The Occult Club - Words and Materials

[Matt Joule]

Matt grins at the feral response to the scent of food among the more feral in the group, just happily watching the highbrow topics of discussion shelved for indulging baser needs.

"You're welcome." he says, around his own full mouth of chicken wings, which he may or may not be shoving in his mouth and chewing, bones and all!

[Nathaniel Dormur]

"Thanks for the chicken Matt. Um... Don't suppose you could give me a ride after this is over? Hadn't expected this place to get so busy, and we might be here awhile. Anyways, Sis has a good point- Lunch Break! We could get to know one another, beyond our mutual desire to understand and talk about weird stuff." And might let Merry and Emily have some time together. At first he was a bit surprised, but looking back and forth the two did seem to... Connect... In some way. It was nice seeing Emily happy like this- and nice that she wasn't barking Nathaniel's head off about this being a bad idea that might attract the wrong attention. Pffft.

The crescent nibbled on some chicken as Adam asked about the Ley Lines. "Magnetic Lines? See, that's what I was going for at first, too- or something like that. Some maps and theories also suggested Longitudes and Latitudes, Tectonic Plates, and all sorts of large patterns. But it's not as if I can afford to wander the country mapping these things out, so I started smaller. Most sources agreed that Ley Lines had some sort of developmental... Pattern, would be the word- but I think the main stuff doesn't tell the whole story." The pup's voice was almost a whisper, he was so giddy. "If there are grand distinctions that make these things, I can't see them. But there are connections and patterns. Certain plants grow in a path. Lantern Lights of a certain architecture, if mapped and drawn even through buildings, form lines. A forest opening can connect to a tunnel on the other side of town. A river flow makes a path. It's not a perfect map, but dozens of tiny patterns!" It wasn't something Nathaniel could explain in a short amount of time- he'd hoped he wasn't being too much.

The pup pulled out his map, pointing at some of the things he was talking about. The map likely wasn't completely perfect- one would need something truly Supernatural to do that- though some connections probably had merit, even if others were totally false. He was educated insofar as a mundane could be, on the topic. And with that came plenty of speculation. "But here's the thing- the funny thing, if this map is correct... I don't think all of these connections are natural. The patterns exist- I've seen them myself. So if they're not all natural... Did the Ley Lines influence the development of our cities? Or..." The Uratha gave a wide smile at the implied possibility. If Ley Lines were real, and if the connections could be formed by Mundane means, could a powerful or resourceful enough person manipulate them?! "It's not concrete- maybe it's all coincidence. But... I don't think coincidence is a useful too for someone studying Others. And if they exist, what utilizes them? I'm going to look into Eastern theology next- they seemed to focus a lot on directions and patterns- wondering if they had a version of it... Anyways, I could give you a copy of my notes sometime? Or teach you what else I know some day, but it's... A Lot." And about half of it was some measure of contradictory or theoretical. Knowledge didn't automatically provide the means to successfully implement itself, to the Uratha's irritation. But it was nice talking to someone about this stuff. Adam seemed to have taken an interest, which was hopeful.

As they all talked, Nathaniel was shocked and pleasantly surprised that three of them had mechanical expertise. "Bet you three could make something spectacular. Who knows, maybe you guys actually COULD make some Ghostbuster stuff- Proton Pack and all!" Or, as the Pup's mind wandered, a mechanical object that was too complex to be powered by anything Mundane- but could easily serve as home to a Spirit of Technology. Then the Crescent wondered if Mecha-Wolves were the future of the Uratha, and several detours later he'd lost his train of thought.

Which left Matt to focus on, with the girls catching up and Adam left with the book. "So what brought you here, Matt? Never would've pegged you as someone into this stuff." Granted, the pup realized he hadn't gotten to know the big lug much at all. He knew sis well enough- but the Shadow hadn't spent time getting to know this guy. Maybe they'd have to change that- Emily had been training Nathaniel, but maybe Matt could help as well? Nathaniel also wondered how loaded he was, that somehow an entire football team's worth of food seemed to follow him everywhere. Not that he was complaining, at the moment- he rarely had the chance to go out to eat.

[Circe]

Circe wanted to steer this away from cold iron and fey business as much as possible. So she joins Emily down on the seats, "Ta be fair ta him Emily ya need to remember that before iron was used the big cats were eating people, their bone spears, and whatever hides they wore fer protection. Iron let our ancestors win against the big toothed cats," and then tosses the bagged ball of spices onto the document strewn table. Circe quickly changes subjects to something more fun, "But most certainly. When monsters devour man then woman inherits the Earth, or whatever Goldblum and Dern said in that dino movie," her smile then goes from ear to ear, "Though I think Sonny could just blow all these gentlemen's brilliant minds quite easily, oh ho ho ho ho!"

"Dude," she laughs as she looks to Adam, "Why do ya think its called pepper spray? It'll work just fine against anything but a were parrot. Immune ta pepper they are," she nods in a faux sagely manner, "I'll try fer wolfsbane in the future."

And then came the free food. A hint of rosemary in one of the pieces? Nice.

Circe managed to suppress a scoff at the ley line business. Sounded as real as crystal healing or lavender helping you sleep at night. She still looked at the map in case these lines went to any Hedge Gates or the Freehold. They really didn't go near the freehold much. Oh sure a few overlapped but those crossed the who city. "If ley lines are magnetic based then wouldn't all the metal, power lines, and other electrical equipment in the city be a cause? Like how a compass can go nuts around certain equipment?"

Circe was about to say something to Emily then coughed at something Nathaniel said. She swallowed then clapped as she pointed at him, "Proton pack that's what it was!" The Fairest then does her best to imitate a whimsical airhead, "So pretty and destructive." Then laughs, "I kid, but I'd totally love ta build that."

Fuel would be the biggest issue, no way a mundane power supply could be man portable for a energy weapon. But goblin fruit? Lightning cola had been a thing she saw sold in the Bay to get you a caffeine buzz or power a lightbulb for weeks. Possible. Or just through mundane means with Contract hacks that Circe lacked.

She looks to Emily, "How hard do ya think it'd be ta miniaturize the stuff we'd need ta make one portable? Tech is real, I think, but bulky. Unless we wanna put it on like a quad or somethin' like that."

Not that Circe was considering how to catch ghosts with it. No. She was thinking of using a bunch on one of Them and just straight up frying the Fae bastards.

[Emily Makerith]

Emily nods eagerly to "Adam" when her job creeps into the conversation. Cars were one of two things that could distract her from food. "All my life! To me messing with cars is the most fun you can have with your clothes on! Because, uh, you really don't wanna try it with your clothes off..." she adds, as if recalling some unpleasant experience. She fishes around in the jacket and pulls out a professional-looking business card for "Makerith Motors" with contact and website. "My garage. Repairs, tune-ups, remodels... I do it all, and treat them like they're my own pride and joy. Mary could tell ya how good a job I do, and on cars too," she chuckles at her own joke, "but there's a bunch of reviews for an less obviously biased opinion."

She shakes her head a little in a blur of fading blue as Nate gets up to speed on Lay Lines; she uses the opportunity to grab a rkdiculous amount of chicken and waffles. "I'm still not convinced about this, Nate. *Nom* If there was a power source like this, wouldn't people have tried using it by now?" The Ithaeur begins munching on chicken strips at a breakneck pace.

"No thanksh," Emily shakes her head at both Circe and Nate replying thickly through a huge bite of waffle. "*Om!* No proton packsh. Not meshing with nuclear shtuffsh. *Gulp!* Unless you wanna try a DeLorian! But I'm overhauling the engine, the actual one was junk. Amazing idea, so many failures in execution. And I dont think we can make nuclear stuff so small yet. You'd have to have some kind of trailer... Or lazer tank." She shrugs and focuses back on her waffle.

"Guess so..." she says thoughtfully to Circe. "Never though about what people did before Iron. Not really my scene. But Sonnie's so fun. We went out the other week. Met some of her friends - there was this gorgeous blonde, I'll have to introduce you. Taken, so not my thing, but so very pretty. Sarah something? Sera? Shit. So bad with names. Fortunately I managed to distract myself, and had a great night." She gives Circe a playful smirk.

[Matt Joule]

Matt answers Shodan with a point at Nathaniel as he says Matt's name. He continues to chew up a mouthful of chicken. He seems to be leaving the waffles for the others and just wolfing down meat and maybe bones?

When Nate asks for a ride, he just nods.

By the time Nate asks Matt why he's even there, Matt is done chewing for the moment and says, "Me?" he laughs, "I code for a living! I'm not into that 'ghost in the machine' shit either. I hate anime. Just was here dropping something off, and picked up your trail, accidentally, and figured I'd crash it and bring food, 'cause I know you'd forget to eat and starve when you got into this kind of stuff."

Matt grabs another handful of chicken and stuffs it into his mouth, looking pleased with himself.

[Circe]

Matt's words to Nate makes Circe laugh. The two sound like they'd be a motley if they weren't mere mortals.

Circe shudders at the talk of nude mechanical work. Then nods, "Emily is very skilled with workin' an engine. I ain't tried the lube job," eyebrows waggled, "But she got my engine revving great."

Circe shrugs and then nods as the Dalorean is brought up. Lazer tanks sounded fun or the other thing. Mazer? Yes but wait, kaiju. She finishes the chicken then rubs her chin, "A lazer or microwave tank gun would be cool but I fear those mandate the presence of a giant monster." She points to Shodan,"In that case giant robot better, even if we had ta go all Power Ranger, ugh." The blonde woman sticks out her tongue in disgust at the idea.

And then Emily says something that makes Circe's jaw drop. She banged Seraphina and Sonnie? Circe shakes her head and claps, "Well yeah, considering what we did after the car show I am really should not be surprised. Any of these boys need dating advice they should talk to ya. Are ya tryin' ta recruit us inta yer own personal harem?" Circe then gasps as she excitedly smiles at Emliy, "Do we get harem girl outfits?"

Circe didn't see why it was surprising to Adam that Matt programmed. Circe found it quite easy. Not that these mundies needed to it

The Italian smirks as she looks at Shodan, "So ya thing that the relationship is more hot then magnetic?" she grabs and starts to eat a waffle, "Nnd yeth ya should wear more den nakid," she swallows, "I mean it might be sexy as Hell but it ain't safe ta work naked. Ya hafta at least wear an apron. I'd love ta work a Dalorean inta a good car, but I ain't sure where ta find the flux capacitor or a waaaait a minute. Ain't hydrogen what made blimps explode?"

[Nathaniel Dormur]

When the Crescent had suggested they take a break to get to know one another... This wasn't the direction he'd thought it would go- a mix of mechanical theoretical fantasticizing and.... 'subtle'.... Innuendo, mostly courtesy of Circe. Still, not like Nathaniel could judge- granted he wasn't about to start touching on his exploits- not that it'd be easy to explain them to the Herd anyways.

"We could also go the Mystery Machine route? We've got enough people for the crew, and we wouldn't need to mess with any hydrogen or nuclear stuff to do that." To the Herd one might assume he'd merely forgotten about the lovable dog. Which might have been a poor attempt at an inside joke. "As for laser tanks and giant robots, might be a bit outside our expertise. Unless there's a group of Aliens or Others that have this tech? In which case I'm all for it." Technically it was conceivable that a spirit could be made to effectively operate a variety of machines, similarly to an AI- though, such thought was way beyond the pup's expertise. Matt might know more? It might be a worthy venture after this.

As for Emily's comments on Ley Lines as a power source. "I'm not sure yet if they ARE merely a power source in the battery sense- I mean sure, most sources say they can be used as one by Others- mostly Shamanistic tales or pop-sites on 'tapping into your third eye' and other stuff. But there also appears to be something intrinsic about their nature that goes beyond this. If they influence development like rivers have- as Adam has proposed- then it might be that mere interaction or proximity to these things could promote greater prowess in... Well, something, anything. It's unlikely we could ever find an efficient way to tap into them, but perhaps we don't need to? If some type of Other 'energy' bleeds off of them- perhaps the same type of 'Energy' that fuels ECOs- then exposure on a surface level MIGHT be enough." In the same way a mortal that exists in an area where the Shadow bleeds through is likely to experience all sorts of strangeness.

A bit of coughing at Circe's excitement at Harem outfits. No, choking is more apt- especially with the food the pup nibbled on. The pup decided to refrain from eating when the woman spoke- though beneath it all she seemed quite intelligent. Luckily, Nathaniel had known Emily enough to at least be somewhat resistant to her own outspoken nature on such topics. A quick apology at the coughing, then back to work.

At Adam's response- "I'll see about typing up a copy- include some other stuff on ECOs as well, as it might tie in. Er... Want me to drop it off here or something? Ask the Librarian to hold onto it for you? Also, anything in particular you'd want to research next time around? If you're coming back I mean." He doubted the man would trust him with an address, which was entirely reasonable.

Hopefully some of the Herd here came back. Circe seemed to enjoy it. Maybe he could get Chase back as well?

[Emily Makerith]

Adam gets a wide smile. "Sure! Always glad to spread out a new avenue for business." Emily roots out several more business cards from her pockets (in slightly varying degrees of wear, but all legible), straightens them up and bundles them into his hands.

Circe's lube comment gets a snorting laugh. "You are terrible... shush! I'm trying to drum up extra business here! But if you need, ehehe, a bit of a tune up I'm free this afternoon." She winks. "I had never though of that... but if you wanna wear something like that I'm sure I'd pull it off you. Err... I mean, you'd pull it off. Y'know, no, I was right the first time." BUt then Nate starts chocking, and that just makes Emily snigger more.

She nods. "Apron? at least. Just too many things that can get caught on other things, and a lot more surfaces ad tools are a lot hotter than you expect." She shudders.