No time for better words

[lord_wizard]

Who: Felix Harrowgate and OPEN
What: A Chimera meeting turns into disaster when some people’s stains begin to manifest
When: Afternoon of today, 4/13
Where: Chimera HQ, room 1919 of Gaudium tower
Rating: Probably pg-13 for mild gore
Notes:Open mostly to Chimera members or any people with magic, though curious interlopers are welcome. Felix’s stains will manifest near the end. You may have your character do so around the same time, at your option. Threadjacking encouraged. Please wait for sections.

It’s noon and all the doors opening onto the Chimera lobby are thrown wide open to let in the sunlight. For those of those familiar with the space, the large chandelier that used to hang in the center is still missing, having not yet been replaced after the damage from the earthquake.
The adjacent office has been rearranged to seat multiple people, and a cursory attempt at hospitality has been made, in the form of a desk covered in drinks (juice, tea, and sparkling wine) and snacks.

Felix himself is near the back end of the room, like a king of a very small court, though he wouldn’t exactly encourage the comparison. He’s picked up a slightly unfamiliar shadow in the form of his brother, but otherwise everything appears to be business as usual.

MINGLING/ARRIVAL | MEETING | STAINS

Comments

[strangewonders]

Howl is nowhere near the first one to the room, but at least he's shown up before the actual meeting began, which for him is quite the accomplishment. Being early doesn't suit him--it's hard to make an impression if there's no one in the room after all.

He was there now, though, with nothing to do but putter around, poking at the refreshment table while waiting for the meeting to start, eying up the new faces in the crowd.

[delincuente]

One of those new faces has also been hanging around the refreshment table, watching the rest of the room from a distance as she shifts a still-full glass of wine between hands. When she catches sight of Howl, she makes the subtlest of amused faces (read: barely subtle at all, but A for effort) at his appearance. He reminds her quite a bit of Felix, actually. She leans against the table and halfway look up at him.

"Well, you look like the ye olde wizard type. Mind telling some fresh meat how these meetings usually pan out?" She tries to hide her awkwardness with the whole meeting situation by pouring sarcastic confidence into her speech.

[strangewonders]

That got a laugh out of Howl, not the least because that was, in general, exactly the impression he wanted to give. Had he not, he might have shown up in a pair of jeans and his Welsh Rugby jacket. Perish the thought.

"I can hardly let him show me up, now can I?" He replied, waving a hand in Felix's general direction before reaching for his own glass of wine. "The meetings are discussions, more than anything else. No one's taking down the minutes. We tend to do our own things most of the time, so these things just keep everyone apprised."

He took a sip of his drink and smiled what he felt was one of his most charming smiles. "I don't think we've met. I'm Howl."

[delincuente]

"Ah, discussion. My favorite thing in the world." She gives a little half-roll of the eyes, and moves to take a sip of the wine. She lowers the glass again after a few seconds, though. "So it's more like 'wizard news bulletin' than 'wizard action squad' most of the time? I can deal with that, as long as it's not boring."

Not that she really trusts some old dude's definition of boring ("old dude" here meaning "man over twenty-five"). That's one reason she stayed away from this whole thing for so long. She's a teenager and just wanted to do her thing and not get involved. But lately, it seems like that's getting to be a harder thing to do.

"My name's Alex." She reaches out for a handshake.

[strangewonders]

"Something like that. We do try to keep things lively. If it were dull, I wouldn't attend, myself." Besides, if things got boring, he just had to provoke Felix a bit. And that wasn't hard at all.

"We try to coordinate if there's a crisis--" Not that they'd done very well during the earthquake, granted, "--but other than that, there's not much in the way of commitment." He wouldn't have joined if there were.

He took the offered hand lightly, and after a brief mental debate settled on a polite handshake. He had a feeling she wouldn't have appreciated him trying to kiss it, as mundane as that sort of gesture might have been back in Ingary.