(2307) Sanctuary

[Witch]

Circle of creation

The Circle of Creation is the gathering hub for all Pentacle mages in the Sacramento Concilium, with chapter houses for all five Orders inside.

Located east of Sacramento and far outside the prying eyes of the inner city, the Circle of Creation awaits the mages of Sacramento. Despite being a replica of the Westminster Abbey, the sleepers who come by never seem to notice it. The wards built into the structure have made sure of this. To all but the Pentacle the Circle is essentially invisible, ensuring the safety of those who enter and engage with one another. Whether it had always been here for the Awakened was hard to say now, but it was the site that the Awakened gather to mingle and discuss official matters.



It is a time for simply for mingling among the Awakened. The common area is large and open, but over the course of the month it's inevitable that people may bump into each other. The official concerns of the Consilium are put on hold as a more lighthearted experience is shared among this community of the Wise. Ultimately, this is the opportunity to let the proverbial hair down. How much so is up to them.

This is the opening post for Sanctuary. Please read this for information on Sanctuary, Consilium, and the difference the two. Come here to be recognized!



Also a reminder, Sanctuary threads are not official Consilium threads. Those under an incarceration sentence may not attend a Sanctuary thread.



Sancturary is not a single event, or formal Consilium. It's a compression of time to represent the comings, goings, and intersections of Awakened throughout the month at the Circle.

[Witch]

She had left the Circle last time with thoughts and a few days away had done little to settle and reduce them.

The question was, would this visit do any better.

TELM Trust. Philip Crosen had said it like it would mean something, but it didn't to her. So maybe it was a Free Council thing? The idea of using the lie to fight the lie sounded appropriately Free Council?

She wasn't sure she could get behind the concept. She wanted to say that it didn't matter. That if it was Free Council, then it was a Free Council issue. But it didn't work like that. And her time here in the Sacramento Consilium only reinforced this.

Letting out a heavy breath she decided to see how things went. And so it with this attitude that she made her way out of the Guardian section of the replica church and toward the main gathering area.

[Winter]

Trust and security, the only currencies that despite raging inflation, he still found were in short supply.
Thankfully, the Powers that Be had gifted Sacramento with a place where they could let their hair down. And so he arrives, casual as ever, to the Circle, hopeful to find some of his peers here.
He takes a deep breath before stepping inside, heading directly to the central nave.

[Philip Crosen]

A few days had gone by, yet he came punctually at the agreed upon time and place. Philip still vividly remembered the tense goodbye scene from earlier. It still sent chills up his spine as they said they were going to be discussing his request to be recognised without, actually, recognising him. It also made his blood boil. He thought to himself: What insolence! What more is there to discuss?! Everything of import was said last time. Either you recognise me or you don`t. Oh well, I suppose that`s my lot. On the other hand, it could be a sort of probationary period, that would make sense. With that last part he calmed himself enough to greet Winter and Witch semi-cordially although he was still somewhat tense:
"Hi guys, so what have you been up to these past days? Did anything interesting happen? Have you had time to think about my request to be recognised? Is there anything further I can to do to prove to prove my worthiness to you?"

[Witch]

She wasn't alone long. Winter was first, but shortly after was Philip.

Lifting a hand in greeting to both men, she offered a pleasant smile as well, waiting for them to both be within polite talking range before answering Philip.

"Thankfully it's been quiet. So, nothing to report as far as city wide events are concerned."

Pausing, she was quiet for a moment, clearly thinking about his later questions and how to answer them. When she spoke, her words where careful, "It isn't that we are asking you to prove your worthiness..."

A pause. And a breath out, trying to make sure she picked the right words, "It's more of a ... protective thing? As noted, our Consilium is small. We don't even have Councilors let alone a Hierarch. And while this place has some damn good built-in defenses, it would be foolish to not back it up with our own due diligence."

"So, we just are going through the basics of making sure that ... well ... you aren't going to fuck us over."

[Winter]

He knew that the Artifact was enough to keep Seers and other bad influences out, or at least it did in the past... under certain circumstances at least.
Tho, it didn't protect against things such as heresy, or more common, stupidity. As the saying goes, fear stupidity more than evil, the former is unpredictable.
Not to say the newcomer was either, but being sure was part and parcel of their jobs, if the past had taught him anything.

"What she says. Besides, this is such a small community that knowing the special handshake doesn't really mean much. The Lex Magica and all that jazz is still in place. Though, don't worry, nobody means you ill, we just wanted to know more", he shrugs.

[Philip Crosen]

The comments of Winter and Witch came as a wave of relief for Philip. It was as he had thought, just a probationary period. He was delighted. Though he didn`t expect getting recognised would be an odyssee he could respect them doing their due diligence if someone asked to join a so tightly-knit and thereby elite community. Their cautiousness did lead to him starting drawing conclusions about them though and he lost himself in a train of thought: He reasoned, if they were Free Council, they might have been more accepting, and would have themselves acknowledged being part of it after he said he was a member. If they were Adamantine Arrow, they might have been more aggressive, after he said he was using the lie to fight it, and not passive-agressive with veiled threats and implied punishment. Although that could also just be a new MO for them, being subtler, with more tact. But are they really subtle? An Adamantine Arrow might have been happy, as, fighting the lie was at least something, and Philip thought fighting, by itself, might mean a lot to them. What about the Silver Ladder, then? They might have been more accepting, but also assertive that they were in charge? That only left Guardians of the Veil and Mysterium as the groups to which they might belong. Either one would be interested in gathering intelligence about him. But perhaps the Guardians would be the only ones to be as startled about his comment? They could also belong to two different groups. He was unsure, the only thing he knew was he needed more data. Because in the end, their reasoning of needing to learn to trust him to join a small group could apply to any, just maybe not his own Free Council.

With that, he snapped out of his thoughts and turned to face Winter. "I`m relieved to hear it`s just due diligence. I can understand that a small, elite group might be skeptical of outsiders who just show up out of the blue and want to join. I still want to prove myself to you though because as you said, it might take time for you to trust me. Even though I know you said it`s not necessary. So if you guys need my help for anything time or fate-related, or any tasks, feel free to ask me anything. And as far as questions about me is concerned, I`m really not a very complicated guy, although I`m awakened. Most of what`s interesting about me you already know. I like shooting guns and doing sports, during the rare occasions I come out of my home. I work with the T.E.L.M. Trust as I said, and effectively do that as my day job. But If you have any different ideas for fighting the lie and the seers, either for me, or for us as a group, I`m all ears. Do you have day jobs? Winter, I`m curious, what did you mean last time when you called yourself a "jack-of-all-trades"?"

[Witch]

Witch nodded, confirming the note about the Lex Magica.

"That's good to know," she said with a smile toward Philip at his offer to still prove himself.

It wasn't that she needed or wanted him to do such for proving purposes. But his help just for help purposes? That would be good. Especially if he stuck around.

"Well- it's nice to meet you, Philip. Can't say I will have much to contribute to gun conversations unfortunately. And yeah- I have a day job. I'll get to the point where I don't need one, but at this time it's still required."

As Philip's question shifted to Winter , Witch similarly looked toward the stoic man. She was somewhat curious herself as to what he would answer with. If anything at all that is.

[Winter]

"I'm a handyman, sort of", he shrugs, "I do a bit of this and that, not the best at a specific job, but you can say I'm versatile".
"As for the other question, I'm retired. I may take the occasional odd job to retain my sanity, but I'm free most of the time"

[Philip Crosen]

Based on the track record from previously, he expected them to evade his questions. So he wasn`t surprised when Winter actually elaborated quite a bit about his day job without actually elaborating anything except reiterating the definition of a jack-of-all-trades/ handyman. He was going to take his supposed retirement with quite a few grains of salt. As for Witch, this might segue into asking about their hobbies he reasoned. Although he needed to be careful, if they actually were Guardians of the Veil, which his hunch from previously had settled on. They might not take kindly to being asked directly if they were Guardians, so he shelved this lingering question for now. Then again, they could still be Mysterium too. He thought with a sigh, his initial guess still wasn`t as sure as he hoped, yet.

"You must get around quite a bit with your odd jobs. Yeah it would definitely be nice to get to the point of not needing one. But on the other hand, the work I do for the Trust is important to me. "

He said with a sigh. He then changed the topic to something that had been bothering him for a while:
"I`ve been thinking about this for a while so please bear with me. I`m sure you know that centuries ago, modern things like cars, phones and modern firearms, and the list goes on, would have looked like incredibly powerful vulgar spells. I`m just saying, we can`t just dismiss the tools of the modern world to do magic or fight the Seers. I know the modern world is a prison just as much as you do. But surely a gunshot can have an effect on a person as powerful as a spell, GPS can be used to track the locations of Seers just like anybody else, and social media and money can be used to turn people against the things the Exarchs stand for and break their control over people. Of course, if the Seers exert more control through modern inventions than us Pentacle Mages, this complicates things. But even then, isn`t it because we simply aren`t doing enough, rather than the Exarchs taking control? I believe we need to use every tool to fight them and recognise the tools we have for what they are. I can understand this might seem like Free Council reasoning, but I wanted to hear what you think about this, so if you think I`m wrong, please level with me and tell me why. "