Bishop's Stone (IC)

[JamesCray]

"Oh, you do a brilliant job of it!" he exclaimed. "It's why I thought to go to you rather than hit the stacks when I came over all Twilight Sparkle in the first place. I actually had an idea for a book. Not sure if it'll come to anything yet, you know how half the time I get hung up on the planning and never actually get anything going, but it occurred to me that with the town laid out in a big circle with five segments for the districts, like a pentacle. It's like some sort of big seal, with the Spire at the middle. It's as if it's a great large summoning circle with the Spire as a focus, the question being for what? Mind if I borrow this? You know I'm a quick read, I should be able to get it back to you in a day or two." he added, suddenly glad he had come up with a story on the way over. Robert was many things, but a good liar was not one of them, particularly if it had to be done extemporaneously.

[SilverDemonWolf]

Damien shot the clearly supernatural young... Man? Maybe?  Yeah, he'd go with that.  Where the young man was still browsing CDs.  Well, he didn't know the person, so he'd have to take the girlfriend's word on it.  Still, he wasn't sure whether the girl knew exactly what her boyfriend was, and if she didn't... Well, it probably wasn't his place to tell her.  At her question, he thought a moment, pondering when he was freee.  "I have Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings open, if you want to schedule sometime for then.  I charge $25 an hour for lessons, just to warn you, and I give them here in the store."

Realizing that he was being rude, he gave a sheepish grin and offered a hand for the girl to shake.  "My name is Damien Stryfe, by the way.  It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss....?"

[AmberCross]

Baaahh.... Fuck this tarot journey thing.

David found himself feeling like a dog who had somehow managed to catch a squirrel. It was fun to chase, but now that he'd gotten what he was looking for, he had no idea what to do with it and suddenly felt really cautious. Abruptly recalling how little the fae liked to be seen [see quote below], he decided to play it safe and hold on to plausible deniability.

"Ah well, guess he's not the friendly, talk to strangers sort..." he said, apparently to himself. Then turning towards the crow he looked up at it and said, "Wow, you're not something a person sees everyday. I hear you guys are pretty smart, bet you even understand me, huh?". He put a smile on his face similar to one he'd seen his mom use when she would occasionally talk to flowers when she thought no one was nearby (she believed it would help them grow better).

Looking thoughtfully at the crow, he continued, "It would be really neat if I could understand you too, but I suppose that if I did it would probably be wiser to pretend that I couldn't. Claiming to understand birds could attract all sorts of unwanted attention after all. Ah, but I ramble. How are you this morning? Looking for anything special, or am I interesting enough to stick around for? Though I profess, I have to wonder what a bird would want with me!" He concluded with a self deprecating sounding chuckle and mentally crossed his fingers hoping this wasn't offensive. He also made a note to pay attention to the bird's apparent body language so he could pretend he was trying to read its mood off of that for any further responses he would have to make.

There is irish folklore that if you see a fae you must pretend that you cannot. They are wiley creatures and will often try to get a reaction out of you by means of trickery such as suddenly appearing in your face or standing in front of you when you walk. If you startle or move around them, they know you can see them and will act to render you incapable of continuing to do so, usually by blinding you. If ever a fae asks you 'which eye can you see me with?' you must not answer because they will pluck out whichever eye you say (you can lie and keep your fae sight, but it still hurts a lot). Only by not answering at all with the fae think you cannot actually see them and will leave you be.

[justacritic]

Sighing about people not really appreciating the importance of cleanness, Lemick requested confirmation on which places he needed to work on. If he was going to have to work overtime than he would like to understand the scope of how much he needed to work. After he received this information, he quickly went through the early morning motions and set out to work. If it was those graffiti wise asses again, he was going to mutter darkly, hoping that they one day accidentally cover themselves with their spray paint.

[Azlan]

Lorelei sighed inwardly, this was not something she was especially good at, but had some passing knowledge with.  Purely academic of course as the practice has been banned for good on a hundred years or more.

She raised her gaze a bit over the horizon focusing on some distant point only she could perceive.  With a careful and practiced voice she ventured with a few ideas, "your traditions seem to still hold to the Renaissance ideals of dueling.  Where I am from, two more traditions have progressed from this code duello, each supplanting the previous.  The Irish code came into favor in 1777 and generally revolved around the firearm as a tool for duels.  In 1865, cultural luminaries of the time had come to the opinion that this was far too deadly to govern matters of social position among the social elite.  A system based around pugilism was developed too be far less deadly, but still viscerally satisfying for matters of dispute."

Twirling a lock of silvery blond hair, she paused bringing her eyes to lock her gaze with his, "my experience is purely academic, but it would seem you could exploit the nuances of the Renaissance practice of dueling to your advantage.  Granted you will still need to duel if you wish to operate mostly honestly.  He challenged you, which gives you right to name place and weapons to be used.  By forcing you to his terms and weapons, he invalidates the legitimacy and lowers it to a mere street brawl.  You could use the fact that he cut you as an elaborate and slightly stretched example of previously mentioned challenge, as a common practice of said challenge was to strike one's opponent, normally with a glove, to extenuate the gravity of the offense suffered.  For the actual duel, you can name the weapons, and here there is a little known way to manipulate the circumstances to your advantage by either choosing something you are better skilled in than your opponent or to insinuate into this a competitive activity to achieve success over your opponent such as driving railroad spikes, racing fast cars, a lifting exercise, and so forth."

Gesturing wide she continued, "the place is best kept secret with only official witnesses.  However, if you are sure of what you choose than it is best done publicly.  However, if it is common practice to be so very Montague and Capulet about it, than you have little choice to be martial about the duel and will likely need a champion for you stand in.  However, if you wish to be sneaky, and can convince your lady friend than we can go back to what I said about it being a street brawl and attempt to bring in authorities.  I don't recommend such things, as it is rather damaging to a reputation.  The only other option I know of is to secretly arrange with your lady friend and sneak away to live far away and never return here.  This may put you on the run though, depending how determined this Marcus is."
   

[Inumo]

Five of Wands

"Jackson," she replies. "Elizabeth Jackson. I'll see you Friday at seven, then, alright?" As she makes ready to leave, her boyfriend comes up behind her for a hug.
"What're you up to Fridays now, Liz?" he asks, arms draped over her shoulder.
"Don't worry about it, Erik," comes the response as she lays a finger on his nose. "It's just a surprise for you."
"Oh?" He smirks as he spots the practice violin. "Does it have to do with that violin there?"
"Maaaaybe."
"Will it mess with getting to dinner on time, at least?"
"Shoot, I forgot about dinner. Here, Damien, I'll start the week after, okay? I'll be sure it's clear then."
With that, they leave the store, arm in arm.

Ten of Cups

The crow lets out a raucous laugh as it flies down to perch on David's head. "I'm no old Irish faerie, silly man. You need not worry about appearing conspicuous with me around humans, and it is not uncommon for werewolves and totem animals to get along. You can talk to me directly." Fluffing its feathers, it continues, "Now, my name is Bartholomew. It was better than Stick-Too-Far-Up or Johnathan Reginald Francis, the Third. You'd think my parents would be kinder to their first son, but apparently not. Let's begin with the first step of your faerie education: They're pretty much human too. When they're walking alone early in the morning, and trust me seven is pretty early for some people, they don't want to be bothered by some homeless street performer in the park. They get wasted, they do work, all those clean and dirty things you humans do. So don't treat them specially. Now, before we continue, we need to make you look a bit more stereotypical. To your house!" With that, he carefully clings to David's hair as they walked.

Five of Swords

Lemick makes it to the first site barely in time to avoid penalties. The location is covered in graffiti, a pair of boxers hang from the ceiling, red plastic cups are scattered about the floor, the glass from a couple broken bottles fill a couple corners, toilet paper is everywhere, and the walls are covered in numerous declarations that some person or another "was here" written in permanent marker. The other two sites are reported to be much the same. It looks like by the time he finishes, it'll be too late for Lemick to do anything else with the day without being tired for the next day of cleaning. The question is, does he care?

The Empress

"Whoa, hang on there, Lorelei, was it?" The young man glances at the business card to confirm before continuing, "Dueling is illegal. Marcus is just infatuated with the Renaissance, and my parents don't care about legality when it comes to fencing so long as I win. But if I can use that infatuation to make the duel null, then awesome. If I'm hearing you right, the duel is invalid because he challenged me wrong, there were no official witnesses, and he named the terms and weapons, right? If so, great. I can throw his own belief in dueling in his face." He sits back, a thoughtful expression on his face, before looking down at his watch. He sighs as he notes the time before continuing, "However, none of this can be done right now, seeing as it's about 12:30 in the morning right now. Can I call you in a day or two and let you know how this all goes?" As he speaks, he stands, tucks Lorelei's business card into his pocket, and picks up his rapier case. Offering a business card of his own, reading "Jeremy Matthew Stevens" and listing a pair of phone numbers labelled "Landline" and "Mobile", he says, "This is so you know who's calling." He waits hopefully for an answer.

Knight of Wands

"You kids and your ponies..." Professor Bishop murmurs as he sets down his coffee and starts shuffling through the papers on his desk. "The book is only available to professors at the moment, though I'll ask about getting a copy made for you. However, I do have... somewhere... Aha!" He lifts a thin spiral-bound notebook into the air triumphantly, having just extricated it from beneath a three-foot pile of crumpled paper and vending machine snack detritus. Brushing the cheese dust from the cover, he continues, "This was the first research notebook I made for the game. Feel free to borrow this, I've got all the information in here either memorized or written down in version two, over there. The thick one, with all the printouts sticking out of it. Anyways, hope this thing helps you out." Handing the battered thing to Robert, he grins and says lightheartedly, "And just so you know, I might be stealing that idea for an adventure coming up. No credit for you, of course. That's how us professors roll."

[justacritic]

Lemick just sighed, when he was hired he was told there may be days like this. It was a part of his job though so he set out to work. However it didn't mean that he had to be totally happy about this. First off he had to remove the most hazardous materials, that is to say the broken glass, cups and someone's underclothes. Once that was done, he had to carefully make sure to use the proper cleaning solution to get the stubborn permanent marker off. Each and every name he saw written down, got a wish directed to them and it wasn't for good health and fortune. He repeated this for every place that was vandalized. At the end of the day when he was finished, he was drained to the bone. What he really wanted to do was to sleep now.

[Azlan]

Lorelei accepts the offered business card and slips it into her pocket, "my apologies, I am rambling on as it were.  Happens when I'm tired.  Yes, Jeremy, please do give me a call on my mobile.  Best not call my house line as you would likely reach Bryce before myself or my other staff and he takes a dim view of his ladyship receiving calls from strange men he does not know."

Lore brought her right hand to her mouth and sighed, "I'm sorry, I'm rambling again, call me later for now I must get back and get some sleep."

With a polite and respectful nod, the slightly flustered and very tired Lorelei attempts to maneuver back to the Bishop's Stone gate and hopefully home to her flat.

[JamesCray]

"Considering the kind of money a doctorate costs versus the kind of money professors get paid, I figured there had to be perks to make it worth it." Robert retorted with a grin matching the biochem professor's, thumbing through the notebook absent-mindedly. "Seriously though Doctor Bishop, thanks, I really appreciate it. I'm to the point of developing characters and well, I wasn't quite sure where to start, so this is going to be seriously useful. I'll pull PDFs off of this and have it back to you by game night. I've got somewhere to be shortly, but I'm planning on grabbing some lunch at the caf beforehand, you want to go with with?"

[SilverDemonWolf]

Damien nodded and agreed, and once the couple had left, went back to cleaning the store.  Thankfully it was cleaned daily (by him, of course), which meant that it wasn't as hard as if it were a once a week thing.  After he finished dusting and sweeping, he pulled down one of the display brass instruments (a trumpet) and got out the polish, sitting down on a stoll at the counter as he got to work on removing all fingerprints and dirt from being handled in the week since he had last worked on it.

Polishing the instrument gave him some time to think.  Mainly on whether he should head back to the Avalon that night.  While it was sorely tempting to go and explore, he also didn't wish to be in trouble when the proverbial poo hit the fan.  While he wasn't an expert on mythology, he sometimes would read stories when bored or when caught up on a wiki walk, and he knew one thing:

You do NOT want to mess with the Fae.

So, was it worth the chance of getting caught?  It was clear that he would probably be picking out the supernatural in his day to day life now.  However, no matter how much he was reassured, he felt no want to get on the wrong side of the Fae.

This would take further observation before he made a final decision.  Of course, in the end it would all boil down to:  Is it worth the risk?

[AmberCross]

To his credit, David didn't actually flinch when the crow landed on his head though in all honesty he probably should have. 'Well so much for caution I guess,' he thought to himself with a mental shrug. Something about what had been said nagged at him though. "What do werewolves have to do with the situation? Are you trying to say that... oh. Nevermind, I get you now. What's stereotypical for a werewolf? If I'm going to pretend to myths that I'm one, wouldn't they notice I don't act right? Having never met one I can't be sure but aren't werewolves kind of... primal and pack oriented to boot? I'm not terribly good with primal and I'm also kind of a loner." He asked these and other similar questions about werewolves (and totem animals too for that matter) including if there were other weres than wolves and if totems could assume other shapes. He also paused in between questions to allow Bartholomew to answer him. As much as he wanted to just rapid fire ask questions, it would defeat the point of asking if he asked too fast for the raven to answer.

All the while David was navigating towards his apartment while avoiding people. Something luckily easy to do in the early morning. Also luckily, his roommate had an early schedule this day and wouldn't be home until later. Probably. Anyway, he opened the door and went inside and after checking they had the apartment to themselves, he spread his arms and said, "Well this is home! Sort of. It's where I live during the school semester. So what now?"

[Inumo]

Page of Pentacles

Halfway through polishing the trumpet, a young man wearing a simple white button up shirt and beige slacks entered the music store. A silver rosary hung from his neck on a chain. As he came up to the counter, his hands idly tapped out a tattoo on his thighs, labeling him as a percussionist. "Hey," he said, drawing it out. "I need someone to accompany a performance for my parents soon. Do you happen to know anyone particularly... special?" The word "special" gained new meaning under the weight of the night before.

Nine of Pentacles

The crow patiently answered the questions David asked. "Stereotypical falls under two categories, pack and loner. They're fairly self explanatory in terms of behavior. Pack werewolves often dress to match their friends, while loner werewolves will dress without much regard to their surroundings. It's only really if you are in too many social circles that it becomes a problem. Each social circle has its own rules, after all. Consistently, though, werewolves are the most under control in a situation, and can survive without their friends if necessary." As David continued to ask more, Bartholomew continued to answer. Werewolves were the only natural weres, though talk of crossbreeding has been brought up from time to time with totem animals. Totem animals can assume human forms, though they prefer their natural forms. When they at last reached David's home, Bartholomew took no time looking through everything in store, reserving his comments until he'd finished his inspection. "Well, you're close to being a loner, but not quite. We need to make it a bit more obviously different, so..." He trailed off, then took his claws to a couple shirts and jeans, opening some holes here and there like it was something rebellious. "There. Now, first opportunity you get, buy a cross and a rosary. Hang the cross over your bed and always wear the rosary; they help werewolves keep control when they change, though they stick to their beds. Speaking of, start taking full moons off from everything after dark. If any other werewolves ask, just say something bit you in the park a month or two ago, and a few days later someone explained that you'd become a werewolf. Not every werewolf can make it back home in time, after all. After that, you should be good. I'll make a nest somewhere outside so you can reach me."

Ten of Pentacles

Sleep was easy for Lemick, though the next week was mind-numbing. The events passed in a blur, the routine of wake up, clean from morning to night, go home and sleep. It felt like it would last permanently, forever. At last, Saturday came, and with it a day off from work. The day was warm and bright, and full of possibility waiting to be explored.

Six of Swords

It was a long walk back to Bishop's Stone on the other side of the city, perhaps even two hours. Dawn was breaking when at last Lorelei made it to get to her flat, and all the while thoughts of the poor couple filled her head. Jeremy and Marianne. Star-crossed lovers, or maybe just foolish infatuation at least. It was quite the damper on the night's events. Nonetheless, she made it home. Her bed called, but so too did the sun. It was up to her to decide her course of action.

Nine of Swords

"Um..." was Doctor Bishop's first reply. "Hm. Well, ah... Hrm. Maybe... No... But then again... Eh, to hell with it, sure, I'll join you." Together, Robert and Bishop headed to the cafe. The professor ordered a simple sandwich and a cup of coffee, sending a couple text messages along the way, and sat with his pupil in short order. "I hope you can read my handwriting," he said by way of conversation. "It's always been an atrocious mess, and a lot of those notes are stream of conscious. If you have any questions, feel free to ask as they come up." As they sat, a youthful satyr wandered by, munching on a salad he held in a bowl. "Well, isn't he an interesting fellow..." said the professor.

[JamesCray]

"Heh, I appreciate the concern, but my handwriting's so bad I literally had to type my class notes otherwise I couldn't read them, I can't imagine yours being all that bad." Robert laughed as he tucked into the grilled chicken salad he had gotten. On reflection, he was glad the professor had taken him up on his offer, although it was initially made merely out of courtesy. Doctor Bishop was pleasant to be around, and what few friends Robert had when he was still a student at the college had moved on after college.

Then he commented on the satyr passing by, and Robert's poor brain stripped a gear. Was he commenting on some peculiarity in the satyr's disguise, or was it possible he could see them too? What should he do? If Bishop knew about them, he could help a great deal, but if he didn't, Robert still didn't want him to think he was a nutter. Panicked, Robert racked his brain, trying to think of something related to satyrs to say that would still seem normal in the context.

"Indeed. Do you think he plays the pipes?" he asked, his attempt at subtlety and calm nonchalance doing a remarkable impression of American Airlines flight 191.

[SilverDemonWolf]

Damien looked up and quickly plastered on a professional smile that he usually reserved for work.  "Good afternoon, sir." Ah, a new customer.  Those were always fun.

To the guy's credit, his question sent Damien's brain into a Blue Screen of Death for a whole 5 seconds before it managed to reboot.  Okay.  Maybe he had meant that innocently?  In a totally non-supernatural-I-just-want-people-die-my-band sort of way.

Although, if he hadn't, Damien didn't want to offend him.  Best to play it neutral.  "What do you mean by special?  Also, what instruments would you prefer they play?"

[justacritic]

The week was a hard one for Lemick but now the weekend was here. He said hello to his downstairs neighbor Glenda as she was leaving to showcase more cosmetics to those who wanted to buy them. He swung by the library to see if any books had come in. Lemick wouldn't if the library couldn't reserve any books from his request but it didn't hurt to check if anything came in. He was only going to check and borrow the books if the library did manage to reserve any. He also planned to visit Avalon the rest of the day. Textual information was useful but experience was another way to learn and at times easier to remember.

[Azlan]

Lore's weary blue eyes sparkled in the bright light of Earth's majestic celestial orb as she beheld the oasis of paradise known as her bed.  Her eyes sparkled in the sun light, the sun's bright light.  With a small groan bordering on a growl she cursed the hated bringer of searing glare.

In a partial daze, she settled on her comfy chair in the flat's main living room.  As tired as she was, Lore was unable to sleep in the presence of the sun's light.  The preternatural senses of butlers being what they are, a steaming cup of Earl Gray tea with cream and two cubes of sugar found itself on the stand next to her.  A plate of fresh fruit as well was provided, as was custom for her breakfast.  With a pleasant smile she nodded to the ever attentive Bryce.

Briefly she reviewed the night's activities, running the strange events over again in her mind.  Producing her new One X, she briefly regarded the time before placing a call to her best friend Beatrice, "ah, Bea, good morning to you.  I was wondering if you could perhaps come by my flat, and, bring every book and piece of information you have on the Fae.  Recent events have placed me in a position to need to know as much as I can.  Thank you dear, see you soon!"

Placing her phone back in her pocket, she went about finishing up her fruit and tea before Beatrice arrived.

[AmberCross]

David winced a bit as some of his more favored jeans got torn but overall didn't mind. Though he wasn't about to admit it, he kind of liked the holes in the knees style with jeans, he just had never really gone through with it. He was less enamored of the shirts getting ripped, but most of his shirts seemed to fit the quota as they were so it wasn't too drastic a style change. After all, a person can only take so much at a time...

It took a moment to sink in since he was still preoccupied with his wardrobe change, but something Bartholomew said suddenly registered. "Wait, you mean there's something to religion after all? How does a cross help a werewolf keep control? And what happens if one loses it? Control I mean, not the cross. Would a jewish werewolf have to use a star of david or whatever other religious equivalents there are? Does it matter that I'm atheist? Or I guess I mean would it if I actually were? A werewolf I mean, not an atheist. I'm definitely an atheist."

'Blah, just one talking crow and I suddenly lose all coherency...' David thought to himself, wincing internally (and maybe a bit externally) at his inability to verbalize properly when he got a hold of some interesting topic. Whenever this happened he would often trip over his own questions from the shear volume he ended up asking.

[Meany]

Nanabi nods to Vitia, and lets the others speak, giving her address and city district when no one else is talking.

Upon returning to her home, the elderly woman sat in the den and thought about what she had seen.  Was it real?  Really real?  Was she simply delusional in her loneliness?  "No," she told herself, closing her eyes forcefully.  "That way lies the path to madness."  From an outside  perspective, an elderly woman speaking to herself in an unlit room of an unlit house was quite the sign of madness.  But Nanabi had spent so many years in the abode that she knew it front, back, sideways, diagonal, upside-down, and spiraled.  She had no need of lights except to read things.  Nanabi briefly considered going back right as soon as the sun came up on the morrow.  But no, moderation in all things, as her late husband had said.


When Nanabi returned to the strange world she had visited, it would be in the afternoon, when she had packed her purse with snack bars and water bottles for a longer visit.

[Inumo]

Queen of Wands

Damien's customer is crestfallen for a moment, before some thought seems to perk him back up. "Right, I don't need to beat around the bush with the enchanted, they'll ignore the faerie crap. I need someone that knows about Avalon and all that. They also need to be able to deal with some rather critical people; being self-assured, energy and cheer in the face of harsh words, you know what I mean. It'd also be nice if they were an attractive woman, just so I can get my parents off my back about finding a mate, at least before they start asking for pups. I have a marimba and drumset set up, so maybe a flutist? That way we can duet with the concert and do some jazz after. Do you know anyone that might be able to help?"

Seven of Wands

"So many questions!" is all Bartholomew cries at first. He makes a couple more cuts before flying to a bedpost and answering David. "Have patience! Trying to give you the right style and teach you about werewolves and the rest of the world you missed is hard work! In a sense, yes, there is 'something to religion.' Belief and words hold a fair amount of power. If people believe a cross will hold back a werewolf with all their heart and soul, then it will, even if it would have done nothing to old Bisclavret. Generations of that belief have mounted up behind it, so it's got staying power. So, the cross presses them into bed when they wake, and suppresses the transformation in the early stages, though I hear it's extremely uncomfortable. Now, your wardrobe should look stereotypical enough to work. Just get the cross and rosary, and you should look well enough like a werewolf." With that, he makes his way out of David's apartment.

Eight of Cups

The weight of the week rests on Lemick's shoulders as he checks the library, receiving a disappointing no-go on new books. Trying to enter the Bishop's Stone Gate, he finds that it won't open either. They day looks to be a waste when a scaly green child in a suit, a turtle shell on his back and a water-filled dent in his head, tugs on his sleeve with a webbed hand. Looking at Lemick without moving his head, he says, "You aren't gonna get back in this way unless you want to wait until midnight. You from Bastion or something? Seem pretty new, neh?" He gives a small laugh, then beckons as he turns away. "Come on, I'll show you another way in. You only need to use the Stone Gate on your first pass. The rest of the time, you can use the smaller Gates." With that, he leads Lemick to an opening in the Joneswark fence, kicks the nearest post three times, and walks through as it turns into an opening into Avalon. "Pretty neat, neh? Ever need to get back in, just do as I did. If you need any more help, go talk to the city people in the big intersection in the middle of town. All the thoroughfares lead to it, you can't miss it. Have a good one!" He walks off into the depths of Avalon as the gate closes.

The Empress

Beatrice comes through the front door with a file box full of books just as Lorelei finishes her breakfast. "Hey Lore! What's the fuss about? I know the fair folk are interesting and all, but I haven't ever seen you hit the books over a topic I follow." Quickly unpacking a couple stacks, she gives a quick summary of their histories, all from Medieval England and Ireland and presumed relatively high accuracy, before handing one to Lorelei titled The Faerie Realm. "It may seem like an adventure novel, but the way this guy wrote makes a lot of my classmates think there's more to it than meets the eye." Giving Lorelei time to read, she twiddles her thumbs and looks out the living room window at the front driveway. "Hey, Lore, you expecting visitors?" She asks as she spies someone coming up to the porch.
Moments later, the doorbell rings, and a tentative women's voice calls from the door, "Hello? Miss... Evans? Jeremy said this was your address." There's a short pause before she finishes, "It's Marianne. You came out of the poolside Gate, so I was hoping you could help me with something. I need to figure out how to let Jeremy know I'm a dryad."

King of Pentacles

Nanabi makes her way home from Avalon via a small tarp covering a pile of lumber at the new housing project. "Just make an X and duck under," Vitia says as the Gate closes. "We'll be in touch." The next day, however, proved to be the wrong day to try and return to Avalon. "Miss Tybalt?" A man says as he runs to catch up. Handing her a business card, he says, "My name's Nathan, of Protech Industries. We're a small start-up ship designing and, hopefully soon, manufacturing company. We've managed to get a fair amount of attention lately, and it's come with some problems. Your son has started asking about acquiring our business. Any suggestions as to how to deal with him?"

Ten of Pentacles

"Pipes?" The eccentric professor looks at David questioningly. "What do pipes have to do with all this? Say, you alright there, David? You're looking rather pale. Here, let me get you some water." He stands, now concerned for his gaming friend's health, and heads off, returning soon after with a Dixie cup filled with water. "See, I just thought his pants were rather neat. They looked pretty warm, what with that fur from calf height down." Glancing at his fob watch, his eyes suddenly widen as he spots the time. Gathering up his things, he says, "Thank goodness for instincts. I've got a class to teach in a couple minutes. Hope that notebook helps you out, now I need to skedaddle. Have a good one!" In short order, he's off, with his only trace left the square of rumpled saran wrap from his sandwich.

[SilverDemonWolf]

'Enchanted?  What exactly does he think I am?' Thankfully Damien had the sense to not say this aloud.  He nodded as he listened to what his customer wanted, then mused over it for a moment.  "So, attractive woman who knows about the Avalon and can play the flute or similar instrument." He frowned.  "Afraid that no one comes to mind." The young man gave a soft sigh. "I'm sorry.  I know what it's like to have your parents on your back." Granted, Damien's parents were unhappy with him for an entirely different reason.  Mainly the fact that he was only attracted to men.  "Are there any points that are negotiable?  If not, maybe I can help you figure out another way to get them to leave you alone."

[JamesCray]

Robert couldn't help but grin as the professor beat his hasty retreat. Perhaps that LSD he was so fond of really was mind-expanding after all. Considering his situation, he could think of no better tactic than to tackle it head-on. Closing the notebook and tucking it in his jacket, he drained the Dixie cup in one draught and headed for his car. Briefly, he thought to speak to the young satyr that had passed by, but randomly approaching someone he'd never before met didn't seem wise.

Before long he had returned to his apartment and scanned the notebook into a PDF on his iPhone, and shoved the original into a drawer of his massively overburdened Ikea desk. Then came the moment he had been waiting for all day. He threw on a hoodie, locked up his apartment, and headed back to the nearby Gate. Who says you have to go to space to seek out new life and new civilizations?

[justacritic]

Lemick thanked the child as quickly as he could before the child ran off. The janitor made a mental note to keep the idea and location of smaller gates in mind. He stepped into Avalon and had a look of wonder on his face at the newness and energy in the air. Then something hit him, if he needed to buy or pay for something here would his money be good here? Lemick then went searching for some institution that could tell him if dollars were accepted here and if not what the exchange rate was. 

[Azlan]

As Lorelei attempts the best sheepish grin she can devise in response to the quirked eyebrow of her best friend, the door is attended by the ever steadfast Bryce.  Gracefully the front door is rendered ajar and the butler patiently ushers the newcomer in, "this is the residence of Lady Lorelei Ainsley Evans, Countess of Darlington.  She is meeting with a friend, but I am sure she will see you.  This way please."

"My Lady Lorelei?  A Miss Marianne to see you."  Bryce stated with a polite nod.

"Thank you Bryce, please have Jonathan prepare another round of tea and some of those nice watercress tea sandwiches."  Gesturing to an unoccupied seat, Lorelei spoke calmly to Marianne, "please take a seat and tell me what I can do for you.  I am afraid I am a bit new to all of this, and am not too sure specifically what a Dryad is."

Lore silently hoped that Bea would hold her tongue in regards to Dryads.

[AmberCross]

Well that was certainly educational. David wasn't sure how he felt about religion actually having any real merit aside from helping people who need it feel like their life has worth, but decided that was really an issue for another day. In the meanwhile he set about following some advice from Bartholomew. He actually had quite a number of pendants with various designs, several of which were also crosses. Part of that was from growing up in a religious household and part of it was not being overly discriminating in design choice so long as it looked neat. Either way it was no big issue to just grab one and toss it onto a bedpost. For the sake of camouflage he also tossed the rest of his pendants (including a few more crosses) on as well and a dreamcatcher on the post nearest the pillow. That way it looked like he had just changed his mind where to keep his things and not suddenly gotten religious again. It seemed a little bit pointless since who was going to be looking at his bed and think 'oh he doesn't have a cross on it so he is not actually a werewolf' but it was easy enough to do and the extras were as much (more really) to make him feel less awkward for just having a cross on his bed than for any purpose of making it not blatant to anyone looking that 'hey, werewolf sleeps here' which would not matter anyway cause anyone knowing what it meant wouldn't care and anyone not knowing what it meant wouldn't notice.

'Bah,' thought David to himself, shaking his head. 'I'm thinking about this WAY too much.' So instead he just went out to downtown where he should be able to pick up a rosary pretty easily, calling a farewell to the crow in case he was around to hear. Despite all his remnant religious paraphernalia from childhood that was something he didn't actually have. He wasn't too enamoured by carrying around a rosary, but whatever worked. Maybe he could find one in a more Buddhist flavor. Well, even if he couldn't find what he was looking for, the markets always had SOMETHING interesting.

[Inumo]

Five of Swords

The man pauses, then tells Damien, "Well, I suppose the 'woman' part of it is ultimately negligible. Pretending I'm bi would get my parents off my back pretty quick too. Aside from that, it would work if they played clarinet, trumpet, or trombone. Really it's just needing an instrument that does melody in both jazz and symphonic music." Pausing a moment more, he suddenly says, "Wait, why'd you call it 'the' Avalon?" He starts looking at Damien warily. "Where you from?"

Five of Wands

As David reaches the nearest commercial section of Joneswark, a voice calls out, "Hey, David!" From a cross-street comes Kevin, David's roommate, with David's family in tow. "What a coincidence! I was just heading back to the apartment. Your family was having trouble getting there from their hotel. What brings you out here?" By then, Luke, David's brother, and his parents have caught up.
"We thought we'd check in on you, see how you were doing," his father begins, "and show your brother here the city. We heard that EJU had a great church, along with a good law program." He looks meaningfully at Luke as his mother continues, "How have you been? Have you been eating well? Have you ever thought about being a doctor? I know you've said you didn't want to, but really, scientists don't get paid all that well. Do you have a girlfriend yet? Oh, reminds me, you should meet Martha some day, she's Christian's daughter, you know, the friend from Minnesota? Well, they just recently moved into our area, and you should see Luke and her together--"
"Mom." Luke suddenly cuts in, rubbing at his tired eyes. "Please. I'd prefer my social life be under my own control. I will meet Martha in due time. May we focus on other things at present? I'd like to spend some time with my brother alone, if possible."

Justice

Eventually, Lemick finds himself at a bank. Making his inquiry, a teller with a wary look counters, "Before I can answer that, I need you to tell me what you are for security reasons."
Before Lemick can answer, however, a well-dressed man with unnaturally red skin intervenes, saying, "Don't worry, I'll handle this. I vouch for him." As the teller nods acceptance, the man turns and says, "Well, Lemick, fancy seeing you here. Let's walk, shall we?" As he ushers Lemick out of the building, he continues, "Don't worry, the Havens keep their currency consistent with the surrounding area's, so your dollars will be accepted. You might not have them when the time comes to make a purchase, mind, but that's your problem, not mine. Or, rather... Eh, nevermind. Have a nice day, Lemick." With that, the man disappears into the crowd, leaving Lemick in the middle of the city.

The Empress

Beatrice idly pulls a textbook from her bag and begins reading as Marianne speaks. "Ah, somebody made a werewolf out of you, didn't they? I'm sorry to hear it. The new ones are always a bit... negligent of security measures until they've done something they've regretted. Better keep your cross over your bed and another around your neck, I say, and stay home on full moons. I can't imagine that you want to make the same mistake. Ah, but I wander. Jeremy has talked of leaving Joneswark, but, as a dryad, my home is my tree in the nearby park. I can't just up and leave it on a whim; I'd have to bring it along somehow, and I worry that he would start asking questions once we're out of range of the enchantment. So, I need to tell him I can't go because I'm a dryad, but if I try to bring it up it'll be like I never talked to him about it. I need to bring him in somehow, and I was hoping you might have ideas."

The Empress

The walk to the Gate is hearty, and in short order Robert finds himself back on the streets of Avalon. A crowd is forming around a disturbingly pale young man whose arms and legs appear tattooed with vines and ivy. He sits on the sidewalk, holding a hand to his side, as he says, "Don't worry about me, this happens all the time. Tss! Ah, that was a big barrel of chemicals. Look, it's just another landfill. PCJA -- ow! -- is always clearing out some of the surrounding forest and dumping their waste in. Ergh, I liked that tree. Here, just go on about your business. It'll take more than just a landfill to kill me." As the crowd disperses, Robert manages to catch a whispered, "At least, I hope so," come from the man as glistening sap starts to leak out from under his hand.

[AmberCross]

David smiled to himself when he heard Kevin call his name. They hadn't been roommates for long but he was was funny, hot, friendly, and had quite a few interests in common with him. For a moment as he turned around he felt something about that was off about that last part. 'funny, friendly, stuff in common... was there something else in there?' he thought, trying to recall, but couldn't quite pin it down before he saw his parents behind his roommate and all thoughts scattered as the smile froze on his face. He waved stiffly at them and a bit more loosely to his brother as he collected his resolve and headed over thinking, 'Kevin, I will get you for this...'. His relationship with his parents had never quite been what most people would call spectacular but since declaring he was atheist and refusing to go to church any more, they had at least backed off a bit. Not because they respected his decision or anything, but more that they had mostly given up on him aside from the token attempt to get him to make something of his life. David was actually a bit surprised they hadn't threatened to disowned him yet, but perhaps that would have been even more of a spectacle than just having him go his own way. If there was one thing his parents were big on, it was social appearance.

His brother on the other hand, he got along with just fine. Yeah the kid was as hopelessly religious as their parents, but at least Luke was sensible about the whole thing. He cared about religion for the right reasons in David's opinion, or as 'right' as you can get when religion itself is pretty flawed anyway. So when Luke mentioned he wanted to talk privately and David spied a nearby pawn shop with a selection of religious paraphernalia, he also spied an opportunity to hit three birds with one stone; get that darned rosary, get away from his parents, and get Kevin back by sicking his parents on him. "No problem!" he exclaimed, draping his arm around Luke's shoulder with a smile (more natural now) as he guided him towards the shop. "Kevin, why don't you show my parents around while I catch up with my little bro here? I bet mom and dad would love to get to know you better, thanks I'll catch up later!"

When he got into the shop he ducked out of sight and collapsed against a wall. "I can't believe you guys are just here! I was so not ready to deal with my parents today, why can't they ever call ahead?" He sighed and started to idly look around trying to find a rosary that wasn't tacky or terribly religious looking. "So I know it's pointless trying to find out what put it in their heads to visit this time, but why did you want to talk to me so badly? Usually you just wait until they get distracted by something like last time when that homeless fellow asked mom for spare change and she spent the next hour ranting to dad about the dismal state of today's world when 'just anyone can walk up to you as if the world belongs to them'. Surely you didn't miss me THAT much?"

[JamesCray]

"It's just not right..." Robert found himself intoning as the crowd dispersed. When someone's in pain, you help them. Even if it can only be simply being there for them, you do what you can. That was how Robert was raised, and that's what he believed, even once he started to form his own opinions. Being alone and in pain was a situation he was all too familiar with to let someone else go through it. He sat down next to the young man, on the side where he was bleeding. And as far as he was concerned, whether it was blood or sap, he was bleeding. Barring bizarre supernatural issues, this was something he could at least try to help with.

"Hey," he greeted the nature spirit. He couldn't be sure exactly what he was without checking his iPhone, and even then there was no guarantee, so he didn't bother. He dug a clean white handkerchief from his pocket and reached out to use it to apply compression to the wound. "You shouldn't be alone right now, not when you're hurting. How do I help?"

[SquirrelWizard]

Daniel kept jotting things down. The revelation that there was another world merely a step to the side was big, and normally he'd probably be a bit more cautious. Instead it was like he stumbled upon the fabled city of El Dorado, he was scrabbling around to remember the details of what he saw rather than how he got there. "To be honest, I'd be concerned if my writings were taken as fact as all the work I do is aimed at fiction. I mean, I could pull tons of ideas from this. It's actually kind of difficult to get things straight though. There are so many variables and history, and I doubt we have enough time to cover it now." He glanced back up at Silver. "I have two real questions though. First, obviously, is what is the quickest way home. Second though, is what do the supernatural people get out of their world being revealed to us humans? I mean what we know of your kind is purely limited to conjecture and fiction. If you bring us into your world, then that means you are going into our world. How prepared are you?"

[Meany]

Of all the days for business.
Nanabi did not like being asked to work against her son, even if he did deserve it.  Michael was a tyrant, like so many in the field these days.  She had been little better, merely severe rather than openly manipulative.
"He will attack you where your defenses will be strongest, to break them and dissect your enterprise at his leisure."  Nanabi's tone was crisp as she walked and pocketed the man's card.  "Find a way to gain a premises overseas, preferably in China.  Make it a chore for him to buy up every scrap of your company.  Barring that, privatize your stocks so he cannot just out buy you.  Have a scandal, or involve yourself with the federal government; of this or some other nation.  Any one of those strategies should, at the least, by you time; and at the most render him a share holder but not owner of your company."

It could be odd how she didn't even bother to confirm the man's identity before spouting this tirade of advice; but Nanabi was well acquainted with her son's habit of buying any company that made the news.  Or at least trying to.  She'd once had to confront him about trying to buy a shell company of the TTC.  And if his habit had grown worse with age, this company would need all the help it could get.

[justacritic]

Lemick was bustled out of the bank, and that strange red colored male told him of the exchange rate. However that man vanished into the crowd before Lemick could say any words of thanks. Yet when Lemick went over the conversation from before he suddenly realized some statements from that red colored man were strange. It seemed that he knew of Lemick though Lemick had never seen that man before. Also how did that man know of Lemick's frequent problem with money? Lemick checked to see that his wallet was still in his possession. He then considered going into a shopping district to pick up some sort of gift. Maybe sweets? he thought.