[carriwitchet] [A'ight. Jess Rules:
Pft. You totally already know, but I'ma repeat for the record.
1. Trust.
2. Fun.
3. Not gonna do things regular-like. If you don't think you can handle going outside've the rules-lines a little? It's okay, I'm not offended, but you might wanna step back, because by posting in this scene you accept my decisions.
4. Remember Trust? Is good for all. Fosters relationships. Makes the world shine.
Concerns? IM me. Questions about scene? Ask in chat, please, for the sake of my sanity. First post coming.]
[Emily] ((Per+Aware: dif 8, per Jess))
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 8)
[Ashley McGowen] [Perc + Awareness]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 8, 8 (Success x 2 at target 8)
[Li Daiyu] [Per+aware]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 7, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 8)
[carriwitchet] There are three women who are awake in Lake View. This might be -- late afternoon, now; the light slants, amber, on the pavement; it condenses, it gleams -- just another random convocation. None of the three, Emily, Ashley and Li Daiyu, are together yet. Perhaps Ashley is stocking up on tea. Perhaps Emily is on her way to St. James's, near the Orphan's apartment. Perhaps Li Daiyu is just out, learning the city, or perhaps she's studying a post with a faded poster for a ballet showing at the Music Box Theatre. They aren't far.
But they all feel this: sifting downward [but immanent: internal: the center of a seed], some Thing awry, some Thing off-kilter, some Thing that Is, that Is there, like a disrupted chord, like the diminished triad on B (although to Ashley, perhaps this resonance is even more jarring; sets her teeth even more on edge).
They all feel this: how the off-kilter Thing, the music-that-isn't, ties a knot. A three-starred knot. Three places: a tea shop, a park outside the church, a car, parked outside an apartment building.
[Emily] She has, by now, become almost accustomed to the ever-watchful worry over the feeling that someone, something is looking over her shoulder. That a hand is never far from settling in her lower back. That eyes rake over the simplest of her movements, scrutinize, weigh, judge their merit and their worthiness. It has become almost blase, lost in the sea of tiny troubles (and their greater cousins); she's shutting it out, see, and pretending it's not there to darken her days.
The summer sun has turned her moon-pale skin fractionally darker. It's warmer, less pale-cold and more sun-kissed. This afternoon light makes the warmth in her hair stand out, frames the deep blue of her eyes more soundly. It is warmth, borrowed and reflected. Warming. Troubles burn and fade away in the sunlight, leaving behind only the pleasant view of the park near St. James's, only the rustle of the grass in the early summer wind.
But even in such reverie, there is something amiss. It tugs at the edge of her awareness, begs and bids her mind notice: something not quite in tune, dischordant, sour, strange. Emily shifts on the park bench, smooths her hands along the gayly printed fabric of her skirt.
She looks about; but there's no one there. There's never anyone there. It's an illusion, a trick of her mind, worrying. She reaches up to rub the back of her neck, and lets her mind wander just enough to focus on the wibbledy-wobbledy something that is neither the malicious watcher nor the tangible ping of something expressly new and shiny. This feeling that rambles, like an out-of-round wheel.
[Emily] ((Per+Aware: Chasing the lopsided, off-kilter feeling wherever it might go...))
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 4, 7, 7, 9 (Success x 1 at target 8)
[Li Daiyu] Lakeview was a place that lay between two destinations, and although Daiyu had the ability to get around by vehicular transport, sometimes she simply preferred to walk. And thus, walking was what she was doing. She was dressed in a pair of black cargo capris (the same ones Ashley had previously seen her in) that tied off below the knees, and a fitted white t-shirt. She was walking around town today, so her shoes were more serviceable - the same pair of white and gray running shoes she'd had on during the "zombie" attack by the warehouse. They'd been cleaned since then, of course.
She'd paused when she saw that poster, a brief moment of curiosity, and was in the midst if reading the details when she felt something... wrong. Daiyu turned around, dark eyes watchful as she swung her gaze between the three places that pinged loudest at her senses.
As was always the case, up above, a falcon soared in lazy circles. When it felt the flash of tension from its bond-mate, it dipped lower, scanning the area.
There were other things to be sensed, as well. Two distinct notes of resonance. Daiyu glanced toward Emily, where she sat on the bench. Then Ashley... wherever she might be. Her gaze lingered there longer, in recognition, and she angled her head toward the parked car as if to question silently...Do you feel that? Regardless of the answer, the Akashic chose the car as her first point of inspection, and she began to walk toward it.
[Li Daiyu] [Area Mind scan - how many sentient things are here, and where? Mind 1 - diff 4 -1(focus)]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 6, 7 (Success x 3 at target 3)
[Ashley McGowen] Lakeview isn't very far from her apartment, her neighborhood, the bookstores and bars that she trawls through on a weekly basis. It's easy for her to end up here while she's out on one of her walks, wandering through the streets and taking turns at random. Sometimes she has Zane with her, sometimes she doesn't; sometimes she walks for a while, takes the dog back home and then decides to go out again.
Ashley spends a lot of time walking.
The Hermetic is in a pair of black pants (there are some narrow silver pinstripes) and a white buttondown today; she does this occasionally, when she feels like it, even if she isn't going somewhere that will merit casual business dress. She's unaccompanied by Zane today, walking along with her hands in her pockets, head slightly bowed. Thinking. She's thinking a lot. Keeps most of it to herself.
Her head raises when she catches that tang of resonance, though, the pull in the pit of her stomach. The music-but-not is unpleasant, sets her nerves buzzing and sparking, and as she's looking around for its source, extends her perceptions, she notices Emily and Daiyu as well. Daiyu, who is still largely unfamiliar to her.
Ashley wants to go investigate, of course. But first, she seeks out the other two.
[Li Daiyu] [Int(or whatver)+Linguistics]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 6, 7, 8 (Failure at target 9)
[carriwitchet] Not long ago, Emily might not have followed the feel of a Thing like this: lifting her head, paying attention to the notes, where they go, where the chord falls, where it knots more and more tightly, just the way science has it that stars are formed. Things began to come together, to spin, to form a dense core; to, by that core, draw more and more together [and once it gets big enough (conflageration)]. There are three such cores in Lake View. Li Daiyu is walking toward one. Down the block, on the corner, away from the park, and Emily is walking toward the other.
There is a playground. There, in the playground, there are three girls. Two of them are probably sisters. They have the same haircut. They have the same hair: silky, thick. They look about five. The other is a pudgy, scruffy-haired boy with soulful gray eyes. They're -- something like the center of the Feeling, the closest Feeling, anyway. They're staring at each other. They're playing a game.
No. Look closer. They aren't playing. They're just: saying a word. Again, and again, and again, and again and again and again and again and again. There is something curiously blank about their eyes. Paper eyes: go ahead, write what you want.
Trick paper eyes: you can't write anything on that.
[carriwitchet] There is a boy in the car. He is eleven: Korean. He has the oval face. He has sharp eyes: they'd glint. If they had expression. He is staring outward. His forehead is pressed against the glass. Across the glass, a lattice-work echo of leaves falls: ghostly impressions. His mouth is moving; it is not a language Li Daiyu has heard before. Does not sound familiar, but it resonates in her head, buzzes like bees, like a murder of crows: the way they laugh. His eyes find hers: fasten, stick. He presses his palm against the glass, fingers splayed, but it doesn't seem as if he can see her.
[Israel Cohen] [Per + Aware]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6) Re-rolls: 1
[Emily] Not that long ago, she would have left well enough alone. She would have gone home, put on some music to drown out the dischordance. She would have walked away from the oddity, would not have given in to the nearly magnetic pull curiosity held.
The children are playing an odd staring-contest game. Emily stops, just far enough from them to not disturb them. It's there that she realizes they are not playing, or not playing the way that children often do. There is a strange sound, repeated until it becomes sing-song, meaningless. Like saying "the" so many times you cannot remember how to spell it; until your lips buzz; until the buzzing is all you feel. The, the, the, the, the... whatever they are saying is like buzzing, like bussing, like a loud smack of lips: kiss.
They are blank with lifeless eyes and it catches her breath, draws her shoulderblades together. Emily reaches for her pulsepoint before she rightly knows what she is doing, searches for the wrongness in the seat of their patterns, searches for some undoing of them while she's at it -- these are the spheres she and Owen mixed to check Riley for zombie-ism.
Zomb...ism...? Zombie... ing?
Frown.
The affliction that leads into the state of being a zombie.
((Life+Entropy: Hey kids, are you zombies?))
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 5, 5 (Success x 2 at target 4)
[Li Daiyu] Unlike Emily, the Akashic was used to following trails to their source. Like a wolf tracking a scent, if she picked up on something unusual, she never simply passed by. Perhaps this was not always a good quality. Today, it brought her to a car with a little boy who gazed with sharp, sightless eyes.
He looked at her, not seeing but sensing. Daiyu paused as she drew near the car, and she watched the boy the way that a wolf would watch a dying caribou, looking for signs of disease.
[Pushing further. Mind 2 on the boy - tell me what's on your mind - diff 5 -1(focus), -1(practiced)]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 3, 5 (Success x 3 at target 3) [WP]
[carriwitchet] [Doom NPCs Notice Emily?]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 5, 7 (Failure at target 6)
[carriwitchet] [Doom NPCs Notice Daiyu?]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 9, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] It's Emily Ashley seeks out first; Daiyu, she presumes, can handle herself, and Ashley is more concerned with making sure the apprentice has help if there's trouble. She likes Emily (sometimes in spite of herself) and she would rather not, say, see the girl get ripped apart by zombies or tormented by Nephandi or possessed by a fallen Angel.
The sight that greets her eyes is an odd one, as it dawns on her that these children Emily is watching are speaking without meaning, are buzzing like flies.
"Emily?" she says, coming up behind the Chorister-to-be, keeping wary eyes on the children.
[Israel Cohen] These days Israel doesn't really meander; she doesn't wander about aimlessly, simply to move and feel and breathe. These days she's taken some sick and personal days off work; she's been busy hunting down Tass, distilling it, choosing mundane materials just so, just right. Creating Charms; encountering zombies; feeling the death of thirty-plus people; covering Resonances to keep herself and other Magi from being tracked down by the Technocracy. Last weekend she was in Jerusalem, learning a new Sphere. A few days before that she first witnessed a person die while observing their Life pattern. Her Resonance has altered: Increased and become new. Paradox accumulation has taken its tole so that she weeps soundlessly when working her Will to any great Effect and gets nose bleeds over even the most trivial rotes.
She feels Discordance now and seems hardly shocked. Shifting the satchel looped over her shoulder and resting at one hip she pauses, stills her tracks, going from point A [her home] to point B [Sol's]. Hardly an expression passes over her face, beyond slow moving lips.
A tiny trickle of blood down from one nostril which she absently reaches up to dab away with the back of one hand.
------------
[[Corr 1. Diff: 4. -1 Focus]]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 2, 7 (Failure at target 3)
[Ashley McGowen]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1
[Israel Cohen]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4
[Ashley McGowen] [int + linguistics]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 5, 5, 7, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10
[Ashley McGowen] [Int + Enochian]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Willpower!]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[carriwitchet] This is what Emily senses.
They're alive. These children: they're as alive as she is. Yet: yet. Their vitals are low: their vitals are almost nil. They're suspended: sustained. Not dead. Not: well. Not what zombies've felt like, in the past: not precisely. There is a heartbeat. There is no rot. In fact, there is no breaking down at all: there is no deconstruction; there is no aging. Just: stasis. Suspended. Motionless. It's as if they're frozen, their bodies: as if this is a second of their lives, stretched out, forever.
to Emily
[Israel Cohen] The magic resists her - this has also been a trend as of late. Still, it simply doesn't occur to the woman merely to leave well enough alone and go about her way. Taking a tissue from one of many [hyper-organized] pouches in her side bag she dabs at her nose and maneuvers her guide cane; brief and light. At the end of the block she cocks her head to one side, listening for oncoming traffic, before making her way across and towards the feeling; closer to the park, the off-kilter feelings; the Other things.
------
[[Trying that again. +1 Diff, -1 Practiced]]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 7, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 3)
[carriwitchet] [Do The Doom NPCs Notice Israel?]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Emily] Reverence. The quiet grace, the awe and wonder, it surrounds her, more palpable now that it has been in recent nights. By the time Ashley finds her, Emily's magics are already in swing. She is already reaching out to the children with something more than just the five (six) senses they all possessed.
She hears her name, remotely, from the edge of her consciousness. She's focused on something else just now, and yet there's a slight turn of her body (I heard you) and a sidelong glance cast toward the Hermetic. The Orphan's breathing is metered, shallow and careful, as she studies the children. Her brow furrows, and the concern that registers in her features does not abate as time passes.
"They're not well," she says, her voice low and for Ashley's ears only. They're not well, and they're not moving. Emily steps closer, reaches out to touch the nearest girl, saying: "They're stuck, somehow. Static. Suspended."
[Li Daiyu] Oddly enough, the things (not words - not pictures) she felt in the boy's head caused her to still, and her expression to shift away from that cold-hunter gaze to something else... something almost... awed? Not completely. She was no young apprentice, constantly amazed by the world, and neither was she so fool as to not realize the wrongness that was somehow occurring here.
For a moment, she looked sorry that she couldn't understand him better.
Daiyu looked up, toward the tea shop. One last glance toward the boy, and she was on the move again, tracking the resonance as it led into the building, and whatever minds she may have felt there.
[carriwitchet]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1
[Israel Cohen] [Int + Linguistics]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 8) [WP]
[Israel Cohen] [[aaaand again again!]]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 8 (Success x 2 at target 7) [WP]
[Ashley McGowen] Whatever Ashley is seeing, it's making her bristle, stiffen, stare at the children. Whatever Ashley is hearing, it has her eyes fixed on them, hands flexed there at her sides. Whatever she understands, it most certainly isn't good.
"They're speaking Enochian," she tells Emily. "The language of the High Umbrood...words of power, basically," and there's a sidelong glance toward the apprentice. Even at such times, she's teaching.
"It's layered. Complicated, has a lot of nuances. They're saying Desolation and Hope together, like...a prophet, or light in dark times. I'm worried they might be trying to summon something." What to do about it just now, though, escapes her. It merits some thought before she moves forward, before she tries anything, before she tries to solve everything with the application of raw Will.
[carriwitchet] This is the kind of tea-shop that -- well. This is the kind of tea-shop Kage probably bought Ashley's gift-teas from that one time she was all Jhor-tainted and what do you get someone you don't know or like when they're Jhor-tainted, ah, right: tea. There are jars to the ceiling, and anybody can open them: smell what's within. There are two tables for sitting, a broad couch, a shelf of tea-accoutrements. This is all inside. Also inside, this:
Another child. This one looks as if she is four years old, maybe. Her eyes are large, dark things: butter would melt in them. She is standing, talking, talking, talking, and when -- if -- Li Daiyu walks through the door -- she may well notice this: the girl's lips are moving [precisely. unison. no change. the same. the same: same, same: same] just like the boy's were. In the car. Her mother is talking to her. The conversation goes like this:
"Dillon, stop babbling."
[The child doesn't stop.]
"Listen, Mommy'll get you some tea if you stop."
[The child doesn't stop.]
"Dillion Aradia Smythe, stop right now.]
[The child doesn't stop.]
[Israel Cohen] Behind the first diminished chord comes an E minor; strong. Growing. Crescendo after decrescendo. She swallows; like swallowing back an unfamiliar taste; like cleansing the palate. Inhales as if she might smell saltseabrine on the air; but there is none... of course not...
Her face turns towards the other three women [First Daiyu - apart; then Ashley and Emily; solidarity], still some distance away, seeking them out, honing in on them with the acuity that often takes others aback; a frown plays itself over her lips, over the delicate build of her features and she sighs as some Other caresses itself over her senses. Listening. Listening. Tzipporit - Little Bird, and so she seems at the moment she standing still.
She winces then, a a quicksilver tremour running through her finespun form before she moves to bridge the gap between herself and the Hermetic and Orphan. "Or something is here," without preamble.
This time when her lips move with sounds-not-quite-sounds and a language no one else where likely understands, she has her tissues in hand, pragmatically ready for what will come.
----------------
[[Spirit 1, Entropy 1. Diff: 4. -1 Focus]]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 5, 7 (Success x 2 at target 3)
[Emily] Disciples appearing, as if they were shaken from the trees in the park (shake, shake; oh! there's another one) ought to have disturbed the Apprentice. Did disturb her. Worried her. Whenever they gathered (and here they gathered in threes already), trouble was not far behind. Her effect's threads were falling away from her, the children were just children again, bound as they were by some ethereal threads.
When her hand found the girl's shoulder, she shook it gently. As if to stir her out of the restlessness, pull her away from the nothing of suspension. "Hey," she says, her voice all wrapped up in its otherness, "Are you alright?"
Her voice is firm, but her hand is not overly so. She is not grabbing at some other person's child, rather extending her compassion and concern. It would look this way from afar: a nice college aged kid checking up on the school aged youngsters. It would not be creepy (Ashley might be creepy) or improper.
She waits on a reply. Surely there will be some reply. She hopes on a reply, and struggles with the idea that these three are summoning something.
To Ashley, then, with a measure of hope (if not levity). "Solstice is almost here. Maybe they're summoning Summer."
[Ashley McGowen] Maybe they're summoning Summer, says Emily, and dark amusement colors the Hermetc's tone. There's a sound that is more like dry, muffled coughing than laughter as she turns her eyes from the children toward the others she sensed: Daiyu, Israel, the pull she felt toward the other locations. "No," she says, "I don't think so."
The children are enthralled, in thrall to something, and so Ashley frowns as Emily approaches the girl and gives her a shake. Unprepared to leave them just yet to go find the others, Ashley reaches up and frees her necklace from beneath the lapels of her shirt.
The Hermetic pushes her Will outward, toward those tiny, just-beginning-to-fight sparks that are the three children there, to see what they're thinking, to see whether there is something else exerting its Will on them. If there isn't, well. That has far more disturbing implications, and it's troublesome enough.
[Mind 2, what's goin' on? -1 for focus.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 3, 8 (Failure at target 4)
[Li Daiyu] It was a repeat of what she'd seen in the car, and Daiyu's eyebrows knit together at the center as she watched the interaction between mother and child. This wasn't something she had much experience with, and even less the magical knowledge to correct. Put something dangerous in front of her, and she could cut it down, but the realm of the spirits, and of the lands beyond, were not open to her.
But they might be for someone else.
Turning to go, she left the tea shop at a loping run, crossing the distance to get to the place where the other women had gathered amongst themselves.
"Did you feel what is in their minds?"
[carriwitchet] [You know: Doom NPC Girl. Grab Emily?]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 4, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[carriwitchet] [Doom NPCs: More Noticing Israel?]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Israel Cohen] The handkerchief is out; she absently holds it to one nostril, staunching the trickle of blood that is just fractionally heavier than the last one; just a touch, it increases. Push against Reality enough, long enough, often enough, with enough Force, with enough Will and Reality will begin to push back; steady reminders; small pains; little inconveniences that say You are not All Powerful..
Daiyu joins them. Ashley and Emily talk to one another, her own words unheeded or just unanswered. Either way she is distracted, seeing what is all around them but behind a Veil; seeing the Shadow - the true one - and how it permeates the real world as a twin soul longs for the other. Once unified, now just separated; now just apart.
She shifts her stance and shakes her head; blinking though the action holds no real importance or use. Shifting her guide-cane she moves it to one shoulder, snug there at the crux of it so she can use the now freed hand to dip into her side bag, feeling stones in a leather pouch; each etched deep with certain characters, each interconnected.
----
[[Corr 3. Mind 2. Prime 1. Diff: 6. - 1 Focus, -1 Practiced, -1 Resonance]]3
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 6, 7, 7 (Success x 3 at target 3)
[carriwitchet] [Don't be scared by this roll, guys. Although it is for Doom NPCs. And Israel.]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 5)
[Ashley McGowen] [reroll!]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 4, 9 (Failure at target 5)
[carriwitchet] [And once more!]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 3, 4, 4, 5, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[Israel Cohen] [wp]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Damn it! I have a ton of Will, this should not be hard!]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 2, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6) [WP]
[Emily] ((Dodge + Dex: No grabby hands!))
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Emily] This course of action doesn't go as well as Emily would like. Rather than breaking the girl out of her thrall, the youngster grabs at Emily instead. That, that will not do. The Orphan dodges, takes a long step back. She's pulled that whole side of her body back as she moves. She cloes to the three Disciples now, close enough to worry about having stepped on toes or knocked into Israel. It takes her a moment to find her footing, to find a place to stand that is in no one's way.
They're still gathering, these Disciples. It's a worrying trend. First Ashley, then Israel, now the new girl who she does not know. Emily's glance falls on Li Daiyu, lingers there longer than is strictly polite. This girl, with the flavor of reverence still close to her, pushes. She is also unrelenting. She does not know Daiyu, cannot place her, not just yet, and that breeds a certain suspicion.
Emily's standing place is nearest Ashley; Ashley is who she knows best. Now the Apprentice is keeping her hands to herself, waiting on the conversations of those more practiced than she is. She knows nothing of mind magic, but she could imagine how it might work. Maybe. She can think of ways it might come together, coalesce. She tries to focus on those thoughts, feels her fingertips stray to the silver chain about her throat. There is no where for her will to go, though; no well worn path to follow. So she does nothing but wait; move and wait; wait and watch; listen so she might follow.
[Ashley McGowen] Whatever she's reading, Willing up and forth for her to taste, take in, is making her brows furrow. In concentration and concern. In effort to understand and a small bit of fear.
Daiyu joins them, and Israel, whose appearance she'd missed, suddenly draws her attention. Ashley looks over her shoulder at them both when Daiyu speaks. "Yeah," she says. "And they're speaking Enochian. Might be summoning something...but...I can't make sense of what's in their minds." What she knows is this: their Wills are no longer their own.
The Akashic very well may not know what Enochian is; it's a language largely used by Hermetics and in their magic. Perhaps she's not had occasion to learn about it. Ashley assumes, though.
She looks around over her shoulder once more, toward Israel. Two disciples of Mind here, a possible third. They should be able to do something with this, with what they've found. She hopes. "Whatever has a hold on them, it isn't human. Or a Willworker. I don't think."
[Wharil Choc] This was his neighborhood. His path home. Well, not quite. His path home usually involved fighting with traffic in his compact. But, sometimes, no matter how good your gas milage was or how clean your emmissions, sometimes it was good to just get out and walk every once in a while.
He plotted his bath between home and the library via parks. Spots of green in the city. It wasn't that he felt some great affinity to nature or the trees. He just liked them. He liked the sprouting of life in the middle of unyielding steel and concrete. It reminded him of grass suddenly sprouting in the middle of a desolate field.
Desolation.
What was that? It felt...familiar. It all felt familiar. Of course there were others there. Of course he recognized the others. Why wouldn't he? Why wouldn't they be here? Getting in trouble. God help them. God help us all.
And so it is that a ruddy young man in a black sports jacket and slacks, and a brightly white shirt should appear on a rise, looking down at the assembly of Magi. It was unclear from this distance whether or not they were in dire trouble. no one was screaming. Not yet. But what were they up to?
This required a closer look.
[carriwitchet] [Ooo. You're Familiar, Wharil. Do Doom NPCs Notice You?]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 6, 10 (Success x 3 at target 5)
[Li Daiyu] Daiyu, in fact, did not know about Enochian. At least, not by that name (if at all). It's interesting how the varied beliefs and practices of the traditions could paint completely different pictures of the same truth, sometimes. While she may not have understood the word, though, the gyst of what Ashley was saying was reasonably clear, and the Hermetic had evidently felt much the same thing that she had when Daiyu had looked into the children's minds.
A quick, sharp look in the direction of the girl who tried to grab Emily, and Daiyu jumped forward to put her hand on the girl's shoulder and ease her back... away from danger. "Be careful."
Then, to Ashley and Israel, "Do either of you have experience with this? My knowledge is limited, but I'll help how I can."
[carriwitchet] The children -- even the girl who grabbed for Emily, who, when she didn't get Emily didn't seem terribly concerned, didn't really seem as if she noticed at all, or had noticed Emily in the first place -- point. Toward Wharil Choc, his shirt so white, so curious.
[Israel Cohen] The increadibly petite woman is not quick to anger; she has her moments, oh yes. But by and large she is not one to ride on the highs and lows of a quick-fire temper. Hers is a slow fuse, typically, and it has been burning for some time now. Well before this. Long before this day. The wrongness shes witnessed of late has left its mark and now that small, hot flame has been fanned and further kindled. Her jaw tightens.
She is weeping; the tears slide down her face, large drops of it, rolling down fat and slow. She seems unmindful of it; she isn't sobbing, she isn't breathing shakily. Another slight tremour and she shakes her head, speaking softly. "Ashely, they are one. The children, but not the children." Her jaw clenches again. Children. God, why did it have to be children? "There's a Working around them, but loose and - like the Enochian in their minds - alien. Wild, though.... like a phenomenon. Not like the stasis the young ones are bound into. They were there and they were convenient," she doesn't snarl, she doesn't hiss, but still that slow, slow, hot, hot anger is there. This is wrong. "And It.. whatever it is... used them as it suited Its needs. And it's getting tighter around them... like it has something to fulfill, something to say or Show."
She slowly becomes aware of the tears and reaches up a hand to wipe them away, though they don't stop. A sigh that is frustration... "I'm not sure what to do. I could try to tap into them directly," That doesn't sound like a good idea. She knows this. She doesn't relish it. "With Mind and Connectivity. If I do.... could you try to create a ley line? Something I could try to find my way back with if need be.... otherwise... well if anyone else has any ideas."
The last is slightly muffled; she has to pinch her nose harder now. The children move - she is aware because their sense of location, their spacial relations, shift... "What on earth..." She cannot see at what they point, not exactly.
[carriwitchet] [We're holding the Doom That Is All Yours, Israel, ALL YOURS, in reserve. Is there more? 3+7-3+?]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 5, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Israel Cohen] [WP!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 (Failure at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] Israel is crying. While Ashley herself is distressed over the state of the children's minds, she sees no reason to be weeping just yet: their Wills are no longer their own, but they can be freed. She knows it can be undone, from readings and because it's only logical, based on what she knows of magic.
After Israel tells her what she knows, that the children were there, that they were convenient, the Hermetic doesn't look grieved. She just frowns, looking from Israel to the little trio there in the playground. "Then let's try something. No point in getting upset for them. It'll just waste time."
A glance toward Daiyu, and she shakes her head. "I have no fucking clue what I'm doing," she says. "I think we should try to trace the effect, find the source and sever whatever hold it has."
[Wharil Choc] "God, why did it have to be children?"
"My guess?" comes Wharil's voice from the not-so-distant, and closer still. "Its a willpower thing. An adult has more experience at asserting and controlling their mind. Whereas a child...and worse a young child, hasn't had to face something like that."
He's not smiling, but he's pleasant, as if this was a normal part of his stroll through the parks. Wharil gives pleasant nods to the faces he knows, even adding a 'Hi Israel' for the blind woman's sake. Li Daiyu, however, gets a concentrated look, as if applying her face to memory, and then he's on to the Children.
"Whatever this is, or whatever's doing this...they have to skirt the consensus just like we do."
His eyes turn toward Ashley now. She knows that look. He's expectant. And more than a little confident.
"There might be more of them. Have you seen any? Can you find them?"
[carriwitchet] They all turn their heads: to look at Emily. They're still pointing at Wharil. Again: unison; perfect. They begin to speak in English: accented just like Emily's own. This is what they say: The new grass after a fire is greenest and it makes a lovely crown and cold fire hair makes a ring but the ring takes skin and tattoos bone. There is a dragon who dances but clouds dance better and with more precision. Manchester is a Chestnut. There is a spider. Kill it. KILL IT. The Way can Shatter and people drown people drown all the time and it is good especially curls they make the river go.
[Israel Cohen] "It's Paradox." Is her response to the Hermetic who tells her there's no point in getting upset. Her jaw tightens once more, a faint show of colour at her light olive-kissed complexion. Given the change in her Resonance, the near tangible increase of that Ancient Sorrow, it's little wonder built up backlash has manifested in this form. "I'm not grieving for the children. Yet. And as much as I'd like to find the bastard being that's chosen them as vessels there is another point to consider: We may want to hear or see whatever Message it has. If, indeed, that's the case."
Between the tears and the bloody nose, honestly, she looks a wreck. But her voice, at the least, is steady.... then silent as the children. Speak. In Unison. A shiver down her spine, they speak of drowning... her brow furrows. [Concentrate.]
[Israel Cohen] [Int + Enigs]]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Emily] ((Int [Analytical] + Enigmas: Cryptic kid-speak is right up my alley!))
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6) Re-rolls: 2
[carriwitchet] [Doom NPC Doom, just for being so smart!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] [Int+Enigmas]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 6 (Failure at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] There was a lot to be filed away here. Each of the Disciples (and the lone apprentice) reacted to the situation in their own way. Ashley and Wharil were both more detached than they perhaps needed to be. Israel on the other hand... too close. Daiyu merely looked worried, but aloof. Whatever she was feeling, it didn't occur to her to express it at this moment.
She let everything go that wasn't necessary to their present difficulties. Focusing on the task that had been laid out for them, rather than extraneous details.
"There's a boy in the car, there." She pointed. "And another child in the tea shop."
[Wharil Choc] There's a gasp. A quick and sudden one, but its there. Just as the children begin to speak. Just as they start talking gibberish about grass and fire, Wharil turns to them suddenly and looks a bit taken aback.
But he calms himself. He marshals his emotions and his thoughts. And he concentrates on the rest of the message.
Names. Identities.
[Int 3 + Enigmas 2]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 2, 4, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[carriwitchet] Emily doesn't understand each Name the children are saying, describing: but she can tease out some; she knows they are names; she knows that the names are being placed together, as if they were a foretelling, as if they were cards, as if the number they were mentioned in made some sort of sense. They're naming things.
to Emily
[Ashley McGowen] The Way can Shatter. Ashley can't make sense of much of the rest, but this last bit catches her attention. Keys her in to the fact that this may all pertain to each of them, to people they know, though she can't guess at the rest, she can't guess at the why.
The Hermetic was pleased to see Wharil, or at least as pleased as a person can get in a situation like this. She's a little more at ease, with her cabal mate there and standing beside her, someone she's worked with before and knows she can trust.
"Can any of you make sense of that?" A pause, and she absorbs the words, holds them, locks them inside (between jaws.) Willing some extra insight, trying to concentrate, to understand.
[Mind 1, getting some insight to the problem! -1 for focus.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 7, 8, 10 (Success x 4 at target 3) [WP]
[Emily] The children turn and speak to her in her own accent. What's heart-wrenching, here, is that hearing her own twisted tongue doesn't even call back to home. No one she knows speaks like she does; it's mimicry but not identity. Her godbrother, her parents -- no one in her life borrows and trades consonants and vowel shapes the way that Emily does. It's not familiar, just jarringly odd. Perhaps to the others it's familiar, they hear it from her, but to Emily it's just... more strangeness.
Her mind unravels the sing-song nonsense speech, tries to. The first thing that strikes her is the phrase cold fire hair. That is Kage. That is undoubtedly Kage. Hadn't Dylan called her that, cold fire hair, hadn't Kage told her once -- in the Court, undoubtedly, resting on the great mass of a fallen King -- about this turn of phrase. It had to be, had to be.
And Manchester? Truly? In this city, who else might they be talking about.
"I think..." she says, and here true hesitance steps forward. "I think they're naming things, no, people. I'm pretty sure one of them is me -- Manchester's a chestnut. That's my hometown, and fair enough my hair color."
A wry smirk, but not a smile. There's gravity here. "And cold fire hair has to be Kage."
[carriwitchet] [Who's getting the doom right now?]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 8
[Wharil Choc] "They're....us. Saw something else like this earlier today. Said some of the same things. Names like Ashley and Emily. These are human things. Modern things. This intelligence, whatever's behind this, is too old and alien to process these names. So this is its way of identifying us. At least that's my theory."
He touches, jovially, at the tip of each pointing finger. Each of them pointing at him.
"Looks like they remember me too."
And then he kneels, lowering himself to the Children's level. At least this time they seemed to be paying attention to him, and not looking through him.
"Aren't there supposed to be five?" He asks them. "There's only three here. One..." Pointing. "Two...three. Where are the others?"
[carriwitchet] [Also: DOOM NPCs GRAB WHARIL. +1]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[carriwitchet] [+2]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 3, 5, 8, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[carriwitchet] [+3]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 3, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Wits]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 5, 9 (Success x 1 at target 9)
[Li Daiyu] [Block - Dex+Do (diff 5)]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 8 (Success x 1 at target 5)
[Li Daiyu] [Block 2 - Dex+Do]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 7, 9 (Failure at target 5)
[Emily] ((Dex+Ath: Pushing Wharil out of the way = HALPING!))
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 8, 9 (Success x 1 at target 7)
[Wharil Choc] [Sta]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 3, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Wharil Choc] [Don't laugh, He's squishy]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 3, 5 (Failure at target 6)
[carriwitchet] [+3: going for Daiyu instead?]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 5, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Israel Cohen] Others already speak what she garnered from the childrens collective voices; she says no more on that matter. Besides, soon there is grabbing and pushing and motion of a flurry. Like Ashley she doesn't rush in to physically confront what is going on: It isn't exactly her forte. Instead she concentrates her Will elsewhere, focusing beyond the children to the Others felt; trying to suss out there location, keeping mindful of what is going on before her.
----------
[[Corr 3. Follow the Connection. Spirit 1: Keep in the Glow in mind. Diff: 6. -1 Focis, -1 Resonance, -1 Quint]]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 7, 8, 8 (Success x 3 at target 3)
[Li Daiyu] [ Oh no you didn't - Dex+Dodge]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 7, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6) Re-rolls: 1
[Ashley McGowen] [Stamina]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 7, 10 (Success x 1 at target 8)
[Li Daiyu] [Stamina]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 7, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] Wharil tapped the children, and in response, they lunged at him. The others tried to assist, but it became a tangle of bodies, and very little of use was actually accomplished. In the process of trying to block Wharil from the children, one of them turned on Daiyu instead.
"Like I said," her voice snapped coldly in Wharil's direction, "There's one in the car, and one in the tea shop. Is there any particular reason why you all feel the need to prod at them?"
Alright, so... she was indeed capable of getting annoyed. Spirits... possession... these things she had limited experience with. But physical confrontation? Not getting too close to things you knew little about was something of a given, yes?
Despite all expectations, the boy's grip held firm. This wasn't a child. Not a normal one, at any rate. But that had already been established.
[Li Daiyu] [Str]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 5, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Wharil Choc] Inh!
[Strength]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1 (Botch x 1 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] [F you dice, for srz!]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 6, 7, 10 (Success x 2 at target 7)
[Wharil Choc] There's a sudden hiss of pain from Wharil and he tries to twist out of the grip of the children.
It doesn't quite work out.
[Ashley McGowen] "I...guys?" That voice is a little higher than usual, an edge of suppressed panic, fear. It's a little slurred, and before eyes can drift in her direction to check on her, make sure she's all right, her left knee buckles. She drops, falls flat on the ground even as the children pile on Wharil, as the others try to defend the Euthanatos.
It's like watching someone who's had a sudden stroke; her left leg and her arm are totally limp, unresponsive to her efforts to move them, to raise herself. That side of her face is slack.
It's hard to have a state like this set in so suddenly and -not- panic. Ashley is managing to suppress that fear, to squash it down and maintain composure, but only just. After she tries to raise herself a few times, unsuccessfully, she pulls herself up on her right elbow. At least it wasn't her right side. She can still see.
[Israel Cohen] [WP]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 5, 5, 6, 7 (Failure at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] [Per+Awareness]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 6, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Emily] ((Per+Aware: Am I more observant than a paper box this time?))
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 3, 5, 8, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Wharil Choc] [Perc+Awareness]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 3, 5, 7, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6) Re-rolls: 1
[Li Daiyu] [Dex+Ath - catching!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 4, 5, 7, 7, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 8 at target 5) Re-rolls: 2
[Emily] ((Dex + Ath: Catchin' Ashley! Friends don't let friends hit the ground hard. It hurts.))
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 5, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Israel Cohen] [[Per + Aware]]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 9 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[carriwitchet] Emily: is aware of something sharp; some Other sense that is sharp, sharpening, like: getting into tune. Behind. Around. Beneath.
to Emily
[Li Daiyu] This was a lesson that Li Daiyu evidently needed to learn: never underestimate the strength of an opponent. You'd think she would have known that by now, but the Akashic had spent so much time fighting against seemingly impossible odds that she'd practically forgotten how to react in a different kind of situation.
The kid locked down, but she managed to pull away - barely. That was when Ashley fell. And then... the world went by in a blur. She was alert now, the tightly wound muscles in her body coiled and ready to spring. And spring they did. With an almost stunningly graceful leap, she was at Ashley's side before the Hermetic's body barely had time to register that it was indeed about to fall. Arms shot out, catching the smaller woman neatly and lifting her in a manner that looked rather like the way a knight might carry a wounded princess.
Which... may have looked a little funny to the eyes of those watching. Since Daiyu wasn't quite the picture of masculinity. Daiyu looked at Ashley with an expression of subtle concern. "Are you alright?"
[Wharil Choc] "Enghff" His throat and gritted teeth said. Wharil yanked at himself one more time, this time taking a breath. This time opening his mout and teeth enough to actually speak words that people would understand.
"Enough!"
[Str, + 1 WP]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 3 (Success x 1 at target 6) [WP]
[Ashley McGowen] Someone leaps, catches her before she hits the ground, in spite of how little warning Daiyu had, how far away she was from the diminutive Hermetic before she began to topple. Ashley would be impressed, if the left side of her body weren't totally numb and paralyzed. Maybe she'll be impressed later.
"Yhzzz," she tells Daiyu. The right side of her face looks distinctly displeased at this state, and quite embarrassed.
[Israel Cohen] Elsewhere, elsewhere, her mind roves, it roams, following this odd, this strange, this abnormal Weaving. Everywhere. God on High, it's Everywhere. Some part of her mind registers the shock, the gorwing chagrin of ill ease, but she keeps that distant, locked away. Heedless of the tears that pick up again [why are you so weak, tzipporit?], heedless of the bloody nose, the trickle heavier now. It'll ruin her white shirt. It'll leave a stain. She can taste it, vaugely. Her brow furrows. [concentrate. concentrate. [the river water was cold, so cold; his hair was dark and full; her face was drawn with terror. long ago, long ago. by and by, nor spare a sigh.]] Somewhere. Somewhere is its root. Somewhere, yes... just... out... of.. reach...
...Ashley falls. Or would have fallen, but Daiyu swoops in [beautiful in motion] and catches her. Fear in her voice, suppressed, but there. It breaks her concentration. "Wharil... whatever this is, it's all over the city. I can't trace its root, though. I can try again though, just.. Ashley..." Moving towards her now, where the Asian woman holds her [she denotes Daiyu as Asian because of her voice, her tone, her accent, understand?]. "You'll be fine." Reaching out a hand she finds one of the Hermetic's... the numb one, though that is happenstance. "I don't know if I can help, but I'll try... either way you and I both know this nonsense isn't strong enough to bring you down." A trace of a wry smile, through tears [they are not born of grief; yet they are as well] and the bloody nose [makes her look a right wonderful healing prospect, yes?]. Still holding her hand her face lifts, her head cants... blind eyes directed towards Wharil. She flinches slightly. "It's pulling both of you into the Connection. I might.. I might be able to sever it."
Hope. [hopefilled]. Hope like Will. In that there is Strength. Power. She draws a deep breath... releases it slowly, crouching there, next to Ashley, holding her hand though the Hermetic cannot feel it. "...be gentle of the children; one of them could Awaken. Later in like. Be careful of the Children... one of them holds a spark of the Divine." She doesn't fully understand it. Not at all. But she knows it is True, somehow. "If it can be severed... somehow."
---
[[Yeeeaaah... like this'll work. Corr 3. Prime 2. Base Diff: 9. -1 Focus. -2 Quint.]] [WP]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 5, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6) [WP]
[Li Daiyu] In the sky above, a bird was swirling, soaring... drifting ever closer. She'd been there all along, of course. Likely no one had noticed it. But now... Daiyu's mind reached out in an urgent call.
I need you!
And it swooped in like a feathered bolt from the sky, to land on the Akashic's shoulder. There was no padding there. Talons dug into skin despite their care. She ignored it.
[Countermagic on Ashley first - 3+2(familiar)]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 10 (Success x 1 at target 8) [WP]
[carriwitchet] [Who catches it this time?]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 9
[Li Daiyu] [Moar countermagicks]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 (Success x 1 at target 8)
[Emily] Emily had tried to catch Ashley, and for once her feet and her body were almost coordinated enough to assist in a physical endeavour. Daiyu gets there first, in a flash of grace and poetry in motion. She is over there, and then suddenly carrying Ashley in her arms. Emily's brain is quick, but it cannot quite fathom how a body could move that quickly, that adeptly, that accurately -- all at once!
There is so much going on at once. So many Wills reaching out, so much resonance building, building. Emily moves herself to the side of the group, away from the children, behind the higher skilled workers. She looks around for anything else out of place, odd, off kilter. She cannot help dispell the effect, but she could play sentinel long enough to keep them all from getting accosted by a purely mundane event, while everyone's head was up in Awakened business.
It wouldn't do to get someone mugged in the middle of an intervention like this, would it? (Not that anyone could get mugged with the teleportingly quick Akashic around.)
[Israel Cohen] [Go?]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 1, 7 (Failure at target 6) [WP]
[carriwitchet] The children haven't blinked. Throughout all of this: they've stayed as blank as a page unwritten. They are still looking -- or at least directing their lampless eyes -- at Emily. They are still trying to speak in English: trying, it would seem, to make their ideas heard in a language that is not precise (and difficult to understand) as the one they were speaking earlier. This is what they say: 'He is held still by accident he is the accidental still bright and also the killer of the lovers at the ford and also murder will come won't you to the He Crusades Into A Sickle And It Cuts Out His Heart Beyond that electrify my life electrify it will simmer hiss the sisterkiller is not Winter's lover but Winter will end and ashes. What if the circle isn't squared then --'
Then: they can't anymore. The strain is too much: they're hardly breathing between words now. They're just: speaking. They're back to: a language Wharil knows. Then that blends away, dissolves: a language Ashley knows, and Israel.
Emily steps aside and she will notice this straight away: two older men staring. They look responsible. They look like sleepers. They feel like them, too: They, and another woman, are paying attention to this random cluster of adults around a cluster of children. One of these adults is probably a parent. One of these adults has a phone. Perhaps she's calling the paramedics, for Ashley.
One of them is starting over. A man.
[Israel Cohen] [Last ditch 'fuck you!']
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 5, 5, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Israel Cohen] [Aaaagian, oh dear.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 9, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 7) [WP]
[Emily] If the children speak riddles and riddles are names then more and more the names seem familiar. More and more she wants not to have to deal with this, these odd children, these odd portents and -- lo! Responsible people making responsible decisions. She knows this form of helpfulness, Emily is this form of helpfulness.
She steps away from the group, toward the man. Closes the distance between them at a quick pace. All flushed cheeks and slightly worried smiles. She will talk to him, "Hello, there," all can-I-help-you-please and British sounding. The British helps, it makes her seem so proper and collected. This girl in a sundress, yes, all proper and collected.
[Emily] ((Manip + Subter [WP]: This is not the strange playground happenings you're looking for, Mr. Sleeper Man. Move Along!))
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6) [WP]
[Wharil Choc] Wharil holds himself, on his arms and his shoulders, the spots where the children had grabbed him. He steps away from them, nodding to the people addressing him but glaring at the Children. If they could even be called that.
Yes. yes they were Children. And the sooner this was over they could go back to being Children.
Israel was doing something. Wharil can't wait for that something. At least not in his mind. He starts moving, toward the car pointed out. Toward one of the other Children.
Because obvisouly, that encounter wasn't enough.
"C'mon kid." He'd say once he found him. "Time to let you out."
[Ashley McGowen] Her left eye twitches, and then gradually, she becomes aware of Israel holding her hand. The fingers twitch, if only slightly. "'M okay, 'Srael," she says, tone mildly disgruntled. At the moment the thing that seems to be hurting the most is Ashley's pride; she is, after all, being cradled in an Akashic's arms like a damsel in distress.
"'M not -dying.-"
Emily is going over to speak to the gathering crowd. Ashley's already reaching for her necklace with her right hand, intending to Will them to disperse if the Orphan's efforts are unsuccessful.
[carriwitchet] (( Sleeper-man. Are you fucking with me? That Asian chick has a FALCON ON HER SHOULDER. Y'all FEEL WEIRD. Is that a blind chick? What happened to the other one?! Percept + Uh, Subt.))
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 5, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Emily] ((Manip + Subt [WP, again; +1 dif]: No really, Mr. Sleeper Man. They are just exceptionally badass -- ah, usually -- and training for a scene in an upcoming movie. I think it's called Avatar, or something. Great special effects. You'll love it. By the way, is that your wife? She's lovely. And I'm British, so I am incapable of being sarcastic.))
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 4, 4, 4, 4, 7 (Success x 1 at target 7)
[Wharil Choc] He was moving funny. Not funny ha-ha, though it was pretty amusing to look at. He doesn't quite make it to the car. Hell, he barely makes it away from the rest of them. His feet wobble. Not his legs, his feet, literally, hop and twist against his volition. Then it carries up to his legs. To his knees, which he suddenly falls to. The the bones in his hips, up his spine. It rummages in his stomach and, a moment later he's on all fours belching out a single word, almost too loud for his ears to hear.
He secretly hopes that his eyes haven't really exploded.
[Li Daiyu] At the moment, Daiyu didn't have time to worry about the sleepers who were watching them. She hadn't tried to do anything overt or vulgar yet, and well... mundane oddities could be explained, with the right manipulation. Her focus was on Ashley, and unweaving the effect that had taken root in the Hermetic's life pattern.
Eventually, the spell released its grip on the small woman's body, and Daiyu set her down with the faintest hint of a smile. Slightly apologetic, maybe. Also slightly amused, in spite of herself.
Thanks to Israel, whatever the (not)children had been attempting to do to Wharil had been shaken loose, the strands of connection broken. Sensing that it was no longer needed, the falcon flapped its wings and took to the air once more, though this time it stayed close, perching in a nearby tree. It left behind a row of notches in the fabric of the Asian woman's shirt, which were stained red with blood.
Daiyu shot a look in Wharil's direction. "What is he doing?"
As if any of them could really answer that.
[carriwitchet] ((Sleeper Man: Seriously, girl?))
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 5 (Botch x 1 at target 6)
[carriwitchet] "Really?" The man looks at Emily. The man looks at Wharil, walking like a weirdo, at Daiyu, at Ashley. Then back at Emily. He licks his palm, runs it through his hair, glances back at the other and (authoritative) makes a gesture: it's okay, guys. "I've always wanted to be in movies, you know. Are you an actress? The Asian chick -- she's the trainer, right?"
[Emily] Emily looks over her shoulder, at Wharil, and winces a bit. He's making this so much harder. She chuckles, a bit ruefully.
"Yeah... she is. And that guy?" This about Wharil. "He's very method. I don't understand how he words, but he's brilliant on film." Now a smile, bright and winning. "You should give me your card, or something. We're almost always looking for extras. I could ring you if something opened up..."
Apparently, Emily was the best liar that ever was. She almost felt bad about this one. Almost.
[Israel Cohen] "Ashley, would you prefer it if next time I was concerned for you I kicked you in the knee?" The words are largely distracted; but there's a light banter there in the phase of the Hermetics disgruntled tones. That last severing took a lot out of her. Too much. Too much so and she can feel it; like a waning glow within her. [in her hip; in her heart]. She shakes her head briskly, like warding off a premonition. "It's gone now... I managed to cut it off from you and Wharil... and Daiyu's help I believe." A bit of a question there; she'd been aware of another force at play, but wasn't entirely sure.
Either way there was work to be done still. A mess to sort; a tangled yarn to pick at, to mull over. If she could just reach farther; just a bit longer, she might find the connection source. All things are possible, yes? Of course. She's pushing herself to her feet, licking her lips - tasting her own blood and making a face of passing disgust. Rising up to that increadibly unimpressive height of 4'11"... "I think if we..."
She drops.
A puppet whose strings have been severed. Drops utterly limp, a snuffed candle; a doused passion. What vitae animated her seems to release in the last formation of breath, or so it certainly looks like. Perhaps someone will catch her, though certainly that is not likely to be the case. There's no dread, no panic; no Sorrow. What was Piercing is not obfuscated by a void. What is Hope? If that remains it does not warm her body any longer. If anyone reach out to her, she feels cold to touch. Prone with her face on the ground the blood from her nose drips slowly there, pooling in fractional increments.
[Ashley McGowen] [int + Enochian]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 5, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 5)
[Li Daiyu] [Let's try for round 2 of awesome catching? Dex+Ath]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 6, 8, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] Daiyu sets her on the ground, and Ashley wiggles a foot for a moment as though to ascertain whether it'll hold her weight. Flexes her left hand.
Then Wharil drops, and the Hermetic throws a concerned glance his way, stepping over so that she can grab him by the elbow and try to help him back to his feet. The word clawing its way out of his mouth is Enochian (Carnage-Daybreak, just there, daybreak after bloody disaster, remnants.) Her hand freezes on his elbow before she gives him a tug up.
Then, Israel. Ashley, who is by now looking distinctly unsettled, looks toward the Orphan. "What the fuck is going on?"
She bites the inside of her cheek, letting Emily handle the Sleepers. She's doing a smooth job of it, too; she'll have to remember to compliment the girl later. Ashley couldn't do it. "Something's coming, but I have no idea what..." She trails off, frowns. Looks, again, toward the children.
[Ashley McGowen] [Dex + Athletics!]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 6, 9 (Success x 1 at target 7)
[Emily] ((Dex+Ath: dif 7 per Jess!))
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 4, 7, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 4 at target 7)
[Wharil Choc] [Dex+Ath]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 3, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 2 at target 7)
[Li Daiyu] You really wouldn't expect someone so soft and feminine-looking to be so good at supporting the weight of others, but then, Daiyu was clearly an athletic person, and both Ashley and Israel were quite small. Second time around, the Akashic was too busy focusing on Wharil to be as graceful and timely with her response, but nonetheless she managed to reach out and grab ahold of Israel's fragile and bleeding figure before the blind woman hit the ground. With a shift of the woman's weight, she settled her in her arms much the same as she'd done with Ashley. She was cold. Alarmingly so. Daiyu frowned, but she didn't have time to try and see what was wrong just yet, because something was happening...
[carriwitchet] The man glances over at Wharil, on his knees, on the ground. He pretends like he understands what Emily is telling him. Ah, that's right: Method. Very Method indeed. Then -- she asks for his card. This Hollywood chick or maybe Vancouver isn't Vancouver the new Hollywood? This chick? Totally asks for his card. He grins at her. Like a dope. "Yeah? Well -- "
Then: the earth quakes. The earth: shudders. Jolts. Jars. Heaves up and down and up and down as if it's the bottom of a jar and they, the Mages, the people in the park, the children, even, with their blank eyes, the cars: everything. They're just pennies. Still: Emily, Ashley, Daiyu, they're -- steadied, steadying, and Wharil: He's so low to the ground, anyway, Ashley has his shoulder.
The earthquake is strong; Wharil appears to be the epicenter. The heart. This is where it is strongest: a tree uproots. The playground swings to: rockabye, hushabye, rockabye, rock, wash, gentle, lullaby, dream.
Most people who've lived their lives in Chicago are not familiar with earthquakes of this magnitude. [You want the Richter Scale?] And this one: it lasts for what seems like a very, very long time. Then it's over: still, silent, quiet, quiet, hushed. The after-hush. And everything's back the way it was. Wharil is fine. Ashley is fine. Daiyu is fine. The man is looking up at Emily, confused. Emily is more than fine. The children are playing: are speaking, one word, over and over and over and over and over and over.
And Israel's still unmoving. She never did.
[Wharil Choc] [Perc+Aware]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 3, 5, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6) Re-rolls: 1
[Emily] ((Per + Aware: WTF!))
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] [Per+Aware]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 7, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [what the fuuuuuuck]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] [Int+Enigmas - a shot in the dark, because I like tempting fate]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 8 (Failure at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] [Erm...+1 diff?]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 6, 8, 8 (Success x 1 at target 7)
[Emily] ((Int [Analytical] + Enigmas: WTF is going on?))
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 5, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6) Re-rolls: 1
[carriwitchet] The sense of music -- the some-Thing off-kilter, some-Thing strange, Eldritch: it is faded, now -- but also this: static. Calcified. Knotted on (within) Israel and knotted (within) around the children. And Israel: there is a churning sense of creation under her skin, something bright that isn't quite her, localized around her eyes, around her heart, around her collarbone. Subtle, though, this -- subtle, and fading, fading.
to Ashley McGowen, Emily, Li Daiyu, Wharil Choc
[Wharil Choc] He gets up again, glancing over the Israel. This was not good. None of this was good.
"Finish..." He's speaking in English again. Woooonderful.
"Finish...the pattern."
And to his feet again, he's trudging toward the car anew. Toward the other child.
[Emily] ((Life scan, Israel!: dif 4, practice -1 = dif 3))
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 1, 1 (Botch x 2 at target 3)
[Ashley McGowen] The ground shakes, and her fingers tighten almost painfully around Wharil's arm. She can steady herself, but this, feeling the jarring beneath her feet, having to lock her knees just to stay in place, goes beyond disorienting. It's a little terrifying; she's never been to the parts of the world where earthquakes are commonplace. Old lands, the east coast and eastern Europe.
When it's over, Ashley exhales a breath that flutters just a little in her lungs. Glances down at the dark-eyed dark-haired Euthanatos as though to make sure he's all right, can get up, and then her focus finds Israel.
"Wait, why do we want to -finish- it?" she asks Wharil, with a glance toward him. "I don't think we want to help whatever is trying to get out out."
[Li Daiyu] [Mind 2 - probing surface stuff in Israel's head - are you in there? Is something else in there? Diff 5 -1(focus) -1(practiced)]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 3, 8 (Success x 2 at target 3)
[carriwitchet] This is what Emily can guess at, trying to fit the pieces together: the message came [the message went]. This part of it, at any rate: that's all. This is a puzzle piece that has solidified into a shape and the shape is tied into the children and Israel is gone away with whatever (into whatever) it is that fashioned the puzzle. Maybe. This is also what Emily can guess at: they, Emily, Wharil, Li Daiyu, Ashley, they are what activated the message. Their presence: that they are there. These children: not quite random. The nearest. The closest. They're supposed to be the ears but whatever It is can't find them.
to Emily
[Wharil Choc] [Int+Enigmas]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 (Success x 1 at target 5)
[carriwitchet] The sense of music -- the some-Thing off-kilter, some-Thing strange, Eldritch: it is faded, now -- but also this: static. Calcified. Knotted on (within) Israel and knotted (within) around the children. And Israel: there is a churning sense of creation under her skin, something bright that isn't quite her, localized around her eyes, around her heart, around her collarbone. Subtle, though, this -- subtle, and fading, fading.
to Ashley McGowen, Emily, Wharil Choc
[Li Daiyu] It wasn't so much that she couldn't piece together these small clues into something resembling a theory. Not a good theory, mind, but a very vague one. She could, and was doing precisely that. The trouble was... she didn't know what to do about it. Would helping the pattern complete itself save Israel or destroy her? Would it destroy more than that?
She didn't know.
Daiyu took a tighter grip on the delicate mage as she rushed to join up with Ashley and Wharil once more. "She's gone. Her spirit is elsewhere. It's connected to all this... the patterns. He might be right. I'm not sure what else we can do."
[carriwitchet] Israel's eyes are being replaced. They're being eaten and inside each socket something new, some new seedlet, is growing, some new thing of flesh is pulping into being where the eyeballs have been [Are being] eaten and it is starting to move. There's a heartbeat. Tiny, but rapid: like a hummingbird.
to Emily
[Emily] Horror. The look that overcomes Emily's features when the pull of her magic tugs at the air around them again is nothing short of abject horror. The British girl, who had been so collected until now (or played the part well enough) is looking to Israel with panic, with a crawling awful certainty that something is far more amiss the just wrong.
She points, flails a bit and her mouth works in shapes but no sound comes out for a long while. "Her eyes," comes first, all harsh-whispered and horrified. "Oh God, her eyes." It is enough to make the girl squirm where she stands. "Make it stop, please. It's eating her eyes!"
Which is quite possibly the most disturbing thing she's come across in this Awakened world, just yet, because it is not borne of the baser human natures, or the natural way of things. Emily's hand clamps over her mouth, but the other hand points to Israel still. Horror upon horrors.
[Li Daiyu] [More Mind 2 - Emotional Suggestion to Em - Shhh, calm down]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 6, 7 (Success x 2 at target 3)
[Emily] ((Per + Aware: What what what are you doing?))
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 5, 6, 6, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Wharil Choc] "Because..." He says, more than slightly disturbed still. More disturbed and ~Jittery~ than hurt. "Because as far as I can tell, its trying to communicate. Getting some message across. But it...doesn't quite..."
He stops himself, placing a palm against the glass of the window. Watching the child inside. Watching him mutter the same as last time.
"Can't make sense of it. I've got the pieces but..."
He leans against the car. He doesn't open it. Not yet. His hands are shaking. He's scared. Too scared to think.
"We can. Um...We can give it what it wants. Or...We can...we can stop this. I...I know how to stop it. I think. But...it'll just happen again. It'll happen again, until it gets it right."
[Emily] ((WP: Outta my head!))
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 7, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] "Let me..." Ashley sighs, looks toward Israel. "I'm going to try to trace this. That's all I can think of to do. See if I can get it to release its hold on her."
Ashley still has no fucking clue what's going on; she wasn't exaggerating to Daiyu earlier. There's something, something beneath the earth or something fighting to get out from somewhere. This she understands. She remembers sleeping kings, slumbering gods, but that was put to rest for good. Now, well. The Hermetic is a resourceful woman, but she is at a loss.
"Then we should stop it," she tells Wharil. "Because eventually, there might be a way to stop it for good." Ashley's determined (bullheaded, some would say). That's true too.
She extends herself forward, much as she had earlier, probing at the outer reaches of Israel's Will so that she can see whether the woman's Mind has deserted her along with, evidently, her spirit. To see where it goes, what patterns the others are talking about.
[Mind 3, -1 for focus, -1 for practiced rote.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 7, 7, 10 (Success x 4 at target 4) [WP]
[Emily] One of the magi present has been in her head before, that one is the only one she would willingly allow back in if needs be. The presence that pushes against her Awareness just now, however, is not Ashley. It is foreign, and likely gentler, but unknown. Emily has no way to turn it back, push it away. She feels the calm spread throughout her thoughts, but it is not born of natural spaces.
There is a growing urge within her to panic, to flail, to flee, to get away from this presence that tried to control her from the seat of her identity and rationality outward. She pushes back with her raw will alone, and it is not enough to drive Daiyu out of her mind.
Deeply blue eyes narrow, warningly. Emily's jaw clenches. There is a flash of anger (not calm), and the flittering heartbeat things eating Israel's eyes out are not forgotten. There is the flare of Ashley's resonance, now, too: Hungry and driven.
Her reactions are numbed, dumbed down by Daiyu's effects, but the Orphan is anything but placid and mellow. Emily is not flailing, is not horrified -- if shifting her focus was the whole of the Akashic's intent, then she succeeded.
A step back, then. The words Get. Out. Of. My. Head. thought loudly in her direction, but not voiced. Emily is silent, now, angry but contained; worried but distracted. Hopefully that is enough.
[Wharil Choc] There's a nod then, and Wharil opens the car. He doesn't let the child out, though. Instead he lets himself in, sitting behind the steering wheel. He checks for the keys at first. In the usual spot of the ignition, but also under the visor or the seat. No keys? No matter. usually the horns still work. And so, he leans on it. Letting it blast long, and loud.
[Li Daiyu] Emily's effect had backfired, and now... she was terrified. That kind of near-panic was dangerous in a situation like this, so the Akashic reached out toward the stranger, sending waves of soothing emotion to calm rattled nerves. Of course, Emily realized instantly what was happening and tried to push her out. She was only partially successful, but Daiyu had other things to concern herself with, so with a sigh, she gave the matter up as a lost cause. Hopefully the apprentice would be able to keep herself under control.
She felt, of course, the forceful and defensive response that Emily shot her way. Perhaps equally infuriating for the young chorister-to-be, the Akashic behaved as if she hadn't heard it, the matter going unacknowledged. They could chat about it later. You know, when one of their group wasn't being swallowed up by something on the other side.
When Ashley set about the process of trying to track Israel's mind, Daiyu nodded and held still, her arms still cradling the other mage with surprising gentleness. (What else could she do, really?)
[carriwitchet] As it happens, the car's horn is a particularly good one: the kind that you'd hear on the road, someone in the grips of road-rage leaning on it, and it would shrill up your spine like nails on slate. This is enough to disturb anyone's sleep. This is enough to break anyone's concentration. He leans on it: long, loud -- and the boy in the car stumbles, falters, stutters. Then continues, as if unmoved: stutters again.
The two girls, the boy, in the park, staring at each other blankly: they falter, too. Stutter, stumble: mispronounce a word [not hope, now: help, and unsacrificed, and eggs-with-toast, cripsy]. Israel does not move. The stutter, stumble: it's in unison.
If Wharil keeps leaning, eventually, this: the boy in the car will wipe his mouth with the back of his hand. Then scream like a little girl in terror when he sees Wharil, plastering himself against the window, pointing at him: who are you what are you doing in my car Mom Dad Mom MOM MOM MOM.
[Li Daiyu] [Oh! I can do this! Sending out one hell of an aural shockwave. Forces 3 - diff 6 -1(er...sure, I can do a little dance move while holding this chick) -1(quintessence) -1(going slow)]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 7, 7, 8 (Success x 4 at target 3) [WP]
[carriwitchet] This is amplification.
This is amplification.
This is amplification.
This is amplifcation.
This is amplifuckingcating.
And -- glass shatters: out've car windows, a bottle, in the street. The sound is like a suckerpunch. Wharil: he goes down in a swoon in the strange person's car while the kid screams and points.
The two girls, the one boy, in the park: they falter, again, falter, stumble, and then: hush. Then: start to cry. Scared.
[Emily] Daiyu says something about covering their ears and even irritated Emily knows when to follow directions, more or less. She clamps her hands over her ears but that doesn't stop the sound wave from shaking through her like an aftershock, rumbling her sense of what is up and what is not. It leaves a ringing in its wake, and the Orphan shakes her head to try and clear it. Pushes at her ears, yawns to crack them. The world's sounds are diminished.
There are children -- hurt, scared and crying -- but Emily doesn't go to help them just now. She's shaken, uncertain and unsteady. Looking to the children, looking to the other mages, all with the same sort of what fucker is this? expression.
[Ashley McGowen] She sees this: that Israel isn't trapped, that those patterns were left there by some other Will, but she can't make sense of them. There are all the pieces, but it's putting them together that she can't wrap her head around, can't see how it fits. Those Words are there, and there were Names, riddles, but...
"Israel's going after something, but I can't..." Ashley pauses, brow furrowed, chews her lip.
Then, glass SHATTERS, and Ashley's head jerks in the direction of the car. Her eyes widen, impossibly large spheres of blue rimmed by white, as her cabal mate slumps inside the stranger's car. She's confused - but more than confused, she's getting angry. Frustrated, tense, feeling impotent.
Ashley has those fingerprints; she follows them, hunts them down, seizes space and rends. It's what she can think to do.
[Corr 3, -1 for focus, -1 for practiced rote!]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 6, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 4) [WP]
[Li Daiyu] Apparently, there was something she could do.
After watching Wharil bring the boy in the car back to himself, the gears in Daiyu's head clicked into place. Very carefully, she knelt down to lay Israel's body on the ground. Then she looked at her companions and said... "Cover your ears."
It was an odd ritual. Maybe they would think so anyway, but they didn't understand the way that Daiyu interacted with the Ten Thousand Things. Wharil blared on the car horn, and Daiyu... danced. Like a prima ballerina and a kung fu master all rolled into one (which, technically, she was.) Her senses focused in on the wavelengths of the sound that was being projected, and in her mind, she was dancing with it. Whirling and spinning and sending it into a burst of passionate energy.
Of course, it didn't sound that way, in the physical world. It sounded like the loudest, most shrieking roar of a car horn (siren?) that anyone had ever heard. Like a bomb of sound had just detonated right on top of them.
When it was over, she looked up, her ears throbbing, to see if the children had indeed stopped chanting. They had.
[carriwitchet] The children are crying, and the man Emily lied to doesn't seem to think anything of it; not so their parents. Someone, someone who has been heretofore oblivious, with the same hue hair as the little girls: she appears almost out've the ether -- after a disaster, well: you find your family -- and runs over to them, grabs them up, does not know anything went wrong, would not believe if someone told her that her children were chanting in a language that is not spoken aloud by any but angels and those who've had dealings with them. The boy in the car, the boy next to Wharil, pushes the Euthanatos out so that he slumps in the street. He kicks at Wharil's feet until they're out on the street, too. Then he shuts his doors and locks them, and Wharil, in a dead faint, lies there like a crumpled up kleenex.
Israel still doesn't move. (She will [again]. But not yet.) The sound does touch her, though: don't think it doesn't. Her ears bleed. Her forehead creases. Her body: slumps, a little: puppet-strings cut. Out. Out cold. Out colder than she was. Oh, but she's still cold.
[Ashley McGowen] Her eyes, for a little while, are unfocused. No, not true: they are simply focused on a place that is not -here.- They're Elsewhere, and for a fraction of a second, they widen in awe at whatever they see. As she comes up against some Other, something huge, world-spanning, and here's a tangle.
She tries to unravel it, tread its coils, but ultimately when her chest begins to burn and when she realizes that she's about to be taken in and away, much as Israel was, she releases.
"I can't get anything for now," she says, with a hissing exhale as she glances toward Daiyu first, Emily after. "It'd pull me in. I'll have to try later."
[Li Daiyu] [Mind 2 - everyone go calm calm calm]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 4, 6 (Success x 1 at target 3)
[Li Daiyu] [Ok like.... seriously]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 5, 6, 10 (Success x 3 at target 4)
[Li Daiyu] [couple more?]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 6, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 4)
[Emily] Most of the Awakened insanity Emily has encountered thus far has been somewhat focused, localized, coordinated in a way that made it easier to keep track of. This diffuse craziness, with interloping Sleepers, magi that seemed to stumble over one another? This... augh. It made her weary from readiness in a way she hardly understood.
The Orphan took herself over to a park bench, because there had to be a parkbench in this corner, near the playground. She sat down on it and rubbed at her temples. Rubbed again at her ears. Tried to make heads or tails of the things they'd seen -- and she'd seen only a fraction of it, being limited so in her spheres.
If Ashley said Hey, Emily, pull your weight out here! she'd go back to helping. Just now, though, the best helping she could figure to do was to stay away from the Sleepers collecting their children, stay away from the broken glass and overzealous Daiyu. And to find her way home when her ears weren't ringing, because it was a scant few blocks' walk, and she could manage that even with tinnitus.
[Li Daiyu] For all that she might seem a little too aloof sometimes, the Akashic had a softer heart than might be expected. After a brief moment of exhilaration following the stunningly elegant success of her manipulations, she looked around to the side of broken glass and sobbing children, and her expression shifted, becoming softer, concerned.
Ashley did everything she could for the sleeping Israel, but ultimately couldn't pull her back to the waking world. Not yet, anyway. Daiyu looked at the Hermetic and nodded, accepting, if not happy. Then she brought a hand up to touch the bit of black jade beneath her shirt and closed her eyes...
Slowly, a wave of calming energy seeped out into the minds of the sleepers nearby, soothing their fears. At the least, that was something she could do for them.
Then she looked between Israel and Wharil. "We should go, before people get suspicious. I'll take him, if you two want to carry her." here she pointed toward the two unconscious mages, before walking over to inspect Wharil's slumped form. From what she could tell, his was a dilemma of purely mundane origin, and would sort itself out soon enough when he came to.
[Li Daiyu] [Er...side=sight, really it does]
[Ashley McGowen] The Akashic has a softer heart than one might initially expect, and she goes about soothing the children.
Ashley...does not go about soothing the children. They'll get over it.
Emily starts to make her way off, and Ashley does call after her, making sure she's all right, that she can get home okay, before she lets the Chorister-to-be continue on her way. To Daiyu, Ashley frowns. "A friend of mine has a truck. I'll give her a call and see if she can come get us. I'm not sure I could carry Israel."
Nor does she know where either of them lives, unfortunately, and it strikes her as a little odd that she's never been to the home of her cabal mate, a man she's known for a year. Wharil is evasive, though. She sighs, pulls out her cell phone, and somewhere not too far away, a certain redheaded Orphan's phone rings. She had to have felt the earthquake: maybe she knew this was coming.
Wharil and Israel will have to go to the chantry, for now.
[carriwitchet] [Roll Credits]
No comments:
Post a Comment