Event - Quarter

[apocalypsehowmods]

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Quarter

➥ Quarter Dollar

There are many different departments at ADI, all of which seem to be vying for new potential arrivals to join their ranks. As the Quarterly Meeting begins, everyone is shown into the large gym below ADI where each of the departments has set up a booth. Some are more impressive than others with activities and native and off-worlders alike there to enthuse about joining up with them. Everyone is allowed to join up to two departments at ADI. Choose wisely!

Administration and Public Relations
These two departments appear to have joined forces and, as such, have gone all out for their booth. There are colors and informational signs all over the place, snacks, grinning people willing to tell you that it's great to be able to do your part away from some of the serious danger posed by fieldwork. They have set up a competitive game of Two Truths and a Lie. Everyone is given a card out with the names of people they play with. There's a place for them to sign off if a person successfully guesses their lie on the first go. There's a $100 gift card for the Castaways Vintage Cafe up for grabs to the person who can gather the most lies! Get to know each other and get some delicious (local) coffee and pastries!

Canteen and Facilities
The people in the Canteen know what will bring likely new arrivals into their fold: food. Food combined with… cleaning? Mostly, this means that they have some tasty snacks cooking on a few hot plates, or available in coolers set up in front of their booth, as well as a coffee dispenser. Their activity to get people interested is a 'consume the evil avatar' challenge. There are fruits, veggies, and other foods available to design a consumable creature. Those who participate are told that they will be given three free desserts at the Canteen. You might win a few extra if you can convince your fellow participants that your edible avatar is the best. Or… worst, as the case may be. Please remember to clean up when you're finished!

Equipment and Research
The R&D team, as it were. Although Research is a much broader department, they've teamed up with the Equipment folks to showcase their departments together as a place for nerds of all stripes. There are some interesting-looking gadgets for anyone who comes over that basically amount to very fancy fidget cubes and fidget spinners. The Research team also has a challenge for those who think they might be cut out for this department: Collect at least three pieces of information from or about people around the gym and report back. The cooler the info, the more (arbitrary) points you'll score. Everyone who participates and reaches a certain points threshold will be given one of the fidget cubes or spinners to take home with them.

Security and Investigations
The Security and Investigations departments have taken over nearly a quarter of the gym with their combined booth displays. It's a mini-obstacle course with nerf guns and targets set up. It's designed so that people have to work in teams to overcome some obstacles, the better to show that this is a team, whether you're working close to home for security or out in the field, relying on other people to have your back. Those who participate in the obstacle course will be timed. The team with the best time will be given bragging rights plus a $100 gift card (each) to the General's Store. Teams are allowed to run the course more than once or break apart to find more agreeable partners for runs.

Medical and Counseling
The combined Medical and Counseling departments have set up a very cozy looking booth area. They've got colorful standing screens that give the appearance and sense of a more intimate setting in front of their booths. The comfy bean bag seats they've scattered strategically with tables nearby to set down food or drinks only add to the ambiance. There's a gentle suggestion for a game where you find as many things in common with another person as possible, but everyone who can find even one thing in common with another person will win a prize. Said prizes are things like candy, stress balls, and handheld massage tools.

Information Technology
This particular department doesn't seem to think it needs to work to get people to join. There are some TVs set up with video game consoles that feature 2-player games exclusively. If anyone asks, they'll indicate a lot of their job is sitting around, waiting for things to break. The hacking only happens sometimes and it's really cool when it does, but they can't be breaking into things like the FBI constantly. That would be a bad look.

Staff Development
The booth here is one sad, long-suffering-looking person who's sat behind a folding table. They're handing out pamphlets. Just… so many pamphlets about potential skills you could learn. There's no game here, just pamphlets. A disturbing volume and variety of pamphlets. It's like this person seems to have become a living Craigslist, advertising every bizarre thing someone at ADI could potentially teach them, from alien languages to how to play the hurdy-gurdy.

➥ Fiscal Quarter

(cw: references to character deaths/disappearances, reference to animal attacks, mention of insects/centipedes)

Once 3 PM rolls around, everyone is herded into an exceptionally large conference room on the lower levels of ADI. People are allowed to bring their drinks and snacks, but are asked to be respectful with their volume. There's a raised stage at one end of the room, and it's onto this that Nia Lehrer steps. She is a short, dark-skinned woman with her hair styled into a tight and professional braided bun atop her head. She's in a striking scarlet pants suit and carrying a small remote that she uses to turn on a projector for a PowerPoint slide presentation titled: Third Quarter 2021. She is accompanied by another woman with a shock of bubblegum pink hair who stays to one side and proceeds to sign as Nia speaks.

"Thank you for coming, everyone." Nia directs a tight smile at the camera aimed at the stage. "And tuning in if you can't be with us today. It's been a hard year. We have new faces, but… a lot fewer old ones. I'd like to take a moment, please, a moment of silence for those who are no longer with us, whether their fates are known or not."

The slides shift and there is one titled 'In Memoriam.' It includes what may be many familiar names, but also the names of people native to this world or others from different worlds who arrived from earlier in time.

"Thank you. Now, I'd like to turn everyone's attention to our accomplishments..." Nia is a skilled public speaker, and it shows as she walks the room through two separate, major threats that ADI and its personnel have managed to contain: a ritual attempt by the Endless Sky Cult out in Montana, and an infestation of dog-sized centipedes that turned up in North Carolina. She also gives praise to those who fought against the kelpies and eradicated them closer to home. "We've identified the likely origin point for the kelpies as Bar Harbor in Maine. It seems strange animal sightings and 'shark' attacks dropped off when the population was relocated to Essex Bay. We're still looking into how they were transported and who brought them down. If anyone has any additional information, we welcome it.

"That brings me to the question of how we're obtaining our information, though." There's a pause as her gaze sweeps over the room. "Many of you are from worlds where you have magic, where you have extraordinary, superhuman abilities and there is no cost. It's just a natural part of who you are. That's no longer the case. While we appreciate efforts to gather information on our behalf, we do things the right way here. We don't feed off of other people and do exactly what's been done to so many of us. There are limited circumstances that ADI can authorize the use of the kinds of abilities some people have been discussing around here. Saving your life when you get here and keeping all of this a secret." She motions to the room at large. "I know many of you probably have an opinion on this, but I'll be blunt with you. If you have the ability to use whatever powers you possess, you are hurting or have hurt someone. You have made the conscious choice that someone else is going to suffer because you wanted or felt you needed that power. Justify it to yourself that 'they deserved it,' but that doesn't change what you are doing."

She takes a deep breath. "This is a difficult transition. We've allowed some things to slide because of that. Know that the longer you're here, the less leeway we're willing to grant you.

"Now, there are a few other threats we're tracking at the moment. Fenix Down is one of them. We have field operatives monitoring his performances and keeping track of his movements. As he seems to be in the early stages of accumulating power, he's not our highest priority. We're more concerned with reports coming out of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We're still gathering intel, but there may be a ritual in the works somewhere in that area. Until we have more information, we'd like to keep most of the people here, particularly our new arrivals, busy closer to home. The source of the singing around the city is a concern. We'd like to start sending out patrol teams for the graveyards to try to find the source. Similarly, the situation in Dogtown is becoming a problem. We've never seen anything quite as vicious as what's been happening there lately. Again, we'd like volunteers to assist in routing out whatever's hiding in there and putting an end to it before it hurts anyone else.

"If you're interested in that, Reyes will be organizing the patrols. And I'll be available for 10-minute discussion blocks after the next presentation. Please check in with Reyes to reserve some time."

And with that, she heads off the stage, leaving it to the CFO, a nervous-looking man who goes over the company finances at a high level for the next 20 minutes.

➥ Quarter Pounder

(cw: animal attack, consumption of human flesh, violence, gore, body horror, potential for severe injury, including puncture wounds and broken bones, potential for choking, potential for animal death)

Once you really start looking in Dogtown, it's almost… obvious. That's not water splashed across the path through the dirt, there's a rich iron scent to it. Blood. Blood is everywhere around Dogtown. It lingers in the air, but so many ordinary people seem to just… ignore it. They can't see it. Or maybe they don't want to. Ignorance is bliss, after all.

You are not ignorant. Make of that what you will. It's the reason why you'll be able to find your way, eventually, to a clearing where the scent of blood is the thickest. Or… almost make it there. There are no paths to this part of Dogtown and wandering, you could believe you're deep in the woods, well away from any civilization. It will take a keen eye to spot the traps set out all around the clearing. Snares hung on branches and hidden amongst leaves, bear trap-like devices made of sticks and pieces of twine, spike pits, small trenches you could break your ankle in. All manner of simple traps designed not to kill, but to wound.

If you do find yourself caught, you may be waiting a long time before anything comes to check on you. But perhaps you'll get lucky and someone else will be making an ill-advised trip out into the woods! When you do finally make it out and manage to get to the clearing, it may seem to be a deceptively uninteresting place. It's just a meadow with some wild boar turning over chunks of mud near some sort of drop off. A large hole?

The wind changes and you get a whiff of what's coming from that hole. Rotting, putrid meat, blood that's curdled and a body that's just gone off. Take an actual step into that field and the boars turn as one to look at you. And then the creatures actually stand up, revealing a collection of human arms and legs writhing along their bellies. The only sound is a squeal as they charge. Ready to gore, grab, and make you another piece of their collection.

➥ Quartermaster

(cw: flooding; damage to homes and possessions; drug paraphernalia; potential for memory loss or reference thereto)

It's two in the morning when disaster strikes at Bonnie's Flophouse. A few thunderstorms have rolled in over the past week, but they were nothing in comparison to the tempest that pelts the building tonight. While residents of the ADI apartment complex are warm and safe in their beds, residents of the Flophouse are liable to learn at the worst time that their windows are less than watertight. Thankfully, all it should take is a bit of elbow grease and/or improvised dam materials to stop up those minor leaks, so while it's not a particularly restful night, no one's out of a home.

No one, that is, apart from Bonnie and the Visionary. Their shared room in the basement of the Flophouse fares much worse, water from a stopped drain pouring down the inside of the unfinished foundation. In the hours directly after the storm hits, Bonnie can be found frantically ferrying their things upstairs (there are many potted plants and sodden wall tapestries--and yep, that's a bong) while the Visionary perches uneasily in a lumpy common room chair. Show up downstairs during the crisis and Bonnie will absolutely put you to work removing things from the flooded basement or trying to figure out how to stop more water from coming in. Show up the next morning and you'll find the two of them asleep on couches in the ground floor common area.

It takes days to dry out the mess in the basement. Bonnie is kept busy with that work, directing anyone who will help and doing what she can to correct the issue so it doesn't flood again the next time a storm rolls in. She's constantly on the move; conversations with her during this period will tend to be limited to Bonnie handing out instructions for repairs or for drying things out before rushing off to the next thing she has to get done. In the meantime, the Visionary spends most of his time in the common room, seeming overwhelmed by it all. She's a thin, sickly figure with a white walking cane and a blindfold they never remove, and up until now has only been a sporadic visitor to the building's shared spaces. Despite the blindfold, he always seems to know when someone has entered the room, head turned and tilted as she listens, a hungry twist to their mouth.

"Don't tell me where you come from," he'll warn you before you've even had a chance to say hello.

➥ Mod Notes

• GENERAL - Players are welcome to play NPCs for themselves when they are needed in a thread. If you need more information on general behavior for these types of NPCs, please feel free to ask! In general, the information provided in the prompt should be sufficient and you're welcome to make up any details beyond that for your specific scene. For this event, the only NPCs that should not be controlled by players for threading are: Nia Lehrer and the Visionary. These NPCs will be played by mods and available for interaction.
  
  
• QUARTER DOLLAR (25 September) - For anyone who participates in the Administration and Public Relations or Security and Investigations booth events, there is a sign-up below. The ultimate winners for those booths will be RNG'd and announced on 9/30. Characters who are already part of a department are more than welcome to say that their character is manning the department booth for a portion of the meeting. Selecting a department is something that can be handwaved. There is no official sign-up sheet. Please just remember characters can only join two departments at a time. ADI is mindful of people trying to overwork themselves as a trauma-response and will actively prevent your character from trying to do so by keeping tabs on where they're working and what hours. They'll have to leave the building, at least to continue working after a max of 50 hours each week between their assigned departments.
  
  
• FISCAL QUARTER (25 September) - Nia will be available for conversations with characters after the presentation. You can handwave that Reyes set you up with a time to meet. Please simply tag into the NPC Top Level below with your character entering into an office where Nia will be seated and waiting for them. Characters may meet with Nia individually or in pairs. Characters who attempt to use supernatural abilities on Nia may experience extremely negative IC consequences, as a warning!
  
  
• QUARTER POUNDER (25-30 September) - Characters will be able to use mundane or supernatural senses to track the blood and bits of flesh they might find along the way to the meadow. The traps have no particular pattern to them. They're simply numerous and clearly hand-made from whatever could be scavenged in the forest. There is nothing supernatural about them, but they will hurt characters who aren't careful. They seem to be fairly well hidden. Even someone experienced might not notice them. The boars will attack and attempt to rip pieces out of characters if they see or smell them. They do not speak, but will squeal and attempt to rip people apart if they get ahold of them. The hands and legs on their torsos will assist with this. Once killed, the boars will simply separate from the human pieces that are attached to them leaving them looking like they were just ordinary boars. There are multiple groups of boars that may be found at different times in the meadows. Various groups will need to eradicate them over the course of the week to finish them all off. The hole filled with meat isn't actually that deep, but there's a good handful of body parts and just chunks of meat in there. No full bodies, though.
  
  
• QUARTERMASTER (26-30 September) - As far as anyone can tell, the flooding is just that: normal flooding and water damage. Bonnie will not be available for threads; it can be assumed that anyone trying to strike up a conversation with her will be given something helpful to do and not a lot else. The Visionary will not stray much from the common room until their shared room is habitable again, and will generally be available for conversation. The Visionary is nonbinary and uses he/she/they pronouns interchangeably. Mod narration will reflect this.

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Comments

[worthallthis]

"Then we'll just have to keep killing them so they can't keep the. Meat pit." That's an apt thing to call it, he supposes. A put full of decomposing meat. Yuck. He'd just assumed they were eating it, and the arms were part of the creatures themselves.

Maybe they're not. Double yuck.

For now, though, he looks across the way at her in her tree. He isn't sure if the swipe he saw actually connected or not. "Are you all right."

[bloodalwaystells]

"I expect the tour guides have their hands full, keeping the tourists out of trouble. And some parts of the house were off-limits, obviously. A lot of the show was the decor and architecture as much as the weirdness. Chandeliers and parquet floors, stained glass and hardware fittings."

He shakes his head, thinking about that. What would the house be aligned with, in this world? Probably the Spiral, it seems an easy enough guess. And a little disturbing. The house had been born of madness, and even in his own world there was a sort of sad desperation to the place.

"It's just me, now, so it's all history. My father didn't speak much about his family and my mother passed away when I was very young...that didn't leave much. I suppose in a way it was looking for connection, discovering where I came from and wondering what was there for me." He considers for a second, then, on a lighter note, adds, "My German is still very, very good, at least. So if I ever go back, there's that."

[bloodalwaystells]

Even nightmares can die. That's terribly reassuring, and Jaeger draws in one more focused breath, chasing away the last vestiges of the Hunt from his mind. There's still a pulse of lingering anxiety, but he can cope with that. He is injured and in a dangerous place and it's good to know that sense hadn't abandoned him completely.

There shouldn't be joy in killing, he believes that sincerely, but he can allow himself quiet satisfaction at protecting others. At saving them the horrors he's been through. It's a balancing act that's become even harder to maintain here, but at least he's aware of the struggle and can do his best.

"I'm okay to keep moving," he assures Winter. The sooner they get to the safety of the path, the sooner they can do something about the blood that Jaeger is trailing. After another second of gazing around, he holsters his pistol again and waits for the other man to continue.

[sorser]

[It’s the sort of statement that doesn’t need to be finished; the way the words trail off into implication speaks volumes.]

For what it’s worth, I’m sorry it’s happened to you.

[It might not be worth anything at all, coming from a complete stranger from another world, one who has been debating in his own mind the benefits of using his magic versus the pronounced risks it entails.

Yet voicing that aloud might be a moot point, too. He can already see where the Visionary stands — as a literal cautionary tale, Lehrer’s own words now given life as an example before him.

I guess I could know the answer to that if I wanted to, they say, and he’s momentarily confused.]

Your powers deal with more than memories? Are you clairvoyant?

[deslumbra]

And that person would be Wanda, if she didn't hold a preference for tea. Habits die hard, and in Europe, tea with a biscuit of sorts is the norm; ever since Westview, she has made a slow return to her roots, feeling like she lost herself in the anecdote of a woman too strung out by grief to the point that she forgot who she was.

She will comment on the very plain choice of coffee, though.

"I don't imagine you've been to a Starbucks," it comes a little easier, the getting to joke around a bit with Bucky as 'Winter'. Past the doors and into familiar, impeccable hallways, she leads the way further from the bustle of people and towards the cafeteria. "Let me guess, your coffee is plain with nothing in it?"

[worthallthis]

"I have been. By a Starbucks." He hasn't gone in, though; she'd be right, there. He has a hard time trusting food and drinks in restaurants, and he doesn't really feel the need to splurge on anything. Regular coffee isn't an indulgence, though. That's a necessity.

He sounds a little defensive, though, when he adds, "And I put milk in it. A little." That's still not what he'd call sweet, but it's not entirely plain.

[horrifictie]

Absolutely! But fighting against it means you know better than to let nature overcome you. [ a nod, sage-like. ] I understand that, for I am a recovering-horrible asshole.

[musicdied]

She exhales a quiet huff of laughter. "Even if you do not, it's a good language to know. There are a lot of interesting things published in German."

She glances over the little pods of seating - the medical and counselling section seems perhaps a little less populated than the other booths, save for staff development, with its distressingly large and precarious tower of pamphlets.

No surprise there. If there's an otherworlder who isn't guarding secrets, it's someone she hasn't met yet.

"It's strange to think that here, we're all orphans, in a way. I suppose that's the reason for all of this." She lifts a hand and rolls it in a loose circle, taking in the entirety of the gym. "Connection. Not profound and personal, but something."

[ratjesus]

[ 'Operatives,' she says, and it's a simple word--the correct word--but Kugrash feels it settle strangely in his chest. He doesn't feel much like an operative. He's not sure he wants to be one, not really.

But he does want to help people. He's promised himself that, at least. He offers a crooked smile to match Emily's, and nods. ]

I got no problems crashing for a day or two. [ You won't hear him complain about needing to rest. If something important happens, though, he's going to ignore any advice and spring into action, and he has a feeling he's not the only one who does that here. He stretches out his hind leg, watching her intently. ]

You a doctor back home? It's lucky you came here. I can sorta heal but not this kinda shit, you know?

[the_archivist]

Interesting. Makes Jon wonder about the government involvement. Keeping things quiet. Is it a Section 31 thing?

He gives a small nod. At least he doesn't have to worry that the whole organisation is being funded by people like Lukas and Fairchild. That's a relief.

"Thank you for that," he says genuinely. "I worked in academia before so knowing where the funding comes from is... practically a job requirement."

[bloodalwaystells]

"There are. Including a lot of fairy tales and other occult studies. It's turned out to be a helpful thing." There's plenty of other things, of course, but given just how centered on the paranormal world Jaeger's studies have been, well, it worked out well that way.

Jaeger isn't surprised at the sparseness of the crowds, either, but it's kind of nice to be able to sit down without feeling rushed or crowded. he nods thoughtfully at her comment, toying with the fuzzy fabric of his beanbag. He's as settled into the spongy seat as he's going to get, but he's still not quite the type to hold completely still.

"That's a good way to put it. We're refugees here, and there's a lot that comes with that. The others around us who are going through the same thing. Trying to put a new life in order, to make sense of what we want to be. And how being severed from our old lives changes that. I know there's some things I want to do better, if I'm starting over here."

[musicdied]

Yelena leans forward, adjusting her balance minutely as the beanbag shifts beneath her, and rests her chin on her drawn-up knee. She eyes him thoughtfully for a moment, brow furrowing slightly.

"Is that how you are approaching things here?" she asks. "As a new start?"

[bloodalwaystells]

He tilts his head to consider that, because it does feel a little strange, now that he's said it.

"I think so, yes," he says after a moment. His fingers drum on his knee in idle cadence. "If this is a new place, completely removed from my life at home, then maybe it's time to start trying to fix things that have been broken for a long time."

He pauses, and the silence stretches on as he realizes that he probably should say more. Try to explain what he means, because otherwise it comes off as vague and kind of assholish.

"I made some very serious mistakes at home, and got involved with people doing very bad things. When I finally understood what was going on and tried to leave, they didn't appreciate it." He draws in a leveling breath, lets it out again. "I had to go on the run, and left my entire life behind."

This probably isn't the 'getting to know you' conversation that the department was hoping for. But, Jaeger likes Yelena and is starting to trust her. He feels like she might be the sort to understand, more than anyone who's lived a "normal" life.

There's a thin flicker of smile, weariness pinching the corners of his eyes. "I'm sorry. That's a lot. But...if I can actually settle down here, and do some good, then that's a much better place than I was before."

[medicative]

Yes I am - and it turns out no matter where you end up, such skills are best put to use.

[finishing off the bandage, it should be snug but not inflexible. not bad for her first time treating someone his size.]

You know, even if it's not as grand as feats of magic are said to be, the body's capacity for repair and resiliency is a truly impressive thing. Soon enough you'll have everything set to right, and most of that will have come from your own energy, your own flesh and blood simply knowing what to do.

[thatsreallygreat]

Caduceus tips his head when Kugrash identifies himself as a druid. Oh. That's good to know.

"You don't owe me anything," he says gently. "It would have been cruel to leave you like that. And possibly murder by neglect."

Suffice to say, nothing deserved to die like that and Caduceus had the power to intervene, so he did. He lifts his head to look back into the woods, eyes intent, though he doesn't see anything coming their way.

"Maybe it's better if we get back to ADI. I want to mark the trapped places on the map they have."

[thatsreallygreat]

Oh, well. I think most of the firbolgs I know and have met can cast a little. Detect magic, disguise self, hidden step. I can talk to animals and plants, in a way. But I'm also a cleric and the Wildmother is my patron.

[He's learned that cleric doesn't mean a lot to some people here, but he'll cross that bridge when he gets there.]

[apocalypsehownpcs]

"Fair enough. We're not academia, though. Got researchers, but we're more practical than-" She cuts herself off, offering him an apologetic smile. "It's got its place. We're just keen on applying things we study up on. Everyone who helps us get there's important, though. Good to have someone who's a professional."

Nia gestures toward the door. "If you could let the next person waiting outside know it's their turn, that'd be appreciated, Jon. Nice meeting you."

[apocalypsehownpcs]

They shrug, thin shoulders rising and falling. "It doesn't feel like it some days. But... thanks."

[apocalypsehownpcs]

"Bonnie's a good anchor," they say softly. There seems to be a world of meaning behind that simple sentiment, and she's quiet for a moment before nodding.

"I'll let you know if there's... anything else. Thanks."

[infrastructured]

"That works, then." He takes a stress ball. He has a feeling he'll need it.

"So, what's home like?"

[apocalypsehownpcs]

Yes. In a way.

[The Visionary can feel a pull as this conversation goes on, but... it's about himself. He can talk about himself. Warn others.]

I can share futures with people, make them experience what's probably to come. It... requires other memories, though. The ones you already have.

[apocalypsehownpcs]

[The Visionary tilts their head, and they are clearly 'looking' at Harry.]

How do you mean?

cw: discussion of alcoholism

[horrifictie]

[ RHETORIC - You need to get a little more specific. Explain your point further than just bland statements you can find on a greetings card.
INLAND EMPIRE - Past the blindfold, you feel their eyes looking straight at you. Maybe even *into* you. ]

Ok, so... instinct, what's natural, can be like impulse. You're drawn to those actions immediately. However, what is instinctual is just a matter of what you've trained yourself to think the right course of action is.

So, for example: I'm an alcoholic. My instinct is to drink. Like, constantly, I have a little deranged party animal in my head that suggests it to me. *But* even if that is my nature, I know that drinking too much is... [ he swallows dry, brow twitching down ] It's very bad for me.

But the push back against that is what helps me get better. Fighting against nature is necessary if you want to change your nature. Does that make sense?

[ like, any sense? he was riffing a lot right there. ]

[sorser]

[How fitting, he thinks.]

So a piece of the past for a glimpse of the future.

[Poetic, almost, if they weren’t so adversely affected by these apparent talents.]

These futures, have you ever been able to confirm their accuracy?

[sorser]

That’s one stress ball free from its confines of the bucket. Only a few hundred more to go. (Or at least it feels like it.)

“That’s not an easy question to answer,” he admits. “Society’s still recovering from a very major disaster, so everyone and everything’s been affected accordingly. Though if you’re asking about what life’s like in my circles, then… It’s watchfulness, research, and plenty of magic.”