The Advocate Council Meeting Feb 11 2022
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The setup...
The mages are meeting at WhyteRabbit's new apartment to portal into the chantry because Doc wants people to go in unseen.
[OOC] Skynet says, "How are you coordinating and arranging the meeting space? Text message? Email? Word of mouth?" [OOC] Khoi says, "Bernard, Brey, and Whyte were in the same general neighborhood area recently, so they could have feasibly talked about it. [OOC] Skynet says, "How are you getting the message to the others?" [OOC] Khoi says, "Texting them to meet me up somewhere, then telling them with my lip-flaps." [OOC] Skynet notes that the technocracy now knows everything because of Khoi. Noted. [OOC] Khoi says, "!!" Rude! [OOC] Skynet puts hands on belly, laughs. [OOC] Bernard says, "They bugged your lip piercing" [OOC] Karina says, "It's the new Alexa." [OOC] WhyteRabbit says, "Which would be more technocracy..Apple or Amazon? :)" [OOC] Karina says, "Apple is Iteration X and Amazon are Void Engineers &/or Syndicate" [OOC] Skynet says, "We can fast forward through most of this setup with ooc discussion to get to the meat. Presumably everybody comes in. Bernard has his cake. Corinna to do some kind of portal."" [OOC] Corinna says, Uhhh first I'm gonna scry over there so that I can use that rule from HDYDT that makes it easier to open the gate, and then also draw runes and stuff in blood on WR's walls (sorry bout your security deposit)
Skynet You find yourselves in an empty apartment, coordinated and arranged through text messages.
Khoi has done his part to send a few messages to people asking them out for lunch and so on in order to tell them the time and place to show up. He takes the incredible, inedible BART and Uber to get there, helping Bernard with the apology cake.
WhyteRabbit greets people as they arrive. He is an average-looking White man in his early 20s who is wearing a black turtleneck fuzzy wool sweater, and black dress slacks. He has a grey trenchoat over this. He is 5'8" and is weak and thin-limbed. He carries himself with natural grace. The lower left half of his face is horrendously burned, what appears to be an old scar. He tugs on his sweater every so often, nervously, "Welcome everyone to my new apartment. Not much, but hopefully I can get some decent furniture and spruce it up. I'd give a tour, but well, what you see is pretty much what you get - bedroom, and kitchen. Oh, and bathroom if anyone needs to go before we, uh, go." He points to the bathroom door.
WhyteRabbit removes the trenchcoat, hanging it on a hook behind the door. Not like we'll need a trenchcoat, if we are gating there right?
Coda arrives, looking preoccupied. He's dressed more or less as he ever is; the shirt is royal blue, the Cube of Metatron amulet out. The vape pen is already in his hand. He gives a polite nod around and tucks it away long enough to not send vape smoke moving through the new apartment.
Father Jimenez may not have gotten the message through Khoi, but Alex Foster's previous meeting with Whyte served as a convenient bridge of communication. However, Foster is not present, and instead the Chorister is, bringing his dour and dutiful countenance to the empty apartment. As he steps in, he stops by the doorway, remaining on the landing. His dark eyes assess the newly rented space. "Congratulations," he says to Whyte, "Space at such a premium these days, a new apartment on your own is no small task."
Bernard arrives with Khoi in a white cotton suit an a bright green tie wound up in a double windsor. The threads look like they breath nicely given the warm weather. He is carrying a pink baker's box with the assistance of the ranking Sahajiya. "Sorry I didn't bring a housewarming present!" he calls to their host. "I didn't think it was one of those sorts of things.". The lanky Cultist hugs the box and finds a corner out of the way and let's wiser wizards set the pace.
WhyteRabbit smiles at Father Jimenez, and says "Thank you. It's taken me a while. It will look a lot better once I've added furniture and personal touches." Turning to Bernard, "It's ok, this isn't an official house warming. At some point I'll do that, but once the place is better. Besides, baked goods are always a good choice."
Khoi engages in the unthinking, automated habit of taking off his shoes. They're creeper shoes out of the 90s, and he loses a couple of inches of height as he does it, kicking them aside by the door. He sees Coda and offers him a weak smile, carrying the aura of someone whose mind is distinctly elsewhere, before he looks off to Whyte for a quick, "Thanks for letting us use the space," and then to Corinna. "Uh, do you need any help opening the uh, ..." His brain fails him on the right word. Shit. He twists a hand in the air and makes a circle. "You know, you know, uh, using your sling ring and all that?"
After getting into WhyteRabbit's fresh apartment, it's time to defile it. Corinna looks a little worse for wear, a bit anemic, puffy-eyed and tired. Her jacket has a fresh set of leather sinew stitches over a cut on at the crook of her left arm. Her favorite jacket! Scarred! Grumpily, she unslings her backpack and gets to work.
"There's a bathroom over there too, y'know." She sits near a corner of the freshly painted drywall and starts to pull out tools. Paint markers. A little plastic mirror. A knife. A small bowl.
First it's just dealing with that mirror. She hums to herself and draws some symbols in paint long the edges, tilting it to check her reflection. Or the shape of the symbols.
It takes a few minutes.
"What the fuck?" she says out loud, though. Something's gone wrong. She taps on the mirror.
"Well," Coda says, with wry humor that sounds almost a little weary. "Those are words a man loves hearing when there are a whole lot of us crammed into one place."
He steps to a window, just deciding to take a single, paranoid look outside of it. This is pretty par for his course; Coda is ever-paranoid. What the fuck just doesn't strike him as the best sign in the world.
Alongside Corinna arives Karina, decked out in the attire of her people. A red tracksuit with the shirt unzipped to reveal a tucked wifebeater beneath. With messenger bag in tow she paints the perfect picture of someone that's really bad at not looking like a drug dealer.
She gives a gruff nod to those present, but the bulk of her attention seems to be on Blue for one reason or another.
That focus aside, though, the redhead offers no real amiable dialogue of her own aside from a, "Nice place, kid." immediately before she pulls out a knife and tin marked as 'GP' with sharpie. The former being used to start pecking at the wall she's taken to standing before.
Her own defacing comes to a halt, however, when Corinna speaks her surFather Jimeneze. A quirked brow from Red turning towards Blue. "Fuck was that?"
WhyteRabbit also looks nervous, and says "No one had a moment of Deja Vu, no seeing black cats twice?" Did Why just make a Matrix joke. Yes. Was it a good joke..No. He eyes the trenchcoat he hung on the door wistfully. Still, he nods at Khoi in recognition of the thanks. His attention however, is then mostly focused on Corrina. "It seemed to work, and work well. Not a fizzle, but..jammed somehow perhaps?"
Bernard nods slowly at the Virtual Adept, "Cool. I got some Viking's Lament from Fieldworks for a special occassion. This..." he cocks his head at the cake box in his arms, "Was more a priority. No offense bruh."
His attention drifts toward Corinna looking mesmerized by her spellwork. When whatever happens with the mirror he blurts out a startled chuckle. Which immediately dies down when he hears Coda. The lean Cultist looks visibly concerned all of all sudden peeking around nervously at the nooks and crannies of the apartment.
"Did they..." he looks to Khoi with mounting worry, "Could they track us here like they did at the pad? I think..." his gaze drifts up looking for something he seems to believe is hiding somewhere is the bare dwelling.
Khoi's treading his sense of being ill at ease, and so when he sees Karina just start writing on a fresh wall to christen Whyte's brand new home he suddenly starts laughing. "Oh! Oh nooo," he says aloud, his smile easy to hear as he cringes at the notion of a lost security deposit.
When he hears the 'what the fuck', his inappropriately timed laughter dies. He looks at the woman, then Bernard's question grabs his attention. "They? Maybe," he supposes with a shrug, as he lifts a hand to put it on Bernard's shoulderblade in an attempt to stabilize his mounting worry, attention on the other mages. "Just uh, blue sky mind, man."
"Locked out," Corinna says, looking up. "I _nailed_ this," she says, holding up that plastic mirror with painted futharks on it. Phrasing, tho.
"It wasn't the Signal Jammer. There's a ward on the Chantry. Or here." She looks to Why. "You put up extra 'jamming' on your new spot already?" Pause. She eyes the windows. "Were you followed here after you got your picture taken by that drone? K, can you block our sounds from leaving the room?"
For Brey: They all meet in a fresh apartment because they wanted to go unseen to the Chantry. So the plan was via portal. Arranged through Khoi word of mouth and text.
[OOC] Hey Brey, the mages have agreed to show up at Whyte's brand new bare apartment while Corinna and Karina open a gateway to go inside only to find that their spell is not working as they hoped.
WhyteRabbit holds dear to the truism "When in doubt, look to the elders." He had hoped Alex would be here, and Doctor Martin isn't either, but he turns and watches Father Jimenez for hints on what to do next. Uncharacteristically, some of Alex Foster's and Khoi's comments have taken note, and he has not started bringing up any devices or energies. Instead he is waiting, though he does once again eye wistfully the trenchcoat that holds his guns. He turns to Corinna, "I JUST got the place, no magic at all from me in the last two weeks. Khoi said one week, and I extended it by another one for good measure."
"I can, yeah. . . though uhhhh. . ." Karina begins to answer, only to pause and look towards WhyteRabbit, the owner of the apartment she'd already taken to defacing. "How -much- do ye' mind not gettin' yer security deposit back. . . also, do ye' have any candles? Or cigarettes?" Oh, -now- she asks.
Jimenez stays where he has been, just to the side of the door. He frowns, and as his eyes round the room his hand reaches for his rosary beads, fingers traversing their shape and texture. But then, the happy little guitar-xylophone of his phone's breezy ringtone and he stops, whisking the phone out of his pocket.
"Hello? ... Yes, we're here."
A moment passes and he looks Whyte explains about how fresh this new place is, and as others wonder at what could possibly be.
And then his eyebrows skitter straight up his forehead in offended shock. "What do you MEAN, locked out? He can't do that!" Jimenez starts pacing, his bluchers bringing him forward along the den floor.
Brey's arrived late, for reasons, but she totally texted Khoi and Corinna with some sort of cryptic message about a car crash on her route and how she's going to be having dinner late when she's hungry. So when there's a knock at the door, hopefully no one freaks out too much, as Brey also calls out, "Hello? It's just me. I have a housewarming plant."
Bernard fidgets a little calming down as he takes a few deep breathes and nods to his mentor. He squints at Karina nervously calling, "I got some joints?" in response to her question about candles or cigarettes. Hearing Corinna and the padre he groans and mutters, "Ruh roh.".
He wanders off and looks for a place to set the cake down in Whyerabbit's kitchen before making his way back to the other mages. Bernie looks at Khoi and shrugs questioningly at the other Time mage. When Brey arrives he seems to warm up a little, "Damn it I knew I shoulda brought something else.".
WhyteRabbit looks to Karina, and shrugs. "I mean, it's a hit definitely, but I can deal with it. Do what you need to do. Unfortunately, I have no candles. I have some paint rags and a metal paint can though, so if you just need a fire source...?"
"So you're telling me that he put up a wall, himself?" Jimenez absorbs some more information on the phone. "This is ridiculous, we're attempting to respect his request to be unseen which is unreasoanble in the /first/ place. He can't ask us to use the back door and then proceed to LOCK the back door!"
At least the yelling into the phone is reassuring. As the apartment is also getting damaged, Coda just sighs and takes out his vape pen once again. He takes a deep draw on it: some sort of cherry-tobacco scent, and while he doesn't exactly leave his post by the window...he still doesn't like the surFather Jimeneze...he relaxes somewhat.
"Er, so... We've got to talk to him, get him to calm down," Corinna offers. "He was _pissed_ at Foster the other day, and then when the cultists attacked the Chantry he was pissed about the machinery being unused while he was in timejail." She shrugs and looks around the room. "Hey, Bernard, you brought cake. Maybe that'll cheer him up. We need to be unified, with the Technocrats rising and this Cult..."
"You roll an' pack 'em good? They gonna burn even?" Karina questions when Bernard puts his cannabis supply up for offer.
And to follow she tacks on another question that she turns to Jiminez to field. "What's the word, padre? We havin' the meetin' here?" This query is punctuated by a subsequent glance towards Corinna again, a quirked brow, as if she could answer that question herself should The Father prove too preoccupied.
"Mmm. . . prob'ly not. That'd make too much smoke whether the can caught fire 'r not."
A Moment Of Deliberation
[OOC] OOCly what do people wanna do? Try to get through the agenda or try to figure out the Dr. Martin / Chantry house thing? We can always make that an agenda item. I'm fine with either if we can do the agenda oocly otherwise my preference is for running through the agenda here to get it over with and then maybe deal with Dr. Martin through other jobs or scenes or something?
[OOC] If he's unwilling to let us in from here then I say we tackle the agenda in WR's apartment. He effectively made the choice not to be involved in the meeting by denying access to its intended location.
[OOC] I am fine with either. Obviously not looking forward to my part of the agenda, but putting it off isn't going to help.
[OOC] Just set up the sound block, maybe thicken space, and then deal with him via job or later scene
[OOC] In order to move forward if you choose to go that route we will skip rolls and handwave that given all of you you can set up those relatively simple effects.
[OOC] :votes meeting here hug it out with martin later
[OOC] Brey nodnod
[OOC] Karina volunteers for hugging duty. "I've gotten experience with that recently."
[OOC] If it's ok, and it looks like we're going that route, then I'd have Why recommend someone do a Prime 2 damping field to mask any more magic done here during the meeting.
[OOC] Karina can probably toss that in with the sound effect. "If Skynet is fine with that. Same general principle paradigm wise."
[OOC] Ok.
Bernard rubs the back of his head sheepishly and blushes a little, "I accidently rubbed salt in the emotional wound. I baked that cake and wrote an apology letter to quash beef I unintentionally started with the Doc. So yeah the cake has intent.". Turning to Karina he faux gasps and touches his chest, "They will burn perfect! Yeah fat and even sis." he fishes out a vintage cigarette case with a hand reaching for a full moon on the cover. With a squint he follows up with, "Yeah I got about six already rolled.". He leans back and crosses his arms over his chest content to quieting down in his obvious embarassment.
Jimenez then throws up one hand in exasperation. He looks heavenward for a moment as he gathers his mental strength, his phone still raised to his ear. "Well, get over here, then. You know my number. I'm not letting important matters be cast aside in the wake of Noah's childishness. This generation had nothing to do with his hardships and should not be hampered for things -they- did not do." He hangs up the phone.
Jimenez mutters in Spanish his own frustrations. Something about not having the proper space, the banners, the seating, about no respect for tradition and duty!
Then he looks to the room, first to Coda at the window, then to the rest in turn as he speaks. "That was Alex. It seems that we are currently locked out of our own building when it comes to passage by the omnipresence of the Lord. Noah has reactivated his parmenidic contagion dampener." He presents that word as if the rest of them must have heard of it before. "So we'll need to get in by doing so in person, if we wish to get in at all."
"Okay. Then let's call the meeting to order. We'll wait a bit for Alex while Karina sets up the security," Corinna says, speaking mostly to Jiminez, but eyes flitting around to the others in the room. She packs her shit back in her backpack and zips it up, and then just sort of collapses from her crouch so her ass is on the floor and her back is supported by the drywall corner. She rests a forearm on her raised knee tiredly.
[OOC] Anyone object to doing a fast forward?
[OOC] No objections here.
[OOC] In the time that it takes to set up the (handwaved?) precautions Alex'll show up.
[OOC] Brey doesn't mind!
[OOC] Sounds good to me.
[OOC] Go for it
[OOC] I'm down, woop
Once word comes down that their clubhouse has recently enacted a very firm "No Entry by Unusual Means" policy to go along with the added clandestine demands Karina gets to work on her part in prepping WhyteRabbit's apartment.
Bernard earns a cheeky smirk for his acting, and Karina strides forward to retrieve three of the six rollups. "Good man, it's a dyin' skill, I tell ye'." She remarks with a nod of appreciation during her inspection of the 'materials'.
The next short while is spent with Karina -very- delicately handling her lighter, which produced flames more akin to a torch than a simple, if stylish, zippo. It's a process, but apparently she's had practice at it and eventually gets all three lit and set up in a vague triangle around the area. The joints burn remarkably brightly, but thankfully in confirmation of Bernard's word they're of a quality that allows them to persist a bit despite Karina's accelerant of an existence.
She speaks to one joint as the smoke rises, and eventually where once her voice was clear soon it became nothing but the sight of her mouthing words until she turned to face the group as a whole again. "A'ight, we're good."
WhyteRabbit listens to Khoi's explanation to Bernard. A light seeming to dawn in his eyes. Apparently he thought he had to remain silent. Perhaps he's never been to one of these, here or elsewhere. "Oh. Ok, yes I'll add my voice to the chorus for Corinna.", he says, somewhat quietly.
Once everybody is settled and the precautions are up and the people are here, Corinna starts: "Hey, I set up an agenda and called the meeting to order. Let's do a rollcall first. We've got Disciple Karina bani House uh..." she looks at Karina and squints, apologizing with a toothy smile. "Flame-bow? Advocate for the Order of Hermes." "Disciple Khoi bani Sahajiya. Sorry, I don't know your specific, you know. Thing. Advocate for Sahajiya." "Adept Father Mason Jiminez bani Celestial Chorus, Advocate." That one's said quickly and primly and without any 'uh'-ing. "Adept Alex Foster, Virtual Adept, Advocate." Same. "Disciple Coda bani Chakravanti, new Advocate." "Me, Corinna of Verbena, Advocate for the same." "Then in attendance we've got Members: Bernard bani Sahajiya, WhyteRabbit bani Virtual Adept, Breyanne of Verbena."
She looks around the room. Missing anyone? No. Good.
"First order of business is picking a new chair. Happy to just run down the list of things and call for votes. We've already seen some proposals, but we'll say them out loud here so members know what's going on. Or if you'd prefer someone else run it, throw it out there and let's vote. Don't bother raising hands or whatever, just say who and if we've got a majority we'll move on."
Khoi spends some time pitching in on the safeguards to be laid in Whyte's apartment for the day. At Whyte's recommendation to mask more magick, he recruits Bernard to assist him after he realizes that his flip phone will serve him very little. He asks Bernie for his phone to play music with, walks him through some concepts, and has his lanky, recruited assistant blow that weedsmoke into window panes and corners since he's already smoking. The soft volume of some music carries on in the background as Corinna starts up.
When the list is laid out by Corinna, he answers, "Cult Of Acceptance."
Jimenez's face is like a Winows download progress bar on the track towards Ron Swanson Camera Stare with every little 'uh' and 'um' as Corinna rolls out those introductions. But, the Lord gives him strength.
"You're already doing it, Corinna, and you're off to a fine start," Coda says, taking a drag off his vape pen again and casting another uneasy look out the window. "Chairman Corinna, so voted." He's good for say it fast and move on, and there's little debate here. There's something in the look he casts her, something inscrutable, but it's soon replaced by a quick half smile. He glances around at the others, and then shrugs. Being introduced as the new advocate seems to do absolutely nothing to stop him from having an opinion and throwing it right out there.
Bernard follows Khoi in the recruitment for whatever spellwork straining to tear his attention from Corinna. When his name is called he looks confusedly between the Verbena and his Cultist mentor, "Um..here?" he responds before focusing his attention on the jams and blowing smoke. Once they are done helping he settles near Khoi and does his best to follow along. It is pretty evident this is the first one of these types of meetings that he is ever been to.
"Flambeau." Karina notes as a matter of course as she takes a seat and busies herself drawing two pairs of handcuffs from her bag that she proceeds to shackle herself with once she's sat on the floor. "Jus' go with Ignis, easier'ta say. An' aye, I'll second Corinna fer Chairperson."
Alex Foster shrugs. "Whatever gets me to working on the Signal Jammer again the fastest. Abstaining until the end, then give my vote to whoever the major is, on a tie to Jiminez."
WhyteRabbit watches the proceedings, remaining silent. There is more sweater pulling, a nervous tic. He coughs a little at the smoke, though it brigns back familiar memories of home and his Verbena mother, who smoked often.
Jimenez side-eyes Foster for a judgemental moment. He then watches Karina shackle herself with mild interest, but abstains from comment. "I agree with Coda that I am already looking at the chair, Corinna."
Brey's found a nice little place to be out of the way and look at people as introductions are made. Unlike Jiminez, one can just FEEL her tired resignation at the names and titles and what-not, but she bears with it with patience. "Enne," She does say, mildly, "Breyenne. Little flatter. But absolutely Corinna for chair." Brey says, pulling out a small notebook and a pencil to scribble on as the meeting progresses. She's started to casually sink from her spot where her back is against the wall, apparently willing to sit on the floor, the pothos plant gift next to her, to write. She's totally paying attention, though. Surely.
Khoi votes with the tide of opinion as he decides to squat down to a not-seat on the floor, his back near the wall as a backup plan for when the whole 'being almost 40' thing catches up to his knees. He gestures at Corinna. He glances at Bernard. "The way this works is that you have a voice but not a vote, each tradition gets a vote, so I vote. You cool with me voting Corinna?" A pause for his reaction, then he casts his vote for Corinna.
"Cool. So voted, I'll move on. Next thing: What should we do about the recent attack on the Chantry? The proposal is:
"Continue not to show up to the Chantry in a visible way. But we will need to address Dr. Martin's behavior. And set up a semi-permanent portal somewhere with a passcode.
"Some of us may have been followed either by the cult or by the technocracy or vampires or whoever. The council will establish check-ins for every member every other day. The most social of us is Khoi, so let's say the proposal is for him to do this. Khoi would be responsible for figuring out how to do this without relying on phones and for members who can't come and go from the Chantry secretly on their own.
"Assign someone else to look into figuring out what they know and if they're still watching the alley. Karina?
"And these were cultists from the binder Brey put together. This proposal is that every other member not asked to take on other tasks should spend a few hours trying to calm down the neighborhood and look into tracking down the cult, see where they fled to. Tricky because there are police and the alley has a lot of attention right now."
"Any advocates have anything to add or debate there? If not, feel free to just vote."
Corinna upnods over to Khoi. "Khoi's right," she says, gesturing toward Why, Bernard, Brey. She says it gently, but if she doesn't say it, Jiminez probably will and not so gently. "With the Charter as it is, you don't really get a vote or to open forum unless the Advocates can't reach a conclusion or a general invitation is made." She shrugs and makes a face. "And we've got to do it live."
"No objections," says Alex Foster. "Though I would like to have an exemption from time spent looking into it, as I need to maintain the Signal Jammer full time."
Father Jiminez is treated to a cheeky, falsely lascentious eyebrow waggle when he turns his gaze towards Karina shackling herself. Otherwise, though, the woman is all business. . . or as all business as she gets anyway.
All bizness, maybe.
"I already got some ideas on how'ta throw some feelers out, an' I got one o' the ones that got into the pad in my trunk, gonna see what I can get out o' 'em once I feel he's softened enough." Karina follows the suggestion of her doing a bit of info gathering. The mention that she's locked someone in the trunk of her car delivered with the exact same degree of importance as the rest of the statement.
"My question, though, is what we're gonna do with this info once we have it? We're lookin'ta take these dickheads out, yeah?" It's delivered as a question, though certainly not in a tone that denotes someone expecting opposition to the thought.
You know, despite Khoi being in the room.
Bernard seems sure Father Jimenezed and eagerly nods. "For sure dude. I mean.." he lowers his voice a little to answer Khoi. "She's super good at this right? Why wouldn't we?". He blinks a few times presumably still mulling the fact he as an initiate has a voice at the proceedings.
He chews his bottom lip as he tears his puppy like stare from Khoi and replants it on Corinna. The lilest Sahajiya winces a little at the mention of the cultist shooting a quick glance to Karina immediately looking away. He nods a little distractedly at Corinna.
WhyteRabbit says in a quiet voice, but with enough volume to be heard, "I'm not good with people. Well, that's not exactly news." He chuckles a little nervously. "But I am good with computers. I can research the cultists and their cult online, trace their financials, etc. Sometimes following the money can lead to a lot of clues. If that's an acceptable substitute for canvassing the people in the neighborhood."
"But, as stated, you can always let your opinion be known." Brey informs Whyte and Bernard. "Which is a right I encourage you use. I do." Said mildly, but well, she's proven it already! "The binder of information is in the Chantry, which I can no longer access to update, but I have a scratch version at home should anyone need to view it. I think dealing with the cultists should absolutely take priority. They're well-funded, plentiful, and have proven they can use magic as well as weapons. I know the area around the Chantry a touch, at least enough to say hello. I can start speaking to them. I'm a regular in the area for over a decade, after all."
"Er, I'd propose that what we do with this info once we have it is out of scope for this vote. We'll see what we find out and reconvene," Corinna says as a response to Karina. "And if there aren't any objections to Alex Foster's amendment, vote as if it's in the proposal."
Khoi his more or less paying attention, but he straightens up with a flutter of anxiety when he hears his name thrown into the situation. He doesn't dissent, but as his mind runs through logistics of how to handle that responsibility, his mouth fidgets silently with one of his liprings. "Well it depends on how um, big they are, like if they're a big group it makes better sense to just end whatever organizing force is making them a threat, and if they're a small group, it ... makes sense to ..." He lowers his head for a touch and presses his fingers to his forehead for a moment, then drops his hand and looks at Corinna. "I'm sorry, what are we voting on? Whether we prioritize the cultists over other things and take it in turns to find out more?"
"Honestly a hybrid approach that pulls in all of those proposals would be wise, none of them seem particularly mutually exclusive to me," Coda says evenly. "And you've already got assignment ideas for over half the roles on that list. I'd say mark all of that with a yes, hash out who does what on the others a little later if need be. No need to choose only one response."
"Mm. . . fine." Karina grunts back to the response she'd received. Though if it's irritation that brought rise to the terse retort it's apparently not a feeling that extends far enough to get the Modern Barbarian to actually press the issue.
"I'm fine with it as it's laid out. Includin' Foster takin' care o' his fishnets."
"It's all one proposal, we're voting on all of it: A: Whether we should make it official rule to come to the Chantry in secret. Proposal is yes. B: Whether to create a portal and semi permanent outside meeting spot. Proposal is yes. C: Whether Khoi should be responsible to check up on every member every other day. D: Karina to figure out if they're watching the alley. E: Everyone else except Foster committing to spending a few hours looking into the cult," Corinna says to Khoi. "If you don't have a problem with any of it, just say 'no objections' or 'yea', and if you do then withhold your vote and talk it out."
Bernard nods slowly looking around as he soaks in the various opinions. He whispers, "Thanks." to Brey as she offers further explaination but it's clear from his body language that he isn't sure if whispering is appropriate or not. Looking to Khoi to gauge the desired direction from his advocate.
"Every member of the chantry has a duty towards its maintenance and upkeep," Father Jimenez reminds the room, although he's settling the point of his stare on Alex. "Juggling ones own personal projects with your sworn duty to your chantry is your own personal responsibility, and so I will be /against/ your exemption." He says it smoothly enough to perhaps even bank on Foster, engrossed in his little palm pilot, to not notice.
Corinna says, "I... think Jiminez has the right of it, actually. I'll follow his vote. Yes but without the exemption."
Khoi takes a second to digest it all, gives Bernard a chance to speak up if he so chooses. Then after a check with him, he looks to Corinna. He counts out the items on his fingers and how he marks his verbal ballot: "Okay, ...
A, We should make it official rule to come to the chantry in secret until we decide otherwise. B, I vote to delay creation of the portal given Dr. Martin's uh, clear indication that it would be unwelcome. C, I feel like I can't vote for whether I should do something, but I will say I'm willing, and I'll defer that vote to Bernard. D., Yes, she can go figure out if they're watching the alley. E., Everyone, including Foster."
Alex Foster stops tapping on his palm pilot for long enough to look up and stare at Jiminez. Excuse me? And as the other votes come in he looks between Corinna and Khoi. "Well then. There is a tie."
"Now that I understand it's one big proposal: yes, but without the exemption," Coda says.
"Not a tie anymore," Khoi says, glancing to Coda. He looks toward Alex, then to Father Jimenez. "No exemption."
"Okay, yeah. A tie," says Corinna. "Only on whether you're exempt from adding a few hours of your time to look into these cultists. Sounds like everyone voted yes for A. Khoi dissented on B, but the majority still says the council's going to commission, with Tass, someone to make that portal. That's just setting a budget. Sounds like everyone but Khoi votes yes for C, but he's willing. So that's a yes, we count those. D. It's not permission, it's the council giving an assignment." And then when Coda's change comes in, she gestures to him with an open, upward palm, "There, no tie. Sorry, Alex. We've got to work together in the deep shit we're in. Share what's going on with the Signal Jammer sometime, maybe spread the load?"
"Going to call that resolved. The next topic is yours anyway, about WhyteRabbit."
Bernard looks surFather Jimenezed when Khoi mentions him, "What?!". He doesn't seem to have anything to add just doing his best to keep up. The attention drawn toward to the initiate does startle the hell out of him. As he removes one of his remaining joints he looks to see if any used for the wards were still burning, dangling the unlit thing between his fingers. Looking over at Alex he asks, "Could someone help you maintain your thing and help free you up to do this stuff?". Realizing immediately that Corinna just said that he clams up and holds his hands up to the Adept.
WhyteRabbit shifts in his seat. If anything he looks more nervous. He remains silent though, watching Alex and waiting for the BFG of Damocles to fire, hopefully only metaphoricly.
Foster grits his teeth and drinks from a paper cup of stale coffee he brought with him. He pockets his palm pilot and says, "Some of you have come to me with some concerns about our member, WhyteRabbit. I knew his parents. I have talked with him. He is learning the lessons these proposals are meant to teach. But we have also got to make sure the protocols are being upheld. So, my boy, step forward," he says, gesturing at Why. Presumably he does. "Since joining the Chantry you stayed for months in the building itself. It is time to move on. And it looks like no vote is needed because here we are in your spot, and you are our host. So thank you for that. You have come across as reckless in some of your other dealings. You have got to learn to be subtle in your arts, to keep from sleepers, cultists, vampires, technocrats, and all else from being able to trace to all of us through you. During a scouting mission recently I am told that you had your picture taken by a technocratic drone, and that some kind of night folk on the beach might have noticed you. So here is the proposal: A brand on your avatar for 3 months. When the three months is over all is forgiven, but for that time others know to be cautious around you. A sworn Oath to keep up what Khoi asked you to do. Be as a Sleeper in order to figure out what it means. For a month, that's all."
He looks around, and says, "I would venture this is less a debate for the council because the boy is of my Tradition. So if nobody has any strong objections, I would ask for your vote. I would also ask for your open-mindedness and your help in teaching him how to be a good, functioning member of our Chantry."
"Boy, you have anything to say in your defense before they vote?"
WhyteRabbit steps forward and pauses after Alex is done, then starts.
He says "I have interacted with many of you since I was forced to leave my home. I have not gotten off to a a good start. It's never been due to malice, but it has been ignorance. I am guilty of what you've said, so I am not contesting the penance. I want to explain where that ignorance came from, and please bear with me, as I have an additional proposal at the end.
Coda watches Whyte speak. He takes another long drag on his cigarette. His expression had soured at the word 'brand', his jaw going tight. But he does not interrupt, and he gives the boy his attention.
Bernard mouths, "Oh fuck." as he edges a bit away from Karina but maintaining enough distance to Khoi for the sake of solidarity. His face is a silent roller coaster of surFather Jimeneze and mild confusion. When Coda speaks the confusion shifts to franctic worry. He looks at the Chakravanti advocate and points at himself questioningly.
Khoi's attention moves on to Foster, and his expression shifts into one of mild surFather Jimeneze as he hears some details that apparently ring as news to him. His eyes flit Brey's way, then Coda's, then back to Foster. He shifts and ends up sitting cross-legged on the floor instead of squatting and continues to attend to the situation. He takes out his vape pen, activating it to take a drag.
WhyteRabbit continues after a moment, "I grew up on a remote farm in the Canadian wilderness, raised by my mother and father. My father was a Virtual Adept, one of the early ones. She was a Verbena. He had suffered horribly at the hands of the Technocracy and felt most of the ascension war was being conducted in too soft a manner. He was...intense. I loved him, and he loved me, but he raised me to be a weapon, first and foremost above all else. His training in magic and mage society matched that. If it was not something that would be useful in an immediate assault or defense, it wasn't useful and was skipped. For example, I can shoot a rifle better than most Marine Recon snipers, but I had never been to a Chantry before until I came here. My mother tried to moderate his teaching, but most of my time was spent with him. I am learning that his beliefs were...extreme. Some were right, many were wrong or at the very least dangerous for a non-loner to hold. I need to remember my mother's teachings, and focus more on those. I also want to share something else. I have AB Negative blood. Both of my parents had O+. I guess they adopted me, and I've no idea who my real parents are."
He finishes with, "I guess what I am trying to say is that I am trying to learn, and unlearn, what I need to. I am in some ways skills, a disciple in two spheres, almost there in two others. In many other ways I am at the level of an apprentice. Which brings us to my proposal. I'd like to ..no that's not honest, there's nothing about this I like..I NEED to submit myself as an apprentic to someone for a year and a day, according to the tradition of my mother, in order to start fresh and learn what I need to learn. I humbly request that someone take up that burden and accept me as their apprentice. That's all." That last is said in one breath, trying to get it all out.
"Cool. Calling for a vote, then. I don't have any objections to Alex's proposal," says Corinna, eyes flitting between Foster and WhyteRabbit.
"Glad to hear you're learning stuff, and open to being taught. But... The Council is not going to hear the proposal to become an apprentice. That's something you can work out with an individual other Mage and your Tradition. Apprenticing to another Tradition would mean leaving the Virtual Adepts for that Tradition, yeah? It's a big responsibility. It's not just that you get taught, but that other person's somewhat responsible for you. And I'd suggest," she says, eyes flicking briefly to Khoi and then back to Why, "That you and whoever you talk to set good expectations up front."
Khoi listens to Whyte's story as he takes a lungful or three from his vape pen, indulging absentmindedly in the tobaccco-THC blend. The vapor from his electronic spliff smells like prailines! How nice! But he's attentive, even if his expression suggests he's having a touch of trouble following Whyte. "An apprentice to what, though?" He seems confused there. "You need guidance, like, sure, but we'll give you /guidance/, like in general as a side-effect of us interacting and all that. Like, you don't need a singular, official, classical-format teacher in the school of uh, you know, street smarts and life."
"Yay to Alex's proposal," Coda says, staring at Why almost flatly. Something in what he said rubbed him the wrong way, but he's not about to start in on the lecture that is just dancing at the tips of his lips. His features just flatten out, his eyes narrow, and he takes another drag on the cigarette.
WhyteRabbit nods to Corinna, but looks suFather Jimenezed. It could be he didn't realize that being apprenticed to someone else meant leaving his own tradition. Why nods again when Khoi speaks, "Ah, ok. I guess I need a teacher more than a formal apprentice relationship then. "
"It ain't mine'ta tell ye' how'ta deal with you an' yours. When it comes'ta the Laws though The Order's pretty clear 'bout where things stand. An' I am too fer however much that may hit. I vote that he is punished."
"If I can advise anything to ye', though, Foster, I'd say ye' should take into consideration that the Rabbit here's made a lot o' enemies. Like I said, not my place, but try not'ta leave him defenseless as a punishment, yeah?"
The matter of WhyteRabbit gaining a legitimate mentor has Karina focusing a lengthy stare on the mage. "Good yer puttin' yer intentions forward, but I'd say save it fer after yer punishment's handled, yeah?"
"I don't have /strong/ objections," Khoi says, as he returns to his vape pen, "I'm ... I'm hearing uh, three months everybody knows he's reckless, I'm hearing one month no magick unless it's an emergency or reviewed by a peer, like spells done in advance, and I'm hearing uh, ... " Khoi shakes his head once, like clearing mental cobwebs, "Yeah, that. So Sahajiya votes yes."
"No one seems to disagree that Whyte needs punishment, and I certainly don't intend to say otherwise." Brey also adds, even if it's not an official vote. "We'll work out the details of education after," Brey looks towards Whyte, briefly, "Talk to me after, at some point. Your thinking is still a bit narrow."
"The boy isn't defenseless. You heard him, he can shoot," says Alex. "And that's not what the proposal was," he says to Khoi. "The point is to learn about being a Sleeper. Unlike you who might take it for granted, he can't remember having been one."
Bernard rests the joint he was fidgeting with between his lips. A frown droops on his face as he listens and mumbles, "Heavy shit.". He nods at each point Khoi lists before giving his vote which Bernie supports with a nod. The initiate fishes out an engraved flask and takes a pull continuing to observe the proceedings quietly from his spot near the other time mage.
"Cool. Father?" Corinna asks, looking over to Jiminez for his vote. "The majority's got no objections but we ought to hear yours."
Jimenez looks to Corinna. "To deny someone their magick is to deny their relationship with God. I have a moral objection to having Whyte bury his Light in such a manner. However, we must enforce the Protocols. I do vote that Whyte should grow from his actions through consequence, but I insist on a longer brand over an oath that would dampen his relationship with the Divine."
Corinna OOCly asks if Jimenez's argument changes anybody's votes. It does not.
"Okay. Resolved, unless Father Jiminez' words have swayed anybody toward that alternative," Corinna says, looking at the eyes in the room. Given nobody changes their vote, she says, "WhyteRabbit, why don't you swear that Oath now, and we'll figure out the logistics of the other thing later. 'I, WhyteRabbit bani Virtual Adepts, swear on...'" She pauses. "You pick something important to you to swear on. And then, '... to abstain from the use of my Art for one month so that I can learn how to live as a Sleeper might.' Something like that."
And with that, she gives a pause for Why to do it, but she's rolling onto the next topic: "Khoi and Liliana had a bumpy relationship. He invited her into the Chantry without swearing her to any Oaths or teaching her the protocols, and called her his apprentice. She called him her teacher. Been a headache for the Chantry ever since. Been some bad blood there. Khoi, it was reckless of you to do that stuff. I'm not Sahajiya, so I can't ask for no strong objections like Foster did, but dude, you gotta like. Not do that shit. I'm proposing that you've got to prepare a statement for the Council about your understanding of the protocols and what it means to be an apprentice and to teach one before the next time we meet. Father Jiminez will judge your sincerity, and uh, Brey will judge your grammar. An oath to not interfere with Council decisions in regard to Liliana, and a mark like Foster proposed for Why, but only for a month."
Jimenez has a gleam in his eye as this proposal is said. His time has finally come. Ten years brand. A thousand years dungeon. With a slight raise of his eyebrows, the middle-aged Priest turns his attention towards Khoi, his thick worker's hands interlacing in front of him as he settles in.
WhyteRabbit nods, and says "I WhyteRabbit bani Virtual Adepts, swear on the Digital Web, to abstain from the use of my Art for one month so that I can learn how to live as a Sleeper might."
Bernard "Hmm"s curiously at the Chorister's words as he takes a step back to put a little space between him and the others. He casually pulls out his bic to light the joint rolling around in his mouth and almost yelps when the fire jumps half an inch higher than normal. The initiate looks at the lighter baffled still trying to process the malfunction. When he takes a puff the cherry flares and the tip of the joint bursts into the flames. "What the fuck?!" is the muffled exclaimation while he springs to attend any ash in the minature conflageration.
Unaccustomed to fire having such an attitude Bernard looks over at Khoi in desperate confusion. His eyes flit around the room as that confusion takes another form once he realizes the attention on the other Sahajiya. Biting his bottom lip he shrinks away waiting for Khoi to respond.
Alex Foster says, "Okay." He's back to being on his phone.
So here Khoi had been, smoking his little digital party cigar, hotboxing his brain to get through a meeting and digest the prospect of having a responsibility towards multiple people. It's riiiight when he feels the full body hug of a good buzz and when he hears his name, hears what is going on.
A loud cough leaps out of his lungs when he realizes it's about him and that _he_ is on the bench, now! "Akkhh-AHMM!" He buries his mouth into his left fist, leaning away from Bernard lest he just, open mouth cough right into this guy's face.
His lips shape the word for 'What?' as his eyes squint shut and he takes a moment to breathe. Then he pulls on his sober face. He straightens up. Stands up, even.
"Okay, so, wait, wait." Khoi puts up both hands. Motherfucker had just voted yes to somone else getting branded, but when the proverbial iron is aimed at him, we apparently can't have that!
"I did too teach her the Protocols," he says, "And, look, remember the situation! We had a woman who did not know about the magickal world get dragged straight into it by a _Nephandus_, of it all, and, I had to work with this _shitty_ chantry charter that bogs down everything we do to get her into the building. "I'm not, I'm not a bad teacher. Look at Bernard." He casts his hand the other Sahajiya's way. "Bernard's great, Bernard behaves!"
Cue Bernard's mishap and 'what the fuck?! with perfect timing.
Hearing Khoi's impassioned and addled 'rebuttal', Jimenez curls a Schadenfreude smile, keying in on some scrap of his defense. "So you openly admit to your disregard for your own chantry's laws?"
Karina's grateful for Khoi's efforts to defend himself, because it means she doesn't have to open her mouth just yet. She's -also- grateful to Bernard for setting his joint on fire and being distressed about it, because it accomplished the same effect.
"Yeah, uhh. . . ye' may wanna wait until I'm not nearby fer that. Fire gets kinda excited'ta see me."
[OOC] Karina says, "Jiminez is gonna go full Edgeworth on you, Khoi." [OOC] Khoi Hank Hill noises. [OOC] Corinna says, "OBJECTION!!"
Coda tilts his chin up and scratches at the underside of it. "You know that day I believe there was some sort of mention that certain individuals that would have been necessary were never around. I'm not entirely sure which individuals he meant...higher ranking ones, I am sure...but if accessibility to authority was an issue at the time I believe frustration with laws and a feeling that they might have been defunct is something of a mitigating factor. We did have a piece of shit on our hands, running around possessing and murdering people, and she *was* helpful in his destruction. I won't deny she is a big problem, nor will I say that it all went smoothly, but I think, Father, that going in with a heavy hand might be...uncharitable."
WhyteRabbit watches, clearly grateful that he is not in the hot seat anymore but just as clearly worried about Khoi.
Brey blinks, and there's a twitch of her lips as she's pulled into this. There's possibly a slightly pitying glance towards Khoi...just in time to see both sahajiya...perform? Perform. She glances away. Too embarrassing. Before she focuses on Corinna. "I recommend a full presentation." Brey says mildly, "Both a prepared statement and perhaps a little speech. I'd enjoy a powerpoint." BETRAYAL. Are they not friends?!
Her eyes slice towards Jiminez as he starts up, "He said he did what he felt was best while trying to work WITH charter, Adept Jiminez. Personal feelings won't cause you to judge someone's actions when they are in accordance to what's required."
Brey smiles. It's almost pleasant. "I have full trust in your impartiality."
[OOC] Khoi says, "Perform? Perform."
Jimenez looks to Coda, then back to Khoi as the Chakravant speaks. "I would be amenable to this, Coda, but we have phone numbers, we have email addresses, we are accessible. Did you try to call us? Write us? Khoi, neither I nor Alex have any voice mails, emails, or even letters on the refrigerator from you expressing a desire to get into contact, am I to understand that you needed to let Liliana into the fold against a very short time frame? Was she, perhaps, chased into our collective arms and there was no time to spare?"
"Yeah, but it seems like Liliana was just using Khoi to get access to the Chantry and its library for her own ends. Not having her swear any oaths, not swearing any oaths himself? And yeah, you did teach her the protocols but not for like 6 months, dude. The whole thing was botched. And then when you even realized it yourself and cut ties with her, you still tried to give her an 'in' for the Chantry by getting her to go around to people and sign up as a consor, which isn't even how it works. So the recklessness is that you didn't vet her, didn't give her any boundaries, and then got all surFather Jimenezed when it didn't work out," Corinna replies, adding to what Jiminez said. It's not even about the Chantry rules or reaching people from her end, it's about the mindset of it all.
"And she's still a risk, because she knows shit she shouldn't and hangs out with non-Sleepers that we don't know, regardless of if she helped kill that Nephandus. But that's our next topic."
Khoi sucks in a grounding breath of air. He looks to Coda, anxiety in his eyes with an unspoken plea to bail him out, then his gaze leaps to Brey, then back to Jimenez, then it's Corinna he's trying to catch up with.
"Check my grammar," he suddenly says, processing a little detail he heard earlier out of sync. "What that's supposed to mean, how many languages do YOU speak, man?" He runs a hand down his face, and he internally frets for a few seconds more, brain tossing about for where to go in his own defense. He entirely fails to respond to Jimenez's pointed question about whether he called or texted. "I was frustrated with the charter and working with it, and you know what, _yes,_ there is an urgency, because you drop everything to get rid of a Nephandus actively murdering people," he says. His trouble processing all of what is being said is starting to show itself in the way his eyes widen in dread and his head lowers in concentration, his glance casting off to one corner in an attempt to rewind all the chunks of sound he just heard. And in that space, a lot of it goes unadressed.
"Well I already did, did my due diligence of finding out who these cats are," he says, clinging onto the last thing he just heard. "It's just, she has a boyfriend and she has this girl Angie, I haven't met her boyfriend so well but I know Angie is harmless."
Coda looks unsurFather Jimenezed that the cabal is a boyfriend and a girl named Angie. That seems about par. He looks over at the others. "Let's go with oaths, not branding, and this statement, no grammar check, and not allowed to take another apprentice without the vote and approval of the Council, and now we're all back on track with dodging those protocols is a very bad idea. It is still censure and punishment, but takes into account that steps have been taken."
He takes another drag on his cigarette. "Khoi did just help take out a massive threat, and has never failed to help the Chantry when called. That should probably be taken into account too."
WhyteRabbit coughs slightly, "I hope I am not speaking out of turn. I just want to say that some of my more boneheaded ideas due to ignorance were short circuited by Khoi's guidance, and didn't happen. I wish I had listened to him more, but my listening to him the amount I did has saved us all from more problems on my hand. Uh, that's it." He wonders if he should have kept quiet, and kind of shrinks in on himself, clamming up.
[OOC] Skynet says, I added votes from NPCs and details that they would ask for in the voting section that seems to be at the top.
"Supposedly it was bigger. A whole ass 'club'. Did they all," Corinna wiggles her fingers and drifts a hand off, "Wriggle back into the woodwork? But that's the next topic. This one's about you. You didn't *have* to invite her into the Chantry to solve the Nephandus problem. You didn't *have* to enter into an apprentice relationship with her and then take no responsibility for her behavior. You did it because you felt bad for her, and didn't consider the ramifications," Corinna says.
She pauses to drink in the words Coda and Why're saying and waves a hand. "Did he learn from the whole debacle? Yes. I think that you met him in a time where he'd already been burnt by this thing with Liliana," she says of Why. "But dude, we are _still_, like, almost a year later, cleaning up the mess of this," she says toward Coda.
She takes in a solid breath, and then raises her hands. She's still looking drained, and maybe that's the cause of her snappiness so far, but. "Fine. What about Coda's proposal? Anyone object to that?"
Foster looks up. "Okay."
Karina bides her time listening to the viewpoints of those others present. The Father's sudden display of prosecutorial prowess earns a distasteful scowl from the shackled brute, one that she doesn't hide but also doesn't bother backing with any defenses of Khoi.
Karina, never one to keep her tongue for long though, can't help but eventually speak up to say her piece. Though that may just be because she didn't want to wait until a full vote had been called before getting it over with.
"Khoi's good people. I got no doubt in my mind that every decision he made was made with the best o' intentions regardless o' what those decisions were. Like, believe me, Khoi'll be the last person'ta want'ta do somethin' if he thinks somebody'll get hurt as a result. I'd fuckin' place bets by his morality. . ."
"But I can't agree with weighin' somebody's good with their bad when it comes'ta determinin' a punishment or castin' a judgement. If ye' do somethin' wrong ye' did somethin' wrong. Don't matter if yer a fuckin' underwear on the outside full-on hero ye' need'ta face the proper punishment fer what ye' did, an' ye' need'ta be judged only on what that wrong was. B'cause punishment's gotta be equal if anybody's gonna learn from it."
"An' tha's what the point o' this is. To make sure that lesson sinks in on knowin'ta take a different path goin' forward. So, same question, same answer. The Order votes fer punishment."
"Check my grammar," Khoi mutters, locking illogically onto the thing that has offended him most. "If it was such a big problem how come it's only coming out now after all these months," Khoi says, and then he goes on a petty, catty-ass little tangent where he deliberately fucks up his grammar in his irrational stint born out of his own offense: "Oh wait, sorry, you _say for me_ I have to _checks my grammars_, it was six month, eight month, and you suddenly for have the big _TROPlem._" He buries his face in his hand for a second, digging his fingers into his scalp as he internally rages. "I do not have bad grammar," he mutters.
Father Jimenez votes indeed. "The Hermetic is right. The Celestial Chorus is in support of Khoi's punishment to penance him for his folly."
[OOC] After that, it's been 4 and a half hours so we should move the rest to the google doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T2mJtjrW1-eIOYFaWncNzU8xxI_LECX-O-mjb8eN6Jg/edit?usp=sharing
