"This is for a haunted house," Lucinda says, pointing at the cone-shaped armature. "I have the scythe around here somewhere. The Scritti Ligotti puppet just needs a tune-up; he'll be back with the band in a few days. I work in just about every medium there is, from glass to 3D modeling. And of course, I promote my own work, which is never easy."
You find yourself standing before the huge poster of Frida Kahlo.
"She's always an inspiration," Lucinda says. "Her, Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo: unconventional women who thrived after a horrible war. Well, thrived as much as they were allowed to. As I said, it's never easy. Truth is, I make most of my money from teaching nowadays. Of course, I can't charge one of the Garou—Elton says you're another broke drifter like we used to get when the Caern was strong, so I shouldn't try shaking you down."
She spends an hour giving you a full tour of her workshop. Lucinda is a natural teacher, full of energy and enthusiasm for the things she loves, but also hard-edged and practical. Art is a practical business, she explains: no tube of oil paint ever gave a damn about an artist's "vision." No creditor, either.
Your phone chimes, and you check it. Your boss wants you in early tomorrow. There's also an email from Elton waiting for you; he wants you to start patrolling Northampton in lupus form.
"There it is," Lucinda says. "There's the problem. They say we all get the same thing, the same twenty four hours in a day, but that's not true. We gotta work, we gotta drive our kids around. I'm a selfish old bitch and I'm greedy with my time and I still gotta bail out Roscoe's crew, make sure my friends are eating, teach young werewolves. Everyone is gonna try to take a chunk of your twenty four hours. We all need time to grow, and in this world of ours, we all need money to get by. I'm not gonna be your moral compass, kid. But it's gonna be hard: you'll need to grab what you can, and then you'll need to know when to pass it around so the people you rely on have room to breathe. You're going to fight for slices of that twenty four, Huguel. And you have enemies I can't know about. Buying us peace gives you time to learn. Buying me some clean canvases or Hobland some gear he can't acquire without showing his face also helps. But it's never easy. Everything is a fight, isn't it?"
(Time is money: the more you have, the more you can spend to support your human teachers, and the more you can learn from them.)
Free Days: 3
Dexterity: ●●○○○
Intelligence: ●●○○○
Composure: ●●○○○
Athletics: ○○○
Persuasion: ●○○
Academics: ●●○
Computer: ○○○
Mechanics: ○○○
"Where do you think I should focus?"
Dexterity: 6 days
Intelligence: 6 days
Composure: 6 days
Athletics: 1 day
Persuasion: 2 days
Academics: 3 days
Computer: 1 day
Mechanics: 1 day
I leave Lucinda's studio.
Next