Sunday Casual

[Aurora]

Faye had reached out to Campanella to setup a time for them to get together. And wanting them to be able to talk openly, she figured her loft was a good place.

She didn’t remember what he was drinking on Halloween, or if he would want alcohol or not, so she had a little of everything. There was fresh coffee in the French-press sitting on the counter, water and juice in the fridge, plus beer. There was also a tea pot on the stove in case he like tea, plus spirits of various colors could be seen on a shelf. Everything from green and brown to white and blue. Hey, she liked to drink and didn’t care what anyone thought of it.

The apartment is an open floor loft, large beams stretching from floor to ceiling, walls bare red brick and floor a darker wood. It was clearly a loft that was done by hand. The living room area had oversized couches covered by a beige fabric with brightly colored pillows and wooden crates and boxes made up tables and shelves. Soft white LED lights were strung around the room in various places. There was actually a few plants here and there. Some just plain hanging plans, but there was a few orchids near the windows in various colors. Her fav part of the loft? Her bed. Which was full of fabric, with a rigged canopy system, also full of flowing fabric and soft white lights mixed in with the hanging fabric. Near a window was a ballet bar with colored mats beneath it. There was also a hula-hoop with five prongs that stuck out on it, as well as a sword, plus some odd looking wired fan thing.

Campanella will be buzzed in as soon as he arrives and will find Faye greeting him with an open door. Today was a super casual day for the new Shaman with an oversized white sweater over distressed jeans. Her long hair had been thrown into a messy bun.
Yumyumcrow Campanella

[Campanella]

Campanella juggles his offerings and reaches for the doorbell. Soon after, and with evident relief, the Moros discovers that Faye has the door to her loft open.

Campanella is dressed in smart casual today: slacks, shirt, crisp new shoes that creak. He is lightly wrapped in a long coat whose worn and threadbare appearance clash with the rest of his clothes. This is an old coat; a cherished coat; a coat with a history.

The Moros is bearing gifts: a bucket containing a fast food meal of chicken and less identifiable things; a bottle of something cheap yet strangely suited to the meal at hand; high fluted glasses. Exactly how he carried all of these things to his destination remains a Mystery.

"Greetings. I bring gifts of food and drink." He smiled.

Curious eyes roved across the space as he crossed the threshold.

[Aurora]

Blue eyes widen in surprise at the food and bottle, “Hey! Wow, looks yummy!” she greets, ushering him inside as she closes the door. “Food sounds amazing! And what did you bring to drink?” she asks, face curious.

“So welcome to my loft! Not a lot, but it’s one of my favorite places.” She says gesturing to the space before offering to take the food and bottle. If he lets her, she will place them on the kitchen counter and begin opening cabinets for plates and silverware, laying them out beside the food. “And we can totally eat on the couch, not worried about food and drink, they’re just slip covers.” Some people were weird about not eating in the living room, Faye was not one of them.

“How’ve you been?” she asks.

[Campanella]

"Ah. Well enough." Campanella said with a sigh as he deposited both food and drink on a crate. "The wine is... cheap... But it has worked with fast food before. So I'm hoping it does the trick again." He started opening the bucket. "Do you want plates, or anything?"

He looked up, questioningly.

"As to your question. Yes, settled in now. Have a decent enough client base. I don't particularly want to expand that yet. Its still early days, so to speak. And you? Have you been keeping well?"

His eyes strayed to the sword and the fan-contraption. He had an urge to examine the orchids but managed to resist.

[Aurora]

She holds up the plates she had gotten from the cabinet with a grin.

“I’ll trust you on that one, I don’t know anything about wine. Well, aside from color, but that’s just kinda basic knowledge. But I’m sure it’ll be good.” If not, well, she had plenty of other drinks to offer.

“Great to hear you’ve settled in! Not sure if you’ve told me what you do for a living, but sounds like it’s going well.” Which was always good, usually made settling in easier.

“Me? Oh, as well as I can I guess. Still, you know, figuring everything out.” Waking up to a new Path wasn’t an easy transition. But, it wasn’t the worst thing and she was trying to be positive.

She sees him looking around, “That’s one of my fire fans, and the sword is my practice one. I swallow them for my show.” Which she said as if she was talking about the weather. Swallowing swords and playing with fire was an everyday thing for her. “The orchids are new. Tuesday suggested I add some plants and color to the place. And I’ve always sucked at keeping things alive, but figured with the new Shaman thing, might as well start with plants. And I think it's going well so far, cause they're still alive and all.” She says with a chuckle.

[Campanella]

Campanella chuckled.

"I am an art dealer: mostly reputation and word of mouth - keeps things controlled. Books mostly but I keep watch on many things. One never knows when something of value will turn up. And that is... part of the charm."

He was working on the bottle and then pouring their refreshment.

"The orchids are very beautiful. I am sure you can keep them alive and healthy. I would have thought that they would assist your understanding?" He added carefully. He certainly used the old books and other objects he came across through his work as means to practice his Arcanum.

The connection with Tuesday did not go unnoticed.

"You have good relations with Tuesday?" He ventured as he handed Faye a glass of sparkling wine.

[Aurora]

Nodding, “Oh, ok! That sounds interesting and I bet you meet lots of interesting people too. I bet it allows you to travel quite a bit!” Everyone had such interesting jobs and all she did was little circus tricks. Maybe it really was time for a career change. “Have you always been into art and books? Well, was it something you inherited from your parents or got into on your own?” she was genuinely curious. There really wasn’t an option for her growing up, so it intrigued her how others came into their professions.

She watches his open the bottle, wondering how it would pair with the chicken. When she thought of chicken type fast food, she always went with beer. But, she was keeping an open mind.

Smiling, “I loved the bright vibrant colors they came in. Which was what drew me to them.” Well, and Tuesday mentioned em. “Uh,” thinking over his words, “Kinda? I mean, watering them and making sure they get sun has been a lot easier than figuring how to keep a human alive,” she says looking at her hands, turning them over, “you know? Urgh, I’m not good at explaining things, sorry.” She shrugs, “I haven’t had the chance to try and bring them back to life, so maybe I should let one wilt and try some magic on it.” She never really thought of doing that to help understand her new Path. But it certainly made sense.

“When I was her Councilor we met and talked, so I think we have a good relationship. She has a good head on her shoulders, easy to talk to.” She says taking the offered glass, “Thanks.” A smile followed. “I only hope her and I can remain close after the whole Path change. Have to admit, never really had female friends, so it was a welcomed thing.” She had always been the type more comfortable with guys than girls, well, as far as friendships went. “Have you had the chance to talk with her? If not, you really should. I like how she thinks outside the box.”

[Campanella]

On the subject of Tuesday, Campanella stared into the depths of his glass. "We have talked. It was... rather fascinating, really. Once I got used to the way she speaks and thinks. She is... something of an open book. Not that I would call her stupid of naieve. I think she understands more than she lets on; maybe even more than she believes she does."

On the subject of his art dealership, the Moros has to think. "Well. I wouldn't say it helped with the travel. But it did help with keeping an occupation while I travelled. Its quite a closed world, you see. And yes, the trade has more than its fare share of characters. Truth really is stranger than fiction."

He nibbled on a chicken leg. "I've always been into books. My parents were both from old families. Eh - the names remained but the wealth had all but gone. I was bequeathed a legacy of old photo albums, stories, and trinkets; the remnants of past glories. Or so they told me. For a while, at least, I believed them. Now I am not so sure how much was fact, how much was fable, and how much was wishful thinking. I guess hanging around shops filled with old objects felt normal to me - we had storage that was packed with old furniture we had no space for. I used some of it to buy my way into the trade: those objects were wonderful and they deserved more than being cooped up in a garage collecting dust."

Maybe that was why Supernal Stygia had reached out for him. Maybe not.

On the orchids. "Perhaps. But that might be a cheap way out. I bet that if you learned to look after those beautiful plants without falling back on the Supernal, you would learn just as much. They say Orchids are fragile and temperamental things; a challenge for the best gardeners. I bet you could learn a lot about Life simply by caring for those flowers. Its not all about ability. Anyone, given time, can practice and practice and practice until they gain enough raw power to bend this Fallen world to their Will. But understanding - wisdom to know when and where to apply the lessons of the Arcana; and when not to - is something else entirely. And its a much more valuable resource."

[Aurora]

Faye nods as she fixes herself a plate of yummy food. “I would def call her an open book. And I can see why you’d say she understands more than she lets on. Not sure if it’s something she adopted to get by, cause not everyone usually takes a woman seriously about certain things. Sometimes it’s easier to let people assume you don’t know as much as you do.” There was a shrug as she picked up the plate and sits on the couch, long legs tucked under herself. “Can also give you the upper hand.” Was added as almost like an afterthought. She often played stupid to give herself the upper hand.

Huh, “Perhaps provided a reason to travel? A closed world? Meaning not a lot of people in your field?” she wasn’t sure what he meant exactly. “Ah, well characters make life interesting, well, at least in my line of work.” You needed to be a character of some type, someone you’ve created to appease the crowds.

She sipped the sparkling wine, listening as she did. Some of his words hit home for her. “Wow. Isn’t our reality what we make it? I mean, I think we’ve all at some point stretched the truth of our pasts. Either to impress someone, or to make ourselves feel better about it.” She had done it a few times herself. Easier to make things up than accept the hard reality of what was. “Oh! I would have died and gone to heaven in a storage filled with old furniture! So exciting and so many possibilities!” she exclaimed before realizing she probably never mentioned what she liked to do with said old furniture, “My bad, should probably explain that! I like refurbishing old furniture I find in second hand shops. So in my eyes, it would have been beyond exciting! And I completely agree! Antiques, if damaged, are perfect to have life brought back into them. In good condition, they are history!” there was a hint of passion in her tone. “So just cause I’m a curious girl, and you don’t have to answer my nosy questions, but how do you buy your way into a trade?” she was really curious.

Blue eyes look back over to the orchids, considering his words. “Hmm,” she says, “You make a lot of good points I’d never considered. And they are certainly temperamental, I’ve replaced a few of those already. I even knowing that I could bring them back, it just doesn't feel right to me, if that makes sense. It was my lack of knowledge about them that led to them dying. And I’ve slowly learned their needs and whatnot. But I never thought of that applying to learning Arcana, and never went about learning that way.” She looks thoughtful for a moment, “But I can see how it could be helpful. Give one a deeper understanding.”

[Campanella]

Campanella watched Faye fold into her seat with a certain unrepressed satisfaction.

"How did I buy my way in? There was the old furniture I had no use for. Some of my mother's friends gave me the name of some good dealers and I had some appraisals made. From there - well, before that, actually... I grew up touching the trade. My parents knew antiquarians and restorers. Their wider social circle had more links. Some I pulled on for advice, others I knew personally. From there it went with fits and starts - a bit of dealing here and there, trading here and there, and so on. I don't actually remember the point at which it became my profession. It grew on me over time as other pursuits fell by the wayside."

Which was, roughly speaking, true.

A brief smile played on his lips and his eyes shone. "There is something magical about antiques, isn't there? Even some damage can tell a story. Sometimes thats part of the object as well, like a finger print. I find that too much of this modern stuff is cheap and classless. Soulless. They are just... pretty objects. And sometimes not so pretty."

He reached for more food.

"I'm glad you see it that way," he said referring to the discussion on Arcana. "Give it a try some time and tell me the results of your study. One day I hope to take up the study of alchemy properly, all the better to achieve insight into Matter. At present I content myself with reading widely and... practicing. It has helped get me through the door to Disciple of Matter; if I'm to progress further I'll need something more substantial to expand my understanding. I should probably start with rotecraft." The last he added almost to himself, musing on the new directions opening up to him.

He reached for his glass and found it empty. He poured again.

"Here is a question for, since we are talking Craft. What way is better? Raw mystical might and understanding or specialising into the deeper study of the Arcana and their ways?"*

*For reference, Campy is asking whether one should prioritise developing Gnosis or build up the Arcana first.