Cathal's Journal

11 Jux 45

I'm supposed to be changing into something appropriate for the Expo, but I have no idea when I'll net be able to catch up, so thought I'd write up todays events whilst they're still reasonably fresh.

Cordelia finally revealed something useful about the Pattern, something which after lunch resulted in a mass sharing session. Even the brat, who's some form of magic user, decided to join the rest of us. Yes, one use of the Pattern, assuming you know what things mean, is that you can examine somebody's aura and tell what their powers are. As a result we know something about one another. Daniel and Rodri are both Shapeshifters and the brat and the Icelander are both magic users, although their auras are subtely different, aside from their gender markers. The soldier and Alana are the trump users and Natsuki is something else, apart from Japanese, which Cordelia says is down to her Martial Arts training. All of us, and I'm assuming I do as well, have a "pattern" in our auras that looks a bit like the Pattern. Cordelia also said there was an etiquette regarding reading peoples aura without their consent. Given she knew which of us had which abilities it's obviously something she only bothers with when she feels like it.

Of more interest was the fact that Kasamir and the Londoner's gloves both radiated a Pattern imprint, one different from the one we were all using.

12 Jux 45

It's late and even by my standards it's been a pretty grueling 24 hours. Who'd have thought sitting through boring speeches and presentations, however impressive, could be so tiring. Even lunch was pretty tiresome. The Expo itself was, well for the most part boring, although the actual atmosphere and the buzz amongst those present was real. You could actually feel they were blown away by what was revealed, and given what that was, how did Mizzurian manage to keep the whole thing so secret. I mean no leaks not one. Well there is one way..maybe the brat, I mean Joanne, is right.

13 Jux 45

I wasn't going to write anything about today, it's just been pattern walking practice, but another piece of some sort of jigsaw slotted into place at dinner tonight. This, the Mansion, the Expo, Mizzurian, they're all cogs in, well I'm not sure exactly what, but it all has something to do with the city below the escarpment. Cordelia, and the two dinner guests, Angelica and Wyatt, seem to form some part of the Governance of the city. I'm trying to frame this based upon what I managed to pickup from their conversations at dinner. The two have recently been into shadow and returned with ships and settlers, some sort of expansion program for the city, and something to do with trade routes.

14 Jux 45

I thought I'd write this now as I'm not sure what the next few hourss or so will actually entail. Charlie, at her mothers insistance, which I'll get to shortly, is taking us all on some form of tour to show us what can be done with the Pattern. Eactly what this entails I have no idea, but she has requested we all dress "sart casual", so I expect there will be more to come later.

Before that I should return to the events of this morning which resulted in more pieces of the puzzle falling into place, but in so doing raised a number of further questions.

The big piece of that puzzle is that Cordelia has a daughter, and I'm pretty sure she was the one who featured in the Mizzurian ad, and is most likely the girl who followed me back in March, given she apppeared to know all our names before Cordelia formally introduced her. The manner of that introduction hints that Cordelia had no knowledge that her daughter was already aquainted with all of us. This begs the question as to what her daughter was doing in the first place and why?

Given the manner in which she "arrived" in the dining room this morning I can see why she was used in the advert. She has a presence a lot like her mothers and her mothers attitude to things. Whilst she arrived wearing a school uniform, one beloging to the fictional school St Trinians, although I would surmise that the one she attends isn't fictional, she wasn't exactly "wearing" the uniform, at least in the sense I am familiar with for schools that have such a requirement. Apart from having an interesting collection of luggage with her, a large rucksack and a large aluminium brief case, although by the way she flung the latter about I don't think it weighed much, she stank of alcohol, cigatettes, and weed. Having dumped the case and rucksack, and shruged off her blazer, which she threw over a chair, she proceed to stuff a sausage into her mouth, whilst shovelling copious amounts of egg, kidney, haddock, sausage, bacon, and fried bread onto a plate. Dumping this on the table, she poured herself a huge mug of coffee, whilst stuffing another sausage in her mouth, before sitting herself down.

Natsuki, Alana, and Joanne had all arrived shortly after she did, and whilst Alana engaged her in polite conversation, neither of the other 2 did. Joanne seemed to react to her the same way as she does her mother, whilst Natsuki appeared to loose all the life she'd gained in the last few days. The contrast between the two is quite stark. Natuski is very quiet and reserved, and I would guess typical of her culture, at least from what little I know. Charlie, or Charlotte, Cordelia's daughter is anything but, and very much like her mother, as demonstrated by the stand up argument the two had which no one appeared to be able to understand. I had thought the Pattern allowed us to understand all languages, at least according to Cordelia. The other ways in which the two, that is Natsuki and Charlie differ, are in the way they act and dress. Natsuki is very reserved, defferential, and dresses very conservatively. Charlie, on the otherhand, if the manner in which she "wore" her school uniform is exactly the opposite.

Let me elucidate. Whilst she was wearing a white blouse under her Blazer, she wasn't wearing it in the traditional sense. The top 3 or 4 buttons were undone, revealing that she had no bra on underneath. The next 2 buttons were done up, but the bottom of the blouse was then tied around her middle, leaving her midrif exposed. Her skirt, whilst really stylish, was the shortest pleated mini shirt I've seen, and was barely decent, yet she was completely comfortable in it, and I'm also pretty sure she wasn't wearing any under wear. She also had some sort of concealed holster under her skirt, attached to her left leg. What I couldn't tell was what "tan lines" she had, and she had a very obvious deep natural sun tan. Additionally, her clothes bore the evidence of numerous alcohol stains, and she was obviously still either partially drunk or high or both when she arrived.

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