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While not much of a crafter herself, Klaire enjoyed existing on the edges of public spaces. She was dressed in jeans and a thicker jacket, and had her laptop open in her lap. Not quite working on anything at the moment but scanning through emails and letting whatever messages came up take her attention.
She was sitting in the corner, the occasional wave to whoever walked by. She figured this would at least get her face out in the open for others to recognize.
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
Jane had made her way to the assembly hall and came in to take a look around. Black leather jacket and matching pants with a white turtleneck and her hair pulled back into a ponytail, she could pull off the look of a tech CEO if she needed. The way she moved conveyed a certain degree of purpose, but a keen eye could see she was scanning the place in a methodical pattern, finding where things were and noting them. She passed Klaire and returned her wave as she moved through, giving a friendly smile to go with it.
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
Klaire smiles back and debates for a second before half closing her laptop.
"You look as lost as I feel. Looking for anything in particular?"
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
Soteria stopped shook her head when she looked back to Klaire's query. "Just familiarizing myself with the place, where everything is, getting a feel for things. But you say, you feel lost..?" She raised an eyebrow at the end of the question.
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
Klaire sets her laptop on the table next to her.
"This is my first time here. Ethos told me it was a good place to go." She extends a hand. "Nice to meet you, I'm...Psyche." There was a half second pause as she reminded herself to use her new name here.
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
"Aha, same." She takes Psyche's hand and shakes it; a firm handshake. "Soteria. Pleasure's mine." She was a natural at using a new name, like breathing. "So, I take it you're pretty new to all this?"
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
Klaire wasn't nearly as strong as Jane, but had a good handshake. Practiced.
"I am, I haven't been around for too long. At least...with the Mages. I spent a lot of time on my own before. How about you?"
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
"I'm kinda new in town, and been weird for quite a while. But different kind of weird, different place." Jane nodded, "New with the magic folks, too. Common cause brings together all sorts."
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
"Oh, well then welcome to the city. Where were you before if you don't mind me asking?" Psyche motions to the next over seat if Soteria wanted it. "But I guess that's fair. I am still learning the terminology for everything."
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
Soteria slid right into the seat and leaned back, "Ehhh, honestly, I was all over the place. I was in the military and my assignments took me around the world. I was in Detroit a little while before coming here, but it's not home or anything." She crosses her arms, "And the terminology's a real pain, for sure. I think I'd do better straight up learning another language sometimes.."
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
There was a slow nod as Klaire shifted the seat slightly to better face Soteria.
"Traveling seems nice at least. Besides the occasional vacation I've mostly lived in the city. Never saw a reason to move. As for terminology, I learned a lot from an outside perspective. A lot of my troubles have been using the terms within the community rather than from outside."
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
"Ahhh, my outside perspective until I left the military was the military jargon, 'CO wants us following SOP when we get the ETA for the MRAP' and all that." She smirks after rambling off an incoherent acronym sandwich of a sentence. "'Cadre' has a slightly different meaning for me now, but Consiliums and Assemblies and Orders and stuff, all new."
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
Psyche's face goes blank at the alphabet soup and eventually just nods, not quite understanding. "I don't quite know what you mean but I understand the purpose behind it. For myself I knew of the Fae and some of the folklore behind Changelings, but it wasn't until my partner escaped that I knew that they call themselves the Lost."
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
"Changeling, eh? I've only heard the name around, don't really know what it means. The group of people I belong to call themselves 'Lost Boys', but I'm pretty sure there's no relation there." Jane chuckled for a moment, "I just prefer to cut to the chase and say I'm a cyborg. Most people just 'get' that."
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
"I'm still learning the specifics myself, but I want to be there for her." She pauses at a moment at cyborg. "That definitely paints a clearer image in my head, yes. I am a telepath which tends to put others on edge. The Mages have been more...curious that anything else luckily."
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
"Telepath, for real?" She nodded, looking rather impressed. "That's something else. I'd almost be curious about what you'd receive while I'm using my computer." Soteria tapped her head, "Because I'm not thinking, 'do this, do that', it's wordless. I just want to do something and I'm doing it."
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
"It doesn't exactly work like that. I might catch whatever task you're currently on but its largely as if...you were speaking whatever is going on in your mind at the moment. That may even be nothing. Not to mention, most computers tend to be overwhelming sources of information, I wouldn't want to try."
Klaire shrugs. "I can show you if you want but I understand if...well if it feels invasive."
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
"It's alright, we just met and all." She said this with a bit of a joking tone. "The computer up here is probably a particularly overwhelming one, anyway. But I believe you, no problem. Trust me, I can believe a lot of stuff ever since I walked into Maddy's." She winced and shifted in her seat for a moment, "Ugh.. sorry.. medication's giving me a bit of a leg cramp."
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
Klaire gives a noncommital shrug. "I understand. I'm trying to be more conscious about it is all. Maddy's seems to be where a lot of the people here hang out. I will admit I try to cook on my own more than go out but...its a nice space."
She gives an apologetic glance. "I'm sorry, anything I can do to help?"
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
"No, eh, it's.. my implants require me to take a medication that prevents rejection, but the medication has some harsh side effects. I'm lucky mine usually only cause relatively minor ones." Jane rubs at her right thigh and calf muscles. She keeps talking, but with an obvious degree of effort applied through partially gritted teeth. "Maddy's is a great little place to go, meet people, stay in the loop.. love the Trick or Treat pancakes, myself."
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
"I've only been once with Ylva, my partner. She is much better at large groups than I am."
Klaire scoots out of her seat and sits on the floor by Jane, a curious look.
"What sort of side effects? Would you mind talking me through it a bit?"
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
"It's basically a kind of poison that could really wreck someone who doesn't have the implants. Does some real gnarly damage if you can't tolerate it well.." She keeps massaging her right leg, and isn't too focused on Klaire at the moment, aside from answering her questions.
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
Klaire nods. "I was going to offer to help with the pain, but if its that dangerous I'm not sure I can do anything without harming myself. Especially if the pain will just come back."
She offers a supportive glance. "If sitting is causing the problem, I have no problem packing up my things and walking with you."
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
"It doesn't affect me that badly, I'm pretty tough. But it's okay." She gave a reassuring smile to Klaire, "Let's walk around the place, get the blood moving, yeah?" Jane stood up and stretched out her right leg.
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
While she was stretching, Klaire put away her laptop and charger in a bag, and rejoined the cyborg.
"So Soteria, wonderful choice of name by the way, you said you were new to the city. What exactly got you to come here?"
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
She started walking along, "Thanks, well.. I left the military and a lot of people who helped me after I got out, they pointed me this way. Said I should be able to help out here." Her walking is not that slow even with a leg cramp limp. "That's all I've wanted to be able to do, you know? I joined to become a medic, and to use that to help me get a degree so I could do more medical studies, help more people. But I got lost along the way.."
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
Klaire's walk however was slow. She didn't particuarly seem to be in a rush to get anywhere.
"Helping others is a noble cause. Im glad you are on such a path. I do something similar from a different angle. I'm a private investigator, I specialize in missing cases. I'll admit my skillset gives me a... decent advantage over many of my peers."
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
"You look for missing people? Interesting. I'll admit I don't know much about how you'd go about doing that without your skills.." Soteria slowed her walk so she didn't get too ahead, "I'd like to think I'm clever, and I've got good senses, but I'm not the kind of person who can put the pieces together after the fact, you know?"
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
"Without telepathy it takes a fair bit more research. I'll admit being able to focus on a person and find out where they are helps a fair bit. It has its limitations but...it takes out much of the guesswork." She tried to keep up.
"Being attentive in the moment and putting details together are different but similarly useful skills. We can't be good at everything, right?"
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
"Yeah, if I was good at everything, it'd probably go to my head." She smirked, "And then I'd get bored, probably."
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
"That seems fair. I'm sure you could find more things to learn as things progress. If I were to know everything.... honestly I would take a nap. I think that would be the best option."
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
"'Knowledge is a sea without a shore.' Don't remember where I heard it, but yeah." She seemed to have shed the leg cramp and is back to nominal. "And if you're not doing magic stuff, it seems there's a whole other genre of knowledge to pursue if you ever get to being able to do it."
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
"I've never heard that, but it's a good quote." She notices how much more easily the other woman is walking.
"Im not a Mage so...I have not learned their form of magic. My ability is entirely innate. I keep hearing the term Sleepwalker be passed around."
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
"Same. Well, the implants aren't innate, but y'know what I mean, yeah?" She chuckled.
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
"It feels like a broad net they cast. Anyone just a little outside the boundries of normal." She smiles.
"How did you come to have the implants? I have a sneaking suspicion you didn't wake up one morning and out of the blue you were a cyborg."
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
Soteria stopped and looked to Psyche, "I finished my combat medic training and got told I'd been selected for a special operations leadership course. I was thinking that sounded like the sort of thing that helps college applications, and signed up. They started putting the tech in me slowly, adding upgrades throughout the year, and seeing how I responded." She sighed, "They lied to me about the kinds of operations they were sending me on, though, and so.. that's when I left. When I found out."
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
Psyche pauses as well. "I'm sorry. No one deserves that sort of treatment. I'm glad you left, it sounds like it was the best option for you."
She takes a slow breath. "Sorry if I brought up bad memories."
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
"It's alright, my friend helped me through it. I'm fine and all.." She nods. And indeed, she seems to have made some peace with it. "I just have to keep working on ways to do some good, give back a bit, and do what I can for the people who can't."
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
"I'm glad you had someone to help you. Everything is harder to figure out on your own." She keeps fairly neutral.
"Giving back is a good thing to work towards. There are always people who need a helping hand."
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
"No kidding, people really do like getting themselves into a real mess, huh?" The smile returned to Jane's face. "A medic never worries about job security. I imagine it's about the same for someone who finds missing people."
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
"Sometimes its not always their choice. That's what got me into this line of work...sometimes it is less than normal situations. But no, I'm my own employer so it is a bit difficult to be fired after all." A sly smile hits her face. "But no, there always seems to be cases about missing people which is...not the best prospect but does mean I almost always have work. The relief when families are reunited is...refreshing in a wonderful way."
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
"Yeah.. I get a little of that in paramedic work, relieved families get to see the father or kid or mom they thought they'd lose. Different, but not too dissimilar. The time they're gone and the time they're in the back of an ambulance probably feels about the same to the families involved."
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
"The feeling of losing someone is...terrifying." She looks like she is speaking from experience.
"I'm glad to be able to put that little bit of hope back into the world."
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
"Feel the same way." She nodded once more, "In any case, I probably should get going. I might come back around, I do like to make stuff from time to time, and have been thinking of making some new tech thing to help my fellow medics." She looks around, "And this seems like a place that encourages that kind of thing."
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
Klaire smiles and readjusts her bag. "I should probably head home as well. I left my pupper back home and its been...about an hour and a half. I hope to see you around Soteria, you are an interesting person."
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
"You, too, Psyche! I think we should do some fun stuff some time!" She gave a wave as she started heading out, "Maybe bring your partner along, too, yeah?"
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
"I can see, she's busy with her own things, oh before you go." She hands over a business card to Henriette Investigation. "The number on there is my cell, in case you need to contact me."
Jane Murphy - connie (she/her):
She looks over the card, scanning over it with her eyes, "I've saved your info.." She hands back the card, "I have a thing about not carrying paper that ties me to other people, for safety."
Lav (She/Faer) -Klaire:
Klaire blinks a few times. "I suppose that's fair. Take care, and be safe."
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