(1109) Qadesh, Leo Rex, Hephaestus

Qadesh blinked once at the awkward, limping man, but then his smile returned.

"Nice to meet you Hephaestus. I'm Qadesh and this is Leo Rex."

The Asian man joined the other two at the table and set his books to one side.

"I haven't seen either of you around before. Did you just arrive in Sacramento?

Leo Rex smiles briefly, though careful scrutiny would reveal that it is, in some part, fake. He didn't enjoy hubristic shadow names; naming oneself after a deity is a poor, poor choice. The man obviously has no teaching in the Arcana of Life, or else that lame leg of his would have been healed, unless he enjoys the whole theme of his Shadow Name. he mused to himself. Glancing over to the new arrival, his grin became more genuine. Another quite stunning young lady. Sacramento is starting to become a lovely city indeed. It's just too bad they're American... Looking to Hephaestus and Qadesh, he lightly cleared his throat and spoke.

"Yes, actually. It was a rather dreadful series of flights from London." he says, hand closing around the stone handle of the ebon cane he had resting against his leg. The silver rungs spaced out evenly along the cane itself added a secret little hint about his Order, a feature he enjoyed. The status symbol, which also functioned as his magical tool, would have cost him quite the pretty penny, though he was able to talk the crafter's exorbitant prices down considerably.

"I am a scholar of sorts and would very much like to get in touch with like-minded individuals."

His sly insinuations would hopefully allude to his desire to meet with the rest of the Consilium.

"I noticed your reading material. Riveting works. I enjoyed them very much."

Turning to Hephaestus, his grin revealed a hint of forced pleasantries behind it. "What brings you to Sacramento, Hephaestus?"

Alexander listened quietly to Leo speaking. The head of his cane did not escape his notice, though his allusions to the Consilium did. Alexander was not the most politically interested individual in the world, so it was natural that an inanimate object's details would attract more attention than subtle references. The Moros wasn't the most talkative man in the world, at least when he was discussing vague topics. Mentioning a penchant for scholarship without making a reference to a more precise topic didn't inspire the man to ask further. It wasn't Leo's fault, it was just how Alexander was. When he was actively addressed however, he felt more comfortable responding.

"Local. Lived here my life so far, and I don't see that changing in the immediate future." He looked up and around at the well decorated building for a moment. The motion was minimal and more curious than wistful.

"It has not been all that long since it began to seem very different. A single change in perception, and a lifetime's experience goes up in smoke. Still, seeing beyond the superficial has been...enlightening. And yourself?" He looked at the Asian man who had invited him over. He had a few more questions for Leo, such as why a "scholar of sorts" had relocated so far. Or not so far. Perhaps he was skilled with Space's mysteries.

As he answered Hephaestus, Qadesh picked up a napkin and doodled on it with a pen, seeming absent minded about what he was doing.

"I'm up from San Francisco myself. I've been in Sacramento for a couple of months now, and I'm beginning to know my way around the town and the people. It's an interesting town to say the least, kinda wild. I worked for the government back in San Francisco and there was no one in my position here, so I was reassigned."

He flipped the napkin on the table, as if discarding it, but the other two can clearly see that the "doodles" were actually the High Speech glyphs for "Mastigos" and "Silver Ladder."

"How about you, Leo? You're a 'scholar of sorts?' That's so mysterious. Do you work for a library?"

He winced internally at how thick he was laying on the code words. Maybe it was time to get a private room.

Leo Rex looks to the glyphs and smiles softly, chuckling to himself. He lays his cane over his lap and laces his fingers together, leaning forward and resting his arms on the table. When he speaks, it's with softer volume.

"I study theology. I muse on the intricacies of Life and how the Spiritual world affects it." he says, the hint of a coy smile tugging on the corners of his mouth. "Recently, I've taken a delve into theology. It's riveting work. I'm particularly fascinated by the Old Testament, specifically the Book of Genesis and the bit about Jacob's Ladder."

That should be enough. he muses. If he can't piece that together, I'll just have to suggest we can speak where Sleeper ears cannot hear.

"Ahh, I see."

Qadesh paused for a moment, before continuing on to say, "I think maybe we should look into getting a private room where we can talk about .. business."

He looked up toward the front office and saw someone he recognized.

"Excuse me for a moment, I see a friend of mine. I'll be right back with a key for a room. You guys keep talking."

He got up and approached another blond mage who had just entered.

OOC

Qadesh exits to the main Meet and Greet thread.

Leo's eyes follow Qadesh as he walks over to the attractive enough young blonde who entered. He allowed a short chuckle.

It seems all the fuss about California has ample reason. This is quite the striking lot. he ponders, before looking to Hephaestus. Except for this one. I suppose every place has it's black sheep.

"Tell me, Hephaestus, he says, suddenly bored with the conversation. "What do you concern yourself with?"

Hephaestus wasn't quite sure what to make of Leo. On the one hand, his choice of double-speak was about as subtle as a freight train on fire, but that wasn't always a bad thing. Ambiguity was, after all, hardly on his list of favorite things. Still, he found himself pleased that the other mage had suggested obtaining a room away from the ears of Sleepers. If one was going to be blatant, one might as well go all the way after all. He made no move to demonstrate his own affiliations just yet. From what he understood of his Order, they were not well respected amongst the Atlantean Orders. Not that he disagreed entirely, honestly. The Free Council had down its fair share to earn a certain degree of disrespect. Still, the Order itself was more than salvageable. There were noble points to it, and Hephaestus hoped he would have a hand in curbing the more...unpolished tendencies they were often associated with. Now that Leo had turned onto a topic that Hephaestus could actually speak with some authority on (by definition, what he concerned himself with was what he was interested in), the tight-lipped Moros allowed a bit more speech than he had so far demonstrated.

"Applied sciences, mostly. Prototype alloying technologies at the moment." More than the moment, really. It had been much of his life for the past decade or so. He deliberately did not speak of his actual position as an instructor however. No need to give away too much. The nature of sympathetic magic was one he'd picked up on very quickly.

"Amongst new uses for generated materials as well. Microchips, sturdy armor for military vehicles, light-weight heat resistant coatings for NASA, not so long ago. Once there was an attempt at solidifying hydrogen at room temperature for superconductors. Wasn't fast enough on that last one however." Oddly, he wasn't bitter about that. He'd found himself cheating with magic when Sleeper scientists had pulled Silane out of their hats. While it needed pressure, it worked just fine without Supernal influence. The part of Hephaestus that agreed with Free Council beliefs had smiled when he'd heard.

Leo Rex listened to the mage for some time, showing general interest. If the man was following the pattern of showing his allegiances, then he had done so very obviously. Leo pulled the napkin Qadesh had written sigils on and flipped it over, pulling a pen from the inside pocket of his suit coat, writing two quick sigils for Moros and Free Council, sliding it across the table. He arched a brow, punctuating the sigils with the question mark of body language.

"That seems like terribly tedious work. I prefer involving myself outside of sciences. I'm too much a fan of the human interation." he says, small grin on his face.

Unless I'm much mistaken, which I'm often not, this man is a Libertine. he muses. What a shame. He seems so intelligent. The Silver Ladder could make good use of a man of his intelligence.

Interesting, that he would guess so accurately...Mind magic? No, more likely simple words. I speak of materials, so I am Moros? I speak of science and I am Free Council? Hephaestus narrowed his eyes slightly at the napkin, but did not direct the subtle disdain directly toward Leo. The stereotyping was both unfortunate and irritating. That it was correct, moreso. His pride felt a distinct twinge. Rather than responding to the napkin (the annoyance could be taken a variety of ways. The Moros' composure was sufficient that he wouldn't give away much), he went with the actual statements.

"Tedious? The interplay of materials and application to society is every bit as complicated and lively as organic interaction. Merely cleaner." It was true, he found. With the right knowledge, metals always behaved more or less the same way if you did things right. People were more unpredictable. Which was not to say that Hephaestus was anti-social, whatever it looked like. He merely found it more convenient to maximize working with elements that could be predicted more effectively. The fact that mages tended to be eccentric and willful, the perfect combination for unpredictability, made working with the Awakened even more of a wild card. Worth it in many ways however, if one was smart. He would still be working out the rudiments of magical theory had he not been taught the basics early on, to make no mention of the fascinating objects of supposedly supernal origin he'd encountered in the possession of others.

"But you say you're fond of working with human contact. Well enough, especially for a scholar of theology. You can tell much about a society by their beliefs. Have you focused your efforts into any specific sub-category?" A normal scholar did not focus on as wide a branch as "theology", of course. Much as Hephaestus' efforts were somewhat more heavily directed toward the alloying processes of different metals, his knowledge of metallurgy in general was solid but not all encompassing. He wondered if Leo was merely using the statement to cover his meanings from nearby Sleepers or if he actually did have some interest in normal theology. If the former, Leo could still answer under cover of conversation this way. If the latter...well, it was nice to see mages studying something other than Awakened magic. A wide pallet of talents was an immense treasure, one Hephaestus wished he had developed more himself.