(Private) Sifting Truth from Dreams

[DaveJ]

It had taken a half hour of mad preparation to get the Meditation Room ready. Right above the Hydroponics Room – the center of the Catalyst Hollow – the room was virtually unused, and was in desperate need of a cleaning. Kite, in a frantic dash, had spent the time turning off all the Hydroponic equipment before vacuuming the wayward dust that had piled in the place over the past year. By the time he had declared himself ‘done’, the room was in a more presentable shape, though he wished he could have spent more time getting it ready.


Now, he was on the bottom floor of the Catalyst building, standing by the front door. Still dressed in a shirt and tie, he patiently waited for Animus and the others to arrive, nervously tapping his cane against the floor as he counted the minutes roll by…

  Kite weaves hastily constructed techné on himself after vacuuming up:

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-05-23 00:34:47		Kite rolls 8 to Casting 'Feral Reflexes' (Gnosis + Life + 2(HS) - 2(Dur)) (10 Again)		4, 9, 8, 5, 10, 2, 3, 10, 10, 5, 4		5 successes
2014-05-23 00:33:40		Kite rolls 8 to Casting 'Third Eye' and Misperception' (Gno + Mind + HS(2) - 2 - 1(SA)) (10 Again)		10, 4, 3, 10, 3, 7, 9, 5, 9, 4		4 successes
2014-05-23 00:32:52		Kite rolls 5 to Casting 'Third Eye' and Misperception' (Gno + Mind + HS(2) - 2 - 4(Dur)) (10 Again)		9, 4, 3, 5, 2		1 success
2014-05-23 00:30:47		Kite rolls 8 to Casting 'Augment the Mind - Wits' (Amb Mana) (Gnosis + Mind + HS(2) - 2(Dur) - 1(SA)) (10 Again)		2, 9, 1, 10, 7, 10, 6, 5, 5, 2		3 successes
2014-05-23 00:30:06		Kite rolls 9 to Casting 'Augment the Mind - Wits' (Amb Mana) (Gnosis + Mind + HS(2) - 2(Dur)) (10 Again)		5, 2, 5, 1, 5, 6, 8, 4, 10, 3		2 successes

[Animus]

  cast at Sanctum

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-05-24 19:46:45		Animus rolls 10 to OR (Gno+Lif-2 duration) (10 Again)		4, 4, 6, 3, 2, 3, 3, 1, 10, 7, 9		2 successes
2014-05-24 19:46:21		Animus rolls 9 to PLW (Gno+Lif-2 duration) (10 Again)		4, 6, 5, 4, 7, 9, 2, 2, 2		1 success

In contrast to Kite, Animus shows up wearing a t-shirt and shorts, valuing comfort and range of motion over nearly all else. The idea of the Astral was still frightening to him, but paled before the spectre of never reclaiming his memories, or who he had once been. Eyes dart around the room, and the Shaman is almost constantly shifting about, giving off the impression of a cornered animal. Try as he might, he can't shake the feeling that he's letting near-strangers into his mind.

[Leo Lockheart]

Leo strides in, half wondering what to expect from this little voyage. The thought of entering Animus's mind was...daunting. Especially when you consider the mental shape Animus had been in even before the amnesia. Fortunately he would never be able to live with himself if he chickened out on helping a fellow Arrow, so here he came.

Leo entered the Catalyst sanctum and followed the directions laid out for him to get to the room. The Theurgist entered wearing the typical Leo attire, a grey T shirt with a black hoody, a backpack lazily slung over one shoulder,and dark blue jeans with black hiking boots. He wasn't surprised to see the Talons outfit, but he bit his lower lip to hold back a laugh at Kite. Always formal. He could have changed instead of cleaning, but even in his own sanctum the Libertine still wore a suit. In Leo's mind that was now Kite's second skin. Even going to sleep for the night the Shaman had to wear a full suit. No exceptions.

"Hey folks." Leo says with an optimistic smile as he makes his way in.

Backpack

The backpack contains 2 bottles of water, a copy of the most recent National Geographic, the 2 most recent Attack on Titan mangas, and his knife. The backpack is also covering a bump on his lower back under his shirts.

  Potency 4 OR, Potency 2 SV

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-05-25 21:47:31		Leo rolls 10 to Supernal Vision (Wits+Occ+Prime+HS-2 Advanced Prolongation Factor) (10 Again)		6, 9, 6, 9, 4, 1, 6, 7, 2, 4		2 successes
2014-05-25 21:47:05		Leo rolls 7 to Organic Resilience (Sta+ATh+Life+HS-2 Advanced prolongation factor) (10 Again)		5, 4, 3, 4, 10, 9, 9, 8		4 successes

[Ariadne]

Ariadne stops at the front door and knocks. Entering someone else's Sanctum is something she takes seriously. She doesn't want anyone walking into her sanctum and add on that whole Guardian thing and Kite being a Libertine.

Welp Ariadne's playing it safe..before going into Animus's mind. She shivers a bit at the thought.

[DaveJ]

After giving directions to Leo and watching both him and Animus go up, Kite waited until the Epopt arrived. “Hello Aridane” he nodded to her as he let her in. “Please follow me.”


The elevator trip to the upper floor of the sanctum was quick, and it didn’t take long for the libertine to find his way to the meditation room. He entered with Ariadne, a newspaper in one hand, his cane in the other, smiling and waving to the other willworkers who had arrived there not too long before him. Although somewhat Spartan, the light green room, which was accented with a little bit of lavender and was illuminated with a soft, warm light, conveyed the calm, spiritual environment the room was designed to project. The soft jazz that was playing lightly in the background only accented the atmosphere.


“Animus… it’s good to see you.” Kite nodded respectfully towards his fellow cabal member, before turning towards everyone else. “Hello everyone” Kite waved to everyone present. “I apologize that things aren’t in their best shape – I’m afraid we haven’t had that many opportunities to use this room… not until now, anyway.” He gave a depressed sighed, though whether at the state of the room or at the fact it was unused until now, it was unclear.


“In any event,” he continued after a pause, ”what exactly is the plan here?”

[Ariadne]

"Thank you for letting me attend." Ariadne says to Kite as he leads her to the room for their trip. It's not lost on the Guardian that a Libertine is willing letting her into his Sanctum. As such Ariadne keeps her eyes on the path ahead instead of taking in as much as she could.

"This is better than what I could have thrown together in a short time." Ariadne replies as she looks around the meditation room. Not to mention Pixel just having to get in someone's face. At the question she shrugs and looks between Leo and Animus. She can guess her role somewhat but the big picture...not really.

[Animus]

Animus is silent and brooding on the way to the meditation room, nervousness setting in. He could still back out if he asked; it wouldn't be difficult to maintain the status quo.

But though the desire to run creeps in on him, he fights it back. Whatever uncertainties lay ahead, they had to be preferable to the cloud that hung over him every time he tried to remember something and slammed into the impenetrable wall.

A glance flickers between those present. "If I knew anything about the Astral, it was swept away with everything else. What should I expect, and how do I need to prepare?"

[Leo Lockheart]

Leo ignored the parts of the Sanctum that weren't pointed out to him. It wasn't a snub to anything in the sanctum, but a point of etiquette to the Arrow. Even if they were friends he had invited into his own sanctum he wouldn't want them snooping. It was just so rude.

"The plan as I understand it is to try an Astral journey into Animus's Oneiros." The First Talon started with a careful look to the Talon. "Assuming you're still okay with it, my hope is to pull out the brick holding up the wall between your memories and you." He then looks from Animus to Kite and Ariadne. "I've witnessed proficiency in the Mind arcanum from both of you, and since you were both among the people Animus spoke highly of prior to his amnesia I wanted you here as backup for the journey."

Leo takes a deep breathe and surveys the group. "Any thoughts or concerns?"

[DaveJ]

“I do have concerns” Kite reluctantly admitted to Leo, before turning to the former Hierarch. “I understand why you feel the need to do this but, as a psychiatrist, I'm... very dubious. Understand, your memories will probably come back with time, and I'm concerned that bringing them back before your mind has had a chance to fully heal may do more harm than good." Kite turned away for a moment, turning back towards the group only after he took a moment to organize his thoughts. "If all of you are determined to do this, I would like to come along. But bear in mind that, if I think that this will do more harm than good, I'm going to make my opinion clear..."


“Please also keep in mind that my knowledge of the Dream.. the Astral… the Inner World… whatever you want to call it… it’s... not as extensive as it should be.” Kite almost seemed embarrassed at the very reluctant admission. Highly uncharacteristically of the outspoken libertine, he seemed to avoid looking other people in the eye as he explained, as though he were letting people down with his lack of knowledge. “Truth be told, I don’t even like going through my own Oneiros, and I have no experience going into someone else’s. I’ll try to answer any questions any of you may have,” Kite reassured, still slightly on-edge, “but truth be told, you may know more than I do. This... will be a new experience for me…”


With his confession complete, Kite took a deep breath and addressed more immediate matters. "For the record, if you find yourself ultimately unable to enter the proper meditative trance, please don't be afraid to speak up if you're able, no matter how much time has passed." he explained. "I'll be conscious during this whole process, and I will be able to hear you. I can then use willworking to try to make the transition a bit easier..."