Character Sheet
Name: Miriam Green
Shadow Name: Morata
Age: Sixteen.
Gender: Female

Path: Mastigos.
Gnosis: 3
Mana: 4/12
Wisdom: 7

Arcana: Mind 3, Space 2, Fate 1, (In Progress) Spirit 1

Aspirations: Unlock the Secrets of the Fire.

Obsessions:

Virtue: Faith
Vice: Curiosity

Health: 8/8
Willpower: 7/7
Defense: 2
Destiny (Merit): 4/4

XP: 0
Arcane XP: 1

Attributes:

Strength 3, Dexterity 2*, Stamina 3
Presence 2*, Manipulation 2*, Composure 3*
Intelligence 4, Wits 3, Resolve 4

Aspects:

Promising High School Student (4): She's smart and well liked around school. In fact, she has a pretty good grasp of not merely the basics of high-school learning, but even the things that are up to the senior year. Beyond what a person might learn in a she's a little lost, and so there are limits as to the kinds of things she'd know about, but if it can be found in a textbook she might have read, she's probably read it. As well, she knows how to plan her time, to get along with other people at school and not get into fights, and otherwise do well in this respect. She's best at history.

Preacher's Daughter (3): Growing up with a father who tells the gospel word, you learn how to mimic the way he gives sermons, quote the bible chapter and verse, and know more than a little about how to interact with people and their religions, faiths, and how churches function. Whether it is mingling after church, being a sounding board for her father's sermons, or playing games that involve reciting long passages of the bible from memory, she is good at it.

*A Bit of a Tomboy (2): She's really at the age where you're supposed to outgrow this sort of thing, really. But she still likes climbing things, she still likes running around the school, she still knows a little about getting into a scrap, even if she hasn't actually gotten into a fight since...well, a few years. She's keen, athletic, and very, very interested in baseball (boo, Kansas City Monarchs, boo!) which she read about, not having a radio, and that being fledgling besides. In any wise, it certainly isn't fading with time, and it's given her a set of interests and hobbies that meshes quite interestingly with her obvious piety and (reasonably, mostly) obedient nature.

Breaker of Chains (2): Abraham Lincoln was a swell guy, in her opinion. Her own father's involvement in the NAACP and her engagement in High School history has made it so that she's actually surprisingly knowledgeable on race issues, and quite talkative about them in the right circumstances. She knows how to keep her mouth shut, of course, around older white men or the like, but she has her opinions and she wears them on her sleeve, and that includes knowing a lot of things most girls her age wouldn't know about, academically and otherwise.

A Practicing Mage (2): While Morata has a lot to learn, and has only been practicing magic for a short time, she is now fully settling into magical society. She knows the Orders, and more than that she is starting to understand both the personalities and how magic truly works. It is a long journey, but she has taken another step forward.

Can We Keep Him? (1): She has had dogs and cats before, and currently has one of each, which she of course does all of the work taking care of, because her mom said that if she had to deal with that, she'd throw them out. She has a bit of a way with animals, and after the third or fourth stray, also with people and convincing them to go along with her quite innocent and well-meaning requests.

Problem Solver (1): Kids in her neighborhood and at school tend to trust and like her, or at least she's tried to be liked, and even go to her for help sometimes, whether of an academic nature or just to see what she has to say. She's not exactly a local guru or anything, but she's clever and tends to be able to help people with minor problems, or dispense advice, even if that advice is often enough 'Really, you should tell your parents, they're gonna find out, you know, and if they find out and you didn't tell them, they'll cane your hide raw.'

Sneaking The Cookie Jar (1): She's not a dishonest person, but being someone with a lot of friends means that you sometimes know how to lie for them, and more than that, that you know a little about sneaking an extra quarter here and there. Whenever caught she's full of contrition, and more than that she's not a fundamentally dishonest person, but...well, she knows plenty of people who deserve an extra cookie every now and then.

Mother's Teachings (1): Her mother has tried to at least teach her the basics of cooking, cleaning, and keeping house. The logic that she'll probably need it if she goes to college has been pretty persuasive, and while there are gaps, she's quite self-sufficient when it comes to balancing a budget or all of the other things a modern woman is expected to do, as far as it goes. She's best at cooking meat, and her recipes are all pretty simple, but it's food that'll fill a belly, and that's the most important thing.

To Dream A Dream (1): Morata has become a truly expert in the magic of dreams, and indeed has begun to truly explore what Demons and other denizens of the Astral can and will do. This is merely an extrapolation of what she can already do, hence the discount. Special: Can use Arcane XP for this.

Powers--

Mage Sight (Peripheral, Active, and Focused): She seems to be able to see something that others cannot. Magic itself, and her eyes seem especially attuned to distances and the spaces between things, as well as the minds of other people.

Mage Armor: Mind, Space

Mind 3, Space 2, Fate 2 (In Progress up from 1)

Spirit 1 (Will complete in two weeks)

Rotes--

Dividing the Mind (Mind 1): A rote to divide the mind in two, this means that it has extra reach to add to duration and so on, and that there is a two-dice Yantra that can be done to add to the power of the spell. Involves imagining the split in her mind to enact it.

Scholar's Little Helper (Mind 1): Scholarship is hard work, and it's often difficult to sift through a five-hundred page book on Astral adventures for the single passage on a threatening Goetic demon that's currently ripping the rest of the Cabal apart. Plus, cross-referencing other works can be difficult. Through this tiny little rote, the caster can input a word, phrase, or topic, mentally, and essentially search the book just by holding it up to the light, copying knowledge of what was said in those passages and the passage surround it into their brain without having to search. It does not grant perfect understanding, and sometimes the section requires context to make any sense, but it can save weeks on a big scholarship project. (Rote Mudra, Promising Student, +4) Reach: With each additional Reach, you can search an additional book in the same spell; You can absorb the entirety of the contents of the book, if not always parse its meaning, as if you read the entire book in the instants it took to cast the spell, cover to cover. It may take some hours of thinking and consideration to fully parse the contents, and of course at times understanding and applying it can be more difficult: but an entire book read in less than a second is still something.

Strengthen Mind (Mind 3): It does not, obviously, only effect the intellect, but any aspect of one's mind can be made sharper, as can one's social abilities. The key to doing this, or rather the Mystagogue form of it, involves closing one's eyes and pressing one's fingers against your forehead, as if trying to stimulate thought by motion. When you open your eyes, the spell should be cast. You cannot improve your mind or social abilities to superhuman levels (Rote Mudra: Promising Student, +4), Reach: You may divide the 'Potency' of the spell, eg: Potency 4, enhance Intelligence by 1, Wits by 2, and Resolve by 1; spend a point of Mana: temporarily, for as long as the spell lasts, Attributes can reach supernatural levels.

Scholar's Protection (Mind 3): Adapted from a famous Silver Ladder rote, this grants protection ot the humble scholar. They make a sign with their hands as if their hands are books, their palms pages, and then so long as they neither attack or order an attack, others struggle to gather up the will to attack them. If they do order an attack, or attack themselves, the spell automatically fails… but only for the target, and not any others. Automatons, or beings without thought are immune, but this potent spell makes it so that anyone with a Resolve less than their Mind +1 cannot bring themselves to attack. Those that can still feel hesitation, and it is as if the Mage has two points of Armor. Supernatural beings have an advantage: if they have a supernatural trait, they get +1 to the comparison of Resolve versus Mind, if it is equal to the Mage's, they get +2, and if it is greater, they get +3… even then, a weak-willed but powerful supernatural being might find themselves frozen in fear and doubt. (Rote Mudra: Promising Student, +4) Reach: Spend 1 Mana, the spell may now last for an entire day; You may spend Reach to increase the difficulty of overcoming the Protection, once; Attackers lose 10-again on rolls to attack someone, if that person has willpowered through the magic.

The Dedicated Will of the Just (Mind 3): A spell taught to her by her Uncle, it is in some ways an extension of previous spells. By touching the forehead and spreading one's fingers across it, yours or others, when someone grits their teeth and uses their will, they find it stretching out, like hitting a high note and holding it for longer than a single action, based on the power of the spell. (Rote Mudra, Preacher's Daughter +3) Reach: Willpower when spent can add +2 to all resistance traits; Willpower spent both increases one's ability to endure, and one's ability to 'act'; By spending a Mana, the caster can imagine the benediction and thus enact it in a single breath on themselves or any target, as fast as the speed of thought.

Determined Will (Mind 2): The Mystagogue must go through many hardships for knowledge. Whatever a materialist thinks, anyone experienced in Mind magic knows that willpower exists, and so by a series of invisible taps against either their own or--imagined--someone else's skull. By doing so the Mage can make sure that when they, or others, gather their will for a great task, as long as it isn't magic they will get a bonus to the will-enhanced roll (9-again.) (Rote Mudra: Preacher's Daughter, +3: Inspire others and inspire yourself), Reach: The bonus can be increased; the bonus might be able to be used even to enhance magic, strengthening the will that brings itself to bear in casting a spell.



The Bonds of Fate (Fate 1): It is one thing to look at someone and see them, it is another to be able to look at them and see the destinities, the curses, the broken oaths and more that mark their soul and their persons. Mystagogues imagine a cobweb of connections and strands of fate itself, and carefully reach out a finger to tap at the edges of the cobweb without breaking it, to see what creeps up. (Mudra: Can We Keep Him? (+1), the spider spins its web.) Reach: The Mage can know when someone is possessed, mind controlled, or otherwise has their destiny majorly influenced; the Mage can tell someone's Destiny and Doom, can know when the curse they're affected by will be lifted, or so on.

The Unusual Path (Fate 1) : Fate itself can sometimes intervene in small ways. Through this spell, a Mystagogue can state a goal and then receive omens, sometimes faint and contradictory, on how to begin working towards it… and can even allow them to match strength with strength: subtly twisting fate so that their talents are just the right ones needed to advance upon the goal. Miriam uses it to occasionally leverage her way through a tricky social situation. The Mudra involves tugging on strands and pulling them in with a flip of a hand, as if examining something. (Rote Mudra: Problem Solver, +1) Reach: Can substitute any skill needed while under the spell for another within the same category, e.g. the character's religious passion turns out to be just what it might take to convince the homeless person to tell you where the body is hid, instead of a skill involving the streets or crime; Can, if taken further, substitute any skill for any other skill: your athletic prowess intimidates the homeless man, your knowledge of petty trivia charms the high society lady you need to steal from.



] No Shackles For The Scholar (Space 2): A Mystagogue cannot be stopped merely by a locked door, or being chained up above a pit of sharks while a villain monologues about how the Secret of the Amazon will die with them. So by imagining their own escape, and circling around that thought a few times as fast as possible, they can affect it. Any one barrier: locked door, handcuffs, barred window, or so on is fine… though it cannot get one through a bouncer or through fire. It can also be cast on an object, such as if you want to push a macguffin through a locked door and then face the enemy yourself. (Rote Mudra: Breaker of Chains, +2), Reach: Can pass through even shackles or objects they could not move through, such as being chained up, or trapped in a coffin, or anything else; subject can squeeze through narrow gaps that they should not physically be able to make it through: you can in fact drive a car through an open front door half its width if you cast this spell on it.
Merits--

(**) 'Profession'--Student
1--Gain 9-again on any roll that can be justified as having to do with one's profession.
2--Gain two dots of Contacts related to one's 'profession.'
3--+1 to rolls against any mental, physical or social stress that might get in the way of performing one's profession.[1] This cannot create a positive bonus.

4--8-again on rolls.
5--One special bonus based on the nature of the 'profession.

[1] Okay, in this case, imagine the college student who is good enough at class that he can show up hungover and still get something out of class, or the athlete who can go out not feeling 100% and still actually manage not to fuck everything up forever, even if he's not putting in his best performance.

(***) Parents: It may seem absurd to say it, but having parents in the picture who can help solve moderate problems is a boon. Obviously the drawback is that if they get involved and it's over her head, it could end badly, and that more than that, they obviously are sure they know best, but asking Mom or Dad is totally an option available to her, and one that can enlist their aid and ask their advice.

(***) Contacts:

She has contacts with both People She Knows At Church, a broad group but in some ways self-selecting, and among those kids she knows around the neighborhood, as well as People At School. People are willing to talk to her, ask her advice, and that goes both ways, doesn't it? If she wants to ask around, she could certainly do worse than asking when she's at church, with someone inclined to see her well already.

Egregore--Mysteriorum Arche (•): In a teamwork spellcasting roll in which the character is participating, she does not suffer the –3 penalty to contribute without the necessary Arcanum rating, and adds an automatic success if a full participant. All members of the ritual team must possess this Merit.

(*)Language: Latin

She knows Latin, read and spoken.

(*) Order Status (Mysterium)

She has been initiated in the first mystery of the Mystagogues.

(*) High Speech

She can use High Speech as a Yantra in spellcasting, and knows enough to be (roughly) conversational outside of the very formal language of Spellcasting.

(*) Egregore

1) In a teamwork spell in which she participates, she doesn't take -3 to the roll if she couldn't cast the spell on her own, and if she can she adds an automatic success to her dice roll for the purpose of granting the ritual leader the bonus dice. However, everyone involved in the ritual must have this level of Egregore. This represents her connection to magic, and through it, others of the Order.

(*) Resources:

She has a little bit of spending money saved up. Not much at all, but it's something. And it's more than a lot of people have, and so she knows to be grateful for it.

(****) Destiny

Effect: Miriam does not yet know the specifics, but she is destined for greatness and yet also doomed in some way.

Currently at 4/4.

(***) Astral Adept: Can enter the Astral far easier, by paying just a WP and meditating.

(***) True Friend (Virginia)

Effect: Miriam has a true friend. True Friend represents a trusting relationship that cannot be easily breached. Unless Miriam really does something to deserve it (really, really) Virginia will not betray her, and I, the QM, has to go easy on her in terms of throwing her into danger. Slightly kid gloves with her, as part of an implicit contract, though that does not mean that Miriam's mistakes or actions might not involve her in deeper problems than she should be facing. And any roll, natural or supernatural, that has the purpose of influencing Virginia against Miriam takes a 5-dice penalty. Additionally, once per...let's say week, Miriam can regain a point of Willpower by having a meaningful/heartfelt/important interaction with Virginia.

Consilium Status (*): Consilium--Increasingly she is a known entity, someone whose existence is no secret at all and whose fame is even harder to deny.

Contacts: Vampires (1)--Her work with vampires means she has a greater awareness of where she can go to talk to them, especially once she thinks through what she saw.

Allies (1): Guardians of the Veil--In the aftermath of yet another Interview with a Vampire, she has been contacted by the Guardians of the Veil, who are curious and who are willing to trade curiosity for curiosity.

Trained Memory (1): She has trained her mind to be something like a steel trap, though perhaps rather more effective than that, all things considered: steel traps can rust, because outside of stressful moments she never needs to roll to remember anything… she just remembers, and without Magic at all.

Minor Elements:

--Having studied a Spirit Bestiary, Miriam is now more able to tell some common spirits apart, even without using magic, and can call up basic facts about said common spirits.
--Has the Memories of a vampire in her head, which can be examined/considered later.
 
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There's also a whole cultural thing? Like, at the time I don't think she'd have really heard much about lesbians, and she probably wouldn't think it's something that a good christian girl would do anyway?

So there's no reason to really self examine your feelings to figure it out like there might be today. She'll just have a husband someday because of course, why wouldn't she?
 
There's also a whole cultural thing? Like, at the time I don't think she'd have really heard much about lesbians, and she probably wouldn't think it's something that a good christian girl would do anyway?

So there's no reason to really self examine your feelings to figure it out like there might be today. She'll just have a husband someday because of course, why wouldn't she?

That is an interesting point, yes. Her knowledge of alternate sexuality...or, for that matter, sexuality, is basically nil. She's also not tried to increase it at all, even by the "teenagers telling stupid rumors to each other" method.
Adhoc vote count started by The Laurent on Apr 20, 2017 at 10:05 PM, finished with 1779 posts and 13 votes.
 
[X] Someone smart who can talk to her and respect her intelligence.
 
You are ignoring content by this member.
Vote closes Sunday, or maybe Monday. Or Tuesday? Currently sorta melting down, so I'm just going to push everything back and see what happens?
If you need to take time off to get your head straight, do so. Your mental health is more important than this quest, and we can wait if we need to.
 
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Vote closes on Tuesday, the losing votes might be incorporated to some lesser degree.
Adhoc vote count started by The Laurent on Apr 24, 2017 at 10:24 AM, finished with 1787 posts and 17 votes.
 
Vote Tally : The Roaring Age (nWoD) | Page 71 | Sufficient Velocity
##### NetTally 1.7.10.1

[X] Someone kind and of good moral character.
No. of Votes: 6

[X]Someone that could make her feel happy and at ease ?
No. of Votes: 6

[X] Someone smart who can talk to her and respect her intelligence.
No. of Votes: 5

Total No. of Voters: 17
 
Page 31--Drive By
Page 31: Drive By

Miriam took a long time to answer. "I think...I think that it'd make most sense if it was someone who respected my intelligence, someone I could talk to." It was the knee-jerk answer, the one she thought that she was supposed to say. After all, her intelligence did matter, and so surely--

"What's his smile like?" Jack asked, his voice soft. He stood there in the doorway, glancing back every few moments. She could feel his magic flaring, could smell it too, but she didn't know what it really meant, she didn't know what was going on at all. "Is he strong? Or is he beautiful? Do you imagine kissing him? What does he look like?"

"That's not important, uncle," Miriam said, "What matters is what a person is inside, and I don't think it's appropriate for you to ask about that kind of thing."

"You don't think your experiences might not be unusual?" Jack's words were slow, careful, laying themselves out one by one.

"Unusual?" Miriam asked, her hands slowly starting to clench, "Stop being mysterious."

Jack waved his arm. "You know, the perfect woman for me is smart, and funny, and she laughs a lot. And she has long, beautiful hair, and skin as smooth as butter, she has eyes that flash like the moon above the old farm where I was born, she dresses with a style that tells me she's a woman, and a woman who knows what she wants."

"That's because you're a sinner, uncle," Miriam said fondly, keeping her voice playful, still uncertain as to what he was getting at, "Lust has nothing to do with marriage. Or godly communion. What you're doing in...whatever clubs." She paused, shook her head, "I try not to judge, but one sometimes…"

"Judges anyways," Jack said, and the smile on his face seemed to stretch a little bit, "What else?"

"I...he has to be a good person," Miriam said, after a moment. That's what she was supposed to want, right? A good person? Moral? "With a strong moral code."

"Why he?"

"What do you mean?" Miriam asked, confused.

"Why would it be a he? Is it just because what you were taught? Is there anything about them…"

"Please, Uncle, I don't get what you're trying to do." She shook her head.

"I don't think there is...either way. I think that you might not understand. Other girls like the bodies of other people, don't they? Haven't you ever seen one of them with a girlish crush?"

Miriam nodded.

"Is that a sin of lust, that they feel that way?"

"I...I don't know. I just want to marry someone who, I guess just...someone who makes me happy?" Miriam said, her voice almost cracking a little bit. Someone who put her at ease, that was...that was what she really wanted. Something easy. But her very answer was a question, and the way Jack was looking at her was starting to make the questions multiply. It was evening, and apparently she had somewhere to be, meeting with Valkyrie, for whatever purpose. But at the moment her mind was too busy, working at the frayed knots of whatever nonsense her Uncle was talking about.

"That's as good a thing to wish for as anything, but the thing is, does Dickens make you happy? Are you attracted to him?"

"I don't know," Miriam said, "I...I was just thinking about ways to." Miriam paused and admitted, standing up, "I wasn't thinking. But what I want to know is what you're talking about."

"I think...that you're not entirely normal, but not necessarily in a bad way? Far fewer people are normal than you'd think." Jack's words were quiet, but there was a sort of intensity to them. "I don't think...I don't know how to show it to you without hurting you."

Miriam's mood settled a little lower, like an animal curling up to die. Something was so wrong with her, something she couldn't even understand, that he didn't know how to break it to her? That it'd hurt her? And it had to do with love, with attraction? Was she incapable of love, somehow? No, that wasn't it. Was she...was there something wrong with the way she felt, or was, was she lacking something?

Go back as far as she could think, she didn't remember having a crush on anyone else. She didn't remember the silly 'pick a flower for a boy' shenanigans, and when other girls whispered about this or that boy they had a crush on, she sort of listened. She nodded along, and had other things to do with her time.

Not that guys weren't interesting. As, well, people. When she was younger, before most of them started treating her weirdly, she'd had all sorts of guy friends. They'd played, and ran around, and she'd envied them their freedom a little. Or at least, they got less sassin' from their mothers when they came home with their clothes dirty.

Things had changed, but had she somehow--

No. Why was she even thinking about this. "It isn't important," Miriam said, "I hurt Dickens. I hurt him, and I don't know how to fix it."

"It should go away in about a day. I can't know what you did, really," Jack admitted, "But...it happens."

"I...I used my powers for something petty. Something not worth it." Miriam's hands were shaking as she stood up, smoothing down her skirts compulsively, "I...how is it that I deserve--"

"You deserve it. We deserve it," Jack said, "This power that you gained, you earned it, and one day the entire world will have it." His every word was quiet, but intense, and he glided towards her, almost, taking her hand in his. "You have to believe that. Thinking that you don't deserve magic, that's the wrong way to think about it. There are people who reject their magic, and those are not the kind of people you want to become like." His voice became harsher as he said, "That's not who you are. You just had a bad experience. He'll get better. It'll turn out just fine."

She hesitated. His grip was tight. "Do you...but you said, I'm not, I'm not--"

"You're not normal. You're extraordinary. You're already learning so fast, it kind of startles me. Not...unnatural so, either. But you're smart, and you're taking to it all, and I expect you're just going to get better. And I don't think you're a Banisher--"

Another word to try to figure out.

"But you are someone who cares. I'm sure that your friend is fine. And as for his feelings? They might fade over time. Crushes come and go. He's attracted to you, I noticed that."

"I don't get it," Miriam admitted, "I don't know why anyone would--"

"You're smart, funny, well-educated, richer than him by some small amount, and you're athletic, very healthy." Jack frowned, looking down at her, "I mean, your skin is clear and smooth despite the fact that you don't use makeup, and you're clean, well-groomed." He shrugged, "I mean, I don't really want to look at you and judge those kinds of things, because it's weird, but it's not surprising that some people have crushes on you."

Miriam nodded, a little uncertainly. She couldn't see it at all. She looked in the mirror and just saw...a person. Not anything special, and certainly not as conventionally beautiful as Virginia or a lot of the people out there. But, she didn't feel in a mood for arguing. She was exhausted, a little numb, and so she nodded and said, "So, Valkyrie."

"Not far from here. She has a car, we're going to get in, and she's going to drive us somewhere."

"Oh, Uncle," Miriam said, remembering something important.

"Yes?"

"The book Virginia got me...it has Rotes in it, having to do with dreams."

"What? When?" Jack stopped moving towards the door, as he had been, with her, and they turned around. He dug it out when she pointed it out to him. He held it in his hands. "Did you know that this is one of the foundational books of Mysterium introduction into dreaming and the Mind? It's an entirely normal book except for the Rotes, but it...is supposed to hint at some of their rituals, and more than that, at the nature of the mind and the astral realms. There are many copies without the Rotes in them." He paused, flipping through, "But this is a real, legitimate copy of a grimoire that is not supposed to be just...where did she find it?"

"She said that she was just looking around a bookstore," Miriam said, frowning. The mystery temporarily pushing away the guilt, for just a moment. "But…"

"She might be telling the truth. But if she is, then either someone wanted her to see it, or, just as likely, even then her secret...feeling for the world of dreams meant she found something hidden, for whatever reason. A book that wasn't meant to be found, or that had been hidden away."

Miriam frowned and nodded, "Got it, uncle."

"Now, let's go."

******

It was dark out, but it was warm out. She was sweating a little bit, mostly from nervousness, and the lights she passed all seemed to be glaring down at her. They were walking fast, actually, along streets she normally didn't go down. "Why would it hurt me?" she asked her uncle, after nearly five minutes walking in silence.

"Because I'd be doing something to your mind. Because it's none of my business. If you're going to be a Mage, one of the wise, one thing you need to learn is that a lot of things aren't people's business. Judging other people for being sinners in matters that lead to no deaths, no torture, no misery…"

He shrugged, "You meet people who do all sorts of things, and you can't just…" He trailed off right in the middle there, as if there was more that he couldn't tell Miriam. "You can judge some of them, I suppose, but you have to remember that they're people too. Those who like…" he trailed off, looking at her. Worried about what she'd think. "We can't stop someone from being racist against negroes, but Mage society doesn't smile upon being open with this. Similarly, you shouldn't be open in judging other things…"

"Other things?"

"You know the kind of things," Jack said, breezily.

It seemed like it was different, to Miriam at least. Proper sexual morality and racism were as far away from each other as one could imagine. And to consider them linked seemed ridiculous to her, but she tried to be reasonable "So, you keep your mouth shut, even if you have judgements?" Miriam asked. She could try, depending on what it was. It was not her job to judge everyone else, to declare them all sinners who needed to repent. She wasn't a pastor, and it was God who ultimately decided these things.

"Yes, exactly. There are rules, and if someone's violating a rule, that's one thing. But that cuts across anything. If a white person is using magic to make people murder for him, and a negro is doing the same, it's wrong either way. The evil is the abuse, not who. If you start judging like that, you can make enemies. Some people don't care, and do it anyways. But everyone lives in a glass house, sometimes."

"What would you do? To...show me, that you think would hurt me?"

He paused for a long time, and in the distance there were two headlights, getting closer and closer. "I'd show it to you face to face, and then I'd change it, just for a little while. Just to show you what the difference is. Like giving someone with impaired vision glasses for a minute or two. Except it's not like that at all. It might even be something about everyone else, except if you think like that, you'll be judging everyone else as inferior based on standards that you can't be sure should be universal."

Well. That gave her pause.

And then there was the car. It was a model T four seater. It had an open top, and of course it was black. There was only one person driving it, and that was Valkyrie, still as substantial and oddly menacing as before, her hair now finally visible. Long and white-blonde, running down her back, her features strong and blank. Her body was stuffed into a black dress and a coat that definitely wasn't needed in this weather.

"Front seat, Ruth, back seat, Shadow," she said.

"Ah," Jack said, "I don't know if…"

"It's fine, uncle," Miriam said, getting in and then turning to the woman. "Y-you know, it's been a while. I saw you, you know."

"I do," she said, turning on the car as they began to drive. It was loud, far louder than she remembered, and Miriam could barely hear Valkyrie, let alone the outside world. "Or at least, I know you saw something. What you saw, well? I was not there on that day, which means someone was faking being me for some reason."

"Why would they do that?" Miriam asked.

"To frame me for any number of things. And certainly, I am guilty. We all are, at times. You are, especially at this moment. I can feel it."

Miriam paused, startled. She hadn't seen any sign of magic, "How?"

"Magic," Valkyrie admitted. "I can read the front edges of your mind, and the truth lies there. You are guilty over what you did to a boy, magic that you did that had a negative consequence. It was a minor one, and you took care to hide the book from him, and you took an equal amount of care to do the spell as safely as you could...but your curiosity outstripped your skill, if I'm reading correctly."

She looked back at her uncle, who was frowning, and then at Valkyrie, watching her. "It is true."

"It harmed nobody, long term," Jack finally said, after a moment of tense silence, "It was a mistake, but surely you are not going to--"

"Of course I'm not. Not now, at least. But we exist, Ruth, for the purpose of testing people, and of covering up these sorts of things. Just know that if you can't keep the books away from the eyes of Sleepers, it will have consequences."

"I know that now," Miriam said, "So that's what the Guardians of the Veil are?"

"Yes," Valkyrie said. They hit a bump, and so it almost covered up the fact that her uncle was snorting. "We protect the secrets of the Awakened. Magic can hurt people. What you did was barely a taste of what an even more careless Mage can do to a Sleeper, and I know you care about hurting Sleepers. That is good, but consider the dangers it also puts you in. Also puts those you love in." She leaned in, and her voice was intense, and also oddly quiet.

But it carried, "You couldn't know, and from what I can see, what your...mentor could see if he looked, whatever damage it was was small. But I'd like to task you with something simple: check up on this friend of yours, and soon. Before the paradox lapses. But take care, and try to see what it did. If you can know what your error was, what sin you did, then perhaps you could learn in the future."

"This is ridiculous. He'll be recovered before too long, and how do you know that this couldn't put her in jeopardy. I can't know what her magic caused, but it's possible--"

"Unlikely, but possible," Valkyrie admitted, with a shrug. Her voice was smooth. Miriam remembered what she had said. "But such is education. Such is a test."

"Are you...trying to draw attention away from the fact that you threatened my...someone who matters to me. You threatened him when--"

"If it wasn't me, then what do we have to talk about?"

"Why someone is impersonating you," Miriam said, her voice hard. She was trying to focus, but the feeling of guilt was hard to overcome. But it was a dodge, a way to get around it. Maybe Valkyrie was right, but maybe she wasn't. But that wasn't why they were meeting. "If you really are some sort of spy, then you should be worried about it. You should be getting to the bottom of it, not shrugging. Unless you know what's going on. And if you know what's going on," Miriam said, trying to think as fast as she could, "Then you either approve, in which case you might as well have done it, or you disapprove in which case you should tell us more, as an act of good faith."

Valkyrie actually looked impressed, her eyes widening for just a moment, just a fraction of appreciation. Then she said, "I am looking into it. I'll continue to look into it, just as I'll be following your journey as one of the wise, and hope that you make good decisions in the future."

Miriam frowned, guilt warring with this odd suspicion. Was the purpose of the whole meeting something else? This meeting, the meeting before. What if whoever was behind the meeting with her father instead intended, what?

Her Awakening? But wasn't it a lot more complex than that? If it was really that easy, then were Mages just deciding not to Awaken people?

"I…" Miriam trailed off, not sure what to do.

Or say, for that matter.

What does she do?

[] Take the charge. Go meet Dickens tomorrow, see if he's okay. It's the least you can do, considering that you hurt someone else.
[] Do not. She has no right to make you do something, and if she acknowledges there might be some danger, then...yeah, no.
[] Right now the idea is very half-baked, but Miriam could confront Valkyrie with the thought, random as it was. The question, maybe. She's clearly not saying a lot, like about the identity or lack thereof of the other two possible Mages that harassed her father. Press her, and then keep on pressing her.
[] Write-in.

******
Roll: 1 sux

Socialize (?): 1 sux

1 (Cookie Jar)+4 (Int)=2 sux

A/N: I hope this is okay. I wrote it a little fast.
 
[] Take the charge. Go meet Dickens tomorrow, see if he's okay. It's the least you can do, considering that you hurt someone else.
[] Right now the idea is very half-baked, but Miriam could confront Valkyrie with the thought, random as it was. The question, maybe. She's clearly not saying a lot, like about the identity or lack thereof of the other two possible Mages that harassed her father. Press her, and then keep on pressing her.

Great chapter as usual, I always love Miriam's interactions with her uncle.

I was wondering though if we're limited to taking just one action, as I can see both of these being valuable and deciding to meet with Dickens tomorrow shouldn't negate what happens right now in the car.
 
[X] Take the charge. Go meet Dickens tomorrow, see if he's okay. It's the least you can do, considering that you hurt someone else.

Kind of dubious that we COULD corner her into anything there personally.
 
He paused for a long time, and in the distance there were two headlights, getting closer and closer. "I'd show it to you face to face, and then I'd change it, just for a little while. Just to show you what the difference is. Like giving someone with impaired vision glasses for a minute or two. Except it's not like that at all. It might even be something about everyone else, except if you think like that, you'll be judging everyone else as inferior based on standards that you can't be sure should be universal."

...is he offering to change her sexuality? Turn it up or on or change the focus?

That seems... I dunno, not like something you'd be casual about? And I'd have thought that'd be a pretty high Mind ability or something, although I guess if it's really that temporary it isn't much. More of an illusion than changing something.

[X] Take the charge. Go meet Dickens tomorrow, see if he's okay. It's the least you can do, considering that you hurt someone else.
 
...is he offering to change her sexuality? Turn it up or on or change the focus?

That seems... I dunno, not like something you'd be casual about? And I'd have thought that'd be a pretty high Mind ability or something, although I guess if it's really that temporary it isn't much. More of an illusion than changing something.
It's a pretty LOW Mind ability(it's just changing from something that's potentially possible to something else that's potentially possible), though you need it high to work it on a resisting target and making it lasting is very difficult.

See the earlier remarks about turning off your emotions to examine your decisions. You can use Mind to walk a mile in another's shoes.
It's a powerful learning tool here. What kind of person would you be like if you were completely yourself, but for one element changed?
 
[X] Take the charge. Go meet Dickens tomorrow, see if he's okay. It's the least you can do, considering that you hurt someone else.
 
[X] Do not. She has no right to make you do something, and if she acknowledges there might be some danger, then...yeah, no.
 
[X] Take the charge. Go meet Dickens tomorrow, see if he's okay. It's the least you can do, considering that you hurt someone else.
 
[X] Take the charge. Go meet Dickens tomorrow, see if he's okay. It's the least you can do, considering that you hurt someone else.
[] Right now the idea is very half-baked, but Miriam could confront Valkyrie with the thought, random as it was. The question, maybe. She's clearly not saying a lot, like about the identity or lack thereof of the other two possible Mages that harassed her father. Press her, and then keep on pressing her.

I'd consider doing both votes, if it's allowed-- she's clearly taking advantage of our guilt to divert our attention-- but we have nothing more substantial than suspicion to go on, either. I don't think she's going to reveal anything particularly useful if we press her right now, and she's got a point about Dickens. We better be careful to avoid feeding his crush in the process, though.
 
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