Danny
*Luckily for the world at large, it was still warm during the day, well low 70s is warm isn't it? It's probably why he was sat in the outside of a restaurant at a table with a book in one hand and a glass resting on his leg being held by the other. He had on his usual oakley shades, was dressed in a white shirt with the sleeves rolled back, a black waistcoat (vest to you american types) and for a change to mix things up a bit, he also had on a pair of dark grey faded black skinny jeans. From the left hip of which a chain could be seen one ankle rested on the top of his other knee as he read, on his feet though were a pair of thongs.*
Jennifer
*A girl with long brown hair and a white shirt and white pants looks around seemingly lost. Her eyes are wide trying to take everything in.*
Danny
(For thong, see flip flops)
Danny
(How aware is he today?)
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 4, 5, 8) ( success x 1 )
Hannah
She kept to the light areas. Whether the sun was sinking down or not, she kept to the light. The shadows, and the dark were not welcoming places. Her sneakers pressing into the sidewalk as she made her way through the people. "No I don't think that's what he meant." She said, her head tucked down a little as she walked. "I don't think he meant that the -" She went quiet. "Oh."
Hannah hugged her messenger bag against her hip, lifting her gaze up a little to see where she was going. The girl wore a dark skirt with a pair of blue stockings and a thin hoodie over a green shirt. A light green scarf was wrapped around her neck.
Danny
*Something almost on the edge of his reasoning alerted him. She. He lifted his head from the book he had in his hand and began to slowly take in the drifts of those around him. Just a casual interest on first appearances.*
Jennifer
*Perhaps it was Jennifer's purity that stood out from everyone else around her?*
Hannah
"Oh..." She nodded her head softly. "I see it." Hannah lifted her head a little to look at the door of the restaurant. Danny's presence hadn't been noticed yet, nor Jennifer. It was only within the last few feet that she seemd to realize Danny was even partly nearby. Hannah came to a stop. A dead stop, no matter who was behind or in front of her. She let her eyes slide towards him, using her hair to keep her vision partly blocked.
Jennifer
*Jennifer takes out a bag with something in it. Is that a phone?*
Danny
*Purity... He blinked from behind those shades, tilting his head a little as he did so, seeing Jennifer he paused, paid attention, then moved his gaze on to see someone else. Flickering, the pair of them were both new, both something he'd find unexpected to say the least.*
Jennifer
*Jennifer
Jennifer
*Jennifer is poking awkwardly at the bag and looking confused.* "Where is that googlemap website?!"
SerafÃne
Perception + Awareness.
Dice: 7 d10 TN5 (1, 4, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 5 )
Hannah
One. Two. Three steps to her left, away from Danny. Then a circle, half, just around towards the door. Not having Victor with her made this even more difficult.
Even at the door, she gave Danny a side look. She reached for the handle, moving her gaze towards it as someone decided they were going to come from the other side. With a small noise, Hannah scurried three steps to the left to avoid them. Her hands gripped the bag strap.
Danny
*And his eyes met with Hannah's, just a pleasant smile on his face as he began to watch her, then they moved to Jennifer, then back to Hannah, his drink was lifted lazily to his lips, he took a small drink from it, there were bubbles in it that broke the surface with tiny bursts of sensation on his tongue, then it lowered again with a soft clink of ice melting on top.*
SerafÃne
"You lost?" There's a stranger who just got out of a cab a few feet from Jennifer, lighting a cigarette. Striking thing, with dark eyes rimmed in dark mark-up and a half-shaven head. Blonde curls, deliberately dark roots in waves halo the rest of her head all golden.
The cigarette has a spicy-sweet scent to it and dark blue paper. Something direct about her gaze, more direct than the rest of the strangers on the street who are deliberately avoiding contact with Jennifer, who looks both innocent and lost. Like most, they don't want to get involved.
Sera though. Oh Sera.
There is something about her. The way she bends the world.
Jennifer
*Jennifer looks up from the phone in a bag startled* "umm. yes. I cannot get my googlemap website to work. I need to figure out how to get to the Library from here."
Hannah
She dropped her eyes quickly, shifting her weight a little from one foot to the other. Once the door was clear, She ushered herself in quickly. The inside wasn't exactly an escape plan, as there were plenty of people there as well, but it was an escape plan from him...for the moment.
But now everyone was looking at her. Or at least, it felt that way. Hannah stepped towards the counter slowly, shifting the weight of the bag. "Um..a coffee. please. To go." It was the hardest thing to do, to order something to drink. "No milk. No.. no milk." Her head shook slowly. "Please."
Danny
*He raised one eyebrow, watching the quirky one go off into the building, then turned his attention back to Jennifer, ahhh... Sera had found her... that made him smile a little, almost a bit too much to be honest. So he swallowed it and rose from his seat to head over towards them, leaving his drink for a moment on the table. Probably not the wisest of things for him to do, but he did it anyhow and stood just on the periphery of their pairing, upnodding to Sera as he did.*
SerafÃne
"I'm shit with phones, man."
Still that direct look, which is broken just once as she turns her golden head to catch the movement of Danny's upnod in her periphery. And perhaps to follow/feel the flicker of Hannah's resonance as the other young woman heads inside, up to the counter.
There's a note of interest in her eyes, though. For all the profanity, a note of concern, slightly banked, attenuated somehow, wrapped up in her skin.
"What do you need at the library?"
Hannah
Coffee. It's all she needed. She was content with soymilk, even if it wasn't her preference, and plenty of sugar. Hannah wrapped her hands comfortingly around the cup and made her way out slowly, dodging to either side as people slipped in, and waiting, trying her best to hide in a little spot and yet...failing.
When she finally made it out of the building, she paused, taking in deep breaths. Light was fading and she was confined mostly to the street lights, and the lights from the buildings. This made her move a little, doing her best to avoid even the smallest of shadows.
Jennifer
" I was going to meet a friend there later." her voice is clear, but also quiet as if she is afraid of something about to get her.
Danny
*There was nothing here to be afraid of, well, that was partly true... if only because the biggest thing to be afraid of right now was fear itself. But wasn't it written some place that the only thing to fear, was fear itself, and it's the wise man that knows his fear.
He frowned just a little then turned partially to glance at Hannah, then to his table.* Come and sit down, I'm good with phones.
Jennifer
"oh, okay. can you teach me to use googlemaps website?"
*One would think she would say the Google Map app, but it was clear she was running it together and calling it a website*
Jennifer tentatively went closer to the table and handed over the bag with the phone. Upon closer inspection Danny could clearly see it was not just a ziplock bag, but some kind of bag a scientist or doctor might use to block radiation
Danny
That depends... *He eyed that bag with suspicion.* I'm not going to end up with radioactive... things... am I? *He didn't get much closer, just went back to his seat to sit down, putting his right foot onto his left knee again, what looked like musical notes had been tattooed onto the top of his right foot, perhaps that would explain the flipflops he wore.
His hand came out, waiting for the phone to be presented to him.*
Jennifer
Jennifer cocked her head to the side and looked a bit confused. "This is to keep you safer. If you use phones all the time it gives off radiation." She blushed "I was raised not being allowed to have a phone because it might hurt my brain development..... I haven't quite gotten over the teachings I guess. So that keeps me from getting any trace radiation or anything else from the phone that would normally come from it. So my phone is the safest one!"
Danny
*Well that got a reaction from Danny... Firstly, his eyebrows rose up slowly. Then one hand rose to run through those long dark tresses and then he tilted his head to study the girl. Then his hand moved down to his shades, to pull them down his nose slightly, he tilted his head again to peer at Jennifer over the tops of them levelly, there was the trace of a smile on his face as she finished going on about background radiation and phone signals, then not being allowed to grow up with such things... When he'd listened, she'd finished he lifted his head again and pushed his shades back up his nose.*
You're shitting me... right?
SerafÃne
Sera flashes a half-lashed glance at Danny as he speaks up and remarks upon his expertise with phones. Then that look slides back to Jennifer, as if she were drawing a line between them. The tension between Jennifer's evident fear and innocence and her equally evident and immediate trust of complete and utter strangers ticks some half-open box somewhere inside Sera's head. The weirdness about Google Maps ticks nothing, though. It is absolutely nothing she herself would notice. There are times she's been too fucked up to remember how to use her iPhone.
--
But, for now, she sort of ambles over toward Danny as if she were - you know - ushering Jennifer. Keeping an eye on her, even as her attention is snagged, pulled out, drawn down the street again by Hannah's flickering resonance.
And Sera, like Danny, is impossible to ignore - it's not just her sharp features, the half-shaved head, the extraordinary eyes - it's the way she's dressed. Which has nothing to do with the current style and everything to do with her own: a black, French lace bra beneath an unbuttoned flannel over tiny leather skirt that barely covers her ass and seems to be made of safety pins and leather and nothing else. Fishnets, with visible garters, torn, naturally, and spike-heeled Giuseppe Zanotti shoes, with silver serpents just crawling up heels.
Ink visible on her arms, on her hands, the strangest assortment of random jewelry, and on and on.
Sera overhears Jennifer's explanation regarding the phone, and mutters,
"Oh my fuck."
beneath her breath.
Breathes out a cloud of smoke.
"I went to Catholic boarding school and not even the nuns were that batty."
Hannah
It's the warmth that makes her feel at ease, even in a place where people come and go so easily. They're flashes in her vision. Movement from one side to the other. Feet, voices, all moving as individual units, and yet becoming one. Too much noise, too much movement. Hannah finds a seat and she plops right down in it, trying to breath slowly.
Her knees press against one another as she tries to take up as little space as possible, and yet remains visible to all. "I know." Her voice came in a whisper. "I know it is. But...but I'm scared." There's a beat as Hannah hangs her head, her long hair sliding around her face. Then she nods softly. "Ok."
The coffee is set on the pavement at her feet.
Jennifer
" I was raised in the mountains. It was just a few families and my mom was like a mayor and my dad was the preacher. I know I'm not like everyone around here. That is why I'm meeting my friend at the Library. He said he would help me out."
She allows Sera to lead her towards Danny. She needs someone to help with her phone so she can meet Elijah.
Jennifer
Percept + Aware
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Danny
Okay Princess. *he nods soothing his voice down to a comforting sound, not understanding in the slightest, but it took all sorts to make the world work.* Let me see. *he holds his hand out again for the phone.*
Jennifer
As Jennifer hands Danny the phone she glances over and sees a girl trying to make a waif of herself. This girl seemed more afraid than she was. Jennifer felt bad for the girl and wondered how she could help her.
Danny
*He looked at the phone, then nodded and went to work on it.* Ahh okay, pretty basic when you come right down to it. Okay...
*He pulled up the wifi and opened that up to log into the roaming networks that were around and free.* Firstly, you see this? *he turns the screen back to her.* This allows you to connect to the internet. If you don't have this symbol up on the screen at the top here? No hapla anglais. It don't work. *Then he turned the phone back to himself again and began to bring up google, then showed it up to her.* Google. The almighty search engine for funny videos of cats to all manner of erm... information...
*he glanced at Sera for a moment, then his eyes flashed to Hannah, then back to Sera. Then he spoke to Jennifer again.* You need to forget about google maps though, if you go into your menu bar, you can see this icon. *he tapped the map..* This'll show you where you are, then if you type in the zip code of where you want to go, it'll direct you. Give it go? Go on, it won't bite you none.
SerafÃne
There's this subtle flash from Sera. The briefest lilt upwards as Danny meets her eyes. The cigarette is less than half-finished but she stubs it out in a convenient ashtray and exhales another breath of spicy smoke.
More or less meeting Danny's gaze over Jennifer's head.
"Might want to find out a bit about her friend, too."
Jennifer didn't seem like the sort who should be out wandering alone in this world.
--
Then Sera turnss, pivots on those ridiculous shoes. And she's not the sort you'd expect to see talking to street people but the truth is Sera talks to all kinds. Down near the Church of the Good Shepherd the abuelitas all think that she is a prostitute trying to seduce their beloved priest. That is: well, not really precisely half-true, but comes close to some distorted mirror image of the truth.
So, Hannah, bunched up on the sidewalk, sparking, muttering to herself, wary as all hell, whom strangers are avoiding because who knows what the fuck someone talking to herself might do - what she might fling, what she might mean to them, what it might cost them to acknowledge her humanity - there she is.
Serafíne just ambles right up to her. Not too close, mind, but close enough to reach out and pick up the coffee cup and set it down again, closer to the girl.
More out of the ordinary path of foot traffic.
"Hey." Half-humming beneath her breath, Sera. "You okay?"
Jennifer
Jennifer finger pecked at the keyboard and typed in Denver Library. She then looked critically at the screen and pushed the enter button. The map zoomed out and she saw the path to the Library.
"YAY! Thanks!!"
Kiara
For all the tentative, unsure steps into the unknown being made tonight, there's one step, or a set of such, that are anything but. In fact, they resound with a surprising degree of assurance as they round a corner, coming upon the scene.
Enter, stage right, perhaps?
The footsteps belong to a female. Tall (at least in her heels she's something teetering on it), with dark hair, loose around her face tonight, lips painted fire engine red and dramatic eye makeup. There's a bundle of flyers tucked under an arm and her jacket licks at the heel of her boots. They too, are red, but worn out, faded. The leather tenderized by constant wear. She passes by the Café, her footsteps slowing only briefly, before she carries on past it to a streetlight just beyond.
Gathers items out of a pocket and begins to tape something to it. She feels like the first gust of breeze after the storm; vital, full of earth and rain and the remnants of the storm. A myriad of bracelets rattle around her wrists as she works. Bites the length of tape with her teeth and affixes it with nothing short of satisfaction.
Up close the flyer is familiar. They've been appearing in recent days. REIKI HEALING, bold letters proclaim at the world and if a poster could arguably shout its praises to the heavens, this one likely would.
Danny
Yeah you're welcome Princess. *he nodded, then moved his foot and nudged out a chair.* You seem to be new... this your first time in the smokes? *He picked up his drink again to take a long sip of the fizzy bubbled clear liquid and set it back down again before reaching into his pocket to pull out a cigarette and a zippo, then casually runs it down his thigh to light it, then blazes up the end of the cigarette in his mouth, a puff of blue grey smoke comes out.* What's your name?
Jennifer
I have to get to bed.
Hannah
She begins to slide her hand in her messenger bag to pull out a small notebook anda green colored pencil. "I know." She said softly. "I forgot." Hannah, sitting in a place where there was at least light, began to draw in her green colored pencil, just as Sera made her way up. Hannah slipped her eyes to look at Sera's feet, then turned them quickly back to her notebook. She curled in tighter.
"Yes. Yes. If I make the color go, it'll be ok. If the light stays. It'll be ok." She lifted her head up slowly to give Sera a smile, even if she avoided her eyes.
Jennifer
"yeah, I just came down a few weeks ago. Look I don't want to be late for Elijah. I'll see you around I guess!"
Jennifer skirted away not knowing that Danny had lifted her phone number while he was helping her with her phone.
She waved and slipped into the crowd and off towards the Library.
Ian
[Awareness]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (4, 4, 4, 4, 8, 8) ( success x 2 )
SerafÃne
Serafíne is crouched, balancing on the most fucking incredible pair of studded black leather peep-toe booties, and truth, she has one hand braced on the sidewalk so she doesn't fall on her ass.
The fringe of her sidecut is canted toward Hannah. The rest of her hair shadows her sharp features.
She's still humming, and she's a little bit drunk and a little bit stoned and aware of things the way she is aware of things, with her skin-and-bones.
Her mouth is rather small and it is seamed now.
Thoughtful.
"Are you trying to get somewhere? Are you in trouble?"
Hannah
Hannah shook her head, hair tossing around her face as she did. "No. No place yet. I had to leave. They wanted a place of theirs. Victor couldn't come." She doodled nothing in particular, just lines for the moment, staring at the color on the paper. "Now the darkness makes it hard. If we want to go, the darkness is there. It's where they hide. Hard to dance in the light when the sun goes away,"
Hannah lifted her eyes again, never making eye contact. Her attention dropped to Sera's shoes and her drawing stopped. Her lips tightened. "Don't you hear them cry?"
Kiara
[Hm. Are we paying attention, Kiara?]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 6, 10) ( success x 2 )
Danny
*He nodded, watching Jennifer go, then turned his attention partially back to Sera and where Hannah could just about be seen with a soft shake of his head at how she managed to stay up on those damned heels.
How, well, it would be more difficult if she ate less like a sparrow he guessed, but with the cigarette taking his attention away periodically, he kept his eyes drifting along. Take a pull on the smoke, hold it for a few seconds, then let it go and let the smoke drift casually as he did so. Then take another pull on the smoke, rinse and repeat.
His eyes moved to pick up Kiara, tilting his head as he watched her hang up and bind some sign to a post, then back to Sera and Hannah for a short while.
Smoking, it was really that simple; inhale, hold it breath it out. His other hand reached for the drink again to take another sip.*
Ian
Sometimes one could go days wandering the city and not run into another Awakened will. Other times? It was like someone stuck a giant flashing beacon down on the street corner.
Ian was focused on his phone as he walked, so he didn't immediately sense the presence of the other mages up ahead. As he moved, he slid nimbly between passing pedestrians, not bothering to look up as he stepped out of the way. His index finger swiped quickly across the screen as he typed.
And then.
As he drew near the outdoor cafe, Ian stopped and looked up. His eyes searched the area and found faces he recognized (Sera, Danny) as well as some he did not. After a moment, he pocketed his phone. Sera looked as though she was occupied with the dark-haired girl on the sidewalk, while Danny was seated alone at one of the tables. Ian shot a lingering glance in Kiara's direction (she was something new and curious) as he walked up to Danny's table.
"Busy night," he commented dryly.
Danny
Its becoming that way. *He nods and finally it was getting dark enough to remove the shades, so he did the next best thing, he slide them up into his hair on top of his head.* How's it going. *he stubbed out the cigarette onto the ashtray and looked at the guy.*
SerafÃne
This noise in the back of her throat, a quiet hum. Sera is - well - wobbling somewhat but still steady beneath it. Her mouth curls into this half-edged smile though, because she has diagnosed, absolutely diagnosed, Hannah's problem.
"I think you're having a bad trip. You'll be okay, though."
--
The vibrant edge of her magic in the air, wreathing around her. That humming noise again.
--
"I gotta go, though. Promised Dan I'd meet him and he'll get worried if I don't show up."
Kiara
It's a delicate thing sometimes, playing coy to the world when the world is speaking right back to you. Kiara, for her part, feels her brows knit in, what would it be -- consternation, consideration -- her eyes journeying away from her task across the street, flitting, feeling with as much focus as as she can before she resumes her task, pressing her flyer firmly to the cool surface of the street light before stepping back to admire her work.
She rolls her shoulders, tilts her neck to one side, then another and after a beat turns and walks directly toward the table with the assembled awakened. Toward, and, after catching the eye of perhaps all at least in passing with a suggestive little smile banking there in the corner of her mouth passes by them and sweeps toward the counter.
There's a hint of something vaguely like intense that follows her; it's hard to put a finger on exactly. Like spices and flowers, left to their own devices for days. Decay and reformation, perhaps.
SerafÃne
And: Sera hails a cab. Maybe the same one she just climbed out of. She has somewhere to be.
Kiara
[God, typo city tonight. Ahem. Incense, we can spell.]
Danny
(Sends the typo fairy to Kiara.)
Hannah
She use to having someone look at her strangely. She's use to people passing off what she says. It's because she thinks differently, Maria use to say to her. It's hard for others to really understand. So she tries. Her lips curl into a small smile as she looks towards Sera's face, and yet still never fully. It's only when Sera leaves that Hanna reaches for her cup of coffee again, pressing her hands around it.
Yes. She felt better.
The notebook was closed, the pencil still in it, and Hannah stuffed it in her bag. Hannah pushed to her feet, feeling better about where she was, and slipped her bag at her hip. When she picked up her coffee again, between both hands and pressed against her chest, she started to walk.
It was only when a light flickered, by a passing car or just circumstance that she added a small jump and a little speed to her feet, enough to move her into a more reliable light source, and nearer to the restaurant.
Ian
Ian wore the same leather jacket that Danny had seen him in previously: black lambskin with a turned up collar and zippers on the sleeves. The shirt underneath was a simple white t-shirt, and his jeans were dark blue (almost black) - skinny with a tapered leg. On his feet he wore black dress boots.
His posture was still, but alert. Like a tiger surveying the landscape. He looked as though he hadn't yet decided whether he wanted to remain there or continue on his way. Danny stubbed out his cigarette, and Ian turned his nose away from the curl of smoke that rose up beside him.
How's it going? The musician asked. He had a new tattoo. Ian glanced at it. "Could be worse, all things considered." He slid the tip of his finger along the edge of the table and tapped once, lightly. "Mind if I sit?"
Danny
By all means. *He nods to the pushed out chair.* It's a free enough country... *Then his attention was drawn back to the little thing that'd sat huddled by herself til Sera had gone over, the soft curl of a smile coming to his lips as he picked up his drink again and spoke quietly but calmly in that smooth voice of his.* Incoming. Don't look. You'll spook her.
Hannah
She at least feels less anxious as she had before. The lady, whose name she didn't know as of yet, had somehow made that sort of thing happen, despite her shoes. Hannah pulled her coffee cup closer to her as she approached the men. Lovely men, with sparkling appearances. She squinted her eyes as if they were too bright to glance at, then dropped her vision to the ground.
Her feet shifted and she stepped further into the light, pausing several feet from Danny and the table. Hannah thrust out her cup of coffee. "Put your words? For a girl?"
Ian
Ian wasn't exactly the sort of person one would consider ideal for welcoming new mages to the city (or to Awakened life in general.) Like Sera, his resonance was sharp-edged. Colder, perhaps. More controlled (Elegant.) And there was a predatory nature lurking beneath it: animal, primordial and feline. Even the bones of his face seemed catlike.
Ian was human. He had human skin. A human heart. But he was marked by something that wasn't. Something that lived within him. And it was impossible not to notice. So when Danny warned him not to spook the girl, Ian just smirked and pulled out a chair. He sat down and leaned back, letting his dark eyes come to rest on Hannah.
She held out her cup, and Ian tipped his head a fraction to the side, as though in question. He waited for her to elaborate.
Danny
*He took the cup and then reached into a pocket to pull out a pen, then frowned thinking about it as he looked at Hannah, then he smiled and it was a kind one, his left hand held the pen while he carefully held the cup in his right and nodded after another moments thought.*
Be a red light forever. Drothe x
*Simple enough words that he wrote down then signed it and put a kiss at the end.* That okay for you? *He held the cup back for Hannah and nodded to the other chair at the table.* If you want to sit down, it's okay. It's more comfortable than the floor.
Kiara
Kiara, on the other hand didn't feel quite so sharp edged. Her resonance was a subtler thing, a gradual degradation and decay, rebuilt with a startling sense of rebirth, the ebb and flow of life. The final gasp, or the first. She approaches again with the click of heavy boots and stands, a solid presence by Ian's elbow.
"Room for another, boys?"
A warm voice asks. Pauses and then flicks over Hannah. "And girls." There's a hint of laughter buried in there.
Hannah
She cast a quick glance to Ian, keeping him within her field of vision, but putting more space between her and Ian and she and Danny. When he took the cup, she pulled her hands back in, holding one in the other as she waited.
Danny had good intentions, certainly, but when Hannah reached for it, and bothered to look at what he had written, she coiled her hands back quickly and shook her head. "No. No. Not that color. " She won't touch it now. "I can't. No no no. It's wrong."
Hannah shifts to the side as Kiara approaches, casting her eyes back to her, then down to the ground. "I'll have to get another."
Ian
Ian didn't make any motion to follow along in Danny's suit. Whatever the girl was looking for, she'd have to fish a little harder if she wanted it from him.
And then Kiara was there, asking if there was room for another, and Ian glanced up at her with a curling smile and said, "It's not my table, but I suspect there is." He let his gaze linger on her for a moment, then leaned back and reached out an arm to snag one of the empty chairs at the next table. He pulled it over and set it down between his chair and Danny's.
Apparently he could be accommodating when it suited him. He didn't say anything to Hannah, but he shot her another glance, and that smile he'd offered to Kiara still lingered.
Danny
*Wrong colour? He didn't say the words out loud but her outburst clearly startled him for a moment, then he pursed his lips in thought for a little longer, finally asking.* The pen or the colour in the words? If you want another cup that's fine, perhaps if we put this in a bag or something you could give it to someone else?
*His eyes flickered to take in Kiara's entrance and he nodded to her.*
Sure, take a seat. It's all good. Everything's copasetic. Go
Danny
(Ignore the go)
Kiara
Kiara's eyes haunt Hannah for a moment, curious perhaps. Her smile lingers, then grows when Ian presents a chair for her taking. A set of dimples flash into life in each cheek in a beguiling manner and she settles herself -- and her flyers -- comfortably between the two strangers as if they'd been pals for months. Or maybe years.
She sets her coffee cup atop her papers to prevent the sly wind from stealing a few and jiggles off her coat; a myriad of bracelets on her wrists contribute to this in a quiet jangling rhythm. "So," there's a beat where she's adjusting her shirt and then she's crossing her legs and beginning with -- "I'm Kiara. Woolfe." She flashes teeth, perhaps that's deliberate.
"Who do I have the pleasure of usurping the table of," a side long gleam at Ian with his sharp edged presence, eyes dancing. To Danny, then. "Yours, perhaps?"
Hannah
"Words." She said, closing her eyes a moment in concentration. "The. word. is wrong. It speaks wrong colors. Color of things that suffer." She stiffened, shaking her head as Drothe recommended even putting it in a bag. "No!" She flexed her fingers at her chest, then curled them up again. "Wrong. I can't. Cries in warmth now. I hear it cry. I can't." It's always the hardest part, just talking. But she's doing better than she use to. She can sometimes make sense, if she tries.
Ian
Kiara offered her name, and Ian offered his own in return, offering a hand to her with a relaxed gesture. "Ian."
Almost, he said more, but then Hannah resumed speaking, and Ian grew silent. He looked at her with a serious cast to his eyes. Less aloof than he had been.
"Red is the color of blood. Blood is life. Birth. Sex. Pain, yes, but also joy. Pleasure. Power. Creation. You can't box it into a simple category like that."
Danny
*He nodded with another smile.* Yeah, Danny. *Again he lifted that glass that was now half full and took another sip just in time to have Hannah almost go into that hyper state of anguish.* Uh.... *He blinked a bit and frowned then something seemed to just twig.* Ahhhh.. * he said it like he had a light bulb moment all of his own. His other hand came up in a placating gesture, but he didn't try to touch Hannah.*
Okay, It's fine... Look, I'll take the cup away with me, you won't need to see it again. Do you have some paper or something instead? *He knew she did, she'd had it when she was talking to Sera. Looking at Hannah frankly made his heart hurt, some people were just too fragile for their own sanity.
Then he brought a brief smile to bear for Kiara.* Yeah, but it's okay. I mean, it's not like I don't like the company. So what do you do Kiara? *He leaned slightly to see the fliers she had.*
Kiara
She takes his hand, closes her fingers around it for a minute. There's a rather impressive ring dominating her middle finger, silver and blue. The press of the metal a shock of cool amidst the relative heat of the exchange. She releases his hand when Hannah begins to babble about the color.
Kiara's attention is rapt on the girl. She makes some subvocal noise after Ian speaks of the interpretations and inclinations of the color. It's no coincidence perhaps, that its the exact color of her lipstick. She picks her coffee up, mouth at the brim and takes a sip. Sets it back.
"I've always liked it myself. It's potent." She liberates a flyer after that, passes it over to Danny. "I'm a healer, of sorts." There's a flash of something there, a smile, a suggestion of mirth. "My friend and I, we're both healers. Energy work. Crystals." The bracelets on her wrists jingle and flash. There's some with stones, some silver. Tiny adornments shiver and move on another. "Yadda. So if you feel like rejuvenating your soul," she laughs, palms her coffee.
"Make an appointment. I'm also a trained massage therapist so, I'm not a crack." Her eyebrow rises. "Not just, at any rate."
Hannah
She shook her head vigorously, sending her brown hair tossing. "No. No no no. I hear them cry. They cry. Cry all the time." She lifted her hands to put them towards her ears. "I don't want to hear them." She tightened her hands at her ears. "Stop making fun of me. "
Her hands slid from her ears, one sliding to her mouth, pressing there with her fingertips as she looked towards Danny. Hannah nodded slowly and reached into her bag for her notebook, handing it to him, the green pencil sliding out from between its pages.
There's a flash, a sparkle, and Hannah shifts her gaze towards Kiara and down to her bracelet. She doesn't think, merely leans over to fondle the stones and silver of it.
Danny
*Taking the flier he nods, turning it to actually read it then nods again, but still he was distracted by Hannah and Ian as well, interested in seeing how this conversation was going to round itself out. Who would back down first, who would be the first to crack? Then he turned his attention to Kiara, was about to speak when Hannah spoke again.* Easy.... easy.... *he kept his voice calm and smooth. Then he took the pencil and the pad of paper, another smile coming into place as he settled it onto his leg briefly then his eyes went to the middle distance of thought.*
Be happy, settle for nothing less than the best. Enjoy life, enjoy love. Simply, Be...
*Then he paused, thinking then wrote again.*
Drothe x
*And this time he simpy ended it with a few musical notes, just two a blend of a harmony. Then he passed the pad back to Hannah for her to decide over and turned his attention back to Kiara.* Do you do hot stone massage?
Ian
One couldn't argue their way past mental illness. Ian knew that. And for what it was worth, his tone hadn't been condescending when he'd spoken to Hannah, even if the words were probably less than helpful. She shook her head, and he let it go. Left her to Danny, who seemed to have a greater capacity for gentleness than he did - at least towards strangers.
Kiara handed a flyer to Danny, introducing herself as a healer (of sorts.) Ian glanced at the flyer. His expression shifted subtly when he read it.
"Don't think my soul is in any particular need of rejuvenation at the moment." There was a coolness to his tone that might have verged on disdain, though he at least had the courtesy to (mostly) keep it in check.
Kiara
Hannah reaches over, taken with one of her bracelets. The brunette glances down, then up, the corner of her mouth twitching. "You like that one, babe?" She unlatches it and lets Hannah examine it closer still. It's a mixture of crystals (mostly Amethyst by appearances) and silver baubles. Tiny glyphs and what could pass for a human, hands outstretched as if in supplication.
"I do Reiki, primarily. Though I could probably muster a little something." Ian's coolness snags her attention, she weighs his expression over her shoulder, eyes skimming him top to bottom. If there's judgement inherent in her for his response, she houses it fairly well. Though she does smile.
"Famous last words." She murmurs, meets his eyes and then turns back to the others.
Hannah
"Three." She said to Danny now, holding the bracelet in her hands as she rolled it over, taken with the glimmer of it. "The sun plays in it." Her lips curled into a warm smile. "When the sun plays, there is no darkness, and the monsters go away." She lets a small noise rise in her throat, one of delight.
Her eyes shift to Danny then and she points to the name. "Three. Give three. One is bad. Bad. Very bad. Unlucky. I don't want luck to take her. Not from me. She's nice. Three please."
Danny
*He snorted a small sound from his nose at Kiara's words after Ian's then settled a bit more watching Kiara and Hannah, curious as to how she'd react to the bracelet. Then his phone buzzed, again with a lightning riff of music that played through his jeans pocket. He shifted again in his seat and struggled with his phone briefly before he got it out and looked at it then took the call.*
Yeah? *there was a pause.* Oh, yeah.. I remember you, yeah... *he listened again to some words then nodded slightly, his eyes narrowing just a bit.*
Okay... whe.... Now? *his eyebrows shot up in surprise and he smiled.* Yeah, okay. I'll see you in a few.
*He hung up and looked around the table making ready to go. Then nodded to Hannah's words, reaching over to put another two kisses on the note, then slowly got to his feet.*
Sorry. I have to go interview a few musicians. *he smiles apologetically. Then looks to them all.* Tell a stranger they're beautiful, even if they're not to you, to someone else they're the sun, the moon and the stars.
*And with that cryptic message he was walking off with a wave of his hand.* (Sorry peeps, it's ultra late here. Or really really early. I need sleeps.)
Ian
Famous last words. Ian met Kiara's gaze, and for a moment it looked very much as though the two were sizing each other up. They were both students of Life. Both (seemingly) confident and attractive. Likely, they were both possessed of strong opinions. (Most members of the Awakened community were.)
Ian's cool expression melted into a soft grin, and maybe that was a challenge or maybe it was an acknowledgment of respect (maybe both.)
Kiara gave her bracelet to Hannah to play with, and it seemed to calm Hannah some. Danny, on the other hand, had to go. Ian watched him with a nod and said, "Later."
Although they might very well not run into each other again, but given the circles they moved in, it was likely that they would. When Danny was gone, Ian turned to Kiara and said, "I'm guessing you're pretty new to the city."
Danny
(going to have a smoke, then head off. Thanks for the scene, if you guys see my character in a room with anyone, please feel free to just join in?)
Kiara
(Thanks, surely will! Thanks for the scenage!)
Kiara
Danny had to leave and Kiara watches his departure with nothing less than open amusement, especially at his parting instruction. It's not every day that a relative stranger tells you to bless the masses with complimentary prose, after all. She salutes him as he goes and laughs, once.
Shaking her head as she reaches for her coffee and swirls it. "I like him, he's out there." Speaking of -- Hannah is toying with her bracelet and mentioning the sun chasing away the monsters. There's a touch of something considering, perhaps even sympathetic in the way Kiara watches her. She indicates the now vacant seat.
"Why don't you sit with us." She gestures at the bracelet. "You can hold onto that if you want. I have a few. Consider it protection, against the monsters. Amethyst will keep you calm." She smooths a line in the air with both her hands, lining them up. "Balances your chi." Then, turning to Ian she nods, her eyes lingering on Hannah another minute.
"You could say that. Moved in a few weeks ago. Had some interesting run ins so far." Her gaze resettles on him. "Denver's active, I'll give it that much."
Hannah
She has her words, and Hannah stuffs the notebook in her messenger bag, making certain it's nice and secure. To Danny's words, she gives a look of confusion. If someone isn't pretty, why would you tell them they are? That doesn't make sense. But he's off, and she's left with Kiara and Ian.
Hannah keeps a hold of the bracelet, smiling brightly at the gift. She turned, skipped a few steps and then came to a halt. "Sh! I forgot! I for-GOT. I'm sorry." She turned around to where she had been. Hannah dropped her head forward. "I'm to give words of thank you. " Hannah shakes her head again vigorously. "Words to learn. Many. " Besides, she gave a glance to Ian, and had kept her distance from him. "I hear their cries here. Don't want to hear their cries. It hurts. But I remember gift."
Ian
"It's pretty calm compared to the last place I lived. I guess perspective is relative." (To be fair, pretty much anywhere would seem calm compared to New York.)
Hannah kept her distance from him, which Ian didn't seem to take offense to. He watched the girl as she began to skip away, then turn back to offer Kiara thanks for the bracelet. It was a sweet picture, really. Ian didn't ruin it with an interruption. Instead he sat back and took in the exchange, watching Hannah like he was piecing her together in his head. After a long moment, he pushed back his chair and stood up.
"I hope your encounters continue to be interesting. In a good way." Ian smiled and pulled one of the flyers off the table. He folded it up and slid it into the inside pocket of his jacket. "Have a good evening." This he directed to both Kiara and Hannah. Then he set off down the street.
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