2020-03-11 Columbia University

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## 2020-03-11 Columbia University

### PCs

Shiloh Young
Tati King

## Log

> **Uyôtowá (Tati King)**Not directly outside her dorm, but not far from it either, and intentionally in a place where she might be able to catch Shiloh walking by, Tati smokes with a handful of other Halloween Kids, who all look as if they are students here, judging by their age, books, and packs. Tati does too--in fact, she doesn't look like she could be much more than a freshman. However, she doesn't carry a backpack or books. She does, however, casually glance at her iPhone from time to time while taking long drags from her cigarette and listening to a tall skeletal mohawked boy hold court about how he once went backstage at an IAMX concert.
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> Today, Tati is dressed a little more casually. A little. She is wearing a long black skirt with high heeled boots and black mesh top over a black bralette. Her make-up is on point, but she doesn't look like she's about to go dancing.
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> @Shiloh Young**Doctor Emma Blake**Posted in the dorms @here is a new flyer.
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> Medical Interns Needed!
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> Fulfilling work, competitive pay, counts for course work completion.
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> Sacred Charge Free Clinic in Manhattan.
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> Contact Doctor Emma Blake with a CV or Resume.**Shiloh Young**Some time later, Shiloh ventured out from her private room, and from the shadows under her eyes it was clear she hadn't slept much. Today, she was covered in comfort clothes - baggy sweat pants, sweatshirt, the works, without a care for what anyone thought.
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> She pauses by that flyer, a frown forming as she remembers her skyrocketing debt, the student loans - Thanks, Dad - she plucks it off the wall, shoving it haphazardly into a pocket as she crosses into Tati's path. @Uyôtowá (Tati King)**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**That is exactly what Tati had been waiting for. She does not move immediately, though--she wants it to come across as a little more coincidental. Instead she watches Shiloh for a moment out of the corner of her eye before she leans toward the crowd she is standing with and says, "Hey, thanks for the cigarette. I owe you one. See you around?"
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> Then, on long, lanky legs swishing through her skirt, she begins to casually make her way in Shiloh's direction--it's not a beeline--but once she's close enough she stops and then offers the other young woman a small, pursed smile, "Shiloh It's Nothing, hi. How are you doing now? Remember me?"**Shiloh Young**She pauses midstride, still in the process of shoving away that flyer when that voice hit her, leading Shiloh to glance up in surprise. The frown returns, though she quickly tries to cover it with a half-smile. "Oh, hey. I, uh, didn't realize you went here, too." Her cheeks began to flush red, wondering if her chase at the subway had been spread around. "I'm, uh, doing better." Her appearance suggested otherwise.**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**"Yeah, you look like it. A good night's sleep does a girl wonders, right?" Tati grins, showing a bit more teeth. She looks back at the crowd she abandoned for a moment before looking back at Shiloh, "Oh, sure. I'm here all the time. I'm surprised we haven't ran into each other before now, but you know. Big world, huh?" She takes a quick drag from her cigarette, looking at her feet for a moment, "So, uh, listen--I was about to grab a coffee. Let me get you one. I owe you an apology and it might help out."**Shiloh Young**"Yeah." Her lips purse, and one of her arms cross her chest to hold the other in that defensive away, as she threw a look back, waffling on whether to accept. "...I guess. And, no, no, don't apologize. I should. I'm kinda the reason you were thrown down on the ground." (does she still feel that tingling from her magic tracker effect?)**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**(No, Tati stopped using it once she got a good idea of where you lived. It's how she knew to find you here.)
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> Tati is conscious of space, and posture--it is the secret language of her kind afterall--and she makes sure to give Shiloh plenty of space, and to leave her own posture open. She smiles again, white teeth shining through blackened lips. "Let's just agree to no apologies all around--but what I meant was, I think I scared you. That other dude was a scarier, but I think I scared you, and I didn't mean to. Come on, there's a cafe around the corner where coffee is a dollar--all this fancy ten dollar coffee is too much for me." She starts to walk down toward the main road, looking over her shoulder at Shiloh.**Shiloh Young**That, at least, sparks small laughter, and her smile becomes a little more genuine. "Yeah, I don't really trust men in suits. Especially when they offer to take me home at 3 AM and say things like 'momentous occasion.' What a creep." Shiloh tags alongside her. "Gonna be honest with you - I haven't touched coffee since I was like, 10 years old."**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**"Well, if you'd rather a Mountain Dew or something, we can make that happen, but I definitely took you for a coffee girl," Tati says, making her way down the road and casually smoking at her cigarette. There is indeed a cafe around the corner, creatively titled 'CORNER CAFE' with exactly four booths in the window, three of which are occupied with students on laptops and headphones.
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> "Yeah. Definitely a creep. I mean--not gonna lie, Shiloh It's Nothing--I have some kind of idea of what he was trying to do, but he was real bad at it. Don't let anyone like that take you home. They're gonna try. I mean, in the broad sort of I am making a specific reference sense. How did you dream?"**Shiloh Young**"Ew. I'll pass on the Dew, I just meant like - can you suggest something? I don't what tastes good." She grows a little flustered at the nickname, at the talk of being taken home and the sense she got that meant more than what it seemed on the surface. The talk of dreams drew a look. "That's an oddly specific and weird question."**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**Tati pushes open the door which squeals when she does. "Hey, Miguel! Coffee, please. Two today, I finally took your advice and made a friend, see?" She points at Shiloh with her still lit cigarette.
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> "Put that out, Tati!" Miguel responds from behind the counter while he starts collecting a pot and a pair of mugs.
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> Tati turns to Shiloh, rolls her eyes and mutters, "Rules." But she leans back out the door and flicks the cigarette into the gutter with precise aim--she is well practiced. "Come on," she says to her, taking a seat in one of the booths. Once they've slid in, she continues. "Is it, though? How did you dream? Was it wild, vivid, terrifying, exciting? I know you think I'm a little weird--I am a little wierd--bit there's a reason and you just took a big bite out of it. I'm hoping to get you straightened out before someone with specific ulteriors does."**Shiloh Young**Her antics drew a grin from Shiloh, and she slides into the neighboring booth. She seems relieved to be away from the cigarette smoke. "Alright, alright, I did dream. I'm gonna be real with you, though, it was weird."
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> She drew in a slow breath. "I was alone, on some big empty ship out on the ocean. Clear, still night - the water reflected the stars. I felt so small, everything was so vast, but I wanted to see more. And there was this weird pressure on me, like I could barely walk. I stumble down some steps, and next thing I know there's tornados on either side, spinning slowly. And then I'm falling into the water, into a whirlpool, which spins out into that night sky from the start. I was just drifting through that night. I couldn't tell if it was the sky or the ocean."
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> She shrugs, shoulders slumping. "Weird ass dream. I blame insomnia." (super sorry about the delay, had to step away)**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**(never a problem)
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> Tati listens intently and with wide eyes--it's not so much shock, but that her make-up is used in such a way to make her eyes look especially large. The dark liner emphasizes it, and her dark skin makes them appear especially bright. Miguel comes with the coffee sometime during the story and pours two mugs, leaving a bowl of creamers and some sugar. Tati prepares one coffee with a load of milk and sugar and passes it across to Shiloh, but she drinks hers black.
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> "Sure, sure--and I bet it felt more real than any dream you've ever had, right? They're always trying to tell you something. I wonder what yours looks like. Look--can you be open minded for a minute? I'm about to tell you some weird shit but I'm hoping that it gives you some perspective--perspective that you're seeking in your dreams already."**Shiloh Young**Shiloh cups the coffee in both hands, letting it cool as she stares back, brows knotting. "Yeah, yeah, it was." She couldn't maintain it for long, breaking the eye contact, turning to stare into her drink instead. "And alright, I'm game. Hit me with this 'weird shit.' Can't be stranger than what happened last night."**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**Tati looks out the window when she realizes she has made Shiloh uncomfortable and watches people walking by for a moment. "I don't know what you believe in--I just know you believe in something, because that's where this all comes from, and that's why this all matters. So dig deep--sometimes we don't even realize what we believe in, but you're going to want to examine it, because whatever it is you believe in, you're right." Tati takes a sip from her mug, leaving black crescent lipstick stains behind that she does not seem to notice.
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> "No matter what anyone tries to tell you, you're right. What you believe is real. Now--here's the catch. We've all got, well, souls. We're not just flesh and body. We are stardust. Cliche, I know--but real. Stardust is your soul. We are the people of the stars. But most of us are too caught up in the flesh of us to get anywhere. We do what we were supposed to do." She looks back at Shiloh then, "Go to college, get a good job, maybe get married and squirt out a few, die after your squirts squirt out a few. All that. But, it's made up. It's not real. Your soul is, and your soul wanted you to wake up. It woke you up. You're awake now. You were sleeping before. Have I lost you?"**Shiloh Young**Shiloh's back to staring, wearing that polite smile people do when they're profoundly unsure of the situation they're in, her fingers tapping slowly against the coffee. "So we've all got souls, and my beliefs are true. It's, uhm, flattering, I'll admit."
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> She takes a sip. "Souls, beliefs, sleeping and waking. I'm trying. Go on?"**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**"I mean, it is flattering, I guess," Tati does not sound convinced, "Just don't let yourself get too flattered--that's how you end up like our friend from last night. They're...his people are their own thing, but it's complicated. You're your people first--don't forget that. You belong to you. Some of them are gonna try to sell you some bullshit about who has the right to decide the paths of humanity or whatever, but you're only responsible for one path. Your own."
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> Tati taps her chin with her fingers, a nervous gesture of a smoker without a cigarette. Instead she takes another sip from her coffee and smiles at Shiloh. "I'm trying to get back to your dream. Your dream is...welll, don't treat me like an expert, but your dream is a message from your soul. Your soul is trying to tell you something. Maybe teach you something, maybe push you over the edge. Our souls are weird, and they're long recycled, so they've all picked up some quirks. I can show you, I think--I haven't tried this before."**Shiloh Young**Shiloh snorts, wrinkling her nose. "Sounds familiar. I'll keep that in mind if I run into him again."
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> "All I got so far from that dream was spinning and chaos and being alone. Fun message." She sets her drink aside, perking at the offer, eager for a little proof of all this weird philosophy. "Show me."**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**/r 3d10\>\&61;5f1**SidekickBOT**@Uyôtowá (Tati King): 3d10\>\&61;5f1 \&61; (8 3 8, 2 successes) \&61; 2**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**Tati smiles and offers a brief flutter of her lashes--it's obvious that she doesn't have perfect confidence in this situation. She closes her eyes and slides her hand across the table toward Shiloh's--she doesn't take it, but it might still feel invasive--she touches the back of Shiloh's hand with the tips of her fore and middle fingers, light as a feather.
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> Then she begins whispering -- not so quiet that Shiloh couldn't hear it, as they're sitting across from each other -- but it is still a whisper. That said, it is not in a language Shiloh would recognize and does not sound familiar enough to be a commonly spoken language like one of the Romance languages.
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> She opens her her eyes, and when she does there is a shift for both of them. There is another world that they are sitting within, now visible to Shiloh--with pale reflections of buildings and sidewalks covered in cobwebs. A slow rushing sound in the distance, and Tati--well--she is absolutely surrounded by alien looking beings, Some of them are drifting, floating, bits of ephemera that have no real form, but some of them have vaguely humanoid shapes and faces. Some look to be in anguish, some experiencing joy--there are easily dozens, and they are buzzing around Tati like a cloud of flies.
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> "They won't hurt you. Not these ones," she whispers, in English, "they can't even touch you. They're too small."
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> (Okay a couple things. You can roll Perception + Awareness to sense the spell I cast. The Spell I cast was Spirit Sight, so you're seeing the spirit world specifically--also while it might be scary/terrifying/alarming, since you're Awakened now, it does NOT cause disbelief).**Shiloh Young**/r 6d10\>f1**SidekickBOT**@Shiloh Young: Sounds useful.**Shiloh Young**/r 6d10\>6f1**SidekickBOT**@Shiloh Young: 6d10\>6f1 \&61; (1 9 1 8 3 1, -1 success) \&61; -1**Shiloh Young**Shiloh jerks back, eyes growing wide, a slew of 'holy shits!' and 'what the fucks' slipping out under her breath. But she does not run, merely leaning back, staring between the various entities, the strange world that had been revealed, in wonder. "What are they? What is all this?"**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**"Oh, darling, it's a lot to explain--and it's not out of the question, but 'all of this' might take longer than a cup of coffee," Tati says. She looks mostly like herself in this vision, though her image wavers slightly, as if obscured by steam, and she glows brightly--but by no means does she glow as brightly as Shiloh does--which Tati notices. She taps Shiloh's hand again with her fingers, to draw her attention to herself, so that she can see it too.
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> "But, in the simplest way of explaining--everything has a soul, not just you and me. Dogs. Cats. Pigeons. Old Buildings. Mailboxes. Cell Phones. Anger. Grief. Joy. Invention. Conception. Light. Shadow. A lot of folk are gonna say these are called 'Umbrood' That's the word you want to learn--but they're souls."**Shiloh Young**"Mailboxes?" there was a scoff there, but she could not argue with what she was seeing. Shiloh worked through a couple of long blinks, as if to banish the sights or to test that she was really seeing what she saw. Finally, she returns her gaze to Tati at the tap, and she gestures to her wavering image. "Is this - is this your soul?"**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**Tati shakes her head, "No, not exactly--or not entirely. Our souls are more complex. They're--some will call it Divine--that's not wrong, but we need to think outside the box when we use that word. It's limited by context, you know?" She leaves her fingers on Shiloh's hand. "We are able to do things most people can't, because our souls woke us up."**Shiloh Young**"Why?" she almost regretted asking the moment that question left her lips. She started to take slow, deep breathes to calm those nerves. "I mean, what do they want? These souls? Ours? And these?" she gestures between them and the strange entities.**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**"Hard to say--it takes a lot of time and investment to figure them out. They're mercurial, to say the least. But sometimes you can guess. This one--she's sort of a daughter of a friend of mine that is a lot bigger, but she's a grief soul. She might want me to cry out some trauma. Some of them get twisted and might want to see trauma inflicted--I try to keep those ones far the hell away from me, though." Tati leans back in her booth, lifting her cup of coffee and taking a sip as she eyes the one with a vague wailing face.
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> "We're more complicated. Our souls have special names. Lots of folk think their name is the Correct Name, or True Name, or whatever trash they spin--but the name doesn't matter. They're just--more than these ones. Because they can wake us up, and that's only the first step. The Tapestry--well, that's what it's called by a lot of folk--is ours to manipulate as we will. Again, all of this is more complex than that, but none but the Awakened can manipulate the Tapestry."**Shiloh Young**She gives a good look at that grief soul. It, and the thought of crossing paths with one of those 'twisted' souls made her shudder, but the fear filtered away as the lesson carried on. "How do I do that?" she asks, glancing down at her coffee, growing a little queasy at the thought that the soul of said coffee or something was now inside her. "Manipulate this, uh, tapestry, I mean. Like you made me see things - I can do that too?"**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**"I'm going to make this conversation less daunting, Shiloh," Tati says. She removes her fingers from the back of her hand, and the magick sifts out of existence, her field of vision returning to 'normal' though some Mages consider it to be diminished after their first experience. Like someone turned the lights out suddenly.
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> "Yes, sort of. Well--there are a lot of different practices and there is a lot to see that isn't that world. The Tapestry is everything. Souls, bodies, energy, our thoughts. I don't know what you can do. But even if you can't do what I just did, you can learn. The potential is in you now. Did you think about earlier, when I told you to think about what you believe?"**Shiloh Young**It takes her a moment to readjust to the mundane. She blinks, shaking her head. "I know what I believe... I think. I'm guessing that belief is the key to doing whatever it is I can do?"**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**"You can say it that way--what you believe is real, remember. You don't have to tell me what it is--just think about something you believe in. Think about how you believe in it, and think about how you might believe in seeing something--anything--that isn't there, that's hidden."**Shiloh Young**(Alright, I'm gonna try some capital M magic here. I'm thinking Mind 1 to read surface emotions on Tati, or maybe Mind 1/Matter 1 to feel the same but for the coffee shop they're in?)**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**(I'm not a final authority, but I think either of those would only need Mind 1)
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> (Same roll, though)**Shiloh Young**/r 3d10\>4f1**SidekickBOT**@Shiloh Young: 3d10\>4f1 \&61; (4 9 5, 2 successes) \&61; 2**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**(Which did you decide? I can tell you her surface thoughts if it's on Tati)**Shiloh Young**(Surface thoughts, sure)**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**/r 4d10\>\&61;7f1**SidekickBOT**@Uyôtowá (Tati King): 4d10\>\&61;7f1 \&61; (4 8 3 9, 2 successes) \&61; 2**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**(Okay, let's see. Prominent surface thoughts are worry/concern which is working on her in two different ways, like she's got two major worries/concerns that are at her forethought. Also subdued joy and a touch of uncertainty)**Shiloh Young**"Okay, I'm gonna try something," she pulls out a little pocket notebook, and, with brows furrowed, begins drawing out some complex geometric shape with surprising speed and accuracy; various alchemical sigils line this shape. Once all is through, she places her palm atop it, slowing her breathing, eyes closing as she reaches out with that something towards her companion - to read, discover anything to provide that final proof.
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> Crossing those emotions made her nearly jump back. "You're worried about something - two somethings? You're happy beneath it all, too, but also unsure?" it's blurted out, and immediately she cringes for doing so, shooting Tati an apologetic (and hopeful) look.**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**Tati watches the drawing out of the symbols with unrestrained curiosity--Shiloh saw a similar technique from her last night, even if it wasn't exactly the same--she is watching so intently that when Shiloh speaks it surprises Tati and she widens her eyes and parts her lips, "Oh." But then she recovers and smiles across at the other woman. "I mean, okay. Yes. Good job. That is what I'm feeling. You did some good Tapestry work there. Now, that said: be careful with that trick. Some...some people take some great offense to it being done, and right now, while you're getting your legs under you, we want to avoid offending anyone who carries a big stick."**Shiloh Young**"Oh. Yeah. I guess that can be kind of invasive..." her voice trails, but even then she couldn't stop the giant grin gracing her lips. It was all real. Questions start tumbling out. "How many of us are there? What do we do? Who all carries the 'big stick' in New York? There's gotta be like," and here she leans in to whisper, "- secret societies and stuff, yeah?"**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**Tati laughs, her joy at Shiloh's excitement ringing true--and the fresh Mind Mage could probably link that joy with the joy she just sensed in her--the joy is about Shiloh. She shakes her head, lowering her eyes, "You're spot the fuck on, Shi. There are a lot of secret societies and they all have their own agendae and goals and...methods--and that's why I wanted to make sure we had a chance to talk again--before any of them sucked you in to their schemes and little wars. They'll come. You're gonna be a hot resource for them. Because there aren't that many of us, in the end."**Shiloh Young**"Wars?" The joy splinters, and it's visible on her face. In a way, she wasn't that surprised - they were human after all (..weren't they?) But the talk of being someone's 'resource,' it reminded her of family. She wrinkles her nose. "Are they gonna hurt me?"**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**Tati kind of nods and shakes her head at the same time, making a small grimace. "Well, uh, let's hope not. But...look. Even without being Awake people have really strong opinions about what they believe, and not everyone believes the same things, and some of them don't have room to be open to the idea that everyone is right in their own way--" She takes another sip of her coffee mid sentence, where she stops herself from saying more.
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> "Most of them are going to want to recruit you and use you. But will some want to hurt you? Yeah. That's real. Just like in real life, baby. I'm sorry that I have to tell you that--but that's why I'm here. I wanted to tell you first. And you know what--we can prepare for the ones that want to hurt you."**Shiloh Young**"Yeah. Guess it's time to enroll in Soul Self-Defense 101, or something." She shares the grimace, resting her head against her forearm she propped up atop the counter. "You, uh, you've been very kind, and I gotta thank you. For everything. But I gotta ask: who's side are you on? You gotta be apart of a group, too, right?"**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**Tati takes another sip of her coffee and nods over it at the concept of Soul Self-Defense, as if that were a real thing and she takes it very seriously and does believe that Shiloh needs to get started ASAP. She puts down her empty mug, "Hey, Miguel!"
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> He comes back, and while he is there, Tati doesn't answer the question. She waits for him to fill the mug--he tops off Shiloh's too--and depart before she answers. "Well, I'm on the 'Don't Fuck With Me And I Won't Fuck With You' side, but it's a lot more complex than that. Most of the big boys on campus call is Orphans because we're not coming from what they consider a long tradition of exemplary Gandalf history or some shit. They'll call you that if you don't sip someone's Kool-Aid too. But, uh--" she shrugs again.
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> "--like I said, everything is more complex than I can explain over coffee--but I am from a loose group of fools and posers who fancy themselves something that matters. So I'm not really an Orphan. It's just that we're not really good enough for most of the rest of them to care." She pauses, looking out the window and then recites, "We are the hollow men. We are the stuffed men. Leaning together. Headpiece filled with straw."**Shiloh Young**"I dig the sound of that philosophy." There's another murmur of thanks, a promise to pay her back. "So, like, magic scarecrows or something?" she quips, drinking readily now, before suddenly pausing and scribbling a number down on that notepad. She rips the paper out, sliding it over. "My number, if you wanna meet up later, since I guess we can't go into too much, uh, depth out here." (just realized we've been going for like 4 hours, my bad! ^^")**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**(It's all good, I was getting ready to pose out too. One moment.)
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> Tati takes the paper and stares at it for a moment. She rips it in hald and pockets the part with Shiloh's number and then reaches over to take her pencil--without asking--and writes her own down. "Yeah. Magic Scarecrows is a good way of putting it. We recognize that gender is a construct, so we call ourselves Hollow Ones. Here." She passes her number back across. "Sometimes my phone isn't in service, but I try to keep up on it. I'll check in with you--be careful, okay?" She reaches into her pocket and slams two dollars and a quarter on to the table.**Shiloh Young**Her half of the paper is pocketed beside the flyer, and she offers up a sheepish smile. "I'll keep what you said in mind; if you can't reach me by phone I'm usually at the dorms, anyway." She slides out of the booth, frowning at the change she couldn't contribute to. "Thanks, again, really. I owe you. Seeya around, I guess?" And with an awkward wave, Shiloh began to head back.**Uyôtowá (Tati King)**"Bye bye, Shi," Tati says to her, waving just her fingers. She stays in the booth--she's going to finish her coffee--she takes another sip, muttering into the liquid, "Good luck, baby."