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[Anima]

Anima rolls into the Circle wearing a sheen of sweat and buckskin breeches. His bare feet pad quietly on the cold floor as he moves with purpose. Wild eyes seem not present as he is deep in thought, moving through the space more by memory then through use of senses. There is one man who surely holds the answers he's looking for, the former Hierarch Campanella

[Campanella]

The former Hierarch is seated in the nave, near where the sanctuary would be if the great building was an actual cathedral.

He is sitting where they had been gathered in that tumultuous meeting.

Sitting facing the spot where the Duel Arcane took place.

And he lost everything.

There is brooding. And then there is brooding in the manner that only a Moros, scion of the Path of Doom and the Watchtower of the Leaden Coin can do it. Campanella is a grim study, a statue glaring staring into space. In absolute silence.

He does not hear Anima approach.

[Anima]

Maybe if his mind was present he'd pick up on social cues. It has happened. But the half-naked man is on a mission. He has a goal and he is doggedly pursuing it with the single minded focus that has made him a surgeon and a mage.

Never has the mage lived up to the stereotype more as he slides into a seat next the Moros. There is a hierarchy that is more important than politics, and the fact that Campy has recently gone through a forced career change might negatively effect the man never even occurs to the Shaman. There is a mystery a foot. A mystery involving life, death, and doorways.

"Where do souls go when people die? I've often thought that through the study of life, shadow, and the mind I might find the truth of the human spirit. The soul, but now I'm thinking I could have just studied Death to understand what makes human life so important. I mean, why don't animals awaken? Their spirits are alive and awake and impact the spirit world while their physical existence impacts the material. It is a conundrum. Perhaps the answer lies in the destination. Do souls go to a pocket realm? Some additional space adjacent to the shadow? Do they travel through the gauntlet to get there? Are heaven and hell places in the shadow that only exist because the concept of them, being feared or desired by untold billions across millennia has forced them into existence? Or ARE THEY SPIRITS, my god, imagine the implication. Heaven and Hell are basically gods, that feast solely on souls. Man-kinds existence is merely one of being an infinite food source for gods. That's terribly frightening of a thought. Or perhaps it might give some peace. But if that is the truth of it, why make a doorway to death through a mirror?"

One might think the word vomit is Anima rabbling to himself, but he looks intently at Campanella, as if someone whose walked so far on the Path of Doom might hold all the answers to the questions that have been plaguing him for years. Also, there's the issue with the mirror.

[Campanella]

Campanella is disturbed from his brooding meditations. Anima receives the full brunt of the Moros' grim stare as he turns to face his distraction.

"Souls move on to a higher plane - perhaps even to the Supernal itself. Most cultures from around the globe agree on that point, to one degree or another; they are, after all, simply poorly glimpsed reflections of the Truth. As the soul flies to the Eternal higher planes it is cleansed of impurity and that impurity remains behind in the Fallen World as ghosts and other ephemera, where it eventually falls into the Underworld and is slowly transformed into nothing."

He turned away.

"Animals don't have souls, not in the fully realised sense that a human being does. That is why only humans Awaken - our souls are more than a fusion of desires, personality, and ephemera."

As the Thyrsus continues, the Moros turns and clocks him with a beady eye.

"What are you getting at?" Campanella asked carefully.

That Anima was half dressed and in ritual regalia did not seem to bother the former Hierarch in the slightest.

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-03-10 22:03:22		Campanella to Know Things rolls 7 to Intelligence + Occult + Spec (10 Again)		2, 7, 3, 1, 10, 4, 6, 9		2 successes

[Anima]

The brooding glare from the Moros slides right off his moist back. The excited gleam in his eye remains, though his demeanor regains composure.

"Magic, ritual magic, by..." He glances around conspiratorial and leans in close. His scent a mixture of sweat and oranges. "Sleepers"

He leans back satisfied, sure that more questions are bound to pour forth from the Moros with the same enthusiasm he has brought with him.

[Campanella]

"Don't be ridiculous."

Campanella turns away. A pause. He snorts or sighs - the sound could be either, or something else: the sound of a weary warrior being drawn back into the fray.

"On second thoughts, you may be right. It can happen. The Fallen World has its ways."

He turns back to the Shaman.

"What exactly have you found?"

[Anima]

The urge to spill his guts and share his secrets is intense. Not to gain importance in the eyes of a more skilled Mage, but because shared knowledge among peers increases their power exponentially. The neuron pathways firing to solve the mystery are increased. They are cells sharing information, hormones released. It is time for fission, time to grow, time to adapt.

Anima allows time for a pregnant pause.

“A mirror... I spoke with it. One might say like a magic mirror.”

[Campanella]

The flare behind Campanella's eyes was undeniable.

"Have you put it to Scrutiny? Or is that why you have sought me out?"

He rested his head upon his chin; his chair creaked as his posture shifted from brooding to contemplative.

"How did you find this mirror?"

[Anima]

Got him.

"Of course, but I lack practice in the arcanums of Death and Space. And I'm sure Death is involved, not so much about space."

He leans back, casual now.

"A haunted hospital. I found it with old Papi..." He waves a hand, "but he didn't have the stomach to complete our exploration. He was scared of ghosts of all things."

[Campanella]

"He was Wise," the Moros replied with added weight to his words.

He bought both his hands together, supporting each other as they supported his head and chin. Campanella was staring straight ahead; only his eyes shifted slightly to fasten onto the Shaman.

"Say I take a look at this object for you... What do you intend to do next?"

A loaded question to be sure. Campanella was Mysterium; Anima was Free Council. The two Order's had very different views on how to handle mysterious objects - one was concerned with securing them, protecting them, and preserving them away from those who might misuse them. The Free Council was, in general, much more open - not only in collecting such objects, but in their use, and their granting of access once they had such objects in their possession.