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Post by Rowan on Mar 23, 2021 15:46:36 GMT -8
After escaping from his Hollow, Rowan wandered the streets aimlessly. The rest of the night was spent in the dark alleys and the shady corners of Whitney. Strangely, he felt more at ease there. When the sun's first rays reached over the roofs of the shoddy housing developments, the Darkling bought a new burner phone. He had few numbers memorized, but Dani's was one of them. Waiting a few more hours for a more socially acceptable time to call, he thumbed the number. Tanner kept an odd schedule and was always prone of late night studying. God, Tanner. Rowan debated calling the Page to check, but decided against it. His fear of sounding stupid or, even worse, scared kept him from reaching out.
The tone coming out of the brand-new device indicated that the call was indeed going through.
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Firebringer
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Elemental Ifrit, Presence 3 (Intimidating)
Posts: 634
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Post by Firebringer on Mar 24, 2021 15:52:04 GMT -8
Dani's phone goes off early in the morning and she groans, rolling over to pick it up. "Who the hell is calling this early?" She takes a moment to look at the caller ID, but doesn't recognize the number. She's in one of those moods where she honestly could just consider letting it go to voicemail. It was probably spam, but... fuck it.
She answers the phone, sitting up in her bed and running her free hand through her messier than usual hair, "Hello?"
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Post by Rowan on Mar 24, 2021 15:58:06 GMT -8
"It's Rowan. Is it too early?" He took away the phone from his ear to check the time. It wasn't that early. Unless...
"Oh. Your jobs. Crap. It's fine, don't worry, I'll figure this out."
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Firebringer
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Elemental Ifrit, Presence 3 (Intimidating)
Posts: 634
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Post by Firebringer on Mar 24, 2021 16:08:07 GMT -8
Fire rubs her eyes a little bit, "Rowan? No, no, no. What's up? You hardly ever call, so there must be a reason," her voice turns into a little bit of a yawn. "Seriously. Is everything okay?"
She takes a moment to also consider Rowan's voice. Is there anything behind the tone? He's usually so deadpan, so it can be hard to tell most of the time.
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Post by Rowan on Mar 24, 2021 16:17:35 GMT -8
He sounded tired and stressed. Rowan genuinely didn't want Dani to perceive him as a bother and he'd rather hang up than have to impose.
"You sure it's not a bad time?"
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Firebringer
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Elemental Ifrit, Presence 3 (Intimidating)
Posts: 634
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Post by Firebringer on Mar 24, 2021 16:21:27 GMT -8
"Absolutely not a bad time at all," She straightens up a bit, worried a little bit given Rowan's tone. He sounds so tired. Nightmares maybe?
"Do you wanna meet up somewhere? Get a coffee maybe? Or you could come over, if you want?" She hopes she's able to convey a want to hang out with him that'll keep him there. God forbid he hangs up when he needs something. Even if today is just a social call. He could just be lonely. That's stressful, right? No, that doesn't sound quite right. Well... maybe?
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Post by Rowan on Mar 24, 2021 16:23:56 GMT -8
"Don't laugh." Beat.
"I think my Hollow's haunted. Could you... could you come over?"
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Firebringer
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Elemental Ifrit, Presence 3 (Intimidating)
Posts: 634
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Post by Firebringer on Mar 24, 2021 16:27:41 GMT -8
Him just saying 'don't laugh' automatically made her want to laugh. Breathe. She takes a breath.
"Oof, that doesn't sound good. Yeah, I can come over. Just give me a minute to get dressed. You do sound really tired, do you want me to bring anything over? Food?" Ghost spotting equipment? No. Stop it. No laughing. She could really laugh, genuinely, but she wanted to be careful. Still... it was hard to resist that tickle in her stomach, trying to get her to fail and let out a giggle. Breathe. Think... uh... onions or something.
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Post by Rowan on Mar 24, 2021 16:31:28 GMT -8
"Red Bull if you can find it, or coffee's good. I'll wait at the same spot as for the-" He was going to say the camping trip, but that combination of words brought a flush of emotions that he shoved back as hard his could. Clearing his throat, he continued. "The Trip."
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Firebringer
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Elemental Ifrit, Presence 3 (Intimidating)
Posts: 634
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Post by Firebringer on Mar 24, 2021 16:45:18 GMT -8
Dani purses her lips for a moment at the mention of 'The Trip'. It makes her heart sink, a well of emotions threatening to tear itself out of her. But no, no, stop making things about you. "Yeah, sure. I'll bring over a couple. See you soon." She says before hanging up. She takes a deep breath afterwards and lets it out again. "Things are a lot better than they were then... just... breathe." It shouldn't still make her feel some kind of way, but it does. She's not just fire by element. After taking another moment to compose herself, she gets dressed in a pair of black jeans, her standard black boots, and a cute No Face eating some kind of cheesecake looking thing t-shirt. She combs her hair as best she can into a ponytail and then packs her bag with a couple of Red Bulls from her fridge and makes a to-go cup of the cold brew she has made in the fridge, a tiny bit watered down with milk, knowing Rowan can't deal with it that bitter. She hops into the Shitmobile and makes her way over to the meeting point Rowan had designated and she completely blocks out from her mind the experience of the last time she had met him there. When she gets there, she parks and looks around for the Snowskin.
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Post by Rowan on Mar 24, 2021 17:00:58 GMT -8
The Snowskin looked as tired as he sounded. Lilac bags under his eyes, crumbled clothes, the works. He was sitting next to the basement stairs that lead into his private space.
" Hey." Thanks for coming, he wanted to add, bu he didn't want to come across as needy. Or not in control of the situation. " Yours was one of the few numbers I had memorized." After standing up and dusting off, he led Dani into the Hollow proper. Opening the door revealed a forest of pine trees in neat rows. Between the rows stood a shoddy looking cabin, with a hand painted sign that read 'NOWHERE IS SAFE'. Some plans were covered in moss, or rotted, giving Dani the distinct impression of disrepair. The door creaked open and Rowan walked inside.
Whatever the Elemental might have been expecting, it wasn't this. Inside, the wood looked fresh and warmed, with a polished finish a lots of bright light flooding in. Rowan awkwardly gestured her in. " Welcome, I guess."
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Firebringer
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Elemental Ifrit, Presence 3 (Intimidating)
Posts: 634
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Post by Firebringer on Mar 24, 2021 17:18:25 GMT -8
Fire gives a look of concern. He sounded tired over the phone, but man, he looked a hot mess of tired. She walks along in with him, taking note of that scary ass sign at the front of his Hollow. 'Nowhere is safe?' The heck is that about? What did that remind her of? He's said those words before, hasn't he?
She walks inside and is kind of surprised by how warm it all is compared to the spooky outside. "Uh, well, thanks for having me," She says, an awkward chuckle. "Oh, uh, here, made you this. Watered down coldbrew with some milk to even out the bitterness. Should give you a boost." A smile as she hands him the see-through cup, lidded with a hard plastic straw.
"It's really pretty in here," She says as she moves to set her bag down, taking out the couple of Red Bulls too, while she was at it and she looks for a place to set them down where they won't mess up the pretty wood.
She turns back to look at him then, he probably didn't need to be reminded that he looked a hot mess. He knew, so she starts with, "So, haunted hollow? What happened?"
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Post by Rowan on Mar 24, 2021 17:35:40 GMT -8
He gestured to the table after receiving the cold brew. He sat down and waited for Dani to do the same. "I... I have no idea." The word felt like a condemnation of his ineptitude.
"I received a text from Tanner. He- he was looking into something for me. Then things to get weird. Lights went off, there were hands in the forest and-" His voice broke. He looked exhausted, carrying the weight of unspoken secrets and the knowledge to understand what they meant. He tried his best to hide it, but it was so much to keep in.
"I think I fucked up."
You could hear a pin drop.
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Firebringer
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Elemental Ifrit, Presence 3 (Intimidating)
Posts: 634
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Post by Firebringer on Mar 24, 2021 17:44:00 GMT -8
The Torrent sits down, starting to sip on the coffee she'd brought herself - one of those canned espresso drinks. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. She hadn't felt like carrying more than one to go cup.
She listens quietly, nodding, though her orange eyes held more concern. The way he speaks that last line almost makes her wince, her chest tightening with worry. "That's scary as all hell. Hands like the ones Golden Boy was dealing with? What makes you think you messed something up?" her voice is level, calm, though given what she's heard of this entire Golden Boy mess, she's more than a little worried. Something horrible is going on with all of that.
She reaches out a hand in case he needs a squeeze to level himself out, not trying to make him feel as though he needs to take it though.
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Post by Rowan on Mar 24, 2021 17:53:09 GMT -8
He brushed the comment aside. "No, not Golden. Just- everything. I don't know. It's like. Nothing ever goes right." He took a sip of the cold brew to maybe chase away some of the drowsiness in his mind. "Remember how I told you I couldn't stop? Well, I don't think I can keep going either." Another big gulp.
"I can't deal with the daily life because I have no idea how it works. So I deal with the weird instead, because that's easy, that's what I know how to do. But I'm stressed all the time - I have no idea who to trust. Everywhere I go, something happens. I- I-"
He tried to keep talking but his throat was tightening. The cup slipped over the table as Rowan's hands shook. "Shit. Crap." He stood up to get some cloth and wipe it off. Focusing on the task, he wasn't looking at the Elemental, because he didn't know if she would believe him. How would she react? What if she told him to man up, to keep going and stop being a baby?
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