Security detail

Kalen Holliday
[How distracted by Resonance are we?]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )

Samara
Downtown is bustling tonight. The roads around Civic Center Park are churning with early holiday traffic. The temperatures have warmed a little - enough that some of the late November snow has melted away, leaving patches of bare, soggy grass visible on the ground. The wide pool at the head of the park was drained weeks ago, and not it sits empty and dry.

There is a figure walking beneath the pillars of the stone archway. Unlike most of the evening traffic, she isn't in any particular hurry to get somewhere. The way she moves is slow and relaxed, pausing here and there to inspect the details of the architecture - sliding fingers along the cold stone as though it had some story to share. She's easy to miss, this woman. People walk past her on the sidewalk without so much as a glance. From a distance, she resembles a nondescript shadow. Average height. Unremarkable clothes. Tonight she'd dressed in old jeans and a black hooded sweatshirt layered beneath a dark denim jacket. The hood is drawn up to shield her features in profile.

What Kalen notices first is not her physical presence, silent and unobtrusive in the dim shadows of the archway. What he notices is the way she feels. And even that is subtle. Barely even a whisper. Not weak, mind, but quiet. There's a feeling of watchfulness to her. Vigilance.

Like a bird of prey, waiting in silence.

She slides her hand away from the stone and begins to move along the perimeter of the drained pool, casting her gaze out into the shadows and the lamp-lit spaces around the park.

Samara
[Edit: and now it sits empty and dry.]

Kalen Holliday
Kalen is on his way between places.  He's wearing dark blue jeans with some dramatic fading so that they run from a muted robin's egg to the dark cobalt just before the sky goes dark along the side seams.  Over that is a dark brown corduroy coat that may well be older than he is, in excellent repair save a few battle scars.  An old leather satchel hangs across his body, resting against one hip.  With this slushy ground, he's wearing what looks like a cross between hiking boots and snow boots in earth tones.

The feeling of a bird of prey catches his attention.  Reminds him of-

But no.  There is no accompanying sensation of flying.  Perhaps just as well.  He never got along with Hawksley, for all he loved his presence.

It takes Kalen a moment to place where Samara's Resonance is coming from, but then he heads in that direction.

Sam Lakhani
[a roll for a thing!]

Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (4, 6, 6, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )

Sam Lakhani
[and this one's awareness]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 9, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 4 )

Samara
[Awareness]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (4, 7, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )

Sam Lakhani
Sam is also on his way between places.

He's easy enough to overlook if you're not actively looking for him. Even if you are actively looking for him if he's trying to not be found then there's a good chance you're shit out of luck. This is why he's the king of laser tag.

Tonight he's got a dark hoodie underneath his leather jacket. The hood is up and he's walking quick like he's trying to avoid talking to anyone. Smoking a cigarette like he's a mile underwater and it's piping him oxygen.

Then a couple of other reality deviants pop up on his radar. His footsteps stutter a bit and he contemplates banging a U-turn and going back the way he came. Maybe Kalen and whoever he's walking towards don't know he's there. That's what a crazy person would do though. If he's going to act normal he needs to keep walking forward.

Damn it.

River Vasquez
[Awareness!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )

River Vasquez
[Alertness, -4 because the person she is actively looking for has arcane out the ass]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (8) ( success x 2 ) [WP]

Samara
[Oh speaking of Arcane, Samara has Arcane 4 too. *g* ALL OF THE ARCANE TONIGHT.]

River Vasquez
[and awareness for Samara!]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (5) ( fail )

Sam Lakhani
[TEAM ARCANE IN THE HOUSE]

River Vasquez
Downtown is bustling tonight. There's a lot of traffic in the area and the camry is parked... um.,.. double-parked, actually. Parked in a place that isn't actually a parking space because there isn't a meter but there was space so she pulled in.

She's out on the streets, bundled up in her rather warm but otherwise unremarkable coat. She'd raided the emergency stash of clothes in the back of her car, which meant that the leggings she was wearing didn't necessarily match the shirt she was wearing, but who really cared at that juncture because she had a coat on and anyone who cared about whether or not the horsehead nebula matched with a white Ladies' Leadership Summit 1984 tee shirt could lump it.

Her quarry is about fifteen yards ahead of her, hood up and walking quickly but she knows the jacket and she knows that Sam smokes so the likelihood that it isn't him is slim. Someone else pings on her senses, enough to make her pause and look about, briefly, to see if she could see who it was.

She trotted to bridge the gap between herself and Mr. Lakhani, but she had to make her way through human traffic. People, as it turned out, were wonderful road blocks.

Samara
She sees Kalen coming. Feels him, too - like heaven swirling on her skin. It's hard not to notice that kind of resonance. The colors (so to speak) and the dramatic flavor of it. He stands out much more than she does, here. Certainly more than the other hooded figure - who as of the moment has yet to attract Samara's attention. (For all her vigilance, there are some shadows she still misses.)

There's a pause in her stride as she notes him coming toward her. A cant of her shadowed face beneath the fabric of her hood. After a moment she makes a decision and pushes that hood back. Lets the lamplight strike her features. To Kalen and Sam (should he happen to be looking) the impression is one of a switch suddenly being flipped on. One moment she is obscure, unimportant, difficult to focus on. The next - ah. There she is.

She's of Berber descent, technically speaking. Though most people mistake her for Arabic. Her dark hair is left loose today. The weight of the hood has left it a bit flat, and she reaches up to slide her fingers through it, tucking one section behind her ear. Then she offers Kalen a slow, silent wave and a soft, secretive smile.

Then she turns her head to glance at River, and her expression falters. Takes on a slightly more readied expression, as though perhaps the convergence of more than one of their kind in a single place is cause for suspicion. (And given that she doesn't know them, it easily could be.) But there isn't any immediate sense of hostility in her.

Kalen Holliday
Kalen is calm enough as he approaches, though as he notices they have company he glances around again.  Something changes about the ways he moves, subtle, but a little closer to some edge or another.  Samara is the only unknown, but Kalen is more comfortable walking up to potential threats alone than with friends.

Still, Samara's smile is returned.  Once he's closed enough of the distance between them he offers a quiet, 'hey.'  He doesn't take his hands out of his pockets, but it's fucking cold. There's nothing about his approach to suggest much more than curiosity.

Kalen leaves the others to approach or not approach as they see fit.  He keeps company that sometimes prefers to go in with him in spirit more than in flesh often enough that he isn't waving anyone over.  Not yet.  Perhaps not at all.  He rather expects that they will end up joining them anyway.  Because what else would they do?

Moths to flames, all them.  And him with less room than any of them to cast stones on that score.

Sam Lakhani
This isn't obvious at all:

He has the thought that if he does pull a U-turn that Kalen won't be paying attention to him. Like there's a chance the Hermetic doesn't know he's coming. Hasn't felt his resonance or hasn't recognized the figure he cuts in the darkness. Taps the ash off his cigarette and turns around.

Takes a few paces.

Realizes River is following him. Realizes if he realizes then she probably realizes too. Has the thought that maybe he's just overthinking. He hasn't been able to think straight for two days. Now that he is having a brief moment of clarity his brain doesn't know what to do with all its freedom.

It's not like he's actively running away from River. He just wanted to go for a walk and he's not supposed to leave the apartment because he's a danger to himself or something he didn't get the memo and ah fuck it.

He turns back around and keeps walking towards Kalen and his soon-to-be new friend. Drags on his cigarette hard again.

"Hey man what's up," he says to Kalen as he executes a fly-by and keeps right on walking. Brief eye contact with Samara. Acknowledging her but not prepared to stop and chat. For all he knows Kalen and she already know each other and he'd be interrupting otherwise.

River Vasquez
He knows she's following him. She knows that he knows that she's following him, and in some strange sense in the back of her mind some part of her goes well, this is awkward. River doesn't actually do a lot of following of people, all things said. Normally, if someone is going to get followed there is a natural conclusion to the evening and occasionally it involves a shovel and a long drive out to the middle of nowhere.

She is not, in fact, going to be dragging Sam out into the middle of nowhere. That is not even on the top fifteen things she needs to do today. Or this month. Totally doesn't even make the list. She sighs, catches a look at Elliott and raises a hand to give him a wave.

She lacks the capacity to be able to notice Samara, knows there is a body there, knows that there seems to be a person but her brain fills her in like a pattern right until her brain seems to realize there is an aberration in that pattern.

She does stop, sigh, realize she isn't going to get anywhere unless- "Sam!" - she acknowledges that she is, in fact, there.

Samara
There are others in the park tonight. Downtown shoppers much like Kalen; couples walking through on their way to dinner. It's the sort of place that people tend to pass through on their way to other things. A nexus. And any one of them could easily keep on going. Just nod and drift on by. Maybe some of them will.

Sam acknowledges Kalen as he walks past, and Samara looks at him - really sees him then for the first time. Her gaze is alert and observant, dark eyes sliding over Sam's features before retreading back to Kalen. Kalen who says: hey.

She doesn't speak, but she does tip her head lightly to one side in a soft nod. Her body's gone still now, stopped beneath a flare of golden lamplight on the stone walkway. She slides her hands back into the pockets of her coat and hunches her shoulders briefly, her breath pluming out in the cold air.

River's sudden call (Sam!) gets a quick dart of Samara's eyes and a brief, surprised blink before she seems to surmise that River is not, in fact, speaking to her.

To Kalen then, she offers a more hesitantly apologetic smile. Like she knows maybe that she ought to say something. Give some proper introduction. This is, after all, their city. She's merely an interloper. So she takes another step toward Kalen and lifts her hand, making a little fluttery-dancing gesture with her fingers as she mimes something that might be meant to indicate falling snow. There's a wistfulness to her expression as she turns in a circle, hands outstretched.

But the snow isn't falling tonight. Maybe that's what she's saying. That she wishes it were.

Of course, Kalen might just as easily think she isn't in her right mind. In any case, she offers him her hand to shake, if he wishes.

Kalen Holliday
There is a second, when Samir is moving past him, that Kalen relaxes.  And as he watches for Samir to pass him there is a brief, fond smile.  "Hey."  River's wave gets a return wave of his hand.  A smile with less fondness.  It takes a minute with him.

And then Samara breaks off into interpretive dance.  Prefaced by slightly apologetic smiles.  Okay.

"Not talking, huh?"  There is, from Kalen, no default assumption that she is incapable.  There are vows to all kinds of things.  Silence being one of them.

Samara offers her hand and he does remove one of his from his coat to take it.  There is a single firm squeeze.  "So I'm Elliott," he says.  There is, judging by the tone, no indication that this is not a normal Tuesday night.

Sam Lakhani
What Samara sees in that glance she spares the Virtual Adept is a young man with dark skin and dark hair and dark eyes. Sparseness of build gives him the appearance of height that is not anchored in reality. When he actually sees her he does a bit of a double take. But that moment intersects with the moment River calls his name and they both react because it's a nickname for both of them.

Unlike the young woman the young man does not disregard it. A smile flashes white in the dark and he tries to act as if he didn't just have a quiet internal debate over which direction he ought to go. Kalen relaxes when he moves past him. He doesn't notice.

"Hey!" he calls back to River.

A final glance back at the two of them and then he tosses his cigarette into a nearby snowbank in favor of pushing his hands into his pockets. Turns and walks back towards River quicker than he had been walking away from her. Long anxious strides make short work of the distance and then he approaching her not with nervousness but with trepidation.

"I'm sorry," he says when he comes up into the Euthanatos's space. "I just..." He clears his throat. That gesture and the fact that he isn't wild-eyed right now might be a sign that he's got his marbles together for a moment. "I needed some air, I wasn't thinking straight." No shit. That's why she's following you, dude. "What day is it?"

River Vasquez
There is a brief wave in return to her acknowledgment of Elliott, and the person she was following turns around to bridge the gap. She doesn't stop walking, instead chooses to bridge the gap  between them and keeps her hands in her pockets.

There's trepidation in his approach. She seems relaxed enough, and he apologizes. River bites her lower lip for a moment, watches his face and can tell that, for now, he seems to be with himself.

He needed some air.

"December first, Tuesday," she tells him, "you've been on the fourth floor of an apartment building for awhile, anyone would need some air."

It's an assurance that, yes, the desire to be out getting air and breathing and not being stuck in one particular place made sense. They both knew why that probably wasn't the best of ideas, but she could understand the desire to be out.

"I was afraid I'd lose you, though," she says, admits really, because she was afraid she would lose him. Samir isn't easy to keep track of.

Samara
Her hand is cold. She's been out in this weather for a while now. But there's more strength to her grip than one might guess upon first glance. She nods when Kalen (Elliott) offers his name - files it away to memory. When she retracts her hand, she starts to move her fingers in these slow, specific gestures - signing the first few letters of her name. Her eyes are on Kalen - watching him for some sign of recognition. When he doesn't offer any, she stops and reaches into her coat. There's a tiny notepad and a pen tucked into the inside pocket. She withdraws these, flips the notebook open and scrawls something quickly across the page:

Samara

She offers as much of herself as he does, lifting the notepad for him to see before tucking it and the pen back into her coat. Even in this sense, she is a creature of few words.

She doesn't know why Sam did a double-take when he saw her - if he thought he recognized her or if he thought she was attractive (or unattractive) or if maybe something else surprised him. But the glance did not go unnoticed. She looks over at him and River now, taking in the familiarity with which they greet each other. When she looks back at Kalen, she lifts her eyebrows and indicates them with a tip of her head.

Kalen Holliday
Kalen tries to explain Samir to Samara.  And with Samir and River not closing on them, with Samara making no hostile moves, he's relaxed just enough that he is open again.  And therefore less trying to manage Samara and more trying to meet her.  And, thus, "I've met him.  We had beers and-"  Kalen scuffs one boot.  "Fuck if I know."  It might sound like Kalen is trying to hedge around whether it was a fucking date instead of Kalen trying to figure out if he should declare them friends.

"And I've met her."  With her BFF.  Who is dead now.  Kalen lets that information lie but a little bit of something darker creeps in at the edges of his tone.

There is a second's pause while he sorts out how to proceed.  While he glances over at River and Samir.

Yes or no questions.  Maybe that.  "So.  You like the snow?  New to Denver?"

Sam Lakhani
Look at Kalen over there acting like two dudes can't just go grab a beer and not talk about their feelings without it being a big deal.

Meanwhile River was afraid she'd lose him. They're a little over a mile away from the Verbena's apartment. A lot could have happened in a mile. If he hadn't used the din of the crowd and the blaring of traffic and the roaring of airplanes overhead to block out the hallucinations it may well have. This was a gamble he took tonight. Samir hates gambling. He sucks at it.

Putting his arms around River's shoulders and pulling her in against his chest isn't a gamble. She can hear contrition in his sigh as she embraces her.

"We should get back before I try to pick a fight a garbage can, eh?"

Good old gallows humor.

River Vasquez
He puts his arms around her shoulders and pulls her in against him. She slips her arms around his waist and laughs about the fact that he might pick a fight with a garbage can. She wouldn't normally laugh at that, wouldn't normally find much amusement in the idea that someone she cares about has had a very harsh separation from reality but the fact that he's present and making a joke about it is enough to make her laugh.

She does pull back, but keeps an arm around his waist anyway because she likes being close to him. Takes the moments of clarity that she can get and runs with them because who knows how many of those a person can have.

"Garbage cans don't fight fair, you might be in trouble if you did," River tells him. "I'm illegally parked, c'mon."

Samara
Kalen and Samir had beers. Kalen and River... met. It isn't much, but it's something. Enough to tell Samara that the three are at least passingly familiar.

She never really answered Kalen's question earlier (not talking, huh?) but the fact that she has yet to volunteer any audible speech is probably enough of an answer on its own. Either she can't speak, or she chooses not to.

Her eyes do linger on Samir for a moment. Perhaps in curiosity. People tend to notice those with whom they share some commonalities. But he's embracing River, and the two of them look to be having something of a private moment, so Samara's gaze leaves them and finds Kalen again.

Does she like the snow?

She nods, smiling softly.

New to Denver?

Another nod, this one more business-like. She doesn't offer up where she came from, or why she's there. Instead he kneels down at the side of the walkway and gathers up a mound of snow in her palm, packing it tight and rounding it off.

When she rises to stand, she shoots Kalen a look that edges into: wry, playful, competitive. Then she lobs the snowball at his chest.

Samara
[Dex+Athletics, woo]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )

Kalen Holliday
Samara starts doing something with the snow.  Maybe she is trying to tell him something.  Sphere?  Maybe she will draw a little globe on the snow.  Sketch out arbitrary boundaries lain over the parts of Creation that people had carved-

A snowball hits him in the chest and Kalen just blinks.  He doesn't come from a place with snow.  He doesn't have context for this outside of things other people have told him.  For a few seconds, he stays very, very still.

And then he sighs and takes his hands out of his pockets and he regards Samara steadily.  "In like ten seconds, when I touch actual snow with my actual skin, I want you to know that I am going to hate you."  He sounds so very serious in that instant.

Kalen moves enough that he can reach a pile of snow.  Puts his hand in the snow and yanks it back once before he manages to actually make a snowball.

Which he then promptly tosses at Samara.  He does not, not at all, seem to hate anything about this.  Except, possibly, actual snow touching his actual skin.

[Dex+Athletics]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )

Sam Lakhani
Some sound makes Sam look back sharp over his shoulder.

He is still in the midst of Quiet. He knows the sounds he's hearing aren't real. The sound of something hitting something else is enough to grab his attention and when he looks back it's to see Kalen with a snowball splatted on his chest. Alright. So that was real. Good to know.

Something about that makes him huff out what would have been a laugh if he weren't still tired and unsure of what is going on around him. When River keeps her arm around his waist Sam puts his around her shoulders.

"How does one park illegally?" asks the man who has in his possession but never actually earned a driver's license.

River Vasquez
She turns around with Samir, in time to see the snow on Kalen's chest, the other person with the look on her face that appeared competitive. Playful. It made her grin, then smile, then it was back to the task at hand: finding her car.

"I have no idea, I just assume that if it was a good spot I'm not supposed to be there. It's safer that way," she tells him.

And with that, the two of them leave. River and Sam, off to Kiara's apartment to ride out whatever moments of clarity he had left. Maybe eat something, maybe shower, maybe do any number of things that people do when they are in each other's company. Whatever it is, she certainly wasn't thinking bout parking.

Sam Lakhani
[thanks for the scene, fools!]

Kalen Holliday
[Thank you guys!]

Samara
[ditto!]

River Vasquez
(thanks for the play! Had a blast!)