Lunch at the Bismark

[RebornSeas]

Well, the call with the Deacon had gone well enough - Pepper had gotten what she had wanted at any rate. With that in mind, she called the Bismark to see if she needed to make reservations for lunch on Saturday and began preparing.

Well, more like agonizing over what she'd wear. It was a struggle, she had her casual favorite of a green blazer that zipped instead of buttoned, it was slouchy and fun and alot of things. But this was the Deacon. She wanted something... Bolder. Brighter. Something that commanded attention. So it was her yellow suit that one the bid for her first impression on Ixidor.

And of course, she arrived ten minutes early. Eadaoin's Training had forced punctuality into her soul like even being Acanthus could not. The Lictor had been Terrifying when not indulgent, and being on time had always taken benevolence out of her smile.

[Ixidor]

Ixidor can be easily spotted outside, because he's hanging out by a trash bin on a corner, smoking a fat cigarillo and goofing around on his phone. It seemed one of his buddies-- an actor, who could also play and liked to hang with musicians-- had his oldest kid get arrested on cocaine possession. Damn.

It's a wonder, at this point, which will call the other first. It's pretty awkward irony, really. The guy probably needs some support right now. But, from Adrian Isaacs?

He continues on, sifting through the social networking mess with curiosity. When he looks up to take a draw from the smoke, he spies the woman in yellow.

A yellow suit! With short pants!

If she isn't dressed like a Théarch, he'd never seen one before.

Ixidor himself is in black. No tie, just an open collar. There's the usual, standard application of silver and black leather trinkets around his neck, wrists, and fingers. Black eyeliner matches his nails. And well, everything else. Sunglasses rest in front of a bandanna tied around his forehead, until he taps them down when he looks up into the bright daylight.

It's pretty fucking hot. Good thing he's not going to be out here for very long. He sends the lady a general greeting smile. He hasn't had the best of mornings, and is feeling a little... off. But it's not like he's ever let that stop him.

  Sight cast at Sanctum

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-07-08 09:10:29		Ixidor rolls 5 to cast Read Matrices; Gnosis + Forces +2 HS -2 Duration (24h) -1 successive (10 Again)		7, 6, 7, 5, 10, 6		1 success
2014-07-08 09:09:58		Ixidor rolls 6 to cast Read Matrices; Gnosis + Forces +2 HS -2 Duration (24h) (10 Again)		4, 1, 5, 6, 6, 1		failure

[RebornSeas]

  3 suxx to recognize Ixidor

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-07-08 17:18:49		Pepper rolls 10 to Wits+Composure+4 Recognize Adrain Isaacs (10 Again)		1, 2, 2, 9, 8, 2, 4, 2, 10, 4, 3		3 successes

Was... that Adrian Isaacs hanging around the front door. Pepper lifted her sunglasses du jour to a get a better look, then grinned a little. Well, that would explain the Band code, wouldn't it. She tilts her head and yeah, he smiled at her. She flashed a quick one back and walked up to him.

"Ixidor, right? I'm Pepper." her eyes crinkled pleasantly behind her shades and she half-offered a hand - though made a mental note that between the cigarillo and phone he might not have a hand to shake with.

But this was pretty darn cool. Adrian Isaacs was her Deacon here in Sacramento.

[Ixidor]

Ix shifts his phone over to the smoking hand in order to shake Pepper's, cigarillo between his first and second fingers, phone between his thumb and the others. The hand that casually grasps the woman's is tattooed right up to the first knuckle of each finger.

"That's me," he says, the lazy-sly smile remaining.

"And I thought that might be you. Nice suit. Love the color."

On him? Nah. But does that mean he doesn't like bright, beautiful colors? Not at all.

But more often than not, he feels like a stain on them. Maybe not a nasty stain, but at the very least, an ink blot.

"C'mon," he gives a tilt of the head toward the front facade of the Bismarck's eatery. Which is of course open to the public as much as it is guests, even if Ixidor wasn't Deacon of the Order it's chartered to. Business is business. "Let's get out of this. Wearing too many layers for this sun."

In his opinion, California sun is intended for massive amounts of sunscreen, and little else. The heat, no big. He can dig heat. He's an Obrimos. Which means sweat hasn't really bothered him in a long time, either. But passing out on the sidewalk because it's been too long since his last glass of water... isn't so much fun.

"So you mentioned Boston. How are things over by the other ocean?"

It's a general question, that is not yet asking for details that can't be given in public.

[RebornSeas]

Okay, yeah, that cinched it, her Deacon was Adrian Isaacs, and he liked her suit. This struck her as a good sign about Sacramento.

"Yeah, at least I'm in shorts, you must be baking in all that." Cloth, not black. She's found over the years that anyone who can wear black in the summer can just do that. It was the layers that got to people. Thus her favorite part of the suit was the lack of leg covering. The color was great for a statement, but shorts man.

Boston though, How was Boston? Ugh, she'd been spending so much time running errands for Eadaoin out of the city that she hadn't managed to take her factotum - something she regretted. "It's Boston... Things have been a bit weird since the Marathon bombing, but nothing that standard city life hasn't re-asserted itself over. Honestly, my internship tended to drag me all over the state, and out a couple times too." She shook her head a bit and shrugged, only for the gesture to get interrupted with a blissful sigh at the air conditioning. That was nice.

[RebornSeas]

Wolven Pryde

[Ixidor]

The Deacon takes one last, heavy draw of the cigarillo before ashing it out on the heel of his boot and pitching it into the garbage receptacle. The phone disappears into an inside blazer pocket.

He gives a bit of a shrug as they head for the doors. "Eh, it would be different if I had something to occupy myself and, like, a few gallons of water on hand to put through my system. Been wearing crazy getups onstage for the entirety of my adult life; I'm fairly used to it.

"You're right, though. It'd be a lot more bearable if my arms or legs were uncovered to act as a radiator."

As they breeze through the doors, Ix waves at a server to signal his intent to take the meal appointment he had set up, and they are shown to a seat. After taking their drink orders, where Ix just says "Ice water", they are left to their own devices to decide on menu items.

He grunts in irritation, once, as for the second time this morning, his Will fails to grasp the Supernal as easily as he is used to. Off day, indeed.

"Okay," he says as he takes a seat. "Long as we watch it when the waitress is close, we're safe to talk. So: All over Massachusetts," all, what, ten thousand square miles of it? "Lictor, or rolling around and doing odd jobs with one, maybe? I'm well acquainted with that life."

  1 potency, lolol

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-07-15 08:11:42		Ixidor rolls 5 to cast Influence Sound; Gnosis + Forces -1 successive (10 Again)		7, 5, 8, 1, 4		1 success
2014-07-15 08:11:09		Ixidor rolls 6 to cast Influence Sound; Gnosis + Forces (10 Again)		6, 7, 2, 4, 3, 4		failure

[RebornSeas]

Pepper made mental note that is the rockstar looked like he might be sweating buckets that water was definitely a thing to grab for him. She gave a nod, and once at the Table ordered lemonade: She hadn't been outside as long, and she'd been keeping hydrated at work already, so indulging in some sugar was an option she'd take.

And she felt his casting, she was pretty sure she could guess what it was, but when he confirmed, she nodded appreciatively. "Thanks for covering that." Pepper shrugged, then chuckled at he repeating her statement about Massachusetts.

"And yeah, Odd Jobs. Soooo many odd jobs. Those were mostly in the Eastern half of the state - Mass proper, and then, well, I grew up in the Western half so Eadaoin always had something for me to do when I was visiting my Moms." She shook her head and scanned the menu for what her lactose-free options were, as she continued. "End result: I'm pretty darn good at keeping other people's shit together."

But not always her own. Case and point: she was definitely more used to be told to be at X place at Y time then choosing either herself. Also, Laundry. She may have been used to her old place having a washer and dryer inside the apartment, but that was hardly and excuse for forgetting that the pods would be the easier option while Laundromat was needed.

"Anyway, I came here because I got hired at a local publishing house, and I have some plans to spread influence from there." Mostly because she'd heard of a few writers being Ladders, and well, if she had access to multiple writers that had so much potential.

[Ixidor]

Pausing long enough for the server to deposit a glass of water and a glass of lemonade, Ixidor tells her to give him a minute on the order. "On second thought," he interrupts himself, "uh, I can just get the turkey club and fries, if she knows what she wants already."

He shrugs toward Pepper, not really in a hurry to eat, but willing to facilitate a faster meal if she is hungry. He's more in love with this water, right now.

Once that's all taken care of, and the sleeper is out of their proximity again, he responds.

"Telos is the local Lictor around here. I was sort of running around with her for a while, learning all that I could. She's actually the one who sent me back here, to Sacramento. Which I'm not arguing with, because furthering my studies to help this Concilium is the major reason why I went 'back on tour'."

He smiles a bit. "And if helping others keep their shit together is your specialty, then we could definitely use you."

After another pause, this time to separate one subject from the other, Ixidor can't help but ask. "Moms plural, huh? That must be cool."

It could be one of those surrogate terms of endearment, biological mother and her best friend who was around a lot and practically raised her too, but he doubts it. That usually gets the aunt treatment.

[RebornSeas]

Pepper had a brief moment of panic, because everything that looked good, like really good had cheese. Salad? Salad was going to be it, wasn't it. "House Salad with a side of fries. Um... I am Lactose intolerant, so if the usual dressing for that has diary, could I just get a vinaigrette?" There, that'd be satisfying, if not exactly what she wanted most.

She nodded at his familiarity with Lictors and odd jobs. It was pretty cool that he'd done that, in Pepper's book. "Oh, Speaking of my specialty... I met a guy between the call and today - by the sounds of things he's never had a sit-down with any of the big Five, but definitely interested... I think he's about as new to the area as I am, so, stuff I should be ready to pass on, things that I need to know."

Oh, that was good, he wasn't doing that thing that the more condescending teachers did back in first grade with the "It's so sweet that you're mothers are friends and you think you're sisters". Which, okay, sure she and mace looked totally different - but actually genetically related, thanks teach. "Oh, yeah, for sure, except getting stuck in the endless loops of 'go ask your mom'." She laughed a bit, then shrugged. "I usually didn't ask for things unless they were both in the same room to circumvent that, or, you know, just did it and asked for forgiveness later."

She'd never really grown out of the last bit, maybe one of the reasons Uncle B/Dad/Their Sperm-Donor and the Guardians back in Boston kept suggesting 'Hellion' for a Shadowname.... oops, not sorry.