[Wharil Choc]
((Totally Recylcing an Intro. Please don't hate me for it.))
It was called The Cloud Gate, and for obvious reason. As Emily approached the huge, reflective art piece, she might have fallen into the same disorienting spell that most people did. There in the distance stood a huge drop of mercury reflecting, from even such a great distance, the world around her. The sky, the ground, and the profile of the city in between them.
On clear days this wasn't a problem. On clear warm days the bean-shaped metal mirror called like a lighthouse, blazing brightly so that there was no doubt as to what was over there. On clouded days like this one, however, it stood a little too clearly, and the world danced in that spot, only getting worse the closer you got, as if you were walking into the sky itself. Only the people around gave it context and realism, and even they were made surreal.
A towering father walks with several tiny children.
A jogger, immune to the cold, wavers and jitters as she passes by.
And a certain ruddy skinned man stands underneath as if waiting for someone, his black wool coat lending a single dark reflection to the underside of the bean. A single black cloud in the inverted sky.
((http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c1/Cloud_Gate_%28The_Bean%29_from_east%27.jpg/800px-Cloud_Gate_%28The_Bean%29_from_east%27.jpg))
[Wharil Choc]
((EE! Just ignore all references to people named Emily! *proof-read-fail!*
))
[Ashley McGowen]
Ashley has chosen to obey the letter of Wharil's advice a few weeks ago, if not the spirit. She's sitting on a bench near the bean-shaped sculpture, reading quietly, oblivious to the fact that it's cold and occasionally glancing up at the sky for hints of falling snow.
Well, at least it isn't her apartment.
The pale woman is wrapped in a black wool coat that, at present, seems slightly too big, swallowing her narrow shoulders and the lower part of her face. Shaggy dark hair does what it wants to, which, at present, means that a few tufts are blowing over her face. She looks as though she's in her late twenties - a graduate student, one might suspect, crazy enough to try to do some reading in between classes while outside in a Chicago winter.
Suspicions would be correct.
[Corran Witchbourne]
*Corran was walking down the way. Dressed today in jeans, a medium green button up shirt and over it a normal sedate black leather jacket that hangs to aboout mid theigh. His hair was dark, skin pale and his eyes bright. Something about him even dressed so mundanely screamed 'witch' to those that looked on him.
At his side trotted a truely massive cat. A gray and black tabby Maine Coon, with a fluffy tail. The thing was bigger than most 'lap dogs' and looked right at home at Corran's side*
[Izzy Hargreaves]
Izzy wanders slowly round, obviously not in any hurry to get anywhere soon. she stands out even without her normal cyber-goth hairdo, huge headphones or the goggles. she's still strikingly tall when anyone wanders past. her blue and black hair is in a ponytail to keep it off her face and she's muffled up in scarf and trench again and has even put a jumper on. she has bluey-purple thick-rimmed glasses
she pauses in front of the piece and narrows her eyes and she looks like she's trying to make sense of it. she gives up after a minute and flops down on a bench and looks up at the sky and rummages in her army-surplus bag
[Wharil Choc]
He was a bit of stillness in the milling crowd. Stillness in that he wasn't churning about with the wandering masses, but anyone who came close enough would see his jittering leg and fumbling hands. His head shifts in one direction, toward the benches. In another, following something among the crowd, and yet another, much more distant to a man walking his...pet cat.
Eventually he moves, and the bronze and black reflection moves with him, travelling along and growing stumpier and smaller the further away from the Cloud Gate that he goes. It doesn't disappear, however. Only shrinks to the size of an ant, that now stands near another ant with blue and black hair.
"Hi." Wharil says. He's not just standing there, but introducing himself, a hand jutted out to shake already. "I'm Wharil. We met last night. And...spoke on the phone earlier."
[Corran Witchbourne]
*As he approacched the statue his brows went up as he glanced at it and then the people around it. A slight smile crossed his face and he raised a hand to wave .* Hey guys. *The cat looked around and staid more or less by Corran's legs*
[Izzy Hargreaves]
Izzy looks up and smiles, it's a friendly smile and when she shakes his hand it's a firm and warm handshake. she likes Wharil from what she's seen "hi, Wharil. good to see you again" there's a slight pause as she tries to say his name right, her accent comes out nicely and she sounds cheerful.
[Ashley McGowen]
After a few more minutes, Ashley shuts the book and wipes a hand down the front of her face, leaving it sitting in her lap. Then, folding an arm behind her head and letting both feet come to rest on top of the bench, she glances up and watches the sky.
Which is quite gray, made slightly ominous with coming snow, and so it doesn't hold her interest for long. Her gaze eventually drifts over to the structure, watching the dots move over its surface. They eventually come to rest on three dots in particular, squinting as she tries to make them out and then raises herself on her elbows, glancing around the park for them.
[Corran Witchbourne]
*Corran looked to the cat, who looked up to him, the Witch shrugged and tried again* Earth to Ashley. Come in Ashley.
[Wharil Choc]
((Alright, seems there might be some spacial confusion. Lets establish that Ashley and Corran are at one bench, and Izzy and Wharil are at another. Will attempt to bring it all together now.))
[Wharil Choc]
"Yeah, you too." Wharil responds. His handshake is firm, and his smile a genuine one. Its everything about him that seems to be a bit uneasy. Just a bit jittery, much like he was last night.
"Uh, I see a couple friends of mine over there. Why don't you let me introduce you."
[Izzy Hargreaves]
she stands up and swings her bag back on "sure, always good to meet new people." she smiles back and looks around or these friends
[Ashley McGowen]
Corran is suddenly behind her, and he can see Ashley jump the moment he starts talking. It's an easy thing, for her to miss people approaching. She catches his reflection in the sculpture, though, before she sits up and turns to face him, after that jolt of muscles and the small shudder that follows.
"...Corran. Hi," she says, glancing up at the Verbena. "You surprised me."
[Corran Witchbourne]
Sorry about that. I'd said Hey. You must be deep in thought. How's it going?
*O.P. The cat lept up onto the back of the bench and leaned out to sniff at Ashley's hair. Corran lifted a hand to softly stroke over the big ol things fur*
[Ashley McGowen]
"It's going," is the rather brief response that he gets, as she glances at the cat when it hops up to sniff at her hair. She doesn't reach out to pet the animal or the like; Corran's told her it's his familiar, which would put any such behavior distinctly in the 'rude and invasive' category.
After a few seconds she remembers to ask, "How are you?"
[Wharil Choc]
The two head over, Wharil occasionally checking over his shoulder to make sure Izzy was following. He came to a stop near the bench.
"Hey guys, this is...Uh.."
And turns back to her.
"It was Izzy, right?"
[Corran Witchbourne]
Doing ok. Been walkin' mundane a bit since that hubub at the house.
*Then Wharil came up and Corran offered the man and his brightly hued friend a smile. His brows raised and he offered Izzy a hand* Nice to meet you. I'm Corran. This.. *he nodded to the big ol Maine Coon* is O.P.
[Izzy Hargreaves]
Izzy keeps up easilly and smiles whenever he looks back. when he stops she comes up next to him "yeah that's right" she half salutes to the two people and the cat "Hi, good to meet you..uh all three of you" her voice is quiet but confident and she grins and holds a hand out near the cat to see it's response.
[Izzy Hargreaves]
*shakes his hand then holds it out to the cat
[Corran Witchbourne]
*The cat reaches up and gives Izzy a high five*
[Ashley McGowen]
Ashley's attention is turned toward Wharil, who she thought she spotted in the Gate's reflection, and she gives the Euthanatos a quick smile as she rises to greet Izzy. She extends her hand to shake, tucking her book away in the oversized (and slightly overstuffed) pocket of her coat.
"Nice to meet you, Izzy. I'm Ashley."
[Izzy Hargreaves]
Izzy shake's the cat's hand too, gently, not seeming to think it odd at all then dusts her hand off and shakes Ashley's and smiles
[Wharil Choc]
"So!" Wharil says as if transitioning to a new and uncomfortable topic. There's a bit of an impish grin on his face as his eyes wonder between the two. The three, including the cat.
"You guys do anything last night?"
[Ashley McGowen]
Ashley frowns, trying to recall exactly what she did, and then recalls that several hours just sort of slipped away outside her notice. "No, nothing really," she tells Wharil, with a shrug, making note of the grin on his face.
"...Why, did something else happen?"
[Corran Witchbourne]
*Corran smiled and stroked O.P.s back* I was in the air last night. *A slight motion with his other hand gesturing to the Chicago skyline*
[Izzy Hargreaves]
Izzy raises an eyebrow and glances between the 3 of them then focusing on Wharil "we had an..interesting evening"
[Wharil Choc]
"Oh nothing much." He says, flashing the grin to Izzy this time. "Just caught up on some paperwork and caught a few drinks with a couple technocratic agents. They wanted to make a deal with 'Us'". Wharil punctuates the word 'Us' with air quotes.
"Only, as you can probably guess, I didn't recognize half the people in the room. That's where I met Izzy though. And a kid named Owen. I think he's with the singers."
[Corran Witchbourne]
*The cat's ears fold back at that and he looks up to Corran. Corran scrinched behind his ears. Then speaks softly* A .... 'deal'?
[Izzy Hargreaves]
Izzy opens her mouth as though she's going to say something then thinks better of it and smiles
[Ashley McGowen]
Ashley looks, for a few seconds, as though she doesn't really have anything she -could- say to that. Her jaw hangs slightly open as she attempts to process this, working past the two kneejerk emotional reactions: anger and fear, in favor of considering what 'a deal' means.
Finally her jaw shuts again with a sharp click. "I hope you didn't take them up on it," she tells Wharil, frowning. "Any deal they make with us is going to be temporary. We can't trust them." And then, belatedly, "I know Owen, he was at the house."
[Wharil Choc]
"Yeah." He says to Corran. "They want us to stop looking for the Nameless Crow and...whatever Corrupters are in the city. They also want us to let them know what we're doing. At all times. So they can keep track of us, I guess."
And then to Ashley. "Yeah, he mentioned that. And don't worry, I haven't agreed to anything. I know better than that. Mind you, it wasn't exactly easy given a few of our other guests and the mood in the room." Another glance to izzy, this time a knowing 'can you believe that?' "But I think I at least managed to learn a little bit while I could."
[Corran Witchbourne]
*He looked non pulsed* And what do we get out of the deal? *The cat snorted and mumbled something rude*
[Izzy Hargreaves]
Izzy returns the look and grins "I bet Locke is going to be annoyed he's missing all this, he would have been interested. but yeah the room was rather tense, I'm surprised no-one started anything"
[Ashley McGowen]
"We don't get hunted down by a bunch of entitled fucks who think they have a right to police us, I'm guessing," Ashley says, looking sidelong at Corran. Her anger is nearly a palpable thing; the Hermetic folds her arms and frowns down at the sidewalk while she considers the new information. Seething quietly.
"What did you pick up, Wharil?"
[Corran Witchbourne]
Ahh.. My people have been hunted for 100s of years. Pardon me if I don't line up and hoop jump just because the hunters offer to be nice.
Still. The Accordance war is over. It's not like they're actively out there trying to hunt us down any more. It's counter productive and unprofitable. *he smirked a touch at that but looked to Wharil to see what he picked up. Information was always good*
[Wharil Choc]
He nods to Ashly. "Yeah, We don't get shot in our sleep. Awful generous of them, don't you think? There was something they were trying to keep from me. Something about the Nameless Crow. Now they say that they can contain him, but i don't think that's what they're after. I can't confirm it but my guess is they want try and control him. One of the guys referred to us as 'walking weapons'. And even if they are after the Crow, I think their best idea is...whatever their version of Gilgul is. Which..." He shakes his head violently here, with conviction. "...Is not what he deserves."
"There's...also been more Nephandic activity in the city, and they obviously want 'Us' to stay out of it. That said, they don't know enough to actually do anything, and were trying to press us for information. They also don't know enough about us. They bulshited their way through a couple threats, acted like they knew our identities. But they also wanted us to provide them with information of what we're doing. If I had to guess I'd say they don't have enough resources for it, basically. We can hardly keep track of the awakened in the city. They're likely spread too thin as it is. Things have been quiet until recently. We're not high on their list of priorities just yet.
"Which, yeah, I have to agree with you on, Corran. If they can't afford to keep track of us on their own, I doubt they'll be hunting us down. But they are active, and there is a risk that we might get caught in the crossfire between them and the nephandi."
[Corran Witchbourne]
Ahhhh *he nodded and pondered it* Ok.. this might sound a bit mercenary of me... but if they want to take out the nephandi.. and want us to stay out of it.... and the Nephandi are going to fight back... So it's... Black hats vs Devil lovers... *he motioned with a hand. The cat spoke up* "Why not let the bastards fight each other"
[Izzy Hargreaves]
izzy butts in "they don't know as much as they want us to think almost certainly. London is one of the worst places for techno presence because they have hundreds of cameras all the time but even there they can't know everything."
[Corran Witchbourne]
to Ashley McGowen, Izzy Hargreaves, Wharil Choc
((Cat's acccent is New Englander, thick))
[Ashley McGowen]
"-No one- deserves to have his Will taken away from him." This, said with finality and no small degree of heat: if her prior statements hadn't made it clear where Ashley stood on letting the Technocrats handle Dylan, this does.
To the rest, she just listens in silence. "The War wouldn't be over if the cost to hunt us all down weren't too high," she reminds Corran. "As it is...yeah, Wharil is right. They probably want as much as they can threaten us into giving. My guess is that if they can find a way to get rid of us -and- everything else in the city, like if that comes up, they'll do it too. My only objection to letting them handle the Nephandi is that -we- need to know what happened at the chantry and continue looking into it ourselves to know whether we need to watch for any more trouble."
[Wharil Choc]
Wharil's brows furrowed as the cat spoke up. Not surprised, but still not exactly comfortable with that sort of thing.
"I...Can't say I completely disagree with you, O.P. I guess the question to ask is: Who's form of justice is better or more important at the moment. What happened last night was...a random sampling. They just happened to dupe the first few awakened that walked by. Now I was at home working my ass off. My avatar was driving me up the wall trying to keep me busy. I acted against that, and wound up there. My point is, we could ride this whole thing out. Remain under their radar and not even become a target for them. But what happens when their standard of 'evildoer' shifts from 'Devil Worshiper' to simply 'Visible and present'?"
[Corran Witchbourne]
*Corran nods* Good point there Whar. But still... Nephandi are dangerous. Perhaps observation and catagorising for us, while the Black hat's shead tthe blood and sweat... Im not going to cry if they kill some Nephandi.
But you do have a point.
[Izzy Hargreaves]
"I don't agree with telling them where we are and what we do but the appearance of co-operation could perhaps swing things in our favour. I say apprearance because they may go back on their word after this, truces end quite often, and if so we don't want them to know too much."
[Corran Witchbourne]
*Corran nodded to Izzy, there were merits to not pissing off the guys with the BFGs*
[Ashley McGowen]
"I'm not going to let them dictate what I can do, even if they're hunting around," Ashley says, shaking her head. "I have no intention of keeping my head down or stopping my own investigations. They can come find me if they don't like it."
[Corran Witchbourne]
I think that's what Whar was saying, Ashley.. They 'may'. *Meaning, come find her if they don't like it* Seems we may need to factor in a little more stealth in our activitys. If for nothing else, than to CYA.
[Izzy Hargreaves]
Izzy has been looking thoughtful. "of course this could always be a good time to..umm..be creative with what we're doing. mislead them, set it up so that if they do break truce they don't latch straight on but chase ghosts for a bit.." a mischevious smile is hovering on her face threatening to be a full grin
[Wharil Choc]
He nods to Izzy. "I agree totally. But while we're at it there's something else I'd like to point out. At present..." He brings his hand up slowly, fingers up and circling first amongh the four there, and then further and wider, as if representing the entire city.
"There is no 'we'. And 'We' can't vouch for anyone, or bargain for anyone's safety if we can't account for one another's activity. Now you may think its fine and good to say what Joe-Bob Awakened does down the street has nothing to do with you, but in their eyes we're already lumped into one group. There's a distinction between Naphandi, Marauders, and just your everyday garden variety reality deviant, and that's comforting. But the last Marauders and Nephandi we've seen sprang up from among the ranks of the everyday garden-variety reality deviants. People some of us knew. People some of us thought we could trust. But we couldn't tell for sure because we were all too busy watching our own asses."
He pauses for a moment, and his eyes stop on Ashley. A cool, jittery nervousness to her hot, steady ire.
"We're forming a Cabal." He says, as if it were something that was already decided and not something that was still in the works. "And we're focusing our efforts on re-securing the Chantry, and protecting the awakened. That means anyone who does anything to bring the heat down on us will also be held accountable by us. Now we're not demanding that you join in or even that you help us. But I would insist that try banding together along your own lines, if you have to.
"If you want to form your own Chantry houses, fine. If you want to secure your own nodes, that's okay. We'll help if we can. But none of us can afford to ignore each other any longer."
[Ashley McGowen]
"And what -I'm- saying is I would rather they came and got me than cower in my apartment hoping I'll escape notice," Ashley says, eyes flashing at Corran. "If you let them tell you what to do, the War really is over and they did win."
And then she goes quiet, listening to Wharil's explanation, looking sidelong at him and nodding when he says that they are forming a Cabal and at his suggestions. "We're going to need to communicate with each other at the very least. Share information and provide a support network so that what happened to the Marauder is...at least somewhat preventable."
[Izzy Hargreaves]
Izzy is for once not smiling and she looks like the cold is finally reaching her because she shivers "I'll happily join. my mentor and my best friend have once again buggered off to more fun places leaving me.. I can do with anyone i can find. there are ways to prevent becoming nephandi if you're careful. but it is unfortunately sometimes as simple as opening the wrong book..." she shivers again
[Corran Witchbourne]
*He smiled softly to Ashley. He didn't exactly hide in the dark and he could agree with her conviction.* Who all is 'we' Wharil?
[Wharil Choc]
"Well there's Ashley and me. Of course. There's this guy named Gregor. He's...working with the Chantry's Guardian spirit as we speak. I have two other Tradition-mates in the city. They're almost a sure thing. And we have two Apprentices--Enid, who you know. Not sure if you know Emily. There's Kage, the Orphan."
He smiles, somewhat as izzy throws her hat in. "And Izzy, looks like." I've gotten in touch with Owen, but he was sort of...non-committed. And there was another woman there last night, but she left before i got to talk to her."
[Corran Witchbourne]
*Corran nodded* Well you can count me in conditionallly. I'll need to talk to my sister and all. I'm all for helping. Not sure about 'being held accountable by' though. *he grinnned a bit8
[Ashley McGowen]
Ashley looks like she might have a reply to Izzy, but then Wharil explains who he means by 'we,' and she stops, looking between the two of them. She's no longer full of the impassioned ire she spoke with earlier, about the Technocracy; her demeanor seems to have softened somewhat. "Wharil, we might want to..." And she pauses, breaking off, raising a hand to the back of her neck as she listens to the others talk.
[Corran Witchbourne]
*Corran's brow rose and he looked to Ashley. O.P. looked to her as well and flicked his poofty tail8
[Izzy Hargreaves]
"do we want to take this somewhere less public? we're kinda exposed here" she looks nervous
[Wharil Choc]
Ashley speaks up and he has an idea of what she was going to say. His hand works the back of his neck and his lips press into a line.
"Maybe. Maybe we should...Reconvene?"
Eyes once again rising, checking with Ashley.
[Ashley McGowen]
Ashley meets his eyes, frowns, and then says, "We don't have to. Just...maybe we should talk at some point. Soon." The Hermetic drops her hands into her pockets, closing one hand around the book and oddly feeling somewhat reassured.
"I wouldn't worry," she adds to Izzy, with a smirk. "There's nowhere around here for them to hide a camera."
[Corran Witchbourne]
*Corran raised a brow and reached up to scratch at his jaw a bit*
[Izzy Hargreaves]
"there is still scrying though" she raises an eyebrow. "just a bit jumpy suddenly"
[Wharil Choc]
"Don't let your fear get the best of you." Wharil says, suddenly lacking his previous fervor and conviction. Not to mention his previous verbosity. His head raises now, looking to Izzy, then to Corran.
"But i guess we shouldn't ignore it so boldly either. I think this has gone on long enough for a random encounter. Let me give you two my number. In case we need to get in touch."
He fumbles through his pockets, pulling out a pocket-size journal and does just that, tearing off a half page for each of them with the letters 'W.C' and his number on it.
[Corran Witchbourne]
*Corran took it and looked it over. Showing it to the cat and then slipping it into his jacket. Pulling out a few cards with rubberband around them. he pulled a few out and offered them around.
[Ashley McGowen]
Ashley looks over at Wharil while he hands out his cards, still silent. Giving both Corran and Izzy a polite nod, and reaching into her own coat pocket to hand Izzy one of her cards too - Corran received one some time ago. "Here's mine," she says. "Just my cell phone, but you can get a hold of me there if you need to."
And she realizes, ruefully, that she's going to need to scratch the business phone off of all of these, a procedure which is decidedly embarrassing. Or make new cards.
[Wharil Choc]
"So..." Wharil says, rising up onto his toes and rolling back down onto his heels. "I'm glad we had this talk. Glad I got to meet you, Izzy. Sort of a...do-over. Better circumstances, that kinda thing."
He flashes her a smile, one that pales into a look of sorrow as he slowly turns to Ashley again, and offers: "Walk you home?"
[Ashley McGowen]
"Nice to meet you, Izzy," she says, giving the blue-haired girl a wave.
Then she looks back at Wharil, turning to her with the sort of expression that suggests that he just heard his grandmother is dead, and gives him a nod. And as reassuring a glance as she can manage. "Sure."
[Izzy Hargreaves]
Iz takes the numbers " i'll text you, phone you or email contact details, whichever is appropriate"
[Ashley McGowen]
Ashley gives Izzy a nod. "All right, thanks. Feel free to get in touch with me." And, extending her hand again for a parting handshake, she makes her way around the Cloud Gate and off to the north.
((Totally Recylcing an Intro. Please don't hate me for it.))
It was called The Cloud Gate, and for obvious reason. As Emily approached the huge, reflective art piece, she might have fallen into the same disorienting spell that most people did. There in the distance stood a huge drop of mercury reflecting, from even such a great distance, the world around her. The sky, the ground, and the profile of the city in between them.
On clear days this wasn't a problem. On clear warm days the bean-shaped metal mirror called like a lighthouse, blazing brightly so that there was no doubt as to what was over there. On clouded days like this one, however, it stood a little too clearly, and the world danced in that spot, only getting worse the closer you got, as if you were walking into the sky itself. Only the people around gave it context and realism, and even they were made surreal.
A towering father walks with several tiny children.
A jogger, immune to the cold, wavers and jitters as she passes by.
And a certain ruddy skinned man stands underneath as if waiting for someone, his black wool coat lending a single dark reflection to the underside of the bean. A single black cloud in the inverted sky.
((http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c1/Cloud_Gate_%28The_Bean%29_from_east%27.jpg/800px-Cloud_Gate_%28The_Bean%29_from_east%27.jpg))
[Wharil Choc]
((EE! Just ignore all references to people named Emily! *proof-read-fail!*
))
[Ashley McGowen]
Ashley has chosen to obey the letter of Wharil's advice a few weeks ago, if not the spirit. She's sitting on a bench near the bean-shaped sculpture, reading quietly, oblivious to the fact that it's cold and occasionally glancing up at the sky for hints of falling snow.
Well, at least it isn't her apartment.
The pale woman is wrapped in a black wool coat that, at present, seems slightly too big, swallowing her narrow shoulders and the lower part of her face. Shaggy dark hair does what it wants to, which, at present, means that a few tufts are blowing over her face. She looks as though she's in her late twenties - a graduate student, one might suspect, crazy enough to try to do some reading in between classes while outside in a Chicago winter.
Suspicions would be correct.
[Corran Witchbourne]
*Corran was walking down the way. Dressed today in jeans, a medium green button up shirt and over it a normal sedate black leather jacket that hangs to aboout mid theigh. His hair was dark, skin pale and his eyes bright. Something about him even dressed so mundanely screamed 'witch' to those that looked on him.
At his side trotted a truely massive cat. A gray and black tabby Maine Coon, with a fluffy tail. The thing was bigger than most 'lap dogs' and looked right at home at Corran's side*
[Izzy Hargreaves]
Izzy wanders slowly round, obviously not in any hurry to get anywhere soon. she stands out even without her normal cyber-goth hairdo, huge headphones or the goggles. she's still strikingly tall when anyone wanders past. her blue and black hair is in a ponytail to keep it off her face and she's muffled up in scarf and trench again and has even put a jumper on. she has bluey-purple thick-rimmed glasses
she pauses in front of the piece and narrows her eyes and she looks like she's trying to make sense of it. she gives up after a minute and flops down on a bench and looks up at the sky and rummages in her army-surplus bag
[Wharil Choc]
He was a bit of stillness in the milling crowd. Stillness in that he wasn't churning about with the wandering masses, but anyone who came close enough would see his jittering leg and fumbling hands. His head shifts in one direction, toward the benches. In another, following something among the crowd, and yet another, much more distant to a man walking his...pet cat.
Eventually he moves, and the bronze and black reflection moves with him, travelling along and growing stumpier and smaller the further away from the Cloud Gate that he goes. It doesn't disappear, however. Only shrinks to the size of an ant, that now stands near another ant with blue and black hair.
"Hi." Wharil says. He's not just standing there, but introducing himself, a hand jutted out to shake already. "I'm Wharil. We met last night. And...spoke on the phone earlier."
[Corran Witchbourne]
*As he approacched the statue his brows went up as he glanced at it and then the people around it. A slight smile crossed his face and he raised a hand to wave .* Hey guys. *The cat looked around and staid more or less by Corran's legs*
[Izzy Hargreaves]
Izzy looks up and smiles, it's a friendly smile and when she shakes his hand it's a firm and warm handshake. she likes Wharil from what she's seen "hi, Wharil. good to see you again" there's a slight pause as she tries to say his name right, her accent comes out nicely and she sounds cheerful.
[Ashley McGowen]
After a few more minutes, Ashley shuts the book and wipes a hand down the front of her face, leaving it sitting in her lap. Then, folding an arm behind her head and letting both feet come to rest on top of the bench, she glances up and watches the sky.
Which is quite gray, made slightly ominous with coming snow, and so it doesn't hold her interest for long. Her gaze eventually drifts over to the structure, watching the dots move over its surface. They eventually come to rest on three dots in particular, squinting as she tries to make them out and then raises herself on her elbows, glancing around the park for them.
[Corran Witchbourne]
*Corran looked to the cat, who looked up to him, the Witch shrugged and tried again* Earth to Ashley. Come in Ashley.
[Wharil Choc]
((Alright, seems there might be some spacial confusion. Lets establish that Ashley and Corran are at one bench, and Izzy and Wharil are at another. Will attempt to bring it all together now.))
[Wharil Choc]
"Yeah, you too." Wharil responds. His handshake is firm, and his smile a genuine one. Its everything about him that seems to be a bit uneasy. Just a bit jittery, much like he was last night.
"Uh, I see a couple friends of mine over there. Why don't you let me introduce you."
[Izzy Hargreaves]
she stands up and swings her bag back on "sure, always good to meet new people." she smiles back and looks around or these friends
[Ashley McGowen]
Corran is suddenly behind her, and he can see Ashley jump the moment he starts talking. It's an easy thing, for her to miss people approaching. She catches his reflection in the sculpture, though, before she sits up and turns to face him, after that jolt of muscles and the small shudder that follows.
"...Corran. Hi," she says, glancing up at the Verbena. "You surprised me."
[Corran Witchbourne]
Sorry about that. I'd said Hey. You must be deep in thought. How's it going?
*O.P. The cat lept up onto the back of the bench and leaned out to sniff at Ashley's hair. Corran lifted a hand to softly stroke over the big ol things fur*
[Ashley McGowen]
"It's going," is the rather brief response that he gets, as she glances at the cat when it hops up to sniff at her hair. She doesn't reach out to pet the animal or the like; Corran's told her it's his familiar, which would put any such behavior distinctly in the 'rude and invasive' category.
After a few seconds she remembers to ask, "How are you?"
[Wharil Choc]
The two head over, Wharil occasionally checking over his shoulder to make sure Izzy was following. He came to a stop near the bench.
"Hey guys, this is...Uh.."
And turns back to her.
"It was Izzy, right?"
[Corran Witchbourne]
Doing ok. Been walkin' mundane a bit since that hubub at the house.
*Then Wharil came up and Corran offered the man and his brightly hued friend a smile. His brows raised and he offered Izzy a hand* Nice to meet you. I'm Corran. This.. *he nodded to the big ol Maine Coon* is O.P.
[Izzy Hargreaves]
Izzy keeps up easilly and smiles whenever he looks back. when he stops she comes up next to him "yeah that's right" she half salutes to the two people and the cat "Hi, good to meet you..uh all three of you" her voice is quiet but confident and she grins and holds a hand out near the cat to see it's response.
[Izzy Hargreaves]
*shakes his hand then holds it out to the cat
[Corran Witchbourne]
*The cat reaches up and gives Izzy a high five*
[Ashley McGowen]
Ashley's attention is turned toward Wharil, who she thought she spotted in the Gate's reflection, and she gives the Euthanatos a quick smile as she rises to greet Izzy. She extends her hand to shake, tucking her book away in the oversized (and slightly overstuffed) pocket of her coat.
"Nice to meet you, Izzy. I'm Ashley."
[Izzy Hargreaves]
Izzy shake's the cat's hand too, gently, not seeming to think it odd at all then dusts her hand off and shakes Ashley's and smiles
[Wharil Choc]
"So!" Wharil says as if transitioning to a new and uncomfortable topic. There's a bit of an impish grin on his face as his eyes wonder between the two. The three, including the cat.
"You guys do anything last night?"
[Ashley McGowen]
Ashley frowns, trying to recall exactly what she did, and then recalls that several hours just sort of slipped away outside her notice. "No, nothing really," she tells Wharil, with a shrug, making note of the grin on his face.
"...Why, did something else happen?"
[Corran Witchbourne]
*Corran smiled and stroked O.P.s back* I was in the air last night. *A slight motion with his other hand gesturing to the Chicago skyline*
[Izzy Hargreaves]
Izzy raises an eyebrow and glances between the 3 of them then focusing on Wharil "we had an..interesting evening"
[Wharil Choc]
"Oh nothing much." He says, flashing the grin to Izzy this time. "Just caught up on some paperwork and caught a few drinks with a couple technocratic agents. They wanted to make a deal with 'Us'". Wharil punctuates the word 'Us' with air quotes.
"Only, as you can probably guess, I didn't recognize half the people in the room. That's where I met Izzy though. And a kid named Owen. I think he's with the singers."
[Corran Witchbourne]
*The cat's ears fold back at that and he looks up to Corran. Corran scrinched behind his ears. Then speaks softly* A .... 'deal'?
[Izzy Hargreaves]
Izzy opens her mouth as though she's going to say something then thinks better of it and smiles
[Ashley McGowen]
Ashley looks, for a few seconds, as though she doesn't really have anything she -could- say to that. Her jaw hangs slightly open as she attempts to process this, working past the two kneejerk emotional reactions: anger and fear, in favor of considering what 'a deal' means.
Finally her jaw shuts again with a sharp click. "I hope you didn't take them up on it," she tells Wharil, frowning. "Any deal they make with us is going to be temporary. We can't trust them." And then, belatedly, "I know Owen, he was at the house."
[Wharil Choc]
"Yeah." He says to Corran. "They want us to stop looking for the Nameless Crow and...whatever Corrupters are in the city. They also want us to let them know what we're doing. At all times. So they can keep track of us, I guess."
And then to Ashley. "Yeah, he mentioned that. And don't worry, I haven't agreed to anything. I know better than that. Mind you, it wasn't exactly easy given a few of our other guests and the mood in the room." Another glance to izzy, this time a knowing 'can you believe that?' "But I think I at least managed to learn a little bit while I could."
[Corran Witchbourne]
*He looked non pulsed* And what do we get out of the deal? *The cat snorted and mumbled something rude*
[Izzy Hargreaves]
Izzy returns the look and grins "I bet Locke is going to be annoyed he's missing all this, he would have been interested. but yeah the room was rather tense, I'm surprised no-one started anything"
[Ashley McGowen]
"We don't get hunted down by a bunch of entitled fucks who think they have a right to police us, I'm guessing," Ashley says, looking sidelong at Corran. Her anger is nearly a palpable thing; the Hermetic folds her arms and frowns down at the sidewalk while she considers the new information. Seething quietly.
"What did you pick up, Wharil?"
[Corran Witchbourne]
Ahh.. My people have been hunted for 100s of years. Pardon me if I don't line up and hoop jump just because the hunters offer to be nice.
Still. The Accordance war is over. It's not like they're actively out there trying to hunt us down any more. It's counter productive and unprofitable. *he smirked a touch at that but looked to Wharil to see what he picked up. Information was always good*
[Wharil Choc]
He nods to Ashly. "Yeah, We don't get shot in our sleep. Awful generous of them, don't you think? There was something they were trying to keep from me. Something about the Nameless Crow. Now they say that they can contain him, but i don't think that's what they're after. I can't confirm it but my guess is they want try and control him. One of the guys referred to us as 'walking weapons'. And even if they are after the Crow, I think their best idea is...whatever their version of Gilgul is. Which..." He shakes his head violently here, with conviction. "...Is not what he deserves."
"There's...also been more Nephandic activity in the city, and they obviously want 'Us' to stay out of it. That said, they don't know enough to actually do anything, and were trying to press us for information. They also don't know enough about us. They bulshited their way through a couple threats, acted like they knew our identities. But they also wanted us to provide them with information of what we're doing. If I had to guess I'd say they don't have enough resources for it, basically. We can hardly keep track of the awakened in the city. They're likely spread too thin as it is. Things have been quiet until recently. We're not high on their list of priorities just yet.
"Which, yeah, I have to agree with you on, Corran. If they can't afford to keep track of us on their own, I doubt they'll be hunting us down. But they are active, and there is a risk that we might get caught in the crossfire between them and the nephandi."
[Corran Witchbourne]
Ahhhh *he nodded and pondered it* Ok.. this might sound a bit mercenary of me... but if they want to take out the nephandi.. and want us to stay out of it.... and the Nephandi are going to fight back... So it's... Black hats vs Devil lovers... *he motioned with a hand. The cat spoke up* "Why not let the bastards fight each other"
[Izzy Hargreaves]
izzy butts in "they don't know as much as they want us to think almost certainly. London is one of the worst places for techno presence because they have hundreds of cameras all the time but even there they can't know everything."
[Corran Witchbourne]
to Ashley McGowen, Izzy Hargreaves, Wharil Choc
((Cat's acccent is New Englander, thick))
[Ashley McGowen]
"-No one- deserves to have his Will taken away from him." This, said with finality and no small degree of heat: if her prior statements hadn't made it clear where Ashley stood on letting the Technocrats handle Dylan, this does.
To the rest, she just listens in silence. "The War wouldn't be over if the cost to hunt us all down weren't too high," she reminds Corran. "As it is...yeah, Wharil is right. They probably want as much as they can threaten us into giving. My guess is that if they can find a way to get rid of us -and- everything else in the city, like if that comes up, they'll do it too. My only objection to letting them handle the Nephandi is that -we- need to know what happened at the chantry and continue looking into it ourselves to know whether we need to watch for any more trouble."
[Wharil Choc]
Wharil's brows furrowed as the cat spoke up. Not surprised, but still not exactly comfortable with that sort of thing.
"I...Can't say I completely disagree with you, O.P. I guess the question to ask is: Who's form of justice is better or more important at the moment. What happened last night was...a random sampling. They just happened to dupe the first few awakened that walked by. Now I was at home working my ass off. My avatar was driving me up the wall trying to keep me busy. I acted against that, and wound up there. My point is, we could ride this whole thing out. Remain under their radar and not even become a target for them. But what happens when their standard of 'evildoer' shifts from 'Devil Worshiper' to simply 'Visible and present'?"
[Corran Witchbourne]
*Corran nods* Good point there Whar. But still... Nephandi are dangerous. Perhaps observation and catagorising for us, while the Black hat's shead tthe blood and sweat... Im not going to cry if they kill some Nephandi.
But you do have a point.
[Izzy Hargreaves]
"I don't agree with telling them where we are and what we do but the appearance of co-operation could perhaps swing things in our favour. I say apprearance because they may go back on their word after this, truces end quite often, and if so we don't want them to know too much."
[Corran Witchbourne]
*Corran nodded to Izzy, there were merits to not pissing off the guys with the BFGs*
[Ashley McGowen]
"I'm not going to let them dictate what I can do, even if they're hunting around," Ashley says, shaking her head. "I have no intention of keeping my head down or stopping my own investigations. They can come find me if they don't like it."
[Corran Witchbourne]
I think that's what Whar was saying, Ashley.. They 'may'. *Meaning, come find her if they don't like it* Seems we may need to factor in a little more stealth in our activitys. If for nothing else, than to CYA.
[Izzy Hargreaves]
Izzy has been looking thoughtful. "of course this could always be a good time to..umm..be creative with what we're doing. mislead them, set it up so that if they do break truce they don't latch straight on but chase ghosts for a bit.." a mischevious smile is hovering on her face threatening to be a full grin
[Wharil Choc]
He nods to Izzy. "I agree totally. But while we're at it there's something else I'd like to point out. At present..." He brings his hand up slowly, fingers up and circling first amongh the four there, and then further and wider, as if representing the entire city.
"There is no 'we'. And 'We' can't vouch for anyone, or bargain for anyone's safety if we can't account for one another's activity. Now you may think its fine and good to say what Joe-Bob Awakened does down the street has nothing to do with you, but in their eyes we're already lumped into one group. There's a distinction between Naphandi, Marauders, and just your everyday garden variety reality deviant, and that's comforting. But the last Marauders and Nephandi we've seen sprang up from among the ranks of the everyday garden-variety reality deviants. People some of us knew. People some of us thought we could trust. But we couldn't tell for sure because we were all too busy watching our own asses."
He pauses for a moment, and his eyes stop on Ashley. A cool, jittery nervousness to her hot, steady ire.
"We're forming a Cabal." He says, as if it were something that was already decided and not something that was still in the works. "And we're focusing our efforts on re-securing the Chantry, and protecting the awakened. That means anyone who does anything to bring the heat down on us will also be held accountable by us. Now we're not demanding that you join in or even that you help us. But I would insist that try banding together along your own lines, if you have to.
"If you want to form your own Chantry houses, fine. If you want to secure your own nodes, that's okay. We'll help if we can. But none of us can afford to ignore each other any longer."
[Ashley McGowen]
"And what -I'm- saying is I would rather they came and got me than cower in my apartment hoping I'll escape notice," Ashley says, eyes flashing at Corran. "If you let them tell you what to do, the War really is over and they did win."
And then she goes quiet, listening to Wharil's explanation, looking sidelong at him and nodding when he says that they are forming a Cabal and at his suggestions. "We're going to need to communicate with each other at the very least. Share information and provide a support network so that what happened to the Marauder is...at least somewhat preventable."
[Izzy Hargreaves]
Izzy is for once not smiling and she looks like the cold is finally reaching her because she shivers "I'll happily join. my mentor and my best friend have once again buggered off to more fun places leaving me.. I can do with anyone i can find. there are ways to prevent becoming nephandi if you're careful. but it is unfortunately sometimes as simple as opening the wrong book..." she shivers again
[Corran Witchbourne]
*He smiled softly to Ashley. He didn't exactly hide in the dark and he could agree with her conviction.* Who all is 'we' Wharil?
[Wharil Choc]
"Well there's Ashley and me. Of course. There's this guy named Gregor. He's...working with the Chantry's Guardian spirit as we speak. I have two other Tradition-mates in the city. They're almost a sure thing. And we have two Apprentices--Enid, who you know. Not sure if you know Emily. There's Kage, the Orphan."
He smiles, somewhat as izzy throws her hat in. "And Izzy, looks like." I've gotten in touch with Owen, but he was sort of...non-committed. And there was another woman there last night, but she left before i got to talk to her."
[Corran Witchbourne]
*Corran nodded* Well you can count me in conditionallly. I'll need to talk to my sister and all. I'm all for helping. Not sure about 'being held accountable by' though. *he grinnned a bit8
[Ashley McGowen]
Ashley looks like she might have a reply to Izzy, but then Wharil explains who he means by 'we,' and she stops, looking between the two of them. She's no longer full of the impassioned ire she spoke with earlier, about the Technocracy; her demeanor seems to have softened somewhat. "Wharil, we might want to..." And she pauses, breaking off, raising a hand to the back of her neck as she listens to the others talk.
[Corran Witchbourne]
*Corran's brow rose and he looked to Ashley. O.P. looked to her as well and flicked his poofty tail8
[Izzy Hargreaves]
"do we want to take this somewhere less public? we're kinda exposed here" she looks nervous
[Wharil Choc]
Ashley speaks up and he has an idea of what she was going to say. His hand works the back of his neck and his lips press into a line.
"Maybe. Maybe we should...Reconvene?"
Eyes once again rising, checking with Ashley.
[Ashley McGowen]
Ashley meets his eyes, frowns, and then says, "We don't have to. Just...maybe we should talk at some point. Soon." The Hermetic drops her hands into her pockets, closing one hand around the book and oddly feeling somewhat reassured.
"I wouldn't worry," she adds to Izzy, with a smirk. "There's nowhere around here for them to hide a camera."
[Corran Witchbourne]
*Corran raised a brow and reached up to scratch at his jaw a bit*
[Izzy Hargreaves]
"there is still scrying though" she raises an eyebrow. "just a bit jumpy suddenly"
[Wharil Choc]
"Don't let your fear get the best of you." Wharil says, suddenly lacking his previous fervor and conviction. Not to mention his previous verbosity. His head raises now, looking to Izzy, then to Corran.
"But i guess we shouldn't ignore it so boldly either. I think this has gone on long enough for a random encounter. Let me give you two my number. In case we need to get in touch."
He fumbles through his pockets, pulling out a pocket-size journal and does just that, tearing off a half page for each of them with the letters 'W.C' and his number on it.
[Corran Witchbourne]
*Corran took it and looked it over. Showing it to the cat and then slipping it into his jacket. Pulling out a few cards with rubberband around them. he pulled a few out and offered them around.
[Ashley McGowen]
Ashley looks over at Wharil while he hands out his cards, still silent. Giving both Corran and Izzy a polite nod, and reaching into her own coat pocket to hand Izzy one of her cards too - Corran received one some time ago. "Here's mine," she says. "Just my cell phone, but you can get a hold of me there if you need to."
And she realizes, ruefully, that she's going to need to scratch the business phone off of all of these, a procedure which is decidedly embarrassing. Or make new cards.
[Wharil Choc]
"So..." Wharil says, rising up onto his toes and rolling back down onto his heels. "I'm glad we had this talk. Glad I got to meet you, Izzy. Sort of a...do-over. Better circumstances, that kinda thing."
He flashes her a smile, one that pales into a look of sorrow as he slowly turns to Ashley again, and offers: "Walk you home?"
[Ashley McGowen]
"Nice to meet you, Izzy," she says, giving the blue-haired girl a wave.
Then she looks back at Wharil, turning to her with the sort of expression that suggests that he just heard his grandmother is dead, and gives him a nod. And as reassuring a glance as she can manage. "Sure."
[Izzy Hargreaves]
Iz takes the numbers " i'll text you, phone you or email contact details, whichever is appropriate"
[Ashley McGowen]
Ashley gives Izzy a nod. "All right, thanks. Feel free to get in touch with me." And, extending her hand again for a parting handshake, she makes her way around the Cloud Gate and off to the north.
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