(Ivory Tower) The Book Club

**Star** · Jan 18th, 2015 10:41 PM

That smell? Crepes.

Sweet batter, spread paper thin over sizzling butter, cooked until it was ready to join the small stack. The table was set, filled with various condiments. Sugars. Jams. Syrup (gross). Fruits. Plates were framed with silverware and neatly folded napkins. Empty glasses were waiting to be filled with milk, orange juice, tea, or water. Several mugs flanked a pot of hot water and tea bags.

He'd had a craving for crepes. Ever since.

Not only that, but it was the least he could do, after a couple of flubs. Besides, Hearthmaster gotta... hearth. Or something. Was that a verb? Hearthing? Whatever. Hearthtastic.

Note that table, set for four. Warm fuzzies, yo. Everyone's home.

In the middle of the table rested a small notebook.

Veiled Threats didn't just get their breakfast on. They did work.

**Avis** · Jan 19th, 2015 01:00 AM

"So, can you like, put pudding on one of those pancake things?" Avis asked, padding up next to Star and leaning her shoulder gently against his. Damp hair, smelling faintly of shampoo, was trapped between them but she made no move to step away just yet. It was just water, after all. Why worry about that when there were pancake-things to enjoy, and a few dozen spiral bound pages of banisher lore to pore over. Well, hopefully banisher lore. They hadn't really checked before leaving, but still, wouldn't be a total loss. The reaction of the House-prison after Star's casting pretty much confirmed that Banishers were involved in the frat, just as much as the Glo handout. The notebook was just the icing on the pancake-thing. Well, it could turn out to be more than that, and hopefully would, but if the worst came to the worst there were other leads they could chase down.

Jan 19th, 2015 01:34 AM

Asp had been up since five that morning, and so her post-workout shower had been nice and early. She'd run with the morning chill, felt the sweat cooling her body temperature, bent it to her Will; a Monk's ritual, each day chipping away at imperfection and weakness until her body was a perfect reflection of the Realms Above. A shower had followed, then meditations - ah, what a joy to have the day off. Now, she wore a pair of perfectly imperfect black sweats and a grey tank top as she trotted into the kitchen, looking perfectly awake and perky. Their mission to Banisher U? So far, it was going pretty damn good.

And the fact that Zodiac was back only made it more likely that they'd succeed, their Service to the Consilium embodied here in crepes and delicious syrup and a little book taken from the Enemy.

"He's way too good to us, isn't he?" Asp said with a grin at the other Arrow. She'd need to chip away at the imperfection again later after this, wouldn't she?

**Zodiac** · Jan 19th, 2015 01:48 AM

The smell, if nothing else, of something delicious was enough to convince her that leaving her room was a promising idea. Which was probably the reason that the still-pajama-clad Guardian slipped into the kitchen with her hair in a mussed ponytail, and a night-shirt that read 'Good morning. I see the assassins have failed.' written quite plainly across it. Her friends had a sense of humour...

"Morning," she stated quietly, deciding she wasn't going to be ready to socialize with anyone properly until after she'd had her coffee. "Smells good," she added as she descended into a yawn that her hand covered. It wasn't until she had a cup of jo in hand that she noticed the notebook, which perked her up considerably as curiousity drove her towards the table.

"... what is this...?"

**Star** · Jan 19th, 2015 05:50 PM

Awww, warm fuzzy. But habits don't change overnight.

For a second, there was that What-Are-You-Doing-Someone-Will-See ripple of apprehension. Just for a second. That was quickly followed by What-Are-You-Doing-Your-Hair-Is-Still-Wet. That wet, lank hair needed a kiss. So he did. What's that smell? It's not cinnamon. First the clothes, now the smell. And there wasn't even an F-bomb in that question.

Was nothing sacred?

Crepes are.

"You. Can even put pudding on two of them." And apparently pudding was still sacred. Thank goodness. "Seriously, like, people put Nutella on them so why not?"

"Morning!" He called out at the other two and waved the spatula. "Who's in for crepes? Okay, well, they're blinis, but, you know. The guy that taught me to make them was Russian, and not French, so I think they're blinis technically. He taught me how to make these potato pancakes, too. And some other stuff. You know, I just realized everything he taught me to make was fried. Which, I guess makes sense, since he was a fry cook. The owner let us eat, but we had to cook stuff ourselves, because," his voice dropped low, "I'm not payin' you guys to cook for each other I'm payin' you to cook for paying customers."

That wet head needed another kiss. Just. Because. It felt good to not be all Secret Squirrel.

"Anyway, I think he felt sorry for me, because all I ate was pieces of cheese and tomatoes. Because, like, I couldn't cook."

Sharing is like food for the soul.

"Oh, that. That's some book we jacked from that frat party."

**Avis** · Jan 20th, 2015 01:38 AM

Green eyes skittered over to his, a little startled, but there was something like a playful quirk to her lips before she leaned over and returned his gesture of affection, though she went for the cheek instead of the top of his head. He was cooking, after all. It would be kinda rude to yank his nest of curls into reach. Besides, her left hand had been occupied on it's own mission into the depths of his pants: his pants pocket. Don't get too excited Asp. Nothing to see here, and hopefully no one would see anything. All that really mattered was that Star didn't notice the lift, but it would really suck if Asp or Zozobra asked what the hell she was doing pickpocketing one of his cards. Seriously, after being forced to wear that damn propeller hat in the Bismark there was no way Avis wanted lose a round of the game again. Star'd already won twice, after all, and the second time was just because she'd forgotten about it. Well, not this time. No, this time she would throw a dare at him.

Well, time would tell. Mission accomplished for now Avis turned away from Star, slipping her hand, and the card, casually into her pocket and walked over to the table where Zozo had noticed the book.

"Should be a copy of the Fraternity President's animal hide journal. Hopefully it'll be something Bear-like...Banisher-like, I mean. Even if it's not, though, I got a bead on a trail for Glo and that leads to the Banishers for sure. You wanna give that, Avis asked with a nod to the book in question, "the first look through, since you're the most academically trained and all?"

1 success to lift the card :C

Couldn't remember if there were penalties even with physical contact (shoulder lean).

Jan 21st, 2015 11:40 AM

Once someone decides that they will take the plunge into the moleskine book, it becomes apparent that it's normal. Well, as normal as it can be. It's a journal – a diary that begins at the beginning of this academic year. It's neat and tidy like the rest of the room they stole it from and the President – Christopher Marsters – writes in it virtually every day.

It's a profile of a Banisher, just coming to grips with stumbling into the unknown.

Just like them, no one asks to Awaken – it just happens.

But, what makes someone a member of the Self-Loathing rather than Wise?

Below are a few of the more interesting diary entries.

Quote:
October 9th, 2014

I feel itchy. I scratch and scratch and scratch and I can't fight it. Professor Williams says that's only natural. A natural response to what happened. He says it's the evil within trying to get out warring with the goodness he says he sees in me, trying to keep it down. I've been cursed, he says. I saw a barren wasteland of glass shard spires and the unnatural as natural.

It was terrifying.

I hated it.

Williams says he'll help me, he says the University stands with me. He says there's others out there. Ones that think this stuff is a gift. Think they have the right to do as they want with it. I'll go see him after class.

November 12th, 2014

I became President of the Chapter. Apparently, only those who bear the Curse can join the E-Board. SDT's girl also has it and I guess the Professors want us to band together and police our fellow students. There's a few students here and there that don't get it and we need to teach them why they are so wrong. SDT's girl is pretty cute though.

Samantha says she saw herself as being burned at the stake. Says she remembers being there during the colonial era and that she had the same mission. Fire, she says, follows her like a friend. Fire doesn't create, she whispered to me after we had sex, it just destroys.

She's right.

November 17th, 2014
Jennings and Williams says that they have more leeway. The Attack-Dogs in the Athletics Department have their orders. Apparently there's a few normals who also think the way we do.

They call us Witches. It fits. They want to interview me. Maybe they want to do a trial or something on me. Whatever. Anyway, apparently they want the same things. Jennings and Williams don't like them much but – 'Enemy of my Enemy' or Whatever. Apparently they experiment sometimes with removing our Curse.

I hear one of the Tennis Players goes to them weekly.

Thanksgiving can't come fast enough. I need to get away for a while and try to do something normal for once.

December 3rd, 2014
Me and some of the Cursed Brothers beat a kid up. Freshman. Rhoda from SDT says he's only half cursed and wouldn't get with the program. They don't have to rush but it's encouraged they contribute to the Cause and Mission Statement of the University; to rid our world of those who would steal the Power of God.

The Regents hate it when a nail sticks up.

Wonder where he came from, that he thinks that what we can do isn't anything more than a curse.

I still itch. But I'm remembering things – stuff I did before I was born. The Regents told us not to take GLO. That's something another group of Warriors are doing, a test to give us a quiverfull of arrows against the assholes who think our abilities are somehow good. The Regents say it's addictive. The Regents are always right.

I don't know how they stand it. I've only had this curse for months but some of them have had it for years.

How do they not just destroy themselves?

I guess that's why we focus on the others. Teach them a Lesson for reveling in the evil this all is.

I still see blood on my hands. I should take another shower.

**Zodiac** · Jan 21st, 2015 05:06 PM

She was sitting and flipping through the book without a word as they explained, leaving her to read with an intense level of focus. Certain words certainly stuck out...

Curse. E-Board. Attack-Dogs. Half-Cursed. Witches.

Her fingers found a pen and a piece of paper and things were written out in meticulous lettering.

Professor Williams.
Samantha - SDT.
Normals - Sleepers? Sleepwalkers? Hunters?
'Remove' curse?
December 12th 2014 - Half-Cursed? Sleepwalker? Locate individual.
Blood - is it psychological as well?
Rhoda - SDT.

But as for being written in code... on first read there was nothing that seemed hidden amidst it. Not beyond the plainly obvious things. Her gaze settled on Avis. "Have the connections from this book been cleansed? The last thing we want is for them to be able to track it here..."

**Star** · Jan 21st, 2015 06:02 PM

If she were handicapped by a bad memory, he was handicapped by being Easily Distracted.

He let her claim the victory in full, continuing to flip crepes, no, blinis, and not letting on that it had been noticed. Plates were delivered to the table, along with... pudding. Add that to the list of Necessary Condiments. He held up a can of sweetened condensed milk and waved it slightly. If you like pudding? Try that, too.

Did the Arrows have dental?

He waited for his turn to read, then looked at the list.

"I think Jennings sounded important, too. Like, maybe he's William's partner. Or lieutenant? What's an E-board? Is that a frat term? or is that a Bear term? Like sticking 'i' in front of electronics. Evil. Esper." He shrugged after trying out a few words. "So, maybe Wiliams and Jennings are, uh, what was... right, Regents. So the faculty are Regents? And the students are the E-board? Let's kick finding out who the Regents are over to Smoke, and we work on the E-board?"

He shrugged again.

Because brainstorming.

mmm HMMMMMM

Jan 21st, 2015 11:12 PM

Asp shook her head. "Regents are more like a board of governors, I think. Profs are profs." She'd watched enough university-student kind of TV in her day. "I definitely think we need to kick the Regents over to another cabal, but let's not toss the two faculty guys. They're higher-ups. If we can take them out, we'll be getting further..."

She leaned in, staring at the journal for a long moment.

"Attack dogs at the athletics department? That, uh, doesn't sound good. Maybe we should give that to... fuck.." She wasn't exactly sure what the Archangels did, but it made some sense to get them involved. Fingers drummed on her chin lightly. "Weavebreaker knows a thing about the university here, maybe her Cabal can do an intelligence workup on the athletics department and get the Adamantine Arrow a target to strike there."

She glanced up at the others.

"Zodiac, you able to find out what these professors teach? That'd give us a place to start. I'd leave the frat kids right where they are for now so that them disappearing doesn't spook anybody higher up the chain."

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-01-20 01:02:06		Avis rolls 6 to take that, warm fuzzies (dex3+larceny3) (10 Again)		2, 5, 5, 7, 8, 2		1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-01-20 17:57:20		Star rolls 2 to A Little To The Left (PER -3 for distractions - cooking, great narration) (10 Again)		2, 10, 4		1 success

(Ivory Tower) The Book Club

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