[[9-s Members with characters in this scene are: Arcadius, Kleopas, Elania, Wahoozerman, Jennet, Bagpus, Cybella ]]

You get a now familiar cell phone call from Richards Sonnac of Temple Hall. He informs you in his typical philosophical way, that you have been assigned to Department 7 - the investigation division of the organization.

Training was an "old school" lecture, as much as all Templar briefings where. The one-day orientation to field investigation was amazingly simple and summed up by a directive 30.b, the "Discretion" clause.

Your assigned mentor, Dr Nadine Neary of the Department 7 Administrative Training Office, has directed to your first real assignment. You know without a doubt, that your performance on this job will determine your future with the Hall. Given what you already know from your briefing, agents that don’t keep their wits about them on the job don’t last long. A slide-chart from the orientation comes to your mind, ‘the percent of Templar Department 7 agents lost on their first three assignments, 25%.’

Dr. Neary reminds you of directive 304 (B), "Discretion in Unusual Circumstances."

Quote:
304 (B). Discretion in Unusual Circumstances
i. All members and recruits (provisional appointments) of the Institute are expected to keep activities out of the public eye. The Institute is not a public agency and it wishes to avoid legal and criminal entanglements. Any and all measures are approved to maintain that condition.
ii. All members and recruits of the Institute should take precautions to prevent evidence or eyewitnesses from spreading knowledge of the Institute’s research. At the same time, all reasonable good-faith efforts should be made to provide the Institute with clear, complete records and documentation of unusual events.

The sealed envelope sits in the seat besides you, just opened by your very hand. On the outside in bold stencil is printed: CONFIDENTIAL.

Inside is a small index card. It only reads, BI-11I21-1682
You pull the Field Check report form out of the envelop and behind it, a news article clipping and a large coin fall out.
Confident in yourself you can almost hear a voice inside your head say, Let the fun begin.

The coin slipped into Alexander Williams' hand, the red cross smooth against the skin of his thumb as he rubbed it. Was this the seal of Department 7? It didn’t look familiar.

The meeting was quick, or as quick as orientations could go, he thought. The Discretion Clause still rung in his head, reinforced enough to become an audible earplug, drowning everything else out. But this was an opportunity of a life time! The Hall finally deemed him worthy of work beyond the common field agent. Regardless of clauses or rules, he’d take them up on the offer.

Rather, he didn’t have much of a choice. Orders are Orders.

He shifted to a more comfortable position in his chair, and then pulled out his cellphone as he sat himself down. He punched out a quick message, sending it out to three recipients.

“Sorry to inform you, but music lessons have been cancelled for today up through the rest of the week. I have an audition that I have prepare for. Take care of yourselves! – Alexander Williams.”

“That’ll be a sufficient excuse,” he mumbled.

Fiddling with the envelope, the newspaper clipping fell out, on to the marble floor of the hall. He reached down, picking it up. Sitting it down on his his lap, he began his examination. Finding a pad of paper and a pen in his small pack, he jotted down the key points of the clipping.



[[Edited for scene correctness. Thanks for the heads up, Volen!]]

She arrived early for the briefing, dressed well, sensibly, and completely uncomfortable in her button down white shirt and black skirt, hanging just above the knees. She sat down, smiling to Alex as he entered, being the only one here she knew. A month had gone by since she was hired by the Swords, and had met remarkably few. She smiled politely to each and every one who came though, and as the meeting began, she opened up her notepad, taking notes in her native language.

In the back of her mind, many things were running through her mind, the most prevalent of these, being "this is your last chance." She had long since fallen out of favor with Richard, who now insists she call him "Mr. Sonnac." Regular lunch dates had been abruptly cancelled, her office, which once offered her a gorgeous view outside of Ealdwic, had been given to a rank and file accountant. She knew if she did not get this right, it would be over. This was her last chance.

And before she knew it, the briefing was over. With barely a few words written on her paper, she fussed, looked around, hoping someone would have paid better attention than she had for all of her worrying. At that point, she noticed a small envelope on the seat next to her. As she opened it, removing the contents and examining each, it was the postcard that caught her attention, as she dropped the coin, and the newspaper clippings into her purse.

"BI-11I21-1682"

She was confused, "had this been part of the briefing? was this explained?" She turned the notecard upside down, hoping no one would notice. When that produced no results, she took out her compact mirror and, after fixing her lipstick, and checking her teeth, she held the card up to the mirror to see if it read anything backwards. Her shoulders slumped, as she began to feel the encroaching defeat. In a last ditch effort, she switched on her tablet, and typed the code into a search field, her eyes lit up, and a faint smile crossed her lips as she slipped the tablet back into her purse.

"Texas."

[[Clearification... AWESOME POSTS SO FAR!!

Lets assume that you are all in the same briefing room in this scene at Temple Hall... there is one coin, and each of you have copies of the blank report form and the article in your envelope. If you leave the scene, your character is 'out of play' until the next scene opens.... (a scene is a Action Location within an Episode).

Its Ok to edit a previous post as long as you highlight the changes... esp. if I mess up and add a detail that changes something you would have done
]]

[[Suggestion: Use this scene to introduce your characters to the rest of the cast, and discuss your next course of action.]]

Dr Nadine Neary looks across the room at the group assembled.

“You are now designated as team, November-Sierra-Alpha-Tango. The pass-phrase for this assignment is ‘Excuse me, is this your umbrella?’ If challenged with the pass-phrase, your response sould be, 'Its only 5 O'clock, but thank you.' I’ll be your handler.”

Dr Neary smiles as you looks across the room. “I believe in each of you.” She leaves to give you time to talk amongst yourselves

Elania Vikaernes wrote:...In a last ditch effort, she switched on her tablet, and typed the code into a search field, her eyes lit up, and a faint smile crossed her lips as she slipped the tablet back into her purse.

"Texas."

[[This turns out to be a false lead ... the matching ID your turned up via that search turned out to be a coincidence. Good effort!!!]]

Kleopas was currently sat in what appeared to be an old fashioned administrative office located qwithin the Temple hall, receiving a lecture along with five others on investigative procedures and a silly 'discretion clause'.

He felt like he was still recovering from the night before, his eyes felt heavy and his head was throbbing slightly. A combination of both alcohol and Rock music from his visit to The Crusades.

Starting to feel bored with the lecture he was receiving, he took a moment to study those sat with him. He noted that Arcadius was among those assembled, the brown haired lad often frequented the party scene with Kleopas. However the pair of women with the dark hair, the other brown haired younger looking lad and the older gentleman with black hair did not seem familiar to him. Although Kleopas was pretty sure he must have spoken to them via the cabal's widespread communication network. However he could not place names to faces.

Then there was his other problem.

“Are we done yet.... this is soooo boring.” moaned Miranda from her prone position on the floor. Kleopas ignored her, it was bad enough that she had insisted on attending the briefing, but to start moaning right now was something he could do without. He wasn't yet sure who could or couldn't see her, which made things difficult.

Forcefully bringing himself to pay attention, Kleopas noticed the envelope that had been placed beside him. “What's this then” he muttered, casually opening the envelope and emptying its contents onto his lap. What appears to be an index card with the code BI-11I21-1682 inscribed upon it was catches his eye first.

“Eh?” he muttered, raising his hand “ So Doc are we looking for a case file or something?”

As he waits for a response Kleopas immediately begins to look at the newspaper article, squinting as he attempts to read the text.

[[Dr. Neary had explained at some point of the briefing that you are assigned a case number. Any reports that you file in the future should start off with this number. In this way, "The Archivist" - this seems to be an important title within the organization - can cross reference various intelligence reports. This card in your packet seems to be the case number for your investigation.]]

Jenn was not going to be late to this meeting. She absolutely wasn't. She was so intent on not being late that she was at almost a full run when she hit the hallway outside the door. Slamming on the brakes, metaphorically, was a bad call. She was wearing a cute little skirt and a top that could most generously be described as 'brief', that she had meant for Tom over dinner. 'Brief' in no way made it appropriate for a briefing, but she'd forgotten about this meeting until she was halfway to Edwards to pick up a new rifle prototype. She'd spun around and run all the way back to the Hall.

Long story short, she was also wearing a new pair of mid-heel boots with the perky little skirt, and they hadn't been broken in yet. So, when Jenn went to slow down, she discovered the problems with the physics of slick boot soles on slick marble floor.

She slid past the door to the briefing room, cursing quietly. There was a skidding sound, a few fast, uneven clicks as she got her footing, and then she strode back in from the other direction, trying to pretend she meant to do that. She got in the room just as Dr. Neary was getting to "...Unusual Circumstances."

Jenn bobbed her head apologetically and slid into the seat with an envelope marked clearly with CONFIDENTIAL. After a few moments and a brief flashback to getting yelled at for coming in late for lecture, Jenn realized that that didn't apply to her and she was actually supposed to open the thing.

Her attention was immediately split. She wanted to read the news article, and she did glance at the headline and whatever words she could quickly scan. More than that, she wanted to get a look at the coin that was presented for general inspection. Something got through even that interest, though. "Someone's going to get cranky carrying a bloody umbrella around all the time." She blinked when she realized she'd said this out loud and looked around furtively, hoping it hadn't been too loud.

She glanced around at the assembled team as she slid out of her chair and maneuvered for a look at the coin. Getting to know a new squad was always one of the hardest parts for Jenn. Her idea of good introductions involved melting into the floor, mostly. She tried a few shy smiles as she waited for a chance to study the coin.

The sight of the young woman sliding into the room almost brought a smile to Alex's face. However, he retained his serious, mission-focused air, stiffing his laugh. Only his mind would register any enjoyment. Glancing over his notes once more, he double-checked for accuracy. He would cross-reference them with any reports or documents later. He turned his attention to Elania, the strong black haired Templar whom he could call 'Friend'. Of all the members of the Nine Swords, she was probably the one he spoke to the most, regardless of how little time she'd been a member. She was strong, even without the hum of the Bees within her. She told him once of her "deficiency". It never mattered to him. They were Templars, and friends above all.

His eyes finally trailed back to the coin in hand, then to the young friction-challenged woman from before. Her clothing betrayed her age within the group, probably not much older than him. Even with Elania's fashion sense, he'd never seen her dress like that. Alex tended dress well for these meetings himself, a dark grey suit and his red tie. She seemed familiar. Perhaps they had spoken only once before.

Connecting the dots between the coin and her eyes, he smiled. Placing the rather large coin his open hand, he shut his eyes, then pulsed a wave of psychic force from his palm, slowly propelling the coin up into the air. It came to a stop, a foot in front of the young woman.

"Go ahead. I can't make heads or tails of it," he said, making a mental note of the unintended pun.

"Have we met before? I know I've seen your face somewhere..." He asked, the coin still silently hovering in front of her.