2019-09-20 - Three Spiritualists

It's balmy end to summer, with the Equinox fast approaching and the days growing shorter and shorter. Branch & Bole's summer hours will end on Monday on the dot, but for now, they're still open on the summer schedule. Except for today, when August closed early, at 5pm, and sent everyone packing. This way the three have the outdoor patio, with its collection of plants along a winding path of crushed shell, rock, and brick.

August isn't the sort to just stand still while he talks, so he's texted Erin and Lilith to let them know the side entrance (which leads through the front display garden) is still unlocked, and now he's puttering about, watering this and that, cleaning, rearranging. He's feeling oddly on edge (or maybe that's not so odd, consdering what he has planned soon), and needs to keep himself busy as a result. He's in a simple heather gray Henley, denim jeans, and heavy work boots. He's ditched his garden hat, since the sun's heading for the horizon.

This is one of the businesses in town Erin has never visited before. Once she pulls up outside though, she puts her car in park and gets out before remotely setting the alarm. Not that she expects trouble here, but just in case and all. She uses the side entrance and meanders her way through the patio. "Hey," she calls out, not loudly but enough to be heard over water. "It's Erin, I made it." Not a woman of many words during the best of times, but then again this isn't the best of times. Finally she comes to him and smiles. "You have a nice place here."

Lilith contacted Erin and August about meeting up to do some planning between them and general people-like-us chat when it comes to abilities and powers and exorcism potential. And comfort levels. Those are important too. So after some text finangling, here they are. She's just pulling up about the same time Erin is to start for the indicated side door leading in, getting out of the shiny new pearl white Acura RDX she recently got to replace her wrecked mess from summer's incident.

The brunette is in a pair of dark fitted skinny jeans paired with black ankle boots and a light, forearm-cuffed inky blouse with buttons that's tucked in with that stylish effortless look. The woman has cosmetics on today because she's taken the time to hide the bruising leading into her scalp there on the temple, and hair helps with that, but she had to match the rest of the face. She seems to like smoked out eyeliner when she makes an effort and it's kind of nice at intensifying the blue of her eyes. Not that the woman needs more intensity about her in any regard.

Coming in close behind in the side door, she greets Erin on the way in with a light smile of fondness, "Hey you. Good timing." And then on striding in, she tells August with announcing greeting, "Your air smells so much better than Elm." Obviously. But clearly, Lilith is glad to be out in it this early evening.

August glances up from giving the potted maples a ration of water. "Hey you two." He nods at a small, stone-mosaic and wrought iron patio table, with matching chairs. "Can have a seat there if you want. I've got tea, water, coffee, and pear cider back in the office."

He goes to shut off the hose and wash his hands at a small sink next to a display of air plants. As he does that, he says to Erin, "Thanks--I lucked out, a lot of people turned this spot down since there's a greenbelt out back. Means they can't fully develop the lot." He smiles, brief and sincere, arches an eyebrow at Lilith. "Something going on around Elm? Someone burning plastic again? That's always the worst."

"Very good timing. This place seems pretty amazing. I wonder why I've never been here before. Oh because I lived in an apartment. Now I get to do landscaping and planting and all. If I ever learn how." Erin follows along the more experienced visitor and smiles as they come to August. "I like it here, maybe you could show me some tricks on what is good to grow in this area." She goes where led and is absolutely unable to refuse the, "Pear cider please. That sounds so good. Thank you."

"Well. Actually. A drunk gang of trailer park kids pissed in the alley and by my dumpster back where I park behind the shop, and my shop office has a particular leftover aroma I can still smell too as of yesterday, so basically... my nose needed a break. I think I'm immune to the plastic burning smell, though, at this point. We used to make fires out of all kinds of things because we were heathens with no real supervision and they were fun to stomp out." Then Lilith pauses for a beat and squints on her way walking over to pull out a chair at the indicated patio table, "Actually come to think about it, I wasn't always just a little tinkerer, I was always a bit of a firebug too for kicks, go figure. Funny what you notice in retrospect."

"Pear cider sounds amazing, though, thank you." While settling down and letting the man finish settling up with a gracious slant of smile for the drink offer and subsequent fetching, Lilith looks at Erin curiously, "Where did you move to?"

"I'd be happy to. We carry plenty of native plants, and," a nod at the Japanese maples, fiery red in their pots, "stuff which isn't native but grows well. Can outfit an apartment as easily as a house. Thoma was even thinking of offering classes the coming Spring."

Wincing, he says to Lilith, "My nose would need a break too after that." Thenb he nods, says, "Pear ciders, be right back," and disappears inside the building. He's back a couple minutes later with three long-neck, dark green bottles. It's a local bottling out of Hoquaim, to go by the label. "I trade her for this stuff, so I don't have to pay a fortune." He sets a bottle in front of each of them, settles himself with one in one of the chairs. "So." He bobs his eyebrows, looks between the two of them. "How are you feeling about it."

"I moved to Bayside Drive, it's still near the apartments but there's a house I fell in love with. The backyard is good sized and just asking for some landscaping. It's not a huge house, but it suits me I think. I'm very happy with it." Settled also, she takes a look at the maples indicated. "Those are beautiful." She nods to Lilith. "Maybe it will rain a lot and wash away the stench of it. That's awful."

Accepting the drink she smiles once she has it in hand. "I've never even heard of it before. Do you sell it out of the store too or do you just trade for yourself to have it?" Then comes the question and she smiles. "I am ready. I wasn't but now I am. I'm confident we'll do this. We have to, there's no options."

"The Bayside houses have nice views too, a lot of them. And some of the smaller ones are charming in the way they're built. I always liked to walk down that road the long way on the way to or from Tobin's house, growing up." Lilith takes the bottle to examine for an appreciative moment, nodding her approval at August's next town drank-hustle he's got going on before taking a drink. She makes a noise of general delight in her throat for the taste, then looks pointedly at Erin with the question of readiness, letting her answer first and foremost. After the other woman has answered, her chin tips with a hint of pride and a forward nod of approving at the solid response, lips pulling up a touch.

"Good. We should figure some things out in regards to who else is going as backup to the exorcism between August and I. It's generally up to us to decide, though I think the others have their preferences for different reasons, probably largely dependent on what they do or don't know about our demeanor and capabilities. Ultimately, though, I'd like to leave it up to Erin, as her confidence level is paramount in this."

Lilith pulls in a breath and offers with a smile slightly over August's way in that kind of 'same shitty boat' situational willingness comraderie way, "That said, August and I both have strengths and weaknesses, I think. So we should consider them and what the strategy might be in the worst case scenario. And no, Byron is not going to stop me if it's decided I'm going, unless he gets a wild stubborn hair when it gets closer to time. We've talked and he knows I'm meeting with you two for us to hash this out and plan."

She pauses for a drink, carrying on with her little informative speech of prelude, "My general assessment which... August can correct me, but the way I tend to see it, there's balance in our differences. I'm more powerful in a raw form. August is more steady and has other abilities. I'm more destructive. He's more tactical. We both have... healing anxiety, however. Which... I mean, that's just what it is for us to get over when the time comes. We both know how to control a moment for ill or better, though, with will, I believe, and push your power. We're both willing to do this because it needs done. Neither of us will be offended if you lean one way or another. As I said, your comfort is paramount, Erin."

"But that said... we should also consider... are we also going to be healing others or fighting a damned ghost with violence when it starts to come out? That's... hard to know. And that said, even if I blow a spark of life into someone downed, can they get back up and continue? Are we going to actually end up playing defense, or will we be throwing offense just as much? I don't know if there's a way to plan for that. So. Opinions? Thoughts?"

"She's right, soon as the rain hits, smells won't hold. Which," August peers overhead in that classic Pacific Northwest native manner, "will be any day now." He squints, shakes his head. Apologetically, he tells Erin, "I just trade for it. I can give you the name of the shop, though, if you happen to drive over there at all. It's the store for their brewery, they also make a few craft ales."

He falls quiet as Lilith talks, nodding in agreement now and again. Eventually, he says, "For what it's worth, I agree with you." He looks to Erin. "We both have our hangups on healing." A shrug for that. "That just is what it is. It's not something that's going to get solved in the next couple of days. For the rest, it does come down to what we think we'll need." His gaze shifts out over the outdoor garden. "I know we need Thomas to live. So whatever someone does, it can't involve injuring him--or any injuries he takes, they have to be healed. There's no exceptions there." He pauses, makes a face. "People like Itzhak can stop someone like us from making fire. I can do that too, but," he glances from Erin to Lilith, "I don't think I've heard anyone say Thomas knows how to do that. So that might not be important." Another pause, and a frown. "Thomas, or, Billy, since it could easily be Billy who's using the abilities."

"That's it. I live in a bigger one right next door to Tobin. He brought me cookies the other day. His mothers recipe. I thought it only fair he stay for dinner. It was nice, we had fun just talking about things from before. I don't even remember everything we spoke of, but I do remember having a good time. I haven't talk to him that much since I was a kid and he was trying to go hang with the older ones his age."

Erin wears a smile at the memories. "Sometimes I forget to just sit back and remember things from the past. Being a kid here was great."

Time for seriousness though and she nods as she listens. "Either could go, the other could possibly wait outside and be called in if necessary? It never hurts to have more healers around when necessary. Between the two of you, who do you each think would be better for this particular circumstance?"

"Mm. The deciding consideration can be... Itzhak, I believe. August, would you feel more inclined to go because he's there and you're well-acquainted, I gather? Not that I wouldn't do what needs doing for him. If he falls down, I'll blow the same spark of life into him as I would another. Can you do that too? It's not like healing. I kind of like doing it. It's like... stabbing an adrenaline needle in someone without the needle or giving them a flare of my spark. It's hard to explain." Lilith considers for a moment while eyeing August, seeming pleased they're all pretty well on the same page already and thinking in terms of ease and general rationality terms. Then she decides after a drink...

"We could always flip a coin and let fate decide too. Might die, then no one's to blame but the coin, eh?" Morbid and dry bit of humor there on Lilith's part as she lifts the bottle up to smile around a bit with another quick drink of cider. Sometimes you just need it because it's the way of things.

August shifts in his seat. "I won't lie--I like the idea of being there for him. I know it's hard on him, and he's anxious. But," he looks from Lilith to Erin, "that doesn't take precedence over what would make you more comfortable, or what would work better." He considers Lilith's question of reviving people, shakes his head. "No--though, if you can, I should be able to...get myself to that point." He raises his eyebrows. "Sort of like we were planning to do with Erin in the first place."

He considers the idea of a coin, expression distant. Does he want to leave it to fate? He's not sure. He looks askance at Lilith. "Like either of us would be to blame. I wouldn't be letting anyone blame you if it was me, and I'd be damned sure to hang around and haunt so everyone knew that." He thinks back to her comment about Byron, adds, "He doesn't get to tell you what to not risk your life for. I know how he feels, and it's reasonable for him to tell you how he feels, but it's not his decision. It's yours." A small shrug. "Ours, I guess."

"Maybe he will be more confident with you there too. I don't know him so well. I'm not sure how much my cousin and him know each other either. He may feel more secure if you are there for him. The familiar." Erin offers softly to August. "As for me, I have no preference between you both. If I could do it alone, I would. The less people at risk the better. I don't want to endanger anyone."

Finally, she lifts the pear cider for a drink and closes her eyes briefly before opening them. "Where has this been all my life? I want cases of it. Cases. You know, for my housewarming party after we all live through this."

Lilith sits for a moment before tipping her head with understanding on a couple of fronts to August, then she tilts her head a bit while listening to Erin. After a few passing heartbeats, she looks down at her legs and crosses one over the other, the tip of her boot bouncing around a few times. After nodding her head a couple of times and weighing a few things quite visibly, she sits back at more of a lounge in her seat and cheers the bottle with reaching gesture over the man's way before looking at Erin.

The woman has apparently taken control and decided after doing all the back and forth and weighing and listening to opinions, "I think it should be August, then. It's of benefit to Erin and Itzhak, who is risking just as much without the blood ties, at that. But here's the thing. I can wait outside the area just in case it's worse than people suspect and the second something starts going wrong, I could enter with a call from Ruiz, August, or Minerva. As long as it doesn't break the circle or anything strange and occult-like."

Then she chuckles a little bit before draining the rest of her bottle of cider and setting it aside on the patio table, "And I don't have to worry about a pissy Byron." That's probably not an actual factor in this, but it might be a benefit.

August nods at Erin, looks down at the table and traces the shape of a tile. "I know that feeling," he murmurs. Oh, does he. The constant concern of people being sucked into the Veil with him because he's using the Gift just a little too much sits in the back of his mind; he can only imagine how Erin (and Alexander, and Hyacinth, and Isabellam and Rebecca) must feel, considering everything the Ghoul has done.

He thinks over what Lilith says, coughs a laugh at the comment about Byron. "That's true. And..." He squints, thoughtful, nods, "I know you probably can't reach out to me, with," he reaches up and taps at his temple, "but I should be able to reach you, if you're nearby. And I could show you what's going on; I don't know that you could say anything to me? But it would let you see, and act." He smiles, rueful. "Byron could link up with any of us in there, but I get the feeling he won't want to." He chases that with a bob of his eyebrows.

He sips from his cider. "I'll get you her business card," he says to Erin. Licking his lips, he continues, "Do you want to practice right now? I mean," he looks askance at Lilith, "with me empowering you."

"Agreed. August if you feel you want to do it, you drew the short straw." While Erin wants to offer a look of apology, she smiles at him instead. "All I want to know, besides if you will do it, is what you expect from me. I don't want to have any short comings or be lacking anywhere and I want to be prepared for everything."

The drink is sipped as she listens to the mental links and connections. "That is something I have never done before. I don't even know how that works at all. Hopefully it's not something Gohl would be aware of but he knows everything Thomas knows at all times. And Thomas knows what Grandmother is capable of."

"You could? I would be open to... okay, let's be fair here, I don't know how to do anything, apparently my brain is fine with receiving mental knocks and listening to things people want to tell me. And that's all I need in this situation. Byron definitely won't want to mind-bond to someone, if I had to guess, though I suppose his general want to know might kick in." Lilith says to August with a tilt of her head before considering quite visibly and nodding a few times, her mascara-lashes batting twice before she admits with a somewhat humored half-smile, "I was kind of high, I bet that made it easy, huh. Or a little swirly."

Then when August brings up practice, the brunette seems keen with a nod and look at Erin, her features sobering some with mention of Margaret Addington. After a moment, she speaks a bit slowly, "... that's true. I wonder what she can actually do from afar to try to thwart anything, if she's inclined. I guess we just have to hope for the best and expect the worst when it comes to her and suspect any outside interference of strangeness... might be her retaliating. Which might... be another good reason for me to be on standby." Her lips press into a flat line and she doesn't detail what kind of running plan to thwart back might be in the worst case scenario, but if anyone was ever going to reach out and wreck someone's shit for trying to interfere from afar... well. This is probably the gal.

After a dismissive moment, though, she shakes her head and rakes a hand back through her hair to gesture between the pair of the other two, "I'd like to see. I like watching others. Everyone goes about this a little differently, things might come across or feel different too, I'm not sure. Accustomed is good, though, and can only lead to more readiness."

August blinks at the mention of 'Grandmother'. He had, in all of this, entirely forgotten Margaret was a going concern. "Ah, right--what can she do? I mean," another look between the two of them, "have you ever gauged her before? Because if she's as powerful as any of us, she can do a whole lot from outside the ritual area." He doesn't say, but is maybe obviously thinking, 'like Billy was doing with Thomas' powers'.

An emphatic nod for Lilith. "Yeah, if Margaret Addington might be out there, we need to make sure you're handy. If nothing else to maybe stop her, or help defend against her." On the subject of the actual use of mental speech, he says, "You have to agree to let someone speak to you. That's why there's always a bit before you hear or see much. So you can always kick someone back out." He smirks. "I know you were a bit high on the best pain meds the hospital could offer, but I'll probably seem familiar next time."

He tilts his head at Erin. "I use the same skill I use to gauge someone to empower them. It's part of the same ability, for me. Have you done that before? Read someone's Gifts?"

"I don't know what she is capable of, but I know there have been inexplicable things. Do you remember the theater night? What happened then? We went into the dream. When we came out, I couldn't find my grandmother or my uncle. When I finally found them, she said that my uncle wasn't feeling well so they left early. When I am not allowed to ask questions, she uses a tone with me. I have to listen."

Erin shakes her head. "Please don't mention that to anyone outside our group that doesn't need to know. Sometimes I am afraid of her, sometimes I feel like she loves me. Other times.. I have no idea." She lets them discuss for the moment.

Lilith makes a hum of noise in her throat in regards to what Erin says about her grandmother after a little grin about 'drugs' over August's way, then nods a little bit, admitting to the pair after a moment, "When Byron was attacked, I was making steps to be able to possibly lash out and trace back to the source in the event I was present or attacked myself. I'd never seen Thomas, that I can recall, but I have seen the old lady, not that I ever looked real hard at her in passing here and there. Because of that, though..."

The woman makes a little roll at the wrist gesture, "I had Byron send me mental imagery and general mood and demeanor uh. Imagery from a meeting or whatever to help me focus on certain things when I'm reaching, if I'm ever in a way where I need to reach out and give either of them... well. We don't know what's going on or what's going to happen, that hasn't really changed despite what we think we know. There's still a lot up in the air. So I prepared myself to be... efficient where I can be in that regard, or at least give me some tricks to hang onto if I ever have to try."

Here, she pauses, in case either of them are interested in knowing her thought processes for it, because hell, she likes to know these things, how the others like her work, "I know, for instance, that my father was a drunk and his structure and body was familiar, so Thomas will have similar blood and organ chemistry from constant lifelong exposure." Lilith's shoulders hitch a little here, despite the drop of her lashes when she goes mentioning her father who is no longer since the Hanging Bridge incident this summer, "Little things like that to help trace with."

Then, speaking of working, she looks between August and Erin, "But I derailed, please you two, do your readiness and familiarity test prep here, I'm curious to watch."

August's expression tightens at Erin's description, more with sympathy than anger, though there's a bit of the later too. Still, he promises, "I won't," and meets her eyes when he says that.

He sighs, runs a hand over his face. "It's dangerous, checking someone who you don't trust. If you don't have a light touch," another sympathetic look, because boy does August not have that, "they'll notice, and someone who's powerful can get incredibly pissed off about that sort of thing." His mouth flattens. He clearly puts Margaret Addington into that particular category.

He makes a low sound at the mention of trying to trace the attacks, flicks a glance of sympathy at the mention of her father. It's something he's wondered--could they find someone that way? Trace power used at a distance to its source? He grimaces, says, "Definitely stay on call, then."

"Okay, so. First, empowering you." He looks around them at the contents of the patio. "Second." He gets up, goes and pulls a pair of silicles off a silver dollar plant that's ready to go to seed. He offers one to Erin, sits back down in his chair with the other. "I have two ways of doing it. The other way I use for...people I'm closer to." He gives her a look that borders on embarassed. Not quite. He's not a blusher, a fact for which he is in this moment eternally grateful. "And this way."

He sits, palm open, with the glossy, ivory-colored silicle in his hand. Under his breath, he says, "To see the world in a grain of sand." He closes his hand over the seed pod, grips it tightly. The one he's offered to Erin cracks apart, casing and seeds and all, collapses into a hundred little fragments, and a jolt lands somewhere right in the small of her back, straight up her spine.

There are mixed emotions that cross her features at the mention of harming her Grandmother in any capacity. But she knows there are so many unanswered questions that have no explanation. "Just be sure please, before you do anything." It's all she asks in regards to it.

Erin faces August and slides the bottle aside for the moment, a belated thought. "Thank you, I would love her card. I got distracted. And thank you for agreeing about the other." Her grandmother. She meets his eyes and then lowers them. "I think she is dangerous in some way, I just can't really place it.

With a couple of deep breaths, she frowns when a thought enters her head. Shaking her head, Erin reaches for what he offers, resting it in her palm and looking down at it, closely. "You could kiss me, you know." But the smile she wears when she lifts her head completely belies that offer to show the more teasing side of her nature. Which isn't as often seen.

Her own rests in her hand and she focuses more on it. To hear him, she hears a poem she'd learned so long ago. "And heaven in a wild flower." It was something she knew and was immediately comforted by it, a light smile playing over her lips, perhaps a carefree memory brushing through a vague part of her mind. Watching the transformation, she straightens with a gasp, hand cradling the fragments in her cupped palm.

Lilith lapses into quiet after all that talking prior to look at the exchange between August and Erin. Her legs uncross and she sits up a bit straighter in the chair, leaning with a forearm against the patio table while opposing arm's fingertips play over the cuff buttoning there against her skin. Then she tilts her head a touch to merely focus on what's being done, the way it differs from her way of will forcing a moment one way or another. It's an entirely different spoken example than her own using the lethality of a bullet and what can be done with a fraction of an inch.

Really, it's quite beautiful and there for a moment. There's a beat where she visibly relishes the shine because she knows what that moment has now become. And she feels pretty sure in her decision to go with August for both Itzhak and the softer side of Erin that can be used to bolster just as much as any intense lectures about will and redirecting fury into power over abilities. A slight smile plays at her lips, vaguely softening her expression in nigh girlish fashioning, her silence kept.

Now August is extra glad he's not a blusher. Sitting there with a crushed seed pod in his hand, he says, "It's more, ah, methaphysical than that," he says, carefully, like this is a phrasing which might actually break if mishandled. He laughs a little at the teasing, and assures her, "I really couldn't, though." A lift of his eyebrows, and a sly, sideways glance to Lilith. "My virtue's spoken for."

He sits back, shakes himself out. Empowering someone is a little bit of a high. He glances at Lilith. "She look different?" He's hoping for a second opinion.

"Hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour." Those thoughts, so sentimental to Erin that if she just closes her eyes and breathes in, she can feel the soft breeze on her cheeks, ruffling through her hair and dancing in the leaves of the tree above her head. The majestic beauty surrounded her. This was a memory she had forgotten and it was teasing the edges of her consciousness. The voice recites the poem again and a small little girl dances as she tries to echo the word for word in her childish voice. Right there, on that high, Erin opens her eyes again and that glow that she had witnessed in Lilith before could perhaps be seen in her now.

All teasing aside now, she holds on to that almost thought while her hand cups the fractured parts of the silicle.

Lilith sits up straight from her lean in hand and shifts her gaze from August to Erin, tilting her head toward the man with a moment of consideration before her eyes re-focus. They haze and glass a bit while she looks at Erin flaring up with her own shine, and while that's happening, she takes a moment to not just look at what shimmers, but the root and core of what's within in that way her eyes allow her to see it. It's a little different than she senses her own, but she can weigh and color code them the same and in a sense, she can even feel the tether that August has lent, she's looking so deeply into a certain piece of Erin's being, where the abilities spring from.

After a few bats of her lashes, she tips her head forward into nod, a vague smile playing at her lips, "She's fireworks right now with a halo of the piece you pushed." Then she pauses and can't help but to rib the man after Erin's suggestion, "Honestly, I'd love to see you in there giving kisses for luck. Itzhak could channel all that readiness to catfight into Gohl and one-man him."

August coughs a laugh, has to look away for a second. "I'm pretty sure that would get me punched by at least Ruiz, he'd have to settle for a handshake." He bobs his eyebrows, grins. "But I do something like this for luck too." He sighs, looks down at the fragments of the seed pod in his hand. He gentlybrushes them off onto the ground. Waste not, want not. "I was thinking I might do that for them as well. I figure, in for a penny. They're coming for me either way, soon I imagine. So." He looks to Erin. "Might as well give you guys everything I can."

He nods at Lilith's description, satisfied. His grin becomes wry, and he tells Erin, "I can only think of one thing to really test it, and I'd rather you not throw any fire. I guess you could see if you can float one in your hand, though."

"I think maybe Hyacinth may take exception to a sudden unsolicited kiss too." Erin smiles warmly. "Thank you August. I know we don't really know each other so well, and yet you are doing this for me. For all of us. I do appreciate it very much."

With a smile to Lilith, Erin holds up the pieces in her hand before placing them in a little pile on the table. "It feels like dandelion pieces that should be blown in the wind." A whimsical thought, she laughs softly before giving her attention back to August.

"Make fire in my hand?" There's a positively impish smile. "Have you heard the song by Talking Heads?" Burning Down the House. Still, she has no reservations in trying it. Especially feeling as she is right now. She holds out her hand and where the little shards just were, she concentrates there, holding in that fragment of a memory.

"Speed up the air around you, all those tiny pieces, fire them up, just like you do with something solid. It's in the air, too, it's just so delicate and hard to reach if you're not accustomed or powerful enough. Remember the way I looked with the heat and fire coming out that I didn't let go of? It was all air that I made into tiny powderkegs, speed and blaze." Lilith doesn't mention that she had trouble putting that fire away, though, when she did the demonstration for Erin. Instead she just recalls the moment and breaks it down to the tiniest pieces and imagery to suit and match.

While seated upright still, Lilith looks a bit fascinated to see Erin focusing and exerting will in a way that... really, she's only seen herself produce effect from. She knows what it feels like and how it feels to harness it all and force it outward after this step is done and oh, suddenly she's burning herself and wants that, an urge sparked out of the blue to feel destruction again. Gradually, the woman eases out of hyperattentive state that the creeping burn caused, leaning back in her chair to just breathe a tick before voicing noise of approval once Erin has the spark going from her focus.

August thinks of how Hyacinth responded to one of his texts. His mouth flattens. "I wouldn't be so sure about that," he says to Erin with a rueful smile. He sobers, nods. "And thank you, for putting your faith in me. It means a lot, considering." Considering what they're up against, what's come before, what they still have to face, what the have to sacrifice.

"You can, if you want. Scatter them, I mean. I don't mind finding upstarts on the grounds, I just move 'em and sell 'em." He shrugs about that. Plant companies hate people like him, but he's small potatoes. They can't track everyone. "I can stop you if it gets out of control," he says, more to reassure her than anything else. He looks askance at Lilith. "So if you ever need that, ask one of the people who can work with matter. I think some call them 'mover's? They can interrupt the fire." Did he notice Lilith's reaction? Maybe. And well, it's not like he doesn't know what it's like to be driven by reactions you can't always control.

Creating a fire and not having a handle on it was what scared her but with their reassurances, Erin tries to will together the emotions. With a more serene smile she lifts her hand and reaches for those upstarts on the table to sprinkle back into her hand. Once they are in her palm she uses her other hand to swirl them around, but mostly it's her hand moving and the slight wind from it blows a few pieces over and around in her hand. A long blink and she opens her eyes, lowering her free hand. She wills there to be a flame and soon there is a tiny orb in her hand that dances there and glows a soft orange. Erin looks somewhat afraid of it though as she tries to remember how to put it out. A brief look to Augustus "Can you put it out? Please?" But by the time she asks it, it dissipates as if it had never been there. She laughs, "That was incredible!"

"It's even better when you blow stuff up that needs blown up." Lilith tells Erin, not that she's condoning this pasttime or anything. There's a bit of a rueful smile over August's way with the suggestion, though... it does give her a moment of pause and consideration there with blinking bat of lashes, "I didn't realize that. I don't think it's ever come up or been mentioned. That's... good to know."

Lilith rises up after checking the time on her phone, saying, "I've got construction workers in my office putting a new ceiling in because I brought mine down in a tantrum after... well. There's something else to talk about that happened to me, but I don't think it's worth going into tonight. I'll tell each of you separately or at another time."

The brunette woman's head shakes a little bit then, and a hand rakes back through her hair in tousle once she's there by her chair, torn before she mentions uneasily, "Just be careful healing people. It's something that needs done that we always weigh for our own reasons, but... I think I'm attracting something by being too strong when I do it or... because I fanned my power out at range to power heal Alexander, I'm not entirely sure. But... we have enough grim things to think about right now to go into that. It's the kind of talk that needs a stiff drink."

Lilith is good at leaving pleasantly, isn't she?

August watches the fire with fascination. He has a difficult relationship with fire--as a forester, as a person who works with plants, as someone from a war zone. But in Erin's hands it's a thing of light and life as much as it is one of consumption. Then it's gone, and he sits up, nods. "You can just turn it off yourself, and as long as it hasn't caught on something, it'll die. But, when I interrupt it? It has to also not have caught something on fire. Same idea--it's the Gift I'm shorting out, not the fire itself."

He stands as Lilith gets up, blinks about her ceiling. The bit about 'attracting' something makes him grimace. "Yeah, I had a...similar situation recently." He looks away, shakes his head. "It is what it is," he says in simple agreement.

He glances at Erin, nods at the gate. "I'll see you to your car." Not like they're in some rough part of town, nor that Erin can't protect herself, but Thomas and the Ghoul are still at large. In a sense.

"I know I have so much to learn still but I am determined to learn it." Erin smiles between August and Lilith, laughing softly at the imagery of Hya and August being awkward. Just like imagining the ceiling in her office because she exploded it. Which is a lot more scary since she's seen Lilith in action before. "I will be careful, I promise. I won't be taking any unnecessary risks."

Hearing the information from August she nods as she commits it to memory. "Probably the shadows." But like the others she doesn't expound further. Getting to her feet she smiles between the two. "Thank you both. For the training and for everything." Accepting the offer she smiles. "Thank you, I would appreciate that very much." With the offer made, she waits for the time he is ready. "Have a good night Lilith, I'll see you soon."