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Tommy looked to be down in the dumps a bit, when he sat on a bench looking at the Tree. His satchel was with him, and he was flipping his gold coin over and over, without looking at the results.
He wore a black skirt, knee length, with a black short sleeve shirt that had a traditionally feminine cut to it. No active magic seemed to be on his person.
Suddenly there was the blur of motion as Rook was suddenly crashing into the Mage. A happy 'woof' and a sudden lick to the face ought to cheer him up!
A little ways away, still holding the leash, was Psyche. She approached slowly, a smile on her face, letting the German Shepherd get his fill. She waits on the Mage to start up the conversation, but there was a fair bit of worry in her eyes.
The heels of expensive men's shoes come softly clacking down the pathway through the gardens, approaching the tree. Simon's stride isn't hurried, but purposeful, not bothering to take in the scenery very much. He stops once he's in sight of the tree, scanning the area with sharp, cold eyes. He seems to not see what he had expected to see, based on the annoyed purse of his lips, angular jaw setting with impatience. There's a sharp exhale through his nose as he smooths a hand over the front of his ridiculously expensive, clearly tailored, dark suit. The man screams obnoxiously rich.
Not far behind him, tagging along at a much more leisurely pace, is another man--tall and broad, very much with bodyguard vibes, despite the fine suit he is also wearing.
Simon's gaze settles on the pair and the dog after a moment, but he doesn't immediately approach.
The coin was caught a hair of a moment before the tackle, and it was lucky. Bones laughed a bit, clutching the coin tightly, petting Rook with the other hand, "Hey Boy, You okay?"
And then to wherever Klaire was, "PSyche? Y'all okay too?"
Eventually they stood, and he dusted off his outfit, glancing around and noticing Simon's gaze. A wave of the hand with a grin that didn't reach his eyes today, "Sorry bout that distraction!"
Rook continues licking until Bones is deemed happy...but Rook levels of happy. It takes a bit.
Klaire finally approaches. "I am fine. I saw the notice and was more worried about you."
Klaire glances to the obnoxiously rich figure in the distance, a subtle wave but trying not to interupt whatever buisiness it was he wanted. She silently hoped the buisinessman wouldn't approach.
Unfortunately for Klaire, Simon does approach, though he gives the dog a wide berth. He eyes the animal in the way people who clearly do not like dogs do--as if he expected Rook to piss on his shoes at any moment.
"Have either of you seen Fox here today?" he asks, his voice as cold and rigid as his gaze is.
A gentle elbow to Klaire's stance about Simon, slipping the coin into his pocket for now. The other hand kept petting Rook, while watching Simon approach.
As he neared, Bones proofered a hand, "I am Bones of the Mysterium, this is Psyche of the Free Council. I haven't seen Fox in about two weeks now, I imagine she's deep in her latest audiobook...."
Psyche makes a motion with her hand and whistles since she did not have telepathy up because of the tree. Rook sits immedietly and looks to her, enjoying the pets from Tommy.
"No, not since I joined the Free Council. Was she supposed to meet you?" Psyche was a pretty good guesser after all. It had become her profession.
Simon steps forward to accept the shake. It's devoid of warmth, the sort of shake that is most often used to seal deals that lead to death and ruin. He glances between them, but most of his attention ends up settling on Bones. "Hm, I heard of your arrival. Jinx, Acquisitor of the Mysterium, though the status of that title is rather up in the air, at the moment."
A pique of the brow, "Oh?" It took a lot to not wipe his hand off on his pants, instead he just lowered it into his pocket to pull his coin back out and fidget with it. "You clearly don't like the Council, and if the Mysterium is up in the air... are you looking to become a Child of the Tree?"
Klaire scowls at the dismissive look, but keeps quiet for the moment. She gives a motion as a command to Rook, who comes running up to her side before sitting again at a second command, she gives his a slow pet while watching the conversation.
"No," Simon replies curtly, shaking his head. "The leaders of the Mysterium have not had the time to meet with me since my death." He idly adjusts a fancy as fuck wrist watch, perhaps a subtle cue of discomfort, for Klaire's keen empathy. "As I am neither a Sleepwalker or a Mage any longer, it's undecided if I am still a part of the Consilium." He glances up at the tree idly. "Though it appears I am welcome among your spaces still, at least until that decision is made."
"...One of the Bound?" he scratches his jawline now. "I met one of them last week. While you're not a sleepwalker, you're also not a sleeper..." a slight shrug of his shoulders, then he looked over at Klaire and Rook, before back to Simon, "I would guess that you have informed them, and are awaiting the decision until that point?"
Klaire looks confused pipes up. "I'm...not sure if I've ever heard of the Bound. You died?"
"Indeed," he replies to Bones, chin lifting faintly. "Much prefer Bound to Sin Eater. So dramatic. And of course they were informed." He looks to Klaire. "Yes. Rather inconvenient. But thankfully for me, a temporary inconvenience. I was brought back to... some manner of living state by my partner, a... well, we'll just keep things simple and call her a very powerful ghost, though that isn't completely accurate."
"That is correct," comes a voice from near the door to the Aboretum. It's an extremely distinctive voice, quite low for a woman's and very rough, as if its owner trained it by chewing on gravel for decades. The accent is beautiful, smooth and clipped at the same time. A woman past middle age and quite striking, with long, wavy black hair with earthy undertones, high cheekbones, and warm hazel eyes absently tugs on the lower hem of her burnt orange sweater, smoothing it at the hips of her mom jeans. Her soft-soled loafers pad across the earth. "But we are lucky. Jinx returned to us."
It's not often that Cambyses socializes, but here she is. "It is a good place to start," she amends at Simon's explanation.
"I can give us a little help on the explanation of the subject," he said softly, moving back towards the bench that was carefully the right distance away from the tree.
"Ghosts as Souls certainly makes things interesting. And I...." he went silent as the Hierophant spoke, the embarrassment was plain on his face.
Klaire's head tilts with interest at the powerful ghost comment, but gets distracted at the voice, looking to the new face. There's a slight glance to Bones as its clear shes trying to figure out who this was. Rook sits at attention, looking at Klaire to see if she needed any help.
"Well, I am glad you found a way back then. Hello, I don't think we have met. I am Psyche, Voter of the Free Council."
Simon turns towards Cambyses, a smile curling at his lips. It still lacks warmth, but it's practiced and polite--a businessman's smile when talking to someone they want to make a deal with. It doesn't make his pale eyes any less unnervingly sharp. "Cambyses. Just the woman I've been hoping to speak to. You are well?"
"Feel free," he adds towards Bones, curious to see how accurate his explanation would be.
"Please, Savant Bones, I did not come to interrupt you," the woman prompts. She turns her measured gaze towards Klaire, considering her, and the corners of her mouth turn up slightly. "Ah, naturally you are. Hello." Her hands fold together in front of herself, and she continues, "I am Second Degree Master Cambyses, Mystagogue and Alchemist on the Path to Stygia, Supernal Realm of Death and Matter, and abode of Shades, Doorwarden of the First Buds of Spring, Hierophant of the Mysterium of the Martyr's Tree of the Lesser Convocation of the Northeast, Master of Death and Matter, Adept of Prime, Disciple of Spirit and Mind, Apprentice of Fate." Her thoughtful attention shifts to Simon next -- one might get the feeling she is carefully cataloguing everything she sees, forgetting not one detail -- and she smiles a little more warmly there, but only a little. "I heard you might be here. I am well, and hope you are recovered as you can be."
He flipped his coin and caught it again, fidgeting with his first tool ever. To Simon, he gave a slight nod, but waited for the Hierophant to speak.
Once she did speak, Bones adjusted to flip the coin again, focusing on Rook and Klaire, while seeming to page through an invisible book. As they did, magic flickered forth, entwining Bones, Klaire and Rook.
Klaire looks between Simon and Cambyses, a still confused look. "Is...did I do something wrong? Neither of you particuarly seem...excited by the fact I am here. I can leave."
Klaire shoots Bones a look, trying to see what they are doing.
As magic coils around the others, another figure becomes visible, though not right away. She seems to slowly flow into the senses, an unnerving shadow that enters the corner of your eyes. She stands a bit behind Simon, under the shade of a tree. At first it seems the shadows of the tree is obscuring her face, so dark as it is, but the longer you stare the more is becomes apparent that she doesn't have a face, a black void in the shape of a moretta ventian mask. Only two eyes are visible staring out from the blackness, wide and unnerving and knowing. Her dark curls are pinned up, wearing an old, faded white victorian dress. ()
"You did not do anything wrong," Cambyses answers Klaire, her smile broadening briefly before returning to her more neutral expression. "I do not need to interrupt, Jinx. I know we have missed each other these past few months. I don't need to keep you, I simply wanted to affirm your interest in continuing -- I do not know if there is another group you would prefer to shift yourself to."
Her gaze flickers briefly toward the Geist -- not for the first time since she's been here, either, now that Klaire and Bones can see what she's looking at -- and then to Simon again.
He bobbed his head to Klaire spoke simply, "There are ghosts that are so powerful, they are able to make a deal. At the moment that you die, and your soul moves on... the Ghost comes and makes a deal. Your life returned, but they take the space where your soul was. Then..." he motions to the Geist near Simon, "You get the Geist and the Returned, Bound together, as what they call a Sin-Eater, as Simon said. And that's about what I got from Chef Samuelson."
Simon acknowledges Klare's question with a glance her way, not seeming to have any complaint about her presence, but also not offering any reassurances. He seems fine with letting Cambyses speak for him.
He turns back to Cambyses. "My resources and interests have not changed overly much in death. The Mysterium continues to align with my work and goals. I see no reason to shift my focus elsewhere, if you will still have me."
Klaire watches the Geist with a worried look, then tries to look away but finds her eyes repeatedly drifting towards it. Shes not neccesarily unused to seeing the strange, but is more so unused to being able to see them clearly without manifestation.
She leans towards Bones. "I...see. I should really put more time towards learning about the other groups."
"There was some debate. We have never had a Bound initiate," explains Cambyses. "But it does not make very much sense to turn you out, especially given -- events." She doesn't interject herself into the conversation about the Geist, and then she glances aside at Klaire and her smile becomes a little rueful when Klaire speaks. "Yes, most likely," she agrees. "As I said, I won't keep you, Jinx."
"I only learned of the Bound last week. While I've ran across Ghosts frequently in ruins, I haven't found one defended by a Bound yet. You're not that far behind, and you're probably farther ahead with the Lost, I've learned more about the Kindred recently, and have a lot of old works on the Werewolves...we should compare some of those notes sometimes," he mused quietly.
Then he dropped the spell to keep Klaire (and rook) from getting too distracted with the Geist.
And he kept an ear focused on the other conversation with a Professor's ability to juggle conversations.
"Powerful enough that they ascend beyond the bounds of a normal ghost," Simon adds on to Bones' explanation. "Becoming more like an embodiment of death, than a simple entity."
The Mute Madame remains... mute. Unnervingly still. Somehow, whenever one looks over, she's staring directly at them, unblinking, even if multiple people are staring at the same time. Simon seems used enough to her presence that he's barely acknowledging her. But then the magic ends and she fades from view.
He dips his head gratefully to the older mage. "Very well. Then I shall happily keep my title. Thank you, Heirophant."
Klaire gives Cambyses a hesitant look but remains polite. "Ive spent over a decade trying to stay out of these things. I am adjusting as I can, but thank you for the input."
A look to Bones. "I would love to compare notes at some point else, Bones. Is there a place I can set up a water bowl for Rook nearby?"
She was already grabbing the leash for the pupper.
A pique of the brow again, and a frown tugged at the corners of his mouth, before motioning to the bench itself, "You could get one set up there, I'd wager. But you'd have to go get it, I think, si?"
"And now you are here, and you should, in fact, follow the path set out in front of you." Another twitch of the corners of her mouth, and Cambyses turns her attention to Jinx once more. "Thank you, Acquisitor. I shall leave you to it. Savant. Voter." A small gesture with her right hand, an almost ritual thing, and she turns to take her leave.
He nods again towards Cambyses. "I'll schedule an appointment soon to talk more in depth of how I can be of better use to the Mysterium now. Have a pleasant evening." He looks back towards Bones and Klaire once the Heirophant is away, glancing between them, but not stopping Klaire from stepping away.
Klaire nods politely as the Heirophant leaves, taking a moment to herself to get Rook some water as an excuse to calm down.
"I should actually get going myself. I need to check in on my father before bed," a smile and a wave as he walked away with his stuff.
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