Legacy of the Stone Assembly, Chapter I: The Cabal, The Quill, and the Concord

[Hella_Tellah]

"Where is the Heirarch?"

"Right back here," replied The Nemean, pushing open the saloon-style door to the kitchen with his back and carrying a large salad bowl.

"We'll get down to brass tacks and business after supper," he continued, placing plates in front of each of the new mages. "Meanwhile, why don't we all introduce ourselves, get to know one another?"

Sitting down, the Nemean continued speaking as he unfolded a napkin in his lap and began serving himself from the casserole dish full of baked pasta in the center of the table. "As I said before, I'm called 'The Nemean', and I'm the Hierarch for the Boston Consilium. That means it's my responsibility to keep all the Awakened around here from killing each other, and when people have disputes, they tend to come to me." He passed the casserole dish off to his right, to Thorn. "Careful with that now, it's pretty hot."

The Nemean took on a serious tone, looking over his tinted glasses as he spoke. "I've been Awakened since the '60s, so I've seen plenty in my day. I don't like bullsh*t, I don't like drama, and I don't like tattletales. The less I hear my phone ring and your name gets mentioned, the happier we'll all be."

He laughed. "But you'll probably hear enough about me by and by anyway. Tell me about yourselves."

 

[magic_gathering2001]

[sblock=picture]

[/sblock]"Very good to meet you Nemean. As for myself, I am recently Prometheus. I awakened, as you call it, several years ago, but this conference will mark my first meeting with mages other than my late mentor. As such, I hope you all will pardon any unfamiliarity with such events. And, as you say, I hope for extremely infrequent need to call upon the one who prevents mages from killing eachother."

 

[Annalist]

Sitting to The Nemean's immediate left and directly across from Thorn, Mitchell kept silent and still, allowing some of the other guests to speak first. He had already done enough damage to his own dignity with his earlier 'zeal for veal' incident. So his current plan was to shut up and listen; it seemed like a sensible enough course of action. And anyway, he needed time to figure out what he was going to say when it came around to his turn to introduce himself.

Hi, I'm Gabriel and I'm a mana-holic. It's been exactly one month since my last vulgar spell, but I've been Paradox-free since. I enjoy moonlit walks on the beach and candlelight dinners--with veal of course. And I'm a Pisces.

In reality, he was a Cancer. But that was besides the point. The real question was: how much should he reveal about himself? For all intents and purposes, these people were complete strangers, including The Nemean. And right now the Hierarch was their sole point of commonality. It was like he was trapped in an ultra-surreal casting episode of MTV's The Real World.

This is the true story... of five mages... picked to live in a house... work together and have their lives taped... to find out what happens... when mages stop being polite... and start getting real.

Hoping to go unnoticed, Mitchell decided to go with Plan B. But that would require keeping his mouth stuffed with food so that he wouldn't have to talk. And right now the casserole dish was still being passed around on the opposite side of the table. C'mon, hurry people!

Maybe he should of thought up of a Plan C.

 

[Shayuri]

Thorn helps herself to the casserole dish's contents, spooning out a hearty helping before passing it on. She glances around at everyone, then shrugs; a bit self-conscious, but determined to stick it out.

She wriggled out of her jacket and draped it over the back of her chair. Her shirt was dark grey with a sunburst picture on it in yellow, sleeveless. Around her right bicep, close to the shoulder, was some kind of tribal type tattoo.

"You guys can call me Thorn. Not much to say, I guess. I give back what I get. If you're cool with me, I'll be cool with you. I'm pretty new to this stuff, but I'm giving it my all and I'm doing pretty good." She trailed off for a moment and finally shrugged again.

"I guess that's it for now."

 

[Solarious]

As the Nemean walks into the dining room with a bowl of salad, Jeremiah starts slightly.

This was not the first time he had seen that face.

Jeremiah is certain that it wasn't the same person, and is dead certain that the other person isn't the Heirarch. For starters, the other one didn't look like he was stuffed into a tweed jacket a little too small for him, snapped and growled back at other people, nor did he have the general air of a baited bear. Well, that's one more thing I won't be mentioning out loud.

Scooping out some pasta and passing the casserole dish along, Jeremiah starts eating. "The name is Jeremiah. I Awakened about a year ago, to the Watchtower of the Iron Gauntlet, and have been initiated into the methods of the Guardians of the Veil," he smiles pleasantly as he spears a piece of veal for his plate. "I believe that is all. Gabriel, you look like you want to say something."

 

[Annalist]

Mitchell slunk down in his velvet-cushioned chair by just an inch, wishing that he could disappear, and shot Jeremiah a baleful glare through squinted eyes. You just had to single me out didn't you? Clearing his throat, he sat back up and responded nonchalantly, "Oh no, I'm all good here. Just waiting for the veal." He subtly stressed the last word hoping to convey his growing impatience.

But it was now time to deflect. A quick verbal riposte would do. "Guardians of the Veil you say? How incredibly fascinating. I know so little about them. Please, tell us more."

Two can play at this game, he smirked.

 

[Solarious]

Replying calmly, "The name is secret police, as I'm sure you already know." Jeremiah pauses to chew his veal. "There isn't any need to pussyfoot around the open truth. Any more would be a secret, however. I'm sure you understand: I don't expect your name to actually be Gabriel."

"But enough unpleasant accusations. What of you? I'm sure you can tell me a little; I know nothing about you, and I've already said so much."

 

[magic_gathering2001]

"The name is secret police, as I'm sure you already know." Jeremiah pauses to chew his veal. "There isn't any need to pussyfoot around the open truth. Any more would be a secret, however. I'm sure you understand: I don't expect your name to actually be Gabriel."

[sblock=picture]

[/sblock]
"An interesting organization, that. You say its secret police, but prance about openly as a member? Quite an interesting organization. That being said, I think Gabriel may already be familiar to the Nemean, which would exempt from telling about himself, from their greetings earlier and his reluctance to do so now." he pauses with a look over to at the Nemean for a confirmation.

 

[Hella_Tellah]

"...I think Gabriel may already be familiar to the Nemean, which would exempt from telling about himself, from their greetings earlier and his reluctance to do so now." he pauses with a look over to at the Nemean for a confirmation.

"Right you are, Prometheus," the Nemean responded. "Gabriel is already a member of the Consilium, and in good standing. His mentor and I may not always have agreed on everything, but Melchior knows how important a strong community can be for a mage. Gabriel is also a member of my Order, the Silver Ladder."

The Nemean turned his attention to the quiet young woman at the far end of the table. "Levanna, is it? They tell me you're a Free Council associate. How is that suiting you?"

 

[BlueLotus]

"It suits me quite well actually. I've always been the oddball of the group. You know, the one that didn't want to follow the crowd. The Free Council just seemed like a logical choice to me, though I know Mercurio disapproved." Levanna said as she took the casserole bowl and scooped a generous portion onto her plate before passing it on. Poking at it with a fork, she continued "They keep trying to get me to put my rotes on my cell phone or a computer. The problem is that those cost money. I usually have to ask: 'With what money?' That usually gets them to leave me alone about it for a couple of weeks."

Levanna cast subtle looks at Gabriel and Jeremiah, trying to see what they were doing with the momentary break in their verbal jabbing that she was providing for them. Were they sizing each other up? Avoiding eye contact?

"I dunno. I've been a mage for longer than I realized. My mentor certainly provided a helping boost in my learning, but I like working things out for myself. The Free Council lets me do that, encourages that. Works for me." she shrugged to deflect any misunderstanding or percieved passive aggression. She didn't want to sound arrogant.