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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Page 13: Miriam and Zipporah
Page 13: Miriam and Zipporah

Miriam reached out, carefully opening the book. She smelled dust, as if the book had been sitting at the back of a library for a long time, and then she smelled...chalk dust. She coughed, glancing down at the page, and then the world seemed to fade out into white, slowly, as if she were being dragged away somewhere.

Then the world began to resolve into a classroom that almost looked familiar. She glanced around, and then saw that the rows and rows of students were...smaller than her. The desk was fitted to her size, though also in slightly poor condition, with hard marks all over it. Someone had taken a pair of scissors to it in boredom, and that seemed familiar. It wasn't her, of course. The students all looked like they were eight or nine, and there were far more pale faces now than before. In elementary school, they'd been nicer.

They'd also been outnumbered and young enough that they hadn't fully soaked up the prejudices of their parents. Even if they'd wanted to start something, or shun them...outnumbered, again, Miriam had thought, amused by that thought. She had thought about how much courage it took to be part of a huge mob chasing down a single man. Very little.

The teacher, a brown-haired woman with freckles, was now not any taller than her, a short woman as it were, but nobody seemed to be acting as if she was out of place. On the board, she was writing relatively simple multiplication problems.

The other kids looked variously bored and attentive, except for a small boy in the back, who was blowing bubbles. He looked scruffy, even rough, and he glanced out the window every so often before looking back at her.

"Miriam," the teacher said, her voice sweet, almost too sweet, "Please solve this problem."

Miriam stood up, a little confused, and frowned. So, this was a memory, perhaps? She knew the teacher. Ms. Bell had been a decent enough math teacher, and kind, if a little condescending. She'd remembered the way she'd always acted surprised at the achievements of the negro students. Pleasantly surprised, but surprised all the same.

She walked over to the board and quickly worked through the answer. Twelve times seven was something she could have solved in one second in her head, but if she remembered right, Ms. Bell wanted everyone to write out the steps and everything.

"Very good," Ms. Bell said, eyes wide, staring at her as if she had done a trick. As if she didn't understand that Miriam was just as smart as any other girl. Maybe even smarter. This was a memory, and she didn't know what would happen if she broke it.

But someone else broke it for her. "Uh, Ms. Bell," the boy said, standing up quickly, "The book says that the answer is actually three."

"What?" Ms. Bell said, staring at the board as the boy stepped forward, carrying the huge math book as if it were nothing, grinning at Miriam as she stood by the board. He held up the book like an offering to Ms. Bell, as Miriam took a closer look at him. He had dark skin, darker than her mother's, and a short, sharp nose, his teeth set in a grin. In fact, he seemed as if he was in on some private joke of such importance that it made him better than everyone else.

"Well, it does say that," Ms. Bell said, and Miriam stared at her. Twelve times seven...was three?

She frowned, "No it's not."

"The book says that it is," Ms. Bell insisted.

"And does that matter?" Miriam asked, turning to the class, who were all staring now. "Three is not even a number that can be gotten by any combination of twelve and seven. Twelve minus seven is five, twelve plus seven is nineteen, twelve divided by seven is 1.71." Her voice was raising, and she took a step towards her teacher, yanking the book out of her hands, and then realizing that this was not polite at all. But she didn't care.

Then she turned to glare at the boy, "So what is the big idea? What do you have to gain from lying to the teacher? And what do you have to gain from being unable to recognize the truth when it's staring you in the face." She turned on Ms. Bell, pointing her finger at the woman.

The class gasped, and Ms. Bell said, "I'm going to have to punish you for that, you don't backtalk me--"

"Aw, you old lady, shut up," the boy said, and now the grin was as if she was sharing in the same joke.

He'd done it on purpose, and she looked at the book and saw that it was the number three, written again and again, over and over in the pages.

And then the boy shoved the teacher back. She stumbled, horrified, and the class got up, backing away. All of the students seemed...indistinct, now that she was looking at them. Not see through or anything, but more like they weren't quite there. But they were reacting the way someone would if a teacher was shoved, but the boy shoved her again, growing taller as he did. She fell to the ground, and the boy laughed.

Only the voice shifted a little. It was still...boyish, but it wasn't a boy's voice, and it was in fact someone she recognized. Miriam stared at the girl she'd seen when she'd Awakened, the baseball player, only now she was dressed in a skirt and blouse, tugging at it. "How do you wear this stuff?"

"What, a skirt?" Miriam asked, frowning down at Ms. Bell, who was trying to rise but looked dazed. She stepped towards the teacher to offer a hand.

"Why?" the girl asked, standing tall and proud, a cocky grin still on her face, "Why help her?"

"Because it's the right thing to do."

"Even though she was mean to you? You're too nice, you know that, Miriam, and you also give up too easily. I'm...well, I'm your Daimon, and don't ask me how I know that. I know everything you know, and...a little more?" She scratched her head, her posture confrontational, the way she was just standing straight on like that.

"My...Daimon?" Miriam asked.

"Like, the voice on your shoulder, or something like that. I'm the part of you that drives you forward, the part of you that pokes you when you're going wrong. Only...I don't remember existing before. Like, I remember not being, and then I remember being. Spontaneous, a creature of your mind." She paused and shrugged, "Either way, it's my job to kick you into shape, and I was wanting to see how long it would take you to stand up for yourself."

"Why should I listen to you?"

"Because why don't you want to be a sports star?"

Miriam stared blankly at her, "I'm a girl and--"

"I'm not asking about the fact that history is something that binds us like shackles, I'm asking why you don't want to be a sports star. You've dreamed of everything else, and yet you don't let yourself have certain ambitions. I was wondering and wondering and wondering at it, worrying at it like someone might at a bit of yarn, and I still don't have an answer," she said, her voice racing as she pulled Miriam away from Ms. Bell, towards the window.

"I...don't know," Miriam said. She thought about it. She loved baseball. Watching it, playing it, and yet while she had had all sorts of daydreams, and more than that, idle thoughts. Idle thoughts that--

"Is that why you're so…" Miriam said, gesturing to her clothes, which she seemed so uncomfortable in.

"You know, you have said to yourself 'I wonder whether things would be better if I was a boy', or something like that, but no. I think it's just because, well, we associate active with strength, maybe?" The girl frowned, "I'm not sure. I am what I am, you know? I know I exist and I know you exist: you think, therefore I am."

Miriam goggled at her, "You know?"

"Of course I do. I'm you, or at least I'm part of you," she said as she pulled open the window. "But you know what really gets me? What makes me have hope that you might make something of...ourselves, is that you never really dreamed of being white. You didn't say 'what if I was white' because you knew that it'd be abandoning the race. You knew that the way to save the world was not to abandon it. Now, go through here…"

"Why?" Miriam asked.

"This is like...I'm just guessing here, sort of a bubble? Each memory is a separate scene, with a start and end. So you move between scenes by going from appropriate place to place. So, go out here and think of baseball and--"

Miriam climbed out the window and found the white washing over her again before she was standing on a pitcher's mound.

"What do I call you?" she asked, holding the ball carefully. She had a glove on, and in fact was dressed...like a baseball player. She had no idea how her clothes had changed that easily, but she just patted the ball for a moment.

"Well, I'm...you, but. Zipporah?"

"Moses' wife?" Miriam asked, glancing around. There was nobody else there. Just a baseball field, entirely empty. Two people.

And Zipporah was waving the bat around, getting down into a good hitting stance.

"Well, why not? Zipporah was a negro, or so some say, a cushite of Ethiopia, according to some stories, and Miriam objected to her." She shrugged, "At least, that's one reading of things. And so here we are. Now, Miriam, really I'm disappointed that you haven't been practicing your pitching. Is it because you're aware that it might not go anywhere? Or are you afraid of a little hard work?"

Miriam threw the ball past the plate, and Zipporah swung and missed, and then ran after the ball. "Not bad, not bad! But try throwing a breaking ball, or a curve ball, or...see, all you have is power, and you know that's not enough." She grabbed the ball from the ground and threw it at Miriam, who caught it, letting out a breath and trying to relax. The sun was beating down on her, and it felt good, but this wasn't real.

Yet it felt real, and she pitched the balls, warming her arm up a little as she did. The physical activity was enough to get her in a good mood, and she realized how much she missed it as the game continued. She...was not as good at the difficult balls as just throwing it really fast and really hard. But Zipporah seemed almost distracted, and the other girl--who barely looked like a girl, with the cap on her head and her hair so short as to be...questionable to Miriam's standards--missed as often as she hit.

"Do you actually exist," Miriam asked, curiously, "Like, when I'm walking around in the waking world, are you in my head, somehow?"

"I...don't think so. I know most of everything you know, and things you don't know you know, but I'm not...like, magic." Zipporah said, tapping her bat into the dust as Miriam wiped her brow and glanced around, and then up at the clear blue skies. "I know no more than you do, other than what's sorta related to what I am now. What does Life magic do? Is it true, the thought that a Mage could murder someone with Death magic?"

Miriam had thought about that. Had thought about just how easily magic could be abused. "I don't know, and you're saying you don't know either?"

"Nope," Zipporah said, stretching a little, "And what I also don't know is: it was a war, right? That's what he was talking about, with the Seers or the like? You remember the Fighting 370th? All members of the race, going off to war, in the dream of making something more? Dreams that were spit on? But what did they say about war? Did they talk about all the friends they made and how peaceful it was? Your uncle might have killed someone. That's what people do in a war. Boys and men die in wars, and that doesn't set right with me. And they kill, which is bad enough. But did Jack…"

"He might help in other ways. Wars need scouts, right?" Miriam asked. Her military history was actually pretty decent when one was speaking of the civil war, but she'd always been drawn towards intellectual and social history, towards the ebb and flow of politics, more than the brutality of war.

Of violence and struggle. "It needs cooks and…"

"I have killed before," her Uncle said, and she whipped her head around to see him standing at the edge of the park, dressed as if he were a baseball player too, holding a bat as if he wasn't quite sure what to do with it. "That is what war does. This is your Daimon, I assume?"

"You can call me Zipporah, I suppose," the other girl said, clutching her bat tightly, looking uncertain and a little nervous around Jack.

"Very well, Zipporah, Miriam. Now that we are here, I suppose I really should explain. I wanted to see what you figured out on your own."

Miriam shook her head, "What was the place I went to?"

"Your vestibule. It takes almost an hour to enter your own mind, usually, and the first place you go: or the first place you find when you visit someone's mind, is there. From there, you find portals to different memories or representations of the mind. You can help choose what you want to find by thinking about it, by narrowing it down. For instance, the singing mural probably represented belief, but it could be anything from political beliefs to a representation of your faith to a time in church where something strange had happened to…"

"I get it," Miriam said, nodding. So, the book took her to something involving learning or education, and then Zipporah interfered. "So, what can be found in the mind?"

"Anything you know, including things you don't know you know. You can also find emotions, mindsets, ideas about things here, though only in a small, personal way. This is a place where you can explore your past, and train for your future. Physically, throwing that ball does nothing, but perhaps if you merely want to try to picture what a baseball game would be like, it could help. You can learn here, but time passes roughly the same here as it does in the real world...except when it does."

Miriam frowned at that statement, "Except when it doesn't?"

"Sometimes you can walk for what seems like hours, but then when you leave, it turns out to have been a dozen minutes, or less. It depends, but by and large, the inside of your mind is not the secret to fast learning. That said, since you can actually use the ritual to sleep, it does allow you extra hours in the day if you wanted to, say, review what you studied," he said.

"That would be interesting...and boring," Zipporah said.

Miriam, who studied quite a bit and yet couldn't imagine replacing dreams with more studying, secretly agreed. There were usually enough hours in the day, or at least there had been, before.

"I agree. But it is something to think about," Jack said. "More important is the fact that this is a space free of paradox. This is your very soul and mind here…this is you!" He waved his arms around, "Here, you do not need to worry about Paradox. There is nothing to contradict you. In the Oneiros, the mind-souls, of other Mages this is not true...but not any more false than in the real world. But in the mind-soul of a sleeper, one who cannot witness magic, it is even more true."

"So, I can cast any spell I want, here?"

"That you can perform, yes. You might not succeed, but there is nothing stopping you from trying as many times as you want. From experimenting with the effects of spells that if used in the waking world would draw too much attention, or hurt someone. The dream actors can die like any mortal, but are then reborn, and so some deadly Mages test their prowess in their own mind."

Miriam winced. "Or their subtlety?" she asked, thinking about what her powers could do.

"That too. So how about you try to read my mind, to know what I'm thinking...and while I stand here, too. This is a spell that in the real world would be rather dangerous to perform, or at least dangerous enough that some would advise caution."

"Hey, Dancer," Zipporah said as Miriam tried to focus, imagining his thoughts as...words in the air. That seemed to make more sense. Words in the air, or perhaps sounds if she could not see him, or if they blurred. And then colors, she thought, picturing it. Angry words might be in red, or sad words in blue, and the whole sense of what he was thinking was a sort of texture to the words.

"What?"

She focused, trying to picture it all in her head, aware that reading minds, that was the sort of thing that didn't happen. And she was going to do it...or at least so she hoped. She didn't growl in frustration when it failed the first or second time, just trying to reform her image of what the spell did, concentrating as she did.

"Can I do magic too?"

"Yes, actually. You have all of the magic that your...greater self has," Jack said, "A Daimon is powerful enough that they cannot be easily put aside, cannot be entirely ignored. They are what drives a person, or what holds them back from disaster...ideally, at least. They have their own ideas and goals, and--"

His words were blue green as they came from his lips, and then above and around his head Miriam saw a similar blue-green coloration as he was thinking. 'And sometimes those clash--"

"And sometimes those clash with their Mages. But you do not seem hostile, and Miriam seems to be listening to you, so--"

'So it's fine' bubbled up, and 'Talk to her about the Temeros.'

"So it's fine," he said, with a nod, "Not like--"

'Like my own Daimon. He's…'

"What's is it about the Temenos you want to say?" Miriam asked, and then flushed slightly, looking down.

"Ah, good, so it worked," he said, and all the while she could see the shifting colors. White and gold entered the colorful cloud. Pride, she thought, and her flush grew deeper. "That is what a Mage can do. It certainly helps, seeing people's thoughts before they become words. It only looks at the surface at this level, but since people think on the surface...that's fine. So the Temenos is the collective unconscious, like I said before. You can journey there, and see what the mass of humanity is thinking. So, I thought it was possible you could journey down there, see what there is. Just briefly. It can be dangerous. In your own Oneiros, being harmed is unlikely, or at least it takes some doing, but in the Temeros, there are no such rules. Dying in the Astral doesn't kill you, but it does hurt."

"Or," Zipporah said, "You could look deep inside yourself. I mean here you are, in your own mind, and you already want to leave." She stretched out her arms and stepped forward, "It's rather rude, you know? And there's something else. Virginia and all of your friends, I bet we could visit them, now or later. It all depends, of course. What time is it? Do you know?"

"Almost six. So they will not be asleep yet, and you cannot enter the mind of someone who is awake," Jack pointed out, simply.

"Yet is quite a word," Zipporah said with a shrug, "Sticking around here might be worth it."

Miriam said, "But it would violate their privacy."

"It could. Or it could allow you to understand them better," Jack said, "It depends on whether you try to dig up everything about them. I don't know yet, really. But you shouldn't let fears about that stop you. But it'll take time before it's late enough for that to matter either way. I have all night if need be, admittedly."

Miriam frowned. Reading a few thoughts or natures felt far less intrusive than visiting someone's mind, and yet there were temptations there, if she could wait long enough. On a night like this, the end of the year, it was possible they could stay up pretty late. Or it was possible they'd wind up exhausted in bed by eight or nine.

Either way, the temptation was there, as was the desire to learn, to know more. To figure out all about them and see just what was there...and yet she also wanted to know herself and know the 'collective unconscious' and…

Miriam took a breath, trying to center herself and work through this, one at a time.

What does she do? (Three Time Periods worth of choice now, please rank them like 'First' or whatnot in the vote or something)

[] Explore more about her mind. (Each worth one)
-[] Explore her memories of Awakening and those people who threatened her father.
-[] Memories of her friends, and her thoughts of them.
-[] Try to find out more about her nature, and so on.
-[] Magic practice!
-[] Memories and thoughts on her parents.
[] Journey to the Temenos, and look around (worth two).
[] Visit the mind of someone else (takes one, most likely to succeed if it goes last). (You may designate up to two 'second choices' the first one is not actually asleep).
-[] Jack. Well, he is asleep, and...asleep right now, even!
-[] Mom.
-[] Dad.
-[] Dickens. He is a good guy, smart and reasonable...it makes her wonder.
-[] Virginia. Her best friend has something strange about her.
-[] Abe. Her most athletic friend, who has always respected her prowess in that regard...which is more than she might say for some.
-[] Sara. Why was she avoiding Miriam?
-[] Josiah. Is this cool cat as cool as he looks beneath the surface? Probably!
-[] Franklin. A kind soul, and one it might be nice to visit.
-[] Ronald. He can see magic. He knows magic exists...probably. Perhaps he would be aware of her entry?

*****

Composure=Failure

4 (Int)+4 (Student)=7 sux

Hard Throw: 3 (Strength)+2 (Bit of a Tomboy)=2 sux vs. 3 (Strength)+2 (Bit of a Tomboy)=1 sux

Mental Scan (with a bunch of reach that is automatically free in the Oneiros): 0 sux, 2 sux.

A/N: Alright, so here we go! Hope it's alright. Oh, and voting by plans might be smarter since there's a time component to the order.
 
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[X] Plan mori
-[First] [X] Journey to the Temenos, and look around (worth two).
-[Second] [X] Journey to the Temenos, and look around (worth two).
-[Third] [X] Visit the mind of someone else (takes one, most likely to succeed if it goes last). (You may designate up to two 'second choices' the first one is not actually asleep).
--[X] Sara. Why was she avoiding Miriam?
--[X] Ronald. He can see magic. He knows magic exists...probably. Perhaps he would be aware of her entry?
--[X] Jack. Well, he is asleep, and...asleep right now, even!
 

your plan has 5 actions as each Journey to Temenos is worth two we only have three total

[X] Plan Reflection
-[First] [X] [X] Explore more about her mind. (Each worth one)
-[X] Try to find out more about her nature, and so on.
-[Second and Third] [X] Journey to the Temenos, and look around (worth two).
 
your plan has 5 actions as each Journey to Temenos is worth two we only have three total

[X] Plan Reflection
-[First] [X] [X] Explore more about her mind. (Each worth one)
-[X] Try to find out more about her nature, and so on.
-[Second and Third] [X] Journey to the Temenos, and look around (worth two).

I think the other two were meant as backup.

I'm happy and impressed by this.
[X] Plan mori

I would like to read Virginia but maybe later.

Now, gender on the other hand. Though, it's not some, "I want to be a boy" as Zipporah notes, but.

If my portrayal makes any sense?
 
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your plan has 5 actions as each Journey to Temenos is worth two we only have three total

[X] Plan Reflection
-[First] [X] [X] Explore more about her mind. (Each worth one)
-[X] Try to find out more about her nature, and so on.
-[Second and Third] [X] Journey to the Temenos, and look around (worth two).

It's meant to be a single journey, I just wanted to show there were three slots :)
 
[X] Plan Neptune

[First][X] Explore more about her mind. (Each worth one)
-[X] Explore her memories of Awakening and those people who threatened her father.
[Second] [X] Explore more about her mind. (Each worth one)
-[X] Try to find out more about her nature, and so on.
[Third] [X] Visit the mind of someone else (takes one, most likely to succeed if it goes last). (You may designate up to two 'second choices' the first one is not actually asleep).
-[X] Sara. Why was she avoiding Miriam?
-[X] Virginia. Her best friend has something strange about her.
-[X] Ronald. He can see magic. He knows magic exists...probably. Perhaps he would be aware of her entry?

I'd rather explore more about Miriam and her friends first off all, and it seems our Daemon would agree. So exploring more about our awakening given how pivotal a moment it is in our life and we could find out more about those who threatened our father (could be relevant if our Uncle can see it as well), and secondaly finding our more about Miriam's nature to self reflect.

The final choice is on visiting her friends, and my number one priority would be Sara so we can discover why she's been avoiding Miriam so that she can then potentially address it. Secondaly Virginia as we have that obsession, and thirdly Ronald as he can see magic but I also believe it's his father who could have helped us with dreams.
 
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[X] Plan No Spying On Our Friends
[First][X] Explore more about her mind. (Each worth one)
-[X] Magic practice!
[Second][X] Journey to the Temenos, and look around (worth two).

I think Miriam respects her friends enough not to root through their heads. We can discuss the supernatural with them without invading their privacy. Seriously, once they find out we do weird brain magic they're going to be naturally concerned about their privacy, and if we tell them that one of the first things we did with that magic is probe into their secrets they're going to be justifiably upset with us. If we do mind scan them and then don't tell them, that's going to be a secret that weighs very heavily on Miriam, who seems to value honesty very highly. I don't see us learning anything by visiting their minds that would justify the damage to our friendships, and any information that's that important we could probably learn some other way.

I wouldn't rule out mind-visiting at a later point, if we run into dead ends investigating Virginia's weirdness using less invasive means it'll be a valid choice. But for now it's just not worth it. Maybe I'm overestimating how invasive it would be, but I think when it comes to investigating brain magic we should be cautious about messing with other people's heads.

So having personally ruled that out, I think we should use our time with Uncle Jack doing the things that he's most helpful for. Practicing magic with an experienced tutor will definitely help us (it could add to our still-very-limited pool of spells), and visiting the Temenos is going to help Miriam learn more about the crazy magical world she lives in.

As a last note, I'm not saying we should always be super paranoid about messing with magic, magic is great and if we want to become great and powerful we'll probably do some crazy magical experiments. I just think we should be very careful about anything that could hurt our friends, or even just our relationship with them.
 
Plan Hugh Bries
[X] Explore more about her mind. (Each worth one)
-[X] Try to find out more about her nature, and so on.
-[X] Memories of her friends, and her thoughts of them.
[X] Visit the mind of someone else (takes one, most likely to succeed if it goes last). (You may designate up to two 'second choices' the first one is not actually asleep).
-[X] Sara. Why was she avoiding Miriam?
-[X] Dickens. He is a good guy, smart and reasonable...it makes her wonder.
-[X] Virginia. Her best friend has something strange about her.

Know Thyself, and then know Hugh Bries as you can't resist and well explain away why you are doing something worse then reading there Diary.
 
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