Something Different about You

[Administrator] Ashley McGowen, welcome to Chantry (Now)



[Administrator] Wharil Choc, welcome to Chantry (Now)



[Ashley McGowen] The chantry's gotten to be a meeting place for them both. They're both -here- a lot, even if most days they're both too busy for more than casual exchanges. With the exception of last night, it's the only time she's been here in nearly a week: her life has been busy, and a lot of things have happened. A lot of good things, for the most part, which - given the thread Ashley's life has followed for the past year or so - is sadly unusual.



It has put her in a good mood though. If she could still hear music, if her brain were even capable of processing rhythm or melody or pitch, she might be humming or tapping or listening. She can't, so there's silence.



The Hermetic is sitting in the common room, crosslegged in one of the larger chairs (she makes most of the chairs look larger.) There's a notebook in her lap, and she's bent over it, occasionally writing out a few words, very intent on whatever she's doing. Drafting something, perhaps.



[Wharil Choc] Its summer. In fact, it was the Thermidor, the French Republican season named for heat, and later for rest after excesses. They might have been on to something, those French.



This was just one of the thoughts circling through Wharil Choc's mind as he made his way from the kitchen toward the common room. A dog eared copy of L’Homme et la mort in on hand, his thumb holding place between the aged pages, and a popsicle in the other. The popsicle, actually, was held mostly in his mouth, and he makes an audible sucking sound as he leans against the entry way of the common room, announcing his presence to Ashley.



Wharil stares at her, and does so more intently than can be thought to be polite. Then he approaches, tilting his head as he examines her, eyes tracking every feature.



"There's something different about you." He says. "Can't quite put my finger on it."



[Ashley McGowen] Ashley hasn't made a big affair about crossing the threshold into being an Adept. When she woke up after she went Seeking, she screaming all the way to Kage's, woke the Orphan up in the middle of the night so she could tell her about it, but she and Kage are closer than either of them would readily admit. Daiyu knows, and Ashley's apprentice knows because she sees the girl almost daily: otherwise, she's told few people.



Still, that doesn't mean she's evasive about it. The resonance that's woven its way into her soul, into the touch of Will that she leaves on the world, isn't that of a restless starvation any longer. It's finally given her drive purpose, brought it together; it's alive, and more than that, it's whole.



If she's bothered by the intensity of his gaze, it doesn't show. She looks back at him, meets his eyes and grins. "Yeah. I went Seeking on Friday." A beat. "I'm an Adept."



[Wharil Choc] He blinks at that, head perking up and slightly higher. At first he looks incredulous, but eventually sets free the smile that was fighting to come from his lips.



"Thats...that's amazing. Congratulations. How does it feel?"



Another lick of the melting popsicle before he squints one eye and points with it. "I knew there was something different."



[Ashley McGowen] Ashley, too, has a widening smile. She might not have told many people about it, but clearly, no less proud for all of that. Really, it's just that she isn't sure how such an announcement is made: she's never had to make one to a city full of people before, about going up in rank. Up until arriving in Chicago she'd always been quite shy.



If shy is really the word.



"Thanks," she says to him. "I feel...well, you know, happy for one. I feel a lot more...joined to my Avatar, I guess. Like I'm it and it's me." A beat, and she glances at him out of the corner of her eye. "I can't do anything to reflect it yet, but I'll probably be making a short trip to Boston to study with someone for the Ars Mentis."



[Wharil Choc] "Amazing. Hm. Boston. So you'll be heading out of town for a bit." He nods at that, then seems to become lost in his own head.



Finally Wharil sits, his posture casual, his popsicle slowly shrinking.



"Now that we've got the Council of Emissaries, it might be a good time to start reaching out to other Chantries for exchange. Maybe Boston can be the first stop?"



[Ashley McGowen] "Not for very long, but yeah," she says, turning to face him when he sits down, shifting so that her back is against the arm rest, so that she has a knee bent and a foot wedged between the opposite arm rest and the cushion.



What he says about Boston makes a corner of her smile fade a little, and she says, "Yeah. It's a good next step. One of my former cabal mates - the one you didn't meet - he's pretty prominent politically in Boston. But we, uh, aren't on great speaking terms."



A pause. "Still, I guess I could try and talk to him and see if anything comes of it."



[Wharil Choc] "Great. I look forward to that." He says with a nod. Then, a bit of silence that marked the fact that he wasn't entirely prepared for where to go too next, conversation-wise. Wharil wipes at his nose and frowns as a thought comes to him.



"We're down to two now. Rene...Rene's gone. Had to happen eventually, I guess. Just...didn't expect it so soon."



[Ashley McGowen] "I was...kind of surprised that she left. And not all that surprised," Ashley says, her brows furrowing together before she looks back at Wharil. She'd texted him offering to talk if he needed it, but she suspects he doesn't want to: and she suspects that because she suspects Wharil and Rene were closer than he let on.



She never really went into what she picked up on that afternoon when she had to trawl through Rene's memories, piece together what might have happened because of her Avatar, but it was a lot. It's hard to help these things with a connection of that nature.



"I'd like to bring Li Daiyu into the cabal, though."



[Wharil Choc] His head rises then falls in a single slow nod.



"Li Daiyu. Tha Akashic. Right, you said you two knew one another before, didn't you?"



[Ashley McGowen] "We didn't know each other. She fought with my father in Beijing during the Ascension War. He had good things to say." Ashley's mentioned, in passing, that her father is Vajrapani, that he's an Akashic: sometimes westerners are accepted, even if it's difficult to make their way into the ranks of that particular faction. It's an ancient one, as ancient as the Chakravanti.



"And we've gotten to know each other pretty well, since she got here. I was impressed with her help in the Umbra, and she's already beginning to take a pretty active role in the chantry."



[Wharil Choc] More slow nodding as she speaks.



"She came across Alex before we could find him, and posted a message on the noticeboard. Most others would have just steered clear and let him fend for himself. I...don't see a reason why we shouldn't let her join. I'd still like to talk to her though. A light chat. Maybe get to know her."



[Ashley McGowen] "I saw that," Ashley says, of Daiyu's notice. She hasn't met Alex yet, didn't even know the boy was in the city, but that Daiyu had left it and suggested to the Euthanatos that they find him - that had impressed her. Others would have steered clear, even other disciples. At most they might have given him Wharil and Ashton's numbers and hoped for the best.



"And...that's reasonable. I'm sure she'd be willing to talk. She commented on liking you and Justine both after we left the Umbra, and having someone that martially inclined will be good for us, besides."



[Wharil Choc] "Yeah", he says, and tries his best to look cheery about it, though the smile doesn't quite reach his eyes. "She can fill our Sentinel spot. Probably a lot we can all learn from her."



[Ashley McGowen] Ashley notices this - less because she's good at recognizing it, or particularly good at empathizing, and more because she would -expect- Wharil to be upset about Rene leaving. It makes sense to her, in the way she reasons out how other people must be feeling.



So she glances over at him and nudges him with a foot. "You okay?"



[Wharil Choc] He makes a bit of a slurping sound, catching the popsickle drippings on his hand before it makes it to the carpet or his book.



"Fine." He says, holding the popsickle upside down over his waiting mouth. Its summer. I'm gonna go...do...outdoors stuff or something."



[Ashley McGowen] She doesn't seem put off by this, and gives him a nod. Really, she's glad to hear that he isn't shutting himself away in the library. Well, not -as- much as he had been. Those worries, though, any concern of hers: they go completely unsaid.



"All right," she says. "I'll tell Daiyu she can find you here."



[Wharil Choc] "Great." He says, with the sort of finality signaled by standing, though he still looked more than a little ridiculous holding a popsicle over his head.



"I'll head out for a walk or something soon. I'll let you know."



And he headed back to his light summer reading of modern French philosophy.