Nick "Nicodemus" Dalton (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nick_garou) wrote2016-03-16 09:33 am
nick_garou) wrote2016-03-16 09:33 am
Portlandia. Illusions. Half-moon moot. New bastet in town?
Things seem to have calmed down a bit. I went to Portland for a few days to touch base with my two Hollow One apprentices there, Shade and Briar. They've managed to not get into any trouble, and they seem relatively content with using what magick they possess to screw around. I had to bite my tongue; I did much the same thing back when I was their age. This quest for a greater understanding of the foundations and function of magick itself has, really, only been in me for the past decade, I guess. Still, I (finally!) took the opportunity to re-start my work on that defensive charm I'd thought up earlier. Shade and Briar'd alternately pop in and out, watching and taking notes. I don't think they actually need me so much anymore. Not right now, at least. But I suspect they'll get into trouble in the future. I cut my visit short as they seemed preoccupied with other things. I did visit the Portland chantry since I was in town, and used that as an opportunity to discuss my theories about a tenth sphere with a few more experienced, scholarly mages. I got the impression they thought I'd spiraled off into crazy town. Maybe I have. I don't know. I hope not. It's an occupational hazard.
When I got back to Saint Claire, I belated had a thought about symbiotic resonance and spirituality. The fire at the caern's fire pit had been put out about a week ago, and it occurred to me that I'd taken an ember from the flames nearly a year earlier and integrated it into the fire in my cabin's fireplace, allowing me to have a symbiotic connection to the caern from my cabin, this facilitating Correspondence magicks. I keep the fire burning constantly with magick, as it's a part of my sanctum, so.... I took an ember from my fireplace, took it back to the caern, and added it to the new fire that was burning there, thus re-establishing a continuity/resonance of sorts.
I spent some more time working on that defensive charm, but I eventually took a break and went to the city for groceries and to go look at some books on tiger anatomy and physiology. I'd studied tigers for about a week earlier at the Seattle zoo, but they were not particularly spry and active (usually). And while I could have used some mind magick to make them more active and let me see what ranges of motion their forms are capable of, I didn't want to do that when there were camera feeds present and I'd already attracted attention from at least one of the zookeepers for spending nearly a week outside that one exhibit. So perhaps a book on tiger Anatomy & Physiology would be useful for determining range of motion with limbs as well as structural loading. (There's a lot of Forces involved with living organisms.) I used a little Entropy to get lucky and found just the book I was looking for. I also bumped into this ambitious young Asian girl who was similarly in the section with tiger books. She was looking to get into vet school with a well-written research paper on tigers, making her stand out with an exotic instead of a dog or a cat. She looked like she was still young enough to be in high school still, but I didn't say anything as she might be sensitive about her appearance--or her having skipped a few grades. I got back to the cabin and spent the rest of the day extrapolating computer models of a tiger's range of motion based upon their skeletal-musculature structures. I do believe I've got a passable working tiger illusion at this point. It could still use some refinement, but technically everything can always use more refinement.
Last night I attended a half-moon moot as Brings-the-Pack. Thane introduced me as a mage--and not a bastet--to Nieve. I wasn't sure what to expect at this moot, but there wasn't any drama and I didn't get called out for any offenses or slights. Other than words of greetings and congratulations, I largely kept to myself--very intentionally so as to not cause any trouble. Felix successfully completed his challenge for fostern. (Good.) I caught wind of Karuvar having a new charge that Justin had wrangled in. (Note: Send e-mail. Note: Odd coincidence about the girl reading tiger literature in the bookstore earlier. Surely not? No. Cubs tend to be closely protected.) And the garou named Winter, whom I'd talked to once before as Nick, seemed to be saying something about becoming leader of the ragabash at the sept and, perhaps, something annoying to Thane. But a fight did not break out, so that was good. There's probably some cultural complexity here that I'm missing.
When I got back to Saint Claire, I belated had a thought about symbiotic resonance and spirituality. The fire at the caern's fire pit had been put out about a week ago, and it occurred to me that I'd taken an ember from the flames nearly a year earlier and integrated it into the fire in my cabin's fireplace, allowing me to have a symbiotic connection to the caern from my cabin, this facilitating Correspondence magicks. I keep the fire burning constantly with magick, as it's a part of my sanctum, so.... I took an ember from my fireplace, took it back to the caern, and added it to the new fire that was burning there, thus re-establishing a continuity/resonance of sorts.
I spent some more time working on that defensive charm, but I eventually took a break and went to the city for groceries and to go look at some books on tiger anatomy and physiology. I'd studied tigers for about a week earlier at the Seattle zoo, but they were not particularly spry and active (usually). And while I could have used some mind magick to make them more active and let me see what ranges of motion their forms are capable of, I didn't want to do that when there were camera feeds present and I'd already attracted attention from at least one of the zookeepers for spending nearly a week outside that one exhibit. So perhaps a book on tiger Anatomy & Physiology would be useful for determining range of motion with limbs as well as structural loading. (There's a lot of Forces involved with living organisms.) I used a little Entropy to get lucky and found just the book I was looking for. I also bumped into this ambitious young Asian girl who was similarly in the section with tiger books. She was looking to get into vet school with a well-written research paper on tigers, making her stand out with an exotic instead of a dog or a cat. She looked like she was still young enough to be in high school still, but I didn't say anything as she might be sensitive about her appearance--or her having skipped a few grades. I got back to the cabin and spent the rest of the day extrapolating computer models of a tiger's range of motion based upon their skeletal-musculature structures. I do believe I've got a passable working tiger illusion at this point. It could still use some refinement, but technically everything can always use more refinement.
Last night I attended a half-moon moot as Brings-the-Pack. Thane introduced me as a mage--and not a bastet--to Nieve. I wasn't sure what to expect at this moot, but there wasn't any drama and I didn't get called out for any offenses or slights. Other than words of greetings and congratulations, I largely kept to myself--very intentionally so as to not cause any trouble. Felix successfully completed his challenge for fostern. (Good.) I caught wind of Karuvar having a new charge that Justin had wrangled in. (Note: Send e-mail. Note: Odd coincidence about the girl reading tiger literature in the bookstore earlier. Surely not? No. Cubs tend to be closely protected.) And the garou named Winter, whom I'd talked to once before as Nick, seemed to be saying something about becoming leader of the ragabash at the sept and, perhaps, something annoying to Thane. But a fight did not break out, so that was good. There's probably some cultural complexity here that I'm missing.