Arionna de la Babin
The weather isn't entirely nice
yet, though it's warm enough that those who have been through the winter
recently feel it acceptable to wander around in nigh nothing. Some
people anyhow. Others are more sensible and keep to their hoodies until
the weather warms up.
Arionna is not one of those people who
finds it acceptable to wander around in very little, despite finding a
great deal of pleasure in the cold. Though it's not cold, not anymore.
It's too warm really, but it's not likely to cool off anytime soon. It's
going to get warmer, and she'll be back to feeling double the misery,
especially when the days grow longer and the nights shorter. Despite
that, she takes to the park, resting on the grass with a series of books
and papers on the ground in front of her. Some weighed down should the
wind pick up. Her dark hair lays over her shoulders as she peers over a
book. Her legs are out to her side, hidden only partway under a knee
length skirt and a pair of spider-like stockings. It's her long sleeve
that keeps her warm, simple and black to go with her skirt. As usual,
the three ravens rest on a necklace at her throat.
A small
turn of the page shows her deep interest in the book at hand, though
she's not without attention elsewhere. Ari is always wary of those
around her, for reasons so few understand, and so while she seems
engrossed, she's not half as she ought to be. But she is there, with her
tools at hand, just off the path.
Ian
[Awareness]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 5, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )
Grace
[Awareness too!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 6, 7, 7) ( success x 3 )
Ian
It
was 63 degrees in Denver, and the landscape around Washington Park had
the look of early spring: soft earth, muddy in patches where the snow
had only recently melted, and a carpet of old grass that was just
beginning to sprout fresh shoots of green. Ian took the path today,
running in wide loops around the lake. Unlike Arionna, he absolutely was
the type to dress lightly - especially when the weather (and the
activity) called for it. Tonight he had on a pair of black and white
track pants with a tapered leg and a basic white tank top. A black
armband strapped around one bicep held his phone and keys.
His
expression was focused while he ran, zeroed in on some fixed point
ahead of him. His breaths came in a steady rhythm, keeping time against
his pulse. Inhale. Exhale. Blood moving in his veins, drumming against
the inside of his head.
At some point he passed the point
where Arionna was lying in the grass. The ground sloped up to one side,
opening up to a dry patch. Ian's rapid pace slowed as he drew closer,
ramping down to an easy, loping jog. After a brief moment of
consideration, he turned off the path and approached her, finally ending
in a walking pace as he came up to stand beside her. He set his hands
on his hips while he caught his breath, tilting his head to look down at
the book in her hands.
"What are you reading?"
Grace
It
might seem strange for Grace to return so soon to the park. The last
time she was here, a vampire made shadows dance and flow and suffocate
her. But that vampire hasn't been back to this park since. Grace knows
that for a certainty. Chances are, no vampire who knows what happened
will be back to this park for a while, if they're all so terrified of
Mage attacks, thank you very much Sera.
Which is a good thing.
This is a nice park, and one of Grace's favorite places in the city.
The Message 'lives' here. It's not all vampires and creepy shit. And
it's not nighttime -- yet.
She goes along as she usually
does, meandering pathless with her face in her phone. With all this
nature, why wouldn't she be looking at it? But when she catches the
familiar hint of the catlike Ian, she bends in that direction, puts away
her phone, and finally looks.
Oh, dear. He's with Arionna. This could be interesting. As in interesting times.
Still, she walks up, albeit without a smile.
"A book, apparently. Dead tree."
Arionna de la Babin
Arionna
shifts slightly in her place on the dirt as a figure seems to approach.
She stiffens, moves a little to the opposite side, and then seems to
recognize, through voice, that it is Ian. Ari lifts her head, letting
her attention slide over him. Ian had the benefit of looks, as did
Elijah, when talking to Ari; she was still not accustom to well...being a
young lady. Her brows lifted just a little. "I've never understood why
individuals willingly move out of their own way to just run." Ari pulled
her legs in slowly to straighten herself. "Conservation of Large
Felines. Part of a course." Her head tilted a little to the side. Ok,
maybe she could understand it, in a way.
Ah but then there is
Grace, who of course, speaks with honesty. Ari might even come to like
her for that, but for now, Arionna shifts her attention to the other
individual. "If you want to speak simply, then yes, it comes from dead
plants." She curls her legs in further until she's sitting on her
knees.
Ian
Ian gave a small nod of acceptance
when Arionna responded to his question, his expression shifting
slightly to indicate lazy interest. Her previous comment elicited a
delayed smirk as Ian reached up to card his fingers through his hair.
His visual attention shifted to Grace as she appeared at his side,
taking her in for a moment with an air of relaxed greeting. As though
her showing up out of the blue no longer surprised him (which it didn't,
really.)
"I've never understood why some people don't appreciate the bodies they inhabit."
One could probably make a fair point to Ian that many people were not born with the kind of body that he had.
"Running is freeing. It focuses you and makes you feel more alive at the same time. Assuming you don't mind a little pain."
Grace
Grace,
for the record, is wearing her grey jacket today, zipped up to the
neck. It's not the cold, but hey -- a bite-resistant shirt is never a
bad idea, right? It works wonders on all kinds of undead threats. Unless
vampires don't really bite -- that guy she found didn't have any marks.
Maybe they're like the salt sucker from Star Trek, all suction cups
and... eww. Gross.
"A vampire attacked me in this park not too
long ago," Grace says, apropos of nothing, and to Arionna. Ian already
knows. "I think it's scared off, but still. Might do to be careful."
She then turns to Ian. "Hi. I do mind a little pain, for the record."
Arionna de la Babin
"Do
you assume that those who don't engage in such activity are those
without appreciation of their forms?" She closed her book slowly,
focusing on the conversation at hand instead of her book. Besides, there
wasn't much she could accomplish at the moment. "Appreciation is never
limited to one method. A fault in thinking on the part of many." Grace,
Ari had decided, looked the most normal in a city. She just seemed to
fit in a way. Her brows furrowed slowly, though more in interest at Ian.
"Well I can't deny running feels enjoyable, though best when there is a
reason to run, I find."
Oh Grace, Morrigan bless
her. She's abrupt, to the point. They may not agree on much, but the
bluntness she has... "Must not be a very capable vampire."
Ian
"No," Ian countered Arionna's question easily enough. "I assume that about people who say they don't understand the point
of it." His smile was an easy thing though, playing at the edges of his
mouth while he watched her. Grace's advice was sobering, but it didn't
seem to concern him in an immediate sense. There was no coil of tension
or sudden darting of his eyes to check for hidden shadows.
"I
don't think it's quite late enough for vampires yet. But yeah, being
careful is never a bad idea." The topic seemed to bring something else
to mind though, as Ian tipped his head in question, glancing between
Grace and Arionna. "Is she not in the loop yet?"
(He meant Ginger. The Chantry. Someone to explain... all of the things that the new kids usually needed to know.)
Grace
"I have my grave concerns about loops," Grace says to Ian, giving him a pointed look that says: caution.
Truth
is, Grace is still halfway convinced that Arionna isn't merrily
traipsing her way down the same road as that cannibalistic Hermetic they
had to deal with. The other truth is, she's not going to say that in
front of Arionna.
"And yeah, I'd say any vampire who went
about their nights trying to be as showy and gaudy as inhumanly
possible, drawing the ire of not one but two Mages, with absolutely no
backup? Yeah. That counts as being a not very capable vampire."
Arionna de la Babin
"Possibly
not the best assumption to make. Though, maybe those who appreciate
their own bodies less are more capable of appreciating the bodies of
others. " The interaction between him and Grace warrants a calm, quiet
observation, at least until Grace has said her piece.
"If you
mean am I aware of whatever it is that all the rest of you are aware of,
Alex has been kind enough to provide hints. Whatever knowledge you
have, seems to be well guarded." Ari pushed to her feet, lightly dusting
off her skirt. "Probably well. Anyone who admonishes me for
lacking trust, only to do the same, seems unlikely to be worth the
trouble. Seems I've discovered a few good apples, and not the other way
around."
Ian
"Or maybe just young and cocky."
Maybe
there was a double meaning to that, but if so Ian didn't draw attention
to it. Grace got a silent stare in response to her statement, but he
seemed to take the hint because he let the subject drop, allowing
Arionna her misinterpretation.
"Yes, Alex is... helpful, like
that." (Alexander would most assuredly have less complimentary things to
say about Ian.) "Trust isn't a binary. You get to know people, and
gradually you learn the ways you can trust them and the ways you can't.
That takes time. But you can be wary of people and still enjoy their
company. I do it all the time." This seemed to be directed equally at
both Grace and Arionna.
"And I don't think I need much help appreciating the human form in any
capacity." His smile there was self-aware, but he let it linger on
Arionna a moment - acknowledging the obvious innuendo inherent in her
choice of words.
Grace
Grace rolls her eyes at Arionna -- hard. Apparently, there is much reason to work out the eye muscles lately.
"Ari,
you talk about the world as though it's dying and you want to watch.
You want people to stop saving it and let nature take its course. And
you're a Mage. You talk about people as though they were a plague of
locusts that you'd love to squish beneath your feet. And you're a Mage. You might not be much of one yet, but as you grow into your power, you become more you. What you say and believe becomes what you actually do. And it makes me wonder -- are you going to watch the world burn? Or are you just talking out of your ass? I trust people fine -- when they're not assholes."
Talk
about bluntness. Grace holds no punches. Ian will get the picture here
-- the reason why Ari is not, and will not, be in the loop. The loop is
about discussing threats and handling them. Ari wouldn't even be
slightly interested in that anyway.
Arionna de la Babin
If
she has caught onto Ian's innuendo, it has become slightly apparent
with the shift of color to her face, and a small quip of her lips into a
grin that fades almost as quickly as it arrived. Ah but it was there.
"I guess you're right." She says to Ian. "I admit, I've seen little
reason to trust much of any since I've met them. Judgmental, most of
them. Blindly heroic, to a fault I'd say."
"I'm a witch, and I
engage in witchcraft. If Mage is your word for it, then by all means.
As for my perspective on the world, I think very few individuals...no...
no one has the capacity to express my view accurately. It reminds me of
the poor individuals who read Dostoyevsky once and think they
understand the point of it. The truth is there are layers, and those who
think they understand from a cursory read, are those who are shallow
and lack the motivation to tear it apart. What you know, or think you
know, is based primarily on perhaps...two encounters with myself.
Limited sample, don't you think?"
"Personally I think you overstate your importance, and the intensity of the situation with the world.
But then..." She held her hands up lightly in a small shrug. "What do I
know? What I learn I learn of my own accord, with my own will, as has
always been the case. Alex seems to think it best I build some sort of
network with all of you, but I see no reason."
"Do you know
the difference between small town, religious bigots and most of the...
mages... I've met thus far? One is wrapped in technology, and the other
in false civility. Admittedly, at least you're honest about it. I prefer
the honesty. Far less skulking required."
Ian
"Oh
for fuck sake, Grace, do you have any idea what a monster I was when I
was a teenager? Being likable doesn't make someone inherently
trustworthy." Ian let out an irritated breath and rolled his eyes
skyward, as though asking for patience.
"This is a stupid
argument. You're making assumptions instead of talking. I fail to see
how that's helpful to either of you. But if you want to sit here and
pick at each other all night, be my guest. I'm going to finish my run."
And with that, he turned around and jogged back to the path.
