Blackwell Prelude

Theo: @Blackwell

[12:30 AM] Blackwell: ((That me!))

[12:41 AM] Theo: So! Pre-change, how does Joe spend his days?

[12:47 AM] Blackwell: spends it on his hobbies, for the most part. He's working on another doctorate, collects cars, hobnobs with the rich and famous, drinks too much, eats fancy and exotic foods and travels. He tends to go from one hobby to the next and follows his enthusiasms.

[12:48 AM] Theo: So where does he live?

[12:48 AM] Blackwell: has a number of households all over the place, including Los Angeles, New York, London and Cairo (one of his doctorates IS in Egyptology).

[12:51 AM] Theo: Currently, you're in Boston. Do you have a house here?

[12:52 AM] Blackwell: probably bought one there. Something old and historical that needed refurbishing,, which has since been done.

[12:53 AM] Theo: Plenty of those in Boston. So what brought him to Boston?

[12:54 AM] Blackwell: came here to discuss a text with an elderly academic, most likely.

[12:56 AM] Theo: Another benefit to Boston is that a friend of yours, an old eccentric and adventurer named Alan Swan lives here, so you're able to  visit with him, too. He has some really good stories, even if the details change each time he tells them.

[12:56 AM] Theo: Where does Joe's money come from?

[12:57 AM] Blackwell: inherited it from his parents, who died in a train accident a few years ago. He doesn't talk about it.

[1:03 AM] Theo: Okay. So what do you see your Contacts as representing? Just friends on the academic world you correspond with?

[1:04 AM] Blackwell: ((One academic, one wealthy socialite.))

[1:05 AM] Theo: And he has his own car of course.

[1:06 AM] Blackwell: has a lot more than one car, actually!

[1:07 AM] Theo: So yes. It is November 3, 1935 and you are leaving a devastatingly boring party on Beacon Hill.

[1:09 AM] Blackwell: is even leaving alone. It was that bad.

[1:09 AM] Theo: It was!

[1:09 AM] Theo: It's ten and you're leaving a party alone.

[1:09 AM] Blackwell: ponders finding something else on the way home.

[1:18 AM] Blackwell: keeps an eye out for fun.

[1:20 AM] Theo: Give me a hmm... Investigation. So perception+investigation.

[1:20 AM] Theo: ...now it's not sending my messages.

[1:20 AM] Theo: I'm connected, so what's the issue.

[1:20 AM] Theo: oh, there.

[1:20 AM] Theo: all at once, thanks discord.

[1:22 AM] Blackwell: ((Roll that many D10s?))

[1:22 AM] Theo: Yep!

[1:23 AM] Blackwell: ((2, 2, 7?))

[1:23 AM] Theo: You got a 7 so that's 1 success, which is all you need. You do remember hearing a friend of a friend talking about a bash out in Back Bay, had a bunch of moonshine that he wanted to burn through so it's that kind of party.

[1:24 AM] Blackwell: will head in that direction. And if that isn't fun, well. There are books at home.

[1:27 AM] Theo: So you're driving toward the Back Bay, which isn't far from Beacon Hill. Roll me a willpower check. But it should be your pre-Transformation-point willpower. Do you remember what that was?

[1:27 AM] Theo: I should have kept track but I didn't think of it.

[1:28 AM] Blackwell: ((Oh shoot. Um. I think I went back and bought willpower as a human, so it would be the same.))

[1:28 AM] Theo: okay! roll that then.

[1:29 AM] Blackwell: ((7, 6, 3, 10, 8, 8, 10.))

[1:31 AM] Theo: Okay! You're driving, and then suddenly crap gets bonkers. It's an overcast night, but suddenly it's clear, and you look up, and see a planet hanging in the sky, all blue and gold, like pictures of Earth taken from way up high but not Earth at all.

[1:32 AM] Blackwell: swears and pulls the hell over.

[1:34 AM] Theo: ???:  Hell of a night, am I right?

[1:35 AM] Theo: There's a voice in your passenger seat.

[1:35 AM] Blackwell: practically jumps out of his skin.

[1:35 AM] Blackwell: ... I don't remember picking you up.

[1:35 AM] Blackwell: looks.

[1:36 AM] Theo: There is an honest-to-god cowboy in your passenger seat. He is slightly transparent.

[1:36 AM] Blackwell: ... interesting.

[1:37 AM] Blackwell: Did I promise you a ride?

[1:38 AM] Theo: He pulls out an old cigarette. "Nah.  Hope you don't mind me hitchin'.  I remember when these contraptions didn't go faster than a horse and send up a cloud of smoke behind 'em."

[1:39 AM] Blackwell: They still do that, if you don't keep them in good condition. Where are you heading?

[1:43 AM] Theo: Cowboy:  Just down this road a spell, if you don't mind.(edited)

[1:43 AM] Blackwell: ((Leave?))

[1:44 AM] Blackwell: Will do. Joseph Blackwell, by the way.

[1:45 AM] Theo: Cowboy:  No kiddin'? I'm Tim Black.

[1:45 AM] Theo: You can make an Academics check if you want.

[1:46 AM] Blackwell: ((4, 10, 2, 3, 3, 5, 4, 6.))

[1:47 AM] Theo: You know the name! You don't know a lot about him but you do know that he was shot in a duel in Boston about 50-60 years ago?

[1:48 AM] Blackwell: is too polite to mention this.

[1:49 AM] Blackwell: To tell you the truth, I'm glad of the company. I just escaped an intensely dull party where people wanted to talk about the weather and politics.

[1:50 AM] Theo: We're havin' some strange weather right now, wouldn't you say?

[1:51 AM] Blackwell: Not sure that qualifies as weather. Any ideas as to what it is?

[1:52 AM] Theo: Black:  I reckon that's a bit outta my pay grade, Mr. Blackwell.

[1:53 AM] Blackwell: Mine too, but speculation doesn't cost a dime.

[1:53 AM] Blackwell: It must be some sort of optical illusion, hm?

[1:54 AM] Theo: Black:  ... Well, you might suppose that me hitchin' a ride and that all happenin at once are coincidental?

[1:55 AM] Theo: Black:  ... or maybe you're thinkin' someone slipped you somethin' at that party you was just at.

[1:55 AM] Blackwell: It's possible. ... people do, sometimes. I rather wish they wouldn't.

[1:57 AM] Theo: Black looks out the window. "Ahh, this here's the spot."

[1:57 AM] Blackwell: ... what's the significance?

[1:57 AM] Blackwell: rolls to a stop.

[1:58 AM] Theo: Cowboy:  'bout here was where I was shot.

[1:58 AM] Theo: Cowboy:  Want some free advice, Mr. Blackwell?

[1:58 AM] Blackwell: Always!

[2:06 AM] Theo: Cowboy:  Never underestimate a dandy.

[2:08 AM] Blackwell: I'm a dandy myself, so I agree entirely. I hope your next duel has a more positive resolution, though. And thank you for the company.

[2:10 AM] Theo: Cowboy:  Another piece of advice? Don't drive anywhere else, cause you're about to pass out, and I'm guessin' that you'll have the mother of all hangovers, if the bloody nose is any indication.

[2:11 AM] Theo: He reaches into his jacket and pulls out a surpisngly clean hankerchief. "For your kindness, Mr. Blackwell.  You take care, now."

[2:11 AM] Blackwell: You too. Thank you.

[2:12 AM] Blackwell: accepts the handkerchief and touches his nose. Finding the blood, he leans forward and plugs his nose.

[2:12 AM] Theo: Your nose is bleeding, and you feel a pressure in your head that builds and, as forewarned, you pass out. When you come to, the planet is gone and it seems like a normal night.

[2:13 AM] Blackwell: Nnng. Hell and damnation. He was not wrong about the hangover.

[2:14 AM] Blackwell: looks for the handkerchief.

[2:14 AM] Theo: You've still got it!

[2:15 AM] Blackwell: checks to make sure he didn't get any blood on his clothes or the car, and then inspects the handkerchief.

[2:16 AM] Theo: Clean except for your blood, but it's definitely not yours.

[2:16 AM] Blackwell: sniffs it.

[2:18 AM] Theo: Smells coppery, like blood. The cloth smells a little musty, a little ozoney.

[2:19 AM] Blackwell: Hmm.

[2:19 AM] Blackwell: thinks this over, and tries to remember where Black was buried.

[2:24 AM] Theo: You'd have to look it up!

[2:24 AM] Theo: But, over the next couple of days, your powers do manifest. Tell me what the first real instance of your powers manifesting is? What'st he circumstances?

[2:25 AM] Blackwell: will look it up, and if there's a grave, he'll visit it and leave some flowers. If it's in disrepair, he'll have the stone cleaned and relaid properly, and make sure someone takes care of it.

[2:26 AM] Theo: Aww. Well, you do find it, he's just got a modest little marker in one of the cemetaries.

[2:27 AM] Blackwell: doesn't try to improve on it, as he seemed like a modest person, but will leave flowers personally, and will make sure it's kept up properly.

[2:32 AM] Blackwell: actually notices the first power manifestation at a newspaper stand, where he stopped to buy a paper the day after he met the kind ghost. Someone behind him was speaking Russian, and he started inexplicably understanding what the person was saying, after they asked him the way to the train station. He still couldn't answer, but he ended up walking the little old man to the train station and waving to him as he caught his train.

[2:34 AM] Theo: And you realize that once you start experimenting, you get a handle on things.... decently fast? There's just a moment where it clicks for each of your powers and learning to use them seems second nature. Or like it's something you already knew how to do and just needed a reminder.

[2:36 AM] Blackwell: is very curious about this. Finding out about the mind-skimming was more awkward, as the thoughts involved were of a private nature. Somehow, Joseph can still be  made to blush. But he works on being able to turn it on and off.

[2:39 AM] Theo: It is definitely an ability that you can learn to tune it down, it's not on all the time, that would be overwhelming.

[2:41 AM] Blackwell: definitely stops doing it by accident very quickly, and then starts cautiously using it to try to put people more at ease. Finding out that he can force people to obey a command was a shock, and not a particularly pleasant one.

[2:43 AM] Theo: Probably something just very instinctive, like telling someone to stop before they walked into traffic, or something?

[2:44 AM] Blackwell: ((Exactly.))

[2:45 AM] Blackwell: practiced that in innocuous ways only as much as it took to make sure he wouldn't do it by accident.

[2:47 AM] Blackwell: did the same for the hypnotic suggestion, but in that case, tried to help a secretary who was trying to smoke less.

[2:48 AM] Theo: Really, that one's pretty easy, you go to enough parties that you can make a party trick out of it to practice.

[2:48 AM] Theo: So you get a decent handle on it.

[2:48 AM] Theo: We'll call that good!

[2:49 AM] Blackwell: does!

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