A new lightsaber, and a road trip with two wookies

[nick_garou]

 

My time with Pavel was well spent. After trading him the two talisman for services to be rendered to Salem and Slug later, I helped him in repairing the crack in the cat's eye marble talisman that allowed the user to penetrate the gauntlet twice per month--allowing for there-and-back-again trips. Pavel's cave simply has a hole opened up, so he simply comes and goes into the umbra as he pleases. I, on the other hand, am going to sorely miss getting to do that. There's a workaround, but.... It's not ideal, it's time consuming, and it's vulgar magick.

Anyway. I spent days helping Pavel, lending my magick to his under his close supervision, and we fixed the talisman together. (He already had a buyer lined up.) It was very fussy work, that. When Pavel took breaks to work on a different project--you don't want to know, it's still wigging me out a bit--I'd pop over to the umbra and futz about with the new lightsaber I'm crafting. Working with Pavel on the talisman gave me some ideas and a better "feel" for what I needed to be doing to enhance the energy efficiency/storage over my original lightsaber. I think I've gotten a better feel for how Prime magick works as a result of this ongoing project, working with Pavel, and studying the energy patterns within the caern. My new lightsaber is a stark contrast from the old black-hilted one with the green blade. The new one is hand-molded from metals to make a two-toned (dark grey and chrome accents) hilt with an orange blade. More importantly, it's VASTLY more efficient.

Yeah. It's kind of bad ass. I'm half tempted to practice dual-wielding the green and orange, but I'm pretty sure I'd cut something off. And--really--when would I ever need such a weapon other than for shits and giggles? Or perhaps intimidation?

I helped Pavel out with a few more less interesting "chores"--including acting as "muscle" for deal with a new client. (I don't think of myself as "muscle", but I guess a Master of Forces ought to.) We then parted ways and I went to meet up with Walter, a contact of mine, in Phoenix. He'd extended an invite earlier to the Warpers-Only pre-pre-viewing of the new Star Wars movie coming out a couple weeks from now. A Virtual Adept friend of his with a little Time and Forces and a computer rig ensured the gathering--nearly 20 mages!--was a hoot. My lightsabers were a huge hit, and I ended up talking techniques with a few Force-inclined mages. And there was a shit-load of virtual reality Star Wars Battlefront. It was a good time. Star Wars marathon over, I headed back to St. Claire so as to pick up Slug and Salem while the moon was crescent--conducive to travelling for everyone.

 

 

Slug, Salem, and I set out for Denver, Colorado, a 20-hour haul. I did it in one shot, cheating with Dreaming to draw upon 18-wheeler knowledge of the road, speed traps, traffic, shortcuts, and good places to catch a quick meal for cheap. (I also learned waaaay too much about lot lizard hot spots.) Slug has one functioning eye, so I didn't care to let him drive because of depth perception issues--not to mention a lack of a proper Class A driver's license, I'd imagine. And Salem? I doubt he can reach the pedals.

Someone eventually asked about what this was going to cost them. I told them I'd already covered it. Pressured for details, I explained I'd traded the equivalence of two fetishes and some "Mage Money" on top of that. They weren't terribly thrilled with that sacrifice, but the deal was done.

The next day I put Slug and Salem under, scanned for any spirits or tracking-related stuff, and drove out to Pavel's cave in the desert. He spent just an hour on each of them, and he was clearly both nervous having them there and had to be kept focused on not.... taking them apart for a closer look. When finished, I ensure all remaining organic residue was incinerated. I don't need to visit next time and find Pavel with a clone army of Salem/Slug werewolves to command. (Come to think about it, it might be possible that Pavel /could/ create shapeshifters. Now there's an unnerving thought.)

Back to Denver, where Salem and Slug came out of it and had no recollection of where they'd been or undergone. And I'd run the Winnebago through a car wash and topped the tank off to eliminate guesses as to where they might have been. They do NOT need to find their way back there. Ever. We crashed for the night.

Today, we finished the drive back to Saint Claire. And I need to unwind and rest a bit.