[Jarod Nightingale] There were moments in winter when it felt as if one was walking through a kind of dreamscape. What had once been familiar and lively about the outdoor world had become shrouded in drifts of glittering white. The air today was crisp and gray, the breeze hanging still. It was cold enough to feel the chill, but not so great that it sucked the breath from your lungs. If the seasons could be ascribed elements (which the Verbena believed) then winter would belong to water - water that froze in countless tiny, beautiful crystals; water that collected along the surface of the earth and hung there, suspended. The entire world was made of it.
It was two days before Christmas, and the city was alive and bustling with shoppers, but here in Grant Park, the crowds were comparatively smaller. Most people didn't bother to come here in the winter, when Buckingham fountain was in disuse and the plants had all gone to ground or fallen asleep beneath the snow. There were, of course, families with small children. On the weekends there were regular gatherings of them, caught up in snowball fights and snowman building and all manner of other traditional winter merriment. Today only a handful of people had scattered themselves across the park's dreamy landscape. There was a group of three who'd made a space for themselves near where the rose bushes used to be. One of those people was Jarod. The other was a little girl with long, dark curls and a pristine white peacoat trimmed in what was either real fur or very realistic faux. The third was a woman with shoulder-length auburn-brown hair and a fluffy white parka.
And they were doing what everyone else did - playing in the snow. Not just the girls, but all three of them.
And in fact, it wasn't an entirely fair fight. Two against one, in fact. Dana and Ilana had teamed up to try and wrestle Jarod down into the snow. The girl had leaped onto her father's back and clung there with a vice-like grip around his neck as she tried to unbalance him. Dana, on the other hand, had wrapped her arms around his torso and was throwing all her weight against him, but he was putting up a good fight and managed to stay on his feet. That is, until Dana hooked her leg around his knee and pulled him off-kilter, and suddenly this pile of human bodies crumpled back into the snow with an echoing chorus of laughter.
[Ashley] For the kind of mood she'd been in over the past few days, Ashley has a lot of reasons to be happy right now. Well, one main reason. She's not bearing any wounds from the fight on the Solstice, somehow. Through sheer dumb luck and her own nimble frame and her ability to break reality.
It's a good note to end the year on, a victory. Ashley has a dragon scale (she'd wanted its skull - too large) and she can claim to something that few other living magi in this world can.
Ashley is walking through the park and, at the moment, seems to be there just to enjoy the snow, the way it's settled over the world like ash after an explosion. Water is not her element, and she generally feels one way or the other about it: there's either the kind of peace of balance, or feeling smothered and stifled and dampened. Today it's the former. Her breath is clouding the air in front of her and a couple of snowflakes are dusting her dark hair and eyelashes, the shoulders of her black wool coat. She's a dark smear on the landscape, like something inked in over a new sheet of paper.
The laughter sounds in her (good) ear, and she turns her head toward it once. And then pauses when she sees Jarod and Ilana and a woman she doesn't know - another of his acquaintances with benefits, in all likelihood. Ashley smirks and halts at the edge of the sidewalk, her hands tucked away in her pockets, and contemplates a snowball.
[Jarod Nightingale] [Awareness]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 6, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Jarod Nightingale] It's not really surprising that Ashley would make the assumption that the mystery woman with Jarod and Ilana was someone that he was sleeping with. Jarod, after all, seemed to amass sex-partners in the way that most people collected casual friends. (And in fact, it was a fair bet that this essentially was his way of getting to know people.) He himself would have (and had) acknowledged as much. After all, what was it he'd said to Nick, regarding Ashley? (How do I know everyone?)
Dana was a fairly average woman of about 30. Next to Jarod and his daughter, she looked downright plain, but there was a grounded and relaxed sort of warmth to her, and a kind of easy-going charisma that made her seem charming and likable in a completely unselfconscious way. And it had already been fairly well established that Jarod tended to gravitate toward people who interested and engaged him moreso than just those who were physically perfect. Beauty, for him, was not some unattainable prize, but rather a ubiquitous part of his day-to-day life. More rare, and more interesting, was someone who he actually enjoyed spending time with.
But Dana was not an acquaintance-with-benefits. She was, however, someone that Jarod was evidently comfortable having around his daughter, which was unique enough to warrant merit. At the present moment, as Ashley watched, she and Ilana were attempting to bury their taller, masculine, more darkly clothed (his coat was black) companion in the snow. In retaliation, Jarod lunged out and grabbed Ilana around the waist, rolling so that he could hold her down at his side as a kind of hostage. She shrieked and tried to squirm away, but he wouldn't relent until Dana stuffed a great big handful of snow down the front of his coat - and shirt.
That definitely got a reaction. "Jesus fuck that's cold!"
And then Ilana was on her feet and prancing away to freedom, with Dana close on her heels in an attempt to avoid what was surely going to be dire revenge on the part of her companion. Jarod jumped to his feet, but he paused as he felt the familiar touch of Ashley's resonance, and scanned the park until he caught sight of her petite figure. There was a light smirk, but he didn't call out to her. He'd wait until she got a bit closer.
And in the meantime, he unzipped his coat (this wasn't the one that Ashley usually saw him in - it was better suited to playing in the snow, though still fairly expensive-looking) and pulled up the edge of the dark gray henley he had on underneath, to brush away the snow that was slowly melting against his chest.
[Ashley] [Awareness]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 3, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Ashley] Had it just been Jarod and Ilana, Ashley would have easily approached and probably joined in without a thought. As it is, the third party makes her hesitate a little; the woman is Asleep, for one thing, and Ashley doesn't always deal that well when mixing Awakened friends and Sleepers. She has to think much more about what's being said, has to watch her words always. And there's also the fact that if she is someone Jarod is sleeping with and also knows well, there is the potential for things to be awkward.
Particularly on the note her last talk with Jarod was left on. But it isn't long before Ashley realizes that she needs to either walk over or leave, and she doesn't like to feel intimidated.
So, momentarily, she starts to walk through the snow toward him. Her hand dips down into it as she walks, coming up with a handful, which she idly crunches into a snowball between the thin black gloves she's wearing on her hands. (Gloves aren't something she generally wears at all - she got tired of chapped skin, probably.)
Ashley tosses it up and down in one hand, lightly, while Jarod brushes the melting snow off of his chest. "Taken down by a preteen. The shame." Of course, there was also Dana, and she might have teased him about it being a preteen and a Sleeper, but not with the possibility of Dana or Ilana being in earshot.
[Jarod Nightingale] The last time he'd spoken with Ashley, things had been... tense. Awkward. He'd still been angry. Today, there was less of that. Time and a seemingly honest apology had done some work to ease the immediacy of his emotions. She was slow to approach, and it gave him time to contemplate whether or not he felt willing to humor her presence. Ultimately, though, the Adept had caught him in a rare moment of good-humor. Perhaps it surprised him as much as it might surprise her when he did not react to her presence with chilly indifference. Instead, the corners of his mouth turned up almost imperceptibly, and he let his eyes drift away toward the sight of the two female figures who were now pretending to hide behind a couple of thin trees.
"That's no ordinary preteen. She's devious, and travels with henchmen."
He smoothed his (now damp) shirt back down and zipped his coat up, and when he glanced back at Ashley he eyed the ball of snow in her hand dubiously. He was already well-decorated with winter at this point, with clothes and hair alike dusted with fine, powdery crystals. Absently, he ran a gloved hand through his hair and brushed some of it away
"Throw that at me and I'll sick them on you."
[Ashley] [Dex + Ath! -2 for close range.]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4 (Botch x 1 at target 6)
[Ashley] [I meant to do that!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Ashley] It does indeed surprise her when he doesn't simply ignore her presence, and even more when there's no chill in his voice or in his manner. She's caught him in a good moment, it would seem; Ashley rather doubts that he's forgiven her entirely (if only because if their positions had been reversed, she would still be angry with him.) None of her surprise transitions to her face, though, and she smirks, following his gaze toward the young woman and his daughter.
"Who's the henchman?" she asks, eying Dana for a moment.
And then there comes his threat, which, given that it's Ashley that he's talking to, might as well have been a dare. Her spirits are high at the moment too, given her recent victory, and she assumes (with typical overconfidence) that she could take all three of them, if she wanted. Ashley glances once toward them and then back at Jarod, her expression a touch calculating. "I bet they'll still go after you instead," she says.
And then prepares to throw the snowball at him, because this close she has a good chance of hitting even with the thorough damage to her left eye. But it crumbles apart in her hand. She looks at it once. And then quickly leans down to grab up another handful of snow with such alacrity one could assume that maybe she meant to give him a head start.
[Jarod Nightingale] [Ohhh no you don't. Hold! Str+Brawl (you're just lucky I'm not magically enhanced today)]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 5, 5, 5, 8 (Success x 1 at target 7)
[Jarod Nightingale] Who's the henchman? Ashley asked, and Jarod glanced over at Dana, who was now peering at them curiously from behind her tree. A moment later she stepped out and began walking through the snow toward them. Ilana hesitated a moment (perhaps wary of a trap - her father was as devious as she was) before following.
"That would be Dana," Jarod replied. "She's a friend."
He'd warned the Hermetic not to attack, but of course... Ashley wasn't about to give up that easily. She pulled back her arm, as if to pelt him with the snowball, but it crumbled anticlimactically in her hand before she could even throw it. Jarod watched this display with quiet amusement, giving a gentle huff of laughter when she immediately bent down to gather up a replacement. He didn't give her long to work on it, though. A moment later he'd lunged forward and wrapped his arms around her torso, pinning her own to her side and rendering her immobile.
"I guess we'll just have to take that chance, now, won't we?"
His arms locked around her, squeezing tightly, and he spoke with a playfully husky whisper in her ear.
[Ashley] [Noooooooo! Strength]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 5, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Jarod Nightingale] [Noooo you don't! Str+Brawl]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 7, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Ashley] She'd expected a snowball, or maybe to be shoved over, if he was going to retaliate. So as it is, he grabs hold of her rather easily, even if he has to lean (way) over to do so, once she starts to straighten up with the snow in her hands. Of course, with her arms immobile, the snow falls between her fingers.
Some people might have been worried about holding Ashley immobile like this. Even if it's playful, Tytalan training dies hard, and she spent the better part of a year being attacked at random and by people she thought she could trust as part of her initiation to the House. It's a fair bet that in the majority of cases she wouldn't allow it.
After that whisper in her ear, though, she laughs. It doesn't keep her from attempting to struggle, from trying to duck out of his arms while simultaneously thrashing to the side. She's stronger than she looks as though she would be, in the way that tenacity and spirit can sometimes fuel a person rather than raw physical ability, but that still isn't saying much, really. And it doesn't really help her any; Jarod has a better grasp of how a physical fight works and a size advantage besides, and he manages to hold on in spite of her fighting him.
"Cheater," she says, with a huff of wry amusement.
[Jarod Nightingale] As expected, Ashley didn't take kindly to having her movement so restricted, and she struggled valiantly in an attempt to get away, but in the end, yes... Jarod had size and experience on his side. One might not have expected the latter. Ashley herself had never seen Jarod have to defend himself in a fight. Perhaps she imagined that he was too refined for that sort of thing (though perhaps not, given the ever-present danger that all members of Awakened society tended to find themselves in, and the feral instincts and impulses that he often displayed when angered.) The truth was, he'd learned how to fight long before he'd ever even heard of the technocratic order. It was a necessary survival skill when one lived in Texas and happened to be young, male, pretty, bisexual and more than a little antagonistic toward other people.
Ashley struggled, but Jarod kept his grip, and he lifted her bodily from the ground so that he could straighten up to his full height, leaving her feet hanging in mid-air.
"Always," he replied with a purr. Then he called out to the approaching duo, holding Ashley up for them as if she was meant as some kind of sacrifice. "Dana, this is Ashley. Apparently Ashley wants us to bury her in the snow. Do I have any volunteers?"
Dana arched an eyebrow in amusement as she came to a halt a few feet in front of them. Glancing back at Ilana, she said, "I don't know... what do you think?" Ilana looked at Jarod. Then she looked at Ashley. Then she smiled broadly.
[Ashley] [D: Not my dignity!]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 7, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Jarod Nightingale] [Think of it as cosmic punishment]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 5, 6, 6, 7 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Ashley] Ashley has never imagined Jarod as a harmless prettyboy. Even before she started to get to know him better, she never thought of him as useless or as someone who probably couldn't hold his own if pressed: he is a Life mage, and a disciple, and that same air about him that is reminiscent of a feline has always made her assume that somewhere, he had claws. That he has some knowledge of how to navigate a fight, even a pretend one, is unsurprising to her.
Her struggles intensify when he lifts her off the ground, and somewhere amid slightly breathless laughter there's a "No!" of protest. It's a little like trying to fight a dog into a carrier when it doesn't want to go: she squirms from side to side and kicks for purchase, but his grip is still too sure and tight, and it's hapless and helpless in the end.
Ashley stops just long enough to look at Dana when introduced - after a fashion - and grins in a manner that simultaneously manages to be both sharp and playful, little more than a quick flash of teeth. "Hi, Dana. Good to meet you."
Of course, then there's that grin from Ilana, and the thrashing begins anew.
[Jarod Nightingale] It was a scene right out of a movie. Ashley struggled with futile rage, then went limp in an attempt to compose herself long enough to be introduced to Dana. Then... the thrashing resumed.
But it was too late for her to escape. All things considered, she'd probably been expecting something like this when she'd initiated the conflict to begin with (and if not, she should have been.) Recent wounds were still fresh in Jarod's memory - enough so that it was more than a little surprising that he was relaxed enough to play with her to begin with. But mock power-struggles were preferable to actual ones. No one got hurt, for one thing (assuming a lack of accidents.) The worst injury Ashley was likely to receive from this was to her pride. (And she had more than enough of that to spare.)
Turning, Jarod closed the distance between them and the nearest snow-drift. When they got there, he smiled wickedly and twisted back, releasing Ashley as he tossed her into the waiting embrace of the cold, powdery snow. The moment she landed, Ilana pounced, and the eleven-year-old began, with Dana's slightly-less-vigorous assistance, to shower snow down upon her in heaping armfuls.
[Ashley] Israel was put off, a few days ago, when Ashley's manner of releasing tension after a fight was to look at the corpse of the mythical beast they'd just felled and start laughing. It's not that uncommon a reaction, really; people have been known to laugh hysterically when injured or after awakening from unconsciousness (particularly if they've sustained head injuries at some point in their lives.) Ashley's hadn't verged on desperation, but it had certainly been, one would assume, a little unsettling.
This sound is more relaxed and much happier, but probably prompted by the same thing, adrenaline and maybe the fact that Ashley actually enjoys fighting, even mock-fights.
She goes sailing into the snow drift, and it's dense enough now that it's had time to settle that she doesn't sink in as deeply as she might otherwise have. Still, it's enough, and her body sends up a small cloud of the recently fallen stuff as she does. She's quick enough to try to get back on her feet and get out the moment she falls, but she can't quite find a foothold in the drift and just ends up kicking some snow out of the way, the struggling sinking her a little deeper into the snow.
She can't fight Ilana as vigorously - not unless she wants to hurt her, and she doesn't, and Ashley has enough Will to restrain herself with a child. Fortunately. She laughs and twists her head to keep a path for air amid all the snow coming down, and continues to try to struggle out. That is, until she starts to push armfuls of snow back at the two tossing it down at her.
It's likely that it'll keep up until she gets away or is exhausted. In all likelihood, the former.
[Jarod Nightingale] This fight was many things. Messy, cold, vigorous... cathartic. But it was not a life-and-death battle with a bygone creature. Considering what Ashley had been through just recently (and hell, what she'd been through all year) perhaps a little bit of play was in order. It was afternoons like these, when they were able to channel their energy and frustrations into something playful and fun, that made the hardships more bearable.
Dana and Ilana, of course, had no idea what Ashley had been through. Dana knew that Jarod had fought with her last week, but she didn't know many details. She didn't know what Ashley was, or precisely what the specifics of their relationship might be. So she joined in on the fun for a little while, but politeness dictated that one not be too overzealous in pelting a complete stranger with snow, so she ultimately stepped back and let Ilana do the brunt of the work while she and Jarod looked on in amusement. Against someone even smaller than she was, Ashley had the advantage, but she restrained herself, and within moments both of them were covered in snow and partially sunken into the embankment. Finally, Ilana called a cease-fire, holding up a hand to indicate that she needed to rest as she attempted to rub some ice crystals out of her right eye.
"Everything okay?" Jarod stepped forward to help her up, his voice gentle.
"Yeah," Ilana answered dismissively, blinking. "I just got snow in my eye."
The Verbena brushed the worst of the accumulated snow from his daughter's clothes, until she swatted him irritably and said "stop fussing over me," at which point he chuckled and straightened up again, leaving her to take care of the rest herself. While this was going on, Dana offered a hand to Ashley to help her out of the snow.
"I hope we didn't come on too strong."
[Ashley] Ilana holds up her hand and Ashley stops immediately, dropping back on her elbows for a few seconds and casting a glance about the shredded drift. She's panting, but not too heavily, flushed from exertion and from the cold. She watches Ilana rub her eye, about to ask whether she's all right until Jarod does, and then she just quiets, thinking that the girl doesn't need multiple people asking her if she's not crying.
There's a faint smirk playing about the corner of her mouth at the interaction between Jarod and Ilana, though she's still a little too winded to comment. Ashley reaches up to ruffle her hair, shaking some of the snow out of it. It's a tousled mess now, likely to remain that way until she goes home and either showers or takes a comb to it.
Ashley accepts Dana's hand gratefully - the snowbank would be a little difficult to navigate her way out of, particularly now that she's sunk into it - and piles of snow fall off of her to the ground. She's peppered in it, and it's clinging to the legs of her jeans and her coat.
Dana gets another smirk and a dismissive shake of her head. "No. I would've said something if you had," she says, now trying to rake her fingers through her hair to comb it back down. "I kind of asked for it."
[Jarod Nightingale] Ashley said that she'd probably been asking for it, and Dana grinned, but she was polite enough not to weigh in with her own opinion (if indeed she had one.) Jarod, however, brushed a clump of snow off of Ashley's shoulder and said, "Yes, you did." But there wasn't any bite to it, and he smiled a little as he helped Ashley fix her hair, taking off his glove so that he could run his fingers through it. When he was done, he leaned in and whispered (quietly, so that the others wouldn't hear) with his lips just barely brushing the ridges of her good ear.
"Don't ever say anything like that to me again."
He was referring to their fight the previous week, but his voice now wasn't cold or threatening. Nor was it wounded. It was... calm, but touched with warning. He was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, but would not do so a second time. It was the closest he was likely to get to telling her that she'd hurt him.
Then he pressed his lips (they were cold, but so was she) to the curve of her cheekbone and lingered there for a moment, eyes closed as he kissed her. In the background, Ilana regarded them briefly, then turned around to watch a couple of cardinals who were bickering in a nearby tree.
When he pulled away, he slid his fingers back into the soft leather glove and looked up at the sky, as if in contemplation. "It's getting close to dinner time. We should go get into some dry clothes."
At this, Ilana glanced over her shoulder and asked, "Can we make some of the cocoa from Vosges?"
Jarod looked at her with amusement. "Sadly I have to keep my girlish figure, but you two can have some if you like."
"Yay!" She grinned and hopped up and down once, then seemed to become self-conscious and re-composed herself.
When Ilana and Dana had started to move toward the sidewalk, Jarod turned back to Ashley. He looked at her for a long moment, then smiled. "Have a good holiday."
[Ashley] He warns her, and after he's stepped back Ashley catches his eyes. She doesn't say anything, doesn't make any promises (promises are so rarely a thing that she makes, doesn't want to be trapped into them), but she's perfectly aware that saying such a thing a second time wouldn't result in forgiveness. What's more: she has no intention of saying such a thing again. She hadn't meant to say it and it had been prompted by a loss of control in the first place.
But no promises. They're broken as often as they're kept.
He kisses her cheek; she lifts an arm and wraps it around his neck for as long as he lingers, eyes closed, and then lets her arm fall back to her side. There's another look between the Verbena and the girl at the exchange, as Ilana hops up and down. Jarod doesn't know her father, but if he did, it's mannerisms like these that tie them together, that silence when she's unfamiliar even though she didn't hesitate to act earlier.
Ashley returns her hands into the pockets of her coat. Her clothes aren't much drier, at this point, and there's a bit of a chill seeping through at her elbows and knees. She seems to be bearing the loss of the snow-battle with grace; she did, after all, just kill a dragon. She can handle a loss or two. She lifts a hand out, briefly, to wave to Ilana and Dana before they leave.
Then Jarod lingers. Ashley smiles, unreserved, because such things tend to come more easily when a person has been laughing for the past half hour. "You too," she says. No promises to call when she returns from Boston; there really isn't any need.
She waves to him and they part ways, Ashley headed toward the river, the bridge, and home. And on impulse, she swings back toward the Mile to give Kage a call to meet for a while before they prepare for a (too-long, didn't they just do this?) road trip, because she's in a good mood and in spite of the state of her clothing she'd like to stay out for a little longer. It really isn't a bad note to end the year on.
