Orphan figured he was one of the few who was going to be up and around early after the big party, but he'd gotten up very early, thankful that he'd had only a couple beers and had avoided the pot and whatever other drugs were going on there. He'd been on the road a lot over the past year and rarely had access to good training facilities - and none as good as what the Circle of Creation had to offer - so he planned to take advantage of what he had available now.

Before his workout, Orphan had left Falx a voicemail with the address to the sanctum, inviting him and Tug to drop by once Tug was up and around after last night's drinking. He also left one for Valkyrie, asking her to drop by so they could start making plans to tackle the situation at the park. He was curious as to who got up and around first, Val, Teegan or Tug.

After an extensive workout and training regimen - gymnastics, karate katas, tai chi, sword and general weapons katas, knife throwing and some time on the pistol range - and a quick shower - the latter being a skill he'd developed while training with the shaman that had tutored him in the basics of the Life Arcanum, a weird combination of Yoda and Grizzly Adams with a penchant for peyote who had insisted Orphan bathe in cold mountain streams and waterfalls during his training - Orphan sat down with the watch he'd picked up last night before heading by the party. Up to now, he'd had little cause to do much in the way of vulgar Time magic, but with things working out the way they had with Val's former crew at the park, plus the unlikelihood he'd have his swords available whenever he needed a magical tool, he figured it best to be ready for anything, and thus he sat down to dedicate the watch as a magical tool. First he thoroughly read over the watch's functions, setting it while doing so, then he cleaned it off thoroughly, and finaly he sat down to perform the dedication ceremony. First he took a few moments to enter a light meditative trance, finding this quite easy due to his almost-daily meditation rituals. Finally he focused on attuning the watch to his own aura.
Spoiler:
2009-05-28 15:50:48 Orphan rolls 6 to Gnosis 3 + Composure 3 (10 Again) 9, 3, 10, 9, 2, 2, 2 3 successes
2009-05-28 15:50:48 Orphan rolls 6 to Gnosis 3 + Composure 3 (10 Again) 4, 6, 2, 1, 6, 8 1 success
2009-05-28 15:50:48 Orphan rolls 6 to Gnosis 3 + Composure 3 (10 Again) 8, 7, 4, 9, 3, 3 2 successes



That done, he set about cleaning his daisho and his pistol, waiting for Falx and Tug or Valkyrie to show, or Teegan to get up, or for West or Zilker to come by. He looked forward to a chance to train with either man, fully expecting to get his ass thoroughly kicked but knowing he'd also learn a lot. He also looked forward to getting to know the leader of Sacramento's Arrow, and he hoped for a chance to talk with the Guardian about the stuff that had happened that night with Valkyrie. But most of all, Orphan looked forward to getting to work on this Granite Park situation, and to some training time with his companions so they'd all be better able to fight together when things came to that.


Teegan rolled in the unfamiliar bed at the Circle of Creation where she had told the others she would be staying. The sound of her shouting sergeant and loud wake up calls echoed in her mind as they seem to do every morning, right at the crack of dawn. Still partly drunk and very hung-over she dragged herself out from under the covers and forced herself to put on a tank top and jogging pants. "What makes me do this to myself?" she groaned as she stood in the bathroom looking at her sunken, tired eyes. Leaving the sleeping quarters she wondered if she would see the others up this early after a night like that and she decided that instead of using the facility's track she would go jogging outside, in the California heat, to sweat the liquor out boot camp style.

After the arduous jog she enters to find Orphan cleaning his weapons having just finished his own workout. She approaches him, still panting and covered in sweat, "Hey tough guy. Figures you'd be up already." She reeks like a distillery run by sweaty army babes and looks as though she had been staying up late for weeks.


"Morning, Teegan. I'm almost always up early, and with a training facility like this... you gotta love it. I think it has just about everything short of a rifle range either in here or on the grounds, and for all I know there's one of those in some secret basement or portal dimension or something. I'm sort of surprised you're up already, though." He truly was impressed to see she'd gone for a run with the hangover she must have.

"I've got cranberry juice if you'd like some, or bottled water, or green tea, and there's seed bread and honey if you're up for some toast, or there's bananas, walnuts, almonds..." Orphan had stocked up on the way home from the party last night. He knew he'd need some energy after his workout, and he figured most of his companions would probably need something to help them through hangovers. He'd lost track of how many times he'd heard Free Council mages expound the theory that Wal-Mart was a Seer plot to prevent Awakenings by miring humanity in mediocrity, but the superstore had sure done the trick last night. Between the watch and the food run, his funds for the month were running pretty low - he got by on the interest on a modest savings account, dipping into the principal only when he needed a major purchase - but he figured if he ran too short, he'd just trust in Fate to provide what he needed. He'd done it before, and so far things had turned out.


Teegan's stomach growls uncomfortably at the thought of food, she had thrown up a couple times on the jog. Another reason for her choice of leaving the grounds. She was so used to being dragged out for a run with a hang-over in the army that it was pretty much the routine, even if hurt. "Maybe later... "

"I took a cab here last night do you think you could take me back to the Rage? I needed to spend some time talking with you about Granite Park anyway so thought I'd ask ya." She still knew very little about the situation at the park and Orphan seemed to have been in close contact with the problem.


~ After Teegan and Orphan Leave ~


Valkyrie gets out of the taxi and pays the driver. She really needed to either find her car or dig her bike out of storage. She heads up into what she is calling the Westminster Armory for now, looking for anybody that she might recognize. Her back was sore, but it felt better than it did yesterday.

Must be the ointment she used.

~~ Narration ~~

Valkyrie sees Zilker and West, sparring. Zilker seems to be using two staves, and West is doing a pretty good imitation of Cleric Preston, using pistols held by their slide assemblies. Zilker seems to be just fine, considering the party at the Rage.

Valkyrie keeps quiet and stays off the practice mat, not wanting to distract the pair from their practice-dance-sparring-gymnastics routine. She tried Looking at the pair, but she couldn't see any magic on them, which made the performance doubly impressive. They were both really fast. Like action movie hero fast.

~~Narration~~

They finally wind down, and come to a stop. Valkyrie watches as the bruises and cuts fade from each. West points both guns at a nearby wall and starts muttering when red dots appear on the wall. Apparently they're not where they should be.

Zilker walks over to Valkyrie. "Are we speaking yet?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.


Valkyrie blushes at that unbelievably embarrassing memory, but she answers promptly to avoid a repeat of it. I'm sorry, I didn't know where to start yesterday." She briefly considers mentioning the woman at the museum and her disciplinary edict as an excuse, but she didn't want to seem like she was avoiding the situation.

She continues instead. "How did the call I made get intercepted that night?"


"If I told you that, I'd have to kill you," Zilker said, then suddenly looked embarrassed at his choice of jokes.

"Captain, the Free Council's Syndic, picked up Ghoster today," he said. "There will be a funeral for him and the others on Monday."


After helping Teegan pick up her vehicle, Orphan arrives back at the Circle of Creation, wondering if anyone has showed while he was away.

Upon entering, he sees Val is up and around, and is talking to Zilker. Although Orphan wants to talk to him at some point soon, he figures that can wait, as Val's talk with him is much more pressing. He approaches West instead.

"Morning, sir. Could I have a moment of your time whenever works for you?" he asks.


Val's lips quirk, whether it's in amusement or distaste is harder to tell. "Fair enough. If I tried calling 911, would my call get intercepted the same way? And could you let me know where my car went? I need to get it to a repair shop."

She'd need to call Finn. Let him know about Monday.


"I'm not sure... but probably," Zilker answered. "Please don't call the police -- call me, a Sentinel, or even a Provost." He was tempted to slide a crack in about calling Orphan, but held his tongue.

"As far as your car? That's... complicated. I'm pretty sure it's in Chittagong, Bangladesh. I'll talk to John about it," he offered.


West looks up from his Sig, which he is giving dirty looks at as he fiddles with the LaserMaxx. "Sure, Orphan, I'm free now. Don't call me 'sir' either, West is fine. I'll take it from Teegan because she's service and can't help herself."

Orphan notices that West tends to speak in a pragmatic tone that makes it very difficult to know if he's being good natured or deadly serious about something.


"Fair enough, s - I mean, West. It's a couple things, actually. First, I ran into a couple other Arrows at that party. They were wondering how to check in with someone, and I suggested they stop on by. They said they aren't really on any assignment right now, so assuming it's okay with you, I was thinking they could probably help out some with this Granite Park thing.

"The other thing...well, you asked about baggage, and talking to Teegan about this stuff with Val and Ollie made me realize I've got a bit of my own that didn't really occur to me when you asked that." He shrugs, a little fidgety, and looks off to the side a bit.

"I know what it's like to be abandoned... when I was a kid, my dad just up and disappeared one night, no explanation, didn't even say 'bye. It kind of messed me up for a long time. Later on, I found out he'd left me and my mom for our own safety, him being an Arrow and having enemies, all that. Over the years, I think I've gotten past that baggage in regard to myself - I understand now why he did what he did - but I still remember what was like, and I guess that abandoning thing is still a hot spot for me in regard to other people."

He looks back up at West. "Like I said, I figured that out talking to Teegan earlier today, so I'm gonna work on dealing with it. But, you asked about baggage, and since I figured that out, I figured I should let you know about that."


Val looks like she got hit on the back of the head by a very low hanging branch. "What? ...Chittagong? ...Bangladesh? What?"

Val is completely baffled. "How'd it get there?"


Teegan wondered through around the same time as Orphan did but she went straight by everyone to take a shower and the hit the shooting range. She figured if anyone had anything else to say to her they would come get her and considering Val's condition, she didn't think they would be going any where any time soon.


"Ok, I appreciate you telling me that," West said. He's sincere, but Orphan gets the feeling he isn't the type that's comfortable talking about personal things.

"As far as the other Arrows go, that's great. Call 'em if you want to. We're going to have a field trip and have some fun," he continued. Orphan also gets the feeling West is very good at going from talking about personal things to business.

"Chittagong ship yards," Zilker elaborated. "Great place to dump trash..." he trailed off. He's not having a good day. Perhaps it's hangover. "Or to hide cars," he finishes lamely. "John and I put it there."


Well shit, how was she going to get her car back? "Alright, that can be dealt with... later. The phone thing though. I can't be having my Emergency calls get intercepted like they were last night. I know the guardians are supposed to be the super spies of this world I'm in now, so I'm not sure how much about me you know. I'm a paramedic, sometimes I need to contact dispatch, the police, fire departments, et cetera, so if any call i make gets transfered, people are going to get hurt. Is there some way we can work around that?"


"Field trip and fun both sound good, West," Orphan says, smiling and also glad to move on from personal stuff. "Speaking of which... you have great training facilities here. I'd love to do some training with you, pick up some new ideas, new skills. Do you have a specific training regimen you do?"


Zilker nodded as he listened. "I'll do something about that. We just have to take precautions when relatively newly Awakened panic and turn to Sleeper resources," he explained, almost in the sing-song voice one develops after having said something a bazillion times.

"I can buy you another car, unless that one had sentimental value," he added.


"We'll see about fun, I was thinking more educational," West said, with a cryptic look. "I'm not sure if the two you met are going to show up, or if we should just head out..."

Realizing that Orphan had asked more, he added, "Running, shooting, hand to hand." He shrugged. It's not that West is trying to be rude or terse, Orphan realizes. It's just that he sees these things as a means to an end, and nothing more. If 'running' were to include marathons, 40-yard dashes, wind sprints, and parkour training, this man would probably just say 'running'.












Valkyrie nods in understanding of Zilker's first statement. "Yeah, I wouldn't want people to get caught up in zombies at the park if they couldn't defend themselves anyway. It wouldn't do any of us any good to add officers, firemen and EMTs to the death toll."

She sighs. "And I have my bike, that'll last until I can find something else. It's just that he was my first car."

Then she gets her phone out. "So. If I'm getting off this interception network thing, I'll need contact numbers in case of specific emergencies."


Orphan nods. "Sounds good to me. I'd be interested in taking part in your training regimen sometime. I've got a pretty good one going already, but it's always good to get new ideas and pointers."


Zilker gave Valkyrie an agreeable look as she thought out loud. "Sorry about the car," he apologized. "I'll do something about that. The people you want to know to call, in order, are Sentinel Joshuas Morris at #, Provost Ankh at #, and either West at # or myself at #," he said slowly to give her time to put them into her phone.

"Sure," West replied, thinking of how to adjust his mornings. Their Sanctum was about 30 minutes from the Circle, and he'd have to figure something out.

Something that didn't include Ankh bitching at him about a car.

"Why don't you give your new friends a call, and I'll give Morris a call? I'd prefer we did this all together," West said, pulling out his phone.


"Yes.." Derek begins, almost saying 'Sir' but stopping himself, continuing with "I'm glad to do that." He takes out his phone and dials Falx's number.


Valkyrie programs the numbers into her phone. "Thanks. Now I have something else I'd like to ask you about." She puts her phone away.

"I've been thinking about what I'm doing with myself now. I'm just not sure that I can go back to just being a paramedic anymore. I've been told a bit about the orders, but I'm not sure I've gotten a good viewing on the Guardians. Would you know someone or could you tell me about what they are all about?"


"Sure, I can tell you," Zilker said. "How about heading over to Dagwood's? I haven't had breakfast yet, and then we can figure out your car situation."


"Sure, my treat." It was the least she could do.


Orphan closes his phone and puts it back in his pocket. "They're on the way, West. They go by Falx and Tug."


West nodded, and watched Zilker and Valkyrie leave.

He dialed and waited for the line to connect. "Joshua, it's West. If you're not busy, I'm going to take you guys on a field trip."

"We're at the Circle of Creation, but will be heading to the church across from Florin Reservoir Park at 53 and Power Inn," West said. "From there we'll go to Granite Park. You want us to wait, or meet us at the church?"

"Great, we'll see you there," West said and hung up.

He turned to Orphan and shrugged, knowing it was obvious from what was said. Just then, his phone buzzed, and he exchanged a text or two.

"I think my... cabal-mate... found your two," he said, motioning for Teegan to come over, and they headed out to the Church where the Guardians used to be.