Brick & Stone Company: Meeting the Moros Provost

[Vassagon]

There were times when a man had to remind himself what was important. You just had to get down to the earth and get your hands dirty. Toren was sure he would do that sometime, just not right now. Instead, one activity of his that relaxed him was heading to the local Brick & Stone Gallery, a location not far from Granite Park, to browse architectural materials they had available. He knew it to be pretty dead in the early afternoon. When he had worked for Borgnine & Gable he had come here quite regularly, sometimes for inspiration and other times to actually purchase materials. He spoke to the front clerk and asked if he would be able to have the main room for a half hour to meet with a client. The clerk told him it'd be fine, that he needed a break anyways, and said to ring for him when he had finished.

The client in question was actually the Moros Councilor, Joshua Morris ( Jmiland1 ), and their business was far more mysterious in nature than the commission of blueprints. He listened calmly to the sound of water against stone in the arrangement of rockfaces as he waited for the doomwalking council member.

[Joshua Morris]

It's not long before Joshua enters, hands in the pockets of his coat. He doesn't make his way to Toren straightaway; instead he takes a minute to finish taking in the installation, which had caught his eye from outside. After looking it over he nods, as though satisfied, or pleased.

The Arrow's shoes clack on the floor as he approaches the Provost. "Toren," he says, with another nod. "About time we had a talk, hm?"

[Vassagon]

Toren turns at Joshua's approach. He smiles and rubs his hands together as if warming himself. "Councilor Morris, glad you could make it. We have some privacy here so you may speak plainly. Even so, though, I don't suppose you could try that interesting trick of yours as extra precaution?" Referring to the dome of silence that was so useful at the Moros Meeting.

Toren looked relaxed, almost sobered by the abundance of minerals about them. Whether it was his training with the Matter Arcanum or his obsession with architecture, no one could say, but it seemed to imbue him with confidence and focus.

[Joshua Morris]

"Sure," Morris says, envisioning the spell in his mind and guiding it into a dome around the two men with a burst of mana. "Although would you mind...?" he adds, rolling his right index finger in a circle. "Give us a little extra Space?" He waits until he feels the ward fall into place around him before continuing. "And let's go ahead and make that one of your duties--any time we have a group meeting, make it a priority to put one in place just to keep things contained."

  Influence Sound, 1 suxx

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2012-03-03 20:53:38		Joshua rolls 6 to Influence Sound (Gno+Forces) (10 Again)		5, 2, 3, 6, 4, 9		1 success

[Vassagon]

"Ah, an excellent suggestion," agrees Toren as he focuses his attention on the spell he has used frequently in the past to guard his Sanctum.

  Unseen Guard, 5suxx

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2012-03-04 13:59:36		Toren rolls 7 to cast Ward Rote [Resolve+Occult+Space] (10 Again)		8, 8, 10, 1, 10, 3, 3, 6, 9		5 successes

As the spatial ward settles neatly over the area, Toren's body seems to shimmer and darken in its luster, the dim sounds of stones clattering and the creaking of floorboards. The presence of shielding is hovers saturated above them. "Ah, there we are," he says finally. "I'll be sure to fulfill that duty then from now on." He looks about him, admiring his own work before turning his attention back to the Councilor, wondering what more tasks he has for him.

[Joshua Morris]

But Joshua does not touch upon that; not yet. He turns to again regard the fountain with its standing stones before speaking. "Tell me a bit more about yourself, Toren. You are an architect? Are you under contract with a firm, or do you have your own office?"

[Vassagon]

Toren was relieved that the Councilor decided to look away. He almost seemed embarrassed to talk about what had happened with his career. "W...well I...that is I did work for a firm, not long ago. I'd say it's been about a year since I worked there, maybe two. Once I was Awakened I sort of lost it one day during a rather important project and was let go. I've been freelancing since then for private projects and some consulting work too. But actually..." he seemed hesitant to go on, gulping down a lump in his throat. "Actually! I'm not doing as well as I'd like in my career right now! Everything I'm asked to do seems so unimportant and trivial, and even now every piece of work I do seems beneath me. I create these stupendous works of art in my blueprints but their significance is lost on the client and construction team."

He takes a breath, a little too eager to express his frustration. "So I've been devoting more attention lately to the Consilium since I'm hoping maybe with what I learn here I can apply my knowledge to something worthwhile, ya know?" He laughs a bit, maybe a little too much. "Buildings need purpose and there are greater purposes out there for my creations...I also enjoy the effort of building things myself you see, which should be possible quite soon."

Toren smiles, though he seems a bit off in his apparent glee. Something seems to be bothering him. But before the Councilor can press further he asks, "So if I might ask, what sort of work do you do outside the Consilium?"

[Joshua Morris]

Joshua gives a slight shake of his head. "I don't," he says, distracted; he's still thinking over Toren's response. "The Consilium is my work." Certainly the odd jobs he sometimes did were more distraction than anything else. He opens his mouth to speak, about to come back to what Toren was saying; but he picks up on the sense that the other man would rather not revisit it just yet. He diverts, instead, to a similar topic: "And you mentioned you were a Tamer of Stone. This is your Legacy, yes? Can you tell me more about that?"

[Vassagon]

"Ah, right," says Toren more calmly, processing the request. "Well I was able to obtain this Legacy from my Mentor. He suddenly appeared shortly after my Awakening." He was unsure how much or how little information his mentor would prefer him to say. He hadn't been instructed to secrecy but he felt there were inherently things that were meant to be withheld. "It almost seemed fated that he should arrive, since the ideals of the Tamer of Stone coincide so closely with my own. His teachings are about the incarnation of flesh and stone, weathering the elements and time. Perhaps he wished to make me the temple of his teachings to last beyond him, I cannot say. He travels much and isn't often in Sacramento, but I try to make the most of his teachings when he does stop by."

"From what he tells me our Legacy is quite old and had some inherent purpose in the construction of many buildings. I think they reached their height in power during the Medieval to Renaissance Ages."

[Joshua Morris]

"The way you talk," Joshua says, "You make it sound like you want to.... I don't know. Build ivory towers or something. Magical buildings. Like Freemason's and their 'sacred geometry,' only real." He glances over at Toren. "Or am I way off base?"