Recruitment Effort

[Einstein]

O'neil Park was a bare, empty place. There were the goals for soccer games, devoid of any nets, but that was the only man-made thing there, apart from the bathroom house. Einstein hadn't chose it because it was pretty, though. O'neil Park marked one of the edges of the Temoins du Sud's Territory. It made it a nice little spot to meet other Cabals, and prospective members. They wouldn't have to wander about the Territory, but they could also be assured of their own safety, as dictated by the reigning Cabal.

Einstein had set up a little blanket, as if for a picnic, but she hadn't brought any food today. She sat in the shade, waiting for the others to arrive. While she waited, she checked her spells. Today she had come fully defensively prepared. If they tried to attack her physically, it would be stopped. If they tried to attack her magically, it would also be stopped, and even harder. Hopefully.

  1 Suxx each Supernal Vision and Magic Shield Combined, 4suxx Unseen Shield

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-04-09 08:57:41		Einstein rolls 8 to Unseen Shield (Gnosis + Forces + HS) (10 Again)		1, 9, 6, 9, 7, 10, 2, 5, 10, 5		4 successes
2015-04-09 08:57:01		Einstein rolls 6 to Supernal Vision/Magic Shield Combined (Wits + Occult + Prime + HS - 2 - 2) (10 Again)		8, 3, 8, 6, 4, 2		2 successes
2015-04-09 08:56:31		Einstein rolls 7 to Supernal Vision/Magic Shield Combined (Wits + Occult + Prime + HS - 2 - 1) (10 Again)		2, 8, 3, 7, 2, 2, 3		1 success
2015-04-09 08:56:13		Einstein rolls 8 to Supernal Vision/Magic Shield Combined (Wits + Occult + Prime + HS - 2) (10 Again)		3, 4, 7, 9, 6, 4, 1, 4		1 success

[Truce]

  Mage Sight

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-04-09 09:43:31		Truce rolls 7 to 2nd attempt cast Grim Sight rote at TdS meeting [WIT+Occ+Death-1] (10 Again)		5, 1, 9, 6, 4, 6, 1		1 success
2015-04-09 09:42:57		Truce rolls 8 to cast Third Eye rote at TdS meeting [WIT+Emp+Mind] (10 Again)		2, 7, 4, 7, 4, 2, 4, 3		failure
2015-04-09 09:42:31		Truce rolls 7 to cast Grim Sight rote at TdS meeting [WIT+Occ+Death] (10 Again)		3, 8, 1, 10, 6, 2, 9, 3		3 successes

Truce is not as paranoid about his preparations for the meeting. They are meeting a respected Councilor and a man who held the Councilor position, if only for a day. It is true that Truce doesn't know them very well. Avis seemed to be a vocal opinionated person in the forum, though otherwise private in social situations. And Star seemed quite open about discussing matters of Order, having approached Truce about on the subject, though it was a vague request.

Regardless, Truce wears his Mage Sight, allowing him to sense the Supernal influences if need be. He thinks the choice for a blanket in the park is an odd one when their Sanctum is just around the corner. They had no issue with inviting guests over before. But he assumes Einstein suggested it to take advantage of the good weather that Spring has brought them.

Truce approaches wearing a sports coat and button-up shirt, his usual attire. He smiles softly to Einstein and sits down on the little blanket.

"Hello."

[Star]

Arriving in style Takes Work.

It's an art form, and every real artist knows that there's a lot more work involved in art than anyone wants to admit. Muses? Better show up with work gloves and steel toed boots on.

It really doesn't take any work to Just Arrive.

Something large that looked like a mobile avocado slowly appeared in the distance. As if in sheer defiance of the local population's prayers that it would turn off and disappear into the horizon again, it crept inevitably closer until it pulled up to the park. Something small, dark, and hooded emerged from the passenger side; from the driver side, pale arms glared in the sun, and a dark t-shirt over jeans proclaimed for any observer to "SAY MY NAME".

An elaborate game of charades ensued, with The Hoodie darting a pointing finger out which spurred flailing from the pale arms. The pointing retracted into folding arms and the flailing became a slow, odd pirouette with a single jazz hand in the sky. A hood and a mop nodded, then set out across the grass.

It's a horrible thing for cabals to fall apart. Trash cans have to get to the curb. How many mages does it take to change a light bulb? There are cold, hard Truths to being What Remains. It's not all Mana spritzers and Ritual Twister, yo. Chores and compromises are the harsh reality of Supernal Families.

Eventually, the smaller figure resolved into the hooded form of Avis, complete with sweat pants and tennis shoes. A single toothpick pinned a flat stare on her pale features like the proverbial tale on donkey. Proximity did nothing for Star, either. The arms looked no thicker than they had a hundred meters away, but the letters on the t-shirt had doubled in size.

A hand flopped out in a wave.

"Hey!"

Avis Cayce

[Avis]

"You didn't expect us to bring food, did you?" Avis asked bluntly as they walked up, her eyes on the blanket. She came to a stop about six feet away from Truce and Einstein, or maybe some point in between them, and her arms folded over her chest once again.

Honestly, the blanket was sending her the wrong signals. Like, the whole idea of picnics was fucking stupid in her opinion, since nature tended to ruin food whenever it was reintroduced to whence they had come, but they hadn't even brought any food, so what was the purpose of the blanket? So they could all sit around together, in a completely exposed space where everything else had line of sight on them from hundreds of meters away? Yeah, great idea! Nothing built trust and camaraderie like all sitting around in potential danger together!

Thankfully, Avis had eyes on the back of her head. And the sides. And above. Well, everywhere, basically, so if anything was going to give them trouble she'd be able to spot it. While paying attention, too, which was the best part.

   Omnivision pot 1 + third eye pot 1, one mind two thoughts pot 2

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-04-10 02:28:57		Avis rolls 7 to one mind two thoughts (gnos 3+ mind4) (10 Again)		8, 2, 1, 3, 7, 10, 2, 7		2 successes
2015-04-10 02:27:05		Avis rolls 5 to Omnivision+third eye 2.0 (gnos3+space3+hs2-2combined-1retry) (10 Again)		5, 2, 9, 10, 4, 4		2 successes

[Crowley]

Crowley crossed over the street and into the park. With an outstretched hand he ducked and weaved between the traffic; despite the sharp hoots and taunts, no vehicle touched him as he flowed across the street. With his trench coat ballooning behind him, head swathed in a bandana, with stubble on his chin and shades on his eyes, he looked an image of a faded rock star. Today the manic, enigmatic, grin he wore had bite - his own frustrations writ large.

The imago was simple! How the hell did I let it fall apart so quick?

  cast at home

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-04-10 04:01:18		Crowley casts shielding rolls 7 to GNO + Space + HS (10 Again)		1, 1, 9, 2, 4, 7, 4		1 success
2015-04-10 04:00:30		Crowley casts Sybil's Sight rolls 7 to GNO + Fate + HS (10 Again)		8, 6, 5, 6, 4, 5, 9		2 successes
2015-04-10 03:59:40		Crowley casts Temporal Eddies rolls 7 to GNO + Time + HS (10 Again)		3, 6, 4, 2, 1, 5, 6		failure

Once in the park, dynamic movement became studied stillness as he drew ever closer to where Einstein sat on her blanket. Hands became clasped behind his back as he walked with measured steps toward the group. There was only the deliberate pause to purposefully admire the Veiled Threats van.

At some point he realised he actually needed to interact with the group, and so closed the remaining distance.

"Good day. Welcome." The Acanthus intoned as formally as he could. Judging by the grin it was doubtful he'd be able to do that for much longer.

[Einstein]

Oh look, the Arrow being unpleasant right from the start. This is her surprised face. Einstein chose to focus on greeting the people who'd said hi, first. Truce gets a nod, and so does Crowley. Star gets a nod and a smile - special treatment for being potentially about to be recruited. Then the face returns to Avis. The smile becomes a little more forced. "No, I didn't. I decided that, for this meeting, we would do it without the distraction of food. The blanket is just to keep the grass off our asses." She didn't need to have to clean her clothes any more than she already had to.

Her eyes bounce between the two former Threats. "So, Star told me you guys want to join up with us." Or, that they might. Or, that he might. Maybe that would explain the unpleasantness. "I talked to these guys," Her hands wave to indicate Truce and Crowley. "and they said they didn't really have any problems with it. So, this meeting is basically to see if we can exist in the same place, together, for more than five minutes, and to talk over the transfer, to see what each of us expects to get out of it." Her hand waves at the blanket. "Have a seat."

[Truce]

Truce returns Star's wave with his own as the two arrive with an interesting method of transportation. "Hello Avis, hello Star," he says in greeting with the same soft smile on his face.

"I'm certain if you're hungry we can still grab a bite together afterwards," anticipating the prospect for food and to waylay any disappointment or presumed expectations.

"But yes, I understand it's been difficult with residents who find themselves called away. I was sorry to hear that Zodiac and Asp have left the city. If you feel that our interests are aligned then I would be happy to have you join us. Just to reintroduce myself, I go by the name Truce. I'm currently a student of psychology and handle investigations of a grim nature, as I'm sure you've heard."

He speaks in the coded language that some Mages use when out in public places. It is somewhat limiting to their use of terminology but he doesn't wish to make the others uncomfortable by creating unnecessary liabilities. Or perhaps they were more like Gyges and didn't care so long as their voices didn't travel far in an open park location.

[Star]

Let's Do The Time Warp Again.

Some things are hard to remember. Less than a year? But hard to remember. Four strangers, in a restaurant. That's what this is. Maybe. Dive in, yo.

"So, like, I'm gonna sit?" Gangly legs folded like a broken slinky, skewing this way and that. Sitting cross-legged had always eluded him, the position feeling unnatural and, well, super uncomfortable. "Can we do, like, real introductions? I'm going to do real introductions. You know, kind of, like hitting the fast-forward button and crossing my fingers that the tape doesn't get eaten. Our van has a tape player. Eight track, too. Anyway."

A hand ruffled through the mop.

"So. Ummm. This is Avis? She's a little moody and lot confrontational, but, super loyal and in... int... integrous? Integral? Anyway. Has Integrity. Avis, that's Einstein, she's kind of bossy and likes to be all rah-rah Libertine, but, I think she just wants to make a difference. Crowley, he's like the creeper outside of your living room window, but, whatever. Pepper recruited Truce, and he's like one of the most, I dunno. You heard him. Super politically correct, super agreeable."

See? Introductions aren't hard. Meet a Highly Effective Individual.

"Anyway. Truce? You said something about interests, like, aligning. What interests?"

[Avis]

Moody? Seriously? Just because she actually allowed herself to feel, instead of repressing everything uncomfortable that coalesced inside of her, she was moody? Well, that certainly didn't do anything to improve her mood, but there were also some compliments punctuating the sentence, and then there was the context of their whole relationship, so she wasn't going to dwell on his choice of words. Not now, anyways. Maybe later. Maybe. For now she'd try and balance things and let them progress in that state instead of exacerbating the conflict.

"Ok, my bad," Avis said, acceding the inhospitable nature of her earlier tone. "It's nice to see y'all. I apologize for not properly greeting you. And I do get the impression that y'all are good people, but sometimes that's not enough." No elaboration was needed there. Not after the departure of half her cabal. "So, yeah, what exactly are these interests?"

[Crowley]

"Einstein is an academic; spends all her time grading papers using the "toss with wine" method. Truce does grim deeds. And I play music. Loudly." Crowley, still smiling drops into a squatting position, hands now steepled downward, pointing toward the earth. "On a more serious note we try and look out for the local area. We also have a goal to monitor..." His hands moved, a finger touched his lips as he thought, "All the old houses. You know, the special ones with history. They might be empty now but you never know when squatters and other... um... things... might try to take over when the owner's away."