(Nexus II) Over by the bar

[Crystal]

Mable was right - at least partly. He had enough composure not to show how shaken he was by the casual display of shapechanging. If that wasn't enough, the Werewolf wanted a taste of what Crystal could do. He really should have went with a less.. preloaded lie. For all he knew the 'witch' was actually a secret member of the local Guardians, smartly kept out of sight to catch cocky Mages red handed.

His mouth felt uncomfortably numb - emptying his glass would help with the dryness, but he still had to deliver something. He couldn't out himself as a wimp, not here. And who knew, maybe that guy he gave his number to was still watching. Fuck.

He smiled at the blonde. "No, ghosts are not really my thing - it's really not much." Yep, he was stalling. He knew that and they probably did too. "Okay, here goes." He imagined his and Emily's mind. Surely, if Space, Time and every other natural 'law' was a Lie, then the separation of consciousness was a Lie too, right? He saw the connection, the Imago of the spell and poured some will into it, reaching beyond the Abyss to show off at a bar. Classic.

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-02-04 15:33:42	Crystal rolls 1 to check for Paradox (10 Again)	1	failure

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-02-04 15:34:09	Crystal rolls 4 to Cast Telepathy (Gnosis 1 + Mind 3) (10 Again)	4, 4, 8, 2	1 success

It wasn't his best effort - hesitation and nerves saw to that - but he felt his Truth silencing the Lie for some moments. Once he was sure she could hear him, he sent her a simple message. "Feel free to be equally unimpressed."

Assuming Emily is willing, so no reflexive Resolve roll needed?
We can exchange thoughts for one round, 6 seconds.

[Emily Makerith]

"Oh, don't..." Emily quipped, frowning. "You make me sound like a god-damned chihuahua trying to scare a mailman. I wasn;t trying to scare the guy. He just seemed...." She turns to look at Chris. "Sorry. You just seemed.... non-plussed. Like you'd seen worse in your life.... which, to be fair, you may well have, place like this." She holds a hand up. "Not asking, just commenting. Everyone has their secrets. No-one wants to throw out all their cards, y'know?"

Hell, if you think the Urhan is unnerving, be glad you've never seen Garou.

She grins, waiting for something to happen.... then her eyes go like saucers. Woah, fuck! "Woah, fuck!" she exclaims as Crystal's the words form in her mind. The mage gets a brief echo as he hears the words before she says them.

She stares, amazed. So, can you see all my thoughts or just the words I'm thinki..... "So, can you all my thoughts or just the words I'm thinking?" The words Emily speaks blur with the exact same thoughtless than a half-second later. It's like there is no filter.

[Mable Wood]

Mable doesn't say anything, she just grabs Emily's hand to help steady her with whatever Chris is doing to her.

"Are you okay," she whispers.

When she realizes Emily is okay she relaxes. She counts in her head to settle the beast. The last thing she needs is to let loose here.

[Crystal]

"Well, blame the booze for not freaking out more, I guess." He welcomed that she didn't dig too deep - she seemed to be all right, despite being stuck in the 90s fashion-wise.

The intensity of Emily's reaction took Crystal off-guard though. Fuck, was every Werewolf just a step away from losing it at any time? He took a moment to regain his composure, then the connection was already severed again. "It's just surface level stuff.. like I said, nothing too interesting."

Mable's quick support made Crystal put their relationship beyond a fling and into a truly caring partnership: Blegh. "So what's your deal? Are you a couple or just getting acquainted?"

[Emily Makerith]

Emily nods, beaming. "Oh yeah, fine! I could hear his thoughts! It was weird...."

She looks back to the Mage. "You're sure? That's a relief. Like.... making words is one thing, but, like.... reading all my thoughts? That's creepy." The werewolf smiles coyly. "Ohhh.... we know each other verrry well." Finishing her drink, she sets the glass back on the bar.

"So.... psychics. Do you like... be born psychic? Or is is something someone can learn Do you have like.... a little psychic club of psychics? Huh, that's weird to say."

[Mable Wood]

"Alcohol has so many uses." Mable agreed.

She was sure he didn't want to be in Emily's head. But then wondered what that would be like. She tilted her head considering.

"Chris, what does it feel like for you? When I do my thing it feels like my energy is fueling me and that I am creating something."

She chose not to respond to the question of if they were a couple since Emily answered.

[Crystal]

Crystal ordered another drink and wagged his finger at Emily while he waited for it. "Nah, I don't think this is the way we're doing it. Sorry, I don't feel like you've been especially big on the sharing so far." Looking at Mable. "Neither have you. So before I spill all of my tea, I want to here some more things from both of you. And I'm not talking about non-committal half-answers. So, all of the above: right back at you."

3 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-02-08 11:37:26	Crystal rolls 9 to keep a poker face (Man 4 + Subterfuge 2 + WP) (10 Again, WillPower)	2, 5, 10, 5, 1, 6, 9, 6, 8, 7	3 successes

The cocktail gave him the guts to talk to them like that despite what he'd witnessed and the fear of getting the San-Fran-Guardian special again made him change the topic and pull the focus away from his secrets. So yeah, maybe his heart was beating at a hundred miles per hour but fuck if he let them see him sweat. He gave the ladies and most charming smile.

[Emily Makerith]

She gives Mable a quick peck on the cheek. "She's very into emotions and how things feel."

Emily chuckles. "Easy, tiger. Relax. You've not exactly been Mr Open Book yourself. Plus, you hadn't really asked me anything until just now, so how can I have been big on the sharing? I showed you one of my best tricks. I can't help it that I'm a curious soul by nature."

She scratched the back of her neck. "Mmmkaaay... Yes, No, and Yes. People are born with the capacity to become werewolves, but it only really comes out in puberty. Y'know, hormones, aggression, horny...." She grins. "So,. it's in the blood, really. You can't learn it. And yeah, there are a few werewolf groups around. We're social creatures by nature. Literally like pack animals."

She thumped Chris playfully on the shoulder. "C'mon buddy. Your turn."

[Mable Wood]

Mable tilted her head at Chris, "What do you want to know about me?"

"My witchy powers are very difficult to show. Hmmm. I have an idea." Mable had an idea. She took an empty shot glass and tried to make it vanish.

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-02-09 10:17:34	Mable Wood rolls 4 to Hiding a glass w 2 +l 1+o 1 (10 Again)	3, 10, 7, 10, 5, 1	2 successes

"Tada" She said with a smile, Dirt would be proud of her. "How was that?"

[Crystal]

Crystal brushed Emily's objections off - he desperately wanted to stay in the driver's seat and not get into trouble for being loose-lipped. He took his new drink and sipped some liqueur. It helped his nerves while he absorbed the information the Punk gave him. It was not much, but every bit could help somewhere down the road. He kicked himself for not paying closer attention to whom Emily interacted with so far - it would go a long way in gauging who was what in here.

"I don't think people like me are specifically born with it - it's probably a potential every human has in them, awakening given the right circumstances." Not a lie, really but not enough information to get him on the Guardians' chopping block. Then again, most Guardians would tend to disagree on that one. "I haven't met many like me, so I can't speak for any clubs or anything." Yeah, that one was a lie, but there was no use in sharing too much about the ins and outs of Awakened society. "Like I said - pretty boring vanilla psychic powers. No global conspiracy or something." Would they buy it? Maybe. He wasn't sure himself what gave one the ticket to enter this place, but maybe any sort of advantage over Sleepers would be enough.

Mabel's display was impressive - less impressive than turning into a deadly beast, but still. He didn't sense any Magic he knew, but that didn't have to mean anything. For all he knew Mable could be an undercover Guardian mastering Forces and some way to cloak their Resonance. All the more reason to tread carefully. "That's a nice trick. Were you born with your gift or how did you acquire it? Also, is there anyone else you know here? Sorry, first time visitor so I don't know what kind of relationships formed here." The word relationships was stressed a little bit. He could relate to them not wanting to talk about their status too openly, so he didn't want to push. Still, he was interested. Well, as interested as he could be in two women.