Chemistry!

[Banshee]

"Ah. Good." she nods, "I...don't know." she starts before stopping, "Understanding emotions not my own, and not in a...visual media are difficult for me to understand. I frequently make assumptions. Sometimes they are wrong."

She nods, "Words were said, no one....it was." she signed. "There was a reason why I played host to a pizza party when Consilium took place last time. What happened was...loud...I didn't stay until the official dismissal, so I do not know how bad it got, but. I heard enough." she sighs, "I attempted to follow Epitaph, but....she was very fast. Even in that robe and with those feathers...and uh-" the blood.

"Never mind, I wish not to bring that day into this more then I already have done." she takes a moment to sip upon her chosen libation. "Yes, our pasts bring us towards our futures. A path written out, one that can be manipulated and cultivated....it's been interesting. Death has always been my main focus. It was simply the only arcana that called to me. I once saw the beauty of Forces laid before my eyes by an acquaintance of mine when I was freshly Awakened, it was....beautiful. Staring across a city's skyline, I enjoyed the colour and vibrancy so much that I forwent my inherent ease with Matter...but introducing me to Fate in such a violent manner, pairing it off of Death...hmm. I am enjoying my studies immensely.

"Though I have a question from both of you. How is it like to study the Sleeper's opposite of Death, Life?" remembering the Garden of Souls, which she glances upon Knot, surly the question will invoke the atmosphere and imagery.

[Knot]

Knot picks at the rice on his plate. He wouldn't say his parents were fucked up. I mean, yeah sure they were rigid, and demanding, and they downplay or blow off every mistake they've ever made, and since his Awakening they ignored any attempt to contact them because they wanted to cut off their drug addict son but that never actually stops them from leaving voicemails where they talk about how much of a failure he is or posting ranting screeds on Facebook about disloyalty and disrespect.

Knot shakes his head to derail it from that line of thought. "Yeah, a pity party isn't what I'm looking for. I just think it's a shame that when people get a little bit of power, it seems that nine times out of ten it goes right to their heads and they want to use it to squash other people. It's kind of tragic that being able to change reality isn't enough for people." He shrugs around another sip of his drink. "As for Guardians, I don't understand them, I'll admit. Mostly all I've known about them is nasty rumors, and until recently Winter is the only one I've had anything approaching a conversation with, so it's colored my opinions a lot."

"But art's neat!" Knot says, seizing on the topic because he doesn't want this to be a let's bash each other's order conversation. "I think it's remarkable how some people can just take ideas from their heads and make it into something other people can experience. It's a kind of wonder all it's own, and I wish it was a skill I had. I think it'd be cool to make glass."

"But magic, wow okay." Knot eats a little rice as he chews the question over. "Well, I was taught Life because the kind of training I was being put through pretty much required it so it's more like a set of skills than a spiritual calling, if that makes sense? But whenever I learn more about one of the gross arcana, like Life and Time, it's like I'm becoming more aware of how those facets of the universe are imposed on us. I'm not really sure how to describe it sometimes, but it's like knowing that the poison I'm drinking isn't real and that the cuts and scrapes aren't real and that if I concentrate enough I can rub them away like they're just wet ink. It's knowing that Time is a trick of our limited perceptions and that it's easy to look back into the past of forward into the future. They feel like very, uhhhh..." Knot searches for a way to describe them that doesn't make him sound like a loon. "Like things everyone should be able to do? Like every secret about them that I come to understand is more like I'm remembering how to do something that I've forgotten. Is that making sense?"

[Nemo]

"Yeah, that makes sense, Knot," Nemo agreed, moving her food about with her fork, but not doing much more.

"I'm not sure I can really explain it. Not as well as Knot did. Though...I can tell you a little story."

The faceshifter shrugged, and put her fork down.


"So, they say that when we're little, we don't understand that the self is different from other people. Then, when we're a little older, we have something called a 'transitional object', like a teddy bear, or whatever. Something that is not us, it's Ms. Fluffy, or whatever, but it's also not really not us, because we're the ones making it up. Well, that was a little hard for me because my Mom used to get into my head. Like, literally. She was a Warlock. So, for a lot of time, like, my mom and I weren't different people. We were sharing the same mindscape, you know?"

Nemo sighed, and picked up her fork again, spearing a bite.

"So, I was really confused, growing up, why I wasn't like other people, or even other animals. Then, like Knot said, it was like one day I realized that I could make myself like them if I just changed what I needed to. I mean, if you really think about it, it's not that that the Truth is that we're amorphous blobs that can be whatever. It's more like our form takes the shape it needs to. Like, it fits our purpose."

Nemo finally took a bite.

[Banshee]

"Glass art?" she nods, "That is a wonderful medium, I wish I had the skill. Alas I do not." setting her fork aside for her beverage, "It is also one of the reasons I haven't studied Matter. I do not wish to flex my supernal will and have the material altered because I want it that way. I want to work and ply my skill and not...rewrite reality." she frowns, "I know it is an unusual stance for any awakened mage, everything we learn is one more Truth, illuminating one more Lie. Empowering us and allowing us to become. But...I am choosing to remain cloaked in lies surrounding the material because I wish to take pride in my effort, sweat, and skill."

Banshee is quite in her stillness as Knot and Nemo speak, "I do, and do not have a frame of reference to these issues. It would be a wonder to reveal in the knowledge that psychical aches and wounds were but lies to be written away....and to part ways with my flesh and shape it's form...I would enjoy that...option. Has I have said before, my sister had my face and it's been a cause of....many things in my life." she takes a breath, "I would like to dabble in each arcana. To fully realize that distance is a lie. That you are not bound by your shape, your mind can fly...I to look forwards and backwards and understand and know....and this is why I am a Libertine. Knowledge should be free for everyone, so they can learn and understand, so they can scour the lies from themselves."

She takes a breath, "Sorry for, the slight derailing of things. Hm...did I chose an appropriate meal?"