Back in the VT Sanctum, Ermac sat alone with his laptop. Keys were rapidly clattering on the keyboard. With Dvořák's Symphony Number Nine, he was tuned out to his surroundings.
Blue light reflected softly off his lenses as stared at his screen. His cursor busy at work in his digital world. Designating new residential and commercial zones to be built. Highways were drawn and planted. Taxes were adjusted and funding was dispersed. A new school and hospital was set for construction.
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A shadow loomed behind Ermac, a silhouette reflected onto his screen.
"You busy?" Avis asked, her voice giving her identity away even if he decided not to turn around. "What are you even doing, anyway? That looks kinda...complicated, I guess."
She suspected it was a video game of some kind, but she honestly couldn't be sure. Maybe it was some kind of digital too or something. Like, she knew that he worked with servers, and this definitely didn't look like anything related, but she didn't know much about computer programs. They'd really only had puzzle games in the hospital where she'd done most of her growing up.
Ermac's eyes fixated upon the real darkness encroaching upon his fictional city. His ring finger tapped the Escape key, pausing the game. He turned around seeing Avis. "Oh hi!" he replied with a smile and pulled off his headphones.
The Theurge saved then exited the game. "Don't mind me. Just building a city," he remarked casually about the game. "It's fun watching it grow from a small town into a metropolis."
Shuting down his laptop, he gave the Mastigos Councilor his attention. "How are you?"
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"Is it fun watching it grow, or fun knowing you have control over it as it grows?" Avis returned, flopping into a seat next to Ermac. It might just be a game, but pretty much anything anyone did could say a lot about them. After all, there was no action that wasn't connected to an idea, and ideas where what actually defined people. That was why she was more interested in her question than in his, but she didn't want to be rude.
"And I'm doin' alright," she shared with a sigh. "Feeling hemmed in, but nothing I haven't felt before. You?"
"It's more fun to watch it progress on its own," Ermac replied happily.
"The city's mostly autonomous, except for when things need to get done in order to advance to the next stage. It's a matter of keeping an eye on their needs and addressing them."
The Obrimos nodded in agreement with Avis. "Frustrated with our community. It's the same damn thing every time," a frown passed briefly upon his lips.
"Rather than mope about it, wanna go do something?"
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Huh. He was probably the only Mage in town that wouldn't get off on controlling a whole city. Well, to some degree or other. But hell, that was why she'd come to talk to Ermac in the first place.
"Yeah, that sounds good. I was actually hoping to get the chance to talk with you, like one on one, so doing something sounds good. I mean, we've been in the Consilium here for over a year, and we haven't ever really spoken outside of a group setting. Which, is probably my fault, I'll admit. I can get...pretty focused on my self. Which isn't an excuse, just...I'd like to change that. Get to know you, beyond just 'one of the few sane Awakened in town'."
Had an entire year elapsed since he arrived? They barely exchanged much conversation outside a communal environment? It was such a peculiar realization. The truth was strange like that.
Her recognition of him as "one of the few sane Awakened," brought a smile to his lips. "Thanks Avis." Pride swelled in his chest. "That really means a lot to me," the Theurge confessed with sincerity.
He attempted to reassure the Mastigos. "You're not self-centered, not in the slightest." Ermac shook his head with a half smile. "You've held strong to your obligation to building a better tomorrow. Don't let those jackasses tell you otherwise."
"As for me, what would you like to know?"
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"Well, shit, man, everything," Avis replied with a laugh. "For now, though, why don't we start with the usual. Ya know, where'd you come from, why do you do what you do, that sort of thing. Unless you have a better idea. I'm definitely not opposed to going about this a different way, I just don't know of one."
Not even a lifetime spent with another person could really let you get to know them, after all. There was always a distance. Not even the arcanum of Mind could change that, she suspected. That was the cost of individuality. The stain of unique experience, and unique perspective. There was no possibility of unity. But, perhaps that wasn't a bad thing. Perhaps that wealth of different experiences was what allowed them to become something stronger, something better than could be accomplished individually.
So, yeah, for now she'd just start with the basic questions.
"You're the first to ask that." The Theurge replied. "I came from Lawrence, Kansas," he answered comfortably. "Sacramento was sort of like a calling. You know?" He shrugged.
"I was checking out the established Consiliums through the grapevine. But something about Sacramento struck me. At the time, the SAC Ćthernet had been dark since February 2014. It was probably because it was so strange that I thought about checking things out. Once I got here, I assumed there had to be two possibilities. Either the problems were dealt with or I was walking into a war zone."
He laughed, "Boy was I surprised..." Ermac smiled to Avis, "It was at The Rage, I met VeeTee, Faye, Nous, Pepper and Aurum at Kareoke."
2 successes
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The first? Really? Had no one tried to get to know the former Councilor?
Well, fuck it. He was in her cabal now, her family, and she'd get to know him.
"Yeah, I remember that night. Good time, but I thought you'd been in the city for a while then. I coulda sworn I'd seen you at Consilium before then. Or...maybe my memory is playing tricks on me. Either way, do you ever miss where you came from? Ever long to head back to Kansas and forget all the insanity? I don't mean, like, seriously consider it, I'm not questioning your dedication, but you ever day dream about it?"
There were better ways to ask what she wanted to know, but he hadn't volunteered a lot of information about his life back home. That either meant it wasn't pleasant or was something he wanted to protect. She didn't want to prod him in either case, though she did want to know. The past was an important context for the Awakened. Often, it shaped which Path they awoke to, not to mention shaped how they used the Supernal now that they could wield it.
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