Indeterminate cause [Mood]

Alexander sits on his couch, watching the TV.  Warm sunlight streams in through the uncovered windows but the chill in the room doesn’t really seem to fade.  A half-finished mug of coffee sits on the coffee table, long since cold.  The TV doesn’t get turned on often, but today there is something specific he wants to see.  He’s flicking between the local news channel and stops on one of them as the news ticker at the bottom shows:

Breaking News: Several bodies found at South Platte Reservoir after anonymous tipoff.

The footage cuts from a politician trying to dodge accusations of a certain indiscretion with a certain lady of indeterminate repute to an area of forest near a large body of water.  Several police cars and vans are parked nearby, lights throwing red and blue streaks through the undergrowth.  Tape, guarded by beat cops, cordons off a large area.  The cameraman can’t get close enough to pick up much in the way of detail, but several paper-suited CSIs are hovering near one obviously-dead body.  Others move between their van and a cave by the waterline, carrying various pieces of evidence-gathering equipment.  A couple of detectives – obvious from their lack of uniform but their presence beyond the cordon – speak to one unformed officer to one side.  Presumably the first on scene.  Officially on scene, anyway.

*-*-*-*-*

Alexander had been far away when the call had been made, out at some ramshackle Ma-and-Pa diner in the middle of the Colorado plains.  The ride there had taken a good while - time which he would normally have revelled in the pleasure of mile after mile of asphalt passing underneath him.  There was no thrill of adrenaline this time, no breaking of the speed limits on the long, straight, unpatrolled areas; only ice inside.  He pulled up outside, the engine of the bike dying out with one last roar, and headed inside while pulling off his helmet.  Alexander sat at the counter and ordered a coffee.  His appetite had been somewhat lacking recently and the thought of eating just then turned his stomach.  Other than the Ma, nobody else was in the place.  It was between what could have been the breakfast and lunchtime rushes, assuming the place ever had them.

The cloth bag was laid on the counter and opened up.  Alexander fished through the contents without pulling them out, not letting Ma see what they were.  The names of the dead were read again, to be remembered.  Having barely touched the coffee, Alexander waited for Ma to head back out in the kitchen.  He grabbed the bag and returned it to a pocket, then moved over to the payphone in the corner.  The payphone receiver wasn’t picked up straight away, though.  Instead, Alexander pulled out his mobile phone and opened up a newly-installed app.  Although not massively technical, he knew enough to find and install useful software on his phone.  It had never crossed his mind that he’d need something like this, though.  He tapped away on the mobile’s flat surface, stopping a couple of times to revise what he’d typed.  Only then had he picked up the payphone receiver and dialled.  The ringing ended after a few moments and a female voice asked,

“Denver Police, which department please?”

Alexander tapped a button on his mobile and held the phone up to the payphone receiver, letting the synthetic female voice tell its pre-programmed tale.

“Look at South Platte Reservoir.  The victims are there.  You will not hear from me again.”

The receiver was replaced as soon as the message had been delivered, and Alexander moved back to where his coffee was sitting on the counter.  He threw a few bucks on the counter and walked out, an engine roared and then faded away into the background shortly after.

*-*-*-*-*

Alexander stays sat on the couch watching the footage.  The only difference is that he pulls his legs up and hugs them, feet flat on the couch.  The contents of the cloth bag have been spread out on the table.

He sits there, rocking gently.

Next time? Don't hesitate.

Ix

So. This is planning o'clock for last minute plans. I know there has been at least a little of that going on individual-like, but now is when we pulls it into one plan. Or so we hope. :)

Ian Lai

Ian would have relayed what he found at the Library to Alyssa. So basically the plan on his end being: They go deal with this spirit thing, then Ian will try to deal with the roots in Sky's body and wake Sky up so that Sky can heal himself (because Verbena Disciple.) Also they should probably burn everything afterwards.

Alyssa Solomon

[[AIM Chat created BTW!]]

Alyssa Solomon

[[Alyssa's Idea/Plan:

Step 1: She's going to give herself Spirit Sight and ask Ian and whoever else is coming along to keep the material world side version busy.

Step 2: Prime 2 blast the shit out of the spirits through the Gauntlet (Spirit 2) infecting Sky and maybe Claire in an attempt to kill them without physically killing the hosts. (She is no Adept, so no Exorcisming possible sadly).

Step 3: Summon Spirit of Restoration with Spirit 2: Call Spirit to make a deal for a ton of Quintessence in order to restore anyone semi-affected and still living to their natural selves, and possibly cleanse the area. Use Hearts Blood if needed.

Step 4: Stop Bleeding and deal with Paradox. :D]]

Alexander

Alexander is basically there for physical backup, given his lack of power and practice. He doesn't have any way of poking Umbral stuff - only seeing it - so he'll be there to work on dealing with the material side of things.

Alyssa Solomon

Addendum to Plan: Alexander has Spirit Sight. He can keep an eye on things and be Eyes and Ears for Ian in case they are dealing with multiple spirits, and if/when Alyssa goes down.

Also, there may will probably be plenty of corporeal monsters to fight too, so there is that. =)

Ix

Our Scene Guidelines:

1. We do have a time limit, please try to keep your posts to within ten minutes. I know we all love to be pretty, and detailed, and awesome. But really, really we do need to move on this one. There are only three of you, and you blew through planning, so unless we fall behind I'm not going to threaten to skip any peeps.

2. I'm not setting rolling time guidelines because I am still relearning Mage and Vesta is learning combat. Let's not make ourselves nuts.

3. There may be a coda scene or two to this one, so don't panic about loose ends too much. This is the only time I could get you all for a definite assault, so we're doing that now and coda scenes as appropriate.

4. If you have anything you absolutely don't want to see in this scene because it will ruin your day, please tell me now.

5. If you have any questions - ask. I won't be mad. It's cool.

6. Have fun. :)

Alexander

[[Curiosity and Concentration are probably the only relevant merits and flaws. Alex is taking along a heavy pistol, a couple of spare clips, and an armoured undervest (AR2, dex penalty 1)]]

Ix

The South Platte Reservoir is alive with the sounds of nature in twilight. The dark water looks peaceful and the recent deaths have sent most of the people who might otherwise be drinking here in search of metaphorical greener pastures. Everything here is so very green, even the trunks of the trees and the last traces of color over the water before darkness steals them have a decidedly greenish cast.

[Please to roll Perception+Awareness; and, if you would like, Perception+Survival. I realize you may also desire to roll some other things and we can do those things too.]

Alyssa Solomon

[[Per+Awarness]]

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

Alyssa Solomon

[[Per, No Survival so +1 diff]]

Dice: 3 d10 TN7 (1, 6, 7) ( success x 1 )

Alexander

[Per+Awareness]

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

Alexander

[Per+Survival]

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

Alyssa Solomon

[[Oh, whoops. Diff 8, so a botch. We're off to a grand start!]]

Ian Lai

[Per+Aware]

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

Ian Lai

[Per+Survival, Acute Senses for the win (-2 diff)]

Dice: 5 d10 TN4 (1, 2, 3, 3, 10) ( success x 1 )

Ian Lai

[Ignore that last roll because I fail. This is the real one.]

Dice: 4 d10 TN4 (2, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )

Ix

The three Mages can sense something. It isn't Resonance in the sense that a Mage has Resonance but it is a sort of echoing of the awareness of the forest around them - there is a sense of warm humidity that isn't actually present that presses dreamlike against their skin, the feel of something gritty on the air that they breathe in almost like dust that seems to catch on their tongues and in the backs of their throats, the smell of something damp and decaying. And, through all of that, very faintly, they can sense an echo of the fading sunlight filtered not through this humid haze but through oak leaves and the scent of rich, uncorrupted earth.

Ix

To Alexander and Ian, something is definitely wrong with the forest. There should be sound, yes, and there is. But this is all insect sounds. Flies and mosquitoes and droning wings. There should be birds, maybe not many as the light fades, but there should be the last sounds of the birds. The sounds of squirrels or chipmunks returning to their burrows. But there is only the oppressive humming of so many wings.

Ian Lai

For all that it had taken them so long to finally get together, once the ball started rolling it didn't take long for Ian and Alyssa to formulate a plan that felt at least reasonably sound. A lot of things could go wrong. Probably at least one thing would. None of them were walking into this naively, with the possible exception of Alex - whom Ian hadn't even known would be there until very recently.

Ian drove out to the lake alone, arriving a few minutes before the other two. By the time Alex and Alyssa arrived, they'd find him standing near his car with his eyes on the surrounding forest, a rather lethal-looking katana strapped to his back and a second blade (a hunting knife) hooked onto his belt. He didn't look much different than usual (though his clothes were more serviceable,) but there was a strong sense of something focused and predatory in his demeanor. Quiet and alert. Like he was hunting.

"The air is wrong, here. The sounds are wrong. We're in the right place."

(As if there was any doubt remaining.)

Alyssa Solomon

Alyssa picked up Alexander in her red, beat-up but trusty '89 Acura Legend Coupe. On the way she had given him the heads up on everything: that they've definitvely narrowed down the source to the park that she had told him about and that there was a Verbena who is trapped there, being slowly killed with roots stuck into him. And that they were going to have to free Sky (the Verbena), possibly free Claire (a Consor) or kill her--or she may already be dead--get rid of the spirits and cleanse the area.

All in a day's work, really. And then, close to the location, she pulls over and asks him to drive the rest of the way. From the passenger seat she begins catagorizing everything she's brought:

* Several vials of blood, kept in the pockets of a leather trenchcoat that has had the sleeves cut of.

* A simple but elegantly-designed ritual knife, adorned with several Enochian symbols and kept quite clean, in a belt sheath.

* A .45 in a shoulder holster.

* Five black wax candles, matches, a needle and spare vials, stowed in a backpack.

She's already painted some Enochian on her hands and arms (thus the sleeveless trenchcoat--also, no need to pull a sleeve up and draw blood), along her forearms and on the back of her hands. She's rocking those steel-toed boots of hers and under the trenchoat is a form-fitting turtleneck and jeans. Her makeup is symbolic tonight, with dark green dripping from her eyes and her hair and lips taking a dark forest tone.

And then they're there, and they meet up with Ian. She nods to him, deadly serious. "Looks like. Gimme a sec, I just need to get Spirit-suited up."

Out comes one of the blood vials, when she uncorks and dabs on her fingers to start painting her eyelids. Red over green. It's all blood, all life.

Alexander

Alexander rides along with Alyssa, trying to relax in the passenger seat and enjoy the view. There’s usually something calming about heading out of the city and into the wilderness, but it’s just not happening this time. Had it just been a matter of some people disappearing and nothing else, the pleasure might still have been there. But, as they say, knowledge is a dangerous thing. And the little knowledge that Alexander has picked up about what they’re coming here to face hasn’t done anything to relax him.

As they approach the area where the three of them are to meet, the autumn-like aura thickens. “This is it. It feels the same as when I bumped into that guy downtown,” he tells Alyssa as she pulls over so that he can take over driving. It’s a short drive to where they’re all meeting.

Parking up, Alexander gets out of the car and sorts his own modest gear out. A .45 pistol is tucked into the back of his black combats, and two spare slips tucked into the pockets. A dark blue, hooded sweatshirt covers his top half with a bulk that hints at something more underneath. He looks around, listening to the woods. “Yeah, this isn’t right.” Alyssa mentions getting spirited-up, and he moves to do the same. Peering into one of the car’s wing mirrors, he adjusts his own view of the world.

Alexander

[Spirit sight, going for 2 succs - one for the effect, one to last the scene. Diff 4, -1 for taking time, throwing in a WP]

Dice: 1 d10 TN3 (8) ( success x 2 ) [WP]

Ian Lai

[And lo, we have the sensing effects: Life 1 / Prime 1, diff 4 - 1 (practiced)]

Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (6, 6) ( success x 2 )

Ian Lai

[extending once, +1 diff, -1 for focus]

Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (1, 8) ( success x 1 )

Alyssa Solomon

[[First up: Spirit Sight! -1 Practiced, 1st WP]]

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

Ix

To the Mages who open their awareness to the spirits, this is a forest besieged by some kind of infestation of spiritual corruption. There is not so much one large spirit as a swarm of smaller spirits. Spectral mushrooms and mold grow on the trees and over the ground. There are three moving concentrations of those swarms nearby, and one large concentration at a nearby edge of the reservoir.

To Ian, who looks for life on this side of the Gauntlet, he can also sense those three things moving through the forest, though it takes him a few seconds to filter through the insects and the flora. He can also sense, in the same area as that concentration of the spirits at the reservoir edge, where Sky is. He seems, perhaps, to be in better health than Ian expected.

Alyssa Solomon

She blinks, eyes unfocused, and looks around the vicinity. One hand comes over to the inner arm and wrist of the other, rubbing at light scars long since gone. She sighs a little bit, shaking her head.

"You know what's nice about spirits? Their simplicity. Their single-mindedness. Only the high-level ones or ones specifically dedicated to the concept do much in the way of manipulation or misdirection."

She nods toward where the highest accumulation seems to be, the reservoir edge. "That's probably where we need to go."

Ian Lai

While Alex and Alyssa prepared their effects, Ian pulled the knife from his hip and used it to nick the flesh on his thumb. Blood welled up from the wound, and he put it to his lips and sucked on it briefly, until his senses opened up to the patterns and prime that swirled around them. Ian's attention was focused on the forest, watchful for any early signs of trouble. He didn't ask if either of the others felt like they could handle what was ahead. Hopefully, if they were here, it meant that they could. And if not, well. They would either survive, or they wouldn't.

As soon as they were all ready, Ian gave a little tip of his head toward their destination, giving silent agreement with Alyssa.

"Let's go, then."

Alexander

Alexander looks around, seeing the same changes in the surroundings as Alyssa. Where she seems to have an idea what what’s going on – and a lot more experience dealing with spirits – Alexander is still very new to all this. The forest just doesn’t look right any more, and he moves a little closer to the others.

“So it’s easy to tell when you’ve annoyed them, then?” The thought of an ants nest comes to mind. What will the bugs see as poking their nest with a stick? Alyssa points the way towards the reservoir, towards the largest concentration. He nods silently, following the others.

Alyssa Solomon

[[Perception!]]

Dice: 3 d10 TN7 (5, 5, 6) ( fail )

Alexander

[Per+Survival]

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

Ian Lai

[Per+Survival]

Dice: 4 d10 TN4 (1, 5, 6, 10) ( success x 3 )

Ix

They move deeper into the reservoir, and each of them can sense the things that trace them. Three things, until, abruptly, one of the them veers off at a sharp angle, deeper into the forest. Between Ian and Alexander, they can find and follow the trails the creatures use to get to and from their nest.

It is not until they reach a point where they can see a tunnel, the earth pulled aside and held back by a mass of roots, the tunnel floor flooded by a few inches of murky water, that the two remaining creatures begin to close the last distance between them.

[Initiative!]

Alyssa Solomon

[[WEEE INIT! +7]]

Dice: 1 d10 TN7 (8) ( success x 1 )

Ix

[+8 A]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (6) ( success x 1 )

Alexander

[Gulp! +6]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (4) ( fail )

Ix

[+8 B]

Ix

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (3) ( fail )

Ian Lai

[+7]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (7) ( success x 1 )

Ix

So, our order goes as follows:

Ian

Alyssa

A

B

Alexander

Alexander

[Drawing pistol and aiming at A, but not actually firing yet - still not sure if they're actually going to attack]

Ix

B - who is the bobcat

a-claw Ian

b-tentacle scourge-also Ian

Ix

A - who is a person

a-grab Alexander

b-bear hug (with thorns)

Ian Lai

[Declare: Split action

1a: Katana Strike the bobcat (aka creature B)

1b: Dodge]

Alyssa Solomon

She grabs a vial and opens it, splashing blood over her palm and piercing the point of her knife lightly into her palm, tracing a symbol. Extending her hand out she shouts in Enochian, aiming at the human.

[[Prime 2/Spirit 2: Quintessence Strike across the Gauntlet, focused on the spirit infesting the human.]]

Alyssa Solomon

[[Prime 2/Spirit 2! -2 for Unique Foci (Dagger), WP]]

Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (7, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Ian Lai

[Dex+Melee -2]

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

Ian Lai

[Str+3 (sword) + 3 (successes)]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )

Ian Lai

[Er, one more]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (2) ( fail )

Ix

A - grab Alexander

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

Ix

A - b. hug!

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

Alexander

[Soak - please! ]

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

Alexander

[Stam soak, pleeease!]

Dice: 4 d10 TN8 (1, 1, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )

Ix

B - a. claw Ian

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

Ix

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )

Ian Lai

[Dex+Athletics -3]

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

Ix

Dmg

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 8) ( success x 1 )

Ian Lai

[Soak?]

Dice: 2 d10 TN8 (3, 5) ( fail )

Ix

B - b. crazy vine tentacles

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )

Ix

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

Ian Lai

[Soak]

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

Alexander

[WP to break free?]

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

Alexander

[Or change action, rather]

Alexander

[Break free - Str+Brawl, -1 wounds]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 6, 8) ( success x 2 )

Ix

Your Round recap:A thing that was once a young man, that Alexander met once before leaps from the cover of the trees and wraps its arms around Alexander. Alyssa strikes at it as it breaks cover, but the creature continues all the same. The creature tightens its hold on Alexander, its thorns biting into his flesh, before Alexander can break free.

From above in the branches a bobcat, tendrils of vines writhing where they sprout from its shoulders, leaps for Ian. Ian cuts deeply into it with his sword, but the creature still manages to swipe at him with one claw. Its vines flail at him, but he is unharmed by the them.

Alexander

[Shoot the little wossname that hugged me! 3 round burst]

Ix

B - a. punch Alexander

b. punch Alyssa

Ix

[That is totes A.]

Ix

B - a. claw Ian

b. claw Ian

Ian Lai

[Declare: split action again

1a: Katana Strike the bobcat (will you just die already?)

1b: Katana Strike creature A aka the possessed person]

Alyssa Solomon

[[Prime Blast For Realz this time yo]]

Alyssa Solomon

[[One more time! +1 diff so 1 quint to get that shit back down to 3, third WP]]

Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (2, 9) ( success x 2 ) [WP]

Ian Lai

[Dex+Melee -2]

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

Ian Lai

[Str+3+1]

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

Ian Lai

[Dex+Melee -3 on the dude]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (5, 6, 7, 9) ( success x 3 )

Ian Lai

[Str+3+2]

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

Ix

B - claw a

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

Ix

Dmg

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

Ian Lai

[Soak]

Dice: 2 d10 TN8 (9, 9) ( success x 2 )

Ix

B - claw b

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 4, 4) ( fail )

Alexander

[Shooting kitty - Dex+Firearms+2 -1 for wounds -1 for armour, +1 diff]

Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (1, 2, 8, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 4 )

Alexander

[Dmg]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 5, 5, 7, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )

Alyssa Solomon

Alyssa is pretty hard-boiled, all things considered. You have to be, to stand still and focus, harness your Will and take the time necessary to unleash a Prime-powered assault while others are getting hurt (possibly badly) around you. And in truth, she was hoping they would have more time when they came upon something, but she wasn't expecting it. And if there's one thing you can say about her...her Will will not be denied. Ever.

And so she unleashes her magic and Ian and Alex do the nasty work on this side, and the human and bobcat fall. If there's sorrow, she doesn't show it. She isn't flippant; she has respect for the dead. More than for humans, sometimes. But she doesn't let herself feel bad for what she had to so.

She looks around, her blood dripping lightly off her fingers. "How're we doing? Everyone more or less okay?"

Alexander

It’s over – or, at least, this part of it is over. Two bodies – one a man, the other a cat, lie on the ground. And Alexander hurts. Breathing heavily, he walks over to the man that he recognises from the city. He drops to his knees next to him, letting the pistol fall to the ground by him, and looks at the man. Still now, Alexander pulls his eyelids closed.

He pulls the sweatshirt off and dumps it on the ground. Blood has oozed from puncture marks in his armoured vest, but doesn’t seem to be flowing freely any more. Alyssa asks how they’re all doing. He winces as he adjusts the armour.

“Been better,” he replies as he picks up the pistol and replaces the half-used clip with a fresh one.

Ian Lai

Neither of these creatures deserved the fate they got. They's been in the wrong place at the wrong time - that was all. Then something had taken them and mangled them beyond recognition. Who knew if there was anything left of either the man or the cat to feel pain or to understand what was happening to them. If there was any mercy left in the world, they did not.

Alyssa attacked the spirit possessing the man, while Ian's sword tore apart the thing that was attacking him. The cat got in a couple of quick swipes with its claws, one on Ian's leg and the other on his side, tearing through denim and cotton to leave marks on the flesh below, but although he registered the damage done to his pattern, it was only distantly.

Beside Ian, Alex hesitated to shoot the creature that bore down on him, and in an instant Ian turned and swung his sword in a lethal arc, cutting the man (or what used to be a man) clean in half. The creature fell to the ground just in time for Alex to shoot the bobcat dead.

And then everything was still and quiet once more. Ian, now splattered in blood and whatever else happened to be oozing out of those creatures, looked down at the person he'd killed and for a moment, said nothing.

"Yeah," he finally offered, tightly, to Alyssa's query. And then to Alex, "Next time? Don't hesitate."

And then he began to walk toward the entrance to the reservoir.

Ian Lai

[Edit: "They'd been in the wrong place..."]

Alyssa Solomon

She frowns a little bit when Ian delivers his advice to Alex, and clasps the most recently-Awakened of them lightly on his shoulder. With her unbloodied hand, luckily.

"You did good. Something to keep in mind going forward, but I get it. You're allowed to feel this way. That we don't? It's a reflection on us more than it is you."

They'll talk more about it later, on the car ride home. But she felt that needed said.

Alexander

Alexander looks up at Alyssa, the air around him cooling. Whatever did this to the man and the cat needed to be stopped. Ice in his voice, too, he replies, "Later." He gets up and walks after Ian.

Ix

The tunnel is damp and warmer than the outside air. Thick algae grows along the earthen walls. It isn't hard to see, with the smooth curves of the walls and ceiling. There are no other things lurking and waiting for them in the tunnel, none that move on their own anyway. There are the remains of prey in here, covered with sprouting mushrooms and algae: birds, raccoons, foxes, a few people. All this to feed whatever is the center of this thing. The heart which does not move.

They follow the tunnel until they reach a small chamber. There are beds of molding leaves and algae and what looks more like kelp than vines. At the far end of the chamber is a human-like shape, but it is only the memory of a person now. It is no longer really flesh at all, only a whole living mass of roots and vines. It is only in the shape that echoes the form that any memory of what it once was remains.

And before it, raised up out of the water, is Sky. Ashen and very still, roots threading through and under his skin.

Alyssa Solomon

Her blade is kept out, held in her free hand. If she cares about the fact that she's dripping blood the whole way into the chamber, she doesn't care. She's not heavily bleeding; it's just scratches in her palm, really, and most of it is from the vial. She's otherwise silent as she moves along, tensed and ready. She's hard-boiled, but that doesn't mean she doesn't get on edge.

They hit the chamber, and Alyssa looks it over. The human shape gets a frown, but only for a moment until she sees Sky.

There it is.

She looks at the others, taps her chest, makes a move with her hand as if she's firing one of Iron Man's repulsor rays as if to say Let me blast the spirit. Points down (Then), gestures to all of them. (We all get in on it).

Ian Lai

Before heading into the tunnel, Ian wiped his sword clean and re-sheathed it. There was nothing inside here that he could harm with it anyway - nothing besides Sky. On another day, the dirty water might have bothered him (and it still did, distantly in the back of his awareness - a crawling, itching distaste,) but today he had more important things on his mind.

When they reached the room where Sky was being kept, Ian took a step as though he wanted to approach. But Alyssa reminded him of why they were there and what they needed to accomplish, and Ian stopped moving and nodded, waiting for her signal.

Alexander

The coolness fades a little as, once again, Alexander is faced with something completely beyond his experience and understanding. The ice is still there, though, sourced from a feeling that justice – for the people lost here – needs to be done. There’s more he’ll want to do after this is all over – fully over – assuming he’s still standing to do it.

Alyssa makes her gestures. Alexander nods. Back pressed against one of the walls, he’ll stand watch for the others.

Ix

Evil vs Sky?

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

Ian Lai

[+7]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (2) ( fail )

Alexander

[+6]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (1) ( fail )

Ix

Evil initiative +4

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (3) ( fail )

Alyssa Solomon

[[+7]]

Dice: 1 d10 TN3 (8) ( success x 1 )

Ix

[If you wake your sleeping princess? +2]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (6) ( success x 1 )

Ix

So our order goes:

Inciting reflexive action: Around them the leaves shake as if in a strong wind but the air is still. Sky does does not scream but he thrashes against the roots. The leaves closest to him take on a reddish tinge. Ian can see what is happening by the damage it does to Sky. Alyssa and Alexander can see what is happening by the spiritual energy that makes it's way up the roots and to the central form against the back wall.

Ian

Alyssa

[Sky]

Alexander

Evil

Ix

Evil is going to do wiggy hallucination magic,

Alexander

[Alexander is going to shoot the crap out of the person/plant thing - 3 round burst]

Ian Lai

[Declare: Split action

1a: Draw weapon (because apparently someone put their sword away prematurely)

1b: Katana the Evil]

Alyssa Solomon

[[Start Charging Prime blast on the spirit fucking up Sky's world.]]

Alyssa Solomon

[[Spirit 2/Prime 2, WP, -2 for unique]]

Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (4, 6) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Ian Lai

[First split draws sword, second split Dex+Melee -3]

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

Ian Lai

[Str+3+2 damage]

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

Alexander

[Dex+Firearms+2 -1 for wounds -1 for armour, +1 diff]

Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (2, 4, 4, 4, 6, 10) ( success x 1 )

Alexander

[Well, at least it's a hit - 5 dam]

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

Ix

[You want hallucinations, right?]

Dice: 4 d10 TN8 (1, 4, 5, 7) ( fail )

Ix

Evil - SPORES!!!

Alexander

[More shootiness - 3 round burst]

Ian Lai

[Declare: Split Katana/Katana the Evil.]

Alyssa Solomon

[[This magic effect? We're gonna...LET IT GO! LET IT GOOOOO! *Drifts into song*]]

Alyssa Solomon

[[Rollies! -1 practiced, -2 unique, +1 for extending, Quintessence for -1 to bring it back to 3, fifth WP because WHO NEEDS WP?]]

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

Ian Lai

[Dex+Melee -2]

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

Ian Lai

[Str+3]

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

Ian Lai

[Dex+Melee -3]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (5, 5, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )

Ian Lai

[Str+3+1]

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

Alexander

[Shoot the damned thing anyway : Dex+Firearms+2 -1 for wounds -1 for armour, +1 diff]

Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (1, 2, 5, 5, 6, 8) ( success x 1 )

Alexander

[Dam, not that it matters beyond making compost]

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

Ix

The spirit is gone. Alyssa and Alexander can see that. It will be some time before all of the algae and fungi will die off, but already Ian can see something vital in them fading.

They are left before the splintered remains of the creature. Behind them is Sky, still tangled in roots.

Alyssa Solomon

The spirit destroyed and the situation handled, Alyssa doesn't look to Sky. She has something else to handle, and that's where the backpack comes into play.

She lets them deal with the cleanup of the Verbena; she takes her five candles out, sets them down in a circle, equal lengths apart. This time, she cuts deeper. She needs to to get her blood involved on this one; there's a wince and a hiss as she draws the blade hard across her hand, making the coppery red stuff start to well up. She quickly uses it to outline the circle, fill in the lines in the center to make a pentagram and then stands in the center.

The Enochian begins quietly, but rises. She's summoning, or trying. Offering her mystical energy (what's left, and what she can pull from herself) in order to get the spirits, if called, to cleanse this place. So this never happens again.

[[Spirit 2: Call Spirit. Final WP, Unique foci to -2. Taking time for another -1 to make it diff 3. Will extend twice]]

Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (5, 10) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Ian Lai

The creature came alive, and in the ensuing flurry of action Ian tore into the vines and roots of the creature's physical form, slicing it open while Alyssa shot it with a burst of pure Prime energy. This time, Alexander didn't hesitate to shoot, but by the time his bullet made a splattered mess of the thing on the wall, it was already dead and gone. The shot echoed around the chamber, and Ian, with his delicate senses, flinched as though the sound was physically painful. He shook it off a moment later though, because his focus was on Sky.

Sky, who at this moment was barely alive, damaged and defiled by the thing they had just killed. Ian walked up to the unconscious Verbena and put his hand on Sky's chest, feeling the man's heartbeat. Memories came, then. Sounds and tastes. They barely knew each other, but they knew each other well. It was a stark contrast to the Sky that Ian remembered, this ruined body that lay before him.

But he was still alive. So Ian leaned down and pressed a kiss to Sky's forehead, then he reached down to the claw wound on his side and came up with a smear of his own blood on his hand. First he licked it, then he pressed one hand against Sky and one against the roots that sprung from his body.

[Life 2 - forcing the roots to leave Sky's body. Vulgar. Diff 6 -1 for focus, -1 for taking his time, -1 for lore, will extend]

Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (7, 8) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Alexander

As the remains of the spirit fade away from Alexander’s vision like candle smoke in a breeze, dissipating through the Umbra, Alexander lowers his pistol to his side. The safety is flicked on and the clip changed for the last, full one. It seems that this might be the end, but then again it might not. The gun is slipped back into the waistband of his trousers.

Somewhere, buried in police record and on a barely-viewed website, is a list of missing people. Sons and daughters, brothers and sisters who will never be seen again. The families left behind will never know what happened to them, or even if they’re alive or dead. Their own brand of purgatory. With Ian working on freeing Sky and Alyssa calling on a spirit to cleanse the area, he moves over to the remains of the others. He spends a little time with each of them, checking what belongings may surround them for some identification or unique belonging. He’ll do the same for the unknown man the met and defeated earlier, but there’s one person left. The one that they had just fought. He moves over, crouching by the remains.

Ix

Alyssa begins to call to spirits for aid in cleansing and perhaps healing this place.

Ian sends the roots coiling back from Sky, freeing him of them entirely.

Alexander begins the process of identifying bodies, all but the one at the center have something that can identify them.

Alyssa Solomon

[[Extendy! All those other mods but +1 diff for extending]]

Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (6, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Alyssa Solomon

[[Second extend; we're at 5 succ so far]]

Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (5, 9) ( success x 2 )

Alyssa Solomon

[[And Paradox: 3 vulgar Spirit 2 effects, so 6 potential damage!]]

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

Alyssa Solomon

[[Soak]]

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

Ian Lai

Ian tapped into the life force of the roots, willing them to release their hold on Sky, and slowly, the twisted coils of plant-matter pulled themselves from the Verbena's body, retreating like something out of a dark fairy tale.

But Sky was still unconscious, and now that the things keeping him alive had been torn away, there wasn't much time left. So Ian leaned down quickly and whispered into his ear. "Wake up."

(He'd done this before. It recalled memories of other things, and other people.)

[Mind 2 / Life 2 diff 5 -1 (focus) -1 (practiced)]

Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (3, 5) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Alexander

Having found all he’s likely to for those who passed on in the cave, he stays crouched by the remains. Alexander watches Alyssa work her will, summoning the spirits who would clean and restore this place to its original former glory. His vision still attuned to the other side of the looking glass, he watches as they start to gather. He keeps an eye on Ian, watching him tend to his friend. If nothing else, it shows a side of the other man that might not have been obvious from their earlier encounters. It shows that he’s human.

If Alexander is needed to help with anything, like assisting people back to where they had parked not that long ago. It seemed so much longer than, in reality, it actually was. Time is strange like that. Otherwise he’s mostly quiet and watchful, the chill that had surrounded him earlier fading into the more natural background.

Ix

Sky's eyes flutter open. He gasps, once. Twice. And then he forces his breathing to slow. To deepen.

He knows where he is. He does not, entirely, understand why Ian is there.

But he can see that Ian is exhausted by all of this, so he reaches up to run a hand through Ian's hair before he asks the the question they both know is coming. It isn't even his first question. Or the second.

"Are you alright? Is anyone hurt?" His voice is rough. Hoarse. But even half-ruined, it is full of all the warmth of summer.

Ian Lai

"Sky, you need to heal yourself or you're going to die."

There was enough of an edge of desperation to Ian's voice that Sky would be able to tell how serious (and immediate) the situation was. That now was hardly the time to take stock of the aftermath (because the aftermath hadn't yet arrived.)

"Here," he said quietly, moving into a seated position over Sky's body with knees at either side of Sky's hips. Ian was careful not to put weight on Sky as he leaned over and used his own knife to slice a deep cut down the center of his palm. Then he pressed his bloody hand over Sky's heart.

"Take what you need."

Ix

Sky reaches for Ian's hand and presses it to his lips, not to drink the blood, no, this is a kiss.

[Prime 3 - WP]

Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (10, 10, 10) ( success x 4 ) [WP]

Ix
[And, just so we know
Life 2/Prime 2 - WP -1 D practiced]
Dice: 3 d10 TN5 (2, 5, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Ix
Paradox
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (3, 9) ( success x 1 )
Ix
[Soak?]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (4, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Ian Lai
[Oh yeah, I should do that too]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (1, 1) ( fail )
Ian Lai
Sharing blood (and Quintessence) this way was an extraordinarily intimate thing, something that Ian had not planned on ever doing it with Sky. He had not, in fact, done this with anyone before in his life. But Sky didn't know that, and Ian wasn't likely to ever tell him. It would only serve to make things more awkward.
And in the moment, he wasn't thinking about that. He was thinking that this was a sacrifice he could afford to make in the service of saving Sky's life. No, it didn't mean that they were any closer than they actually were, but it meant something all the same.
Life was valuable. Perhaps, after taking it from an unknown man only moments earlier, Ian was all the more aware of how fragile and precious it actually was.
He let Sky kiss his hand, and sat still and watchful as Sky pulled the Quintessence from deep within his being. It was an odd sensation, and afterward Ian felt drained and empty. But then Sky's body began to heal, knitting itself whole once more, and Ian finally allowed some of the tension to seep from his muscles.
"Come on, I'll get you home."
He stood up and offered a hand to help Sky carefully to his feet.
Ian Lai
[Edit: "something Ian had not planned on ever doing with Sky."]
Ix
Sky looks over Ian.  There is a second where he looks like he is going to say something ridiculous, like, 'I'm okay.  Let me help you.'  Except, he doesn't.  It seems, in this moment, the kindest thing to give Ian whatever control he's taking and make no mention of anything.  Not the exhaustion, not the wounds, not fact that despite everything that just happened Sky might be the one of them in better shape.
At least until he starts to process any of this.
"Yeah," is all he says.  Softly.  Very softly.  "Thanks."
Ix
[But we will heal Alex, if we can.  Because some Verbena have a helping people compulsion.
Life 3/Prime 2 WP -1 D practiced/-1 D time]
Dice: 3 d10 TN5 (3, 7, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Ix
Paradox
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (6, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )
Ix
Soak
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (7, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
Ian Lai
[First, Per+Meditation]
Dice: 4 d10 TN7 (1, 2, 4, 6) ( fail )
Ian Lai
[Of course]
Ian Lai
[No quint for you Ian]
Ian Lai
[Fine then. Life 2, Vulgar, diff 6 -1 going slow, -1 focus, -1 practiced]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (3, 5) ( success x 2 )
Ian Lai
[Paradox]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (7, 7) ( success x 2 )
Ian Lai
[Soak?]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (2, 8) ( success x 1 )
Ix
and I think we're done with this room.

It's... a thing

Alyssa Solomon

Alyssa Solomon primarily works out of her apartment. She doesn't take a lot of meetings for her job here but it is known to happen and, well, it looks about how anyone who knows Alyssa might imagine. The place is small, but small suits exactly what she needs; she neither requires nor wants fancy or luxurious. Those take too much upkeep and if you have to move, you've lost a lot. The place is cluttered, but it's an organized kind of clutter in which everything is separated in a way that generally makes sense to Alyssa mroe than anyone else. Someone who gives it a quick glance might think that it was just a mess, but look closer and you'll see a system to the whole thing.

looks like it hasn't been lived in all that long; maybe a matter of months, certainly less than a year. But the clutter is impressive for that amount of time, and she certainly hasn't organized the place in a matter for visitors. A full bed is off to side of the room, far enough away from both the entryway and the screen door to the balcony that she can't be surprised by anyone coming in either. (That might be a little paranoid, since she's on the third floor, but when you're a mage..) The floor isn't carpeted but laminate; she chose the apartment specifically for that because it's easier to get your security deposit back if you don't have a lot of bleach spots dotting the floor. Also, it lets her use spray paint and candles without the need for concern that it won't ever come up. She does have a spot where there's a coffee table, a couch, an old worn easy chair and an old (CRT, not LCD) television, though the area is the least cluttered and thus probably doesn't get a lot of use.

Everywhere you look there are strange knick-knacks or piles of books. Next to the bed is an assortment of old paperbacks with the covers worn thin or missing; next to her desk is a set of old tomes in Latin. On the wall is a map of Denver with lines drawn this way and that, a bunch of color-headed pins stuck in. Pictures of people are taped to the wall next to it. The kitchenette are appears to be a place where she goes to microwave stuff or get drinks. And there are more than a few ashtrays around, in various states of being full. Currently sitting on the coffee table are several folders and another, smaller map with various notes drawn on it in English and Latin. Highlighter marks. Alyssa's been busy.

Oh, and there are also the seals drawn on the walls around the room. They're old, retraced a few times from the look of it and it's probably best not to guess what kind of ink was used in them. Alyssa is currently sitting on the couch in a black tank top and jeans, distinctly dressed down and make-up free. She's looking over the papers, making a couple of notes and frowning to herself. She told Alexander once that he should drop by sometime, so they can get to know each other a little better. This may well be that sort of day.

Alexander Brandt

[Magedar, just 'cos]

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

Alexander Brandt

How long ago had it been since that invitation to stop by had first been made? Weeks, at least. Then the voicemail last month, after bumping into Mellie and the strange man, suggested that they might have more to talk about than just having a coffee and shooting the breeze. Schedules being as they are, it’s just taken a little while for a good time to appear. And now is as good a time as any.

So here Alexander is, having ridden over from home. The bike is parked – and chained up – out on the main drag, where the high footfall should hopefully mean that it’s not likely to vanish without a trace. He’s in his biker gear, although the jacket is open to the waist and showing off a Cascade Range t-shirt that a tourist might have picked up. In one hand he’s carrying a helmet. In the other? A cardboard tray, holding a couple of cups of coffee from just down the road. Just because they have things to talk about, doesn’t mean that coffee can’t happen too. Not that he’s an addict. He just likes to have something to offer when he first visits someone at home.

Whether this is somewhere he’s expect Alyssa to live is probably a little too early to say, given the limited contact they’ve had so far. But he does wonder if she meant West Colfax rather than east. The feeling of wings and blood, though? That still takes a little getting used to, and the shudders a little as he catches it. But at least he knows he’s in the right place. Hands full, he knocks gently on the door with a foot.

Alyssa Solomon

[[Awarness!]]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 6, 8) ( success x 2 )

Alyssa Solomon

She recognizes Alexander's Resonance. That chill that descends over her wings, they are definitely familiar and while Alyssa may sometimes (on rare occasions) get names mixed up, she very rarely gets someone's magical feel wrong. And so she looks up from a passage she's reading from an EPA report, looks to the door just before she takes a drink from her Corona. Piss beer, Kalen has called it when he's gently teased (or mocked) her for drinking it. Once she explained why she does.

At any rate, recognizing that Resonance means that she doesn't pull her gun just in case. Alyssa is a careful woman, and she's never been one to discount the idea that the Union (or Nephandi, or others) might come kicking her door down one day. But she knows Alexander, and doubts she's about to get in trouble. So instead she walks to the door in bare feet and--after looking through the peephole (just in case) she opens it up, flashing him a grin.

"Officer, I swear I thought he was 18." There's a little wink and then she steps aside, pulling the door the rest of the way open. "Come on in. Forgive the mess. How are you?"

Alexander Brandt

“Well as long as you have a photocopy of his driver’s licence to prove it.” Alyssa gets a smile at the unusual greeting, as he holds the tray of coffees up for Alyssa to take one if she wants. If she doesn’t? Well a couple of bucks won’t kill the bank and he’d probably just drink it himself anyway.

He steps through the door and, for a moment, pauses as he sees the walls. Dried blood isn’t something he’s any stranger to, but usually in a puddle. Not intentionally painted in patterns that he doesn’t recognise. He assumes that it’s Alyssa’s blood adorning the walls – it would certainly fit in with her Resonance anyway – and walks the rest of the way in. Alexander takes a look around the rest of the room while Alyssa closes the door. The map on the wall grabs his attention and he takes a step closer to better see it. Glances at the photos, in case any of them look familiar. Given their respective lines of work, there’s likely going to be some crossover. But then there’s no knowing how old the photos or the lines on the map have been there. Cold cases, maybe?

“I’m doing ok, thanks. Happy that the world is crazier, rather than me. Keeping busy, and not just in the mundane sense. And still thinking about Kalen’s invitation from before.” The cabal? Yeah, he’s not forgotten about it. But learning to stand on his own feet without falling flat on his face has been more important. Besides, he said at the time that he needed to get to know the others better first. No time like the present. Alexander turns back to Alyssa. “How about you? Keeping out of trouble, Miss Solomon?” There’s a smile along with the gentle teasing back as he tilts his head down and looks up at her – all he’d need is the half-moon glasses to complete the impression of an old teacher.

Alyssa Solomon

The map that Alexander moves to and looks at contains what appear to be her private eye cases, but specifically the ones with potential supernatural implications. Hauntings, young men and women who are missing that may have been nabbed up by a cult, that sort of thing. Interspersed are various seemingly random locations...at least until you look closer and see how random they aren't. The Chantry in Morrison has a pin in it, unlabeled and uncolored. There's a pin that just says Millie, and one that reads Carnevale (the latter in the Santa Fe Arts District). The words are on little divider stickers that stuck by the pins. It's an assortment of random occurances and other such things...but then, nothing is really random to Alyssa.

"Sorry, I didn't clean up," she says with a little half-smirk when she sees him pause at noticing the walls. "I usually throw up posters when I know company's dropping by. Anyway, I'm good. Never keeping out of trouble, but always keeping busy. You know how it is. Thanks," she says, the final word intoned as she takes the offered coffee. Never look a gift of caffeine in the mouth.

She shuts the door and moves back over to the couch, stacking up all the papers to clear them away. "Still thinking about it, eh? I can get that. A lot of pros and potential cons there. Especially, I imagine, for a detective who's still figuring out where he stands in the magical mileu of Denver."

Alexander Brandt

Alexander smiles a little as he spots the Millie pin on the map. “She said that you guys had met. Millie, I mean. I bumped into her last month. She said I should ask you about a guy called Connor too. She seemed to have a bit of a soft spot for him.” The other pins – except for the Chantry – don’t have any obvious meaning to Alexander and pass without comment.

Alexander turns from the map to set his helmet down by the armchair. The tray is carefully put on the table, if there’s an empty spot away from anything that might not appreciate spilled coffee, and he shrugs out of his jacket which gets laid over the back of the chair. Sitting, he pulls his cup out of the tray and takes a sip. “Not a problem,” he says about not having cleaned up. “It’s your place, I just wasn’t expecting it. What are they for?” There’s another questions hanging, but which goes unasked. He’s happy with the assumption that the blood used to mark the walls is Alyssa’s, but what if it isn’t..? Does he really want to know?

“Oh, I’m no detective. One day, maybe, but I’m just a beat cop really. Any detecting I do is purely as an amateur. I pick up bits and pieces, catch sight of an occasional report or two. But that’s about it. I’m starting to get the feeling that there’s a lot more that goes on around here than the force really has its eyes open to, though. I guess that’s what Kalen meant about there being things that the police aren’t really geared up to deal with.”

Alyssa Solomon

She can't help but grin when Alexander mentions Connor. To this day it still bewilders her that she and the newly-Awakened drug dealer ended up in a mentor/student relationship. They're deeply different people, but that's the way it works sometimes. There's a little chuckle form the goth woman before she shrugs.

"Connor's a good kid. I think you and he would probably be pretty much oil and water. His activities are less legal than even most of us Awakened. Nothing really harmful though." And she leaves it there because ignorance is usually bliss for the cops.

She's used to being asked about the wards by people who know to ask, and she shrugs as she leans back. "They're protective. Keep the place free from being spied on, and there's one I can use in a pinch to get more on an even playing field if spirits come in with bad intentions. Basically, they're my version of an armory. You know, besides the physical weapons."

Alexander mentions that he's not a detective, and she grins a little bit. "I wasn't talking about what it says on your shirt, Alexander. We're not defined by how we pay the bills, after all. You're right though." There's a little less tease here. "There are worlds more than the authorities have their eyes on. And most of the few authorities that do know...well, we probably don't want them to know that we know. They're usually Technocrats as a rule."

Alexander Brandt

Ignorance does make things rather simpler at times, so he’s happy to let the conversation about Connor drop. If they happen to bump into each other, then they’d have to see what happens. But he does add one last piece to that train of conversation. “Well, meeting him couldn’t go much worse than my first encounter with our not-so-friendly neighbourhood priest.” Not unless guns and handcuffs became involved, at least.

Alexander looks a lot more interested when Alyssa mentions spirits, and getting on a more equal footing with them. “That was one of the things I’d been hoping to talk to you about, actually. Spirits, I mean. It seems that I have some... leanings in that direction, but none of the others I see around really know much about it all. It’s hard enough trying to figure out what’s going on when you’re trying to work with something that doesn’t have its own thoughts on the matter. How does that one work? Is it something I could learn to do?” The thought of that first day Awake, with a spirit trying to lure him through into the Umbra? That’s probably the kind of thing he needs his own armory to deal with.

“A lot of people do define themselves by what they do to pay the bills. I’ve probably been guilty of that myself, at least before everything came more into focus. But what you said about the Technocracy... Do you think that they’re involved with the DPD?” Not that he’d been shouting about the new view on the world that he’s picked up, but it’s good to know how cautious to be. A thought of the voicemail that Alyssa left comes to mind. “Speaking of detectoring, you mentioned something about a case you’re working on that my encounter with Weird might have something to do with?”

Alyssa Solomon

True story: guns have been involved when Connor's been around. They weren't because of him, though; they were because of Kalen and Alyssa being wary sorts and not having met each other before the Hermetic showed up at her door. That Connor was there had no impact on the weaponry. But still...guns.

She listens with interest when he talks about having interest in spirits, taking a sip from her coffee. "It is something you could learn to do," she says as she sets the coffee down and reaches for her cigarettes. "Eventually. I can definitely help you get there, though. Spirits are creatures of a very different color than people. There's a lot more variety. Some of them are completely single-minded, focused on one purpose or what aspect of life. Some are a lot like us...mostly the dead, really, like Millie. And then there are things like Thakinyan, the Umbral Lord that the others had to deal with. Don't know if they've told you about him. They can be far more complex than your average person. I can definitely help you with learning to use spiritual magic though, and the more mundane knowledge. Which is just as important.

"As for the DPD..." She shrugs, popping one of the smokes into her mouth. It's a regular cigarette; no menthol, no clove, no pot. "I have no idea. I've not been around to look, but it wouldn't surprise me at all. The Union likes being in positions of authority. Makes their job easier. It's important to realize that they aren't actually in control of everything though. They seem like it sometimes, but...they're not everywhere. So they might, or they might not." She looks at him then pointedly, as she flicks the lighter to life. "If I were you, I'd play it safe though."

He asks him about the case and the encounter, and her eyes light up in an entirely different way than her cigarette did. "Oh, right! So." She starts looking through her files. "You said there was something about decay, right? That sounds familiar. I'm tracking down a missing girl, an environmental activist. She was looking into some kind of toxin being dumped in the water and hasn't been heard since. I'm pretty sure there's something magical involved based on my preliminary investigations, and an element of decay...well, that sounds like it could fit. What did you run across, exactly?"

Alexander Brandt

Alexander sits up, sipping his coffee, as she skims lightly over the world of spirits. “I’ve met a couple, so far. Mellie. A... guy, I guess, goes by The Message. And something else.” He smiles at Mellie’s name, although it fades into wistfulness at the mention of The Message. It’s gone completely at the end. “When I Woke Up? There was something there, trying to get me to get closer to a tear into the Umbra. I don’t know what would have happened if it had, but Sera managed to... stop me, before I did anything too stupid. So I think I’ve been pretty lucky in who, or what, I’ve bumped into. But I have been completely clueless each time, and it’s something I do want to know more about. I’ve not heard of Thakinyan, though. What’s an Umbral Lord?” And so it begins...

The others had already told him enough to be cautious about where and how he talks about things, and that being spotted or overheard by the wrong person could bring a whole lot of attention that nobody wants to have around. So he’s under no illusion that turning into “that weird guy who thinks he can talk with ghosts” would be a very bad thing. “I’ll try to avoid anything overly odd during working hours, but I really can’t promise anything.” He shrugs, almost resigned to ‘whatever happens, happens’. “If nothing else, I’ve found that oddness does have a habit of grabbing us without warning, though.”

He settles back in the chair, getting comfortable. He may well have tucked his legs under him, but those boots aren’t comfortable to sit on. “I’m still not entirely sure what it was, you know. There was this... almost like the Resonance we all seem to have, but it didn’t seem to be coming from anyone or anything in particular. It was just this feeling of damp and decay. Almost like the forest in autumn, I guess, when everything is dying down for the winter. But there was this guy. I’d never met him before, no idea who he was and I’ve not been able to find out anything about him.” He laughs a little to himself, more of a detective then he gives himself credit for? “He looked normal, physically. But doing the spirit thing,” he wiggles his fingers, as he’d seen one or two of the others do when talking about magic, “he was covered in green dust, and looked like he was rotting.” He shrugs. “More than that, I can’t really tell you. Mellie was yelling at me to run away, and that seemed like a really good idea at the time. One thing she did say, though, was that this thing kills people. And that he wasn’t the first it’s taken.”

He thinks for a minute before continuing. “I have an idea where that water might be. I don’t know about anything toxic, but there have been some people missing down around Littleton. And some strange deaths down that way too, around Chatfield Lake and the reservoir to the north of it. From what I gathered, it looks like they had drowned but the actual cause of death hasn’t been identified. It wasn’t by drowning, though.”

Another shrug. “Any help?”

Alyssa Solomon

"It does," she says with a nod. She had listened quietly through the whole thing, taking in all the details. Her only activity was picking up a pad of paper and pen and jotting down some notes. Damp & Decay. Looked normal but Umbrally covered in dust. Rotting. "I already had an idea that it was Chatfield, but this definitely confirms that your situation and mine are connected. And that gives me something to go off of."

She lets that go for a moment, but just for a moment. She'll get back to it. First...questions. She flips a piece of paper on the pad to a clean sheet, smiling a little. "An Umbral Lord is exactly how it sounds. The spirit world...we call it the Umbra. The other world. The way history tells it, it didn't use to be separated from our world. The Gauntlet, the wall in-between...it was thing, or non-existent in some places. The more people stopped believing in the spirits, the thicker that it got. And there were other factors too, but...you get the idea."

She starts to sketch out a really quick drawing. A circle, labeled Earth. A fuzzy line scratched around it, with a line from it titled Penumbra. Outside of that the word Umbra is sketched. "This is, in very basic terms, kind of how it works. You have the spiritual world that is sort of a reflection of this one, called the Penumbra. Everything outside of it is the many reals out there. There's almost no point listing even a selection; they're infinite. The lands of the dead, the Astral Plane, everything else...it's out there. Far, far out is the Deep Umbra, where things are so alien that it's nothing we would even comprehend. Amidst all of this are little pocket worlds. Umbral Lords rule these realms, or live way out in the Deep Umbra. They're very powerful and often insane. Or at least, their way of thinking is so alien to ours as to seem insane."

Alexander Brandt

Alexander moves over from the chair to the empty seat on the couch, all the better the look at what Alyssa is drawing on the paper. He listens to the explanation, picking up on the parts that nobody had explained yet. “The Gauntlet – is that anything to do with the Avatar Storm?” He shivers a little at the memory of being dragged through it, even if he wasn’t affected as badly as others. “Although the way you said it, I guess the Gauntlet was there first?” That it became thicker? “So it’s like when we try to do anything too far outside of what people believe is possible? It gets harder, and reality hits back? So people don’t believe in spirits anymore, so it gets harder to get through to them.” See, this is why he prefers learning from people rather than books. You can’t try to work stuff through and then ask if you’ve done it right – books don’t answer back.

The lands of the dead... “I was wondering what happened when somebody died. I mean, what happens to the spirit? I guess they go somewhere, otherwise the whole city would be crowded when I’ve looked through the looking glass. But then why is Mellie still here? Is the spirit the same as the Avatar?” Hopefully Alyssa doesn’t mind answering questions, because there could be an awful lot of them. It seems like Spirit mages are a little short in the city, so the chance to begin figuring some of this stuff out? It’s too good an opportunity to miss. “Do spirits have the same problems coming here that we do crossing over to them? And those Lords? Why do they come here, if we’re as strange to them as they are to us?”

Alyssa Solomon

"They have any number of reasons. Usually known just to them." She smiles a bit and shrugs, tapping ash into a nearby tray. "In some cases they want to get back to this world, or maybe they want to destroy everything for some reason or another. Maybe they want to spread peace to the world through mental domination--or just spread peace through peace, though they're very rarely here for a good reason. What's important, and is fortunate to us, is that in most Umbral Lords' cases they can't get here. Paradox holds them back, as does the Gauntlet. All those stories you've heard of Faustian deals, or Things That Should Not Be...Lovecraft stories, all that kind of thing..."

She can't help it; she grins. "Well, most of them are fiction. But they came from somewhere, and the original stories...sometimes they're grounded in reality.

"As to their problems...it's a little different." She leans back and sets the pad down. "Like I said, Paradox says they don't exist, so they can't stay here long. Disbelief is problematic to them. Sometimes you'll encounter creatures from a different age....Bygones. They have that problem too. And the deadlands...well. I don't know where most of them go, but the ones that stay here? Near as I can tell, it's usually because they've got something tying them here. Strong attachments that keep them from shuffling onward."

She sighs then. The worst part...the Avatar Storm. "So, the Avatar Storm. That's relatively new. It's...sort of a long story." She stands up then, walks over to the kitchen to get herself a new beer. "Long story short, back at the end of the twentieth century a bunch of shit went down. We still don't understand a lot of it, but that's when the Avatar Storm happened. Several chantries in the Umbra were destroyed, and our Umbral headquarters Horizon was devastated. The Avatar Storm...we don't generally know why exactly, but fragments of countless Avatars were stuck in the Gauntlet. That's what happened there and why it is so dangerous to pass through."

A pause. "You want one?"

Alexander Brandt

“Please,” he replies to the offer of beer.

“So, that spirit when I Woke Up? The one that was trying to get me to come closer? That was its way of trying to get across into this world?” Which opens up a new trail of questioning. “What... would have happened if I had? Do they tie themselves to people to stay here?” Then, what happens to them after..? The more Alexander learns, the more he realises how lucky he was to walk away.

“Do ghosts want to stay, then? Unfinished work, wanting to see the kids grow up, that kind of thing? Or can they be forced to hang around, even if they don’t want to?” He’s wondering what it is that keeps Mellie around, and if there’s any way of asking that isn’t likely to upset her. But if it’s not always by choice that ghosts are hanging around, then presumably there are some that need help to find their rest. His thoughts drift towards The Message again, wondering what happened to him.

He looks back at Alyssa when he realises that he’s been wool-gathering. “Leonhard – have you met him? – tried explaining some of this. He said the Technocracy did something that caused the storm, but I don’t think he really knew what it was either. When you say our headquarters – do you mean the Traditions? Or... I dunno, are you with them? Or are you Orphan too? Do they.. we..? count as a Tradition? The way Kalen talks sometimes, it sounds like some of the cool kids tend to look down on the ones who haven’t picked a team yet.”

Alyssa Solomon

She pulls out another Corona for Alexander and lets the fridge shut behind her, walking over. She uses a ring around the middle finger on her right hand to pop the caps off, handing his over.

"I wish I could tell you for sure about what happened in your Awakening, but I don't know. It could have been a spirit trying that, or maybe your Avatar. It could have been a test, or some spirit taking advantage. If you'd managed to cross though, you probably would have been trapped until you found someone who could get you back to our side." A little smile. "That's tricky magic.

"I know Leonhard, yeah." There's a frown there...not disapproving, more curious. "There are rumors that it was Technocracy-done, but I don't think anyone knows for sure. That's a lot of speculation because it sure as shit helped the Union, who weren't as strong across the Gauntlet, as it did us. It's hard to say. And as to Traditions..." She laughs there. It's not bitter, like some Hollowers might in regard to the question. It's honestly amused.

"That's a complex question. Many of us Hollow Ones consider ourselves a Tradition, but the fact of the matter is that the other Traditions never let us into their little club. Didn't stop those Hollowers at the time from trying. And yeah, there are those in the Traditions who look down on Orphans. Including Hollow Ones, because we are basically a Tradition of Orphans. They think we're dangerous because we don't fit into their neat little boxes. Usually my response is a polite 'fuck off.'"

She sits down, takes a drink off her beer. "But I've also seen it from the other side, because I was brought up to be a Hermetic. So I have kind of the worst of both worlds, really."

Alexander Brandt

Alexander wedges his empty coffee cup back in the try and accepts the beer, taking a sip from the bottle.

“I’m pretty sure it wasn’t my Avatar. Saying that, I’m still not quite sure which part of that god-awful day was my Avatar making an appearance. Assuming it even did. I think you’re probably right about it being a spirit trying to take advantage, although I don’t really have any real way of knowing one way or the other. And yeah, getting stuck there...” His eyes go unfocussed, looking at the patterns on the far wall. “That would definitely suck.” A few seconds pause before he asks, “Is there any way of finding a particular spirit?”

He turns his head to look at Alyssa again when she talks about Traditions. Laughs at the ‘usual response’ she gives to the more closed-off members of the cool club. “So what is a Hollow One? I get that the Traditions all have their own ideas on what it is that makes the world go round, but how do you guys see the world?”

He gestures at the walls with the beer bottle. “Is that where these patterns came from? The Hermetic teaching? What made you leave them? Would you ever go back? To any of the Traditions?”

Alyssa Solomon

"Those are two involved questions." She says it with...not so much a smile this time. There's amusement, but it's a little uncharacteristically restrained. "Or several, I guess. Would I ever go back to the Order or switch to the others? No. Not a chance in hell. I am perfectly comfortable with most Hermetics. I have more in common with them than a lot of others. I don't like large parts of the Order itself though. They're arrogant and exclusionary and hoard their power like dragons in a Tolkein story. But that doesn't make them evil. Just a group I have issues with. And for the others...I don't need to. I'm part of a Tradition, whether they consider us one or not."

She sighs. "The reason that they don't like Hollowers and don't consider us a tradition is because we're very loosely organized. Even Virtual Adepts, new as they are in terms of not being Technocrats, tend to not be Orphan-heavy, or at least codified in terms of how they do their thing. Hollow Ones are more social in nature. We're ecletic and our magics aren't all the same. It's more about our oh-so-happy mindset, which is basically that the world is fucked. That makes some of us nihilists, some of us rebels, some of us very traditional in style. But all of us tend to get looked at in very askance ways. The reason I left..."

She falls silent there, shakes her head. "It's a long story, but the important part is that I found myself vulnerable at one point right after I Awakened and someone in power basically fucked me over seven ways to Sunday, in front of everyone at the Chantry. And while he was censured, he got away with it. It was a bit of an eye-opener for me." She's not still wounded over it; it's fairly blase in how she recounts it. A wound long since scabbed over.

"And yeah," she says with a nod, looking at the patterns. "That's from my Hermetic teachings. After I left I picked up a lot of other methods from other people, but most of my grounding is in Hermetic magical practice."

Alexander Brandt

He put the bottle on the table next to the coffee tray and sits back on the couch, quiet again for a bit. “I don’t think I get how anyone joins the Traditions without Awakening into them. If they all have their set ways of doing working, how would someone who’s been figuring it out for themselves ever fit in? I don’t want to be told that I’m doing it all wrong when what I’m doing works for me.” He sighs. “I get that this isn’t about picking a side in what’s left of the war now. The Union will try to steamroller anyone who’s Awake and not part of them. And I know that there’s a lot I still don’t know about most of the Traditions, so maybe it’s a bit early to say this, but I’m really not sure that I see myself fitting in with any of them. Not the ones I’ve seen anyway. I don’t think I’m... academic enough for the Hermetics. I’m not interested enough in tech for the VA’s. Not religious enough for the Choristers. Not stoned enough for the Cultists. I have no fucking idea what’s going on with the Etherites. There aren’t many of Them left.” He almost sounds resigned to staying as an Orphan. Alexander snorts, half amused. “Is eyeshadow part of the Hollow uniform then? I’d need makeup lessons.”

Her brief explanation of her history with the Order certainly doesn’t do anything to recommend it, but does give some insight into how un-Hermetic Kalen can be. Leonhard seems to fit the mould reasonably well. Was there another one..?

He nods at the symbols on the wall. “So are they like writing then? Magic words? Or is it the pattern itself that means something?”

Alyssa Solomon

The woman's expression softens a little bit when Alexander expresses his frustration over the Traditions. She gets it, because there was a time when she was lost and didn't know where she belonged to. She had to find her own path and luckily someone was there to do so for her. She leans over and puts a hand on his shoulder then, looking him directly in the eyes.

"Listen, Alex. First of all, if anyone tells you that you have to be in a Tradition, then you find the most phallic thing in the vicinity, point it out and tell them to sit and spin. You don't have to be part of any Tradition just in order to be in one. Find a place that's right for you, and if there isn't one then there's nothing wrong with not being in one at all. If they look down on you then fuck 'em. They don't run your life, okay?"

She smiles a little then, a quirked grin that lets the conviction and seriousness fade a bit. "As to the Traditions themselves...well, they come in all shapes and sizes. I've known some Cultists, for example--not many, but some--who are totally drug-free. They're adrenaline junkies instead, or maybe anarchists or anything that just doesn't fit in normal, boring society. And that's just one Tradition's example. Don't look at the people or their tools to do magic, necessarily. Listen to the philosophies, and find something that fits. If there's nothing, than make up your own.

"As to my makeup..." She leans back then and smiles, shrugs. "We're largely goths, yeah. But again, doesn't mean you have to be. The philosophy is what matters. And the seals are Enochian. It's a magical language, big among the Hermetics. I also use Santeria stuff, a touch of Voudoun, a bit of Zoroastrianism...a little bit of everything from here and there. Only thing that's a complete constant is my blood, and that's specific to me. It's...a thing." She leaves it off there for now.

Alexander Brandt

“Oh, I get that I don’t have to join any of them. And I wouldn’t want to join any just for the sake of bring in one. It’s just...” He sighs again. “You go through life without much of a direction, when everyone else seems to clear on what they want or where they want to head. Then this,” he makes the wiggly-finger gesture again,” happens, a whole new world opens up. I’d say that this could be where I was meant to be heading, if I believed in Fate. But now I’m here, it’s the same all over again. Not really sure where I fit in. ” He smiles, though, looking back at Alyssa. “But fuck ‘em, right? I’ll just chip out my own little corner of the world and go from there. That might not be so bad.” Right? “But there’s still a few of the Traditions to look at, and maybe it wouldn’t hurt to look at the Cultists again if a doctorate in DIY pharmacology isn’t a requirement.”

He looks at the seal again. “So how does that work? The language, I mean. I’m guessing there’s more to it than writing ‘I’m not really here’ in a difference language.” The blood thing? He is curious why that’s a thing, but it doesn’t seem that Alyssa really wants to go into any great detail at the moment. Maybe paradigms are more personal that he initially though, and that not everybody really likes to talk about them. Maybe with a bit more time spent together, he’ll find out more.

He turns his head to look at Alyssa again. “What do you want to do about your missing person? I’m going to guess that you want to look around down there some time. Want some company?”

Alyssa Solomon

"The language is just the form," she says in answer. "It defines and directs my Will. Language is power, put just scrawling the words...repeating the physical shape of it doesn't do anything other than make Hermetics look at you askance."

She grins there. She's received the suspicion of many a Hermetic for her use of their language. Entitled bastards. "But when you do it with intent, and put your Will to it...well, it's the language of the angels. The first tongue taught to humans by God, before Babel and all that shit. So there is more power in it than, say, text speak."

Alexander offers to help out with the missing person and she nods. "That might be good. I have a lead to follow up on first...a couple guys I need to get in touch with that knew my missing girl. Good news is, I'm pretty sure that her mother expects that she's dead and just wants answers. So I'm not going to disappoint her much when I find out that's the case, you know? But once I'm done with that than I'm totally down with enlisting you for a little romantic hike up through the woods to a magically toxified lake. I have the best date ideas ever."

That's when her phone rings, and she frowns as she pulls it out and takes a look. "Shit. Um...I hate to cut this short, but one of my other jobs just caught a break. Nothing special, just tracking down a philandering husband, but I gotta go." And they'll part ways there, and Alyssa will promise to call Alex when she gets a chance. Soon the apartment is locked up and Alyssa is driving off down the street, ready to catch some asshole and ruin his marriage.

Alone in the crowd

shade

Oh, chat. In this one case I totally know.....

Alexander Brandt

[Per+Awareness]

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

shade

It has been a long day.

The truth is, they are always long days. Even for the Enlightened, so much of the world falls under a cold kind of shadow. Invisible, but with that sudden loss of warmth and light as when clouds obscure the sun. Especially for the Enlightened.

They see the world for everything it could be.

They see the world for everything it is.

The street is full of people enjoying the spring. Warmth. Hope. Rebirth.

They jostle against each other on the crowded sidewalks, threaten to spill off the sidewalks and through parked cars into the streets at times like rivers swollen with melting snow overflowing dams.

But Alexander can sense something else. Something that isn't exactly at odds with the spring. Because everything that lay frozen and still over the winter starts to come alive in spring. So the rich, cloying scent of damp and decay isn't out of place. It isn't a physical smell, he's familiar enough with his newly expanded senses to know this is his mind trying to translate a psychic impression. Weave previously unknown sensory inputs into some kind of language that he can understand.

Alexander Brandt

The day may have been long, for those who have chipped away its hours through work or study and are now breaking free to enjoy themselves in the evening. For others, it is only just starting. Alexander, who has spent the day curled away in a darkened bedroom, is now out on the streets at the start of a night shift. A decent amount of shut-eye, followed by a decent amount of coffee, is easing the start of the transition into the city’s darker, mirror image.

And so here he is, slowly making his way through the crowds as people bustle and jostle and otherwise make their way through the early evening and onto their intended destinations. Alexander has no destination at present, simply pounding the beat. Perhaps people feel a little shiver as they pass, a little slide back into the Frozen depths of winter. But only for a moment, and the sensation is relatively mild at the moment.

The sensation of damp and decay does get his attention, though. Given a little more time in the city, and a few more encounters with its less mundane inhabitants, Alexander may become a little more cautious when such things appear unannounced. For now, however? He heads towards where the feeling seems to be coming from, pulled along by the force of curiosity.

Alexander Brandt

[Rollin' rollin' rollin'... Per+Alert]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 4, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )

Alexander Brandt

[Rawhide! Arete too.]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (3) ( fail )

shade

It is like trying to pinpoint the center of a fog bank from within. Whatever is out there, whatever unseen unknown thing he can feel, it doesn't seem to have an easily defined center. Orienting toward it as it shifts around him seems impossible.

It is everywhere around him.

It is nowhere.

There is that sense of possibility and potential, that there is something just to the other side of some barrier he cannot see. Like the surface tension of water. Like stone.

Focused on extending all his senses, on searching out what is pulsing against his skin like a slow, failing heartbeat, he does see something. Someone.

A man in his mid-twenties. He has the athletic build that speaks more to endurance than strength, and one would expect him to have more coordination, but he staggers practically into an elderly couple, adjusts his course, and steps into a large window. He stops there, leaning on the glass without seeming to quite see the people around him or the mannequins on the opposite side of the glass.

Alexander Brandt

There is something there, that goes without question. Had one of the others been there – Sera, Kalen, maybe even Grace – then maybe they would have had better luck pinning down what and where its coming from. But they aren’t here, and Alexander is all alone in the crowd. Others may sniff unconsciously at a distant smell, but for him? It’s almost physical. Almost real. Or almost unreal?

So Alexander closes his eyes for a moment, trying to get some idea of where it could be. Pinches his nose, concentrates. But nothing, it’s simply... everywhere. Taking a step as he opens his eyes, he is bumped by a young woman rushing past and manages to stop dead in his tracks before he bumps into an old couple. Muttering apologies distractedly, he steps around them and out of the middle of the sidewalk. A mid-market women’s clothes shop has several mannequins wearing a selection of the shop’s offerings, trying to tempt window shoppers in. But Alexander isn’t looking at those. His attention is elsewhere – does this feel like that first day, with the open tear into the Umbra? Or the day he was dragged through the Gauntlet with the others? Neither of those were, intentionally, his own doing. So, he wonders, is this what the Gauntlet feels like when it’s intact. A barrier between the real world and... and its reflection?

He absent-mindedly notices the reflections in the glass, as people walk past behind him.

[Arete]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (2) ( fail )

shade

Alexander can hear something. Soft and indistinct like conversations that have drifted on the wind. Like someone calling to him through water.

He is already leaning on the glass, it has already taken the soft impact and he has been pressed against it for a good twenty seconds when the glass shudders. A crack snakes its way across the surface. Slowly. Sluggishly. It stops inches from his nose.

Everything goes perfectly still for a second.

The glass shatters.

Shards rain onto the pavement like rain. Little drifts of them pile around the feet of the mannequins like the first, hesitant winter snow.

Alexander Brandt

The reflections in the glass pass by. Maybe there’s the reflection of another young man, dodging around another old couple, but he passes without notice too. Alexander’s eyes have closed again, forehead leaning on the glass. Straining to hear the words of the conversation.

Maybe if he tried hard enough..? Is it someone calling? Someone female? Her again?

His eyes flick open, in time to watch the crack slowly making its way up the glass. Seemingly in slow motion. There’s no new feeling in the air, no itch along his spine, as he got when Sera froze that coin in the air. So... that means there’s nothing new going on. Right? It’s all part of the same weirdness. Alexander takes a step back when the crack freezes, unconsciously holding a breath. Waiting for the moment to pass. And pass it does, in a swirling storm of glass.

Alexander Brandt

[Per+Alert]

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

Alexander Brandt

[And Arete]

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

shade

He sees a woman in the shimmering reflections of falling glass. He can see that she is screaming before he can hear her.

The man who was reaching toward him reaches into the falling glass instead as Alexander steps back to regain his balance.

He can see a different man in the reflection. Covered in a thin film of greenish dust. Green veins winding beneath sickly pale skin.

His eyes are all pupil.

His lips are moving, but his throat is so dry all Alexander can hear is dry rasping sounds.

Until he hears the girl. Finally hears her.

Screaming.

"Run!"

He can still see her now. See through her. Like a reflection on glass. Translucent.

Alexander Brandt

There’s a face in the falling shards and, for a moment, Alexander wonders if that’s Her. The woman he heard in a dream, calling for help. Why won’t you help me? And there’s another face. Not cloaked and featureless, but green and sickly. Maybe inhuman? Do those iris-less eyes have life in them? Silence settles, as it so often does after something completely unexpected occurs. A quick glance around sees people trying to look without being obvious. Looking without really Seeing – oh, there’s the broken glass (what on earth was that officer doing to it?), but their eyes are closed to the others there.

The moment passes, thaws, unfreezes, and the screaming starts. Not her, Alexander will realise later, but still someone needing help. Maybe naivety, maybe stupidity, maybe gallantry – Alexander can’t stand by and watch someone in danger. So not for the first time, and probably not the last, he puts himself in harm’s way without understanding what's happening or with a thought to the consequences. She screams run!, but he’s not going to leave her behind. Whether she’s translucent or not, he tries to move forward to grab her hand. Only then will he run, with her.

shade

Alexander cannot reach across the distance that separates them. It is only a few feet. It is a whole different place.

There was a time she would have given anything for someone to reach out and take her hand. While she was dying. While she lay in the spirit world too lost in her own death to do anything but relive it again and again and again.

Tonight Alexander cannot even glimpse the echoes of the wounds that killed her.

She understands what he means to do. She's met Mages before. She understands how they do not succumb to the same constrictions as other mortal creatures.

And so she remembers the feel of a hand around hers and she runs as though he had caught hold of her. She does not breathe so there is no quickened breath. Her footfalls make no sound on the concrete. Alexander cannot feel her. But he can see her, running.

She looks back at the man, over her shoulder. His steps, as he starts to chase after them, crunch over the glass.

Alexander Brandt

A few feet, and a whole world away. Alexander’s hand passes through the woman’s when he tries to grab her, to pull her away to safety. He stumbles back, glass grinding into the pavement under his boots, as his mine goes blank for a moment. But it is only a moment, as she seems to understand what he intended and starts to run. And so he follows.

As breathless as she may be, it’s not the lack of fitness that slows Alexander. His breathing is barely faster the normal, his heart? That’s been pounding away since the weirdness began tonight. No, it’s the people. Those standing, or milling around on the pavement without paying attention to anyone else. The window shoppers, the mobile phone tappers, the loved-up couples: all getting in the damned way. So he sees her running ahead, passing through them without a thought.

She looks back, and so does Alexander. The green man is starting his chase, with the sound of crushed glass. Does that mean he’s physical, then? Something that can be hurt and stopped? He has ways of trying to stop something like that, but... Not here, not now. Not in a crowded street, with too many people who could get hurt. So, for now, he’ll follow her lead. Doing his best to keep up with her through the pedestrians, he calls out to her. “What is it?” He rests a hand on his radio – partly to stop it bouncing around uncomfortably on his shirt. Partly because having an armed man running past having a conversation with himself tends to raise eyebrows, but calling to someone who he’s rushing off to help? That would seem a little more normal.

shade

She does not leave him, this ghost girl. She does not pull away through the crowded streets.

"I don't know! They just started showing up!" She looks translucent at his side. Solid in their reflections in the window. The man chasing them looks solid however Alexander looks at him. Normal save for glimpses of green dust and veins in the reflections.

Alexander Brandt

The street is just too crowded to get anywhere fast. Even shouting for people to move aside simply freezes them in their tracks, like little injured owls trapped in the headlights of an 18-wheeler. There’s an alleyway coming up – wide enough for delivery vans to drive along to restock the stops along the parade, but with little else to appeal to the people looking to enjoy their evening. Alexander nods towards it as they approach, letting the ghostly woman know what he’s planning. Before they turn, he looks back to see where the strange man is. And, possibly more importantly, to see if it’s having the same trouble getting through the crowds that he has been.

A few metres along the alleyway, still running but starting to speed up a little, he speaks to the woman again. “How many of them are there? And what do they want?”

And when did having a conversation with a dead woman while running away from a weird green man turn into a normal day for Alexander?

shade

The man has to dodge people as well. Only the girl seems to be truly and entirely a creature of the other side of the Gauntlet.

"I don't know! I can see...whatever gets them, I can see it. But I don't know what it is. This is the third one I've seen." She speaks easily. Unwinded. Of course.

She follows Alexander into the alley. Looks back over her shoulder. She is dead and this thing isn't after her. She seems afraid anyway. But she doesn't leave him.

Alexander Brandt

“What do you mean ‘gets them’?” Alexander asks as they carry on running along the alley, speaking easily too – barely breaking a sweat so far, plenty of stamina left to keep this pace for hours. He looks over his shoulder again, checking for the green man following. Then thinks of his mobile phone, deciding if there’s anyone he could call for help. Alyssa, maybe? She’s the only one he’s really sure knows anything about the spirit side of things. But if the green guy is battling through people is it really a spirit thing going on? Ah, hell.

Plan A, run away from it. Plan B, if you can’t run away from it then kick the shit out of it and then run away from it.

Best hope there isn’t a need for Plan C. Alexander speeds up.

shade

"It gets them," she repeats. "I can just feel it. I know what death feels like. It gets them. I can feel them dying. That one can't see me yet."

No one appears in the alley. They are alone, Alexander and the spooked ghost girl.

Alexander Brandt

“So there’s something killing people? What happens to them after that?” Yeah, after. Death used to be the end for Alexander. No afterlife. No unavenged spirits, out for vengeance. Now? After seeing a dead guy’s spirit searching for hundreds of years for the people who will, eventually, find him? The headache of temporal paradoxes has yet to come to Alexander, but the knowledge – rather than belief – that spirits do exist? That’s there.

The green guy, however, isn’t. Another look back, and the alley is still otherwise empty. He could have missed them turning, could have dropped dead. Or some other form of weirdness could be about to tear reality a new one and land in front of them. He slows to a walk, though. Turning to face the direction they’ve come from, he walks backwards. Concentrates on that feeling from earlier – is the decay still there? While he concentrates, he asks the ghost, “How do they get around?” Because having something walk through a brick wall right now would probably be a bad thing.

Alexander Brandt

[Per+Aware]

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

shade

Alexander can still sense that unsettling presence nearby. The scent of old damp leaves. Forgotten cellars.

"I don't know. I mean...Connor tries. But you guys are magic." She shrugs. Gives him a sad, apologetic smile. "I'm just dead. It was trying to touch you. I just thought...I don't know. That it would be bad. And you weren't paying attention and I didn't think you could hear and I panicked and the glass broke. I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Alexander Brandt

The strange resonance lingers without an obvious source. Assuming that it’s related to whatever affected the green man, it’s still nearby. So back to Plan A – turning away from the entrance to the alley and heading further away from where it probably is. Although... if it’s killed the man, would he still be chasing them? Or would he be a gently cooling corpse on the sidewalk? He looks back again, then over to the ghostly woman, having half-heard what she’d said.

“Sorry, what? Oh, no, I’m fine.” She gets more of Alexander’s attention, as the rest of what she says registers. “And... thank you. For helping me. It’s not that I wasn’t paying attention, I just don’t know how to yet. Y’know. I’m still new to all this.” He shrugs, unsure how much of it makes sense to her. Hopefully more than is making sense to him at the moment.

shade

"Um." She frowns. Now that they aren't running she doesn't look into his eyes though she does keep glancing to either end of the alley. Nervous. Skittish. "Have you met anyone else?"

Alexander Brandt

Surely if someone had just dropped dead in the street, it would have been called in and he would have heard it on the radio by now..? So, probably not then. Yep, Plan A. Alexander starts walking towards the other end of the alley, keeping up the conversation with the woman.

“A few. Not many. Kalen and Grace, but I don’t think they’d have been able to see you. Alyssa? Sera? Sid? Oh, and a guy called Leonhard.” Pan comes to mind, briefly, and Alexander snorts. “There was a new guy called Ryne, too. Have you met any of them? I don’t know that Connor guy. Is he still in the city?”

As they’re talking names, a thought comes to mind. “I’m Alexander, by the way. What’s your name?” He hopes she can remember it.

shade

[Well, Mellie?]

Dice: 6 d10 TN8 (5, 7, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )

shade

For most of those names, there is no flicker of recognition. She smiles when he mentions Alyssa. She looks up and her smile widens and transforms her face into something radiant when he mentions Connor. "He's still here. I met him and Alyssa at the club on Halloween. I haven't seem Alyssa since, but I see Connor."

She stops. Blushes a little, because even if she has no blood she remembers how to feel embarrassed. She looks down and then looks up again. Her smile is hesitant, shy.

She takes a deep breath into lungs she can only remember and holds out her hand very deliberately out to Alexander. And this time, if he takes it, he can feel it. "Mellie."

Alexander Brandt

Alexander smiles back, “It’s ok, we had other things to run away from. It’s not like getting to know each other was top of the list of things to do at the time.” He stops walking to turn to Mellie, takes the offered hand and grips it firmly. It seems these days that his hands are colder than they used to be but, hey – cold hands, warm heart. Right?

He resumes walking when she chooses to let go – or keeps hold as they both walk, if she wants. “I’ve only met Alyssa once, but she seemed like a decent person. I’ll keep an eye out for Connor, though.”

shade

She nods and resumes looking anywhere but his eyes, though she does squeeze his hand back. "Alyssa is good people. Connor...well...he's all over. So...he is the easiest or the hardest person to find, depending. Alyssa has his number, if you want. I should go, though. If I stay gone too long I think he worries I decided to try running into the light or something. Be careful, okay?"

Alexander Brandt

“I need to spend some time with Alyssa anyway, so I’ll ask after him. Oh, one thing before you go? Have you bumped into The Message at all? I don’t know if you would have, but...” He looks ahead, towards the end of the alley. “I wonder how he’s getting on.” He thinks about asking about the voice, but there’s no real way to describe who he’s looking for there.

shade

She frowns and shakes her head. "I haven't met anyone going by Message. But if I hear anything, I'll tell Connor and he can tell you or Alyssa. Or if I see you again. It's a big city, but it could happen."

Alexander Brandt

Alexander shrugs, not really having expected her to know anything. Maybe they will bump into each other again some time. Until then, he’ll keep asking after the spirit of Anastasius when he can. Maybe even try to find him himself at some point. Who knows.

“Thank you,” and he is grateful for the offer. “I’ll keep an eye out for Connor. And for you.” He turns to look at her face, even if she avoids eye contact again. “And I’ll try. To be careful.” Like the way he tried to save her before running away from the green guy? Yeah, real careful.

shade

She smiles, nods a little without looking up, and then starts out of the alley.