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Went to the park yesterday morning and spotted Val wearing the raven and doing all kinds of aerial antics. She looked like she was exercising or just flying for sheer enjoyment--maybe both. Aerial parkour? She flew over to perch on the bench I'd sat on and fuss at my hair and chatter. I responded to her. Then she realized I was conversing with her, not talking at her. Shit. I cannot believe I forgot that people don't understand animals when they speak. I have got to be more careful.
I gave Val the silk shirt I'd enhanced for her. She was beside herself and, as we made out way to Denny's to get breakfast, talked about these things called talens and fetishes. Both are items infused with static magic and a spirit, but a talen is a temporary thing (sort of like what I did with Prime to Val's shirt) and a fetish is a permanent thing (sort of like a Talisman we mages use). Interesting. I pointed out that spirits were a big part of the garou's lives and magical capabilities. (Their command of spirit magic is fairly impressive, at least to me, even if it is static instead of dynamic.)
This led Val to talk about how smaller groups of wolves (packs) might follow a single spirit of their own choosing and how the spirit that had a pack seemed to grow stronger. (The spirit might be feeding off the garou's energies somehow.) But were-ravens don't have packs or spirits like that. And there seems to be some ongoing debate among the garou as to whether or not the cat-shifters like Karuvar or the Bubasti that the Walkers have (had?) form packs and/or follow a more individualized spirit. (Mouse did say that Karuvar had a spirit working with him, distracting her, while he was swiping the.... fetish(?) from the park's spiritual echo.) I ought to ask Mouse about why it is that werewolves don't all follow a wolf spirit.
Val's white noise generator came out when we got to the restaurant and we got to talking. Val got to talking about how ravens had ties with the wolves and how, in particular, there was a history with the Nordic garou--despite them being stereotypical war machines who often didn't use their brains--because they were easy to use for point-and-kill work. So the were-ravens often used them in the past to go clean up what they'd discovered. I'd pointed out that I'd also heard that the Nordic types are almost all universally assholes, but there were a few exceptions--like Emma. Val didn't know Emma was garou. FUCK. I thought she did and I did not mean to share that info with Val. Val said it was no big deal, and I doubt that it is in the grand scheme of things because the shifters generally seem to get along with one another. But still, there's the principle of the whole damn thing. I'd mentioned earlier that Emma'd no-showed for about a week and Val said it had to do with the moon being full and how that would make her blood boil. I've heard that before and, whether or not there's any truth to it, the garou likely believe it and allow their behaviors to change as a result. I should avoid doing any controversial stuff with them on full moons.
Val then asked what I was capable of doing with mind-related magic, and that I seemed to be better and more comfortable with it and the mental communication link she sometimes used. I told her that I'd gotten a little more insight into using magic that can affect people's minds shortly after I'd touched that chimera spirit's mind over a month ago, so it was all somewhat new to me and I was still learning what I could and could not do. I used a cooking analogy, where it's like a chef who'd never seen a type of fruit before is given one and now has to go figure out what the fruit pairs with, how to prepare it, etc.--without ruining the dish. And that, when it came to poking at other people's minds, I was a little reluctant to 'ruin the dish' and make them sick. I'm going to have to remember that analogy: it's a good distinction between the static, one-note-tune magic that the shifters seem to use and the dynamic magic that mages employ.
Right about then, Rajani made an appearance, then came over to join us. She's clearly got some business going with Val. Something involving the contents of an envelope that the Fox shifter gave to Val. A client called and I excused myself for about 10 minutes. Lady wanting to know if I'd reduce my fee because I'd gotten her the information she wanted on her husband in one day instead of two, so she felt like she was being ripped off. I let her haggle me down from $800 to $600. In the future, I'm going to take two days for those cases as a minimum, even if I finish in one day. I brought that one on myself. When I came back, Rajani was leaving. After she left, Val said the envelope contained "Fox magic" used for spying, and that it was visual and had no auditory component, and that Val was to put it in Plasticorp later on so Rajani could observe things. My paranoia alarm went off and I asked if I could see the envelope. I looked it over and it's... different. The physical content is just a small circle of paper. Newspaper, it looks like. Some sort of Correspondence effect with no bound spirit in it like I've seen with garou's fetishes. Interesting. However, the thing was already turned on inside the envelope!!! And maybe it didn't do audio, maybe it did. My preliminary scan indicated it didn't, but I wasn't 100% sure with such a precursory examination. I used pen-and-paper to communicate with Val that it was on and might be listening, then asked her if I could take it for further examination. (I might have played up the "might be listening" angle a bit much so I'd get a longer look at it, but it was certainly not a lie.) Val gave it to me. (Yes!) And I spent a good four hours examining it while parked in my car at SCCU. (Just in case there was a tracking component.) But in the end, it looks as if it does exactly what Rajani told Val it does: allow for visual scrying. I wonder if Rajani knows that I can see a trail that leads back to where she's scrying from? I left the envelope in my car, parked two blocks away from the houseboat--just to be on the safe side.
I gave Val the silk shirt I'd enhanced for her. She was beside herself and, as we made out way to Denny's to get breakfast, talked about these things called talens and fetishes. Both are items infused with static magic and a spirit, but a talen is a temporary thing (sort of like what I did with Prime to Val's shirt) and a fetish is a permanent thing (sort of like a Talisman we mages use). Interesting. I pointed out that spirits were a big part of the garou's lives and magical capabilities. (Their command of spirit magic is fairly impressive, at least to me, even if it is static instead of dynamic.)
This led Val to talk about how smaller groups of wolves (packs) might follow a single spirit of their own choosing and how the spirit that had a pack seemed to grow stronger. (The spirit might be feeding off the garou's energies somehow.) But were-ravens don't have packs or spirits like that. And there seems to be some ongoing debate among the garou as to whether or not the cat-shifters like Karuvar or the Bubasti that the Walkers have (had?) form packs and/or follow a more individualized spirit. (Mouse did say that Karuvar had a spirit working with him, distracting her, while he was swiping the.... fetish(?) from the park's spiritual echo.) I ought to ask Mouse about why it is that werewolves don't all follow a wolf spirit.
Val's white noise generator came out when we got to the restaurant and we got to talking. Val got to talking about how ravens had ties with the wolves and how, in particular, there was a history with the Nordic garou--despite them being stereotypical war machines who often didn't use their brains--because they were easy to use for point-and-kill work. So the were-ravens often used them in the past to go clean up what they'd discovered. I'd pointed out that I'd also heard that the Nordic types are almost all universally assholes, but there were a few exceptions--like Emma. Val didn't know Emma was garou. FUCK. I thought she did and I did not mean to share that info with Val. Val said it was no big deal, and I doubt that it is in the grand scheme of things because the shifters generally seem to get along with one another. But still, there's the principle of the whole damn thing. I'd mentioned earlier that Emma'd no-showed for about a week and Val said it had to do with the moon being full and how that would make her blood boil. I've heard that before and, whether or not there's any truth to it, the garou likely believe it and allow their behaviors to change as a result. I should avoid doing any controversial stuff with them on full moons.
Val then asked what I was capable of doing with mind-related magic, and that I seemed to be better and more comfortable with it and the mental communication link she sometimes used. I told her that I'd gotten a little more insight into using magic that can affect people's minds shortly after I'd touched that chimera spirit's mind over a month ago, so it was all somewhat new to me and I was still learning what I could and could not do. I used a cooking analogy, where it's like a chef who'd never seen a type of fruit before is given one and now has to go figure out what the fruit pairs with, how to prepare it, etc.--without ruining the dish. And that, when it came to poking at other people's minds, I was a little reluctant to 'ruin the dish' and make them sick. I'm going to have to remember that analogy: it's a good distinction between the static, one-note-tune magic that the shifters seem to use and the dynamic magic that mages employ.
Right about then, Rajani made an appearance, then came over to join us. She's clearly got some business going with Val. Something involving the contents of an envelope that the Fox shifter gave to Val. A client called and I excused myself for about 10 minutes. Lady wanting to know if I'd reduce my fee because I'd gotten her the information she wanted on her husband in one day instead of two, so she felt like she was being ripped off. I let her haggle me down from $800 to $600. In the future, I'm going to take two days for those cases as a minimum, even if I finish in one day. I brought that one on myself. When I came back, Rajani was leaving. After she left, Val said the envelope contained "Fox magic" used for spying, and that it was visual and had no auditory component, and that Val was to put it in Plasticorp later on so Rajani could observe things. My paranoia alarm went off and I asked if I could see the envelope. I looked it over and it's... different. The physical content is just a small circle of paper. Newspaper, it looks like. Some sort of Correspondence effect with no bound spirit in it like I've seen with garou's fetishes. Interesting. However, the thing was already turned on inside the envelope!!! And maybe it didn't do audio, maybe it did. My preliminary scan indicated it didn't, but I wasn't 100% sure with such a precursory examination. I used pen-and-paper to communicate with Val that it was on and might be listening, then asked her if I could take it for further examination. (I might have played up the "might be listening" angle a bit much so I'd get a longer look at it, but it was certainly not a lie.) Val gave it to me. (Yes!) And I spent a good four hours examining it while parked in my car at SCCU. (Just in case there was a tracking component.) But in the end, it looks as if it does exactly what Rajani told Val it does: allow for visual scrying. I wonder if Rajani knows that I can see a trail that leads back to where she's scrying from? I left the envelope in my car, parked two blocks away from the houseboat--just to be on the safe side.
