[UA] I don't want to know... Back On Topic.

[Gaston Phillips]

> 
> This man was a druggie. The chances of him going back to drugs without us
> knowing are very high. How many drug addicts do you know? I was a law enforcer
> before. I've worked with druggies. There aren't many things that they say that
> you can take on face value. If I called the cops, and he is found to be under
> the effects of drugs when they get him. His word is as good as zilch. Then I
> am
> culpable of making a false report. (hint: the .sg at the end of my email
> stands
> for Singapore)
> 


Hi.

My name's Gaston.  I play UA.  I'm on the list.  I take drugs.  I don't like
the word "druggie."

I also don't like conflating "drug user" and "drug addict."

Or the assumption that you can't trust anything a person who takes drugs
says.

Because, well... it sounds to me like you're talking about a junky.  That
is, someone addicted to heroin.  Junkys are, yes, less than reliable.  They
often lie, and are almost always coming up with pathetically transparent
stories about why you need to lend them money "just for a day or three,
tops."

But then you go on to say he's talking like a person on a bad trip.

So... which is it?  Is this guy on acid, or is he a junky?

And but so, to segue back into UA,

    Magic and Drugs are drawn in the game along deliberately parallel lines.
The rush of getting a charge and of bending the rules of reality is an
addictive one, and one for which adepts are willing to sacrifice their hopes
of "normal lives." 

    So - are different adepts 'flavored' differently in their relationships
to magic?  I'm just thinking about this in terms of drugs, you see.
Because, like, to me, someone who smokes pot isn't even on my horizon, as
far as drug-use is concerned.  I don't consider Pot a drug any more than I
consider chocolate one.  I imagine Entropomancers, who are constantly
risking their lives to get the rush/thrill of a charge would consider
Cliomancers to be a bunch of soft-core sissies.

    What do you all think?  Are some schools more 'hard core' than others?
More addictive?  Less addictive?

    What about a recovering Adept?  Someone who's trying to "kick" magic,
but keeps relapsing?  What kind of school could work like this, where the
temptation's always there, for just one last charge.  Just one last spell.

    Hellblazer had this issue where Constantine's junky friend had set this
demon of consumption lose and constantine finds the friend in his bathtub,
covered in insects.  But first he finds a syringe with crushed insects
inside it.  The guy's been mainlining, like, ant soup.  That image has
always stuck in my brain.  As the intersection of drugs and magic, and as an
incredibly vivid snapshot about what the Occult Underground is like.  Aside
from the questions of what kind of ritual the poor guy could have been mixed
up in, I always have character concepts that involve the characters
switching drug addictions for magical ones, then trying to go back to drugs
to try and even things out.

Thoughts?

Gaston

P.S. - I should write up some cool O.U. sketches based on the NYC drug
scene.  There's crazily weird characters out there.  Ok, matter of fact, I
promise.  More stuff like that coke bar will be forthcoming.


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