Jocasta’s Poster
MutantsMichael — 8/11/24, 10:05 PM
Jocasta Coat-Dragging for Alpha Leonis at the Bookstore
MutantsMichael — 8/12/24, 6:11 AM
@Leonard @Madness Dossier Leonard, did you ever name the bookshop? It's "The Light of the Lodge," holy shit that's great, I'd forgotten. I might want to make it in Boardroom & Curia. Also, when I mentioned that Mystic Kate, whom Jocasta never knew or crossed over with in URIEL, might want to hang out there and be part of this op, I realize Jo may not trust her given Kate's own coat-dragging for psychics and mystics for the CWG, but I also can't resist bringing her into the game more forcefully in these final four missions. (edited)
MutantsMichael — 8/12/24, 6:20 AM
But given Kate's history coat-dragging, she could be a really good mentor here. Plus Mature Gillian Anderson, who could say no
Dr. Cronk — 8/12/24, 9:16 AM
Very cruel of you to cast Gillian Anderson as an NPC and then keep her almost entirely offstage
1
Leonard — 8/12/24, 9:50 AM
[Totally down to do it in B&C, I love that kind of shit, but I'm just gonna write out an opening scene for now, unless you wanna set the stage yourself, @MutantsMichael]
@Leonard
[Totally down to do it in B&C, I love that kind of shit, but I'm just gonna write out an opening scene for now, unless you wanna set the stage yourself, @MutantsMichael]
MutantsMichael — 8/12/24, 9:50 AM
(You go, it's all you)
Leonard — 8/12/24, 10:52 AM
On Monday, June 17th, 1974, just after 8:30AM, Jocasta Menos steps out of her AMC Javelin and into the weed-choked and glass-strewn parking lot of the commercial building that houses the Light of the Lodge Occult Bookplace. The commute from her beach house in Pacific Palisades is long and getting longer; when she bought the place only a few months back, it took over half an hour, and now that she's settled in, it feels lucky if she gets there in under 45 minutes. It's not that it's a terrible drive; winding around the mountains from her place, she gets to cruise past the high school where all the rich kids from Brentwood go, the big park they made out of Roy Rogers' old ranch, and a few of the nicer country clubs before hitting the 405 up to the Valley. It's just, Jesus Christ, the traffic. Archie tells her she's really gone native because she's already complaining about her commute. On the way in, she's been listening to KFWB, the Warner giant's "all news, all the time" radio station. And it really has been all news all the time. The Soviets seem to have been caught off-guard by Nixon's downfall; a scheduled summit has been cast into doubt, and the formerly sedate Brezhnev, once humbled by economic stagnation, is ramping up fiery anti-American rhetoric reminiscent of his old mentor Krushchev. Coups are popping off in Yemen and Bolivia, the clash between Portugal and the FRELIMO guerillas in Mozambique seems to have led to their whole colonial project falling apart in Africa, and Pinochet's ascension in Chile may mark a shift in power in South America. But all the headlines this morning are about England, where an IRA bomb in the Houses of Parliament tore the venerable building to tatters and caused a gas fire that nearly burned down what was left. There is dancing in the streets in Dublin and furious anger in London, while Belfast prepares to be the "man in the middle" that absorbs the wrath of both sides, according to the no-nonsense tones of Don Schrack on the morning desk. Jo's been burning the candle at both ends and the middle. Between setting this place up, helping Patricia with her training, keeping in contact with Crow Dog's people, seconding Archie, and making occasional appearances at Shasta, she's been up and down the California coast enough times that she's starting to know the stewardesses on sight. Luckily, she doesn't need to sleep much, and a Campo omelet at Zig's usually gives her enough energy to face the day. The bookshop has been open for about three months now. It isn't the best neighborhood in Reseda, and Reseda isn't the best city in the Valley, but it's got just the clientele she's trying to cultivate: a handful of serious collectors, academics, and researchers; well-meaning, guileless old ladies building their own versions of spiritualism; down-on-their-heels losers and dropouts trying to make sense of a world that left them behind; genuine dupes (and probably even a few authentic psychics, whose names she keeps in a locked steel box next to the cash drawer) who think they've figured it all out; and, of course, drug people looking for the sort of things drug people are always looking for. Her hair grown out even longer, draped head to toe in walking boots and post-hippie psychedelic-mom style, Jocasta is starting to enjoy running the place, as long as she has a cup of strong tea, powerful Chinese joss sticks, and a ready excuse to close the place down for days at a time when her other jobs demand her attention. Mary Smith's new hobby career is going pretty well. (edited)
1
1
[10:58 AM]
Today should be an important day. She'd had a big sale the previous weekend that brought in a lot of new customers, some of whom had already returned, and she wanted eyeballs on her new initiative. She opens the glass cabinet where there are usually sale leaflets, want ads, flyers for local events, and the like, and covers them all with a professionally printed poster. Its centerpiece is a reasonably realistic drawing of a once-influential California cult leader, surrounded by minor facts and exerpts about his one-time operation painstakingly gathered from yellowing occult rags in her newfound personal collection. At the bottom, there is some precise text about how a local author is preparing a book on this phenomenal figure and is looking for details about his teachings, his once or current followers, and his possible whereabouts, crafted with SANDMAN assistance to not set off anyone's finely tuned anti-cop senses. Over the top, a banner in comic book lettering reads: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?, right above her own pen-and-ink image of Alpha Leonis. (edited)
MutantsMichael — 8/12/24, 1:21 PM
The bell hanging from the front door dings and in walks a mature, well-dressed woman, her skin very un-LA pale and powdered, her hair an unnatural scarlet. She shoulders a designer handbag—French, by the looks of it, a well-worn antique, maybe an authentic Chanel 2.55—and walks in with green eyes bright and looks directly at Jocasta. "Jo, darling," she says in a rich, mellifluous mid-Atlantic accent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanel_2.55 Jo knows this woman by reputation and dossier and having seen her around the Huntsville hangar in Alabama back in October as well as in brief passing at Ransom Productions: Katherine Delmonde, aka "Mystic Kate," born Katherine Wood MacLachlan in Peterborough, Ontario, Dominion of Canada, December 14, 1918, 5:17 am: a Sagittarius, Taurus Moon, Scorpio Rising. Jo is surprised to see her here: since ALLOCHTHON, she has been doing some vague consulting, formerly out of Venture Toons and now the Hollywood-Western Building with Archie, who has a quasi-big-sister soft spot for her, even after Marshall pegged her as a CWG dupe who got sucked into the Group by Puharich back in '67. She's been working the New Age beat in LA again the past nine months, doing daily horoscopes again but this time for a syndicate of hippie rags across the country. Archie says she could end up being part of some of the "Phase 2" URIEL national media plans depending on what direction things go in the next year or two. Despite Jo's occasional popping into Ransom Productions the past nine months, she hasn't probably said more than a dozen or so words to Kate since ALLOCHTHON. Kate's also never been to Jo's shop in the past three months. Jo gets the impression she's been forcibly un-retired and is kind of working off her bad CWG karma now. Hell of a switch from the couple of years she spent up cozy and comfy up in cottage country in Ontario since leaving URIEL in late '71 right before Reinhardt came in. Whether Marshall was involved with impressing her back into service after his technical interview back in October, or whether she's come of her own accord, who can say. https://www.san-narciso.com/scenes/89 "Oh my, now this is an occult bookshop," Kate says, admiring the shelves closest to the door, lingering over the Theosophy section and glancing an eye at the community bulletin board before coming over to the counter to take Jo's hands in greeting. "You've positively established a beacon of illumination in the San Fernando Valley, kiddo; I predict," she says, putting her hands to her temples, theatrically, Criswell-style, "the Light of the Lodge will undoubtedly become the Watkins Books of Reseda, California!" Her voice is arch, ironic, but Jo's Empathy tells her that Kate is here out of a sense of duty, loyalty, curiosity, and love. She's somewhat sincere, despite all her cynical coat-dragging over the years, about the occult and the mystical, and that shows in her vibes since entering the Light of the Lodge. (edited)
The Chanel 2.55 is a luxury leather handbag or purse manufactured by the fashion house of Chanel.
Operation URIEL
URIEL reassembles • And quickly splits up again • The field team investigates the site of a future controversial landmark in Georgia • Marshall has a conversation with Mystic Kate • OPEC declares an oil embargo • The field team arrives in Newark, Ohio • Jocasta finds herself at the other end of a ca
Leonard — 8/12/24, 2:48 PM
"Well, if it isn't le grande Delmonde!" Jo responds, returning her upbeat cheeriness. "I'm sure the place will be a success if it's attracting the likes of you." She pours Mystic Kate a glass of iced lemon water; it's still a pleasant morning but the mercury is expect to top 80 by noon and a hot Santa Ana wind is already blowing in from the east. "You must be wilting. Join me in the office for a chat?" Jocasta leaves the counter to Miriam, the shop girl she hired about a month ago, and ushers Kate back to the office (the room she uses for paperwork and administration, not the Office -- the steel-doored 'storeroom' in the back that serves as a safe room and interrogation spot).
August 13, 2024
MutantsMichael — 8/13/24, 6:32 AM
Kate gamely saunters to the back room, clears off a spot in one of the office chairs and has a seat. She pulls from her purse a gorgeous Deco silver lighter and a pack of Du Mauriers in the red flat Canadian pack, offering one to Jo if she wants. "Typically I smoke three cigarettes a day. One when I finish my work, one after dinner, and one before bed. Never when I'm social; it's too tempting, much like having more than one Gibson at lunch. But why I'm here is work, so I'll smoke this very slowly while we chat." She lights up and proceeds to tell Jo why she's here. Kate's eyes sparkle. "I saw the little flyer on your board when I walked in. And I know from what Archibald's told me that you're looking for your Man, the older version of your taisher, the one who's been doing those terrible things up and down and across this country since the '50s. The saucer-myth grifter, the sulṭān with his harem he regularly puts to suttee." Kate has that old-school Anglophone-chauvinist Sandman tendency to mix her "foreign" cultural metaphors when it suits her. "Our man is downright obsessed with fire, isn't he. Naming himself after the brightest star in fiery Leo, Regulus, the 'little King.' In Sumerian, that star was 'the breast of the lion,' LUGAL, or 'big king.'" "Astronomers have long been mystified by Regulus's highly energized spin. In a telescope, the star is practically oblong. The obvious answer would be a hidden binary star in close orbit, but one we cannot see using mere visual astronomy. A big king and a little king, quite literally. An invisible twin." Kate arches her eyebrow and smirks.
Leonard — 8/13/24, 10:42 AM
Jocasta takes one of the Du Mauriers enthusiastically. "I really should cut down to three a day myself," she says. "Maybe if I can get it down to ten, I can go from there." Still smarting from the revelations about CWG surveillance, Jo isn't sure how much trust to put in Mystic Kate, rehabilitated or not. She doesn't really want to play bad cop, but she does decide to be a bit more...direct than she otherwise might. "Kate, it's wonderful to see you. If you find yourself here more often, I'd love to have you do some work with our customers; astrology is a glaring hole in my occult knowledge, and that extends to what I do out there," she says, indicating the floor of the bookshop, "and what I do in here. Archie has so many good things to say about you, it would be such an asset to have you on board for where we're taking the operation." She carefully slides open a top drawer in her desk, on the pretext of searching for a pen to jot down some notes, but leaves it open long enough for Kate to see an old SANDMAN org chart with several of the names crossed out. "But, cards on the table, you know Archie well. And so you know what I do for Archie," she says, holding her smile, but the light changing in her eyes. "It needs to be done to Alpha Leonis. He has become a liability to the kind of work we are trying to do. It doesn't much matter if he's no longer around; he needs to be dealt with all the same. So are you telling me that our man orbits him, or vice versa? That he is, can we say, present but invisible?"
MutantsMichael — 8/13/24, 1:42 PM
(I'm going to go off the assumption that maybe Kate has seen a redacted version of the ISOCLINE files as they pertain to Mitch/AL specifically in advance of this conversation so she knows the basic contours of the situation: Alpha Leonis "crossed over" in the 1920s at Shasta, inspired Nola van Valer, Guy and Edna Ballard (I don't think we'd necessarily share the George Estabrooks revelation with her), and that Mitch/AL have some kind of weird temporal inertia History A/B relationship. What she knows about AL and the Solarans from just being au courant with cults and occultist movements I'll fold in here too.) (Also I'm a little low on brainpower again today so this is gonna be a brief move.) "The trajectory of this man's life is a bit baffling to the outside observer, even to a Sandman." Kate draws on her cigarette. "He's worked with pre-SANDMAN SAO-adjacent projects like the I AM movement. He's poked around White Sands. He's surely tried to trigger temblors in the past; that arson last summer was quintessential Red King human sacrifice. The Solaran literature and recruitment material appeared in magazines like Fate, in the exact same... contexts as the psychic and mystic coat-dragging memetics done our erstwhile colleagues in the, er, Working Group." Kate blushes with shame at a mention of the CWG; it's evident even under her face powder. "So he's a double or triple agent of the Kings, or perhaps he has some personal agenda we can't guess at, or some combination of these. But always from a sociological and anthropological standpoint in all these cults, he has to be the focus of belief and adoration. He is the shining sun whose countenance cannot be gazed upon." If there's a copy of one of the Fate issues in the dossier Jo has, Kate will point at the sketch of Alpha Leonis with the shining, un-seeable face. "I surmise that he can use belief energy to work 'miracles'; it would explain those events at White Sands that I saw in Agent RAVEN's dossier and... all that followed. Our friends on the other side of the pond have a term for these opportunistic cult leaders, they call them 'tighearnamach." Roughly translated from Scottish Gaelic? It means 'Lord from the Outside.'" Kate raises her impeccably plucked eyebrows theatrically at Jocasta as if to say, "Hmmmm?" (More later on the Mitch angle but Leonard if you want to reply to this, I'm down.) https://www.san-narciso.com/scenes/the-helix-dossier#archiesresearch
Operation URIEL
The HELIX Dossier — Operation URIEL
Major Stephen Wycliffe comes through and has a dossier filled with information on the INDIGO Program and Charley Helix couriered to Livermore.
Leonard — 8/13/24, 4:03 PM
"Indeed. Using belief energy to work miracles, Kate: it is both our problem and our opportunity these days, I think it's fair to say. Whatever we mean by 'outside' is beginning to mean less than it used to. The walls of sleep are near to waking. 'We are all roamers of vast spaces and travelers in many ages'," Jo replies. "Listen to me! If you'd told me I'd be having this conversation even three years ago...anyway, whoever Alpha Leonis is, whatever he is or isn't, our first priority is to find him. "So, in aid of that, if you don't think it impertinent that I give you homework," she continues, socially mirroring Kate's patrician insouciance like mad, "I have a few charts I'd like you to work on when you have time." She slides a manila file folder across the desk with five pieces of paper inside. "The first is our man in the sun, obviously. The info might be a bit sketchy, but if anyone can make something coherent out of it, it's you," she says with a friendly smile. "The others are...loose ends we're looking to tie off. Not to stand you in front of a new set of mirrors, but they're need-to-know only for now, so the names are elided, but anything you can get from them would be more than we have now." She turns away for a moment to put some other files back in the cabinet and pour them both more crisp lemon water. "Meanwhile, stick around until Henry comes in -- he's got plenty of stuff that will interest you. I think he's found an English translation of the Zodiacus Vitae printed when old Bill Shakespeare was a boy ." That smile again, then, watching subtly but carefully for a reaction: "Incidentally, do you happen to know the whereabouts of your old teammate Dr. Bedra?" (edited)
1
August 14, 2024
@Leonard
"Indeed. Using belief energy to work miracles, Kate: it is both our problem and our opportunity these days, I think it's fair to say. Whatever we mean by 'outside' is beginning to mean less than it used to. The walls of sleep are near to waking. 'We are all roamers of vast spaces and travelers in many ages'," Jo replies. "Listen to me! If you'd told me I'd be having this conversation even three years ago...anyway, whoever Alpha Leonis is, whatever he is or isn't, our first priority is to find him. "So, in aid of that, if you don't think it impertinent that I give you homework," she continues, socially mirroring Kate's patrician insouciance like mad, "I have a few charts I'd like you to work on when you have time." She slides a manila file folder across the desk with five pieces of paper inside. "The first is our man in the sun, obviously. The info might be a bit sketchy, but if anyone can make something coherent out of it, it's you," she says with a friendly smile. "The others are...loose ends we're looking to tie off. Not to stand you in front of a new set of mirrors, but they're need-to-know only for now, so the names are elided, but anything you can get from them would be more than we have now." She turns away for a moment to put some other files back in the cabinet and pour them both more crisp lemon water. "Meanwhile, stick around until Henry comes in -- he's got plenty of stuff that will interest you. I think he's found an English translation of the Zodiacus Vitae printed when old Bill Shakespeare was a boy ." That smile again, then, watching subtly but carefully for a reaction: "Incidentally, do you happen to know the whereabouts of your old teammate Dr. Bedra?" (edited)
MutantsMichael — 8/14/24, 6:14 AM
So situationally this is an Intimidation check; I know Jo's not cracking knuckles or anything but the effect on Kate of bringing up Bedra after Jo mentions what any Sandman would see clearly as a "hit list" op is to shake her from her comfort and blitheness so far. I think from Empathy immediately Jo would be able to tell that the ambiguous nature of Jo's mentioning that Bedra was her "teammate" (meaning both/either of URIEL late 1969-early 1970 and the Continuity Working Group) has spooked Mystic Kate thoroughly. Jo doesn't have Intimidation but she does have a fucking 19 Will now, which defaults things down to 14. We add 3 for Empathy, which "is excellent for spotting impostors, possession, etc., and for determining the true loyalties of NPCs," and we add 2 more for the set dressing and your RP in this scene so far. So Intimidation-19. Again, weirdly, Intimidation is not a Corruption skill.
Leonard — 8/14/24, 9:51 AM
[Jo’s not necessarily trying to rattle Kate - she really does see her as valuable and interesting as a person - but she certainly is trying to intimidate her a little: no more hiding things, new rules already being enforced. Just a little reminder of the Way Things Are.] (edited)
Leonard used
roll
Dice GolemAPP — 8/14/24, 9:52 AM
@Leonard rolled
3d6#Intimidation :(3+6+5)= 14@Leonard
[Jo’s not necessarily trying to rattle Kate - she really does see her as valuable and interesting as a person - but she certainly is trying to intimidate her a little: no more hiding things, new rules already being enforced. Just a little reminder of the Way Things Are.] (edited)
MutantsMichael — 8/14/24, 10:20 AM
Kate is steely in her resolve, looking Jo straight in the eyes after the reference to Dr. Bedra. She speaks... a little too quickly in response, a flutter of nervousness in her eyelids as she looks away, a sure sign that she's somewhat rattled but trying not to show it (and largely succeeding). Kate seems to be not hitting any big peaks or troughs in Jo's internal polygraph as she says the following: "Dr. Bedra, I'm sure I neither know nor care what he's up to. Probably cracking skulls deep in some dungeon in Utah with Ed Gunn... if he's still even alive. An utter monster." Sincerity from Kate here overlaid with annoyance that Jo is asking her about him. "I haven't seen him in four years. He was high up in the organization, though. You know before your lot came along, his... type was the reigning up-and-comer in the Project." Kate subtly turns her attention to the time and space coordinates given to her by Jo. Looking at the Alpha Leonis information, and lacking a 'birth' date for him of course, I would assume at the very least Jo could provide and Kate could examine the date in 1930 when Nola van Valer came across him on Mount Shasta; old Nola definitely remembers that event in her life down to the hour. That might be enough to throw an "event" chart together for Alpha Leonis's "mission" on this side of existence, such as it is. "To get back to your point about twinship earlier, about who orbits whom between Mitch and Regulus. I don't feel like they have any especial 'fate' connection, do you? I think their being 'twins' is a mere accident of probability and history. An experiment in nature and nurture, if you will. But that doesn't mean the forces of metaphysical gravity haven't now enmeshed them together. I'm sure Mitch could easily visualize and find him again, if Alpha Leonis allows it, anyway. Alpha Leonis's 'invisibility,' as you put it, is at constant odds at his desire to be seen and worshipped, to gather a new pride to his lion's breast. Which brings me to my next point." If there's a photocopy of Jo's flyer here, Kate will point at it. "This needs work. Not on the occultism side, your own coat-trailing verbiage here is top-notch; I see the help of Archibald and the other boffins over at his office in this as well. But it does need a little memetic oomph, my darling. Just a little sprinkling of your fairy godmother's magic, shall we say." Kate takes a drag off her DuMaurier and gives Jo a look that is just this side of smoldering. Mischievous and conspiratorial, let's say, if we're being charitable. "Let me slide some source code into this, it'll fly further and more unerringly to its intended target. You won't even notice it, but the nuts and the oddballs who are likely to have had a past heart-to-heart connection with old LUGAL will." (edited)
Leonard — 8/14/24, 11:08 AM
Jo immediately softens and lets out a laugh. “By all means, go to it. I truly cannot wait to see you at work.” She too takes a long drag of the French tobacco and watches the smoke twirl around in the room. The combined strands blow slightly to the right; practical Jocasta knows that’s just the direction the fan is blowing, but mystic Jocasta remembers that the Three Collated Texts says that a rightward drift signals presages defeat of an enemy. She gets up to fetch a few more files and background material for Kate. Placing a (conspicuously gloved) hand on her shoulder, she says, “Please understand, Kate, I meant no disrespect in asking about Bedra. Like him or not, he’s talented and determined, and he’s out of pocket. If he’s not with us, for better or for worse, he might be working against us. We just need to bring him to ground. I’d be derelict in my duty if I didn’t follow every possible thread.” She passes Kate a business card purporting to be from an author named David St. Clair. “He’s legit, but was happy to say he’s writing the book on LUGAL for a small payoff. This number goes straight to Sophie at Livermore; if you ever need me and I’m not here, she can track me down in a heartbeat. Whatever you need, just let me know; I’m genuinely excited to have you here. Come by after 9 tonight and we’ll celebrate for real with one of the bottles of Krug I got for our grand opening.” (edited)
@Leonard
Jo immediately softens and lets out a laugh. “By all means, go to it. I truly cannot wait to see you at work.” She too takes a long drag of the French tobacco and watches the smoke twirl around in the room. The combined strands blow slightly to the right; practical Jocasta knows that’s just the direction the fan is blowing, but mystic Jocasta remembers that the Three Collated Texts says that a rightward drift signals presages defeat of an enemy. She gets up to fetch a few more files and background material for Kate. Placing a (conspicuously gloved) hand on her shoulder, she says, “Please understand, Kate, I meant no disrespect in asking about Bedra. Like him or not, he’s talented and determined, and he’s out of pocket. If he’s not with us, for better or for worse, he might be working against us. We just need to bring him to ground. I’d be derelict in my duty if I didn’t follow every possible thread.” She passes Kate a business card purporting to be from an author named David St. Clair. “He’s legit, but was happy to say he’s writing the book on LUGAL for a small payoff. This number goes straight to Sophie at Livermore; if you ever need me and I’m not here, she can track me down in a heartbeat. Whatever you need, just let me know; I’m genuinely excited to have you here. Come by after 9 tonight and we’ll celebrate for real with one of the bottles of Krug I got for our grand opening.” (edited)
MutantsMichael — 8/14/24, 11:26 AM
She gets up to fetch a few more files and background material for Kate. Placing a (conspicuously gloved) hand on her shoulder, she says, “Please understand, Kate, I meant no disrespect in asking about Bedra. Like him or not, he’s talented and determined, and he’s out of pocket. If he’s not with us, for better or for worse, he might be working against us. We just need to bring him to ground. I’d be derelict in my duty if I didn’t follow every possible thread.”
(I'm going to have Kate respond to this directly before the wrapup, which reads fine to me.) Kate swallows when Jo places her hand on her shoulder, a combination of excitement and fear clearly evident through Jo's Empathy. She stands close to Jo. "I know what your job is, darling. Even if you hadn't made it abundantly clear today, I can read the papers. I know who's mysteriously missing. Whose school got closed down and a newer, nicer, more open and sunny school opened up on the other coast... with a suspiciously similar student body. Who's had his head lopped off in a 'motorcycle accident.'" She simpers and pouts like a noir femme fatale at the idea of Jo being a physical danger to her. "I know I had my... dalliances with Andrija, with Sidney... with Tony." The way Kate says "dalliances" is deliciously ambiguous. "You probably want to know what they told me about their plans. I heard the words 'survival' and 'impossible odds' and 'inevitability' in what they told me about the Kings' return and, yes, I took my chips and I slid them to the 'Don't Come' line. Short-sold the human race." Kate bites her lip in shame. "I figured I'd be long dead by the time it all came true. They needed psychics and mystics. I helped them find them." "Belief is magic, though, isn't it darling? Now your lot are in charge to a large extent, and you don't share that belief in inevitability. So, maybe we have a different roll of the dice now, just out of your bunch and your... positive energy. But you... you still have to be their killer under this regime... don't you?" She puts her own hand on Kate's shoulder. "That must be very hard for you."
Leonard — 8/14/24, 12:07 PM
Jo smiles again, a different kind of smile. It's still sincere -- maybe too sincere, with a little more teeth. "I've made my peace with it. I'm under no illusions about what my future holds; I've made my choices and I'll die with them," she responds, with a familiar dreamy look in her eyes meeting Kate's. "The same end is waiting for all of us, you know. We'll all end up on the other side of that wall, by choice or not. That's what I think some of our erstwile colleages talked themselves out of. They thought they could bargain with the Black Rider, buy their way out of their sins. Not me, though. I hear those hoofbeats get closer every night. He'll find me one day, but I'll leave enough in my wake to slow him down." She laughs, a genuine, unexpected, and truly sparkling laugh.
MutantsMichael — 8/14/24, 1:02 PM
(I'm good with that as our scene-ending button, btw Leonard)
1
[1:03 PM]
(We can say the offer of the champagne later tonight was the final bit of dialogue)
August 15, 2024
MutantsMichael — 8/15/24, 6:20 AM
I do need to make rolls for Kate's doing those five horoscopes and for her memetics roll for the poster, and what comes out of the post over the next month or so, but I might make those part of M10S1 or do them before.
1
August 28, 2024
MutantsMichael — 8/28/24, 12:43 PM
Mystic Kate will likely come back in person to chat about these five charts, but in advance of tonight's session, here they are, listed "Unsub 1 through 5" in the order you DM'd them to me, @Leonard. (You should probably be able to figure them out from the birth locations and years too.) Apologies for Unsubs 3 and 4 being in a slightly different format, but they already existed on astro dot com. We'll talk about Kate's interpretation of these live tonight (along with whomever else might be hanging out at the Light of the Lodge and/or Ransom Productions that day)
Leonard — 8/28/24, 1:19 PM
You'll probably have to hold my hand more than normal on these, Mike, because it's far past the limits of my ability to role-play to affect an understanding of astrological charts
MutantsMichael — 8/28/24, 1:28 PM
Gladly! Kate has Some Thoughts on these for sure.