[Littleton] Chuck had given her a very discrete task: gather up your electronics and come to my place. Of course, that took time, and a little more doing that it would for most people. Chuck and Emily, they were steeped in technology (even if she refused to let it define her). And their lives didn't come a a screetching halt because some Techie might (not) have bugged a teen's cellphone. He still had work, she still had school, and they both a little prepwork to do.
They'd set a time, and Emily showed up in her not-terribly-new, not-terribly-awesome mid-90s compact to pick him up. Chuck's car was certainly more fun to drive (and a bit safer) but today, at least, Emily's went. If he noticed the plethora of tools in her trunk he might wonder whether it always went, but that was neither here nor there.
They had stops to make: groceries so she could make the promised home-cooked meal, and the HSBC branch in Chicago. Chuck had likely recognized it as a major international bank, or at least googled it. Conveniently, their branch office here also offered safe deposit boxes.
Down they went into the vault-like room, and Emily's box was withdrawn. When the bank representative stepped away, Emily opened it. Inside was her US passport, her International Drivers License, and a cell phone (a few years old) with the battery and sim card removed.
[Carmichael] ".....jesus, Em," he says, wide eyed, as if he expects some bad spy to come from around a corner and start monologue-ing or something. "Are you Bond's long lost cousin or something?"
The IDL gets eyed thoughtfully, as does the American passport, but there's only so much he can do with those even if he had the equipment here with him. The phone, on the other hand, gets picked up. "I'm not gonna do anything more than diagnostics with it, I promise, but if I tell you need to you're gonna have to call Bosley or whoever and get a new one. Good?"
He looks at her curiously, phone, sim card and battery in hand - the other stuff left in her box. And this, here, is all mundane.
[Littleton] She's not a member of MI6. Emily is too young for that, and there's no gun. If she was secret service, she'd have a firearm. It's just that simple. And the phone's from an American carrier, one with a strong global network, but a European one. Nevermind that her passport is American, too.
When he asks after her illicit occupation, Emily's mouth curls wryly. She lifts an eyebrow just so (wouldn't you like to know?) and then chuckles a bit, letting the rouse fall away.
"The paperwork's old enough to not be RFID chipped. I'm not worried about it," she says, easily. With a little shrug. "I doubt the phone's got enough charge on it for you to play with it here. We'll have to take it with us. It should have a generic microUSB connect," another easily thrown out comment. It's as if she isn't really worried about it.
"If you tell me to swap it out, I'll make the calls. But I'd really rather not. So here's hoping it's all good," because I really do not like dealing with your Government.
[Carmichael] "Alright, let's do this."
He's still imagining Bond-esque scenes, in which one of them is the dashing, secretive hero and the other is the geek who makes good; there's little question, really, as to which of them would be which. But still, it's fun to think about, until he shakes it off and gets to business. Which, in the car, is curious questions about what her parents do, and what she does - as an undergrad, no less! - that calls for such things. Not, of course that he expects any answers - it's more an almost boyish running on than anything else. It's cute, maybe.
At the condo, though, once all her tech toys are brought up and in, it's a different story.
"You're fairly sure your spy phone can't have been tampered with, so we'll save that for last. Put it in a drawer in the guest room for now, before I turn anything on, with the pieces separate."
Then, she can help herself to the kitchen - she knows where it is. And, while she does as he's asked, he turns on music - Rush, perhaps oddly. And only when she's returned does he start plugging in and turning on. It's interesting to watch, really, how immersed he gets in these things when he's not at work and doesn't have to pay attention in case other customers appear.
((Accio . . . laptop security!))
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Carmichael] (And, extended)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6) Re-rolls: 1
[Littleton] Their conversation must have gone a bit like this:
What do your parents do?
Work. Like everyone else's.
C'mon. You've lived in how many countries? You have a secret Embassy phone--
It's not a secret, and that's different.
No kidding!
No, something went wrong once. If it hadn't, I wouldn't have the phone.
And the ... what was that card?
IDL? It's an International Driver's License. I've lived in several countries, Chuck.
And...
A passport? Yes. That's suspicious.
So what is it your parents do again?
Is this your street, or is it the next one?
Next one.
And then they're back at Chuck's place, and he's sent up with the groceries so she can wrestle her tech toys into the flat on her own. Hacker or no, she signs him into her laptop and leaves him to work his magic while she puts together dinner. It doesn't take long before suspiciously delicious smells start emanating from that neglected place of food prep. Chuck never cooked, from what she could tell.
Once she's got things in a place where she can let them idle, Emily wanders over to his workspace to watch over his shoulder. Her hands are redder, because she's just washed them in hot water, and the cooking scents of their dinner are tangled up in the fainter scents of detergent and soap.
He's completely enthralled, so he might startle when she lays a hand on his shoulder (gently [just so]) to let him know she's in the room with him.
[Ashley McGowen] ((Do you mind if I drop Ash in? CC said she didn't mind!))
to Littleton
[Carmichael] He does, indeed, startle, and it ends in a bad key stroke, which has him undoing a line or two of code (and my, that's a lot of strange commands, in a computer language that looks a bit like about ten other languages but has a flair all of its own, and a clear knowledge of machine level code behind it) and redo it, but when he's done, he's satisfied. Ish. As much as any tech-head ever is about this sort of thing, at any rate, though as far as Em can tell, he's done a good job.
And he also does a good job explaining - telling what language(s) he's used, and how they work together, and what this means for Emily and her laptop. When he'd mentioned that he'd spent some time tutoring, it may or may not have registered . . . but now, it's obvious. And equally obvious, he's quite good at it.
"So, see, it's really not that hard. Just a little time consuming, sometimes, you know?"
[Littleton] ((I don't mind!))
[Littleton] (( Sometimes a quick study... Int+Comp))
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 6, 6, 6, 8, 9 (Failure at target 7)
[Littleton] Usually Emily picks up on thing fairly quickly, but not today. Perhaps it's that he's got just that many more languages threaded through his work than she's used to, or that she only had a look at the screen for so long... but whatever Chuck's explaining doesn't seem to get through to her the first time around.
"Ahh... I don't quite follow," she said, as she scrunched her eyes shut in an expression of frustration, then shook her head a little. "Lemme parse through it again, a few times. Maybe it'll make more sense then."
And now they have a problem, as she's responsible for dinner, but her perfectionistic side cannot let this go. She doesn't understand something that resolves all the way down to ones-and-naughts. And she will understand it (so help me God), sooner or later.
So she's nudging him aside, a little, so she can get a better look at the code. And she's asking pointed questions about why and how. She's a tenacious student, frustratingly detail driven, and easily motivated by personal failure.
[McGowen] It's been a while since Ashley had a weekend to herself. Or bothered to take one off and avoid seeing other people, avoid thinking about the cabal or the chantry or her wayward apprentice or about Hell or the monsters hanging over their heads. Dogging their steps, lurking in a well beneath the white fence house or whispering at the edges of thought.
So she took one, and read books and played with the dog and forced herself to eat two entire meals, and perhaps it's working. She's a solitary creature at heart. Either way, she'd be a hypocrite for telling Enid to make progress while ignoring her own backwards slide.
That time's up, though, and it's time to turn her thoughts back to her more immediate, pressing concerns. That's why Chuck's phone is ringing this afternoon, right about...
Now.
[Carmichael] And Chuck's answering easily, as if that's why he's here - maybe it is, in a way. For today, at least. All her tech toys are belong to him, and she's in his space, asking smart questions, and . . .
The phone rings. [.saved.]
"Here, you can look it over," he says, moving out of his chair and collecting his phone from the other end of the table where he eyeballs the display. "Oh!" Answer is hit, and a moment later, "Hey, Ashley. How're you?"
No, that's not . . . whatever it is. That's nothing. That's not an awkward geek saved from an awkward geek moment in the slightest. Not that he minds being flirty with Emily, of course! That's fun. But there are times that flirting leads to other things, and other things take perfectly good situations and make them something else, and . . . well. Emily's a pretty girl, young, who likely has other things going on.
[Littleton] Emily has other things going on, but probably not the type that Carmichael would suspect. It's good, though, that the phone rings and snaps them both out of that narrowminded focus. Because Emily has things in the kitchen to see to.
She drifts away, out to a polite distance where his conversation could remain mostly personal. Add in the sound of water running from the kitchen tap, and her concentraion on a humbler Art, and they were all but secluded in the Cone of Silence (which was not impervious to the smell of roasting chicken and herbed potatoes).
She's slicing apples, tossing them with sugar and spices, and layering them into what passes as a baking dish in Chuck's kitchen. Hopefully it's better appointed than most bachelor pads. If not, Emily could make do (she often had to).
[Carmichael] "Oh, yeah. I'm going over the rest of Em's stuff right now, so come on by. Can get more done all at once, and all - I just set up her laptop, as far as mundane stuff goes." Em wanders off into the kitchen and now Chuck's got a PDA in hand, toying with it, getting a feel for it, before getting down to real work. "If you want me to be a little less mundane, I can do that too, though here isn't . . . well, it's okay, but it's hardly a safe room. It's just a place."
Meaning he can do it, but he can also get smacked. And he can get traced.
[Littleton] She moved comfortably here, something Chuck might notice out of the corner of his eye. There were no wasted movements, no hesitation -- until she couldn't find something in his cupboards or drawers. It was almost meditative, focusing on the tastes and textures and simple actions that were wrapped up into making a meal. She doesn't use timers, either, choosing to keep track of time off the clock with no reminders.
Midway through his conversation, the microwave (he's got to have one) runs. It never reaches its buzzer. Emily's melting butter, to fold into some other things, to make a topping for the crisp that is almost finished. Then it's on to covering the pan with foil, setting it aside to slide into the oven when dinner came out.
He'd have leftovers all week.
[Carmichael] "Alright, see you in a few." And, true to his word, he sets aside Em's PDA and texts his address (not at all from a certain house where a they'd found a certain dead Hollower) so that Ashley can get there before calling into the kitchen. "Ashley's coming over, wants me to look at her laptop. And that smells fantastic."
The PDA he can walk with, and moves to sit at the bar between kitchen and living/dining room, waggling his brows appreciatively.
"There's beer in the fridge, if you want it. And a wine rack in the cupboard there, if you'd prefer that."
[C'mon, PDA, you know you wanna be secure like your buddies Lap Top and Cell Phone. Dontcha?]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Carmichael] [and extended!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 9 (Failure at target 6)
[Littleton] Emily grinned, broadly, when he seemed pleased with dinner. It was hardly an even exchange, but she was making herself useful and that always felt nice. She turned that same, pleased (happy) smile up toward him when he settled in at the bar.
"Well it's certainly not coffee and hot dogs," she said, with a mock self-derision in her tone. Playful. "I'll grab a beer if you're having one, otherwise I'm fine with water," she said. Perhaps remembering the last time they'd started down the alochol & technology path together.
"Do you mind if I watch what you do with Ashley's computer? I am going to learn this, but I think watching it straight through might help." She already had plans to go over what he'd done to her own computer, again, as soon as possible. Emily leaned against the counter, wiping her hands off on a kitchen towel, and chatting amiably with her fellow geek. "Where did you learn all of this, anyway?"
[McGowen] [Ignore this.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 6, 8 (Success x 2 at target 4)
[McGowen] She'd already been on the way to Chuck's house when she'd called him, so it takes her a little less time to show up than she'd predicted. Or would have, if she didn't pause to glance toward the house where they'd found the Hollower. She's been there a few times since that night, to check up on and maintain her wards until Gregor can investigate the Shallowing himself.
Unfortunately, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Both of them, from where they are, can feel an aggressive, hungry pulse of resonance. They might not think much of it: it's a natural enough feeling, with the scents permeating and mingling within Chuck's apartment.
It takes a few minutes before there's a knock at the door.
[Carmichael] Distracted by food and conversation, Chuck . . . doesn't flub, but simply sets the PDA aside. Starting over in a bit is fine with him, when it means there's talk about this sort of thing. Computers, particularly their programming, are a source of inspiration and passion for him, even where they might not be for others.
"Yeah, watching is fine. And . . . oh, I don't know. My parents got me my first computer when I was about eight, and I took to all things geek like a fish to water. By the time I was nine, I'd figured out how to upgrade the hardware and all that, so I started with working out software, code, that sort of thing. Most of it's from picking up books off of sale racks whenever I had a surplus in allowance or birthday money or whatever, then there was college. Which . . . is not really necessary in this sort of field, whatever they say, but the bonuses I get to paychecks when they find out I have a Masters is nice."
And then, there's a knock on the door, and Chuck moves to answer it - he's all jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt and sock feet tonight, all curly white boy near-fro, all friendly smiles. In other words, he's all Chuck. "Heya, come on in. Em's making me dinner - want a beer?"
[McGowen] Her face is scratched (not badly - there's a small abrasion near her jaw, and some dirt) and her coat is dirty, smeared with mud and flecked with bits of snow and ice. Pupils dialated, the bag that contains her laptop pulled close to her side. But, other than a few seconds more of breathing that is quicker and rougher than usual, she seems to be fine, and doesn't hesitate to step into Chuck's house.
Emily is here too, and it's with some surprise that she takes note of the dark-haired girl in Chuck's kitchen. "Beer would be fine," she says, setting her bag down inside the door and reaching up to unbutton her coat. "Hi, Emily."
[Littleton] "Hello, Ashley!" came the call from the kitchen, after Chuck had opened the door, in an increasingly familiar mostly-British accent. Emily was, indeed, making dinner. Making Chuck dinner, that's right (subtle distinctions). And she, for one, has taken that Hungry feeling to be her own stomach reminding herself of the impending mealtime (for now).
Em was dressed pretty similarly to Chuck. Socks (shoes left by the door), jeans, a long sleeve tee. Though Chuck's was probably not a faint shade of pink. Or maybe it was. Who knew?
She pulled three beers out of the fridge, opened them, and wandered out toward the entry way to hand them out. "Good to see you again," she said, this time without yelling from another room.
[Carmichael] Chuck's shirt is, indeed, not a faint shade of pink. It's black, and says 'gamer' across his chest. What Ashley walks into is very much a bachelor pad, though it's clean for such; neat is the issue. There are wires and computer bits and pieces on every available surface, some more readily recognizable than others (and none remotely resembling a mac). There's a wall lined with bookshelves, which are mostly filled with text-type books on various programming languages and facets of computer geekhood in general. There's quite a nice television, and about four distinctly different consoles. The kitchen is separated from the main room by a bar/counter, complete with stools, and there's a hallway that leads to four doors (two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a linen closet).
"We're just talking tech. And she's saving me from another night of carryout," he says, as he moves to get beers for the three of them. "Might be some gaming later, if you ladies are interested," comes added with a waggle of brows.
[McGowen] Ashley shrugs out of her coat, taking a moment to check for rips or tears, and then moves to hang it up. A glance over the apartment follows, as she reaches up to run fingers through her hair to straighten it back out again: she makes note of the books, first and foremost, and they're quite the variety she would have expected.
Her clothes are also not a faint shade of pink: it's the blue and grey Ashley seems to favor, a blue buttondown striped with grey beneath a grey sweater, to be specific. She removes her shoes, lifts a shoulder and rubs at her jaw to swipe some of the dirt away without much care for the abrasion, and then steps farther inside. Seconds later she remembers to retrieve her laptop from her bag, and she brings it with her.
"I don't really game, but I can watch," she says, tucking the computer beneath her arm. (Mac, just as Chuck suspected in the Best Buy.)
[Poole] It's just another Tuesday night for Riley Poole. She's in her room, sitting at the little desk at her little window that faces the little street on which she and Chuck live. Dressed in a pair of lavender drawstring lounge pants, a yellow tee that reads The Girl in white and Next Door in blue, and a grey jersey hoody, she pulls her cell phone over to her, takes a sip of her coffee, and texts away.
In the condo across the courtyard from her own, Chuck's phone goes off.
[Littleton] Chuck's phone rings again, and this gets a light chuckle from Emily. (Someone's pop-u-lar tonight!). Or maybe it's the Mac that he's going to have to work his voodoo on. Either way, Chuck's distracted with another tech toy, leaving Emily time to pour over whatever it was she missed on her first pass through the modification he'd made to her own computer.
She's standing there, scrolling through the code, taking her time and trying to put all the pieces together, while he's answering the phone. Again. And this time she's a bit more curious as to who's calling.
[Littleton] (( I am going to figure this out.... today? Int + Comp ))
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 5, 5, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 7)
[McGowen] ((Punkin wants to know if it would be cool if Rene tracked Ashley's resonance down here and ended up running into the scene. >.> I think it would be kind of hilarious. Looks like we're popular tonight.))
to Carmichael, Littleton, Poole
[Carmichael] Text back to Riley, quick-like! My tech skillz are in use. Come over for beer and meet some friends - oh, and bring your tech. We'll kill lots of birds with one stone. Em's here.
"Riley might be on her way. Mind a party?" He's teasing, mostly. Chuck isn't a party kind of guy, unless said party involves LAN - random little get togethers that involve beer and talking and music are fine. Parties get overwhelming, and while Chuck's nicely social, he does get a bit on the anxious side if it's more than that.
[McGowen] She takes little notice when Chuck's phone rings again. Ashley receives a call every few hours or so of late, and it no longer occurs to her that such a frequency is abnormal. Sometimes change steals up on you, silent, and edges in over your shoulder and embraces.
The laptop is set on the countertop there, so that she can speak with both Chuck and Emily without much difficulty - and get a look at whatever Emily happens to be cooking, besides. She picks up the bottle that's offered to her and raises it, leaning her elbows on the counter and taking a long pull at it before looking sidelong at Emily. "I didn't realize you two were friends," she says. "I just thought you knew each other. But I probably shouldn't be surprised."
Then Chuck mentions that Riley is going to come over, and Ashley looks at him and raises a brow. "I don't mind."
[Kaya] Kaya was still getting use to the city, both in the fleshworld, and in the deadlands. Since she didn't hold classes on Tuesdays, she decided to spend some time death bound. When she reached one area in the Cabrini Green suburb of Chicago, she paused. One apartment seemed to glow in an ethereal casting of hues. This made her curious, and she went to investigate, looking to see what would cause such a disruption in the land of the dead.
[Littleton] In the kitchen, there's a foiled wrapped baking dish ready to go into the oven when whatever is currently cooking comes out. And that whatever is a roasting chicken, paired with herbed potatoes. There are french beans, cleaned and ready to be blanched quickly just before meal time. And Emily was cooking for an army, or at least a healthy portion of leftovers, and that may turn out to be lucky. Seeing as Chuck's phone kept ringing, heralding new arrivals.
But that was not where the Orphan's attention was when she lifted her hands over her head in a gesture of triumph and exclaimed: Ah-HAH!. Quite undignified. The smug smile (revelation) faded, when she realized that Ashley was looking her way. Her hands dropped back down to a reasonable elevataion, and her expression schooled to something a bit more... embarassed.
"I was just... " Pause, a faint flush. Hermetics probably didn't do victory dances. So hers would have to wait. "Chuck and I... met a couple weeks ago," Emily explained, simply. "We sort of speak a common language. It was nice to have someone to talk to," A pause. "And learn from," she gestured with her beer toward the laptop that had just elicited a victory cry from her.
[Littleton] Emily, still somewhat chagrinned, adds in Chuck's direction, "Yay! Riley?" Which meant that, of course, the other Geek Squadder was welcome. And... oh, that she was developing an impressive blush. And she hadn't even danced the way that Riley had at Best Buy.
[Rene Vitalli] *There's a knock at the door. Sharp. Followed by another equally loud knock, as though an afterthought. Ashley's resonance was faint. Insatiable Hunger. The sort that gnawed your stomach lining through, never satisfied. Ashley. Another knock, more insistent. The Hermetic and she had things to speak of. A statuesque black woman stands in front of Chuck's door, glaring blandly at the blank window. A smoke dangles from her lips.*
[Poole] The return text is met with a quirked brow and a crooked smile. Coffee is drained, jeans are found, and socks. Dr. O is pushed off the bed he's made of her shoes. The shirt stays the same, and the hoody stays on. After all, Riley doesn't have to go outside to get to the condo Chuck is renting.
Riley sits on the couch to put on her shoes, glancing up to see whatever it is that her dad is watching. "I'm going over to Chuck's," she says, tying her left shoe with a flourish before bouncing up off the couch.
Matt Poole smiles at his daughter, and if any of the folks gathered at Chuck's could see it now, they'd know where Riley gets her charm. He's a bit older, dark hair and beard threaded with grey, but there's still a youthful twinkle in his blue eyes. Riley doesn't need to tell her dad where she's going. It's more of a courtesy, and one she's more likely to honor after spending a horrifying evening in a stranger's basement.
She grabs up her messenger bag that contains her laptop, and heads around the hall toward Chuck's door. Someone else is there already, clearly waiting. Riley smiles, shifts her bag up onto her shoulder.
"Hey. Are you a friend of Chuck's?"
[Rene Vitalli] *Rene turns. Moves like a predator gone slow motion in a nature documentary. Sideways, giving her back neither to the newcomer, nor the door. Riley's sunny smile is met with a look of dull malice. Almond eyes blinking slowly. She's beautiful. Beautiful the way sharks and snakes are beautiful. Burnished brown skin and classic features. Voice not matching the ominous wrapper. Small, crisp. A little girl's voice. *
No.
[Carmichael] And, look, the door opens. To reveal . . . a stranger. "Um, hello?" And Riley, who gets the standard charming grin, the one that splits his face, dimples his left cheek, and makes brown eyes shine. "Hey, you. We're playing security 101. You getting your coding on, or joining the class? Em's a quick study."
Rene, though, gets a raised eyebrow. ".....I didn't order anything. You might have the wrong house?"
[Kaya] Kaya managed to make her way to the apartment where the strange glowing hues of Quint in the deadlands glowed. As more people in the land of flesh gathered in the apartment, the glowing grew. As she opened the door to the apartment, the door in the real world opened as well, though they saw no one enter. Kaya saw images, figures of people where the Quint was breaking through. She tilted her head, even more curious now. Were these more mages?
[McGowen] Ashley hasn't yet realized that she's been nigh unto stalked. She's in the kitchen with Emily, watching with...is that a smirk?...as the girl lets out a cheer at the computer. "It's good to get a lot of influences when you're just starting out, I think," she tells her. "Makes your conviction in where you eventually end up that much stronger."
She calls a greeting to Riley over her shoulder as she hears the door open, as she hears Chuck's greeting.
[Littleton] ((I'm not sure what you can/can't pick up on from the way Kaya's going about things, but Emily has 6 quint in her pattern, so she'll be quite bright.))
to Kaya
[Littleton] "Come on in," Emily calls out to Riley, even as she heads for the door way to greet the other young woman. Emily's all smiles and easy-going tonight -- until she hears Rene's voice. Then the dark-haired Orphan stops, her smile fades a little, and she takes a long hard pull off her beer.
"I'm making dinner," she says, through Chuck to whoever's at the door (as if you don't already know). Her voice is a little tighter, and she sees no reason to go pull Riley into the flat, not anymore. Instead Emily makes a tactical retreat to the kitchen, casting a sidelong (meaningful?) look to Ashley that is entirely wary and anything but pleased.
[Rene Vitalli] *Chuck is looked at for a moment, considered, as though she's calculating just how much time it would take to loosen his skin off his face, crawl in there, and lay some eggs. Noises in the condo get her attention. A solid shoulder hits the nerd's as the dark woman pushes past him and enters the house as though it her own. A voice cheers, and a low familiar tone sounds in the direction of the kitchen, guiding Rene's footfalls. She passes mirrors, windows, without even a flicker of her reflection showing up. *
Ashley.
[Carmichael] The door is already open, actually, as Chuck is standing there talking to Riley (who he knows) and Rene (who he doesn't). Inside, Emily and Ashley are in the kitchen, which is separated from the main room by a bar/counter, and at a right angle from the door. It's a nice little place, all told, full of computer books and parts, and gaming equipment, both console and PC. To the left of the door, there's a key rack with a mirror above it, and . . .
"Hey!" That's an irritated geekboy. Who notices, ".....you, um, have no reflection," and gets completely distracted from his ire. This is new and interesting.
[Kaya] The apartment door slams shut. Kaya does this, musing herself to see how these people will react. As she passes by Chuck, he felt a cold breeze. Her hand going through the quint and smiling as it reacts with her own.
[McGowen] That presence is unmistakable, the little girl voice that accompanies it even more so. Ashley is not faced toward the door at the moment; currently, her back is to Rene, who can see her shoulders seize up. Emily can see her face freeze for a split second before she turns around, half-empty bottle held loosely in hand.
"Rene?" She looks at the Euthanatos for a moment, trying to process that she's here and absorb it, before her tone becomes mildly reproving. "Rene, friends don't stalk friends."
[Poole] The dark-skinned stranger's malicious look does not affect Riley's smile. Except it seems to freeze in place. It's the smile of someone long used to working in customer service, who deals with irrationally belligerant people on a nearly daily basis.
"Ah. Alrighty then."
The door opens, and there's the man of the hour. Good ol' affable, slightly bumbling but adorable Chuck, whose skills with computers can make him kind of a douche to deal with sometimes. The freeze melts away from Riley's smile, turns it into something charming and genuine. "Hey." It's all the greeting she gives before passing her partner in crime and heading into his home.
"I've..." she drifts when Rene enters and shoulder checks Chuck. She shakes her head. The woman is looking for Ashley, and this is Chuck's domain. It's up to him if he wants to do anything about the strange woman heading for her.
"I've always got my coding on. What're we doing?" she asks as the door shuts behind her on its own. Riley glances back over her shoulder, but ultimately doesn't think much of it. More than half the doors in the building are spring loaded and close on their own all the time.
[Littleton] Rene was coming her way. This was the inverse of awesome. Emily busied herself with cooking things, trying to catalogue all the sharp pointy implements of Death and their locations, as quickly as possible. In ... a... totally nonchalant way. It would be unnoticeable. Just like how her demeanor had shifted from triumphant to concerned (a little pale [should we call that worried]) in the space of a few heartbeats.
The bad part with being at the stove, checking on the chicken in the oven, was that it left her sort of trapped when Rene entered the room. The good part about it, was that she had a five pound 350-degree poultry-based potential thrown weapon on hand. Should things get out of hand.
Which they did whenever Rene was around. Dogs got shot. People got grabbed. Not good, not good at all.
The chicken came out of the oven, done and smelling delicious. The crisp went in. And the potatoes came out. And now, Emily was stuck. Looking over and trying to catch Chuck or Riley's eye (Help. Me.) without alerting Rene. Oh what a dangerous dance.
[Rene Vitalli] No.
*No she doesn't have a reflection. Thanks for bringing it up. Douchebag. Her stride is long and purposeful. Ashley is raising her shoulders like she's expecting a blow, and Rene's moving like she's intent on delivering one. Except that she doesn't. Instead she stands well within Ashley's personal space and takes a long drag off her smoke. Cherry flaring close to Ashley's hair as the hermetic turns around. Almond eyes flick to Emily. She knew her from somewhere. The park. The Dog. The chaos and the screaming. Her gaze darts around the room, but there was no sign of any animals aside from the dead one in the roaster. Dead she could deal with better than living.*
Friday?
[Poole] [dlp]
[Carmichael] The door pulls from his hand and closes, and Chuck blinks and promptly opens it again, allowing Riley to come in. He's not quite focused, though, on her just yet - he's sensing. Doors don't just pull themselves out of hands and close, after all. "I did Em's laptop," he says, distracted, "and am about to do her PDA. Ash has her mac-monster-something-or-other, which will take more and less effort both."
[Per + Aware!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 6, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[McGowen] "I, um," Ashley says, as Rene steps much farther into her space than she's comfortable with, "I have class Friday and a thesis deadline. What about Monday?" The Hermetic has attempted to take a step back, only to find the edge of the countertop pressing in just below her shoulder blades.
"...This is Rene," she says, finally, loudly enough that everyone else can hear. "Euthanatos. And Chuck, my laptop is right over here, if you still wanted to have a look at it. Do you mind if...?" and her eyes flick in Rene's direction.
[Poole] The dark-skinned stranger's malicious look does not affect Riley's smile. Except it seems to freeze in place. It's the smile of someone long used to working in customer service, who deals with irrationally belligerant people on a nearly daily basis.
"Ah. Alrighty then."
The door opens, and there's the man of the hour. Good ol' affable, slightly bumbling but adorable Chuck, whose skills with computers can make him kind of a douche to deal with sometimes. The freeze melts away from Riley's smile, turns it into something charming and genuine. "Hey."
It's all the greeting she gets out before Chuck, distracted by the woman he doesn't know, leaves Riley at the door. And the door...
slams shut. Riley shakes her head, stares at the door, shakes her head again, frowning. If Chuck opens the door, Riley's already gone, long legs having carried her down the hall and around the corner.
Someone's getting a "wtf dude?" at work tomorrow.
[Kaya] Kaya smiled a bit, deciding she needed to have some fun after being dumped recently. She went to sit at the computer chair, and spin around in it, which did the same in the world of flesh.
[Rene Vitalli] Monday I have a Mark. We'll reschedule.
*A puff of smoke coils from her lips and about her head. A toxic Halo as she offers Ashley what could be a smile, but looks for all the world like an "I'm about to fucking slap you" smirk. Ashley mentions Chuck, and the frightening beauty spits the man with a dissecting glare. *
[Carmichael] "Um. No. Rude and obnoxious is one thing, but you're not smoking in my condo. This is a non-smoking house, and you slammed the door in my friend's face. Balcony. Now."
This is Chuck, pissed. Which looks a lot like Chuck, confused. Or Chuck, irritated.
"Yes, Ashley, I'll look at your laptop. Emily, I'll finish with your stuff. But dude. This is my house, not a fucking . . . place where people push me out of the way to come talk to other people who happen to be here.
[Littleton] Emily looked past the more powerful mages to Chuck, with an expression that looked quite apologetic indeed. This was not her angry face, though. That was far more decidedly angry than Chuck's angry face, which looked a little bemused.
"You really shouldn't smoke next to dinner, either," she added, testing her luck with the Euthanatos once more. It never went well, but Emily's voice was firm (for now). But that lasted only a moment, and then she was saying her Excuse me's and pushing past them, back out to where Chuck the Irritated was, where their combined tech resources were. Where she could breathe a little easier.
Emily's hand rested on his shoulder, briefly, as she passed him to close her laptop. Clear up her things. Which brought her past the spinning chair... so she put out a hand to bring it to a stop.
[Kaya] Emily would notice there was some resistance as she stopped the spinning chair. As if someone was sitting in the chair. Kaya looked at the new glowing in front of her, much brighter than the others, and touched EM's ethereal Quint, causing EM to feel a cool breeze through her.
[McGowen] "I'm sorry, Chuck," she says, and she sounds as though she genuinely is. It's a rare enough thing, that note of apology that finds its way into her voice, but it's also rare that people go pushing through a friend's house to speak with her. "Rene, you mind putting the cigarette out?"
[Littleton] That... was unexpected. Moreso than Rene. Moreso than the chair spinning on its own. Emily stilled, waited for the cold spot to pass, and assured herself she must be imagining things.
Just to be sure, she reached out a little into the space that would be occupied if someone was sitting in the chair. It looked, to the others, like she was trying to find the back of the chair with her eyes shut. She was also feeling around with her extra senses, just in case.
Just in case this was reproducible. And if it was. Well. Then. That would be doubly unexpected.
(( What the... Per + Aware ))
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 4, 6, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Rene Vitalli] *It was inevitable. A spider emerges from behind the oven, skittering across the floor. Along the counter beside Dear Emily. Eight determined legs carrying a bloated abdomen and eggsac along for the ride. It bobs across the top of the counter, ambling its way towards the Euthanatos. Rene's glaring at Chuck, coldly murderous. Or perhaps she's just looking at Chuck. Hard to tell. He had a problem with the smoke? The smoke next to dinner? The chicken was already dead. This was why she didn't understand people. A slow blink, A glance to Ashley, and she snubs the smoke between her fingers. She should be saying something. This was one of those times when - why wasn't Emily moving suddenly?*
What?
[Kaya] A soft laughter fluttered in her ear before the cold spot moved. "Wow, that tickled."
to Littleton
[Littleton] So there's a spider, and it's passing her by on the counter top, around the same time that Emily is moving. Past Rene, past Ashley, past Chuck. And that's a good thing, because the last of Rene's spiders that Emily encountered, was... unpleasant.
But there's a chance that it's followed her to where she's standing, patting at the chair -- no, pulling her hand back sharply in surprise. She's unaware of the spider, because she's keenly focused on something else.
"Carmichael?" Emily says his name in a very no-nonsense way. It is a simultaneously alarmed and controlled tone. She doesn't look away from the nothing in the chair, but she waits for him to answer. And if he doesn't, she repeats, louder.
[Carmichael] "Okay! Because I feel like we've just stepped into Ravenloft's version of Romper Room, where everyone is adult and Awakened," because they are, may as well get that out there, "we're going to make rules. These are simple rules. We use our pleases and thank yous and all the basic manners we learned in kindergarten. We don't touch unless it's invited, because I will not have a fight in my condo, there are expensive computer pieces everywhere and if you break them, I will find your bank account and re-buy them at your expense. And whoever the fuck is here but hiding where we can't see them will get his or her ass out here now, because if I'm going to give someone shit about slamming the door in my partner's face, it better fucking be the right person."
That bemused face is getting angrier, and Chuck, when he's angry? Is difficult to reconcile him with bumbling, amiable Chuck. Which . . . is brought to an end rather quickly by Emily's voice.
"Yeah, Em." He's already moving closer, taking her hand and pulling her back from the chair. "Is that where whoever-it-is, is?"
[McGowen] Ashley watches things as they unfold with the chair. Watches Rene's spider, swollen and bloated, moving through the kitchen. Listens to Chuck talk about Ravenloft and a Romper Room, whatever the hell that is. And the Hermetic's mouth forms a thin line and she shuts her eyes, trying to keep composure. Belatedly, she remembers a "Thanks, Rene."
Then, after a moment, she turns to the Euthanatos. "When you need to get a hold of me, you can call me," she says. "Don't just walk into someone's house. You're going to get killed doing that." Or get someone else killed, more likely.
[Rene Vitalli] *Ah. yes. That clears it up. Some one was invisible and uninvited. A spider drags its eggsac over her shoulder and begins to make its way up the side of her neck, as Rene reaches inside her coat, screwing a silencer onto a dull black gun as nonchalantly as another might take out a phone and check their messages. Better safe than sorry after-all. Awakened didn't mean friendly.*
[Rene Vitalli] *A curt nod to Ashley. She wouldn't get killed. Bit it was interesting Ashley was concerned.*
[Littleton] "Yes?" Emily said, not quite sure of herself but willing to go with the flow of things. She let Chuck pull her a little further away, happy to distance herself from the chill in the chair. "It said that tickles," she added, just in case the information would be helpful.
This had her focus, which meant she did not notice Rene pulling out the silencer (again). She did notice Ashley's social niceties 101 course, barely overheard from the kitchen. The Tytalan had an amazing knack for turning absolutely everything into a a teaching moment.
[Kaya] When Em was pulled away, the chair spun around for a quick moment, as if someone got up. The problem was, none of them were DS possibly, or they would be smart enough to invoke Spirit to talk across the gauntlet.
Now Kaya, on the other hand, was a DS, and almost always had spirit invoked around.
"Well, I could come back across, but only until that girl puts the gun away. See, so many of you in one place, your essense is like a lighthouse beacon in the land of the dead here. I just had to see what was going on. I thought prehaps it was spirits here. But I find all of you instead." The voice was all around them, but not trying to be all OOOo... Aaaaahhhh spooky scary ghost like.
[Rene Vitalli] *The air speaks. Compared to what she'd seen lately, this was almost mundane. The menacing black woman remains impassive as almond eyes skate to Ashley for a go, or a stand down. Interesting how dynamics changed. Gun readied, just in case.*
[Carmichael] [Mind 2 vulgar, -1 taking time, -1 focus.]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 3)
[Carmichael] "Are you fucking . . . jesus. Ashley, I'm gonna take you up on that trade sooner rather than later, if you don't mind."
There's a blackberry, look at that! And it's in his hand, reflexive-like. A few keys are pushed (and Rush is still playing in the background, let us not forget), and there's a flare of progress. And it's directed Kaya-wards, this feeling of WTF are you thinking and the associated guilt that generally goes with such common sense thought.
"Even spider girl knocked on the door. If you want me to fix your tech, stay. If you can talk reasonably, even if you were terribly rude about coming in, you can stay, and I'll check over whatever tech you have on you since you're here. Otherwise." And this last is in an exasperated, almost dad-like voice, and no less pissed off for it. "Get out."
[Ashley] Ashley holds up a hand in Rene's direction, not looking in the Euthanatos' direction; her eyes are intent on the chair. "If you don't show yourself I'll rip your fucking mind apart. The Gauntlet won't hide you," she tells whatever is there. Her voice is soft, like a leather sheathe pulling away to reveal iron.
[Littleton] Ring ring.
Of course. Tonight had been the night of opportunistic phone calls. This time it's Emily's, ringing just as the strangeness in the apartment peaks. She fished out her phone and her expression pinched. "I... have ... to take this," she said to Chuck, as she moved toward his balcony.
Hopefully whatever was going on in the flat wouldn't be too audible from the balcony. Even if it was cold to stand out there in socks and without her coat, Emily would be out there quite a while. Because who was calling? Ah, yes...
"... Hi, Dad."
The parents.
[Kaya] "No, I'm not Jesus." Away from the others, the gauntlet opened, and a rush of cold dead air hits the room. As it closes, a woman of astounding beauty stands before them. Her hair is down, her shirt a simple white tee tucked into black jeans, and black heeled boots. Around her neck hangs a small leather pouch of Hopi design. On her wrists, black leather gauntlets, also of Hopi design.
"Like I said, in the deadlands, your combined essences is like a beacon. I'm sorry for what I did, but over there, all you can really see of Awakened are figures of light. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Kaya Talayesva, Dreamspeaker Disciple of the Baruti, Shaman of the Hopi Nation."
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