She nods. "You're new to this aren't you? It's fine, there are always learners. And if you've amanoied you have a right to be here. Would you like the tour?"

He notices how tense he is, and deliberately tries to relax. He sighs slightly. "Yes. I think a tour would be really helpful, and much appreciated, so, thank you."

"Please just take this stone and ke it for me? Security check."

For what, Corruptors? Fake mages? He doesn't know if it'll read weirdly to him, but refusing would be hella suspicious, so, either way, "Ke."

The stone glows green. 

"Welcome, rel'he." The word means user, he's seen it in writing. "Let me explain a few things for you." 

She gets the door behind herself and steps through, beckoning for Teddy to follow.

He follows. He'd be ready to take notes if he had any paper, though attempting to conjure some would be - counterproductive, let's go with that.

"There are two ways of getting lodging in this guildhouse," she chirps. "You can be an artist, and pay in coin, or you can be a muse, and pay in Core Draw refreshes. Yes, that often means sex. Rel'he generally become a bit more sexually permissive as a result of their professions - I've sure you've experienced that already. So this is a safe place for all the art and coding and sex we do. The building is warded against displaying video or taking pictures from within it, so don't try. Are you on the Rel'he'ar?" Userboards.

Would being a 'local admin' override that though.

Does that block his virus scan function though???

...He's just thinking about the security. Really. He's pretty sure that's actually true, even.

He still looks kind of uncomfortable with everything. "Hmm. No, I'm not. I'd - probably feel more comfortable on the artist side of things. If I had any coin."

"There's no charge to stay awhile in the common room and look for opportunities. It's just a bed that will cost you. And the services of Muses are open to all rel'he."

Topic change please. "Are the rel'he'ar used for looking for work, then?"

"Yes, often. Also for conversation and so on. They are entirely in Hymnos though, so if your grasp is weak - nothing to be ashamed of in a new rel'he - you might have some trouble."

She opens the door at the end of the hallway and leads Teddy out into a common room with tables and a small kitchen. There's a balcony overhead on all sides with more tables; there are also some quite beautiful painted landscapes on the walls. It seems quiet; only a few people are in evidence at this hour. 

"Welcome to the Guildhall," says Clematis. 

"I'd like to see how to use them, then. ...Oh, nice. I suppose you would have good art here... Can you charge a passion core off coding? I've, well, studied it in the abstract, even if I haven't used Hymnos until recently."

"It's not generally possible, though there have always been rel'he trying to do so. Tell you what, since you're short of cash I'll put you up for the night on the expectation you pay me back tomorrow, okay? Either as a Muse or Artist, I don't mind either. Or you can wash dishes, never anyone interested in that."

"I'm pretty wired so I don't think I actually need a bed tonight, though I do appreciate it. I think I need to... Learn more about the world of rel'he and see some coding done and find some work... I feel very out of place."

He frowns. "And I'm honestly kind of uncomfortable with the idea of - muses. But I don't know if you want to get into that with me at all."

"I'm sure somebody here will explain how to use the rel'he'ar for you. As for muses - it's mostly a way to encourage matches where pairs of rel'he restore each other's output. The Artists are being charged for access to the entire Muse pool, from which they can almost always find someone willing to help. The system does throw some new rel'he, but it works and helps more rel'he reach their goals."

"But it's-" Sigh.

"If you're offering to... Well actually I suppose don't actually know if you're a muse I suppose, I just assumed that, but, the idea is not entirely unappealing. My core draw is high, and it would be better if it was low, to say nothing of, uh, and-" He's babbling. "It's just - I feel like I'm missing a lot of things. And it's uncomfortable to engage with things when I feel confused. I guess. Sorry. I'll shut up now."

"Oh, I'm flattered. But I have the front desk to mind. If you were interested in that, then - Hannah?"

A woman with dark brown hair wearing a simple black dress stands from her table and walks over. "Hey, what's up? New rel'he?"

"Yes. Very in need of guidance. I have to run the desk but can you get him up to speed? I'll owe you a refresh."

"Sounds like a good deal to me. Hey new kid, what's your name?"

He is feeling terribly awkward and blushing. It's not helping him, the blushing, the feeling awkward, the fidgeting.

He has to figure out how to - exist in this world. It's not so easy to just banish the feeling like that, like a snap of the fingers, but closing his eyes for a deep breath helps a lot.

"Thank you. I'm Terence. Or Teddy. I'm pretty excited to actually start writing code, but there seems to be quite a lot I don't know. It's Hannah, right? I'll - try to keep up."

"Hey Teddy. I'm Hannah. Muse, energetics specialist, probably the third most experienced person here. Welcome to the club." She walks back to her table and sits down. "Do you know the basic interfaces yet? You can always satura-anske things if you're really low on Core, but for just a little bit more you can get something much more user-friendly. Kaldea-anske rel'he'ar rel'he Hannah Ashford." 

A stats screen pops up:

NAME: Hannah Ashford
USERLEVEL: User
HYMN: ••
~Embers Of Light~
STATUS: •••••
CORE DRAW: •◘◘
Heartsong Analysis:
INT: ••••
WIS: ••
CHA: ••••
Heartsong: 『Wild Girl』
When your Passion Core triggers, it triggers the Passion Core of everyone you're touching.
Passion Core: ◘

"Seen that for yourself yet?"

"I've seen my status screen but I think I'd benefit from whatever explanation you give a total newbie? Also, uh, my heartsong is slightly embarassing so I don't want to bring it up..." True, and provides an excuse not to display 'userlevel: administrator'.

Hannah laughs. "You do realize that page is publicly accessible, right? As soon as it gets around that you're here someone will satura-anske your name. So it's best to just get it over with. Kaldea-anske rel'he'ar rel'he Teddy."

She looks at the status page that comes up. Her eyes widen. 

"... Ah." 

She takes the screen back down. 

"You need to talk to our local administrator."

"I don't know what I'm doing." He hisses. "There's a scan function, I- Fuck."