(Portrait) Portrait of an Angel

[Yumyumcrow]

It is early evening - that magical point in high summer when the day lingers long into the night. A gentle breeze caresses the air, teasing it with a slight chill. Night sounds stir in the background, caught out by the slowing tempo of the day and the summery evening. The mood is one of peace and ease, basking in the lingering light and warmed by the ground and nearby buildings that now radiate the day's accumulated heat into the cooling air. Even the sounds of the nearby express way seem muted.

The location is a converted warehouse on the way to Davis, a college town just west of Sacramento. The warehouse has been converted into a suit of function rooms. An ugly parking lot has been sculpted into a formal garden to accompany the function rooms - and on this summery eve, the doors to the function suite have been flung wide open. There are buffet tables arranged inside and out to allow the guests to move and socialise. The art work on display is spread all over, placed to best effect.

The social function is simple: a local art group is displaying the work of local artists. This is a casually formal event and not aimed at the local glitterati or the captains of culture. The chance for free food and a relaxing, care free evening, are not things to turned away lightly.

Naga hears about the event through her legal Contacts. It's another fine place to network.

Kaze hears about the event through his martial arts connections. Some of them are in attendance as a show of support for some of the artist groups whose work is on display. Interestingly, some of his Street Contacts are interested in the event as well - curious to see how an old bric-a-brac store with a terrible story has been renovated and given a new lease of life.

Skye discovers a flyer advertising the event and decides to go simply because she can, now flush with the first pay checks from her employment.

Phoenyx discovers the event by accident - Campanella was doing some cleaning at the Circle of Creation and he dropped a flyer advertising the event. The venue lies some 10-15 minutes outside of the city, so is not too far away, and the nature of the event means that she doesn't have to glam up or dress too formally. The Obrimos can simply go, hang out for a while, and then quickly get back to her duties without too much trouble. Perfect.

I'll let you narrate yourselves in and mingle before I take up the story Xadun LadySin Ruach Abyssalstar Please enjoy

[Kaze]

Kaze walks in smiling and looking around openly curious about the art and about who he might know or at least recognize at the event.

He's wearing a solid black cotton shirt and black trousers and matching solid black athletic shoes. His Supernal Vision should let him notice any uncloaked magic in the room, however Kaze has no apparent magic spells on him (including his Supernal Vision) and additionally has the aura of a sleeper due to Transform Aura; nothing 'unnatural' to see here.

Equipment: Mobile phone. Protein Bars. Water Bottle.
Spells: [FONT=Muli]Monthly Rits Cloaked Transform Aura pot 1 Supernal Vision pot 2 Organic Resilience (2e) pot 2

[Kaze]

Bookkeeping and correction; I forgot what was in his monthy rit and what is not: Kaze has dropped his Body Control for this plot and has cast Supernal Vision for the day in anticipation of coming here.

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2020-07-18 12:09:22	Kaze rolls 7 to Kaze rolls 7 to rote Supernal Vision (Prime 3 + Wits 3 + Occult 1 + HS 2 - AdvProlong -2) (10 Again)	3, 5, 9, 3, 9, 5, 2	2 successes

I hope I have done this correctly, please let me know or just adjust if not whatever is best for plot.

[Phoenyx]

It was not wdely known that Phoenyx actually liked art. She enjoyed calligraphy and although she knew her actual talents to be less than inspiring she appreciated the forms and swirls, colours and shapes - feeling and expression permitted to give form. So visiting this exhibition, getting away from the Circle - this was a small treat to herself, as Aurora had kept bugging her to get out.

Despite the summer evening, the Obrimos has on her long leather coat - all the better to conceal the pistol under her arm and the knife in one of the pockets. She seems to have dressed up a little - the red top is more comfortable and frilly that her usual practical tops, though her loose pants are very mich like her training gear. She even seems to have done a little make-up - just simple eyeliner and a pale pink lipstick.

The Arrow is observing a landscape, seemingly lost in it's colours and expression.

Equipment: Baretta pistol, reinforced longcoat (0/1), cellphone, magical tool (dagger), small compact, eyeliner, lipstick.
Ritual spells in minisheet (Cloaked Supernal Sight and Cloaked Life Shield)

[Skye]

Spells

Body Mastery
life mage sight/pulse of the living world
Organic Resilience 2E monthly pot2

Arriving by the most stable means of getting anywhere that has ever existed namely walking. Enjoying the nice summer weather and the chance to move, having started her day already by dawns first lights both with casting her usual daily spell and fixing herself up before having headed over knowing full well that it would most likely take her several hours to get there not because it may be that far but because she would most likely try to look at various things as she went there and explore a bit not to mention that cities were so damn hard to navigate. Sigh give her a nice forest any day of the week and she would not get lost but the concrete jungle wasn't always as kind.

Finally arriving at the scene, quickly going over to grab something small to eat before noticing some others in attendance, grabbing a bottle of water before sneaking of to the bathroom to refill her own waterskin for later and to open her sights to the world, if there were other awakened here she might need it, she really should consider to make it a habit of keeping it on.

Walking around and looking a bit at the art not to much though before walking up to stand next to Phoenyx and observe the same painting as her, not saying a word not trying to draw attention or disturb but rather just be there, it was far to rare for her to have a chance to meet outside of the circle and this could be a nice chance to get to know her a bit better.
Looking at the painting in silence trying to figure out what was so special about just this one.

Spells

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2020-07-19 07:21:38	Skye rolls 8 to Pulse of the Living World life+gnosis+ex (10 Again)	8, 6, 10, 8, 8, 7, 2, 4, 5	4 successes
2020-07-19 07:19:50	Skye rolls 10 to Body mastery: Life+Gnosis+HS+EX (10 Again)	10, 1, 6, 8, 4, 6, 6, 5, 5, 3, 10, 6	3 successes
2020-07-19 07:19:22	Skye rolls 1 to paradox (10 Again, Chance)	1	Dramatic Failure!

Equipment: Magical tool, a little bit of money, waterskin, cellphone (full).

[Naga]

This wasn't her usual crowd for hunting for clients, at least not these days. The sorts of people Naga usually represented in her legal practice usually couldn't afford to attend a shindig like this, or it simply wasn't their scene. On the other hand, her usual type of client paid for crap. It didn't hurt to farm a few with deeper pockets on occasion.

So, here she was. Schmoozing.

And looking killer while doing it. Nothing too fancy, but the purple outfit remained eye-catching. The Warlock knew how to work it.

It didn't take her long, of course, to notice the flock of Arrows converging on the party. That was... worrisome. So, Naga made her way towards Phoenyx and smiled at her. "Well, well, what brings you and your entourage here this evening? Do I need to be concerned?"

Equipment: Smartphone, Iron Coin (magic tool), small purse containing the usual assortment of keys, makeup, ID and a handful of business cards.
Spells: Misperception (mind armor 2E) ritual 3 pot., Third Eye (mind sight) ritual 10 pot.

[Yumyumcrow]

The event is small and low key. Phoenyx and Kaze would note the small and very discrete security detail - they appear to lack much of the overt and problematic security gear: the Arrow receives some looks but that is all - her knife and pistol remain safely hidden.

Skye arrives hot and dusty from a very long walk, having taken the back roads and from having to loop back to get on the right side of the mighty freeway. She receives some confused stares of her own: first with concern, later with confusion once she has refilled her water-skin. Given some of the more adventurous and artistic persons floating through the small gathering, the Shaman lucks out and does not generate the kind of suspicion her odd appearance ordinarily might.

Naga and Kaze are right at home. Kaze spots a few of his fellow martial artists - appreciating the gardens, gathering by a sculpture; Naga makes good use of her Contacts to drum up some extra business and establish herself a little more firmly in her profession with a few well timed conversations and introduction. Job complete, the Ladder can focus her attention on her fellow mages...

Kaze notices two other mages at the event. One is a lean, gaunt, man with a bald head and a carefully trimmed goatee and moustache. The second is a woman with long purple-and-black hair cascading over one shoulder; her face is artificially pale; her eyes and lips are marked out with black makeup. Both are dressed in black, the woman's ensemble is much more witchy and lacey. He recognises them from the shop that Abacus was so interested in, from San Francisco. Their aura's are lit by glowing Supernal glyphs. So far, they have not seen him or any of his friends.

[Kaze]

Kaze enjoys the company of the other martial arts practicioners who know him just as a fellow student of the arts, the martial arts. He notices Phoenyx and smiles in her general direction, glad to see her seemingly relaxed and maybe just a little more frou frou than she's let herself be in the past. Of course he is familiar with her long coat and the ensemble of weaponry it is worn to conceal; it's not like she's getting soft or anything.

When Skye arrives and joins Phoenyx, he still hands back, not approaching, letting Phoenyx at least enjoy the evening without having to deal with figuring out how or what they are to each other at the moment. She seems relaxed. She should get as much of that as she can.

Then Naga is there and heads right over towards Phoenyx and Skye. It doesn't look like a planned meeting. Still no reason for Kaze to crash their conversation.

And then he notices the two mages he doesn't know. Or wait, he recognizes them, but not from around here. From San Franscisco, the shop that had the sign outside in mage code saying to report anyone from Sacramento. Yeah, as tempting as it is to just hang out with the other non magical aura types and lay low, he is probably the only one who would recognize them and where they're from since Abacus, Shodan and Pixel have all be missing for months. That's kind of weird and creepy, actually, that he's the only one left.

He briefly flirts with the idea of approaching the out of towners directly, and rejects that as something the old Kaze, the impulsive Kaze would do. Right. Observe and report. To the Arrows.

With a sigh, he heads over to Phoenyx and the others.

"Hey. I need to let you know something that might be important, and urgent." Kaze says with quiet urgency. "I went up to San Francisco with some other guys from work, they were looking for something, and I was along to help out. Anyway, we met some local people from another company, and saw a notice up there to report anyone from here who showed up to their internal security department and their legal department. There's two people here that were up there, from the other company." Kaze says. "Just thought I should tell you, since the other guys I went up there with are all gone now."

[Phoenyx]

There's a ghost of a smile as Skye pulls up next to the First Talon. You'd have to know what you were looking for to catch it. "What do you see?" The Obrimos asks, her gaze not diverting from the landscape.

Naga's appearence is hard to miss, and the comment finally pulls dark eyes from the work in front of her, and focusing intently on the Mastigos. "That depends on what you've been doing," she says seriously, holding the look for several seconds in an unflinching deadpan.

After several tense seconds, her mouth pulls into a not quite suppressed smile. "I'm... not on duty, if that's what you mean," Phoenyx says slowly, as if admitting something slightly awkward. "So, unless you find my presence concerning.... that is to say, this was not a planned meeting. Madison has been encouraging me to leave... the office... more often and it seems other people find art as pleasent as I do. I was just asking the others what she sees in this piece." She offers a small smile. "Are you working, Val? I like your dress."

As Kaze appears, Phoenyx turns, looking passive, but draws up at words like "important" and "urgent". From the outside, it was like watching a switch flick in her brain, her composure the same but her stance move from passive to active, from waiting to ready. See, this was why it was so hard to relax. If she did, things started happening. On the other hand, had she not come out in the first place, she wouldn't be here to investigate.... The first Talon turns casually to face the majority of the patrons, scanning the crowd for active spells. Still, there was something getting lost intranslation with Kazes - admittedly mostly clear - double-speak. She gives him a small nod - the one she tend sto use on missions for a good move. "Security? Do you mean like me or Mr Winters? If you've seen them it's only a matter of time before they see us. It may be best to make proper introductions." Dark eyes glance to Naga - this was more her wheelhouse than the Arrow's. "You should do that. I am not always good at introductions. We will be right there with you."

[Skye]

Spells

Body Mastery +2
life mage sight/pulse of the living world
Organic Resilience 2E monthly pot2

Not seeming to react to the looks she draws not feeling any need to care about them. She had her own style and didn't care what people thought about it and in all honesty she was not bad looking at least not according to herself so eyes looking at her small frame was nothing new to her nor something she felt the need to care much about and she did not expect to run into any trouble either the area was to public for that.

Thinking a bit as Phoenyx asked her question before answering.
"Sadly I am not the best when it comes to art but for me I see loss, a longing for days long gone and warmth. The artist misses the gentle warm kindness that nature could provide and the eased mind of childhood long lost but ever missed. Those who goes into landscape tends to give a feeling of both loving something and to miss something, they are far to often made to warm to be reality but often found in some kind of idealized memory." Not really a good review but still art was not something she really understood she just liked to see the minds of others and see what they would create and see how it would resonate with her. Then again wasn't art made to make you feel something and not just made to make you feel what the creator had in mind?

Her eyes shifting over to Naga, speaking in a soft tone as to try and not disturb Phoenyx.
"Hi dear how lovely to meet you out and about looking more beautiful than ever that color really suits you, I don't think we have ever met in a none formal way before so it's really nice to see you in another element. Tell me I know we had a rocky start but I would love to go out for some fun of any kind sometimes and get to know one another a bit better. I promise to be on my best behavior and ohh our meeting here was purely a coincidence, I was just taking my chance to enjoy an activity and get to learn the city a bit better."

A kind smile shown towards Kaze as he approached, still not trying to get to close showing respect towards Phoenyx and not wanting to make the situation hard on her she did hope they all could be friends.
"Hi SC how unexpected to see you here as well, it is lovely to see us all enjoying some downtime though."
Taking in his words, noticing the shift in Phoenyx she had seen her practice several mornings now so she knew how she were when she were getting ready still for her it was just ever the calm reactions. Not feeling any threat nor need to really react, she would do what was needed if she needed to do anything.
"I would be more than happy to make you company for an introduction I do tend to get along rather well with people and my small frame does tend to help make me feel none threatening." Smiling a gentle smile towards Naga as she spoke.