Exploring

[Lara Wrathburn] [Nightmares?]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 5, 6, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Lara Wrathburn] Morning at the chantry, a time when few showed around these parts, that or they were cloistered within the library above or the node room below, both of which were sealed to the likes of Lara, still to fresh, still to untrustworthy to be allowed into such places of power. But she didn't really mind as such places were only so useful.

She had woken invigorated and relaxed beyond all reasoning this morning as she had for some time since moving into this place, she had no true understanding of why but that hardly bothered her. She was already washed, and even fully dressed this morning as she sat on the patio in the morning light.

A pair of ripped jeans covered her legs for the most part, patches of open space revealing pale soft skin along her thighs and calves, her feet were uncovered as if to savor the feeling of the morning air and light. For a shirt it was that beautiful bright blue hoodie which flowed about her as if she were wearing a tunic or robe, the hood drawn back from her features, revealed to the world around her as an effect washed over her body. Something easily detected by any mage worth their salt.

[Chuck Carmichael] Chuck is behaving today. There is no Ice, and no meeting - he's rambling through the place on his own, trusted enough for the library and node room but not much bothering with either for the moment, at least. They do, in fact, have limited use . . . at least for now. Now, he has time to spare before work, and explores this strange place (as American as mom and apple pie, somewhere that's green, and Cthulu-infested bits of New England - it's kind of creepy, really, but shh! Chuck doesn't have an overactive imagination, not at all.

And look at that! Geek squad boy, dressed in geek squad clothes, has his partner [in crime] in tow.

"Dude," he murmurs. "Nodes are way less weird on the 'nets."

[Riley Poole] Chuck is dressed in his Geek Squad uniform, his partner marginally so. Riley has on the white short-sleeved button-down, her thin black tie is loosened, but she has on denim shorts instead of the short black skirt, exposing long olive toned legs. She never wears the whole shebang until they're in the parking lot of the Best Buy. Words simply cannot describe how much she hates wearing that impractical skirt.

Her wavy brown hair's been twisted up off her neck and fastened in place with a clip. That doesn't stop her bangs from falling into her dark eyes. She's a tall one, Riley is, but Chuck makes her look normal-sized.

"Really?" she asks, trailing a little behind her partner slash mentor. The last time she was here was...interesting to say the least. This is her first time really exploring the house.

"Why's that?"

[percept + aware!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Chuck Carmichael] (Sure, why not? [Per + Aware])
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 6, 6, 7, 7, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Lara Wrathburn] Her senses extend out into the building around her, searching and exploring much as the rest of her, and as her senses reach the back porch they are met by magic, and potent resonance. The magic itself is unknown to Riley, something she has not learned, or perhaps not even encountered yet.

Chuck senses it all as well, the potent but harmless magics coming from the patio. The resonance is new to the man as well, it washes over him, as one might imagine a blast of radiation would, crawling along his skin, slipping into his body, and changing him in a Subversive [Entropic] way, reforming him, remaking him. But such things don't seem all that bad, as he feels this potency it draws his attention, and makes him wish to draw nearer, the mesmeric [Dynamic] Qualities all to potent.

Lara herself remains unaware's of the two new presences in the chantry, her mind elsewhere as open bright green eyes watch something else, something far far away.

[Chuck Carmichael] "They're just . . . I dunno, more conceptual and less at once. It's information and energy, you know? Pure. Not muddied with all the other stuff." He shrugs, and nods in the general direction of the patio - they haven't made it that far yet, the dynamic (in more ways than one!) duo, but it's not too terribly much further, either. "You wanna check out who's here? I don't recognize . . . him. Her. It. Whatever."

Chuck's tie isn't on yet - the noose was left in the car - and his shirt is unbuttoned a bit lower than is necessary, though his pants are pressed and neat (enough), as is his shirt. His hair, getting long enough to be more obviously unruly, is just that - a mess of curls above his freshly shaven, somewhat boyish (but not young looking - an odd combination) face. And already, he's heading towards said patio, curious; he doesn't know that many people yet.

It's not that he's necessarily keen on knowing more, really? But that they're here, and may as well meet whoever else is.

[Riley Poole] "Ah. I think Jon was going to show me something like that," she says. Most of her comments about her former mentor begin like that. I think. It wasn't a partnership that worked out in Riley's favor, at least as far as learning magic was concerned. She still doesn't know the truth about her dagger, currently resting peacefully in her messenger bag out in the car. The strange weapon has come in handy so much more than she would have thought since she Awakened.

"He couldn't get past testing my hacking abilities to let me see the Virtual Web, either," she adds with a roll of her eyes. Riley is something of a jack-of-all-trades, but her mastery is clearly in electronics, computers, and technology.

She's noticed the strange resonance, as well. And something else, something she can sense but has never felt before. "Is that...is that some kind of effect?" she asks, following him toward the patio and the stranger they both know is out there. When they see the woman relaxing out there, though, the first thing out of Riley's mouth isn't a greeting, or an introduction. It's not even a question about the strange magic she sensed.

It's, "Whoa, hey, aren't you hot?" It's eighty degrees, and the woman is in jeans and a hoody, for crying out loud.

[Lara Wrathburn] Her effect comes tumbling down like a house of cards as she is interrupted by Riley's question. Her eyelids flutter as what she was watching and what was really before her mingled briefly before at last separating and and becoming only the two strangers who stood before her.

She blinks a few more times, before a warm, if slightly impish smile crosses her lips as she pushes herself up onto long legs and takes a step towards them. "I usually here that more as a statement then as a question.." She says with a bemused, yet languid look on her face as she stretches her legs.

"But yes it is...but it wasn't just a little while ago..." She says before checking her watch. "Or I should say four hours ago..." She says correcting herself, tapping the watch briefly to make sure its still working before letting it drop with a laugh. Then those bright green eyes turn to regard the pair once more as she steps forward and holds out a hand, perhaps to shake?

"My name is Lara...good to meet you."

[Chuck Carmichael] ".....what on earth was any reasonable person doing awake for hours ago?"

Chuck is not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination, it must be said - he's only up this early, now, for this exact purpose. That purpose being exploring the Chantry with Riley, not meeting Lara. The latter is an added bonus, one imagines.

Chuck, in all his geek squad glory, is six foot four inches tall. He has dark brown, curly hair and skin that isn't as pale as it could be, given his geek status - he also has the muscled arms, shoulders, chest and abs of a rower, though only the arms, chest and shoulders are really visible under the short sleeved, white, button down shirt. He's good looking - above average, certainly - but in a way more commonly described as adorable than hot or any such thing. The general appearance of cute is only enhanced by the affable nature, and the wide smile he gives as he extends his own hand (and the fact that his eyes stay on Lara's face, rather than drifting down to take note of other . . . attributes).

"Hey. I'm Chuck," he says in a midwestern accent tinged tenor. "This is my buddy, Riley. Nice to meet you."

[Riley Poole] Riley's study of the woman before her is open and direct. Her brows lift a little, her head tilting slightly, and she nods a little. "I can see that. You probably get it as a question, too, though, just with different inflection. Aren't you hot?" she asks, roughening her voice a little in imitation of a male's voice.

Her own smile is warm and charming and lights up her dark brown eyes. She's an attractive woman, but her beauty is more subdued than Lara's. Riley has more of a girl-next-door kind of appeal, is more of a big sister type. Which may be why she and Chuck work so well together as a team. And why they get along so well. It may also explain why there isn't an ounce of sexual tension between the pair of them.

"Some people don't sleep like the dead, Chuck." Chuck is not a morning person, which thankfully hasn't affected their carpooling since he moved in next door to her. When Chuck has greeted Lara for the both of them, Riley extends her own hand. "Nice to meet you. So what were you doing out here?"

[Lara Wrathburn] "Its the bed's here...I haven't slept this good in years, all i seem to need here is four hours and I'm good to go." She shrugs nonchalantly as she smiles. "Why waste a perfectly good part of the day when I don't have to...when I could be doing...other things." She says as she does indeed look Chuck up and down, admiring what genetics and hard work had wrought of the man before her hand, slid into his and shook it, long slender fingers warm, but not all together strong.

She then turned to Riley, and admired her form as well, she wasn't as striking as Chuck, nor as beautiful as herself, but that girl-next-door quality was always a winner and Riley pulled it off well. She shook the woman's hand for a long moment, not tense or testing, just...enjoying.

The woman asked what she was up to, and her smile became just a little more impish, a little more mischevious as she laughed lightly briefly looking back to the spot she had been sitting on for so long, before turning once more to watch Riley and Chuck. "Ohhh just checking up on the future...seeing how things are going."

[Riley Poole] [doot de doo]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 4, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Chuck Carmichael] "Yeah? Might have to try one out sometime," he says, oblivious to the checking out - but friendly, good humored and amiable. "I do sleep like the dead, and wake up a zombie with a hundred percent less craving for brains. If I don't get my eight - or if I have to wake up before about seven - it's better to just not sleep at all."

He shrugs, and is significantly less oblivious to Lara checking Riley out (That's hot.), and somehow amused by it. "You ladies want some alone time? We've got a bit before we have to be on the clock yet."

Teasing, always teasing is Chuck of the Friend Zone - oh, how fun it can be. But then, more serious, "So how are things going? And . . . Time isn't one of my things. But I've read enough scifi to know I should ask which future."

[Riley Poole] The beds in the house make people especially refreshed. Riley turns to look up at the building, as if she expected there to be some sort of physical evidence of why this phenomena occurred. Or maybe she was just musing something else entirely.

When she looked back, it was to find Lara looking over her friend. Her brows lifted, and the corners of her mouth began to quirk upward. She's just calculating just how much trouble she could deflect off Chuck at the store if she were to leave him here for a while when that green-eyed gaze is turned on herself. Then those brows are lifting a little higher.

Riley is tall and skinny, but it's not the usual geek physique of an life spend indoors with poor eating habits. What Lara can see of her body (and in shorts and short-sleeved shirt, she can see a lot) Riley is fit. Where Chuck's physical strength is centered around his upper body, Riley's is all over. Lean and trim, with just enough curve to keep her from being mistaken for a boy.

Chuck asks if they'd like some alone time, and Riley laughs, elbowing him in the ribs. "So the great Chuck Carmichael isn't as free from common male stereotypes as I'd previously thought. That's actually reassuring."

[Lara Wrathburn] [Per+emp, what was that look Riley?]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 2, 5, 7, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Lara Wrathburn] Lara laughs lightly, amused and delighted by their comradery, their closeness without having to be skin close. Chuck asks if they want some alone time, Riley's eyes say the very same thing before she jabs the man in the ribs and indicates that even he could be a man.

"The real question is...is it warranted." Lara asks as she takes a step towards the pair, slow and deliberate as if to close the gap between them. But then the heat finally hits Lara, she can really feel it now, as if her mind still wasn't registering such things. She took a deep breath then, and without a second thought grabbed the bottom of the hoodie, and pulled it upwards, over, and off of her body, leaving only a light green t-shirt beneath. She sighs happily as she feels the relief, and tosses the hoodie asside, with the hoodie gone, several dermal piercings are visible along the center of her throat, as are a myriad of tattoo's that cover her arms.

"Why don't you both stick around...it's been rather quiet here lately." She says as she looks from one to the other, her hands coming to rest on her hips before finally addressing Chucks specific question. "That...tough to say, I'd like to say it's the future I want."

[Israel Cohen] [[Getting it out of the way. Per + Aware]]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 5, 6, 6, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Riley Poole] "Well," says Riley, mouth quirked in a grin, "I can't miss anymore work unless it's a national emergency, but if you want to hang out, Chuck, I could probably cover for you." Like she could, like Riley Poole could lie to the most gullible person in the world if her life depended on it. Which nearly anyone who knows her knows all too well that she can't.

And it's entirely possible that she'd be leaving Chuck here to play Backgammon or chess with Lara. Her smile, though, suggests she thinks something altogether different would happen between the very tall Virtual Adept and the red-haired Cultist.

[Chuck Carmichael] "No, the great Chuck Carmichael is, indeed, a healthy, straight-identifying male," he says with a grin, elbowing her back - easy camaraderie, indeed. The two are friends, and partners in a very true sense; close without being skin close is a good descriptor. (Which doesn't mean Chuck wouldn't be skin-close with Riley if the opportunity presented itself! It simply means that neither of them is pressing the issue.) "And if alone time is warranted, far be it from me to get in the way."

Then there's Lara suggesting he stay to, and, for a moment, his mind stays on the sexy track - so very, very sexy. It's hard to get off (hurr) once one is on it. "And if you want me to stick around, all the better."

But, future! Futures wanted, futures not (Don't you think about the future at all, Levi?), oh, future, loved and hated. "Awesome. Hope it works out for you, then. And, hey! I've only skipped out once since I got here. But we're about due for a call from Pervy McPervson, so I'd hate to leave you alone with it." His watch gets checked, and he shrugs. "We're due in at eleven, right? You wanna chill for a bit?"

[Lara Wrathburn] They try to get each other to stay, offering to cover each other so that both can have some fun, but neither of them accept it right off the bat, it just makes Lara smile all the more, they were cute, almost like brother and sister both trying to give each other the leg up.

Lara took the initiate, as she usually does and steps up to both of them looking from one to the other and smiles sweetly at them. "I'm sure they won't miss either of you...you've plenty of time, you should learn to enjoy it while you can." She says casually, but at the same time, that siren, that song of her's calls them to stay, almost...demands that they do so.

"We could get to know each other better, I've made it something of a mission to know as many of the mage's here in the city." She says as she steps between them, and then toward the door back into the house. "Besides...we really should enjoy the A/C while we can..." She says with a wry laugh as she slide the door open, and gestured inside.

[Manip+Exp]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 3, 4, 7 (Failure at target 6)

[Wharil Choc] He said he'd leave it alone. Said he'd turn his back on the library, on the fruitless search. Said he'd come back into the social fold. Come back to this form of reality.

It was a slow process.

Bare feet came bounding down the steps, a sort of falling, tumbling gallop that had the man's too-long hair bouncing and flopping. He needed a haircut. He didn't need a shave. He did need shoes, but then again, this place felt so comfortable once you forgave its more gruesome history. It felt so much like a home. Who could blame him for running about in torn jeans, a faded graphic T, and no shoes?

Wharil makes way for the kitchen, one of the only places he tends to be scene other than the library, and there only certain people would see him. But, the sound of voices calls to him and before he can actually arrive at his usual sandwich station, he's changing course and heading for the back door instead.

Curiosity painted across his face, he lingers just in sight. Surveying and listening in before he brings any attention to himself.

[Israel Cohen] Heedless of the fact that there is still some crumbled dirt [rich, fertile, dark] on her hands, she rubs her eyes with the heels of her palms as she comes up the last step from the basement to the first floor, barely managing to cover her mouth as a yawn overtakes her. It leaves a streak of dirt along her left cheek, just below the eye, like an American football player who forgot to get their Eye Black on both sides. Her side bag, slung over one shoulder, the strap nestled between her breasts: She's wearing a plain black t-shirt, so it's not like the straps shifts anything to become provocative. Israel doesn't do provocative. Her jeans are faded, her Doc Marten's scuffed up. This is her 'work' close so far as these kinds of tasks goes. Whatever the tasks, her side bag is is bulkier than usual, its contents making occasional muffled clinking noises as she moves towards the kitchen, a bit overburdened: Given her lack of physical strength it is about as easy to overburden her muscles as it is to tower over her in height.

[Emily Littleton] The path to the Chantry is well-worn in Emily's head, oft traveled. It's a war path (no exaggeration) now between her flat and this porch. Whether by El or by car or by rideshare or by bus -- Emily keeps finding her way back to the white-picket-fence house, with all its ill portents and politics. This is thrice in as many days.

She's wearing a white polo and jeans. There is no glint of silver at her throat (still); her hair is pulled back into a low gathering at the base of her neck. Her messenger, a near constant companion, hangs at her side; its strap crosses her shoulder to hip.

The Chantry door opens, spilling the cool of the air conditioned inner air out into an already hot (and rising) day. Emily steps through that portal, closes it behind her, and moves into the house. There is no Hello, the house today. Just the sound of footsteps (tennies squeak on wood floors) trailing toward the message board. This is what she checks first, as if there'd be any new news since the night before.

Then on to the kitchen, where Israel is found standing. "Hello, Israel," she says, her voice less worn and more resonant than it's been in recent night. Despite the burden they all carry, Emily is mending; Emily is recovering.

[Riley Poole] Outside, a step away from being inside again, Riley is half in her work clothes, half in something casual. Her wavy hair has been twisted and pinned in place with a clip, and she's wearing her short-sleeved white button-down, the thin black tie loosened around her neck. Rather than the impractical black skirt, however, she's wearing denim shorts and her black and white Converse high-tops. It's almost a style, but mostly it's a rebellion. Chuck has been subjected to Riley's rant about the women's Geek Squad uniform so many times now he can probably recite it word for word back at her.

Lara slides open the patio door and invites the VAs into the air conditioned comfort of the house. To 'get to know each other better.' As much as she may want to stick around, and with Lara and Chuck both encouraging her to stay, Riley quirks her mouth. "Man, I have been dealing with Pervy McPervson since before you were born," she teases. "I can handle myself." Then she leans in close, tugs him down so that he's closer to her height, making it easier to whisper in his ear.

[Riley Poole] "You should stick around and get to know a new girl," she whispers.
to Chuck Carmichael

[Lara Wrathburn] [Per+Alert What are you whispering there..]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 9, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Riley Poole] [it's a seekrit!: char + subt]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 2, 7 (Failure at target 6)

[Riley Poole] [no seriously]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 7)

[Wharil Choc] [Per+Alert: Ooh! Sekrit!]

[Wharil Choc]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 3, 5, 7, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Chuck Carmichael] Riley tugs and Chuck leans in - it's effortless, how they do this. There's no thought that goes into it; the two VAs simply work together. Sometimes people click. A grin tugs at his lips and he whispers back . . .

. . . and then turns his attention to Lara. "Yeah, I'll hang out. I've got my 'berry if they need me badly enough." And so inside it is, still with Riley for now - when she chooses to leave, it will be as easy as arriving together had been. Air conditioning is a relief, it must be said, though he's a midwestern boy to begin with - not impervious so much as used to it.

"How long have you been here, Lara? And from where?" This is, of course, about two steps inside the house from the patio.

[Chuck Carmichael] "Alright, gimme a call if you need me. Youngster." Teasing, always.
to Riley Poole

[Wharil Choc] There's something about Wharil Choc's eyes. They were large, glassy things. Not Japanese Anime large, but certainly quite large indeed. They caught things. They saw more than what was expected. And they also showed a lot more than what was expected. For instance, when his eyes watch Passively at two VA's outside, analyzing their familiar whisper, and suddenly shift the young woman he barely recognized, they betray a puckish sort of curiosity.

His arms fold across his chest as the others enter. The movement of doing so, coupled with the slight smirk, are the only things that bring attention to himself.

Lara. What else could she learn just by standing here, he wondered.

[Lara Wrathburn] "Oh....I'm from all over the place...and I'm only just arriving in the city, maybe..a few weeks." She says casually as she steps inside and realizes they are not alone, they had been surrounded, Israel, Emily, and some new mage who she hadn't met before, but this seemed to throw her for a loop, she hadn't anticipated or seen any of this and it was a little confounding, a little...unsettling.

But the fiery headed cultist kept her cool as she slipped through the crowd, moving to find a bit of space amongst all the bodies before she turns to Chuck and Riley and winks at them. "Sorry...I just remembered, I've a very specific time to be ready for...I'll have to catch you both again....very soon." She says with certainty, because how did you hide from someone who knew where you were going to be afterall?

At that she turned and strode towards the front door, intent on getting out of there.

((Sorry folks, gotta bail from here, will catch you all soon though!))

[Emily Littleton] Emily is in the kitchen, near the diminutive Orphan, with her hands wrapped around the strap of her messenger bag, when the others enter the house. Chuck's voice is familiar, and it draws her attention up and away from Israel. She cants her head, curiously, to one side.

The Adepts in her cabal did not normally make an effort to visit the Chantry. Riley did, more than Chuck, but it was infrequent that she found them here. Her eyes narrowed somewhat at the name that left Chuck's lips, Lara. Instead of wandering out to say hey and how are you, Emily fixed herself a glass of water and took up a leaning residence against one wall.

She could listen, much like Wharil was, and talk to Israel. It wasn't eavesdropping if she just happened to be there.

[Israel Cohen] "Hullo, Emily... Wharil." These are who she notices first. [she feels them first; then hears and smells them]. With a small grunt of effort she gets the side-bag onto the kitchen counter near the fridge and starts to locate the right cabinet [she taps cabinet handles with outstretched finger tips, the pattern memorized] that holds glasses. Acquiring one requires half boosting herself up on the counter [note to self: by a step stool for the Chantry kitchen] because someone pushed them further back than she's used to... others enter. "Hullo, Riley and... Chuck, yes?" They've only met briefly. The smile she offers in their very general direction, though, is quietly warm; dirt smudges on her face notwithstanding.

She has some sense of Lara being there.. then gone.

Over to the fridge she goes to find the Brita water pitcher, speaking towards Emily as she goes, "How are you doing, Emily? You sound well..."

[Riley Poole] They enter the house to find it much more occupied than when they stepped outside, looking to introduce themselves to a stranger. That's what they do, the two Virtual Adepts. Unlike the stereotype, they're both friendly, outgoing, personable. Well, Riley is until someone hits a button, sets off her temper, earns her wrath.

The collection of folks within do not quite gain her ire, though the three (as she's going to think of them for at least a minute or two more) cockblockers do get a stern look and a smile with a slight edge to it. Because Lara is leaving, out the front doors and not up the stairs to one of the bedrooms, or wherever it was she had been wanting to steal the tech geeks away to. "Butter luck next time, Chuckles," she says, sighing.

Then, "Hey, guys." Too bright. Riley never was good at disguising disappointment, even if that disappointment was felt on behalf of her friends and not herself.

[Emily Littleton] For all her lack of sight, Israel picks up on more than the Singer-to-be might. She struggles, at moments, and overcomes the physical limitation. Emily stays out of the other Orphan's way, helps where her help would not become hindrance, and says, plainly: "I am well. Though, Israel? You've got something on your cheek..."

This is not said with worry. It's just dirt, not gore or taint or anything darker. Just dirt from the garden, or possibly the well.

The others file in and get a smile from Emily. Even her somewhat-estranged cabalmates. "Hey, Riley," she says. The British girl has given ground, accepted Hey as a reasonable greeting. They're changing her, these affable Vdepts. Even in absence they're bending her, slightly.

"Hi Chuck. Wharil."

[Chuck Carmichael] "Hey," he says, and doesn't hesitate to go give Emily a hug - not tight [restraint] but there [comfort, friendship]. The greeting includes everyone (the guy he can't quite see unless he looks just right, and even then forgets, the short blind woman) for all that he goes straight to his ex-girlfriend, and for all that Riley's disappointed at Lara's departure, Chuck doesn't seem overly so.

(He doesn't think there are even any video games in the Chantry.)

"Yeah, I'm Chuck. Nice to see you again Israel." Try. Focus. Focus. There's someone else sharing the space. You know it. "And to meet you. Um . . ."

[Israel Cohen] "Do I?" There's a faint rise of dusky-rose colour along olive-kissed complexion; not full on embarrassment or self-consciousness, but a pesky biological reaction to having something amiss pointed out with her appearance. It was worse five years ago; now days she's learned not to become so flustered over it, but some physiological response stubbournly remain. Her lips quirk as her shoulders shrug, a such is life: messy kind of gesture. "Thanks." Soft spoken though it is the word is earnest. Rather than get dirty hands on the pitcher, she closes the door with a bump of her hip and moves to the sink, cautiously so as not to bump into Emily or anyone else who might be near and not mindful that she's moving.

"You too, Chuck."

Her hands glide along drawer handles - guiding her; they run over the sink edge, over stainless steal until she finds the handle.. and begins washing her hands and then her face.

[Wharil Choc] "Hi." He finally says in an unremarkable voice. Wharil circles around the VA's, heading over toward the Kitchen counter instead and leaning there, all polite smiles.

"So who was that?" He asks. "That Lara person?"

[Emily Littleton] Chuck hugs her and Emily, for all her recent stiffness, slips an arm around him and hugs him back. It's a little restrained, given their change of status, but it's not uncomfortable. Things had always been easy-going between them, and this separation hasn't seemed to change that just yet. Besides, with demons loose on the city and her recent transgressions (broken commandments [matters of interpretation]), a hug was far from truly alarming.

"Oh, Lara lives here now," Emily tells Wharil. Helpfully. She even smiles, politely. Sweetly. Not an ill-word spoken, exactly, but it's hard to miss that there's no love lost between Emily and the red-headed Cultist.

[Riley Poole] It doesn't surprise Riley that Emily's reaction to Lara is less than one hundred percent positive, and not because of the strain that's been between the two apprentices the last few weeks. Women like Lara, Riley has learned, will inspire fairly polar reactions from other women. It's why Riley is content to remain fairly laid back as far as her personality goes. With her temper, after all, who knows how she'd react if someone decided to feel catty toward her.

Still, she steps into the kitchen and holds up her own wall, thumbs hooked into her pockets, and for a moment she just watches Emily. No ill will on her part, not even any tension. Riley just watches her still slightly estranged friend.

"I didn't realize people actually live here."

[Israel Cohen] "She's been staying here, yes." This spoken after time is taken to complete her cleansing. "Though who told her about it I've yet to find out. Still, she made it past the exterior Wards and I sense nothing malevolent from her." Per se... the woman's Resonance made Israel wary, but not in the sense of fearing actual corruption. Entropic Resonance was just.. difficult.. that way. With the amount of it the blind woman carries [and increased as of late] she isn't too quick to be judgmental. Still, caution is often a virtue... "Still," She finds the handle of the drawer on the left of the sink, pulling out a clean dish towel and patting her face and hands. "I've placed a Ban around the entrance of the Basement and the Library. It keyed to allow access to those who know they are formally accepted chantry members."
Paranoid?
Hell yes. Even if her version of it tends to be more subtle than the Priests.

[Wharil Choc] "Hm." Is all he really says to that. The waning smile on his face works against the grain of his voice. A hand goes up to try and seize the tumult of hair on his head.

"I need a haircut. Think I 'm gonna go do that now, actually. You folks uh...Well. Be safe, everybody."

And with very little urgency, Wharil Choc wanders off again.

[Wharil Choc] ((thanks for keeping me occupied folks!))

[Chuck Carmichael] ".....huh. I didn't know people . . ."

And there it is, his 'berry going off with the tone that means work [everybody's workin' for the weekend!] (shh! Never mind that it's supposed to be a completely different phone and Chuck broke the rules by routing work calls through his own Blackberry), and he rolls his eyes, stepping away from Em.

"That's us, Riley - we gotta roll. You ready?" And after polite goodbyes, he's on his way out.

[Riley Poole] Riley watches Emily for a moment, noting the changes in the younger girl. Not really so much a girl in the older woman's eyes. Maybe the last month has forced her to grow a little more. Maybe now she'll stop running away, or at least stop pushing Riley away.

Though things have been strained to some degree since that first time Emily showed her Life, there's no sign of it now. The VA has been biding her time since that night at the bar. It may surprise some to know that Riley Poole has the capacity for incredible patience.

So long as no one's setting off triggers or punching her buttons.

People start making their way out of the kitchen, going about their business of getting hair cuts, or working down in the basement. Speaking of work.

"Great," flat and unenthusiastic, "Pervy McPervson, here we come." Her disappointment on Chuck's behalf gone now, her smile for Emily is warmer. She even winks. "See ya, Emily." And the Geek Squadders make their escape.

[Emily Littleton] "Have fun stormin' the castle," she says, to the disappearing Vdepts. Emily doesn't bother to impersonate the voice, but she knows at least one pop reference to make them smile. Her friends get a little wave, friendlier than she's been of late, and then the Apprentice pushes off of her lean and announces. "I'm going to head upstairs to study some more. Israel, whenever you like, we can talk about those names. You seem to have your hands full just now, though, so it can wait."