2024.02.10: Coffee with Ceilia

Coffee with Ceilia
Bob is back, and has coffee with Ceilia and Leigh
IC Date	February 10th, 2024
IC Time	Evening
Players	Bob, Leigh, Ceilia, Titania
Location	Prospect Roasters
Spheres	Mage

Prospect Roasters - Basement

Newly replaced wooden stairs descend down into a clean, welcoming basement. One of those lift chairs have been built along the railing to make the steep slope handicap accessible. The basement is a little on the cool side and the walls are left to the bare brick. The lighting is pleasantly soft with warm circles of light instead of harsh fluorescent. A large, round table has been set up in the middle of the room with 13 chairs around the perimeter, but room enough for more. There is also a couch and a flat screen TV, a small washer and dryer in a closet off on one end, a little kitchen area with a small stove and small table nearby, and of course the smell of coffee wafts down constantly. There is a dumb-waiter built in against one of the kitchen walls to transport food - or whatever - up and down from above. Against one wall is a bright red phone booth. There is one entire room dedicated to a communal library.

There is a simple, mundane video camera above the doorway at the top of the stairs at the end of the hall. It is outside the room, so privacy can still be assured. If you tamper with this, please inform staff or Eloise immediately.

Bob sets.

A state of the art wheelchair is parked next to the couch today. The Pretty Reckless music videos are playing on the TV as the twenty-something man in the wheelchair works his laptop, which sits on a custom shelf. Next to the laptop is a large cup of coffee, in a holder. A large messenger bag is attached to one side of the wheelchair, with mechanisms to keep it from getting entangled. The man himself? Well dressed but not expensively so, grey slacks and a white wool turtleneck with a jacket. A little scruffy, mustached, with dark hair. Tall, maybe around 6ft or so. His voice is quiet as he sings along with "Heaven Knows", 'Start your life with your head held high...'

A state of the art wheelchair is parked next to the couch today. The Pretty Reckless music videos are playing on the TV as the twenty-something man in the wheelchair works his laptop, which sits on a custom shelf. Next to the laptop is a large cup of coffee, in a holder. A large messenger bag is attached to one side of the wheelchair, with mechanisms to keep it from getting entangled. The man himself? Well dressed but not expensively so, grey slacks and a white wool turtleneck with a jacket. A little scruffy, mustached, with dark hair. Tall, maybe around 6ft or so. His voice is quiet as he sings along with "Heaven Knows", 'Start your life with your head held high...'

Ceilia isn't that familiar with this place. She knows of it, but it takes her a few minutes to find her way through. A large coffee in hand, she comes down the stairs and looks around. Eyes open, tentative. He's singing, so she stays quiet, and walks softly.

Short, and of indeterminate ancestry, this young woman has short black hair in a simple, shiny bowl cut. Her skin is fair, and lightly powered to give her a ghostly glow. Her eyes are dark, and nearly shadowed by the line of hair above them.

The girl's body is slim and taut, what can be seen of it anyway, beneath her ribbed, long-sleeved, black shirt, and loose black sweats. You might see a skinny ankle or wrist, or her delicate fingers, really, besides the hint of a very hippy bone structure, and a modest chest.

Bob looks up, stops singing mid-word, and a ready smile decorates his face. 'Hi. Bob. Where you at?", is said in a thick Cajun accent, words launched rapid-fire and clipped. A quick keystroke blanks the screen, and he watches their reaction as they come down the stairs. He seems to relax once she sets foot within the basement.

<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======--->

Ceilia rolls Dexterity + Stealth vs 6 for 3 successes. 4 +6 +8 +9

<-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->

Ceilia is somehow managing to walk softly so even her low boots were't going to disrupt the singing. But he stops anywya, and then she laughs softly. "I'm not Bob," she says, coming down from the stairs completely and seeing what he's doing. "Sorry. I've never been here before."

Bob chuckles, "Alors pas! Nah, I'm Bob. From Nawlins. Where you at, that's our how are you. But, welcome! And feel free to grab couch."

Ceilia picks a couch to sit on, sitting back. Fixing her sweats and her shirt, and then taking a sip of coffee. "Oh! Well hi Bob. I'm Ceilia. Thank you. I'm not interrupting anything am I?"

Bob shakes his head, taking a sip of coffee before responding, and the smell of cinnamon climbs the air. "No, it's fine. I've been wanting to meet more of us, so the company is welcome. New to the city? Or just here?" He peers at her, as if trying to divine the answer.

Ceilia smiles. "Well I was only recruited last year. And Captain Valiant, Etherspace traveler, was the one who recruited me and got me started. But he's back in space, and I had to start school, so I'm here now."

Bob grins. "I haven't met Captain Valiant, though that's an awesome name. Etherite huh? That's great. Always amazed at what you all can create. Virtual Adept myself, software vs. hardware. Been in the city only a few months myself. Since I don't know, maybe Turkey Day. Met a few folks. Several of the chairs. Hey, just heard you all got someone in the chair now, congratulations!". There is a pause in there somewhere. Maybe. If looked for hard enough. With Correspondence for help.

Ceilia nods. "I doubt you'd meet him since he's spent most of his time in space. I think he said he's from Scotland. He sounds like he's from Scotland."

She laughs and sips again. "Virtual Adepts. Yes he told me about you guys. Some really deep information theory. Cool. And yeah something about a local council. I don't worry too much about that stuff, you know?"

"And weelcome to California!"

Bob nods, "Thanks! And yeah Council is, well, we have a phrase for it. Fais do-do. Means a party in in Nawlins parley, but also means going to sleep in French. Always thought the traditions should work together more. I conjure an etherite and an adept could build some very cool things together. I know some Etherites explore space, and some build amazing devices, and some do both. What's your thing? Me, I'm a noob, but really good with animals and the Digital Web."

Ceilia stretches out, and then takes another big sip. "Yeah a party. That would put me to sleep. I'm learning science, I'm getting to work. I don't really have time to argue about politics. I can do my own thing."

She pauses. "Though that doesn't mean I can't work with you. Anything special you're working on?"

Bob sips more of his coffee, thinking. "Probably the best approach. I've no current projects, other than researching the creatures of the Digital Web, and trying to revive a Tradition mage hangout there that's been languishing. Do you know anything about the creatures of other worlds? Would you like to learn about the ones in the Digital Web?", he asks. It's obvious this is a favorite topic.

Ceilia sits up. "I do know there was a place people used, that is now abandoned. Tong Xiu and Steele Smith are putting together a new place, not far from here. A mansion Steele bought. They're finishing setting that up."

"I know... something about other dimensional things, but I don't know anything about the Digital Web except that it's a very.... different sort of ... space. I'd love to hear about it."

Bob nods. "Sp. Imagine a stack of paper right, several sheets. Some sheets are further away. You can call a sheet a space, a universe, a simulation, whatever floats your paradigm. Out of respect I'll call them spaces." He smiles. "So one space is what we think of as our world. Another is outer space. And another is the astral. As tech has grown a kind of astral space has grown along with it, the Digital Web. The more connected things got, the more real the Digital Web got. And there are things that live there. Beings born from our video games, our writings, our various imaginings. These things change, interact with things from other spaces coming into the Digital Web, and change. So there's some weird stuff out there in the Digital Web. Like Pattern Spiders and Geomids. Supposedly you can call on them here too, though I don't know how to do that yet."

Ceilia holds her breath as he speaks. Eyes going up to the ceiling, thinking, trying to understand the point he's getting at. "So you're saying people like you have grown and expanded an entire near-Earth dimension, that has its own... rules. Okay. And there are... things living in it. And you study those."

Bob chuckles, "Non, heck no. I'm no archmaster. It's grown itself. Like you believe outer space is expanding yes? So imagine when Arpanet went online a small digital web space came into being, and has been expanding a little bit every time things got more connected, until now it's like the Astral. Keep in mind I'm new-ish, and everybody looks at it differently. It's a different place, different rules, and tied to the net. The things there are similar. And yeah, right now I'm interested in learning about those critters, as part of learning everything I can about the Digital Web. What do Ethernauts explore, do you call it outer space?"

Ceilia grins. "Not you personally. But you, as the Virtual Adepts, collectively, over the last...75 years or whatever, you know?"

"We explore everything. But the easiest part of space to get to is Etherspace. It's sort of... it's not completely conventional space. If you know what you're doing you can breathe in it. But it's close. You can get to the moon and the inner planets, and from there, if you have a space drive good enough, you can get into actual deep space."

Bob cocks his head, "Interesting. I think that's what I've heard others refer to as the Astral. You think that's possible? Have you ever been to the other planets?" He sits forward a bit. This is interesting.

Ceilia pulls out her phone. "Astral... that's... nnnnn. No. What you're calling the Astral..." Her finger is busy tapping and swiping. "The Astral is actually Earth-centric. The Astral and the other two... co-dimensions just through the dimensional gauntlet. Those are on Earth. Out in space, the further you get from Earth, the more things... merge together."

She tilts her head. "Which is why there are so many theories about how humanity is involved with the shattering of reality, and maybe were involved with what happened way back in 1999."

"I haven't been in space at all myself. Captain Valiant offered to take me with him to Mercury. But I had to stay. I had to get my degree, and probably another one after that. So I'm here."

Bob nods, "Interesting. Sometimes I think part of our problem is we all have different terms and views for things. Then again, that could just as easily be one of our strengths. Do you communicate with Captain Valiant while he's out there exploring, or is that very difficult? I know there are reality hacks we can do to talk to people in the Digital Web."

Ceilia shakes her head. "I don't know how to build something like that yet. But later I will. The kinds of things I work on, that first got him to recruit me, have nothing to do with space and the fabric of the universe. Just... electromagnetism, engineering, energy, basic stuff. I'm learning the Etheric Dimensional theory and Contiguous Etheric principles as I go."

A state of the art wheelchair is parked next to the couch today. The Pretty Reckless music videos are paused on the TV, paused on 'Heaven Knows'. A twenty-something man in the wheelchair sits in conversation with Ceilia, taking a sip from a large coffee. A large messenger bag is attached to one side of the wheelchair, with mechanisms to keep it from getting entangled. The man himself? Well dressed but not expensively so, grey slacks and a white wool turtleneck with a jacket. A little scruffy, mustached, with dark hair. Tall, maybe around 6ft or so. "No idea what that means, but sounds fascinating.", he says with a thick Cajun accent, the words clipped and fast like bullets.

Clomp-clomp. Clomp-clomp. Clomp-clomp. The sound of someone coming down the stairs can be heard before she's actually seen. And obviously, it sounds more like a gallop or perhaps a trot rather than a simple walking down the stairs. It's as if whoever it is has a spring in their step and has decided that making the descent a 'musical' adventure rather than a normal and boring one. Once at the bottom, a vision in orange and plaid can be seen. Leigh is wearing a cute orange sweater that's cropped, which might be defeating the purpose of wearing a sweater? She also has a cute plaid skirt as if she's trying to do a stylish schoolgirl outfit but not obviously so. She's humming some song that's stuck in her blonde head. She blinks, "Whoa, people!" She

Ceilia looks up at the arrival. "Leigh, hi!" she laughs. "You seem in a good mood. Of course you should be after a pretty successful test."

Then considering Bob again. "It's all about travel. Point to point, within space and through dimensions. I don't know any of that."

Bob smiles, "Leigh, it is good to see you again.Welcome! Experiment? Sounds like congratulations are in order." He sits up and watches the new arrival then looks at Ceilia, "Ah, you two know each other then?"

Leigh pauses in her tracks. "Whoa, I got on an A on a test?" She takes a moment, "Did I know I was taking a test?" She tilts her head, "Daddy tells me that some teachers like to give me As for no reason." Based on what she's wearing? There's a reason. "Well, I hope I did good on the test. I don't remember studying for a test." She then furrows her brow, "But um, I don't think I study very much for tests." She shakes her head as if clearing her thoughts and un-derail her train of thought. "Huh? Experiment?" She then furrows her brow, "Some of the guys in classes like to conduct experiments." She shrugs, "I guess it was ok?" She then whispers to nobody, "I don't remember being in experiments either, but maybe that's a part of the experiment?" She then beams brightly, "But it sounds like I did good! So... yay, Team Leigh!"

Ceilia does not keep a straight face. She nods, and laughs, then keeps on snickering as she takes another drink of coffee. Smiling to Leigh, not saying another word on that topic. "Did you get a coffee. Have a seat." Then turning to Bob again. "We've met. We're part of the same grand organization. But we work in very different ways." You paged Leigh with ‘Oh I remember now. You were with Steele and we talked after, Leigh dropped the ditzish act and showed how intelligent she was. There was more, but I have a log somewhere. I'll have to dig it up.’

Bob smiles sardonically, being in on the ruse. "Go Team Leigh indeed. Yes, I remember meeting you. You're a friend of Steele's. An interesting person to talk with, and yes, you're welcome to pull up a seat, we're comparing notes on some things."

"Oh, I don't steal friends." She then pauses, considering that statement. "Well, some people say that I steal boyfriends." She shakes her head, "But that's not really true. I mean, I usually give them back. But it's not my fault that they don't want them back." She then changes course from going to a bookshelf to joining the duo. She plops down on the couch, making sure that her skirt falls neatly in doing so. Nothing improper! "But um, I like to think I'm interesting to talk to. Otherwise, I'd be pretty boring. And I know when I deal with boring people, my brain starts to wander and then like I forget that I'm even talking to boring people."

Ceilia looks at Leigh, and snickers. Looking over her outfit, she shrugs. "Look, if they're not married, and they want commitment, maybe they should make different decisions. That's not your fault."

"So yeah Leigh. Bob was telling me about how he studies alien animals and creatures in the Digital Web space, that he studies."

Leigh turns to look at Bob with wide eyes, "Alien animals and creatures?! I didn't know there were animals on Mars! That is ..." She stops and blinks, "Oh, wait, you said it was in Digital Web space?" She furrows her brow, "So like is that really real? Or is that like only computer real? Did you know that you can go shopping for people's photos? And sometimes they look prettier than they really are." She then furrows her brow, "But then like people try to buy my pictures or say that my pictures are from a store and not real. And like, I don't know, I think I'm real."

Bob nods, "Yeah, it's fascinating to me but might be boring to you all. Basically a whole kind of universe that's digital, with it's own denizens. Mars is a different thing, though from what Ceilia says she might be able to go there one day. As for real. Are we real? We know there are things in the Astral. Are they the spirits less real than us? Same for the Digital Web critters I think, they are just as real as we are, just they're real-ness exists in one space, ours in this space."

Bob's answer seems to give pause to Leigh. Her poor blonde braincells is probably trying to process that. "Oh." Yep, that's as profound an answer you're going to get from her at the moment.

Ceilia nods. "Yeah Leigh. If you ran into one of them. You'd be able to touch it. And if it bit you, it would hurt. They're real. But not here. Like.. kangaroos are real, but they're in Australia."

Bob nods, "Good analogy. Kangaroos are real, but in Australia. That would have been good to have when I started explaining it. Have to remember that."

Leigh looks really confused now. "Wait, so kangaroos are not real here?" She then turns her head to side as if to process that. "Does that mean the zoo is lying to people?" She gasps, "That's mean! Why would you do that to little kids who like seeing kangaroos?! I mean, there's a momma kangaroo and a kid kangaroo with Winnie the Pooh! I mean, how are you supposed to tell the kids that they're not real unless you go to Australia?" She sighs, "Oh, and just so you know, you don't have to stand on your head when you go to Australia." She holds up her finger as if that's an important safety tip. "They don't really tell you that when you fly there."

Ceilia is seated on a couch, sitting back, drinking from a large coffee as she talks with Leigh and Bob. "Well, they're not lying. It's just... it takes special effort to bring one here. Just like, it would take special effort to bring an alien spider from the Digital Web, here."

Titania comes down the stairs, glancing backwards over her shoulder. SHe pauses and holds open the door as a very large cat comes through it, then closes the door behind the very large kitty. Not a Maine Coon, but if you didn't know the details, you might assume it was. The cat is technically on a leash, but it's mostly just for show. Down the two of them ascend, the cat being very catlike and Titania being perhaps even more catlike in her grace.

Bob nods, "And like a number of spirits, to bring a Pattern Spider here I think you'd have to give it a body." He looks at the new arrival and trails off. He looks at Ceilia and Leigh, and raises an eyebrow.

Leigh straightens her posture and shakes her head, "Oh, I don't like spiders. You don't have to bring them here. I know they're real, and well... I like to say that they're really scary, but some will probably just say that I'm being a baby. And I say they make flamethrowers for a reason." She then looks to the new arrival. She takes note of the big cat and then leans over to whisper to Ceilia, though it's more like a stage whisper as it can be heard, "Is that cat real? Or is that cat like only real in far away places like New Mexico?"

Ceilia starts to talk, but the cat arriving, along with Titania, makes her pause. And sit up. But then she laughs softly. "I don't know. But.. yeah, I'm sure the spiders are scary. And one of the first things I'm going to learn how to make, is space spider flamethrowers."

Titania eases the rest of the way down the stairs and she looks down at the cat,who looks back up at her and the cat.... the cat definitely shrugs. Definitely. Titania sighs and she turns back to the group and she speaks. Her voice is soft and delicate, but pretty in its own way, laced with a heavy Russian accent. "Good evening."

Bob looks at the cat, and at Titania, and says "Good evening. I don't think we've met, I'm Bob. It is a pleasure to meet you.", in a thick Cajun accent. He turns his head to address the cat, and says "And it is a pleasure to meet you as well.".

Note: Bob has Beast Affinity 3, Communicate with Animals 2

Leigh just stares at Ceilia now. "You're going to make flamethrowers for space spiders?!" She throws her hands up in the air, "Welp, we might as well surrender our planet now!" She sighs, looking rather helpless. She looks back to Titania, "Well, it was a good evening until she said she was making flamethrowers for space spiders. I can't deal with regular spiders. But space spiders?" She then adds with an incredulous tone, "With flamethrowers?!" She claps her hands together and shows her palms and the back of her hands (similar to the gesture casino blackjack dealers make when they leave their table), "I'm out."

Ceilia giggles. "No. I mean to ATTACK the space spiders. To defend humanity." She gets up, and puts her hands on her hips in a dramatic pose. "To save the earth from the monsters beyond." She then nods to Titania, and to Bob. "Good to see everyone, but I have to run. Sorry, but I'm learning how to own a house and there are many things to fix. See you around!"

Titania's brow arches slightly as Bob turns toward the cat. The cat blinks slowly at Bob. "Meow." The cat doesn't MEOW. It SAYS Meow. Like a word. Bob can confirm, through the animal affinity and communication with animals that, indeed, the cat says 'meow." Titania, on the other hand, just offers Bob a smile and then glances over at Leigh and Ceilia. "English is far from my native language and I knew she didn't mean the flamethrowers were for the spiders."

Leigh nods her head to Ceilia, but then Titania piles on. This makes her say, "Oh." Such profound answers coming from the blonde. She then mutters to herself, "Well, I didn't know that." She then allows for the cat and friends to have their conversation. She just goes quiet.

Bob chuckles, "Ok, fair nuff. Anyways, good to meet you. Looks after Ceilia as she leaves, waving goodbye. Looking to Titania he adds, "Familiar?" He remembers he's carrying a dead mouse for Lyra's snake, and gets it out of his pocket, sliding it over the floor to the cat.

"Close enough, yes," Titania says to Bob. The cat peers at the mouse and up at Titania and then back to the mouse and he obligingly baps at it a time or two. Just to see if it.. no. it doesn't. Titania gives Leigh a little passive smile. "It's okay. I'm sure it was confusing."

Leigh just offers a tight lipped smile and nods her head to Titania to her statement about things being confusing.

Bob frowns at Titania's comment to Leigh. "Hmm. And you are?", he says to Titania. He also says to Leigh, "I probably need to leave soon. But I'd like to catch up soon. Can I get your number", he hands a phone to her, already set to enter contact info. "I'll text you so you have mine."

Titania smiles a friendly, full smile at Leigh and then nods to Bob. "Titania Boroskova. This is Kroshka. I just came down here to peruse the library. There usually aren't people here."

Leigh takes the phone and smiles to Bob, "Sure! I'm surprised you don't already have it." Perhaps used to having guys always asking for her number to the point of forgetting who may already have it. She keys in the information. She even figures out a way to add emojis to her Contact Name in the phone. What is Leigh without a bunch of hearts after it?! She then looks to the cat and then back to Titania, "Are animals allowed in restaurants? It's probably a service animal, or something? I'm sure those rules are probably really confusing."

Bob nods to Leigh, "Thanks." As he sends her the text he says "Yeah, maybe an emotional support animal. Well, I should be going." To Titania he says, "A pleasure to meet you."

"Not usually, but Kroshka counts as a familiar. I don't take him through the restaurant. I bring him in through the alleyway." She nods to Bob. "Nice to meet you as well."

<Phone> (Text to Leigh) You going to be ok with her? Seems a sorcerer, not a mage..with a 'like a familiar'.

Leigh nods as she looks at her phone, but then smiles, "See ya, um..." She furrows her brow, "... Bob?" She says this as if she's already forgotten the name. She says softly, "I'd call you Wheelchair Guy, but I don't think that would be right." She tilts her head, "Even if that's ... you know, what you are. But like, I think your name is Bob." She grins, "If not, it is now!" She then looks back to Titania, "Oh. Well, that's nice."

Bob wheels out, attaching to the lift and rising back into the normal world once again.