Garden Salads w/ Gardenias

[Anima]

Anima punctuates his response with a flick of a fork, "Exactly, the Life shows the health of the body, Death reveals the health of the soul."

The shamans head bobs side to side, "So Spirits are everything, everything has a spirit, this fork, that salad, hunger, the concept of information, and sometimes those spirits eat too much of another kind of spirit and become an amalgamation of them both. Ghosts are the memory of an exceptional death or emotion. They can be see with spirit in a hazy sort of way, like looking through foggy glasses. Ghosts are truly the purview of Death. So the real question is what happens to a soul after death, is it destroyed? Could a master of death temporarily disconnect their soul from their body to travel across the abyss?"

He takes a few more bites, crispy vegetables crunching he ponders, "So much to learn. You said you're studying Space? How is that going?"

[Kaze]

"Huh." Kaze says as Anima lectures a little bit on Spirit and what is and is not a soul. It's fine. It's actually interesting. In an icky kind of way. Funny, he'd never been squeamish, that he remembered. Certainly not since he spent so much time as a boy in the Oncology Ward. Talk about icky. But he'd never really been into horror or ghost stories. His time in Okinawa had exposed him to a lot of the same concepts that Anima was talking about, everything having a spirit. He didn't think the Shinto beliefs took it to the point of tableware spirits, but basically it sounded the same. The ghost thing was interesting, that it had nothing to do with the soul of the person. That it was like some kind of memory captured in...something. Like an echo maybe.

He chooses to the question of where the soul goes as rhetorical, and the question about a Master of Death as purely hypothetical.

"Oh. Well, slow. I haven't really been all that focused on it up to now; I am really still working on the theory and principles. I think I'm close though, to Apprentice level manifestations anyway." Kaze says. "How far with Death have you gotten?" He asks in return. It sounds like, maybe, Anima wants to be a Master of Death, and has some potentially problematic ideas about what to try out when he attains it! Hopefully, Kaze is reading that wrong. It wouldn't be the first time...

[Anima]

Anima nibbles thoughtfully as Kaze speaks, "Mmm, mmm, focus. Yes theories and principals seem to flit about like energetic spirits of curiosity in my mind most days." He takes a sip of his mimosa, "Oh you know me, Jack-of-trades. I've only dipped my toe into the deep, dark pool. Now I must turn my attention once more to see how all the strings connect to mix metaphors. One that only looks at one side of a coin believes that seeing the whole of that side, tells them the truth, but the whole coin must be evaluated. The penny might appear to be worth 1 cent. You see Lincolns head and that confirms your bias. You might even spend that penny, throwing away the Truth because you believed the Lie. The cashier that receives the penny sees only the other-side, and it turns out to be a rare Native American penny, they think they have the truth try to sell it for ten dollars, never seeing the worn blemishes on honest Abe's face, or the smooth worn groves along the side. I commend you on your constant search for new enlightenment. I want to know the Truth myself, perhaps it happens in this life-time, perhaps not. The journey is the best part of the process as long as we don't overly value these meat sacks and their biological requirements that imprison our spark of Truth. Though perhaps mans greatest mistake is leaving behind their biological imperative in search of an artificially created one, jealousy for the Jones..." The rambling lecture pours out of the doctor, pent up quandaries and speculation scattering about. The doctor seems almost relieved, as he winds down in his thought. Sharing these ideas, the conversation, bringing some measure of release of anxiety. His mannerisms relax as he sits back in the chair, flute held lazily between fingertips.

A flippant hand waves towards the house, as an unbidden question flies in from left field, "Would you like to see my mirror?"

[Kaze]

Kaze grins and bears it through the torrent of Anima's unleashed and dizzying display of intellect! Or fast talk. Or something. He thinks he hears Anima at one point say he's not gotten that deep into his study of Death, but unlike Kaze he doesn't pin down a specific level of attainment with the Arcana.

There's some strained metaphor about a penny and seeing both sides, and then Anima is talking about a mirror? Apparently, inside.

"Sure." Kaze says, agreeably finishing up his salad and rising from his seat, empty bowl in hand to clear the dishes. He takes up Anima's bowl and tableware too, if Anima hasn't got them yet. A regular bus boy hoping for a tip.

[Anima]

As Kaze stands and reaches for his dish Anima waves him off, "Thank you, but I have a composting system, I'll take care of it. If you wish to dispose of your own, I completely understand." He gestures to the fire pit. "Please burn away anything could could create a connection, I prefer to develop trust between us." He pauses and looks away before looking back to Kaze, "Was that too blunt? I fear I'm often too blunt and tend to lash out went I'm called on it."

He stands and motions to the house, "This mirror is quite special, it's why I pursued Death." And with that odd statement he makes his way inside.

[Kaze]

"Oh. Okay, thanks." Kaze says, leaving his dishes as a sign of trust. He's learning new takes on 'being a good host' everyone he's visited....

"No...I don't think it's too blunt." Kaze says, smiling. Then he ventures, "Just my opinion, but I don't feel like I ever thought you had a problem with being too blunt. Too hard to understand, yeah, maybe even to a dangerous level, but not too blunt."

Wow. This mirror sounds...'special'. Kind of touched he wants to show it to me. Unless of course it's some kind of soul sucking trap. But...I feel like I can probably handle a trap.

"Okay. Sounds...interesting!" Kaze says, following warily behind Anima, surreptitiously stepping where his host does, and keeping his head on a swivel looking out for soul suckers, including up overhead.

[Anima]

The home is less orderly than the garden, random books lay open or sloppily stacked on most available flat surface. Titles are as random as a fictional book of ghosts next to a well worn copy of Gray's Anatomy. The home itself feels warm and cozy, the stained exposed wood everywhere in the Craftsman providing a feeling of depth.

Anima leads the way through a kitchen and breakfast nook, down some stairs into the lower of the split level home. A large office, decorated with bone rattles and modern medical instruments offer a juxtaposition of the mind of Shaman. In a corner a large object, is covered in a sheet. Runes have been crudely painted on the sheet, but any look through awakened eyes show no power currently in them.

Anima points to this object, stopping next to it.

"I found this strange conundrum when I first came to Sacramento. One of my first explorations with the local Awakened was to investigate a haunted hospital. I'm afraid all those whom were with me have all moved on since, leaving me to solve this mystery," he grabs the sheet, preparing to pull it to the side.

"Before I pull this off, are you sure. I still have very little understanding of this device. It was used in a very powerful ritual, but the Truth of it has eluded me."

[Kaze]

"Oh wow." Kaze says when Anima brings him into the presence of the covered object. "So...yeah, I'm interested. Do you mind if I check it out with Supernal Vision?" Kaze asks politely?

And...how did Anima end up with this instead of Winter or Campanella?

Not sure how to proceed since the Story Teller that ran that Plot is not the Mage Story Teller now, and this is a social scene besides?

[Anima]

Anima pulls back the sheet from the old oak mirror. “Knock yourself out. I’ve studied it with super supernal, spirit, hell even life. I questioned it’s spirit. Now that was creepy. Near I can tell it was used in a ritual a long time ago.” He stands back crossing his arms as he studied it once again with a smile. “Sometimes the mystery, the enigma of it all is my favorite part.”

He waves a hand at the object, “I like to look at it and think, ‘one day I may know the truth’. But I also might never. The curious nature of it is it’s own reward.”

[Kaze]

Kaze nods, and then takes a cleansing breath, preparing. The he chants in High Speech, and forms his spell!

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-04-04 11:40:17	Kaze rolls 9 to cast rote Supernal Vision (Mage Sight Prime) (Prime 3 + Wits 3 + Occult 1 + HS 2) (10 Again)	1, 9, 2, 1, 7, 4, 3, 8, 1	2 successes

With modest success, Kaze closely inspects the mirror and its surroundings for magical resonances and clues to its nature.