[[[[[[MONROE'S NOTES: Monroe and Willow have their first real fight! The conflict of Willow's experience in the Traditions and Monroe's idealism causes some interesting friction between the characters on many levels. This was the first time it actually flared up.]]]]]] Starbucks Coffee(#1651RJMs) Welcome to Starbucks Coffee Shop: commercial powerhouse in the gourmet coffee industry. This place looks akin to every other Starbuck's in the nation, but still manages to retain a comfortable charm. Perhaps it's the synthetic earth tones that cover every surface, or maybe it's the eerily trendy staff..or maybe it's just the comforting smell of warm coffees, mochas and pastries filling this place from wall to wall. A tall evergreen counter takes up the back wall, surmounted by cookie jars and coffee flavored candies. Behind it is a long menu of products and prices printed on burnt orange slats. But if you don't think a 'grande brazillian blend mocha with a shot of val and a loganberry scone' sounds all that good, stick with the orange juice. A narrow black bar is bolted to the exterior of the seating area with pretty and uncomfortable iron barstools, but you can get a good view out the wide windows from these seats. More comfortable chairs circle the black tables atop brick red tiles. It's hard to sit or leave without those chairs making some awkward noise along the floor. But the constant swish and gurgle of the espresso machines covers up most noises, lending each table a surprising amount of privacy. Places available Contents: Jade Lassiter Obvious exits: Out Jade laughs softly sitting at the table talking with Lassiter. She looks up waving to Monroe smiling, before making a comment to Lassiter. Monroe steps in and picks up a black cup of coffee from the counter. He greets Jade and Lassiter with a nod, but doesn't recognize anyone else in the place. He slips into a booth gracefully and opens a library book to a bookmark. You sit at Booth 3. Booth 3. Willow comes in from outside, the door easing closed behind her. Willow has arrived. Willow comes into Starbucks, her nose tilted to sniff the rich coffee scent with a small smile. Even though she doesn't drink it, the smell is still pleasant. Monroe has read approximately half a sentence before the door opens and Willow enters. He raises his wiry arm to wave to her gracefully. Lassiter smiles at Willow, "hey ya." Jade glances up from the table with Lassiter, nodding slightly to Willow her gaze falling back to her table companion. Willow returns the nod to Jade, with a light smile to Lassiter, and proceeds over to Monroe. She stops about a foot from him, like she was about to step closer, but isn't certain if she's supposed to. Monroe rises as she approaches and nods in greeting to her, indicating his booth with a motion of his hand. He has already closed and put aside his book. Lassiter smiles at jade, "If you have to go, I do understand." Willow seats herself, grateful for the solution put at hand to her little mental distraction. Willow sits at Booth 3. Booth 3. Willow joins you. Jade looks curiously to Lassiter commenting softly in response. Seated at Booth 4, Monroe smiles genially. His voice is soft and reflective, slower than usual, though his greeting is standard enough. "And how are you this evening? You were busy as a bee today." Seated at Booth 4, Willow smiles back, "Well, it was only nominally so...not alot of purchases, but alot of people. Though I can't wait to speak to Father di Borgia..." she smirks. "What a name." Seated at Booth 4, Monroe chuckles a little. "I dared not say anything, but I thought the same thing!" Lassiter gets a really confused, "No, I thought you were waiting for them or something." Seated at Booth 4, Willow says "I'm sure there's a history to it..' she giggles. "Perhaps he took vows to make up for the illicit nature of his ancestry." Lassiter gets a really confused look, his brow furrows, "No, I thought you were waiting for them or something."(repost-mistype) Jade smiles warmly shaking her head, "No..nothing like that...no worries" Seated at Booth 4, Willow notes quietly, "The woman over there? That's Bardon's wife. Her name is Jade. Have you met her yet?" Seated at Booth 4, Monroe laughs with her. "It's a wonder there are any Borgias left in the world." he quips, then more seriously, "He seems quite the student - I am sure you two will have much to discuss." Seated at Booth 4, Monroe nods. "I met her briefly as I was leaving Bardon's on Saturday." =->Auto Judge<-= In Jade's aura you see: 05 Calm..........................................................Light Blue 43 Spiritual...........................................................Gold 47 Thoughtful.....................Sharp Colors move in slow waving patterns Its base appears to be bright. Seated at Booth 4, Willow smiles. "It's going to be delightful." she ahh's. "I hope she wasn't brusque with you." Lassiter catches himself staring at her, and chuckles, "I'm sorry, where were we?" He composes himself and takes a sip of coffee. "So, how the bar business going, Jade? Is everything in your life keeping pretty light right now?" Seated at Booth 4, Monroe shakes his head. "Not at all, she seemed quite charming, though I admit that I did not notice the...well, you might call it the 'brightness' about her until today." Jade smiles and nods taking a sip of her coffee, "Going good..things pretty much going the usual, and yourself?" Seated at Booth 4, Willow considers. "I...wouldn't bring that up with her if I were you. You may want to let Bardon know, though." Jade pages: Might I please inquire as to your ic reason for suddenly checking my aura please? You paged Jade with 'It's an Awareness thing - it just happens. It's the first chance Monroe has had to be in the same room with you for a while, and you're the subject of conversation over here.'. Lassiter laughs, "Yeah the usual, but I figure, my usual is a bit different from yours." His smile widens a bit. "It's kind of funny what you do to me, It's like...ah, nothing." shakes his head softly, still laughing a bit to himself. Seated at Booth 4, Willow says "The minute she finds out you're a mage, she'll be /quite/ different, I assure you." Seated at Booth 4, Monroe nods slightly, then looks a little confused. "Ah...you mean he doesn't know?" Seated at Booth 4, Willow says "Who Bardon? He knows. But she doesn't like Mages, at all. For reasons I can't share. Bardon is an exception to that rule." Seated at Booth 4, Monroe nods. "I'm sorry - then what is it I should let Bardon know...that I have noticed this?" Jade smiles softly cocking her head curiously as she speaks softly at the table. Seated at Booth 4, Willow nods. "I would also strongly imply that you have no plans to research the phenomenon further. And then stick to that implication." she sounds serious. Seated at Booth 4, Monroe pauses, looking at Willow uncomprehendingly, then he actually blushes. "Oh, no! No, I would never think to...no, no. I mean, it's something to be *aware* of, certainly. But I could never imagine casting judgment on such a pairing, not, well, not *now*." Lassiter smiles, "Nah, It's just when I'm chatting with you; anything, worries, pains, troubles seem to flow away kind of like a river taking the tides of the flood to the ocean. I guess it sounds kind of stupid, eh." Seated at Booth 4, Willow sighs. "That's not what I mean, either, I don't think. Jade will become upset if you pursue any information about her - I can't say why, it would violate oaths. In fact, I would appreciate it if you didn't mention to Bardon that I told you /anything/." Jade shakes her head a little responding softly. Seated at Booth 4, Monroe says softly, "I think it is what you mean, though, characteristically, I have drawn different conclusions from what you mean. I shall keep your confidence and I assure you I will not pursue the matter..." he smiles wryly, "...unless it pursues me." Lassiter grins, "You always manage to answer, without answering. Mind letting me on to that little stage trick of yours?" Seated at Booth 4, Willow says fevrently, "I hope not." Jade laughs softly at his comment and shrugs, "I'm and expressive person at times. No trick about that. Seated at Booth 4, Monroe nods slightly, in lieu of repeating his assurance. "Well, I have found out a little more about the Seneca - that's the tribe to the northeast. I am putting off actually visiting until I know a little more." Seated at Booth 4, Willow seems intrigued. "I'll go with you, if you like." she offers. "I don't know the language, but I'm sure I could pick up snatches, and it would be interesting to learn." Seated at Booth 4, Monroe nods. "I think it would be wise." he says. "I have little to no experience with modern Native Americans. Reading this story...well, it is astounding to me. It reaches out to me. Even the events which I knew of...they take on a terrible new meaning knowing what came afterwards." Seated at Booth 4, Willow nods. "You'll find them very mixed." she says quietly. "Many simply refuse any sort of integration with modern society, and many embrace it too wholeheartedly. Most, I think, find a path to walk between.' Lassiter looks really confused at the moment. "Ahhh, nothing...You ever feel like the world's coming down on ya, and don't know weather you oughta jump off the bridge, or get back in your damn car." Seated at Booth 4, Monroe says softly, "There's an island just across the Canadian border which the Seneca named Turtle Island." He sips his coffee. "I'm not sure what, if anything, to make of that." Seated at Booth 4, Willow considers. "Have you researched to see what local legends are attatched to it?" Lassiter laughs a bit, "Nah, not like one, I think it is one, but I really appreciate your ear." Seated at Booth 4, Monroe says "I haven't found any, except of course that it is the shell of a giant turtle. Although I did find one story that seemed to reach out for me nonetheless....you remember my impossible goals, I'll wager." Jade laughs softly and nods taking a sip of her coffee. Seated at Booth 4, Monroe's eyes twinkle with delight at the memory of the morning. Seated at Booth 4, Willow smiles. "They weren't many that impossible, I say." Lassiter takes another long sip of his coffee, then pauses a second. "ya, know Jade.....I probably shouldn't...be drinking coffee right now, in this state of mind." He grins. Seated at Booth 4, Monroe laughs easily, "Come now - to pierce the veil of lies and conspiracy to find the truth about the downfall of secretive men dead a hundred years? To end a war fought on a hundred fronts for a thousand years, or longer? Surely this is madness indeed." Seated at Booth 4, Willow pauses, her expression turning troubled. "The Technocracy won't stop until they win. It's never going to end.' Lassiter looks into her peaceful green eyes, with his. "Because it's probably condusive, of screwing me up even more. I understand caffine isn't a exactally a sedative. Hey there's a bridge at over to the island, maybe I'll go hang out there tonight." Lassiter shakes his head, and stands, "I gotta go. I'm sorry for being so freaky tonight." He stands, takes a look at her, and starts for the door. Lassiter who Jade cringes visably, a pained gaze passing through the normal peace and levity of her green eyes turning them slightly darker shade before lowering them to her coffee. Her smile fading with her table companions words. She mentions softly her accent stronger than normal, "Take care of yourself..and don't do anything stupid." Lassiter takes one look at her as he opens the door and walks into the night. The wind catches his hair lightly blowing it across his face. A tear of pain inches down his cheek. Lassiter walks out the door. Lassiter has left. Willow seems so intent on her conversation that she doesn't notice Lassiter's departure. Jade sighs softly shaking her head. She stands from the booth tossing her cup in the trash can and zipping up her leather jacket half way, moving for the door with a smooth graceful step, yet seeming intent on a destination rather than roaming. Jade stands from Booth 2. Booth 2. Jade walks out the door. Jade has left. Seated at Booth 4, Monroe smiles benignly at Willow. "Impossible, yes, as I say, quite impossible. And yet..." The wind tousles his hair a little and he pushes it back, his eyes flashing. "...what could we not achieve if we achieved it?" Seated at Booth 4, Willow looks away. "The only means of which the Traditions and the Technocracy will unite is if the Technocracy overids us all like an unstoppable plague. They will remove all joy, all creativity, and we will be nothing more then parts in the grand Machine." her words echo softly of prophecy. Seated at Booth 4, Monroe says cheerily, "And the only means by which the Union and the Traditions will unite is if the Technocracy capitulates and allows the Traditions their masses of pitiful, powerless mortal slaves, doomed to forever grovel at the feet of their masters, and claw weakly at the doors of their sumptuous towers while all around is mud and ash." He smiles. "Completely wrong, isn't it? Wrong, perhaps, from beginning to end? Yes? Madness, even? Definitely." he says firmly. Seated at Booth 4, Willow says quietly, "History doesn't lie. The dead do not lie." Seated at Booth 4, Monroe says easily, "Certainly history does not lie. History does not speak at all. It is not a person, nor does it believe anything. And the dead do not lie, but neither are they omniscient, nor are they necessarily wiser than the living. Furthermore, I did not omit to mention that the war has gone on for a thousand years - I suggest that if you want to identify the true victims of the war, it has been the masses whose lives have been impoverished by the vast *waste* of resources thrown into trying in a hideously futile manner to smash competition into non-existence instead of merely delivering victories and defeats gracefully and efficiently." He pauses and laughs a little, perhaps trying to defuse their first (gasp!) real argument. "You must allow me this one over-grandiose, mad dream. They'll throw me out of the Etherites if I don't have at *least* one." Seated at Booth 4, Willow remains quiet, and simply nods. Not so much to stop the argument as is to simply wish wholeheartedly that when his innocence falls, it won't be too painful. Seated at Booth 4, Monroe grins. "Good. It's terribly quixotic of me to think that I can do this. I might as well try to end racial prejudice or something equally inconceivable. But this goal speaks to me, no matter how stupid or naive it may seem to you. Anyway, there was a wonderful little fable in this book - I'd love for you to read it. I think it may actually speak a little bit to both goals of mine..." Seated at Booth 4, Willow says quickly, "I never said it was stupid." Just fruitless. No fruit for Monroe. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Monroe Subject: Seneca legend To: Willow, Monroe --------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the beginning of time when America was new, a woman chief named Godasiyo ruled over an Indian village beside a large river in the East. In those days all the tribes spoke one language and lived in harmony and peace. Because Godasiyo was a wise and progressive chief, many people came from faraway places to live in her village, and they had no difficulty understanding one another. At last the village grew so large that half the people lived on the north side of the river, and half on the south side. They spent much time canoeing back and forth to visit, attend dances, and exchange gifts of venison, hides, furs, and dried fruits and berries. The tribal council house was on the south side, which made it necessary for those who lived on the north bank to make frequent canoe trips to consult with their chief. Some complained about this, and to make it easier for everybody to cross the rapid stream, Godasiyo ordered a bridge to be built of saplings and tree limbs carefully fastened together. This bridge brought the tribe close together again, and the people praised Godasiyo for her wisdom. Not long after this, a white dog appeared in the village, and Godasiyo claimed it for her own. Everywhere the chief went the dog followed her, and the people on the north side of the river became jealous of the animal. They spread stories that the dog was possessed by an evil spirit that would bring harm to the tribe. One day a delegation from the north bank crossed the bridge to the council house and demanded that Godasiyo kill the white dog. When she refused to do so, the delegates returned to their side of the river, and that night they destroyed the bridge. From that time the people on the north bank and those on the south bank began to distrust each other. The tribe divided into two factions, one renouncing Godasiyo as their chief, the other supporting her. Bad feelings between them grew so deep that Godasiyo foresaw that the next step would surely lead to fighting and war. Hoping to avoid bloodshed, she called all members of the tribe who supported her to a meeting in the council house. "Our people," she said, "are divided by more than a river. No longer is there goodwill and contentment among us. Not wishing to see brother fight against brother, I propose that those who recognize me as their chief follow me westward up the great river to build a new village." Almost everyone who attended the council meeting agreed to follow Godasiyo westward. In preparation for the migration, they built many canoes of birch bark. Two young men who had been friendly rivals in canoe races volunteered to construct a special water craft for their chief. With strong poles they fastened two large canoes together and then built a platform which extended over the canoes and the space between them. Upon this platform was a seat for Godasiyo and places to store her clothing, extra leggings, belts, robes, moccasins, mantles, caps, awls, needles and adornments. At last everything was ready. Godasiyo took her seat on the platform with the white dog beside her, and the two young men who had built the craft began paddling the double canoes beneath. Behind them the chief's followers and defenders launched their own canoes which contained all their belongings. This flotilla of canoes covered the shining waters as far as anyone could see up and down the river. After they had paddled a long distance, they came to a fork in the river. Godasiyo ordered the two young canoeists to stop in the middle of the river until the others caught up with them. In a few minutes the flotilla was divided, half of the canoes on her left, the others on her right. The chief and the people on each side of her began to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the two forks in the river. Some wanted to go one way, some preferred the other way. The arguments grew heated with anger. Godasiyo said that she would take whichever fork her people chose, but they could agree on neither. Finally those on the right turned the prows of their canoes up the right channel, while those on the left began paddling up the left channel. And so the tribe began to separate. When this movement started, the two young men paddling the two canoes carrying Godasiyo's float disagreed as to which fork they should take, and they fell into a violent quarrel. The canoeist on the right thrust his paddle into the water and started toward the right, and at the same time the one on the left swung his canoe toward the left. Suddenly Godasiyo's platform slipped off its supports and collapsed into the river, carrying her with it. Hearing the loud splash, the people on both sides turned their canoes around and tried to rescue their beloved chief. But she and the white dog, the platform, and all her belongings had sunk to the bottom, and they could see nothing but fish swimming in the clear waters. Dismayed by this tragic happening, the people of the two divisions began to try to talk to each other, but even though they shouted words back and forth, those on the right could not understand the people on the left, and those on the left could not understand the people on the right. When Godasiyo drowned in the great river her people's language had become changed. This was how it was that the Indians were divided into many tribes spreading across America, each of them speaking a different language. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seated at Booth 4, Monroe puts a bookmark in the book and pushes it across to Willow. "I'm not sure whether it's a cautionary tale for me, or a signpost. I'm wondering if this dark being under water may be a metaphor for something along this search, like Godasiyo in the story." Seated at Booth 4, Willow opens to the allotted page and smiles. "The tower of Babel." Seated at Booth 4, Monroe nods. "That's what I thought of. But the conflict was not between man and god, here. It was a result of a conflict between men. And we never hear again of the tribes left behind, bickering on the two sides of the river." Seated at Booth 4, Willow says "Perhaps they simply killed each other off. Or stayed on their respective sides. We'll never know." Seated at Booth 4, Willow says "I can tell you one thing - whatever the decisions those two sides made, the fabric of the universe didn't depend on it." Seated at Booth 4, Monroe looks at her. "Didn't it?" he says. "Only nature would have remained unaffected by their decisions - and she would have remained unaffected even if they had been best of friends." Seated at Booth 4, Willow's mouth tightens grimly, and she looks away. "You don't know." she says, almost bitterly. Seated at Booth 4, Monroe replies, testily, "I *do* know. I am not as innocent as you imagine me. I have heard practically all of the terrible crimes of the Union, before, during and after my initiation into that group. I heard it a great deal when I was actually in the Union and I heard nothing *but* that material for hours, days, weeks and months on end upon my arrival. I hold no - or few - illusions about the Technocracy, nor the Traditions, nor the war between them." He sighs, gripping the table a little. "Please understand me. I am searching for a way out from between these hard facts. And you do not know and cannot prove there isn't one, so please do not mock me for looking, Willow. I've seen a slave-auction and a lynching and thought that neither would ever be abolished. I do not want to make that mistake again." Seated at Booth 4, Willow looks near tears, but simply nods her head. "Can we talk about something else?" she manages in a small voice, barely louder then a whisper. Willow is seated at a booth with Monroe, her head tilted forward so her expression is hidden. Seated at Booth 4, Monroe sighs heavily. "Yes, yes, of course." he says, looking out the window moodily. Seated at Booth 4, Willow offers softly, "I'm sorry. I wish I could see it. I wish I could share it." Seated at Booth 4, Monroe looks back, and he replies softly, the testiness gone. Now he is more humble again. "I don't see it, either. Not yet. Maybe I will never find it. But I will not again let despair immobilize me." Seated at Booth 4, Monroe says, very softly, "It's just a mad dream. Leave it at that if you must." Seated at Booth 4, Willow smiles. "I rather like the fact that you are mad. Even if not all of your six impossible things are not so impossible." Seated at Booth 4, Monroe nods and smiles a little. "*Still* not impossible?" he murmurs. "That's an encouraging sign." Seated at Booth 4, Willow grins. "Certain parts of your list, yes." Seated at Booth 4, Monroe relaxes still further, "Then the rest can wait." he says with a gallant wave of his large hand. He looks slightly askance at Willow and says softly, "Your watch is proceeding nicely." Seated at Booth 4, Willow's expression changes to one of serene happiness. "I can't wait to wear it."