Margot
Meet me at 3? We can get coffee and talk about this?
Sure. I know a place.
A link to a coffee shop's location in the Sante Fe Art's District was sent over through text messages soon to follow. It was a Tuesday afternoon and the weather had been fairly chilly-- a hell of a thunderstorm swept through and brought a cold front along with it the day before. Margot would have ordinarly sat inside on a day like this but at least the clouds in the sky were pale gray and high in elevation, not threatening to dump any more rain upon them anytime soon. The winds from the day before had stilled too.
With a paper to-go cup from the shop in her hand, Margot was hovering outside in a hoodie and jacket with the hood pulled up over her head-- not far enough forward to hide her face like she was trying to mask her identity (that'd be the best way to draw attention, to look like you were actively hiding anyways), but just to keep the damp cool air off her neck. Jeans, sneakers, nose ring. All she needed was a cigarette to look the part of a proper coffee shop loiterer.
When Grace approached, the petite young woman nodded her chin up and lifted a hand to wave. She would smile, but there was no pretense at play here-- while she was trying to keep Pen and Nick oblivious to the situation that was impossible with the request she was making of the Virtual Adept. So, it was an expression of grim resolve that greeted Grace today.
Grace
Okay, grim resolve. Meet grim resolve. Grace wanders up in her jeans and grey turtleneck jacket, zipped up the neck, her hair messed up and her eyes tired, like she suggested coffee for a reason.
But when she finds Margot, her eyebrows raise a little. Hi there. She walks over, slides into a chair like it is comfort itself.
"So. You want me to trace someone for you?"
Margot
Following Grace's lead to sit at a table, Margot stopped hovering near the wall like a weirdo and sat down as well. She slipped into the seat across from Grace instead of beside her-- not many people wanted to hang out on the patio, so there wasn't a need to huddle heads for the sake of privacy.
"Yeah." A pause, where Margot's jaw set. "My brother."
The coffee cup moved up, but paused as she thought to add a little more clarification.
"He just got out of prison-- or maybe rehab? If he's out this early? Anyway, he called me with a none too friendly message and I don't want him visiting unexpectedly."
Grace
Oh. Grace's head ticks up a notch at this new information. Finally, Margot has decided to provide some.
"Ahh. In that case... I could probably set something up for you. But listen -- would you like something else? To feel more safe perhaps?"
Margot
The question posed had Margot looking up into Grace's face. With how her eyebrows were raised up, she appeared surprised. She didn't expect an offer for protections as well, and after blinking a few times the surprise gave way to a softening of an otherwise grim visage. Not entirely relaxed, but relieved certainly. Appreciative, for sure.
"Grace, thank you. Knowing where he is is going to be a big enough help." She took a sip then lowered her hands to hold the cup nearer to her lap. Seemed to consider the offer for a moment, then consider how to explain her own thoughts on the matter before finally she huffed a breath and gave an answer.
"This is going to sound ridiculous, but hear me out: I think that I'm supposed to be facing him on my own, at least as much as possible. My Avatar, she's a War Goddess, and I feel like this is happening as maybe a test of some kind? To show my mettle? It's... a dick move, I think, he's mybrother, you know? But still."
Another sip, then a reassurance after a pause: "Ned's helping me prepare to defend myself, and I've been staying at his place until I'm ready, where Luke won't find me."
Grace
"I would be careful about trying to literally interpret what your Avatar is saying," Grace says, looks up at Margot with a bit of worry in her eyes. "Once, my Avatar made me a contestant in the Wheel of Fortune with Pat Sajak and Vanna White."
Just, you know, let that sink in, Margot. Sometimes, Avatars are weird too.
"Everyone on set kept encouraging me to play, including my best friend and worst enemy. My Avatar was saying all these things to me -- do this, do that, do the other thing. The lesson was to say 'no'."
She looks up toward the ceiling, examining the room a bit for people within earshot. Keeps her conversation low.
"Every time, I've had to fight my Avatar, stand up to it, stab it, take from it what I need. You say she's a war goddess. What does she think about you surrendering to her all the time?"
Margot
"I think 'all the time' is a bit excessive," said Margot with a quiet tone of defense, the kind that came with a tiny bit of a sting to her pride. There wasn't much pride built up in the way of Magickal affairs just yet, but when it came to the matter of the strength of your spine even bookish little things like Margot Travers could get a little touchy.
"I mean, think of it this way: I've not really been much of a warrior up until this point. I ran away from my problems and have shied away from violence when I can, either by avoiding the situation, running, or negotiating and talking reason. I have dreams about Andraste, and when I see her in my dreams she has sharp black teeth and her hair is a literal river of blood. She wants me to...."
The scowl got heavier here, because she was trying to interpret what her Avatar wanted again and she knew that Grace just cautioned her against it, but there was a loss of other ways to describe it. She licked her lips, took another quick sip of her coffee, and tried again.
"I suppose I should say that I feel like I'm supposed to become more like her. I don't feel like I'm supposed to worship her or copy her, but I'm supposed to be her Right Hand. And I think that she needs to know that I can fight and find Magick in the battlefield instead of just letting my own blood and burning my own supplies."
Grace
"And you think she wants you to kill your brother?"
It's direct, her question. If Margot says yes, perhaps she won't offer guns and ammo...
Margot
At first the silence between them answered the question, filled only by the background sounds of the city surrounding them and the quiet sip that Margot made at her coffee cup. Perhaps Grace had heard enough and was about ready to just let the Apprentice stew in her own poor choices before the girl sighed and pressed her lips together and looked down at her knuckles.
"I don't want it to come to that. I want to be able to explain what happened to him and make him understand, but... I don't think that's likely. I took his arm away. He--.."
Her voice cracked and she swallowed against the sudden dry patch in her throat. Took a breath and bit her lip. Clearly this was a topic she struggled with. She spoke of it fretfully, like walking on untrustworthy ice, unsure of whether she should bolt across it quickly and hope that she beats the surface cracks or if she should ease around it instead. Apparently she just found a particularly thin patch of recalling events in her own psyche and chose to skirt around it instead.
"He might be out here to kill me. And if prison didn't keep him away once it won't keep him away a second time. I'm gonna... gonna try. Gonna try really fucking hard with him, but if it comes to it... If it's him or me, it's gotta be me."
Grace
"Try. Really fucking hard. You want to be able to tell yourself later that you didn't have a choice. You want to be able to mean it," Grace says, eyes Margot's coffee like she wants it. If it weren't for the prospect of sharing germs, she might just go for it.
"I can get you some light body armor," she says, still looking at the coffee, but tugging at her grey jacket like: 'See? This.' "Was going to offer a place to stay, but you've got Ned... Would you like a highly-trained dog?"
Margot
The words of caution about trying very hard, if for nothing more than the sake of her future self's conscience, were accepted with a serious nod. Margot was listening, and she was taking Grace very seriously. She wouldn't have reached out to the woman if she didn't think that her words and wisdom carried weight. Ultimately the actions and decisions would still be her own, but guidance didn't really hurt.
Eyes hopped next to the gray jacket that was indicated, and she smiled. "If it's not too much trouble, I think that would be handy for this and any number of other issues I'm probably going to come up against in this bright new world. As for the dog..." A shake of her head, and the smile turned into more of a grin-- humor, even if only a little, was a healthy thing. "My apartment's pretty small, and Ned's is somehow even smaller. I even found someone to keep my pet rabbit, there's so little room for extra bodies.
"I do really appreciate the offer, though, Grace. I mean, I know we haven't, like, hung out much or anything? But I trust you, and I'm glad that trusting you was a good choice."
Grace
Grace unzips her jacket down to the bottom, strips it off, revealing the t-shirt underneath. It's the one with the giraffe on the front who's wearing about 10 ties with the line "Trust me, I'm super professional" on it. She hands it over to Margot.
"Try it on, see if it fits. You look pretty much maybe my size."
So, literally the shirt off her back, she will hand over.
"It's cut-resistant. Not easily stabbed or bitten through. Got it for zombies."
Margot
Grace unzipped her coat and shrugged it off and Margot just stared at her in disbelief at first. The coat had to be held out to her for a couple seconds, maybe even shaken to indicate that Yo, girl, you're supposed to grab this before she finally reached out and accepted the jacket.
"Jesus, Grace, thank you." Really, the coat off her back. Margot analyzed the jacket, feeling the material between her fingertips. Then she set it over the back of one of the empty chairs cluttered around their table and stood up. Unzipped her own brown jacket, not nearly as sturdy but it was a worn old leather and just a little bit big on her petite frame. The lining was clean and warm looking, though. This was also put over the back of the chair so she could try the coat on.
"You can replace it for yourself, though, right?" Concerned, of course, but Margot was also checking the length of the sleeves, how the jacket sat about her waist and chest and hip when it was zipped. She pulled the hood of her sweater back up over her head after tugging it free from the coat's collar, then gestured to the brown coat on the chair. "It's not nearly as awesome, but it's warm... Not a fair trade, but it's yours."
Grace
"Oh, no. Keep it. I can get another jacket. That's just for expediency's sake," Grace says, waving it off. "I could go for your coffee though."
Also, for expediency's sake.
"About your brother? If he enters Colorado, you'll get a birthday email from me, okay? Consider it the warning. I'm not going to be around for a while -- going up to Colorado Springs to do a thing. You be careful. If you need help, ask for it. Reinforcements are a part of warfare, after all, right? Being smart, tactical, all that."
Margot
The expression on the girl's face showed a measure of discomfort with accepting what she deemed to be such a valuable gift without providing something in return, but she didn't argue. The coffee that was being requested out of her hand wasn't monetarily worth much but Grace looked as tired as she herself felt stressed, so the still hot drink was handed off without hesitation.
"I'll keep my eyes on my email then. And yeah, I have my back-up in place." She didn't point out the fact that her back-up wasn't her dangerously mad scientist of a mentor, but rather her fellow Apprentice of a cabalmate. She just smiled gratefully and gathered up the brown jacket in her arms, still wearing the one that Grace had bestowed upon her.
"Seriously, thank you again. My favors aren't as big as yours yet, but they'll get there, and when they do or even before I'll owe you one, alright?" She looked like she was getting ready to go-- no doubt Margot had a number of things that she was trying to get figured out and in order before her brother descended upon her. Who knew how soon or how far away his arrival would be?
But before she went, she felt it prudent to add:
"Oh, and whatever you're doing in Colorado Springs? I hope it all goes well for you."
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