Playing Catch Up (Kallisti)

[Anna]

Anna was about to send her new message to Cade, when she saw Elyse stand up and move with a rushed purpose. Anna immediately put her wallet down as Elyse came into the room with a girl in the middle of a panic attack and her emotional support dog. Anna recognized her. She was the girl that had talked to Elyse at the coffee shop the day they met Cade.

The girl looked cold, and Anna gave Elyse her coat and it was wrapped around the girl as Elyse expertly calmed the girl down. She had practiced this before. As Anna watched, she began to realize more - the connection between the girl and Elyse, and the animal on the ground next to the girl. Anna looked towards Elyse, then the girl, then the dog.

No - not dog - wolf. The girl had an emotional support wolf and it had led her to the one person nearby who could help her. Anna looked at it again - the gentle way it rested it's head against the girl's leg. It may be a wolf, but the emotional support part was right.

The girl began to look around, and her eyes settled on Anna. Anna gave her a brief smile and the girl looked back at her for a moment before the smile was returned. The girl then moved on to Juls, and began to look around the rest of the room, trying to figure out where she was.

[Sterling]

Sterling went off and got some bottles of water, but she didn't go to the lockers as asked, she knew where they kept the refreshments for the crew. No point in giving warm water to them, when she could get cold water.

The girl was calming down next with Elyse's help and Anna and Juls watched as they worked through the system. Sterling hadn't seen many panic attacks but she'd learned a bit from her cousin, but his weren't nearly so bad. At least not any she'd seen. He kept his issues to himself.

Sterling brought the water to Elyse and cracked open one to give to the girl. The dog was putting his head on her lap and it was cute, but she didn't get any closer than that even though it looked pettably soft. She went back to her table to do her work, she didn't want to be in the way.

It seemed everything in the club had stilled waiting on the girl to calm down.

[Marta]

Marta was calming down.  She couldn't no longer feel her heart beating quickly in her chest.  Elyse was there, and for the first time, she noticed Elyse wasn't wearing her contacts.  Her golden eyes were very pretty - just like Marta's. Splash had her head in Marta's lap, and Marta put her hand on top, petting softly.  The girl who had let her in came back and gave Marta a bottle of water.

"Thank you," she said quietly and Marta hoped it wasn't too quiet for the girl to hear.

Marta looked around, trying to figure out what this place was.  It reminded her a little of the brothel, but it was cleaner and softer, and there were no men around being mean and yelling.  The people here didn't have the drugged up look that the girls at the brothel did, and everyone appeared to want to be here - including the young girl that had helped Marta.

Marta turned to look again at the dark skinned woman who put down her wallet at Marta's gaze and smiled at her again. She looks like Camila Marta thought as she had done when she had seen the woman at the coffee shop. It wasn't exactly the same, but she reminded Marta of the woman she had met when Ricky owned the bar in Mexico.

Marta took a guess and spoke to her in Spanish. "Hola soy Marta. ¿Cómo te llamas? ¿Tú también eres de México?"*

The woman blinked at her in surprise, but answered in return. "Soy Anna. No, pero mis padres son de México."*

Marta smiled at her broadly, feeling a connection to the woman. "Anna... she said, testing the woman's name, saying it as a native Spanish speaking.  Anna smiled at her.

She then turned to the other woman with brown hair.  Marta looked at her, but seeing nothing to lock on to, remained silent and wary. "That's Juls," Elyse said, placing a comforting hand over Marta's. "She's nice too - want to say hi?"

Marta looked at her again, remained silent for a moment and said. "Hi Juls, I'm Marta..." her voice trailing off.

"Hey Marta, you're safe here." Juls said to her. Marta wasn't quite sure yet.

Marta turned to look at the girl who had brought her inside. "Who is that girl?" she whispered to Elyse. "She said her name, but I couldn't hear."

Elyse spoke to her quietly and calmly, "That's Sterling.  Do you want me to introduce you to her?"

Marta wasn't sure yet, and changed the subject as she searched the room again. "What is this place? She asked.

"This is Kallisti - its where I work."

Marta nodded.  She knew that Elyse danced, but it was adult dancing.  That's why the place reminded her of the brothel, but it was different.  Different enough that it didn't cause memories to come springing up. "It's safe here? You don't wear your contacts?" She whispered to Elyse.

"Very safe," Elyse whispered back.

That was enough for Marta and she was now sufficiently calm. She looked back at the girl, and wanted to go talk to her and thank her for helping.  Elyse asked her again if she wanted an introduction, and Marta shook her head. "Can I go over there?"

Elyse nodded, "Of course."

Marta stood, taking her bottle of water with her and took small steps in the direction the other girl had gone.  Splash stood and padded beside her.  When she got close enough to speak, Marta hesitated just a moment before gathering the courage to speak. "Ummm...I'm Marta. You told me your name, but I didn't hear.  Elyse told me your name is Sterling. Ummm...thank you for bringing me in and getting me a water." Marta looked at the empty chair next to Sterling. "Can I sit here?"

((OoC: Juls by Nox))

---

*Spanish Translations
"Hola soy Marta. ¿Cómo te llamas? ¿Tú también eres de México?" - "Hello, I'm Marta. What's your name? Are you from Mexico too?"

"Soy Anna. No, pero mis padres son de México." "I'm Anna. No, but my parents are from Mexico."

[Anna]

Anna beamed at Marta when she said her name. It was completely perfect. There were nuances in languages that made it hard for people to pronounce things in a language perfectly unless you were a native speaker. Americans always said her name in the American way, other's could get the name right, but the inflection was never quite right. Her name wasn't a hard one, and Anna hardly ever noticed it, but hearing a native speaker say it was nostalgic.

Anna watched as the girl walked away towards Sterling. It had been interesting to see her come down from her panic attack. Interesting, but sad. Elyse kept her eyes on the girl the whole time, probably making sure that she was still okay. "Is she going to be alright?" Anna asked Elyse.

Elyse didn't turn when she answered. "She should be fine, I'll keep an eye on her for awhile and check in. She's a pretty resilient girl, but she has her issues. Like many of the kids that come by here, she's not had a good start to life."

Anna thought about it. The girl had come from Mexico. She took a guess. "The cartels?"

Elyse looked at Anna, her voice somber. "The cartels, she said, confirming Anna's suspicion.

"Shit..." Anna whispered, careful so the kids didn't hear it. "Think she'll be okay here?"

Elyse nodded. "She's asking questions, gathering information, and she trusts me. Trusts me enough that this place is safe. The fact that she's going to Sterling on her own means she's acclimating well. She'll be okay."

Anna nodded, trusting Elyse, but turned to look at the girl. She had to be about Sterling's age, and she had likely already seen too much. At one point, she'd probably been addicted to drugs. Sometimes people were just shit.

[Sterling]

Sterling smiled when the girl came over and introduced herself. "Of course. It's nice to meet you, I'm sorry you were having a panic attack, the water was the least I could do."

The other kids started arriving and when Emma and Sophia approached Sterling held up her hand in pause and the other girls seemed to understand and herded the rest of them off to another area of the lounge to do their work. They could do it all at Nox's place, but they liked hanging out here. His place was too quiet, and he wasn't there anyway. No one liked being in the creepy house with Sky.

"So what do you like to do in your free time? When I'm done with my school work we can try to find something you like to do here."

[Marta]

Marta smiled and took a seat and Splash laid down on the floor nearby. She seemed content to do so. Marta found herself liking Sterling pretty quickly. When other kids arrived, Marta noticed her signal and was grateful. She couldn't deal with a lot of new people at once. She took a drink from her water bottle.

"I like lots of things - singing, dancing, drawing, comic books, playing games. Sometimes I play with Splash," Splash lifted her head at hearing her name. "You do your school work here - like homework or are you homeschooled? What do you like to do?"

[Sterling]

Sterling giggled a little. "Well... It didn't start of this way. I would skip school to come learn to channel." She blushed sheepishly as she wove a ball of light and tossed it up in the air to hover over their heads. "My parents didn't like my cousin at all until he offered to make sure I did my school work, all my extra ciricuculars and I was able to learn to channel. So he enrolled me in an online school." Sterling waved to the other kids at the other tables sitting in front of their laptops doing their work. "We all all go to the same one, and are at different places. And when we are done we help out around here and learn other things. We will later have our PE which somedays we go ice skating now that it's cold enough, but most we can either join in the dancing or the sparring/fighting stuff."

"Before I come here I have indoor soccer practice and violin lessons. Two things I have to do to keep my parents happy. But that's okay cause I like them. I don't have to participate in the dancing or fighting cause of them. But I usually do cause why not."

Sterling looked down at the little dog laying on the floor. "Are you like Elyse?"

[Legione Sumus]

Juliana Nazarova (Moon Pyre)

Juls watched as Sterling did what Sterling did best and welcomed Marta to the group. She really was too much like Nox except she was sweeter and not so obnoxious about it. "You know, she's welcome to join the rest of the kids here. I'm sure Nox wouldn't even notice another kid under his wing. Sterling does a real good job while he's gone making sure everyone does what they are supposed to. She might be the only one who has any incentive to follow the rules while Nox isn't here considering her parents are the ones that made most of them. I'm sure Carmen won't mind another one either, it feels kinda nice having them all around. And it reminds me I should study. One semester left before I have to make a decision."

[Marta]

Marta listened intently. Online school, and if she could do it here with Sterling. It would fix a lot of her issues. Sterling seemed about her age, and she had welcomed Marta with open arms. When Sterling admitted she could channel and proved it by doing so Marta smiled, looking at the pretty ball of light in awe. She had done it so casually. And it was this moment that Marta felt truly safe here.

Soccor - Marta missed soccer. She had played since before things went bad. And violin. Marta didn’t play instruments, just liked to sing, but she loved all sorts of music. Maybe she could also play soccer. She would have to talk to Ricky about this. But for the first time in a long time, she felt excited about something. And this strange club felt like a place she could call home.

Sterling asked about Elyse, and Marta got butterflies in her stomach. It was clear that Sterling knew what Elyse was. She wouldn’t have asked otherwise. And she definitely wouldn’t have asked while looking at Splash. Marta turned to look at Elyse, and the woman was looking toward her. Marta looked at the orb of light and back to Elyse. Elyse caught her meaning, smiled and nodded.

”I am…that’s how we met. She came to me when they started talking to me.” she put her hand on Splash’s head. ”Dont be scared of Splash. She’s a good girl.”

She suddenly had something she wanted to ask Elyse and waved for her to come over.

[Anna]

Anna turned her attention back to her wallet. She had decided what to say to Cade, and she knew with everything going on she should send it now before she forgot and who knows what else would happen. It would only take seconds, and then she could focus on the rest of the night.

Hey - I think you’re cute. Not taking it back this time. I’m going to respect your boundaries though. I’m really looking forward to giving you a tour of Moscow sometime. It should be a lot of fun!

Anna smiled as she felt the power and saw Sterling channel. Anna, feeling a little more rested, embraced the power, and made a similar ball of light and twirled it around sterling’s before letting it wink out. She kept embracing the power, just in case Sterling turned around. The girl knew that Anna had struggled with channeling. This would be a fun way for her to show Sterling that she had improved - if she didn’t just assume that it was Juls.

Anna turned to Juls. ”You understand that if you leave us, I’m going to cry for days” she said her tone and face saying she didn’t mean it, but still conveying that Anna would miss Juls. ”If you need to study, I think I’ve learned about all I can for today, but I’m sure we wouldn’t mind you sticking around.”