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Kayla is seated in a booth and reading a few books, the pages before her seems rather old and handwritten, she has a cup of coffee next to her and an empty plate right there and shows no sign of wanting to leave. White cargo pants, white tanktop, her hair all up in tiny braids. Earbud in and she's listening to music on her phone, bobbing her head up and down.
Cue one of the other Children entering the diner! Almost like she hangs out there on a regular basis. Rīpeka glances around briefly, checking who's present, before spotting Kayla and approaching her booth. "Hey, sister. Mind if I join you?"
Kay smiles and waves Rīpeka into her seat with a bright smile and she sings the little bit of song that's going on in her earbud right now. "It's only gonna be about a matter of time, before you get loose and start to loose your mind" she even dance. "Cop you a drink, go 'head and rock your ice, 'Cause we celebrating no more drama in our lives." she holds the note just right. "With a great track pumpin', everybody's jumpin' goin' ahead and twist your back and your body bumpin'..."
Rīpeka grins at Kay, then. "Having fun, I take it? What've you been up to recently?" She pauses to skim over the menu for any additions briefly.
Kay smiles and leans onto the table a bit, gathering her things in a bit of a more organized fashion to make space now that she's sharing the space, she take her earbuds out and keep her smile. "I'm doing good! I'm preparing a trip into the Underworld actually. Is that something that would interest you? Also, did I mention to you I'm an initiate of Life now? I don't remember who I said that to yet."
"No, you didn't, but congratulations! What made you decide to pursue that?" Rīpeka seems genuinely happy for the other woman. "I probably won't join you in visiting the Underworld, though, it's not somewhere I've really learned enough relevant arcana to feel comfortable in."
"That's why I'm going. Fire is still going to burn things." A little chuckle and shrug, dropping it right away. "Well, one reason I did was because of Mary, but then I've been trying to make my ideas and inspiration coalesce into something useful." she closes the books and notes and set them aside. "I'm trying to find a way to ... form my own Legacy and I think me learning Life will lead me somewhere."
"Oh? What are you looking at focusing it on?" Rīpeka leans in slightly, clearly interested in the topic.
"Right now the answer is really boring, honestly." Kay laughs a little bit. "The idea is about the cycle of life and death and what gets lost in between the rotation." she makes a circular motion with her finger. "I want to find a way to not lose everything something was when it dies or something like that."
"It's an original idea, at least. So far as I know, anyway." Rīpeka considers Kay for a moment. "Sounds like something you'd need fairly deep understandings of both life and death to work out properly, too."
"Every Legacy have a few beginning steps there and I feel like I'm missing something, like, an Epiphany." Kay explains and shrugs once. "Maybe the Underworld will provide it or maybe one of the fruit eventually will."
Rīpeka nods at that. "Have you talked to Weaver about this yet? She might have stuff on Children who've pursued similar projects in the past, which'd give you something to build on."
"I might do that if I hit a full-on roadblock to be honest." A shrug of her shoulder and a smile. "And I think they might be the best choice for that too, plus, Life is nice to know. I can talk to animals and I can sharpen my senses."
"Being able to talk to animals is pretty great, yeah," Rīpeka grins. "I use that one a lot whenever Fox's around, honestly."
"I did too, it was probably one of the first spell we introduced Mei into the Children." She grins "I haven't explored much with it yet, but I'm excited about it. It just feels so vibrant to use."
"It really is," Rīpeka agrees. "I've been working on learning more of it so I can shapeshift whenever I want, and not have to rely on Fox or whoever being both around and willing to cast it for me."
"How advanced are you with it?" Kay asks, a little curious. "Because I want to be able to at least alter my body in some way. Shapeshifting sounds like a bit of an out of reach thing for me right this moment." she makes a mind-blown gesture with both of her hand.
"Only at disciple level right now, admittedly, but there's plenty of smaller changes you can make even at apprentice level." Rīpeka shrugs slightly. "What kind of changes were you wanting to be able to make?"
Kay goes silent for just a moment, surprised by the question, a little. "Maybe deal with how I feel some days about this whole 'having a body' thing." her voice is much quieter.
That clearly surprises Rīpeka. "Is it that you don't like the specific body you're in, or that you don't want to exist as flesh at all?"
"Specific body part I don't like, on some days only. And generally not existing in the flesh is a good solution to that." Kay explains though she seems focused on the table in front of her. "I've been taking walks in twilight to go where I want to go since I've awakened, because I can't get into cars." a shrug. "my least favorite part of that always's been changing back into the meatsuit."
"Fair enough," Rīpeka nods, hesitating a moment before she continues. "If you want, I could help you get rid of the specific body part, though if you'd rather wait until you have the understanding to do it for yourself that's totally legit."
"Today I'm fine, today I like what I got." Kay explains, her face twist for a moment, trying to keep up a smile. "But, thank you for offering, I appreciate that a lot." Kay gives a little heartshape with her hands. "I might ask at a later date, Or I might just go ghost!"
"No problem," Rīpeka says, smiling slightly. "The offer's always going to be open to any of the Children, by the way, so don't feel obliged to only ask for it once if you decide you want something else."
"What about you, what are you working on?" Kay asks, as her hand goes to the bag beside her and she brings out a bowl made out of wood and pours some water down in it, about halfway done. "Just trying something on myself."
"Learning more about Life." Rīpeka shrugs one shoulder. "I should talk to Mei at some point, see how much she remembers of her Awakening. Apparently it was Internal, and I've always been interested in learning more about how those work."
"What kind of awakening is it? I know she has a link with Aaron too." She nods once and trace her finger around the bowl, slowly and the water inside ripples from the motion against the bowl. Her magic flashes as her senses sharpen and she shivers as a result.
"...Internal, like I said." Rīpeka blinks at Kay. "Or so Fox said, and I've no reason to doubt their nose."
"Oh, I meant like, what does it do. Is that what the link with Aaron is?" She seems mildly confused for a moment. "Sorry I think my brain just had a moment." she scratch the back of her neck.
"Oh, no. Internal means something unrelated about her changed in the Awakening, not that her Awakening was linked with Aaron's," Rīpeka clarifies. "Though both of those happening in the same Awakening is unique, at least to my knowledge."
"Ahhh yes, okay. Good to know." Kay smiles and nod in understanding. "Do you think you'll have time for another language lesson soon?" she asks, curious.
"Probably? It's just a matter of making our schedules align, to be honest." Rīpeka returns the smile. "Have you been working on your pronunciation since the last one?"
Kay nods "Wha, Whitu." she says properly, it's not like she sounds like a native but this is better. "I try to do a little bit everyday."
"Good. Regular practice is important, so your knowledge doesn't atrophy." Rīpeka considers Kay for a moment. "What else have you been up to?"
"The Underworld prep and I spent like four days recovering from casting a spell last week." Kay explains. "So, that's about it in terms of being up to something at the moment."
"Oh. What'd you cast that needed so long to recover from?" Rīpeka seems genuinely worried for Kay.
"Created something for the protection of our Sanctum. But I needed it to be as good as It could because i planned on reliquishing the spell." Kay offers "So I had to burn more than my entire Potentia reserve to ease the imago in because I needed to reach a lot."
"Ah, that makes sense. Keeping your Sanctum safe is definitely important," Rīpeka agrees. "What're things like there? Is Alexis still living with you?"
"Yes, pretty sure she's intending to remain with us." Kay looks around for a bit and then down at her hand. "Speaking of, do we know if there's something odd about the new fruit that popped up? I don't have space or anything to check that."
"I don't know yet," Rīpeka admits. "I was waiting for the Emissariate meeting this weekend so we could discuss it collectively. Why? Do you have any thoughts on what could have caused it, so soon after the others?"
"A new awakening!" She says with a little smile. "Possibly something to do with Alexis' fruit or I don't know, maybe something else!"
"That could be it, yeah," Rīpeka admits after a moment. "The question then is, who's going to be Awakening, and what sort of person will they turn out to be?"
"I'm not sure, I think that's why someone who knows space should see if there's a sympathetic link." She shrug "Says the woman with No Space when Yaroslav probably was staring right at the fruit when it appeared." a little giggle.
"I don't have any space either, but hopefully Yaroslav thought to check that," Rīpeka agrees, chuckling quietly. "Hopefully they won't be inclined to join the Servants of the Lie."
"Not if we have anything to say about it." She leans forward and her gaze falls to the book and notes laid on the table before her and the laugh subside and her expression goes pensive.
"Is something the matter?"
"Just, in looking for help in the Underworld thing It hit me how ..." a sharp, quick breath. "...Alone I am with Death as my focus. Baldur is the only one with any skill in it in our order that I know of and they're a Disciple." a shrug "And that's the list as far as I know it. If I want to speak with someone just as skilled as I am? I'd have to speak with people in the Consilium, Cypher and Walsingham or Cambyses and I don't know, it's not exactly the same."
"Disciple is still a fair degree of focus to put in," Rīpeka points out gently. "I do take your point, though. Are you hoping for more of us to show an interest in learning it?"
"I know, it is. but I don't know if they'd actively seek learning more out of it." Kay explains and shrug her shoulders once. "I wish there were more people focused on it yes or that it would have more of a place among our people. Maybe I really need to speak with Weaver."
Rīpeka considers Kay for a moment. "For what it's worth, I do want to learn more about it, but it's not a current priority for me like Life is, I'm sorry."
T
"I'm not asking for people to realign their priorities or even hoping to." She reaches toward Rīpeka to squeeze and arm and smiles gently. "I'm not offended that you're learning Life and I wouldn't be angry if you went for Space next and then Mind after." a beat. "I'm not upset, I just realized that it might have been a source of some stress I've been feeling lately."
"I mean, I do also want to learn Mind," Rīpeka admits, accepting the arm squeeze with a smile. "Not so much Space, though," she adds with a chuckle. "Figuring out the things that are stressing you is good, though. It's the first step in resolving them, after all."
"Yes, today's been..." a soft smile and an emotional little gleam in her eyes. "Pretty enlightening. I hadn't said those things out loud or at all." a beat. "I feel a lot lighter, thank you."
"No problem," Rīpeka says, smiling softly at Kay. "It's always a pleasure to help a fellow Scion, honestly."
"I'm going to go home and have a bit of a nap and see how I wake up after. Thank you." she slides out of the booth and gives Ripeka a hug.
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