Jocasta on the Town
Michael
All right, first things first: as the tensions of the morning's unwelcome interactions (and the interrogation of Keiner and the consumption of a Modafinil capsule) at Livermore start to fade under the steady wheels of the AMC, Jocasta feels some distance put between her and … all that SANDMAN shit. As she gets closer to the City, coming up the 580 over Oakland on her way to the Bay Bridge and feels some semblance of normality begin to take root in her mind … Jocasta swears she sees a no-fooling float-car from the cover of the Mansa album jetting through the air above West Oakland. Give me a Fright Check at a -2 to Will.
Leonard
whoa
Jocasta is on pins and needles, man. When this thaws it's gonna be total liquidations.
>>>> FAILURE
The increasingly familiar Jocasta Menos Poorly Timed Brain Meltdown has begun.
Michael
What is Jocasta going to do. The float-car is moving southwest across the freeway, from Temescal/Berkeley to West Oakland. It's also losing altitude.
The exit for West Oakland is coming up quick.
Leonard
Oh she's gonna follow that shit for sure. If it's real we gotta know about it; if it's a hallucination, well, I saved myself the cost of a dose today.
Michael
Jocasta makes her way off the freeway and onto the streets of West Oakland. Whatever passing familiarity Jo has with these neighborhoods, whether or not in her lost years she's ever come down to this part of town, I'm sure the scenery is still pretty shocking. Lots of burned out blocks, a lot of Brutalist housing complexes, a lot of human misery, and probably a side-eye or two as this white lady drives her sporty AMC through the streets. Jocasta lost sight of the UFO near the three Acorn housing projects on the east side of West Oakland. As Jocasta drives through the neighborhood trying to figure out if what she just saw was hallucination, flashback, or real-ass Irruption, it also seems like she's slipping, almost effortlessly, into flâneuse mode. Give me an Occultism roll at a +2 to your skill.
>>>> SUCCESS
That's going to determine the level of your sanity loss from [the failed Fright Check] … so give me a minute, I'm going to combine it with the Occultism roll great success. I will fold the results neatly into Jocasta's obsession/delusion/paranoia troika.
Okay. So as the increasingly obsessed Jocasta scans the streets of West Oakland for some sort of sign of either a) the descending UFO or b) an occult set of symbols that will attempt to weave together what's happening with Mansa, History B, and the Black community in West Oakland, she begins to experience what can only be described as a mild set of LSD-like hallucinations. The crystalline-blue sky begins to reticulate into shards of what look and feel (and taste) like stained glass shards; the sensation almost feels like it's cutting Jocasta's tongue. The pollution-choked air of West Oakland sounds like a cacophony of out-of-tune brass instruments. The sound of horns honking in the streets leave trails like angry red war banners waving across the street. Jocasta is well and truly fucked up … and synaesthetic.
And luckily that synaesthesia does something to the symbol-recognition corner of her brain, turning cigarette billboards and posters and cinema marquees into complex tastes and sounds that play across Jocasta's tongue and ears. And one of the things that this synaesthesia applying to symbols that Jocasta sees on the streets does is allow Jocasta to sense the correspondences between symbols as they appear and re-appear on the streets on a visceral, subconscious level. No longer does she need to apply the language or symbol centers of her brain to the interpretation of the signs; it's all pure sensory input now, on almost an animal level. This altered state is reminding Jocasta of her Lost Years and it becomes clear to Jocasta that on the streets, in the shop windows, on the billboards is a singular repeating pair of symbols, a pair that on the surface don't make much sense but have lodged in her brain like a trigger phrase out of MK-ULTRA mind control methodology … a bucket and a spade. A bucket and a spade? Yes. On this billboard for cigarettes, an upwardly mobile Black couple at the beach, enjoying their smooth menthol cigarettes with a suspiciously placed bucket and spade. A neighborhood bodega with a completely incongruous window display of beach attire and equipment: buckets and spades everywhere. Even a pair of neighborhood bars on adjoining blocks: the Bucket of Blood and the Ace of Spades. What does it mean? Jocasta cries out aloud in extremis, the synaesthesia peaking as she ends up in front of the Acorn projects. Two Black kids look at her from the pavement at the red light; the girl about Charley's age, the boy a few years older. She holds a wash pail, he holds a squeegee. Bucket and spade?
(Of course I can't do this scene the justice of, say, Oedipa Maas in extremis near the end of Lot 49, but I tried, dammit!)
(A roll of 16 on a Fright Check result indicates a permanent Quirk … Leonard if you find it might be interesting for Jocasta, I might give her a Quirk where under similar states of duress she becomes synaesthetic, but I'll leave it to you to decide whether you like the idea or not. Since I used the Madness Dossier specific Madness table, I have a lot of latitude over what effects remain permanent.)
(Finally, Jocasta can give me a regular old Hidden Lore (History B) roll when she gets a chance. No pesky modifiers.)
Leonard
>>>> SUCCESS by 4
(Also, that Quirk works just fine — and it's in character, since that's a common side-effect of LSD.)
Michael
Man, this symbology is jogging your memory about your SANDMAN training, especially on Irruptor symbology … maybe it's just the fact you were just talking about that training with Archie and Mitch and Sophie … but you could have sworn you remember something about a vessel and a shovel from Mesopotamian depictions of gods and/or Anunnaki. But you can't for the life of you remember what or where. You'll need access to a library to delve into this more deeply.
(Holy Christ, Jocasta actually took Research!!!!)
Leonard
Of course she did! She was a good student.
Michael
She's the rare nerd-jock
(Berkeley and its premier library system is just up the road a ways … is Jocasta an alumna in good standing?)
Leonard
(Yes, of course — she'd keep in good standing at Berkeley for practical reasons if not nostalgic ones.)
Okay, so, here's what she's gonna do: After a few minutes of aimless, fussy wandering around looking for a comfortable spot, she'll basically just plop down on the sidewalk somewhere obvious but unobtrusive (like, against a building, but not in the middle of the sidewalk). She'll take out a sketchbook and start making a rough but fairly elaborate drawing: a large and slightly menacing/crude-looking bucket & spade in the center, with the words "BUCKET AND SPADE" in an arc in the closest her fuzzy brain can approximate to calligraphy. In the corners, around it like little cameos, she will make smaller drawings of the bars, the kids, the billboard, and the UFO. I'm not sure how long this will take, but I'm guessing her perception of time is pretty fluid at the moment. She'll also start singing "bucket and spade" to herself in an absurd little tune. At some point, she will turn to the kids, if they're still around, and say in a nonchalant way.
"Hey, kids, did you see where that flying saucer went?"
If this turns out to be an unproductive area of conversation, she'll finish her drawing and wander up to the UC library. She'll leave her car. If it's too far to walk, she'll do it anyway, since she's tapped into something and isn't sure she can navigate a bus.
Michael
(OMG, that was amazing. I need a Reaction check for the kids. I need to total up bonuses and penalties, one sec.)
First things first, can you give me an Artist (Drawing) check for the drawing?
Leonard
>>>> SUCCESS by 5
Success, by 5.
Michael
Beautiful. Okay, here we go: Reaction roll is 3d6, you want to roll high: +1 from Appearance, +1 from Wealth/your car, -1 from Delusion, -2 from Paranoia, another +1 because you seem like a harmless kook, -1 because you're white, +2 from the Artist roll and +1 for awesome RP: so is that 3d6+2? I think it is. laugh
Leonard
>>>> 3d6+2 … 14
Michael
Nice. That's right smack dab in the middle of "Good."
"Flying saucer? Lady, you're messed up," the girl says to her, smiling, but curious about this crazy/high white lady's drawing. "Cool drawing, though. What does it mean?"
The boy is a little cooler to Jocasta, but he can't stop eyeing the Javelin.
Leonard
"I wish I knew, kid. I feel like the world is trying to tell me something, but I don't know what it is." She pauses and sketches, on another page, the girl and her brother. "That's you." She tears it off and hands it to them. She pauses for a moment and then remembers. "Hey, are either of you going to the Mansa show this weekend?"
Michael
The boy immediately brightens up, and stands up tall looking at Jocasta. "Yeah, of course we are! It's gonna be far out!" The girl takes the picture Jo drew of her and her brother, and murmurs, politely, "Thank you" as she folds it up and tucks it in her overalls pocket. The boy, about 11 or 12, says, "You like Mansa?" It seems like he's sized Jo up as some kind of weird RICH Berkeley hippie interested in actual good music.
Leonard
"Yeah! I heard their new album. It's really good. I hope I get to see them." Jocasta is way out on a limb here and is probably going to traumatize some kids after leaving in a huff over traumatizing some kids, but she's fishing now: "Do you know Mr. Moore? The singer? I hear he lives around here." Her brain is probably very sketchy at the moment, but she's trying to make it sound like she's a fan, not a cop.
Michael
"He lives 'round the way," the brother says, vaguely nodding towards West Oakland proper, still Reacting at a Good level but evidently starting to get a wee bit suspicious. "You know they already signed to a record label, right?" This kid is actually really savvy, he thinks Jocasta is A&R!
Leonard
Brant
$20 in 1973 is like $110 in 2020, I think you just bought these kids a college education Leonard
Rob
I thought that too, but the kid was right there asking for more
Michael
Hey, you always gotta hustle.
Leonard
(LOL, yeah, I know. I had considered bribing them with a ride in the Javelin, but "white lady with mental issues and drug habit caught kidnapping black children" might reflect poorly on URIEL. Jocasta knows she got rooked but she's pretty well off and considers this a charitable deed, and she can always bill it back to SANDMAN as an expense.)
She'll play it cool. "You got me, kid. I was hoping to do a little business with the man, but I don't think he needs me and my people anymore." (IRONY!)
"Tell you what, I gotta take a little walk around town. Watch my car for me?" she asks with a wink, holding out a rolled-up twenty. "Maybe I'll see you at the show."
Michael
The older kid takes the twenty and holds his hand out for more. As does his sister.
Leonard
"Oh, so that's how it is, huh? Okay, okay … one for each of you, but only if you keep an eye out for that flying saucer, too."
Michael
"You got it, lady," he says, tucking the bills into his jeans pocket. The girl looks up at the sky, and says, dreamily, "One day the skies are gonna be filled with flying saucers."
(A walk from here to the Berkeley campus is about five miles. Dare I look up the GURPS forced march rules? )
Leonard
Hmmmm. Well, she'll wander a mile or so, get something to eat, and get a cab. No sense in punishing herself for her stoned inability to gauge distances.
Michael
I'm gonna complete this tomorrow, Leonard. It's our first visit in-character to Berkeley (the university, not the city, you all were just there last night abducting a dude) and I want to get the flavor right.
Leonard
Yeah, works for me! I'm gonna turn in soon anyway. This was a blast, though. I was hoping to get to add "drug-fueled sleuth Jocasta" to the mix.
Michael
Yeah, me too. She's just got so many dimensions to her! You created a very good stand-alone character.
Leonard
Aw thanks! I hoped to make her more than just muscle, and this game has been a huge inspiration to fleshing her out.
Michael
So at this point in Berkeley campus history, the main collection is still in the Doe Memorial Library, at the center of campus, right on the famous Sproul Plaza. As good a place to start would be the Ancient Near East section of the main collection; if need be, Jocasta can go to the rare books collection at the adjacent Bancroft Library, currently under renovation but there are still a few temporary reading rooms open in the annex. Here's the Doe and its North Reading Room (sorry I couldn't find any good period shots, they appear to be as rare as hen's teeth)
In any event, Berkeley is a world-class library system so this is going to mean your Research roll will be at +2 to the skill.
Leonard
(got a 12 on the Research roll, so if the skill is at +2, that's a success by 3 … I think)
Michael
Perfect. Ancient Mesopotamian infodump on its way.
Just one more roll before I get too deep into it, Leonard, just another Hidden Lore (History B) roll if you don't mind.
I'll be taking your past success into consideration, but just give me a straight up roll.
Leonard
(another 12, so success by 2.)
Michael
Jocasta was right. The bucket and spade are notable ancient Mesopotamian symbols. Bucket first: in many images of the Babylonian gods, some gods and demons are seen with a round-handled bucket or basket in their hands. It's called the banduddû. It's associated with collecting the bounty of the trees, with fruit collection, and some Biblical scholars believe, with the mythcycle that led to the Israelites' codification of the myth of the Tree of Knowledge. Since this symbol cycle is about cultivating orchards and thus feeding the masses, the banduddû is also seen as a regnal symbol. It is also seen corresponding with the ancient symbol of the beehive — more cultivation, more rulership.
The relationship to SANDMAN's study of esmology (which comes from the root for "bees") should not be ignored. The gods that are seen with the banduddû are quite often winged avian figures (called Apkallu), but the banduddû is also carried by the bull-figure/Anunnakku, Kusarikku, who we've noticed an affinity for in Mansa's Ikenga album art. Spade next: the shovel is another symbol of cultivation and agriculture, but this time it's associated with a much bigger hitter in the pantheon: Marduk, the creator and authority god of Babylon. The shovel symbol is called a marru, and again it conveys the idea of authority, holy rulership, feeding the masses, and while it originates with another older agricultural deity, it also has been put in the hands of, you guessed it, Kusarikku again. And it's obvious that Kusarikku's origins as a demon spawned of Tiamat was softened in later Mesopotamian myth, he soon became a guardian, a sentinel, a protector of the doorways of the granary or the city. Again: plenty, protection, regal authority.
Some links:
So, the symbolic set of through-lines here are clear: feeding the hungry masses, giving them peace, security, full bellies, guarding the doorway. But here's the part that's making Jocasta break out in a cold sweat when she finishes her research: what the repeated appearance of that bucket and spade meme means isn't that the neighborhood is awaiting its savior in the form of Mansa, or the Anunnaki, or any kind of UFO coming down to magically turn Oaktown into an Afrofuturist utopia full of full granaries and bull-man protected gates. What this means, via the Anunnaki power of "retrocreation" is that in some sense, Kusarikku isn't on its way. KUSARIKKU IS ALREADY HERE. Fright check at normal Will, Jocasta.
Leonard
Hoo boy. Let's GOOOOOO, as they say.
>>>> SUCCESS by 2
All right. Rolled a 12, so made the Fright check by 2.
Michael
Steely and cool, Jo gathers up her xeroxes and notes and sketches and … heads back home to crash? Calls it in to Sophie?
Leonard
Sigh. Boy, Jo really needed that alone time with me and Dr. Hofmann's finest, but duty calls. Assuming it's still early in the day — or not late enough that everyone will have gone home — here's her plan of action.
Michael
It's probably around 5 or 6 pm on Wednesday by the time all that research is done. Odds are someone will still be at Livermore.
Leonard
First, yeah. Take a little break to clear her head, make sure it's on and facing in the right direction. Gather up her notes, her sketches, maybe make a few more, photostat some of this research. Then cab it back to where she remembers her car being, which, given her state of mind, might be a bit of a challenge; if the kids are still there (which is unlikely) and the car is still in drivable shape (questionable), she'll toss them another $20 and say in a friendly but sincere way that maybe they shouldn't go to the Mansa concert after all because she got a hot tip that the cops are gonna bust the place (again, with more of a 'damn the Man' attitude than a 'and I know this because I'm one of them' attitude). If not, she'll take a cab back and look for the car later, but there's no time to fuck around. She'll head straight for Livermore and probably, once anything that happens there happens, dose herself mildly and sleep on a sofa right there.
Obviously she will tell the Librarian everything she's learned and advise that the rest of the team be alerted ASAP if they're not on site.
Michael
The kid's little sister has gone home but he's still waiting, sitting on a stoop across from the Javelin, drinking a Coke.
Leonard
Nice. So, yeah. She'll approach him, mildly surprised that he stuck around, and thank him for keeping an eye out. She'll pass him another ten at first, and playfully ask "Any sign of that UFO?"
Michael
"No ma'am. My sister had to go home but she didn't see none either."
Leonard
"Ah well. Better luck next time. What's your name? I'm Jo."
Michael
"Martin." Still a little shifty, still a little suspicious but hey, he's $30 richer right now. "So I guess you ain't gonna try to sign the band, then? Did you go walk down to Dominoe?"
Leonard
"Nah, Martin, I got a lot to do and I think that'll have to wait until later. Mr. Moore seems pretty happy with the deal he's got. I tell you what, though … " And here she's gonna give him another twenty, and use, uh, Fast Talk? Diplomacy? Basically: "A li'l' bird told me that the cops might show up at the Mansa show. You know how they are. Now you seem like a good kid, I don't want you to get into trouble, so take this and maybe do something else that night, take your sister and your mom out to get something nice for dinner. I'm sure you'll get to see them again some other time."
Michael
Yeah, Fast-Talk. +3 to your skill.
Leonard
(yet another steady-Eddie 12, so made it by 4.)
Michael
Martin sizes Jocasta up, one last time, folds the other $10 into the roll in his pocket. "You're all right, lady." A pause. "Jo. Thanks." He takes off down the street towards the Acorn projects.
Leonard
(Sweet. Good kid. Back to Livermore, then.)
(I was hoping for everyone to be there so she could bust out her mini-sketchbook, triumphantly unveil her no doubt incomprehensible bucket-and-shovel masterpiece, and just stand there grinning expectantly for everyone to congratulate her on cracking the case by drawing a deranged nightmare tea towel design, but you can't always get what you want)
Michael
Hah! Okay, I'm gonna hold up on Jo until we get to a point where we're all in the same timeframe. But yeah, this is great stuff.
Oh yeah, I'm guessing that once Jo checks in at Livermore Sophie will say that Charley wants the entire team to meet there tomorrow morning so she can properly introduce herself. Probably a good time to bring all this to the team as well.
Leonard
(Right, I figured that — hence crashing at the office. It'll give her a chance to lightly dose, get her head together both for the kusarikku info dump and the emotional issues around Charley, and get some sleep while still being on time for that meeting.)