Nick "Nicodemus" Dalton (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nick_garou) wrote2014-03-11 08:18 am
nick_garou) wrote2014-03-11 08:18 am
Entry tags:
Feelings, Slug, Spirit-work, and an ongoing, prickly incident with a porcupine spirit.
A couple days ago I was at the tenement and swung by the roof to enjoy a few minutes of solitude. No such luck. Val was there with Bartok (who can now say his own name (even if it is a stupid-sounding name). Val's stuck her beak into the ongoing drama between Silvertip and Riley, but I did learn a little bit more as to why in the hell Silvertip might want to curse Riley to begin with. (Other than, you know, Riley being Riley.) Turns out that serial killer that was killing entire families from a couple years back? The one who Val invited me over to look at a murder scene, I salvaged a single hair wedged between here and the spirit world, I determined it was garou, and Val used that to locate who it was? Riley put an end to that by killing Finds-Death--the garou responsible, who also happened to be Silvertip's packmate. So THAT is why Silvertip is pissed off at Riley and out for blood.
I made an off-the-cuff remark about garou solving all their problems with violence and Val asked how I'd feel if a traditionalist garou found out that Emma was dating a mage, decided she was endangering the caern, and killed her over it. I barely caught myself from lashing out at Val. (God damn, where the hell is all this anger coming from?)
Val suggested I tread cautiously in dealing with Silvertip. She thinks Uktena might be able to pull off more advanced magic like mages do if given time and opportunity. Perhaps I should not take Silvertip up on the offer to work together on things? I don't know. Val suggested just asking her straight-out, as she thinks Silvertip would supply a straight answer--and that complete honesty with Silvertip is likely to be more fruitful than evasiveness. I suppose I could give that a try? It's hard, actually, after nearly two decades of evasiveness and subterfuge. Ugh.
Val launched into a talk about how she gets upset when I just pack my bags and disappear, then don't tell her where I've been or what I've been up to. She told me to tell her to just back off if she started asking too many questions. I told her I would tell her to back off if she wouldn't get pissy about it. She said she'd try not to. Mages I know often don't like that I associate with the shifters, and Corax that Val know don't like that she associates with me. (Which confirms she has been telling other ravens about me--but how many and how widely spread has my name gotten among them? Fuck.)
Val's headed off on a trip with Brad to meet up with his Wendigo bloodline. (I managed to stick my foot in my mouth by referring to him as Uktena, claiming that Uktena would be far more likely to tolerate Val dating Brad than Uktena, and how it was a good thing he wasn't Wendigo because they'd probably be pissy about it. Derp.) Well, here's hoping that Brad doesn't have any "racists" in the family. For Val's sake.
Later that same night I got a text from Val. She'd gone and talked with Silvertip, and Silvertip had shared with Val that she believed I'd been checking out her ass and tits. Ha ha ha ha no. Hell no.
Although... Okay, yes, when she had a tail in homid form, but that was purely out of curiosity.
And the other time when I helped break the magical energies that gave her that tail to begin with--and I did have my hands on her for a good half an hour--but you don't do that kind of unworking with your eyes closed.
And she was in lupus, which is not exactly sexy.
And Emma would prooooobably kill me.
Last evening I was at Athena Library looking for any interesting mathematical books they might have. None. (Unsurprising, but occasionally the public library does yield an interesting bit of something.) I bumped into this man who had three nasty scars down one side of his face. Suspiciously looked like the work of claws, and I knew I'd seen him before on an occasion or three. His name is Slug. (Different.) Garou. Gave him my card. Maybe we'll meet later, but I wasn't terribly keen on doing a lot of socializing--and I had plans for the evening that did not involve the garou.
Last night I crossed over to the umbra, built a fire, and played hard and fast with the flames. I t felt good to get that out of my system: I think that scratched that itch I'd been having. Goofing around finished, I settled in to work on some Spirit magick. Specifically, I wanted to see if I could thin the gauntlet down to nothing and then see what happened. It took about 4 hours of work--and I nearly lost concentration at one point when a few spirits showed up to hang out in the clearing--but I did finally get the gauntlet thinned down to absolutely nothing. Kind of like achieving absolute zero, I guess. There was no transparent membrane, like I thought there might be. Just an overlapping of the two worlds.
As I studied this new phenomenon, the small collection of animal spirits got closer--investigating it but wary of me. I was keeping my eye on a stag that was getting within a few yards of the effect--and who'd snorted at me in a way that I couldn't tell if it was hostile or not--when I caught motion out of the corner of my eye. A porcupine spirit had lumbered through. Its passage sent massive instabilities through the magical effect and the opening collapsed. No porcupine spirit. I peeked through the gauntlet into the realm and lo-and-behold there was a now-frantic porcupine spirit on the other side. Well, shit!
I made sure there were no lingering rifts or scars in the gauntlet (which also gave the spirit a bit of time to stop panicking) and then reached across to the realm. Some Mind magic helped me to speak with it and calm it down and assure it that I'd get it back across. What was it doing? Curiosity at the chance of getting over to this side as it can't do that on its own. (It's a smaller spirit. Mostly innocuous. Not terribly bright, but not an idiot either. About four to six times smarter than a dog. Seems to understand that this is his fault and not mine. That's a plus.) I was able to reason with it and offered it sanctuary in my cabin. It seems to understand I can't get it back until tonight at the earliest, but it might be a full week. In the meantime? I have a porcupine spirit wandering around the cabin. LOLCat is unhappy about that, so I've shut him in the downstairs bathroom.
I made an off-the-cuff remark about garou solving all their problems with violence and Val asked how I'd feel if a traditionalist garou found out that Emma was dating a mage, decided she was endangering the caern, and killed her over it. I barely caught myself from lashing out at Val. (God damn, where the hell is all this anger coming from?)
Val suggested I tread cautiously in dealing with Silvertip. She thinks Uktena might be able to pull off more advanced magic like mages do if given time and opportunity. Perhaps I should not take Silvertip up on the offer to work together on things? I don't know. Val suggested just asking her straight-out, as she thinks Silvertip would supply a straight answer--and that complete honesty with Silvertip is likely to be more fruitful than evasiveness. I suppose I could give that a try? It's hard, actually, after nearly two decades of evasiveness and subterfuge. Ugh.
Val launched into a talk about how she gets upset when I just pack my bags and disappear, then don't tell her where I've been or what I've been up to. She told me to tell her to just back off if she started asking too many questions. I told her I would tell her to back off if she wouldn't get pissy about it. She said she'd try not to. Mages I know often don't like that I associate with the shifters, and Corax that Val know don't like that she associates with me. (Which confirms she has been telling other ravens about me--but how many and how widely spread has my name gotten among them? Fuck.)
Val's headed off on a trip with Brad to meet up with his Wendigo bloodline. (I managed to stick my foot in my mouth by referring to him as Uktena, claiming that Uktena would be far more likely to tolerate Val dating Brad than Uktena, and how it was a good thing he wasn't Wendigo because they'd probably be pissy about it. Derp.) Well, here's hoping that Brad doesn't have any "racists" in the family. For Val's sake.
Later that same night I got a text from Val. She'd gone and talked with Silvertip, and Silvertip had shared with Val that she believed I'd been checking out her ass and tits. Ha ha ha ha no. Hell no.
Although... Okay, yes, when she had a tail in homid form, but that was purely out of curiosity.
And the other time when I helped break the magical energies that gave her that tail to begin with--and I did have my hands on her for a good half an hour--but you don't do that kind of unworking with your eyes closed.
And she was in lupus, which is not exactly sexy.
And Emma would prooooobably kill me.
Last evening I was at Athena Library looking for any interesting mathematical books they might have. None. (Unsurprising, but occasionally the public library does yield an interesting bit of something.) I bumped into this man who had three nasty scars down one side of his face. Suspiciously looked like the work of claws, and I knew I'd seen him before on an occasion or three. His name is Slug. (Different.) Garou. Gave him my card. Maybe we'll meet later, but I wasn't terribly keen on doing a lot of socializing--and I had plans for the evening that did not involve the garou.
Last night I crossed over to the umbra, built a fire, and played hard and fast with the flames. I t felt good to get that out of my system: I think that scratched that itch I'd been having. Goofing around finished, I settled in to work on some Spirit magick. Specifically, I wanted to see if I could thin the gauntlet down to nothing and then see what happened. It took about 4 hours of work--and I nearly lost concentration at one point when a few spirits showed up to hang out in the clearing--but I did finally get the gauntlet thinned down to absolutely nothing. Kind of like achieving absolute zero, I guess. There was no transparent membrane, like I thought there might be. Just an overlapping of the two worlds.
As I studied this new phenomenon, the small collection of animal spirits got closer--investigating it but wary of me. I was keeping my eye on a stag that was getting within a few yards of the effect--and who'd snorted at me in a way that I couldn't tell if it was hostile or not--when I caught motion out of the corner of my eye. A porcupine spirit had lumbered through. Its passage sent massive instabilities through the magical effect and the opening collapsed. No porcupine spirit. I peeked through the gauntlet into the realm and lo-and-behold there was a now-frantic porcupine spirit on the other side. Well, shit!
I made sure there were no lingering rifts or scars in the gauntlet (which also gave the spirit a bit of time to stop panicking) and then reached across to the realm. Some Mind magic helped me to speak with it and calm it down and assure it that I'd get it back across. What was it doing? Curiosity at the chance of getting over to this side as it can't do that on its own. (It's a smaller spirit. Mostly innocuous. Not terribly bright, but not an idiot either. About four to six times smarter than a dog. Seems to understand that this is his fault and not mine. That's a plus.) I was able to reason with it and offered it sanctuary in my cabin. It seems to understand I can't get it back until tonight at the earliest, but it might be a full week. In the meantime? I have a porcupine spirit wandering around the cabin. LOLCat is unhappy about that, so I've shut him in the downstairs bathroom.