Bishop's Stone (IC)

[JamesCray]

It was indeed getting later, and Robert was not in the habit of having lengthy conversations with individuals he didn't know well, much less being nearly pummeled and then segueing directly into political discourse. He had somewhat known the latter was coming, but as much as he wished differently, he was more Reg Barclay than Jed Bartlett. The decision to head home came on the heels of Semisonic's "Closing Time" creeping into his head unbidden. It had been a good day, he had made new acquaintances, had good food, and come into more than enough food for thought for him to take with. Absently, he headed homebound, whistling the tune.

[AmberCross]

David briefly wondered what sort of 'project' she may have been referring to and concluded that it was something Avalon related and thus not a topic worth pursuing. "Don't worry about it," he said instead. "He's welcome to his secrets. It's not like I don't have my own after all. Although come to think there was another girl I've seen him hanging out with... red highlights, brown hair. Don't really recall much else about her. As for embarrassing stories I can't say I know any off the top of my head. I guess I don't interact with Kevin that much? Come to think I don't remember much of anything about him except the basics like his major. And that's really more embarrassing for me than for him. All I've got is that his family visited a while back, I don't remember what we talked about, but they seemed really interested in me. Kept asking questions about my family. If I weren't male I'd think they thought *I* was his girlfriend."

David shook his head ruefully, but decided to change the topic. He really wasn't sure how much of this he was supposed to remember. That was perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the enchantment, it made his whole life fuzzy as a side effect of blotting out the magic stuff. If it worked by reinterpreting everything as mundane stuff and deflecting curiosity David would have been okay with it, but instead it just sort of made any memory surrounding magic stuff hazy. He wondered just how much of his life he wound up missing by living in close proximity with a mage this past year or so. Right, time for that subject change, "So do you go here for college or are you just visiting?"

OOC: I pulled this interpretation of how the enchantment works based on conversations we've had and how you've described experiences passing when I was temp mind wiped. If I'm drastically off could you correct me? Cause you've really never given me a straight answer on this.

[Azlan]

Lore shook her head and sighed, arguing with racists was not what she wanted to be doing tonight.  She headed off in search of something more interesting, preferably with cute, fluffy animals or reasonably decent alcohol.

[Inumo]

Three of Cups

Christina sighs in relief when David declares his intent to let alone. "Oh, I go here," she replies. "To tell you the truth, my first thought was to go somewhere a bit more central. JU was my fourth choice before I made a campus visit, but I loved the people I met so much I decided to go here instead. Everyone seems to be really polite and open. I'm kind of surprised you don't know more about Kevin, he certainly wasn't one to be reserved when he met me at least. Maybe it's just your schedules, y'know? I don't know many people outside of where my daily routine takes me, after all." She serves up the last plate of food, then takes a seat with David at the table. After taking a few bites, she continues, "Anyways, I don't really know the other girl you mentioned with the red highlights and all, but I know his family and I certainly don't envy you that experience. Can you believe his mother actually asked about when she'd have grandchildren? Actually, I suppose that isn't too surprising, but still. They are some weird people, it can't be denied." Suddenly sitting up, she starts fishing through her pockets and asks, "Can I get your phone number before I forget? Any friend of Kevin's is a friend of mine, however unknown to me they may be. Besides, sometimes things need to be asked about that, well, Kevin isn't very good at answering. You know how it is, right?"

Seven of Cups

Wandering through the streets of Joneswark, Lorelei comes across a smaller version of the main street fair downtown for the festival. Set up in a park, it's populated largely by hipsters and poor-looking families, who wander among the small selection of unknown craftspeople and microbrewers to enjoy the petting zoo and bounce house, the only real fair-like attractions in the mini-fair. Though people still pass through, it looks like the hour is starting to grow late and more seem to leave than enter.

Eight of Cups

The kappa sighs at Nanabi's edge over his mythical status. "Yes, well, I've yet to meet a werewolf who properly takes care of new converts, especially in that the old and new mythology are only mildly linked at this point, like the War of the Roses and the United Kingdom." With a shake of his head, he continues, "Anyways, my wife and I were planning on heading home now, so I've come to grab my daughter. If you'd be so kind as to get her..." Looking past Nanabi, he notices that there are multiple kappa children in her care. "... Or, of course, I could go pick her out. Some people find it hard to distinguish one kappa from another, I know."

Two of Cups

Robert's walk home passes without incident, and in due course the next morning rolls around. As he walks into the university's IT department, Mr. Cameron calls him over towards the front desk. "Robert, meet Patricia Detral," Cameron says, introducing Robert to the young woman standing next to him. She stands about five-foot-eight in her blue flats, wearing a simple pair of jeans and a fashionably loose magenta shirt. Clutched in one arm is a tablet, its stylus perched behind her ear.
"Nice to meet you, Robert," she responds automatically, brushing an imaginary stray brown hair back towards her ponytail before extending a hand.
"Ms. Detral here is a new hire to the IT department," Mr. Cameron continues, "and I want you to train her. She's a computer science major here at the university, and will be interning for the school year to offset tuition, as is accepted by school policy. Best of luck to you both!" With that, he turns and walks back into his office, leaving the two by the front desk.

[JamesCray]

"It is a great pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss. Do you prefer Ms. Detral, or some variation of Patricia?" Robert asks, bowing slightly in a courtly manner as he shakes her hand. With his light blue polo shirt, black slacks, and Ebony Ronsir Revelation eyeglasses, he could be mistaken for someone respectable, if not for the fact the polo shirt bore Rainbow Dash's cutie mark embroidered on the left breast.

"Welcome to IT. First lesson, the sole reason we ever get called by anyone outside the department is if something's gone wrong. Don't take it personally when they're angry, there's a decent chance they either caused the problem themselves or there really is no problem and they're just doing something wrong. There's a cube open right across from me, so let's get you set up."

Robert led her to a door at the end of the room, which he unlocked with his smartcard and opened the door to. Inside, rows of shelves lay scattered with electronics ranging from brand new in box back to Apple ][-era. He pulled a flatbed cart from the end of the room and began loading it up with equipment.
"Welcome to the Cave of Wonders, or as those with less sense of humor call it, the supply closet. Mister Cameron said you're a CS major, what's your track, software engineering, network security, or systems administration?"

[Inumo]

Seven of Cups

"Software engineering," Patricia replies to Robert. "And please, call me Pat. The way I figure, software engineering gives me the most options in the future, though I gotta admit, game development? Fun stuff." Gesturing at the pile of electronics, she asks, "I'm guessing that's all stuff I'll need to know how to work on...?"

[justacritic]

It seemed that if this kept up Lemick should take up business card collecting as a hobby. The things just kept falling into his lap. Still it was a nice feeling getting these cards. Maybe this was worth pursuing, after all with all these cards coming at him again and again, maybe it was sign to take action. He hoped that fortune would come true then. He went to a phone and dialed the number.

[Azlan]

The night appears to be getting a bit late and Lorelei, after a brief consideration, decides to call it an end.  She makes for the route home, keeping an eye out for anything else that might come up, but planning for a nice bath, a good book, tea, and then bed.

[Meany]

Nanabi visibly relaxed.  "Yes, the kappa children were all dropped off by their mothers, so I don't know their fathers.  Go ahead and find your daughter."  The old woman deftly reached into the tree and pulled another child off the branches, while she watched the kappa move, if he did at all.  She now had lots of things to do, since she had successfully lied.  She'd need to find out about werewolves, how they walked and talked.  Admittedly, she had easy access to the lore of this place, since those fey creatures were still talking to her...she'd just need to find one.  And in that instant, she realized she had forgotten their names, but not their faces.  She'd just need to find one, and hope it wasn't a shapeshifter.  -After- the children were seen too of course; the little devils seemed to live for making Nanabi chase them.

[Inumo]

((Blech, again with the late post. I would think that being on Winter Break would make me less distracted, not more. >))

Judgement

The phone rings into Lemick's ear for a few seconds until someone picks up. "Foundation for Better Living," a male voice says from the other side. "My name's John, how can I help you?"

King of Pentacles

Sleep comes easily to Lorelei, leading to a calm next morning. A quiet knock on the door breaks the early silence, caused by a young man in a suit. "Good morning," he calls softly through the front door. "Is anyone awake? I'm working on a community project as part of my graduation requirements and wanted people's opinions..."

The Wheel of Fortune

The kappa father retrieving his child marks the beginning of the end, as parents quickly come to the same consensus as the kappa and head to Nanabi to retrieve their loved ones. With thanks and the odd tip, the count of children under Nanabi's care dwindles, until at last they're all gone. From a nearby tree, a crow caws, its call forming words. "You're not really a werewolf, are you. Others might not catch your tells, but I do. You're in luck, however, 'cuz I'm on your side. I was also on one of your friend's side until he got caught out and mind-wiped." With a flutter of wings, it swoops down to the grass in front of Nanabi. "The name's Bartholomew. I'm guessing you need help?"

[JamesCray]

"Indeed! Your first lesson is setting up your workstation on an empty desk, and I suggest you pay attention, as this is probably going to be what you'll be getting the most panicked support calls over. We're in the midst of swapping all the old Dells over to these Sun Ray 3i clients." Robert says, gesturing to the only thing on the cart still in a shrink-wrapped box. "Think of it as a really really thin client. Just enough brains on board to see the network so it can display a virtualized desktop running on the server farm. They're completely solid-state, just plug in the mouse and keyboard, network and power, and it should be ready to go. All you have to do is put your campus ID card in the card slot and it'll pull your session to you on any client on-campus. Any questions?" Generally, Robert would be a great deal less confident, but he was speaking in his area of expertise and he lived to be viewed as knowledgeable.

[Azlan]

Lorelei has always been an early riser, even on a day such as this after a major festival.  As such she is already awake and enjoying her morning repast.

She is in her entry hall as Bryce answers the door, so she waves him away and speaks directly to the one soliciting, "good morning, what can I do for you sir?"

[Inumo]

Eight of Pentacles

The young man straightens and smooths out his suit as Lorelei addresses him, sweeping his hair out of his eyes. "Good morning, ma'am," he begins. "My name is Cristoff Verboknen, I go to High Water High School over in the Plymouth district of Joneswark. As one of the requirements to graduate, we must create and perform a community service project. In order to ensure that my project is viable, I'm asking around today to see if people in this area would use or support the service I would provide." Handing Lorelei a brochure, he continues, "It's no secret that it often helps to have an extra pair of hands around, yet few can afford the time or money to hire a manservant. I propose creating a reputable organization for the screening and hiring of personal assistants for two hour blocks, particularly for the elderly. Would you use or support an organization for this purpose?" The brochure itself displays effort, research, and attention to detail. Notable sections include "Cost Estimates," "Man-Hours Required," and "Differences From Current Services."

The Chariot

"Right then," Pat answers, slipping by Robert to grab hold of the cart. "Guess I'd better get started. Where to?" she asks as she heads towards the exit, equipment in tow.

[Meany]

The old woman was not as surprised with talking birds as she should have been; the relearning of the Shinto tales reminded her that all animals could talk after they grew old enough, but perhaps this was not the case with this one.  It bore a Western name, so perhaps the rules were different.  Nanabi pondered if she wanted to risk what may well be a trap, versus doing her own research... no, pride was not something she could risk here.  She looked the little bird in the eye, and nodded.  "Yes, I do.  Would you help me?"

[Azlan]

Lorelei spends a brief few moments reviewing the brochure and considering the proposal as presented.  "I, myself, would not have need of these services.  I would support the enterprise, but I would need to know the criteria used for hiring the personnel."

[Inumo]

The Lovers

"Hm? I could have sworn I put that section in there..." Cristoff takes the brochure from Lorelei for a moment, scanning through the paragraphs of information. "Let's see... Ah! Here it is," he declares, handing the brochure back with one finger on a section labelled, "Qualifications." Suddenly, he jumps and digs into his hip pocket, pulling out a buzzing cell phone. Looking down at it, he sighs and says, "Excuse me a moment, I'm afraid I have to take this..." Heading a few meters down the walk, he puts the device to his ear. Snippets of his conversation drift to Lorelei's ears: "Hello? Oh, hey there... not the best time right... While that sounds very exciting... I'll be there soon..." Cristoff slips the phone back into his pocket, and his shoulders rise and fall to his deep breath. Returning to the door, he says, "Thank you very much for your time and opinion, ma'am. Have a nice day." With a small nod and a half-bow, he walks back to the sidewalk and hangs a right, disappearing into the next-door neighbor's hedge.

Ten of Pentacles

Bartholomew cackles at Nanabi's forward approach. "I like your style, miss. Of course I'll help you." Flapping onto the woman's shoulder, the crow continues, "Now, you look like you've got some money to throw around... I think I know just what to do so you blend in better. Even the loneliest of the upper class still feels camaraderie for their wealth-mates. Head back to your house, and ask me any questions you want along the way. I'll answer them as best I can."

[justacritic]

"You tell me how can you help me?" Lemick asked, after all he got the number from a random person off the street.

[JamesCray]

"Okay, we're going to be heading down the hall and to the left, then second door on the right. Once upon a time this part of the building was dorms, then they converted it to offices, and they put the servers in the old common room in the basement." Robert explains, and then chuckles before adding "We call it the dungeon, since it's dark, cold, underground, and full of racks." When they arrive at the former dorm, now divided into four rather cramped workstations by beige, fabric-covered panels, it's lady's choice. "I'm the only one in here, so you have a choice of window or not. Personally, I recommend the inner one, the windows turn the outer cubicals into a greenhouse in the summer and they let the cold in in the winter."

[Azlan]

Lorelei was certainly concerned.  Mr. Hammond might travel a lot for his work, commuting all the way to London, but he certainly would not appreciate some random solicitor busting through his hedge into his side yard without cause or at least calling ahead.  It was her neighborly responsibility to dissuade this Cristoff from using an improper shortcut through her neighbor's private yard.

Quickly following after him, she calls out rather sternly, "now see here sir, you cannot just dash through someone's hedge like that."

[Inumo]

((Lemick's story is being worked out via PMs.))

Knight of Pentacles

Lorelei's calls are left unanswered as she approaches the hedge. As she stands there, a voice comes from behind her, "Um, ma'am? Could you please, um, move for a moment? Just for a moment, I swear." Turning around, she can see a teenage guy of perhaps thirteen or fourteen looking up with a polite, but distracted face. His upper body seems normal, insofar as his head and shoulders are normal for a human, but that's where it ends. Sticking out from his baggy green shirt, a lion's legs and lower body have replaced a normal person's arms, waist, and legs. As he stands there, his tail still, he soon averts his eyes, uncomfortable, and clicks his right front paw's claws on the pavement. "One, two, three," he breaths almost inaudibly with each run of his claws. "One, two, three."

Six of Swords

Pat chuckles at the nickname Robert proclaims for the basement server room. "Punny," she replies, a small smile settling on her lips. When at last they arrive at their destination, she listens intently to Robert's advice. "Good to know," she comments before pulling the cart to the remaining inner cubicle. "I'm guessing it's a fairly standard setup process?" she asks, setting her tablet aside to wipe the dust off her new workstation. "Put all the cords where they fit in?" She pulls out a small pocket knife, at most an inch and a half long and thus well under the university's restrictions, to cut through the shrink-wrap on the Sun Ray 3i.

[JamesCray]

"Eeyup," Rob affirms. "USB keyboard and mouse, Ethernet and power to the wall. It's like that old iMac commercial with Jeff Goldblum, there's no step three. The fun part comes once it's up and running, we have to get your ID reclassed for staff access, bump your user account to Admin 1 level, and then get your VOIP account put together. I'm also the de-facto Apple guy around here if you want to learn about that, but I have a sneaking suspicion you aren't going to actually need a whole lot of training since your background seems more than solid. Out of curiosity, you from here, or come here for school?"

[Azlan]

Lorelei sighed to herself, "there is one of these right near my flat?"

She steps through the hedge to satiate her curiosity on the matter.

[Inumo]

Page of Pentacles

Two steps into the hedge, Lorelei exits from an empty doorframe inside Avalon. Behind her, the teenage sphinx follows, spinning in place a full circle before heading off to the left. "Have a nice day, ma'am," he says as he turns away. The Avalon is as normal: the door frame is set into a stone wall behind Lorelei, a few buildings lie straight ahead, and the street she's on extends to either side. It appears that one of the shops ahead is holding a going-out-of-business sale on "Guaranteed Lucky Charms!!!"

Six of Wands

Pat grunts at Robert as confirmation before quickly setting up the rig. "I actually am normally from a state over, in a town called Cael. Weirdest name, spelled C-A-E-L despite the fact that it's pronounced like 'sail.' Guess that's what happens when the Irish found a city or something. Can't say my parents were too happy with the move, but I wasn't really a fan of Cael's computer science programs." In only a few minutes, her workstation is sitting pretty as she presses the power button. As the screen pops to life, she lets out a sigh of relief. "Despite having set up more than a few computers, I still get anxious until it starts up," she chuckles, her campus ID appearing in her hand with a flick of her wrist. Sliding it into its proper slot, she looks over her shoulder at Robert and asks, "What now?"

[AmberCross]

Wow, been away a while... Anyone get the license plate on that bus?

David had been nodding understandingly at most of Christina's comments, but her question gave him pause while he considered it for a moment. He wasn't typically in the habit of giving out his phone number to people he had only just met, even if they were good friends of good friends which, come to think, Kevin hadn't really been recently anyway. In terms of asking questions that Kevin wouldn't answer... well David's mind of course went straight to Avalon since most hidden meanings seemed to be related to that these days. However, to ask Avalon related questions would reveal he knew of Avalon and David had already been burned pretty heavily by that recently. Still, this wasn't likely to inconvenience him later and he couldn't think of a way to decline without being at least a bit rude and since it was hardly Christina's fault that Kevin had been a jerk, David acquiesced to her request and told her his cell number.

[Inumo]

Knight of Pentacles

As Christina noted down David's number, Kevin lumbers his way into the room. "Good morning," he groans, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.
"G'morning, Kev," Christina replies. Jerking her head towards the kitchen, she continues, "I made breakfast. Your portion's in the oven."
"Thanks, Christi." Taking a seat, Kevin's plate of food appears in front of him, his fork appearing in his hand as he grabs at where it would normally be. "Ugh, I keep telling myself I'll never drink that much ever again, then something like that festival comes along and I do stuff like this." Massaging his forehead, he pauses as if concentrating, then gets up and goes to get a glass from the cupboards, filling it with water from the sink. "Be glad you're such a lightweight, Christi, you don't get hangovers."
"No, instead I do really stupid things," Christina answers, burying her face in her hands. "Seriously, did I do what I think I did last night?"
"You mean kiss Mary, or flash that satyr bouncer?"
"Both. Ugh..."
"Hey, if it makes it any better it was really funny watching that satyr's reaction. You could see him 'pitch a tent,' so to speak."
"No, that doesn't make it any better, in fact that makes it worse."
"Well, flashing him only made it worse. I almost thought he was going to--"
Christina groans again, dropping her hands to check her watch and revealing her furiously blushing cheeks. "Alright, I'm going to go help Craig out with his math homework. You guys... do what you do."
"See ya, Christi." Kevin gives her a quick hug before returning to his seat. When the door has shut behind her, there's a moment of silence before Kevin asks, "David... Can I say I'm sorry? For reporting you?"

[Azlan]

She smiles and waves briefly at the sphinx, "um, yes.  You as well."

Curiosity is strong with this one.  Lorelei decides to visit the shop selling the charms.  Not intending to buy any, but interested to see what might be in such a place.

[JamesCray]

"Now we go downstairs, the only account with the privileges to reclass your VM as admin is on the main console for security, bring your card. Also, the wiring trunk's down there. The ethernet's solid and always connected, but the phone system's a bitsa, most of it goes back to when phone numbers had letters in them. Hopefully we won't have to resort to eldritch Fae enchantment to get you a working desk phone." Robert says, taking a pair of small gadgets from a desk drawer and plugging one into the phone jack nearest Pat's desk, before heading out the office door humming the intro to "Come Sail Away" by Styx.

[Inumo]

King of Pentacles

A bell hanging over the door tinkles as Lorelei enters the charm shop. Placed here in there on the shop floor are pillars, around which glass display cases have been set up to display a variety of pendants, amulets, fetishes, bracelets, and more. To someone educated in some of the more occult traditions, many of the jewelry pieces are clearly traditional good luck charms. Towards the back, behind a glass counter, a Chinese man opens his eyes as he hangs from a sturdy bar, calling in a strong Oriental accent, "Hello! How are you today?" With a quick flex of his stomach, he flips off the bar and onto his feet, dusting off his beige trousers and satin tai chi jacket. "Can I help you find something?"

((At this point, it'd probably be good to switch over to PMs for expediency.))

Page of Swords

Patricia blushes slightly as Robert explains the next step. "Whoops..." she murmurs, her ID card jumping into her hand as she turns to follow Robert. With a glance at the phone line gadgets, she asks, "Should I know what those are as well?" She pauses to let Robert answer and then some. After a few moments, however, she queries, "So... you know Avalon, right?"

[JamesCray]

"Line tester. Think of it as a flashlight in two pieces, we put the bit with the battery in up here, it puts DC through the phone wire. When we get downstairs we plug the part with the light into the jacks on the panel downstairs, and it lights up when we find the right one." Robert explains, before she asks after Avalon. "Indeed. I suppose that makes two of us then, since you sort of have to know about it to ask about it."

[justacritic]

Card: Six of Swords
"The Foundation for Better Living is a for-profit organization to assist in fulfilling the dreams of anyone," John begins, "so long as they do not directly harm another person. We are here to help you with whatever you want. At the Foundation for Better Living, it is not a question of what can we do, it's a question of what do you want? Whatever your heart desires, we will find teachers, speakers, and material to give a short seminar on your topic of choice to you and people with similar dreams. So, how can we improve your life?"
Lemick's mind raced, this sounded too good to be true. The key words "fulfilling the dreams of anyone, help you with whatever you want, not a question of what we do, and what do you want" made this very appealing but then caution came forth with the phrase "for-profit organization" even though the add-on "do not directly harm another person" was added. Be careful what you wish for seemed to be an appropriate saying for this situation. Thus Lemick ran through his head as to what he could want and an appropriate response. "Well all my life, I haven't been the most fortunate of people, luck rarely seems to head my way. I've tried to cope by seeing the best in everything but it'll be nice to actually have something to be optimistic about. I don't suppose you have anything of the sort? Another thing, how much do your services cost? I don't want to benefit and find out later that I'm unable to pay you back."
"Don't worry, sir," John replies. "We can certainly do something about your luck, and we have plenty of affordable payment plans to help you pay for our services when you can. While we may be for-profit, we do not believe in extorting people for a better life. So long as we are paid at some point, we do not mind. When are you available to come in for a seminar?"
"Are there any Sundays free?" Lemick asked.
"Of course, sir," the man replies over the phone. "Let me see when the next seminar is... Well, what do you know, we have an opening for you this Sunday. Shall I pen you in?"
"Yes please" Lemick said.
"Alright, then, sir, you're now listed as an attendee of the Sunday seminar. Be at our building by two o' clock in the afternoon; we'll have signs to direct you to the right place form there. Have a nice day!" With a click, the other end of the line shuts off.
Lemick placed the phone back and sat down, maybe there was something to hope for after all.