Lá Bealtaine [open thread, come one come all]

[Damon]

"Well," Calden looks wry, "depends on how you define a ranch. Plenty of estates up and down the interstate corridors where folks pay a few million just to sit pretty on sixteen acres of land. If you're talking about real ranching, though -- not so much now as there was in my grandpa's time. Between modern irrigation and modern urbanization most the ranchland's turning into suburbs in one direction and farmland in the other."

Coming from someone else, it could be a bitter tirade. It's not, from Calden. It's matter of fact, objective, erudite: charting the rise and fall of an old way of life. The -- let's just say it -- cowboy, albeit an evidently well-read and rather well-to-do cowboy, pauses to take another swig of beer. Then he sets the mug back on the table so he can start in on his dinner.

"Still plenty of ranches up near the Wyoming border, though. More across the border, of course, but the water rights aren't as generous there." That skewed smile makes it way back. "Bet that was more about Colorado ranching than you ever needed to hear. What about you? What's this about projects and clients?"

[errin]

Sam doesn't mind Keisha's talkativeness. It gives her a chance to taste her food rather than wolf it down to keep conversation going from her end. That doesn't mean that she's not listening to what the woman has to say while she chews. Her attention is more on her than on the men talking nearby, though her eyes occasionally slide in that direction.

She chuckles a little at mention of the cinnamon test, something she's seen but never tried herself. Her smile widens, warms, when Keisha asks if she's been here as long as Reese.

"No, just a couple weeks, myself," she says again. "A friend of mine from college started up his own business in Denver and asked me to come out. We build robots." She smiles when she says it, proud of the work and excited in an entirely geeky way. Tilting her head in a bit of a nod, she says, "Which is the cool way to say it and how I got roped in. My part's pretty mundane. Just coding and programming stuff."

Neither Sam nor Reese has mentioned their tribe, though it wouldn't have been hard to guess just looking at Sam. She has more of the urban street child look than does her brother. But, city kin though they may be, she is entirely comfortable out here away from Denver's urban landscape, boots crusted with mud, eating from a sturdy paper plate while talking to new people beneath an explosion of stars.

"I get wanting to find your own path." She's earnest when she says it. She's been there...oh how she's been there. "I've been trying to figure that out for years. Have you decided on what you'll study?"

[CourtCat]

"I like learning new things, especially about an industry I might work with. It helps, you know?" Reese looks as urban as Sam does, but not in a street child way; he would likely be best described as a well calculated hipster rather than an urban street child, with the exception being his boots. Those are good for hiking and roaming around bonfires - he comes prepared to these things, does Reese. "I started a consulting-advertising-and-design firm not long after I moved here, when I realized the ones already in existence were either way too big to be personal or way too small to survive against the big guys. We're pretty small yet, just a handful of people, but our work is quality and I was lucky to meet a few of the right people fairly early on to make sure we'd get through the first couple years that are so hit or miss with small businesses."

Sam knows some of this, but some is new - mostly, she knows that for someone who admits to having been in some fairly serious trouble in another place that drove him here, her big brother's done pretty well for himself. He's certainly not hurting the way so many small business owners are.

"Art and design have always been a thing for me. It's nice to get to do work I'm passionate about."

[Damon]

"Yeah," Calden agrees, "I hear you there. You know, give me your card. I've got exclusive partnerships with a few high-end steakhouses in Denver. They always seem to be running some ad campaign or other, and they like to look for local talent. Part of their whole local, sustainable, organic, undiscovered thing. I'll mention you."

[CourtCat]

The card Reese offers is a nice, heavy stock (turning it over reveals that it's made of recycled materials and contains seeds for a mix of indigenous-to-Colorado wildflowers, so that instead of throwing it away or even recycling it it can be planted) printed with simple, clean text (no Comic Sans here) reading Reese Consulting centered on the top, below which is printed Advertising - Graphic Design. Bottom left corner has a PO box number, phone number and email, rounding out the information most people would need to contact him.

"Thanks, that would be great. Word of mouth has been huge for us and every bit helps."

[Damon]

That card has a curious feel -- heavy, but irregularly textured. So of course Calden turns it over and sees the little note, which makes him quirk a smile.

"Nifty," he says. "Thanks, I'll pass the word on. It was nice meeting you, Reese. And you two as well," to the Sam and Keisha. "I'm going to go rescue that girl from my cousins. I'll catch up with you guys later, all right?"

[Samael]

Keisha relaxes a little bit when Sam responds well to the conversation. She blinks when the other mentions that she codes and programs robots, looking rather impressed. "Whoa. Seriously, like actual robots? Are we talking, like, Robot Combat League robots or the kind they're building toward more practical stuff? Or have you code-named your project SkyNet?" She says the latter with a bit of a joking smile..she doesn't seem to have the automatic vehement aversion that some Garou have to advanced technology, though her expression indicates more curiosity than any real knowledge. Weaver spirits are spirits too, right?

When Sam asks about what she's studying, the woman shrugs a little bit. "I've set for a couple sociology courses...nothing heavy. Right now it's more for expanding my own knowledge and understanding than any kind of career. Plus I'm a Theurge, so I feel like the more I can spend time in human society, the less I fall away from reality and get lost in spiritual ways, you know?"

She looks over when Calden announces his departure and smiles to him. "Nice to meet you. I'm sure we'll bump into each other again soon enough."

[errin]

...like actual robots? asks Keisha, and Sam nods, then her smile grows a little wider. "Oh, no, but wouldn't that be something? I doubt I'd have time for the rest of my life if I went into battle 'bots. So far it's a lot of medical machinery, but, word around the water cooler is we might get government funding for something in the future." Burying her fork into the food still left on her plate, she lifts her hand to her mouth as though she's about to whisper secrets to the Theurge, though in reality her voice doesn't drop overmuch. "It's all very hush-hush," she says with a wink.

Keisha talks a little about her school plans, and Sam takes the opportunity to clear off a little more of her plate. Then Calden is leaving. Sam gives him an upward nod. "Have fun.

"I do know, a little. My-- our younger brother's a Theurge. He's always been a little more interested in what the rest of us couldn't easily see than what we could."

[Damon]

[sooo - liz, matt, reina, where are your chars!]

[CourtCat]

(I have one that should probably interact with people still too, haha. Étaín's out there somewhere! So Damon's question is a good one!)