Christ Church College

Merric responds questioning himself, "Oh yeah, I did ramble for a bit back there. I don't think I left anything out. Do you know anything about the Stryx the vampire mentioned?" He turns to his phone to shoot a quick text back to the mage,  Sorry about that Khalid, want to meet tonight at the undercroft bar by the Lee building? Say in about 30 minutes? He hits send, and turns back to the prof before she answers, "Sorry, about that, I figured I needed to reply fast before he lost interest. I asked him to meet me in the Undercroft Bar in about 30 minutes. Figured that would be a good spot close to home we can chat."

"The strix are semi-ephemeral creatures of shadow with an undeniable, yet unexplained connection to the Kindred," Professor Cragg explains. "They're dangerous and unpredictable with a hunger to consume the living. You should avoid encountering one and investigate only with the utmost caution."

Akil finished his last set, shoulders burning as he re-racked the barbell.  His phone buzzed as he made his way out of the gym and for once he hoped it was just classmate with a question about homework.  Akil looked at the message and Khalid answered: I can do that, might be a bit late but I'll see you there. He picked up his pace back to the dorm as he responded.  At least this time it was another mage, less to worry about, hopefully.

"Shadow creatures, huh?"  Thoughts swirl in his head of possibilities involving his shadow magic and the Strix, bringing back memories of when Raziel showed him her shadow powers. Curiosity killed the cat, but if Raziel continues to be an ally, I definitely want to see if she's willing to do experiments . His phone buzzes in his hand, "Oh seems like he responded"  Quickly reading the text and replying, Sounds good, see you soon. Turning back to the professor, "Looks like I'm meeting our mystery mage, hopefully, I can make an ally out of him."  Checking his surroundings and his pockets to make sure he has everything on hand, "I'll be off to meet him in the Undercroft, I'll report back later with all the info I dig up." He moves out of the room and makes his way to the undercroft bar to meet his new potential friend.

Khalid arrived at his dorm only slightly out of breath, fumbling with the keys he threw his door open and tossed his gym bag to the side.  Wasting no time he showered and got dressed throwing on a pump cover and some sweat pants.  As he closed his door to leave a book in his room caught the corner of his eye, the Mind Arcana.  Thinking twice he reached in to grab it, shoving the book in his bag as he slung it over his shoulder. Khalid arrived at the undercroft around 10 minutes late and realized as he looked across the bar he had no idea who he was looking for.  He found an empty booth and lounged, already starting to already feel the new bruises he gained from todays training.  Now all there was left to do was to wait, if his contact was a mage then they would know how to find him.

Merric smelled his shirt as he was on his way to the Undercroft, oof, this won't do.  After his realization, he quickly went back to his dorm to freshen up after his eventful night which seemed like it would only get more exciting. Despite his detour, Merric was not unreasonably late, not entirely sure who he was looking for, only a name to guess a face for. He scans the room, Looking for a mage in here will be like trying to find water in the ocean. I guess the tried and true ring works.  He pulls out his phone and begins to call Khalid, as he does he's looking around to see if someone is about to pick up their phone.

Khalid felt his phone buzz as he caught a newcomer entering the bar with a phone out, Must be him .  He pulled his phone out as he gestured with his hand, offering the other half of the booth for the Mage.  He leans back watching the demeanor of his new contact, an attempt to discern if he served interests other than the Diamond.

Merric sees the young, fit, Middle Eastern gentleman sitting at the booth waving at him, Found him.  He comes up to the booth, freshened up with a clean dress shirt, cardigan sweater, sprits of cologne, and a welcoming smile he reaches out his hand, "Khalid?" he asks in an excited tone. "It's a real pleasure. The name's Merric, but I guess you could call me Grimshaw if you'd prefer the formality."  He takes his seat as he speaks, after adjusting himself he looks at the man in front of him, "I appreciate coming on such short notice, especially since we hardly know each other. So how about, before we talk about mutual friends, a little icebreaker? Tell me a little about yourself."

He raised an eyebrow as Mer.. no, Grimshaw approached him.  The Mage chose an interesting fit for the Undercroft, Bold or just trying too hard .  Khalid nodded when Grimshaw called out his name, "Grimshaw?  Let me guess, Moros."   He gave a sly playful smile and shifts his place slightly to make more room for the newcomer.  As he continued to speak Khalid internally groaned, why was every creature beyond the veil enamored with small-talk.  Regardless he held his composure, "Seems you know more about me than I do of you, just learned your name like ten seconds ago.  Either way nothing too exciting from my end, just your run-of-the-mill Obrimos studying information security.  Been getting into bouldering recently, that's been fun."

Merric smiles at the joke, "Heh, you guessed it, Moros tried and true."  Quieting down so he can focus on his boothmate's words. "I honestly don't know that much, only your name that you and our mutual friend, Raziel had an eventful night last week." Candidly brushing past the topic of last week's events, he continues on, "I'm honestly just excited to meet another mage outside of study. My duties in the Mysterium and my classwork for med school have been so draining, I haven't gotten many opportunities to just hang out." He shows sincerity in his words as he expresses his longing for socializing but, he quickly perks back up so as to not sour the mood or sound too pathetic, "Bouldering? That sounds fun! That's like rock climbing, right, but, out in nature?" He continues his line of thought with a slight chuckle in his voice,  "Have you ever used your Obrimos magic to cheat a little and make the rocks easier to climb?" 

He chuckles, attempting to hide his nervousness at the mention at Raziel, "A Moros med student, I feel like there's a joke hiding somewhere in there."   He shakes his head smiling, "Indoors, I'm not that adventurous and no magic, I find it ruins the fun.  I also usually climb with Sleepers so I'd rather not risk the Paradox."   He pauses growing more serious and eyes the drinks other students were ordering, "So... they managed to drag another mage into this mess."

"Hehe, yeah it does sound like the beginning of a joke."  Listening as the new acquaintance entertains his attempts at small talk and building rapport. "That does make sense, I suppose it would spoil the fun in the sport if you used cheat codes."  He chuckles to himself a bit thinking about how much mage life is like a videogame with cheat codes enabled. There is some fun to cheating, after all, I guess. Picking up on Khalid's attempt to turn the discussion into business, he complies with a dry smile, "Yeah, you know they figured a Moros Med student was probably the best pick to look into a dead body."  He pauses in order to find the words to ease his acquaintance's mind, "I'm sure you're probably a bit worried that talking to me right now is indicting you in something. But, I promise that my investigation into what happened between Matthew and Razaiel that night is strictly that. I wanted to come to meet you of my own will, not any orders'. I was just excited that I got the chance to meet a mage especially one who has interesting friends." He feels like he speaking smoothly but also at the same time that he is trying too hard to make this less awkward. "I don't think you're any kind of criminal or threat to the order. I can vouch for you to my superiors. However, to make sure that my hunch is right, do you mind if I take a good look at you?"

Khalid first seems confused, his perplexed visage quickly shifting to a scowl as Grimshaw continued, "Matthew?  Who the hell is Matthew?"   He shifts in his seat, hiding his attempt to angle for better posture in case he needed to move quickly, "And what's this about vouching?  I'm not under any investigation, I've already talked about this with them.  Don't tell me this is some Mysterium shit, I swear to god."   He leans back scanning the room, assuaged albeit slightly that the others in the bar did not immediately seem tied with Grimshaw, "You wanna check if I've got any active spells going, go ahead.  I'm clean."   He folds his arms, not attempting to hide his frustration.

Worried that he misspoke and ruined this encounter he tries to explain, "I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that. You're not under investigation, I just figured you might have been thinking that when I contacted you out of the blue and I wanted to ease your mind."  Hoping he cleared the air he tries to answer his question, "Matthew is the name of the man that was found dead the other day. I don't think you have a spell on you. I don't think you're trying to hide anything. What I'm really looking for is to make sure that our night friends didn't leave any taint on you, like she did to me."  Looking at Khalid sincerely, "So if you're still okay with it I can examine you."

Still tense, Khalid scans the bar searching for an excuse as to his anxiety.  Why was he so nervous.  He did nothing wrong.  Rae did nothing wrong.  His thoughts freeze. Perhaps it was his readings on the Mind Arcana or just his experience with Eve, but something was wrong.  And as much as he loathed to admit it, the mage might have a point.  He shifts in his seat, uncomfortable with the idea of his own discordant thoughts, "Fine. Do it."   

Merric awkwardly starts his investigation, "Alright, here I go, please excuse the awkwardness."  He begins to focus deeply on Khalid, watching the rhythm of his breaths as his vision begins to expand into the supernal realm. He sees the colorful flows of magic infused in the air around him and the dense congregation of magic that exists in Khalid. His magic swirling in him like nimbus clouds of light, deep within these clouds, Merric notices something off. "Hmm seems like something is off, I'm going to scrutinize it a bit more so please be patient."  He pours his mind and will into seeing beyond the clouds to find a dark ichorous blot spreading like veins to the clouds around it. However, as he focuses on it he recognizes the taint as a vampiric influence, one not dissimilar to the one he had. Khalid seems to swooning for a vampire that fed off him. This might still be Raziel's influence. He relaxes his focus, not realizing that he's been uncomfortably staring at Khalid for almost a minute. "S-sorry about that. I'm sorry to say this, but I believe I was right."  He lets the awkwardness pass before continuing with his diagnosis, "It seems you still have vampiric influence within you. This influence is holding sway over your emotions and your mind, as if compelling you to be enthralled by whoever fed on you."  He lets the revelation sit for a moment before trying to provide relief, "I know it might be a lot to take in right now, but rest assured, I know people who can help get rid of this influence."

Khalid tenses as Grimshaw examines his supernal essence, discomfort taking hold as he could almost feel the mage delving even without his own mage sight.  When Grimshaw spoke Khalid felt a strange sense of relief as his fears were confirmed,  "Well....  There's some comfort in knowing at least.  I suspected for a while something like this might have happened, but wasn't really sure." He looks at the mage across the table and folds his arms, "But I don't need your help to fix this.  I've been working on my Mind Arcana and I'd rather both see what this influence looks like and get rid of it myself."

Merric a little flattened by Khalid's aversion to help tries his best to relate, "Oh nice, I've never taken to Mind arcana, it's been a struggle for me to practice. Maybe you can show me how you've been practicing sometime." Merric pauses to gauge the response and takes in a breath to talk about his experience, "I totally get what you mean by feeling comfort after figuring out something that's been lingering in your mind. When I first met Raziel she seemed like an interesting, smart woman that's been going through a lot. It makes you forget what they are because they seem so normal. And to a degree they are. They were just regular people who met a supernatural ' end' . Maybe that made me drop my guard, maybe I was just consumed by the curiosity of it all. But when she asked me if she could taste  me, to figure out if my specialty also affected my blood, I indulged in it. I was cautious at first but she assured me it was safe. In truth, I think I was just curious myself and impulsively wanted to find out."  Taking a pause to recollect and remember the experience. "It felt unique , and she didn't lie to me, I wasn't hurt. But I later discovered that I too had that taint in my soul. Luckily I had a mentor who was able to cleanse me."  Focusing back at Khalid, "That worry I initially had, even though she reassured me I shouldn't, to know from my mentor that I did have something and that they took care of it, brought comfort to know that I wasn't just being paranoid." Taking a breath from talking too much, he nervously tries to bring this back into a conversation and not a speech,  "So, how did you meet Raziel?"

Khalid paused, taken aback, as a Grimshaw described a tale not too dissimilar to his own.  He relaxes as he gathers his thoughts, "Actually I met her sire first.  And I don't remember her asking before she took a bite."   He sighed, reminiscing of the night, as he continued, "Met Rae after that as her sire and a few other Kindred took me to a party hosted by their own.  Everything went to shit pretty soon after that."    He fiddles with a strap on his bag, the tome within ever-present in his thoughts, "Recently I thought I just about bailed Rae out of some deep water, she said people were hunting her so I helped hide her presence.  Since then I haven't talked to her much.  How did you even go about meeting her, I've quickly learned Mages and Kindred don't tend to interact."

Relieved to be connecting somewhat with his fellow mage, he tries his best to answer his question, "Hopefully it doesn't seem like I was the one hunting her" he said with an awkward chuckle. "You'd be correct. Sadly we don't mingle much with our supernatural neighbors. I got involved when the mages were concerned with what happened to the murdered student in Brasenose Quad. It makes sense, when you have a dead body the best person to ask is a Moros, like myself. I found the ghost of poor Matthew, the murder victim, and saw what killed him. Seemed like Rae had an accident while feeding, so I found her location and confronted her about it."  He quickly goes through his whole process with a sense of pride at how successful he was, "Pretty good detective work if I do say so myself."  he punctuates with a smirked chuckle. "When I last spoke to Rae not too long ago, she still seemed worried about something or someone finding her. She was also attacked by Strix, which is very bad for all the denizens of Oxford. I hope she okay, she was fun to talk to." he says with genuine concern. Going back to Khalid's encounter, "You mentioned meeting her sire? Have you met many vampires in your time here?"

Khalid raised an eyebrow at the word Strix, ominous yet unfamiliar,  "I'm sure she is fine, her sire is quite protective."   He undoes the strap on his bag, now idly flipping through the tome under the table, "And yeah, I've met a good few.  When they took me to their party we met this old one, he almost died that night. Not sure if you know a Liam, but if you meet a professor who's also a musician I'd keep your distance."   Khalid grimaces, once more remembering his encounter in the library, "All I can say is that everytime I've met a vampire it has not been pleasant."   He pauses, amending his statement, "Except maybe one, but she seemed different. Either way you've stepped in the Kindred world, it's gonna be a hell of a fight getting out of it, and I'd rather not have you make the same mistakes I've made."   Khalid's heart races, Grimshaw seemed safe and if not at least innocent in this business, "But was sharing it worth the risk?"  For near half a minute he debated what next to say, weighting the risks and inevitably seeing the potential.  He finally reveals the book he had open, a tome on the Mind Arcana gifted to him by a gracious professor, "I think I might have a way to make our interactions much safer and I think I'd like your help."

Merric perks at the mention of another pleasant vampire, "I'd like to meet that pleasant vampire one day. Sounds like an interesting time." He waits for Khalid to respond as he sits there pondering and then Khalid pulls out a grimoire with a proposition. Merric excitedly responds, "Of course! What did you have in mind?"

Khalid leans forward conspiratorially, sliding across the booth closer to Grimshaw, "Kindred, when you get to know them, aren't as frightening as they first seem.  They are faster, stronger, and sometimes smarter.  But one thing sets them apart from effectively being an elite athlete that needs to hide from the sun."   He opens grimoire, flipping to a page, before continuing, "It's that they can play with our thoughts on a whim.  We've both been subject to the most base version, the impact of feeding but it gets much much worse."   Khalid points to a diagram or runic circles on a page, he couldn't help but smile, "So here's my idea."

The next morning after his night out with his new mage acquaintance, he wakes up to an unfamiliar sight, a series of text notifications on his phone. Hey there! Hope that you've been well. Though things have changed since we last met, the situation we spoke about turned in my favor. I would like to ask for your help, for which you will be properly compensated. Can you meet me at my place at sunset tomorrow? I'd recommend bringing some supplies of your specific expertise, as we will likely need them. I'm inviting my other associate as well, the one I mentioned before. The one of a skillset not dissimilar to your own. Does she mean Khalid? Funny I wonder if he got the same text. He sends a text out to Khalid, Hey, did you just get a message from Raziel for us all to meet? He then responds back to Raziel, Hey! Glad to see your still alive! Unalive? You know what I mean. I'm happy to help but can I get some more info like how did it go last night with your bottle friend, and what exactly I'm going to need my "tools" for?

Khalid wakes up groggily shutting off his alarm that had been snoozed at least three times, that he could remember.  A quick panic overtook him as he rushed to check the time, breathing a sigh of relief he fell back into his bed checking his notifications.  He sat up reading a message from Rae, reading it over a few times before responding, Things have been fine, I actually met with Merric earlier it went well.  I'm interested and I'll be there. Sidenote, you haven't talked to Aubrey recently have you?  I've been trying to reach her but haven't really gotten a response yet. He pulled himself out of bed, preparing for the day ahead as he responded to Merric, Sure did, don't think I have enough time to prep that trick I was talking about but Rae is chill. It should be safe.

Brushing his teeth before class, his phone hums with a new message from Khalid. He multitasks his brushing with reading and replying: To Khalid: Glad to hear! I'm excited for us all to be under one roof. Merric goes through the rest of his school excitingly waiting until this evening for the meetup. Evening arrives, as he finishes the last of his coursework for the day at his desk. As he puts his pen down for the last time a new message arrives on his phone. From Rae: Thank you, Merric! Both for the well wishes and the willingness to help. It turns out that our little bottle friend wasn't quite necessary, and the issue has largely been dropped by the concerned parties. Thus, given the dire nature of my current situation, I'd like to put our bottle friend to a new use. I'd like to use him to augment my own abilities, with your help and Khalid's. Processing the idea of augmenting a vampire with a soul, a giddiness comes over him like a child in a toy store, he responds. I'm glad to hear your dilemma has resolved itself. I'm not sure how effective this augmentation will be, but I'm excited to try and learn more about you're going for. We'll talk more about it in a bit! He gets his tools together to take with him, deciding to leave his Grimoire behind. He shoots out a quick text to Khalid: Hey, want to meet up to head over to Rae's together?