nick_garou | Enigmatic archmages are enigmatic

I touched base briefly with Val and Emma, letting them know I was okay, no one seemed to be on my tail, and that the three attempts at locating me via magical means were the result of a friendly trying to find me and me not immediately recognizing that. Val'd cleared out anything of interest from my cabin, just in case, and said she'd be putting it back. Val's moving my stuff has probably thrown a huge monkeywrench into my efforts to relocate my sanctum. She meant well, though.

There seems to be a lot of effed up "s/he meant well" going on around me right now. Karmic retribution for something I did? Or getting things out of the way for something really good to happen later? I hope it's the latter.

I drove the "new" GMC Suburban offroad into the high desert, where I set up camp outside Pavel's cavern. If he's in, I know better than to interrupt him. If he's out, I know better than to invade his space/sanctum. As it was, it turns out I was not the only one waiting for Pavel to turn up. There was a Verbena there before me. Yana. She'd been waiting four days already. I shared some of my supplies with her, for which she was grateful as her own supplies were running low and she didn't have any fresh fruit/veg. She seemed nice and we had a pleasant talk about our perceptions of Life magic. She's able to heal herself, heal others, and make slight modifications to her body. Far more adept at that sphere than I am. She's hoping to convince Pavel to teach her shapeshifting in exchange a variety of things she brought to trade with him. I told her I'd seen him do it the last time I'd visited, and gave her the bottle of vodka I'd purchased for my own use so she could give it as a gift instead.

Pavel showed up the next evening, stepping out of the umbra (I think) with ease. Yana went first. She's Verbena, Pavel's Verbena, and I'm not. That's okay, though. Yana left by noon the next day, looking pleased and giving me a nod. I think it went well for her and Pavel is going to teach her.

Then it was my turn. Unfortunately, Pavel seemed tired and crankier than I'd seen him before. Also somewhat hungover. (Possibly because I had only 3 remaining tass to trade for information and his time, and possibly because he was hoping I'd decided to trade that garou-penned dissertation about nodes/caerns and Prime/Entropy/Spirit fluxuations that I let him glance at a year or so ago. Also? Possibly because he was hung over--probably from the bottle of Vodka I gave Yana to give to him.)

Pavel and I had a sit-down talk about clones. He said that while it's difficult to create new life (aside from the time-tested "have sex and procreate" manner), that doesn't mean Progenitors cornered the market on that sort of thing. Other non-Technocracy mages can do it. He's fairly certain that clones can theoretically be made by certain vampires, imbued hunters, cultists, Zionists, corporations, spirits (or someone possessed by a spirit), werewolves, and aliens (I *KNEW* they existed!)--maybe even a blend of all of the above. It depends on how one defines "clone."

Pavel seemed to think the tricky bit, with having a 30-year old clone grown in a vat, is the mental aspect. If you just do the Life aspect, you get a feral intellect in a 30-year old body, which is pretty damn useless. You could create a mind to put into it. But easier than that is copying an existing mind. (Sort of like creating an image of a computer's drive to port to new, blank machines so they're all set up the same way.)

The Matter effect I detected on the clone? Pavel thinks that's residual effects from being grown in a vat. It might not even be Mage magic, but it's deviant enough from defined reality that it might come across as being magic--newly formed/created matter.

Pavel pitched out a number of theories about those behind this operation:

1) They're humans (or clones or a mix of the two).

2) They're very aware of the supernatural.

3) They're trying to minimize things when the supernatural spills over into the public's view. (That doesn't necessarily mean it's Technocracy.)

4) Don't get caught by them.

Pavel's advice? Go sit under a rock until they get bored and move on. Poke them with a stick at your own risk.

That is, of course, basically what Pavel does. I'm not so sure the garou can do that.

Great.

My head hurt after this talk. Pavel makes me feel like such a blithering idiot. This is probably a good thing.

Business out of the way, I asked Pavel about Correspondence magick, which has been giving me trouble. He said he never bothered with that sphere, but he thought he had a book that might be helpful to me--if I had something to trade for it.

Well, shit. I'd already given him all my tass just to get an audience and a chat with him.

I listed off about three dozen of the /really/ rare books I had in my possession. And the two obscurity charms I was sporting. (The third counter-scrying charm was expended when Thomas tried locating me a third time.) He wanted seven of the books (damn!) in exchange for the one he had--plus both of my remaining charms (which, admittedly, might be useless at this point). The book is mine once I bring him those seven books--all on archaic geometry. I get the feeling he knows someone who could benefit from those. They've certainly done me no good. (I wonder he is getting out of this for being the middle-man?)

I offered my thanks for his assistance (even though I feel like he took me to the cleaners) and headed back towards home after I picked up a few souvenirs in Denver and Yellowstone.