(1607) The Reality War

[West]

All of this has happened before... and it will all happen again.

The dreams. Murky, half imagined things at first, forgotten before eyes have even opened.

Dreams of a murdered Hierarch.

Dreams of a dark haired young woman, a feral warrior, a blonde with an eyepatch, and others, destroying obelisks. Five Paths, coming together to stop a Cycle.

Dreams of a world under the shadow of the Abyss, being consumed.

Dreams no one could remember. Of when everything was perfect. Of when everything was wrong. Or maybe they're all dreams of everything gone wrong, Asleep or Awake. Of Museums that never existed and people that were never met, blurring memories.

Blurring reality.

And through them all, flashes of a clock.

No one remembers when the Circle of Creation first appeared in Sacramento. The Circle that was abandoned, the Circle that was seized, the Circle that shelters them all. The Circle that more than one looked at, and questioned. But maybe it was never the act of Hubris that so many saw. It's easy to see, now. It's a Constant. A keystone in reality, with a legend to map the way forward: The clock on one tower, the matching sigils on the face of the other. Warnings, or prophecies, ignored for years.

The minute hand lurches forward.

OOC

Welcome to the soft reboot of Mage.

Feel free to feel pulled to the Circle to meet and discuss dreams (or not), and how to proceed. These things are known:

• The Museum, Bismark, and Hostel HI are gone as if they never existed.
• NPCs are missing/will not show up/are gone.
• The right tower face should be examined and deciphered, and the clock is counting down.
• Past/contradictory events remain, and their contradiction should be items of concern -- that something has drastically changed.
• The Circle of Creation is the new 'home base' for all five Orders. The map will show you how it is split up and should be considered as having 'always been'.
• That unless action is taken, the 'Bad' Glimpses will become reality.

This meeting can also be used to examine the Consilium 'government' and restructure.

Specific questions should go to the OOC thread. The conclusion of this Consilium should be the launch-points of new plots!

[Crowley]

Crowley has had a headache for the past few days. Not the flash and stab of a migraine but the dull constant storm in the skull left by too much work, stress and not enough sleep. Its hard to sleep when you are getting these weird dreams all night long. And he's so jumpy! Butterflies in the stomach when he even thinks about his Awakened life; weightless hollow legs... What caused that? An argument. Was it an argument? More like a debate, right? Or was that a dream. What was it over anyhow? Spiders. And barriers to the Shadow Realms. Was that even normal?

Seers! Seers were what this was about. A prophecy. A warning. A war on their doorstep.

Thats right, they had to get organised.

He finds himself (yep: two arms, three legs, a head) on the front steps of the impressive Cathedral. He's staring up at that second tower - as if for the first time. Why had he not noticed the sigils before. He's an Acanthus, dammit. He's supposed to be sensitive to warp and weft of Fate, the dance to the music of Time... And the yummy mummy pushing a carriage over there...

Focus!

Crowley has had a headache for the past few days...

Memory blurs. He was having a coffee and catch up with Sasha. Then he must have gone back to Electric Fairyland and hooked up with a "secretary" while they did try outs for the manager position? Then how did he get here? He shakes his head, winces, rakes a hand through his hair. Returns to looking up at that damned second "clock" face with its sigils and warnings and who knew what else. It was trying to tell him something, but what?

Crowley has had a headache for the past few days...

[Wayland]

Wayland woke with a start, and instantly regretted it from the pounding headache boring into his brain. Those dreams! Damn bro, what the fuck!? Sitting up, and fighting through the pain he brushed the dirt off him. Dirt? Looking around he could see he was in St Mary's cemetary, and he must have fallen asleep here last night.

Standing up he did a double take, trying to process the conflicting memories he had. They were a dream, but so much more. Wayland set out and headed for the Steel Phoenix Sanctum, knowing what he would find, but still he needed to know for sure. Arriving at the building he went to unlock the door, but couldnt find his key. He knocked, and the door was answered by a middle aged man he'd never seen before. "Ahh, hey sorry man, I think I got the wrong place." He turned and walked away not even waiting for a response.

There was only one other place he could call home in this city, but then he already knew that he needed to go there. Wayland hailed a taxi and a short time later he stepped out before the Circle of Creation. Out in front he can see Crowley. Walking up to the Enchanter, he follows his gaze, "Hey man whatcha lookin....." the words trailing away as he sees what has Crowley transfixed. "What the..."

[Aurora]

Fate and destiny are fickle and just down right crazy bitches sometimes if you asked her. Sleep was never something that came easily for her, but when it did and was then taken from her, Faye went on a war path. No amount of caffeine was gonna help how cranky or mentally exhausted she was.

Figuring out the meaning behind dreams had never been something she cared about or quite frankly believed in. But when you have one that sticks with you, you kinda have to wonder. One left her with handful of dread and despair in the pit of her stomach. And she couldn’t shake it. The dream meant something. But the other dream, it was beautiful. What was Fate doing? Why was it toying with her…what did it mean?

She felt drawn to the Cathedral, and after the dreams, she wasn’t about to ignore the feeling. Her iPod goes in after she parks her car. She shoves her hands in the pockets of her leather coat, her expression a little sour. In her hand was a coffee travel mug, the coffee was strong, and the added caffeine gave it a kick.

As she got closer, her eyes were drawn upwards, locking on the clock. Had it always been there? She played with Time, why had she not noticed it before?! Something was up.

It was only then that she noticed Crowley and another guy she didn’t think she had meet before. But had seen around.

"Hey guys..." she says, taking out her ear buds, "Anything seem...off to you?"

[Fisher]

Fisher was sound asleep in the courtyard with the warm morning sun covering her like a blanket. The soft sounds of traffic and birds drifting over to her kept per mind pacified in its state of slumber. Which was good because her sleep was restless with nightmare after nightmare. She stirred fitfully and found that she was unable to wake up after her first nightmare so her mind forced her to watch scene after scene of battle, and death, despair, then there was the clock tower on the Circle of Creation and she finally jerked awake with the sound of a loud bell reverberating in her mind.

Owch...she thought holding her had as she sat up.

Then she remembered her dreams and her stomach heaved over and over as she knelt on her hands and knees on the ground coughing up bile from her empty stomach. When she stopped shaking she began to stand up, wiping her mouth with her hands and froze as she looked down at herself.

"Why the heck am I naked?!" She said loudly in surprise. Then her mind raced and her eyes widened

OH MY GOD NO! her mind screamed. I didn't...I couldn't have. She felt like she was going to be sick again and then her mind suddenly remembered she was supposed to live here and went to sleep in her bed in the barracks...

"Wait a minute there aren't barracks here...why would I think I live here?" She paused for a moment when she reached her feet and breathed into her hand and smelled it. "I don't feel hungover...that's not it...I must have been training here and fell asleep?" she mused to herself unconvinced.

What the actual fuck would possess me to train naked here? I guess it must have made sense at the time? I'm losing it...well, whatever.

Trying to make sense of it further only served to make her head hurt and so with a shrug she just decided to roll with it and decided she must me more of an exhibitionist than she originally thought. She mulled this over as she began to search for her clothes. It took her some time to find them as she looked all over the training grounds and then started to search in the building itself. It was odd that they were strung all over like she just started stripping as she walked through the place. She never did find her panties, but decided they would turn up eventually if they decided to. She then got dressed in her embroidered linen shirt, bra, bluejeans, and socks and shoes.

Once she was finally dress and ready she made her way around the Circle this time trying to make sense of things and found a group of people standing out front when she peaked her head outside.

"Oh hey, there ya guys are...anyone else have a feeling like you just woke up from a hangover or a bad trip and nothing is making sense...or is that just me?"

She looked up at the tower where they were looking and noticed the clock and then the markings.

"Curiouser and curiouser" Fisher mused out loud, it felt strangely appropriate.

[Strix]

When the dreams first came, Strix didn't give it much thought and blamed it on still getting used to an unknown city, in a place he only recently moved in.

But the dreams didn't stop, they kept coming returning, intensifying and were unsettling in their own ways, yet never strong enough to actually give Strix anything to remember but bits and pieces and that…sense of urgency and danger that it had, finally, made him give up on attempting to sleep when he woke startled from yet another one with images flashing and vanishing as soon as he was fully awake.

It was how he found himself walking seemingly aimlessly through the streets, hands tucked into the pockets of his jeans as he trotted along the path with the intend to find the park he could swore was around here somewhere.

Instead, he stopped in front of a cathedral.

"Huh." He noted to himself, looking towards the small group of people that seemed to have gathered in front of it.

The people were strangers to him, just like the rest of the city was new to him, but he still decided to move closer.

"Cathedrals really look alike wherever you go, huh?" Strix said casually, both making his presence known to the four while cheerfully ignoring that anyone who studied the architecture and style of these buildings might disagree with him on it. It did look like one or another he had seen before, online, but that was about as much as he could about it.

As he was looking over the building, his eyebrows shoot up in surprise with another, "Huh," leaving him as he noticed just what seemed to be interesting three out of four people...

[West]

Fisher's presence triggers Unseen Senses

[Fisher]

Rolls for bookkeeping

  3 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2016-07-10 19:36:12		Fisher rolls 7 to Supernal Vision (wit+occ+prime+HS) (10 Again)		3, 4, 8, 1, 10, 8, 5, 3		3 successes

  1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2016-07-10 19:37:21		Fisher rolls 5 to Organic Resilience (Life+Gno) (10 Again)		5, 8, 4, 4, 2		1 success

[Tuesday]

Ever since Tuesday's big toe crossed the city limits she's been feeling odd. When she realized she lost her shiny silver coin, she thought that was it. She fixed it, and the oddness should Go Away.

It didn't.

The Dreams started, prompting the sometimes lazy Acanthus to phone up the Herald; Vanessa. Or whatever her shadow name was. They met for burgers, but even as perfect as they were the Not Right didn't go away.

Then the sultry blond brought her to a cathedral. Which she assumed was where the Sacramento Consilium was located. Getting her sworn in or something. Tuesday wasn't really sure on what was going on - other then effed up dreams, and the ever clinging feeling of Not Right, like she was watching the world through gossamer silk - she was shit at double speak and her distracted thoughts hadn't helped.

Hey that burger was delish!

Rolling her hazel eyes she knew she wasn't foolin' anyone, least of all herself.

Keyed up and edgy, standing next to Sex-on-Legs; Tuesday definitely didn't think she was dressed to impress, and deffinatly not the mages she assumed were gathering on the stone steps in front of them.

She'd thought hey meat between bread in a fancy package...camo cargo pants, with a pair of Walmart-cheep steel toe boots, a faded Tinkerbell tee - the in-joke the proved her failing at the double speak - and her trusty leather bomber jacket. It should be good enough. But-but...that swirling-twisting-writhing feeling of Not Right had her reaching for that well of power that lived inside of her, but she stopped. It might not be polite to introduce yourself with your shields up.

And the complete unknown that she was, they might not take kindly to casting anything anyway.

[Crowley]

"Yeah..."

Crowley drawled, exaggerating the word as he attempted to stretch it into infinity. He got so far...

"Maybe I'm blind to my surroundings, but, uh, like, I don't remember seeing a clock like that up there before. Come to think of it, I don't recall clocks being up there at all. Anyone else?" He turned to Faye, Fisher, Wayland and the others. "Uh. Yeah. Bad hangover. No - actually this is like a bad hangover with a bad trip. Yeah..."

To Faye in particular he gave a curious look. "Uh. Faye... You feel a sense of deja vu right now? Like we started something and didn't finish? You... You here for the... meeting?"

Eyes rove up to the clocks and bounce back to earth, rebound and dance over the field of Awakened.

"So. Okay. What are people here for? I was supposed to set up... catch up... yeah... a meeting. That I had set up. So, like, whats going on guys? You don't look like my people. Faye does. Faye is my type of people. No - wait thats wrong... but right! Anyway. Was there a scheduling clash or something? Do we even have scheduling clashes?"

His face grew grim and his voice raised slightly as a jolt of panic jangled his taut nerves.