Mysterium: Ways and means

[Chambers]

Stepping into the Mysterium wing Chambers take a moment to breathe in the stillness, the octagonal anti chamber its windows seats and central alter did make for a wonderfully appropriate forum. If a little chilly in the winter, to help amend that Chambers pulls a match book from the pocket of his grey suit jacket and begins to light the various lamps by hand each adding a dancing fiery glow to the space.

The stone slab with Corn's final name forever cast upon sits on the alter, it could be useful today next to Chambers place sa box he had carried in with him.

Taking a seat in one of the eight window alcove seats to quietly wait for Aurora.

Orianna Aurora

[Aurora]

Not knowing how formal this meting was, she opted for the robes she had acquired.

Beneath was black dress pants a black button-down silk shirt, her blonde hair was up in a low ponytail at the base of her neck. Over her shoulder was a messenger bag with her notebooks just in case.

Walking in, she spots Chambers, and an odd box.

That’s new.

Offering a smile, “Hello, hope I haven’t kept you waiting.” Finding herself a seat near where he was seated, “How’ve you been?”

[Chambers]

Eye move to the door as Aurora enters, for once she is in robes and he is not an unexpected but curious change of pace. A warm smile greets the Shaman. "Aurora, welcome, good to see you as always." He had not forgotten what it was she needed, wanted to learn about either but that task was so grand it would take time and many pieces to move into place before he could even start with any serious hope of success. "I have been busy as always, but the good kind of busy, the kind that I hope today will bear fruitful results." Or kick a hornets nest, probably both. "And you how have you been?" Returning the pleasantry with a small nod to the robes. "Are those new?" Unable to recall if he had ever seen her wear them before.

[Aurora]

A warm smile, “And you as well.” Pulling out her notebooks as she listened. “Busy is always good, better then having nothing to do.” An eyebrow raises, “Really?” now her interest was piqued.

“Oh, I’ve been about the same as you. Busy with my own studies, not very fruitful unfortunately, but, busy with them nonetheless. Have to keep pushing forward with them, one of these days something will produce a lead or a new direction to take. I’ve been continuing my studies with Space and the Occult, both have taken quite a bit of my time and focus, but I feel they will pay off in the long run. I now hope to focus on the Ward a bit more.” She had big plans, but had big plans for a lot of things.

The question about the robes was unexpected, “Oh, I had some before, but these are a bit more, expensive? I found some that fit better and fit the member I’m striving to become.”

[Chambers]

A small inclination of his head acknowledges the point. "While a fair point I do find myself rather wracked with guilt. While I am sorting out administration and infrastructure the rest of the mages risk life and worse to tackle problem in the city." But he had to accept long gone were the days he might have had been a more field active member of the Mysterium. Besides as he hoped to show today he could still contribute. "Yes more on that in a moment." Ge the pleasantries sorted and done first.

Listening politely as Aurora outlines our own progress. Once she has he intones. "Knowledge is power. All knowledge." If it can be seen in the moment or learning is another thing entirely. "They might not seem fruitful at the moment but in time they could well be so." It had taken him the better part of three years to reach this particular day himself. Granted a lot more happened in between his arrival and now.

It was good she was takin this seriously. "If they work for you wonderful, although we don't actually require robes. But yes many are partial to them." He himself had worn robes around the circle and to Consilium meetings until he had been made hierarch. "Funny you should mention wards, they are very helpful things. most of the time." Which seemed like a good jumping in point.

To the meat of the day. "My studies have of the space arcanum have reached the point I can scry and apport objects both living and inert." Which adds space and life to the list arcana Chambers admitted to having access to a running total of eight that Aurora would be aware of. Gesturing to the tablet that recorded Corn's final name. "Thanks to Corn I have a sympathetic connection to the objects stolen from this Athenaeum." So he could target them. "I had asked you to meet me because this is dangerous, the casting is vulgar, thee might be wards to overcome and if the objects are being carried or worn by a mage they will be able to cast back at me." And having a powerful mage able to counter spell and heal nearby would be a significant comfort in his odds of surviving the effort.

However Auroras revelation is very interesting. "If your studies of space have reached the same point, your sympathy would be stronger then the one I hijack from Corn." And She is a stronger mage. Here Chambers pauses to collect himself. The order comes first over personal glory. "If you can do these things a joint ritual with you as primary would give us the best chance of penetrating wards and quickly reacquiring what was taken." And that was what mattered ultimately.

[Aurora]

Her face softens, “I wish you wouldn’t find yourself guilty over that. We knowingly take on those risks, wanting to keep our city safe. Being a mage is never a safe life, and defending what we hold dear is simply the price we pay.” She had accepted that a long time ago.

Nodding, “All steps towards long term plans and goals. I hope they will help me with building this into something we can be proud of.” Looking around the room.

“Yes, I feel it’s time to start investing in them. Especially for one of my long-term goals, building this into a mighty Athenaeum to house everything we need.” Right now, it lacked, well, what they needed.

“See, I’ve gotten mixed messages on if they were required or not. So I decided to just go with them. And, in a way, it makes me feel more connected to my studies and the Order as a whole.” It was…weird.

Leaning forward, she listens intently. “So you are intending to scry and take back what was stolen from us?” now this was…interesting. And dangerous.

Then an eyebrow raises, “Well, I can scry and apport objects.” If they were looking for the grubs, Corn wasn’t there when they were found, but he had been around them. “But I am ready and willing to do a join ritual to bring the items back where they belong. Lets do this.” and if whoever stole them decided to put up a fight? Then it would be a bad day for them.

[Chambers]

He had not been looking for sympathy, more a rare moment of venting usually controlled frustrations. "I know, I do. I am not taking those same risks despite my willingness to do so. That's all it is." His tasks while much more droll, and present much less risk to his loss of life, are no less important that he also knows but it still galls some to ask others to take those risks he did not.

Of those jobs the Mysterium wing has gone rather neglected as a space. "I had, still have, visions of what this space could be as well. But allocation of resources has proven harder then I could have anticipated." Still he had taken two mages through the Mysteriorum Exemplum which was something, and had hoped today would be a good step in to furthering the Athenaeum.

Another pauses while he contemplates. "Certain rituals make use of hooded robes for symbolism, this does denote them as holding importance." Without giving more away then Aurora was allowed to hear that was the best he could do. "But it is good to feel connected to the order." For some who had not yet touched the egregore, that was a very positive sign from Aurora.

A single definitive nod follows. "Yes that is my plan. I am an apprentice of matter and initiate of life hence the ability to apport both living and non living things." Aurora had the life covered clearly but did she have the knowledge of matter? "Very well then if we are to do this we will need to synchronise our spell casting, It takes me one hour, or ninety minutes with high speech to complete one iteration of a ritual casting how long does it take you?" That would matter. "And a list of targets will be important there will be a lot of vulgar casting today to pull this off." As any attempt to recover these items had surely being going to.

[Aurora]

A slight smirk, “Tell you what, next time I have a nasty spirit to deal with, I’ll give you a call and you can come play with it too. But I warn you, they can get quite an attitude and can hit hard when they want to.” True story right there. But she was trying to cheer him up.

Nodding, “I have visions as well, maybe we should share them, and see if the align. That way when I get past what I’m working on, and truly get down to it, I can make sure some of what you envision can come to life as well. It might be just the two of us, but there is no reason we cannot make this into something grand.” And she was determined.

“I had always been on the fence about them, but something just felt right.” So, why not.

“Oh, you study Matter as well? I’ve made to Apprentice of Matter, but no further as I’ve focused on other things. I plan to study more at some point.” But, other things keep popping up. “For me, thirty minutes, or sixty minutes with high speech.” Might be a problem. “I know there are the grubs and a Grimoire.” Then a chuckle, “Vulgar and I don’t really get a long, so that should be fun.”

[Chambers]

A wan smile is returned. "Spirits would be interesting I do not doubt, ghosts are more my speciality though." Moros so of course they would be. But the effort is appreciated.

His vision for their most unique of Athenaeums "That is difficult. there are things that must be acquired for when you are ready to perform the Mysterium arche, it is as of now the last mystery I can guide you through. Acquiring the items, objects and other things we need is my primary focus." And of course Aurora did not get know what the things in question were before hand. "After that I have no immediately clear focus." But if they could not even raise mages past the first true mystery then they could hardly be counted as an Athenaeum of note.

His warm smile truly returns as she says that. "It does you more good then you know." But one day she would, Chambers is becoming more convinced of that.

His head tilting in slight confusion. "I awoke to the tower of the leaden Coin, I have some understanding of matter regardless of if I wanted it or not." Every Stygian had access to death and matter much as every Thyrsus had access to life and spirit. "But then yes you should lead on this." That she was also an apprentice meant Aurora matched or bested him in every possible area that was needed for this task.

Eye flicker shut as he does the math. "Okay well that works you would need to wait thirty minutes between each cast for me to catch up which if you are skilled enough to cast in sixty means you can wait longer then that." Yes this could work. "Grubs and grimoire okay that should be a total of four casts then." Not to bad all in all.

Standing he moves over to the wooden box and opens the brass lock to swing the doors open revealing heavy glass jars and some shallow draws set into the lower half. The jars are full of things like ashes, bones, wool. candles and ink. Opening one of the draw he takes out chalk and matches. It is a box of ritual components. "I came pretty prepared, if you have any spells to cast in preparations of your own now is a good time." Running through his options, his plan having changed a bit did require some re-evaluation.

[Aurora]

A sage nod, “When the time is right for that, it will let itself be known. But for now, I would like to add things we can use. A library, for one, I know I would love to see in here, maybe move my studies in. Perhaps even working towards a Scriptorium, we have a lot to work towards. I can at least begin working on those I believe. If not, then perhaps I need to put my focus more on other studies, like the Mysterium Arche so we can begin to build proper.”Which she would do.

“I sometimes have difficulty keeping track of what Path knows what.” Another nod, “Then I shall.” This wasn’t something she was counting on doing today.

“Not a bad number.” Universe shouldn’t hit back too hard for that.

“I tend to cast my rituals in my Sanctum at the beginning of the month. Also, I didn’t come with anything, not knowing this was on the agenda for today. If a Sacrament is needed, I have myself covered, and I do have my magic tool on me.”