Coffee or Tea (Artskaf)

[Claude Saint-Clair]

Nora looked around, her anxiety palpable. Something was wrong - very wrong. Claude was glad he had shown up, if for no other reason that to be there for her. She just needed to trust him. She always had just as he had always trusted her, but for her to be this anxious, she had to be in trouble, and he couldn’t let her face that alone - at least not without trying to do something about it; he couldn’t let her face it alone without knowing he was there for her.

Nora shot down her still hot drink and moved to go. Her words were odd and she didn’t even say good bye, only reinforcing Claude’s belief that something was wrong. She stood, putting on her coat, ready to leave. He couldn’t sit idly. He stood too, hurried, but not confrontational. Claude took her hand gently and lightly. It was meant only to grab her attention. She could easily pull from his grasp.

”Nora,” he said, his eyes showing deep compassion and his voice soft. His own anxiety sprang up within him, feeling like a molten torrent in his gut. ”What’s wrong?”

His words were accentuated by a tremor that ran through the building. He took Nora’s hand tighter to keep her stable. A few cups on the shelf fell to the ground and shattered. The feeling within him was gone, and he felt strangely calm. He looked around - it hadn’t been huge or anything, but the slight tremor in the earth had been odd. He cared little for it, his focus on Nora still.

”Are you alright?” he asked his question not only referring to the tremor.

[Liam H]

Liam gave his sister a sideways look that she had to be joking. He knew what he saw. "It explains a lot." He said quickly. "He's too fast. There is no way someone can type as fast as he does, and do the things he does. The brain is a super computer, if it were connected directly to a computer with the internet, it could do powerful things. I'm going to look into it. I know Paragon could help."

[Calliope]

Liam gave her a look that made her laugh. So he was serious, and in that case the things he said concerned her, but she knew better than anyone the natural stubbornness in the Haart genes. Cali would hear him out. She had no doubt Paragon would be interested, but she wasn’t sure she wanted her little brother at the centre of any experiments. Especially not ones that messed with the brain. Fusing tech into someone in such a way frankly made her shiver. But ultimately she’d support him anything, so long as it was safe.

She was about to say as much when the room did a shiver of its own, rattling the crockery and even her own teacup on its saucer. The strangeness of it broke her attention – she glanced first at Liam, eyes wide with surprise, and then up at the rest of the cafe, to see who else had noticed it. And then saw, “Nora?”

[Nora Saint-Clair]

Nora needed to leave. Badly. She could feel the cracks forming: her carefully constructed walls starting to give way under Claude’s gaze. One more moment of that genuine, knowing look and she’d spill everything, all of it, and she wasn’t ready for that. Not here. Not now. But then his hand closed over hers.

She froze. Her lips parted, a protest rising, but nothing came out. Just air and the weight of things unsaid.

Then the floor trembled.

A low rumble vibrated up through her shoes, subtle at first, then sharp enough to still every conversation in the café. Chairs scraped. Coffee sloshed. Heads turned, hers among them. That wasn’t a natural quake. She was sure of it. She scanned the room, heart rate ticking up, not out of fear, but calculation. Whatever that was, it hadn’t come from below, but it came from somewhere. The question of where hooked into her like a fishhook behind the ribs.

But before she could do anything, she heard her name called out. 

Nora turned, fixing a smile to her face like war paint. If she had to play this game, she’d play it flawlessly.

“Well hi there!” she said, stepping into the role like slipping into heels. “Can’t believe I didn’t see you earlier. What a surprise!” Her tone was bubbly, warm, even if her eyes flicked with the edge of calculation. “We definitely need to catch up soon. But I’ve got to run. Take care, okay?”

She pivoted on her heel before the girl could get a word in. Every second counted.

She felt Claude’s attention burning into her back, but didn’t look. Instead, she gave him a look over her shoulder—brief, sharp, and unmistakable. Follow me. I’ll explain everything.

Maybe.

[Liam H]

Liam wasn't sure what had just happened. The ground shook. He looked around but what would that really go. He pulled out his wallet and started looking for reports, while Cali was preoccupied with another woman. Though it was a quick exchange. Liam wasn't sure what was going on there either, "A friend?" Not that they ran in any of the same circles, he wouldn't know her friends from her enemies though he was always ready to listen.

[Claude Saint-Clair]

Claude watched and saw the walls around Nora begin to falter. He was more than certain that something was going on, but had no idea what. That in itself should seem strange to him, but his focus was there. She looked at him, protest on her lips, but then the tremor happened. The ground shaking was odd, but still it was the least of his worries.

The young lady with the young man turned and saw Nora, calling out to her. Nora had mentioned earlier knowing someone, so this had to be her. The woman had a kindly face and didn't seem to be anyone dangerous or anything, but Nora had started acting odd when she had seen this woman.

Nora looked for the voice and the change in her appearance was quick. He wouldn't have noticed it had he not seen the change actually occur. Nora spoke to her in a friendly tone, but still seemed intent on leaving. Nora moved to leave and he caught the glance over her shoulder and understood it's meaning. Siblings had a way of reading each other, especially if they were as close as Nora and Claude were. Nora wanted him to follow. Whatever was on her mind wasn't for the ears of the public. He moved to follow, giving the baristas a quick thank you as he left.

[Nora Saint-Clair]

She slipped outside like she was breaking out of a cage.

The cold hit her first, sharp and bracing, but it was nothing compared to the heat still coiled in her chest. She grabbed Claude’s sleeve, pulling him close, her expression stripped of all pretense. No smiles. No charm. Just Nora, raw-edged and tense.

Her arms folded tight across her chest, jaw clenched, lips a thin line. She started pacing, one step, two—then stopped, like the words had caught her by the throat. When she finally spoke, her voice was low, barely above a whisper. A confession meant for one set of ears only.

“Okay. Okay. I’ll tell you. But you have to swear—swear—you won’t say a word. And don’t freak out.”

She exhaled through her nose, sharp and shaky. “I found Grym,” she said. “But I was desperate. I needed her help and didn’t know where else to go.”

A pause.

Then: “I’m one of the channeling gods.”

She bit the words out like they tasted wrong, like admitting them made it more real. Her jaw tensed, her teeth grinding together before she turned away, scrubbing a hand over her face with a muttered curse. “There’s a whole story, too much to unload out here, but now you know. That’s what I am.”

She looked back at him, eyes dark and unflinching. “I’m an abomination.”

[Calliope]

Nora fled, followed closely by the companion who had been sharing her table. Cali’s expression flickered, perhaps in hurt, but it was soon shed. Sometimes those who came seeking did not find the answers they expected, or otherwise pulled away from whatever brought them to the Sanctuary in the first place. It wasn’t for everyone, and Cali never pretended otherwise. Plenty of people were cold towards the Brotherhood. Her own father included.

“She came to the Sanctuary a while back, that’s all.” She watched a little longer, head tilted, though by now both had long gone. Then she tucked a strand of blonde hair back behind her ear and sat back down, reaching to lightly press her fingertips across the table. Everything was still now.  “You felt that, right? I swear it wasn’t me. Do you think it was one of them? Nora left so quickly.”

[Claude Saint-Clair]

Claude remained silent, but it wasn’t a surprised silence. It was the silence of someone taking new information and filling in the holes and cracks in their knowledge base. He evaluated assumptions he had with the new information. And with her confession, everything clicked into place.

The thought hit his mind that she could be lying. There were a lot of traitors within the ranks of the Atharim, but he didn’t think that was the case. For one, it was Nora. And second, it was way too elaborate to get him to admit that he questioned some of the Atharim’s teachings. There were far more effective and far more easy ways to get to that. Occam’s razor would indicate that her words were the truth. Also he really felt like Nora wasn’t lying to him. She even admitted that there was more, but not to share here.

Claude gave a sigh before he responded to her announcement. ”When I was thirteen, you told me something I never forgot. It amounted to I am the person God created me to be. I’m going to say the same to you,” he looked at her, his eyes and voice serious. ”You are not an abomination. You are what God created you to be.”

Claude had never talked to that conversation with anyone. He had never even mentioned it to Nora. And with that he admitted to her that he questioned some of the Atharim’s teachings. Nora mentioned she went to Grym out of desperation. That meant Grym knew, and was on her side. She was sure Nora had protection of some sort.

”Im on your side, Nora and if there is anything I can do to help, I’m here. It sounds like Grym is too.” he gave her a disarming smirk. ”But I have to ask - was that tremor you? That didn’t seem to be natural.”

[Liam H]

Cali asked he felt the disturbance. He almost giggled at his thought 'of the force'. But he just smiled letting the joke stick in his head a bit longer before he nodded. "I think everyone felt it." If he were at home he'd pull out his laptop and check the news reports and the semiology departments around Moscow, but when he was with Cali it was hands off for the time. He could deal with that but his fingers itched to look it up. This is why having a computer in his head would be great. He'd never be without it.

Liam let his eyes follow the pair's exit but he shrugged. "They seem distraught enough to have done it. But shouldn't you know? I mean you can do it now right? Don't you see or feel something?" Liam knew very little about it, but he knew all the girls when they were practicing saw things. And he assumed Nox and his guys all did too. But he knew so little about any of it.