(PRP TMTP) - Curtain call

[Aeolus]

Guru stood in the hallway, focusing on the things he barely saw out the corner of his eyes, actor's and their emotions momentarily forgotten. With how quickly the thing (things?) were moving, it was difficult to actually find something to focus on. There were even some moments of doubt - maybe he was just imagining things, his overloaded pattern and the events of this evening bearing heavily on his soul?

But no - he could make out something. As he reached out with his senses to scrutinize the things he saw in Twilight it felt like he put his head into an icebox full of static. It felt.. unnatural, wrong. This definitely wasn't the resonance he had ever seen in a Spirit, even if his experience with them was limited. Something in his soul told him this as an absolute fact. And who was he to discredit his Soul?


Kaze focused on the tree and - for a lack of other reference points in sensory range - the stage they were standing on. He fed some Mana into the spell, ensuring a safe connection to the Supernal Realms while using this relatively unknown Arcanum and after a moment of chanting and concentrating the Imago took hold and showed him the intimate connection between the tree and the stage. Being a part of the scenery this probably made sense.. but it almost felt deeper than that. Like Phoenyx he got the feeling that this tree was probably used for something, by something. Beneath the tree?

Phoenyx looked around the room and an idea struck her: the girl manning the technical booth, the usher and ticket saleswoman wrapped into one - had she already left or could she maybe come here again? They have been here for a while since the show finished, and whatever work there was while getting the audience out of here should probably be finished by now. Were they running out of time?
The booth was readily available - just working off that hunch the Arrow could probably go over there and.. look for anything.

Kaze remember to spend a Mana for your improvised non-ruling spell.

[Kaze]

"Oh. Yeah..." Kaze says thoughtfully, digesting what he can see about the tree's sympathy. "Um...I'm still pretty green at this. I probably would get a lot more if like the cast were out there and I could see how they were connected. But...there's like a super strong connection to the ground, the stage, I guess." He muses.

Kaze drops into a deep and limber squat to inspect the base of the tree and the stage beneath it both visually and by touch, looking for a clear join between the tree and the stage or a pattern in the surface.

4 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-10-12 15:01:44	Kaze rolls 6 to perception (Wits 3 +Composure 3) (10 Again)	9, 10, 10, 8, 2, 7, 1, 1	4 successes

Oops! Sorry, bookkeeping on spending 1 manna for casting Correspondence improvised not Path ruling Arcana.

[Phoenyx]

Phoneyx shrugs. "I'm going to look up in the technical booth. Maybe that has something."

She makes her way along the edge of the auditorium, looking for a way up. It had been some time since the poeple left. Surely the dogsbody would be returning soon to sort the auditorium for the next show.

She did her best to keep quiet as she made her way around.

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-10-13 17:19:32	Phoenyx rolls 3 to Sneak around: Dex4-1 (unskilled) (10 Again)	6, 3, 7	failure

[Puck]

Puck steps out of the dressing room in a notably better mood then before. The meeting had been informative, even if some leads were more solid then other.

"Sup." He gives he Shaman a chin up. Guru had a bit more gold bling then when Puck had left him, and the staring made him think he shouldn't have said something.

"Need too look for Tasha." He says, looking to Phoenyx as she makes her way back around. "Where's Kaze? We need to have a pow wow once we have our next chat."

If they have their next? They still had to be sure Tasha was in the building.

[Aeolus]

Just a head's up: with how difficult things to be for Shane (and Xander?) at the moment and Ruach's sickness (get better soon!), I will open a side-thread for Guru tomorrow and anyone else can feel free to post when they think they've got enough to go on by. I'll answer individually.

[Guru]

Guru was looking as another curtain was drained of color, the words broke his concentration before the sight of Puck did. He blinked twice bringing his attention to concerns within the material plane. He shook off that feeling of static, that itchy, too-tight sweater feel he had from his overloaded pattern. "Not gonna leave someone behind." He could feel Puck's Vital energies, the essence of his life as it contrasted the drain on the other side.


The name drop had him raise a blond eyebrow, "Alright, I'll bite. They headed off that way last I checked." He thumbed over his shoulder, "Anything you can share yet? I've only marked things off my list." His attention shifting again before coming back to the present. Puck had a direction, Guru's directive just told him to poke around in exactly the places he wasn't supposed to.

[Aeolus]

After following their individual hunches, the Mages gathered back where things started: at the stage.

Kaze got down to get to the bottom of this. The tree stood upon a wide base, also made out of metal. There were no bolts or screws that anchored the thing to the wooden floor, but as the Obrimos knocked and touched around he couldn't make out any hollow sounding areas. As far as he could tell, there was no physical hiding spot beneath the tree. Of course, that limitation imposed upon the sleeping world didn't have to mean much when it came to other involved parties.
As he looked further, Kaze felt a tingling sensation in his hands, as if they were falling asleep. Noticeable, but not bad enough to hamper his movements.

Make another (Comp + Gnosis -2) roll.

Success

This felt like the worst game of beat the pot ever, but judging by how hard his Awakened Soul had to work to resist some kind of influence he seemed to be getting closer to the source.

Failure

What was that? Your blood-flow wasn't hindered by anything, so why were you losing feeling in your hands? Maybe the metal was too smooth, the wood to polished? Maybe you should find something rougher to check whether your nerves are still working. Would your clothes suffice? Was there something else around? The sculpture did have a rough edge here and there..

Phoenyx found her way to the sound booth easily enough. This being a rather small theatre it was just to the side, on the ground level. And it really was just two mixing desks put next to each other, separated by one free standing clear plastic partition wall.
Unfortunately, just as she arrived she knocked over a coke bottle that was left standing in the way by someone. The clatter echoing through the room felt louder than it probably was, but a stealth-op this was not. There was just enough time to maybe catch the bottle and take cursory look (which didn't offer any helpful insight) before Puck made a beeline for the Talon and joined her.

And what do you know? Just then the usher/clerk/techie appeared in the door. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe they just pushed their luck too far.
Or maybe the Winds of Chance still provided enough updraft for the Acanthus to get by. The context cues given to him made it clear: Puck just found Tasha.
"The fuck are you doing there? Show ended, like, half an hour ago." Calling it anger would almost be too much - but a muted annoyance was more than apparent in the tomboy's face.

Guru returned his focus to the material world. After what he'd just seen, the hallway seemed a bit too dark, too shadowy - but he probably had to blame his nervous for that. Right? Plus, with Puck gone it was also silent. Should it be this silent with four performers unwinding after a taxing performance? Two closed doors, one almost closed. Muted voices from the auditorium. Then, like a brittle explosion in this stillness, a clatter.
Just a glass bottle falling over. Tipped over by nimble fingers, perhaps?
He could join the others - not leaving anyone behind included himself, after all - or poke around some more. What was it with aching teeth and probing tongues again?

Okay, with that a side-thread is up in the air. If Guru wants to go on alone just poke me and I'll set something up.
With the current situation I'd encourage anyone anyone to skip order for now when it feels appropriate (and I'll do the same). I won't let anyone run away from the others continuity-wise, but maybe going out of order here and there will take the pressure out of those who have a lot on their plate for now.

Reminder, take care of yourselves!

[Kaze]

Kaze's voice can be heard from the stage, "Oh wow, weird. It's like a texture thing..." He sounds confused.

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-10-23 15:21:00	Kaze rolls 3 to resist the tree (Composure 3 + Gnosis 2 -2) (10 Again)	4, 2, 3	failure

Then a ring tone sounds, The Sorcerer's Apprentice.


"Oh...wow. Really Dad?" Kaze says, looking at a text message, sounding kind or excited and bummed at the same time.

He finds Phoenyx. "I am so, so sorry. I gotta jet. Like literally. It's my dad. I...honestly don't know when I'll be back. He's...really big on the under the radar stuff."

Kaze makes his way out to the street.

[Puck]

Cogs are turning and Puck is on the move. There isn't time to answer Guru's questions before Phoenyx is back in view and on the move. Puck follows, and all things considered he was pretty sure who he was talking to.

"I'm Conner Ellis with the Sacramento Bee. I just finished interviewing Malcolm and he mentioned Tasha was responsible for the set and I wanted to know if you'd mind having a few words."

He's learned his lesson here about honey and viniger. Also? A drawn out conversation might be the right way to tell the others what he found less conspicuously.

He points over his shoulder at Guru and Phoenyx.

"These are some friends I brought with me to the show."

[Phoenyx]

Dark eyes stare as Kaze just bails the second they are found by the irritated dogsbody. Fortunately for the investigation, if not her pride, Puck manages to come up with the ideal cover.

Whatever else she couldn't do, the Arrow could pick up on cues.

"That's right. Connor likes to have privacy when conducting interviews so we waited here, but we still wanted to leave together. I was curious about some of the techiques used in the show so thought I would try and take a look."

She looks to the others, hoping they can take the lead in talking.