't bother me, personally, but it can certainly mess up plans for an evening.

"I'm Lucy. I'd offer to shake, but," she shifts her hands, one of which is occupied with the bag, the other with a shard of chocolate.

Alexander

Alexander takes sip from the cooling coffee – no longer hot, but still warm enough to be drinkable – as Lucy talks about divination. “Well there’s always a good piece of seaweed hung outside. If it’s wet, you know it’s raining. If it’s horizontal, it’s gotten windy.” He smiles a little then shrugs at the bad joke. “But whatever works for you, really. I’ll settle for the weather forecast and keeping something water-proof handy.” The smile widens again. “You don’t think rushing for cover when it starts hailing adds a little something to a stroll through the park?”

“Alexander. And not a problem.” He raises the coffee cup in greeting.

Grace

16th Street Mall is not Grace's favorite place in the world. Everywhere there is a memory -- some connection to a wound in her past that has scabbed over and scarred. The parking lot where she first saw it. That thrice-damned Starbucks.

So why is she here?

Perhaps it is because of those memories. She killed the beast after all.

About the only reason she would come to a temple dedicated to commerce would be to treat its bookstores like libraries and to watch people. Although today, it seems, she has been caught in the act (or just felt bad about it), and thus is carrying an actual plastic bag with a book inside when she arrives at Writer Square with its eerie human facsimiles.

The artificial people do not bother her. Real people bother her much more. People are a hard problem.

She can sense the others -- cold in different lights, and her eyes graze over the people -- people like trees, people without contexts -- to find them.

Alexander. Of course. A hard problem there.

She walks towards them, and they will feel her in return -- the muted but sharp and sudden displacement that she brings with her.

"Alex, hey," Grace says, gives him a smile, before turning to Lucy. "And you are -- oh... I met you once at that place with the thing..."

Lucy gets an awkward wave.

Lena Reilly

She's running. Lena doesn't run often. She might jog, she might walk, she might even dance her way down the street, but Lena rarely runs. Tonight she's moving quickly, sandals hitting the pavement hard as she races up toward the square. Her hair is slightly tangled in the collar of her jacket, some of it caught between the biker's jacket and the T-shirt underneath. She's breathing moderately hard, her jeans-covered legs pumping as she skids around someone, comes up toward where Alexander and Lucy chat.

Now here's the good news: she's not being chased. Rather, she's trying to make up time for being late. Lena is a little embarassed about not being on time; for someone whose Tradition specializes in Time magic, you would think being prompt isn't an issue. But even Time users get held up by other things, and that's what happened here. She slows to a jog and then a walk, heart still racing as she comes up to the two. That withering pulse is going a bit more rapidly now, her energy thumping like her heart is, and she gives an apologetic smile as she comes up.

"Hey, sorry I'm late," she begins as she's within conversation range. Alexander she knows, if only vaguely from that one time, and she gives him a smile and wave. "Hey Alexander. How are you?" And a smile to the Virtual Adept, who she knows very well. "Hey Grace."

She pauses there to catch her breath, presses two fingers against her neck to check her pulse. It's a habit when she's out of breath like this. "I was five minutes away from my apartment when I forgot I had something to do," she tells Lucy.

Lucy

The suggestion of a strip of seaweed is met at first with curious interest and then a genuine laugh. "It depends, really, on whether you're alone when the hail hits or after you've found cover. Then it could very well turn into a jewelry commercial."

She does sense something sudden, sharp, and shifting coming nearer. Coming from the direction of a bookstore, Barnes & Noble, perhaps. Their employees are so alert and hawkish, keeping an eye on their stock and products. Lucy tilts her head, but before she can turn and look to see who it is that's coming, that voice greets Alexander. Turning to look at Grace, Lucy returns the awkward wave with a vastly diminished smile and a lowering of her green eyes.

"Yeah," she replies. "Lucy," she reminds her, and before she can make good an escape from all that awkwardkness-

Lena races onto the scene. Lucy pushes off from her statue-perch and straightens, adjusting the fall of a slouching canvas bag resting over one of her shoulders. "Hey," she greets, warmth rising up in an otherwise cold woman. "There's no rush, really. It's not like we don't have hours and hours before the clubs close."

Alexander

Alexander has begun to wonder if mages have some kind of natural attraction to each other. In a city with a population of over half a million, the chances of accidentally bumping into other Awakened should be tiny. But time and again, something nudges the dice and brings them together. Alexander pulls a coin out of a pocket and rolls it between his fingers absent-mindedly.

Grace greets the two of them, her resonance only announcing her approach shortly before her physical arrival. He turns, smiles back at her, and answers, “Hey, Grace! How’re you doing?” The bag from the book shop? It’s noticed, but not commented on. Books – meh. The wave to Lucy? Grace being awkward around someone new, or something having come between them already? Either is possible, but not something Alexander can work out just yet.

Then Lena arrives, hot and bothered against the cool (cooling) background, and gets a smile of her own. “Hey! Um, Nina was it?” He raises an eyebrow as she checks her pulse. “You ok?”

Grace

Oh, Grace's eyes narrow, though it's not any one of them that she's suddenly glaring at. It's just -- it's happening again right? Surely, now, a mummy will fall from the sky. This is what happens in her world now. And perhaps the others will pick up on the fact that Grace no longer seems to know which expression to express.

Eventually, she settles on a smile for Lena, however. "Lena, hey. You guys were going to a club?"

Some might take that as Grace trying to invite herself, but Grace's idea of a good time is not an enclosed room with a bunch of people. If it were, she might be at Sera's party right now with Kalen, enjoying all those people. But no. Let's not.

"I'm doing good, really. Getting shit done, you know."

Lena Reilly

"I know, I know," she says with a grin to Lucy. If anyone knows that, it's Lena. "There's a lot of clubs to get to though, you know. What kind of DJ would I be if I didn't give you a proper tour?"

She pauses there a moment, pulls her hair back over her shoulder and composes herself. She isn't worried about looking out of sorts so much, it's just a matter of putting other people at ease. People are more relaxed around you when you're not looking like you just got finished escaping Jason Voorhees, after all. Alexander calls her Nina and she smiles, shrugs it off. "Close enough. Lena. Nice to see you again...and yeah, I'm okay." She nods a little bit. "I have a habit of keeping track of my vitals. It's...a thing." Odd? Perhaps, but who among them is really normal?

She notes the awkwardness, the bit of chill (no pun intended...or IS THERE?) between Lucy and Grace. She knows why too, there was some weirdness between them before at the place. Grace may be worried that they're about to be plunged into supernatural catastrophe and Alex may wonder if there's a natural attraction, but Lena knows the truth (which is to say, HER truth. They all have truths and they don't all match after all): the threads of Destiny weave them together when they're fated to be together. Maybe it's because Alex needs to get to know Lena and Lucy, and Grace needs to face the Starbucks where they got stung.

(Worth noting: Lena notices it. But she doesn't seem hesitant because it's a coffee shop, not a virus-filled bee. She doesn't fault Grace for feeling the way she does though. They all react their own way.

Whatever the reason, they're here now and it's because they should be. "Yeah, I'm going to show Lucy around to the best spots."

Lucy

There are many theories about why people with their eyes open to the secrets of the universe congregate together so readily. They are all in their own way true. It's Fate, it's something threading them all together, binding them into this moment however briefly. It's something about the resonances, the way they draw other Awakened to them even as the warping of the atmosphere pushes the Sleepers away.

Truth is, they'd probably all bump into each other even if they weren't Awake. Denver, for all of its size, is not terribly large. It's population sprawls out over miles, but there are certain places where people tend to gather and run into each other over and over until they give up and decide to become acquainted. It's just that kind of a place.

There is an awkwardness in the interaction between Lucy and Grace, and Lucy gets it. She is weird, even by their standards, as Spirit Mages tend to be. The very air around her chills, the ground beneath her feet seems to frost over, they can feel it creeping over any exposed skin. In Lucy's experience, the best way for her to handle someone who is so obviously uncomfortable around her is to remove herself from that person's space.

Stepping closer to Lena, who straightens and adjusts her hair. "I didn't realize we were hitting up more than one or two. We'd better get a move on, then. It was nice meeting you, Alexander." She offers the man a smile, nods to Grace, and looks to Lena to lead the way.

Alexander

Whatever the reason that the Awakened of the city continue to bump into each other, the occasional weird occurrence is hardly reason to avoid others. But Alexander is still fresh and relatively unscarred by the nightmares – figurative and literal – that some of the others have fought through. Hell, the worst he’s faced happened when he was on his own. If you don’t count the owl, that is.

He nods when Grace says she’s getting things done. They’re most likely things he doesn’t really understand – her way of working her will, the specifics of the high tech stuff that she’s working on with Kalen, that kind of thing. He does try to show an interest, though. “How’s the scanning thing going?”

“Ah, Lena. Yeah, nice to see you again too,” Alexander replies to her. “And, yeah – I’m keeping well, thanks. Finding my feet and all that. How about you? You seem... happier than the last time we bumped into each other. ”

Lucy suddenly seems to be in a rush to get going, quite a swing from saying they had plenty of time to make it through the clubs. So there is something between Grace and Lucy then? His eyebrows rise a little as he tries to work it out, but Lena and Lucy’s plans for the evening grab his attention. “Oh? Where are you guys headed to?” Alexander has tried some of the local nightspots at random, with varying degrees of success. But hearing from one of the locals – especially from one who works the club circuit – seems like a better way to find the good ones.

Grace

"Oh, did Kalen tell you about that? Yeah, we've got all of my books so far. Working through Kalen's takes a bit longer, and part of the reason is that he keeps collecting more," she says, and oh -- she is adding another to her own very small physical book collection tonight though, isn't she?

"So far, no bites on getting anyone else hooked into the project though. And nobody has any opinion whatsoever on what happens with the books at the House."

Which, of course, is the biggest shame ever. She should just sneak down one night and set up the scanner and do it, for fuck's sake. Nobody said anything, but they didn't say no, right?

"That sounds like fun," Grace says to Lena, and by that she means fun for other people.

Lucy, she's just ignoring for the moment. It's Grace trying to make the woman feel better, actually. She only knows that she sometimes doesn't play the role of 'normal human' very well at all. People have a tendency to take that and run away from it. She at least thinks she understands. She doesn't know that Lucy's thoughts right now are an imperfect mirror of her own.

Lena Reilly

Lucy moves closer and suggests they take off, and Lena seems fine with that. There's plenty of time for her to get to know Alexander better, and Grace has been a little skeptical about them hanging out together (though she's willing to try, Lena knows) so maybe smaller doses are best for now. And she doesn't plan on making Grace just hang out outside of the coffee place that bothers her anyway.

"I am...more me," she says in response to Alexander's observation. "Which is always a reason to be happier. I guess you could say I found myself again, or at least I found the road to get to where I am." Does that even make any sense Lena? I mean, really.

"I figured we'd start with the Church over on Lincoln and we'd wing it from there. Mr. Groove and DJ Tatiana are spinning tonight and tomorrow, and he's pretty good. Hip-hop's not normally my genre but I can appreciate it and he's actually opened for guys like Dre and Jay Z so that should give you an idea of how good he is at it. And Tatiana is just freaking amazing. She does this remix that uses "Twisted Nerve," the whistling song from Kill Bill, that I absolutely love."

She looks over at Grace when she mentions that no one's answered back and smiles a bit. "I'm still going through a lot of the updates that were posted while I was offline. There's a lot there. I'll try to offer some thoughts if I can."

Grace ignoring Lucy is a gesture that makes sense for Lena, but only because she knows Grace. Lucy doesn't and Lena doesn't want to guess at how she's taking it. "But for now, I'll see you guys later." She looks at Lucy and smiles. "Shall we?"

Lucy

The other three are obviously part of some sort of collective, though Lucy guesses that they're not part of a cabal. At least not with each other, not with all the catching up that seems to be happening. She does not interrupt, and she doesn't appear to be in a rush, at least not in the sense that she's trying to escape or run away as wildly as Lena rushed onto the scene. As she'd said, she hadn't realized Lena was taking her to more than maybe two places tonight, and there are only so many hours left until three or four when most of the clubs start shutting down.

As it so happens, Grace is ignoring her anyway, so best to give her space to relax. As the stranger, the outcast, the out of towner, Lucy is accustomed to giving ground to those who've been in the area longer. Which is weird, because Lucy had thought that things had more or less been settled between herself and Grace, but clearly they haven't.

But, just because she doesn't interrupt that doesn't mean that Lucy doesn't notice things. Kalen's name for one, is met with a lowering of her eyes as she looks away. Lena saying that she's more herself gets a curious look, but this is neither the time nor the place to, well, to pry, which is the only way Lucy would put asking about something that sounds personal like that.

Shall we?

Lucy nods and turns to go. "Want one?" she asks Lena, holding out the paper bag of chocolate treats as she starts away.

[and with that, Lucy is out! thanks for the scene!]

Alexander

“Oh, I completely forgot!” Alexander replies, when Grace says nobody else has been getting hooked by their work. “I was supposed to try to translate those scrolls, wasn’t I? Let me know when would be good to take a look and I’ll see if I can make any sense of them. I don’t know if there’s much else I can do to help you guys out, unless you just need someone to keep turning pages.”

“That does sound like fun,” he tags onto the end of Grace’s statement. “I’ll give the Church a try next time I’m on a night out. I’m really not dressed for it, or I’d ask if you guys wanted some more company.”

Lena’s statement gets her a closer look from Alexander. The statement might seem a little odd to the others, but it does make sense to him. Uprooting himself and moving to a new city, new job, new life has left him a little directionless. Oh, he’s finding his feet, but there’s still that feeling that he still needs to work out who he is. So finding the road? He gives Lena a warm smile, touched with something a little melancholy. “I’m glad you’ve found it,” is all he says though.

He raises his now-empty coffee cup to Lucy again, as a farewell instead of a greeting this time. “Nice bumping into you, Lucy. Hope to see you again.”

Lena Reilly

She smiles to Alexander and Grace and heads out with Lucy, intent on a good night. After all, they're heading for the clubs, and that's is where Lena lives to be.

Grace

Lena and Lucy going off together to dance to that whistling song for Kill Bill nets (at least Lena) a bright grin. Finding the road to get to where Lena is? "Roads like that are meant to be walked, I suppose," she says.

It is good to see Lena, and the more she sees Lena looking and claiming that she is doing better, the more Grace begins to actually believe it. There is that part of her that still wants to be so very sure that she's not pushing Lena off of her newly found road though.

"I'll see you guys around," she adds to the departing couple, because that's a veritable certainty.

And then, there is Alex. "Oh sure, you want to go now? It's okay if you don't have time or whatever. I always have time. At least, for that, I always have time, hah."

Alexander

And it’s just Alexander and Grace left there, in the fading light. The loss of Lucy’s resonance should have meant that those nearby felt a little less of a chill, but the promised storm front is starting to arrive and a colder wind circles the Mall, bringing the physical temperature down a few degrees from the wind chill alone.

“I’m guessing it won’t be a quick thing to do, so now’s not the greatest of times. But I’ll give you a shout in a day or two and give it a try.” He opens up his rucksack to stuff the shopping bag inside, before slinging it over one shoulder and slipping his other arm into the strap. “This looks like it could be a bad one,” he says while looking up at the sky. “You probably want to get back before it really hits.”

Grace

Grace shrugs, "I'm sure it'll be fine. Sometimes water comes out of the sky. It is strange thing, I know."

She just naturally feels more comfortable dealing with people one-on-one, but perhaps Alex will take it as her being glad to see Lucy gone. Whatever interpretation people make concerning herself and Lucy, she will go blissfully unaware of it until someone asks about it, at which point she will be thoroughly flummoxed as to why anybody thought that there was something not quite right between the two of them. Such is Grace.

As is, she leans in conspiratorially-like, and says: "Now is always the greatest of times, didn't you know? It's the only time when anything happens."

Alexander

Alexander laughs. “Well, yeah. But not everybody likes being out in...” he fishes out his phone – some kind of Android thing, Grace will probably be happy to see – switches it on to look at the storm warning.

HEAVY SNOW COMBINED WITH NORTHEAST WINDS UP TO 30 MPH MAY REDUCE VISIBILITY TO LESS THAN A QUARTER MILE AT TIMES.

Alexander turns the phone so Grace can see it better. “That.” Not everybody, no. Alexander will most likely go out walking in it later, though. He has his own strange little habits too.

He does take Grace’s increased comfort to be to do with Lucy moving on. He’s seen her with others without being particularly uncomfortable, after all. And he’s not aware of the hitches in Grace and Lena’s relationship, or their ongoing work to patch things up. But whatever the reason for the awkwardness to be there, that’s a story for another time.

Alexander looks again at Grace after what she says about now. He cocks his head to the right, considering her. “Have you been speaking to Sera? That sounds like something she’d say. Not that it makes it any less true, now that you mention it.” He nods towards an approaching bus. “But I really do have some things I need to get done. So until a later now...” He smiles and bows his head to her.

“And... yeah, call me Alex.”

Grace

"Okay, Alex. Good luck with the bizarre sky-water, and thanks for the heads-up," she says, waves. It is just as awkward as the one she gave to Lucy.

And then, it is off again. But not before Grace turns and gives a pointed look to the Starbucks direction and gives it a double middle finger.