(2106) Sanctuary

[Kaze]

Kaze notices Winter noticing Popsicle. Or anyway, talking to her. Well, repeating the name of the city that she said she came from and the word welcome. For all the good it does him. Winter is a mystery to him, and he honestly can't tell whether Winter is suspicious of the new mage or just bored.


She seems up to engaging Winter, which is kind of interesting too, and also not something Kaze has any clue about, except she seems to be proud of being a New Yorker.


Then Aurora smiles at him, and wow. He just doesn't really get used to how amazing and confident and together she looks! She asks him about more practice, right, not actually Shapechanging but holding onto his own mind and not letting animal mind instincts and reactions take over.


"Thanks! You know what, though?" Kaze says, smiling back to Aurora. "I feel like I learned my lesson from our last practice. You were right, Aurora. I feel like I need to hold off on that 'til I get skilled enough to do the full version, where there won't be that conflict, you know?"


He smiles again. "I mean, if you have time, I really do want to still pick your brain when I get stuck on actually learning how to do higher level stuff though. It just might not be...right away. I'm trying to focus a little more on the acting for a little bit, getting everything together for the new gig. Honestly though, I would take any pointers you have on performing too." Kaze says in a respectful tone.


Kaze can't help being interested when Aurora asks Winter what he's been up to. Or whatever; she actually sounds kind of concerned.


And Crystal is here! Nice! And wow, he's dressed up! Kaze smiles warmly to his friend on arrival, "Hey!" He says. It looks like Crystal is here to socialize a little, like connect with people, which is cool. They can always hang out together when everyone else isn't around. Kaze is interested to watch and learn as Crystal kind of makes contact with everyone.


Kaze notices that Corn seems to be relaxing a little bit, feeling more comfortable maybe. That's good. He gets the feeling Corn doesn't spend much time around other mages except for at the Circle. It's always interesting to hear him talking about him and his fiance, though. She travels around without him, and he seems totally secure with that. Cool. Sounds like maybe she makes more money than he does. Like, what's he do? Work at the bookstore? Or is he working on a degree? Kaze realizes he isn't sure or doesn't remember what Corn has said about it.


"I'm up for a jog whenever, if you like, Guru." Kaze offers with a smile. He doesn't say anything about the money stuff that it seems like Guru is asking Corn about. Funny, Guru seems to be kind of pressing Corn, or just wanting to connect with him, like in particular.


And, sounds like Puck is asking about any official business without asking it officially. Which is kind of subtle and a light touch for him. Which is interesting. Definitely a side of Puck as Councilor that Kaze hasn't seen as much of, like, he's relaxed. It looks good on him.

[Winter]

"Yeah, I've lived there", is his curt reply to the new girl, unwilling to give out more then necessary. "I've been investigating something, nothing major", he tells Aurora, while acknowledging the others with a nod.
For the most part, his attention has been captivated by some of the Magicians being quite loose with their mystical schedule, and although it could be a smokescreen, he's willing to entertain the thought they're being honest. One should get the pulse of the situation.

[Popsicle]

”Settling in, but all good, thanks!” The Acanthus returns to Aurora. ”I just have a pile of boxes to unpack.” Popsicle allows a low huff to escape showing some of her exasperation and exhaustion. For how long was she going to have those boxes piling in her room? They wouldn’t unpack themselves but when time came to do it, something else more rewarding always seemed to come up.

”Hi Crystal.” a brief wave and a relaxed smile – it was nice meeting new magi and there seemed to be plenty in this city. Apparently it was ok for the boxes to wait a few more hours if she could get acquainted with some new faces.

”Best city in the world, right?” The reply was a straight shot to Winter and Corn. Was it really how she felt? Yes, pretty much. Was it the reply she wanted to give? Probably not. Showing off the usually pretentiousness she knew others associated to New Yorkers wasn’t going to make things easier for her or earn her any friends. ”But California is pretty sweet to, right?” The Acanthus looks around trying to get someone else to back her and her eyes land on Puck. ”… and welcoming!” she concludes, hopefully giving back some of the good will Puck had extended her.

”I don’t know, current events for me is mostly about finding a place to stay… it kept me busy these last couple of weeks” It was important, right?

[Aurora]

A blink and look of confusion at the question, “Uh, yeah.” Was it a lie? Maybe. Would she say either way? Nope. “Good to see you, everything going ok?” lets turn the attention back to someone else.

Then Guru? What was causing the sudden concern? She really needed to work on her poker face.
Forcing a smile, “Everything’s good!” a bit too chipper? Maybe. But even if she was being honest, she’d never discuss things here. With everyone around. Nope. “You?” redirect.

Looking to Puck, shrugging, “No one’s mentioned anything to me. So I think the floor is pretty open.” Someone wanted to discuss something…bring it up! “Uh dinner? Probably thai takeout, that’s what I’m thinking.” She loved her some good thai.

Nodding to Kaze, “It’s a huge thing, and you’ll know when you’re fully ready. And I’ll be here if you need the help.” She was a Master after all, she felt it was her responsibility to make sure he was safe. “Sure, just give me a call when you want to pick my brain.” Then a shrug, “My performing is a lot different than acting.” A chuckle, “If you need to learn to swallow a sword for an audition, I can help with that, but that’s about it.” And confidence was earned over time.

Eyebrow quirks at Winter, “Oh?” sounding more interested in what he was saying. “Anything you need help with?” she’d love to investigate something.

New girl, “I’ve found it to be pretty welcoming.” At least, so far. “So what do you enjoy doing?”

[Crystal]

Oof, it's not like he knew her but Aurora didn't seem too happy. Though maybe she was just annoyed about everybody asking her. "Everything's a-ok on my end. Maybe we should hang out again some time." Which was totally not meant as charity or to try to cheer her up - it was just a bit unfortunate that they hadn't had the chance after their initial get-together.

Crystal just raised an eyebrow at Corn's comment. Everybody liked to have their ego stroked, but the way the Moros said it sounded more like passive-aggressive. Was he having financial troubles? Or was he trying to get more fashionable clothes himself? "Thanks, coming from you that means a lot." Gee, that sounded just as backhanded. But surely that's just a misunderstanding and the Mastigos meant no harm. Surely he just valued Corn's opinion. "It's really cool to hear you're coming along with your project." And Guru was also on top of that. There might be an unexpected Mystagogue in him after all - and if Corn found himself a lab-budy: all the better.

Like last month it seemed like Puck wanted to take the lead again, the uncrowned King of Sacramento! Crystal felt massively justified in the hunch to visit the Circle - who knew what kind of political coups one could miss. That also meant he had to really watch what he was saying to whom here, which in turn meant it was best not to answer that question himself.
Apparently, that's what mostly everyone else seemed to think. But then again: maybe the city just went back to its uneventful little life - not counting the newcomer of the week. She seemed to be the focus of attention, which was just as well.
"So what brings you all the way to the great, welcoming California?" Weird, to see someone that striking being that shy. Shouldn't she be used to the attention? "Or hey, maybe you'd rather do the Q&A portion of your arrival at a more relaxed venue?" Some people needed a little lubricant for social situations. Luckily, Crystal knew a few places by now.

Kaze was as enthusiastic as ever. Which was honestly great to see - Crystal could see why everybody liked him. He could definitely learn a thing or two from him about socializing with Mages, strange as that sounded. So apart from putting Popsicle in the crossfire of questions for the newbie he hung back a bit and waited what would unfold.

[Corn]

Corn nodded towards Crystal. Hopefully I was not too subtle. He thought to himself. Then he turned his attention back to Popsicle and Aurora.

[Winter]

"So?", he says, more to break the tension than out of a genuine attempt at conversation. He recognized each one of them might have had a different agenda, but this kind of meeting was to foster a sense of community? Or maybe just to make sure they didn't step on each other's feet too much.
"Things have been quiet recently. Might want to pay a visit to that old farm we staked a couple months ago", not surprisingly, Councillors in Sacramento had a short tenure, of that expedition he was the only one still here.
He relaxes in his chair. "Anything interesting?", he says to Aurora, but truth be told, the question is left open to anybody willing to bite.

[Guru]

Guru took Aurora entirely at face value, "Good. Me? I'm excited. I brought some of my gardening tools, I'm gonna plant this sick row of flowers that's going to shift from shades of purple, there will be white patches even as the flowers bloom and go dormant. It's gonna be sick." He gave a big, genuine smile and a laugh. Guru knew Anima had been tending to the garden but he wasn't there so Guru was making it his own already.


Hearing the banter between Aurora and Kaze about their listen piqued his interest. Seemed she'd become Kaze's Campanella. That thought brought a smile to the Shaman's lips wondering how much the two had rubbed off on the other and then if it lighting would strike twice. Then his brain shifted more into philosophy as he began his own internal debate. His head bobbing back and forth, lips mouthing words at some points.


Popsicle's words about New York being the greatest broke that trance, making him raise an eyebrow, but Crystals comment about a relaxed venue sparked an idea in his brain. "Oh, sounds like it's time to see how you play Pool." Though Guru was curious if Corn got quiet all of a sudden cause the business veered into more private territory.


He turned to Kaze at the offer, "Great, when Skye got called away I lost my after meeting jogging buddy. I'm out today though, got gardening to do." Winter's mention of the Farm sparked Guru's memory with a nod of recollection. "If you need me help out at the farm let me know. If you have an idea of what we might need I can prep better ahead of time."

[Kaze]

Kaze nods thoughtfully as Winter says he's lived in New York without quite recommending it, and then mentions an actual investigation, at a farm, which isn't something he's ever done before, mention something without basically ordering or at least asking for recruits to help. Must be because it's Aurora asking. They have a relationship different from anyone else Kaze's seen Winter interact with. The Guardian has always shown respect for Campanella, but always seems to either be giving a report or requisitioning resources; just casually mentioning something he intends to do is unusual, and something that seems like it would only happen with Aurora and him.

Kaze resists offering his help. If the Guardian asks for help, fine. Otherwise, nope. He's not sticking his nose into Guardian business without being invited into it.

"Yeah, people move slower here, and you really need to drive." Kaze winks at Popsicle. "At least, that's the differences I've heard about between New York City and California." He's also heard that the people in California are skinnier and prettier, but since Popsicle is off the charts good looking, and besides it could sound like he's taking a shot, he leaves that part out. "So, yeah, getting a place you can drive from, instead of walking distance is kind of a thing here. I'd be glad to help you find a place, if you like." He offers. "I have a truck, if you need to move anything, or pick up anything big for a new place."

"Flowers?" Kaze asks Guru, showing interest in the Shaman apparently pursuing horticulture that isn't mind altering. He grins and nods when Guru accepts his offer to jog together. "Definitely, just let me know when and were; I'm there."

"Thanks, Aurora. I really appreciate it." Kaze says sincerely to Aurora when the Shaman affirms his choice and offers her help.

Kaze winks at Crystal, unspoken in his being just glad his friend decided to come and check out the situation and get involved.

He smiles at Corn, noticing he's gone quiet after the money thing. He wonders again if the upcoming wedding has Corn feeling like he needs to have more money than he does.

Puck's being quiet now too, probably just listening to everything though.

[Corn]

"Yeap, I can attest that the Mysterium Workshop would not have progressed as fast as it did without the help of Kaze and his van." Corn said.
Then, he turned to Guru about the flowers "Really?" he said. "To be honest, it seems like this place could use some color if you want to get to that."