Following the White Rabbit

[Sage]

Sage sighed with the burning coin. Cruz was so inept at being normal. "I'm sorry." He said to both Ezekiel and Raffe. Sage gave a nod towards the people around "If there is anything I can do to help out your friends I'm happy to help. My talents could be helpful." Sage pulled out a card from his pocket. The sleek black card was etched with barely readable blue squares and lines. "Hold it up next to your face near any camera in Moscow and I'll know you want my help and I'll reach out."

Sage giggled. "Been a long time since I've had to offer this old school way, but you don't have a wallet so I can't exactly leave the message for you like usual."

Sage put his arm around Raffe. "Where you want to go? Kallisti? The former Vega Estate? Someplace else? Aidan won't be home for a while so I can make sure you make it wherever you want to go."

[Raffe]

Cruz walked off. The next time Raffe blinked, Sage had strung his arm about his shoulders. He grinned weakly. “How long have I got left to kill?” A poor turn of phrase, really, but he laughed it off. He didn’t want to go home to wait; time would either stick like treacle, else he’d fall asleep. He didn’t much want to be alone either. “Anywhere will do.”

[Sage]

Raffe looked rough. But he needed to be distracted too -- or Sage thought so anyway. He wouldn't want to wait forever if he knew his guy was just around the corner but busy as fuck and he hadn't seen him in a long time. He hadn't seen Aidan in a little while, but he knew where he was. Knew he was safe, and Aidan didn't run the life Nox did. Sage worried about Nox, so Raffe had to be doubly worried. Or more so.

So distraction it was.

Sage had a pulse on the outer workings of the Kremlin, he'd know when Nox was briefed, when he was released and all that and he tracked Cruz to make sure he didn't get into any other trouble. He did wonder if this underground man would be any fun to figure out. But he didn't plague Raffe with his musings. No one really cared about his hobby -- except when he had dirt on them. Raffe like Nox was pretty tragic and pretty devoid of information. Life in the undercurrents. And those were the kinds of undercurrents Sage liked best -- but Sage had his own code, and Raffe was family now.

Food was first on the agenda, as far from home as they could possibly get and still be in Moscow -- someplace not to fancy and someplace that didn't look like Sage was being an ass about it. Sage filled the silence with tales of Aurora. He'd fill Raffe in on Nox as it pertained to his twin sister, but to be honest Sage hadn't paid much attention to the annoying little brother of the blonde he'd eventually take to prom. Not his prom, and not her prom -- but a prom. Her prom had been shit in a shit town with a shit boy who got the shit beat out of him by her little brother. That was one of the first times Sage took notice of the boy who wasn't quite so annoying anymore.

While they drank coffee at their next stop Sage picked out people on the street and told Raffe their secret tales -- or at least what he could find on the internet while they were in passing view. He didn't much care how much Raffe knew about what he could do, and he didn't worry too much about Raffe turning his conversation into the police -- there was nothing to trace, no information they could find. If he hadn't been sick he'd still be Phaser and he'd still have his assets in the US. But that fucking error had cost him more than just his livelihood but his reputation as well. No one would work with Phaser again. The Wicked Truth still had a name to make for himself... and he was doing an alright job of it now that he was well. And those nano bots were proving to be quite handy.

Sage caught sight of Nox leaving the Kremlin and sat down with his wallet. Sage intercepted the text to Raffe -- give Nox some time to clean up before he took Raffe home. Not too long.

A second text floated between Nox to Raffe after a while and Sage pushed them through to Raffe's phone. "I'll get you home now."

[[ ooc: Sage would take Raffe to Kallisti make sure he got in the door before headed home himself. ]]

[Raffe]

[[continued at Reacclimating]]

[Ezekiel]

He accepted Sage’s card with an incline of the head, and pocketed it with a smirk. The apology wasn’t necessary, but he accepted that too. Cruz stalked off meanwhile. The man probably thought it marked an unsatisfactory end, but he was wrong. The coin was dust now, but the face it had landed upon was emblazoned in Ezekiel’s mind. The game was just beginning.