nick_garou | Welcome to the umbra! We've got fun and games!

Salem e-mailed me clearance to use the tribe's forested land out near WWNP to visit the spirit world, but cautioned to not go out there if the moon is less than half-full. He either didn't want to come or was too tied up with other things--he didn't say. But Val came as an escort. We got out to the pine-tree-filled valley in fairly short order. Val crossed over to see if it was safe, came back, and declared it to be clear. I powered up my new talisman and *FWOOSH!* Spirit world!

And then my stomach caught up with me and I barfed. Wow. I hadn't been expecting that. Ugh. Fortunately I had some mint gum in my pocket, and that helped to kill the taste. Still, it was a hell of a lot better than that black bile I was puking up after that nephandus mage smacked me with some Life magic earlier this year.

Fucker.

Val joined me while I gathered up some fallen limbs to make a campfire. (Didn't want to burn through my tass.) She said none of the spirits around were harmful, but to be careful because the lune spirits flitting about overhead were a little unpredictable--and not to piss any spirits off. Frankly, I was more worried about fire elementals. I still remember the incident where a swarm of little ones was following me around and looking for ways to touch me. Now that was a fast way to give up cigarettes, let me tell you. You get burned every time you flick a lighter--and your cigs incinerate with just one puff--you quit and quit fast.

Val'd mentioned getting a flight demonstration earlier, so I'd come prepared. Had AC/DC's "Back in Black" on my smartphone and played that while I "Ironman'ed" around the clearing, drawing heat from the campfire and converting it into kinetic energy to allow for flight. I kept it low and slow, just in case something went wrong. I have to admit, my flying wasn't very pretty or graceful, but it was functional. Plus? No vulgar magic repercussions and no need to be worried about sleepers spotting me in the spirit world! HOT DAMN! Now I can actually work on using vulgar magic that's too dangerous to risk doing in my sanctum, and which requires more space to perform than a single room indoors.

Hmmm. I wonder if I could see if Salem'd assign one of the Walker underlings to go out there, cross over, and construct a series of brush piles to burn? That'd save me a lot of time, garou can carry more than me, and.... Perhaps I'm being a little presumptuous? Can't hurt to inquire though, right?

I didn't do anything else in the event the talisman didn't work for the return trip. Also, I didn't want to do any more magic in front of Val that she doesn't already know about. I hate being tight-lipped with her, but magic goes beyond me and beyond her. I've got a duty to not reveal the aces up my sleeve--and the aces up all the other mages' sleeves.

After I put the fire out completely, crossing back to the real world proved to be easy. I braced myself for it this time around and, while the nausea still happened, it didn't catch me unaware and unprepared--and I didn't spew chunks.

Val flew back to the car while I hoofed it. Lucky bird.

Note to self: My cell phone had no signal in the spirit world and Val said it was because the towers' signals don't reach into the spirit world. However, I bet by combining a little Spirit and Forces magic, I could--in the future--make a brief phone call from the spirit world. I'll have to test that theory out later, because it'd be nice to get hold of Val or Salem or Mouse (when she gets back) in the event of an emergency.