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It's been a freaking whirlwind these past few months, so here's the highlights:

Briar and Shade's Epic Gothic Throwdown

Got a request from my two former apprentices over in Portland to pay them a visit to help set up for and attend their Halloween bash. It was one hell of a party. The old church they'd been using now belongs to them, deed and all. I thought it best not to ask how they came up with the money, as I am certain shenannigans were involved. Cleaned out, it's a great working space--kind of like the Gnawers have in Saint Claire, but... cleaner. The party was neo-Gothic themed, and the coincidental magick was flying. It was awesome. One for the ages. Made me feel like I was in my late teens to early twenties again. Thankfully, I can still fit in the pants I pulled out of storage. I suspect all the exercise I'm getting out in the woods helped me shed a few pounds.

There were some out of town Hollow Ones who came to the event and several lingered afterwards, so I was able to talk to a few about The Nothing. More of the same thing I've been getting from all the other mages I've talked to: (1) No idea what it is and (2) No idea how to stop it. So that was a wash. But Briar and Shade put me up for the next couple weeks and I gave them both some lessons with Prime--things for them to think about. Some of their questions also made me think about Prime myself. Best way to learn is to teach?

Star Wars with the Sons of Ether in the Phoenix

After Portland, I stopped back at my territory briefly and then continued down to Phoenix to meet up with Walter Hooper, the Son of Ether mage who'd earlier hooked me up for some virtual gaming sessions and a see-the-future viewing of the original Star Wars: A New Hope translated into Navajo, which was later shown on the nearby reservation. Still have the bootleg Blu-Ray. One of Walter's SoE friends threw a two-weeks-before-it's-in-theatres preview party at his home theatre, and I got an invite. Needless to say, it was excellent. I wish it'd been made a decade or two ago, when it would have resonated on a more personal level. It feels like it leaned a little towards Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast. Light and Dark are artificial constructs based around the manipulation of the Force/Magickal Potential. I could go on for days about this. I caught the actual movie at a Thursday showing. The actual viewing as better quality/resolution than the version viewed through time. There were little discrepancies here and there that likely indicate psychic resonances from the cast, writers, etc. that made it into the peering-into-the-future version, but.... Good movie. I'll probably go watch it a dozen more times. Particularly when the theatre isn't wall-to-wall humanity.

Pavel does what Pavel does

On the way back to Saint Claire, I paid a visit to Pavel. He likes it when I bring General Tso chicken from the Asian place in the nearby town. It's not very good IMO, but the crazy Russian likes it, and it's best to keep him happy. He mentioned he had a party who was interested in the cougar ring talisman, if I was willing to trade it. I hemmed and hawed and said probably not. The old guy nodded his approval and said that was a good negotiating tactic, as if he were going to use that to try and drive the price up. It's kind of part of my identity among the garou at this point. It'd be weird to give it up. And the form is, frankly, very useful for getting from A to B in the woods without being vulgar about it.

So now I'm back at "home" in my little piece of remote wilderness, where there's a grizzly bear--with a wyrm spirit influencing it--that's been terrorizing the local wildlife. I immobilized them (both the spirit and the grizzle) so I could study it for the next day or two. Maybe I can fix this myself. Maybe I'll take it to the garou to see if they can fix it and let me see how they do it. But, in the meantime, I've got a too-tall hat rack in my sanctum.