you might feel invincible --

[slightlyoffchilt]

WHO: Frederick Chilton and you!
WHERE: Maurtia Falls, De Chima, Jeopardy
WHEN: Throughout February
WHAT: Therapy, mingling, exploring, and arguing
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary

Jeopardy, Nevada
[Chilton hadn't spent much time in this neon-soaked city, abrupt and mysterious as it was. He had heard things from Tate and Cassidy, enough to pique his interest. He had hoped he might witness Negan waltzing around, as he suspected this was the sort of land that welcomed cavalier feet. But when he arrived himself, his internal compass set him straight to a proper bar.

He lingered outside what appeared to be a dilapidated church not too far off the beaten path. He thought it could be a church, but then again maybe possibly was the set to some exclusive party scene. Really hard to tell with modern venues. Really hard to tell, this time of early evening. As he stepped towards the structure, his fist raised to knock, he looked over his shoulder to catch whatever passerby might have the strange fortune of meeting him here.]

This establishment isn't dangerous, right?

Maurtia Falls, Pennsylvania
[Late winter rain. Chilton bemoaned his lack of umbrella, his beautifully tailored light gray suit stained with water speckles at the front along the lapels, where his coat couldn't protect him. In his hand he carried a manila folder -- one that need protection from the rain more than Chilton himself did. A slick cobblestone street in the older district of Maurtia Falls met with his misfortune; Chilton slipped, caught himself before he slammed against the wet ground, but his folder went flying into the sky before fluttering back down to earth.]

Damn it!

[His manila folder of profiling notes.

Profiles he compiled on imPorts.]

De Chima, Virginia

[Early morning.

Raina had a soft spot for De Chima, so Frederick Chilton figured that this was the city most aligned with her personal tastes and therefore provided his best bet. So here he was, in a fancy boutique, his gaze lingering along the artisanal jewelry displayed and his mind considering what might be an ideal Valentine's gift for his beloved.

He leaned towards the nearest individual, speaking in a theatrical stage whisper:]

All this looks a bit tacky, doesn't it?

Something else entirely
[Have your own prompt in mind? Hit me up!]

Comments

UTENA

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Late afternoon, when the February sun proved defiant against the gray of a winter morning. Chilton, his recently won latte in hand, glanced around the subdued cafe in search of quiet seating; an intention that immediately shattered when he caught sight of a familiar face.]

Utena? [Inquired Chilton, striding towards her and inviting himself to sit down by her.]

I didn't expect to see you here.

[andtherevolution]

Oh, hey Doctor! To be honest, I didn't expect to be here.

[She's still bundled up with an old jacket and a Blue Beetle scarf she got from one of his elderly fans, and she's nursing quite possibly the cheapest thing on the menu: a small black coffee]

I was going to visit someone, but the wind started to pick up, and... well, here I am.

[She shrugs, and takes a sip]

Anyway, long time, no see. How've you been?

[slightlyoffchilt]

A smart idea, to seek out shelter. That wind isn't merciful.

[Idly, he gesticulated with one hand, puncturing his emphasis on weather cruelty while the other was still wrapped around his latte.]

I have been -- well, better now than previously. It has come to my attention that the past six months have been something of a. Trial.

[But he was stabilizing, and that's what was important.]

How about you? [Chilton pressed.] How about with Woden?

TAHANI

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Next Monday, eight-thirty. A strange coincidence. Chilton lingered at the neoclassical threshold of Daniel's, hiding behind the guise of an important phone call as he kept his eyes open and his gaze darting to catch sight of his new friend Tahani. He didn't want to catch the attention of the hostess too quickly, he preferred to make his entrance with Tahani; ideal both for the prospect of lingering paparazzi and because he was afraid that perhaps he should have made reservations ahead of time.

But he knew she wouldn't have had to do such.]

[debutaunt]

[Tahani arrives, sunglasses on despite the rather dreary weather outside, and looking all that much more like a bright sunny day has personally blessed the entrance of Daniel's in the form of a person. She pushes up her sunglasses for a quick glance around and-]

Oh, Frederick! Dear! What are the chances!

[And she gleefully crosses the room over to him with a cunning smile. If there was any paparazzi nearby, they surely heard her by this point. Maybe a few pictures have already been snapped. ]

How lovely, you must sit with me for dinner.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Oh, my goodness! Tahani! I had no idea you would be here at this hour, right now. [He lied, his hands thrown up in a mimic of surprise. The gesture hammed the moment, but his bright eyes and open grin were proof of sincere delight.]

I would absolutely join you, given that we are -- [Chilton turned his chin towards his left shoulder, vocally throwing the words for the sake of all eavesdroppers.] The very best of friends!

CASSIDY

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Chilton jolted, sitting straight up. He had fallen into a doze upon the leather sofa in his pristine living room, his personal exhaustion responsible for the impromptu nap that, apparently, had brought him into night.

He had heard something. He was certain he had heard something sharp and clattering.]

Uh. [Chilton cleared his throat, drawing his knees to his chest.] Hello?

[crassidy]

[He'd only needed the smallest sliver of an open window to get inside. That was one of the few things he had been practising, and he'd gotten at least semi-competent at the breaking in part.

It was just the noise issue that still needed work, clumsy as ever as he flops from the window, morphing back into his usual self halfway down and hitting the floor with a hefty thud, long limbs knocking over far too much for his liking.

There's an under the breath mutter of "Ow, bollocks!" but the reply is louder and far less subtle.] Go back to sleep.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Uh, no? I won't.

[Chilton, upright and wild-eyed, responded only out of instinct. Might have been more cunning to pretend to go back to sleep, yes. But that wasn't what he did.]

You... get out of my house.

Maurtia Falls

[prayercycles]

[ Here, Dr. Chilton, have an umbrella. Which is something Fortunato would offer to anyone, but it's especially pertinent to offer to his boss, isn't it? If Chilton takes it, he'll go ahead and pick up some of those papers.

(He's not wired to peek at them. But there's a part of him still inclined to pick up intel, if possible. Maybe the occasional glance, barely perceptible.) ]

Are you alright?

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Chilton does in fact take it, eager to cower beneath some structural protection from all this rain. And as Fortunato, dedicated Fortunato, helped gather those fallen and nearly escaped files, it wasn't unlikely that he might (accidentally!) see the names Tate Langdon and Negan amidst their number. The latter might be predictable enough, but the former was an employee. A fact that Fortunato would know.]

Fine -- yes, I'm fine.

[A little flustered, a little embarrassed.]

Thank you. For your help here. I should be more careful.

POE

[slightlyoffchilt]

[It wouldn't be an office meeting, Chilton thought a more casual discussion would be better suited to Poe's particular demeanor. So offered the address of a casual luncheon, something suited to polo shirts rather that suits and ties. Something accessible, he thought.

A perfect place to talk.]

[flightforfreedom]

[ Poe arrived somewhere between the two formalities - a leather jacket and a nicely pressed cream shirt. It was less for the venue and more because this was his uniform, of sorts. What he felt most comfortable wearing on any given day. That wasn't to say he was comfortable, though.

In fact, he felt weirdly nervous, unsure of himself and what he was doing, which wasn't his usual mode of living. But he trusted Chilton, and honestly believed he needed the help, so he was putting aside his qualms. Or trying to.

The smile he offered when he saw Chilton was maybe a little less easy than it would have been if they'd just run into each other, a little wave in addition as he stepped over. ]

Hey, Doc. Thanks for meeting me, I really appreciate it.

maurtia falls

[cigarbribery]

[Foggy happens to be turning the corner at that very moment, carrying a convenient umbrella and a duffel bag like he's just headed to the office, or to someone's office anyway. But at Chilton's cry, he glances up and immediately scrambles to help pick up the folder and its notes before it can get too wet.

He's—tempted to look, but beyond a cursory glance he immediately squashes that thought, because holy shit those are profiles. He is absolutely not going to risk his job because he got too curious for his own good.]

Hey, you should probably buy an umbrella. And maybe a briefcase, they don't go flying as much when you trip.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Both sound suggestions.

[The faintest of pink flushes colored his cheekbones as Chilton quickly reached out for those offered folders and files that Foggy had so gallantly recovered. Beyond a few names (Reggie Mantle, Poe Dameron) nothing of a confidentiality breaching nature had been made apparent. Legality was upheld!]

I had -- ah. I must seem terribly unprepared. [Chilton cleared his throat, his miserable expression stained with rain.] I had simply been in a hurry, I suppose. Misjudged the weather. Lucky that you were just around the corner, wasn't it?

[Lucky that Foggy was a kind enough person to lend a hand.]

DE CHIMA.

[bragnificent]

[ Reggie doesn't come by De Chima too often, but since he has some friends (pretty much one friend, by now) who live in the area, sometimes he does-- such as today, although he's not even sure why he's bothered driving into town to look at various Valentine's Day finery when he has no one to give anything to. No one he's going to go out on a limb and get something for anyway, that is, because he's tired of the merry-go-round that is pursuing only to keep getting rejected again and again.

It's a shitty time of year to be single and lonely, that's for damn sure. He's startlingly relieved when he sees Chilton standing not too far from him, happy for the distraction. Reggie's gaze shifts to the display, surveying it with a raised eyebrow. ]

Do you even have to ask? [ Reggie crosses his arms in front of him to better complete his judgemental stance. ] Unless you wanna be able to always hear her coming.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Like some sort of cat with a bell collar?

[He crossed his arms, eyebrow arched as he glanced over at Reggie. Two things flashed brightly in the forefront of his mind: his rising hope that Mr. Mantle would solve his purchasing dilemma for him, and the fact that he had yet to discuss Tate's promotion with Reggie. Undoubtedly certain feelings about that might be bubbling, and Chilton risked watching the pot boil.

Unless it wasn't an issue at all. Unless he was simply overthinking the matter.]

What would you recommend, then?

[Chilton spread his hand over the glass display, gesturing to the swath of pieces.]

She is still angry with me. I think.

De Chima

[forkingbullshirt]

[Normally Eleanor had no tolerance for the romantic bullshirt around Valentine's. She made a point of shoving away all gestures with previous boyfriends, making the day unpleasant for them both. She never thought that she would find herself stopped in front of a store's Valentine display feeling as if she couldn't breathe.

She and Chidi had never had a chance to spend Valentine's Day together. It wasn't exactly a thing in the afterlife though who knows, perhaps every day was Valentine's Day in the Bad Place with stale chocolates and being stalked by that drunk cupid by that bar in downtown Phoenix. But she could have dealt with that if it had been with Chidi.

She jumped when she heard someone talking to her- she hadn't noticed someone else had been standing by her. But she smiled the best she was able to when she saw it was Dr. Chilton. ]

Yeah, it's a bit forking ridiculous what people will do on this stupid holiday.

[Totally stupid. She definitely hadn't been thinking of what she would get Chidi on that day. Definitely not.]

[slightlyoffchilt]

[A tilt of his head, acknowledgement of her specific verbal quirk -- forking. Eleanor had a colloquial collection, he remembered. And perhaps had she been anybody else, Chilton would have been somewhat sneering of her reaction, but the fact was that he remained rather fond of her. She had a certain verve he admired, a specific confidence he envied. Ever since their heart-to-heart during that Swear-In all those months back, Chilton had been fond of Eleanor.

And she was Tahani's friend, and Chilton assumed Tahani only had the best taste in company.]

I see your point. A compulsive societal agreement to invoke materialism as symbolic love... Seems hollow, yes. But I hadn't much indulged in the ceremony back home.

[Because he hadn't anyone to buy anything for.]

And Raina is, uh. I think she is angry with me still. So.

[He shrugged, looking helplessly at Eleanor.]

Any suggestions would be welcomed.

MF

[solarcharged]

[ One particularly stubborn piece of paper makes a break for it. Whipped away by a belligerent gust of wind, the single sheet of notes is carried high and away, bright against the grey clouds, ever upwards and above the sidewalk.

Apollo - sweeping through his usual daily tour of the Maurtia Falls skyline in his white-and-gold uniform - plucks it from the air between two fingers. He studies it momentarily, frowning at the clinical notes smudged by rain drops, before turning his attention to the pavement twenty feet below.

He swoops low, paper in hand, and touches down amidst the puddles in a haze of ambient solar energy. The owner isn't hard to spot. ]

Missing something?

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Perhaps his initial emotion should have been shame, or at least mild embarrassment over having so thoroughly suffered these weather-born conditions. Perhaps Chilton should have been at least a baseline sheepish over the whole affair -- but he wasn't.

Because the man who had come to his rescue was just. So shockingly beautiful. Stunning like a midsummer afternoon, that's the hazy thought that came to mind. Chilton opened and close his mouth, a meek eeek bubbling up his throat by way of thanks.

He needed an entire additional moment to summon his composure.]

Oh! My god. Thank you. I, ah, you've caught me at a difficult moment.

[He didn't even think to check which files his hero had rescued, or that the names Danger and Logan Delos might have appeared just barely legible beneath those rain smudges.]

maurtia falls

[mortalweapon]

[ A split second is all she needs to calculate the best trajectory, integrating all that transient data into one path, and another second to execute it — a blur of shining blue as she steps with utter precision, moving with inhuman speed to catch first the manila folder, then each sheet of its contents before a single one can touch the wet sidewalk, sweeping them in succession from the air. A meticulous feat of timing and physics. And maybe a little bit of showing off.

She waits for the good doctor to be steady on his feet, then holds out the slightly rain-dampened folder for him to take. Another point of almost annoying meticulousness: If he opens it, he'll see that she's even managed to catch his notes in their original order. ]

You really should be more careful, Doctor.

[slightlyoffchilt]

[The hot flush boiling upon his cheekbones betrayed his personal feelings on the matter -- he was embarrassed, yes, but also engaged. Intrigued? Aroused. His interest was aroused.

Chilton took a deep breath, slowly rose to his feet, and then took back those files from her offered hand.]

You always have such immaculate timing.

[The way he said it, his tone heavy with implication, not even Chilton himself was sure if he uttered a compliment or an accusation.]

And I -- [Panic flooded his veins, and his attention turned to the highly organized file she had returned to him, flipping it through it.

His relief manifested in the easing tension of his smile once he confirmed that Danger had not saved her own profile. Just Logan's and Tate's.

A wince followed, when those new calculations came into play.]

... I'm grateful. As per usual.

maurtia falls;

[pillz]

[a hand shoots out to catch the manila folder. tattoos on the knuckles, skinny bones in the fingers.

and beyond it, there's a laughing face. white teeth and gaunt cheeks, a charming jack o' lantern of macabre good humor. kavinsky looks young still— he has one of those faces, but careworn from the past few months. at least he's still wearing nice clothes.

absurdly: a suit.]

Hey old man, [he says.] You gonna commit me if I said I was stalking you?

[slightlyoffchilt]

Mr. Kavinsky. That might be the most charming greeting up to date.

[Mild negging and the tease criminal activity; were Chilton a more moral man, he might take exception. But instead he smiled, his expression almost affectionate, as he looked Kavinsky over.

One of his more successful little pet projects, his Joseph Kavinksy.]

But you are looking well. Thank you.

[Holding out a manicured hand, Chilton leveled his polite, insistent gaze on Kavinsky's own. He anticipated the return of his folder.]