Ian
The weather out in Morrison was cool and slightly
cloudy. At the Chantry, Annie was out on a riding lawnmower, cutting
the grass in the front lawn. She glanced up when Ian's car wound up the
country road and pulled into the driveway, watching him with half of her
attention while she navigated the mower past the front steps. The sound
of the the engine was a loud, echoing buzz through the otherwise still
landscape.
When Ian got out of the car, he lifted a hand in
greeting. She acknowledged him with a nod, strawberry-blond hair
flickering around her in the breeze. She looked as if she'd been
landscaping most of the day. Her skin was tanned, her forehead beaded
with sweat despite the cool breeze. As Ian approached, she killed the
engine and leaned forward onto the steering wheel.
"There's some beer in the fridge, if you want it. Dogfish Head I think."
"I might. Thanks. You should join me."
"Mm, maybe when I'm done."
She started the engine up again, and Ian hopped up the steps to let himself inside.
ElijahHe had come with the explicit intent to read. Elijah had a thing
about libraries. A thing about burying himself in studying and feeling
the quiet, bookish rush when he found something he didn't know,
transcribed it somewhere personal for later. Quietly and neatly tucked
away for his private use. Elijah didn't know there would be people here.
He hadn't anticipated it, but then again he never really
anticipates seeing people. It just happens. Kind of like showing up at
parties and dancing and making bad choices with regards to women
happens. Elijah just kind of accepted that some things happened.
When
he pulls up, he notices a lady on a motor cycle. With strawberry blonde
hair, and he's getting off his motor cycle and putting his helmet away
and he gives a little wave.
"I haven't met you-" he says, but
realizes that he isn't being loud enough over the mower. He's wearing
jeans. Jeans and a shirt with three quarter sleeves that buttoned part
of the way. He has a vest on, but it's buttoned tight. Pocketwatch
nestled close against his ribcage.
"Hi, I'm Elijah!" he waved, "I've been using your crap-er-stuff! Do you need anything?"
SerafíneCoincidence,
something like it. Five minutes, maybe ten after Ian pulls up outside
the chantry another vehicle rattles up the driveway. This one is larger
and sketchier looking: an old conversion van with Colorado plates and a
handful of peeling bumper stickets affixed to the back doors. The
engine ticks quietly beneath the hood after the driver turns it off and
it sits there still for a long moment before both the driver's and
passenger's doors open. Dan hops out of the driver's side. Sera
sliiiiides down from the passenger's side, careful in her heels.
The
tall consor loops around to the back and opens one of the back doors to
grab a brown paper back from the back. Handles that bag with both
confidence (he asked them to double bag it) and care (that's top-shelf
liquor in there) and lifts a hand to wave to Annie as he circles 'round
to take Sera's arm. She doesn't really move until he's by her side,
seems absolutely enthralled by the way her toes wiggles.
Then
she takes this deepdeep breath and lifts face to the cool,
cloud-scattered sky. Is: absolutely still for one long moment,
marveling at its vastness and the way it makes her feel equally: immense
and immeasureably small, grateful to have blood running through her
veins, and - inexplicably, or perhaps not-so-inexplicably, briefly,
spine-curvingly sad. All of that, all at once, all liquid through her.
Then
she takes Dan's arm and cuddles close and then head in too. Why the
hell not: their might be waffles inside, or lilies of the valley, or
Ian, or whatever.
Serafíne(Repost: to fix typos AND paragraph breaks.)
Coincidence,
something like it. Five minutes, maybe ten after Ian pulls up outside
the chantry another vehicle rattles up the driveway. This one is larger
and sketchier looking: an old conversion van with Colorado plates and a
handful of peeling bumper stickers affixed to the back doors. The
engine ticks quietly beneath the hood after the driver turns it off and
it sits there still for a long moment before both the driver's and
passenger's doors open. Dan hops out of the driver's side. Sera
sliiiiides down from the passenger's side, careful in her heels.
The
tall consor loops around to the back and opens one of the back doors to
grab a brown paper back from the back. Handles that bag with both
confidence (he asked them to double bag it) and care (that's top-shelf
liquor in there) and lifts a hand to wave to Annie as he circles 'round
to take Sera's arm. She doesn't really move until he's by her side,
seems absolutely enthralled by the way her toes wiggle.
Then
she takes this deepdeep breath and lifts face to the cool,
cloud-scattered sky. Is: absolutely still for one long moment,
marveling at its vastness and the way it makes her feel equally: immense
and immeasurably small, grateful to have blood running through her
veins, and - inexplicably, or perhaps not-so-inexplicably, briefly,
spine-curvingly sad. All of that, all at once, all liquid through her.
Then
she takes Dan's arm and cuddles close and then head in too. Why the
hell not: there might be waffles inside, or lilies of the valley, or
Ian, or whatever.
Kalen HollidayKalen
also drives up to the chantry. He hasn't really spoken to...really
anyone who isn't living with him lately. And, even then, he's been gone
a lot. Tango lessons and photography lessons and actual tango dancing
and taking pictures, although never actually pictures of tango dancing.
Mostly pictures of nature, but sometimes streetscapes. Abandoned
places. Lost things.
He has a growing collection of pictures
of sunrise. Some of the prints are tucked into the pages of books of
poems in yet another place he can't bring himself to call home. A place
with vegetarian cookbooks and notes on brewing kombucha. He brings
echoes of that place with him though, echoes of something quieter and
calmer and traces of the smoke from clove cigarettes and sage.
Annie gets a nod, but little other greeting. Elijah gets a smile. And then Kalen heads into the house itself.
IanSera
and Dan got a wave from Annie, a little more relaxed (more familiar)
than she'd been with Ian. "You all decide to have a gathering I didn't
know about?" The pitch of her voice rose above the buzz of the engine as
the two made their way up to the house. The question didn't really seem
to require an answer, as evidenced by the fact that she redirected her
attention to Elijah a moment later.
He was trying to talk to
her, so she cut the engine again (reluctantly) and got down off the
riding mower. A pair of work gloves donned her hands, and she pulled
them off one by one as she sauntered over to offer Elijah a proper
greeting. "Elijah, you said? I'm Annie." She stuck out her hand for him
to shake. "Feel free to head inside. I've got some work to finish up."
---
When
Dan and Sera entered the house, they found Ian standing with Leah in
the hallway. She had her back against the wall, lounging slightly as she
spoke to him. She smiled a little. Tucked a section of her hair behind
her ear. When she looked at Sera, her smile brightened momentarily. "Hey
Sera." Ian glanced over his shoulder and nodded at them. He looked as
though he was about to head into the dining room, but just then Kalen
walked in the door, and he stopped.
He met Kalen's eyes for a long moment. Then he strode off toward the patio door.
SerafíneWHAT WAS THAT IAN. (Per + Empathy)
Dice: 7 d10 TN5 (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )
Elijah(waaaaiiiit, WTF? +2, because he really wasn't paying attention. Per+empathy)
Dice: 7 d10 TN8 (1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )
Ian[I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about.]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9) ( success x 3 )
Kalen Holliday[So many dice everywhere. Perception+Empathy]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 4, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )
Elijah"Awesome,
thanks! It's great to meet you Annie-" he takes her hand and gives it a
shake. His smile is bright, his eyes are too, "-I figure when you
finish up we could play three man or something."
He grins,
something playful, but frankly anyone who knows the game knows that you
really, really don't want to play three man. Not if you loved your
liver. Not if you wanted to remember how the evening ended- frankly the
only thing that gets you drunker faster is an illustrious game known
only as fuck the bus. He wasn't sure why it was called fuck the
bus, but Elijah didn't seem to really care. It got you drunk fast and
involved playing cards.
In he went, and he did as he usually
did, paused in the hallway, acknowledged anyone who came by. Ian got a
wave, Kalen got a smile (and a note shoved under his door, hastily
written trying to memorize library, bbl because Elijah would try to memorize a library if given the opportunity.)
"Hey, Sera. Hey, Dan," voice warm smile brighter, whole being reaching
for more than what he was. Restlessness given a direction. Chaos
reaching the bounds of what he is and trying for more. Insistent we are more than this
Elijah(Elijah wasn't in the house for that look, sweeeeeep that under the rug)
Serafíne"Leah."
That's Dan. Half-greeting, half-reminder murmured into the soft fringe
of Sera's sidecut as they walk in and he disentangles himself from the
tugging insistence of her arm, looped through his. It does seem to
remind her. She pulls herself upright then, through the shoulders at
the spine, and smiles warmly back at the girl.
Lifts up her
hand - palm flat and open - and waves, this deliberate and segmented
movement of her fingers that makes the tendons in her wrist move like
the hammers in a piano as glissades down a scale. The dark ink on her
skin: on her forearm, framing her hand, inside her wrist, following the
delicate branches of her pale blue veins. The warm bronze of the little
ring she always seems to wear on her right index finger.
She
is wearing tiny little denim cut-offs, an expensive black bra beneath
an unzipped black hoodie and strappy black sandals, sky-high heels,
laces wrapped up her calves to her thighs, decorated with a scattering
of butterflies. Why the fuck not?
Catches the look from Kalen
to Ian, back again. Glances at Elijah and smiles at him when he greets
her, then turns back to Dan as the latter unpacks the liquor they've
brought onto the kitchen counter. Murmurs something against his
shoulder.
Kalen HollidayAnd everything was so perfect until he actually got here, wasn't it?
Everything
is always perfect, until he actually touches it. And then...well...and
then it changes. Transforms. Liquid and shimmering into something else. Everything is always doing that, though. Whether he touches it or not.
It
doesn't always end badly, does it? Depending on at what point you
consider a thing ended. What is an ending really, in a world where
science advocates transformation over destruction and
magic...well...magic indicates a world of infinite possibility? Just a
pause? The space between heart beats?
He takes a breath and
slips past Serafine and Dan, there is a light brush of his fingertips on
Serafine's shoulder, and (if he doesn't move away or give some negative
indication) Dan's. Welcome to being a person Kalen accepts into his
world Dan. He mostly indicates this by touching you. Leah, whom he
doesn't recognise, gets a little nod.
And then he is beyond them, and he too heads for the patio.
IanElijah
suggested they play a game of three man, to which Annie just snorted
with dry laughter. "Yeah, no thanks kid." They parted ways, with Elijah
heading into the house and Annie hopping back on the riding mower. Those
inside would make out the muted growl of the engine as it came back to
life. She'd likely be out there for a while yet. Even just the manicured
part of the property was big enough to make grass cutting a sizable
chore.
"I like your shoes," Leah offered to Sera (because
Sera's shoes were amazing.) For a moment her attention turned to Kalen,
glancing between him and Ian's departing figure. She opened her mouth to
speak, then closed it again. Fidgeted slightly with the hem of her
t-shirt. After a pause, she began to follow Ian and Kalen outside, but
seemed to think better of it when she reached the sliding door. She
balanced on the balls of her bare feet, looking out through the glass,
then she changed course and made for the kitchen.
Outside, Ian
paused at the side of the node to pull off his shoes and socks. Usually
when he did this, he stripped naked and actually climbed into the
hotspring, but today he just pulled up the cuffs of his jeans and sat
down on the rocks, letting his feet slide into the warm water. For a
moment he closed his eyes, feeling the way the wind brushed against his
skin. Taking in the scent of the spring and the nearby flowers.
ElijahLet it be said that Elijah Poirot was clueless in many things.
He
stood there, gave Leah a little wave, "hey, I'm Elijah. Annie said I
could come in and chill." He clarifies, as if he needs to introduce
himself to the people he doesn't know, because he does. Tries to be
polite, tries to use the polite people skills he is ever-so-desperately
trying to cram into a two week period. In truth, he was at the chantry
because he needed a break. Jenn had him learning about salad forks and
dinner forks and he didn't think this was the kind of etiquette that he
was supposed to be learning, but she was really intent on making sure he could handle himself in some
kind of social situation because once upon a time she was working with
some elderly woman who was Order of the Eastern Star who
ever-so-politely overlooked the fact that Jenn was something that old,
rich, southern women called terrible names meaning them in the most
polite of manners.
Jenn had a lot of tolerance for bullshit. It kind of makes sense how she can put up with Elijah.
So,
he watches as Kalen heads out the patio, watches as things move around
him and he just… blanks. Doesn't quite put things together and doesn't
seem terribly concerned by not figuring things together. It was off to
the kitchen and the unpacking of liquor.
"I have not seen you guys in for-fucking-ever, and that is definitely a fault on my part."
Serafíne"I'll
let you borrow them sometime." Sera to Leah: steadier now. Steadier
because she is - well - concentrating. Eyes half-closed, her chin on
Dan's shoulder, her spare frame a lean cipher against Dan's taller and
only slight more solid frame. So: no. He does not look like he is
going to be carried away by the wind, but he is whip-lean and dresses to
emphasize it, in his signature hipster uniform of skinny jeans and some
obscure band t-shirt. "Tell me when. They'll look good on you."
Quiet,
then: "Leah, if you wanna go out there you should. There's no reason
for you to hang back, you know? If they need privacy they'll find it."
Meanwhile: Elijah appears and announces that he has not seen them in for-fucking-ever and Dan grins at him over Sera's elfin left ear, which naturally bristles with hardware.
"Hey
man," says Dan, grinning. "Been awhile. Good to see you." The bottles
are out. He doesn't put them away because it isn't precisely a
collective kitchen anymore: not as it was. Just folds up the brown
paper bag for recycling and glances down at Sera as she says something
quiet to him again.
"I think we're heading out, but we'll catch up soon."
Suddenly and quite as surely as she knows so many other things: Sera doesn't want to be here. So: they will go.
Kalen HollidayKalen
steps out onto the patio, closes the door gently behind him. He
doesn't so much approach Ian as the spring, and he leaves the pool
between them, settling on the opposite side of the water. He does not
put his feet in the water, but he does come reasonably close to the
edge. Close enough he can reach out to skim the surface of the water
with his fingertips, though he does not. Not yet. Maybe not at all.
Instead, he lets his eyes settle on its surface. He can see reflections in the water. Shimmery. Shifting.
He is so rarely sure he isn't dreaming.
"Hey," he says quietly.
Ian"Oh,
wow, thank you." Leah's appreciation of Sera's offer was both surprised
and genuine. She paused in the kitchen to regard her with an uncertain
smile, which fell a moment later when Sera mentioned Ian and Kalen. A
soft blush of color appeared on her cheeks. "No, I just... wanted a
drink." She glanced over at Elijah then, who was attempting to offer her
an introduction.
"Yeah. I figured. I mean, people just kind
of come and go sometimes." She was less warm in her greeting of Elijah
than she had been with Sera, but that may have been because Elijah was
new. (And her age. And a boy.) After a pause she added, "I'm Leah." Then
she promptly turned around and grabbed a bottle of orange Izze from the
fridge.
----
Outside, Ian both felt and heard
Kalen's approach, but he didn't acknowledge it until Kalen spoke. Then
he opened his eyes, gazing across the pool. The water was clear
aquamarine, with just the slightest sensation of steam rising up off the
surface. It smelled of alkaline and minerals. "Hi," he offered quietly.
He felt different (stronger, more primal.) Maybe Kalen had already
noticed.
"Haven't heard from you in a while."
(Ditto, Ian.)
Elijah"That's
cool," he tells Dan, "I'm taking piano and harp for non-majors, so
pretty soon you will get the opportunity to see me shred on six and a
half octaves worth of… well… harp." He didn't have a good word for it.
Didn't have a lot of things there, because all he could think of was yep, it's a harp.
But, you see, harkening back to a conversation he'd had with Dan in the
grass once upon a time, he did remember telling the man about his
awkward stringed-instrument skills.
Secretly, he was trying to
convince Jenn to get a baby grand, not because he was terribly serious
about playing, but because it would be cool. Then again, if you have a piano you'll actually play
the piano and, since the first quarter, Elijah has found himself rather
missing the instrument. It was meditative. A moment when he could think
and be in the moment and think about the click of the metronome.
Powering forward, driving to something, finding life in something
written.
He liked sheet music, but he didn't talk about that.
Most recently, he spent his time trying to figure out how to get a piano
through the door of his apartment.
Elijah turned his attention to Leah and grinned, "wanna see an awkward harp recital in two weeks?"
Kalen Holliday[WP]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8) ( success x 3 )
Serafíne"Awesome." Dan to Elijah, with a quick grin that verges on the engaging, but does not precisely get there because he has sort of already checked out of the conversation.
Sera
flashes Leah a shark-scissors tattoo peace sign real-quick because:
yeah, she means it, and yeah, they are awesome shoes, and yeah, what the
hell, she's rich, not that most strangers or even friends or for that
matter lovers have ever really noticed that about her but: see, it is an
easy offer to make. But she has also kind of checked out, or perhaps:
checked back in to whatever was wrapped up around her spine when the van
pulled up outside and as they turn to go she grabs one of the bottles
on the counter they just unpacked. Picks it up by its neck and carries
it with her as she goes.
Doors slam open. Doors slam closed.
Dan
in the driver's seat. Sera with her temple against the cool glass, the
world smearing past her. Her heart beating in her body, her breath
strange in her lungs.
Kalen Holliday"I've been busy." It is more explanation than apology. "I had things to figure out. And then places to be."
Kalen
reaches out, carefully. Slowly. Rests his fingertips against the
surface of the water. His pulse quickens. He is not sure whether or
not that changes the pace of the endings. Transformations. Creation
dancing and reforming all around them.
He has to try not to pull his hand back.
"How have you been?"
IanLeah
regarded Elijah for a silent moment. "Why would I want to see it if
it's awkward?" She twisted off the bottle cap and tossed it on the
counter, then walked off to the living room, where she eventually made
herself comfortable on the end of the sectional, leaning over the arm
rest with an open book in one hand. Maybe Elijah would follow her. Maybe
he'd decide to join Ian and Kalen outside. Maybe he'd just grab a drink
and make a beeline for the library. Leah, at least, seemed to think
that the conversation was over.
----
Outside now.
Ian and Kalen spoke in halting, low tones. Ian drew one of his feet
slowly through the water, watching the smooth ripples that formed on the
surface. The pool practically pulsed with life-giving energy. It was
difficult to be near it and not feel at least a little awed.
"I
went freeclimbing and fell off a mountain. But... hey, I survived." He
smiled, just a little, and something lingered there in his eyes. A
suggestion of unspoken things. He hadn't just survived.
"I'm glad you're okay."
Was there a concern that he wouldn't have been?
ElijahWhy would I want to see it if it's awkward?
"Because I'm looking for an excuse to see you again, and I was hoping you would humor me?"
He
looked in, noting that she had a book and, uh, it would seem the
conversation was over. Brows rose, he offered a tiny, awkward smile and
Elijah was left to stand there, a little awkward, trying to figure out
where he wanted to go and what precisely it was that he wanted to do. He
was trying to be a good student, honestly, but there were people
here and he wanted to do social things and what could it hurt if he
just didn't say hi? Dallied for just a moment and maybe spent a little
bit of time talking with his mentor or Ian (he had seen Ian, right?)
Elijah
concluded that he needed to go somewhere, anywhere, and outside seemed
to be a good enough place. He looked back to the living room, clearing
his throat, "hey, I'm going outside if you wanna… y'know… hang out… or
stuff."
And it was out the door with him to the patio.
KiaraIn
the distraction of Sera and Dan leaving; the sounds of their car
reversing out of the drive; headlights washing over windows, it's easy
enough to deduce why the Verbena's approach may have been overlooked.
Her dusty, well-loved red hatchback sliding in like some proverbial
thief in the night to replace the other; a car door slammed with a hip;
bags tended to; looped around wrists as she carries them up to the
stoop.
She doesn't call a greeting this time, the brunette, but oh - that sense
of her is there - it's there's but - altered. But stronger. The wash of
rejuvenating energy so like that which Ian and Kalen sit against; dip
fingers into the water of. There but accompanied with, like a gentle,
persistent lullaby; a pulse. A thrum.
Kiara hangs a
coat on a rack by the door and carries a bundle of things into the
kitchen; her fingers skimming along the walls. There's flowers amongst
her offerings; laid on the counter like gifts set beneath some grand
altar as she begins to unpack other items idly. Perhaps Kiara believed
her presence there needed no explanation and certainly, as far
as the Cabal that lived here were concerned, it didn't. They'd seen her
when she'd come to lay in the Node; heard the story; felt the change in
her.
There's others nearby of course; by the time Kiara's in the kitchen; the boys are all ensconced outside.
The
Verbena uncorks a bottle of Merlot, if she's aware of their gathering,
her leisurely pace would suggest she's in no rush to join them.
Kalen HollidayIan moves and the water moves, lapping against Kalen's fingertips. It is warm and it is sacred but it is still water and he shudders.
"Well. I'm glad you're
okay. I miss you already, I hate to think of how I'd miss you if you
died." It is probably the calmest, most honest thing Kalen has said to
him in a long time, horrible sensation of water moving against his skin
or no. Possibly since the day that they were discussing Life magic.
"I'm
probably better than I've been for a long time. It's hard to be sure."
He laughs, and there is a breathless edge to it because there is water
crawling over his fingers and because he still can't believe that he's
come to a place where he makes time for things that are anything but
preparing for the next crisis and because he is about to make this
confession to Ian of all people. "I'm taking tango lessons." And
perhaps, just perhaps some of that breathless wonder was because he
understood again that he wanted to ask Ian to join him.
But then there is Elijah. And so he does not issue that invitation, not at the moment at least, just falls quiet.
IanLeah
felt like a fire: bright-hot and scorching. But more than that, she
felt like the cycle of it. Fire, to ashes, to fire again. Despite that
heat, she had a rather particular talent for giving people the cold
shoulder. Particularly when those people were boys or young men who may
have been trying to hit on her. Elijah followed her for a moment,
watched her settle onto the sofa. Leah was tall and lanky, with long
legs that she tucked under her as she sat down. At first she didn't
respond to his explanation. Then she said, quietly and without looking
up from her book, "No thanks."
For what it was worth, she didn't sound angry. More like she was trying to retreat.
(Elijah didn't know who she was, did he? What had happened to her? Maybe the conversation would have been different if he had.)
Annie
was around the side of the house when Kiara arrived, so she wasn't
there to offer the other Verbena a proper greeting, but likely she'd
wander in later to say hello. Her resonance, and the sound of lawnmower,
were evidence enough of her nearby presence. At the node, Ian glanced
over his shoulder toward the sound and a subtle wrinkle of displeasure
appeared on the bridge of his nose. But of course, it was Annie's house,
and grass needed to be mowed, so there wasn't much he could reasonably
say to her about it.
Then Kalen said he'd missed Ian, and Ian
looked back at him with an expression that wasn't quite guarded enough
to hide the quiet note of surprise.
"I'm hard to kill."
Kalen was taking tango lessons.
"I can help you, if you want. You know I do dance professionally."
Elijah appeared at the node, and Ian glanced up at him with a smile that looked a great deal less weighty than he felt.
Elijah[Per+empathy: OH GOD WHAT DID I WALK INTO?!}
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 4, 5, 5, 7, 10) ( success x 2 )
Ian[Nothing Elijah, it's fine, we're just hanging out like people do]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 3, 6, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 4 ) Re-rolls: 1
Elijah[also: WP. Water is not scary]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 5, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )
Kalen Holliday[Totally hanging just hanging out.....]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )
ElijahThere's
an awkward moment there, when he comes out and suddenly realizes that
he probably shouldn't be here, but Ian smiles and it suddenly doesn't
seem absolutely terrible or like he shouldn't be there. He was missing
context, didn't see the look that happened between the two and Elijah,
darling dove, seems to think that he is on completely even ground and
everything is fine. His eyes warily flickered to the water and he
swallowed, exhaled hard an harsh and grinned. Because that fear had a different context now.
Drowning
and dying and falling and slipping, sometimes he could spin it some
other way. Sometimes he could get himself to a different mindset and say
that this was a transition. This was a new place for him to be, a new
state, something that he needed to push past so he could see all the
wonders that were available to him.
Sometimes he needed a push. Sometimes, he could push himself.
"I
think I totally came in at a weird time in the conversation? But I'm
pulling a Starbucks hipster and announcing that I'm doing homework. Or
learning Latin, because fuck homework and Hell yeah Latin," oh Elijah,
bless him because he is clueless. Just figures they're having a
conversation. it's an awkward moment where it seems that mom and dad
don't want to fight in front of the kids.
KiaraThreads.
They were all connected by them; to them. Bound to each other in
strange, often undefinable ways. From the newest to the city to those
who had harbored more storms than any. None of it; this; their lives;
their boundless connections to each other; was easy. Often the threads
were smeared with blood; with tears; with the mess that came with living
beyond the kinds of lives most did.
Theirs were so much more (and yet, so many of the ways they came together were for utterly human causes).
Kiara,
for her part, does not make an apology when the patio door slides to
reveal her; she's dressed in jeans and a navy hoodie; her dark hair
bound away from her face; pinned to the nape of her neck. There's rings
on her fingers tonight; a long stemmed glass in her hand and she's
smiling in Elijah's direction with what amounts, for the brunette, as
easy affection.
"Did I just hear you cursing, Elijah.
My delicate sensibilities are forever changed." So droll, that eyebrow
as it cants up behind a sip of wine. "Been a while, kid." From most
people, the title might seem condescending; threaded with disdain or
dismissal. From the Verbena, it sounds fond. Considering as she runs her
eyes over him; lets her eyes tick beyond to Kalen and Ian.
Ian[Awareness - do I sense something different?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 5, 5, 9, 9) ( success x 2 )
Kalen HollidayKalen
smiles a little, and despite Kiara and Elijah's presence it is still
threaded through with something hopeful and vulnerable. Kalen has been
practicing being someone else. Someone who could love without being
afraid of what that meant. Someone who could spend time with books of
poems and tango lessons and did not read failure in dozens of blurry
pictures of kestrels. Sometimes that bleeds through.
"Yeah. That'd be good." Maybe he would have said something different, without company.
He
smiles a little as Kiara comes out and says that she has delicate
sensibilities about cursing. She has wine, and he thinks that maybe he
could use some. Still, he's afraid if he breaks contact with the water
he won't be able to touch it again tonight. If he walks away now he
might instead slip through the house and out the door and away from all
of this. Because who he wants to be and who he is have strange blurred
edges and he is suddenly less sure he wants to be here so precariously
balanced between the two.
He waves to Kiara and Elijah with the hand that isn't in the water.
Ian"Oh
trust me, he can curse like you wouldn't believe." There was a wry curl
of humor in Ian's voice when he answered Kiara. Whatever heaviness he'd
felt in Kalen's presence, he seemed to be letting it go. (Either that,
or he was good at pretending. Perhaps it didn't much matter in the end.)
There
was a rather remarkable change in Kiara's presence. Ian's attention
hovered on her for a long moment as he leaned back on his palms, his
head tilted in an expression of animal curiosity. His lips pressed
together, and he uttered a delicate subvocal sound (more to himself than
anything.) Finally he glanced back to Elijah. Then to Kalen. Then back
to Kiara.
Then he just... breathed. Let the overwhelming wash of rejuvenating resonance wash over him.
"The water's nice, you know. If you ever feel like getting in."
Nice
was not an adequate word to describe it. And when he spoke, he seemed
to be directing his comment to both Kalen and Elijah. But there was no
push to it. No insistence that they confront their fears. The tone was
light. Reassuring. Funny how fragile they could all be, considering what
they were capable of.
Elijah"Heeeyyyyy
not-susan-but-Kiara," he grinned, bright and shining and pleased. His
hair's a mess, but then again when did Elijah ever seem like he was well
put together when he rode a motorcycle? Even in his best intentions, he
couldn't keep himself pristine most days given his preferred method of,
well, existing. When he smiles it is bright, and his eyes are
bright. They're green and glittering and pick up hints of amber, hints
of the blades of grass recently shorn close.
Ian does say something about Elijah's foul language and he laughed, full-bodied and amused and was that color
on his cheeks? Just a little just at the edges. Elijah looked at the
water again, a little wary and he thinks, for a moment, that he should
flee. He drew a long, slow breath, and cautiously he asked, "not too
deep, is it?"
Then, with just the barest bits of humor and an
impish grin, "I'm gonna strip down to, like, barely nothin' so be
prepared to avert your eyes lest delicate sensibilities be offended." He
turned his attention to Kalen briefly, brows rose, "you wanna?"
An assurance, unspoken, c'mon, you've got this. An utter faith in his mentor.
KiaraShe feels different.
She'd
noted it the other night in the park; felt the change in Ian, too. Told
him she had the sense she'd missed something. He senses the same, now.
Feels the absence of that corrosive; devouring edge she'd always
carried. Now, she's the surge of renewed life; the heartbeat of the new
born foal. As if the Verbena had thrown loose some invisible shackles;
shed a layer of herself she no longer belonged to.
And, in some days, she had done precisely that.
Her
eyes linger on Ian for a longer moment than perhaps was necessary; dark
and fathomless; they tick to Kalen and the smile that touches her lips
is sincere, if perhaps restrained. Elijah gets - a noise; a throaty
vibration as he threatens near-nudity. "Well, if I'm going to be
debauched, it should be all the way or what's the point?"
She
saunters closer, then. Stops to toe her sneakers off and carries them in
hand; wine in the other to the edge of the Node. Settles beside it.
This close; the sensation is manifold. The sense of the Node; of Kiara.
She trails her fingers in the water; the stones set into her rings
gleaming.
Kiara[days, *ways. What are words.]
Kalen Holliday[Kalen. Can you even, with the water? | WP because panic attacks with near strangers are bad.]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 4 ) [WP]
Kalen Holliday"Well,
on account of the water and I being so friendly tonight already...."
Kalen slips out of his shoes, and then his shirt. Hesitates, less
because he has any real problem with people seeing him naked and more
because he isn't entirely sure about this in general. And so, when he
slips into the pool for the first time ever, slips into any kind of
water for the first time in more than a decade, he still has jeans on.
Most
of the mages take to the node, but Kalen stays stiff in the water, eyes
a little too wide. He does not put his head under the water. He does
turn his head to regard Ian. He cannot quite bring himself to smile,
but there is something lighter mostly buried under all the tension in
his voice when he says, "Nice, huh? Apparently I have been defining
that word all wrong."
IanStrange,
perhaps, that Ian wasn't the first one to shuck his clothes and slip
into the water. This actually had more to do with the teenage girl back
in the house than it did with his present company. That, and the fact
that he hadn't expected to stay long.
He smiled when Kalen
stepped into the pool, pleased and surprised in spite of himself. To
Elijah, he offered a canted look, one eyebrow lofted in amusement. He
didn't say what he was thinking, but to Elijah, it would likely be
fairly obvious.
"I... have to go, actually." For what it was worth, there was genuine reluctance in his voice. "I made plans to go hiking."
He
let the moment hang for a few beats before slowly retracting his feet
from the water. When he stood up, he passed through Kiara's space,
trailing his fingers through the back of her hair.
"Don't have too much fun without me."
(This was directed at everyone.)
Finally, he collected his shoes and walked back to his car.
Ian[I totally do not want to leave, but sadly responsibility calls. Have a good night guys!]
noel-lurk[Damn that responsibility!!!]
Elijah(wp: I. HAVE. GOT. THIS.)
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 10, 10) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Kiara[Aw, have a good one!]
Elijah(Manip+sub: I am totally fine)
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )
Kiara[I just feel like trying this to see what happens. Per + Emp]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 8) ( success x 1 )
Kalen Holliday[murr?]
Elijah(boop)
KiaraIan's
fingers pass through her hair as he leaves; tugging strands loose where
she's secured it; she doesn't lift her eyes from her water; where she's
been dragging the tips of her fingers through it but there's a twist of
her mouth. A vaguely thoughtful thing, that expression; caging thoughts
she doesn't offer voice to. She does look up, once he's slipped inside.
A
fleeting, considering beat before Kiara's attention returns to the pair
in the water; her smile grows as she watches Kalen; head tilting just
so. "You know usually when people get in the water to loosen tension,
not the other way around."
The Verbena sits up; places her
wine glass down and unfolds her legs; dipping her feet into the water.
"Come here?" She beckons at him, Kalen, noting the stiff set of his
shoulders; the way he holds himself. She's not aware of every facet of
why; but the physicality - there's a certain comprehension of that much.
Kalen Holliday"Short,
tragic story that it may be best not to tell while in the water."
Kalen says, and there is, lurking somewhere in that tone, an offer to
tell it later.
There is a second of consideration. He is
generally not averse to contact, but he is not terribly sure about the
mechanics of moving in water. It is heavy. He half remembers that,
heavy and cold and impossible to escape. But he does come to her,
flinching a little as the motion sets water moving against his skin.
Elijah(HAHA! SUCCESS!)
He laughed, could seem convivial enough. "How dare
you have a social life, Ian," then there was the matter of actually
getting in the water. He's doing a good job of keeping it together,
seeming like this wasn't bothering him. Seeming like everything is fine
but when it comes down to it Elijah was stalling.
He could
stall all he wanted, but in the end, he said he was going to do
something, and damn it all even if it was something as silly as get in a
hot spring (not silly, terrifying) Also, let it be said that
Elijah Poirot was shameless. Shameless as a man could be, though it
should be telling to know that Elijah deals with his anxieties and
frustrations and needs to mask concerns by getting naked.
The bait was set, the bet was there as well. The dare, that he shouldn't promise without delivery.
There's
a moment when he thinks he can't do it. There's a moment when he looks
into the water and he hesitates. Elijah exhales, long and slow. He's
looking like this might be too much, only briefly, he remembers that he
wanted this. That he wouldn't be defined by fear, he could conquer
anything. All the mysteries of the universe, just under the surface, all
he had to do was dive. (All he had to do was die, water brought him a
number of things- he should be grateful.)
Elijah ditched the
vest, being careful with it, treating it and its contents like precious
cargo. The rest of his clothes (and Elijah wore a lot of
clothing) did not get the same treatment. Shirt was pulled off, shoes
gone, socks tucked into shoes (because let's face it, he was buying
himself time) Jeans lost, because Elijah was not much one for wearing
wet jeans and he still had intention of studying tonight.
He
ditched, well, everything. Was there and a little cold and had given
himself no other option- either stand there and be cold and naked or sit
somewhere warm and comfortable and be naked. The naked didn't really
didn't phase him, but it was the cold that did. It was the push and
reminder that he was here and conjured darker times. Made his sternum
hurt from where someone had pressed too hard (correctly) to try and do
CPR. He fractured a rib or two, but he was alive.
"Oh thank god it's warm."
Elijah(test)
Kiara[Intel + Med, possibly with some WP because the dice are lean and hungry and I don't trust them; the Verbena knows tension.]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 3, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 4 ) [WP]
KiaraShe's
rolling her jeans up as he treads water over to where she's sitting;
her legs parted enough that when he's close to her; she can gently coax
him to turn around; her fingers warmer than they ought to have been for
being in the water. "You are - " This, murmured close to his ear as
Kiara's fingers skate over his skin; her palms sliding over the slope of
both shoulders; returning and then pushing in - her thumbs finding the
pinpoints of tension; her fingers manipulating.
" - way too tense. Your body is holding it all in. Right here."
So
close to her; Kalen can feel the steady pulse of her resonance; the
newness of it; the steady, static energy as it wraps around him; as the
Verbena's hands carefully loosen coils of muscle; her hair tickles his
cheek as she leans in behind him; her eyes traveling to find Elijah's in
the water.
"How are you doing, do you need attention too?"
Kalen HollidayHe
does not - cannot - swim. Instead he creeps around the edges of the
pool. He may not like water, but he is in it now, and the sheer shock
of that is wearing off a little. Even so, when he reaches Kiara he
doesn't seem less tense for all that his breath is starting to even out a
little.
"I'm tense on a good day," Kalen says. "And while
I'm not saying this is a bad day, I think it pretty definitely qualifies
as extremely stressful." He doesn't think this is a bad day at all,
really. He has seen Serafine and he has seen Ian and he is somehow in
the node pool and now he has contact he did not expect and all of those
things are good. Some of them are also terrifying, but Kalen finds a
number of things he loves terrifying.
"There is that," he says to Elijah. "Yes."
Elijah[Per+empathy- Kalen, are you gonna be okay?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 6, 8, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 5 )
ElijahDoes
he need attention? He seems to think about that, but the young man
shrugged, shoulders rose and fell. Elijah was very much of the belief
that one should fake it until you make it. He didn't back out, didn't
run away, didn't make some excuse and, for his part, he could be content
with that.
"Nah," he told Kiara, shaking his head and putting
his hands up. He doesn't come closer, but he's tempted none the less.
"I'll probably actually head inside in a minute? I thought they had a
book or something of a third pero account of tensions between the
Euthanatoi-" plural, because Eleanor had told him the plural because
he'd asked what the plural was- if the Chakravanti were like sheep
(singular) and sheep (plural) "-and the Akashic Brotherhood. I didn't
know that was a huge thing, but apparently that was a huge thing. I
kinda wanna know how the this is how we end a lifetimes old grudge thing ends. I dunno. It's either that or the great vowel shift. Which is also pretty fuckin' cool."
Did
Elijah just say that reading about a vowel shift was cool? Why yes, yes
he did. The young man turns his attention to Kalen, notes what is
there, takes him in and asks, "hey, when you're good do you wanna come
with. I'd like to practice being a respectable person for awhile? And
you're pretty good at knowing when I'm faking it, so yeah." A second,
then, "or you could study the great vowel shift with me, too, it's
pretty awesome. Like, all of the vowels in the language shifted over
one, so it's part of why Beowulf sounds so strange when you read it in
the original Anglo-Saxon."
Elijah(third *person)
KiaraThere's
nothing overtly sexual in the way Kiara's hands ghost over Kalen's
skin. Quite the contrary; though she harbors no pretense about enjoying
the physicality of others; she coerces some degree of relaxation from
his shoulders by lieu of practice and taught understanding of the way
the human body moved; the structure and give of the musculature beneath
her hands.
She massages into his skin for a few moments longer
and then; with a brief squeeze to both; slides them off. "Mm, I've done
what I can for those shoulders. They need regular attention." This,
with a smile in her voice; an awareness that rests there as Elijah
defers with intention to pursue historical documentation about
inter-traditional squabbles.
"That," as the Verbena carefully
withdraws her legs from the water; reclaiming her half consumed wine.
"sounds like something you need to be drinking to fully absorb.
Thankfully," this, as Kiara rises to her feet; shoes in hand. "I'm
already half way there.
I'll see you boys inside."
Her
progress is marked with a soft jangle of bracelets where they're housed
around her wrists. The patio door clicking shut in her wake.
Kalen Holliday"I...have no argument to that," he says to Kiara. "Thank you."
She
moves away and he climbs out of the pool, then looks at Elijah. "Yeah.
I'm off to get not wet things and wine, and then I'll join you in the
library."
[And I will nap, because suddenly so sleepy. (Thus the tiny post, sorry.) Thank you both for scenes!]
Kiara[Likewise! :D]
No comments:
Post a Comment