(PRP TMTP) - Curtain call

[Aeolus]

Behind the door was a dimly lit backstage corridor with three doors to the right and another door at the very back to the left. The former were most likely dressing rooms - the Awakened could hear the crying actress behind the closed middle door and Becky and Malcolm were fighting in front of the closest door. By the looks of it the actress had just called the leader of the troupe out of his dressing room to confront him.

Becky was just about to retort when Puck decided to chime in. The actors haven't changed yet and she actually startled at the unexpected voice. Her reddened hands were wrapped tightly around her, by now not merely caressing her coarse cardigan, but almost scratching it.
Malcolm, turned around to face the interlopers, surprise momentarily wiping the cocky smile they'd just heard from his face. He quickly regained his composure though and looked the three Mages up and down. As he saw Guru's attempt at looking threatening the smile reappeared, widened even. "What did I do to that crowd? As far as I'm concerned we just did what every actor is supposed to do - make the audience feel something. It's called catharsis." The last remark was dripping with condescending tone and Malcolm absent-mindedly licked his lips before continuing. "I don't know if you've noticed, but everything's going downhill fast. We need to change the way people think, we need to make them aware of each other and get them to actually bring some positivity into their surroundings."
Becky looked as if she wanted to say something, but then decided against it.

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-09-10 06:55:49	TMTP ST rolls 3 to something (10 Again)	2, 2, 3	failure

With Puck's bravado and Guru's counterpoint to that, neither of the actors noticed Phoenyx sneaking in behind the other three. If Malcolm's attention could be held a little bit longer she might be able to fully get past the gathered group.

Kaze kept his eyes peeled for anything suspect, but as far as he could tell there was nothing dangerous or suspect here. The only interesting thing he could make out there was that the last door on the right was slightly ajar, as if someone was interested enough to listen in but not quite enough to get involved. Neither Becky nor Malcolm seemed to be carrying anything resembling a weapon.

[Phoenyx]

Phoenyx heard Puck's interjection before she caught up with him and Guru. Everything about this felt off. Fortunately, with the bigger personas jostling for attention, no-one seemed to have notices the Arrow lurking at the sides.

She focused on the speaker, Malcolm, hoping magical insight would be more useful that their boring denial and accusation back and forth.

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-09-12 06:11:20	Phoenyx rolls 5 to Scrutiny - Int+Occult (10 Again)	6, 6, 10, 3, 3, 4	1 success

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-09-12 06:11:43	Phoenyx rolls 5 to Scrutiny - Int+Occult (10 Again)	5, 6, 7, 9, 1	1 success

Xander has a lot going on IRL from Posting Interruptions, so I'm just going to keep things moving

[Guru]

Guru had a friendly demeanor but that was about where his personal skills ended. He wasn’t a salesman, he wasn’t a huckster, he’d only ever told things how they were. Or at least how he saw them even if it was wrong. He didn’t give up his tough guy demeanor, his lips simply pulled into a thin line and eyes starred blankly at Malcom when he tilted his head clearly unamused. “Catharsis for who exactly? You know, they say everyone’s a critic, but your final message was utter tripe. Scratch that, tripe has taste. If you don’t find life worth living you haven’t looked hard enough.”

He rolled his eyes and dismissively ignored the latter half of Malcom’s statement. If this was good cop, bad cop he’d flux and flow as needed though he couldn’t help but find his eyes on Becky. The dismissive tone shifted and grew soft. The girl was clearly in distress, clearly upset, her eyes were red and puffy from the tears and Malcom seemed to feed on that. Was it the sorrow or was it the control. Either way Guru couldn’t change who he was. He turned to her and offered a soft smile. “Hey, are you ok? Do you need anything? We can talk about it if you’d like.”

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-09-17 11:18:35	Guru rolls 4 to Get Through? (Pre + Persuasion + SL) (10 Again)	6, 4, 3, 8	1 success

[Aeolus]

Phoenyx used her magical sight to look at Malcolm - and did not come up with anything noteworthy. As far as she could tell that cocky actor was a normal Sleeper, not influenced by any kind of Supernal Magic she knew. But this didn't add up with what was happening on stage a few minutes ago. Was he really as unsuspecting as he claimed to be? Was there something else?

Malcolm meanwhile focused on Guru - be it idealism or arrogance, the actor apparently enjoyed having his views challenged and he seemed to enjoy hearing his voice even more. "First of all: it's for whom." That smile appeared again on his face, as if he'd just achieved some great victory. "And it's for everybody. Life could be worth living, if we just managed to stop behaving like racist, homophobic and misogynistic assholes. Tell me those people didn't get the message. You can't, because they did." If Guru stopped listening, then the surferboy didn't notice.
Becky however did notice the Shaman's attention shifting to her and as a reaction she slightly shrank some more, red sore hands clawing into her rough cardigan. "What's it to you? You're clearly here to just shit on our production." That came out rougher than she'd anticipated and a look of regret showed on her face immediately. "Sorry, no it's just been a stressfull-" "No, you're right. What are you doing here? Seems like you don't actually listen to anything I have to say."

Kaze Ruach if Puck is still busy with RL-Stuff I think it's fair to post around him for now (if you're not busy with RL stuff too). Puck Xander don't worry and take your time!

[Kaze]

"Hey, hey. Peace, okay?" Kaze says in a normal tone, holding his hands up as if in surrender.

"We can all see how much you guys are putting into this, how hard your working and your sacrifice." He says with some empathy.

"Honestly, it's just...it looks like something weird was going on. Like, apart from the play, the writing and acting, you know?"

"Like, you guys look even more drained out than from doing a performance, you know? Like, I don't know, are there fumes in here or something?" He asks, figuring if they are going to talk like mundane Sleepers, then he will too.

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-09-20 21:10:29	Kaze rolls 4 to make a speech to calm everyone down (Presence 3 + Persuasion 0 -1 + Striking Looks 2) (10 Again)	2, 5, 5, 8	1 success

[Puck]

Puck was silent. Listening. Weighing options. Watching what his two associates were... wait, two associates? A quick look was all it really took to spot Phoenyx scrutinizing lurking along the periphery.

Despite their best efforts, Puck doubted Kaze or Guru were going to get anywhere at this rate. Puck was clearly going to have to do the talking, which was honestly surprising given Kaze's apparent looks and charisma.

"My name is Connor Ellis, with the Sacramento Bee. These are my friends. I heard about your production and thought I'd check it out and pass the word to our entertainment columnists. During the production though I saw something specific happen with your metal tree and I want to ask you about that before I pass the message along. If this is really about fighting injustice and introducing more positivity into the world, this could be a big boost for you."

Could, if he cooperates. Gotta give a little to get a little.

"We can talk off the record about the tree, just the two of us if you like, but I need some information before I can pass the word along. So what do you say? A little information for a lot of publicity? Or do you have a higher up I should be talking to?"

The enchanter watches Malcolm, noting his response and whether mention of a higher up earns fear or relief. Given the nature of the connection he observed, he was betting fear. None of the above was obviously an option, but not one Puck found likely.

  5 suxx to spot Phoenyx, 3 suxx to fast talk/cut deal, 1 suxx to emotional read on Malcolm

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2021-09-21 09:12:23		Puck rolls 9 to Emotional read on Malcolm (Wits+Empathy+EmotionSpec) (10 Again)		5, 5, 1, 9, 3, 7, 4, 1, 6		1 success
2021-09-21 09:02:11		Puck rolls 8 to fast talk (Manip+Persuasion+SL) (10 Again)		2, 10, 2, 4, 7, 10, 7, 1, 9, 6		3 successes
2021-09-21 09:01:43		Puck rolls 8 to spot Phoenyx (Wits+Comp) (10 Again)		1, 9, 7, 9, 8, 2, 9, 8		5 successes

[Phoenyx]

Neither her supernal vision nor scrutiny seemed to be providing anything useful. Still, it seemed as though no-one had seen her.

The Arrow was torn. Protecting the mages - things were already heated, and could easily turn with a punch - or looking at the stage for more information. But whatever she wanted, Phoenyx was almost agonizingly duteous. She had to stay.

Sighing internally, she moved her focus to the next actor along. hopefully that would yield something.

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-09-23 07:47:05	[02] Phoenyx rolls 5 to Scrutiny - Int3+Occult2 (10 Again)	5, 6, 1, 4, 6	failure
2021-09-23 07:47:05	[01] Phoenyx rolls 5 to Scrutiny - Int3+Occult2 (10 Again)	1, 3, 2, 1, 8	1 success

[Aeolus]

Kaze calmed the escalating emotions a bit, mainly by virtue of his good looks and buttering up Malcom. Still, the implication that something weird was going on made Malcolm frown. "Hey, I don't know what you mean, but there are no fumes or anything. We've just managed to create the perfect storm, a masterpiece. Sometimes there isn't more to it than that."

Puck's suggestion of adding more clout apparently was just the right thing to say though. Puck could basically see the gears turning inside the actor's head and a genuine smile appeared. This guy was clearly just exited to have this opportunity. "Oh you're talking to the highest, all right. Yeah, sure - let's go into my dressing room and have a chat." He regarded Becky with a condescending look. "We were done here anyway." He entered the door they were standing in front of and put two chairs across from one another.

Anyone who wants to be part of the interview can follow Malcolm into his dressing room. I will open an extra thread to keep things moving more smoothly.

Continued in (PRP TMTP) - Off the Record...

Phoenyx turns her attention towards Becky, but to her frustration she didn't gather anything noteworthy from her either. She is what she appears to be - a normal Sleeper, exhausted and nervous. But with Malcolm leaving it gave those remaining an opportunity to talk to her - or look somewhere else. The sobbing has calmed down a bit by now, so there were two other dressing rooms unaccounted for. And somewhere the last remaining actor and the only residue of Magic Phoenyx could make out so far had to be.

If Phoenyx wants to remain unseen with some of the distractions going away I'll need another Dex + Stealth roll.

[Guru]

Guru felt that rage build in his blood again, hearing the implications there. Could be, the words caused his neck to tense as Puck stepped in before the Shaman could go off again. The words breaking in his throat as he had to clear it. Was the Good cop's time apparently and it seemed to be working. Good. Now it was time to see what else was going on.


Frowning when she asked what it was to him, holding on to it as Malcolm dismissed the girl so readily. Shaking his head, feeling nothing but sympathy for what he must put her through. The anger was gone in and instant and he let the tension leave through his legs as he relaxed. "I just heard someone crying, I just didn't want to ignore that. I just wanna know if you're ok. "

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-09-26 19:34:38	Guru rolls 4 to Open Up (Man + Per + SL) (10 Again)	6, 7, 10, 9, 6	2 successes

Kaze was good on the cover up, hoped he figure out what he was looking for. He didn't know where Phoenyx had went to but she had to be looking around for something. He stayed out here with Beck for the time being to make sure she was still ok

[Kaze]

Kaze just listens not smiling when Malcom denies that anything is wrong. When Puck goes with Malcom, and Guru goes to talk whoever is crying, Kaze takes the opportunity to look around.

He's looking specifically for that tree Puck mentioned.

Making sure he's not observed, he tries to cast Correspondence to see what has the strongest connection to the cast, and specifically Malcom, but he is not yet versed enough in the Space Arcana to reliably improvise the spell without High Speech, which he's not about to do openly.

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-09-28 13:32:07	Kaze rolls 3 to cast Correspondence (Gnosis 2 + Space 1) (10 Again)	6, 3, 2	failure

He settles for just really checking things out with regular sight for now.

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-09-28 13:34:36	Kaze rolls 6 to perception (Wits 3 +Composure 3) (10 Again)	10, 4, 6, 3, 9, 3, 2	2 successes