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Silvertip came to visit last night. I just left the door open and got the fire going nice and hot in the fireplace. It felt good to air the place out, and I do so love a nice fire. After about an hour she turned up and howled from the nearby woods. I cupped my hands and mimicked a "you can come into my territory" howl from within the cabin--modifying my voice with a simple Forces effect--before I went to the open doorway to meet her. I was curious as to how me being able to speak the language of wolves would be received. Apparently it was no big deal as Silvertip didn't mention it as she came inside.
I made tea and we talked, the distance of the room separating us. We discussed Val and both concluded that anything told to her will likely be told to other Corax (which clearly do not keep secrets) and any non-Corax she trusts to keep secrets. She'd told Silvertip some things about me and told me some things about Silvertip. I revealed that Val had told me Silvertip thought I was checking her out in a sexual way earlier, and I told Silvertip that I'd merely been curious at the time about why she had a tail in homid, apologizing for gawking and assuring it was not me being randy--and that I still thought of her as being a he. And I told Silvertip that Emma'd probably cut my nuts off if I did anything anyway. So there.
Trust. Silvertip acknowledged that Val and Mouse trusted me, but she was unsatisfied because I was not born to serve Gaia (like the garou), wasn't a Dreamspeaker (like Dana), and was effectively "tribeless" by having no affiliation with a mage Tradition. I didn't bother trying to assure her I was good and wholesome--there was simply no way to prove it. I told her Val and Mouse might have both made mistakes about me, that I was free of the restraints/responsibilities/hierarchies of a Tradition mage, and that I basically did whatever I chose to do. What I simply chose to do--all on my own--was to frequently work in ways that help out the local garou. They do more good than harm. On the "feel-good" front, I told him I'd worked with Dana in the past in sort of a "pack" when she was around, and that Jacinta knew about her if he was curious. I also told him that I'd been helping the garou gather their various dreams when the caern was overtaken by wasps, and that later, when a selection of garou awoke in a shared dream-state, I was among them through no actions on my own part and we all awoke within the caern itself. I suggested that a caern totem--perhaps the past one or one of the new ones--had seen I was helping and brought me along with the garou to aid in saving their caern, though I had no confirmation of such. She did not flinch at the idea of my being in their caern, which I honestly had expected. I also pointed out that there are no guarantees for anyone. Gaian garou are born to serve Gaia, yet some still turn to the Wyrm--and so there was no guarantee I would not either. I ultimately used a religious analogy. There are Christians who are moral and do not believe Atheists can behave morally because they do not worship God, yet most Atheists do behave morally--and not all Christians behave morally. You have to evaluate each person individually, and there are no easy answers or guarantees. She seemed to agree with pretty much everything I said.
Silvertip did ask a peculiar question about if it was possible for an idea to cause corruption. I told her, from a magical standpoint, that it was and told her briefly about the time Dana, Doug and I traveled up north to rescue a pack of Children of Gaia who had read an ancient tome that rendered those who read it mentally corrupted. I explained that some mages are able to shield themselves from such influences (to an extent), and that we destroyed the book to free the Children. She asked if they later became corrupted simply because they had had that one thought in their head, and I told her I did not think so. (I'm pretty sure Dana would have insisted on a trip back to Merriweather if that was the case, and she never did.) Of course, it is possible, with Mind magick, to plant a corruptive thought permanently into someone's head, but that is pretty advanced stuff.
Of all the questions Silvertip might have asked, I find myself wondering why she asked me about that? That's a pretty advanced/specific question. I should follow up on that. I probably should not have told him that we took the book from the pack of CoGgies, despite their protests, and destroyed it. If she has something, she might be afraid I'll take it and destroy it. Truth be told? I might.
Silvertip said she wanted to know more about magick and me prior to advocating on my behalf to be allowed access to the holy places in WWNP. Specifically what did I believe in. I gave her my BluRay boxed set of the original Star Wars trilogy and told her to watch it in particular for the Jedi's moral codes. I also mentioned an old video game--Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast--as being similar to some of the struggles I went through when I was younger. I think she thought I was joking, so I went upstairs, disabled my lightsaber, and brought it down to show her I was serious. She used some kind of Spirit-Prime effect, which I gently reprimanded her for doing without warning me. Explained how it was rude. Explained that I was not doing anything to her, and that I could be reading her mind to see if she was being truthful with me the entire time we talked, but I was not doing so because if I couldn't trust her enough to not read her mind whenever she spoke, then why were we talking at all and trying to build some measure of trust? She seemed to feel there was a difference between the scanning magic she used and the mind-scanning magick I could have used--because her mind is private (and I agree). But you know what? Some of my stuff is private, too. I did mention that I had only invasively used magick on her when she had come to me seeking magical help to 'heal' her and once, in the Farmhouse, when I didn't know who she was and she had a tail in homid. But other than that? I hadn't looked. I don't know if we see eye-to-eye on this particular thing, but I think we ended up respecting one another's boundaries--so that's certainly something.
Showed Silvertip the lucky pennies (each a unit of tass) I kept inside the lightsaber to power it and explained what they were. She speculated on whether or not garou could harvest tass from places of power. I suggested they might via their rage and gnosis, though that was weaker than raw magical energies.
We wrapped up with Silvertip inviting me over to her place (she has a place?) for tea and conversation, and she'd tell me about the Uktena. Interesting. I really only have the superficial stereotype concept and haven't really interacted much with them at all in a tribal capacity.
I made tea and we talked, the distance of the room separating us. We discussed Val and both concluded that anything told to her will likely be told to other Corax (which clearly do not keep secrets) and any non-Corax she trusts to keep secrets. She'd told Silvertip some things about me and told me some things about Silvertip. I revealed that Val had told me Silvertip thought I was checking her out in a sexual way earlier, and I told Silvertip that I'd merely been curious at the time about why she had a tail in homid, apologizing for gawking and assuring it was not me being randy--and that I still thought of her as being a he. And I told Silvertip that Emma'd probably cut my nuts off if I did anything anyway. So there.
Trust. Silvertip acknowledged that Val and Mouse trusted me, but she was unsatisfied because I was not born to serve Gaia (like the garou), wasn't a Dreamspeaker (like Dana), and was effectively "tribeless" by having no affiliation with a mage Tradition. I didn't bother trying to assure her I was good and wholesome--there was simply no way to prove it. I told her Val and Mouse might have both made mistakes about me, that I was free of the restraints/responsibilities/hierarchies of a Tradition mage, and that I basically did whatever I chose to do. What I simply chose to do--all on my own--was to frequently work in ways that help out the local garou. They do more good than harm. On the "feel-good" front, I told him I'd worked with Dana in the past in sort of a "pack" when she was around, and that Jacinta knew about her if he was curious. I also told him that I'd been helping the garou gather their various dreams when the caern was overtaken by wasps, and that later, when a selection of garou awoke in a shared dream-state, I was among them through no actions on my own part and we all awoke within the caern itself. I suggested that a caern totem--perhaps the past one or one of the new ones--had seen I was helping and brought me along with the garou to aid in saving their caern, though I had no confirmation of such. She did not flinch at the idea of my being in their caern, which I honestly had expected. I also pointed out that there are no guarantees for anyone. Gaian garou are born to serve Gaia, yet some still turn to the Wyrm--and so there was no guarantee I would not either. I ultimately used a religious analogy. There are Christians who are moral and do not believe Atheists can behave morally because they do not worship God, yet most Atheists do behave morally--and not all Christians behave morally. You have to evaluate each person individually, and there are no easy answers or guarantees. She seemed to agree with pretty much everything I said.
Silvertip did ask a peculiar question about if it was possible for an idea to cause corruption. I told her, from a magical standpoint, that it was and told her briefly about the time Dana, Doug and I traveled up north to rescue a pack of Children of Gaia who had read an ancient tome that rendered those who read it mentally corrupted. I explained that some mages are able to shield themselves from such influences (to an extent), and that we destroyed the book to free the Children. She asked if they later became corrupted simply because they had had that one thought in their head, and I told her I did not think so. (I'm pretty sure Dana would have insisted on a trip back to Merriweather if that was the case, and she never did.) Of course, it is possible, with Mind magick, to plant a corruptive thought permanently into someone's head, but that is pretty advanced stuff.
Of all the questions Silvertip might have asked, I find myself wondering why she asked me about that? That's a pretty advanced/specific question. I should follow up on that. I probably should not have told him that we took the book from the pack of CoGgies, despite their protests, and destroyed it. If she has something, she might be afraid I'll take it and destroy it. Truth be told? I might.
Silvertip said she wanted to know more about magick and me prior to advocating on my behalf to be allowed access to the holy places in WWNP. Specifically what did I believe in. I gave her my BluRay boxed set of the original Star Wars trilogy and told her to watch it in particular for the Jedi's moral codes. I also mentioned an old video game--Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast--as being similar to some of the struggles I went through when I was younger. I think she thought I was joking, so I went upstairs, disabled my lightsaber, and brought it down to show her I was serious. She used some kind of Spirit-Prime effect, which I gently reprimanded her for doing without warning me. Explained how it was rude. Explained that I was not doing anything to her, and that I could be reading her mind to see if she was being truthful with me the entire time we talked, but I was not doing so because if I couldn't trust her enough to not read her mind whenever she spoke, then why were we talking at all and trying to build some measure of trust? She seemed to feel there was a difference between the scanning magic she used and the mind-scanning magick I could have used--because her mind is private (and I agree). But you know what? Some of my stuff is private, too. I did mention that I had only invasively used magick on her when she had come to me seeking magical help to 'heal' her and once, in the Farmhouse, when I didn't know who she was and she had a tail in homid. But other than that? I hadn't looked. I don't know if we see eye-to-eye on this particular thing, but I think we ended up respecting one another's boundaries--so that's certainly something.
Showed Silvertip the lucky pennies (each a unit of tass) I kept inside the lightsaber to power it and explained what they were. She speculated on whether or not garou could harvest tass from places of power. I suggested they might via their rage and gnosis, though that was weaker than raw magical energies.
We wrapped up with Silvertip inviting me over to her place (she has a place?) for tea and conversation, and she'd tell me about the Uktena. Interesting. I really only have the superficial stereotype concept and haven't really interacted much with them at all in a tribal capacity.
