Tarrin Rasvelg
And then there were three. Tarrin lifted a brow slowly. "Am I that scary?"
He
shakes his head a little, flagging down the waitress for a cup of
coffee. That same brow remained perched and Tarrin looked to Danny and
then slowly to Grace. "Mechanics? Tools? Cars?" When he looked to Danny
again, he rolled a shoulder in a shrug, brushing it off perhaps. "I can
repair that gasket before it gets worse."
Danny
*He
was just enjoying his own private thoughts, seemingly unaware of his
having said anything at all.... that smile still stuck on his face. But
then he registered what Tarrin said and... what he'd said.... the blush
started from somewhere in his shirt, then his throat, then up to his
face and the grin became somewhat different as he cleared his throat
slightly and turned his attention to Grace again.*
Excuse me?
*And finally yeah, the words made sense... he nodded.* Okay... good.
Thanks. Yeah, tomorrow? *Then he added.* No you're not scary... Not
at all.
Grace
Oh! They're just talking about car-things. Right.
The
waitress Tarrin finds has been hovering around carrying a blackberry
cobbler and water and having trouble locating the person who ordered it.
Grace grabs at the plate. "That's mine. I've got the blackberry."
"I'm probably the scary one," Grace says. "I tend to ward people off. Or just annoy them off. A great talent, really."
Tarrin Rasvelg
"Don't
have a fever or anything, do you?" He eyes Danny for a moment, and then
gives him a slow nod. "Yeah if you have the time. Bring it by, I'll get
it together."
"You, Grace?" His attention shifting to her,
and inwardly finding the waitress issue amusing. "With your charm? Hard
to believe. You're more amusing to hang around, not so much annoying.
Special taste, maybe, but not annoying."
Danny
*He
nods at the words.* No, I'm fine. Just been a long day and not much
sleep, so now I'm getting just that little bit spacey... *he smiles.*
Coffee.... I'll drop by some place and get coffee then that'll be me.
Done.
*He looks over the pie then his eyes drift up to Grace
again.* it's lack of understanding that causes fear of the unknown,
people should be a little bit kinder to each other some times.
Kalen Holliday
And
back wanders Kalen. Just in time to steal a bite of Grace's pie.
Which he does pretty much the second he resettles at the booth, whether
or not he has to steal Grace's fork to do it.
"Sorry," he
says absently. "That was my priest." He smiles, and it is the same
kind of warm smile Sera can get get from him. "He says hi, by the way,
Kit."
"Hello again," he says to Tarrin, and that smile changes
into something brighter but also less intimate. And then his eyes
sweep over all of them. "Did I miss anything interesting?"
Grace
"You haven't gotten pissed off at me yet, Tarrin," she says, as though it's an inevitability.
"Tell
him hi back," she says to Kalen, seemily quite unconcerned about the
fork-stealing or pie-stealing going on. Thing about it is, she doesn't
really see it as stealing so much as sharing. Obviously there is a bit
of a disconnect here, if Grace thinks she is so poor with people and yet
is close enough to Kalen for him to just swoop in and share a dessert.
"You
missed Sera. So that was interesting. Also I think I ran off Hannah.
Somehow. There are no world-ending terrors here, though."
Tarrin Rasvelg
Tarrin watches Danny for a moment and then gives a slow nod. "Probably best."
He
gave a small nod to Kalen as he returned. "Now we can meet properly, or
as properly as anyone else." At least Kalen didn't seem stoned, or out
of his mind. Bonus points for that.
"Somehow I doubt you'll
do that, Grace. Having a difficult time creating a scenario that results
in being angry at you...unless you steal all my silverware without
replacing it. You just don't touch a man's silverware." Humor, not his
strong point...at least not obvious humor.
Danny
*He
groaned softly as his phone went off with a short alarm burst that
sounded like a guitar laughing, just one more thing. Then he slowly got
to his feet with his hands on the table and put his feet on the couch to
being climbing behind Taran to get out of the booth.* Nope... you just
stay.... there...
*he was now behind him and had another odd
moment of that need to clear his throat softly, but the moment passed as
he slide out of the booth and set his feet onto the floor.*
I'm
going to head off to that land of sleep... *He does a half hearted
salute as he turns to say good bye to Kalen and Grace.* Take care...
*then he turned his eyes back to Tarrin.* And you... I will see
tomorrow....
*now didn't that sound like a threat, or a promise or something.* I'll call when I finally surface.
Danny
*He
made his way out, heading to the Impala and let himself in, soon enough
Rainbow was blasting out into the evening of the city, and Danny was
gone.*
Kalen Holliday
Kalen waves to Danny, "Night."
He
turns his attention back to Grace. "That one...I wouldn't worry about
spooking. I get the impression much of the world does that." There is a
whisper of something gentle in his voice, but whether it's meant for
Grace or Hannah is hard to guess. "But no world-ending terrors is
definitely good. I'm not entirely sure I've recovered from the last
ones yet."
Grace
"You don't?" Grace says, and turns a side-eye to Kalen. "You hear that? You can't touch my fork ever again. Stupid rules."
She huffs, and spears some blackberry cobbler with her fork. Stolen back.
"Yeah,
I know what you mean about the recovery shit. Why can't they just let
us take our trip to Australia in peace? Every week it's something else.
And we can't go visit any kangaroos. The world would stop."
Tarrin Rasvelg
Oh
well, he's climbed around by the lankier one, trying to keep his place
while he maneuvers around. As Danny wanders off, he lifts a hand in a
mock wave. "Drive safe." Given the state of tired he was in...
Tarrin
looked back to the other two, his coffee finally making it. After
doctoring it up with cream, and no sugar, he took a slow sip of it,
using the cup to hide the small smirk he had. "Why kangaroos?" Because
of everything they've said, that's what interests him more. Why
kangaroos...
Kalen Holliday
"No. It protects
only the forks of men." He tries to keep a straight face to go with his
lecture tone. "I can take as much of your silverware as I want. But
mine...mine is protected by rules. Probably written in Latin. Rules written in Latin are more official. Sumerian is very official, but some of those rules are outdated, you see."
He
turns to Tarrin, and again, his expression loses some of the softness.
Gains brightness. "No idea. She picked the kangaroos. I'm baffled."
Grace
Grace narrows her eyes at Kalen, "This is so unfair. Old Latin rules about silverware? I'm going to take all your forks now. And your spoons. You will just have to deal."
There
is blackberry cobbler to be had. And she has some, with a kind of
wonder on her face that some restaurant on East Colfax has cobbler like
this.
"And penguins," she says, mouth full. "Penguins are cool."
Ian
Diners
in East Colfax weren't exactly the kind of haunt where one would expect
to find Ian. And true to form, he wasn't there because he'd had a
craving for coffee or pie or breakfast-for-dinner. He walked in behind a
pretty brunette, who made her way confidently over to the counter and
flagged down one of the servers. She had a light accent - something
British. And she smiled, all warmth and charm, when the waiter
approached to take her order.
She asked for two slices of pie
(one cherry, one chocolate peanut butter silk) to go. Neither of them
were for Ian, who paused as he stepped through the door to glance at the
mages gathered around one of the tables. He nodded to Grace and Kalen,
smirking lightly, but didn't immediately attempt to approach their
table. Instead he fell in beside the woman he'd arrived with, leaning
back on his elbows as he murmured something which she evidently found
amusing.
Tarrin Rasvelg
"Though if it was written prior to 1960, it really only means white
men. Because latin rules are racist like that." He used his cup as a
mild form of a gesture, to make his point. "But not his knives? You'll
take his forks and spoons, but leave him the dangerous silverware?"
"So
no kangaroos for you?" He lifted a brow at Kalen. "Let me guess..." His
brows furrowed as if he were concentrating, trying to visualize Kalen
and some creature together. "Koalas?"
"I don't think you're going to find penguins in Australia, Grace."
Kalen Holliday
"Oh,"
Kalen says with a laugh. "She's not worried about that. She knows all
about my tendency to fall under buildings and into comas. I'm more
likely to trip and stab myself than to get her. I'll have to like call
Alexander and beg him to go get my silverware for me. Or, more likely,
refuse to admit I need help getting it back and just buy more." He
rolls his eyes. "Which someone will undoubtedly also steal. On principal. She hates rules."
He mock-glares at Grace. "You had best do something interesting with all the silverware you hoard."
It is only after that he looks away, meets Ian's eyes for all of a second, and nods.
Grace
"Linus
Torvalds found penguins in Australia. He was pecked by one. And it was
so cute he made it the penguin mascot for Linux," Grace says, chewing.
"So. Cute. They're called fairy penguins."
Her head raises up at the impression of a large jungle cat, mysterious and graceful. Ahh, Ian is here.
Sometimes,
people feel like snow or cold or ice, and it's hard to place them
amongst all the other icy beings that flock to Denver (and with Denver's
white-capped mountains it's not hard to guess why). And then there's
people like Ian, people like Eleanor, people who cannot be mistaken.
"I'll
let you borrow some. If you ask nicely," she says to Kalen. "And I
wouldn't take his knives, because he might need them to slay vampires or
something. I'm not cruel."
Ian
It
was always a little awkward when one ran into a group of acquaintances
from one social sphere while spending time with someone from another.
Kalen and Grace, and to a lesser extend Tarrin (who'd only met him
briefly) knew a different piece of Ian than the woman standing beside
him at the counter. Ian might have introduced her, or he might not have.
Ultimately he never got the chance, because shortly after they arrived,
her phone buzzed.
As the woman spoke to whoever was on the
other end of the line, her expression shifted to one of frustrated
concern. She dropped her voice to a low register, speaking quietly with
her face turned away from Ian.
After a minute, she hung up the call. By then her order had arrived, and she paid with a sigh. "I have to go. I'm so sorry."
Whatever
Ian's response to this development, he kept his reactions carefully
schooled. There was a soft shake of his head, and a faint lift of his
shoulders. "It's fine. We'll reschedule."
"Oh, am I someone
you actually schedule time for now?" A lift of amusement touched her
eyes for a moment, but she didn't wait for a reply. "I'll call you
tomorrow." She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. Something soft and
lingering. Then she grabbed her food and made her way outside, leaving
Ian behind.
To stay, or to go? That was the question. Ian
glanced over at the mages' booth consideringly, then finally walked over
and pulled up a chair. "How are you all this evening?"
Tarrin Rasvelg
"Huh.
Penguins. In Australia. Well, you'd know. I stand corrected." Tarrin
set the coffee cup down, finally letting his own attention slide to Ian
and the woman he was with.
"Fall under buildings?" His
attention shifted back to Kalen, giving him a slightly quizzical look.
"You're accident prone, and related to green witches. Well, I guess
that's a good thing to know." He sat back in his seat. "Computers
operate under rules...or am I wrong there too?"
As Ian joined, he gave a small drop of his chin to him. "Alive."
Kalen Holliday
"Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit."
His eyes roll. "Werewolves. If I'm using silverware on anything, it
won't be vampires. We have chairs for tha-" His eyes light up and he
grins. "We need to figure out a werewolf thing for the Halloween
party!!!"
"Not bad," Kalen says to Ian. He looks like he's
running on more caffeine than sleep, but that's hardly he unusual. He
seems...maybe not great, but Ian hasn't seen that since the night they
got dragged into an alternate reality. He does seem both present and
amused.
"Oh...it's never accidental. I attract an entirely different kind of trouble."
Grace
"Every rule can be broken, especially
the ones that involve computers," there's a little smirk there.
Breaking all the laws of computing and bending them to her will is kind
of her everything. And when you consider the universe to be a
computer...
"Eating cobbler," she asserts to Ian. "How are
you? How do you feel about werewolf pinatas? But what would we fill them
with? Moon pies?"
Ian
There was a temporary
air to the way that Ian sat down with them. He flipped the chair
backwards and leaned forward to rest his arms atop it, glancing between
their faces. Kalen and Grace were on one side of the booth, with Tarrin
on the other. Ian could have slid in beside the Hollow One, but he
didn't. Instead he made his own space there at the end of the table.
He asked how everyone was doing. Alive, Tarrin said. Not bad, Kalen added. Eating cobbler, Grace concluded.
"So
I see," Ian responded. Grace asked about werewolf pinatas, and Ian
just... raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess, you're having a Halloween
party."
Tarrin Rasvelg
"Hm." He made a small
sound, crossing his arms over his chest as he, mostly, listened to the
group. "Color my intrigued. Grace has a thing for tiny spoons and
caffeinated ice cream, you attract a 'different kind' of trouble."
Tarrin glanced to Ian. "And what's your special skill?
Otherwise
he was mostly quiet. Now and then he'd take a small drink of his
coffee. Whatever affairs they were talking about were their own.
Kalen Holliday
"We
already are having vampire pi atas," Kalen says with a sigh. But then
he smiles again and his eyes light up as he looks over at Ian. "We are
attaching those ridiculous gummy hearts to them. And then having at
them with stakes. You'll hate it. You should come. I promise at least
the bar won't be there to be ironic."
Tarrin barely gets a glance when he sums up his interest based on that list.
Grace
"Maybe
you should go as a werewolf. So I can steal your silverware to protect
you from it," Grace says, and eats some cobbler. Somehow, she only ever
manages to eat sugary insubstantial meals lately. It's time for more
ramen.
"Ian's special skill is that he could probably leap up
on to the back of my chair and balance on it. If, you know, the chair
were more firmly affixed to the floor. He did that to me in a park once
and it was so cool."
Ian
Tarrin asked
Ian what his special skill was, and Ian looked at him with this
slow-curling wry amusement. The look was heavy with implication. He
could have found a lot of different ways to answer that question.
In
the end, Grace offered an answer for him. Ian exhaled a quiet huff of
breath - this small hint of almost-laughter. Then he added, "That's one, anyway. You'll have to get to know me to figure out the rest."
As for Kalen's party, Ian shot him a look that mixed amusement and skepticism. "I'll think about it."
Tarrin Rasvelg
There
wasn't much he could offer to their party plans. Traditionalists had
their own things they did (he figured they were as such) that didn't
often include those who tried to keep out of the weirdness. That was
alright by him. When Grace spoke he glanced to her, lifting a brow at
the prospect. He might have even said something except that Ian's
comment interrupted just close enough to make him laugh just a little.
"I'll keep that in mind."
And that was largely the extent of
his butting in. He was content to sit there, drink his coffee, and
observe; Grace was always entertainment enough.
Kalen Holliday
"Huh.
I suppose I will need a costume, won't I?" One might think he had
given no thought to a costume. Those people...probably hadn't had Kalen
appear where they were trying to work to present them with an elaborate
costume and pronounce they were going to carnivale.
He nods
in response to Ian. Another night perhaps, he may have kept playing.
Said something about always being serious about the bar. But he is
tired, so Ian gets a nod and a half smile.
Grace
"Were-lion?" Grace suggests. "I'll still steal your silverware."
"I
don't know what I'm going as. Last year I didn't get to try out the
whole Annoia, Goddess of Things that Get Stuck in the Drawer thing. I
was... yeah."
Last year, around this time, world-ending terror
arrived in Denver. Nobody knows just how close Denver came to becoming
the epicenter of an Ebola outbreak that would make the latest horrifying
news headlines look like the sniffles.
Ian
Ian
could have just as easily been classified as an outsider himself. And
yet here he was, being invited to a Halloween party, in spite of his
stubborn avoidance of group activities (threesomes and impromptu games
of soccer aside.) But Kalen could be hard to say no to when he had a
mind to be charming.
"You should go 70's glam rock. Glitter. Platform boots. The whole deal."
Grace went from werewolves to werelions, and Ian very pointedly did not make any comments about werecats.
Tarrin Rasvelg
The
hour was growing late, even for him. He slipped into his wallet to
slide out a few dollars and set it on the table to handle the coffee.
"Nice meeting." He gave a small nod to Kalen, then shifted his attention
to the group as a whole. "Enjoy your night."
He slipped out
of the booth, grabbing his jacket and sliding it on, grabbing his helmet
as he headed back out to his bike. Was a nice little break in his
routine.
Kalen Holliday
Kalen
laughs softly at the suggestion he go 70s glam rock. "Mmmmmmmmm...I do
like glitter. Perhaps." But there is a kind of weight to that
amusement that suggests he might actually do it. "I've already been a
lion, so werelions are out. At least for a bit."
"Night," he says to Tarrin.
Grace
"True.
And I have been a fox. So I cannot be one anymore," she says, eats her
blackberries and sugar. That's all that's really left in her bowl.
"There will also be a bonfire and marshmallows," Grace says, to Ian. "We will try not to set anything important on fire."
Ian
Ian
slid his chair aside to give Tarrin space to slip out of the booth.
Kalen gave serious consideration to Ian's costume suggestion, while
Grace mentioned bonfires and marshmallows.
"It's not a real Halloween party unless someone has to call the fire department."
Ian grinned as he stood up. "I need to head home." (Presumably he'd been about to go do something other than head home not all that many minutes ago, but plans changed.) "See you guys later."
And, with that? He followed Tarrin out the door.
