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I lost track of time and was up most of the night working on that defensive charm, which has proved to be easy in theory and not-so-easy in actually doing. I'd maybe gotten two hours of sleep before being woken up by Collins, the Walker kin who runs The Hub (the Walker tribe's penthouse hangout) and the skyscraper it's in. I dragged myself out of bed, much to LOLcat's annoyance as I was serving as his hot rock, and went to meet up about some "legal issues." I was worried I'd forgotten to fill out a form for the work I do for Terminus with stock portfolio management, as I've been really slacking on that recently. Turns out, when I'd chatted with Collins about maybe a year ago, I'd casually dropped a "it'd be nice if we could buy Harbor Park from the city" comment. He actually did the leg work on investigating the legal feasibility of doing precisely that. and he had stacks of binders (that were not full of women) to show for the work. He thinks, if we can put forward a business proposal for using that space and trading off a different space (so that a new park or other public facility can be opened as a replacement), it's workable. I suggested dropping a research biodome on it, as that'd provide an excellent excuse for creating an indoor forest for the glade that would simultaneously keep out the riff-raff and unwanteds. That would also set the stage for an attempt at awakening the glade and turning it into a low-end caern--preferably one under Walker control. Very, very intriguing. I was honestly excited about this prospect, and it gave me something positive to think about instead of doom and gloom from the one-two punch of the Ooze and Queen's Tower that's been lingering oppressively over everything for years now.
Collins mentioned he'd bumped into a Danae Johnson who also seemed like she was working towards the same ends, and how she had a Mr. Steele in her corner. Collins suggested we work on learning more about those two. Briari offered to help snoop on them, but I think she mentioned something about breaking and entering that made Collins nervous because, after she left, Collins said something about perhaps reining her in a bit. I have to admit that most garou scouts do seem to have a tendency to push until they're detected and start a fight. But more experienced garou like Riley had their shit together. Maybe it's a maturation process with ragabash where the cliaths haven't figured out scouting yet, but get better at it as the get older and get a bit more rank? I have no idea. And I'm not familiar enough with Briari to know how competent she is yet, although.... she didn't get eaten when she was scouting out the Queen's Tower. She's probably more capable than your average bear/garou./ragabash by that estimate.
But all that hypothesizing ended up being a moot point. I texted Val about those two names and she ID'ed them as both being kin: SLord and Fang respectively. So we called off the snoopfest before it even began. Sent Val a basket of goodies and made a donation to Regan Hope Project because she mentioned something about being concerned that acquiring the park might displace some of the homeless who shelter there. (Frankly, I wish they'd shelter elsewhere. The public bathroom is not intended to be a bunkhouse.)
Later that evening, Val and I headed out to the caern. She'd talked with Thane earlier, told him the mystery mage had been around for well over a decade and was an ally, and Thane opted to simply let Jacinta's earlier ruling stand, so I have access to the caern. However, that might be repealed at the upcoming moot if the sept raises a stink about it. I'm expecting more "reveal yourself" demands, honestly. Mouse turned up at the caern, we got to talking, and she and Val both mentioned that I might want to not offer as much help as a might--especially when it comes to things like delving into Ghost's mind to root out repressed or forgotten memories. They figured that that might scare the crap out of the garou (how do we know he won't do that to us?) and, once revealed, Thane might start trying to order me to do that for him. And Val and Mouse both know I've got serious ethical issues with delving into others' minds without their consent. They've got a point. Just because I'm willing to be a bit more open about there being a mage ally in the area does not mean I need to be entirely open about all I can do. I don't want to frighten the garou. Frightened garou tend to behave violently.
I did, however, share with Mouse my plans for reinstalling new ley lines for the nodes in the area, and that the nodes all had spiritual resonance and that in the future I might be able to hook all the plumbing up to the glade to help "jump start" it if she ever decided she wanted to turn it into a caern. She wanted to know if places of power had a resonance other than spiritual, and how many kinds of resonance there were. I told her that Spirit was one of Nine resonances, but that there's a theory that there's a 10th--and my suspicion is that the 10th might be somehow related to the Nothing, which seemed to lie just outside of influence-able reality. (What I didn't share is that The Nothing might be something that could be influenced by a Master of Prime, who could obliterate reality just like the Nothing, but I don't know any Master of Prime.)
Collins mentioned he'd bumped into a Danae Johnson who also seemed like she was working towards the same ends, and how she had a Mr. Steele in her corner. Collins suggested we work on learning more about those two. Briari offered to help snoop on them, but I think she mentioned something about breaking and entering that made Collins nervous because, after she left, Collins said something about perhaps reining her in a bit. I have to admit that most garou scouts do seem to have a tendency to push until they're detected and start a fight. But more experienced garou like Riley had their shit together. Maybe it's a maturation process with ragabash where the cliaths haven't figured out scouting yet, but get better at it as the get older and get a bit more rank? I have no idea. And I'm not familiar enough with Briari to know how competent she is yet, although.... she didn't get eaten when she was scouting out the Queen's Tower. She's probably more capable than your average bear/garou./ragabash by that estimate.
But all that hypothesizing ended up being a moot point. I texted Val about those two names and she ID'ed them as both being kin: SLord and Fang respectively. So we called off the snoopfest before it even began. Sent Val a basket of goodies and made a donation to Regan Hope Project because she mentioned something about being concerned that acquiring the park might displace some of the homeless who shelter there. (Frankly, I wish they'd shelter elsewhere. The public bathroom is not intended to be a bunkhouse.)
Later that evening, Val and I headed out to the caern. She'd talked with Thane earlier, told him the mystery mage had been around for well over a decade and was an ally, and Thane opted to simply let Jacinta's earlier ruling stand, so I have access to the caern. However, that might be repealed at the upcoming moot if the sept raises a stink about it. I'm expecting more "reveal yourself" demands, honestly. Mouse turned up at the caern, we got to talking, and she and Val both mentioned that I might want to not offer as much help as a might--especially when it comes to things like delving into Ghost's mind to root out repressed or forgotten memories. They figured that that might scare the crap out of the garou (how do we know he won't do that to us?) and, once revealed, Thane might start trying to order me to do that for him. And Val and Mouse both know I've got serious ethical issues with delving into others' minds without their consent. They've got a point. Just because I'm willing to be a bit more open about there being a mage ally in the area does not mean I need to be entirely open about all I can do. I don't want to frighten the garou. Frightened garou tend to behave violently.
I did, however, share with Mouse my plans for reinstalling new ley lines for the nodes in the area, and that the nodes all had spiritual resonance and that in the future I might be able to hook all the plumbing up to the glade to help "jump start" it if she ever decided she wanted to turn it into a caern. She wanted to know if places of power had a resonance other than spiritual, and how many kinds of resonance there were. I told her that Spirit was one of Nine resonances, but that there's a theory that there's a 10th--and my suspicion is that the 10th might be somehow related to the Nothing, which seemed to lie just outside of influence-able reality. (What I didn't share is that The Nothing might be something that could be influenced by a Master of Prime, who could obliterate reality just like the Nothing, but I don't know any Master of Prime.)
