Taking a Hike

Shoshannah
The first time Shoshannah visited this place, with Padre and Annie, the latter had mentioned that as a child she'd bathed in the hot springs of the node until she was dizzy; Shoshannah, who has spent the vast majority of her time here since the day Padre dropped her off hasn't done the same until today.  There's only so much studying and staying out of the way one can do, after all, even with the rare break that happens when she needs something, or simply needs to get out.  She'll be a good Guardian one day, Shoshannah will, just as she'll be a good Ferryman, but right now she's a girl that no one likes to be around (however the Awakened may do their best to be tolerant and even pleasant in the face of the Death chill she can't help giving off, she can always feel the strain), that doesn't like the reminder.  When people are around, she's most often holed up in her room, or the Library, or outside on the grounds doing . . . whatever it is that Dreamspeakers who were Spirit-touched long before they were Awakened do.
Today, though!
Today, her skin is shinypinkclean from soaking, her hair is wet and freshly washed, and she's dressed in a pretty eyelet top over a bright tank top and shorts, all of which combine to display her long, still slightly coltish limbs, to set off her pale (but slightly olive, underneath) skin and breathtaking blue eyes.  Her hair's been left down to dry naturally, with only the top bit caught back to keep it off her face as she sits outside in the grass (blooming dandelions and clover and a clear blue sky, a world of yellow and white and green and blue, with her in the middle of it), working on expanding her awareness of the space around her.  This is what she does - she works hard at the task to which Padre (who she still calls so in her head, though since he brought her out here she's been more stiffly formal with him even as it's clear she looks to him like one might a father) has set her.  She takes the challenge of learning how to guard and care for this place seriously, as she does most things.
So it is that Justin will find her.

Justin
They've run into each other before.  More than once, surely, since Annie had left to go back to her other home in Texas and left the place in their care.  Justin had occupied the room on the second floor with the big windows and left enough of his stuff in there that one could probably officially call it a second home.  He was usually out here on the weekends, and one or two evenings during the week - whenever he had the energy and motivation to drive out from the city after work.
Most days he was outside on the property, tending the gardens or hiking or fixing up the run-down stable that was currently being used to store a broken riding mower and some old farm equipment.  For whatever reason, this part of the property had been neglected over the years.  It'd probably been at least a decade since anyone had kept horses there.
Annie hadn't gone near it once the whole time she'd been there.  Maybe that meant something.  Maybe it was just coincidence.
Justin, though.  He'd taken one look at the dilapidated structure and decided immediately that it was time to bring it back to its proper use.  Maybe he wanted a horse, or maybe he just liked having projects like this to keep himself busy.  Either way, Shoshannah would have heard him banging around in there on quite a few afternoons.
Today though.  She'd had the place all to herself for most of the day.  It wasn't until some time around seven that Justin's now-familiar black Subaru pulled into the garage and he made his way into the kitchen for a drink.  A few minutes later, he pulled open the sliding glass door that led from the dining room and stepped outside, shutting it behind him.  His footsteps were lazy and relaxed as he came up to crouch down next to Shoshannah in the grass.
"Hey you," he greeted warmly.  "Feel like taking a hike?"

Shoshannah
She knows he's there before he speaks, and tenses accordingly; she's had the occasional Awakened tutor here and there, since her own Awakening, but she's not yet accustomed to people being as friendly with her as they are here.  It's almost enough to make her glad to stay at the Chantry, really - almost.  Anyway, she turns and looks at Justin, checking for whatever it is that girls like her (except there are no 'girls like her') look for when people are nice to them.  Meeting Hawksley yesterday helps some in that respect, maybe.
"Sure.  Let me just put my shoes and socks on."  They're near her and it doesn't take long before she's standing up (on her own two feet with no help at all, please and thank you).  "Where are we headed?  Or are we just exploring?"
They've seen each other, sure, and Justin knows enough from the interactions they've had to expect her to be a bit hard and sharp, a bit distant.  The only person he's ever seen her touch is Pan, and even that's a rare thing.  It's nothing personal, of course, but a thing that goes with the territory.

Justin
They've seen each other.  They've talked in scattered bits and pieces of conversations.  Nothing really memorable.  Nothing that really mattered.  Shoshannah kept the world at bay with a prickly shield that made Justin seem markedly friendly by comparison, but neither of them were very good at actually opening up to people.  And Justin respected that about her (because he understood.)
And no, he didn't entirely know what to do with the ghostly chill he felt whenever he was around her.  So he'd been a little wary at first.  He was Life and she was Death, and it was hard to build a bridge between the two.  Epic poems had been written about just such an endeavor.
So maybe it was about time he did something to reach out to her.
"Doesn't matter really.  I just thought we could go check out the woods before the sun went down."  He stood up and stepped aside to give Shoshannah space to put her shoes on, looking out over the landscape of the property.  The grassy area with the pasture was out front, but most of the land behind the house was forested and a number of small paths led up through the trees.  Whenever she was ready, he started toward one of them, cutting a diagonal past the node and the vegetable garden toward a stand of quaking aspen.
"How've you been lately?"  It might have just been conversational, but he sounded like he meant the question seriously.  He hadn't been there with her and the others in Leah's dreamscape, but he knew enough to know it must have been hard on her.

Shoshannah
"I've been alright."  And now, this far out, she has been - in the aftermath of the happenings with Leah, she'd spent so much time tucked away (not exactly hiding, no, she's a fight-not-flight sort of girl the vast majority of the time) that even Pan had a hard time seeing and talking to her.  'Alright' for her is even more subjective than most.  There's quiet for a moment then and it seems she might just let it go at that; she's stunningly gorgeous by any standard, and charismatic enough, but still she's stilted and awkward in most social circumstances, particularly when she's making an attempt to not actively drive people away (as well as the more passive part that comes along with just being her).  "Things were . . . dicey, for a bit," she finally says, absently adjusting the usual wrist-and-forearm covers she wears - the bulk of her wardrobe consists of them, a set in every style and weight imaginable and several colors besides.  Even now, when it's hot, she wears them.  "But there's plenty to do out here, so that helps.  How about you?"
She's trying, anyway.  It's better than she's done before.

Justin
He never asked about the coverings on her arms.  Maybe he didn't need to.  If he really wanted to, he could find the answer just by reading the details of her pattern, but Justin already felt guilty enough for what he'd found (unintentionally) that day with Sid.  He wasn't going to do it again.  Not without asking.
As they stepped onto the path, Justin pushed aside an errant branch so that Shoshannah could make her way under it.  She told him that things had been dicey, but that she was alright now.  That there were things to keep her busy out here.  And maybe 'alright' didn't really mean 'well' but... it was a start.  Sometimes it was the best they could really hope for.  So Justin nodded gently and accepted that answer for what it was.
"I'm alright," he mirrored back, when she asked the same of him.  And it likely meant about the same, too.
"Don't suppose you want to help me with the fence this weekend?"

Shoshannah
There's wry amusement for a moment, a flicker of an actual smile that lights up her face nicely for the handful of seconds it exists.  "I can try.  I'm not really good at building things or anything like that, though - Padre says I don't know how to swing a hammer."
She's tall enough that his moving the branch is helpful, and she moves like someone who's done a lot of hiking - it's not graceful by any stretch, but utilitarian and useful.  There's little wasted energy in the way she walks and it, like so much about her (but not enough, oh no), is designed to draw as little attention as possible, to counter the magnet-like effect she has, both in attraction and repulsion.
".....it wasn't a thing that was important when I was a kid, making stuff.  With mom it was all about being pretty and polite and knowing the right people, and with dad it was . . ." she shrugs, uncertain how to finish that.  Her dad hadn't been around all that much, and even when he had been there wasn't much time for his weird, eerie daughter.

Justin
Justin laughed quietly at her mention of the priest.  As they walked, he fell in at Shoshannah's side with slow, lanky strides.  They were both used to this kind of walking, and there was always something about Justin that just felt natural and at-home in wild places.  He'd changed out of his work clothes and showered before coming out, but his every-day attire wasn't much different than the things he wore to work.  A little newer, maybe.  And less worn.  The jeans today were dark and boot-cut, and his t-shirt was dark heathered grey.
"It's not so hard to learn, really.  Just takes some practice.  I used to have to help with a lot of projects like that when I was a kid.  Hated it at the time, but I guess it was useful."

Shoshannah
"More useful than the stuff I did, anyway.  By most definitions."
Not all, and not all the stuff she did - or, well, not all the stuff the grown-ups she got dragged around behind did.  She's met a lot of diplomats and dignitaries and philanthropists and politicians and so on at the kinds of things where rich, important people decide where to throw their money.  It is what it is, and everyone's childhood is different.
"I'm going to . . . I want to see some things.  Just, you know, warning.  I might show you too, if you want, if there's interesting stuff."  It's good that she warns, because when Shoshannah's resonance flares it feels like an attack even for something so simple as enhancing her sight - or Sight, as the case may be.  And, though he may not notice, there's the flash of patina-ed copper in her fingers as she Works, a coin juggled between them to help her focus.
[Spirit Sight!]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (6, 9) ( success x 2 )

Justin
Given how sensitive Justin was to his environment, he appreciated the warning.  Shoshannah was afforded a watchful, sidelong glance before Justin nodded in understanding.  Then there was the flash of that coin, and a chilling flare of her spectral resonance, and the hair prickled on the back of Justin's neck hard enough to make his head twitch with discomfort.  He tried to hide it though - less for himself and more so she wouldn't feel uncomfortable - reaching up to rub at his neck with his hand.
When Shoshannah looked past the gauntlet, the living image of the trees around her were replaced by a ghostly reflection.  And about 20 yards away, she'd catch sight of a now-familiar large white shape making its way through the trees.  Shadowing their movement at a lazy distance.  The bear dipped her nose toward the ground and huffed at something she found interesting, then looked up and met Shoshannah's gaze.

Shoshannah
"She's here, just over there.  Do you want to see?"  There's no explanation of who 'she' is, and given that this is Shoshannah 'she' could be anything or anyone; they may not have talked much (in some ways, he's learned more about her in this one hike than he has in all the prior times they've talked combined), but they have enough to know that she hears and feels spirits almost as much as she does the living, breathing things around her.  It's different now than it was before, but they're still there for her - always, always.  The times when she's distracted, lost to them (which happen reasonably often, but not enough for concern) are generally because some(one)thing from there is whispering in her ear.
Assuming an answer in the affirmative, there's a long, slim (just like the rest of her) hand slipping into his, with the coin between their palms.  Being inside the bubble of her resonance, dipping in her magic, feels a bit different than being on the outside - it's still angrydefensiveprickley, but the barbs and points feel like they're pointing out, away, driving things away from both of them.  (Except for the bear, of course.  She and Shoshannah have a mutual understanding and respect by now, as much as such things can happen.)
"There, see?  Isn't she beautiful?"
[And now, sharing said Sight.]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (3, 8) ( success x 1 )

Justin
Once or twice in his Awakened life, Justin had seen glimpses of the spirit world.  When another of their kind who'd had the sight had seen fit to share it with him.  It was always a strange and exhilarating experience, and one that he might never really get used to.  Some of the Verbena were known to traffic with spirits, but not many.  He hesitated a moment when she asked if he wanted to see, but in the end his curiosity got the better of him and he nodded, so she pressed her hand to his and he felt the cool weight of the coin between them and her long, slender fingers.  His own hand was work-roughened and surprisingly warm.  Like he'd just been soaking in the sun.
And then the world as he knew it fell away, and his grip on Shoshannah's hand tightened a little.  He pulled in a breath and looked around.  And then... there.  He saw the bear almost immediately.  She was impossible to miss, the way her coat gleamed and shimmered like stardust.
"Oh," he said softly.  "She really is"
Perhaps Callisto realized that they were looking at her, because she began to walk toward them through the trees, winding her massive bulk around and between the thin trunks of the aspens' umbral reflection.  When she drew near the trail, she ducked her head against one of the trees and scratched her neck, then stretched out toward Shoshannah and dipped her head as though in greeting.  Then she eyed Justin for a moment and did the same for him.
Justin broke into an awed smile and returned the gesture with a nod of his own.

Shoshannah
Though she acts like it, Shoshannah is never entirely certain of (anything to do with other people) her strength.  She doesn't let go of Justin's hand (and hers is relatively smooth, making the home made arm warmers all the more obvious when his wrist brushes against them, but calloused in the fingertips, where they so often press on strings) in case that breaks the sharing.  The nod she gives Callisto is practically a curtsy, and here, now (of all places and times), Justin can probably see the socialite's daughter, the philanthropist's and diplomat's granddaughter, or even the highly placed general's daughter.  Here, with spirits, she's easy and at home.  She fits here, and that cold, clammy death chill doesn't so much dissipate as it feels more natural.
"I saw her the first time I came here, with Annie and Padre.  She guards us here - her name's Callisto."

Justin
The node back in Madison - there'd been spirits guarding it too.  Perhaps this was a common thing, that they would be drawn to its energies just as the Awakened were (just as many beings were.)  Justin certainly wasn't an expert, but the fact that the chantry would have a guardian like this made a sort of sense to him, and he accepted it without question.
"Hello Callisto," he said, though he wasn't sure if she could understand or even hear him.  The bear regarded him with a long, quiet gaze.  When she angled her head, the penumbral light struck her dark eyes and made them glow (like stars) the way they had when Shoshannah had first seen her.  And whether or not she understood him, there seemed to be a sort of acceptance there.  Of the both of them.  The man who tended the land, and the girl who walked with spirits.
Callisto pulled away then, moving back into the woods to continue along whatever route she'd been taking.  After awhile, Justin let his hand slip from Shoshannah's grasp, breaking the connection that shared her sight. When the living world came back into focus, he reached out to touch the trunk of one of the trees, as though to ground himself.
"Thank you.  I'm glad I got to see that."
And then, when she was ready, he reached out and touched her hand again, this time to tug her along gently.  "Come on.  There's a really cool tree up the way I want to show you."