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Since getting back into town, I've been kind of swamped. I've spent a LOT of time catching up with work for Terminus. The stock market is really volatile right now and a little Time/Entropy magic shows instabilities in the near future, too. On the plus side, thanks to some subtle magic use, I'm coming out on the plus side for both Terminus and my personal portfolio. Double dipping. I think I've got enough money coming in from my own portfolio that I could live off just that. I'd have to sell the Porsche and eat ramen noodles and dirt, but I could pay the mortgage each month. I guess my dream of not working is still a few years away.
On the non-mundane front, I've been intentionally laying off the fire-related magic. In case that had something to do with what set my bed on fire earlier. (Still no clue if that was residual paradox or if I accidentally did that in my sleep without knowing it. Weird(er) stuff seems to be happening to and around me ever since I touched that Chimera spirit's mind early last year, learned more Mind magic, and became more adept at Forces. No clue if there's a connection, but I suspect there might be.)
What I have been doing--as opposed to being a pyromaniac--is playing around with kinetics and electricity. Last full moon, when I went to the spirit world, I worked on redirecting gravitational forces to levitate and throw boulders, working on finesse and precision. Fine movements can be a little tricky. The boulders I'd stacked up about a month or two earlier? Still there and still stacked. Outside of the umbra, I've been experimenting with non-vulgar uses of Forces directed toward manipulating electronic devices. Specifically, I hooked two older computers together with an ethernet cord (no sense involving the internet where prying Technocrat eyes might spot something), put them in different rooms, used a randomization program to create and enter a password on the target computer, and then used the 'attack' computer and some Mind/Forces/Entropy to poke at the target computer via coincidental magic. It's a little more complicated than it sounds/looks, but I was able to retrieve a file from a randomized 128-bit encryption in a day. I think it's easier to use some Time or Mind magic to lift the password, though. And easier still to just cook the target computer--but I'm working on subtle. Subtle, Nick. Like a ghost. In and out. Simpler electronic devices--like automotive remote functions on a key chain--are a piece of cake though.
Tempted to learn more about this Virtual Web that Nieve mentioned and Mouse seems to know about. I remember Doug (Virtual Adept who was briefly a member of the Jedi Knights cabal) talking about it earlier, but that kind of thing was /way/ beyond me back then. Pearls before swine. I'll have to poke Mouse about it. Can't ask Nieve for much in the way of details as that would likely raise some eyebrows and expose me.
Had a couple conversations with Mouse, which proved interesting. Riley is apparently challenging for adren (I approve despite her infrequent.... Sometimes she lets her emotions get the best of her. The challenge is to scout out Seattle, where one of the former Walker elders--John Smith and Chaser-Never-Rests--died on his fostern challenge earlier. Sounds dangerous. Mouse is interested as she's wanting to get some of the BSDs' names. This is apparently a key component in conducting a ritual which would send the BSDs to Erebus, which is basically Garou Hell (molten silver lakes and whatnot), but a Hell where some are given a second chance. Val even mentioned earlier that one of the locals, a cub named Black, had come from there--though she was keeping it a quasi-secret (and I asked Val to not spread that around, but who knows if she is or isn't).
Mouse asked if I'd help her with getting some of the BSDs' names so she could send them to Erebus. The alternative would be just killing them. I kind of like the idea of BSDs getting second chances instead of death, so I agreed to help Mouse out. I'm not sure how yet, but I'll keep in touch with her about it.
Oddly enough, this prompted me to re-examine the wardings I have at my cabin. (Here's hoping no one can summon mages into Erebus if they know the mage's name.) I decided to beef it up a bit more by adding.... Well, I basically got some aquarium air tubing, filled it with sand, and fitted it around the edges of the cabin like a baseboard. Ta da! Circle (or quasi-rectangularish shape rather) of salt to keep evil spirits and demons out. Or, rather, the material components thereof (and I'm not sure if that alone is enough). I integrated the salted tubing in with the next refreshing of the cabin's wards.
Mouse and I swapped a few stories, like how she tried (unsuccessfully) to lie to a Wyrm spirit named Maeljin and ended up getting whipped into a wall as a result. I brought up a few mythical "familiars" I've had in the past: a petrified quetzlcoatl I'd inherited, used as a hat/coatrack for years until I could break the magic holding it and turn it loose with Val's aid; a 4' tall plant with a baseball-sized eyeball; magical fireflies (which I eventually turned loose as well); and even--briefly--a lost lupus werewolf that was mostly dog. What was really funny? I'd heard another mage telling a story where there'd been a mage that'd adopted a feral garou when the garou was too young to know any better. I hadn't pieced it together at the time as I was busy talking to someone else, but I'll be damned if that might not have been someone telling me about me. Although surely something similar must have happened in the past?
I offered magical energies (basically tass embedded into lucky pennies) that she could use as currency if she decided to go to the Cyber Realm, but she declined my offer. It sounds like she's planning to either harvest/acquire energies there--or maybe steal some. I'm kind of glad she didn't take me up on the offer, as I could definitely use the tass myself.
Last night I dropped by the tenement with a supply of Coke and frozen pizzas. Ky was there offering an apology to Mouse and Kavi. Salem showed up toward the end of it. After apologizing--and Mouse pointed out /right/ after apologizing--he asked for help in retrieving a fetish that'd been buried. I'm half-tempted to Dreamwalk Ky, figure out where it's located, and swipe it so I can pull it apart, study it, etc. But I guess that'd be rude--even if Ky is a Shadow Lord and it was likely stolen from someone else. So I'll play nice.
It was good talking with Kavi, Mouse, and Salem all at the same time. I've been gone a while. And busy. And it was kind of like... Almost like coming home to the family I'd never really had.
Upcoming date with Emma. I'm to pick her up at her place, drive her to see a production of "Cats," dinner afterwards at the Oriental Regency, and then drop her off back at her place. Kind of nervous, but we've gotten along really, really, really well for the past year while doing parkour practice in the park and nearby city. Still? A closet mage going out on a date with a garou? Much less a Get of Fenris ahroun? Part of me is just screaming away inside at my own idiocy.
On the non-mundane front, I've been intentionally laying off the fire-related magic. In case that had something to do with what set my bed on fire earlier. (Still no clue if that was residual paradox or if I accidentally did that in my sleep without knowing it. Weird(er) stuff seems to be happening to and around me ever since I touched that Chimera spirit's mind early last year, learned more Mind magic, and became more adept at Forces. No clue if there's a connection, but I suspect there might be.)
What I have been doing--as opposed to being a pyromaniac--is playing around with kinetics and electricity. Last full moon, when I went to the spirit world, I worked on redirecting gravitational forces to levitate and throw boulders, working on finesse and precision. Fine movements can be a little tricky. The boulders I'd stacked up about a month or two earlier? Still there and still stacked. Outside of the umbra, I've been experimenting with non-vulgar uses of Forces directed toward manipulating electronic devices. Specifically, I hooked two older computers together with an ethernet cord (no sense involving the internet where prying Technocrat eyes might spot something), put them in different rooms, used a randomization program to create and enter a password on the target computer, and then used the 'attack' computer and some Mind/Forces/Entropy to poke at the target computer via coincidental magic. It's a little more complicated than it sounds/looks, but I was able to retrieve a file from a randomized 128-bit encryption in a day. I think it's easier to use some Time or Mind magic to lift the password, though. And easier still to just cook the target computer--but I'm working on subtle. Subtle, Nick. Like a ghost. In and out. Simpler electronic devices--like automotive remote functions on a key chain--are a piece of cake though.
Tempted to learn more about this Virtual Web that Nieve mentioned and Mouse seems to know about. I remember Doug (Virtual Adept who was briefly a member of the Jedi Knights cabal) talking about it earlier, but that kind of thing was /way/ beyond me back then. Pearls before swine. I'll have to poke Mouse about it. Can't ask Nieve for much in the way of details as that would likely raise some eyebrows and expose me.
Had a couple conversations with Mouse, which proved interesting. Riley is apparently challenging for adren (I approve despite her infrequent.... Sometimes she lets her emotions get the best of her. The challenge is to scout out Seattle, where one of the former Walker elders--John Smith and Chaser-Never-Rests--died on his fostern challenge earlier. Sounds dangerous. Mouse is interested as she's wanting to get some of the BSDs' names. This is apparently a key component in conducting a ritual which would send the BSDs to Erebus, which is basically Garou Hell (molten silver lakes and whatnot), but a Hell where some are given a second chance. Val even mentioned earlier that one of the locals, a cub named Black, had come from there--though she was keeping it a quasi-secret (and I asked Val to not spread that around, but who knows if she is or isn't).
Mouse asked if I'd help her with getting some of the BSDs' names so she could send them to Erebus. The alternative would be just killing them. I kind of like the idea of BSDs getting second chances instead of death, so I agreed to help Mouse out. I'm not sure how yet, but I'll keep in touch with her about it.
Oddly enough, this prompted me to re-examine the wardings I have at my cabin. (Here's hoping no one can summon mages into Erebus if they know the mage's name.) I decided to beef it up a bit more by adding.... Well, I basically got some aquarium air tubing, filled it with sand, and fitted it around the edges of the cabin like a baseboard. Ta da! Circle (or quasi-rectangularish shape rather) of salt to keep evil spirits and demons out. Or, rather, the material components thereof (and I'm not sure if that alone is enough). I integrated the salted tubing in with the next refreshing of the cabin's wards.
Mouse and I swapped a few stories, like how she tried (unsuccessfully) to lie to a Wyrm spirit named Maeljin and ended up getting whipped into a wall as a result. I brought up a few mythical "familiars" I've had in the past: a petrified quetzlcoatl I'd inherited, used as a hat/coatrack for years until I could break the magic holding it and turn it loose with Val's aid; a 4' tall plant with a baseball-sized eyeball; magical fireflies (which I eventually turned loose as well); and even--briefly--a lost lupus werewolf that was mostly dog. What was really funny? I'd heard another mage telling a story where there'd been a mage that'd adopted a feral garou when the garou was too young to know any better. I hadn't pieced it together at the time as I was busy talking to someone else, but I'll be damned if that might not have been someone telling me about me. Although surely something similar must have happened in the past?
I offered magical energies (basically tass embedded into lucky pennies) that she could use as currency if she decided to go to the Cyber Realm, but she declined my offer. It sounds like she's planning to either harvest/acquire energies there--or maybe steal some. I'm kind of glad she didn't take me up on the offer, as I could definitely use the tass myself.
Last night I dropped by the tenement with a supply of Coke and frozen pizzas. Ky was there offering an apology to Mouse and Kavi. Salem showed up toward the end of it. After apologizing--and Mouse pointed out /right/ after apologizing--he asked for help in retrieving a fetish that'd been buried. I'm half-tempted to Dreamwalk Ky, figure out where it's located, and swipe it so I can pull it apart, study it, etc. But I guess that'd be rude--even if Ky is a Shadow Lord and it was likely stolen from someone else. So I'll play nice.
It was good talking with Kavi, Mouse, and Salem all at the same time. I've been gone a while. And busy. And it was kind of like... Almost like coming home to the family I'd never really had.
Upcoming date with Emma. I'm to pick her up at her place, drive her to see a production of "Cats," dinner afterwards at the Oriental Regency, and then drop her off back at her place. Kind of nervous, but we've gotten along really, really, really well for the past year while doing parkour practice in the park and nearby city. Still? A closet mage going out on a date with a garou? Much less a Get of Fenris ahroun? Part of me is just screaming away inside at my own idiocy.
