Ghost Town [attn: Sid and Kalen]

[Howl]

When the fight was over, Ian didn't say a thing. He looked at Kalen silently for a long moment, but the expression was less a thing of anger than it was of broadening distance. Then he glanced at Sid, and up to the gaping hole she'd just opened in the Chantry's dining-room roof. The piece of it that had crashed down onto him had dislocated his shoulder, but it could have been a lot worse.

That part was his own fault. He hadn't trusted her to take care of herself. But now there was a hole in the ceiling, and they were going to have to spend the night here.

He didn't tell them where he was going, though likely they could guess. His horse was still out there somewhere, bleeding from a bite wound and a gun-shot. So he stepped outside to clean the gore from his katana and put it away. Then he set about fixing his shoulder. And after that... he was gone.

------

Now that the walkers were all dead, Sid and Kalen would have time to collect themselves and take in what they'd found. The Chantry was in most ways as they remembered it, but it was devoid of anything resembling life. The house itself was clean (apart from recent damage) and undisturbed, but no one had occupied it for what seemed like a long time. A fine layer of dust had settled on the furniture. Apart from a few non-perishable items in the cabinets, and a case of stale beer in the fridge, there wasn't much food to speak of. The dishes were all clean and put away. No one had cooked or eaten here in a while.

With the power out, the door to the library was all-but-impossible to open without magical assistance (or explosives.) They would have to figure a way around that if they wanted to get inside.

There was no sign of their friends. Not Grace or Shoshannah or Pan or Jim or Sera or... anyone. No notes left behind. Nothing.

Outside, the lawn was dry and overgrown. Many of the plants in the gardens were dead and overtaken by weeds.

The worst part was the node. Or rather, the empty hole where the node should have been. Now it was nothing more than a dry stone crevasse. There was no water left in the spring, and no magic either. It was as dead as the grass around it.

[errin]

Ian looks up at the hole in the ceiling, and Sid is already climbing over the wreckage of the ceiling and the fallen to get to him, her face a tangle of emotion. "Stop," she says, did he really think one of them would let him walk away wounded? In this place? After all of that? Her voice is low and tremulous. Is that a tone that Ian knows or would even recognize? Nerves, adrenaline, relief, anger (Desperate from the struggle, euphoric that they're all alive, empowered because she has lived through this nightmare and she's lived through terrible things that were true). Like a parent or guardian when their charge wanders in well after curfew. That's what Sid sounds like.

And if he keeps going? She'll follow him. With her Pattern rent and aching she will follow Ian Lai and she will see to his shoulder herself. And if Ian will allow her (and woe to him if he refuses), she will say to him in a voice still tinged with anger and yet somehow gentle, "This is going to hurt." She says it like she understands because she does. She knows what it feels like to have the shoulder joint popped from its socket and she knows what it feels like to have it shoved back into place. She doesn't tell him I told you to run, she assumes that through pain he's learned his lesson.

So many of their lessons are learned through pain.

And then she'll heal him. Because a dislocated shoulder replaced could still cause him problems later if not healed properly. Sid knows that, too. Hers still bothers her. Someday she'll think to fix that weakness, but someday is not today. Today she tends to others before herself. This truly selfless act is tainted by the grief and shame from previous hurts and wrongs she's inflicted on other people.

Once Ian is seen to, Sid lets him go where he will go. He has his trusted steed to find and she has hers to find, as well. "When you find her bring her here so I can heal her, too."

Then, and only then, does she look to Kalen, brow furrowed with pain and weariness and still that touch of anger and still that touch of relief. "Check the house," she tells him. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

=====
[[if you'd like some rolls for the stuff mentioned, Howl, I will toss you some rolls for all the heals and things!]]

[-ix-]

Kalen does not try to stop Ian. Ian gets to leave without anything more than Kalen looking over him for signs of some worse injury while he moves. Sid is the one of them that tries to stop Ian, because Kalen already knows better. Particularly right now.

It isn't until Sid tells him to check the house that he even makes any attempt to engage with either of them. And it is direct and it is quiet and it is despite that quiet not gentle. "Perhaps if you want people to work together instead of scattering, you might try working with them." If they were friends...you do not flay open your friends at points they've exposed to you. You protect them. But Sid made it clear that they weren't friends.

"If you'd mentioned your desire to go play with things that wanted to bite you, there are things I could have done for you. If you want to work with me, you'll have have to tell me things for reasons other than because you want me to follow your commands.

"If that was anything like what I was willing to do, I wouldn't have had to come to Denver. That kind of guidance failed the Order and it will fail you. You've made it clear enough we are not friends, so...." But here he does hesitate. Because until a few hours ago Sid was on the relatively short list of people he considered friends. Because he wanted something different. Something warmer. And even now he can't really bring himself make whatever last attack he might otherwise have made.

"I will go do what I came here to do. I suppose I'll see you if you come back."

[Howl]

Ian's immediate reaction to being followed - to being told to stop - was to turn around and fix Sid with an expression that bordered on threatening. When he raised his sword, it was more instinct than anything. They'd just been fighting for their lives. It was muscle-memory for him at this point - an animal kind of response.

There were a few quick, rough breaths as his mind processed what was happening. What she wanted to do for him. And almost he told her to fuck off. His body language already said as much. He didn't want her to touch him.

But the part of his mind that was not an animal understood what she was doing. Understood that a dislocated shoulder was easier to heal with help. Understood that even if he did not need her now, he might need her later. (Would, in fact, need her to help with Dusk - if he ever found her.) So he lowered his sword and offered a small, fractional nod.

When she pushed the joint back into place, it did hurt. But he didn't make any sound. Just let out a quick gust of breath and flinched slightly. Then when she was done, he nodded to her and left.

[Go ahead and roll for a healing effect, Niko. He will very grudgingly let her help. *g* You can roll for the horse too, for when they get back.]

[errin]

Ian was of course welcome to try and refuse Sid's assistance. But even tired and worn out as she is, she is stubborn, she is older, she is stronger. And she has no patience for his nonsense today (honeybadger don't care, honeybadger don't give a fuck). Thankfully, he relents. She helps. Helps even though reality even in this strange place decides to give her the might backhand. Whatever. What's a little Paradox to Amelia Weston? Ian goes on to find his horse, leaving Sid and Kalen alone to...

...you might try working with them.

Sid fixes the Hermetic with a stony stare, but she lets him speak, let's him unleash the vitriol that as far as she knows he's always had for her. In the beginning they were indifferent to each other. Then Thakinyan threatened and Kalen, citing Sid's supposedly leaving him to be eaten by ghosts she had no idea were in a park, deliberately withheld information from her and she hated him. She'd thought...well, who cares what she thought. The lull between Lucia Montanari's nightmare vision and Sid curling up on a couch with Kalen and Lena was clearly a fluke. An anomaly. Because he kept on keeping things from her.

When she counters, her own voice is as quiet as it ever is, but that hint of anger sparks into a dark intensity. "I wasn't aware we had time to work out a combat strategy after your friend went tearing off on his own."

She crosses her arms beneath her breasts and lifts her chin, angry. Defiant. For the first time in months something has come along to take her attention away from her bitter self-hatred, her guilt, her shame. "What is this bullshit about if I want to work with you? I said I would join your cabal and I haven't heard a thing about it since except that I'm supposedly in it. But you never told me what was happening in Denver. Not to our prospective members. Not to my city. Not to my friends. Even when I came home, you persisted in leaving me in the dark. As far as I can tell, you're the one who's never wanted to work with me."

Her arms fall and she turns to stride away. Over her shoulder she calls,

"So find someone else to be your whipping post, Kalen, I've had enough punishments to last a lifetime without you taking your issues out on me."

Weary. Sore. Fed up. Sid leaves to find her horse.

==========
ZE ROLLS

niko @ 12:11PM
[HEALZ: Life 3 + Prime 2, vulgar as bananas, diff -1 (practiced) -1 (taking time), saving the WP in case the horse needs it (that's right Sid cares more about the horse than you so far Ian)]
Roll: 3 d10 TN5 (1, 5, 8) ( success x 2 )

niko @ 12:11PM
[Damn it, extending, I think she needs one more success]
Roll: 1 d10 TN6 (4) ( fail )

niko @ 12:11PM
[And the other two dice because I'm a moron]
Roll: 2 d10 TN6 (9, 10) ( success x 2 )

jamie @ 12:12PM
Hahahaha

niko @ 12:12PM
[Pair of docks]
Roll: 3 d10 TN6 (4, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )

niko @ 12:12PM
[God damn it soak]
Roll: 3 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4) ( fail )

niko @ 12:12PM
GOD DAMN IT IAN

jamie @ 12:12PM
*slow clap*

niko @ 12:12PM
Aight Sid's at 1L/2B

[Howl]

[Who needs a zombie apocalypse when these 3 are so good at hurting themselves?]

[errin]

[[OH YEAH. Heal dat horse, Sid.

niko @ 9:01AM
[Life 3/Prime 2: HAELZ: vulgar no witnesses, diff 7 -1 (practiced) -1 (taking time)=5, Dusk is at 4L so need 4 suxx, extending until reach the goal]
Roll: 3 d10 TN5 (3, 6, 6) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

niko @ 9:01AM
[extension]
Roll: 3 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 7) ( success x 1 )

niko @ 9:01AM
[Paradox]
Roll: 3 d10 TN6 (6, 6, 9) ( success x 3 )

niko @ 9:01AM
[Fuck you, seriously? Soaking]
Roll: 3 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 5) ( fail )

niko @ 9:04AM
[Depending on how long it took Ian to find his dang horse, Sid either finishes her best day ever somewhere between 1L/5B and 1L/3B. Sid is like "I went four years without knowing about foci, I eat Paradox for breakfast."]

Denver @ 9:12AM
Samael has wandered unwittingly into the dangers of OOC Room, hoo hoo ha haaa >:]

Samael @ 9:12AM
Witnessed!

niko @ 9:12AM
Thank you!


YOU'RE WELCOME, IAN]]

[Howl]

[Aw, Sid. Ian would have gotten back like 4 hours later. So she'd be at 1L/3B. Damn Paradox. (Also, she actually only needed 3 successes [1 to target, 2 for health levels] for the horse and 2 for Ian, but it won't change the result. Just figured I'd mention it, since I myself have frequently forgotten that healing successes do 2 levels each.)]

[errin]

[Don't forget one for the effect itself! The rolls were 1 (to pull off the effect) 1 (target) 1 (per 2 HL)]

[Howl]

[Yeah, I was counting that. Pulling off the effect in this case equals healing 2 damage. It's the same as with direct damage effects, only in reverse. (The same as all standard effects, really. Basically "pulling off the effect" = casting the effect.)]