There were calls made- actual phone calls, too, and not text messages. People were invited, plans were made- botanical gardens. Specifically, the ones on York Street, because they had bromeliads and an entire section devoted to the drylands and he wasn't sure when he started actually liking plants, but it was probably around the same time that he figured out that nature wasn't trying to kill him and it could actually be enjoyed.
You couldn't show up to Colorado and not try to ditch a little of your inner city boy. (Or swamp-admirer, because it was hard to enjoy parts of Louisiana without being about knee deep in you-don't-want-to-think-about-it.)
And thus: plans were made- meet me by the bright yellow things that are inside... I don't know what those are... yeah, that sounds about right, I'm googling it... huh, Larry Johnston. Okay, meet by those. And he was there, standing tall and comfortable in a pair of jeans that had seen better days and a shirt with three quarter length sleeves that buttoned halfway down. And a vest, because he needed somewhere to put his pocketwatch. He took the bus here, walked the rest of the way because he figured he'd need the exercise.
"Why the Hell is it called Larry Johnston," he half muttered to himself, scrolling through page after page on his phone to find the reasoning as to whythis particular orchid sounded like it was an investment banker.
Claudia Cole
The truth is, Claudia could use an excuse to get out of Boulder now and then. Not that she really needed one, but Denver was always better explored with a friend. So when Elijah calls, she considers his invitation for a moment before agreeing to meet him. It helps that he suggests the Botanic Garden.
Perhaps he'll be expecting something different when she walks into the Greenhouse Complex. Someone a little more wild. (Someone who reminds him of a wood nymph.) Instead, the girl who walks through the glass doors into the visitor center resembles someone much more cosmopolitan. She's wearing calf-high leather boots (the heels give her small frame a bit of extra height) and a pair of maroon swede shorts with a black cotton halter top. There's a small, very expensive purse hanging over one shoulder.
Claudia pauses inside, scanning the space with an alert gaze until her eyes land on the aforementioned yellow flowers and, by extension, Elijah. He gets a small smile from her as she approaches.
"I approve of your choice of meeting place."
Aidan Smith
[perc + awareness - spec intuition]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 4, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 4 ) [Doubling Tens]
Elijah Poirot
It's very Audrey Hepburn, really. Or at least he thinks so, always thought of Audrey Hepburn as cosmopolitain but really should have thought of her not as a style icon but as a woman who did remarkable things with her life. But he isn't thinking of the cultural implications of Audrey Hepburn, he's more taking in the Dryad-turned-fashionista who came along to take in bottled nature.
"It was either here or aquarium, but they don't have mermaids today," almost a bit of lamentation around the edges. Elijah had a particular fondness for mermaids, and one he didn't seem particularly keen on disguising, "but drought resistant gardens and tropical badassery won out today."
He grins, bright and pleased. Thumbs looped through his belt loops.
Aidan Smith
Aidan was not known for his practical clothing choices because...well...he didn't have any idea what was practical. Human sensibilities seemed a little strange to him; why did he think that, he often wondered, but regardless of the why, it was still there. Humans were an odd animal, one that he connected the least with. But plants! Plants he understood.
Trees were timeless. When they spoke, they spoke in long speech, with a sense of time that most humans couldn't understand. Aidan loved them for that. They saw more than he would ever see, remembered times long before, and had a way of talking that was almost mesmerizing. The flowers and plants too spoke differently than humans, though they were less timeless. They didn't live nearly as long, but they had a way of speaking in a softness, in a slowness that lifted and dropped just as the rising and fall of petals might. They were most cheery when the sun was out, and spoke tiredly when it no longer shined.
Aidan didn't mind.
But we've forgotten Aidan's attire. He was not practical. He liked long sleeves and sweaters, and he liked to wear his own. Aidan knitted, and this one he knitted a bit more loosely with a baby blue thread intertwined with the pastel yellow so often found in baby blankets; Aidan didn't understand the concept of babies having colors. Colors were for everyone. His jeans were simple, and a bit tighter than the long sleeve that dangled off his frame, threatening to fall to the floor. A necklace sporting some raven talisman hung from his neck, a homage to a very particular friend, and a particular mentor.
Aidan laughed as he kneed next to some plants, the bright cheery cascading out from him. He was listening to them, the flowers and the bees that whizzed by. He was listening to the bugs that skittered on the ground, preparing for the cold coming their way. He laughed because he heard them all at once, and he found them all beautiful; he could never imagine a quiet world.
Did he come because of summons? Maybe, or maybe he came because the world had a tendency to throw him in the path of others. He was there nonetheless, and he felt them tingle at the edge of the skitters, snifflers, chitters, and whispers. Aidan lifted his head, tuning out the sounds that came in because if he didn't, he'd be unable to focus so well.
Claudia Cole
[Per+Awareness]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 5 )
Claudia Cole
"Nothing to do with being afraid of water?" The subtle curl of Claudia's smile speaks of shared secrets. Secrets she ought not to know, really, but... one never knows what they'll find when reading someone's fate. There have been times when she's seen far worse things.
She steps toward the orchids and reaches out as though to run the tips of her fingers over the bright yellow flowers, but her hand stops just centimeters away, hovering in the air. She feels instead the energy coming from them. The delicate heat and humidity in the greenhouse air. For a moment she closes her eyes - breathes the place in.
"There's someone else here," she says, without turning to look in the direction of Aidan's resonance. "Perhaps we should buy our tickets and go find them."
Elijah invited her there, so perhaps he intends to pay, but if so he'll find himself beaten to the punch when she steps up to the welcome counter and opens her purse. "Two, please." She smiles at the old woman behind the desk, who offers a pleasant greeting in reply. It isn't long before Claudia is making her way toward the entrance to the Rock Alpine Garden. When she pushes the door aside, she and Elijah are hit with a gust of warm air from the summer evening.
And there is Aidan, kneeling down beside a collection of tiny wildflowers.
Elijah Poirot
[Per+aware- do I notice people?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9) ( success x 3 )
Elijah Poirot
"Possibly," he kept that grin on his face, "probably... Okay, yeah. Until I can figure out how to deal with the whole I can't breathe underwater thing aquariums could take a little more doing."
He's headed up, going for his wallet, but she's beaten him to the punch, brows raise for a second before heading on towards the entrance, "I'll get the next one?" presumptuous thing, isn't he? Assuming there will be a next time. He paused for a second, inhaling and feeling the sensation of something almost charming. Something spry and full of life.
"I think I might know who that is," he said, expression brightens and he takes a few steps inward, called out, "Marco!"
Waits to hear if Aidan calls back Polo. Probably not, but he tries.
Aidan Smith
Curling, rolling, flying through the air like a soft glow on a summers eve, enticing children and adults alike into something beautiful. It danced and shimmered, it pulsed with a sense of joy that few could rival. That was Aidan. A small sprite that danced among the flowers, unknowing that the winter would bring them to slumber, others to their deaths...or perhaps he understood it in a way that made it beautiful. Death was never the end.
A beating of wings turned his focus away. He didn't catch the source. The moment his focus was entangled, it was pulled from one thing to the next and the sounds came rushing in. Some spoke over the others because they were, by nature, much louder, and others grew louder because they sat so near; sometimes he couldn't tell which was which.
But in the distance (though it's not so very far off), he can hear Elijah, and feel the push of their resonance against his own. He hears the word, and some part of him knows the answer...though he doesn't recall exactly why. "Polo!" He raises an arm quickly as if to flag them down. Where had he learned that game?
He rose slowly and turned towards the two of them, moving into a slow jog, his lips curling into a bright smile. Aidan was always so happy to meet people, or well...anything for that matter. "I didn't get lost this time." He said with a bit of pride. "I don't think anyway. I don't really remember if I meant to come here, but I think I did."
Claudia Cole
She's small, Claudia. Short enough that even in heels Aidan exceeds her height. Her body frame is petite and delicate, her face soft and heart-shaped. She looks younger than she actually is. (She and Aidan have that in common.)
She's beautiful the way that faeries are beautiful. Ageless and a little untouchable. But the way she feels is something altogether more chilling. Shadows, cold and primordial. The infinite abyss of darkness.
She watches Aidan approach with soft, clear eyes. There's a hint of amusement at the manner in which he and Elijah greet each other. "Perhaps it was fated," she offers. There's a glance thrown between the two men before she begins to walk along the stone path, surveying the garden with a slow sweep of her gaze.
"I haven't been here in a long time. I should come more. It's beautiful."
Elijah Poirot
His suspicions are confirmed the minute he hears Polo- he isn't entirely sure where Aidan learned the game but for a brief moment Elijah was pleased that the young man actually caught the reference. Considers it a win for integrating into the rest of society when you can pick up the basic childhood references that one makes. He takes a second to just breathe in the warm air, feel the rush of being around two creatures that he assumes are more like fae than human beings-
That was the thing with Claudia, that shadow, that cold- something born of winter because there could not be an endless summer. Aidan is that endless summer creature. And there he is, hapless mortal, just set to enjoy their company.
"Claudia, this is Aidan," he says, takes a step to continue along the path, nods a little so Aidan can come along and enjoy the scenery. "Aidan- Claudia?"
Introductions sufficiently made, he (oddly enough) seems content to listen for a minute. Doesn't feel the need to fill up the silence.
Aidan Smith
Aidan rarely dislikes the feelings of others. Resonances of people are different, and none are wrong, though he has experience with something that has never felt just right. That is not these moments and these two of course, so he takes the sensation of both in stride, reveling in the difference between himself and Claudia. "Maybe!" He says to Claudia, flashing her a bright smile and stepping in line with her, reaching out to wrap his arm around hers momentarily. "Your name is pretty. But it misses something I think. Claw. Di. Ah. You didn't pick it did you? I met someone else who picked her name...and it fit her better." He doesn't see this as an insult at all, though others might. It's just that, the way it rolls off the tongue isn't write for her.
He uncurls his arm and steps back in line with Elijah, wrapping around his this time. He was an affectionate creature who found the warmth of others enticing. Being so close to other beings...what would the world be like if he couldn't?
"Yup! You Should! They like visitors here. They were made for that. That's what some of them say." Did they really Aidan? Sometimes even Granna wondered. "They really like it when people ooooo and aww over them. " He stepped away from Elijah, pressing past them slowly. "Some of them like it more because they're only here for a season. It makes them happy to be loved."
Claudia Cole
Aidan attempts to grab Claudia's arm, but when he steps in close she pulls back, fixing him with a chilling stare that is instantly less gentle than the look she first greeted him with. One might imagine that many people think they can grasp onto her. People who look at her and see someone childlike and nonthreatening. (She has had a lifetime of it, in fact.) Aidan doesn't seem to pick up on the nonverbal warning, so when he's finished speaking, she says:
"If you touch me again without my permission, I will hurt you."
It's soft, the way she speaks. Quiet but... resonant. It is the only warning on that matter he is likely to get. The issue of her name isn't addressed.
She glances at Elijah then, but whatever she's thinking isn't clear. She goes quiet after that, stepping out ahead of the two men to pace the length of the walkway. After a while she bends to trail her fingers over a patch of flowers, watching as a honeybee lands on one to collect its nectar.
Elijah Poirot
[Manip+sub: I am totally pretending that this isn't awkward]
Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (1, 2, 2, 6, 7, 7, 9) ( success x 3 )
Elijah Poirot
[Also: int+science- do I have any idea what those flowers are?]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 5, 6) ( success x 1 )
Elijah Poirot
Things move pretty quickly, and he takes the opportunity to... use proximity as a deterrent. Or, at the very least, to stand between Aidan and Claudia so Aidan wouldn't be tempted to be in her space and... uh... there would be a body in the way should things become problematic. It's diplomacy by space allocation. Everyone gets their own bubble, life is good, yes?
He looks down the way, down at one of those flowers that a bee landed on and he tries to think of something, and all he gets is "-I think those are... uh.. zone ten? Maybe pushing a nine? So if you ever get the sudden urge to move to the tip of Florida you could conceivably plant them. Does it say what they are?"
He turns to Aidan, "I guess you're right about the whole showy nature of it? There's no way they could grow outside of here."
Aidan Smith
[perc + emp - hey! Are you ok Claudia? What's up?]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 7, 7, 9) ( success x 5 )
Claudia Cole
[Hmm. How difficult to read is she today? Manip+Subterfuge]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 5, 5, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )
Aidan Smith
Aidan doesn't seem perturbed by her backlash to his affection. He doesn't shun or cry, he doesn't whimper or look shocked at her reaction; Aidan acts as if it's completely natural and expected, as if her reaction was something he was very familiar with. In truth he finds it odd that someone would hate to be touched. Sure there were spirits that didn't do well when they came together; power cords or electrical wires weren't very friendly much of the time, unless they had a healthy distance between one and the other. When one of them violated the space of the other, they got angry and they fought. Electricity wasn't a very docile spirit, and neither were all the smaller ones that were a part of it. He still liked them though, he just learned to keep a specific amount of space between them and him.
Claudia, he decided, must be part electrical spirit, or maybe she was raised by them, or maybe she was very good friends...or maybe ...well maybe she had a spark in her that was so close to electricity that she might as well be just like them. He doesn't know the reason, but Aidan lets out a small laugh, his cheeks growing a little pink. He scratches at his neck and at the back of his head.
"I didn't see your spark." He says warmly to her. "I get lost a lot." He continued on, as if it made complete sense to everyone what he was talking about. "I'm not very good at finding my way back. Especially when the wind comes by. We start talking and I forget where I was going." Distraction at his finest. Someone might have thought he was afflicted with ADHD (if not with a multitude of other illnesses) if only because he had a hard time focusing on one thing (the world never stopped moving).
"When I was at the ward, I had this one socket that I talked to a lot. We were really good friends and then I touched him and he got really angry at me." Aidan laughs again warmly. Because Aidan doesn't really mean to upset anyone, and he actually hates to do it.
His laugh softened and he curled his face behind his arm, still lingering at his neck. Aidan peeked at her. "Are you still mad? Are we still friends?" And truly...truly he felt worry that maybe she was still angry.
Elijah draws his attention and Aidan, hiding his face mostly behind his sleeve still, glances to Eli and smiles softly. "I just listen."
Claudia Cole
[Prime 2 / Forces 2 - vulgar (oh Claudia, you should really care more about Paradox) diff 6 -1 (practiced) -1 (resonance) and it's probably about late enough in the evening that her cyclical magic is at neutral]
Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (7, 10) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Claudia Cole
[Paradox]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (7, 8) ( success x 2 )
Claudia Cole
[*sigh* really dice? Stamina]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (5, 10) ( success x 1 )
Claudia Cole
"The plaque says it's a Pasqueflower." Claudia touches the tip of a petal with her finger, mindful not to disturb the bee. When she stands up, she turns to regard Aidan. At first she's quiet, taking him in without much reaction. Then she exhales, and some of the tension melts out of her shoulders.
"Friendship is something you earn. It isn't the place you start from, it's the place you end up. But no..." her voice softens. "I'm not still angry."
She glances around, searching for other visitors, but it's late enough in the evening that the three of them are alone on the trail. "Do you want to see something pretty?"
Claudia's heels scrape lightly against the pavement as she steps closer to Aidan and Elijah. She stands so that their bodies block the view from the nearby greenhouse. Then she draws a tiny knife from her purse and pierces the flesh on her palm. Once the blood begins to well at the wound, she slips the blade away again. When she's ready, she places her hands together in a sphere, fingers spread and not-quite-touching. Like she means to conjure something between them. And in fact, that's precisely what she does. Concentrating on the empty space and the drop of blood in her palm, she focuses... draws forth the energy in her being and makes a tiny shadow with it.
It grows between her hands, flickering and dancing. Claudia uncovers it so they can see, smiling softly (pleased with how pretty it is - with the way is slides along her skin like liquid.)
She feels the pain when it hits. The little snap behind her skull like being struck with a rubber band. A drop of blood starts to run from her nose, but she doesn't reach up to wipe it away until it gets to her mouth. Then, reluctantly, she lets the dancing shadow disperse back into the air and reaches into her purse for a tissue.
Aidan Smith
[OH SHIT I forgot - nightmares]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 4, 7, 7, 8) ( success x 3 )
Elijah Poirot
[Prime 1: Oooh, how'd you do that? (watching the weaving, doobiedoo)]
Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (4, 10) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Elijah Poirot
He observes, at first there is tension, the desire to open his mouth and smooth things over or do anything to make this not a disaster but... he doesn't need to, things do go on without him pushing on them. And truth be told there is relief, just the barest hints at the edges.
It's all forgotten in moments of beauty, moments of something conjured into reality by will and intention alone. Brows raise, words spoken almost by instinct and instead take to the realm of intention. A request, to see past the veneer and on to the actual working. All he sees is the hints and movements of shadow moving elegantly across her palm, over her fingers. Something that is beautiful, "is it cold?" he asks. The first thing he asks, and there is light and life on his features.
Considers shadow something to be solid, something with intention (thinks of Kiara, briefly, spinning, jumping, elated and the cosmos coming apart. The truths in the spaces between the stars.)
"It's a different sort of lovely," he says, bumps Aidan with his him to remind him of his own presence. Not floating off into space, the movement is one that definitely relays a familiarity between the two. A comfort.
Aidan Smith
Friendship is earned
Aidan blinks in confusion. "I'm everyone's friend." He says with a raise of his cheer. "I'll be your friend. Promise." Aidan uncovered his face and held up his hand, palm facing her and a bright smile appearing suddenly. "I'll remember you're friends with the children of electricity." That is how he will forever associate her, no matter how she might normally feel - it's better for him this way.
What she offers is beautiful and, like Elijah, he is fixated on the way the dark emerges and forms, even leans in a little close. He finds it enthralling and... and a little frightening. His brows even quip in a momentary flash of fear before his lips rise in delight.
That is... until Claudia exhibits blood. Aidan's expressive shifts and suddenly his attention isn't on the magic that had been on hand, or the bump at his side, but Claudia... He curls his arm in on one of his sleeves and holds up the knitted sleeve towards Claudia in an offer. "Here." There's a worried smile that presents itself on his face, as if giving a hand to a scared puppy. "You can use mine."
"Elijah." There's almost a quiet scold to him, but it's playful. "Everything is pretty in the same way. It's pretty because it is. It's even prettier because it's Claudia's."
Claudia Cole
Aidan associates her with electricity. It isn't precisely accurate, but then, it isn't the worst thing he could associate her with either. She has been friends with electricity. And wind. And fire. Elements are a part of nature, and so is she (for all that she dresses and speaks like a city girl.) All of it, though, starts with darkness. Even light.
That's why she finds it beautiful. Because it's the beginning. The center. The source.
Is it cold?
"It is, yes." She already has the tissue to her nose by the time she looks up and sees Aidan offering her his sweater. It's a sweet gesture, but she shakes her head. "I'm alright. Sometimes I push too hard." (Would that the universe was a different place. More accepting of their kind of magick.) "It's only blood. Blood has magick, you know." By the time she pulls the tissue away, the blood seems to have stopped. There's still a bit of it on her mouth, so she licks the crimson smear from her lip slowly (as though she means to take it back into herself.)
That last thing though... that gets a smile. (It's even prettier because it's Claudia's.)
"Most people think it's frightening."
Elijah Poirot
Most people think it's frightening.
"So? I have a friend who said that people are scared of things that they can't quite grasp... in a nutshell. She said it a little more eloquently."
He turns his attention to Aidan, taking note of the statement and he keeps causal, confident, engaged in the conversation and what precisely was going on around them, "see? I don't think that's true. Saying that everything's pretty in the same way kinda seems like, while emphasizing a universal connection to the world, also kind of ignores the uniqueness of it."
Aidan Smith
Aidan laughs warmly. "Frightening? I don't think it's scary at all. What's so scary about darkness?" The truth is, of course, that he knows how it can be scary. He can remember his moment in solitary, when he felt the weight of the dark, and the screams of the people before. He can remember those but he chooses not to let it show. Claudia's darkness isn't that darkness, and it isn't the fault of the dark, is it?
Aidan's smile only grows. "Everything can be pretty in the same way and be special. Everything is pretty for being special. That makes it pretty in the same way." Whether that makes sense or not? That's perhaps questionable...
Claudia Cole
"Mm." Claudia makes a little hum of agreement with Elijah. She can feel the thudding pulse of a headache behind her eyes, and there's a slight twitch in the muscles there - a bit heaviness in the eyelids that makes her look tired. She doesn't complain though. It could be much worse.
"Fear of the unknown is really fear of the self. We invest in it our own demons. Those things that lurk in our darkest imagination."
She settles her purse on her shoulder and continues to walk, smiling a little at the way the two friends debate the finer points of beauty. "You two are arguing semantics."
After that she gets quiet, walking the garden path as she nurses her headache and takes in the scenery and the life around her. Perhaps afterwards, they make their way to the Japanese Garden, with its picturesque pool and neatly pruned bonsai trees. Or maybe they wander back into the greenhouse.
Either way, when the gardens close, Claudia takes her leave.
[Alas, it is bedtime for me. You guys can continue if you want. Just assume Claudia is wandering ahead looking at flowers or something. ;) Thanks for the scene!]
Aidan Smith
[I think Heather needs some sleep too]
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