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Had another chat with Thomas. The guy is actually fairly likable once you get past the... I don't know what it was that gave me reservations about him earlier on. I think, probably, his grouchiness about white people did this and that and whatnot. And while, yes, native Americans did get hosed, it's not like it's my fault. Or anyone's fault these days. But I suppose if you've lived for a couple hundred years, that sort of thing is harder to shake when you've witnessed gruesome injustices firsthand. Fortunately, it doesn't seem like we talk about that much anymore. He did, however, tell me a story about a spirit-totem--Eastern--that he sort of follows. Prince Inari. Patron saint of rice and foxes. (Rice?) Inari also advocated not bringing suffering to kit foxes and to humans.And if someone does hurt them, the Foxes try to make things right.
He mentioned wanting to do something about Eddy Jones--the old spec ops guy that was harassing Naomi in the park one day and is rumored to have killed kids while overseas--but no proof. Other news? Val told him that Worm's back at his old office, boarded up the windows (metal hidden behind wood), and has two security guards now instead of one. And there's something fugly in the umbra nearby. Sounds like they're getting ready to move, and I told Thomas to call Val up so she could get in on that action. The bird wants blood for blood.
I told Thomas I'd been thinking that Worm tends to solve his problems by throwing money around, so I was thinking about doing a little damage by hacking his bank account and making a whole lot of donations to numerous charities. Thomas liked the idea and suggested homeless shelters and at-risk youth programs. I mention to Thomas that, next time he ran into Silver Tip, he should mention that I'd offered to take a look at the caern totem that helped rescue him and got affected by Time magic. Having fixed the Time problem with Silvertip, I'm pretty confident I could fix a spirit. Plus? I think fixing a caern totem spirit would likely net me at least a few points. Told Thomas the earliest I'd be available was Monday. Didn't mention that that's how long it'd be before I'd be able to use my talisman to get into the umbra again. Need to know basis, there. I should probably experiment with lowering the gauntlet in an area via an extended ritual to see (1) if I can thin the gauntlet so much as to make it non-existent and (2) what happens when the realm and the spirit world touch one another. I might need that one day to get out of the umbra. Or grab something on the other side.
That evening, in the park, I ran into Maddie, Brad, and someone who was with Maddie that I never got introduced to. A prostitute came past, pimp chasing her, and there was an altercation. I used some magic--really minor Forces--so that the woman could slip her arm out of the pimp's grip. Then I transferred that reduced friction effect to one of his feet to keep him from chasing after her. But by then the bundled up person that was with Maddie had intervened and a rat jumped out of his clothes and onto the guy. He freaked out and--with that friction reduction effect I'd used--went head over heals. Fell on the cement. *Crack* went his skull on the cement. Holy. Fuck. I thought I'd accidentally killed the guy! Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was. But still. Holy crap, I might have accidentally killed him in trying to help out that woman. I need to be more careful. I don't think, sometimes, that I recognize my own magical aptitude/power.
Later that evening I drove out to a popular, open-all-night coffee shop out near campustown. Parked in the lot of the business next door. Hitched a ride on their anonymous and free WIFI connection. Spent about 6 hours hacking into Worm's bank account and then rerouting funds to all kinds of non-profits. Animal shelters. Youth programs. Homeless shelters. Art and education programs. Museums. Health care programs for the poor. I even went and donated money to a number of Native American non-profits--everything from cultural/historical preservation, send kids to college programs, anti-alcoholism/drug programs, etc. Thank you, Mr. Worm, for your generosity. If the garou move fast enough, maybe he won't notice someone swiped most of his cookies from his cookie jar--and it'll stay after he's dead. And if he does notice the missing money, he'll probably have to spend days or maybe even a week to recover it all--and what a pain in the ass that will be for him.
While I was poking around, I noticed that something was rounding numerous small bits of money out of his accounts. I'm thinking it might be Technocracy. NWO, probably. But I'd taken extensive care to use coincidental magic and my own knowledge of banking and security to leave no obvious footprints. Did I look further into these tendrils in Worm's accounts? Hell no.
After catching about 6 hours of sleep, I got up and did some Valentine's Day shopping--then drove out to Emma's mom's place to drop them off. I brought three boxes of Godiva chocolates--one for Emma, one for her mom, and a little cutesy one for Zoe (with smaller chocolates in it because WHOA a truffle would be a freaking meal for a kid her age). I left a nice decorative pot of tulips for Emma, as I doubt she'll be around again until the moon is slimmer and cut flowers would be wilted and dead by then. Plus? Kind of a nod to the tulips we planted a couple years back in the park. I gave her mom an orange rose in a little vase. Emma got a yellow one. (I was thinking pink earlier, but... so stereotypical.) And lastly, I'd brought Zoe a stuffed moose. (Wolf seemed a little obvious and/or heavy handed. There. Now everyone feels special! Emma's mom asked me to stay for a while, but I claimed I needed to be elsewhere. I feel.... weird about hanging out with her mom and her kid. Would Emma want a mage hanging out with them? She might see me as a threat. Ugh.
Why does this have to be so goddamn complicated? Maybe I should tell her? She seemed to be okay with Thomas being a Fox, but Foxes are still shifters, so.... Maybe not that much of a reach for her. Would she just up and try to kill me once I told her? That's entirely a possibility, too. If she didn't kill me, how would it affect our relationship? I know she's looking for "normal" and--secretly--I am clearly not. Are we both just trying to pretend at being normal? Maybe it's best to stay quiet about the whole thing. I could probably hide it from her for years and years. Maybe decades.
Wow. Am I thinking about years and years or decades of being with her?
He mentioned wanting to do something about Eddy Jones--the old spec ops guy that was harassing Naomi in the park one day and is rumored to have killed kids while overseas--but no proof. Other news? Val told him that Worm's back at his old office, boarded up the windows (metal hidden behind wood), and has two security guards now instead of one. And there's something fugly in the umbra nearby. Sounds like they're getting ready to move, and I told Thomas to call Val up so she could get in on that action. The bird wants blood for blood.
I told Thomas I'd been thinking that Worm tends to solve his problems by throwing money around, so I was thinking about doing a little damage by hacking his bank account and making a whole lot of donations to numerous charities. Thomas liked the idea and suggested homeless shelters and at-risk youth programs. I mention to Thomas that, next time he ran into Silver Tip, he should mention that I'd offered to take a look at the caern totem that helped rescue him and got affected by Time magic. Having fixed the Time problem with Silvertip, I'm pretty confident I could fix a spirit. Plus? I think fixing a caern totem spirit would likely net me at least a few points. Told Thomas the earliest I'd be available was Monday. Didn't mention that that's how long it'd be before I'd be able to use my talisman to get into the umbra again. Need to know basis, there. I should probably experiment with lowering the gauntlet in an area via an extended ritual to see (1) if I can thin the gauntlet so much as to make it non-existent and (2) what happens when the realm and the spirit world touch one another. I might need that one day to get out of the umbra. Or grab something on the other side.
That evening, in the park, I ran into Maddie, Brad, and someone who was with Maddie that I never got introduced to. A prostitute came past, pimp chasing her, and there was an altercation. I used some magic--really minor Forces--so that the woman could slip her arm out of the pimp's grip. Then I transferred that reduced friction effect to one of his feet to keep him from chasing after her. But by then the bundled up person that was with Maddie had intervened and a rat jumped out of his clothes and onto the guy. He freaked out and--with that friction reduction effect I'd used--went head over heals. Fell on the cement. *Crack* went his skull on the cement. Holy. Fuck. I thought I'd accidentally killed the guy! Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was. But still. Holy crap, I might have accidentally killed him in trying to help out that woman. I need to be more careful. I don't think, sometimes, that I recognize my own magical aptitude/power.
Later that evening I drove out to a popular, open-all-night coffee shop out near campustown. Parked in the lot of the business next door. Hitched a ride on their anonymous and free WIFI connection. Spent about 6 hours hacking into Worm's bank account and then rerouting funds to all kinds of non-profits. Animal shelters. Youth programs. Homeless shelters. Art and education programs. Museums. Health care programs for the poor. I even went and donated money to a number of Native American non-profits--everything from cultural/historical preservation, send kids to college programs, anti-alcoholism/drug programs, etc. Thank you, Mr. Worm, for your generosity. If the garou move fast enough, maybe he won't notice someone swiped most of his cookies from his cookie jar--and it'll stay after he's dead. And if he does notice the missing money, he'll probably have to spend days or maybe even a week to recover it all--and what a pain in the ass that will be for him.
While I was poking around, I noticed that something was rounding numerous small bits of money out of his accounts. I'm thinking it might be Technocracy. NWO, probably. But I'd taken extensive care to use coincidental magic and my own knowledge of banking and security to leave no obvious footprints. Did I look further into these tendrils in Worm's accounts? Hell no.
After catching about 6 hours of sleep, I got up and did some Valentine's Day shopping--then drove out to Emma's mom's place to drop them off. I brought three boxes of Godiva chocolates--one for Emma, one for her mom, and a little cutesy one for Zoe (with smaller chocolates in it because WHOA a truffle would be a freaking meal for a kid her age). I left a nice decorative pot of tulips for Emma, as I doubt she'll be around again until the moon is slimmer and cut flowers would be wilted and dead by then. Plus? Kind of a nod to the tulips we planted a couple years back in the park. I gave her mom an orange rose in a little vase. Emma got a yellow one. (I was thinking pink earlier, but... so stereotypical.) And lastly, I'd brought Zoe a stuffed moose. (Wolf seemed a little obvious and/or heavy handed. There. Now everyone feels special! Emma's mom asked me to stay for a while, but I claimed I needed to be elsewhere. I feel.... weird about hanging out with her mom and her kid. Would Emma want a mage hanging out with them? She might see me as a threat. Ugh.
Why does this have to be so goddamn complicated? Maybe I should tell her? She seemed to be okay with Thomas being a Fox, but Foxes are still shifters, so.... Maybe not that much of a reach for her. Would she just up and try to kill me once I told her? That's entirely a possibility, too. If she didn't kill me, how would it affect our relationship? I know she's looking for "normal" and--secretly--I am clearly not. Are we both just trying to pretend at being normal? Maybe it's best to stay quiet about the whole thing. I could probably hide it from her for years and years. Maybe decades.
Wow. Am I thinking about years and years or decades of being with her?
