Painting the town

[Guru]

“Man, seems awfully young to be thinking about reproducing. But biology is biology, you can’t really fight it.” Well, unless you were a Shaman. Skye’s drop of her sexuality didn’t mean anything to Guru, they were Shamans. Sexuality could be a lot more fluid with their kind, it all meant very little when you could change what sex you were with an effort of will. “Thanks, I wish the car were a classic but I really like the modern bells and whistles attached.” He said as he pushed at a touchscreen to input their next destination.

He turned back and frowned at Kaze. “Nothing, not even some pot? What about the party train?” He stuck out his bottom lip dramatically before laughing. “You’re good, no pressure. You ever want to experiment in a safe environment I’ll trip sit for you. If you have any questions about effects, side effects, and the science behind it I can answer it. Just, you know, not in public if I can help it.”

Eyes looking out again to make sure no one was nearby. “How about you Skye, feel like experimenting? I know you’re cheating, I would just ask that you drop anything you have as getting the chemicals to produce this isn’t exactly easy.” He looked at the clock on the dash and nodded turning to Chris with a smile. “You just said my favorite words, think I’m going to candy flip though. How many micro…shit, sorry technical speech. How many tabs do you want?” He said while pulling off a row of five and dumping 2 pills of mdma into his palm, not hesitating to take his own.

“Well, by the time we really get going at our next spot it should be a good time.” He chuckled and offered the box to Chris. “Take what you want, don’t get caught with it. If you do you didn’t get it from me. Make sure to lock it up after, just in case.” He’d wait until everyone got theirs and the box was locked and put away before he’d roll out. No need taking unnecessary, more unnecessary risks.

[Skye]

Good seemed like they both would pass, not that she had expected anything else.
"Sadly a nanny job is not for me, once you're not needed so can you lose the kids. I much rather prefer a way that would let me keep seeing them or be seen as something similar to a non blood related aunt unless their my own of course." Looking of as she gets seated into the car behind Jay. "Besides taking money for taking care of kids sounds awful and I have a decently clear police record if they should check my real I.D" Maybe that she got lost in an accident and were listed as a missing person at the most if she ever even made that list but that would be years old by now.

Shrugging a bit.
"If you say so, I started taking care of kids around that age and were quite good with them and kind of fell in love with childcare and raising the young ones so naturally I started to dream of having my own."

Shaking her head a bit over the drugs, she weren't one to judge though.
"Thanks but no thanks, I have done marijuana before and not interested in more than that. Besides my work kind of needs me to have as clean a slate with the cops as possible, if either of you get taken so will I make sure to try and have you both clean though." Looking out the window for a brief period. "That is assuming you can't handle that part Jay." At least three of them should be able to clean the systems of others or themselves with ease then again no telling how they would be on drugs.

Chuckling a bit.
"Naturally I have been cheating although I think that I already said that I would play fair starting from the next place still only alcohol for me tonight and give Chase your keys when we arrive please if we carry on so do I think either walking, a cab or him driving will be best unless you wanna waste those chemicals for each new jump."

Looking out the window as she lets her body mastery go, tomorrow would be a ritual day.

[Kaze]

Kaze nods and lets Crystal go ahead and get in the front passenger seat while he watches the car appreciatively. He gets in the back with Skye as invited.

"Hey, one experiment at a time for me." Kaze says to Guru, grinning. "Tonight is an experiment for me just by itself."

He looks thoughtful. "It's weird though...I'm not cheating, and...the drinks aren't effecting me like they did in college."

Kaze looks content and settles in for the ride to the next place in their progressive party night. "Which is just fine by me. I didn't like how it felt in college anyway."

[Crystal]

Seemed like the other two weren't up to Crystal and Guru's speed, but that was no real surprise. Josh even called the Arrow out on her Life-Shenanigans, which widened Chris' smile even more. "You're not feeling anything? Are you secretly an alcoholic? If so, your acting is pretty excellent." The good news was, Chase was apparently really open about this evening so there's that. "What do you do for a living Skye?" Pretty sure if she was actual law-enforcement they'd be busted already, but it was good to know how possible allies could be of use.

Crystal raised an eyebrow when Guru dug in deep, but he had no reason to doubt the Shaman's ability to deal swallow what he bit off.
"I'll have three tabs, but I'll keep it pure." The few experiences he had made with mixing substances didn't go very well, but that just meant he still had some stuff to learn in that regard.

He put all three tabs into his mouth - you couldn't really re-dose acid, so there was no point in keeping some on him - and shuddered slightly when the bitterness hit him. Frankly, the taste wasn't as bad as chewing up a piece of cardboard. He turned around to Kaze and Skye, still chewing now and then. "All right, here's a little LSD 101: in about an hour Josh and I will have risen into some other spheres. I can't speak for him, but from my experience the spook stories of thinking you're on fire or the walls are covered in spiders are bullshit. You'd have to get really fucked up to straight out hallucinate. What it does is taking the needle's eye of your perception and ripping it wide open - a sensory over-responsiveness if you will. This is what makes your vision go all swirly and makes you see patterns, but that's less interesting for you. Contrary to alcohol, tripping doesn't make you lose control. If anything, you become more analytical because your mind seems to hold multiple thoughts in less time." Well, if that didn't sound supernally-familiar. "What I'm getting at is: don't worry about us, try to still enjoy the night. For us it's going to be a long one - we won't be thinking about sleep for at least eight to ten hours, so if you're getting tired feel free to ditch us." With that, he swallowed the wet clump and turned around again. He felt like such a great mystagogue, teaching others and broadening his horizons.

"You can of course correct me if I'm wrong." But since he was pretty confident, he straight on changed the topic. "By the way, where are you taking us?"

[Guru]

He gave an unconscious snort of amusement when she talked about a clean police record. He’d lived the last 6 years of his life entirely off the grid thumbing his nose at any sort of authority he could. Shit, he was still doing it now by not choosing a side within the pentacle. It was just who he was, or at least who he had been before he’d awoken. Awakening chilled out a lot of his more radical habits as the stakes grew much more serious now.

“No job or government agency will test you for LSD or spores, it’s too costly, too risky for the patient, and they get little return on that investment. They want things with addictive hooks in them, yet alcohol is still legal.” A shake of the head, a roll of the eyes said pretty much how he felt about all of that. “Like I said, you want to experiment, we can do it in a safe environment and I can watch over you to take the fear out of it. No muss, no fuss.

“Yea, I’ll drink on occasion but being drunk is not my preference obviously. It’s not quite the same experience.” One shoulder shrug as he turned around, arm reaching behind Chris’ seat as he looked out the rear window to back out of the slot after he’d checked and rechecked that everything was locked away and stored where it was needed to. Yes he had a backup camera and no he wasn’t using it at the moment.

“It’s nice of you to worry Skye, but I can cheat too.” He gave her a wink as he laughed before getting the car into drive and heading to their next destination as Chris explained how it all worked, Guru nodding along his affirmations. “Yea. Spot on. There’s some debate on how exactly it works, whether it lasts so long because it’s in the blood stream for that time or whether it gets stuck in your serotonin receptors. I’m a chemist, not a neurologist so that bit is out of my wheelhouse a little. It gives you a nice pleasant uplifting sensation and your wonder of the world is torn wide open. Things that used to be mundane become interesting.

“Fun fact, part of the reason it’s good in treating depression. So one of the effects of depression is your neurological pathways start taking the same paths over and over and over again. Why recursive thoughts and patterns are a symptomatic behavior of the disorder. They also slow down dramatically. What hallucinogens do is kind of kickstart the brain as it causes all your synapses to fire off at rapid speeds which is why you can keep more than one train of thought going and why everything seems wonderful, you’re seeing it through a different neural pathway. That last part is my interpretation, our resident Doctor…oh shit, I should totally ask him, he should know!

“Anyway, I’m taking us to Mango’s, lot of different rooms with different music for differing tastes and I think in about an hour the décor alone will be fascinating.” He chuckled as he kept driving. “Not that LSD is without risks but it primarily boils down to, take it in a good headspace and be well rested. Overdosing is impossible as far as I’m aware and what I took is what I took. I can’t take more in an hour to get higher or extend it. Your brains receptors adjust to the flow and it just won’t work. Gotta wait around 72 hours between journeys, you know, unless you cheat. MDMA on the other hand is riskier, definitely not as safe but I don’t wanna scare you off with the details, just know with a regulated dose used occasionally and you’ll be fine but it’s definitely not something to do everyday.” You know unless you cheat.

[Skye]

Blinking in surprise at Kaze, he weren't cheating? She thought he used the same cheat as her. Flashing a sly grin towards Crystal.
"You mean except for my job at the DEA I assume? Say could you both look back together for the camera?" Chuckling a bit "I'm a gymnastics teacher for children and I am trying to get a business of selling designer items of wood. Not really a fan of mass produced things, they just don't have any life to them." And working with her hands always helped her focus.

Listening on the talk of drugs and just shrugging, it wasn't her thing nor were she one who stopped people from doing what they wanted as long as they didn't hurt anyone else she was far to open minded and free for that and right now she just wanted to get onto a dance floor.
"If you say so Jay I assume you know far more than me on the matter." Leaning her head against the window. "I do not doubt that you can, just don't know how well you can do it with that in your system." Or how well he could keep tabs on others.

Closing her eyes and softly humming a dark tone or well a calming one at least whilst waiting for them to reach their destination.

[Kaze]

Kaze visibly, willfully relaxes, taking it all in.

"Nope. Not an alcoholic, so unfortunately not a 'natural' at acting." Kaze answers Crystal with a broad grin. "I'm just not feeling the effects. I mean, the warmth and everything. Just not the buzz. It's fine. Maybe I'll try for some natural endorphin high, dancing."

He listens to first Crystal and then Guru explain the specific drug effects and their perspective, where they're coming from on them. Sounds like Crystal is super experienced as a consumer, and Guru is more experienced with the whole process from making it in a lab to using it himself to sharing it with other people and seeing how it effects them.

Kaze smiles at Skye's look of surprise. "I guess I am cheating a little, but not on purpose. I mean, I am not doing anything special to try to cancel out the effects of anything, and it's interesting; I haven't noticed before. But no big deal, just interesting."

"So, Skye. Dancing. You do that much? I mean, I know you're more coordinated than I am, but I'll try not to step on your or anything." Kaze promises with a laugh!

[Crystal]

That's an Arrow for you - blowing off valuable input for her next mission even when handed to them on a silver platter. "Cool, cool." He turned back around, tapping on his thighs to whatever was on the radio. At least Chase seemed to go with the flow. "Half of the 'having fun' is wanting to have fun, so you should be fine." Since he was turned around there was no way to see it, but it sounded like he smiled.


Luckily it wasn't too long until they arrived. Talking was nice and all, but he wanted to dance - preferably pressed against someone else. They surprisingly had little trouble finding a parking space and as they walked to the club Crystal spread his arms and proclaimed. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Bacchanal!"



The Club looked popular and upscale enough and a lot of pretty and wannabe-pretty stood outside.
Dresscode? Gotcha. Standing in line? Please.


Crystal waved the others to follow closely and beelined past the people waiting to get in straight to the bouncer. On the way, he imagined how it would play out: the bouncer could trust him, he maybe saw an old friend in Crystal. It would be a totally pleasant and constructive conversation. He willed this into existence - or at least tried to - and went for it. "Hey, how are you? We're actually in a hurry here, traffic was a nightmare. Would you mind just letting me in?" There were probably dozens of people trying to sweettalk a bouncer, but they were probably worse at it than Crystal. The bouncer waved them in, past the angry stares of cockblocked, less fortunate revelers.

Rolls

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2020-11-14 01:38:29	Crystal rolls 4 to Casting First Impressions (Gn 1 + Mind 3) (10 Again)	8, 4, 4, 7	1 success

Who is doing the roll for the bouncer's Resolve? Wouldn't make a difference I believe, but just want to make sure I'm not breaking rules left and right. Saber Sloth

4 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2020-11-14 01:41:42	Crystal rolls 8 to Talk his way into the Club (Man 4 + Pers 3 + First impressions 1) (10 Again)	9, 7, 10, 9, 5, 2, 1, 6, 9	4 successes

Inside they found themselves in an outdoor patio. There were heaters above the white-leather couches to combat the autumn chill and loungy dance music made this the ideal place to rest. Standing in the middle you could hear shreds of the music in the rooms beside this one.


To their left was the latin lounge, a big room (plus mirrors on the wall to give the impression it was even bigger) with some flashing lights and a less brutal beat and a dedicated room to dance salsa, chachacha and other more standard dances. It was less packed in there, people standing around the edges of the dancefloor to make room for the couples who went down.


To the right was the hip hop lounge, a dark room where a strong beat and the lingering scent of sweat and alcohol were brewing the perfect storm to get the many bodies on the dancefloor to grind and move close to each other.


Crystal looked around and then looked at his companions. His pupils were ever so slightly dilated, he was probably halfway to takeoff. "So here we are - since you are new to this, you get to chose our first adventure. Or would you rather split up?" He wasn't ready to go on his own just yet - he definately wanted to be there when Kaze and Skye made good of their promise and let loose a little.

[Guru]

Guru went cold and quiet as Skye brought up the DEA, joking or not it wasn't very funny to him. He'd like to think that if it were true the loyalty was to mages first and job second but he couldn't know for sure and he didn't ever want to have to find out. He'd do a lot of things to avoid going to jail, abyss be damned.


"Woodworking is good, though if you want the real money it's in furniture and boutique stores." The normal chipper energy in his voice gone, a little shorter than usual as well. Giving a shrug to the rest of her concerns before replying with the same tone to Kaze, though his lips smirked a little. "Uh huh." He knew Kaze was cheating, just not how. He'd seen him heal Phoenyx of the spider venom so he was at least as experienced as Guru when he'd first started. That meant he was fully capable of doing the same thing Skye was, add on top of that he was an Obrimos and could use Prime to be fucky with magic. Guru was smarter than he looked but he wasn't pushing it, not his journey.


When Crystal stepped up to the bounce and took charge he'd beaten Guru to the punch. As they were permitted entrance Guru turned to the bouncer, shook hands with him with a laugh and waved as they walked by. Guru at least knew of some of the people that worked an establishment like this, which meant having connects to the door.


"I could've taken care of that, I don't think there's a club in town where I don't know someone who knows someone who knows the bouncer." He chuckled, he was a party kid with money on top of his profession most people wanted him there as long as he didn't overstep their bounds.


His head bobbing, feet tapping to the beat of the music already as he felt that warm tingle in his chest. Like a massage that started inside, magic fingers started to spread from his chest to his extremities in a slow creep. His pupils growing dilated but sharper as he was able to experience sensation differently now. He could actually FEEL the music now.


"Want to start with drinks as we discuss our plan of attack? Right now I'm thinking we do a circuit. Start with some salsa while we're a little more capable, move to latin, drinks and rest in the lounge, finish up in the hiphop room? But, you know me, I like to go with the flow."

[Skye]

Her eyes still closed as she answers Kaze.
"Same cheat that I tend to use? It's quite a good thing." Especially when you were used to being bitten by various animals and insects. "Both yes and no, I do dance quite a bit but its mostly just me listening to music and moving my body in a way that feels right which tend to get into gymnastic movements more than actual dancing, to actually dance with someone so no my experience is extremely low." Still those moves could look good even if they weren't a proper dance.

"I can make furniture if someone were to order it but it would be original designs, I have no interest in making things in advance and sell replicas over and over I much prefer each creation to be alive and made for someone that can appreciate it." She might not earn as much money that way but she already earned enough with her gymnastic teaching, well off parents paid extremely well for someone of her skill to train their kids.

Eyes quickly opening as the car parked, seatbelt of and jumping out of the car, she had gotten her breather and were not one who needed much rest to begin with.
"Dance time, the hottest girl we find is mine, likewise if I prefer a guy." Not that she wanted more than to make out though, blinking a bit towards Crystal what was that word? Ohh never mind she followed suite quite easily, smiling towards the bouncer objectively speaking so were she both young, good looking and female and that did help you get into places easier right? Or was that just TV's lies?

Looking around a bit as they went inside, none of the rooms really seemed to her type of music which was a shame but hardly unexpected.
"Jay's plan sounds good to me, after a couple of dances so could a cider be nice to quench the thirst harder drinks might work after that, not sure how much I can handle though." Without cheating so had it been a while. "Still Jay would you mind giving Chase your car keys? In case we need to get to another place so do I think he will be the best suited to drive and if not so will he for guarantee give them back at the end of the night or if you ask."