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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How relieving but wonderful that getting mana from the Hallow is such a peaceful experience)! I loved Wat in all his forms—human and wolf and scaled arm and clawed! I'm really curious to see where you go with the plotline about the Seers and how it will play with your commentary on racism.

On she went, until they came to a door that opened to the back. A whole cluster of trees, some of them the sort that might bear a little fruit, all startlingly healthy looking. City girl or no, staring at them gave her the urge to climb them, or run around them, use them as a base for tag, or...something.
Loved this—unexpected yet wonderful, and so fitting with Miriam's character. (Also there might be a typo? see bolded.)

I stopped highlighting while reading the rest of the Wat scene cuz I loved it so much, so just know that it was +++++.

"Do you think it is?" Miriam asked, frowning. She knew this style of conversation, the way he was, like Jack, dropping ideas and possibilities without ever committing to one.
Great detail re: conversation styles. And no matter what Aerie says, I think that was a pitch, and a cleverly phrased one at that. Will leave Miriam wondering, which is exactly what he wants.

Andd.... for my vote, I'm tempted by the rotes because I think shit might start hitting the fan soon again, but... I feel like I have to choose this for characterization.

[X] Everyone's gotta help out. Eve's going around to distribute some food and money to those who are doing poorly, and Miriam finds herself enlisted in doing the rounds, seeing more of what they do on the ground. Seeing a lot more poverty than even she's used to.
 
"Either way, you haven't seen that much magic, have you? Just heard about it? Haven't done much? Shadow's being awfully careful about you."

As you can see above, we've been skirting the practice magic part of being a Mage too much. Time to get down to it probably.

[X] Though she doesn't know it, rotes are an important part of magic, and there are a few rotes that are more public territory. She might learn about rotes, and even learn one (1 XP per, unlocks a training/practice session over the next week to learn/etc. More rotes means more time, and it's also, you know, costing XP)
-[X] A rote for being able to do two things at once, mentally.
 
[X] Everyone's gotta help out. Eve's going around to distribute some food and money to those who are doing poorly, and Miriam finds herself enlisted in doing the rounds, seeing more of what they do on the ground. Seeing a lot more poverty than even she's used to.
 
[x] The Folk are a group, as well as merely just folk, and perhaps she should ask more about their beliefs, and what they do for the world.

"You would be surprised. But what is magic, if it's not evil, is it a tool? If I use my magic to tear someone's mind apart, and another man uses a hammer to tear someone's mind apart and end their life, is one act the worse than the other? What is acceptable with magic?"
[...]
Any man who is strong enough might murder another, but if I use mind magic to give myself the skills, and life to give myself the strength, then am I doing anything worse than if I'd instead gone exercising, run around and practiced killing the man?"

"It seems like it'd be worse," Miriam admitted, frowning. "Or at least, it's using a lot of potent magic to do something that maybe shouldn't be done in the first place."
What is his/her argument, again, that magic is more than just a tool? The hypotheticals Aerie provides sound the same to me however I look at them.

It is powerful, it is not for everyone to use, and it necessitates responsibilities, but I can think of a few tools that share these characteristics with magic. What differentiates them?
 
[x] The Folk are a group, as well as merely just folk, and perhaps she should ask more about their beliefs, and what they do for the world.


What is his/her argument, again, that magic is more than just a tool? The hypotheticals Aerie provides sound the same to me however I look at them.

It is powerful, it is not for everyone to use, and it necessitates responsibilities, but I can think of a few tools that share these characteristics with magic. What differentiates them?

His argument seems to be that magic might just be a tool. But he's also providing hypothetical. And he doesn't seem to object to Miriam's own conclusion that it has to be more than a tool. That said, I think I was sorta repeating myself a little there, admittedly.

Also, +1/5th XP for all the reaction posts.
 
Nah, I didn't mean he used the same examples, I meant that no matter how I try to differentiate between two cases of 'simple wrongdoing' and 'magical wrongdoing', I can't justify it. Well, apart from magic being more powerful and therefore much more destructive if used for wrong purposes. Soul trade and destiny theft are some nasty things.
It's not a tool, and you said it, and it isn't evil, as you said...but then, what is it?
But in the end he seemed to agree with Miriam, and I was surprised, since it didn't appear to follow from his own words.
 
Nah, I didn't mean he used the same examples, I meant that no matter how I try to differentiate between two cases of 'simple wrongdoing' and 'magical wrongdoing', I can't justify it. Well, apart from magic being more powerful and therefore much more destructive if used for wrong purposes. Soul trade and destiny theft are some nasty things.

But in the end he seemed to agree with Miriam, and I was surprised, since it didn't appear to follow from his own words.

He was wanting her to try to justify her positions, or at least express an opinion. What he actually believes? Well, if you know about Mysterium, the answer might be obvious, but he's clearly trying to be more agent provocateur than directly stating everything.

There are things that might distinguish them, but he didn't talk about it.

For instance, if you think that magic is a gift from God, then inherently you'd be abusing something divine and holy. (And that's a conclusion that Miriam could come to pretty easily.)
 
[X] Though she doesn't know it, rotes are an important part of magic, and there are a few rotes that are more public territory. She might learn about rotes, and even learn one (1 XP per, unlocks a training/practice session over the next week to learn/etc. More rotes means more time, and it's also, you know, costing XP)
-[X] A rote for being able to do two things at once, mentally.

Interesting to learn more about Wat. Good to know that Miriam can still enjoy the idea of tag and climbing trees, even if she won't go through with it.
 
Vote Tally : The Roaring Age (nWoD) | Page 61 | Sufficient Velocity
##### NetTally 1.7.3.2

[X] Everyone's gotta help out. Eve's going around to distribute some food and money to those who are doing poorly, and Miriam finds herself enlisted in doing the rounds, seeing more of what they do on the ground. Seeing a lot more poverty than even she's used to.
No. of Votes: 9

[X] Though she doesn't know it, rotes are an important part of magic, and there are a few rotes that are more public territory. She might learn about rotes, and even learn one (1 XP per, unlocks a training/practice session over the next week to learn/etc. More rotes means more time, and it's also, you know, costing XP)
-[X] A rote for being able to do two things at once, mentally.
No. of Votes: 5

[X] The Folk are a group, as well as merely just folk, and perhaps she should ask more about their beliefs, and what they do for the world.
No. of Votes: 3

[X] Everyone's gotta help out.
No. of Votes: 1

Total No. of Voters: 18
 
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"Have you gone to many such places?" Eve asked her, the older woman looking at her with a kind, curious expression. "Going to be one more of us, to see what we can see, figure out what we can figure out, but I know you've seen some great poverty, but that ain't the same as having seen it all."

"I know I'm a little sheltered from some of it," Miriam admitted, looking up at the other woman. "I've...seen some, but I live…"

She hesitated, looking at Eve, and then at John. He was standing by a large pack of what seemed to be clothes, considering it for a moment. He seemed more tired today than before, hunched over just a little, his movements lacking some of the vibrancy she'd seen before.

"In better circumstances? Truly, you are blessed."

She knew that plenty of her friends lived worse than her, maybe way worse, and that there was no real way to get out of it. Many of the houses had been divided up, gutted on the inside and turned into four one-room houses, or so on and so forth. Compared to that, having two bedrooms, having a living room and a real kitchen with a dining room, and having a bathroom that was large enough to have its own shower and plenty of room.

And those were just the houses. Then there were the tenements. She'd seen them rising up, the network, the web of stairs, the stuff strewn on the ground, the laundry hanging from windows in necessary defiance of the Chicago Defender's advice for new migrants. They'd come all the way here, she sometimes thought, and yet what they found wasn't much. But they seemed so grateful, and she wondered, and knew that perhaps she wouldn't understand. She'd been born here, and she'd been lucky, by the grace of God. Grace, never deserved, never asked for, as grace must be.

"I am," Miriam said, bowing her head humbly, glancing over at the older man, his skin like pitch, contrasting with his white robes, unstained and unlined. Perhaps it was a matter of care, or perhaps magic cared for it as well. "What are we going to be doing today?"

She looked around the one-room church, small and yet it had been filled with such song and passion. As if the smaller the room, the more could fit into it. An impossibility of space, she knows that, and yet she doesn't feel it. She looks over at them, wonders what they think of her.

Knows that it doesn't matter, or rather, she shouldn't be thinking about her own worries.

Eve is a solid woman, like Miriam's mother she carries some weight, but she made it look like, feel like, it didn't matter at all, or that it only made her stronger, and her hair was greying without her looking wizened, broken down.

The sort of woman, Miriam thought, who could work until the day she died and never slow down more than a little.

"We're going to be visiting about a dozen homes, checking up on them." John glanced over and nodded.

"We," he said in that baritone of his, voice still showing every sign of the south,"Will need to do some convincing. They'll be hesitant."

"Why?" Miriam asked.

"Pride," Eve said, "They've done for themselves what they can do, and some of them don't like bein' given clothing and advice, because why should they? They've been making their way better than most people could. Working two jobs, all of them that can."

Miriam, who had only a single parent who worked outside the home, and yet had so much more, nodded. She understood it. If the south really was as bad, at least to live in, as she'd heard, then rising even to this, working that hard, it was all for a good cause, wasn't it?"

"And we need to convince them to let a friend of ours come by," John said, his voice grave, "He's white, but he means no harm. He needs to check a few things, work a few things out."

Miriam, who understood that tension--hadn't everyone been suspicious when Sara had started trying to hang around with her, and hadn't they been right--nodded. It wasn't that they hated white people, or at least, she never got that feeling from most of the people who were nervous. But what Virginia appreciated, often as not, was the right to be left alone and ignored. It was a big city, and there was too much to do. Nobody would be lynched over a wrong word accidentally said, nobody would start a fight over nothing...except when they did. Except when the riots came in.

Except when the city burned.

But until it burned, like Miriam's cooking before her mom took it into her head to really teach her, it was left at a simmer.

Warm, but not too hot. Not scalding.

"What can I do to help?" she asked.

"You're a strong girl," John said, appraisingly, "Can you carry this?" He gestured over at what looked to be a bag of pies. She lifted them up, a little surprised at the weight for a moment, but easily able to manage it. Though it was more of a struggle to wrap her arm around the bottom out of the bag, just to make sure nothing shifted around. There had to be dozens and dozens of pies, enough to feed the whole of the world, or so it seemed, each in a tin, with what looked like plastic covers for each of them.

They had to be plenty strong, though, what with all the other pies stacked on top.

"What is it?"

"Sweet potatah," Eve drawled, and Miriam made a face. She had a northern set of tastebuds, and so sweet potato pie was not her thing. But with how much she went over to Virginia's, she'd probably eventually be forced to like it by sheer repetition, at this rate.

******

Miriam looked, wide eyed, at the scene. Three children, a mother and a father, all in the same place. All in a room so small she wouldn't have reckoned that two people could fit in there. And worse than that, it lacked a window. A cold water flat, she thought, glancing at the sink. A sink, a kerosene stove as if they were back in the south, a bathroom, at least, to create a supposed second room, though it was more like a closet, and then a crowded mess.

Sheets hanging up in the air as the kids, two boys and a girl, between maybe five or six and twelve, if she had to guess, danced and dodged around it.

Their father was short, skin dark, talking as slow as if he were carefully measuring and building each word, which dripped down from his voice like honey. The mother, thin and pressed, in her twenties but looking far older, head rag on her hair in the southern style, dress fraying a little bit.

"I got a job as a housekeeper," the woman said, nodding, "But now there's not so much time to look after the littleuns. I've asked Alli May here to do what she can, but she has school too."

Eve frowned, "Keepin' them in school?"

"Of course," the woman said, nodding.

"Ain't nothing better than an education," the husband said, his words ringing with a sort of finality as he glanced over at the pies.

Miriam wasn't experienced with lifting stuff up, or at least she'd never given it much thought, hadn't exactly practiced it, and so her arms were aching a little bit, at least at the moment. But there was a hungry look, and she assumed that she should set them down on the table, if it could hold it.

Two beds, slammed next to a wobbling table, and then a small stove that served as both heat and the source of food. There was a pantry bolted into the wall, and what she noticed most of all was not the individual elements. There was less in the way of furniture, sure, and less in the way of everything, but how it was all slammed together. You could crawl from the bed to the dinner table and then stumble over to the bathroom, if you didn't hit your head on the dripping laundry, shirts and socks and underwear all strewn about.

There was no privacy here, no distance, no space. The idea of a bookshelf would have been an absurd question of space, she thought, glancing around, trying to imagine even a single place to really read a book. Not that there weren't books here. Textbooks, stacked in a corner, their covers worn out.

Pencils and pens laying around there too, as if that was the designated study corner.

"Helps you get ahead, you hope," John said, nodding, "We brought a little in the way of clothes, we've heard you've been running out."

"They've been growin," the woman admitted, "Growing and growing. Who is this?" She looked at Miriam, frowning, as if trying to place her.

Miriam knew she'd have recognized the woman if she went to church with her. Which made her wonder how many of the women and men she saw at church went back to live like this. Or a little better, with a window or a few more feet of space, and paying dollar for dollar ten times what it was worth, and without even hot running water to say for all that cost.

"You can call me Ruth," she said, knowing that that sounded weird. "I'm just helping out."

"Good girl," the woman said, "It's Christian kindness that they do here, isn't it, Earl?"

"Yes," he said, and she realized just then that the woman had been subtly encouraging her husband to accept the charity. "A little clothing wouldn't hurt. It's summer now, though, so not so much. We're gonna get plenty of work down at the slaughterhouse, though people been poking around."

"Why?" Eve asked, and Miriam wondered at the way she asked. Curious, certainly. More interested than expected.

"Nobody quite knows for sure. White folk poking around, muttering to themselves." He shrugged, a hopeless sort of shrug, because what could he do. "That sweet potato, or pecan?"

"Sweet potato," Ruth said at the same time as John said, instead.

"Some of both," he said.

Oh, she hadn't looked except at the top.

"Would you like one?" Eve asked, smiling wide. She hadn't used magic yet, but Miriam felt as if something was going on. It was hard to define, hard to quite understand, but John was gazing intently now at the wall, and for a moment the room's lights seemed just a little bit, and she felt dizzy for a moment.

Earl, the father, paused and looked down at his kids, and she didn't need to touch him to understand his thoughts as she regained her balance. She'd felt odd for a moment, disconnected, but now things were better, and she had to assume it was magic.

An easy answer, but a true one.

"Sure. Bet they're great."

When they left, Miriam turned to John and asked, "What did you do?"

"Their wall was weak at a place. Kid probably banging on it," John said, nodding, "I just reinforced it. They won't notice, because you don't notice these things until they break or something gets busted, then you hang a sheet in front of it and hope nobody notices too much." The older pastor gazed back at Miriam and her burden. "Thank you for helping out."

*******

It wasn't all she did, and she tried to engage with people. Ask about their kids, about what they learned in class, about what she could as she stood there and every so often a little thing was fixed with magic that nobody would notice. The houses didn't get richer, though they didn't get much poorer than that, either. All of the ones she visited were one-rooms, and she started to gravitate towards the kids, talking to them about school, or at least hearing their complaints and trying to give advice.

It was what she already did around the neighborhood, and she found it was easy to talk to them, easy to help them. She wasn't sure why, but they just seemed to connect to her and listen to her, even the boys. And if there was one thing she knew, it was that boys could be contrary and ornery, given to strange fits of pride or a desire to show off. Not that Virginia didn't show off plenty at times. But she'd been brushed off more than once before with 'you're a girl' or the like, but all the kids, most of who spoke with a southern accent, but a few of whom had clearly started shifting to talking more like she was used to. Her own accent, which of course to her ears sounded like no accent at all.

They had their concerns and worries, about clothes or fights with other kids or friends or how hard math was (or how easy english was but they couldn't shovel enough books into their hands to fill their minds), or anything and everything at all. She wasn't sure why they trusted her, she wasn't using any magic, and she'd never been the sort of person that charmed everyone, but it seemed to be working, and as the pies slowly left the bag, until it was easy enough to carry that she was more concerned with them falling out of the loose bag, and it kept up.

It baffled her, really.

"It's your accent and the way you dress," Eve said. "And the hair, maybe."

Miriam didn't move to touch her hair, but, "The way I dress?"

"Nice. Clean. Proper. You look northern," Eve said, as John forged forward, glancing down now at a list. His suit was not so crisp now after hugs and backpats and running up and down stairs, but he seemed to have come alive, the exhaustion slipping from him like it hadn't even been there. "And you talk it too. Erudite, you'd probably call it. You talk fast, and you talk politely."

Miriam shook her head, "And that's it?"

"And that's it. Though it's also that you're with us, so that makes you someone who's part of something," Eve said, shaking her head. "Thanks for what you're doing. We'd have had to enlist someone else for this."

"It's good that I'm able to help others," Miriam said, smiling. This wasn't how she might like to spend every Saturday, but that didn't mean anything. She had her selfish parts, the parts of her that wanted to run and jump and play.

"You're quite strong," Eve said, thoughtfully, "And without any magic, too."

"I just keep active," Miriam said, flushing a little. It wasn't the sort of thing one talked about, anyways. Strength wasn't really all that important, or maybe it was in the south, when you had to be in the field or doing something...then again, one had to do what they could in the north, too. She knew some of the laundries had plenty of heavy lifting, so maybe it was just her position. She was going to be going to college, probably, and maybe getting married to someone or other eventually.

It was a prospect that managed to excite nothing, though also excite no feelings of disgust. She could imagine marrying in the abstract, could picture--if prompted by some other girl--some man and some wedding veil, some place and some time. But the specifics never seemed to matter.

Not really matter, at least.

"Well, you should keep it up," Eve said, "Healthy mind, healthy body."

"Just one more place, and you know which one it is," John said.

"Ah, right."

She followed them up the tenement stops, by now used to the squalor. And the smell. People tried to keep clean, but if they didn't have hot water then they couldn't bathe as often as they should, and there was nowhere to put a lot of the trash, and so the smell certainly was a counter-point to the joy of using Life magic to grant enhanced senses.

But you adjusted to it, she thought, as they knocked on a door.

A woman answered, short and just a little plump, her skin the deep brown of a tree, her eyes dark and roaming. She looked tired, very tired, her hair tied up and covered in a rag, her clothes smelling faintly of alcohol.

"Ugh, honey," a man's voice said, "Who is it?"

"Just the people from the church," she called, "And some other girl." The woman, shorter than her, stared up at her and asked, "Who are you?"

Miriam opened her mouth to answer just in time for something to take her breath away. It wasn't the room, though the bottles of empty alcohol and the short, plump man sprawled out on one of the beds, bottle still in hand, looking sickly, but the kind of sickly she had to assume came from drinking too much. His skin was as dark as a rubber tire, eyes shining brightly, a little madly, out from them.

"Oh," Eve said, frowning. Miriam wondered what she was thinking, but there was again the issue of politeness. "This is Ruth."

But what mattered was that in the corner was a small cot, thrown on the floor, a few books here and there around it. Bleak House, so well named, most prominent of them. And then there he was, little Dickens. One look at him, and then at his mother, in the thirties, and the man, in his forties, was enough to tell her that they weren't related.

Family mattered in the south, and most of the migrants came with their family, or were young men living with relatives and saving up for their wife and kids to come north once they had a job. There was very little of this kind of thing, and Miriam looked over at the wide eyed, staring boy, who stood up, opened his mouth, but couldn't quite speak.

"Ruth?" Dickens asked, confused.

"Y'know her, boy?" the man asked, his voice slurred.

"Uh…"

Miriam stepped forward, glancing around the room, which as an absolute mess, slipping past the woman with the pies to set on the table, which almost fell over from even that little weight. And then she glanced over at Dickens, whose face was as red as a hydrant. "Hey, Dickens."

"Ha, Dickens," the man said, "She knows you alright, then." The man held his hand in front of his mouth as he burped, an oddly polite gesture.

"Uh...hi. Ruth?" he asked, and it was then that she realized something. He didn't have even a trace of a Mississippi accent, which meant a lot more now that she could barely understand the mother's words, and now that she heard the man's voice. It must have been something he trained, something he worked on, and Miriam, who had only been guessing at this, had only been told, realized just why he might want to go anywhere but there. Why he might come over to read her books, because if there was no space for books except the corner in the first place she'd been, and if learning was respected but hard to fit into their world, then here was a place where even that wasn't true.

"Hey, just helping some people out," Miriam said, leaning in to touch him on the shoulder, "I'm sorry, I didn't know--"

She ignored what the adults were saying, except that Eve was talking about the latest man with Monnie, as the woman's name turned out to be.

"It's fine," he said.

Well, that's what he said. But she could feel his embarrassment, and warm other emotions. He didn't want to be seen like this, by her. Or perhaps by anyone at all. This wasn't a scene she wanted to see either, because this wasn't what Dickens wanted to show, and it wasn't what he wanted to talk about.

"Let's sit down," she said, frowning a little over some of the emotions she'd felt. She didn't have words for them, didn't quite understand them, but the shame had its own flavors, but just like collared greens, they were a flavor she didn't quite understand. Didn't quite like as much. Or...again, it was hard to interpret. Like a blind man trying to describe the sight of the sun. Or something like that. She moved over to the bed, and she sat down next to him, as he squirmed and fidgeted.

"You having a good summer?" Dickens asked, "You're really helping out here. We could...I mean, a little bit of clothes wouldn't hurt." Then he paused, looking away, eyes cast downward, "I mean, not that I, I."

"Don't worry. We all need help sometime. You should come over, hang out more." She looked at the boy and said, "Ma'd say that you could use some plumping up because you were skin and bones." And he was really spare, lacking in excess, on top of his shortness.

"Maybe, maybe. But I don't want to intrude. It's family and I'm not family, so I don't want to...plus I'm sure you have the baseball to do and all of that." He sounded jealous in a way, though whether it was for her freedom or her abilities or for no reason at all, she couldn't quite understand.

"Well, I'd tell you not to be a stranger, if you'd listen," Miriam said. "Good job on your performance."

At school, of course.

"I did what I could. Still lost to you, though," he said, and yet his mood seemed to be lightening. She could even feel it, the way he was getting into it.

"You know Dickens better than I ever would. I've never read Bleak House."

"Man, after all the times I've tried to get you to read it--"

The book was battered, and she'd been afraid of it, almost, the one time he'd offered it. Not of its size, but of the fact that it clearly meant a lot to him, and if it got even more beat up, would it even be usable? So she'd hesitated, and then forgotten about it.

"Well, so it's about a legal case, right?" Miriam asked.

"It's about a lot of things. It's a Dickens novel," Richard said, eyes wide, "If you want we could read a little of it." He picked up the book and opened it up. "It'll be a while."

They were arguing. Politely, but it was clear they were arguing. About money? About charity work? She wasn't sure, but she'd seen the clothes in that bag, and now that she'd seen them, she imagined Dickens wearing them. Dickens, who was about as smart as her, really, and needed it ten times as much as she did. Needed his brain to get out of this place.

Wouldn't be able to afford it. Wouldn't be able to get anywhere on his own.

What she was doing, it helped the Dickens of the world, as well as everyone else, and she thought about the charities her own father's church had done, ones that she hadn't gotten as involved in as she should have. Social work.

"London," he intoned in a voice that seemed to waver from accent to accent, as if he were trying to imagine a british one (an accent neither of them had ever heard, really), "Michaelmas Term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincoln's Inn Hall. Implacable November weather. As much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill…"

Week of May 25th-June 1st

Teachings (Choose 2+1 (Temporary Resolve boost))

[] Mind magic.
[] How to use Space and the nature of Sympathy.
[] Magic pertaining to Life.
[] The Nature of Fate Magic, and how to do it.
[] Tools and Yantra.
[] Rotes.
[] Legacies, what they are and the names and natures of a few.
[] The lesser magics of the world.

Meeting With People (Choose 1+1 (Temporary Resolve boost))

[] "Cleopatra is a powerful Mage of the Silver Ladder, and knows things that it is well worth knowing. She would no doubt be delighted to speak to you."
[] "Perhaps I need to confront Valkyrie directly. Maybe with you there, we could get to the bottom of this matter. That Guardian, if she interfered…"
[] "A discussion is being held, not usually open to everyone, but I can get an invite. A Mysterium scholar is discussing a new field he's...invented, I suppose. 'Dream Archaeology.'
[] "Mars is to war as the newest Hierarch is to peace. He will no doubt be interested in this latest act, being as it is likely perpetrated by those aligned with the Seers…"
[] "Gabriel Breda is the leader of The Uprising, as I have told you. I've mentioned him to you."

During the Week (Choose 3)

[] (.9x) Explore back into her mind, and perhaps the minds of others.
-[] (.9x) Perhaps find a way into Virginia's mind some night, to see what's going on there.
she might find answers.
[] Read a book!
-[] The book of Life and Mind 'rotes' whatever that is.
-[] The psychological book of dreams Virginia found.
-[] The book of philosophy.
[] Introduce Jack to Virginia in a way that will allow him to check.
[] Invite Dickens over for dinner. He sure could use it.
[] Ronald can see magic, and so can is father. Let him in on the secret of her nature, and see what they have to say. Perhaps they even have advice?
[] Talk to the Folk about their beliefs.
[] Visit with Aerie, and talk to him about philosophy, and perhaps the Mysterium.
[] Get some exercise, train up a bit, it's good for the body.
[] Feel free to write-in.

*****
1/5th XP for exceptional successes and finding things out.

Arcana that might be bought (when you have enough XP, which isn't yet):

Spirit 1

All others still not unlocked.
Strength 3 means pretty good shot=1 sux

Presence (2)+1 (Friendlyish strangers)=3 dice=2 sux

Presence+Student+Neighborhood Helper=7 dice=5 sux

Mental Scan: 2 dice=1 sux

No reach beyond what's needed (1 for the time, not reading his thoughts, at least not yet.)

Presence+Friendship=5 dice=1 sux

A/N: And here we go. Another week vote!
 
[x]Plan Backlog
-[X] Mind magic.
-[X] Tools and Yantra.
-[X] Rotes.

-[X] "Cleopatra is a powerful Mage of the Silver Ladder, and knows things that it is well worth knowing. She would no doubt be delighted to speak to you."
-[X] "Gabriel Breda is the leader of The Uprising, as I have told you. I've mentioned him to you."

-[X] Read a book!
--[x] The book of Life and Mind 'rotes' whatever that is.
--[x] The psychological book of dreams Virginia found.
--[x] The book of philosophy.
 
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[X] Plan Zeitgeist
[] Mind magic.
[] How to use Space and the nature of Sympathy.
[] Rotes.

So let's try learning more about our Ruling Arcana as well as Rotes. Hopefully there's some synergy in our lessons and reading about them as chosen below.

[] "Cleopatra is a powerful Mage of the Silver Ladder, and knows things that it is well worth knowing. She would no doubt be delighted to speak to you."
[] "A discussion is being held, not usually open to everyone, but I can get an invite. A Mysterium scholar is discussing a new field he's...invented, I suppose. 'Dream Archaeology.'

Cleopatra because Jack did say she'd be "delighted to speak" with us. If she's interested to meet us then why not? Dream Archaeology because this seems like a one-time offer, like the newest member of the Consilium last week was. So! Want to take it!

[] Read a book!
-[] The book of Life and Mind 'rotes' whatever that is.
-[] The book of philosophy.
[] Ronald can see magic, and so can is father. Let him in on the secret of her nature, and see what they have to say. Perhaps they even have advice?

Time to get started on our book pile, else it'll get too cumbersome before we know it. Ronald, cause this is something I'd like to see.
 
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We're gonna get plenty of work down at the slaughterhouse, though people been poking around."

"Why?" Eve asked, and Miriam wondered at the way she asked. Curious, certainly. More interested than expected.

"Nobody quite knows for sure. White folk poking around, muttering to themselves."


Hmmm. Upton Sinclair, is that you? Or someone else from a labor movement perspective, maybe. I think that fits the time frame.

More importantly, why is Eve so interested? Does she know about something else with the slaughterhouse? Operations there, or something?
 
[X] Plan A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste
-[X] Mind magic.
-[X] Tools and Yantra.
-[X] Rotes.

Core magics, straightforward enough. Props and Rotes are the last big things you need to learn to truly get started on challenging magics
This gives synergy with the book of mind rotes I'm having us read below.


-[X] "A discussion is being held, not usually open to everyone, but I can get an invite. A Mysterium scholar is discussing a new field he's...invented, I suppose. 'Dream Archaeology.'
-[X] "Gabriel Breda is the leader of The Uprising, as I have told you. I've mentioned him to you."

Uprising seems interesting to meet, since we hadn't gotten their views yet. And attending the conference sounds very cool.

-[X] Read a book!
--[X] The book of Life and Mind 'rotes' whatever that is.
-[X] Talk to the Folk about their beliefs.
-[X] Introduce Jack to Virginia in a way that will allow him to check.

Start picking up rotes, and continue to investigate. Twin natures can be very good or very bad, best to be sure.
Plus a faith action.
 
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