Ian
I'm in the neighborhood. Mind if I swing by?
Ian
shot a text off to Grace a few minutes before he arrived at the
warehouse. There'd been talk at one point of him paying a visit to see
her robots, though with Ian it was just as likely that he had some
alternative motivation. Regardless of his intentions, he hadn't
forgotten their conversation in the park. And so it was that he happened
to be driving out near the place where the warehouse property sat, and
since (for once) he didn't have any plans for the evening, it seemed an
opportune time to stop in.
When he arrived, Ian pulled into
the lot and left his car parked near the building where he usually came
to meet Kalen. He already had security access, so he let himself in,
taking the stairs at a relaxed pace as he headed into the Office. When
he caught sight of Grace, he leaned against the wall and smiled a
greeting.
"Fancy meeting you here."
He had on dark
jeans, black leather boots and a white v-neck t-shirt. Leather bracelets
adorned both wrists. At some point recently he'd gotten his hair cut.
Grace
[Awareness]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 5, 7, 8) ( success x 2 )
Grace
The response comes almost immediately, because even when she's eating, Grace isn't far away from her phone.
You can swing by anytime :)
Ian's
no stranger to the Office. She's felt his presence come and go in this
place, without breaking her coding trance. Today, he texted her.
Curious, that, but not unwelcome at all -- oh no. Ian is great. Ian can
jump and makes her play basketball.
So, when she feels him coming, like some wild mystery knocking at her sixth sense, she peeks out of her office door.
Grace's hair is getting shaggy. It should get cut soon. For now, it just looks messy and unkempt.
"Almost like I spend four fifths of my waking hours here, huh? What's up?"
Ian
"Well,
I did say I wanted to see your robots." Somehow when Ian said that, it
came out sounding a bit like an innuendo. He stepped into Grace's office
and let his eyes wander a moment, taking in the state of her
surroundings - whether it was messy or organized, how many personal
touches she'd left in easy view (photos, etc.) After a beat, he regarded
her with a more genuine expression.
"I also wanted to apologize. For being dismissive about Arionna that day."
Ian Lai apologizing? What will the world come to.
Grace
She opens her door wide, and lets Ian peer inside, because hey -- here be robots.
The
place shows some obvious signs of Kalen having been here and done the
decorating. The walls, for example, are a deep cobalt blue, with
constellations of stars painted in silver. If he had only thought to
stud them with diamonds, he would have. Her desk is an L-shaped
cherry-wood thing, with a workspace covered in leather, upon which sits a
horrible-looking robotic turtle. Grace would win no awards for
aesthetics. This is a solidly functional turtle, with a shell and
retractable legs, and something that looks like a head, but there the
resemblance to a turtle stops. Its feet are rubbery prongs. There are
exposed wires. Presumably the latter will be stuffed inside the shell at
some point for protection, but that time has not yet arrived.
There's
also an ivy plant on the desk with a nametag that reads "Chloe III".
There were two previous Chloes, but they died horrible
dehydration-related deaths when Grace was dragged away from the real
world for months at a time. This plant has a failsafe in the form of a
glass bulb full of water, upturned and slowly dispensing into the pot.
But what Ian would really notice is that It's surrounded by a scaffold
which holds robot arms. Each arm holds a laser, and is busy teasing the
leaves with tiny bursts of red beams.
Shelves line the wall,
and they hold some leather-bound journals with "Teh Wall 01" and "Teh
Wall 02" etc. labeling their spines in black Sharpie marker. There are many
of these, from a time when Grace actually used journals instead of her
computer (because she couldn't). A copper fox mask leans against the
wall on a shelf, along with a Japanese wooden puzzle box and a container
of syringes.
Also in the room is her office chair, and a
large, overstuffed leather couch, that boasts a Grace-sized indentation
in it, and a fuzzy blanket thrown over the armrest. She has her own
mini-kitchen and fridge off to the side of the room in a little nook. Is
it any wonder why she seems to live here? It has all the necessary
elements. It feels like Grace here, like feathers, and like the edges
are sharp.
"Robots," she says, and gestures toward her desk
with the disemboweled Gamera-bot. "I have more impressive ones in the
Danger Room, have you seen it yet?"
Then, he brings up
Arionna. She squints. "I heard she's being taken care of now. A
Chorister who will try to teach her the difference between evil and
misunderstood. Maybe she'll get better someday," Grace says, shrugs.
Ian
[Awareness]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8) ( success x 3 )
Ian
Everywhere
in this room felt like Grace. Her resonance had long-since rubbed off
on the objects and furniture, making the place feel more like a home
than an office. It looked a bit like one too.
"You really do
spend a lot of time here, don't you?" It was a rhetorical question.
Ian's focus swung back to the robotic turtle for a moment, but when
Grace mentioned Arionna's mentor, his eyebrows went up. "Arionna's being
mentored by a Chorister?" Almost, he seemed about to object to
this, but then he thought about it for a moment and laughed. "I think I
might like to see that."
He wandered over to the sofa, but
didn't sit down. Instead he ran a finger across the top of the leather.
"I don't know if she'll get better. I try not to expect things from
people. But she's human, whatever she wants people to think. Insecure
kids who feel isolated tend to lash out." He glanced at Grace, weighing
something in his head. "I spent some time in group homes when I was a
kid. I saw a lot of that shit back then.
"Anyway, you really need to show me this Danger Room. Because right now I'm picturing something out of a science fiction movie."
Grace.
"If Arionna gets worse,
well. Lavinia hunts demons as a hobby. She can take care of her
apprentice, no matter what care that includes," Grace says, as if
speaking of someone's descent into actual evil and subsequently being
put down were just a thing that happens.
In her experience it very much is
a thing that happens. It's happened a lot in Denver. Some Mage gets one
too many kicks in the ego, or delusions of better-than-anyone-else and
decides to unleash terror. Mages can do that quite literally. There's a
problem with being the equivalent of a walking nuclear bomb, is that sometimes people are people and want to go off.
You have to want
to become something better than your average Joe, with vengeances and
hatreds and terrible fears, and yet do that without actually imagining
yourself to be better than Joe.
"I know, Chorister... But
Lavinia sounds good. Not out to convert people, and I doubt very
seriously she's trying to do that with Arionna. I mean, can you imagine?"
Ian
says he wants to see the Danger Room, and Grace lights up, thankful to
have a change from having to think about the problem of Arionna. "It's
my favorite part. Jo and I have played with the lasers in there. I
learned to watch the floor, because I tripped over her!"
It's like tripping is awesome, because she learned something, right?
Ian
"Oh, Lavinia. Yeah, I know her. That's... a little reassuring, actually."
But
Grace didn't much want to talk about Arionna, and Ian was happy enough
to let the subject slide. Apparently the Danger Room had both lasers and
robots, and this fact was doing nothing to deter Ian's natural
curiosity. He laughed at Grace's excited description (and the image of
her tripping over Jo.) "You think you'll do better with me?"
It
almost sounded like a challenge. Ian lifted his eyebrows meaningfully
and walked over to the door, where he paused to wait for Grace to join
him.
Grace
"Haha! No," she says, and yet -- there is a grin on her face.
Ian
is probably better at this than she. Grace is under no illusions that
the room she built will be kind to her just because she made it.
"It's downstairs, I'll show you," she says, and starts for the door.
Sure
enough, down the stairs and past a few doors is an unmarked one that
Grace opens. Kalen has had little influence here. If he had decorated
the place, the mirrors would be framed in gold and there might be plush
carpet that wasn't black padding, and the walls wouldn't be a uniform
shade of grey. It won't really matter once the lights are off, will it?
There
are knobs and buttons along the wall here, labeled with plastic
label-maker strips as: "Lights", "Fog", "Ultraviolet", and "START". A
row of coathooks is on the other side of the door, and this at least
shows some of Kalen's doing, because these are some classy coats.
There's the one Grace wore all winter -- her red, sharply tailored thing
-- but also many others, some of which are Kalen's old things, all done
up with LED strips. Ian should remember that in action. Also
hanging on the wall are a number of modded NERF guns with their own
wires and added hardware. It's a little chillier here than in the rest
of the office, just so one would be comfortable wearing a modded coat.
Hanging
from the ceiling are a number of robot arms wielding the same
(obviously fake) modded guns with laser attachments. You don't need a
person to train with here -- Grace has provided autonomous antagonists.
There could very well be more, hidden within the maze of mirrors and
grey walls, but they're out of sight.
"I want to do much more
with it, but this is a functional alpha," she says, grinning at the
magnificence of her creation. "We can totally play games here."
Ian
When
Ian stepped into the training room, he cast a long, slow sweep of his
gaze over the space, taking in the layout and the obstacles. When his
eyes landed on the robot arms, he tilted his head and stared at them
curiously.
"You really made all this?" There was a kind of
quiet admiration in his voice. He stepped over to the wall, running a
finger over a couple of the labels. "You know, I never actually learned
how to shoot. Not properly, anyway. I've never really liked guns."
Maybe that sounded odd, coming from someone with as much martial capability as Ian had.
"You might kick my ass after all."
Grace
"Good!
I have a chance after all, then," she says, pulls her red coat off its
hook, dons it, and flips a switch in the sleeve. It lights up, of
course, because otherwise, how would you see your target?
She
also picks out her favorite gun. It's light plastic and doesn't take up
much space, which is nice. They all perform basically the same, the
bigger ones don't actually throw more of a punch, because it's all light
anyway. They do run under slightly different frequencies, so that the
game can be tallied at the end (a computer will know which gun shot
which targets, for scoring purposes) but they're not too far off from
each other.
She punches the fog button, which causes a few
hissing jets to blow from the ceiling. The next thing she does it hit
the lights, and then the ultraviolet lights, flooding the place with a
dark purple haze that turns the mist, along with their teeth, eyes, and
fingernails to slightly glowing. The low light doesn't illuminate as
much as it makes the fog a more solid thing -- something to show where
the lasers actually shoot, and something to hide within. It's not quite
descended yet, the cloud of mist at the ceiling, but it promises to.
A
glowing-eyed, bright-toothed Grace tells Ian: "The coats all have a
switch in the right-hand sleeve, you just turn it on, and then we're
ready to go."
Ian
[Mind 2 *innocent whistle* coincidental diff 5 -1 (cunning resonance)]
Dice: 3 d10 TN4 (8, 8, 9) ( success x 4 ) [WP]
Ian
[That's 3 dots of resonance cloaking for the duration of the scene.]
Ian
Ian
watched the fog roll into the room, taking in the way the UV lights
bathed the arena in an unearthly kind of glow. It wasn't the kind of
environment that he was used to training in, but that only made it more
of a challenge. Grace grabbed one of the coats, and after a moment Ian
followed suit, finding one that was his size and made of light,
breathable fabric. He also took a moment to remove his footwear. Quiet maneuvering would be easier barefoot.
Before they got started, he crouched down
for a moment against the wall and closed his eyes, breathing in this
steady, rhythmic pattern. Grace might well wonder what exactly he was
doing. At least, until she felt his resonance dim and slip away, as
though covered by a kind of mist of its own.
When he was ready, he grabbed one of the smaller guns and flicked the switch in his coat. Then he jumped down into the arena.
Grace
"Oh, we're playing that kind of game, eh?" Grace says, smiles, pulls her phone out of the pocket of her jeans.
The
first bit of magic she ever did was to sense space. The second was
sensing life. If reality-bending antics are on the menu, Ian will have
to do a lot more than just mask his resonance in order to hide.
At least, that is the theory.
A few flicks of the thumb, and she's opened her special program, the raw data feed of the Code. Now, it's time to tell it how to render...
Her
gun hangs from her pinky finger as she types out the designation -- she
wants relative coordinate information and an indicator of that
complicated fractal-like material called living tissue.
[Corr 2, Life 1 = Life forms, you precious little life forms, *musical button pressing* where are you?]
Dice: 3 d10 TN5 (1, 3, 4) ( success x 1 ) [WP]
Ian
[Awareness to see if he notices her casting something]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 4, 4, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )
Ian
[Mind shield from this morning. Diff 4 -1 (practiced as all hell)]
Dice: 3 d10 TN3 (4, 8, 8) ( success x 3 )
Ian
[Extending once +1 diff -1 for going slow]
Dice: 3 d10 TN3 (4, 6, 8) ( success x 3 )
Ian
[We'll call this a level 3 shield for one month.]
Ian
[I
sense Life magic, and, uh, something. Mind 3 / Life 2 (targeting
himself) - there is no living pattern here. (This is meant to counter
attempts to sense his pattern via Life magic.) diff 6 -1 (cunning)]
Dice: 3 d10 TN5 (3, 6, 10) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Ian
[He's going to roll an extension for that but I'll save it for next turn.]
Ian
Ian
didn't get far into the arena before he felt the first stirrings of
Grace's will. It wasn't a surprise, really. He'd started the game off by
employing a trick of his own, and Grace was nothing if not resourceful.
So Ian stepped behind a blockade and took a moment to focus his mind,
slipping back into the meditative breathing as he began to weave a
second cloaking effect into his own pattern.
Yes, it most certainly was that kind of game.
Grace
Okay,
the universe is not cooperating. She has to grab these strings of the
right kind of data and merge them into a structure that makes some
sense, and it's just not working all that well.
So she bashes her phone on the side, with a grunt. Come on, function...
All the while, she's focusing intently on her phone and not on the game. Just standing there concentrating real hard is... not a good strategy.
The mist begins to descend over the room, offering Ian even more ability to hide. This is going to be a tough game.
[Extending!]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 8) ( success x 2 ) [WP]
Ian
[And rolling that extension, +1 diff]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 5) ( success x 1 ) [WP]
Ian
[3 successes toward the effect, 1 to last the scene. Stopping there so he can do actual things now.]
Ian
It
wasn't wise to waste too much time sitting still when someone was
hunting you. Ian gave himself just enough time to build a reasonably
effective illusion before slipping off quietly into the mist. Grace
could stand there trying to track him if she liked, but in the meantime
he was going to put some distance between them.
The room was
dark and full of fog, and the strips on his coat glowed with that
ultraviolet cast. His feet tread softly along the floor as he moved,
keeping as much out of sight as he could manage.
Grace
She's
got... something. The bacteria on surfaces, a spider in a corner on the
ceiling, herself. All these shine out like beacons, but Ian?
Oh you little jerkface.
But note, she's smiling. He's making this a challenge.
Something in here is hiding, and she's going to find it.
[One more! Extending agaaaain!]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (1, 6, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Ian
[Stealth]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 5, 6, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )
Ian
[Alertness - Grace are you really still standing in plain sight? (acute senses -2 diff, fog +1)]
Dice: 6 d10 TN5 (2, 2, 4, 5, 6, 6) ( success x 3 )
Ian
Ian
was on the move. But Grace? Grace was still just... standing there.
Like a small, glowing beacon across the room. Ian peered out from behind
an obstacle, staring through the mist until his eyes landed on the
glowing streaks of light that marked Grace's coat.
Ian knew
both his strengths and his weaknesses. The best thing for him to do
would be to close with Grace and fire at point blank range, where his
lack of gun training would be less of a hindrance. But look, there was
the target standing in plain view just... begging to be fired at.
So he did.
[Dex 4 + Firearms 0, +1 diff for an untrained skill]
Dice: 4 d10 TN7 (3, 4, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )
Grace
Buzzt!
Grace's coat makes a noise at her, and her lights go out. She's got a
little time to re-position before the targets and her gun go active
again.
Doesn't matter, got target. "Ian! You got me," she shouts, laughter in her voice.
And she got him. His is a weaker signal than anything else in the room, but he's there.
Now that that's done, she's on the run, skittering her blanked-out self into the arena to go hide.
[Stealth too! Dex 3 + Stealth 2 + Arcane 2]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 2, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
Ian
Ian
had no way of knowing whether his various cloaking effects were
sufficient to block Grace from finding him, but at the very least they'd
given him time to get in a free shot. He grinned quietly to himself
when Grace's coat went dark, but he didn't respond verbally to her
confirmation. No sense revealing himself if he didn't have to.
Of course, Grace knew where he was anyway.
Grace
dashed into the arena, hiding herself from sight. Ian gave her a few
seconds before he began to creep around the obstacles. Wherever she was
he couldn't see her, but he listened - hoping for some hint of movement.
A rustle of fabric. A footstep.
[Alertness]
Dice: 6 d10 TN5 (2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 6) ( success x 1 )
Ian[And stealth again, not that it matters]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5) ( botch x 1 )
Grace
Really,
she almost doesn't need the display showing her where Ian is right now.
He's being... uncharacteristically obvious. Still, she can see
where he is (on her phone, by the noise he's making, by anything
really) making hiding from him easy. Once her lights flick back on,
she's positioned herself right behind the bend he's rounding, ready and
waiting.
Gotcha.
Maybe...
[dex 3 + firearms 1 = shooting Ian with laser!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 7, 10) ( success x 2 )
Ian
"Fuck."
Ian hissed when he felt a buzz in his jacket, dropping his silent act
for a moment. His toe still throbbed a bit from where he'd stubbed it
against the corner of an obstacle, but he ignored it. The pain was less
severe than his irritation with himself for making the mistake in the
first place. A moment later he jumped behind the obstacle, hoping to
move out of Grace's line of sight (though he wasn't entirely sure which
direction the shot had come from.) He took a moment to listen to his
heartbeat, expanding his senses out to search for Grace's pattern.
Without her mastery of Correspondence, he wouldn't be able to pin-point
her exact location, but a little extra awareness couldn't hurt.
[Life 1, diff 4 -1 (practiced)]
Dice: 3 d10 TN3 (1, 2, 4) ( success x 1 )
Grace
[Stealth!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )
Grace
In
between successful strikes, the best thing Grace can think to do is use
that intervening time to put some distance between herself and Ian,
getting ready for the next successful strike.
One further
benefit she has over Ian right now is that she built this place. The
maze is her own, and she's got the twists and turns mapped out in her
head, simply from having put up the walls herself.
So, she knows where to hide.
Ian
might have other tricks up his sleeve, but she's fairly competent at
staying out of his sight while she waits on his time-out. He'll have a
hell of a time trying to spot her, even with the mirrors around to help
with that.
Ian
[extending *mutter*]
Dice: 3 d10 TN4 (7, 9, 9) ( success x 3 )
Ian
[Alertness again]
Dice: 6 d10 TN5 (1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
Ian
It
was difficult to sneak up on Ian (his natural senses were sharper than
most,) but Grace had already proven herself quiet and inconspicuous
enough to accomplish it. Even now, as he finished working his effect and
looked around, listening carefully for any sign of movement, her
presence went undetected - at least by mundane methods.
He could feel
her though. A subtle heartbeat flickering at the edge of his senses.
The closer she was, the clearer the impression became. Rather than
following it, Ian darted in the opposite direction - forcing her to
chase after him. His intention was to head for the far end of the arena.
[Dex+Athletics - *zoom*]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 6, 6, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 6 )
Ian
[And Stealth]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )
Grace
She's
watching the faint trace of Ian on her phone every now and then while
she plots the next move, when the dot that represents him leaps off to
the other side of the arena faster than anyone should be able to. It's
like he's not in a maze, but running a race somewhere.
Damn. Gotta give him props for that, no?
Grace
is not nearly so agile as to try to race him back. This isn't a speed
contest, it's a hunt, and the maze has limits. She'll follow, inexorably
and slowly, trying to cut off the available paths -- trying to corner
him.
[wits + athletics = nuh uh, no escape!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 6, 7) ( success x 2 )
Ian
Grace
had the advantage here. She knew the layout of the arena like the back
of her hand. Ian had barely gotten a cursory glance before the room was
plunged into shadowy fog. At present, his only real boon was his speed
and agility, but that couldn't help him if he was cornered. He felt
Grace's pattern recede as he put distance between them. And for a while,
there was a sense of relief, because wherever she was, she wasn't able
to follow quickly enough to catch him. But she kept after him anyway,
using her knowledge of the space and Ian's own breakneck momentum
against him.
Until suddenly he found himself facing a dead end
with only one available escape route - the route from which Grace was
steadily approaching.
Animals hated being cornered. So Ian did the first thing his instincts told him to do - climb the fuck out of there.
[He's
going to attempt to scale over the side of the wall. Dex+Ath, diff...
7?]
Dice: 8 d10 TN7 (2, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )
Grace
[Dex + Ath = Can she stay out in front of him with this new wall-climbing strategy? Double-back in the maze quick-like!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )
Grace
[Now, can she stay quiet and sneaky while she does this?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10) ( success x 2 )
Ian
[Oh, can he actually detect her this time? Maybe?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN5 (1, 4, 4, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 3 )
Grace
She's
got her gun ready to go again, because Ian could very well choose to
come right to her, with his choices so limited. She keeps glancing at
her phone to be sure of that. But then?
The dot on her screen hops a wall.
She blinks.
Resourceful, oh yes...
She
was walking forward, but then turns on a dime and quickly shuffles her
way around a corner, through a doorway, out to... a better spot.
Ian
[Initiative +7]
Dice: 1 d10 TN1 (9) ( success x 1 )
Grace
[Initiative + 6!]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (1) ( botch x 1 )
Grace
[Shoot Ian! With laser!]
Ian
[Split roll (this is going to be hilarious) 1a: Shoot 1b: Evade]
Ian
[Dex+Firearms -2 +1 diff, and yes of course he's spending WP]
Dice: 2 d10 TN7 (4, 7) ( success x 2 ) [WP]
Ian
[Dex+Athletics (evasion spec!) -3]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (6, 6, 7, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 6 ) Re-rolls: 1
Grace
[Well, you were right, that was hilarious! Shooting Ian, which is not going to work!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 9) ( success x 1 )
Grace
Ian
is fast, and he was not surprised by Grace's presence. Now is the time
for him to shine, apparently, and the lights on her coat go out just as
she was going to shoot him back.
Not that she could have,
because like a ghost, he's gone in a split second, leaping off behind
walls again, much faster than she could possibly chase.
"Daaaamn. Okay, fine! You win at laser tag!"
It's a concession, to be sure, but boy does he deserve it. Ian could be a Navy Seal or something, good grief...
Ian
It
was perhaps inevitable that the two of them would end up in a face-off.
Grace managed to trap him down a corridor, but when he jumped the wall
she was forced to change her route. Perhaps it was surprise or
carelessness, but her footsteps made just the barest bit of sound as she
moved. Between that and the approaching pulse of her pattern, Ian knew
where she was. And she knew where he was. There was nothing left for
them at that point but to face each other.
In the end, it came
down to simple agility. Both of them raised their guns, but Ian was
quicker on the draw. Grace's coat went dark at the same moment that Ian
leaped out of the path of her aim.
Okay, fine! You win at laser tag!
Ian
dusted off his jeans and grinned as he walked into view again. "I
suppose it's only fair, considering you helped Kiara tie with me at
basketball."
Grace
[Manipulation + Subterfuge = I'm totally not going to try to shoot you as soon as my rig comes back to life again...]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 5, 6) ( success x 1 )
Ian
[Per+Subterfuge - oh I see how it is]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 4, 6, 6, 7, 7) ( success x 4 )
Grace
Ian
shows himself again, while Grace is still down for the count, her
glowing-bright grin showing just how gleeful and... menacing she is.
"Hey, I help out the underdog. Somebody has to help balance the scales right?"
Heh, heh, heh. Balance things indeed.
Okay, count the seconds -- three, two, one...
Ian
[Dex+Brawl - grab Grace's gun]
Dice: 8 d10 TN7 (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )
Grace
[Dex + Ath = noooo, don't take my gun!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 9, 9) ( success x 2 )
Ian
[Strength]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 8) ( success x 1 )
Ian
Something
about the look on Grace's face made Ian pause a moment, eyeing the
tense set of her shoulders. And just as she went to raise her gun his
hand shot out, fingers wrapping around the plastic muzzle as he pulled
it up and out of the way. He didn't disarm her - not quite - but she'd
have a struggle on her hands if she wanted to try and shoot him.
He raised an eyebrow pointedly.
"Sore loser, I see."
Grace
Grace is still in a rather playful mood, so her pout is a decidedly fake one. Boooooo, she loses again!
"Well, I had to try! I can't catch you, so..."
Her eyes shift from side to side. "Good game, though. Want some coffee? More robots?"
Ian
Ian
pressed the button inside his coat sleeve, releasing his hold on
Grace's weapon now that he was no longer an active target. "Yeah, it
was... fun." He said that last word as though it surprised him a little.
"I should probably get going though. I have to be up early tomorrow."
He unzipped the jacket and slung it over an arm, walking back toward the
row of hooks and switches on the wall where they'd come in. The room
looked different when he flipped off the fog and the UV and turned the
regular lights back on. Less ominous. He returned his gun and coat and
knelt down to put his boots back on.
"Hey," he asked, glancing
up from what he was doing to take in the profile of Grace's figure.
"Out of curiosity... are you into women, or... just not really into
anyone at all?"
Grace
Okay, that came
out of nowhere. Grace is busy putting her coat away when he brings up
the question of Grace's sexuality, apropos of nothing.
She gives him this sharp look, still quite amused. "Are you that upset that I don't stare at your butt? Does it bruise your little ego?"
"Seriously,
though? Complicated question. I count myself as rather asexual, though,
yeah. For the longest time, I really didn't want to touch anybody, but I still tried out of this desire to be normal. Of course, now, I have given up on ever being normal. It's not exactly in the cards for me."
Ian
There
was a huff of laughter at that. "Upset? No. Just curious. I thought you
might be, but then I saw the way Jo acted around you. Figured instead
of making assumptions, maybe I should just ask."
Ian finished
sliding his second boot on and got to his feet. "Anyway, it's not
abnormal. People are who they are. I take shit for having too much sex,
you probably get shit for not having enough. Fuck other people's
opinions."
He started through the door, but turned back, smiling. "Also, my ego is not little."
Grace
"The
way Jo acts around me?" Grace has to actually think about that one. But
then, the only other person to have remarked on her unusual lack of
attention to either sex -- was Jo. Hmm.
"She doesn't act like that with everyone?"
There's a shrug to that.
"And I meant that as a sarcastic 'little'," she says, following him on the way out.
