Witching Hour

[Phoenyx]

Phoenyx set her kettle going and pulled out her tea set. The living quarters of the Arrow Tower in the Circle of Creation had been cleaned and tidied - not that it was disorganised, but that was one particular Mage's way. Presenting the best way she could.

This was a different kind of of an experiment for the Arrow. Actively approaching different members of the Concillium was.... less difficult that it used to be, but not having contact details had made Phoenyx have to leave a note addressed to a shadow name. She wasn't sure how that would be taken, but aside from that one point she felt reasonably prepared. The motivation was simple - she had wanted to see how Witch behaved privately, know her philosophies better. The Concillium was shrinking again, and with Apollo firmly backing everything Puck would say and Moira sharing an Order with both of them the idea that her actions would be hounded forever because people believed in different ethical values was not reassuring. Aurora and Belle at least understood her approach, and Corn was... well, not always an asset to be in favour of your actions.

Witch was an unknown. She watched. Observed. Kept her opinions close. These were all things the Arrow appreciated and saw in herself - if she had more of a choice. The only way to learn was to engage.

Die every day. Exitance is War.

She had chosen plain blacks today, in a strap-top and loose fighting pants. The knife that was her magical tool hung from her belt. Sitting in this attire, she awaited her guest.

Witch deltadream

[Witch]

She was still figuring her way out around the Circle of Creation. And so while she didn't arrive exactly on time, she was only about a minute or two late. Unsure of what exactly the rendezvous would entail (oh the letter had been full of words but Corn had wanted an interview and she had thought it would be of her only it ended up being an exit interview for him so she wasn't putting much stock in what was written down) she showed up in black jeans and an oversized red sweater. Seemed like solid middle ground attire for a nebulous tag up.

Seems she probably could have gone with the t-shirt she had started the day in she thought briefly as she arrived and saw Phoenix waiting.

Smiling in greeting, she lifted a hand in greeting even as she vocalized one as well. "Hey- sorry I'm a bit late."

She wondered if she should have brought something. Folks around her always seemed to be bringing stuff. Oh well. Next time.

[Phoenyx]

"That's alright. Please, sit." Phoenyx said. "Would you care for some tea?"

She took the hot water and added it to the pot. The Arrow was going to have tea regardless.

"My apologies for being somewhat cryptic in contacting you. If I need to leave a contact letter I try to make sure there are no breaches involved, even if it is within the Circle." She took her seat again. "If you have a more discrete name you prefer, I can use that in the future." Phoenyx clasped her hands together.

"I was hoping to learn a little more about you. I am not even sure if you have an Order. While you have seen a lot of the interactions in the Concillium, you keep your views to yourself. Observe carefully. I wanted to give you an opportunity to ask me anything rather than have the reactions of everyone in the Concillium." Aurora did those things for her. Maybe it was time to practice them for others.

[Witch]

"Tea would be nice, thank you" she said as she settled into a chair. She didn't need to ask what type of tea before accepting the offer, she hadn't found one yet that she didn't like. Well, that she couldn't drink.

She chuckled, "No need to apologize for that. It's better to be safe than sorry. As for a better name- Morgan works." It was what she had used with the others and was easy enough for her to remember given that it would be a third name. She probably should look into figuring out how to actually make it more than just a verbal code though...

"Learn more about me?" she echoed, faint tones of surprise in her voice before laughing lightly. "I'm not apostate," she said with a grin, "And it would have been awfully rude of me to not have had this sort of tag up with you until now if I was an arrow."

"Ah- well, I'm the newbie in town. Doesn't seem much like my place to come in with my soap box and megaphone." She shrugged. Her actions had been low key in the few group meetings she had made, but it hadn't been for any ulterior motive. It really was still just her getting the lay of the land.

"That is generous of you," she said truthfully before thinking for a moment. "Your letter mentioned that our group is shrinking- I mean, I know that Corn left. And I haven't seen Aurora around after seeing her leave the other day." Not to say anything of Zero or Nos or the mysterious Winter... "Is our official group," she recalled the discussion of the unaffiliated cabal, "really that small?" She hadn't seen signs that it was larger. That there was a large group of recognized Mages who played by the rules but nonetheless remained distant from the Circle and it's going ons... but here was her chance to confirm.

[Phoenyx]

There was a fruity scent as the tea began to stew in the pot.

"Morgan," she repeats, a small smile, as if privy to a private joke. "Have you studied Arthurinan legend?" Morgana la Fey was a common reference to, well... a Witch, and the reference amused her.

The amused smile continued. It would have been rude - the delicate joke was the Arrow's style. "Quite. Would you mind if I asked your Order? I have found it offers useful insight ointo a person's motivations. Some of the time."

The Arrow checked the pot and stirred the leaves, returning the lid. "I have seen several take just that approach. Sometimes it is as simple as a clash of personality. Other times an attempt to establish a strong precident. I confess I appreciate your method better, though perhaps that is because I used the same."

Phoenyx blinks in surprise. "Corn left the Concillium?" she had seen him not long ago. But Aurora? Surely she would have told her? Especially after last time? That makes her even more surprised, and a little concerned. She sighs. "In my experience, the Sacramento Concillium remains in a regular state of flux. When I arrived four years ago, there were over a dozen regular attendees of Concillium meetings. At it's lowest point, there were four including myself. Those that came before always tried to make the Circle a space where new mages could be comfortable. I wish to try and maintain that - as well as protection - for the time when it's numbers increase again."

[Witch]

Witch grinned broadly, "Seemed more subtle than Sabrina. And I'm not blonde." Her grin mellowed, and she quirked an eyebrow, "Only some of the time?"

She paused for a moment considering. It wasn't that she didn't want anyone to know her Order. It was hers and she had no qualms about being in it. But she also knew that it wasn't the most loved of the Diamond. And in a city that seemed to follow the Pentacle more than the Diamond, likely even less.

"Guardian of the Veil," she said after the moment, her blue eyes flickering up to Phoenix for a moment. She had picked up on the Morgan reference with ease and so Witch left it at that, confident that the Arrow would put the pieces together herself.

She laughed again, letting the stress of the Order question fade from her shoulders, "Really? I mean- I shouldn't be surprised but... " she leaned forward, her grin suddenly sharpening with something deep, something old, something cynical and colored with the red of rage and the red of monthly cycles. "Were they all men?" Laughing again, not really expecting an answer, she leaned back, the sharpness restrained againfading away and nodded.

"Yeah- something about his wife getting a new job elsewhere and them moving." A shrug as to the veracity of the statement. But ultimately it didn't matter if it was true or not. Corn had said he was leaving and so was gone.

"Over a dozen," she echoed softly. Even if it was 23 and not the 13 that would still classify as "over a dozen" (though she doubted it was), the number was small. Not surprisingly small, she had expected it from the few she had personally met, but to have it confirmed ...

And then to drop to just 4? She almost whistled. Didn't. But it was close.

Blinking she brought herself back to what Phoenix was saying. "It's a noble goal. And I've definitely picked up on the fact that you are this place's security lead. I need to actually carry through on my word of helping out with that" It wasn't a church. It wasn't a church. It wasn't a church.

"What about Cabals?" She asked bluntly, even as she enjoyed the subtle smell of the tea that was beginning to fill the space.

[Phoenyx]

The smile spread a little as the last of her nerves ebbed away. Phoenyx shrugged at the question. "People join an Order because they follow a philosophy, but that does not make up the entirety of their being."

The Arrow nodded. Guardian made sense. They tended to be more secretive, because they would to anything to fulfill their duty. It was an absolute the Arrow found hard to follow. Still, she did fee better knowing different Orders were represented. "Our most recent Guardian has not been seen in some months. We came into opposition at times, but I understand the role your Order has committed themselves to. I prefer to have a wider view of philosophy shown in the Concillium. It helps us make wise decisions."

Dark eyes lick back to Witch with amused surprise. "Most. But not all."

There was a shrug. All mages were free to do as they wished, to a point. It just surprised her that he left so abruptly. Corn was so focused on cooperation and borderline forcing the Concillium to work together that the Obrimos would have expected a party or some kind of announcement.

There is a small smile. The pride in Witch's description on Phoenyx's face is clear nomatter her attempt to cover it. She lifts the lid off the pot, checking the tea, and begins to pour. "It is one I have inherited. I have not always been the most... social person, but I have been making the effort to change that. The Arrows here before me looked after the Circle, and the duty to protect the other Orders is our calling, just as the Guardians have theirs. Any help anyone provides is certainly appreciated." She passes a cup over to her guest. "I have sugar or honey, if you wish."

Phoenyx sips her own tea. She appreciated the directness. It made interaction so much easier. "There are none involved with the Concillium I am aware of. The Sancta Trinitas is the only Cabal I know of, and they have no interest in partaking in the Concillium. They came into the City hunting Scelesti, but we have not seen them in over three months so they may have moved on." She shrugs. "Many Cabals have tried to form over the years, but their members often move on and the cabal disbands. When the Concillium drops to these numbers, it is often hard to find enough like-minded people to form a Cabal."

[Witch]

Phoenyx wasn't wrong. But not everyone saw it that way. After all. The Circle wasn't a church and yet she still wasn't gung-ho about visiting. Well, time would tell ultimately if Sacramento as a whole followed her way of seeing orders or not. No point in stressing it now and so Witch nodded and let the statement lie.

"Winter right? Yeah- I was given his name but picked up on his absence after a bit." She gave a small shrug; it was a bummer but... "I'll try not to sully the work he has done representing the Guardians."

A laugh and it was tempting but she refrained from actually saying I knew it

"No other names were really mentioned- is it just you then?" Whether she was asking if it was just Phoenyx on guard duty or in the Arrows was unclear, but it left it open for Phoenyx to answer whichever way she preferred.

Pulling her tea close she leaned in, breathing in the smell of the tea. "I am fine with plain for the moment, thank you though." A nod, she recalled the conversation around the Sancta Trinitas - it had been somewhat enlightening as to the functionality of Sacramento.

"I can see that" she said musingly, her fingers wrapped around her tea as she waited for it to cool enough to sip. There is a silence for a moment as she thinks, "With our numbers as potentially small as it seems they may be ... will there still be a push for positions such as Councilors?"

The debate about the position of Herald and whether or not certain individuals had acted as such floated in her memory.

[Phoenyx]

A single nod was given to the reference to Winter. "He was a highly private individual, but he could be relied upon to do his duty." It was difficult to respect a man who would cheat in a duel, but she would not talk behind his back about him. That would be petty, whatever her personal feelings. "I hope you do the same."

The laugh keeps the firebird's smile going. They seemed to be getting on cordially - which in a way was easier than friends or enemies.


Phoenyx nods again. "It has been some time since another Arrow has stayed more than a few months. If anyone else keeps watch on the Circle, they have never approached me about it." It was possible, if unlikely. She could hardly imagine Corn, say, doing an evening stroll and knowing what to look for to keep the Circle protected.

The Obrimos shrugs as the discussion turns to politics. "I cannot see why we would. At present there is no difference between the opinion of the Obrimos, the Adamantine Arrow and my own. There are few enough mages that a discussion between us becomes the Concillium concensus. A Councillor is meant to represent a Path when needed - but what is the difference when the total number of mages is barely more than a council itself?" Phoenyx sips her own tea. She sounds thoughtful, if a little wistful. It was always a little concerning when the Concillium shrank so small.

[Witch]

Witch refrained from the knee jerk Not even Corn? that came to mind. Along with the eye rolling and of course nots and how typicals that followed close on the comment's heels.

"Well, I hope to change that. At least in a small part." She had no intention of picking up a side gig as Circle Guard. But she could make time once or twice a week to come and spend some hours here. There was the Guardian section to poke around in after all.

Sipping carefully at her own tea, it had cooled but was still in the hot range rather than warm, she listened and nodded. "You won't find any argument from me. I was just curious given how ... adamant some were in regards to positions. Herald: to have or have not." She clarified.

"Even then I am not sure that councilors were justified by the numbers from what you tell me and yet," her shrug matched Phoenyx's. And yet they had carried and entire evening of official business where all but two was it? were such.

"Anyways- it seems there is no need to stress it." Her smile is meant to be easy, to cut any tension, to ease the wistfulness she had caught in the other's voice.

"Does that now make it your turn for questions?" The tea was lovely, the talk relatively easy, but Witch hadn't forgotten half of the point of this tag up.