After parking his car, Orphan gets out to once again open Tam's door for her and offer his hand as she gets out.

From the parking lot, the two magi can catch the scent of aromatic herbs and spices.

Tam sniffs deeply and smiles.

"We need to hurry or I'm going to start drooling."

Tam gets out of the car, grabbing Orphan's hand, and nearly drags towards the restaurant.

I wonder if they are hiring. I really need to get out of that greasy diner.

Orphan squeezes Tam's hand as they head on into the restaurant. They settle on a booth, Orphan asking for one toward the back of the restaurant. He sits facing the front of the restaurant, able to see who comes in. When the waiter comes by to take drink orders, he asks for mango juice as well as a glass of water.

Looking at the menu, he nods his head. "Lots of good-sounding stuff. Are you familiar with Indian food?" he asks Tam.

"I'll have water, and I'll let you order for me. I haven't spent much time with Indian food, but I like what I have tasted in the past." She leans over the table and lowers her voice, though not to any real stealthy significance. "I can't remember the names of any of the dishes I tried."

Tam sits back in her chair and smiles up at the waiter.

Orphan smiles at the idea of ordering for Tam. "If you tell me what was in the dishes you've liked, and how spicy they were, what spices you remember, I might be able to figure out what dishes you had, and have an idea what else you might like."

Tam looks down at the empty spot on her table, trying to visualize what she had eaten years ago, then she looked up at Orphan.

"I remember something with chickpeas and tomatoes, seasoned with ginger, cumin, turmeric and something other stuff, beyond the garlic and onion. I love garlic and onion. I hope you love garlic and onion."

I wonder if he can read my mind. I can just remember the flavors and he can order from there.

"I definitely love the garlic and onion," Orphan says. "What you describe could be a lot of things. Cholay, Pindi Chana, Chana Masala, maybe a half-dozen regional variations on those. The good news is, they're all great."

Looking at the menu, Orphan orders a mix of vegetarian and meat samosa for the appetizer, chana masala and shrimp korma for the main courses and some plain naan (Indian flatbread) to sop up the tasty sauces. He figured that would be enough food that he and Tam wouldn't have a lot of room for dessert, so he ordered a single dish of mango ice cream with two spoons.

"So, you want to learn a bit about Mind..." he says as soon as the waiter has left with their order.

"Pindi ... Chana," says Tam, slowly. "I think that's what I had before. Whatever, then isn't now, is it?"

Tam leans forward, putting her elbows on the table and resting her cheeks on her palms.

"I think Mind will be a good place for me to start. There are mysteries in my current fields that I am desparate to figure out, but that all seems easy in comparison to the mundane stuff."

A sly look comes over her face, squished between her hands.

"Maybe you can give me some lessons here. Mind is supposed to be a subtle art, isn't it?"

For a moment, Orphan looks a bit aghast at the idea, but Tam's sly, playful look is hard to resist. "Mostly it is," he thinks to her, projecting his thoughts so Tam hears his voice in her head.

Sits up, her interest aroused.

"I want to do that. I wouldn't know where to start. I'm so busy looking outward, I sometimes forget there is an inward."

She pauses, then asks, quietly, "Can you dreamwalk?"

Orphan looks around to make sure nobody is close enough to be likely to overhear their conversation... one of the reasons he chose the booth he did. "No, that's pretty advanced stuff. I'm just an Apprentice of Mind, and that's probably as far as I'm going to take it for awhile. The little bit I did, that's about as far as my abilities go as far as telepathy... I can send a short message, a few words. I can influence emotions a little bit, I can perceive others' mental state, but I can't receive or read others' thoughts. I can split my consciousness and focus on more than one thing at a time, I can protect my thoughts."

"Where you start," Orphan says, "is awareness of your own mind, and those of others. The first part, that's where the meditation comes in. The other... let me show you something."

Orphan takes a moment to clear his mind, then shifts his perception such that he can perceive others' auras, and thus their emotional and general mental state. He then tries to open Tam's mind to what he perceives. This takes him a bit more effort, perhaps because he's never done it before, but eventually he is successful enough to give her a rudimentary glimpse at others' auras. He then guides her through what she is seeing.


auras
2009-12-24 13:09:55 Orphan rolls 6 to Aura Perception (Mind 2 + Gnosis 4) (10 Again) 10, 2, 10, 3, 6, 1, 5, 8 3 successes
2009-12-24 13:10:09 Orphan rolls 6 to Impart Aura Perception 7, 7, 7, 5, 3, 1 failure
2009-12-24 13:10:25 Orphan rolls 8 to Try again -1 (10 Again, WillPower) 1, 5, 6, 4, 2, 2, 1, 10, 3 1 success




"See that couple over there, near that painting of the Taj Mahal? See how both of them are surrounded by the bright blue? That's a sign they are in love. The intensity of the color, well, that's how intensely they love each other. A lot, it looks like."

He then points them at another couple, a young Asian woman and a Caucasian man. "See how his aura is mostly deep red? That's desire... lust, most likely. And the violet shimmers there? He's excited. He's probably thinking he's going to get lucky tonight. You don't see any of that bright blue the couple had, though. He doesn't really care about her, he just wants to have sex with her. He's probably going to end up frustrated, though. See how her aura's mostly dark blue? She's suspicious... she can probably tell he's just wanting to use her. And those spokes of silver and gray... silver means sadness, gray tends to go along with depression. She's probably sad and disappointed to have ended up on a date with another guy that just wants to get into her pants."

Still looking at the second couple, Orphan says "I won't look at your aura unless you give me permission. It's sort of an intrusion, eavesdropping on someone else's feelings. You can look at mine if you like, though. Tell me what you see."


colors
If Tam takes a few moments to study Orphan's aura, she'll notice a mix of vermillion and bright blue, surrounded with a deep red glow.




"Don't be so modest and polite all the time!"

Her voice is a little louder than she wants, so she pauses to let anyone who may have noticed get back to their meals and conversations. Her face blushes red, but her aura echoes Orphan's, except there is an infusion of gold throughout.

"You have my permission to look at my aura any time you want."

Her voice is lower, and makes aura gazing sound naughty.

"This is similar to what I see with Prime, except not so ... volitile. Prime shows what people are."

She holds her hand up and looks at her own aura, then compares it to Orphan's. She understands most of it, feeling the same as he is, but there is one color she notices is distinctly different.

"Why does mine have that gold shine to it?"


Tam's colors
FYI, I threw in the gold because of her beliefs, not just because she is a Thyrsus with dots of Spirit arcana.




"The gold indicates you're a very spiritual person," Orphan explains. "A person with deep spiritual beliefs." This doesn't surprise him, but it's an interesting enough thing to learn about her that he's not 100% focused on the fact that her aura indicates the same emotions as his own, including desire.

"Now watch this," he says. He reaches over and touches her hand, stroking the palm of her hand with a couple fingers. At the touch, the deep red elements of both their auras flare more intensely, making it difficult to tell where one's aura ends and the other's begins. He smiles to see her react in that way.

"Wow ..."

Her voice is low, and trails off as she watches the colors of their hands fuse together. Then she remembers what red meant and she pulls her hand to her chest, clutching it in her other hand. Her eyes and her smile are wide with barely repressed glee. Violet flashes through her aura like rippling lightning.

She doesn't speak until she regains a little composure. The smile lingers.

"Okay, so, my turn to be modest. I feel almost naked. And the strange part is, that normally doesn't bother me." Tam looks up at the ceiling. "It would be fun to watch our auras while we ..." She purses her lips, scrunching her smile into a tight knot of repressed 'enthusiasm'."

Orphan smiles and nods, having had the very same idea. He wasn't sure how well that would work in practice, since one had to concentrate to watch auras... though if he separated off part of his consciousness...

"Nevermind. That is for later. Have you ever seen more primal auras? I can show you if you want."

She reaches out and touches Orphan's hand, again, allowing the deep red to brighten and blend.

Orphan takes Tam's hand in his. "Show me."

Tam squeezes Orphan's hand affectionately as she narrows her eyes and stares into his, focusing on the weave of patterns around them. She feeds her Imago with memories of previous Prime viewings, but she also includes Orphan's touch, his scent, his appearance, giving him the same vision she grants herself. She powers the spell with a bit of mana, but she cares nothing for its loss. She is showing off for her boyfriend, after all.


See how I see

2009-12-27 09:21:21 Tam (Writer) rolls 7 to Primal Flow for two (Gnosis 3 + Prime 3 - 2 two targets) (10 Again, WillPower) 9, 4, 2, 8, 10, 1, 1, 5 = 3 successes





Both Tam's aura and Orphan's aura start to sparkle with bright flashes of color. Compared to theirs, the aura of the sleepers in the room seem muted, but they haven't changed.

Orphan smiles to see the world through the eyes of Prime... to see everything broken down to its basic nature. He continues to hold Tam's hand, stroking her fingers with his thumb.

"I really should learn this as a rote. In fact, I think I should learn a bunch of rotes for Prime. I don't know why, though. My path has an affinity to Spirit, and I just know there is a connection between Spirit and Prime. I've been trying to find it, but I just can't wrap my brain around it."

"The way I understand it, every other type of magic is hooked into Prime... Prime is pure magic, the other Arcana reflect how it is expressed in different ways." Orphan shrugs, still studying Tam's aura, seeing the sparkling of magic in her aura. "Or maybe not. That's sort of what I've picked up, though. And I can relate, about the rotes. I'm trying to hunt down a few right now."

Orphan looks to the side, his sharp senses alerted to the approach of the waiter with their appetizers.

Tam glances towards the waiter and her smile turns to a silly snarl.

"Speaking of hunting, too bad we can't chase our appetizers around before pouncing on them, like a mated pair of ... I think you are a bad influence on me, Orphan. My thoughts keep returning to certain topics best left out of a restaurant."

Orphan just chuckles, liking the playfulness of the mating ritual. "Let's change topics, then. I don't think the restaurant owner or the other customers would appreciate us playing wth our food like that." He leans in close as the waiter sets down the platter of somosa, two plates and some small dishes of various chutneys and sauces.

"I hope we can explore those topics later," he whispers to her.

I bet they don't allow mating on the tables here!

Orphan can probably guess what she is thinking, even as he whispers.

"Okay, new topic. I've been thinking about creating a botanical garden. I don't know where, since my place is way too small. And I don't know how, since I am barely scraping by financially. I am going to start looking for a higher class restaurant to work in. I could be a chef's assistant. That is just a matter of getting of my lazy little ass and asking around."

Tam sniffs in the wonderous smells of the food, holding her hands in her lap so she doesn't snatch the plates out of the hands of the waiter.

Orphan serves Tam and himself, one vegetarian and one meat somosa on each plate.

"Well, you know, they did have a 'help wanted' sign in the window here," he says as he cuts off a bit of the pastry stuffed with potato, chick peas and spices. "I don't know if this qualifies as high class, but maybe it's a move up. As to the garden...I've been thinking of getting a bigger place... not just to store stuff, but to live there, set up a Sanctum. With some of the stuff I'm storing, it's probably safer to have a house instead of an apartment. But... I'm sort of short of funds. I don't know what goes into setting up a garden like you're talking about, but since you'll need some space for that, and I need some space..."

Tam nibbles at the different flavors, not sure which to dive into first. Some are familiar, others are new.

"Are you suggesting we get a place together? I feel like that is an awesome idea, but my feelings are a little biased at the moment." She glances down at her hand to look at her aura, seeing the mix of wonderful emotions laid out like a book. She looks up. "I want separate rooms, just in case I get all moody and stuff and want to retreat for a little while."

She starts to focus her appetite on the meat somosa and it begins to disappear, forkfull by forkfull.

Around mouthfulls, she manages to say, "The pwacticowity of som'pim wike dat is gweat, though."

She takes a drink of water to wash down a mouthful.

"But, I wouldn't know where to start looking. Real Estate was never my strong side."

And another forkfull disappears into her mouth.

Orphan nods at the "own rooms" thing. They were way, way too early in whatever they had to plan on spending the night together night after night.

"I'm not a whiz at real estate, either," Orphan says. "Plus, I have no credit score. I've never even had a credit card... I'm completely under the radar. The guy I'm renting from right now, though, he's pretty cool about that sort of thing, and when I moved in, he mentioned that he had some properties that - fixer-uppers, he said - that he'd do a rent-to-own deal on. Maybe one of them won't be too bad. It's a place to start looking, anyhow."

He wondered if he might not have to pick up a second part-time job. Somewhere at a home supply store, maybe... the employee discount could be really useful.

"I wonder if our Orders can help secure a location, for privacy reasons. I mean, neither of us have useful IDs, and as far as I know, you have to be somebody to own real estate."

Tam pauses in her feasting.

"So, what are we going to need?" Tam starts putting up fingers for each room she lists. "A room for each of us, a kitchen, a living area, a room large enough for your toys and activities, and someplace I can set up a greenhouse or nursery. Big, but not huge. Do you think we could find an empty warehouse and just set up partitions?"

Orphan thinks about that for a moment. "That's a possibility. It would certainly give us space enough. Not as comfy as a house, but doable. There will already be plumbing, we'll just have to extend some to allow for a kitchen, and probably some office space. It might be tight, but that can serve as bedrooms. There are probably some zoning issues about using commercial property as a place of residence, but maybe if we set up your nursery as a home business, we can work around those."

He smiles as his eyes meet Tam's. "I'm liking this idea."

"I could just set up a tent in the middle of my plants and I would be happy," says Tam. "Those air mattresses are cheap ... well, not cheap, but affordable."

Tam eats in silence as she finishes her plate. Her thoughts swirl around the idea of sharing a place with Orphan.

"Oh!" her voice is a little louder than she expected, so she drops her voice to nearly a whisper. "We should scout around for a place near a hallow. Given time, I could learn to awaken one, but that would take a bit of effort on a regular basis."

"I was thinking the same thing," Orphan says, while finishing off the last bit of his appetizer. "Maybe Fate will lead us to one. It doesn't always lead me where I expect, and the ride isn't always a smooth one, but it hasn't let me down yet."

He takes a sip of water and continues. "In case you're wondering, no I don't let Fate guide me in everything. I believe in being prepared and being responsible, and that means making responsible decisions, and taking responsibility for my choices. If I screw up, I'm not going to say 'It must have been Fate.' But when I'm not sure about something, I seek guidance in Fate. Sometimes I get a nudge in the right direction, or a warning about a certain course of action. That's how I ended up in Sacramento, though, and I think that's worked out pretty good."[

"Are you reading my mind?" asked Tam with a little laughter. "I think we are on the same wavelength mentally on a lot of things. I just don't want to catch you looking in the mirror asking, 'Does this Fate make my butt look big?' Because it is never the pants."

Orphan had just taken another sip of water as Tam made her joke, and it took all the composure he could muster to swallow before laughing rather than make a mess trying to do both at the same time.

Tam finished her water and sat in front of her empty plate grinning at Orphan.

"So, did you ask Fate to help you find a pretty Irish girl to hold your hand for walks in the park?"

"I didn't ask," he replies, reaching across the table for Tam's hand. "But I've been thanking Fate a lot lately."

Orphan starts to lean across the table to kiss Tam when his omnivision alerts him to the approach of the waiter with their main course.

Tam can read Orphan's intentions, and sighs when he backs down.

"What are these damn waiters doing here. Do they think this is some kind of restaurant?!"

Should have kissed me anyway, shy-boy!

The flare-up of deep red in their auras is obvious, just not visible.

"Yeah, the nerve of them," Orphan says, grinning as the waiter clears the table of the appetizer plates, sets out fresh plates, a big bowl of rice, a basket of naan and the two platters of mouthwatering main dishes.

"We'll have to save that for dessert, back at your place," he adds, both playfully and hopefully.

Tam says nothing, she just stares lustfully and lovingly at Orphan as she digs into her food.