Stone Cold

[Ilesha]

The weather had been getting worse. She was grateful for the day off -- not that she had intended to be home, but having a stuffy nose and the cold ass weather didn't seem like a good mix so she had stayed home. 

And as the snow fell Ilesha remembered the last blizard she'd been through with her parents, how the ground was white -- and the city was dead silent. Moscow had slowed to a crawl but it was still trying. It wasn't that dead yet -- yet being the keyword. It was only going to get worse.

Ilesha hunkered down in her own apartment but she had to check on the garage below first. Last thing she needed was for the doors to cave in because of the snow.  Buring all the equipment inside would be bad. And cost too much money for both her semi-employeer and herself. She didn't want to have to replace things when she could make sure everything was shored up nice and tight -- a little magic here -- a little there and it would all be good.

She might have to undo some of it later -- like the tiny hinges might get sealed shut but that was the price you paid for strength -- the tiny little movments might be impared.  That was the biggest problem she was finding in making her armor.  That strength and movement seemed counter intuitive. She needed to find a better way.

But she was down stairs in the garage -- well outside it.  Her hands on the walls filling the cracks with the power.  She wasn't going to let her home fall because of the storm or poor maintenance.

[Claude Saint-Clair]

The weather was terrible and getting worse.  Claude was wondering about Nora. She had gone to the Sanctuary as always this morning. He was hoping she was fine. If he didn't hear from her soon, he would call.  He had made it back in time. He thought it prudent to get some groceries. Couldn't hurt to be prepared they got snowed in.

Claude had seen the woman before. She lived in the building, but they hadn't talked. It seemed odd that she was out at this time, and he would have passed her by. However he felt it - the chill he had felt when Casey had channeled the power. He looked at her for a moment before approaching. Perhaps he should tell her that she should probably be careful about channeling here. It was after all, an Atharim safe house, but that didn't mean she was one.

Curiosity got the better of him though. He was wondering what she was doing.  He couldn't see her weaves of power, but she was focused on the wall. Was she reinforcing it?

"What are you doing?" he asked her, making sure not to be loud and freak her out. "Are you strengthening the wall?"

He stood, thinking he should probably get inside and that it was probably a bad idea to name himself as a channeler, but Claude's mind was elsewhere. Then again, maybe she didn't know that he could sense her.

[Ilesha]

A voice pulled Ilesha from her weaves. The humming stopped and she turned to look at the man carrying groceries into the building. "I'm making sure there are no structural issues mostly. So the building doesn't collapse."

She knew it was dangerous to let people here know what she was -- Nox had given her the run down on what the place was after his hacker friend had tracked her home one afternoon after being at the club. It was good to know. It was scary, but it was also not something she worried about. The Ascendancy would know if she were killed or went missing all of a sudden and apparently Nox had connections too. But the fact he was asking her meant he could feel her, and he could too. So even if he was Atharim he probably wouldn't say anything.

"I'm a mechanical engineer, the building is mostly sound, but it's old it needs a little help."

[Claude Saint-Clair]

She didn’t deny she was using the power. She had probably guessed he could too. She was very nonchalant about it. ”I’d offer to help, but don’t think I have the knowledge or the skill to do so.” he smiled a bit. ”But I’m glad you do.”

He let her work for a bit. ”I’m Claude - Claude Saint-Claire,” he said in introduction. ”Can you explain what you’re doing - like how you’re doing it. I’m not going to try it - just moreso curious.”

[Ilesha]

It wasn't often people asked about how she did soemthing. Usually she was the one learning. Not that she could teach him anything anyway, but the concepts were generally the same.

"Basically I'm using earth and spirt. And searching for any cracks, or weaknesses. It's called Delving. You can delve lots of things. The ground, people, things like this." She used it to find the cracks in her work.

"And if I find something then I use earth, air and sometimes fire to strength it, depends on what it is. Basically filling in the cracks."