synopsychic | (no subject)

I wasn't Marked by her myself, but that sounds like ROSE, otherwise known as the Magician, or One.

[She still has flashes of memories from previous Jaunts.] I think she was physically present during a Jaunt in the past...

Not me. I talked to - I know this sounds dumb, but I talked to an angel.

Dude. You just heard what I said, right? An angel's normal as shit compared to cyber Magician.

My last Jaunt before noping out. The Grid. ROSE disguised herself as an infiltrated Traveller; we should probably have gotten more suspicious that she was Priority 1. Second in command.

Sounds like I got a real winner here.

She could go either way, honestly. I don't know how obnoxious she is when she's not pretending to be a sapient AI, but she was trying to prevent the Hermit from being corrupted by... something nasty, possibly worse than the Champs.

[...he should really brush up on his tarot.]

So I got the local patron goddess of dramatics, assholes and the internet.

...

Oh my god my Arcana is a straight up fucking internet troll.

They're both pretty out there to me.

...point.

I'm unfamiliar with that term, but I think you've got the gist of it.

She was very difficult to get a straight answer from, too.

It was a virus created by two of the others - Lovers and Devil - specifically to trap Hermit there. The total lack of concern they had for what that virus did to everything not their target was really one of the first signs we had that Lovers isn't nearly as nice as she puts on. [Or, well, 'nice is different than good' and all that.]

I'm not sure I'd trust ROSE as far as I could throw her logic probe, especially after the whole stunt where she snuck into Liminal Space beforehand, but she doesn't seem to be one of the outright terrible ones, either.

See that part doesn't surprise me at all. I've seen their type before, mostly I'm just baffled there was a conversation at all.

From what I've heard, some of the Trumps are less forthcoming with information, despite these 'conversations'. ROSE likes to talk, though.

...Jesus Christ. You're right. She's the Memelord Arcana.

There's worse out there but she's no... I'd say no angel, but on reflection pretty sure I don't want to meet either a real angel or the Judgement Arcana.

I was pretty happy without any of them back in my life, but good to know I've got the one who's only a little bit down for murder.

I trust the Arcana no further than I can throw them, but occasionally they're up against things I trust no futher than I can walk.

Two of the biggest jerks, the Lovers and Tower, are out of their game. The Devil is still at large. Moon and Emperor are too, but they're obnoxious rather than overtly evil.

Welcome to team Magician! Inasmuch as we have individual teams here, which we don't actually, but if we did, it would be the best team.

I was marked by ROSE myself some time back, and had a bit of a question and answer session with her, so if there's anything you didn't think to ask or she was especially cagey about, I can try to help out there.

Good to know you're not biased or anything.

...any tips for how to look for a Mark? Or should I just head to the bathroom? Also where should I meet if I wanna talk in person.

Of the seven sins, Pride is my favorite. Don't tell her that, though, she'll get an overinflated sense of her own importance.

As for your Mark, it can appear anywhere on your body. I got a convenient one on my arm, but others have had back tattoos, shoulders, basically anywhere. And if you want to talk to me in person, if you find a mildly ridiculous door with an eagle motif, that's the Rooms I've built out for myself. My front door is always open.

If you wanted to speak to ROSE again...well, you could find some way to pester her until you get her attention, but generally, they extend invitations rather than accepting walk-ins.

I feel like Wrath and I have a bit of a thing going on. Sort of a weird extended, aggro courtship.

But I might hit your place up in a bit. Gonna try hunting down wherever this Mark might be. This should be fun.

[And true to his word, about half an hour later he'll be knocking awkwardly on the, yes, ridiculous door (that he secretly loves) to go and see if she's there. Another Magician on his team might be useful.

And with how verbose she was, maybe she could do something with the information he got from the Arcana.]

The door is answered, as usual, by a giant hideous goatman in a butler suit.

He bows immediately, though, and ushers Gil in. He can't talk, but he's getting a bit worried about guests trying to instinctively attack him.

That is not the worst humanoid Gil's ever seen. He's pretty sure his own reflection wins out. But that doesn't stop the moment of surprise when it opens the door, or hesitation before he follows it inside.

Maybe he's been spending too much time away from the Courts after all, if every little weird thing here keeps wigging him out. Does this one talk, though? "I'm... gonna assume you're not the lady I was talking to before."

The goat man shakes his head, and after Gil is ushered in, Beatrice appears at the top of the rather unnecessary grand staircase herself - walking instead of in a shower of butterflies, since she has Portal Lockdown running currently.

"That is a summoned servant, sir. A small sample of the panoply of demons that served me at home," she says, walking down the stairs. "Also, apparently of the only type I can actually call through the Arcana's barriers."

The goat man shrugs. He ain't as pretty as the Stakes of Purgatory, but he's here to do a job.

"Hey, I like him." He puts his hands in his pockets as he stands at the base of the stairs to look up at this shining example of Extra descending the stairs. Judging by the lack of reaction, either she can't see through his Mask or she is, very clearly, used to weirder. "He's a keeper."

And one hand rises from his pocket so he can give his fellow Magician a wave. "And I'm Gil. Good to see Magician keeps a certain, ah." He looks the woman's dress up and down again. "...aesthetic alive and kicking. You could totally have just walked out of like, Sweeney Todd and looked right at home."

The goat puffs up a bit proudly, then bows and goes to start getting tea ready.

Beatrice spreads her hands. "What can I say? Whether you're speaking of true magic or the kind of fun tricks that get pulled on stage, presentation is always part of it. Plus I like this dress."

She pauses and thinks as she reaches him. "Although personally, I think Poe did rather better with the particular crime of ambushing someone with a straight razor than whomever it was who wrote about the demon barber."

"George Dibdin Pitt," he replies automatically. "Or like, he's the one who wrote the original original story and made Sweeney Todd an urban legend. Which is pretty impressive, when you consider he basically just wrote cheap drug store novels."

That is a very impressive dress, he can agree to that. In his hoodie and jeans, he feels distinctly underdressed. "Can't say I'm too big on magic, though. Like, I've got a few parlour tricks up my sleeves, but mostly I'm just too used to being fucked over by it to really have any positive opinion on it."

"A common reaction, and an understandable one," she says seriously, "especially given our present situation. Magic is quite a powerful tool, and often abused, but frankly, I'd rather fight fire with fire when it comes to controlling the situation."

And then she's back to smiling. "Plus, I can make ice cream and tea out of nothing, which makes up for a great deal."

"Ice cream's pretty fucking sweet. But fighting fire with fire is pretty much what my Court's known for." Find the True Fae's weaknesses and exploit the fuck out of them. "That's... actually was I was hoping to talk with you about."

"I'm happy to," she says, grinning a very nearly genuine grin. "Let's step into the parlor and put our feet up. What are your thoughts on tea?"

He's more of a coffee person, but... "Black with honey?" And he follows her to the parlor. "My friend used to order this amazing honey online, it tasted like treacle or something."

"I don't know if I'll quite be able to match the taste without experiencing it for myself first, but I can certainly manage honey in general."

The parlor is really more like an old-fashioned smoking room, filled with books and quite comfortable chairs around a small table. When they enter, Beatrice waves a hand to cause a chessboard to disappear off the table and, with a bit more concentration, replace it with a steaming teapot, a jar of honey, two cups, and some English-style biscuits.

"Have a seat, Mr. Gil, and let me know what it is that's on your mind," she says, seating herself where she can see the door.

Watching food appear out of nothing is still novel to him. "Nice."

And since the witch took the good seat, he picks the one that's opposite her; it might not face the door but it faces her, and that's good enough for now.

"Okay, so context real quick-- I'm a Changeling, like Jules but less inclined to screaming at stupid shit, and part of being a Changeling means being able to make Contracts with abstract concepts - my personal ones are Stone and Autumn, which means I can hit shit real good and play havoc with people's emotions. Specifically, fear."

That was a bit of a mouthful, so he takes a short breath there. It's also a good moment to pause and consider that he's telling a random witch who can summon demons and owns a mansion who claims to be on his team something pretty intense. "...and I worked out what Magician's afraid of."

"Ahaha, I'm quite fond of Jules, actually. My apprentice adopted him, and he's done right by her so far. I doubt he reciprocates, of course. My own magic is also quite attuned to the emotion of fear and he...isn't fond of experiencing that," she admits.

She leans forward intently. "I'd very much like to discuss the nature of your beings and your prior captivity if you're comfortable with it, but...an Arcanum's fear, you say? Magician's specifically? That's quite a coup of information."

Beatrice wills herself not to fidget in her chair like a curious child. "In the interest of evening this game up a bit for us players...what is it?"

"Might have to do a raincheck on that captivity story. A Changeling's Durance - not just mine, Kitty's and Jules's - it's... traumatizing. I don't remember a lot. And what I do, is... hard. To talk about."

Even just mentioning it in abstract is making his fur stand unpleasantly.

"Magician, though..." A much less personal topic to jump onto. "She's scared of going insane. Losing agency when it comes to her thoughts and actions. Brainwashing, dementia, hallucinations. Any kind of, uh... executive dysfunction, that's the word. She's terrified."

Another pause, much shorter, and he shrugs. "Honestly I didn't expect that Contract to work on her."

"I understand entirely," she says seriously, her previous joviality gone in the face of a subject that's actually close to her as well. "The only reason I bring it up is that...well...I believe a similar process of awakening to power in impossible, magical captivity is part of being a Witch as well. And I've had some good experiences talking about that with a vampire, for some reason."

She remains focused and attentive as she lets him change the subject to ROSE. "That's a reasonable fear for a woman concerned with skill, logic, and knowledge. More than reasonable. I'm surprised such a thought even occurs to a being as powerful and fundamental as an Arcanum..."

Beatrice thinks for a moment. "Has anyone told you about Moebius yet?"

...okay but that's making Gil wonder if all Changeling would count as Witches to this one, or if all capital-W Witches are some kind of Changeling. Question for another time, perhaps.

"Everyone's scared of something," he states plainly. This, at least, is something he knows with absolute certainty.

And one ear flicks up when Beatrice pauses. "...only in the context of bullshit maths and like, Moebius strips. So knowing that, I'm gonna guess it's about loops of some kind?" Exactly what, fuck if he knows.

"Moebius is the name we give to the great vile bogeyman of Jaunts, which happened long before I arrived here," she says. "It was apparently quite an appalling experience, not the least because the in-Jaunt trauma and mnemonic experience affected the memories of Travelers even after the Jaunt ended, causing amnesia and various stress disorders even though our Jaunt bodies and Liminal selves are supposedly separate."

She sips her tea, thinking. "Supposedly, ROSE is responsible for maintaining the data that describes us. Allows them to rebuild us when we die and keep us 'safe' when our minds are riding around in Overlay bodies. If she's seen that data lost or corrupted, maybe she's been thinking about ways that could happen to Arcana as well..."

Well, didn't that sound awfully familiar, and his ears twitch back at the realisation. "Lovely."

He can mostly gather from context what most of the ROSE information means, and he frowns slightly as he leans forward to fix his own tea. "ROSE called all this a giant chessboard. Which probably makes us the pawns. But even a pawn's got the potential to get a king backed into a corner." He takes his own tea, but continues to sit leaned forward on one knee. "So we just need to find a way to mate all the other kings, huh. The ones that aren't keeping us... safe? That doesn't seem like the right word at all."

"I have to admit, half the reason I'm so excited to be on her 'team' is that I enjoy her taste in metaphors," Beatrice says.

"And to tell you the truth, chess is a great deal more complicated when you're a piece who can think," she continues. "Achieving the ultimate checkmate is our patroness's goal...but I'd personally rather find the edges of the board, and whether it's possible to go beyond them. Escape is meaningless to me, and many others, but more control over the board, on the other hand..."

"I've already been a pawn for way too long. And I think the metaphor's starting to break down a little, but yeah. I'd be down for seeing how far we can really push things here." A bit of vindication, perhaps, for all of the shit his Keeper had put him through that he hadn't been able to fight back against, until the single time he could. "Oughta be pretty interesting, seeing what it takes for our beloved patrons to think we need stopping."

"Ahaha...if ROSE is as much like me as I'd like to think, she's almost certain to be curious what we're capable of, more than wanting to stop us," she says.

"Then again, I know better than to trust the way a powerful woman presents herself, too. We'll just have to see what happens."

Gil is rapidly coming to appreciate the witch's sensibilities. He's very happily going to take it as 'push the rules as far as you possibly can just to see what happens', which feels very Autumn to him.

"Does that mean I shouldn't trust you?" But he's grinning as he says it. "Like, you haven't even given me your name yet."

"Trust is something earned, something traded, a facet of the most fundamental element of the Universe," she says. "It's too valuable a commodity to be handed out to just anyone, but gambling with it can yield greater rewards than any amount of money."

She smiles. "That said, I am Beatrice, the Golden and Endless Witch. Thank you for at least trusting me enough to accept an invitation and hospitality."

Edited 2017-07-16 19:39 (UTC)

"You are a goddamn delight, and I am more than happy to place my trust in you. Team Magician best team, right?" He's normally pretty generous with his trust; he sort of had to be, being a Changeling, when not trusting other Changelings meant dooming yourself to a slow, painful descent into madness or, worse, falling back into the arms of the Fair Folk.

Perhaps that applies to Witches, too. It would explain a lot.

"Our team is the best team," she agrees, raising her teacup in a salute entirely inappropriate for the drink.