Kalen Holliday
[How much sanity do you have today, Kalen?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (2, 4, 4, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )
Ian Lai
Considering
how long Ian had been in Denver, it was a bit surprising that he hadn't
been out to the Chantry before now. But that was the thing about living
on the periphery - in some ways it was safer, but it also made you an
outsider.
In the end, the curiosity was just a little too difficult to pass up. So when Kalen made the offer, Ian took it.
The
drive out to Morrison was fairly uneventful. Minutes passed as the
urban scenery gradually faded into rolling hills and tall pines and
fenced pastures. In the car, they talked a little. Kalen gave periodic
directions while Ian drove. And in the downtime, a steady flow of moody
electronic music filled the cab, creating an interesting contrast with
the naturalistic landscape.
It was growing dark by the time they
arrived. Ian parked his audi in the driveway and exited the car, giving
the chantry house a long, appreciative gaze.
"Somehow this is exactly what I imagined."
Grace
So,
it's been busy for a lazy day. Grace met a couple of new people in
Denver, at a place with a warning bell over the door to announce the
presence of any Mages who walked through.
And Lena. She was
meeting Lena there. Surprisingly, for the first time in a long while,
their meeting didn't go terribly. At least, Grace doesn't think it did.
She hopes it went as well as it seemed. Lena hides the truth sometimes.
So
does Kalen. She can see it sometimes, in the things he tells her and
the things he won't show her. Like how horrible he really feels. She
knows what it's like to have screaming nightmares and then try to work
through the rest of the day without showing off how broken you really
are, so hey. Understandable, that. Sometimes you need to pretend. Fake
it 'till you make it. Even if you never do.
"Really? 'Cause I
always thought it was too big and too ranch-y," Grace says from the wall
she's been leaning up against near the entrance to the place. She's
been waiting for them. "Of course, the first time I came here, I had no
expectations. Hard to have them when you don't know what a Chantry is."
She'd
arrived just a few minutes before. Kalen had given her a text,
something about needing a ride back to his car later, and wouldn't she
like to provide such? So she did, because he's Kalen. And he gets a
smile, yes he does. Nothing fake in it either. "Who's this?"
Kalen Holliday
One
car ride full of Kalen watching the road through half closed eyes until
he has to start actively giving directions later, they arrive at the
chantry. If nothing else, it's probably enough to convince Ian that
throwing on some music and driving Kalen around will probably get him to
fall asleep, or at least rest, if he isn't worried about giving
directions.
He slips out of the car and watches Ian study the
chantry for a minute. There is no rush. No rush at all. He smiles a
little at that statement. "Of course, it is. As with all cats, one
would assume you are well acquainted with all the mysteries." His tone
is relaxed, threaded through with a warm, amused purr. Nothing barbed
at all. No sign of something dark and broken lurking just beneath the
surface.
"You want to head straight in, or go in through the back so you can see the Node first?"
He
smiles and waves to Grace. "Hey, Kit. Kit, this is Ian." Ian who
spoils all his fun by not answering to Kitty-cat. "That's Grace," he
says to Ian. "She is like, my psuedo-apprentice and we also practically
live together, since neither of us knows quite how to stop. We spend a
lot of time at the office."
[And...because I must know...how distracted are you by Resonance?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
Ian Lai
I always thought it was too big and too ranch-y.
"It's
Colorado," Ian replied with a smirk, as though that somehow explained
everything. He didn't respond to Kalen's assertion about cats and
mysteries, which may have been as close to a confirmation as Kalen was
going to get. (More than likely Ian was quite content to let everyone
think that about him, whether or not it was true.)
Grace was a new
entity, and Ian regarded her with a level gaze while Kalen introduced
them. He didn't offer any sort of formal greeting of his own. Just a
light nod of his head.
Grace's first impression of Ian might very
well fit with the image Kalen had (rather vaguely) sketched of him
during a past conversation. Attractive (beautiful, even.) Lean and
agile, and dressed in an outfit that looked like it had cost a lot more
than any sane person would actually pay for casual clothes. (Dark blue
skinny selvage jeans, black boots and a fitted white t-shirt.)
But
none of that really compared to the overall sensory impression that he
seemed to radiate. Kalen had been right - Ian felt exactly like a
hunting cat.
(Not exactly a house-cat, either.)
"I'll take the Node for a thousand, Alex."
[Awareness]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )
Grace
[Awareness!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 3, 10) ( success x 1 )
Grace
"Ahh,
Ian, yes. Hello! Welcome! All that stuff," Grace says, as if Kalen's
told her all about him already. He has. Or at least, what he knew, and
what they've been up to. Apparently, he's decided he trusts Ian enough
to bring him to the Chantry finally, as well as... huh. Well, she can see why one might want to ignore trust issues to get with that.
Ian
looks like he stepped out of the pages of a fashion mag or something.
Not that Grace pays attention to fashion. At all. Ian can probably tell,
with how she dresses in jeans (of the non-expensive variety), sneakers,
and a grey turtleneck jacket, zipped up to the neck. With her face bare
of makeup, she looks somewhere in between male and female. No curves.
All sharpness.
"Node. Cool. It's a hot spring, kinda neat," she
says, and starts leading the way out to the back of the house, her
laptop bag swinging from a shoulder.
Kalen Holliday
Kalen
rolls his eyes. "I suppose turnabout is fair play, but we already have
an Alex. That will just confuse everyone." He is not even joking.
And it isn't that he is particularly annoyed, for all his tone isn't
quite as warm. He is somehow, remarkably, oblivious to that reference.
"Come
on then, we'll go on the scenic around-the-house route." He smiles
faintly. "And yes. It is a hot spring. Some people love that."
Ian Lai
The
fact that Kalen didn't understand a Jeopardy reference was of fairly
minimal importance to Ian, who probably hadn't actually watched a single
episode of Jeopardy in his life. (Some pop culture references were like
that - you didn't have to experience them to know that they existed.)
He didn't bother to fill Kalen in on the joke. Grace could do that, if
she wanted. Otherwise it would pass without much notice.
Grace was
markedly more welcoming to Ian than he'd been in his own greeting. And
she led the way around the house toward their destination. As they
walked, Ian eyed her laptop bag and her clothes and took in the sharp
(keen) and shifting energy of her resonance.
"We can all go skinny dipping," he offered, and it wasn't entirely clear if he was joking or not.
But then they rounded the house and Ian... well. It was hard not to get hit with that overwhelming flow of rejuvenation
and not be at least a little bit awed by it. He approached the node
slowly, taking in the sight of the spring and the vibrant, early growth
in the nearby gardens. And when he crouched down at the edge of the
rocks his body went almost perfectly still.
Grace
Grace
snorts, actually, when Ian says they can go skinny dipping. It's lucky
for her it's dark out and she's in the lead, or otherwise they might see
how red her face can actually turn. It would be like going skinny
dipping with your brother while he's (probably) making out with some dude.
She
does manage to control herself by the time they're out in the backyard,
and she watches Ian meet the node. "I think he likes it," she whispers,
loudly, to Kalen.
"I'm not going skinny dipping," she adds, again in a loud whisper.
Kalen Holliday
Kalen shudders a little at the mention of skinny dipping. Ninety-five percent of cats fucking hate water. But of course
Ian wouldn't. No skinny dipping, Ian. No SCUBA diving, Grace. Never
mind it's the fucking Great Barrier Reef you're going to.
He
watches Ian crouch down at the edge of the rocks. He does not rush Ian,
any more than he rushes Sera. He understands wanting to be close to
that energy. Sometimes, with Sera, he will even come within arm's
length of the pool. It is hardly frozen over. Or deep enough to drown
him under any normal circumstances. Still. It is a tiny pond, and he
wants nothing to do with that.
"Good," he says to Grace. "I would prefer you stay the Hell out of the water anyway."
Ian Lai
Many cats hate water - but not all. Evidently Ian was one of the latter sort.
Distantly,
he registered Grace and Kalen's mutual objections to the prospect of
skinny dipping, but Ian wasn't focused on them. Instead, he reached out
and let his fingers drift through the surface of the water. It was warm,
and smelled faintly salty. And if the others hadn't been there, Ian
might very well have shed his clothes and climbed in, but he wasn't
alone.
So he stood up and turned around.
"Don't like water?" he asked Kalen.
Grace
There
are times she wants to tell Kalen that no matter how much it might seem
like it, she isn't his sister. That she can swim. That she's not going
to drown any time soon. It bothers him so much.
"I know.
If I ever go for a dip in the Node, I promise I won't tell you," she
says, her voice soft, but not a joking whisper anymore.
Then Ian asks him why, and Grace just watches Kalen. It's not her story to tell. How much do you trust him, eh?
Kalen Holliday
"I-"
He looks at Ian, running his hands through the water. In this
particular moment, this decision isn't about trust at all. It's about
sanity. And he is not burdened with an overabundance of that. "Will
tell you that story later perhaps. For now...no. I am not."
"You
can go." He nudges Grace. "Did I not tell you could could go SCUBA
diving in Australia? I'll just get very drunk and pretend it's not
happening. It'll be great times all around."
Ian Lai
[Empathy on Kalen: This... seems like something important]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (6, 7, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )
Kalen Holliday
[So...how together are we....?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )
Kalen Holliday
Kalen
is very uneasy about water. Like, from a good fifteen feet away the
pool Ian is at is making him anxious. And while he seems willing to
tell Ian what the Hell happened to make him terrified of water, or at
least bodies of water, he is not really good to do that while watching
Ian running his hands through the hot pond. And if that makes him
nervous, the thought of Grace SCUBA diving...yeah. That fucking
terrifies him. He is barely not telling Ian to get the Hell away from
the water as it is. Not because he's particularly concerned about Ian
specifically. Just...why would anyone be so close to water??? He
should get away!!! [Yeah. Drowning Phobia. Kalen has it.]
Ian Lai
Normally
Ian might have teased him about it - the same way he'd teased Kalen for
not knowing how to talk about phone sex. But he didn't. Instead he just
watched Kalen silently, his eyes dark and contemplative.
Then he turned and began to walk toward the house.
"So
who owns this place?" he asked, casually curious. And if perhaps the
subject change had been intentional, well, no one here was likely to
mind.
Grace
Something goes 'bloop' in Grace's
laptop bag, and she rummages around inside it for her phone. She pulls
it out, unlocks the thing, and smiles at it. Taps in a response. And
then, shuffles it back into her bag.
Who could live without a telephone, really?
Really, who can? Because it's a good cover for Grace, hiding her red face in her phone because there's Kalen telling her she can go take a dip in the Node. Geez.
"I uh... wouldn't want to upset you. And I don't really want to. Right now. You know."
Ian
gets the hints, the way Kalen tries to hide his lack of sanity, and
Grace relaxes a little. Thanks for the change of topic, Ian. "It's owed
by someone down in Texas, actually. Never met her."
Kalen Holliday
"Despite your phenomenal aptitude, you really should not rearrange your life around what does and does not make me crazy. Even I think those are unreasonable parameters."
Kalen
heads into the chantry, and elects not to give a super grand tour.
Parading Ian around seems ridiculous. So instead, he waves in various
directions as he heads toward the living room. "The kitchen is over
there. The stairs over there lead up to bedrooms. The library is
downstairs, I think Pan and Shoshannah can get you access, though I can
let you in."
He flops onto one of the couches. "The bar is right there." He gives a last wave, with a little flourish, at the bar.
Ian Lai
Those
were both names that Ian was only passingly familiar with, though he
still had an entry in his contacts that listed Shoshannah's number.
Pan's name he only knew because Serafine had mumbled it drunkenly one
night after the priest had showed up out of the blue to whisk her away.
Grace
said the house was owned by someone in Texas, and Kalen evidently knew
little more, since he didn't seem inclined to elaborate. Ian made note
of that information as he followed Kalen and Grace around the house,
taking in the decor and the architecture. When Kalen flopped down on the
couch, Ian neglected to join him, choosing instead to pace slowly
around the room. When he reached the bar, he dragged a finger across it
and tapped the surface lightly.
"Can I see the library?"
Grace
"Ugh," Grace says, and it's her turn to roll her eyes at Kalen. "I'm not. Okay in this case I am not. Just... Have I ever given you the impression that I might be a secret exhibitionist? If so, I am deeply sorry."
They
go and join each other inside, and Kalen (of course) flops down and
claims a couch with his entire body, as usual. Even with his leg healed,
he loves lounging like that. But Ian wants to see the library, and
Grace smiles. "Sure, we can. It's this way," she says, and again leads,
showing him the way downstairs. At the bottom, she opens the (heavy,
locked) door.
Kalen Holliday
Kalen gets up off of
the couch, to come with them toward the library. It is one of his
favorite parts of the chantry and all. Besides, watching Ian respond to
things is entertaining. And educational.
"Sometimes, Kit," he says, voice heavy with amusement. "People surprise me."
Ian Lai
"What's the point of being an exhibitionist if you have to keep it a secret?"
Ian
smiled at Grace, all bright teeth and wry charm, like he was daring her
to prove herself wrong. And maybe if she was the sort to take the bait,
he'd follow it up with the same thing he'd said to Alex - I'll show you mine if you show me yours.
But
more than likely Grace would stay focused on the task at hand, and Ian
was quite content to examine the contents of the spacious library, with
or without the flirtatious banter.
After all, when did a cat ever turn down an opportunity to learn a few secrets?
