"So far from what I know it seems like hypnotism. But it's a little too effective for hypnotism." He paused "So we go in, charm them, hopefully we can pull it off and they trust us."
This is for adding a Search Category to the thread.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Striking Looks
"So far from what I know it seems like hypnotism. But it's a little too effective for hypnotism." He paused "So we go in, charm them, hopefully we can pull it off and they trust us."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Striking Looks
Presence
Fame
Gnosis
Meetings like this would be a first for her. Well, aside from what she’d seen in movies, but she bet it was overdone. "Wait, isn't there rules that go with these types of meetings?" was there? She wasn't sure. "Change of plans, lets go with your first idea. Think you can pull it off?"
Charming? She used to be able to do that. Could she still do it?
“Well, lets do it.” Moving towards the door, waiting to make sure Apollo was coming.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Apollo already knew the way to where the meetings happened, so if he chose so he could lead Aurora to their destination. The rainy day had the entrance hall of the community center empty and when they arrived at the meeting room they only counted four other people who where here to kick their habit. The woman - nurse - who had greeted Apollo last time was also here, sitting at the same place she did last time.
The other four were either sitting or in the progress of grabbing a chair to put in a circle. Stephanie - the name of the person in charge of those meetings, as per the nauseous woman from last time - was dressed in sensible shoes, a white simple dress and a cardigan again. She seemed just as subtly tired as last time, but her eyes had a spark of recognition in them as she looked at the Shamans. "Why hello. Come on, don't be shy: grab a chair and join us." If she indeed remembered Apollo she didn't make a point of mentioning it. This room probably saw its fair share of people who came only to change their minds and go again.
Another thing stood out to Apollo: in the back corner of the room he saw a spirit hanging about three feet in the air. It looked like a child-sized, limbless torso clad in white loose cloth that seemed to shift in a constant breeze. Above the torso floated a vaguely monkey-shaped head wearing a muzzle that grew out its own jaw.
It looked at the gathered people with anticipation, if he had to guess it was waiting for the meeting to start.
As did the other people in the room, some of them sullenly looking at their own feet, some of them watching Aurora and Apollo expectantly.
I won't write out an entire NA meeting, but I'll summarize some of it with my next go. The basic structure after some reaffirming words is going around the circle and introducing yourself and telling the others your story. That means if Apollo and Aurora want to pitch their story I want at least a (Manipulation + Subterfuge) roll from you.
Staying silent is not unusual for first-comers so no pressure here - but depending on how you want to proceed afterwards this first impression could be important.
Of course, if you want to do anything else during the meeting you can do so/roll accordingly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Striking LooksApollo smiled at Aurora briefly "I can try." truth was he wasn't really a manipulative person... well he could be in some circumstances.
He entered the meeting, smiling politely at the woman he had either helped or sent back in to be a Stepford wife, at this point he wasn't sure and if she turned out to be a hypnotised zombie freak he was out of there. He took a seat, somewhere he could observe the Spirit just in case it was hostile. He hoped not.
He eyed up the Spirit, his eyes Narrowed and he tried hard to not give Aurora a knowing look, at this point he wanted to seem separate from her. Just two new comers that don't know each other at all. Still, that spirit.... Apollo wondered if Aurora could see it. Damn it should have asked if she had spirit sight up.
OOC
Stats
Equipment
Dice Rolls
[spoiler=The Lie][/spoiler/2 successes
Aeolus liked this post
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Striking Looks
Presence
Fame
Gnosis
They were doing this.
Seemed the lady knew or remembered Apollo. If that was a good thing or not remained to be seen.
Taking the offer, she finds a seat, kind of slouching in the chair with her arms crossed. Watching and listening. There was no story for her to share at the time, so she finds herself picking at the cuffs of her jacket. It kind of felt wrong to be there, listening to such private stories. But she had to remind herself she was there to see if anything, well, magic related was going on.
When Apollo speaks, she listens, hoping the story was good, it sounded ok from her perspective. But she wasn’t the one he was trying to impress here. The look was…unexpected. Did he see something? This thing was supposed to be Spirit related, and she came in like an idiot with Life sight. Should she swap? If there was indeed other Awakened here, would blow their cover? She just couldn’t get a read on the people.
Fuck.
Stats
Equipment
Aeolus liked this post
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
With everyone having taken their seat the meeting got started. There was another welcome, followed by a few phrases of generall affirmation. "We're doing this one step at a time. It is okay to relapse - we keep going. There is no day but today." The other four people joined in on those in varying levels of engagement. So did the spirit: its mouth went along, many different colorful pills being vomited soundlessly out of its mouth and disappearing into thin air halfway down.
That being done the nurse introduced herself as Stephanie and welcomed the returning and new faces here, initiating a polite round of applause for sticking with the program.
Aurora tried to follow the other Shaman's look, but couldn't make out anything that stood out in the room.
One of the people - a rail thin girl with streaks of pink and green in her black hair and a typical 'goth' aesthetics - lingered on Aurora with a mix of thinly veiled disbelief and surprise. She caught herself after a few beats though and turned her gaze quickly at her own feet.
"Next, I would like to go around and give everyone the opportunity to tell their story." She smiled and let that sink in for a second and in that moment the air of exhaustion around her grew a bit more tangible. "I'll just begin. I'm Stephanie and I am very grateful for everyone that went out in this miserable weather to join us tonight. I'm- I'll be honest, I am tired. I just got here from a shift at the hospital and I can't really remember the last time I slept for more than 4 hours. Now, I'm not telling you this to earn your pity, but I want you to know that it is okay to feel tired. It is okay to not feel your best or to feel negative emotions. We just need to channel those into something productive and to maintain a caring and loving relationship with ourselves."
There was a polite round of applause and then Stephanie nodded to the person next to her. Patrick, a second-timer, telling his tale of college pressure, unhealthy coping and a flip-flopping abuse of uppers and downers just to function on the daily. There were no unprompted pieces of advice, no follow-up questions. He just told his story and got a polite round of applause for doing so.
Next was a man that looked almost homeless and talked in a slow and confused mumble. His name was Peter and he preferred to just listen. Stephanie waited a few moments in case he'd change his mind, but then started to clap affirmingly.
Next in line was Apollo. The nurse sitting more or less across from him smiled and nodded.
Between Apollo and Aurora was another man, this one in a sharp suit. His story was about cocaine and the culture of management-level partying he wanted to get out of.
Since you've already included your roll you can go as detailed as you like with your introduction. I've included more or less what the person after him will say so you don't have to wait for me for Aurora's turn.
If either of you want to check something, just give me the approrpiate roll.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Striking LooksApollo listened carefully as each person spoke, making sure to give them as much of his attention as possible. The only issue was, the spirit sat in the corner. His mind wondered to it quite often. Was this a normal manifestation? Maybe a spirit of addiction or addiction recovery? It was possible. Or was the spirit being used for other nefarious means. Only time would tell at this point. His mind had wondered and suddenly the group was looking at his expectantly. Shit
"Hi" he smiled sheepishly at the group "I am Aaron." He paused and took a deep breath. Aurora had better nominate me for an Oscar after this.
"It started when I was in High School, I was bullied... a lot. Kids would beat me up, stuff me in a locker, dumpster, give me a swirly... you know that sort of thing. It gave me crippling anxiety issues which in turn caused insomnia. I had just turned 15, my mum was worried about me and decided to enrol me into self defence classes in the hopes of building my confidence.... It didn't work... but she also found a gym I could work out at. Her hopes was it would tire me out so I got more than an hours sleep a night. I started on cardio and quickly moved on to weights and became friends with some of the gyms bodybuilders who were in their early 20's." He paused again.
"I got bigger, and stronger and one day when Tommy Harris decided he was going to take a swing at me I fought back. Two teachers had to pull me off of him and I realised, I was stronger than my bullies. I also had an unfamiliar taste in my mouth. It wasn't blood.... it was power and I liked it."
"So I worked even harder, decided I wanted to Join the Varsity Football team and naturally I wanted to get bigger. That way I could smash those jerks in practice and not get in trouble for it. Some of the guys at the gym were taking Steroids and I wanted to be as stacked as them. So I ended up giving them a try and of course seeing the results quite quickly I kept doing them. I kept saying I could stop any time I wanted, to hell with the fact that I would have fits of rage, beat the crap out of someone... I could stop any time I liked. Until I hit my little brother, about a year ago now. That is what made me wake up and decide I needed to stop and I have not touched them since. However, I still get cravings for them, the desire to take them again. I thought I was okay but I have recently moved here and the cravings have been getting worse... so here I am."
Apollo had filled enough of his speech with the truth to make it believable. He figured Aurora was smart and realise that not all of that was a lie, part of him hoped that she thought all of it was a lie. But still, they had a job to do and his personal discomfort was secondary in this situation.
Aeolus liked this post
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Striking Looks
Presence
Fame
Gnosis
If Aurora caught the look from the goth, she didn’t let on. Her attention focused on the meeting, and debating the ethics of casting a spell.
Stephanie gets her attention next, and she does the polite thing, listens. So was her thing not getting a lot of sleep? Her and the rest of the world, but saying that out loud would work against them. Oh, we applaud after? Ok, the Shaman follows suit. Wait, we applaud even if they don’t want to talk? She needed notes for this.
Then Apollo. As to what was real in his story and what was fake? She had no clue. And she wasn’t about to file any of the words away to grill him about later. They each had a past, and asking formed bonds. So she does like the others, listens quietly and then applauds when the others do.
Since it went so well for the other guy, “I’m Madison, and I would feel more comfortable just listening for now.” A small nod of her head and smile to the nurse.
Stats
Equipment
Aeolus liked this post
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As Apollo told Aaron's story Stephanie's eyes grew softer, more compassionate. The other attendees were also buying it - in the end it was always this one fucked up thing in your life leading to one bad decision (or heck, a few of those down the road). After he was done and the polite applause subsided one of the attendees - Patrick - suddenly jumped up and left the room, one hand pressed onto his mouth. Stephanie looked after him with furrowed brows and then turned to Apollo again.
(Wits + Empathy) if you want to interpret that reaction.
success
"Thank you for sharing that with us, Aaron. We are proud that you were brave enough to come here and face your demons. I hope we can help you overcoming them all-together." This appeared to be a special treatment for first-timers. Either that or his story was good enough to move her to say this.
After Aurora was done speaking Stephanie couldn't hide a slightly disappointed look on her face. It disappeared quickly, though. "That's okay. We all take the time we need. I do hope you feel comfortable enough to share soon."
It was the goth's turn and the Mages caught her looking at Madison again before she caught up again. "Oh. Uh, sorry. I'm Katie. I.. well, doctors said I showed signs of borderline so they started medicating me. I, uh, did some medicating myself though." She looked at her feet in shame. "Dissociatives. You can pretty much order those things online without any problems. So I, uh." And with a weak shrug her story ended. Stephanie was nodding along while Katie was talking. And after the applause there was no follow-up comment.
Except from Katie. "Uhm, is.. Patrick? All right?" "Of course. Those things happen occasionally. For some people the stress of sharing such stories can be a bit too much."
Katie looked at the door left open by a suddenly sickly addict before looking down at her feet again. This matter seemed settled, if not totally satisfactory.
The next part of the meeting would be spent with Stephanie reciting the several steps of their program and then discussing one of them in detail.
Giving you one more chance to do or say something before we move to concluding the meeting.
Apollo you can give me a (Wits + Empathy - 2) roll if you want to get a read on its intention. This would look like he was staring into the empty corner for a few moments.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Striking LooksInternally Apollo breathed a sigh of relief. They seemed to have bought his story which was the first hurdle down. He stared off into the corner for a few seconds before seeming to casually pay attention to the group once more. His attempt to read the spirits intention had left him none the wiser. Internally he cursed himself, it was yet another skill he needed to get better at.
Stats
Equipment
Dice Rolls
[spoiler=The Lie][/spoiler/]
wits + Empathy
Aeolus liked this post
Draft this Post
