(1710) Sanctuary 11

[Sand]

Research for any project was vital. Slugging through data and numbers in the hopes of finding the crucial building blocks to support the project. Some never did more than that. Those who worked with pure theory or lacked the funding for more hands on work.

Talks with Tuesday and Faye had told her Sacramento were not pure theorist mages. They couldn't afford it.

"It sounds like at this point the only thing left to do is actually go in and investigate. We now know that at least ground floor up of the Bismarck don't have any residual of our original timeline. We know that the basement does have something going on down there. Not what- it could be either a lingering effect due to the work of the Seers or it could be something unrelated entirely." Chimed in, ticking points off on her fingers.

"I agree that the approach through the established legal methods is likely best. And keep it simple. Over complicating it will only trip us up later on should we need to get out or should others get involved."

[Tuesday]

Oculus gets a call and leaves.

Tuesday watches for a minute has the Shaman heads out the door before turning her attention to Khysmet.

"Dude. Any help's good help and Luck. Even with me being awesome. Luck's always welcome." nod, "But. Since. We didn't get a chance to talk." dude left in his car and sped away instead of go for a walk with her, "I didn't get a chance to fill you in on what's been goin' on 'round here. Like the Reality War....uh...have you been having capitol 'd' Dreams? Normally they come in two flavors. Seers being d-bags who've won and Happy fluffy but Sleepers. Don't think you have had 'em since, it seems to have only effected the folks that were here when it happened. But. The Seers and their d-bag masters fucked with Time hardcore. And they still wanna fuck everything up more. So. We've been heading through Time to fix it. Or make sure the Seer's lose. We use the Clock." Tuesday points at the Clock, the intricate machine, the artifact that Arthur who was left behind only to live and become Sacramento's first Hierarch, helped build with the help of other Masters so could have this fighting chance. "Haven't used the Clock lately, it's been quiet. But. The Bismark. It used to be where the Ladder met in the other Timeline. We're tryin' to see if it's...if there's still something there." Tuesday sighs and turns to Faye and Campy, and Sand, knowing she wont really have to explain how serious this next bit was to another Acanthus.

"Uh...I was Lookin' 'round. Like with my Fate peepers. And....there was no sign that the Bismark was ever meant to be another but the horribly boring mundane building it is now. Not even a left over strand, or rip or tear in Fate. It....that's why I'm saying alternate Timeline....it fits that the Bismark isn't the same one you remember Faye, but...a different one completely....like we were all...moved here, They erased what was, and we remember now in this new place because....I don't know. Because we're awesome." she shrugs, "But. Sand's...yeah....that might be why the basement's so important. That it might be the only thing that remains of their careful cutting and pasting." that would sit with Tuesday better then what she figured from what her peepers told her.

To Faye, "You're memories aren't fake. None of ours are. We remember how things ought to be. The Seers are just meticulous in their fucking with us." Tuesday infuses her rasp with her feels. The Truth of this. Tuesday really and truly believes this.

[Campanella]

Campanella nodded briefly along with Khysmet.

"D.C. was a basket case when I was there. The Diamond was already shattered. We were scrambling to secure what little could be saved."

He could only offer sympathy to Faye. "I am sorry. You must be feeling this keenly. It is the same with the Mysterium. I only know of the old Athenaeum's existence through what other members of the Order told me; none of their recollections ever include where this place is - or was, rather - let alone who watched over it."

He let his gaze switch to Khysmet for a moment.

[Aurora]

She nods as Sand talks, “Only way to know for sure is to head down there. Though that Spirit wasn’t too keen on it. Though I’m not sure if it knew what I was.” Shrug. “Though I’m hoping there is something down there that verifies what’s going on.” There has to be something.

“Good point. Legal way it is.” Chuckle. “But if we do need to break in, remember that I can fit into very tiny spaces, so we might not have to be as, uh, forceful about it.” It could be fun, and wouldn’t be the first time she’d contorted her body to break into a place.

Oculus leaving was a surprise, and she hoped things were ok.

Solemn nod, “That they did. And fucking with Time and timelines has consequences, though I’m sure you know that.” But everything had a consequence, though not as quickly felt as Time.

“Well, we’re going off what I think I remember about the Bismark.” Shaking her head, “I don’t know if those memories are real or not.” Things were different, Time was fucked.

The news that Tuesday shared brought a look of pain to her face. “Nothing?” her voice soft, an underlining tone of disbelief. Not in Tuesday abilities, but in what she saw. Or didn’t see. “But it would seem that I shouldn’t remember it. Sure, I’m still a Therach, but I’m also not an Enchantress anymore. It seems weird that whatever happened to change my Path would also change or remove memories. At least to me it makes sense. Maybe they screwed something up?” she was probably reaching there. But she didn’t care, she was looking to make sense of it all.
She heard the unicorns words, but found no comfort in them. "And if they did overlook or screw something up, maybe they've dropped the ball on other things." maybe.

DC?

“Something like this has happened before?” she asks, curious.

Nodding, “That could be, us having a connection before things went downhill. Makes more sense than what I said before.” Laugh.

Head shaking to Campy, “We can’t let that happen here. The Diamond can’t be shattered.” They couldn’t let that happen.

And then his words hit home, he actually understood what she was feeling. “Sorry, I didn’t realize it was that way with the Athenaeum.” Her voice soft.

[Campanella]

Campanella shakes his head.

"That was very different, to my understanding. In D.C. the Seers had spent years carefully infiltrating the Diamond and sowing the seeds of dissent. By the time the Seers moved out of the shadows and pushed hard against the Pentacle, the Consilium was already weakened through internal strife and mistrust. Thanks to their preparations the Seers took out the Consilium in one move: leadership to lower tiers, all. In one night."

He sighed heavily.

"I Awakened shortly after and was inducted by the remaining members of my Order. Sent back out to try and muddy the waters... draw out enemy agents so some blood could be shed. It was a complete catastrophe."

There was no emotion in his voice.

"So I took my lessons and left. Better gone than dead, or worse, forced to switch sides. I suspect that happened to a few of my peers from that time."

He looked over at Faye, eyebrows raised in a questioning fashion.

"We can't let that happen? It has happened. Look around you? Do you see a Consilium here? I see an empty building. They have won. Not a total victory for we are still here. But our Order's are shattered, our knowledge gone, our numbers few. And we still have no idea who our enemy is or where they are, let alone what plans they have in motion. Your confused memories and my failed attempts to trace my Order's Athenaeum only confirm this."

The pew creaked under him as he moved.

"Lets face facts. We have enough to start a resistance by simply - and tenaciously, I might add, hanging on. But we have lost this. The sooner we focus our energies on something else the better."

[Sand]

Light bulb! Well... sort of. Not considered was the possibility that the Seers had not changed the past so much as moved them away from theirs. It was an interesting possibility. Likely as difficult as rewriting. But that was from a non-Acanthus POV. Tuesday would know better which was actually more feasible.

Movement distracted her from getting lost in thoughts of alternate time lines. Occulus. Noted but not dwelt upon.

"Maybe..." said softly. "Say... you guys might have already tried this but have you researched your own past? I mean, you have the dreams and the memories but has anyone done a generic search to see if there are any other memories that don't match up? On the mundane level that is. Like... see if your social media records in this timeline be it simply an altered one or a new one are all aligned with your own memories? See if it still has you going to the High School you remember and still have the same best friend? The Bismark might have been an easy catch because it is so related to," hand waved vaguely at their surroundings. "But maybe within those areas we don't usually associate with our Awakened selves there is a dropped ball that we can chase. In addition to the work we are going to do on the Bismark."

Campanella's rote recitation = saddening. & slightly irritating, even if the point was potentially valid.

"Realism is important," agreement with him. "But I would like to avoid tipping into pessimism. We have a lead in the basement. Whether it be a lead to the Seers who started this War or simply some Spirits causing a headache for the security- we will find out and handle it. Hey... she hadn't said anything about trying to avoid optimism.

"So. Basement. Who needs to do what to get that trip started?" Alternate timeline theory had been distracting.

[Tuesday]

"We're five against a force of Seers large enough to have made us five. Who've gotten their dee-bag masters to let them fuck around with Time so hard that I can't find trace of the Bismark's original Fate." she lets that hang in the air. Silly, happy unicorn is one thing, but this. This was Serious.

Tuesday stares at the Clock. "Yeah. Hopin'" because if not. If their screw up in the Park was as bad as she feared, then they were well and truly fucked.

"Can't be that. The location. Shit started when I got here. Never been to Sacramento before then, and I hadn't met any of the mages that were here either. And Campy. Campy Don't know if you've had the Dreams, but he got here couple months after shit started." But it might have to do with them being Awakened. But it might not. There was just so much they didn't know.

"Right Faye, s'not like Imma forget your bendyness." the times the Unicorn walked into a room only to find the blond pretzel'd up were innumerable.

"They are real." Tuesday says, "We know things used to be different, and They're not gonna take that from us."

Tuesday looks at Campy, then to Khysmet. There's nothing she can really say to that. But she has a feeling that both of them had friends, or who they thought were friends turn out to be Seers instead.

"We're still here." Tuesday starts, "We're still here, and we're fighting. We still have our memories and will. We're scattered. Not Shattered." Because if all hope really was lost, then why the fuck were any of the here. 'better gone then dead or turned.'

"I haven't." to Sand. "I generally leave my past behind me. I left it for a reason." which to some might mean because of her Awakening, but Tuesday knew the truth. "But....if we're not. If we've been moved to and elsewhen slash where instead of everything shifting around us....our pasts, everything about them might be wrong. That might be why the Seers haven't stopped up yet. What if to them one of the Dreams is real. Like I know in one I was a Sleeper. If to their eyes me-the-awesome-unicorn hasn't Awakened...then they can't touch the me that did. Maybe." she nods some more. When they went back for Cunanan, Tuesday had been so laser focused on not touching her past with a miles long pole because she knew then that she'd fuck everything up if she did. Now back in the present, Tuesday still didn't wanna touch it, for reasons.

Then Sand speaks and Tuesday does some more nodding. "Yeah. What she said." the to her question, "I just need to meet up with the guard dude and we're in. I think. We need to get some bags and stuff for our 'equipment' for ghost hunting. Or whatever, but I did say us and not limit the number on that."

[Campanella]

Something Tuesday said must have got through the Moros' armour.

"I have had... Dreams," he said carefully. "I have seen my own death; I witnessed my scaling the political heights - and it almost felt real."

He definitely looked troubled now. His face turned to a frown and he determinedly focused on other matters.

"Lets focus on that, then. Its something we can do. I could probably help with the... props. Unless you want to source actual equipment for this job? Otherwise I can stand as backup, as I did the first time."

[Aurora]

She listened, realizing that could have been this Consilium years ago. When they had the numbers, but when mistrust and anger seemed to rule meetings.

But his words ignited a fire within her, “The buildings not empty, we’re here. And to me, it hasn’t happened until I’ve drawn my last breath. I refuse to just sit back and play a victim, I did that too much in the past. If you want to, go for it. But I will keep fighting until I can’t anymore. They win when we give up and accept this. Well, it won’t come from me.” Her blue eyes hard. “And my confused memories confirm nothing to me. There is something going on, yeah, that’s obvious. But the fact I still have them tells me they’ve failed or slipped up along the way, and I intend to find out where.” She was ready to inflict as much physical and mental suffering as she could on whatever Seer she came across.

“But if you’re content rolling over and accepting this, have fun. Nothing is lost until we admit it and walk away. But I will not walk away without throwing everything I have at them and taking some of them down with me.” She wasn’t budging on this, this was her home, she wouldn’t not admit defeat to the like of Seers. Her breathing had increased and her hands trembled slightly, her blood was boiling right now and she needed to calm herself.

Thankfully, Sands voice pulls her out.

“Our own past?” she then shakes her head, “Actually, no. I personally haven’t. But now I’m curious.” Why hadn’t they thought of that before? “Worth looking into.” A nod.

“I’m not stupid enough not to know that things are bleak. But I’m not accepting this and not fighting back. This is our home, and we have to take it back, or at least do whatever we can.” If they wanted to roll over and play dead, they could. But she wasn’t.

"This is the first place I've had in years that feels like home to me. I won't lose that....I can't." she didn't know what it would do to her.

“Uh, not sure. Tuesday seems to be the one leading that. But I can help get stuff we might need to look more authentic.”

Eyes snap over to Tuesday, “They’ve fucked with Time, yes. But they can only do that for so long before it catches up with them. I’m not the only one who knows the Universe pays attention and pay backs gonna be a bitch.” If she had anything to say about it.

“Like you said, we’re not shattered. We need to regroup and focus on a target. They can’t hide forever, and they’ve already made errors along the way.” And they could use those mistakes.
And then whatever was said seems to bring Campy down a bit. But she could still feel her blood boiling and rushing through her body.

But she didn’t want to snap at him. That wouldn’t help, they needed to be unified, and fighting and yelling was going to further any divide.

A couple breaths were taken slowly as her eyes close.

“Not sure which is the best way to go. Some of us are kind of like professional equipment anyways.” She jokes with a half-smile. “How well do you think the props would look if the guard wanted to look at them? Just don’t want to have any road bumps you know. I can help with that too, but I’ve never actually done it. So maybe it’s best left to someone with more experience?” the smile was full now.