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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[X] Miriam meets someone unexpected, and new.

It helps to remember that there's a certain level of ghost racism amongst Mages. The old-school perception of ghosts among the Diamond Orders is that they're nothing more than objects to be exploited, manipulated, or processed for resources as befits the Awakened, and the modern Orders haven't moved on from it as much as they could.

Which just further clouds the issue, because there are differences between the dead and the living, but it gets hard to tell where factual limitation ends and presumptive elitist doggerel begins.
 
Vote closed.
Adhoc vote count started by The Laurent on Sep 20, 2017 at 8:15 PM, finished with 20 posts and 12 votes.
 
Hmm, I'm considering modifying or making slightly less extreme the Withstand Rules. This might benefit you at times, it might make it easier to do things to you, at other times, though not a massive amount either way.

...I remember that plenty of you don't know what Withstand is, though.
 
Page 62: Take Me Out...
Page 62: Take Me Out…

She at the peanuts, hunched next to Sara, who was staring ahead at the scene, taking it all in. The player was arguing with the ref, thrusting his arms in the air as if invoking God himself for such a minor matter, and the people in the stands were getting bored, wanting this to get on. Of course they were, it'd be bizarre for it to be otherwise, but Miriam counseled patience in herself and kept on eating.

"It's a shame that they're stopped like this," Miriam said to Abe. The boy whipped his head around.

"Good to see you finally talking, instead of shouting." Abe laughed.

Miriam, on the other hand, looked away. It was true that she had raised her voice a little when the man on second base, Davies, had gone and stolen third. There was just no way not to get excited, and so she'd leapt up and all but danced in the aisles, screaming approval for the act. It was a darn good steal, at that.

He'd slid in under the ball as if he were a snake, seeming to slip around it impossibly. But not impossibly, truly, because she was looking close at him, using her power to get a closer view of the action.

"I liked her enthusiasm," Sara said.

"Of course you would," Josiah drawled, sprawled out in an area that should have been two people's seats. "People are starin', though I'm not carin'."

"Good rhyme," Abe said, absently.

"I try," Josiah admitted. He was dressed up a little bit, as if he were going to a school event, rather than a ball-game.

Right now the Chicago American Giants were losing, and so the mood of the crowd was a little bit sour. It was hot out, the sun beating down even with the awnings in the stands, and the pitcher was stretching his arm and pacing back and forth, his features hard and squat, but his arm powerful.

A few more innings like that, and this would be a total loss.

"I… will try to call less attention to myself," Sara said.

"You can't do that without some brown paint," Josiah said.

"Josiah!" Miriam said, angry on Sara's behalf.

"Though…" Abe shrugged, the point hanging in the air, unwilling to be swept away. There were always more than a few white people, especially when it was a game against one of the white minor teams. But more than a few was still a handful of sandy pebbles in a sea of dark faces of all shades and hues. A familiar sort of sea of faces that was comforting in its own basic way.

And Negro players down there, playing their heart out… or arguing their heart out.

"Abe," Miriam said. "Sara. We should grab a little more to eat, while we're waiting. Some popcorn would be good."

"Got any nickels?" Josiah asked.

Miriam frowned, but pulled a nickel from her purse and handed it to Josiah. Who then handed it back to her. "Here, go get me a popcorn."

Miriam stared at him, and he smiled, a little lopsided. "Hey?" he asked.

Miriam's face, blank for a moment, started to slide up into a smile.

Sara giggled a little, and even Abe seemed to share in the joke as they all got up, leaving Josiah to lounge, watching them go.

Down past the stands they traveled, into the dust and dirt, to a red-and-white food stand, a tiny building that sold hot dogs, peanuts, pop-corn and cans of pop, dunked in ice.

She honestly could use a hot-dog, but popcorn would be better. Though perhaps it'd dry out her mouth. She tried to smooth down her stockings as she approached, because they'd bunched up on her for reasons she couldn't quite figure out. It just happened sometimes.

"Hey," Abe said. "You been doing much, lately? Haven't been getting a hold of you."

"I've been really busy, but I promise I'll get out more," Miriam said. "Get a little more exercise. A healthy mind in a healthy body…"

"Oh? Issat it?" Abe smiled and clapped her on the shoulder. "You like it, it's really that simple. It's not balance or anything, it's talent and drive."

"What do you want?" Miriam asked, eyeing him as they leaned right next to the stand, where a bored man in an apron was waiting on them, tapping his fingers with one hand while engaging other customers who were coming up to eat. They weren't even in line, but Miriam was sure they'd have time.

And if the playing started up again, then she could still see the play from here just fine. She envied them, even when they were arguing and bickering. Or at least, she envied the way she saw them, standing on the diamond, working…

Diamond. The Diamond Orders. That made her think of the choice before her, and she had to brush it all aside, like her mama clearing away cobwebs, in order to focus on the matter at hand.

"I'm not Josiah, I don't butter people up to ask them for a dime," Abe said, bluffly, standing up a little straighter and taller.

Miriam waited, smiling at him, aware that he'd tell her eventually.

"Well, we're thinking of putting together a team. Just for, like, going around and beating other neighborhoods, that kind of thing. Some of the kids are even talking about some kind of club, and--"

"Have you asked them about me?" Miriam asked.

"I mentioned a friend, and you know everyone likes you."

Miriam said, truthfully, "I don't know that."

"You've helped out half the people in the neighborhood at least once." He glanced over at Sara, and Miriam realized that Sara was taking it all in with wide eyes and a look of such fascination that Miriam felt almost uncomfortable talking under the watch of her eyes.

"Maybe, but that's not…"

"It should be. You know I'm not political, Miriam, but y'all can vote, eventually, and I've seen you knock a ball way way out there over the fence like you was throwing out the trash. And that's that."

Miriam knew it wasn't as simple as that, and probably shouldn't be anyways. Or… she didn't know. She just liked baseball and liked exercise. Which made it sound a lot simpler than it was, and made her wonder what was wrong with her. In that respect, at least. Because it had to be something, since most girls she saw weren't that interested, and at sixteen she should have outgrown it a little.

But her mood was too good for such reflection, and while she was the kind of person who thought a lot about these things, it wasn't the time for it. "Maybe it should be that way," Miriam said. She wasn't sure of anything. The right to vote was important, but she wasn't really… political either. It was all just assumed. She assumed she'd go to college, and so did everyone else, even though there weren't jobs on the other end, at least for most Negroes, let alone Negro women.

"I don't know," Miriam admitted after another moment's pause.

"I… think you should do whatever you want," Sara said, after a long pause. She shifted her weight, as if she were uncomfortable with how she was standing. "It's… worked so far?"

"What do you mean by that?" Abe asked. "Though it has."

"Just... " Sara looked odd. In fact, Miriam realized, her eyes looked a little different, all of a sudden. Just a slightly different shade of brown, now almost edging into green, which was impossible, wasn't it? "Just you're smart and athletic and all of that. That's all. I envy you a lot!"

Her voice was a little sing-song, and she was being rather more open than she was before, which made Miriam uneasy. It was also strange to be envied. After all, there were… circumstances where envy wasn't the right word for it. "Uhh, thank you?"

"No problem," Sara said, chipper as she shifted about and then turned towards the stand, almost shoving someone out of the way in her haste to get to the front.

Miriam winced.

Sara was dressed in a long skirt and a blouse, hose in place, bag on her arm, but at the moment somehow she reminded Miriam of a man on third trying to edge his way towards home. She smiled up at the man in charge, and said. "Two hot dogs, please, and some popcorn."

"Make it three hot dogs," Abe said.

Miriam opened her mouth to protest. It'd cost a little bit more, and Miriam didn't have much more than a little change built up over the years, but Sara pulled out some quarters, like someone doing a magic trick, and turned to wave off Miriam's reach towards her purse. "I have this," Sara said. "I have money, and it's the least I can do."

Miriam didn't comment on the fact that she had been going to order popcorn.

"And two pops?" Abe asked. "I can pay for…"

"I said I had this," Sara said, with an impish little grin, pulling out more quarters.

But she was in a good mood, too good of a mood to ruin, MIriam thought. She was gliding, flying through actions, a little rude, and enough to draw stares, especially considering the color of her skin, but not enough to cause a backlash as she leaned back and tilted her head, as if wanting to look up and examine the sky.

"Huh," Abe said. "Something's different about you."

"Maybe it is, I dunno," Sara said. She stepped forward, wiping her forehead. Boy, it's hot."

"Sure is," Miriam said, glad that there was a topic that was more normal that could be safely brought up. This Sara was about to explode into some other Sara. It felt too powerful not to drain off or drain away. Too full of smirks and confidential gestures, too delicate in just the wrong sorts of ways.

"Well, I'm going to head back to the stands. Okay?"

"Yes," Miriam said, watching her as she left.

"That girl is weird," Abe admitted, scratching his head. "But I guess if she's in a good mood?" The money was lying right there, enough for three pops and three hot dogs. Coca-Cola for all three.

Miriam grabbed her coke and popped the top open on the edge of the counter, hand gripping hard on the glass bottle as she gave it a sip, and smiled. The hot dogs came a moment later, sizzling and almost but not quite burned, and loaded down with relish and mustard. She held her two foods and tried to eat them without getting anything on her top. And if it dripped down onto her stockings, or messed with her skirt, it'd be her that had to clean it.

She sometimes wondered, with the stockings. It clearly didn't make women any less attractive to men, considering that flappers wore them too, so what exactly was it covering up? She stepped towards the bleachers, Abe at her back carrying Sara's food, and was almost about to step back on when Abe said, "Oh!"

Miriam turned, surprised and wondering what was going on, only to see that it was nothing. She had scraped her leg against the stands. And despite not being silk or some material that ripped easily, a tear had been made. Which meant that the stockings were. Drat.

She frowned in annoyance, and then saw the person that had caught Abe's eye. A tall young man, probably at the end of high school by the look of him, with stubble on his face, and skin a lighter brown than Miriam's. He had an angular face, and he was dressed up in a pair of shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. He hustled forward.

"Hey, Abe. Is this her?"

"Who is this?" Miriam asked. She swore she knew all of the boys in the neighborhood. She'd been running around enough.

"New kid. Came with his father, and mother? I think. Haven't seen her much. Name's Caleb."

"Hello, Caleb, nice to meet you," Miriam said, wondering if she should curtsy or not, her mind drawn to the annoying tear in her stockings. A tear in her stockings when she was trying to leave a good impression on a new person. Double-drat.

Miriam probably should have been thinking this through, or accepted that perhaps her attempts at charming someone weren't going to go as well as she thought, but instead she smiled and extended her hand, deciding againts a curtsy.

"So you're the girl he says can outrun and out bat most of the boys."

"Most, if not all," Abe said. "And the few that can get one up on her can't do so that often."

Caleb smiled, and she wondered if he was trying to be charming, because it was a very toothy smile as he took her hand. She considered the difficulties behind the magic, and suspected she'd have to put in a lot of push and power in order to get it through to a normal human mind, and he seemed sharper than some. So despite her effort, as soon as she cast it, she knew that it hadn't worked, hadn't been enough, and the spell fizzled, fell to pieces in her and knew as soon as she'd cast it that it hadn't worked. She had felt as if the visualization was not strong enough, or at least not detailed enough for the purposes she was putting it to. But she could work around it, she thought, given enough effort.

So she tried to ignore her failure, and how that nobody noticed the moment of frustration as all of her carefully envisioned magic went to nothing at all.

"So, how fast are you?"

"Fast enough," Miriam said.

"Good. Say, you want to go down to this burger joint I know about? Maybe get a soda too?"

Miriam would have been confused a few months ago, but now she shook her head. He was asking her out on a date, and of course it didn't mean anything, or so Virginia told her. You went out on dates just to see what it was like, and there were no promises.

But she knew she wasn't interested, and probably wouldn't be barring magical intervention. "No thank you," she said with a polite smile. "Or maybe we could all go together."

"Ah?" Abe asked, confused at being dragged into this.

Caleb's grip was warm, and his smile wide, as he leaned against the stands. "So what were you reaching for?"

Miriam blinked, and realized she'd been reaching in her purse for the mirror. She pulled it out, and said. "Vanity, I guess."

"That's quite a mirror," he said, staring at it for a moment, uncertainly. She pushed it back into her purse, and the moment the pen tapped against it, briefly reflecting both onto him, she tried another bit of magic.

Something about him, about the way he was moving, seemed just subtly wrong, subtly odd. He wanted…

There was a flash of something across his face, as if it were growing more pale, and then she could briefly hear what sounded like a gasp. That was all, just a gasp, but it was enough to make her think that something was wrong, here. Something about what he wanted, and what he was, didn't fit.

"It is," Miriam said. "So Caleb, what about you? You any good at running?"

"Faster n' you," Caleb boasted.

"I doubt it," Miriam found herself saying, as she saw his face change. There was something hungry about him, and a feeling of something not normal, and not natural. She could almost hear his heart, and it was beating too fast, pumping blood faster and faster and faster, and she could feel a hunger and a yearning bubble up in her for just a moment. She realized, with a start, that this was what he was feeling, maybe all the time.

"Really?" Caleb asked. "Wanna try me?"

"I might," Miriam admitted. "But not now. I tore my stockings, darn things."

"Ah, afraid?" Caleb asked, with a joking smile.

The answer was yes, a little bit.He was something bloody and addicted and strange, and Miriam didn't know what it was. But she kept that hidden as best she could, and said, "Of course not. We're at a ball-game though."

"Of course," he said. "But if you join in, I'll be happy to race you."

"Yeah, it'll be fun. Just people getting together to work out, run around, that sort of thing. We can even sneak onto the track at this one school, since it's summer an' nobody's using it," Abe argued.

"Well, maybe," Miriam said. "I'll tell you in a day or two."

"Well, that's good enough," Caleb said. "Pleasure to meet you."

And just like that, the meeting was all but over. They went to their seats, and Caleb went to his, and the game proceeded.

The home team lost, and it was a shame.

For the Meeting

[] Treat it like church. Get as dressed up as is reasonable, to make a good impression.
[] Treat it like a meeting of Mages. Maybe make sure to have Yantras at the ready, or otherwise try to give an impression a little different from normal, even if it involves asking her Uncle for advice.
[] She has magic, so why not use it? She doesn't like wearing stockings, so she can go without them, and in her regular clothes, and use her magic to keep anyone from noticing before the meeting place. And once there, it's unlikely they're going to swoon and groan about a lack of stockings.
[] Write-in.

******

Talking with friends: 1 sux

First Impressions Magic: 1 (Gnosis)+2 (Mind)-4 (Composure 3)=Failure

1 Free Reach spent for duration, 1 Free Reach spent for… ah, doesn't matter.

Mental Scan: 1 (Gnosis)+2 (Mind)+3 (Willpower)+2 (Yantra)-4 (WP)=2 sux

WP ⅚

Mental Scan 2: 1 (Gnosis)+2 (Mind)+3 (Willpower)-4 (Enemy WP)=1 sux

Oh… oh.

Talking: Tomboy +Presence=4 dice=1 sux

1/5th Arcane XP

1/5th XP, ball game with friends

1/5th XP: Fulfilling curiosity at a cost...

Gnosis 2 is about 3/4ths of the way unlocked.

*******

A/N: And there we go.
 
[X] Treat it like a meeting of Mages. Maybe make sure to have Yantras at the ready, or otherwise try to give an impression a little different from normal, even if it involves asking her Uncle for advice.

I'd like to play a little cautious with Caleb given the likelyhood he's magical in some way given he resisted our spell with his will power and the unusual things we noticed about him.
 
[X] Treat it like a meeting of Mages. Maybe make sure to have Yantras at the ready, or otherwise try to give an impression a little different from normal, even if itinvolves asking her Uncle for advice.
 
[X] Treat it like a meeting of Mages. Maybe make sure to have Yantras at the ready, or otherwise try to give an impression a little different from normal, even if it involves asking her Uncle for advice.
 
[x] Treat it like church. Get as dressed up as is reasonable, to make a good impression.
 
This is definitely a case where Miriam has no way of knowing what he is other than obviously supernatural, but which any reader should be able to guess based on the hints.
 
[X] Treat it like church. Get as dressed up as is reasonable, to make a good impression.

Sara looked odd. In fact, Miriam realized, her eyes looked a little different, all of a sudden. Just a slightly different shade of brown, now almost edging into green, which was impossible, wasn't it? "Just you're smart and athletic and all of that. That's all. I envy you a lot!"

Her voice was a little sing-song, and she was being rather more open than she was before, which made Miriam uneasy.
NOOOOOOPE
 
[X] Treat it like a meeting of Mages. Maybe make sure to have Yantras at the ready, or otherwise try to give an impression a little different from normal, even if it involves asking her Uncle for advice.
 
[X] Treat it like a meeting of Mages. Maybe make sure to have Yantras at the ready, or otherwise try to give an impression a little different from normal, even if it involves asking her Uncle for advice.
 
[X] Treat it like a meeting of Mages. Maybe make sure to have Yantras at the ready, or otherwise try to give an impression a little different from normal, even if it involves asking her Uncle for advice.
 
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