[How awake are we?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (3, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 6 )
Kalen HollidayKalen has been preparing. At least in the sense that the library, which has always been clean, smells of lemon furniture polish and some of the empty space atop shelves and tables now hosts small statues and bonsai. There is even a small copper fountain on one of the tables nearer a corner. There is no real smell of harsh cleaners, only citrus. Because one must use natural citrus cleaners when one has cats, right? Also if one simply dislikes the scent of bleach.
Kalen isn't cleaning or dusting or any of that at the moment though, he is settled on one of the couches, sprawled over it so as to take up nearly the entire thing, with a book in one hand and a wine glass in the other. There is a half full bottle of wine on the table. And no coffee. No notes. No maps. Nothing to indicate that Kalen is doing anything but reading a book with a glass of wine. In dark blue jeans and a dark blue shirt that is one of those skin-hugging, wicking things. Alexander has seen him in skin-hugging, but never in anything that looked remotely like it was meant for some kind of athletics. And...color. Dark, maybe. But, no black and no grey.
Alexander BrandtAlexander’s resonance has been hanging over another part of the warehouse-and-office arrangement for a while now. Of the facilities on offer here, the library is probably one of the parts of least interest to him. Books have their uses, but aren’t objects of reverence in themselves. Kalen and Elijah and several others are happy to lose themselves in aged pages. Alexander prefers to get lost elsewhere.
No, Alexander has been making use of the shooting range for an hour or two. Targets have been shredded, with varying degrees of accuracy at varying distances. Weapons – his own and those stored at the range – have been checked and maintained. Each gets a few test rounds fired before being taken apart, cleaned, oiled and reassembled. Empty casings are collected and stored to be recycled or reused later. Eventually there’s nothing left to be done there. So he heads towards the library to join Kalen.
He sneezes as he enters, the odour of citrus an unexpected change from the usual smell of aging and aged books. His approach to the couches slows as he takes in the additions to the shelves. “If I didn’t know better, I’d ask if your mother was coming to visit. You really want to make a good impression on this person the Order is sending, don’t you?” Alex sets a gun case on the table before settling down into one of the spare seats.
Kalen HollidayKalen sets his book down and curls up, so that there are options that aren't far away or smushed into about six inches of space. Where far away is defined as a chair not four feet from him. Heaven forbid. That might as well be Antarctica. "Mmmmmmmmm...the better to get them to leave. Much as with my actual mother, I prefer to love them from a distance. With spies and occasional notes.
"Granted, if my mother was coming here I'd probably just buy a plane ticket to Chile. Of course, she's probably too high to even remember I exist or too focused on getting that high to remember I exist, so really that particular eventuality I won't have to worry about. I mean...what would I even say to her? I don't even sign her Christmas cards." He doesn't sound nearly as...emotionally invested in his mother as he does the Order. Though that is almost certainly no surprize by now.
"Should I get you a glass?" He smiles a little. "I got these at an estate sale. They make that glorious crystal ring." And here, the smile widens a little. "But please, no using them and the good silver for musical purposes until after our guest leaves."
Alexander BrandtSpace is made and taken, Alex dropping onto the other end of the couch and turning, arm over the back of the sofa, so that he’s facing Kalen. “Hello is usually a good start. After that’s the hard bit. I’m guessing the same could be said for this, hopefully short term, visitor? I still don’t really get why they’re coming. Are you seen as a threat to the Order or something?”
“You could send her to Chile anyway. Maybe she’d like it there.” He shrugs, unsure of the idea and not being overly serious in offering it. It would be an easy subject to drop, if Kalen isn’t interested in keeping it going.
“Oh, please. Next you’ll be telling me I shouldn’t lick out the soup dish while they’re here. Although now you’d said that, we are so making a wine glass orchestra once things have settles again.”
Kalen Holliday"Probably not. They might change their with that whole not slaughtering vampires thing. Particularly if they find out that one of them kissed me." Kalen laughs. "Which was a little weird, even for me. Maybe especially for me, considering. But, not bitten or dead, so there's that. I may drop by sometime to see what he can get me for rare books. There is that whole advantage of not having to pretend to be an anthropology graduate student or something."
"They're also interested in what happened to Victoria, apparently someone who knew her wants to get a formal investigation." He smiles a little, half apology. "Not about whether we should have killed her, just, I guess, more what happened. How. Why. I think just for closure.
"And, without Trent here to babysit me, they want to do a face to face check in. I'm just mad at....everyone. But in their case I'm furious that after I have done nothing but give them information they have done nothing but shut me out. And...we have problems for a reason. But, they sent people who perhaps could have lived if they'd been willing to work with us. I let them know a thing is handled and now they're coming to investigate it? I could have investigated this thing with Victoria. And that's all fine, really.
"But they cannot get out of town fast enough, most likely. Unless they turn out to be like Trent or Marcellus. Which could be, but it isn't likely."
He sighs. "And I could probably send my mother to Ramon. He could probably help her, actually. But...I won't. There are plenty of people who need help. That ask for it. He already tears himself apart being enough for the ones that find him on their own. I'm not making her his problem. He does enough for me." That they should have a wine glass orchestra gets a faint smile, but no more. Someone is not in a particularly smiley mood, apparently.
Alexander Brandt“You know, the more I hear about the Order the less likely I am to want to join. They miss one of their own going nuts and want to investigate what went on here? Oh, please.
“I guess that means that they’re going to want to talk to the rest of us, then? At least, if they’re wanting to investigate what happen, I assume they’re going to want to talk to us. Maybe even hope they do want to? Because if they don’t, then it’s going to be a very unbalanced piece of work. Best hope they bring a comfortable drum to sit on.”
“I never met Trent or Marcellus. I assume that means that they’re not exactly stereotypical members of the Order then? Tell me about them?” They may not be smiley material either, but hopefully they will at least be better memories than the thoughts of what will be arriving on their door in the not too distant future.
Kalen Holliday"Trent was here for awhile. He was...also kind of a fate Mage. Formal, but very friendly." Kalen does smile now, sudden and real. "Just after that whole coma business he came to see me and I hugged him, which he did not see coming, and after the five seconds it took him to process what was happening, he just says, super gently, 'Mr. Holliday. Are you quite alright?' I used to go hang out in his office at the campus and he'd close the door and we'd have coffee or whiskey or both and talk philosophy. He's cool."
Kalen sighs. "Marcellus...Marcellus was my mentor. He was very...think Camelot. Sort epic quests for a better world and the Round Table and noble and just rulers of men. That's what he wanted for the world. Not...so much the king part, but the qualities that got got ascribed to that king being a real part of how the world was governed.
"It's what he wanted the Order to be again. And he was...he was old. Not, like fragile, old. But old like some of us who stop aging and live for centuries. He knew a lot, he'd done a lot. He had influence and respect and...he could have made it happen. He should have. And he could have, Alce.
"I told him. I told him that if I left the things I saw wouldn't happen. All he had to do was let me go. He didn't. He told me that we would take of our future. That we would prepare. And that no circumstances was his apprentice going out into the world to be hunted alone. He was the first person who ever stayed when it was really hard. Until he died for that, with...everyone else.
"That's who he was, Alce. Strong and wise and impossible. He's the best person I've ever known. I stayed because I can see what he did in the Order. I want to make that happen. And so, whether I'm furious or not, I need to not fuck it up with whoever they send out here. Because the world deserves what we could be, and he deserves the apprentice he knew that I would be. Which is, yet, a great deal better than I am now."
Alexander Brandt“I wish I’d gotten the chance to know them. They sound like good men.” Alex pauses, watching Kalen with his book and his wine. “Like you are. You saw more of Wesley than any of us did. We were ready to write him off as another one of those things that the night would be better off without. But you? You saw the humanity that was still in him. He might still be dangerous and maybe best avoided, for all sorts of reasons. But he didn’t need to be destroyed because of what he’d become. Isn’t that what the Union does? Hunt and destroy us simply because of what we are?”
“You’re trying to offer something to all of the Awakened in the city, regardless of whether they know the secret handshake or not. Because it’s right. You stand up to the bad things in this world. Because it’s right. You want to improve the Order and make it into what it could – should – be. Because it’s the right thing to do.”
Alex shrugs again. “I could be wrong, but I get the feeling that you’re exactly the sort of person that Marcellus wanted you to be. You may not be perfect, but then who is? You’re still trying to do the right thing, though. And you’re still trying to be more.
“The Order might have its head stuck up its ass when it comes to looking at its members, but you really shouldn’t follow in that particular trait.”
Kalen Holliday"Well, Trent's still alive. You might meet him. And, if either of us could, you're probably the most likely to meet Marcellus. Though I have no cause to expect his spirit lingered. You meet whatever has become of his soul, another person or something more like the Message. I don't know. But suspect it will not be as a ghost."
Kalen listens to that assessment of himself and half smiles. "Alce. I also about tore about three of my closest friend's heads off for questioning me. And, despite the fact that it is irrational as all Hell, I'm still mad about it. And I know that that questioning was about something other than doubt, mostly. But it's still really hard for me. I'm proud and I'm stubborn and I'm only starting to get how to really be a person and not a weapon or a tool or the embodiment of duty for duty's sake.
"If for no reason other than that not avoiding him puts him in more danger I likely won't see much of Wesley." He takes a breath. "And...you should be careful if you go back there. I've seen no sign he plans to hurt us but I know from something Iris wanted that he's probably more dangerous than I first thought, and I did think he was dangerous. Just not to me, or to us. But I don't think he needs to be killed for being dangerous any more than tigers do. There are far worse things out there. And, more likely than not, if he comes across those things and it is within his power he will stop them." Kalen sighs. "And, as ridiculous as it is, he gave me an excuse to be human. I spent a few days reading poetry, and I danced this ridiculous old Jazz era dance, and I left cute messages. And I let myself feel what that was like, because for it to be convincing I had to. I signed up for dance classes and photography classes and I'm still taking them. I...I am not dating a vampire. But he reminded me that I was more than a war, and even if I never talk to him again, that's really something."
He laughs, and this is lighter. "And I will be nice. I do hope that we get a good presence. It isn't beyond the bounds of possibility certainly." He smiles. "Anyway, how are you? You spent awhile killing those poor paper targets. Everything alright?"
Alexander Brandt“You could learn to see him yourself, you know. I’d offer to teach you, but I honestly have no idea why what I do does what it does any more than why Enochian makes things happen for you. Is Spirit not widely studied by you guys?” The Order. Flambeau. Take your pick. “And who the hell knows, you might meet him again on this side of the Gauntlet. Just because some spirits sleep away eternity in that river doesn’t mean that they all do. The idea of reincarnation must have come from somewhere, right? It can’t have just been a way to help with the fear of death if there were more people able to look through and see, even more if there were more people doing it with less trouble than we do now. So who knows.”
Alex lobs a cushion at Kalen, laughing. “Oh, I never said you were perfect. You’ve got as much matched baggage to tow around as anyone else. And I think the people you didn’t quite decapitate will be ok, maybe with a bit of time. I’d guess that they didn’t understand why you were getting mad when they thought you were doing something stupidly dangerous. I imagine you’d be doing something very similar if I’d decided to go shoot pool and get a burger with one of Victoria’s pack. Take it as a sign of how much they’d really prefer not to lose you. And... I won’t be going back there. There are better places to find ice cream anyway.”
“You told me, not so long ago, that one of the reasons you didn’t use magic for the mundane stuff was because it cut you off. It sounds like he helped you find a way to get back in touch with what us... I was about to say ‘us poor mortals’, but I guess that’s not entirely accurate is it. I get it, though.”
He gives an exaggerated sigh before smiling. “Oh, well, I guess I can behave myself when they arrive. I might even leave the part when I tell them to fuck off until after they do something to show how poor and unfortunate us orphans are.”
“And I’m doing ok. That was just practice. I’d not been doing as much as I should lately, so wanted to spend some time brushing up. Glad the vampire thing seems to have reached a less precarious balance, even if there is no real guarantee that the new guys in town won’t end up just as bad as the last lot. Or someone worse moves in. But that’s trouble for another time. Is there still a plan to head in and try to guide the dead on their way to the rivermen? Otherwise... I can’t remember if I told you. I bumped into Arionna again. She’s not entirely awful once she puts the barbs away for a minute. I warned her about our fanged friends, anyway. If anyone, she’s probably most likely to go back to the book store. But that’s her choice.”
There’s a sudden grin as Alex remembers something. He fishes around in a pocket for a lighter, flicking it open and holding his hand over the flame. “Oh, and I learnt a new trick.”
[Arete, sensing heat. TN4. WP, because botching and setting fire to the library would be bad]
Dice: 1 d10 TN4 (8) ( success x 2 ) [WP]
Kalen Holliday[Can I see what you are doing?]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (5, 7) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Kalen Holliday"I think that Arionna may become something like Victoria. I spent...a considerable amount of time trying and...I don't think she trusts or cares enough about other people to see an issue with power having costs to them. She's not evil but I doubt she has much to-"
His head tilts and he watches Alexander with the lighter, then murmurs softly. Alien. Angelic. Reverent. And then he smiles.
"So you did. I might be able to help you with it. Though, actually, I think Grace might also be able to, and better than I can. I can work surprisingly well with other Magi, but...at some point I start talking about Angels and people start rolling their eyes. It can still work, but it isn't the easiest of things to translate all the time.
"How does it work for you? You must focus somehow. What do you do? What do you see?"
Alexander BrandtThere’s a sigh. “I can see what you mean. But then I can see that she might have come from a background where it’s better to stick a knife in before the other guy does, even if they don’t intend to attack. So she isolates herself. I don’t know what brought her here, we didn’t get onto that, but she’s in a new city with, as far as I know, no friends. Nobody to tell her when she’s becoming a monster.” He sighs again, deeper this time. “I don’t know. I’m not planning on giving her the grand tour of the Chantry any time soon, but I’m going to try to be a friend if she wants one. That’s got to be better than shooting her if she does turn into Victoria.”
The flame of the lighter flares into life, distorting the air between it and Alexander’s hand with a heat haze. His hand hovers over it – close enough to feel the heat, but not so close as to burn himself.
“I don’t quite get Grace’s way of doing things. I get the idea behind it, but it doesn’t really work for me. I guess I just don’t believe that we’re all data that can be fiddled with and rewritten on a whim any more than I believe that some deity or other click its fingers and everything came into existence. I mean, who created the system running the data? Or the deity that sparked this all off in the first place? Neither feel right when you ask where we all came from, and I’ve never had much of a problem admitting that I don’t know stuff. I don’t know how the world started. ”
Alex leans more against the back of the couch, looking at the flame as it flickers. “I don’t really know how it works. I... this is going to sound so corny. I had a dream. There was a voice in a storm again and I think it was trying to tell me something. I woke up just as I think I was about to hear the words, and it was like I’d remembered something. I felt the heat from a fire and it just felt like I should be able to see more of the world than I could before. Almost like that first day when everything seemed so much more... real, I guess. Does any of that make sense?
“Anyway, I’ve figured out that I can sense more of things that I’m already feeling. Like the heat off this flame, or the energy in the wind.” He looks away from the flame and back to Kalen. “So I can see the heat radiating off you, the warm and cold parts where your clothes are insulating you.” He flicks the lighter closed. “Still not a clue about why what I do works, though. It just does.”
Kalen Holliday"I tried that being there thing, and it went...very badly. And I know that that isn't inevitable, I was practically that bad before Kharisma and Jack and Marcellus. I had to learn to trust, and it took years and it wasn't easy. As you may note, taming me is yet a work in progress. I am not without any hope for her. But Kharisma and Jack...she was always very gifted with both people and mind magic and they met me when I was incredibly vulnerable only moments after my Awakening when I found out that monsters were real. Perhaps there will come a time when she needs our help enough to let us close to her. I have plenty of empathy for the place that she is, because I have been there. And if I seem like I have little hope, it is only because I appreciate how difficult it is to be dragged away from that place."
"Grace and I both see the universe in a pattern of underlying symbols, and in that we are surprisingly alike. Considering." He finishes his glass of wine, sets it gently on the table, and does not bother to refill it.
"Hmmmmmm...that makes sense considering what you are. I mean that with absolutely no disrespect. It's that you are without a Tradition, so you are, in many ways, without someone to insist that you must have formal symbols. There is a wide range to how formal magic is seen to be, I'm actually incredibly informal for the Order because of training with an Ecstatic initially. You...you are working with your Avatar. Intimately and without any moderating influences. It makes sense that to you there would not need to be more than the world. Our Traditions certainly do strengthen us, but they also bind us. There are advantages to doing it the way you do. It is not for me. But you're not doing it wrong."
