Graupel Canyon teleparty
#1
Minerva had, admittedly, forgotten what exactly it was that Richard did for a living. Or if he'd even told her what it was that his husband did for a living. Really, it seemed pretty unimportant, for all the sight of this house did feed some sense of that curiosity. She'd been a bit of a wallflower for a while, now, finding a sense of comfort in the back yard, where some of the rooms in the house made her feel like she was imposing. She did not know so many of these people here.

So, finally, she decided she ought to change that. And she was moving back indoors with a new sense of confidence, committing herself to staring at people's name tags and striking up conversation.

Instead, the first person she'd come to find was, finally, Richard! "Oh!" she said at the sight of him, grinning brightly, eyes lighting up. He looked so dang classy. Minnie wondered what his closet looked like. A walk-in with a revolving belt of ties, all his shoes organized and polished, a myriad of patterns lining the walls. "Richard! Hello!"


At PSYCHIC PARTY :3

#2
Richard also didn't know so many people here. But like with any party he tended to throw, it was all a chance to change that for him. He didn't wallflower, but he also seemed to butterfly about, rarely landing except when something particularly interested him.

Case in point, his dear young friend, Minerva.

They could both grin at each other, but he would throw his arms out in the way that insisted upon a hug as they drew closer together. "Minerva! I thought I saw you flitting about the fringes. Are you enjoying yourself? Do you need anything?" He did really rather adore her, made it very easy for him to want to give her a little VIP treatment if he had the chance.
#3
Minnie would not turn down a hug. She squeezed him with the same big grin, feeling that sense of fast friendship herself, endeared by his doting questions. "Yeah, no, this is great!" she chirped, nodding her head when she was released from the hug. "I've been feeling kind of shy, so I'm trying to knock that off. You can't come to a psychic potluck without meeting new people." She swung a hooked arm some, as if to say "aw shucks," and laughed at herself. "And I love your house! It's so cool. Totally suits you."
#4
He nodded along, agreeing with it all. He'd known many people much like her in his time. Not everyone was made for parties, large or small. He had a feeling that Minerva would do better in a smaller setting, and made the mental note to make good on that. She would easily be one of his 'short list' of people who would be invited back earnestly for a slightly more intimate gathering.

But that was later! And this was now!

"Thank you. We've had some years to get it the way we like it. Can't say we've ever had quite so many people over at once, but I think it's holding up!" Credit where credit was due: the yard was doing the heavy lifting here. "Though I think the neighbors are likely scowling at the state of the street." Thankfully, not a crowded suburban street the way it would have been at a lower elevation.
#5
What! Was this really the biggest party they'd ever thrown here? That was kind of cool. Sort of an honor. What a special occasion. His remark on the street made her giggle, sheepish, knowing her own car was one of many lined up along the curbs. She almost felt bad about it, but was more delighted now than anything.

"Dang it. Should've brought my jet pack," she joked. "But what about you! Are you enjoying yourself so far? What'd you think of the pact stuff?"
#6
Sweetest. She had such a good spirit about her. He needed to shove her and Teddy together and watch, so badly.

"Loving it, of course. This is where I have loved to be the most for all my life. Good conversation, good food, everyone enjoying company. What else could I possibly want? But good heavens... that Grace. She knows a lot more than I ever even fathomed could be real. Pacts still don't feel real to me, and the price sounds... daunting, maybe? But Teddy wants to try, and I can't say no to him. I worry I'm a bit old for the thrill of it, but I would like to see instead of just brushing it off from the start."
#7
Minerva nodded along, enthusiastic in her agreement, for the most part. Grace did seem like, otherworldly. Just a very cool person. Intimidatingly cool. Sure of herself, and knowledgeable, and for all Minnie hadn't made any move to approach her, there was already a sense of admiration and gratitude that she'd been there. Spouting information and awareness to them all.

It was daunting. It felt risky. She thought of Ashley, struggling, worrying. She thought about the finer details it must take to make it work. The will, the relationships, the familial ties, sort of.

"Oh, you're not that old," she insisted, her smile almost pleading. "I have the utmost faith in you. You guys just gotta find the right crew to make it happen." That seemed like maybe the most important part, to Minnie. All the ingredients for this spell - and really, that was what it felt like, a freakin' magical spell - took time to cook up. It wasn't something to be rushed into, she thought.
#8
See! Sweet!

And it was true. He could (and eventually would) be much older. But today was not that day, and he had potential ahead! Or so she seemed to say.

"I think you are quite, quite right. I think there's a bit of risk of some wanting to just do it to do it, but it's quite a lot of commitment, isn't it?" Was he good at commitment? Well, yes. But only in practice. He was never quite as good at declaring himself ready. After all, there was no ring on that finger.

"What about you, then? Got yourself some friends in your back pocket you think you'd like to magically bind yourself to?"
#9
It was a lot of commitment. Minnie thought of The Craft here, and wondered what exactly the ties that bound were made of. You had to be sure. That was, maybe both fortunately and unfortunately, not hard for a young woman who easily saw the best in everyone. She did have a handful of people she'd pact with in a heartbeat. Cassidy. Ashley. Zachary. Even now, Joseph would be a glittering choice, for all they'd just met.

But. "Not quite yet," she admitted with a smile turned sheepish. "A few I know aren't really... interested, I don't think. But there sure were a lot of hands going up during Grace's speech, so I don't think opportunities are exactly hard to come by."
#10
"Well, like you said. No rush. You don't choose what will hopefully be lifelong friends on whim. In fact... I'd say it's less about choosing at all and more it becoming obvious that you're stuck with them forever anyway." Smile smile smile, he said all of this even as he thought it for the first time in this context, but he did like the sound of it. "But you are smart and talented and very easy to get along with, so I'm sure you'll end up with exactly the people you require."

Richard nodded. It was, as far as he was concerned, a done deal. A fate decreed.
#11
It was a poetic sort of wisdom coming from Richard, and her smile turned sweeter for it. Yeah. That made sense. Felt nice to think about - those were the kind of people you'd spend enough time with and just know. And then, there he went, showering her in kind words, and she slapped her hands to her cheeks with an embarrassed giggle. Those all were things she wanted and tried to be, but hearing it from the outside was still a little like getting tickled. It was hard to explain!

"I could say the same to you!" she piped, planting her hands on her hips. "Plus, you have like, the best fashion sense. Do you have a spiral staircase in your closet, or what?"
#12
Oh the flattery! He inevitably laughed for it, and for her grand ideas of what it must be like.

"Oh, you. I fear the state of my actual closet would disappoint you. It's a step-in, but only just. But the trick is not leaving anything in there if you're not wearing it fairly regularly, you know?" And for Richard, every occasion was an occasion to bring out whatever strange nonsense he had found. It paid not to be self conscious about dressing in a nice jacket for a mere trip to the grocery store or putting on your wingtip shoes for a movie at a casual theater.

Ted's side was a little harder to tame, but he let the man fend for himself more or less. Neither of them were hoarders, though if that was by nature or by Richard's design, it was harder to say.

"Perhaps the next time you come back here, I'll show you it myself." He would now, but he did hate to disappear from the party floor when he was engaged in hosting.
#13
Barely a "step-in" closet, as he called it, which delighted her - but organization was key! Minerva had a particularly bad habit of holding onto clothes she'd long since stopped wearing for the simple reason of sentimental value. A t-shirt plastered with the logo of a band she'd stopped listening to years ago, but just couldn't part ways with it. If his closet was supposedly disappointing, hers might be downright frightening.

There was also some sense of delight in being invited back here again some day. Whether in a party setting or not. She laughed for the sheer joy of it, and nodded her head. "Deal." Her hands clapped together, and she raised her eyebrows up at him. "Where's your co-host?"
#14
That was enough to get him looking, but Ted was not currently within sight--so far as he could tell, anyway.

"You know, I don't know. If I see him I need to call him over, though. You absolutely need to meet him, he will love you."

Absolutely, utterly certain. Because who wouldn't? Richard would take offense to anyone who did not think Minerva was anything short of splendid.
#15
Richard's claim earned another laugh, a little sheepish, a little shy. She hoped that was the case. It was hard to imagine Ted being someone she wouldn't like, either. "What did you say he does? He's... an artist, right?" Guessing anyway, even after she'd asked, uncertain of her own memory.
#16
The nod that returned to that assumption was fervent. "He is the creator in the family. His studio is that building just over there," he said of the space just removed from the main house, across from the back door. "Sculpture mostly, these days. I had to separate him off from the main house, he makes such a mess when he gets into the thick of it and then we drive each other crazy as I'm trying to clean up and then he can't find his stuff and on and on..."

Clearly unbothered by these facts as they stood, though. It was just life, and one Richard enjoyed immensely.
#17
Ted had his own whole studio. Minerva tingled with something akin to envy. She had sort of had her own studio at her parents' house, if the barn loft counted - and to her, it had. She'd exchanged that luxury space for a taste of independence. But, anyway! How neat! How smart, to boot, keeping the artist's chaos sequestered. And how endearing, to see Richard express these things as beloved facts instead of complaints.

"Sounds like you guys have got a system," she beamed. "What's his power? Er - does he have one?"
#18
"He does indeed! Teddy is... lucky. Or unlucky, depending on the way the wind blows, I suppose. He tells his stories better than I do, but he has to be a bit careful or he risks giving himself a debilitating illness if he tries to influence probabilities into unseemly fortune." This... a little less enthusiasm for it. He really did not ever need another call that Ted had ended up in the hospital while trying to fend off bad circumstances.
#19
A power over... probability. Influencing the odds. Minnie could not fathom it, really - to pull the strings of likelihood with magic. Her eyes went wide with some combination of wonder and utter awe. A master of fate, with a catch. Wasn't that always the way.

"Oh, wow," she said, a little quiet. "That's so cool. Minus, you know, getting sick. Isn't that funny? How using magic impacts us? Like it comes from our bodies, somehow." It seemed like a trade that was fairer to some than to others. Still. Even objectively, it was mind-blowing. "How's your power been going? Practicing at all?" Easily, she thought of Richard huffing and puffing in that old barn, worn right out.
#20
"His impacts are nearly as creative as he is," Richard concluded, sighing through a laugh. But well... "I have been! I think I'm getting better at knowing my limits, if nothing else. Means I can stretch them, I hope. I met with Ariadne on chance a while ago. I didn't have any luck moving her any more than I moved you, but I am certainly getting confident about ending up where I want to be."

Which was hard to be upset about! Things could go much worse if he got literally lost.
#21
Creative impacts. It reminded her all over again that Ted, the lucky or unlucky man, was the artist of the house. She wanted to see what sort of stuff he made. For now, she was tugging her focus back to Richard, smiling as she listened to him. He'd dabbled enough to find some sort of solid shape to his power, to know the size of the room that he was living in. Little baby steps. She beamed at him.

"What do you think the farthest you can go is? Where would you go, if you could?" What were the limits, she wondered more, but Richard didn't have the answer to that. She wondered if anyone did. Wondered if Richard could get to a point where he would never have to pay airfare again.
#22
"I've made it across town before! From here to IKEA. I've just found... well, if I go too far, even just that far, I tend to suffer for it. It's very... cold? I don't know how to explain what happens, but I lose time and sense somewhere in the middle." But he let himself smile about it because it had yet to kill him or even really suffer long for it. "But if I could go anywhere... hmm... Well, problem is I would always inevitably want company. No point in going to New Zealand if I'm just going to see it all by my lonesome."

Too much a people person to think solo adventuring was ideal!
#23
Across town! Wow! Minnie found some permission to smile even through his mention of having to suffer for it. Getting cold, getting lost. Like losing pieces of his consciousness somewhere over the time and space that he'd cheated his way out of. His answer was a profound one, too, in a way - Richard could go just about anywhere, no real destination to desire perhaps, but he just wanted someone to go with him. Minnie could understand that. Sure, there was beauty in a field of flowers or a giant painting, but it was better still when you had another person to share it with.

"Well, it sounds like you're really going to have to work on learning to ship people around with you," she decided smilingly. "Gosh, Richard, you could travel to the arctic circle if you wanted to. Just make a bunch of pit stops on the way!"
#24
Sounded like it, indeed. And so he would. (Later, specifically, in another thread, at that!) But it was nice to have Minnie here to encourage--and build enthusiasm!

"Now there's an idea. I wonder how long it would take me to get the muster needed for such an expedition!" Then the word triggered some thought and he stood there for only a moment as his eyes went wide with a realization. "I wonder what my... upwards limit it. I mean, truly upwards! Could I arrive on the top of Mount Everest if I made the journey to the base first, do you think?"

What a thought he'd never considered until exactly this moment! Minerva!
#25
It would be an expedition. And so would Mount Everest. Minnie's eyes went wide, and would have glittered if they could, for the idea. All logistics aside? Pure magic thought? "I bet you could," she crowed earnestly, clasping her hands together as if they were baking up an actual plan. "It's less than six miles tall. You could make the summit without losing your breath!" But boy. Wouldn't it be really cold up there! She laughed for the idea all the same.
#26
"Six miles would be easy!" he agreed, alight with an idea he almost certainly would never get close to acting on. But what and idea! "Though I suppose getting to Nepal itself would be a bit of an ordeal... perhaps I start off with local mountains." Which he sort of had, showing up on trails and whatnot. Though he was thinking more of actual peaks here. "I could get pictures from all the Colorado high points and astonish my friends."
#27
Getting to Nepal could be an ordeal indeed, but oh, all the teleporting he could do to get there. Minnie was thinking very hard about logistics, or bodies of water, or anything like that. She was just imagining Richard materializing out of cool air under strings of lights and prayer flags.

"Oh! You need to go to Belfry's Peak!" she piped immediately, hands slapping together in an earnest clasp. "I hiked it once a few years ago with my mom. It's gorgeous. Definitely a butt-kicker to hike, though, so teleporting is totally not a bad idea."
#28
"I think I'm going to do it. But I'll go in something other than my pajamas. I have ended up on mountain trails in my slippers too many times already, and I've found I don't enjoy it as much as you might think."

He leaned toward her just a bit. "If I get to where I can take friends, perhaps you'd like to join me."
#29
Maybe teleporting to the top of a mountain was kind of... cheating. Oh, naw. Minnie didn't like to think of it like that. Magic was magic. You were supposed to use it for fun, if you could, right? She grinned at him, both tickled and a little horrified for the idea of poor Richard meandering some dark trail in silk pajamas. With or without his glasses, she wondered! It made her think of her own early days, metal objects gravitating to her like lost children. Powers flexing in the middle of sleep. How curious.

His offer earned a delighted laugh. Not that anything was funny, but it simply filled her with joy. To think she could also experience teleporting, to the top of a mountain no less. "Yes!" she gasped, eyes practically glowing. "I would freakin' love that!"
#30
For her, then. He simply had to figure it out. He wanted to be reliable for people like her as much as for himself.

"Then we will freaking do it," he said, all straight white teeth in his smile. "I still have your pretty metal flower, you know. I keep it in my car."
#31
It was sort of hilarious to hear Richard use the term "freaking." Not like it was any easier to imagine him actually cussing, of course. Still, it added to her overall glee, and she giggled anew, quieting just to listen to him. He still had the flower she'd made for him from a pitchfork, and she beamed in adoration. It made her feel closer to him, to know he had something in his vehicle that would remind him of her.

"Awww, I'm so glad," she crooned, and then was struck with a reminder, on the topic of turning pitchforks into flowers. "Oh. Richard. I didn't think about it until it was too late, but I turned one of your game horseshoes into a lightning bolt for another guest." Her smile turned sheepish. "I'm sorry, I didn't even think about it until it was too late. But I can get you a whole bunch more, my mom has a bunch of horses. And, you know, horseshoes."
#32
She was sincerely darling, and he did hope she got along with people like Grace and Rika because his short list certainly included Minnie.

As for the rest, he had a moment of 'oh dear' when she started in apologetically, but it didn't have much time to build before he felt laughable relief. He put his hand to her shoulder, a little jostle there.

"My goodness, Minerva, stealing horseshoes from old men who trusted you. What a criminal behavior this is." But he could not act so well as to be convincing, and didn't meant to be anyway. "I am only glad you found the means to show your skills! But if you insist on coming back here some day to deliver horseshoes to me, I will welcome the visit."
#33
Minerva was often gullible, the sort of thing a person only realizes every time they've been tricked, but Richard did a good job of making his teasing clear. Her sheepish grin grew further, her heart warming for his praise and kindness. Richard was a fabulously unique person. Generous and kind, with a good sense of humor, a penchant for deep thought. She felt a ping of gratitude for having met him.

"Well then, it shall be done," she declared, both genuine and playful, already picturing herself toddling up to the front door with a box full of horseshoes. What they would do with that many, she had no idea, but it was a funny thought all the same.
#34
"You do make dreams come true, Minvera," he praised quite ridiculously but without any sense of irony. "Now come here, I want to show you my favorite part of the garden personally."
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