Con Spells Cloaked
Supreme Aug:Pre+3 Man+2 dur 12hrs;Skill Mastery Socialize+2 Persuasion+4 dur 12 hrs
(1911) Duel Consilium II
41353
THREADID
73
POSTS
51 - 60
DISPLAYED
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Is it true?
Of course it was, it was Kaze that they were talking about. Regardless, the irony wasn't lost on the Guardian that the Ladder who was talking was just as guilty if not more. Because fuck temporal sympathy.
"This Consilium has been lax with the Veil. Things will have to change", few words to the Wise.
Had to give credit to Kaze, he was willing to step up and offer to take the position. Good for him.
Looking to Shodan, she offers a small smile, “No problem.” While there could be more to say, now wasn’t the time. The Duel was over, Campanella had set a task on the table and that needed to be the focus.
But then the new guy speaks. About Kaze. Being a blabbermouth. And while she remembered his slip up at the market, she thought he learned from it. But he didn’t?
A questioning look is offered to Kaze, because she wanted to hear it from him.
“Kaze?” she asks, knowing the question was obvious.
Then Cosmo speaks up. And as a Ladder, she’d defer to him as much as possible. They were supposed to be the expert’s on the Lex right?
A nod to Winter as he adds his opinion, “I agree with Winter. We cannot be lax with the Veil, it needs to be upheld at all times.” This was a fucking safety issue. "Keeping the Veil is basic Awakening 101."
Kaze's eyes widen as Star speaks to him, denounces him, as if really seeing Star for the first time.
"I..."
His face drops and his shoulders slump. He is quiet and then says, "Yeah. I did. I mean, not at first. I asked all the new people from the last meeting to hit the coffee shop right after, because...I figured no one really got a chance to get to know anyone because of...all the stuff that was going on." He looks at Star. "I remember you now. I guess...yeah, thanks for saying about the gym; I get the feeling you don't say anything just to be nice."
Kaze sighs and looks around, at Cosmo, October and the others, finally looking at the Hierarch. "I talked about 'the archery club' and went by 'Case' and was fine, I think...but at the end, I did say the word, 'Consilium'; I did said it wasn't really a great time for getting acquainted and now we could. I confess that; it was careless." He nods to Star, "If there's more, I might just not remember, but you're right anyway: I talk a lot, sometimes too much. I have been corrected before for indiscretion, and I have improved; I have been working on it, but discretion is not my strength, and I shouldn't be a first choice for Herald."
He looks back to Campanella. "I don't take back my offer to serve, but yeah, he's right. I will serve however you ask me, but something that emphasizes keeping things secret isn't going to be a great fit for me."
3 successes
Anima shows no reaction as the duel draws to an end. Both combatants remain on their feet, his services are obviously not needed.
Without a word he removes his utility belt of modern and archaic medical devices, carefully wiping some off, other pieces are wrapped in cloth, all are methodically placed in the bag. When he is done, the shaman look less like an eccentric medicine man and more like a tired professional that just got off of work.
Discussion of a herald and the formation of a council, hmmm, a division of power is always encouraged in the shaman's eyes.
"While a seat on such a council by default is hardly a noteworthy achievement, I would be honored to bring the perspective of the Primal Wild to the matters which concern us. And perhaps a Council that can bring a bit more formality to Consilium will naturally encourage a higher level of discretion among its members. I do not presume to be an expert on the strengths of others as a recent addition to the local community... but I nominate Cosmo for the position of Herald."
The more he grew old, the more his tolerance for this kind of slip became thinner. It wasn't just the faux pas that made him weary, but the fact that their respective Orders had provided them with insufficient survival training.
Discretion and keeping secrets were the bread and butter of the Awakened experience, the kind of thing that wins or loses wars.
Though, to cut Clark Kent some slack, everyone made mistakes and Kaze was humble enough to admit his fault.
"Ok", he says, "I'll give you a primer on operational security", he slides in his seat. "No cleartalk of funky business while in public unless you're sure you're alone.
You can never tell if a Sleeper is a mole; that's why you use metaphors and allusions instead. The Hierarch becomes the CEO, the Council becomes the Board. The Consilium becomes the shareholders' meeting. If you're in the sanctum or the property of another Magus, then announce your presence beforehand. Basic courtesy would dictate that the host has cleared the premises before your arrival or can guarantee the safety of the meeting. When in doubt whether to say something or not, then don't. Being careful is almost always better than taking unknown risks".
"Don't think that a simple spell can turn a location into a safespace, it just breeds a sense of false security. Especially if you don't possess the means to occultate your spells or mute your resonance. It's like stashing a treasure chest in a hole and then laying a 30″ x 45″ on top of it that invites people to dig beneath. Any disciple of fate and time can stumble upon your secret spot by dumb luck alone. If they have the means to detect lingering resonance they'll get all fuzzy and warm at the discovery and then you can bet they will proceed to reverse engineer the meeting just to sate their curiosity. And I'm not even touching on the stuff the FBI could potentially do. They're out now, it doesn't mean they will always be.
If you're in presence of somebody who's being careless, remind them. If they keep doing it, remind them again. If they don't stop, then they're either morons or they're implicitly guaranteeing that they will scrub the traces of the meeting away", The Hierarch, Phoenyx or Cosmo. Who was it?
"And that's it"
A meeting of the Mighty. What are the odds that skipping that would be missed? Asking for a friend. The only real question was whether Cosmo was a stand-up guy, or at least the lesser of evils. At this point Shodan didn't have enough street cred to run for paperboy, Kaze had shot himself in the foot, Sparks couldn't be arsed to show up, which left Arrow girl.
It's not the cards you're dealt, it's how you play the hand.
"Me? Hey, now. I say nice things. Like. All the time." Okay, maybe to limited audiences. Or subjectively nice things. But it's fine. Nobody listens anyway. He's less interested in Kaze playing court reporter just because he was there. It's ample time to study Winter, though, after seeing his Sword and Shield. Anyone else catch that? "That was. Uh. A rather complete confession." See? Nice things.
...Record scratch. Back up, yo. Nominating Heralds? Doctor Doolittle's an odd duck. Because appointed.
Campanella watches quietly and massively as a chorus of voices slowly rise to fill the available space. His attention, for the most part, is on Winter and Kaze . Shodan also receives a passing glance as well.
It is Papilio who eventually secures the Hierarch's wandering eye, with his note-taking.
Campanella tilts his head, as much to indicate that he was watching the Mastigos' writing away in Consilium as to indicate he was open to reaching a hastily scribed message.
It takes a second for Papilio to notice the Hierarch's eyes, and a second more for the Mastigos to finally understand the invitation to approach they offered.
So he walked forward and showed the note- he felt talking would be too much of a risk, in such a building. Luckily Winter and many others present seemed occupied; hopefully this wouldn't seem notable or suspicious.
I witnessed the duel under the Grim Sight. It shows the weight of death on a person, and on Winter it shows very heavily. I do not know him well enough to understand his past, but it might be concerning. The cause of such a burden could contribute to any number of issues- especially in our line of work.
Though this did feel somewhat like a violation of privacy- albeit one that anyone with even a basic understanding of Death could accomplish, and one that Papilio had not intended to use to pry. The Tamer felt it serious enough to bring up, as the Sight could represent any number of things- none of which were ever fully explained, and many of which could be cause for worry.
Cosmo listened, but couldn't help but feel discouraged by what he heard. Winter's framing of a consilium as a business along with the formality tradition was given this concilium said plenty that the issues facing the concilium had little to do with the strictness of it's rules. Having a duel over pride in the first place showed how little the idea of community meant to the mages of the concilium. Sure one could argue that being informal invited more lapses in judgment, but if the guardians had tried something other then vinegar would Kaze have thought more about their protectiveness of the veil before acting?
"Pass." The single word was directed at Anima before he continued. "And it's up to the Heirarch who he chooses as his herald, not the nominations of the rest."
Finally his eyes rest on Papilio literally passing notes in class before rolling dramatically.
So Kaze pretty much admitted to it. And even though he had his reasons, were they viable?
His words made her uneasy, “Doesn’t being Awakened require you to keep secrets?” she was confused. How safe was this community?
Glancing to Anima, “We shouldn’t need a Council to bring about more discretion. It should be already known and understood among each of us. If someone needs to be reminded how much discretion is needed to keep us safe, then there is a serious problem.”
Did these people fail their intro into being Awakened?
There was simply a nod as Winter spoke. Nothing to add there.
And really? Note passing? What was this, second grade?