Momentum and doubt

[nick_garou]

 A lot has happened since the new moon moot.

 

I went to have a talk with Mouse to let her know that the garou seemed to be seriously considering attempting to blow up part or all of the Queen's tower, possibly through controlled demolitions (but I sincerely doubt that Linnaea, the cliath who suggested it, has ever done something like that before, and there's a significant difference between reading about and doing). I shared that I thought their fear of the Queen might be clouding their judgement. Mouse seemed to agree on both issues and said she'd go talk to Thane about what looked to be a developing course of action before things got out of hand and people got completely committed to it--and civilian casualties. Mouse and I talked shop afterwards, and I'd mentioned how I'd been observing parallels between the realm and the spirit world with energies, and how I'd observed this while tweaking a section of the northern lights to mirror the spiritual reflection when I was gone to Alaska the week before. She seemed impressed and offered to help get me across to the spirit world with one of her gifts if I needed to do additional research. I really wish I still had that talisman that let me get across once per month, but I think it was worth trading to get Salem fixed up (and the other talisman that let me turn into a cougar twice a month was worth trading to get Slug fixed up). Trace dropped by at the tail end of our discussion (I made it sound like we'd been talking about a stock portfolio for the local Walkers) to do a meet and greet with Mouse and discuss chiminage. He's to teach three gifts and/or rites, and at least one to someone outside the tribe. Privately (using my inside voice!), I wondered if giving a demonstration of a rite or gift to Brings-the-Pack might count as he's technically an ally of the sept and.... I'm going to guess probably not. It would be useful to broaden my knowledge of what the garou are and are not capable of with their gifts/rites, though. It's a situation where I have some knowledge, but I know I am missing a lot.

 

The next day I (as Brings-the-Pack) met up with Salem and Ghost 2--the Ghost they pulled from the parking garage and the black goo. The one that's not the other Ghost who is out in the woods. Ghost 2 is not particularly communicative, so I tried communicating with her telepathically and through imagery. She seems aware that there is another copy of her out there, but she also feels she is Ghost. She has memories that Ghost would have--like having met Brings-the-Pack in the past and how Ghost's earliest memory was being rescued from a dark place by what I assume are the Cyberdogs. My magick started slipping shortly after this and I had to end it. I have absolutely no idea what to make of any of this. It reminds me slightly of Carter, a Virtual Adept who passed through the area over a decade ago, who'd been in a state of Quiet and had an "evil" doppleganger of himself on the loose, which he was trying to stop. But.... totally different at the same time. Zach texted that he had an idea for how to defeat the ooze. I texted back that I was available to meet with him. I'm curious what he might have come up with--if anything.

 

A few days later, after doing some additional scannings, I dropped by the caern to communicate to Thane that I'd noticed an invisible wraith observing the garage and in periodic magical contact with someone else--and that I'd also noticed a sensation of near-future chaos erupting at the caern and Edgewood, but not at Harbor Park. (I left off that The Hub appeared safe, but relayed that to Mouse earlier.) I suggested alerting the garou to stay away so the sept could use that information to better lay a trap and to prevent someone from tipping our hand that we knew about the invisible wraith's observations, ruining the opportunity. Edgewood was to be evacuated and potentially turned into a trap since the Queen's forces seem to already know about it. A few minutes later, Briari jumped in all excited about spying on the wraith to learn its routines, because more information is good. I had a big, internalized sigh here. More information is good, sure, but this was precisely what I was concerned about and Briari hadn't listened or had dismissed what I'd said completely. We know it's there. Don't risk tipping our hand trying to get additional information before we know what to do next. But I think Thane and I managed to push her towards being helpful in evacuating Edgewood and finding a new, temporary site for kin and cubs to gather at while making Edgewood continue to look occupied. Briari has a ton of energy and enthusiasm, but wow, does it ever need to be tempered. She strikes me as being intelligent but mildly autistic and socially awkward (Asperger's Syndrome?). But I'm no psychiatrist. I don't think she has a particularly good grasp of spiritual matters, too. She did not seem to understand the spiritual connection that the caern's fire pit has with Aahn, the phoenix totem spirit that represents the uncorrupted, Primordial Wyrm, and how the fire serves a spiritual function and not simply a physical, utilitarian one. But she's a city-based ragabash. And I'd feel weird lecturing a garou about spirits and symbolism within their own caern. Really weird. Regardless, Thane added some fuel to the fire that'd all but gone out (the coals under the ash were still hot) and I used a little subtle, coincidental magick to coax the flames back to life. There needs to be fire in the fire pit. But if it does go out again, I have a flame, taken from the firepit, burning constantly in my cabin's sanctum, for resonance purposes and in the event the fire pit needs re-kindling.

 

A few more days later I was back at the caern to study its energies. Briari, Jamethon, Felix, and Trace were there. I'd heard of Jamethon--the sept's Gatekeeper--but never met him. He is HUGE. Had some kind of fetish that was glowing because it detected active magic. I mentioned being curious about looking at it some time in the future, and Jamethon mentioned perhaps some quid pro quo. We'll see about that. The red bit of light from the fetish indicated there was mage magick active in the area, and Felix commented on how he found it amusing how he'd gotten used to the idea of a talking mage-cougar to be somewhat normal. I replied that I similarly found it unusual that I was sitting around a fire pit having conversations with bloodthirsty werewolves. Then, while discussing the Queen and the caern and the potential means of changing the caern's fate, Trace seemed to get suddenly very agitated. Nearing frenzy. I went still and shut up to help avoid triggering anything. Jamethon suggested I leave and shifted to glabro, clearly recognizing Trace was on the verge of frenzy and concerned I might be in the blast radius if he went off. I left immediately, careful to not flee as that might trigger a "chase" instinct. Wolves. They're so unpredictable. I wonder what set Trace off or if he just has a short fuse?

 

Two days ago I went to go fill Mr. Lee in on current events, as I hadn't seen him at the new moon meetup and wanted to make sure he knew to stay away from Edgewood. Texted him if it'd be okay to drop by, got a "yes", and showed up perhaps a little too quickly. There was a young teen girl on the front of the houseboat, and I'd turned up as Brings-the-Pack. Turns out she's one of Mr. Lee's cubs from a year or so ago! Holy cow, they grow up fast! Her name is Rabbit. Which.... Mr. Lee goes by Turtle. And his daughter is Rabbit-Digs-Deep. And they are both werefoxes. I wonder if this is a cultural thing with werefoxes? Introductions were made and I gave Mr. Lee the 15-minute rundown over current events before I had to go. I'll let him catch his daughter up on the background material. So there's that.

 

Yesterday I got a chance to follow up on checking out Copper Sands' future to see if it appeared to be overlooked by the Queen. I ran into Lily Song, the khan cub who Karuvar said it was okay to visit and talk with, when I came as Brings-the-Pack to visit. Karuvar wasn't there, and so we had a chat. Lily seems worried and a little afraid for her safety in all of this, so she was pleased when I did my thing and foretold that Copper Sands would likely be unscathed in the fallout with the Queen. I asked her to relay that information to Karuvar. We then just chatted a little bit. She strikes me as being bored, worried, and nervous about her welfare--even though she's in a mansion and surrounded by luxuries. She's lonely, too. She said she'd rather hoped I'd been another bastet instead of a mage. I feel a little sorry for her. I'll make a point of trying to visit her more often and setting up a means for her to emergency-contact me in the event she needs help and Karuvar isn't available. Maybe I'll take break out my tiger illusion for her in the future.

 

Today I--shockingly belatedly--examined my own cabin to see if it would escape the Queen's coming wrath. It looked fine, but I still spent the rest of the day examining my mundane and magickal defenses and alarm systems, ensuring everything was working. I'll sleep easier tonight. I think I'll go to town and get a pizza from Garcia's. It's been a while since I just had some me time with nothing on the agenda. Damn, I am busy these days. And the half moon moot is tomorrow. Maybe I'll go to that.