Re: Wrapping up in Chicago, New Trouble at Home and Angry Magi IC Thread 20

[Adley]

Crexia looked at you for a moment then she sigh. "The Void Engineers have sent us, though back channels warnings that something like what you describe can happen...if we continue to destroy Avatars...Massassa keep destroying them...and if there is enough of an upheaval in the Umbra...there might be a storm, at least according to their calculations. This information have not been spread we do not want to create a panic but in the worst case scenario if such a upheaval where to occur...the entire Umbra might become inhospitable to us...cutting us off from Horizon and other Umbral realms, it would be a catastrophe."

"The Technocrats sent you a warning?" he looked quite surprised at that. Also that they seemed to take it seriously. "All I can say is that from the Seeking, it was not possible to easily pass through the Umbra as it is now. It could destroy your avatar, if you didn't know a technique or way to protect against it...if that's a real threat, then those going into the umbra, if they were attacked, could keep adding to the storm's power..." He shook his head. "What I experienced was not like Colin's future sight though, it was different...more like a warning."

Crexia drew a deep, useless breath of air then she let it back out slowly. "Very well...most well educated mages know the story of the great betrayal. Heylel Teomim made a deal with the Order of Reason and then led their Cabal into an ambush...Salonikas also left behind a prophecy that one day a new rebis would be formed, Teomim's heirs, they would be formed when the world needed them most but while they would originally be heroes and save the world...one day first in benevolence and then in arrogance they would become Moloch and that dreadful prophecy would become reality..." Crexia said and looked at Colin. "You can see then young man how your future self...contacting you are worrying me...Teomim's future self did the same...only that person contacting them where the living god Moloch."

There were quite a few emotions that whipped around in his mind one after another as he listened to what Crexia said and by the end of it, he seemed to be frozen in place in shock, without a single word on his lips, as if he were struggling not to run right out the closest door, or window and hold his current mental ground that he'd fought to regain.

// Oh, sorry of course, new player sounds good. Makes sense to do like the last with Jeremy : )

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Serge:

"It was a forest..." Serge said as he remembered the world that he awoke in. "It kinda looked like a forest from a fantasy television show although I'm not sure which one. It looked familiar though. Sometimes I go back there when I sleep. I try and see if I can change anything. See if I can shape the world inside my head....sort of like advanced dreaming."

"That is so cool I would love to be able to make a world like that inside of my head that i could visit in my dreams!"
Kyle said excitedly.
"How do you do that?"

"Yeah I hope so." Serge said with a smile. "It's kinda hard to test something like this though. I would need another person and no one is really willing to try out experimental magicks. Anyways my weird magickal ideas aside, did you have any cool tricks that you wanted to try out?"

"Sure I can probably help you out and see what your ink blots will do but be aware that I can get rather disturbing."
Kyle offered then he grinned.
"Well I would like to learn to take control of the magick of other mages like my dad do, that is so cool, I do not seam to have much talent for it though."

"Probably a lot of books with confusing formulas and strange language. Kinda like physics." Serge said with a smile. "All right then if I'm free tomorrow then that's what we'll do. We'll go to the library and search for obscure and strange books."

"Ok that sound good, we can meet up tomorrow when I get out of here and do that...and yeah there are probably books in all sort of languages that can be confusing until one learn them but we can see if Andrew can come along the way I understand it the type of mage he is speaks like an insane amount of languages."
Kyle said the boy seamed to have forgotten about the pain in his arm and was eagerly talking about the library.
"I am sure it will be allot of fun."
He said his dark eyes sparkling.

"See their's that negative attitude again." Serge said. "Your parents worked hard to raise you to be a kind young man and I can tell they succeeded. Don't throw all their struggles in vain just because you think your birth was wrong. You can control those destructive urges, even eliminate them completely. And you won't be alone in your struggles. You'll have Master Morgan, me and this entire chantry. We'll be by your side and we'll help along the way." Serge said trying to reassure Kyle.

"Well perhaps...I mean I could get better could I not...unless the Traditions...I do not even know what their demagicking bullshit is called but yeah that before that time...but I could try after all what do I got to loose? I would not know where to start though? I mean I try to do what is right but that is not always easy."
Kyle muttered and glanced up at you.

Serge looked at Richard and nodded. Thinking a little bit Serge said "Hey is there anyway me and Kyle could take a small tour of the chantry? I'm still really new here and Kyle is going to be Master Morgan's apprentice and have his own room here anyways. Might as well knock out two birds with one stone and show both us what this chantry is like. I kinda wanna see what the library looks like."

"I do think that once Master Morgan says it is ok for Kyle to come out he can go wherever he want in the Chantry other than you know private rooms unless invited but right now you will have to ask the Master himself, I have just been told to give the boy that shot and check on his health."
Richard said apologetically. Kyle gave you a bit of a smile.
"It is ok Serge I can wait until tomorrow I am fine really."
He assured you.
"I know why Master Morgan want me to stay in here until tomorrow he want to be absolutely sure I am not going to run to the Nephandi before they are taken down I get it...it is okey."

Serge and Tane earlier:

Standing at the door was a average height man with light-brown hair and a young-looking face. Tucked underneath one arm was something that looked like a large notbook. He wore an unbuttoned checkered shirt and underneath he wore a blue t-shirt. His jeans were worn out as if they had been worn constantly.

"Hi! My name is Serge Yager." Serge said with a polite nod. "Master Morgan asked me to check up on Cadence."

Hildegard rose from her chair as she heard talking at the door and you can see an woman in her 50's or 60's glance out at you, she had steel gray short hair, wore a gray business suit with a dark pink silk blouse and simple pearl earrings the woman said nothing yet though but let Tane handle it for now.

Adley:

"The Technocrats sent you a warning?" he looked quite surprised at that. Also that they seemed to take it seriously.

"Well not me personally but they sent the warning to the Sons of Ether who shared it with the Council and I have friends at the Council who shared it with me...the Void Engineers are...not always agreeing with their fellow Technocrats about how much they should attack, hunt down and kill other willworkers."
Crexia said calmly.

"All I can say is that from the Seeking, it was not possible to easily pass through the Umbra as it is now. It could destroy your avatar, if you didn't know a technique or way to protect against it...if that's a real threat, then those going into the umbra, if they were attacked, could keep adding to the storm's power..." He shook his head. "What I experienced was not like Colin's future sight though, it was different...more like a warning."

"Yes I believe it was a warning sodalis and one we should heed, however with all of these captured Nephandi, there will be more fragments and shards floating around in the Umbra than ever, more men and women will be Gilgulled within the next few weeks than in the previous twenty years combined and that do worry me..."
The old archmage said and frowned.
"It do worry me allot and that you have had a vision about it do not exactly ease my worries."

There were quite a few emotions that whipped around in his mind one after another as he listened to what Crexia said and by the end of it, he seemed to be frozen in place in shock, without a single word on his lips, as if he were struggling not to run right out the closest door, or window and hold his current mental ground that he'd fought to regain.

Crexia gave you a sad, apologetic look at having told you but she said nothing, allowing you instead to try to figure out what to do with the new information she looked down for a moment and sigh, she knew it was allot to take in and sometimes it was better not knowing.

(OOC: Thank you I will let him or her know and help them with an account.)

[Warpmind]

"Yeah but that is not really helping Matty much now is it."
Allison muttered angrily.

Colin tilted his head slightly to the side, "Well, now, that depends a bit on her lawyer, actually... If whoever it is can stall and delay long enough, there's a chance, however small..."
He turned to Bella, "Or what do you think? If the laws can be changed, do you think that buying miss Carlyle over there time will help?"

"He had the same name as a character in a card game, a name that would fit Stranger of Fetuses better really so I noticed him, he is Larson's second in command, all I know is that he is old and powerful I do not know his last name he did not give it, he gave a name in the Dragon's Tongue but that means nothing to me he said he was named Jace once which is probably short for something."

He frowned, "Jace... Hm, the name means nothing to me, except the card game reference... and even that only by proxy."

"That...is actually brilliant, I have seen those at Michael's, that might actually work, when she is ready to face her fears, and she might learn that needles can be used to do other things than hurt people also with those plastic things there is no way she can accidentally poke herself."
Allison said and nodded.

He smiled, "She is quite the clever girl."

"He did say it hurt, but...well, yes he is a brave teenager."

He nodded, "He's brave and tough, but... I think perhaps he's been through enough pain through the years to make him used to it. Oh, not physical pain, of course, but... isolation can hurt, too. He's a decent, moral boy, and the inner conflicts he must have had because of that... Physical pain is far easier to ignore or suppress."

"That's true. Part of me wants to say 'what did we expect from something brewed up from the Technocracy' but I suppose that would be my pater talking.

He grinned wryly, "Actually, that might have been Chief Morgan's exact words, though I very much doubt it - his response to what the serum is was in Greek, and I really couldn't translate it. And I don't think I should in polite company, either..."

"Is that a good thing or not? That it's been changed? Or are some changes relatively insignificant? It's confusing to me, but later you seems to have it figured out," he said with a shake of his head. "Well, he i a friendlier person to talk to than Nurse Bosh it would seem."

He shrugged, "The change itself is probably completely insignificant. The fact that there is a change, however tiny, though - that is significant. And I'm confident he'll comfort her, if she's worried. His outlook may be a little on the morbid side, but that just might be what the doctor ordered, so to speak."

"I guess you are right and the child will be terrified when the trial begin I have seen prisoners on trial for...more than their life and dragging that out might be a grater trauma, even so I feel sorry for the child, I hate that she will be treated like that."
Udella muttered.
"But yes it might be one more nail in the coffin that we will need to build a case against the D'Angelos. Letting it happen and comforting the girl afterwards might be the only way to go then at least her Avatar is safe and that is worth any discomfort."

He nodded, "The upside to that chain of events is that she'll get a regular doctor she can trust... and, of course, that her precious glass dragon is safe. But it won't be pleasant, knowing it's a likely thing the prosecution will try..."

"Well, perhaps some of the Verditius will be able to cultivate some new ideas," he mused.

He smiled at Adley, "New ideas might not be as precious as efficient implementation of existing ones."

He gave a faint smile. "I'm curious how you'll work a similar spell to that one, seeing as how you very effectively used a lower level spell to deal with corrupted tass."

He nodded, "The difference there, of course, being that the Initiate-level spell to deal with corrupted Tass doesn't destroy the Tass in the same way - the difference between erasing a piece of coal from existence, and burning it in a barbecue."

"That would depend on your will Mr Wainwright."
The old lich said and smiled.

He grinned, "Possibly silver, or white..."

"The shard collectives I have heard about, only from rumors from the Union have been all but helpless they grant their host some small magickal ability but little guidance your soul seam to be different than that Mr Wainwright, more complete though there might of course be some issues with what she is."
Crexia said and looked at you.

He nodded, "Ah, I'm fond of her, all the same."

"Yes let us try to avoid something like that happening it would be a tragic loss to the Traditions to loose such a talented and inventive Orphan."
Crexia said and nodded.

He grinned, "This time it's my turn to say you're too kind."

"I see...well if such restoration is possible that is a very good thing for our side in the war, but you are talking about Miss Florentine will she be in any condition to advice on how she cleaned herself if her claims are true?"
Crexia said and raised an eyebrow.
"This all seam a little to good to be believed if you excuse me saying so."

He nodded, "She might actually be coming about at any time now; I don't know when they're planning to do it, but... one of our resident older Masters at Steelhaven has a second Avatar - a constant companion to his soul, as it were. That one has apparently expressed some interest in miss Florentine - an inclination to leave home and strike out on her own, as it were. A Dreamspeaker there has a most remarkable ability to invite an Avatar out in the open through song, and that... might be enough to coax that secondary Avatar from one host to another, giving miss Florentine a fresh start with magic. It sounds almost ludicrous, I know, but... I think they can do it."

"Part of me wishes to know what you saw, exactly, the rest of me feels oddly about this future knowledge...still it is good to hear that there is progress along that front."

He smiled wryly, "It's a long and complicated story, and... I think I will try to commit the whole thing to paper while we're here."

"I just wish...things had been different."
Udella said softly.
"But I am glad...you do not blame me for not being able to save you."

He smiled, "How could I blame you for failing at something so impossible, that you tried so hard at? Nobody else would have fought half as long, but you... you saved all that could be saved."

"Well the rite is not used for minor infractions...Branding are...but Gilgul is reserved really for only three things among the Traditions, the unlawful destruction of an Avatar, high treason and dealing with the Nephandi. It is just with Fallen it is a given sentence. The Order of Hermes is the one that have used the ritual the most but since the time of Teomim we have only sentenced fifteen magi to the punishment which is twice as often as any other Tradition it is not common...but for Fallen and especially those widderslaintes who have not lost themselves to their inner darkness it can seam...extreme and unfair..."
Udella said and shook her head.
"As for Heylel they...it is so hard for I got to know them I...to talk to someone a living, breathing human being with hopes and fear and then see them go through that it...is horrible."
She said and looked away.
"Just horrible."

He frowned, a bit of pain reflected in his eyes, "Yes, it is a horrid thing to do to befriend someone and see them go through... hm, I'll do the same for miss Jerkins when her time comes; strange how history creates parallels like that... Oh, and believe me, seeing it is nowhere near as painful as having that thing done to you..."

He listened to the exchange between them, remaining quiet for most of it. "Could it not be argued that since gilgul was the ordered punishment and that it was the given punishment, that is the end of the reach of the law? That the avatar somehow survived it says more about our lack of understanding about them than the fact that the punishment was not enacted. In fact, when the spell was originally concocted, as I was told, we did not have the understanding of avatars as we do now - that, and they were different in nature."

Udella nodded.
"If I where defending Mr Wainwright that is the argument that I would use. I would also lay forward precedent that in the earliest uses of Gilgul, the Avatar was not destroyed is was merely cut out of the host and sent on it's way, we know some of the victims of this punishment have been reincarnated and they have not been re prosecuted, but the Teomim case is a...as they say now a days a hot topic while there is a good change legal actions against your Cabalmate can be avoided the danger is there...and off course there is always the danger of vigilantism..."
The old Enforcer said and Crexia nodded.

He nodded sagely, "I should prefer not to need such a defense by not being found out by anyone hostile."

"My mother could afford spices she was married into the the De Medici family after all, but a good cook back then knew how to get the best out of the raw materials and how to season food with what grew of the land."
Udella said and smiled fondly.
"We had servants off course, but I remember that when my siblings and I where sick or sad my mother would go into the kitchen and make soup for us herself...no matter how outraged my father was that a noble woman would sully her hands with such tasks."

He chuckled, "My father was not too happy that I wanted to learn cooking as a teenager, either; didn't think it masculine enough. Seems there's always some rubbish reason why people should not be allowed to learn to feed themselves... Though I suppose that's more of a problem today, when ready-to-heat meals and fast food is so readily available almost everywhere, so people won't have to use their creativity even to feed themselves..."

Adley frowned. "In my most recent Seeking, I was attempting to rescue people through the Umbra. There was a most terrible storm, unlike anything ever seen. A storm of the spirit, splinters of broken avatars trying to shove their way back into the material, attacking us...I cannot imagine how many avatars were there, screaming their losses...of course I know a Seeking can be metaphorical in nature, that is not lost on me...but..."

Crexia looked at you for a moment then she sigh.
"The Void Engineers have sent us, though back channels warnings that something like what you describe can happen...if we continue to destroy Avatars...Massassa keep destroying them...and if there is enough of an upheaval in the Umbra...there might be a storm, at least according to their calculations. This information have not been spread we do not want to create a panic but in the worst case scenario if such a upheaval where to occur...the entire Umbra might become inhospitable to us...cutting us off from Horizon and other Umbral realms, it would be a catastrophe."

He frowned, "That sounds... worrying, to say the least. I suppose it's fathomable I could, er, eat my way through that, but I'd rather avoid such a scenario in the first place. On the bright side, I suppose such a thing would make the Umbra equally inhospitable to the Fallen and the Technocracy, as well... but no, best try to make that not happen at all..."

Crexia drew a deep, useless breath of air then she let it back out slowly.
"Very well...most well educated mages know the story of the great betrayal. Heylel Teomim made a deal with the Order of Reason and then led their Cabal into an ambush. Now according to Teomim himself the deal was for the Order of Reason to capture the Cabal but not kill it's members and he would rush back and tell the Council, a mighty heroic rescue would be arranged and all of the Traditions would see what they where capable of doing when they worked together, and if anything went wrong, and it did Heylel themselves would become the hated enemy that the fledgling Traditions could unite against. The plot was hatched out in desperation as Teomim saw the new Traditions starting to fall apart and so they made a similar choice as House Tremere had done when we declared war on House Diedne centuries before...this is the known and accepted story...what few know is that there was an second man accused in the Betrayal, Akrites Salonikas part of this is hinted at in the Fragile Path but few know the truth. Salonikas escaped the Order of Reson attack alongside Teomim and many said the Master Seer must have known what was coming and so accused him of working with Teomim, not enough proof was found to accuse him though and after Teomim's execution Salonikas left the Traditions into self imposed exile, later it is believed that he left the physical world to become a Postulat but before he left he wrote down his revelations and this document was sent to Master Porthos...in it Salonikas speaks of having had two visions of the betrayal, one of them where early on in the Cabal's history they had been sent to Norway to recruit the powerful rune magus Tormund, when Salonikas have a powerful vision of the betrayal, however around that time, perhaps caused by the violent confusion of his vision Salonikas kills Tormund by accident and the fairly young mage at the time was so overcome by shame he did not dare trust his vision and never spoke of it. Teomim had become a substitute father figure for the Seer one of the youngest of the First Cabal and had hauled his behind out of more scrapes than you could count and he just could not believe what he saw..."
Crexia paused for a moment then she continued.

"The second vision came not long before the attack, a vision sent by a god known as Moloch. This god could tell that they was the future of Heylel Teomim, that they would become the most powerful mage in history, surpassing both the Oracles themselves and the Wyck, a living god that united the Traditions and the Order of Reason and shaped the Consensus and hardened it into Teomim's idea of a perfect world, they shaped the world in their image and run a magickcoracy under their iron hand, what's more the Consensus became hardened, it would never change, never evolve never be more than it was, a perfect, Static Asencion where nothing would ever grow. Off course it begun altruistically enough Teomim just wanted to create a better world but they ended up destroying it in what Salonikas calls Praedictum Apocalypsis. Moloch in a moment of sanity had gone back in time like they had many times before to themselves in earlier times and places to give guidance but this time the vision was a plea for help to Salonikas, the Seer had begun thinking of the old vision he had in Norway and had started considering doing something about it, but if it could be verified Heylel might be jailed but they would not be executed for a crime not yet committed and even from jail Heylel Teomim would continue to expand their influence until they one day became the living god Moloch and the Praedictum Apocalypsis would still take place. So the Seer let the Great Betrayal happen so that the Traditions would be forced to Gilgul Teomim before they could force the world into a static hell it would never return from. Salonikas also left behind a prophecy that one day a new rebis would be formed, Teomim's heirs, they would be formed when the world needed them most but while they would originally be heroes and save the world...one day first in benevolence and then in arrogance they would become Moloch and that dreadful prophecy would become reality..."
Crexia said and looked at Colin.
"You can see then young man how your future self...contacting you are worrying me...Teomim's future self did the same...only that person contacting them where the living god Moloch."

He leaned back, slightly pale, then frowned, "That... is frightening; I've already mused that there may be no end to Mia's capacity for growth, as she keeps rebuilding herself with any fragments she finds... but there are some things that don't quite add up; Moloch contacted Salonikas, not Teomim, and I don't think I could become a Rebis; My future self has been jerking me around, to warn me of the future and keep me alive - if this Moloch entity had been doing the same thing here, he'd have been warning someone else. Forming a new Rebis to be Teomim's heir like that would be... I don't know how that would be accomplished; if the timeline goes unchanged, one of the reincarnations of Teomim's twins will die in a few months in battle, preventing them, which only leaves, what, cloning the original, but he was..."
He blinked slowly and turned toward Adley, "Well, son of a bitch... could that be what the package was for?"

[Adley]

He nodded, "He's brave and tough, but... I think perhaps he's been through enough pain through the years to make him used to it. Oh, not physical pain, of course, but... isolation can hurt, too. He's a decent, moral boy, and the inner conflicts he must have had because of that... Physical pain is far easier to ignore or suppress."

"I think he tries to be, at least."

He smiled at Adley, "New ideas might not be as precious as efficient implementation of existing ones."

"That sounds like you already have a few ideas on how to do that; good."

He grinned wryly, "Actually, that might have been Chief Morgan's exact words, though I very much doubt it - his response to what the serum is was in Greek, and I really couldn't translate it. And I don't think I should in polite company, either..."

"Likely to have been much more rude, then," he said with a small smile.

He smiled wryly, "It's a long and complicated story, and... I think I will try to commit the whole thing to paper while we're here."

"Just be careful, anything written down can fall into the wrong hands...if you can find a way to conceal it that would be better."

"Well not me personally but they sent the warning to the Sons of Ether who shared it with the Council and I have friends at the Council who shared it with me...the Void Engineers are...not always agreeing with their fellow Technocrats about how much they should attack, hunt down and kill other willworkers." Crexia said calmly.

He frowned, "That sounds... worrying, to say the least. I suppose it's fathomable I could, er, eat my way through that, but I'd rather avoid such a scenario in the first place. On the bright side, I suppose such a thing would make the Umbra equally inhospitable to the Fallen and the Technocracy, as well... but no, best try to make that not happen at all..."

He nodded at that. "I see...I suppose I am surprised that they thought about spiritual fallout at all, given they don't as a whole believe in avatars. Their limitations are the boundaries of reason, while there is more to existence than that they have done all they can to make that a hard limit."

He leaned back, slightly pale, then frowned, "That... is frightening; I've already mused that there may be no end to Mia's capacity for growth, as she keeps rebuilding herself with any fragments she finds... but there are some things that don't quite add up; Moloch contacted Salonikas, not Teomim, and I don't think I could become a Rebis; My future self has been jerking me around, to warn me of the future and keep me alive - if this Moloch entity had been doing the same thing here, he'd have been warning someone else. Forming a new Rebis to be Teomim's heir like that would be... I don't know how that would be accomplished; if the timeline goes unchanged, one of the reincarnations of Teomim's twins will die in a few months in battle, preventing them, which only leaves, what, cloning the original, but he was..." He blinked slowly and turned toward Adley, "Well, son of a bitch... could that be what the package was for?"

Adley had a distant look on his face, as if Quietus looked like a really good idea, but he fought at it. At Colin's prompting, he turned to look at him, trying to find a place to latch on and integrate this new information somehow but he was having a hard time, too much information was leading to overload. Wherever he tried to put his mind on the immensity of it, it just tried to slide right back off again into a sort of negative mantra. "I don't know...I don't really know much of that sort of thing, it's out of my understanding and paradigm. But I suppose it's possible?" he said at last, as if he were still having a hard time with words. He frowned and looked at Crexia, then back to Colin. "Do you think we should ask her about that, then? We were told she might know of the place it was sent to..." He brought his knees up to his chin. "Like making a golem...only...with...?" He looked a bit disgusted, as if what he was thinking about was, from his opinion, quite wrong. Of course, creating a rebis with his /sister's avatar/ was also /quite wrong/ and he had no intention of that either, which was the other thing that Colin said, that his mind skated around, leaving 'nopes' in its wake. Yet, the process of the forest god and the flame god were not wrong...that seemed to be what was supposed to happen, before she fell...his mind went back up around the loop again, stuck. Putting it aside, he came back to the box with the hair and the locket in it. "I thought they'd wanted it for some other purpose...? But we never did find out definitively what...did we?"

[Jeremy Silverstein]

"That is so cool I would love to be able to make a world like that inside of my head that i could visit in my dreams!"
Kyle said excitedly.
"How do you do that?"

"Either by sleeping or by meditating." Serge says glad to be getting more positive emotions out of Kyle.

"My mentor calls it a Demesne or a mind palace. It's normally a tool some mages use to help with their meditation. My imagination was so great that I managed to create one all on my own without even knowing it. we can look up more about it in the library if you want. I don't think I am the best person to explain this."

"Sure I can probably help you out and see what your ink blots will do but be aware that I can get rather disturbing."
Kyle offered then he grinned.
"Well I would like to learn to take control of the magick of other mages like my dad do, that is so cool, I do not seam to have much talent for it though."

"Relax, disturbing stuff is deep within all of us. I just wanna see if I can make you see your surface thoughts in the ink." Serge reassured.

"Take control of other mages magick? I'm not sure what that might require. Sound interesting through. I'll help you test it if I can." offered Serge.

"Ok that sound good, we can meet up tomorrow when I get out of here and do that...and yeah there are probably books in all sort of languages that can be confusing until one learn them but we can see if Andrew can come along the way I understand it the type of mage he is speaks like an insane amount of languages."
Kyle said the boy seamed to have forgotten about the pain in his arm and was eagerly talking about the library.
"I am sure it will be allot of fun."
He said his dark eyes sparkling.

"Yeah I think so too. The books here are a lot more fun....sometimes. We already have a good amount of stuff we can search up. Old alchemical texts for the symbology, stuff about dream realms, and we might be able to find stuff about that magick you wanna try and do."

"I would not know where to start though? I mean I try to do what is right but that is not always easy."
Kyle muttered and glanced up at you.

"Trying is the best thing you can do. Keep trying and never give up." Serge said smirking slightly at the cliche response. "You'll also have Master Morgan by your side. I'm sure he'll guide you and teach you to control your urges. You'll be fine, trust me."

"I do think that once Master Morgan says it is ok for Kyle to come out he can go wherever he want in the Chantry other than you know private rooms unless invited but right now you will have to ask the Master himself, I have just been told to give the boy that shot and check on his health."
Richard said apologetically.

"I think I will ask him. I feel like he might agree. He already likes Kyle..." Serge argued.

Kyle gave you a bit of a smile.
"It is ok Serge I can wait until tomorrow I am fine really."
He assured you.
"I know why Master Morgan want me to stay in here until tomorrow he want to be absolutely sure I am not going to run to the Nephandi before they are taken down I get it...it is okey."

Serge looked at Kyle for a second and then sighed. "All right. Master Morgan does seem like the type of guy to be absolutely sure of something before committing to a risk."

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Adley and Colin:

Colin tilted his head slightly to the side, "Well, now, that depends a bit on her lawyer, actually... If whoever it is can stall and delay long enough, there's a chance, however small..."

Allison nodded and sigh she looked at Matty.
"I just think she deserve some chance for someone to do right by her, even if it is a small one."

He turned to Bella, "Or what do you think? If the laws can be changed, do you think that buying miss Carlyle over there time will help?"

Betty sigh and glanced at Matty and shook her head.
"I am no Quesitor Sir but I have never known Tradition law to be changed that fast, we are talking days here perhaps weeks and it seams it usually takes years or decades for the Council to decide to do anything. I am sorry but from what i know no, there is no chance for her not unless some haste decision where made."
The hedge wizard said and Allison sigh.
"No I suppose you are right."
She muttered and looked over at the pale form of Matty.

He frowned, "Jace... Hm, the name means nothing to me, except the card game reference... and even that only by proxy."

"I think Larson have to other Prelati as well but I am not sure...like I said I have only just barely met this guy."

He smiled, "She is quite the clever girl."

"So she is indeed."
Allison said and grinned.

He nodded, "He's brave and tough, but... I think perhaps he's been through enough pain through the years to make him used to it. Oh, not physical pain, of course, but... isolation can hurt, too. He's a decent, moral boy, and the inner conflicts he must have had because of that... Physical pain is far easier to ignore or suppress."

"I imagine you might be right Mr Wainwright, his lot can not have been an easy one. I have met Master Senex's apprentice Amanda and she have suffered much with her inner turmoil in her young life."
Crexia said.
"In addition there is Paradox, many young widderslainte children if Awakened die from it, the Scourge is not kind to the Fallen and mage children seldom know how to limit themselves to avoid it, the boy might be quite used to physical pain as well I fear."
She said in a serious tone of voice.

He grinned wryly, "Actually, that might have been Chief Morgan's exact words, though I very much doubt it - his response to what the serum is was in Greek, and I really couldn't translate it. And I don't think I should in polite company, either..."

Udella grinned at that.
"I have heard the man say a few choice words yes."

He shrugged, "The change itself is probably completely insignificant. The fact that there is a change, however tiny, though - that is significant. And I'm confident he'll comfort her, if she's worried. His outlook may be a little on the morbid side, but that just might be what the doctor ordered, so to speak."

"Perhaps the frank, often morbid words of an Euthanathos is easier to believe for the girl right now that flowery promises that all will be alright, the child knows she is in trouble perhaps your Chantrymate will be able to calm her fears."
Udella said softly.

He nodded, "The upside to that chain of events is that she'll get a regular doctor she can trust... and, of course, that her precious glass dragon is safe. But it won't be pleasant, knowing it's a likely thing the prosecution will try..."

"But if your vision is correct you are going to save her, and then you can be there for her to comfort her no matter how long it takes for her to feel safe again and her Avatar will be safe."
Udella said and smiled. Crexia raised an eyebrow.
"Glass dragon?"
She asked.

He smiled at Adley, "New ideas might not be as precious as efficient implementation of existing ones."

"True enough we are going to have to see what their Primus have to say and what can be done."
Crexia said and nodded.
"But that is not for the here and now."

He grinned, "Possibly silver, or white..."

"That sounds quite lovely young man."
Crexia said and nodded.

He nodded, "Ah, I'm fond of her, all the same."

"As you should be."
The old lich said and smiled warmly.

He grinned, "This time it's my turn to say you're too kind."

"No I am strategic, kindness would be to say your loss would be tragic because you are a kind man who would be much missed by your loved ones and friends and that is also true, but you have shown a rare resourcefulness that we are going to need to develop new ways to fight our enemies, I forsee great things from you in the future and I would hate to see that cut short."
The Tytalus said simply.

He nodded, "She might actually be coming about at any time now; I don't know when they're planning to do it, but... one of our resident older Masters at Steelhaven has a second Avatar - a constant companion to his soul, as it were. That one has apparently expressed some interest in miss Florentine - an inclination to leave home and strike out on her own, as it were. A Dreamspeaker there has a most remarkable ability to invite an Avatar out in the open through song, and that... might be enough to coax that secondary Avatar from one host to another, giving miss Florentine a fresh start with magic. It sounds almost ludicrous, I know, but... I think they can do it."

"This Dreamspeaker sounds like a most interesting man, what you speak of though I have never heard of transplanting one Avatar into another person...I have heard of some born with a second Avatar that do happen now and again, not often but it do happen...but if it can be done and the host of the secondary Avatar agree, well that would be wonderful."
Udella said and smiled.
"That poor young woman if there really is hope like that I wish them every luck in making it happen."

He smiled, "How could I blame you for failing at something so impossible, that you tried so hard at? Nobody else would have fought half as long, but you... you saved all that could be saved."

Udella looked at you sadly for a moment, her old hand resting at your cheek for a moment longer.
"I do not know what to say old friend I...have carried this regret for so many years, the regret I could not save you..."
She muttered softly.

He frowned, a bit of pain reflected in his eyes, "Yes, it is a horrid thing to do to befriend someone and see them go through... hm, I'll do the same for miss Jerkins when her time comes; strange how history creates parallels like that... Oh, and believe me, seeing it is nowhere near as painful as having that thing done to you..."

"You never begged, you just stood there as the Masters begun their work, your wrists had been released and you where bound by magick alone. I remember you took a deep breath and lifted your hands towards the sky as if you welcomed what was happening. I was watching from the crowd, and I was ashamed I could not save you could not do anything to help, only watch and then the screaming begun, the horrible screaming..."
Udella whispered.
"No I do not suspect anything is as painful as being the victim of that foul rite..."
She said softly.
"D...do you remember the...bad parts?"
She said and looked at you with grief in her eyes.

He nodded sagely, "I should prefer not to need such a defense by not being found out by anyone hostile."

"Good choice...good choice..."
Udella said and nodded.
"So you must be careful old friend...promise me..."

He chuckled, "My father was not too happy that I wanted to learn cooking as a teenager, either; didn't think it masculine enough. Seems there's always some rubbish reason why people should not be allowed to learn to feed themselves... Though I suppose that's more of a problem today, when ready-to-heat meals and fast food is so readily available almost everywhere, so people won't have to use their creativity even to feed themselves..."

"My father was reasonable there he had me schooled as if I was a boy, now Italian women during the Renaissance at least noble women had more rights than many other places in Europe, some even had jobs but even so my father's lessons was a rare thing. Now as for cooking I can not say I am much fond of the ready to heat meals, they just do not taste well to me, but then I am old I am from another time I have listened to my mother though and while I have a Custos that takes care of some of the housework for me, Mrs Scott, there just is not time for me to do all of it, I do cook for myself every so often."

He frowned, "That sounds... worrying, to say the least. I suppose it's fathomable I could, er, eat my way through that, but I'd rather avoid such a scenario in the first place. On the bright side, I suppose such a thing would make the Umbra equally inhospitable to the Fallen and the Technocracy, as well... but no, best try to make that not happen at all..."

"I would not take the chance of using you like a snow plow eating Avatar parts though the Umbra no."
Crexia said and raised an eyebrow.
"And yes something like that would make the Umbra inhospitable to us all, Technocracy, Traditions, Nephandi all of us, but we would loose almost all our oldest members those who live in the Umbra and access to our realms it would be a horror."
She said in a serious tone of voice.

He leaned back, slightly pale, then frowned, "That... is frightening; I've already mused that there may be no end to Mia's capacity for growth, as she keeps rebuilding herself with any fragments she finds... but there are some things that don't quite add up; Moloch contacted Salonikas, not Teomim,

"They said that Teomim wanted to do a second merging, that they wanted to merge with a Psychopomp, the mysterious being that led Avatars to their hosts centuries ago but who was forced out of our reality making our souls choose hosts for themselves. Some speculate that if such a Psychopomp/mage hybrid where to become reality they would be able to merge Avatars into themselves."
Crexia said then she sigh.
"Perhaps Moloch tried to come to Teomim but they would not listen, they where brilliant after all but a touch on the arrogant side, and Moloch was forced to find someone who would listen to their warning."

and I don't think I could become a Rebis;

"No that is not going to happen...not again we will not force such a change a second time."
Mia said softly inside you.

My future self has been jerking me around, to warn me of the future and keep me alive - if this Moloch entity had been doing the same thing here, he'd have been warning someone else. Forming a new Rebis to be Teomim's heir like that would be... I don't know how that would be accomplished;

"Perhaps you are not the heir...perhaps you are not Moloch self are many things it could be Moloch from long ago a future that never was for all we know, or perhaps it is not Moloch but your future self have the same ability as they had, to move through time and warn their formers selves, the danger is there though that Moloch might come..."
Crexia said softly.

if the timeline goes unchanged, one of the reincarnations of Teomim's twins will die in a few months in battle, preventing them, which only leaves, what, cloning the original, but he was..."
He blinked slowly and turned toward Adley, "Well, son of a bitch... could that be what the package was for?"

"So Miss Alexander and your friend here are the heirs...I suspected as much."
Crexia said and looked at Adley.
"The death of Miss Alexander might be the very thing that Moloch will be trying to change or if this is the version that is regretful, ensure...or perhaps more than her death..."
She said darkly then she raised an eyebrow.
"Cloning Teomim?"

"Just be careful, anything written down can fall into the wrong hands...if you can find a way to conceal it that would be better."

"I agree a written record could be stolen or found by others...perhaps if you had some way to store it in a pocket realm or similar it would be safer but even then it could be found."
Crexia agreed.
"And yet it could be a record most useful to read, there are pros and cons here."

He nodded at that. "I see...I suppose I am surprised that they thought about spiritual fallout at all, given they don't as a whole believe in avatars. Their limitations are the boundaries of reason, while there is more to existence than that they have done all they can to make that a hard limit."

"They do not think Avatars are souls, nor that they reincarnate however the Void Engineers have seen things the other members of the Union have not, remember for example Master Telar was sentenced to death by her own according to her own records for learning the sphere of Spirit the way we know it, not the way the Union knows it, I doubt she is the only one and this might also be why the Void Engineers have warned us and not just gone to the board of directors with what they have found, they know they would not be believed."
Crexia said and frowned.

"I don't know...I don't really know much of that sort of thing, it's out of my understanding and paradigm. But I suppose it's possible?" he said at last, as if he were still having a hard time with words. He frowned and looked at Crexia, then back to Colin. "Do you think we should ask her about that, then? We were told she might know of the place it was sent to..."

Crexia raised an eyebrow.
"Ask me what Sodalis?"
She asked but she did not push the question she saw how difficult you found integrating this new information and she just glanced from you to Colin.

He brought his knees up to his chin. "Like making a golem...only...with...?" He looked a bit disgusted, as if what he was thinking about was, from his opinion, quite wrong. Of course, creating a rebis with his /sister's avatar/ was also /quite wrong/ and he had no intention of that either, which was the other thing that Colin said, that his mind skated around, leaving 'nopes' in its wake.

Udella stood she put the now hot tea pot to the side and found a blanket and walked over to Adley and put it around his shoulders, much like a grandmother who did not know what to say to offer comfort.
"You are not a rebis Mr Roth Hicks, not in the Traditional sense. Rebi are one being from birth they just happen to be ehm...some assembly required. They are born with a longing for their other part and they never get far magickally on their own, the joining usually happen the first time the two parts meet, and it is beautiful, but you are to magickally accomplished to be such a being..."
She said and Crexia sigh.
"The heirs according to the prophesy will not be natural rebi they will be forged but this time the joining will be perfect..."
She said softly.
"Perfect...and terrible. They will be siblings, bound together in an eternal cycle, longing to join together but not be rebis, not before they step into the crucible."

"I thought they'd wanted it for some other purpose...? But we never did find out definitively what...did we?"

Crexia glanced at the box.
"Is that what the Nephandi where after at the Post Office?"
She asked.

Serge:

"Either by sleeping or by meditating." Serge says glad to be getting more positive emotions out of Kyle.

"That is pretty cool, can you control your dreams and such?"
Kyle asked eagerly.

"My mentor calls it a Demesne or a mind palace. It's normally a tool some mages use to help with their meditation. My imagination was so great that I managed to create one all on my own without even knowing it. we can look up more about it in the library if you want. I don't think I am the best person to explain this."

"Like a memory palace then but more real?"
Kyle asked.
"My father have been speaking about that and he can remember so many things, I mean it is like he never forgets anything."
He said then he nodded.
"Yeah I would like to learn more about it but I do think you are explaining it just fine."

"Relax, disturbing stuff is deep within all of us. I just wanna see if I can make you see your surface thoughts in the ink." Serge reassured.

"Yeah not as disturbing as me I reckon but yeah sure I am game we can try your ink blots."
The young mage said and nodded.

"Take control of other mages magick? I'm not sure what that might require. Sound interesting through. I'll help you test it if I can." offered Serge.

"Thank you but I eh...would not even know where to begin."
Kyle admitted.
"I can manipulate elements and gravity and you know those kinds of things and a bit with space but what would you call it meta magick like my dad no I would love to learn but I have no grasp of it at all so testing it would be far off...thanks for offering though."

"Yeah I think so too. The books here are a lot more fun....sometimes. We already have a good amount of stuff we can search up. Old alchemical texts for the symbology, stuff about dream realms, and we might be able to find stuff about that magick you wanna try and do."

"Yeah...yeah that will be good."
Kyle said happily for one moment he seamed to have forgotten about being locked in a cell, his fears and the shot and he was just happy and eager for tomorrow like a normal kid.
"Yes we have some things to look for, perhaps I should make a list..."
He said to himself.
"So we keep on track."

"Trying is the best thing you can do. Keep trying and never give up." Serge said smirking slightly at the cliche response. "You'll also have Master Morgan by your side. I'm sure he'll guide you and teach you to control your urges. You'll be fine, trust me."

"I suspect he can, my dad helped me control my urges by keeping me from my magick when I did something bad and at times whipping me with a belt until I bled, it was not...plesant but it worked I did not become a monster, perhaps I can become more than just a disaster waiting to happen if I try though."
He muttered hesitantly.

"I think I will ask him. I feel like he might agree. He already likes Kyle..." Serge argued.

"You are free to ask him all you like kid, I doubt like have anything to do with it though. Master Morgan put the safety of this Chantry above anything, above his life, about his apprentices lives which he value more than his own, if he thinks Kyle is in any way a threat I doubt he will agree but I guess it never hurt to ask."
Richard said as he handed Kyle a glass of water and two tablets.
"For the nausea."
He explained. Kyle nodded and took the pills.
"Thanks."
He said and glanced at you.
"I would like to see the library but it will be ok tomorrow as well."

Serge looked at Kyle for a second and then sighed. "All right. Master Morgan does seem like the type of guy to be absolutely sure of something before committing to a risk."

"He is the security chief is he not? Then all of this is his responsibility, everyone's lives. I guess that makes him a bit of a hen mother but I doubt telling him that to his face is wise."
Kyle said and grinned.

(OOC: Sorry for the late reply I fell asleep on the sofa last night.)

[Adley]

"They said that Teomim wanted to do a second merging, that they wanted to merge with a Psychopomp, the mysterious being that led Avatars to their hosts centuries ago but who was forced out of our reality making our souls choose hosts for themselves. Some speculate that if such a Psychopomp/mage hybrid where to become reality they would be able to merge Avatars into themselves." Crexia said then she sigh. "Perhaps Moloch tried to come to Teomim but they would not listen, they where brilliant after all but a touch on the arrogant side, and Moloch was forced to find someone who would listen to their warning."

"Why would anyone want to do that though? I don't understand..."

"Perhaps you are not the heir...perhaps you are not Moloch self are many things it could be Moloch from long ago a future that never was for all we know, or perhaps it is not Moloch but your future self have the same ability as they had, to move through time and warn their formers selves, the danger is there though that Moloch might come..." Crexia said softly.

"This shit  makes my head hurt, time manipulation then fate, things that might happened but didn't...I just don't understand it. Give me something I can huck a fireball at, please..."

"So Miss Alexander and your friend here are the heirs...I suspected as much." Crexia said and looked at Adley. "The death of Miss Alexander might be the very thing that Moloch will be trying to change or if this is the version that is regretful, ensure...or perhaps more than her death..."

He looked like he was about to argue and then slumped against the chair. "I hate this...how the hell are any of us supposed to know how to avoid a thing that we wouldn't know we were acting on the behest of anyway! And now this, my s--friend, should she die, or not. I am not a damn Euthanatos." He sounded suddenly angry, which was margianally more useful than struck dumb.

"They do not think Avatars are souls, nor that they reincarnate however the Void Engineers have seen things the other members of the Union have not, remember for example Master Telar was sentenced to death by her own according to her own records for learning the sphere of Spirit the way we know it, not the way the Union knows it, I doubt she is the only one and this might also be why the Void Engineers have warned us and not just gone to the board of directors with what they have found, they know they would not be believed."
Crexia said and frowned.

"I'm not sure I knew that..."

Udella stood she put the now hot tea pot to the side and found a blanket and walked over to Adley and put it around his shoulders, much like a grandmother who did not know what to say to offer comfort. "You are not a rebis Mr Roth Hicks, not in the Traditional sense. Rebi are one being from birth they just happen to be ehm...some assembly required. They are born with a longing for their other part and they never get far magickally on their own, the joining usually happen the first time the two parts meet, and it is beautiful, but you are to magickally accomplished to be such a being..."The heirs according to the prophesy will not be natural rebi they will be forged but this time the joining will be perfect..."
She said softly. "Perfect...and terrible. They will be siblings, bound together in an eternal cycle, longing to join together but not be rebis, not before they step into the crucible."

"That I was not born a rebis, I know. Not that there's anything wrong with being born a rebis of course," he said, looking embarrassed, angry and frustrated, looking around the room as if to find something to vent his anger on which of course did not include the nice old woman who was trying to keep his shit together. "The only...being /I/ want to know better is my /own avatar/..." He sighed, "It's just that...all of that...I don't...I do in fact feel like there are certain paths or ways for things to happen, that I was shown...and that should happen to make things the way they should be again. Like there was a way of it, and it happened and it was good, and then it got screwed up and has been wrong ever since. But there is still hope that it doesn't have to always be that way. But if the only hope is making a static universe...no. It's not the right way, there has to be some other way... Oh, this is too rich. I know who would be laughing at me, now...I was making a joke about telling off the gods, earlier in my fugue...dammit. Just none of this makes sense...it made sense before, and now it doesn't..." He shook his head; it felt as if a box of rocks had been tipped in there while he wasn't looking and knocking everything out of order. He stopped talking as suddenly as he started and then looked at Udella. "What crucible?"

Crexia glanced at the box. "Is that what the Nephandi where after at the Post Office?" She asked.

He sighed. "You are a very smart woman, you had us all pegged for a while now, didn't you?" was all he said to that, glancing at Colin to see what he had to say about the package, since it concerned him also.

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

"Why would anyone want to do that though? I don't understand..."

"I would not know, perhaps for the power of it, perhaps Teomim thought such a merging would give them wisdom, as they was before their execution however I expect the latter, they where not in it for power but for the enlightenment...Moloch though...that is another matter."
The old archmage said and sigh.

"This shit makes my head hurt, time manipulation then fate, things that might happened but didn't...I just don't understand it. Give me something I can huck a fireball at, please..."

"I understand that it can be frustrating. Think of it this way, time is not a stream it is a bowl, and everything that have ever happened, will ever happen and are happening are in that bowl, however as we swim around in this bowl we only see what is right in front of us and nothing to the side or back so we think there is a progression of time, potential time that is not are drops that have fallen out of the bowls and that is laying all around it."
Crexia said as she tried to make you understand.

[quote][He looked like he was about to argue and then slumped against the chair. "I hate this...how the hell are any of us supposed to know how to avoid a thing that we wouldn't know we were acting on the behest of anyway! And now this, my s--friend, should she die, or not. I am not a damn Euthanatos." He sounded suddenly angry, which was margianally more useful than struck dumb./quote]

"That is the problem with prophecy, often one can end up causing the very thing one avoid when trying to step around it, we have plenty of examples of that happening in stories and in history. As for Miss Alexander...we if she dies, you can not merge with her in this lifetime but she will be reborn, and so will you and at that time she might not be raised by someone kind and loving and she will be a full on raging widderslainte and part of the Nephandi and the situation might be even worse."
Crexia said softly.

"I'm not sure I knew that..."

"Oh...I will say nothing more then it is Master Telar's own private business."

"That I was not born a rebis, I know. Not that there's anything wrong with being born a rebis of course," he said, looking embarrassed, angry and frustrated, looking around the room as if to find something to vent his anger on which of course did not include the nice old woman who was trying to keep his shit together. "The only...being /I/ want to know better is my /own avatar/..." He sighed, "It's just that...all of that...I don't...I do in fact feel like there are certain paths or ways for things to happen, that I was shown...and that should happen to make things the way they should be again. Like there was a way of it, and it happened and it was good, and then it got screwed up and has been wrong ever since. But there is still hope that it doesn't have to always be that way. But if the only hope is making a static universe...no. It's not the right way, there has to be some other way... Oh, this is too rich. I know who would be laughing at me, now...I was making a joke about telling off the gods, earlier in my fugue...dammit. Just none of this makes sense...it made sense before, and now it doesn't..." He shook his head; it felt as if a box of rocks had been tipped in there while he wasn't looking and knocking everything out of order. He stopped talking as suddenly as he started and then looked at Udella. "What crucible?"

"I believe that we make our own path, our own life, but yes your path will be filled with danger. I am not completely sure what you are talking about but I will take a guess that you are referring to finding a way to cleanse Miss Alexander then...and the possibility that path will lead you and her to join."
Udella said and sigh.
"Perhaps such a path can still be taken, but there is a danger to that and this prophesy shows that danger but at the same time you are not Julius de Medici or Mia de Napoli, a rebis formed by you and Miss Alexander would not be Heylel Teomim, it would be a amalgam of the two of you, the best and the worst parts of you. No making a static world where nothing ever will or can change is only slightly better than letting the Nephandi destroy this world, perhaps it is worse for from deconstruction or non existence there can arise a new world, the world Moloch created will never change, never be different, never evolve it is a nightmare that can not be allowed to happen."
Udella said then she nodded and sat down beside you on one of the other chairs.
"There have to be some other way indeed and we will find it but I have to admit that what Crexia have been saying do...frighten me."
The old mage admitted.
"The crucible a rebis are made in and artificial one at least. I merely meant that you do not need to be afraid of it happening by accident."

He sighed. "You are a very smart woman, you had us all pegged for a while now, didn't you?" was all he said to that, glancing at Colin to see what he had to say about the package, since it concerned him also.

"I would not have survived this long if I was not perceptive...well and near indestructible but being perceptive helps...I am also going to assume this box have to do with Teomim then...his hair then perhaps or blood since you spoke about cloning...how am I doing?"
Crexia said and raised an eyebrow.

[Warpmind]

Betty sigh and glanced at Matty and shook her head.
"I am no Quesitor Sir but I have never known Tradition law to be changed that fast, we are talking days here perhaps weeks and it seams it usually takes years or decades for the Council to decide to do anything. I am sorry but from what i know no, there is no chance for her not unless some haste decision where made."
The hedge wizard said and Allison sigh.
"No I suppose you are right."
She muttered and looked over at the pale form of Matty.

He nodded slowly, "All the same, we can show her kindness and sympathy in the meantime... I don't think she's been offered enough of that in her lifetime."

"I think Larson have to other Prelati as well but I am not sure...like I said I have only just barely met this guy."

He pondered, "Well, one other, perhaps, if one of them was Ojan. He, ah, was the first to die, a few days ago. In fact, that's what set off the whole bloody chain of events; the man was killed by the Union, and apparently took a day or two to finish dying... well, I spared him perhaps the last couple of agonizing hours, but... there was nothing else that could be done for him."

"I imagine you might be right Mr Wainwright, his lot can not have been an easy one. I have met Master Senex's apprentice Amanda and she have suffered much with her inner turmoil in her young life."
Crexia said.
"In addition there is Paradox, many young widderslainte children if Awakened die from it, the Scourge is not kind to the Fallen and mage children seldom know how to limit themselves to avoid it, the boy might be quite used to physical pain as well I fear."
She said in a serious tone of voice.

He nodded, "The pine cone will give him hope, motivation, perhaps the boost needed for his leap of faith..."

"Perhaps the frank, often morbid words of an Euthanathos is easier to believe for the girl right now that flowery promises that all will be alright, the child knows she is in trouble perhaps your Chantrymate will be able to calm her fears."
Udella said softly.

He nodded, smiling wryly, "In the original timeline, to call it that, he'd offered to grant her the final mercy if I were unable to, should her trial go wrong despite all our efforts... She found his dark sincerity soothing. I expect that much won't change significantly."

"But if your vision is correct you are going to save her, and then you can be there for her to comfort her no matter how long it takes for her to feel safe again and her Avatar will be safe."
Udella said and smiled. Crexia raised an eyebrow.
"Glass dragon?"
She asked.

He smiled, "Yes... that's the form her Avatar currently takes; a big, lazy glass dragon who mostly dreams of becoming a beach. In a few years, he'll be well on the way... hum, in fact, they will be making such progress on that front that Anna will be leaving a fine trail of sand everywhere - sand with peculiar adverse effects on the Fallen, as it happens. I will, of course, be collecting as much of that sand as possible."

"That sounds like you already have a few ideas on how to do that; good."

"True enough we are going to have to see what their Primus have to say and what can be done."
Crexia said and nodded.
"But that is not for the here and now."

He nodded, "There are the handcuffs, of course, and I know of one collar designed for precisely that purpose, owned by a local pair of ladies in... what one might call a slightly unconventional relationship. I'm going to have to ask them for a chance to rent that one; for use until a copy can be made..."

"No I am strategic, kindness would be to say your loss would be tragic because you are a kind man who would be much missed by your loved ones and friends and that is also true, but you have shown a rare resourcefulness that we are going to need to develop new ways to fight our enemies, I forsee great things from you in the future and I would hate to see that cut short."
The Tytalus said simply.

He nodded, "That's... absolutely fair. I rather have been thinking sideways, making a few surprisingly accurate intuitive leaps these past few days..."

"This Dreamspeaker sounds like a most interesting man, what you speak of though I have never heard of transplanting one Avatar into another person...I have heard of some born with a second Avatar that do happen now and again, not often but it do happen...but if it can be done and the host of the secondary Avatar agree, well that would be wonderful."
Udella said and smiled.
"That poor young woman if there really is hope like that I wish them every luck in making it happen."

He nodded, "Transplanting might not be the most accurate description. Inviting an Avatar to a walk-in seems more apt - as I understand it, the tricky thing will be to coax the Avatar out of the original host, it will probably be able to do the rest on its own..."

Udella looked at you sadly for a moment, her old hand resting at your cheek for a moment longer.
"I do not know what to say old friend I...have carried this regret for so many years, the regret I could not save you..."
She muttered softly.

He smiled, "Don't regret that any more - it was... necessary. We accepted that fate, and... well, we came back, against all odds."

"You never begged, you just stood there as the Masters begun their work, your wrists had been released and you where bound by magick alone. I remember you took a deep breath and lifted your hands towards the sky as if you welcomed what was happening. I was watching from the crowd, and I was ashamed I could not save you could not do anything to help, only watch and then the screaming begun, the horrible screaming..."
Udella whispered.
"No I do not suspect anything is as painful as being the victim of that foul rite..."
She said softly.
"D...do you remember the...bad parts?"
She said and looked at you with grief in her eyes.

He grimaced, "I remember... We saw you in the crowd, made our speech, and then... an eternity of agony, up to the point where the remnants of Julius' and Mia's Avatars were one in a glorious moment, and then... nothing. But the memory is muted - it's not my memory... it's still not pleasant."

"Good choice...good choice..."
Udella said and nodded.
"So you must be careful old friend...promise me..."

He nodded, "I'll be careful. Even more than I have, if I truly resemble them that much in behaviour..."

"My father was reasonable there he had me schooled as if I was a boy, now Italian women during the Renaissance at least noble women had more rights than many other places in Europe, some even had jobs but even so my father's lessons was a rare thing. Now as for cooking I can not say I am much fond of the ready to heat meals, they just do not taste well to me, but then I am old I am from another time I have listened to my mother though and while I have a Custos that takes care of some of the housework for me, Mrs Scott, there just is not time for me to do all of it, I do cook for myself every so often."

He grimaced, then chuckled a little, "You know, military food gets an awfully bad reputation, but even that is better than the bland, quick body fuel you get in the stores. I... hm, heh, I might be indirectly responsible for a few honoured Masters in Concordia putting on a bit of weight, actually - I'll be teaching my own children cooking as well, according to those memories of the future..."

"I would not take the chance of using you like a snow plow eating Avatar parts though the Umbra no."
Crexia said and raised an eyebrow.
"And yes something like that would make the Umbra inhospitable to us all, Technocracy, Traditions, Nephandi all of us, but we would loose almost all our oldest members those who live in the Umbra and access to our realms it would be a horror."
She said in a serious tone of voice.

He nodded, "Horizon, Cerberus, and so on, it would be a tragic loss. No, i would not want to try to play the part of the plow in such a case; collecting a fragment or two at a time, that I think Mia could handle relatively safely, but by the sound of it, it's the difference between drinking a glass of water and trying to drink my way across the Atlantic Ocean..."

"Just be careful, anything written down can fall into the wrong hands...if you can find a way to conceal it that would be better."

"I agree a written record could be stolen or found by others...perhaps if you had some way to store it in a pocket realm or similar it would be safer but even then it could be found."
Crexia agreed.
"And yet it could be a record most useful to read, there are pros and cons here."

He nodded thoughtfully, "This is a point... and I might accidentally gloss over a few details, as well. Master Steelhaven's practical transcription rote would be excellent, though I don't know how eager he is to do so over and over again... I don't think he enjoys the taste of ink."

"They said that Teomim wanted to do a second merging, that they wanted to merge with a Psychopomp, the mysterious being that led Avatars to their hosts centuries ago but who was forced out of our reality making our souls choose hosts for themselves. Some speculate that if such a Psychopomp/mage hybrid where to become reality they would be able to merge Avatars into themselves."
Crexia said then she sigh.
"Perhaps Moloch tried to come to Teomim but they would not listen, they where brilliant after all but a touch on the arrogant side, and Moloch was forced to find someone who would listen to their warning."

He frowned and closed his eyes, looking inward to Mia for a moment, "Mia... do you remember a being called Moloch trying to contact you at any time?"

"I would not know, perhaps for the power of it, perhaps Teomim thought such a merging would give them wisdom, as they was before their execution however I expect the latter, they where not in it for power but for the enlightenment...Moloch though...that is another matter."
The old archmage said and sigh.

He nodded, "To an extent, it was more to show off their brilliance than to gain in power - they were alchemists, remember? Growth is not about increased strength so much as increased purity, it's refinement toward perfection... proving they could merge two ordinary Magi into a perfect being would be the pinnacle of achievement, not a power grab."

"No that is not going to happen...not again we will not force such a change a second time."
Mia said softly inside you.

He frowned, "...and Mia says such a change won't happen again... won't be forced a second time..."

"Perhaps you are not the heir...perhaps you are not Moloch self are many things it could be Moloch from long ago a future that never was for all we know, or perhaps it is not Moloch but your future self have the same ability as they had, to move through time and warn their formers selves, the danger is there though that Moloch might come..."
Crexia said softly.

He nodded, "There's just something that sounds... immediately suspicious and... hang on, wasn't Moloch an Old Testament god? One of the Baali gods of the region - and one of the nastier sorts, too? Even assuming Teomim were to ascend to godhood, why would they adopt the name of an old god who was portrayed in the Torah and the Bible as an out and out evil deity?"

"So Miss Alexander and your friend here are the heirs...I suspected as much."
Crexia said and looked at Adley.
"The death of Miss Alexander might be the very thing that Moloch will be trying to change or if this is the version that is regretful, ensure...or perhaps more than her death..."
She said darkly then she raised an eyebrow.
"Cloning Teomim?"

He frowned, "In twenty years, Beatrice's next incarnation, if she dies in January, will be the Handler of one of the Battlecruisers attacking Horizon. I... find my way in to her chambers, with a little bit of indignity here and there, and... remind her Avatar of who she was... and at her most vulnerable moment, I kill her with her own dagger, disabling the entire polyp and allowing our forces to take it out... Her death will be tragic, but her reincarnating as a widderslainte and being put in charge of a Nephandi Battlecruiser will be worse..."
He frowned, "And cloning Teomim... If I am not the candidate, and the Twins don't, ah, join together like that, that would pretty much leave only the flesh and blood of Teomim themselves as the viable heir - and I suspect their physical bloodline would have ended with the twins, meaning a new body grown from tissue samples of the original would be necessary..."

Adley had a distant look on his face, as if Quietus looked like a really good idea, but he fought at it. At Colin's prompting, he turned to look at him, trying to find a place to latch on and integrate this new information somehow but he was having a hard time, too much information was leading to overload. Wherever he tried to put his mind on the immensity of it, it just tried to slide right back off again into a sort of negative mantra. "I don't know...I don't really know much of that sort of thing, it's out of my understanding and paradigm. But I suppose it's possible?" he said at last, as if he were still having a hard time with words. He frowned and looked at Crexia, then back to Colin. "Do you think we should ask her about that, then? We were told she might know of the place it was sent to..."

Crexia raised an eyebrow.
"Ask me what Sodalis?"
She asked but she did not push the question she saw how difficult you found integrating this new information and she just glanced from you to Colin.

He frowned, "The recipient of the package from the post office..."

He brought his knees up to his chin. "Like making a golem...only...with...?" He looked a bit disgusted, as if what he was thinking about was, from his opinion, quite wrong. Of course, creating a rebis with his /sister's avatar/ was also /quite wrong/ and he had no intention of that either, which was the other thing that Colin said, that his mind skated around, leaving 'nopes' in its wake.

Udella stood she put the now hot tea pot to the side and found a blanket and walked over to Adley and put it around his shoulders, much like a grandmother who did not know what to say to offer comfort.
"You are not a rebis Mr Roth Hicks, not in the Traditional sense. Rebi are one being from birth they just happen to be ehm...some assembly required. They are born with a longing for their other part and they never get far magickally on their own, the joining usually happen the first time the two parts meet, and it is beautiful, but you are to magickally accomplished to be such a being..."
She said and Crexia sigh.
"The heirs according to the prophesy will not be natural rebi they will be forged but this time the joining will be perfect..."
She said softly.
"Perfect...and terrible. They will be siblings, bound together in an eternal cycle, longing to join together but not be rebis, not before they step into the crucible."

"That I was not born a rebis, I know. Not that there's anything wrong with being born a rebis of course," he said, looking embarrassed, angry and frustrated, looking around the room as if to find something to vent his anger on which of course did not include the nice old woman who was trying to keep his shit together. "The only...being /I/ want to know better is my /own avatar/..." He sighed, "It's just that...all of that...I don't...I do in fact feel like there are certain paths or ways for things to happen, that I was shown...and that should happen to make things the way they should be again. Like there was a way of it, and it happened and it was good, and then it got screwed up and has been wrong ever since. But there is still hope that it doesn't have to always be that way. But if the only hope is making a static universe...no. It's not the right way, there has to be some other way... Oh, this is too rich. I know who would be laughing at me, now...I was making a joke about telling off the gods, earlier in my fugue...dammit. Just none of this makes sense...it made sense before, and now it doesn't..." He shook his head; it felt as if a box of rocks had been tipped in there while he wasn't looking and knocking everything out of order. He stopped talking as suddenly as he started and then looked at Udella. "What crucible?"

He pondered, "The crucible where two Magi crawl in to form an egg, I would presume... I don't remember much of anything before hatching, but it seems the most obvious... hold on, I just had a horrible thought... Siblings... How much is known of the D'Angelo family tree? Is it conceivable that they might be at least peripherally related to Teomim by way of either Julius or Mia, or both? If they've been somehow convinced they could be the ones to whom the prophecy refers, that... would be terrifying, and might also explain a few things..."

Yet, the process of the forest god and the flame god were not wrong...that seemed to be what was supposed to happen, before she fell...his mind went back up around the loop again, stuck. Putting it aside, he came back to the box with the hair and the locket in it. "I thought they'd wanted it for some other purpose...? But we never did find out definitively what...did we?"

Crexia glanced at the box.
"Is that what the Nephandi where after at the Post Office?"
She asked.

He sighed. "You are a very smart woman, you had us all pegged for a while now, didn't you?" was all he said to that, glancing at Colin to see what he had to say about the package, since it concerned him also.

He frowned, "The package at the post office... We learned that it is supposed to contain a lock of hair from Heylel Teomim, taken before the execution... and that Abigail apparently wanted it to get her hands on Teomim's Grimoire. Ironically enough, she had her chance at that seventy years ago, and let it slip through her fingers without even knowing, but... we never asked why she wanted the Grimoire, why now? If that was part of the deal with the D'Angelo siblings, if they have been somehow convinced that it's their destiny to artificially merge and become a god, that would go far in explaining their actions... After all, if you're going to become a god, why should you let anything such as moral concerns stand in your way?"

((OOC: Time to pluck old prophecies apart - Colin's not buying the ascension-to-Moloch idea. If the name had been something different, something unknown, perhaps, but not Moloch. ))

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

He nodded slowly, "All the same, we can show her kindness and sympathy in the meantime... I don't think she's been offered enough of that in her lifetime."

"That we can do...not she have not be shown enough kindness that is for sure. What i can do is stay with her for what time she have trying to lessen her fear as best i can, but other than that there is little that can be done."
Betty said and sigh.

He pondered, "Well, one other, perhaps, if one of them was Ojan. He, ah, was the first to die, a few days ago. In fact, that's what set off the whole bloody chain of events; the man was killed by the Union, and apparently took a day or two to finish dying... well, I spared him perhaps the last couple of agonizing hours, but... there was nothing else that could be done for him."

"Yeah I think I have heard that name, he was Larson's lover was he not? Damn you killed her man, the woman is going to be pissed at you but if it was a mercy killing that might make it better."
Allison said and shrugged.
"I never met him though."

He nodded, "The pine cone will give him hope, motivation, perhaps the boost needed for his leap of faith..."

Crexia nodded and smiled a little.
"I hope you are right Mr Wainwright."

He nodded, smiling wryly, "In the original timeline, to call it that, he'd offered to grant her the final mercy if I were unable to, should her trial go wrong despite all our efforts... She found his dark sincerity soothing. I expect that much won't change significantly."

"I think I would have found such a promise soothing as well if I had been in the little girl's situation."
Udella said softly.
"In the Labyrinth Anna would have seen the result of...that ritual, to know she would not be left alive to suffer might help to calm her...though I still fear that should the worst happen that duty would fall on you old friend."
She said and looked at you sadly.

He smiled, "Yes... that's the form her Avatar currently takes; a big, lazy glass dragon who mostly dreams of becoming a beach. In a few years, he'll be well on the way... hum, in fact, they will be making such progress on that front that Anna will be leaving a fine trail of sand everywhere - sand with peculiar adverse effects on the Fallen, as it happens. I will, of course, be collecting as much of that sand as possible."

"Hum...that...is...similar to something I have heard before."
Crexia said and frowned.
"But if the little girl is the reincarnation of who I suspect then that would be a tragedy."
She added and she looked rather concerned.
"Are you sure she have been describing a glass dragon? Is it blue? As for that sand, not that is something we should have had our hands on in our current situation."

He nodded, "There are the handcuffs, of course, and I know of one collar designed for precisely that purpose, owned by a local pair of ladies in... what one might call a slightly unconventional relationship. I'm going to have to ask them for a chance to rent that one; for use until a copy can be made..."

Harmony Lisa Piti and her wife Heather Wellspring...yes I know them well, they are not the only one who enjoy such a...unconventional relationship."
Crexia said with a warm smile.
"You will be negotiating for what is in effect their wedding ring though but they might be willing to let you borrow since it will grant mercy to a young child."

He nodded, "That's... absolutely fair. I rather have been thinking sideways, making a few surprisingly accurate intuitive leaps these past few days..."

"So you have young man, so you have and I find those intuitive leaps to be most promising."
Crexia said and grinned.

He nodded, "Transplanting might not be the most accurate description. Inviting an Avatar to a walk-in seems more apt - as I understand it, the tricky thing will be to coax the Avatar out of the original host, it will probably be able to do the rest on its own..."

"That sounds reasonable actually it could work if the secondary Avatar agree to it and if Miss Florentine's soul where not irreparably damages when her Avatar was removed, after all the new Avatar can not move into a house burned to the ground."
Udella said and nodded.
"It depends on the skill with which the Gilgul was performed..."

He smiled, "Don't regret that any more - it was... necessary. We accepted that fate, and... well, we came back, against all odds."

The old Quesitor nodded but she did not look like she would be easily able to let that old guilt go.

He grimaced, "I remember... We saw you in the crowd, made our speech, and then... an eternity of agony, up to the point where the remnants of Julius' and Mia's Avatars were one in a glorious moment, and then... nothing. But the memory is muted - it's not my memory... it's still not pleasant."

Udella looked at you, tears rolled down her old cheeks then she pulled you into a hug, there was nothing she could say so she just held you for a moment, and yet it was you she held it was her client all those years ago, as if she wanted to comfort the being Mia had once been a part of, she could not protect them from the pain and horror all she could do was offer a bit of comfort and nothing else.

He nodded, "I'll be careful. Even more than I have, if I truly resemble them that much in behaviour..."

"Let us just say I will not be presenting you to Fall Breeze's reincarnation, there is the way you hold your head, the way you get ideas...I only knew Heylel for three days...for someone who was in his Cabal for years...and the Akashics practice complete reincarnations you know."

He grimaced, then chuckled a little, "You know, military food gets an awfully bad reputation, but even that is better than the bland, quick body fuel you get in the stores. I... hm, heh, I might be indirectly responsible for a few honoured Masters in Concordia putting on a bit of weight, actually - I'll be teaching my own children cooking as well, according to those memories of the future..."

"If what you can buy in the store where actually body fuel then it would not be to bad, military rations might not be tasty but they are made to keep men, and women now going the Technocracy made garbage you find in the supermarket are just additives and conservatives."
Udella grumbled.
"Ah well there have been worse horrors on Horizon than a bunch of plump Masters."
She said and grinned.

He nodded, "Horizon, Cerberus, and so on, it would be a tragic loss. No, i would not want to try to play the part of the plow in such a case; collecting a fragment or two at a time, that I think Mia could handle relatively safely, but by the sound of it, it's the difference between drinking a glass of water and trying to drink my way across the Atlantic Ocean..."

"Precisely."
Crexia said then she sigh.
"We need to stop that calamity from taking place but one crisis at the time."
She said.
"But it is something that have to be discussed when we bring our prisoners to Horizon."

He nodded thoughtfully, "This is a point... and I might accidentally gloss over a few details, as well. Master Steelhaven's practical transcription rote would be excellent, though I don't know how eager he is to do so over and over again... I don't think he enjoys the taste of ink."

"It is not a plesant taste...Master Steelhaven taught me his rote to take down testimony years ago, it is quite useful though. I would be willing to take down what you want for you if you trust me to pull the rote of."
Udella said kindly.
"Master Steelhaven created the rote so he is better at it off course."

He frowned and closed his eyes, looking inward to Mia for a moment, "Mia... do you remember a being called Moloch trying to contact you at any time?"

"Not in this timeline, they are a possibility but not my path not anymore that is part of why the Betrayal had to happen, though we did not know it at the time."
Your Avatar whispered her voice sounding far of in your head, like a thought half remembered.

He nodded, "To an extent, it was more to show off their brilliance than to gain in power - they were alchemists, remember? Growth is not about increased strength so much as increased purity, it's refinement toward perfection... proving they could merge two ordinary Magi into a perfect being would be the pinnacle of achievement, not a power grab."

Crexia nodded.
"Yes you are probably right Mr Wainwrgiht and when I met Teomim, I went to them for...well never mind that I never took them to be power hungry, they where wise but a touch arrogant, if they wanted further alchemical developments I suspect that they would do so for greater purity to come closer to the god source...that being I can not imagine them as Moloch a living good of a stagnate wasteland, they where...compassionate and kind."
She said softly.

He frowned, "...and Mia says such a change won't happen again... won't be forced a second time..."

Crexia nodded at that.
"Well that is a relief at least.

He nodded, "There's just something that sounds... immediately suspicious and... hang on, wasn't Moloch an Old Testament god? One of the Baali gods of the region - and one of the nastier sorts, too? Even assuming Teomim were to ascend to godhood, why would they adopt the name of an old god who was portrayed in the Torah and the Bible as an out and out evil deity?"

"Well they did take one of the names for Lucifer for themselves..."
Crexia said then she frowned.
"Says the woman who live on the Chantry Morningstar, so with a danger of being the pot that call the kettle black they did seam to have a fascination with Biblical myth...the name might also have been one the Seer called them since he could not manage to see his substitute father in the being he was communicating with."

He frowned, "In twenty years, Beatrice's next incarnation, if she dies in January, will be the Handler of one of the Battlecruisers attacking Horizon. I... find my way in to her chambers, with a little bit of indignity here and there, and... remind her Avatar of who she was... and at her most vulnerable moment, I kill her with her own dagger, disabling the entire polyp and allowing our forces to take it out... Her death will be tragic, but her reincarnating as a widderslainte and being put in charge of a Nephandi Battlecruiser will be worse..."

Crexia nodded she frowned.
"You told us about your experiences on the battlecruiser Mr Wainwrgiht...I am concerned what if this prophecy where to take place in that life or the next?"

He frowned, "And cloning Teomim... If I am not the candidate, and the Twins don't, ah, join together like that, that would pretty much leave only the flesh and blood of Teomim themselves as the viable heir - and I suspect their physical bloodline would have ended with the twins, meaning a new body grown from tissue samples of the original would be necessary..."

"No one knows what became of Heylel's twins they could have ended up having children for all I know but yes if Heylel where to be cloned that would probably be...one way the prophecy could come true and such a...abomination would not be Teomim, not have their purity but might have their power that would be truly terrifying..."

He frowned, "The recipient of the package from the post office..."

"If you tell me their name I will tell you what I know if I know something about it."
Crexia said.

He pondered, "The crucible where two Magi crawl in to form an egg, I would presume... I don't remember much of anything before hatching, but it seems the most obvious...

"The child of the egg...well the egg part is a symbolism, the prima materia would have been purified and gone through five processes and then be reborn as the child of the egg...Teomim might have used the symbolism for the ritual..."
Crexia said.

hold on, I just had a horrible thought... Siblings... How much is known of the D'Angelo family tree? Is it conceivable that they might be at least peripherally related to Teomim by way of either Julius or Mia, or both? If they've been somehow convinced they could be the ones to whom the prophecy refers, that... would be terrifying, and might also explain a few things..."

Udella paled a little.
"The D'Angelos are careful with their names off course but I have been keeping track of the Madici line...and one of those lines through the mothers so we are talking about another noble family's name. Around 300 years ago twins was born to one of these families, twins there was some rumors about had magickal powers and then the record of them stops as if they where whisked away...and we know the D'Angelo twins came from Italian nobility so it is possible they can be of Medici blood."

He frowned, "The package at the post office... We learned that it is supposed to contain a lock of hair from Heylel Teomim, taken before the execution... and that Abigail apparently wanted it to get her hands on Teomim's Grimoire. Ironically enough, she had her chance at that seventy years ago, and let it slip through her fingers without even knowing, but... we never asked why she wanted the Grimoire, why now? If that was part of the deal with the D'Angelo siblings, if they have been somehow convinced that it's their destiny to artificially merge and become a god, that would go far in explaining their actions... After all, if you're going to become a god, why should you let anything such as moral concerns stand in your way?"

"It is a workable theory, speculation off course but it is workable hum...not many know the theories around what the Grimoire is and where it is though...and it is said to contain Teomim's information on how to become and artificial rebis and merge with a Psychopomp...and if the twins are working with Larson...there have to be a reason for it..."
Crexia said and frowned.

(OOC: Hey blame White Wolf for the name not me, then again they have Goratrix the boy Tremere as well, then again are you going to deny a powerful old Tremere from having a girl name if he so choose? )

[Warpmind]

"Yeah I think I have heard that name, he was Larson's lover was he not? Damn you killed her man, the woman is going to be pissed at you but if it was a mercy killing that might make it better."
Allison said and shrugged.
"I never met him though."

He shrugged, "If Larson is pissed, all the better. That will only serve to make her more shortsighted and error-prone. In any case, the man was not even conscious when we found him, having dug three Primium bullets out of himself... he'd gone septic, and was burning with fever. Even the Fallen don't deserve a prolonged death like that..."

"I think I would have found such a promise soothing as well if I had been in the little girl's situation."
Udella said softly.
"In the Labyrinth Anna would have seen the result of...that ritual, to know she would not be left alive to suffer might help to calm her...though I still fear that should the worst happen that duty would fall on you old friend."
She said and looked at you sadly.

He nodded, "If I had to trust anyone else to do that... it would be him. If."

"Hum...that...is...similar to something I have heard before."
Crexia said and frowned.
"But if the little girl is the reincarnation of who I suspect then that would be a tragedy."
She added and she looked rather concerned.
"Are you sure she have been describing a glass dragon? Is it blue? As for that sand, not that is something we should have had our hands on in our current situation."

He arched an eyebrow, "She... hasn't specified a colour, just that he's made of glass, and is an old, Primordial Avatar... and yes, the sand would have been useful, but I don't think future me is all too keen to send physical objects back in time. So, who do you suspect Anna was earlier? Is this going to make things awkward between my apprentice and myself?"

Harmony Lisa Piti and her wife Heather Wellspring...yes I know them well, they are not the only one who enjoy such a...unconventional relationship."
Crexia said with a warm smile.
"You will be negotiating for what is in effect their wedding ring though but they might be willing to let you borrow since it will grant mercy to a young child."

He nodded, "Ah, in that case, I need to be prepared to make a very generous offer in exchange for that loan... Good thing i have a reliable craftsmanship service, then; I suppose it would have been far harder to offer trade if I were only a pilot..."

"That sounds reasonable actually it could work if the secondary Avatar agree to it and if Miss Florentine's soul where not irreparably damages when her Avatar was removed, after all the new Avatar can not move into a house burned to the ground."
Udella said and nodded.
"It depends on the skill with which the Gilgul was performed..."

He nodded, "From what I understand, it was quite expertly performed... and the Avatar itself apparently expressed a sense of compatibility. Plus, there's the detail of miss Alexander telling me, in a couple of months, that her new sister needed Master Nassa's care as well, so I had to make sure he didn't fret exclusively over her come, well... the attack on Steelhaven... That would all suggest that the transfer will be very much successful... and in five years, miss Florentine's method will be in use, painful and grueling, but it will work..."

Udella looked at you, tears rolled down her old cheeks then she pulled you into a hug, there was nothing she could say so she just held you for a moment, and yet it was you she held it was her client all those years ago, as if she wanted to comfort the being Mia had once been a part of, she could not protect them from the pain and horror all she could do was offer a bit of comfort and nothing else.

He smiled and hugged Udella, gently patting her back, "There's nothing you need forgiveness for, old friend... You were ever noble and true."

"Let us just say I will not be presenting you to Fall Breeze's reincarnation, there is the way you hold your head, the way you get ideas...I only knew Heylel for three days...for someone who was in his Cabal for years...and the Akashics practice complete reincarnations you know."

He frowned, "The way path are crossing again, in an eerie echo of the fifteenth century... I think it will be inevitable that we meet someday. What comes of that... will be up to Fall Breeze, I think. I just hope they can forgive me, if not trust me... There's a Scottish proverb, I hear tell, 'forgive your enemy, but remember the bastard's name'... It seems fitting."

"If what you can buy in the store where actually body fuel then it would not be to bad, military rations might not be tasty but they are made to keep men, and women now going the Technocracy made garbage you find in the supermarket are just additives and conservatives."
Udella grumbled.
"Ah well there have been worse horrors on Horizon than a bunch of plump Masters."
She said and grinned.

He nodded, "There's also a buttload of corn syrup and starch, mostly. Sometimes, a little protein, God knows what sort. At least I hope it's not Soylent green..."

"It is not a plesant taste...Master Steelhaven taught me his rote to take down testimony years ago, it is quite useful though. I would be willing to take down what you want for you if you trust me to pull the rote of."
Udella said kindly.
"Master Steelhaven created the rote so he is better at it off course."

He grinned and pointed a thumb at Adley, "You managed to seamlessly slip me into my Cabalmate's mind to retrieve him; I think I can trust you to manage to write down a testimony."

"Not in this timeline, they are a possibility but not my path not anymore that is part of why the Betrayal had to happen, though we did not know it at the time."
Your Avatar whispered her voice sounding far of in your head, like a thought half remembered.

He opened his eyes and looked at Crexia, "Mia remembers Moloch as a possibility in a future timeline that was cut off by the Betrayal... but they didn't know the Betrayal was necessary for that at the time. Which means the Moloch-identity never contacted Teomim about it through time... Ergo not the same thing as i will be doing, then..."

Crexia nodded.
"Yes you are probably right Mr Wainwrgiht and when I met Teomim, I went to them for...well never mind that I never took them to be power hungry, they where wise but a touch arrogant, if they wanted further alchemical developments I suspect that they would do so for greater purity to come closer to the god source...that being I can not imagine them as Moloch a living good of a stagnate wasteland, they where...compassionate and kind."
She said softly.

He nodded, pondering, "Julius was the arrogance of the two, I think - immensely brilliant and a bit too much hubris... but stagnation would be anathema to Teomim, I think. If there was no room for change, there would be no room for improvement, either, and that... no, I just can't quite buy that story."

"Well they did take one of the names for Lucifer for themselves..."
Crexia said then she frowned.
"Says the woman who live on the Chantry Morningstar, so with a danger of being the pot that call the kettle black they did seam to have a fascination with Biblical myth...the name might also have been one the Seer called them since he could not manage to see his substitute father in the being he was communicating with."

He harumphed, "If angels were created without free will, but with perfect understanding of their place in the cosmos, how could Lucifer revolt in the first place?"

Crexia nodded she frowned.
"You told us about your experiences on the battlecruiser Mr Wainwrgiht...I am concerned what if this prophecy where to take place in that life or the next?"

He shook his head, "Not that life, I'm fairly certain... besides, close though those two Avatars may be, creating an artificial Rebis from a Traditionalist and a widderslainte would be... probably something to the tune of ridiculously wrong and impossible, even with all the knowledge of Teomim and later researchers combined..."

"No one knows what became of Heylel's twins they could have ended up having children for all I know but yes if Heylel where to be cloned that would probably be...one way the prophecy could come true and such a...abomination would not be Teomim, not have their purity but might have their power that would be truly terrifying..."

He frowned, "A clone; a soulless, powerful vessel that could be inhabited by something else... Thoabath indeed..."

"If you tell me their name I will tell you what I know if I know something about it."
Crexia said.

He thought for a moment, "It was a research Chantry in Spain, I think... I never saw the address... it was sent from Horizon, but..."
He glanced over at Adley, "You're the one who handled the box, though... where is it stored for now?"

"The child of the egg...well the egg part is a symbolism, the prima materia would have been purified and gone through five processes and then be reborn as the child of the egg...Teomim might have used the symbolism for the ritual..."
Crexia said.

He snorted, "Very big on symbolism and and the alchemical process itself, but something so simple as a single robe or blanket? Bah, that laboratory was bloody cold..."

Udella paled a little.
"The D'Angelos are careful with their names off course but I have been keeping track of the Madici line...and one of those lines through the mothers so we are talking about another noble family's name. Around 300 years ago twins was born to one of these families, twins there was some rumors about had magickal powers and then the record of them stops as if they where whisked away...and we know the D'Angelo twins came from Italian nobility so it is possible they can be of Medici blood."

He frowned, "Well, bugger... that suddenly makes a lot of puzzle pieces fit together..."

"It is a workable theory, speculation off course but it is workable hum...not many know the theories around what the Grimoire is and where it is though...and it is said to contain Teomim's information on how to become and artificial rebis and merge with a Psychopomp...and if the twins are working with Larson...there have to be a reason for it..."
Crexia said and frowned.

He nodded, "If... they are convinced becoming a new Teomim is their birthright, and they can use the power of becoming that to bring their beloved Mentor back, that would make for a... tragic, but understandable motivation. For Larson, it's the vastly simpler matter of having a pet Traditionalist or two to cover her tracks in exchange for a few favours and the odd widderslainte..."

((OOC: Colin doesn't know about White Wolf. Or Goratrix, for that matter. ))

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

He shrugged, "If Larson is pissed, all the better. That will only serve to make her more shortsighted and error-prone. In any case, the man was not even conscious when we found him, having dug three Primium bullets out of himself... he'd gone septic, and was burning with fever. Even the Fallen don't deserve a prolonged death like that..."

"Three Primium bullets ouch, no if I am ever taken out in battle I would rather it go quick than linger on like that, sure getting injured and getting help is preferable but if I am going to die I would not want it to be that way."
Allison said and shook her head.
"One thing I suddenly thought of it is probably completely irrelevant, someone important enough to trade favors for it in Larson's Labyrinth have a severe allergy. Doc have been providing them with medicine and over the years several epi pens so that allergy have to be pretty bad, not that I know what they are allergic to or who it is so the information are probably quite useless."

He nodded, "If I had to trust anyone else to do that... it would be him. If."

Udella gave you a sad look and nodded at that.

He arched an eyebrow, "She... hasn't specified a colour, just that he's made of glass, and is an old, Primordial Avatar... and yes, the sand would have been useful, but I don't think future me is all too keen to send physical objects back in time. So, who do you suspect Anna was earlier? Is this going to make things awkward between my apprentice and myself?"

"Not sending any physical objects back in time is probably a good thing and yes I do think it might make things awkward..."
Crexia begun and deludedly you where not sitting on the wood floor of an attic room in Chantry Morningstar you where sitting on a grass field, a crackling fire kept you and your traveling companion warm. It was just you and Louis du Monte this time, the small gathering of mages you where sent to recruit had been ill treated by first the Hermetics and then the Order of Reson, nine Master of the Art would send them running, and besides Eloine was due in a month, she should not be traveling, Fall Breeze and Bernadette where staying behind to care for the pregnant witch, and you only hoped that Eloine and Bernadette would not start squabbling while the two peacekeepers in the Cabal where elsewhere. The rest of the Cabal had been ordered to the ruins of Mistrige to help with restoration efforts, if that was even possible.
"You were born with an Damon where you not, ehm both of you?"
du Monte suddenly asked, the Hermetic where just slightly drunk, he seldom indulged and you had never seen him lose control but just enough to be a bit more talkative than usual.
"What is that like? I discussed it a fortnight ago with a member of my Order, a Tytalus, both of us have Fonts, all I ever experience is a presence and a flow of Quintessence, it is a Gift but it do not talk to me or guide me, though as I told the Mistress Crexia, sometimes late at night when I am halfway between waking and sleep I think I see something there deep inside of myself, a mighty dragon made of fine dark azure obsidian...standing there surrounded by mists and shadows, just the illusions of an over active mind perhaps...and little else, I have taken to wearing a piece of the material for good luck anyway you know it...feels calming to touch."
He said and tapped at the dark blue obsidian marble he wore on a leather rope around his neck.
"Ah forgive me Heylel, to much wine is talking and that conversation I had popped into my mind, we should rest we have a long day tomorrow and then some skittish magi to talk into joining the Traditions we should get some rest."
He Hermetic said and he rose and stretched.
"Forget that I said anything..."

The you where back at the small attic room at Morningstar, Crexia had said something but you had not heard her words as the memory that was not yours had flooded your mind.
"Ehm...are you alright Mr Wainwrgiht it is not a problem with the serum is it?"
Crexia asked in a concerned tone of voice.

He nodded, "Ah, in that case, I need to be prepared to make a very generous offer in exchange for that loan... Good thing i have a reliable craftsmanship service, then; I suppose it would have been far harder to offer trade if I were only a pilot..."

"Offering them fair trade for the loan might persuade them, respecting their relationship as more than just well unusual sex might flatter them more than gifts though many see such an arrangement as just something dirty and fail to see that just like with any relationship the physical is just a part of it, and that it is about being loving and kind towards one another and having someone to walk this often hard path with."
Crexia said and she spoke like if she had experience with this.
"For someone in a power exchange relationship to have that relationship respected and acknowledged as a real thing and not like someone's dirty fantasy means allot, trust me."
She said and smiled knowingly.

He nodded, "From what I understand, it was quite expertly performed... and the Avatar itself apparently expressed a sense of compatibility. Plus, there's the detail of miss Alexander telling me, in a couple of months, that her new sister needed Master Nassa's care as well, so I had to make sure he didn't fret exclusively over her come, well... the attack on Steelhaven... That would all suggest that the transfer will be very much successful... and in five years, miss Florentine's method will be in use, painful and grueling, but it will work..."

"That is fascinating, I would love to see such a thing but no I am not going to intrude and ask it is not some spectator sport I just hope that the secondary Avatar will find a home in the poor tormented girl and that she can spread her method to others who need it...however why do you think Master Nassa will become Miss Florentine's new teacher if I remember correctly the girl is Mercere now but was of House Flambeau like your Cabalmate here?"
Udella asked and she looked a little confused.

He smiled and hugged Udella, gently patting her back, "There's nothing you need forgiveness for, old friend... You were ever noble and true."

Udella nodded weakly.
"But i spoke to them...to you I...held your hand...so different then, with long, thin fingers and bones so fine they felt like they where carved from marble, I hugged you...you where there alive talking...thinking and then...there where those scream to see someone...even if I have done it to others, those I have not personally known, to see someone I cared about go though that...I should have found some way..."

He frowned, "The way path are crossing again, in an eerie echo of the fifteenth century... I think it will be inevitable that we meet someday. What comes of that... will be up to Fall Breeze, I think. I just hope they can forgive me, if not trust me... There's a Scottish proverb, I hear tell, 'forgive your enemy, but remember the bastard's name'... It seems fitting."

"I do not know the women, I have met her on Horizon but other than meetings in passing and her coming in last week to ask about the legality of importing some particularly Dynamic Tass she needed for a working I do not know her well so I can not tell you how she would react but if you meet her I hope that she will be able to forgive you and will not drag the person you are now down for who your Avatar or a piece of it once where."
Udella said and nodded.

He nodded, "There's also a buttload of corn syrup and starch, mostly. Sometimes, a little protein, God knows what sort. At least I hope it's not Soylent green..."

"Soylent green is that a plant?"
The old Quesitor asked she sounded a bit confused.
"But yes the corn syrup and starch I am not best pleased by it, then again it is easy for me to sit here and complain I might not be rich but I am well off, I can afford to eat quality food, not everyone in this nation or anywhere else have that luxury and have to take whatever is cheap."

He grinned and pointed a thumb at Adley, "You managed to seamlessly slip me into my Cabalmate's mind to retrieve him; I think I can trust you to manage to write down a testimony."

Udella smiled a little.
"Ah well, thank you for the confidence then, I can take down that testimony whenever you feel ready in that case old friend."
She offered.

He opened his eyes and looked at Crexia, "Mia remembers Moloch as a possibility in a future timeline that was cut off by the Betrayal... but they didn't know the Betrayal was necessary for that at the time. Which means the Moloch-identity never contacted Teomim about it through time... Ergo not the same thing as i will be doing, then..."

Crexia nodded and she did not protest but nor did she seam completely convinced.

He nodded, pondering, "Julius was the arrogance of the two, I think - immensely brilliant and a bit too much hubris... but stagnation would be anathema to Teomim, I think. If there was no room for change, there would be no room for improvement, either, and that... no, I just can't quite buy that story."

"Indeed Teomim was a alchemist, they seek perfection but that is a goal that can never be achieved, only striven for at the moment of perfection they would have Ascended not remained to become some demon lord."
Udella said and nodded.
"Something could have happened to them though to make them different from who they where, for no the future Crexia describes, one of nothing but stagnation would have been something the Heylel I knew would have fought about until his last drop of blood."

He harumphed, "If angels were created without free will, but with perfect understanding of their place in the cosmos, how could Lucifer revolt in the first place?"

"Perhaps he was created different, perhaps he unlike his brethren had free will and that is why he rebelled, or perhaps that entire story is just that a metaphor to make us think about the nature of will and knowledge."
Crexia pondered.

He shook his head, "Not that life, I'm fairly certain... besides, close though those two Avatars may be, creating an artificial Rebis from a Traditionalist and a widderslainte would be... probably something to the tune of ridiculously wrong and impossible, even with all the knowledge of Teomim and later researchers combined..."

"Are not you the one that like to tell us that we are mages so impossible is what we do Mr Wainwright? But it need not be that life, not at all, it could be the next, or the next after that, the threat still remain if these two souls are indeed the heirs."
Crexia said and glanced at you.

He frowned, "A clone; a soulless, powerful vessel that could be inhabited by something else... Thoabath indeed..."

"That would be quite a monstrosity Mr Wainwright one that would have to be stopped and destroyed and one indeed worthy of the name Thoabath...the abomination."
Udella said and frowned. Mia had a few things to say about such a mockery about her former host,and she said it in Enochian, you could probably ask Adley translate but it would not be polite, well at least you got an Avatar who could swear like an old sailor if she felt the situation required it, all done in a ladylike manner off course.

He thought for a moment, "It was a research Chantry in Spain, I think... I never saw the address... it was sent from Horizon, but..."
He glanced over at Adley, "You're the one who handled the box, though... where is it stored for now?"

"Spain...hum...there are 38 Chantries in Spain...no 39 a new one was founded last week and five of them are research Chantries I am not sure why I would be seen as the expert of Spanish Chantries though?"
Crexia said and she sounded puzzled again.

He snorted, "Very big on symbolism and and the alchemical process itself, but something so simple as a single robe or blanket? Bah, that laboratory was bloody cold..."

"I remember visiting Teomim in their laboratory, every bit of symbolism for their workings was perfect, but they had forgotten flint and steel to light the candles and had to use magick to light them and their Cabalmates had to knock on their door and remind them to take a break to eat every now and again."
Crexia said with a wry smile.

He frowned, "Well, bugger... that suddenly makes a lot of puzzle pieces fit together..."

"Disturbingly yes I agree with that old friend."
Udella muttered darkly.

He nodded, "If... they are convinced becoming a new Teomim is their birthright, and they can use the power of becoming that to bring their beloved Mentor back, that would make for a... tragic, but understandable motivation. For Larson, it's the vastly simpler matter of having a pet Traditionalist or two to cover her tracks in exchange for a few favours and the odd widderslainte..."

"There is reason in this theory Mr Wainwright, it is still just a theory off course but even so there is reason in it, disturbing reason, and if this is true then we need to stop the D'Angelo twins before they can get anywhere with their plan but to do that we need proof, they are respected Enforcers, Vittoria Sofia D'Angelo are the Senior Quesitor of Boston and her brother is one of the most celebrated prosecutors on Horizon they will not go down without hard and fast evidence."
Crexia said and Udella frowned.

"This remind me of another matter that are probably not relevant but which might be...Lady Arden do not know the Seer's prophecies and she will not be told unless absolutely necessary...but those of us who do know about it was rather concerned when one of her children where born...a rebis who joined together in the womb and given how they where conceived...there might be more pieces to this puzzle. Anyway Lady Arden had Mr Horton draw three vials of blood from each of her twins to send them to a lab to check for allergies I think it was, I did not ask the reason for the checkup that is private, in any case Mr Horton reported to Chief Joakim that three vials from the girl, Mary Elisabeth had arrived at the lab and had been analyzed but the lab had sent an mail to inform him that only two vials had arrived from the rebis child, so ironically named after the grand alchemist themselves, one vial was missing. Most likely this was a mess up at the lab and Mr Horton only reported it to follow procedure but with all that have come to light lately that missing vial of blood from that rebis child makes me wonder..."
Crexia said and frowned.

(OOC: And that is probably a good thing. )

[Jeremy Silverstein]

"That is pretty cool, can you control your dreams and such?"
Kyle asked eagerly.

"Yeah I have control over the dream. I can shape what I look like and if I concentrate even what the world looks like. Although most of the time stuff is just happening on its own. Since its my subconscious its always a little hectic. " Serge said with a smile.

"Like a memory palace then but more real?"
Kyle asked.
"My father have been speaking about that and he can remember so many things, I mean it is like he never forgets anything."
He said then he nodded.

"Their's nothing real about it." Serge said with a chuckle. "Although I get what you mean. It's a simple mind palace that I can traverse. I can also scan through my memories in that world and even bring up obscure ones if I concentrate. Although I doubt I have any memories worth bringing up."

"Yeah I would like to learn more about it but I do think you are explaining it just fine."

"I remember reading about some mages who could drag people into there demesne's. That sounded so cool to me!" Serge said as Kyle's excited started rubbing off on him.

"Like, doesn't that sound like such a villain thing to do. Drag someone into your head where you reign supreme. I have, like, the vaguest idea of how to do it but I don't think I'll be doing stuff like that anytime soon. Seems kinda cruel and I don't really wanna bring people into my head." Serge said wondering how to even begin to perform magick such as that.

"Yeah not as disturbing as me I reckon but yeah sure I am game we can try your ink blots."
The young mage said and nodded.

"Sure thing!" Serge said eagerly. "Although we should probably stop calling it 'inkblots' since I don't have any actual ink on me. I'm just going to draw a couple of ambiguous images on the page and see if I can get your mind to view those images as your surface thoughts."

Serge quickly flipped to an empty page in his notebook and started drawing carefully, letting his intentions flow from his mind through his pencil and into the page. He made sure that the drawings he drew were not mere drawings but chaotic pictures that would influence on lookers and order themselves on his command. After a few moments the page was filled by a series of strange-looking shapes that didn't seem to resemble any coherent picture.

Holding up his art for Kyle to look at, Serge made sure to look at the young widderslainte's eyes and said. "Alright try to think of something simple. Like fruits...or vegetables....or potatoes."

As he held up his artwork Serge willed his magick through his art and let Kyle's surface thoughts shape and bring order to what he saw in the ambiguous shapes.

"So what do you see?" Serge asked.

((OOC: Ok it's magick time. If I get something wrong please let me know. So Serge is going to try using a Mind 2 effect to cause Kyle to see his surface thoughts in the ambiguous drawings. I believe Mind 2 is sufficient to access Surface thoughts and create minor mental illusions.

Arete Roll: 7, 5, 9))

"Yeah...yeah that will be good."
Kyle said happily for one moment he seamed to have forgotten about being locked in a cell, his fears and the shot and he was just happy and eager for tomorrow like a normal kid.
"Yes we have some things to look for, perhaps I should make a list..."
He said to himself.
"So we keep on track."

"That's a good idea. It'll give you something to do. I'll make a list of my own and we can see how many of those topics we can find up. I don't actually know if we're allowed to take the books to our room. I mean I know its a library but mages tend to be stingy with their knowledge." Serge said with a chuckle.

He said and glanced at you.
"I would like to see the library but it will be ok tomorrow as well."

"Then tomorrow it shall be." Serge said trying to forget about the possibility that the world might end today.

"He is the security chief is he not? Then all of this is his responsibility, everyone's lives. I guess that makes him a bit of a hen mother but I doubt telling him that to his face is wise."
Kyle said and grinned.

"Yup that's him all right. I've only talked to him twice but he does seem like that. He does seem try his best to keep all of us safe. Who knows, he might like being called a mother hen. He might see it as being symbolic." Serge said as he thought about Master Jeffry

"Nawww, who am kidding. He'd probably give you the death stare that all those old powerful mages seem to be able to do." Serge concluded humorously.

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

"Yeah I have control over the dream. I can shape what I look like and if I concentrate even what the world looks like. Although most of the time stuff is just happening on its own. Since its my subconscious its always a little hectic. " Serge said with a smile.

"Where did you learn to do that? Did your Mentor teach you? If I could learn to do the same perhaps I could live out the fucked up parts of me in my dreams and not risk hurting anyone in real life."
Kyle said and glanced up at you.

"Their's nothing real about it." Serge said with a chuckle. "Although I get what you mean. It's a simple mind palace that I can traverse. I can also scan through my memories in that world and even bring up obscure ones if I concentrate. Although I doubt I have any memories worth bringing up."

"Hum...sounds a bit like a memory palace my dad explains it like some place where one can hide memories so one can go back into the memory palace and find the place one hid something and then remember it. I have been trying to learn how but I just don't got it yet. I am sure you have many interesting memories to bring back though."

"I remember reading about some mages who could drag people into there demesne's. That sounded so cool to me!" Serge said as Kyle's excited started rubbing off on him.

"That would be a cool combat maneuver if you can do that physically, drag them into your mind, then you can do whatever you want with them or just throw them in a cell or something until you where ready to deal with them that would be practical."

"Like, doesn't that sound like such a villain thing to do. Drag someone into your head where you reign supreme. I have, like, the vaguest idea of how to do it but I don't think I'll be doing stuff like that anytime soon." Serge said wondering how to even begin to perform magick such as that.

"Well one could do it to be a douche to someone absolutely but it could also be a non lethal way to deal with an enemy, you could drag them into your mind, knock them out and let them go again when they are no longer a danger, if you needed to take someone down but did not want to harm them I mean."
The kid said and nodded.

"Sure thing!" Serge said eagerly. "Although we should probably stop calling it 'inkblots' since I don't have any actual ink on me. I'm just going to draw a couple of ambiguous images on the page and see if I can get your mind to view those images as your surface thoughts."

"Ok fire away."
Kyle said and smiled.

Serge quickly flipped to an empty page in his notebook and started drawing carefully, letting his intentions flow from his mind through his pencil and into the page. He made sure that the drawings he drew were know mere drawings but chaotic pictures that would order themselves on his command. After a few moments the page was filled by a series of strange-looking shapes that didn't seem to resemble any coherent picture.

Holding up for Kyle to look at Serge made sure to look at the young widderslainte's eyes and said. "Alright try to think of something simple. Like fruits...or vegetables....or potatoes."

As he held up his artwork Serge willed his magick through his art and let Kyle's surface thoughts shape and bring order to what he saw in the ambiguous shapes.

"So what do you see?" Serge asked.

"Well those are interesting..."
Kyle said and looked at the page.
"Any fruit?"
He asked as he studied the page then after a while he said.
"I see a island of light in complete darkness, not just absence of light but absence of anything, there is a lone person on that island shuffling sand out of his head to fill the island, make it bigger but no matter how quickly he shuffle that sand the darkness eats piece after piece, making the island smaller, the person want to enter the darkness for there is no pain there, no nothing, but he keeps shuffling sand trying to stave of the nothingness but it is hopeless and eventually he will be consumed."
Kyle said and scratched his head.
"Ehm that and that squiggle there looks kind of like a bowl of cereal with milk."
He said and pointed.
"Perhaps I am hungry."

"That's a good idea. It'll give you something to do. I'll make a list of my own and we can see how many of those topics we can find up. I don't actually know if we're allowed to take the books to our room. I mean I know its a library but mages tend to be stingy with their knowledge." Serge said with a chuckle.

"I guess we are going to have to ask the others if we can borrow books."
Kyle said and Richard nodded.
"You can borrow books, but you have to write down the title and your name in the registry and take good care of them."
He said and the young widderslainte nodded.
"Oh ok cool."
He said then he turned to you and smiled.
"Ok...I will make a list and have it ready I am sure i can think of some interesting topics to research."
He declared happily.

"Then tomorrow it shall be." Serge said trying to forget about the possibility that the world might end today.

"Yeah sounds good...I guess you guys better kick Lisa Larson's ass, that is the boss Nephandus...ehm what are a lady Nephandus called? Anyway I know I am Fallen and all but it would be a shame if the world where to end, that would be bad I do really want to check out that library tomorrow."
He said and scratched his head.

"Yup that's him all right. I've only talked to him twice but he does seem like that. He does seem try his best to keep all of us safe. Who knows, he might like being called a mother hen. He might see it as being symbolic." Serge said as he thought about Master Jeffry

"He might, but I am not sure if I want to take the change to find out. This guy Mr Wainwright said that Master Morgan thinks kitchen duty and stair washing is good punishments, I think I would rather risk my dad's corporal ones, at least with them they hurt and then they are done but washing stairs all day that would just be so boring."
Kyle complained.
"I guess I am going to have to behave."

"Nawww, who am kidding. He'd probably give you the death stare that all those old powerful mages seem to be able to do." Serge concluded humorously.

"Well he said he well we now I guess are House Flambeau that sure sounds like the dudes that likes to set shit on fire to me so it is probably best not to anger the man to much."
The young widderslainte said and grinned.

[Jeremy Silverstein]

"Where did you learn to do that? Did your Mentor teach you? If I could learn to do the same perhaps I could live out the fucked up parts of me in my dreams and not risk hurting anyone in real life."
Kyle said and glanced up at you.

"I learned how to do most of it on my own, I mean spending entire days by yourself daydreaming definitely helps with this sort of thing. Granted the magick my mentor taught me definitely helped." Serge explained.

"And I wouldn't go searching for something like this. I got mine by accident and it was horrifying the first time. Unless you have absolute control over your mind, your just at the mercy of your subconscious. Granted if your calm then your mind palace is likely to be calm and you can do whatever you want. But if you have any hidden problems you might be forced to face them in the demesne."

"I am sure you have many interesting memories to bring back though."

"Not really. I was lonely kid who hated the boring reality I lived in. I just spent my entire time pretending I was in the tv world or the book world. Most of my memories are probably just me lazing around in bed." Serge revealed with a sad chuckle.

"That would be a cool combat maneuver if you can do that physically, drag them into your mind, then you can do whatever you want with them or just throw them in a cell or something until you where ready to deal with them that would be practical."

"Well one could do it to be a douche to someone absolutely but it could also be a non lethal way to deal with an enemy, you could drag them into your mind, knock them out and let them go again when they are no longer a danger, if you needed to take someone down but did not want to harm them I mean."
The kid said and nodded.

Serge smiled at the Kyle's eagerness, appreciating the young widderslainte's creativity. "That's what I thought too. But not everyone experiences the altered mind states that Cult of Ecstasy members go through. Most people have their minds anchored firmly into reality. Turns out it's not exactly easy to drag someone from reality into the dream world...especially when their awake." Serge said as he remembered the teaching of his mentor.

"At my current level my poor target would have to be asleep to be close enough to the dream realm and even then if they don't want to go I would have to force them to go and since most people tend to be more forceful than I am that causes even more problems. Not exactly the flashy combat move I wish it could be. Still its a cool idea" Serge said with a slight shake of his head as he imagined how cool it would be to drag a person's mind into his domain.

He asked as he studied the page then after a while he said.
"I see a island of light in complete darkness, not just absence of light but absence of anything, there is a lone person on that island shuffling sand out of his head to fill the island, make it bigger but no matter how quickly he shuffle that sand the darkness eats piece after piece, making the island smaller, the person want to enter the darkness for there is no pain there, no nothing, but he keeps shuffling sand trying to stave of the nothingness but it is hopeless and eventually he will be consumed."
Kyle said and scratched his head.
"Ehm that and that squiggle there looks kind of like a bowl of cereal with milk."
He said and pointed.
"Perhaps I am hungry."

O-ok then." Serge said with a slightly confused look, surprised that Kyle had seen something in his messy art and what exactly he had seen.

"That's some interesting surface thoughts you got there. I think I went a bit too deep. That guy should probably get some help making that island bigger. Anyways I'm glad that it worked...sort of. I still have some modification that I want to do with it." Serge said turning his sketchbook over and looking at his incoherent mess of polygons.

"What kind of cereal was it? Also perhaps we should ask for something to eat. I don't think I've eaten since I got here." Serge asked trying to distract from the strange image that Kyle just saw.

"Yeah sounds good...I guess you guys better kick Lisa Larson's ass, that is the boss Nephandus...ehm what are a lady Nephandus called? Anyway I know I am Fallen and all but it would be a shame if the world where to end, that would be bad I do really want to check out that library tomorrow."
He said and scratched his head.

"Do they have gender-specific names?" Serge asked.

"I just call all of them nephandi. I know the big bosses are called lords and ladies though." Serge said trying to recall to his interrogation and wondering if Siege had mentioned anything about that.

"Anyways I'm sure we'll win. I mean we have the best named chantry. STEELHAVEN!"  Serge said putting perhaps too much enthusiasm in the last word. "Sounds like a medieval fort."

"He might, but I am not sure if I want to take the change to find out. This guy Mr Wainwright said that Master Morgan thinks kitchen duty and stair washing is good punishments, I think I would rather risk my dad's corporal ones, at least with them they hurt and then they are done but washing stairs all day that would just be so boring."
Kyle complained.
"I guess I am going to have to behave."

"Me too. I am not in the mood for doing menial labor. I'm not built for it." Serge said glancing at his mundane arms.

"Well he said he well we now I guess are House Flambeau that sure sounds like the dudes that likes to set shit on fire to me so it is probably best not to anger the man to much."
The young widderslainte said and grinned.

"Yeah House Flambeau definitely sounds like a hoot. Sounds perfect for your pyromania. You know your gonna have to show me that tomorrow right." Serge said with a smile as he glanced Kyle.

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

"I learned how to do most of it on my own, I mean spending entire days by yourself daydreaming definitely helps with this sort of thing. Granted the magick my mentor taught me definitely helped." Serge explained.

"Spending one's days alone, that sounds familiar, I never learned to make worlds in my head though."
Kyle said and he sounded rather lonely.
"Most of the time I never really made friends."

"And I wouldn't go searching for something like this. I got mine by accident and it was horrifying the first time. Unless you have absolute control over your mind, your just at the mercy of your subconscious. Granted if your calm then your mind palace is likely to be calm and you can do whatever you want. But if you have any hidden problems you might be forced to face them in the demesne."

"That sounds like it would be a bad thing for me then. I mean my mind is pretty messed up, then again like I said if I could do all the bad stuff in a make believe world then I would not be harming anyone real you know, that would be worth some discomfort, having a way to express that side of me and not be a monster."
The kid said and scratched his head.

"Not really. I was lonely kid who hated the boring reality I lived in. I just spent my entire time pretending I was in the tv world or the book world. Most of my memories are probably just me lazing around in bed." Serge revealed with a sad chuckle.

"Sometimes the boring memories can be the best one. I have spent my entire life on the run, my best memories of my childhood where just having dinner with my parents or going to the park or something, or the few times when we stayed long enough in one place for me to make friends...simple things you know, I would not mind re living those memories."
Kyle said and smiled.

Serge smiled at the Kyle's eagerness, appreciating the young widderslainte's creativity. "That's what I thought too. But not everyone experiences the altered mind states that Cult of Ecstasy members go through. Most people have their minds anchored firmly into reality. Turns out it's not exactly easy to drag someone from reality into the dream world...especially when their awake." Serge said as he remembered the teaching of his mentor.

"Hum...that might make it difficult yes...but hey perhaps you could do something else...can you sort of project mental states onto someone? I am not saying that is not invasive it is but if it is a Technocrat standing there with a gun, perhaps you could get him to forget why he is fighting so he just want to go home and feed his cat or something."
Kyle suggested.

"At my current level my poor target would have to be asleep to be close enough to the dream realm and even then if they don't want to go I would have to force them to go and since most people tend to be more forceful than I am that causes even more problems. Not exactly the flashy combat move I wish it could be. Still its a cool idea" Serge said with a slight shake of his head as he imagined how cool it would be to drag a person's mind into his domain.

"Perhaps you could drag them in physically their entire body I mean, then their mind could be whatever it wanted to be."
The young widderslainte said.
"Also can you enter other people's dreams? For it would be so cool if you could, I mean there are so many books and movies where they can do that...so ehm can you?"
He asked eagerly.

O-ok then." Serge said with a slightly confused look, surprised that Kyle had seen something in his messy art and what exactly he had seen.

"That's some interesting surface thoughts you got there. I think I went a bit too deep. That guy should probably get some help making that island bigger. Anyways I'm glad that it worked...sort of. I still have some modification that I want to do with it." Serge said turning his sketchbook over and looking at his incoherent mess of polygons.

"Did I do it wrong?"
Kyle asked hesitantly.
"I could try again if you want? And yes that guy probably should have some help but there is no one else on the island, that is the point, he is digging and digging and he is the last guy that exist and the island keep getting smaller."

"What kind of cereal was it? Also perhaps we should ask for something to eat. I don't think I've eaten since I got here." Serge asked trying to distract from the strange image that Kyle just saw.

"Honey puffs...I mean don't that doodle there sort of look like a bowl of honey puffs?"
Kyle said and pointed at your drawing.
"Yeah we can do that I had a little food some porridge earlier but most of it ended up in the bucket I think."
He commented and frowned.

"Do they have gender-specific names?" Serge asked.

"Latin inspired words do, that is why you have a male magus, a female maga, a group of magi and a group of female magae I think...my dad is trying to teach me some Latin but I am not doing to well at it. So a Nephandus would be a male Nephandi."

"I just call all of them nephandi. I know the big bosses are called lords and ladies though." Serge said trying to recall to his interrogation and wondering if Siege had mentioned anything about that.

"Yeah that is the plural...many Nephandi...hum Nephanda then...but that just sounds to cute."
Kyle said and frowned.

"Anyways I'm sure we'll win. I mean we have the best named chantry. STEELHAVEN!" Serge said putting perhaps too much enthusiasm in the last word. "Sounds like a medieval fort."

"I am not so sure cool names win wars but yeah...it is a nice name."
The kid said and smiled.
"And it do sound a little like a fortress though it is an apartment building."

"Me too. I am not in the mood for doing menial labor. I'm not built for it." Serge said glancing at his mundane arms.

"I guess we will both be behaving then."
Kyle said wryly.

"Yeah House Flambeau definitely sounds like a hoot. Sounds perfect for your pyromania. You know your gonna have to show me that tomorrow right." Serge said with a smile as he glanced Kyle.

"I can show you that tomorrow yeah once this damned serum is out of my system...and I think it is pyromancer you are thinking about as in a mage who make fire and not a pyromaniac who is just someone who like to put just about anything ablaze for shit and giggles."
He said happily.

[Adley]

"In addition there is Paradox, many young widderslainte children if Awakened die from it, the Scourge is not kind to the Fallen and mage children seldom know how to limit themselves to avoid it, the boy might be quite used to physical pain as well I fear." She said in a serious tone of voice.

He nodded, "The pine cone will give him hope, motivation, perhaps the boost needed for his leap of faith..."

"That is some good news, speaking of that, perhaps it is time to give it back to you...? And also for you to tell me what you learned about my brother, in my twilight?"

He smiled, "Yes... that's the form her Avatar currently takes; a big, lazy glass dragon who mostly dreams of becoming a beach. In a few years, he'll be well on the way... hum, in fact, they will be making such progress on that front that Anna will be leaving a fine trail of sand everywhere - sand with peculiar adverse effects on the Fallen, as it happens. I will, of course, be collecting as much of that sand as possible."

"Hum...that...is...similar to something I have heard before."
Crexia said and frowned.
"But if the little girl is the reincarnation of who I suspect then that would be a tragedy."
She added and she looked rather concerned.
"Are you sure she have been describing a glass dragon? Is it blue? As for that sand, not that is something we should have had our hands on in our current situation."

He arched an eyebrow, "She... hasn't specified a colour, just that he's made of glass, and is an old, Primordial Avatar... and yes, the sand would have been useful, but I don't think future me is all too keen to send physical objects back in time. So, who do you suspect Anna was earlier? Is this going to make things awkward between my apprentice and myself?"

"Sand?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "What have you heard, before, ma'am?"

He nodded, "There are the handcuffs, of course, and I know of one collar designed for precisely that purpose, owned by a local pair of ladies in... what one might call a slightly unconventional relationship. I'm going to have to ask them for a chance to rent that one; for use until a copy can be made..."

Adley blinked at him. "Er...well, it would be preferable than that poison."

"This Dreamspeaker sounds like a most interesting man, what you speak of though I have never heard of transplanting one Avatar into another person...I have heard of some born with a second Avatar that do happen now and again, not often but it do happen...but if it can be done and the host of the secondary Avatar agree, well that would be wonderful." Udella said and smiled. "That poor young woman if there really is hope like that I wish them every luck in making it happen."

He nodded, "Transplanting might not be the most accurate description. Inviting an Avatar to a walk-in seems more apt - as I understand it, the tricky thing will be to coax the Avatar out of the original host, it will probably be able to do the rest on its own..."

"It has been a most difficult time for her and her mentor."

He nodded, "Horizon, Cerberus, and so on, it would be a tragic loss. No, i would not want to try to play the part of the plow in such a case; collecting a fragment or two at a time, that I think Mia could handle relatively safely, but by the sound of it, it's the difference between drinking a glass of water and trying to drink my way across the Atlantic Ocean..."

"Regardless, it seems that it can have an impact on you, or did I interpret wrong that you can now see the spiritual planes, and unaided by your common or preferred tools at that?"

"It is not a plesant taste...Master Steelhaven taught me his rote to take down testimony years ago, it is quite useful though. I would be willing to take down what you want for you if you trust me to pull the rote of." Udella said kindly. "Master Steelhaven created the rote so he is better at it off course."

He grinned and pointed a thumb at Adley, "You managed to seamlessly slip me into my Cabalmate's mind to retrieve him; I think I can trust you to manage to write down a testimony.

"Thank you for that, by the way..."

"I would not know, perhaps for the power of it, perhaps Teomim thought such a merging would give them wisdom, as they was before their execution however I expect the latter, they where not in it for power but for the enlightenment...Moloch though...that is another matter."
The old archmage said and sigh.

"Psychopomps...are not avatars, they were from what you've told me a kind of guide for them? Why, then, would one want to merge an avatar with something else? Hm, perhaps it is our modern understanding but from what I've seen of merging different kinds of spiritual ephemera together, the results are not usually good. As for this Moloch, well, obviously I am not in favor of being dicked around by a god, nor becoming one, nor having one stick the universe in place."

He nodded, pondering, "Julius was the arrogance of the two, I think - immensely brilliant and a bit too much hubris... but stagnation would be anathema to Teomim, I think. If there was no room for change, there would be no room for improvement, either, and that... no, I just can't quite buy that story."

"I agree that it would be anathema to make something stagnant. It's a conundrum...perfection is the goal, but looking at our spirit friends, they are only what they are. It's the difference of avatars that they incarnate to grow and learn..."

He nodded, "To an extent, it was more to show off their brilliance than to gain in power - they were alchemists, remember? Growth is not about increased strength so much as increased purity, it's refinement toward perfection... proving they could merge two ordinary Magi into a perfect being would be the pinnacle of achievement, not a power grab."

"Why did they climb Mount Everest? Because it was there and they wanted to do it first?"

"Perhaps you are not the heir...perhaps you are not Moloch self are many things it could be Moloch from long ago a future that never was for all we know, or perhaps it is not Moloch but your future self have the same ability as they had, to move through time and warn their formers selves, the danger is there though that Moloch might come..."
Crexia said softly.

He nodded, "There's just something that sounds... immediately suspicious and... hang on, wasn't Moloch an Old Testament god? One of the Baali gods of the region - and one of the nastier sorts, too? Even assuming Teomim were to ascend to godhood, why would they adopt the name of an old god who was portrayed in the Torah and the Bible as an out and out evil deity?"

"Moloch is found in the Old Testament; it's the Hebrew translation of a deity the Canaanite people worshiped, possibly a god further back from that even. However, the meaning of the name, much like Ba'al meaning 'master', comes from a the common root,in this case one that means 'king', 'melek.' He was fond of child sacrifices using fire, according to Leviticus. Not my favorite part of the Bible," he added with a frown.

"Well they did take one of the names for Lucifer for themselves..."
Crexia said then she frowned.
"Says the woman who live on the Chantry Morningstar, so with a danger of being the pot that call the kettle black they did seam to have a fascination with Biblical myth...the name might also have been one the Seer called them since he could not manage to see his substitute father in the being he was communicating with."

He harumphed, "If angels were created without free will, but with perfect understanding of their place in the cosmos, how could Lucifer revolt in the first place?"

"Perhaps he was created different, perhaps he unlike his brethren had free will and that is why he rebelled, or perhaps that entire story is just that a metaphor to make us think about the nature of will and knowledge."
Crexia pondered.

He shrugged. "Lucifer is also given over to mean Venus, the morning star. Stories of a falling god of light were common in those times and in that general vicinity, quite a bit came from other previous or contemporary religions; it is a mythic theme, woven in deeply. I wonder what resonated so that they chose it as part of their Name. Sorry, I digress..."

He shook his head, "Not that life, I'm fairly certain... besides, close though those two Avatars may be, creating an artificial Rebis from a Traditionalist and a widderslainte would be... probably something to the tune of ridiculously wrong and impossible, even with all the knowledge of Teomim and later researchers combined..."

"Indeed Teomim was a alchemist, they seek perfection but that is a goal that can never be achieved, only striven for at the moment of perfection they would have Ascended not remained to become some demon lord." Udella said and nodded. "Something could have happened to them though to make them different from who they where, for no the future Crexia describes, one of nothing but stagnation would have been something the Heylel I knew would have fought about until his last drop of blood."

"Also, I don't want to, if it's even referring to me...I agree this prophesy does not make sense, we're missing something," he added in a stubborn voice and quite understandably sounding as if he wished it were not.

"No one knows what became of Heylel's twins they could have ended up having children for all I know but yes if Heylel where to be cloned that would probably be...one way the prophecy could come true and such a...abomination would not be Teomim, not have their purity but might have their power that would be truly terrifying..."

He frowned, "A clone; a soulless, powerful vessel that could be inhabited by something else... Thoabath indeed..."

"Nightmares..."

"Are not you the one that like to tell us that we are mages so impossible is what we do Mr Wainwright? But it need not be that life, not at all, it could be the next, or the next after that, the threat still remain if these two souls are indeed the heirs."
Crexia said and glanced at you.

"You'll excuse me for saying, but that's shit. Any one of us could have the same dark fate, and never know about it. It happens that in this case, there's this one timeline in your bowl of timeliness that has that threat attached to it. If we shook out most avatars over their entire existence, all the Names attached to it throughout time, I bet you could find that they're a threat to someone, somewhen, somehow...so what is a magus to do, let their avatar have a sword of Damocles hanging over it, or grab the sword and do something about it, or what?"

"I understand that it can be frustrating. Think of it this way, time is not a stream it is a bowl, and everything that have ever happened, will ever happen and are happening are in that bowl, however as we swim around in this bowl we only see what is right in front of us and nothing to the side or back so we think there is a progression of time, potential time that is not are drops that have fallen out of the bowls and that is laying all around it."

"That still doesn't seem like something I can blast with a fireball," he said wryly, with a tilt of his head. "I do have an understanding of All, yes, and I understand the divide of time and space, and our own limitations...but it's a bit much and hard to consider ramifications." He shook his head.

"That is the problem with prophecy, often one can end up causing the very thing one avoid when trying to step around it, we have plenty of examples of that happening in stories and in history. As for Miss Alexander...we if she dies, you can not merge with her in this lifetime but she will be reborn, and so will you and at that time she might not be raised by someone kind and loving and she will be a full on raging widderslainte and part of the Nephandi and the situation might be even worse." Crexia said softly.

He frowned, "In twenty years, Beatrice's next incarnation, if she dies in January, will be the Handler of one of the Battlecruisers attacking Horizon. I... find my way in to her chambers, with a little bit of indignity here and there, and... remind her Avatar of who she was... and at her most vulnerable moment, I kill her with her own dagger, disabling the entire polyp and allowing our forces to take it out... Her death will be tragic, but her reincarnating as a widderslainte and being put in charge of a Nephandi Battlecruiser will be worse..."

"So what, and pardon my mouth, the hell are we supposed to do with this information?"

"Oh...I will say nothing more then it is Master Telar's own private business."

"Well, I wish to have a chat with her, soon enough."

"I believe that we make our own path, our own life, but yes your path will be filled with danger. I am not completely sure what you are talking about but I will take a guess that you are referring to finding a way to cleanse Miss Alexander then...and the possibility that path will lead you and her to join."

"Danger for myself is acceptable, but this is...rather a grander scale of things! And yes...that is what I'm wondering about. The path of our avatars is always one where they walked together as complements, so their cycle could be fulfilled. That complementary relationship was destroyed when she Fell in order to protect Dylan and his...my avatar."

"Perhaps such a path can still be taken, but there is a danger to that and this prophesy shows that danger but at the same time you are not Julius de Medici or Mia de Napoli, a rebis formed by you and Miss Alexander would not be Heylel Teomim, it would be a amalgam of the two of you, the best and the worst parts of you. No making a static world where nothing ever will or can change is only slightly better than letting the Nephandi destroy this world, perhaps it is worse for from deconstruction or non existence there can arise a new world, the world Moloch created will never change, never be different, never evolve it is a nightmare that can not be allowed to happen."

"I don't want to be an amalgam; I am searching for self-refinement and to help others cleanse their avatars, so their avatars can proceed on the path they were created to fulfill."

"There have to be some other way indeed and we will find it but I have to admit that what Crexia have been saying do...frighten me."
The old mage admitted. "The crucible a rebis are made in and artificial one at least. I merely meant that you do not need to be afraid of it happening by accident."

"The child of the egg...well the egg part is a symbolism, the prima materia would have been purified and gone through five processes and then be reborn as the child of the egg...Teomim might have used the symbolism for the ritual..." Crexia said.

"I know in general what a crucible is, but...the reason I asked is that near end of my seeking, my avatar said that in order to gain wisdom and grow, I had to burn and that I had been refined in the kiln. That the prima materia was ready for the next stage and I could enter it when I presented the three keys I had chosen. There was something else, also...that voice was not my avatar and now causes me to feel suspicion. There was a warm voice that said I had a gift, something that had a different potential than the Artificer for she was limited." He frowned. "Then, there is the pine cone. And all the insights I have gotten about how our avatars seem to be entangled..."

He pondered, "The crucible where two Magi crawl in to form an egg, I would presume... I don't remember much of anything before hatching, but it seems the most obvious... hold on, I just had a horrible thought... Siblings... How much is known of the D'Angelo family tree? Is it conceivable that they might be at least peripherally related to Teomim by way of either Julius or Mia, or both? If they've been somehow convinced they could be the ones to whom the prophecy refers, that... would be terrifying, and might also explain a few things..."

He quirked his head at Colin. "Well, we know what happened with their mentor...do you think there is more?"

Udella paled a little. "The D'Angelos are careful with their names off course but I have been keeping track of the Madici line...and one of those lines through the mothers so we are talking about another noble family's name. Around 300 years ago twins was born to one of these families, twins there was some rumors about had magickal powers and then the record of them stops as if they where whisked away...and we know the D'Angelo twins came from Italian nobility so it is possible they can be of Medici blood."

He frowned, "Well, bugger... that suddenly makes a lot of puzzle pieces fit together..."

"We also know the Fallen have screwed with them," he said with a frown. "An unfortunately common underpinning to all of this..."

He frowned, "The recipient of the package from the post office..."

"I would not have survived this long if I was not perceptive...well and near indestructible but being perceptive helps...I am also going to assume this box have to do with Teomim then...his hair then perhaps or blood since you spoke about cloning...how am I doing?"

He frowned, "The package at the post office... We learned that it is supposed to contain a lock of hair from Heylel Teomim, taken before the execution... and that Abigail apparently wanted it to get her hands on Teomim's Grimoire. Ironically enough, she had her chance at that seventy years ago, and let it slip through her fingers without even knowing, but... we never asked why she wanted the Grimoire, why now? If that was part of the deal with the D'Angelo siblings, if they have been somehow convinced that it's their destiny to artificially merge and become a god, that would go far in explaining their actions... After all, if you're going to become a god, why should you let anything such as moral concerns stand in your way?"

"If you tell me their name I will tell you what I know if I know something about it."
Crexia said.

He thought for a moment, "It was a research Chantry in Spain, I think... I never saw the address... it was sent from Horizon, but..."
He glanced over at Adley, "You're the one who handled the box, though... where is it stored for now?"

"Well...if one has the instructions on how to make it, then that is also the start of how to unmake or make sure it's never made? But the prophesy said first out of kindness than out of arrogance, or to that effect...anyway. The name of the sender and recipient must be kept close and no, it was not opened or tampered with in any way. I just...know what's in there. I know that sounds iffy, but I received a flash, as one might with psychometry. The package is safe, for now and I will not be disclosing where it is until we can figure out what to do with it, or I'm forced to turn it over by a tribunal - hopefully we'll have resolved things enough. I had to lean on a very obscure law to remove it." He then told them the name of the recipient and the chantry it was being sent to, with a concerned frown.

"It is a workable theory, speculation off course but it is workable hum...not many know the theories around what the Grimoire is and where it is though...and it is said to contain Teomim's information on how to become and artificial rebis and merge with a Psychopomp...and if the twins are working with Larson...there have to be a reason for it..."
Crexia said and frowned.

He nodded, "If... they are convinced becoming a new Teomim is their birthright, and they can use the power of becoming that to bring their beloved Mentor back, that would make for a... tragic, but understandable motivation. For Larson, it's the vastly simpler matter of having a pet Traditionalist or two to cover her tracks in exchange for a few favours and the odd widderslainte..."

"Larson wants to bring down an Aswadim, we know that much and will do whatever it takes to do it. There's the other pieces of the puzzle, though - what about what happened to Abigail's apprentice?"

"This remind me of another matter that are probably not relevant but which might be...Lady Arden do not know the Seer's prophecies and she will not be told unless absolutely necessary...but those of us who do know about it was rather concerned when one of her children where born...a rebis who joined together in the womb and given how they where conceived...there might be more pieces to this puzzle. Anyway Lady Arden had Mr Horton draw three vials of blood from each of her twins to send them to a lab to check for allergies I think it was, I did not ask the reason for the checkup that is private, in any case Mr Horton reported to Chief Joakim that three vials from the girl, Mary Elisabeth had arrived at the lab and had been analyzed but the lab had sent an mail to inform him that only two vials had arrived from the rebis child, so ironically named after the grand alchemist themselves, one vial was missing. Most likely this was a mess up at the lab and Mr Horton only reported it to follow procedure but with all that have come to light lately that missing vial of blood from that rebis child makes me wonder..."
Crexia said and frowned.

"When did that happen?"

// sorry for my late reply, I took my dog to get his nails ground down - he hates having his nails done with a passion and howls his discontent to the seven hills every time >. < So then I had to let him run around the park for a while and work off the nerves.

[Jeremy Silverstein]

"Spending one's days alone, that sounds familiar, I never learned to make worlds in my head though."
Kyle said and he sounded rather lonely.
"Most of the time I never really made friends."

"I didn't have any friends either." Serge revealed. "I always spent my time alone, away from the other kids. I used to think that I didn't need friends. Later I learned I was just scared. I thought the other kids would laugh at me so I never even tried to talk to them. It got so bad that I had to take drugs to help fix my anxiety."

"That sounds like it would be a bad thing for me then. I mean my mind is pretty messed up, then again like I said if I could do all the bad stuff in a make believe world then I would not be harming anyone real you know, that would be worth some discomfort, having a way to express that side of me and not be a monster."
The kid said and scratched his head.

"That would be a nice relief. Your still young so you have plenty of time to figure out how to do stuff like that. Make sure that your mental control is top notch. You wanna be sure that you are the one in control, not your mind. Meditation helps in that aspect." Serge advised.

"Sometimes the boring memories can be the best one. I have spent my entire life on the run, my best memories of my childhood where just having dinner with my parents or going to the park or something, or the few times when we stayed long enough in one place for me to make friends...simple things you know, I would not mind re living those memories."
Kyle said and smiled.

"I guess in this hectic world of ours, the simplest memories are always the sweetest." Serge said nonchalantly.

"Hum...that might make it difficult yes...but hey perhaps you could do something else...can you sort of project mental states onto someone? I am not saying that is not invasive it is but if it is a Technocrat standing there with a gun, perhaps you could get him to forget why he is fighting so he just want to go home and feed his cat or something."
Kyle suggested.

"I can actually sort of do stuff like that." Serge said remembering what being a discipline in mind magick meant.

"I could make that Technocrat really want to feed his cat, or make him terrified of me, or perhaps make him really confused for a second as to why he is holding a gun. But I can't erase memories, at least not easily or quickly. Not to mention that I can't force the Technocrat to do anything, only make him really want to do it."

Serge stretched his arms as he had been sitting still for a while and then continued. "Besides if a technocrat was pointing a gun at me I would be dead before I manage to do anything. I doubt I would be able to draw anything to attack him and by the time I made eye contact or said anything he would probably just shoot me. I'm not exactly a fighter. That's something I may need to study at the library. How to use my magick in combat. The only way I know to damage my enemies is to cause mental illusions to attack them."

"Perhaps you could drag them in physically their entire body I mean, then their mind could be whatever it wanted to be."
The young widderslainte said.

"How would I drag their physical bodies into a mental realm?" Serge asked and little confused.

"Also can you enter other people's dreams? For it would be so cool if you could, I mean there are so many books and movies where they can do that...so ehm can you?"
He asked eagerly.

"Could I? Maybe..." Serge said simply. "I studied a little bit about the dream realms when I was trying to learn about my little mind palace. My mentor also did something similar when she pulled me out of my own mind so I might be able to ask her. But I've never done anything like that so I wouldn't know where to begin."

"Did I do it wrong?"
Kyle asked hesitantly.
"I could try again if you want? And yes that guy probably should have some help but there is no one else on the island, that is the point, he is digging and digging and he is the last guy that exist and the island keep getting smaller."

"You did fine. I'm just glad you saw something other than squiggly shapes. That means the magick worked. I wanna try and modify it to see if I can make people see other memories. Maybe things that make them happy." Serge said with a smile.

"Latin inspired words do, that is why you have a male magus, a female maga, a group of magi and a group of female magae I think...my dad is trying to teach me some Latin but I am not doing to well at it. So a Nephandus would be a male Nephandi."

"I should probably learn latin as well." Serge pondered. "I could probably use some of my magick with it. Plus nothing sounds more magicky than latin. Imagine how awesome it would be whispering a latin incantation under your breath and having an illusionary dog bite that annoying technocrat."

"I can show you that tomorrow yeah once this damned serum is out of my system...and I think it is pyromancer you are thinking about as in a mage who make fire and not a pyromaniac who is just someone who like to put just about anything ablaze for shit and giggles."
He said happily.

"Yeah your right. Pyromancer would be more correct. I wonder how many -mancer's their are at this chantry. Like....is their a hydromancer here. What about an electromancer? Aeromancer? Terramancer? The -mancer suffix makes a person sound so much cooler. Like instead of saying that you manipulate ice just say that your a cryomancer." Serge said cheerily.

[Warpmind]

"Three Primium bullets ouch, no if I am ever taken out in battle I would rather it go quick than linger on like that, sure getting injured and getting help is preferable but if I am going to die I would not want it to be that way."
Allison said and shook her head.
"One thing I suddenly thought of it is probably completely irrelevant, someone important enough to trade favors for it in Larson's Labyrinth have a severe allergy. Doc have been providing them with medicine and over the years several epi pens so that allergy have to be pretty bad, not that I know what they are allergic to or who it is so the information are probably quite useless."

Colin arched an eyebrow, "That sounds severe enough. Perhaps someone's allergic to the wall decor?"

"That is some good news, speaking of that, perhaps it is time to give it back to you...? And also for you to tell me what you learned about my brother, in my twilight?"

He frowned, "Kyle was there, guarding the path back out. Only he was in his incarnation from the Schism War, Arto filius Derra ex Diedne... and he told us your paths had crossed many times, most recently when he was... your executioner. I was able to get a copy of some of the court documents from Master Harris; his incarnation then was Gregor Ivan Ilteppi ex Guernicus, member of the Black Cabal... Shortly after that execution, he was cast out of the order, and died when his former Cabal caught him, but the reason for him being cast out is not on public record... however, given Kyle's present state, it would be all too easy to guess what happened..."

"Sand?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "What have you heard, before, ma'am?"

He nodded, "Sand. It would seem that as she takes a slower path back to the light than those using miss Florentine's method, her Avatar is... well, glass is made from sand; if glass is ground down, it becomes sand once more, slowly, surely - and such physical evidence of the healing process can't at all be pleasant for someone who has not tried to come around. There will be... an incident, at some point, when a Nephandus manages to sneak in to abduct Anna, and that... ends up with an unpleasant surprise for the Fallen. I don't recall the details beyond that - it was just a flash of anecdotal memory in a future vision, but it everyone was surprised by the incident..."

"Not sending any physical objects back in time is probably a good thing and yes I do think it might make things awkward..."
Crexia begun and deludedly you where not sitting on the wood floor of an attic room in Chantry Morningstar you where sitting on a grass field, a crackling fire kept you and your traveling companion warm. It was just you and Louis du Monte this time, the small gathering of mages you where sent to recruit had been ill treated by first the Hermetics and then the Order of Reson, nine Master of the Art would send them running, and besides Eloine was due in a month, she should not be traveling, Fall Breeze and Bernadette where staying behind to care for the pregnant witch, and you only hoped that Eloine and Bernadette would not start squabbling while the two peacekeepers in the Cabal where elsewhere. The rest of the Cabal had been ordered to the ruins of Mistrige to help with restoration efforts, if that was even possible.
"You were born with an Damon where you not, ehm both of you?"
du Monte suddenly asked, the Hermetic where just slightly drunk, he seldom indulged and you had never seen him lose control but just enough to be a bit more talkative than usual.
"What is that like? I discussed it a fortnight ago with a member of my Order, a Tytalus, both of us have Fonts, all I ever experience is a presence and a flow of Quintessence, it is a Gift but it do not talk to me or guide me, though as I told the Mistress Crexia, sometimes late at night when I am halfway between waking and sleep I think I see something there deep inside of myself, a mighty dragon made of fine dark azure obsidian...standing there surrounded by mists and shadows, just the illusions of an over active mind perhaps...and little else, I have taken to wearing a piece of the material for good luck anyway you know it...feels calming to touch."
He said and tapped at the dark blue obsidian marble he wore on a leather rope around his neck.
"Ah forgive me Heylel, to much wine is talking and that conversation I had popped into my mind, we should rest we have a long day tomorrow and then some skittish magi to talk into joining the Traditions we should get some rest."
He Hermetic said and he rose and stretched.
"Forget that I said anything..."

The you where back at the small attic room at Morningstar, Crexia had said something but you had not heard her words as the memory that was not yours had flooded your mind.
"Ehm...are you alright Mr Wainwrgiht it is not a problem with the serum is it?"
Crexia asked in a concerned tone of voice.

He zoned back in, shaking his head, "No, it's not a problem with the serum... Quite the contrary; I just discovered that memories and insights are completely unimpaired by it."
He sighed, "I just remembered a quite pleasant day, when Eloine was eight months pregnant, and Louis and I were sitting at a campfire with a few drinks between us... He asked us about our Damons, and told us how he sometimes thought he saw a dragon of dark azure obsidian. This was a forthnight after he asked you about it..."
He frowned, "...Well, damn, maybe I AM getting the band back together... And it's not a complete tragedy yet; she'll live, and her Avatar will come back to the light..."

Adley blinked at him. "Er...well, it would be preferable than that poison."

He nodded, "With the exception of the snake-head ropes, I think everything is."

"Offering them fair trade for the loan might persuade them, respecting their relationship as more than just well unusual sex might flatter them more than gifts though many see such an arrangement as just something dirty and fail to see that just like with any relationship the physical is just a part of it, and that it is about being loving and kind towards one another and having someone to walk this often hard path with."
Crexia said and she spoke like if she had experience with this.
"For someone in a power exchange relationship to have that relationship respected and acknowledged as a real thing and not like someone's dirty fantasy means allot, trust me."
She said and smiled knowingly.

He nodded, "I know; the, ah, mere plumbing is the insignificant aspect of a relationship. The trust and affection is everything - and in a power exchange relationship, if trust is broken and limits disrespected... that's the end of it. That goes for all relationships, be they romantic or familial - vulgar or magical."

"That is fascinating, I would love to see such a thing but no I am not going to intrude and ask it is not some spectator sport I just hope that the secondary Avatar will find a home in the poor tormented girl and that she can spread her method to others who need it...however why do you think Master Nassa will become Miss Florentine's new teacher if I remember correctly the girl is Mercere now but was of House Flambeau like your Cabalmate here?"
Udella asked and she looked a little confused.

He smiled, "Because the secondary Avatar is Master Nassa's. I'm quite certain he will want to keep her close."

"So what, and pardon my mouth, the hell are we supposed to do with this information?"

He frowned, "Once Beatrice is feeling better, I will tell her. I have no right - none of us have the right - to make the decision for her. Least of all I - I will not let any Cabalmates go to their death unless it is their own decision... As fully informed a decision as is possible. If she decides she will stay and fight and die when the Union attacks just over New Year's... that's her decision, and we will abide by it, even if we have to feed Master Nassa horse tranquilizers to keep him from knocking her out and running off with her. If she decides to run and hide until the dust of the battle settles, and only return to help heal the wounded... that's also her decision to make, and we will make damn sure to cover her escape. Knowing her, though, I suspect she'll pick staying and fighting, even if it might mean her death..."

"Danger for myself is acceptable, but this is...rather a grander scale of things! And yes...that is what I'm wondering about. The path of our avatars is always one where they walked together as complements, so their cycle could be fulfilled. That complementary relationship was destroyed when she Fell in order to protect Dylan and his...my avatar."

He pondered, "The complementary relationship wasn't destroyed. You are still linked together, though the connection is subtly different... but I believe it can be restored, along with her Avatar."

"I know in general what a crucible is, but...the reason I asked is that near end of my seeking, my avatar said that in order to gain wisdom and grow, I had to burn and that I had been refined in the kiln. That the prima materia was ready for the next stage and I could enter it when I presented the three keys I had chosen. There was something else, also...that voice was not my avatar and now causes me to feel suspicion. There was a warm voice that said I had a gift, something that had a different potential than the Artificer for she was limited." He frowned. "Then, there is the pine cone. And all the insights I have gotten about how our avatars seem to be entangled..."

He frowned, "I... can't speculate on what your Avatar meant by that, but... might it have had some relation to your, ah, accidental houseguest? And.. the Artificer... 'she'? Are you sure about the pronoun?"

"Regardless, it seems that it can have an impact on you, or did I interpret wrong that you can now see the spiritual planes, and unaided by your common or preferred tools at that?"

He frowned, "I don't quite know about spiritual planes, as such... I can see spirits around me, even if they are not manifested like the Brothers Knight or the others I've been directly introduced to were when I spoke with them... or that fire spirit you dealt with earlier. I see them around now, much like I see you three sitting around the table - though, I'll admit, I haven't seen as many smaller spirits stomping around as I might have expected... and yes, I do so unaided. And impractically enough, I don't know how to unsee them - it's like... I see more people around me, and how do you avoid seeing people around you on the street? It's... a ridiculous notion to suddenly not see certain people around you..."

Udella nodded weakly.
"But i spoke to them...to you I...held your hand...so different then, with long, thin fingers and bones so fine they felt like they where carved from marble, I hugged you...you where there alive talking...thinking and then...there where those scream to see someone...even if I have done it to others, those I have not personally known, to see someone I cared about go though that...I should have found some way..."

He shook his head, "It was an impossible task; everything was stacked against you, and there was never enough time to do the impossible..."

"I do not know the women, I have met her on Horizon but other than meetings in passing and her coming in last week to ask about the legality of importing some particularly Dynamic Tass she needed for a working I do not know her well so I can not tell you how she would react but if you meet her I hope that she will be able to forgive you and will not drag the person you are now down for who your Avatar or a piece of it once where."
Udella said and nodded.

He nodded, "I hope so... what happened back then was horrible, and unjust... and much as Teomim earned their punishment, five hundred years is a long time to carry a grudge against someone long since dead... I'll understand it if she 's unable to forgive, but... well..."
He arched an eyebrow, "Some particularly Dynamic Tass, you say? Hum, was there much of a problem with that? Er, asking for a friend, you might say - I know trade in corrupt Tass is prohibited, but highly resonated Tass in general?"

"Soylent green is that a plant?"
The old Quesitor asked she sounded a bit confused.
"But yes the corn syrup and starch I am not best pleased by it, then again it is easy for me to sit here and complain I might not be rich but I am well off, I can afford to eat quality food, not everyone in this nation or anywhere else have that luxury and have to take whatever is cheap."

He shook his head, "Ah, no, Soylent Green is... It's a movie from the seventies; Soylent Green is a highly nutritious protein wafer, and a police detective investigates a murder at the manufacturing company... it turns out Soylent Green is reconstituted people... As for the affordability of food, it seems to me it's not the price tag of the food itself that is the problem, but the time to spare for cooking and eating. People who work two or three jobs to put food on the table just don't have the time to spend thirty to sixty minutes cooking, and as much eating and cleaning up afterwards... I'm not rich, either, but I earn enough to not need a second job, so i have the time to cook properly."

"Thank you for that, by the way..."

He grinned, "We rather needed you in the present, you know - I don't know how to pull of the Heart's Blood rote, and I don't think anyone else than you, Beatrice and myself can use the pine cone..."
He shook his head, "It was the least I could do... I'm sure you would do the same in a comparable situation, when simply letting a Quiet run its course isn't viable."

Udella smiled a little.
"Ah well, thank you for the confidence then, I can take down that testimony whenever you feel ready in that case old friend."
She offered.

He nodded, "After the complaint forms are filled in?"

"Indeed Teomim was a alchemist, they seek perfection but that is a goal that can never be achieved, only striven for at the moment of perfection they would have Ascended not remained to become some demon lord."
Udella said and nodded.
"Something could have happened to them though to make them different from who they where, for no the future Crexia describes, one of nothing but stagnation would have been something the Heylel I knew would have fought about until his last drop of blood."

He frowned, "Essentially, I would hazard that this Moloch was not, in fact, future Teomim, but something else claiming to be them... hum, that would probably exclude most spirits, actually - I'm thinking it would be a being with a human perspective... though what it would be, I can't even begin to guess at..."

"Psychopomps...are not avatars, they were from what you've told me a kind of guide for them? Why, then, would one want to merge an avatar with something else? Hm, perhaps it is our modern understanding but from what I've seen of merging different kinds of spiritual ephemera together, the results are not usually good. As for this Moloch, well, obviously I am not in favor of being dicked around by a god, nor becoming one, nor having one stick the universe in place."

He frowned, "If Psychopomps act as guides for Avatars, and Avatars act as guides for us... perhaps merging with a Psychopomp could be seen as becoming one step closer to whatever directs the Psychopomps? Whatever that may be?"

"I agree that it would be anathema to make something stagnant. It's a conundrum...perfection is the goal, but looking at our spirit friends, they are only what they are. It's the difference of avatars that they incarnate to grow and learn..."

He frowned, "Static perfection is what you find in a crystal, like a diamond... living perfection is nothing like that; a perfect being would be one able to immediately adapt to any circumstance, or adapt the circumstances to themselves. An eternal refinement process with infinite flexibility. Even our spirit friends can change, albeit with a little help - my blade-fingered friend was quite happy with a new name and a shifted purpose, from preserving a blade to preserving memories by carving them into stone - a little Static, a little Dynamic..."

"Why did they climb Mount Everest? Because it was there and they wanted to do it first?"

He smiled, "It was there, yes - but it was perhaps not so much about doing it first, as proving to themselves and the world that they could do it. No human could fly until the brothers Montgolfier made their balloon. No human could steer a flying craft independent of wind currents until the brothers Wright did it at Kitty Hawk in 1903. Flying non-stop across the Atlantic was impossible until Alcock and Brown did it in 1919... Each of those cases were the first to succeed, though not the first to try, and as soon as they made it, other people replicated the achievement and improved on it. No, I don't think it was so much about being first, as proving it could be done, however impossible people thought it to be..."

"Moloch is found in the Old Testament; it's the Hebrew translation of a deity the Canaanite people worshiped, possibly a god further back from that even. However, the meaning of the name, much like Ba'al meaning 'master', comes from a the common root,in this case one that means 'king', 'melek.' He was fond of child sacrifices using fire, according to Leviticus. Not my favorite part of the Bible," he added with a frown.

He nodded, "I thought it was something like that... Doesn't sound at all like Teomim. And no, there's a lot of unpleasant stuff in Leviticus..."

"Perhaps he was created different, perhaps he unlike his brethren had free will and that is why he rebelled, or perhaps that entire story is just that a metaphor to make us think about the nature of will and knowledge."
Crexia pondered.

He shrugged, "Or perhaps it was always his purpose to fall, to set an example..."

He shrugged. "Lucifer is also given over to mean Venus, the morning star. Stories of a falling god of light were common in those times and in that general vicinity, quite a bit came from other previous or contemporary religions; it is a mythic theme, woven in deeply. I wonder what resonated so that they chose it as part of their Name. Sorry, I digress..."

He smiled, "While the symbolism wasn't entirely accidental, the name was chosen for a far simpler reason... The morning we hatched was beautiful, and we could see the sunrise from the laboratory."

"Are not you the one that like to tell us that we are mages so impossible is what we do Mr Wainwright? But it need not be that life, not at all, it could be the next, or the next after that, the threat still remain if these two souls are indeed the heirs."
Crexia said and glanced at you.

He smiled wryly, "Oh, the impossible certainly is our stock in trade - but even so, how would you propose to get a Fallen Avatar and one not Fallen to actually agree to merge like so? I suppose it's viable they could be forced together, but I find it hard to see how two such Magi could be brought together amicably... A later incarnation, certainly, but that would probably necessitate either Beatrice's Avatar coming back to the light, or Adley's Avatar falling... And God forbid the latter."

"You'll excuse me for saying, but that's shit. Any one of us could have the same dark fate, and never know about it. It happens that in this case, there's this one timeline in your bowl of timeliness that has that threat attached to it. If we shook out most avatars over their entire existence, all the Names attached to it throughout time, I bet you could find that they're a threat to someone, somewhen, somehow...so what is a magus to do, let their avatar have a sword of Damocles hanging over it, or grab the sword and do something about it, or what?"

He grinned, "I vote grabbing the sword. Preferably to make a plowshare, but if needs be..."

"That would be quite a monstrosity Mr Wainwright one that would have to be stopped and destroyed and one indeed worthy of the name Thoabath...the abomination."
Udella said and frowned. Mia had a few things to say about such a mockery about her former host,and she said it in Enochian, you could probably ask Adley translate but it would not be polite, well at least you got an Avatar who could swear like an old sailor if she felt the situation required it, all done in a ladylike manner off course.

His eye twitched for a moment, "Mia has some definite opinions on the concept... I was not aware one could actually swear in Enochian..."

"Spain...hum...there are 38 Chantries in Spain...no 39 a new one was founded last week and five of them are research Chantries I am not sure why I would be seen as the expert of Spanish Chantries though?"
Crexia said and she sounded puzzled again.

He shrugged, "Not necessarily an expert - but it seems likely you would keep tabs on research facilities of various sorts, as a matter of learning as well as a matter of strategy, to know where what intellectual resources are."

"I remember visiting Teomim in their laboratory, every bit of symbolism for their workings was perfect, but they had forgotten flint and steel to light the candles and had to use magick to light them and their Cabalmates had to knock on their door and remind them to take a break to eat every now and again."
Crexia said with a wry smile.

He nodded sagely, "That definitely sounds familiar..."

"There is reason in this theory Mr Wainwright, it is still just a theory off course but even so there is reason in it, disturbing reason, and if this is true then we need to stop the D'Angelo twins before they can get anywhere with their plan but to do that we need proof, they are respected Enforcers, Vittoria Sofia D'Angelo are the Senior Quesitor of Boston and her brother is one of the most celebrated prosecutors on Horizon they will not go down without hard and fast evidence."
Crexia said and Udella frowned.

He nodded, then pondered, "We have the recording of Abigail's namedropping - if we can get members of Larson's Labyrinth, as well as the testimony from Martha Cunningham, who survived the twins Gilgulling her... how much credibility would such evidence have before the Nine? Do you think it would suffice to get them locked away pending a more thorough investigation, or would we risk having to, ah, employ some drastic self-defense against them for bringing it up?"

He quirked his head at Colin. "Well, we know what happened with their mentor...do you think there is more?"

He frowned, "We know what they reported happened with their Mentor... I may have read one too many cheap detective novels over the years, but... the first person or persons on the scene of a crime can often make small adjustments to create a convincing illusion of a slightly different chain of events. So yes, I bloody well think there is more."

"This remind me of another matter that are probably not relevant but which might be...Lady Arden do not know the Seer's prophecies and she will not be told unless absolutely necessary...but those of us who do know about it was rather concerned when one of her children where born...a rebis who joined together in the womb and given how they where conceived...there might be more pieces to this puzzle. Anyway Lady Arden had Mr Horton draw three vials of blood from each of her twins to send them to a lab to check for allergies I think it was, I did not ask the reason for the checkup that is private, in any case Mr Horton reported to Chief Joakim that three vials from the girl, Mary Elisabeth had arrived at the lab and had been analyzed but the lab had sent an mail to inform him that only two vials had arrived from the rebis child, so ironically named after the grand alchemist themselves, one vial was missing. Most likely this was a mess up at the lab and Mr Horton only reported it to follow procedure but with all that have come to light lately that missing vial of blood from that rebis child makes me wonder..."
Crexia said and frowned.

He frowned, "Well, bugger... That's... we should get someone to track that set of samples, despite the distance in time and space... We need to know where the vial went missing, and perhaps urgently so..."

((OOC: Quite alright. Dog-care time is important time.))

((OOC2: Ye Gods, so much back-and-forth... I think I got the order of dialogue elements approximately right, though... ))

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Colin and Adley:

"Sand?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "What have you heard, before, ma'am?"

"Someone else speaking of...a glass dragon, but that someone would be one more element to complicate this."
Crexia said.

"It has been a most difficult time for her and her mentor."

"I certainly understand that and I do hope they get time to heal."
Udella said kindly.

"Thank you for that, by the way..."

"You are quite welcome young man."
Udella said and smiled.

"Psychopomps...are not avatars, they were from what you've told me a kind of guide for them? Why, then, would one want to merge an avatar with something else? Hm, perhaps it is our modern understanding but from what I've seen of merging different kinds of spiritual ephemera together, the results are not usually good. As for this Moloch, well, obviously I am not in favor of being dicked around by a god, nor becoming one, nor having one stick the universe in place."

"Psychopomps are not Avatars themselves no, they are their guides, taking them from the Well of Souls to find hosts, well at least that is what they once did. I suspect someone might thing such a merging would give them power over Avatars themselves but I do not know. I am just saying what it is rumored the Grimoire contains and what it was said Teomim was working on, I do not know why they would want to do such a thing."
Crexia said and shook her head.

"I agree that it would be anathema to make something stagnant. It's a conundrum...perfection is the goal, but looking at our spirit friends, they are only what they are. It's the difference of avatars that they incarnate to grow and learn..."

"What I am...is stagnant I will never Ascend, I can learn but I will never grow yes it is not a good path for the world. A dynamic thing can never become perfect, one can strive for perfection but once attained one is no longer dynamic Asencion might happen at the point of that attainment though, but not after."
The old Tytalus muttered.

"Why did they climb Mount Everest? Because it was there and they wanted to do it first?"

"Well the creation of the child of the egg, the perfect Alchemical hermaphrodite is a symbolic goal in one of the main stages of the alchemical process, right before the creation of the Philosopher's Stone. I think perhaps they did it as part of that path."
Udella suggested.

"Moloch is found in the Old Testament; it's the Hebrew translation of a deity the Canaanite people worshiped, possibly a god further back from that even. However, the meaning of the name, much like Ba'al meaning 'master', comes from a the common root,in this case one that means 'king', 'melek.' He was fond of child sacrifices using fire, according to Leviticus. Not my favorite part of the Bible," he added with a frown.

"Indeed...still the reason why the name was chosen remains a mystery it might be that the living god just wanted to say that he was kind of his horrible wasteland."
Crexia said.

He shrugged. "Lucifer is also given over to mean Venus, the morning star. Stories of a falling god of light were common in those times and in that general vicinity, quite a bit came from other previous or contemporary religions; it is a mythic theme, woven in deeply. I wonder what resonated so that they chose it as part of their Name. Sorry, I digress..."

"It was a common theme in Greek and Roman religions as well, and many of the older ones, as for why he chose that name, it is hard to say. Heylel like most Western alchemist had a Christian mindset to some degree and Solificati where a founding member of the Order of Reason before they defected and the Order where very much Christian in the beginning, or at least most of the Conventions where, ironic enough when we look at the Atheistic Technocracy now so the name chosen might have been meant in a religious way, then again in Gnostic thought Lucifer is the hero of the story, and it is quite possible Teomim where Gnostic in which case the name means more sense, or they might have just wanted to portray the idea of the morning star, a guiding star for many travelers, Twin Lights of the Morning Star do then show both their nature and their intended path as a guide."
Crexia mushed.

"Also, I don't want to, if it's even referring to me...I agree this prophesy does not make sense, we're missing something," he added in a stubborn voice and quite understandably sounding as if he wished it were not.

"Yes we quite possibly are missing something Sodalis."
Crexia agreed softly.

"You'll excuse me for saying, but that's shit. Any one of us could have the same dark fate, and never know about it. It happens that in this case, there's this one timeline in your bowl of timeliness that has that threat attached to it. If we shook out most avatars over their entire existence, all the Names attached to it throughout time, I bet you could find that they're a threat to someone, somewhen, somehow...so what is a magus to do, let their avatar have a sword of Damocles hanging over it, or grab the sword and do something about it, or what?"

Crexia said nothing but raised an eyebrow warningly, she was not fond of rudeness.
"We are all a threat if we choose to be Sodalis, we all have a little piece of the Gods in us and our potential for power, for good or bane is limitless I am not saying any Avatar should have a sword hanging over it, not yours, not Miss Alexander's I am saying what a prophesy from a well respected Seer that most agreed became an Oracle have said and that prophesy may or may not be about you and Miss Alexander but might also be about some other entity, it is a warning but no we do not have enough information to act on anything nor am I making accusations."

"That still doesn't seem like something I can blast with a fireball," he said wryly, with a tilt of his head. "I do have an understanding of All, yes, and I understand the divide of time and space, and our own limitations...but it's a bit much and hard to consider ramifications." He shook his head.

"You can try to cast fireballs at Moloch if he should happen to show up."
Crexia muttered then she smiled a little.
"And yes the...idea of what time really is are confusing and hard to grasp, that is why our mind see time as linear."

"So what, and pardon my mouth, the hell are we supposed to do with this information?"

"That I do not know yet."
Crexia said softly.

"Well, I wish to have a chat with her, soon enough."

The old lich nodded at that.

"Danger for myself is acceptable, but this is...rather a grander scale of things! And yes...that is what I'm wondering about. The path of our avatars is always one where they walked together as complements, so their cycle could be fulfilled. That complementary relationship was destroyed when she Fell in order to protect Dylan and his...my avatar."

"Well if the ideas of Mr Wainwright is correct there might be a way to save Miss Alexander's Avatar, ut it back on the path it should be on, so the two of them can continue to walk together. It is no doubt tose two souls belong together but that do not mean they are destined to be joined as a rebis, the way you explain them they are opposite in a way, helping and leading one another...I am not so sure they could do that if they where one and not two."
Udella commented.

"I don't want to be an amalgam; I am searching for self-refinement and to help others cleanse their avatars, so their avatars can proceed on the path they were created to fulfill."

"Then do not be an amalgam and walk the path you have chosen, there is no guarantee this prophecy is about you, it could be that the prophecy is about this...abomination it might be the Nephandi wish to make, or someone else, ultimately Sodalis you choose your own path."
Crexia said and looked at you.

"I know in general what a crucible is, but...the reason I asked is that near end of my seeking, my avatar said that in order to gain wisdom and grow, I had to burn and that I had been refined in the kiln. That the prima materia was ready for the next stage and I could enter it when I presented the three keys I had chosen. There was something else, also...that voice was not my avatar and now causes me to feel suspicion. There was a warm voice that said I had a gift, something that had a different potential than the Artificer for she was limited." He frowned. "Then, there is the pine cone. And all the insights I have gotten about how our avatars seem to be entangled..."

Crexia gave a concerned frown about that.
"I do not know how to interpret that for you Sodalis or who that voice was, one interpretation is rather dark in light of this prophecy however in a way we all go though the alchemical process, and perhaps there is something you can become that will illuminate your own path and that is what was meant and I hope the latter is the truth rather than the former..."

"We also know the Fallen have screwed with them," he said with a frown. "An unfortunately common underpinning to all of this..."

Udella nodded darkly at that.

"Well...if one has the instructions on how to make it, then that is also the start of how to unmake or make sure it's never made?

"That is quite possible yes I however do not know."
Crexia said.

But the prophesy said first out of kindness than out of arrogance, or to that effect...anyway. The name of the sender and recipient must be kept close and no, it was not opened or tampered with in any way. I just...know what's in there. I know that sounds iffy, but I received a flash, as one might with psychometry. The package is safe, for now and I will not be disclosing where it is until we can figure out what to do with it, or I'm forced to turn it over by a tribunal - hopefully we'll have resolved things enough. I had to lean on a very obscure law to remove it." He then told them the name of the recipient and the chantry it was being sent to, with a concerned frown.

Crexia frowned then she nodded.
"I agree with keeping that package safe at least...hum well it makes more sense in asking me about it then since this Chantry is in Brazil where my own Chantry is also located...I know of this Chantry is is a small research Chantry, Verbena, Etherites and some Hermetics doing medical reserch, what on earth would they want with a six hundred years dead remains."
She muttered.

"Larson wants to bring down an Aswadim, we know that much and will do whatever it takes to do it. There's the other pieces of the puzzle, though - what about what happened to Abigail's apprentice?"

"That do appear to be her mad plan yes...are you thinking about Martha Cunningham what about her?"
Crexia asked and Udella looked a bit confused.
"What did happen to Abigail's apprentice? I know we killed one in the Labyrinth and Morningstar have another in custody there is a third?"

"When did that happen?"

"I heard about it a few days ago."
Crexia said.

Colin arched an eyebrow, "That sounds severe enough. Perhaps someone's allergic to the wall decor?"

"Perhaps...that I would not know. I only know the medicine Doc traded."
Allison said.

He frowned, "Kyle was there, guarding the path back out. Only he was in his incarnation from the Schism War, Arto filius Derra ex Diedne... and he told us your paths had crossed many times, most recently when he was... your executioner. I was able to get a copy of some of the court documents from Master Harris; his incarnation then was Gregor Ivan Ilteppi ex Guernicus, member of the Black Cabal... Shortly after that execution, he was cast out of the order, and died when his former Cabal caught him, but the reason for him being cast out is not on public record... however, given Kyle's present state, it would be all too easy to guess what happened..."

"I remember this Diedne...he was a proud man, and a strong one I tortured him for days before he broke to exhausted by that time to give much useful information a worthy adversary...hum...I also remember that a member of the Black Cabal was cast out under somewhat hushed circumstances...this Kyle though I take it then he is Master Morgan's new apprentice, the widderslainte child he is trying to save?"
Crexia asked and raised and eyebrow.

He zoned back in, shaking his head, "No, it's not a problem with the serum... Quite the contrary; I just discovered that memories and insights are completely unimpaired by it."
He sighed, "I just remembered a quite pleasant day, when Eloine was eight months pregnant, and Louis and I were sitting at a campfire with a few drinks between us... He asked us about our Damons, and told us how he sometimes thought he saw a dragon of dark azure obsidian. This was a forthnight after he asked you about it..."
He frowned, "...Well, damn, maybe I AM getting the band back together... And it's not a complete tragedy yet; she'll live, and her Avatar will come back to the light..."

Crexia looked at you as you spoke then she nodded.
"I remember the conversation with Master Du Monte about Deamons...Avatars and how ours where Fonts and he told me he saw glimpses of an obsidian dragon as he laid down to sleep at night and had taken to wearing an obsidian marble to remind himself it, the same marble Master Porthos have drawn into his portrait for the Fragile Path...if Anna is Du Monte's reincarnation do that...disturb you Mr Wainwright?"
Crexia asked softly.

He nodded, "I know; the, ah, mere plumbing is the insignificant aspect of a relationship. The trust and affection is everything - and in a power exchange relationship, if trust is broken and limits disrespected... that's the end of it. That goes for all relationships, be they romantic or familial - vulgar or magical."

Crexia nodded at that.
"Indeed...i think your negotiation with the pair will go quite well."

He smiled, "Because the secondary Avatar is Master Nassa's. I'm quite certain he will want to keep her close."

"Ah yes well, in that case him taking the girl as his apprentice if the transference works is quite understandable."
The old lich said and smiled.

He frowned, "Once Beatrice is feeling better, I will tell her. I have no right - none of us have the right - to make the decision for her. Least of all I - I will not let any Cabalmates go to their death unless it is their own decision... As fully informed a decision as is possible. If she decides she will stay and fight and die when the Union attacks just over New Year's... that's her decision, and we will abide by it, even if we have to feed Master Nassa horse tranquilizers to keep him from knocking her out and running off with her. If she decides to run and hide until the dust of the battle settles, and only return to help heal the wounded... that's also her decision to make, and we will make damn sure to cover her escape. Knowing her, though, I suspect she'll pick staying and fighting, even if it might mean her death..."

"Well staying do not have to mean Miss Alexander's death, after all now you have prior knowledge of the attack and I am sure we can get you help and reinforcements, the battle need not end like in your vision mr Wainwright."
Crexia said then she frowned.
"I am not sure telling a traumatized girl about this prophecy is a good idea though, it might be to much for her to handle."

He shook his head, "It was an impossible task; everything was stacked against you, and there was never enough time to do the impossible..."

"I know...I know old friend...I just wish...well it is in the past I suppose and you are here in the now...know that if you ever need my help though, I will come to your aid if I am at all able."
Udella said softly and patted your hand.

He nodded, "I hope so... what happened back then was horrible, and unjust... and much as Teomim earned their punishment, five hundred years is a long time to carry a grudge against someone long since dead... I'll understand it if she 's unable to forgive, but... well..."

"I hope for her sake she is not carrying a grudge, such a thing can eat at you, she seamed a perfectly plesant young woman though but more I really can't say."
Udella said and sigh.
"Yes what happened back then was wrong...it was a tragedy."

He arched an eyebrow, "Some particularly Dynamic Tass, you say? Hum, was there much of a problem with that? Er, asking for a friend, you might say - I know trade in corrupt Tass is prohibited, but highly resonated Tass in general?"

"No not a problem, as long as it is not enough of it to endanger the realm then trade in other types of highly Resonated Quintessence is fully legal. I advised her to apply some shielding wards to the shipment but otherwise she got her Tass delivered just fine."
Udella replied and nodded.

He shook his head, "Ah, no, Soylent Green is... It's a movie from the seventies; Soylent Green is a highly nutritious protein wafer, and a police detective investigates a murder at the manufacturing company... it turns out Soylent Green is reconstituted people...

"Well that sounds most unpleasant."
Udella said and raised an eyebrow.

As for the affordability of food, it seems to me it's not the price tag of the food itself that is the problem, but the time to spare for cooking and eating. People who work two or three jobs to put food on the table just don't have the time to spend thirty to sixty minutes cooking, and as much eating and cleaning up afterwards... I'm not rich, either, but I earn enough to not need a second job, so i have the time to cook properly."

"That is probably part of the problem yes, and we are most fortunate to be able to eat better and I wish more had that luxury."
The old Quesitor said and nodded.

He nodded, "After the complaint forms are filled in?"

"That works for me Mr Wainwright."

He frowned, "Essentially, I would hazard that this Moloch was not, in fact, future Teomim, but something else claiming to be them... hum, that would probably exclude most spirits, actually - I'm thinking it would be a being with a human perspective... though what it would be, I can't even begin to guess at..."

"That is possible but why then try to make the Seer not stop the Betrayal?"
Crexia asked.
"Such a being could have it's own reasons off course for wanting Teomim out of the way."

He frowned, "If Psychopomps act as guides for Avatars, and Avatars act as guides for us... perhaps merging with a Psychopomp could be seen as becoming one step closer to whatever directs the Psychopomps? Whatever that may be?"

Crexia nodded at that.
"It is a possibility I would not even begin to know though and I am a Master of Spirit...perhaps Master Telar would know more about this."

He frowned, "Static perfection is what you find in a crystal, like a diamond... living perfection is nothing like that; a perfect being would be one able to immediately adapt to any circumstance, or adapt the circumstances to themselves. An eternal refinement process with infinite flexibility. Even our spirit friends can change, albeit with a little help - my blade-fingered friend was quite happy with a new name and a shifted purpose, from preserving a blade to preserving memories by carving them into stone - a little Static, a little Dynamic..."

"True but in getting a new name and a new purpose your spirit friend became another entity. It is the same why my mother would not name me after the Gods, she always said, the Gods are perfect, but they never change I want you to grow...I guess I would be disappointing her in that regard."
Crexia said dryly.

He smiled, "It was there, yes - but it was perhaps not so much about doing it first, as proving to themselves and the world that they could do it. No human could fly until the brothers Montgolfier made their balloon. No human could steer a flying craft independent of wind currents until the brothers Wright did it at Kitty Hawk in 1903. Flying non-stop across the Atlantic was impossible until Alcock and Brown did it in 1919... Each of those cases were the first to succeed, though not the first to try, and as soon as they made it, other people replicated the achievement and improved on it. No, I don't think it was so much about being first, as proving it could be done, however impossible people thought it to be..."

"I doubt it was about proving anything Mr Wainwright...it was part of their spiritual path, their refinement process."
Crexia said and raised and eyebrow.

He shrugged, "Or perhaps it was always his purpose to fall, to set an example..."

"Perhaps it was...tragically enough."

He smiled, "While the symbolism wasn't entirely accidental, the name was chosen for a far simpler reason... The morning we hatched was beautiful, and we could see the sunrise from the laboratory."

"That seams as fair an explanation as any."
Crexia said and nodded.

He smiled wryly, "Oh, the impossible certainly is our stock in trade - but even so, how would you propose to get a Fallen Avatar and one not Fallen to actually agree to merge like so? I suppose it's viable they could be forced together, but I find it hard to see how two such Magi could be brought together amicably... A later incarnation, certainly, but that would probably necessitate either Beatrice's Avatar coming back to the light, or Adley's Avatar falling... And God forbid the latter."

"If I knew how such a thing could be done Mr Wainwright I would know how to avoid it, I am just saying it is a possibility and is not even beginning to speculate as to how."
Crexia said.
"Stranger things have happened."

His eye twitched for a moment, "Mia has some definite opinions on the concept... I was not aware one could actually swear in Enochian..."

"Appernatly the language of the angels have some...more common words as well...and I can understand her sentiment."
Udella said and smiled a little.

He shrugged, "Not necessarily an expert - but it seems likely you would keep tabs on research facilities of various sorts, as a matter of learning as well as a matter of strategy, to know where what intellectual resources are."

"Well as your Cabalmate clarified the pint that it is a Chantry in Brazil it makes more sense, the one in question is indeed a medical research Chantry, I have never visited them though so I do not know allot about them."
Crexia said.

He nodded sagely, "That definitely sounds familiar..."

The old archmage gave a slight smile.

He nodded, then pondered, "We have the recording of Abigail's namedropping - if we can get members of Larson's Labyrinth, as well as the testimony from Martha Cunningham, who survived the twins Gilgulling her...

"Wait...wait...do we know it was the twins doing the deed? For that we might be able to prove...I know of a Mercere a former widderslainte where Vittoria D'Angelo led the ritual, examining his soul where his Avatar was should reveal her sigil and if Martha Cunningham have the same marks in hers that would be proof that she performed the deal, she might still claim it was in combat and we might not be able to pin working with the Nephandi on her though but it would be further proof..."
Udella said and frowned.

how much credibility would such evidence have before the Nine? Do you think it would suffice to get them locked away pending a more thorough investigation, or would we risk having to, ah, employ some drastic self-defense against them for bringing it up?"

"A desperate Nephandus namedropping will not carry much weight, their sigils found at the crime scene as it where that might carry a little more and give weight to said name dropping."
Udella said pondering.
"But just the claims of Abigail that is flimsy evidence..."

He frowned, "We know what they reported happened with their Mentor... I may have read one too many cheap detective novels over the years, but... the first person or persons on the scene of a crime can often make small adjustments to create a convincing illusion of a slightly different chain of events. So yes, I bloody well think there is more."

"Well the twins brought their Mentor back and tended to him for a year before he was consumed by his depression and died...he confirmed their claims as to what happened to him."
Udella said.
"If I remember the case right, my memory might not be what it used to be."

He frowned, "Well, bugger... That's... we should get someone to track that set of samples, despite the distance in time and space... We need to know where the vial went missing, and perhaps urgently so..."

"Agreed we should look into it as soon as we get out of the time bubble. Also I do wonder how that little...ehm...child...would react to seeing you Mr Wainwright."
Crexia mushed.

(OOC: Well type type type that took two hours to write. )

(OOC 2: Maude hates to have her claws trimmed as well, off course you had to let you dog have some fun after such an indignity.)

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Serge:

"I didn't have any friends either." Serge revealed. "I always spent my time alone, away from the other kids. I used to think that I didn't need friends. Later I learned I was just scared. I thought the other kids would laugh at me so I never even tried to talk to them. It got so bad that I had to take drugs to help fix my anxiety."

"Well at least you never got the desire to murder the other kids and bathe in their entrails."
Kyle said in an everyday tone of voice as if he was speaking about what to have for dinner.
"But yeah I always missed having friends, I have one now though Gabrielle...she lives under a bridge near our apartment."
Kyle said and he blushed talking about the girl.

"That would be a nice relief. Your still young so you have plenty of time to figure out how to do stuff like that. Make sure that your mental control is top notch. You wanna be sure that you are the one in control, not your mind. Meditation helps in that aspect." Serge advised.

"I need to learn to meditate then...hum...it would be worth it though, any ideas for where to start?"
Kyle said and scratched his head.

"I guess in this hectic world of ours, the simplest memories are always the sweetest." Serge said nonchalantly.

"Yeah it often is..."
The young widderslainte said and smiled.

"I can actually sort of do stuff like that." Serge said remembering what being a discipline in mind magick meant.

"I could make that Technocrat really want to feed his cat, or make him terrified of me, or perhaps make him really confused for a second as to why he is holding a gun. But I can't erase memories, at least not easily or quickly. Not to mention that I can't force the Technocrat to do anything, only make him really want to do it."

"That is practical and making someone really want to do something is often enough."
Kyle said and nodded.
"Could you make him think he was like really drunk, or just make him fall asleep, that would be useful and then you could run away while he was sleeping and run to get your Mentor or something, or kick him in the nuts...though I guess then he would not be sleeping anymore...so it is best to take his gun away first..."

Serge stretched his arms as he had been sitting still for a while and then continued. "Besides if a technocrat was pointing a gun at me I would be dead before I manage to do anything. I doubt I would be able to draw anything to attack him and by the time I made eye contact or said anything he would probably just shoot me. I'm not exactly a fighter. That's something I may need to study at the library. How to use my magick in combat. The only way I know to damage my enemies is to cause mental illusions to attack them."

"Perhaps you could make drawings in advance and then just show them to the Technocrat to cast magick faster?"
Kyle asked then she sigh.
"But yeah a gun is often after than magick I do not draw things and I can get a spell of pretty quickly but I need to do a series of hand gestures so it takes at least ten, fifteen seconds, he could shoot me dead before then."
The boy muttered and looked down at his hands and flashed a series of quick, elegant hand gestures to show you.

"How would I drag their physical bodies into a mental realm?" Serge asked and little confused.

"I don't know but my dad says one can ether the spirit world physically so why not a mental realm?"
Kyle said and shrugged.

"Could I? Maybe..." Serge said simply. "I studied a little bit about the dream realms when I was trying to learn about my little mind palace. My mentor also did something similar when she pulled me out of my own mind so I might be able to ask her. But I've never done anything like that so I wouldn't know where to begin."

"It would be so cool to enter other people's dreams, they do that to in the books my dad made me read, but that are the good bits and not the scary bits."
The boy said and grinned.

"You did fine. I'm just glad you saw something other than squiggly shapes. That means the magick worked. I wanna try and modify it to see if I can make people see other memories. Maybe things that make them happy." Serge said with a smile.

"Ok cool, let me know if you need my help with that again."
Kyle offered happily.

"I should probably learn latin as well." Serge pondered. "I could probably use some of my magick with it. Plus nothing sounds more magicky than latin. Imagine how awesome it would be whispering a latin incantation under your breath and having an illusionary dog bite that annoying technocrat."

"Yeah well when you have heard your parents argue over dishes in Latin it don't sound so magicky anymore but it is a useful language to know...and it might have that effect on others and I approve of having an illusionary dog bite Technocrats."

"Yeah your right. Pyromancer would be more correct. I wonder how many -mancer's their are at this chantry. Like....is their a hydromancer here. What about an electromancer? Aeromancer? Terramancer? The -mancer suffix makes a person sound so much cooler. Like instead of saying that you manipulate ice just say that your a cryomancer." Serge said cheerily.

"There are probably allot, however really it is using the word wrong, it originally just means someone doing divination with something so a cartomancer would be reading in cards and a pyromancer really means someone who read fortunes in fire...I prefer the fantasy mistake of the word though and have pyromancer mean someone wo make fires with their minds and magick."
Kyle said and he nodded and grinned.

[Adley]

e frowned, "Kyle was there, guarding the path back out. Only he was in his incarnation from the Schism War, Arto filius Derra ex Diedne... and he told us your paths had crossed many times, most recently when he was... your executioner. I was able to get a copy of some of the court documents from Master Harris; his incarnation then was Gregor Ivan Ilteppi ex Guernicus, member of the Black Cabal... Shortly after that execution, he was cast out of the order, and died when his former Cabal caught him, but the reason for him being cast out is not on public record... however, given Kyle's present state, it would be all too easy to guess what happened..."

"Ah, yes I remember Arto...er, I have a remembrance of him, anyway," he said with a nod, then listened to the additional information that he found out. "Hm...there's definitely more there that we're missing." He glanced towards Udella and Crexia.

"I remember this Diedne...he was a proud man, and a strong one I tortured him for days before he broke to exhausted by that time to give much useful information a worthy adversary...hum...I also remember that a member of the Black Cabal was cast out under somewhat hushed circumstances...this Kyle though I take it then he is Master Morgan's new apprentice, the widderslainte child he is trying to save?"
Crexia asked and raised and eyebrow.

"So...you really did know two of my avatar's past incarnations...do you know why the Black Cabal member was cast out? It would seem if he...Fell that would warrant more than being ostracized, even if it was obvious someone would take him out."

He nodded, "Sand. It would seem that as she takes a slower path back to the light than those using miss Florentine's method, her Avatar is... well, glass is made from sand; if glass is ground down, it becomes sand once more, slowly, surely - and such physical evidence of the healing process can't at all be pleasant for someone who has not tried to come around. There will be... an incident, at some point, when a Nephandus manages to sneak in to abduct Anna, and that... ends up with an unpleasant surprise for the Fallen. I don't recall the details beyond that - it was just a flash of anecdotal memory in a future vision, but it everyone was surprised by the incident..."

He scratched at his beard. "Glass is made of sand at high heat, or a lightning strike, yes...what does one do with this sand, though?"

"Someone else speaking of...a glass dragon, but that someone would be one more element to complicate this." Crexia said.

"We may as well shake out all the puzzle pieces we have, then sort them into the right boxes..."

Crexia looked at you as you spoke then she nodded. "I remember the conversation with Master Du Monte about Deamons...Avatars and how ours where Fonts and he told me he saw glimpses of an obsidian dragon as he laid down to sleep at night and had taken to wearing an obsidian marble to remind himself it, the same marble Master Porthos have drawn into his portrait for the Fragile Path...if Anna is Du Monte's reincarnation do that...disturb you Mr Wainwright?" Crexia asked softly.

"Hmm..."

"Psychopomps are not Avatars themselves no, they are their guides, taking them from the Well of Souls to find hosts, well at least that is what they once did. I suspect someone might thing such a merging would give them power over Avatars themselves but I do not know. I am just saying what it is rumored the Grimoire contains and what it was said Teomim was working on, I do not know why they would want to do such a thing." Crexia said and shook her head.

"This is going to sound slightly mad...but...earlier, there was a spirit that had to take a lost avatar to the Well. She brought a friend and they found the lost soul, a Fallen avatar that was tagging along after its host died and causing trouble and went to take it back up where it belonged. Essentially, being a psychopomp. What if Heylel was trying to find a way to the Well?"

"We are all a threat if we choose to be Sodalis, we all have a little piece of the Gods in us and our potential for power, for good or bane is limitless I am not saying any Avatar should have a sword hanging over it, not yours, not Miss Alexander's I am saying what a prophesy from a well respected Seer that most agreed became an Oracle have said and that prophesy may or may not be about you and Miss Alexander but might also be about some other entity, it is a warning but no we do not have enough information to act on anything nor am I making accusations."

"I'm sorry to offend your ears, but it is...does feel that way. I don't think I like prophesies much..." he said, sounding apologetic. "Especially not this one. Ever notice how they never say something wonderful will happen?" he tilted his head at her.

"You can try to cast fireballs at Moloch if he should happen to show up." Crexia muttered then she smiled a little. "And yes the...idea of what time really is are confusing and hard to grasp, that is why our mind see time as linear."

He gave a sudden bark of a laugh at the absurdity of it. "I don't think that would do us much good..." He broke out into a fit of laughter.

"Then do not be an amalgam and walk the path you have chosen, there is no guarantee this prophecy is about you, it could be that the prophecy is about this...abomination it might be the Nephandi wish to make, or someone else, ultimately Sodalis you choose your own path."
Crexia said and looked at you.

"Well, if it's not about us, it's about someone, so we should still be concerned..."

He zoned back in, shaking his head, "No, it's not a problem with the serum... Quite the contrary; I just discovered that memories and insights are completely unimpaired by it." He sighed, "I just remembered a quite pleasant day, when Eloine was eight months pregnant, and Louis and I were sitting at a campfire with a few drinks between us... He asked us about our Damons, and told us how he sometimes thought he saw a dragon of dark azure obsidian. This was a forthnight after he asked you about it..." He frowned, "...Well, damn, maybe I AM getting the band back together... And it's not a complete tragedy yet; she'll live, and her Avatar will come back to the light..."

"Hm, it appears that the serum does not interrupt the internal mysteries totally...I didn't know there was blue obsidian."

He nodded, "With the exception of the snake-head ropes, I think everything is."

"Assuming my hands could be healed, I'd rather the snake ropes," he said, much as he had before.

Offering them fair trade for the loan might persuade them, respecting their relationship as more than just well unusual sex might flatter them more than gifts though many see such an arrangement as just something dirty and fail to see that just like with any relationship the physical is just a part of it, and that it is about being loving and kind towards one another and having someone to walk this often hard path with." Crexia said and she spoke like if she had experience with this "For someone in a power exchange relationship to have that relationship respected and acknowledged as a real thing and not like someone's dirty fantasy means allot, trust me." She said and smiled knowingly.

He nodded, "I know; the, ah, mere plumbing is the insignificant aspect of a relationship. The trust and affection is everything - and in a power exchange relationship, if trust is broken and limits disrespected... that's the end of it. That goes for all relationships, be they romantic or familial - vulgar or magical."

Adley seemed a bit embarrassed about the topic, saying nothing at all - it wasn't so much that they had such a relationship, but it was private and being spoken about between others.

He smiled, "Because the secondary Avatar is Master Nassa's. I'm quite certain he will want to keep her close."

"Not that I do not trust you both and pardon, but that...is not really up to us to disclose, it is after all, private."

He frowned, "Once Beatrice is feeling better, I will tell her. I have no right - none of us have the right - to make the decision for her. Least of all I - I will not let any Cabalmates go to their death unless it is their own decision... As fully informed a decision as is possible. If she decides she will stay and fight and die when the Union attacks just over New Year's... that's her decision, and we will abide by it, even if we have to feed Master Nassa horse tranquilizers to keep him from knocking her out and running off with her. If she decides to run and hide until the dust of the battle settles, and only return to help heal the wounded... that's also her decision to make, and we will make damn sure to cover her escape. Knowing her, though, I suspect she'll pick staying and fighting, even if it might mean her death..."

"Well staying do not have to mean Miss Alexander's death, after all now you have prior knowledge of the attack and I am sure we can get you help and reinforcements, the battle need not end like in your vision mr Wainwright." Crexia said then she frowned. "I am not sure telling a traumatized girl about this prophecy is a good idea though, it might be to much for her to handle."

He looked at Colin, clearly upset. "Then...I just don't understand. It will likely take us more time than we have, is what I am hearing, to assist her with any cleansing for her avatar, she still has to recover from what just happened. And then we will have short time to make use of, if your timeline becomes the true one. Yet if she does not..."

He pondered, "The complementary relationship wasn't destroyed. You are still linked together, though the connection is subtly different... but I believe it can be restored, along with her Avatar."

"It is not /subtly/ different. It was blighted by her Fall. Her avatar was made barren, at least until this miracle that we were given was returned to us, saved by Claire. So...yes perhaps not entirely destroyed, but changed for the worse and it is out of balance." He sighed. "We are connected yes, I offered our ephemera to her to keep her avatar from shattering. I thought that was the right thing to do, because I hoped we could save her avatar, and others that seem to be like her.  I believe it can be restored as well...I am however cautious of how to approach this so it does not cause further harms, if any of this other malarkey has any bearing on it..."

He frowned, "I... can't speculate on what your Avatar meant by that, but... might it have had some relation to your, ah, accidental houseguest? And.. the Artificer... 'she'? Are you sure about the pronoun?"

He narrowed his eyes as he thought it over again, to answer his questions. "It's a bit hard to remember, so much has happened...but I don't think that voice had anything to do with him, he...er, the houseguest, that is, was there as another manifestation on its own, I envisioned him whole, and discreet from that voice which was not embodied. They were quite distinct. And I do believe I have the pronoun correct. I was told by a rather pleasant sounding voice that she could stitch together to heal, she could do this, but not restore it."

He frowned, "I don't quite know about spiritual planes, as such... I can see spirits around me, even if they are not manifested like the Brothers Knight or the others I've been directly introduced to were when I spoke with them... or that fire spirit you dealt with earlier. I see them around now, much like I see you three sitting around the table - though, I'll admit, I haven't seen as many smaller spirits stomping around as I might have expected... and yes, I do so unaided. And impractically enough, I don't know how to unsee them - it's like... I see more people around me, and how do you avoid seeing people around you on the street? It's... a ridiculous notion to suddenly not see certain people around you..."

"You can permanently see through the veil," he mused, with a tilt of his head. "Hm...yes spirits can exist on the other side, without us normally noticing them. It is quite a shock to realise they are there, and have been just on the other side of it...once, I believe that people naturally were aware of them all the time, just as you are now. The Gauntlet was not the same long ago...as for not seeing lesser spirits, they've probably scrammed. They know there's problems." He looked thoughtful.

He grinned, "We rather needed you in the present, you know - I don't know how to pull of the Heart's Blood rote, and I don't think anyone else than you, Beatrice and myself can use the pine cone..." He shook his head, "It was the least I could do... I'm sure you would do the same in a comparable situation, when simply letting a Quiet run its course isn't viable."

"I don't think I could teach it to you the way that I know how to do it; it is an internal process, a mystery. Which is to say, even if I were to explain the instructions, it would not make sense. Less like a cookbook where you can flip to the chapter you want and more of a process, where you need to read what came beforehand. But yes, I would of course try to help you."

He frowned, "If Psychopomps act as guides for Avatars, and Avatars act as guides for us... perhaps merging with a Psychopomp could be seen as becoming one step closer to whatever directs the Psychopomps? Whatever that may be?"

He shook his head, boggled, gesturing with his hands.

He frowned, "Static perfection is what you find in a crystal, like a diamond... living perfection is nothing like that; a perfect being would be one able to immediately adapt to any circumstance, or adapt the circumstances to themselves. An eternal refinement process with infinite flexibility. Even our spirit friends can change, albeit with a little help - my blade-fingered friend was quite happy with a new name and a shifted purpose, from preserving a blade to preserving memories by carving them into stone - a little Static, a little Dynamic..."

"True but in getting a new name and a new purpose your spirit friend became another entity. It is the same why my mother would not name me after the Gods, she always said, the Gods are perfect, but they never change I want you to grow...I guess I would be disappointing her in that regard."

"Well, he was certainly happier, to have something than no name or purpose, that is true. But I don't find that it was helpful for him to have his perfection ripped away by the Nephandi...he was likely quite fine as he was beforehand. But we're different, or avatars are. I do like your analogy of the crystal or material...yes a material, static perfection is not like living perfection, adaptation and refinement, that is quite beautiful," he said with a nod and faint smile.

He smiled, "While the symbolism wasn't entirely accidental, the name was chosen for a far simpler reason... The morning we hatched was beautiful, and we could see the sunrise from the laboratory."

He smiled at him. "I don't think it sunk in for me to address you for the answer, yet...sorry."

He grinned, "I vote grabbing the sword. Preferably to make a plowshare, but if needs be..."

"There's got to be some reason my avatar picked another Flambeau."

His eye twitched for a moment, "Mia has some definite opinions on the concept... I was not aware one could actually swear in Enochian..."

"I think it would be lost in translation to render them...they'd lose too much context."

He nodded, then pondered, "We have the recording of Abigail's namedropping - if we can get members of Larson's Labyrinth, as well as the testimony from Martha Cunningham, who survived the twins Gilgulling her... how much credibility would such evidence have before the Nine? Do you think it would suffice to get them locked away pending a more thorough investigation, or would we risk having to, ah, employ some drastic self-defense against them for bringing it up?"

"Ah, yes good thinking on recording that. I need to review it, later..." he said, reminded.

He frowned, "We know what they reported happened with their Mentor... I may have read one too many cheap detective novels over the years, but... the first person or persons on the scene of a crime can often make small adjustments to create a convincing illusion of a slightly different chain of events. So yes, I bloody well think there is more."

"I suppose that is true," he sighed.

Crexia frowned then she nodded."I agree with keeping that package safe at least...hum well it makes more sense in asking me about it then since this Chantry is in Brazil where my own Chantry is also located...I know of this Chantry is is a small research Chantry, Verbena, Etherites and some Hermetics doing medical reserch, what on earth would they want with a six hundred years dead remains." She muttered

"I was hoping you might have a clue, if you knew the recipient at all. I also know who sent it..."

"That do appear to be her mad plan yes...are you thinking about Martha Cunningham what about her?" Crexia asked and Udella looked a bit confused.
"What did happen to Abigail's apprentice? I know we killed one in the Labyrinth and Morningstar have another in custody there is a third?"

"Yes, her. She apparently was gilgulled by someone or ones and then sent to a hospital in Boston..."

"I heard about it a few days ago." Crexia said.

He frowned, "Well, bugger... That's... we should get someone to track that set of samples, despite the distance in time and space... We need to know where the vial went missing, and perhaps urgently so..."

"I, too, doubt it's a coincidence."

// haha, yes that can happen, seems you did well though getting it in order

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

"Ah, yes I remember Arto...er, I have a remembrance of him, anyway," he said with a nod, then listened to the additional information that he found out. "Hm...there's definitely more there that we're missing." He glanced towards Udella and Crexia.

"I am not sure I can add to much, he was a member of a powerful Diedne Covenant and during the war we suspected he knew the location of Llewellyn himself...but yes there are puzzle pieces here that we are missing."
Crexia agreed.

"So...you really did know two of my avatar's past incarnations...do you know why the Black Cabal member was cast out? It would seem if he...Fell that would warrant more than being ostracized, even if it was obvious someone would take him out."

"No...the man's crime have been struck from the records...however I might be able to find out what his crime was but I suspect some sort of cover up. Yes if he had Fallen the punishment would be far worse than being ostracized and marched."
Crexia said and frowned.

He scratched at his beard. "Glass is made of sand at high heat, or a lightning strike, yes...what does one do with this sand, though?"

"Well there is always the sands of time...but yes how do this sand work in the future Mr Wainwright?"
Udella asked and glanced at Colin.

"We may as well shake out all the puzzle pieces we have, then sort them into the right boxes..."

"Very well I suspect the Nephandi child your Cabalmate have adopted are Louis du Monte Hermes bani Guernicus' reincarnation."
Crexia said and sigh.

"This is going to sound slightly mad...but...earlier, there was a spirit that had to take a lost avatar to the Well. She brought a friend and they found the lost soul, a Fallen avatar that was tagging along after its host died and causing trouble and went to take it back up where it belonged. Essentially, being a psychopomp. What if Heylel was trying to find a way to the Well?"

"Finding the Well of Souls would a mortal even be able to do such a thing?"
Udella said her eyes going wind.
"Hum...well I could see them wanting to do such a thing, what a sight it must be and seeing the Well of Souls one might be able to find out what our Avatars truly are...what was this spirit you saw though Sodalis?"

"I'm sorry to offend your ears, but it is...does feel that way. I don't think I like prophesies much..." he said, sounding apologetic. "Especially not this one. Ever notice how they never say something wonderful will happen?" he tilted his head at her.

"That is alright Mr Roth Hicks and I agree with you I also do not like prophecies much really but at times knowing what might come to pass is a good tool in figuring out how to avoid a bad outcome from happening and perhaps that is why we never hear about the positive prophecies, then again your friend here have seen himself happily married with three children and a flourishing apprentice gaining success on Horizon so some future visions are positives."
Crexia said with a slight smile.

He gave a sudden bark of a laugh at the absurdity of it. "I don't think that would do us much good..." He broke out into a fit of laughter.

Crexia gave a wry grin.
"No but it might make you feel a bit better...for a little while until the living god decide to smite you for your efforts."

"Well, if it's not about us, it's about someone, so we should still be concerned..."

"Agreed and we need to be concerned."
Udella said and nodded.

"Hm, it appears that the serum does not interrupt the internal mysteries totally...I didn't know there was blue obsidian."

"Neither did I, but stones have never been my forte I have seen green red and black obsidian but not blue..."
Udella said.
"It could be some version of black, some of those stones have a rather midnight look to them but Mrs Knox might know more about this than me."

"Assuming my hands could be healed, I'd rather the snake ropes," he said, much as he had before.

"The physical damage don't look to bad with that rope, two puncture wounds on each wrist, I do not think our healers had much trouble healing Miss Carlyle's wrists I am not sure I would recommend them though the pain look quite severe."
Crexia said and frowned.
"Then pain is not everything."

"Not that I do not trust you both and pardon, but that...is not really up to us to disclose, it is after all, private."

"Ah yes off course right you are, the matters of another's Avatar is best left for them to discuss it is a private matter I do apologize."
Udella said and smiled apologetically.
Crexia nodded.
"True then again whatever or not this Mercere can be saved is somewhat relevant for the topic at hand."
She protested mildly.

"It is not /subtly/ different. It was blighted by her Fall. Her avatar was made barren, at least until this miracle that we were given was returned to us, saved by Claire. So...yes perhaps not entirely destroyed, but changed for the worse and it is out of balance." He sighed. "We are connected yes, I offered our ephemera to her to keep her avatar from shattering. I thought that was the right thing to do, because I hoped we could save her avatar, and others that seem to be like her. I believe it can be restored as well...I am however cautious of how to approach this so it does not cause further harms, if any of this other malarkey has any bearing on it..."

"Trying to restore the Fallen is a worthy goal and especially if you have walked with Miss Alexander's soul for so many lifetimes...one question though you said you gave some of the Ephemera of your Avatar to heal Miss Alexander's soul after the attempted Gilgul...can I ask how well her soul have assimilated that sample of spirit matter, that might be relevant for whatever or not...the pair of you could become joined...in either case I doubt there are any chance of it happening by chance or by you helping her becoming a rebis would require will and effort."
Crexia said and frowned.

He narrowed his eyes as he thought it over again, to answer his questions. "It's a bit hard to remember, so much has happened...but I don't think that voice had anything to do with him, he...er, the houseguest, that is, was there as another manifestation on its own, I envisioned him whole, and discreet from that voice which was not embodied. They were quite distinct. And I do believe I have the pronoun correct. I was told by a rather pleasant sounding voice that she could stitch together to heal, she could do this, but not restore it."

"Excuse me for asking but ehm...house guest?"
Crexia asked. Udella seamed to consider something.
"A female voice the thought go to Miss Alexander but most female mages have Avatars that show up as male and vice versa, this is not always the case but usually the Avatar appear to be of the opposite gender of their host...if it was Miss Alexander's Avatar speaking would it not sound male, not that gender really matter much to these creatures."
The Quesitor said.

"I was hoping you might have a clue, if you knew the recipient at all. I also know who sent it..."

"Ok let me think...any personal effects that belonged to Teomim would have gone to their students but they declined them so they went to his Cabal...to Lady Eloine and through her it could have ended up with the Verbena Prima possibly. The recipient though...I know the Chantry but not much about it."
Crexia said and frowned.

"Yes, her. She apparently was gilgulled by someone or ones and then sent to a hospital in Boston..."

"Poor woman...the Nephandi turning on their own?"
Crexia asked.

"I, too, doubt it's a coincidence."

"I doubt there are any coincidences in this whole mess."
Crexia said sounding tired.
"We are going to have to try to track down that sample."

[Adley]

"I am not sure I can add to much, he was a member of a powerful Diedne Covenant and during the war we suspected he knew the location of Llewellyn himself...but yes there are puzzle pieces here that we are missing." Crexia agreed.

"Lllwellyn! Yes..." He nodded, as he heard the coven leader's name...Beatrice. Claire. Llewellyn. "There are four time periods that seem to be important, at least that we know about, from my perspective. There could be many more, of course. The one with Llewellyn, Carmon, Artu, and Ejrne, Claire and Dylan, this current one, and the one that included Heylel."

"Very well I suspect the Nephandi child your Cabalmate have adopted are Louis du Monte Hermes bani Guernicus' reincarnation."
Crexia said and sigh.

He whistled. "I still can't imagine what would make him Fall...and for there to be a cover up."

"Finding the Well of Souls would a mortal even be able to do such a thing?" Udella said her eyes going wind. "Hum...well I could see them wanting to do such a thing, what a sight it must be and seeing the Well of Souls one might be able to find out what our Avatars truly are...what was this spirit you saw though Sodalis?"

"What do you think, amicus?" he asked Colin. "As for could they...well, it rather depends if they knew there was such a place and what it was for, but it seems they had a more modern understanding of avatars not as Founts. As for the spirit...ah, I think she is a spirit, it's a little complicated but let's say an assistant to someone that we asked for some help, as I said. I'm not sure that's what's in the grimoire, I'm just trying to see the information in the prophesy from a different angle, what the benefit of incorporating the psychopomps based on what they are and do...or did. Or...is that why modern avatars are different than Founts? They integrated their psychopomp and so were able to choose their own hosts ever after..."

"That is alright Mr Roth Hicks and I agree with you I also do not like prophecies much really but at times knowing what might come to pass is a good tool in figuring out how to avoid a bad outcome from happening and perhaps that is why we never hear about the positive prophecies, then again your friend here have seen himself happily married with three children and a flourishing apprentice gaining success on Horizon so some future visions are positives."

"Well, you got me there. Infrequently, then but I am glad to hear something good." He smiled at Colin.

"Ah yes off course right you are, the matters of another's Avatar is best left for them to discuss it is a private matter I do apologize."
Udella said and smiled apologetically.
Crexia nodded. "True then again whatever or not this Mercere can be saved is somewhat relevant for the topic at hand."
She protested mildly.

"I didn't mean no discussion of it entirely, per se, just what Master Amadeus might do...well, such will be his decision."

"Trying to restore the Fallen is a worthy goal and especially if you have walked with Miss Alexander's soul for so many lifetimes...one question though you said you gave some of the Ephemera of your Avatar to heal Miss Alexander's soul after the attempted Gilgul...can I ask how well her soul have assimilated that sample of spirit matter, that might be relevant for whatever or not...the pair of you could become joined...in either case I doubt there are any chance of it happening by chance or by you helping her becoming a rebis would require will and effort."

"It seemed to work, even though my avatar is not primordial as hers; as far as I know it worked as well as it could. I feel...familiarity with primordial avatars, at least one of them that I have been able to work with, lately. She said she feels as if she has a torch now...it seemed positive at the time. She seems to know things about me, though that might be from her knowing my avatar so long anyway." He gave a slight shrug. "I am not sure how important any of that is..."

"Excuse me for asking but ehm...house guest?" Crexia asked.

"My lodger, the shard of spirit that is riding my avatar until he is strong enough to be reborn and go home," he reminded her. "It's been kind of a long week..." He rubbed a hand through is damp hair.

"A female voice the thought go to Miss Alexander but most female mages have Avatars that show up as male and vice versa, this is not always the case but usually the Avatar appear to be of the opposite gender of their host...if it was Miss Alexander's Avatar speaking would it not sound male, not that gender really matter much to these creatures."

"Let me clarify. The voice that I am referring to was not female. It was talking about a female Artificer. In my understanding of Beatrice's avatar, it is male, a spiritual complement to mine. I never considered it could be her avatar that was speaking to me...it is so broken now, that I would not expect the voice to sound that way even if it did," he said, sadly. He tried to think back about the experience again, sifting through everything that had happened between. "It was more...paternal, that other voice. It was like hearing a father speak to a son they are proud of...through the pain of the souls that wanted reparation and demanded to be reincarnated, the voice was almost musical and very calm, that stuck with me since nothing else was, it was chaos and noise and pain. Again, this was a Seeking, I had to a degree assumed the scenario was concocted by my avatar, until little parts of it seemed to hold extraneous potential truths that only showed their relevance later...maybe that's always the way of it, this is only my second one."

"Ok let me think...any personal effects that belonged to Teomim would have gone to their students but they declined them so they went to his Cabal...to Lady Eloine and through her it could have ended up with the Verbena Prima possibly. The recipient though...I know the Chantry but not much about it."

"Still doesn't answer how they intercepted the Mercere mail system and knew about the package in the first place. Let's see, is there anything else...Colin, is it still painful, that serum or has it at least abated somewhat?"

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

"Lllwellyn! Yes..." He nodded, as he heard the coven leader's name...Beatrice. Claire. Llewellyn. "There are four time periods that seem to be important, at least that we know about, from my perspective. There could be many more, of course. The one with Llewellyn, Carmon, Artu, and Ejrne, Claire and Dylan, this current one, and the one that included Heylel."

"You are probably right those are the four time periods that seam to be most involved with our current situation, if we do not consider some future time periods that Mr Wainwright have seen at least, for if we include them then there is also those...and the only link we can find between all of these time periods are you and Miss Alexander the question is how this all fits together."
Crexia said and frowned.

He whistled. "I still can't imagine what would make him Fall...and for there to be a cover up."

"I don't know, why would anyone Fall, all I know is that the record of the man's trial have been removed or restricted...but I might be able to find my way around that."
The old Tytalus said.

"As for could they...well, it rather depends if they knew there was such a place and what it was for, but it seems they had a more modern understanding of avatars not as Founts.

"Well the Renaissance was the time when mages started Awakening with Avatars and not Fonts, I am blessed with an Avatar that communicate with me, a girl that was trained at the same Covenant as me but who where ten years older had a Font, we where beginning to understand Avatars and Deamons as they where called back then and that something had changed and slowly we found out about Psychopomps that earlier they had guided Avatars to their hosts and that made for a perfect match so the soul never had to speak unless the mage was consumed by madness or in other ways lost their way. There is a good chance Teomim would know about the Psychopomps and that now without them Avatars made imperfect bonds with their hosts and the result was that they needed to guide us, well that and we have less potential for raw power than those born with a Fount, their bond is just stronger..."
Udella explained.

As for the spirit...ah, I think she is a spirit, it's a little complicated but let's say an assistant to someone that we asked for some help, as I said. I'm not sure that's what's in the grimoire, I'm just trying to see the information in the prophesy from a different angle, what the benefit of incorporating the psychopomps based on what they are and do...or did. Or...is that why modern avatars are different than Founts? They integrated their psychopomp and so were able to choose their own hosts ever after..."

"That is indeed why. In earlier times a Avatar who wanted to become incarnate where taken by a Psychopomp who would find a child that fit that soul's needs perfectly, he or she would not need to be guided for their life where in perfect harmony with their Avatar, this perfect joining made mages with Faunts far more powerful in many ways than us and for them using Quintessence right from the Pool is far easier while we often have to store the magick in our souls first without powerful spells to circumvent that...when the Psychopomps left Avatars begun to choose their own hosts and made imperfect bonds and now they had to guide their mages and fight with them, our potential is less but we hear their voices...perhaps a fair trade of."
Udella said and smiled and there was something in Crexia's eyes that said that she regretted never hear her soul's voice.
"Yes...I would trade my...raw magickal power to hear him speak...if only just once..."
The Tytalus muttered.
"Well that regret to the side trying to look at the prophesy from a new light is probably a good idea Sodalis...the question then is where are your thoughts leading you?"
She said and glanced at you.
"We do not know why the Paychopomps vanished though I doubt they are a part of modern Avatars...my guess is that increasing Paradox is to blame, allot of magickal creatures where forced to leave earth at about the same time."

"Well, you got me there. Infrequently, then but I am glad to hear something good." He smiled at Colin.

Crexia gave you a bit of a smile at that.

"I didn't mean no discussion of it entirely, per se, just what Master Amadeus might do...well, such will be his decision."

"I understand and off course the choice belongs to Master Nassa."
Udella said and nodded.

"It seemed to work, even though my avatar is not primordial as hers; as far as I know it worked as well as it could. I feel...familiarity with primordial avatars, at least one of them that I have been able to work with, lately. She said she feels as if she has a torch now...it seemed positive at the time. She seems to know things about me, though that might be from her knowing my avatar so long anyway." He gave a slight shrug. "I am not sure how important any of that is..."

"Well let us not put to much into it, however it is interesting that a part of your soul Incorporated itself perfectly into Miss Alexander's Avatar, but it might be that is because your two souls have walked side by side for so long...one more thing to discuss with Master Telar perhaps, how deep this integration go."
Crexia said and frowned again.

"My lodger, the shard of spirit that is riding my avatar until he is strong enough to be reborn and go home," he reminded her. "It's been kind of a long week..." He rubbed a hand through is damp hair.

"Ah yes off course...forgive me Sodalis it...so much have happened I completely forgot that detail."
Crexia said. Udella though raised an eyebrow but she was to polite to ask.

"Let me clarify. The voice that I am referring to was not female. It was talking about a female Artificer. In my understanding of Beatrice's avatar, it is male, a spiritual complement to mine. I never considered it could be her avatar that was speaking to me...it is so broken now, that I would not expect the voice to sound that way even if it did," he said, sadly. He tried to think back about the experience again, sifting through everything that had happened between. "It was more...paternal, that other voice. It was like hearing a father speak to a son they are proud of...through the pain of the souls that wanted reparation and demanded to be reincarnated, the voice was almost musical and very calm, that stuck with me since nothing else was, it was chaos and noise and pain. Again, this was a Seeking, I had to a degree assumed the scenario was concocted by my avatar, until little parts of it seemed to hold extraneous potential truths that only showed their relevance later...maybe that's always the way of it, this is only my second one."

"An Avatar will create for it's mage exactly the Seeking that mage need at that time to develop further, it is hard to say if the voice you heard where real or just part of the Seeking and I am afraid I can't solve that mystery for you, perhaps only you can solve it but if it was fatherly is there any chance it could have been...some aspect of Heylel...if you are their heir, perhaps the Grimoire itself spoke to you with their voice..."
Crexia said as she regarded you.

"Still doesn't answer how they intercepted the Mercere mail system and knew about the package in the first place. Let's see, is there anything else...Colin, is it still painful, that serum or has it at least abated somewhat?"

"No I am still concerned about that, now it was possible for them to intercept the Mercere's mail delivery system and I have no answers to that at this moment, but I aim to find out."
Crexia said she glanced at Colin.
"Yes how are you feeling Mr Wainwright?"

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